The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1853-02-09

| Tefoiul!on. III Is a discourse delivered OH
the eve OF the battle of Brandywinc, by
kev. Joab Troute, to large portion of the
American soldiers, in presence of General
Washington, Gen. Wayne, and other Off
GERS Of the army:
Soldiers and Countrymen-Wc have
met this evening, perhaps, for the last
time. We have shared the toll of the
march, the peril of the fight, and the dis
may of the retreat, alike; we have cndur-
ed the cold and hunger, the contumely Of
the eternal foe and the courage of the
foreign oppressor. We have sat, night
after night, beside the campfire; we have
together heard the roll ofthe reveilIe which
called us to duty, or the beat of the tattoo
which gave the signal for the hardy sleep
OF the soldier, with the earth for his bed
and the knapsack for his pillow.
And now, soldiers and brethren, we
have met in this peaceful valley on the
eve OF battle, while the sunlight is dying
away beyond yonder heights, the sunlight
that tomorrow morn will glimmer on
scenes of blood. We have met amid the
whitening tents of our encampment; in
the time of terror and gloom we have
gathered together. God grant that it may
not be for the last time.
1t IS n solemn moment. Brethren. does
not the solemn voice of nature seem to
echo the sympathies of the hour! The
Nag OF our country droops heavily from
yonder staff; the breeze has died away
along the green plain of Chadd's Ford,
the plain that spreads before us, glittering
in sunlight; the heights of Brandywine
arises gloomy and grand beyond the wa
tcrs OF yondcr stream; all nature hold a
pause OF solemn silence on the eve of up-
roar and bloodshed and strife of to-mor
row.
"ihey that take the sword shall perish
by the sword"
And have they not taken the sword9
Let the desolate plain, the blood-soddcn
valley, the burned farmhouse blackening
in the sun, the sacked village and the raw
aged town answer; lot the whitcned bones
OF the butchcred farmer, strewn along the
hclds OF his homestead, answer; let the
starving mother,with the babe clinging to
the withered breast that can afford no sus-
tenance, let her answer with the death rat
lie mingling with the murmurng tones
let the mother and her babe answer.
1t was but day past, and our land
slept IN the quiet of peace. War was not
here. Fraud and woe and want dwelt not
among us. From the eternal solitude of
the green woods arose the blue smoke of
the settlers cabin, and golden fields of
corn looked from amid the waste of the
wilderness, and the glad music OF human
voices awoke the silence of the forest.
Now, God of mercy, behold the change.
Under the shadow of prctcxt, under the
sanctity Of the name of God, invoking the
Rcdecmer to their aid, do these foreign
h'rellngs slay our people. They throng
our towns-they darken our plains, and
now they encompass our posts on the lone
ly plain of Chadd's Ford.
"They that take the sword shall perish
| by the sword"
Brethren, think me not unworthy of
belief when | tell you that the doom Of
the British is near. Think me not vain
when | tell you that beyond the cloud that
now cnshrouds us, see gathering thick
and fast, the darker cloud and thicker
storm of divine retributionl
| SohluSI us slo-InoTTOW. MlOIlL
and wrong may prevail, and we may be
driven from the field; but the hour of
Gods own vengeance will come!
| Aye, If in the vast solitude of eternal
space, there throbs the being of an awful
God. quick to avenge and sure to punish
guilt, then will the man George Bruins
wick, called King, feel in his brain and
heart, the vengeance of the eternal Jeho-
yah! A blight will be upon his lifc-a
wlthered brain and an accursed intellect
"a blight will! be upon his children and
on his people. Great God, how dread the
punishment!
Aerowded populace, peopling the dense
towns where the man of money thrives:
want striding among the people in all
forms OF terror; an ignorant and God-defy-
ing priesthood chuckling over the miseries
OF millions; proud and mercless nobili-
ty adding wrong, and heaping insult upon
robbery and fraud; royalty corrupt to the
very heart, and aristocracy rotten to the
core; crime and want linked hand in hand,
and tempting men TO woe and death
these are part Of the doom and retribu-
ton that shall come upon the English
Sho"o auu tho ENBbsn people.
Soldiers: look around upon your fam.
iliar faces with strange interest! To.
morrow morning we 90 forth to the battle
for need tell you that your unworthy
minister will march with you, invoking
Gods aid in the fight-we will march
forth tothe battle! Need / exhort YOU
to fight the good fight to fight for your
homesteads, for your wives and children!
My friends, might urge you to fight by
the calling memories Of British wrong
Walton. | might tell you of your father
butchered in the silence Of the night on
the plains Of Tsenton; might wiring his
cath shrek in your ears. Shelmire-I
might tell you Of butchered mother,
and sister betrayed, the lonely farm
house, the night assault, the roofin flames,
the shouts OF the troopers as they dis
patched their victims, tbs cries of mercy |
anil tl.a x,laadinor, Of ;nooconoo e.. -.