They were precipitated, it
was said, by Britain into a state of hostility, and there no
longer remained for them a liberty of choice. They must either
throw down their arms, and expect the clemency of men who had
acted as the enemies of their rights; or they must consider
themselves as in a state of warfare, and abide by the
consequences of that state. Warfare involved independency.
Without this their efforts must be irregular, feeble, and
without all prospect of success; they could possess no power to
suppress mutinies, or to punish conspiracies; nor could they
expect countenance and support from any of the states of Europe,
however they might be inclined to favour them, while they
acknowledged themselves to be subjects, and it was uncertain how
soon they might sacrifice their friends and allies to the hopes
of a reunion. To look back, they were told, to the king of
England, after all the insults they had experienced, and the
hostilities that were begun, would be the height of
pusillanimity and weakness. They were bid to think a little for
their posterity, who by the irreversible laws of nature and
situation, could have no alternative left them but to be slaves
or independent.
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