TO THE AMERICAN SOLDIERY.

Worthy Fellow-Soldiers:

When I take a view of the extensive Country we inhabit, and consider the surprising rapidity with which it has emerged from a state of savage barbarity, in which it was a century and a half past involved; when I traverse the pleasant fields, and take a survey of the elegant buildings and beautiful landscapes rising to my view, where, not long since, the impenetrable forests and inhospitable wilds, the haunts of prowling wolves, forbade the approach of the affrighted traveller; when I view these once dreary wastes blossoming as the rose, and teeming with an ample supply of all the conveniences of life; in fine, when I attend to the almost incredible rapidity of population in the American Colonies, I am struck with astonishment at the bountiful rewards of the industry of our worthy forefathers, and cannot forbear anticipating the future grandeur of this western world. The number of inhabitants, according to the most accurate estimates that have been made, doubles in every period of twenty-five years; the Continental Congress has estimated the number of inhabitants in eleven Colonies at three millions—equal to about three-fifths of those in the whole Island of Great Britain. In the year 1800, according to the foregoing calculation, it will amount to six millions. Let us stretch our ideas to the year 2000, and our computation furnishes us with the number of one thousand five hundred and thirty-six millions—a computation which almost exceeds human conception; but it is not greater than what may rationally be expected, if they continue to increase in the proportion they have hitherto done. It may, perhaps, be objected, that in indulging the sallies of too sanguine an imagination, I have neglected to consider, that as the rapid increase of inhabitants in the American Colonies has proceeded chiefly from that spirit of emigration which, in consequence of the cheapness of lands and healthiness of the climate, has actuated the Europeans, of almost all nations, to purchase freeholds for their families, and as those unappropriated lands are daily becoming less extensive, this source of population must in a short time fail us. I know it is an axiom in politicks, that beyond a determinate degree of population, in any Country, the proportion of the increase of number diminishes; but, to answer these objections, I need only point to those almost Unbounded deserts which extend from our most western settlements to the Pacifick Ocean—regions hitherto unexplored by the most indefatigable researches. To this pleasing portrait, if we add the proportionable improvements in agriculture, the military and polite arts and sciences, together with that increase of wealth and importance which will result from an unconfined trade, they may perhaps render this once despicable Country the most powerful and august Empire which the annals of history can boast. Let us look around us, then, my fellow-soldiers; let us contemplate this pleasing figure; let us make a solemn pause, and then ask ourselves whether we are willing to relinquish not only our present enjoyments, but all our hopes of securing happiness and freedom for our children, and thereby spurn those privileges which the God of nature has conferred upon us in such beneficent profusion. Let us ask ourselves whether we will see our wives and children, with every thing that is dear to us, subjected to the merciless rage of uncontrolled despotism. Or, are any of us at a loss concerning our duty, in this day of general distress, let us repair to the graves of our sleeping forefathers; let us consult their venerable manes upon this momentous occasion. Would they not, if it were possible, reanimate their entombed dust, or burst forth from their gloomy caverns, and point to those wounds they received in securing the Country which gave us birth from the inhuman depredations of their faithless enemies? Would they not recount the numerous perils to which they were exposed in crossing a wide ocean, the hardships and almost insurmountable difficulties they encountered in every form? Would they not, with a degree of noble indignation, upbraid us with ingratitude to them, and want of spirit and manly resolution, in cruelly hesitating one moment to defend and secure to our posterity what cost them so much blood and treasure? Let us clothe our faces with an ingenuous blush for our criminal indifference; let us drop a grateful tear in tribute to the memory of men, the very relation of whose disinterested exertions and unparalleled sufferings should be sufficient to inspire us with an heroick ardour in the glorious enterprise of transmitting to our children those sacred rights to which we ourselves were born; let us fly to the only means left for our defence, and swear to those venerable shades, that their sons will never disgrace their unsullied names with the execrable epithet of slave.

But if these considerations are not sufficient to inspire us with fortitude and resolution, there are still higher motives, which cannot fail to unite us in this noble struggle. We are engaged, my fellow-soldiers, in the cause of virtue, of liberty, of God. For God’s sake, then, let us play the man; for God’s sake, let us neglect no requisite precautions to frustrate the cruel attempts of our remorseless foes; for God’s sake, let us encourage regularity and good order in the Army, by paying implicit obedience to the commands of our officers; let us consider the importance of discipline, and the terror which the most exact uniformity in performing the military manoeuvres generally strikes upon the most experienced enemy. What rendered the Spartan Army the glory of the Grecian Empire, and caused even Xerxes the Great to tremble, but that hardy mode of discipline to which they were from their infancy, by the law of Lycurgus, habituated? What but an unreserved confidence of the Roman soldiers in the abilities of their commanders enabled them to conquer an illustrious Hannibal? What but an unremitted attention to the art of war procured them the empire of the world, by wresting it from the hands of the Grecian warriors? What but a neglect of this rendered them an easy prey to their savage neighbours? In fine, these are the necessary artifices by which the glory of the British arms has extended to the most distant shores. Let Americans catch that beautiful regularity, and hardy form of discipline, which Britons, through debauchery and effeminacy, are losing. Let us not consider these matters as of little importance; they are absolutely necessary in a Standing Army, of the greatest importance in a Militia. We may hope, then, that the latter will, by the wisdom of our Senators, be immediately put under proper regulations, since their assistance may be rendered indispensably necessary in any emergency; let us be constant in attending our duty and in guarding our lines, that we may be ready at all times to repel our enemy. Though they may not, perhaps, venture without the reach of their cannon, yet they will doubtless endeavour to plunder our pastures, to satisfy their hunger, as in the week past; and we cannot be too vigilant in our endeavours to frustrate them; let us resolve to follow our officers to an honourable death or a glorious victory. At worst, it is only dying a few days sooner than we otherwise should; it is only losing a few days of a devoted life. If we live to conquer, we gain our freedom, and reap the fruits of it.

Our cruel enemies have forced us to pass the Rubicon; we have begun the noble work, and there is no retreating. The King of Britain has proclaimed us Rebels. The sword is drawn, and the scabbard must be thrown away. There is no medium between a glorious defence and the most abject slavery. If we fail in our endeavours to repel the assaults of tyranny, we are to expect no mercy. The brave but miserable Corsicans may serve for an example of the unrestrained ravages of enraged despotism. On the other hand, the States of Holland supply an instance of happiness and glory, procured by a noble stand against absolute power. We would not wish for the absolute independence of the latter, would our inexorable oppressors but listen to our just complaints; but, at all events, we are determined not to submit to a system of tyranny little inferior to that slavish thraldom in which the subjects of the Turkish Sultan are held.

Our enemies have ridiculed our courage and military skill; but, by dear-bought experience, they have been convinced of their error. They are obliged to submit to the mortification of being confined within a few acres of land, miserably fed upon a beggarly pittance of half-starved animal food. We are driving them from our fortresses in the West; our privateers are daily seizing valuable cargoes of provisions and other articles upon the seas, where we least expected success. In fine, we are supplying ourselves with every thing necessary to support the war. New schemes of economy are inventing, and I doubt not but we shall find our calamities in a short time considerably alleviated, if not by foreign trade, yet by industry and frugality,

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