University of Virginia Library

And Europe's clans all interest grew,
When North and South their sabres drew,
For they had long with jealous fear
Marked this vast Republic here,
And watched its almost magic growth,
Compared with their dull rounds of sloth;
Hence, when the bomb on Sumter fell,
They felt a half-unconscious swell
Of exultation flame the heart,
And only hoped, that bomb might part
The web and woof which bound in one
Their greatest rival 'neath the sun.
For where's the monarch that could rest
Secure beneath his royal crest,
And see a land like this of ours—
Radiant with eternal flowers,
With hills and vales of solid gold,
That centuries yet will scarce unfold,
And holding out a welcome hand
To all the subjects of his land,
And they responding to the call
Like the sear'd foliage of the fall—
And feel no inward joy or pride
In aught that promised to divide,
And e'en to tatter'd fragments rend,
The land where all those virtues blend?
For scarce a wave that sweeps the sea,
However small or great it be,
Nor scarce a sail that drinks the spray,
But bears some despot's slave away.