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Leader (1850-1860), 24th January 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 19, AN EQUESTRIAN STATUE OV FIELD-MARSHAL LO...

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      J Anuary 24,1857.] T H E Il-E A P Eb, 9

      J anuary 24 , 1857 . ] T H E IL-E A P EB , 9

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      We Should Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...

      We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encouiages itself . —Goethe . a

      "The Unemployed Working Men Of London Ha...

      " The unemployed working men of London have met to form a ' National Association-of the Unemployed . ' What an institution to exist in a civilized country in the midst of ' prosperity ! ' Great merchants , great speculators , great contractors , even farmers , are making fortunes , while 26 , 000 of the building trade , in iondon alone , are out of ¦ woxk . "— Leader , January 17 . "A charge has been brought at Worship-street , against the porter of St . Lake ' s W orkhouse , of refusing to admit a woman into the house on Wednesday night . The policeman to whom she appealed , and who tried in vain . fco obtain her admission , at length took her to the station-house , as he said he could not bear to see a fellowcreature out of doors on such a night . A police sergeant said it was a pitiable sight to see the many poor creatures who lie at the gates of the St . Luke's Workhouse . When the police knock , they are treated very roughly , and told to mind their own business . They have frequently been obliged to remove the destitute from there to the ShoreditcL . Workhouse . This testimony was confirfcned by others . "—Idem . [ These verses , the reader will perceive , are , as regards structure and general style , baaed on Shelley ' s noble " Masque of Anarchy 5 " but , in their principles , they may be taken to express an opposite feeling—namely , the despairing desire for subjection to any system offering food and shelter , which is sometimes wrung out of misery such as that described in the columns of this journal , and which would assuredly be one of the most tragical features of the time . } In my sleep I saw a rout Of pale figures drawn about A yeil'd Shape ; and constantly Thus I heard them shout and cry : — " Welcome , Slavery- —thou who seest How we grovel like a beast ! We are weary of that Lie , That impostor , Liberty ! * ' We have stood on the bleak coast Of this world , as well thou know ' st , " Waiting for that golden time When the twin-births , Want and Crime , " Shall depart , as wise men say , And have said this many a day , Looking on with a hard smile :- — But our children starve the while ; " And Hope within our breasts is dead ; And shadows darken overhead , Which , lika * pine-trees , gaunt and high , When night iills the hollow sky , Nod and mutter dismally . ' , " Therefore do we turn , to thee , Thou dread Saviour , Slavery : " We are weary of that Lie , That impostor , Liberty ! " Thou , O Slavery , art bread For the faint and famished , And a roof at night , and rest , By dreams glorified and blest . " Liberty has made us He Houseless underneath the sky , In the street , upon the stones , Where the fang'd frost gnaws our bones . " ' Slavery with a decent dress Co-vers up our nakedness ; For our limbs , within her fold , Have their market-price in gold , And must not rot oiF with cold . " Liberty throws round about Our limbs foul rags that mock and flout , Like flapping doors from throat to shin , That let the assassin winds come in . " Slavery feeds our babes , and rears Tenderly their infant years , Seeing , with a careful eye , In them so much property . 41 Liberty brings children pale , And a wife ' s despairing wail , When the awful cry for bread Is with harah blows answered . " Slavery brings rest from heaven , What tune the purple-tressed even In a robe of stars walks forth Over the dreaming sea and earth . " Liberty brings curses—screams—And bloody thoughts that hunt in dreams ; And the farmer ' s ricks doth light All along the startled night . " All that ' s bad of Slavery Thou dost bring us , Liberty ;—All the bitterness and shame , Only with another nuinc :

      " All that to , the dust can grind Our weak limbs and darken ' d mind ; All the guilt and all the pain , — But riot any of the gain . " Answer , Union Workhouses , Where a score of outcasts freeze , Huddled to the barred gate , Shut against them like a Fate ; " Where most have even lost the feeling Of their woe , and need no steeling Against fierce thoughts that gleam and glow , And like lightnings come and go , — Answer , if it be not so ! * ' Factories , where Youth turns grey , And even childhood fades away , Bit by bit , and bloom by bloom , To the coffin ' s narrow room ; " Where the great , fierce wheels go round , With a wild and weary sound , , Bringing ever , as night brings dew , Tears for many , and smiles for few , — Answer , if it be not true ! " Town and County Prison Houses , Where Crime fattens and carouses ( By the grace of such as us ) In shapes multitudinous , — Answer , if it be not thus ! * ' Thou art " Want and Misery , Thou art Crime and Infamy , Thou , art all beneath the sky That is vile , O Liberty ! " Therefore do we turn to thee , Thou grim idol , Slavery : " We had sooner eat with thee , Than work and starve with Liberty : We had sooner die with thee , Than , live in the frowns of Liberty ! Come , and rule us , speedily ! " '• As thus they spoke , the veil that hung Around the Shape was stirred , and swung , Like morning mists upon a lake When the winds begin to wake , —• *' And pass'd away : and then I saw That which words but faintly draw . —Its hands were claws , its eyes were dull ; Its head was like a monkey ' s skull : And it had wings shaped like a bat , With which it smote at this and that ; And where ' er it smote , straightway Darkness took the place of day . Its skin was black as Africa ; From its brow , a lurid star Cast such light as did confuse Hea-ven and earth with , bloody hues , — Steeping the air in ghastly dews . In its left hand , a sheaf of corn Lav golden as the budding morn ; In its right , a dark-stain'd whip , Which constantly did drip and drip . And the crowd knelt on the ground , And ; , with awful oaths , they bound Themselves to serve this grisly thing-With all the strength that they could bring . —Then I awoke , and found it day ; And all those ghosts fled fast away Through the portals wide and deep Of the fathomless gulf of sleep . And a voice spoke out of me : — " Woe to England needs must be , When she hears her children cry For bread—the bread of Slavery . "

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      An Equestrian Statue Ov Field-Marshal Lo...

      AN EQUESTRIAN STATUE OV FIELD-MARSHAL LORD HARDIETGE . The self-denying chivalry displayed by the late Lord Hakdinge in assuming a subordinate command at the buttle of Fei'ozeshuhr , and his heroic determination to conquer or die upon that doubtful field , excited warm and universal admiration both in India and in this country . On the successful

      termination , of the Sutlej campaign it was resolved to erect a statue in Calcutta , in memory of one who , in a supreme emergency , had exhibited the best qualities of those brave and gentle knights whom history and romance alike have loved and honoured . Ample funds were speedily collected , and Mr . J . H . FoiiicY , R . A . ( than whom a better choice could hardly have been mado % was engaged to cast in bronze an equestrian statue of the Governor-General-Mr . Foiamr has succeeded in a manner worthy of his high reputation . It 10 , perhaps , doing him small credit to say that , at this moment , there is no monument in the metropolis comparable to his equestrian statue of Lord

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 24, 1857, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24011857/page/19/