History of the American revolution, with a preliminary view of the character and principles of the colonists, and their controversies with Great Britain

Front matter

.0'

,Hq,

;ii

Chapter II

Character of the early Settlers — Motives for Emigration — Testimony to their Principles from Hume — Party Spirit — Physical Circumstances— Religions Influences — New England Temperament — Southern Characteristics — General Character — Tendency towards free Institutions — Neglect of them by the mother Country favourable to this Spirit — Testimony of British Statesmen — Causes of Affection

towards Great Britain — State of Feeling at the Peace of 3703, Page 15

Chapter III

Peace of Paris, 1763— Conduct of Britain towards the Colonies, and their Services

during the War — PoHcy at its commencement in 1756 — .Attempt to establish the

Right of Taxation in 1754 — Views of Dr. Franklin— Other Difficulties during the

War— Boston, Writs of Assistance — British Policy from 1756 to 1763, Page 29

Chapter IV

\ew Ministry in England, 1763— English Finances— Treasury Schemes- Molasses Act — Revenue Regulations — Stamp Jlct. projected — Ulterior Schemes — Historical Notice of the duestion— Views of British Statppmen — Colonial Theory — Dr. Franklin's Opinions in 1751 — Proceedings in America on the passage of the Ilesoliilions — Debate in the House of Commons, 17()5 — Stamp Act passed — Reception by the Americans— Patrick Henry's Resolutions— Other Legislatures — Popular Movements — Stamp Act Congress meets — Proceedings— Act goes into Operation — Sons of Liberty — Non-Importation Agreement — Change in the

Ministry — Repeal of the Stamp Act— Declaratory .Act, 176:5, Page S9

Chapter V

Effects of the Repeal — Compensation Acts — New York Lojiflature — New Cabinet in England — Scheme of Taxing America revived— Other Bills adopted — Tea Act passed 1767 — Excitement in America — Sloop Liberty- Disturbances in Boston — t^onvention in Massachusetts — Changes in the Ministry— I'arliament — Coercive Resolutions, 1769— Provision for the Trial of suspected Persons— Colonial Proceedings— Ouestion stated by Philadelphia Merchants— Lord North becomes the head of Administration January 1770— Duties repealed except that on Tea — Riot and Massacre at Boston — Affair of the Gaspee, Act passed in England in consequence — Committees of Correspondence — Governor Hutchinson's Letters — Examination of Dr. Franklin before the Privy Council— East IndiaCompany exports Tea to America— Its reception— Boston, destruction of the Tea, 1773, . Page 75 CHAPTER VI.

Proceedings in Parliament, 1770— Boston Port Bill— Other Bills— Reception in the Colonies— First Congress meets— Their Proceedings— Proceedings of Massachusetts-Legislature organized into a Convention— .Arms the Province- New Parliament-Massachusetts declared in Rebellion — More Penal an?! Coercive Acts- North's first Scheme of Conciliation — Increasing E.tcitement-Balile of Lexington— Its Influence- Seizure of Ticonderoga and Crown Point— Reinforcements from England — Second Congress— Washixgton appointed romniander-in-Chief — Battle of Bunker Hill — Siege of Boston — Dispositions with respect to Independence-Proceedings of Congress— Affairs at the Cir.^n' of the Yiar— Expedition against Canada— Attack upon Quebec, and Death of Montgomery, . . Page 89 CflAPTER Vn.

Proceedings of Parliament— More Restrictive Laws— Hire of Gernian Troops- Boston Evacuated by the British— Washington occupies New York— Campaign inCanala — \ mold's Ret rent—The British attack Charleston— Rrpnlsed— British Army and Flei»t before New York— Public Feeling on the Subject of Independence, up to July, 1776— Decl.^ration of Isdepicxdence Page 13r

CHAPTER VIII.

