On the American rebellion.

WIY beams the helmet o'er Britannia's

brow?

Why bears her arm the long-neglected field? Why do her fous with martial ardour glow, Aad long the glitt'ring steel again to wield? Have Gallia's lilies been in air display'd,

And threat'n'd battle proud and dire alarms? Ha Auftria brandish'd high her Noric blade, Or has Iberia call'd her youth to arms? No-Peace her olive waves o'er Europe's lands, No rival princes break Britannia's reft; 'Tis falfe America's perfidious bands

Who aims her dagger at her parent's breaft. No generous war thefe mad enthusiasts wage, Blood flains their steps, and Rapine marks their way;

With ceafelefs fury 'gainft our ifle they rage, And dream of empire and unbounded fway. Hence their vile flanders, hence their clam'rous lies,

Hence their wild boaftings, of the patriot claim,

With Freedom's name their dark designs dif guife,

They blow the fimple vulgar into flame. Hence bafe degradings of the ifle that rear'di And surs'd thefe vipers with her noblest blood, What troops to aid their finking states ap. pear'd,

And favid from Gallic fwords this ferpent braòd.
Our chieftains hence as cowards they defame,
And with a tyrant's name our monarch brand,
Accufe our nobles, and our councils blame,
Revile our foldiers, and accurfe our land.

Tet Europe's voice difclaims thefe lying coasts,
Europe to Britain her due honour pays,
Let Gallia vanquish'd in her noblest hosts→
Let refcu'd Lufitania speak her praife.

Our land they threaten, ruin waits their own; Where now the hand that wont to fow the corn?

Th'induftrious ruftic is a foldier grown,

And in his arm the deadly weapon's borne. No more glad harvests deck their fertile grounds, Nor Ceres there her golden tribute pays; Now o'er their fields the brazen trumpet founds, The gleamy falchion sheds reflected rays. Did martial pomp their simple fouls allure, The filken banner and the wavy mail?Know thefe, nor wounds, nor poverty can cure: In death's black moment what will these avail? Return, mistaken men, in time return; The gates of mercy yet are open'd wide: let your bleeding country ceafe to mourn The dreams of folly and the vaunts of pride. W. W-NS.

gore;

While like fall'n Romans for new joys we sigh,
Our friends drop breathless, or for mercy cry:"
Perhaps the foldier, loft to Pity's charms,
Now ftabs the infant in the mother's arms;
Perhaps the husband fees his better part
Welt'ring in gore, and bleeding from the heart;
Perhaps the lover, plung'd in bitter woe,
Is torn from her whom moft he loves below;
And fees the life he values as his own
Yielded in pings, or hears the dying groan :
Perhaps the fon, O! agony of pain!
Sees, fatal fight! his aged parent flain;
Perhaps whole families, together hurl'd,
Seek the dread confines of an unknown world.
O! fcene of flaughter fiends alone enjoy,
Fiends who love death, and wait but to destroy,
Are widows tears, that never cease to roll,
Are mothers pangs, that penetrate the foul,
Are fricks of infants facrific'd to rage,
Eternal Father! in thy mercy quell
The horrid trophies of the prefent age?

The flames of faction, that arise from hell;
Pour into British hearts the balm of peace,
And bid, O bid, this cruel carnage ceale;
Like Ifaac's fons let Britons meet again,
Nor be one brother by the other flain.
The APRIL MORNING A Poem.

"S

Oft as the dew from heaven defcends
Has dropt the nightly shower,
With ductile earth it kindly blends,
And wakes the fleeping flower.

The tree, the plant, the herb confpire
Their gratitude to flew,

And proudly lift their branches higher,
Exulting as they grow.

The doubting fun, behind the cloud,
Emits a fainter ray;

Till of his native radiance proud,
He burfts at once to day.
Now vegetative life is warm,

And fprings at every pore;
While Nature wonders at the charm
That Winter had before:

Wonders that northern winds fhould bind
While weftern breezes warm;

But triumphs now for heaven is kind, And past the wintry ftorm.

Then let the vegetable tribe,

With force emphatic preach: While mortals chearfully imbibe The doctrines that they teach.

For all that's great, and good, and wife,
Succeffive feafons prove :

-Then with each season, let us rife
In gratitude and love,

Goldsmith.

M.

Americas

American Rebellion, and Highland Loyalty.

WHY fhould our Col'nies madly run

To arms, by which they'll be undone ?
Has there fo little British blood been shed ?
O'er every fea, o'er every land,
Britain hath made a glorious stand,

Whilst right and justice have her valour sped.
Nor is the yet fo fallen, to yield
The laurels of each well-fought field,

O'er col'nies rear'd with fo much care,
With blood and treasure bought fo dear,
And not fo much as make for all one stand.

