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NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
             Washington
Founded 1836
U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
             Public Health Serrice
"*,£


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H
ORATION;
              DELIVERED
        MARCH  Sixth,  1775,
                    AT T H E
  REQUEST of  the  INHABITANTS
                    O F TH E
        TOWN  of BOSTON;
                       TO
  COMMEMORATE the  bloody  TRAGEDY

                    OFTHE        /$&^*.ft
       Fifth of  M  A R  C  H
:,  1770.  ;0;y
■MiiHlBHilHIMpi
By Dr.  JOSEPH WARREN.
HlY
TANTA MOLIS SKAT, ROMAMAM CONDERE GENTKM.
                                 VIRGlL'j Mv.
Q£I[, METWENS, VIVIT, LIBER MIHI NON XRIT 1/NQU AM.
                                     HOR. Ens.
        .BOSTON:

frioted by Meffieurs EDES and GILL ia Queen-ftreet, and by JOSEPH
      GREENLEAF in Unioa-ftrcet, near the Market.
           M.  D C C, L  X X  V. 
AT a meeting of the freeholders and othejr inhabitants of the town
  ©/"BOSTON, duly  affembled-at Faneuil-Hallr, and from thence
  adjourned to the Old-ibiith Meeting-houfe, on Monday the 6th
  day o/March,  Annoque Domini, 1775.

"I 7 PON a motion made, Voted unanmoufly,  That the thanks
    of the Town be, and hereby are, given to Dr. JOSEPH
WARREN,  for the  elegant and fpisited Oration delivered
by him  at their requeil, in commemoration of the  horrid:
Massacre, perpetrated on the enveriing of the 5th of March,,
1770, by a party of Soldiers of die XXIX Regiment, under
the command of Capt. Thomas Prefton ; and that,
Mr. Samuel Adams, Hon. John Hancock, Efq;  Benjamin Church,,
  Efq; Mr. John Pitts, John Scollay, Efq; Colonel Thomas Mar~
  Jhail and Mr. Samuel Auflin,
Be  a committee to wait upon Dr. Joseph Warren, and,.
  in the name of the town, deiirc a copy  of the Oration
  for the prefs.
          Attefl,     \   Wrll 1 am Cooper, Town-Clerk,

Upon  application  made,  the  copy of the Oration was-
  fent with the following meffage,,
   Gentlemen,
r I "HE fame motives which influenced me yefierday to ap~
    pear before my fellow citizenvinduce me to deliver this
®opy to you,
               I ana with the finoereft Re£pec"r^,
                     Your moil obedient
                          Servant,
                             JOSEPH WARREN.
March 7th, 177?i
■>''*i'*Sfr 
H91H ■HI——W
*z*y*^»&r*l-.jhe\"*.'<-- iy
A  K
ORATION.
nan B i—>. g s gang
 MY  EVER HONOURED  FELLOW-CITIZENS;

   IT is not without the moft humiliating conviction of my
   want of ability that I now appear before you :  But the
   fenCe I have of the obligation I am under to obey the
calls of my country  at all  times, together with an ani-*
mating recollection of your indulgence exhibited upon fa
many occafions, has induced me  once  more, undeferving
sis I am, to throw myfclf upon that candor which looks with-
kindncft on the feebleft efforts of an honed mind.
      You will not now expecl: the elegance, the learning, the*
   ;nre, the enrapturing drains of eloquence which charmed you
   whena Lovell, a Chvrch, oraHANCOCK fpake ; but you
   will permit me to fay that with a fincerity, equal to their's,
   I mourn over my bleeding country < With them I weep at
                                                  tier
TOSIIBSAYTN FaH^EXSHANGE 
6          An    O   R   A  T   I   O  N.

Jier diftrefs, and with them deeply refent the many injuries
ilie • has received from the hands of cruel and unrealbnablo
men.

