DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 18 ) able to George III, and it was unfortunate for the country that a man of such a type should have been called to the head of affairs, and by his short- sightedness and want of political sagacity have for- warded instead of checking the course of the King in the crisis that ensued. For some time the relations between England and her North American Colonies had been severely strained by the mistaken policy of Lord North’s predecessors in office; a policy which led to the War of American Independence, culminating in the severance of the American Colonies from the mother-country, and the establishment of the Great Republic of the United States. It would be beyond the scope of this lecture to give you an account either of the condition of the American Colonies before their revolt, or of the gradual growth of the American Republic. The popu- lation of North America about a century ago barely reached three millions, and its leading citizens were chiefly descended from Puritan families driven from England in the seventeenth century to escape the bigoted persecution of the Stuart dynasty. These three millions were loyally attached to the mother- country, and content to submit to her rule so long as their rights were respected and their domestic politics not made subsidiary to interests exclusively English. Unfortunately, the ignorance of the English in all things pertaining to the Americans and their a