JANE'S FIRST FOURTH
Samantha and Julia took Jane deLacey up to Piney Point for
the week of the Fourth of July. Jane,
having been supratemporally transmigrated to 1904 from 1594, had never been on
vacation in the woods, and was unclear about what the celebration was for.
“Piney Point is sort of like a hunting lodge, except we
don’t hunt.” Julia explained, “and the
Fourth of July is America’s
Independence Day, when we celebrate being free from British rule.”
Jane, whose father was a great lord and had been at the
court of Queen Elizabeth I, was stunned.
“Why would anyone wish that? I
would think that as loyal subjects of the crown, they would have enjoyed rights
and liberties far surpassing any other kingdom in the world.”
“Well, that was part of the problem,” said Samantha, “they
felt their rights were being denied. So
the colonists revolted against what they saw as tyranny.”
“To take up arms against the king is treason!” Jane declared.
“The colonists felt they had no other recourse.” Julia explained. “They had been petitioning Parliament for
years by the time the fighting started.”
“And it had been Parliament who had sent troops to occupy
the city of Boston,
in the colony of Massachusetts. That’s when the war really started.”
“Here, Jane, read this.”
Julia handed Jane a copy of the Declaration of Independence. “It will explain what was going on in no
uncertain terms. Then tell me if you
think it was treason.”
Jane took it and glanced at it. The script was in a style that to her was
futuristic and strange. “It will take
some effort, but I will read it.”
Later that day, Jane came to find Julia and Samantha. “I have perused that writing, peculiar though
the scribe’s hand was, and I can see plainly that all the Colonists wanted were
their rights as free-born Englishmen.
How Parliament could be so remiss as to not redress their grievances
escapes my understanding. And the writer
makes it clear that this was a last, desperate recourse that they had hoped to
avoid. It is not treason to resist
tyranny, especially if you win.”
“So, Jane,” asked Julia, “will you join us in celebrating
our Independence?”
“I do not know how I can be both loyal to the Crown and to America.” Jane
sighed, “I am a loyal subject of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, and have been
received by her at court. I know she is
long dead, but the Crown continues, and Edward VII
is king now. Is he a tyrant?”
Julia smiled, “No, he is a generous and benevolent monarch,
as far as British Constitutional Law allows.
And he is a great friend of America.”
“Then will I be King Edward’s loyal subject, and likewise
celebrate your country’s freedom from tyranny!”
Samantha had flags for them all to wave. “Here, Jane, is the modern flag of Great Britain,
the Union Jack, for you; the Stars and Stripes for me . . .”
“And I,” said Julia, “shall wave the flag we might have had
if Parliament had not been so intransigent; the Grand Union Flag!”
Jane looked at the Stars and Stripes that Samantha
held. “A curious device indeed,” she
said, “gules, barry of six argent, on a canton azure, forty-five mullets of the
second.”
Julia and Samantha looked at each other and tried hard not
to laugh out loud.
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