diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260-8.txt | 2204 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 43749 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 535218 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260-h/28260-h.htm | 2710 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260-h/images/i001.jpg | bin | 0 -> 37313 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260-h/images/i002.jpg | bin | 0 -> 70300 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260-h/images/i003.jpg | bin | 0 -> 74606 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260-h/images/i004.jpg | bin | 0 -> 63595 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260-h/images/i005.jpg | bin | 0 -> 53266 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260-h/images/i006.jpg | bin | 0 -> 67686 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260-h/images/i007.jpg | bin | 0 -> 59069 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260-h/images/i008.jpg | bin | 0 -> 61309 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260.txt | 2204 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28260.zip | bin | 0 -> 43696 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
17 files changed, 7134 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28260-8.txt b/28260-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..133a67f --- /dev/null +++ b/28260-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2204 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Captain Sword and Captain Pen, by Leigh Hunt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Captain Sword and Captain Pen + A Poem + +Author: Leigh Hunt + +Release Date: March 6, 2009 [EBook #28260] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: [_To face the Title._] + + + + + +CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN. + +=A Poem.= + +BY LEIGH HUNT. + +WITH SOME REMARKS ON + +WAR AND MILITARY STATESMEN. + + --If there be in glory aught of good, + It may by means far different be attained, + Without ambition, war, or violence.--MILTON. + + + LONDON: + + CHARLES KNIGHT, LUDGATE STREET. + + 1835. + + + + + TO + + THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE + + LORD BROUGHAM AND VAUX, + + WITH WHOM THE WRITER HUMBLY DIFFERS ON SOME POINTS, + + BUT DEEPLY RESPECTS FOR HIS MOTIVES ON ALL; + + GREAT IN OFFICE FOR WHAT HE DID FOR THE WORLD, + + GREATER OUT OF IT IN CALMLY AWAITING HIS TIME TO DO MORE; + + THE PROMOTER OF EDUCATION; THE EXPEDITER OF JUSTICE; + + THE LIBERATOR FROM SLAVERY; + + AND (WHAT IS THE RAREST VIRTUE IN A STATESMAN) + + ALWAYS A DENOUNCER OF WAR, + + =These Pages are Inscribed= + + BY HIS EVER AFFECTIONATE SERVANT, + + Jan. 30, 1835. LEIGH HUNT. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +This Poem is the result of a sense of duty, which has taken the Author +from quieter studies during a great public crisis. He obeyed the impulse +with joy, because it took the shape of verse; but with more pain, on +some accounts, than he chooses to express. However, he has done what he +conceived himself bound to do; and if every zealous lover of his species +were to express his feelings in like manner, to the best of his ability, +individual opinions, little in themselves, would soon amount to an +overwhelming authority, and hasten the day of reason and beneficence. + +The measure is regular with an irregular aspect,--four accents in a +verse,--like that of Christabel, or some of the poems of Sir Walter +Scott: + + Càptain Swòrd got ùp one dày-- + And the flàg full of hònour, as thòugh it could feèl-- + +He mentions this, not, of course, for readers in general, but for the +sake of those daily acceders to the list of the reading public, whose +knowledge of books is not yet equal to their love of them. + +[Illustration: + + STEPPING IN MUSIC AND THUNDER SWEET, + WHICH HIS DRUMS SENT BEFORE HIM INTO THE STREET. + _Canto_ I. _p._ 1.] + + + + +CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN. + + +I. + +HOW CAPTAIN SWORD MARCHED TO WAR. + + Captain Sword got up one day, + Over the hills to march away, + Over the hills and through the towns, + They heard him coming across the downs, + Stepping in music and thunder sweet, + Which his drums sent before him into the street. + And lo! 'twas a beautiful sight in the sun; + For first came his foot, all marching like one, + With tranquil faces, and bristling steel, + And the flag full of honour as though it could feel, + And the officers gentle, the sword that hold + 'Gainst the shoulder heavy with trembling gold, + And the massy tread, that in passing is heard, + Though the drums and the music say never a word. + + And then came his horse, a clustering sound + Of shapely potency, forward bound, + Glossy black steeds, and riders tall, + Rank after rank, each looking like all, + Midst moving repose and a threatening charm, + With mortal sharpness at each right arm, + And hues that painters and ladies love, + And ever the small flag blush'd above. + + And ever and anon the kettle-drums beat + Hasty power midst order meet; + And ever and anon the drums and fifes + Came like motion's voice, and life's; + Or into the golden grandeurs fell + Of deeper instruments, mingling well, + Burdens of beauty for winds to bear; + And the cymbals kiss'd in the shining air, + And the trumpets their visible voices rear'd, + Each looking forth with its tapestried beard, + Bidding the heavens and earth make way + For Captain Sword and his battle-array. + + He, nevertheless, rode indifferent-eyed, + As if pomp were a toy to his manly pride, + Whilst the ladies lov'd him the more for his scorn, + And thought him the noblest man ever was born, + And tears came into the bravest eyes, + And hearts swell'd after him double their size, + And all that was weak, and all that was strong, + Seem'd to think wrong's self in him could not be wrong; + Such love, though with bosom about to be gored, + Did sympathy get for brave Captain Sword. + + So, half that night, as he stopp'd in the town, + 'Twas all one dance, going merrily down, + With lights in windows and love in eyes, + And a constant feeling of sweet surprise; + But all the next morning 'twas tears and sighs; + For the sound of his drums grew less and less, + Walking like carelessness off from distress; + And Captain Sword went whistling gay, + "Over the hills and far away." + + + + +II. + +HOW CAPTAIN SWORD WON A GREAT VICTORY. + + + Through fair and through foul went Captain Sword, + Pacer of highway and piercer of ford, + Steady of face in rain or sun, + He and his merry men, all as one; + Till they came to a place, where in battle-array + Stood thousands of faces, firm as they, + Waiting to see which could best maintain + Bloody argument, lords of pain; + And down the throats of their fellow-men + Thrust the draught never drunk again. + + It was a spot of rural peace, + Ripening with the year's increase + And singing in the sun with birds, + Like a maiden with happy words-- + With happy words which she scarcely hears + In her own contented ears, + Such abundance feeleth she + Of all comfort carelessly, + Throwing round her, as she goes, + Sweet half-thoughts on lily and rose, + Nor guesseth what will soon arouse + All ears--that murder's in the house; + And that, in some strange wrong of brain, + Her father hath her mother slain. + + Steady! steady! The masses of men + Wheel, and fall in, and wheel again, + Softly as circles drawn with pen. + + Then a gaze there was, and valour, and fear, + And the jest that died in the jester's ear, + And preparation, noble to see, + Of all-accepting mortality; + Tranquil Necessity gracing Force; + And the trumpets danc'd with the stirring horse; + And lordly voices, here and there, + Call'd to war through the gentle air; + When suddenly, with its voice of doom, + Spoke the cannon 'twixt glare and gloom, + Making wider the dreadful room: + On the faces of nations round + Fell the shadow of that sound. + + Death for death! The storm begins; + Rush the drums in a torrent of dins; + Crash the muskets, gash the swords; + Shoes grow red in a thousand fords; + Now for the flint, and the cartridge bite; + Darkly gathers the breath of the fight, + Salt to the palate and stinging to sight; + Muskets are pointed they scarce know where, + No matter: Murder is cluttering there. + Reel the hollows: close up! close up! + Death feeds thick, and his food is his cup. + Down go bodies, snap burst eyes; + Trod on the ground are tender cries; + Brains are dash'd against plashing ears; + Hah! no time has battle for tears; + Cursing helps better--cursing, that goes + Slipping through friends' blood, athirst for foes'. + What have soldiers with tears to do?-- + We, who this mad-house must now go through, + This twenty-fold Bedlam, let loose with knives-- + To murder, and stab, and grow liquid with lives-- + Gasping, staring, treading red mud, + Till the drunkenness' self makes us steady of blood? + +[Illustration: + + DOWN GO BODIES--SNAP BURST EYES-- + TROD ON THE GROUND ARE TENDER CRIES. + _Canto_ II. _p. 8._] + + [Oh! shrink not thou, reader! Thy part's in it too; + Has not thy praise made the thing they go through + Shocking to read of, but noble to do?] + + No time to be "breather of thoughtful breath" + Has the giver and taker of dreadful death. + See where comes the horse-tempest again, + Visible earthquake, bloody of mane! + Part are upon us, with edges of pain; + Part burst, riderless, over the plain, + Crashing their spurs, and twice slaying the slain. + See, by the living God! see those foot + Charging down hill--hot, hurried, and mute! + They loll their tongues out! Ah-hah! pell-mell! + Horses roll in a human hell; + Horse and man they climb one another-- + Which is the beast, and which is the brother? + Mangling, stifling, stopping shrieks + With the tread of torn-out cheeks, + Drinking each other's bloody breath-- + Here's the fleshliest feast of Death. + An odour, as of a slaughter-house, + The distant raven's dark eye bows. + + Victory! victory! Man flies man; + Cannibal patience hath done what it can-- + Carv'd, and been carv'd, drunk the drinkers down, + And now there is one that hath won the crown: + One pale visage stands lord of the board-- + Joy to the trumpets of Captain Sword! + + His trumpets blow strength, his trumpets neigh, + They and his horse, and waft him away; + They and his foot, with a tir'd proud flow, + Tatter'd escapers and givers of woe. + Open, ye cities! Hats off! hold breath! + To see the man who has been with Death; + To see the man who determineth right + By the virtue-perplexing virtue of might. + Sudden before him have ceas'd the drums, + And lo! in the air of empire he comes! + + All things present, in earth and sky, + Seem to look at his looking eye. + + + + +III. + +OF THE BALL THAT WAS GIVEN TO CAPTAIN SWORD. + + + But Captain Sword was a man among men, + And he hath become their playmate again: + Boot, nor sword, nor stern look hath he, + But holdeth the hand of a fair ladye, + And floweth the dance a palace within, + Half the night, to a golden din, + Midst lights in windows and love in eyes, + And a constant feeling of sweet surprise; + And ever the look of Captain Sword + Is the look that's thank'd, and the look that's ador'd. + + There was the country-dance, small of taste; + And the waltz, that loveth the lady's waist; + And the galopade, strange agreeable tramp, + Made of a scrape, a hobble, and stamp; + And the high-stepping minuet, face to face, + Mutual worship of conscious grace; + And all the shapes in which beauty goes + Weaving motion with blithe repose. + + And then a table a feast displayed, + Like a garden of light without a shade, + All of gold, and flowers, and sweets, + With wines of old church-lands, and sylvan meats, + Food that maketh the blood feel choice; + Yet all the face of the feast, and the voice, + And heart, still turn'd to the head of the board; + For ever the look of Captain Sword + Is the look that's thank'd, and the look that's ador'd. + +[Illustration: + + THERE WAS THE COUNTRY DANCE, SMALL OF TASTE; + AND THE WALTZ, THAT LOVETH THE LADY'S WAIST. + _Canto_ III. _p._ 14.] + + Well content was Captain Sword; + At his feet all wealth was pour'd; + On his head all glory set; + For his ease all comfort met; + And around him seem'd entwin'd + All the arms of womankind. + + And when he had taken his fill + Thus, of all that pampereth will, + In his down he sunk to rest, + Clasp'd in dreams of all its best. + + + + +IV. + +ON WHAT TOOK PLACE ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE THE NIGHT AFTER THE VICTORY. + + + 'Tis a wild night out of doors; + The wind is mad upon the moors, + And comes into the rocking town, + Stabbing all things, up and down, + And then there is a weeping rain + Huddling 'gainst the window-pane, + And good men bless themselves in bed; + The mother brings her infant's head + Closer, with a joy like tears, + And thinks of angels in her prayers; + Then sleeps, with his small hand in hers. + + Two loving women, lingering yet + Ere the fire is out, are met, + Talking sweetly, time-beguil'd, + One of her bridegroom, one her child, + The bridegroom he. They have receiv'd + Happy letters, more believ'd + For public news, and feel the bliss + The heavenlier on a night like this. + They think him hous'd, they think him blest, + Curtain'd in the core of rest, + Danger distant, all good near; + Why hath their "Good night" a tear? + + Behold him! By a ditch he lies + Clutching the wet earth, his eyes + Beginning to be mad. In vain + His tongue still thirsts to lick the rain, + That mock'd but now his homeward tears; + And ever and anon he rears + His legs and knees with all their strength, + And then as strongly thrusts at length. + Rais'd, or stretch'd, he cannot bear + The wound that girds him, weltering there: + And "Water!" he cries, with moonward stare. + + ["I will not read it!" with a start, + Burning cries some honest heart; + "I will not read it! Why endure + Pangs which horror cannot cure? + Why--Oh why? and rob the brave + And the bereav'd of all they crave, + A little hope to gild the grave?" + + Ask'st thou why, thou honest heart? + 'Tis _because_ thou dost ask, and because thou dost start. + 'Tis because thine own praise and fond outward thought + Have aided the shews which this sorrow have wrought.] + + A wound unutterable--Oh God! + Mingles his being with the sod. + + ["I'll read no more."--Thou must, thou must: + In thine own pang doth wisdom trust.] + + His nails are in earth, his eyes in air, + And "Water!" he crieth--he may not forbear. + Brave and good was he, yet now he dreams + The moon looks cruel; and he blasphemes. + + ["No more! no more!" Nay, this is but one; + Were the whole tale told, it would not be done + From wonderful setting to rising sun. + But God's good time is at hand--be calm, + Thou reader! and steep thee in all thy balm + Of tears or patience, of thought or good will, + For the field--the field awaiteth us still.] + + "Water! water!" all over the field: + To nothing but Death will that wound-voice yield. + One, as he crieth, is sitting half bent; + What holds he so close?--his body is rent. + Another is mouthless, with eyes on cheek; + Unto the raven he may not speak. + One would fain kill him; and one half round + The place where he writhes, hath up beaten the ground. + Like a mad horse hath he beaten the ground, + And the feathers and music that litter it round, + The gore, and the mud, and the golden sound. + Come hither, ye cities! ye ball-rooms, take breath! + See what a floor hath the dance of death! + + The floor is alive, though the lights are out; + What are those dark shapes, flitting about? + Flitting about, yet no ravens they, + Not foes, yet not friends--mute creatures of prey; + Their prey is lucre, their claws a knife, + Some say they take the beseeching life. + Horrible pity is theirs for despair, + And they the love-sacred limbs leave bare. + Love will come to-morrow, and sadness, + Patient for the fear of madness, + And shut its eyes for cruelty, + So many pale beds to see. + Turn away, thou Love, and weep + No more in covering his last sleep; + Thou hast him--blessed is thine eye! + Friendless Famine has yet to die. + +[Illustration: + + COME HITHER, YE CITIES! YE BALL-ROOMS TAKE BREATH! + SEE WHAT A FLOOR HATH THE DANCE OF DEATH. + _Canto_ IV. _p._ 22.] + + A shriek!--Great God! what superhuman + Peal was that? Not man, nor woman, + Nor twenty madmen, crush'd, could wreak + Their soul in such a ponderous shriek. + Dumbly, for an instant, stares + The field; and creep men's dying hairs. + + O friend of man! O noble creature! + Patient and brave, and mild by nature, + Mild by nature, and mute as mild, + Why brings he to these passes wild + Thee, gentle horse, thou shape of beauty? + Could he not do his dreadful duty, + (If duty it be, which seems mad folly) + Nor link thee to his melancholy? + + Two noble steeds lay side by side, + One cropp'd the meek grass ere it died; + Pang-struck it struck t' other, already torn, + And out of its bowels that shriek was born. + + Now see what crawleth, well as it may, + Out of the ditch, and looketh that way. + What horror all black, in the sick moonlight, + Kneeling, half human, a burdensome sight; + Loathly and liquid, as fly from a dish; + Speak, Horror! thou, for it withereth flesh. + + "The grass caught fire; the wounded were by; + Writhing till eve did a remnant lie; + Then feebly this coal abateth his cry; + But he hopeth! he hopeth! joy lighteth his eye, + For gold he possesseth, and Murder is nigh!" + + O goodness in horror! O ill not all ill! + In the worst of the worst may be fierce Hope still. + To-morrow with dawn will come many a wain, + And bear away loads of human pain, + Piles of pale beds for the 'spitals; but some + Again will awake in home-mornings, and some, + Dull herds of the war, again follow the drum. + From others, faint blood shall in families flow, + With wonder at life, and young oldness in woe, + Yet hence may the movers of great earth grow. + Now, even now, I hear them at hand, + Though again Captain Sword is up in the land, + Marching anew for more fields like these + In the health of his flag in the morning breeze. + + Sneereth the trumpet, and stampeth the drum, + And again Captain Sword in his pride doth come; + He passeth the fields where his friends lie lorn, + Feeding the flowers and the feeding corn, + Where under the sunshine cold they lie, + And he hasteth a tear from his old grey eye. + Small thinking is his but of work to be done, + And onward he marcheth, using the sun: + He slayeth, he wasteth, he spouteth his fires + On babes at the bosom, and bed-rid sires; + He bursteth pale cities, through smoke and through yell, + And bringeth behind him, hot-blooded, his hell. + Then the weak door is barr'd, and the soul all sore, + And hand-wringing helplessness paceth the floor, + And the lover is slain, and the parents are nigh-- + + Oh God! let me breathe, and look up at thy sky! + Good is as hundreds, evil as one; + Round about goeth the golden sun. + + + + +V. + +HOW CAPTAIN SWORD, IN CONSEQUENCE OF HIS GREAT VICTORIES, BECAME INFIRM +IN HIS WITS. + + + But to win at the game, whose moves are death, + It maketh a man draw too proud a breath: + And to see his force taken for reason and right, + It tendeth to unsettle his reason quite. + Never did chief of the line of Sword + Keep his wits whole at that drunken board. + He taketh the size, and the roar, and fate, + Of the field of his action, for soul as great: + He smiteth and stunneth the cheek of mankind, + And saith "Lo! I rule both body and mind." + + Captain Sword forgot his own soul, + Which of aught save itself, resented controul; + Which whatever his deeds, ordained them still, + Bodiless monarch, enthron'd in his will: + He forgot the close thought, and the burning heart, + And pray'rs, and the mild moon hanging apart, + Which lifteth the seas with her gentle looks, + And growth, and death, and immortal books, + And the Infinite Mildness, the soul of souls, + Which layeth earth soft 'twixt her silver poles; + Which ruleth the stars, and saith not a word; + Whose speed in the hair of no comet is heard; + Which sendeth the soft sun, day by day, + Mighty, and genial, and just alway, + Owning no difference, doing no wrong, + Loving the orbs and the least bird's song, + The great, sweet, warm angel, with golden rod, + Bright with the smile of the distance of God. + + Captain Sword, like a witless thing, + Of all under heaven must needs be king, + King of kings, and lord of lords, + Swayer of souls as well as of swords, + Ruler of speech, and through speech, of thought; + And hence to his brain was a madness brought. + He madden'd in East, he madden'd in West, + Fiercer for sights of men's unrest, + Fiercer for talk, amongst awful men, + Of their new mighty leader, Captain Pen, + A conqueror strange, who sat in his home + Like the wizard that plagued the ships of Rome, + Noiseless, show-less, dealing no death, + But victories, winged, went forth from his breath. + + Three thousand miles across the waves[A] + Did Captain Sword cry, bidding souls be slaves: + Three thousand miles did the echo return + With a laugh and a blow made his old cheeks burn. + + Then he call'd to a wrong-maddened people, and swore[B] + Their name in the map should never be more: + Dire came the laugh, and smote worse than before. + Were earthquake a giant, up-thrusting his head + And o'erlooking the nations, not worse were the dread. + + Then, lo! was a wonder, and sadness to see; + For with that very people, their leader, stood he, + Incarnate afresh, like a Cæsar of old;[C] + But because he look'd back, and his heart was cold, + Time, hope, and himself for a tale he sold. + Oh largest occasion, by man ever lost! + Oh throne of the world, to the war-dogs tost! + + He vanished; and thinly there stood in his place + The new shape of Sword, with an humbler face,[D] + Rebuking his brother, and preaching for right, + Yet aye when it came, standing proud on his might, + And squaring its claims with his old small sight; + Then struck up his drums, with ensign furl'd, + And said, "I will walk through a subject world: + Earth, just as it is, shall for ever endure, + The rich be too rich, and the poor too poor; + And for this I'll stop knowledge. I'll say to it, 'Flow + Thus far; but presume no farther to flow: + For me, as I list, shall the free airs blow.'" + +[Illustration: + + THEN SUDDENLY CAME HE WITH GOWNED MEN, + AND SAID, "NOW OBSERVE ME--I'M CAPTAIN PEN." + _Canto V. p. 34._] + + Laugh'd after him loudly that land so fair,[E] + "The king thou set'st over us, by a free air + Is swept away, senseless." And old Sword then + First knew the might of great Captain Pen. + So strangely it bow'd him, so wilder'd his brain, + That now he stood, hatless, renouncing his reign; + Now mutter'd of dust laid in blood; and now + 'Twixt wonder and patience went lifting his brow. + Then suddenly came he, with gowned men, + And said, "Now observe me--_I'm_ Captain Pen: + _I'll_ lead all your changes--I'll write all your books-- + I'm every thing--all things--I'm clergymen, cooks, + Clerks, carpenters, hosiers--I'm Pitt--I'm Lord Grey." + + 'Twas painful to see his extravagant way; + But heart ne'er so bold, and hand ne'er so strong, + What are they, when truth and the wits go wrong? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] The American War. + +[B] The French War. + +[C] Napoleon. + +[D] The Duke of Wellington, or existing Military Toryism. + +[E] The Glorious Three Days. + + + + +VI. + +OF CAPTAIN PEN, AND HOW HE FOUGHT WITH CAPTAIN SWORD. + + + Now tidings of Captain Sword and his state + Were brought to the ears of Pen the Great, + Who rose and said, "His time is come." + And he sent him, but not by sound of drum, + Nor trumpet, nor other hasty breath, + Hot with questions of life and death, + But only a letter calm and mild; + And Captain Sword he read it, and smil'd, + And said, half in scorn, and nothing in fear, + (Though his wits seem'd restor'd by a danger near, + For brave was he ever) "Let Captain Pen + Bring at his back a million men, + And I'll talk with his wisdom, and not till then." + Then replied to his messenger Captain Pen, + "I'll bring at my back a _world_ of men." + + Out laugh'd the captains of Captain Sword, + But their chief look'd vex'd, and said not a word, + For thought and trouble had touch'd his ears + Beyond the bullet-like sense of theirs, + And wherever he went, he was 'ware of a sound + Now heard in the distance, now gathering round, + Which irk'd him to know what the issue might be; + But the soul of the cause of it well guess'd he. + + Indestructible souls among men + Were the souls of the line of Captain Pen; + Sages, patriots, martyrs mild, + Going to the stake, as child + Goeth with his prayer to bed; + Dungeon-beams, from quenchless head; + Poets, making earth aware + Of its wealth in good and fair; + And the benders to their intent, + Of metal and of element; + Of flame the enlightener, beauteous, + And steam, that bursteth his iron house; + And adamantine giants blind, + That, without master, have no mind. + + Heir to these, and all their store, + Was Pen, the power unknown of yore; + And as their might still created might, + And each work'd for him by day and by night, + In wealth and wondrous means he grew, + Fit to move the earth anew; + Till his fame began to speak + Pause, as when the thunders wake, + Muttering, in the beds of heaven: + Then, to set the globe more even, + Water he call'd, and Fire, and Haste, + Which hath left old Time displac'd-- + And Iron, mightiest now for Pen, + Each of his steps like an army of men-- + (Sword little knew what was leaving him then) + And out of the witchcraft of their skill, + A creature he call'd, to wait on his will-- + Half iron, half vapour, a dread to behold-- + Which evermore panted and evermore roll'd, + And uttered his words a million fold. + Forth sprang they in air, down raining like dew, + And men fed upon them, and mighty they grew. + + Ears giddy with custom that sound might not hear, + But it woke up the rest, like an earthquake near; + And that same night of the letter, some strange + Compulsion of soul brought a sense of change; + And at midnight the sound grew into a roll + As the sound of all gath'rings from pole to pole, + From pole unto pole, and from clime to clime, + Like the roll of the wheels of the coming of time;-- + A sound as of cities, and sound as of swords + Sharpening, and solemn and terrible words, + And laughter as solemn, and thunderous drumming, + A tread as if all the world were coming. + And then was a lull, and soft voices sweet + Call'd into music those terrible feet, + Which rising on wings, lo! the earth went round + To the burn of their speed with a golden sound; + With a golden sound, and a swift repose, + Such as the blood in the young heart knows; + Such as Love knows, when his tumults cease; + When all is quick, and yet all is at peace. + + And when Captain Sword got up next morn, + Lo! a new-fac'd world was born; + For not an anger nor pride would it shew, + Nor aught of the loftiness now found low, + Nor would his own men strike a single blow: + Not a blow for their old, unconsidering lord + Would strike the good soldiers of Captain Sword; + But weaponless all, and wise they stood, + In the level dawn, and calm brotherly good; + Yet bowed to him they, and kiss'd his hands, + For such were their new lord's commands, + Lessons rather, and brotherly plea; + Reverence the past, quoth he; + Reverence the struggle and mystery, + And faces human in their pain; + Nor his the least, that could sustain + Cares of mighty wars, and guide + Calmly where the red deaths ride. + + "But how! what now?" cried Captain Sword; + "Not a blow for your gen'ral? not even a word? + What! traitors? deserters?" + + "Ah no!" cried they; + "But the 'game's' at an end; the 'wise' wont play." + + "And where's your old spirit?" + + "The same, though another; + Man may be strong without maiming his brother." + + "But enemies?" + + "Enemies! Whence should they come, + When all interchange what was known but to some?" + + "But famine? but plague? worse evils by far." + + "O last mighty rhet'ric to charm us to war! + Look round--what has earth, now it equably speeds, + To do with these foul and calamitous needs? + Now it equably speeds, and thoughtfully glows, + And its heart is open, never to close? + +[Illustration: + + AND SO, LIKE THE TOOL OF A DISUS'D ART, + HE STOOD AT HIS WALL, AND RUSTED APART. + _Canto_ VI. _p. 44._] + + "Still I can govern," said Captain Sword; + "Fate I respect; and I stick to my word." + And in truth so he did; but the word was one + He had sworn to all vanities under the sun, + To do, for their conq'rors, the least could be done. + Besides, what had _he_ with his worn-out story, + To do with the cause he had wrong'd, and the glory? + + No: Captain Sword a sword was still, + He could not unteach his lordly will; + He could not attemper his single thought; + It might not be bent, nor newly wrought: + And so, like the tool of a disus'd art, + He stood at his wall, and rusted apart. + + 'Twas only for many-soul'd Captain Pen + To make a world of swordless men. + + + + +POSTSCRIPT; + +CONTAINING SOME REMARKS ON WAR AND MILITARY STATESMEN. + + + + +POSTSCRIPT; + +CONTAINING SOME REMARKS ON WAR AND MILITARY STATESMEN. + + +The object of this poem is to show the horrors of war, the false ideas +of power produced in the minds of its leaders, and, by inference, the +unfitness of those leaders for the government of the world. + +The author intends no more offence to any one than can be helped: he +feels due admiration for that courage and energy, the supposed +misdirection of which it deplores; he heartily acknowledges the +probability, that that supposed misdirection has been hitherto no +misdirection, but a necessity--but he believes that the time is come +when, by encouraging the disposition to question it, its services and +its sufferings may be no longer required, and he would fain tear asunder +the veil from the sore places of war,--would show what has been hitherto +kept concealed, or not shown earnestly, and for the purpose,--would +prove, at all events, that the time has come for putting an end to those +phrases in the narratives of warfare, by which a suspicious delicacy is +palmed upon the reader, who is told, after everything has been done to +excite his admiration of war, that his feelings are "spared" a recital +of its miseries--that "a veil" is drawn over them--a "truce" given to +descriptions which only "harrow up the soul," &c. + +Suppose it be necessary to "harrow up the soul," in order that the soul +be no longer harrowed? Moralists and preachers do not deal after this +tender fashion with moral, or even physical consequences, resulting from +other evils. Why should they spare these? Why refuse to look their own +effeminacy in the face,--their own gaudy and overweening encouragement +of what they dare not contemplate in its results? Is a murder in the +streets worth attending to,--a single wounded man worth carrying to the +hospital,--and are all the murders, and massacres, and fields of +wounded, and the madness, the conflagrations, the famines, the miseries +of families, and the rickety frames and melancholy bloods of posterity, +only fit to have an embroidered handkerchief thrown over them? Must +"ladies and gentlemen" be called off, that they may not "look that way," +the "sight is so shocking"? Does it become us to let others endure, +what we cannot bear even to think of? + +Even if nothing else were to come of inquiries into the horrors of war, +surely they would cry aloud for some better provision against their +extremity _after_ battle,--for some regulated and certain assistance to +the wounded and agonized,--so that we might hear no longer of men left +in cold and misery all night, writhing with torture,--of bodies stripped +by prowlers, perhaps murderers,--and of frenzied men, the other day the +darlings of their friends, dying, two and even several days after the +battle, of famine! The field of Waterloo was not completely cleared of +its dead and dying till nearly a week! Surely large companies of men +should be organized for the sole purpose of assisting and clearing away +the field after battle. They should be steady men, not lightly +admitted, nor unpossessed of some knowledge of surgery, and they should +be attached to the surgeon's staff. Both sides would respect them for +their office, and keep them sacred from violence. Their duties would be +too painful and useful to get them disrespected for not joining in the +fight--and possibly, before long, they would help to do away their own +necessity, by detailing what they beheld. Is that the reason why there +is no such establishment? The question is asked, not in bitterness, but +to suggest a self-interrogation to the instincts of war. + +I have not thought proper to put notes to the poem, detailing the +horrors which I have touched upon; nor even to quote my authorities, +which are unfortunately too numerous, and contain worse horrors still. +They are furnished by almost every history of a campaign, in all +quarters of the world. Circumstances so painful, in a first attempt to +render them public for their own sakes, would, I thought, even meet with +less attention in prose than in verse, however less fitted they may +appear for it at first sight. Verse, if it has any enthusiasm, at once +demands and conciliates attention; it proposes to say much in little; +and it associates with it the idea of something consolatory, or +otherwise sustaining. But there is one prose specimen of these details, +which I will give, because it made so great an impression on me in my +youth, that I never afterwards could help calling it to mind when war +was spoken of; and as I had a good deal to say on that subject, having +been a public journalist during one of the most interesting periods of +modern history, and never having been blinded into an admiration of war +by the dazzle of victory, the circumstance may help to show how salutary +a record of this kind may be, and what an impression the subject might +be brought to make on society. The passage is in a note to one of Mr +Southey's poems, the "Ode to Horror," and is introduced by another +frightful record, less horrible, because there is not such agony implied +in it, nor is it alive. + +"I extract" (says Mr Southey) "the following picture of consummate +horror from notes to a poem written in twelve-syllable verse, upon the +campaign of 1794 and 1795: it was during the retreat to Deventer. 