Evening star., 1925-07-04

have Wed with each other in efforts
to estrange the Colonies. Such a
| policy would have established tradi
| tions of animosity that would have
kept the struggle alive even after
nominal peace. In the end separa-
| tion would have come. But 1t might
have been delayed through many re-
currences of turbulence and struggle.
1t was vastly to the good of both the
! mother country and the Colonies that.
the conflict being once begun, t. was
brought to a decisive conclusion
Victory Helped Britain.
| There is another reason why the
| final victory OF the Colonies was i'm
portant to the world. 1t was just as
necessary for the maintenance of the
\ British Empire as for the proper de-
velopment of the American commu-
nifty. / believe this view is now gen.
orally accepted by British students as
| well as Americans. We may be sure
that it was in the mind of the great
Chatham, who had laid the founda-
| tions of the British Empire in the
Seven Years War. If there was man
in all that realm who might we'll have
been given attention when the Ameri.
can crisis was developing that man
was Chatham. He had found Britain
weak and had built it into strength
| He had well-nigh made the whole
North American Continent British. He
/ had re-established the empire and ex.
| tended 1t in many directions. Yet
Chatham knew that Lord North's poll
ces would surely cost the loss of the
American dominion. Emerging from a
/ long political retirement, defying the
doctors he hated and the King he had
! served, the grand old man hurried
| down to the House of Lords to pro-
nounce his allegiance to the cause of
the Colonies. When your lordships. -
said he, look at the papers transmit.
ted to us from America when you con-
slider their decency, their -firmness,
| their wisdom, you can not but respect
their cause and wish to make 1t your
own" That decency, firmness and
wisdom were in no small part George
| Washington.
| Chatham knew what it had been to
! build an empire; he would not see 1t
| thrown away without having his pro-
| test heard. He spoke the voice of
| liberalism in England; but the King
and his ministers had no ear for such
counsels. They had fixed their course
and could not be swerved.
Made Cause National.
Washington's assumption of the
| command gave the colonial cause an
| effective national character. Had he
( not possessed the genius and the
0ower to impress others with that con-
! ception, 1t is hardly conceivable that
| disaster could long have been post
poned. He found himself in command
of an unorganized, undisciplined, un-
| provisioned and unmunitioned body of
some $4,000 militia, opposing an army
of 900 regulars shut up in Boston
and supported by a naval power that
| completely commanded the seas.
| Washington was called first to make
| an army, then to drive his enemy out
of Boston, and then TO meet attack at
whatever point along the coast the
enemy might choose. Where many
others, quite as sincere in their pa
| triotism, fondly imagined that the
evacuation Of Boston would move the
| London government to make peace, he
| was convinced that it would be little
more than the beginning. For the long
! struggle he foresaw, he had to pre-
| pare, not only by creating an army
| but by convincing the civil authority
and the people that he must have the
utmost measure of their support and
| cooperation. So we find him, imme-
diately upon assuming his command,
| dividing his time between military
| tasks and the writing of endless letters
| to the leaders of the Congress, to the
provincial assemblies, to men of i'm
portance everywhere. designed to i'm
press them with the enormity of the
coming struggle.
This is not the time or place for
review of Washington's military
career. Yet there are phases of that
| career which l am never able to pass
| over without a word of wonder and
admiration because of some of the ex-
ploits which it includes.
Treptou Cau,paiou praiSad
1t is recorded that a few evenings
after the surrender of Lord CORVALLIS
at Yorktown a banquet was given by
Washington and his staff to the
! British commander and his staff One
! likes to contemplate the sportsman
ship of that function. Amiabilities
| and good wishes were duly exchanged,
and finally Lord CORVALLIS rose to
present his compliments to Washing
| ton. There had been much talk of
past campaigning experiences, and
CORVALLIS, turning to Washington, ex-
| pressed the judgment that when his
torys verdict was made up "the brigh-
| test garlands for your eXcellency Will
! be gathered, not from the shores of
| the Chesapeake, but from the banks
| of the Delaware" We may fairly
assume that CORVALLIS, in the fullness
of a very personal experience, was
| qualified to judge. Washington had
outgeneraled and defeated him both
on the banks of the Delaware and the
| shores of the Chesapeake. In giving
the laurels to the Trenton-Princeton
campaign, he expressed not only his
| own judgment, but the estimate which
was afterwards pronounced by Fred
| erick the Great, who declared that the
Trenton-Princeton campaign was the
most brilliant military performance of
the century. For myself, without pre-
tense of military wisdom, the light
| ning-like stroke of Trenton and Prince
ton in it's supreme audacity and ideal
execution has always seemed the most
perfectly timed combination of mill
tary genius and political wisdom that
we find in the records of warfare.
On the other hand, much can be
urged to support the claim that York
town was the most brilliant campaign
of Washington. With an army on
the point of disintegration, he was
almost utterly unable to get supplies
and transport. Yet, he managed to
withdraw his forces from before New
York and get them we'll on the way to
Virginia before his enemy seriously
| suspected his design. 1t was a
miracle of military skill, diplomacy
and determination, to effect on the
Virginia peninsula that consolidation
of forces from South and North, along
with the French army and fleet, at
precisely the right moment. The es-
sence of strategy Is to divide the
forces of the enemy and defeat them
in detail; and there are few cam
paigns which show a commander ac-
| complishing this through operations
covering so extended a territory and
| involving so many difficulties.
Faced Trouble at Yorktown.
| In the Yorktown campaign we see
-icd al Of h iK,rr.