   That perfonal freedom is the natural right of every man ;
and  that property or an  exclufive right to difpofe of what
lie has honettly acquired by his own labor, neccirarily arifes
therefrom, are truths which common fenfe has placed be-
yond the reach of contradiction.  And no man or body of
fnen can, without  being guilty of flagrant  injudice, claim a
right to difpofe of the perfons  or acquifitions of any other
man, or body of men, unlefs it can be proved that fuch a right
has arilen from fome compact between the  parties  in whicfc   ^
it .has been explicitly and freely granted*

   If  I may be indulged in  taking  a retrafpecUve view of
the fird fcttlement ©f our country, it will  be eafy  to deter^
mine with  what  degree  of judice the late parliament of
Great Britain have aflumed the power of  giving away thttf
property which the Americans have earned  by their labor*

   Our fathers, having nobly refblved never to wear the yoke
ofdefpotifmvand feeing the European world,at that time,thro*
indolence and cowardice, falling a prey to tyranny ; bravely
threw themfelves upon the bofom of the ocean ; determined
to find a place in which they might  enjoy their freedom, or
perifh in the glorioui attempt.   Approving Heaven beheld
the favourite  ark  dancing upon the  wave*, and  gracioufty
                                            pre&rvcd 
           An    O  R  A   T  I-  O   N.        j

 preferved it until the chofen families were brought in fafety
 to thefe wedern regions.  They found the land fw arming
 ■with favages, who threatned death with every kind of tor*
\ture.   But favages, and  death with torture, were far lefs ter-
 rible than flavery :—Nothing was fo much  the object of their
 abhorence as a tyrant's power:—They knew that it was more
 fafe to dwell with man in his mod unpolifhed date than in
 a country where arbitrary power prevails.   Even anarchy
*itfelf,  that bugbear held up  by the tools of power (thougji
 truly to be deprecated) is infinitely lefs dangerous to man*
xkind than arbitrary government.  Anarchy can be but of fhort
.duration ; for when men  are at liberty  to purfue that
 courfe which is mod conducive to their own happinefs, they
-will fo on come into it,  and  from-the ruded date of nature,
border an d good government mud foon arife.  But tyranny,
twhen once edablifhed,  entails its curfe on a nation to the
 lated period of time ; unlefs fome daring genius, infpired by
^Leaven, fhall unappalled by danger, bravely form and exe-
 cute the arduous defign of redoring liberty and life to his
lenflaved, murdered country.

   The tools of power in every age have racked their in-
dentions to judify the FEW in fporting with the happinefs
>£f-the MANY ; and, having found their fophidry too weak
\*o hold mankind in bondage, have impioufly dared to force
itelighn, the  daughter of the king  of Heaven, to become  a
 grodkute in the fervice of HdU   They taught that princes*
                                           honoured 
 *         An    ORATION.

 Jionoured with the name of chriftian, might bid defiance t«
 the  founder of their faith, might  pillage  pagan  countries
 and deluge  them with  blood, only becauie  they  boaded
 themfelves to  be  the  difciples of that teacher who flriclly
 charged his followers to  do to others as they  would  that others
 ■fhould do unto them.

   This country, having been difcoveredby an Englifh fub-
je£t in the year 1620, was (according to the fydem  which the
 l>lind fuperdition  ofthofe times fupparted)  deemed the pro-
 perty of the crown of England.  Our ancedors, when they
 rrefolved to quit their native foil, obtained from King James
 a grant of certain lands in North-America.   This they pro-
 «bably did to iilence the  cavils  ot their enemies, for it can-
 not be doubted, but they defpifed the pretended right which.
 lie claimed thereto.  Certain it is that he might, with equal
 propriety and judice, have made them a grant-of the planet
 Jupiter.  And their fubfcquent conduct plainly (hews that
 ithey were too well acquainted with humanity and the prin-
 ciples of natural equity to fuppofe that the  grant gave them
 any right to take pofTeflion ; they therefore entered into a
 treaty with the  natives  and bought  from  them the lands :
 Nor have I yet obtained  any information that our ancedors
 <cvcr pleaded,  or  that  the  natives ever regarded  the grant
 from the Englifh crown: The  bufinefs was tranfacled hj
 fche parties in the fame independant manner that it would
 have been, had neither of them ever known or heard of the
 inand of Great Britain*                 ,       Havinc 
           £n    O^ R   A  T  I   O   N.         9


