so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, Sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God, who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, Sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable, and let it come!! I repeat it, Sir, let it come!!! It is in vain, Sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry peace, peace-but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! Ex. XXXVII.-CONFLICT OF DUTY AND INCLINATION. Speech in Parliament, May 18, 1775. I CONFESS, my lords, that whatever has been done by the Americans I must deem the mere consequence of our un *The Earl of Effingham was bred to arms, and from an eager desire to become a practical soldier, served as a volunteer in the Russian army, during CONFLICT OF DUTY AND INCLINATION. 63 just demands. They have come to you with fair arguments, you have refused to hear them; they make the most respectful remonstrances, you answer them with pains and penalties; they know they ought to be free, you tell them they shall be slaves. Is it then a wonder if they say in despair, "For the short remainder of our lives we will be free!" Is there one among your lordships who, in a situation similar to that which I have described, would not resolve the same? If there could be such a one, I am sure he ought not to be here. To bring the history down to the present scene. Here are two armies in presence of each other; armies of brothers and countrymen; each dreading the event, yet each feeling that it is in the power of the most trifling accident to cause the sword to be drawn, and to plunge the whole country into all the horrors of blood, flames and parricide. In this dreadful moment, a set of men more moderate than the rest exert themselves to bring us all to reason. They state their claims and their grievances; nay, if any thing can be proved by law and history, they prove it. They propose oblivion; they make the first concessions; we treat them with contempt; we prefer poverty, blood, and servitude, to wealth, happiness, and liberty. My lords, I should think myself guilty of offering an insult to your lordships, if I could presume that there is any one among you who could think of what was expedient, when once it appeared what was just. What weight these few observations may have, I do not know; but the candor your lordships have indulged me with, requires a confession on my part which may still lessen that weight. I must own I am not personally disinterested. Ever since I was of an age to have any ambition at all, my highest has been to serve my country in a military capacity. If there was on earth an event I dreaded, it was to see this country so situated as to make that profession incompatible with my duty as a citizen. That period is, in my opinion, arrived; and I have thought myself bound to relinquish the hopes I had formed by a resignation which appeared to me the only method of avoiding the guilt of enslaving my country, and imbruing the war with the Porte. The regiment of foot in which he held a captain's commission being ordered to America, he resolved, though not possessed of an ample patrimony, to resign a darling profession rather than bear arms in a cause he did not approve. The cities of London and Dublin voted him their thanks for this conduct, my hands in the blood of her sons. When the duties of a soldier and a citizen become inconsistent, I shall always think myself obliged to sink the character of the soldier in that of the citizen, till such duties shall again, by the malice of our real enemies, become united. It is no small sacrifice which a man makes who gives up his profession; but it is a much greater, when a predilection, strengthened by habit, has given him so strong an attachment to his profession as I feel. I have, however, this one consolation, that by making that sacrifice, I, at least, give to my country an unequiv. oçal proof of the sincerity of my principles. Ex. XXXIX.-WARREN'S ADDRESS BEFORE THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. J. PIERPONT. STAND! The ground 's your own, my braves! Will ye give it up to slaves? Will ye look for greener graves? Hope ye mercy still? "What's the mercy despots feel? Hear it in that battle peal! Read it on yon bristling steel! Ask it,-ye who will. Fear ye foes who kill for hire? Will ye to your homes retire ? Look behind you !—they're a-fire ! And, before you, see Who have done it! From the vale On they come !-and will you quail? Leaden rain and iron hail Let their welcome be! In the God of battles trust! Die we may, and die we must: But, oh! where can dust to dust Be consigned so well, As where heaven its dews shall shed On the martyred patriot's bed, Of his deeds to tell. EULOGIUM ON GEN. JOSEPH WARREN. 65 Ex. XL.-EULOGIUM ON GEN. JOSEPH WARREN,* WHO FELL AT THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, JUNE 17th, 1775. WHAT spectacle more noble than this, of a hero who has given his life for the safety of his country! Approach, cruel ministers, and contemplate the fruits of your sanguinary edicts. What reparation can you offer to his children for the loss of such a father, to the king for that of so good a subject, to the country for that of so devoted a citizen? Send hither your satellites; come, feast your vindictive rage; the most implacable enemy to tyrants is no more. We conjure you, respect these his honored remains. Have compassion on the fate of a mother overwhelmed with despair and with age. Of him, nothing is left that you can still fear. His eloquence is mute: his arms are fallen from his hand: then lay down yours; what more have you to perpetrate, barbarians that you are? But, while the name of American liberty shall live, that of Warren will fire our breasts, and animate our arms, against the pest of standing armies. Approach, Senators of America! Come, and deliberate here upon the interests of the United Colonies. Listen to the voice of this illustrious citizen; he entreats, he exhorts, he implores you not to disturb his present felicity with the doubt that he, perhaps, has sacrificed his life for a people of slaves. Come hither, ye soldiers, ye champions of American liberty, and contemplate a spectacle which should inflame your generous hearts with even a new motive to glory. Remember his shade still hovers, unexpiated, among us. thousand ministerial soldiers would not suffice to compensate his death. Let ancient ties be no restraint: foes of liberty Ten * The name of this early martyr to liberty is invested with a romantic interest. He was one of those many-sided men whose loss seems to create a separate vacancy in each department adorned by them, and whose death is regretted in proportion to the versatility of their talents. A successful and skilful physician, an eloquent public speaker, a graceful and elegant conversationist, of high literary culture and a brave and patriotic spirit, he had but just enlisted in the military service of his country when the battle of Bunker Hill cut him off in the prime of manhood, at the age of thirty-four. His death was deeply felt by the struggling colony, and a year afterward his remains were removed from the lowly grave dug on the spot where he fell, and interred with much ceremony in Boston. His having been twice selected to deliver the "Fifth of March "" oration, extracts from which have already been given in this volume, shows in what estimation his literary endowments were held by his fellow-citizens. are no longer the brethren of freemen. Give edge to your arms, and lay them not down till tyranny be expelled from the British empire, or America, at least, become the real seat of liberty and happiness. Approach ye also, American fathers and American mothers; come hither, and contemplate the first fruits of tyranny; behold your friend, the defender of your liberty, the honor, the hope of your country. See this illustrious hero, pierced with wounds, and bathed in his own blood. But let not your grief, let not your tears be sterile. Go, hasten to your homes, and there teach your children to detest the deeds of tyranny; lay before them the horrid scene you have beheld; let their hair stand on end; let their eyes sparkle with fire; let resentment kindle every feature; let their lips vent threats and indignation; then-then put arms into their hands, send them to battle, and let your last injunction be, to return victorious, or to die, like Warren, in the arms of liberty and glory! Ex. XLI.-BUNKER HILL. ALFRED B. STREET. THE eve of a deathless day And the clear moon cast her silvery ray Ranks of the bold and free Were rallying thickly round, With the stern watchword "Liberty!" Men who to man ne'er bow'd the knee: |