10 BRITISH AMERICAN COLONIES. CHAPTER II. Slow progress of the Settlements and Countries which Great Britain acquired by the Conquest of and Quebec — Extraordinary Sufferings endured by the early Settlers—Prosperity of the England and Character of the Inhabitants—Favourable condition in which England placed her Colonies, ensured their Prosperity. It was not until after the reduction of and the conquest of Canada , which added nearly the whole of to the British empire, that adventurers, stimulated by the spirit of enterprise, left the mother countries, and established themselves in the newly conquered territories. These were generally persons in trade. Farmers or others, who expected to derive their subsistence from cultivating the soil, directed their course to that part of now forming the United States. The American revolutionary war, it is true, arrest¬ ed the spirit of emigration; but no sooner was the in¬ dependence of the acknowledged by England , than the majority of those who left Great Britain and Ireland for , were, as formerly, fascinated into the United States. This arose, in a great measure, from the mighty resources of the British possessions being nearly altogether unknown in the United Kingdom.