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EBENEZER ELLIOTT
(1781 - 1849)

A Hymn for Masters and Men
And A Poem Called Song

Here we have three items from the Corn Law Rhymer to examine - a newly discovered letter and two poems which have escaped notice. The first two items in this article were submitted to the Sheffield & Rotherham Independent newspaper in 1844 where they appeared in the issue for 21st of December. The third item is the brief poem "Song" which was sent to the same paper in 1849.

The items were all found by a Sheffield researcher called Diane Gascoyne who is an Ebenezer enthusiast.

The article begins with Ebenezer's letter below. The letter introduces his poem & discusses trade unions and the Corn Law.

To The Editor of The Independent

Great Houghton, 14th Dec., 1844.

DEAR SIR, - About a fortnight ago, I had the weakness to send to The League a hastily written poem. Happening to read in the Independent of the 23rd ult., your excellent report of the Trades' Unions meeting of delegates, I have revised the poem; and, although I know your rule is generally not to reprint, I now send it to you, in the hope that, if you print it, masters and men will try to sing it, instead of warring on each other, for the amusement (dangerous sport, though) of the world's worst foes. Sheffield, I agree with you, is not a "doomed city," because Trades' Unions have sprung out of the food monopoly, but because that monopoly is destroying Sheffield. You, perhaps, will not agree with me, that the food monopoly being murderous, and self preservation Nature's first law, every man is justified in averting from himself the consequences of that monopoly, by any means which are consistent with his personal safety, provided he do no harm to the persons or property of others. This, however, is my deliberate opinion; and I am also of opinion that Trades' Unionists - although in restricting production, they are imitating the landlords, who are destroying all - have, in self-defence, done some good, and postponed some evil. By preventing the fall of wages to the lowest food that will support life, they have, at least, for a time, prevented the departure of manufacturing capital from this country; for if wages had so fallen - and but for the Unions, they would - competition, under the Corn Laws, would have brought down profits in the same proportion; and capital will not stay here for potatoes, if it can get beef over the water. It can still get beef-broth here, if not beef; but another series of bad harvests, unless the Corn Laws be repealed in the meantime, may bring down profits permanently to potatoes; and then -

"May I never know it;
"May I never trow it;"
But, dying, believe that my country was saved.

They who would punish strikes, should first put down the cause of such disturbances - the landlords' parliamentary strike; and then, if it please them, hang, or starve to death, the conspiring filesmith.

I am, dear Sir,

yours very truly,

EBENEZER ELLIOTT

P. S. - If one of your musical readers will say that my verses will go to the tune, I will write another hymn to it, less abstract, and more calm.

"A British Marseillaise"

Tune - "The Marseillaise Hymn"

Men! ye who sow the earth with good;
Men! ye who earn the price of food;
Strong toil! and mightier skill! *
God's chosen! do his will;
Save from himself man's deadliest foe,
Ere ruin paint his overthrow,
His life of wrong, his death of shame,
His shroud and grave of blood and flame!
Haste, cry aloud to all, "By good for good men live;
Build not on broken hearts; Nor take, unless ye give!"

Shall savage drones, in baseness blind,
Breathe plagues, beneath the light of mind?
And famish skill and toil,
Because they curse the soil?
Where grows the vine, the thistle dies;
From cultur'd man the savage flies;
Then, peasant, merchant, artisan,
Transform the biped-brute to man!
Bid truth, bid knowledge turn his mindless night to day!
Bid love and mercy drive the human wolf away!

Men! not allow'd to earn your bread;
Men! feeding all, yourselves half fed;
Why ask for work in vain?
Or toil for death and pain?
Shall brutal things, in human form,
Feed on your souls, like rat and worm?
Say to your wives, "Ye shall not eat?"
Bid son with sire for graves compete? †
And mothers kill their babes, in flight from law and life,
'Till lawless law become th' assassin's match and knife?

Tool making man! whose foodful mind,
With harvest freights the wave and wind,
And thoughtfully creates
The bread and life of states! ‡
Say to the fed on tears and blood,
"Production is the root of good!"
And starve ye them who all produce
Ye costliest things of smallest use?
Live ye in barren pomp, worst, bloodiest sons of Cain
To shake your fists at God, and turn his good to bane?

The child that vainly toils to aid
Parents, death-doom'd by fetter'd trade;
The sire, whose hopeless son
Lives, but to be undone;
The townsman, paid with less and less;
The homeless thrall of hopelessness;
The peasant, spurn'd, starv'd, hunted, jail'd,
Because his law-made doom prevail'd;
Still shall they feed with pangs the Moloch of the land,
That rapine o'er crush'd hearts may drive his four-in-hand?

