splayed the heroic courage which was exhibited by
their countrymen engaged in defence of the works; the assailants must
have been defeated, and the flower of the British army cut to pieces.
It ought also to have been remarked that, while the few who were
endowed with more than a common portion of bravery, encountered the
danger of executing the orders they had received, the many were
deterred by the magnitude of that danger. But it is not by the few
that great victories are to be gained, or a country to be saved.

Amidst these hostile operations, the voice of peace was yet heard.
Allegiance to the King was still acknowledged; and a lingering hope
remained that an accommodation was not impossible. Congress voted a
petition to his majesty, replete with professions of duty and
attachment; and addressed a letter to the people of England, conjuring
them by the endearing appellations of "friends, countrymen, and
brethren," to prevent the dissolution of "that connexion which the
remembrance of former friendships, pride in the glorious achievements
of common ancestors, and affection for the heirs of their virtues, had
heretofore maintained." They uniformly disclaimed any idea of
independence, and professed themselves to consider union with England
on constitutional principles, as the greatest blessing which could be
bestowed on them.

But Britain had determined to maintain, by force, the legislative
supremacy of parliament; and America was equally determined, by force,
to repel the claim.

NOTES.

NOTE--No. I.--_See Page 195._

The annals of Massachusetts, for this period, exhibit one of those
wonderful cases of popular delusion, which infecting every class of
society, and gaining strength from its very extravagance; triumphing
over human reason, and cruelly sporting with human life; reveal to man
his deplorable imbecility, and would teach him, if the experience of
others could teach, never to countenance a departure from that
moderation, and those safe and sure principles of moral rectitude
which have stood the test of time, and have received the approbation
of the wise and good in all ages. A very detailed and interesting
account of the humiliating and affecting events here alluded to has
been given by Mr. Hutchinson, but is too long to be inserted entire in
this work; they were, however, of too much magnitude while passing, to
be entirely unnoticed even at this day.

In Great Britain, as well as in America, t