I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of 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 Federal government this century, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves? Is it that insidious smile with which our protest has been received? Trust it not; it will prove a snare to your feet. Don't let yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this claim to feel our pain comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are internment camps 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. These are the implements of war and subjugation the last arguments to which tyrants resort. I ask 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 Uncle Sam any enemy in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation and armies of police? There are none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the establishment insiders have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose them? Shall we try argument? We have been trying that for the 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, friends, deceive ourselves longer.
We have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned we have demonstrated we have supplicated we have prostrated ourselves before the government that started out as our servant, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the bureaucracy. Our petitions have been slighted; our demonstrations have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt. 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; WE MUST FIGHT!! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts, is all that is left us!
They tell us 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 there are check points at every corner and a 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? We are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature has placed in our power. Millions of people, armed in the Holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us if we will only act. Besides, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our battles with us. The battle is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active and the brave. We have no real election. It mattersnot for whom we vote, but whom the television announces victor. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard across the nation! The war is inevitable and let it come!! I repeat it, let it come!!!
It is in vain to extenuate the matter. Gentleman may cry, peace, peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the east will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? IS LIFE SO DEAR, OR PEACE SO SWEET, AS TO BE PURCHASED AT THE PRICE OF CHAINS AND SLAVERY? FORBID IT, ALMIGHTY GOD! I KNOW NOT WHAT COURSE OTHERS MAY TAKE; BUT AS FOR ME, GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!
