Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
Taxation of America
By Revolutionary Songs and BalladsW
Americans give ear;
Of Britain’s fading glory
You presently shall hear;
I’ll give a true relation,
Attend to what I say
Concerning the taxation
Of North America.
Who glory in their shame,
The project they have hit on
They joyfully proclaim;
’Tis what they’re striving after
Our right to take away,
And rob us of our charter
In North America.
Who rule in Parliament,
Who ever have been seeking
Some mischief to invent;
’Twas North, and Bute his father,
The horrid plan did lay
A mighty tax to gather
In North America.
Of the infernal pit,
To find among their legions
One who excelled in wit;
To ask of him assistance,
Or tell them how they may
Subdue without resistance
This North America.
Who rules the burning lake,
Where his chief navigator,
Resolved a voyage to take;
For the Britannic ocean
He launches far away,
To land he had no notion
In North America.
It was his soul’s intent
Great George’s throne to sit on,
And rule the Parliament;
His comrades were pursuing
A diabolic way,
For to complete the ruin
Of North America.
To bring his schemes about,
At length the gloomy project
He artfully found out;
The plan was long indulged
In a clandestine way,
But lately was divulged
In North America.
Addressed the British court,
All three were undersigners
Of this obscure report—
There is a pleasant landscape
That lieth far away
Beyond the wide Atlantic,
In North America.
Who sojourn in that land,
Their churches all with steeples
Most delicately stand;
Their houses like the gilly,
Are painted red and gay:
They flourish like the lily
In North America.
Continually doth flow,
The want of food or money
They seldom ever know:
They heap up golden treasure,
They have no debts to pay,
They spend their time in pleasure
In North America.
Most frequently they dine,
With gold and silver dishes
Their tables always shine.
They crown their feasts with butter,
They eat, and rise to play;
In silks their ladies flutter,
In North America.
They do themselves adorn,
The rubies deck their faces,
Refulgent as the morn!
Wine sparkles in their glasses,
They spend each happy day
In merriment and dances
In North America.
When we address your throne;
O King, this wealthy country
And subjects are your own,
And you, their rightful sovereign,
They truly must obey,
You have a right to govern
This North America.
Of what we now subscribe:
Is it not just and equal
To tax this wealthy tribe?
The question being askèd,
His majesty did say,
My subjects shall be taxèd
In North America.
My publicans shall go,
The tenth of all their current
They surely shall bestow;
If they indulge rebellion,
Or from my precepts stray,
I’ll send my war battalion
To North America.
By water and by land,
My light dragoons and horses
Shall go at my command;
I’ll burn both town and city,
With smoke becloud the day,
I’ll show no human pity
For North America.
You need not fear of ill—
There’s Hutchinson and Rogers,
Their functions will fulfil—
They tell such ample stories,
Believe them sure we may,
One-half of them are tories
In North America.
To waft you o’er the flood,
And in my cause be steady,
Which is supremely good;
Go ravage, steal and plunder,
And you shall have the prey;
They quickly will knock under
In North America.
I never will revoke,
Although they are neglected,
My fury to provoke.
I will forbear to flatter,
I’ll rule the mighty sway,
I’ll take away the charter
From North America.
You’ll by experience find
The laws you have enacted
Are of the blackest kind.
I’ll make a short digression,
And tell you by the way,
We fear not your oppression
In North America.
While in their native land;
By tyrants were oppressèd
As we do understand;
For freedom and religion
They were resolved to stray,
And trace the desert regions
Of North America.
While on the roaring tide,
Kind fortune their director,
And Providence their guide.
If I am not mistaken,
About the first of May,
This voyage was undertaken
For North America.
This country to explore,
They landed in November
On Plymouth’s desert shore.
The savages were nettled,
With fear they fled away,
So peaceably they settled
In North America.
For liberty we’ll fight,
The claim to independence
We challenge as our right;
’Tis what kind Heaven gave us,
Who can take it away?
O, Heaven sure will save us
In North America.
O, George! we do not fear
The rattling of your thunder,
Nor lightning of your spear:
Though rebels you declare us,
We’re strangers to dismay;
Therefore you cannot scare us
In North America.
We never will consent.
Although your troops are landed
Upon our continent;
We’ll take our swords and muskets,
And march in dread array,
And drive the British red-coats
From North America.
Who fears not sword or gun,
The second Alexander,
His name is Washington.
His men are all collected,
And ready for the fray,
To fight they are directed
For North America.
To manage in the field,
A gallant train of footmen,
Who’d rather die than yield;
A stately troop of horsemen
Trained in a martial way,
For to augment our forces
In North America.
All in a dirty cause,
A cruel war have wagèd
Repugnant to all laws.
Go tell the savage nations
You’re crueler than they,
To fight your own relations
In North America.
And twice ten millions more;
Our riches, you intended
Should pay the mighty score.
Who now will stand your sponsor,
Your charges to defray?
For sure you cannot conquer
This North America.
If you’ll attend awhile;
We’ve forced your bold Sir Peter
From Sullivan’s fair isle.
At Monmouth, too, we gainèd
The honors of the day—
The victory we obtainèd
For North America.
Hard by the Brandywine;
We laid him fast in fetters
Whose name was John Burgoyne;
We made your Howe to tremble
With terror and dismay;
True heroes we resemble,
In North America.
That black infernal name
In which Great Britain glories,
Forever to her shame;
We’ll send each foul revolter
To smutty Africa,
Or noose him in a halter
In North America.
Who handle sword and gun,
To Greene and Gates and Putnam
And conquering Washington;
Their names be wrote in letters
Which never will decay,
While sun and moon do glitter
On North America.
In Holland, France and Spain,
Who man their ships and galleys,
Our freedom to maintain;
May they subdue the rangers
Of proud Britannia,
And drive them from their anchors
In North America.
Of these United States,
Who glory in the conquests
Of Washington and Gates;
To all, both land and seamen,
Who glory in the day
When we shall all be freemen
In North America.
That rules with gentle hand,
To trade and navigation
By water and by land.
May all with one opinion
Our wholesome laws obey,
Throughout this vast dominion
Of North America.