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22 Pol. Sci. Q. 1 (1907)

handle is hein.journals/pclscceqry22 and id is 1 raw text is: Volume XXII] March, 1907 [Number r POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY BRITISH COLONIAL POLICY, 1754-1765 THE comparatively short period of time embraced within the dates of 1754 and 1765 was filled with events of momentous importance in the history of the British Empire. These few years witnessed both a vast extension of the Empire, and also the organized beginnings of a movement tending towards its disruption. In so far as any war can decide so fundamental an event apart from the underlying conditions predetermining its issue, the success of British arms in America decided that the civilization of North America was to be Anglo- Saxon, not Latin in character. In India a signal, though not a final check was given to French ambitions, and a firm founda- tion was laid for future British political supremacy. In West Africa also a policy of territorial acquisition was definitely adopted. It is not the purpose of this essay to describe these well-known events. The prospects of future imperial expansion, disclosed by the victories in India and in Africa, will be disre- garded, and attention will be paid solely to the Empire in America. On the other hand, it is not the intention to analyze the deeply seated causes that led to the secession of the North American colonies from the Empire. Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas. To acquire such a state of happiness would necessitate an exhaustive examination of the Empire's develop- ment from its very origins. The tendency towards independ- ence was present at the outset. It was in part due to the extreme individualism of the settlers, a characteristic which, while pos- I