No one can more sincerely rejoice than I do, on the reduction of
Canada; and this is not merely as I am a colonist, but as I am a
Briton. I have long been of opinion that _the foundations of the
future grandeur and stability of the British empire lie in America_;
and though like other foundations they are low and little now, they
are nevertheless broad and strong enough to support the greatest
political structure that human wisdom ever yet erected. I am therefore
by no means for restoring Canada. If we keep it, all the country from
the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi will in another century be filled
with British people. Britain itself will become vastly more populous,
by the immense increase of its commerce; the Atlantic sea will be
covered with your trading ships; and your naval power, thence
continually increasing, will extend your influence round the whole
globe, and awe the world! If the French remain in Canada they will
continually harass our colonies by the Indians, and impede if not
prevent their growth; your progress to greatness will at best be
slow, and give room for many accidents that may forever prevent it.
But I refrain, for I see you begin to think my notions extravagant,
and look upon them as the ravings of a mad prophet.