territory."

"The English showed themselves a much more humane people than the
Spaniards," I observed. "But did they never come into collision with
the wild natives of the country?"

"Frequently," Mrs Reichardt replied; "but in some measure this was
unavoidable. As new settlers from England landed in the country, they
required more land; but the savages were now not inclined to barter;
they had become jealous of the strangers, and were desirous of driving
them back to their ships before they became too numerous. Acts of
hostility were committed by the savages upon the settlers, which were
often marked by great brutality: this exasperated the latter, who joined
in a warlike association, and notwithstanding their numbers and daring,
drove them further and further from their neighbourhood, till either by
conquest, treaties, or purchase, the Englishmen or their descendants
obtained the greater portion of North America."

"Do they still hold possession of it?" I asked.

"Up to a recent date, the whole of this vast acquisition was a colony in
obedience to the government of England; but a dispute having arisen
between the mother country and the colony, a struggle took place, which
ended in the hatter throwing off all subjection to the laws of England.
The extensive provinces joined together in a union of equal privileges
and powers, which has since gone by the name of the Government of the
United States of North America. This is the great republic to which I
just now alluded, that is gradually absorbing the minor Southern States
into its union, and threatens at no very distant date to spread the
English language and the English race over the whole continent of
America."

"Has England then completely lost the country she colonised?" I
inquired, feeling more and more interested in the subject.

"No, a great portion still remains in her possession," she replied.
"The people preserved their allegiance when their neighbours thought
proper to rise in revolt, and are now in a state of great prosperity,
governed by the laws of England, and supported by her power. The
English possessions in North America form an extensive district. It is,
however, but an inconsiderable fraction of the vast countries still
remaining under the dominion of England. Her territories lie in every
quarter of the globe; indeed the sun never sets upon this immense
empire--an empire with which the conquests of Alexander, and of Caesar,
or the mo