Oration of James Lovell, Α. Μ., Delivered at Boston, April 2, 1771.

Omnes homines naturá Libertati student, et CONDITIONEM ser vitutis oderunt.

 

CÆS.

 

-Nunc ea petit, quæ dare nullo modo possumus, nisi priùs volumes nos bello victos confiteri.

CIC.

YOUR design in the appointment of this ceremony, my friends and fellow townsmen, cannot fail to be examined in quite different lights at this season of political dissension. From the principles I profess, and in the exercise of my common right to judge with others, I conclude it was decent, wise, and honourable.

The certainty of being favoured with your kindest partiality and candour, in a poor attempt to execute the part to which you have invited me, has overcome the objection of my inability to perform it in a proper manner; and I now beg the favour of your animating countenance.

The horrid bloody scene we here commemorate, whatever were the causes which concurred to bring it on that dreadful night, must lead the pious and humane, of every order, to some suitable reflections. The pious will adore the conduct of that BEING who is unsearchable in all his ways, and without whose knowledge not a single sparrow falls, in permitting an immortal soul to be hurried by the flying ball, the messenger of death, in the twinkling of an eye, to meet the awful Judge of all its secret actions. The humane, from having often thought, with pleasing rapture, on the endearing scenes of social life, in all its amiable relations, will lament, with heartfelt pangs, their sudden dissolution, by indiscretion, rage, and vengeance.

But let us leave that shocking close of one continued course of rancour and dispute, from the first moment that the troops arrived in town; that course will now be represented by your own reflections to much more solid, useful purpose, than by any artful language. I hope, however, that heaven has yet in store such happiness for this afflicted town and province, as will in time wear out the memory of all your former troubles.

I sincerely rejoice with you in the happy event of your steady and united effort to prevent a second tragedy.

Our fathers left their native land, risked all the dangers of the sea, and came to this then savage desert, with that true undaunted courage which is excited by a confidence in God. They came that they might here enjoy themselves, and leave to their posterity the best of earthly portions, full English liberty. You showed upon the alarming cause for trial, that their brave spirit still exists in vigour, though their legacy of right is much impaired. The sympathy and active friendship of some neighbouring towns, upon that sad occasion, commands the highest gratitude of this.

We have seen and felt the ill effects of placing standing forces in the midst of populous communities; but those are only what individuals suffer. Your vote directs me to point out the fatal tendency of placing such an order in free cities-fatal indeed! Athens once was free; a citizen, a favourite of the people, by an artful story, gained a trifling guard of fifty men; ambition taught him ways to enlarge that number; he destroyed the commonwealth, and made himself the tyrant of the Athenians. Cæsar, by the length of his command in Gaul, got the affections of his army, marched to Rome, overthrew the state, and made himself perpetual dictator. By the same instruments, many less republics have been made to fall a prey to the devouring jaws of tyrants. But this is a subject which should never be disguised with figures; it chooses the plain style of dissertation.

The true strength and safety of every commonwealth or limited monarchy, is the bravery of its freeholders, its militia. By brave militias they rise to grandeur, and they come to ruin by a mercenary army. This is founded on historical facts, and the same causes will, in similar circumstances, for ever produce the same effects. Justice Blackstone, in his inimitably clear commentaries, tells us, that "it is extremely dangerous in a land of liberty, to make a distinct order of the profession of arms; that such an order is an object of jealousy; and that the laws and constitution of England are strangers to it." One article of the Bill of Rights is, that the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in a time of peace, unless it be with consent of parliament, is against law. The present army, therefore, though called the peace establishment, is kept up by one act, and governed by another; both of which expire annually. This circumstance is valued as a sufficient check upon the army. A less body of troops than is now maintained, has, on a time, destroyed a king, and fought under a parliament with great success and glory; but, upon a motion to disband them, they turned their masters out of doors, and fixed others in their stead. Such wild things are not again to happen, because the parliament have power to stop payment once a year: But arma tenenti quis neget? which may be easily interpreted, "who will bind Sampson with his locks on?"¹

The bill which regulates the army, the same fine author I have mentioned, says, is, in many respects, hastily penned, and reduces the soldier to a state of slavery, in the midst of a free nation. This is impolitic; for slaves envy the freedom of others, and take a malicious pleasure in contributing to destroy it."

By this scandalous bill a justice of peace is empowered to grant, without a previous oath from the military officer, a warrant to break open any (freeman's) house, upon pretence of searching for deserters.

I must not omit to mention one more bad tendency; it is this, a standing force leads to a total neglect of militias, or tends greatly to discourage them.

You see the danger of a standing army to the cause of freedom. If the British parliament consents from year to year to be exposed, it doubtless has good reasons. But when did our assembly pass an act to hazard all the property, the liberty and lives of their constituents? What check have we upon a British army? can we disband it? can we stop its pay?

Our own assemblies in America can raise an army; and our monarch, George the 3d, by our constitution, takes immediate command. This army can consent to leave their native provinces. Will the royal chief commander send them to find barracks at Brunswick, or Lunenburg, at Hanover, or the commodious hall of Westminster? suppose the last; suppose this army was informed, nay thought the parliament in actual rebellion, or only on the eve of one, against the king, or against those who paid and clothed them; for there it pinches:—we are rebels against parliament; we adore the king. Where, in the case I have stated, would be the value of the boasted English constitution?

