The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-04-19

| or local feeling, viii rejoice In the celeDraton
OF the battle of Lexington. This is truly
American anniversarT. There is no interven-
ing civil war to darSen it. The gallant Eng
lishmen who set out that memorable April
evening to burn the stores in Concord were
loyal men, eager in the service OF their king.
All that we remember OF what they did is
their valor and devotion. All else has been
long since forgotten under the turf which
for so many generations has sheltered the war
riors of the Revolution. That war would be
| pallry chapter in the history OF mankind II
we still cherished its anger and hatred We
| have long since learned to do justice to the
sturdy King who would not lightly loose his
| grasp on his American possessions and to the
| strenuous people who chung to America as they
| do to every remnant Of their world-spread
empire. We may in poetic mood perhaps,
fancy that If Paul Revere had not ridden his
midnight GRAND. and if the impetuous Eng
lishmen had not fred their pistols OF the
| gathered Lexington yeomanry, the Revolu-
ton would have been avoided. In like man
| ner some of US think that If Fort Sumter had
not been bombarded there would have been
| no civil war. But the events which led to rev.
oluvion in ITS and civil war in 1861 had
gone beyond the control Of eager soldiery.
If there had not been q battle at Lexington
| it would have come elsewhere for all these
colonies were charged with resistance even as
the lowering heavens are suffused with cleo
| tic fire before the thunder, the Lightning and
the rain.
| The thunderbolt fell upon Lexington, but it
might have fallen upon Philadelphia, New
York, Annapolis or Mecklenburg. 1t was not
| within the DEGREES of Gods providence that
these States should longer remain in depend
ance upon Great Britain. 1t was not q ques-
| ton of tea or stamps, but of growth. England
was not governed with the wisdom of the lat
ter days-the wisdom which we may believe
came largely from the results of the Revolu-
tonary War. America was not to be held as
Ireland or India IF we had been severed
from the mother country by narrow strip of
sea there would in all probability have been
a speedy close to the rebellion. If we had
been densey peopled nation, weakened by
centuries of tropical sense-pampering, effem-
mate civilization, we might have been held
by resoute commander, as Lord Give he'd
India. Macaulay, IN abiding to the fact that
falling powers prevented Lord Give from
taking command of the British forces in Amer
lea, ventures the opinion that this young COM
mapder, who, he believed, had shown the
military genius of Napoleon, might have
directed the American campaigns to different
issue. We do not think so. The conditions
surrounding the Revolution were not to be
governed even by an intellect as subtle and
daring as that of Lord Give. There was the
ocean to be crossed by slow sailing ships
| There was country to be conquered as diff
cult of military subsection as Navarro or
Circassia, or Northern Russia. 1t was English
blood against English blood, with nature. OPP
portunity and patriotism the side of the
Americans. We were at home fighting for
honor. Our rampant was the sea. English
skill might possess New York and Boston and
Philadelphia, the seacoast and the important
towns. THIS awaited nothing except to weaken
and emharrass the invader, for the country
was ever beyond their grasp. Considering the
odds, and remembering that jealousy of
England had made France an active and
the other European Powers our passive
friends, the wonder is that the British COM
manders prolonged their efforts for so many
years. While, therefore, we glory in the
achievements Of our ancestors in successfully
pursuing tne work which began to-day one
hundred years ago, let us no less respect the
tenacity and courage of the men who fought
SO long for an empire that was the brightest
jewel in Georges imperial crown
We sometimes wonder what would be the
condition Of these States had we remained
under the monarchy. Suppose the Ministers
of George Ill had forsseen that in another
century the American colonies would be more
populous than the mother country, and had
permitted to our ancestors all the privileges
Of EngIishmcn suppose they had granted us
. parliament and n separate autonomy like
that possessed by Canada and Australia, n
militia and revenue s. stems, and all in spirit
of frankness, fraternity and equality. Such
thing is probable enough, and wisdom hun
bred years ago might have held US in the same
| ties which unite Canada to the mother land.
Would human progress have been as largely
benefited as we think ii has been by Inc United
States of America? We have no doubt that
we should have grown with the growth of the
British Empire and shared in its prodigious
prosperity and grandeur. The same sun
would have ripened cur harvests tho same
seas would have Aoated our ships. English
wealth and energy would have built our rail-
roads and canals English valor would GER
tainly have achieved as many triumphs over
the spaniard and the Mexican. But We
question whether liberty would have
been as nobly served. We should have had
our share in the tremendous wars with
Napoleon. The battle OF the Nile or of TRAIT
nlgar might have been the battle Of the Mar