No. XV.
SKETCHES of the RISE, PROGRESS and CONSEQUENCES of the late REVOLUTION.
Written in the years 1787, 1788, and 1789; now republished, with material corrections, and a Letter from the late Commander in Chief, explaining the Circumstances and Proceedings, preparatory to the Capture of Lord Cornwallis.
America was originally peopled by uncivilized nations, which lived mostly by hunting and fishing. The Europeans, who first visited these shores, treating the nativs as wild beasts of the forest, which have no property in the woods where they roam, planted the standard of their respectiv masters where they first landed, and in their names claimed the country by right of discovery.[44] Prior to any settlement in North America numerous titles of this kind were acquired by the English, French, Spanish, and Dutch navigators, who came hither for the purposes of fishing and trading with the nativs. Slight as such titles were, they were afterwards the causes of contention between the European nations. The subjects of different princes often laid claim to the same tract of country, because both had discovered the same river or promontary; or because the extent of their respectiv claims was indeterminate.
While the settlements in this vast uncultivated country were inconsiderable and scattered, and the trade of it confined to the bartering of a few trinkets for furs, a trade carried on by a few adventurers, the interfering of claims produced no important controversy among the settlers or the nations of Europe. But in proportion to the progress of population, and the growth of the American trade, the jealousies of the nations, which had made early discoveries and settlements on this coast, were alarmed; ancient claims were revived; and each power took measures to extend and secure its own possessions at the expense of a rival.
By the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the English claimed a right of cutting logwood in the Bay of Campeachy, in South America. In the exercise of this right, the English merchants had frequent opportunities of carrying on a contraband trade with the Spanish settlements on the continent. To remedy this evil, the Spaniards resolved to annihilate a claim, which, though often acknowleged, had never been clearly ascertained. To effect this design, they captured the English vessels, which they found along the Spanish Main, and many of the British subjects were doomed to work in the mines of Potosi.
Repeated severities of this kind at length (1739) produced a war between England and Spain. Porto Bello was taken from the Spaniards, by Admiral Vernon. Commodore Anson, with a squadron of ships, sailed to the South Seas, distressed the Spanish settlements on the western shore of America, and took a galleon, laden with immense riches. But in 1741 a formidable armament, destined to attack Carthagena, under the command of Lord Cathcart, returned unsuccessful, with the loss of upwards of twelve thousand British soldiers and seamen; and the defeat of the expedition, raised a clamor against the minister, Sir Robert Walpole, which produced a change in the administration. This change removed the scene of war to Europe, so that America was not immediately affected by the subsequent transactions; except that Louisburgh, the principal fortress of Cape Breton, was taken from the French by General Pepperell, assisted by Commodore Warren and a body of New England troops.
This war was ended in 1748 by the treaty of peace signed at Aix la Chapelle, by which restitution was made on both sides of all places taken during the war.
Peace, however, was of short duration. The French possessed Canada, and had made considerable settlements in Florida, claiming the country on both sides of the Missisippi, by right of discovery. To secure and extend their claims, they established a line of forts, on the English possessions, from Canada to Florida. They had secured the important pass at Niagara, and erected a fort at the junction of the Allegany and Monongahela rivers, called Fort Du Quesne. They took pains to secure the friendship and assistance of the nativs, encroachments were made upon the English possessions, and mutual injuries succeeded. The disputes among the settlers in America, and the measures taken by the French to command all the trade of the St. Lawrence river on the north, and of the Missisippi on the south, excited a jealousy in the English nation, which soon broke forth in open war.