Who are a free people? not those who do not suffer actual oppression; but those who have a constitutional check upon the power to oppress.

We are slaves or freemen: if, as we are called, the last, where is our check upon the following powers, France, Spain, the States of Holland, or the British parliaments? now if any one of these (and it is quite immaterial which) has a right to make the two acts in question operate within this province, they have a right to give us up to an unlimited army, under the sole direction of one Saracen commander.

Thus I have led your thoughts to that upon which I formed my conclusion, that the design of this ceremony was decent, wise, and honourable. Make the bloody 5th of March the era of the resurrection of your birthrights, which have been murdered by the very strength that nursed them in their infancy. I had an eye solely to parliamentary supremacy; and I hope you will think every other view beneath your notice, in our present most alarming situation.

Chatham, Camden, and others, gods among men, and the farmer, whom you have addressed as the friend of mankind; all these have owned that England has a right to exercise every power over us, but that of taking money out of our pockets, without our consent.² Though it seems almost too bold therefore in us to say " we doubt in every single instance her legal right over this province,"³ yet we must assert it. Those I have named are mighty characters, but they wanted one advantage Providence has given us. The beam is carried off

from our eyes, by the flowing blood of our fellow citizens, and now we may be allowed to attempt to remove the mote from the eyes of our exalted patrons. That mote, we think, is nothing but our obligation to England first, and afterwards Great Briain, for constant kind protection of our lives and birthrights against foreign danger. We all acknowledge that protection.

Let us once more look into the early history of this province. We find that our English ancestors, disgusted in their native country at a Legislation, which they saw was sacrificing all their rights, left its jurisdiction,⁴ and sought, like wandering birds of passage, some happier climate. Here at length they settled down. The king of England was said to be the royal⁵ landlord of this territory; with him they entered into mutual, sacred compact, by which the price of tenure, and the rules of management, were fairly stated. It is in this compact that we find our only true legislative authority.

I might here enlarge upon the character of those first settlers, men of whom the world was little worthy; who, for a long course of years, assisted by no earthly power, defended their liberty, their religion, and their lives, against the greatest inland danger of the savage natives; but this falls not within my present purpose. They were secure by sea.

In our infancy, when not an over tempting jewel for the Bourbon crown, the very name of England saved us; afterwards her fleets and armies. We wish not to depreciate the worth of that protection. Of our gold, yea, of our most fine gold, we will freely give a part. Our fathers would have done the same. But must we fall down and cry "let not a stranger rob and kill me, O my father! let me rather die by the hand of my brother, and let him ravish all my portion!"⁶

It is said that disunited from Britain, “we should bleed at every vein." I cannot see the consequence. The states of Holland do not suffer thus. But grant it true, Seneca, would prefer the launcets of France, Spain, or any other power, to the bow string, though applied by the fair hand of Britannia.

The declarative vote of the British parliament is the death warrant of our birthrights, and wants only a Czarish king to put it into execution. Here then a door of salvation is open. Great Britain may raise her fleets and armies, but it is only our own king that can direct their fire down upon our heads. He is gracious, but not omniscient. He is ready to hear our appeals in their proper course; and knowing himself, though the most powerful prince on earth, yet, a subject under a divine constitution of law; that law he will ask and receive from the twelve judges of England. These will prove that the claim of the British parliament over us is not only illegal in itself, but a downright usurpation of his prerogative as king of America.

A brave nation is always generous. Let us appeal, therefore, at the same time, to the generosity of the people of Great Britain, before the tribunal⁷ of Europe, not to envy us the full enjoyment of the rights of brethren.

And now, my friends and fellow townsmen, having declared myself an American son of liberty of true charter principles; having shewn the critical and dangerous situation of our birthrights, and the true course for speedy redress; I shall take the freedom to recommend, with boldness, one previous step. Let us show we understand the true value of what we are claiming.

The patriotic farmer tells us, "the cause of liberty is a cause of too much dignity to be sullied by turbulence and tumult. Anger produces anger; and differences, that might be accommodated by kind and respectful behaviour, may, by imprudence, be enlarged to an incurable rage. In quarrels, risen to a certain height, the first cause of dissension is no longer remembered, the minds of the parties being wholly engaged in recollecting and resenting the mutual expressions of their dislike. When feuds have reached that fatal point, considerations of reason and equity vanish; and a blind fury governs, or rather confounds all things. A people no longer regard their interest, but a gratification of their wrath."

We know ourselves subjects of common law; to that and the worthy executors of it, let us pay a steady and conscientious regard. Past errors in this point have been written with gall, by the pen of malice. May our future conduct be such as to make even that vile imp lay her pen aside.

The right which imposes duties upon us, is in dispute; but whether they are managed by a Surveyor-General, a Board of Commissioners, Turkish Janizaries, or Russian Cossacks, let them enjoy during our time of fair trial, the common personal protection of the laws of our constitution. Let us shut our eyes, for the present, to their being executors of claims subversive of our rights.

Watchful, hawk eyed jealousy, ever guards the portal of the temple of the goddess Liberty. This is known to those who frequent her altars. Our whole conduct therefore, I am sure, will meet with the utmost candour of her votaries; but I am wishing we may be able to convert even her basest apostates.

We are slaves until we obtain such redress, through the justice of our king, as our happy constitution leads us to expect. In that condition, let us behave with the propriety and dignity of freemen; and thus exhibit to the world, a new character of a people, which no history describes.

