"And Thou, Sole Ruler among the children of men, to whom the
shields of the earth belong, 'gird on Thy sword, Thou most
Mighty'; go forth with our hosts in the day of battle! Impart, in
addition to their hereditary valour, that confidence of success
which springs from Thy Presence!
"Pour into their hearts the spirit of departed heroes! Inspire
them with Thine own, and, while led by Thine Hand and fighting
under Thy banners, open Thou their eyes to behold in every valley
and in every plain, what the prophet beheld by the same
illuminations--chariots of fire, and horses of fire!
"Then shall the strong man be as tow, and the maker of it as a
spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench
them."
We, who have just emerged, shattered indeed and reeling, from
another and yet more awful combat for freedom, can the better extend
our sympathy to those forefathers of ours situated in like case, and can
imagine with what beating hearts they must have listened to so
magnificent a call to arms as this; commingling prayer, exhortation,
and benediction.
Napoleon, after all, waged his wars with us according to the laws of
nations, the rules of civilised peoples, and the dictates of decent
humanity. But never since Christianity has been established has one
man committed so dread and awful an accumulation of public iniquities
as stand for ever against the base and cowardly name of William
Hohenzollern, Emperor in Germany.
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