  Having become the honed proprietors of the foil, they
immediately applied themfelves to the cultivation of it ,-and
they foon  beheld the virgin  earth teeming with richeffc
fruits, a grateful recompence for their unwearied toil.  The
fields began to wave  with ripening harveds, and the  late
barren wildernefs was feen  to bloiTom like the rofe.  The
lavage natives faw with wonder the  delightful change,  and
quickly formed a fcheme to obtain that by fraud  or force,
which nature meant as the reward of indudry alone.   But
the illudrious emigrants foon convinced the rude invaders
that they were not lefs ready to take the field for battle
than for labor ; and the infidious foe was driven from their
borders as often as he ventured to didurb them.  The crown
of England  looked with indifference on   the  conted ;
our ancedors were left alone to combat with the natives.—-
Nor is there any reafon to believe, that it ever wasintended by
the one party, or expected by the  other, that the grantor
fhould  defend and maintain the  grantees in the peaceable
pofTeflion of the lands named in the -patents.  And it ap-
pears plainly from the hidory of thofe times that neither the
Prince nor the people  of England  thought themfelves much
interefted in the matter.  They had not then any idea of a
thousandth part of thofe advantages which they fince have
and  we are mod heartily willing  they  fhould fill continue
to reap from us*
B
But 
 io        An   O   R  A* T   10  N.


   But when at an infinite expence of toil and blood, this
widely extended continent had been cultivated and defend-
ed : When the hardy  adventurers juftly expected that they
and  their defcendants fhould peaceably have  enjoyed the
harved of thofe fields  which  they had fown,  and  the fruit
of thofe  vineyards which they had  planted; this country
was then  thought worthy the attention of the  Britidi minis-
try ; and the only judifiable and only fuccefsful  means  of
rendering the colonies ferviccable to  Britain were adopted.
By an  intercourfe of friendly offices,  the  two  countries
became fo united in affection, that they thought not of any
diftinct or  feperate intereds,  they found both  countries
flourifhing and happy.   Britain faw her commerce extend-
ed and her wealth increafed ;  her lands raifed to an immenfe-
Value,  her fleets riding triumphant on the ocean,  the terror
of her  arms fpreading to every quarter  of the globe.   The
colonid found  himfelf free,  and  thought himfelf fecure :
He dwelt under his own vine and under his own figttee and had
none to  make him afraid :  He knew indeed that by purchafing
the  manufactures of Great Britain he contributed to  its
 greatnefs : He  knew  that all the wealth that  his  labour
 produced centered in Great  Britain : But that far from ex-
 citing his envy  filled him with the highed pleafure ; that
 thought fupported him in all  his toils.    When the bufinefs
 of the  day was pad, he folaced himfelf with the contemplation
 or perhaps entertained his lidening  family with the recital
                                                    of 
          .An  ,  O   RATION.       ti

4o£ fome great, fome glorious tranfadion which fhines con-
fpicuous in the hidory of Britain :  Or  perhaps his elevated
fancy   led  him  to foretell,  with a kind  of  enthufiadic
confidence,  the glory, power and  duration of an  empire
which fliould extend from one end of the earth to the other :
He faw, or  thought he faw, the Britifh nation rifen to a
pitch of grandeur which  cad a veil over the Roman glory,
and,  ravidied with the  preview, boaded a race  of Britifh
Kings,  whofe names  fhould  eccho through thofe realms
where  Cyrus,  Alexander, and the Csefars were unknown ;
Princes  for  whom millions of grateful fubjects redeemed
from flavery and pagan  ignorance, fhould with  thankful
tongues offer up their prayers and praifes to that tranfcend-
 antly great and  beneficent being by  whom Kings reign and
Princes  decree jufiice.

   These pleafing connections might have continued ; thefe
delightfome profpects might have been every day extended ;
 and  even   the reveries  of  the  mod warm imagination
might have been realized  ; but unhappily for us, unhappily
for Britain, the madnefs of an avaricious minider  ot date
has drawn  a fable curtain over the charming fcene, and in
its dead has brought upon the dage, difcord, envy, hatred
and revenge, with civil war clofe in their rear.

   Some demon in an evil hour fuggeded to a fhort fighted
financier the hateful project of transfering the  whole
                                            property 
   is       An    ORATION.

   property of the  King's  fubjects in America to his fbb-
   jects in Britain.   The  claim  of the  Britifh parliament
   to  tax the colonies  can never** be fupported but by fiich a
   transfer ;  for the  right of the houfe of commons of Great
   Britain  to originate any  tax or to grant money is  altoge-
   ther derived from their being elected by the people of Great
   Britain to act for them,  and the  people of Great Britain can-
   not confer on their  reprefentatives a right to give or grant
   any thing which they themfelves  have not a right to give or
*   grant perfonatly.  Therefore it follows that if  the members
   chofen by the people of Great Britain to reprefent them in
   parliament have by virtue  of their being  fo   chofen, any
   right to give or grant American property, or to lay any tax
   upon the lands or perfbns of the colonids, it is becaufe the
   lands and people in  the colonies are bona fide, owned by,
   and judly belong to the people  of Great Britain.  But (as
   has been before obferved) every man has a natural right to
   perfonal freedom,  confequently a right to enjoy what is ac-
   quired by his own labor.   And  as it is evident that the pro-
   perty in this country has been acquired by our own labor,
   it is the duty of the people of Great Britain to produce fome
   compact in which we have explicitly given  up to them a
   right to difpofe of our  perfans or property.   Until  this  is
   done every  attempt of their's, or  of thofe  whom they
   have deputed to act  for them to give or grant any part  of
   our property is directly repugnant  to every  principle  of
                                                 reafon 
           An    O  R   A   T  I   O   N.       i3

