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IMIIXOAM iIKO€RiTs
llie most perfect Government would be that which, emanating directly from the People, Governs least —Costs least —Dispenses Justice to all, and confers Privileges on None.—BENTHAM.
VOL. I.| DR. WM. GREEN —EDITOR.
AM3F.1C.&.27 DEMOCRAT.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY,
BY W. A. & C. THOMPSON,
MULBERRY STREET, MACON, GEO.
AT TWO DOZ«Z*AR3 PER ANNUJXE,
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One pquai#, of 100 words, or less, in small type, 75 cents
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D3~ N. B. Sales of LAND, by Administrators. Executors,
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Tuesday in the month, between the hours of 10 m the fore
noon, and 3 in the ailenioon, at the Court-llouse in the Coun
ty in which the property is situ&'ed. Notice of these must
be given in a public Gazette, SIXTY DAYS, previous to the
day of sale.
Sales of NEGROES, must be made at public auction, on
the first Tuesday of the month, between the legal hours of
wile, at the place of public rales in the county where the let
ters testamentary, of Administration or Guardianship, shall
have been grained, SIXTY DAYS notice being previously
given in one of the public gazetts of this State, and at the door
of the Court-House, where such sales are to be held.
Sales of PERSONAL PROPERTY, must be advertised in
<he same manner, FORTY DAYS previous to the ilay of sale.
Notice to Debtors and Cieditors of an Estate, must be pub
lished FORTY Days.
Notice that application will lie made to the Court of Ordi
nary, for leave to sell LAND, must be published FOUR
MONTHS.
Notice for leave to sell NEGROES, must be published for
FOER MONTES, before any order absolute shall be made
thereon by the Court.
A 1 business of this nature, will receive prompt attention, at
the Office of the AMERICAN DEMOCRAT.
REMITTANCES BY MAIL. —“A Postmaster may en
close money in a letter to the publisher of a newspaper, to
pay the subscription of a third person, and fianlt the letter, if
written by himself.” Amos Kendal/, P. G.
COMMUNICATIONS addressed to the Publishers—Past
Paid.
P 0 K T R Y.
THE DYIN6 MACHINIST.
John Fitch, a native of Connecticut, was probably
the earliest inventor of the steamboat. In the year
1786. on the Delaware River, was made his first
successful ox[ieriiiient; hut from lack of sufficient pat
ronage, he was unable to carry out the discovery.
His life was one of hardship and penary, and ended
in grief and disappointment. He was confident
however, to the last, in the ultimate success of his
invention, ami predicted all its future vastness and
advantages. His dying request was, “that he might
lie buried on the banks of the Ohio, xthcre the so ' g
of the i oat men might enliven the stillness of his resting
jilacc, and the mnsic of the steam-engine soothe his
spirit," the ruling passion strong in death, and it
was gratified.
Where broad Olio’s stream goes sweeping
Gloriously toward the setting sun,
He prayed might lie his last, long sleeping,
His last wish his only one.
Meet prayer from one whose years were given
To work the thought his genius gave,
Who first beheld his steam-bark driven
Fire-winged o’er the foaming wave.
lie lived one scene of want and sorrow,
A feverish strife —a troubled dream ;
Each scant to-day fed by to-morrow,
Yet toiled he still his glorious scheme.
’Twas his to meet the world's derision,
Cold doubt of friends, foes’ taunt unkind,
The mockery of “madman’s vision,”
For truth to which their own was blind.
He lived not to the great fulfilling
His genius sought and saw so long,
And for the future, oft and willing.
Endured privation, pain, and wrong.
He heard their mighty voices sounding
By his own blue Atlantic strand ;
And watched them o’er its wide-wave bounding,
Heralds to every furthest land.
He saw them climb each olden river,
Europe, fair Asia’s fabled streams,
Saw Afric’s hidden floods deliver
The secrets of their time-long dreams.
He saw what ye shall be earth’s wonder,
Nor long the stern design may si ep,
Stcarn-navics launch their iron thunder
In battle o’er the trembling deep.
lie saw, foretold, and. heart-elated,
Lived on this dream of brighter days,
And caught afar the fame that waited,
His lowly toil, in world-wide praise.
