it is greatly feared lest the barbarous scenes acted in that will be reacted in . If goes unpunished others will be greatly encouraged to follow her murderous examples The afflictions of your Memorialists have already been overwhelming, too much for humanity, too much for American Citizens to endure without complaint We have groaned under the Iron hand of tyranny and oppression these many years We have been robbed of our property to the amount of two millions of dollars We have been hunted as wild beasts of the forest We have seen our aged fathers who fought in the Revolution and our innocent children alike slaughtered by our persecutors We have seen the fair daughters of American Citizens insulted and abused in the most inhuman manner, and finally we have seen fifteen thousand souls men women and children driven by force of arms during the severities of winter from their sacred homes and firesides to a land of strangers pennyless and unprotected. Under all these afflicting circumstances we imploringly stretch forth our hands towards the highest councils of our and humbly appeal to the Illustrious Senators and Representatives of a great and free people for redress and protection. Hear O Hear the petitioning voice of many thousands of American Citizens who now groan in exile on ’s free soil. Hear O Hear the weeping and bitter lamentations of Widows and Orphans whose husbands and fathers have been cruelly martyred in the Land where the proud Eagle exultingly floats. Let it not be recorded in the archives of the nations that ’s exiles sought protection and redress at your hands but sought it in vain. It is in your power to save us, our wives, and our children from a repetition of the blood thirsty scenes of and greatly relieve the fears of a persecuted and injured people by ordaining for their protection the following ordinance, namely: [p. [7]]