'We +could not proceed a hundred yards without perceiving the dead bodies of +men, women, children, and horses, in every direction. One scene made an +impression upon my memory which time will never be able to efface. Near +another cart we perceived a stout-looking man and a beautiful young +woman, with an infant, about seven months old, at the breast, all three +frozen and dead. The mother had most certainly expired in the act of +suckling her child; as with one breast exposed she lay upon the drifted +snow, the milk to all appearance in a stream drawn from the nipple by +the babe, and instantly congealed. The infant seemed as if its lips had +but just then been disengaged, and it reposed its little head upon the +mother's bosom, with an overflow of milk, frozen as it trickled from the +mouth. Their countenances were perfectly composed and fresh, resembling +those of persons in a sound and tranquil slumber.'" + +"The following description (he continues) of a field of battle is in the +words of one who passed over the field of Jemappe, after Doumourier's +victory: 'It was on the third day after the victory obtained by general +Doumourier over the Austrians, that I rode across the field of battle. +The scene lies on a waste common, rendered then more dreary by the +desertion of the miserable hovels before occupied by peasants. +Everything that resembled a human habitation was desolated, and for the +most part they had been burnt or pulled down, to prevent their affording +shelter to the posts of the contending armies. The ground was ploughed +up by the wheels of the artillery and waggons; everything like herbage +was trodden into mire; broken carriages, arms, accoutrements, dead +horses and men, were strewed over the heath. _This was the third day +after the battle: it was the beginning of November, and for three days a +bleak wind and heavy rain had continued incessantly._ There were still +remaining alive several hundreds of horses, and of the human victims of +that dreadful fight. I can speak with certainty of having seen more than +four hundred men _still living_, unsheltered, _without food_, and +without any human assistance, most of them confined to the spot where +they had fallen _by broken limbs_. The two armies had proceeded, and +abandoned these miserable wretches to their fate. _Some of the dead +persons appeared to have expired in the act of embracing each other._ +Two young French officers, who were brothers, had crawled under the side +of a dead horse, where they had contrived a kind of shelter by means of +a cloak: they were both mortally wounded, and groaning _for each other_. +One very fine young man had just strength enough to drag himself out of +a hollow partly filled with water, and was laid upon a little hillock +groaning with agony; A GRAPE-SHOT HAD CUT ACROSS THE UPPER PART OF HIS +BELLY, AND HE WAS KEEPING IN HIS BOWELS WITH A HANDKERCHIEF AND HAT. He +begged of me to end his misery! He complained of dreadful thirst. I +filled him the hat of a dead soldier with water, which he nearly drank +off at once, and left him to that end of his wretchedness which could +not be far distant.'" + +"I hope (concludes Mr Southey), I have always felt and expressed an +honest and Christian abhorrence of wars, and of the systems that produce +them; but my ideas of their immediate horrors fell infinitely short of +this authentic picture." + +Mr Southey, in his subsequent lives of conquerors, and his other +writings, will hardly be thought to have acted up to this "abhorrence of +wars, and of the systems that produce them." Nor is he to be blamed for +qualifying his view of the subject, equally blameless (surely) as they +are to be held who have retained their old views, especially by him who +helped to impress them. His friend Mr Wordsworth, in the vivacity of his +admonitions to hasty complaints of evil, has gone so far as to say that +"Carnage is God's daughter," and thereby subjected himself to the +scoffs of a late noble wit. He is addressing the Deity himself:-- + + "But thy most dreaded instrument, + In working out a pure intent, + Is man, array'd for mutual slaughter: + Yea, Carnage is thy daughter." + +Mr Wordsworth is a great poet and a philosophical thinker, in spite of +his having here paid a tremendous compliment to a rhyme (for +unquestionably the word "slaughter" provoked him into that imperative +"Yea," and its subsequent venturous affiliation); but the judgment, to +say no more of it, is rash. Whatever the Divine Being intends, by his +permission or use of evil, it becomes us to think the best of it; but +not to affirm the appropriation of the particulars to him under their +worst appellation, seeing that he has implanted in us a horror of them, +and a wish to do them away. What it is right in him to do, is one +thing; what it is proper in us to affirm that he actually does, is +another. And, above all, it is idle to affirm what he intends to do for +ever, and to have us eternally venerate and abstain from questioning an +evil. All good and evil, and vice and virtue themselves, might become +confounded in the human mind by a like daring; and humanity sit down +under every buffet of misfortune, without attempting to resist it: +which, fortunately, is impossible. Plato cut this knotty point better, +by regarding evil as a thing senseless and unmalignant (indeed no +philosopher regards anything as malignant, or malignant for malignity's +sake); out of which, or notwithstanding it, good is worked, and to be +worked, perhaps, finally to the abolition of evil. But whether this +consummation be possible or not, and even if the dark horrors of evil be +necessary towards the enjoyment of the light of good, still the horror +must be maintained, where the object is really horrible; otherwise, we +but the more idly resist the contrast, if necessary--and, what is +worse, endanger the chance of melioration, if possible. + +Did war appear to me an inevitable evil, I should be one of the last men +to shew it in any other than its holiday clothes. I can appeal to +writings before the public, to testify whether I am in the habit of +making the worst of anything, or of not making it yield its utmost +amount of good. My inclinations, as well as my reason, lie all that way. +I am a passionate and grateful lover of all the beauties of the +universe, moral and material; and the chief business of my life is to +endeavour to give others the like fortunate affection. But, on the same +principle, I feel it my duty to look evil in the face, in order to +discover if it be capable of amendment; and I do not see why the +miseries of war are to be spared this interrogation, simply because they +are frightful and enormous. Men get rid of smaller evils which lie in +their way--nay, of great ones; and there appears to be no reason why +they should not get rid of the greatest, if they will but have the +courage. We have abolished inquisitions and the rack, burnings for +religion, burnings for witchcraft, hangings for forgery (a great triumph +in a commercial country), much of the punishment of death in some +countries, all of it in others. Why not abolish war? Mr Wordsworth +writes no odes to tell us that the Inquisition was God's daughter; +though Lope de Vega, who was one of its officers, might have done +so--and Mr Wordsworth too, had he lived under its dispensation. Lope de +Vega, like Mr Wordsworth and Mr Southey, was a good man, as well as a +celebrated poet: and we will concede to his memory what the English +poets will, perhaps, not be equally disposed to grant (for they are +severe on the Romish faith) that even the Inquisition, _like War_, might +possibly have had some utility in its evil, were it no other than a +hastening of Christianity by its startling contradictions of it. Yet it +has gone. The Inquisition, as War may be hereafter, is no more. Daughter +if it was of the Supreme Good, it was no immortal daughter. Why should +"Carnage" be,--especially as God has put it in our heads to get rid of +it? + +I am aware of what may be said on these occasions, to "puzzle the will;" +and I concede of course, that mankind may entertain false views of their +power to change anything for the better. I concede, that all change may +be only in appearance, and not make any real difference in the general +amount of good and evil; that evil, to a certain invariable amount, may +be necessary to the amount of good (the overbalance of which, with a +most hearty and loving sincerity, I ever acknowledge); and finally, that +all which the wisest of men could utter on any such subject, might +possibly be nothing but a jargon,--the witless and puny voice of what +we take to be a mighty orb, but which, after all, is only a particle in +the starry dust of the universe. + +On the other hand, all this may be something very different from what we +take it to be, setting aside even the opinions which consider mind as +everything, and time and space themselves as only modifications of it, +or breathing-room in which it exists, weaving the thoughts which it +calls life, death, and materiality. + +But be his metaphysical opinions what they may, who but some fantastic +individual, or ultra-contemplative scholar, ever thinks of subjecting to +them his practical notions of bettering his condition! And how soon is +it likely that men will leave off endeavouring to secure themselves +against the uneasier chances of vicissitude, even if Providence ordains +them to do so for no other end than the preservation of vicissitude +itself, and not in order to help them out of the husks and thorns of +action into the flowers of it, and into the air of heaven? Certain it +is, at all events, that the human being is incited to increase his +amount of good: and that when he is endeavouring to do so, he is at +least not fulfilling the worst part of his necessity. Nobody tells us, +when we attempt to put out a fire and to save the lives of our +neighbours, that Conflagration is God's daughter, or Murder God's +daughter. On the contrary, these are things which Christendom is taught +to think ill off, and to wish to put down; and therefore we should put +down war, which is murder and conflagration by millions. + +To those who tell us that nations would grow cowardly and effeminate +without war, we answer, "Try a reasonable condition of peace first, and +then prove it. Try a state of things which mankind have never yet +attained, because they had no press, and no universal comparison of +notes; and consider, in the meanwhile, whether so cheerful, and +intelligent, and just a state, seeing fair play between body and mind, +and educated into habits of activity, would be likely to uneducate +itself into what was neither respected nor customary. Prove, in the +meanwhile, that nations are cowardly and effeminate, that have been long +unaccustomed to war; that the South Americans are so; or that all our +robust countrymen, who do not "go for soldiers," are timid +agriculturists and manufacturers, with not a quoit to throw on the +green, or a saucy word to give to an insult. Moral courage is in +self-respect and the sense of duty; physical courage is a matter of +health or organization. Are these predispositions likely to fail in a +community of instructed freemen? Doubters of advancement are always +arguing from a limited past to an unlimited future; that is to say, from +a past of which they know but a point, to a future of which they know +nothing. They stand on the bridge "between two eternities," seeing a +little bit of it behind them, and nothing at all of what is before; and +uttering those words unfit for mortal tongue, "man ever was" and "man +ever will be." They might as well say what is beyond the stars. It +appears to be a part of the necessity of things, from what we see of the +improvements they make, that all human improvement should proceed by the +co-operation of human means. But what blinker into the night of next +week,--what luckless prophet of the impossibilities of steam-boats and +steam-carriages,--shall presume to say how far those improvements are to +extend? Let no man faint in the co-operation with which God has honoured +him. + +As to those superabundances of population which wars and other evils are +supposed to be necessary in order to keep down, there are questions +which have a right to be put, long before any such necessity is assumed: +and till those questions be answered, and the experiments dependent upon +them tried, the interrogators have a right to assume that no such +necessity exists. I do not enter upon them--for I am not bound to do so; +but I have touched upon them in the poem; and the "too rich," and other +disingenuous half-reasoners, know well what they are. All passionate +remedies for evil are themselves evil, and tend to re-produce what they +remedy. It is high time for the world to show that it has come to man's +estate, and can put down what is wrong without violence. Should the +wrong still return, we should have a right to say with the Apostle, +"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof;" for meanwhile we should +"not have done evil that good may come." That "good" may come! nay, +that evil may be perpetuated; for what good, superior to the +alternatives denounced, is achieved by this eternal round of war and its +causes? Let us do good in a good and kind manner, and trust to the +co-operation of Providence for the result. It seems the only real way of +attaining to the very best of which our earth is capable; and at the +very worst, necessity, like the waters, will find its level, and the +equity of things be justified. + +I firmly believe, that war, or the sending thousands of our +fellow-creatures to cut one another to bits, often for what they have no +concern in, nor understand, will one day be reckoned far more absurd +than if people were to settle an argument over the dinner-table with +their knives,--a logic indeed, which was once fashionable in some places +during the "good old times." The world has seen the absurdity of that +practice: why should it not come to years of discretion, with respect to +violence on a larger scale? The other day, our own country and the +United States agreed to refer a point in dispute to the arbitration of +the king of Holland; a compliment (if we are to believe the newspapers) +of which his majesty was justly proud. He struck a medal on the strength +of it, which history will show as a set-off against his less creditable +attempts to force his opinions upon the Belgians. Why should not every +national dispute be referred, in like manner, to a third party? There is +reason to suppose, that the judgment would stand a good chance of being +impartial; and it would benefit the character of the judge, and dispose +him to receive judgments of the same kind; till at length the custom +would prevail, like any other custom; and men be astonished at the +customs that preceded it. In private life, none but school-boys and the +vulgar settle disputes by blows; even duelling is losing its dignity. + +Two nations, or most likely two governments, have a dispute; they reason +the point backwards and forwards; they cannot determine it; perhaps they +do not wish to determine; so, like two carmen in the street, they fight +it out; first, however, dressing themselves up to look fine, and pluming +themselves on their absurdity; just as if the two carmen were to go and +put on their Sunday clothes, and stick a feather in their hat besides, +in order to be as dignified and fantastic as possible. They then "go at +it," and cover themselves with mud, blood, and glory. Can anything be +more ridiculous? Yet, apart from the habit of thinking otherwise, and +being drummed into the notion by the very toys of infancy, the +similitude is not one atom too ludicrous; no, nor a thousandth part +enough so. I am aware that a sarcasm is but a sarcasm, and need not +imply any argument; never includes all;--but it acquires a more +respectable character when so much is done to keep it out of +sight,--when so many questions are begged against it by "pride, pomp, +and circumstance," and allegations of necessity. Similar allegations may +be, and are brought forward, by other nations of the world, in behalf of +customs which we, for our parts, think very ridiculous, and do our +utmost to put down; never referring them, as we refer our own, to the +mysterious ordinations of Providence; or, if we do, never hesitating to +suppose, that Providence, in moving us to interfere, is varying its +ordinations. Now, all that I would ask of the advocates of war, is to +apply the possible justice of this supposition to their own case, for +the purpose of thoroughly investigating the question. + +But they will exultingly say, perhaps, "Is this a time for investigating +the question, when military genius, even for civil purposes, has +regained its ascendancy in the person of the Duke of Wellington? When +the world has shown that it cannot do without him? When whigs, radicals, +liberals of all sorts, have proved to be but idle talkers, in comparison +with this man of few words and many deeds?" I answer, that it remains to +be proved whether the ascendancy be gained or not; that I have no belief +it will be regained; and that, in the meanwhile, never was time fitter +for questioning the merits of war, and, by inference, those of its +leaders. The general peacefulness of the world presents a fair +opportunity for laying the foundations of peaceful opinion; and the +alarm of the moment renders the interrogation desirable for its +immediate sake. + +The re-appearance of a military administration, or of an administration +_barely civil_, and military at heart, may not, at first sight, be +thought the most promising one for hastening a just appreciation of +war, and the ascendancy of moral over physical strength. But is it, or +can it be, lasting? Will it not provoke--is it not now provoking--a +re-action still more peremptory against the claims of Toryism, than the +state of things which preceded it? Is it anything but a flash of +success, still more indicative of expiring life, and caused only by its +convulsive efforts? + +If it be, this it is easy enough to predict, that Sir Robert Peel, +notwithstanding his abilities, and the better ambition which is natural +to them, and which struggles in him with an inferior one, impatient of +his origin, will turn out to be nothing but a servant of the +aristocracy, and (more or less openly) of a barrack-master. He will be +the servant, not of the King, not of the House of Commons, but of the +House of Lords, and (as long as such influence lasts, which can be but +a short while), of its military leader. He will do nothing whatsoever +contrary to their dictation, upon peril of being treated worse than +Canning; and all the reform which he is permitted to bring about will be +only just as much as will serve to keep off the spirit of it as long as +possible, and to continue the people in that state of comparative +ignorance, which is the only safeguard of monopoly. Every unwilling step +of reform will be accompanied with some retrograde or bye effort in +favour of the abuses reformed: cunning occasion will be seized to +convert boons, demanded by the age, into gifts of party favour, and +bribes for the toleration of what is withheld; and as knowledge proceeds +to extort public education (for extort it it will, and in its own way +too at last), mark, and see what attempts will be made to turn knowledge +against itself, and to catechise the nation back into the schoolboy +acquiescence of the good people of Germany. Much good is there in that +people--I would not be thought to undervalue it--much _bonhommie_--and +in the most despotic districts, as much sensual comfort as can make any +people happy who know no other happiness. But England and France, the +leaders of Europe, the peregrinators of the world, cannot be confined to +those lazy and prospectless paths. They have gone through the feudal +reign; they must now go through the commercial (God forbid that for any +body's sake they should stop there!), and they will continue to advance, +till all are instructed, and all are masters; and government, in however +gorgeous a shape, be truly their servant. The problem of existing +governments is how to prepare for this inevitable period, and to +continue to be its masters, by converting themselves frankly and truly +into its friends. For my part, as one of the people, I confess I like +the colours and shows of feudalism, and would retain as much of them as +would adorn nobler things. I would keep the tiger's skin, though the +beast be killed; the painted window, though the superstition be laid in +the tomb. Nature likes external beauty, and man likes it. It softens the +heart, enriches the imagination, and helps to show us that there are +other goods in the world besides bare utility. I would fain see the +splendours of royalty combined with the cheapness of a republic and the +equal knowledge of all classes. Is such a combination impossible? I +would exhort the lovers of feudal splendour to be the last men to think +so; for a thousand times more impossible will they find its retention +under any other circumstances. Their royalties, their educations, their +accomplishments of all sorts, must go along with the Press and its +irresistible consequences, or they will be set aside like a child in a +corner, who has insisted on keeping the toys and books of his brothers +to himself. + +Now, there is nothing that irritates a just cause so much as a +threatening of force; and all impositions of a military chief on a +state, where civil directors will, at least, do as well, is a +threatening of force, disguise it, or pretend to laugh at it, as its +imposers may. This irritation in England will not produce violence. +Public opinion is too strong, and the future too secure. But deeply and +daily will increase the disgust and the ridicule; and individuals will +get laughed at and catechised who cannot easily be sent out of the way +as ambassadors, and who might as well preserve their self-respect a +little better. To attempt, however quietly, to overawe the advance of +improvement, by the aspect of physical force, is as idle as if soldiers +were drawn out to suppress the rising of a flood. The flood rises +quietly, irresistibly, without violence--it cannot help it--the waters +of knowledge are out, and will "cover the earth." Of what use is it to +see the representative of a by-gone influence--a poor individual mortal +(for he is nothing else in the comparison), fretting and fuming on the +shore of this mighty sea, and playing the part of a Canute reversed,--an +antic really taking his flatterers at their word? + +The first thirty-five years of the nineteenth century have been rich in +experiences of the sure and certain failure of all soldiership and +Toryism to go heartily along in the cause of the many. There has been +the sovereign instance of Napoleon Bonaparte himself--of the allies +after him--of Charles the Tenth--of Louis Philippe, albeit a +"schoolmaster,"--and lastly, of this strange and most involuntary +Reformer the Duke of Wellington, who refused to do, under Canning, or +for principle's sake, what he consented to do when Canning died, for the +sake of regaining power, and of keeping it with as few concessions as +possible. Canning perished because Toryism, or the principle of power +for its own sake, to which he had been a servant, could not bear to +acknowledge him as its master. His intellect was just great enough (as +his birth was small enough) to render it jealous of him under that +aspect. There is an instinct in Toryism which renders pure intellect +intolerable to it, except in some inferior or mechanical shape, or in +the flattery of voluntary servitude. But, by a like instinct, it is not +so jealous of military renown. It is glad of the doubtful amount of +intellect in military genius, and knows it to be a good ally in the +preservation of power, and in the substitution of noise and show for +qualities fearless of inspection. Is it an ascendancy of this kind which +the present age requires, or will permit? Do we want a soldier at the +head of us, when there is nobody abroad to fight with? when +international as well as national questions can manifestly settle +themselves without him? and when his appearance in the seat of power +can indicate nothing but a hankering after those old substitutions of +force for argument, or at best of "an authority for a reason," which +every step of reform is hoping to do away? Do we want him to serve in +our shops? to preside over our studies? to cultivate "peace and good +will" among nations? wounding no self love--threatening no social? + +There never was a soldier, purely brought up as such--and it is of such +only I speak, and not of rare and even then perilous exceptions,--men +educated in philosophy like Epaminondas, or in homely household virtues +and citizenship like Washington--but there never was a soldier such as I +speak of, who did more for the world than was compatible with his +confined and arbitrary breeding. I do not speak, of course, with +reference to the unprofessional part of his character. Circumstances, +especially the participation of dangers and vicissitude, often conspire +with naturally good qualities to render soldiers the most amiable of +men; and nothing is more delightful to contemplate than an old military +veteran, whose tenderness of heart has survived the shocks of the rough +work it has been tried in, till twenty miserable sights of war and +horror start up to the imagination as a set-off against its +attractiveness. But, publicly speaking, the more a soldier succeeds, the +more he looks upon soldiership as something superior to all other kinds +of ascendancy, and qualified to dispense with them. He always ends in +considering the flower of the art of government as consisting in issuing +"orders," and that of popular duty as comprised in "obedience." Cities +with him are barracks, and the nation a conquered country. He is at best +but a pioneer of civilization. When he undertakes to be the civilizer +himself, he makes mistakes that betray him to others, even supposing +him self-deceived. Napoleon, though he was the accidental instrument of +a popular re-action, was one of the educated tools of the system that +provoked it,--an officer brought up at a Royal Military College; and in +spite of his boasted legislation and his real genius, such he ever +remained. He did as much for his own aggrandizement as he could, and no +more for the world than he thought compatible with it. The same military +genius which made him as great as he was, stopped him short of a greater +greatness; because, quick and imposing as he was in acting the part of a +civil ruler, he was in reality a soldier and nothing else, and by the +excess of the soldier's propensity (aggrandizement by force), he +over-toppled himself, and fell to pieces. Soldiership appears to have +narrowed or hardened the public spirit of every man who has spent the +chief part of his life in it, who has died at an age which gives final +proofs of its tendency, and whose history is thoroughly known. We all +know what Cromwell did to an honest parliament. Marlborough ended in +being a miser and the tool of his wife. Even good-natured, heroic Nelson +condescended to become an executioner at Naples. Frederick did much for +Prussia, as a power; but what became of her as a people, or power +either, before the popular power of France? Even Washington seemed not +to comprehend those who thought that negro-slaves ought to be freed. + +In the name of common sense then, what do we want with a soldier who was +born and bred in circumstances the most arbitrary; who never advocated a +liberal measure as long as he could help it; and who (without meaning to +speak presumptuously, or in one's own person unauthorized by opinion) is +one of the merest soldiers, though a great one, that ever +existed,--without genius of any other sort,--with scarcely a civil +public quality either commanding or engaging (as far as the world in +general can see),--and with no more to say for himself than the most +mechanical clerk in office? In what respect is the Duke of Wellington +better fitted to be a parliamentary leader, than the Sir Arthur +Wellesley of twenty years back? Or what has re-cast the habits and +character of the Colonel Wellesley of the East Indies, to give him an +unprofessional consideration for the lives and liberties of his +fellow-creatures? + +And yet the Duke of Wellington (it is said) _may_, after all, be in +earnest in his professions of reform and advancement. If so, he will be +the most remarkable instance that ever existed, of the triumph of reason +over the habits of a life, and the experience of mankind. I have looked +for some such man through a very remarkable period of the world, when +an honest declaration to this effect would have set him at the top of +mankind, to be worshipped for ever; and I never found the glorious +opportunity seized,--not by Napoleon when he came from Elba,--not by the +allies when they conquered him,--not by Louis Philippe, though he was +educated in adversity. I mean that he has shown himself a prince born, +of the most aristocratic kind; and evidently considers himself as +nothing but the head of a new dynasty. When the Duke of Wellington had +the opportunity of being a reformer, of his own free will, he resisted +it as long as he could. He opposed reform up to the last moment of its +freedom from his dictation; he declared that ruin would follow it; that +the institutions of the country were perfect without it; and that, at +the very least, the less of it the better. And for this enmity, even if +no other reason existed,--even if his new light were sincere,--the Duke +of Wellington ought not to have the _honour_ of leading reform. It is +just as if a man had been doing all he could to prevent another from +entering his own house, and then, when he found that the by-standers +would insist on his having free passage, were to turn to them, smiling, +and say, "Well, since it must be so, allow me to do the honours of the +mansion." Everybody knows what this proposal would be called by the +by-standers. And if the way in which greatness is brought up and spoilt +gives it a right to a less homely style of rebuke (as I grant it does), +still the absurdity of the Duke's claim is not the less evident, nor the +air of it less provoking. + +I can imagine but two reasons for the remotest possible permission of +this glaring anomaly--this government of anti-reforming reformers--this +hospital of sick guides for the healthy, supported by involuntary +contributions: first, sheer necessity (which is ludicrous); and second, +a facilitation of church reform through the Lords and the bench of +Bishops; the desirableness of which facilitation appears to be in no +proportion to the compromise it is likely to make with abuses. I have +read, I believe, all the utmost possible things that can be said in its +favour, the articles, for instance, written by the _Times_ newspaper +(admirable, as far as a rotten cause can let them be, and when not +afflicted by some portentous mystery of personal resentment); and though +I trust I may lay claim to as much willingness to be convinced, as most +men who have suffered and reflected, I have not seen a single argument +which did not appear to me fully answered by the above objection alone +(about the "honour"); setting aside the innumerable convincing ones +urged by reasoners on the other side: for as to any dearth of statesmen +in a country like this, it never existed, nor ever can, till education +and public spirit have entirely left it. There have been the same +complaints at every change in the history of administrations; and the +crop has never failed. + +Allow me to state here, that any appearance of personality in this book +is involuntary. Public principles are sometimes incarnate in individual +shapes; and, in attacking them, the individual may be seemingly +attacked, where, to eyes which look a little closer, there is evidently +no such intention. I have been obliged to identify, in some measure, the +Power of the Sword with several successive individuals, and with the +Duke of Wellington most, because he is the reigning shape, and includes +all its pretensions. But as an individual who am nothing, except in +connexion with what I humanly feel, I dare to affirm, that I have not +only the consideration that becomes me for all human beings, but a +flesh and blood regard for every body; and that I as truly respect in +the Noble Duke the possession of military science, of a straight-forward +sincerity, and a valour of which no circumstances or years can diminish +the ready firmness, as I doubt the fitness of a man of his education, +habits, and political principles, for the guidance of an intellectual +age. + +I dislike Toryism, because I think it an unjust, exacting, and +pernicious thing, which tends to keep the interests of the many in +perpetual subjection to those of the few; but far be it from me, in +common modesty, to dislike those who have been brought up in its +principles, and taught to think them good,--far less such of them as +adorn it by intellectual or moral qualities, and who justly claim for +it, under its best aspect in private life, that ease and urbanity of +behaviour which implies an acknowledgment of its claims to respect, +even where those claims are partly grounded in prejudice. I heartily +grant to the privileged classes, that, enjoying in many respects the +best educations, they have been conservators of polished manners, and of +the other graces of intercourse. My quarrel with them is, that the +inferior part of their education induces them to wish to keep these +manners and graces to themselves, together with a superabundance, good +for nobody, of all other advantages; and that thus, instead of being the +preservers of a beautiful and genial flame, good for all, and in due +season partakeable by all, they would hoard and make an idolatrous +treasure of it, sacred to one class alone, and such as the diffusion of +knowledge renders it alike useless and exasperating to endeavour to +withhold. + +I will conclude this Postscript with quotations from three writers of +the present day, who may be fairly taken to represent the three +distinct classes of the leaders of knowledge, and who will show what is +thought of the feasibility of putting an end to war,--the Utilitarian, +or those who are all for the tangible and material--the Metaphysical, or +those who recognize, in addition, the spiritual and imaginative wants of +mankind--and lastly (in no offensive sense), the Men of the World, whose +opinion will have the greatest weight of all with the incredulous, and +whose speaker is a soldier to boot, and a man who evidently sees fair +play to all the weaknesses as well as strengths of our nature. + +The first quotation is from the venerable Mr Bentham, a man who +certainly lost sight of no existing or possible phase of society, such +as the ordinary disputants on this subject contemplate. I venture to +think him not thoroughly philosophical on the point, especially in what +he says in reproach of men educated to think differently from himself. +But the passage will show the growth of opinion in a practical and +highly influential quarter. + + "Nothing can be worse," says Mr Bentham, "than the + general feeling on the subject of war. The Church, + the State, the ruling few, the subject many, all + seem to have combined, in order to patronise vice + and crime in their very widest sphere of evil. + Dress a man in particular garments, call him by a + particular name, and he shall have authority, on + divers occasions, to commit every species of + offence, to pillage, to murder, to destroy human + felicity, and, for so doing, he shall be rewarded. + + "Of all that is pernicious in admiration, the + admiration of heroes is the most pernicious; and + how delusion should have made us admire what + virtue should teach us to hate and loathe, is + among the saddest evidences of human weakness and + folly. The crimes of heroes seem lost in the + vastness of the field they occupy. A lively idea + of the mischief they do, of the misery they + create, seldom penetrates the mind through the + delusions with which thoughtlessness and falsehood + have surrounded their names and deeds. Is it that + the magnitude of the evil is too gigantic for + entrance? We read of twenty thousand men killed in + a battle, with no other feeling than that 'it was + a glorious victory.' Twenty thousand, or ten + thousand, what reck we of their sufferings? The + hosts who perished are evidence of the + completeness of the triumph; and the completeness + of the triumph is the measure of merit, and the + glory of the conqueror. Our schoolmasters, and the + immoral books they so often put into our hands, + have inspired us with an affection for heroes; and + the hero is more heroic in proportion to the + numbers of the slain--add a cypher, not one iota + is added to our disapprobation. Four or two + figures give us no more sentiment of pain than one + figure, while they add marvellously to the + grandeur and splendour of the victor. Let us draw + forth one individual from those thousands, or tens + of thousands,--his leg has been shivered by one + ball, his jaw broken by another--he is bathed in + his own blood, and that of his fellows--yet he + lives, tortured by thirst, fainting, famishing. He + is but one of the twenty thousand--one of the + actors and sufferers in the scene of the hero's + glory--and of the twenty thousand there is + scarcely one whose suffering or death will not be + the centre of a circle of misery. Look again, + admirers of that hero! Is not this wretchedness? + Because it is repeated ten, ten hundred, ten + thousand times, is not this wretchedness? + + "The period will assuredly arrive, when better + instructed generations will require all the + evidence of history to credit, that, in times + deeming themselves enlightened, human beings + should have been honoured with public approval, in + the very proportion of the misery they caused, and + the mischiefs they perpetrated. They will call + upon all the testimony which incredulity can + require, to persuade them that, in passed ages, + men there were--men, too, deemed worthy of popular + recompense--who, for some small pecuniary + retribution, hired themselves out to do any deeds + of pillage, devastation, and murder, which might + be demanded of them. And, still more will it shock + their sensibilities to learn, that such men, such + men-destroyers, were marked out as the eminent and + the illustrious--as the worthy of laurels and + monuments--of eloquence and poetry. In that better + and happier epoch, the wise and the good will be + busied in hurling into oblivion, or dragging forth + for exposure to universal ignominy and obloquy, + many of the heads we deem _heroic_; while the true + fame and the perdurable glories will be gathered + around the creators and diffusers of + happiness."