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Let her fill her coffers from thofe towns and cities, which fhe has plundered ; and grant peace, if fhe can, to the fhades of those millions, whofe death fhe has caufed.
But Columbia ftoops not to tyrants ; her fons will never cringe to France ; neither a lupercili- ous, five-headed DIre6lory, nor the gafconading pilgrim of Egypt will ever di6late terms to Ibve- reign America. The thunder of our cannon fhall infure the performance of our treaties, and fulmi- nate deftru6lion on Frenchmen, till old ocean is crimfoned with blood, and gorged with pirates !
It becomes us, on whom the defence of our country will ere long devolve, this day, moll ferioufly to reflect on the duties incumbent upon us. Our anceftors bravely fnatched expiring liberty from the grafp of Britain, whofe touch is poifon ; fhall we now confign it to France, whofe embrace is death 9 We have feen our fathers, in the days of Columbia's trouble, affume the rough habiliments of war, and feek the hoftile field. Too full of forrow to fpeak. we have feen them wave a laft farewel to a difconfolate, a woe- ftung family ! We have feen them return, worn down with fatigue, and fcarred with wounds ; or we have seen them, perhaps, no more ! — For us they fought ! for us they bled ! for us they conquered ! Shall we, their defcendants, now bafely difgrace our lineage, and pufilanim- oufly difclaim the legacy bequeathed us ? Shall we pronounce the fad valedi6lion to freedom, and immolate liberty on the altars our fathers have raifed to her ? NO ! The refponfe of a nation is, " NO ! " Let it be regiftered in the archives of Heave?i ! — Ere the religion we profefs, and the privileges we enjoy, are facrificed at the fhrines of defpots and demagogues, let the pillars of
creation
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