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332 "Infatuated and deluded people!" exclaimed he; "ever groaning under fancied wrongs, and sighing after imaginary blessings, ye cannot rest satisfied to enjoy the bounties which the hand of Providence has so amply lavished on your country. Arbitrary and coercive measures, therefore, must be resorted to; and I, contrary to my feelings and wishes, yet having your true interests at heart, am constrained to take up arms against you."

In a case so critical and dangerous, what other steps should he pursue? The fate of thousands, or even that of the country, might rest upon his decision: the consideration was awful. By sending an armed detachment against the rebels, he might check in its beginning their insurgent measures; but, on the other hand, a defeat, which their numbers rendered no improbable result, would aggravate the ill.

His aid-de-camp stated, as his firm persuasion, that the sending a body of troops to encounter the rebels could not but be attended with the happiest effects; that when brought into action against regular troops, an undisciplined force, such as they could bring into the field, must speedily surrender or be dispersed. Flattered by the profound attention with which he had been listened to, he continued to deliver himself in animated language.