The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-02-04

Samuel Adams OF Boston. and the charlhtan,
Patrick Henry OF Virginia" Mr.. Woodward
strangely mIsconccives the tremendous popular
movement which then began. II no imaglnes that
II could he organized and directed by a"demag ogue'
and q 'charlatan," The epithets will give young
Englishmen a strangely erroneous conception OF
two OF the most eminent and useful OF our Revolu-
tionary patriots. The author. on the other hand.
Is right in noting the curious fact that the first
Continental Congress. while claiming for tho Colo
NAL Assemblies exclusive rights over taxation,
still admitted the power OF Parliament 10 regulate
trade. II was no, until Arril. 1910. that Congress
rspudiated for the first time on behalf Of the hirtesn
Colonies the whole fabric Of the Navigation
acts.
Mr.. Woodward Is justified by the facts in
distinguishing two stages In our Revolutionary
War, one, namely, during which England
and the colonies stood face u face alone,
and a second. In the course Of which
France, Spain and Holland became arrnyed on
TIE side Of the United States. His outline Of the
events and incidents, however. which marked the
contests leaves much 10 be desired. No reference
is made N the engagements at Trenton and lrince-
Ton. 90 To- the battle Of Germantown, or u that Of
Monmouth. The gravity Of Burgoyne's reverse
Is ~mInimlzed by the sta that he ca p!tulatsd
with only $500 effective troops TO a force Of 1000
provincial soldlery born 10 forest warfare, - The
truth IL that, when Burgoyne left Canada ON Lis
expedition southwark, he had a great preponder-
anoe Of force In quantity as well as quality. \
ludicrously false impression II the hbortve out
cone If Cornwallis's campaigns In the Carolinas
and Virginia Is given by the statement that in tho
South, CORVALLIS was preparing a venturtSomeG
tempt t. reach tie Hudson by a land march from
Carolina" CORVALLIS never dreamed of reaching
the Hudson by land. he would have been only to
glad o. reach New York from the Chesapeake
by sea. Inc rec, also Is the assertion that"thenct
ual event Yorktown, 1881 by which Independence
was won was due. not to American valpr. but TO
French arms on land and sea" II is unqucst!on-
ably true that had not the French Admiral, De
Grasse, controlled tho Chesapeake at the critical
moment, CORVALLIS would Lave escaped from
Yorktown In English transports to New York.
1t is equally true that the whole campaign which
ended In Cornwallis's surrender was conceived.
o~rganized and directed by Washington. who
had under his command at Yorktown more sol
diery than had the French General De Rocham-
beau. Mr Woodward, on the other hand, is OBJ
yiously rhythm saving that opnrt from Yorktown.
We NCl'nb fI1UN' Ihu Hlutn llllItuN"oI fNtIltS
in America" through the money and supplies
given To Congress, and by compelling a diversion
Of British ornaments to Gibraltar and 10 the West
and East Indies,
The most meritorious pages In this book are
those which set forth the causes Of the m pid md
decisive change in the relations Of the mother
country to her American colonies during the
thirteen years that elapsed between the Peace
~ t-Ho and an Daclaroti,p 81 I,lapa,Iayra
Before defining the immediate agencies which
brought about he rupture, Mr.. Woodward under
takes to indicate the broad, underlying condi-
tons which made the Revolution possible. The
chief Of these conditions lay in the origin and
history Of the colonies themselves. The colonlsts
possessed the political tenacity and individual
self reliance Characteristic Of their race. In
fighting George III. New England at least felt
itself once more resisting the tyranny Of the
Stuarts. Our author also sees that, thanks TO
their long training in self government in Church
and State and to their steady prosperity, the
colonial communities were politically far more
intelligent and advanced than the mother country
and It's leaders were conscious OF" In the second
place. though the colonists had been left to them
selves in matters of Internal government, their
industries and their had been ricor.
ously and exasperatingly restricted by the NaVi-
cation acs. Even If, At certain periods, English
statesmen had winhed at the evasion Of regula-
tons as to sea borne trade, colonial manufactures
had always been strictly repressed. Up to the
Peace Of 1893, however, the colonists had regarded
the Navigation laws as the pnce paid for pro-
lection against foreign enemies, and the French
in Canada had been a standing reminder that
they could not dispense with the strong arm Of
the mother country. when Canada had finally
passed into English hands, this powerful motive
to loyalty no longer operated" Mr.. Woodward
finds another deep-seated source Of misunder-
standing in the gross ignorance evinced by Eng
lishmen Of all classes, from the King, his Min
listers and civil servants downward, concerning
colonial life and thoIght With lack Of knowl-
edge went in governing circles the absence OF any
reasoned, consistent policy such as. however
defective II might be in itself, marked the rela-
tons Of France and Spain to their dependencies.
While the colonies were acquiring. and tena-
ciously maintaining nights amounting to prac-
ticaI Independence, the English Government
was, In colonial Affairs, living, as 1t were. from
hand TO mouth, without accepted principles, ex-
part advice ~ properly organized niminIstra-
ton. Representatives Of the powerful trading
interest no doubt concerned them elves with Amer
lea. but only A. traders, u other instructed pit bic
opinion on the colonies. there was little or none.
Passing from the underlying conditions to the
>, immediate sUsncies which IaJ 20 ,bs ,,,,,u., Al.