regiment them when they have done it. If Congress disapprove of this proceeding, they will please to signify it, as I mean it for the best. It may be thought that I am going a good deal out of the line of my duty, to adopt these measures, or to advise thus freely. A character to lose, an estate to forfeit, the inestimable blessing of liberty at stake, and a life devoted, must be my excuse.
George Washington, Writings (edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford, New York, etc., 1890), V, 109-116 passim.
196."The Battle of the Kegs" (1777)
This cheerful satire illustrates the occupation of Philadelphia by the British in 1777. The note at the end of the piece is by Hopkinson (see No. 96 above). — Bibliography : Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, VI, 404-405 ; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 138.
GALLANTS attend and hear a friend,
- Trill forth harmonious ditty,
Strange things I'll tell which late befel
- In Philadelphia city.
'Twas early day, as poets say,
- Just when the sun was rising,
A soldier stood on a log of wood,
- And saw a thing surprising.
As in amaze he stood to gaze,
- The truth can't be denied, sir,
He spied a score of kegs or more
- Come floating down the tide, sir.
A sailor too in jerkin blue,
- This strange appearance viewing,
First damn'd his eyes, in great surprise,
- Then said some mischiefs brewing.
These kegs, I m told, the rebels bold,
- Pack'd up like pickling herring ;
And they re come down't attack the town,
- In this new way of ferrying.
