I % I x^reedom's Factor, | i i % Hail' ^ I I I , I AN AMERICAN'S ODE | I TO I DYNAMITE. I 1 1 i 1 i ,. f 1 -. ,,^^--^Jirn''-'^ 1 1 1 i PUBLISHED BY 1 i i THE UNITED IRISHMAN, '1 12 Chambers Street, -% 1 New York, ■§, Freedoms Factor, Hail! AN AMERICAN'S ODE TO DYNAMITE. 9 PUBLISHED BY THE UNITED IRISHMAN 12 Chambers Street, New York. 1885. Copyright, 1885, by Thb Author. A II rights reserved. I Freedom's Factor, Hail! I. From Mosaffer to Mahabad Go back, o'er Persia's page ; Observe the sway — forever sad — In each receding age Of dynasties, the fonts that sapped Of freedom, in the womb ! — 9 In ev'ry state — that epoch mapped — Man^s birth gift was a tomb ! 6 FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL! II. Dark Ignorance then forged the chains That Hnked men to the shrine Of kings — deep-branded, through long reigns, As slaves — by seal "divine"! And no pow'r, in the march of time, Arose could crowns defeat ; — // differed not their race or clime, Meiis thraldom was complete ! III. Th: criielest — the most deprave^ Of earth (by passions blind To ev'ry gentle thought hath saved A wreath, from poet's mind, FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL ! To crown one trait of later kino-s In common with their kind,) Debased 7nens so2ils, depressed all thing Till gleamed truth — icnconjined ^s f IV. Then slaves, by reason's light, were led The Ptolemies to view More useful to the world — stark dead — Than when th'ey idly drew Their tribute from Egyptian yokes The pyramids to build, Or mid' piled corpses whipped bawd jokes — As battle-graves were filled. 8 FREEDOM'S FACTOR. HAIL! V. The Hohenstauffen's star, 'twas dreamed, And Medici's, one day, Eclipsed a nobler sun, whence beamed — Its shade relieved — a ray More hopeful for the slaves that toiled, By which slaves might aspire Be)-ond the limits sceptres foiled, Whilst bidding truth expire. VI. That Sun a radiance bricrhter shed o Till thrones their glamor lost, And men, by nature's teaching, read The axiom ; No cost, FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL ! 9 Or sacrifice, too great from earth Shall blot all trace of kings ! — And by that inspirations birth ' Were tuned 7?iens triie heart-strings ! VII. How differs Guelph or Ghibeline From Hohenzollern rule ? Of Hapsburg, or some other line, Men mused, as well the tool As Stewart or Plantagenet — Since differ but in name All dynasties have reigned as yet. — To us ALL KINGS THE SAME ! lo FREEDOM'S VAClUi^, KAIL ! VIII. The Montefeltros just as good — Grimaldls just as great — As any tyrants evci^ stood ' Twixt God and mans estate Of earth, and its kin elements Of water, fire and air, And robbed from man God's impleme^its- To lighten thro7ies of care I IX. Colonna — stamped by history A coarse despotic brood — No Avorse than the crowned mystery Of Bourbon, when for food FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL! ii Men's plundered stomachs woke the cry : Since land and sea are rife With plenty, why should kings suck DRY The sources of our life ! X. The ''noblest Roman of them all" — The hero himself crowned — Hath demonstrated, in his fall And rise, how fate e'er frowned At each essay by madden'd man To emulate the king — Sole in the Universal Plan — Who mouldeth ev'rything. 12 FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL ! XI. Aye ! Not the regal Bonaparte (The nearest royal mold Born in our sphere since Caesar's heart Was quelled by patriots bold,) Could trespass long the bounds define Man's pow'r, and that apprise Man's heart : There rules, by Right Divine, But God — the Only Wise ! XII. Whoe'er the man o'er millions mounts — To heights where sceptres lure — Adventures with an instinct counts His destiny as sure FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL! 13 As that of ev'ry head assumes Deserve a diadem, Or for a moment vain presumes The tide of Pro^jress stem. XIII. To SUCH the Providence of God A Nemesis doth send ! — Our William Tells forget to plod When Heav'n pleads Gessler s end ! — Orsini casts the righteous bomb — ■ Petrovski ofuldes the shell — When equity so loses plomb Life hath no dread of hell ! 14 FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL ! XIV. When cruel slavery wakes so loud An echo nature writhes, Brave old John Brown — from out the crowd A martyr — scorns the tithes That tyranny from justice claims, And blazons on the page Of history one of few names Surviving ev'ry age ! XV. John Brown will live beyond the day- On leo^end's mottled scroll — When long the record lost of Clay .And W^ebster, and the roll FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL! 15 That fadeth, even while I write, Is blotted from the mind ! — Brow7is pseicdonym will yet incite When none ca?i Ev arts find I XVI. Freemen, alike, the blades that wield Which aim at despot's front. Or rear, or mask — in couch or field — (Whether seems meet or wont. To paltry souls, or timid hearts). Are moved by God's own Breath — The Breath that, loathing crowned upstarts, Ne'er shrinks from striking Death ! i6 FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL! XVII. The voice, suborned by tyrant's gold, May cry against the tide! The press, that Freedom's wail