396 -A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY

in the East, they were soon outstripped in the West by
the English and the French. The river Hudson had been
explored (1609) by an Englishman of that name, in
the Dutch service. New York and New Jersey were originally
Dutch New Amsterdam, but acquired by the English under
Charles II who commissioned his brother, the Duke of York,
to occupy them (1664). Meanwhile, the English colonies,
founded by the " Pilgrim Fathers " who sailed in the May*
flozver (1620),—New England—had grown into a powerful
group; while the French had likewise flourished round about
Quebec. Out of their worldwide rivalries (referred to in
the previous chapter) England emerged triumphant at the
end of the Seven Years' War which closed with the Treaty
of Paris (1763). That gave the English their Indian
Empire and Canada. Though at that time they also owned
the present United States of America, these were lost in
consequence of the American War of Independence (1776-83)
which terminated with the Treaties of Paris and Versailles,
This eventful victory of the settlers had important and varied
consequences : (1) it created the independent U. S. A.;
(2) it precipitated the Revolution in France ; (3) it brought
to an end the " old colonial policy " in England no less than
the last bid for personal rule made by the English monarchs.
Turgot's dictum that 'colonies are like fruit which drop
off from the stem when they ripen' was proved true at
least in this important case. More than anything else, the
American Revolution convinced England of what Chatham
had meant when he! warned his countrymen saying : " We
may bind their trade, confine their manufactures, and exercise
every power whatsoever, except that of taking their money
out of their pockets without their consent." The great hero
of -the American triumph was George Washington, about
whom the English historian John "Richard Green has written: