Page:Landon in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book 1833.pdf/21

Rh

Rh

Amid the ships that bear around The wealth of half the world, Are those that, for the Quorra bound, Have just their sails unfurled.

Freighted with goods that new-found climes May envy English skill, They bear no thunders o’er the deep To work our nation’s will.

In peace they go, with pure intent, And with this noble aim; Barbaric hordes to civilize, By traffic to reclaim.

Not as they went in former days, To bear the wretched slave; To pine beneath a foreign sky, Or perish on the wave.

They go for knowledge, and in hope Such knowledge may avail, To draw the savage and unknown Within the social pale.

A deep and ardent sympathy, The heart has with the bold; The cheek is flushed, the eye is bright, Whene’er their deeds are told.

We half forget the conqueror’s crime, In honour of the brave, And raise the banner and the arch, Although upon the grave.

But here the danger and the toil Of no false light have need, Tho’ courage and tho’ constancy Deserve the highest meed.