Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-03-03

TRIUMPHS OF LIBERTY.
THE PRIZE ODE.

TRIUMPHS OF LIBERTY.
THE PRIZE ODE.
Written by Mr.. Ebenezer Baily, Of Boston,
and recited by Mr.. Finn, at the Boston Thea
tire, on the anniversary of Washington's
Birthday, Feb. %, 1926.
SPIRIT OF FREEDOM, hail
Whether thy steps are in the sunny vale,
Where peace and happiness reside
With innocence and thee, or glide
To caverns deep and vestal fountains,
mid the stern solitude ofmountains,
Where airy voices still prolong
From cliff to cliff thy jocund song
We WOO thy presence: thou wilt smile upon
The full hearts tribute to thy fav'rite SON,
Who held communion with thee, and unfurl'd
In light, thy sacred charter to the world.
We feel thy influence, Power divine,
Whose angel smile can make the desert shine;
For thou hast left thy mountains brow,
And art with men no stranger now.
Where'er thy joyous train is seen
Disporting with the merry hours,
Nature laughs out, in brighter green,
find wreaths her brow with fairer flowers:
Pleasure waves her rosy wand
Plenty opens wide her hand
On Rapture's wings,
To Heaven the choral anthem springs
And all around, above, below,
Exult and mingle, as they glow,
In such harmonious ecstacies as play'd,
When earth was new, in Eden's light & shade.
But not in peaceful scenes alone
Thy steps appear-thy power is known.
Hank the trump!--its thrilling sound
Echoes on every wind,
And man awakes, for ages bound
In leaden lethargy of mind:
He wakes to life !-earth's teeming plains
Rejoice in his control;
He wakes to Strengths bursts the chains
Whose rust was in his soul;
He wakes to Liberty!-and walks abroad
All 6iisenthral'd, the image of his GOD
See on the Andes fronts of snow
The battle-6res offreedom glow,
Where triumph halls the children of the sun,
Beneath the banner oftheir WASHINGTON.
Go on, victorious BOLIVAR!
Oh! fail not-faint not-in the war
Waged for the Liberty ofnations
Coon, resistlesss as the earthquake shock,
When all your everlasting mountains rock
Upon their deep foundations.
And Greece-the golden cline ofhght & song,
Where infant genius first awoke
To arts and arms and godlike story
Wept for her fallen SONS in bondage long;
She weeps no more-Those sons have broke
Their fetters-spurn the slavish yoke,
And emulate their fathers glory.
The Crescent wanes before the car
OF Liberty's ascending Star,
And Freedoms banners wave upon
The ruins of the Parthenon.
The clash of arms ringsin the air,
AS erst it rung at Marathon;-
Let songs oftriumph echo there
BE free! We Greeks, or, falling, die
In the last trench ofLiberty.
Ye hail the name of WASHINGTON pursue
The path of glory he has mark'd for you.
But should your recreant limbs submit once
more
To hug the soil, your fathers rdl'd before
Like gods on earth--if DER their hallowed
graves
Again their craven sons shall creep as slaves,
When shall another BYRON sing and bleed
For you!-oh, when for you; another WEB
sTBR plead!
We christian kings and potentates,
Whose sacrilegious leagues have twin'd
Expressions links around your States,
Say, do ye idly hope to bind
The fearless heart and thinking mind
When We can hush the tempest Of the deep,
Make the volcano in its cavern sleep,
Or stop the hymning spheres, We may control,
With sceptred hand, the mighty march ofsoul.
But what are we and whence your power
Above the PROSTATE world to tower,
And lord it all alone
What god-what fiend-has e'er decreed,
That one shall reign, while millions bleed
Toprop the tyrant's throne
Gaze on the ocean, We would sway -
Iffrom its tranquil breast, the day
Shine out in beams as bright and fair
As if the heavens were resting there,
We, in its mirror surface, may
See that We are but men;
But should the angry storm-winds pour