Unnumber'd myriads of the savage foe, Whose brutal fury rais'd, at once might sweep The adventurers all to death's destructive sleep; Yet 'midst this scene of horror and despair, Stout industry began his office here, Made forests bend beneath his sturdy stroke, Made oxen groan beneath the sweaty yoke, Till half the desart smil'd and look'd as gay As northern gardens in the bloom of May. But ah, review the sorrows interwove, How the fierce native with the stranger strove;-- So heaven's bright lamp, the all-reviving sun, Just as his flaming journey is begun, Mists, fogs and vapours, sprung from damps of night, Mount up and strive to dim the approach of light; But he in triumph darts his piercing ray, Scatters their forces and pursues his way. Oft when the husband did his labour leave To meet his little family at eve, Stretch'd in their blood he saw each well known face, His dear companion and his youthful race; Perhaps the scalp with barbarous fury torn, The visage mangled, and the babe unborn Ripp'd from its dark abode, to view the sun, Ere nature finish'd half she had begun. And should we now when spread thro' ev'ry shore, Submit to that our fathers shunn'd before? Should we, just heaven, our blood and labour spent, Be slaves and minions to a parliament? Perish the thought, nor may one wretch remain, Who dares not fight and in our cause be slain; The cause of freedom daunts the hireling foe, And gives each Sampson's strength toward the blow, And each, like him whom fear nor force confines, Destroys a thousand modern Philistines. Who fights to take our liberty away, Dead-hearted fights and falls an easy prey; The cause, the cause, most cruel to enslave, Disheartens thousands, and unmans the brave: Who could have thought that Britons bore a heart, Or British troops to act so base a part? Britons of old renown'd, can they descend T' enslave their brethren in a foreign land? What oath, what oath, inform us if you can, Binds them to act below the worth of man? Can they whom half the world admires, can they Be advocates for vile despotic sway? Shall they, to every shore and clime renown'd, Enforce those acts that tyranny did found? 'Yet sure if this be their resolv'd design, 'Conquer they shall where'er the sun doth shine; 'No expedition prov'd unhappy yet, 'Can we Havanna's bloody siege forget,[69] 'Where British cannon the strong fortress tore, 'And wing'd whole legions to its infernal shore. 'Or does the voice of fame so soon forego 'Gibraltar's action, and the vanquish'd foe, 'Where art and nature both at once combin'd 'To baffle all our hardy troops design'd?-- 'Yet there Britannia's arms successful sped, 'While haughty Spaniards trembled, felt and fled.' So say the pensioned fools of slavery, So say our traitors, but so say not I-- (Tories or traitors, call them what you choose,