rising flood slowly invading; by the unconscious force of 

 growing volume. 



In the French colonies all was different. Here the 

 representatives of the Crown were men bred in an atmos- 

 phere of broad ambition and far-reaching enterprise. 

 Achievement iwas demanded of them. They recognized 

 the greatness of the prize, studied the strong and weak 

 points of their rivals, and with a cautious forecast and a 

 daring energy set themselves to the task of defeating 

 them. 



If the English colonies were comjDaratively strong in 

 numbers their numbers could not be brought into action; 

 while if the French forces were small, they were vigor- 

 ously commanded, and always ready at a Avord. It was 

 union confronting division, energy confronting apathy, 

 military centralization opposed to industrial democracy; 

 and, for a time, the advantage was all on one side. 



The demands of the French were sufficiently compre- 

 hensive. They regretted their enforced concessions at 

 the Treaty of Utrecht, and, in spite of that compact, main- 

 tained that, with a few local exceptions along the Atlantic 

 Shore, the whole North American continent, except 

 Mexico, was theirs of right ; while their opponents seemed 

 neither to understand the situation, nor to recognize the 

 greatness of the stakes at issue. 



''The Articles in the Treaty of Utrecht ivhich dealt 

 tvith cessions made by France to Great Britain in the New 

 World are justly regarded, as the real beginnings of the 

 expansion of the British Colonial Empire in America — 

 hence, also, of the United States and its democracy. It 

 was a notable event accordingly in the view-point of 

 World History when, by the Treaty's terms, Acadia — 

 save Cape Breton Island — ivas assigned to England.'' 



— Cambridge Modern History. 



15 



