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THESE are the times that try men’s souls:
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis,
shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now,
deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is
not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the
harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. New York Public
Library What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: It is
dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to
set a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if
so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.
Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared, that she
has a right (not only to TAX) but “to BIND us in ALL CASES
WHATSOEVER,” and if being bound in that manner is not slavery, then is
there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is
impious, for so unlimited a power can belong only to GOD.
THE CRISIS #1 1776 Whether the Independence of the Continent was
declared too soon or delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an
argument; my own simple opinion is that had it been eight months
earlier, it would have been much better. We did not make a proper use
of last winter, neither could we, while we were in a dependent state.
However, the fault, if it were one, was all our own; we have none to
blame but ourselves.* But no great deal is lost yet; all that [British
general] Howe has been doing for this month past is rather a ravage
than a conquest, which the spirit of the Jerseys a year ago would have
quickly repulsed, and which time and a little resolution will soon
recover.
I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my
secret opinion has ever been, and still is, that GOD Almighty will not
give up a people to military destruction, or leave them unsupportedly
to perish, who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the
calamities of war by every decent method which wisdom could invent.
Neither have I so much of the infidel [unbeliever] in me as to suppose
that HE has relinquished the government of the world and given us up
to the care of devils; and as I do not, I cannot see on what grounds
the king of Britain can look up to heaven for help against us: A
common murderer, a highwayman [bandit], or a housebreaker has as good
a pretence as he.
It is surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run
through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them.
Britain has trembled like an ague at the report of a French fleet of
flatbottomed boats; and in the fourteenth century the whole English
army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men
petrified with fear; and this brave exploit was performed by a few
broken forces collected and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that
heaven might inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen and
save her fair fellow-sufferers from ravage and ravishment! Yet panics,
in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt.
Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them and
acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is
that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring
things and men to light which might otherwise have lain forever
undiscovered. In fact, they have the same effect on secret traitors
which an imaginary apparition would upon a private murderer. They sift
out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the
world. Many a disguised Tory [Loyalist] has lately shown his head,
that shall penitentially solemnize with curses the day on which Howe
arrived upon the Delaware.
Library of Congress J. Montrésor, A Map of the Province of New
York, 1777, British map; detail with Manhattan island, Fort Lee (north
on the Hudson River), and “Hackinsach,” New Jersey, to the southwest
of Fort Lee As I was with the troops at Fort Lee and marched with them
to the edge of Pennsylvania, I am well acquainted with many
circumstances which those who live at a distance know but little or
nothing of. Our situation there was exceedingly cramped, the place
being a narrow neck of land between the North River and the
Hackensack. Our force was inconsiderable, being not one fourth so
great as Howe could bring against us. We had no army at hand to have
relieved the garrison, had we shut ourselves up and stood on our
defense. Our ammunition, light artillery, and the best part of our
stores [provisions] had been removed on the apprehension that Howe
would endeavor to penetrate the Jerseys, in which case Fort Lee could
be of no use to us; for it must occur to every thinking man, whether
in the army or not, that these kind of field forts are only for
temporary purposes, and last in use no longer than the enemy directs
his force against the particular object which such forts are raised to
defend. Such was our situation and condition at Fort Lee on the
morning of the 20th of November, when an officer arrived with
information that the enemy with 200 boats had landed about seven miles
above: Major General [Nathaniel] Green, who commanded the garrison,
immediately ordered them under arms and sent express to his Excellency
General Washington at the town of Hackensack, distant by the way of
the ferry six miles. Our first object was to secure the bridge over
the Hackensack, which laid up the river between the enemy and us,
about six miles from us, and three from them.
General Washington arrived in about three quarters of an hour and
marched at the head of the troops towards the bridge, which place I
expected we should have a brush for; however, they did not choose to
dispute it with us, and the greatest part of our troops went over the
bridge, the rest over the ferry, except some which passed at a mill on
a small creek between the bridge and the ferry and made their way
through some marshy grounds up to the town of Hackensack, and there
passed the river. We brought off as much baggage as the wagons could
contain; the rest was lost. The simple object was to bring off the
garrison and march them on till they could be strengthened by the
Jersey or Pennsylvania militia, so as to be enabled to make a stand.
We stayed four days at Newark, collected our outposts with some of the
Jersey militia, and marched out twice to meet the enemy on information
of their being advancing, though our numbers were greatly inferior to
theirs. Howe, in my little opinion, committed a great error in
generalship in not throwing a body of forces off from Staten Island
through Amboy, by which means he might have seized all our stores at
Brunswick and intercepted our march into Pennsylvania; But, if
we believe the power of hell to be limited, we must likewise believe
that their agents are under some providential control.
