The Crisis. Группа авторов
be comprised in these tender Terms; because his Majesty is most graciously pleased to intimate, a little before that if his firm and steady Parliament had not, with a firm and steady Resolution, devoted that Part of his Majesty’s Subjects to Destruction, the Rights of his Crown, the Authority of Parliament, and the Commercial Interests of his Kingdoms, could not be maintained, protected and promoted.—The necessary Inference from these words is, that nothing can maintain, protect, or promote, the true Interests of the BRITISH EMPIRE, but Popery, Sword, and Famine, I may add TYRANNY, and TAXATION.—If the above sugared Words, [faithful and beloved] are extended generally, they must be looked upon as Springs to catch Woodcocks, they remind me of that shrew’d Reflection which SHAKESPEAR puts into the Mouth of Hotspur, upon King Henry’s SWEET WORDS, to that young Hero, whilst his Majesty was cajoling him, (as he says,) like a fawning Greyhound—viz.
________what a deal of candied Courtesy!
“Gentle Harry Piercy!—and kind Cousin!
“O! the Devil take such Cozeners!”7
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Q.—Whether this early Prorogation is not as truly symptomatic as the Minister’s Fears, as the sudden Dissolution was of the last infamous Parliament? This early prorogation (by Mansfield’s advice) shews, that after all the foul mouth’d, bullying, insolence, of a Tyrannic Administration, they dare not protract the Session of Parliament any longer for fear of hearing news from AMERICA (which they could not conceal) during that Session. This Vacation, therefore, is artfully contrived to give breath to a confused, destracted, and trembling ADMINISTRATION; at the opening of the next Session of Parliament, (if this vile ADMINISTRATION lives so long) we may (under Bute’s and Mansfield’s auspices) expect some curious State Manoeuvre, ready cut and dryed. I will venture to Prophesy with more certainty than Lord SANDWICH, Lord DENBIGH, or any other MINISTERIAL BULLY, in the GANG, that we shall, at last see, not a rational political Gratification of the wishes; but a pitiful, mean, contemptible, and dastardly SUBMISSION, (by downright COMPULSION) to the JUST DEMANDS of AMERICA. I call upon my Countrymen, to remember, that so insignificant an Individual as CASCA, now fortells that neither the present ADMINISTRATION, nor, (as I fear) the present REIGN will end till they have supplied Matter for a dreadful and most exemplary Record in the BRITISH ANNALS.
CASCA.
Printed and published for the Authors, by T. W. SHAW, in Fleet-Street, opposite Anderton’s Coffee House, where Letters to the Publisher will be thankfully received.
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THE
CRISIS
| NUMBER XXII | To be continued Weekly. |
| SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1775 | [Price Two-pence Half-penny |
BLOOD calls for BLOOD.
To the People of England.
Friends and Fellow Countrymen,
LET me conjure you by all you hold dear, HERE and HEREAFTER, by all the Ties of NATURE and JUSTICE, to rouse in Defence of your persecuted Brethren and Fellow Subjects in America, who Daily fall Innocent Victoms to LAWLESS Power: let me intreat you to rouse in Defence of your Rights and Liberties; those Rights and Liberties which Heaven gave, and for which your Fathers bravely Fought, and Gloriously fell, to preserve themselves, and us their Posterity FREE; be assured if BLEEDING America can be reduced to Slavery, all the boasted Privileges of Englishmen must fall with her: let me therefore beseech you to OPPOSE with uplifted Hands, and stretched out Arms, the CRUEL, BLOODY, and UNNATURAL Tyranny of GEORGE the Third, and his diabolical Tory Minions: Perdition, Destruction, and all the Miseries of a tortured Death, attend the Wretch, who calls himself
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an ENGLISHMAN, and yet can TAMELY see his BROTHER, or Fellow Subject, Perish through wanton Cruelty, Oppression, or the Sword.