Then turned and thought, with saddened spirit,
Time’s judgments how unjust, and vain!
How happier hands would seize his merit,
And wield the palm and reap the gain.
He knew the thoughtless world ungrateful,—
So have its noblest spirits known,
Still of the life-debt all forgetful,
Or pays when he who earned is gone!
He mused, and toiled, and died ; they made him
A bed beside that fair broad wave,
There to his lonely rest they laid him,
Where few now mark his humble grave.
At noon, at noon, when eve is steeping
With shadowy red the river’s breast,
As star-light on the charmed wave sleeping,
So peaceful may his spirit rest!
J. S. B.
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
THE LAND OF LOVE.
The land of love, where is that happy land,
01 tell me where J
The swiftest bark her sails shall wide expand,
And waft me there.
Tho’ ocean's veins in madness throb between,
And tempests wail,
Tho’ thunders roar, and lightning’s vivid sheen
Athwart th r gale,
Still shall my bark the boisterous way explore,
Swift as the wind,
Nor deem the storm that drives to that bright shore,
Tho’ fierce, unkind.
The land of love, where is that beauteous land,
Oh! tell me where!
O'er earth’s wide chart I pass my trembling band,
it is not there.
The wand’ringlines that mark the weary way
To fadeless horns.
DEMOCRATIC BANNER FREE TRADE; LOW SIXTIES; NO BEST; SEPARATION FROM BANKS; ECONOMY; RETRENCHMENT;
AND A STRICT ADHERENCE TO THE C. C.ILMMOUJT.
Lawyers The Morality of Legal Practice.
Mr. Babcock has an excellent little
work for sale, at twenty-five cents, enti
tled “ The Lawyer his character and
rale of Holy Life” which wc have read
with much pleasure, and propose to make
the occasion of some remarks, from time
to time, intended to draw consideration
to its principles. Lawyers are confessed
ly the most cultivated and influential
class of men in this country, and will al
ways exercise a controlling power over
its political destinies, so that it becomes
every body’s concern that their standard
of professional conduct should approxi
mate, as nigh as possible, to the strict
rules of morality and honor. We wish
this little book could find its way into
the hand and heart of every young man
preparing himself lor entrance on the
Profession of Law. There would then
be none of that popular distrust and odi
um, which, it is not to he denied, exists
now so extensively against this noblest of
all secular professions, in consequence of
the low and narrow-minded practices of
a few of its members. The Lawyer, who
is a scoundrel, is an arch scoundrel, and
there is no extremity of public scorn and
personal degradation society has not a
right to put upon him in punishment of
his villainy; but let it be remembered at
the same time, that some of the noblest
examples of every virtue and every ex
cellence that can adorn our nature, have
been furnished by this profession, and
that it must be allowed to comprise alto
gether as large, if not a larger proportion
of upright, honorable men, as any other
civil occupation whatever.
We believe no other oath'is adminis
tered in this State, to applicants for ad
mission to the Bar, than that prescribed
to all functionaries on investiture with
office. If it were necessary to have one
for ihe purpose, we do’nt think a better
could be devised than the following,
which is tho form of the Advocates oath
adopted in Geneva, viz :
“ I swear, before God, to he faithful to
tire Republic and Canton of Geneva:"
never to swerve from the respect due to
the tribunals and to the authorities ; not
to advise or maintain any cause which
does not appear to me just and equitable,
unless in defence of an accused; not to
employ, knowingly, in order to maintain
the causes which shall lie confided to
me, any means contrary to the truth;
and not to attempt to deceive the Judges
by any artifice or by any false expositions
of fact or of Law ; to abstain from all of
fensive personality, and not to advance
any fact against the honor and the repu
tation of the parties, unless it shall be in
dispensable to Ihe cause with w hich I
shall Ik: charged; not to encourage the
commencement or the carrying on of any
process from any motive of passion or of
interest; and not to refuse, from any per
sonal considerations, the cause of the fee
ble, the stranger, or the oppressed.”
