The Works of Richard Owen Cambridge Including several pieces never before published: with an account of his life and character, by his son, George Owen Cambridge |
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THE PROGRESS OF LIBERTY. |
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 | The Works of Richard Owen Cambridge |  |
340
THE PROGRESS OF LIBERTY.
WHAT progress does Liberty make ev'ry week!How quick from Versailles has she reach'd Martinique!
And so soon will her power all the Indies subdue,
We shall see her dominion extend to Peru;
For now to her standard so great the resort is,
Her conquests she's spreading much quicker than Cortez.
At the rate she goes on, she will soon be possest
Of all hearts that too long have been slaves in the West.
Then Eastward she'll bend—'tis but crossing the ocean—
And she'll put the Poissardes of Morocco in motion.
Now, turning Algiers, and the kingdoms piratical,
Into popular boroughs and states democratical;
In Egypt, a new constitution and laws
Shall end the contention, of Beys and Bashaws.
But how shall she pass by the strict Dardanelle?
How teach such inveterate slaves to rebel?
How impress on the children of predestination
Those maxims which tend to such strange reformation?
That tyranny turn to a free common-weal,
To états-généreaux, and a hotel-de-ville?
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As to change his three tails for a Christian cockade?
Should Constantinople embrace the idea,
Sure nothing will easier yield than Crimea;
For we know that the mighty Tartarian Cham,
Submitted to Russia, as meek as a lamb!
Content to resign on the very first notice,
Bag and baggage he sail'd o'er the Palus Mæotis.
From the Crim', the divinity lands at Oczakow,
Then hey! for her favourite Veto at Cracow!
If she meet, in her road, hyperborean Kate,
She may chance to persuade that sublime autocrate,
'Ere she quits this vain world, to adopt her opinions,
And present her to all her extensive dominions.
Now in haste over Sweden and Denmark she wanders,
To see how her pupils are acting in Flanders.
From thence to Great Britain she travels with speed,
And, perch'd on the pillar in famed Runnymead,
She surveys the whole island, and finds it in awe
Of no pow'r upon earth, but of justice and law;
With no wrongs to redress, and no rights to restore;
She has all she can wish, and she asks for no more.
| The Works of Richard Owen Cambridge | |