THE CONSERVATIVE REFORMER 153 



Jay, aged thirty, and Edward Rutledge, aged twenty- 

 six. Four days before he took his seat the battle of 

 Bunker Hill was fought, and when the news reached 

 Philadelphia he was appointed on a committee with 

 Dickinson and others for drawing up a manifesto justi- 

 fying to the world the course of the Americans. The 

 manifesto as published contained only a few words of 

 his, but among them were the following : " We mean 

 not to dissolve that union which has so long and so 

 happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely 

 wish to see restored. Necessity has not yet driven us 

 into that desperate measure." Wonderfully eloquent 

 was that little word " yet "! The threat of all that was 

 to happen next year was latent in it. The current of 

 feeling was moving rapidly just then. Two months 

 later Jefferson wrote : " There is not in the British 

 empire a man who more cordially loves a union with 

 Great Britain than I do. But by the God that made 

 me I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection 

 on such terms as the British Parliament proposes ; and 

 in this I think I speak the sentiments of America." 

 Observe the historical accuracy of this wording. It 

 was not a question of throwing off a yoke, but of re- 

 fusing to yield to a connection on newfangled and 

 degrading terms. The American colonies had never 

 been under a yoke, but they had maintained a con- 

 nection with Great Britain in which their legislative 

 independence had until within the last ten years been 

 virtually recognized. Now they were asked to sur- 

 render that legislative independence and come under 

 the yoke of the British Parliament, and this, said 

 Jefferson, they would never consent to do. The 

 American Revolution was essentially conservative. It 