May the all wise and beneficient ruler of the universe preserve our lives and health, and prosper all our lawful endeavours in the glorious cause of freedom.

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¹ Trenchard.

² Taxation and representation are inseparable.

Chath. Camd. From what in our constitution is representation not inseparable! —multa a Crasso divinitùs dicta efferebantur, cùm sibi illum consulem esse negaret cui senator ipse non esset.

Cic.

³ I confine myself to this province, partly from ignorance of other charters; but more from a desire even to vex some abler pen to pursue the idea of check; which an unchartered freeman may do, as well as any other in America.

⁴ Hæc sunt enim fundamenta firmissima nostræ libertatis, sui quemque juris et retinendi et dimittendi esse dominum.

Cic.

⁵ I choose to bury a fruitful subject for any satyrical genius of the family of Penn.

⁶ —ita vitam corpusque servato, ita fortunas, ita rem familiarem, ut hæc posteriora libertati ducas-nec pro his libertatem sed pro libertati hæc projicias, tanquam pignora injuriæ.

⁷ I do not think the quo warranto against our first charter, was tried in a proper court.

SOURCE: William T. Clap, Publisher, Orations Delivered at the Request of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston to Commemorate the Evening of the Fifth of March, 1770; When a Number of Citizens were Killed by a Party of British Troops, Quartered Among Them, In a Time of Peace, Second Edition, pp. 3-11

Journal of Lieutenant Isaac Bangs, April 1, 1776

No. I. Minutes of a Journal by ISAAC BANGS; begun April 1, 1776.

HAVING been in the Service of the united Colonies as a Lieut in Capt. Benjamin Godfrey's Company in Colⁿ Carys Regiment of Militia for about 2 months, in which many glorious Achievements were performed and great Glory added to the Arms of the Americans by the Expulsion of the Ministerial Army from their Strong Holds in Boston, in which, according to my Station, I did my proportion of the fatigueing Duty which was requisite to perform the Manœuver which has brought an eternal shame and Disgrace upon the British Arms, I was fired with an ardent Zeal to be farther instrumental in the glorious Cause in which America is now engaged. With this View I entered Colⁿ John Bailey's Regiment as a Lieut to Capt Jacob Allen. In some future Time it may perhaps afford Pleasure to recollect past Toils; and being sensible of the Treachery of my Memory in recollecting past Events, I think it advisable to keep a few Minutes to assist a bad Memory (made worse by the Combustion of an Army) in bringing to Mind past Events. But before I enter upon this I must give a short detail of the Inducements that first brought me to the Army, & of some of the material Events and Circumstances which happened during my continuance in Colⁿ Cary's Regiment. The Ministerial Army had for a long time (Viz., ever since the Battle of Lexington, on the 19th of April, 1775) been invested by the American Army, which kept them closely confined to their Quarters in Boston, during which Time many and Various Manœuvers were practised on both sides to annoy their Enemies, the Circumstances of which it is not my Design to relate.

In the begins of January, 1775, it was thought best, if possible, to drive them from their Fortresses; & as the Lines of our Army were from necessity of a vast extent, & as it was of infinite Importance that each part should be well maintained, General Washington thought the American Army not sufficient to maintain the Lines, and at the same time to act offensively upon the Enemy. He applied to the Colonies of New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Massachusetts Bay for a part of the Militia of each Province. The Proportion required & voted by the Assembly of this Province was 4,368 Men. Among these I inlisted about 30 of Jan.; and according to the Inlisting Orders we proceeded to chuse our Officers, and proceeded to Head Quarters. The Men which constituted our Company were chiefly from the Town of Chatham, — a very civil Set of People, with whom I lived very Quietly. On our arrival at Roxbury we found (by the Negligence of the Barrack Master) that no Barracks were provided for the Melitia. Our Company turned in at Roxbury Street for about 4 days, in old Houses & Cellars; but as we could no longer stand it thus Barracked, & finding no Confidence could be put in their Promises for better Barracks, we made complaint to our Colonels, and were by the Quarter Master provided for in Houses in Dorchester, about 4 Miles Distance, where we continued 9 Days; during which Time great Preparations were making for some new Enterprize, such as Fashienes, Gaboreenes, Barracks ready Framed, & boards cut. All immagined that Dorchester Hill was the Object of our Attention. This Hill is Situate South from Boston about a Mile & an Half, and by Nature seemed formed for the Command of Boston; & not only so, but it commanded a place called Nook Point, about Half way from that place to Boston, — a most convenient place for either Bombarding or Cannonading the Town of Boston. Our Enemies had been long determined to take possession of these Places, as they not only prevent our taking them, but would also be an advantageous Scituation for a Part of their Army. The deep Frost prevented our proceeding till the Evening of the 4 of March, when about 21 Hundred men from Genls Spencer's & Thomas Brigades (which were both stationed at Roxbury), all things being prepared & previously conveyed to the Causeway that leads to the Neck on which the Hill stands, proceeded at about 8 o'clock in the Evening to work upon the Hills, and were relieved at 3 the next Morning by the rest part of our two Brigades, consisting of about 25 Hundred, besides 500 Rifle Men from Cambridge & Roxbury. But here I must not leave unnoticed a grand piece of Generalship which preceded our going upon the Hills. On the Evening of the 2 of March the General (knowing all things were nearly prepared for the Work) gave Orders for begining a Cannonading & Bombardment of the Town, in order to divert the Enemy that they need not be mistrustfull of our Scheeme, as they would possibly if they had notice of our proceedings either annoy us while working with their Cannon or perhaps might come out with their Army before the Work was finished. The Cannonading & Bombarding began from Prospect Hill about 12 o'clock in the Night of the 2 of March, as also from Leechmore's Point, from the Fortress on Cobble Hill, & from the Lines at Roxbury; the enemy Returned the Compliment to the Former Places, but as they had previously removed their Cannon (as we afterwards immagin'd) from their Lines on the Neck, they were not so Complaisant to us at Roxbury. I must also here observe that the day before this the General ordered all the Forces that for conveniency were stationed back to be removed down to the Lines as nigh as possible, and that in consequence of this our Company was that day removed and Barracked in one of the Out Houses of what is called the Hutchinson House, near the Line that separateth Roxbury from Dorchester. A Room was provided for the Officers near by, and we thaught ourselves happy in being so well provided for in such a Croud of both officers and men. In the Eveng of the 3d the rout began again, and we at Roxbury found that they were not so neglectfull of us as on the night before.