reafon and natural judice;   But I may boldly lay that fuch
a compact never exided, no, not even in imagination.   Ne-
verthelefs the reprefentatives of a nation,  long famed for
judice and the  exercife  of every noble virtue, have been
prevailed on to  adopt  the fatal  fcheme ; and although the
dreadful confequences of this  wicked policy have already
fliaken the empire to its center  ; yet dill it is perfided  in.
Regardlefs of the voice ot reafon—deaf to the prayers and
fupplications-—and unaffected with the flowing tears of fufc
fering millions, the Britifh minidry dill hug the darling
idol;  and every rolling year affords frefh indances of the
abfurd devotion with which they worfhip it.  Alas ! how
has the folly, the didraction of the Britifh counfels bladedE
our fwelling hopes and fpread   a gloom over this wedern
hemifphere.   The hearts of Britons  and Americans, which
lately  felt the generous glow of mutual confidence and  loVe,
now burn with jealoufy and  rage. Though but of yederday
I recollect (deeply affected at the ill boding change) the happy
hours that pad whilft Britain and America rejoiced in the
pfofperity and greatnefs of each other, (Heaven grant  thofe
halcyon  days may foon return.)   But now the Briton too
often looks on the American with an evious eye, taught to
confider  his jud plea for the enjoyment of his earnings as
the  effect of  pride and dubborn oppofition- to the parent
country.   Whild  the American beholds the Briton as the
ruifran, ready firft to take away his property, and next,  what
                                                   is 
14        An    ORATION.

is  dearer to  every  virtuous man, the liberty of his coun-
try.

  When the meafures of adminidration had difguded the
colonies to the higheft degree, and the people of Great Bri-
tain  had  by artifice  and talfliood been irritated  againd
America, an  army was fent over to  enforce fubmiffion to
certain acts of the Britidi parliament, which  reafon fcorned
to countenance, and which placemen and penfioners  were
found unable to fupport.

  Martial law and the government of a  well regulated
city are fo entirely different, that it has always been confi-
dered as improper to quarter troops in populous*cities,as fre-
quent  dilputes  mud neceffarily arife between the  citizen
and  the  loldier, even  if  no previous animofities fubfift.
And it is further certain from a confideration of the nature
of mankind, as  well as from condant experience, that dand-
ing armies always endanger the liberty of the fubject.  But
when the  people on the  one part, confidered the army as
fent to enflave them, and the army on the other were taught
to look on the people as in a date of rebellion, it  was but
jud to fear the mod difagreable  confequences.  Our fears,
we have feen, were but too well grounded.

  The many  injuries offered to the town  I pafs  over  in
filence.  I cannot now mark out the path which led to that
unequaled fcene of horror, the fad remembrance of which,
                                                takes 
          An    o   r  at   i  b   n;         f 5

takes'the full pofTeffion of my foul.   The fanguinary theatre
again opens  itfelf to view.   The baleful images of terror
croud around me—and difeontentedghods with hollow groans
appear to folemnize the anniverfary of the f i f t h of Mar c h *

