R 1 There is a tradition among the Swiss, that they are descended from the ancient Scandinavians; among whom, in a remote age, there arose so grievous a famine, that it was determined in the assembly of the Nation, that every tenth man and his family should quit their country, and seek a new possession. Six thousand, chosen by lot, thus emigrated at once from the North. They prayed to God to conduct them to a land like their own, where they might dwell in freedom and quiet, finding food for their families, and pasture for their cattle. God, says the tradition, led them to a valley among the Alps, where they cleared away the forests, built the town of Switz, and afterwards peopled and cultivated the cantons of Uri and Underwalden. 193 WRITTEN IN HONOR OF THE ABOLITION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE BY THE Receive him for ever; not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved. TO THE PUBLIC. St. Paul's Epist. to Philemon, v. 15, 16. which had become antiquated, by frequent, minute, and disgusting exposure; which afforded no oppor tunity to awaken, suspend, and delight curiosity, by THERE are objections against the title and plan of a subtle and surprising developement of plot; and this poem, which will occur to almost every reader. concerning which public feeling had been wearied The Author will not anticipate them: he will only into insensibility, by the agony of interest which the observe, that the title seemed the best, and the plan question excited, during three-and-twenty years of the most eligible, which he could adapt to a subject almost incessant discussion. That trade is at length so various and excursive, yet so familiar, and ex- abolished. May its memory be immortal, that hencehausted, as the African Slave Trade,-a subject forth it may be known only by its memory! THE WEST INDIES. PART I. ARGUMENT. Introduction; on the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The Mariner's Compass.-Columbus.-The Discovery of America.-The West Indian Islands.The Caribs.-Their Extermination. "THY chains are broken, Africa: be free!" Thus saith the island-empress of the sea; Thus saith Britannia-Oh, ye winds and waves! Waft the glad tidings to the land of slaves; Proclaim on Guinea's coast, by Gambia's side, And far as Niger rolls his eastern tide,' Through radiant realms, beneath the burning zone, Where Europe's curse is felt, her name unknown, Thus saith Britannia, empress of the sea, "Thy chains are broken, Africa: be free!" Long lay the ocean-paths from man conceal'd: Light came from heaven,-the magnet was reveal'd, A surer star to guide the seaman's eye Than the pale glory of the northern sky; Alike ordain'd to shine by night and day, Through calm and tempest, with unsetting ray; Where'er the mountains rise, the billows roll, Still with strong impulse turning to the pole, True as the sun is to the morning true, Though light as film, and trembling as the dew. Then man no longer plied with timid oar, And failing heart, along the windward shore; Broad to the sky he turn'd his fearless sail, Defied the adverse, woo'd the favoring gale, Bared to the storm his adamantine breast, Or soft on Ocean's lap lay down to rest; While free, as clouds the liquid ether sweep, His white-wing'd vessels coursed the unbounded deep; From clime to clime the wanderer loved to roam, The waves his heritage, the world his home. Then first Columbus, with the mighty hand Of grasping genius, weigh'd the sea and land; The floods o'erbalanced-where the tide of light, Day after day, roll'd down the gulf of night, There seem'd one waste of waters :-long in vain His spirit brooded o'er the Atlantic main; When sudden, as creation burst from nought, Sprang a new world, through his stupendous thought, Light, order, beauty!-While his mind explored The unveiling mystery, his heart adored; Where'er sublime imagination trod, He heard the voice, he saw the face of God. Far from the western cliffs he cast his eye O'er the wide ocean stretching to the sky: 1 Mungo Park, in his travels, ascertained that "the great river of the Negroes" flows eastward. It is probable, therefore, that this river is either lost among the sands, or empties itself into some inland sea, in the undiscovered regions of Africa.See also Part II, line 64. In calm magnificence the sun declined, "Ah! on this sea of glory might I sail, Track the bright sun, and pierce the eternal veil That hides those lands, beneath Hesperian skies, Where day-light sojourns till our morrow rise!" Thoughtful he wander'd on the beach alone; Mild o'er the deep the vesper planet shone, The eye of evening, brightening through the west Till the sweet moment when it shut to rest: Whither, O golden Venus! art thou fled? Not in the ocean-chambers lies thy bed; Round the dim world thy glittering chariot drawn Pursues the twilight, or precedes the dawn; Thy beauty noon and midnight never see, The morn and eve divide the year with thee." Soft fell the shades, till Cynthia's slender bow Crested the farthest wave, then sunk below: "Tell me, resplendent guardian of the night, Circling the sphere in thy perennial flight, What secret path of heaven thy smiles adorn, What nameless sea reflects thy gleaming horn?" Now earth and ocean vanish'd, all serene "Lead on ;-I go to win a glorious bride; 1 When the Author of The West Indies conceived the plan of this introduction of Columbus, he was not aware that he was indebted to any preceding poet for a hint on the subject; but, some time afterwards, on a second perusal of Southey's Madoc, it struck him that the idea of Columbus walking on the shore at sunset, which he had hitherto imagined his own, might be only a reflection of the impression made upon his mind long before, by the first reading of the following splendid passage. He therefore gladly makes this acknowledgment, though at his own expense, in justice to the Author of the noblest narrative poem in the English language, after the Faerie Queen and Paradise Lost. When evening came, toward the echoing shore The burnish'd silver sea, that heaved and flash'd Its restless rays intolerably bright. "Prince!" quoth Cadwallon, "thou hast rode the waves In triumph when the Invader felt thine arm. Oh what a nobler conquest might be won There, upon that wide field!" "What meanest thou?" I cried: "That yonder waters are not spread A boundless waste, a bourne impassable; 195 12 The winds were prosperous, and the billows bore Earth from her lap perennial verdure pours, He seem'd to live and breathe throughout the whole. And night and winter stagnate round the pole : At the last look of resolute despair, The Hesperian isles, from distance dimly blue, Vain, visionary hope! rapacious Spain And steel'd to cruelty by lust of gold, They worshipp'd Mammon while they vow'd to God. Let nobler bards in loftier numbers tell But themes like these would ask an angel-lyre, Where first his drooping sails Columbus furl'd, Some resting-place for peace. Oh! that my soul Man too, where freedom's beams and fountains rise, In placid indolence supinely blest, A feeble race these beauteous isles possess'd; Dreadful as hurricanes, athwart the main Or with weak arms their fiery vengeance braved; The Indian, as he turn'd his head in flight, The conflict o'er, the valiant in their graves, The laborer, smitten by the sun's quick ray, PART II. ARGUMENT. From rude Caffraria, where the giraffes browse, A world of wonders,-where creation seems The Cane.-Africa.-The Negro.-The Slave-Carry- And earthquake step, she walks abroad with death: ing Trade.-The Means and Resources of the Slave O'er boundless plains she holds her fiery flight, Trade-The Portuguese,-Dutch,- Danes,—In terrible magnificence of light; French, and English in America. AMONG the bowers of paradise, that graced Those islands of the world-dividing waste, Where towering cocoas waved their graceful locks, And vines luxuriant cluster'd round the rocks; Where orange-groves perfumed the circling air, With verdure, flowers, and fruit for ever fair; Gay myrtle foliage track'd the winding rills, And cedar forests slumber'd on the hills; -An eastern plant, ingrafted on the soil,! Was till'd for ages with consuming toil; No tree of knowledge with forbidden fruit, Death in the taste, and ruin at the root; Yet in its growth were good and evil found, It bless'd the planter, but it cursed the ground; While with vain wealth it gorged the master's hoard, And spread with manna his luxurious board, Its culture was perdition to the slave,— It sapp'd his life, and flourish'd on his grave. When the fierce spoiler from remorseless Spain Tasted the balmy spirit of the cane, (Already had his rival in the west From the rich reed ambrosial sweetness press'd), Dark through his thoughts the miser purpose roll'd To turn its hidden treasures into gold. But at his breath, by pestilent decay, The Indian tribes were swiftly swept away; Silence and horror o'er the isles were spread, The living seem'd the spectres of the dead. The Spaniard saw; no sigh of pity stole, No pang of conscience touch'd his sullen soul: The tiger weeps not o'er the kid;-he turns His flashing eyes abroad, and madly burns For nobler victims, and for warmer blood: Thus on the Carib shore the tyrant stood, Thus cast his eyes with fury o'er the tide, And far beyond the gloomy gulf descried Devoted Africa: he burst away, And with a yell of transport grasp'd his prey. Where the stupendous Mountains of the Moon Cast their broad shadows o'er the realms of noon; At blazing noon pursues the evening breeze, locks: She slept on isles of velvet verdure, placed At sun-set, when voracious monsters burst In these romantic regions, man grows wild; Here dwells the Negro, Nature's outcast child, Scorn'd by his brethren; but his mother's eye, That gazes on him from her warmest sky, Sees in his flexile limbs untutor'd grace, Power on his forehead, beauty in his face; Sees in his breast, where lawless passions rove, The heart of friendship and the home of love; Sees in his mind, where desolation reigns Fierce as his clime, uncultured as his plains, A soil where virtue's fairest flowers might shoot, And trees of science bend with glorious fruit; Sees in his soul, involved with thickest night, An emanation of eternal light, Ordain'd, 'midst sinking worlds, his dust to fire, And shine for ever when the stars expire. Is he not man, though knowledge never shed Her quickening beams on his neglected head? Is he not man, though sweet religion's voice Ne'er bade the mourner in his God rejoice? |