![The Dean grew more earnest. Other pamphlets followed: for
instance, in 1775, “An Humble Address and Earnest Appeal, …
whether a Connection with or a Separation from the Continental
Colonies of America be most for the National Advantage and the
Lasting Benefit of these Kingdoms.” Here he says openly:—
“My scheme, which Mr. Burke, in his last speech, of
March 22, 1775, is pleased to term a childish one, is,
To separate totally from the Colonies, and to reject
them from being fellow-members and joint partakers
with us in the privileges and advantages of the British
Empire, because they refuse to submit to the authority
and jurisdiction of the British legislature,—offering at
the same time to enter into alliances of friendship and
treaties of commerce with them, as with any other
sovereign, independent state.”[453]
Then, insisting that his scheme “most infallibly cuts off all the
present causes of dispute and contention between the two
countries, so that they never can revive again,”[454]
he establishes
that commercial intercourse with the Americans would not cease,
inasmuch as it cannot be shown that they “will no longer adhere to
their own interest when they shall be disunited from us.”[455]
Among subsequent tracts was one entitled “Cui Bono? or, An
Inquiry, What Benefits can arise either to the English or the
Americans, the French, Spaniards, or Dutch, from the Greatest
Victories or Successes in the Present War? Being a Series of Letters
addressed to Monsieur Necker, late Controller-General of the
Finances of France. London, 1782.” Here was the same ardor for
separation, with the same bitter words for the Colonies.
Tardily the foresight of the Dean was recognized, until at last
Archbishop Whately, in his annotations upon Bacon’s Essay on Honor
and Reputation, commemorates it as an historic example. According
to him, “the whole British nation were in one particular manifestly
puzzle-headed, except one man, who was accordingly derided by](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-56-320.jpg)
![all.” Then mentioning the dispute between the mother country and
her colonies, he says: “But Dean Tucker, standing quite alone, wrote
a pamphlet to show that the separation would be no loss at all, and
that we had best give them the independence they coveted at once
and in a friendly way. Some thought he was writing in jest; the rest
despised him, as too absurd to be worth answering. But now, and
for above half a century, every one admits that he was quite right,
and regrets that his view was not adopted.”[456]
Unquestionably this
is a remarkable tribute. Kindred to it was that of the excellent
Professor Smyth, who, in exhibiting the “American War,” dwells on
“the superior and the memorable wisdom of Tucker.”[457]
The bad temper shooting from his writings interfered, doubtless,
with their acceptance. His spirit, so hostile to us, justified his own
characterization of himself as “the author of these tracts against the
rebel Americans.” As the war drew to a close, his bad temper still
prevailed, heightened by antipathy to republicanism, so that, after
picturing the Colonies, separated at last from the mother country, as
having “gained a general disappointment mixed with anger and
indignation,”[458]
he thus predicts their terrible destiny:—
“As to the future grandeur of America, and its being
a rising empire under one head, whether republican or
monarchical, it is one of the idlest and most visionary
notions that ever was conceived, even by writers of
romance. For there is nothing in the genius of the
people, the situation of their country, or the nature of
their different climates, which tends to countenance
such a supposition.… Above all, when those immense
inland regions beyond the back settlements, which are
still unexplored, are taken into the account, they form
the highest probability that the Americans never can
be united into one compact empire, under any species
of government whatever. Their fate seems to be—a
disunited people till the end of time.”[459]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-57-320.jpg)
![Alas! But evidently the Dean saw the future of our continent no
better than the Ministry saw their duty with regard to it.
Unlike in spirit was Matthew Robinson, a contemporary friend of
America, whose able and elaborate tracts[460]
in successive editions
are now forgotten, except so far as revived by the notice of
Professor Smyth.[461]
His vindication of the Colonies, at the time of
the Boston Port Bill, was complete, without the harshness of Tucker,
and he did not hesitate to present the impossibility of conquering
them. “What expectation or probability,” he asks, “can there be of
sending from hence armies capable to conquer and subdue so great
a force of men defending and defended by such a continent?”[462]
Then, while depicting English mastery of the sea, he says: “We may
do whatever a fleet can. Very true; but it cannot sail all over North
America.”[463]
The productions of this enlightened author cannot have
been without effect. Doubtless they helped the final
acknowledgment of independence. When will the “Old Mortality”
appear, to discover and restore his monument?
The able annotator of Lord Bacon was too sweeping, when he said
that on the great American question all England was wrong, “except
one man.” Robinson was as right as the Dean, and there were others
also. The “Monthly Review,” in an article on the Dean’s appeal for
separation, said: “This, however, is not a new idea. It has frequently
occurred to others.”[464]
Even Soame Jenyns, a life-long member of
Parliament, essayist, poet, defender of Christianity, while upholding
the right to tax the Colonies, is said to have accepted the idea of
“total separation”:—
“Let all who view th’ instructive scene,
And patronize the plan,
Give thanks to Gloucester’s honest Dean,
For, Tucker, thou’rt the man.”[465]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-58-320.jpg)
![In a better spirit, and with affecting earnestness, John Cartwright,
once of the Royal Navy, and known as Major from his rank in the
Nottinghamshire Militia, followed the Dean, in 1774, with a series of
letters collected in a pamphlet entitled “American Independence the
Interest and Glory of Great Britain,” where he insists upon
separation, and thenceforward a friendly league, “that the true and
lasting welfare of both countries can be promoted.”[466]
In enforcing
his conclusion the author says: “When we talk of asserting our
sovereignty over the Americans, do we foresee to what fatal lengths
it will carry us? Are not those nations increasing with astonishing
rapidity? Must they not, in the nature of things, cover in a few ages
that immense continent like a swarm of bees?”[467]
Then again: “We
may, indeed, by means of fleets and armies, maintain a precarious
tyranny over the Americans for a while; but the most shallow
politicians must foresee what this would end in.”[468]
Then, in reply to
the Dean: “’Tis a pity so able a writer had not discovered that the
Americans have a right to choose their own governors, and thence
enforced the necessity of his proposed separation as a religious duty,
no less than a measure of national policy.”[469]
Cartwright continued
at home the conflicts of principle involved in our War of
Independence, and became an English Reformer. Honor to his name!
DAVID HARTLEY, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1785.
Another English friend was David Hartley. He was constant and
even pertinacious on our side, although less prophetic than Pownall,
with whom he coöperated in purpose and activity. His father was
Hartley the metaphysician, and author of the ingenious theory of
sensation, who predicted the fate of existing governments and
hierarchies in two simple sentences: “It is probable that all the
present Civil Governments will be overturned”; “It is probable that
the present forms of Church Government will be dissolved.”[470]
Many
were alarmed. Lady Charlotte Wentworth asked the prophet when
these terrible things would happen. The answer was: “I am an old](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-59-320.jpg)
![man, and shall not live to see them; but you are a young woman,
and probably will see them.”[471]
The son was born in 1729, and died at Bath in 1813. During our
Revolution he sat in Parliament for Kingston-upon-Hull. He was also
the British plenipotentiary in negotiating the Definitive Treaty of
Peace with the United States. He has dropped out of sight. The
biographical dictionaries afford him a few lines only. But he deserves
a considerable place in the history of our Independence.
John Adams was often austere, and sometimes cynical, in his
judgments. Evidently he did not like Hartley. In one place he speaks
of him as “a person of consummate vanity”;[472]
then, as “talkative
and disputatious, and not always intelligible”;[473]
and in still another
place remarks, “Mr. Hartley was as copious as usual;”[474]
and when
appointed to sign the Definitive Treaty, “It would have been more
agreeable to have finished with Mr. Oswald.”[475]
And yet, when
writing most elaborately to the Comte de Vergennes on the state of
affairs previous to the final campaign, he introduces opinions of
Hartley at length, saying that he was “more for peace than any man
in the kingdom.”[476]
Such testimony may well outweigh the other
expressions, especially as nothing of the kind appears in the
correspondence of Franklin, with whom Hartley was much more
intimate.
The “Parliamentary History” is a sufficient monument for Hartley.
He was a frequent speaker, and never missed an opportunity of
pleading our cause. Although without the immortal eloquence of
Burke, he was always clear and full. Many of his speeches seem
written out by himself. He was not a tardy convert, but began as “a
new member” by supporting an amendment favorable to the
Colonies, 5th December, 1774. Then, in March, 1775, he brought
forward “Propositions for Conciliation with America,” which he
sustained in an elaborate speech, where he avowed that the
American question had occupied him for some time:—](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-60-320.jpg)
![“Though I have so lately had the honor of a seat in
this House, yet I have for many years turned my
thoughts and attention to matters of public concern
and national policy. This question of America is now of
many years’ standing.”[477]
In this speech he acknowledges the services of New England at
Louisburg:—
“In that war too, Sir, they took Louisburg from the
French, single-handed, without any European
assistance: as mettled an enterprise as any in our
history; an everlasting memorial of the zeal, courage,
and perseverance of the troops of New England. The
men themselves dragged the cannon over a morass
which had always been thought impassable, where
neither horses nor oxen could go; and they carried the
shot upon their backs. And what was their reward for
this forward and spirited enterprise,—for the reduction
of this American Dunkirk? Their reward, Sir, you know
very well: it was given up for a barrier to the
Dutch.”[478]
All his various propositions were negatived; but he was not
disheartened. Constantly he spoke,—now on the Budget, then on
the Address, and then on specific propositions. At this time he
asserted the power of Parliament over the Colonies, and he
proposed, on the 2d November, 1775, that a test of submission by
the Colonists should be the recognition of an Act of Parliament
enacting “that all the slaves in America should have the trial by
jury.”[479]
Shortly afterwards, on the 7th December, 1775, he brought
forward a second set of “Propositions for Conciliation with America,”
where, among other things, he embodied the test on slavery, which
he put forward as a compromise; and here his language belongs not
only to the history of our Revolution, but to the history of
Antislavery. While declaring that in his opinion Great Britain was “the](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-61-320.jpg)
![aggressor in everything,”[480]
he sought to bring the two countries
together on a platform of human rights, which he thus explained:—
“The act to be proposed to America, as an
auspicious beginning to lay the first stone of universal
liberty to mankind, should be what no American could
hesitate an instant to comply with, namely, that every
slave in North America should be entitled to his trial by
jury in all criminal cases. America cannot refuse to
accept and to enroll such an act as this, and thereby to
reëstablish peace and harmony with the parent state.
Let us all be reunited in this, as a foundation to
extirpate slavery from the face of the earth. Let those
who seek justice and liberty for themselves give that
justice and liberty to their fellow-creatures. With
respect to the idea of putting a final period to slavery
in North America, it should seem best that when this
country had led the way by the act for jury, that each
Colony, knowing their own peculiar circumstances,
should undertake the work in the most practicable
way, and that they should endeavor to establish some
system by which slavery should be in a certain term of
years abolished. Let the only contention henceforward
between Great Britain and America be, which shall
exceed the other in zeal for establishing the
fundamental rights of liberty to all mankind.”[481]
How grand and beautiful!—not to be read without gratitude! The
motion was rejected; but among the twenty-three in its favor were
Fox and Burke.
During this same month the unwearied defender of our country
came forward again, declaring that he could not be “an adviser or a
well-wisher to any of the vindictive operations against America,
because he thought the cause unjust; but at the same time he must
be equally earnest to secure British interests from destruction”; and
he thus prophesies:—](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-62-320.jpg)
![“The fate of America is cast. You may bruise its heel,
but you cannot crush its head. It will revive again. The
New World is before them. Liberty is theirs. They have
possession of a free government, their birthright and
inheritance, derived to them from their parent state,
which the hand of violence cannot wrest from them. If
you will cast them off, my last wish is to them, May
they go and prosper!”[482]
Again, on the 10th May, 1776, he vindicated anew his original
proposition; and here again he testifies for peace and against
slavery:—
“For the sake of peace, therefore, I did propose a
test of compromise, by an acceptance, on the part of
the Colonists, of an Act of Parliament which should lay
the foundation for the extirpation of the horrid custom
of slavery in the New World.… My motion was …
simply as an act of compromise and reconciliation;
and, as far as it was a legislative act, it was still to
have been applied in correcting the laws of slavery in
America, which I considered as repugnant to the laws
of the realm of England, and to the fundamentals of
our Constitution. Such a compromise would at the
same time have saved the national honor.”[483]
All gratitude to the hero who at this early day vowed himself to
the abolition of slavery! Hartley is among the first of Abolitionists,
with hardly a predecessor except Granville Sharp, and in Parliament
absolutely the first. Clarkson was at this time fifteen years old,
Wilberforce sixteen. Only in 1785 Clarkson obtained the prize for the
best Latin essay on the question, “Is it right to make men slaves
against their will?”[484]
It was not until 1791 that Wilberforce moved
for leave to bring in a bill for the abolition of the slave-trade. It is no
small honor for one man to have come forward in Parliament as an
avowed abolitionist, while at the same time a vindicator of our
independence.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-63-320.jpg)
![Again, on the 15th May, 1777, Hartley pleaded for us:—
“At sea, which has hitherto been our prerogative
element, they rise against us at a stupendous rate;
and if we cannot return to our old mutual hospitalities
towards each other, a very few years will show us a
most formidable hostile marine, ready to join hands
with any of our enemies.… I will venture to prophesy
that the principles of a federal alliance are the only
terms of peace that ever will and that ever ought to
obtain between the two countries.”[485]
On the 5th of June, three weeks afterwards, the “Parliamentary
History” reports briefly:—
“Mr. Hartley went upon the cruelties of slavery, and
urged the Board of Trade to take some means of
mitigating it. He produced a pair of handcuffs, which
he said was a manufacture they were now going to
establish.”[486]
Thus again the abolitionist reappeared in the vindicator of our
independence. On the 22d June, 1779, he brought forward another
formal motion “for reconciliation with America,” and, in the course of
a well-considered speech, denounced the ministers for “headstrong
and inflexible obstinacy in prosecuting a cruel and destructive
American war.”[487]
On the 3d December, 1779, in what is called “a
very long speech,” he returned to his theme, inveighing against
ministers for “the favorite, though wild, Quixote, and impracticable
measure of coercing America.”[488]
These are only instances.
