copy * 
 
TIE VICTORIOUS. 
 
 A SMALL POEM 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ASSASSINATION OF 
 
 PKESIDEM 1 LINCOLN. 
 
 M. B. BIRD, 
 
 PORT-AU-PRINCE, 
 HAYTI. 
 
 M. DeCORDOVA, McDOUGALL & CO., 
 
 BOOKSELLERS, STATIONERS, AND PUBLISHERS, KINGSTON, JAMAICA. 
 
 1866. 
 
 Cj»yt 
 
.Bgi 
 
 viufvld at th" g^::anef. off: re, 
 
 BY M. 'IMCCO&ItOVA & CO. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, 
 
 Expressive of the deep feeling in Hayti, on the arrival 
 here of the news of the assassination of President Lincoln, 
 nth slight historical notes on the Haytien Republic, and 
 assing reference to the visit of the Hon. W. H. Seward, to 
 'orfc-au-Prince, during the 17th and 18th of January, 1866. 
 
 This attempt to sympathise with a great People in the 
 uching bereavement which constitutes the subject of the 
 llowing lines, was prepared, and even forwarded to the 
 nited States, for publication, during the height of the Na- 
 mal sorrow, but the hope of the Author, as to its prompt 
 >pearance / was entirely defeated by circumstances too pain- 
 
 I for publication ; the result, however, of this disappoint- 
 ent, has been the enlargement and present form of the 
 ?ce. The first shock of this dreadful event has, indeed, passed 
 * but the horror which it inspired can never cease, nor 
 
 II it ever be out of time or out of place, to call down the 
 lignation of mankind upon so foul a crime, 
 
 The habit and practice of Public Meetings for the ex- 
 
IV 
 
 pression of the public mind, is not the Haytien custom, which 
 is perhaps to be accounted for by the simple fact, that Hayti, 
 as a Nation, is of French origin ; such, however, was, in this 
 case, the extroardinary feeling which filled all hearts, as de- 
 monstrated, that something out of the common course was 
 desired and sought, hence a Public Meeting on this lament- 
 able event was called, in the Haytien Capital, to be presided 
 over by an Official Dignitary ; nor is it to be for a moment 
 doubted that the deep sympathy of the Nation would have 
 been expressed on that occasion, in a manner that would never 
 have been forgotten, but all arrangements and hopes, with 
 regard to this attempt to express the universal feeling by the 
 public voice, were unhappily swej)t away by the occurrence 
 of an internal war, which became a great national calamity. 
 This circumstance, in all respects so much to be lamented, is 
 partly, if not principally, the apology for the appearance of 
 these pages, which now have to a great extent, for their ob- 
 ject, to do, by means of the press, what disappointment pre- 
 vented from being done otherwise, and giving a yet louder 
 and more permanent expression of abhorrence, of the crime 
 which poured forth such noble blood, to the shame and dis- 
 honor of the age. 
 
 But the painful failure referred to, neither alters nor 
 lessens the fact, that the news of the assassination of the 
 
President of the United States, filled Hayti with profoundest 
 grief; the soul of the Nation was stirred to its deepest depths, 
 and the heartfelt sorrow of the people was expressed in the 
 most national manner possible; from the least to the greatest, 
 the Government and Army, with the Senators, Representa- 
 tives, and every other grade of office, assumed those outward 
 signs of sorrow, which, in this case, was no mere outward 
 show or form, hut a full expression of the sincerest and pro- 
 foundest grief of a people, to whom the name of Lincoln 
 will be ever dear, as both the representative and victim of the 
 very measure, which gave them their own existence as a na- 
 tion. 
 
 In fact, never was or could be, deeper or intenser sympa- 
 thy felt or expressed, than that which was manifested by the 
 entire Havtien Nation, at what has with propriety been 
 termed, with regard to the present age, " the great event !" 
 
 Nor less deep or intense was the national horror of the 
 Haytiens, at the fiendish attempt upon the life of the Hon. 
 W. H. Seward, whose valuable life for a time seemed to be 
 suspended by a mere thread — long and anxious was the sus- 
 pense, until the full assurance that danger was past, in this 
 case, reached these distant shores, while gratitude to God still 
 rises from all hearts for the restoration to health, 
 
VI 
 
 strength, and usefulness, of one whose firmness and wisdom 
 in the nation's storms, deserves the acknowledgments of 
 mankind. Great was the joy of seeing this justly distinguished 
 individual on the shores of Hayti, and in its National Pa- 
 lace, on the date already mentioned ; while the deep regret of 
 all parties was, that this visit wns sudden and of such short 
 duration — but the ease with which reparation might be made 
 in such a case, affords the strongest hope of a speedy renewal 
 of the same pleasure. 
 
 That President Lincoln should have fallen alone, not- 
 withstanding the infernal plan of murder embraced many 
 others whose fall was also determined, is, to the believer in a 
 miuute Providence, significant ; and seems to shew, however 
 inexplicable to man, that but one sacrifice in this case was 
 permitted by the Righteous Disposer of all things. Nor is 
 it possible for a Christian mind, in this case, to avoid arriving 
 at the conclusion of special and well-calculated design, on the 
 part of an over-ruling Providence. The man who so long and 
 so distinctly had prophesied the inevitability of the " irre- 
 pressible conflict," although so horribly hacked, by the fiercest 
 and most deadly resolution, however narrowly, escaped. A 
 secret shield was there ; nor less apparent was the wise and 
 firm purpose of Heaven, in the protection of the worthy and 
 
Vll 
 
 distinguished successor of the lamented fallen one, with all 
 those leading spirits, military and otherwise, whose preserva- 
 tion was necessary, in the hands of God, for the carrying out 
 of that great work which had now become the unswerving 
 purpose of the nation, and which must ultimately place the 
 hopes and prosperity of the whole human race, upon the solid 
 basis of universal and unbounded, yet Aveli guarded, Freedom. 
 
 In fact, the salient points of this great tragedy would be 
 worthy of a Milton's pen; and it is certainly to be hoped and 
 expected that some fit mind will one day set in brilliant 
 diamonds of thought and language, the full development of 
 an event, which must, by its very nature, tell upon the entire 
 interests of the world, by the utter demolition of an ancient 
 barrier to all of great and good to man, which it has so tri- 
 umphantly completed. 
 
 With regard to the piece to which these remarks are 
 intended as an introduction, a simple apology for its poverty 
 and imperfections might indeed have sufficed ; yet the fact 
 that it has been written in a distant land from the United 
 States, and by a foreigner, as to the great Republic — although 
 one of its friends — demands at least a word. 
 
 It may not, therefore, be an uninteresting fact, in connec- 
 tion with the following production, that it was conceived and 
 
Vlll 
 
 penned in the Kepublic of Hayti, of which the splendid Island, 
 by some historians, has not unfitly been called, the " Queen 
 of tbe^Antilles," and which, in the present position of the 
 great question cf universal liberty, which is now before up, 
 deserves special attention, as the field, where the first great 
 struggle of modern days for freedom, in opposition to the 
 slavery of our age, took place. Here French despotism was 
 opposed and dared, by Toussaint L'Ouverture, Dessalines, 
 and many others, whose names must and will remain impe- 
 rishable upon the page of History, as the great defenders of 
 human rights upon the Haytien shores —not as revolters — 
 this they were not ; but as the brave and honest defenders of 
 a liberty proclaimed to the world, and given to every slave 
 attached to the French nation by the great French "Republic 
 of the last century, and which was ratified by all that a great. 
 and powerful people could do, to make such a pledge legal and 
 just, but which was subsequently sought to be withdrawn, by 
 iniquitous efforts at the point of the bayonet, and by means 
 of some of the most powerful armies that ever left the shores 
 of France — a fact which lias ever been kept out of sight by 
 the enemies of Hayti, and which has too often been forgotten 
 even by its friends, while at the same time it unquestionably, 
 and justly, removes the guilt of all the b'ood that was shed by 
 the liberated masses, and places it inevitably upon these, who 
 
IX 
 
 were guilty of infidelity to their own load and uuiversally- 
 heard proclamations. The remembrance of this great fact in 
 Haytien history, changes the entire character of what is called, 
 the great St. Domingo Revolution, and places the whole mat- 
 ter in a totally different light before the world. Nor is it 
 to be mistaken, that the time is now come, when truth 
 on the long-misunderstood struggles of Hayti must be fairly- 
 told. 
 
 That such a piece as the one here offered to the public, 
 poor as it may be and is, should have originated in a country 
 and element where Slavery has long been trampled under foot, 
 and where Liberty is the highest glory, cannot and will not 
 be surprising. Nor will it fail to be promptly understood, that 
 the just and righteous proclamation of Liberty, by the great 
 Lincoln, must have produced unbounded joy amongst a people 
 who, more than half an age ago, blew the same trumpet to 
 the world — a sound which is no longer feared, for liberty 
 is now understood to be the sacred gift of Heaven, in which 
 is combined all of great and good to man. 
 
 It will not be surprising, therefore, that the Haytien 
 heart should still beat t:ue to liberty ; she has indeed, much to 
 mourn over in herself: nor is she blind to her own weakness- 
 
es ; it is only in the nature and order of things, that to such 
 a Nation, the name of Lincoln should be great and glorious, 
 and that the murderous death which became his lot, should 
 have been a subject of profonndest grief. 
 
 Nor have the Haytiens failed to recognize the mighty 
 hand cf God, in the raising up of one so singularly fitted for 
 so holy and sublime a work. Minds are not wanting on these 
 sunny shores, to discern, both in arms and politics, tho hand 
 Divine, or to see that Lincoln's lustre and glory, was in 
 the fact that he himself delighted to recognize the wise con- 
 trol of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe, in all human 
 events ; and that this was the great principle which gave 
 strength and vigor to all his views and measures. 
 
 In Hayti, as well as on the continent of America, thou- 
 sands, with the noble Lincoln, have laid down their lives in 
 the great cause of human liberty. So true it is that right; 
 amongst men, even in its simplest and plainest, yea, brightest 
 form, requires rivers of blood for its establishment, yet not 
 less in Hayti than elsewhere have the foot-printa of Divinity 
 and eternal justice been seen, in the conquests and triumph of 
 those sacred rights of liberty, without which man, both bond 
 and free, ceases to be man. 
 
XI 
 
 Hayti is, and must be, the enemy of shackles of every 
 kind, whether of body or of mind. Liberty is the soul of her 
 institutions; and this remains emphatically true, notwith- 
 standing so much yet remains to be learnt and done in this 
 land, on the same great question of the working and carrying 
 out of really free institutions. 
 
 The work of reconstruction in Hayti, after the demolition 
 of a former despotism, fell to the lot of a former generation, 
 of views on all subjects far behind the present time, and also 
 under circumstances of the most unfavorable kind, which have 
 only to be known to be understood : and yet, notwithstanding 
 the gravest difficulties and Jhe most conflicting elements, it is 
 a fact worthy of notice, that Hayti has long been in advance 
 of nations that might be named, both in the old and new 
 world, on the great question of Religious liberty ; hence it may 
 safely be said that, under the Government of President Gef- 
 frard, religious freedom is unshackled in Hayti. 
 
