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68 lines
3.3 KiB
Plaintext
68 lines
3.3 KiB
Plaintext
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* Originally By: Steven Springer
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* Originally To: All
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* Originally Re: Why we do this...
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* Original Area: FIDO-AEN_News Service
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* Forwarded by : Blue Wave v2.12
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"..There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free;
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if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges
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for which we have been so long contending; if we mean not basely
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to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long
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engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon,
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until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained;
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WE MUST FIGHT! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!! An appeal to
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arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!
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They tell us, sir... that we are weak, unable to cope with
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so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger.
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Will it be the next week or the next year? Will it be when we
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are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be
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stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by
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irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of
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effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging
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the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound
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us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use
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of those means which the God of nature has placed in our power.
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Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty and
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in such a country as that which we possess are invincible by any
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force which our enemy can send against us.
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Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a
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just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will
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raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir,
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is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active,
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the brave. besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base
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enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the
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contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our
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chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains of
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Boston! The war is inevitable - and let it come!! I repeat it
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sir, let it come!!
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It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry,
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peace, peace; but there is no peace. The war is actually begun!
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The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears
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the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the
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field! Why stand we here idle?
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What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life
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so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of
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chains and slavery?
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Forbid it, Almighty God - I know not what course others may
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take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
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************************************************************
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Patrick Henry then took his seat. No murmur of applause was
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heard on March 23, 1775 when he gave this speech at a convention
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in Richmond assemble after Lord Dunmore suspended the Virginia
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Assembly. The effect was too deep. After the trance of a
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moment, several members started from their seats. The cry, "To
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arms!" seemed to quiver on every lip and gleam from every eye.
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... "Liberty is NEVER unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly
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... with the blood of patriots or it ALWAYS vanishes. Of all the
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... so-called natural human rights the have ever been invented,
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... liberty is the least to be cheap and is NEVER free of cost."
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... Robert A. Heinlein - Starship Troopers
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