--_Deontology._ + +Our second quotation is from one of the subtilest and most universal +thinkers now living--Thomas Carlyle--chiefly known to the public as a +German scholar and the friend of Goethe, but deeply respected by other +leading intellects of the day, as a man who sees into the utmost +recognized possibilities of knowledge. See what he thinks of war, and of +the possibility of putting an end to it. We forget whether we got the +extract from the _Edinburgh_ or the _Foreign Quarterly Review_, having +made it sometime back and mislaid the reference; and we take a liberty +with him in mentioning his name as the writer, for which his zeal in the +cause of mankind will assuredly pardon us. + + "The better minds of all countries," observes Mr + Carlyle, "begin to understand each other, and, + which follows naturally, to love each other and + help each other, by whom ultimately all countries + in all their proceedings are governed. + + "Late in man's history, yet clearly, at length, it + becomes manifest to the dullest, that mind is + stronger than matter--that mind is the creator and + shaper of matter--that not brute force, but only + persuasion and faith, is the King of this world. + The true poet, who is but an inspired thinker, is + still an Orpheus whose lyre tames the savage + beasts, and evokes the dead rocks to fashion + themselves into palaces and stately inhabited + cities. It has been said, and may be repeated, + that literature is fast becoming all in all to + us--our Church, our Senate, our whole social + constitution. The true Pope of Christendom is not + that feeble old man in Rome, nor is its autocrat + the Napoleon, the Nicholas, with its half million + even of obedient bayonets; such autocrat is + himself but a more cunningly-devised bayonet and + military engine in the hands of a mightier than + he. The true autocrat, or Pope, is that man, the + real or seeming wisest of the last age; crowned + after death; who finds his hierarchy of gifted + authors, his clergy of assiduous journalists: + whose decretals, written, not on parchment, but on + the living souls of men, it were an inversion of + the laws of nature to disobey. In these times of + ours, all intellect has fused itself into + literature; literature--printed thought, is the + molten sea and wonder-bearing chaos, in which mind + after mind casts forth its opinion, its feeling, + to be molten into the general mass, and to be + worked there; interest after interest is engulfed + in it, or embarked in it; higher, higher it rises + round all the edifices of existence; they must all + be molten into it, and anew bodied forth from it, + or stand unconsumed among its fiery surges. Woe to + him whose edifice is not built of true asbest, and + on the everlasting rock, but on the false sand and + the drift-wood of accident, and the paper and + parchment of antiquated habit! For the power or + powers exist not on our earth that can say to that + sea--roll back, or bid its proud waves be still. + + "What form so omnipotent an element will + assume--how long it will welter to and fro as a + wild democracy, a wilder anarchy--what + constitution and organization it will fashion for + itself, and for what depends on it in the depths + of time, is a subject for prophetic conjecture, + wherein brightest hope is not unmingled with + fearful apprehensions and awe at the boundless + unknown. The more cheering is this one thing, + which we do see and know--that its tendency is to + a universal European commonweal; that the wisest + in all nations will communicate and co-operate; + whereby Europe will again have its true Sacred + College and council of Amphictyons; wars will + become rarer, less inhuman; and in the course of + centuries, such delirious ferocity in nations, as + in individuals it already is, may be proscribed + and become obsolete for ever." + +My last and not least conclusive extract (for it shows the actual hold +which these speculations have taken of the minds of practical men--of +men out in the world, and even of _soldiers_) is from a book popular +among all classes of readers--the _Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau_, +written by Major Sir Francis Head. What he says of one country's +educating another, by the natural progress of books and opinion, and of +the effect which this is likely to have upon governments even as remote +and unwilling as Russia, is particularly worthy of attention. + +The author is speaking of some bathers at whom he had been looking, and +of a Russian Prince, who lets us into some curious information +respecting the leading-strings in which grown gentlemen are kept by +despotism:-- + + "For more than half an hour I had been indolently + watching this amphibious scene, when the landlord + entering my room said, that the Russian Prince, + G----n, wished to speak to me on some business; + and the information was scarcely communicated, + when I perceived his Highness standing at the + threshold of my door. With the attention due to + his rank, I instantly begged he would do me the + honour to walk in; and, after we had sufficiently + bowed to each other, and that I had prevailed on + my guest to sit down, I gravely requested him, as + I stood before him, to be so good as to state in + what way I could have the good fortune to render + him any service. The Prince very briefly replied, + that he had called upon me, considering that I was + the person in the hotel best capable (he politely + inclined his head) of informing him by what route + it would be most adviseable for him to proceed to + London, it being his wish to visit my country. + + "In order at once to solve this very simple + problem, I silently unfolded and spread out upon + the table my map of Europe; and each of us, as we + leant over it, placing a forefinger on or near + Wiesbaden (our eyes being fixed upon Dover), we + remained in this reflecting attitude for some + seconds, until the Prince's finger first solemnly + began to trace its route. In doing this, I + observed that his Highness's hand kept swerving + far into the Netherlands, so, gently pulling it by + the thumb towards Paris, I used as much force as I + thought decorous, to induce it to advance in a + straight line; however, finding my efforts + ineffectual, I ventured with respectful + astonishment, to ask, 'Why travel by so + uninteresting a route'? + + "The Prince at once acknowledged that the route I + had recommended would, by visiting Paris, afford + him the greatest pleasure; but he frankly told me + that no Russian, not even a personage of his rank, + could enter that capital, without first obtaining + a written permission from the Emperor. + + "These words were no sooner uttered, than I felt + my fluent civility suddenly begin to coagulate; + the attention I paid my guest became forced and + unnatural. I was no longer at my ease; and though + I bowed, strained, and endeavoured to be, if + possible, more respectful than ever, yet I really + could hardly prevent my lips from muttering aloud, + that I had sooner die a homely English peasant + than live to be a Russian prince!--in short, his + Highness's words acted upon my mind like thunder + upon beer. And, moreover, I could almost have + sworn that I was an old lean wolf, contemptuously + observing a bald ring rubbed by the collar, from + the neck of a sleek, well-fed mastiff dog; + however, recovering myself, I managed to give as + much information as it was in my humble power to + afford; and my noble guest then taking his + departure, I returned to my open window, to give + vent in solitude (as I gazed upon the horse bath) + to my own reflection upon the subject. + + "Although the petty rule of my life has been never + to trouble myself about what the world calls + 'politics'--(a fine word, by the by, much easier + expressed than understood)--yet, I must own, I am + always happy when I see a nation enjoying itself, + and melancholy when I observe any large body of + people suffering pain or imprisonment. But of all + sorts of imprisonment, that of the mind is, to my + taste, the most cruel; and, therefore, when I + consider over what immense dominions the Emperor + of Russia presides, and how he governs, I cannot + help sympathizing most sincerely with those + innocent sufferers, who have the misfortune to be + born his subjects; for if a Russian Prince be not + freely permitted to go to Paris, in what a + melancholy state of slavery and debasement must + exist the minds of what we call the lower classes? + + "As a sovereign remedy for this lamentable + political disorder, many very sensible people in + England prescribe, I know, that we ought to have + resource to arms. I must confess, however, it + seems to me that one of the greatest political + errors England could commit would be to declare, + or to join in declaring, war with Russia; in + short, that an appeal to brute force would, at + this moment, be at once most unscientifically to + stop an immense moral engine, which, if left to + its work, is quite powerful enough, without + bloodshed, to gain for humanity, at no expense at + all, its object. The individual who is, I + conceive, to overthrow the Emperor of Russia--who + is to direct his own legions against himself--who + is to do what Napoleon had at the head of his + great army failed to effect, is the little child, + who, lighted by the single wick of a small lamp, + sits at this moment perched above the great steam + press of the 'Penny Magazine,' feeding it, from + morning till night, with blank papers, which, at + almost every pulsation of the engine, comes out + stamped on both sides with engravings, and with + pages of plain, useful, harmless knowledge, which, + by making the lower orders acquainted with foreign + lands, foreign productions, various states of + society, &c., tend practically to inculcate 'Glory + to God in the highest, and on earth peace--good + will towards men.' It has already been stated, + that what proceeds from this press is now + greedily devoured by the people of Europe; indeed, + even at Berlin, we know it can hardly be reprinted + fast enough. + + "This child, then,--'this sweet little cherub that + sits up aloft,'--is the only army that an + enlightened country like ours should, I humbly + think, deign to oppose to one who reigns in + darkness--who trembles at day-light, and whose + throne rests upon ignorance and despotism. Compare + this mild, peaceful intellectual policy, with the + dreadful, savage alternative of going to war, and + the difference must surely be evident to everyone. + In the former case, we calmly enjoy, first of all, + the pleasing reflection, that our country is + generously imparting to the nations of Europe the + blessing she is tranquilly deriving from the + purification of civilization to her own mind;--far + from wishing to exterminate, we are gradually + illuminating the Russian peasant, we are mildly + throwing a gleam of light upon the fetters of the + Russian Prince; and surely every well-disposed + person must see, that if we will only have + patience, the result of this noble, temperate + conduct, must produce all that reasonable beings + can desire."--_Bubbles from the Brunnens of + Nassau_, p. 164. + +By the 'Penny Magazine,' our author means, of course, not only that +excellent publication, but all cheaply-diffused knowledge--all the +tranquil and enlightening deeds of "Captain Pen" in general--of whom it +is pleasant to see the gallant Major so useful a servant, the more so +from his sympathies with rank and the aristocracy. But "Pen" will make +it a matter of necessity, by and by, for all ranks to agree with him, in +vindication of their own wit and common sense; and when once this +necessity is felt, and fastidiousness shall find out that it will be +considered "absurd" to lag behind in the career of knowledge and the +common good, the cause of the world is secure. + +May princes and people alike find it out by the kindliest means, and +without further violence. May they discover that no one set of human +beings, perhaps no single individual, can be thoroughly secure and +content, or enabled to work out his case with equal reasonableness, +_till all are so_,--a subject for reflection, which contains, we hope, +the beneficent reason _why all are restless_. The solution of the +problem is co-operation--the means of solving it is the Press. If the +Greeks had had a press, we should probably have heard nothing of the +inconsiderate question, which demands, why they, with all their +philosophy, did not alter the world. They had not the means. They could +not command a general hearing. Neither had Christianity come up, to +make men think of one another's wants, as well as of their own +accomplishments. Modern times possess those means, and inherit that +divine incitement. May every man exert himself accordingly, and show +himself a worthy inhabitant of this beautiful and most capable world! + +THE END. + + LONDON: + Printed by C. and W. REYNELL, + Little Pulteney Street. + +[Illustration: _P. 112._] + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Note: On page 67, a quote begins but has no end that this +transcriber can find. It was retained as printed. ("Try a reasonable +condition) + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Captain Sword and Captain Pen, by Leigh Hunt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN *** + +***** This file should be named 28260-8.txt or 28260-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/2/6/28260/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/28260-8.zip b/28260-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..db36316 --- /dev/null +++ b/28260-8.zip diff --git a/28260-h.zip b/28260-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6945ac --- /dev/null +++ b/28260-h.zip diff --git a/28260-h/28260-h.htm b/28260-h/28260-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b933d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/28260-h/28260-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2710 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Captain Sword and Captain Pen, by Leigh Hunt.. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + .copyright {text-align: center; font-size: 70%;} + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold; font-size: 70%;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .right {text-align: right;} + .poem {margin-left: 25%; text-align: left;} + .poem2 {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;} + .sig {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align:baseline; + position: relative; + bottom: 0.33em; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + .hang1 {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 3em;} + .cap:first-letter {float: left; clear: left; margin: -0.2em 0.1em 0; margin-top: 0%; + padding: 0; line-height: .75em; font-size: 300%; text-align: justify;} + .cap {text-align: justify;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Captain Sword and Captain Pen, by Leigh Hunt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Captain Sword and Captain Pen + A Poem + +Author: Leigh Hunt + +Release Date: March 6, 2009 [EBook #28260] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 305px;"> +<img src="images/i001.jpg" width="305" height="400" alt="[To face the Title." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span style="margin-left: 8em;">[<i>To face the Title.</i></span></span> +</div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p> + +<h1>CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN.</h1> + +<h3><b>A Poem.</b></h3> + +<h2>BY LEIGH HUNT.</h2> + +<div class='center'><small>WITH SOME REMARKS ON</small><br /> + +WAR AND MILITARY STATESMEN.<br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<div class='poem'> +—If there be in glory aught of good,<br /> +It may by means far different be attained,<br /> +Without ambition, war, or violence.—<span class="smcap">Milton.</span><br /> +</div> + + +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br /> +LONDON:<br /> +<br /> +CHARLES KNIGHT, LUDGATE STREET.<br /> +<br /> +1835.<br /> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<small>TO</small><br /> +<br /> +<small>THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE</small><br /> +<br /> +<big>LORD BROUGHAM AND VAUX,</big><br /> +<br /> +<small>WITH WHOM THE WRITER HUMBLY DIFFERS ON SOME POINTS,</small><br /> +<br /> +<small>BUT DEEPLY RESPECTS FOR HIS MOTIVES ON ALL;</small><br /> +<br /> +<small>GREAT IN OFFICE FOR WHAT HE DID FOR THE WORLD,</small><br /> +<br /> +<small>GREATER OUT OF IT IN CALMLY AWAITING HIS TIME TO DO MORE;</small><br /> +<br /> +<small>THE PROMOTER OF EDUCATION; THE EXPEDITER OF JUSTICE;</small><br /> +<br /> +<small>THE LIBERATOR FROM SLAVERY;</small><br /> +<br /> +<small>AND (WHAT IS THE RAREST VIRTUE IN A STATESMAN)</small><br /> +<br /> +ALWAYS A DENOUNCER OF WAR,<br /> +<br /> +<b>These Pages are Inscribed</b><br /> +<br /> +<small>BY HIS EVER AFFECTIONATE SERVANT,</small><br /> +<br /> +Jan. 30, 1835. LEIGH HUNT.<br /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class='smcap'>This</span> Poem is the result of a sense of duty, +which has taken the Author from quieter studies +during a great public crisis. He obeyed the +impulse with joy, because it took the shape of +verse; but with more pain, on some accounts, +than he chooses to express. However, he has +done what he conceived himself bound to do; +and if every zealous lover of his species were +to express his feelings in like manner, to the +best of his ability, individual opinions, little in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span> +themselves, would soon amount to an overwhelming +authority, and hasten the day of reason +and beneficence.</div> + +<p>The measure is regular with an irregular +aspect,—four accents in a verse,—like that of +Christabel, or some of the poems of Sir Walter +Scott:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +Càptain Swòrd got ùp one dày—<br /> +And the flàg full of hònour, as thòugh it could feèl—<br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>He mentions this, not, of course, for readers +in general, but for the sake of those daily +acceders to the list of the reading public, whose +knowledge of books is not yet equal to their +love of them.</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/i002.jpg" width="400" height="440" alt="STEPPING IN MUSIC AND THUNDER SWEET, WHICH HIS DRUMS SENT BEFORE HIM INTO THE STREET. Canto I. p. 1." title="" /> +</div> + +<div class='poem2'> +STEPPING IN MUSIC AND THUNDER SWEET,<br /> +WHICH HIS DRUMS SENT BEFORE HIM INTO THE STREET.<br /> +<div class='sig'> +<a href="#Page_1"><i>Canto</i> I. <i>p.</i> 1.</a><br /> +</div></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN.</h2> + + +<h2>I.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">How Captain Sword marched to War.</span></h3> + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class='smcap'>Captain</span> Sword got up one day,</span><br /> +Over the hills to march away,<br /> +Over the hills and through the towns,<br /> +They heard him coming across the downs,<br /> +Stepping in music and thunder sweet,<br /> +Which his drums sent before him into the street.<br /> +And lo! 'twas a beautiful sight in the sun;<br /> +For first came his foot, all marching like one,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>With tranquil faces, and bristling steel,<br /> +And the flag full of honour as though it could feel,<br /> +And the officers gentle, the sword that hold<br /> +'Gainst the shoulder heavy with trembling gold,<br /> +And the massy tread, that in passing is heard,<br /> +Though the drums and the music say never a word.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And then came his horse, a clustering sound</span><br /> +Of shapely potency, forward bound,<br /> +Glossy black steeds, and riders tall,<br /> +Rank after rank, each looking like all,<br /> +Midst moving repose and a threatening charm,<br /> +With mortal sharpness at each right arm,<br /> +And hues that painters and ladies love,<br /> +And ever the small flag blush'd above.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And ever and anon the kettle-drums beat</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>Hasty power midst order meet;<br /> +And ever and anon the drums and fifes<br /> +Came like motion's voice, and life's;<br /> +Or into the golden grandeurs fell<br /> +Of deeper instruments, mingling well,<br /> +Burdens of beauty for winds to bear;<br /> +And the cymbals kiss'd in the shining air,<br /> +And the trumpets their visible voices rear'd,<br /> +Each looking forth with its tapestried beard,<br /> +Bidding the heavens and earth make way<br /> +For Captain Sword and his battle-array.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He, nevertheless, rode indifferent-eyed,</span><br /> +As if pomp were a toy to his manly pride,<br /> +Whilst the ladies lov'd him the more for his scorn,<br /> +And thought him the noblest man ever was born,<br /> +And tears came into the bravest eyes,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>And hearts swell'd after him double their size,<br /> +And all that was weak, and all that was strong,<br /> +Seem'd to think wrong's self in him could not be wrong;<br /> +Such love, though with bosom about to be gored,<br /> +Did sympathy get for brave Captain Sword.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So, half that night, as he stopp'd in the town,</span><br /> +'Twas all one dance, going merrily down,<br /> +With lights in windows and love in eyes,<br /> +And a constant feeling of sweet surprise;<br /> +But all the next morning 'twas tears and sighs;<br /> +For the sound of his drums grew less and less,<br /> +Walking like carelessness off from distress;<br /> +And Captain Sword went whistling gay,<br /> +"Over the hills and far away."<br /></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> + +<h2>II.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">How Captain Sword won a Great Victory.</span></h3> + + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class='smcap'>Through</span> fair and through foul went Captain Sword,</span><br /> +Pacer of highway and piercer of ford,<br /> +Steady of face in rain or sun,<br /> +He and his merry men, all as one;<br /> +Till they came to a place, where in battle-array<br /> +Stood thousands of faces, firm as they,<br /> +Waiting to see which could best maintain<br /> +Bloody argument, lords of pain;<br /> +And down the throats of their fellow-men<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>Thrust the draught never drunk again.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It was a spot of rural peace,</span><br /> +Ripening with the year's increase<br /> +And singing in the sun with birds,<br /> +Like a maiden with happy words—<br /> +With happy words which she scarcely hears<br /> +In her own contented ears,<br /> +Such abundance feeleth she<br /> +Of all comfort carelessly,<br /> +Throwing round her, as she goes,<br /> +Sweet half-thoughts on lily and rose,<br /> +Nor guesseth what will soon arouse<br /> +All ears—that murder's in the house;<br /> +And that, in some strange wrong of brain,<br /> +Her father hath her mother slain.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Steady! steady! The masses of men</span><br /> +Wheel, and fall in, and wheel again,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>Softly as circles drawn with pen.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then a gaze there was, and valour, and fear,</span><br /> +And the jest that died in the jester's ear,<br /> +And preparation, noble to see,<br /> +Of all-accepting mortality;<br /> +Tranquil Necessity gracing Force;<br /> +And the trumpets danc'd with the stirring horse;<br /> +And lordly voices, here and there,<br /> +Call'd to war through the gentle air;<br /> +When suddenly, with its voice of doom,<br /> +Spoke the cannon 'twixt glare and gloom,<br /> +Making wider the dreadful room:<br /> +On the faces of nations round<br /> +Fell the shadow of that sound.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death for death! The storm begins;</span><br /> +Rush the drums in a torrent of dins;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>Crash the muskets, gash the swords;<br /> +Shoes grow red in a thousand fords;<br /> +Now for the flint, and the cartridge bite;<br /> +Darkly gathers the breath of the fight,<br /> +Salt to the palate and stinging to sight;<br /> +Muskets are pointed they scarce know where,<br /> +No matter: Murder is cluttering there.<br /> +Reel the hollows: close up! close up!<br /> +Death feeds thick, and his food is his cup.<br /> +Down go bodies, snap burst eyes;<br /> +Trod on the ground are tender cries;<br /> +Brains are dash'd against plashing ears;<br /> +Hah! no time has battle for tears;<br /> +Cursing helps better—cursing, that goes<br /> +Slipping through friends' blood, athirst for foes'.<br /> +What have soldiers with tears to do?—<br /> +We, who this mad-house must now go through,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>This twenty-fold Bedlam, let loose with knives—<br /> +To murder, and stab, and grow liquid with lives—<br /> +Gasping, staring, treading red mud,<br /> +Till the drunkenness' self makes us steady of blood?<br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/i003.jpg" width="400" height="467" alt="DOWN GO BODIES—SNAP BURST EYES— TROD ON THE GROUND ARE TENDER CRIES. Canto II. p. 8." title="" /> +</div> + +<div class='poem'> +DOWN GO BODIES—SNAP BURST EYES—<br /> +TROD ON THE GROUND ARE TENDER CRIES.<br /> +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;"><a href="#Page_8"><i>Canto</i> II. <i>p.</i> 8.</a></span><br /> +</div></div> + + +<div class='poem'><br /><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[Oh! shrink not thou, reader! Thy part's in it too;</span><br /> +Has not thy praise made the thing they go through<br /> +Shocking to read of, but noble to do?]<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No time to be "breather of thoughtful breath"</span><br /> +Has the giver and taker of dreadful death.<br /> +See where comes the horse-tempest again,<br /> +Visible earthquake, bloody of mane!<br /> +Part are upon us, with edges of pain;<br /> +Part burst, riderless, over the plain,<br /> +Crashing their spurs, and twice slaying the slain.<br /> +See, by the living God! see those foot<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>Charging down hill—hot, hurried, and mute!<br /> +They loll their tongues out! Ah-hah! pell-mell!<br /> +Horses roll in a human hell;<br /> +Horse and man they climb one another—<br /> +Which is the beast, and which is the brother?<br /> +Mangling, stifling, stopping shrieks<br /> +With the tread of torn-out cheeks,<br /> +Drinking each other's bloody breath—<br /> +Here's the fleshliest feast of Death.<br /> +An odour, as of a slaughter-house,<br /> +The distant raven's dark eye bows.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Victory! victory! Man flies man;</span><br /> +Cannibal patience hath done what it can—<br /> +Carv'd, and been carv'd, drunk the drinkers down,<br /> +And now there is one that hath won the crown:<br /> +One pale visage stands lord of the board—<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>Joy to the trumpets of Captain Sword!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His trumpets blow strength, his trumpets neigh,</span><br /> +They and his horse, and waft him away;<br /> +They and his foot, with a tir'd proud flow,<br /> +Tatter'd escapers and givers of woe.<br /> +Open, ye cities! Hats off! hold breath!<br /> +To see the man who has been with Death;<br /> +To see the man who determineth right<br /> +By the virtue-perplexing virtue of might.<br /> +Sudden before him have ceas'd the drums,<br /> +And lo! in the air of empire he comes!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All things present, in earth and sky,</span><br /> +Seem to look at his looking eye.<br /></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> + +<h2>III.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Of the Ball that was given to Captain Sword.</span></h3> + + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class='smcap'>But</span> Captain Sword was a man among men,</span><br /> +And he hath become their playmate again:<br /> +Boot, nor sword, nor stern look hath he,<br /> +But holdeth the hand of a fair ladye,<br /> +And floweth the dance a palace within,<br /> +Half the night, to a golden din,<br /> +Midst lights in windows and love in eyes,<br /> +And a constant feeling of sweet surprise;<br /> +And ever the look of Captain Sword<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>Is the look that's thank'd, and the look that's ador'd.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There was the country-dance, small of taste;</span><br /> +And the waltz, that loveth the lady's waist;<br /> +And the galopade, strange agreeable tramp,<br /> +Made of a scrape, a hobble, and stamp;<br /> +And the high-stepping minuet, face to face,<br /> +Mutual worship of conscious grace;<br /> +And all the shapes in which beauty goes<br /> +Weaving motion with blithe repose.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And then a table a feast displayed,</span><br /> +Like a garden of light without a shade,<br /> +All of gold, and flowers, and sweets,<br /> +With wines of old church-lands, and sylvan meats,<br /> +Food that maketh the blood feel choice;<br /> +Yet all the face of the feast, and the voice,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>And heart, still turn'd to the head of the board;<br /> +For ever the look of Captain Sword<br /> +Is the look that's thank'd, and the look that's ador'd.<br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 339px;"> +<img src="images/i004.jpg" width="339" height="450" alt="THERE WAS THE COUNTRY DANCE, SMALL OF TASTE; AND THE WALTZ, THAT LOVETH THE LADY'S WAIST. Canto III. p. 14." title="" /> +</div> + +<div class='poem2'> +THERE WAS THE COUNTRY DANCE, SMALL OF TASTE;<br /> +AND THE WALTZ, THAT LOVETH THE LADY'S WAIST.<br /> + +<div class='sig'><a href="#Page_14"><i>Canto</i> III. <i>p.</i> 14.</a></div><br /> +</div> + + + +<div class='poem'><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Well content was Captain Sword;</span><br /> +At his feet all wealth was pour'd;<br /> +On his head all glory set;<br /> +For his ease all comfort met;<br /> +And around him seem'd entwin'd<br /> +All the arms of womankind.