 The military predilections and tastes of Hayti, have often 
 by many been a subject of both astonishment and censure. A 
 little reflection, however, would show that this has been the 
 result of circumstances which would necessarily attach to a 
 country which had wrenched its liberties from a greater power, 
 and, for just; reasons, dared not till long after disarm. Born as 
 
Ml 
 
 a nation under arm*, and that too, when the supporters of 
 slavery all around her dreaded the self-liberated slave, and 
 feared all contact with the elements of liberty, it is not surpris- 
 ing that., by living under arms, as her only means of protect- 
 ing her freedom, she should ultimately become military in all 
 her tastes and habits, so that her very reforms have been too 
 often accomplished by force, instead of the power of free and 
 open discussion, as among the Saxon branches of the human 
 family. 
 
 Nevertheless, the manly spirit of the Haytien nation is 
 prepared to appreciate the Cro.uwells, Washington's, and 
 Lincoln's of the past. Amongst her citizens, of all shades and 
 hues, are unquestionably found men of decided mind and 
 intellect ; in truth, whatever there may be to regret as to 
 Hayti, in reference to her general progress, it must be ad- 
 mitted, that she has shewn sufficient development of intellect 
 and general intelligence, to settle, in the most unquestionable 
 manner, the entire mental equality of the African mind, with 
 the rest of mankind ; and if, in a moral point of view, Hayti is 
 a grief, even to the true and sincere Haytien Christian, as well 
 as those of other shores, let it be remembered, how few Evan- 
 gelical Churches from any quarter have cared for Hayti. In 
 
Xlll 
 
 this respect it must be admitted that both Europe and Ame- 
 rica, have maintained and persisted in an indifference which 
 can neither be explained nor justified. Hayti has long been 
 forgotten; too long has she been left by those who, by greater 
 fidelity to their own principles as disciples of Christ, might 
 have made her far different to what she now is, in a religious 
 and moral point of view. 
 
 Nevertheless, the progress of events is closely watched in 
 Hayti, nor ever were the movements of a great nation more 
 anxiously and persistently kept in view, than were those of 
 the United States by this Republic, during the great struggles 
 which have now come to a close. The intense anxiety of 
 Hayti, on the great question of slavery, will be much better 
 imagined than expressed, and as Liberty seemed to rise grad- 
 ually but gloriously, above the heaving sea of blood which it 
 cost, so also rose the ardor and righteous enthusiasm of the 
 Haytien people, until the mighty climax rose to vic- 
 tory. 
 
 Nor with less anxious joy and hope is the onward 
 march of the same great people watched, now themselves un- 
 shackled. The past great victory over slavish despotism, and 
 
XIV 
 
 the price in precious blood which it has cost, constitute the 
 pledge of a sincerity which can never yield, and shed the 
 light of glorious assurance over the future, from which all 
 that man is capable of— or could desire— is unhesitatingly and 
 without fear expected. 
 
 God has still kept the men of his right hand, for the com- 
 plete carrying out of the great work which He himself, by 
 their instrumentality, has begun in so signal a manner. He 
 has placed and left them at their posts, for the defence of 
 right ; and a Nation, great and free, where uncorrupted Chris- 
 tianity abounds, bent alone on right, and firm in its execution, 
 must become the hope and glory of mankind. 
 
 Truth and candour demand- from every quarter that, so 
 far as the course of reconstruction has, up to the present time, 
 developed itself, the greatest hopes have already resulted— the 
 fact that great Military Forces have been rapidly formed, and 
 yet more rapidly disbanded, with the utmost safety to all 
 interests, cannot be a useless lesson to mankind. Nor can the 
 resolution of a powerful Nation, thus to enthrone Reason and 
 Principle, as the only right arms for right government, fail to 
 operate as a rebuke to that love of arms which has so often 
 been the death of Liberty. 
 
XV 
 
 Nor are there wanting on the shores of Hayti, men that 
 hare caught the spirit of the age — hence her late great efforts 
 to increase, by means of Immigration, her industrial popula- 
 tion ; and if failure has in any respect attended this effort, it 
 was not from any want of pecuniary sacrifice on the part of 
 the Havtien Government, whose hearty good will in that laud- 
 able scheme was unquestionable. This, however, need be no 
 ground of discouragement to any whose means might enable 
 them to avail themselves of the genial climate and rich soil of 
 Hayti. Wealth brought here, and well applied, would and must 
 produce abundantly. Nothing can exceed in richness and fer- 
 tility the Haytien soil. 
 
 The hope of Hayti is yet well-founded — she is full of in- 
 telligence, and her institutions are sound. Freedom now sur- 
 rounds her on every hand, while the love of it is a fire within 
 her : her people are deserving, and possess every desirable ele- 
 ment. Rise she must. A power superior to man must and will 
 come upon her, for the great God of events is already ruling 
 human interests in an amazing manner, not only by the light 
 and power of moral truth, but also by means of both Science 
 and Commerce ; an onward and Almighty power is urging on 
 the accomplishment of ancient prophecy, which for ages past 
 
XVI 
 
 has filled the world with the hope and assurance of brighter 
 days for our long suffering humanity. 
 
 The Author of the following lines has had in view two 
 
 things :• — 
 
 First— To attempt the expression of his own thoughts 
 and feelings on the horrid crime which has filled the world 
 with sorrow,— an effort by no means easy. 
 
 g econ aiy— Having spent a quarter of a century in Hayti, 
 he deems himself free to present the following thoughts to 
 the world, as expressing, although imperfectly, the Haytien 
 mind and feeling, on the subject which constitutes the text 
 and matter of the piece. 
 
 It may not, perhaps, be deemed unsuitable to, or un- 
 worthy of, the course of thought pursued in the following 
 production, that it should close with a reference to the mani- 
 fest destiny of the great Anglo-Saxon family, with regard to 
 the entire freedom of mankind, and the safe and full deve- 
 lopment of the true principles of government, as the only 
 means of rendering all human organizations and communities 
 sound and strong, of elevating mankind, and securing the 
 happ'ness of the world. 
 
 Then let the two great nations of this branch of the human 
 
XV11 
 
 family be true to thi<;r sublime mission by being true to God 
 and His truth. Let them unite to bless the world, by keep- 
 ing their own gigantic powers true to Liberty and God. Let 
 them fill the world with their mighty energies and untiring 
 perseverance for righteous purposes : towards each other let 
 them turn their swords into ploughshares, and let them send 
 in powerful armies their self-sacrificing pioneers of Christ, 
 Science, and all else that shall turn men from arms to reason, 
 from darkness to light, from perdition to eternal life, and thus 
 fill the world with the glory of God. 
 
 M. B. B. 
 
 Port-au-Prince, Havti, 
 February 1, 1866, 
 
'• His virtues 
 •* Will plead like angels, trumpet tongued, against 
 " The deep damnation of his taking otf." 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 I. 
 
 Ere reason yet my soul had form'd, or my 
 Young heart the sacred glow of truth had felt, 
 The horrid outlines of a shapeless thing, 
 A monster ! sunk themselves into my soul. 
 Thought would oft labor to define this shape, - 
 But all was vain, for it was shapelessness 
 Itself, incapable of aught, that touch'd 
 Of truth or right, or savour'd of human'ty ; 
 A frightful concentration of all Hell 
 On earth ; all of damnation possible, 
 Was in its own ioul self pent up, raging, 
 With burning fury, to o'erwhelm the world, 
 And drown in fiery grief and deepest woe, 
 The weaker, and the helpless of our race ; 
 Too base to face the faintest shadow of 
 Or right or truth, but w T ith low coward heart, 
 Warring on helplessness, and seizing souis 
 Unarm'd, to feed the hungry maw of pride 
 And power ; of men, thus making, lowest fiends. 
 
Nor ever, as the light of reason dawn'd, 
 Could aught, my spirit of the monster rid. 
 Until at last, by God's eternal light, 
 I saw it was a fiend, out-stripping all 
 That mortals can conceive of power, or reach, 
 Or e'en imagination's strongest powers 
 Paint ; a thing, even in Heil itself deem'd 
 Base, defying minds, of either earth or Hell, 
 To name it fitly, or shape out its form. 
 
 Yet chaos has a name, 
 
 And Hell's foul 
 Spirits, we call fiends ! 
 
 But this huge monster, 
 In whom dwelt, " of every villany the sum," 
 From fiends and men, the damning name of slavery 
 Hath receiv'd ; a name, which ages of deep 
 Anguish and unfathomable woe, have taught 
 To mean all that could make up Hell itself 
 On earth, by rending ev'ry human tie, 
 Confounding all of God and truth in man, 
 Belying even nature's sacred laws, 
 And, by sheer ruffian av'rice, trampling out 
 Of human souls, the image which they bear, 
 OfHeav'n. 
 
 II. 
 And, as at last the torchof history 
 
I held, I saw the horrid monster stretch 
 Himself o'er all the Continent of Ham. 
 Fangs, frightful, as of iron, forg'd and bent 
 In Hell, to seize and mercilessly tear, 
 Were all the limbs he had ; they were his power, 
 And numberless ; by Hell these burning 
 Fangs were sprung, with foul intent. 
 
 The basest 
 Of the fiends of Hell, a coward fiend, all 
 Fearing, but the mildest of our race, though 
 Blest with every element of man, with all 
 The springs and fountains of our Nature, full, 
 And form'd to rise to heights, that reach to God ; 
 Foul fiend, I saw him lab'ring hard, to quench 
 Immortal gems, and sink them in the mire 
 Of his own lusts yea, hard he labor'd to 
 Fill up the cup of his iniquities ; 
 Nor ever ceas'd, till all ran o'er, and rank 
 Damnation over hapless millions burst, 
 While Hell, long watching for its prey, rang out 
 With loud, applause, and seeming triumph over 
 Heaven's eternal King, and oh ! how long ! 
 Yea, even Heaven to my bounded sense, 
 Seem'd oft, as though she linger'd, to confound 
 The lies and despotisms of the earth, 
 Scourges and chains, and lacerated souls, 
 Through dreary years, fill'd the whole earth with groans, 
 
Mingl'd with cries to Heav'n, shall Hell for ever 
 Triumph o'er the earth ? And yet these broken 
 Hearts, sigh'ng, would sink into the will of Heav'n ! 
 
 Yea, the long ages of the past, have rung 
 Through bleeding generations, with the shrieks, 
 And wailings, of unutterable wrongs, 
 Confounding, striking mute, pulse, pens, and thought, 
 For utt'rance lost, of all confounding woe, 
 Which higher and yet higher swell'd, beneath 
 Those keener lashes, sent into the soul 
 By Doctors of the Cross, whose ardent el'quence 
 Was plied, to demonstrate that wrong was light, 
 And in the name of Christ, unchaining ev'ry 
 Fiend of Hell, to drive on Death, and send into 
 The deepest quick of souls, those woes, which only 
 Could invention find, in fi'ry»av'rice 
 And pride, till infidelity and Hell, 
 Their dreary regions with loud laughter rung, 
 And sable savages themselves, heap'd curses on, 
 The only name to sinners dear ; and thought 
 The Christian's Paradise a Hell. 
 
