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There is, besides this ambulacral or water-vascular system, a blood system, with both heart and vessels. Also, the liquid contained in the box external to the food canal is supposed to be organised. These points of structure need further study.

It will be seen that almost all the parts of the echinus are adially disposed, yet the individuals are separate and locomotive. We have, therefore, the radial structure, which is best suited to 1 fixed condition, and a vegetative habit, united with habits uch as characterise the higher animals, for the echinus does ot float or move hap-hazard, as the free-swimming hydrozoon

the stone-lilies. These animals were very numerous in geologic times, and the hard joints of their long stalks afforded no small puzzle to geologists. The problem was solved by the discovery both of the whole fossil hard parts of the animal united, and also of some existing representatives of the order in tropical regions. The Crinoids, as they are called, grow like plants in the seas of the tropics. A stem of gelatinous matter encloses the closely-applied hard joints, and bears on its summit a cup, walled in by more hard pieces, around whose edges long arms are developed. Their shape is too complicated for description

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III. ECHINUS

I. DIAGRAM SHOWING THE PLATES AND HOLES ON THE UPPER SIDE OF AN ECHINUS SHELL. II. AMBULACRAL PLATES ENLARGED.
DIVIDED IN THE EQUATORIAL REGION TO SHOW ALIMENTARY CANAL. IV. SPINE, WITH SECTION OF ITS TUBERCLE. V. JAWS AND TEETH
WHICH, UNITED, ARE CALLED THE "LANTERN OF ARISTOTLE." VI. SIDE VIEW OF A SINGLE JAW. VII. ITS TOOTH. VIII. INSIDE OF
THE PURPLE-TIPPED SEA-URCHIN, SHOWING THE CALCAREOUS LOOPS (a).

Refs. to Nos. in Figs. (I.) 1, anal hole; 2, madreporic plate; 3, genital plates with their pores; 4, ocular plates and pores; 5, ambulacral tracts and holes; 6, interambulacral or imperforate plates. (III.) 1, base of jaws; 2, gullet; 3, commencement of stomach; 4, anus. (IV.) 1, pit ligament; 2, annular muscle.

does, but evidently searches for food, and has a definite object in locomotion. We might, therefore, expect that in this class we should find different grades, leading from a fixed condition, with its radial symmetry, up to the more perfect method of locomotion which accompanies an elongated form and a two-sided arrangement.

We might expect that a radiated animal was a fixed, flowerlike animal fallen off from its stalk. This we found to be the case with the Medusa, and we could trace the transformation in the life-history of the animal. In the class Echinodermata, we may also find it is so, only we have to look not simply to the life-history of one animal, but to trace up the development of the different groups throughout the class. The connecting links between the Coelenterata and the Echinodermata are found in

here, but it suffices to say that the cup corresponds to the box of the echinus. It is satisfactory to find that an animal, found in our seas, and long considered to be a free brittle star, commences life like a stone-lily, and absolutely falls off its stem at a certain stage to commence a new locomotive life.

The star-fish represents the next higher grade, and although its general form is so different from that of the echinus, it is not difficult to show how the one may be derived from the other. If we suppose the echinus to be quartered, as we quarter an orange, by dividing it along the zigzag lines between the larger plates, and then each division opened, bent down, and flattened out, while the intermediate membrane is supposed to be indefinitely elastic, so as to stretch and cover in the upper part of the animal, we should have a star-fish. All the ambulacra would b

on the under side of the animal. The so-called eyes would be at the ends of the rays, the madreporic plate being the only element left near its original position. This arrangement is exactly that found in the star-fish, or asterias.

The asterias, however, presents many points of dissimilarity from the echinus, especially in relation to its alimentary canal. Canal it is not in the proper sense, for it has only one opening, through which the food is both received and ejected. Ten organs -two lying in each ray-empty themselves into the sides of the stomach, but whether these are only radial extensions of the stomach, or represent a liver, is a matter of speculation. The most singular thing is, that the star-fish, although so nearly allied to the echinus, presents not a trace of the singularly complicated apparatus of jaws and teeth, which we have described, as found in the latter animal. We have described the seaurchin, because it is the typical animal of the class, and therefore occupies a central position in this arrangement of orders. Above the echini come the sea-cucumbers, which resemble the echini in having avenues of tubular feet to walk with, but differ from them in having soft elongated muscular integuments, by the contractions of which they move. Sometimes the avenues of suckers in these animals are all brought together to one side, on which the creature crawls. We have thus an approach to the two-sided arrangement found in the snail. These animals have a curious system for effecting the function of respiration. This is not done by exposing the juices of the body to the influence of the oxygen of the water by protrusions of their membranes externally, but the water is forced into two organs which run up into the body, and which are so branched as to be called the respiratory trees. The water is forced into the branches of these trees by means of a muscular bulb at the end of the alimentary canal, into which the sea-water is received from behind by a wide opening, and then injected into the organs. This arrangement is the aquatic representative of the tracheal system in insects. In a yet higher order the tubular feet entirely disappear, and the body is constructed at intervals so as to form rings, and this, combined with the worm-like motion of the animal, suggests that it is a connecting link between the echinoderms and the annelids.

