George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 10

[36] own life. Inasmuch as the party of freedom and

Chap. I.} 1778.

justice, which is, indeed, one for all mankind, was at least seen to be one and the same for the whole English race, it appeared more and more clearly that the total subjugation of America would be the prelude to the repression of liberty in the British isles.

In point of commercial wealth, industry, and adventurous enterprise, England at the time had no equal; in pride of nationality, no rival but France: yet her movements were marked by languor. There was no man in the cabinet who could speak words of power to call out her moral resources, and harmonize the various branches of the public service. The country, which in the seven years war had been wrought by the elder Pitt to deeds of magnanimity, found in the ministry no representative. Public spirit had been quelled, and a disposition fostered to value personal interest above the general good. Even impending foreign war could not hush the turbulence of partisans. The administration, having no guiding principle, held its majority in the house of commons only on sufferance, its own officials only by its control of patronage. Insubordination showed itself in the fleet and in the army, and most among the officers. England had not known so bad a government since the reign of James the Second. It was neither beloved nor respected, and truly stood neither for the people nor for any party of the aristocracy; neither for the spirit of the time, nor for the past age, nor for that which was coming. It was a conglomerate of inferior and heterogeneous materials, totally unfit to guide the policy of a mighty empire, endured only during an interim.