 Great God ! 
 Shall men of bloody hands thus preach thy truth, 
 And from the cross of love and justice, drive 
 The earth ? But yet I bow. Shall not the Judge 
 Of all the earth do right ? Nought can e'er change 
 The blest eternal truth, that God is love ! 
 
Ill 
 
 Across the ages as I gaz'd, absorbed, 
 I P aw the fiendish monster spring his swarming 
 Fan"*! and by one single effort, thousands 
 Wrench'd and tore away, from Fathers, Mothers, 
 Wives, all that on earth, to them was dear. Shneks 
 Rose to Heavn, till a whole continent, with 
 Howling rang, and floated in a mingl'd 
 Sea of tears and blood. Swords, chains, and lashing*, 
 I„ wild fury clash'd ; all by infernal 
 Power whirl'd and driven on, so fierce the burning 
 Lost of bloody gain ; so strong that love of 
 Power, which rather would, o'er living chattels 
 lieign, than not at all. Low is the pride, which 
 Over weakness wields a tyrant's lash, and, 
 With annihilating power arm'd, struts with 
 Exulting daring, where no arms are fear'd. 
 Low is the trade which turns the writhing ag mes, 
 Of helpless millions, into wealth ; which ease 
 Would wrenchfrom anguish , which no heart could know 
 knd live. All here of grief and woe, up to 
 Its highest climax rose, till dark despair, 
 Extmguish'd ev'ry cheering ray of hope, 
 And left them on the wretched level of 
 Mere things for sale, with all of thought and reason, 
 Dwindl'd to a vacant stare. 
 
Nor less 
 The ruling despot, than the rul'd, here sinks. 
 His iron sceptre crushes his own soul, 
 Makes him a princely fiend, o'er man unsoul'd. 
 His greatest horror is true liberty ; 
 He would be free himself, and thinks he is, 
 But Hell has put a lie into his mouth, 
 Which darkens all his sense. Unconsciously 
 He bows himself to chains, and is a slave. 
 His Heav'n is Hell ; his bliss is woe, his right 
 Is wrong ; his truth a lie ; and lib'rty, 
 With him, is freedom to inflict and riot 
 In all woe. 
 
 Nature is here inverted 
 
 In her course. 
 
 Freedom, her power in the 
 Mighty masses finds ; here is her source ; she 
 Rises from the level of humanity, 
 Her roots strike deep into the common ground 
 Of men, and high her branches rise, above 
 All higher powers, which she controls and shields. 
 
 But slavery descends ; she rises not. 
 She is the idol of the few ; she loves 
 A height of power, from whence she ever seeks 
 To send upon the world such iron rods 
 As all approach to liberty of thought should dare, 
 
And threaten overwhelming woe to all 
 
 Who would presume to call their souls, their own. 
 
 She from her elevation, long usurped, 
 
 For ling' ring ages in the groaning past, 
 
 Through all the earth, her with'ring blasts hath sent. 
 
 IV. 
 
 But Hell must lose her ancient hold on Earth ; 
 Nor wanting are resistless and bright arms 
 For this great work ; arms, sharp as truth, abound. 
 Yea, Heav'n her well-stor'd moral ars'nals hath 
 On earth ; souls arm'd with mighty truth, 
 Are all we need, nor are they few, midst e'en 
 The lies of earth ; the rage of Hell has long 
 Been great; but He, " who rides upon the storm,'' 
 Shall into silence look these daring pow'rs ; 
 Hope, rising into faith, stands on the lofty 
 Pillars of eternal truth, and tells of 
 What she sees ; and, while she gazes, doth 
 She feel the rapt'rous glow of yon blest Sun 
 Of Righteousness, now rising o'er the world. 
 
 Hence, as my spirit yearn'd o'er mortal woe, 
 I saw some bright ones nearing me, glowing 
 With truth, majestic, though of human form ; 
 Their air was dignity supreme ; their looks 
 Unswerving firmness spoke, but as they near'd, 
 All Hell, with deepest terror seem' d convuls'd, 
 
And trembl'd a£ the power of tlieir love. 
 
 They first on Albion's ancient shores appear'd ; 
 
 Yea, now the mother of unheard-of woes, 
 
 Bows in deep shame, beneath their mighty weight, 
 
 And noble anguish, fills her mighty soul ; 
 
 Fiends, both of Hell and earth, with laughter whip her, 
 
 Yet she owns her fault, and chains, by Britain 
 
 Forg'd, by her were hurl'd to their own place. 
 
 Hark ! 
 The foul monster is distnrb'd, his horrid 
 Roar, from countless in t 1 rests is heard. Fury 
 And fire Hash from ev'rv fang, till th' infernal 
 Regions quiver in the glare, confounded 
 And convuls'd with fear, for wreck now threatens ; 
 And, at the loss of power and prey, Hell howls, 
 Aghast. Oh ! the grand terror at the forms now seen ! 
 The hideous monster, writhing, once more stretch'd 
 Himself upon the hapless prey, to feel 
 If yet his power liv'd ; all Hell yet louder 
 Roar'd, for now long dreaded light pourM in apace, 
 And brought to open day dark scenes, 
 Which prov'd the presence of such deadly elements, 
 As wither every noble spring in man, 
 Earth's heaviest curse, which at all human hopes 
 And glory had long struck, and like a serpent 
 In its bowels, the main springs of pow'r and greatness 
 
10 
 
 Gnaw'd ; a moral leprosy, into the 
 
 Nation's vitals, digging deep, defying 
 
 All of mortal art to cure, Hope here expires ; 
 
 Either the patient or disease must die. 
 
 Here, mercy doth her work complete, by flight, 
 
 To save a life so foul, were but to curse 
 
 Mankind. Let Death devour it, and Hell 
 
 Again reclaim, her wretched own. 
 
 But oh ! 
 
 The dread convulsions of expiring power! 
 
 They shake the earth, they turn men pale ! E'en Death 
 
 Her mighti'st* power here needs ; one stroke alone, 
 
 Though terrible, would fail ; the roaring foe, 
 
 In madness, threatens to devour Death 
 
 Itself : hence fury and defiance, seek 
 
 Their arms, but truth stands mildly firm, unmov'd, 
 
 She only wills, and it is done ; in vain 
 
 They dash upon, immutability. 
 
 Yea, the blest forms, whose cal< 
 Are heard, fill all with terror and dismay, 
 Their peaceful look*, like pointed daggers pierce, 
 Thus warding off the wily blows of pow'r. 
 
 In pangs, the sightless huge one reels, and writhes, 
 Dismay and anguish, all his being rend, 
 He feels the mighty power of his late, 
 And reads it in the placid brow, of those 
 
11 
 
 Now Hearing him. Quailing, he sees them firm ; 
 The arms of truth now glitter in his sight ; 
 Their gleams intense, run through his cow'ring soul. 
 Grand moments, when eternal right looks down 
 On wrong ! 
 
 He pauses, stands confounded at 
 Himself; first pause, for suffering ages past ! 
 But thought is horrible in sin's career. 
 In crime, ease, in its whirl alone, is found, 
 Hence, welcome thrice, the din and clang of arms ; 
 Too oft they drown'd the voice, of reason and 
 Of God ; yea oft the madness of mankind, 
 Puts out the lamp of truth they meant to trim, 
 And slays the very truth they meant to save ; 
 But immortality is here ! Right, truth, and light, 
 When slain, die not ; they only stoop, in mightier 
 Conquest, still to rise ! 
 
 V. 
 
 Another scene unfolds. — 
 The wheel of time, has spun round fifty Suns 
 And more, since this grand impulse struck the int' rests 
 Of the world ; the day of light and liberty 
 Has come, and mocks the iron sceptres of 
 The earth. 
 
 Hence, onward comes the mighty spir't 
 Of the age ; he nears, and now the monster's 
 
I'J 
 
 K.; Final rage; arm'd with unbounded courage. 
 Through a heaving sea of woe, he wades? 
 A giant soul, of lofty bearing, and 
 Strung up with truth, majestically simple 
 In his air, he thinks, as in the presence 
 Of his God, his conscience rein'cl ; thrice worthy 
 The blest name he bore of him, whom all the 
 Faithful, Father call. Faith in the Infinite 
 He had, and watch'd the eye that guides. Truth was 
 To him a Sun, which lighted all his soul, 
 Shap'd out his course, and led him to those heights, 
 To which his elder Washington had rose ; 
 From whence, with Sun-bright clearness all within 
 Him saw, that foul idolatry of wrong 
 Must cease; yea, that a nation's eye ; °atonce 
 Must be pluckt out, and all the reasoning of 
 Past ages must be now struck mute. To pause, 
 Or hesitate when Heav'n speaks, is crime ; 
 Nor time is now for pause, the nation bleeds. 
 Yea, well he saw, the stroke must now be giv'n, 
 The bloody Moloch of the age must fall, 
 The pride of power, that mows own life at will, 
 Must cease, the only sov'reign now to reign 
 O'er men, is Right ! Truth her own throne must seize : 
 Whoever dares her Heav'n-born power, must sink. 
 
 Welcome this glowing spirit of our age 
 Throughout his well-toned soul he long had Mt, 
 
13 
 
 That liberty and chains, or liberty 
 
 In chains, is false, is death; her bounding life 
 
 Is in the range of truth, nor ever doth 
 
 ►She seek to leap her b?)unds, she knows that all beyond, 
 
 Is chaos, death and Hell. 
 
 What'er the age 
 Of Patriarchs, Greeks, and Romans, may have mark'd, 
 Or thought of homesteads, or of human lot, 
 The tide of mortal thought has onward roll'd, 
 And left behind the fetters of the past ; 
 On modern days, a flood of light has come, 
 With pow'r, now spreading through the masses of 
 Our race ; the Eagle of antiquity, 
 Liv'd on the solitary rock, in chains, 
 But now he soars aloft, free as the air, 
 And o'er Columbus' late-found shores, he watches 
 With an eager care, waving his noble 
 Wing, over the widespread realms of liberty 
 And peace. 
 
 Freedom is now the element 
 Of man. Woe to the nation, dashing on 
 This rock. Inevitable w T reck attends [free ! 
 
 Her course. Thought, tongues, and pens, must now be 
 Nought, nought within God's realm of truth and justice, 
 Can be bound : grand truths, which arm'd the hero 
 Of the age. 
 
n 
 
 Hence to the height of his great task, 
 The mighty Lincoln rose, and broke the fetters 
 Of our modern days. His soul, now rob'd in 
 All the majesty of truth and right, arm'd 
 With the nation's will ; lie to the un'verse 
 Proclaim'd that liberty, long-fettered, now 
 Was free ! Angelic hosts, as well as men, 
 With rapturous applause, renewed the song, 
 Which charm'd the ancient shepherds of the plain, 
 When they the tidings of great joy on earth 
 Proclaim'd, which e'en yet all nations fire 
 With ardent hope. 
 
