Page images
PDF
EPUB

ARGUMENT OF THE SIXTH BOOK.

Invocation to Liberty. French Revolution. Character of Washington. His speech to his Chiefs. Orders to General Gage. Sir H. Clinton's speech to Arnold. Arnold's reply, and subsequent deeds. Success of Lord Cornwallis, and other British Chiefs.

WASHINGTON,

OR

LIBERTY RESTORED.

HAIL, holy Spirit! Celestial Freedom, hail!
Thou with the Eternal fixest thy abode,

[ocr errors]

5

10

And with thy Sisters, Truth, and Virtue, knit
Play'st round the throne of light thy gambols pure.
Or if right Reason's name delight thee more,
Thus will I thee invoke to aid my song,
Which, leaving lesser orbs, through desert space
Wings its bold flight up to the orb of day.
Hail, holy Spirit, hail! Thou who wert wont
To quit thy blest abode to dwell with men ;
Whom Athens saw within her sacred walls,
And ancient Rome ador'd; whom Britain oft,
Like a fond mother cherish'd in her arms;
And thence as oft, by Asiatick wealth
Corrupt, far banish'd, once again descend,
And buoy my feeble pinions while I soar
Above all mortal ken, and sing of deeds
So far excelling human intellect

That man could scarce believe the facts man saw.

15

Thee, purest Essence! even Gallia once,
But once, and for one momentary space
Shall see, but 'reft of reason at the sight
Shall not discern thy worth, but in thy stead
Adore an Idol, that thy shape assumes
Too oft, and rides triumphant o'er mankind.
But Gallia long had groan'd beneath the weight
Of haughty despots; long her rights, and laws,
Been trampled down beneath oppression's hoof;
Justice was sold by law; the nobles liv'd,
As if a race superiour to the rest,

Exempt from various burthens that oppress'd
The suffering people; but what most of all
Her vengeance rous'd, was that extravagance
With which her rulers delug'd all the land.
'Tis this extravagance, which, soon or late,
Brings kings and kingdoms to untimely end.
This not all Turgot's virtues could reform;
Turgot that wise, that able minister,
Whom Gallia's Genius with her wonted care
Sent to restore her rights, but sent in vain ;

66

20

25

30

35

40

35. 'Tis this extravagance,-" The expences," said Mr. Burke, an. 1774, are beyond all measure ruinous; I have pretty good authority for saying, that the king (of France) draws after him a personal expence of between three and four millions sterling; and this is an article so rooted and so vicious in its principles, that no act of the ministers can either lessen or controul it." Debrett, vii. 266. See Belsham, iv. 302-4. 182-5. 273-4.

"The expensiveness of the government is the true ground of the oppression of the people.' Life of W. v. 600.

38. Turgot" An excellent and able minister, the zealous friend of peace and economy, of toleration and reform," &c. See note in Belsham, ii. 214; and his Life written by Condorcet.

For now Profusion with her bandag'd eyes,

And open hand, stalk'd with gigantick strides
Thro' all the land, and in her train were seen,
Extortion, Tribute, Bribery, and Fraud,
With false Imprisonment, and Espionage,
And Irreligion, and gaunt Poverty.
And not far off from these the eye
The female Passions at the helm of state,
And Prostitution, with such numerous ills
As would require ten tongues to utter them.
But last of all was seen a monster-form

beheld

45

50

Whose sanguine hands fill'd with the heads of men
Spread horrour round, her eyes so gor'd with blood
That she could scarce distinguish friend from foe,
Gigantick Vengeance; and with her was seen
False Liberty, whose wanton, lawless gait,
And Circe tongue, allur'd the ignorant,

But kept the wise far off. How different this
From that celestial Form, whose radiant head

55

48. The female Passions-"The hameau de Chantilly was once the hotel, and gardens of the celebrated madame de Pompadour, mistress to Louis the Fifteenth; one who contributed in no small degree to bring on that revolution, which ended in the total overthrow of the house of her royal lover. No king's mistress was perhaps ever more cordially hated than this lady: her profusion knew no bounds, no one ever mingled more deeply in state intrigues, and no one ever contributed more liberally to filling the cachots of the detestable Bastille. Who can read the narrative of her devoted victim the unfortunate Maseres de la Tude, and then think that no change was wanted in France? One should rather be astonished at the patience which had endured oppression so long."-An unpublished Narrative of a Three Years Residence in France, in 1802, 3, 4, by Anne Plumptre, chap. xiii.

60

65

70

Scatters the beams of virtue o'er mankind;
Whose modest gait, and dignified address
Win so on every heart, that to adore
Is but to know! Where-e'er she place her feet
Spontaneous earth emits its flowery sweets,
And e'en the barren rock with verdure smiles;
Where-e'er she breathe, empyreal odours waft
Ambrosial gales, and all is joy, and love.
Come then, Celestial Freedom! and with thee
Bring peace, and plenty, and good will to men;
And drive far off from pure Columbia's soil
That blood-gorg'd crew, curs'd with the human shape,
Those monster-men of old Corruption born
And long-establish'd Crime, and black Revenge;
Of whom were some sprung from their mother Sin
Close by the gates of hell, and call'd on earth, 75
Barrere, and Danton, Robespierre, Marat,
Tainville, and Samson, d'Herbois, Carriere,
Fouche, Hebert, Orleans, and ten thousand more,
Whose names the deep oblivious pool would whelm,
But that the truth of history must record
That future men may curse, and future kings
Beware profusion, and those ministers
Whose tinsel eloquence beguiles the ear,
But reaches not the heart; 'gainst such as these
Kings cannot be too guarded; and with them

80

85

78. ten thousand more,-Among these the readers of the History of the French Revolution will easily recognise Freron, Tallien, Couthon, St. Just, Dumas, Le Bas, Henriot, Legendre, Mengaud, Rapinat, &c. &c.

« PreviousContinue »