But it was not until long after
the accession of William III. that things could be seen in these grand
outlines. With his coronation began the struggle of seventy years
between France and England, far grander than the struggle between Rome
and Carthage, two thousand years earlier, for primacy in the world,
for the prerogative of determining the future career of mankind. That
warfare, so fraught with meaning, was waged as much upon American as
upon European ground; and while it continued, it was plainly for the
interest of the British government to pursue a conciliatory policy
toward its American colonies, for without their wholehearted assistance
it could have no hope of success. As soon as the struggle was ended, and
the French power in the colonial world finally overthrown, the perpetual
quarrels between the popular legislatures and the royal governors led
immediately to the Stamp Act and the other measures of the British
government that brought about the American revolution. People sometimes
argue about that revolution as if it had no past behind it and was
simply the result of a discussion over abstract principles. [Sidenote:
Seeds of the American Revolution already sown]
We can now see that while the dispute involved an abstract principle of
fundamental importance to mankind, it was at the same time for Americans
illustrated by memories sufficiently concrete and real.
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