Then, canst thou think e'en
on this early day,
Proud force shall bend us to a Tyrant's sway ;
A foreign foe oppos'd our sword in vain *
And thine own troops we've rallied on the plain,
[dagger symbol]
If then our lives your lawless sword invade,
Think'st thou, inslav'd, we'd kiss the
pointed blade ?
Nay let experience speak—be this the test,
'Tis from experience that we reason best.—
When first they mandate shew the shameless plan,
To rank our race beneath the class of man,
Low as the brute to sink the human line,
Our toil our portion, and the harvest thing,
Modest but firm, we pled the sacred cause,
On nature bas'd and sanction'd by the laws ;
But your deaf ear the conscious plea deny'd,
Some Dæmon —and the sword
reply'd ;
Your navy then our heaven cover'd
o'er,
And arm'd battalions trespass'd on our shore,
Thro' the prime streets, they march'd in war's array,
At noon's full blaze, and in the face of day :
With dumb contempt we pass'd the servile show,
While scorns proud spirit scoul'd on
ev'ry brow ;
Day after day successive wrongs we bore,
'Till patience wearied could support no more,
Till
* The extirpation of the Neutrals from Nova-Scotia.
[dagger symbol] We suppose our Au hor means the
share the Colony Troops has in the
repulse from
Ticonderoga.