active 1830-1872 Thomas Clarke

“ Like scorpions they carried their stings in their tails;
And scarce had their feet touched the marl of our soil,
When hell, by their tricks, was thrown into a broil:
And now I am puzzled to know what to do
With this low-lived, this white-livered, COPPERHEAD crew.
It is true I would see the whole world come to hell,
I am fond of mean men, but these please me too well:
In their zeal for my cause and the good of this place,
They have brought my whole kingdom and cause to disgrace. [128]
Though loyal to me and vile slaves to my throne,
While accepting their service, the tools I disown. ”

“ Whose necks, hung in halters right over the flood,
Are stretched by a wretch all bedabbled with blood!
All five call on “Lincoln” for mercy; when lo!
They are plunged, in a twinkling, to regions below;
Where long in the torrent they struggling remain,
Till the wave spews them up to its surface again;
There howling and writhing, unable to die,
Each visage distorted and bloodshot each eye,
For mercy in vain the assassins still cry!
Ah, Mercy they’ve slain!—Hope for them has no room,
Hell’s no longer a myth,—’tis the parricide’s doom! ”

“ These are base hireling watchmen, who strove to increase
The size of the flock for the sake of the fleece,
No care had above for the souls of their charge,
But slept like dumb dogs while the wolf prowled at large.
There are priests of all classes, all creeds and all names
Condemned to be scorched in the sulphurous flames.
But the meanest by far of these groveling creatures
Are those factors of hell, the pro-slavery preachers,
Who insist that the Lord made the nigger’s skin black,
That the white man to Heaven might ride on his back ”

“ Who in this deed of hell have taken part?
Who sanction it by word or act? Not so!
If men keep dumb, then shall the stones speak out,
And raise a loud, a shrill heaven-piercing cry,
And call upon the thunderbolts to strike
The guilty monsters who have done this deed!
Or should these linger, may a blight from God
Fall on their fields, their houses and their flocks!
As outcasts may they wander o’er this earth,
The mark of Cain upon their foreheads set! ”

“ Too mean the “nigger’s” boots to black;
What place to suit you could be found,
Save yon foul nightman’s stifling round?
But, Tennyson, what chain should bind
The bard, the eagle of the mind,
And hold him down from mounting high,
And soaring through his native sky;
Whence he could see and point to men
The truth and clear it to their ken?
You think your golden chain too light
To quench your flame, impede your flight!
Alas! you feel, it holds you down;
And can you barter fair renown
For such vile dross? and can you sell
Your soul for this sporad of hell? ”

“ No place more befitting for them could be found;
For here they’ll be tossing and dodging forever
Like drift-wood afloat on a rock-tortured river.
Here, too, let me point to you those wretched men
Who devote all their powers, both of tongue and of pen,
To prop the slave-holders, their code propagate,
Turn earth into hell through disunion and hate,
And to fan the fierce flames of your war have combined,
And, therefore, most justly have they been consigned [127]
With the meanest of devils who dared to rebel,
To be scorched in the flames of the nethermost hell. ”

“ While hell’s black jaws yawn wide beneath,
And belch on high its sulphurous breath,
What wonder Freedom’s glorious dawn
Is clouded by the infernal spawn?
The taint of crime will long remain
Deep in the blood, though outward stain
Be lost to view or whitewashed o’er,
Each generation more and more;
Till some occasion shall arise
For throwing off the slim disguise;
Then instinct will assert its right,
As sure as evil loves the night! ”

“ All men are sprung—one brotherhood, [95]
Equal before th’ Almighty’s throne,
Flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone;
With rights prescriptive, boundless, free
To happiness, life, liberty!
That none, save those inspired by hell,
Their brother, man, can bind or sell.
On such conditions equal, fair,
All can the freeman’s honors share,
And who the compact sets aside,
Through ignorance, ambition, pride,
The sheepfold enters o’er the wall,
And is no citizen at all ”

“ Let’s hurl to hell the thing accurst!
Till slavery in the land shall cease,
Where is the hope for rest or peace?
Thereafter we shall be too wise
To make with hell a compromise:
Let us dissolve this bond with Death
And freedom to our sons bequeath ”

