case a few weeks ago, but we soon ripen again into reason, collect
our strength, and while you are preparing for a triumph, we come upon
you with a defeat. Such it has been, and such it would be were you to
try it a hundred times over. Were you to garrison the places you
might march over, in order to secure their subjection, (for remember
you can do it by no other means,) your army would be like a stream of
water running to nothing. By the time you extended from New York to
Virginia, you would be reduced to a string of drops not capable of
hanging together; while we, by retreating from State to State, like a
river turning back upon itself, would acquire strength in the same
proportion as you lost it, and in the end be capable of overwhelming
you. The country, in the meantime, would suffer, but it is a day of
suffering, and we ought to expect it. What we contend for is worthy
the affliction we may go through. If we get but bread to eat, and any
kind of raiment to put on, we ought not only to be contented, but
thankful. More than that we ought not to look for, and less than that
heaven has not yet suffered us to want. He that would sell his
birthright for a little salt, is as worthless as he who sold it for
pottage without salt; and he that would part with it for a gay coat,
or a plain coat, ought for ever to be a slave in buff. What are salt,
sugar and finery, to the inestimable blessings of "Liberty and
Safety!" Or what are the inconveniences of a few months to the
tributary bondage of ages? The meanest peasant in America, blessed
with these sentiments, is a happy man compared with a New York Tory;
he can eat his morsel without repining, and when he has done, can
sweeten it with a repast of wholesome air; he can take his child by
the hand and bless it, without feeling the conscious shame of
neglecting a parent's duty.

In publishing these remarks I have several objects in view.