and virtue will be absolutely necessary to restore things there; and his recommendations will always be readily complied with. You will find that great powers are given to the commander in that distant department. The system for Canada, adopted since the arrival of the Commissioners here, will, I hope, be of essential service to our affairs. All good men pray most heartily for your health, happiness, and success; and none more than, dear sir, your affectionate friend and obedient servant,

RICHARD HENRY LEE.

To General Washington.

TO THE PEOPLE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Should any one attentively read the annals of the last, and compare it to the present reign, what a striking contrast would appear! Of the former, he might very sincerely have cried out, in the sublime language of the Jews, O King, live forever! And of the latter, with equal truth, How are the mighty fallen! Had the present full-blooded Nero, and his all sufficient Ministry and Parliament, instead of shedding the blood of our brethren, been really desirous of reconciliation and peace, on constitutional principles, (i.e. Charter principles,) such a peace as would not have derogated from the so-much-talked-of and boasted honour and omnipotence of almighty Britain, (for with such sacred things our unhallowed hands should not meddle—’tis not titles we quarrel about, not shadows, but substances,) and such a peace as would not have cast an odium on the spirit, dignity, and rising glories of America, and the righteous cause of liberty by our assenting to it; and had they taken proper notice of the petitions of the Congress, when they humbly besought their (what shall I call them?) graciousnesses to grant them but liberty, peace, and safety, they would long ere this have given us due notice of such a desire, accompanied with such preliminaries as would put their sincerity beyond a doubt; which preliminaries would have been a previous recall of all their troops and ships of war, for nothing less, some people think, would have done; and this even the illustrious Cato must have thought quite reasonable. Peace, then, might have been established, and America might then, perhaps, have joined in one grand Continental chorus, O King, live forever! But, alas, blood is now shed ! and that blood which was shed through wantonness, and without provocation, cries aloud for vengeance. If I forget thee, O Lexington, let my right hand forget her cunning; yea, let my right ringer forget to pull the trigger!

The door is now shut; and while they continue invading, murdering, plundering, wasting, and daily destroying our property, who can say, with sincerity of heart and a clear conscience, O King, live forever! Who but Cato and his clan can think of peace? Who but they can be such enemies to their country as to wish a temporary, shim sham, patched up, inglorious peace? And who but they can be so sanguine as to suppose a sincere reconciliation can possibly take place under such circumstances? Cato and his junto have doubtless their reasons for wishing it, as they are under the direction of avarice and not of common sense.

Be not deceived, my countrymen, peace is not so near at hand—I mean a lasting, an honourable, and a secure peace; nay, even were you to make a voluntary surrender of all your liberties, claims, and property, peace would be still the farther from you. Then would soldiers innumerable swarm around you, and possess your cities; then farewell liberty; you then commence slaves indeed; you will scarcely then dare, even at noon-day, to walk the streets—remember Boston. Insults upon insults will be heaped on your heads; your spirits will be broken, and the more you complain the more you will be dragooned; all power on your side will insensibly vanish, and you will become by degrees insensible slaves, and have none to pity or help you. You have yet the staff of Union in your hands; let it support you. I tell you, and I tell you as a sincere friend to America, there is no peace for Israel; there is no peace for Salem’s courts, unless ye procure it for yourselves. America, must work out her own salvation. Pride, on the part of our enemies, is too predominant; it bars the door of peace, it mocks the strength of Britain, and Britain trembles for the consequences; yet that cursed pride, that national self-conceited, vain-glorious importance, will not suffer her to give over her vile pursuits, but, like Satan, still pursue their accursed plan, till in the end they fall, and justly merit their own destruction. The feather falls from off the fool’s head, and fixes itself on the cap of Liberty.

“——she swells with angry pride,
And calls for help from every side. ”

She finds her own strength insufficient to balance her injustice, and therefore amuses us with the sound of Commissioners or Plenipotentiaries, and cries Peace, peace, when there is no peace; while she underhandedly negotiates with foreign Powers—Hessians, Brunswickers, our dear cousins the Hanoverians, perhaps Russians, and, if these should fail, perhaps Turks next—to cram such a peace down cur throats as Cato and his truckling brethren would gladly swallow.

Britain’s wings are clipped. We have nothing to fear from her strength alone, equal to the fear and disgrace of disobliging, and danger of losing our friends in Britain and Ireland, by a pusilanimous behaviour, and a Catonian surrender of our liberties; this we should be particularly cautious of, as we thereby involve their fate with ours; they are struggling for us, and it would be ingratitude in the highest degree to desert them, by assenting to a dastardly, a rascally compromise.

We have most to fear from Catos and Commissioners, from High Priests and Judases, from their juggling and deception; and, therefore, as the son of Sirach says, “Separate thyselves from thine enemies, and take heed of thy friends.”

But should their so-much-talked-of holinesses, (as they are to grant pardons and dispense the holy oil of Britain,) with their retinue of twelve thousand Hessians, &c, arrive, don’t let us be intimidated by the pompous parade, or complimented out of our liberties. Left us hear what they may have to say to keep us out of Purgatory; don’t let us be deficient in point of good manners or hospitality, though it should appear, as there can be no doubt they are, pretended peacemakers, and not such as St. Matthew speaks of. Yet let us give them no cause to complain, unless it be on account of a disagreement in catholick or political opinions. Convince them (if they know it not already) that we are as able to treat as to fight; as good at the Council Board as in the field; and, in case we cannot agree, let us dismiss them genteelly, but not as Hanun, the son of Nahash, did to David’s messengers, “shave their beards and cut their garments down to their buttocks, ” lest they be ashamed, and tarry at Halifax until their beards are grown.

A WATCHMAN.

Philadelphia, June 13, 1776.

COMMITTEE OF NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Northampton County, Easton, June 13, 1776

Whereas I the subscriber have most imprudently and indiscreetly reported and spread abroad throughout the said County, that a certain Major Michael Pobst, of the Second Battalion of Associators in this County, formerly a Captain in Weisenburgh Township, had unjustly received and taken at Philadelphia twenty shillings per head for every subscriber to the printed book of Association in the Township aforesaid, by which means many well-wishers to the American cause were deterred from signing or associating together agreeable to the resolves of the honourable House of Assembly; and being now sensible of my folly and guilt, do hereby ask pardon of my offended fellow-citizens, promising in future to conduct myself so as to regain their good will and approbation.

MICHAL OHL

In Committee, Easton, June 15, 1776.

We, the subscribers, inhabitants of Maccongie Township, in the County of Northampton, do voluntarily acknowledge that we were duly waited upon in an orderly, decent, and discreet manner, by the persons appointed in the said Township, to receive and take the arms from the Non-Associators and other disaffected persons, agreeable to the resolves of the honourable House of Assembly; and that we did most imprudently refuse to deliver up the same, and also did refuse to pay any obedience to the summons of the Committee of this County, who were therefore obliged to send a party of Associators to compel us to answer for our misconduct; and that we did then resist their authority by loaded fire-arms to the endangering of their lives. Being now convinced and made sensible of our errour, we do humbly ask pardon of our injured and incensed countrymen, promising