Classic Poem

You are " the best of cut-throats:" — do not start;
The phrase is Shakespeare's, and not misapplied: —
War's a brain-spattering, windpipe-slitting art,
Unless her cause by right be sanctified.
If you have acted once a generous part,
The world, not the world's masters, will decide,
And I shall be delighted to learn who,
Save you and yours, have gain'd by Waterloo?

I am no flatterer — you've supp'd full of flattery:
They say you like it too — 't is no great wonder.
He whose whole life has been assault and battery,
At last may get a little tired of thunder;
And swallowing eulogy much more than satire, he
May like being praised for every lucky blunder,
Call'd " Saviour of the Nations" — not yet saved,
And " Europe's Liberator" — still enslaved.