No Tyrant was ever more Despotic and Cruel than the present Sovereign, who disgraces the Seat of Royalty in the British Empire; no Court ever more Corrupt than his, and yet, O my Countrymen, to this merciless and despotic Tyrant, and to his wicked and corrupt Ministry, you sacrifice your Rights, and yield a PEACEABLE Submission.
Consider the gloomy, the dreadful Prospect before you, the Plains of America are running with the BLOOD of her Inhabitants, the Essence of the English Constitution destroyed, and nothing but the Form, the mere Shadow of it remains; all the dear bought Liberties purchased and sealed with the BLOOD of your Forefathers, wrested from you by the polluted Hands of an abandoned set of Miscreants, supported and defended by a ROYAL TYRANT; and a dark cloud of Slavery, like a rising Tempest, overspreads the Land, it approaches Swiftly, and at this Moment threatens our Destruction; it is therefore high Time you should be roused and awakened to a sense of your Danger, and by an appeal to Heaven, by a glorious RESISTANCE, provide for your common Safety.
This is the only way, we have no other, to prevent the RUIN that threatens us, if we are inattentive or inactive at this Time, our Chains will be fast rivetted, and Liberty must expire; your Petitions and Remonstrances have been spurned by the King, and you have now no Remedy left but that of entering into an ASSOCIATION in Defence of your Common Rights, and the Rights of America. They have set you a noble Example, an Example worthy of Britons, an Example which you are Bound by all the Principles of Justice and Self-preservation to FOLLOW; he must be Blind that is not convinced of this, and he is an abandoned Wretch, an Enemy to Mankind, who will not pursue the Road.
Upon your Virtue and Resolution at this juncture, depends the SALVATION of England and America; it is now in your Power to prevent the farther Progress of Despotism, the Butchery of your Fellow Countrymen, and yourselves from Slavery and Ruin.
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When the humble Supplications of an oppressed People are treated with Contempt, and a deaf Ear turned to their Complaints, when their RIGHTS are Daily invaded, their Property unlawfully wrested from them, and their Blood inhumanly shed, it is incumbent on them, it is a Duty they owe to God and their Country, to take the Field and resist their Oppressors, to shew themselves BRAVE, when Bravery is required, and dare to be Resolute in the Hour of Danger. Remember, my Fellow Countrymen, our Predecessors led the Way, the Americans have followed their noble Example, and we are Bound to follow them. Where would have been LIBERTY and PROPERTY, if it had not been for the Virtue, Bravery, and Resolution of our Ancestors? they stood FORTH in the glorious Cause, and many of them secured it to Posterity by their BLOOD. Shall we then, TAMELY submit to have those Privileges for which they FOUGHT and FELL, ravished from us by a Lawless tribe of Men, who call themselves Senators or Ministers, and who taking Advantage of their Prince, are laying waste their Country, and spreading Desolation through the Land? Shall it be said in after-Times, that the Year ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED and SEVENTY FIVE, was less Glorious than that of SIXTEEN HUNDRED and EIGHTY EIGHT; and that as the Age grew more and more enlightened, it became more and more PUSILLANIMOUS. Forbid it Heaven!
Let me intreat you, O! Englishman, to rouse from that state of Supineness in which you have so long lain; open your Eyes to the Danger that surrounds you, and stand forth the Defenders of AMERICAN VIRTUE and PUBLIC LIBERTY. HAVOC is now the Cry at St. James’s and the Dogs of War are let loose to tear out the Vitals of our Brethren; America through the abandoned Cruelty of an accursed Administration, and an unrelenting King, is become a FIELD of BLOOD, overspread with Desolation and Slaughter. It is in your Power to put an end to this horrid, unnatural CIVIL WAR, it must owe its extinction or continuance to you, if you are Virtuous, Brave, and Resolute, the Lives, Liberties, and Properties of your Fellow-Subjects, may be preserved, and your Country saved from Destruction; if on the Contrary, you should be irresolute and Pusillanimous at this Time, (unworthy the Name of Englishmen) Thousands, many thousand Lives must be lost; the Liberties of
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England