During this time he maintained relations with Franklin, as appears
in the “Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution,” all of which
attests a desire for peace. In 1778 he arrived at Paris on a
confidential errand, especially to confer with Franklin. On this
occasion John Adams met him and judged him severely. In 1783 he
was appointed a commissioner to sign the Definitive Treaty of Peace.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-64-320.jpg)
![Galiani was a genius. Whatever he touched shone at once with his
brightness, in which there was originality as well as knowledge. He
was a finished scholar, and very successful in lapidary verses. Early
in life, while in Italy, he wrote a grave essay on Money, which
contrasted with another of rare humor suggested by the death of
the public executioner. Other essays followed; and then came the
favor of the congenial pontiff, Benedict the Fourteenth. In 1760 he
found himself at Paris as Secretary of the Neapolitan Embassy.
Mingling with courtiers officially, according to the duties of his
position, he fraternized with the liberal and adventurous spirits who
exercised such influence over society and literature. He was
recognized as one of them, and inferior to none. His petty stature
was forgotten when he conversed with inexhaustible faculties of all
kinds, so that he seemed an Encyclopædia, Harlequin, and
Machiavelli all in one. The atheists at the Thursday dinner of
D’Holbach were confounded while he enforced the existence of God.
Into the questions of political economy occupying attention at the
time he entered with a pen which seemed borrowed from the French
Academy. His “Dialogues sur le Commerce des Blés” had the success
of a romance: ladies carried this book on Corn in their work-baskets.
Returning to Naples, he continued to live in Paris through his
correspondence, especially with Madame d’Épinay, the Baron
d’Holbach, Diderot, and Grimm.[489]
Among later works, after his return to Naples, was a solid volume
—not to be forgotten in the History of International Law—on the
Duties of Neutrals, where a difficult subject is treated with such
mastery, that, more than half a century later, D’Hautefeuille, in his
elaborate treatise, copies from it at length. Galiani was the
predecessor of this French writer in the extreme assertion of neutral
rights. Other works were left at his death in manuscript, some grave
and some humorous; also letters without number. The letters
preserved from Italian savans filled eight large volumes; those from
savans, ministers, and sovereigns abroad filled fourteen. His Parisian
correspondence did not see the light till 1818, although some of the
letters may be found in the contemporary correspondence of Grimm.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-71-320.jpg)
![In his Parisian letters, which are addressed chiefly to that clever
individuality, Madame d’Épinay, the Neapolitan abbé shows not only
the brilliancy and nimbleness of his talent, but the universality of his
knowledge and the boldness of his speculations. Here are a few
words from a letter dated at Naples, 12th October, 1776, in which he
brings forward the idea of “races,” so important in our day, with an
illustration from Russia:—
“All depends upon races. The first, the most noble of
races, comes naturally from the North of Asia. The
Russians are the nearest to it, and this is the reason
why they have made more progress in fifty years than
can be got out of the Portuguese in five hundred.”[490]
Belonging to the Latin race, Galiani was entitled to speak thus
freely.
In another letter to Madame d’Épinay, dated at Naples, 18th May,
1776, he had already foretold the success of our Revolution. Few
prophets have been more explicit than he was in the following
passage:—
“Livy said of his age, which so strongly resembled
ours, ‘Ad hæc tempora ventum est, quibus nec vitia
nostra nec remedia pati possumus,’—‘We are in an age
when the remedies hurt at least as much as the
vices.’[491]
Do you know how matters stand? The epoch
has come of the total downfall of Europe, and of
transmigration to America. Everything here is falling
into rottenness,—religion, laws, arts, sciences,—and
everything is going to be rebuilt anew in America. This
is no joke; nor is it an idea drawn from the English
quarrels; I have said, announced, preached it, for
more than twenty years, and I have always seen my
prophecies fulfilled. Do not buy your house, then, in
the Chaussée d’Antin; you must buy it in Philadelphia.
My trouble is, that there are no abbeys in America.”[492]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-72-320.jpg)
![This letter was written some months before the Declaration of
Independence.
In another, dated at Naples, 7th February, 1778, the Abbé alludes
to the great numbers of English men and women who have come to
Naples “for shelter from the American tempests,” and adds,
“Meanwhile the Washingtons and Hancocks will be fatal to them.”[493]
In still another, dated at Naples, 25th July, 1778, he renews his
prophecies in language still more explicit:—
“You will at this time have decided the greatest
revolution of the globe,—namely, if it is America which
is to reign over Europe, or if it is Europe which is to
continue to reign over America. I would wager in favor
of America, for the reason, merely physical, that for
five thousand years genius has turned opposite to the
diurnal motion, and travelled from East to West.”[494]
Here again is the idea of Berkeley which has been so captivating.
ADAM SMITH, 1776.
In contrast with the witty Italian is the illustrious philosopher and
writer of Scotland, Adam Smith, who was born 5th June, 1723, and
died 17th July, 1790. His fame is so commanding that any details of
life or works would be out of place. He was thinker and inventor,
through whom mankind was advanced in knowledge.
I say nothing of his “Theory of Moral Sentiments,” constituting an
important contribution to the science of Ethics, but come at once to
his great work of political economy, entitled “An Inquiry into the
Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,” which first appeared in
1776. Its publication marks an epoch described by Mr. Buckle, when
he says that Adam Smith, “by the publication of this single work,
contributed more towards the happiness of man than has been
effected by the united abilities of all the statesmen and legislators of
whom history has preserved an authentic account.”[495]
The work is](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-73-320.jpg)
![full of prophetic knowledge, and especially with regard to the British
Colonies. Writing while the debate with the mother country was still
pending, Adam Smith urged that they should be admitted to
Parliamentary representation in proportion to taxation, so that their
representation would enlarge with their growing resources; and here
he predicts nothing less than the transfer of empire:—
“The distance of America from the seat of
government, the natives of that country might flatter
themselves, with some appearance of reason too,
would not be of very long continuance. Such has
hitherto been the rapid progress of that country in
wealth, population, and improvement, that, in the
course of little more than a century, perhaps, the
produce of American might exceed that of British
taxation. The seat of the empire would then naturally
remove itself to that part of the empire which
contributed most to the general defence and support
of the whole.”[496]
In these tranquil words of assured science the great author carries
the seat of government across the Atlantic.
Did Adam Smith in this remarkable passage do more than follow a
hint from our own prophet? The prophecy of the great economist
first appeared in 1776. In the course of 1774, and down to April 19,
1775, John Adams published in the “Boston Gazette” a series of
weekly articles, under the signature of “Novanglus,” which were
abridged in Almon’s “Remembrancer” for 1775, with the following
title: “History of the Dispute with America, from its Origin in 1754 to
the Present Time.” Although this abridged edition stops before the
prophetic passage, it is not impossible that the whole series was
known to Adam Smith. After speculating, as the latter did
afterwards, on the extension of the British Constitution and
Parliamentary representation to the outlying British dominions, our
prophet says:—](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-74-320.jpg)
![“If in twenty years more America should have six
millions of inhabitants, as there is a boundless territory
to fill up, she must have five hundred representatives.
Upon these principles, if in forty years she should have
twelve millions, a thousand; and if the inhabitants of
the three kingdoms remain as they are, being already
full of inhabitants, what will become of your supreme
legislative? It will be translated, crown and all, to
America. This is a sublime system for America. It will
flatter those ideas of independency which the Tories
impute to them, if they have any such, more than any
other plan of independency that I have ever heard
projected.”[497]
Thus plainly was John Adams precursor of Adam Smith.
In 1784 these papers were reprinted from the “Remembrancer,” by
Stockdale, in London, bearing the same title, substantially, as before,
“History of the Dispute with America, from its Origin in 1754,” with
the addition, “Written in the Year 1774, by John Adams, Esq.” The
“Monthly Review,” in a notice of the publication, after speaking of
“the inauspicious system of American taxation,” says, “Mr. Adams
foretold the consequence of obstinately adhering to it, and the event
hath too well verified his predictions. They were, however,
predictions which required no inspiration.”[498]
So that his wise
second-sight was recognized in England much beyond the prevision
of Adam Smith.
The idea of transferring the seat of government to America was
often attributed to Franklin by Dean Tucker. The former, in a letter,
as early as 25th November, 1767, reports the Dean as saying, “That
is his constant plan.”[499]
In one of his tracts, the Dean attributes it
not only to Franklin, but also to our people. With strange
exaggeration he says: “It has been the unanimous opinion of the
North Americans for these fifty years past, that the seat of empire
ought to be transferred from the lesser to the greater country,—that
is, from England to America, or, as Dr. Franklin elegantly phrased it,](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-75-320.jpg)
![from the cock-boat to the man-of-war.”[500]
It is impossible to say
how much of this was from the excited brain of the Dean.
RICHARD PRICE, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1784.
A true and solid ally of our country at a critical period was Dr.
Price, dissenting clergyman, metaphysician, political writer, and
mathematician, who was born in Wales, 23d February, 1723, and
died in London, 19th April, 1791.
His earliest labors were “A Review of the Principal Questions and
Difficulties in Morals,” by which he was recognized as a
metaphysician, and “Observations on Reversionary Payments,” by
which he was recognized as an authority on a large class of financial
questions. At the same time his sermons were regarded as excellent.
Amidst these various labors he was moved to enlist as a
pamphleteer in defence of the American Colonies. This service,
prompted by a generous devotion to just principles, awakened
grateful sentiments on both sides of the ocean.
The Aldermen and Common Council of London marked their
sympathy by voting him the freedom of the city in a gold box of fifty
pounds value. The American Congress sent him a different
testimonial, officially communicated to him, being a solemn
resolution declaring “the desire of Congress to consider him a citizen
of the United States, and to receive his assistance in regulating their
finances.”[501]
In reply, under date of 18th January, 1779, while
declining the invitation, he offered “assurances that Dr. Price feels
the warmest gratitude for the notice taken of him, and that he looks
to the American States as now the hope and likely soon to become
the refuge of mankind.”[502]
Franklin and Adams contracted with him
relations of friendship. The former, under date of 6th February, 1780,
wrote him: “Your writings, after all the abuse you and they have met
with, begin to make serious impressions on those who at first
rejected the counsels you gave”;[503]
and 24th October, 1788, he
wrote to another: “Remember me affectionately to good Dr.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-76-320.jpg)
![Price.”[504]
The latter, in correspondence many years afterwards,
recorded the intimacy he enjoyed with Dr. Price, “at his own house,
at my house, and at the houses and tables of many friends.”[505]
The first of his American tracts was in 1776, being “Observations
on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principles of Government, and the
Justice and Policy of the War with America.” The sale of sixty
thousand copies in a few months shows the extensive acceptance of
the work. The general principles so clearly exhibited are invoked for
America. Occasionally the philosopher becomes prophet, as when he
predicts the growth of population:—
“They are now but little short of half our number. To
this number they have grown, from a small body of
original settlers, by a very rapid increase. The
probability is that they will go on to increase, and that
in fifty or sixty years they will be double our number,
and form a mighty empire, consisting of a variety of
States, all equal or superior to ourselves in all the arts
and accomplishments which give dignity and happiness
to human life.”[506]
Nothing less than “a vast continent” seems to him the sphere of
this remarkable development, and he revolts at the idea of this being
held “at the discretion of a handful of people on the other side of the
Atlantic.”[507]
In the measures which brought on the war he saw “the
hand of Providence working to bring about some great ends.”[508]
And the vast continent was to be dedicated to Liberty. The excellent
man saw even the end of Slavery. Speaking of “the negroes of the
Southern Colonies,” he said that they “probably will now either soon
become extinct or have their condition changed into that of
freemen.”[509]
Years and battle intervened before this precious result.
This production was followed in 1777 by “Additional Observations
on the Nature and Value of Civil Liberty, and the War with
America,”—to which was added “Observations on Public Loans, the
National Debt, and the Debts and Resources of France.” In all this](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-77-320.jpg)
![variety of topics, his concern for America breaks forth in the inquiry,
“Must not humanity shudder at such a war?”[510]
And he sees untold
loss to England, which, with the Colonies, “might be the greatest
and happiest nation that ever existed”; but without them “we are no
more a people; … our existence depends on keeping them.”[511]
This
patriotic gloom is checked by another vision:—
“These measures have, in all probability, hastened
that disruption of the New from the Old World, which
will begin a new era in the annals of mankind, and
produce a revolution more important, perhaps, than
any that has happened in human affairs.”[512]
Thus was American Independence heralded, and its influence
foretold.
Constantly sympathizing with America, and impressed by the
magnitude of the issue, his soul found another utterance, in 1778, in
what he called “The General Introduction and Supplement to the
Two Tracts on Civil Liberty, the War with America, and the Finances
of the Kingdom.” Here again he sees a vision:—
“A great people, likely to be formed, in spite of all
our efforts, into free communities, under governments
which have no religious tests and establishments. A
new era in future annals, and a new opening in human
affairs, beginning, among the descendants of
Englishmen, in a new world. A rising empire, extended
over an immense continent, without bishops, without
nobles, and without kings.”[513]
After the recognition of Independence and the establishment of
peace, Dr. Price appeared with another tract: “Observations on the
Importance of the American Revolution and the Means of making it a
Benefit to the World.” This was in 1784. And here he repeated the
exultation of an earlier day:—](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-78-320.jpg)
![“With heartfelt satisfaction I see the revolution in
favor of universal liberty which has taken place in
America,—a revolution which opens a new prospect in
human affairs, and begins a new era in the history of
mankind.… Perhaps I do not go too far, when I say,
that, next to the introduction of Christianity among
mankind, the American Revolution may prove the most
important step in the progressive course of human
improvement.”[514]
Thus announcing the grandeur of the epoch, he states that it
“may produce a general diffusion of the principles of humanity,” and
may lead mankind to see and know “that all legitimate government
consists in the dominion of equal laws, made with common consent,”
which is another expression of the primal truth of the Declaration of
Independence. Then, referring to the “community or confederacy” of
States, he says, “I can almost imagine that it is not impossible but
that by such means universal peace may be produced, and all war
excluded from the world”; and he asks, “Why may we not hope to
see this begun in America?”[515]
May America be true to this
aspiration! There is also a longing for Equality, and a warning against
Slavery, with the ejaculation, in harmony with earlier words, “Let the
United States continue forever what it is now their glory to be, a
confederation of States, prosperous and happy, without lords,
without bishops, and without kings.”[516]
In the midst of the bloody
conflict this vision had appeared, and he had sought to make it a
reality.
