Our ancestors had little
respect for hereditary privileges and the pretensions of birth. They
were for the most part believers in the equality of the human race;
and, moreover, in their municipal governments, they had learned the
safety and power of universal suffrage. A few men only in England had
an accurate idea of American principles, or the difficulty of holding
in unwilling embrace three million people. Among the representatives
of this small class were the elder Pitt, Burke, and Wilkes.
Pitt declared that "three million people, so dead to all the feelings
of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit
instruments to make slaves of ourselves."
Said Wilkes, "Know, then, that a successful resistance is a revolution,
not a rebellion. Who can tell whether in a few years the independent
Americans may not celebrate the glorious era of the revolution of 1775
as we do that of 1688?" Nor did his prophetic eye fail to penetrate
even the distant future. "Where your fleets and armies are stationed,"
said he, "the possession will be secured, while they continue; but all
the rest will be lost. In the great scale of empire, you will decline,
I fear, from the decision of this day; and the Americans will rise to
independence, to power, to all the greatness of the most renowned
states; for _they build on the solid basis of general public liberty.
Pages:
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205