 But oh ! when Hell these raptures 
 Heard, the fi'ry Legions of the reeling 
 God, like thunder from the lowering clouds 
 Broke foith, o'erwhelming and confounding all, 
 Till earth itself, beneath their ravings shook ; 
 All men look'd on aghast, while this volcano, 
 From its flaming- crater, hurl'd the burning 
 Bolts, of pride, hate, bloody tyr'nny, and death, 
 As though the deepest curse of Hell, or dark 
 Annihilation, were revenge too small, 
 For souls that dar'd to speak of truth or liberty. 
 
 But the great soul which held 
 The nation's helm, amidst the lage and roar 
 Of bloodv strife, stood firm, unmov'd, and to 
 
15 
 
 His righteous purpose fix'd, lie law, and read 
 In crimson characters the will of Heav'n, 
 And in the nation's woes, he heard the voice 
 Of God, a voice heard by his heart, and to 
 His soul well known. He listen'd, not with ears 
 Alone, when Heav'n spoke, but all within 
 Him saw, and heard, and felt, the will divine. 
 Henceforth he rose to heights beyond himself, 
 And with him, bcre the nation's swelling soul, 
 From wdience the grand, the universal shout 
 Of liberty went forth, which rung through ev'ry 
 Kegion of the earth, out-roaring far the 
 Flaming mocsters of the battle held, where, 
 In mortal conflict, right and wrong, each 
 Other face. 
 
 Hard by, upholding the great 
 Captain of the day, stands with a firm-knit 
 Brow another giant soul, who to th' earth 
 Had long proclaim'd, " a higher law." Burning 
 With truth, he cheers his chief, and waves before 
 A Sov'reign people Freedom's loyal flag 
 Of universal right and liberty ! 
 A Steward, faithful to his lofty trust, 
 Immoveable in Heav'n's high'r will. 
 A Pilot worthy a great nation's hope, 
 Midst threat'ning reefs, he steers the nation's barque, 
 And clears her of the rocks ; of foreign war. 
 
16 
 
 His country's right-hand man, whose soul is bent 
 
 On tearing out the long-lodg'd cancer from 
 
 The nation's heart, and raising it by force 
 
 Of right, to all that mortals can desire 
 
 Or have of honor, power, prosperity, 
 
 And peace. The sword he bears not ; but themight'er 
 
 Weapon, from whose point a stream of thought 
 
 Flows forth, he wields, nor to mere bounded armies 
 
 Doth he speak ; rather he pours his thoughts o'er 
 
 All the earth, and tells the listening nations 
 
 That his people mean for ever to be 
 
 Free, by breaking chains w T hich bound the freeman 
 
 To the slave, and wither' d of his being, 
 
 Ev'ry pow'r and hope. 
 
 Poster'ty shall bless 
 The Se wards of our age ; men that break down 
 All barriers that oppose the march of right, 
 That look o'er all the Earth, and sigh to see 
 The masses of mankind still wrapt in night. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Immortal Lincoln ! the whole Earth at thy 
 Great name already thrills, the voice of Heav'n 
 In thee is heard, nor dost thou even thy 
 Own will perform. A higher will than thine, 
 Thy reason rules, yet nought in thee suspends, 
 Ages beyond us, shall with joy upon 
 
17 
 
 Thy front, read with delight 
 
 "The sent of God!" 
 
 Nor aught 
 More clear, was ever, by the pen Divine, 
 Upon the page of history inscrib'd. 
 
 He, who the will of Heav'n to his own 
 Prefers, and a whole nation bows before. 
 The Infinite, who dares all wrong, though arm'd. 
 By all that wealth, thought, power, or steel could do 
 To shield him in all human wiles, watching, 
 With iron resolution, the fix'd hour, 
 For the grandest stroke, by mortals ever 
 Giv'n ; who th' impossible attempts, leaning 
 Or. high Omnip'tence, and tells the mountain, 
 Tow'ring in its pride, to haste, and cast itself 
 Into the sea ; whose faith and courage bids 
 The long thought sun of human interests, 
 Stand still, and at his fiat, as the nation's 
 Will, starts ev'ry bolt and bar, that for long 
 Ages, all of mortal power and greatness 
 Had employ' d to shut up human energies 
 Within set lines, describ'd by lashing despotism, 
 And lets the boundless wealth of intellect, 
 Of commerce, truth, and right, burst on the world, 
 Consolidating well, his rear, in all 
 
IS 
 
 The well-won triumphs of his brilliant course ; 
 And to eternal justice binds mankind, 
 
 Holds out to all the gazing Earth, credentials 
 Beyond reasoning clear, as straight from Heav'n, 
 Written with brightness, stronger than the Sun. 
 Amazing pow'r, grand warrant from the skies, 
 Nor ever was the people's power abus'd ! 
 
 Thus was our modern Moses taught, and train'd 
 By Heav'n, for his great work ; the spring of all 
 Hi? being was his faith ; his power was 
 Eternal truth, not vague philosophy, 
 Nor that which only dazzling light imparts, 
 But that which, like an anchor, holding to 
 The rock, defies the tempest and the storm. 
 
 Unfathomable myst'ries in the ways 
 Of God he own'd, but well he knew, the millions 
 Held in chains were only there to show forth 
 That high power which brings out the glories 
 Of Omnip'tence ; nor did he fear the sea, 
 Though red with blood and deep; he knew the waters 
 Would divide, and make the way, for all the 
 Hosts of God to pass triumphantly. Yea, 
 Well he knew the Pharoahs of the age must 
 Sink, engulf d in their own crimes, by their own 
 Madness overwhelm'd. 
 
19 
 
 Full oft doth Heav'n thus to earth, by her own 
 Chosen servants speak. In olden time, God 
 Talk'd with man, and then proclaimed, " Thus 
 Saith the Lord" ! But in our modern day, Heav'n 
 Speaks full oft by mortal interests, by Press, 
 Yea, even by politics, by science, commerce, 
 Above all, by honest truth — she sends through all, 
 When mortals least expect, by her own sov'reign 
 And resistless will, such grand electric 
 Shocks, as thrones, and powers, and slavish tyrants 
 Hurl into the dust. Chance through these lab'rinths 
 Could never wind ; nor aught is truer, than 
 That she is blind ; Woe to the blind she leads. 
 
 Foul, shallow infidelity may scowl, 
 And inner sordid sphere find various springs 
 Of action, temper'd here on earth. 
 
 God touching human hearts, or whisp'ring to 
 The soul, creates an empty smile with unbelief, 
 Bet whispers from blind chance ; and voices out 
 Of nothing are well heard, and have a charm. 
 Let but that nothing, only something be, 
 And all is vision'ry, or nothing heard. 
 
 Ah ! in our faithful nature, lies deep hid, 
 " A higher law," and even earthly springs, 
 Are oftimes temper'd by a power Divine ; 
 
 Behind these mortal scenes, there is a hand, 
 
And springs thai human thought finds bard to trace. 
 
 Each mighty globe, proclaims Omnipotence, 
 
 Nor less, each atom which makes np its bulk, 
 
 The nations are not into tempest toss'd 
 
 By sheer, dark blindness, having nought in view. 
 
 The Lincolns of all ages, serve a higher 
 
 Power ! 
 
 VII. 
 
 But oh ! as now the sent of Heav'n advanc'd 
 The monster, with all Hell from its profoundest 
 Depths again is stirrd, and now the mighty 
 Conflict, to its climax swells. Heart-rending 
 - ght ! 
 
 Before these awful masses of mankind. 
 As they in dreadful might, beneath their glittering 
 Spears, drive o'er the foe with rending shouts of 
 Agonising victory, minding 
 With the thundering cannon's roar, lost in 
 The smoke of their own strife, and wading through 
 Deep rivers, rolling out of human veins, 
 By dying Brothers, gasping in their blood, 
 Urg'd on. Mankind might well turn pale. 
 
 But now ght 
 Our modern Moses moves ; the rock he knew 
 
21 
 
 Would send forth living streams; the rod 
 He needs not, faith with him alone strikes home, 
 And well he knows, the rock of truth will yield, 
 To all obedient faith ; he knows the mountain 
 To his faith will bow. 
 
 Hear him ye nations 
 Of the Earth, ye foul idol'ters of hellish 
 Power, and, as ye listen to the deep ton'd 
 Justice of his soul, tremble, for your great 
 Moloch now must fall. 
 
 " The price of blood, which 
 " We unrighteously from sable viens have 
 " Drawn, must by the nation be paid down." 
 Pure was the fountain of this righteous thought ; 
 The honest heart that gave it birth, felt right, 
 And in the sons of Ham, full men beheld, 
 Now demonstrated at the cannon'smouth ! 
 
 Nor could, nor did eternal justice yield? 
 Its righteous claims: hence a whole nation in 
 Deep mourning clad, where thousands of maternal 
 Hearts are pierc'd, and bleed, where the great fountains 
 Of a people'sgrief pour out, in riveis 
 Of both tears and blood, their mighty woes, eager, 
 Mid'st all that wrings the nation's soul, to pay, 
 Though dear, the awful debt, to God and man : 
 
22 
 
 Sighs from the nation's broken heart rose up 
 To Heav'n. Before the Infinite she bows, 
 And weeps, then isses the blest hand that smites. 
 Yea, mid'st the din of war, writhing, she owns 
 Her God, His sov'reign justice hels, and in 
 Her faithful Abraham, sees His will. 
 
 Draw near, 
 Ye iron spirits of the age, which steel 
 Prefer to truth ! — ye worshippers of power, 
 Who nothing see but in the sword, come see 
 A people's power, concentrated in one 
 Arm — their will ! 
 
 A mighty federation, 
 Bound, and arm'd with Christian truth ; a phalanx, 
 Fronting old errors, by the power of light. 
 Nought of the gorgeous here is seen, or dares 
 Approach. The robe of ceremonious pomp 
 Falls off, and, dropping, brings out naked princ'ple 
 To view, apart from useless, antique rites, 
 Or wither'd prestige of antiquity. 
 Justice and simple truth, w r ell reasoned out, 
 In grand omnipotence, stand boldly out, 
 And safely work the nation's faithful helm. 
 Nought more sublime — a people, sov'reign in 
 Their will, yet list'ning with intense suspense, 
 
23 
 
 To one great soul, who in his turn, with firm 
 
 Unswerving step, seeks out, pursues, and brings 
 
 To bear, his country's thought; the whole thus forming 
 
 One grand heart, with but one high and lofty 
 
 Purpose kept in view — Truth only, and nought 
 
 Else, which surely shapes the nation's glorious 
 
 Course, leading it on to highest victory. 
 
