, merely to gratify
the vicious ambition of a prince, by whom his sufferings were disregarded, and
his name utterly unknown. - I observed, that if his situation was the
consequence of compulsion, as having been pressed into the service, I would
praise his patience and fortitude in bearing his lot; - if he had taken up arms
in defence of his injured country, he was to be applauded for his patriotism; -
or if he had fled to this way of life as a refuge from a greater evil, he was
justifiable in his own conscience, (though I could have no notion of misery more
extreme than that he suffered;) but to put his condition on the footing of
conducing to the glory of his prince, was no more than professing himself a
desperate slave, who voluntarily underwent the utmost wretchedness and peril,
and committed the most flagrant crimes, to sooth the barbarous pride of a
fellow-creature, his superior in nothing but the power he derived from the
submission of such wretches as he. The soldier was very much affronted at the
liberty I took with his king, which, he said, nothing but my ignorance could
excuse: He affirmed, that the characters of princes were sacred, and ought not
to be profaned by the censure of their subjects, who were bound by their
allegiance to obey their commands, of what nature soever, without scruple or
repining - And advised me to correct the rebellious principles I had imbibed
among the English, who, for their insolence to their kings, were notorious all
over the world, even to a proverb:
 
Le roy d'Angleterre,
Est le roy de l'Enfer.
 
In vindication of my countrymen, I adduced all the arguments commonly used to
prove that every man has a natural right to liberty; that allegiance and
protection are reciprocal; that when the mutual tie is broken by the tyranny of
the king, he is accountable to the people for his breach of contract, and
subject to the penalty of the law; and that those insurrections of the English,
which are branded with the name of rebellion, by the slaves of arbitrary power,
were no other than glorious efforts to rescue that independance which was their
birthright, from the ravenous claws of usurping ambition. - The Frenchman,
provoked at the little deference I paid to the kingly name, lost all patience,
and reproached me in such a manner, that my temper forsook me, and I clenched my
fist, with an intention to give him a hearty box on the ear. - Perceiving my
design, he started back, and demanded a parley;
