Our ammunition, light artillery, and the best part of our stores, had been removed, on the apprehension that Howe would endeavor to penetrate the Jerseys, in which case Fort Lee could be of no use to us for it must occur to every thinking man, whether in the army or not, that these kind of field forts are only for temporary purposes, and last in use no longer than the enemy directs his force against the particular object which such forts are raised to defend. We had no army at hand to have relieved the garrison, had we shut ourselves up and stood on our defence. Our force was inconsiderable, being not one-fourth so great as Howe could bring against us. Our situation there was exceedingly cramped, the place being a narrow neck of land between the North River and the Hackensack. Many a disguised Tory has lately shown his head, that shall penitentially solemnize with curses the day on which Howe arrived upon the Delaware.Īs I was with the troops at Fort Lee, and marched with them to the edge of Pennsylvania, I am well acquainted with many circumstances, which those who live at a distance know but little or nothing of. They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world. In fact, they have the same effect on secret traitors, which an imaginary apparition would have upon a private murderer. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. Their duration is always short the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. Would that heaven might inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair fellow sufferers from ravage and ravishment! Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses they produce as much good as hurt. Britain has trembled like an ague at the report of a French fleet of flat-bottomed boats and in the fourteenth century the whole English army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces collected and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. All nations and ages have been subject to them. 'Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. Neither have I so much of the infidel in me, as to suppose that He has relinquished the government of the world, and given us up to the care of devils and as I do not, I cannot see on what grounds the king of Britain can look up to heaven for help against us: a common murderer, a highwayman, or a house-breaker, has as good a pretence as he. I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my secret opinion has ever been, and still is, that God Almighty will not give up a people to military destruction, or leave them unsupportedly to perish, who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of war, by every decent method which wisdom could invent. All that Howe has been doing for this month past, is rather a ravage than a conquest, which the spirit of the Jerseys, a year ago, would have quickly repulsed, and which time and a little resolution will soon recover. However, the fault, if it were one, was all our own we have none to blame but ourselves. We did not make a proper use of last winter, neither could we, while we were in a dependent state. Whether the independence of the continent was declared too soon, or delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an argument my own simple opinion is, that had it been eight months earlier, it would have been much better. Even the expression is impious for so unlimited a power can belong only to God. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. THESE are the times that try men's souls.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |