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INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 391shall never be able to form a judgment which will not beaccused of partiality by the other ;but if we take this higherground we shall easily escape the reproach. It is not necessary to deny that errors have been committed, or to glossover past acts of injustice, We grant that from that rivalryhave sprung manyevils ;but in this we only recognise aconfirmation of the universal law, that beings so imperfectas we are can never attain to the great and good withoutalloy, because we require the impulse of our passionswe beforecan put forth the whole of that power with which naturehas endowed us.When William III. was placed on the throne of England,this rivalry was already existing between the nations, althoughnot between the governments ; and even the animosity b*etweenthe nation and the government affords proof of this.The religious influence was still in Ml force in England,because the nation was convinced of its connexion withliberty and independence. But other causes were added tostrengthen this rivalry by the spirit of the government ofLewis. His conquests must have excited the attention ofEngland the more from their being directed against both theSpanish and the United Netherlands. The independence ofthe latter depended immediately upon the fate of the former,and we know that the connexion between the United Provinces and England was so close, that even the wars ofCromwell and Charles II. had interrupted it only for a time.But France was becoming a more dangerous neighbour toEngland, as she now took a place among the leading navalpowers and;the rivalry was yet more inflamed by the commercial and colonial system created by Colbert. Duringthe reigns of the two last Stuarts the commerce of Englandhad advanced simultaneously with the extension of her colonies ;* its importance was now fully felt and a; neighbouring nation which in this point sought to equal, if not to excelher, could not be regarded with indifference. But thecolonial system of France now received as great, if not agreater extension than that of England and hence resulted;that unfortunate confusion of2the colonies of the two nations,1By the peace of Breda, 1667, she obtained the province ofNew York; andin 1680 William Penn founded his settlement in 2 Pennsylvania.We may add, of the European colonies generally. If there were any step