University of Virginia Library

Yet more; e'en war, the scourge of human kind,
But serves more close the social links to bind;
Confed'rate courage forms th' embattled line,
Firm on each side connecting passions join;
'Tis social danger either troop inspires,
'Tis social honour either army fires,
'Tis social glory burnishes the van,
'Tis social faith spreads on from man to man;
As front to front the warring parties meet,
For social ends they dare the martial feat;
As breast to breast, and eye to eye they fix,
For social ends they seperate or mix.
King, country, parents, children, prompt the fight,
For these alone they bleed, resist, unite;
And, hap'ly, first hostilities arose
From nice distinctions made of friends and foes;
Some scornful slight where nature most can smart,
Some stinging insult forest to the heart,
Some wrong detected, forfeited some trust,
A treaty broken, or a barrier burst,
Bade Sympathy call Vengeance to her aid,
Till where the laws avail'd not wars were made;
Affection sought from arms the wish'd relief,
And bore them 'gainst the assassin and the thief;
Eager o'er those who faith's fair league invade
With social zeal to lift th' avenging blade;
Or from the spoiler's hand to fence the flowers
That sweetly blossom round life's private bowers:
'Tis thus, the steady eye of Reason finds
What seems to snap the chain, more closely binds;
And thus each peril like each pleasure try'd,
Unites the rosy bonds on either side.