 Thrice happy blending of the elemi 
 
 Of power, where those who order, and who ex'cute, 
 
 Arc one; thrice happy bond, showing al once 
 
 True union is true power. Yen, happy are 
 
 The people, whose acknowledg'd chief, fixi 
 
 His eye, upon the guiding cloud by day, 
 
 And when the deep dark night of sorrow conn 
 
 Still sees the faithful Pillar flaming on 
 
 Before; nor heeds, nor follows aught beside, 
 
 Philosophy is but a rushlight Maine ; 
 
 Nought but eternal truth commands his thought: 
 
 This is his glorious Sun, his polar star. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The conflict rages still ; and armies, like 
 The billows of the deep, each other whelm. 
 Men on to deadly conflict rush ; and through 
 Each other drive, while from the mortal strife, 
 The smoking, sacrificial blood flows forth, 
 
24 
 
 Forming atoning rivers, for the ages 
 
 Past of crying sins, till e'en the greedy earth 
 
 Is glutted, and can drink no more ; yet still 
 
 This crimson sea of deepest woe. rolls on, 
 
 And as it dashes o'er the tow'ring rocks 
 
 Of daring pride, covers the wond'ring nations 
 
 With its fearful spray. Earth is amaz'd, until 
 
 At last the righteous climax seems to near ; 
 
 Justice, in majesty, her own omnipotence 
 
 Puts on, and at injustice hurls her all 
 
 Confounding pow'r. Here, then, the hand Divine 
 
 Is visible, and clear the voice of God 
 
 Is heard. Hell from her deep foundations shakes ! 
 
 Fain would she flee away ; but where ? All know 
 
 The voice they hate, and fiercely gnash at him. 
 
 They cannot love. 
 
 The mighty monster rages, 
 But the chains he forg'd, are now upon him. 
 AH had he dar'd ; but well he knew, that he 
 Who bore the sword, was the great power of God. 
 Deep darkness he had loved more than light— 
 A guilt made fouler by the light possess'd ; 
 Yea, from the blest materials of pure truth, 
 A fortress in defence of lies was rear'd, 
 To shield the palaces of pomp and wealth, 
 Where guilty ease on unknown anguish lean' d, 
 
26 
 
 And highest pleasure danc'd on deepest woe. 
 Gigantic were his purposes and plans, 
 While daring were the hopes of power and pride. 
 Hence, hard he sought to stretch his magic wantF 
 Both far, and near; yea, long the neck of lib'rty 
 Had felt the crippling power of his cloven foot, 
 Till Freedom's noblest interests had began 
 To feel the blasting influence of his damning 
 Power. 
 
 Ah ! say not Charity has fled, when Lib'rty 
 Speaks thus ; for she can nought of truth e'er change. 
 
 But Lincoln now 7 is in the hands of Hcav'n : 
 He comes, full arm'd to do his Master's will ; 
 Nought of the tempest in his soul is seen ; 
 His high commission he has calmly read, 
 And to the post, by Heav'n assign'd, stands firm. 
 The foe, with Christ upon his lip , his laws 
 Had dar'd, and every murmur into silence 
 Lash'd, till all of man by iron hoofs was 
 Trampl'd out. The frown of high Omnipotence 
 Throughout his being now sends rending thrills ; 
 And overwhelming terror all confounds. 
 He quails before those piercing looks which dart 
 Upon him ; from the throne of Right and Truth, 
 Nought but Omnipotence had sunk him thus. 
 
26 
 
 Thus in all ages have the burning crimes 
 Of men become the fiery rods which oft 
 Have through their guilty souls sent dreadful strokes. 
 They their own souls have lacerated, whipp'd 
 And torn — they their own liberties; have stabb'd — 
 They, the fierce fires of their self-made woes 
 Have lighted up ; passions conflicting have 
 Ignited and blown up ; and sceptres, honours, 
 Hopes, and wealth, have been sent whirling into 
 Very nought. 
 
 On earth, our laws and in t' rests, 
 Mutual are : our happiness in others 
 Dwells. We our own wealth create when others 
 We enrich ; and they themselves enrich by 
 Making us abound ; nor are we free, while 
 Others are in chains — nor throats, nor purses 
 Are secure beneath the lash. Woe to the 
 People free by others' chains : So is the 
 Wealth of mind ; a nation where the powers of 
 Thought are free, roaming through all the realms of 
 Light and truth, where infancy unchain'd is 
 Train' d for G-od ; her boundless stores e'en yet augments, 
 By pouring out on others all she has. 
 
 Oh ! fearful sight ! 
 
27 
 
 A nation iill'd with light, 
 And truth of God, thus turn'd upon itself, 
 And its own vitals tearing out, arm'd with 
 Unheard-of powers, to chastise itself, 
 So great the crime, of closing eyes and ears 
 And hearts to the loud warnings, sounding from 
 The generations past. 
 
 Sic is an Achan 
 In the camp of God ; annihilation 
 Is its only cure ; its presence cannot but 
 Awake our fears, whatever be its form — 
 Whether it clogs the nation's laws, or checks 
 The soaring of its soul, or whether yet 
 It sinks a portion, by a weight of chain, 
 And sends the other to fictitious heights 
 Of daring power, tyranny, and pride, 
 Sure whirling ruin must come on at last. 
 
 Ah ! this was seen by one of gone-by days, 
 Who, from the lofty heights of truth and right, 
 To which he had attain'd, to future generations 
 Loudly prophesied his rending fears for 
 His own people's sins ; to his clear vision, 
 Scenes of calamity and woe stretch'd out. 
 Hear him — his voice still rings through all our souls; 
 He knew the price which mortals pay for wrong ; 
 He knew that light and tyranny could never 
 
2^ 
 
 Blend ; he knew that goods an J chattels ne'er could 
 
 Be men ; yea well he knew, that liberty 
 
 Or death must reign, whatever blood it cast. 
 
 Nor ever, long as time endures, can those 
 
 Grand sounds of thrilling truth die out. Live, live ! 
 
 Eternal truth ! 
 
 " I for my country tremble, 
 " When I think that God is just, and that His 
 " Justice cannot ever sleep !" 
 
 Thy judgments, 
 Oh ! Eternal, are a deep unsounclable ! 
 Great God ! thy people spare, nor let thy righteous 
 Indignation ever burn. 
 
 IX. 
 
 
 Pause we here ! 
 
 Silence significant — a moment reigns. 
 
 These mighty armies by grand thoughts are still'd, 
 
 The monster moves, and in prophetic silence 
 
 "Writhes, nor aught dares utter, but he feels despair. 
 
 His firey flings fall off, his powers reel, 
 
 His battlements are shiver' d with the shock, 
 
 His sceptre droops, and all within him fears ; 
 
 The towering pride of Lucifer, comes down, 
 
 The sword of Justice to the quick has reached, 
 
 And to his ruin now he opens eyes and ears. 
 
 Throughout the earth his rending roar is heard ; 
 
29 
 
 He raves, and to tlie ancient mountains calls, 
 
 " Come, cover me, and hide me from the wrath 
 
 41 To come. My power is gone, earth even, seems 
 
 " To fly beneath my feet — all, all is gone. 
 
 41 The centre of my power is overthrown, 
 
 " Its mighty fulcrum is for ever sunk, 
 
 44 My capital itself, dread Liberty 
 
 " Has seen ; great Abraham himself has march'd 
 
 44 Her streets. Oh ! could I die — Can ye do nought 
 
 " For me, ve hills? Can ve not fling o'er me 
 
 " The soothing mantle of your earth ? O ! no, 
 
 44 I cannot fly myself ; annihilation 
 
 " Would be truly sweet ! but immortal' ty 
 
 44 Clings fast to me." 
 
 Where shall this monster fly ? 
 Even the earth was yet too small for him. 
 Hence, mountains falling on' him were mere nought ; 
 Earth then, even though foul, is not his place. 
 He sought a momentary shelter here, 
 And while deep night o'er all the earth yet reign'd 
 He sold and tore up human souls, with ease ; 
 But now the day of liberty has dawn'd, 
 Nor can he breathe beneath its righteous Sun. 
 Let then the monster into blackness haste ; 
 Hell only is his range ; yea, his own place. 
 
30 
 
 Where else, with aims and hopes so foul and vast, 
 
 Shall he now fly ? He in the pride of pow'r 
 
 Had dar' J the Eternal in the friend of Liberty ; 
 
 He to the servant of the Holy One 
 
 Had turn'd the dasher of his hate. Death was 
 
 His price for Liberty ; the motto of 
 
 His realm was, Death to Liberty ! Nor dar'd 
 
 She in her own name near his fatal shores. 
 
 The Upas tree of tyranny was there. 
 
 Nor could the soul of Liberty abide 
 
 Its deathly power ; the very element 
 
 For her was Death ; hence scenes of woe and horror 
 
 Cover'd the guilty land; its cries rose up 
 
 To Heav'u. 
 
 But now, the monster Parent 
 Of these rending scenes is fac'd by Liberty. 
 Yea, she now dares his ancient power. See how 
 He quails before the power he had dar'd. 
 The hour of glorious Liberty is come ; 
 She hurls defiance at the uicient power, 
 And at his threat' ning frowns she calmly smiles , 
 Eternal Pow'r has cloth'd her with his might ; 
 Nor is the monster blind — he sees the hand 
 Of God ; yet how, or where shaH he escape ? 
 How fly the earth, his anciant seat so lov'd ? 
 
How all the sweets of power now give up ? 
 
 Not e'en in Hell such height of power lives. 
 
 Foul as the infernal regions are, and with 
 
 Damnation black, they never rung with deeper 
 
 Woes, than by this Hell-'scap'd monster had been 
 
 Pour'd on earth. How quit a power so great, 
 
 And to a fiendish heart eo sweet? — a power 
 
 By which all horror to its grandest climax 
 
 Is brought up. The pride of power reigns in Hell ; 
 
 But here the weak are sought ; and power well wielded, 
 
 Can to its highest summit raise our pride, 
 
 And by unceasing lashings, well sustain 
 
 It there. How leave the pleasures of such bloody 
 
 Wealth ?— leave such vast riches, and retire to hell ! 
 
 Yea, fly he must, and shall ; no matter how. 
 Light now breaks forth on all the earth ; hope in 
 Full glory springs; the dawn at last appears; 
 The masses now begin to feel its power, 
 And, rising, break all chains of despotism. 
 Much hath already been expell'd from earth, 
 And tyrants from their thrones have been brought down. 
 The davs of iron rule have well rim-h fled ; 
 Nor can this monster of iniquity, 
 This terrible embodiment of boundless 
 Crime, escape ; earth cannot shelter him. Light, 
 Truth, and liberty are free ; they bless mankind, 
 

 And though thilr march e'en yet is slow, 'tis sure. 
 This monster cannot hide himself on earth ; 
 His long dark night now flies before the 'clay, 
 Yea, let him with his worshipp'd darkness fly. 
 Hope of another realm on earth, has fled. 
 
