DISTRESS IN ENGLAND.

Kumara Times, Issue 739, 11 February 1879, Page 2

DISTRESS IN ENGLAND.

APPEAL TO THE QtJBEN. [By HowarU Evans.] Victoria, thou silent Queen, whoSe face we never see. In this great crisis of Cur fate we Cry aloiia to thee; Hear us ! We Still are loyal, though thou sit’st apart, alone— Hear us! we yet are freembti, Whose voices reach thy thfone. Forgive us for the shame and wrath with which our bosoms bum, If bold and ruff and harsh our speech as to thy throne we turn ; ‘Tis he makes thee responsible, therefore we seek thee now, If thou art so we yet have hope—Rules he the land, or thou I Thou surely art no puppet—thing of wires and springs, That has no motion in it,, save ’when tricksters pull the strings ;• Queen of our memories and hopes ! Head of this grand old State ! Woman, widow, mother, hear us, in this crisis of our fate !

Let not Ambition’s greed of rule beguile thee at this hour ; Better a white, unsullied name, than the grandest dreams of power ; Let not Imperial gewgaws from this right turn thee aside, For the love of a free people is a Monarch’s noblest pride.

Thou art a Monarch—not like those who ruled by iron and blood, ■' While stands thy people-ohosen Souse, unharmed of fire and flood ; They cherished not their people’s love, they headed not their groans ; And the doom of such is written in the wreek of broken

Thou art a woman—we entwine for ever round that name A tenderness as soft as snow, a love as pure as flame :■ If now the tempter's glossing lies becloud thy soul with doubt, 'Ere the dogs of war are loosed let thy woman’s heart speak outi Thou art a mother—dost thou know that in this land to-day Children to mothers ory for bread, as famishing as they 1 Oh ! by the love that thou dost hear thy sons and daughters dear,. Think of our sons and daughters —* O, Queen and mother, hear I Thou art a widow—by that word more boldly we implore, By that deep, life-long sorrow which makes us love thee more— There are thousands of thy sisters who, 6i'e a year has fled, With a heart-ache which thou khow'st too well, may have to mourn their dead.

Save ns' from this iinrlgtlieona War,X), christiail this day— By thy womanhood, thy widowhood, thy motherhood, we pray ; The millions of the toilers, in this land and o’er the sea. Approach with burdened hearts thy throne, and dry aloud to thee.