Position of the Armies, July 1776— Difficulties of Washington— Attempts at Negotiation—Battle of Lonj Island— Retreat of Americans— Evacuation of New York— Skirmistiinir-F irther rotrpat- Mpasiir(^s of Con L'ress— Conferences on Conciliation, fail— Battle of White Plains— Fort Washington fall.-j- Retreat throu?h New Jersey— Rhode Island falls— Disasters in the \orth— Defeat of Artiold on liake Champlain— Washington retires hevond the Delaware— Brilliant Affair at Trenton— Capture of the Hessians— Bailie of Princeton, and Recovery

of New Jersey— Close of Campaign of 1776 Page \!i5

CHAPTER IX.

Negotiations abroad, 1776-7— French Policy— French Volunteers-British Parlia-

ment— CxMPAiQx of 1777— Congress— Bad System— Paper Emissions- -Escliana»

A3

^ CONTENTS.

CHAPTER "Y

Mrf>i '•«»"*-t'^f'ange of Prospects-Battle of Bennington-Mur.fer of Mi« McCrea-Biii^oyne crosses the lliver-Battle of Stillvvster-At emnts of Bi P goyne to retreat-Is surroun.led-Clinlon's tardy Efrorts-S^rrender of Bur'

linnl %f . h u*^ torge— Rhode Island -Cruise of P;,ul Jones— Other Exneditioj.s-Brit.sh Preparations-Parliamentary Proceeiljnes-Suff.ri.ies and Oil contents of the Troops (1-80)-Rochambea.i arrives with a FrencI Fleet-Clin

c"vir\iraiur*;r;;fnh,?''r';t''" "i ^haneston-capture orAmerica^v^::::

1 iierinances— I aper Issues— 1 ender Laws. &c.—ArnivEnibarraiisinpnt- In

dufi"n*;f l-'-^'n n^-'-i-'g'""-^ ''ft-ri-.3s at Valley ForBe--Forel", Ne^^" ^Uons n^r.^ Ivt-^'-^- treaties u.th Franco-ElTecta of Bur?oyne-s fall in EnBlai^d-

M-Kccept.oi. of Bills jn America^Sk.rmishes in the Spring of 177S . Page 2^

-, CHAPTER XII.

CAMPAKiN OF n-S.-Arrival of French Fleet-British evacuate Philadeli.hia-Battl,. a^-^r.Th""~T'^'"''"f'f.!V*'=' '^'r.'^'''' ^-e"' Vork: sail for Newport-En tor^^^^^^ ^^Ui ... ^ r''''ii'~^ •^'"''m*' '^'"•'=^" the Fleets-Fro.ich sail for Boston- Sullivan retreats-French sai! to the West Indies-Partial Expeditions -Mas ft'f ', "f >Vy""""g- A."'-Ticans in W. n ter-au arters-Canlpai^n G.'orgiarltal n'"'"''^ ^'\t'' """•''-Surrender of Savannah, and Suhmi.ssio^n of Rns " U^^h *.'^"' °' « '^•"' '".IITS-Policy of Spain-Her proffered .Mediatio", [ate U.e 4 li^-s Mm, !!?',"h'"n ^'^^ R'-i'»"'-Atte.npt9 of 'the British to sepa rate tne All.es— Aims of the Bourbon Courts Pa„g ^

CHAPTER XIII.

tAMPA.oN OF 1779.-French Fleet in the West Indies-Difficulties of Washington-

Part.al Enterprises in the Chesapeake-Stonev Point-Tryon's ExpedH on-

if"o/T'n ^"""'«'» Campaign.-British repulsed at Port Roval (S.CO-Tor"e«

?, S ^ p "tI"""*', o^^""' Charleston-Retreat before Lincoln-Skirmish

at Stono Ferry-French Fleet arrives-Attack on Savannah fails-.M-asures of Cornwall.s-Battle of King'.s Mountain-Greene takes cnmmand-Bltish Ex ped.t.cin against Rhode Island fails-Arnold's Treason-Capture and Death of

