University of Virginia Library

Expedients so malign,
By hell suggested and approv'd by thee,
With savage joy, not, in the least degree,
Promoted, but obstructed thy design.
Hadst thou, by common prudence led,
And by sublime examples taught,
The war conducted in a manly way,
And treated captives as a victor ought;
Thy cause no doubt had greatly better sped,
And thou hadst added to thy score
Of abject slaves, vast numbers more
Of weak, short-sighted, timid souls,
Who, won by spacious artifice t'obey,
Had to thy standard fled,
Thy pardon to implore,
In humble, fawning, cringing shoals,
And truckled to thy sway:
But such dire scenes of cruelty display'd,
Far from intimidating gen'rous minds,
(Unlike the locks of the Gorgonian maid,
Which petrify'd the wretches they dismay'd)
Turn'd ev'ry honest heart to STEEL,
And made each real patriot's zeal
With double ardor flame;
Nay caus'd ev'n TORIES, of more mod'rate kinds,
While they aghast survey'd
These horrid proofs of thy infernal spite,
With terror shudd'ring at the hideous fight,
T'abhor thy cause and execrate thy name.
And when thy cruel measures fail'd
T'effect thy purpose, what avail'd
Thy foolish efforts in a milder style,
Insidiously design'd
Of public spirit, innocence,
And the chief means of her defence
Columbia to beguile,
As satan did the mother of mankind?
What real benefit accru'd
From specious proclamations, acts of grace,
And pompous promises so oft renew'd,
With all the pride and folly of grimace?
Or what from thy conciliatory laws,
Poor embryo-things, begot by crime,
And by absurdity conceiv'd,
Births immature before their time,
Brought forth to light, and by the world believ'd,
Brats well befitting thy abortive cause?
What from thy sly essays
Columbia's polity to undermine,
The covenanted union to disjoin,
And, in low disingenuous ways,
The man of real honor hates,
Debauch the plighted faith of individual slates?
What from the cunning and intrigue
Of thy pacific overtures
To the grand council of the gen'ral league?
What from thy fascinating lures,
Of many various kinds,
Industriously display'd,
T'entice degen'rate minds
To a pernicious and unlawful trade?
To ask no more, what pow'r hast thou obtain'd,
And what emolument eventual gain'd,
By thy whole system of disguise,
Thy plots, thy bribes, thy forgeries,
Thy OWN, thy people's, and thy PRINTER'S lies?
'Tis true, like their first mother Eve,
More covetous than wise,
Too many of Columbia's sons, allur'd
By some bewitching bait,
By thee presented to deceive,
Against her dictates did rebell,
Hold secret commerce with her enemies,
Or e'en her interests abjur'd,
And thus from their primeval slate
Did miserably fall, as from the skies
Th' apostate angels fell;
Yet, uncorrupted and sincere,
Still did vast numbers persevere,
As well with prudence to beware
The fatal influence of thy wiles,
As gallantly to dare
The utmost efforts of thy hostile rage:
As these did, in Columbia's cause,
With zeal and vigilance engage;
She, by heav'n's blessing on their strenuous toils,
Their jealous caution and incessant care,
Is rescu'd from the Dragon's rav'nous jaws,
And as a bird escap'd the fowler's snare.