Fort to Fort, till at last they grew ftrong enough to avow their Designs, and defy us to obftruct them. By these Provocations long continued, we are at length forced into a War, in which we have had hitherto very ill Fortune. Our Troops under Braddock were difhonourably defeated; our Fleets have yet done nothing more than taken a few Merchanthips, and have diftreffed fome private Families, but have very little weakened the Power of France. The Detention of their Seamen makes it indeed lefs eafy for them to fit out their Navy; but this Deficiency will be eafily fupplied by the Alacrity of the Nation, which is always eager for War, It is unpleafing to reprefent our Affairs to our own Difadvantage; yet it is neceffary to fhew the Evils which we defire to be removed; and, therefore, fome Account may very properly be given of the Measures which have given them their prefent Superiority. They are faid to be fupplied from France with better Governors than our Colonies have the Fate to obtain from England. A French Governor is feldom chofen for any other Reason than his Qualifications for his Truft. To be a Bankrupt at Home, or to' be fo infamously vicious that he cannot be decently protected in his own Country, feldom recommends any Man to the Government of a French Colony. Their Officers are commonly fkilful either in War or Commerce, and are taught to have no Expectation of Honour or Preferment, but from the Juftice and Vigour of their Administration. Their great Security is the Friendship of the Natives, and to this Advantage they have certainly an indubitable Right; because it is the Confequence of their Virtue. It is ridiculous to imagine, that the Friendship of Nations, whether civil or barbarous, can be gained and kept but by kind Treatment; and furely they who intrude, uncalled, upon the Country of a distant People, ought to confider the Na E 4 tives Our own Troubles had left us very little Defire to look out upon the Continent, and inveterate Prejudice hindered us from perceiving, that for more than Half a Century the Power of France had been increasing, and that of Spain had been growing lefs; nor does it seem to have been remembered, which yet required no great Depth of Policy to difcern, that of two Monarchs, neither of which could be long our Friend, it was our Intereft to have the weaker near us; or that if a War fhould happen, Spain, however wealthy or ftrong in herself, was by the Difperfion of her Territories more obnoxious to the Attacks of a naval Power, and confequently had more to fear from us, and had it lefs in her Power to hurt us. All these Confiderations were overlooked by the Wifdom of that Age, and Cromwell affifted the French to drive the Spaniards out of Flanders at a Time, when it was our Intereft to have fupported the Spaniards against France, as formerly the Hollanders against Spain, by which we might at least have retarded the Growth of the French Power, though I think it must have finally prevailed. During this Time our Colonies, which were lefs difturbed by our Commotions than the Mother Country, naturally increased; it is probable that many who were unhappy at Home took Shelter in thofe remote Regions, where, for the Sake of inviting greater Numbers, every one was allowed to think and live his own Way, The French Settlement in the mean Time went flowly forward, too inconfiderable to raise any Jealoufy, and too weak to attempt any Incroachments. When Cromwell died, the Confufions that followed produced the Reftoration of Monarchy, and fome Time was employed in repairing the Ruins of our Conftitution, and reftoring the Nation to a State of Peace. In every Change there will be many that that fuffer real or imaginary Grievances, and therefore many will be diffatisfied. This was, perhaps, the Reafon why feveral Colonies had their Beginning in the Reign of Charles the Second. The Quakers willingly fought Refuge in Penfylvania; and it is not unlikely that Carolina owed its inhabitants to the Remains of that reftlefs Difpofition, which had given fo much Disturbance to our Country, and had now no Opportunity of acting at Home. The Dutch ftill continuing to increase in Wealth and Power, either kindled the Refentment of their Neighbours by their Infolence, or raised their Envy by their Profperity. Charles made War upon them without much Advantage: but they were obliged at laft to confefs him the Sovereign of the Narrow Seas. They were reduced almoft to Extremities by an Invafion from France; but foon recovered from their Confternation, and, by the Fluctuation of War, regained their Cities and Provinces with the fame Speed as they had loft them. During the Time of Charles the Second the Power of France was every Day increafing; and Charles, who never difturbed himself with remote Confequences, faw the 'Progrefs of her Arms, and the Extenfion of her Dominions, with very little Uneafinefs. He was indeed fometimes driven by the prevailing Faction into Confederacies against her, but as he had, probably, a fecret Partiality in, her Favour, he never perfevered long in acing against her, nor ever acted with much Vigour: fo that, by his feeble Refiftance, he rather raifed her Confidence than hindered her Designs. 