<)88 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



There are, gloomy ocean ! a brothcrless clan, 



Who traverse thy banishing waves, 



The poor disinherited outcasts of man, 



Whom avarice coins into slaves ! 



From the homes of their kindred, their forefathers' gra'cs. 



Love, friendship, and conjugal bli'-s, ' 



They aredragg'd on the hoary abyss ; 



The shark hears their shrieks, and asrendingto day, 



Demands of the spoiler his share of the prey. 



Then joy to the tempest that whelms them beneath, 



And makes their destruction its sport ! 



But woe to the winds that propitiously breathe. 



And waft them in safety to port ! 



Where the vultures and vampires of Mammon resort ; 



Whore Europe exultingly drains 



The life-blood from Africa's veins ; 



Where man rules o'er man with a merciless rod, 



And spurns at his footstool the image of God ! 



The hour is approaching, — a terrible hour ! 



And vengeance is bending her bow ; 



Already the clouds of the hurricane lour, 



And the rock-rending whirlwinds blow : 



Back roils the huge ocean, hell opens below : 



The floods return headlong, — they sweep 



The slave-cultur'd lands to the deep : 



In a moment entomb'd in the horrible void, ' 



By their Maker Himself in his anger dcstroy'd. 



Shall this be the fate of the cane-planted isles, 



More lovely than clouds in the west, 



When the sun o'er the ocean descending in smiles 



Sinks softly and sweetly to rest ? 



— NO I—Father of mercy ! befriend the opprcst ; 



At the voice of thy gospel oT peace. 



May the sorrows of Africa cease ; 



And the slave and his master devoutly unite 



To walk in thy freedom and dwell in thy light !* 



As homeward my weary-wing'd fancy extends 



Her star-lighted course through the skies, 



High over the mighty Atluntic ascends, 



And turns upon Europe her eyes ; 



Ah me ! what new prospects, new horrors arise ! 



I see the war tempested flood 



All foaming, and panting with blood ; 



The 



• Alluding to the glorious success of the Moravian Missionaries among the 

 Negrots in the West Indies. 3 