His true friendship for our country and his devotion to humanity,
with the modesty of his nature, appear in a letter to Franklin, 12th
July, 1784, communicating a copy of the last production. After saying
that “it is intended entirely for America,” the excellent counsellor
proceeds:—
“I hope the United States will forgive my
presumption in supposing myself qualified to advise
them.… The consciousness which I have that it is well](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-79-320.jpg)
![intended, and that my address to them is the effusion
of a heart that wishes to serve the best interests of
society, helps to reconcile me to myself in this
instance, and it will, I hope, engage the candor of
others.”[517]
The same sentiments which proved his sympathies with our
country reappeared with fresh fires at the outbreak of the French
Revolution, arousing, in opposition, the immortal eloquence of
Burke. A discourse “On the Love of our Country,” preached at the
Old Jewry, 4th November, 1789, in commemoration of the English
Revolution, with friendly glances at what was then passing across
the Channel, prompted the “Reflections on the Revolution in France.”
The personal denunciation which is the beginning of that remarkable
performance is the perpetual witness to the position of the preacher,
whose prophetic soul did not hesitate to accept the French
Revolution side by side with ours in glory and in promise.
GOVERNOR POWNALL, 1777, 1780, 1783.
Among the best friends of our country abroad during the trials of
the Revolution was Thomas Pownall, called by one biographer “a
learned antiquary and politician,” and by another “an English
statesman and author.” Latterly he has so far dropped out of sight
that there are few who recognize in him either of these characters.
He was born 1722, and died at Bath 1805. During this long period
he held several offices. As early as 1745 he became secretary to the
Commissioners for Trade and Plantations. In 1753 he crossed the
ocean. In 1755, as Commissioner for Massachusetts Bay, he had a
share in the negotiations with New York, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania, in union with New England, which resulted in the
confederated expedition against Crown Point. He was afterwards
Governor of Massachusetts Bay, New Jersey, and South Carolina,
successively. Returning to England, he was appointed, in 1762,
Comptroller-General of the army in Germany, with the military rank
of colonel. He sat in two successive Parliaments until 1780, when he](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-80-320.jpg)
![passed into private life. Hildreth gives a glimpse of his personal
character, when, admitting his frank manners and liberal politics, he
describes his habits as “rather freer than suited the New England
standard.”[518]
Pownall stands forth conspicuous for championship of our national
independence, and especially for foresight with regard to our
national future. In both these respects his writings are unique. Other
Englishmen were in favor of independence, and saw our future also;
but I doubt if any one can be named who was his equal in strenuous
action, or in minuteness of foresight. While the war was still
proceeding, as early as 1780, he openly announced, not only that
independence was inevitable, but that the new nation, “founded in
Nature and built up in truth,” would continually expand; that its
population would increase and multiply; that a civilizing activity
beyond what Europe could ever know would animate it; and that its
commercial and naval power would be found in every quarter of the
globe.[519]
All this he set forth at length with argument and
illustration, and he called his prophetic words “the stating of the
simple fact, so little understood in the Old World.” Treated at first as
“unintelligible speculation” and as “unfashionable,” the truth he
announced was “neglected where it was not rejected, but in general
rejected as inadmissible,” and the author, according to his own
language, “was called by the wise men of the British Cabinet a Wild
Man, unfit to be employed.”[520]
But these writings are a better title
now than any office. In manner they are diffuse and pedantic; but
they hardly deserve the cold judgment of John Adams, who in his
old age said of them that “a reader who has patience to search for
good sense in an uncouth and disgusting style will find in those
writings proofs of a thinking mind.”[521]
He seems to have written a good deal. But the works which will be
remembered the longest are not even mentioned by several of his
biographers. Rose, in his Biographical Dictionary, records works by
him, entitled “Antiquities of the Provincia Romana of Gaul”; “Roman
Antiquities dug up at Bath”; “Observations on the Currents in the](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-81-320.jpg)
![Atlantic Ocean”; “Intellectual Physics”; and contributions to the
“Archæologia”: nothing more. To this list Gorton, in his Biographical
Dictionary, adds briefly, “besides many political tracts,” but without
particular reference to the works on America. This is another
instance where the stone rejected by the builders becomes the head
of the corner.
At an early date Pownall comprehended the position of our
country, geographically. He saw the wonderful means of internal
communication supplied by its inland waters, and also the
opportunities of external commerce afforded by the Atlantic Ocean.
On the former he dwells, in a Memorial drawn up in 1756 for the
Duke of Cumberland.[522]
Nobody in our own day, after the
experience of more than a century, has portrayed more vividly the
two vast aqueous masses,—one composed of the Great Lakes and
their dependencies, and the other of the Mississippi and its
tributaries. The Great Lakes are described as “a wilderness of
waters, spreading over the country by an infinite number and variety
of branchings, bays, straits, &c.”[523]
The Mississippi, with its eastern
branch, called the Ohio, is described as having, “as far as we know,
but two falls,—one at a place called by the French St. Antoine, high
up on the west or main branch”; and all its waters “run to the ocean
with a still, easy, and gentle current.”[524]
The picture is completed by
exhibiting the two masses in combination:—
“The waters of each respective mass—not only the
lesser streams, but the main general body of each
going through this continent in every course and
direction—have, by their approach to each other, by
their interlacing with each other, by their
communication to every quarter and in every direction,
an alliance and unity, and form one mass, a one
whole.”[525]
And he remarks, that it is thus seen](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/28291014-250520121413-73f0d709/85/Javascript-Essentials-For-Dummies-Paul-Mcfedries-82-320.jpg)
Javascript Essentials For Dummies Paul Mcfedries
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- 6. JavaScript® Essentials For Dummies® To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “JavaScript Essentials For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box. Table of Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Introduction About This Book Foolish Assumptions Icons Used in This Book Where to Go From Here Chapter 1: JavaScript: The Big Picture Adding JavaScript Code to a Web Page What You Need to Get Started Dealing with Two Exceptional Cases Commenting Your Code Moving to External JavaScript Files Chapter 2: Programming with Variables
- 7. Getting Your Head around Variables Naming Variables: Rules and Best Practices Understanding Literal Data Types Chapter 3: Building Expressions Understanding How Expressions Are Structured Creating Numeric Expressions Building String Expressions Building Comparison Expressions Building Logical Expressions Understanding Operator Precedence Chapter 4: Controlling the Flow of JavaScript Decision-Making with if Statements Branching with if…else Statements Understanding the Value of Code Looping Working with while Loops Working with for Loops Working with do…while Loops Chapter 5: Harnessing the Power of Functions Getting to Know the Function Structure Making a Function Call Passing One or More Values to a Function Getting a Value from a Function Working with Anonymous Functions Working with Arrow Functions Chapter 6: Coding the Document Object Model Getting Familiar with Objects Introducing the Document Object Model Specifying Elements in Your Code Touring the DOM with Code Adding, Modifying, and Removing Elements Using Code to Mess Around with CSS Using Code to Tweak HTML Attributes
- 8. Listening for Page Events Chapter 7: Working with Arrays What Is an Array? Declaring an Array Populating an Array Iterating Arrays Manipulating Arrays Chapter 8: Coding Strings and Dates Manipulating Strings Dealing with Dates and Times Chapter 9: Debugging JavaScript Laying Out Your Debugging Tools Debugging 101: Using the Console Putting Your Code into Break Mode Stepping Through Your Code Chapter 10: Dealing with Form Data Coding Text Fields Programming Checkboxes Coding Radio Buttons Programming Selection Lists Working with Form Events Handling Form Data Chapter 11: Ten JavaScript Debugging Strategies Get Thee to Your Dev Tools The Console Is Your Best Debugging Friend Give Your Code a Break(point) Step Through Your Code Monitor Variable and Object Property Values Indent Your Code Break Down Complex Tasks Break Up Long Statements Comment Out Problem Statements
- 9. Use Comments To Document Your Scripts Index About the Author Advertisement Page Connect with Dummies End User License Agreement List of Tables Chapter 2 TABLE 2-1 Common JavaScript Escape Sequences Chapter 3 TABLE 3-1 The JavaScript Arithmetic Operators TABLE 3-2 The JavaScript Arithmetic Assignment Operators TABLE 3-3 The JavaScript Comparison Operators TABLE 3-4 The JavaScript Logical Operators TABLE 3-5 The JavaScript Order of Precedence for Operators Chapter 7 TABLE 7-1 Useful Array Methods Chapter 8 TABLE 8-1 String Object Methods for Searching for Substrings TABLE 8-2 String Object Methods for Extracting Substrings TABLE 8-3 Arguments Associated with the Date Object TABLE 8-4 Date Object Methods That Extract Date Values TABLE 8-5 Date Object Methods That Set Date Values List of Illustrations Chapter 1
- 10. FIGURE 1-1: This “alert” message appears when you open the HTML file containing... FIGURE 1-2: When you open the file, the text displays the date and time the fil... FIGURE 1-3: This page uses an external JavaScript file to display a footer mess... Chapter 2 FIGURE 2-1: The browser substituting the current value of a variable. FIGURE 2-2: The script first prompts for the user’s first name. FIGURE 2-3: The script then uses the name to display a personalized welcome mes... FIGURE 2-4: Using the n escape sequence enables you to format text so that it ... Chapter 4 FIGURE 4-1: Set up your while expression so that the prompting stops when the u... FIGURE 4-2: This script uses the current value of the counter variable to custo... FIGURE 4-3: The decrementing value of the rank variable is used to create a rev... Chapter 5 FIGURE 5-1: An example of calling a function when the <script> tag is p... FIGURE 5-2: An example of calling a function after the page has loaded. FIGURE 5-3: An example of calling a function in response to an event. FIGURE 5-4: The output includes the return value of the custom function calcula... Chapter 6 FIGURE 6-1: This script displays the document.location property in a console me... FIGURE 6-2: The web page code as a hierarchy. FIGURE 6-3: The output of the script that iterates over the div elements.
- 11. FIGURE 6-4: The value of the bodyChildElements variable displayed in the consol... FIGURE 6-5: This code uses the add() method to add the class named my-class to ... FIGURE 6-6: The click event callback function adds some HTML and text to the di... FIGURE 6-7: The keypress event callback function uses e.which to write the nume... Chapter 9 FIGURE 9-1: The HTML viewer, such as Chrome’s Elements tab, enables you to insp... FIGURE 9-2: When you invoke break mode, the web browser displays its debugging ... FIGURE 9-3: In the browser’s debugging tool, click a line number to set a break... Chapter 10 FIGURE 10-1: The script converts the input element’s default text to all-lowerc... FIGURE 10-2: A form used to gather user settings for the page.
- 13. JavaScript® Essentials For Dummies® Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com Copyright © 2024 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and may not be used without written permission. JavaScript is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: WHILE THE PUBLISHER AND AUTHORS HAVE USED THEIR BEST EFFORTS IN PREPARING THIS WORK, THEY MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES,
- 14. INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES REPRESENTATIVES, WRITTEN SALES MATERIALS OR PROMOTIONAL STATEMENTS FOR THIS WORK. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION, WEBSITE, OR PRODUCT IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE PUBLISHER AND AUTHORS ENDORSE THE INFORMATION OR SERVICES THE ORGANIZATION, WEBSITE, OR PRODUCT MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR SITUATION. YOU SHOULD CONSULT WITH A SPECIALIST WHERE APPROPRIATE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR AUTHORS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFIT OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHER DAMAGES. For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317- 572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit https://hub.wiley.com/community/support/dummies.
- 15. Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Control Number: 2024933533 ISBN 978-1-394-26321-9 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-394-26323-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-394-26322-6 (ebk)
- 16. Introduction HTML and CSS are awesome technologies, and you can use them to create pages that look amazing. But after you funnel your page to your web server and look at it a few (dozen) times, you may notice a subtle feeling of disappointment creeping in. Why? It can be hard to pin down, but that hint of dismay comes from a stark fact: Your web page just kind of sits there. Sure, you probably have a link or three to click, but most likely those links just take you to more of your pages that also just kind of sit there. Or maybe a link takes you to another site altogether, one that feels dynamic and alive and interactive. Ah, engagement! Ooh, excitement! What’s the difference between a page that does nothing and a page that seems to be always dancing? One word: JavaScript. If you want your pages to be dynamic and interactive, you need a bit of behind-the-scenes JavaScript to make it so. “But,” I hear you object, “HTML isn’t that hard to learn. JavaScript is a programming language, for crying out loud!” I hear you. It’s true that anyone can learn HTML as long as they start with the basic tags, examine lots of examples of how they work, and slowly work their way up to more complex pages. It’s just a matter of creating a solid foundation and then building on it. I’m convinced that JavaScript can be approached in much the same way. I’m certainly not going to tell you that JavaScript is as easy to learn as HTML. That would be a bald-faced lie. However, I will tell you that there is nothing inherently difficult about JavaScript. I believe that if you begin with the basic syntax and rules, study tons of examples to learn how they work, and then slowly
- 17. build up to more complex scripts, you can learn JavaScript programming. I predict here and now that by the time you finish this book, you’ll even be a little bit amazed at yourself and at what you can do. About This Book Welcome, then, to JavaScript Essentials For Dummies. This book gives you a solid education on the standard programming language underlying the World Wide Web. You learn how to set up the tools you need and, given any web pages you have (or someone else has) built with HTML and CSS, you learn how to use JavaScript to program those pages. My goal is to show you that adding a sprinkling of JavaScript magic to a page isn’t hard to learn, and that even the greenest rookie programmer can learn how to create dynamic and interactive web pages that will amaze their family and friends (and themselves). If you’re looking for lots of programming history, computer science theory, and long-winded explanations of concepts, I’m sorry, but you won’t find it here. My philosophy throughout this book comes from Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux operating system: “Talk is cheap. Show me the code.” I explain what needs to be explained and then I move on without further ado (or, most of the time, without any ado at all) to examples and scripts that do more to illuminate a concept that any verbose explanations I could muster (and believe me, I can muster verbosity with the best of them). Foolish Assumptions This book is not a primer on the internet or on using the World Wide Web. This is a book on coding web pages,
- 18. pure and simple. This means I assume the following: You know how to operate a basic text editor, and how to get around the operating system and file system on your computer. You have an internet connection. You know how to use your web browser. You know the basics of HTML and CSS. Yep, that’s it. Icons Used in This Book This icon points out juicy tidbits that are likely to be repeatedly useful to you — so please don’t forget them. Think of these icons as the fodder of advice columns. They offer (hopefully) wise advice or a bit more information about a topic under discussion. Look out! In this book, you see this icon when I’m trying to help you avoid mistakes that can cost you time, money, or embarrassment. Where to Go From Here
- 19. How you approach this book depends on your current level of coding and/or JavaScript expertise (or lack thereof): If you’ve never programmed before, begin at the beginning with Chapter 1 and work at your own pace sequentially through Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5. This will give you all the knowledge you need to pick and choose what you want to learn throughout the rest of the book. If you’ve done some non-JavaScript programming, start with Chapter 1, skim through Chapters 2 through 5 to see how JavaScript does the standard programming tasks, and then pick and choose your topics from there. If you’ve done some JavaScript coding already, I suggest working quickly through the material in Chapters 2 through 5, and then diving into the all- important material on the Document Object Model in Chapter 6. From there, you can peruse the rest of the chapters as you see fit.
