under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave, whom his fellow-creatures may buy and sell and torture? "When these questions are fairly and favorably answered, their laudatory epithets may be allowed; but till that can be done, we would seriously advise them to keep clear of superlatives." IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS CONNECTED WITH MacKnight Life and Times of Edmund Burke, vol. ii., p. 99: ... "Had all the eminent men in opposition been sincere, earnest, and united in their resistance, the court and ministers might possibly have paused in their mad and guilty career, and civil war, even at that last hour, have been averted. . . . The whole weight of a detailed opposition to these absurd and sanguinary schemes was thrown on the Rockingham party. . . . On the first day of the session he [Chatham] had appeared in his place [House of Lords], and, without consulting Lord Rockingham and his friends, and even studiously concealing his intention from them, made an unexpected motion for recalling the troops from Boston; and in his powerful but vague speech in support of it, he, as mischievously as unjustly, charged on the Declaratory Act of the Rockingham Administration all the subsequent troubles. This was what Burke called one of Lord Chatham's tricks. Lord Rockingham's conduct was the reverse. Though he had grave objections to the motion recalling the troops, since it abandoned the colonists who had favored the Government to the mercies of their enraged and bitterly hostile countrymen; and though he had a just cause for resenting the manner in which Chatham had at such a moment blamed the Declaratory Act, yet rather than show a dissension in the ranks of the Opposition he supported the earl's proposal, and even spoke tersely but effectively in its favor. Some days afterward, again without consulting Lord Rockingham, Chatham proposed a bill for reconciling America to England, in which the Declaratory Act was among other measures to be repealed, as one of the causes of the quarrel; and again, both in his speech and in the wording of the bill, the principles and policy of the Rockingham party were directly censured. . . . "Some circumstances were also yet wanting to render the great British colonies fully united. The General Assembly of New York, for which Burke was the agent, had not formally joined the Continental Congress. Instead of expressing officially their approval of all that the delegates had done in the autumn at Philadelphia, and sinking their provincial independence in the action of the common body, they had preferred sending separately a petition to the king, a memorial to the House of Commons, a representation to the Lords, and a remonstrance, in which the grievances of America were recapitulated, and redress from the imperial legislature constitutionally requested. New York was of all the colonies the most moderate and most attached to the British Crown. . . ... "On the 15th of May, Burke moved that this complaint in the form of a remonstrance should be received. . . . Yet on the same miserable plea which had been brought forward to excuse the rejection of Burke's conciliatory resolutions, Cornwall and Jenkinson spoke against receiving the paper; and the whole power of the Government was exerted to prevent it being laid upon the table. By a majority of three to one it was insolently repudiated, as contrary to the Declaration of Rights, and subversive of the supremacy of Parliament." Tyler-Patrick Henry, p. 114: "We need, therefore, to glance for a moment at the period between October, 1774, and March, 1775, with the purpose of tracing therein the more important tokens of the growth of the popular conviction that a war with Great Britain had become inevitable, and was to be immediately prepared for by the several colonies-two propositions which form the substance of all that Patrick Henry said on the great occasion now before us. "As early as the 21st of October, 1774, the first Continental Congress, after having suggested all possible methods for averting war, made this solemn declaration to the people of the colonies: 'We think ourselves bound in duty to observe to you that the schemes agitated against these colonies have been so conducted as to render it prudent that you should extend your views to wonderful events, and be in all respects prepared for every emergency.' Just six days later, John Dickinson, a most conservative and peace-loving member of that Congress, wrote to an American friend in England: I wish for peace ardently; but must say, delightful as it is, it will come more grate ful by being unexpected. The first act of violence on the part of the administration in America, or the attempt to reinforce General Gage this winter or next year, will put the whole continent in arms, from Nova Scotia to Georgia.' On the following day the same prudent statesman wrote to another American friend, also in England: The most peaceful provinces are now animated; and a civil war is unavoidable, unless there be a quick change of British measures. On the 29th of October, the eccentric Charles Lee, who was keenly watching the symptoms of colonial discontent and resistance, wrote from Philadelphia to an English nobleman: Virginia, Rhode Island, and Carolina are forming corps. Massachusetts Bay has long had a sufficient number instructed to become instructors of the rest. Even this Quakering province is following the example. . . . In short, unless the banditti at Westminster speedily undo everything they have done, their royal paymaster will hear of reviews and manoeuvres not quite so entertaining as those he is presented with in Hyde Park and Wimbledon Common.' On the 1st of November, a gentleman in Maryland wrote to a kinsman in Glasgow: The province of Virginia is raising one company in every county. This province has taken the hint, and has begun to raise men in every county also; and to the northward they have large bodies, capable of acquitting themselves with honor in the field.' At about the same time, the general assembly of Connecticut ordered that every town should at once supply itself with double the quantity of powder, balls, and flints' that had been hitherto required by law. On the 5th of November, the officers of the Virginia troops accompanying Lord Dunmore on his campaign against the Indians, held a meeting at Fort Gower, on the Ohio River, and passed this resolution: That we will exert every power within us for the defence of American liberty, and for the support of her just rights and privileges, not in any precipitate, riotous, or tumultuous manner, but when regularly called forth by the unanimous voice of our countrymen.' Not far from the same time, the people of Rhode Island carried off to Providence from the batteries of Newport forty-four pieces of cannon; and the governor frankly told the commander of a British naval force near at hand that they had done this in order to prevent these cannon from falling into his hands, and with the purpose of using them against any power that might offer to molest the colony.' Early in December the provincial convention of Maryland recommended that all persons between sixteen and fifty years of age should form themselves into military companies, and be in readiness to act on any emer |