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Greetings to you!
My name is Felix –
that’s all I really know about it –
Just Felix.
I live here in Boston,
but until I am a free man,
I truly have no home I may
comfortably call my own.
2 years ago it got really ugly here
In Boston -
5 men including a fellow black man
named Crispus Attucks –
were killed by some English Soldiers –
and the cries for Independence from the King
by these American Sons of Liberty
have gotten even louder.
Last year on March 5th
They commemorated the first anniversary
of that Bloody Massacre with a speech.
It was given by a man named James Lovell.
I heard it -
it was a good speech –
mostly about standing armies being unwarranted,
unnecessary, and unwelcome here in America.
There was also plenty about the Americans
claiming their place as English Freeholders –
But I am not a citizen or a subject.
Dr. Joseph Warren is going to give the Massacre Day Speech
this year, March 5 1772.
He is a good man Dr. Warren –
he helps folks.
Not just those that have money,
but he also helps with doctoring the poor,
the needy, and even the slaves.
I am going to hear what he has to say this year –
I heard some rumor that he may take up
the cry for American Independence
from what they call “Arbitrary” English rule –
Maybe there will be something in it for me?
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they commemorated the first anniversary
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Friends, Bostonians, Americans, My Name is Joseph Warren.
When we turn over the historic page,
and trace the rise and fall of states and empires,
the mighty revolutions which have so often
varied the face of the world
strike our minds and with solemn surprise,
and we are naturally led to endeavour to search
out the causes of such astonishing changes.
That man is formed for social life,
is an observation which, upon our first inquiry,
presents itself immediately to our view,
and our reason approves that wise and generous principle
which actuated the first founders of civil government;
an institution which hath its origin
in the weakness of individuals, and hath for its end,
the strength and security of all;
and so long as the means of effecting this important end are thoroughly known,
and religiously attended to,
government is one of the richest blessings to mankind,
and ought to be held in the highest veneration.
In young and new formed communities,
the grand design of this institution is most generally understood,
and most strictly regarded;
the motives which urged to the social compact,
cannot be at once forgotten,
and that equality which is remembered to have subsisted
so lately among them,
prevents those who are clothed with authority
from attempting to invade the freedom of their brethern;
or if such an attempt is made,
it prevents the community from suffering the offender
To go unpunished;
every member feels it to be his interest,
and knows it to be his duty,
to preserve inviolate the constitution on which the public safely depends.
It was this noble attachment to a free constitution,
which raised ancient Rome from the smallest beginnings,
to that bright summit of happiness and glory
to which she arrived;
and it was the loss of this which plunged her from that summit,
into the black gulf of infamy and slavery.
she stands to this day, the scorn and derision of nations,
and a monument of this eternal truth, that
PUBLIC HAPPINESS DEPENDS ON A VIRTUOUS AND UNSHAKEN ATTACHMENT TO A FREE CONSTITUTION.
It was this attachment to a constitution,
founded on free and benevolent principles,
which inspired the first settlers of this country:
they saw with grief the daring outrages committed
on the free constitution of their native land;
they knew that nothing but a civil war
could at that time restore its pristine purity.
So hard was it to resolve to embrue their hands
in the blood of their brethern,
that they choose rather to quit their fair possessions,
and seek another habitation in a distant clime.
When they came to this new world,
which they fairly purchased of the Indian natives,
the only rightful proprietors,
they cultivated the then barren soil, by their incessant labour
and defended their dear bought possessions with the fortitude of the Christian,
and the bravery of the hero.
After various struggles, which, during the tyrannic reigns of the House of Stuart,
were constantly kept up between right and wrong,
between liberty and slavery,
the connection between Great Britain and this colony,
was settled in the reign of King William and Queen Mary, by a compact,
the conditions of which were expressed in a charter;
by which all the liberties and immunities of British subjects, were confined to this province,
as fully and as absolutely as they possibly could be by any human instrument which can be devised.
And it is undeniably true, that the greatest and most important right of a British subject is,
that he shall be governed by no laws but those to which he either in person
or by his representative hath given his consent:
and this I will venture to assert is the grand basis of British freedom;
it is interwoven with the constitution; and whenever this is lost,
the constitution must be destroyed.
