The St. Joseph observer. [volume] (St. Joseph, Mo.) 1906-1932, 1921-10-08

L
Grades, p. 1888.
| 'Smugglers,' 'pirates,' and then,
in comment upon British impress
ment of American sailors, this:
English sea-faring men were
good sailors, and the American cap
tains were glad to get them. They
encouraged such desertions. 1t might
not have been neighborly to entice
England's naval tars away. but it Sc
cured good men. and that was the
main thing in the minds Of American
skippers.'
English Go Unscathed
"Granted that these harsh indict-
ments for smuggling, near-piracy and
hiring of English seamen may have
had some basis in fact, still It is
strikingly significant that nowhere in
the new Barnes book are any such
| shameful charges brought against the
English. The King, indeed, was
'headstrong' and foolish; English
merchants are admitted to have been
cver-greedy for trade; and some of
the English laws affecting the colo
nies may have been 'unwise'; but no
acts Of ignominy are even remotely
hinted against the English, excepting
the English in America who in this
connection, for a change, are frankly
called Americans.
THE color this author gives to all
the growing differences between Eng
! land and the colonies uniformly re-
veals in him tho partisan spirit of a
British advocate. A very few scat
tered paragraphs when brought to-
gether and naturally articulated. form
the bare backbone of his attitude:
"Tf we Judge her doings by those
of other nations, England had been
liberal with her colonies from the
very first.'-p. 10.
1.-The Englishmen in America did
not object to paying taxes. They
were willing to 40 their full part for
the good and the glory Of England.
They said they were Engliahmen and
loved England. and they felt that
they should be treated as English
men. even though they were not liv-
ing in England.'-p. 10.
1.-The spirit shown by these Eng
lishmen beyond the sea annoyed the
King and his party.-p. IA.
Blame All on King
"In all the unfairness that had
been shown. it was not England that
oppressed the colonies. Her best ana
wisest statesmen said that such laws
were wrong. 1t was the young, head.
strong and ill-advised kind that abus-
ed the colonies.'-p. 10.
1.-The disputes that brought about
the war were not between the colon
lists and all the English at homo
They were rather between the Tories
and the Wings on both sides Of the
sea. neighbor against neighbor. Had
the great WhiS party in England
been in power with Edmund Burke
as its leader, It would have checked
the king in his foolish course. Then
there would have been no abuse oi
the colon.sts. and therefore no war
Had there been no war, this great
country would probably now have
been a great branch of the British
empire.'-p. 21.
: Ordinarily sensibilities, and ever
quick perceptions Of the school child
must fail to detect in all this an.
party was not in power and that th'
great branch OF the British empire
failed of realization. 1t may justl.
be doubted that IL the great Irishmal
Burke were still mortal he would g.
as far as this author goes in insinuat
ing today a doubt Of the proved wis
dom of American independence.
Ardent lover of liberty that Burk
was, he sought in his day and in hi
light to gain for the colonies the jus
tice that could retain them withil
the empire; but. now. in the light O
las years hisory of a free peopl
y illumining the world. he probabl
would keenly realize that. far-seein
as he was, and friendly as his mo
tives and efforts were. his best rea
service to America lay in the failur
. Of his purpose.
"It seems inconceivable that an
but small souls could see it other
wise; yet otherwise our children ar
being taught to see it. The ne-
Barnes obsession continues:
- "It was a fight of Briton againi
Briton; on one side Britons pghtin
- for liberty; on the other Briton
"a fighting because ordered to by thei
king.'-p. 81.
. Such affected phrases as Eng
/