Classic Poem

XXI.

We grant their class must labour — young and old;
We grant the child the needy parents' tool:
But still our hearts a better plan behold;
No bright Utopia of some dreaming fool,
But rationally just, and good by rule.
Not against Toil , but Toil'S E XCESS we pray,
(Else were we nursed in Folly's simplest school);
That so our country's hardy children may
Learn not to loathe, but bless, the well apportioned day.

XXII.

One more reply! The last reply — the great
Answer to all that sense or feeling shows,
To which all others are subordinate: —
" The Masters of the Factories must lose
By the abridgment of these infant woes.
Show us the remedy which shall combine
Our equal gain with their increased repose —
Which shall not make our trading class repine,
But to the proffered boon its strong effects confine. "

XXIII.

Oh! shall it then be said that T YRANT acts
Are those which cause our country's looms to thrive?
That Merchant England's prosperous trade exacts
This bitter sacrifice, e'er she derive
That profit due, for which the feeble strive?
Is her commercial avarice so keen,
That in her busy multitudinous hive
Hundreds must die like insects, scarcely seen,
While the thick-thronged survivors work where they have been?

XXIV.

Forbid it, Spirit of the glorious Past
Which gained our Isle the surname of " The Free,"
And made our shores a refuge at the last
To all who would not bend the servile knee,
The vainly-vanquished sons of Liberty!
Here ever came the injured, the opprest,
Compelled from the Oppressor's face to flee —
And found a home of shelter and of rest
In the warm generous heart that beat in England's breast.

XXV.

Here came the Slave, who straightway burst his chain,
And knew that none could ever bind him more;
Here came the melancholy sons of Spain;
And here, more buoyant Gaul's illustrious poor
Waited the same bright day that shone before.
Here rests the Enthusiast Pole! and views afar
With dreaming hope, from this protecting shore,
The trembling rays of Liberty's pale star
Shine forth in vain to light the too-unequal war!