The British constitution (of which ours is a copy)
is a happy compound of the three forms
(under some of which all governments may be ranged) viz., monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy:
of these three the British Legislature is composed,
and without the consent of each branch, nothing can carry with it the force of a law;
but when a law is to be passed for raising a tax,
that law can originate only in the democratic branch,
which is the House of Commons in Britain, and the House of Representatives here.
The reason is obvious:
they and their constituents are to pay much the largest part of it;
but as the aristocratic branch, which is in Britain, the house of lords, and in this province, the council,
are also to pay some part,
THEIR consent is necessary; and as the monarchic branch,
which in Britain is the king, and with us, either the king in person,
or the governor whom he shall be pleased to appoint to act in his stead,
is supposed to have a just sense of his own interest,
which is that of all the subjects in general.
HIS consent is also necessary;
and when the consent of these three branches is obtained,
the taxation is most certainly legal.
Let us now allow ourselves a few moments to examine
the late acts of the British Parliament for taxing America.
Let us with candour judge whether they are constitutionally binding upon us:
if they are, IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE
let us submit to them, without murmuring one word.
First, I would ask whether the members of the British House of Commons
are the democracy of this province?
If they are, they are either the people of this province,
or are elected by the people of this province, to represent them,
and have therefore a constitutional right to originate a bill for taxing them:
it is most certain they are neither;
and therefore nothing done can be said to be done
by the democratic branch of our constitution.
I would next ask whether the Lords who compose the aristocratic branch of the legislature,
are peers of America?
I never heard it was (even in these extraordinary times)
so much as pretended; and if they are not,
certainly no act of theirs can be said to be the act of the aristocratic branch of our constitution.
The power of the monarchic branch we with pleasure acknowledge,
resides in the king, who may act either in person or by his representative.
I am very much at a loss to know by what figure of rhetoric,
the inhabitants of this province can be called FREE SUBJECTS,
when they are obliged to obey implicitly such laws as are made for them
by men three thousand miles off, whom they know not,
and whom they never have empowered to act for them;
or how they can be said to have PROPERTY
when a body of men, over whom they have not the least control,
and who are not in any way accountable to them,
shall oblige them to deliver up any part,
or the whole of their substance, without even asking their consent:
And it can be no matter of wonder that the people quickly perceived,
and seriously complained of the inroads
which these acts must unavoidably make upon their liberty,
and of the hazard to which their whole property is by them exposed;
for, if they may be taxed without their consent,
even in the smallest trifle, they may also, without their consent,
be deprived of every thing they possess,
Contrary to our just rights as possessing,
or at least having a just title to possess,
all the liberties and IMMUNITIES of British subjects,
a standing army was established among us in a time of peace;
and evidently for the purpose of effecting that,
which it was one principal design of the founders of the constitution to prevent
(when they declared a standing army in a time of peace to be AGAINST LAW)
namely for the enforcement of obedience to acts which,
upon fair examination, appeared to be unjust and unconstitutional.
The ruinous consequences of standing armies to free communities,
may be seen in the histories of SYRACUSE, ROME,
and many other once flourishing states;
some of which have now scarce a name!
Their baneful influence is most suddenly felt,
when they are placed in populous cities;
for by a corruption of morals,
the public happiness is immediately affected?
and that this is one of the effects of quartering troops in a populous city,
is a truth, to which many a mourning parent,
many a lost, despairing child in this metropolis must bear a very melancholy testimony.
Soldiers are also taught to consider arms as the only arbiters
by which every dispute is to be decided between contending states;
they are instructed implicitly to obey their commanders,
without inquiring into the justice of the cause they are engaged to support:
hence it is, that they are ever to be dreaded as the ready engines of tyranny and oppression.
We, my fellow-citizens, have seen, we have felt the tragical effects!
THE FATAL FIFTH OF MARCH, 1770, CAN NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.
The horrors of THAT DREADFUL NIGHT are but too deeply impressed on our hearts.
Language is too feeble to paint the emotions of our souls,
when our streets were stained with the BLOOD OF OUR BRETHERN;
when our ears were wounded by the groans of the dying,
and our eyes were tormented with the sight of the mangled bodies of the dead.
The immediate actors in the tragedy of THAT NIGHT were surrendered to justice.
It is not mine to say how far they were guilty!
They have been tried by the country and ACQUITTED of murder!
and they are not to be again arraigned at an earthly bar:
but surely the men who have promiscuously scattered death amidst the innocent inhabitants of a popular city,
ought to see well to it that they be prepared to stand at the bar of an omniscient Judge!
and all who contrived or encouraged the stationing of troops in this place,
have reasons of eternal importance, to reflect with deep contrition,
on their base designs,
and humbly to repent of their impious machinations.
