The Virginia gazette — Williamsburg, Va., 1777-01-17 00:00:00, page 1

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By the authorofConnoN Szuu.
UT beshrc the line osirrecoverablc sepa—
B rationbcdrawnbctweenus, letmrea
finn the matter together. Your conduct
is an imitation to the enemy, yet not one
in a thousand of you has heart enough to
join him. Howc is as much deceived by
You as the American cause is injured by
you; He expects 'ou will al} take up arms,
and flock to llil (Zandard with mulkcts on
your shoulders. Your opinions are of no
use to him, unless you support him per
fimally: for it is sold'ters, and not Tories,
that he wants.
! once felt all that kind ofanger, which
a man ought to feel, against the mean
principle: that are held by the Tories. A
noted one, who kept :: tavern at Amboy,
was standing at his door, with as pretty
a child in his hand , about eight or nine
years old, as most I ever saw, and after
speaking his mind as freely as he thought
was prudent, finished with this unsatherly
expression, " Well! give me peace in my
day." Not a man lives on the continent
but fully believes that a separation must
shme time or other finally take place, and
ssa generous parent would have said, " if
there must be trouble, let it be in ny day,
that ny child may have peace;" and this
,single refiectian,_ well applied , is sufficient
to awake:: every man to duty. Not a
place upon earth might be so happ as
America. Her situation is remote' rom
all the wrangling world, and she has no
thing to do but trade with them. A man
may easily distinguish insihimself between
temper and principle; and I am as confi
dent, as ] am that Goo governs the world ,
that America will never be happy till she
gets clear of foreign dominion. Wars,
without ceasing, will break out till that
period arrives, and the continent must in
the end be conqueror; for though the flame
of liberty may sometimes cease to shine,
the coal can never expire.
_ America did not, nor does not, want
force ; but she wanted a proper application
of that force. Wisdom is not the purchase
of a day, and it.is no wonder that we
should en- at first setting off. From an
excess of tenderness, we were unwilling
to raise an army, and trusted our cause to
the temporary defence of a well meaning
militia. A summer's experience has now
taught us better ; yet with those troops,
wbi'le they were coflected, we were able
to s-sst bounds to the progress of the enemy,
and, thank GoD! they are again assem
bsing. ] always considered a militia as
the best troops in the world for a sudden
exertion, but they will not do for a long
eampaign. Howe, it is probable, will
make an attempt on this city. Should he
fzi! on this {isile the Dclaware, he is ru'med;
if" he succeeds, our cause is not ru'med.
He (takes all on his side against a part on
mlrs. Advnitting 11: succeds, the conse
qu-zxwe will be, that armias srom both
ends of the contincnt mill march to affist
their suffering friends inss the middle states;
for he cannot go every where, it is im
pcsixssllsle, ] consider Howe as the greatest
enemy the Toricl huve ; he is bringing &
war into their country, which, had it not
been for himct, and partly For themselves,
they had beenclear of. Should he be now
expelled, ] wish, with all the devotion of
a Christian, that the names of Whig and
Torv may never more he mentioned; but
should the Tories give him encourage
menr tn come- nr nfflsi'anca is he came.
I as sincerely wish that our next year's arms
may expel them from the continent, and
the Congrcss appropriate their possesiions
to the relics of those who have suffered in
wefl-doing. A single successful battle,
next ear, willsettle the whole. America
coal carry on : two years war !) the
confiscation of the property of disuffzcted
persons, and be made happy by their ex
ulsion. Say not that this isrevengc; call
it rather the soft resentment ol a suffering
people, who, having' no object in view
but the good of all, have staked their own
all upon a seemingly doubtsui evem. Yet
it is folly to argue against determined
hardness; eloquence may strike the ear,
and the language of sorrow draw forth the
tear of compa ion, but nothing can reach
the heart that is stecicd with prejudice.