   Approach we then the melancholy walk of death. Hither
let me call the gay companion, here let him drop a farewel
tear upon that body which  fo  late he faw  vigorous  and
warm with focial mirth—Hither let me lead the tender mo-
ther  to weep  over her beloved  fon—Come  widowed
mourner, . here fatiate  thy  grief ;  behold  thy murdered
hufband gafpingon the ground,  and to complete the pomp-*
ous ihow of wretchednefs bring in  each hand thy  infant
children to  bewail their father's fate—Take heed,  ye or-
phan l^abes,   led whild.your dreaming eyes are fixed upon
the ghadly corpfe, your fee-f  flide on the  ftones befpattered with
your fathers brains.  *  Enough! This tragedy need not be
heightened by an infant weltering in the blood of him  that
gave it birth.    Nature reluctant fhrinks already from  the
view,  and  the chilled  blood rolls flowly backward  to  its
fountain. We wildly dare about, and with amazement, afk/
who fpread  this ruin  round us  ? What  wretch has dared
deface the image of his God ?  Has haughty France or cruel
Spain fent   forth  her  myrmidons ? Has the  grim favage
rufhed again  from  the far didant wildernefs? Or does
fome fiend,fierce from the depth of Hell, with all the rancour-
                                                   ous
   * After Mr. Gray had been fhot through the body and had fallen dead on the ground—
a  baydne$ was puihed through his Ikall,  part of the bone being broken his trains fell cut
if>oa the pavement. 
x$       An    ORATION

ous malice which the apodate damned can feel, twang her
dedructive bow and hurl her deadly arrows at our bread ?
No.  None of thefe—but, how adonifhing ! It is the hand of
Britain that inflicts the  wound.   The arms of George our
rightful King have been employed to died that blood which
freely would have flown at his command when judice or.
the honour of his crown had  called his fubjects to the field.

   But pity, grief, adonifhment,with all thefofter movements
of the foul  mud  now give way  to   dronger-paffions.
Say, fellow-citizens,  what dreadful thought  now  fwells
your heaving bofoms—You fly to arms-—Sharp indignation
flames from  each eye—Revenge gnaflies her iron teeth—
Death grins  an hideous Anile fecure to drench his greedy
jaws in human gore—Whild hovering furies darken all the air.

   But ftop, my bold adventurous countrymen, dain not
your weapons with the blood  of Britons.   Attend to. reafon's
vpiee—Humanity puts in  her claim—and lues to  be again
admitted to her wonted feat, the bofom of the brave.  Revenge
is far beneath the noble mind.   Many perhaps, compelled
to rank among the vile aflaffins,  do from their inmod fouls,
detcd the barbarous action.   The winged death, fhot from
your  arms,  may chance to pierce fome  bread that bleeds,
already for your injured country.     .

   The dorm fubfides—afolemnpaufeenfues---You  fpare
upon condition they depart.   They go—they quit your cu
                                               ty— 
       An     O    R    h    T    I    O    N,       t?

ty—they no more (hall give offence.——Thias clofes the important
drama.

   And could it have been conceived that we,again fhou*d have feen a
Britifh army in our land, fent to inforce obedience to a&s  of par-
liament deftrucVive of our Kberty.   But the royal  ear  far  diftant
from this weflern world, has been affaulted by the tongue of dan-
der ;  and villains, traiterous alike to king and country, have prevail'd
upon a gracious prince to cloath his countenance with wrath,  and
to  erect the hoftile banner againd a people ever affectionate and loyal
to  hi m and his illuftrious predeceffors of the  houfe of Hanover.
Cjur  ftreets are again filled with armed men: Our harbour is crouded
 with fhips of war; but thefe cannot intimidate us; our liberty muft
 be preferved ; it is far dearer than life, we hold it even dear as our
allegiance ; we muft defend it againd the attacks of friends as well
 is  enemies : we cannot fuller even Britons to  ravifh it from us.

