experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And

judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the

British Ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which

gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House? Is it that

insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not,

sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be "betrayed

with a kiss"! Ask yourselves, how this gracious reception of our petition

comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our

land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have

we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in

to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the

implements of war and subjugation, the last "arguments" to which kings resort.

 

I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to

force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it?

Has Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world, to call for all this

accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us;

they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and to 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,

sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we have done everything that could be done,