ARGUMENT.

The Genius of Culture invoked-prodigious effect of toil in changing the face of nature-state of our country when it was first settled by our ancestors—their manly efforts crowned with success-contrast between North and South-America-the latter remarkable for mines, as the former is for agricul ture-in what manner labour embellishes the land-different branches of cultivation recommended-the fabrication of ma* ple-sugar dwelt upon, as having a gradual tendency to the abolition of slavery-commerce to succeed strong propensi ties of the people of the United States for extensive navigation-effeminate nations are always in danger of losing their independence several specified which have experienced the debilitating consequences of sloth its destructive influence on states-Congress called upon to encourage industry in the United States; and Washington, as President, to protect manufactures-machinery for diminishing the operations of manual labour-the loom-wool-sheep-flax and hemp-remonstrance against suffering our manufacturing establishments to be frustrated by an unreasonable predilection for foreign fabrics— the fair sex invited to give the example of encouraging home manufactures their province in the United States-their influence on civilized society-deplorable condition of savage life-moral effect of industry on constitution and characterbold and adventurous spirit of our citizens-prepared by hardiness to distinguish themselves on the ocean and in warallusion to our contest with Britain-happiness of our present peaceful situation—the Poem is concluded with the praises of Connecticut as an agricultural State.

A POEM

ON THE

INDUSTRY

OF THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

GENIUS of Culture! thou, whose chaster taste

Can clothe ith beauty ev'n the dreary waste;

י

Teach me to sing, what bright'ning charms unfold,
The bearded ears, that bend with more than gold;
How empire rises, and how morals spring,
From lowly labour, teach my lips to sing;
Exalt the numbers with thy gifts supreme,
Ennobler of the song, my guide and theme!

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Thou, toil! that mak'st, where our young empire grows, The wilderness bloom beauteous as the rose,

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Parent of wealth and joy! my nation's friend!

Be present, nature's rudest works to mend;
With all the arts of polish'd life to bless,
And half thy ills, Humanity! redress.
On this revolving day, that saw the birth
Of a whole nation glad th' astonished earth;
Thee I invoke to bless the recent reign
Of independence-but for thee how vain
Each fair advantage liberty has giv'n,

And all the copious bounties show'r'd by heav'n?
Hail, mighty pow'r! whose vivifying breath
Wakes vegetation on the barren heath;

Thou changest nature's face; thy influence such,
Dark deserts brighten at thy glowing touch;
Creation springs where'er thy plough-share drives,
And the dead grain, an hundred fold, revives.
Thy voice, that dissipates the savage gloom,
Bade in the wild unwonted beauty bloom:

Q

By thee and freedom guided, not in vain,
Our great fore-fathers dar'd the desert main :
O'er waves no keel had cut they found the shore,
Where desolation stain'd his steps with gore,

Th' immense of forest! where no tree was fell'd,
Where savage-men at midnight orgies yell'd;

Where howl'd round burning pyres each ravening beast,
As fiend-like forms devour'd their bloody feast,
And hoarse resounded o'er the horrid heath,
The doleful war-whoop, or the song of death.
Soon our progenitors subdu'd the wild,

And virgin nature, rob'd in verdure, smil'd.

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They bade her fruits, through rifted rocks, from hills
Descend, misnam'd innavigable rills:

Bade houses, hamlets, towns, and cities rise,
And tow'rs and temples gild Columbian skies.

Success thence crown'd that bold, but patient band,
Whose undegen'rate sons possess the land;

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Their great fore-fathers' principles avow,
And proudly dare to venerate the plough.

Where slaughter's war-dogs many a tribe destroy'd,
Not such the race who fill'd the southern void:
For them unbidden harvests deck the soil,
For them in mines unhappy thousands toil,

Where Plata's waves o'er silvery sands are roll'd,
Or Amazonia's path is pav'd in gold.
There suns too fiercely o'er the surface glow,
And embryon metals form and feed below;
Where, shut from day, in central caverns deep,
Hopeless of freedom, wretches watch and weep;
Compell'd for gold to rip the womb of earth,
And drag the precious mischief into birth.