In the Evening of the 4th, as I before mentioned, our Men went upon the Hill to work, upon which a more Furious Fire was began than ever, and returned by the Enemy with eaqual Vigour, chiefly upon Roxbury, not mistrusting our People upon the Hill, though it was a very Light Moonshine Evening. 23 Men from our Company went this Evening, and I had a warrant to parrade at 3 in the Morning to go with the Relief. Being anxious to see the Proceedings on both sides, I went to a small Battery of ours a little out of the Direction of their Shot and Bombs, where I tarried about two Hours, & thaught myself Safe; for as the aforesaid Battery was made no use of by us they took no Notice of it, but it being something nigh the Range of our Right Hand Fort, their Shot which were aimed at that fort passed about 200 yards to the Westward of me, here I could see 4 & sometimes 5 of their Boms flying in the Air at a Time, aimed at the Right Hand Fort that they fell about 1/8 of a Mile distance. At Length a Shot which fell near the Fort by its fall took a different direction and came immediately where I was standing; it hopped after its first Falling about 4 times, & if it had hoped again before it broke, as its Velocity was diminishing, it would have come, as near as I can judge, to the very Spot where I was; it broke about 25 Yard Distance, and one of the Pieces came with great rapidity about 2 Yards above my Head. The Fire still continued; but at about 3, when the Relieves of every Regiment to parade, God so ordered it that their Fire was a little abated, or in all probability they must have killed more of us, — one Lieut. Mayo being the only Man hurt; he had his thigh Shot off, of which he died the next Day. Upon our arrival upon the Hills (for we took possession of 2 by building Forts), I was prodigiously surprised to find the Vast works that had been carried on in so little Time. We relieved them, and they got off without being discovered by the Enemy, which was no small Favour both in our coming on & their going off, as the Causeway over which we had to pass was greatly exposed to their Fire from their Works on the Neck. When the Enemy discovered us in ye Morning they ceased firing upon Roxbury, and must be much shagriened to find they had fired so intently upon Roxbury when the Men were as they thought mostly on the Hills.

We expected a Salute immediately from their Ships in the Harbour as also from their Works, and they must have greatly annoyed us had they fired when our Forts were thus weak, being then little besides Fashiens about 6 Feet thick. However this was not their disign. They fired a few Shot upon us as we were seting the Fatigue Partys, and brok 6 or 8 small arms in our Rigiment; but as their Balls struck chiefly before they reached us, we could avoid them. The Enemy Imbarqued on Board Transports about 11 o'clock, and were to have landed (as we after found) upon the Point under cover of the Shiping & of the Castle the next Night; why they had not done it that Day, if ever they intended it, God only knows. For my part, I should have been willing to have receiv^d them either by night or Day, as we had a tolerable cover from Musquetry, and as to their Field Pieces they could not have brought them to bear because of the Sciatuation of the ground. Had they been so rash they would in all probability have found the 5th of March, 1776, more Bloody on their Side than Preston made the same Day in 1770¹ on ours. In fine, I cant think it was ever their design more than to make a Parade. But they have a good excuse, for about 11 at night the most violent Storm of Wind & Rain mixed with Snow & Hail arose that ever I was exposed to. Having nothing to cover us excepting Apple Trees, wee stood it out till about 5 in the Morning, when wee were reliev^d. What I suffered this night I shall ever bear in mind, therefore need not here mention it. Had the enemy have been so foolish as to have attacked us upon the Hills, our People to the amount of about 5,000 Men stood by their Boats at Cambridge and were to have made a descent upon Boston, which they must have easily carried, as I since learn that Genl How at the Head of the Remainder of his Troops was to have made an attack upon our Lines at Roxbury. Had this been the Case, what a woefull Scituation must he have been in, even if he had forced the Lines with our Forces on each Side!