 The mountains now, to him afford no shield, 
 And if they could, 'twere but a moment's pause. 
 Nay, from the very earth he must depart 
 The whole sublunar region spurns him from 
 Its realm. Where'er the powers of darkness dwell, 
 There let him fly ; earth now has shook him off ; 
 To his own hell let him at once depart. 
 
 Only one door of dismal hope he sees ; 
 But oh ! ere yet he leaps from earth, so lov'd, 
 1 Where honor, wealth, and power, laid at his feet, 
 On yet another foul, and final effort, 
 He resolves. 
 
 Spirits, of powers are possess'd* 
 To mortals hid, they fly upon the wings 
 Of thought, and from the regions of the blest 
 Or clamn'd, whether we wake or sleep, walk oft 
 The earth, on purposes of good or ill ; 
 Or stretching far, or dwindling to a point, 
 Hence, like the wily spirits of the deep. 
 Though vast, this monster from his measureless 
 Dimensions draws his powers up into 
 
The narrow limits of a human soul, 
 
 And seeks the one best fitted for his dark 
 
 Design ; nor, alas, searches long the wretch. 
 
 Now found, he by a fearful power unknown 
 
 To man, all hell in him pent up, leaps with 
 
 His fiendish elements, into a ready 
 
 Heait, which long had worshipp'd him, and to one 
 
 Horrid point he seeks to bring his long black 
 
 Catalogue of crime. The man he seizes, 
 
 He himself into a very fiend converts, 
 
 And arms and nerves him for his murd'rous work, 
 
 His foul commission places in his hand, 
 
 Or rather, lodges it, deep in his heart. 
 
 The base assassin is sustaiu'd by hell, 
 
 Which howls a loud applause, and sends him forth. 
 
 The Prince of Darkness lights his passions up, 
 
 And with a fiendish madness fires his soul, 
 
 Then in the fuiy of his power, bids him 
 
 Haste, with nice precision points his dang'rous 
 
 Course, and with uncertain daring tells him, 
 
 The last pregnant hour is come ! 
 
 Despair. 
 
 Hear him 
 
 «T1 v hands ' 
 
 Satan, betrays 
 
 All ! all I ran, is in 
 
34 
 
 " Go ! fly to yonder brilliant scene, 
 " He's there. 
 
 " Unwillingly ! 
 
 •' But there he sits, 
 " Amidst the splendid throng, in high festiv'ty, 
 " Haste ! haste ! for thou long hast known the v 
 " I now have fill'd thee with my greatest pow'r, 
 " Our hosts invisible shall follow thee, 
 u Hold fast, point well the weapon of my power, 
 " My ev'ry hope, upon thee hangs ! 
 
 " Time now, 
 '" Is all ! 
 
 " Haste ! drive through all, and plant tlr 
 " Behind the victim of my deepest hate." 
 
 Fiends, cowards are, they cannot, dare not, 
 They basely slink behind. 
 
 Onward he rushes, 
 Faithful he keeps his bloody task in vie 
 The dastard's dagger in his fiendish ban 
 He, snake-like creeps behind, 
 And through the noble vie:" ' 
 Sends the swift messenger o 
 
 Great God ! 
 Thy servant, Lincoln, falls ! 
 
 We bow to thee ; 
 Alarm, confusion, fright, now seize on all j 
 
Grand bursts of deepest horror all overwhelm ; 
 
 One half, not knowing aught, look on in mute 
 
 Amaze, bewilder'd at the scene, until 
 
 A universal roar of grief comes on. 
 
 And anguish seizes on the mighty mass. 
 
 Meanwhile, all thoughts and hearts in highest whirl, 
 
 The fiend escapes — he flies, but cannot fly 
 
 Himself; he, bounding, all o'erjeaps ; Hell lends 
 
 Him wings of flight, but they are heavy with 
 
 His guilt ; the all-confounding pangs of Hell 
 
 Are on him, and his being rend ; yea, he 
 
 Himself is hell ; where'er he goes is hell ; 
 
 Already doth he feel its burning flames, 
 
 Whose fiery scourges send infernal stings 
 
 Through all his soul. His bloody hands, in deep 
 
 Damnation steep'd, droop, paralyz'd, nor serve 
 
 Him to rein up his steed of flight. On to 
 
 Destruction now he'd rives, hurl'd by the pow'r 
 
 Of the liend he serves, which now his guilty 
 
 Dupe, with flaming curses whips, till, breathless 
 
 And confounded, all his being sinks into 
 
 A sudden wreck. His soul now lacerated by remorse, 
 
 Despis'd, and as a coward spurn'd by Hell 
 
 Itself, lie ignominiously crawls 
 
 Into the shades of death, whence, head-long from 
 
 The earth, c<>v.er'd with crime, eternal justice 
 
 Hurlg him to his place. 
 
m 
 x. 
 
 Thus fell victoriously the sent of God, 
 A soul of loftiest, firmest, brightest truth ! 
 Well might the earth now sigh. Mankind has lost 
 A friend ; but truth is never slain. She only 
 "Mocks the sword — her right is vict'ry ; nor ever 
 Doth, nor ever can she yield to mortals. 
 She oft seems to fall ; no ! she cannot 
 Die. She from eternity descends, nor ever 
 Could be reaeh'd by fire or sword. 
 
 The servant 
 Vl the living God has sunk ; but not one 
 Solitary ray of his own hopes is 
 Quench'd ; he falls triumphantly— hearts break ; 
 But yet the shout of victory is heard. 
 His blood pour'd out, renews the fiat of 
 The skies. Throughout the earth the voice of Heav'n 
 Now in louder thunder speaks, and tyrants 
 Quail ; while by the blood of Lincoln, Heav'n bids 
 The earth be free ! 
 
 Hear, and be glad, ye who 
 Can recognize the master's voice, and see 
 The hand that rules the age ; chains now from ev'ry 
 Human form must fall. The course of nature 
 Now no longer must be clogg'd, nor trampl'd 
 Under foot— her laws, her sacred ties, henceforth, 
 
By ruffian power never, shall be broke, nor 
 
 "her sov'reignty by hellish force dethron'd. 
 .les of despotism, whether by thrones 
 hips, or other grov'ling lust of rule, 
 , . ./ by the righteous will ofHeav'n, loud proclaimed 
 
 id ratified by noble blood pour'd out, 
 5 .all to the bottomless abyss be hurl'd ; 
 le night of tyranny is passing off, 
 
 1 Liberty her glorious day brings on. 
 ; 3 Otters which on ev'ry int'rest hung, 
 
 b by the self-same powers which put them on, 
 ,n now for ever taken off 
 
 So true, 
 wrath of man, which oftimes fiercely dares 
 gbt, is oftimes made to praise our God. 
 was the triumph of our fall'n Chief! 
 
 . hich wrench'd him from all hearts, 
 i cipis hed mark'd out, 
 . : of the nation's springs were doom'd ; 
 
 ring down ev'ry hope was meant. 
 Le firm foundations of a rising 
 hope, Hell had its might'st lever 
 raging, from his centre, meant to 
 . Sun. 
 
 A cloud of brilliant sou!s, inspir'd 
 , jealousy's intensest fires lighted 
 
Up, for all now reel'd. 
 
 The mighty son of 
 Mars, whose gleaming sword had flashed its terrors 
 Through the opposing ranks, whose deep-laid plans had 
 All wall'd in, and sever'd every sinew 
 Of the foe, by murd'rous daggers had been 
 Pointed at : he who the roaring cannon 
 Had struck mute, whose calculating daring, 
 Had the wreath of vict'ry won, and of his 
 Country had become the pride, now by a 
 Snaky dastard is pursued. Deep laid, but 
 Base are all the plans of Hell ; they dare, but 
 Oft by simplest means are foil'd ; yea, oft its 
 Mighti'staims, of very inanition 
 Fall. So here the purposes of Heav'n stood, 
 And to a grateful country its lov'd hero 
 Spar'd, to crown his conquests by now yielding 
 Up the sword, and healing hearts which in defeat 
 Were brave, though victims of a fatal course ; 
 Henceforth the armed victor, armless, shall 
 His country raise to Freedom's glorious heights, 
 Beyond the reach of chains and slavery. 
 
 He too, who now is justly seated on 
 The righteous throne of a great people's will, 
 By hellish hate and fear was doom'd to fall ; 
 Mark-d as the well-known foe of darin 
 
39 
 
 A hater of the monster which had fill'd 
 
 His land with chains, and stain'd the glories or 
 
 Its liberties; but here, too, Hell was foil'd. 
 
 HeavVs will had promptly interpos'd her shield, 
 
 And sav'd him, to rebuild and reconstruct. 
 
 The living stones for this grand work, lie scatter'd 
 
 O'er the land ; materials fitted for our 
 
 Brightest hope3 abound, though by confounding 
 
 War, into confusion whirl'd. Happy the 
 
 Seers of a people, who the hidden 
 
 Diamonds of the nation know ; a nation 
 
 Shiver'd by its own great pow'r, and trembling 
 
 ''Neath its own o'erwhelming weight, needed the 
 
 Choice of Heav n, in hands, and hearts, and heads to 
 
 Amputate, adjust, and heal ; and wisely 
 
 Shape the future course ; yea, and she chooses 
 
 "Whom she will — her plans from mortal gaze are 
 
 Hid ; and yet to cheer us 'midst the night of 
 
 Time, faint glimpses oft upon our senses 
 
 Strike, which all our feeble powers overwhelm, 
 
 Leaving convictions of a pow'r supreme. 
 
 Hell, then, again was baffi'd in her foul 
 Intent — these fiends were notallow'd to quench 
 The nation's hope — enough that one great victim 
 On the nation's altar laid. Hence, as by 
 Miracle, the Vice-Chief shunn'd the death-aim'd 
 Stroke ; for Heav 'n meant in him to bless th' age. 
 
40 
 
 And told him live ! and build the Temple of 
 Eternal right, where all mankind in spirit 
 Might adore. Where, from the altar too, he 
 Might proclaim to th' whole earth, unbounded liberty, 
 Within the range of righteous law ! 
 
