HULL. Ay, and our huge force must be larger still,
If we would change these Provinces to States.
Then, Colonel Proctor's intercepted letter—
Bidding the captor of Fort Mackinaw
Send but five thousand warriors from the West,
Which, be it artifice or not, yet points
To great and serious danger.
Add to this Brock's rumoured coming with his
Volunteers, All burning to avenge their fathers'
wrongs,
And our great foe, Tecumseh, fired o'er his;
These are the reasons; grave enough, I think,
Which urge me to withdraw from Canada,
And wait for further force; so, go at once,
And help our soldiers to recross the river.
CASS. But I see——
HULL. No "buts"! You have my orders.
CASS. No solid reason here, naught but a group
Of flimsy apprehensions——
HULL. Go at once!
Who kicks at judgment, lacks it.
CASS. I——
HULL. No more! I want not wrangling but obedience here.
[Exeunt CASS and other officers incensed.]
Would I had ne'er accepted this command!
Old men are out of favour with the time,
And youthful folly scoffs at hoary age.
There's not a man who executes my orders
With a becoming grace; not one but sulks,
And puffs his disapproval with a frown.
And what am I? A man whom Washington
Nodded approval of, and wrote it too!
Yet here, in judgment and discretion both,
Ripe to the dropping, scorned and ridiculed.
Oh, Jefferson, what mischief have you wrought—
Confounding Nature's order, setting fools
To prank themselves, and sit in wisdom's seat
By right divine, out Heroding a King's!
But I shall keep straight on—pursue my course,
Responsible and with authority,
Though boasters gird at me, and braggarts frown.
[Exit.]