however, enow of us to fall before them, and to be enslaved by them: One or the other of which muft certainly be the Fate of all the Inhabitants of every Country, where these perfidious and bloody People obtain the Mastery. I am,

America,

Aug. 1, 1755.

Dear, Sir, &c.
GALLO-ANGLUS.

P. S. Don't you think me an unhappy Man? Driven out of France, as you know I first was toge ther with my Parents, in Infancy, by that hoary Tyrant Louis XIV. into Holland: From thence refiding fome Years in England. And now fettling, as I thought, for the laft Time, in order to spend the Remainder of my Days in these Solitudes, to have the Repose of my old Age broken, by Men whom I am afhamed to call my Countrymen: As they are indeed no other than the common Enemies and fworn Disturbers of Mankind, refolving that no Body fhall ever have any Enjoyment of Life, till they become their Subjects; when it will be impoffible they fhould have any..

OBSER

OBSERVATIONS

ON

THE

STATE of AFFAIRS in 1756.

THE

HE Time is now come in which every Englishman expects to be informed of the National Affairs, and in which he has a Right to have that Expectation gratified. For whatever may be urged by Ministers, or those whom Vanity or Intereft make the Followers of Minifters, concerning the Neceffity of Confidence in our Governors, and the Prefumption of prying with profane Eyes into the Receffes of Policy, it is evident, that this Reverence can be claimed only by Counfels yet unexecuted, and Projects fufpended in Deliberation. But when a Defign has ended in Mifcarriage or Succefs, when every Eye and every Ear is Witness to general Discontent, or general Satisfaction, it is then a proper Time to difintangle Confufion, and illustrate Obfcurity, to fhew by what Causes every Event was produced, and in what Effects it is likely to terminate: To lay down with diftinct Particularity what Rumour always huddles in general Exclamations, or perplexes by undigefted Narratives; to fhew whence Happiness or Calamity is derived, and whence it may be expected; and honeftly to lay before the People what Inquiry can gather of the Paft, and Conjecture can eftimate of the Future.

The general Subject of the prefent War is fufficiently known. It is allowed on both Sides, that VOL. III. Hoftilities

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Hoftilities began in America, and that the French and English quarrelled about the Boundaries of their Settlements, about Grounds and Rivers to which, I am afraid, neither can fhew any other Right than that of Power, and which neither can occupy but by Ufurpation, and the Difpoffeffion of the natural Lords and original Inhabitants. Such is the Contest that no honeft Man can heartily with Success to either Party.

It may indeed be alleged, that the Indians have granted large Tracts of Land both to one and to the other; but these Grants can add little to the Validity of our Titles, till it be experienced how they were obtained: For if they were extorted by Violence, or induced by Fraud; by Threats, which the Miseries of other Nations had fhewn not to be vain, or by Promises of which no Performance was ever intended, what are they but new Modes of Ufurpation, but new Inftances of Cruelty and Treachery?

And indeed what but falfe Hope, or refiftlefs Terror can prevail upon a weaker Nation to invite a Stronger into their Country, to give their Lands to Strangers whom no Affinity of Manners, or Similitude of Opinion, can be faid to recommend, to permit them to build Towns from which the Natives are excluded, to raise Fortreffes by which they are intimidated, to fettle themselves with fuch Strength, that they cannot afterwards be expelled, but are for ever to remain the Masters of the original Inhabitants, the Dictators of their Conduct, and the Arbiters of their Fate?

When we see Men acting thus againft the Precepts of Reason, and the Inftincts of Nature, we cannot hesitate to determine, that by fome Means or other they were debarred from Choice; that they were lured or frighted into Compliance; that they either granted only what they found impoffible to

keep,

keep, or expected Advantages upon the Faith of their new Inmates, which there was no Purpose to confer upon them. It cannot be faid, that the Indians originally invited us to their Coafts; we went uncalled and unexpected to Nations who had no Imagination that the Earth contained any Inhabitants fo diftant and fo different from themselves. We aftonished them with our Ships, with our Arms, and with our general Superiority. They yielded to us as to Beings of another and higher Race, fent among them from fome unknown Regions, with Power which naked Indians could not refift, and which they were therefore, by every Act of Humility, to propitiate, that they, who could fo eafily destroy, might be induced to spare.

To this Influence, and to this only, are to be attributed all the Ceffions and Submiffions of the Indian Princes, if indeed any fuch Ceffions were ever made, of which we have no Witness but those who claim from them, and there is no great Malignity in fufpecting, that those who have robbed have alfo lied.

Some Colonies indeed have been established more peaceably than others. The utmoft Extremity of Wrong has not always been practifed; but thofe that have settled in the New World on the fairest Terms, have no other Merit than that of a Scrivener who ruins in Silence, over a Plunderer that feizes by Force; all have taken what had other Owners, and all have had recourfe to Arms, rather than quit the Prey on which they had faftened.

The American Dispute between the French and us is therefore only the Quarrel of two Robbers for the Spoils of a Paffenger; but as Robbers have Terms of Confederacy, which they are obliged to obferve as Members of the Gang, fo the English and French may have relative Rights, and do Injuftice to each other, while both are injuring the Indians. And

C 2

fuch,

fuch, indeed, is the prefent Conteft: They have parted the Northern Continent of America between them, and are now difputing about their Boundaries, and each is endeavouring the Deftruction of the other by the Help of the Indians, whofe Intereft it is that both fhould be destroyed.

Both Nations clamour with great Vehemence about Infraction of Limits, Violation of Treaties, open Ufurpation, infidious Artifices, and Breach of Faith. The English rail at the perfidious French, and the French at the encroaching English; they quote Treaties on each Side, charge each other with afpiring to univerfal Monarchy, and complain on either Part of the Infecurity of Poffeffion near fuch turbulent Neighbours,

Through this Mift of Controverfy it can raise no Wonder that the Truth is not eafily discovered. When a Quarrel has been long carried on between Individuals, it is often very hard to tell by whom it was begun. Every Fact is darkened by Diftance, by Intereft, and by Multitudes. Information is not eafily procured from far; thofe whom the Truth will not favour, will not ftep voluntarily forth to tell it; and where there are many Agents, it is eafy for every fingle Action to be concealed.

All these Caufes concur to the Obfcurity of the Question, "by whom were Hoftilities in America commenced?" Perhaps there never can be remembered a Time in which Hoftilities had ceafed. Two powerful Colonies inflamed with immemorial Rivalry, and placed out of the Superintendence of the Mother Nations, were not likely to be long at reft. Some Oppofition was always going forward, fome Mifchief was every Day done or meditated, and the Borderers were always better pleafed with what they could fnatch from their Neighbours, than what they had of their own.

In