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THE

CRISIS

NUMBER XII	To be continued Weekly.
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 1775	[Price Six Pence.

Ense velut stricto, quoties Lucilius ardens

Infremuit, rubet Auditor cui frigida Mens est.

Criminibus, tacita sudant Pracordia Culpa.¹

JUVENAL.

Sharp as a Sword Lucilus drew his Pen,

And struck with panic Terror guilty Men,

At his just Strokes the harden’d Wretch would start,

Feel the cold Sweat, and tremble at the Heart.

The prophecy of RUIN,

A POEM.

SHOULD e’re a Prince the British Empire sway,

(And I be doom’d by Heav’n to see the day)

Who quite UNMINDFUL of that glorious state

To which he’s rais’d, not by desert, but fate;

Should he be base, be cruel, and unjust,

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FALSE to his friends. unworthy that great trust;

Should he, unmindful of the good that springs

From true royalty, and true patriot Kings;

By oppression (destroying like a flood)

Cause civil war, and fill the land with BLOOD;

Should he rebel ’gainst FREEDOM, LAW, and RIGHT,

And laugh at truths which honest men should write

With fair intent, write with no other view,

But to save HIM, and save their COUNTRY too;

Such deeds as these, would fire my soul with rage,

And make me e’en against my safety, wage

War with VILL’NY, and stamp the TYRANTS crimes,

That he might live and stink to after-times.

Thrice happy, NOW, when ev’ry blessing springs

From GEORGE the THIRD; we boast the BEST of KINGS.

Curs’d be the wretch who would support a plan,

Which must destroy the natural rights of man;

Perish the wretch, who unconcern’d would see

The LAWS DESTROY’D, a falling MONARCHY;

I could not, I am of another breed,

I ne’er should tamely see my country bleed;

Nor crouch to him, to truth and justice dead,

Or fawning compliment an empty head:

Let subtle knaves, to CANDOUR more inclin’d

Disguise the truth, I’d always speak my mind;

Perish the thought, the crime should ne’er be mine

To sacrifice at curst ambition’s shrine

The RIGHT to SPEAK, and publickly display

In all it’s hideous forms DESPOTIC sway;

I ne’er should understand those prudent rules,

Decorum call’d by PARASITES and FOOLS;

Discretion too, should with decorum fall,

I ne’er would be, what rascals decent call;

RESENTMENT should to injuries be shewn,

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The people, by the language too be known,

’Tis survile wretches who are decent thought,

Such as are sold, and those that would be bought:

When FREEDOM calls, none should from danger start,

But take a NOBLE, a decisive part;

I’d in the cause of FREEDOM firmly stand,

And dare the stroke, e’en of that Tyrant’s hand,

Confed’rate villains, and their pow’r defy,

Born free like my forefathers, I would die

In that great cause, which is the cause of all,

Or free I’d live, or glory should I fall:

While truth and justice did my lines support,

I’d fear no King, nor Minion of that court;

Nor King, nor Minister, should then escape,

But share alike, the injur’d people’s hate:

Tho’ minions talk’d, and lawyers set about,

To find the LIBEL, and the AUTHOR out;

Tho’ one should stare, another rascal cry,

“’Tis TREASON all, the AUTHOR ought to die.”

I’d laugh at them, nor care what they could do,

In honest rhime, each VILLAIN would persue.

Should such a PRINCE succeed to England’s Throne,

(Tho’ BORN a BRITON, they must BLUSH to own.)

Should he keep foes of FREEDOM, and of LAW,

Such foes as keep TRUE LOYALTY in AWE;

Pervert fair JUSTICE from her even course,

And know no LAW, except the LAW of FORCE;

Should he keep such as these, close to his breast,

(Striving the Scepter from his hand to wrest)

Should he keep such, and of the STUART race,

Who made this Empire tremble to her base;

Should Scotsmen be prefer’d to BRITON’S brave,

And none but Scotsmen, or a Scotsman’s slave

Appear at Court, and lord it o’er the land,

Keeping all pow’r from the sovereign hand;

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Should he see only with a Scotsman’s eyes,

Be taught to mock his injur’d Briton’s cries;

Coop’d up at Court; (like sheep shut in a penn),

Little to read, and less to know of men;

To hear such men, as had no other ends

But to serve HIM, and be their country’s friends

Call’d disloyal, and rebels made appear

By base-born Scotsmen, always rebels HERE;

This to believe, believe it as his creed,

And through those traitors make all England Bleed:

Coop’d up at Court, and there be made a tool,

The greatest slave, as well as greatest FOOL;

Should England’s Crown be plac’d on such a head,

What mis’ry must the people then not dread:

