Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/243

 work of purification. They lived too with exemplary sobriety; breakfasting on tea without milk and sweetened by a small bit of sugar passed round from one to the other ; they dined on buttermilk and bread, and if to that they added sugar, it was esteemed delicious, though sometimes they indulged in broiled and roasted meats. The use of stoves was unknown, and the huge fire-places, through which one might have driven a wagon, furnished with ample logs, were grand and cozy nestling-places during the long winter evenings, which the wail of the snow storm and the roar of the forest trees rendered more deliciously secure. Under the English the same simplicity of manners long prevailed.

The population of New Jersey, in 1738, had increased to forty-seven thousand three hundred and sixty-seven, of whom about four thousand were slaves. In 1736, a college was founded at Princeton, named Nassau Hall. The general prosperity of this colony was due, doubtless, to the virtuous and industrious character and habits of the people. In 1750, the population of New Jersey was about seventy thousand

In regard to Pennsylvania and Delaware, no entirely reliable computation can be made of the population of these colonies; probably it was considerably less than that of Virginia at the same date. The colonists traded with England, Portugal and Spain; with the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores; with the West India Islands; with New England, Virginia, and Carolina. In 1731, Philadelphia is said to have numbered about twelve thousand inhabitants, being, probably, somewhat in advance of New York. In 1736, the vessels arriving and departing were considerably less than we have noted in the case of New York. The importations into Pennsylvania are reckoned at the annual value of £150,000, being much more than those of New York.

The value of the exports from Great Britain to North America, according to Mr. Hildreth, for the ten years from 1738 to 1748, was, on an average, annually about $3,500,000. The imports from the colonies were somewhat less. The balance against the colonies was paid in specie, the produce of their West India and African trade.

From this brief, imperfect, and, we fear, rather dry sketch of the general condition of the American colonies, it will be evident that there existed among them the undoubted elements of strength, decision of character, and firm resolves to maintain their just rights and privileges. Prosperity had fallen to their lot in a large degree, and with prosperity the natural restlessness of the Anglo-Saxon race urged them on to greater and more far-reaching designs. Their neighbors, the French, they had never liked; already had there been many a contest between them; and now the day was fast approaching when the final struggle was to take place and the mastery be attained by one or the other. It was not possible much longer to put off the contest.

France, thus far secure in the West,—to use the language of Mr. Parkman —"next, essayed to gain foothold upon the sources of the Ohio, and, about the