The young Republic is depicted emerging, after a heroic
struggle, from the clutches of a tyranny such as that wielded by the
nobility of France in the pre-Revolution days. In sober fact, the
secession of the American Colonies was brought about by a series of
colossal blunders and impositions on the part of the most
muddle-headed ministry that ever mismanaged the affairs of Great
Britain--which is saying a good deal. It is probable that if the elder
Pitt had lived a few years longer, the secession would never have
occurred. It was only with the utmost reluctance that Washington
appealed to a decision by battle. In any case the fact remains, that
while in an American school-book the war of 1776 is given first place,
correctly enough, as marking the establishment of American
nationality, it figures in the English school-book, with equal
correctness, as a single regrettable incident in England's long and
variegated Colonial history. It is well to bear these two points of
view in mind. Naturally all this makes for degrees of comparison in
America's attitude toward the Allies.
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