_Osirion_.—Most gracious prince, as briefly as I may. The past experience fully proves this truth, That in all prosperous and happy lands There is a chain of order and gradation. Vicegerents, counsellors, governors, warlike chiefs, Subservient leaders, freeborn subjects, slaves, Link within link, each in its proper place, And guided by the sovereign hand alone. Who is not bound on earth? If any can Be free from all control save that of heaven, The greatest and the wisest only should. (_Bowing to Pharoah_.) Another truth is this—that be a nation Govern'd as though the Gods themselves were here, And order'd all things that we do on earth, {675} There will be innovators—men who seek For their own ends to break establish'd usage, And raise a storm of discord and commotion, No matter what it wreck, so they be wafted To the point they have in view; and never yet Have they begun their work at the fountain head Of a nation's wisdom, but by base appeals To the lowest passions of the vulgar herd, Furious and blind as snakes in the summer heat. This man, half hypocrite and half fanatic, Nurtur'd from childhood by thy royal sister— Rear'd in thy palaces, and stor'd with learning The most profound that Egypt could afford— In our religious mysteries deeply skill'd, And taking rank among our wisest magi— Bold, politic and crafty, aims no doubt To organize and sway a faith and nation Broadly distinct from all upon the earth. What asks he at thy hands? Emancipation! Claim'd too of right, with most rebellious threats, Even to thy face, on thy presum'd refusal— And with what justice, Pharaoh, thou mayst judge. Israel hath sojourned here four hundred years— Thriven on our soil—found refuge here from famine— Had Goshen for a heritage—and shar'd Peace and protection with thy native subjects; Shall they not share the vassalage and toil? Nor see I aught unjust that they should be Bondmen to those who fed and guarded them. Throughout the world there must be slaves and masters; The features of these men, their creed, their language, And barbarous right of circumcision, mark Them as a race made to be known as slaves: And whether it were just t' enthrall these tribes, Pharaoh, concerns not thee or us. Our sires Bequeath'd the heritage of sway to us, And their's entail'd the slavery on their sons. Never, I trust, will I behold the day When, at the bidding of a God unseen By us, and even by him who takes his name, These slaves be yielded, and the broad foundation, Our social fabric's base, be taken away. True policy, the guide which, when a king Forsakes his throne's security, is gone, Cries loudly to detain them. Where will be The public works which make thy name eternal, And raise thy kingdom to the loftiest height Of national glory, if these men be freed? And where the quiet obedience of thy subjects,