   No longer could we reflecT: with generous pride on the heroic acti-
ons of our American fore-fathers,—no longer boaft our origin from
that far famed hUand, whofe  warlike fons have fo often drawn ttieir
well-tried fwords (to fave her from the ravages of tyranny; could we
but for a moment entertain the thought of giving  up "our liberty.
The man who meanly will fu'bmft  to  wear  a Jhackle,  contemns
the nobleft gift of Heaven, and  impiouiiy affronts the God that
siade him free.
                            C                               Tr
          PAGES. L8. for 1620, read 1497 
xtf           An   X)   R   A    y    I  ,  O nN.
   It  was a maxim .of jhcRcrr-ari people, which eminently conduced
to the greatnefs of that ftate,ncver to dtfpair of the common-wealth.
1 he maxim may prove as fklutary to us now, as  it  did  to  them.
Short  fightcd mortals  fee not the  numerous links offmall and great
c*<rits, which form the chain on which the fate of kings and nations
is  fufpetided.  tale  and profperity, ^tho'  pleafing for a day,)  have
often  funk a people  into  effeminacy and doth.   Hardfhips and dan-
gets, (tho*  we forever drive to' fhun them,) have frequently  called
forth fuch  virtues,as have commanded the applaufe and reverence of
an admiring world.   Our country loudly calls you to be circurofpecV'
vigilant, active and brave:   'Perhaps, (all gracious Heaven avert   it}'
perhaps,the p6wer of Britain,  a nation great in war, by fome maHg-;
nam influence, may be employed to enflave you  : But  let not even
this.difcourage you.   Her arms, Vis true,  have fHTd  the world with
terror  : her troops have  reap'd th«  laurels of  the field : Her fleets
have rode triumphant on the fea—And when or where'did'^oor,-  my
Countrymen, depart  inglorious from the field of fight l*'Yow  too
                                                                  can
* The Patience with which this.People have  borne the repeated Injuries .w,hich have
 been heap'd upon  them, and'their unwillingnefs to take  any fanguinary Meafures,
 has very jnjudicioufly been afcribed to Cowardice, by Perfon* botVhere and ia Great-
 er tain.  I moft heartily wifh that an Opinion fo erroneous in itfelf, and fo fatal in
 its confequences, might be utterly removed before  it be too late :  And I think no-
 thing further neceffary to convince every intelligent Man, that  the Conduit ©f this
 People is owing to the tender Regard which they have for  their Fellow Men, and an
 ufter  Abhorrence to  the  /bedding of  human Bleed,  than a  little Attention  to
 their general Temper and Difpofition, difcovered when they cannot be fuppofed to
 be under any Ap#rebe#fionrof Danger to themfelves.-A will only mention the univerfal
 Dereflation which they fhew to every Aft of Cruelty, by whom and upon whoenfoever
 committed  ; the mild Spirit of their Laws ; the very few Crimes to which capita!
 Penalties are annexed ; and the very great Backwardnefs which both Courts and juries
 difcover, in condemning Perfons charged with, capital Crimes.----But if any fhould
 think this Obfervation not to the Purpofe, I readily appeal to thofe Gentlemen of th*
 Army who  have been in the Camp, or in the Field,  with the Americans. 
             W   &  it'  a   i  i  o  n.         i?

 tan fhcw the tropnies of your forefather s vi&ories and yofir own;
 can name the fortreffes aria* battles you have won; and many of you
 count the honburable fears of wounds received, whilft fighting for
 your  king and country.

   Where jufticc is the ftandard, Heaven is the warrior's fhield :
 But confcioiis guilt unnerves  the  arm that lifts the fword againft
 the innocent.  Britain united  with thefe colonies, by commerce and
•affe&ion—by intcreft and blood,  may riiock the threats of France
 and S£aih : May be the feat of uhiverfal ernpire.  But fhould America
 either by force, or thof6 more dangerous engines, luxury ix\& corrup-
 tion,  ever be brought into a ftate of vaftaiage, Britain muft lofe her
 freedom alfo.  No  longer  fhall  ftie fit the emprefs bf the fea :—
 Her fhips no more (hall  waft her'thunders over the wide ocean :*—
The wreath fhall wither oh her temples :—Her  weakened arm fhall
be unable to defend her coafts: arid fhe at  laft muft bow her vene-
rable  head to fome proud foreigner's defpotic rule.

   EOT if from paft events we may venture to form a judgment of
Ihe future,we1 juftly may  expeft that the devices  of our enemies will
but iricreafe the triumphs of our country.   I muft indulge a  hope
that Britain s lioerty as well as ours, will  eventually be preferved by
the virtue of America.

  The attempt of the Britifh parliament  to raife a revenue from
America, and our denial of their right to do'it, have excited an al-
                                                          moft 
so           Am   ORATION.

moft univerfal enquiry into the rights of mankind in general, and of
'Britifh fubjecls in particular;  the neccflary refult of which muft d'c
fuch a liberality of fentihient, and fuch a jealoufy of thofe in pow-
er as will,  better than an  adamantine wall, fecure us  againft the'fuv
lure approaches of defpotifm.

   The  malice of the Boflon  Port-Bill has been defeated  in  a very
confiderable degree, by  givingjoa; an opportunity of deferving, and
our brethren in this and our flfter-colonies an opportunity of be/low-
ing thofe benefactions which have delighted your friends  and afto-
nifhed your enemies,  not only in  America,   but  in Europe  alfo.
And what is more valuable ftilJ, the fympathetic feelings* for  a bro-
ther in diftrefs, and the grateful emotions excited  in the breaft of
him who; finds relief^  muft forever endear each jto j,he other, and!
 form thofe jndijjoluble bonds, of frienrjfhip and aljfetftjon, on which'
 the prcfervation of our rights fo evidently dependy;

   The mutilation of our charter has made every  other  colony,
 jealous for its own ;  for this, if once fubmitted to by  us? would kt
 on float the property and government of every  Britifh  fettlemenr
 upon,the  continent.   If Charters are  not deemed, facred, hqw mile-
 tably precarious is every thing founded-upon them.

