which so much of the modern history of England has been distorted.
The colonial policy of Shaftesbury and his colleagues was
incomparably more enlightened than that of any contemporary
government. It was an interesting experiment--the first, perhaps,
in modern history--in the reconciliation of unity and freedom.
And it was undeniably successful: under it the English colonies
grew and throve in a very striking way. Everything, indeed, goes
to show that this system was well designed for the needs of a
group of colonies which were still in a state of weakness, still
gravely under-peopled and undeveloped. Evil results only began to
show themselves in the next age, when the colonies were growing
stronger and more independent, and when the self-complacent Whigs,
instead of revising the system to meet new conditions, actually
enlarged and emphasised its most objectionable features.

(c) The, Conflict of French and English, 1713-1763

While France and England were defining and developing their
sharply contrasted imperial systems, the Dutch had fallen into the
background, content with the rich dominion which they had already
acquired; and the Spanish and Portuguese empires had both fallen
into stagnation. New competitors, indeed, now began to press into
the field: the wildly exaggerated notions of the wealth to be made
from colonial ventures which led to the frenzied speculations of
the early eighteenth century, John Law's schemes, and the South
Sea Bubble, induced other powers to try to obtain a share of this
wealth; and Austria, Brandenburg, and Denmark made fitful
endeavours to become colonising powers. But the enterprises of
these states were never of serious importance. The future of the
non-European world seemed to depend mainly upon France and