“ That swept the rebels’ strength and pride;
And merely served to whet the scythe
That lately made their columns writhe;
And but postponed the reck’ning day
When they the bill and costs should pay.
For all our well-fought fields attest,
That Right alone by Heaven is blessed;
And that the wrong cannot prevail,
Though hell our Union cause assail. [59]
All efforts us to thwart, subdue,
Recoil upon the rebel crew,
To whom of every hope bereft
That last, sad ditch alone is left! ”

“ CANTO VI.
“To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice.”—Shakspeare.
As Lucifer, the angel, fell
From bliss of Heaven to pain of hell;
And there, as devil, would put on
The mask in which he once had shone:
So copperheads, with fiendish guile,
The name of freedom would defile,
While they her mask and robe display,
The better to deceive—betray [107]
The wandering, friendless, emigrant,
Confiding, poor and ignorant,
Who deems “Democracy” a name
Of something real, not a sham! ”

“ A demon sent from hell’s profound,
To taunt us with fair Freedom’s sound.
Shall we not wield the rightful power
To crush our foe in danger’s hour;
To teach our enemies to feel
The virtue of our polished steel ”

“ And, in thunder and wrath, old Beelzebub speaking:
“Get out of my court, you vile, dastardly crew,
You’re too mean to stay here where the common damned do.”
And then, like a man of his reason bereft,
He wielded his club and pitched in right and left.
They yelled, and shrieked “Peace, oh, pray, Satan, hold on,
We are loyal to you!”—cried Satan, “Begone!”
While the blows he dealt out made the peace-sneaks to scream;—
With their yells in my ears, I awoke from my dream! ”

“ SIR COPP.
CANTO I.
“To hell how easy the descent!
But to retrace your steps and to regain
The light of Heaven, alas, how difficult!”—Virgil.
Some orator hath lately said,
(And mark the speech each Copperhead,)
“Who martyrs out of rebels make,
Themselves are worthy of the stake,
And they shall have their full deserts,
When Justice all her rights asserts.” ”

“ That by no wretch for murder born
Can husband from his wife be torn!
This is the freedom guaranteed
To men of every color, creed,
When first our Nation saw the light,
By this great charter of the right:
“All men are brothers, equal, free. ”

“ And sobs from every heart, till all mankind
Shall mourn in unison, and the whole earth
One mighty ABEL MISRAIM shall be named!
CANTO III.
“Hark! from yon stately ranks what laughter rings,
Mingling wild mirth with war’s stern minstrelsy;
His jest while each blithe comrade ’round him flings,
And moves to death with military glee;
Boast, Erin, boast them, tameless, frank and free,
In kindness warm, and fierce in danger known;
Rough Nature’s children, humorous as she;
And he—yon chieftain—strike the proudest tone
Of thy bold harp, green isle, the hero is thine own.”—Sir Walter Scott. ”

“ So, fierce, resistless, sweeps along
Our Army’s torrent vast and strong,
Collecting strength and power each day
By obstacles thrown in its way,
Till all surmounted, land and sea
Shall bail the flag of Liberty. ”

“ Clarke is favorably known to the reading public as the author of several poems published in England, which have received warm praise from the leading English reviews. The purpose of this effort of his muse is to contrast a dark phase of human depravity, as exhibited by the copperhead rebels of the northern states, with the beauty and power of loyalty to God and country. Incidentally, he satirises Tennyson, mourns over the grave of Lincoln, and celebrates the heroes of Murfreesboro, and many another bloody field. He writes with a sharp pen, and shows no mercy to the traitors. ”

“ With regard to this new poem, “Sir Copp,” the author relies entirely on the good sense and judgment of the people of the Great West, for an impartial decision of its claims to public favor; and he will rest satisfied with that decision, whatever it may be; for he cannot but believe, that those who have been able to appreciate the best political, military and legal talent in the country, will also be able to discriminate, and reward, literary merit, when it is fairly and candidly presented for their consideration. ”

“ And, rending every other tie,
Thy voice we have obeyed!
We left our plowshares in the field,
Our horses at the fence;
And, seizing weapons as we could,
We rushed to thy defense;
Unflinching or in limb or rank,
And fighting hand to hand,
We’ve found our death-blow on the spot
On which we took our stand. ”

