SONG OF THE FREE. PRIDE of New England! Back with the Southerner's Winds, clouds, and waters Up to our altars, then, By our own birthright-gift, Granted of Heaven 1836. Freedom for heart and lip, If we have whispered truth, THE HUNTERS OF MEN HAVE ye heard of our hunting, o'er mountain and glen, Through cane-brake and forest-the hunting of men ? The lords of our land to this hunting have gone, As the fox-hunter follows the sound of the horn; Hark! the cheer and the hallo!--the crack of the whip, And the yell of the hound as he fastens his grip! All blithe are our hunters, and noble their matchThough hundreds are caught, there are millions to catch. So speed to their hunting, o'er mountain and glen, Through cane-brake and forest-the hunting of men! Gay luck to our hunters!-how nobly they ride In the glow of their zeal, and the strength of their pride!— The priest with his cassock flung back on the wind, Just screening the politic statesman behind— Oh! goodly and grand is our hunting to see, Priest, warrior, and statesman, from Georgia to All mounting the saddle-all grasping the rein- Will their hearts fail within them ?-their nerves tremble, when All roughly they ride to the hunting of men ? Ho!-ALMS for our hunters! all weary and faint Wax the curse of the sinner and prayer of the saint. The horn is wound faintly-the echoes are still, Over cane-brake and river, and forest and hill. Haste-alms for our hunters! the hunted once more Have turned from their flight with their backs to the shore: What right have they here in the home of the white, Shadowed o'er by our banner of Freedom and Right? Ho!-alms for the hunters! or never again Will they ride in their pomp to the hunting of men! ALMS-ALMS for our hunters! why will ye delay, When their pride and their glory are melting away? The parson has turned; for, on charge of his own, Who goeth a warfare, or hunting, alone? The politic statesman looks back with a sighThere is doubt in his heart-there is fear in his eye. Oh! haste, lest that doubting and fear shall prevail, And the head of his steed take the place of the tail Oh! haste, ere he leave us! for who will ride then, For pleasure or gain, to the hunting of men? 1835. CLERICAL OPPRESSORS. [IN the Report of the celebrated pro-slavery meeting in Charleston, S. C., on the 4th of the 9th month, 1835, published in the Courier of that city, it is stated, "The CLERGY of all denominations attended in a body, LENDING THEIR SANCTION TO THE PROCEEDINGS, and adding by their presence to the impressive char acter of the scene!"] JUST God!—and these are they Who minister at thine altar, God of Right! What! preach and kidnap men? Give thanks-and rob thy own afflicted poor ? What! servants of thy own Pilate and Herod, friends! Chief priests and rulers, as of old, combine! Paid hypocrites, who turn Judgment aside, and rob the Holy Book Of those high words of truth which search and burn In warning and rebuke; Feed fat, ye locusts, feed! And, in your tasselled pulpits, thank the Lord How long, O Lord! how long Shall such a priesthood barter truth away, Is not thy hand stretched forth Woe, then, to all who grind Their brethren of a common Father down! Woe to the priesthood! woe To those whose hire is with the price of blood-- Their glory and their might Shall perish; and their very names shall be Oh! speed the moment on When Wrong shall cease—and Liberty, and Love, And Truth, and Right, throughout the earth be known As in their home above. |