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8. Perhaps referring to Matthew 14:30, when Peter, walking on water, begins to sink and calls to Jesus for help. 33 to catharine sawbridge macaulay Plymouth February 1st 177[7]1 An opportunity presenting by a Gentleman in whose honour I can confide, to convey solely to your hand, I again take up the pen. I have no doubt you are still glad to hear from your American correspondents, though all freedom of intercourse is now cut off;—cut off not only by Royal Proclamation , but necessarily impeded by the hostile movements between Great Britain and a country which has been long used to look over to her with warm affection as a friend, protector, and parent. That period is now past, the connexion is broken, and the American Continent feels these convulsions which have been experienced by every country ere they have obtained the permanent establishment of the rights too frequently wrested from them by the strong hand of power. Mankind have ever been so prone to yield implicit obedience to that authority to which they have long been accustomed that there are few examples of resistance, unless the ill timed exercise or wanton abuse of power has rendered it necessary to resist that arbitrary spirit which too often gains ground till the social state becomes more miserable than the rude ages of uncultivated nature. When this is the case the feelings of the man and the patriot are awakened and both the peasant and the statesman are urged to struggle even in blood to secure themselves and to posterity the claims they derive from heaven. When the scymitar2 is drawn from such principles as these, life and fortune are a feather in the balance against the chains of servitude, which have long clanked in the disgusted ear of America. Not the purple of Princes, nor the splendor of a diadem, can sanction the deeds of cruelty that have already been perpetrated on these western shores;—perpetrated by men whose crimes emblasoned by title, will hand them down with redoubled infamy when the tragic tale shall be faithfully transmitted to Generations yet unborn. How long before the sword that has spread devastation through some of our distressed cities will be resheathed, is an event enwrapped in the 84  to catharine macaulay, february 1777 womb of futurity;—but this will, I venture to say with confidence, that no suffering which ministerial vengeance can inflict (aided by their barbarous allies from other European courts) will reduce America to submission and dependence on a foreign power who has already added insult to injury;— instead of listning to the groans of the oppressed, and to the tears of anguish , they have wrung out the blood of the innocent and crimsoned over the feilds which have often teemed[?] for the nourishment of Britain. You will not madam expect from me a long detail of military operations , I shall therefore only observe that the campaign of one thousand seven hundred and seventy six will contribute little to the honour either of the arms or the humanity of the ministerial troops. It requires the pen of a Macaulay to have the origin, to paint the prime actors, and give the true colouring to the source and prosecution of a war kindled by avarice, whetted by ambition, and blown up into a thirst of revenge by repeated disappointments. The name of Howe3 once revered in America is now held in general detestation for undertaking a project reproachful to human nature, and in derision for the manner of executing a plan that would reflect disgrace on the conductors, even if attended with success. But this hope must be at a distance from the British commander;—if this country is ever conquered, the victors will only be masters of a depopulated soil;—the thunder of their artillery may lay waste the cities but the spirit of the people is unconquerable ; the land may be deluged in blood and every village stained with the purple tide, but Death is preferred to thraldom by almost every individual , and dreadful indeed will be the conflict if the poignard4 is pushed by despair. Notwithstanding some advantages gained by a concurrence of circumstances , which will never again take place, the two brothers Lord and Sir William Howe are driven back to the post where they began their depredations . Every species of rapine and outrage has marked the footsteps of the British army in the Jerseys; the inhumanity exercised...

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