From Diary of the American Revolution, Vol II. Compiled by Frank Moore and published in 1859.
The advantage, says a correspondent, of the revolution that has taken place in America, to all the lovers of liberty in Europe, must be immense. It seems to be a dispensation of Heaven favorable to them, as Well as to the inhabitants of the States. America is now become an open asylum to all that are oppressed by the old corrupt governments in Europe. The subjects of the latter will be disposed to emigrate to us, as they feel their situation at home growing uneasy by the weight of arbitrary power, and the ill administration of government. We shall afford a happy relief to those who come over to us, and no inconsiderable one to those who remain behind, inasmuch as those governments, and particularly that of England and Ireland, for fear of losing their people, will relax the reins of power, and invite their remaining at home, by indulging their love of liberty in some instances, and lightening their burdens. We are, therefore, not only fighting for our own cause, but for the cause of human kind in general, and particularly for that of our former fellow-subjects in Britain and Ireland. Millions will bless the wisdom, the fortitude, and perseverance, that have nobly effected this revolution, who will never live in America; at the same time it must give a particular relief to the blessings of liberty enjoyed by the subjects of the United States, that the purchase of them for ourselves must be of such essential advantage to distant regions. This, in the impartial estimation of mankind, must give a particular brilliancy to the success of our arms, and enroll the names of those men whose wisdom and fortitude have principally effected so happy a change, among the most illustrious heroes, and the greatest benefactors of mankind.1
1 New Jersey Gazette, December 8.