This simple sentence comprises the
whole and the true morality of Legal
practice ; such as, if conformed to. would
effectually rescue the profession from the
witty taunts of such satirists as Congreve,
who says, in one of his Plays “ Law
yer ! I believe there’s many a cranny and
leak unstopped in your conscience. If
so be that one had a pump to your bo
som, I believe wc should discover a foul
hold. They say a witch will sail in a
seive, but I believe the devil himself
would not venture aboard your eon
science !” But it is not among lawyers
only this sort of conscience is to be found,
of which the devil may be afraid; nor,
we imagine, will the world be convinced
that Lawyers are at all more given to
selling the use of their faculties for gain,
without respect to truth or right, than
other men, because such a malignant
sputterer of venom as Dean Swift has
chosen to descrilie them, as “ A Society
of men bred up from their youth in the
art of proving by words, multiplied for
the purpose, that white is black and black
is white, according as they are paid .”
There was a time, when civilization was
less advanced than now, that the moral
ity of legal practice was unquestionably
very low, and there was something more
than ill-natured sneerin theapotheghm—
“ If you go to law for a nut, the Lawyers
will crack it, give each of you half the
shell, and eat the kernel themselves.”
The days are passed, though, when such
a sarcasm can be applied, with any jus
tice, to the great body of Lawyers. Jus
tice is now, ill the main, as cheaply and
honestly administered, as it is for any
good of litigants themselves it should he,
and if a suitor fall into the hands of some
plundering McGregor of the Law, it is
his own folly, in seeking the services of
a rogue, when he might command the
abilities of an honorable man.
It is perhaps true that unprincipled
men contrive oftener to keep up their re
spectability in the Profession of Law,
than any other. This is owing entirely
to the fact that clients, honorable men
themselves, when involved in litigation,
are too apt to have more reference in the
choice of Counsel, to the skill, than in
tegrity of the advocate. The excitement
of contest making them first think more
of victory than justice, is it surprising the
Lawyer who has the lighting to do, falls
into the same error, and, in pursuit of tri
umph, forgets Law and sometimes prin-
MACON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1843.
ciple? Let the public give their patron
age to none but honest, upright Lawyers,
and let such themselves discountenance
and stigmatize the bad and mean of their
number, and tho profession will soon be
come as distinguished for its elevated
moral standard, as it has immemorially
been for its intellectual characteristics.
Enough for the present.— Charleston
Mercury.
Strapped l’antatoons—ln all Over!
To laugh at the mishaps of others, is
not generally accounted generous; yet
there are occasions of this character,
when to look grave exceeds “ ail powers
of face.” Such was the case in this city
a few mornings since. It was early in
the day, when the wharf at the packet
basin was lined with travellers about to
take the packets, and lookers on, that a
young man issued from one of the offices
and approached the final for tl e purpose
of giving an ink-si.ii'd ablution. His
pantaloons were strapped down to the
extreme of the fashion, making the act of
stooping one cf no little effort and risk.
The first essay to plunge the ink-stand
into the water was a failure, while the
strain, consequent on it, caused a succes
sion of snaps and cracks, indicating a
giving way of some part of the strapped
pantaloons. Gaining his perpendicular
again, the young man threw a little more
force into his genuflective effort, hut just
as the object sought was on the point of
being gained, the straps, unable longer to
endure the strain to which they were
subjected, gave way, simultaneously caus
ing a nadir dip of the head and a zemth
pitch of the heels, and by consequence,
as neat a plunge into the basin, of the
body owning these head and heels, as
the most fastidious diver could desire to
see. It vvas done scientifically and to
the delight of a large circle of spectators,
who testified their approbation by no
chary use of lungs and gestures. Soon,
however, the submerged one emerged to
the light of day, and with his first recov
ered breath, exclaimed —“D —n the
straps; d—n the basin and all those
around it.” Let this be a caution to those
who are well strap|>ed down, to beware
how they venture on experiments involv
ing the possibility of an involuntary
“ bath.” Roeh. Daily Adv.
