My friends, or persons calling themselves such, wrote letter
after letter exhorting me to come and put myself at their head,
assuring me of public separation from the council. The fear of the
disturbance and troubles which might be caused by my presence,
prevented me from acquiescing with their desires, and, faithful to the
oath I had formerly made, never to take the least part in any civil
dissension in my country, I chose rather to let the offense remain
as it was, and banish myself forever from the country, than to
return to it by means which were violent and dangerous. It is true,
I expected the burgesses would make legal remonstrances against an
infraction in which their interests were deeply concerned; but no such
steps were taken. They who conducted the body of citizens sought
less the real redress of grievances than an opportunity to render
themselves necessary. They caballed but were silent, and suffered me
to be bespattered by the gossips and hypocrites set on to render me
odious in the eyes of the populace, and pass upon them their
boistering for a zeal in favor of religion.
After having, during a whole year, vainly expected that some one
would remonstrate against an illegal proceeding, and seeing myself
abandoned by my fellow-citizens, I determined to renounce my
ungrateful country in which I never had lived, from which I had not
received either inheritance or services, and by which, in return for
the honor I had endeavored to do it, I saw myself so unworthily
treated by unanimous consent, since they, who should have spoken,
had remained silent.
Pages:
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893