When the Forts were a little finished our People began to make preparations for Nooke Point, before mentioned, by carting Fashienes, &c., in the Face of the Day as nigh the Place as the Scituation would allow (there being a Mire betweene that & the Forts). This place is about Mile distant from the Centre of the Town, and as convenient a place as could even have been wished for from which to through Bombs to the Town. The Enemy, discovring our Motions by this imprudent Step, concluded that we should be at work that Night, therefore the[y] began a most Heavy Fire from the Shipping in the Harbour, from several of the Wharves, & from several Batteries; such a Firing was never before heard in New England. They killd 4 Men with one Ball, which was all the Dammage they did us; and the next morning we picked up 700 Balls that they had fired upon us. The next night being the 17th of March, all things being in Readiness, we erected a small Breast Work on the aforesaid Point without being discoverd by the Enemy till Day Light next Morning, when they began a most severe canonading from their Works upon the Neck; but being unable to affect any thing to our Damage, they made a Most precipitate retreat, leaving the chief of the Effects of the Inhabitants unhurt, tho they Dammaged many Houses and much furniture. They left behind them three excellent Mortars, many Bombs, and about 200 Cannon, the most of which were heavy Pieces all spiked up, and about 100 of them having their Trunnions broke of. Thus was the British Army routed from a Fortress which they were sufferred peaceably to build, of the Strength of which they used to make such boastings; and also from the Bunker Hill, which cost them at least the Lives of 1,800 Men, besides the vast Labour & Expense they had bestowed to erect & defend it.

Immediately upon their Retreat we entered the Town with part of the Forces from Roxbury by Land & some considerable Force from Cambridge by Water. We found the Works upon the Neck entire, the Cannon spiked up & the Shells chiefly split, & many of the Cannon Carriages cut to pieces. These Lines upon the Neck were handsomely built & so amazingly strong that it would have been impracticable for us to have forced them. The other Works were not so well constructed as I immagined wee should have found them; especially at the Bottom of the Common & on Beacon Hill they appeared to be ill constructed & design'd for little but to frighten us. The Enemy embarqued in boats & joined the Fleet, which had chiefly quited the Harbour, & fell down to Nantascet from our first building upon the Hills, some few of the Men of War & Transports for the Tories only excepted, who remained to cover the Town. The Admiral finding we had built upon Nook Point & another small Hill, both of which were advantageously scituated to rake the Harbour, thought he could with no degree of Safety tarry any longer ; wherefore he sent to General Howe acquainting him that he was about to quit the Harbour. This, it is said, hastened the General's Retreat, or he would probably have taken his artilery with him. They left no Powder behind them, but we could plainly see where they burnt vast Quantities of that valuable article; could they have affected the Destruction of their Artilery with as much dispatch, no doubt they would have done it. Quere, Whether it would not be wisdom in the Parliament of England to offer a large Premium to the Person that shall contrive a method to annihilate Cannon, Mortars, Bombs, &c., in a Short space of Time; otherwise the Rebels will soon furnish themselves with a Stock of these articles without being put to the Trouble of making them Themselves.

The Inhabitants that were friendly to America still continued in Boston, except Mr. James Lovell, whom they carried of with their other Prisoners. He bore his Fate, & attended the Summons that called him as a Prisoner to quit his native Land & all that was dear to him with that Courage & Resignation which only attend the Virtuous, Wise, & Brave.

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¹ The Boston Massacre.

SOURCE: Edward Bangs, Edited, Journal of Lieutenant Isaac Bangs, April 1 to July 29, 1776, pp. 7-14

Casualty List of the Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770

Killed at the Scene:

• Crispus Attucks
• Samuel Gray
• James Caldwell

Mortally Wounded:

• James Caldwell
• Patrick Carr

Wounded but Survived:

• Christopher Monk
• John Clark
• Edward Payne
• William Warren
• Patrick Keaton
• David Parker

Dr. Joseph Warren’s Boston Massacre Oration, March 6, 1775

Oration Delivered At Boston, March 6, 1775 by Dr. Joseph Warren

 

Tantæ molis erat, Romanam condere gentem.

VIRGIL'S Æne

 

Qui, metuens, vivit, liber mihi non erit unquam.

HOR. Epis

MY EVER HONOURED FELLOW CITIZENS:

IT is not without the most humiliating conviction of my want of ability that I now appear before you: but the sense I have of the obligation I am under to obey the calls of my country at all times, together with an animating recollection of your indulgence, exhibited upon so many occasions, has induced me, once more, undeserving as I am, to throw myself upon that candour which looks with kindness on the feeblest efforts of an honest mind.

You will not now expect the elegance, the learning, the fire, the enrapturing strains of eloquence which charmed you when a LOVELL, A CHURCH, or a HANCOCK spake; but you will permit me to say that with a sincerity, equal to theirs, I mourn over my bleeding country: with them I weep at her distress, and with them deeply resent the many injuries she has received from the hands of cruel and unreasonable men.

That personal freedom is the natural right of every man; and that property, or an exclusive right to dispose of what he has honestly acquired by his own labour, necessarily arises therefrom, are truths which common sense has placed beyond the reach of contradiction. And no man, or body of men, can, without being guilty of flagrant injustice, claim a right to dispose of the persons or acquisitions of any other man, or body of men, unless it can be proved that such a right has arisen from some compact between the parties in which it has been explicitly and freely granted.

If I may be indulged in taking a retrospective view of the first settlement of our country, it will be easy to determine with what degree of justice the late parliament of Great Britain have assumed the power of giving away that property which the Americans have earned by their labour.