A Novel Entcrprize.
We find the following in the Lancas
ter Intelligencer, from which it will be
seen that Mr. Wise, of balloon celebrity,
proposes to outstrip all his competitors
in that line, by an elfbrt to cross the At
lantic. Mr. Wise must be careful where
lie descends. Should it be ou Morocco,
the natives will keep him and sell him,
an I, what is worse, they will sell him
cheap —a couple of dollars, in that quar
ter, being thought as much as a white
man is worth. Pennsylvanian.
To all Publishers of Newspapers on the
(•lobe.
As it is my intention to make a trip
across the Atlantic Ocean in a Balloon,
in the summer of 1814, and as the de
scent or landing of Balloons, in my ex
perience, has almost invariably created
unnecessary alarm to the inhabitants, I
therefore give this general notice to the
sea-faring community of all climes, that
should they, during anytime henceforth,
chance to be in the vicinity of a Balloon,
either on the Ocean, or in the Atmos
phere, they will not lie under any fearful
apprehensions, but endeavor to give aid
to the adventurers.
It must not be inferred from this, that
the success is considered improbable, but
merely to be prepared for all emergencies.
Having, from a long experience in
aerostatics, been convinced, that a regu
lar current of air is blowing at all times,
from \V. to E., with a velocity of from
20 to 40 miles per hour, according to its
height from the earth ; and having dis
covered a composition which will render
silk or muslin impervious to hydrogen
gas, so that a Balloon may be kept afloat
for many weeks, I feci confident, with
these advantages, that a trip across the
Atlanticwillnot be attended with as much
real danger as by the common mode of
transition.
The Balloon is to be one hundred feet
in diameter, which will give a net as
cending power of twenty-five thousand
pounds being amply sufficient to make
evrery thing safe and comfortable. A
sca-vvorthy boat is to be depended on, in
case the Balloon should happen to fail in
accomplishing the voyage. The boat
would also be calculated upon in case
the regular current of wind should be di
verte 1 from the course by the influence
of the Ocean, or through other cruses.
The crew to consist of three persons, viz :
an Aeronaut, a Navigator, and a Scien-
tific Landsman.
Therefore, the People of Europe, Af
rica, Asia, and all other parts on the O
cean, or elsewhere, who have never seen
a Balloon, will bear in mind, that it is a
large Globe made of cloth, ensconced iu
a lint-work, with a sloop hanging under
neath it, containing the “latest news
from the United States,” with a crew of
the world’s obedient servant,
JOHN WISE.
Lancaster, Pa., June Bth, 1843.
We cannot but think the Troy Whig
mistaken in attributing to the Charleston
Mercury the paragraph copied into the
Whig of Monday, expressing a preference
for Mr. Clay, in the event of Mr. Calhoun
not receiving the nomination of the Dem
ocratic National Convention. W hatever
i differences 6f opinion and preference may
exist between the Mercury and the Ar
-1 gus, its course, we are free to say, has
i been high minded, honorable, and utterly
i inconsistent with the support of Mr. Clay
; and his principles under any circum
j stances. Albany Argus.
We have seen the paltry fraud referred
! to by the Argus, circulating through the
: Whig press and considered it too bold a
j trick to merit exposure. The expres
sion of opinion alluded to, appeared in
the Mercury about seven years ago.
From the Ch irleston Mercury.
Assassination of an Editor.
Among our extracts will be found an
account of the death of Dr. James Ha
gan, editor of the Vicksburg Sentinel
Expositor —a man whose talents, whose
extreme opinions and violent fashion of
maintaining them, have given to him a
notoriety not often gained by newspaper
writers. Dr. Hagan, if not the origina
tor, was at least the ablest, most vehe
ment and persevering defender of the
right of Repudiation by a State, of debts
contracted by her established authorities.
