As in the beginning of this little history we gratefully chronicled the warm and sympathetic friendship for America that permeated the British nation, and particularly the councils of Parliament, so as we close, we may glance across the ocean again to see if that same friendship can survive the shock of rebellion against the King. In quarrels of a family nature one does not feel unpatriotic if he happens to espouse the cause of the minority. So it was with John Horne Tooke.[318] His intense friendship for this part of the British Kingdom was evident at the start and reached a decided climax after the battle. He was a member of the Constitutional Society, and during an adjournment or recess of a meeting held June 7th proposed that a subscription should be immediately entered into "for raising the sum of one hundred pounds, to be applied to the relief of the widows, orphans, and aged parents, of our beloved American fellow-subjects, who, faithful to the character of Englishmen, preferring death to slavery, were, for that reason only, inhumanly murdered by the King's troops at or near Lexington and Concord." The money was raised and placed at the disposal of Benjamin Franklin, to distribute in accordance with its purpose. The resolution was forwarded to several newspapers, and its publication naturally aroused considerable surprise and painful comment.

Mr. Horne was arrested and tried for "a false, wicked, malicious, scandalous and seditious libel of, and concerning, his said Majesty's government, and the employment of his troops," etc.[319] He was found guilty and sentenced to a fine of £200; to be imprisoned for twelve months; and that he find securities in £800 for his good behavior, for three years.[320]

I have not read of any other Briton punished to that extent at that time, for friendship for his fellow subjects on this side of the ocean. There were many as sincere and devoted to the cause of the colonists as Horne, and perhaps as openly, too, but he happened to be the one selected to bear the heavy burden of his King's displeasure.

On a much larger and more impressive scale was the petition of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons, of the City of London, in Common Council assembled, to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled. It was presented in October, and recited how that body had "taken into the most serious consideration the present distressed situation of our fellow subjects in America," and concluded with the prayer that the House would be "pleased to adopt such measures for the healing of the present unhappy disputes between the mother country and the colonies, as may be speedy, permanent and honourable."

But the wise counsels of the great city did not prevail in the House of Parliament, for that body simply ordered their petition to "lie upon the table."[321]

So was fought the opening battle of the American Revolution, the beginning of that long struggle which rent in twain the great English nation, and gave birth to these United States.

END.