WHEN Columbia arose from the wide-spreading flood,
All alone from the isles and the nations she stood;
The voice of her angel was heard through her clime,
And he sung this sweet strain in the morning of time :
“Columbia, all hail! happy world of the west!
Most spacious thy climes—in thy station most bless'd ;
Though the last on the map of the nations to stand,
Thy fame shall be first, and the fairest thy land.
"Here the scenes which the future so bright shall unfold,
The nations unborn shall with wonder behold;
For lo! where the brute and the savage both roam,
With towns and vast cities the deserts shall bloom.
O'er the thrones of the east, here an empire shall rise,
Whose base shall be Freedom, and glory the prize,
As firm as the chains of thy mountains to be,
Or thy bounds which the shores of two oceans decree.
"Here tyrants no longer mankind shall enslave,
Nor pamper the base on the spoils of the brave-
The fiend of oppression shall struggle in vain,
To torture thy sons with the lash and the chain:
Nor here shall ambition, more honour'd than God,
Reap laurels and kingdoms from conquest and blood;
Its honour shall flow from a source more refined,
E'en the glory and welfare of millions combined.
"With a world in thyself, in thy soil and thy clime,
And the means of improvement more vast and sublime;
On a scale more enlarged man's existence shall rise,
And the faults of the past make the future grow wise :-
New laws and new systems more perfect shall grow,
And plenty and peace like thy rivers shall flow;
And the road to distinction, all equal shall find,
Where virtue and talents ennoble mankind.
"While the groans of sad Europe are heard from afar,
And the nations are wreck'd on the billows of war,
And the fate of their slaves, by their tyrants decreed
By thousands to toil, and by thousands to bleed;
To this land of repose, lo! the sufferers shall come,
Where the stranger shall find both a refuge and home;
Here millions, more bless'd, future ages shall see,
In the bosom of ease, independent and free.
“Thy heroes and sages, when freedom is born,
Like the stars without number, thy States shall adorn;
As high as the Greek or the Roman's proud name,
Unrivall'd to shine in the temple of fame.
Here genius, with science, united shall soar,
New plans to unfold, and new fields to explore;
As the arts in progression, advancing shall find
The means to supply all the wants of mankind.
“With union and light, in sweet triumph to blend,
Their freedom invaded, thy sons shall defend ;
At their voice so commanding, their foes shall be dumb,
Both their tyrants abroad and their traitors at home:
While virtue and knowledge more strength shall
command
Than their fleets on the seas, or their walls on the land,
And thine eagle the olive and quiver shall bear,
Till the lions of Europe shall roar in despair.
"Here, the gospel of peace, more divinely display'd, No laws shall pervert, and no tyrant invade;
Nor its beauties expose to the infidel's hate;
By uniting its powers with the compact of state-
Or enforcing belief in a merciful God,
Through regions all streaming with heretics' blood!
But a gospel more pure shall its votaries embrace,
As free as the air, to the whole human race.
"Nor less shall fair virtue its triumphs impart,
And the laws of humanity flow from the heart;
Thy sons in the paths of true honour shall move,
And thy daughters with beauty and innocence rove.
In this world of the west shall the nations behold,
In the annals of time, a new era unfold,
All nature exults, now she points to its birth!
Still waiting to give a new charter to earth.
“Columbia, all hail, happy world of the west!
Thy God shall protect thee, thy land shall be bless'd;
For a phoenix of empire thy reign shall display,
From the dust of old kingdoms, to blaze into day."
Thus on high, from a cloud o'er the mountains that
With a rainbow of light that encircled his head,
The voice of the angel that bade thee arise,
Proclaim'd the decree, and flew back to the skies.
THE IRISH EMIGRANT.
FAREWELL to my country, a lasting farewell!
Sweet scenes of my childhood, forever adieu!
Now hid from my sight is the flowery dell,
And now the dear cabin recedes from my view;
Thy murmuring streams no more breathe on mine ear; Thy wild-waving woods, too, are lost to my sight: Sweet gem of the world, I drop the sad tear,
And farewell to Erin, dear land of delight.
Sweet days that are past, how ye come o'er my soul!
Ye chill my warm blood, as the sad scenes I trace: Though time shakes his sand, and the wide waters roll, Nor distance, nor seasons, those scenes shall efface;
Brave, brave were thy sons, unshaken by fear;
And blooming thy maidens to my ravish'd sight.
Sweet gem of the world! I drop the sad tear
To Erin, dear Erin! the land of delight.
The tempest arose, and the ravager came;
Thy streams, stain'd with blood, reveal'd the sad tale! Thy wild-waving woodlands were shrouded with flame, And the hell-hounds of war descended the vale;
O! my mother, my sister, my Kathleen so dear!
Can I think without madness on that horrid night. To your shades, ye beloved ones, I drop the sad tear, And to Erin, dear Erin! the land of delight.
Tune-"Patrick's day in the morning.”
YE sons of Hibernia who fled from oppression,
And found an asylum in this happy land;
Remember the wrongs and woes past expression
Inflicted by George's tyrannical band.
Behold, now the day of sweet vengeance approaches,
When marshall'd in warlike array we'll advance,
With the sons of Columbia united and steady,
To charge the proud foe we'll always be ready,
And tyrants defy, night and morning.
When tyranny, terror, and sad desolation,
Overwhelm'd like a torrent the seats of the brave, And the bloodhounds of Britain spread wide devastation,
And Erin's true sons found a premature grave; Then the goddess of Liberty, touch'd with compassion, Invited her votaries over the main,
To the shores of Columbia, where Freedom so charming,
Our hearts still delighting, our bosoms still warming,
Shall gladden the scene night and morning.
For the boon we'll be grateful, and foremost in battle,
Defying the minions of Britain and France,
Where trumpets resound and where cannons do rattle,
Impetuous we'll rush and undaunted advance.
Through Canada's wilds or the plains of Quebec,
On the ocean's wide bosom or Florida's sands,
We will prove our devotion, the cause it is glorious,
Defending our rights we shall e'er be victorious,
All dangers we'll brave night and morning.
Our triumph completed, the prospect will brighten,
No more we'll be shackled by Liberty's foes!
The empire of Freedom shall spread and enlighten,
Philanthropy's friends shall enjoy sweet repose.
United and free, and all tyrants defying,
Equal rights, equal laws we'll preserve as our boast; Our well-earned liberty always enjoying,
And still with the precepts of justice complying,
Fair Freedom's support and adorning.
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