Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-05-06
American Forbearance.

Failure of Europeans to appreciate
American methods has ceased to sur
prise us, but that the continental press
should believe the United States anx-
ious to provoke Il quarrel with Spain
and that war with Spain could have
been averted by us seems ridiculous
Beware the wrath of a patient man
might Well he the motto of the United
states. We have never gone to war
without great provOcation. and only
after all other means of obtaining re-
dress for our grievances have failed
This should be plain to any European
statesman who has read the history of
America, says the Chicago Times
Herald.
This has been true from the very
first The revolution of 1875 was not
due to any sudden outburst of passion
The colonists had serious grievances,
which they vainly sought to remove
by every peaceful means. Delegations
were sent to England. and parliament
was told of the wrongs that had been
inflicted upon us. These wrongs We're
so great that foremost statesmen of the
United Kingdom admitted them, and
eloquent speeches We're made in our
behalf
The stamp act was the cause of the
Revolution, but it was II years after
the passage of that unjust law before
the colonies severed the tie that bound
them to the mother country. The re-
sistance was peaceful and met the ap-
proval of just Englishmen. Pitt him
self declared in parliament that he re-
joiced that America had resisted the
infamous measure. The men in the
stamp act Congress of 1865 We're entirely
loyal to the crown, and in their petit
tion to King George they gave express
sion to that loyalty. The stamp acts
repeal was followed by measures as
odious. Again the colonists protested
The Continental Congress of 1114 in is
memorial said: You have been told
that we are seditious. impatient of
government and desirous of indie
pendency. Re assured that these are
not facts, but calumnies."
Consider the wrongs of the colonists.
They We're in some respects greater
than those which the Cubans have suf-
fered at the hands of Spain. European
statesmen believed that colony was u
community that existed for the puf-
pose of enriching the nation that had
founded it. Each nation tried to ar
range it so that the colonists should
buy more than they sold, and always
remain in debt. England followed this
same policy. They colonies were re-
quired to trade solely with England.
and could not send their produce to any
other country, nor could they buy in
any other markets than those of Eng
land. While American ships might
bring goods to England. the carrying
trade between the colonies was confined
to British ships The colonists We're
prohibited from manufacturing. The
wool they grew must be taken to Eng
land to be woven into cloth. They We're
not allowed to manufacture a thing,
and even their exports of raw material
We're subject to d heavy tariff when
} shipped to England
Finding it impossible to obtain re-
dress for these grievances. the colonies
threw off the yoke. Many Englishmen,
even then. admitted the justice of the
Revolution. All admit it today. As
one writer has said, they would not
have been true Englishmen had they
not resisted.
Nor was war declared in 1872 except
as last resort. For five or six years
the United States had endured patient