Would they not curse the cause, the secret spring,

Whence all this dire oppression came, that King,

Would they not wish, the Day which gave HIM birth,

Had ne’er disgrac’d the records of the earth;

Would they not drag those traitors forth to view,

Who foes to him, sought England’s ruin too,

And make them answer for such horrid crimes,

Which all their race, as well as future times

Should strive to equal, or exceed in vain,

Crimes, that would leave a long, a lasting stain

Upon the land, worse than the Stuarts; who

BORN SLAVES, tried to make slaves of FREEMEN too,

Who bound in chains, both LIBERTY and LAW,

Quite friendless then, but Heaven sent NASSAU;

He ’gainst Slavery, made a glorious stand,

And broke those chains, which had disgrac’d the land;

With tenfold terror hurl’d his Vengeance down,

And drove a Slave, and Tyrant from the Crown,

Founded the throne in justice, truth, and right,

And rescu’d FREEDOM from the shades of night,

Drove superstition, (with her bigot crew)

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Far from this land, (James he run with her too,)

Drove persecution to her seat in Rome,

Whilst Tyrants wept at Slav’ry’s bloody tomb:

Restored to Britain, all the rights of man,

First fixt by Heav’n, on wisdom’s sacred plan.

Such deeds as theirs, wou’d fire my soul with RAGE,

And make me e’en against my SAFETY, wage

War with VILL’NY, and stamp their horrid crimes,

That each might live, and stink to after-times.

Would make me call forth ancient British rage

To just revenge, or mark the coward age,

Thrice happy NOW, when ev’ry blessing springs,

From GEORGE the THIRD, WE boast the BEST of KINGS.

Should such a King succeed to England’s Throne,

(Tho’ BORN a BRITON, they must BLUSH to own)

Should he succeed, when France and Spain are leagu’d

To shake the state, and make the nation bleed;

When France and Spain by COMPACT² shall engage,

To ruin us, with war’s destructive rage,

When Heaven sees the lives UNJUSTLY slain,

By restless France, join’d with ambitious Spain;

Sees ENGLAND bleed, her blood UNJUSTLY shed,

And hurl’s down vengeance, on each guilty head;

Bids ENGLAND’S arms pull lawless power down,

And with her conquests shake each TYRANT’s crown:

Should he succeed, when ENGLAND rais’d above

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All former times, and WISDOM join’d with LOVE,

In council sits, makes paltry factions cease,

And tho’ at War, yet all at HOME is PEACE;

Whilst ENGLAND keeps one half the world in AWE,

And by her POW’R can give the other LAW;

When each new day, crowns Britons with success,

And Heaven seems some Chatham’s plans to bless;

Should he succeed, when war in dread alarms,

Calls forth the nation’s WISDOM, with her ARMS,

Calls forth RESENTMENT from the BRITISH THRONE,

To make her VENGEANCE, and her POWER known;

Should he succeed, and roll SUPINE in state,

(And leave her GLORY and RENOWN to fate)

Would be a crime (that Heav’n could not forgive,)

To blast his name, and make his memory live:

Live, with recorded VILLAINS to that Day,

When time shall cease, and all the world decay:

Should he to make this crime still worse appear,

Turn out a Minister to ENGLAND DEAR,

Who’d rais’d his Country (from a SINKING state)

By WISDOM only, (not by chance or fate)

To POW’R and STRENGTH, not known in days of yore,

Known only then, and to be known no more;

At his command, like that great PATRIOT PITT,

Makes France to yield, and Spain, tho’ proud, SUBMIT;

Makes British VALOUR, with just vengeance hurl’d,

Strike TERROR thro’ each nation of the world:

Should he be (through a Scotsman’s base design)

FORC’D from his office, or MADE to RESIGN,

And that same Scotsman of the Stuart race,

Mount in his seat, the nation’s foul DISGRACE,

False to his King, give up those conquests won,

And fix in STRENGTH, both France and Spain undone;

Should he make war, DEFENSIVE war to cease,

On terms inglorious, by a shameful peace,

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A peace which must from foul CORRUPTION spring,

Thro’ that base Scotsman, but still BASER King;

Dead to all sense of England’s future good,

To sacrifice, her treasure, and her blood.

Such deeds as these, would fire my soul with RAGE,

And make me e’en against my SAFETY, wage

War with VILL’NY, and stamp their horrid crimes.

That each might live, and stink to after-times.

Thrice happy NOW, when ev’ry blessing springs,

From GEORGE the THIRD, we boast the BEST of KINGS.

