The Journal of Negro History
Chapter 80 : (_b_) _Mollis_ in ore decor. Incert.(_c_) Me _doctarum_ ederae praemia frontium ... ...

(_b_) _Mollis_ in ore decor. Incert.

(_c_) Me _doctarum_ ederae praemia frontium ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .

_Secernunt populo. Hor. Lib. I. Od. 1._

(_d_) Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere. _Virg._

(_e_) Hic ames dici _pater_ atque princeps. _Hor._

(_f_) Serus in coelum redeas, _diuque_ _Laetus intersis populo. Hor._

This is Long's translation:

To That most upright and valiant Man, GEORGE HALDANE, Esq; Governor of the Island of Jamaica; Upon whom All military and moral Endowments are acc.u.mulated.

An ODE.

AT length revolving fates th' expected year Advance, and joy the live-long day shall cheer, Beneath the fost'ring law's auspicious dawn New harvests rife to glad th' enliven'd (_g_) lawn.

With the bright prospect blest, the swains repair In social bands, and give a loose to care.

Rash councils now, with each malignant plan, Each faction, that in evil hour began, At your approach are in confusion fled, Nor, while you rule, shall rear their dastard head.

Alike the master and the slave shall fee Their neck reliev'd, the yoke unbound by thee.

Ere now our guiltless isle, her wretched fate Had wept, and groan'd beneath th' oppressive weight Of Cruel woes; save thy victorious hand, Long fam'd in war, from Gallia's hostile land; And wreaths of fresh renown, with generous zeal, Had freely turn'd, to prop our sinking weal.

Form'd as thou art, to serve _Britannia's_ crown, While _Scotia_ claims thee for her darling son; Oh! best of heroes, ablest to sustain A falling people, and relax their chain.

Long as this isle shall grace the Western deep, From age to age, thy fame shall never sleep.

Thee, her dread victor _Guadaloupe_ shall own, Crusht by thy arm, her slaughter'd chiefs bemoan; View their proud tents all level'd in the dust, And, while she grieves, confess the cause was just.

The golden _Iris_ the sad scene will share, Will mourn her banners scattered in the air; Lament her vanquisht troops with many a sigh, Nor less to see her towns in ruin lie.

Fav'rite of _Mars!_ believe, th' attempt were vain, It is not mine to try the arduous strain.

What! shall an _aethiop_ touch the martial string, Of battles, leaders, great achievements sing?

Ah no! _Minerva_, with th' indignant _Nine_, Restrain him, and forbid the bold design.

To a _Buchanan_ does the theme belong; A theme, that well deserves _Buchanan's_ song, 'Tis he, should swell the din of war's alarms, Record thee great in council, as in arms; Recite each conquest by thy valour won, And equal thee to great _Peleides'_ son.

That bard, his country's ornament and pride, Who e'en with _Maro_ might the bays divide: Far worthier he, thy glories to rehea.r.s.e, And paint thy deeds in his immortal verse.

We live, alas! where the bright G.o.d of day, Full from the zenith whirls his torrid ray: Beneath the rage of his consuming fires, All fancy melts, all eloquence expires.

Yet may you deign accept this humble song, Tho' wrapt in gloom, and from a faltering tongue; Tho' dark the stream on which the tribute flows, Not from the _skin_, but from the _heart_ it rose.

To all of human kind, benignant heaven (Since nought forbids) one common soul has given.

This rule was 'stablish'd by th' Eternal Mind; Nor virtue's self, nor prudence are confin'd To colour; none imbues the honest heart; To science none belongs, and none to art.

Oh! _Muse_, of blackest tint, why shrinks thy breast.

Why fears t' approach the _Caesar_ of the _West!_ Dispel thy doubts, with confidence ascend The regal dome, and hail him for thy friend: Nor blush, altho' in garb funereal drest, _Thy body's white, tho' clad in sable vest_.

Manners unsullied, and the radiant glow Of genius, burning with desire to _know_; And learned speech, with modest accent worn, Shall best the sooty _African_ adorn.

An heart with wisdom fraught, a patriot flame.

A love of virtue; these shall lift his name Conspicuous, far beyond his kindred race, Distinguish'd from them by the foremost place.

In this prolific isle I drew my birth, And _Britain_ nurs'd, ill.u.s.trious through the earth; This, my lov'd isle, which never more shall grieve, Whilst you our common friend, our father live.

Then this my pray'r--"My earth and heaven survey "A people ever blest, beneath your sway!"

The following translation of this poem has been supplied by Mr. E.J.

