2

The people whom we at first despised as rebels, but whom we now acknowledge as enemies, are abetted1 against us, supplied with every military store, have their interests consulted, and their ambassadors entertained, by our inveterate enemy; and ministers do not, and dare not, interpose with dignity or effect. The desperate state of our army abroad is in part known. No man more highly esteems and honors the British troops than I do. I know their virtues and their valor. I know they can achieve any thing but impossibilities, and I know that the conquest of British America is an impossibility.

You can not, my lords, you can not conquer America. What is your present situation there? We do not know the worst; but we know that in three campaigns we have done nothing, and suffered much. You may swell every expense, accumulate every assistance, and extend your traffic to the shambles of every German despot: your attempts will be forever vain and impotent,- doubly so, indeed, from this mercenary aid on which you rely; for it irritates, to an incurable resentment, the minds of your adversaries, to overrun them with the mercenary sons of rapine and plunder, devoting them and their possessions to the rapacity of hireling cruelty.

6

1 abetted, aided and encouraged. | British government of hireling 2 inveterate enemy; i.e., France. soldiery-Hessians, Hanoverians, 8 three campaigns, the cam- and others- to fight their battles paigns in Massachusetts, New York, in foreign lands, as they did in the and New Jersey, during 1775, 1776, Revolutionary War. and 1777.

4 extend . . . despot. An allusion to the employment by the

5 rapine (pron. răp′in), pillage. 6 devoting, dooming, condemning, giving over.

If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms, — never, NEVER, NEVER!

LORD СПАТНАМ.

90.- An Appeal to Arms. — Part I.

This stirring "Appeal" was addressed to the Convention held at Richmond, Va., in March, 1775, by Patrick Henry, one of the foremost orators of our Revolutionary period, in support of resolutions "that the militia be organized, and the colony (Virginia) be put in a state of defense," to resist British aggression. On the conclusion of Henry's address, the resolutions were passed without a dissenting voice.

Mr. President, it is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren1 till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty?

Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And, judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry, for the last ten years, to just

1 siren, a deceiver.

ify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the house?

Is it that insidious smile with which our petition1 has been lately received? Trust it not, sir: it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters, and darken our land.

8

Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation, the last arguments to which kings resort.

I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other.

They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the

1 petition. In October 1774, the | nies in England. By the king it Continental Congress at Philadel- was referred to parliament; which phia agreed to a humble petition to refused to discuss it, and rejected it the king for redress of grievances. by a large majority. This petition was presented to the king in January, 1775, by Franklin and two others, agents of the Colo

2 betrayed with a kiss, in allusion to Judas betraying his Master. 8 comports, agrees.

last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable, but it has been all in vain.

Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find, which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer.

Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and parliament.

Our petitions have been slighted, our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult, our supplications have been disregarded, and we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope.

If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate1 these inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight. I repeat it, sir, we must fight. An appeal to arms, and to the God of hosts, is all that is left us.

1 inviolate, uninjured, unimpaired.

91.-An Appeal to Arms. - Part II.

They tell us, sir, that we are weak,- unable to cope with 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 clanking2 may be heard on

1 election, choice, other resort.

war vessels in her harbor, at this

2 Their clanking, etc., in allu- time (March, 1775). The battle of sion to the accumulation of British | Lexington came in the next month troops in Boston, and of British of the same year.