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388 THE NAVAL MUTINIES OF 1797
II.
" WHILST LANDSMEN WANDER."
Whilst Landsmen wander tho' eontroPd
And boast the rites of freemen,
Oh ! view the tender's loathsome hole
Where droop your injured seamen.
Dragged by Oppression's savage grasp
From every dear connection,
Midst putrid air, oh ! see them gasp,
Oh ! mark their deep dejection.
Blush then, O! blush, ye pension host,
Who wallow in profusion,
For our foul cell proves all your boast
To be but mean delusion.
If Liberty be ours, O ! say why are not all protected ?
Why is the hand of ruffain sway
'Gainst seamen thus directed ?
Is thus your proof of British rights ?
Is this rewarding bravery ?
Oh ! shame to boast your tars' exploits,
Then doom these tars to slavery.
Blush then, &c.
When just returned from noxious skies,
Or Winter's raging ocean,
To land the sunburnt seaman flies
Impelled by strong emotion.
His much lov'd Kate, his children dear,
Around him cling delighted,
But lo, the impressing fiends appear
And every day is blighted.
Blush then, &c.
Thus from each soft endearment torn,
Behold the seaman languish,
His wife and children left folorn
The prey of bitter anguish.
Bereft of those arms whose vigorous strength,
Their shield, from want defended,
They droop, and all their woes at length
Are in a workhouse ended.
Blush then, &c.