The Virginia Gazette

A very singular assertion hath been lately attributed to Sir Jeffrey Amherst: He hath been made to say, "that with 5000 regular troops he would undertake the subduing of the whole American continent." It is scarcely to be credited that such a wild assertion could fall from the lips of a discerning officer! If 5000 troops are sufficient to combat the combined forces of the colonies, it is a pity General Gage, who has more than that number under his command, should not by this time have restored the peace of a single province.

An old and experienced officer, who served under Sir Peter Warren at the taking of Cape Breton in 1745, authorizes us to declare, that he hath frequently heard Sir Peter characterize the Americans in a very different style from that adopted by Lord Sandwich. Sir Peter Warren hath extolled the Americans for possessing qualities the very opposite to that of cowardice.

The late Captain Montague, better known by the name of MAD Montague, was he living, could bear willing testimony to the personal bravery of some Americans; for the Captain more than once took in good part the favours bestowed with some degree of spirit on his patient shoulders. Was not this same Captain Montague brother to the Earl of Sandwich?

That excellent Scotchman (Fletcher, of Salton) declared, that there is no crime under Heaven more enormous, more treacherous, and more destructive to the very nature of our government, than that of bribing of Parliaments. What would this staunch old patriot have said if he had seen some hundreds of placemen sitting in the British senate, and voting 600,000l. to make good deficiencies in the civil list, exhausted by bribery and corruption?

It is said the Americans have hoisted their STANDARD of LIBERTY at Salem, and that great numbers of men in arms are daily flocking to it. What renders the above account more probable, is, that the Gentleman who furnished us with this intelligence has seen a letter from an officer in the American militia, who says, they only waited to hear the effect of their continental petition and remonstrance; and that, if their prayer was not granted, they were determined to stand forth and defend their liberty, or lose their lives.