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039 - Chapter 30 - Conclusion · The American Revolution A Historical Overview Vol. 3

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty nine of History of the Rise, Progress and
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  Speaker 1: Termination of the American Revolution, Volume three by Mercy Otis Waring.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All librivos recordings serve in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. History of the Rise, Progress and
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  Speaker 1: Termination of the American Revolution, Volume three by Mercy Otis Warren,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty conclusion. Let it never be said of such
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  Speaker 1: a favid nation as America has been, As was observed
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  Speaker 1: by an ancient historian on the Rise, the Glory, and
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  Speaker 1: the Fall of the Republic of Athens, that the inconstancy
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  Speaker 1: of the people was the most striking characteristic of its history.
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  Speaker 1: We have with the historian who depicted the Athenian character,
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  Speaker 1: viewed with equal astonishment the valor of our soldiers and
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  Speaker 1: the penetration of the statesmen of America. We wished for
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  Speaker 1: the duration of her virtue. We sigh at every appearance
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  Speaker 1: of decline, and perhaps from the dreaded deviations we may
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  Speaker 1: be suspicious of their approach where none are designed. It
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  Speaker 1: is a more agreeable anticipation to every humane mind to
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  Speaker 1: contemplate the glory, the happiness, the freedom and peace, which
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  Speaker 1: made for ages to come pervade this newborn nation, emancipated
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  Speaker 1: by the uncommon vigar valor for theitudent patriotism of her
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  Speaker 1: soldiers and statesmen. They seem to have been remarkably directed
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  Speaker 1: by the finger of divine providence, and led on from
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  Speaker 1: step to step beyond their own expectations, to exhibit to
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  Speaker 1: the view of distant nations, millions freed from the bondage
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  Speaker 1: of a foreign yoke by that spirit of freedom, virtue,
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  Speaker 1: and perseverance which they had generally displayed from their first
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  Speaker 1: emigrations to the wilderness to the present day. Let us
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  Speaker 1: here pause a few moments and survey the vast continent
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  Speaker 1: of America, where the reflected mind retrospects and realizes the
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  Speaker 1: beautiful description of the wide wilderness before it became a
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  Speaker 1: fruitful field, before the river's walpen in high places and
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  Speaker 1: fountains in the midst of the valleys, when he who
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  Speaker 1: created them pronounced, I will plant the sea, that the
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  Speaker 1: burtle and the oil tree, I will set in the desert,
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  Speaker 1: the fir tree, and the pine and the box treet together,
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  Speaker 1: and all may see and know, and consider and understand
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  Speaker 1: together that the hand of the Lord hath done this,
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  Speaker 1: and the Holy One of Israel hath created it. Let
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  Speaker 1: the striking contrast, since the forest has been made to
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  Speaker 1: blossom as the rose, be viewed in such an impressive
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  Speaker 1: light as to operate on the mind of every sun
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  Speaker 1: in order of America, and lead to the uniform practice
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  Speaker 1: of public and private birds. From the education, the habits,
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  Speaker 1: and the general law of kindness which has been urged
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  Speaker 1: among the children of those pires worthies who first left
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  Speaker 1: the pleasant and prolific choice of Europe and took up
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  Speaker 1: their residence in the bosom of a wilderness to secure
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  Speaker 1: the peaceful enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, it may
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  Speaker 1: reasonably be expected that such a unanimity may long be
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  Speaker 1: preserved among their posterity, as to prevent the fatal habit
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  Speaker 1: which dissension and war had brought on most nations. Found
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  Speaker 1: in the records of time. The mind now rejoices to
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  Speaker 1: return from the scenes of war in which it has
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  Speaker 1: been a burst, and feels itself sufficiently collected to take
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  Speaker 1: an abstracted view of the condition of human nature. Here
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  Speaker 1: we might, before we leave the local circumstances of America,
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  Speaker 1: surveyed the contrast, exhibited in their conduct by a world
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  Speaker 1: of being supposed their rationality. We might might indulge some
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  Speaker 1: moments of reflection and contemplation on the infinite variety of
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  Speaker 1: combinations in the powers of the human mind, as well
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  Speaker 1: as the contrarities that make up the character of man.
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  Speaker 1: But amidst the various images which present in viewing the
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  Speaker 1: complex state of man, we will only add in this
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  Speaker 1: place a few observations on their hostile dispositions toward each other.
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  Speaker 1: It must appear among the winters of divine providence that
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  Speaker 1: a creature endowed with reason, should, through all ages and generations,
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  Speaker 1: be permitted the wanton destruction of his own species. The
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  Speaker 1: barbarous butchery of his fellow mortals, exhibits man in absurd
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  Speaker 1: and ferocious instead of irrational and humane being. May it
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  Speaker 1: not be among the proofs of some general lapse from
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  Speaker 1: the original law of rectitude, that no age or nation
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  Speaker 1: since the death of Abel has been exempt from the
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  Speaker 1: havoc of war. Pride, avarice, and justice and ambition have
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  Speaker 1: set every political real and motion. The hurry out of
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  Speaker 1: existence one half the species by the hands of the other.
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  Speaker 1: The folly of mankind in making war on each other
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  Speaker 1: is strongly delineated on the conclusion of almost every hostile dispute,
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  Speaker 1: and perhaps this folly was never more clearly exhibited than
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  Speaker 1: in that between Great Britain and her former colonies. Each
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  Speaker 1: circumstance will in future be weighed when the world will
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  Speaker 1: judge of the great balance of advantage to the one
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  Speaker 1: country or the other on the termination of the struggle.
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  Speaker 1: A full detail of the sufferings of the English nation
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  Speaker 1: in consequence of the absurd war upon their colonies may
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  Speaker 1: be left to more belomentous writers. Are we only observed
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  Speaker 1: that Great Britain lost and extensive territory, containing millions of subjects,
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  Speaker 1: the fruits of whose genius and industry you might for
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  Speaker 1: ages had she not been avaricious of a revenue by
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  Speaker 1: methods which neither the much boasted constitution of Englishmen or
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  Speaker 1: the laws of prudence or equity could justify. She lost
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  Speaker 1: the extensive commerce of a country growing in arts of
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  Speaker 1: population to an astonishing degree. She lost the friendship of
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  Speaker 1: thousands and created the alienation of millions that may last forever.
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  Speaker 1: She lost a nursery for seamen that had replenished her
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  Speaker 1: navy from the first settlement of America. She lost, by
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  Speaker 1: the best British calculations, one hundred thousand of her best soldiers,
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  Speaker 1: either by sickness or the sword, in a proportionate number
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  Speaker 1: of most gallant officers. She sunk an immensity of her
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  Speaker 1: treasures for the support of her armies and navies, for
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  Speaker 1: the execution of the chimerical project of subduing the colonies
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  Speaker 1: by arms, which, by justice, protection from and a reciprocity
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  Speaker 1: of kind offices, would have been hers for ages. And
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  Speaker 1: what has she gained by the contest, surely not an
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  Speaker 1: increase of honor or reputation. Corroborative evidence of these truths
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  Speaker 1: may be drawn from the testimony of British writers. A
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  Speaker 1: very sensible man of this class has observed that thus
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  Speaker 1: undered the most unfortunate war in which England has ever
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  Speaker 1: been engaged, A war commenced in the very wantonness of
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  Speaker 1: Pride and Foley, which had for its object to deprive
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  Speaker 1: America of the rights, but which our ancestors have contended,
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  Speaker 1: a war the possessed object of which was to levy
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  Speaker 1: attacks that would never paid the collectors, A war conducted
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  Speaker 1: with the same weakness and incapacity on the part of
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  Speaker 1: the British ministry with which it was commenced, which might,
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  Speaker 1: in the early stages of the dispute, have been avoided
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  Speaker 1: by the smallest concession, and which might have been terminated
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  Speaker 1: with honor, But for the incorrigible obstinacy and unparalleled folly,
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  Speaker 1: are the worst administration that ever disgraced the country. This
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  Speaker 1: deplorable war has ended in the dismemberment of a considerable
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  Speaker 1: part of the British Empire, cost the nation more money
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  Speaker 1: than the ever memorable campaigns of Warlborough and the still
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  Speaker 1: more glorious War or Lord Chatham, more indeed than all
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  Speaker 1: the wars in which Great Britain has been engaged since
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  Speaker 1: the Revolution. To the peace of Aid the Chapelle. On
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  Speaker 1: the other hand, it may be proper here to take
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  Speaker 1: a survey of the United States and to view them
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  Speaker 1: on every ground. They have struggled with astonishing success for
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  Speaker 1: the rights of mankind, and have emancipated themselves from the
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  Speaker 1: shackles of foreign power. America has indeed obtained incalculable advantages
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  Speaker 1: by the Revolution, but in the innumerable life of evils
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  Speaker 1: attended on a state of war, she, as well as
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  Speaker 1: Great Britain has lost to thousands of brave soldiers, veteran officers,
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  Speaker 1: hardy seamen and meritorious citizens that perished in the field
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  Speaker 1: or in captivity, imprisonships and in the wilderness. Since the
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  Speaker 1: beginning of the conflict, she has lost the immense property
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  Speaker 1: by the conflagration of her cities, and the waste of
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  Speaker 1: wealth by various other means. She has in a great
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  Speaker 1: measure lost her simplicity of manners and those ideas of mediocrity,
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  Speaker 1: which are generally the parent of contempt. The Americans are
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  Speaker 1: already in too many instances hankering after the sudden accumulation
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  Speaker 1: of wealth and the proud distinctions of fortunate title. They
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  Speaker 1: have too far lost that general sense of moral obligation
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  Speaker 1: formerly felt by all classes in America. The people have
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  Speaker 1: not indeed generally lost their veneration for religion, but it
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  Speaker 1: is to be regretted that in the unlicensed liberality of
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  Speaker 1: opinion there have been some instances where the fundamental principles
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  Speaker 1: of truth have been obscured. This may, in some measure,
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  Speaker 1: have arisen from their late connections with other nations, and
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  Speaker 1: this circumstance may account for the readiness of many to
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  Speaker 1: ingrat foreign bodies and crimes with their own weak propensities
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  Speaker 1: to imitation, and to adopt their errors in fierce ambition,
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  Speaker 1: instead of making themselves a national character marked with moderation,
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  Speaker 1: justice picnating deity in all the mild virtues of humanity.
