its capital, Boston, began to prepare for resistance. British merchants were subjected to persecution, especially in the New England colonies. Demagogues declaimed against the Act to excited mobs. Most of the men appointed to carry it out were forced to resign, and when the stamps themselves arrived, they were seized by mobs and burned. The old import duties

were levied for the regulation of trade on the authority of a Royal prerogative which had belonged to the Kings of England for generations, but the purpose of the Stamp Act was not the regulation of trade, but the raising of a revenue for the British Exchequer. To a certain extent this was but a distinction without a difference, but it gave the colonists an excuse to raise the constitutional cry of 'No taxation without representation.' It was not, however, by constitutional methods that they sought to uphold this principle, but by mob violence, and in the end mob violence was allowed to triumph.

In 1766 the Marquis of Rockingham became Prime Minister, and the Stamp Act was repealed; but the following year a new Government came into power, nominally under Pitt, now Earl of Chatham, who was in failing health; and Charles Townshend, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer, passed an Act for levying import duties on glass, paper, red lead, white lead, painters' colors, and tea. To these also the colonists objected, and Massachu

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oppression, but the spirit animating their prayers on such days might justify their being told in the words of the prophet: 'Behold, ye fast for strife and debate.'

In considering the causes of conflict between the Mother Country and the colonies, the smuggling trade must be regarded as one of the chief, perhaps as

much for its demoralizing influence on those engaged in it as for any other reason. From the French West India islands large quantities of molasses were smuggled into New England for the purpose of distilling rum, which was sold to the Red Indians and was also the main export sent to Africa for the purchase of negro slaves. Now this was a very lucrative business, and the efforts being made to exact the duty on it meant more or less of a setback, not only to the New England distilleries, but also to the slave trade of Virginia and the other southern colonies in which negro slaves were employed. Of course, the effect of all this was to intensify the general feeling against the Mother Country. When, during the Seven Years' War, the Mother Country was engaged in a deadly struggle with France in defence of the colonies, and lavishly spending money to pay the colonists for fighting in their own defence, it was found that they, on the other hand, were carrying on a lucrative trade by surreptitiously supplying the French army with provisions. This 'nefarious trade,' as Pitt called it, nearly ruined his great plans, and, when he took steps to stop it, there were impassioned protests against the oppression of the British Government. The colonists sought to justify their disloyalty by the disingenuous argument that to extort money from the French in any way was tantamount to fighting against them. Many other instances of the crooked ways of the colonists and of the unreasonableness of their grievances might easily be mentioned.

ance in any sense creditable the plunder of custom-houses, the refusal to pay debts, the destruction of goods, and a reign of terror against Tories and all who were suspected of loyalist leanings. All this mob violence was generally connived at by those whose duty it was to enforce law and maintain order. The chief centre of disaffection and

As already stated, the terrible Seven Years' War was fought mainly for the protection of our colonies. It left the Mother Country in an exhausted condition and burdened with the enormous debt of about £20 per head of the entire population. The American debt was only about eight shillings per head, and under the protection of the British flag the Americans had already become relatively the wealthiest community in the whole world. The yearly amount they were asked to contribute was only £100,000, with an express provision that no part of that sum should be devoted to any other purpose than the defence of the colonies. It must be remembered that the Red Indians were still formidable as enemies, and though the colonies were powerful enough to keep them in check, it was found impossible to get the different colonies to combine, even for such a purpose as their own defence. Thus, when, in 1763, a confederation of Indian tribes swept over Virginia and Pennsylvania, laying waste along their course a tract of country twenty miles wide and murdering nearly all the British settlers, the colonies which were in no danger themselves refused to give any help. It was left to British troops to repel the invaders at a cost of two years' warfare. It was thus very evident that an army for defensive purposes was still necessary, and all that the colonists were asked to do was to contribute £100,000 a year towards the cost of maintaining a small standing army of ten thousand men. No demand could be more moderate, more reasonable, or more equitable; and whatever excuse the colonists might make, it was very easy to see that the real motive of their resistance was the desire to pay as little as possible themselves, to force as much as possible from the Mother Country, and to uphold the smuggling trade, in which some of the most violent advocates of resistance were engaged. Nor was the manner of resist

pronunciation of the English language. One night in March 1770, during a riot in the town, some soldiers were forced in self-defence to fire on the mob, killing three and wounding six. Of all the dreadful massacres recorded in the pages of history, probably not one ever produced such torrents of indignant eloquence as this; and although the soldiers were

mob violence, as already stated, was Boston, the capital of the New England colony of Massachusetts, and the soldiers who were quartered there were, as might be expected, objects of scurrilous abuse and gross insult. The ministers prayed that the Almighty might remove them. They were accused of corrupting the morals of the town; they played their fife-and-drum bands on the Sabbath; they used profane language; and they were spoiling the purity of the American

acquitted, even by a Boston jury, the incident continued to be freely and furiously used by the agitators for their own fell purpose. The public feeling was thus kept in a state of very high tension. Two years later a ship of war called the Gaspee, employed in the suppression of smuggling, ran aground on a shoal near Providence, in Rhode Island, while chasing a suspected vessel. Under cover of darkness the Gaspee was boarded, the crew were overpowered, bound and placed on shore, and the ship was then set on fire.