Barbarians, no! in vain ye strive
To keep a world's despair alive:
Your baseness is our might,
Your smitten darkness light.

Mend! ere your crimes set bondage free!
Christ said, "Let children come to me;"
And shall ye curse the marriage bed?
No! men shall wed, and babes be fed;
Our daughters shall not bring forth slaves;
Nor childless sons seek workhouse graves!
Nor idlers say to toil, "Thou shalt not love and live!"
Nor blind brutes say to skill, "We take, and thou shalt give!"

* Are the philosophers of the Gun and Standard, who pray for the destruction of trade, aware that six adults are sufficient for the cultivation of one hundred arable acres, and that if the profits of trade failed to furnish other consumers with an equivalent for the produce, the only cultivated portion of every cultivable hundred acres in Britain, would be that alone which is required for the maintainance of six adults and their families? It is of little importance to us what becomes of Messrs. Gun and Standard but it might be well for them to take into their sapient consideration the possibility, in such a case, (of the surplus of victims), taking possession of the land, and the certainty that, without capital, they could not cultivate it. What, then, would happen, oh, sages of the Gun and Standard? Before the inventions of Watt and Arkwright, the people depended on the land for subsistence; they have since depended on the profits of those inventions, the landlords pocketing the surplus profits both of trade and agriculture. Destroy the profits of trade, and the landlords, with two-thirds of the people, must perish, unless the displaced population, seizing the land, can also appropriate capital previously amassed. But perhaps Messrs. Gun and Standard have really nothing to lose?

† My late fellow-townsmen having discovered that it is the unemployed workman who brings wages down, will, I trust, soon experience, that where Free Trade is, an unemployed workman is a prodigy.

‡ I say not that man's hand is his mind; but had he not possessed that thumbed implement, I doubt whether his mind, with his powers of communicating and accumulating ideas, could have raised him to his present intellectual eminence. Given a jack-plane, he might have stuck it in his mouth, and worked with it; but what sort of jack-plane could he have made with his teeth? To his hand principally, he is indebted for his success in tool making; and it is as a tool maker or manufacturer of such things as spades, ploughs, steam-engines, and railroads, that he has wrought all his wonders. One of our most reverend doctors calls the population of such towns as Sheffield extrinsic not seeming to know that till there was a manufacturer there could be no agriculture, unless finger-grubbing for pignuts deserve that name. The first tool maker was the first gardener; he put an end to finger-grubbing for pignuts and called agriculture into existence. He, and subsequent tool makers, may truly be said to have created every ounce of food which industrial skill has since produced. If any population deserves to be called intrinsic, it is that which can make a hundred acres of land, cultivated commercially, to maintain more people than any ten thousand acres, cultivated agriculturally, ever yet did. About eight hundred acres of land at Leeds, cultivated commercially, maintain a hundred and forty thousand persons; - where shall we find a hundred thousand acres, cultivated agriculturally, maintaining an equal number? Had there never been a manufacturer, a few hordes of savages, fighting with the bears for roots, would now have constituted the worlds intrinsic population.

Comments on Ebenezer's letter

The poet's letter to the Sheffield & Rotherham Independent newspaper was written towards the end of the poet's life & shows that the bard had not changed his views as he grew older. He had a history of submitting items to the Independent which was very tolerant of the ageing poet even though by this time his fame had much declined. Robert Leader, the editor of the paper, was to write a very full obituary of the Corn Law Rhymer in five years time.

The League, referred to by Ebenezer, was the newspaper of the Anti-Corn Law League. Elliott had sent another poem to the League newpaper earlier in 1844 (this can be found in the Ebenezer Research Foundry under the title of "A Newly Discovered Poem Called Monopoly The Bane Of England." The fact that Elliott was still writing new poems in his early sixties says much for his persistence if not his creativity. As does the fact that his latest offering to the Independent was a re-working of a poem he had sent to The League.

Where Elliott refers to masters & men singing the poem, it is worth noting that many of Ebenezer's poems were meant to be sung. The hope that singing the verses will provoke harmony between businessmen & their workers appears naive, but does prompt the question of what troubles existed to cause the poet to make this remark. As the Rhymer immediately turns to trade unions, it is clear that the troubles between masters & men refer to trade union activity. Ebenezer feels positive about the role of the unions, as might be expected since he was always a supporter of the working man & his rights. The problems in Sheffield, he says, are not caused by the trade unions but by the lack of free trade (food monopoly). As a former businessman, he is aware that if profits disappear the country will be ruined; the only way out is to repeal the Corn Laws. The people who have caused strikes & other troubles are not union men, but the landlords - the "world's worst foes." The final sentence - which at face shows an uncaring attitude to agitators - really means that once the Corn Laws are removed, there will be no need for revolutionary movements nor conspiring filesmiths . Though it is worth noting that the Corn Law Rhymer was never in favour of violence to bring about change.

