THY error, Frémont, simply was to act br A brave man's part, without the statesman's tact, br And, taking counsel but of common sense, br To strike at cause as well as consequence. br Oh, never yet since Roland wound his horn br At Roncesvalles, has a blast been blown br Far-heard, wide-echoed, startling as thine own, br Heard from the van of freedom's hope forlorn! br It had been safer, doubtless, for the time, br To flatter treason, and avoid offence br To that Dark Power whose underlying crime br Heaves upward its perpetual turbulence. br But if thine be the fate of all who break br The ground for truth's seed, or forerun their years br Till lost in distance, or with stout hearts make br A lane for freedom through the level spears, br Still take thou courage! God has spoken through thee, br Irrevocable, the mighty words, Be free! br The land shakes with them, and the slave's dull ear br Turns from the rice-swamp stealthily to hear. br Who would recall them now must first arrest br The winds that blow down from the free Northwest, br Ruffling the Gulf; or like a scroll roll back br The Mississippi to its upper springs. br Such words fulfil their prophecy, and lack br But the full time to harden into things.