We have no space left to dwell upon the nervous system of these animals, or on the curious development of many of them from larval forms quite unlike in shape from the mature animals, and which forms, contrary to what we might have expected, present a perfect two-sided symmetry.

The orders into which the class is divided, and which we have cursorily described, are thus named:

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LESSONS IN BOOKKEEPING.-IV. EXPLANATION OF THE WASTE BOOK, CASH BOOK, BILL BOOK, DAY BOOK, ETC.-FORMS OF DRAFTS, PROMISSORY NOTES,

AND FOREIGN BILLS OF EXCHANGE.

IN the old Italian system of Bookkeeping there was a book generally kept, called a Waste-Book, and in this book was entered a memorandum or record of every transaction which occurred in business, let its nature be what it might, whether buying or selling goods, paying or receiving money, drawing or accepting bills, etc. From this Waste-Book all the entries were taken and arranged in proper Dr. and Cr. form in the Day-Book or Journal, which then was the very book which its name denotes; and from this book they were again taken and posted in the Ledger. As the Waste-Book contained the first entries of business transactions, in an irregular form, and without any other order than that of actual occurrence, it was considered useless after these entries were transferred to the Journal; it might, therefore, be looked upon as Waste Paper; whence its name. But no man is infallible in Bookkeeping, any more than in the other affairs of human life; and in case of mistakes or disputes, frequent reference to the original record of the transactions would be required; then indeed, the Waste-Book would be of very considerable value. Great and important was the change in Bookkeeping, when the happy thought struck the first man who invented the Subsidiary Books, that it would be better to classify and arrange the transactions at once in their

proper books, than to huddle them all together in a Waste-Book. This idea, however, did not come into the mind of any individual in the form of an entire system. Like all other inventions, it came slowly and by degrees. The first thought, no doubt, was that it would be well to keep a separate book for all money transactions, and to call it the Cash-Book; and this book was long kept in business, apart from the Waste-Book, before any other important change took place. Next came the idea that Bills which passed through several hands, and were a species of property different from Cash, ought to be entered, with all the necessary particulars belonging to them, in a separate book called the Bill-Book.

The Cash and Bill transactions being thus separated from all the other transactions, there remained all those which related to the purchase and sale of Goods, gains and losses in trade, etc.; and these were naturally entered still in the Waste-Book. But this book had now changed its character, and had become highly important as a daily record of those transactions on which all the others depended; for were there no purchases and sales of goods, it is plain that there would be no transactions in Cash and Bills. In consequence of this change the Waste-Book was now called the Day-Book or Journal, and looked upon as the principal book in keeping Merchants' Accounts. When a Merchant's business became extensive and complicated, it was necessary to have even other books besides the Day-Book, for the purpose of keeping a clear and satisfactory account of his property, of the manner in which it changed hands, and of the quantity and value of that which he had on hand as well as of that which he had parted with. Hence arose the propriety, as well as the necessity of keeping, in some houses, a Stock or Warehouse-Book, an Invoice-Book, a Sales-Book, an Account Current-Book, and even a Petty-Expense or Petty-Cash Book. Such is an enumeration of the Books generally kept in a Merchant's Counting-house. But it is plain that the books of tradesmen or general dealers will differ from these more or less, according to the nature of the different trades or branches of business in which they are respectively engaged. To enumerate these, and to explain their nature, would be a task as needless as it would be endless; for, if the student is made once to understand the general principles of Bookkeeping, he will be able with ease to apply these principles to all the possible forms and varieties in which business transactions may occur. For this purpose, therefore, one set of such transactions is as good as another, provided the best system of keeping the books be laid down and explained; and after explaining the nature and form of the most important books, this shall be our duty.