I shall not now attempt to give all the particulars of our retreat
to the Delaware; suffice it for the present to say that both officers
and men, though greatly harassed and fatigued, frequently without
rest, covering, or provision, the inevitable consequences of a long
retreat, bore it with a manly and a martial spirit. All their wishes
were one, which was that the country would turn out and help them to
drive the enemy back. Voltaire has remarked that King William never
appeared to full advantage but in difficulties and in action; the same
remark may be made on General Washington, for the character fits him.
There is a natural firmness in some minds which cannot be unlocked by
trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude;
and I reckon it among those kind of public blessings, which we do not
immediately see, that GOD hath blessed him with uninterrupted health
and given him a mind that can even flourish upon care [under
stress].
I shall conclude this paper with some miscellaneous remarks on the
state of our affairs; and shall begin with asking the following
question, Why is it that the enemy hath left the New England provinces
and made these middle ones the seat of war? The answer is easy: New
England is not infested with Tories, and we are. I have been tender
[reluctant] in raising the cry against these men, and used numberless
arguments to show them their danger, but it will not do to sacrifice a
world to either their folly or their baseness. The period is now
arrived in which either they or we must change our sentiments, or one
or both must fall. And what is a Tory? GOOD GOD! what is he? I should
not be afraid to go with a hundred Whigs [Patriots] against a thousand
Tories, were they to attempt to get into arms. Every Tory is a coward,
for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is the foundation of
Toryism; and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never
can be brave.
But, before the line of irrecoverable separation be drawn between
us, let us reason the matter together: Your conduct is an invitation
to the enemy, yet not one in a thousand of you has heart enough to
join him. Howe is as much deceived by you as the American cause is
injured by you. He expects you will all take up arms and flock to his
standard with muskets on your shoulders. Your opinions are of no use
to him, unless you support him personally, for ’tis soldiers, and not
Tories, that he wants.
I once felt all that kind of anger which a man ought to feel
against the mean principles that are held by the Tories. A noted one,
who kept a tavern at Amboy, was standing at his door with as pretty a
child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as most I ever saw,
and after speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent,
finished with this unfatherly expression, “Well! give me peace in my
day.” Not a man lives on the Continent but fully believes that a
separation must sometime or other finally take place, and a generous
parent should have said, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my
day, that my child may have peace;” and this single reflection, well
applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty. Not a place upon
earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all
the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade with them.
A man can distinguish himself between temper and principle, and I am
as confident, as I am that GOD governs the world, that America will
never be happy till she gets clear of foreign dominion. Wars, without
ceasing, will break out till that period arrives, and the Continent
must in the end be conqueror, for though the flame of liberty may
sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire.
America did not, nor does not, want force; but she wanted
[lacked/was awaiting] a proper application of that force. Wisdom is
not the purchase of a day, and it is no wonder that we should err at
first setting off. From an excess of tenderness [reluctance], we were
unwilling to raise an army and trusted our cause to the temporary
defense of a well-meaning militia. A summer’s experience has now
taught us better; yet with those troops, while they were collected, we
were able to set bounds to the progress of the enemy, and, thank GOD!
they are again assembling. I always considered militia as the best
troops in the world for a sudden exertion, but they will not do for a
long campaign. Howe, it is probable, will make an attempt on this city
[Philadelphia]; should he fail on this side the Delaware, he is
ruined; if he succeeds, our cause is not ruined. He stakes all on his
side against a part on ours; admitting he succeeds, the consequence
will be that armies from both ends of the Continent will march to
assist their suffering friends in the middle States; for he cannot go
everywhere, it is impossible. I consider Howe as the greatest enemy
the Tories have; he is bringing a war into their country, which, had
it not been for him and partly for themselves, they had been clear of.
Should he now be expelled, I wish with all the devotion of a Christian
that the names of Whig and Tory may never more be mentioned; but
should the Tories give him encouragement to come, or assistance if he
come, I as sincerely wish that our next year’s arms may expel them
from the Continent, and the Congress appropriate their possessions to
the relief of those who have suffered in welldoing. A single
successful battle next year will settle the whole. America could carry
on a two years’ war by the confiscation of the property of disaffected
persons, and be made happy by their expulsion. Say not that this is
revenge, call it rather the soft resentment of a suffering people who,
having no object in view but the GOOD of ALL, have staked their OWN
ALL upon a seemingly doubtful event. Yet it is folly to argue against
determined hardness; eloquence may strike the ear, and the language of
sorrow draw forth the tear of compassion, but nothing can reach the
heart that is steeled with prejudice.
