many of them, were incompetent, and the man were mutinously inclined, so that the entire matter was more plague than profit to the commander-in-chief. We may mention here, also, that Congress, about the middle of December, resolved to fit out thirteen ships, of various sizes and capacities, a movement which gave birth to that illustrious navy, whose brilliant exploits we shall be called upon to narrate in subsequent chapters of this history.[1]
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XIII.
I.—A DECLARATION, SETTING FORTH THE CAUSES AND NECESSITY OF THE COLONIES TAKING UP ARMS.[2]
If it was possible for men, who exercise their reason, to believe that the divine Author of our existence intended a part of the human race to hold an absolute property in, and an unbounded power over others, marked out by his infinite goodness and wisdom, as the objects of a legal domination never rightfully resistible, however severe and oppressive, the inhabitants of these colonies might at least require from the Parliament of Great Britain some evidence that this dreadful authority over them has been granted to that body. But a reverence for our great Creator, principles of humanity, and the dictates of common sense, must convince all those who reflect upon the subject that government was instituted to promote the welfare of mankind, and ought to be administered for the attainment of that end. The legislature of Great Britain, however, stimulated by an inordinate passion for a power not only unjustifiable, but which they know to be peculiarly reprobated by the very constitution of that kingdom, and desperate of success in any mode of contest where regard should be had to truth, law, or right, have at length, deserting those, attempted to effect their cruel and impolitic purpose of enslaving these colonies by violence, and have thereby rendered it necessary for us to close with their last appeal from reason to arms. Yet, however blinded that Assembly may be by their intemperate rage for unlimited domination, so to slight justice and the opinion of man kind, we esteem ourselves bound by obligations of respect to the rest of the world to make known the justice of our cause.
Our forefathers, inhabitants of the Island of Great Britain, left their native land to seek on these shores a residence for civil and religious freedom. At the expense of their blood, at the hazard of their fortunes, without the least charge to the country from which they removed, by unceasing labor and an unconquerable spirit, they effected settlements in the distant and inhospitable wilds of America, then filled with numerous and warlike nations of barbarians. Societies or governments vested with perfect legislatures were formed under charters from the crown, and an harmonious intercourse was established between the colonies and the kingdom from which they derived their origin. The mutual benefits of this union became in a short time so extraordinary as to excite astonishment. It is universally confessed that the amazing increase of the wealth, strength, and navigation of the realm arose from this source, and the minister who so wisely and successfully directed the measures of Great Britain in the late war publicly declared, that these colonies enabled her to triumph over her enemies. Towards the conclusion of that war it pleased