- 20. Chapter 1 JavaScript: The Big Picture IN THIS CHAPTER Getting a feel for programming in general, and JavaScript in particular Checking out the tools you need to get coding Adding comments to your JavaScript code Storing your code in a separate JavaScript file In this chapter, you explore some useful JavaScript basics. Don’t worry if you’ve never programmed before. I take you through everything you need to know, step-by- step, nice and easy. As you’re about to find out, it really is fun to program. Adding JavaScript Code to a Web Page Okay, it’s time to roll up your sleeves, crack your knuckles, and start coding. This section describes the standard procedure for constructing and testing a script and takes you through a couple of examples. The <script> tag The basic container for a script is, naturally enough, the HTML <script> tag and its associated </script> end tag: <script> JavaScript statements go here </script>
- 21. Where do you put the <script> tag? With certain exceptions, it doesn’t matter a great deal where you put your <script> tag. Some people place the tag between the page’s </head> and <body> tags. The HTML standard recommends placing the <script> tag within the page header (that is, between <head> and </head>), so that’s the style I use in this book: <!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Where do you put the script tag?</title> <script> JavaScript statements go here </script> </head> <body> </body> </html> Here are the exceptions to the put-your-script-anywhere technique: If your script is designed to write data to the page, the <script> tag must be positioned within the page body (that is, between the <body> and </body> tags) in the exact position where you want the text to appear. If your script refers to an item on the page (such as a form object), the script must be placed after that item. With many HTML tags, you can add one or more JavaScript statements as attributes directly within the tag. It’s perfectly acceptable to insert multiple <script> tags within a single page, as long as each one has a
- 22. corresponding </script> end tag, and as long as you don’t put one <script> block within another one. Example #1: Displaying a message to the user You’re now ready to construct and try out your first script. This example shows you the simplest of all JavaScript actions: displaying a basic message to the user. The following code shows the script within an HTML file: <!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Displaying a Message to the User</title> <script> alert("Hello JavaScript World!"); </script> </head> <body> </body> </html> As shown in here, place the script within the header of a page, save the file, and then open the HTML file within your browser. This script consists of just a single line: alert("Hello JavaScript World!"); This is called a statement, and each statement is designed to perform a single JavaScript task. Your scripts will range from simple programs with just a few statements to huge projects consisting of hundreds of statements. You may be wondering about the semicolon (;) that appears at the end of the statement. Good eye. You use the semicolon to mark the end of each of your JavaScript statements.
- 23. In the example, the statement runs the JavaScript alert() method, which displays to the user whatever message is enclosed within the parentheses (which could be a welcome message, an announcement of new features on your site, an advertisement for a promotion, and so on). Figure 1-1 shows the message that appears when you open the file. FIGURE 1-1: This “alert” message appears when you open the HTML file containing the example script. How did the browser know to run the JavaScript statement? When a browser processes (parses, in the vernacular) a page, it basically starts at the beginning of the HTML file and works its way down, one line at a time. If it trips over a <script> tag, it knows one or more JavaScript statements are coming, and it automatically executes those statements, in order, as soon as it reads them. The exception is when JavaScript statements are enclosed within a function, which I explain in Chapter 5. One of the cardinal rules of JavaScript programming is “one statement, one line.” That is, each statement must appear on only a single line, and there should be no more than one statement on each line. I said “should” in the second part of the
- 24. previous sentence because it is possible to put multiple statements on a single line, as long as you separate each statement with a semicolon (;). There are rare times when it’s necessary to have two or more statements on one line, but you should avoid it for the bulk of your programming because multiple- statement lines are difficult to read and to troubleshoot. Example #2: Writing text to the page One of JavaScript’s most powerful features is the capability to write text and even HTML tags and CSS rules to the web page on-the-fly. That is, the text (or whatever) gets inserted into the page when a web browser loads the page. What good is that? For one thing, it’s ideal for time-sensitive data. For example, you may want to display the date and time that a web page was last modified so that visitors know how old (or new) the page is. Here’s some code that shows just such a script: <!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Writing Data to the Page</title> </head> <body> This is a regular line of text.<br> <script> document.write("Last modified: " + document.lastModified) </script> <br>This is another line of regular text. </body> </html> Notice how the script appears within the body of the HTML document, which is necessary whenever you want to write data to the page. Figure 1-2 shows the result.
- 25. FIGURE 1-2: When you open the file, the text displays the date and time the file was last modified. This script makes use of the documentobject, which is a built-in JavaScript construct that refers to whatever HTML file (document) the script resides in (check out Chapter 6 for more about the document object). The document.write() statement tells the browser to insert whatever is within the parentheses to the web page. The document.lastModified portion returns the date and time the file was last changed and saved. What You Need to Get Started One of the nicest things about HTML and CSS is that the hurdles you have to leap to get started are not only short but few in number. In fact, you really need only two things, both of which are free: a text editor to enter the text, tags, and properties; and a browser to view the results. (You’ll also need a web server to host the finished pages, but the server isn’t necessary when you’re creating the pages.) Yes, there are high-end text editors and fancy graphics programs, but these fall into the “Bells and Whistles” category; you can create perfectly respectable web pages without them. The basic requirements for JavaScript programming are exactly the same as for HTML: a text editor and a
- 26. browser. Again, programs are available to help you write and test your scripts, but you don’t need them. Dealing with Two Exceptional Cases In this book, I make a couple of JavaScript assumptions related to the people who’ll be visiting the pages you post to the web: Those people have JavaScript enabled in their web browser. Those people are using a relatively up-to-date version of a modern web browser, such as Chrome, Edge, Safari, or Firefox. These are pretty safe assumptions, but it pays to be a bit paranoid and wonder how you may handle the teensy percentage of people who don’t pass one or both tests. Handling browsers with JavaScript turned off You don’t have to worry about web browsers not being able to handle JavaScript, because all modern browsers have supported JavaScript for a very long time. You may, however, want to worry about people who don’t support JavaScript. Although rare, some folks have turned off their browser’s JavaScript functionality. Why would someone do such a thing? Many people disable JavaScript because they’re concerned about security, they don’t want cookies written to their hard drives, and so on. To handle these iconoclasts, place the <noscript> tag within the body of the page:
- 27. <noscript> <p> Hey, your browser has JavaScript turned off! </p> <p> Okay, cool, perhaps you'll prefer this <a href="no-js.html">non-JavaScript version</a> of the page. </p> </noscript> If the browser has JavaScript enabled, the browser doesn’t display any of the text within the <noscript> tag. However, if JavaScript is disabled, the browser displays the text and tags within the <noscript> tag to the user. To test your site with JavaScript turned off, here are the techniques to use in some popular browsers: Chrome (desktop): Open Settings, click Privacy and Security, click Site Settings, click JavaScript, and then select the Don’t Allow Sites to Use JavaScript option. Chrome (Android): Open Settings, tap Site Settings, tap JavaScript, and then tap the JavaScript switch to off. Edge: Open Settings, click the Settings menu, click Cookies and Site Permissions, click JavaScript, and then click the Allowed switch to off. Safari (macOS): Open Settings, click the Advanced tab, select the Show Develop Menu in Menu Bar, and then close Settings. Choose Develop ⇒ Disable JavaScript. Safari (iOS or iPadOS): Open Settings, tap Safari, tap Advanced, and then tap the JavaScript switch to off. Firefox (desktop): In the Address bar, type about:config and press Enter or Return. If Firefox
- 28. displays a warning page, click Accept the Risk and Continue to display the Advanced Preferences page. In the Search Preference Name box, type javascript. In the search results, look for the javascript.enabled preference. On the far right of that preference, click the Toggle button to turn the value of the preference from true to false. Handling very old browsers In this book, you learn the version of JavaScript called ECMAScript 2015, also known as ECMAScript 6, or just ES6. Why this version, in particular, and not any of the later versions? Two reasons: ES6 has excellent browser support, with more than 98 percent of all current browsers supporting the features released in ES 6. Later versions of JavaScript have less support. ES6 has everything you need to add all kinds of useful and fun dynamic features to your pages. Unless you’re a professional programmer, the features released in subsequent versions of JavaScript are way beyond what you need. Okay, so what about that couple of percent of browsers that don’t support ES6? First, know that the number of browsers that choke on ES6 features is getting smaller every day. Sure, it’s 2 percent now (about 1.7 percent, actually), but it will be 1 percent in six months, a 0.5 percent in a year, and so on until the numbers just get too small to measure. Second, the percentage of browsers that don’t support ES6 varies by region (it’s higher in many countries in Africa, for example) and by environment. Most of the
- 29. people running browsers that don’t fully support ES6 are using Internet Explorer 11, and most of those people are in situations in which they can’t upgrade (some corporate environments, for example). If luck has it that your web pages draw an inordinate share of these older browsers, you may need to eschew the awesomeness of ES6 in favor of the tried-and-true features of ECMAScript 5. To that end, as I introduce each new JavaScript feature, I point out those that arrived with ES6 and let you know if there’s a simple fallback or workaround (known as a polyfill in the JavaScript trade) if you prefer to use ES5. Commenting Your Code A script that consists of just a few lines is usually easy to read and understand. However, your scripts won’t stay that simple for long, and these longer and more complex creations will be correspondingly more difficult to read. (This difficulty will be particularly acute if you’re looking at the code a few weeks or months after you first coded it.) To help you decipher your code, it’s good programming practice to make liberal use of comments throughout the script. A comment is text that describes or explains a statement or group of statements. Comments are ignored by the browser, so you can add as many as you deem necessary. For short, single-line comments, use the double-slash (//). Put the // at the beginning of the line, and then type your comment after it. Here’s an example: // Display the date and time the page was last modified document.write("This page was last modified on " + document.lastModified); You can also use // comments for two or three lines of text, as long as you start each line with //. If you have a
- 30. comment that stretches beyond that, however, you’re better off using multiple-line comments that begin with the /* characters and end with the */ characters. Here’s an example: /* This script demonstrates JavaScript's ability to write text to the web page by using the document.write() method to display the date and time the web page file was last modified. This script is Copyright Paul McFedries. */ Although it’s fine to add quite a few comments when you’re just starting out, you don’t have to add a comment to everything. If a statement is trivial or its purpose is glaringly obvious, forget the comment and move on. Moving to External JavaScript Files Earlier in this chapter, I talk about adding JavaScript code to a web page by inserting the <script> and </script> tags into the page header (that is, between the <head> and </head> tags), or sometimes into the page body (that is, between the <body> and </body> tags). You then write your code between the <script> and </script> tags. Putting a script inside the page in this way isn’t a problem if the script is relatively short. However, if your script (or scripts) take up dozens or hundreds of lines, your HTML code can look cluttered. Another problem you may run into is needing to use the same code on
- 31. multiple pages. Sure, you can just copy the code into each page that requires it, but if you make changes down the road, you need to update every page that uses the code. The solution to both problems is to move the code out of the HTML file and into an external JavaScript file. Moving the code reduces the JavaScript presence in the HTML file to a single line (as you’ll learn shortly) and means that you can update the code by editing only the external file. Here are some things to note about using an external JavaScript file: The file must use a plain text format. Use the .js extension when you name the file. Don’t use the <script> tag within the file. Just enter your statements exactly as you would within an HTML file. The rules for when the browser executes statements within an external file are identical to those used for statements within an HTML file. That is, statements outside of functions are executed automatically when the browser comes across your file reference, and statements within a function aren’t executed until the function is called. (Not sure what a “function” is? You get the full scoop in Chapter 5.) To let the browser know that an external JavaScript file exists, add the src attribute to the <script> tag. For example, if the external file is named myscripts.js, your <script> tag is set up as follows: <script src="myscripts.js">
- 32. This example assumes that the myscripts.js file is in the same directory as the HTML file. If the file resides in a different directory, adjust the src value accordingly. For example, if the myscripts.js file is in a subdirectory named scripts, you use this: <script src="scripts/myscripts.js"> You can even specify a file from another site (presumably your own!) by specifying a full URL as the src value: <script src="http://www.host.com/myscripts.js"> As an example, the following code shows a one-line external JavaScript file named footer.js: document.write("This page is Copyright " + new Date().getFullYear()); This statement writes the text “Copyright” followed by the current year. (I know: This code looks like some real gobbledygook right now. Don’t sweat it, because you’ll learn exactly what’s going on here when I discuss the JavaScript Date object in Chapter 8.) The following code shows an HTML file that includes a reference for the external JavaScript file: <!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Using an External JS File</title> </head> <body> <p> Regular page doodads go here. </p> <hr> <footer> <script src="footer.js"> </script> </footer> </body> </html>
- 33. When you load the page, the browser runs through the HTML line by line. When it gets to the <footer> tag, it notices the external JavaScript file that’s referenced by the <script> tag. The browser loads that file and then runs the code within the file, which writes the Copyright message to the page, as shown in Figure 1-3. FIGURE 1-3: This page uses an external JavaScript file to display a footer message.
