Nor were these views confined to Englishmen.
There were foreign observers who clearly saw that the adhesion
of her colonies to Great Britain would be jeopardized by the extinction
of French power in America. Choiseul warned Stanley that they "would
not fail to shake off their dependence the moment Canada should be
ceded;" while thirteen years before, the Swedish traveller Kalm declared
that the presence of the French in America gave the best assurance to
Great Britain that its own colonies would remain in due subjection.[874]
[Footnote 874: Kalm, _Travels in North America_, I. 207.]
The most noteworthy argument on the other side was that
of Franklin, whose words find a strange commentary in the
events of the next few years. He affirmed that the colonies
were so jealous of each other that they would never unite
against England. "If they could not agree to unite against
the French and Indians, can it reasonably be supposed that
there is any danger of their uniting against their own nation,
which it is well known they all love much more than they
love one another? I will venture to say union amongst them
for such a purpose is not merely improbable, it is impossible;"
that is, he prudently adds, without "the most grievous tyranny
and oppression," like the bloody rule of "Alva in the Netherlands."[875]
[Footnote 875: _Interest of Great Britain in regard to her Colonies_
(London, 1760)
Lord Bath argues for retaining Canada in _A Letter addressed
to Two Great Men on the Prospect of Peace_ (1759).
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