Have without mercy scalp'd and tomahawk'd
The arm'd and unarm'd, innocence and guilt,
Sparing nor helpless age, nor youth, nor sex.
Ye have the total of our princely deeds;
And now Columbia with her Washington
Had fallen beneath our arm, but that her plaints
Have reach'd the pitying Louis, who, misled

360

indeed the American history abounds with the sad relation; but for the authority of the abovementioned names the reader may consult Ramsay, i. 228-9; ii. 26-8; 144-6. Life of W. iv. 23—8; 30 note, 505-6; 565 note. Belsham, ii. 376-7. See Extract of a letter from col. Butler to sir Guy Carleton, Aug. 15, 1777, in Almon's Deb. viii. 226. 287. Mr. Wilkes, in his speech, Nov. 18, 1777, exclaims; "Are the scalping-knife and tomahawk necessary calamities of war? Are they inseparable from it? God forbid! I have read, sir, a late proclamation of that great general and preacher Mr. Burgoyne, which is shocking to a civilized and generous nation.-He boasts that he will give stretch to the Indian forces under his direction, and they amount to thousands. Merciful Heaven! thousands of Indian savages let loose by the command of a British general against our brethren in America! Human nature shrinks back from such a scene. At his heels leasht in, like hounds, should famine, sword and fire crouch for employment.What, sir, has been, and continues, the conduct of the Indian savages in war? Is it not to exercise the most shocking cruelties on their enemies, without distinction of age or sex? The conduct of this war goes on a par with its principle. Has the feeble old man, the helpless infant, the defenceless female, ever experienced the tender mercies of an Indian savage? He drinks the blood of his enemy, and his favourite repast is on human flesh," &c.-Almon's Deb. viii, p. 10-11.

362. the pitying Louis,-His most Christian Majesty Louis XVI. conformably to the preliminaries proposed by his secretary Mr. Gerard, entered, Feb. 6, 1778, "into treaties of amity, commerce, and alliance with the United States on the footing of the most perfect equality and reciprocity." The commissioners on the part of the Americans were Dr. Franklin, Mr. Silas Deane, and Mr. Arthur Lee; and the count de Vergennes, minister for foreign affairs, was the person whe

By Deane and Vergennes, sends them timely aid
Of men and gold. Now Washington's proud, hopes
Surpass all bounds: see where the chieftain dusts 365
His rapid march, with all his motley troops,
Through the Virginian deserts, and those plains
Where prescient vultures hover, and where dogs
And ravenous wolves watch with fell eagerness
Their destin'd prey; where horrid spectres gleam, 370
Making night nightless, and nought else is heard
But shrieks, and howls, and clangs, and loud laments:
There must we meet him with the force of hell
Rang'd in close phalanx, and deep serried file;
For there perchance we once may try again
The strength of Michael with the heavenly host
Cloth'd in new arms, of which they stand in need,
Since erst with well-devised enginry

Them of their ancient armour we despoil'd.

And be ye not dismay'd; for 'tis decreed

That on that fatal day some potent chief
Shall cease to rule: O may this conquering arm,
This arm my God, my only God in whom
I put my trust, enforce the blest decree!

375

380

principally conducted the conferences on the part of H. M. C. Majesty. See Ramsay, ii. 60—8; compare Life of W. iii, 434. 446, &c. "The joy of the Americans produced by this event was unbounded." See Life of W. iv. 20.

366. motley troops,-There was such a deficiency of clothing among the American troops, that upon their junction with their French allies they felt considerable degradation. “Some whole lines, officers as well as men, were shabby, and a great proportion of the privates were without shirts." Ramsay, ii. 193.

