Mercy Otis Warren

“ The expense of blood and treasure, lavished for the purchase of freedom, should teach Americans to estimate its real worth, nor ever suffer it to be depreciated by the vices of the human mind, which are seldom single. The sons of America ought ever to bear in grateful remembrance the worthy and of patriots who first supported an opposition to the tyrannical measures of Great Britain. Though some of them have long since been consigned to the tomb, a tribute of gratitude is ever due to their memory, while the advantage of freedom and independence are felt by their latest posterity. ”

“ It is an undoubted truth, that both the rude savage and the polished citizen are equally tenacious of their pecuniary acquisitions. And however mankind may have trifled away liberty, virtue, religion, or life, yet when the first rudiments of society have been established, the right of private property has been held sacred. For an attempt to invade the possessions each one denominates his own, whether it is made by the rude hand of the savage, or by the refinements of ancient or modern policy, little short of the blood of the aggressor has been thought a sufficient atonement. ”

“ After all it may justly be considered that the constructing a national fleet is but an addition to human misery; for besides the vast expense of such equipments, the idle and licentious habits of a vast body of sailors, a naval armament is only a new engine to carry death and conflagration to distant, unoffending, innocent nations. The havoc of human life on the ocean, the great balance of evil resulting from naval engagements, if duly weighted in the scale of equity or humanity might lead the nations with one general consent, to their total annihilation. ”

“ Local circumstances, the decline of health, temporary deprivations of sight, the death of the most amiable of children, "the shaft flew thrice, and thrice my peace was slain," have sometimes prompted to throw the pen in despair. I draw a veil over the woe-fraught scenes that have pierced my own heart. "While the soul was melting inwardly, it has endeavored to support outwardly, with decency and dignity, those accidents which admit of new redress, and to exert that spirit that enables to get the better of those that do." ”

“ No man should be lifted by the voice of his country to presidential rank who may probably forget the republican designation, and sigh to wield a scepter, instead of guarding sacredly the charter from the people. It is to be hoped that no American citizen will hereafter pant of nobility. The senators of the United States should be wise, her representatives uncorrupted, the judiciary firm, equitable, and humane, and the bench of justice ever adorned by men uninfluenced by little passions, and adhering only to the principles of law and equity! The people should be economical and sober ”

“ But the attachment of many to their old allies, to whom they felt themselves obliged, of many others to the British nation, its modes of government and its commerce, occasioned such a stigma to mark them for a tie.
America should indeed forever have maintained a character of her own, that should have set her on high ground, whence she might have looked on from the pinnacle of independence and peace, and only have pitied the squabbles, the confusion, and the miseries of the European world. ”

“ Any civil convulsions would shake the fabric of government, and perhaps entirely subvert the present excellent Constitution; a strict adherence to which, it may be affirmed, is the best security of the rights and liberties of a country that has bled at every vein to purchase and transmit them to posterity. The sword now resheathed, the army dismissed, a wise, energetic government established and organized, it is to be hoped many generations will pass away in the lapse of time before America again becomes a theater of war. ”

“ The history of Geneva displays a striking portrait of the means by which most republics have been subverted. This is generally done by the pride of a few families, the ambition of individuals, and the supineness of the people. Thus an undue authority is established by a select number, more mortifying to the middling class of mankind and which has a tendency to render more abject and servile the mass of the people than the single arm of the most despotic individual. [The history of Geneva has very properly been recommended to the study of every American citizen by a political writer.] ”

“ This should stand as a beacon before the eyes of an infant republic, recently established by the suffrages of the inhabitants of the United States, who already have had to fear the progress of opinion, which produced the American Revolution, might change its complexion, and there might yet be a tyranny to depose, more formidable than kinds.
Public opinion, when grounded on false principles and dictated by the breath of ambitious individuals, sometimes creates a tyranny, felt by the minority more severely than that usually inflicted by the hand of the sceptered monarch. ”

“ A new Constitution, and an extensive government, in which he acted eight years as chief magistrate, open a new field of observations, for future pens to descant on the merits or demerits of a man, admired abroad, beloved at home, and celebrated through half the globe. This will be done according to the variety of opinions which will ever exist among mankind, when character is surveyed in the cool moments of calm philosophy, which contemplates the nature and passions of man, and the contingent circumstances that lift him to the skies or leave him in the shad of doubtful opinion. ”

