Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/172

 Bancroft, "the representatives of the English people assumed to sit in judgment on its kings. By declaring the throne vacant, they annihilated the principle of legitimacy. By disfranchising a dynasty for professing the Roman faith, they not only exerted the power of interpreting the original contract, but of introducing into it new conditions. By electing a king, they made themselves his constituents; and the parliament of England became the fountain of sovereignty for the English world."

But although the accession of William was of so great importance to the mother country, the colonies did not share, to the extent which they hoped and expected, in the benefits of a change of rulers. "By strengthening the parliament"—to use Mr. Hildreth's language—"and increasing the influence of the manufacturing class, the English Revolution exposed the American plantations to increased danger of mercantile and parliamentary tyranny, of which, in the acts of trade, they already had a foretaste—a tyranny, far more energetic, persevering, grasping, and more to be dreaded than any probable exercise of merely regal authority." The policy of William and the parliament was not favorable to the best interests of the colonies; and it was not long before it was discovered that the being rid of the despotism of royal prerogative afforded no guarantee against the despotism of parliament. William with very high ideas of prerogative in his own case, does not seem ever to have abated any of the pretensions and claims of his predecessors on the throne; and although it is true that the toleration of all Protestant sects became an established line of policy as well in the colonies as at home, it is equally true that the bitterness of party rancor against the Roman Catholics was greatly increased by the dethronement of James. The war with France, which broke out soon after William's accession, roused to their highest pitch both national and religious differences; and the colonies, as a matter of course, became involved in a ruinous conflict with their French neighbors in Canada, entailing upon themselves very heavy expenses and debts, and causing a fearful sacrifice of human life.

Both parties were at the first eager for the strife. New England, not less than the French 'colonists, entertained schemes of conquest and advancement. The latter purposed to monopolize the western fur trade, secure uninterrupted passage through Lake Erie to the Mississippi, and cut off the English from the cod fishery on the banks of Newfoundland; while the former hoped, and apparently not without reason, to be able to deprive the French of all the advantages which they possessed, and even expel them entirely from the country. Both parties, too, nationally and religiously enemies, were prepared to engage in the bloody strife with unpitying hearts and unmistakable ferocity.

Before entering, however, upon the details of the intercolonial wars, we ask the reader's attention to several matters which preceded these in the regular order of time.

Early in April of this year (1689), news of the landing of William of