The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-11-27
The Englishman and the American
Revolution.


can to understand the light in which
Englishmen have from the first re-
sarded the American Revolution. BE
expects Of the Englishman point
of view directly opposite to his own,
and he finds something else whlch
puzzles him. He is proud and per-
haps even today little resentfui
when he thinks about the Revolution;
he naturally expects Cor did till late
ly expect) the Englishman to ieel
humiliated and either resentful or
peritent about it; but that lnscrutaoie
and, 7 presume, annoying being feels
nothing of the kind. He utterly de-
clines to be angry or apologetlc.
IF he thinks of the American Rev
olution at all, he thinks OF II quite
happily. If he is a historian, ne
will see in the story of the Revoiu--
tion only one very gloomy feature the
Fate of the Loyalists, and is in otnef
respects content with that event, Often
enthusiastic about it. If he is not a
historian he does not know about the
Loyalists; but he does know that, III
period of political corruption, an
obscure, unrepresentative and un--
popular. set Of English politicians
handled American affairs in way
| against which the only memorable
English statesmen Of the day pro-
tested passionately; he thinks the ac-
ton of the Colonists was propaply
right and anyhow very English, and
he has always heard and believed
that it led up to the existing British
Empire and the existing British sys-
tenn of government. Any prejudice
which may ever have existed in Eng
land against America has arisen from
wholly different and much more re-
cent causes, but is in fact so uncom-
mon and SO transitory as not to be
| worth discussing.
| In short while England as coun-
try has never been widely popular in
America, America has been widely
popular in England. The cause of all
this could easily be explained; but 1t
is the result that matters. Our pres
ent association with France is deeply
pleasing to English people, who LOOK
| back on centuries Of warfare WIN
France as an affair with gentlemen
and sportsmen; our association with
America stirs a yet deeper feeling.
To find words for popular feeling one
must go to the poets; not, OF course.
to their ordinary elegant compositions,
! but to their occasional outbursts,
when they really do put their backs
into their job. The current English
feeling about English history can be
condensed into phrase which
Wordsworth used in the crisis Of our
struggle with Napoleon:
''The food
OF British freedom, which, TO the open
OF the worlds praise, from dark
antiquity
Hath flowed with 'pomp of waters
unwithstood.'
That flood was conceived by. Words
worth and has been conceived of by
thoughtful Englishmen ever since as
| flowing through an American as well
as British channel. Thus it is prob
ably as true an analysis as can be
made of the causes of any popular
emotion to say: We English rejoiced
that we were joined in a great cause
by those with whom it seemed most
fitting and natural that we should be
cooperating. And the strength Of this
sentiment in England is something
upon which we can confidently reck-
on-From What Does the American
Alliance Mean to Englishmen?" by
Lord Charnwood, in the American
Review Of Reviews for November.
1918.