Arous'd by honour, and by fhame,
Arous'd by every valorous name,

By fp'rits of Edward, Henry, William, Wolfe,
Her fons will now affert her cause,
And vindicate her injur'd laws,
Putting th' important question to the proof.
Shall Britain ftill rule o'er the wave,
Or meanly crouch, and be a flave,
To haughty tribes her favour hath made great;
And now fo proud and factious grown,
As in their madness to difown
Their just fubjection to the parent state ?
Whilft mad Rebellion mischief brings,
From evil good for ever springs.
The father fell a victim to the laws,
The fon is loal, wife, and brave,
And now across th' Atlantic wave,
Leads his firm band t'affert Britannia's caufe.
Will not our government go on,
In clemency, as they've begun,
As my prophetic mind tranfported bodes?
Will they not render every where,
The forfeit-lands to loyal heir?
'Twere truly generous to make little odds.
Kapt into future times, mine eyes
Behold thofe fuff'ring chieftains rife,
Their ancient honours ftill before their fight;
With fenfe of their own lofs, impreft
With truth and honour in their breast,
No power of adverse fate can crush them quite,
Too long the fcreech-owl hath her stand
On goodlieft caftles of the land,
Whence little profit to the public springs.
Whilft herds and flocks around him feed,
Far better hear the chieftain's reed
Refound the praises of the best of Kings.
March 20.

S. S

To harmonize the lay,
A very foolish Bard infpire,
Who fings of All-Fool's Day.
First of the train, in livery gay,
Appears the Courtly Tool,
And does high honour to the day,
A Minifterial Fool.

The flaming Patriot next we fee,
Bred in the City-school.
Half mad for Wilkes and Liberty,
And more than half-a Fool.

The deep Contractor now behold,
Arithmetic his rule,

Who fells his voice for fordid gold,

-Far more a Knave than Fool.
The Eastern Nabob, with his cash,

His Country would enslave;
He well deferves the pointed lash,
-An equal Fool and Knave.
The artful Lawyer courts the fee,
And dupes his fimple Cull;
The Lawyer here the Knave we see ;
The Client is the Fool.

Each Lady with her lofty plumes,
Beyond fair Reason's rules,
Shews that the more than half prefumes
That all the Men are Fools.
One Moral let this Day imprefs;

Henceforth let Folly ceafe: -"For Wifdom's ways are pleasantness, And all her paths are peace."

M

I'LL lift for a soldier, fays Robin to Sue,

I'+' avoid your eternal difputes:

Aye, aye, cries the termagant, do, Robin, do,
I'll raife, the mean while, fresh recruits.
On the frequent Review of the Troops. Extemp.
Eviews are gaudy fhews-allow'd,
K
And gay folks croud about 'em,
Yet England ought not to be proud,
For the does beft without 'em.

Learning, and fenfe, may other pens employ
And fure they ought;- but to my weeping eyes
Thy gentler graces, fofter virtues rife.
Ah! now I view thee foothe, affift, and chear
Thy flock, oppreft with forrow, want, or care
Now in domeftic duties fee thee bleft,

(For kind affections warm'd thy gentle breast):
Now fix'd in wonder, this vaft all explore
Now rais'd to rapture, its Great Caufe adore.
Oh! whither fly'ft thou? gone! for ever gone!
Ye Friends of Virtue, his fad fate bemoan.

HISTORICAL AFFAIR S.

TURKY.

"Conftantinople, Feb. 3. A Tartar arrived here in feventeen days from Bagdad, who brought the agreeable news, that Spanackschi Zadi, Muftapha Pacha, by order of the Grand Seignior, and affifted by the chiefs of the militia, had been acknowledged Pacha of Bagdad, and that Omar Pacha had at laft fubmitted; fo that the Porte is again in poffeffion of an extenfive and rich province, the revenues of which amount to feveral millions of piaftres, and of which the Porte has been deprived for forty years, by the fucceffors of Achmet making themselves independent. The treafures of Omar, which are confifcated, are valued at 100,000 purses."

UNITED PROVINCE S. Hague, Feb. 20. The affair regarding the ceffion of the Scotch brigade [xxxvii. 57.] is at laft decided. The ftates of Holland, after being affembled fix weeks to deliberate about it, gave their confent laft Friday; theirs being the only one wanted. It was carried the Lame day into the affembly of the StatesGeneral, who are now separated."

"Hague, Feb. 16. The States-General finding, that commiffions were fent from foreign countries for furnaces, ftills, and other utenfils ufed for diftilling fpirits from corn, and imagining that this would tend to deprive this country of a very valuable branch of trade, have published a placart, which prohibits the ex

portation from hence of all kinds of utenfils used in the bufiness of the distillery, under a penalty of 1000 ducats to any who fhall be found concerned in favouring fuch exportations. Their High Mightineffes likewife forbid by the fame placart to engage, for foreign fervice, any of the workmen employed in the diftillery; and if any shall be found to engage in establishing fuch diftilleries in foreign countries, they fhall forfeit all their rights and privileges as citizens, without a poffibility of ever being reftored to them."

