If such thy masters have presumed to teach,
As terrors only they are prone to preach;
(For should they paint eternal mercy's reign,
Where were th' oppressor's rod, the captive's chain ?)
If, then, thy troubled soul has learned to dread
The dark unknown thy trembling footsteps tread ;
On Him, who made thee what thou art, depend;
He, who withholds the means, accepts the end.
Thy mental night thy Savior will not blame,
He died for those who never heard his name.
Not thine the reckoning dire of light abused,
Knowledge disgraced, and liberty misused;
On thee no awful Judge incensed shall sit
For parts perverted, and dishonored wit.
Where ignorance will be found the safest plea,
How many learned and wise shall envy thee!

And thou, white savage! whether lust of gold
Or lust of conquest ruled thee uncontrolled!
Hero or robber!-by whatever name

Thou plead thy impious claim to wealth or fame;
Whether inferior mischiefs be thy boast,
A tyrant trader rifling Congo's coast;
Or bolder carnage track thy crimson way,
Kings dispossessed, and provinces their prey:
Whether thou pant to tame earth's distant bound;
All Cortez murdered, all Columbus found;
O'er plundered realms to reign detested lord,
Make millions wretched, and thyself abhorred :-
Whether Cartouche* in forests break the law,
Or bolder Cæsar keep the world in awe ;
In reason's eye, in wisdom's fair account,
Your sum of glory boasts a like amount;
The means may differ, but the end's the same;
Conquest is pillage with a nobler name.
Who makes the sum of human blessings less,
Or sinks the stock of general happiness,

Though erring fame may grace, though false renown
His life may blazon, or his memory crown;

Yet the last audit shall reverse the cause,
And God shall vindicate his broken laws.

Had those adventurous spirits who explore

Through ocean's trackless wastes the far-sought shore;

* A celebrated robber in France, whose daring achievements for some years spread terror through entire provinces, and kept even the government in alarm.

Whether of wealth insatiate, or of power,
Conquerors who waste, or ruffians who devour;
Had these possessed, O Cook!* thy gentle mind,
Thy love of arts, thy love of human kind;
Had these pursued thy mild and liberal plan,
Discoverers had not been a curse to man!
Then, blest philanthropy ! thy social hands
Had linked dissevered worlds in brothers' bands;
Careless if color or if clime divide;

Then, loved and loving, man had lived and died.
Then with pernicious skill we had not known
To bring their vices back, and leave our own.

The purest wreaths which hang on glory's shrine,
For empires founded, peaceful Penn! are thine;
No blood-stained laurels crowned thy virtuous toil,
No slaughtered natives drenched thy fair-earned soil.
Still thy meek spirit in thy flockt survives,
Consistent still, their doctrines rule their lives:
Thy followers only have effaced the shame
Inscribed by slavery on the Christian name.

Shall Britain, where the soul of freedom reigns,
Forge chains for others she herself disdains?
Forbid it, Heaven! O let the nations know
The liberty she loves she will bestow ;
Not to herself the glorious gift confined,
She spreads the blessing wide as human kind;
And, scorning narrow views of time and place,
Bids all be free in earth's extended space.

What page of human annals can record
A deed so bright as human rights restored?
O may that godlike deed, that shining page,
Redeem our fame, and consecrate our age!
And let this glory mark our favored shore,
To curb false freedom, and the true restore !
And see, the cherub Mercy, from above
Descending softly, quits the sphere of love!
On Britain's isle she sheds her heavenly dew,
And breathes her spirit o'er th' enlightened few;
From soul to soul the spreading influence steals,
Till every breast the soft contagion feels.

* A French writer has justly said of our illustrious navigator, that, unlike all voyagers who preceded him, he left a blessing in every new region where he came, by sowing seeds for the future benefit of the inhabitants.-ED.

+ The Quakers have emancipated all their slaves throughout America.

She speeds, exulting, to the burning shore,
With the best message angel ever bore:

Hark! 'tis the note which spoke a Savior's birth!
Glory to God on high, and peace on earth!

She vindicates the Power in heaven adored;

She stills the clank of chains, and sheathes the sword;
She cheers the mourner, and with soothing hands
From bursting hearts unbinds th' oppressor's bands;
Restores the lustre of the Christian name,

And clears the foulest blot that dimmed its fame.
As the mild spirit hovers o'er the coast,

A fresher hue their withered landscapes boast;
Her healing smiles the ruined scenes repair,
And blasted Nature wears a joyous air;

While she proclaims, through all their spicy groves,
"Henceforth your fruits, your labors, and your loves,
All that your sires possessed, or you
have sown,
Sacred from plunder-all is now your own."
And now, her high commission from above
Stamped with the holy characters of love,
The meek-eyed spirit waving in her hand,
Breathes manumission o'er the rescued land:
She tears the banner stained with blood and tears,
And, Liberty! thy shining standard rears!
As the bright ensign's glory she displays,
See pale Oppression faints beneath the blaze!
The giant dies! No more his frown appals:
The chain, untouched, drops off; the fetter falls.
Astonished Echo tells the vocal shore
Oppression's fallen, and slavery is no more!
The dusky myriads crowd the sultry plain,
And hail that mercy long invoked in vain.
Victorious power! she bursts their two-fold bands,
And faith and freedom spring from Britain's hands.
And Thou! great Source of nature and of grace,
Who of one blood didst form the human race,
Look down in mercy, in thy chosen time,
With equal eye on Afric's suffering clime;
Disperse her shades of intellectual night,
Repeat thy high behest-Let there be light!
Bring each benighted soul, great God, to Thee,
And with thy wide salvation make them free!

END OF VOL. V.