The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 13, September, 1835Various
History
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 13, September, 1835
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
"The many injuries offered to the town, I pass over in silence. I
cannot now mark out the path which led to that unequalled scene of
horror, the sad remembrance of which takes full possession of my soul.
The sanguinary theatre again opens itself to view. The baleful images
of terror crowd around me, and discontented ghosts, with hollow
groans, appear to solemnize the anniversary of the FIFTH OF MARCH.
"Approach we then the melancholy walk of death. Hither let me call the
gay companion; here let him drop a farewell tear upon that body, which
so late he saw vigorous and warm with social mirth; hither let me lead
the tender mother, to weep over her beloved son: come, widowed
mourner, here satiate thy grief! behold thy murdered husband gasping
on the ground; and, to complete the pompous show of wretchedness,
bring in each hand thy infant children to bewail their father's fate:
take heed, ye orphan babes, lest, while your streaming eyes are fixed
upon the ghastly corpse, _your feet slide on the stones bespattered
with your father's brains!_ Enough! this tragedy need not be
heightened by an infant weltering in the blood of him that gave it
birth. Nature, reluctant, shrinks already from the view; and the
chilled blood rolls slowly backward to its fountain. We wildly stare
about, and with amazement, ask, _who spread this ruin round us?_ Has
haughty France or cruel Spain, sent forth her myrmidons? Has the grim
savage rushed again from the distant wilderness? Or does some fiend,
fierce from the depth of hell, with all the rancorous malice which the
apostate damned can feel, twang her destructive bow, and hurl her
deadly arrows at our breast? No, none of these. It is the hand of
_Britain_ that inflicts the wound! The arms of George, our rightful
king, have been employed to shed that blood, when justice, or the
honor of his crown, had called his subjects to the field!
"But pity, grief, astonishment, with all the softer movements of the
soul, must now give way to stronger passions. Say, fellow citizens,
what dreadful thought now swells your heaving bosoms? You fly to
arms--sharp indignation flashes from each eye--revenge gnashes her
iron teeth--death grins an hideous smile, secure to drench his jaws in
human gore--whilst hovering furies darken all the air! But stop, my
bold, adventurous countrymen; stain not your weapons with the blood of
Britons! Attend to reason's voice. Humanity puts in her claim, and
sues to be again admitted to her wonted seat, the bosom of the brave.
Revenge is far beneath the noble mind. Many, perhaps, compelled to
rank among the vile assassins, do, from their inmost souls, detest the
barbarous action. The winged death, shot from your arms, may chance to
pierce some breast, that bleeds already for your injured country.
"The storm subsides: a solemn pause ensues: you spare, upon condition
they depart. They go; they quit your city: they no more shall give
offence. Thus closes the important drama.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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