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Leader (1850-1860), 24th January 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 91, ' ^ttHrfrtitiT Jt/Ull'4-UUu* ' »

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      Untitled Article

      " 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 huilding trade ,, in London alone , araoot of work . "— Leader , January 17 .. " A charge baa been brought at Worship-street , against the porteT of St . Luke ' s Workhouse , of refusing to admit a / woman into the house on Wednesday night . The policeman , to wittom she appealed , and who tried in vain to obtain her admission-, at length took her to the stationrhouse , as he said he could not bear to see a fello-wcreaturo out o £ 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 tha Shoreditch Workhouse . Tim testimony waa confirmed by others . " "—Idem .

      [ These verses , the reader will perceive , are , as regards structure aad general style , base * on Shelley ' s-noble " Masque of Anarchy ; ' ! 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 . skelter , 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 . J In my sleep I saw a rout Of pale fi gures drawn about A vetl'd Shape ; and constantly Thus I heard them shout and cry I— - . " Welcome , Slavery—thou who seesfc Haw we grovel like a beast ! We are weary of that Lie , That impostor , liberty ! ¦ " We have stood on the bleak coast O this world , as well tliou ; know ' st , Waiting for that golden time When the twin-births , Want and Crime , " Shall depart , as wise inen say , And have said ' this many a day . Looking on with a hard smile : —• But . oux children starve the while ; " And Hope within our breasta is dead ; And shadows darken overhead , Whieh , like pine-trees , gaunt and . high , When night fills the hollow sky , Nod . and : mutter dismally : *

      ¦* ' AH that to the dust can grind Our weak limbs and darken'd mind ; All the guilt an d all the pain ,- — But not any of the gain . " Answer , Union Workhouses , Where a score of outcasts freeze , Huddled to the barred gate , Shut against them like a Eate ; " Where most have even lost theifeeling Of their woe , and 1 need no steeling Against fierce thoughts that gleam and glaw , And like lightnings come and go , — - Answer , 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 ; < e 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 ai't 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 lad 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 ' 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 . Heaven and earth with bloody hues , — Steeping the air in ghastly dews . In its left hand , a sheaf of corn Lay 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 . "

      " Therefore do we turn to thee , Thou dread Saviour , Slavery : We are weary of that Lie , That impostor , Liberty ! " Thau , O Slavery , art bread For the faint and famished , And a roof at night , and rest , By dreams glorified and blest . " Liberty ha 3 made us lie Houseless underneath the sky , In the street , upon the stones , Where the fang'd frost gnaws our bones . " Slavery with a . decent dress Covers up our nakedness ; For our limbs , within her fold , Have their market-price in gold , And must not rot off 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 anmo . in

      " Slavery feedB our babes , and rears Tenderly their infant yeaxs , Seeing , with a careful eye , In them so much property . " Liberty brings children pale , And a wife ' s despairing wail , When tjie awful cry for bread Is with harsh blows answered . " Slavery brings rest from heaven , What time the purple-tressed even In a robe of stars walks forth Over the dreaming sea and earth % u Liberty brings curses—screams—¦ And bloody thoughts that hunt in dreams ; And the farmer ' s ricks doth light AH along the startled night . " All that ' s bad of Slavery Thou dost bring us , Liberty ;—All tho bitterness and shame , Onlj with another name :

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      We should do oizz utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Goethb . -a

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      ? - AN EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF FIELD-MARSHAL LORD HARDINGE . This self-denying chivalry displayed by the . late Lord IIardingb in assuming a subordinate command at the buttle of Ferozeshuhr , and his heroic deter- * mination to conquer on die upon . that , doubtful field , excited warm and untr versal admiration both in India and in this country . On the successful termination of the Sutlej campaign it was resolved to erect a statue in CJal « cutta , in memory of one whoj in a supreme emergency , hud exhibited the beat 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 . Foticv , R . A . ( than whom a better choice could hardly have been madoX was engaged to cast in bronze an equestrian statue of the Governor- General Mr . Foiacr has succeeded in a manner worthy of his high reputation . It . io ^ perhaps , doing him . small credit to say that , at this moment ,, there iis no monument in the metropolis comparable to his equestrian statue of Lord

      Untitled Article

      January 24 , 1861 ] - THE LE 1 DBE , gj

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 24, 1857, page 91, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2177/page/19/