millions, the British ministry still hug the darling | Approach we then the melancholy walk of death. idol; and every rolling year affords fresh instances Hither let me call the gay companion; here let of the absurd devotion with which they worship it. [him drop a farewell tear upon that body which so Alas! how has the folly, the distraction of the Bri-late he saw vigorous and warm with social mirth tish councils, blasted our swelling hopes, and spread-hither let me lead the tender mother to weep a gloom over this western hemisphere. over her beloved son-come widowed mourner, The hearts of Britons and Americans, which here satiate thy grief; behold thy murdered husband lately felt the generous glow of mutual confidence gasping on the ground, and to complete the pompous and love, now burn with jealousy and rage. Though show of wretchedness, bring in each hand thy infant but of yesterday, I recollect (deeply affected at children to bewail their father's fate-take heed, the ill-boding change) the happy hours that past ye orphan babes, lest, whilst your streaming eyes whilst Britain and America rejoiced in the prospe- are fixed upon the ghastly corpse, your feet slide rity and greatness of each other (heaven grant those on the stones bespattered with your father's braină.* halcyon days may soon return.) But now the Bri. Enough! this tragedy need not be heightened by ton too often looks on the American with an en- an infant weltering in the blood of him that gave vious eye, taught to consider his just plea for the it birth. Nature reluctant, shrinks already from enjoyment of his earnings, as the effect of pride the view, and the chilled blood rolls slowly backand stubborn opposition to the parent country. ward to its fountain. We wildly stare about, and Whilst the American beholds the Briton, as the ruf- with amazement, ask who spread this ruin round fian, ready frst to take away his property, and next, us? what wretch has dared deface the image of his what is still dearer to every virtuous man, the li-Gon? has haughty France, or cruel Spain, sent berty of his country. forth her myrmidons? has the grim savage rushed When the measures of administration had dis-again from the far distant wilderness? or does some gusted the colonies to the highest degree, and the people of Great Britain had, by artifice and falsehood, been irritated against America, an army was sent over to enforce submission to certain acts of deadly arrows at our breast? no; none of thesethe British parliament, which reason scorned to countenance, and which placemen and pensioners were found unable to support.

fiend, fierce from the depth of hell, with all the rancorous malice which the apostate damned can feel, twang her destructive bow, and hurl her

but, how astonishing! it is the hand of Britain that inflicts the wound. The arms of George, our right. ful king, have been employed to shed that blood, when justice, or the honor of his crown, had called his subjects to the field.

But pity, grief, astonishment, with all the softer movements of the soul, must now give way to stronger passions. Say, fellow-citizens, what dread ful thought now swells your heaving bosoms-you fly to arms-sharp indignation flashes from each eye-revenge gnashes her iron teeth-death grins

Martial law and the government of a well regu. lated city, are so entirely different, that it has always been considered as improper to quarter troops in populous cities; frequent disputes must necessarily arise between the citizen and the soldier, even if no previous animosities subsist. And it is further certain, from a consideration of the nature of mankind, as well as from constant experience, that standing armies always endanger the liberty an hideous smile, secure to drench his greedy jaws of the subject. But when the people on the one in human gore-whilst hovering furies darken all part, considered the army as sent to englave them, the air. and the army on the other, were taught to look on the people as in a state of rebellion, it was but just to fear the most disagreeable consequences. Our fears, we have seen, were but too well grounded.

But stop, my bold adventurous countrymen, stain not your weapons with the blood of Britons. Attend to reason's voice-humanity puts in her claim-and sues to be again admitted to her wonted seat, the The many injuries offered to the town, I pass bosom of the brave. Revenge is far beneath the over in silence. I cannot now mark out the path noble mind. Many, perhaps, compelled to rank which led to that unequalled scene of horror, the among the vile assassins, do from their inmost sad remembrance of which, takes the full posses-souls, detest the barbarous action. The winged sion of my soul. The sanguinary theatre again death, shot from your arms, may chance to pierce opens itself to view. The baleful images of terror croud around me--and discontented ghosts, with hollow groans, appear to solemnize the anniversary

of the FIFTH OF MARCH.

*After Mr. Gray had been shot through the body, and had fallen dead on the ground, a bayonet was pushed through his skuli; part of the bone being broken, his brains fell out upon the pavement.

some breast that bleeds already for your injured you. Her arms, 'tis true, have filled the world country.

