Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 1. No 1, June 1850

In his high Olympian hall,
Unregarded by the mighty,
But detested by the small;
Overturning constitutions – setting nations by the ears,
With divers sapient plenipos, like Minto and his peers.

iv

With his fist the proud dictator
Smote the table that it rang —
From the crystal vase before him
The blood-red wine upsprang!
"Is my sword a wreath of rushes,
Or an idle plume my pen,
That they dare to lay a finger
On the meanest of my men?
No amount of circumcision can annul the Briton's right —
Are they mad, these lords of Athens, for I know they can not fight?

v

"Had the wrong been done by others,
By the cold and haughty Czar,
I had trembled ere I opened
All the thunders of my war.
But I care not for the yelping
Of these fangless curs of Greece —
Soon and sorely will I tax them
For the merchant's plundered Fleece.
From the earth his furniture for wrath and vengeance cries —
Ho, Eddisbury! take thy pen, and straightway write to Wyse!"

vi

Joyfully the bells are ringing
In the old Athenian town,
Gayly to Piræus harbor
Stream the merry people down;
For they see the fleet of Britain
Proudly steering to their shore,
Underneath the Christian banner
That they knew so well of yore,
When the guns at Navarino thundered o'er the sea,
And the Angel of the North proclaimed that Greece again was free.

vii

Hark! – a signal gun – another!
On the deck a man appears
Stately as the Ocean-shaker —
"Ye Athenians, lend your ears!
Thomas Wyse am I, a herald
Come to parley with the Greek;
Palmerston hath sent me hither,
In his awful name I speak —
Ye have done a deed of folly – one that ye shall sorely rue!
Wherefore did ye lay a finger on the carpets of the Jew?

viii

"Don Pacifico of Malta!
Dull indeed were Britain's ear,
If the wrongs of such a hero
Tamely she could choose to hear!
Don Pacifico of Malta!
Knight-commander of the Fleece —
For his sake I hurl defiance
At the haughty towns of Greece.
Look to it – For by my head! since Xerxes crossed the strait,
Ye never saw an enemy so vengeful at your gate.

ix

"Therefore now, restore the carpets,
With a forfeit twenty-fold;
And a goodly tribute offer
Of your treasure and your gold
Sapienza and the islet
Cervi, ye shall likewise cede,
So the mighty gods have spoken,
Thus hath Palmerston decreed!
Ere the sunset, let an answer issue from your monarch's lips;
In the mean time, I have orders to arrest your merchants' ships."

x

Thus he spoke, and snatched a trumpet
Swiftly from a soldier's hand,
And therein he blew so shrilly,
That along the rocky strand
Rang the war-note, till the echoes
From the distant hills replied,
Hundred trumpets wildly wailing,
Poured their blast on every side;
And the loud and hearty shout of Britain rent the skies,
"Three cheers for noble Palmerston! another cheer for Wyse!"

xi

Gentles! I am very sorry