- 34. Chapter 2 Programming with Variables IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding variables Assigning names to variables Introducing JavaScript data types Figuring out numbers Stringing strings together By default, JavaScript programs live a life without short- term memory. The web browser executes your code one statement at a time until there are no more statements left to process. It all happens in the perpetual present. Ah, but notice that I refer to this lack of short-term memory as the “default” state of your scripts. It’s not the only state, so that means things can be different. You have the power to give your scripts the gift of short-term memory, and you do that by using handy little chunks of code called variables. In this chapter, you delve into variables, which is a fundamental and crucial programming topic. You investigate what variables are, what you can do with them, and how to wield them in your JavaScript code. Getting Your Head around Variables
- 35. Why would a script need short-term memory? Because one of the most common concepts that crops up when coding is the need to store a temporary value for use later on. In most cases, you want to use that value a bit later in the same script. However, you may also need to use it in some other script, to populate an HTML form, or as part of a larger or more complex calculation. For example, your page may have a button that toggles the page text between a larger font size and the regular font size, so you need some way to “remember” that choice. Similarly, if your script performs calculations, you may need to set aside one or more calculated values to use later. For example, if you’re constructing a shopping cart script, you may need to calculate taxes on the order. To do that, you must first calculate the total value of the order, store that value, and then later take a percentage of it to work out the tax. In programming, the way you save a value for later use is by storing it in a variable. A variable is a small area of computer memory that’s set aside for holding a chunk of program data. The good news is that the specifics of how the data is stored and retrieved from memory happen well behind the scenes, so it isn’t something you ever have to worry about. As a coder, working with variables involves just three things: Creating (or declaring) variables Assigning values to those variables Including the variables in other statements in your code The next three sections fill in the details. Declaring a variable with let
- 36. The process of creating a variable is called declaring in programming terms. All declaring really means is that you’re supplying the variable with a name and telling the browser to set aside a bit of room in memory to hold whatever value you end up storing in the variable. To declare a variable in JavaScript, you use the let keyword, followed by a space, the name of the variable, and the usual line-ending semicolon. For example, to declare a variable named interestRate, you use the following statement: let interestRate; Here are a few things to bear in mind when you’re declaring variables in your scripts: Declare a variable only once: Although you’re free to use a variable as many times as you need to within a script, you declare the variable only once. Trying to declare a variable more than once will cause an error. Use a comment to describe each variable: Variables tend to proliferate to the point where it often becomes hard to remember what each variable represents. You can make the purpose of each variable clear by adding a comment right after the variable declaration, like so: let interestRate; // Annual interest rate for loan calculation Declare each variable before you use it: If you use a variable before you declare it, you’ll get an error. In the first two items here, when I say that you’ll “get an error,” I don’t mean that an error
- 37. message will pop up on the screen. The only thing you’ll notice is that your script doesn’t run. To read the error message, you need to access your browser’s web development tools, a task I go into in satisfying detail in Chapter 9. Declare each variable right before you first use it: You’ll make your programming and debugging (refer to Chapter 9) life much easier if you follow this one simple rule: Declare each variable just before (or as close as possible to) the first use of the variable. The let keyword was introduced in ECMAScript 2015 (ES6). If you need to support really old browsers — I’m looking at you, Internet Explorer 11 and earlier — then use the var keyword instead. Storing a value in a variable After your variable is declared, your next task is to give it a value. You use the assignment operator — the equals (=) sign — to store a value in a variable, as in this general statement: variableName = value; Here’s an example that assigns the value 0.06 to a variable named interestRate: interestRate = 0.06; Note, too, that if you know the initial value of the variable in advance, you can combine the declaration and initial assignment into a single statement, like this: let interestRate = 0.06; It’s important to remember that, given a variable declared with the let keyword, you’re free to change that
- 38. variable’s value any time you want. For example, if the value you assign to the interestRate variable is an annual rate, later on your code may need to work with a monthly rate, which is the annual rate divided by 12. Rather than calculate that by hand, just put it in your code using the division operator (/): interestRate = 0.06 / 12; As a final note about using a variable assignment, take a look at a variation that often causes some confusion among new programmers. Specifically, you can set up a statement that assigns a new value to a variable by changing its existing value. Here’s an example: interestRate = interestRate / 12; If you’ve never come across this kind of statement before, it probably looks a bit illogical. How can something equal itself divided by 12? The secret to understanding such a statement is to remember that the browser always evaluates the right side of the statement — that is, the expression to the right of the equals sign (=) — first. In other words, it takes the current value of interestRate, which is 0.06, and divides it by 12. The resulting value is what’s stored in interestRate when all is said and done. For a more in-depth discussion of operators and expressions, head over to Chapter 3. Because of this evaluate-the-expression-and-then- store-the-result behavior, JavaScript assignment statements shouldn’t be read as “variable equals expression.” Instead, it makes more sense to think of them as “variable is set to expression” or “variable assumes the value given by expression.” Reading assignment statements this way helps to reinforce
- 39. the important concept that the expression result is being stored in the variable. Checking out another way to declare a variable: const The word variable implies that the value assigned to a variable is allowed to vary, which is the case for most variables you declare. Most, but not all. Sometimes your scripts will need to use a value that remains constant. For example, suppose you’re building a calculator that converts miles to kilometers. The conversion factor is 1.60934, and that value will remain constant throughout your script. It’s good programming practice to store such values in a variable for easier reading. However, if you use let for this declaration, you run the risk of accidentally changing the value somewhere in your code because variables declared with let can change. To avoid accidentally changing a value that you want to remain constant, you can declare the variable using the const keyword instead. Here’s the general syntax: const variableName = value; Note that, unlike with let, you must assign a value to the variable when you declare it with const. Here’s an example that declares a variable named milesToKilometers and assigns it the value 1.60934: const milesToKilometers = 1.60934; Are there any real advantages to using const over let in cases where a variable’s value must never change? Yep, there are two pretty good ones:
- 40. Using the const keyword is a reminder that you’re dealing with a nonchanging value, which helps you to remember not to assign the variable a new value. If you do try to change the value of a variable declared with const, you’ll generate an error, which is another way to remind you that the variable’s value is not to be messed with. Given these advantages, many JavaScript programmers declare every variable with const and use let only for the variables that they know will change. As your code progresses, if you find that a const variable needs to change, you can go back and change const to let. Using variables in statements With your variable declared and assigned a value, you can then use that variable in other statements. When the browser comes across the variable, it goes to the computer’s memory, retrieves the current value of the variable, and then substitutes that value into the statement. The following code presents an example: let interestRate = 0.06; interestRate = interestRate / 12; document.write(interestRate); This code declares a variable named interestRate with the value 0.06; it then divides that value by 12 and stores the result in the variable. The document.write() statement then displays the current value of the variable, as shown in Figure 2-1.
- 41. FIGURE 2-1: The browser substituting the current value of a variable. The following code shows a slightly different example: let firstName; firstName = prompt("Please tell me your first name:"); document.write("Welcome to my website, " + firstName); This script uses the prompt() method (explained shortly) to ask the user to enter their first name, as shown in Figure 2-2. When the user clicks OK, their name is stored in the firstName variable. The script then uses a document.write() statement to display a personalized welcome message using the value of the firstName variable, as shown in Figure 2-3. FIGURE 2-2: The script first prompts for the user’s first name. FIGURE 2-3: The script then uses the name to display a personalized welcome message.
- 42. When you need to get data from the user, run the prompt() method: prompt(string, default); Here’s what the various parts are: string: A string that instructs the user what to enter into the prompt box. default: An optional string that specifies the initial value that appears in the prompt box. The prompt() method always returns a value: If the user clicks OK, prompt() returns the value entered into the prompt text box. If the user clicks Cancel, prompt() returns null. Naming Variables: Rules and Best Practices If you want to write clear, easy-to-follow, and easy-to- debug scripts (and who doesn’t?), you can go a long way toward that goal by giving careful thought to the names you use for your variables. This section helps by running through the rules you need to follow and by giving you some tips and guidelines for creating good variable names. Rules for naming variables JavaScript has only a few rules for variable names:
- 43. The first character must be a letter or an underscore (_). You can’t use a number as the first character. The rest of the variable name can include any letter, any number, or the underscore. You can’t use any other characters, including spaces, symbols, and punctuation marks. As with the rest of JavaScript, variable names are case sensitive. That is, a variable named InterestRate is treated as an entirely different variable than one named interestRate. There’s no limit to the length of the variable name. You can’t use one of JavaScript’s reserved words as a variable name (such as let, const, var, alert, or prompt). All programming languages have a supply of words that are used internally by the language and that can’t be used for variable names, because doing so would cause confusion (or worse). Ideas for good variable names The process of declaring a variable doesn’t take much thought, but that doesn’t mean you should just type in any old variable name that comes to mind. Take a few extra seconds to come up with a good name by following these guidelines: Make your names descriptive. Sure, using names that are just a few characters long makes them easier to type, but I guarantee you that you won’t remember what the variables represent when you look at the script down the road. For example, if you want a variable to represent an account number, use accountNumber or accountNum instead of, say, acnm or accnum.
- 44. Mostly avoid single-letter names. Although it’s best to avoid single-letter variable names, such short names are accepted in some places, such as when constructing loops, as described in Chapter 4. Use multiple words with no spaces. The best way to create a descriptive variable name is to use multiple words. However, because JavaScript doesn’t take kindly to spaces in names, you need some way of separating the words to keep the name readable. The two standard conventions for using multi-word variable names are camelCase, where you cram the words together and capitalize all but the first word (for example, lastName), or to separate each word with an underscore (for example, last_name). I prefer the former style, so I use it throughout this book. Use separate naming conventions. Use one naming convention for JavaScript variables and a different one for HTML identifiers and CSS classes. For example, if you use camelCase for multiword JavaScript variables, use dashes to separate words for id values and class names. Differentiate your variable names from JavaScript keywords. Try to make your variable names look as different from JavaScript’s keywords and other built-in terms (such as alert) as possible. Differentiating variable names helps avoid the confusion that can arise when you look at a term and you can’t remember if it’s a variable or a JavaScript word. Don’t make your names too long. Although short, cryptic variable names are to be shunned in favor of longer, descriptive names, that doesn’t mean you
- 45. should be using entire sentences. Extremely long names are inefficient because they take so long to type, and they’re dangerous because the longer the name, the more likely you are to make a typo. Names of 2 to 4 words and 8 to 20 characters should be all you need. Understanding Literal Data Types In programming, a variable’s data type specifies what kind of data is stored within the variable. The data type is a crucial idea because it determines not only how two or more variables are combined (for example, mathematically), but also whether they can be combined at all. Literals are a special class of data type, and they cover those values that are fixed (even if only temporarily). For example, consider the following variable assignment statement: let todaysQuestion = "What color is your parachute?"; Here, the text "What color is your parachute?" is a literal string value. JavaScript supports three kinds of literal data types: numeric, string, and Boolean. The next three sections discuss each type. Working with numeric literals Unlike many other programming languages, JavaScript treats all numbers the same, so you don’t have to do anything special when working with the two basic numeric literals, which are integers and floating-point numbers: Integers: These are numbers that don’t have a fractional or decimal part. So, you represent an integer
- 46. using a sequence of one or more digits, as in these examples: 0 42 2001 -20 Floating-point numbers: These are numbers that do have a fractional or decimal part. Therefore, you represent a floating-point number by first writing the integer part, followed by a decimal point, followed by the fractional or decimal part, as in these examples: 0.07 3.14159 -16.6666667 7.6543e+21 1.234567E-89 Exponential notation The last two floating-point examples require a bit more explanation. These two use exponential notation, which is an efficient way to represent really large or really small floating-point numbers. Exponential notation uses an e (or E) followed by the exponent, which is a number preceded by a plus sign (+) or a minus sign (-). You multiply the first part of the number (that is, the part before the e or E) by 10 to the power of the exponent. Here’s an example: 9.87654e+5; The exponent is 5, and 10 to the power of 5 is 100,000. So, multiplying 9.87654 by 100,000 results in the value 987,654. Here’s another example: 3.4567e-4;
- 47. The exponent is -4, and 10 to the power of -4 is 0.0001. So, multiplying 3.4567 by 0.0001 results in the value .00034567. Hexadecimal integer values You’ll likely deal with the usual decimal (base-10) number system throughout most of your JavaScript career. However, just in case you have cause to work with hexadecimal (base-16) numbers, this section shows you how JavaScript deals with them. The hexadecimal number system uses the digits 0 through 9 and the letters A through F (or a through f), where these letters represent the decimal numbers 10 through 15. So, what in the decimal system would be 16 is actually 10 in hexadecimal. To specify a hexadecimal number in JavaScript, begin the number with a 0x (or 0X), as shown in the following examples: 0x23; 0xff; 0X10ce; Working with string literals A string literal is a sequence of one or more letters, numbers, or punctuation marks, enclosed either in double quotation marks (") or single quotation marks ('). Here are some examples: "JavaScript Essentials"; 'August 23, 1959'; ""; "What's the good word?"; The string "" (or '' — two consecutive single quotation marks) is called the null string. It
- 48. represents a string that doesn’t contain any characters. Using quotation marks within strings The final example in the previous section shows that it’s okay to insert one or more instances of one of the quotation marks (such as ') inside a string that’s enclosed by the other quotation mark (such as "). Being able to nest quotation marks comes in handy when you need to embed one string inside another, which is very common (particularly when using bits of JavaScript within HTML tags). Here’s an example: onsubmit="processForm('testing')"; However, it’s illegal to insert in a string one or more instances of the same quotation mark that encloses the string, as in this example: "This is "illegal" in JavaScript."; Understanding escape sequences What if you must include, say, a double quotation mark within a string that’s enclosed by double quotation marks? Having to nest the same type of quotation mark is rare, but it is possible if you precede the double quotation mark with a backslash (), like this: "The double quotation mark (") encloses this string."; The " combination is called an escape sequence. You can combine the backslash with a number of other characters to form other escape sequences, and each one enables the browser to represent a character that, by itself, would be illegal or not representable otherwise. Table 2-1 lists the most commonly used escape sequences.
- 49. TABLE 2-1 Common JavaScript Escape Sequences Escape Sequence Character It Represents ' Single quotation mark " Double quotation mark b Backspace f Form feed n New line r Carriage return t Tab Backslash The following code shows an example script that uses the n escape sequence to display text on multiple lines with an alert box. alert("This is line 1.nSo what. This is line 2."); Figure 2-4 shows the result. FIGURE 2-4: Using the n escape sequence enables you to format text so that it displays on different lines.
- 50. To learn how to combine two or more string literals, check out Chapter 3. Also, JavaScript has a nice collection of string manipulation features, which I discuss in Chapter 8. Working with Boolean literals Booleans are the simplest of all the literal data types because they can assume only one of two values: true or false. That simplicity may make it seem as though Booleans aren’t particularly useful, but the capability to test whether a particular variable or condition is true or false is invaluable in JavaScript programming. You can assign Boolean literals directly to a variable, like this: taskCompleted = true; Alternatively, you can work with Boolean values implicitly using expressions: currentMonth === "August" The comparison expression currentMonth === "August" asks the following: Does the value of the currentMonth variable equal the string "August"? If it does, the expression evaluates to the Boolean value true; if it doesn’t, the expression evaluates to false. I discuss much more about comparison expressions in Chapter 3.