Our fathers having nobly resolved never to wear the yoke of despotism, and seeing the European world, at that time, through indolence and cowardice, falling a prey to tyranny, bravely threw themselves upon the bosom of the ocean, determined to find a place in which they might enjoy their freedom, or perish in the glorious attempt. Approving heaven beheld the favourite ark dancing upon the waves, and graciously preserved it until the chosen families were brought in safety to these western regions. They found the land swarming with savages, who threatened death with every kind of torture. But savages, and death with torture, were far less terrible than slavery: nothing was so much the object of their abhorrence as a tyrant's power: they knew that it was more safe to dwell with man in his most unpolished state, than in a country where arbitrary power prevails. Even anarchy itself, that bugbear held up by the tools of power (though truly to be deprecated) is infinitely less dangerous to mankind than arbitrary government. Anarchy can be but of short duration; for when men are at liberty to pursue that course which is most conducive to their own happiness, they will soon come into it, and from the rudest state of nature, order and good government must soon arise. But tyranny, when once established, entails its curses on a nation to the latest period of time; unless some daring genius, inspired by heaven, shall, unappalled by danger, bravely form and execute the arduous design of restoring liberty and life to his enslaved, murdered country.

The tools of power, in every age, have racked their inventions to justify the few in sporting with the happiness of the many; and, having found their sophistry too weak to hold mankind in bondage, have impiously dared to force religion, the daughter of the king of heaven, to become a prostitute in the service of hell. They taught that princes, honoured with the name of christian, might bid defiance to the founder of their faith, might pillage Pagan countries and deluge them with blood, only because they boasted themselves to be the disciples of that teacher who strictly charged his followers to do to others as they would that others should do unto them.

This country, having been discovered by an English subject, in the year 1620, was (according to the system which the blind superstition of those times supported) deemed the property of the crown of England. Our ancestors, when they resolved to quit their native soil, obtained from king James, a grant of certain lands in North America. This they probably did to silence the cavils of their enemies, for it cannot be doubted, but they despised the pretended right which he claimed thereto. Certain it is, that he might, with equal propriety and justice, have made them a grant of the planet Jupiter. And their subsequent conduct plainly shews that they were too well acquainted with humanity, and the principles of natural equity, to suppose that the grant gave them any right to take possession; they therefore entered into a treaty with the natives, and bought from them the lands: nor have I ever yet obtained any information that our ancestors ever pleaded, or that the natives ever regarded the grant from the English crown: the business was transacted by the parties in the same independent manner that it would have been, had neither of them ever known or heard of the island of Great Britain.

Having become the honest proprietors of the soil, they immediately applied themselves to the cultivation of it; and they soon beheld the virgin earth teeming with richest fruits, a grateful recompense for their unwearied toil. The fields began to wave with ripening harvests, and the late barren wilderness was seen to blossom like the rose. The savage natives saw with wonder the delightful change, and quickly formed a scheme to obtain that by fraud or force, which nature meant as the reward of industry alone. But the illustrious emigrants soon convinced the rude invaders, that they were not less ready to take the field for battle than for labour; and the insidious foe was driven from their borders as often as he ventured to disturb them. The crown of England looked with indifference on the contest; our ancestors were left alone to combat with the natives. Nor is there any reason to believe, that it ever was intended by the one party, or expected by the other, that the grantor should defend and maintain the grantees in the peaceable possession of the lands named in the patents. And it appears plainly, from the history of those times, that neither the prince, nor the people of England, thought themselves much interested in the matter.

They had not then any idea of a thousandth part of those advantages which they since have, and we are most heartily willing they should still continue to reap from us.

But when, at an infinite expense of toil and blood, this widely extended continent had been cultivated and defended: when the hardy adventurers justly expected that they and their descendants should peaceably have enjoyed the harvest of those fields which they had sown, and the fruit of those vineyards which they had planted; this country was then thought worthy the attention of the British ministry; and the only justifiable and only successful means of rendering the colonies serviceable to Britain were adopted. By an intercourse of friendly offices, the two countries became so united in affection, that they thought not of any distinct or separate interests, they found both countries flourishing and happy. Britain saw her commerce extended, and her wealth increased; her lands raised to an immense value; her fleets riding triumphant on the ocean; the terror of her arms spreading to every quarter of the globe. The colonist found himself free, and thought himself secure; he dwelt under his own vine, and under his own fig tree, and had none to make him afraid: he knew indeed that by purchasing the manufactures of Great Britain, he contributed to its greatness: he knew that all the wealth that his labour produced centered in Great Britain: but that, far from exciting his envy, filled him with the highest pleasure; that thought supported him in all his toils. When the business of the day was past, he solaced himself with the contemplation, or perhaps entertained his listening family with the recital of some great, some glorious transaction which shines conspicuous in the history of Britain: or, perhaps, his elevated fancy led him to foretel, with a kind of enthusiastic confidence, the glory, power, and duration of an empire which should extend from one end of the earth to the other: he saw, or thought he saw, the British nation risen to a pitch of grandeur which cast a veil over the Roman glory, and, ravished with the præview, boasted a race of British kings, whose names should echo through those realms where Cyrus, Alexander, and the Cæsars were unknown; princes for whom millions of grateful subjects redeemed from slavery and Pagan ignorance, should, with thankful tongues, offer up their prayers and praises to that transcendently great and beneficent Being, by whom kings reign, and princes decree justice.

