| Citation |
NHG-P.776.036
12 Nov 1776:11,12,13 (25)
. . . [85 lines about the present conflict] Now, my dear
countrymen, how numerous are the events incident to the
human race; in some countries are enjoyed the sweets of
liberty and repose, and in others the most abject slavery:
where a Prince aims at tyrannic powers the subjects are in
continual fear, dreading the loss of liberty, the dearest of
all blessings; here let us sympathize, who are involved in
the calamities of war and bloodshed, which overspread this
whole continent.
See civil rage torment this bleeding land,
Rais'd and supported by a monarch's hand;
The orphan'd son, the helpless mother see,
Plung'd in the depths of awful misery;
Youth and hoary age lie welt'ring on the plains;
And desolation and destruction reigns.
. . . [32 more lines]
And my dear countrymen, are there not some in this
town, who not long since, appeared to be zealous asserters
of their rights, now lost that patriotic spirit, and
striving to add to their fortune by the ruin of their
country?
Is there not some chosen course,
Some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven,
Red with uncommon wrath,
To bless the man, that owes his greatness to his country's
ruin?
[source] Cato.
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