Comments on Ebenezer's poem

The Corn Law Rymer saw the poem as "A Hymn for Masters and Men" which was to be sung to the tune - "The Marseillaise Hymn." We have already noted that many of Elliott's poems were meant to be sung; perhaps the gestation of this poem owed something to the very popular "The People's Anthem" which the poet wrote to music a year or two earlier. The verses do not make any direct mention of France which makes the title of the poem provocative. Elliott had been admired in France as a force for revoltion & he had been brought up by a father who was a fervent supporter of the Revolution across the Channel. While Elliott took an interest in international affairs & favoured political change at home & abroad, the poem is not about a revolution since Elliott dreaded the idea of revolution in England - because of the violence it would bring & the resulting damage to business enterprises. The title, therefore, is not a siren demand for revolution, but a rational call for beneficial change. There is, though, a risk of an uprising against the "savage drones" who cause despair & poverty, but the skill & industry of working men, "God's chosen," will bring about a vast improvement in the quality of life. If ordinary men prosper, the barbarians who promote despair will be vanquished: "Where grows the vine, the thistle dies." So the poem, despite its title, is essentially optimistic.

The poem is quite long which allows Elliott time to drive home his point. It also gives him rein to use a techique which he used effectively in "The Black Hole of Calcutta" & similar poems in the "Corn Law Rhymes" - namely making lists of how different people are affected by their plight. The line "The townsmen, paid with less and less;" and the line "The peasant, spurn'd, starv'd, hunted, jail'd," are good examples. Here, the lines trip along urgently, and we know that Elliott is writing with his heart which makes him effective. Elsewhere we see other dimensions of the Corn Law Rhymer: "Production is the root of good!" sounds very much like Elliott in trader mode, yet with "savage drones" and "bloodiest sons of Cain" he leaps with indignation & rage.

Elliott often added notes or introductions to his poems. In "A British Marseillaise" there are 3 footnotes. In the first footnote Elliott is sarcastic about the wise men from the Gun and Standard who he lectures about the benefits of trade. In the second footnote, "My late fellow-townsmen" refers to the people of Sheffield - the poet having left Sheffield 3 years earlier. Unemployment will be a rarity when free trade moves in. The third footnote is a long ramble about how agriculture vastly improved through the progress made by business people.

Another Newly Discovered Poem Called "SONG"

Elliott gave the title "Song" to many of his poems. This particular example is recorded here since its international outlook means that it fits well with the other poem in this article.

Again the poem was discovered by Diane Gascoyne of Sheffield. It appeared in the Sheffield & Rotherham Independent on 18^th August 1849. This was only 4 months before the death of the poet - this surely makes it among the last works of the Corn Law Rhymer.

"SONG"

Written for Music, at the request of W. T. Wood, Esq.

HUNGARIANS! would ye despots quell

For evermore? Be men today!

Up! he who fights for Hungary

To every tyrant’s earthly hell

Shows Liberty the way!

And “Victory for Hungary”

To all mankind is Liberty!

Czar! think’st thou God will be thy slave?

He loathes and leaves the self-betrayed!

Think’st thou thy home is Hungary?

Yes, tyrant, if thou seek a grave,

‘Tis here – already made!

And “Victory for Hungary”

To all mankind is Liberty!

Then, Friends of Man, with heart and hand,

To save mankind, be men today!

For “Liberty and Hungary,”

To free the chain’d of every land,

Show Liberty the way!

And “Victory for Hungary”

Will give to all lands Liberty!

In 1848, the Hungarian Diet adopted a liberal constitution which more or less claimed independence from Austria. The Austrian emperor gave royal assent to the new constitution, but still regarded himself as head of state for Hungary. In April 1849, the Hungarians rejected any rule from the Hapsburgs & declared an independent state. In August, Hungary was invaded by Austria and the Czar of Russia. At the end of August, radical leaders were executed & the restrictive rule which preceded the revolution was re-established.

Elliott was clearly on the side of the Hungarians! He was always in favour of freedom and, despite his poor health, he was moved enough to vaunt his support against Austrian & Russian oppression.

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