ntgomery. This braggart asserted, in the House of Commons,
"amidst the loudest cheering, that he knew the Americans very well, and
was certain they would not fight; 'that they were not soldiers and
never could be made so, being naturally pusillanimous and incapable of
discipline; that a very slight force would be more than sufficient for
their complete reduction'; and he fortified his statement by repeating
their peculiar expressions, and ridiculing their religious enthusiasm,
manners and ways of living, greatly to the entertainment of the
house."[144]

The great Pitt, then earl of Chatham, in his famous speech in January
1775, declared:

"The spirit which resists your taxation in America is the same that
formerly opposed loans, benevolences, and ship-money in England. * *
* This glorious spirit of Whiggism animates three millions in America
who prefer poverty with liberty to gilded chains and sordid
affluence, and who will die in defence of their rights as freemen. *
* * For myself, I must declare that in all my reading and
observation--and history has been my favorite study; I have read
Thucydides, and have studied and admired the master states of the
world--that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom
of conclusion under such a complication of difficult circumstances,
no nation or body of men can stand in preference to the General
Congress at Philadelphia. * * * All attempts to impose servitude upon
such men, to establish despotism over such a mighty continental
nation, must be vain, must be fatal. We shall be forced ultimately to
retreat. Let us retreat while we can, not when we must."

In accordance with these sentiments Chatham withdrew his eldest son from
the army rather than suffer him to be engaged in the war. Lord
Effingham, finding his regiment was to serve against the Americans,
threw up his commission and renounced the profession for which he had
been trained and loved, as the only means of escaping the obligation of
fighting against the cause of freedom. Admiral Keppel, one of the most
gallant officers in the British navy, expressed his readiness to serve
against the ancient enemies of England, but asked to be released from
employment against the Americans. It is said that Amherst refused to
command the army against the Americans. In 1776 it was openly debated in
parliament whether British officers ought to serve their sovereign
against the A