revolution.

[Sidenote: _ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES._]

A system which cramped the trade and industry of a self-reliant people,
growing in wealth and intent on gain, for the benefit of a country
separated from them by 3,000 miles of ocean, then only crossed by
sailing ships, must sooner or later have led to revolt. The Americans
were impatient of control and apt to quarrel with their governors, who
often found their office an unenviable one. "Such wrong-headed people,"
said one of them, "I thank God I had never to do with before." They were
not a people patiently to submit to restrictions. Two causes had
contributed to bind them to Great Britain. One of these was their fear
of the French in Canada. So long as the French and their Indian allies
threatened their homes, even the most turbulent of them knew that they
gained by being subjects of the English king. The war with France called
forth a feeling of loyalty. The triumph of England freed them from the
fear of French aggression and their protestations of gratitude were
exuberant. Yet there were many who saw that the conquest of Canada
loosened the tie which bound the American colonies to the mother-country
and would probably lead to an assertion of independence. Separation
would, however, have been impossible without union. The jealousies
between the colonies were so strong that revolt seemed improbable. Were
they left to themselves, Otis declared in 1765, "America would be a mere
shambles of blood and confusion". A common cause alone could bring about
union, and such a cause was soon to be found. The termination of the war
enabled the ministers to direct their attention to the contraband trade
which had assisted the common enemy, defrauded the government, and
annoyed the commercial class. During Bute's administration, in 1763,
revenue cutters were sent to cruise off the American coast, the officers
of the king's ships were sworn to act as revenue officers, and revenue
cases were heard in the admiralty courts. Smuggling was more effectually
checked, and the irritation caused by the loss of trade was aggravated
by the roughness with which the seamen enforced the law.

Grenville adopted a new policy apparently contemplated by Bute's ministry.
Hitherto parliament had imposed customs duties on the colonies solely for
the purpose of regulating trade; he designed to raise revenue from them.
The idea was suggested to Walpole as a means of obtaining money on the
failure of hi