A batch of war ballads By Martin F. Tupper |
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| X. |
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| XII. | XII.—A SUSPICION. I.—AND A HOPE. II. |
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 | A batch of war ballads |  |
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XII.—A SUSPICION. I.—AND A HOPE. II.
[I.]
Chivalrous England! too ready to fightFor any one's wrong, or any one's right,
Dear Quixote of Nations, complacently vow'd
To rescue the weak and to baffle the proud,—
While generous (as usual) on every side,
Be just to yourself, whatever betide!
For subtlety still may be shrewdly at work
To stir up this strife with the Russ and the Turk,
That you, the magnanimous lion, may roam
In silly knight-errantry far from your home,
And leave it unguarded, for jackals to tear
The Lioness left with her cubs in your lair.
O look to yourself: if your fleets are away
And thanklessly fighting in nobody's pay;
If Chobham's rehearsal was all for the Czar,
And Portsmouth regatta meant Muscovite war;
If stolidly now you maintain and defend
So false a position as Mahomet's friend,
And leave not alone such a couple of foes
To hew done each other by fortunate blows;
If still, like an Ajax, in stupid resolve
You choose your brute strength in such strife to involve
As muzzling two savages, tiger and bear,
And not leaving either the other to tear:
You will richly deserve as you dearly shall rue
The doom which a brigand may destine for you,
An Algerine razzia over the land,
Secretly, suddenly, ruthlessly plann'd,
A burglary schemed when the Master's away,
A desperate vengeance for Waterloo Day!
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II.
And yet,—if there be any cunning forsooth,Any honour or honesty, prudence or truth,
If even self-interest reckon for aught,
Or sense, in the school of adversity taught,
Your “brigand,” whom paradox seems to delight,
May still disappoint us,—by doing quite right!
We surely may trust, as between man and man,
An Emperor's word to be kept if he can,
If he can, without loss to his handsomest gain,
If he can, without hazarding peril or pain:
And what should he win by this desperate chance
Of feeding with slaughter the vengeance of France,—
His glory disgraced by such bandit-like ways,
And popular generals reaping the praise?
What might he not lose, by evoking to life
The spirit of faction, rebellion, and strife,
The spirit of anarchy,—by his strong hand
Quell'd into quiet all over his land?
No! give him his due: for, truly to tell,
Many things wisely, many things well,
Much that is noble and just hath he done,
And fairly may end what was foully begun:
If steady persistence in good be pursued,
Repentance of evil may grow from that good,—
Both nations and men may have grace to return,
Manasseh be pious, and Nineveh mourn!
Then, hope for the better, while well is in sight,
And let not suspicion sincerity blight,
But honest good fellowship rivet the bands
That bind in one brotherhood alien hands.
| A batch of war ballads | |