For he made no distinction between
debts contracted in accordance with, or
against the Constitution. He laid the
axe (and his was a brond-axo of the most
remorseless sort) at the root of the evil
and his doctrine of the honesty and pro
priety of repudiation seems to have been
founded upon the assumption that there
was a radical immorality and a necessary
invasion of the original principles on
which a free State is founded, when one
generation claim the power of taxing
their successors —or when one legisla
ture undertakes to fix irrevocably upon
future legislatures the necessity of levy
ing a given amount of taxes, and without
leaving to them the power of directing
in what manner or for what objects the
proceeds shall be expended.
The explosion of the Banks in Missis
sippi afforded him another immense field,
which he cultivated with merciless rig
our, ploughing it over from time to time
with red hot plough-shares, and the
smoke and noise of his operations was
like a continual battle of the Colchian
Bulls, who snorted devouring fire from
their nostrils. He had a strange com
mand of the language of invective. His
will was as potent as the harp of Or
pheus, to gather to his use all the wild
beasts, the grilfms, hydras, and scaly
dragons of newspaper warfare, with
which he hunted down, thrashed and eat
up fill Bank Directors, Speculators, Bond
payers, and whoever else came across his
path.
A scries of papers exposing what was
considered an enormity in the manner of
selling cotton at New Orleans, was some
time since published in the Sentinel.
They were charged upon'Mr. Wright of
New Orleans, who was called out and
shot in a duel, with rifles. Dr. Hagan
himself has had more than one encoun
ter. A sort of extempore duel took place
between him and a brother editor of
Vicksburg, in which double-barrel led guns
loaded with buck-shot were the arms.
He bagged his antagonist, we believe,
though no death resulted. At last he is
himself laid hold of in the street and shot
through the brain.
We are not surprised that such should
have been his end it is only wonderful
that he has lived so long, in a region
where personal violence is not uncom
mon, and where the bad and some even
of the good, carry in their bosoms deadly
weapons temptations to strife and
means of rendering every trivial quarrel
a scene of blood. And yet Dr. Hagan
was said to be a mild, amiable man. His
abhorrence of the multiplied rascalities
of the paper system as it showed itself in
Mississippi, his warmth of temper, and
probably the ambition of leading a popu
lar movement, his courage and the pecul
iar manners of his region, led him to that
style of writing bordering on ruffianism,
which after provoking every degree of
personal hostility, has ended in his own
assassination. We are not informed what
was the character and standing of his
enemy, or what was the nature of the
grievance thus atrociously revenged.
Dr. Hagan’s system was essentially
wrong, and the journalist who takes up
on himself to be the administrator of the
criminal law, will find that his otiice is
one of nearly unmitigated mischief.
Writing in the haste and confusion of
each day’s pressing business, under the
impulse of party feeling, prejudice and
one-sided statements, he is of all men
least qualified lor a criminal judge —and
yet of all tribunals, his is the most terri
ble, and of all sentences his is the most
blasting. Published without warning,
on secret information, in a single day it
is scattered over a State —and tiie victim
hears it echoed like the thunder among
the circling mountains, and the whole
earth with one voice repeating his dis
grace. It is a thing to make a man mad
and act madly. And if such liberty lie
allowed at all, is it not certain that malice
and revenge will use it far oftener for
calumny, than virtue for honest denun
ciation ? The proper material for the
journalist is what concerns the public
and these things he ought to treat as far
as possible in their general character.
Personalities not only debase the press,
but they necessarily involve a narrow
mindedness, a contraction of scope, an
egotism of the editors, which leaves them
no claim upon the public, other than
what might be asserted by the brutes and
bullies who fight in the streets it is ihe
claim of a public nuisance.
From the Boston Press and Post.
Bunker IlilU-Remmiocetices.
The celebration of the completion of
the Bunker Hill Monument renders it
appropriate to indulge in revolutionary
reminiscences. The event this majestic
pile commemorates was one of the most
important of our revolutionary battles.
Its influence was felt throughout the war.
Its thrilling details have been often told,
and yet, as seasons like the present oc
cur, they are reviewed with unabated in
terest.
In 1707 British troops landed in Bos
ton, avowedly to enforce ihe unconstitu
tional acts of the British Parliament.