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And when he had taken his fill</span><br /> +Thus, of all that pampereth will,<br /> +In his down he sunk to rest,<br /> +Clasp'd in dreams of all its best.<br /></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> + +<h2>IV.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">On What took place on the Field of Battle the +Night after the Victory.</span></h3> + + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class='smcap'>'Tis</span> a wild night out of doors;</span><br /> +The wind is mad upon the moors,<br /> +And comes into the rocking town,<br /> +Stabbing all things, up and down,<br /> +And then there is a weeping rain<br /> +Huddling 'gainst the window-pane,<br /> +And good men bless themselves in bed;<br /> +The mother brings her infant's head<br /> +Closer, with a joy like tears,<br /> +And thinks of angels in her prayers;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>Then sleeps, with his small hand in hers.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Two loving women, lingering yet</span><br /> +Ere the fire is out, are met,<br /> +Talking sweetly, time-beguil'd,<br /> +One of her bridegroom, one her child,<br /> +The bridegroom he. They have receiv'd<br /> +Happy letters, more believ'd<br /> +For public news, and feel the bliss<br /> +The heavenlier on a night like this.<br /> +They think him hous'd, they think him blest,<br /> +Curtain'd in the core of rest,<br /> +Danger distant, all good near;<br /> +Why hath their "Good night" a tear?<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Behold him! By a ditch he lies</span><br /> +Clutching the wet earth, his eyes<br /> +Beginning to be mad. In vain<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>His tongue still thirsts to lick the rain,<br /> +That mock'd but now his homeward tears;<br /> +And ever and anon he rears<br /> +His legs and knees with all their strength,<br /> +And then as strongly thrusts at length.<br /> +Rais'd, or stretch'd, he cannot bear<br /> +The wound that girds him, weltering there:<br /> +And "Water!" he cries, with moonward stare.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">["I will not read it!" with a start,</span><br /> +Burning cries some honest heart;<br /> +"I will not read it! Why endure<br /> +Pangs which horror cannot cure?<br /> +Why—Oh why? and rob the brave<br /> +And the bereav'd of all they crave,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>A little hope to gild the grave?"<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ask'st thou why, thou honest heart?</span><br /> +'Tis <i>because</i> thou dost ask, and because thou dost start.<br /> +'Tis because thine own praise and fond outward thought<br /> +Have aided the shews which this sorrow have wrought.]<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A wound unutterable—Oh God!</span><br /> +Mingles his being with the sod.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">["I'll read no more."—Thou must, thou must:</span><br /> +In thine own pang doth wisdom trust.]<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His nails are in earth, his eyes in air,</span><br /> +And "Water!" he crieth—he may not forbear.<br /> +Brave and good was he, yet now he dreams<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>The moon looks cruel; and he blasphemes.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">["No more! no more!" Nay, this is but one;</span><br /> +Were the whole tale told, it would not be done<br /> +From wonderful setting to rising sun.<br /> +But God's good time is at hand—be calm,<br /> +Thou reader! and steep thee in all thy balm<br /> +Of tears or patience, of thought or good will,<br /> +For the field—the field awaiteth us still.]<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Water! water!" all over the field:</span><br /> +To nothing but Death will that wound-voice yield.<br /> +One, as he crieth, is sitting half bent;<br /> +What holds he so close?—his body is rent.<br /> +Another is mouthless, with eyes on cheek;<br /> +Unto the raven he may not speak.<br /> +One would fain kill him; and one half round<br /> +The place where he writhes, hath up beaten the ground.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>Like a mad horse hath he beaten the ground,<br /> +And the feathers and music that litter it round,<br /> +The gore, and the mud, and the golden sound.<br /> +Come hither, ye cities! ye ball-rooms, take breath!<br /> +See what a floor hath the dance of death!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The floor is alive, though the lights are out;</span><br /> +What are those dark shapes, flitting about?<br /> +Flitting about, yet no ravens they,<br /> +Not foes, yet not friends—mute creatures of prey;<br /> +Their prey is lucre, their claws a knife,<br /> +Some say they take the beseeching life.<br /> +Horrible pity is theirs for despair,<br /> +And they the love-sacred limbs leave bare.<br /> +Love will come to-morrow, and sadness,<br /> +Patient for the fear of madness,<br /> +And shut its eyes for cruelty,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>So many pale beds to see.<br /> +Turn away, thou Love, and weep<br /> +No more in covering his last sleep;<br /> +Thou hast him—blessed is thine eye!<br /> +Friendless Famine has yet to die.<br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/i005.jpg" width="350" height="395" alt="COME HITHER, YE CITIES! YE BALL-ROOMS TAKE BREATH!" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class='poem2'> +COME HITHER, YE CITIES! YE BALL-ROOMS TAKE BREATH!<br /> +SEE WHAT A FLOOR HATH THE DANCE OF DEATH.<br /> +<div class='right'> +<a href="#Page_22"><i>Canto</i> IV. <i>p.</i> 22.</a><br /> +</div></div> + + +<div class='poem'><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A shriek!—Great God! what superhuman</span><br /> +Peal was that? Not man, nor woman,<br /> +Nor twenty madmen, crush'd, could wreak<br /> +Their soul in such a ponderous shriek.<br /> +Dumbly, for an instant, stares<br /> +The field; and creep men's dying hairs.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O friend of man! O noble creature!</span><br /> +Patient and brave, and mild by nature,<br /> +Mild by nature, and mute as mild,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>Why brings he to these passes wild<br /> +Thee, gentle horse, thou shape of beauty?<br /> +Could he not do his dreadful duty,<br /> +(If duty it be, which seems mad folly)<br /> +Nor link thee to his melancholy?<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Two noble steeds lay side by side,</span><br /> +One cropp'd the meek grass ere it died;<br /> +Pang-struck it struck t' other, already torn,<br /> +And out of its bowels that shriek was born.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now see what crawleth, well as it may,</span><br /> +Out of the ditch, and looketh that way.<br /> +What horror all black, in the sick moonlight,<br /> +Kneeling, half human, a burdensome sight;<br /> +Loathly and liquid, as fly from a dish;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>Speak, Horror! thou, for it withereth flesh.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The grass caught fire; the wounded were by;</span><br /> +Writhing till eve did a remnant lie;<br /> +Then feebly this coal abateth his cry;<br /> +But he hopeth! he hopeth! joy lighteth his eye,<br /> +For gold he possesseth, and Murder is nigh!"<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O goodness in horror! O ill not all ill!</span><br /> +In the worst of the worst may be fierce Hope still.<br /> +To-morrow with dawn will come many a wain,<br /> +And bear away loads of human pain,<br /> +Piles of pale beds for the 'spitals; but some<br /> +Again will awake in home-mornings, and some,<br /> +Dull herds of the war, again follow the drum.<br /> +From others, faint blood shall in families flow,<br /> +With wonder at life, and young oldness in woe,<br /> +Yet hence may the movers of great earth grow.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>Now, even now, I hear them at hand,<br /> +Though again Captain Sword is up in the land,<br /> +Marching anew for more fields like these<br /> +In the health of his flag in the morning breeze.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sneereth the trumpet, and stampeth the drum,</span><br /> +And again Captain Sword in his pride doth come;<br /> +He passeth the fields where his friends lie lorn,<br /> +Feeding the flowers and the feeding corn,<br /> +Where under the sunshine cold they lie,<br /> +And he hasteth a tear from his old grey eye.<br /> +Small thinking is his but of work to be done,<br /> +And onward he marcheth, using the sun:<br /> +He slayeth, he wasteth, he spouteth his fires<br /> +On babes at the bosom, and bed-rid sires;<br /> +He bursteth pale cities, through smoke and through yell,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>And bringeth behind him, hot-blooded, his hell.<br /> +Then the weak door is barr'd, and the soul all sore,<br /> +And hand-wringing helplessness paceth the floor,<br /> +And the lover is slain, and the parents are nigh—<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh God! let me breathe, and look up at thy sky!</span><br /> +Good is as hundreds, evil as one;<br /> +Round about goeth the golden sun.<br /></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p> + +<h2>V.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">How Captain Sword, in Consequence of his Great +Victories, became infirm in his Wits.</span></h3> + + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class='smcap'>But</span> to win at the game, whose moves are death,</span><br /> +It maketh a man draw too proud a breath:<br /> +And to see his force taken for reason and right,<br /> +It tendeth to unsettle his reason quite.<br /> +Never did chief of the line of Sword<br /> +Keep his wits whole at that drunken board.<br /> +He taketh the size, and the roar, and fate,<br /> +Of the field of his action, for soul as great:<br /> +He smiteth and stunneth the cheek of mankind,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>And saith "Lo! I rule both body and mind."<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Captain Sword forgot his own soul,</span><br /> +Which of aught save itself, resented controul;<br /> +Which whatever his deeds, ordained them still,<br /> +Bodiless monarch, enthron'd in his will:<br /> +He forgot the close thought, and the burning heart,<br /> +And pray'rs, and the mild moon hanging apart,<br /> +Which lifteth the seas with her gentle looks,<br /> +And growth, and death, and immortal books,<br /> +And the Infinite Mildness, the soul of souls,<br /> +Which layeth earth soft 'twixt her silver poles;<br /> +Which ruleth the stars, and saith not a word;<br /> +Whose speed in the hair of no comet is heard;<br /> +Which sendeth the soft sun, day by day,<br /> +Mighty, and genial, and just alway,<br /> +Owning no difference, doing no wrong,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>Loving the orbs and the least bird's song,<br /> +The great, sweet, warm angel, with golden rod,<br /> +Bright with the smile of the distance of God.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Captain Sword, like a witless thing,</span><br /> +Of all under heaven must needs be king,<br /> +King of kings, and lord of lords,<br /> +Swayer of souls as well as of swords,<br /> +Ruler of speech, and through speech, of thought;<br /> +And hence to his brain was a madness brought.<br /> +He madden'd in East, he madden'd in West,<br /> +Fiercer for sights of men's unrest,<br /> +Fiercer for talk, amongst awful men,<br /> +Of their new mighty leader, Captain Pen,<br /> +A conqueror strange, who sat in his home<br /> +Like the wizard that plagued the ships of Rome,<br /> +Noiseless, show-less, dealing no death,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>But victories, winged, went forth from his breath.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Three thousand miles across the waves<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></span><br /> +Did Captain Sword cry, bidding souls be slaves:<br /> +Three thousand miles did the echo return<br /> +With a laugh and a blow made his old cheeks burn.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then he call'd to a wrong-maddened people, and swore<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></span><br /> +Their name in the map should never be more:<br /> +Dire came the laugh, and smote worse than before.<br /> +Were earthquake a giant, up-thrusting his head<br /> +And o'erlooking the nations, not worse were the dread.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then, lo! was a wonder, and sadness to see;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>For with that very people, their leader, stood he,<br /> +Incarnate afresh, like a Cæsar of old;<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a><br /> +But because he look'd back, and his heart was cold,<br /> +Time, hope, and himself for a tale he sold.<br /> +Oh largest occasion, by man ever lost!<br /> +Oh throne of the world, to the war-dogs tost!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He vanished; and thinly there stood in his place</span><br /> +The new shape of Sword, with an humbler face,<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a><br /> +Rebuking his brother, and preaching for right,<br /> +Yet aye when it came, standing proud on his might,<br /> +And squaring its claims with his old small sight;<br /> +Then struck up his drums, with ensign furl'd,<br /> +And said, "I will walk through a subject world:<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>Earth, just as it is, shall for ever endure,<br /> +The rich be too rich, and the poor too poor;<br /> +And for this I'll stop knowledge. I'll say to it, 'Flow<br /> +Thus far; but presume no farther to flow:<br /> +For me, as I list, shall the free airs blow.'"<br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 375px;"> +<img src="images/i006.jpg" width="375" height="440" alt="THEN SUDDENLY CAME HE WITH GOWNED MEN" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class='poem2'> +THEN SUDDENLY CAME HE WITH GOWNED MEN,<br /> +AND SAID, "NOW OBSERVE ME—I'M CAPTAIN PEN."<br /> +<div class='sig'> +<a href="#Page_34"><i>Canto</i> V. <i>p.</i> 34.</a><br /> +</div></div> + + +<div class='poem'><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laugh'd after him loudly that land so fair,<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a></span><br /> +"The king thou set'st over us, by a free air<br /> +Is swept away, senseless." And old Sword then<br /> +First knew the might of great Captain Pen.<br /> +So strangely it bow'd him, so wilder'd his brain,<br /> +That now he stood, hatless, renouncing his reign;<br /> +Now mutter'd of dust laid in blood; and now<br /> +'Twixt wonder and patience went lifting his brow.<br /> +Then suddenly came he, with gowned men,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>And said, "Now observe me—<i>I'm</i> Captain Pen:<br /> +<i>I'll</i> lead all your changes—I'll write all your books—<br /> +I'm every thing—all things—I'm clergymen, cooks,<br /> +Clerks, carpenters, hosiers—I'm Pitt—I'm Lord Grey."<br /> +<br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Twas painful to see his extravagant way;</span><br /> +But heart ne'er so bold, and hand ne'er so strong,<br /> +What are they, when truth and the wits go wrong?<br /><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> The American War.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> The French War.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> Napoleon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> The Duke of Wellington, or existing Military Toryism.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> The Glorious Three Days.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<h2>VI.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Of Captain Pen, and how he fought with Captain Sword.</span></h3> + + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class='smcap'>Now</span> tidings of Captain Sword and his state</span><br /> +Were brought to the ears of Pen the Great,<br /> +Who rose and said, "His time is come."<br /> +And he sent him, but not by sound of drum,<br /> +Nor trumpet, nor other hasty breath,<br /> +Hot with questions of life and death,<br /> +But only a letter calm and mild;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>And Captain Sword he read it, and smil'd,<br /> +And said, half in scorn, and nothing in fear,<br /> +(Though his wits seem'd restor'd by a danger near,<br /> +For brave was he ever) "Let Captain Pen<br /> +Bring at his back a million men,<br /> +And I'll talk with his wisdom, and not till then."<br /> +Then replied to his messenger Captain Pen,<br /> +"I'll bring at my back a <i>world</i> of men."<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Out laugh'd the captains of Captain Sword,</span><br /> +But their chief look'd vex'd, and said not a word,<br /> +For thought and trouble had touch'd his ears<br /> +Beyond the bullet-like sense of theirs,<br /> +And wherever he went, he was 'ware of a sound<br /> +Now heard in the distance, now gathering round,<br /> +Which irk'd him to know what the issue might be;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>But the soul of the cause of it well guess'd he.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Indestructible souls among men</span><br /> +Were the souls of the line of Captain Pen;<br /> +Sages, patriots, martyrs mild,<br /> +Going to the stake, as child<br /> +Goeth with his prayer to bed;<br /> +Dungeon-beams, from quenchless head;<br /> +Poets, making earth aware<br /> +Of its wealth in good and fair;<br /> +And the benders to their intent,<br /> +Of metal and of element;<br /> +Of flame the enlightener, beauteous,<br /> +And steam, that bursteth his iron house;<br /> +And adamantine giants blind,<br /> +That, without master, have no mind.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heir to these, and all their store,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>Was Pen, the power unknown of yore;<br /> +And as their might still created might,<br /> +And each work'd for him by day and by night,<br /> +In wealth and wondrous means he grew,<br /> +Fit to move the earth anew;<br /> +Till his fame began to speak<br /> +Pause, as when the thunders wake,<br /> +Muttering, in the beds of heaven:<br /> +Then, to set the globe more even,<br /> +Water he call'd, and Fire, and Haste,<br /> +Which hath left old Time displac'd—<br /> +And Iron, mightiest now for Pen,<br /> +Each of his steps like an army of men—<br /> +(Sword little knew what was leaving him then)<br /> +And out of the witchcraft of their skill,<br /> +A creature he call'd, to wait on his will—<br /> +Half iron, half vapour, a dread to behold—<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>Which evermore panted and evermore roll'd,<br /> +And uttered his words a million fold.<br /> +Forth sprang they in air, down raining like dew,<br /> +And men fed upon them, and mighty they grew.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ears giddy with custom that sound might not hear,</span><br /> +But it woke up the rest, like an earthquake near;<br /> +And that same night of the letter, some strange<br /> +Compulsion of soul brought a sense of change;<br /> +And at midnight the sound grew into a roll<br /> +As the sound of all gath'rings from pole to pole,<br /> +From pole unto pole, and from clime to clime,<br /> +Like the roll of the wheels of the coming of time;—<br /> +A sound as of cities, and sound as of swords<br /> +Sharpening, and solemn and terrible words,<br /> +And laughter as solemn, and thunderous drumming,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>A tread as if all the world were coming.<br /> +And then was a lull, and soft voices sweet<br /> +Call'd into music those terrible feet,<br /> +Which rising on wings, lo! the earth went round<br /> +To the burn of their speed with a golden sound;<br /> +With a golden sound, and a swift repose,<br /> +Such as the blood in the young heart knows;<br /> +Such as Love knows, when his tumults cease;<br /> +When all is quick, and yet all is at peace.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And when Captain Sword got up next morn,</span><br /> +Lo! a new-fac'd world was born;<br /> +For not an anger nor pride would it shew,<br /> +Nor aught of the loftiness now found low,<br /> +Nor would his own men strike a single blow:<br /> +Not a blow for their old, unconsidering lord<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>Would strike the good soldiers of Captain Sword;<br /> +But weaponless all, and wise they stood,<br /> +In the level dawn, and calm brotherly good;<br /> +Yet bowed to him they, and kiss'd his hands,<br /> +For such were their new lord's commands,<br /> +Lessons rather, and brotherly plea;<br /> +Reverence the past, quoth he;<br /> +Reverence the struggle and mystery,<br /> +And faces human in their pain;<br /> +Nor his the least, that could sustain<br /> +Cares of mighty wars, and guide<br /> +Calmly where the red deaths ride.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"But how! what now?" cried Captain Sword;</span><br /> +"Not a blow for your gen'ral? not even a word?<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>What! traitors? deserters?"<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"Ah no!" cried they;</span><br /> +"But the 'game's' at an end; the 'wise' wont play."<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"And where's your old spirit?"</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 11em;">"The same, though another;</span><br /> +Man may be strong without maiming his brother."<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"But enemies?"</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"Enemies! Whence should they come,</span><br /> +When all interchange what was known but to some?"<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"But famine? but plague? worse evils by far."</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O last mighty rhet'ric to charm us to war!</span><br /> +Look round—what has earth, now it equably speeds,<br /> +To do with these foul and calamitous needs?<br /> +Now it equably speeds, and thoughtfully glows,<br /> +And its heart is open, never to close?<br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/i007.jpg" width="400" height="471" alt="AND SO, LIKE THE TOOL OF A DISUS'D ART" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class='poem2'> +AND SO, LIKE THE TOOL OF A DISUS'D ART,<br /> +HE STOOD AT HIS WALL, AND RUSTED APART.<br /> +<div class='sig'> +<a href="#Page_44"><i>Canto</i> VI. <i>p.</i> 44.</a><br /> +</div></div> + + + +<div class='poem'><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Still I can govern," said Captain Sword;</span><br /> +"Fate I respect; and I stick to my word."<br /> +And in truth so he did; but the word was one<br /> +He had sworn to all vanities under the sun,<br /> +To do, for their conq'rors, the least could be done.<br /> +Besides, what had <i>he</i> with his worn-out story,<br /> +To do with the cause he had wrong'd, and the glory?<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No: Captain Sword a sword was still,</span><br /> +He could not unteach his lordly will;<br /> +He could not attemper his single thought;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>It might not be bent, nor newly wrought:<br /> +And so, like the tool of a disus'd art,<br /> +He stood at his wall, and rusted apart.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Twas only for many-soul'd Captain Pen</span><br /> +To make a world of swordless men.<br /></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<h2>POSTSCRIPT;</h2> + +<h3>CONTAINING SOME REMARKS +ON WAR AND MILITARY STATESMEN.</h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<h2>POSTSCRIPT;</h2> + +<h3>CONTAINING SOME REMARKS<br /> +ON WAR AND MILITARY STATESMEN.</h3> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class='smcap'>The</span> object of this poem is to show the horrors +of war, the false ideas of power produced +in the minds of its leaders, and, by inference, +the unfitness of those leaders for the government +of the world.</div> + +<p>The author intends no more offence to any +one than can be helped: he feels due admiration +for that courage and energy, the supposed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +misdirection of which it deplores; he heartily +acknowledges the probability, that that supposed +misdirection has been hitherto no misdirection, +but a necessity—but he believes that the time +is come when, by encouraging the disposition to +question it, its services and its sufferings may be +no longer required, and he would fain tear asunder +the veil from the sore places of war,—would +show what has been hitherto kept concealed, or +not shown earnestly, and for the purpose,—would +prove, at all events, that the time has come for +putting an end to those phrases in the narratives +of warfare, by which a suspicious delicacy is +palmed upon the reader, who is told, after everything +has been done to excite his admiration of +war, that his feelings are "spared" a recital of +its miseries—that "a veil" is drawn over them—a +"truce" given to descriptions which only +"harrow up the soul," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>&c.</p> + +<p>Suppose it be necessary to "harrow up the +soul," in order that the soul be no longer harrowed? +Moralists and preachers do not deal after +this tender fashion with moral, or even physical +consequences, resulting from other evils. Why +should they spare these? Why refuse to look +their own effeminacy in the face,—their own +gaudy and overweening encouragement of what +they dare not contemplate in its results? Is a murder +in the streets worth attending to,—a single +wounded man worth carrying to the hospital,—and +are all the murders, and massacres, and fields of +wounded, and the madness, the conflagrations, the +famines, the miseries of families, and the rickety +frames and melancholy bloods of posterity, only +fit to have an embroidered handkerchief thrown +over them? Must "ladies and gentlemen" be +called off, that they may not "look that way," +the "sight is so shocking"? Does it become<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +us to let others endure, what we cannot bear +even to think of?</p> + +<p>Even if nothing else were to come of inquiries +into the horrors of war, surely they would +cry aloud for some better provision against their +extremity <i>after</i> battle,—for some regulated and +certain assistance to the wounded and agonized,—so +that we might hear no longer of men left +in cold and misery all night, writhing with torture,—of +bodies stripped by prowlers, perhaps +murderers,—and of frenzied men, the other +day the darlings of their friends, dying, two and +even several days after the battle, of famine! +The field of Waterloo was not completely cleared +of its dead and dying till nearly a week! Surely +large companies of men should be organized for +the sole purpose of assisting and clearing away the +field after battle. They should be steady men,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +not lightly admitted, nor unpossessed of some +knowledge of surgery, and they should be attached +to the surgeon's staff. Both sides would +respect them for their office, and keep them +sacred from violence. Their duties would be too +painful and useful to get them disrespected for +not joining in the fight—and possibly, before long, +they would help to do away their own necessity, +by detailing what they beheld. Is that the reason +why there is no such establishment? The question +is asked, not in bitterness, but to suggest a self-interrogation +to the instincts of war.</p> + +<p>I have not thought proper to put notes to the +poem, detailing the horrors which I have touched +upon; nor even to quote my authorities, which +are unfortunately too numerous, and contain worse +horrors still. They are furnished by almost every +history of a campaign, in all quarters of the world. +Circumstances so painful, in a first attempt to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +render them public for their own sakes, would, +I thought, even meet with less attention in prose +than in verse, however less fitted they may appear +for it at first sight. Verse, if it has any +enthusiasm, at once demands and conciliates attention; +it proposes to say much in little; and +it associates with it the idea of something consolatory, +or otherwise sustaining. But there is +one prose specimen of these details, which I will +give, because it made so great an impression on +me in my youth, that I never afterwards could +help calling it to mind when war was spoken of; +and as I had a good deal to say on that subject, +having been a public journalist during one of the +most interesting periods of modern history, and +never having been blinded into an admiration +of war by the dazzle of victory, the circumstance +may help to show how salutary a record +of this kind may be, and what an impression +the subject might be brought to make on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +society. The passage is in a note to one of +Mr Southey's poems, the "Ode to Horror," +and is introduced by another frightful record, +less horrible, because there is not such agony +implied in it, nor is it alive.</p> + +<p>"I extract" (says Mr Southey) "the following +picture of consummate horror from notes to a +poem written in twelve-syllable verse, upon the +campaign of 1794 and 1795: it was during the +retreat to Deventer. 'We could not proceed a +hundred yards without perceiving the dead bodies +of men, women, children, and horses, in every +direction. One scene made an impression upon +my memory which time will never be able to +efface. Near another cart we perceived a stout-looking +man and a beautiful young woman, with +an infant, about seven months old, at the breast, +all three frozen and dead. The mother had most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +certainly expired in the act of suckling her child; +as with one breast exposed she lay upon the +drifted snow, the milk to all appearance in a +stream drawn from the nipple by the babe, and +instantly congealed. The infant seemed as if its +lips had but just then been disengaged, and it +reposed its little head upon the mother's bosom, +with an overflow of milk, frozen as it trickled from +the mouth. Their countenances were perfectly +composed and fresh, resembling those of persons +in a sound and tranquil slumber.'"</p> + +<p>"The following description (he continues) of a +field of battle is in the words of one who passed +over the field of Jemappe, after Doumourier's +victory: 'It was on the third day after the victory +obtained by general Doumourier over the Austrians, +that I rode across the field of battle. The scene lies +on a waste common, rendered then more dreary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +by the desertion of the miserable hovels before +occupied by peasants. Everything that resembled +a human habitation was desolated, and for the +most part they had been burnt or pulled down, +to prevent their affording shelter to the posts of +the contending armies. The ground was ploughed +up by the wheels of the artillery and waggons; +everything like herbage was trodden into mire; +broken carriages, arms, accoutrements, dead horses +and men, were strewed over the heath. <i>This was +the third day after the battle: it was the beginning +of November, and for three days a bleak wind +and heavy rain had continued incessantly.</i> There +were still remaining alive several hundreds of +horses, and of the human victims of that dreadful +fight. I can speak with certainty of having seen +more than four hundred men <i>still living</i>, unsheltered, +<i>without food</i>, and without any human +assistance, most of them confined to the spot +where they had fallen <i>by broken limbs</i>. The two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +armies had proceeded, and abandoned these +miserable wretches to their fate. <i>Some of the +dead persons appeared to have expired in the act +of embracing each other.</i> Two young French +officers, who were brothers, had crawled under +the side of a dead horse, where they had contrived +a kind of shelter by means of a cloak: they were +both mortally wounded, and groaning <i>for each +other</i>. One very fine young man had just strength +enough to drag himself out of a hollow partly +filled with water, and was laid upon a little hillock +groaning with agony; <span class="smcap">a grape-shot had cut +across the upper part of his belly, and he +was keeping in his bowels with a handkerchief +and hat</span>. He begged of me to end his +misery! He complained of dreadful thirst. I filled +him the hat of a dead soldier with water, which +he nearly drank off at once, and left him to that +end of his wretchedness which could not be far +distant.'"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I hope (concludes Mr Southey), I have +always felt and expressed an honest and Christian +abhorrence of wars, and of the systems that produce +them; but my ideas of their immediate +horrors fell infinitely short of this authentic +picture."</p> + +<p>Mr Southey, in his subsequent lives of conquerors, +and his other writings, will hardly be +thought to have acted up to this "abhorrence of +wars, and of the systems that produce them." Nor +is he to be blamed for qualifying his view of the +subject, equally blameless (surely) as they are to +be held who have retained their old views, especially +by him who helped to impress them. His +friend Mr Wordsworth, in the vivacity of his +admonitions to hasty complaints of evil, has +gone so far as to say that "Carnage is God's +daughter," and thereby subjected himself to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +scoffs of a late noble wit. He is addressing the +Deity himself:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"But thy most dreaded instrument,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">In working out a pure intent,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Is man, array'd for mutual slaughter:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Yea, Carnage is thy daughter."