But the men who lived in this
new land of fresh air and high skies were very different from
their brethren of the mother country. In the wilderness they
had learned independence and self-reliance. They were the
sons of hardy and energetic ancestors. Lazy and timourous
people did not cross the ocean in those days. The American
colonists hated the restraint and the lack of breathing space
which had made their lives in the old country so very unhappy.
They meant to be their own masters. This the ruling classes
of England did not seem to understand. The government annoyed
the colonists and the colonists, who hated to be bothered
in this way, began to annoy the British government.
Bad feeling caused more bad feeling. It is not necessary
to repeat here in detail what actually happened and what might
have been avoided if the British king had been more intelligent
than George III or less given to drowsiness and indifference
than his minister, Lord North. The British colonists,
when they understood that peaceful arguments would not
settle the difficulties, took to arms. From being loyal subjects,
they turned rebels, who exposed themselves to the punishment
of death when they were captured by the German
soldiers, whom George hired to do his fighting after the pleasant
custom of that day, when Teutonic princes sold whole
regiments to the highest bidder.
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