- 51. Chapter 3 Building Expressions IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding what expressions are Figuring out numeric expressions Tying up string expressions Getting the hang of comparison expressions Learning about logical expressions When coding in JavaScript, you use expressions constantly, so it’s vital to understand what they are and to get comfortable with the types of expressions that are available to you. Every JavaScript coder is different, but I can say without fear of contradiction that every good JavaScript coder is fluent in expressions. This chapter takes you through everything you need to know about expressions. You discover some expression basics and then explore a number of techniques for building powerful expressions using numbers, strings, and Boolean values. Understanding How Expressions Are Structured A JavaScript expression takes one or more inputs, such as a bill total and a tip percentage, and combines them in
- 52. some way — for example, by using multiplication. In expression lingo, the inputs are called operands, and they’re combined by using special symbols called operators. operand: An input value for an expression. It is, in other words, the raw data that the expression manipulates to produce its result. It could be a number, a string, a variable, a function result (refer to Chapter 5), or an object property (refer to Chapter 6). operator: A symbol that represents a particular action performed on one or more operands. For example, the * operator represents multiplication, and the + operator represents addition. I discuss the various JavaScript operators throughout this chapter. For example, here’s an expression that calculates a tip amount and assigns the result to a variable: tipAmount = billTotal * tipPercentage; The expression is everything to the right of the equals sign (=). Here, billTotal and tipPercentage are the operands, and the multiplication sign (*) is the operator. Creating Numeric Expressions In JavaScript, a mathematical calculation is called a numeric expression, and it combines numeric operands and arithmetic operators to produce a numeric result. This section discusses all the JavaScript arithmetic operators and shows you how best to use them to build useful and handy numeric expressions.
- 53. Table 3-1 lists the basic arithmetic operators you can use in your JavaScript expressions. JavaScript also comes with a few extra operators that combine some of the arithmetic operators and the assignment operator, which is the humble equals sign (=) that assigns a value to a variable. Table 3-2 lists these so- called arithmetic assignment operators. TABLE 3-1 The JavaScript Arithmetic Operators Operator Name Example Result + Addition 10 + 4 14 ++ Increment 10++ 11 - Subtraction 10 - 4 6 - Negation -10 -10 -- Decrement 10-- 9 * Multiplication 10 * 4 40 / Division 10 / 4 2.5 % Modulus 10 % 4 2 TABLE 3-2 The JavaScript Arithmetic Assignment Operators Operator Example Equivalent += x += y x = x + y -= x -= y x = x - y *= x *= y x = x * y /= x /= y x = x / y ^= x ^= y x = x ^ y %= x %= y x = x % y
- 54. Building String Expressions A string expression is one where at least one of the operands is a string, and the result of the expression is another string. String expressions are straightforward in the sense that there is only one operator to deal with: concatenation (+). You use this operator to combine (or concatenate) strings within an expression. For example, the expression "Java" + "Script" returns the string "JavaScript". Note, however, that you can also use strings with the comparison operators discussed in the next section. Building Comparison Expressions You use comparison expressions to compare the values of two or more numbers, strings, variables, properties, or function results. If the expression is true, the expression result is set to the Boolean value true; if the expression is false, the expression result is set to the Boolean value false. You’ll use comparisons with alarming frequency in your JavaScript code, so it’s important to understand what they are and how you use them. Table 3-3 summarizes JavaScript’s comparison operators. TABLE 3-3 The JavaScript Comparison Operators Operator Name Example Result == Equality 10 == 4 false
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- 56. The Dean grew more earnest. Other pamphlets followed: for instance, in 1775, “An Humble Address and Earnest Appeal, … whether a Connection with or a Separation from the Continental Colonies of America be most for the National Advantage and the Lasting Benefit of these Kingdoms.” Here he says openly:— “My scheme, which Mr. Burke, in his last speech, of March 22, 1775, is pleased to term a childish one, is, To separate totally from the Colonies, and to reject them from being fellow-members and joint partakers with us in the privileges and advantages of the British Empire, because they refuse to submit to the authority and jurisdiction of the British legislature,—offering at the same time to enter into alliances of friendship and treaties of commerce with them, as with any other sovereign, independent state.”[453] Then, insisting that his scheme “most infallibly cuts off all the present causes of dispute and contention between the two countries, so that they never can revive again,”[454] he establishes that commercial intercourse with the Americans would not cease, inasmuch as it cannot be shown that they “will no longer adhere to their own interest when they shall be disunited from us.”[455] Among subsequent tracts was one entitled “Cui Bono? or, An Inquiry, What Benefits can arise either to the English or the Americans, the French, Spaniards, or Dutch, from the Greatest Victories or Successes in the Present War? Being a Series of Letters addressed to Monsieur Necker, late Controller-General of the Finances of France. London, 1782.” Here was the same ardor for separation, with the same bitter words for the Colonies. Tardily the foresight of the Dean was recognized, until at last Archbishop Whately, in his annotations upon Bacon’s Essay on Honor and Reputation, commemorates it as an historic example. According to him, “the whole British nation were in one particular manifestly puzzle-headed, except one man, who was accordingly derided by
- 57. all.” Then mentioning the dispute between the mother country and her colonies, he says: “But Dean Tucker, standing quite alone, wrote a pamphlet to show that the separation would be no loss at all, and that we had best give them the independence they coveted at once and in a friendly way. Some thought he was writing in jest; the rest despised him, as too absurd to be worth answering. But now, and for above half a century, every one admits that he was quite right, and regrets that his view was not adopted.”[456] Unquestionably this is a remarkable tribute. Kindred to it was that of the excellent Professor Smyth, who, in exhibiting the “American War,” dwells on “the superior and the memorable wisdom of Tucker.”[457] The bad temper shooting from his writings interfered, doubtless, with their acceptance. His spirit, so hostile to us, justified his own characterization of himself as “the author of these tracts against the rebel Americans.” As the war drew to a close, his bad temper still prevailed, heightened by antipathy to republicanism, so that, after picturing the Colonies, separated at last from the mother country, as having “gained a general disappointment mixed with anger and indignation,”[458] he thus predicts their terrible destiny:— “As to the future grandeur of America, and its being a rising empire under one head, whether republican or monarchical, it is one of the idlest and most visionary notions that ever was conceived, even by writers of romance. For there is nothing in the genius of the people, the situation of their country, or the nature of their different climates, which tends to countenance such a supposition.… Above all, when those immense inland regions beyond the back settlements, which are still unexplored, are taken into the account, they form the highest probability that the Americans never can be united into one compact empire, under any species of government whatever. Their fate seems to be—a disunited people till the end of time.”[459]
- 58. Alas! But evidently the Dean saw the future of our continent no better than the Ministry saw their duty with regard to it. Unlike in spirit was Matthew Robinson, a contemporary friend of America, whose able and elaborate tracts[460] in successive editions are now forgotten, except so far as revived by the notice of Professor Smyth.[461] His vindication of the Colonies, at the time of the Boston Port Bill, was complete, without the harshness of Tucker, and he did not hesitate to present the impossibility of conquering them. “What expectation or probability,” he asks, “can there be of sending from hence armies capable to conquer and subdue so great a force of men defending and defended by such a continent?”[462] Then, while depicting English mastery of the sea, he says: “We may do whatever a fleet can. Very true; but it cannot sail all over North America.”[463] The productions of this enlightened author cannot have been without effect. Doubtless they helped the final acknowledgment of independence. When will the “Old Mortality” appear, to discover and restore his monument? The able annotator of Lord Bacon was too sweeping, when he said that on the great American question all England was wrong, “except one man.” Robinson was as right as the Dean, and there were others also. The “Monthly Review,” in an article on the Dean’s appeal for separation, said: “This, however, is not a new idea. It has frequently occurred to others.”[464] Even Soame Jenyns, a life-long member of Parliament, essayist, poet, defender of Christianity, while upholding the right to tax the Colonies, is said to have accepted the idea of “total separation”:— “Let all who view th’ instructive scene, And patronize the plan, Give thanks to Gloucester’s honest Dean, For, Tucker, thou’rt the man.”[465]
- 59. In a better spirit, and with affecting earnestness, John Cartwright, once of the Royal Navy, and known as Major from his rank in the Nottinghamshire Militia, followed the Dean, in 1774, with a series of letters collected in a pamphlet entitled “American Independence the Interest and Glory of Great Britain,” where he insists upon separation, and thenceforward a friendly league, “that the true and lasting welfare of both countries can be promoted.”[466] In enforcing his conclusion the author says: “When we talk of asserting our sovereignty over the Americans, do we foresee to what fatal lengths it will carry us? Are not those nations increasing with astonishing rapidity? Must they not, in the nature of things, cover in a few ages that immense continent like a swarm of bees?”[467] Then again: “We may, indeed, by means of fleets and armies, maintain a precarious tyranny over the Americans for a while; but the most shallow politicians must foresee what this would end in.”[468] Then, in reply to the Dean: “’Tis a pity so able a writer had not discovered that the Americans have a right to choose their own governors, and thence enforced the necessity of his proposed separation as a religious duty, no less than a measure of national policy.”[469] Cartwright continued at home the conflicts of principle involved in our War of Independence, and became an English Reformer. Honor to his name! DAVID HARTLEY, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1785. Another English friend was David Hartley. He was constant and even pertinacious on our side, although less prophetic than Pownall, with whom he coöperated in purpose and activity. His father was Hartley the metaphysician, and author of the ingenious theory of sensation, who predicted the fate of existing governments and hierarchies in two simple sentences: “It is probable that all the present Civil Governments will be overturned”; “It is probable that the present forms of Church Government will be dissolved.”[470] Many were alarmed. Lady Charlotte Wentworth asked the prophet when these terrible things would happen. The answer was: “I am an old
- 60. man, and shall not live to see them; but you are a young woman, and probably will see them.”[471] The son was born in 1729, and died at Bath in 1813. During our Revolution he sat in Parliament for Kingston-upon-Hull. He was also the British plenipotentiary in negotiating the Definitive Treaty of Peace with the United States. He has dropped out of sight. The biographical dictionaries afford him a few lines only. But he deserves a considerable place in the history of our Independence. John Adams was often austere, and sometimes cynical, in his judgments. Evidently he did not like Hartley. In one place he speaks of him as “a person of consummate vanity”;[472] then, as “talkative and disputatious, and not always intelligible”;[473] and in still another place remarks, “Mr. Hartley was as copious as usual;”[474] and when appointed to sign the Definitive Treaty, “It would have been more agreeable to have finished with Mr. Oswald.”[475] And yet, when writing most elaborately to the Comte de Vergennes on the state of affairs previous to the final campaign, he introduces opinions of Hartley at length, saying that he was “more for peace than any man in the kingdom.”[476] Such testimony may well outweigh the other expressions, especially as nothing of the kind appears in the correspondence of Franklin, with whom Hartley was much more intimate. The “Parliamentary History” is a sufficient monument for Hartley. He was a frequent speaker, and never missed an opportunity of pleading our cause. Although without the immortal eloquence of Burke, he was always clear and full. Many of his speeches seem written out by himself. He was not a tardy convert, but began as “a new member” by supporting an amendment favorable to the Colonies, 5th December, 1774. Then, in March, 1775, he brought forward “Propositions for Conciliation with America,” which he sustained in an elaborate speech, where he avowed that the American question had occupied him for some time:—
- 61. “Though I have so lately had the honor of a seat in this House, yet I have for many years turned my thoughts and attention to matters of public concern and national policy. This question of America is now of many years’ standing.”[477] In this speech he acknowledges the services of New England at Louisburg:— “In that war too, Sir, they took Louisburg from the French, single-handed, without any European assistance: as mettled an enterprise as any in our history; an everlasting memorial of the zeal, courage, and perseverance of the troops of New England. The men themselves dragged the cannon over a morass which had always been thought impassable, where neither horses nor oxen could go; and they carried the shot upon their backs. And what was their reward for this forward and spirited enterprise,—for the reduction of this American Dunkirk? Their reward, Sir, you know very well: it was given up for a barrier to the Dutch.”[478] All his various propositions were negatived; but he was not disheartened. Constantly he spoke,—now on the Budget, then on the Address, and then on specific propositions. At this time he asserted the power of Parliament over the Colonies, and he proposed, on the 2d November, 1775, that a test of submission by the Colonists should be the recognition of an Act of Parliament enacting “that all the slaves in America should have the trial by jury.”[479] Shortly afterwards, on the 7th December, 1775, he brought forward a second set of “Propositions for Conciliation with America,” where, among other things, he embodied the test on slavery, which he put forward as a compromise; and here his language belongs not only to the history of our Revolution, but to the history of Antislavery. While declaring that in his opinion Great Britain was “the
- 62. aggressor in everything,”[480] he sought to bring the two countries together on a platform of human rights, which he thus explained:— “The act to be proposed to America, as an auspicious beginning to lay the first stone of universal liberty to mankind, should be what no American could hesitate an instant to comply with, namely, that every slave in North America should be entitled to his trial by jury in all criminal cases. America cannot refuse to accept and to enroll such an act as this, and thereby to reëstablish peace and harmony with the parent state. Let us all be reunited in this, as a foundation to extirpate slavery from the face of the earth. Let those who seek justice and liberty for themselves give that justice and liberty to their fellow-creatures. With respect to the idea of putting a final period to slavery in North America, it should seem best that when this country had led the way by the act for jury, that each Colony, knowing their own peculiar circumstances, should undertake the work in the most practicable way, and that they should endeavor to establish some system by which slavery should be in a certain term of years abolished. Let the only contention henceforward between Great Britain and America be, which shall exceed the other in zeal for establishing the fundamental rights of liberty to all mankind.”[481] How grand and beautiful!—not to be read without gratitude! The motion was rejected; but among the twenty-three in its favor were Fox and Burke. During this same month the unwearied defender of our country came forward again, declaring that he could not be “an adviser or a well-wisher to any of the vindictive operations against America, because he thought the cause unjust; but at the same time he must be equally earnest to secure British interests from destruction”; and he thus prophesies:—
- 63. “The fate of America is cast. You may bruise its heel, but you cannot crush its head. It will revive again. The New World is before them. Liberty is theirs. They have possession of a free government, their birthright and inheritance, derived to them from their parent state, which the hand of violence cannot wrest from them. If you will cast them off, my last wish is to them, May they go and prosper!”[482] Again, on the 10th May, 1776, he vindicated anew his original proposition; and here again he testifies for peace and against slavery:— “For the sake of peace, therefore, I did propose a test of compromise, by an acceptance, on the part of the Colonists, of an Act of Parliament which should lay the foundation for the extirpation of the horrid custom of slavery in the New World.… My motion was … simply as an act of compromise and reconciliation; and, as far as it was a legislative act, it was still to have been applied in correcting the laws of slavery in America, which I considered as repugnant to the laws of the realm of England, and to the fundamentals of our Constitution. Such a compromise would at the same time have saved the national honor.”[483] All gratitude to the hero who at this early day vowed himself to the abolition of slavery! Hartley is among the first of Abolitionists, with hardly a predecessor except Granville Sharp, and in Parliament absolutely the first. Clarkson was at this time fifteen years old, Wilberforce sixteen. Only in 1785 Clarkson obtained the prize for the best Latin essay on the question, “Is it right to make men slaves against their will?”[484] It was not until 1791 that Wilberforce moved for leave to bring in a bill for the abolition of the slave-trade. It is no small honor for one man to have come forward in Parliament as an avowed abolitionist, while at the same time a vindicator of our independence.
