Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-04-20
Diary Of the Americnn Revelation Bna-
lands Opinion Or It's OaIcers or TINT

u lands Opinion Or its OnIcers or TINT
Time. -l-rtig4 fee9rs. 11Gg 4df ,Ir..f 4
Frank Mooro's Diary of the american Rec
ol,,tion is attracting considerable attention in
England. The Saturday Revieso gives to the
work an appreciatve article, which is par
tcularly noticeable, as showing the present
feeling in England In regard to the period
and scene of the American Revolution As
the generation directly interested in. that,
contest has passed away, and there are no
direct personal feelings involved, the true
merits of the case are more fairly viewed.
Washington is,nt this day nearly as highly
reverenced in England as in America, aud
there will be found very few Englishmen wbo
condemn the course taken by the American
colonies. In the article in the Repiew, the
reviewer says sf'lol l ia 1I.H .sd lge2 4
The feelings With which most Englishmen
will rise from the pcrusal of this t'Diaryp will
be ono of sorrowful but profound, contempt
for the government under which their. ances-
tors fieurished in the good old days. Nobody,
except perhaps Washington, appears in very
noble colors but the only actors who make,
a thoroughly despicable figure are the English
Ministers and their favorite Generals. ltwas
not that they committed here and there an
isolated mistake-the demon of blunderins
possessed them from the very first measure to
the very. last of the twenty years struggle.
Without subscribing to all the imputations of
tyranny in which the Americans vented the
discomfort which had been accuwulating for
many years. no one doubts that the taxation
of so powerful n colony was as q mere mat
ter of State craft, a mistake. II not a crime,
it was cerainly ablunder. The military op-
erations, too, of the war on the English SIDE
are sufficiently infamous. No commander,
probably, throughout the whole course OF the
warlike history of England has surpassed
Howe and Clinton in deficiency. But
these errors hardly equaled the folly of the
policy which was pursued between the first
| outbreak Of discomfort and the time when
| the armed conflict was commenced in ear
nest; 1t was not the policy of statesmen,
| but the policy which spitetul woman pnr-
sues to obtain household victory. The
| English Government would not yield, and
| they either could not or would not take the
steps necessary to conquer, and so they
adopted 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 exasperate. .....
The shutting up Of the port of Boston was
| not likely to cow the resistance or allay the
1
| closing of the fisheries of Newfoundland to
American enterprise had the effect of depriv-
ing numbers of their bread, and making 1t
their interest TO dare the utmosttor the over
throw of the power that was running themi
but it did not deprive the rebels of single re-
source, or win back to loyalty single wavcr-
ing heart. The campaigns of many OF the
| English commanders were carried on IN tne
| same spirit. They made q waron peaceful IN
| dustry, on defenceless commercial towns, on
| public buildings, on everything except armed
| men. They undertook scarcely any great
military enterprises and generally cOntented
themselves with sitting down in some seaport
town until they were driven out of 1T but to
make amends they destroyed every sort OF
property that they could reach without hight
ing u battle. Even before the Declaration o
Independence had been made, they went on
the principle thatwhatever was loss to Amer
lea was gain to England; and consequently,
they conducted war on u system even more
barbarous than is commonly adopted in con-
tending wisn an alien nation. Having COM
mand of the sea, they bombarded and burnt
petty seaport towns which could not have
been troublesome. They forged imitation
Congress notes and circulated them, so as tC
depreoiate the American currency.
And General Gage even went so far as II
transport to this country all the title deeds oil
which theNew York proprietors depended fol
the possession of.their estate, though, happily
for our credit, his proceedings were not sup
ported by the authorities at home. The tales
of pIunder, of cruelty, and of maltreatment
ofprisoners, with which tho American paper.
and even the Congress reports are rife, 1t is Of
course impossible to test. But their com
plants are pitched in tone, and repeated
with perseverance, to which DevOuts cam
paigns in Northern Germany, furnish the near
est parallel Throughout this disgracefu
war the maximum of mischief with the min
imum of risk appears to havebeen the objec
of the English soldiery., sy. ls ts0s.. III