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THE FIRST ACT OF THE DRAMA. 555
Thus the first act of the drama had closed with a triumph for the colonies.
But it was impossible that the matter could end here. The pride of England
had received a rebuke: her authority had been resisted, and that in a quarter
from which she could least patiently brook it. Not all the loyal toasts, fervent protestations of devotion, and humble phraseology of the addresses could
deafen English ears or blind their eyes to the true meaning of the shouts and
bonfires which rang and blazed through the province. The son had not only
dared to question the father's authority, but had plucked the rod from his
hand and broken it before his face. Policy might demand temporary
acquiescence, but the forward child must be brought back to obedience.
Only such enlightened and far-reaching minds as those of Pitt, Camden,
Burke, and a few others, could grasp the idea of a transatlantic England:
could understand that " Englishmen" meant men of a certain race, speech,
mode of thought and feeling, and not those alone who dwelt within certain
geographical boundaries, and were governed by acts of parliament. Yet this
conception was innate and instinctive in the minds of the colonists: they felt
themselves Englishmen in every fibre; heirs of all th^ history, all the traditions, and all the free spirit of their race, their love of liberty and revolt
against tyranny: Englishmen, too, who had deserved well of England, by
enlarging its dominions, fighting its battles, and augmenting its wealth and
dignity. They felt themselves to be, in courage, in intelligence, in patriotism,
no whit inferior to their brethren in the old home, whose only claim to
superiority rested on the fact that they had done none of these things; and it was
an exasperating injustice .to them to be treated as conquered enemies or an
inferior race—men whose claims to justice were to be held subordinate to
insular interests; who had somehow forfeited their rights as freemen, their
share in the common law and the Great Charter, by having planted and
defended the flag of England beyond the seas.
Yet the position of England was not altogether unreasonable. While it
is true that the war which established English supremacy in North America
was really the collision Of concurrent ambitions, and an episode in the rivalry
of four hundred years, yet it cannot be denied that in material and immediate
interests the colonies reaped a far greater benefit than the mother-country.
To the Englishman the conquest of Canada meant triumph and flattered
pride; to the colonists it meant peace, prosperity and abundance; while to
the frontiersman it meant comfort, instead of desolation, security instead of
incessant fear, a smiling home instead of blazing rafters, life instead of
death. . While the colonists had done their full share of the fighting, the
burden of expense fell upon England; and it seemed intolerable to ministers
like Grenville and Townshend, accustomed to figure up a budget and lay a
tax by a simple Act of Parliament, that the contributions of the colonies
could only be obtained by requests, always sharply canvassed, and sometimes squarely refused by the colonial legislatures. The principles of equity
involved seemed not so clear when urged from another hemisphere; and the
| Title | History of Maryland - 1 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000591 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | THE FIRST ACT OF THE DRAMA. 555 Thus the first act of the drama had closed with a triumph for the colonies. But it was impossible that the matter could end here. The pride of England had received a rebuke: her authority had been resisted, and that in a quarter from which she could least patiently brook it. Not all the loyal toasts, fervent protestations of devotion, and humble phraseology of the addresses could deafen English ears or blind their eyes to the true meaning of the shouts and bonfires which rang and blazed through the province. The son had not only dared to question the father's authority, but had plucked the rod from his hand and broken it before his face. Policy might demand temporary acquiescence, but the forward child must be brought back to obedience. Only such enlightened and far-reaching minds as those of Pitt, Camden, Burke, and a few others, could grasp the idea of a transatlantic England: could understand that " Englishmen" meant men of a certain race, speech, mode of thought and feeling, and not those alone who dwelt within certain geographical boundaries, and were governed by acts of parliament. Yet this conception was innate and instinctive in the minds of the colonists: they felt themselves Englishmen in every fibre; heirs of all th^ history, all the traditions, and all the free spirit of their race, their love of liberty and revolt against tyranny: Englishmen, too, who had deserved well of England, by enlarging its dominions, fighting its battles, and augmenting its wealth and dignity. They felt themselves to be, in courage, in intelligence, in patriotism, no whit inferior to their brethren in the old home, whose only claim to superiority rested on the fact that they had done none of these things; and it was an exasperating injustice .to them to be treated as conquered enemies or an inferior race—men whose claims to justice were to be held subordinate to insular interests; who had somehow forfeited their rights as freemen, their share in the common law and the Great Charter, by having planted and defended the flag of England beyond the seas. Yet the position of England was not altogether unreasonable. While it is true that the war which established English supremacy in North America was really the collision Of concurrent ambitions, and an episode in the rivalry of four hundred years, yet it cannot be denied that in material and immediate interests the colonies reaped a far greater benefit than the mother-country. To the Englishman the conquest of Canada meant triumph and flattered pride; to the colonists it meant peace, prosperity and abundance; while to the frontiersman it meant comfort, instead of desolation, security instead of incessant fear, a smiling home instead of blazing rafters, life instead of death. . While the colonists had done their full share of the fighting, the burden of expense fell upon England; and it seemed intolerable to ministers like Grenville and Townshend, accustomed to figure up a budget and lay a tax by a simple Act of Parliament, that the contributions of the colonies could only be obtained by requests, always sharply canvassed, and sometimes squarely refused by the colonial legislatures. The principles of equity involved seemed not so clear when urged from another hemisphere; and the |
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