More troops continued to arrive, until
their number, at the time of the battle,
amounted to ten thousand. The patri
ots resolved on taking measures lor de
fence, and accordingly the Provincial
Congress, on the 20tii Oct., 1774, resolv
ed upon decisive action. They recom
mended that one quarter of the militia of
the country form themselves into compa
nies of fifty men each, place themselves
under proper field officers, and prepare
to march, fully armed and cquiped, at the
shortest notice. These bodies were the
celebrated minute men. They were di
rected to form themselves into battalions
of nine companies each. At the same
time the Committee of Safety was insti
tuted, with full jiower to order out these
minute men, and direct their operations.
Previous to the buttle of Lexington, the
following general officers were chosen :
Preble, Ward, Pomeroy, Thomas, and
Heath. April 13, it was further resolved
to raise a train of artillery, composed of
six companies, “ to enter immediately ou
discipline,” and to be ready to enter the
service of the colony “ when an army
should be raised.” Along with this note
of preparation, the Provincial Congress
and the Committee of Safety set m mo
tion various measures admirably calcula
ted to increase the discipline and rouse
the military ardor of the colonists. The
clergy were exhorted to make the times
a theme for the pulpit. Did a town pre
sent an uncommon array of martial spir
it, details of the fine appearance, the
creditable discipline of its troops were
circulated through the colonies. In such
a manner enthusiasm was enkindled in
a remarkable degree. The country was
alive with military excitement—stores
were collected. All the cannon that
could he seized were dragged to a place
of safety—sometimes from under the
very noses of British officers, and from
the Vims of British frigates.
The great magazine of stores, collect
ed by order of the Provincial Congress,
was at Concord. Gage determined to
destroy these stores. Accordingly on the
night of the 18th April he despatched
Lt. Col. Smith, with what ho considered
a sufficient force, to acccomplish this
work. Hence, on the day following, the
momentous battle of Lexington occurred,
the fit prelude to the Battle of Bunker
Hill. It is not proposed here to detail
the events of this battle. The new r s of
it spread like wild-fire. It was like a
call to arms. The same frenzy, as Jef
ferson terms the glorious movement, was
as rife in Virginia as it was in South
Carolina, and in these colonies as it was
in Massachusetts. An army, as if at the
command of nil enchanter, sprung into
existence, and occupied the commanding
eminences about the metropolis. Three
days after the battle, troops from the va
rious adjoining colonies were here, and
the British were as closely confined to
Boston as they ever were afterwards.
And where troops did not march directly
to the scene of action, they were in the
field. “All ranks of men among us are
in arms,” says a Philadelphia letter —
“ nothing is heard in our streets but the
trumpet and drum; and the universal
cry is ‘America to arms !’” But though
there was an abundance of military en
thusiasm and “ minute meu” about Bos
ton, there was as yet no regular army.
On Sunday, April 23d, the Provincial
Congress of Massachusetts resolved to
raise one of 30,000. Os this number,
13,000 were to be enlisted by Massachu
setts—the femainder by other New Eng
land provinces. On the 21st of May,
1775, General Ward was placed in com
mand of this army. By the middle of
June, 15,000 troops beseiged Boston,
which were encamped in the neighbor
ing towns from Chelsea to Roxbury.
But this body “of country people” was
an army in name only, it hardly con
tained within itself “ the elements of uni
fortuity and discipline. There was in
reality no other bond of union than a
volunteer acquiescence, and i.o controll
ing head vested with any adequate pow
er to maintain authority.” In supplies,
W. A. *C. THOMPSON-PUBLISHERS. I NO. 7.
also, it was lamentably deficient; even
tents, bayonets, and powder were want
ing. The strength of the army lay in
its enthusiasm, its indomitable patriotism;
and its terribie efficiency, when called to
meet the British, consisted in the skill of
each man that composed it in the use of
the rifle. It was a lx)dy of freemen ea
ger to contest their title to freedom with
their swords. The officers who com
manded this army had, most of them,
seen hard service. Putnam, Pomeroy,
Prescott, Gridley, and others, had been
out in the old French war—that provi
dential school of arms for the colonists,
that trained up men to direct their
strength against the most formidable pow
er of Europe. These officers were
whole-souled patriots. The names of
some of them appear as conspicuously in
the paper war of resolutions, protection
agreements, and addresses, as they after
wards did in the fields of blood. None
of these stand out more conspicuously
in this respect than Prescott, the vol
unteer commander of the Bunker Hill
redoubt, or Waiiiien, the volunteer mar
tyr in the first great battle that American
principles waged against absolutism. All
this was widely known ; the troops lov
ed them for their boldness in this respect,
as well as for their military courage.
