  Rejoice! O blood-stained Nation, in darkness wandering long, For Freedom is triumphant, and Right hath conquered Wrong. To-day, the glorious birthright the patriot Fathers gave, Makes, through Eternal Justice, a freeman of the slave. And swift the glorious tidings, which rolls majestic on, Thrills from old Massachusetts to the shores of Oregon. The gray old mountain-echoes shout it loudly to the sea, And the wild winds join the chorus in the “anthem of the free.” For this, the God of nations sealed this land as sacred soil, And thenceforth made it holy, with blood, and sweat, and toil. And bore the Pilgrim Fathers across the stormy seas. For this, the blood of patriots baptized old Bunker Hill, And Lexington and Concord made known the people’s will. For this, both Saratoga and Yorktown’s fields were won, And Fame’s unfading laurels wreathed the brow of Washington. For this, your glorious Channing plead on the “weaker side,” And Parker, brave and fearless, sought to stem Oppression’s tide. For this, the lips of Phillips burned with Athenian fire, Till every flaming sentence leapt forth in righteous ire. And Garrison, the dauntless, declared, “I will be heard!” O thou sturdy, war-worn veteran! well hast thou kept thy word! And thy battle-cry was “Freedom!” till the cannon said, “Amen!” For this, like royal CÆsar, within the Senate Hall, On the noble head of Sumner did the blows of Slavery fall; For this, that band of heroes, with their Spartan chief, John Brown, As a sacrifice to Freedom, their precious lives laid down. And for this you bore and suffered, “till forbearance ceased to be A virtue,” and High Heaven called on you to be free. Then, once more, the blood of heroes leaped like fire within each vein, And the long-slumbering Lion rose, and, wrathful, shook his mane. O! the page of future history shall, with truthful record, tell How you met the fearful issue, how bravely and how well; And how, as free as water, heroic blood was poured;— How Grant, with stern persistence, smote the foe-*men day by day; How Sheridan and Sherman urged their victorious way; How Farragut and Porter swept triumphant o’er the sea, And how the gallant Winslow won his glorious victory;— And alas! how noble Ellsworth fell in his youthful pride, And Winthrop, Baker, Lyon, for Freedom bled and died; And true, brave hearts unnumbered, before the cannon’s breath, On the wild, red sea of slaughter, swept down the tide of death;— And how, amid the tumult, in every battle pause, Was heard the cry for “Justice to the bondman and his cause. When your grand old Constitution gave freedom to the slave. And, as the glorious tidings upon the nation fell, Satan, with all his legions, went howling down to Hell. Of crime and blood no longer could he freely drink his fill, For the cursÉd demon, Slavery, had best performed his will. Let words of deep thanksgiving blend with the tears you shed For the hosts of noble martyrs who in Freedom’s cause have bled. Though they fell before the sickle which reaps the battle-plain, Yet, to-day, they know in heaven, that they perished not in vain. Your nation’s glorious Eagle, with an unfaltering flight, Hath perched at length, in triumph, on Freedom’s loftiest height; And the radiant stripes no longer are emblems of your shame. The slave, made like his master, “in the image of his God,” Shall bare his back no longer to the oppressor’s rod; His night of pain and anguish, of want and woe, has past, And Freedom’s radiant morning has dawned on him at last. O thou Recording Angel! turn to that page whereon Is traced, in undimmed brightness, the name of Washington, And, with thy pen immortal, in characters of flame, To stand henceforth and ever, write also Lincoln’s name! The first hurled back the tyrant, in the country’s hour of need, The last, divinely guided, hath made her free indeed. While the kingdom, power and glory are ascribed alone to Heaven. “Ethiopia no longer stretcheth forth her hands” in vain; On the demon of oppression she hath left her servile chain; Then swell the shout of triumph, till the nations hear afar; Three cheers—three cheers for Freedom! HuzzÄ! HuzzÄ! HuzzÄ! |
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