Mathieu Ropars: et cetera Part 17

A WELL KNOWN DOc.u.mENT,

_Very Slightly Paraphrased_.

A comparison of the following lines, with the original American Declaration of Independence, will show that the earnest and impa.s.sioned language of real life is sometimes closely a.s.similated to blank verse.

When, in their course, human events compel One people to dissolve the social bands That linked them with another, and to take Among the powers of the Earth that station, Equal and separate, to which the laws Of Nature and of Nature's G.o.d, by right, Ent.i.tle them--respect to the opinions Of fellow men calls on them to declare The causes, which have rendered necessary Such separation.

We, then, hold these truths To be self-evident: That all mankind Are equal, and endowed by their Creator With certain unalienable rights: That amongst these are Life, and Liberty, And the Pursuit of Happiness: That men, To make these rights available and safe, Have inst.i.tuted Governments, deriving Their lawful power from the free consent

Of those they govern: That when any form Of Government is proved to be destructive Of these their ends, it is the People's right To alter, or abolish it, and found A Government anew, with principles So laid for its foundation, and with powers In such form organized, as shall to them Seem most conducive to their happiness And safety.

Prudence will, indeed, dictate That long-established Governments should not Be changed for any light or transient cause: And all experience, accordingly, Hath shown that men are more disposed to suffer, So long as evils are endurable, Than to a.s.sert their rights, and throw aside Their customary forms. But when abuses And usurpations, in a lengthened train, Pursue an object steadfastly, evincing A firm design to bow them down beneath Absolute despotism, it is their right, It is their bounden duty, to throw off Such Government, and to provide new guards For their security in future.

Such Has been the patient sufferance of these Our Colonies, and such is now the need, That forces them to change their present systems Of Government. Great Britain's present King Hath made his history the history Of usurpation, and of injuries Often repeated, and directly tending To the establishment of Tyranny

Over these States: to prove this, let the World In candour listen to undoubted facts.

He has refused to give a.s.sent to laws, Wholesome, and needful for the public good.

He has denied his Governors the power To sanction laws of pressing urgency, Unless suspended in their operation, Till his a.s.sent should be obtained; and when Suspended thus, he has failed wilfully To give them further thought. He has refused To sanction other laws, deemed advantageous To districts thickly peopled, unless they, Who dwelt therein, would basely throw away Their right to representatives--a right Inestimable, to themselves and only To Tyrants formidable. In the hope To weary them into a weak compliance With his obnoxious measures, he has summoned The Legislative Bodies to a.s.semble At places inconvenient, and unusual, And whence their public records were remote.

He has repeatedly dissolved the Houses Of Representatives for interfering With manly firmness, when he has invaded The People's rights. Long time he has refused, After such dissolutions, to convene Others in lieu of them; whereby, the powers Of Legislation, since they might not be Annihilated, have for exercise Been forced upon the body of the people; Leaving, meanwhile, the unprotected State To dangers of invasion from without, And inward anarchy. He has endeavoured

To check the population of these States, Thwarting the laws for naturalization Of foreigners, withholding his a.s.sent From other laws, that might encourage them In immigrating hither, and enhancing The price of new allotments of the soil.

He has obstructed the administration Of Justice, by his veto on the laws Establis.h.i.+ng judiciary powers He has made Judges on his will alone Dependent, for the tenure of their office, For the amount, and for the proper payment Of their emoluments. He has erected New offices in mult.i.tudes, and sent Swarms of his officers to hara.s.s us, And to eat out our substance. He has kept, In times of peace, among us, standing armies, Without the sanction of our Legislatures.

His aim has been to place the military Above the civil power, and beyond Its just control. He has combined with others To make us subject to a jurisdiction, In spirit foreign to our Const.i.tution, And unacknowledged by our laws; a.s.senting To acts, that they have pa.s.sed with semblance only Of legislation: Acts for quartering Among us bodies of armed troops: For s.h.i.+elding, By a mock trial, those their instruments From punishment for any murders done On our inhabitants: For cutting off Our trade with every quarter of the world-- For laying on us taxes not approved By our consent: For oft-times robbing us

Of any benefit that might attend Trial by jury: For transporting us Beyond the seas, to answer for offences, Imputed to us: For abolis.h.i.+ng, Within a neighbouring province, the free system Of English laws; establis.h.i.+ng therein An arbitrary power; and enlarging Its boundaries, to render it at once The fit example, and the instrument For bringing into these our Colonies The same despotic rule: For taking from us Our Charters; and abolis.h.i.+ng our laws Most valued; changing thus, in principle, Our forms of Government: And for suspending Our Legislatures, with the declaration That they, themselves, in each and every case, Were vested with supreme authority To legislate for us.

He has laid down His sway, by holding us without the pale Of his protection, and by waging war Against us. He has plundered on our seas; Ravaged our coasts; our cities burnt; and taken Our people's lives. He is transporting hither Armies composed of foreign mercenaries, To end the works of death, and desolation, And tyranny, begun with circ.u.mstances Of cruelty and perfidy unequalled In the most barbarous ages, and unworthy The Ruler of a nation civilized.