 Great shall 
 That nation be, whose course is steer'd, by truth 
 Immutable, and whose just laws proclaim, 
 Its majesty, the people's heart its throne ; 
 
 Yet, well nigh was the nation's polar star 
 Put out, first of the constellations of 
 The age, a star which high antiquity, 
 Had, Seward nam'd ; and which the pow'is of darkness 
 Had toil'd hard to quench — or from its lofty 
 Firmament of truth to wrench. He, like th' ancient 
 Star of Bethlehem, had long stood over 
 Where eternal truth appear'd, a star of 
 Brilliant magnitude, which long through darkness 
 Had diffus'd, unwelcome rays, and thus had 
 Horrified the trembling Herods of the day, 
 Who like their murd'rous prototype, sought ev'ry 
 Life to slay, so that of tyranny might hold. 
 But yet in vain they rage ; the nation's star 
 ,Yet shines, and from a well-earn'd el'vation 
 .Pours his light, the glory of his Peers in 
 Truth — lie by an honest influ'nce, a sceptre 
 
41 
 
 Sways ; the ruling error of the day lias 
 Felt his strong annihilating power, 
 
 The spirits that warr'd for chains have fount] in him 
 A foe, and felt the power of his arm. 
 Their well-aim'd darts flew thick and fast, but all 
 Fell short ; screen'd by a hand Divine, he, as 
 By fire, escap'd. Frightful and daring was 
 The murd'rer's howl. He rushes, knife in hand, 
 And through a noble son's strong shielding heart, 
 Sought hard to drive ; who bravely life for life, 
 Had ariv'n in that hour. 
 
 o 
 
 Now, on his helpless victim leaps the fiend, 
 And all his hellish powers brings to bear. 
 Hell here, its madness drove beyond itself. 
 Oh ! what a bloody scene, with this foul slave 
 Of Hell, he murders, lights, and howls for Slav'ry ; 
 See how in eager haste he turns, and twists 
 The bloody steel; he labours at his damning 
 "Work ; he tears wide open, and digs deep into 
 The yawning gash, and seeks with maddening haste 
 The vital vein which lets out life. Moments 
 f Were hours, and the savage monster fled : 
 Sure he had driven from the field, his foe ; 
 But the blest unseen watcher, had said, no ! 
 I here damnation's fiery waves arrest, 
 And with them, Death and Hell drove back again, 
 r ing the servant of Lis country's hcpe ; 
 
4 -J 
 
 Thus he, whose clear prophetic vision had 
 Foretold, the ' conflict irrepressible,' 
 Now felt the power of his own deep thoughts. 
 iDeep were the wounds, of these confounding blows, 
 Vet glorious was the bloody victory. 
 Heav'n often flings us, in blest triumph, on 
 Our knees, and shows us that our conquest is 
 Of God. 
 
 Thus rose from Death, one of the armless 
 Soldiers of the age ; and rising, join'd the 
 People's thrilling shouts of gratitude to Heav'n ; 
 For well he felt, this glory was of God, 
 And prophesied again unto the world. 
 He, like the faithful watchman at the bows 
 Ne'er sleeps, and still, of threat' ning danger warns. 
 The triumph of an honest man is great, 
 When only simple truth his cause maintains, 
 But when the arm of Heav'n is made bare, 
 Spite of himself, to snatch him from the grave, 
 The lustre, is of greater glory still. 
 The right hand of eternal power was here. 
 Fierce were the plunges of the dastard's knife, 
 Within a hair's breadth, had he dug of life ; 
 But often, Hell its own infernal plans 
 Confounds, and in its fury, fails to reach 
 [ts mark, and finds itself plung'd back again, 
 
<*3 
 
 Into its own abyss. 
 
 Ah ! true, there is 
 A Great Infallible ; unerring are 
 His ways ; who swerves from him, becomes a sfcai 
 From its own centre broke, and wanders into 
 Endless night. 
 
 XL 
 
 All hail, great Lincoln ! thy grand task, 
 Thy high commission, given thee of God, 
 Is well fulfill'd ; thy Master needed thee— 
 He train'd thee in the school of his own choicG, 
 And himself. rais'd thee to the height sublime, 
 Of his own will ; he knew, his Abrah'm would 
 Be faithful to his trust, and meant to bless 
 The world in him. Yea, heav'n with lire hapitz'd 
 Thee for her work, and through thy being sent, 
 The glow intense, which tempered all thy soul 
 With strength, and rais'd thee to the level of 
 Thy work, nor aught astonishes from such 
 A source, well might rare souls from such a college 
 Spring, a building where the walls are all made 
 Up of thought, intell'gence, and living souls, 
 Whose ruling President, was God himself. 
 Such was thy college, Lincoln, and thy Master 
 Such, who pour'd into thy soul a stream of 
 Life., and made the vigor of thy being 
 
44 
 
 His own truth and love. 
 
 Philos'phy's bright light, 
 
 To thee was doubtless sweet, but the far brighter 
 Light of Heav'n itself, was needed here. Hope, 
 Courage, faith, and love, thy springs and pillars 
 Were, all human springs in this great work, tempered 
 By aught of man, had iaifd ; a Lincoln's conscience, 
 And a Lincoln's heart, with God enthron'd in 
 Them, might lead, and bear a unVerse, but all 
 Beneath eternal power, must sink. 
 
 Great was the burden of thy country's woes, 
 But well thy master knew hU strength in thee. 
 Yet deep and many, were the furrows of 
 Thy lofty brow, for Heav'n tests all the strength 
 Which she bestow T s, and to the utmost tries 
 Our faith. 
 
 Thou didst live rapidly, thy term 
 In pow'r, was a whole life-time, for a common 
 Man ; but age ne'er touch'd thy mental powers ; 
 Thy soaring soul was ever young — the vision 
 Of a brilliant future fir'd thee, and ever 
 Kept thee up. Before thee stood a future 
 Universe, unchain'd, and every soul of Adam 
 Free ! Hope was thy ever-glowing element. 
 Yet did thy being now, beneath its load, 
 Chosen by Heav'n thou, for this great work. 
 
4o 
 
 Th' no were the only shoulders, fitted for 
 
 This mighty weight of care, and wot;. Thine, too, 
 
 The only heart, where dwelt the elements 
 
 To be call'd forth. 
 
 Well had thy Master strengthen'd 
 Thee, to grapple with the foe ; and from thy 
 Country's bow'ls, the foul serpent to drag out ; 
 Which on its vitals had long gnaw'd, and on 
 The greatness of a mighty people, hung, 
 Like a true, with'ring incubus of Hell. 
 No greater monster ever curs'd our earth, 
 No power more debasing e'er was le't ; 
 Nor ever were the fires of jeal'sy more 
 Intense, or [ride of power, of a bolder 
 Type. Unbounded daring mark'd this Hell-born 
 Pow'r ; but Heav'n had frown'd upon her. Oft had 
 She stung, and sought to cripple all thy soul ; 
 But thou by Heav'n wast arm'd throughout — thy mind 
 AYell balanc'd, and thy heart well tond. Yea well 
 Thy country knew, that thou wast true to God, 
 And true thou wast, till thy great 31aster said, 
 It is enough ! well done ! faithful and good ! And bade 
 Thee gather up thy feet, and enter into 
 Rest. 
 
 He, to the realms of immortality 
 Has fled — whv should the earth be sad ? He, to 
 
46 
 
 Mortality is lost; but he has gain'd 
 
 The prize, and scal'd the heights of life. Deep and 
 
 Unfathom'ble are the ways of God ; yet 
 
 Would vain man attempt to sound these mighty 
 
 Depths, and venture judgment on the ways of 
 
 Heav'n. But he who fears, and loves the righteous 
 
 Hand that smites — whose soul adores th' Infinite, 
 
 Knows all things work for good, to those, who shape 
 
 And steer their course, by conscience, truth, and God. 
 
 The light intense, which by its brightness blinds, 
 
 Only our weakness clearly demonstrates. 
 
 Yet mortals, far to weak to gaze upon, 
 
 The full bright orb of high eternal truth, 
 
 Cite oft the Infinite before their doubts ; 
 
 A sparrow falls, an atom from its centre 
 
 Seems to fly, a mountain reels, and planets 
 
 Burst. To mortals one is nought, the other 
 
 Overwhelming ; but to the Infinite, 
 
 The mountain and the atom are alike. 
 
 He knows the details of his universe ; 
 
 Sparrows and atoms are all known to Him. 
 
 He rules them as the Mountain and the Sun ! 
 
 A Lincoln, therefore, falls not unobserv'd : 
 His fall, is part of some all-wise design, 
 Which mortals dare not judge, and cannot know ; 
 Nor aught of guilt in crime is chane'd, or roll'd 
 
47 
 
 Away from man, because the Infinite 
 
 Was th^re. A lie, can ne'er be truth, and darkness 
 
 Never* can be light. Truth is immutable. 
 
 Hence, he who slew this chosen one of God, 
 
 Was foul, and dark as Hell. Crush'd 'neath the weight 
 
 Of his own guilt, he ceas'd on earth his crimes. 
 
 Yet from the lashings of his own remorse 
 
 Pie scaped not, no reasoning could ease 
 
 Him, in his self-inflicted pangs, wretch ! 
 
 No stoicism could convert him to 
 
 A stone. A man, he is ; and such, with all 
 
 His pow'rs of conscience, reason, and all else, 
 
 Must be. He struck his conscience mute, and dar 
 
 Himself. His reason he put out, and stunn'd ; 
 
 Nor from its just tribunal, aught would heed. 
 
 His guilt must then remain ; nor aught is chang'd, 
 
 Because the Infinite was there, and ev'ry 
 
 Crevice of his soul well knew. He, monster, 
 
 His own Maker dar d. His blood is on him. 
 
 Here, then, truth in simplicity stands forth ; 
 The Master but recall'd his servant to 
 Himself; nor aughs more evident, or oft 
 Occurs, than darkness serving light, or error 
 Starting forth the truth. The murderer, who hastes 
 His victim's flight to realms of bliss, is foul. 
 
 Thrice glorious is that great victorious fall, 
 
48 
 
 Which triumphs on the bended knee of truth ! 
 
 But oh, how foul that power, sustain'd alone 
 By crime, which only lives, when others groan 
 And die ; whose dignity is in a slave, 
 Whose highest glory is the murd'rer's hand, 
 Whose greatest triumph is the blood pour'd out, 
 Of" innocence ; which neither thrives nor stands, 
 Nor lives, nor breathes, but by the foulest, fiercest 
 Of all tyrnnies ; whose high prosperity 
 Is found by withering all of great in a an, 
 And from his being, eve'ry righteous feeling 
 Tramp'ling out ; whose wealth, ador'd and idolizd, 
 Is but the dregs and drainings of unwilling 
 Toil,wrench'd by the lash, which he who whirls degrades 
 And he who suffers fills with Hell. Save me, 
 Great God! from wealth soak'd in a mother's tears ; 
 From wealth from out her very bowels torn. 
 Yea, save me from the pow'r which sells mankind — 
 ) Which sneers at black humanity in woe, 
 And in the bowlings of the wretched finds 
 Its bliss, rioting in its. bloody wealth. 
 If this be not Hell upon Earth, what is ? 
 
 Great was the soul that such damnation from 
 The earth could sweep : that boldly could rise up, 
 And shake the sceptre of eternal right, 
 Over such deep-damnd wrong, that to such forces, 
 In the name of Heaven could say, be Lrone ! 
 
49 
 
 Lincoln, thy name shall e'er be great. Thou wast 
 
 All mercy to thy foes, revenge was not 
 
 In thee. Thy heart was pure, thy aims were right ; 
 
 And all thy country's blood and treasures were 
 
 Pour'd out for this. Yea, thou hadstdrain'd a universe, 
 
 To rid the earth of wrong, and bring about 
 
 The reign of right. Nor ever heart bled freer 
 
 At its country's woes. Hate dwelt not in thee ; 
 
 Thy greatest glory was eternal love. 
 