“ The genial flame of freedom and independence blazed in its original luster in the breasts of many, long after the termination of the Revolutionary War.
After this period, the American continent was viewed by all nations as a theater just erected, where the drama was but begun. While the actors of the Old World, having run through every species of pride, luxury, venality, and vice, their characters are become less interesting than those of the new. America may stand as a monument of observation, and an asylum of freedom. ”

“ If, instead of the independent feelings of ancient republics, whose prime object was the welfare and happiness of their country, we should see a dereliction of those principles, and the Americans ready to renounce their great advantages, by the imitation of European systems in politics and manners, it would be a melancholy trait in the story of man. Yet, they, like other nations, may in time, by their servility to men in power, or by a chimerical pursuit of the golden fleece of poets, become involved in a mist ascending from the pit of avarice. ”

“ Pride, avarice, injustice, and ambition have set every political wheel in motion to hurry out of existence one half the species by the hands of the other.
The folly of mankind in making war on each other is strongly delineated on the conclusion of almost every hostile dispute; and perhaps this folly was never more clearly exhibited than in that between Great Britain and her former colonies. Each circumstance will in future be weighted, when the world will judge of the great balance of advantage to the one country or the other, on the termination of the struggle. ”

“ Warmed with the spirit of magnanimity and a thirst for glory, the inseparable companions of exalted minds, he met undaunted the fire of his enemies and accompanied by some of his bravest officers, he rushed on to attack a well-defended barricade. But to the regret of the army, the grief of his country, and the inexpressible sorrow of his numerous friends, the valiant Montgomery, with the laurels fresh blooming on his brow, fell at the gates by a random shot from the frozen walls of Quebec. ”

“ We there find a noble principle implanted in the nature of man, that pants for distinction. This principle operates in every bosom, and when kept under the control of reason, and the influence of humanity, it produces the most benevolent effects. But when the checks of conscience are thrown aside, or the moral sense weakened by the sudden acquisition of wealth or power, humanity is obscured, and if a favorable coincidence of circumstances permits, this love of distinction often exhibits the most mortifying instances of profligacy, tyranny, and the wanton exercise of arbitrary sway. ”

“ May the hands of the executive of their own choice, be strengthened more by the unanimity and affection of the people, than by the dread of penal infliction, or any restraints that might repress free inquiry, relative to the principles of their own government, and the conduct of its administrators! The world is now viewing America, as experimenting a new system of government, a FEDERAL REPUBLIC, including a territory to which the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland bear little proportion. ”

“ It is indeed true that resentment had in several instances arisen to outrage and that the most unwarrantable excesses had been committed on some occasions, which gave grounds for unfavorable representations. Yet it must be acknowledged that the voice of the people seldom breathes universal murmur, but when the insolence or the oppression of their rulers extorts the bitter complaint. On the contrary, there is a certain supineness which generally overspreads the multitude and disposes mankind to submit quietly to any form of government, rather than to be the expense and hazard of resistance. ”

“ I therefore send the piece containing the reasons for this opinion, to you, who I know can determine its true worth; and if you can discover no other merit in it, permit me at least to claim the merit of having wrote it with the most ardent affection for the British colonies the purest intentions to promote their welfare, an honest desire to assert their rights, and with deep sense of their impending misfortunes. Our cause is a cause of the highest dignity: it is nothing less than to maintain the liberty with which Heaven itself "hath made us free." ”

“ It is not wonderful that a people of this description and education should be incredulous of the utility of more free modes of government. They are naturally tenacious of old customs, habits, and their own fortuitous advantages. They are unable to form an idea of general freedom among mankind without distinction of ranks that elevate one class of men to the summit of pride and insolence, and sink another to the lowest grade of servility and debasement.
But Americans born under no feudal tenure, nurtured in the bosom of mediocrity, educated in the schools of freedom ”

“ Among other British partisans of notoriety, was a Colonel Hamilton, who had distinguished himself for his activity and his severity, from Georgia to Virginia. Not less active than either of the above, was a Colonel Simcoe, more remarkable for intrigue, stratagem, and surprise than for the cool operations of the commander of magnanimity. The courage which is accompanies by humanity is a virtue; but bravery that pushes through all dangers to destroy is barbarous, is savage, is brutal. ”