Andre-Americans go. ntoWinter-auarlers-Mutinies-Revival of public Spirit Improvement of Finances, an.l foreign aids of Money-Foreign Affairs-War between Great Br.tain and Jlolland- Expedition to Virginia ..... Page 275 CHAPTER XIV. 1781. Southern VVar-Designs of Cornwallis-Battle of the Cowpens-Rrtreat into Virginia-Battle of Ouilford-Greene rallies ins.anMv-t^/rnwulil. retire" to Wilm.i.gton-Greene forces his way to S.iuth Carolina-Cornwalli.'^ n..»rrhes to Virgin.;. -Greene repulsed at Cani<len-Hallies-British evacuate Camden- Brilish forts taken-Groene h.-sieges NInely-Six-Forced to relire precipitately -Rallies-Takes Post on the Santee Hills-nealh ofColonei llayne-Batlle of Eutaw ^prings-Urilish driven into Charleston-BriiishExp,5<lilions-CornwaUis retires to Yorktown-V\ ashinglon in the Nnrth-His Plans against New York- Marches for Yorktown-DeGrasse in the fhesapeak— Expedition against Connecticut—G rotor. Massacre— Newport Fleet arrives in the Chesapeake-Siege and Surrender of Corn wallis— Its Effects -Re vie w of the etate of Affiiirs, . P. 318 „ . CHAPTER XV.

Foreign Relations of the United Slates up to the Capture of Cornwalli<i -Views of the European Powers-Proceedings in Parliament— Vote for Pe, ice— Lord worth overllirown— Negotiations commenced-Iiidept!iidence acknowledged bv Holland— Difhculties in the Negoila I ions— French and Spanish Intriaues— In- ■iruclions to the American Couimi.-isioncrs— Instructions violated— TVeatv eon Cluded-M.l.tarv Events-Emharrasaments of civil Affairs-Atf-mpts to ire.ite Mutiny, deftated-Bntish evacuate New York-Washington takes leave of the Viscera, and realigns his CommissioB Pa.e 347

HISTORY

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

Chapter I

The war of the American Revolution, which established the Independence of the United States, was, beyond question, the most momentous era in the political history of the world. Other periods have, indeed, produced instances of the highest public virtue, — of elevated, fervent and incorruptible patriotism, — of fidelity, fortitude and heroism, which cannot be surpassed, and have been rarely approached. Oppressions more galling than any of which the British Colonies of '76 could complain, have been bravely and successfully resisted ; and gallant achievements for liberty and country, have been won, from time to time, by those magnanimous spirits who rise occasionally in the darkest periods, to vindicate, by their actions and virtues, the essential dignity of human nature. But theirs were solitary and partial efforts in advance of the intelligence of the age. The institutions, which sprung from their success, designed to secure the rights wrested by force from the hands of tyrants, lacked the self-sustaining vigor of an enlightened public opinion. Resistance to oppression, glorious in its triumph, unfortunately produced no fruits beyond temporary relief. The securities for good government arising from constitutional limitations upon power, and the supremacy of law, were beyond their capacity ; and their victories were accordingly transient anarchies, in the intervals of a perpetually renewed despotism. Hence the noblest conquests over tyranny failed to affect permanentl}' the general course of events, or to impress upon the mass of opinions a popular direction. That fleeting liberty which was gained in one country, touched not the sympathies nor kindled the emulation of another. The very next generation, corrupted by power and indulgence, or wearied by turbulence and anarchy, and unconscious of those defects in themselves, by which stability and peace were frustrated, forfeited those dearly won privileges, and relapsed into that state of passive debasement, from which, under the guidance of one or two master minds, they had for a while emerged.

The American Revolution Avas, however, of a different character. It was the natural offspring of a state of society, rapidly advancing, under circumstances, moral and physical, peculiarly favourable to general improvement. The sagacity, virtue, and heroism, by which it was distinguished, w^ere not alone the traits of illustrious men, but the characteristics of a nation, educated and disciplined in the knowledge of their rights. The conflict W'as waged on principles clearly defined, and for specific objects. Success therefore only consolidated liberties which were understood before they were fought for. into a system adapted to the matured intelli gence of the people, and sustained as well by their approving 'judgments, as by their affections. With them to retrograde into slavery was impossible, because their intellectual cultivation and moral qualities, harmonized with the institutions thej^ established ; and these being in their nature progressive, all must advance together. The effect upon other nations, has not been less dissimilar. Astonishment and admiration and sympathy soon ripened into zeal to imitate, as the success of American example in self-government tested the doctrines of the American Revolution, and proved their soundness. A new impulse communicated itself to the nations nearest in political condition, and most closely connected by facilities of intercourse, and habits of thought. Vast changes in the principles and framework of governments have already been silently or violently effected ; still more extensive and important are plainly at hand. In all the theories of human rights, — in the policy of administrations and cabinets ; in the innermost form and texture of that intricate combination of interests and relations by which men are connected together in society, — substantial reforms are in progress every where throughout the civilized globe ; and all are parts of a stupendous series of organic changes, of which the American Revolution marks the first era.