The storm subsides-a solemn pause ensues—

you spare, upon condition they depart. They go -they quit your city-they no more shall give offence.Thus closes the important drama.

And could it have been conceived that we again should have seen a British army in our land, sent to enforce obedience to acts of parliament destructive of our liberty. But the royal ear, far distant from this western world, has been assaulted by the tongue of slander; and villains, traitorous alike to king and country, have prevailed upon a gracious prince to cloath his countenance with wrath, and to erect the hostile banner against a people ever affectionate and loyal to him and his illustrious predecessors of the house of Hanover Our streets are again filled with armed men: our harbor is crowded with ships of war; but these cannot intimidate us; our liberty must be perserved; it is far dearer than life, we hold it even dear as our allegiance; we must defend it against the attacks of friends as well as enemies; we cannot suffer even BRITONS to ravish it from us.

with terror: br troops have reaped the laurels of the field: her fleets have road triumphant on the sea-and when, or where, did you, my countrymen, depart inglorious from the field of fight?* you too can shew the trophies of your forefather's victories and your own; can name the fortresses and battles you have won; and many of you count the honor. able scars of wounds received, whilst fighting for your king and country.

Where justice is the standard, heaven is the warrior's shield: but conscious guilt unnerves the arm that lifts the sword against the innocent. Bri. tain, united with these colonies, by commerce and affection, by interest and blood, may mock the threats of France and Spain: may be the seat of universal empire. But should America, either by force, or those more dangerous engines, luxury and corruption, ever be brought into a state of vassalage, Britain must lose her freedom also. No longer shall she sit the empress of the sea: her ships no more shall waft her thunders over the wide ocean: the wreath shall wither on her temples: her weakened arm shall be unable to defend her coasts: and she, at last, must bow her venerable head to some

No longer could we reflect with generous pride, proud foreigner's despotic rule.

on the heroic actions of our American forefathers, -no longer boast our origin from that far-famed island, whose warlike sons have so often drawn their well tried swords to save her from the ravages of tyranny; could we, but for a moment, entertain the thought of giving up our liberty. The man who meanly will submit to wear a shackle, contemns the noblest gift of heaven, and impiously affronts the Gon that made him free.

But if, from past events, we may venture to form a judgment of the future, we justly may expect that the devices of our enemies will but increase the triumphs of our country. I must indulge a hope that Britain's liberty, as well as ours, will eventually be preserved by the virtue of America. The attempt of the British parliament to raise a

The patience with which this people have borne the repeated injuries which have been heaped upon them, and their unwillingness to take any It was a maxim of the Roman people, which sanguinary measures, has, very injudiciously, been eminently conduced to the greatness of that state, in Great Britain. I most heartily wish, that an ascribed to cowardice, by persons both here and never to despair of the commonwealth. The maxim opinion, so erroneous in itself, and so fatal in its may prove as salutary to us now, as it did to them. consequences, might be utterly removed before it Short-sighted mortals see not the numerous links be too late: and I think nothing further necessary to convince every intelligent man, that the conof small and great events, which form the chain duct of this people is owing to the tender regard on which the fate of kings and nations is suspended. which they have for their fellow-men and an utter Ease and prosperity (though pleasing for a day) abhorrence to the shedding of human blood, than a little attention to their general temper and dishave often sunk a people into effeminacy and sloth.position, discovered when they cannot be supposed Hardships and dangers (tho' we forever strive to shun them) have frequently called forth such virtues, as have commanded the applause and reverence of an admiring world. Our country loudly calls you to be circumspect, vigilant, active and brave. Perhaps, (all gracious heaven avert it) perhaps, the power of Britain, a nation great in war, by some malignant influence, may be employ ed to enslave you: but let not even this discourage

to be under any apprehension of danger to themselves. I will only mention. the universal detesta- . tion which they shew to every act of cruelty, by whom, and upon whomsoever committed; the mild spirit of their laws; the very few crimes to which capital penalties are annexed; and the very great backwardness which both courts and juries dis cover, in condemning persons charged with capital crimes.-But if any should think this observation not to the purpose, I readily appeal to those genthemen of the army who have been in the camp, or in the field, with the Americans.

revenue from America, and our denial of their himself, would breed a serpent to destroy his child. right to do it, have excited an almost universal enquiry into the right of mankind in general, and of British subjects in particular; the necessary result of which must be such a liberality of senti ment, and such a jealousy of those in power, as will, better than an adamantine wall, secure us against the future approaches of despotism.

