ABSTRACT
At a moment, when we are entering on a scene deeply interesting not only to this nation, but to the whole civilized world; al a moment, when we all, without distinction of rank or decree, are called upon lo rally round, and to range ourselves beneath the banners of that Sovereign, under whose long, mild, and fostering reign, the far greater part of us, capable of bearing arms, have been born and reared up to manhood; at a moment, when we are, by his truly royal and paternal example, incited to make every sacrifice and every exertion in a war, the event of which is to decide, whether we are still to enjoy; and to bequeath to our children, the possesions, the comforts, the liberties, and the national honours, handed down to us from generation to generation, by our gallant forefathers; or whether we are, at once, to fall from this favoured and honourable station, and to become the miserable crouching slaves, the hewers of wood and the drawers of water, of those very Frenchmen, whom the valour of our fleets and armies has hitherto taught us lo despise; at such a moment, it behoves us, calmly and without dismay, to examine our situation, to consider what are the grounds of the awful contest in which we are engaged; what are the wishes, the designs, and the pretensions of our enemies; what would be the consequences, if those enemies were to triumph over us; what are our means, and what ought to be our motives, not only for frustrating their malicious intentions, but for inflicting just and memorable chastisement on their insolent and guilty heads.