Quitting this class of men, I turn with the warm ardor of a friend
to those who have nobly stood, and are yet determined to stand the
matter out: I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on THIS State or
THAT State, but on EVERY State: up and help us; lay your shoulders to
the wheel; better have too much force than too little when so great an
object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world that in the
depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that
the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to
meet and to repulse it. Say not that thousands are gone, turn out your
tens of thousands; throw not the burden of the day upon Providence,
but “show your faith by your works” that GOD may bless you. It matters
not where you live or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the
blessing will reach you all. The far and the near, the home counties
and the back[country], the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice
alike. The heart that feels not now, is dead: The blood of his
children will curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a
little might have saved the whole, and made them happy. I love the man
that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and
grow brave by reflection. ’Tis the business of little minds to shrink;
but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct,
will pursue his principles unto death.
My own line of reasoning is to myself as straight and clear as a
ray of light. Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe,
could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it
murder; but if a thief break into my house, burn and destroy my
property, and kill or threaten to kill me or those that are in it, and
to “bind me in all cases whatsoever” to his absolute will, am I to
suffer [permit] it? What signifies it to me whether he who does it is
a King or a common man, my countryman or not my countryman? Whether it
be done by an individual villain or an army of them? If we reason to
the root of things we shall find no difference; neither can any just
cause be assigned why we should punish in the one case and pardon in
the other. Let them call me rebel, and welcome, I feel no concern from
it; but I should suffer the misery of devils were I to make a whore of
my soul by swearing allegiance to one whose character is that of a
sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man. I conceive likewise
a horrid idea in receiving mercy from a being who at the last day
[final judgment] shall be shrieking to the rocks and mountains to
cover him, and fleeing with terror from the orphan, the widow, and the
slain of America.
There are Cases which cannot be overdone by language, and this is
one. There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil
which threatens them. They solace themselves with hopes that the
enemy, if they succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly
to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even
mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war: The
cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we
ought to guard equally against both. Howe’s first object is, partly by
threats and partly by promises, to terrify or seduce the people to
deliver up their arms and receive mercy. The ministry [British
cabinet] recommended the same plan to [General] Gage, and this is what
the Tories call making their peace: “a peace which passeth all
understanding,” indeed! A peace which would be the immediate
forerunner of a worse ruin than any we have yet thought of. Ye men of
Pennsylvania, do reason upon these things! Were the back[country]
counties to give up their arms, they would fall an easy prey to the
Indians, who are all armed: This perhaps is what some Tories would not
be sorry for. Were the home [eastern] counties to deliver up their
arms, they would be exposed to the resentment of the back counties who
would then have it in their power to chastise their defection at
pleasure. And were any one state to give up its arms, THAT State must
be garrisoned by all Howe’s army of Britons and Hessians to preserve
it from the anger of the rest. Mutual fear is the principal link in
the chain of mutual love, and woe be to that State that breaks the
compact. Howe is mercifully inviting you to barbarous destruction, and
men must be either rogues or fools that will not see it. I dwell not
upon the vapors of imagination; I bring reason to your ears, and, in
language as plain as A, B, C, hold up truth to your eyes.
I thank GOD that I fear not. I see no real cause for fear. I know
our situation well and can see the way out of it. While our army was
collected, Howe dare not risk a battle, and it is no credit to him
that he decamped from the White Plains [NY] and waited a mean
opportunity to ravage the defenseless Jerseys; but it is great credit
to us that, with a handful of men, we sustained an orderly retreat for
near a hundred miles, brought off our ammunition, all our field pieces
[artillery], the greatest part of our stores, and had four rivers to
pass. None can say that our retreat was precipitate, for we were near
three weeks in performing it, that the country might have time to come
in. Twice we marched back to meet the enemy, and remained out till
dark. The sign of fear was not seen in our camp, and had not some of
the cowardly and disaffected inhabitants spread false alarms through
the country, the Jerseys had never been ravaged. Once more we are
again collected and collecting; our new army at both ends of the
Continent is recruiting fast, and we shall be able to open the next
campaign with sixty thousand men, well armed and clothed. This is our
situation, and who will may know it. By perseverance and fortitude we
have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission,
the sad choice of a variety of evils - a ravaged country - a
depopulated city - habitations without safety, and slavery without
hope - our homes turned into barracks and bawdy-houses for Hessians,
and a future race to provide for, whose fathers we shall doubt of.
Look on this picture and weep over it! - and if there yet remains one
thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it
unlamented.
COMMON SENSE.
December 23, 1776.
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