After the Peace of Utreelit, in 1713, tlie contest between 

 France and England in America divided itself into 

 three parts, — the Acadian contest ; the contest for north- 

 ern New England; the contest for the West. Nothing is 

 more striking than the contrast in the conduct and 

 methods of the rival claimants to this wild but magnifi- 

 cent domain. Each was strong in its own qualities, and 

 utterly wanting in the qualities that marked his opponent. 



On maps of British America in the earlier part of the 

 eighteenth century, one sees the eastern shore, from 

 Maine to Georgia, garnished with ten or twelve colored 

 patches, defined, more or less distinctly, by dividing-lines 

 which in some cases are prolonged westward till they 

 touch the Mississippi, or even cross it and stretch on in- 

 definitely. These patches are the British provinces, and 

 the westward prolongation of their boundary lines rep- 

 resents their several claims to vast interior tracts, 

 founded on ancient grants but not made good by occupa- 

 tion, or vindicated by any exertion of power. 



These English communities took little thought of the 

 region beyond the Alleghanies. Each lived a life of its 

 own, shut within its own limits, not dreaming of a future 

 collective greatness to which the possession of the West 

 would be a necessary condition. No conscious community 

 of aims and interests held them together, nor was there 

 any authority capable of uniting their forces and turning 

 them to a common object. Each province remained in 

 jealous isolation, busied with its own work, growing in 

 strength, in the capacity of self-rule and the spirit of in- 

 dependence, and stubbornly resisting all exercise of 

 authority from without. If the English-speaking popu- 

 lation flowed westward, it was in obedience to natural 

 laws, for the King did not aid the movement, the royal 

 governors had no autliority to do so, and the colonial as- 

 semblies were too much engrossed with immediate local 

 interests. The power of these colonies was that of a 



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