were one day to leave their mark on those measureless tracts.  Everywhere, in the western regions of the American continent, the footsteps of the French, either travellers or missionaries, preceded the boldest adventurers.  It is the glory and the misfortune of France to always lead the van in the march of civilization, without having the wit to profit by the discoveries and the sagacious boldness of her children.  On the unknown roads which she has opened to the human mind and to human enterprise she has often left the fruits to be gathered by nations less inventive and less able than she, but more persevering and less perturbed by a confusion of desires and an incessant renewal of hopes.

The treaty of Utrecht had taken out of French hands the gates of Canada, Acadia, and Newfoundland.  It was now in the neighborhood of New France that the power of England was rising, growing rapidly through the development of her colonies, usurping little by little the empire of the seas.  Canada was prospering, however; during the long wars which the condition of Europe had kept up in America, the Canadians had supplied the king’s armies with their best soldiers.  Returning to their homes, and resuming without an effort the peaceful habits which characterized them, they skilfully cultivated their fields, and saw their population increasing naturally, without any help from the mother-country.  The governors had succeeded in adroitly counterbalancing the influence of the English over the Indian tribes.  The Iroquois, but lately implacable foes of France, had accepted a position of neutrality.  Agricultural development secured to the country comparative prosperity, but money was scarce, the instinct of the population was not in the direction of commerce; it was everywhere shackled by monopolies.  The English were rich, free, and bold; for them the transmission and the exchange of commodities were easy.  The commercial rivalry which set in between the two nations was fatal to the French; when the hour of the final struggle came, the Canadians, though brave, resolute, passionately attached to France, and ready for any sacrifice, were few in number compared with their enemies.  Scattered over a vast territory, they possessed but poor pecuniary resources, and could expect from the mother country only irregular assistance, subject to variations of gov ernment and fortune as well as to the chances of maritime warfare and engagements at sea, always perilous for the French ships, which were inferior in build and in number, whatever might be the courage and skill of their commanders.  The capture of Louisbourg and of the Island of Cape Breton by the English colonists, in 1745, profoundly disquieted the Canadians.  They pressed the government to make an attempt upon Acadia.  “The population has remained French,” they said; “we are ready to fight for our relatives and friends who have passed under the yoke of the foreigner.”  The ministry sent the Duke of Anville with a considerable