The direct confrontation between England and France on the North American continent was clearly foreshadowed late in the seventeenth century by border clashes and by rivalry in obtaining Indian allies. Whereas in the European balance of power France under Louis XIV had been considered the disturbing element and the aggressor nation, in Canada (New France) the English plantations in America were regarded as the threat. On their part, the English colonials spoke of a Catholic conspiracy in the New World and of the growing French trade with the Indians. The international rivalry of the eighteenth century on the North American continent was not only to establish additional colonies but also to play for the higher stake of global supremacy.