6. Overlooked in US-centric versions of the story is the fact that the whigs of the thirteen colonies were not alone in the world, there were many in Britain, in fact more than a few of the 'americans', like Thomas Paine, had just gotten off the boat from the auld country ... Pitt the Younger made a famous speech calling further resistance to the rebellion 'unjust', this was late into it, and before he was p.m., during the tory Lord North government ... but he was a whig, which is to say a liberal in the classic sense of the term, opposing inherited position and supporting free enterprise, to the extent they understood the concepts in those days, which was pretty well in some cases, you'd be surprised .... Smith of Kirkcaldy had published his Wealth of Nations in 1776, that was about as whiggish as you could get ... there had been a long continuum in political thought, fits and starts and setbacks all over the map of course, but reaching back to ancient roots, and generally progressing to the present day - everything that happened in english speaking nations was part of this, lots of standing on the shoulders of giants who had stood before
Not all in the thirteen colonies who opposed or fled from the rebellion were tories, many had distinct whiggish sympathies in the sense the terms were used in Britain, in fact i would surmise most did, given their activities and where they were in the New World, exceptions made for government officials probably, but likely not in all cases there even - new ideas were coming along, old ones getting refined, and it was pretty clear to all that the third George was a few logs short of a load - so it was wrong to call them 'tories', that was just rebel propaganda of course, but somehow it stuck, within the US anyway, the term 'loyalists' is far more accurate
The loyalists chose their side at that time because it was the way that resisted anarchy, in favour of 'peace order and good government' [an old canehjun expression], along with measured methodical change .... it was a time of armed rebellion in the lower colonies, there were gangs going about pushing the politics of it in forceful manner, you thought what they told you to think or your life was in danger .... it was some time much later when there became a constitution and the concept of the right of free speech, a tolerance for diversity of opinion, and a more reasonable expectation of personal security .... during the rebellion itself the choice was between the crown and anarchy, the rule of the gun
So we came north ... pretty soon the third George faded away, after a while came Victoria, there was a succession of prime ministers, Pitt the Younger, Liverpool, Wellesley, Peel, on to Disraeli and Gladstone .... much change along the way, continually, peace order and good government the goal all the way through, not always achieved but we came close sometimes, so now we come down to the present day, not so bad off ... but we're not 'tories' ... well those who call themselves tories now mean a different thing by it .... and we've been 'patriots' all the way through, just a different Patria that's all |
