the Indians; for already Pontiac's rebellion had been in progress four
months, and the entire back country was aflame. It must be confessed
that a continental wilderness swarming with murderous savages was an
inheritance whose aspect was by no means altogether pleasing to the
English mind.

The easiest solution of the difficulty was to let things take their
course. Let seaboard populations spread at will over the new lands; let
them carry on trade in their own way, and make whatever arrangements
with the native tribes they desire. Colonies such as Virginia and New
York, which had extensive western claims, would have been glad to see
this plan adopted. Strong objections, however, were raised. Colonies
which had no western claims feared the effects of the advantages which
their more fortunate neighbors would enjoy. Men who had invested heavily
in lands lying west of the mountains felt that their returns would be
diminished and delayed if the back country were thrown open to settlers.
Some people thought that the Indians had a moral right to protection
against wholesale white invasion of their hunting-grounds, and many
considered it expedient, at all events, to offer such protection.

After all, however, it was the King and his ministers who had it in
their power to settle the question; and from their point of view it was
desirable to keep the western territories as much as possible apart
from the older colonies, and to regulate, with farsighted policy, their
settlement and trade. Eventually, it was believed, the territories would
be cut into new colonies; and experience with the seaboard dependencies
was already such as to suggest the desirability of having the future
settlements more completely under government control from the beginning.

After due consideration, King George and his ministers made known their
policy on October 7, 1763, in a comprehensive proclamation. The first
subject dealt with was government. Four new provinces--"Quebec,
East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada" *--were set up in the ceded
territories, and their populations were guaranteed all the rights
and privileges enjoyed by the inhabitants of the older colonies. The
Mississippi Valley, however, was included in no one of these provinces;
and, curiously, there was no provision whatever for the government of
the French settlements lying within it. The number and size of these
settlements were underestimated, and apparently it was supposed that al