enterprize in the English Colonist, became unpardonable
ambition in the American Republican, and acts affecting
the national prosperity, that carried with them the
approbation of society and good government during our
nonage, were stigmatized as odious and grasping, the
moment we had attained our majority."

"Most ably and eloquently argued, Major," interrupted
the General, "and I fear with rather more truth than we
Englishmen are quite willing to acknowledge: still, it
must be admitted, that what in the first instance was a
necessity, partook no longer of that character at a later
period. In order to colonize the country originally, it
was necessary to select such portions as were, by their
proximity to the sea, indispensable to the perfection of
the plan. If the English Colonists drove the Indians into
the interior, it was only for a period. They had still
vast tracts to traverse, which have since, figuratively
speaking, been reduced to a mere span: and their very
sense of the difference of the motive--that is to say,
of the difference between him who merely seeks whereon
to erect his dwelling, and him who is anxious to usurp
to himself the possession of almost illimitable territory
--cannot be better expressed than by the different degrees
of enmity manifested against the two several people. When
did the fierceness of Indian hatred blaze forth against
the English Colonists, who were limited in their views,
as it has since against the subjects of the United States,
who, since the revolution, have more than tripled their
territorial acquisitions."