"Men of Wilkes-Barre, again I tell you, to-day you have been delivered
from serfdom. Act as men, not as brutes.
"Choose some one to be your leader and let him direct you until to each
of you is given the opportunity to vote for the laws that you may
desire.
"With blare of trumpet and with tap of drum
Barbaric nations pay to Mars his due,
When victory crowns their arms. To him they sue
For privilege to war, though Mercy's thumb
Bids them as victors, rather to be mum,
And show a noble spirit to the foe;
To vaunt not at their fellow-creature's woe:
O'er victory only doth the savage thrum!
They conquer twice who from excess abstain;
The gentle nation that is forced to war,
In triumph seeks to hide, and put afar
All vestiges of carnage, and restore
Peace in the land, that men may turn again
To worthy toil, as they were wont before.
"Labour is your heritage; return to it."
He ends in a tumult of enthusiasm.
The multitude has been led from one emotion to another with such
rapidity that they are fairly bewildered.
Two things only are clear in all minds. Trueman, the man who has become
their most faithful champion, assures them that now they are to be free;
that they are to be made the sharers in the wealth they create; he also
tells them to select a leader.
By a spontaneous decision Trueman is the name that comes to every lip.
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