“ Or interchange of place and station?
Perhaps the nigger-whippers pass
To shades still darker than of brass,
And copperheads, as seemeth proper,
Put on more sombre hues than copper;
And find new quarters made to fit,
In negro tenements, to-wit;
And thus become, in very fact,
The things that they so much have cracked;
And hear their master, late their slave,
With furious tone and gesture rave; [121]
And feel the lash he plies so well,
And howl in this congenial hell!
Transcendant life! immortal part! ”

“ The bard to his appropriate place.
Men read his works and shake their head,
Because he is a collier bred;
They meet the man and pass him by,
While Tennyson they deify!
Because, true flunkeys as they are,
They prize not worth but tinsel glare,
And spurn the diamond, rough, unhewn,
For one that glitters near a throne. ”

“ The invocation to the muse is especially striking, (here it is quoted in full.) Mr. Clarke is not an untried poet. He has, in fact, produced a number of poems, for which the best English critics have accorded to him a high rank amongst the first poets of our day.
From the Chicago Evening Journal
Under the title of “Sir Copp,” is depicted the character of a copperhead, whose career closes at the gates of hell. The story is a contrast of patriotism with disloyalty; the theme growing out of the late rebellion. The poetry is lively in measure. ”

“ Thomas Clarke, a celebrated British Poet, who lives here in the West, has produced a poem under the title of “Sir Copp,” in which he shows forth the copperheads and their actions during the war. He is amongst the warmest friends of America, extols liberty and patriotism, and does ample justice to our German American citizens. ”

“ All too indulgent and remiss,
Till now we hear their hydra-hiss!
Some emigrants our shores who seek
Digest our laws as they do Greek!
And when probation time is gone,
They find their work already done;
The years, we know, have quickly sped
Without impressing heart or head,
With sense of duties to be done,—
What course to steer, what rocks to shun;
Yet without question, we admit
Th’ untutored Vandal as a cit;
And thus the prudence of our sires
Is melted in base party fires;
And Freedom drops her vital claims
In legal forms and empty names.z
How can we Freedom’s reign restore ”

“ Our army, like a torrent, sweeps away the strongholds of the rebels and restores peace and happiness to the nation. But this glimpse of light is clouded by the murder of Mr. Lincoln, and, in “Abel Misraim,” the people bewail the irreparable loss of their martyred chief. A digression on certain British poets, and a severe criticism on “Enoch Arden,” are followed by a discussion demonstrating the impossibility of sustaining liberty, unless founded on the basis of popular virtue and intelligence ”

“ In this work we welcome another home production. It is written in Hudibrastic verse; but the genius of the author is by no means confined to this form of composition. The object of the author is praise-worthy, and he exhibits much talent for versification. We must, injustice, commend the work for many striking and some admirable passages. “Sir Copp,” is of course, Sir Copperhead; and the venomous creature is dissected by an artist who has a true scientific enthusiasm for so fine a specimen of morbid anatomy. ”

“ For another large batch of the peace-shrieking crew
Have come sneaking down here and are asking for you.”
His Majesty then grew quite black in the face;
“I’ll go and, by hell, kick them out of the place:
Their stench I detest, I cannot bear them near,
And I’ll soon let them know that they mustn’t stay here;
’Tis too much e’en for us, with our devilish natures,
To bear with such fallen, such cowardly, creatures.” ”

“ And the old Union-savers and compromise shriekers,
With blood-sucking leeches and shoddy contractors,
Beneath loyal masks, much the worst malefactors,
Who smile, while your soldiers they starve and they rob,
More guilty, by far, than Buchanan or Cobb. ”

“ With tools as base he flings aside!
Degenerate wretches! by what claim
Dare you assert the freeman’s name?
You are no freemen! no, not you;
But bantlings of that motley crew,
The blight of Europe and its dross,
Once borne the Atlantic tide across,
By hostile winds and angry waves,
Vile scum, to shame true freemen’s graves.
Whate’er the scourge or rope had spared,
What vice engendered, folly reared;
Whatever monsters spring to life,
Where foul disease and filth are rife; [26]
Where men of wild, disordered brain
Beget such nondescripts as Train ”

“ The abuse of this principle caused all our troubles in the past, and, unless a speedy and a radical reform shall be effected, we can expect nothing better for the future.
“Sir Copp,” having undergone a severe physical and moral dissection, is finally introduced into hell, whence Satan, unwilling to entertain him, sends him back to earth to be punished there according to his deserts. ”