The southern American
states began to grow cotton [Footnote: During the war, cotton was
introduced into Georgia and Carolina from the Bahamas, and soon became
an important product. In 1794, 1,600,000 pounds were shipped to Great
Britain.] for the busy looms of British manufacturers, and of their own
free will the citizens of the United States bought the British
manufactures which previously they had boycotted as aggrieved
colonists. In this particular, at least, the loss of the colonies was
hardly a loss at all.
[Sidenote: Extent of the British Empire at Close of Eighteenth Century]
Even for those ardent British patriots who wished to see their flag
waving over half the world and who were deeply chagrined by the
untoward political schism that had rent kindred English-speaking
peoples asunder, there was still some consolation and there was about
to be some compensation. In the New World, Canada, Bermuda, the
Bahamas, Jamaica, and smaller islands of the West Indies, and a part of
Honduras, made no mean empire; and in the Old World the British flag
flew over the forts at Gibraltar, Gambia, and the Gold Coast, while
India offered almost limitless scope for ambition and even for greed.
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