CHAPTER XVII. ADDRESS OF REV. DAVID JONES TO GENERAL ST. CLAIR'S BRIGADE, AT TICONDEROGA, WHEN THE ENEMY WERE HOURLY EXPECTED, OCTOBER 20, 1776.
"My countrymen, fellow-soldiers, and friends:
"I am sorry that during this campaign I have been favored with so few opportunities of addressing you on subjects of the greatest importance, both with respect to this life and that which is to come; but what is past cannot be recalled, and NOW time will not admit an enlargement, as we have the greatest reason to expect the advancement of our enemies as speedily as Heaven will permit. [The wind blew strongly to the north.] Therefore, at present let it suffice to bring to your remembrance some necessary truths.
"It is our common faith, and a very just one too, that all events on earth are under the notice of that God in whom we live, move, and have our being: therefore we must believe that in this important struggle with the worst of enemies he has assigned us our post here at Ticonderoga. Our situation is such that, if properly defended, we shall give our enemies a fatal blow, and in a great measure prove the means of the salvation of North America. Such is our present case, that we are fighting for all that is near and dear to us, while our enemies are engaged in the worst of causes, their design being to subjugate, plunder, and enslave a free people that have done them no harm. Their tyrannical views are so glaring, their cause so horribly bad, that there still remains too much goodness and humanity in Great Britain to engage unanimously against us: therefore they have been obliged—and at a most amazing expense, too—to hire the assistance of a barbarous, mercenary people, that would cut your throat for the small reward of a sixpence. No doubt these have hopes of being our task-masters, and would rejoice at our calamities.
"Look, oh, look, therefore, at your respective States, and anticipate the consequences if these vassals are suffered to enter! It would fail the most fruitful imagination to represent in a proper light what anguish, what horror, what distress, would spread over the whole! See, oh, see the dear wives of your bosoms forced from their peaceful habitations, and perhaps used with such indecency that modesty would forbid the description! Behold, the fair virgins of your land, whose benevolent souls are now filled with a thousand good wishes and hopes of seeing their admirers return home crowned with victory, would not only meet with a doleful disappointment, but also with such insults and abuses that would induce their tender hearts to pray for the shades of death! See your children exposed as vagabonds to all the calamities of this life! Then, oh, then adieu to all felicity this side of the grave! Now, all these calamities must be prevented if our God be for us,—and who can doubt of this who observes the point in which the wind now blows?—if you will only acquit yourselves like men, and with firmness of mind go forth against your enemies, resolving either to return with victory or to die gloriously.
"Every one who may fall in this dispute will be justly esteemed a martyr to liberty, and his name will be had in precious memory while the love of freedom remains in the breasts of men. All whom God will favor to see a glorious victory will return to their respective States with every mark of honor, and be received with joy and gladness of heart by all friends to liberty and lovers of mankind. As our present case is singular, I hope, therefore, that the candid will excuse me if I conclude with an uncommon address, in substance principally extracted from the writings of the Bible, though at the same time it is freely acknowledged that I am not possessed of any similar power either of blessing or cursing.
"1. Blessed be that man who is possessed of a true love of liberty; and let all the people say, Amen.
"2. Blessed be that man who is a friend to the United States of America; and let all the people say, Amen.
"3. Blessed be that man who will use his utmost endeavors to oppose the tyranny of Great Britain, and to vanquish all her forces invading North America; and let all the people say, Amen.
"4. Blessed be that man who is resolved never to submit to Great Britain; and let all the people say, Amen.
"5. Blessed be that man who in the present dispute esteems not his life too good to fall a sacrifice in defence of his country: let his posterity, if any he has, be blessed with riches, honor, virtue, and true religion; and let all the people say, Amen.
"Now, on the other hand, as far as is consistent with the Holy Scriptures, let all these blessings be turned into curses to him who deserts the noble cause in which we are engaged, and turns his back to the enemy before he receives proper orders to retreat; and let all the people say, Amen.
"Let him be abhorred by all the United States of America.
"Let faintness of heart and fear never forsake him on earth.
"Let him be a major miserabile, a terror to himself and all around him.
"Let him be accursed in his outgoings, and cursed in his incomings; cursed in his lying down, and cursed in his uprising; cursed in basket, and cursed in store.
"Let him be cursed in all his connections, till his wretched head, with dishonor, is laid low in the dust; and let all the soldiers say, Amen.
"And may the God of all grace, in whom we live, enable us, in defence of our country, to acquit ourselves like men, to his honor and praise. Amen and Amen."
There were no traitors or cowards that day; and the deeds of the patriots have been emblazoned in prose and song, in monuments of brass and stone, in a great and glorious government, and in the praise and gratitude of a free people who meet to do them honor.
THE END.