Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-03-18

qualities most essential TO his mission,
was dispatched to France with authority
TO negotiate for tho equipments OF
twenty-five thousand men, hundred
field pieces aud ammunition In proper
tion, his instructions from the committee
assigning a. the reason OF the selection
Of that country for the first application
for assistance the fact that in tho event
OF total separation from Great Britain,
France would be the power whose
friendship II would be fttest 10 obtain
and oultivate.
At the sam0vtime Congress had de.
decided TO send commissioners to Can.
ada 10 foster q state OF feeling similar to
that pervading the colonies and espe.
cially 10 encourage the formation OF =
local government. John Adams men
tions tho commission In Q letter 10 his
wife, about this date, and dwells par
ticularly on the important results an
tioipated from the good ofhces OF the
Rev. Carroll, the brother Of Charles
Carroll, Of Carrollton, Nd, who was to
remove from the minds Of the Canadian
Catholics the fear of an anathema
against American rebels; and, curiously
enough, after speaking in the highest
terms OF the patriotism Of the CAROLS,
warns Mrs. Abigail 10 bear in mind the
prejudices OF the Puritans, and not to
breathe it in New England. Ono clause
in the official Instructions issued by the
Congress to the commissioners is signi.
ficant a. amounting almost to an actual
declaration Of independence, and it was
not adopted without vigorous debate.
It was this: You are to declare that
it is our inclination that the people OF
Canada may set up such form OF gov
ernment as will be most likely in their
Judgment to produce their happiness.
But the commission proved failure.
The news that Parliament had pro-
hibited trade OF every kind with tho
colonies and declared their ships and
cargoes liable to confiscation, reached
the Congress in the early part Of the
month, and on the sixteenth that body,
sitting in committee of the whole, de-
liberated upon remedy. Franklin was
for extreme measures, and urged de-
claration OF war, while the most CONFER
vative delegates thought it wiser to take
no action Whatever. The discussion took
q wide range and lasted two days, but
on the eighteenth, against the votes OF
Pennsylvania and Maryland. resolutions
were adopted authorizing privateers to
cruise against the commerce OF Great
Britain, exclusive of ireland and tht
West Indies. A still sharper debate
sprang up on the twenty second on the
preamble, to which Wythe moved an
amendment, definitely accusing the
king himself as the cause OF their op-
preston, in that he had "rejected their
petitions with scorn and contempt" 1t
was but step from this declaration to
that which formally severed the allie
glance of the colonies forever, and its
was at once recognized.
Lee seconded tho amendment, but the
opposition was so strong that it went
over for the day. On the twenty-third,
however, it was triumphantly carried,
to be followed the next month by what
h 'storians tell us was the first real act OF
independence, the abolition of the
British custom house and tie opening
of our ports to the commerce OF the
world.
So important was the month. In it
King George abandoned finally the
thought of reconciliation, Washington
won his first great victory, the Congress
first definitely asserted the principle OF
colonial liberty, and France began to
consider the wisdom Of an American al
lance. The child still clung to the
name of mother, but the leading strings
had been snapped forever. er.-Philadel-
r'tia Times. t, Ittr- - .u,J