Book Description

Excerpt from Retrospect of the Boston Tea-Party: With a Memoir of George R. T. Hewes, a Survivor of the Little Band of Patriots Who Drowned the Tea in Boston Harbour in 1773 Although the diversity of the human character, as well as its exterior form, appear to us infinite, each individual in the immense chain of being, has some efficiency in the purpose of the eternal mind. The wisdom and the council of men, whose inheritance is only obscurity and want, might often save the sinking fortunes of their country, and grace the triumphs of achievement. Yet such has been the order of this world, that public opinion has inclined to consign to oblivion those least ambitious of power and preferment. This trait in the disposition of man has marked the progress of society time immemorial. Two thousand years ago it was remarked by the historian Euthemenes, that the Grecian Republic was so occupied in distributing favours to idle and powerful men, it could not bestow a thought on useful and obscure citizens. The same opprobrium rests on the American people, in the infancy of their republic. Among them, also, a delusive influence has engendered an opinion of eminence connected with fortune, and a sense of debasement attending on poverty, which tend to render us too regardless of every advantage but that of the rich and insensible, to every indignity but that of the poor. This pernicious apprehension, occasionally, prepares men for the desertion of every duty, for submission to every dignity, and for the commission of every crime that can be accomplished in safety. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.