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 bands 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 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 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 or 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!


XXXI.

THE SAME CONCLUDED.

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?