Quitting this class osmen, ] turn, with
the warm ardour of a friend, to those who
have nobly stood, and are yet determined
to Hand, the matter out. ] call not upon
a few, but upon all ; not on this state or
that state, but on every state. Up and
help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel;
better have too much force than too little,
when so great an object is at stake. siLet
it be told to the future world, that in
the depth of winter, when nothing but
hope and virtue could survive, that the
city and the country, alarmed at one
common danger, came forth to meet and
repulse it. Say not, that lhousands are
gone; turn out your ten: of thousands.
Throw not the burthen of the da upon
providence, but, " show your fZith' by
" your works," that Goo may blefl you'.
It matters not where you live, or what
rank of life you hold ; the evil or the bles
sing will reach you all. The far and the
near, the home counties and the back,
the rich and the poor, shall sufferorrtjoice
alike. The heart that feels not, now, is
dead. The blood of his children shall
curse his cowardiCe who shrinks back at a
time when a little might have saved the
whole, and made them happy. ] love
the man that can smile in trouble, that
can gather strength from distress, and
grow brave by reflection. it is the busi
ness oflittle minds to shrink; but he whose
heart is firm, and whose conscience ap—
proves his conduct. will pursue his princi
pies unto death. My own line of reason
ing is to myself as straight and clear as &
ray oslight. Not all the treasure: of the
world, so far as I believe, could have in
duced me to support an offeosive war, for
[think it murder; but if a thiesb tak: 'mto
my house, burn: and deltruys my proper-_
ty, and endeavour: to kill me, or those
that are in it, and to " biudme in allca/Z-r
whatfimver" to his absolme will, am [to
suffer it? When signifies}: to me whether
he who does it be a king or a common
man, my countryman. or not my coun
tryman? Whether it is done by an indi
vidual villain, or an army of them? If
ct we reashu to the root of things, we shall
find no difference; neither can any iust
cause be assigned why we should puuish in
the one cale, and pardon in the other.
Let them call me rebel, and welcome, ]
see] no concern from it; but ] should sus
ser the misery of devils were I to make :
whose of my soul by swearing aliegiznce
to one whose characteris that of: sottish,
shipid, stubborn, worthlesi, brutish man.
] conceive likewise a horrid idea in receil
ing mercy from :: being uho at the last
day shall be shrieking to the rock: and
mountains to cover him, and fleeing wi;b
terrour from the orphan, the widow, and
the (lain of America.
There are cases which cannot be over
donebyiangnage, and thisis one. There
are person: too who see not the full extent
of the evil that threaten: them; they so
lace themselveswith hopes that the enemy,
if they succeed, will be merciful. it is
the madness of so" to expect mercy s rom
those who have ressihsed to do justice ; and
even mercy, where conquest is the object,
is only a trick of War. The cunning of
the fox is as murderous as the violence of
the wolf, and we ought to guard equally
against both. Howe's sirst oltjectis, part
ly by threats, and partly by promises,
to terrisy or seduce the people to deliver
up their arms, and receive mercy._ The
ministry recommended the same plan to
(33 e, and this it what the Torics call
m ing their peace; " apace which pas
" ]Z-thalluuderstanding," indeed! apace
which would be the immediate sorcrunner
of a worse ruin than any we have yet
thought of. Ye men of Pennsylvania, do
reason upon those things ! Were the back
countics to give up their arms, they would
fall an easy prey to the lndians, who are
all armed. This perhaps is what some
Tories would not be sorry sor. Were the
home counties to deliver up their arms',
thev would be exposed to the resentmcuc
of the back counties, who would then have
it in their power to chastise their desection
at pleasure; and were any one state to
give up its arms, that state must he garri
soned by all Howe's army os Britons and
Heffians to preserve it from the anger of
the rest. Mutualsear is a principal link in
the chain of mutual love, and woe be to
that statelhat breaks the compact. Howe
is mercistu inviting you to barbarous
destruction, and men mustbe either rc gucs
or sools that will not see it. [dwell not
upon the vapour! osimag'mation, ! bring
reason to ) nor can ; and in language, as
plain as A. B. C. hold up truth to your
eyen.