To the tune of 'Onward Christian Soldiers', disapproving British liberals came up with their own version to lambast the Rhodesian invasion of Matabeleland in 1893, 'Onward Chartered Soldiers':
Onward Chartered Soldiers, on to heathen lands,
Prayer books in your pockets, rifles in your hands.
Take the florious tidings where trade can be done,
Spread the peaceful gospel --- with a Maxim gun.
Tell the wretched natives, sinful are their hearts,
Turn their heathen temples into spirit marts.
And if to your teaching they will not succumb,
Give them another sermon with the Maxim gun…
Tell them they are pagans in black error sunk;
Make of them good Christians – that is, make then drunk.
And if on the Bible they still dare to frown
You must do your duty; take and shoot them down
When the Ten Commandments they quite understand,
You their Chief must hocus, and annex their land;
And if they misguided call you to account,
Give them another sermon --- with a Maxim from the Mount.
The problem is that I cannot find out what 'florious' means, and some versions I have found online replace this with 'glorious' (which makes more sense, I suppose).
But does anyone know which word was originally used? And, if it is 'florious', what does that actually mean?
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