CHAPTER V
THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE TREATY OF UTRECHT AND THE SEVEN YEARS WAR
The long period which elapsed between the signing of the Great Treaty of Utrecht and the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War andThe was, so far as Colonial policy was concerned, singularly dull American and uneventful. The old controversies remained, and new between ones were added to their number. But no permanent solu- 1713 and tion of difficulties was in any way arrived at. It is true that, I7 ^ 6 ’ regarded through the moonlight of memory, the time appeared to the next generation of colonists as one of unbroken contentment and calm ; and so high an authority as Mr Lecky has stated 1 that while “ for some years before the English Revolution, and for several years after the accession of William, the relations of the Colonies to England had been extremely tense ... in the long period of unbroken Whig rule which followed, most of the elements of discontent had subsided.” But an inspection of what actually occurred hardly bears out this statement. It is true, of course, that colonial questions were more and more shirked by the Home Government. For twenty-four years in succession the Duke of Newcastle was Secretary of State for the Southern Department, which dealt with the Colonies; and Newcastle’s ignorance and incapacity became a bye-word among men.
“ Annapolis, Annapolis ! Oh, yes ! Annapolis must be defended,” he is reported to have said. “To be sure, Annapolis should be defended. Where is Annapolis ?” 2 It was said of him that he always appeared to have lost half an hour in the morning, and to be running after it all the rest of the day. But, with regard to colonial matters, he did not even try to overtake the past. Inasmuch as he discouraged all measures that might arouse opposition, he might, in a sense, be described as a safe Colonial Minister. But his procrastina-
1 Hist . of England hi the Eighteenth Cent Vol. IV. p. 8. 1892 ed.
2 H. Walpole, Memoirs of the last ten years of George II,