Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, EPISTLE TO THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES JAMES FOX, SELECTION, by THOMAS MAURICE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

EPISTLE TO THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES JAMES FOX, SELECTION, by                    
First Line: How cursed that country, how severe its doom
Last Line: And show mankind a righteous ruler reigns.
Subject(s): Fox, Charles James (1749-1806)


HOW cursed that country, how severe its doom.
Whose mines of treasure are its children's tomb!
How ought the sires to execrate that gold
By which their progeny for slaves are sold!
But, oh! can Britons, virtuous, brave and free,
For Indians forge the chains of tyranny?
Yes!—the stern victor who from Persia came,
And wrapped their valleys in devouring flame,
Round Delhi when his dark'ning legions poured,
And gave her gasping nobles to the sword—
Not cruel Nadir half such havoc made
As Britons, India, through thy plains have spread.
Reflection shudders, while before my eyes
Such scenes of aggravated horror rise.—
I see thy slaughtered sons in heaps expire,
Thy temples blaze in sacrilegious fire—
I see the venerable Bramin train
Dragged from their shrines, and at their altars slain—
I see thy violated virgins led,
Ere yet mature, to the proud victor's bed—
All rights confounded—property o'erthrown,
And sacred Faith extinct, and guardian Virtue flown.
When will the day of awful vengeance come?
I see it burst from Time's disclosing womb—
When stern-browed Justice shall ascend her throne,
And suffering Hindus shall no longer groan;
When, by their victors taught the art of fight,
The natives shall in arms assert their right,
And, while their souls with indignation burn,
On their proud lords their thirsty weapons turn;
One great revenge for all their woes obtain,
For provinces laid waste and millions slain;
With tides of British blood expunge their stains,
And show mankind a righteous ruler reigns.





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