II. The Declaration of Independence was a violation of good faith to those statesmen and numerous other parties in England who had, in and out of Parliament, defended and supported the rights and character of the Colonies during the whole contest; proofs and illustrations 499
III. The Declaration of Independence was also a violation, not only of good faith, but of justice to the numerous Colonists who adhered to connexion with the mother country; proofs and illustrations 501
IV. The Declaration of the 4th of July, 1776, was the commencement of persecutions and proscriptions and confiscation of property against those who refused to renounce the oaths which they had taken, as well as the principles and traditions which had until then been professed by their persecutors and oppressors as well as by themselves; proofs and illustrations 504
Numbers, character, and position of Loyalists at the time, as stated by American writers; laws passed against them 504
The beneficial results of the Congress had it adhered to the former principles of its members, and acted justly to all parties 507
V. The Declaration of Independence was the commencement of weakness in the army of its authors, and of defeats in their field of battle; proofs and illustrations 508
VI. The Declaration of Independence was the avowed expedient and prelude for an alliance with France and Spain against the Mother Country; proofs and illustrations; the secret and double game played between the Congress and France, both before and after the Declaration of Independence 513
INTRODUCTION.--TWO CLASSES OF EMIGRANTS--TWO GOVERNMENTS FOR SEVENTY YEARS--THE "PILGRIM FATHERS"--THEIR PILGRIMAGES AND SETTLEMENT.
In proceeding to trace the development and characteristics of Puritanism in an English colony, I beg to remark that I write, not as an Englishman, but as a Canadian colonist by birth and life-long residence, and as an early and constant advocate of those equal rights, civil and religious, and that system of government in the enjoyment of which Canada is conspicuous.
In tracing the origin and development of those views and feelings which culminated in the American Revolution, in the separation of thirteen colonies from Great Britain, it is necessary to notice the early settlement and progress of those New England colonies in which the seeds of that revolution were first sown and grew to maturity.