us in the rapidity of our growth,
since the conclusion of the revolutionary war--so none, perhaps, ever
endured greater hardships, and distresses, than the people of this
country, previous to that period.

We behold a feeble band of colonists, engaged in the arduous undertaking
of a new settlement, in the wilds of North America. Their civil liberty
being mutilated, and the enjoyment of their religious sentiments denied
them, in the land that gave them birth, they fled their country, they
braved the dangers of the then almost unnavigated ocean, and fought, on
the other side the globe, an asylum from the iron grasp of tyranny, and
the more intolerable scourge of ecclesiastical persecution. But gloomy,
indeed, was their prospect, when arrived on this side the Atlantic.
Scattered, in detachments, along a coast immensely extensive, at a
remove of more than three thousand miles from their friends on the
eastern continent, they were exposed to all those evils, and endured all
those difficulties, to which human nature seems liable. Destitute of
convenient habitations, the inclemencies of the seasons attacked them,
the midnight beasts of prey prowled terribly around them, and the more
portentous yell of savage fury incessantly assailed them! But the fame
undiminished confidence in Almighty GOD, which prompted the first
settlers of this country to forsake the unfriendly climes of Europe,
still supported them, under all their calamities, and inspired them
with fortitude almost divine. Having a glorious issue to their labors
now in prospect, they cheerfully endured the rigors of the climate,
pursued the savage beast to his remotest haunt, and stood, undismayed,
in the dismal hour of Indian battle!

Scarcely were the infant settlements freed from those dangers, which at
first evironed them, ere the clashing interests of France and Britain
involved them anew in war. The colonists were now destined to combat
with well appointed, well disciplined troops from Europe; and the
horrors of the tomahawk and the scalping knife were again renewed. But
these frowns of fortune, distressing as they were, had been met without
a sigh, and endured without a groan, had not imperious Britain
presumptuously arrogated to herself the glory of victories, achieved by
the bravery of American militia. Louisburgh must be taken, Canada
attacked, and a frontier of more than one thousand miles defended by
untutored yeomanry; while the honor of every conquest m