On The Demolition Of The French Monarchy[63]

From Bourbon's brow the crown remov'd, Low in the dust is laid; And, parted now from all she lov'd, Maria's[A] beauties fade:

[A] Maria Antoinette, late queen of France.--Freneau's note.

What shall relieve her sad distress, What power recall that former state When drinking deep her seas of bliss, She smil'd and look'd so sweet!-- With aching heart and haggard eye She views the palace,[B] towering high, Where, once, were pass'd her brightest days, And nations stood, in wild amaze, Louis! to see you eat.

[B] Thuilleries--within view of which the royal family of France were at this time imprisoned.--1792.--Ib.

This gaudy vision to restore Shall fate its laws repeal, And cruel despots rise once more To plan a new Bastille! Shall, from their sheathes, ten thousand blades[C] In glittering vengeance start To mow down slaves, and slice off heads, Taking a monarch's part?-- Ah no!--the heavens this hope refuse; Despots! they send you no such news-- Nor Conde, fierce, nor Frederick, stout, Nor Catharine brings this work about, Nor Brunswick's warlike art:

[C] Alluding to Mr. Edmund Burke's rant upon this subject.--Ib. The poet here refers to the well-known passage in Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, published October, 1790, in which after describing the queen of France as he had seen her in 1774 and the "prostrate homage" which her nation had paid to her at that time, he dwells upon the contrast of 1789: "Oh, what a revolution! and what a heart must I have, to contemplate without emotion that elevation and that fall! Little did I dream when she added titles of veneration to those of enthusiastic, distant, respectful love, that she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace concealed in that bosom; little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honour and of cavaliers. I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, oeconomists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever."

Nor He,[D] that once, with fire and sword, This western world alarm'd: Throughout our clime whose thunders roar'd, Whose legions round us swarm'd-- Once more his tyrant arm invades A race[E] that dare be free: His Myrmidons, with murdering blades, In one base cause agree!-- Ill fate attend on every scheme That tends to darken Reason's beam: And, rising with gigantic might In Virtue's cause, I see unite Worlds, under Freedom's Tree!

[D] George III.--Freneau's note.

[E] The French Republicans.--Ib.

Valour, at length, by Fortune led, The Rights of Man restores; And Gallia, now from bondage freed, Her rising sun adores: On Equal Rights, her fabric plann'd, Storms idly round it rave, No longer breathes in Gallic land A monarch, or a slave! At distance far, and self-remov'd From all he own'd and all he lov'd, See!--turn'd his back on Freedom's blaze, In foreign lands the Emigrant strays, Or finds an early grave!

Enroll'd with these--and close immur'd, The gallant chief[F] is found, That, once, admiring crowds ador'd, Through either world renown'd, Here, bold in arms, and firm in heart, He help'd to gain our cause, Yet could not from a tyrant part, But, turn'd to embrace his laws!-- Ah! hadst thou stay'd in fair Auvergne,[G] And Truth from Paine vouchsaf'd to learn; There, happy, honour'd, and retir'd, Both hemispheres had still admir'd, Still crown'd you with applause.

[F] La Fayette; at this time in the Prussian prison of Spandau.--Freneau's note.

[G] The province of France, where the Marquis's family estate lay.--Ib.

See!--doom'd to fare on famish'd steeds, The rude Hungarians fly; Brunswick, with drooping courage leads Death's meagre family: In dismal groups, o'er hosts of dead, Their madness they bemoan, No friendly hand to give them bread, No Thionville their own! The Gaul, enrag'd as they retire, Hurls at their heads his blaze of fire-- What hosts of Frederick's reeking crew

Dying, have bid the world adieu, To dogs their flesh been thrown! Escap'd from death, a mangled train In scatter'd bands retreat: Where, bounding on Silesia's plain, The Despot[H] holds his seat; With feeble step, I see them go The heavy news to tell Where Oder's lazy waters flow, Or glides the swift Moselle; Where Rhine his various journey moves Through marshy lands and ruin'd groves, Or, where the vast Danubian flood (So often stain'd by Austrian blood) Foams with the autumnal swell.

[H] The Monarch of Prussia.--Freneau's note.

But shall they not some tidings bear Of Freedom's sacred flame, And shall not groaning millions hear The long abandon'd name?-- Through ages past, their spirits broke, I see them spurn old laws, Indignant, burst the Austrian yoke, And clip the Eagle's[I] claws: From shore to shore, from sea to sea They join, to set the wretched free, And, driving from the servile court Each titled slave--they help support The Democratic Cause!

[I] The imperial standard of Germany.--Ib.

O France! the world to thee must owe A debt they ne'er can pay: The Rights of Man you bid them know, And kindle Reason's Day! Columbia, in your friendship blest, Your gallant deeds shall hail-- On the same ground our fortunes rest, Must flourish, or must fail: But--should all Europe's slaves combine Against a cause so fair as thine, And Asia aid a league so base-- Defeat would all their aims disgrace, And Liberty Prevail!

PHILADELPHIA, December 19, 1792.

the title "Present View of France and Her combined Enemies," and reproduced in the editions of 1795 and 1809. Text from the former edition.