</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>Mr Wordsworth is a great poet and a philosophical +thinker, in spite of his having here paid a tremendous +compliment to a rhyme (for unquestionably +the word "slaughter" provoked him into that +imperative "Yea," and its subsequent venturous +affiliation); but the judgment, to say no more of +it, is rash. Whatever the Divine Being intends, +by his permission or use of evil, it becomes us to +think the best of it; but not to affirm the appropriation +of the particulars to him under their worst +appellation, seeing that he has implanted in us +a horror of them, and a wish to do them away. +What it is right in him to do, is one thing;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +what it is proper in us to affirm that he actually +does, is another. And, above all, it is idle to +affirm what he intends to do for ever, and to have +us eternally venerate and abstain from questioning +an evil. All good and evil, and vice and virtue +themselves, might become confounded in the human +mind by a like daring; and humanity sit down +under every buffet of misfortune, without attempting +to resist it: which, fortunately, is impossible. +Plato cut this knotty point better, by regarding +evil as a thing senseless and unmalignant (indeed +no philosopher regards anything as malignant, or +malignant for malignity's sake); out of which, or +notwithstanding it, good is worked, and to be +worked, perhaps, finally to the abolition of evil. +But whether this consummation be possible or not, +and even if the dark horrors of evil be necessary +towards the enjoyment of the light of good, still the +horror must be maintained, where the object is +really horrible; otherwise, we but the more idly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +resist the contrast, if necessary—and, what is +worse, endanger the chance of melioration, if +possible.</div> + +<p>Did war appear to me an inevitable evil, I +should be one of the last men to shew it in any +other than its holiday clothes. I can appeal to +writings before the public, to testify whether I am +in the habit of making the worst of anything, or of +not making it yield its utmost amount of good. +My inclinations, as well as my reason, lie all that +way. I am a passionate and grateful lover of all +the beauties of the universe, moral and material; +and the chief business of my life is to endeavour +to give others the like fortunate affection. But, +on the same principle, I feel it my duty to look +evil in the face, in order to discover if it be capable +of amendment; and I do not see why the miseries +of war are to be spared this interrogation, simply +because they are frightful and enormous. Men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +get rid of smaller evils which lie in their way—nay, +of great ones; and there appears to be no +reason why they should not get rid of the greatest, +if they will but have the courage. We have +abolished inquisitions and the rack, burnings for +religion, burnings for witchcraft, hangings for forgery +(a great triumph in a commercial country), +much of the punishment of death in some countries, +all of it in others. Why not abolish war? +Mr Wordsworth writes no odes to tell us that the +Inquisition was God's daughter; though Lope de +Vega, who was one of its officers, might have done +so—and Mr Wordsworth too, had he lived under its +dispensation. Lope de Vega, like Mr Wordsworth +and Mr Southey, was a good man, as well as a celebrated +poet: and we will concede to his memory +what the English poets will, perhaps, not be equally +disposed to grant (for they are severe on the Romish +faith) that even the Inquisition, <i>like War</i>, might +possibly have had some utility in its evil, were it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +no other than a hastening of Christianity by its +startling contradictions of it. Yet it has gone. +The Inquisition, as War may be hereafter, is no +more. Daughter if it was of the Supreme Good, +it was no immortal daughter. Why should +"Carnage" be,—especially as God has put it in +our heads to get rid of it?</p> + +<p>I am aware of what may be said on these occasions, +to "puzzle the will;" and I concede of course, +that mankind may entertain false views of their +power to change anything for the better. I concede, +that all change may be only in appearance, +and not make any real difference in the general +amount of good and evil; that evil, to a certain +invariable amount, may be necessary to the amount +of good (the overbalance of which, with a most +hearty and loving sincerity, I ever acknowledge); +and finally, that all which the wisest of men could +utter on any such subject, might possibly be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +nothing but a jargon,—the witless and puny voice +of what we take to be a mighty orb, but which, +after all, is only a particle in the starry dust +of the universe.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, all this may be something +very different from what we take it to be, setting +aside even the opinions which consider mind as +everything, and time and space themselves as +only modifications of it, or breathing-room in +which it exists, weaving the thoughts which it calls +life, death, and materiality.</p> + +<p>But be his metaphysical opinions what they +may, who but some fantastic individual, or ultra-contemplative +scholar, ever thinks of subjecting +to them his practical notions of bettering his condition! +And how soon is it likely that men will +leave off endeavouring to secure themselves against +the uneasier chances of vicissitude, even if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +Providence ordains them to do so for no other +end than the preservation of vicissitude itself, +and not in order to help them out of the husks +and thorns of action into the flowers of it, and +into the air of heaven? Certain it is, at all +events, that the human being is incited to increase +his amount of good: and that when he is endeavouring +to do so, he is at least not fulfilling +the worst part of his necessity. Nobody tells +us, when we attempt to put out a fire and to +save the lives of our neighbours, that Conflagration +is God's daughter, or Murder God's daughter. +On the contrary, these are things which Christendom +is taught to think ill off, and to wish +to put down; and therefore we should put +down war, which is murder and conflagration by +millions.</p> + +<p>To those who tell us that nations would grow +cowardly and effeminate without war, we answer,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +"Try a reasonable condition of peace first, and +then prove it. Try a state of things which mankind +have never yet attained, because they had +no press, and no universal comparison of notes; +and consider, in the meanwhile, whether so +cheerful, and intelligent, and just a state, seeing +fair play between body and mind, and educated +into habits of activity, would be likely to uneducate +itself into what was neither respected nor +customary. Prove, in the meanwhile, that nations +are cowardly and effeminate, that have been long +unaccustomed to war; that the South Americans +are so; or that all our robust countrymen, who do +not "go for soldiers," are timid agriculturists and +manufacturers, with not a quoit to throw on the +green, or a saucy word to give to an insult. +Moral courage is in self-respect and the sense +of duty; physical courage is a matter of health +or organization. Are these predispositions likely +to fail in a community of instructed freemen?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +Doubters of advancement are always arguing from +a limited past to an unlimited future; that is to +say, from a past of which they know but a point, +to a future of which they know nothing. They +stand on the bridge "between two eternities," +seeing a little bit of it behind them, and nothing +at all of what is before; and uttering those +words unfit for mortal tongue, "man ever was" +and "man ever will be." They might as well +say what is beyond the stars. It appears to be +a part of the necessity of things, from what +we see of the improvements they make, that all +human improvement should proceed by the co-operation +of human means. But what blinker +into the night of next week,—what luckless prophet +of the impossibilities of steam-boats and +steam-carriages,—shall presume to say how far +those improvements are to extend? Let no man +faint in the co-operation with which God has +honoured him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p> + +<p>As to those superabundances of population +which wars and other evils are supposed to be +necessary in order to keep down, there are questions +which have a right to be put, long before +any such necessity is assumed: and till those +questions be answered, and the experiments dependent +upon them tried, the interrogators have +a right to assume that no such necessity exists. +I do not enter upon them—for I am not bound to +do so; but I have touched upon them in the +poem; and the "too rich," and other disingenuous +half-reasoners, know well what they are. All +passionate remedies for evil are themselves evil, +and tend to re-produce what they remedy. It is +high time for the world to show that it has come +to man's estate, and can put down what is wrong +without violence. Should the wrong still return, +we should have a right to say with the Apostle, +"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof;" for +meanwhile we should "not have done evil that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +good may come." That "good" may come! nay, +that evil may be perpetuated; for what good, superior +to the alternatives denounced, is achieved +by this eternal round of war and its causes? Let +us do good in a good and kind manner, and trust +to the co-operation of Providence for the result. +It seems the only real way of attaining to the +very best of which our earth is capable; and +at the very worst, necessity, like the waters, +will find its level, and the equity of things be +justified.</p> + +<p>I firmly believe, that war, or the sending thousands +of our fellow-creatures to cut one another +to bits, often for what they have no concern in, +nor understand, will one day be reckoned far +more absurd than if people were to settle an +argument over the dinner-table with their knives,—a +logic indeed, which was once fashionable in +some places during the "good old times." The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +world has seen the absurdity of that practice: +why should it not come to years of discretion, +with respect to violence on a larger scale? The +other day, our own country and the United States +agreed to refer a point in dispute to the arbitration +of the king of Holland; a compliment (if +we are to believe the newspapers) of which his +majesty was justly proud. He struck a medal +on the strength of it, which history will show +as a set-off against his less creditable attempts +to force his opinions upon the Belgians. Why +should not every national dispute be referred, in +like manner, to a third party? There is reason +to suppose, that the judgment would stand a good +chance of being impartial; and it would benefit +the character of the judge, and dispose him to +receive judgments of the same kind; till at length +the custom would prevail, like any other custom; +and men be astonished at the customs that preceded +it. In private life, none but school-boys<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +and the vulgar settle disputes by blows; even +duelling is losing its dignity.</p> + +<p>Two nations, or most likely two governments, +have a dispute; they reason the point backwards and +forwards; they cannot determine it; perhaps they +do not wish to determine; so, like two carmen in +the street, they fight it out; first, however, dressing +themselves up to look fine, and pluming themselves +on their absurdity; just as if the two carmen +were to go and put on their Sunday clothes, and +stick a feather in their hat besides, in order to +be as dignified and fantastic as possible. They +then "go at it," and cover themselves with mud, +blood, and glory. Can anything be more ridiculous? +Yet, apart from the habit of thinking +otherwise, and being drummed into the notion by +the very toys of infancy, the similitude is not one +atom too ludicrous; no, nor a thousandth part +enough so. I am aware that a sarcasm is but a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +sarcasm, and need not imply any argument; never +includes all;—but it acquires a more respectable +character when so much is done to keep it out of +sight,—when so many questions are begged against +it by "pride, pomp, and circumstance," and allegations +of necessity. Similar allegations may +be, and are brought forward, by other nations of +the world, in behalf of customs which we, for our +parts, think very ridiculous, and do our utmost to +put down; never referring them, as we refer our +own, to the mysterious ordinations of Providence; +or, if we do, never hesitating to suppose, that Providence, +in moving us to interfere, is varying its +ordinations. Now, all that I would ask of the +advocates of war, is to apply the possible justice of +this supposition to their own case, for the purpose +of thoroughly investigating the question.</p> + +<p>But they will exultingly say, perhaps, "Is this +a time for investigating the question, when military<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +genius, even for civil purposes, has regained +its ascendancy in the person of the Duke of Wellington? +When the world has shown that it +cannot do without him? When whigs, radicals, +liberals of all sorts, have proved to be but idle +talkers, in comparison with this man of few words +and many deeds?" I answer, that it remains to +be proved whether the ascendancy be gained or +not; that I have no belief it will be regained; +and that, in the meanwhile, never was time fitter +for questioning the merits of war, and, by inference, +those of its leaders. The general peacefulness +of the world presents a fair opportunity for +laying the foundations of peaceful opinion; and +the alarm of the moment renders the interrogation +desirable for its immediate sake.</p> + +<p>The re-appearance of a military administration, +or of an administration <i>barely civil</i>, and military at +heart, may not, at first sight, be thought the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +promising one for hastening a just appreciation of +war, and the ascendancy of moral over physical +strength. But is it, or can it be, lasting? +Will it not provoke—is it not now provoking—a +re-action still more peremptory against the +claims of Toryism, than the state of things which +preceded it? Is it anything but a flash of success, +still more indicative of expiring life, and +caused only by its convulsive efforts?</p> + +<p>If it be, this it is easy enough to predict, +that Sir Robert Peel, notwithstanding his abilities, +and the better ambition which is natural to them, +and which struggles in him with an inferior one, +impatient of his origin, will turn out to be nothing +but a servant of the aristocracy, and (more or +less openly) of a barrack-master. He will be +the servant, not of the King, not of the House +of Commons, but of the House of Lords, and +(as long as such influence lasts, which can be but a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +short while), of its military leader. He will do +nothing whatsoever contrary to their dictation, +upon peril of being treated worse than Canning; +and all the reform which he is permitted to +bring about will be only just as much as will +serve to keep off the spirit of it as long as possible, +and to continue the people in that state of +comparative ignorance, which is the only safeguard +of monopoly. Every unwilling step of +reform will be accompanied with some retrograde +or bye effort in favour of the abuses reformed: +cunning occasion will be seized to convert boons, +demanded by the age, into gifts of party favour, +and bribes for the toleration of what is withheld; +and as knowledge proceeds to extort public +education (for extort it it will, and in its own +way too at last), mark, and see what attempts +will be made to turn knowledge against itself, +and to catechise the nation back into the schoolboy +acquiescence of the good people of Germany.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +Much good is there in that people—I would not +be thought to undervalue it—much <i>bonhommie</i>—and +in the most despotic districts, as much sensual +comfort as can make any people happy who know +no other happiness. But England and France, +the leaders of Europe, the peregrinators of the +world, cannot be confined to those lazy and +prospectless paths. They have gone through the +feudal reign; they must now go through the +commercial (God forbid that for any body's sake +they should stop there!), and they will continue +to advance, till all are instructed, and all are +masters; and government, in however gorgeous +a shape, be truly their servant. The problem of +existing governments is how to prepare for this +inevitable period, and to continue to be its masters, +by converting themselves frankly and truly into +its friends. For my part, as one of the people, +I confess I like the colours and shows of feudalism, +and would retain as much of them as would adorn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +nobler things. I would keep the tiger's skin, +though the beast be killed; the painted window, +though the superstition be laid in the tomb. +Nature likes external beauty, and man likes it. +It softens the heart, enriches the imagination, and +helps to show us that there are other goods in the +world besides bare utility. I would fain see the +splendours of royalty combined with the cheapness +of a republic and the equal knowledge of all +classes. Is such a combination impossible? I +would exhort the lovers of feudal splendour to +be the last men to think so; for a thousand +times more impossible will they find its retention +under any other circumstances. Their +royalties, their educations, their accomplishments +of all sorts, must go along with the Press and +its irresistible consequences, or they will be set +aside like a child in a corner, who has insisted +on keeping the toys and books of his brothers +to himself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now, there is nothing that irritates a just cause +so much as a threatening of force; and all impositions +of a military chief on a state, where civil +directors will, at least, do as well, is a threatening +of force, disguise it, or pretend to laugh at it, as its +imposers may. This irritation in England will +not produce violence. Public opinion is too +strong, and the future too secure. But deeply +and daily will increase the disgust and the ridicule; +and individuals will get laughed at and catechised +who cannot easily be sent out of the way as +ambassadors, and who might as well preserve their +self-respect a little better. To attempt, however +quietly, to overawe the advance of improvement, +by the aspect of physical force, is as idle as if +soldiers were drawn out to suppress the rising +of a flood. The flood rises quietly, irresistibly, +without violence—it cannot help it—the waters +of knowledge are out, and will "cover the earth." +Of what use is it to see the representative of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +a by-gone influence—a poor individual mortal +(for he is nothing else in the comparison), fretting +and fuming on the shore of this mighty sea, and +playing the part of a Canute reversed,—an antic +really taking his flatterers at their word?</p> + +<p>The first thirty-five years of the nineteenth +century have been rich in experiences of the +sure and certain failure of all soldiership and +Toryism to go heartily along in the cause of the +many. There has been the sovereign instance +of Napoleon Bonaparte himself—of the allies +after him—of Charles the Tenth—of Louis +Philippe, albeit a "schoolmaster,"—and lastly, +of this strange and most involuntary Reformer +the Duke of Wellington, who refused to do, under +Canning, or for principle's sake, what he consented +to do when Canning died, for the sake of regaining +power, and of keeping it with as few concessions +as possible. Canning perished because<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +Toryism, or the principle of power for its own +sake, to which he had been a servant, could not +bear to acknowledge him as its master. His +intellect was just great enough (as his birth was +small enough) to render it jealous of him under +that aspect. There is an instinct in Toryism +which renders pure intellect intolerable to it, +except in some inferior or mechanical shape, or in +the flattery of voluntary servitude. But, by a +like instinct, it is not so jealous of military +renown. It is glad of the doubtful amount of +intellect in military genius, and knows it to be +a good ally in the preservation of power, and in +the substitution of noise and show for qualities +fearless of inspection. Is it an ascendancy of +this kind which the present age requires, or will +permit? Do we want a soldier at the head of +us, when there is nobody abroad to fight with? +when international as well as national questions +can manifestly settle themselves without him?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +and when his appearance in the seat of power +can indicate nothing but a hankering after those +old substitutions of force for argument, or at +best of "an authority for a reason," which every +step of reform is hoping to do away? Do we +want him to serve in our shops? to preside over +our studies? to cultivate "peace and good will" +among nations? wounding no self love—threatening +no social?</p> + +<p>There never was a soldier, purely brought +up as such—and it is of such only I speak, and +not of rare and even then perilous exceptions,—men +educated in philosophy like Epaminondas, +or in homely household virtues and citizenship +like Washington—but there never was a soldier +such as I speak of, who did more for the world +than was compatible with his confined and arbitrary +breeding. I do not speak, of course, with +reference to the unprofessional part of his character.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +Circumstances, especially the participation +of dangers and vicissitude, often conspire +with naturally good qualities to render soldiers +the most amiable of men; and nothing is more +delightful to contemplate than an old military +veteran, whose tenderness of heart has survived +the shocks of the rough work it has been tried in, +till twenty miserable sights of war and horror +start up to the imagination as a set-off against +its attractiveness. But, publicly speaking, the +more a soldier succeeds, the more he looks upon +soldiership as something superior to all other +kinds of ascendancy, and qualified to dispense with +them. He always ends in considering the flower +of the art of government as consisting in issuing +"orders," and that of popular duty as comprised +in "obedience." Cities with him are barracks, +and the nation a conquered country. He is at +best but a pioneer of civilization. When he +undertakes to be the civilizer himself, he makes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +mistakes that betray him to others, even supposing +him self-deceived. Napoleon, though +he was the accidental instrument of a popular +re-action, was one of the educated tools of the +system that provoked it,—an officer brought up at +a Royal Military College; and in spite of his +boasted legislation and his real genius, such he +ever remained. He did as much for his own +aggrandizement as he could, and no more for the +world than he thought compatible with it. The +same military genius which made him as great as +he was, stopped him short of a greater greatness; +because, quick and imposing as he was in acting +the part of a civil ruler, he was in reality a soldier +and nothing else, and by the excess of the soldier's +propensity (aggrandizement by force), he over-toppled +himself, and fell to pieces. Soldiership +appears to have narrowed or hardened the public +spirit of every man who has spent the chief part +of his life in it, who has died at an age which gives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +final proofs of its tendency, and whose history +is thoroughly known. We all know what Cromwell +did to an honest parliament. Marlborough +ended in being a miser and the tool of his wife. +Even good-natured, heroic Nelson condescended +to become an executioner at Naples. Frederick +did much for Prussia, as a power; but what became +of her as a people, or power either, before +the popular power of France? Even Washington +seemed not to comprehend those who thought +that negro-slaves ought to be freed.</p> + +<p>In the name of common sense then, what do +we want with a soldier who was born and bred +in circumstances the most arbitrary; who never +advocated a liberal measure as long as he could +help it; and who (without meaning to speak +presumptuously, or in one's own person unauthorized +by opinion) is one of the merest +soldiers, though a great one, that ever existed,—without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +genius of any other sort,—with scarcely +a civil public quality either commanding or engaging +(as far as the world in general can see),—and +with no more to say for himself than the most +mechanical clerk in office? In what respect is +the Duke of Wellington better fitted to be a parliamentary +leader, than the Sir Arthur Wellesley +of twenty years back? Or what has re-cast the +habits and character of the Colonel Wellesley of +the East Indies, to give him an unprofessional +consideration for the lives and liberties of his +fellow-creatures?</p> + +<p>And yet the Duke of Wellington (it is said) +<i>may</i>, after all, be in earnest in his professions of +reform and advancement. If so, he will be the +most remarkable instance that ever existed, of +the triumph of reason over the habits of a +life, and the experience of mankind. I have +looked for some such man through a very remarkable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +period of the world, when an honest +declaration to this effect would have set him at +the top of mankind, to be worshipped for ever; +and I never found the glorious opportunity +seized,—not by Napoleon when he came from +Elba,—not by the allies when they conquered +him,—not by Louis Philippe, though he was educated +in adversity. I mean that he has shown +himself a prince born, of the most aristocratic +kind; and evidently considers himself as nothing +but the head of a new dynasty. When the +Duke of Wellington had the opportunity of +being a reformer, of his own free will, he +resisted it as long as he could. He opposed +reform up to the last moment of its freedom +from his dictation; he declared that ruin would +follow it; that the institutions of the country +were perfect without it; and that, at the very +least, the less of it the better. And for this +enmity, even if no other reason existed,—even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +if his new light were sincere,—the Duke of Wellington +ought not to have the <i>honour</i> of leading +reform. It is just as if a man had been doing +all he could to prevent another from entering his +own house, and then, when he found that the +by-standers would insist on his having free passage, +were to turn to them, smiling, and say, +"Well, since it must be so, allow me to do +the honours of the mansion." Everybody knows +what this proposal would be called by the by-standers. +And if the way in which greatness is +brought up and spoilt gives it a right to a less +homely style of rebuke (as I grant it does), still +the absurdity of the Duke's claim is not the less +evident, nor the air of it less provoking.</p> + +<p>I can imagine but two reasons for the remotest +possible permission of this glaring anomaly—this +government of anti-reforming reformers—this hospital +of sick guides for the healthy, supported<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +by involuntary contributions: first, sheer necessity +(which is ludicrous); and second, a facilitation +of church reform through the Lords and +the bench of Bishops; the desirableness of which +facilitation appears to be in no proportion to the +compromise it is likely to make with abuses. I +have read, I believe, all the utmost possible things +that can be said in its favour, the articles, for +instance, written by the <i>Times</i> newspaper (admirable, +as far as a rotten cause can let them +be, and when not afflicted by some portentous +mystery of personal resentment); and though I +trust I may lay claim to as much willingness +to be convinced, as most men who have suffered +and reflected, I have not seen a single argument +which did not appear to me fully answered by +the above objection alone (about the "honour"); +setting aside the innumerable convincing ones +urged by reasoners on the other side: for +as to any dearth of statesmen in a country like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +this, it never existed, nor ever can, till education +and public spirit have entirely left it. There +have been the same complaints at every change +in the history of administrations; and the crop +has never failed.</p> + +<p>Allow me to state here, that any appearance +of personality in this book is involuntary. Public +principles are sometimes incarnate in individual +shapes; and, in attacking them, the individual may +be seemingly attacked, where, to eyes which look +a little closer, there is evidently no such intention. +I have been obliged to identify, in some measure, +the Power of the Sword with several successive +individuals, and with the Duke of Wellington +most, because he is the reigning shape, and includes +all its pretensions. But as an individual +who am nothing, except in connexion with +what I humanly feel, I dare to affirm, that I +have not only the consideration that becomes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +me for all human beings, but a flesh and +blood regard for every body; and that I as +truly respect in the Noble Duke the possession of +military science, of a straight-forward sincerity, +and a valour of which no circumstances or years +can diminish the ready firmness, as I doubt the +fitness of a man of his education, habits, and political +principles, for the guidance of an intellectual +age.</p> + +<p>I dislike Toryism, because I think it an unjust, +exacting, and pernicious thing, which tends to +keep the interests of the many in perpetual subjection +to those of the few; but far be it from +me, in common modesty, to dislike those who have +been brought up in its principles, and taught to +think them good,—far less such of them as adorn +it by intellectual or moral qualities, and who +justly claim for it, under its best aspect in private +life, that ease and urbanity of behaviour which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +implies an acknowledgment of its claims to respect, +even where those claims are partly grounded +in prejudice. I heartily grant to the privileged +classes, that, enjoying in many respects the best +educations, they have been conservators of polished +manners, and of the other graces of intercourse. +My quarrel with them is, that the inferior part +of their education induces them to wish to keep +these manners and graces to themselves, together +with a superabundance, good for nobody, of all +other advantages; and that thus, instead of being +the preservers of a beautiful and genial +flame, good for all, and in due season partakeable +by all, they would hoard and make an idolatrous +treasure of it, sacred to one class alone, and such +as the diffusion of knowledge renders it alike +useless and exasperating to endeavour to withhold.</p> + +<p>I will conclude this Postscript with quotations +from three writers of the present day, who may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +be fairly taken to represent the three distinct +classes of the leaders of knowledge, and who +will show what is thought of the feasibility +of putting an end to war,—the Utilitarian, or +those who are all for the tangible and material—the +Metaphysical, or those who recognize, in +addition, the spiritual and imaginative wants of +mankind—and lastly (in no offensive sense), the +Men of the World, whose opinion will have the +greatest weight of all with the incredulous, and +whose speaker is a soldier to boot, and a man +who evidently sees fair play to all the weaknesses +as well as strengths of our nature.</p> + +<p>The first quotation is from the venerable Mr +Bentham, a man who certainly lost sight of no +existing or possible phase of society, such as the +ordinary disputants on this subject contemplate. +I venture to think him not thoroughly philosophical +on the point, especially in what he says in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +reproach of men educated to think differently +from himself. But the passage will show the +growth of opinion in a practical and highly influential +quarter.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Nothing can be worse," says Mr Bentham, +"than the general feeling on the subject of war. +The Church, the State, the ruling few, the subject +many, all seem to have combined, in order +to patronise vice and crime in their very widest +sphere of evil. Dress a man in particular garments, +call him by a particular name, and he +shall have authority, on divers occasions, to commit +every species of offence, to pillage, to murder, +to destroy human felicity, and, for so doing, he +shall be rewarded.</p> + +<p>"Of all that is pernicious in admiration, the +admiration of heroes is the most pernicious; and +how delusion should have made us admire what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +virtue should teach us to hate and loathe, is among +the saddest evidences of human weakness and +folly. The crimes of heroes seem lost in the +vastness of the field they occupy. A lively idea +of the mischief they do, of the misery they create, +seldom penetrates the mind through the delusions +with which thoughtlessness and falsehood have surrounded +their names and deeds. Is it that the +magnitude of the evil is too gigantic for entrance? +We read of twenty thousand men killed in a +battle, with no other feeling than that 'it was +a glorious victory.' Twenty thousand, or ten +thousand, what reck we of their sufferings? The +hosts who perished are evidence of the completeness +of the triumph; and the completeness of +the triumph is the measure of merit, and the +glory of the conqueror. Our schoolmasters, and +the immoral books they so often put into our +hands, have inspired us with an affection for +heroes; and the hero is more heroic in proportion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +to the numbers of the slain—add a cypher, not one +iota is added to our disapprobation. Four or two +figures give us no more sentiment of pain than +one figure, while they add marvellously to the +grandeur and splendour of the victor. Let us +draw forth one individual from those thousands, +or tens of thousands,—his leg has been shivered +by one ball, his jaw broken by another—he is +bathed in his own blood, and that of his fellows—yet +he lives, tortured by thirst, fainting, +famishing. He is but one of the twenty thousand—one +of the actors and sufferers in the scene of +the hero's glory—and of the twenty thousand +there is scarcely one whose suffering or death will +not be the centre of a circle of misery. Look +again, admirers of that hero! Is not this wretchedness? +Because it is repeated ten, ten hundred, +ten thousand times, is not this wretchedness?