ease, and bend their whole minds to mischief. It seems as if God had
given them over to a spirit of infidelity, and that they are open to
conviction in no other line but that of punishment. It is time to
have done with tarring, feathering, carting, and taking securities
for their future good behavior; every sensible man must feel a
conscious shame at seeing a poor fellow hawked for a show about the
streets, when it is known he is only the tool of some principal
villain, biassed into his offence by the force of false reasoning, or
bribed thereto, through sad necessity. We dishonor ourselves by
attacking such trifling characters while greater ones are suffered to
escape; 'tis our duty to find them out, and their proper punishment
would be to exile them from the continent for ever. The circle of
them is not so great as some imagine; the influence of a few have
tainted many who are not naturally corrupt. A continual circulation
of lies among those who are not much in the way of hearing them
contradicted, will in time pass for truth; and the crime lies not in
the believer but the inventor. I am not for declaring war with every
man that appears not so warm as myself: difference of constitution,
temper, habit of speaking, and many other things, will go a great way
in fixing the outward character of a man, yet simple honesty may
remain at bottom. Some men have naturally a military turn, and can
brave hardships and the risk of life with a cheerful face; others
have not; no slavery appears to them so great as the fatigue of arms,
and no terror so powerful as that of personal danger. What can we
say? We cannot alter nature, neither ought we to punish the son
because the father begot him in a cowardly mood. However, I believe
most men have more courage than they know of, and that a little at
first is enough to begin with. I knew the time when I thought that
the whistling of a cannon ball would have frightened me almost to
death; but I have since tried it, and find that I can stand it with