"
"Boy, boy," said the veteran, averting his face to conceal the working
of his muscles, "you talk idly; my word is now plighted to my kinsman
Kit, and thy scheme is impracticable."
"Nothing is impracticable, sir, to youth and enterprise, when aided by
age and experience like yours," returned Griffith; "this war must soon
terminate."
"This war!" echoed the colonel, shaking loose the grasp which Griffith
held on his arm; "ay! what of this war, young man? Is it not an accursed
attempt to deny the rights of our gracious sovereign, and to place
tyrants, reared in kennels, on the throne of princes! a scheme to
elevate the wicked at the expense of the good! a project to aid
unrighteous ambition, under the mask of sacred liberty and the popular
cry of equality! as if there could be liberty without order! or equality
of rights, where the privileges of the sovereign are not as sacred as
those of the people!"
"You judge us harshly, Colonel Howard," said Griffith.
"I judge you!" interrupted the old soldier, who, by this time, thought
the youth resembled any one rather than his friend Hugh; "it is not my
province to judge you at all; if it were!--but the time will come, the
time will come. I am a patient man, and can wait the course of things;
yes, yes, age cools the blood, and we learn to suppress the passions and
impatience of youth: but if the ministry would issue a commission of
justice for the colonies, and put the name of old George Howard in it, I
am a dog, if there should be a rebel alive in twelve months.
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