Did our fathers arrest Tories without writs, without indictments--did they interfere with the personal rights of Tories in the name of liberty--did they have Washington bastiles, did they have Jefferson jails--did they have dungeons in the time of the Revolution in which they put men that dared talk against this country and the liberties of the colonies? I propose to show that they did--that where we imprisoned one they imprisoned a hundred--that where we interfered with personal liberty once they did it a hundred times--that they carried on a war that _was_ a war--that they knew that when an appeal was made to force that was the end of law--that they did not attempt to gain their liberties through a Justice of the Peace or through a Grand Jury; that they appealed to force and the God of battles, and that any man who sought their protection and at the same time was against them and their cause they took by the nape of the neck and put in jail, where he ought to have been. The old Continental Congress in 1774 and 1776 had made up their minds that we ought to have something like liberty in these colonies, and the first step they took toward securing that end was to provide for the selection of a committee in every county and township, with a view to examining and finding out how the people stood touching the liberty of the colonies, and if they found a man that was not in favor of it, the people would not have anything to do with him politically, religiously, or socially. That was the first step they took, and a very sensible step it was. What was the next step? They found that these men were so lost to every principle of honor that they did not hurt them any by disgracing them. So they passed the following resolution which explains itself: _Resolved_. That it be recommended to the several provincial assemblies or conventions or councils, or committees of safety, to arrest and secure every person in their respective colonies whose going at large, may, in their opinion, endanger the safety of the colony or the liberties of America.--Journal of Congress, vol. 1, page 149.