274 THE OCEAN RIVER 



protected the colonies against France in Canada and the 

 pirates of the high seas — piracy being a real hazard. In 1679 

 Algerian pirates captured thirteen Virginia vessels off the 

 mouth of the English Channel. 



But as the New Englanders became more independent 

 they began to resent the increased trade restrictions of the 

 mother country. The Yankees were inclined to take protection 

 for granted; and meanwhile they built ships thirty to forty 

 percent cheaper than the English. Hard work, rocky home 

 acres, and small capital outlay, plus the protection of the 

 British Navy, thus more than offset a limitation of capital. 

 Smuggling and illicit trade with the pirates themselves became 

 frequent and went unpunished. The law of supply and de- 

 mand, the less complicated bargaining of free trade, put cus- 

 tom and expediency above the artificial restraints of English 

 law. There was a new breeze blowing along the western side 

 of the Ocean River that smelled of codfish and timber and a 

 new self-sufficiency for the transplanted British artisans meet- 

 ing the challenge of the New World. 



In closing this brief survey, again let us sum up by quoting 

 from Parry's book, Europe and a Wider World: ''By the 

 end of the seventeenth century the general lines of the final 

 struggle for power and trade in America were already appar- 

 ent. The Dutch were beginning to drop out, weakened by 

 unequal wars in Europe. The power of Portugal was localized 

 in Brazil. The Spanish empire seemed on the verge of collapse, 

 although it was to outlast the others as an imperial unity. 

 Of the major fighting competitors each had its weakness. The 

 English empire obviously suffered from lack of unity and 

 discipline, but the French empire had the more serious defect 

 of lack of people." 



At the beginning of the eighteenth century, though Spanish 

 America seemed far ahead of the northern colonies in culture, 

 trade, and inhabitants, the northern colonies were ready with 