Leyden, Jan. 20. In confequence of a premium of thirty ducats, offered by a citizen of this place to whoever shall most effectually try the experiment of appeafing the waves which furround a fhip in aftorm, by pouring oil into the fea, the following letter has been received. [xxxvii. 688.]

ber 1775, on board a merchant-ship, "We left the Texel the 3d of NovemCapt. Jurrien Jurrenfon commander, and arrived the 14th in the evening on the coaft of Jutland in Denmark. Our intention was to enter a determined port, but the captain thinking it fcarce poffible to make it, on account of the great quantity of ice, we put out to fea to make another. The night following a great tempeft arofe, which continued till the next morning, and drove us towards the coaft, where we found a road, and ed to flatter our hopes; but the waves were near a port. This fituation feemcommand of the fhip. The captain aran fo high and ftrong, that we had no larmed at our fituation, and feeing no other way to prevent a fhipwreck, gave orders for fix barrels of oil, which he had on board, to be brought on the deck, and ordered them to be poured out flowly on each fide of the fhip; by which means the waves were by degrees abated, the fhip began to answer her rudder, and we foon afterwards entered the port in safety."

FRANCE.

"Paris, Jan. 19. The fire at the palace [xxxvii. 48.] is entirely extinguished, and workmen are now employed in diging the plate, jewels, and other valuables out of the ruins. The tradesmen reclaim a large quantity, and the court of aids, which is entirely burnt, fuftains a loss of 200,000 livres.-The King has fent 1000 louis d'ors, and the Queen 200, to be distributed among fuch merchants as

don, in Common Council affembled, beg leave to approach your throne, and to intreat your Majefty's royal attention, whilt, with the humility of dutiful fubjefs, we lay before your Majesty what at prefent moft immediately affects us in the fpirit and tendency of the public meafures now depending, and the anxiety we feel at the naked and expofed ftate in which this country will be left, by draining it of the national troops, as well as at the danger and difgrace attending the late treaties for foreign mercenaries, whofe latitude is fuch as to provide the means of introducing a foreign army even into this realm.

We cannot, Sir, without horror, look forward to that difmemberment of the empire, that increase of the national debt and of burthenfome taxes, that lofs of our most valuable refources, thofe diftreffes of our merchants and manufactu. rers, thofe deficiencies of the revenue, that effufion of the blood of our countrymen and brethren, that failure of public credit, and those dreadful calamities and convulfions, which must follow a civil war fo begun and purfued, whofe extent no wildom can foresee.

We humbly conceive, that no people can be bound to furrender their rights and liberties as a return for protection. The colonies have fought our battles with us; and in the laft war they fo far

exceeded their abilities, that this nation

thought it juft and neceffary to make them an annual compenfation; and even now, driven to open hoftilities in their own defence, they are willing (their charters being inviolably fecured) to continue to us all thofe advantages of a regulated and exclufive commerce, to which we have long owed our opulence and profperity: And we have every af furance which men in their fituation can fafely give, that, if afked as freemen, they are willing to go farther, and to afford to the exhaufted ftate of the revenue of this country fuch reasonable voluntary aid as their abilities permit; provided that their contributions are unalienably applied to relieve that diftrefs, which is the only fair and politic foundation of requiring them; and that neither their aids, nor our own finking fund, fhall be any longer perverted from a public benefit, and mifapplied to the purpofe of corruption, inftead of redeeming the debts of the nation, according to its firtt wife and just inflitution.

Indulge, Moft Gracious Sovereign, the humanity and benignity of your own royal difpofition, and our prayers will be granted. We implore the extenfion of your Majesty's justice and mercy toward that continent, which, when arbiter of the terms of peace, it was your Majefty's own determination to prefer to every other compenfation for all the expences of the laft war. We humbly and earnestly befeech your Majesty, that the moft folemn, clear, diftinct, and unambiguous fpecification of thofe juft and honourable terms, which your Majesty, with both houfes of parliament, means to grant to the colonies, may precede the dreadful operations of your armament. Every colour and suspicion of injustice and oppreffion will then be removed from the proceedings of the mother-country; and if those just and bonourable terms are not fubmitted to, your Majefty will undoubtedly be enabled to meet, what will then be rebellion, with the zealous hearts and hands of a determined, loyal, and united people.

Signed by order of court,

WILLIAM RIX." To which address and petition his Majefty was pleafed to return the following anfwer.

the miferies which a great part of my "I deplore, with the deepest concern, fubjects in North America have brought upon themfelves, by an unjustifiable refiftance to the conftitutional authority of this kingdom; and I fhall be ready and happy to alleviate thofe miferies, by acts of mercy and clemency, whenever that authority is eftablished, and the now tain thefe falutary purposes, I will inva existing rebellion is at an end.—To obriably purfue the moft proper and effec

tual means.

Only three addreffes, in approbation of coercive measures against the Americans, are this month to be added to our lift [107.] In the gazette of March 12. there is one from the provost, magiftrates, and common council of the royal burgh of Wick, dated Wick, Dec. 11. 1775, and signed James Sinclair Provojł;