transform this wild region into a splendid strip of land composed of fruitful fields and grassy pastures. These occupations were very congenial and Washington wished for nothing more earnestly than that he might be allowed to pass his whole life in the same manner. But Providence had ordained otherwise. An event happened which this law-abiding subject never could have desired, for he was devoted to the mother country. The colonies quarrelled with England, and it was this circumstance which suddenly tore him from his peaceful existence. Chapter VII A Quarrel with the Mother Country We must now consider the reasons for the quarrel with the mother country. “Woe to the law breaker!” The law breaker causing this disagreement was the English government. According to the English constitution, new taxes could not be laid upon the people without the consent of their representatives. It now suddenly occurred to the government to tax the colonies without asking their permission. Thus it was acting contrary to the principles of the constitution. All right-thinking people will agree that one of the saddest spectacles in history is to see a government, whose sacred duty it is to be the guardian of the law, working for its overthrow. The Anglo-American disagreement furnishes this mournful spectacle. Lord Camden, one of those astute statesmen in England who foresaw the consequences of such action, said to Franklin: “In spite of your oft-protested love for England, I know that some day you Americans will shake off the bonds which unite you to us and raise the flag of independence.” This remark was afterward recalled and the reasons for it were sought and not in vain. The English government seems to have been possessed by a spirit of lawlessness at that time, while the American colonies were distinguished, just at the same period, in an extraordinary degree, by a high regard for law. Thus Lord Camden saw the day approaching when the unjust demands of the government would arouse the resistance of the Americans. Franklin had assured Camden that nothing was farther from the thoughts of his countrymen than a separation from the mother country and the formation of an independent State. Franklin indeed added the words, “That is, unless you treat us shamefully,” to which Lord Camden answered significantly, “That is true; and that is precisely one of the reasons which I foresee will bring this to pass.”