The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1860-04-28
5rIrft 1flisfeIIo,lD.
The English Officers in the American
RevOiutiOn--Their Conduct as
viewed i'm England.


Frank Moore's Diary of the American
Revolution" is attracting considerable atten-
ton in England. The Saturday Rev lew gives
to the work an apprrciative article. which is
particularly Noticeable as showing the present
feeling in England in regard to the period and
scene in the American Revolution. As the
generation directly interested in that contest
has passed away. and there are no direct per.
sonal feelings involved, the true merits of the
case are more fairly viewed Washington is
at this day nearly as highly reverenced in
England as in America, and there will be
found very few Engllshmen who condemn the
course taken by the American colonies. In
the article in the Review the reviewer says:
The feeling with which most Englshmen
will rise from the peruSal Of this " Diary"
will be one Of sorrowful but profound con-
tempt for the government under which their
ancestors ilourlsh,d in the good old days
Nobody, except perhaps Washington, appears
in very noble colors: but the only actors who
make a thoroughly despicahle figure are the
English Ministers and their favorite Generals
1t was not that they committed hc,e and
there an isolated mistake the demon of blum
derlng possessed them from the very first mea
sure to the very last of the twenty years
struggle. Without subscribing to all the i'm.
putations Of tyranny in which the Americans
vented the discomfort that had been accumu-
latlng for many years, no one duu bis that the
taxation Of so powerful a colony was. as Il
mere matter Of state craft, a mistake. If not
il crime, 1t was certainly a blnnder. The mil
itary operations. too, of the war on the Eng
lish side are sufficiently infamous. No com.
mander probably. throughout the whole
course of the warike history of England has
surpassed Howe aid Clinton in inefiicicncy
But these errors hardly equa,d the folly Of
the policy which was pursued between the
first outbreak OF discomfort and the time when
the armed conflict commenced IN earnest. 1t
was not the policy Of statesmen. but the poll
icy which Spiteiul woman purSueS to obtain
a household victory. The English Govern
mcnt would not yield, and they either could
not or would not take the steps necessary to
conquer and so they adopted a middle course,
which conveniently combined the expenses Of
the one with the humiliation Of the other
They did nothing to enforce obedience, but
they did everything to tease, to irritate, to
eXaSpcrate.
The shutting up Of the port of Boston was
not likely to COW the resistance or allay the
resentment Of high.Splritrd people. The
closing of the fisheries of Newfoundland to
American enterprise had the effect ofdeprlving
numbers of their, bread, and making it theft
interest to dare the utmost for the overthrow
OF the power that was running them; but it
did not deprive the rebels of single resource
or win back to loyalty single watering
heart. The campaigns of many Of the Eng
lish commanders were carried on in the same
spirit. They made war on peaceful industry,
on d'ftnccless commercial towns, on public
buildings. on everything except armed men.
They undertook scarcely any great military
enterprises, and generally contencd them.
selves with sitting down in some seaport town
until they were driven out of it, but to make
amends, they destroyed every sort Of property