Momentous as was that era in its consequences, it wa? scarcely less remarkable in the combination and succession of events, by which it was preceded. The discovery of America at the close of the 15th century concurred most

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. V

propitiously with the condition of Europe at the time, to strengthen the infant spirit of liberty that had been struggling in vain against hostile institutions, and to prepare a new unlimited field for its nurture and growth. Just when the wants of civilized man most seemed to need it, — when the pressure of antiquated misrule was most heavily felt, and no practicable scheme of relief on the spot of its predominance seemed possible, — an unoccupied hemisphere was thrown open to him. There, ardent spirits, who found the sphere of action at home limited to too narrow a circle by the tyrannical customs and prescriptions of centuries, and the oppressed and destitute, made so by artificial restraints upon industry,and the extortions and abuses of legalized despotism, joyfully sought a new country. The impatient energies, that at home had exhausted themselves vainly in combating against barriers that were yet too strong to be broken through, here overflowed without restraint, and spread themselves over a vast continent, taming the savage, reclaiming the forests, battling fearlessly against all the terrors of solitude and the wilderness, ferocious wild beasts, and fiercer men, to build up institutions fresh from the hands of nature, and suited to their new position, and improved understanding of their rights. Thus was a peculiar people trained up to habits of independence, and experience of the benefits and usages of liberty, under circumstances more favorable than had ever been enjoyed by any people before ; developing by the s^everest discipline the physical powers of the human frame, and giving the fullest scope to the natural motions of the intellect. This rare combination of moral and social phenomena, tended harmoniously to the same end- -the establishment of a common principle of repugnance to arbitrary power, and the assertion for the first time, of the doctrines of popular sovereignty, by the final erection of the American republics.

A slight glance at the comparative rate of progress in social improvements, in both hemispheres, before and since the impetus given at the era of the discovering of America, will signally illustrate its importance in political history. The seeds of hberty, — which took such instant root, and flourished with such luxuriance here, and have grown with such rapidity elsewhere, — existed long before in Europe. But they had been sown in barren and stony ground, and though nurtured by the toils, and oftentinxes t9 HISTORY OF THE

watered by the blood of early martyrs, they sustained themselves feebly against a superincumbent mass of ancient abuses. While the revival of learning, after the darkness of the middle ages, gave a new impulse to the human mind, and the discoveries and inventions by which it was subsequently signalized, perpetuated its new achievements, and have carried it progressively onwards, the natural influence of increased knowledge, upon public liberty, was tardy in manifesting itself in the improvement of governments, or in the elevation of the condition of the people. To partial observation, looking at immediate eflecls, that influence would seem to have been hostile to freedom. The student of history finds despotism temporarily strengthened as knowledge increased. The resources of learning, applied by the most active intellects, evidently sharpened, for a season, the weapons of arbitrary- power, and ministered sedulously to the ruling temper of the times, devising artful defences for its excesses, and new instruments for securing its unresisted ascendency. The alliance between tyranny, which is the natural form of all unlimited power, and knowledge, which is its natural enemy, is, in the early stages of the latter, as seen in the history of foreign governments, apparently complete. In later times, it has been also found that men of the highest range of intellect, have employed their superiority to uphold the most odious systems of government, and to extinguish those desires for political rights, which have sprung chiefly from the enlarged knowledge, to which themselves have so much contributed. Striving earnestly against popular movements, they, at the same time, spent their lives in pursuits which have prepared the world for the very changes they deplored. The explanation of this apparent anomaly, instead of disproving the inherent sympathy between knowledge and freedom, gives an eminent proof of their affinity, under all circumstances, and in despite of all personal passions, individual influences, and temporary delusions. The selfish principle peculiar to the age, and the selfish principle of our common nature, were both to be encountered and overthrown, before the beneficent influences of civilization could be made to reach the mass of the community, and elevate them. The thirst for power and booty was the ruling passion of the privileged classes, and learning and mental acquirements were only valued as ministers to that appetite. They were additional weapons for foiling enemies,

