ORIGINAL TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES 87 



vantage of the new government, will draw thither farmers and 

 artisans from all nations." Montmorin, the successor of Ver- 

 gennes, wrote to his envoy : " It is not advisable for France to 

 give to America all the stability of which she is capable ; she 

 will acquire a degree of power which she will be too well dis- 

 posed to abuse." But that was written before the French revo- 

 lution and from the shadow of a tottering throne. From our 

 great sister republic of today we would receive a different greet- 

 ing, and among its words of amity would be expressions of 

 gratitude for the principles and example of the United States, 

 which have done so much toward the establishment of the 

 French Republic. 



IV. THE INFLUENCE OF THE NATIONAL DOMAIN 



A cool and temperate Englishman, " a far-sighted man in 

 many things," wrote of the prospects of the Confederation soon 

 after the peace: "As to the grandeur of America and its being 

 a rising empire under one head, whether republican or monarch- 

 ical, it is one of the idlest and most; visionary notions that ever 

 was conceived, even by writers of romance. The Americans can 

 never he united into one compact empire under any species of 

 government whatever ; a disunited people till the end of time, 

 suspicious and distrustful of each other, they will be divided 

 and subdivided into little commonwealths or principalities, ac- 

 cording to natural boundaries, by great bays of the sea and by 

 vast rivers, lakes, and ridges of mountains." 



The events of the time seemed to justify this dismal prophecy, 

 and the fear of its fulfillment agitated the best minds among the 

 American patriots. The vast Northwest Territory having been 

 ceded to the United States by Great Britain, the question was, 

 How was it to be held ? Congress instructed General Washington 

 to garrison the frontier posts, when surrendered, with the conti- 

 nental troops ; but after long and elaborate debates the danger 

 of confiding so much power to the federal government was made 

 the excuse for disbanding the troops and leaving the frontiers to 

 the protection of a few state militia. To the ambitious and jeal- 

 ous leaders in the states, anxious to rise to power in their nar- 

 row sovereignties, the utility of the Union seemed already passed, 

 and the destiny of America appeared to be wrapped up in the 

 fate of thirteen rival republics, each too feeble to protect itself 

 against foreign aggression and all too suspicious to trust one an- 

 other. The impotent bond of the Confederation became the 



