S26 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



The beneficial effects of British conquest, which imme- 

 diately converts into a fair the place taken under protection, 

 and enriches the inhabitants as rapidly as French conquest im- 

 poverishes, were soon apparent to all. The British capital 

 now invested in the colonies made them of serious importance, 

 and a grand object with the mercantile and monied interest of 

 Great Britain to retain ; the mere claims on them being esti- 

 mated, at the time of the peace of Amiens, at ten millions 

 sterling, for advances made by the merchants of London, Li- 

 verpool, Bristol, and Glasgow, since 1196, Several respect- 

 able men were ruined, and others severely felt the versatility 

 of government in ceding, by that disastrous treaty, so much 

 British capital to its natural enemy, for although the Batavian 

 republic lent its name, the colonies were given up to enrich 

 the French, under whose influence and principles they were 

 governed. The British government taking colonies in time of 

 war, is always an encouragement for the English inhabitants 

 to extend their cultivation, and invest their capital in the pur- 

 chase of estates already made, as was evidently the case during 

 the anti-jacobin war; they, as well as the monied men in Eng- 

 land, supposed the colonies would be retained at a peace. 

 Under this idea seven eighths of the cultivated estates belong- 

 ing to Dutchmen and other foreigners, were purchased by 

 spirited English adventurers, who, from motives of prudence, 

 preferred settling in these extensive and flourishing continental 