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

fl conquering and enslaving the weak, and strengthening the strong, — and were so estimated only in comparison with other instruments. They were rather contemned in the comparison with bodily strength, because their influences were less obvious. Even when they became more highly considered, they were employed, with few exceptions, in advancing selfish objects, and for personal aggrandizement. Thus for a long series of years, and through various fortunes, knowledge as the great agent of human improvement, struggled not only against the errors and institutions of antiquity, but against the dominant temper of the times, and the selfish principles of its possessor and followers.

The condition of society during the progress of this struggle, while it bears testimony to the arduous conflict which the growing spirit of liberty was waging with its antagonists, furnishes other arguments for the opponents of popular license, much more honourable to human nature, than the baser passions of pride and ambition, with which they were mingled.

It is not to be denied, that in those days, the multitude were incapable of government, or of any proper use of their faculties, in judging of affairs of state. Ignorant and brutal, — taught from infancy to know nothing but the law of force, and the will of a master scarcely less brutal and ignorant, — they were, without question, a stolid and insensate mass, whom power alone could restrain, and to whom freedom was a word as unintelligible as it now is to the bodyguard of an African chief. So the first dawning of civilization found them, and so the first master spirits saw them, the more clearly as themselves were more highly elevated. Knowledge of civil rights, which is the growth of a general increase of intelligence, spread but slowly, even when the most rapid advance was made by individuals in science and the arts: what wonder is it, then, that direct fear of the savage excesses of an ignorant multitude should have prevailed over vague and unformed notions of a human perfectibility, of which there was. no present token nor promise ? Having no means of safety for all the growing interests of society, save in the strength of those classes which held the power to protect,and which, by their position and their limited numbers, were within the reach of improvement, it ought not to surprise us, that men of the best intentions and widest range of intellect and acquirement should have been the advocates of monarchy, thiB defenders of established institu-^ t% HISTORY OF THE

tions, and the partizans of dynasties, claiming to exist by " divine" appointment. Ambition and vanity, custom and fear, the weight of antiquity, the authority of history, and the abused or mistaken sanctions of religion, were all on the side of governments, wherever and however they existed. Yet in all this apparent union of every influence, in favour of despotic governments, the seeds of revolution were planted. The tightening and bracing of the social springs showed an increasing pressure to be counteracted — a growing impulse upward, against which conservative force had become necessary. While the jealousy of power, barred with increasing rigour the advance of popular inquiry in religion and politics, mental activity enlarged its field widely in every other direction, The general level of capacity gradually rose, until the forbidden precincts were invaded by a universal tide of public opinion, in spite of the barriers which had been raised upon each other, by the care of centuries. What the immediate effects were, is not within our limits to describe minutely. From the period of the reign of Henry the VIII., in England, the efforts of the rising spirit of the peoplis, more and more enlightened by education, and directed by experience, have gradually — sometimes by violence, and sometimes by natural operations imperceptibly, — raised the moral character of nations, and finally enlisted knowledge on the side to which it naturally belongs — that of Liberty. In the most propitious period for mankind, of this unequal strife which is not yet decided in the old world, the colonization of America produced an entire change in the moral characteristics of the contest. Here were no obstacles to the freest exercise of intellectual independence : the issue has invigorated the hopes, and given unerring promises of the final triumph, of those who have not only to build up new institutions, but to combat inveterate prejudices, to remove the consequences of errors that have been interwoven with the most intimate texture of society, and to prepare whole nations, not only to conquer and establish, but to understand and enjoy their rights.

