Thence slily stole the addled eggs away,
To throw at Hamilton, at King and Jay-
Thou patriot cit, to whom all gracious Heaven,
A kind supply of impudence has given,
And privileg'd most other men beyond,
To rail at merit wheresoe'er tis found.
While brother Freneau groans in deep dismay,
Lest you at length should steal his trade away,
While Franklin's grandson, thunder-gotten Bache,‡
Declares thy tones are far beyond his reach,
(Though from his venal press big sounds arise,
And Pascal's bleatings fill th' astonish❜d skies)
And Cockey Adams from Bostonia's shore,
Responds to every bray and every roar—
To thee this offspring of my brain I send,
That your kind hand its fostering aid may lend,
And through the medium of your paper give
The little brat at least nine days to live.
My heart with politics so big is grown
Its little cabin scarce can hold its own;
As where luxuriant waves the corn on high,
In verdant rows alluring to the eye,
If chance some ox by strong temptation woo'd
Crams his keen stomach with the luscious food,
Too late he finds, too proud to be controul'd
His granary bigger than his skin can hold.
On the one hand, we see with weeping eyes,
A host of despots against Freedom rise;
And on the second, a tremendous people,
Hanging their friends on lantern-post and steeple;
And on the third, a minister sent o'er
To raise the devil on this peaceful shore.
But what strange feelings blow me up with wonder,
And burst my breeches and my brain asunder,
When I reflect that this religious race,
These pious heirs of heaven's peculiar grace,
These bosom friends of every mother's son,
Who wears a star, a diadem or crown,
For us, themselves, and all creation's sake,
Have martyr'd Liberty at Faction's stake;
And having much seditious truck to spare,
Determine all mankind shall have a share,
And bent on holy crusade, lend a hand
To spread confusion over every land;
And though to some, French freedom is a pill,
They'll force it down their throats against their will:
And Doctor Genet for Columbian phthisic,
Has brought a store of this new kind of physic,
And says 'twill be agreeable to France,
To change our Asthma to St. Vitus' dance,
And "si vous plait permettez moi one trial,
"Vill donnez vous le contents of mon phial."
And can it be? Can this ungrateful soil,
Look careless on and see her neighbour toil,
Her bosom friend, her old substantial prop,
At war with reason, scarce in sight of hope,
By hellish despots, tumbled to the ground,
Her ancles fetter'd and her elbows bound?
And how can we in such a case succeed?
The brave escape where paltry cowards bleed;
And these curst demons of despotic sway
Will prick our backsides if we run away.
Against our only hope if they prevail,
They'll hither come as fast as they can sail;
Old England hates us, and she'll scull them over,
And try once more her foothold to recover,
That she may have a place some future day,
Whene'er she breaks to stow herself away.
Methinks I see, convuls'd with dreadful pains, Fair Freedom's Genius stretch'd on Gallia's plains; Around her butcher'd sons in millions lie,
Beneath the ax the heirs of virtue die,
While Law and Peace are into exile fled
Her temples prostrate, and her Louis dead ;
With stern disdain her kindling looks inflame,
To view the murders sanction'd by her name ;
Around her head a bandage tight she binds,
Her deep-drawn sighs increase the passing winds ;
While with one hand she wipes her dewy eyes,
The other stretches towards Columbia's skies
In awful silence-Freedom's sons draw near!
Ye who the Cap of Liberty revere !
That sacred Cap, which fools in order sped,
In grand rotation, round from head to head—
That Cap, by Liberty and Lice inspired,
Which every wearer's head with courage fired
E'en aged Sam. of Freedom always full,
Bar'd to this wond'rous Cap his doating skull.
And Captain Ss proclaim'd that one and all,
Should bend the knee before this modern Baal.*
This form divine, this bright celestial maid,
With heart-distressing groans implores your aid;
For lo! assail'd by cholic pangs severe.
No pill of Hullt to take, no Hd near,
Soon will the lovely maid resign her breath,
And kick life's bucket to the shades of death.
Then press her, press her, with a strict embrace,
Nor spare an Indian hug in such a case;
Perhaps a proper squeeze may do her good,
Rouse up her faculties, and stir her blood.
Can we stand tamely by and see the French
In such a sea of Despots take a drench,
And yet refuse a helping hand, to save
The half drown'd wretches from a watery grave
If we do this, by all indignant Heaven,
Doubtless. our heads will in two parts be riven.
To Europe's courts, now faint and sick at heart,
Of each disease that braves the healing art,
The story tell, that we to party blind,
In our own way, wish well to all mankind.
Let us entreat, eat humble-pye, and beg
With abject crouching, and with bended leg,
That they no more will draw the murderous dirk,
But leave the French to do that kind of work.
* See the accounts published of the celebration of a civic feast on board of the Ambuscade Frigate in Boston, when Governor Adams decorated himself with this glorious insignia of Jacobinic freedom; and of the grand procession in New-York, in honour of the French victories.
† A celebrated medicine for the cholic.
From the Diary, &c. of October 29, 1793.
Answer of a Frank to the author of a printed writing, under the name of Americanus in the Daily Advertiser of the 25th of October.
EARN you who are unworthy of the glorious name with which you cover your baseness;—that all the reproaches which you make to an honest man whom his love for the cause of liberty, and his hatred to tyrants, together with his attachment to the real interests of his country, induced to give a kind reception at Charleston to the Minister of the French Republic, are as destitute of foundation as of reason.
I will not follow you in the fastidious verbosity with which you speak of the motives which may have induced one free man to ask another free man whom he esteems, if it be true that he used certain discourses which his enemies seem to propagate with intention to injure him in a country which has not yet recovered from paying idolatrous worship to men. I will not give myself the trouble to refute the machiavelian maxims which you would wish to introduce into the free government of the United States, the Venetian silence to which you, and all who resemble you, would subject the members; I will only inform the public, whom you endeavour to deceive, that the brave MOULTRIE, in paying to the envoy of a great people the honours due to his chaacter, when constrained by the winds, the ship of war which rried him landed him at Charleston, did no more than follow
|