General Reflections 



the different colonies in North America. Nothing 

 can exceed the jealousy and emulation which they 

 possess in regard to each other. The inhabitants of 

 Pennsylvania and New York have an inexhaustible 

 source of animosity, in their jealousy for the trade 

 of the Jerseys. Massachusetts Bay and Rhode 

 Island, are not less interested in that of Connecticut. 

 The West Indies are a common subject of emulation 

 to them all. Even the limits and boundaries of each 

 colony are a constant source of litigation. In short, 

 such is the difference of character, of manners, of 

 religion, of interest, of the different colonies, that I 

 think, if I am not wholly ignorant of the human 

 mind, were they left to themselves, there would soon 

 be a civil war from one end of the continent to the 

 other; while the Indians and negroes would, with 

 better reason, impatiently watch the opportunity of 

 exterminating them all together. 



After all, however, supposing what I firmly believe 

 will never take place, a permanent union or alliance 

 of all the colonies, yet it could not be effectual, or 

 productive of the event supposed; for such is the ex- 

 tent of coast settled by the American colonies that 

 it can never be defended but by a maritime power: 

 America must first be mistress of the sea before she 

 can be independent, or mistress of herself. Suppose 

 the colonies ever so populous; suppose them capable 

 of maintaining 100,000 men constantly in arms, (a 

 supposition in the highest degree extravagant), yet 



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