</p> + +<p>"The period will assuredly arrive, when better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +instructed generations will require all the evidence +of history to credit, that, in times deeming themselves +enlightened, human beings should have +been honoured with public approval, in the very +proportion of the misery they caused, and the +mischiefs they perpetrated. They will call upon +all the testimony which incredulity can require, +to persuade them that, in passed ages, men there +were—men, too, deemed worthy of popular recompense—who, +for some small pecuniary retribution, +hired themselves out to do any deeds of +pillage, devastation, and murder, which might be +demanded of them. And, still more will it shock +their sensibilities to learn, that such men, such +men-destroyers, were marked out as the eminent +and the illustrious—as the worthy of laurels and +monuments—of eloquence and poetry. In that +better and happier epoch, the wise and the good +will be busied in hurling into oblivion, or dragging +forth for exposure to universal ignominy and obloquy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +many of the heads we deem <i>heroic</i>; while +the true fame and the perdurable glories will +be gathered around the creators and diffusers of +happiness."—<i>Deontology.</i></p></div> + +<p>Our second quotation is from one of the +subtilest and most universal thinkers now living—Thomas +Carlyle—chiefly known to the public +as a German scholar and the friend of Goethe, +but deeply respected by other leading intellects +of the day, as a man who sees into the utmost +recognized possibilities of knowledge. See what +he thinks of war, and of the possibility of putting +an end to it. We forget whether we got the +extract from the <i>Edinburgh</i> or the <i>Foreign +Quarterly Review</i>, having made it sometime back +and mislaid the reference; and we take a liberty +with him in mentioning his name as the writer, +for which his zeal in the cause of mankind will +assuredly pardon us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The better minds of all countries," observes +Mr Carlyle, "begin to understand each other, +and, which follows naturally, to love each other +and help each other, by whom ultimately all +countries in all their proceedings are governed.</p> + +<p>"Late in man's history, yet clearly, at length, +it becomes manifest to the dullest, that mind is +stronger than matter—that mind is the creator +and shaper of matter—that not brute force, but +only persuasion and faith, is the King of this +world. The true poet, who is but an inspired +thinker, is still an Orpheus whose lyre tames +the savage beasts, and evokes the dead rocks +to fashion themselves into palaces and stately +inhabited cities. It has been said, and may be +repeated, that literature is fast becoming all in +all to us—our Church, our Senate, our whole +social constitution. The true Pope of Christendom +is not that feeble old man in Rome, nor is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +its autocrat the Napoleon, the Nicholas, with its +half million even of obedient bayonets; such +autocrat is himself but a more cunningly-devised +bayonet and military engine in the hands of a +mightier than he. The true autocrat, or Pope, +is that man, the real or seeming wisest of the last +age; crowned after death; who finds his hierarchy +of gifted authors, his clergy of assiduous journalists: +whose decretals, written, not on parchment, +but on the living souls of men, it were +an inversion of the laws of nature to disobey. +In these times of ours, all intellect has fused +itself into literature; literature—printed thought, +is the molten sea and wonder-bearing chaos, +in which mind after mind casts forth its opinion, +its feeling, to be molten into the general mass, +and to be worked there; interest after interest +is engulfed in it, or embarked in it; higher, +higher it rises round all the edifices of existence; +they must all be molten into it, and anew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +bodied forth from it, or stand unconsumed among +its fiery surges. Woe to him whose edifice is +not built of true asbest, and on the everlasting +rock, but on the false sand and the drift-wood of +accident, and the paper and parchment of antiquated +habit! For the power or powers exist +not on our earth that can say to that sea—roll +back, or bid its proud waves be still.</p> + +<p>"What form so omnipotent an element will +assume—how long it will welter to and fro as +a wild democracy, a wilder anarchy—what constitution +and organization it will fashion for itself, +and for what depends on it in the depths of +time, is a subject for prophetic conjecture, wherein +brightest hope is not unmingled with fearful +apprehensions and awe at the boundless unknown. +The more cheering is this one thing, +which we do see and know—that its tendency +is to a universal European commonweal; that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +wisest in all nations will communicate and co-operate; +whereby Europe will again have its +true Sacred College and council of Amphictyons; +wars will become rarer, less inhuman; and in +the course of centuries, such delirious ferocity +in nations, as in individuals it already is, may +be proscribed and become obsolete for ever."</p></div> + +<p>My last and not least conclusive extract (for +it shows the actual hold which these speculations +have taken of the minds of practical men—of men +out in the world, and even of <i>soldiers</i>) is from a +book popular among all classes of readers—the +<i>Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau</i>, written by +Major Sir Francis Head. What he says of one +country's educating another, by the natural progress +of books and opinion, and of the effect +which this is likely to have upon governments +even as remote and unwilling as Russia, is particularly +worthy of attention.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> + +<p>The author is speaking of some bathers at whom +he had been looking, and of a Russian Prince, +who lets us into some curious information respecting +the leading-strings in which grown gentlemen +are kept by despotism:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"For more than half an hour I had been indolently +watching this amphibious scene, when the +landlord entering my room said, that the Russian +Prince, G——n, wished to speak to me on some +business; and the information was scarcely communicated, +when I perceived his Highness standing +at the threshold of my door. With the attention +due to his rank, I instantly begged he would +do me the honour to walk in; and, after we had +sufficiently bowed to each other, and that I had +prevailed on my guest to sit down, I gravely requested +him, as I stood before him, to be so good +as to state in what way I could have the good +fortune to render him any service. The Prince<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +very briefly replied, that he had called upon me, +considering that I was the person in the hotel best +capable (he politely inclined his head) of informing +him by what route it would be most adviseable +for him to proceed to London, it being his wish to +visit my country.</p> + +<p>"In order at once to solve this very simple problem, +I silently unfolded and spread out upon the +table my map of Europe; and each of us, as we +leant over it, placing a forefinger on or near Wiesbaden +(our eyes being fixed upon Dover), we remained +in this reflecting attitude for some seconds, +until the Prince's finger first solemnly began to +trace its route. In doing this, I observed that his +Highness's hand kept swerving far into the Netherlands, +so, gently pulling it by the thumb towards +Paris, I used as much force as I thought +decorous, to induce it to advance in a straight line; +however, finding my efforts ineffectual, I ventured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +with respectful astonishment, to ask, 'Why travel +by so uninteresting a route'?</p> + +<p>"The Prince at once acknowledged that the +route I had recommended would, by visiting Paris, +afford him the greatest pleasure; but he frankly +told me that no Russian, not even a personage of +his rank, could enter that capital, without first obtaining +a written permission from the Emperor.</p> + +<p>"These words were no sooner uttered, than I +felt my fluent civility suddenly begin to coagulate; +the attention I paid my guest became +forced and unnatural. I was no longer at my +ease; and though I bowed, strained, and endeavoured +to be, if possible, more respectful than +ever, yet I really could hardly prevent my lips +from muttering aloud, that I had sooner die a +homely English peasant than live to be a Russian +prince!—in short, his Highness's words acted upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +my mind like thunder upon beer. And, moreover, +I could almost have sworn that I was an +old lean wolf, contemptuously observing a bald +ring rubbed by the collar, from the neck of a +sleek, well-fed mastiff dog; however, recovering +myself, I managed to give as much information +as it was in my humble power to afford; and +my noble guest then taking his departure, I +returned to my open window, to give vent in +solitude (as I gazed upon the horse bath) to my +own reflection upon the subject.</p> + +<p>"Although the petty rule of my life has been +never to trouble myself about what the world +calls 'politics'—(a fine word, by the by, much +easier expressed than understood)—yet, I must +own, I am always happy when I see a nation +enjoying itself, and melancholy when I observe +any large body of people suffering pain or imprisonment. +But of all sorts of imprisonment,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +that of the mind is, to my taste, the most cruel; +and, therefore, when I consider over what immense +dominions the Emperor of Russia presides, and +how he governs, I cannot help sympathizing most +sincerely with those innocent sufferers, who have +the misfortune to be born his subjects; for if a +Russian Prince be not freely permitted to go to +Paris, in what a melancholy state of slavery and +debasement must exist the minds of what we +call the lower classes?</p> + +<p>"As a sovereign remedy for this lamentable +political disorder, many very sensible people in +England prescribe, I know, that we ought to +have resource to arms. I must confess, however, +it seems to me that one of the greatest political +errors England could commit would be to declare, +or to join in declaring, war with Russia; in short, +that an appeal to brute force would, at this moment, +be at once most unscientifically to stop an immense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +moral engine, which, if left to its work, is +quite powerful enough, without bloodshed, to gain +for humanity, at no expense at all, its object. +The individual who is, I conceive, to overthrow +the Emperor of Russia—who is to direct his +own legions against himself—who is to do what +Napoleon had at the head of his great army failed +to effect, is the little child, who, lighted by the +single wick of a small lamp, sits at this moment +perched above the great steam press of the +'Penny Magazine,' feeding it, from morning till +night, with blank papers, which, at almost every +pulsation of the engine, comes out stamped on +both sides with engravings, and with pages of +plain, useful, harmless knowledge, which, by +making the lower orders acquainted with foreign +lands, foreign productions, various states of society, +&c., tend practically to inculcate 'Glory to God +in the highest, and on earth peace—good will +towards men.' It has already been stated, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +what proceeds from this press is now greedily +devoured by the people of Europe; indeed, even +at Berlin, we know it can hardly be reprinted +fast enough.</p> + +<p>"This child, then,—'this sweet little cherub +that sits up aloft,'—is the only army that an +enlightened country like ours should, I humbly +think, deign to oppose to one who reigns in +darkness—who trembles at day-light, and whose +throne rests upon ignorance and despotism. +Compare this mild, peaceful intellectual policy, +with the dreadful, savage alternative of going +to war, and the difference must surely be evident +to everyone. In the former case, we calmly +enjoy, first of all, the pleasing reflection, that +our country is generously imparting to the nations +of Europe the blessing she is tranquilly deriving +from the purification of civilization to her own +mind;—far from wishing to exterminate, we are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +gradually illuminating the Russian peasant, we +are mildly throwing a gleam of light upon the +fetters of the Russian Prince; and surely every +well-disposed person must see, that if we will +only have patience, the result of this noble, +temperate conduct, must produce all that reasonable +beings can desire."—<i>Bubbles from the Brunnens +of Nassau</i>, p. 164.</p></div> + +<p>By the 'Penny Magazine,' our author means, +of course, not only that excellent publication, +but all cheaply-diffused knowledge—all the tranquil +and enlightening deeds of "Captain Pen" +in general—of whom it is pleasant to see the +gallant Major so useful a servant, the more so +from his sympathies with rank and the aristocracy. +But "Pen" will make it a matter of necessity, +by and by, for all ranks to agree with him, in +vindication of their own wit and common sense; +and when once this necessity is felt, and fastidiousness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +shall find out that it will be considered +"absurd" to lag behind in the career of knowledge +and the common good, the cause of the +world is secure.</p> + +<p>May princes and people alike find it out by +the kindliest means, and without further violence. +May they discover that no one set of human +beings, perhaps no single individual, can be +thoroughly secure and content, or enabled to +work out his case with equal reasonableness, +<i>till all are so</i>,—a subject for reflection, which +contains, we hope, the beneficent reason <i>why all +are restless</i>. The solution of the problem is co-operation—the +means of solving it is the Press. +If the Greeks had had a press, we should probably +have heard nothing of the inconsiderate question, +which demands, why they, with all their philosophy, +did not alter the world. They had not +the means. They could not command a general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +hearing. Neither had Christianity come up, to +make men think of one another's wants, as well +as of their own accomplishments. Modern times +possess those means, and inherit that divine incitement. +May every man exert himself accordingly, +and show himself a worthy inhabitant of +this beautiful and most capable world!</p> + +<h3>THE END.</h3> +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br /> +LONDON:<br /> +<small>Printed by C. and W. <span class="smcap">Reynell</span>,</small><br /> +<small>Little Pulteney Street.</small><br /></div><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 324px;"> +<img src="images/i008.jpg" width="324" height="425" alt="P. 112." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span style="margin-left: 22em;"><a href="#Page_112"><i>P.</i> 112.</a></span></span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='tnote'> +<p>Transcriber's Note: On <a href="#Page_67">page 67</a>, a quote begins but has no end that this +transcriber can find. It was retained as printed. ("Try a reasonable +condition)</p></div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Captain Sword and Captain Pen, by Leigh Hunt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN *** + +***** This file should be named 28260-h.htm or 28260-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/2/6/28260/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/28260-h/images/i001.jpg b/28260-h/images/i001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0dc17de --- /dev/null +++ b/28260-h/images/i001.jpg diff --git a/28260-h/images/i002.jpg b/28260-h/images/i002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..360e83b --- /dev/null +++ b/28260-h/images/i002.jpg diff --git a/28260-h/images/i003.jpg b/28260-h/images/i003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eaf330f --- /dev/null +++ b/28260-h/images/i003.jpg diff --git a/28260-h/images/i004.jpg b/28260-h/images/i004.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a128b07 --- /dev/null +++ b/28260-h/images/i004.jpg diff --git a/28260-h/images/i005.jpg b/28260-h/images/i005.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8eee454 --- /dev/null +++ b/28260-h/images/i005.jpg diff --git a/28260-h/images/i006.jpg b/28260-h/images/i006.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e088d6e --- /dev/null +++ b/28260-h/images/i006.jpg diff --git a/28260-h/images/i007.jpg b/28260-h/images/i007.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..665fae1 --- /dev/null +++ b/28260-h/images/i007.jpg diff --git a/28260-h/images/i008.jpg b/28260-h/images/i008.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..660a440 --- /dev/null +++ b/28260-h/images/i008.jpg diff --git a/28260.txt b/28260.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8451704 --- /dev/null +++ b/28260.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2204 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Captain Sword and Captain Pen, by Leigh Hunt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Captain Sword and Captain Pen + A Poem + +Author: Leigh Hunt + +Release Date: March 6, 2009 [EBook #28260] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: [_To face the Title._] + + + + + +CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN. + +=A Poem.= + +BY LEIGH HUNT. + +WITH SOME REMARKS ON + +WAR AND MILITARY STATESMEN. + + --If there be in glory aught of good, + It may by means far different be attained, + Without ambition, war, or violence.--MILTON. + + + LONDON: + + CHARLES KNIGHT, LUDGATE STREET. + + 1835. + + + + + TO + + THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE + + LORD BROUGHAM AND VAUX, + + WITH WHOM THE WRITER HUMBLY DIFFERS ON SOME POINTS, + + BUT DEEPLY RESPECTS FOR HIS MOTIVES ON ALL; + + GREAT IN OFFICE FOR WHAT HE DID FOR THE WORLD, + + GREATER OUT OF IT IN CALMLY AWAITING HIS TIME TO DO MORE; + + THE PROMOTER OF EDUCATION; THE EXPEDITER OF JUSTICE; + + THE LIBERATOR FROM SLAVERY; + + AND (WHAT IS THE RAREST VIRTUE IN A STATESMAN) + + ALWAYS A DENOUNCER OF WAR, + + =These Pages are Inscribed= + + BY HIS EVER AFFECTIONATE SERVANT, + + Jan. 30, 1835. LEIGH HUNT. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +This Poem is the result of a sense of duty, which has taken the Author +from quieter studies during a great public crisis. He obeyed the impulse +with joy, because it took the shape of verse; but with more pain, on +some accounts, than he chooses to express. However, he has done what he +conceived himself bound to do; and if every zealous lover of his species +were to express his feelings in like manner, to the best of his ability, +individual opinions, little in themselves, would soon amount to an +overwhelming authority, and hasten the day of reason and beneficence. + +The measure is regular with an irregular aspect,--four accents in a +verse,--like that of Christabel, or some of the poems of Sir Walter +Scott: + + Captain Sword got up one day-- + And the flag full of honour, as though it could feel-- + +He mentions this, not, of course, for readers in general, but for the +sake of those daily acceders to the list of the reading public, whose +knowledge of books is not yet equal to their love of them. + +[Illustration: + + STEPPING IN MUSIC AND THUNDER SWEET, + WHICH HIS DRUMS SENT BEFORE HIM INTO THE STREET. + _Canto_ I. _p._ 1.] + + + + +CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN. + + +I. + +HOW CAPTAIN SWORD MARCHED TO WAR. + + Captain Sword got up one day, + Over the hills to march away, + Over the hills and through the towns, + They heard him coming across the downs, + Stepping in music and thunder sweet, + Which his drums sent before him into the street. + And lo! 'twas a beautiful sight in the sun; + For first came his foot, all marching like one, + With tranquil faces, and bristling steel, + And the flag full of honour as though it could feel, + And the officers gentle, the sword that hold + 'Gainst the shoulder heavy with trembling gold, + And the massy tread, that in passing is heard, + Though the drums and the music say never a word. + + And then came his horse, a clustering sound + Of shapely potency, forward bound, + Glossy black steeds, and riders tall, + Rank after rank, each looking like all, + Midst moving repose and a threatening charm, + With mortal sharpness at each right arm, + And hues that painters and ladies love, + And ever the small flag blush'd above. + + And ever and anon the kettle-drums beat + Hasty power midst order meet; + And ever and anon the drums and fifes + Came like motion's voice, and life's; + Or into the golden grandeurs fell + Of deeper instruments, mingling well, + Burdens of beauty for winds to bear; + And the cymbals kiss'd in the shining air, + And the trumpets their visible voices rear'd, + Each looking forth with its tapestried beard, + Bidding the heavens and earth make way + For Captain Sword and his battle-array. + + He, nevertheless, rode indifferent-eyed, + As if pomp were a toy to his manly pride, + Whilst the ladies lov'd him the more for his scorn, + And thought him the noblest man ever was born, + And tears came into the bravest eyes, + And hearts swell'd after him double their size, + And all that was weak, and all that was strong, + Seem'd to think wrong's self in him could not be wrong; + Such love, though with bosom about to be gored, + Did sympathy get for brave Captain Sword. + + So, half that night, as he stopp'd in the town, + 'Twas all one dance, going merrily down, + With lights in windows and love in eyes, + And a constant feeling of sweet surprise; + But all the next morning 'twas tears and sighs; + For the sound of his drums grew less and less, + Walking like carelessness off from distress; + And Captain Sword went whistling gay, + "Over the hills and far away." + + + + +II. + +HOW CAPTAIN SWORD WON A GREAT VICTORY. + + + Through fair and through foul went Captain Sword, + Pacer of highway and piercer of ford, + Steady of face in rain or sun, + He and his merry men, all as one; + Till they came to a place, where in battle-array + Stood thousands of faces, firm as they, + Waiting to see which could best maintain + Bloody argument, lords of pain; + And down the throats of their fellow-men + Thrust the draught never drunk again. + + It was a spot of rural peace, + Ripening with the year's increase + And singing in the sun with birds, + Like a maiden with happy words-- + With happy words which she scarcely hears + In her own contented ears, + Such abundance feeleth she + Of all comfort carelessly, + Throwing round her, as she goes, + Sweet half-thoughts on lily and rose, + Nor guesseth what will soon arouse + All ears--that murder's in the house; + And that, in some strange wrong of brain, + Her father hath her mother slain. + + Steady! steady! The masses of men + Wheel, and fall in, and wheel again, + Softly as circles drawn with pen. + + Then a gaze there was, and valour, and fear, + And the jest that died in the jester's ear, + And preparation, noble to see, + Of all-accepting mortality; + Tranquil Necessity gracing Force; + And the trumpets danc'd with the stirring horse; + And lordly voices, here and there, + Call'd to war through the gentle air; + When suddenly, with its voice of doom, + Spoke the cannon 'twixt glare and gloom, + Making wider the dreadful room: + On the faces of nations round + Fell the shadow of that sound. + + Death for death! The storm begins; + Rush the drums in a torrent of dins; + Crash the muskets, gash the swords; + Shoes grow red in a thousand fords; + Now for the flint, and the cartridge bite; + Darkly gathers the breath of the fight, + Salt to the palate and stinging to sight; + Muskets are pointed they scarce know where, + No matter: Murder is cluttering there. + Reel the hollows: close up! close up! + Death feeds thick, and his food is his cup. + Down go bodies, snap burst eyes; + Trod on the ground are tender cries; + Brains are dash'd against plashing ears; + Hah! no time has battle for tears; + Cursing helps better--cursing, that goes + Slipping through friends' blood, athirst for foes'. + What have soldiers with tears to do?-- + We, who this mad-house must now go through, + This twenty-fold Bedlam, let loose with knives-- + To murder, and stab, and grow liquid with lives-- + Gasping, staring, treading red mud, + Till the drunkenness' self makes us steady of blood? + +[Illustration: + + DOWN GO BODIES--SNAP BURST EYES-- + TROD ON THE GROUND ARE TENDER CRIES. + _Canto_ II. _p. 8._] + + [Oh! shrink not thou, reader! Thy part's in it too; + Has not thy praise made the thing they go through + Shocking to read of, but noble to do?] + + No time to be "breather of thoughtful breath" + Has the giver and taker of dreadful death. + See where comes the horse-tempest again, + Visible earthquake, bloody of mane! + Part are upon us, with edges of pain; + Part burst, riderless, over the plain, + Crashing their spurs, and twice slaying the slain. + See, by the living God! see those foot + Charging down hill--hot, hurried, and mute! + They loll their tongues out! Ah-hah! pell-mell! + Horses roll in a human hell; + Horse and man they climb one another-- + Which is the beast, and which is the brother? + Mangling, stifling, stopping shrieks + With the tread of torn-out cheeks, + Drinking each other's bloody breath-- + Here's the fleshliest feast of Death. + An odour, as of a slaughter-house, + The distant raven's dark eye bows. + + Victory! victory! Man flies man; + Cannibal patience hath done what it can-- + Carv'd, and been carv'd, drunk the drinkers down, + And now there is one that hath won the crown: + One pale visage stands lord of the board-- + Joy to the trumpets of Captain Sword! + + His trumpets blow strength, his trumpets neigh, + They and his horse, and waft him away; + They and his foot, with a tir'd proud flow, + Tatter'd escapers and givers of woe. + Open, ye cities! Hats off! hold breath! + To see the man who has been with Death; + To see the man who determineth right + By the virtue-perplexing virtue of might. + Sudden before him have ceas'd the drums, + And lo! in the air of empire he comes! + + All things present, in earth and sky, + Seem to look at his looking eye. + + + + +III. + +OF THE BALL THAT WAS GIVEN TO CAPTAIN SWORD. + + + But Captain Sword was a man among men, + And he hath become their playmate again: + Boot, nor sword, nor stern look hath he, + But holdeth the hand of a fair ladye, + And floweth the dance a palace within, + Half the night, to a golden din, + Midst lights in windows and love in eyes, + And a constant feeling of sweet surprise; + And ever the look of Captain Sword + Is the look that's thank'd, and the look that's ador'd. + + There was the country-dance, small of taste; + And the waltz, that loveth the lady's waist; + And the galopade, strange agreeable tramp, + Made of a scrape, a hobble, and stamp; + And the high-stepping minuet, face to face, + Mutual worship of conscious grace; + And all the shapes in which beauty goes + Weaving motion with blithe repose. + + And then a table a feast displayed, + Like a garden of light without a shade, + All of gold, and flowers, and sweets, + With wines of old church-lands, and sylvan meats, + Food that maketh the blood feel choice; + Yet all the face of the feast, and the voice, + And heart, still turn'd to the head of the board; + For ever the look of Captain Sword + Is the look that's thank'd, and the look that's ador'd. + +[Illustration: + + THERE WAS THE COUNTRY DANCE, SMALL OF TASTE; + AND THE WALTZ, THAT LOVETH THE LADY'S WAIST. + _Canto_ III. _p._ 14.] + + Well content was Captain Sword; + At his feet all wealth was pour'd; + On his head all glory set; + For his ease all comfort met; + And around him seem'd entwin'd + All the arms of womankind. + + And when he had taken his fill + Thus, of all that pampereth will, + In his down he sunk to rest, + Clasp'd in dreams of all its best. + + + + +IV. + +ON WHAT TOOK PLACE ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE THE NIGHT AFTER THE VICTORY. + + + 'Tis a wild night out of doors; + The wind is mad upon the moors, + And comes into the rocking town, + Stabbing all things, up and down, + And then there is a weeping rain + Huddling 'gainst the window-pane, + And good men bless themselves in bed; + The mother brings her infant's head + Closer, with a joy like tears, + And thinks of angels in her prayers; + Then sleeps, with his small hand in hers. + + Two loving women, lingering yet + Ere the fire is out, are met, + Talking sweetly, time-beguil'd, + One of her bridegroom, one her child, + The bridegroom he. They have receiv'd + Happy letters, more believ'd + For public news, and feel the bliss + The heavenlier on a night like this. + They think him hous'd, they think him blest, + Curtain'd in the core of rest, + Danger distant, all good near; + Why hath their "Good night" a tear? + + Behold him! By a ditch he lies + Clutching the wet earth, his eyes + Beginning to be mad. In vain + His tongue still thirsts to lick the rain, + That mock'd but now his homeward tears; + And ever and anon he rears + His legs and knees with all their strength, + And then as strongly thrusts at length. + Rais'd, or stretch'd, he cannot bear + The wound that girds him, weltering there: + And "Water!" he cries, with moonward stare. + + ["I will not read it!" with a start, + Burning cries some honest heart; + "I will not read it! Why endure + Pangs which horror cannot cure? + Why--Oh why? and rob the brave + And the bereav'd of all they crave, + A little hope to gild the grave?" + + Ask'st thou why, thou honest heart? + 'Tis _because_ thou dost ask, and because thou dost start. + 'Tis because thine own praise and fond outward thought + Have aided the shews which this sorrow have wrought.] + + A wound unutterable--Oh God! + Mingles his being with the sod. + + ["I'll read no more."--Thou must, thou must: + In thine own pang doth wisdom trust.] + + His nails are in earth, his eyes in air, + And "Water!" he crieth--he may not forbear. + Brave and good was he, yet now he dreams + The moon looks cruel; and he blasphemes. + + ["No more! no more!" Nay, this is but one; + Were the whole tale told, it would not be done + From wonderful setting to rising sun. + But God's good time is at hand--be calm, + Thou reader! and steep thee in all thy balm + Of tears or patience, of thought or good will, + For the field--the field awaiteth us still.] + + "Water! water!" all over the field: + To nothing but Death will that wound-voice yield. + One, as he crieth, is sitting half bent; + What holds he so close?--his body is rent. + Another is mouthless, with eyes on cheek; + Unto the raven he may not speak. + One would fain kill him; and one half round + The place where he writhes, hath up beaten the ground. + Like a mad horse hath he beaten the ground, + And the feathers and music that litter it round, + The gore, and the mud, and the golden sound. + Come hither, ye cities! ye ball-rooms, take breath! + See what a floor hath the dance of death! + + The floor is alive, though the lights are out; + What are those dark shapes, flitting about? + Flitting about, yet no ravens they, + Not foes, yet not friends--mute creatures of prey; + Their prey is lucre, their claws a knife, + Some say they take the beseeching life. + Horrible pity is theirs for despair, + And they the love-sacred limbs leave bare. + Love will come to-morrow, and sadness, + Patient for the fear of madness, + And shut its eyes for cruelty, + So many pale beds to see. + Turn away, thou Love, and weep + No more in covering his last sleep; + Thou hast him--blessed is thine eye! + Friendless Famine has yet to die. + +[Illustration: + + COME HITHER, YE CITIES! YE BALL-ROOMS TAKE BREATH! + SEE WHAT A FLOOR HATH THE DANCE OF DEATH. + _Canto_ IV. _p._ 22.] + + A shriek!