[5] The Evidence in the Case. By James M. Beck. (Putnam, $1.00).




CHAPTER FIVE


The only fact of importance which fails to emerge with sufficient
clearness from the foregoing conversation is the fact--possibly the
courteous American suppressed it from motives of delicacy--that
America is by comparison more pro-Ally than pro-British. The fact is,
the American is on the side of right and justice in this War, and
earnestly desires to see the Allied cause prevail; but he has a
sub-conscious aversion to seeing slow-witted, self-satisfied John Bull
collect yet another scalp. American relations with France, too, have
always been of the most cordial nature; while America's very existence
as a separate nation to-day is the fruit of a quarrel with England.

In this regard it may be noted that American school history books are
accustomed to paint the England of 1776 in unnecessarily lurid
colours. The young Republic is depicted emerging, after a heroic
struggle, from the clutches of a tyranny such as that wielded by the
nobility of France in the pre-Revolution days. In sober fact, the
secession of the American Colonies was brought about by a series of
colossal blunders and impositions on the part of the most
muddle-headed ministry that ever mismanaged the affairs of Great
Britain--which is saying a good deal. It is probable that if the elder
Pitt had lived a few years longer, the secession would never have
occurred. It was only with the utmost reluctance that Washington