Thus, after a long and arduous struggle, after much oxpense and much distress, the power of the French in Atmerica was overthrown: and the safety of the British colonists, was secured against the attacks of a rival who had both the inclination and the means to annoy them. In the course of the war, the most atrocious cruelties were practised by the Indians: the cottage of the peasant, and the house of the more wealthy settler, were equally the objects of their resentment and their fury : neither age nor sex was spared ; and the toma hawk and the scalping-knife, instruments the most dreadful to the reflection of man, were employed with out discrimination, and without remorse. Nor could the one people be charged with encouraging this dis honourable warfare to the exclusion of the other. After the taking of Montreal, however, it was believed that such cruelties would cease ; and it was hoped, that the Indians, no longer excited by a rival nation, and depending on the English alone, would leave the plan ters undisturbed to the prosecution of their commercial interests, and the enjoyment of their domestic happi ness.
When the French were expelled from Fort du Quesne. they retired into Louisiana, and endeavoured to seduce the Cherokees from their alliance with Great Britain. A war between the English and the savages of that na tion ensued. The inhabitants of South Carolina were greatly distressed by their predatory hostilities ; and colonel Montgomery was ordered to the assistance of the planters, with a body of regular troops, which ar rived in the spring of the year 1760. The utmost exer tions being made in the province, Montgomery entered the country of the Cherokees, where meeting with the savages, a tierce encounter took place : but, though the English claimed the victory, they thought it imprudent to advance farther, and the Indians, in reality, suffered no defeat. The war continued to rage. Amherst was again applied to for assistance. Early in June 1761, colonel Grant attacked the savages near the town of Etchoc : the contest was severe : but the discipline and valour of the English at length prevailed over the fierce but artless courage of the Cherokees. Their houses were destroyed, and their whole country wasted : and such was the extremity to which they were reduced, that they earnestly sued for peace. A treaty being con cluded in the course of the year, the southern provinces were delivered from the inroads of the savages.
The expulsion of the French from their possessions in North America, was followed by a war with Spain, which was carried on with signal advantage to Great Britain. The princes of the house of Bourbon having formed the alliance, called the Family Compact, in or der to support and to heighten their own aggrandize ment, the sovereign of France could not be idle while his catholic majesty was in arms against England. Hos tilities commenced both in Europe and America. Gre nada, St Lucia, Martinique, St Vincent, and all the Caribbee islands, were taken from the French; and Havannah, an important city, which commanded, in some degree, the Gulf of Mexico, was wrested from Spain. No force which the enemy could bring into ac tion seemed able to stop the British in the career of victory and conquest : but, for reasons unnecessary to be mentioned in this place, preliminaries of peace were signed at Paris, and tranquillity was restored on both sides of the Atlantic. By the treaty which was after wards concluded, " his Christian majesty ceded to Great Britain, for ever, all the conquests made by that power on the continent of North America, together with the river and port of Mobile : and all the territory to which France was entitled on the left bank of the Mississippi, reserving only the island of New Orleans. And it was
agreed, that for the future the confines between the dominions of the two crowns in that quarter of the world, should be irrevocably fixed by a line drawn along the middle of the river Mississippi, from its source, as far as the river Iberville, and from thence by a line drawn along the middle of this river, and of the lakes Maure pas and Port Chartrain, to the sea. The Havannah was exchanged with Spain for the Floridas : and by esta blishing these great natural boundaries to the British empire in North America, every cause for future con test respecting that continent with any potentate of Europe, appeared to be removed for ever." Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i. p. 564.
The love of liberty is natural to man. In the savage state, this principle is exercised with little restraint : every individual acts for himself, looks to his own cou rage and his own arm for defence ; and as he requires not the protection of a superior, he disdains to acknow ledge his authority. When men arc united in society, it is perceived that subordination is necessary to their happiness, and even to their existence in that society : those who are accustomed to reflect, naturally take the lead in every thing where reflection is wanted ; and those whose valour or address is most conspicuous, have the places assigned to them, where these qualities arc most requisite either for attack or defence. Laws are framed to promote the good of the community ; and that laws may be executed, some one must be obeyed. Thus the authority of a chief being established, reason tells us that it ought to be maintained : for if otherwise, sub ordination, which is necessary to the very existence of society, and to the enjoyment of the benefits which re sult from union, cannot be preserved. The love of licen tious freedom is checked, and should be checked by the power of the ruler. But if the ruler shall attempt to enforce what is obviously prejudicial to the interests of the state ; if, regardless of the laws which reason has prescribed and expediency has required, he shall follow the dictates of his own will or caprice ; if liberty is not only subjected to wholesome restraint, but in danger of utter annihilation ; the voice of justice and of nature cries out, that resistance is necessary, and that bounds should be set to the uncontrolled extravagance of do minion. When Xerxes is meditating the invasion of Greece, Greece must unite in its own defence. It was the love of freedom which led Miltiades to the plain of Marathon, and Leonidas to the pass of Thermopylx ; and it was the same principle which glowed in the breast of Wallace, and animated the exertions of Tell in the service of his country. But before this principle is called into action, it should be determined, whether the good which is expected from resistance will counterbalance the evils of insurrection, when order is destroyed, and liberty degenerates into licentiousness ; and it should not be forgotten, that the evils of insurrection are cer tain and imminent, while the good which is expected from resistance is probable and remote.