LECTURE II.

THE STRUGGLE FOR AMERICA.

FRENCH V. ENGLISH COLONIZATION.

The French in Acadie and Canada. Champlain at Quebec, 1608. Influence of Colbert, finance minister of Louis XIV, on French colonization. French exploration on the Mississippi. La Salle's expedition to Texas.

The Mississippi Scheme, 1719.

Crozat's 'Western Company' taken over by John Law. Law's great designs. Strength and weakness of Law's schemes. Comparison between the Mississippi and the South Sea schemes. Collapse of both. Causes of this.

The struggle for the Mississippi. The French chain of forts. The English establish the Ohio Company. Benjamin Franklin. His proposals for federation in 1754.

General Braddock sent to seize Fort Duquesne, 1755. Washington marches with Braddock's expedition. Franklin's advice. The ambuscade. Braddock's force cut off. Fort Duquesne captured, 1758.

Pitt sends Wolfe to Canada: scheme of operations. Montcalm at Quebec. Wolfe despairs of success. The heights of Abraham. Wolfe's night attack. Battle of Quebec and death of Wolfe, September, 1759. The English secure Canada permanently by Peace of Paris, 1763. Effects of the Peace upon the question of American independence. American separation already foreseen.

LECTURE III.

LOSS OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES.

A. Indirect Causes of the War.

1. Treaty of Paris weakens the tie of dependence. Prophecies of separation.

2. The Commercial system. Colonial trade regulated by the Navigation Act. Effects of this system upon the colonies. Balances of trade. The contraband commerce.

3. Accession of George Grenville to power, 1763. His character: introduces the Stamp Tax. Justice or injustice of such a tax considered. American resistance: views of Pitt and Burke. The Rockingham ministry. Stamp Tax repealed. The Declaratory Act. Burke's speeches on American taxation.

4. Commercial policy of Charles Townshend. The tax on tea; distraction consequent upon it; the Government between 1766-1770 favourable to American resistance.

5. Lord North's ministry. North's position as the King's minister. The King implacable to the rebels. North's views as to conciliation. The Bedford faction.

B. Direct Causes of the War.

1. North's Regulating Act. The Boston tea outrage—retaliatory measures, viz.:

2. The Boston Port Bill. Massachusett's Government Bill. 3. Franklin as Agent General. The Hutchinson letters.

4. Declaration of the Rights of Man, 1774. Colonies unite in a representative character. Militia organized. Skirmish at Lexington. Bunker's Hill. Washington appointed Commanderin-Chief.

C. The War.

Attitude of the various colonies considered. Massachusetts. Jefferson influences Virginia. Patrick Henry. 'Liberty or Death.' Declaration of Independence, 1776. Washington's difficulties. Valley Forge. Passage of the Delaware. Situation at the close of 1776.

Plan of campaign, 1777. Burgoyne at Saratoga. (Surrenders, Oct., 1777.)

The French alliance. Causes which influenced France. Effects upon the struggle, and upon France. England loses the supremacy of the sea. Armed neutrality.

Isolated position of England. Naval operations to 1780. The Carolina campaign.

Greene-the General of the revolution. Cornwallis opposed to him. Greene's victories and defeats. Insurgent forces close upon Cornwallis. Surrender at Yorktown, Oct., 1781.

D. The Treaty of Versailles, 1783.

American Independence ceded. English gain and loss. Influence of the war upon affairs in Ireland.

LECTURE IV.

INDIA UNDER THE COMPANY.

ROBERT CLIVE.

A. Rise of the East India Company.

Established 1600; for a century it is a purely commercial concern, engaged in rivalry of trade with the Dutch and, to some extent, with France. Acquisition of Bombay by marriage treaty of Charles II with Catherine of Braganza. Rival East India Company threatens ruin of English enterprise in the East. The two companies are amalgamated in 1709.

B. French and English Rivalry in India.

Death of Aurangzebe. Break up of the Mogul Empire. Opportunity thus offered for European intervention in Indian politics. Dupleix. Nature of his schemes. He forms the plan which the English eventually carry to execution. Treaty of Aix la Chapelle, 1748. The War of Carnatic Succession. Dupleix's subsidiary alliance with the pretenders. Power of the Company threatened with extinction.

Clive. Previous career to 1750. Plans the diversion on Arcot. Its success. The French surrender Trichinopoli. Foundation of English power in Presidency of Madras.

C. Surajah Dowlah in Bengal, 1756.

Capture of Calcutta by Surajah. The Black Hole. Arrival of Clive and Admiral Watson. Critical position of the English. Clive resorts to diplomacy. Omichund. Clive determines to cross the river and engage the Nabob. Battle of Plassey, June 23, 1757. Establishes the Presidency of Bengal.

D. English Tyranny and Maladministration in India. Vansittart Governor of Bengal. Meer Jaffier, the friendly Nabob, is deposed for Meer Cossim. Rapacity of the English in Bengal. Cossim revolts-he flies up the river to join forces with Shuja Dowlah, Nabob of Oudh; perpetrates massacre of Patna. The combined forces are defeated at Buxar, 1764.

Clive returns, 1765. Checks the prevalent abuses, both civil and military. Treaty of Benares. Immense accession of territory.

Clive leaves India, 1767. His death, 1774. His character.