Restore Columbia to her rights, and laws;
Your country too restore to happiness.
But ere I close there is one subject more,
Which fain I would not notice to your ears,
But that indignant justice urges on.
Methought I heard, would that I were deceiv'd!
That neither Heaven, nor Nature, hath forbid
To use the Indian scalpings-Gracious God!
That thou should'st sit upon thy mercy-seat,
Nor bare thy arm to vengeance! Who is he
That, to the evils of this murderous war,
Dares authorize, and league with British arms
The horrid scalping-knife and tomahawk
Of Savages? What being civilized
Would claim alliance with brutality?

Curse on such odious stains on Britain's sons!

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250

I

242. Methought I heard, &c. The earl of Suffolk, secretary of state, had more than once vindicated the employment of Indians in the American war; "For my part," said his lordship, 18th Nov. 1777, "whether foreigners or Indians, which the noble lord has described by the appellation of savages, shall ever think it justifiable to exert every means in our power to repel the attempts of our rebellious subjects. I am clearly of opinion that we are fully justified in using every means which God and Nature has put into our hands." Almon, x. 25; and again p. 48, in almost the same words; and compare p. 82; and lord Dunmore declared," that he heartily wished more Indians were employed; that they were by no means a cruel people; that they never exercised the scalping-knife, or were guilty of a barbarity, but by way of striking terror into their enemies, and by that means putting an end to the further effusion of blood." Ib. 100; so attorney-general Thurlow, viii. 50; and lord North, viii. 360. These sentiments roused the whole indignation of the British Chatham, and he gave vent to his feelings in that burst of eloquence, which the poet has endeavoured to put into metre. See the speech in Belsham's Hist. G. HII. ii. 327-332; and Life of Washington, iii. 317-9; and Almon, x. 10. 47-8. 74. Compare Mr. Burke's speech upon this subject, Almon, viii. 348-350

Where are those principles that dignify

The British soldier? Where that pomp, and pride,
That circumstance of glorious war, which makes 255
Ambition virtue? Where, O Senators!

That noble sense of honour? Can this sense
Consist with plunder, and a murderer's views?

As Christian, and as human kind forbear
This horrible barbarity: the mind

Of man at such avowal stands aghast.

What! Call it principle to use the means
That God, and Nature put into our hands!
Can God, and Nature sanction massacre ?
Can God, and Nature claim affinity
With torture, murder, scalps, and tomahawks ?
Ye sacred Priests! whose pure unsullied hands
Abstain from human blood; who teach mankind
To trace the foot-steps of their heavenly guide,
And mercy love with justice; vindicate
The laws, and doctrines of insulted Heaven.
Ye ermin'd Judges! interpose the rights
Of nature, and of man; Defend, support
The justice of your country from this spot,
This stain most horrible. Ye Senators!

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265

270

275

Who Honour's, and who Virtue's laws obey!
Revere your dignity, and imitate

In barbarous inhumanity, and guilt

Will boast no longer her pre-eminence.

285

She loos'd her blood-hounds 'gainst the wretched

sons

Of scorching Mexick; we more ruthless far
Arm even hell-hounds 'gainst our countrymen,
Our countrymen who stand endear'd to us
By every tye that binds humanity.

Weak as I am, and now advanc'd in years,
My duty and my conscience bade me vent
My deep abhorrence of such cursed deeds.
Once more then, Britons! ere it be too late
Conciliate
your brethren; let the base

And viler passions of the human mind

Be purg'd, and cleans'd away; let gratitude
For their past services be uppermost

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295

300

In all your hearts; and may that liberty,
Which Heaven's first charter ratified to man,
Spread like the scriptural vine its sheltering leaves,

296. And viler passions &c.—" Will you punish them for the madness you have occasioned ? Rather let prudence and temper come first from this side. I will undertake for America that she will follow the example. There are two lines in a ballad of Prior's, of a man's behaviour to his wife, so applicable to you and your Colonies, that I cannot help repeating them:

"Be to her faults a little blind: Be to her virtues very kind."" Lord Chatham, an. 1766, Debrett, iv. 297. See above ver. 193. 66 Mercy cannot do harm; it will seat the king where he ought to be, throned on the hearts of his people; and millions at home and abroad, now employed in obloquy or revolt, would pray for him." Almon, vii. 95. 119-120. See the duke of Grafton's speech, ib. 102-3.

301. like the scriptural vine-Lord Chatham declared, (9th Jan. 1770,)" that liberty was a plant that deserved to be cherished; that he loved the tree, and wished well to every

305

And shed eternal blessings on mankind!”
The patriot ended; but the voice of truth
Had lost its influence; for there prevail'd
A hidden power, which, like a talisman,
Lock'd up the intellectual sense, and caus'd
To see with other eyes, and hear with other ears.
It is this pow'r, by which the prescient mind
Of wisdom's son foretells the fall of states
With certain augury; it is this power
Which, like the enormous goitre on the neck
Of Alpine peasant, preys upon the state,
Grows with its growth, and dies but with its death.
Nathless the applauding silence which ensued

310

The patriot's voice, spake more than loudest words How arduous, and how long the contest is,

316

branch of it. That like the vine in the Scripture, it had spread from east to west, had embraced whole nations with its branches, and sheltered them under its leaves. That the Americans had purchased their liberty at a dear rate, since they had quitted their native country, and gone in search of freedom to a desert." Debrett, v. 129,

305. a hidden power, &c.-After the celebrated motion of Mr. Dunning, Apr. 6th, 1780, "that the influence of the crown had increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished;" after the prophetick exclamation of lord Chatham, May 1771," that our whole constitution is giving way;" after the solemn declaration of Mr. Fox, April 1777, "that corruption and patronage had overspread the land-that the king's name was frequently prostituted by his ministers-and that majorities were found to support the worst measures with as much alacrity as the best ;" and yet no efficient amendment either in church or state being likely to take place, (and this too at a time when the crash of kingdoms is resounding on all sides) the reflecting mind can only ponder in silence upois the inevitable consequences of things, and perhaps in sorrow exclaim,

'Venit summa dies, et ineluctabile tempus
Dardaniæ.'

See Belsham, iii. 25-7; Almon, vii. 119.

320

'Twixt conscience and corruption; 'tis this contest
Which gracious Heaven ordain'd to be our guard
Against encroaching crime, and 'twill at last
Preserve the human race; for art requires
Incessant care and trouble, oft renew'd,
To gain its purposes, but nature acts
With pure simplicity, and perfect ease,
Wants no renewal for 't is ever new ;

'Tis as the orb of day, which, tho' obscur'd

325

By passing shadows, blazes forth again,

And from the contrast dazzles yet the more.

This North perceiv'd, and fearful of the event,
For tho' he knew his power, he also knew

330

How popular the cause of freedom was

To every

British bosom, thus aloud

Instant the silence brake; "O Senators!

Under the specious name of liberty

Have faction and sedition ta'en their stand;

The press now teems with such licentiousness

That it is time some measure be devis'd

To stop the growing evil. You are told
In pompous eloquence, that should you dare
To raise the arm of power against the sons
Of freedom, your weak efforts will redound
To your disgrace, and ruin. What is this
But faction's very voice? And what but this

335

340

335. The press now teems &c.-"The liberty of the press," said lord North, an. 1774," had got to such a height, that some measure must be thought on, &c." Debrett, vii, 31. the recommendation in the King's speech, Nov. 15th, 1763.

See also