Second :  The  King's  proclamation.  On  the
next  day  after  the  result  of  the  petition  was
published  in  the  Philadelphia  newspapers,  the
King's  proclamation  was  laid  before  the  Ameri
can  public.  In  this  document  King  George  had
declared  the  colonists  in  a  state  of  rebellion,
and  no  longer  under  his  protection.  This  was
another  stunning  blow.  The  people  were  ex
asperated  in  the  extreme.  The  King  expected
to  frighten  them  into  submission,  but  the  op
posite  effect  resulted.  Independence,  that  had
been  only  whispered  here  and  there,  was  now
talked  of  openly  on  all  sides.
Congress  assumed  a  bolder  tone.  It  an
swered  the  King's  proclamation,  almost  defi
antly.  It  appointed  committees  to  correspond
with  foreign  nations,  and  talked  no  more
reconciliation,  nor  put  forth  disclaimers  of
independence.  This  was  in  the  first  part  of


DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE  Q

November,  1775,  and  from  this  day  forward
the  united  colonies  took  no  step  backward
in  the  great  march  toward  freedom.  King
George  had  made  another  blunder  —  had  taken
another  fatal  step.
Third :  The  employment  of  foreign  aid.
The  King  of  England  sent  an  army  of  for
eigners,  known  as  Hessians,  hired  for  the
purpose,  into  the  colonies  to  fight  against  his
own  subjects!  Nor  was  this  all;  he  stirred
up  the  savage  Indians  against  the  Americans
whenever  possible,  knowing  full  well  that  war
fare  with  them  meant  the  murdering  of  the
innocent  —  the  mother  and  the  babe  —  in  ad
dition  to  ordinary  warfare.  The  cruel  murder
of  hundreds  of  innocent  men,  women,  and
children  along  the  frontier  during  the  Revo
lution  must  be  laid  at  the  door  of  George  the
Third.