In the Cash-Book, then, as its name denotes, the Bookkeeper places the Daily entries of all the receipts and payments of Cash, on any account whatever connected with the business of the party whose books he keeps; these receipts and payments are entered in the exact and successive order of the dates when they take place, and in general only one line of explanation relating to the transaction is allowed in the page of the Book. Every two opposite pages are ruled alike, with Date columns and Single or Double Money columns, according to the plan on which the Book is to be kept. The left-hand page is always marked Dr., and is called the Dr. side of the Cash-Book; the right-hand page is always marked Cr., and is called the Cr. side of the Cash-Book. The title Cash Account is placed at the top of the opposite pages, Cash being on the Dr. side, and Account on the Cr. side. This shows that the two sides form but one account, and plainly states what that account is. All the receipts of Cash (that is, all the money received) are entered on the Dr. side of the Cash-Book, with the word To before the name of the Creditor, intimating that Cash, the thing received, is made Debtor to the person from whom it is received, that person, of course, becoming the Creditor. All the payments of Cash (that is, all the money paid away) are entered on the Cr. side of the Cash-Book, with the word By before the name of the Debtor, showing that Cash, the thing parted with, is made Creditor by the person who receives it, that person, of course, becoming the Debtor.

When Bills are cashed, that is, when money is received for Bills drawn or paid for Bills accepted, the entries of thes receipts and payments must be entered in the Cash-Book, like any others; and the Bills should also be carefully marked off in the bill-Book as received or paid. When Bills are discounted, that is, when money is received or paid for them before the time

when they fall due, the full sum of the Bill is entered in the Cash-Book as received or paid, and the Discount is then entered to the Debit or Credit of Interest Account in the Cash-Book, according as it is received or paid. In the system of Bookkeeping which we are about to lay before our students, the Balance of Cash in hand at the end of each month is entered on the Cr. side of the Cash-Book, and the Cash Account is then closed for the past month; it is again opened for the next month, by entering the same Balance of Cash in hand on the Dr. side of the Cash-Book. When one side of a folio (that is, two opposite pages) in the Cash-Book is filled up before the other side, the amounts of both sides are then added up, placed under the sums in the columns, and transferred to the next folio in the Cash-Book; the succeeding transactions in cash are then entered in the new folio, as if the preceding folio were completely filled up. In this way the receipts and payments in the same month are kept in the same folio; otherwise, irregularities would arise which would be extremely perplexing to the Bookkeeper.

dispensably necessary, it is usual to have a column in each of them headed with the words Remarks, and intended for the insertion of any additional particulars relating to a Bill which may seem to be very requisite to be known; such as the amount of foreign money for which foreign bills are drawn, with the rate of exchange between the moneys of the different countries where the bills were drawn, etc. Such a column prevents the necessity of entering these particulars separately as memoranda in the Day-Book. The following are the forms or specimens of certain bills of exchange, both inland and foreign.

Inland bills of exchange are written orders for the payment of money, drawn by a merchant residing in one place of a country, on a merchant or banker residing in the same place, or in another place of the same country, in favour of a third person, for value received in some shape or the other. These bills are either in the form of a Draft or a Promissory Note.

No. 1.

FORM OF A DRAFT.

(due April 21st). London, 18th January, 1863.

Three months after date, pay to our order, Two
hundred and sixty-four pounds, eleven shillings, for value received.
To Mr. JOHN SIMPSON,
Cheapside, London.

No. 5.

The Bill-Book generally consists of two distinct parts; the one contains the Bills Receivable, that is, the Bills which have £264: 11:0 been given to a merchant instead of cash, and of which he is to receive payment at certain periods; and the other contains the Bills Payable, that is, the Bills which he has given to others instead of cash, and which he must pay at certain periods. Instead of entering these in separate parts of the same Book, they may be entered in separate Books; the one being called the Bills Receivable Book, and the other the Bills Payable Book. When a Merchant receives Bills in lieu of money from persons who are indebted to him, it may be done in two ways; first, he may either draw a bill on the person who owes him the amount of it; or he may have a bill indorsed over to him, either from the person who drew it for the same amount on another, or from the person through whose hands it passed in a similar When a Merchant accepts Bills, that is, agrees to pay them, they may be either drawn upon him by persons to whom he is indebted, or by persons who have consigned goods to him for sale on their account; or they may be drawn upon him by persons who consider him as the agent of a principal (another merchant) with whom he keeps an Account Current.

manner.

