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1224 NOTES TO VOLUME II.
early as 1764 when the English Parliament claimed the right of
imposing taxes on the colonies ; and in 1765 Parliament passed the
stamp act; and in May, 1767, thus at the time when Kant made
Green’s acquaintance according to Dr. Im. Tafel (see Document 272,
p. 624), Parliament passed a law whereby the importation of tea
into the colonies was taxed. Kant, no doubt, expressed himself in
1767 against the justice of these laws ; so that if the expression "at
the time of the Anglo-American war" is made to include the causes
that led to it, the whole of what precedes is made to agree with
the dates in question. Jachmann continues :
"Kant and Green, in the end, entered into a most intimate
friendship, which was based upon wisdom and mutual esteem, and
which grew daily more intimate and close ; and when it was severed
by the early death of Green our philosopher suffered so deeply, that,
although he soothed his pain by the grandeur of his soul, he never
got over it completely.
"Kant discovered in Green a man possessed of much knowledge,
and of so clear an understanding, that he often avowed to me, that
he never penned a sentence in his ’Critique of Pure Reason’ without
reading it to Green, and subjecting it to his unbiassed under
standing unfettered to any system. Green as to his character was
a rare and singular man ; distinguished by the strictest justice, and
animated by real generosity: yet he was full of eccentricities ; a
whimsical man in the true sense of the word; whose days were
spent in an unalterable, whimsical fashion. Hippel described him as
,the man who goes by the watch.’ Let me illustrate this by one
example. Kant had promised Green to accompany him the following
morning at eight o’clock on a drive. Green, on such occasions,
opened his watch a quarter of an hour before the time, and holding
it in his hand walked about the room, after five minutes he seized
his hat, after five minutes more his cane, and with the first stroke
of the clock entered his carriage. He did this on the present occa
sion and drove off; on the way he met Kant, but he did not stop
for him, because it was not in accordance with the agreement or
his rule.
"In the society of this brilliant, noble-minded, but eccentric man,
Kant found much to feed and recreate his heart and mind, so that
at last he became his daily companion, and he spent daily many
hours in his company. Kant went to his house every afternoon,
where he found Green sleeping in his easy chair ; he sat down at
his side, began to meditate, and soon fell likewise asleep. After
wards Ruffmann, the director of the bank, arrived, and he generally
followed their example, until at last Motherby, at a certain time,
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