“WAR AND PEACE”
Who are the authors of the victims’ woes>
Who’ll wipe away the wives or parent’s tears
Of those that’s slain? who violates our laws
Of Peace? O, PEACE, thy name our spirit cheers!
Thy charms will smooth the course of future years, -
Long may thou reign in our lov’d isle supreme,
Till not a jot of discord here appears!
May liberty and justice on us team;
And, Albion fair, across the waves send forth a gleam!
‘”Acrostics” and a “Ballad of a Baleful Bard” we pass by, and finish with an extract from a piece entitled “Another appeal.” The author, after describing the state of the operatives and appealing for them, winds up thus:
And, when the storm has passed away
The toiler’s grateful thanks will pay.
And like the children in the wood,
We all will wait with patience good
For better times, when at the loom,
Or in the busy spinning room.
To form the web, the “idlers” meet ---
For these are times we deem most sweet:
So let us sing a cheerful glee:
“O, come again prosperity!”
Title:Extracts from Poetical Contributions
Author:unknown
Publication:The Blackburn Times
Published in:Blackburn
Date:May 16th, 1863
Commentary
These anonymous paired poems treat the subject of the American war first, and then it dire consequences in Britain afterwards. The first piece longs for peace in the American Civil War but rests on a nationalistic moral superiority, suggesting that Britain’s lead in abolition will ‘across the waves send forth a gleam’. The second poem looks forward to the peace (still two years away at this point) and concentrates on present poverty and future economic prosperity. – SR