Excerpt from The United States: From the Earliest Times to the Landing of the Pilgrim FathersBut our purpose in the series of works of which the present forms the initial volume is to trace the romance of colonization in special countries, and chiefly as that colonization has been effected by Eng land. No colonial empire was ever raised of such vast extent as that which acknowledges the sovereignty of Queen Victoria in this Diamond Jubilee year of grace. The great work of acquiring and building up colonies began with us in the seventeenth century; and before the end of the eighteenth Great Britain had become the first power in the world as regards the extent and value of her colonies, and that not withstanding the serious loss of the United States. The acquisitions during the nineteenth century may not have been so numerous and important as they were in the two preceding centuries, but a greater work has been done in consolidating and strengthening our hold upon the colonies.A rapid survey of anglo-saxon colonization affords much room for congratulation, if our satisfaction is occasionally chastened by a remembrance of the severities which have sometimes accompanied con quest. The premier British colony is Newfoundland.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.