The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-18

the mother ocuntry been brought out with
more clearnees and sharpness. Lord Acton
begins by denying that the dispute on
either side was an affair Of sordid interest.
He denies chat there was any tyranny 70
be resented. He asserts, on tho contrary.
that the oolonists were in many ways mon
completely their " masters than were
Englishnen at home. They were not
roused by the sense Of intolerable wrong.
The point at issue was a very subtle and
reflne one, and IL required q great deal
OF mismanaRsment 70 make the quarrel
irreooncilable. In England, indeed, the
point at Issue had long been settled. IL
had been settled that the Legislature could.
without breach of any ethical O r consti-
tuttonal law, without FORGETTING its authority
or exposing itself to just revolt, make laws
injurious. to the subject for the benefit OF
English religion or English trade. II that
principle was to be abandoned in America
it could not well be maintained in Ireland.
Another fact which We are hidden to bear
IN mind is that both the oppression OF Ire
land and the oppression Of Amerioa-the
assumption OF a right to tax them by a
body in which they were unrepressnted-
was no survival Of the dark ages. On the
contrary. the oppression was a product OF
the modern school Of political thought. OF
the very men who had executed one king
and expelled another. The oppression OF
Ireland and America was the work OF the
P~arliaments Of Cromwell and Of William III.
The political problem raised by the New
World was therefore more complicated
than the simple issue hitherto dealt with
in the Old. From the viewpoint Of Ameri-
49, .1Y1ntaAn IL Nod hxonunA 0oNoaoarv To
turn back the current of the development
| Of politics TO bind and limit and confine
the State. which IL had become b pride OF
progressive men in the mother country
70 exalt. Under the circumstances 1t was
not 70 be expected that Parliament would
consent to renounce Its right OF imposing
taxes. Il In true that successive English
Governments shifted their grounds. They
tried the Stamp Act; then the duty ON tea
and several other articles; then the tea
duty alone and at last something even
less than the tea duty. An ingenious plan
was devised which would uphold the right
of taxation but would not be felt by Ameri-
can pockets and would, indeed. put money
into them In the shape Of a bride. East
Indiamsn were allowed 20 carry tea to
| American ports without paying toll in
England. The navigation laws we're sus-
pended In order that people in New Eng
and might drink cheap tea without snug
Cling. The duty in England was a shilling
a pound. The duty in America was three
pence a pound. The shilling was RENTED.
30 that the colonies had only a duty OF
threepence 70 pay instead Of a duty OF
fifteen pence. Thus the tea drinker at
Boston got his tea cheaper than the tea
- D-s-AN III -a.y. -.aI,
sacrifice, Incurred a loss, in order TO crafty
the disconnected %colonials. II 1t wa a
grievance TO pay more for a commodity,
how could it be d grievance to pay less for
the same comIIodityi In a word. the sor-
did purpose was surrendered on Britain's
side and only the constitutional motive
was retained, in the belief that the sordid
element alone prevailed in the colonies.
Lord Acton goes on to show how the
threepence broke up the British Empire.
Twelve years of contention. ever coming
I'D in altered shape under different Minis
tiers, had made II clear that the mind of
the great parent State was made up. The
Americ ans on their part grew more and
more obstinate ~ they purged the issue
of the sordid element with which they had
begun. The dispute had now q reduced
to its simplest expression and had become
a mere question of principle. The argu-
ment from the charters, the argument from
the Constitution, was discarded. The case
was fought out on the ground of the law OF
nature, more properly speaking, of divine
right. On that evening of 10th December,
i773"-when a tea ship in Boston harbor
was boarded, and tho tea chests were flung
into the Atlsntic-that law became, for
the first time the reigning force in history.
By the rules of right. which had been obeyed
till then, England had the better cause.
BY the principle which was then inaugu-
rated England was in the wrong and the
future belonged to the oolonists."
vi.
Lord Acton dsvotes but little space to
| our Revolutionary War but recognizes
that the British defeat at Saratoga was
the event which determined the issue of
the conflict. The French Government had
, watched the course of events for evil
dence that American resistance was not
about to collapse. At the end of 1T77
the victory Of Saratoga supplied the re-
quisite proof and a treaty of alliance was
| concluded. It wac evident from the first
tina the combustion was more than
England could hope to meet. Lord North
at once offered to satisfy the American de-
mands. but America, in pursuance Of her
treaty with France, declined the English
overtures. It is true. as the author Of
these lectures says, that it vas by the
French feet. and not by the land forces
sent from France, that American indie
pendence was gained. When De Grasse
drove tho English feet away from Vir-
ginian waters CORVALLIS surrendered the
Army Of the South at Yorktown, as Bur-
xoyne had surrendered the Northern Army
at Saratoga. It was by the French army
! officers. however, that American ideas
suficient TO subvert every European State
were transplanted into France.