ch and Indian War.
             The treaty of 1763 ending this war made England master of Canada and of the land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. The whole cost of governing this vast region was suddenly shifted from France to Britain. Yet the British people already staggered under an immense national debt, and their taxes were higher than ever before. In the view of Britain's ministers, England had made great sacrifices in order to expel the French from Canada. The chief motive had been national advantage; but as one of the results the 13 colonies might now live in peace. George Grenville, Britain's prime minister in 1763, did not understand the views of the colonists or concede that they had any political rights. He now sought ways to make the colonies most profitable to England at the least expense.
             Settlers were pouring into the Ohio Valley, and land speculators were busy with schemes for opening the country won at so great a sacrifice from the French. Such activity excited the worst fears of the Indians. Land, fur-bearing animals, the red man's very existence--all would be engulfed by the relentless advance of the white man. Fur traders were debauching the Indians with rum and cheating them of their furs. Up and down the western rivers traveled French agents who incited the tribes against the English, promising that a huge French army was on the way to recover the lost lands for the red man and France. Indian discontent grew. Now there emerged a great chieftain, Pontiac, who united the tribes in 1763 and led them in a series of destructive raids on the advanTo quiet the Indians, England issued the Proclamation of 1763. This decree prohibited settlers from buying lands beyond a line that ran through the sources of the rivers flowing into the Atlantic. England, it seemed, meant to favor the Indians and the fur traders. It would do so at the expense of the pioneer, the land speculator, and the colony whose charter g...