American Eloquence, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 227 pages of information about American Eloquence, Volume 1.

American Eloquence, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 227 pages of information about American Eloquence, Volume 1.
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?

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American Eloquence, Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.