ENGLAND AND AMERICA IN 1782.
First published
in a New York paper in 1874.
O thou, that sendest out the man
To rule by land and sea,
Strong mother of a Lion-line,
Be proud of those strong sons of thine
Who wrench'd their rights from thee!
What wonder, if in noble heat
Those men thine arms withstood,
Retaught the lesson thou hadst taught,
Copy of part of a letter of mine to Walt
Whitman:
Nov. 15, '87.
“The coming year should give new life to
every American, who has breathed the breath
of that soil which inspired the great founders
of the American constitution, whose work you
are to celebrate. Truly the mother-country,
pondering on this, may feel that howmuchsoever
the daughter owes to her, she the mother
has something to learn from the daughter.
Especially I would note the care taken to
guard a noble constitution from rash and unwise
innovators.”
And in thy spirit with thee fought—
Who sprang from English blood!
But Thou rejoice with liberal joy,
Lift up thy rocky face,
And shatter, when the storms are black,
In many a streaming torrent back,
The seas that shock thy base!
Whatever harmonies of law
The growing world assume,
Thy work is thine—The single note
From that deep chord which Hampden smote
Will vibrate to the doom.