In these early days the moral heroes, like
Samuel Adams, who were known as
the thinkers and prime movers of patri
otic opposition, were often received with
processions as imposing as those of our
own day. This leeling of confidence in
the officers of the army was shared fully
by the men who composed it.
Far different was the construction of
the British army, which, after the 19th
of April, was cooped up in Boston. It
was admirably disciplined, abounding in
everything necessary to carry on military
operations. It was finely officered. Gen.
Gage, its commander, had seen much
service ; so had Burgoyne, Howe, Clin
ton, and Pigot. But they labored under
the strange and fatal mistake of under
valuing the brave men they had to con
tend against. In their eyes, the Ameri
can patriots were a cowardly set, who
would not fight. Stranger still as it may
seem, the bitter pill of Concord and Lex
ington experience—so letters written at
the time by individuals of the army
show—did not awaken them from this de
lusion. Most of the army were filled
with the same spirit that actuated the of
ficers. And they were indignant that
an impudent set of “ragamuffins 74 had
dared to brave the authority of king and
parliament, and to insult them with a
siege. If the American troops were ani
mated by patriotism, the British grena
diers were filled with resentment. The
latter were burning for an opportunity of
chastising these “insolent rebels,” this
“ rabble,” “ led on by demagogues to cer
tain ruin ;” such demagogues as that
“ rascally patriot and apothecary,” Joseph
Warren, or that violent “madcap,” “who
swore he would see the province in a
flame, because his father was not made
chief justice,” James Otis; or that “no
torious defaulter,” “full of artful Aviles
and smooth demeanor, who talked the
people out of their understandings,”
Samuel Adams ; or that “ dujie” of Sam
uel Adams, John Hancock —“a man
whose brains were shallow and pockets
deep.” A rabble goaded on also by “ the
black regiment,” (ministers of the gospel)
which “ the oily tongues” of those who
undertook “to mouth self interest for
patriotism,” had the “ adroitness to enlist
in their service,” and the members of
which continually “sounded the trumpet
of sedition and rebellion.” A rabble
stimulated by the press, which “ roared
out its libels” until “ libertinism, riot, and
robbery liecame the order of the day,” and
a complete “ torrent of savage barbarity”
was let loose. By such means “Han
cock and his crew” at length raised “as
Avnnton and wicked a rebellion as ever
raged in any government on the face of
the earth,” which it was the duty of eve
ry true royalist to quell. The British
army by nursing such thoughts as these
which may be seen in the contemporane
ous tory documents of the time—became
indignant in their Boston prison ; and
thus it was that both sides were eager for
a meeting.
The British commanders were grow
ing more dissatisfied with their quarters,
as Boston became every day more un
comfortable. They therefore determined
to enlarge them. The necessity of this
was urged upon Gen. Gage with much
earnestness by Ins officers, and his delay
in executing it has been severely censur
ed by British writers. He was repeated
ly advised to occupy and fortify Charles
town heights. These facts were care
fully noted. There were many patriots
who watched w ith eagle eyes e\ r ery move
ment, and who employed ev r ery means
to get information of the purposes of the
British General. They found ways to
send this information to the American
camp. Some of the letters conveying
this arc yet to be seen ; some are anony
mous—some under signature. Tradition
ascribes valuable communications to a
patriot lady, and a distinguished clergy
man. Whoever furnished the intelli
gence, certain it is, that the committee of
safety, invested by the Provincial Con
gress with enlarged powers, were vvejl