Evening star., 1936-11-22
The American Empire
Before the Revolution.
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

after their school days, think of the
country as having been the most i'm.
portant part of the British Empire
There are, to be sure, some vague sur
vivals OF memory. For example. in New
England 1t still is possible to hear testv
old men use the terms "Hessian" and
Red Coat" with vehement opprobrium.
Nor Is that the result of ignorance as
in the case of drafted men, during the
World War, from the hill country of
Carolina who thought they were being
called out to fight the Yankees. But
New England's memory is longer than
most. BY and large the old imperial
days are almost as historically dim as
Egypt.
Yet the fact is that the forebears of
the people who live here today dwelt
on American soil for as long a period
under the British flag as they have
under the American flag, and during
that earlier period they we're of the
empire. 1t must be remembered that
even at the time of the American ReVo-
luton. India was not then ruled by
Britain. 1t was not yet a part of the
British Empire. South Africa and the
Egyptian Sudan were far, far in the
future. The British Empire then con-
sisted Of the American colonies.
Even so, the British Empire in North
America was OF stupendous proportions.
1t ranked second to the Spanish Empire
in vastness and wealth. And the wealth,
at that time, was concentrated on the
Atlantic Seaboard and in the West
Indies.
The story of this American Empire has
ifYcf hooY1 fold hu 7 q
son, professor of history at Lehigh Uni
versity, and it throws light fresh-be-
cause it has been largely forgotten-on
the early half of the history of the
people who were to become one of the
greatest independent powers on the
globe.
There is scant wonder that, when the
Revolutionary War did come, numer-
GUS party in the British Parliament, in
cluding such leaders as Edmund Burke
and Charles James Fox, pleaded elo-
quently for reconciliation with America.
They knew that an empire of incal-
culable worth was at stake. AS early as
1850 the annual exports from the Amer
ican colonies to England amounted to
s25,0 900 which, considering the period
and the purchasing power then, was
tremendous sum- From Maryland alone,
200 ships aggregating some 10000 tons
burden and manned by 1000 men were
required to move the tobacco crop. Vir-
ginia's crop was in addition. The indigo
of the CarolinaS, the West Indian sugar,
the timber of the North all added to the
riches which annually moved abroad.
\ X
The empire was so vast that 1t con-
tained a world of separate communi-
ties What was there in common be-
tween the fur trappers of the Hudson
Bays region. living the lives of frontiers
men in hostile climate, and the luxuri-
GUS planters of the South? The cavalier
civilization of Virginia and the Caro-
linas at first had little in common with
the social, humanitarian experiment in
Georgia, where slavery was abolished, or
with Quaker Pennsylvania and the keen
traders and shipping men of New Eng
land. When Quebec was wrested from
the French. one extensive province even
spoke an alien tongue.
Yet somehow this empire was held to-
getfler for century and a half. The
greatest diversity existed in the various
communities There we're company pos
sessions. as Virginia: there were pro-
prietarieS as Maryland and Pennsyl-
vania there we're concessions and there
were charter colonies and crown colonies.
In all, in the days of the American
Empire, there were 81 different local
constitutions which afforded a substan-
tial measure of self government. In
some there we're tyrannical governors
who, however. seldom lasted long. and
not few communities had difficulty in
enforcing the laws they had made them
selves, notably North Carolina, New Jer-
sey and Newfoundland
While in Jamaica fierce barbarities
were practiced on slaves, much of the
American Empire knew no slaves at all.
However. on that point, DR.. Gipson re-
marks that the empire was in large
part based upon what he calls the
rotten foundation" Of New Guinea-the
slave coast of Africa. From there, for
considerable period, as many as 10000
slaves a year were brought captive to
the West Indies and to the tobacco,
cotton and rice fields of the Southern
colonies.
In thinking about this pre-Revolu-
tionary empire it should be noted that
the British Museum is preparing for
publication a volume of reproductions
of the paintings of John White, the first
pictorial representations of the life Of
early British colonial America. The
average American is accustomed to
think of the first English settlement as
that at jamestown in 1907. Some, in
deed. think of the landing of the Pill
grims as marking the first, although
that did not come until 1920.
But the British Museum has in its
possession a numerous collection OF
these paintings which we're made in
America in 1584-nearly quarter Of
century before the jamestown settle
ment John White accompanied the
expedition of Sir Richard Grenville,
which had been dispatched by Sir Walter
Raleigh. Landing on what now is the
coast of North Carolina, the settlement
was established and the land called Vir-
ginia. after Queen Elizabeth. The pres
ent Virginia was unknown unless ex-
ploring parties reached it, as they quite
did. White became governor Of
the new colony. but soon had to return
to England for achievements When
these came they found the settlers
vanished with nothing left but charred
signboard saying they had gone to
Croatan, a place which never was dis
covered
John Whites paintings are remark
able They are by no means amateur.
Done In water color, they show keen
craftsmanship and close observation OF
e.