    Even  the fending troops to put  thefe  acts in execution is net
 without advantages to  u?.  The exaftnefs and beauty  of their Dif-
' cipline  mfpire  our  youth  with  ardor in  the purfuit of military
 knowledge.   Charles  the Invincible,  taught Peter  the Great, the
                                                             art 
          An   O   R   A   T   I   O  N.            21

art of war.   The battle of Pultowa convinced Charles of  the pro-
"ficiency Peter had made.
       ^.
   Our. Country is in danger,but not to be defpaired of. Our enemies
are numerous and powerful—but  we have many friends, determine
to BE free,and Heaven and Earth will aid the resolution. OciyoH
depend the  fortunes of America.  You are to decide the important
queftion, on which reft the happinefs and liberty of millions yet un-
born.  A& worthy of yourfelves.  The faltering tongue of hoary
 age calls on you to fupport your country.   The lifping infant raifes
 its fuppliant hands, imploring defence againft  the monfter flavery.
 Your fathers look from their cseleftial  feats with fmiling  approba-
 tion  on  their fons, who boldly ftand forth in the caufe of virtue ;
but fternly  frown  upon the  inhuman mifcreant, who, to fecure the
loaves and  fifhes to  himfelf* would breed aferpent to  deftroy his
 children*
        • ^

   But, pardon me,  my fellow-citizens, I know you want not zeal'
 or fortitude.  You will maintain your rights or perifh in the  gene-
 rous ftruggle.   However difficult the combat, you never will decline
 it when freedom is the prize.  An independence on Great-Britain is
 not our aim.  No, our wifh is, that Britain  and the Colonies may
 like the oak and ivy, grow and increafe in ftrcngth  together.  But
 whilft the infatuated plan of  making one part of the empire flaves to
 the other, is perfifted in; the intereft and- fafety o(Britaintzs well as
 the Colonies,  require  that  the wife meafures recommended by the
 honourable, the continental Congrefs, be fteadily purfued ; whereby
                                                            the; 
ia            An   0   R   A   T5  I J0 'W.

the unnatural conteft between a parent honoured, and a child beloved,
may probably be brought to fuch an ifTue. as that the peace and hap-
pinefs of both may be eftablifhed upon a Iafting bafis.  But if thefe
pacifie meafures are ineffectual, and it appears that the only way to
fafety is, thro' fields of blood, I know you will not turn your faces
from your foes ; but will undauntedly prefs forward, until  tyranny
is trodden under foot, and  you  have fixed your  adored goddefs
Liberty,  faft by a Brunswick's fide, on the American Throne.


   You then,  whb nobly have efpoufed your Cfountry s caufe, who  *
 generoufly have ficrlficed wealth and eafe—who have defpifed  the
 pomp and mew of tinfel'd  greatnefs—refufed  the fummons  to the
 feftive  board, been  deaf  to  the  alluring calls  of luxury  and
 mirth, who have forfaken the downy pillow, to keep your vigils by
 the midnight  lamp, for the falvation of your invaded country, that
 you might break the fowler's fnare,  and difappoint the vulture of
 his prey, you then will  reap that harveft of renown which  you fo
 juftly have  deferved.  Your country mall pay  her  grateful  tribute
 of  applaufe.   Even the children of your moft inveterate  enemies,
 amamed to tell from whom they fprarig, while they m fecret curfe
 their  ftopid,  cruel  parents,  lhall join the general voice of grati-
 tude to thofe who broke the fetters which their father's fbrg'd.
Having 
          An   O   R   A   T   I   O   N.           23

  Having redeemed your Country,  and fecurcd  the blefling to
future generations, who fired by  your example, fhall emulate your
virtues, and learn from yw  the  heavenly art of making millions
happy ;—-with heart-felt joy, with  tran%ort« all  your own, you
cry, the glorious Work is donju  Thea drop the mantle to
                                            IS
fome young Elish a, and  take your feats with kindred Ipirits in
your native Ikies.
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