we have done everything that could be done, to
avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned--we have
remonstrated--we have supplicated--we have prostrated ourselves before
the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the
tyrannical hands of the ministry and parliament. Our petitions have
been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and
insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been
spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. In vain, after
these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and
reconciliation. _There is no longer any room for hope._ If we wish to
be free--if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges
for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to
abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and
which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon, until the glorious
object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight!--I repeat it,
sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts, is all
that is left us!"

"They tell us, sir," continued Mr. Henry, "that we are weak--unable to
cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger?
Will it be the next week or the next year? Will it be when we are
totally disarmed and when a British guard shall be stationed in every
house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we
acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our
backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies
shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a
proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our
power. Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty
and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any
force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not
fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the
destinies of nations and who will raise up friends to fight our
battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to
the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no
election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to
retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and
slavery! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the
plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come!! I repeat
it, sir, let it c