John Greenleaf Whittier

“ Yes—dark-souled chieftain!—if the light
Of mild Religion's heavenly ray
Unveiled not to thy mental sight
The lowlier and the purer way,
In which the Holy Sufferer trod,
Meekly amidst the sons of crime,—
That calm reliance upon God
For justice, in his own good time,—
That gentleness, to which belongs
Forgiveness for its many wrongs;
Even as the primal martyr, kneeling
For mercy on the evil-dealing,—
Let not the favored white man name
Thy stern appeal, with words of blame. ”

“ Now, when I know how far this world's happiness can reach; now, when all the stars of good fortune shine over me, fair and propitious; now is it by my God, a noble spirit which stirs in me; now do I give a mighty proof that no offering is too great for man's highest blessing—the Freedom of his Country! The great moment calls for great hearts; and within me do I feel the power to be a rock amidst the raging of the waves of nations. ”

“ In witnessing the effect of poetic talent thus applied, we cease to wonder that the words of Fletcher of Saltoun—'Give me to make the ballads of a nation, and let who will make the laws,' have passed into a proverb.
'The despotism which our fathers could not bear in their native country is expiring, and the sword of justice in her reformed hands has applied it exterminating edge to slavery. Shall the United States—the free United States, which could not bear the bonds of a king, cradle the bondage which a king is abolishing? Shall a Republic be less free than a Monarchy? ”

“ As a tall Negro hastened nigh,
With fearless step and strong.
'What ho, Toussaint!' A moment more,
His shadow crossed the lighted floor.
'Away,' he shouted; 'fly with me,—
The white man's bark is on the sea;—
Her sails must catch the landward wind,
For sudden vengeance sweeps behind.
Our brethren from their graves have spoken,
The yoke is spurned—the chain is broken;
On all the hills our fires are glowing—
Through all the vales red blood is flowing! ”

“ Where the fires on Freedom's altars, with feeble flickerings burn;
The hearts that light and nurse them there, to us for guidance turn.
Millions of Freedom's children, of every clime and name,
Watch anxiously the western world, and glory in our fame.
The guide of nations! shall our path so blind and erring be,
That hope must die, where'er a heart is burning to be free? ”

“ It is to be regretted, as a loss to American Literature, that one so highly gifted as a poet should devote so little time to poetic labors. But he may derive satisfaction from the idea, that his labors for the honor of our nation, in a far nobler sense, will ultimately give freedom and life to her literature—now withering beneath the soul-enslaving censorship of a public, who exact of an author that he shall not unreservedly name the very name of Freedom. ”

“ Who comes in his pride to that low cottage-door?
The haughty and rich to the humble and poor?
'Tis the great southern planter—the master who waves
His whip of dominion o'er hundreds of slaves.
'Nay Ellen—for shame! Let those yankee fools spin,
Who would pass for our slaves with a change of their skin—
Let them toil as they will at the loom or the wheel,
Too stupid for shame, and too vulgar to feel! ”

“ Shall not the living God of all the earth,
⁠And heaven above, do right?
⁠Woe, then, to all who grind
Their brethren of a Common Father down!
To all who plunder from th' immortal mind
⁠Its bright and glorious crown!
⁠Woe to the Priesthood! woe
To those whose hire is with the price of blood—
Perverting, darkening, changing as they go,
⁠The searching truths of God! ”

“ For those to whom Thy living word
⁠Of light and love is never given—
For those whose ears have never heard
The promise and the hope of heaven!
For broken heart—and clouded mind,
⁠Whereon no human mercies fall—
Oh, be thy gracious love inclined,
⁠Who, as a father, pitiest all!—
And grant, Oh, Father! ”

“ SONG OF THE FREE.
'Living, I shall assert the right of Free Discussion; dying, I shall assert it; and should I leave no other inheritance to my children, by the blessing of God I will leave them the inheritance of free principles, and the example of a manly and independent defence of them.'—Daniel Webster
Pride of New England! ”

“ 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, along?
The politic statesman looks back with a sigh—
There is doubt in his heart—there is fear in his eye. ”

