DISTRESS IN ENGLAND-APPEAL TO THE QUEEN.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 75, 12 April 1879, Page 3

DISTRESS IN ENGLAND-AP-PEAL TO THE QUEEN.

[BY HOWARD EVANS.] Victoria, thou silent Queen, whose face we never see, lu this great crisis of our fate wo cry aloud to thee I Heur us ! we still are loyal, though thou sil'st apart, aloue— Hear us • we yet are freemen, whose voices reach thy throne. Forgive us for the shame and wrath with which our bosoms burn, If bold and rough and harsh our speech us to thy tliroue we turn ; "I'is lie makes thee responsible, therefore we seek tliee now, If thou art so wo yet have hope—Rules he the land, or thou ! Thou surely art no puppet—u 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 Stutu ! Woman, widow, mother, heal' us, iu this . crisis ot our fate ! Let n$ Ambition's greed of rule beguile tneo at this hpur; Bettelf'a white, unsullied name than the grandest dreams ot power; Let uot Imperial gewgaws from the right ttlrii thce'asiue, For the love of a tree people is a Monarch's noblest pride. Thou art a Monarch—not like those who ruled by iron and blood, While stands thy people-chosen House, unharmed ot fire or Hood; They cherished not their jieoples' love, they heeded uot their groans, And the doom of such is written in the wreck of broken thrones.

Thou art a woman—we entwine for ever round that uumo A tenderness us soft as snow, a love as ; pure as name; If i now the tempter's gloring lies becloud (.by soul doubt, Ero the dogs of war are loosened, let thy - woman's heart speak out. Thou art a mother—dost thou know that in this land to-day Children to mothers cry for bread, as famishing as they ? Oh ! by the love that thou dost bear thy sous and daughters dear, Think of our sous and daughters—o, y ueen 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 the* more— There are thousands of thy sisters who, ere a year has fled, With the heart-ache whioh thou know'at too well, may have to mourn tbeirdead. Save us from this unrighteous war, U, Christian Queen, this day— By thy womanhood, thy widowhood, thy motherhood, we pray; The miUimi* of the toilers, iu this land and o'er the sea, Approach with burdened hearts thy throne, and cry aloud to thuc. - Echo, November £2.