The Bills Receivable Book contains the particulars of Bills Receivable (that is, for which cash is to be received), which become a merchant's property in the manner which we have described in the preceding paragraph. These particulars are recorded in columns ruled and titled for the purpose; and, in the system which we intend laying before our students, they are entered in the following order :-1st. The date when received; 2nd. The person from whom, or on whose account received; 3rd. The number affixed by the Merchant on the bill; 4th. The person on whom the Bill is drawn; 5th. The date when the Bill is due; 6th. The amount or sum for which it is drawn; 7th. The manner in which it is disposed of; and 8th. The date when it is disposed of. Besides these particulars, the following are frequently added in business:-9th. The name of the drawer of the Bill; 10th. The date when and the place where it is drawn; 11th. The period or time for which it is drawn; and 12th. The persons to whom, and the place where it is made payable. When Bills Receivable are drawn upon others and endorsed over to a Merchant, they are called Remittances; when they are drawn by the Merchant himself, they are called Drafts.

The Bills Payable Book contains the particulars of Bills Payable (that is, for which cash is to be paid), which a Merchant his accepted, and which are therefore called his Acceptances. These particulars are also recorded in columns ruled and titled for the purpose; these are, in this system, entered in the following order :-1st. The date when the Bill is accepted; 2nd. The person by whom and on whose account it is drawn; 3rd. The number which the Merchant affixes to the Bill; 4th. The person to whom it is made payable; 5th. The date when it falls due; 6th. The amount or sum for which the bill is drawn; and 7th. The date when it is paid. Other particulars besides this are entered in the Bills Payable Book, similar to those which we have enumerated under the head of Bills Receivable; but as many of them seem to be unnecessary, except in very particular cases, we have not burdened our system with these, being Batisfied that the general principles of Bookkeeping are most readily acquired, when the attention of the student is not attracted by too many things at once. When those particulars only are entered in both Bill Books which are deemed to be in

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SMITH & THOMSON.
JOHN SIMPSON,

FORM OF A PROMISSORY NOTE.

(due July 17th). London, 14th April, 1863.

Three months after date we promise to pay to
Mr. Abel Smith, or order, Three hundred and six pounds, ten shillings,
and sixpence, for value received.
HOWARD, SON, & Co.

Foreign bills of exchange are written orders for the payment of money drawn by a merchant residing in a particular place of one country, on a merchant or banker residing in a particular place of another country, in favour of a third person for value received, as before mentioned. These bills are, of course, of two kinds, when the moneys of the two countries are different.

FIRST FORM OF A FOREIGN BILL OF EXCHANGE.

London, 21st May, 1863.

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HISTORIC SKETCHES.-XX.

ORIGIN OF THE UNITED STATES. "THE gentleman tells us America is obstinate; America is almost in open rebellion. Sir, I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of 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 all the rest. I come not here armed at all points with law cases and Acts of Parliament, with the statute-book doubled down in dog's ears, to defend the cause of liberty. If I had, I myself would have cited the two cases of Chester and Durham. I would have cited them to show that even under arbitrary reigns Parliament were ashamed of taxing

* This mark is intended to denote the place of the stamp. It is omitted in the foreign bills.

a people without their consent, and allowed them representatives. The gentleman asks, when were the colonies emancipated? But I desire to know when they were made slaves."

Such were the words of Mr. Pitt, on the 14th of January, 1766, in the course of an indignant remonstrance he made cainst the policy the Government was pursuing towards the British colonies in America, a policy which was arousing in the Dionists a fierce and implacable resentment towards the mother ountry, and which finally determined them to sever at all risks eir connection with her. The occasion was a memorable one, the words used by some orators in the debate were almost prophetic, and the blindness of the rulers in the matter savoured almost of affliction.

