 | Columbia's glory |  |
O George, thy restless soul,
Impatient of controul,
Has long aspir'd to universal sway;
Thou wouldst extend thine arbitrary rod,
Bid kingdoms tremble at thy nod,
Reign the sole sov'reign like a god,
And make a world obey.
Deaf to the sacred laws of right,
And usurpation thy delight,
Long hast thou aim'd, with ceaseless pains,
To gripe Columbia in thy chains;
But the great sov'reign of the sky
Saw thy bold aim with jealous eye:
Firm to his own eternal laws,
And merciful as just,
He pitied her much injur'd cause,
Indignant broke
Thine iron yoke,
Dispers'd thy hopes like transient smoke,
And cast thy pride confounded to the dust,
What though thy fleets could ride
Triumphant o'er the tide,
In arrogant parade,
Insult Columbia's miseries,
Block up her ports, distress her trade,
And intercept her requisite supplies?
Invention, the ingenious artists guide,
Necessity's sagacious daughter, vy'd
With industry, the friend of the distrest,
And both the most important things supply'd,
While frugal habits needless made the rest.
And while, for common wants of life,
The rocks, the mines, the forests, and the farms
Needful provision made,
For the unequal strife,
On each succeeding day,
Earth gave the woman in the desart aid,
Against invading harms,
In a peculiar way,
By yielding, from her pregnant pores,
Large magazines of nitrous stores,
To furnish fuel for Columbia's arms.
What tho' thy armies, train'd
In military lore,
And by thy pow'rful fleets sustain'd
Successively possession gain'd
Of all her sea-girt cities on the shore?
Though well equipp'd and bold,
And well instructed too,
As num'rous as they were,
All thy battalions were too few,
With all their diligence and care,
Unless they could be ev'ry where,
The whole at once to hold;
Or had it been that thy divided host
Sufficient energy could boast,
Of all at once possession to maintain,
The whole of thy usurp'd domain
Had comprehended, after all, at most,
But here and there a speck on an extensive coast
Besides the interjacent grounds,
Vast inland tracts had still remain'd,
From the incursions of thy armies free;
Tracts from thy scanty bounds
And posts marine too far,
To be by conquest gain'd,
Or by that conquest so secur'd to thee,
As long to give the owners law;
Tracts, which thy soldiers never saw,
Or, but as prisoners of war,
Were ever born to see.
Impatient of controul,
Has long aspir'd to universal sway;
Thou wouldst extend thine arbitrary rod,
Bid kingdoms tremble at thy nod,
Reign the sole sov'reign like a god,
And make a world obey.
Deaf to the sacred laws of right,
And usurpation thy delight,
Long hast thou aim'd, with ceaseless pains,
To gripe Columbia in thy chains;
But the great sov'reign of the sky
Saw thy bold aim with jealous eye:
Firm to his own eternal laws,
And merciful as just,
He pitied her much injur'd cause,
Indignant broke
Thine iron yoke,
Dispers'd thy hopes like transient smoke,
24
What though thy fleets could ride
Triumphant o'er the tide,
In arrogant parade,
Insult Columbia's miseries,
Block up her ports, distress her trade,
And intercept her requisite supplies?
Invention, the ingenious artists guide,
Necessity's sagacious daughter, vy'd
With industry, the friend of the distrest,
And both the most important things supply'd,
While frugal habits needless made the rest.
And while, for common wants of life,
The rocks, the mines, the forests, and the farms
Needful provision made,
For the unequal strife,
On each succeeding day,
Earth gave the woman in the desart aid,
Against invading harms,
In a peculiar way,
By yielding, from her pregnant pores,
Large magazines of nitrous stores,
To furnish fuel for Columbia's arms.
What tho' thy armies, train'd
In military lore,
And by thy pow'rful fleets sustain'd
Successively possession gain'd
Of all her sea-girt cities on the shore?
Though well equipp'd and bold,
And well instructed too,
As num'rous as they were,
All thy battalions were too few,
With all their diligence and care,
Unless they could be ev'ry where,
The whole at once to hold;
25
Sufficient energy could boast,
Of all at once possession to maintain,
The whole of thy usurp'd domain
Had comprehended, after all, at most,
But here and there a speck on an extensive coast
Besides the interjacent grounds,
Vast inland tracts had still remain'd,
From the incursions of thy armies free;
Tracts from thy scanty bounds
And posts marine too far,
To be by conquest gain'd,
Or by that conquest so secur'd to thee,
As long to give the owners law;
Tracts, which thy soldiers never saw,
Or, but as prisoners of war,
Were ever born to see.
| Columbia's glory | |