Enclosure: Charles F. Welles’s Poem on Thomas Jefferson, [ca. 11 August 1809]
Enclosure
Charles F. Welles’s Poem on Thomas Jefferson
[ca. 11 Aug. 1809]
| talents he had, exquisitely1 design’d |
| To rule the worlds of action and of mind; |
| Talents the subtle line of right2 to draw, |
| And pond’ring Senates found his judgment law. |
| In vain fell envy gathers all her bands, |
| In vain delusion lifts a thousand hands, |
| Beyond their reach3 his measures rise sublime, |
| Their proof experience, and their champion time. |
| His was the fortune, in a dangerous day, |
| To lead a youthful nation on its way; |
| A pamper’d nation, proud, disdaining4 rule, |
| As yet untutor’d in misfortune’s school, |
| Mad with division—while5 ambition’s eye |
| Fiery and restless, watch’d its moment nigh. |
| His was the glory, slander’d and reviled. |
| Jeer’d as he spoke, and thwarted as he toil’d, |
| While war assumed its last and mightiest forms, |
| Upright and firm to walk between the storms. |
| Stand forth, reviler! and assert thy6 claim |
| To weigh his wisdom, and denounce his fame. |
| Art thou superior? Is it thine to rear |
| A nation’s standard in its7 awful sphere? |
| Hast thou a mind all adequate and vast, |
| To pierce the future, comprehend the past, |
| View every motive, give each8 cause its weight, |
| And trace effect abroad from state to state? |
| Art thou the sage to guard thro’ every hour |
| The bounds of right from fraudulence and pow’r? |
| To rise serene, while thunders round are hurl’d, |
| And stand among the mighty of the world? |
| He to no science, to no art confin’d |
| Prolong’d his journey thro’9 the realms of mind, |
| Thro’ all their scenery eager still to rove |
| And pluck a laurel forth from every grove. |
| Fame with a voice of exultation sweet |
| Salutes pale learning in his cool retreat. |
| On the good10 statesman show’rs her honors down, |
| Clad in a glory brighter than renown. |
| But he, the sage whose intellectual reach |
| Pervades both regions and excels in each, |
| The son of science, and the sire of state |
| Reviler! say is not that mortal great? |
| Millions pronounce him worthy of their praise, |
| Child! is it thine to rob him of his bays. |
| By slander shadow’d, and assail’d by hate, |
| O sacred virtue! this must be thy fate, |
| Till human merit has on earth reward, |
| And God’s right arm of thunder for its guard. |
| But shall the muse, the noble muse, combine, |
| Warm every thought, and polish every line, |
| To force bright truth for kinder realms to fly, |
| And bid young genius bow him down and die? |
| Is there no glory for the living great? |
| No ray to cheer the gathering gloom of fate? |
| Alone on11 churchyards must the laurel bloom, |
| Grow but on graves, and darken round the tomb? |
| There is a glory for the living great, |
| A ray to cheer the gathering gloom of fate,12 |
| There is a wreath with hoary age shall grow, |
| Defy the storm, and thicken round his brow! |
| There is a triumph, prouder still than fame; |
| The great man’s triumph—human nature’s shame. |
| The foes, the slanders, that assail his seat, |
| The hosts of envy storming round his feet. |
Printed in Wilkes-Barre Luzerne Federalist, 11 Aug. 1809; at head of text: “for the federalist. Vide this paper of July 21.” Variant version in unidentified printed source (undated clipping in DLC: TJ Papers, ser. 7; poem entitled “Thomas Jefferson”; with heading of “No 2” and two corrections in Welles’s hand). Reprinted, generally following DLC clipping, in Washington National Intelligencer, 24 Nov. 1809.
Charles Miner responded with a poetic rebuttal that interspersed portions of Welles’s piece with his own sarcastic rejoinder (Luzerne Federalist, 18 Aug. 1809).
1. DLC clipping: “had, in nature’s skill.”
2. Luzerne Federalist: “aught.” DLC clipping: “right.”
3. DLC clipping: “Far beyond reach.”
4. Luzerne Federalist: “disdaiding.”
5. DLC clipping: “and”.
6. National Intelligencer: “the.”
7. DLC clipping: “the,” corrected to “its” by Welles and thus elsewhere.
8. DLC clipping: “its,” corrected to “each” by Welles and thus elsewhere.
9. DLC clipping: “o’er.”
10. National Intelligencer: “great.”
11. DLC clipping: “in.”
12. DLC clippping: “There is a ray to gild the eve of fate.”