Page images
PDF
EPUB

SPEECH OF PATRICK HENRY.

[ocr errors]

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 syren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the

part of wise men, engaged in a great, and arduous struggle for lib'erty? 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 their 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 wa'ters, and darken our land. | Are fleets, and armies necessary to a work of love, and reconcilia'tion? | 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 subjuga'tion 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? |

Has Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world to call for all this accumulation of navies, and ar'mies? No, sir, she has none'. They are meant for us they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind, and rivet upon us | those chains which the British ministry have been so long for ging. | And what have we to oppose to them? | Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. | Have we any thing new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; | but it has been all in vain. |

Shall we resort to entreaty, and humble supplica'tion? What terms shall we find, which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. | Sir, we have done every thing that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. | We have petitioned; | we have remon'strated; we have supplicated; | we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry, and parliament. | Our petitions have been sligh'ted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence, and in'sult; | our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned with contempt, from the foot of the throne. I

-

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 I have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained', | 2we 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. I

a

Brit'ân; not Brit'n.

b

Eg-hast'èd; not êgż-żåst'èd.

I unable to
But when

They tell us, sir, that we are weak, cope with so formidable an adversary. 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 inac'tion? | 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'? | Sir, 1 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 people, | "armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible under any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone: 'there is a just God. | who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friends' to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the ac'tive, the brave. | Besides, sir, | we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission, and slavery. | Our chains are forged their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston. The war is inevitable; and let it come! I repeat it, sir― | let it come !! |

[ocr errors]

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. | Gentlemen may cry peace! peace! | but there is, no peace. I The war is actually begun! | The next gale that sweeps from the north, I will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! | Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains, and sla'very? I know not what course others may take; | but, as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! |

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

HYMN TO THE DEITY ON A REVIEW OF THE SEASONS.

(THOMSON.)

These, as they change, | Almighty Father, these
Are but the varied God. The rolling year
Is full of thee. | Forth in the pleasing Spring |
Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness and love. |
Wide flush the fields'; the soft'ning air is balm. ; |
Echo the mountains round; the forest smiles. ; }
And ev'ry sense', | and ev'ry heart is joy. |

Then comes thy glo'ry | in the Summer months, |
With light, and heat refulgent. Then thy sun
Shoots full perfection through the swelling year; |
And oft thy voice in dreadful thunder, speaks; |
And oft at dawn', | deep noon', or falling eve', |
By brooks, and groves, | in hollow-whisp'ring gales. |
Thy bounty shines in Autumn unconfin'd, |
And spreads a common feast for all that live. |
In Winter, awful thou! | with clouds, and storms
Around thee thrown, | tempest o'er tempest roll'd', |
Majestic darkness! on the whirlwind's wing,
Riding sublime, thou bidst the world adore'; ¦
And humblest Nature with thy northern blast. |

Mysterious round! | what skill, what force divine', Į
!
Deep felt, in these, appear! | a simple train, |
Yet so delightful mix'd, with such kind art,a |
Such beauty, and beneficence combin❜d: |
Shade, unperceiv'd, so soft'ning into shade', |
And all so forming an harmonious whole', ]
That, as they still succeed, they rav'ish still. |

But, wand'ring oft, with brute unconscious gaze, |
Man marks not thee, marks not the mighty hand, |
That, ever busy, wheels the silent spheres, |

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Works in the secret deep', | shoots, steaming, thence, |
The fair profusion that o'erspreads the spring,
Flings from the sun direct the flaming day`, |
Feeds ev'ry creature, hurls the tempest forth; |
And, as on earth this grateful change revolves,
With transport, touches all the springs of life.

[ocr errors]

Nature, attend! | join ev'ry living soul, |
Beneath the spacious temple of the sky', |
In adoration, join, | and ardent raise
One general song! | To him, ye vocal gales, |
Breathe soft; whose spirit in your fresh ness breathes:
O talk of him in solitary glooms! |

Where, o'er the rock, the scarcely waving pine |
Fills the brown shade with a religious awe. |

And ye

whose bolder note is heard afar', |

Who shake the astonish'd world, lift high to heaven The impetuous song`, | and say from whom you rage. |

His praise, ye brooks', attune,d | ye trembling rills, |
And let me catch it as I muse along.

Ye headlong torrents, | rapid, and profound;
Ye softer floods that lead the humid maze
Along the vale, and thou, majestic_main', |
A secret world of wonders in thyself, I

Sound his stupendous praise, whose greater voice,
Or bids you roar, or bids your roarings fall. |

Soft roll your incense, herbs,, and fruits', and flow'rs,
In mingled clouds to him whose sun exalts';
Whose breath perfumes you; and whose pencil
paints. |

Ye forests, bend; | ye harvests, wave to him; |
Breathe your still song into the reaper's heart', ]
As home he goes beneath the joyous moon.

[blocks in formation]

C

|

b Ar'dent; not ardunt. Religious awe; not relid Brooks attune; not brooks'sur-tune.

« PreviousContinue »