whatever you do, you will never destroy. I warn you, your labor is lost; you will not extinguish it, you will not confuse it. Far easier to drag the rock from the bottom of the sea, than the sentiment of right from the heart of the people! 9. RESISTANCE TO BRITISH AGGRESSION.-Patrick Henry. MR. PRESIDENT: It is natural to 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 siren, 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 our 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 justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House? Is it that insidious smile with which our petition 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. 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? 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 rivot upon us those chains which the British ministry have boon so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication P What terms shall we find which have not already been 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, wo have prostrated ourselves before the Throne, and have im plored 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. If we wish to be free, if wa mean to preserve inviolate those 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! 10. THE WAR INEVITABLE, MARCH, 1775.-Patrick Henry. 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 disármed, 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 supínely on our 1 0 w tr C Ft to br C Ft and W to 1 BO backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hópe, until our enemies 1 BO Ft 1 BO W 1 B C shall have bound us | hand | and foót? Sír, 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 Péople, armed in the holy cause of liberty, mf RO 1 m RO and in such a country as that which we posséss, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight hLO our battles alone. There is a just | God who presides over the desti nies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles fòr fRO The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, us. 1 RO Ft W m s Ꭱ Ꮯ the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no elèction. If we were wms RC w tr RC to br C W m s C base enough to desîre it, it is now too | làte to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slàvery! Our chains are 1 LO S L forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The fLO BO 1 B O war is inevitable; and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it còme! 1 LO It is in vain, sir, to exténuate the matter. Gentlemen may crý, m LO m LO m SLC C péace, 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 S Ꭱ 0 1 Ꭱ clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! 1 LO Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life | so | déar | or peace | so | swéet | as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, h B C drop back 1 BC Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for drop BC во m BO me, give me liberty, or give me death! 11. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.- Supposed Speech of John Adams, in the Continental Congress, July, 1776.-Daniel Webster. Sink or swim, live or diè, survíve or pèrish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote! It is true, indeed, that, in the beginning, we aimed not at independence. But there is a Divinity which shapes our ends. The injustice of England has driven us to arms; and, blinded to her own interest for our good, she has obstinately persisted, till independence is now to reach forth to it, and it is oùrs. declaration? That measure will 1 R Ft within our grasp. We have but W 1 s RC Why, then, should we defèr the 1 RO snatch to waist C Ft strengthen us. It will give us The cause | will raise up àrmies; - the cause | tr RCF to will create nàvies. The people,—the people,—if we are true to br w RC to m C w Ctr to br C W to f C them, will carry ús, and will carry themselves, gloriously | through | this struggle. Sir, the declaration will inspire the people with increased | courage. Instead of a long | and bloody | wár for restoration of privileges, | for redress | of grievances, | for chartered | immunities, held under a British | kíng, | set before them the glori h Во h B ous | object of entire | independence, and it will breathe into them C falling BC pr anew the breath of life. Read this declaration at the head of the tr C Ft h C to waist WRC ármy; - every sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and the solh C falling to C pr emn | vow | uttered, to maintain it, or to perish on the bed of honor. Publish it from the púlpit; - religion will approve it, and the love tr L C and to 8 L C of religious liberty will cling | round it, resolved to stand | with it, m SL C or fall with it. Send it to the public halls; proclaim it three; let them | hear it who heard the first | roar of the enemy's | cannon,-let them | see it who saw their brothers and their suns fàll on the field to m 8 C m 8 RC m SRC of Bunker Hill, and in the streets of Lexington and Concord,—and the very walls will cry out in its support! Sir, I know the uncertainty of human affairs; but I see | clearly | through this day's business. You and I, indeed, may rûe it. We may not live to see the time when this declaration shall be w 1 L C 1 LO made good. We may die,- die còlomists; die slàves; die, it may be, 1L C wms LC wlLC WILC ignominiously, and on the scaffold! Be it so! be it so! If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready at the appointed hour of sacri fice, come when that hour may. But while I dò live, let me have a во h BO wide 1 BO country, or, at least, the hope of a country, and that a free country. But, whatever may be our fate, be assured that this declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood; but it will slowly lift stand, and it will richly compensate for both. Through the thick | gloom of the present I see the brightness of the future, as the sùn We shall make this a glòrious, an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our children will honor it. They will W 1 Во B C m BO cèlebrate it with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. On its annual return, they will shed tears,— còpious, gushing tears, not of subjection and slávery, not of ágony and BC h BO m во 1 Во distress,—but of exultation, of gratitude, and of joy. Sír, before God, I believe the hour is còme! My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. h RO 1 RO fRO All that I have, and all that I ám, f RC pr and all that I hope, in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon drop bk R C it; and I leave óff, as I begần, that, live or die, survive or pèrish, I am for the declaration! It is my living | sentiment, | and, by the m BO blessing of God, it shall be my dying | sentiment,- INDEPEND |