The neighing troop, the flashing blade, The bugle's stirring blast, The charge, the dreadful cannonade, The din and shout are passed; Nor war's wild note nor glory's peal Shall thrill with fierce delight Those breasts that never more may feel The rapture of the fight.
Like the fierce northern hurricane That sweeps this great plateau, Flushed with the triumph yet to gain, Came down the serried foe, Who heard the thunder of the fray Break o'er the field beneath, Knew well the watchword of that day Was "Victory or death!"
Full many a norther's breath has swept O'er Angostura's plain, And long the pitying sky has wept Above the moldering slain. The raven's scream or eagle's flight Or shepherd's pensive lay Alone now wakes each sullen height That frowned o'er that dread fray.
Sons of the Dark and Bloody Ground, Ye must not slumber there, Where stranger steps and tongues resound Along the heedless air; Your own proud land's heroic soil Shall be your fitter grave; She claims from war its richest spoil, The ashes of her brave.
So 'neath their parent turf they rest, Far from the gory field, Borne to a Spartan mother's breast On many a bloody shield; The sunshine of their native sky Smiles sadly on them here, And kindred eyes and hearts watch by The hero's sepulcher.
Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead! Dear as the blood ye gave, No impious footsteps here shall tread The herbage of your grave. Nor shall your glory be forgot While fame her record keeps Or honor points the hallowed spot Where valor proudly sleeps.
Yon marble minstrel's voiceless stone In deathless songs shall tell, When many a vanished age hath flown, The story how ye fell; Nor wreck nor change nor winter's flight Nor Time's remorseless doom Can dim one ray of holy light That gilds your glorious tomb.
The Great Events in the History of the Last One Hundred Years, Assembled so as to Present a Nutshell Record.
A congress of the European powers, held at Laibach, in Austria, determined to suppress the liberal movement in Italy and to restore absolute rule in Naples. King Ferdinand of Naples agreed, though he had recently sworn to uphold the constitution. Austrian armies invaded Piedmont and Naples, speedily crushed the revolutionary movement, and the leaders of the popular party were shot or imprisoned.