Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.

Columbia Victorious

TO the court of old Neptune, the god of the sea,

The sons of Columbia sent a petition,

That he their protector and patron would be,

When this answer arrived, free from terms or condition:

“Repair to the sea,

You conquerors shall be,

And proclaim to the world that Columbia is free:

Besides, my proud trident Decatur shall bear,

And the laurels of victory triumphantly wear.”

The Tritons arose from their watery bed,

And sounded their trumpets, Æolus attended,

Who summon’d his Zephyrs, and to them he said,

“Old Neptune Columbia’s cause has befriended

As the world you explore,

And revisit each shore,

To all nations proclaim the glad sound evermore,

That Decatur old Neptune’s proud trident shall bear,

And the laurels of victory triumphantly wear.”

The Naiads, in chariot of coral so bright,

Skimm’d swiftly the wide liquid plain quite enchanted,

Soon the proud Macedonian gladden’d their sight,

And Decatur advancing, with courage undaunted:

They saw, with a smile,

“The fast-anchor’d isle”

Resigning the laurels obtain’d at the Nile:

And when victory crown’d brave Columbia’s cause,

The trumpet of Fame shook the world with applause.

Dame Amphitrite flew to the archives above,

To see the great mandate of Neptune recorded,

When, tracing the records of Lybian Jove,

To find where renown to brave deeds was awarded;

There Washington’s name,

Recorded by Fame,

Resplendent as light, to her view quickly came;

In rapture she cries, “Here Decatur I’ll place,

On the page which the deeds of brave Washington grace.”

Now charge all your glasses with sparkling wine,

And toast our brave tars, who so bravely defend us;

While our naval commanders so nobly combine,

We defy all the ills haughty foes e’er can send us:

While our goblets do flow,

The praises we owe

To valour and skill we will gladly bestow,

And may grateful the sons of Columbia be

To Decatur, whom Neptune crowns lord of the sea.