Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-04
by HAYDEN CHURCH.
London Correspondent Of The Star and North
American Newspaper Alliance.

| London Correspondent Of The Star and North
American Newspaper Alliance.
LONDON. England, July 3.-One
hundred and fifty years ago tomorrow
American journals published the news
Of the Declaration Of Independence.
The principal English newspapers,
| however, gave their first pages as
usual to the theatrical news, letters
to the editor, financial advertisements
and casual gossip.
| Not until five weeks later were they
to learn that the most important col
onv of the British Empire had re
| nounced allegiance to the plg-headed
and slightly added German who ruled
the far-fiung dominions.
When, on August IL, the news
| finally reached the mother country,
the event which was destined TO ar
feet vitality every government In eA-
istence and to become one OF the great
episodes in the history OF mankind,
| was given three lines on an inside
mage of one of the greatest Englsh
| journals.
advice is received" said the Morn.
| ing Post, that the Congress resolved
upon independence the Attn or july
| and. 1t is said. have declared war
| a gainst Great Britain in form.
The Morning Post. the Morning
Chronicle and the Daily Gazetteer, lit
tie four-page, tabloid size newspapers
| of the time. were unanimous in their
editorial Judgment on the event-they
| sa ndwiched it between items OF SHIPS
| reIvs and odds and ends of society
gossip.
Political Experts Err.
The Morning Post alone commented
toll ~
praph. Political experts then were
no more nearly omniscent than they
ware when a minor nobleman was
| shot down in Sarajevo in 1914.
"rhough the Congress have at last
| "a rried out their favorite point, in
voting, by a small majority lhe
United Colonies free and Independent
| states. it will prove the most lmpoli'
tic measure they could have devised
| ~ has already driven most of the dis
passionate members from their couh-
ellis and caused general ueseItloli
| through their, camps: If their deciara-
ton of independence was founoeo on
yie1y Of forming allies with some pow
| erful European, the aDsuruitv VI 'iio
idea will soon be manifest.
| The absurd idea became an actual
itv Immediately thereafter.
| In those revolutionary days, the
record time for news to cross the
| Atlantic was about three weeks TINS
! ;f II was carried by British man
of.war with everything in her favor.
E'os1r or five weeks was about the
average, but wait of nine weeks 1or
| Intelligence was not exceptional.
Hence, though it was on the i9tn
of April, 1875, that the first piooo OF
| American independence was spilled at
| I,ayineton and Concord, 1t was not
until Nav 30 that the people OF Brit
DIN road how "the embattled farmers
stood. and fired the shot heard rouno
the world Washington became
oor,noa nder.in-ch Of the American
| Arrov on July 2 in the same year, but
II was only on Monday, September Z,
that England knew with whom ner
nie-headed King was to fight MS ols-
| astrous duel. ,.,o,s
| And though 1t was on the glorious
Fourth of July, one hundred and nfty
,,ear ago. that the American Congress
| odonted the epochal Declaration OF
Indenendence written by Thomas JET
fersnn not until August II did the
London newspapers carry the news
| Of 1t.
Declaration Condensed.
On the following day the London
Gazetteer delivered itself thus: :.
| "a correspondence, we are assured
has been carried on between the oeie.
gates of the American Congress and
our natural enemies the French ana
| SPANISH and that 1t was IN conse'
ouence Of the latter promising TO
give the former every assistance IN
| their power, that the Americans de-
clared for independence.
| "As soon as the colonies declared
! themselves independent States, two
s.! foreign vessels, which were at Ph1la.
delphia, slipped their cables, and
sailed with the intelligence to the
above courts
For few days thereafter one finds
no mention Of the Declaration OF In
dependence in any London paper. But
then. on August II. they all carried
the full text Of the historic document,
but still without featuring" it in any
way.
They captioned it "Advices from
America. In Congress, July 4, 1776. A
Declaration by the Representatives of
the United States Of America in Gen.
eral Congress assembled" And then
ran" it, in some cases on middle and
back pages. as unconcernedly as If the
utterance that became the charter of
revolution throughout the world, and
that formally decreed the loss to Eng
land of her most important colony.
held no more significance for the
kI@r H~sA -