These pleasing connections might have continued; these delightsome prospects might have been every day extended; and even the reveries of the most warm imagination might have been realized; but unhappily for us, unhappily for Britain, the madness of an avaricious minister of state, has drawn a sable curtain over the charming scene, and in its stead, has brought upon the stage, discord, envy, hatred, and revenge, with civil war close in their rear.

Some demon, in an evil hour, suggested to a short sighted financier, the hateful project of transferring the whole property of the king's subjects in America, to his subjects in Britain. The claim of the British parliament to tax the colonies, can never be supported but by such a TRANSFER; for the right of the House of Commons of Great Britain, to originate any tax, or grant money, is altogether derived from their being elected by the people of Great Britain to act for them; and the people of Great Britain cannot confer on their representatives a right to give or grant any thing which they themselves have not a right to give or grant personally. Therefore it follows, that if the members chosen by the people of Great Britain, to represent them in parliament, have, by virtue of their being so chosen, any right to give or grant American property, or to lay any tax upon the lands or persons of the colonists, it is because the lands and people in the colonies are bona fide, owned by, and justly belonging to the people of Great Britain. But (as has been before observed) every man has a right to personal freedom, consequently a right to enjoy what is acquired by his own labour. And as it is evident that the property in this country has been acquired by our own labour; it is the duty of the people of Great Britain, to produce some compact in which we have explicity given up to them a right to dispose of our persons or property. Until this is done, every attempt of theirs, or of those whom they have deputed to act for them, to give or grant any part of our property, is directly repugnant to every principle of reason and natural justice. But I may boldly say, that such a compact never existed, no, not even in imagination. Nevertheless, the representatives of a nation, long famed for justice and the exercise of every noble virtue, have been prevailed on to adopt the fatal scheme: and although the dreadful consequences of this wicked policy have already shaken the empire to its centre; yet still it is persisted in. Regardless of the voice of reason, deaf to the prayers and supplications, and unaffected with the flowing tears of suffering millions, the British ministry still hug the darling idol; and every rolling year affords fresh instances of the absurd devotion with which they worship it. Alas! how has the folly, the distraction of the British councils, blasted our swelling hopes, and spread a gloom over this western hemisphere.

The hearts of Britons and Americans, which lately felt the generous glow of mutual confidence and love, now burn with jealously and rage. Though, but of yesterday, I recollect (deeply affected at the ill boding change) the happy hours that past whilst Britain and America rejoiced in the prosperity and greatness of each other (heaven grant those halcyon days may soon return.) But now the Briton too often looks on the American with an envious eye, taught to consider his just plea for the enjoyment of his earnings, as the effect of pride and stubborn opposition to the parent country. Whilst the American beholds the Briton as the ruffian, ready first to take away his property, and next, what is still dearer to every virtuous man, the liberty of his country.

When the measures of administration had disgusted the colonies to the highest degree, and the people of Great Britian had, by artifice and falsehood, been irritated against America, an army was sent over to enforce submission to certain acts of the British parliament, which reason scorned to countenance, and which placemen and pensioners were found unable to support.

Martial law and the government of a well regulated 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 of the subject. But when the people on the one part, considered the army as sent to enslave them, 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.

The many injuries offered to the town, I pass over in silence. I cannot now mark out the path which led to that unequalled scene of horror, the sad remembrance of which, takes the full possession of my soul. The sanguinary theatre again opens itself to view. The baleful images of terror crowd around me, and discontented ghosts, with hollow groans, appear to solemnize the anniversary of the FIFTH OF MARCH.

Approach we then the melancholy walk of death. Hither let me call the gay companion; here let him drop a farewell tear upon that body which so late he saw vigorous and warm with social mirth; hither let me lead the tender mother to weep over her beloved son: come widowed mourner, here satiate thy grief; behold thy murdered husband gasping on the ground, and to complete the pompous show of wretchedness, bring in each hand thy infant children to bewail their father's fate: take heed, ye orphan babes, lest, whilst your streaming eyes are fixed upon the ghastly corpse, your feet slide on the stones bespattered with your father's brains.¹ Enough! this tragedy need not be heightened by an infant weltering in the blood of him that gave it birth. Nature, reluctant, shrinks already from the view, and the chilled blood rolls slowly backward to its fountain. We wildly stare about, and with amazement, ask, who spread this ruin round us? what wretch has dared deface the image of his God? has haughty France, or cruel Spain, sent forth her myrmidons? has the grim savage rushed again from the far distant wilderness ? or does some 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 deadly arrows at our breast? no, none of these; but, how astonishing! it is the hand of Britain that inflicts the wound. The arms of George, our rightful king, have been employed to shed that blood, when justice, or the honour 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 dreadful thought now swells your heaving bosoms; you fly to arms, sharp indignation flashes from each eye, revenge gnashes her iron teeth, death grins an hideous smile, secure to drench his greedy jaws in human gore, whilst hovering furies darken all the air.

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 bosom of the brave. Revenge is far beneath the noble mind. Many perhaps, compelled to rank among the vile assassins, do, from their inmost souls, detest the barbarous action. The winged death, shot from your arms, may chance to pierce some breast that bleeds already for your injured 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 clothe 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 harbour is crowded with ships of war; but these cannot intimidate us; our liberty must be preserved ; 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.

No longer could we reflect, with generous pride, 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 God that made him free.