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, On the high seas made captive, to bear arms Against their country, and of friends and brothers

To be the executioners, or fall Beneath his creatures' hands. He has excited Amongst ourselves domestic insurrection; And sought to bring on the inhabitants Of our frontier the savage Indian, Whose code of warfare, merciless and sure, Spares not, in undistinguished ma.s.sacre, Age, s.e.x, condition.

We, in every stage Of these oppressions, have in humblest terms Pet.i.tioned for redress. To our pet.i.tions, Though oft repeated, there has been _one_ answer-- Repeated injury.

A prince, whose life And conduct thus are marked by every act That may define a Tyrant, is unfit To rule o'er Freemen.

Neither have we failed In due attention to our British brethren.

From time to time, we have admonished them Of efforts, by their Legislature made, Unwarrantably to extend to us Their jurisdiction. How we emigrated, And settled here, we have reminded them.

We to their native justice have appealed And magnanimity; and have conjured them, By common kindred ties, to disavow These usurpations, which, inevitably, Would mar our intercourse and friends.h.i.+p. They Have also turned a deaf ear to the voice Of Justice and of Consanguinity.

So must we yield to the necessity Which forces us to separate, and hold them--

As we do hold the rest of human kind-- Our enemies in War, in Peace our friends.

We, therefore, who are here to represent The States United of America, In General Congress met, for rect.i.tude Of our intentions to the Judge Supreme Of all things here in confidence appealing, Do, in the name, and by authority Of the good people of these Colonies, Solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right Ought to be, Free and Independent States: That from allegiance to the British Crown They are absolved: That all connecting ties Of policy between them and Great Britain Are, as they should be, totally dissolved: And that, as Free and Independent States, They have full power to levy war, conclude Peace, and contract alliances, establish Commerce, and do all other acts and things Which Independent States of right may do.

This is our Declaration: to support it, With firm reliance on Divine protection, We to each other mutually pledge Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.

BEL PIEDE.

Browning, whose household G.o.ds were planted Beside the banks of cla.s.sic Arno, Once, in a dainty ballad, chanted The lady of the _bella mano_.

Pa.s.s from the Arno to the Tiber, From Tuscan to a Roman lady; And let a humbler bard describe her-- This fair one of the _bel piede_.

To Roman dame, as I and you know, Is rarely given a foot symmetrical; No Cinderellas--many a Juno-- Upon the Pincian we can yet recall.

Those were the days when bonnets did not Expose the face to every starer; When skirts, worn short and airy, hid not The foot and ankle of the wearer.

With high arched instep, narrow, tapering, Divinely booted--none could beat hers-- The foot, that set my young heart capering, Came down the broad steps of St. Peter's.

Her long black veil, the crowd around me, Her swift landau, my swift emotion-- She came: her fairy foot spell-bound me; She went: which way, I had no notion.

Haunting all public haunts was fruitless, Mid solemn pomps, on festal hey-day; Search for those glorious boots was bootless: Rome showed no more my _bel piede_.

In Paris next enchained it held me, Through redowa, waltz, all sorts of dances; But mask and domino repelled me-- She moved, but I made no advances.

Again she pa.s.sed--no trace behind her-- I sought, enquired, left nothing undone; But all was vain: I could not find her, And, in despair, set off for London.

The sea between Boulogne and Dover Was, as it always is, terrific; Against that awful pa.s.sage over, Why not invent some smooth specific?

Cloaked, m.u.f.fled, shawled, a form was leaning Across the gunwale, keeping shady; I recked not what might be its meaning-- I thought not, then, of _bel piede_.

Sudden, a lurch, a shriek, a splas.h.i.+ng!

I knew the shriek was from a lady; But horror through my brain went cras.h.i.+ng-- I saw, heels up, my _bel piede_!

She sank. No more! But O ye mermaids, Of whose long tails we've had a surfeit, If ye were worthy to be her maids, You'd cut your tails, and copy her feet!

WHO IS HE?

_A Reply to Quevedo_.

These lines were suggested by some sprightly verses, ent.i.tled "Who is She?" that had recently appeared in _Fraser's Magazine_.

A Spanish writer once decided, In flippant song, That woman's lip, or tongue, or eye did All that went wrong.

Nay, that the true mode of unmasking Her wiles would be, On all occasions simply asking-- Pray, who is she?

Now, why must woman's petticoats Aye be the blamables?

How is't Quevedo never quotes Mankind's unnamables?

He rates the s.e.x, and certes for it he Makes a good plea; But can't I, on as good authority, Ask, who is he?

Quevedo swears that Eve and Helen Wrought dire mishaps: That Adam and the Trojans fell in Their deep-laid traps.

Eve?--why Diabolus beguiled her; You know't, Quevedo!

Helen?--that rascal Paris wiled her: That's Homer's _credo_!

Trust me, man causes woman's failing; And, on my life, He's always wantonly a.s.sailing Maid, widow, wife.

Beneath the surface let the gazer Look deep--he'll see Some stronger vessel that betrays her: Just ask--who's he?

Is it a milk-maid drops her pailful?-- Lubin's love-making: Is her fate scandalous or baleful?-- Lubin's been raking!

The school-girl loaths her bread and b.u.t.ter, Pouts o'er her tea, Mumbles her lessons in a flutter-- Ask, who is he?