The co-operation of knowledge and civilization, with fortune, or Providence, in this work of human regeneration, may not unaptly be compared to that of physical phenomena, which, by the agency of independent laws, without apparent concert, produce the finest and noblest results, intellectual and moral improvement, the soil

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. lH

from which public virtue and liberty spring as the natural growth, is formed, gradually, from a thousand indirect and direct sources, as the earth is formed for the benevolent purposes of vegetation, upon a barren rock. By slow attrition and progressive deposites of the elements, laj^er after layer accumulates. If human industry be wanting to stimulate its energies, by and by comes along a bird of the air dropping the grain, or the wind, blowing where it listeth, scatters a seed, or the waves throw up a random twig, and the newmade soil soon sends up from its bosom a little plant, that ere long swells into a mighty tree, fixing its roots deep into the earth, and stretching its brawny arms wide into the air, bearing fruit to refresh and sustain living beings, and preserving the inherent faculty of re-producing its kind for ever. The plant of liberty thus*^springs in a soil which virtue and knowledge have matured and prepared for the hand of some master spirit, labouring with almost divine philanthropy for the good of the species; or for some happy conjuncture of events to call forth its dormant powers into spontaneous action. Thenceforward, though the growth may be affected by. untoward events, and delayed, more or less, as society advances more or less slowly, it is not in the nature of truth, that it should ever perish again. All experience hitherto, in the only fair trial ever made, confirms this judgment. Americans, proud of their own share, as a people, in these glorious events, as well as zealous for the improvement of the condition of other nations, by the same happy influences, ought frequently to turn with gratitude to the period of their own revolution, and not cease to impress its principles, and the magnitude of their bearings, upon the hearts of each succeeding generation. The train of events which immediately brought on the struggle between the then colonies and Great Britain, and the vicissitudes of fortune by which it was marked until the final triumph by the establishment of independence, have, moreover, the merit of exhibiting rare examples of personal virtue and heroism in our ancestors, well worthy of the highest admiration of their descendants — fit to foster a just national pride ; to strengthen the impulses of patriotism, and stimulate a warmer zeal in the universal cause of virtue and liberty.

In reviewing the earlier portions of colonial history — to trace the remoter as well as the immediate springs of the revolution, secondary to the general advancement of popular

B n HISTORY OF THE

knowledge and virtue, which are the first causes — the chief place in importance is undoubtedly due to the peculiar opinions and dispositions of the Colonists and the circumstances in which they were formed. The arbitrary measures of the British government were not primary causes of the colonial resistance. Upon people of a different education and temperament, much greater oppressions than those employed by the British ministry, from the commencement of the first systematic design to enslave in 176^4, to the commencement of hostilities, might have been safely tried ; and with any other existing people, would have probably succeeded. With them, however, as was well said by one of its wisest men, " The revolution was over before the war commenced." It was a moral resolution, to which a successful w'ar only gave permanent establishment, and the sanction of victory in the eyes of other nations. It existed in the minds of the Colonists long before the occasion had arisen to call forth its active energies, or to invite them to study attentively the tendency of their own opinions. Its development was hastened by the assertion of unwise and tyrannical doctrines from abroad, and the attempt to reduce to practice here, rules of government which would have succeeded any where else, with discontent, but without much contention, and with no resistance. The peculiar character of this people is therefore an essential point of preliminary inquiry.

