Written For The O'Connel Centenary.

Sons of the bright, green island,         Gathered by the pine-fringed lake,     In honour of his memory,         Who battled for your sake,     Listen, we too pay our tribute         To a fame that well endures;     He, who ventured much for liberty,         Is ours as well as yours.     Men fought in vain for freedom,         And lay down in felon graves;     "Your noblest then were exiles,         Your proudest then were slaves"     When the people, blind and furious,         Maddened by oppression's scorn,     Struggled, seethed in wild upheaval,         Was the Liberator born.     Who took the sword fell by the sword,         This man was born to show,     How thoughts would win where steel had failed         One hundred years ago     By force the patriot tried in vain         To stem oppression's might,     This man arose and won the cause,         By pleading for the right.     He stood to plead for liberty         On Dunedin's Calton-hill;     No man had ever greater power         To move men's hearts at will     Erin, without name, senate, flag,         This, her advocate and son,     Pleaded for those who tried and lost,         With those who tried and won     He stood to ask for justice,         For ruth and mercy's grace,     For a people of another faith,         And of another race     He stood on ground made holy         By resistance unto wrong,     And Scotia's freemen gathered round,         Full twenty thousand strong     And rock and distant city,         The broad Forth gliding clear,     Yea, every heath-clad hill-top         Had hushed itself to hear,     From the shades of hero martyrs         Of patriotic fame,     From the land they thought worth fighting for,         High inspiration came     He won the cause he strove for,         With bold undaunted brow,     And his name and fame roll brightening on         Along the years till now,     All honour to his memory,         May his words, where'er they fall,     Bring forth the love of liberty,         And equal rights to all