"to terrify or seduce the people to give up their arms"

"There are cases which cannot be overdone by language; and this it one. There are persons, too, who fee not the full extent of the evil that threatens them. They solace themselves with hopes, that the enemy, if they succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice: and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war. The cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we ought to be equally on our guard against both. Howe's first object is partly by threats, and partly by promises, to terrify or seduce the people to give up their arms, and receive mercy." The American crisis. No I. By mr. Thomas Payne.--Published in December, 1776. [THE AMERICAN MUSEUM, OR REPOSITORY OF ANCIENT AND MODERN FUGITIVE PIECES, &c. PROSE AND POETICAL For JANUARY, 1788. "With sweetest flow'rs enrich'd, "From various gardens cull'd with care." "Collecta revirescunt." VOL. III. NUMB. I. PHILADELPHIA: HINTED BY MATTHEW CAREY. M.DCC.LXXXVIII. Pg. 480]