William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
On Sir Henry Clintons RecallT
Sir Harry returns, a disconsolate swain,
To the face of his master, the devil’s anointed,
To the country provided for thieves disappointed.
He concluded the weakest must go to the wall.
The more he was flatter’d, the bolder he grew:
He quitted the old world to conquer the new.
(And they have been curious beyond all comparison,)
He now must go home, at the call of his king,
To answer the charges that Arnold may bring.
If good, it is hard he should now be aggrieved:
And the more, as he fought for his national glory,
Nor valued, a farthing, the
In the Cerberus frigate came over together:
But of all the bold chiefs that remeasure the trip,
Not two have been known to return in one ship.
They are very well pleased as long as unhurt;
But a thump on the nose, or a blow in the eye,
Ends the fray; and they go to their daddy and cry.
You said all our paper was not worth a penny:
(’Tis nothing but rags, quoth honest Will Tryon:
Are rags to discourage the sons of the lion?)
When things may by easier methods come right:
There is such an art as counterfeit-ation,
And I’ll do my utmost to honour our nation:
And that, by the help of a skilful engraver;
And then let the rebels take care of their bacon;
We’ll play ’em a trick, or I’m vastly mistaken.”
So you paid off your artist, and gave up bill-striking:
But ’tis an affair I am glad you are quit on:
You had surely been hang’d had you tried it in Britain.
The terms you propounded were terms full of rigour,
Yet could not foresee poor Charley’s disgrace,
Nor how soon your own colours would go to the case.
(Like another true Briton that did it at ’Statia,)
You broke all the terms yourself had extended,
Because you supposed the rebellion was ended.
If gentle, or simple, or little, or big,
No matter to you—to kill ’em and spite ’em,
You soon had ’em up where the dogs couldn’t bite ’em.
You left them to Rawdon and Nesbit Balfour:
(The face of the latter no mask need be draw’d on,
And to fish for the devil my bait should be Rawdon.)
And boasting that rebels must shortly knock under,
The first thing that struck you as soon as you landed
Was the fortress at West Point where Arnold commanded.
We then shall be masters of all Hudson’s river;
The east and the south losing communication,
The Yankees will die by the act of starvation.”
Who soon purchased Arnold, and with him the gallows:
Your loss, I conceive, than your gain was far greater,
You lost a good fellow and got a damn’d traitor.
A knight, like yourself, and commander-in-chief;
But the chief he will get, you may tell the dear honey,
Will be a black eye, hard knocks, and no money.
Away to your master, and honestly tell,
That his arms and his artists can nothing avail;
His men are too few, and his tricks are too stale:
Of which not a symptom as yet doth appear;
As we plainly perceive from his sending Sir Guy,
Commission’d to steal, and commission’d to lie.