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 r * 4 l>Y Augustus 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER 
 
LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OF 
 
 CHAELES SUMMER, 
 
 Bv C. EDWARDS LESTER, 
 
 Author of " Glory and Shame of England," " The Napoleon Dynasty," 
 " Our First Hiindred Years?* etc., etc. 
 
 SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION. 
 
 UNITED STATES PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
 
 ii AND 13 UNIVERSITY PLACE. 
 
 1874. 
 
LOAN STACK 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by the 
 
 UNITED STATES PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 JOHN F. TROW & SON, 
 
 PRINTKRS AND BOOKBINDERS, 
 
 205-213 East i2t/i St., 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
May it please your Excellency We are com 
 manded by the Senate of the United States 
 to render back to you your illustrious dead. 
 Nearly a quarter of a century ago, you dedicated 
 to the public service a man who was even then 
 greatly distinguished. He remained in it, quick 
 ening its patriotism, informing its councils, and 
 leading in its deliberations, until having survived 
 in continuous service all his original associates, 
 he has closed his earthly career. With reverent 
 hands we bring to you his mortal part, that it 
 may be committed to the soil of the Common 
 wealth, already renowned, that gave him birth. 
 Take it ; it is yours. The part which we do not 
 return to you, is not wholly yours to receive ; 
 nor altogether ours to give. It belongs to the 
 country, to mankind, to freedom, to civilization, 
 to humanity. We come to you with emblems 
 of mourning which faintly typify the sorrow that 
 dwells in the breasts upon which they lie. So 
 much is due to the infirmity of human nature. 
 But, in the view of reason and philosophy, is it 
 not rather a matter of exultation, that a life so 
 pure in its personal qualities, so high in its pub 
 lic aims, so fortunate in the fruition of noble 
 effort, has closed safely before age had marred 
 its intellectual vigor, before time had dimmed 
 the lustre of its genius. 
 
 May it please your Excellency Our mission 
 is completed. We commit to you the body of 
 Charles Sumner. His undying fame the Muse 
 of history has already taken in her keeping. 
 
 SENATOR ANTHONY. 
 
LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 SECTION FIRST.. ..PARENTAGE AND EDUCATION. 
 
 SECTION SECOND EUROPEAN TRAVELS AND STUDIES. 
 
 SECTION THIRD PROFESSIONAL LIFE. 
 
 SECTION FOURTH . ..ORATIONS AND POLITICAL SPEECHES. 
 
 SECTION FIFTH SENATORIAL CAREER. 
 
 SECTION SIXTH THE INTERVAL OF ILLNESS. AND REPOSE. 
 
 SECTION SEVENTH.. ..RETURN TO THE SENATE. 
 
 SECTION EIGHTH THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 
 
 SECTION NINTH DOWNFALL OF SLAVERY. 
 
 SECTION TENTH EMANCIPATION OF THE AFRICAN RACE. 
 
 SECTION ELEVENTH His LAST GREAT EFFORTS. 
 
 SECTION TWELFTH PUBLIC HONORS TO His MEMORY. 
 
 SECTION THIRTEENTH., ..His INFLUENCE UPON His AGE. 
 
LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 Born Jan. 6, 1811. Died March n, 1874. 
 
 SECTION FIRST. 
 
 Parentage and Education. 
 
 MANY a grander tribute to the noble life of CHARLES 
 SUMNER will hereafter be paid by the pen ; but this one, 
 however unworthy, cannot be withheld while tears of 
 mingled love and sorrow are yet undried upon the cheek 
 of the nation. In private life, the first tributes to the 
 loved and the lost, are the best, because they are the 
 tenderest and most sincere. So, too, is it with a mourn 
 ing people ; and no offering of affection can be held more 
 sacred than that which flows unbidden from the bereav 
 ed heart. 
 
 Since the death of the Father of the Republic, which 
 filled the country with grief, and threw distant nations 
 into mourning, there have been but three funerals in 
 America which bore even a faint resemblance to that, in 
 the depth and extent of the public sorrow ; and these 
 have all occurred within the last few years: Theyfr^ 
 was of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, who holds the next place to 
 
2 LINCOLN GREELEY SUMNER. 
 
 WASHINGTON in the hearts of our people, and who is 
 enshrined among the few beloved names which all man 
 kind cherish : 
 
 The second was of HORACE GREELEY, whose death 
 revealed so wide-spread and strangely tender an affec 
 tion amongst all classes and conditions of men : 
 
 And now comes the last name in this wonderful tri 
 umvirate of great, gifted, and good men, who, taken 
 together, will in ages to come be mentioned on the 
 same historic page, whenever the leaf is turned which 
 records memorials of the astounding events which have 
 transpired so near the close of our First Hundred Years. 
 