Should such a King succeed to ENGLAND’S Throne,

(Tho’ BORN a BRITON, they must BLUSH to own)

Should he, (when by Scots arts, by bribes, and fraud,

A peace most infamous, is made abroad;

And, for distinction sake, at Fontainbleau,³

The curse of England, and of Scotland too;)

Should he, persuing still the path of shame,

Give up all pow’r, reserving but the name

Of King, let rebel Scotsmen, steer the helm

Of State, and sow fell discord in the realm,

Make tax on tax, (while England curst with peace)

Each year arise, each year to say increase;

Each year call loud, aloud for new supplies,

While ruin did, with double horror rise;

Should he, when such oppressions from those men,

Call’d forth some Wilkes, (a Wilkes may be agen;

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Be sent by Heaven, his country to bless,

To rescue ENGLAND from each deep distress;)

Call’d forth some Wilkes, in honour to oppose

Their measures, and their subtle arts expose;

To shew the people ev’ry base design,

Their schemes to thwart, their plans to undermine;

To speak such truths, as some would fear to think,

And shew the gulph, where Englishmen must sink;

Sink and remain, till time would be no more,

In the damn’d gulph of ARBITRARY POW’R:

Thus to stand forth, and only with this view,

To save his COUNTRY, and her FREEDOM too;

To sound the alarm of danger in her ear,

Call forth her RAGE, and shew what she should FEAR

Make TRAITORS tremble at the strokes he gave,

Tremble and fear the nation to ENSLAVE;

To brand those villains with just marks of shame,

That each might live, live with a blasted name;

Thus to stand forth, with these, these noble views,

All DANGER to defy, and BRIBES refuse;

Would well deserve (altho’ some TRUTHS might sting,)

Both FAVOUR and PROTECTION from that King:

Should he, (weak Prince, a surer hate to gain,

And make the people daily curse his reign,)

Dead to all sense, of HONOUR and of TRUTH,

The friend of SLAV’RY in his early youth,)

Drunk with PREROGATIVE, a Scotsman’s tool,

In MEANNESS bred, fond of DESPOTIC rule;

Should he in rage, exert a LAWLESS POW’R,

And order him, CLOSE prison’r in the TOWER;

(His friends REFUSE admittance to his room,

And cruel PRESECUTION be his doom;)

Immur’d within those walls for life must be,

Unless a PRATT should rise and set him FREE;

Yet in such times, and he once more at LARGE,

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Some Scotch Chief Justice, may renew the charge;

Tyrannic pow’r not willing to RETRENCH,

And send him for TWO YEARS, to the King’s Bench.

The people then would surely flock to see,

Fair FREEDOM’S friend, the friend of LIBERTY;

To shew their Love, (with well deserv’d applause)

To him, who tri’d to save their CHARTER’D LAWS.

A SECRETARY ready to fulfill,

The bloody mandates of a Tyrant’s will;

Might send the cruel Scots, their swords to wield,

To gain fresh laurels in St. George’s Field;

Should e’er the ENGLISH by the Scots be slain,

In such a cause, a TYRANT’S love to gain,

And I be doom’d by heav’n to see the day,

Some future year, and on the TENTH of MAY,

Should then a youth, thro’ VILLAINY decreed

To fall, by SCOTSMEN there be MASSACRED,

(Whom for distinction sake, I’ll ALLEN call,)

PERSU’D, and in his FATHER’S HOUSE TO FALL,)

An ONLY SON, and all his father’s CARE,

His greatest HOPE, as well as only HEIR;

To see that father sunk in deep DISTRESS,

SUPPLICATE the Throne, begging for REDRESS;

Calling for JUSTICE, (distracted, undone,)

Justice, ’gainst the MURDERER’S of his SON

This REFUS’D, the MURDERER’S too be PAID,

A PRINCE for BLOOD, and from that KING have AID:

A Jury PACK’D, a JUDGE most ready too,

Obey that Court, and all its rotten crew;

’Gainst JUSTICE, LAW, and TRUTH, (cursed deed!)

To hear him say, “the English ought to bleed;”

“I have it in commission from the King,

“That not ONE SCOTSMAN, while he reigns shall swing;

“The SCOTS were SENT, the King he thus had will’d,

“They should have butcher’d more, nay, thousand’s kill’d;

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“There can no CRIME unto THEIR charge be laid,

“But by the KING, whom they have not obey’d;

“For by the world, this should be understood,

“’Twas his DESIGN, to fill the fields with BLOOD.”

Such deeds as these would fire my soul with RAGE,

And make me e’en against my SAFETY, wage

War with VILLAINY, and stamp these Monsters crimes,

That each might live, and stink to after-times:

Would make me, if I had a hand to write,

Paint these foul deeds, dark as the shades of night;

Would make me call forth ancient British RAGE,

To JUST REVENGE, or mark the COWARD AGE.

