DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

ew) his Parliament had to recognise the Independence of the United States in the following year. Though we have every reason to deplore the policy of the King and his Ministers, as well as the infatuation of the country which occasioned the loss of the American Colonies, we may surmise that sooner or late they would have been severed from England, perhaps at a still greater sacrifice of life and treasure. A Judge of high standing already said, in 1774, ‘It is intolerable that a continent. like America should be governed by a little island three thousand miles away. America must, and will, be independent.’ But instead of speculating on what might have been, let us turn to what really has been, and, ) instead of regretting an irredeemable Past, let us ) endeavour to learn from history such lessons as may be profitable for the future. A great crisis often pro- duces the most unexpected results. The war with | America was followed by an expansion of Great Britain, such as it had not known since the age of ; Elizabeth, and by a display of industrial activity such as the world had never seen. In her single- handed fight with Spain and France, after the American war, which lasted for twenty years, England not only proved herself to be a great European Power, but rose to become a mother of nations. Her settlers disputed Africa and Aus-