4

390

Then shall our kingdom stand, and hell again 385
For lengthen'd ages triumph o'er mankind.
But since far other cares your prince's time
Must now employ to aid the publick weal,
And, above all, with circumspective eye
To watch the deep designs of Michael's soul,
'Tis fit that we should delegate our power
To some intrepid chieftain; and to whom
With greater safety can we trust command
Than to hell's favourite, thee, brave Moloch! thee?
'I' was thou, with Mammon and with Belial join'd,
Who first into the breasts of ministers

And rulers didst instil oppression rank,
And those despotick laws that never fail,
Sooner or late, to stir rebellion up,
And civil war, which being untimely rais'd
Do but augment the powers of the strong,

396

400

401. Do but augment, &c.-Upon this subject the reader will possibly be gratified with perusing the opinion of the celebrated sir John Barnard, who, speaking of the rebellion of 1745,observes; "Can any one suppose that such a calamity could be brought upon us, without some neglect or misconduct in those whose duty it was to guard against every possible calamity? I shall not say that this was a wilful neglect, or that any minister thereby designed to furnish the disaffected with an opportunity to rebel; but this I will say, that an unsuccessful rebellion is always of great use to a minister; because it serves to increase and establish his power, and furnishes him with an opportunity to gratify many of his friends, as well as to be revenged of some of his enemies. No rebellion can therefore break out in this country, but what must afford matter of suspicion against those, who happen to be our ministers at the time. If the rebellion proceeds from disaffection, it is to be suspected that the minister, for his own private ends, furnished them with an opportunity to rebel; if from discontent, it is to be suspected that the minister, by his oppression, de

405

That hell admir'd thy wisdom; and thy valour,
Thy desperate valour is so known to all,
As needs no tongue of mine to blaze it forth :
'Tis of that valour now we have great need;
We must not barter, we must wage the war.
Take then the imperial standard, for to thee
We delegate command in this dire strife;
Quick to Virginia skim thy rapid way
With all our horrent legions; there anon
Ourself will meet thee, wrapt in other form,
Darkness, or cloud, or else some animal,
Some vulture, or perchance that sighted bird
That looks with eyes undazzled at the sun.
Haste then, be gone; there is no time for words; 415
Take the command, and Satan's will be done."

410

Thus spake the prince of darkness, while his eyes Flash'd thick Gorgonic flames. He spake, nor

sat;

His ponderous limbs resting on that fam'd spear Whose glittering top illum'd the vaulted dome, 420 And now, obedient to his prince's will,

Azazel had unfurl'd the mighty ensign,

When Mammon with complacent looks uprose,
And with persuasive words address'd his prince;
"With you, great leader! will I end my speech, 425
With you begin it; for on you depend

signedly provoked them to rebel; and as a reasonable suspicion is always good ground for a parliamentary inquiry, I think it ought upon every occasion to be the certain consequence of a rebellion." Debrett's Deb. ii. p. 59, Oct. 28, 1745.

Our firmest hopes; but well, O prince! you know,
For nothing does escape your piercing eye,

That Mammon has not spar'd or toil or pains,
To compass those great ends you have design'd. 430
My favour'd isle, and favour'd justly is,
For tho' among the wise and better part
My influence is feeble, yet the earth
Scarce holds a spot so dear unto my soul,
Abundant so in votaries; for here

My altars smoke with unextinguish'd incense,
Before my idol is profusely pour'd
Incessant adoration; scarce one being

435

In heaven, or earth, or hell, is so rever'd:
This favour'd spot have I just left, nor here : 440
Had Mammon now been seen, but to refill
His coffers seven times emptied: much I fear
That even hell will cease the vast supply.
But though I've dearly bought, yet have I well
Secur❜d what I have bought: What if I've lost 445
Some solitary few, whom Chatham's voice

1

And inbred patriot worth have, ere too late,
Recover'd from my grasp; yet have I gain'd
Britain's whole host of hirelings to my flock,
Whose minds my lessons have so deep impress'd 450
That nothing can erase them. Thus 1've taught:›
'Banish thy conscience; for it is a despot
That rules with arbitrary sway, and yields
No harvest to its owner. Extirpate
All principle; for principle requires
A steady, constant, persévering toil

455