It was a maxim of the Roman people, which eminently conduced to the greatness of that state, never to despair of the commonwealth. The maxim may prove as salutary to us now, as it did to them. Short sighted mortals see not the numerous links of small and great events, which form the chain on which the fate of kings and nations is suspended. Ease and prosperity (though pleasing for a day) have often sunk a people into effeminacy and sloth. Hardships and dangers (though we for ever 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 employed to enslave you: but let not even this discourage you. Her arms, it is true, have filled the world with terror: her troops have reaped the laurels of the field: her fleets have rode triumphant on the sea—and when, or where, did you, my countrymen, depart inglorious from the field of fight?² you too can shew the trophies of your forefathers victories and your own; can name the fortresses and battles you have won; and many of you count the honourable scars or 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. Britain, 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 proud foreigner's despotic rule,

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 revenue from America, and our denial of their right to do it, have excited an almost universal inquiry into the rights of mankind in general, and of British subjects in particular; the necessary result of which must be such a liberality of sentiment, and such a jealousy of those in power, as will, better than an adamantine wall, secure us against the future approaches of despotism.

The malice of the Boston port bill has been defeated in a very considerable degree, by giving you an opportunity of deserving, and our brethren in this and our sister colonies an opportunity of bestowing, those benefactions which have delighted your friends and astonished your enemies, not only in America, but in Europe also. And what is more valuable still, the sympathetic feelings for a brother in distress, and the grateful emotions excited in the breast of him who finds relief, must for ever endear each to the other, and form those indissoluble bonds of friendship and affection, on which the preservation of our rights so evidently depend.

The mutilation of our charter, has made every other colony jealous for its own; for this, if once submitted to us, would set on float the property and government of every British settlement upon the continent. If charters are not deemed sacred, how miserably precarious is every thing founded upon them.

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 ardour in the pursuit of military knowledge. Charles the invincible, taught Peter the great, the art of war. The battle of Pultowa [sic] convinced Charles of the proficiency Peter had made.

Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves. The faltering tongue of hoary age calls on you to support your country. The lisping infant raises its suppliant hands, imploring defence against the monster slavery. Your fathers look from their celestial seats with smiling approbation on their sons, who boldly stand forth in the cause of virtue; but sternly frown upon the inhuman miscreant, who, to secure the loaves and fishes to himself, would breed a serpent to destroy his children.

But, pardon me, my fellow citizens, I know you want not zeal or fortitude. You will maintain your rights or perish in the generous struggle. However difficult the combat, you never will decline it when freedom is the prize. An independence on Great Britain is not our aim. No, our wish is, that Britain and the colonies may, like the oak and ivy, grow and increase in strength together. But whilst the infatuated plan of making one part of the empire slaves to the other, is persisted in; the interest and safety of Britain, as well as the colonies, require that the wise measures, recommended by the honourable the continental congress, be steadily pursued; whereby the unnatural contest between a parent honoured, and a child beloved, may probably be brought to such an issue, as that the peace and happiness of both may be established upon a lasting basis. But if these pacific measures are ineffectual, and it appears that the only way to safety, is through fields of blood, I know you will not turn your faces from your foes, but will, undauntedly, press forward, until tyranny is trodden under foot, and you have fixed your adored goddess Liberty, fast by a Brunswick's side, on the American throne.

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 luxury and mirth; who have forsaken the downy pillow, to keep your vigils by the midnight lamp, for the salvation of your invaded country, that you might break the fowler's snare, and disappoint the vulture of his prey; you then will reap that harvest of renown which you so justly have deserved. Your country shall pay her grateful tribute of applause. Even the children of your most inveterate enemies, ashamed to tell from whom they sprang, while they in secret, curse their stupid, cruel parents, shall join the general voice of gratitude to those who broke the fetters which their fathers forged.

Having redeemed your country, and secured the blessing to future generations, who, fired by your example, shall emulate your virtues, and learn from you the heavenly art of making millions happy; with heart felt joy, with transports all your own, you cry, the glorious work is done. Then drop the mantle to some young Elisha, and take your seats with kindred spirits in your native skies.

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¹ After Mr. Gray had been shot through the body, and had fallen dead on the ground, a bayonet was pushed through his skull; part of the bone being broken, his brains fell out upon the pavement.

² The patience with which this people have borne the repeated injuries which have been heaped upon them, and their unwillingness to take any sanguinary measures, has, very injudiciously, been ascribed to cowardice, by persons both here and in Great Britain. I most heartily wish, that an opinion, so erroneous in itself, and so fatal in its consequences, might be utterly removed before it be too late; and I think, nothing further necessary to convince every intelligent man, that the conduct of this people is owing to the tender regard which they have for their fellow men, and an utter abhorrence to the shedding of human blood, than a little attention to their general temper and disposition, discovered when they cannot be supposed to be under any apprehension of danger to themselves. I will only mention the universal detestation 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 discover, in condemning persons charged with capital crimes. But if any should think this observation not to the purpose, I readily appeal to those gentlemen of the army who have been in the camp, or in the field, with the Americans.

SOURCE: William T. Clap, Publisher, Orations Delivered at the Request of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston to Commemorate the Evening of the Fifth of March, 1770; When a Number of Citizens were Killed by a Party of British Troops, Quartered Among Them, In a Time of Peace, Second Edition, pp. 55-70