A CHINESE BATTLE HYMN.

Dominion, Issue 1337, 15 January 1912, Page 6

A CHINESE BATTLE HYMN.

« Tho Chinese revolutionists have their battle hymn. The words, as sung in the recent battlo at Wu-chang, have been rendered as follow:— Freedom, one of tho greatest blessings of Heaven! United in Peaco thou wilt work on this earth. Ten thousand wonderful new things Grave as a spirit, great as a giant, Rising to tho very skies, With the clouds for a chariot and the wind for a steed, Come, come to reign over the earth! For the sake of the black hell of our slavery, Come, enlighten us with a ray of thy sun! White FiUrope! Thou art indeed The spoiled daughter of Heaven. Bread, wine—thou hast everything in abundance! For me, I love Liberty as a bride. Through the day; in my thoughts, through the night in my dreams, I survey the woes of my fatherland. But tho inconstant nature of Liberty Prevents me from attaining her. Alas! ray brethren are all slaves! The wind is so sweet, the dew is so bright,' The flowers are so fragrant, Men aro becoming all kings— And yet can we forget what the people v are suffering? At Peking we must bow our head Before the wolf of an Emperor! Alas! Freedom is dead! Asia the Great is nothing else But an immense desert. In this century we are working To open a new age. In this century, with one voice, all virile men > Are calling for a new making of Heaven and earth. May tho soul of the people rise to tho peak of Kwang-tung! Washington and Napoleon, you two sons of Liberty, May you become incarnated in the people! Hin-Yun, our ancestor, guide us! Spirit of Freedom, como and protect us! In its tribnto to two great champions of liberty (says the "New York Post") the Chinese hymn does what national hymns rarely do—speaks of other nations with kindness.