- 64. Again, on the 15th May, 1777, Hartley pleaded for us:— “At sea, which has hitherto been our prerogative element, they rise against us at a stupendous rate; and if we cannot return to our old mutual hospitalities towards each other, a very few years will show us a most formidable hostile marine, ready to join hands with any of our enemies.… I will venture to prophesy that the principles of a federal alliance are the only terms of peace that ever will and that ever ought to obtain between the two countries.”[485] On the 5th of June, three weeks afterwards, the “Parliamentary History” reports briefly:— “Mr. Hartley went upon the cruelties of slavery, and urged the Board of Trade to take some means of mitigating it. He produced a pair of handcuffs, which he said was a manufacture they were now going to establish.”[486] Thus again the abolitionist reappeared in the vindicator of our independence. On the 22d June, 1779, he brought forward another formal motion “for reconciliation with America,” and, in the course of a well-considered speech, denounced the ministers for “headstrong and inflexible obstinacy in prosecuting a cruel and destructive American war.”[487] On the 3d December, 1779, in what is called “a very long speech,” he returned to his theme, inveighing against ministers for “the favorite, though wild, Quixote, and impracticable measure of coercing America.”[488] These are only instances. During this time he maintained relations with Franklin, as appears in the “Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution,” all of which attests a desire for peace. In 1778 he arrived at Paris on a confidential errand, especially to confer with Franklin. On this occasion John Adams met him and judged him severely. In 1783 he was appointed a commissioner to sign the Definitive Treaty of Peace.
- 65. These things belong to history. Though perhaps not generally known, they are accessible. I have presented them for their intrinsic value and prophetic character, but also as the introduction to an unpublished letter from Hartley, which I received some time ago from an English friend, who has since been called away from important labors. The letter concerns emigration to our country, and the payment of the national debt. The following indorsement explains its character:— “Note. This is a copy of the material portion of a long letter from D. Hartley, the British Commissioner in Paris, to Lord Sydenham, January, 1785. The original was sold by C. Robinson, of 21 Bond Street, London, on the 6th April, 1859, at a sale of Hartley’s MSS. and papers, chiefly relating to the United States of America. It was Hartley’s copy, in his own hand. “The lot was No. 82 in the sale catalogue. It was bought by J. R. Smith, the London bookseller, for £2 6s. 0d. “I had a copy made before the sale. “Joseph Parkes. “London, 18 July, ’59.” The letter is as follows:— “My Lord,—In your Lordship’s last letter to me, just before my leaving Paris, you are pleased to say that any information which I might have been able to collect of a nature to promote the mutual and reciprocal interests of Great Britain and the United States of America would be extremely acceptable to his Majesty’s government.… Annexed to this letter I have the honor of transmitting to your Lordship some
- 66. papers and documents which I have received from the American ministers. One of them (No. 5) is a Map of the Continent of North America, in which the land ceded to them by the late treaty of peace is divided by parallels of latitude and longitude into fourteen new States. “The whole project, in its full extent, would take many years in its execution, and therefore it must be far beyond the present race of men to say, ‘This shall be so.’ Nevertheless, those who have the first care of this New World will probably give it such directions and inherent influences as may guide and control its course and revolutions for ages to come. But these plans, being beyond the reach of man to predestinate, are likewise beyond the reach of comment or speculation to say what may or may not be possible, or to predict what events may hereafter be produced by time, climates, soils, adjoining nations, or by the unwieldy magnitude of empire, and the future population of millions superadded to millions. The sources of the Mississippi may be unknown; the lines of longitude and latitude may be extended into unexplored regions; and the plan of this new creation may be sketched out by a presumptuous compass, if all its intermediate uses and functions were to be suspended until the final and precise accomplishment, without failure or deviation, of this unbounded plan. But this is not the case; the immediate objects in view are limited and precise; they are of prudent thought, and within the scope of human power to measure out and to execute. The principle, indeed, is indefinite, and will be left to the test of future ages to determine its duration or extent. “I take the liberty to suggest thus much, lest we should be led away to suppose that the councils which
- 67. have produced these plans have had no wiser or more sedate views than merely the amusement of drawing meridians of ambition and high thoughts. There appear to me to be two solid and rational objects in view: the first is, by the sale of lands nearly contiguous to the present States, (receiving Congress paper in payment according to its scale of depreciation,) to extinguish the present national debt, which I understand might be discharged for about twelve millions sterling.… “It is a new proposition to be offered to the numerous common rank of mankind in all the countries of the world, to say that there are in America fertile soils and temperate climates in which an acre of land may be purchased for a trifling consideration, which may be possessed in freedom, together with all the natural and civil rights of mankind. The Congress have already proclaimed this, and that no other qualification or name is necessary but to become settlers, without distinction of countries or persons. The European peasant, who toils for his scanty sustenance in penury, wretchedness, and servitude, will eagerly fly to this asylum for free and industrious labor. The tide of emigration may set strongly outward from Scotland, Ireland, and Canada to this new land of promise. “A very great proportion of men in all the countries of the world are without property, and generally are subject to governments of which they have no participation, and over whom they have no control. The Congress have now opened to all the world a sale of landed settlements where the liberty and property of each individual is to be consigned to his own custody and defence.… These are such propositions of free establishments as have never yet been offered to
- 68. mankind, and cannot fail of producing great effects in the future progress of things. The Congress have arranged their offers in the most inviting and artful terms; and lest individual peasants and laborers should not have the means of removing themselves, they throw out inducements to moneyed adventurers to purchase and to undertake the settlement by commission and agency, without personal residence, by stipulating that the lands of proprietors being absentees shall not be higher taxed than the lands of residents. This will quicken the sale of lands, which is their object. “For the explanation of these points, I beg leave to refer your Lordship to the documents annexed, Nos. 5 and 6,—namely, the Map, and Resolutions of Congress, dated April, 1784. Another circumstance would confirm that it is the intention of Congress to invite moneyed adventurers to make purchases and settlements, which is the precise and mathematical mode of dividing and marking out for sale the lands in each new proposed State. These new States are to be divided by parallel lines running north and south, and by other parallels running east and west. They are to be divided into hundreds of ten geographical miles square, and then again into lots of one square mile. The divisions are laid out as regularly as the squares upon a chessboard, and all to be formed into a Charter of Compact. “They may be purchased by purchasers at any distance, and the titles may be verified by registers of such or such numbers, north or south, east or west: all this is explained by the document annexed, No. 7, namely, The Ordinance for ascertaining the mode of locating and disposing of lands in the Western Territory. This is their plan and means for paying off
- 69. their national debt, and they seem very intent upon doing it. I should observe that their debt consists of two parts, namely, domestic and foreign. The sale of lands is to be appropriated to the former. “The domestic debt may perhaps be nine or ten millions, and the foreign debt two or three. For payment of the foreign debt it is proposed to lay a tax of five per cent. upon all imports until discharged, which, I am informed, has already been agreed to by most of the States, and probably will soon be confirmed by the rest. Upon the whole, it appears that this plan is as prudently conceived and as judiciously arranged, as to the end proposed, as any experienced cabinet of European ministers could have devised or planned any similar project. “The second point which appears to me to be deserving of attention, respecting the immense cession of territory to the United States at the late peace, is a point which will perhaps in a few years become an unparalleled phenomenon in the political world. As soon as the national debt of the United States shall be discharged by the sale of one portion of those lands, we shall then see the Confederate Republic in a new character, as a proprietor of lands either for sale or to let upon rents. While other nations may be struggling under debts too enormous to be discharged either by economy or taxation, and while they may be laboring to raise ordinary and necessary supplies by burdensome impositions upon their own persons and properties, here will be a nation possessed of a new and unheard-of financial organ of stupendous magnitude, and in process of time of unmeasured value, thrown into their lap as a fortuitous superfluity, and almost without being sought for.
- 70. “When such an organ of revenue begins to arise into produce and exertion, what public uses it may be applicable to, or to what abuses and perversions it might be rendered subservient, is far beyond the reach of probable discussion now. Such discussions would only be visionary speculations. However, thus far it is obvious, and highly deserving of our attention, that it cannot fail becoming to the American States a most important instrument of national power, the progress and operation of which must hereafter be a most interesting object of attention to the British American dominions which are in close vicinity to the territories of the United States; and I should hope that these considerations would lead us, inasmuch as we value those parts of our dominions, to encourage conciliatory and amicable correspondence between them and their neighbors.” This private communication, now for the first time seeing the light, is full of prophecy, or of that remarkable discernment and forecast which mark the prophetic spirit, whether in announcing “the future population of millions superadded to millions,” or in the high estimate of the National Territory, destined to become in a few years “an unparalleled phenomenon in the political world,” “a new and unheard-of financial organ of stupendous magnitude.” How few at home saw the Public Lands with as clear a vision as Hartley! GALIANI, 1776, 1778. Among the most brilliant in this extending list is the Abbé Galiani, the Neapolitan, who was born 1728, and died at Naples 1787. Although Italian by birth, yet by the accident of official residence he became for a while domesticated in France, wrote the French language, and now enjoys a French reputation. His writings in French and his letters have the wit and ease of Voltaire.
- 71. Galiani was a genius. Whatever he touched shone at once with his brightness, in which there was originality as well as knowledge. He was a finished scholar, and very successful in lapidary verses. Early in life, while in Italy, he wrote a grave essay on Money, which contrasted with another of rare humor suggested by the death of the public executioner. Other essays followed; and then came the favor of the congenial pontiff, Benedict the Fourteenth. In 1760 he found himself at Paris as Secretary of the Neapolitan Embassy. Mingling with courtiers officially, according to the duties of his position, he fraternized with the liberal and adventurous spirits who exercised such influence over society and literature. He was recognized as one of them, and inferior to none. His petty stature was forgotten when he conversed with inexhaustible faculties of all kinds, so that he seemed an Encyclopædia, Harlequin, and Machiavelli all in one. The atheists at the Thursday dinner of D’Holbach were confounded while he enforced the existence of God. Into the questions of political economy occupying attention at the time he entered with a pen which seemed borrowed from the French Academy. His “Dialogues sur le Commerce des Blés” had the success of a romance: ladies carried this book on Corn in their work-baskets. Returning to Naples, he continued to live in Paris through his correspondence, especially with Madame d’Épinay, the Baron d’Holbach, Diderot, and Grimm.[489] Among later works, after his return to Naples, was a solid volume —not to be forgotten in the History of International Law—on the Duties of Neutrals, where a difficult subject is treated with such mastery, that, more than half a century later, D’Hautefeuille, in his elaborate treatise, copies from it at length. Galiani was the predecessor of this French writer in the extreme assertion of neutral rights. Other works were left at his death in manuscript, some grave and some humorous; also letters without number. The letters preserved from Italian savans filled eight large volumes; those from savans, ministers, and sovereigns abroad filled fourteen. His Parisian correspondence did not see the light till 1818, although some of the letters may be found in the contemporary correspondence of Grimm.
