“… 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
lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. … And what
country can preserve its liberties, if it’s 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 the 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. It is its natural manure.”