Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-08-04
WAR AND PEACE.
SUGGESTED by LANDsEtrs' ADMIRABLE PICTURES Sc
ENTITLED.


I.-wAR.
The war banner aoais there are spears on the
COASTS
Aud the valley rcsounds with the landing Of hosts !
Tho ships in the oiing like Bacchanals reel,
And the bayoncts fash forth like u river of steel!
The villagers fec fIom the coming Of War,
And their lvcks speed alarmed to the mountains
afar!
Mead, vintage, and garden, that tell had made
sweet,
Lie troddcn and tossed meath the tempest Of feet;
And the church where each Sabbath their homage
was given,
Seer ms lifting its spirc as appealing to Heaven!
But vain supplication the war blast is there,
Aud the red breath Of slaughter is iUading the
ear!
The carnage rolls onward, nor GIBBS in its flow
Mid the storm-blaze Of havoc, aud ravagc, and
woe.
See! the ranks have been routed, the center hath
broke,
And like lightning the sword through the sulphur
Gus smoke
Flashes down on the flying! Resistance is gone
While the madness Of passion yields mercy to
none
The steed whose proud neck in Wars tempest was
tossed,
Now leaps from the strife, but his rider is lost!
The columns arc shattered-the banners Ger.
thrown,
And tho lips are now stiff that the trumpet have
blown.
All struggling and wounded, the stcod pants for
breath,
Or lifts its Wild head in the grandeur of death
The limbs that shook earth meath the fire Of their
speed,
Now culver, and quail, and grow weak as a reed.
The eyes that, like star beams, glanced light DER
the plain,
Glare, Hood. shot and filmed, in CONFUSION and
pain;
Slow straining each nerve, one last effort to make,
While his %nostrils distcnded with agony shake!
He springs, and-with forclock extended in air
Is dead-with the effort that Knocked his despair!
Alas for the leaves and the flowers Of the spring
The lark has just left them with blood On her
wing.
The hive of the bee, so untaintcd before,
Lies FLASHED by the feet that have waded through
gore
And the cot, with its roses-whcre beauty and
love
Seemed linked to the angels and Eden above;
Now ruined-in embers-its swcctn css forgot,
Sinks shattered in heaps meath the Gamc-hissing
shot,
And the church-with a sin that humanity loathes
Is turned to a stable and ringing with oaths.ll
For ruin and rapine, and murder and wrath /!
Still follow, like demons, Wars desolate path.
Come, let us mount the cliff, the crested heig hit,
Where Dover rears her fortress to the sight!
Like beings of the deep, the vessels glide,
Proud Of their own reflection in tho tide
Proud of their mission, which is war no more;
But commerce Christian love, from shore to shore
The cannon-sentenced nee'r again to float
Stillcd the red thunder in it's murdcrous throat,
Lies by the majesty of Truth o'ertaromn,
Rusted, dismounted, weed and moss o'ergrown.
The cautious lamb hath dared to mako its way
Unto the very mouth which spokc-to STAY!
While cen the butterfly within it dips,
And grass and flowers spring from its iron lips!
o, might of Peace, that in the throat of death
Can scatter bloom with thine immortal breath,
And bid tho timid lamb no longer heed
The lannon's mouth, but there in safety feed!
Crop the wild flowers that live within its breast,
And taste the sweets of nature and of rest!
When will men learn, who still to battle haste,
That Peace is property, and War is paSte?
That Education makes a nation great,
And knowledge is the safeguard of the State.
False is the triumph of the Battle hour;
The noblest triumph is in Moral power.
Time laughs at battles, and the fruits they earn
The conquering sword lies conquered in its turn.
But there's a power which even Time cant bind
Fen Time itself is yanquishcd by the Mind
IL grasps beyond tho victor's blood-won name,
And marshals centuries On the path of fame.
Then welcome Peace! May nations build til,
shrine,
!, Profess thy creed, and own thy breath divine.
May Science, Literature, and Genius spring,
Like rays OF glory from thine angel wing!
Strike down deception-let no wrong endure;
Take to thy heart the interests of tho poor;
And prove, o Peace! that War usurps thy right;
Not his, but Mine-the victory and the might
Strength with simplicity, with grandeur rest!
And majesty. with mcekness, guard thy breast,
Till War. and misery, and crime, be gone,
And all the people Of the earth are one.
CHARLES SWAIN.