Though Washington has left our coast, Yet other Washingtons we boast, Who rise, instructed by his ghost, To punish all invaders. Go where they will, where'er they land, This pilfering, plundering, pirate band, They liberty will find at hand To hurl them to perdition: If in Virginia they appear, Their fate is fix'd, their doom is near, Death in their front and hell their rear-- So says the gallant buckskin. All Carolina is prepared, And Charleston doubly on her guard; Where, once, sir Peter badly fared, So blasted by fort Moultrie. If farther south they turn their views, With veteran troops, or veteran crews, The curse of heaven their march pursues To send them all a-packing: The tallest mast that sails the wave, The longest keel its waters lave, Will bring them to an early grave On the shores of Pensacola. [204] This poem was written early in August, on receipt of the news that a large squadron was on its way across the Atlantic to lay waste the seaboard cities. The squadron finally sailed into Chesapeake Bay and turned its attention first to Washington and Baltimore. ON THE ENGLISH DEVASTATIONS AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON[205] Their power abused! that power may soon descend: Years, not remote, may see their glory end:-- The british power, the avaricious crown, Pull'd every flag, hurl'd every standard down; Columbian ships they seized on every sea, Condemn'd those ships, nor left our sailors free.-- So long a tyrant on the watery stage, They thought to tyrannize through every age; They hoped all commerce to monopolize; Europe, at sea, they affected to despise; They laugh'd at France contending for a share Of commerce, one would think, as free as air. They captured most, without remorse or plea, And grew as proud as arrogance could be. Stung by a thousand wrongs, at length arose The Western States, these tyrants to oppose; With just resentment, met them on the main, And burnt, or sunk their ships, with hosts of slain. The blood ran black from every english heart To see their empire from the seas depart, To see their flag to thirteen stripes surrender, And many an english ship made fire and tinder; They swore, they raged; they saw, with patience spent, Each last engagement had the same event-- What could they do? revenge inspired their breasts, And hell's sensations seized their swelling chests.-- All to revenge, to Maryland they came, And costly works of art assail'd with flame; In Washington they left a dismal void,-- Poor compensation for their ships destroy'd!-- We burn, where guns their frigates poorly guard; They burn, where scarce a gun is seen or heard!