“ This dread hung heavily on the most sober and judicious, the most wise and virtuous part of the inhabitants of America. They were sensible that both public and private virtue sink with the loss of liberty, and that the nobler emulations which are drawn out and adorn the soul of man, when not fettered by servility, frequently hide themselves in the shade or shrink into littleness at the frown of a despot. ”

“ The officers were allowed their side-arms, but the troops marched with their colors cased and made their submission to General Lincoln, precisely in the same manner his army had done to the British commander, a few months before.
Here we cannot but pause a moment to reflect on the vicissitudes of human life, the accidents of war, or rather the designations of Providence, that one day lift the pinnacle of human triumph, and another smite the laurel from the brow of the conqueror and humble the proud victor at the feet of his former prisoner. ”

“ The discordant sounds of war that had long grated the ears of the children of America were now suspended, and the benign and heavenly voice of harmony soothed their wounded feelings, and they flattered themselves the dread summons to slaughter and death would not again resound on their shores. The independence of America acknowledged by the first powers in Europe, and even Great Britain willing to resheathe the sword on the same honorable terms for the United States, every prospect of tranquility appeared. ”

“ It is devoutly to be hoped that the conduct of America will never stand on record as a striking example of the truth of this observation. She has fought for her liberties. She has purchased them by the most costly sacrifices. We have seen her embark in the enterprise with a spirit that gained her the applause of mankind. The United States have procured their own emancipation from foreign thralldom, by the sacrifice of their heroes and their friends. ”

“ Public opinion is generally grounded on truth; but the enthusiasm to which the greatest part of mankind are liable, often urges the passions to such a degree of extravagance, as to confound the just ratio of praise or reproach; but the services and merits of General Washington are so deeply engraved on the hearts of his countrymen, that no time or circumstance will or ought ever to efface the luster of his well-earned reputation. ”

“ Yet, in a few instance, the dignity of human nature has been discovered by traits of reason and humanity, which wanted only the advantage of education to display genius and ability equal to any among the nations, that have hunted millions of those unhappy people out of existence, since the discovery of America by Europeans. But it is a pleasing anticipation that the American Revolution may be a means in the hands of Providence of diffusion universal knowledge over a quarter of the globe, that for ages had been enveloped in darkness, ignorance, and barbarism. ”

“ But whenever the cause of American freedom is to be vindicated, I look toward the prince of Massachusetts Bay. She must, as she has hitherto done, first kindle the sacred flame, that on such occasions must warm and illuminate this continent. Words are wanting to express my sense of the vigilance, perseverance, spirit, prudence, resolution, and firmness, with which your colony has distinguished herself, in our unhappy times. May God ever grant her noble labors the same successful issue which was obtained by the repeal of the Stamp Act. ”

“ The world has recently beheld an infant nation at once arise from the vigor of manhood and with the cool resolution of maturity, opposing the intrigues and resisting the power of Britain. In strictest amity with the hereditary foe of Britain, America has been seen leading captive the armies and smiling at the impotent threats of the King of England, to hold her longer in bondage.
This liberation of the American colonies was the wish of the first statesmen and politicians of the world, exclusive of Englishmen; and even among them America had many powerful friends. ”

“ Thus were the bands of society relaxed, law set at defiance, and government unhinged throughout the province. Perhaps this may be marked in the annals of time as one of the most extraordinary ears in the history of man: the exertions of spirit awakened by the severe hand of power had led to that most alarming experiment of leveling all ranks, and destroying all subordination.
It cannot be denied that nothing is more difficult than to restrain the provoked multitude when once aroused by a sense of wrong, from the supineness which generally over spreads the common class of mankind. ”

“ Otis resigned the office of judge advocate and renounced all employment under so corrupt an administration, boldly declaring in the face of the supreme court at this dangerous crisis that "the only principle of public conduct worthy a gentleman or a man was the sacrifice of health, ease, applause, estate, or even life, to the sacred calls of his country; that these manly sentiments in private life made the good citizen, in public, the patriot, and the hero." ”

“ General Montgomery was justly considered as an early martyr in the cause of freedom, and the premature stroke that robbed his country of an officer of tried bravery and decided merit, was not only bewailed by his friends, but excited the tear of generous compassion from all those who were susceptible of the nobler feelings of the soul, among such as were opposed to him in political opinion. The animosities of war, and the enmities created by different sentiments or rivalry in fame, should ever expire with the life of a hero. ”