Note 419 — BOOK VIII THE AGE OF THE GREAT POWERS (continued 2)

You are, I think, unjust to Great Britain and her “great power game.” She was not playing that game—or, so far as she was, she was acting against “France” to liberate the colonies from the French menace in the hinterland which alarmed them. Once liberated, they broke loose, somewhat selfishly, refusing to pay the piper, though they had enjoyed, and done much to call, the tune. Great Britain was indeed to blame, not on the “great power” ground, but on the “sovereignty” ground, which made her stickle for the “sovereignty” of the British parliament over colonial legislature. It wasn’t diplomatists, it was lawyers in both countries, who precipitated the struggle of 1776.—E. B.

But see §§ 2 and 3.—H. G. W.