248 MY AMERICAN FRIENDS *

all quarter^ of the globe and that even its, oldest
families are separated by not many generations
from rebellious ancestors of one kind or another;
and further, that the nation was born in a rebellion
animated by hatred of the law-maker, and received
a constitution that consecrated distrust of him,
the wonder is, not that lawlessness exists on its
present scale, but that it does not exist on a scile
many times, as large.

The American War of Independence from the
military point of view, is acknowledged by compe-
tent judges to have been a very considerable
achievement on the part of the revolted colonists.
No sensible Britisher would question the Ameri-
cans' right to be proud of the valour of their armies
or of the military genius of Washington. That
they were fighting in a just cause, though not
quite as immaculately just as some American
historians have made out, seems to be also the
prevailing opinion on the British side, as it was
the opinion of many at the time. If the Britisher
wants consolation for his national pride, which
at this date is unlikely, he may find a little in
the fact that the defeated armies were largely
composed of foreign mercenaries, Hessians, hired
by the British Government to fight its battles
in America 'at a time when it was up to the
eyes in other quarrels; or he may reflect (with
perhaps a touch of bitterness at- this point) that
the war would not have ended as it did if the
French had not intervened in revenge on the