Of all the colonies of Great Britain none were more loyal, more generous in their devotion, more easy to be governed, than the plantation colonists in America. Though founded originally by men who preferred to face Nature in her wildest form, both as regards scenery and men, rather than live under the rule of oppressors in their native land, the colonies had become famous for inhabitants of unquestionable loyalty, men whose pride it was to speak of England as their home, who cherished English ways and English modes of thought, named their towns after towns in England, taught their children not only to fear God but also to honour the king who had never seen their land, and who dwelt in a remote island 2,000 miles across the sea. In England's sorrows they had participated, if they had not shared her joys; the wars that troubled her smote them very sorely; and they had not only to wage war and to suffer it on her account, but were continually at war for themselves with the dispossessed Indian tribes, who ever sought to re-conquer the territories which had been reft from them. They were a hardworking, diligent, thriving people, extending their commerce abroad and their manufactures at home, wishing for nothing politically but freedom-that commodity which they had, or rather their fathers and grandfathers had, sacrificed so very much to attain. Even in this they were, for the most part, not over-particular; so the essentials of freedom were preserved, and they were willing to forego many little privileges which of right belong to freemen, for the sake of a guarantee of those claims which must be conceded before freemen can exist.

Nearly 150 years had elapsed since the Pilgrim Fathers, leaving England in a vessel of 186 tons, the Mayflower, landed near Cape Cod and founded Plymouth, the first of the New England settlements. By conquest, by treaty, by settlement, by purchase, the American colonies grew till they constituted thirteen large provinces, each having a governor, appointed by the King of England, with local magistrates, on the municipal system, administering the laws of England and such local laws as were from time to time found to be necessary. At the time Mr. Pitt spoke of them in the English House of Commons they included over two millions of people of European blood, and about a million more of Africans and native Indians, but these three millions were scattered over a vast tract of country, and might well have been deemed unable to cope with the organised forces of a powerful empire. "I know the valour of your troops. I know the skill of your officers," said Pitt. "In a good cause, on a sound bottom, the force of this country can crush America to atoms. But," he added, "in such a cause as this your success would be hazardous. America, if she fell, would fall ike the strong man. She would embrace the pillars of the State and pull down the Constitution along with her! Is this your Doasted peace? Not to sheathe the sword in its scabbard, but to sheathe it in the bowels of your countrymen?"

But what was the occasion of this language? Of what nature as the fear that the loyal colonies would throw off their llegiance? What cause was there to suppose that the United *ates were about to come into existence? Where was the vulnerble place in the dutifulness of the Americans? Let us see. From the time of the first settlement till 1765 all had gone all with the colonists, because they had been left alone by e Home Government. Beyond sending out governors, and casionally issuing orders which were necessarily to be obeyed, t only by the American colonies, but by every part of the pire, for the common good, the authorities at Whitehall ubled their heads very little about "the plantations," as y were called. But in 1765 it occurred to Mr. Grenville, n at the head of affairs in England, to recruit the exhausted perial treasury, by extending some of the imposts, which were

payable in England, to the colonies. It must be conceded that if he did not know he was doing right, he was by no means assured he was doing wrong, in resorting to such an expedient, though the arguments which were advanced to him, to say nothing of the question as to the policy or impolicy of the movement, might have had more weight than he chose to allow them. He decided, after trying one or two petty imposts, which though not acquiesced in were not resisted, to extend to America the same stamp duties as were payable by the people at home, and he hoped by this means to gather into the imperial coffers a sum estimated at something less than £100,000 a-year.

Now one of the most valuable concessions ever made by a king was the concession which was made by King John in the Great Charter, and afterwards ratified in a separate Act of Parliament, to the effect that no money by way of tax, or by any other means, should be levied on the commons of England without their own consent previously expressed by the voice of their representatives in Parliament. The American colonies had not any representatives in the English House of Commons, no one by whom they could give assent or dissent to the proposals made to tax them, and they could not therefore legally be called upon to obey the orders in such a matter even of the British king, lords, and commons. Already they had put up their backs against some custom-house charge which had been imposed in 1764, though they admitted the abstract right of the imperial Government to charge them, and though the money raised was intended to be spent on the protection and improvement of the colonies. They were taking annually something like the worth of £3,000,000 a-year in British produce and manufactures, and with increasing prosperity would have taken much more, when the imposition of these vexatious duties turned the current of their commercial liberality backwards, and resolved them to form societies for the renunciation of trade with Great Britain. It was while things were in this state that Mr. Grenville, "by way of experiment, towards further aid from the Americans," brought into the British House of Commons a bill to extend to America almost all the stamp duties in force at home.

