which these unhappy contests between the courts of London and Versailles have deterred them from executing, and would invite new settlers thither from several of the neighboring colonies, as well as from the crowded and interior parts of our own; hence, a considerable increase of people, which has ever been thought an augmentation of wealth and power. Industry, too, would revive, which in the remoter parts of the Colony, has for some time past been in a stagnant state, occasioned by the husbandman's uncertainty whether the returns of his labor were to support the enemies of his country or his own family. The people would cease to remove, as they would believe the Government had fallen upon the [The remainder of this letter lost.]
Letter from John Fontaine to Rev. James Maury.
Jan. 2d, 1764.
Dear Nephew Maury:—The last letter we received from you was dated the 18th June, 1760, which was very acceptable to us, which we answered the 24th Jan. 1761, and have received no letter from you since. Our great desire to hear from you will not permit us to be any longer silent, as the peace is now concluded so much to our advantage, and more especially so to all those who possess estates in North America, and that the French and Spaniards have ceded to us and put us in actual and quiet possession of more territory than the most sanguine could have expected, and that you are now sole lords of North America, bounded on the north by the north pole, on the south by the Gulf of Florida, and the west by the great river Mississippi. Nothing more can, we think, be wished for as to extent of territory, but to be thankful for