— 10 —
tain many stories of horrible excesses to which these settlers were exposed, without the Colonial Government bothering itself much about the fate of these unfortunate outposts. In 1754 the great war, which was to settle the predominance in America, broke out. It lasted nine years and brought new sufferings to the German settlers in the frontier districts.
The terrible struggle, which was also carried on in Europe, ended by the Peace of Paris in 1763. It cost France her colonial empires in North America, that she had established and developed with enormous efforts and outlay of money. Moreover the French lost the West Indian Islands Granada, St. Vincent, Dominique and Tobago. England's magnanimity left France nothing but the two minute islets of St. Pierre and Miquelon, south of New Foundland, in the neighborhood of which the French sailors are allowed to fish, in order that they might supply their co-religiously with cod fish.
But England was not yet satisfied with these results. Constantly keeping in view the idea of becoming the sole mistress of the seas, it was incessantly busy destroying also France's maritime power. This desire was satisfied during the wars of all Europe against Napoleon I, in the two naval battles at Aboukir (July 1st, 1798) and Trafalgar (October 2 1st, 1805) both of which were won by England's greatest admiral, Nelson. On account of these defeats, Napoleon had to forego his intention of attacking his most hated enemies, the English, their own country, as he had no vessels left to transport his armies thither. With the battle of Trafalgar the French flag was driven from the ocean, and France, as a sea power, became a negligible factor for many years to come.
England destroys Commerce and Fleet of Neutral Denmark.
During the Napoleonic period England seized the opportunity to deprive another nation of its fleet and commerce: the Danes. Denmark had succeeded in obtaining a part of the world's trade, and, for its protection, had created a navy, small but efficient. During the Napoleonic wars Denmark remained strictly neutral, had however entered a so-called neutral confederacy with Sweden, Russia and Prussia. This confederacy had been formed to prevent England from searching vessels of the various neutral countries for contraband of war. Such a neutral alliance was so much the more necessary as England had repeatedly seized Swedish and Danish frigates, which were to prevent such search, and had taken them to English ports. To force Denmark's withdrawal from this confederacy and
