Whether the _French_ Soldiers are a good, friendly, harmless
Sort of People; or whether they are not composed of the Scum, the
most profligate, wicked, and abandoned of the Nation?
Whether, if they were in Possession of these Governments, and
quarter'd upon the Inhabitants, they would out of Honesty and Scruple
of Conscience, forbear to take any Thing which was not their own?
And out of Modesty and Bashfulness, forbear to ravish any of our
Wives and Daughters? Or whether they would not do as they did, when
they overrun _Holland_ in 1675?
Whether we are sure that if they should attempt to abuse our
Women, our Men could be quiet and peaceable Witnesses of it; and that
Attempts to rescue and prevent, would not occasion frequent and daily
Murders here, as well as in _Holland_ aforesaid?
Whether they would not take as much Pride in deflouring
_Quaker_ Girls, as the _English_ did in the Nuns of the Town they
took in _Spain_?
Whether from the Purity of our Lives and the Sanctity of our
Manners, we have any more Reason to expect the immediate Protection
of Heaven than the rest of our Neighbours?
Whether the ancient Story of the Man, who sat down and prayed
his Gods to lift his Cart out of the Mire , hath not a very good
Moral?
Whether 500 disciplined Men well armed, are not able to beat an
unarm'd, unheaded, undisciplined, and affrighted Mob of 5000?
Whether, if it were known that we fortifyed and exercised
ourselves, it would not contribute towards discouraging an Enemy from
attacking us?
_The Pennsylvania Gazette_, March 6, 1733/4
_On Constancy_
------ _Hi mores baec duri immota_ Catonis
_Secta fuit, servare modum, finemque tenere,
Naturamque sequi, patriaeque impendere vitam_.
Pages:
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197