AlMerican revolution. 15

Chapter II

The first settlers in America were a race of men, not merely enlightened in regard to the principles of government, to the full extent of the intelligence of the age, but were far in advance of the prevailing theories in Europe. They were, in fact, for the most part, driven from Europe for their hostility to those theories, as established. Political and religious controversies had been for a long time agitating that whole continent, and cruel persecutions employed to repress and punish all independence ofjudgment, and to maintain despotic control over the body and mind, by the use of force. The mass of the public being unripe for concentrated action in behalf of general principles, they who were foremost in agitation, and who consequently suffered the penalties of defeat, were the active and enterprising — those who best comprehended the rights of man, and were warmed with the truest zeal for liberty. Such men it was, principally, who, disgusted with tyranny, or forced by rigorous laws and proscriptions, gladly embraced the opportunity of establishing tvjcmselves, at whatever cost and labour, where they might provide better institutions for their posterity. The English historian, Hume, himself the apologist of some of the worst tyrants that ever sat upon the throne, passed a merited eulogium upon the principles of the first American settlers, as early as the time of the first James. "That spirit of inde- (jendence," he remarks, " which was then reviving in England, shone forth in America, in its full lustre, and received new accession of force from the aspiring character of those, who, being discontented with the established church and monarchy, had sought for freedom among the savage deserts." A striking fact, narrated in the memoirs of Cromwell and Hampden, two among the most remarkable men in English history, illustrates the general effect of the misgovernment of ♦ hat period, in driving the ablest men into exile ; and may also serve as a memorable illustration of that just retribution for evil deeds, of which many examples are on record, wherein violent and arbitrary acts have, by the combination of subsequent events totally unforeseen at the time, led directly to the ruw of their authors. Hampden and Cromwell, under ii the common influence of dislike to the measures of Charles I. were actually on board ship, on their way to settle in America, Aviicn they were stopped by a royal order in council, prohibiting emigration. They, in consequence, remained in England — the one, by his noble support of the popular cause, to overturn the king's influence in parliament, and become a proverb in all ages for patriotism ; and the other, impelled onward by the current of events, in a career of ambition, to become the means of bringing the king's head to the block ; to banish his children, and sit upon his throne.

Differences of opinions, upon political subjects, undoubtedly Existed in the Colonies, from the beginning, similar to those which they left, and which prevailed contemporaneously in Europe. Custom, prejudice, varieties of capacity and education, and the occasional excess of selfish passions — vanitj' and the thirst for gain and power in individuals — maintained, Avhile their recollections of Europe were distinct, and continued to maintain, as long as the political connexion existed, a spirit of party on the same subjects as those which convulsed the mother countr\'. But popular doctrines predominated from the first, in America, and grew stronger as the ties, v.'hich drew them towards the old system, became weakened under the effect and influence of new scenes and occupations; and as the generations became, in time, farther removed from the parent stock. In all these party differences, too, an important peculiarity is to be observed. Colonial disturbances were always in favour of natural rights; to retain what the}' had, as it were, resumed from society, on betaking themselves to the forests, against the encroachments of lords proprietors, and royal governors. In Europe, on the contrary', the rights of the people had to struggle under every disadvantage, against established institutions and overwhelming power. While in the one country, therefore, their progress has been slow and painfully won, amid terrible convulsions; in the other they advanced rapidly, and soon threw off the petty impediments of European origin.

When Burke, in his famous speech on conciliation with America, dehvered in the British House of Commons, in 1775, spoke so warmly of the "love of freedom," as the "predominating feature" of the character of the Americans, he spoke truly and generously of what had grown up with them, from the earliest settlement. "That fierce spirit of liberty," which he then pronounced to be "stronger in the English Colonies, than in any other people of the earth," was their inheritance from themagnanimous ancestors we have been describing; nurtured by perils, labour, and self-denial, until all their opinions, customs, inclinations, and habits of thought and feeling were impressed with the same hardy traits of independence. It harmonized with the rugged soil they cultivated and the vast solitudes and boundless forests by which they were surrounded, and strengthened, perpetually, by contrast, their repugnance to the narrow dogmas, the insolent assumptions, and artificial institutions of the over-crowded and oppressed population of Europe. The persecutions from which they had fled, voluntarily relinquishing their native land, to find political freedom and liberty of faith in the wilderness ; the privations they endured, by hunger and cold, pestilence, famine, and Avar, to establish their new dweUings; the perpetual watchfulness with which, by day and night, while^toiling for food and shelter, they had to defend their lives from the tomahawk of a subtle and merciless enemy, and at the same time, to maintain their rights against the unnatural oppressions of the mother country — all combined to invigorate the principles they brought with them, and to perfect, by severe bodily and mental discipline, a national character for austere A irtue, irrepressible energy, and indomitable courage ; — jealous and sagacious in its distrust of power; full of the pride of personal independence ; quick to detect, and prompt to repel, all encroachments upon their rights.