276 Ch. 20. 1776 Independence. AMERICAN DECLARATION question was put again, Dickinson, after having been the most prominent opponent of the motion, finding that the decision rested with him, withdrew with Morris, one of his colleagues, who had previously voted with him, and thus the scale was turned in favour of Independence. Declaration of A committee was appointed to draw up the Declaration. Adams, Franklin and Jefferson were principally concerned in the preparation of this famous manifesto. It begins by asserting abstract propositions of civil government, copied substantially from the Declaration of the Assembly of Virginia, which had been compiled from Paine's formula of the Rights of Man. It then proceeds to enumerate the several acts of the King of Great Britain, by which it was alleged that the people of the United States were absolved from their allegiance. This preamble, which was drawn out to a great length, terminates by declaring the Colonies FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, with all the powers which belong to a sovereign people. There is little to admire in the composition of this famous paper. In style, it was more like a party pamphlet than the dignified assertion of their rights by a great and injured people. All the grievances which are recited as justifying the renunciation of allegiance to the British Crown, are laid to the personal charge of the King, as if he had been an absolute monarch, solely responsible for the acts of Parliament and the Adminis OF INDEPENDENCE. tration. Many of these charges are so vague as to admit of no definite answer. Some of them are absolutely false; others are perversions of the truth; and the rest are more or less exaggerated. Judicial accuracy, however, is not to be expected in a paper of this description. A people who have determined to cast off the authority of their rulers, or a government which seeks to invade the rights of an independent people, are bound to state a strong case in their justification; and when the sword is to determine the argument, veracity, precision and logic are minor considerations. The grievances of which the Americans complained were sufficient to justify resistance, if they were able successfully to resist. The restraints upon their commerce, imposed by the mother country, were in accordance with the mercantile law of Europe, as it was then understood, and as it is still practised by many considerable States. The doctrine of free trade was wholly inconsistent with the relation between a a Colony and the parent State; the assertion of such a principle would have been virtually an assertion of independence, and was, therefore, never advanced until the last moment. The question of taxation was little more than the screen for the real grievance which could not be avowed, the restraint upon their enterprise, and the obstruction to their prosperity, caused by the narrow and selfish principle of the mercantile system, which made the commerce of a 277 Ch.20. 1776 278 Ch. 20. 1776 VIGOROUS PREPARATIONS. Colony subservient to the markets of the parent State. The right of taxation by the Imperial Parliament for imperial purposes had never been disputed before the passing of the Stamp Act, and was expressly reserved in some of the provincial charters. The new Customs' regulations which put an end to their lucrative trade was, as I have already endeavoured to shew, the real cause of discontent; and had it not been for this obnoxious and ruinous enforcement of a law, the validity of which was indisputable, the Stamp Act would have been accepted in America with as much facility as it was enacted in London. The capital grievances were reducible to these two of the other complaints, those that were founded in fact, or that afforded any just ground of resentment, resulted from the angry controversy to which the former had given rise. The frequent dissolution of the refractory Assemblies; the repeated refusal of the royal assent to colonial laws; the irregular trials of persons charged with political offences; and, finally, the alleged cruelties with which the war had been prosecuted, were points of detail which might have been adjusted, or matters of aggravation for which recompense could have been made. But the original and the real question was one which admitted of no terms of accommodation. The Declaration was immediately promulgated h Vol. i. chap. 5. FOR HOSTILITIES. throughout the newly-constituted Union, and was everywhere received with popular applause. There were, however, no such demonstrations as might have been expected upon an event of such magnitude. Probably it was felt by the more reflecting portion of the people, that their freedom as yet existed only on paper; and that they looked with anxiety, if not alarm, to that impending struggle which was really to determine their fate. 279 Ch.20. 1776 New York. Vigorous preparations were made on both sides; Washington at but all the efforts of the Americans fell far short of the resources of Great Britain. After the evacuation of Boston, Washington had fixed his head-quarters at New York, there to await the expected attack of the British General. His army counted twenty-seven thousand men; but a fourth of them were on the sick-list; and deducting those who were on detachment, and inefficient from want of proper arms, the American force was hardly twelve thousand strong. Washington was well aware that his situation was one of extreme peril; but while expecting the worst, his confidence remained unshaken. General Howe had moved from Halifax to Staten Island, there to await the arrival of his brother, Admiral Lord Howe, with the fleet and military reinforcements. The Admiral joined his brother a few days before the Declaration of Independence. He was himself at the head of a powerful fleet, and the succours which he brought from England increased the army under General Howe to thirty thousand men. 280 Ch. 20. 1776 letter to Franklin. PACIFIC OVERTURES Before proceeding to hostilities, the brothers opened their pacific commission. Early in the Lord Howe's year, several interviews had taken place in London between Lord Howe and Franklin, with the view of arranging terms of accommodation, but without leading to any satisfactory result. This communication, however, having produced friendly feelings between the English nobleman and the American patriot, Lord Howe, as soon as he had entered the American waters, despatched a private letter to Franklin, bespeaking his good offices. To this letter, which did not reach its destination until after the Declaration of Independence, Franklin promptly replied in terms which, though personally courteous, unequivocally expressed the writer's belief that his correspondent's powers were wholly inapplicable to the existing state of affairs; that the Americans, so far from being prepared to listen to offers of pardon and partial concessions, were more likely to demand reparation for the injuries which had been inflicted upon them in the assertion of their just rights; and that any negotiation between England and the States must be placed on the footing of a treaty between two independent powers. Before he had received Franklin's reply, Lord Howe had addressed himself to Washington; but the American Commander refused to receive any communication which did not recognize his military and official rank. Howe then issued a proclamation, offering pardon and protection to |