lves
and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which
our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir;
it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves 20
to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this
gracious reception of our petition comports with those
warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our
land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and
reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling
to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back
our love? 5

Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements
of war and subjugation, the last argument to which
kings resort. I ask, sir, what means this martial array,
if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can
gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has 10
Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world to
call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No,
sir, she has none. They are meant for us. They can be
meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet
upon us those chains which the British ministry have been 15
so long forging.

And what have we to oppose them? Shall we try argument?
Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years.
Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing.
We have held the subject up in every light of which it is 20
capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to
entreaty and supplication? What terms shall we find that
have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech
you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we have done
everything that could have been done to avert the storm 25
that 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. 30

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 f