He informed his government that the time for
"conciliation, moderation, reasoning was over," and that the first
campaign should be opened by the presence of twenty thousand men. This
was wise advice, because it was such advice as a wise man would have
given under the circumstances. It was, however, a fortunate blunder
in the English Government that they rejected it. They held Boston with
the army they sent, and with a larger army they could have done nothing
more. They might have made more frequent and more sanguinary forays
into the country, but the result of the campaign would have been the
same. It was neither possible nor politic for the Americans in the
Revolution to assemble large bodies of troops; therefore, the presence
of twenty, or even fifty, thousand men, would not have been a matter
of great importance to the colonies.
England held us in 1775, as she hold many of her provinces now--by
their own consent, but not otherwise. That consent can be perpetual
only by the recognition of the principles of freedom and equality. The
cause of liberty raises up friends and advocates everywhere. None of
its martyrs ever die unwept, unhonored or unsung. The human heart has
never been truer to any principle than to that of liberty. It is not
in America alone that the cause of freedom excites sympathy and enlists
support.
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