In the following year (1773) matters were still further complicated between the Mother Coun

try and the colonies. Benjamin Franklin, who was in London as Deputy Postmaster-General of America as well as agent for some of the colonies, obtained unauthorized possession of some private letters written to a friend by the Governor of Massachusetts, in which the writer expressed his opinion that strong measures ought to be used against that colony. Franklin sent these letters to America, and there they were published. Upon these letters the colonists founded a petition to the King to recall the writer. The Privy Council decided that the petition was groundless and scandalous. Franklin was severely reprimanded for his part in this affair and deprived of his office of Deputy Postmaster-General. From that time his attitude toward the Mother Country was changed. Hitherto Franklin, who was one of the most intellectual men that America has ever produced, and whose natural leaning was toward Toryism, had shown a strong attachment

for England, and, being a man not only of great ability but also of great influence among the colonists, it would almost seem probable that, if he had been able to guide American opinion, things would never have ended in revolution. But his resentment at the well-merited castigation he had received and the wound inflicted upon his vanity changed him into the most relentless and uncompromising of foes, and one cannot but notice the malice and vindictiveness of all his subsequent relations with England.

It was toward the end of this same year (1773) that the incident known as the 'Boston Tea Party' occurred. Three ships laden with tea, which had arrived in Boston Harbor, were were boarded by about fifty men, disguised as Mohawk In

dians, who emptied into

the sea the whole of the

cargoes, which were valued at £18,000. The leaders of this outrage were Samuel Adams, a defaulting tax-collector, son of a defaulting banker, and John Hancock, whose family had made a large fortune by smuggling tea from the Dutch West Indies. The popular feeling at home was hardening against the colonies, especially against Massachusetts, and in 1774 Parliament passed an Act to close the port of Boston and to place the whole government of Massachusetts under men appointed by the Crown.

now

It was in the same session of Parliament that what was known as the Quebec Act was passed. This was an Act virtually establishing Roman Catholicism in

THE BIRTH OF A NATION

tion of Independence, Guy Fawkes Day was their only popular holiday. After these events the colonists sent delegates to Philadelphia (1774), who drew up a Declaration of Rights, claiming for themselves all the liberties of Englishmen, of which there was never any attempt or intention to deprive them. At the same time they repudiated the

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difficulty? Early in the controversy it was proposed that the colonists should send representatives to the British Parliament. This was advocated at first by Benjamin Franklin and also by Adam Smith, and it was seriously considered by Grenville, the Prime Minister, but the practical difficulties in the way, at that time of slow and difficult traveling, were so great that it received no favor, either at home or in the colonies. The sole object of Parliament was to induce or oblige the colonies to contribute to the cost of their own defence, and Grenville deferred the enforcement of the Stamp Act for a whole year in order that they might, if they chose, raise the money among themselves. He declared himself quite ready to support a scheme for colonial representation in Parliament. He himself knew of no better way than the tax he was proposing, but,

CAROLINA

Canada, which at that time was inhabited solely by French people of that faith. This Act was fiercely resented by the New England Puritans, who became quite frantic at what they declared to be an offence against their deepest religious feelings, and the first step of an insidious plot to deprive them of their religious freedom. How strong their anti-Popish feelings must have been may be inferred from the fact that, before the Declara

idea of any desire to separate from the Mother Country.

It was on the old English constitutional principle of 'No taxation without representation' that the colonists pretended to take their stand against the British Parliament, though they claimed that, having received their charters from the King, they were independent of parliamentary jurisdiction. Meantime, what was Parliament doing to meet the

if the colonists could tell of a better, he was quite prepared to adopt it. But the colonial agents, with Benjamin Franklin among them, whom Grenville consulted, were unable to suggest any scheme to which the colonies would be likely to agree.

Before the outbreak of the war Lord North made, in February 1775, a final effort to secure an amicable settlement, by carrying through Parliament a proposal that, so long as any colony thought fit of its own accord to make such contribution to the defence of the Empire, the support of the Civil Government, and the administration of justice, as met with the approbation of Parliament, it should be exempted from all taxation for the purpose of revenue. 'In fact,' says Dean Inge, 'the Home Government always showed a most conciliatory spirit, but it is very doubtful whether any concessions by the Home Government at any time could have satisfied the bitter antagonism of the New Englanders who took the lead in the rebellion.'

