The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-05-21

desire for coneiliation and compromise were
| expressed In the Instructions given to dele-
| gates, or In resolutions passed at conventions.
by other colonies. including Massachusetts.
| Pennsylvania, Virginia South Carolina. New
Jersey. and New York.
| In August IVA, although the Americans were
| then busily arming themselves for the strug-
gle. Franklin assured Chatham that there was
no agitation for political independence In the
colonies. He told Chatham that. having
more than once travelled almost from
one end OF the continent to the other,
and kept a great variety OF company. eating.
drinking and conversing with them freely.
have never heard In any conversation from any
person. drunk or sober the least expression OF
q wish for q separation. or hint that such
thing would be advantageous to America" In
tho October of 1774 Washington denied In the
strongest terms that there was any craving for
independence In any province In America, and
jefferson declared that before the Declaration
Of Independence he had never heard a whisper
| OF disposition to separate from Great Britain.
John Adams too who had not. as Franklin
| had. the excuse OF absence from his native
country. wrote. in March. 1775 tbut, AZ Mr..
Lecky conceives. untruly and inslncefely). OF
tho people OF Massachusetts. that there are
any that pant after independence is the great
|
| 1776. Gen. Reed. in confidential letters
to Washington. lamented that the public
mind In Virginia was so violently opposed to
the idea Of independence"
like opinion was expressed by Gal
| loway ono Of the ablest OF the Penn
sylvania loyalists, who averred before COM
mttee OF the House OF Commons that ct
the time when the Americans took UP arms
| less than fifth part OF them had independence
| in view. John Adams. when an old man. re-
| lated how when he first went to the Congress ut
| Philadelphia the leading conspirators In that
town said to him: You must not utter the
| word independence. or give the least hint or
insinuation Of the idea. either In Congress or
| any private conversation: II you do. you are
undone. for the idea of independence is as un-
popular In Pennsylvania and in all tho Middle
| and Southern States as the Stamp act
itself" Adams also tells how. when a letter
which he had written In ITS advocating
! Independence was intercepted and published.
| he was avoided like man infected with the
| leprosy." and walked the streets OF Philnde-
phia in solitude. borne down by the weight Of
care and unpopularity." At the end OF the war
John Adams who would naturally be inclined
| to overrate the ultimate preponderance In favor
| ofihderendencc. declared his belief that third
part OF the whole population. and more than
|
were throughout opposed to the Revolution.
| 1t is we'll known that Massachusetts was of
all the provinces. tho most rebellious. yet when
| Gen. Gage evacuated Boston In i776 he was
! accompanied by more than thousand loyalsts
| of that town and OF the neighboring country.
| Two-thlrds Of the property OF the colony Of
| New York was estimated to belong to tories.
and. except In the city there appears to
have been no serious dlsaffection. In some of
4 q II
| lieved to have formed nearly half the popula-
ton. and there was no colony in which they
| were not largely represented. In short, the
| American Revolution. like most Others WAS
the work OF an energetic minority. who suo-
| ceeded in committing an undecided and fuctu-
ating majority to courses for which the latter
had little love. and in leading them step By stop
| to a position from which it was impossible to
recede. There lie reason. moreover. to believe
that the revolutionary impulse was less power
| full among the older and more settled colonists
| than among tho immigrants who had lately
| poured in by tons Of thousands from Ireland
and Scotland. Galloway who was an honest
man. and had more than common means Of
forming a correct Judgment, testified before
the House Of Commons that in the second year
OF the war one half Of the colonial soldiers were
Irish. one-fourth English and Scotch. and
scarcely one-fourth natives Of America. This
statement can perhaps be reconcied with the
large quota furnished by Massachusetts on
the assumption that THE colony furnished the
bulk Of the native American recruits.
1t would seem. too that our national upris-
| ing. like the French Revolution. was especially
! welcome to those who had little to lose and much
! to gain by any change. John Adams In his diary
! records the profound melancholy" which fell
upon him In one OF the most critical moments
| M \yhrn n man Nhnp, hok Dew IN
! be horse jockey and cheat. and whom he
had often defended as an advocate in the
courts. came to him and expressed the un-
! bounded gratitude which he felt for the great
| things which Adams and his colleagues had
done. We can never" he said. be grateful
enough 10 you. There are now no courts OF
justice in this province. and hope there will
never be another g Ia this the object" Adams
continued. for which have been contending2
Are these the sentiments Of such people. and
how many of them are thcre In the country
Hall tho nation for what know: for half the
nation are debtors. If not more. md these have
been in all countries the sen ailments ofdebtors."
| These limitations on the part Of John Adams
| touching tho source of much pretended patr-
| otism. received some confirmation from the
strenuous attempt made by colonial debtors on
| the conclusion of peace to escape tho payment
| of the debts incurred before the war. This was
ono Of the points which caused most difficulty
| in the negotiations for a treaty. England de-
mandcd that the private debts incurred by
| American citizens to English citizens before
1775 should be recognized as bind
| ing. This would seem to have been n
! question OF common honesty. and there
wcrc undoubtedly good many old debts out
| standing. chiefly to Glasgow merchants. which
| when the troubles began the colonlsts had been
unable or unwilling to pay. 1t ia pointed cut
| that Franklin vehomently opposed the demand.
! alleging that much Of the merchandise from
| the sale OF which these debts ought to have been
paid had been destroyed by English soldiers
during the war. John Adams, however. whose
sense OF honor was higher than that Of
his colleague. fully admitted the justice Of the
English claim. and declared " that he had no
notion Of cheating anybody" and that the
questions Of paving debts and indemnifyng
! tories wore two" The dispute was ultimately
settled by Il clause affirming that creditors on
| either side shall meet with no legal impcdi-
| m Ia Tho rarpvnrv nf tho full ynlnn In atnr