The infatuation which hath seemed, for a number of years,
to prevail in the British councils, with regard to us, is truly astonishing!
what can be proposed by the [diminishing of] our freedom, I really cannot surmise;
even leaving justice and humanity out of the question,
I know not of any gains, which can be wrung from us by oppression,
which they may not obtain from us by our own consent,
in the smooth channel of commerce;
we wish the wealth and prosperity of Britain;
we contribute largely to both.
The amazing increase of riches to Britain,
the great rise of the value of her lands,
the flourishing state of her navy are striking proofs
of the advantages derived to her from her commerce with the colonies;
and it is our earnest desire that she may still continue to enjoy
the same emoluments, until her streets are paved with AMERICAN GOLD;
only, let us have the pleasure of calling it our own,
whilst it is in our hands;
but this it seems is too great a favour:
we are to be governed by the absolute commands of others;
our property is to be taken away without our consent;
if we complain, our complaints are treated with contempt;
if we assert our rights, that assertion is deemed insolence;
if we humbly offer to submit the matter to the imperial decision of reason,
the sword is judged the most proper argument to silence our murmurs!
Even in the dissolute reign of King Charles II
when the House of Commons impeached the Earl of Clarendon of high treason,
the first article on which they founded their accusation was,
that “he had designed a standing army to be raised,
and to govern the kingdom thereby.”
And the eighth article was, that “he had introduced
an arbitrary government into his majesty’s plantation.”
A terrifying example to those who are now forging chains for this country.
You have, my friends and countrymen,
frustrated the designs of your enemies,
by your unanimity and fortitude:
it was your union and determined spirit
which expelled those troops who polluted your streets with innocent blood.
You have appointed this anniversary as a standing memorial
of the bloody consequences of placing an armed force in a populous city,
and of your deliverance from the dangers which then seemed to hang over your heads:
and I am confident that you never will betray the least want of spirit
when called upon to guard your freedom.
None but they who set a just value
upon the blessings of liberty are worthy to enjoy her;
your illustrious fathers were her zealous votaries;
when the blasting frowns of tyranny drove her from public view,
they clasped her in their arms,
they cherished her in their generous bosoms,
they brought her safe over the rough ocean,
and fixed her seat in this then dreary wilderness;
they nursed her infant age with the most tender care;
for her sake, they patiently bore the severest hardships;
And as they left you this glorious legacy,
they have undoubtedly transmitted to you some portion of their noble spirit,
to inspire you with virtue to merit her,
and courage to preserve her:
you surely cannot, with such examples before our eyes,
as every page of the history of this country affords,
suffer your liberties to be ravished from you by lawless force,
or cajoled away by flattery and fraud.
The voice of your fathers’ blood cries to you from the ground;
MY SONS SCORN TO BE SLAVES!
Stain not the glory of your worthy ancestors;
but like them resolve, never to part with your birthright;
be wise in your deliberations,
and determined in your exertions for the preservation of your liberties.
Follow not the dictates of passion,
but enlist yourselves under the sacred banner of reason;
use every method in your power to secure your rights;
at least prevent the curses of posterity from being heaped upon your memories.
If you, with united zeal and fortitude,
oppose the torrent of oppression;
if you feel the true fire of patriotism burning in your breasts;
if you, from your souls,
despise the most gaudy dress that slavery can wear;
if you really prefer the lonely cottage (whilst blest with liberty)
to gilded palaces, surrounded with the ensigns of slavery,
you may have the fullest assurance that tyranny, with her accursed train,
will hide their hideous heads in confusion, shame and despair;
if you perform your part, you must have the strongest confidence
that THE SAME ALMIGHTY BEING who protected your pious and venerable forefathers,
who enabled them to turn a barren wilderness into a fruitful field,
who so often made bare his arms for their salvation,
will still be mindful of you their offspring.
May THIS ALMIGHTY BEING graciously preside in all our councils.–
May he direct us to such measures as he himself shall approve,
and be pleased to bless.
May we ever be a people, favoured of GOD.
May our land be a land of liberty,
the seat of virtue, the asylum of the oppressed,
a name and a praise in the whole earth,
until the last shock of time shall bury the empires of the world
in one common undistinguished ruin!
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