CHAPTER XVI

THE ANGLO-SAXON IN AMERICA

THE AMERICAN REBELLION

THE histories of America are no less unsatisfactory than those of England, and therefore the American knows as little of his racial characteristics as the Englishman does. It is well known, however, that many of the American colonies were founded by men who were driven from England, Scotland, and Ireland by religious persecution. They sought in a strange new country that peace and the power to govern themselves as their consciences directed which they could not obtain in their native land. But the authority of the King followed them even to their distant homes, and an effort was made by conferring huge grants of land on noblemen to establish in America the class rule which obtained in England. There were many disputes between the colonists and the English Government, but in face of the danger which continually threatened the English colonies while Canada remained French, it was impossible for the colonists to break with the mother-land. The Americans were therefore compelled to be loyal to England, not so much from love of the mother-land as from fear of France. Colonel Bayard, of New York, writing to Francis Nicholson (afterwards commander of the forces in 1690) said: "Its, therefore, most certaine that these English Collonies will never be at rest, or safe, till those ill-designs of the French be stifled by the subdueing and invading of Canida, which easily

might be accomplished, with some small assistance from England, by water from New York and by land from hence," showing that the idea of "annexing Canada" was even then stirring in the American mind. William Kingsford says: "In New England, the destructive force of New France has been brought to the comprehension of every person on the seaboard in the Northern Settlements. Privateers had seized her shipping, her fishermen had been driven from the seashore where they sought a catch, or their vessels and cargoes seized and confiscated. If a crew in distress had sought refuge in some cove, or if land had been visited for wood and water, and the crew were too weak for their own protection, bands of Abenakies or Micmacs had surprised and killed them. These marauders found shelter in Canada." It was not only on the seaboard that the colonists were threatened. France claimed the whole valley of the Mississippi, and established military posts across the continent. Even colonies so far south as Pennsylvania were threatened from the rear, and the French, having made allies of the Indians, frequently attacked the outposts of the English. The conquest of Canada was therefore a necessity if the English colonies were to continue to exist, and the colonists not only urged, but assisted in this conquest. Many of the colonists gained their first experience of war in this enterprise

an experience which served them so well shortly afterwards in the war for independence. Loyalty to England was of course a necessity with the American colonists as long as Canada was French, just as loyalty to England is more pronounced and of quite a different character in Canada at the present time from the loyalty of Australia. Australia is not menaced with "annexation" by a powerful and more or less antagonistic neighbour.

1 66 History of Canada."

EFFECT OF THE REBELLION ON ENGLISH

COLONIAL POLICY

The cession of Canada to the English took place in 1763, and thirteen years later, in 1776, the American colonies issued their Declaration of Independence. The connection between the two events has been clearly traced by several authors, but it has not yet been shown that the revolt of the colonies was due to the determination of the Anglo-Saxon to govern himself, and was therefore similar in character to the various political movements which have occurred in England. It was because of this characteristic of their race that many of the American colonists left their native country, and their children were not English but Americans. Had their racial characteristics been known in those days the English Government might perhaps have left them alone, and in that case they would have remained "loyal," that is to say, they would have had no reason or excuse for breaking away from the mother-country; but the English Government, being Latin in its constitution, deemed it its duty to coerce the masses in America as at home, and thus drove them into rebellion. At the time this was regarded as a calamity for England. Washington and his followers were described as rebels against the King and their country, just as the Irish are to-day, and the Americans were hated with a bitter hatred which is only recently dying out. It was not for many years after the American Rebellion that the English began to learn the lesson it was calculated to teach. They regarded it from the personal or national point of view, that is, as it appeared at the time to affect England, instead of taking the broader view which is becoming common now, namely, its effects on the Anglo-Saxon generally. It is now evident that the secession of the American colonies, so far from retarding the development of the Anglo-Saxon, gave it an immense impulse.

THE AMERICAN FEELING AGAINST ENGLAND

We may perhaps acquire some information as to the working of the spirit of the race by devoting a brief space to this change in public opinion in England. The generation in England affected by the secession of the American colonies could see no good in Washington or any of his companions. Consequently they hated and despised the American. Even after the independence of the colonies had been formally recognised, the British Government insisted on treating them as inferiors by asserting the right to search American vessels, and thus forced on the war of 1812. There can be no doubt that this war had a great influence in embittering the American against England-even more, perhaps, than the War of Independence. It attacked their amour propre as a young nation, and tended to convince them that England could never have friendly feelings towards them. As a younger generation grew up in England, however, the American Republic was accepted gradually as an established fact. But even yet the American commander, Paul Jones, is regarded by Englishmen as nothing better than a filibuster and a pirate. We may see in this, perhaps, an illustration of the exaggerated ideas of the Englishman with regard to loyalty. He fancies everybody is or should be loyal to England as he is himself. It might just as well be argued that, because our ancestors came from Germany or Norway, the Englishman should be loyal to these countries. However, slowly but surely the American Republic grew in the estimation of the English, until at the Civil War the English were perhaps about equally divided in opinion as to its merits; but nothing had occurred to change public opinion in America, and therefore England was still looked upon as the enemy to be feared. Some traces of this fear were observable in the party newspapers of America in connection with the outbreak

in Hawaii in 1893. It was asserted that England intended to seize the islands, and that this action would be a menace to the stability of the Republic. Many of the articles were quite belligerent in tone, but through them all ran a note of alarm at the damage which the British fleet might do to America. There seemed to be something of a desire to measure the strength of the Republic against Great Britain, if only to assure themselves that the Republic was strong enough to defend herself against any of the great nations, and mingled with this desire was shown something like the hesitation of a son to attack his own father. How much of the bombast spouted at the time was political, and how much was due to a real desire to prove that the Republic was a fullgrown nation, it is impossible to say; but there can, I think, be no doubt that the Americans would have fought over either Hawaii or Venezuela had the English taken them seriously and refused to withdraw. In the case of Hawaii, of course the British Government never contemplated annexation, and in that of Venezuela the British gracefully gave way. In the early years of the Republic such a fear was reasonable. Now it is absurd. It was this fear which impelled the Republic to seek friendly support from France and Russia.

THE INFLUENCE OF FRANCE ON AMERICA

The influence of France in the United States arose from very natural causes. Thomas Balch tells us that "France took a most active and glorious part in this war of American independence. Her Government, impelled by the hereditary animosity of the nation towards England, dominated by the philosophical spirit then in favour at Court, and finally urged by its own interests, at first excited and encouraged, by means of its agents, the discontent of the AngloAmericans; then, at the time of the struggle, it