Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1804-08-29

2be following extract is from Grafton de!ioeYed
ar Port hcyal on s6e ti6 Of July, By JoHN TAY-
LoE LoMAx.
THE moral is analogous to the physical world
We may trampe the herbage under out feet
with desolating hand. we may blast the .uxurian-
G and fertility of vegetation; we may the
l1ty forest to The ground nature by her WITTY
ing impulse protyudes her works again t,
our view, adorned in their pristine splendour and
beauty. Oppression for ! tine. may dim rhe eye
OF reason and s,hs the voice of truth. He may
wave high the crimsoned lash OF persecution.
lie may benuub the finer energies and faculties
OF the soul. He may t,ample under foot the pri.
viicges and rights Of man But man will rouse,
and then the bloody monster of inquity viii be
seen breathless At the ieet or AN injured and in
suited people-a pollution, abomination, a
honor.
If my fe'low.citizens, we take review OF the
trarsaSions of this revolution. what American
heart does NOT swell with exuliation No bloody
sacrifices blot the history of our struggles in the
cause of freedom-no victims appear marked out
to arpease the sanguinary f0rocity of an infuriat
ed nob--no terri rises appa the imagina,i
on-no enorrnity daTkens our brig ht path 10 the
temple OF liberty. We contended fer the esta.
bli shpenl Of rights, and did not seek to lab ne
our hauas III the blood Of our fellow beings. But
our firm, calm, and digniied efforts for this desi
rable Object were opposed on the other hand
by the fury Of a British war, aggravated by the
liorro Of civil confusion and the blood thirsty
vengeance which ;yranny inhias upon It's re6elki-
sl9ges. All the rules Of honorable warfare
consecrated for ages in the manly and generous
feelings Of the soldier, were spurned ahd dsre-
gsrueI, in order that the vindiaive spirit of a mo-
ther country might be sa'iated in the havoc, Iuin,
desolatlon and Despair of her sediiious colonies -
Devastation blasted every field; rapaciiy plum
dered every dwsling. the Indian warwhoop g.
chued IN our mountains, the savage fires glitter
ed along confines the reverence OF age. the
Charms of beauty, the heipisssness of infancy
were unavaiIing for protection every age, every
sex fell confused massacre under the unerrng
tomahawk and scalping knife, or mingled the
, shrieks of one hdiscriminale tormont. The
fame It civil discord and instruction kridled at
every lire side by night our villages and cities
cleaned a flaming ruin. BY day they smoked
dusky horror. The screams Of victims culver.
ing in the agonies of savage torture, mingled IN
the breezes from the west The grozns OF Ame-
rcan prisoners expiring in prison-ships howled
III the tempests from the east. In prison ships
IN prison ships, my feliOw-oitizens not exceeded
IN horrors by the black hole of Calcutta were
! bapless oaptives crouded and confined, doomed
| unpited and unseen, 20 lsnguish in disease, TO
parch with thirst and famine. TO pine under all
the complicated Initeries which want and cruelty
| iniii6 on man. When At length a slow reluctant
death chilled forever those hearts whose LAST throbs
were PATRIOTISM, and sealed those lips, which
seemed, even whenlife was eStinguishe to culver
with laultering blessings on US these captives,
who had fought our b. ,lts fought the battles of
freedom and OF man, were denied the common
| rights of sepulture. The last sad adieu which
The living bid TO the dead, lie last sad rite Of &c
igious lustTation which purihes the soul of man
tor heaven, and consecTatcs IL TO its God was dc
I med them And even at the close Of war our
whitened shores cleaned with their BLEACHING
unanneaed, unhallowed, skeletons lad a
stranger to the sad tale of our csanties taken /.
survey fihe universal ruin and dcsoati,n which
dukened our once happy lasd, nc would have
exclaimed -" What nefarious crime have these
people committed winch has called forth This
bloody expiration If guile With what ;mpiou,
sacrilege have they polluted tie altan or dcfiled
the worship cf their God 10 draw down from
angercd heaven his ailding visitation OF wrath
J With what iiecatouS lury have they tramped