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had no alloy of cowardice.’
The commemora-
Chap. XXIII.} 1775. Mar. 6. |
tion was a public affront to
Gage both as general of the army, and as governor of the province; for the subject of the oration was the baleful effects of standing armies in time of peace; and it was to be delivered to the town in a town meeting, contrary to an act of parliament which he came to
Boston to enforce.
In the crowd which thronged to the
Old South Meetinghouse, appeared about forty British officers of the army and navy; these,
Samuel Adams, the moderator, received with studied courtesy, placing them all near the orator, some of them on the platform above the pulpit stairs.
There they sat conspicuously, and listened to a vivid picture of the night of the massacre, after which
Warren proceeded:
Our streets are again filled with armed men, our harbor is crowded with ships of war; but these cannot intimidate us; our liberty must be preserved; it is far dearer than life; we hold it even dear as our allegiance; we cannot suffer even Britons to ravish it from us. Should America be brought into vassalage, Britain must lose her freedom also; her liberty, as well as ours, will eventually be preserved by the virtue of America.
The attempt of parliament to raise a revenue from America, and our denial of their right to do it, have excited an almost universal inquiry into the rights of British subjects and of mankind.
The malice of the Boston port-bill has been defeated in a very considerable degree, by benefactions in this and our sister colonies; and the sympathetic feelings for a brother in distress, and the grateful emotions of him who finds relief, must forever endear each to the other, and form those indissoluble bonds of