The American colonists were deeply incensed when they heard that the bill had passed into law, and not only so but without a division in the House of Lords, and with only one division in the House of Commons. It was not because they begrudged the money. Had the king chosen to send letters to the assem blies of each of the provinces, asking for a grant in aid of imperial expenses, especially the expenses incurred in defending the American coasts and frontiers, there cannot be any doubt but the call would have been answered liberally. "I am sure he would have obtained more money from the colonies by their voluntary grants than he himself expected from his stamps," said Dr. Franklin, the agent in England for the colony of Pennsylvania.

They would give handsomely if asked to give, but pay as a matter of right they would not. So the colonists determined. Mr. Grenville, though remonstrated with by all who knew most about the colonies, insisted on his Stamp Act, and orders were given for the necessary supply of stamps for use in all legal and commercial dealings, to be sent out from England. Collectors and assessors were also appointed, and Boston was chosen as the head-quarters of the Stamp Commissioners.

As soon as the news reached Boston, the flags of the shipping there were hoisted half-mast high, and the church bells tolled as if for a funeral, the Stamp Act itself was reprinted and sold. with a death's head instead of the royal arms, and for its proper title was substituted, "The folly of England, and the ruin of America." The House of Representatives in Virginia, under the guidance of Patrick Henry, drew up a spirited remonstrance to be laid before the king; other colonial legislatures, imitating the example of Virginia, did the same thing ere the several governors could dissolve them; and the people bound themselves under solemn obligations not to buy any British thing with which they could possibly dispense, until the obnoxious tax should be repealed.

In England the strongest efforts were made to procure a repeal of the Act. All the eloquence of Mr. Pitt, all the learning of Lord Camden, all the authority of the largest-hearted and clearest sighted statesmen of the day were employed to convince the king and his ministers of the danger in which the country stood in respect of the colonies, and to devise some means by which that danger might be averted. Pitt declared it as his opinion that

the Stamp Act ought to be repealed "absolutely, totally, and immediately. That the reason for the repeal be assigned, because it was founded on an erroneous principle;" and upon this advice, though Pitt was then in Opposition, the Government was forced to act. The Stamp Act was repealed, though accompanied by an Act declaring the right of the Crown to legislate as the Home Government thought fit for the colonies, and its repeal was the occasion of as great joy and satisfaction in America as its imposition had been for sorrow and dismay.

After the experience thus gained, though at the cost of allowing the Americans to discover how strong they were, it might have been thought the Government would have been wiser than to irritate the sensitive feelings of the people by again touching them on the tender point of money. But in 1767 it was determined to attempt to raise revenue out of new customs duties on articles, supposed to be necessaries, which were imported into the colonies. Boston was again the head-quarters of the excise, and the people, indignant at the disposition to coerce them, especially after their clearly expressed feeling on the subject of imposts, showed an intention to resist violently if need were. The severity with which the smuggling trade was suppressed, and the annoyances to which several of the assemblies were exposed from injudicious governors, added to the popular discontent, which rose to its height when it was found that a squadron of ships of war and four regiments of soldiers were to be sent to Boston, to keep the people in check. Before the troops arrived, the people rose, sacked the houses of some of the excise officers, and compelled the Commissioners to seek safety in Castle William, at the mouth of Boston harbour. This was in the autumn of 1768. With the arrival of the troops a different state of things prevailed so long as force could overawe the people and keep them down; but there were frequent collisions between the townsmen and the soldiers, and after a while the troops were withdrawn from the immediate neighbourhood of Boston. Five years passed away, the Americans constantly raising objections to what was done by the Home Government, even in matters which were unquestionably within its proper authority, and the Home Government, and incidentally the Parliament and nation, grew tired of having such subjects. There was, in fact, in the American colonies too much of the republican spirit and notion of freedom which the earlier settlers in New England had brought thither, to allow of any abiding peace with the monarchy; and those who were loyal to the throne were made disgusted by the instrumentality of those who were not loyal, and were appealed to on the ground of the common injustice done to the colonies by the ill-advised acts of the Government in 1766. At length, in 1774, the smouldering flame burst forth.

The East India Company, who then had the monopoly of the trade in tea, had arranged with the English Government that they should have the drawback on all tea conveyed to America, and that the amount should be recovered through duties levied at the American custom-houses. As soon as the colonists heard of the arrangement they determined to frustrate it, for they fancied they saw in the tea-tax, as they called it, a forerunner of other domestic taxes, as hearth-tax, window-tax, and others equally hateful. Besides, they now questioned the right of Government to impose custom duties on them for the general expenses of the empire, and they resolved to withstand the teatax accordingly.

