[205] Washington was taken by the British, August 24, 1814. "It was only the vandalism of the British soldiers and sailors, incited by Cockburn and ill restrained by Ross, that made this incursion at once memorable and infamous. To public edifices, having no immediate relation to the war, the torch was applied; to the unfinished Capitol (which contained the library of Congress); the President's house, the Treasury,--to all the government buildings in fact, except the Patent Office, besides numerous private dwellings about Capitol Hill."--Schouler's _History of the United States_. "All this was the more shameful because done under strict orders from home."--Green's _History of the English People_. ON THE CONFLAGRATIONS AT WASHINGTON August 24, 1814 ----Jam deiphobi dedit ampla ruinam, Vulcano superante, domus; jam proximus ardet Ucalegon.--_Virgil._ Now, George the third rules not alone, For George the vandal shares the throne, True flesh of flesh and bone of bone. God save us from the fangs of both; Or, one a vandal, one a goth, May roast or boil us into froth. Like danes, of old, their fleet they man And rove from Beersheba to Dan, To burn, and beard us--where they can. They say, at George the fourth's command This vagrant host were sent, to land And leave in every house--a brand. An idiot only would require Such war--the worst they could desire-- The felon's war--the war of fire. The warfare, now, th' invaders make Must surely keep us all awake, Or life is lost for freedom's sake. They said to Cockburn, "honest Cock! To make a noise and give a shock Push off, and burn their navy dock: "Their capitol shall be emblazed! How will the buckskins stand amazed, And curse the day its walls were raised!" Six thousand heroes disembark-- Each left at night his floating ark And Washington was made their mark. That few would fight them--few or none-- Was by their leaders clearly shown-- And "down," they said, "with Madison!" How close they crept along the shore! As closely as if Rodgers saw her-- A frigate to a seventy-four. A veteran host, by veterans led, With Ross and Cockburn at their head-- They came--they saw--they burnt--and fled. But not unpunish'd they retired; They something paid, for all they fired, In soldiers kill'd, and chiefs expired. Five hundred veterans bit the dust, Who came, inflamed with lucre's lust-- And so they waste--and so they must. They left our congress naked walls-- Farewell to towers and capitols! To lofty roofs and splendid halls! To courtly domes and glittering things, To folly, that too near us clings, To courtiers who--tis well--had wings. Farewell to all but glorious war, Which yet shall guard Potomac's shore, And honor lost, and fame restore. To conquer armies in the field Was, once, the surest method held To make a hostile country yield.