Yet where those vertic suns intensely shine, Whose fires the metals more than men refine,

1

To drain their limbs of strength the climate serves,
And not our vigour strings their slacken'd nerves.

While all your gains the social pact secures,
Columbians! say, what happiness is yours?
Say, ye who, not as tenants, till the soil,
The joys that freemen find in rural toil?

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In what blest spot, through all terraqueous space,
Exists a hardier or a happier race?

Ye bid your glebes with future germs rejoice,
And seeds that sleep inhum'd strait hear your voice.
How change the prospects at your blithe command!
Where weeds and brambles stood now flowrets stand.
How blooms the dell, as spreads the rippling rill,
While mottled cattle top the moving hill!

Bid marshall'd maize the tassell'd flag unfold,

And wheat-ears barb their glistening spears with gold;
In northern plains the orchard's produce glow,

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Or with its beverage pure the press o'erflow:

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In southern climes, beneath a fervid sky,
Savannas, green with rice, refresh the eye;
There, from th' adopted stranger-tree, despoil

The branch that cheers for peace, the fruit with oil.

O'er fens, reform'd, let verdant grass succeed
The blue-ting'd indigo-pestiferous weed!
Where dun, hoed fields, afford subsistence scant
For those who tend Tobago's luxury plant,
Bid other crops with brighter hues be crown'd,
And herb for beast, and bread for man abound.
With little fingers let the children cull,
'Like flakes of snow, the vegetable wool;

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Or nurse the chrysalis with mulberry leaves,

The worm whose silk the curious artist weaves;

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Let buzzing bees display the winnowing wing,
Seek freshest flowers, and rifle all the spring:
Let brimming pails beside the heifers stand,
With milk and honey flow the happy land;
And turn the wildest growth to human use,
Ambrosial sugar find from maple-juice!

Thou, dulcet tree, imbue the flowing song
With thy distilling drops, untried too long!
Thee, dancing round in many a mazy ring,
The rustic youths and sylvan maids shall sing.
In sacch'rine streams thou pour'st the tide of life,
Yet grow'st still stronger from th' innocuous knife;
Thy sap, more sweet than Hybla's honey, flows,
Health for the heart-sick-cure of slavery's woes-
Then, as th' unfailing source, balsamic, runs,
Dispense that cordial, hope, for Afric's sons!

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Oh, could my song impressive horror bring,

Of conscious guilt th' insufferable sting;

From eyes untaught to weep the tear should start,
And mercy melt the long obdur'd of heart.
See naked negroes rear the sugar'd reeds!

Behold! their flesh beneath their driver bleeds!

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And hear their heart-heav'd groans! then say, how good,
How sweet, the dainties drugg'd with human blood!

Though night's dark shades o'ercast th' ill-favour'd race,

Nor transient flushes change the vacant face;

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Though nature ne'er transforms their woolly hair
To golden ringlets, elegantly fair!

Yet has not God infus'd immortal powers,

The same their organs and their souls as ours?
Are they not made to ruminate the sky?
Or must they perish like the beasts that die?
Perish the thought that men's high worth impairs,
SONS OF OMNIPOTENCE, AND GLORY'S HEIRS!

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Come, ye who love the human race divine, Their bleeding bosoms bathe with oil and wine, Bind up their wounds-then bless the dulcet tree, Whose substituted sweets one slave may free; Till new* discoveries more man's wrath assuage, And heav'n restrain the remnant of his rage.

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Thou, slavery, (maledictions blast thy name!)

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Fell scourge of mortals, reason's foulest shame!
Fly, fiend infernal! to thy Stygean shore,
And let thy deeds defile my song no more.

Heav'ns! still must men, like beasts, be bought and sold, The charities of life exchang'd for gold!

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Husbands from wives, from parents children torn,
In quivering fear, with grief exquisite, mourn!
No, soon shall commerce, better understood,
With happier freight promote the mutual good.

* The recent invention in Prussia of extracting sugar from the Beterave, or Beet, it is to be hoped will be followed by useful results. This, indeed, may be expected from the report of a committee to the National Institute of France. It is a well known fact, that many families in the new settlements of the United States are entirely supplied with sugar manufactured from maple-sap.