Most of the verses in this little volume were conceived and written, if
not quite finished, at the time of Cronje's surrender at Paardeberg.
A certain doubt, however, as to any message of theirs, though modestly
set off by a belief in their polemic and literary value, has, I think
now, unduly delayed their advent into the crowded world of print; and,
though the present juncture of a heralded, but, by no means, perfected
peace, be perhaps not a very opportune moment for their publication, I
have yet thought well to give them forth; the more, since what so be the
outcome of the negotiations pending, and whichsoever be the motive of
the stronger party thereto--whether a bitter, though slowly realized
necessity, or, a trick of pure heart, or, say, tardy insight and
charity, both--be this as it may--the long, though fruitless attempt on
England's part to compel a surrender by the South African republics of
their political existence, illustrating and upholding, as no modern
exhibition of this kind has done, how rampant is still in Man, and
collective Man especially, a tacit faith in the bigger fist, or,
euphemistically speaking, the predatory law of nature--this, I repeat
it, can never, it seems to me, be sufficiently reprehended; and a hearty
condemnation of it may, therefore, fitly form the theme of
conscientious, if necessarily, censorious verse: with which contention
the following pieces are frankly submitted, even at this late day of a
stupendous struggle of moral Right--whatsoever its intellectual grounds
and equipment--against an aggressive and overweening Might, whose
partial defence allowed, rests, after all, and as already maintained,
its wider base on purely material force, on that callous and objective
expediency, which History, in her account of human odds, evermore
reveals, and, far too often, glaringly condones.
NEW YORK, May, 1902.
* * * * *
Since the above was set down, Peace has at last gone forth, and of a
pace with the better drift and traditions of England; but even so,
there seems no valid ground why these Lyrics should not be heard, as an
exponent in brief--inadequate, if you like, yet human no less--of a, for
a long time, not to be forgotten broil, if, indeed, the sad imp of
Contention has had his last say about it.
November, 1902.