Johnny himself has seen the British be “reasonable,” as Mr. Otis suggests. Indeed, Johnny likes many of the officers he carries messages for at the Afric Queen. Instead, what Mr. Otis describes is a coming revolution that will not only give colonists the right to self-governance but will also create similar revolutions worldwide. Indeed, the American Revolution did inspire the French Revolution that began not long after, in 1789, so Forbes’s inclusion of France in this passage is significant. Further, it's worth considering that Forbes was writing during World War II, when Americans were again fighting for their freedoms. It’s possible to read Forbes’s Otis as talking indirectly about World War II’s brave soldiers, as well.