Mind, and only mind, could gain
Such a conquest as they ask;
Stormy wind, and sandy plain,
Doubt and death attend the task.
They will make their gallant way,
Must achieve their glorious goal;
It is night subdued by day,
’Tis the mastery of the soul.
Let the dark Euphrates bear
English keel and English sail;
Not alone o’er wind and air
Will the enterprise prevail:
But our flag will bear around,
Faith and knowledge, light and hope,
Empire with no other bound
Than the wide horizon’s scope.
Honour to the generous band,
Bearing round our name and laws,
For the honour of our land,
For humanity’s great cause.
I allude to the voyage down the Euphrates. Conquest and commerce have been the two great principles of civilization. It is only of late years that we have seen the superiority of the sail over the sword. The expedition, whose advantages I have ventured above to prophesy, is in the noblest spirit of enlightened enterprise. We must take with us our knowledge; and so disturb, and eventually destroy the darkness, mental and moral, too long gathered on the East. The generous earnestness of science, and the enthusiasm of enterprise, were never more nobly marked than in the concluding passage of Colonel Chesney's letter to the Admiralty, announcing the loss of the Tigris steamer:—
"We are, therefore, continuing our descent and survey to Bussarah, hoping not only to bring up the mail from India within the specified time, but also, if it pleases God to spare us, to demonstrate the speed, economy, and commercial advantages of the river Euphrates, provided the decision of ministers shall be, in the true spirit of Englishmen, to give it a fair trial, rather than abandon the original purpose in consequence, of an unforeseen, and, as it is proved, an unavoidable calamity."
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