The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-01
The GLOBES HOME STUDY COURSE
How the Il ). I*as Expanded.
BY DANA C. MUMRoE, A. M.

to fall finally to the English nine years
later and to become part of PENIS grant
in 1851. BY the end of the seventeenth
century there were but three claimants
for North American territory, the Span
ish, the French and the English. And
for a time there seemed to be room for
all.
The eighteenth century, however, saw
the expulsion of France from her domain
on this continent. The Spanish were left
as a negligible quantity. A dozen years
before the Revolutionary war began it
had been decided that the great power
in Eastern America was to be English.
and, moreover, that the dominant power
must be not only superior, but alone.
There could not be a division of territory
between the Latin and the Teutonic peo-
pie. One or the otner, as a governing
power, must go. The French went. Any
and how?
The causes of the contest and of the
victory are readily diScerned. Prominent,
of course, as creating friction between
the two peoples was the bitter contest
for commercial supremacy going on be-
tween France and England. Throughout
that century they were again and again
at war. The colonies were necessarily
involved. The struggle between the two
peoples in this country had its economic
causes here as well If the European
relations of France and England had
been amicable it is probable commercial
rivalry, involving territory, would still
have brought on conflict in America. The
reasons for English victory are to be
found in the differing conditions of the
Two colonial enterprises, both as to peo-
PIE and as to government, and in the
overwhelming numerical superiority of
the English, the latter numbering some
100000 whites along the Atlantic sea-
board to some $4,000 French in Canada
and Louisiana
1t is unnecessary, if it were possible.
to rehearse the story of English coloni-
cation in America to show the spirit and
material CT the newly forming empire
The French colonization has an equally
interesting story, and in many aspects
far more romantic. The tolls and suffer-
ings of Cartier and Champlain, of Mar
quette and La Sale thrill us in the glow
ing pages of Parkman. But while we
reverence the devotion of the Jesuit and
admire the intrepidity of the explorer we
are amazed at the incompetence of the
rank and file of the colonists and at the
mistakes Of their governments. Two to-
tally different spirits animated the
French and the English settlers. The
later were sturdily Independent and in
dustrious and while they were always
in earnest about living and a little
more than living II possible, there were
some things more precious to them than
ease and comfort. They had religious
and political ideals. Moreover, the Eng
fish colonists were in many respects the
pick of their native land. The French
colonists had no initiative. They either
were compelled or hired by their govern
ment to emigrate Once here they were
disposed to rely on a paternal admins
tration to direct them in all things and
to extricate them from all difficulties 1t
is not thus that an empire is founded
on q permanent basis. But the relatively
few energetic men among the French
and especially their leaders, were eager
for territory and for trade. Inevitably
they came into conflict with the no less
ambitious, though plodding English.
A view of the possessions of the Eng
fish, French and Spanish in North Amer.
lea up to the seven years war will be
helpful. From Maine to Georgia, inclu-
sive, and from the ocean to the water
sheds of the st. Lawrence and the Mis-
sissippi, was English: the valleys of these
two rivers were French by right of ex-
ploration and partial settlement; west
of that, and as far north as California,
was Spanish.
The inevitable conflict came on, and
step by step the French were forced back
and off the ground The wars We're at
first largely carried on by the colonists
themselves. The years 16S9-1697 were
marked by the Indian raids under French