civil and criminal jurisprudence; against our fellow
Protestants, identified in blood, in language, in
religion, with ourselves. In what school did the
worthies of our land, the Washingtons, Henrys, Hancocks,
Franklins, Rutledges of America, learn those principles
of civil liberty which were so nobly asserted by their
wisdom and valor? American resistance to British
usurpation has not been more warmly cherished by these
great men and their compatriots; not more by Washington,
Hancock, and Henry, than by Chatham and his illustrious
associates in the British Parliament. It ought
to be remembered, too, that the heart of the English
people was with us. It was a selfish and corrupt
ministry, and their servile tools, to whom we were
not more opposed than they were. I trust that
none such may ever exist among us; for tools will
never be wanting to subserve the purposes, however
ruinous or wicked, of kings and ministers of state.
I acknowledge the influence of a Shakespeare and a
Milton upon my imagination, of a Locke upon my understanding,
of a Sidney upon my political principles, of a Chatham
upon qualities which, would to God I possessed in
common with that illustrious man! of a Tillotson, a
Sherlock, and a Porteus upon my religion. This
is a British influence which I can never shake off.
I allow much to the just and honest prejudices growing
out of the Revolution. But by whom have they been
suppressed, when they ran counter to the interests
of my country? By Washington. By whom, would
you listen to them, are they most keenly felt?
By felons escaped from the jails of Paris, Newgate,
and Kilmainham, since the breaking out of the French
Revolution; who, in this abused and insulted country,
have set up for political teachers, and whose disciples
give no other proof of their progress in republicanism,
except a blind devotion to the most ruthless military
despotism that the world ever saw. These are the
patriots, who scruple not to brand with the epithet
of Tory, the men (looking toward the seat of Col.
Stewart) by whose blood your liberties have been cemented.
These are they, who hold in such keen remembrance
the outrages of the British armies, from which many
of them are deserters. Ask these self-styled
patriots where they were during the American war (for
they are, for the most part, old enough to have borne
arms), and you strike them dumb; their lips are closed
in eternal silence. If it were allowable to entertain
partialities, every consideration of blood, language,
religion, and interest, would incline us toward England:
and yet, shall they alone be extended to France and
her ruler, whom we are bound to believe a chastening
God suffers as the scourge of a guilty world!
On all other nations he tramples; he holds them in
contempt; England alone he hates; he would, but he
cannot, despise her; fear cannot despise; and shall
we disparage our ancestors?