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While their dire myrmidons through distant lands
Spread their curs'd creed, and hurl their flaming brands,
Till civil torches light them on their way,
And hosts resistless seize th' unguarded prey.
Britons! the crisis of your fate draws near;
Exalt your standards, grasp th' avenging spear;
In radiant arms indissolubly join'd,

Be firm-and brave the pow'rs of earth combin'd
What though no soft seductive arts ye boast,
Rough like your native clime, and rugged coast,
Ye glory in the noble arts of truth,

And manlier passions fire your vig'rous youth;
High beat their breasts with thirst of nobler fame,
Warm with unsullied honour's vestal flame;
Virtue is theirs-the substance, not the show,
And theirs, fair Freedom, theirs thy genuine glow;
Courage in battle, like the bolt of Jove;

In victory, gentle as the shaft of love!

These are your bulwarks; and when these shall fall,
Britain shall crouch, the abject slave of Gaul.

See Britain's ensigns blaze from shore to shore,
See her bold offspring round those ensigns pour;
Her ancient nobles, warm with all the fires
That burn'd at Cressy in their daring sires,
Her valiant knights, whose streaming banners shew
Their blazon'd triumphs o'er the haughty foe;
Her generous merchants, fam'd through ev'ry clime,
Of spotless faith and dauntless soul sublime,
Whose flags, through many a distant sea unfurl'd,
Uphold the commerce of the ravag'd world;
In social bands remotest nations join,
Chill'd at the pole, or scorch'd beneath the line
Patriots to virtue dear, for freedom bold,
Who honour still their proudest treasure hold;
Her peasants, glowing with a Briton's zeal,
Whose loyal hearts are oak, whose sinews steel:
All ranks, all ages, feel the high alarms,
At glory's call, impatient, rush to arms;
Ardent to meet a foe their souls disdain,
Conqu❜rors on shore, and sov'reigns on the main,
To victory rush on, ye dauntless bands!
The fate of Europe trembles in your hands;
Oh! still for glory pant, for Britain burn,
Nor to the sheath th' avenging blade return,
Till Liberty her trampled rights regain,
Till Justice reassume her ancient reign;

ON THE INTERESTS OF THE COMMON PEOPLE. 107 Till vanquish'd Gaul in blood her crimes bemoan, And Heav'n's avenging arm repentant own; Or, in the chains she forg'd for Europe, bound, Spend her vain rage, and prostrate bite the ground. Aug. 31, 1803.

On the Interests of the Common People in the present Contest with France.

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To us it appears of the utmost importance that the labouring classes of the community should be convinced of their personal concern in the present war. This is attempted to be shewn in a little tract, entitled. "The Prospect; or a brief View of the Evils which the Common People of England are likely to suffer, by a successful Invasion from the French." An extract from this pamphlet, which is written in a style adapted to the persons for whose use it was published, shall here be laid before our readers:

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"Some persons," the author observes, may endeavour to persuade you, that it is only against the rich that the French design any harm. Well; we will grant then, that the principal object the French have in view, is to plunder the rich; and that they do not mean to offer the poor any injury.

"Now you shall see, how you will suffer, even on this supposition; which I believe to be much too favourable to the character of the invaders. Ah! my countrymen, that would be a black day for the common people, in which you should see the rich laid low.

"For consider what plenty of employment there is for working people, through the rich having so much money to spend as they like. Don't you find fault with their having so many good things; but remember, that though they spend much money in them, they spend a great deal of it among you. I will make that out to you very clearly.

"Here is a man of great fortune, who chooses to build himself a new house ; or to alter, or enlarge, the one he already lives in. Well; this makes plenty of work for bricklayers, plasterers, carpenters, joiners, smiths, plumbers, glaziers, and painters. Suppose he had been contented to live in the old house, just as it was; why then he would have kept, perhaps, a thousand pounds in his pocket: instead of that, he has spent it; but among whom has he spent this sum? why, the greater part of it has been divided among the aforesaid bricklayers, carpenters, &c. Perhaps he thinks his

furniture is old-fashioned; he will have new furniture. This makes plenty of work for cabinet-makers, upholsterers, carvers, gilders, and carpet-weavers. Or perhaps he has a mind to alter his garden; to plant a shrubbery; to raise a mount; or make a canal: this gives bread to gardeners, and finds employment for a great number of inferior labourers. If he love fine clothes, this occasions employment to woolcombers, spinners, cloth-weavers, stocking-weavers, tailors, tanners, shoemakers, button-makers, buckle-makers, hatters, &c. If he choose to have a great many servants, this enables you soon to get your children off your hands; it finds places for your boys and girls, whom you would otherwise not know how to maintain.

"But how is any thing of this kind to be done, when their money is gone? Where is the bricklayer, the carpenter, the smith, the tailor, &c. &c. to get bread, when the rich man, who had so much employment for them, has got no money to lay out? How can the smaller wheels in a mill be kept going, if the great wheel, which puts all the rest in motion, be broken? Such is the rich man to the labouring part of the community, when he lives expensively, and pays well. He gives employment, and bread, to vast numbers, who while they are administering to his pleasures, are getting bread for themselves and their families.