would smold. May rank the Princes' side ! For tyranny here means : King-spawn — Not by descent alone ; — It means: The lust of brain and brawn. Which apathy hath sown ! XVIII. Rich corporations slowly coil Their arms — like devil-shark — The length and breadth our fruitful soil, Exhausting (spark by spark) FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL! 17 The glorious faith, our fathers taught By maxim : Equal here All men ! — Forget you them who fought For Liberty, Life, Cheer ! XIX. When Paine discoursed of human RIGHTS — From freedom's alphabet Spelled nature's axioms — the Lights Of Pow'r by Justice set So plainly any child might read, His eye could not foresee The unborn causes time might breed To harm his legacy. i8 FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL! XX. When Jefferson the truths declared On which the fabric based Of this RepubHc, who had dared To prophesy : Erased From ev'ry tablet of his text — In its first century — The ruHng features, and annexed A Code foals Penury ! XXL Ben Franklin never dreamed the shaft He taught to utiHze Incorporated by man's craft Might be — to reaHze FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL! 19 For smaller minds, of modern birth, The means to wreck, and soar Into ambition's realms of earth — Where crowns are kept in store. XXII. Could either of those great compeers Revisit earth, this hour, To hear the groans, and watch the tears By scorn of which the pow'r — In these United States — doth wane From People to the Few In gilded homes, he'd cry : Vain ! Vain — Our work ! Let's strike anew ! 20 FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL! XXIII. Alas I how would he strike to day ! — Whose grip doth hold men's Hves ? — By electricity, who siuay ? — Whose agent screws the gyves That fetter loom, and plane, and saw, The transport — land and tide ? — Whose hireliiigs frame and Judge the law, And justice over -ride I XXIV. This Nation, which should be foremost To champion the Good And Triie — declaring, whate'er cost, Its aim : Man's brotherhood FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL ! 21 Of equal burdens, equal rights, In ev'ry clime of earth— Itself Is cancered by the blights That slowly sap its worth. XXV. America — misled, beguiled By long prosperity — Is falling prey to lusts defiled Rome, ere adversity (By sure degrees) her virtue mined, Her 'scutcheon smote and stained, Till power and pride so far declined They could not be regained. 22 FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL! XXVI. Throughout the world, the banner state Our Polity should be Of every people — bowed by fate — Aspiring to be free ! O'er Indian sands, and Irish turf, Nile's tributary tide, Turkoman 3^oke, and Russian serf, Our /Ecrls should abide ! o XXVII. Here, In our land, the primal creed That should be taught, and burned Into the heart, by giving meed To names no tombs have urned — FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL ! 23 Or can — of heroes flashed their steel The blood of kings to spill, Is that which reads : No man should feel It crime a king to kill ! XXVIII. Earth's tyrants — both of birth and greed — Should be wiped out in blood ! Then swell the hue! The work God-speed — Tho' wide and red the flood Of corpses strewn in Freedom's wake ! For men have suffered long ; And it were well for manhood's sake. Death's tide were wide and strong \ 24 FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL ! XXIX. Let Dynamite — God's factor grand In this quick Era^s pri^ne — Be cast where'er the cursed hand Of king-rule shows its slime ! — Be thrown amid their sacraments^ When British Lords partake ! — Be mined beneath all Parliaments That Freedom's hests forsake ! XXX. In palaces let it be fired^ Since with false life aglow ! 'Neath castled manse have fuses wired. When wealth's vain pomp aflow ! FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL! 25 'Neath steeples, that mlspoint the heart, Let Freedoms agent bide / 'Neath spires would mark our kind apart. Cool, watch the Regicide I XXXT. If needs, against cathedral domes, The angry message plant ! — 'Neath ttirrets, where throng fashion's momes, Let fall the pressage gaunt ! — In tower, and in citadel, The howlinor summons hiirl I — ■ Let Bigotry share King-cra.ffs knell When Freedorns flags tuiftirl ! 26 FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL ! XXXII. Broadcast, the savage means explode To GAIN A HUMANE END ! No matter whom the rod may goad, So loner as it shall tend o To break the manacles have stood — And will, to the last day — To mortify the just and good. Till torn by Truth away ! XXXIII. Then, tear ! And rend I aye, re7id with force- — Not favor, or with fear I — With mightiest weapon^ trumpet hoarse I With Dynamite, the Bier FREEDOM'S FACTOR, HAIL! 27 Prepare — for Caste, and Class, and King ! — The Pow'rs have Freedom crushed Destroy ! — With fire, let vengeance SPRING Till earth's last king be hushed ! * * * Of blows aimed Caste, may no stroke FAIL ! Accurs't, Blood's Classes ! Hail, The hour that gave us Dynamite ! Let speed its Might ! — MAKE Right ! Washington s Birthday, 1885. LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 015 971 976 5 #