 Ah! in that hour supreme, had speech been thine, 
 
 Thou, like the Son of Goo, hadst pray'd 
 
 Father, 
 Forgive them, for they know not what they do ! 
 Thine was an iron, but forgiving soul, 
 With resolution clad, yet open to access, 
 Firm to thy righteous purpose and thy arm; 
 Yet to the claims of mercy, ever true. 
 As for thyself alone, thou didst not live, 
 So for thyself alone, thou didst not die. 
 The bearing of thy life, was liberty; 
 Thy soul was open to its noblest charms, 
 Thou would'st thy people raise, to all its height, 
 And, Abraham dike, by them thus bless the world. 
 Far was the reach of thy grand purposes, 
 Thou would'st the nation's energies string up, 
 And fill her with a mighty moral pow'r, 
 That she herself might burst her ancient bonds, 
 
50 
 
 And trample under foot, opposing bolts 
 And bars, to all that leads to greatness and 
 To God. Well didst thou aim thy blows, at all 
 Of wrong. Intense was thy sincerity. 
 ; Thou didst thy own great seal of blood affix 
 To all thy heart had purpos'd to work out. 
 Great was the triumph of thy glorious fall ; 
 Thine enemies, dragg'd ruin on themselves. 
 The fiendish violence which ran th^e through, 
 Confounded and o'erwhelm'd thy mighty foes; 
 Their madness on themselves recoil'd ; they reel'd, 
 Were thunder-struck, confounded, and thus stagg'ring 
 Came down themselves, with mountain weight, upon 
 The gates of liberty, and burst them open 
 , ^To th'astonished world, never, no, never, 
 To be closed again. They from their very 
 Hinges now have fled ; both bond and free, have 
 Shaken off their chains. The sons of Ham have 
 Started into life, and suddenly were men, 
 While their old guards, of whiter hue, have lost 
 Their ancient gates, and fled. 
 
 Yea, immortal' ty 
 Exists in truth and right ; hence, Washington 
 Still lives; his thoughts, his views, his soul, are yet 
 Great powers at work ; they still the nation move. 
 Nor is the mighty Cobden gone. The strong 
 
51 
 
 Resistless lever of his giant mind, 
 
 For many a generation yet unborn, 
 
 Will move the world. O no ! such lights can ne'er 
 
 Go out : truth must, and will, for ever live. 
 
 Hence Abraham now, in his own Andrew lives, 
 
 Whose soul has long been pledg'd to liberty, 
 
 Who freed himself by setting others free, 
 
 Thus tasting with a keener sense the sweets 
 
 fc)f liberty. The freeman is not free, 
 
 While slaves are hanging on his soul : he shook 
 
 Them .off, and then was free ! Unshackl'd now, 
 
 He soars, and bids the nation's soul expand ; 
 
 lie sweeps away the stubble and the straw ; 
 
 He looks to th-3 foundations of the people's 
 
 Hopes ; he bids them ev'ry fetter clear away, 
 
 lie would eternal right should be the ground 
 
 Of all, and thus rebuild and reunite, 
 
 On principles imperish'ble, a nation, 
 
 Born to prove that liberty well understood 
 
 Would place the world on the high road to peace. 
 
 And happiness. 
 
 Lincoln then lives ; his soul 
 Commands. He fell, but not the fabric which 
 He built ; yea, he went home to God, but left 
 A host of mighty spirits, that fill well 
 His plac *, that caught his spirit, and his plans 
 
52 
 
 Approv'd. Th ennobling tear of friendship, on 
 Him fell ; all hearts yearn 'd over him, and felt 
 The blow that brought him down ; but grief is not 
 Despair, the millions whom he freed, weeping, 
 Rejoice, and their poster'ty, with burning 
 Gratitude, shall bless his name ! 
 
 Say not, he 
 Could not otherwise, necessity compelled 
 His course ; say rather, at necessity, 
 His love of liberty, here, leap'd fur joy. 
 Yea 'twas Omnipotence that broke the chain. 
 Yet not less true, the heart of Lincoln was, 
 To God ; he heard his master's voice, and he 
 Obey'd ; he saw the eye that guided him, 
 And follow d on ; he laid his reas nings, at 
 His master's feet. 
 
 Hark ! as he sinks, triumphant 
 . Shouts burst forth from gushing hearts. The battle 
 Is the Lord's ; the pow'rs of Hell are foil'd. Man 
 Now is man, of ev'ry hue and tongue ; earth 
 Rings, from pole to pole, with songs of victory ; 
 The work is done ; by faith, the daring mountains 
 Have been hurl 'd into the sea ; impossibil ties 
 Have sunk, beneath Omnipotence ! 
 
 And you, 
 Ye sons, on whom your father's mantle falls ; 
 
53 
 
 Ye souls now pledged, by blood, to liberty ; 
 
 Your Heav'n-sent commission, is before you, 
 
 Written with ink, drawn from the nation's veins. 
 
 Bead it, and let it sink into your souls. 
 
 High is the charge which Heav'n confides to you ; 
 
 Sublime the work, he calls you to perform ; 
 
 Nought is too high, when Heav'n leads the w T ay ; 
 
 Nor aught too great, for those who lean on God. 
 
 A nation high, in honest liberty, 
 
 Is high in honest pow'r ; and rising, lifts 
 
 The world. Despising arms, she seeks, and finds 
 
 A higher power. 
 
 Hear, then ! for he, though dead 
 Yetspeaketh still. Listen, ye mighty spirits 
 Whom he left. 
 
 XII. 
 
 " Your institutions and your laws, 
 "Now cleans'd by blood and tears, with nought to weigh 
 " Them down, or their foundations sap, maintain ! 
 " They now, are more than ever great and dear ; 
 " Above and far beyond the reach of arms, 
 " They w T ield a power, omnipotent. Let them 
 " By their own weight and force, work out their ends. 
 " The frowms of despotism are nought to them. 
 " They, error shall crush out, unstain'd by blood. 
 
54 
 
 * ; Right, by its nature, terrifies all wrong, 
 kl Enough that they exist, their element, 
 " Their breath, is power, not assum'd, innate ; 
 " Beneath their quiet, life-inspiring shade, 
 kt All human energies unfold their strength, 
 " Nature itself smiles out, and science soars. 
 •' Hope sheds on all the future, glorious light. 
 " And cheers humanity. 
 
 " Ye sons of Washington, 
 " Your Institutions save, but not by pride. 
 " Surround them by simplicity and truth, 
 " Wall them all in, by living faith in God. 
 " Let christian souls be free, and they are strong ; 
 " All else, are lame, untrue, and blind, and weak, 
 " Unable to support a nation's weight, 
 *' Of high prosperity, and flowing wealth, 
 '• Which only true humility and faith 
 " Can bear. 
 
 " Convince mankind, that honest law, 
 {> Freedom and truth, form all the dignity 
 " We need on earth ; the Robe of Honor is 
 '• Eternal truth ; the ermine is true purity 
 " Of soul. Truth, through all error sweeps, 
 " Her swordless way : nought can resist her pow'r ; 
 " Nor doth she need, the glare of mortal arms : 
 " She to the world gives confidence and peace ; 
 
•55 
 
 f4 She bears down with a nation's weight, all wrong. 
 " Yea, to the whispering spirit of the times 
 " Give ear ; for he who rules, shows oft his hand, 
 " And oft in great events speaks loud and clear. 
 " Keep open, eyes, and ears, and hearts, to God ; 
 " Follow his leadings, he will lead you on. 
 ' Rise ! rise ! The vigor of a nation's youth, 
 '* Is great; all is before you ; never cease, 
 *' To rise. Free and unfettered, now ye are. 
 •' No withering incubus now weighs you down. 
 <4 Nor suffer evermore, the shackle or 
 " The chain ; the wings of liberty are spread. 
 " Your Press, with every tongue is free ; your arms 
 " Are young ; your hearts in highest glow ; your hopes 
 " Are bright ; be all your motives sound and true 
 11 To God and man. All nature, with her cares 
 •' And boundless stores, are yours ; go with the key 
 " Of Science in your grasp, and search these realms 
 " Of wealth ; unlock these treasures, now long hid ; 
 " Bring them all forth, and pour them out in commerce, 
 " On mankind ; yea, let them by your energies 
 44 Flow forth, by sea and land. 
 
 44 Your recompense 
 '< Shall be, 
 
 44 The Earth's applause, the smile of God ! 5 ' 
 
 LofC. 
 
) 
 
 56 
 
 On Albion's ancient shores, great hearts an d true 
 £wing with a noble beat in freedom's cause. 
 The ancient May-Flower's fires are burning still, 
 Nor ever can, by aught on earth, be quench'd ; 
 Rather they glow with ten-fold power and heat : 
 Still many an ardent soul strides thence across 
 The deep, to mingle with the element 
 They love, and blow the holy, elevating 
 Flame of pure fraternal love'; responses 
 Alternate athwart the deep, and strengthen 
 Ties innumerable of interest and blood. 
 Great spirits of the age, from both shores to each 
 Other call, and almost tete-a-tete converse, 
 Exchanging thoughts which move the world, touch all 
 Its springs, and send on bounding every hope 
 Of man; thus urging each the other on 
 In vast developments and enterprises 
 Which astound th' earth. Let but these mighty spir'ts 
 Blend in light and wealth and pow'r : Let them unite 
 To break the fallow ground of all the earth, 
 And snap the galling fetters of mankind ; 
 Let them breathe into withered man the breath 
 Of life, and fill him by their energy 
 With pow'r : Let them together hold aloft 
 The torch of truth, and send its cheering light 
 
57 
 
 O'er all the earth : Yea, let them draw by lure 
 
 Of Science, Commerce, Arts, and all of Truth, 
 
 The nations into universal brotherhood. 
 
 Why fear ? why doubt ? for man, through all the earth} 
 
 Is man— his Universal Father, God ! 
 
 Let them then sweep away the night that wraps 
 
 The world. Grand are the powers; at their call 
 
 Th' imperishable wealth of truth is theirs. 
 
 Not that of mere philosophy, which, great 
 
 And good, yet freezes in the soul, but that 
 
 Of sweeter and more genial glow, which melts 
 
 Mankind into the mould of love. Let them 
 
 The glorious Sun of Reason, Christ, and Science 
 
 To its zenith send, and light o'er all the earth 
 
 Shall be ; nor think that swords to ploughshares never 
 
 Can be turn'd, or spears to pruning hooks. Yea, 
 
 Rise, " my people,'-' rise ! for all is possible : 
 
 The Christian only dares thus speak : go forth, 
 
 Ye sons of everlasting truth — stand to 
 
 Your heavenly tempered arms ; Justice her 
 
 Own eternal throne shall seize ; o'er all 
 
 The earth her righteous sceptre she shall sway. 
 
 Confounding darkness, and all else of wrong, 
 
 Till ev'ry son of Adam shall be free !