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242 The National Music of America.
" When our land is illumined with Liberty's smile, If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory, Down, down with the traitor who dares to defile The Flag of her stars and the page of her story! By the millions unchained Who their birthright have gained We will keep her bright blazon for ever unstained. And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave While the land of the Free is the home of the brave."
At the outset the South, too, hoped to use " The Star-spangled Banner" both as her hymn and her flag. The song had been written by a Southerner,1 and the flag itself belonged as much to the Southern as to the Northern States. Some new versions of the famous song were written in the Confederacy, and there were not a few Southerners who desired to claim the United States flag as their own, leaving to the North the task of selecting a new banner.2
The committee appointed to consider the
1 Key's descendants, however, refused to sing his song, as belonging to their Northern enemies.
2 See North American Review, November, 1879, P- 486. |
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