The war began with the battle of

at stake. For a short time we lost the supremacy of the sea, with the result that Lord Cornwallis was compelled to surrender with an army of seven thousand men at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. The army to which he surrendered conThe army to which he surrendered consisted of sixteen thousand men, of whom seven thousand were highly trained and disciplined regular French soldiers. This army was nominally under the command

Lexington, near Boston, on April 18, 1775, and ended with the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, on the Chesapeake Bay, on October 19, 1781. Following close upon the outbreak of war a Congress which met at Philadelphia, and in which all the colonies were represented, adopted on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence, by which they cut themselves adrift from the 'State of Great Britain,' and declared that 'these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.' This Declaration, which was written by Thomas Jefferson and with which every American schoolboy has to be made acquainted, contains grossly false charges against King George and his Government, set forth in the inflated and declamatory language which is still so characteristic of the political writing and oratory of America. Such, then, was the birth of what is now the great world Power of the United States of America. 'It might be wished,' says an American writer, 'that the birth of a great nation had not been screamed into the world in this fashion.'

become extremely critical. The supremacy of the sea had been lost, and the whole British Empire seemed to be on the very verge of complete destruction - in fact, our enemies were already planning how to divide our Empire between them. But on April 12, 1782, Admiral Rodney gained a great naval victory over the French off Guadaloupe, in the West Indies, and in the following

lines of American soldiers on one side and French soldiers on the other, they courteously saluted the French officers, but declined to take any notice of Washington and his officers, thus showing that it was to the French they surrendered and not to the Colonists. With this surrender the fighting in America came to an end.

here available, to give more than the merest summary of the war. After nearly three years of obstinate but ill-organized resistance on the part of America, one of the British generals was forced to surrender with six thousand men at Saratoga, on October 16, 1777. This surrender led the French to believe that the day of their vengeance had come, and early in 1778 they joined in the war against us, not with any pretense of interest in the American cause, but for the avowed purpose of avenging themselves against England. It was only four or five years before that the colonists were expressing their unbounded horror at the concessions made to the Roman Catholics of Canada by the Quebec Act, and now they were allying themselves with the leading Roman Catholic power against England, the leading Protestant one. In 1779 Spain joined against us in the hope of recovering Gibraltar. The Dutch also, who had grievances of their own, joined our enemies, and they were soon followed by an alliance known as the Armed Neutrality, consisting of Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and even our former ally, Frederick the Great, whom we had helped so much in the Seven Years' War. Meantime, small battles were being fought in America, with the advantage usually on the side of the British troops. But, with the formidable coalition that had been formed against us, the very existence of the British Empire was soon

September the French and the Spaniards combined received a crushing defeat at their siege of Gibraltar. The British were again supreme on the sea, and their position secure among the nations of Europe. Washington might now feel relieved from any further anxiety about French or Spanish aggression on the North American continent. The war was ended in 1783 by the Treaty of Versailles, which guaranteed the Independence of the United States.

Thus we finally emerged out of this great struggle, not, indeed, with our former supremacy, but shorn of a great part of our Empire. So far, however, as concerned Europe, we were the undoubted victors.

NTHE peace negotiations the question of the colonial loyalists was naturally an important one. Those loyalists formed a numerous class and invariably represented what was best in the life of the colonies. The British armies that fought in America were only small, and there were never less than from seven thousand to nine thousand colonials (or provincials, as they were usually called) among them, so that, as regards America itself, the war was really a civil war. It has usually been the custom in civilized communities to follow up a civil war by an act of amnesty and the gradual restitution of their confiscated property and their civil rights to the vanquished. Even the French Commissioners, in discussing the terms of peace, urged the claims of the colonial loyalists to generous treatment, but the Americans were obdurate in their opposition, and, to the eternal disgrace of the British Parliament, the loyalists were practically left to their fate. The revolutionaries were specially vindictive and bitter against all who were suspected of loyalist leanings, and the result was that mob violence, confiscation of their property, and other forms of injustice made the lives of the loyalists so intolerable that as many of them as could, to the number, as it was calculated, of 100,000, left their homes and sought refuge elsewhere. Many of them crossed over to Canada, where they became a source of strength to the British cause, as their descend

The honors of the war are claimed for George Washington, whom the world has placed among the great men of his tory, but of those historic characters who have been acclaimed great, few, if any, have gained that honor by actions or achievements of less distinction, and we know that, even in the day of his triumph, he himself was neither blind nor without anxiety as to the possible consequences of the defeat of England by France and Spain. In return for their help against England, the Spaniards intended to claim a portion of the valley intended to claim a portion of the valley of the Mississippi, while the French might possibly reoccupy Canada and proceed to carry out their old policy in the Seven Years' War, which was to confine the British colonies to the Atlantic seaboard and to occupy the rest of the North American continent themselves. He felt that the colonies (or the States, as they were now called) might soon be appealing to England for help against France and Spain, and England unable to render any, even if willing to do so. The position of England had now