he great colonies from the mother
country. England had incurred enormous debt in the contest; her people
groaned under taxation, and the wealthy Americans had contributed in
but a very small proportion to the cost of victories by which they were
the principal gainers. The British Parliament devised an unhappy
expedient to remedy this evil: it assumed the right of taxing the
unrepresented colonies, and taxed them accordingly. Vain was the
prophetic eloquence of Lord Chatham; vain were the just and earnest
remonstrances of the best and wisest among the colonists: the time was
come. Then followed years of stubborn and unyielding strife; the blood
of the same race gave sterner determination to the quarrel. The balance
of success hung equally. Once again France appeared upon the stage in
the Western world, and La Fayette revenged the fall of Montcalm.

However we may regret the cause and conduct of the Revolutionary war, we
can hardly regret its result. The catastrophe was inevitable: the folly
or wisdom of British statesmen could only have accelerated or deferred
it. The child had outlived the years of pupilage; the interests of the
old and the young required a separate household. But we must ever mourn
the mode of separation: a bitterness was left that three quarters of a
century has hardly yet removed; and a dark page remains in our annals,
that tells of a contest begun in injustice, conducted with mingled
weakness and severity, and ended in defeat. The cause of human freedom,
perhaps for ages, depended upon the issue of the quarrel. Even the
patriot minister merged the apparent interests of England in the
interests of mankind. By the light of Lord Chatham's wisdom we may read
the disastrous history of that fatal war, with a resigned and tempered
sorrow for the glorious inheritance rent away from us forever.

The reaction of the New World upon the Old may be distinctly traced
through the past and the present, but human wisdom may not estimate its
influence on the future. The lessons of freedom learned by the French
army while aiding the revolted colonies against England were not
forgotten. On their return to their native country, they spread abroad
tidings that the new people of America had gained a treasure richer a
thousand-fold than those which had gilded the triumphs of Cortes or
Pizarro--the inestimable prize of liberty. Then the down-trampled
millions of France arose, and with avaricious haste strove for a like
tre