A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

46 THE CHAIN OF POSTS. [1720.that of a rising flood slowly invading and conquering,by the unconscious force of its own growing volume,unless means be found to hold it back by dams andembankments within appointed limits.In the French colonies all was different. Herethe representatives of the Crown were men bredin an atmosphere of broad ambition and masterfuland far-reaching enterprise. Achievement wasdemanded of them. They recognized the greatnessof the prize, studied the strong and weak pointsof their rivals, and with a cautious forecast anda daring energy set themselves to the task of defeatingthem.If the English colonies were comparatively strongin numbers, their numbers could not be brought intoaction; while if the French forces were small, theywere vigorously commanded, and always ready at aword. It was union confronting division, energyconfronting apathy, military centralization opposedto industrial democracy; and, for a time, the advantagewas all on one side.The demands of the French were sufficiently comprehensive.They repented of their enforced concessionsat the Treaty of Utrecht, and in spite of thatcompact, maintained that, with a few local and trivialexceptions, the whole North American continent,except Mexico, was theirs of right ; while their opponentsseemed neither to understand the situation,nor see the greatness of the stakes at issue.In 1720 Father Bobd, priest of the Congregation of