Lines to Tyrants (For Chartist leader John Frost)

Lines to Tyrants.
The following lines were written when Mr. Frost[1] was under

sentence of Decapitation, and were occasioned by receiving
intelligence of his brutal sentence.

Tyrants avaunt! Be not too hasty,
The blood of gen’rous Frost to shed:
O pause before you commit murder,
Think not your idle threats we dread.
We know that you have got sufficient 5
Impudence for the deed of blood,
We know too that your hearts are callous
To ev’ry feeling truly good;
But think not because you are vicious,
That we will calmly bear the wrong, 10
Which you’re resolve’d to heap upon us,—
Robb’d of the rights which us belong
Think not because taxation robbs[2] us
Of most the wages that we earn;
Think not because tyrants oppress us 15
And cause the nation sore to mourn,
That we will ever cease demanding,
The rights that are to us most dear:
The justice of the “People’s Charter”
Does Frost e’en in his dungeon cheer. 20
Though Vincent in his cell be groaning,
Beneath injustice’s cruel sway;
Think not he will forsake our Charter,
Nor unto tyranny give way.
Tyrants may meanly wish to [thwart[3]] us 25
From striving freedom to regain,
But they as soon might still the motion
Of yonder angry foaming main.
Do they suppose we’re so far fallen,
As not to know what is our due? 30
If they think so they are mistaken,
We are resolved to have it too.
To have our rights we are resolved
Whate’er the pain, whate’er the cost:
Our children never of us shall say, 35
Through our neglect their rights were lost.
No Frost thy body they ill ne’er quarter,
Brittons[2] can never see it done:
Thy liberation we’ll procure;
Unto thy home thou shalt return. 40
Thy wife and daughters they are pining,
With grief at what thou’rt doom’d to bear;

But thanks unto the God of freedom,
Their bloody threats though dost not fear.
O’Connor too they next will pounce on; 45
He too they’ve marked for their prey:
They think if they can crush our leaders,
Tyranny then may have full sway,
Be not deceiv’d short-sighted tyrants!
The pits you dig for freedom’s fall, 50
Will swallow up your own vile system.
Slav’ry and tyrants one and all.
Those means you take to crush our freedom,
Will make it progress faster still;
Like a poor jaded horse when drawing 55
A heavy load up yonder hill.
Perchance his driver comes behind him,
(Tyrants in him your picture see!)
And for to make him draw his burden,
The poor horse plods dreadfully, 60
(For hordes love their liberty,)
Puts to all strength that he possesses,
For to escape his tyranny.
So we the hill of freedom climbing,
When goaded by tyrannic pow’r, 65
Bring all our dormant courage forward,
And gain our liberties that hour.
Thanks to you tyrants for your curses;
For your oppression thanks again:
The means you take to crush our Charter, 70
Those means will us the Charter gain.
Stokesley ‘A Christian Republican’

George Markham Tweddell
[A lose sheet inserted in Rhymes in M/S]

[1]
John Frost (1784- 1877) a Newport (Monmouthshire) tailor
was a prominent member of the direct action (‘The Physical
Chartists’) branch of the Chartist movement. He led a mob of
3,000 fellow chartists in Newport to free a number of
imprisoned fellow members. In the fracas Frost was arrested,
found guilty of treason and sentenced to being hanged and
quartered. Later this was commuted to transportation for life to
Australia, where he stayed until 1856. Henry Vincent (1813-
1878) and Feargus O'Connor (c.1796–1855), mentioned later in
the poem, were colleagues of Frost, the former being involved
in the Newport riots, the latter a wealthy Irishman and the most
prominent Chartist of his age.
[2] sic
[3] Damage to the paper makes this word difficult to decipher
reliably.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/CHfrost.htm

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