Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 23.pdf/438

 A Government of Laws‘ BY S. B. Pmrmona, JR. 0 GOVERNMENT OFLAWS! Thou art the fruit Of ancient strife and immemorial wars. Through the long-travailing years of tyranny And greed thou’rt come to thy consummate place Where thou dost stand — the ﬂower of ages’ growth — Best promise of the progress of the world. For thee the fathers left old England's shores, — Their white sails caught the driving westward winds

And brought to this new land a stalwart race, A mighty faith and love of liberty. For thee strong men have died! For thee was shed The bravest blood that ever hotly pulsed In warriors’ veins. Upon thy deathless shield Deep-carved are thy heroes’ names — Langton, De Montfort, Cromwell, Hampden, Nathan Hale. At Runnymede and Lewes, Marston Moor,

Naseby and Lexington, at Concord Bridge And countless long-forgotten battleﬁelds, They blew the signal for the world's advance And struck the death-knell of the right of kings. Thou art the guardian of the State!

No more

Shall whim and vile caprice of princes rule. No more shall lords, booted and spurred, ride down

Their fellow-men.

The tempest and the storm

May pierce the rude-thatched cottage, but the king Must wait without. With Justice at thy side Thou watchest over all. To every man

Humble or great, thou giv’st a sure defense And citadel —— the conscience of his peers. With even scales thou weighest every right And thou dost sternly judge of every wrong And dost hold the balance true.

‘From the class poem of the present year at the Yale Law School, published in the Yale Shingl¢_