Monday, January 5, 2009

"Give me liberty. . ."

Go to Blogonomicon here for a great piece on a short film about Patrick Henry from 1936. Well done. An excerpt:

He does not do the entire speech as I have read it. There are bits left out, and a couple of specific words seem to have been flubbed, but this short is worth watching and watching again. Especially keep in mind how someone like Patrick Henry would be treated in the lazy and cynical world of today. Undoubtedly he would be judged unrealistic, his "...millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty..." scorned as nonsensical yet dangerous fanaticism. In my opinion, his words of warning ring through the ages.

And what have we to oppose them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well, the first thing we need to remember is that things moved faster in the days of Sailing Ships and Horse Drawn Buggies...they didn't have a 'Progressive Congress' setting the pace (or, maybe that should be, "thetting the pathe").