Ye Thirty Noble Nations

Ye Thirty noble Nations
  Confederate in One!
That keep your starry stations
  Around the Western Sun,—
I have a glorious mission,
  And must obey the call,—
A claim! and a petition!
  To set before you All.

Away with party blindness,
  Away with petty spite!
My Claim is one of Kindness,
  My Prayer is one of Right;
And while in grace ye listen,—
  For tenderness, I know
Your eyes shall dim and glisten,
  Your hearts shall thrill and glow.

For, on those hearts is written
  The spirit of my song,—
I claim your love for Britain,
  In spite of every wrong!
I claim it for — your mother,
  Your sister, and your spouse,
Your father, friend, and brother,
  The "Hector" of your vows!

In spite of all the evils
  That statesmen ever brew'd,
Or busy printer's-devils,
  Or Celtic gratitude,—
In spite of politicians
  And diplomatic fuss,
Your feelings and traditions
  Are cordially with us!

Oh yes! your recollections
  Look back with streaming eye
To pour those old affections
  On scenes and days gone by;
Your Eagle well remembers
  His dear old island-nest,
And sorrow stirs the embers
  Of love within his breast!

Ah! need I tell of places
  You dream and dwell on still?
Those old familiar faces
  Of English vale and hill,—
The sites you think of, sobbing,
  And seek as pilgrims seek,
With brows and bosoms throbbing,
  And tears upon your cheek!

Or should I touch on glories
  That date in ages gone,
Those dear historic stories
  When England's fame was won,—
The tales your children thronging
  So gladly hear you tell,
And note their father's longing,
  And love that longing well!

For language, follies, fashions,
  Religion, honour, shame,
And human loves and passions,
  Oh! we are just the same;
You, you are England, growing
  To Continental state,
And we Columbia, glowing
  With all that makes you great!

Yes, Anglo-Saxon brother,
  I see your heart is right,—
And we will warm each other
  With all our loves alight;
In feeling and in reason
  My Claim is stow'd away,—
And kissing is in season
  For ever and a day!

And now in frank contrition,
  O brother mine, give heed,—
And hear the just Petition
  My feeble tongue would plead;
I plead across the waters
  So deeply crimson-stain'd,
For Afric's sons and daughters
  Whom freemen hold enchain'd!

I taunt you not unkindly
  With ills you did not make,
I would not wish you blindly
  In haste the bond to break;
But tenderly and truly
  To file away the chain,
And render justice duly
  To Man's Estate again!

Oh, judge ye how degrading,—
  A Christian bought and sold!
And human monsters trading
  In human flesh for gold!
When ruthlessly they plunder
  Poor Afric's home defiled,
And all to sell — asunder!
  The mother, and her child.

O free and fearless Nation,
  Wipe out this damning spot,
Earth's worst abomination,
  And nature's blackest blot;
Begin and speed the rather
  To help with hand and eye
The children of your Father
  Beneath His tropic sky.

He — He who form'd and frees us
  And makes us white within,
Who knows how Holy Jesus
  May love that tinted skin?
For none can tell how darkly
  The sun of Jewry shed
Its burning shadows starkly
  On Jesu's homeless head.

And lo! One great salvation
  Has burst upon the World,—
And God's Illumination
  Like noonday shines unfurl'd;
Shall bonds or colour pale it?
  Candace's Eunuch — say! —
The first, though black, to hail it,
  And love the Gospel Day!

Columbia, well I note it
  That half your sons are strong
Against this ill, and vote it
  A folly and a wrong;
Yet, lurks there not a loathing,
  Ay, with your best inclined,
Against that sable clothing
  Of Man's own heart and mind?

I charge you by your power,
  Your freedom and your fame,
To speed the blessed hour
  That wipes away this Shame:
By all life's hopes and wishes
  And fears beyond the grave,
Renounce those blood-bought riches,
  And frankly free the slave!

So let whatever threaten,
  While God is on our side,
Columbia and Britain
  The world shall well divide,—
Divide? — No! in one tether
  Of Anglo-Saxon might
We'll hold the world together
  In peace and love and right!