Free as the air that we inhale;

Fresh as from ocean springs the gale;

Prompt as the light of summer’s dawn,

Sweet as the hay-swath on the lawn;

Not tainted with corruption’s breath,

Breathed from the charnel house of death;

And, as the people wield the power,

Why not reform this very hour?

So long as magistrates can fleece,

Crime and its causes must increase;