an liberty; may my right hand forget her cunning, and my tongue
cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I hesitate or waver in the support I
give him.

3. The war, then, must go on. We must fight it through. And if the war
must go on, why put off the Declaration of Independence? That measure will
strengthen us. It will give us character abroad. Nations will then treat
with us, which they never can do while we acknowledge ourselves subjects
in arms against our sovereign. Nay, I maintain that England herself will
sooner treat for peace with us on the footing of independence, than
consent, by repealing her acts, to acknowledge that her whole conduct
toward us has been a course of injustice and oppression. Her pride will be
less wounded by submitting to that course of things, which now
predestinates our independence, than by yielding the points in controversy
to her rebellious subjects. The former, she would regard as the result of
fortune; the latter, she would feel as her own deep disgrace. Why, then,
do we not change this from a civil to a national war? And since we must
fight it through, why not put ourselves in a state to enjoy all the
benefits of victory, if we gain the victory.

4. If we fail, it can be no worse for us. But we shall not fail. The cause
will raise up armies; the cause will create navies. The people--the
people, if we are true to them, will carry us, and will carry themselves,
gloriously through this struggle. I care not how fickle other people have
been found. I know the people of these colonies; and I know that
resistance to British aggression is deep and settled in their hearts, and
can not be eradicated. Sir, the Declaration of Independence will inspire
the people with increased courage. Instead of a long and bloody war for
the restoration of privileges, for redress of grievances, for chartered
immunities, held under a British king, set before them the glorious object
of entire independence, and it will breathe into them anew the spirit of
life.

5. Read this declaration at the head of the army; every sword will be
drawn, and the solemn vow uttered to maintain it, or perish on the bed of
honor. Publish it from the pulpit; religion will approve it, and the love
of religious liberty will cling around it, resolved to stand with it or
fall with it. Send it to the public halls; proclaim it there; let them see
it who saw their brothers and their sons fall on the field of Bunker Hill
and in the streets of Le