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encounter an inexorable enemy consisting indeed of brethren and kindred; our domestic peace and welfare cruelly interrupted, and the aspect of our public affairs gloomy in the extreme. All New England has become a theatre of military array; and every member of the community manifests the deepest concern for the great calamities, with which the country is afflicted, by the tyrannical measures of a corrupt administration. In the favor of Heaven and the wisdom of our Congress we repose all our hope and confidence. Participating, I trust, in the glorious spirit of the times, and contemplating improvement in my professional pursuits, motives of patriotism and private interest prompt me to hazard my fortune in this noble conflict, with my brethren in the Provincial army. From the critical and embarrassed situation of our country, numerous and almost insurmountable difficulties are opposed to my view; and I am too young to possess a maturity of judgment, but yet unable to resist the impulse of enthusiasm which characterizes the times. My friends afford me no encouragement, alleging, that as this is a civil war, if I should fall into the hands of the British the gallows will be my fate. The terrors of the gallows are not to be conquered, but I must indulge the hope that I may escape it. Hundreds of my superiors may take their turn before mine shall come. The tories assail me with the following powerful arguments. "Young man, are you sensible you are about to violate your duty to the best of kings, and run headlong into destruction? Be assured that this rebellion will be of short duration. The royal army is all powerful, and will, in a few months, march through the country and bring all to subjection; for they are experienced in war and expert in discipline. Their fleet is able to destroy every seaport town and beat down all our cities. There remains no rational alternative but a reconciliation and renewed obedience to our lawful government; or we shall soon experience their just

vengeance. What is your army but an undisciplined rabble? Can they stand against an army of regulars? where are your cannon, your fire arms, your bayonets, and all your implements of war? above all, where is your treasure, and where can you look for a barrel of gun powder? the whole country can scarcely afford a sufficiency for a battle of an hour." Not a small portion of their reasoning I feel to be just and true. I am not certain, however, but much of it may prove erroneous. The result of the late battle at Charlestown should convince the most incredulous tory, that our soldiers will face the regular troops, and that we are blessed with the smiles of Heaven on our exertions. It would be presumption in me to determine as to possibilities and prospects; but the voice of liberty cannot be stifled, while the welfare and happiness of more than three millions of people now in America, and of unborn millions, are involved in the issue. Our rulers are the most competent judges, and under their banners I shall venture, I hope not rashly, to enlist, and trust my destiny in the hands of a kind and overruling Providence. My contemplated enterprise, it is true, requires the experience and resolution of riper years than tweny one, and qualifications, which I do not possess, to ingratiate myself with strangers and those in authority. Having consulted Joseph Otis, Esq. of Barnstable, on this occasion, he immediately applauded my enterprise, and politely furnished me with a letter to his brotherin-law,, James Warren, Esq. of Plymouth, who is President of our Provincial Congress at Watertown. Imagination could not fail to paint my prospects in bright colors, and I proceeded, July the 3d, with alacrity to the seat of Congress. I was not disappointed in my interview with Mr. Warren; my letter procured for me a favorable and polite reception. He honored me with his friendship and kind assistance, and introduced me to his lady, whose father's family and my own, have for many years

been on terms of friendly intercourse. The office which I solicit is one in the medical department, in the provincial hospital at Cambridge. A medical board, consisting of Drs. Holton and Taylor, are appointed to examine the candidates; and they added my name to the list for examination, on the 10th instant. This state of suspense continuing several days, excites in my mind much anxiety and solicitude, apprehending that my stock of medical knowledge, when scanned by a learned committee, may be deemed inadequate, and all my hopes be blasted. While on my journey, a visit of a few days to my friends at Plymouth, gave me an opportunity to pay my res pects to the rock, which received the first footsteps of our venerated forefathers. The inhabitants of this ancient town, from a reverence for the memory of the virtuous band of brothers from whom we derive our origin, have lately with commendable zeal and much labor, split off the upper portion of the rock, and removed it to a public square near the church and court house. This rock, with its associations, would seem almost capable of imparting that love of country, and that moral virtue, which our times so much require. We seem holding converse with the celestial spirits, and receiving monition from those who are at rest in their graves. Have these ancient sages bequeathed their mantle to posterity? Can we set our feet on their rock without swearing, by the spirit of our fathers, to defend it and our country? If we reflect on their matchless enterprise, their fortitude, and their sufferings, we must be inspired with the spirit of patriotism, and the most invincible heroism. Unappalled by the dangers of unknown seas, and the perils and the hardships of a savage wilderness, they left their native country and undertook a settlement which promises, through ages, to remain the rich abode of knowledge, religion, virtue and freedom. Let us then cherish a becoming sense of the exalted privileges inherited from our