The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-15
ARTICLE XII.
Remonstrant writers.

CSIIuIy anu NAN the cOlonlStS had been
carrying the separatist principle into
their religious and political life Massa-
chusetts desired nothing of Rhode Island
beyond keeping it's own side of the line.
Virginia had no favors to ask of Mary
land, nor Pennsylvania of New York
Each settlement cultivated the traditional
seclusion Of the Briton in his country
house and kept itself secluded from the
highways CT the worlds life and litera-
ture. But from the parliament house in
LONDON these scattered plantations easily
narrowed into a single strip Of farm and
fishing stations from which revenue might
be raised for the crown.
Oppressive legislation to secure tribute
forced upon these isolated and exclusive
communities the idea Of confederation
which events at length matured into that
of union This thought of association
now SO familiar after more than 100 years
of the fact, was the idle dream of a few
IN 1865, and a nightmare to everybody
else. Nevertheless, the writings of the
succeeding decade show that a strange
diversion had taken place in colonial
thought and in the manner of making it
known
All the energy which had hitherto gone
into theological athletics now found a
held Tor Its exercise in the discussion OF
the rights Of the British subject The
polenics of the meeting house began to
yield the floor to the debates of the town
meeting in the interest Of the crystalliz-
Ing colonies. The same change is notice
able In printed matter, and Edwards!
treatise on Original SIM was laid aside
for Franklin's "CCoI Thoughts on the
Present Situation of Our Public Affairs
Indications Of this change had been
d1scerned by the weather wise as Tar
back as the midcentury.
In the very year that Franklin was ex-
planning his theory of thunder gusts
Jonathan Mathew discoursed concerning
Unlimited Submission and Non Resist
ance to Higher Powers" Later Franklin.
stirred UP Richard Jackson to write about
The Interest OF Great Britain With Re
gard to Her Colonies to say nothing of
remonstrance and appeals that were fire.
quently sent to the home government
1t was not, however, until the threat
ened passing of the stamp act that our
literature began to bristle with pens en-
gagged in the controversy for constitu-
tional rights. Hitherto American writ
ings had made little stir abroad, and with
good reason. Now they began to com
mand attention through their relation to
the British exchequer first, and then by
their dignity, strength and knowledge
They were a revelation to the English
nation of growth in wisdom and power
unexpected in child who had been Iiv-
ing so far from home among savages.
REALLY, it was quite remarkable" ana
more remarkable twenty years later
There is such an abundance Of this new
literature of reasonable protest and argu-
mentative remonstrance that a complete
enumeration and the slightest charactert-
zation of it's writer's would exceed the
lf11oif L,
fore be restricted to it's leading contribu-
tors, and be brief at that.
Franklin has already been spoken of as
the forerunner of departure in misceI-
laneous writing from previous fashions
He is also a pioneer in political
pamphleteering, which itself gave way
to the essay in newspapers. The record
of what he did with his pen in the course
of a long career in the service of his
country may be seen in his published
works; the actual results which he ac-
cCmplished may never be fully known.
Next to him in the order of time and
foremost in the North was James Otis.
His pamphlet on 1.-THE Rights Of the
British Colonies Asserted and Proved"
1854, advertised the strained relations be-
tween England and America, pointed out
the Injustice Of recent legislation, based
an appeal for redress upon the rights
of the governed as protected by the
British constitution, and deplored aliena-
ton from the mother country and the
king.
1t was the final word of a loyalty which
could not and would not become a slav-
cry. 1t was restatement Of the rights
which the barons asserted at Runymede.
1t rested upon the bedrock of Magma
Charta. Thus it became itself a pyramid
Of constitutional logic from which other
writers soon began to quarry the corner
stones of their several editices. built each
after a style of it's own. But the sublime
original will always stand as a landmark
at the dividing Of the ways. 1t old much
to divide them, Notwithstanding its SIN
cere protests of reverence and love for
Great Britain. The colonies saw their
cause stated as they had not been able to
formulate it themselves The grievance
had been defined; should it be borne sub
missiyely or further protested against
or forcibly resisted?
The answer to this threefOld question
was not uniform. The last two phases or
it had each It's advocates. OXenbridGe
Thacher's Sentiment of BrItlsn-Amer-
ican' should be read to learn how con-
ciliatorv and moderate the best colonial
temper tried to be and was under pro-
vocation, and loyal withal to the throne.
The pamphlet debate which took place
between Gov. Stephen Hopkins, Of Prov
| idence, and Lawyer Martin Howard, OF
| Newport, out of which tho i'm
pulsiye Otis could not keep himself,
| illustrates the divisions that had already
begun to separate neighbors and families
| and would by and by send many to Hall
| fax. 1t also exemplifies and would by
| and by send many to Halifax. 1t also
| exempli1es the kind of literature which
| these stalwart statesmen were making.
The thought habit of it had been bred
| in the meeting house and court house for
| generations but the style Of it was not
the antique manner Of either Dr. Mat-4er
+ or Judge Sewall. Samuel Johnson's oro-
| tund deliverances had reached New Eng
! land, or at least his dictionary. ana the
| rhythmic majesty of a new dictlon suited
| well the dignity of such themes as were
! to be discussed by cultivated men In
| two herMspheres It was as noble as the
issues at stake: as stately as the man
ners Of the time. Affected pedantry was
! driven out by the momentous questions
| impending; the expletivese Of emotion re-
| strained by the overshadowing storm
| cloud that was gathering.
/ One cannot read these pamphlets and
| others like them without knowing that
they dealt with one of the unheavals OF
| history and that the men who wrote them
| had already been lifted to higher level.
Moreover, candor forces the admission
| that in literary execution loyallst
writers are not behind the patriot. 4
century and a quarter of inbred con-
tempt for the tory may nave induced
color Ill ndness in or criticisms. III so,
the historic imagination must be invoked
to set us back to the days when all
were as yet citizens of an empire upon
which the sun did not set, and of which
all its subjects were proud, even II its
rulers were unwise. In the commotion
Of change from colonies to free states