--Great God! what superhuman + Peal was that? Not man, nor woman, + Nor twenty madmen, crush'd, could wreak + Their soul in such a ponderous shriek. + Dumbly, for an instant, stares + The field; and creep men's dying hairs. + + O friend of man! O noble creature! + Patient and brave, and mild by nature, + Mild by nature, and mute as mild, + Why brings he to these passes wild + Thee, gentle horse, thou shape of beauty? + Could he not do his dreadful duty, + (If duty it be, which seems mad folly) + Nor link thee to his melancholy? + + Two noble steeds lay side by side, + One cropp'd the meek grass ere it died; + Pang-struck it struck t' other, already torn, + And out of its bowels that shriek was born. + + Now see what crawleth, well as it may, + Out of the ditch, and looketh that way. + What horror all black, in the sick moonlight, + Kneeling, half human, a burdensome sight; + Loathly and liquid, as fly from a dish; + Speak, Horror! thou, for it withereth flesh. + + "The grass caught fire; the wounded were by; + Writhing till eve did a remnant lie; + Then feebly this coal abateth his cry; + But he hopeth! he hopeth! joy lighteth his eye, + For gold he possesseth, and Murder is nigh!" + + O goodness in horror! O ill not all ill! + In the worst of the worst may be fierce Hope still. + To-morrow with dawn will come many a wain, + And bear away loads of human pain, + Piles of pale beds for the 'spitals; but some + Again will awake in home-mornings, and some, + Dull herds of the war, again follow the drum. + From others, faint blood shall in families flow, + With wonder at life, and young oldness in woe, + Yet hence may the movers of great earth grow. + Now, even now, I hear them at hand, + Though again Captain Sword is up in the land, + Marching anew for more fields like these + In the health of his flag in the morning breeze. + + Sneereth the trumpet, and stampeth the drum, + And again Captain Sword in his pride doth come; + He passeth the fields where his friends lie lorn, + Feeding the flowers and the feeding corn, + Where under the sunshine cold they lie, + And he hasteth a tear from his old grey eye. + Small thinking is his but of work to be done, + And onward he marcheth, using the sun: + He slayeth, he wasteth, he spouteth his fires + On babes at the bosom, and bed-rid sires; + He bursteth pale cities, through smoke and through yell, + And bringeth behind him, hot-blooded, his hell. + Then the weak door is barr'd, and the soul all sore, + And hand-wringing helplessness paceth the floor, + And the lover is slain, and the parents are nigh-- + + Oh God! let me breathe, and look up at thy sky! + Good is as hundreds, evil as one; + Round about goeth the golden sun. + + + + +V. + +HOW CAPTAIN SWORD, IN CONSEQUENCE OF HIS GREAT VICTORIES, BECAME INFIRM +IN HIS WITS. + + + But to win at the game, whose moves are death, + It maketh a man draw too proud a breath: + And to see his force taken for reason and right, + It tendeth to unsettle his reason quite. + Never did chief of the line of Sword + Keep his wits whole at that drunken board. + He taketh the size, and the roar, and fate, + Of the field of his action, for soul as great: + He smiteth and stunneth the cheek of mankind, + And saith "Lo! I rule both body and mind." + + Captain Sword forgot his own soul, + Which of aught save itself, resented controul; + Which whatever his deeds, ordained them still, + Bodiless monarch, enthron'd in his will: + He forgot the close thought, and the burning heart, + And pray'rs, and the mild moon hanging apart, + Which lifteth the seas with her gentle looks, + And growth, and death, and immortal books, + And the Infinite Mildness, the soul of souls, + Which layeth earth soft 'twixt her silver poles; + Which ruleth the stars, and saith not a word; + Whose speed in the hair of no comet is heard; + Which sendeth the soft sun, day by day, + Mighty, and genial, and just alway, + Owning no difference, doing no wrong, + Loving the orbs and the least bird's song, + The great, sweet, warm angel, with golden rod, + Bright with the smile of the distance of God. + + Captain Sword, like a witless thing, + Of all under heaven must needs be king, + King of kings, and lord of lords, + Swayer of souls as well as of swords, + Ruler of speech, and through speech, of thought; + And hence to his brain was a madness brought. + He madden'd in East, he madden'd in West, + Fiercer for sights of men's unrest, + Fiercer for talk, amongst awful men, + Of their new mighty leader, Captain Pen, + A conqueror strange, who sat in his home + Like the wizard that plagued the ships of Rome, + Noiseless, show-less, dealing no death, + But victories, winged, went forth from his breath. + + Three thousand miles across the waves[A] + Did Captain Sword cry, bidding souls be slaves: + Three thousand miles did the echo return + With a laugh and a blow made his old cheeks burn. + + Then he call'd to a wrong-maddened people, and swore[B] + Their name in the map should never be more: + Dire came the laugh, and smote worse than before. + Were earthquake a giant, up-thrusting his head + And o'erlooking the nations, not worse were the dread. + + Then, lo! was a wonder, and sadness to see; + For with that very people, their leader, stood he, + Incarnate afresh, like a Caesar of old;[C] + But because he look'd back, and his heart was cold, + Time, hope, and himself for a tale he sold. + Oh largest occasion, by man ever lost! + Oh throne of the world, to the war-dogs tost! + + He vanished; and thinly there stood in his place + The new shape of Sword, with an humbler face,[D] + Rebuking his brother, and preaching for right, + Yet aye when it came, standing proud on his might, + And squaring its claims with his old small sight; + Then struck up his drums, with ensign furl'd, + And said, "I will walk through a subject world: + Earth, just as it is, shall for ever endure, + The rich be too rich, and the poor too poor; + And for this I'll stop knowledge. I'll say to it, 'Flow + Thus far; but presume no farther to flow: + For me, as I list, shall the free airs blow.'" + +[Illustration: + + THEN SUDDENLY CAME HE WITH GOWNED MEN, + AND SAID, "NOW OBSERVE ME--I'M CAPTAIN PEN." + _Canto V. p. 34._] + + Laugh'd after him loudly that land so fair,[E] + "The king thou set'st over us, by a free air + Is swept away, senseless." And old Sword then + First knew the might of great Captain Pen. + So strangely it bow'd him, so wilder'd his brain, + That now he stood, hatless, renouncing his reign; + Now mutter'd of dust laid in blood; and now + 'Twixt wonder and patience went lifting his brow. + Then suddenly came he, with gowned men, + And said, "Now observe me--_I'm_ Captain Pen: + _I'll_ lead all your changes--I'll write all your books-- + I'm every thing--all things--I'm clergymen, cooks, + Clerks, carpenters, hosiers--I'm Pitt--I'm Lord Grey." + + 'Twas painful to see his extravagant way; + But heart ne'er so bold, and hand ne'er so strong, + What are they, when truth and the wits go wrong? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] The American War. + +[B] The French War. + +[C] Napoleon. + +[D] The Duke of Wellington, or existing Military Toryism. + +[E] The Glorious Three Days. + + + + +VI. + +OF CAPTAIN PEN, AND HOW HE FOUGHT WITH CAPTAIN SWORD. + + + Now tidings of Captain Sword and his state + Were brought to the ears of Pen the Great, + Who rose and said, "His time is come." + And he sent him, but not by sound of drum, + Nor trumpet, nor other hasty breath, + Hot with questions of life and death, + But only a letter calm and mild; + And Captain Sword he read it, and smil'd, + And said, half in scorn, and nothing in fear, + (Though his wits seem'd restor'd by a danger near, + For brave was he ever) "Let Captain Pen + Bring at his back a million men, + And I'll talk with his wisdom, and not till then." + Then replied to his messenger Captain Pen, + "I'll bring at my back a _world_ of men." + + Out laugh'd the captains of Captain Sword, + But their chief look'd vex'd, and said not a word, + For thought and trouble had touch'd his ears + Beyond the bullet-like sense of theirs, + And wherever he went, he was 'ware of a sound + Now heard in the distance, now gathering round, + Which irk'd him to know what the issue might be; + But the soul of the cause of it well guess'd he. + + Indestructible souls among men + Were the souls of the line of Captain Pen; + Sages, patriots, martyrs mild, + Going to the stake, as child + Goeth with his prayer to bed; + Dungeon-beams, from quenchless head; + Poets, making earth aware + Of its wealth in good and fair; + And the benders to their intent, + Of metal and of element; + Of flame the enlightener, beauteous, + And steam, that bursteth his iron house; + And adamantine giants blind, + That, without master, have no mind. + + Heir to these, and all their store, + Was Pen, the power unknown of yore; + And as their might still created might, + And each work'd for him by day and by night, + In wealth and wondrous means he grew, + Fit to move the earth anew; + Till his fame began to speak + Pause, as when the thunders wake, + Muttering, in the beds of heaven: + Then, to set the globe more even, + Water he call'd, and Fire, and Haste, + Which hath left old Time displac'd-- + And Iron, mightiest now for Pen, + Each of his steps like an army of men-- + (Sword little knew what was leaving him then) + And out of the witchcraft of their skill, + A creature he call'd, to wait on his will-- + Half iron, half vapour, a dread to behold-- + Which evermore panted and evermore roll'd, + And uttered his words a million fold. + Forth sprang they in air, down raining like dew, + And men fed upon them, and mighty they grew. + + Ears giddy with custom that sound might not hear, + But it woke up the rest, like an earthquake near; + And that same night of the letter, some strange + Compulsion of soul brought a sense of change; + And at midnight the sound grew into a roll + As the sound of all gath'rings from pole to pole, + From pole unto pole, and from clime to clime, + Like the roll of the wheels of the coming of time;-- + A sound as of cities, and sound as of swords + Sharpening, and solemn and terrible words, + And laughter as solemn, and thunderous drumming, + A tread as if all the world were coming. + And then was a lull, and soft voices sweet + Call'd into music those terrible feet, + Which rising on wings, lo! the earth went round + To the burn of their speed with a golden sound; + With a golden sound, and a swift repose, + Such as the blood in the young heart knows; + Such as Love knows, when his tumults cease; + When all is quick, and yet all is at peace. + + And when Captain Sword got up next morn, + Lo! a new-fac'd world was born; + For not an anger nor pride would it shew, + Nor aught of the loftiness now found low, + Nor would his own men strike a single blow: + Not a blow for their old, unconsidering lord + Would strike the good soldiers of Captain Sword; + But weaponless all, and wise they stood, + In the level dawn, and calm brotherly good; + Yet bowed to him they, and kiss'd his hands, + For such were their new lord's commands, + Lessons rather, and brotherly plea; + Reverence the past, quoth he; + Reverence the struggle and mystery, + And faces human in their pain; + Nor his the least, that could sustain + Cares of mighty wars, and guide + Calmly where the red deaths ride. + + "But how! what now?" cried Captain Sword; + "Not a blow for your gen'ral? not even a word? + What! traitors? deserters?" + + "Ah no!" cried they; + "But the 'game's' at an end; the 'wise' wont play." + + "And where's your old spirit?" + + "The same, though another; + Man may be strong without maiming his brother." + + "But enemies?" + + "Enemies! Whence should they come, + When all interchange what was known but to some?" + + "But famine? but plague? worse evils by far." + + "O last mighty rhet'ric to charm us to war! + Look round--what has earth, now it equably speeds, + To do with these foul and calamitous needs? + Now it equably speeds, and thoughtfully glows, + And its heart is open, never to close? + +[Illustration: + + AND SO, LIKE THE TOOL OF A DISUS'D ART, + HE STOOD AT HIS WALL, AND RUSTED APART. + _Canto_ VI. _p. 44._] + + "Still I can govern," said Captain Sword; + "Fate I respect; and I stick to my word." + And in truth so he did; but the word was one + He had sworn to all vanities under the sun, + To do, for their conq'rors, the least could be done. + Besides, what had _he_ with his worn-out story, + To do with the cause he had wrong'd, and the glory? + + No: Captain Sword a sword was still, + He could not unteach his lordly will; + He could not attemper his single thought; + It might not be bent, nor newly wrought: + And so, like the tool of a disus'd art, + He stood at his wall, and rusted apart. + + 'Twas only for many-soul'd Captain Pen + To make a world of swordless men. + + + + +POSTSCRIPT; + +CONTAINING SOME REMARKS ON WAR AND MILITARY STATESMEN. + + + + +POSTSCRIPT; + +CONTAINING SOME REMARKS ON WAR AND MILITARY STATESMEN. + + +The object of this poem is to show the horrors of war, the false ideas +of power produced in the minds of its leaders, and, by inference, the +unfitness of those leaders for the government of the world. + +The author intends no more offence to any one than can be helped: he +feels due admiration for that courage and energy, the supposed +misdirection of which it deplores; he heartily acknowledges the +probability, that that supposed misdirection has been hitherto no +misdirection, but a necessity--but he believes that the time is come +when, by encouraging the disposition to question it, its services and +its sufferings may be no longer required, and he would fain tear asunder +the veil from the sore places of war,--would show what has been hitherto +kept concealed, or not shown earnestly, and for the purpose,--would +prove, at all events, that the time has come for putting an end to those +phrases in the narratives of warfare, by which a suspicious delicacy is +palmed upon the reader, who is told, after everything has been done to +excite his admiration of war, that his feelings are "spared" a recital +of its miseries--that "a veil" is drawn over them--a "truce" given to +descriptions which only "harrow up the soul," &c. + +Suppose it be necessary to "harrow up the soul," in order that the soul +be no longer harrowed? Moralists and preachers do not deal after this +tender fashion with moral, or even physical consequences, resulting from +other evils. Why should they spare these? Why refuse to look their own +effeminacy in the face,--their own gaudy and overweening encouragement +of what they dare not contemplate in its results? Is a murder in the +streets worth attending to,--a single wounded man worth carrying to the +hospital,--and are all the murders, and massacres, and fields of +wounded, and the madness, the conflagrations, the famines, the miseries +of families, and the rickety frames and melancholy bloods of posterity, +only fit to have an embroidered handkerchief thrown over them? Must +"ladies and gentlemen" be called off, that they may not "look that way," +the "sight is so shocking"? Does it become us to let others endure, +what we cannot bear even to think of? + +Even if nothing else were to come of inquiries into the horrors of war, +surely they would cry aloud for some better provision against their +extremity _after_ battle,--for some regulated and certain assistance to +the wounded and agonized,--so that we might hear no longer of men left +in cold and misery all night, writhing with torture,--of bodies stripped +by prowlers, perhaps murderers,--and of frenzied men, the other day the +darlings of their friends, dying, two and even several days after the +battle, of famine! The field of Waterloo was not completely cleared of +its dead and dying till nearly a week! Surely large companies of men +should be organized for the sole purpose of assisting and clearing away +the field after battle. They should be steady men, not lightly +admitted, nor unpossessed of some knowledge of surgery, and they should +be attached to the surgeon's staff. Both sides would respect them for +their office, and keep them sacred from violence. Their duties would be +too painful and useful to get them disrespected for not joining in the +fight--and possibly, before long, they would help to do away their own +necessity, by detailing what they beheld. Is that the reason why there +is no such establishment? The question is asked, not in bitterness, but +to suggest a self-interrogation to the instincts of war. + +I have not thought proper to put notes to the poem, detailing the +horrors which I have touched upon; nor even to quote my authorities, +which are unfortunately too numerous, and contain worse horrors still. +They are furnished by almost every history of a campaign, in all +quarters of the world. Circumstances so painful, in a first attempt to +render them public for their own sakes, would, I thought, even meet with +less attention in prose than in verse, however less fitted they may +appear for it at first sight. Verse, if it has any enthusiasm, at once +demands and conciliates attention; it proposes to say much in little; +and it associates with it the idea of something consolatory, or +otherwise sustaining. But there is one prose specimen of these details, +which I will give, because it made so great an impression on me in my +youth, that I never afterwards could help calling it to mind when war +was spoken of; and as I had a good deal to say on that subject, having +been a public journalist during one of the most interesting periods of +modern history, and never having been blinded into an admiration of war +by the dazzle of victory, the circumstance may help to show how salutary +a record of this kind may be, and what an impression the subject might +be brought to make on society. The passage is in a note to one of Mr +Southey's poems, the "Ode to Horror," and is introduced by another +frightful record, less horrible, because there is not such agony implied +in it, nor is it alive. + +"I extract" (says Mr Southey) "the following picture of consummate +horror from notes to a poem written in twelve-syllable verse, upon the +campaign of 1794 and 1795: it was during the retreat to Deventer. 'We +could not proceed a hundred yards without perceiving the dead bodies of +men, women, children, and horses, in every direction. One scene made an +impression upon my memory which time will never be able to efface. Near +another cart we perceived a stout-looking man and a beautiful young +woman, with an infant, about seven months old, at the breast, all three +frozen and dead. The mother had most certainly expired in the act of +suckling her child; as with one breast exposed she lay upon the drifted +snow, the milk to all appearance in a stream drawn from the nipple by +the babe, and instantly congealed. The infant seemed as if its lips had +but just then been disengaged, and it reposed its little head upon the +mother's bosom, with an overflow of milk, frozen as it trickled from the +mouth. Their countenances were perfectly composed and fresh, resembling +those of persons in a sound and tranquil slumber.'" + +"The following description (he continues) of a field of battle is in the +words of one who passed over the field of Jemappe, after Doumourier's +victory: 'It was on the third day after the victory obtained by general +Doumourier over the Austrians, that I rode across the field of battle. +The scene lies on a waste common, rendered then more dreary by the +desertion of the miserable hovels before occupied by peasants. +Everything that resembled a human habitation was desolated, and for the +most part they had been burnt or pulled down, to prevent their affording +shelter to the posts of the contending armies. The ground was ploughed +up by the wheels of the artillery and waggons; everything like herbage +was trodden into mire; broken carriages, arms, accoutrements, dead +horses and men, were strewed over the heath. _This was the third day +after the battle: it was the beginning of November, and for three days a +bleak wind and heavy rain had continued incessantly._ There were still +remaining alive several hundreds of horses, and of the human victims of +that dreadful fight. I can speak with certainty of having seen more than +four hundred men _still living_, unsheltered, _without food_, and +without any human assistance, most of them confined to the spot where +they had fallen _by broken limbs_. The two armies had proceeded, and +abandoned these miserable wretches to their fate. _Some of the dead +persons appeared to have expired in the act of embracing each other._ +Two young French officers, who were brothers, had crawled under the side +of a dead horse, where they had contrived a kind of shelter by means of +a cloak: they were both mortally wounded, and groaning _for each other_. +One very fine young man had just strength enough to drag himself out of +a hollow partly filled with water, and was laid upon a little hillock +groaning with agony; A GRAPE-SHOT HAD CUT ACROSS THE UPPER PART OF HIS +BELLY, AND HE WAS KEEPING IN HIS BOWELS WITH A HANDKERCHIEF AND HAT. He +begged of me to end his misery! He complained of dreadful thirst. I +filled him the hat of a dead soldier with water, which he nearly drank +off at once, and left him to that end of his wretchedness which could +not be far distant.'" + +"I hope (concludes Mr Southey), I have always felt and expressed an +honest and Christian abhorrence of wars, and of the systems that produce +them; but my ideas of their immediate horrors fell infinitely short of +this authentic picture." + +Mr Southey, in his subsequent lives of conquerors, and his other +writings, will hardly be thought to have acted up to this "abhorrence of +wars, and of the systems that produce them." Nor is he to be blamed for +qualifying his view of the subject, equally blameless (surely) as they +are to be held who have retained their old views, especially by him who +helped to impress them. His friend Mr Wordsworth, in the vivacity of his +admonitions to hasty complaints of evil, has gone so far as to say that +"Carnage is God's daughter," and thereby subjected himself to the +scoffs of a late noble wit. He is addressing the Deity himself:-- + + "But thy most dreaded instrument, + In working out a pure intent, + Is man, array'd for mutual slaughter: + Yea, Carnage is thy daughter." + +Mr Wordsworth is a great poet and a philosophical thinker, in spite of +his having here paid a tremendous compliment to a rhyme (for +unquestionably the word "slaughter" provoked him into that imperative +"Yea," and its subsequent venturous affiliation); but the judgment, to +say no more of it, is rash. Whatever the Divine Being intends, by his +permission or use of evil, it becomes us to think the best of it; but +not to affirm the appropriation of the particulars to him under their +worst appellation, seeing that he has implanted in us a horror of them, +and a wish to do them away. What it is right in him to do, is one +thing; what it is proper in us to affirm that he actually does, is +another. And, above all, it is idle to affirm what he intends to do for +ever, and to have us eternally venerate and abstain from questioning an +evil. All good and evil, and vice and virtue themselves, might become +confounded in the human mind by a like daring; and humanity sit down +under every buffet of misfortune, without attempting to resist it: +which, fortunately, is impossible. Plato cut this knotty point better, +by regarding evil as a thing senseless and unmalignant (indeed no +philosopher regards anything as malignant, or malignant for malignity's +sake); out of which, or notwithstanding it, good is worked, and to be +worked, perhaps, finally to the abolition of evil. But whether this +consummation be possible or not, and even if the dark horrors of evil be +necessary towards the enjoyment of the light of good, still the horror +must be maintained, where the object is really horrible; otherwise, we +but the more idly resist the contrast, if necessary--and, what is +worse, endanger the chance of melioration, if possible. + +Did war appear to me an inevitable evil, I should be one of the last men +to shew it in any other than its holiday clothes. I can appeal to +writings before the public, to testify whether I am in the habit of +making the worst of anything, or of not making it yield its utmost +amount of good. My inclinations, as well as my reason, lie all that way. +I am a passionate and grateful lover of all the beauties of the +universe, moral and material; and the chief business of my life is to +endeavour to give others the like fortunate affection. But, on the same +principle, I feel it my duty to look evil in the face, in order to +discover if it be capable of amendment; and I do not see why the +miseries of war are to be spared this interrogation, simply because they +are frightful and enormous. Men get rid of smaller evils which lie in +their way--nay, of great ones; and there appears to be no reason why +they should not get rid of the greatest, if they will but have the +courage. We have abolished inquisitions and the rack, burnings for +religion, burnings for witchcraft, hangings for forgery (a great triumph +in a commercial country), much of the punishment of death in some +countries, all of it in others. Why not abolish war? Mr Wordsworth +writes no odes to tell us that the Inquisition was God's daughter; +though Lope de Vega, who was one of its officers, might have done +so--and Mr Wordsworth too, had he lived under its dispensation. Lope de +Vega, like Mr Wordsworth and Mr Southey, was a good man, as well as a +celebrated poet: and we will concede to his memory what the English +poets will, perhaps, not be equally disposed to grant (for they are +severe on the Romish faith) that even the Inquisition, _like War_, might +possibly have had some utility in its evil, were it no other than a +hastening of Christianity by its startling contradictions of it. Yet it +has gone. The Inquisition, as War may be hereafter, is no more. Daughter +if it was of the Supreme Good, it was no immortal daughter. Why should +"Carnage" be,--especially as God has put it in our heads to get rid of +it? + +I am aware of what may be said on these occasions, to "puzzle the will;" +and I concede of course, that mankind may entertain false views of their +power to change anything for the better. I concede, that all change may +be only in appearance, and not make any real difference in the general +amount of good and evil; that evil, to a certain invariable amount, may +be necessary to the amount of good (the overbalance of which, with a +most hearty and loving sincerity, I ever acknowledge); and finally, that +all which the wisest of men could utter on any such subject, might +possibly be nothing but a jargon,--the witless and puny voice of what +we take to be a mighty orb, but which, after all, is only a particle in +the starry dust of the universe. + +On the other hand, all this may be something very different from what we +take it to be, setting aside even the opinions which consider mind as +everything, and time and space themselves as only modifications of it, +or breathing-room in which it exists, weaving the thoughts which it +calls life, death, and materiality. + +But be his metaphysical opinions what they may, who but some fantastic +individual, or ultra-contemplative scholar, ever thinks of subjecting to +them his practical notions of bettering his condition! And how soon is +it likely that men will leave off endeavouring to secure themselves +against the uneasier chances of vicissitude, even if Providence ordains +them to do so for no other end than the preservation of vicissitude +itself, and not in order to help them out of the husks and thorns of +action into the flowers of it, and into the air of heaven? Certain it +is, at all events, that the human being is incited to increase his +amount of good: and that when he is endeavouring to do so, he is at +least not fulfilling the worst part of his necessity. Nobody tells us, +when we attempt to put out a fire and to save the lives of our +neighbours, that Conflagration is God's daughter, or Murder God's +daughter. On the contrary, these are things which Christendom is taught +to think ill off, and to wish to put down; and therefore we should put +down war, which is murder and conflagration by millions. + +To those who tell us that nations would grow cowardly and effeminate +without war, we answer, "Try a reasonable condition of peace first, and +then prove it. Try a state of things which mankind have never yet +attained, because they had no press, and no universal comparison of +notes; and consider, in the meanwhile, whether so cheerful, and +intelligent, and just a state, seeing fair play between body and mind, +and educated into habits of activity, would be likely to uneducate +itself into what was neither respected nor customary. Prove, in the +meanwhile, that nations are cowardly and effeminate, that have been long +unaccustomed to war; that the South Americans are so; or that all our +robust countrymen, who do not "go for soldiers," are timid +agriculturists and manufacturers, with not a quoit to throw on the +green, or a saucy word to give to an insult. Moral courage is in +self-respect and the sense of duty; physical courage is a matter of +health or organization. Are these predispositions likely to fail in a +community of instructed freemen? Doubters of advancement are always +arguing from a limited past to an unlimited future; that is to say, from +a past of which they know but a point, to a future of which they know +nothing. They stand on the bridge "between two eternities," seeing a +little bit of it behind them, and nothing at all of what is before; and +uttering those words unfit for mortal tongue, "man ever was" and "man +ever will be." They might as well say what is beyond the stars. It +appears to be a part of the necessity of things, from what we see of the +improvements they make, that all human improvement should proceed by the +co-operation of human means. But what blinker into the night of next +week,--what luckless prophet of the impossibilities of steam-boats and +steam-carriages,--shall presume to say how far those improvements are to +extend? Let no man faint in the co-operation with which God has honoured +him. + +As to those superabundances of population which wars and other evils are +supposed to be necessary in order to keep down, there are questions +which have a right to be put, long before any such necessity is assumed: +and till those questions be answered, and the experiments dependent upon +them tried, the interrogators have a right to assume that no such +necessity exists. I do not enter upon them--for I am not bound to do so; +but I have touched upon them in the poem; and the "too rich," and other +disingenuous half-reasoners, know well what they are. All passionate +remedies for evil are themselves evil, and tend to re-produce what they +remedy. It is high time for the world to show that it has come to man's +estate, and can put down what is wrong without violence. Should the +wrong still return, we should have a right to say with the Apostle, +"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof;" for meanwhile we should +"not have done evil that good may come." That "good" may come! nay, +that evil may be perpetuated; for what good, superior to the +alternatives denounced, is achieved by this eternal round of war and its +causes? Let us do good in a good and kind manner, and trust to the +co-operation of Providence for the result. It seems the only real way of +attaining to the very best of which our earth is capable; and at the +very worst, necessity, like the waters, will find its level, and the +equity of things be justified. + +I firmly believe, that war, or the sending thousands of our +fellow-creatures to cut one another to bits, often for what they have no +concern in, nor understand, will one day be reckoned far more absurd +than if people were to settle an argument over the dinner-table with +their knives,--a logic indeed, which was once fashionable in some places +during the "good old times." The world has seen the absurdity of that +practice: why should it not come to years of discretion, with respect to +violence on a larger scale? The other day, our own country and the +United States agreed to refer a point in dispute to the arbitration of +the king of Holland; a compliment (if we are to believe the newspapers) +of which his majesty was justly proud. He struck a medal on the strength +of it, which history will show as a set-off against his less creditable +attempts to force his opinions upon the Belgians. Why should not every +national dispute be referred, in like manner, to a third party? There is +reason to suppose, that the judgment would stand a good chance of being +impartial; and it would benefit the character of the judge, and dispose +him to receive judgments of the same kind; till at length the custom +would prevail, like any other custom; and men be astonished at the +customs that preceded it. In private life, none but school-boys and the +vulgar settle disputes by blows; even duelling is losing its dignity. + +Two nations, or most likely two governments, have a dispute; they reason +the point backwards and forwards; they cannot determine it; perhaps they +do not wish to determine; so, like two carmen in the street, they fight +it out; first, however, dressing themselves up to look fine, and pluming +themselves on their absurdity; just as if the two carmen were to go and +put on their Sunday clothes, and stick a feather in their hat besides, +in order to be as dignified and fantastic as possible. They then "go at +it," and cover themselves with mud, blood, and glory. Can anything be +more ridiculous? Yet, apart from the habit of thinking otherwise, and +being drummed into the notion by the very toys of infancy, the +similitude is not one atom too ludicrous; no, nor a thousandth part +enough so. I am aware that a sarcasm is but a sarcasm, and need not +imply any argument; never includes all;--but it acquires a more +respectable character when so much is done to keep it out of +sight,--when so many questions are begged against it by "pride, pomp, +and circumstance," and allegations of necessity. Similar allegations may +be, and are brought forward, by other nations of the world, in behalf of +customs which we, for our parts, think very ridiculous, and do our +utmost to put down; never referring them, as we refer our own, to the +mysterious ordinations of Providence; or, if we do, never hesitating to +suppose, that Providence, in moving us to interfere, is varying its +ordinations. Now, all that I would ask of the advocates of war, is to +apply the possible justice of this supposition to their own case, for +the purpose of thoroughly investigating the question. + +But they will exultingly say, perhaps, "Is this a time for investigating +the question, when military genius, even for civil purposes, has +regained its ascendancy in the person of the Duke of Wellington? When +the world has shown that it cannot do without him? When whigs, radicals, +liberals of all sorts, have proved to be but idle talkers, in comparison +with this man of few words and many deeds?" I answer, that it remains to +be proved whether the ascendancy be gained or not; that I have no belief +it will be regained; and that, in the meanwhile, never was time fitter +for questioning the merits of war, and, by inference, those of its +leaders. The general peacefulness of the world presents a fair +opportunity for laying the foundations of peaceful opinion; and the +alarm of the moment renders the interrogation desirable for its +immediate sake. + +The re-appearance of a military administration, or of an administration +_barely civil_, and military at heart, may not, at first sight, be +thought the most promising one for hastening a just appreciation of +war, and the ascendancy of moral over physical strength. But is it, or +can it be, lasting? Will it not provoke--is it not now provoking--a +re-action still more peremptory against the claims of Toryism, than the +state of things which preceded it? Is it anything but a flash of +success, still more indicative of expiring life, and caused only by its +convulsive efforts? + +If it be, this it