Before the ships arrived in Boston harbour the people gave notice to the consignees that they should not gain by their cargoes; some of the agents they induced to renounce their agencies, and to promise that as soon as the vessels came they should be sent back again without being discharged; the pilots were warned not to bring any of the obnoxious ships into port; and steps were taken for still further pursuing the matter should these measures prove ineffectual. When the tea-ships came, the action begun at Boston was followed at all the other ports -the cargoes when landed were stored purposely in cellars; and the people having bound themselves not to use tea, and so to avoid a sale of the consignments, the article rotted, and was lost. In other cases the cargoes were sent back as they came, while at Boston the people were not content with such negative measures, bat disguised as Mohawk Indians, they rushed by night on board three ships in the harbour, rummaged the cargo, and threw some £18,000 worth of tea into the sea. This last performance took place in December, 1773, and the actors in it having escaped

without punishment, the British Government at home was determined to take the matter up sharply.

A bill was brought in and passed, whereby the port of Boston was declared to be closed, during the king's pleasure, against all commercial operations, though Pitt, Burke, and some of the leading men in both Houses raised their voices in loud protest against a punishment so far in excess of the offence, especially without first asking the city of Boston to make good the loss incurred by the tea shippers. "Do you ask what the people of Boston have done ?" said Lord North. "I will tell you. They have tarred and feathered your subjects, plundered your merchants, burnt your ships, denied all obedience to your laws and authority. Yet so clement and long-forbearing has our conduc been that it is incumbent on us now to take a different course Whatever may be the consequence, we must risk something; 1 we do not, all is over!" Acting according to his lights-b how great was the darkness of those lights!-Lord North and his colleagues carried their coercive measure against Boston. and another, yet more stinging and stringent, against the county of Massachusetts itself, by which the whole power in the county was taken away from the people and centred in the governor and a council of his own choosing; the former governor was changed for a military man of decided ways and habits, and troops were promised to support him in case of need.

On

The colonies, too, were not behindhand in energetic measures. Virginia first proposed to sympathise practically with Boston, then the other colonies joined, and finally it was agreed that delegates should be chosen from each of the twelve colonies who should meet in general congress at Philadelphia for the purpose of deciding what combined action should be taken. the 5th of September, 1774, fifty-five delegates, including George Washington and Patrick Henry from Virginia, met in congress at Philadelphia, and proceeded to deliberate with closed doors. What passed in the meeting is not of material importance, but the upshot was truly momentous. A declaration of rights, in which they claimed all the privileges of Englishmen-privileges they had neither surrendered, lost, nor forfeited by emigrationwas drawn up, together with some other statements to the effect that several of the recent Acts of Parliament were contrary to the spirit and letter of English law, and that until they were repealed there would not be any harmony between Great Britain and her colonies. To give these declarations force, they further resolved, on the part of their constituents and themselves, not to import any of the products of England, her colonies, or dependencies, nor to export to them any American produce, until the obnoxious Acts had been repealed. Addresses were written to the king, and to the people of Great Britain, in which the case of the colonists was manfully set forth, and an appeal made to justice and fair play.

How these addresses were received, what action the Government took upon the conduct of the Americans, are matters of history. Instead of examining into the case with impartiality, and doing then according to right, the Government took offence at its slighted dignity, and resolved to treat the Americans with sole reference to that.

The result was the United States. Continuous jarrings, and occasionally something more, went on between the Government and the colonists, till the latter did not scruple to declare their intention to throw off their allegiance. An extensive organisation, going right through the colonies, was prepared with secrecy, collections of arms and stores were made, the militia were drilled, everything was got ready for the emergency which all knew must arise sooner or later. It was the middle of April, 1775, before the spark was applied which fired the train of American disaffection. General Gage, governor of Massachusetts, resolved to seize certain military stores belonging to the colonists at Concord, eighteen miles from Boston, and he sent a body of troops to effect that object. With difficulty the men penetrated so far, and when they arrived it was to find most of the stores hal been removed. As they retreated the American marksmen hung upon their flanks and rear, and inflicted considerable damage: indeed, had it not been for reinforcements which General Gage had sent to Lexington, his first detachment must have been destroyed. As it was, they incurred a loss of over 250 men, killed, wounded, and captured.

From this moment civil war began in earnest, and was continued with varying success for six years, by which time t American soldiers, under George Washington, and the Amer

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