Thrice happy NOW, when ev’ry blessing springs,

From GEORGE the THIRD, we boast the BEST of KINGS.

Should such a King succeed to ENGLAND’S Throne,

(Tho’ BORN a BRITON, they must BLUSH to own;)

Should he, in meanness bred, LAUGH at all LAW,

The senate keep by BRIBES, and FRAUD and AWE;

That parliament to ROYAL MANDATE true,

Shall ruin England and her FREEDOM too;

Intestine war shall be at BRENTFORD laid,

(To which that King shall give his utmost AID;)

A war ’gainst TRUTH and HONOUR, horrid deed!

To root up FREEDOM, and make VIRTUE bleed,

To stab the constitution’s very soul,

That right destroy, which now supports the whole;

Elections right, that firm, that great support,

’Gainst venal statesmen, and a slavish court:

Yet none should suffer for such mighty guilt,

Nor all the blood which might that day be spilt:

Altho’ by hir’d villains some should be slain,

The villains tri’d, condemn’d, ’twou’d be in vain,

In vain the nation should for justice call,

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A pardon would be sent from Surgeons Hall;

That King should laugh, his minions should laugh too,

To think each day they butcher’d one, or two.

Such deeds as these would fire my soul with rage,

And make me e’en against my safety, wage

War with vill’ny, and stamp that TYRANT’s crimes,

That he might live, and stink to after-times.

Thrice happy NOW, when ev’ry blessing springs,

From GEORGE the THIRD, we boast the BEST of KINGS,

Should such a King succeed to England’s Throne,

(Tho’ born a Briton, they must blush to own;)

He would from France, to shameful insults yield,

And be afraid the British sword to wield;

Our cannon, France shall neither fear nor dread,

When known to her, a Patriot King was dead;

And he who reign’d, a scripture rule did know,

To strike him once, would turn for t’other blow;

The terror of our fleets should be no more,

Nor carry thunder to a foreign shore;

But piece, by piece, be left to rot away,

With BRITISH GLORY, moulder and decay;

The insulting Spaniard, unchastis’d shall dare,

To seize a ship, and off her rudder tare;

While England, neither dreaded, nor ador’d,

Stains with her pen, the lusture of her sword;

In cowardice gives up her rightful claim,

And blasts at once, her honour, and her name:

Curst be the time, the day, when that is told,

That England’s Empire of the sea is sold.

Such deeds as these, would fire my soul with rage,

And make me e’en against my safety, wage

War with vill’ny and stamp that TYRANT’S crimes,

That he might live and stink to after-times.

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Thrice happy NOW, when ev’ry blessing springs,

From GEORGE the THIRD, we boast the BEST of KINGS.

Should such a King succeed to England’s throne,

(Tho’ born a Briton, they must blush to own;)

Should he in meanness bred, laugh at all law,

The senate keep by bribes, and fraud in awe;

That parliament to loyal mandates true,

With England’s ruin, shall fix Boston’s too;

Her charters shall destroy, her rights invade,

Her commerce ruin, and the town blockade;

Shall fill that place, with men by slaughter fed,

To rob the starving people of their bred;

And fix by force, some curst oppressive laws,

Made through Scots villainy, (without a cause;)

In base compliance with that Tyrant’s will,

Her freedom to destroy, or blood to spill;

And step, by step, most infamous design,

Thus the whole constitution undermine;

First take from Boston, all the rights we gave,

Make each American, a Scotsman’s slave;

And next in chains the English shall be bound,

By that same King, in whom no truth they found;

Should I then live, I’d rather league with Hell,

Or rise in arms, and ’gainst that King rebel

Than be his slave, by all thats just and good,

I’d rather see my children roll in blood.

Such deeds as these, would fire my soul with rage,

And make me e’en against my safety, wage

War with vill’ny, and stamp that Tyrant’s crimes,

That he might live, and stink to after-times;

Would make me call forth antient British rage,

To just revenge, or mark the coward age.

Thrice happy NOW, when ev’ry blessing springs,

From GEORGE the THIRD, we boast the BEST of KINGS.

