Yet where does this anarchy
exist? Where did it ever exist, except in the single instance of
Massachusetts? And can history produce an instance of rebellion so
honorably conducted? I say nothing of its motives. They were founded in
ignorance, not wickedness. God forbid, we should ever be twenty years
without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well
informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to
the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under
such misconceptions, it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the
public liberty. We have had thirteen States independent for eleven
years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a
century and a half for each State. What country before ever existed a
century and a half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve
its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this
people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy
is to set them right as to facts, pardon, and pacify them. What signify
a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be
refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
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