one side were
sovereigns whose powers were not yet definitely restricted, and who
were likely to resent any apparent tendency to make them less. On the
other side was a people who had progressed far in self-government, and
who resisted any limitation of their rights. It is not the purpose of
this book to trace the earlier unification of the colonies under
pressure from without. By the year 1760 that process was approaching
completion; there was, therefore, in America a stronger feeling than
ever, while across the water was that new ruler into whose youthful ears
his mother had continually dinned the words, "George, be king!"

It is well to understand the status of a colony in those days, and the
difficulties with which its inhabitants struggled. Yet it is hard for
the modern man to conceive the restrictions upon freedom. From earliest
days there had been discontent with the king's claim to the finest trees
in the public forests, the "mast trees" which, reserved for the king's
navy, no man might lawfully cut.[5] Exportation of lumber, except to
England and the British West Indies, was long illegal. Trade with the
French and Spanish islands was prohibited entirely, and trade in many
products of home manufacture (tobacco, sugar, wool, dye-stuffs, furs,
are prominent examples) was forbidden "to any place but Great
Britain--even to Ireland."[6] Certain merchandise might be imported at
will, subject to duty; but most articles could be bought, and sold, only
through Great Britain.

Further, internal commerce and manufacture were severely hampered. No
wool or woollen product might be carried from one province to another.
The Bible might not be printed. The making of hats was almost entirely
suppressed. The manufacture of iron, on a scale sufficient to compete
with English wares, was practically prohibited--as a "nuisance."[7]

Under all these restrictions the colonies were not as yet restive. To be
sure there were smuggling and illicit trade, and grievances in plenty;
yet the stress of colonial life, the continual danger from the north and
west, had kept the provincials satisfied as a body. And now, at the
opening of the reign of George III, with the French driven out of Canada
and the Mississippi Valley, and the Indians subdued, there should have
been concord between the colonists and the king.

The comparison between the two is very striking, while at the same time
it is not easily brought home to the city dweller of to-da