Editor’s note: In the style and spirit of Silence Dogood and in acknowledgement of the upcoming United States Semiquincentennial, we look at the founding of this nation through the eyes of the fictional Albert Louder and others, and explore the conflict from a personal perspective.
January 10, 1776
Alas, my dear readers! It has been quite a spell since I last communicated my thoughts on the present situation around Boston. While sieges are monotonous to write and read about, they do tend to keep the participants busy.
As it stands, the Lion’s young cubs are still in control of the city proper, unable to venture out too far without meeting Washington’s lion tamers, yet Washington himself is still too wary to venture into the young lions’ den.
That is not to say there haven’t been developments. The Old Lion has recalled General Gage to London to answer for his failures, but the three Young Lions — Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne — remain, with Howe in overall command. An attempt to capture Quebec over the Christmas holiday failed miserably, with General Montgomery killed and Arnold severely wounded. There is a morsel of good news, however, as General Knox is approaching with heavy cannon stripped from Ticonderoga and should be arriving in the next few weeks.
Congress has made attempts to reconcile with the King, but to no avail. The Old Lion is determined to punish those who dare challenge his authority, naming them agitators and traitors, vowing to hang the lot for their lack of obedience and overabundance of temerity.
Given his refusal to compromise and the constant attacks on our divine rights as Englishmen, it is no wonder that the idea of independence from the Crown, that only recently was spoken in hushed tones and whispers, is now being openly debated and seriously considered, often sparking fierce arguments that devolve into fisticuffs, resulting in bruises and busted lips among the combatants. It appears that, although many of the King’s loyalists are inside the city, not all of them are.
And into this storm steps a new firebrand by the name of Thomas Paine who has chosen to stoke the fires of independence with a new pamphlet exposing the failures of kingship and nobility, laying the blame of the current predicament squarely at old George’s feet and takes aim at those who still support him, despite his wanton management of the current crisis.
Paine says of the King’s supporters, “Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet I am inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions:
“Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men who cannot see; prejudiced men who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men who think better of the European world than it deserves; and this last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities than all the other three.
“Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offences of Great Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, Come, come, we shall be friends again for all this.
“But examine the passions and feelings of mankind: bring the doctrine of reconciliation to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me whether you can hereafter love, honour, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried fire and sword into your land?
“If you cannot do all these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay, bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future connection with Britain, whom you can neither love nor honour, will be forced and unnatural, and being formed only on the plan of present convenience, will in a little time fall into a relapse more wretched than the first.
“But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, hath your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor?
“If you have not, then are you not a judge of those who have. But if you have, and can still shake hands with the murderers, then are you unworthy the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant.
“‘Tis repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things, to all examples from former ages, to suppose that this Continent can long remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in Britain doth not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, at this time, compass a plan, short of separation, which can promise the continent even a year’s security.
“Reconciliation is now a fallacious dream. Nature hath deserted the connection, and art cannot supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, ‘never can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep.’
“Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers have been rejected with disdain; and hath tended to convince us that nothing flatters vanity or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than repeated petitioning—and nothing hath contributed more than that very measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute.
“Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for God’s sake let us come to a final separation, and not leave the next generation to be cutting throats under the violated unmeaning names of parent and child.”
Paine’s words, while truthsome and plain, are dangerous as they will spark the fire of resistance to any form of constraint a government or King attempts to place on their rights as a free people to live life they have constructed by their own choices.
It is my humble opinion, and greatest fear, that should we decide to break our ties to this King and depose his influence from our shores with great cheer, that the Old Lion will not simply accept defeat; that this crisis is only just beginning and will not end without even more struggle, strife, and shedding of tears.
Your obedient servant,
Alby Louder
