University of Virginia Library

We surely have no room to doubt
What Mister Douglass was about
Throughout this hocus-pocus measure
Prest sore on Congress without leisure.
The secret of the whole affair
Lies near the Presidential Chair.
Said he, “I'll win it, if I can;
I'll trample on the rights of man;
I'll quickly tread into the dust
Both priest and people, if I must;
I'll stride o'er Freedom's recent grave;
Or leap upon the prostrate Slave;
Or even turn a somerset,
The Presidential Chair to get.
I grant, 'tis possible I may,
As abolition zealots say,
Be doing wrong religiously,
But I am right politically.
I may oppose the higher law,
But, I do not my maxims draw
From such philosophy as that,
Which William Seward hinted at.
Though I must honestly avow
That I am not prepared just now
For trial by the higher law,
Though I its bearing never saw:
To die, I have no inclination
Without some little preparation.
But I must first be President
And after that I will repent:
Yes, when the highest prize I win,
Immediately I'll cease to sin,
But come what will, no pains I'll spare,
To reach the Presidential Chair.”