TO take the papers some refuse,
Because they say there is no news
Of blood, and fire, and thunder;
But let your recollection range
Surely ne'er happen'd things more strange, Events more full of wonder!
The Hudson river, all suppose,
Directly to the southward flows,
But, waxing mighty cunning,
Albanian wiseacres have found,
The stream has turn'd completely round,
And to the north is running!
With lifted hands and bristled hair,
Do you, affrighted reader, stare
At this odd revolution?
Why, 'tis as reas'nable and true,
As what those dunces prate to you
About the constitution ;-
Which tells you plainly to your face,
That an 'election' shall take place,
Whenever a 'vacation'
Shall happen of the 'gov'nor's seat,'
By his removal or retreat,
By death or resignation.'
And yet they torture language so,
As to make out that ay means no,
And chosen'' not elected ;'
But know, vain sophisters, that we,
The 'sovereign people,' all can see
Your object-'tis detected.
High sal'ries, too, the people strike
With consternation and dislike-
Who echo back their curses;
And non-electionists now stand
Leagued with those vultures hand in hand,
That prey upon your purses,
To foreign regions cast your eyes-
Does nothing there excite surprise,
Where dreadful agitations
Convulse degraded bleeding France,
Who once led tyrants such a dance,...
The wonder of all nations?
Portentous clouds o'er Europe low'r,
And some predict the bloody show'r
The Bourbon house will hit on;
While others, equally as wise,
Foretell that vengeance from the skies,
Will fall upon Great Britain.
Turning from European scenes,
Witness the faithless Algeries,
All Christendom affrighting!
Lord Exmouth with his squadron strong,
Ends like Lord Byron's tragic song,
With more of fog than fighting,
Can you, with heart and passions cold,
The South Americans behold,
Seeking emancipation
From Spanish thraldom, and not feel
Your blood alternately congeal,
And burn with indignation,
At the legitimates' of Spain?
Whose curs'd inquisitorial chain
Binds millions for the slaughter,
All for the love and cause of GOD,
Making the cross a scourging rod,
First soak'd in holy water.
* Contracting your expanded views,
Again survey domestic news-
Important times are coming;
The presidential choice draws near,
And distant fed'ral groans we hear,
Like partridges a drumming,
MONROE and TOMPKINS are the toast,
Our expectation and our boast,
Our confidence and glory,
On these your suffrages bestow
And bring high sal'ry members low,
At least, another story.
IN the best government on earth,
Mixt evils may be found;
Which owe their being and their birth
Not to our mother ground;
But to those passions lodg'd in man,
That envy, pride, and avʼrice fan.
Envy, the meanest of them all,
With red malignant eyes,
Rejoices at a brother's fall,
And laughs when mis'ry cries! How strange, that such a fiend of hell, Should ever in a mortal dwell!
Pride, too, disgusting, hateful imp,
From froth and vapor sprung;
Ambition's slave-pay, pleasure's pimp-
Whose head, and heart, and tongue,
Weigh'd with a feather, scarce would show
Which way the balance ought to go.
Av'rice, with niggard, grasping hand,
Coils round the heart by stealth;
Whose soul is either cash or land
Whose Deity is Wealth;
To this he adoration pays,
And this the heav'n for which he prays.
These, or when clashing, or combin'd,
Their baleful influence lend,
Becloud and brutalize the mind,
Which knows no other end,
Till anger, strife, and vengeance pour,
A wild tornado-hear it roar!
Sweeping the virtues in its course,
And spreading wide dismay,
Despoiling reason of its force,
And hurling peace away;
Senates and people feel the storm
Of war internal-frightful form!
Hence, too, dark jealousies arise,
Of deleterious pow'rs,
Which fall in hailstorms, from the skier,
And blast the fairest flow?rs-
Domestic happiness destroy,
And all the fruits of tranquil joy.
Thus urg'd, see parties firm engage
An ink bespatter'd field!
And see the warlike papers rage,
Determin'd not to yield-
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