FOOTNOTES:[1]This Oration was delivered on the 6th of March, and not on the 5th, being 103 days before his death on Bunker Hill.[2]This Oration is placed at the end of this work.[3]At the battle of Lexington, the British had but 4000 men in Boston. Before the battle of Bunker Hill, they had been reinforced.[4]After Mr. Gray had been shot through the body, and had fallen dead on the ground, a bayonet was pushed through his skull; a part of the bone being broken, his brains fell out upon the pavement.[5]The patience with which this people have borne the repeated injuries which have been heaped upon them, and their unwillingness to take any sanguinary measures, has, very injudiciously, been ascribed to cowardice, by persons both here and in Great Britain. I most heartily wish, that an opinion, so erroneous in itself, and so fatal in its consequences, might be utterly removed before it be too late; and I think, nothing further necessary to convince every intelligent man, that the conduct of this people is owing to the tender regard which they have for their fellow men, and an utter abhorrence to the shedding of human blood, than a little attention to their general temper and disposition, discovered when they cannot be supposed to be under any apprehension of danger to themselves. I will only mention the universal detestation which they shew to every act of cruelty, by whom and upon whomsoever committed, the mild spirit of their laws; the very few crimes to which capital penalties were annexed; and the very great backwardness which both courts and juries discover, in condemning persons charged with capital crimes. But if any should think this observation not to the purpose, I readily appeal to those gentlemen of the army who have been in the camp, or in the field, with the Americans.
[1]This Oration was delivered on the 6th of March, and not on the 5th, being 103 days before his death on Bunker Hill.
[1]This Oration was delivered on the 6th of March, and not on the 5th, being 103 days before his death on Bunker Hill.
[2]This Oration is placed at the end of this work.
[2]This Oration is placed at the end of this work.
[3]At the battle of Lexington, the British had but 4000 men in Boston. Before the battle of Bunker Hill, they had been reinforced.
[3]At the battle of Lexington, the British had but 4000 men in Boston. Before the battle of Bunker Hill, they had been reinforced.
[4]After Mr. Gray had been shot through the body, and had fallen dead on the ground, a bayonet was pushed through his skull; a part of the bone being broken, his brains fell out upon the pavement.
[4]After Mr. Gray had been shot through the body, and had fallen dead on the ground, a bayonet was pushed through his skull; a part of the bone being broken, his brains fell out upon the pavement.
[5]The patience with which this people have borne the repeated injuries which have been heaped upon them, and their unwillingness to take any sanguinary measures, has, very injudiciously, been ascribed to cowardice, by persons both here and in Great Britain. I most heartily wish, that an opinion, so erroneous in itself, and so fatal in its consequences, might be utterly removed before it be too late; and I think, nothing further necessary to convince every intelligent man, that the conduct of this people is owing to the tender regard which they have for their fellow men, and an utter abhorrence to the shedding of human blood, than a little attention to their general temper and disposition, discovered when they cannot be supposed to be under any apprehension of danger to themselves. I will only mention the universal detestation which they shew to every act of cruelty, by whom and upon whomsoever committed, the mild spirit of their laws; the very few crimes to which capital penalties were annexed; and the very great backwardness which both courts and juries discover, in condemning persons charged with capital crimes. But if any should think this observation not to the purpose, I readily appeal to those gentlemen of the army who have been in the camp, or in the field, with the Americans.
[5]The patience with which this people have borne the repeated injuries which have been heaped upon them, and their unwillingness to take any sanguinary measures, has, very injudiciously, been ascribed to cowardice, by persons both here and in Great Britain. I most heartily wish, that an opinion, so erroneous in itself, and so fatal in its consequences, might be utterly removed before it be too late; and I think, nothing further necessary to convince every intelligent man, that the conduct of this people is owing to the tender regard which they have for their fellow men, and an utter abhorrence to the shedding of human blood, than a little attention to their general temper and disposition, discovered when they cannot be supposed to be under any apprehension of danger to themselves. I will only mention the universal detestation which they shew to every act of cruelty, by whom and upon whomsoever committed, the mild spirit of their laws; the very few crimes to which capital penalties were annexed; and the very great backwardness which both courts and juries discover, in condemning persons charged with capital crimes. But if any should think this observation not to the purpose, I readily appeal to those gentlemen of the army who have been in the camp, or in the field, with the Americans.