3 About this Time the French first began to perceive the Advantage of Commerce, and the Importance of a naval Force; and fuch Encouragement was given to Manufactures, and fo eagerly was every Project received, by which Trade could be advanced, that, in a few Years, the Sea was into our Hands, upon no very juft Principles of Policy, only because every State, according to a Prejudice of long Continuance, concludes itself more powerful as its Territories become larger. The Discoveries of new Regions, which were then every Day made, the Profit of remote Traffick, and the Neceffity of long Voyages, produced, in a few Years, a great Multiplication of Shipping. The Sea was confidered as the wealthy Element; and, by Degrees, a new Kind of Sovereignty arofe, called Naval Dominion. As the chief Trade of the World, fo the chief maritime Power was at firft in the Hands of the Portuguese and Spaniards, who, by a Compact, to which the Confent of other Princes was not asked, had divided the newly-difcovered Countries between them; but the Crown of Portugal having fallen to the King of Spain, or being feized by him, he was Mafter of the Ships of the two Nations, with which he kept all the Coafts of Europe in Alarm, till the Armada, which he had raised at a vaft Expence for the Conqueft of England,, was deftroyed, which put a Stop, and almost an End, to the naval Power of the Spaniards. At this Time the Dutch, who were oppreffed by the Spaniards, and feared yet greater Evils than they felt, refolved no longer to endure the Infolence of their Mafters: They therefore revolted; and after a Struggle, in which they were aflifted by the Money and Forces of Elizabeth, erected an independent and powerful Commonwealth. When the Inhabitants of the Low-Countries had formed their Syftem of Government, and fome Remiffion of the War gave them Leifure to form Schemes of future Profperity, they easily perceived, that as their Territories were narrow, and their Numbers fmall, they could preferve themselves only by that Power which is the Confequence of Wealth; and that, by a People whofe Country produced only the Neceffaries of Life, Wealth was not to be acquired, but from foreign Dominions, and by the Tranfportation of the Products of one Country into another. From this Neceffity, thus juftly estimated, arofe a Plan of Commerce, which was for many Years profecuted with Industry and Succefs, perhaps never feen in the World before, and by which the poor Tenants of mudwalled Villages and impaffable Bogs, erected themselves into high and mighty States, who put the greatest Monarchs at Defiance, whofe Alliance was courted by the proudest, and whose Power was dreaded by the fierceft Nation. By the Eftablishment of this State there arofe to England a new Ally, and a new Rival. At this Time, which feems to be the Period deftined for the Change of the Face of Europe, France began first to rife into Power; and, from defending her own Provinces with Difficulty and fluctuating Succefs, to threaten her Neighbours with Incroachments and Devaftations. Henry the Fourth having, after a long Struggle, obtained the Crown, found it eafy to govern Nobles exhaufted and wearied with a long Civil War, and having composed the Difputes between the Proteftants and Papists, so as to obtain at least a Truce for both Parties, was at Leisure to accumulate Treasure, and raise Forces which he purposed to have employed in a Defign of fettling for ever the Balance of Europe. Of this great Scheme he lived not to see the Vanity, or to feel the Difappointment; for he was murdered in the Midft of his mighty Preparations. The French, however, were in this Reign taught to know their own Power; and the great Defigns of a King, whofe Wifdom they had fo long experienced, even though they were not brought to actual Experiment, difpofed them to confider them D 3 felves |