You then, who nobly have espoused your country's cause, who generously have sacrificed wealth and ease who have despised the pomp and shew of tinseled greatness-refused the summons to the festive board-been deaf to the alluring calls of

Even the sending troops to put these acts in execution, is not without advantages to us. The exactness and beauty of their discipline inspire our youth with ardor in the pursuit of military luxury and mirth-who have forsaken the downy knowledge. Charles the invincible, taught Peter the great, the art of war. The battle of Pultowa convinced Charles of the proficiency Peter had made.

ORATION DELIVERED AT WATERTOWN," MARCH 5, 1776, mandates; but the baneful influence which they

BY PETER THACHER M. A.

Asellum in prato timidus pascebat senex

Is, hostium clamore subito territus,
Suadebat afino fugere, ne possent capi.
At ille lentus: quæso, num dinas mihi,
Clitellas imposituram victorem putas?
Senex negavit. Ergo quid refert mea,

Cui serviam? Clitellas dum portem mess.-Phædrus.

now have upon the interests of individuals, and of society, would come to a period: they would not revel in the spoils of nations, nor trample upon the ruins of public liberty.

Conscious of this, they have used arguments,

My friends-When the ambition of princes in-and pursued methods, entirely different from these, duces them to break over the sacred barriers of to effect their designs; instead of convincing the social compact, and to violate those rights, which understandings, they have addressed themselves it is their duty to defend, they will leave no methods to the passions of men: the arts of bribery and unessayed to bring the people to acquiesce in their corruption have been tried with a fatal successa unjustifiable encroachments. men, we know, have sold their children, their country, and their God, for a small quantity of painted dirt, which will perish with the using.

In this cause, the pens of venal authors have, in every age, been drawn: with Machiavilian subtilty, they have labored to persuade mankind, that their public happiness consisted in being subject to uncontroled power; that they were incapable of judging concerning the mysteries of government; and that it was their interest to deliver their estates, their liberties, and their lives, into the hands of an absolute monarch.

Mitred hypocrites, and cringing, base souled priests, have impiously dared to enlist the oracles of Gon into the service of despotism; to assert that, by the command of the supreme law-giver, we are bound to surrender our rights into the hands of the first bold tyrant who dares to seize them; and that when they are so seized, it is rebellion against GOD, ́and treason against the prince, for us to attempt to resume them.

Depraved as is the human understanding, it hath yet strength enough to discern the ridiculous fallacy of these assertions: the votaries of ignorance and superstition may, indeed, be imposed upon by them.

Extensive as are the revenues of princes, they are still inadequate to the purpose of bribing large communities to submit to their pleasure; corrupt. ing therefore a few, they have overawed the rests from small beginnings, and under specious pretenses, they will raise a standing military force, the most successful engine ever yet wielded by the hand of lawless domination.

With such a force, it is easy for an ambitious prince, possessed by nature of very slender abilities, to subvert every principle of liberty in the constitu tion of his government, and to render his people the most abject of slaves: if any individual feels the injury done to his country, and wishes to restore it to a state of happiness, with a bayonet at his breast, a dragoon will compel him to silence; if the people, awakened to see their interest and their duty, assemble for the same purpose, a military force is at hand to subdue them, and by leaden arguments, to convince them of their error.

When we place unlimited confidence in An easy task would it be to enlarge upon the our civil or spiritual fathers, we can swallow, with fatal consequences of keeping up such a standing ease, the most improbable dogmas: but there are feelings in the human heart, which compel men to army in time of peace, and of quartering a lawless body of men, who despise the just restraints of recognize their own rights-to venerate the macivil authority, in free and populous cities: that no jesty of the people-and to despise the insult which is offered to their understandings by these vestige of freedom can remain in a state where doating absurdities. Had princes no other methods such a force exists: that the morals of the people to accomplish their purposes, could they not estab. will be gradually corrupted: that they will con. tract such an habit of tame submission, as to belish their usurpation, without convincing men's come an easy prey to the brutal tyrant who rules judgments of their utility? they would be more barmless to mankind than they have ever yet been. them, hath been heretofore largely and plainly demonstrated, by persons so much more capable They might be surrounded with the fascinating of doing it, than he who is speaking, that it would gewgaws of regal pomp; a few parasites might bow be presumption in him to attempt it now. the knee before these idols of their own creating; the weak and the wicked might obey their

There is no need of recurring to the ancient histories of Greece and Rome, for instances of *Boston was at this time garrisoned by the Bri-these truths. The British nation, once famous for tish troops, and the inhabitants were in the coun try: which occasioned this oration to be delivered its attachment to freedom, and enthusiastically at Watertown, jealous of its rights, is now become a great tame

beast, which fetches and carries for any minister with the corpses of five of its inhabitants, murdered who pleases to employ it. in cool blood, by the British mercenaries.

