Daily National Intelligencer

FOR THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.

BATTLE OF THE LAKE

On the banks of Lake Erie there tower'd an oak,
Which near to its shade a laurel tree nourish'd,
Where no axe had ever repeated its stroke.
And both in their native luxuriance flourish'd:
But the lords of the ocean infested the Lake
With the vessels of tyranny brought from afar;
At the sight of whose prows the world used to quake—
The champions and legends of maritime war.
Their banners were red with the blood of their slain,
As in haughty defiance they flouted the skies;
And fierce with the conquest and spoils of the main,
They came to make liberty's ocean their prize:
Monopoly's motto disfigured their beaks—
With devices of seizure and search and blockade,
Impressment's insignia stream'd from their peaks—
Seamen's rights they despised, and they hated free trade.
The traffic was carnage they brought to the Lake,
Whose instruments sharpened from Europe they bore,
To arm the grim savage aroused from his brake,
Who awaiting their coming howl'd loud on the shore.
Columbia's Genius indignantly saw
The cross and the tomahawk ruthlessly join'd,
Profaning the name of religion and law.
To mangle man's body and torture his mind
She called upon Liberty, Nymph of the Wood.
To stand forth with her sons in their own vindication;
And rescue the bosom and shores of her Wood
From the ministers fell of the world's subjugation:
Under Liberty's auspices down came the oak.
And soon a brave vessel was launch'd from the strand:
And the laurel, disdaining a base foreign yoke,
On the Lake still attended her partner by land.
Vainglorious Britannia's war ships bore down,
And in vain rent the air with their once dreadful thunder:
The standard of Liberty waved o'er the Crown,
And American oak broke the British asunder
Drench'd in blood vanquish'd Britain surrender'd her claims
For Columbia's vessels were destined to glory;
As Trippe, Somers and Lawrence they fought blessed names!
Immortal, invincible, deathless in story.
And worthy the fame of these thrice sacred dead,
Unhurt and triumphant stood Perry the brave;
Ever green is the laurel that circles his head,
The victor unrivalled he stands of the wave
May American oak, with the laurel united,
Victoriously float on the Lakes and the Main;
And flourish till every wrong shall be righted,
And commerce and peace unshackled remain.