Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2011
How many youthful Sons I late enjoyed,
Valiant in battle!
No–if I e'er return, return I must,
Glorious, my Country's terror laid in dust:
Or, if I perish, let her see me fall,
In field at least, and fighting for her all.
War is our business; but to whom is given
To die or triumph, that determines Heaven!
TO every man who in the service of his country has distinguished himself, whether by a series of brilliant success, or by the sacrifice of his life in less fortunate circumstances, the debt of public gratitude is due, and in the breast of every real patriot will be felt and acknowledged. Among the many mysteries of human life, War is not the least. As a scourge in the hands of Providence, it is truly awful; but in this, as in all its dispensations, good is elicited from ill–and the moral world, as well as the natural atmosphere, is purified by storms. The fiery spirit of mad Ambition calls forth the noble ardour of opposing Patriotism to repel its unjust invasions. To die is the common lot of all–but thus to die demands our grateful admiration, and an imperishable memorial in the annals of the Country thus protected. A never fading renown is the stimulus of heroic deeds, and whether the hero live or die, his reward is sure.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.