About the middle of the eighteenth century occurred three famous battles which did much to determine the destinies of men for ages to come. The first of these, was the great victory achieved by the English arms on the plains of Plassey, June 23, 1757, which laid the foundation of the empire of British India, an empire which comprises more than one hundred and twenty millions of people. The second was the victory of Rossbach, which determined the re-union of the German states and laid the foundation of the present German empire. The third was the triumph of Wolfe on the plains of Abraham, September 13, 1759, for with it virtually began the history of the United States. France had ever been an enemy whose dread had knit the colonists together and to the mother country, England. By wresting Canada from her grasp and breaking through the line with which France had barred the British colonists from the basin of the Mississippi, Pitt laid the foundation of the great republic of the West. Hitherto the possessions of France in North America had been twenty times as vast as those of England; henceforth they were destined to dwindle into insignificance and eventually become extinct.
The close of the seven years' war, which ended at the peace of Paris, 1763, was a turning point in the history of the world. England was no longer a mere European power. Her future action lay in a wider sphere than that of Europe. Mistress of North America, the future mistress of India, claiming as her own the empire of the seas, Britain suddenly towered high above rival nations whose interest and position, being on a single continent, doomed them to comparative insignificance in the after history of mankind.
It is this that gives William Pitt so peculiar a position among the statesmen of the world. It was his faith, his daring—shall we not say his inspiration?—that called the English people to a sense of the destiny that lay before them.
With England on one side and her American colonies on the other, the Atlantic was dwindling into a mere strait within the British realms; but beyond it to the westward lay a vast ocean where the British flag was almost unknown. True the Pacific ocean had been discovered by Balboa in 1513, and crossed by Magellan in 1521. Dutch voyagers had discovered that "Great Southern Land," which they had named New Holland and also the northern extremity of New Zealand. But the discoveries had remained unheeded for more than a century.
It was not till 1778 that, under Pitt's direction, Captain Cook was sent into the Pacific ocean on a voyage of discovery. He discovered the Sandwich Islands circumnavigated New Zealand and took possession of Australia, or New Holland, in the name of the English king. The reports which he published of that vast ocean and those far-off islands, of their coral reefs, and palms, and bread-fruit, and gum trees, and kangaroos, and tattooed warriors, awoke an interest in the minds of the English concerning this world of wonders. They saw in all this a vast realm opened for the expansion of the English race, and English civilization.
The extension of the English language over vast territories and populations is without a parallel in the history of the world. Fully one-fifth of the surface of the globe and one-fourth of its population are under the dominion of England and the United States. The English language is now spoken, and English and American literature is read in every zone.
"They spread where Winter piles deep snows on bleak Canadian plains,
And where on green Pacific isles eternal summer reigns.
They glad Acadia's misty coasts, Jamaica's glowing isle,
And bide where gay with early flowers green Texan prairies smile."They dwell where Californian brooks wash down their sands of gold,
And track the Frazier's swelling flood thro' sunset valleys rolled;
They're found in Borneo's camphor groves, on shores of fierce Malay,
In valleys washed by Ganges' flood where Ceylon's zephyrs stray."Old Albions laws, Columbia's songs rejoice the captive's limbs;
The dark Liberian soothes her child with English cradle hymns,
Tasmanian maids are wooed and won, in gentle Saxon speech.
Australian boys read Crusoe's life, by Sidney's sheltered beach."They speak to men so far apart, that while this praise we sing,
Some may rejoice with autumn fruits, others with flowers of spring,
They speak with Shakspeare's searching thoughts and Bryant's lofty mind,
With Alfred's laws and Franklin's lore, to cheer and bless mankind."
Who does not see a marvelous wisdom in all this? The language thus widely spread was destined to be the medium by which the gospel is to be spread in all the nations of the earth. Who does not perceive that the statesmanship of Pitt was one of the great instrumentalities for the execution of the divine purposes? Like all great men, Pitt was in advance of the age in which he lived. But England could not forget the eminent services of him, who had done so much to promote her greatness. The ashes of Pitt (now best known as the earl of Chatham) repose in Westminster Abbey, the burial place of the kings of England. History will declare that among statesmen, few have left a more stainless, none a more splendid name.
While these leading events were transpiring around them two remarkable persons were developing in the American colonies. One of these was George Washington, the other, Benjamin Franklin.
Washington was born in 1732. His father, a gentleman of good fortune, died when his future illustrious son was only eleven years of age. Upon Washington's mother devolved the care of his early education. She was a devout woman, of excellent sense and deep affections, yet of a temper which could brook no shadow of insubordination. Under her rule—gentle and yet strong, George learned obedience and self-control. In boyhood he gave remarkable promise of those excellencies which distinguished his mature years. His person was large and powerful. He was accustomed to labor, which gave him endurance to perform the work that lay before him. His education was limited to the common English branches, mathematics and land surveying. In his eighteenth year he was employed by the government as surveyor of public lands. Many of his measurements are still on record, and long experience has established their unvarying accuracy. A massive intellect and an iron strength of will were given to him, with a gentle, loving heart, dauntless courage, and loftiness of purpose. He possessed, in a wonderful degree, clear perceptions of his duty, and a deep insight into the wants of his time.