- 72. In his Parisian letters, which are addressed chiefly to that clever individuality, Madame d’Épinay, the Neapolitan abbé shows not only the brilliancy and nimbleness of his talent, but the universality of his knowledge and the boldness of his speculations. Here are a few words from a letter dated at Naples, 12th October, 1776, in which he brings forward the idea of “races,” so important in our day, with an illustration from Russia:— “All depends upon races. The first, the most noble of races, comes naturally from the North of Asia. The Russians are the nearest to it, and this is the reason why they have made more progress in fifty years than can be got out of the Portuguese in five hundred.”[490] Belonging to the Latin race, Galiani was entitled to speak thus freely. In another letter to Madame d’Épinay, dated at Naples, 18th May, 1776, he had already foretold the success of our Revolution. Few prophets have been more explicit than he was in the following passage:— “Livy said of his age, which so strongly resembled ours, ‘Ad hæc tempora ventum est, quibus nec vitia nostra nec remedia pati possumus,’—‘We are in an age when the remedies hurt at least as much as the vices.’[491] Do you know how matters stand? The epoch has come of the total downfall of Europe, and of transmigration to America. Everything here is falling into rottenness,—religion, laws, arts, sciences,—and everything is going to be rebuilt anew in America. This is no joke; nor is it an idea drawn from the English quarrels; I have said, announced, preached it, for more than twenty years, and I have always seen my prophecies fulfilled. Do not buy your house, then, in the Chaussée d’Antin; you must buy it in Philadelphia. My trouble is, that there are no abbeys in America.”[492]
- 73. This letter was written some months before the Declaration of Independence. In another, dated at Naples, 7th February, 1778, the Abbé alludes to the great numbers of English men and women who have come to Naples “for shelter from the American tempests,” and adds, “Meanwhile the Washingtons and Hancocks will be fatal to them.”[493] In still another, dated at Naples, 25th July, 1778, he renews his prophecies in language still more explicit:— “You will at this time have decided the greatest revolution of the globe,—namely, if it is America which is to reign over Europe, or if it is Europe which is to continue to reign over America. I would wager in favor of America, for the reason, merely physical, that for five thousand years genius has turned opposite to the diurnal motion, and travelled from East to West.”[494] Here again is the idea of Berkeley which has been so captivating. ADAM SMITH, 1776. In contrast with the witty Italian is the illustrious philosopher and writer of Scotland, Adam Smith, who was born 5th June, 1723, and died 17th July, 1790. His fame is so commanding that any details of life or works would be out of place. He was thinker and inventor, through whom mankind was advanced in knowledge. I say nothing of his “Theory of Moral Sentiments,” constituting an important contribution to the science of Ethics, but come at once to his great work of political economy, entitled “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,” which first appeared in 1776. Its publication marks an epoch described by Mr. Buckle, when he says that Adam Smith, “by the publication of this single work, contributed more towards the happiness of man than has been effected by the united abilities of all the statesmen and legislators of whom history has preserved an authentic account.”[495] The work is
- 74. full of prophetic knowledge, and especially with regard to the British Colonies. Writing while the debate with the mother country was still pending, Adam Smith urged that they should be admitted to Parliamentary representation in proportion to taxation, so that their representation would enlarge with their growing resources; and here he predicts nothing less than the transfer of empire:— “The distance of America from the seat of government, the natives of that country might flatter themselves, with some appearance of reason too, would not be of very long continuance. Such has hitherto been the rapid progress of that country in wealth, population, and improvement, that, in the course of little more than a century, perhaps, the produce of American might exceed that of British taxation. The seat of the empire would then naturally remove itself to that part of the empire which contributed most to the general defence and support of the whole.”[496] In these tranquil words of assured science the great author carries the seat of government across the Atlantic. Did Adam Smith in this remarkable passage do more than follow a hint from our own prophet? The prophecy of the great economist first appeared in 1776. In the course of 1774, and down to April 19, 1775, John Adams published in the “Boston Gazette” a series of weekly articles, under the signature of “Novanglus,” which were abridged in Almon’s “Remembrancer” for 1775, with the following title: “History of the Dispute with America, from its Origin in 1754 to the Present Time.” Although this abridged edition stops before the prophetic passage, it is not impossible that the whole series was known to Adam Smith. After speculating, as the latter did afterwards, on the extension of the British Constitution and Parliamentary representation to the outlying British dominions, our prophet says:—
- 75. “If in twenty years more America should have six millions of inhabitants, as there is a boundless territory to fill up, she must have five hundred representatives. Upon these principles, if in forty years she should have twelve millions, a thousand; and if the inhabitants of the three kingdoms remain as they are, being already full of inhabitants, what will become of your supreme legislative? It will be translated, crown and all, to America. This is a sublime system for America. It will flatter those ideas of independency which the Tories impute to them, if they have any such, more than any other plan of independency that I have ever heard projected.”[497] Thus plainly was John Adams precursor of Adam Smith. In 1784 these papers were reprinted from the “Remembrancer,” by Stockdale, in London, bearing the same title, substantially, as before, “History of the Dispute with America, from its Origin in 1754,” with the addition, “Written in the Year 1774, by John Adams, Esq.” The “Monthly Review,” in a notice of the publication, after speaking of “the inauspicious system of American taxation,” says, “Mr. Adams foretold the consequence of obstinately adhering to it, and the event hath too well verified his predictions. They were, however, predictions which required no inspiration.”[498] So that his wise second-sight was recognized in England much beyond the prevision of Adam Smith. The idea of transferring the seat of government to America was often attributed to Franklin by Dean Tucker. The former, in a letter, as early as 25th November, 1767, reports the Dean as saying, “That is his constant plan.”[499] In one of his tracts, the Dean attributes it not only to Franklin, but also to our people. With strange exaggeration he says: “It has been the unanimous opinion of the North Americans for these fifty years past, that the seat of empire ought to be transferred from the lesser to the greater country,—that is, from England to America, or, as Dr. Franklin elegantly phrased it,
- 76. from the cock-boat to the man-of-war.”[500] It is impossible to say how much of this was from the excited brain of the Dean. RICHARD PRICE, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1784. A true and solid ally of our country at a critical period was Dr. Price, dissenting clergyman, metaphysician, political writer, and mathematician, who was born in Wales, 23d February, 1723, and died in London, 19th April, 1791. His earliest labors were “A Review of the Principal Questions and Difficulties in Morals,” by which he was recognized as a metaphysician, and “Observations on Reversionary Payments,” by which he was recognized as an authority on a large class of financial questions. At the same time his sermons were regarded as excellent. Amidst these various labors he was moved to enlist as a pamphleteer in defence of the American Colonies. This service, prompted by a generous devotion to just principles, awakened grateful sentiments on both sides of the ocean. The Aldermen and Common Council of London marked their sympathy by voting him the freedom of the city in a gold box of fifty pounds value. The American Congress sent him a different testimonial, officially communicated to him, being a solemn resolution declaring “the desire of Congress to consider him a citizen of the United States, and to receive his assistance in regulating their finances.”[501] In reply, under date of 18th January, 1779, while declining the invitation, he offered “assurances that Dr. Price feels the warmest gratitude for the notice taken of him, and that he looks to the American States as now the hope and likely soon to become the refuge of mankind.”[502] Franklin and Adams contracted with him relations of friendship. The former, under date of 6th February, 1780, wrote him: “Your writings, after all the abuse you and they have met with, begin to make serious impressions on those who at first rejected the counsels you gave”;[503] and 24th October, 1788, he wrote to another: “Remember me affectionately to good Dr.
- 77. Price.”[504] The latter, in correspondence many years afterwards, recorded the intimacy he enjoyed with Dr. Price, “at his own house, at my house, and at the houses and tables of many friends.”[505] The first of his American tracts was in 1776, being “Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principles of Government, and the Justice and Policy of the War with America.” The sale of sixty thousand copies in a few months shows the extensive acceptance of the work. The general principles so clearly exhibited are invoked for America. Occasionally the philosopher becomes prophet, as when he predicts the growth of population:— “They are now but little short of half our number. To this number they have grown, from a small body of original settlers, by a very rapid increase. The probability is that they will go on to increase, and that in fifty or sixty years they will be double our number, and form a mighty empire, consisting of a variety of States, all equal or superior to ourselves in all the arts and accomplishments which give dignity and happiness to human life.”[506] Nothing less than “a vast continent” seems to him the sphere of this remarkable development, and he revolts at the idea of this being held “at the discretion of a handful of people on the other side of the Atlantic.”[507] In the measures which brought on the war he saw “the hand of Providence working to bring about some great ends.”[508] And the vast continent was to be dedicated to Liberty. The excellent man saw even the end of Slavery. Speaking of “the negroes of the Southern Colonies,” he said that they “probably will now either soon become extinct or have their condition changed into that of freemen.”[509] Years and battle intervened before this precious result. This production was followed in 1777 by “Additional Observations on the Nature and Value of Civil Liberty, and the War with America,”—to which was added “Observations on Public Loans, the National Debt, and the Debts and Resources of France.” In all this
- 78. variety of topics, his concern for America breaks forth in the inquiry, “Must not humanity shudder at such a war?”[510] And he sees untold loss to England, which, with the Colonies, “might be the greatest and happiest nation that ever existed”; but without them “we are no more a people; … our existence depends on keeping them.”[511] This patriotic gloom is checked by another vision:— “These measures have, in all probability, hastened that disruption of the New from the Old World, which will begin a new era in the annals of mankind, and produce a revolution more important, perhaps, than any that has happened in human affairs.”[512] Thus was American Independence heralded, and its influence foretold. Constantly sympathizing with America, and impressed by the magnitude of the issue, his soul found another utterance, in 1778, in what he called “The General Introduction and Supplement to the Two Tracts on Civil Liberty, the War with America, and the Finances of the Kingdom.” Here again he sees a vision:— “A great people, likely to be formed, in spite of all our efforts, into free communities, under governments which have no religious tests and establishments. A new era in future annals, and a new opening in human affairs, beginning, among the descendants of Englishmen, in a new world. A rising empire, extended over an immense continent, without bishops, without nobles, and without kings.”[513] After the recognition of Independence and the establishment of peace, Dr. Price appeared with another tract: “Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution and the Means of making it a Benefit to the World.” This was in 1784. And here he repeated the exultation of an earlier day:—
- 79. “With heartfelt satisfaction I see the revolution in favor of universal liberty which has taken place in America,—a revolution which opens a new prospect in human affairs, and begins a new era in the history of mankind.… Perhaps I do not go too far, when I say, that, next to the introduction of Christianity among mankind, the American Revolution may prove the most important step in the progressive course of human improvement.”[514] Thus announcing the grandeur of the epoch, he states that it “may produce a general diffusion of the principles of humanity,” and may lead mankind to see and know “that all legitimate government consists in the dominion of equal laws, made with common consent,” which is another expression of the primal truth of the Declaration of Independence. Then, referring to the “community or confederacy” of States, he says, “I can almost imagine that it is not impossible but that by such means universal peace may be produced, and all war excluded from the world”; and he asks, “Why may we not hope to see this begun in America?”[515] May America be true to this aspiration! There is also a longing for Equality, and a warning against Slavery, with the ejaculation, in harmony with earlier words, “Let the United States continue forever what it is now their glory to be, a confederation of States, prosperous and happy, without lords, without bishops, and without kings.”[516] In the midst of the bloody conflict this vision had appeared, and he had sought to make it a reality. His true friendship for our country and his devotion to humanity, with the modesty of his nature, appear in a letter to Franklin, 12th July, 1784, communicating a copy of the last production. After saying that “it is intended entirely for America,” the excellent counsellor proceeds:— “I hope the United States will forgive my presumption in supposing myself qualified to advise them.… The consciousness which I have that it is well
- 80. intended, and that my address to them is the effusion of a heart that wishes to serve the best interests of society, helps to reconcile me to myself in this instance, and it will, I hope, engage the candor of others.”[517] The same sentiments which proved his sympathies with our country reappeared with fresh fires at the outbreak of the French Revolution, arousing, in opposition, the immortal eloquence of Burke. A discourse “On the Love of our Country,” preached at the Old Jewry, 4th November, 1789, in commemoration of the English Revolution, with friendly glances at what was then passing across the Channel, prompted the “Reflections on the Revolution in France.” The personal denunciation which is the beginning of that remarkable performance is the perpetual witness to the position of the preacher, whose prophetic soul did not hesitate to accept the French Revolution side by side with ours in glory and in promise. GOVERNOR POWNALL, 1777, 1780, 1783. Among the best friends of our country abroad during the trials of the Revolution was Thomas Pownall, called by one biographer “a learned antiquary and politician,” and by another “an English statesman and author.” Latterly he has so far dropped out of sight that there are few who recognize in him either of these characters. He was born 1722, and died at Bath 1805. During this long period he held several offices. As early as 1745 he became secretary to the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations. In 1753 he crossed the ocean. In 1755, as Commissioner for Massachusetts Bay, he had a share in the negotiations with New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, in union with New England, which resulted in the confederated expedition against Crown Point. He was afterwards Governor of Massachusetts Bay, New Jersey, and South Carolina, successively. Returning to England, he was appointed, in 1762, Comptroller-General of the army in Germany, with the military rank of colonel. He sat in two successive Parliaments until 1780, when he
- 81. passed into private life. Hildreth gives a glimpse of his personal character, when, admitting his frank manners and liberal politics, he describes his habits as “rather freer than suited the New England standard.”[518] Pownall stands forth conspicuous for championship of our national independence, and especially for foresight with regard to our national future. In both these respects his writings are unique. Other Englishmen were in favor of independence, and saw our future also; but I doubt if any one can be named who was his equal in strenuous action, or in minuteness of foresight. While the war was still proceeding, as early as 1780, he openly announced, not only that independence was inevitable, but that the new nation, “founded in Nature and built up in truth,” would continually expand; that its population would increase and multiply; that a civilizing activity beyond what Europe could ever know would animate it; and that its commercial and naval power would be found in every quarter of the globe.[519] All this he set forth at length with argument and illustration, and he called his prophetic words “the stating of the simple fact, so little understood in the Old World.” Treated at first as “unintelligible speculation” and as “unfashionable,” the truth he announced was “neglected where it was not rejected, but in general rejected as inadmissible,” and the author, according to his own language, “was called by the wise men of the British Cabinet a Wild Man, unfit to be employed.”[520] But these writings are a better title now than any office. In manner they are diffuse and pedantic; but they hardly deserve the cold judgment of John Adams, who in his old age said of them that “a reader who has patience to search for good sense in an uncouth and disgusting style will find in those writings proofs of a thinking mind.”[521] He seems to have written a good deal. But the works which will be remembered the longest are not even mentioned by several of his biographers. Rose, in his Biographical Dictionary, records works by him, entitled “Antiquities of the Provincia Romana of Gaul”; “Roman Antiquities dug up at Bath”; “Observations on the Currents in the
- 82. Atlantic Ocean”; “Intellectual Physics”; and contributions to the “Archæologia”: nothing more. To this list Gorton, in his Biographical Dictionary, adds briefly, “besides many political tracts,” but without particular reference to the works on America. This is another instance where the stone rejected by the builders becomes the head of the corner. At an early date Pownall comprehended the position of our country, geographically. He saw the wonderful means of internal communication supplied by its inland waters, and also the opportunities of external commerce afforded by the Atlantic Ocean. On the former he dwells, in a Memorial drawn up in 1756 for the Duke of Cumberland.[522] Nobody in our own day, after the experience of more than a century, has portrayed more vividly the two vast aqueous masses,—one composed of the Great Lakes and their dependencies, and the other of the Mississippi and its tributaries. The Great Lakes are described as “a wilderness of waters, spreading over the country by an infinite number and variety of branchings, bays, straits, &c.”[523] The Mississippi, with its eastern branch, called the Ohio, is described as having, “as far as we know, but two falls,—one at a place called by the French St. Antoine, high up on the west or main branch”; and all its waters “run to the ocean with a still, easy, and gentle current.”[524] The picture is completed by exhibiting the two masses in combination:— “The waters of each respective mass—not only the lesser streams, but the main general body of each going through this continent in every course and direction—have, by their approach to each other, by their interlacing with each other, by their communication to every quarter and in every direction, an alliance and unity, and form one mass, a one whole.”[525] And he remarks, that it is thus seen
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