Chinock, M.A., LL.B.:

A Poem in Honour of Sir George Haldane, Knt., A most virtuous and brave man,

Governor of the island of Jamaica, on whom all the endowments of morals and of warlike virtues have been acc.u.mulated.

Since the Fates wish the year should come at last, all the joys which are to be seen through a lengthened day are present. The people having shaken off their anxieties, are prosperous under a bright image, and the land flouris.h.i.+ng under law. While thou art ruler, the useless things which had been done by an ill-advising mind will not return at thy appearance. Therefore, all the people, even the rabble, will see that thou hast removed the yoke clinging to their necks, and the ills which the guiltless island has formerly endured with dreadful tortures. The burden would have been excessively painful did not thy victorious hand, previously renowned for valour, wish of its own accord to aid our state going to ruin. The British King has no better servant than thou art, whilst Scotland rejoices in thy talent. Thou are the best of heroes to prop up the fall of a nation; while the island survives, the memory of thee will also survive. Quadaloupe will recognise thee as her conqueror, and will deservedly despise the plundered camps of its governors. The golden Iris will weep for her boastful standards, and together with her inhabitants will groan for the conquered towns. Believe me, it is not in my power, O man, dear to Mars! Minerva denies to an Ethiopian to celebrate the wars of generals. Buchanan would sing thee in a poem, he would describe thee as equal to Achilles in counsel and in war.

That famous poet, the honour of his country, is more worthy to relate thy exploits, and is scarcely inferior to the majestic Virgil. We live under an Apollo driving his own flame-bringing team. Every kind of eloquence is lacking to slaves. Receive this at any rate. Though poured forth from one very black, it is valuable, coming from a sonorous mouth; not from his skin, but from his heart. The bountiful Deity, with a hand powerfully and firm, has given the same soul to men of all races, nothing standing in his way. Virtue itself, and prudence, are free from colour; there is no colour in an honourable mind, no colour in skill. Why dost thou fear or doubt that the blackest Muse may scale the lofty house of the western Caesar? Go and salute him, and let it not be to thee a cause of shame that thou wearest a white body in a black skin. Integrity of _morals_ more adorns a _Moor_, and ardour of intellect and sweet elegance in a learned mouth. A wise heart and a love of his ancestral virtue the more remove him from his comrades and make him conspicuous. The island (of Jamaica) gave me birth; the renowned Britons brought me up; the island which will not grieve while thou its father art well.

This I pray: O may earth and heaven see thee without end, ruling a flouris.h.i.+ng people.[227]

Gardner quotes the line

"Candida quod nigra corpora pelle geris,"

giving it an interpretation disparaging to Williams' racial self-respect. With more understanding of the poet's surroundings it may be taken rather to express the poet's desire to be marked as distinct from the then condition of those who represented his race round him, namely slaves.

The following lines especially deserve praise for the height in emotion and manliness to which they ascend:

Pollenti stabilita manu, Deus almus, eandem Omnigenis animam, nil prohibente dedit.

Ipsa coloris egens virtus, prudentia; honesto Nullus inest animo, nullus in arte color.

Mr. Chinook's rendering conveys some of their stirring force, but they deserve a better translation, and one reason for giving the whole poem here is the hope that it may elicit another translation from some one entering more feelingly and with equal lingual knowledge into the poet's conception.

T. H. MACDERMOT

REDEAM, KINGSTON, JAMAICA, B. W. I.

FOOTNOTES:

[210] The writer of the following article, though not of the race to serve which this JOURNAL specially exists, offers a contribution to its pages because of the deep and sympathetic interest he has long taken in the African race, and because of his belief in its future. He would also interest readers of the JOURNAL in his native island, Jamaica, where, although the creation still bears marks of human imperfection and incompleteness, a community has been brought into being in which the racial elements, in such fierce and embittered antagonism elsewhere, are gradually, but surely, blending into a whole of common citizens.h.i.+p. T.H. MACDERMOT, Editor of the _Jamaica Times_, Ltd.

[211] Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 10.

[212] Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 31.

[213] Bridges, "Annals of Jamaica," I, 204.

[214] Long, "History of Jamaica," 234; and Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 31-32.

[215] See Dallas's "History of the Maroons," I, 26.

[216] This is the history of gradual emanc.i.p.ation in most slaveholding states.

[217] Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 207.

[218] Long, "History of Jamaica," II, 476.

[219] Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 207.

[220] Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 123.

[221] Long, "History of Jamaica," II, 476; and Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 207.