“ And human pride and grandeur fall,
The herald's line of long renown,
The mitre and the kingly crown,—
Perishing glories all!
The pure devotion of thy generous heart
Shall live in Heaven, of which it is a part! ”

“ A kindly and generous spirit, filled like that of Whittier, 'with all gentleness and calmest hope,' makes a sacrifice of its most cherished delights and occupations when it springs to the defence of the difficult pass which commands the battlefield of Christian Freedom, with the determination to defend it unto blood, and yet to shed none. ”

“ Shall we, in the vigor and buoyancy of our manhood, be less energetic in righteousness, than a kingdom in its age?"—Dr. Follen's Address.
'Genius of America! Spirit of our free institutions—where art thou? How art thou fallen, oh Lucifer! son of the morning—how art thou fallen from Heaven! Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming! The kings of the earth cry out to thee, Aha! ”

“ And shall we know and share with him,
⁠The danger and the open shame?
And see our Freedom's light grow dim,
⁠Which should have filled the world with flame?
And, writhing, feel where'er we turn,
A world's reproach around us burn? ”

“ Still bearing up thy lofty bow,
⁠In the steadfast strength of truth,
In manhood sealing well the vow
⁠And promise of thy youth.
Go on!—for thou hast chosen well;
⁠On in the strength of God!
Long as one human heart shall swell
⁠Beneath the tyrant's rod. ”

“ One spirit untrammelled—unbending one knee!
Like the oak of the mountain, deep-rooted and firm,
Erect, when the multitude bends to the storm;
When traitors to Freedom, and Honor, and God,
Are bowed at an Idol polluted with blood ”

“ Welcome in each abode,
Where manhood's heart and knee
Are bended but to God—
Where honest bosoms hold
Their holy birthright well—
Where Freedom spurns at Mammon's gold—
Where Man is not to sell! ”

“ The courtly knights of her father's train, and the maidens of her bower;
And she hath gone to the Vaudois vales, by lordly feet untrod,
Where the poor and needy of earth are rich in the perfect love of God! ”

“ And methought, while she liberty sung,
⁠'Twas liberty only to hear.
Thus swiftly dividing the flood,
⁠To a slave-cultured island we came,
Where a demon, her enemy, stood,
⁠Oppression his terrible name. ”

“ She sings by her wheel, at that low cottage-door—
Which the long evening shadow is stretching before,
With a music as sweet as the music which seems
Breathed softly and faint the the ear of our dreams! ”

“ Wherever the foot of the freeman hath pressed,
From the Delaware's marge to the Lake of the West,
On the South-going breezes shall deepen and grow,
Till the land it sweeps over shall tremble below! ”

“ Upon our own free working men
Confer a master's special favors?
Whips for the back—chains for the heels—
Hooks for the nostrils of Democracy,
Before it spurns as well as feels
The riding of the Aristocracy! ”

“ And, in the church, their proud and skilled abettor
Make truth a lie?—
Torture the pages of the hallowed Bible,
To sanction crime, and robbery, and blood?
And, in Oppression's hateful service, libel
Both man and God? ”

“ In the midst of their dreadful fears lest the solitary individual, whose sight remained unaffected, should also be seized with the malady, a sail was discovered. It was the Spanish slaver, Leon. The same disease had been there; and horrible to tell, all the crew had become blind! ”

“ Whene'er that ruffian's tossing limb,
Crimson with murder, touches him!
What has the gray-haired prisoner done?
⁠Has murder stained his hands with gore?
Not so: his crime's a fouler one:
⁠God made the old man poor! ”

“ For many months did that mighty man of God apply his discriminating and gigantic mind to the subject of Slavery and its remedy: and, when his soul could no longer contain his holy indignation against the upholders and apologists of this unrighteous system, he gave vent to his aching heart, and poured forth his clear thoughts and holy feelings in such deep and soul-entrancing eloquence, that other men, whom he would fain in his humble modesty acknowledge his superiors, sat at his feet and looked up as children to a parent.'—Correspondent of the 'Liberator,' 16th of 11th mo. ”

“ Though fallen thyself never to rise again,
Live and take comfort. Thou hast left behind
Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies,—
There's not a breathing of the common wind
That will forget thee: thou hast great allies. ”