is easy enough to predict, that Sir Robert Peel, +notwithstanding his abilities, and the better ambition which is natural +to them, and which struggles in him with an inferior one, impatient of +his origin, will turn out to be nothing but a servant of the +aristocracy, and (more or less openly) of a barrack-master. He will be +the servant, not of the King, not of the House of Commons, but of the +House of Lords, and (as long as such influence lasts, which can be but +a short while), of its military leader. He will do nothing whatsoever +contrary to their dictation, upon peril of being treated worse than +Canning; and all the reform which he is permitted to bring about will be +only just as much as will serve to keep off the spirit of it as long as +possible, and to continue the people in that state of comparative +ignorance, which is the only safeguard of monopoly. Every unwilling step +of reform will be accompanied with some retrograde or bye effort in +favour of the abuses reformed: cunning occasion will be seized to +convert boons, demanded by the age, into gifts of party favour, and +bribes for the toleration of what is withheld; and as knowledge proceeds +to extort public education (for extort it it will, and in its own way +too at last), mark, and see what attempts will be made to turn knowledge +against itself, and to catechise the nation back into the schoolboy +acquiescence of the good people of Germany. Much good is there in that +people--I would not be thought to undervalue it--much _bonhommie_--and +in the most despotic districts, as much sensual comfort as can make any +people happy who know no other happiness. But England and France, the +leaders of Europe, the peregrinators of the world, cannot be confined to +those lazy and prospectless paths. They have gone through the feudal +reign; they must now go through the commercial (God forbid that for any +body's sake they should stop there!), and they will continue to advance, +till all are instructed, and all are masters; and government, in however +gorgeous a shape, be truly their servant. The problem of existing +governments is how to prepare for this inevitable period, and to +continue to be its masters, by converting themselves frankly and truly +into its friends. For my part, as one of the people, I confess I like +the colours and shows of feudalism, and would retain as much of them as +would adorn nobler things. I would keep the tiger's skin, though the +beast be killed; the painted window, though the superstition be laid in +the tomb. Nature likes external beauty, and man likes it. It softens the +heart, enriches the imagination, and helps to show us that there are +other goods in the world besides bare utility. I would fain see the +splendours of royalty combined with the cheapness of a republic and the +equal knowledge of all classes. Is such a combination impossible? I +would exhort the lovers of feudal splendour to be the last men to think +so; for a thousand times more impossible will they find its retention +under any other circumstances. Their royalties, their educations, their +accomplishments of all sorts, must go along with the Press and its +irresistible consequences, or they will be set aside like a child in a +corner, who has insisted on keeping the toys and books of his brothers +to himself. + +Now, there is nothing that irritates a just cause so much as a +threatening of force; and all impositions of a military chief on a +state, where civil directors will, at least, do as well, is a +threatening of force, disguise it, or pretend to laugh at it, as its +imposers may. This irritation in England will not produce violence. +Public opinion is too strong, and the future too secure. But deeply and +daily will increase the disgust and the ridicule; and individuals will +get laughed at and catechised who cannot easily be sent out of the way +as ambassadors, and who might as well preserve their self-respect a +little better. To attempt, however quietly, to overawe the advance of +improvement, by the aspect of physical force, is as idle as if soldiers +were drawn out to suppress the rising of a flood. The flood rises +quietly, irresistibly, without violence--it cannot help it--the waters +of knowledge are out, and will "cover the earth." Of what use is it to +see the representative of a by-gone influence--a poor individual mortal +(for he is nothing else in the comparison), fretting and fuming on the +shore of this mighty sea, and playing the part of a Canute reversed,--an +antic really taking his flatterers at their word? + +The first thirty-five years of the nineteenth century have been rich in +experiences of the sure and certain failure of all soldiership and +Toryism to go heartily along in the cause of the many. There has been +the sovereign instance of Napoleon Bonaparte himself--of the allies +after him--of Charles the Tenth--of Louis Philippe, albeit a +"schoolmaster,"--and lastly, of this strange and most involuntary +Reformer the Duke of Wellington, who refused to do, under Canning, or +for principle's sake, what he consented to do when Canning died, for the +sake of regaining power, and of keeping it with as few concessions as +possible. Canning perished because Toryism, or the principle of power +for its own sake, to which he had been a servant, could not bear to +acknowledge him as its master. His intellect was just great enough (as +his birth was small enough) to render it jealous of him under that +aspect. There is an instinct in Toryism which renders pure intellect +intolerable to it, except in some inferior or mechanical shape, or in +the flattery of voluntary servitude. But, by a like instinct, it is not +so jealous of military renown. It is glad of the doubtful amount of +intellect in military genius, and knows it to be a good ally in the +preservation of power, and in the substitution of noise and show for +qualities fearless of inspection. Is it an ascendancy of this kind which +the present age requires, or will permit? Do we want a soldier at the +head of us, when there is nobody abroad to fight with? when +international as well as national questions can manifestly settle +themselves without him? and when his appearance in the seat of power +can indicate nothing but a hankering after those old substitutions of +force for argument, or at best of "an authority for a reason," which +every step of reform is hoping to do away? Do we want him to serve in +our shops? to preside over our studies? to cultivate "peace and good +will" among nations? wounding no self love--threatening no social? + +There never was a soldier, purely brought up as such--and it is of such +only I speak, and not of rare and even then perilous exceptions,--men +educated in philosophy like Epaminondas, or in homely household virtues +and citizenship like Washington--but there never was a soldier such as I +speak of, who did more for the world than was compatible with his +confined and arbitrary breeding. I do not speak, of course, with +reference to the unprofessional part of his character. Circumstances, +especially the participation of dangers and vicissitude, often conspire +with naturally good qualities to render soldiers the most amiable of +men; and nothing is more delightful to contemplate than an old military +veteran, whose tenderness of heart has survived the shocks of the rough +work it has been tried in, till twenty miserable sights of war and +horror start up to the imagination as a set-off against its +attractiveness. But, publicly speaking, the more a soldier succeeds, the +more he looks upon soldiership as something superior to all other kinds +of ascendancy, and qualified to dispense with them. He always ends in +considering the flower of the art of government as consisting in issuing +"orders," and that of popular duty as comprised in "obedience." Cities +with him are barracks, and the nation a conquered country. He is at best +but a pioneer of civilization. When he undertakes to be the civilizer +himself, he makes mistakes that betray him to others, even supposing +him self-deceived. Napoleon, though he was the accidental instrument of +a popular re-action, was one of the educated tools of the system that +provoked it,--an officer brought up at a Royal Military College; and in +spite of his boasted legislation and his real genius, such he ever +remained. He did as much for his own aggrandizement as he could, and no +more for the world than he thought compatible with it. The same military +genius which made him as great as he was, stopped him short of a greater +greatness; because, quick and imposing as he was in acting the part of a +civil ruler, he was in reality a soldier and nothing else, and by the +excess of the soldier's propensity (aggrandizement by force), he +over-toppled himself, and fell to pieces. Soldiership appears to have +narrowed or hardened the public spirit of every man who has spent the +chief part of his life in it, who has died at an age which gives final +proofs of its tendency, and whose history is thoroughly known. We all +know what Cromwell did to an honest parliament. Marlborough ended in +being a miser and the tool of his wife. Even good-natured, heroic Nelson +condescended to become an executioner at Naples. Frederick did much for +Prussia, as a power; but what became of her as a people, or power +either, before the popular power of France? Even Washington seemed not +to comprehend those who thought that negro-slaves ought to be freed. + +In the name of common sense then, what do we want with a soldier who was +born and bred in circumstances the most arbitrary; who never advocated a +liberal measure as long as he could help it; and who (without meaning to +speak presumptuously, or in one's own person unauthorized by opinion) is +one of the merest soldiers, though a great one, that ever +existed,--without genius of any other sort,--with scarcely a civil +public quality either commanding or engaging (as far as the world in +general can see),--and with no more to say for himself than the most +mechanical clerk in office? In what respect is the Duke of Wellington +better fitted to be a parliamentary leader, than the Sir Arthur +Wellesley of twenty years back? Or what has re-cast the habits and +character of the Colonel Wellesley of the East Indies, to give him an +unprofessional consideration for the lives and liberties of his +fellow-creatures? + +And yet the Duke of Wellington (it is said) _may_, after all, be in +earnest in his professions of reform and advancement. If so, he will be +the most remarkable instance that ever existed, of the triumph of reason +over the habits of a life, and the experience of mankind. I have looked +for some such man through a very remarkable period of the world, when +an honest declaration to this effect would have set him at the top of +mankind, to be worshipped for ever; and I never found the glorious +opportunity seized,--not by Napoleon when he came from Elba,--not by the +allies when they conquered him,--not by Louis Philippe, though he was +educated in adversity. I mean that he has shown himself a prince born, +of the most aristocratic kind; and evidently considers himself as +nothing but the head of a new dynasty. When the Duke of Wellington had +the opportunity of being a reformer, of his own free will, he resisted +it as long as he could. He opposed reform up to the last moment of its +freedom from his dictation; he declared that ruin would follow it; that +the institutions of the country were perfect without it; and that, at +the very least, the less of it the better. And for this enmity, even if +no other reason existed,--even if his new light were sincere,--the Duke +of Wellington ought not to have the _honour_ of leading reform. It is +just as if a man had been doing all he could to prevent another from +entering his own house, and then, when he found that the by-standers +would insist on his having free passage, were to turn to them, smiling, +and say, "Well, since it must be so, allow me to do the honours of the +mansion." Everybody knows what this proposal would be called by the +by-standers. And if the way in which greatness is brought up and spoilt +gives it a right to a less homely style of rebuke (as I grant it does), +still the absurdity of the Duke's claim is not the less evident, nor the +air of it less provoking. + +I can imagine but two reasons for the remotest possible permission of +this glaring anomaly--this government of anti-reforming reformers--this +hospital of sick guides for the healthy, supported by involuntary +contributions: first, sheer necessity (which is ludicrous); and second, +a facilitation of church reform through the Lords and the bench of +Bishops; the desirableness of which facilitation appears to be in no +proportion to the compromise it is likely to make with abuses. I have +read, I believe, all the utmost possible things that can be said in its +favour, the articles, for instance, written by the _Times_ newspaper +(admirable, as far as a rotten cause can let them be, and when not +afflicted by some portentous mystery of personal resentment); and though +I trust I may lay claim to as much willingness to be convinced, as most +men who have suffered and reflected, I have not seen a single argument +which did not appear to me fully answered by the above objection alone +(about the "honour"); setting aside the innumerable convincing ones +urged by reasoners on the other side: for as to any dearth of statesmen +in a country like this, it never existed, nor ever can, till education +and public spirit have entirely left it. There have been the same +complaints at every change in the history of administrations; and the +crop has never failed. + +Allow me to state here, that any appearance of personality in this book +is involuntary. Public principles are sometimes incarnate in individual +shapes; and, in attacking them, the individual may be seemingly +attacked, where, to eyes which look a little closer, there is evidently +no such intention. I have been obliged to identify, in some measure, the +Power of the Sword with several successive individuals, and with the +Duke of Wellington most, because he is the reigning shape, and includes +all its pretensions. But as an individual who am nothing, except in +connexion with what I humanly feel, I dare to affirm, that I have not +only the consideration that becomes me for all human beings, but a +flesh and blood regard for every body; and that I as truly respect in +the Noble Duke the possession of military science, of a straight-forward +sincerity, and a valour of which no circumstances or years can diminish +the ready firmness, as I doubt the fitness of a man of his education, +habits, and political principles, for the guidance of an intellectual +age. + +I dislike Toryism, because I think it an unjust, exacting, and +pernicious thing, which tends to keep the interests of the many in +perpetual subjection to those of the few; but far be it from me, in +common modesty, to dislike those who have been brought up in its +principles, and taught to think them good,--far less such of them as +adorn it by intellectual or moral qualities, and who justly claim for +it, under its best aspect in private life, that ease and urbanity of +behaviour which implies an acknowledgment of its claims to respect, +even where those claims are partly grounded in prejudice. I heartily +grant to the privileged classes, that, enjoying in many respects the +best educations, they have been conservators of polished manners, and of +the other graces of intercourse. My quarrel with them is, that the +inferior part of their education induces them to wish to keep these +manners and graces to themselves, together with a superabundance, good +for nobody, of all other advantages; and that thus, instead of being the +preservers of a beautiful and genial flame, good for all, and in due +season partakeable by all, they would hoard and make an idolatrous +treasure of it, sacred to one class alone, and such as the diffusion of +knowledge renders it alike useless and exasperating to endeavour to +withhold. + +I will conclude this Postscript with quotations from three writers of +the present day, who may be fairly taken to represent the three +distinct classes of the leaders of knowledge, and who will show what is +thought of the feasibility of putting an end to war,--the Utilitarian, +or those who are all for the tangible and material--the Metaphysical, or +those who recognize, in addition, the spiritual and imaginative wants of +mankind--and lastly (in no offensive sense), the Men of the World, whose +opinion will have the greatest weight of all with the incredulous, and +whose speaker is a soldier to boot, and a man who evidently sees fair +play to all the weaknesses as well as strengths of our nature. + +The first quotation is from the venerable Mr Bentham, a man who +certainly lost sight of no existing or possible phase of society, such +as the ordinary disputants on this subject contemplate. I venture to +think him not thoroughly philosophical on the point, especially in what +he says in reproach of men educated to think differently from himself. +But the passage will show the growth of opinion in a practical and +highly influential quarter. + + "Nothing can be worse," says Mr Bentham, "than the + general feeling on the subject of war. The Church, + the State, the ruling few, the subject many, all + seem to have combined, in order to patronise vice + and crime in their very widest sphere of evil. + Dress a man in particular garments, call him by a + particular name, and he shall have authority, on + divers occasions, to commit every species of + offence, to pillage, to murder, to destroy human + felicity, and, for so doing, he shall be rewarded. + + "Of all that is pernicious in admiration, the + admiration of heroes is the most pernicious; and + how delusion should have made us admire what + virtue should teach us to hate and loathe, is + among the saddest evidences of human weakness and + folly. The crimes of heroes seem lost in the + vastness of the field they occupy. A lively idea + of the mischief they do, of the misery they + create, seldom penetrates the mind through the + delusions with which thoughtlessness and falsehood + have surrounded their names and deeds. Is it that + the magnitude of the evil is too gigantic for + entrance? We read of twenty thousand men killed in + a battle, with no other feeling than that 'it was + a glorious victory.' Twenty thousand, or ten + thousand, what reck we of their sufferings? The + hosts who perished are evidence of the + completeness of the triumph; and the completeness + of the triumph is the measure of merit, and the + glory of the conqueror. Our schoolmasters, and the + immoral books they so often put into our hands, + have inspired us with an affection for heroes; and + the hero is more heroic in proportion to the + numbers of the slain--add a cypher, not one iota + is added to our disapprobation. Four or two + figures give us no more sentiment of pain than one + figure, while they add marvellously to the + grandeur and splendour of the victor. Let us draw + forth one individual from those thousands, or tens + of thousands,--his leg has been shivered by one + ball, his jaw broken by another--he is bathed in + his own blood, and that of his fellows--yet he + lives, tortured by thirst, fainting, famishing. He + is but one of the twenty thousand--one of the + actors and sufferers in the scene of the hero's + glory--and of the twenty thousand there is + scarcely one whose suffering or death will not be + the centre of a circle of misery. Look again, + admirers of that hero! Is not this wretchedness? + Because it is repeated ten, ten hundred, ten + thousand times, is not this wretchedness? + + "The period will assuredly arrive, when better + instructed generations will require all the + evidence of history to credit, that, in times + deeming themselves enlightened, human beings + should have been honoured with public approval, in + the very proportion of the misery they caused, and + the mischiefs they perpetrated. They will call + upon all the testimony which incredulity can + require, to persuade them that, in passed ages, + men there were--men, too, deemed worthy of popular + recompense--who, for some small pecuniary + retribution, hired themselves out to do any deeds + of pillage, devastation, and murder, which might + be demanded of them. And, still more will it shock + their sensibilities to learn, that such men, such + men-destroyers, were marked out as the eminent and + the illustrious--as the worthy of laurels and + monuments--of eloquence and poetry. In that better + and happier epoch, the wise and the good will be + busied in hurling into oblivion, or dragging forth + for exposure to universal ignominy and obloquy, + many of the heads we deem _heroic_; while the true + fame and the perdurable glories will be gathered + around the creators and diffusers of + happiness."--_Deontology._ + +Our second quotation is from one of the subtilest and most universal +thinkers now living--Thomas Carlyle--chiefly known to the public as a +German scholar and the friend of Goethe, but deeply respected by other +leading intellects of the day, as a man who sees into the utmost +recognized possibilities of knowledge. See what he thinks of war, and of +the possibility of putting an end to it. We forget whether we got the +extract from the _Edinburgh_ or the _Foreign Quarterly Review_, having +made it sometime back and mislaid the reference; and we take a liberty +with him in mentioning his name as the writer, for which his zeal in the +cause of mankind will assuredly pardon us. + + "The better minds of all countries," observes Mr + Carlyle, "begin to understand each other, and, + which follows naturally, to love each other and + help each other, by whom ultimately all countries + in all their proceedings are governed. + + "Late in man's history, yet clearly, at length, it + becomes manifest to the dullest, that mind is + stronger than matter--that mind is the creator and + shaper of matter--that not brute force, but only + persuasion and faith, is the King of this world. + The true poet, who is but an inspired thinker, is + still an Orpheus whose lyre tames the savage + beasts, and evokes the dead rocks to fashion + themselves into palaces and stately inhabited + cities. It has been said, and may be repeated, + that literature is fast becoming all in all to + us--our Church, our Senate, our whole social + constitution. The true Pope of Christendom is not + that feeble old man in Rome, nor is its autocrat + the Napoleon, the Nicholas, with its half million + even of obedient bayonets; such autocrat is + himself but a more cunningly-devised bayonet and + military engine in the hands of a mightier than + he. The true autocrat, or Pope, is that man, the + real or seeming wisest of the last age; crowned + after death; who finds his hierarchy of gifted + authors, his clergy of assiduous journalists: + whose decretals, written, not on parchment, but on + the living souls of men, it were an inversion of + the laws of nature to disobey. In these times of + ours, all intellect has fused itself into + literature; literature--printed thought, is the + molten sea and wonder-bearing chaos, in which mind + after mind casts forth its opinion, its feeling, + to be molten into the general mass, and to be + worked there; interest after interest is engulfed + in it, or embarked in it; higher, higher it rises + round all the edifices of existence; they must all + be molten into it, and anew bodied forth from it, + or stand unconsumed among its fiery surges. Woe to + him whose edifice is not built of true asbest, and + on the everlasting rock, but on the false sand and + the drift-wood of accident, and the paper and + parchment of antiquated habit! For the power or + powers exist not on our earth that can say to that + sea--roll back, or bid its proud waves be still. + + "What form so omnipotent an element will + assume--how long it will welter to and fro as a + wild democracy, a wilder anarchy--what + constitution and organization it will fashion for + itself, and for what depends on it in the depths + of time, is a subject for prophetic conjecture, + wherein brightest hope is not unmingled with + fearful apprehensions and awe at the boundless + unknown. The more cheering is this one thing, + which we do see and know--that its tendency is to + a universal European commonweal; that the wisest + in all nations will communicate and co-operate; + whereby Europe will again have its true Sacred + College and council of Amphictyons; wars will + become rarer, less inhuman; and in the course of + centuries, such delirious ferocity in nations, as + in individuals it already is, may be proscribed + and become obsolete for ever." + +My last and not least conclusive extract (for it shows the actual hold +which these speculations have taken of the minds of practical men--of +men out in the world, and even of _soldiers_) is from a book popular +among all classes of readers--the _Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau_, +written by Major Sir Francis Head. What he says of one country's +educating another, by the natural progress of books and opinion, and of +the effect which this is likely to have upon governments even as remote +and unwilling as Russia, is particularly worthy of attention. + +The author is speaking of some bathers at whom he had been looking, and +of a Russian Prince, who lets us into some curious information +respecting the leading-strings in which grown gentlemen are kept by +despotism:-- + + "For more than half an hour I had been indolently + watching this amphibious scene, when the landlord + entering my room said, that the Russian Prince, + G----n, wished to speak to me on some business; + and the information was scarcely communicated, + when I perceived his Highness standing at the + threshold of my door. With the attention due to + his rank, I instantly begged he would do me the + honour to walk in; and, after we had sufficiently + bowed to each other, and that I had prevailed on + my guest to sit down, I gravely requested him, as + I stood before him, to be so good as to state in + what way I could have the good fortune to render + him any service. The Prince very briefly replied, + that he had called upon me, considering that I was + the person in the hotel best capable (he politely + inclined his head) of informing him by what route + it would be most adviseable for him to proceed to + London, it being his wish to visit my country. + + "In order at once to solve this very simple + problem, I silently unfolded and spread out upon + the table my map of Europe; and each of us, as we + leant over it, placing a forefinger on or near + Wiesbaden (our eyes being fixed upon Dover), we + remained in this reflecting attitude for some + seconds, until the Prince's finger first solemnly + began to trace its route. In doing this, I + observed that his Highness's hand kept swerving + far into the Netherlands, so, gently pulling it by + the thumb towards Paris, I used as much force as I + thought decorous, to induce it to advance in a + straight line; however, finding my efforts + ineffectual, I ventured with respectful + astonishment, to ask, 'Why travel by so + uninteresting a route'? + + "The Prince at once acknowledged that the route I + had recommended would, by visiting Paris, afford + him the greatest pleasure; but he frankly told me + that no Russian, not even a personage of his rank, + could enter that capital, without first obtaining + a written permission from the Emperor. + + "These words were no sooner uttered, than I felt + my fluent civility suddenly begin to coagulate; + the attention I paid my guest became forced and + unnatural. I was no longer at my ease; and though + I bowed, strained, and endeavoured to be, if + possible, more respectful than ever, yet I really + could hardly prevent my lips from muttering aloud, + that I had sooner die a homely English peasant + than live to be a Russian prince!--in short, his + Highness's words acted upon my mind like thunder + upon beer. And, moreover, I could almost have + sworn that I was an old lean wolf, contemptuously + observing a bald ring rubbed by the collar, from + the neck of a sleek, well-fed mastiff dog; + however, recovering myself, I managed to give as + much information as it was in my humble power to + afford; and my noble guest then taking his + departure, I returned to my open window, to give + vent in solitude (as I gazed upon the horse bath) + to my own reflection upon the subject. + + "Although the petty rule of my life has been never + to trouble myself about what the world calls + 'politics'--(a fine word, by the by, much easier + expressed than understood)--yet, I must own, I am + always happy when I see a nation enjoying itself, + and melancholy when I observe any large body of + people suffering pain or imprisonment. But of all + sorts of imprisonment, that of the mind is, to my + taste, the most cruel; and, therefore, when I + consider over what immense dominions the Emperor + of Russia presides, and how he governs, I cannot + help sympathizing most sincerely with those + innocent sufferers, who have the misfortune to be + born his subjects; for if a Russian Prince be not + freely permitted to go to Paris, in what a + melancholy state of slavery and debasement must + exist the minds of what we call the lower classes? + + "As a sovereign remedy for this lamentable + political disorder, many very sensible people in + England prescribe, I know, that we ought to have + resource to arms. I must confess, however, it + seems to me that one of the greatest political + errors England could commit would be to declare, + or to join in declaring, war with Russia; in + short, that an appeal to brute force would, at + this moment, be at once most unscientifically to + stop an immense moral engine, which, if left to + its work, is quite powerful enough, without + bloodshed, to gain for humanity, at no expense at + all, its object. The individual who is, I + conceive, to overthrow the Emperor of Russia--who + is to direct his own legions against himself--who + is to do what Napoleon had at the head of his + great army failed to effect, is the little child, + who, lighted by the single wick of a small lamp, + sits at this moment perched above the great steam + press of the 'Penny Magazine,' feeding it, from + morning till night, with blank papers, which, at + almost every pulsation of the engine, comes out + stamped on both sides with engravings, and with + pages of plain, useful, harmless knowledge, which, + by making the lower orders acquainted with foreign + lands, foreign productions, various states of + society, &c., tend practically to inculcate 'Glory + to God in the highest, and on earth peace--good + will towards men.' It has already been stated, + that what proceeds from this press is now + greedily devoured by the people of Europe; indeed, + even at Berlin, we know it can hardly be reprinted + fast enough. + + "This child, then,--'this sweet little cherub that + sits up aloft,'--is the only army that an + enlightened country like ours should, I humbly + think, deign to oppose to one who reigns in + darkness--who trembles at day-light, and whose + throne rests upon ignorance and despotism. Compare + this mild, peaceful intellectual policy, with the + dreadful, savage alternative of going to war, and + the difference must surely be evident to everyone. + In the former case, we calmly enjoy, first of all, + the pleasing reflection, that our country is + generously imparting to the nations of Europe the + blessing she is tranquilly deriving from the + purification of civilization to her own mind;--far + from wishing to exterminate, we are gradually + illuminating the Russian peasant, we are mildly + throwing a gleam of light upon the fetters of the + Russian Prince; and surely every well-disposed + person must see, that if we will only have + patience, the result of this noble, temperate + conduct, must produce all that reasonable beings + can desire."--_Bubbles from the Brunnens of + Nassau_, p. 164. + +By the 'Penny Magazine,' our author means, of course, not only that +excellent publication, but all cheaply-diffused knowledge--all the +tranquil and enlightening deeds of "Captain Pen" in general--of whom it +is pleasant to see the gallant Major so useful a servant, the more so +from his sympathies with rank and the aristocracy. But "Pen" will make +it a matter of necessity, by and by, for all ranks to agree with him, in +vindication of their own wit and common sense; and when once this +necessity is felt, and fastidiousness shall find out that it will be +considered "absurd" to lag behind in the career of knowledge and the +common good, the cause of the world is secure. + +May princes and people alike find it out by the kindliest means, and +without further violence. May they discover that no one set of human +beings, perhaps no single individual, can be thoroughly secure and +content, or enabled to work out his case with equal reasonableness, +_till all are so_,--a subject for reflection, which contains, we hope, +the beneficent reason _why all are restless_. The solution of the +problem is co-operation--the means of solving it is the Press. If the +Greeks had had a press, we should probably have heard nothing of the +inconsiderate question, which demands, why they, with all their +philosophy, did not alter the world. They had not the means. They could +not command a general hearing. Neither had Christianity come up, to +make men think of one another's wants, as well as of their own +accomplishments. Modern times possess those means, and inherit that +divine incitement. May every man exert himself accordingly, and show +himself a worthy inhabitant of this beautiful and most capable world! + +THE END. + + LONDON: + Printed by C. and W. REYNELL, + Little Pulteney Street. + +[Illustration: _P. 112._] + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Note: On page 67, a quote begins but has no end that this +transcriber can find. It was retained as printed. ("Try a reasonable +condition) + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Captain Sword and Captain Pen, by Leigh Hunt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN *** + +***** This file should be named 28260.txt or 28260.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/2/6/28260/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/28260.zip b/28260.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5deabf --- /dev/null +++ b/28260.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4fec962 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #28260 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28260) |
