| 518 Tell it not in the streets of Lexington, publish it in the ships of Boston, lest it is wafted by the western breeze till it salutes the tyrant's ear, and causes the daughters of Columbia to weep. If, indeed, there remains no means of redress for us, well may the despotic powers of Europe laugh and rejoice in their hearts, in the anticipation of beholding the United States of America fall and crumble to atoms beneath its ponderous weight. If this be the case, come on then ye prowling beasts and feathered fowl, prepare to glut yourselves upon the flesh of the fair sons and daughters of Columbia's soul; fallen by her own depravity, and slain by wicked aspirants and robbers from all nations. But I hope better things than those from your honorable body; yet certain causes will produce certain effects. If America refuses to punish robbers and murderers, she opens the door for a tenfold ingress of the same. From a recollection of some of the facts contained in the history of his native state, your memorialist feels a confidence in making his appeal to your honorable body, the executive of Massachusetts, a state whose people are noted in the annals of history, and one famed for her zeal in the cause of civil and religious liberty, as well as her firmness in breaking the tyrant's chain.
Her soil was the cradle of the first religious society in New England, who were exiles from Europe, as we now are from Missouri. She can boast of being the first to rise in virtuous indignation against the unjust principle of taxation without representation, when her bold sons hurled the tyrants tea by the board, and defied the despots power. The blood of her sons was the first to flow in support of those principles that gave birth to our national existence. At Lexington, in defiance of the tyrant's laws, and fearless of her power, her citizens in just indignation rallied around the murderous clans, and in firmness of soul, dared to redress the wrongs of her bleeding sons, and in the greatness of their philanthrophy [philanthropy], declared that the rights of man should be sacred, and that her land should be free; an assylum [asylum] for the oppressed, a land of liberty for the tyrant's slave. Yes, on the ever memorable l9th of April, A. D. 1775, flowed the first blood that gave birth to our national independence. It was then the blood of the martyred sons of Massachusetts, by the hand of tyranny, first cried from the ground for the vengeance of an offended God and suffering innocence, to be poured upon the murderous band. Nor did the mingled groans of the dying, the wailings of the orphan, the flowing tears of the bereaved parent, and the deeper moans of the disconsolate widow, but barely have time to reach the heavens, until a just retribution of an offended God was poured upon the offenders, through the valor of the patriotic sons of my native state. Fallen indeed, must be the sons of those martyrs and statesmen of 1775 and '76, if their minds are so degenerated that they have not independence of soul, sufficient to throw their influence into the legislative hall of our nation, in support of the rights of suffering innocence, such as your memorialist has here laid before your honorable body. Honorable regard for the character of my native state forbids the thought. Confident, then, that the pure principles by which our forefathers were actuated, still lingers in the bosoms of their sons, and need only be awakened in the hearts of your honorable body by the tale of wo herein laid before you.
Your memorialist comes to your honorable body, to tell you that the civil and religious liberties sought for and found by the pilgrims on Plymouth rock, and maintained by the blood of our fathers, have been sacrificed by relentless tyrants, upon the altar of jealousy. He comes to tell you, like Babylon of old, our nation is assailed by the jealous tyrant of mankind at one end; and that your assistance is wanted in the national hall, in defence [defense] of the temple of freedom, erected by your fathers.-He comes to tell your honorable body, that the sons of his native state are denied the liberty of conscience and the right of protection under the wide-spread wings of our national escutcheon, and that the blood of the patriotic heroes of the revolution who have been slain in Missouri for enjoying their religious rights, the boon of heaven to man, is crying from the ground; and with the dying groans of the ravished females and infant innocence, are ascending with the prayers of the widows and patriots of the revolution, into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Yea, their blood, their groans, their tears and their prayers of suffering innocence, together with the prayers of your memorialist, are now crying in the ears of your honorable body, through this, my silent messenger, saying "redress;" redress the wrongs of your memorialist, and those of his brethren, and wipe disgrace from the stained banner of our national republic; and perpetuate the glorious laurels so nobly won to my native state, when on Bunker's Hill, our fathers in unequal combat first sustained the shock, and dared assert the rights of man amidst the clatter of clashing steel, the blaze of arms, and the more deep-toned thunder of the tyrants cannon. May the departed spirits of the brave Warren and his associates, whisper in the ears of your honorable body, saying, redress the wrongs of the innocent; and maintain by legislation, those rights
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