Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXIII. WHY THE STORY OF VANE IS TIMELY AT THE PRESENT HOUR. At the time of the centennial anniversary of the early events of the American Revolution, the writer remembers to have seen a certain patriotic fellow-citizen of his own greatly taken back by what, to most Americans perhaps, would seem a very profane suggestion. "One hundred years ago," said the patriot, "my great-grandfather stood among the 'embattled farmers' at Concord Bridge, and there fired one of the first shots in resistance to British aggression." As he stroked his chin in complacent certainty that his listeners must necessarily admire a man whose ancestor had been so heroic--" Well," said an old man of the group, "was it worth while? Was the American Revolution worth while? Would it not have been better if the British Empire had remained undivided?" The company stood aghast at the audacity of the man who at the very time when the air was full of the flap of the great spread eagle dared without fear of his beak to ask whether the separation of America from England were worth while. Let us inquire for a moment whether there is any reason in such a question. The American Revolution began at the time of the Stamp Act, in 1764, with the declaration of the colonists that they would not be taxed unless they could be represented in the Legislative Body that imposed the tax. Excellent friends of America in England, and several of the leading patriots among the colonists, believed it quite feasible that representatives should be sent from this side of the water to the British Parliament, and regarded this as the best way to put an end to the discontent. James Otis, who until he became insane in 1770 was the most conspicuous leader of the Northern colonies, never...