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 ...

by Various

$1,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

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 ... Tucker was a Welsh economist and long-standing opponent of colonialism who wrote several tracts arguing that the British should forego their effort to retain the American colonies. He was rather unpopular at home for his support of naturalization for foreigners (particularly Protestants), and as early as 1749 wrote to the effect that the American colonies would seek independence the moment they no longer relied on Britain for their survival. Cui Bono was "the most popular of his American tracts...arguing that the war was a mistake for all the nations concerned," although he also argues that without Britain's guidance the colonies would soon fall to squabbling and return of their own accord (DAB). The volume takes the form of letters written to Monsieur Necker, former controller general of the finances of France. A two-page postscript includes news of Cornwallis' recent defeat at Yorktown, about which Tucker writes "Time will show what you have got, and what we have lost, by the progresses of the present War. The English have been too long in the Habit of using the disadvantageous Leaver; it will now be the Turn of the French to use it."

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