Punch (33.1857)

108

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[September 12, 1857.

LIBERAVIMUS ANIMAM.

Who pules about mercy ? The agonised wail
Of babies hewn piecemeal yet sickens the air,

And echoes still shudder that caught on the gale
The mother's—the maiden's wild scream of despair.

Who pules about mercy ? That word may be said
When steel, red and sated, perforce must retire,

And for every soft hair of each dearly loved head
A cord has dispatched a foul fiend to hell-fire.

The Avengers are marching—fierce eyes in a glow:
Too vengeful for curses are lips locked like those—

But hearts hold two prayers—to come up with the foe,
And to hear the proud blast that gives signal to close.

And woe to the hell-hounds ! Plight well may they fear
A vengeance—ay, darker than war ever knew,

When Englishmen, charging, exchange the old cheer
For, " Remember the women and babes whom they
slew."

Who slanders our brave ones ? What, puling again !

You " fear for the helpless when left as a prey;
" Should the females, the innocent children, be slain,

Or outraged-" Away with your slanders, away !

Our swords come for slaughter : they come in the name
Of Justice : and sternly their work shall be done :

And a world, now indignant, behold with acclaim
That hecatomb, slain in the face of the sun.

And terrified India shall tell to all time
How Englishmen paid her for murder and lust;

And stained not their fame with one spot of the crime
That brought the rich splendour of Delhi to dust.

But woe to the hell-hounds ! Their enemies know
Who hath said to the soldier that fights in His name—

"Thy foot shall be dipped in the blood op thy toe,
And the tongue op thy dogs shall be red through

the same."

JUSTICE TO COD KINGTON.

It is only fair to the late Commander-in-Chief in the Crimea to
let it be known, that he volunteered for command in India—and under
Sir Colin Campbell. This was even more magnanimous than Sir
Colin's serving under Codrington. Nothing is so difficult as to get
a little man to stoop; a tall man may bend without derogation. Sir
William Codrington, very wisely, takes everything that is offered
him. They offered him the chief command in the Crimea: he took it.
They offer him the guardianship of the Prince op Wales : he takes
it. Those who appoint him ought to know what he is fit for. He wasn't
fit for the one post, he may turn out admirably suited for the other.

Sir W. Codrington is a Guardsman, and the beauty of Guardsmen
is, that whether you are providing for use or ornament, whether you
want a Commander-in-Chief or a Gold-Stick inWaiting, your Guardsman
is equally fit for the place. Tarn Marie quam Mercurio is his motto.
He is warranted to keep in any climate, will pocket any amount of
salary, and England expects him—as a general rule—to do his duty.

Etve Thousand Reasons for admiring an Ex-Governor General.—
Lord Dalhousie has handed over his Pension of £5000 to the Indian
sufferers. Truly a Noble lord.