effect on all my Colleagues. This conversation and the principles, facts and motives suggested in it, have given a colour, complection and character to the whole policy of the United States, from that day to this. Without it... M. Jefferson [would never] have been the Author of the declaration of Independence, nor M Richard Henry Lee the mover of it. . . Although this advice dwelt deeply on my mind, I had not in my nature prudence and caution enough always to observe it . . . . . It soon became rumoured about the City that John Adams was for Independence; the Quakers and Proprietary gentlemen, took the alarm; represented me as the worst of men; the true-blue-sons of Liberty pitied me; all put me under a kind of Coventry. I was avoided like a man infected with the Leprosy. I walked the Streets of Philadelphia in solitude, borne down by the weight of care and unpopularity. But every ship for the ensuing year, brought us fresh proof of the truth of my prophesies, and one after another became convinced of the necessity of Independence."

27

Of Virginians, very many think that Henry contributed more than any other man to light the fires of the Revolution; and Wirt goes much farther-claiming for him the credit of being the first of all the leading men of the Colonies to suggest independence. In the account of this patriot's burst of eloquence, in 1773, he tells us that one of the audience reported that "the company appeared to be startled; for they had never heard anything of the kind even suggested." Henry, in speaking of Great Britain, (his biographer continues) said: "I doubt whether we shall be able, alone, to cope with so powerful

a nation.

But where is France? Where is Spain? Where is Holland? the natural enemies of Great Britain Where will they be all this time? Will Louis the XVI. be asleep all this time? Believe me, no! When Louis the XVI. shall be satisfied by our serious opposition, and our Declaration of Independence, that all prospect of reconciliation is gone, then, and not till then, will he furnish us with arms, ammunition, and clothing; and not with these only, but he will send his fleets and armies to fight our battles for us; he will form with us a treaty offensive and defensive, against our unnatural mother. Spain and Holland will join the confederation! Our independence will be established! and we shall take our stand among the nations of the earth."

Even Wirt's claim, however, is outdone by Dr. Joseph Johnson. He says 28: "We claim for Christopher Gadsden that he first spoke of Independence in 1764, to his friends under Liberty Tree, and there renewed the subject in 1766, rather than submit to the unconstitutional taxes of Great Britain."

II

SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE

S

EVENTEEN hundred and seventy-five is the year of Paul Revere's ride- the year of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill.

War had become a reality.

1

Strangely enough, however, the majority of the people still desired reconciliation 1— the love of Liberty of the Anglo-Saxon, as a race, not yet having overcome in them the cradle-nurtured spirit of the subject; and, of the comparatively few who favored independence, many feared and others seemed ashamed openly to express their opinions.

2

Only six days before the end of the year, Portsmouth, N. H., instructed her Representatives to the Provincial Congress: "We are of opinion that the present times are too unsettled to admit of perfecting a firm, stable and permanent government [for New Hampshire]; and that to attempt it now would injure us, by furnishing our enemies in Great Britain with arguments to persuade the good people there that we are aiming at independency, which we totally disavow . . . We particularly recommend, that you strictly guard against every measure that may have a tendency to cause disunion ...

Even in Boston, — when delivering too the oration to commemorate the tragedy of March 5, 1770! - Dr. Joseph Warren expressed himself thus: "An independence on Great Britain is not our aim. No, our wish is that Britain and the Colonies may, like the oak and ivy, grow and increase in strength together . . ." Indeed, after the battle of Lexington, the same orator said: "This [reconciliation] I most heartily wish, as I feel a warm affection for the parent state

William Gordon writes from Jamaica Plain, July 30th, to Mrs. Elizabeth Smith at Weathersfield: "[N] I still retain with you an affection for our native country, & wish to have matters accommodated, if it is the will of heaven, without a total separation."

The Provincial Congress itself of Massachusetts, in its address to the inhabitants of Great Britain, declared, April 26th: "We profess to be his loyal and dutiful subjects; and so hardly dealt with as we have been, are still ready, with our lives and fortunes, to defend his person, family, crown, and dignity."

"Brother Jonathan" (Trumbull) writes, to the Earl of Dartmouth, in March: "We consider the interests of the two countries as inseparable, and are shocked at the idea of any disunion between them . . . The good people of this Colony [Connecticut], my Lord, are unfeignedly loyal, and firmly attached to his Majesty's person, family, and government."

As for New York, under no circumstances could she yet tolerate the idea of independence. On June 26th, the Provincial Congress approved of an address, to be delivered to Washington, who was on his way to take

command of the army, in which they spoke of " "(that fondest wish of each American soul) an accommodation with our Mother Country"; the Committee of " Manhattan", on August 4th, finding that a Mr. Archer ("lately" of Philadelphia) had propagated a report there that Congress had resolved "that unless American grievances were redressed by the first of March, these Colonies should be independent of Great Britain . . . Resolved, That the author of such report is guilty of a malicious attempt to represent the Continental Congress as intending to cast off the connexion and dependence of the Colonies on Great Britain, and thereby to widen the unhappy breach already subsisting between them”; and the Provincial Congress again, four months later, declared "That the supposed present turbulent state' of this Colony arises not. . . from a desire to become independent .

The Assembly of Delaware instructed her Delegates, March 29th: "That in every act to be done in Congress, you studiously avoid, as you have heretofore done, everything disrespectful or offensive to our most gracious Sovereign, or in any way invasive of his just rights and prerogative."

"Camillus ", in a Pennsylvania newspaper, thus concisely compares the rights of the Colonists with those of the citizens of the mother country:

4 IN ENGLAND

1. A tryal by a jury of his country, in all cases of life and property.

2. A tryal where the offence was committed.

IN AMERICA

1. A tryal by jury only in some cases, subjected in others to a single Judge, or a Board of Commissioners. 2. A tryal, if a Governor pleases, 3000 miles from the place where the offence was committed.