William Smyth Quotes
There was a general notion in the English people that their cause was just. The sovereignty was supposed to be in the parent state; in the rights of sovereignty were included the rights of taxation: England, too, was considered as having protected the Americans from the French in the war that had been lately concluded. The Americans, therefore, when they resisted the mother country in her attempt to tax them, were considered on the first account as rebellious, and on the second as ungrateful
The professor did not agree with these reasons and took the position that England was foolish in their use of military force. However, in America we rarely hear the English side of the dispute that led to war between England and her American colonies.
William Smyth, 1765–1849, English Historian, Summary of the reasons the English had for initiating military action against the Americans in the American Revolution., Lectures on Modern History, published 1854
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This is the same man who introduced the Stamp Act 12 years before which started the whole problem in America. See {74956}.
The did not listen to Pitt or others counseling moderation and ignoring the American acts of protest. Instead, the hawks sent armed troops and war broke out in earnest and the American Revolution reached the point of no return. Lord Chatham was furious at the incompetent handling of the situation by the government and he let them know it—see {641505} .
Most Canadians supported the English despite the letter.
1st Earl of Chatham. The Continental Congress had endorsed and sent to England a set of resolutions from Suffolk County, Massachusetts, drawn up by Joseph Warren. Legislators forever since have admired the logic and presentation of the case for America. The King and the Prime Minister failed to heed Pitt’s view, and the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution followed.
See {636935}for the policy decision that triggered this order.
Wilkes was a strong advocate for the American cause—so much so that some in Parliament tried to deny him his seat in Parliament for his disloyal point of view.
Fox was one of the opposition leaders who were opposed to the heavy handed policies that the British King and Government had used.
2nd Earl of Guilford. Britain had a double standard of how they would fight wars and battles. If the contention was a rebellion, more mild military means would be used. But if a foreign war, they would use all means. For example, the use of mercenaries would not be used in most rebellions. With this letter, Lord North was escalating the American Revolution into a “foreign war”. As a result, not only would mercenaries be used, but so would Indian allies whose mode of war was not as restrained as the British troops. It also allowed for emancipating slaves and inviting them to take up arms. With this quotation, the American Revolution was raised to a new and more serious military level. See {634115} for the instructions to implement this policy.
The American plan was to capture Quebec and add that province to the 13 colonies. See {636940} . However, the American officers botched the invasion and did not attack as soon as they arrived when the British had almost no troops to defend Quebec.
Ministers refers to the Government Ministers, not to clergy.
Earlier, his father had also castigated the ministers over their inept hard-line handling of the American Revolution. See {641505} .
Ramsay was discussing the events leading up to the American Revolution. He and many English historians believe that had the British repealed a few if the hated taxes and given America some representation in Parliament, the conflict could easily have been avoided. Ramsay was the first major historian of the American Revolution.
The White Africaners were attacking the Blacks to force them off their land so the Afrkaners could take over. The country was under British rule and the unarmed Blacks were being slaughtered by the Afrikaners who were British Subjects. Eventually the Boer War set the English against the Afrikaners. See {583902} for a related quotation.
Britain was mired in Iraq. They had, as the U. S. would do about 80 years later, gone into Iraq without a viable exist strategy.
Lee at that time was one of the leaders of the American colonists’ cause. He was born in England and was an old friend of Burgoyne who had just arrived in America. Lee wanted to explain the American viewpoint. Lee later became the senior major general under Washington.
The purpose was to try and get the king and parliament not to enforce the Stamp Act in the colonies. The delegates had to thrash out the language and it was important to flatter the king and parliament. While some delegates felt that loyalty to the mother country, many others thought that the king and parliament had betrayed them and thought this language gross hypocrisy. See {589426} for one delegate’s description of the difficulty.
The prerogative of preparedness weakens after a war is won; everyone expects some sort of peace dividend.
This resolution was the trigger that began the debate which became the Declaration of Independence.
William Smyth (or Smith) was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield from 1493 to 1496 and then Bishop of Lincoln until his death. He held political offices, the most important being Lord President of the Council of Wales and the Marches. He became very wealthy and was a benefactor of a number of institutions. He was a co-founder of Brasenose College, Oxford and endowed a grammar school in the village of his birth in Lancashire.
