roduced effects so rapidly,
and in which, in every case, the effects have been directly opposite to
what short-sighted mortals had anticipated. It was in 1756, scarcely
forty years ago, that the French, being in possession of the provinces,
attempted to wrest from us those portions of America which we occupied.
What was the result? After a war which, for cruelty and atrocity, is
perhaps unequalled in history, both parties employing savages, by whom
the French and English were alternately tortured and burnt to death,
France, in attempting to obtain all, lost all, and was compelled, in
1760, to surrender its own provinces to Great Britain. Here is one
instance in which affairs turned out contrary to the expectations of
France.

"Now again: At no period was England more prosperous or more respected
by foreign nations than at the close of the war. Her prosperity made
her arrogant and unjust. She wronged her colonies. She thought that
they dared not resist her imperious will. She imagined that now that
the French were driven from the Canadas, America was all her own,
whereas it was because the French were driven from the Canadas that the
colonies ventured to resist. As long as the French held this country,
the English colonists had an enemy on their frontiers, and consequently
looked up to England for support and protection. They required aid and
assistance, and as long as they did require it, they were not likely to
make any remonstrance at being taxed to pay a portion of the expense
which was incurred. Had the French possessed an army under Montcalm
ready to advance at the time that the Stamp Act, or the duty upon tea,
salt, etcetera, was imposed, I question very much if the colonists would
have made any remonstrance. But no longer requiring an army for their
own particular defence, these same duties induced them to rise in
rebellion against what they considered injustice, and eventually to
assert their independence. Here, again, we find that affairs turned out
quite contrary to the expectations of England.

"Observe again. The American colonists gained their independence, which
in all probability they would not have done had they not been assisted
by the numerous army and fleet of France, who, irritated at the loss of
the Canadas, wished to humiliate England by the loss of her own American
possessions. But little did the French king and his noblesse imagine,
that in upholding the principles of the Americans