t over to bind and rivet upon us
those chains which the British Ministry have been so long forging.
And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we
have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new
to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in
every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain.
Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms
shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I
beseech you, deceive ourselves longer.

Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm
which is now coming on. We have petitioned, we have remonstrated,
we have supplicated, we have prostrated ourselves before the
throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the
tyrannical hands of the Ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have
been slighted; remonstrances have produced additional violence and
insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been
spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne. In vain, after
these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and
reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to
be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable
privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean
not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so
long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon
until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must
fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to
the God of Hosts is all that is left us!

They tell us, sir, that we are weak--unable to cope with so
formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be
the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally
disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every
house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall
we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on
our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope until our
enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if
we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature hath
placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy
cause of liberty, and