" What you mean by "the benevolence of
Great Britain" is to me inconceivable. To put a plain question; do you
consider yourselves men or devils? For until this point is settled, no
determinate sense can be put upon the expression. You have already
equalled and in many cases excelled, the savages of either Indies; and
if you have yet a cruelty in store you must have imported it,
unmixed with every human material, from the original warehouse of
hell.
To the interposition of Providence, and her blessings on our
endeavors, and not to British benevolence are we indebted for the
short chain that limits your ravages. Remember you do not, at this
time, command a foot of land on the continent of America. Staten
Island, York Island, a small part of Long Island, and Rhode Island,
circumscribe your power; and even those you hold at the expense of the
West Indies. To avoid a defeat, or prevent a desertion of your troops,
you have taken up your quarters in holes and corners of inaccessible
security; and in order to conceal what every one can perceive, you now
endeavor to impose your weakness upon us for an act of mercy. If you
think to succeed by such shadowy devices, you are but infants in the
political world; you have the A, B, C, of stratagem yet to learn,
and are wholly ignorant of the people you have to contend with. Like
men in a state of intoxication, you forget that the rest of the
world have eyes, and that the same stupidity which conceals you from
yourselves exposes you to their satire and contempt.
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