And, Indeed, The Northern States Of The Union - Especially Those Of
New England - Refer All Their Liberties To The Old Charters Which
They Held From The Mother Country.
They rebelled, as they
themselves would seem to say, and set themselves up as a separate
people, not because
The mother country had refused to them by law
sufficient liberty and sufficient self-control, but because the
mother country infringed the liberties and powers of self-control
which she herself had given. The mother country, so these States
declare, had acted the part of Sir Edmund Andross - had endeavored
to take away their charters. So they also put out the lights, and
took themselves to an oak-tree of their own - which is still
standing, though winds from the infernal regions are now battering
its branches. Long may it stand!
Whether the mother country did or did not infringe the charters she
had given, I will not here inquire. As to the nature of those
alleged infringements, are they not written down to the number of
twenty-seven in the Declaration of Independence? They mostly begin
with He. "He" has done this, and "He" has done that. The "He" is
poor George III., whose twenty-seven mortal sins against his
Transatlantic colonies are thus recapitulated. It would avail
nothing to argue now whether those deeds were sins or virtues, nor
would it have availed then. The child had grown up and was strong,
and chose to go alone into the world. The young bird was fledged,
and flew away.
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