65 Colonial Independence (1748)

It is to be observed that each English colony in North America is independent of the other and that each has its proper laws and coin and may be looked upon in several lights as a state by itself. From hence it happens that in time of war, things go on very slowly and irregularly here. For not only the sense of one province is sometimes directly opposite to that of another, but frequently the views of the governor and those of the assembly of the same province are quite different. So that it is easy to see that while the people are quarreling about the best and cheapest manner of carrying on the war, an enemy has it in his power to take one place after another.

It has commonly happened that whilst some provinces have been suffering from their enemies, the neighboring ones were quiet and inactive, as if it did not in the least concern them. They have frequently taken up two or three years in considering whether they should give assistance to an oppressed sister colony and sometimes they have expressly declared themselves against it. There are instances of provinces who were not only neuter [neutral] in these circumstances, but who even carried on a great trade with the power which at that very time was attacking and laying waste some other provinces.

The French in Canada, who are but an inconsiderable body in comparison with the English in America, have by this position of affairs been able to obtain great advantages in times of war. For if we judge from the number and power of the English, it would seem very easy for them to get the better of the French in America. It is however of great advantage to the crown of England that the North American colonies are near a country under the government of the French, like Canada. There is reason to believe that the king never was earnest in his attempts to expel the French from their possessions there, though it might have been done with little difficulty. For the English colonies in this part of the world have increased so much in their number of inhabitants and in their riches that they almost vie with Old England.

Now in order to keep up the authority and trade of their mother country and to answer several other purposes, they are forbid to establish new manufactures which would turn to the disadvantage of the British commerce. They are not allowed to dig for any gold or silver unless they send them to England immediately. They have not the liberty of trading to any parts that do not belong to the British dominions, excepting some settled places. And foreign traders are not allowed to send their ships to them. These and some other restrictions occasion the inhabitants of the English colonies to grow less tender for their mother country. This coldness is kept up by the many foreigners such as Germans, Dutch, and French settled here and living among the English, who commonly have no particular attachment to Old England. Add to this likewise that many people can never be contented with their possessions, though they be ever so great, and will always be desirous of getting more and of enjoying the pleasure which arises from [ex]changing. And their own great liberty and their luxury often lead them to licentiousness.

I have been told by Englishmen, and not only by such as were born in America but even by such as came from Europe, that the English colonies in North America, in the space of thirty or fifty years would be able to form a state by themselves, entirely independent of Old England. But as the whole country which lies along the seashore is unguarded and on the land side is harassed by the French, in times of war these dangerous neighbors are sufficient to prevent the connection of the colonies with their mother country from being quite broken off. The English government has therefore sufficient reason to consider the French in North America as the best means of keeping the colonies in their due submission.

Source: “Colonial Independence” (1748), by Peter Kalm, translated by Reinhold Forster in Travels into North America (1770), I, 262-265. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45494/page/n375/mode/2up