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"But when the owners of those great houses in which you now find employment are driven from them, what are you to do? You may indeed go and take possession of their empty mansions; but what are you to live upon in them? You may indeed rip up the floors, and tear down the wainscotting for fuel; with these spoils you may for a while warm yourselves with rousing fires: but can you fill your bellies with these materials? Can you make a meal on oak or deal? "Perhaps in reply to this you will say, Though our old 'employers could no longer give us bread, we should find ' work from new masters.'-By the bye, you have never tried them; and therefore don't know what sort of masters they will prove. But let that be as it may, I think there is reason to believe, that, were the French to get possession of our island, there would not be, for a great while to come, any sufficient employment for the working people; and that one consequence of a successful invasion would be, that hundreds of them would perish for want of food.

"For what with the quantity of money which would in that case be carried out of the country, and the vast sums that would be hidden, and the distrust and confusion that would prevail every where, all trade would be at a stand and

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IN THE PRESENT CONTEST WITH FRANCE..

109 hereby, thousands of manufacturers, artizans, and labourers, would be thrown out of employment.

"And when trade and manufactures are stopped, then agriculture will fail. The farmer will not lay out his money for seed, nor hire labourers to work the land, if he have no chance of getting his money back again with interest, by selling his crop, when he brings it to market. And what chance will he have of this, if the numerous tribes of manufacturers, mechanics, &c. have no money to buy the ne cessaries of life? and how can they have money, if there be no employment for them?-Perhaps some of you have not considered how a brisk trade tends to make the land produce more than it otherwise would. But that may be made to appear very clear to you, thus; the more employment there is for carpenters, smiths, weavers, shoemakers, and other classes of working people, the more able are they to pay for their bread; and to have a little good meat and drink, as well as bread. This encourages the farmer and grazier to raise more grain, or rear more cattle. To speak of one article only; the manufacturers and other working people having all of them money to receive on Saturday night, are able to pay for their bread. This makes the baker's trade brisk. The baker's trade being good, makes the miller's trade good; and the prosperity of the miller's trade keeps farming alive; for the farmer being sure to find a customer for what he brings to market, is thereby encouraged to lay out more money on his land in draining, weeding, laying on manure, &c.; by this, his farm produces perhaps a third more than it would have done, if he had not laid out these expenses upon it. So that here is one third more of the necessaries of life raised for the subsistence of the people, through the briskness of trade. But if trade should stagnate, then these improvements being expensive will be discontinued. The land will be neglected: instead of producing more, it will produce less. Nay, perhaps in many places, even the common cultivation will cease, to say nothing of improvements. In many places, it is probable, the land will not be sown; the tenant think ing it better to live upon what he has by him, than to lay out his money for seed, and labour, when there is little prospect of his ever seeing his money again.

"And what must be the consequence of this neglect of agriculture? If the land bear not enough for the support of the inhabitants, then famine-famine, with all its horrors, will stare us in the face.

"Nor will there be any relief for the poor, if these distresses be caused by an invasion of our island. The rich

people, who you know, when there was a scarcity, contributed to the support of the poor, will be no longer able to afford them assistance. Moreover, there will be no parish relief for the starving parishioner to look to; for the want of money, the loss of trade, and the confusion of the times, will prevent the collecting of the poor's rates. (It ought to be remembered, that the French government, with all its boasted regard to the comfort of the common people, has never yet decreed any rate for the maintenance of the poor.) Nor will there be any hospital for the reception of the diseased poor; for the rich, who bore the expense of those charitable institutions, will be no longer able to support them being deprived of all their property, they may want the necessaries of life for themselves, instead of having any thing to give away to others.

How

"These are the comforts which the common people of England will derive from the French, even on the most favourable view of their being able to master us. stupid, therefore, must they be, who, when such a thing is talked of, say, Well; what if Buonaparte does succeed, we can't be worse off than we are!' I say how stupid is this! to say no worse of it. Would not they be worse off, if only what I have just been speaking of were to follow? But I have not stated all that would follow. There is more than this to be looked for from Buonaparte's being victorious.

"In that case, we shall become his subjects. Now I ask you, even if you have no property to be robbed of, no wife to defend, no daughter to be torn from your arms—I ask whether, even in this case, it be not better to be the subjects of such a King as now reigns over us, who never but upon an absolute emergency calls you to a perilous service, than to be the subjects of one, who, to gratify his ambition, thinks nothing of hazarding the lives of thousands and thousands of his own people?

"Hear his own words, uttered in a conversation with our -ambassador on the subject of this very invasion that he is now preparing to make on us. He tells the ambassador, that he is aware that the invasion of England will be a very hazardous enterprise; but that he shall undertake it, even though the probability is that the greatest part of his men will go to the bottom of the sea. But hazardous as the attempt is, these poor wretches are to be sent on this service. There they are now driving down to the coast of France, like sheep to the slaughter, in the Consul's own views! Do you -serve such a tyrant as this? Are you under the control of one, who values not ten thousand human lives, if he can re

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