he contest could not be
doubtful. Even in Frontenac's time the French were protected chiefly
by the intervening wilderness and the need of the English colonists to
develop their own immediate resources. The English were not yet ready
for a serious offensive war. In fact they, too, had their own Indian
question.

It is a matter of some interest to observe {132} how the conquest of
Canada was postponed by the lack of cohesion among the English
colonies. Selfishness and mutual jealousy prevented them from
combining against the common foe. Save for this disunion and fancied
conflict of interest, New France must have succumbed long before the
time of Montcalm. But the vital significance of the conflict between
New England and New France lies in the contrast of their spirit and
institutions. The English race has extended itself through the world
because it possessed the genius of emigration. The French colonist did
his work magnificently in the new home. But the conditions in the old
home were unfavourable to emigration. The Huguenots, the one class of
the population with a strong motive for emigrating, were excluded from
Canada in the interest of orthodoxy. The dangers of the Atlantic and
the hardships of life in a wintry wilderness might well deter the
ordinary French peasant; moreover, it by no means rested with him to
say whether he would go or stay. But, whatever their nature, the
French race lost a wonderful opportunity through the causes which
prevented a healthy, steady exodus to America.

England profited by having classes of people {133} sufficiently well
educated to form independent opinions and strong enough to carry out
the programme dictated by these opinions. While each of the English
colonies sprang from a different motive, all had in common the purpose
to form an effective settlement. The fur trade did France more harm
than good. It deflected her attention from the middle to the northern
latitudes and lured her colonists from the land in search of quick
profits. It was the enemy to the home. On the other hand, the English
came to America primarily in search of a home. Profits they sought,
like other people, but they sought them chiefly from the soil.

Thus English ideas took root in America, gained new vitality, and
assumed an importance they had not possessed in England for many
centuries. And, while for the moment the organization of the English
colonies was not well suited to offensiv