From Miscellaneous Poetry by Samuel Bamford “weaver of Middleton, Lancashire, lately imprisoned in the Castle of Lincoln” (T. Dolby, at the Britannia Press, 1821), page 82:


THE SONG OF SLAUGHTER
Words by Samuel Bamford; tune: “Sicilian Mariner’s Hymn.”

PART FIRST

Parent of the wide creation,
We would counsel ask of thee,
Look upon a mighty nation,
Rousing from its slavery.

If to men our wrongs are stated,
We are but the faster bound,
All our actions reprobated,
No redress for us is found.

Thou hast made us to inherit
Strength of body, daring mind;
Shall we rise, and in thy spirit,
Tear away the chains that bind?

Chains, but forged to degrade us,
O, the base indignity!
In the name of God, who made us,
We will perish, or be free.

PART SECOND.

Can we e'er forget our brothers,
Cold and gory as they lay?
Can we e'er forgive the others,
For their cruel treachery?

Ah, behold their sabres gleaming,
Never, never known to spare;
See the flood of slaughter streaming;
Hear the cries that rend the air.

Youth and valour naught availed,
Naught availed beauty's prayer,
Even the lisping infant failed
To arrest the ruin there.

Give the ruffians time to glory,
Theirs is but a waning day,
We have yet another story
For the page of history.

Lincoln Castle, July 13th, 1820.

[A version of this, with several misspellings and typos, appeared as a broadside. I suspect there are several other poems in the same book that could be turned into songs.]