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Should such a King succeed to England’s throne,

(The nation must, with dire oppression groan,)

Should he in meanness bred, laugh at all law,

The Senate keep by bribes, and fraud in awe;

That parliament to royal mandates true,

With freedom, shall subvert religion too;

The Lords and Bishops, shall that Senate join,

And with the State, the church shall undermine;

The Protestant faith, which for ages stood,

On truth’s firm base, bought with a sea of blood;

Shall be destroy’d, and at that Tyrants call,

The Laws of God, shall into ruins fall;

The English then, to Catholics must bow,

And worship Idols, as they do God now;

Or else submit to persecution’s rod,

Be burnt alive, (for owning of their God)

With shirt well pitch’d, to give a shocking light,

And Smithfield once more blaze, at dead of night;

Then as before, with Hell they may conspire,

To set our churches, and the town on fire:

(That pious King, at pious Priest’s command,

May make crusado’s to the Holy-land,

Thro’ dangerous seas, to find the blessed spring

Of holy water, to which the Pope shall bring

Him safe, purge, and absolve him from his crimes,

As Pope’s absolv’d our King’s in former times,

And made them devil’s on the British throne,

They reign’d in blood, and Hell was all their own.)

And Bishop’s then e’en Satan shall out vye,

To please that KING will give their GOD the lie,

(But still they’ll have a sure and certain hope,

And find at last a SAVIOUR in the Pope)

And no distinction could a SCOTSMAN bring,

’Twixt, DEVIL BISHOP’S, POPE, and such a KING;

So far alike, (none should this disbelieve)

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Their aim the same to ruin and deceive,

By oaths nor conscience neither would be bound,

Could worse on Earth, or worse in Hell be found.

Such deeds as these, would fire my soul with RAGE,

And make me e’en against my safety, wage

War with vill’ny, and stamp their cursed crimes,

That each might live and stink to after-times:

Would make me call forth ancient British rage

To Just revenge, or mark to coward age.

Thrice happy NOW, when every blessing springs

From GEORGE the THIRD; we BOAST the best of KINGS.

Through that dark gloom one comfort shall appear,

(And all the world own I’m a PROPHET here)

Altho’ like crimes of old in SODOM’S land,

Those might draw vengeance from GOD’s righteous hand,

Yet for time, the AUTHORS shall not bleed,

Thro’ one Just man, who then shall greatly plead;

One BISHOP shall be found, and only ONE,

Then true to Man, to God, and Christ his Son,

There shall be one, ASAPH⁴ that one shall sing,

Just to his God, his Country and his King.

Should that dread time to England e’er be known,

When such a Monarch sits upon the throne,

Her senate brib’d, and only kept for sport,

To aid the BLOODY measures of a court,

Should that e’er be, a few brave virtuous men,

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(A Chatham, Burke, a Glinn,⁵ may be agen)

May try, with truth and justice on their side,

To stem the torrent of corruption’s tide;

Like virtuous Romans they may firmly stand,

With some few more, to save a falling land;

May bravely struggle in their country’s cause,

And nobly try to save her charter’d laws;

But try in vain, truth shall not find support,

From rascals brib’d, and by a rotten court:

Should honour rise, by justice call’d to tell,

How England bled, and how the Romans fell;

Should virtue honour join, at Heaven’s call,

To shew that Britons must like Romans fall:

Should they, base villainy drag forth to light,

St. Stephen’s troops, shall then prepare to fight;

And legions arm, against truth and virtue’s laws,

Will there defend the blackest villain’s cause;

And honour, justice, truth and virtue meet

This fate, shall victims fall at powers feet.

Dread EVILS these, yet they will surely spring,

From Lords and Commons, join’d with such a King.

In such a time, at FREEDOM’S glorious call,

Britons must strike, and make those TRAITORS fall,

A deed which would by ages be admir’d,

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A day kept HOLY, when their souls expir’d:

Then would, happier days, to Albion be restor’d,

By ANTIENT JUSTICE, with her PATRIOT SWORD.

In such a time would REVOLUTION stand,

Each Briton’s boast, the glory of the land.

But should that time to England once be known,

When foul corruption stinks upon the throne,

And she has POPISH BISHOPS of her own.

When each other the THREE estates shall JOIN,

By force or fraud, the state to undermine;

When Britons do, and with INGLORIOUS ease,

SUBMIT to WRONGS, such curs’d wrongs as these;

When that shall be (quite dead to Heaven’s call)

THE BRITISH EMPIRE MUST IN RUINS FALL.

N. B. The spirited letter signed CASCA, is come safe to hand, and shall be properly attended to. The Authors of the CRISIS will be extremely glad of the future favours of the Writer, which will be very acceptable, and the expence of postage, most readily paid.—They hope to hear from him soon, and would wish to have an addition in a few Days to the letter already received.

Printed and published for the Authors, by T. W. SHAW, in Fleet-Street, opposite Anderton’s Coffee House, where Letters to the Publisher will be thankfully received.