...From Britain's shore:
This interesting column on the Seven Years’ War brings to mind how fortunate Pauline Marois and her acolytes are that the British prevailed on the Plains of Abraham. Had French commander Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon won, and New France remained French, Quebecers would have been swept into the French revolution in 1789. Distance from the Metropole might have mitigated the adverse effects, but then came Napoleon, soon to be emperor.
In 1803, cut off from the world outside Europe by the Royal Navy and desperate for cash, Napoleon sold a non-performing asset, Louisiana, to the United States. Can anyone doubt that had Quebec still been French, it would have been included in the sale?
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