4795. LONDON, Burning of.—
She [England]
may burn New York * * * by her
ships and congreve rockets, in which case we
must burn the city of London by hired incendiaries,
of which her starving manufacturers
will furnish abundance. A people in such desperation
as to demand of their government
aut panem, aut furcam, either bread or the gallows,
will not reject the same alternative when
offered by a foreign hand. Hunger will make
them brave every risk for bread.—
To General Kosciusko. Washington ed. vi, 68.
Ford ed., ix, 362.
(June. 1812)
