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

Peace—1815

Song, on the restoration of Peace, by a gentleman of Baltimore

BRAVE sons of Columbia, by valour inspired,

The empire of law you have nobly defended;

Secured are the rights which your fathers acquired,

And like theirs, through the world your renown has extended.

On the land and the main, every effort was vain,

In the circle of glory your course to restrain.

For no right would you yield, not an inch would retire;

Were your charter consumed, in its flames you’d expire.

Heaven arm’d your brave chiefs, though but striplings in war,

From the portals of Freedom triumphantly thunder’d;

The climes of the east heard the sound from afar,

And at deeds so transcendent exultingly wonder’d;

Every bolt that was hurl’d, every flame as it curl’d,

From the chains of the ocean enfranchised the world,
And no right, &c.

You’ve a clime in which Nature delights to expand,

And the range of the mind boasts co-equal extension;

The broad beams of science illumine your land,

And the arts into life make each useful invention.

No intolerance degrades, no bigotry shades,

No vile superstition your temples invades,

And no right will you yield, not an inch will retire;

If your charter’s consumed, in its flames you’ll expire.

Your union’s a knot no intrigue can untie,

A band which the sword of no tyrant can sever;

Chased by Reason, the shades of Opinion shall fly,

And the murmurs of Faction be silenced forever,

From the father to son, every blessing you’ve won,

Unimpair’d to the last generation shall run;
For no right, &c.

Now ’tis yours in the shade of mild peace to repose;

May your shores form a couch to the heart-broken stranger;

Bright Liberty’s balm heal Humanity’s woes,

And the broad shield of law case the exile from danger.

In each year as it flies, may new blessings arise,

And grateful your vows ever mount to the skies,
That no right, &c.