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  Speaker 1: But when the seeds of revolution are planted and the
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  Speaker 1: shoots have expanded, the various causes which contribute to their
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  Speaker 1: growth and to the introduction of a change of manners
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  Speaker 1: are too many to recount. The efferbescence of party rage
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  Speaker 1: sets open the flood gates of animosity and renders it
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  Speaker 1: impossible to calculate with n any degree of accuracy on
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  Speaker 1: subsequent events. Not the most persificacious human eye can foresee.
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  Speaker 1: Amidst the imperious spirit of disunion and the annihilation of
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  Speaker 1: former habits and connections, the benefits that may result from
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  Speaker 1: the exertions of virtue, or the evils may arise from
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  Speaker 1: problematic characters which come forward the new born offspring of confusion,
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  Speaker 1: and assume merit from the novelty of their projects and
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  Speaker 1: the inscrutability of their designs. These are like hotbed plants,
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  Speaker 1: started from extraneous causes, prematurely forced into existence they are
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  Speaker 1: incapable of living. But in the sunshine of Alridian day,
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  Speaker 1: such characters often hurry into irretrievable mischief before time has
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  Speaker 1: rightened the systems of men of more principle and judgment. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: after the conclusion of peace and the acknowledgment of the
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  Speaker 1: independence of the United States by Grist Britain, the situation
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  Speaker 1: of America appeared similar to that of a young heir
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  Speaker 1: who had prematurely become possessed of a rich inevidence. While
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  Speaker 1: his inexperience and his new felt independence had intoxicated him
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  Speaker 1: so far as to render him incapable of weighing the
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  Speaker 1: intrinsic value of his estate, and had left him without
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  Speaker 1: discretion or judgment to improve it to the best advantage
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  Speaker 1: of his family. The inhabitants of the United States had
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  Speaker 1: much to experiment in the new rank they had taken,
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  Speaker 1: and the untrodden ground which they were now to explore,
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  Speaker 1: replete with difficulties not yet to justice or apprehended by
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  Speaker 1: the most fagacious statesmen. They had obtained their independence by
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  Speaker 1: a long and perilous struggle against a powerful nation. We
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  Speaker 1: now view them just emancipated from a foreign yoke, the
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  Speaker 1: blessings of peace restored upon honorable terms, with the liberty
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  Speaker 1: of forming their own governments and acting their own laws,
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  Speaker 1: choosing their own magistrates. In adopting manners the most favorables
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  Speaker 1: of freedom and happiness, it is as possible that their
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  Speaker 1: virtue is not sufficiently steadfast to avail themselves of those
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  Speaker 1: superior advantages. The restless nature of man is forever kindling
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  Speaker 1: a fire and collecting fuels to keep the flame alive
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  Speaker 1: that consumes one half the globe, without the smallest advantage
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  Speaker 1: to the other. Either in a moral or in a
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  Speaker 1: political view, men profit little by the observations, the sufferings,
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  Speaker 1: or the opinions of others. It is with nations as
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  Speaker 1: with individuals. They must try their own projects, and frequently
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  Speaker 1: learn wisdom only by their own mistakes. It is undoubtedly
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  Speaker 1: true that all mankinds learn more from experience than promintuitive wisdom.
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  Speaker 1: They foolish passions to generally predominate over their virtues. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: civil liberty, political and pride of happiness are frequently bartered
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  Speaker 1: away for the gratification of vanity or the aggrandizement of
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  Speaker 1: a few individuals who have art enough to fascinate the
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  Speaker 1: undistinguishing multitude. If the conduct of the United States should
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  Speaker 1: stand upon record as a striking example the truth of
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  Speaker 1: this observation, it must be remembered that this is not
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  Speaker 1: a trade peculiar to the character of America. It is
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  Speaker 1: the story of man. Pastages be a testimony to its authenticity,
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  Speaker 1: and future events will convince the unbelieving. It is an
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  Speaker 1: unpleasing part of history when corruption begins to prevail, when
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  Speaker 1: degeneracy marks the manners of the people and weakens the
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  Speaker 1: sinews of the state. If they should ever become the
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  Speaker 1: deplorable situation that the United States, let some unborn historian
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  Speaker 1: in a fro a distant day detail the lapse and
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  Speaker 1: hold up the contrast between a simple, virtuous and free
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  Speaker 1: people and a degenerate, several race of beings corrupted by wealth,
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  Speaker 1: effeminated by luxury, impoverished by licentiousness, and become the automatons
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  Speaker 1: of intoxicated ambition and of Section thirty nine