When to the helm of state your country call'd No danger awed you and no fear appall'd; Each bosom, faithful to its country's claim, Hail'd Jefferson, that long applauded name; All, then, was dark, and wrongs on wrongs accrued Our treasures wasted, and our strength subdued; What seven long years of war and blood had gain'd, Was lost, abandon'd, squander'd, or restrain'd: Britania's tools had schemed their easier way, To conquer, ruin, pillage, or betray; Domestic traitors, with exotic, join'd, To shackle this last refuge of mankind; Wars were provoked, and France was made our foe, That George's race might govern all below, O'er this wide world, uncheck'd, unbounded, reign, Seize every clime, and subjugate the main. All this was seen--and rising in your might, By genius aided, you reclaim'd our right, That Right, which conquest, arms, and valor gave To this young nation--not to live a slave. And what but toil has your long service seen? Dark tempests gathering over a sky serene-- For wearied years no mines of wealth can pay, No fame, nor all the plaudits of that day, Which now returns you to your rural shade, The sage's heaven, for contemplation made, Who, like the Roman, in their country's cause Exert their valor, or enforce its laws, And late retiring, every wrong redress'd, Give their last days to solitude and rest. This great reward a generous nation yields-- Regret attends you to your native fields; Their grateful thanks for every service done, And hope, your thorny race of care is run. From your sage counsels what effects arise! The vengeful briton from our waters flies; His thundering ships no more our coasts assail, But seize the advantage of the western gale. Though bold and bloody, warlike, proud, and fierce, They shun your vengeance for a Murdered Pearce, And starved, dejected, on some meagre shore, Sigh for the country they shall rule no more. Long in the councils of your native land, We saw you cool, unchanged, intrepid, stand: When the firm Congress, still too firm to yield, Stay'd masters of the long contested field, Your wisdom aided, what their counsels framed-- By you the murdering savages were tamed-- That Independence we had sworn to gain, By you asserted (nor Declared in vain) We seized, triumphant, from a tyrant's throne, And Britain totter'd when the work was done. You, when an angry faction vex'd the age, Rose to your place at once, and check'd their rage; The envenom'd shafts of malice you defied, And turn'd all projects of revolt aside:-- We saw you libell'd by the worst of men, While hell's red lamp hung quivering o'er his pen, And fiends congenial every effort try To blast that merit which shall never die-- These had their hour, and traitors wing'd their flight, To aid the screechings of distracted night.