The indignant rage which swelled your bosoms upon this occasion- the fortitude and humanity which you discovered---the anguish of the friends and relatives of the dead and wounded, with all the horrors of that memorable night, have been painted in vivid colors by an HANCOCK and a WARREN; they have shewn the necessity of those exertions made by the town, which defeated, at that time, the designs of the enemies to American liberty, and preserved us, for the present, from the

calamities of war.

Englishmen have been wont to boast of the excellence of their constitution; to boast that it contained whatever was excellent in every form of government hitherto, by the wit of man, devised: in their king, whose power was limited, they have asserted that they enjoyed the advantages of monarchy, without fear of its evils: while their house of commons, chosen by the suffrages of the people, and dependent upon them, represented a republic, their house of peers, forming a balance of power between the king and the people, gave them the benefit of an aristocracy. In theory, the But the past year hath presented us with a British constitution is, on many accounts, excel- tragedy more striking, because more extensive, lent; but when we observe it reduced to practice, than this: a tragedy, which more plainly proves the when we observe the British government, as it has fatal effects of keeping up standing armies in time been, for a long course of years administered, we of peace, than any arguments whatsoever. we have must be convinced that its boasted advantages are seen the ground crimsoned with the gore of hunnot real: the management of the public revenue, dreds of our fellow-citizens;...we have seen the first the appointment of civil and military officers, are city in America, for wealth and extent, depopulated vested in the king: improving these advantages -we have seen others destroyed, and heard our which these powers give him, he hath found means savage enemies breathing out thirstings for our to corrupt the other branches of the legislature; blood.

Britons please themselves with the thought of Finding their arts insufficient to flatter, or their being free, their tyrant suffers them to enjoy the treasures to bribe, the people of America out of shadow, whilst he himself grasps the substance of their freedom, the British government determined, power. Impossible would it have been for the kings by force, to subjugate them to their arbitrary will; of England to have acquired such an exorbitant in consequence of this determination, a large party power, had they not had a standing army under of their troops marched from Boston, on the morn. their command: with the officers of this army, they ing of the ever memorable nineteenth of April last: have bribed men to sacrifice the rights of their flushed with the hopes of certain victory, and country: having artfully got their arms out of the defying the armies of the living Gon, they broke hands of the people, with their mercenary forces through every divine and political obligation; they they have awed them into submission. When they wantoned in cruelty; they shed again American have appeared, at any time, disposed to assert their freedom, these troops have been ready to obey the mandates of their sovereign, to imbrue their hands in the blood of their brethren.

blood.

Aroused by the unprovoked injury, like a lion awaking from his slumber, we sprang to arms! we felt ourselves inspired with the spirit of our Having found the efficacy of this method to ancestors; we heard our brethren's blood crying quell a spirit of liberty in the people of Great to us for vengeance; we rushed into the midst of Britain, the righteous administration of the righteous battle: we compelled our enemies to betake themking George the third, determined to try the ex- selves to disgraceful flight; we pursued them with periment upon the people of America. To fright avidity, and desisted not till they took refuge in us into submission to their unjustifiable claims, that city, of which, by fraud and treachery, they they sent a military force to the town of Boston. had possessed themselves. This day leads us to reflect upon the fatal effects Trusting to the divine protection, from that of the measure! by their intercourse with troops, hour we determined never to sheathe the sword, made up in general of the most abandoned of men, till we had reparation for our injuries; tiil we had the morals of our youth were corrupted: the temples secured our own freedom and the freedom of our and the day of our GoD were scandalously profa posterity: from that hour the den of enemies hath ned: we experienced the most provoking insults; been surrounded by an American army, brave and and at length saw the streets of Boston strewed determined: although they had before boasted of