“ A sound, half murmur and half groan,
Forces apart the painful grip
Of the old sufferer's bearded lip:
O sad and crushing is the fate,
Of old age chained and desolate!
Just God! why lies that old man there? ”

“ The French ship Le Rodeur, with a crew of twenty-two men, and with one-hundred and sixty negro slaves, sailed from Bonny in Africa, April, 1819. On approaching the line, a terrible malady broke out—an obstinate disease of the eyes—contagious, and altogether beyond the resources of medicine. It was aggravated by the scarcity of water among the slaves, (only half a wine glass per day being allowed to an individual,) and by the extreme impurity of the air in which they breathed. ”

“ Though no friends of abolitionism, we like good poetry on any and every subject."'
LINES
Written on the passage of Mr. Pinckney's Resolutions, in the House of Representatives, and of Mr. Calhoun's 'Bill of Abominations,' in the Senate of the United States.
Now, by our fathers' ashes! where's the spirit
Of the true-hearted and the unshackled gone?
Sons of old freemen, do we but inherit
Their names alone?
Is the old Pilgrim spirit quenched within us?
Stoops the proud manhood of our souls so low,
That Mammon's lure or Party's wile can win us
To silence now? ”

“ Is it then true, that any of our institutions are such as to give pleasure to the Prime Minister of European despotism? And is it also true that the effect of these institutions upon the morals of any of our citizens is such, as to make them ashamed of the honest pursuits of industry? ”

“ In 1797, Toussaint L'Ouverture was appointed, by the French Government, General-in-chief of the armies of St. Domingo, and as such, signed the Convention with General Maitland, for the evacuation of the island by the British. From this period until 1801, the island, under the government of Toussaint, was happy, tranquil, and prosperous. The miserable attempt of Napoleon to re-establish slavery in St. Domingo, although it failed of its intended object, proved fatal to the Negro chieftain. ”

“ Toussaint L'Ouverture, the black chieftain of Hayti, was a slave on the plantation of M. Bayon de Libertas. When the general rising of the negroes took place, in 1791, Toussaint refused to join them, until he had aided M. Bayon and his family to escape to Baltimore. The white man had discovered in Toussaint many notable qualities, and had instructed him in some of the first branches of education; and the preservation of his life was owing to the negro's gratitude for his kindness. ”

“ They would then give their purchasers a bible or testament; and thereby many were deluded into heresy.'—See Reinerius Saccho's Book, A. D. 1258.
'Oh, lady fair, these silks of mine are beautiful and rare—
The richest web of the Indian loom, which Beauty's self might wear;
And those pearls are pure as thy own fair neck, with whose radiant light they vie;
I have brought them with me a weary way,—will my gentle lady buy?'
And the lady smiled on the worn old man through the dark and clustering curls,
Which veiled her brow as she bent to view his silks and glittering pearls ”

“ Darkly upon our struggling way
⁠The storm of human hate is sweeping;
Hunted and branded, and a prey,
⁠Our watch amidst the darkness keeping!
Oh! for that hidden strength which can
Nerve unto death the inner man! ”

“ No—George M'Duffie!—keep thy words
For the mail plunderers of thy city,
Whose robber-right is in their swords;
For recreant Priest and Lynch-Committee!
Go, point thee to the cannon's mouth,
And swear its brazen lips are better,
To guard 'the interests of the South,'
Than parchment scroll, of Charter's letter. [1]
We fear not.—Steams which brawl most loud
Along their course, are oftenest shallow ”

“ In the face of New Hampshire, their purpose declare!
Oh, where had the fear of the P*****t gone
⁠From the eyes of these turbulent ladies?
And where Parson F**k's indignation and scorn
⁠Which overwhelmed all, when he made his
Great speech at our democrat gathering, when
Abolition was working its way with the men?
Alack and alas! that we live to relate
⁠How these Amazons gathered together,
Consulting each other, in solemn debate,
⁠About loosing the slave from his tether;
And gravely resolving your negroes to be
Created like all of us—equal and free. ”

“ The wish to bind them together is strengthened in the editor's mind by the knowledge that the author is himself but too careless of preserving their form, as long as their spirit is kindling up in the community. ”