But an englishman's throat is expanded so wide Not the ocean itself is a mess for his maw: And missions there are, and a scoundrel employ'd To divide, and to rule by the florentine law[A]: New-England must join In the knavish design, As some have predicted to those who believe 'em; --The event is at hand--may the devil deceive 'em. [A] Nicholas Machiavel's maxim, _divide et impera_; divide and govern. He was a native of Florence, in Italy.--_Freneau's note._ With an empire at sea and an empire on land, And the system projected, monopolization, The western republic no longer will stand Than answers the views of a desperate nation, Who have shackled the east, Made the native a beast, And are scheming to give us--the matter is clear-- A man of their own for the president's chair, Then arouse from your slumbers, ye men of the west, Already the indian his hatchet displays; Ohio's frontier, and Kentucky distrest; The village, and cottage, are both in a blaze:-- Then indian and english No longer distinguish, They bribe, and are bribed, for a warfare accurst; Of the two, we can hardly describe which is worst. In the court of king Hog was a council convened, In which they agreed we are growing too strong: They snuffled and grunted, and loudly complained The sceptre would fall, if they suffer'd it long; To cut up our trade Was an object, they said, The nearest and dearest of all in their view; Not a fish should be caught if old England said, No! Then arouse from your slumbers, ye men of the west, A war is approaching, there's room to suppose; The rust on your guns we abhor and detest, So brighten them up--we are coming to blows With the queen of the ocean The prop of devotion, The bulwark of all that is truly divine; A motto she often has put on her sign. [199] The poems in this section are all from the edition of 1815. LINES ADDRESSED TO MR. JEFFERSON, On his retirement from the Presidency of the United States.--1809. Praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores--_Hor._ To you, great sir, our heartfelt praise we give, And your ripe honors yield you--while you live. At length the year, which marks his course, expires, And Jefferson from public life retires; That year, the close of years, which own his claim, And give him all his honors, all his fame. Far in the heaven of fame I see him fly, Safe in the realms of immortality: On Equal Worth his honor'd mantle falls, Him, whom Columbia her true patriot calls; Him, whom we saw her codes of freedom plan, To none inferior in the ranks of man.