The Welcome Poem by Samuel Bamford

I Hail thee, because in the day of our danger,
When tyrants conspired to keep liberty down,
Thou turn'd not, thou shrank not, to terror a stranger,
Thou dared each threat, thou defied each frown.
A s the oak of thy own native island unbending,
No storm could uplift thee, firm rooted in right;
Unworn and unwearied, for freedom contending,
How dreaded the host of oppressors thy might.

Thou raisedst thy voice, and the people awaking,
Beheld the foul source of corruption display'd; *
And loyal stupidity quickly forsaking,
They found themselves plundered, oppress'd and betray'd;
Then, loud as the storm, in its fury outrushing,
The shout of the thousands, for freedom arose;
And liberty only can soothe them to hushing,
And liberty only shall lull to repose.

We saw the fell spy on thy footsteps attending,
By vengeance-doom'd villains cheer'd on to his prey;
That Sidmouth, that Canning, the lurcher commending,
And the blood-lapping daemon, the dire Castlereagh.
O! how thy enemies round thee were lying,
All yearning and longing thy life to betray;
But, the foul ambuscade timely descrying,
Thou scaped their tangle of black treachery.

Then, thrice art thou welcome—here brave men will
meet thee;
The heart-lads of England, the core of the core,
Thy friends, and thy brothers, will ev'rywhere greet
thee:
For patriots are brethren dear, all the world o'er.
Oh! here's not a hand but could strike down a foeman
And here's not a heart that would shrink from the
deed;
All steady and ready, mechanic and yeomen,
The traitors may tremble, the tyrants take heed.

* Certainly more due to the writings of William Cobbett.