 We by no means intimate that they alone will reflect 
 all the glory of their period ; for every scene of activity 
 and every field of achievement has been illustrated by 
 loyalty, patriotism, and valor, and they will long be re 
 membered with honor and gratitude ; but THESE THREE 
 NAMES CANNOT PERISH. To one and all we may safely 
 apply the words which WEBSTER from Bunker Hill ad 
 dressed to the soul of its departed hero : 
 
 " Our poor work may perish, but thine shall endure ! This monument 
 may moulder away : the solid ground it rests upon may sink down to a level 
 with the sea ; but his memory shall not fail. Wherever among men a 
 heart shall be found that beats to the transports of Patriotism and 
 Liberty, its aspirations shall be to claim kindred with thy spirit." 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER was born in Boston, January 6, 
 1811. He was fortunate in his ancestry, for they were 
 the best stock of the two Englands the Old and the 
 New and that meant the best stock of men on the earth. 
 Physically, they were tall, broad-shouldered, strong, fine- 
 looking men. From the early settlement of Massachu 
 setts Bay, the Sumners had been distinguished for their 
 
AUSPICIOUS BIRTH. 3 
 
 learning, valor, and public services. Among them, 
 INCREASE SUMNER had distinguished himself as one of 
 the greatest judges and governors of the State. When 
 he was inducted into office, his personal appearance was 
 so imposing, as compared with HANCOCK and ADAMS 
 the former a cripple from the gout, the other bowed 
 down with infirmity that there was an exclamation of 
 satisfaction on all sides " Thank God we have at last 
 got a Governor that can walk ! " 
 
 The late Senator s father, CHARLES PINCKNEY SUMNER, 
 maintained the judicial and scholarly prestige of his an 
 cestry, and his father had done good work in the public 
 cause during Colonial and Revolutionary days. 
 
 We attach a good deal of importance to these facts ; 
 for, however common it may be in Democracies, to speak 
 slightingly of noble descent, yet all men of sense are well 
 aware that nothing more valuable can be inherited than 
 good sound blood strong, healthy constitutions, ample 
 and vigorous frames, well put together, unless indeed 
 it may be what is so generally allied to all these quali 
 ties strong, healthy brains, vigorous intellect, and manly 
 character. But, when to all this are joined habits of 
 learning, graces of scholarship, dignified manners, broad 
 intelligence, familiarity with public affairs, the respect of 
 their fellow-men, with high standing in good society, 
 and enough of fortune lands and money to command 
 all the advantages which a competency of this world s 
 goods can bestow; it would be strange indeed if, from 
 such sources, strong characters should not grow up. It 
 was under such auspices that CHARLES SUMNER S boy 
 hood began, and the ripened fruit of all this auspicious 
 planting showed itself throughout his well-rounded life. 
 
 From the first colonizing of the country, Massachu- 
 
4 ACADEMIC AND UNIVERSITY COURSE. 
 
 setts Bay had planted institutions of learning, and nur 
 tured them with the utmost care. In less than twenty 
 years from the landing of the Pilgrims, the foundations 
 of Harvard College had been laid, and her teachers 
 were among the most learned men of England. The 
 common schools of the Colony were then the best in 
 the world, those of Boston leading the way. At the 
 time CHARLES SUMNER S education began, these common 
 schools had grown to be so excellent, that JOHN QUINCY 
 ADAMS said if he had as many sons as King Priam, 
 he would send them all to the district school. In his 
 tenth year he entered the Public Latin School of 
 Boston, where he began his preparation for maturer 
 studies, carrying away from all rivals the prizes for 
 English composition and Latin poetry, besides gaining 
 medals for distinction in other departments. His final 
 preparation for college was completed at the Phillips 
 Academy, when he entered the University, where a 
 brilliant list of SUMNERS on the scrolls, stretched through 
 more than a hundred years. 
 
 Having formed thorough habits of study, he easily 
 surmounted every difficulty that lay in his way, and 
 being graduated with honor in 1830, he still continued 
 his studies, with the aid of private tutors, for another 
 year, when he entered the law school at Cambridge, 
 under the special encouragement of Judge STORY, who 
 formed for him a deep attachment, which grew more 
 earnest and genial to the end of that great man s life. 
 He predicted for his protege the earliest and highest 
 success as a jurist, remarking that he had never seen a 
 young man so readily master the profound principles of 
 law. From early boyhood History had for him a 
 special fascination. He loved investigation for its own 
 
PRACTICE OF LAW. 5 
 
 sake so well, that almost insensibly to himself he be 
 came the best historical student of his time ; and this 
 alone can account for the endless wealth of illustration 
 he had stored up for future use in public life. Having 
 the Law Library under his control as its librarian, he 
 could lay his hand instantly upon any volume, and he 
 amazed the ripe jurists around him with the enormous 
 extent and minuteness of his learning. He seemed to 
 make an exhaustive study of every subject that came 
 before him. The text-books which filled the scope of 
 study for his associates, were but guides for him to 
 broader and deeper explorations. 
 
 During his law studies he wrote several articles for 
 The American Jurist, of which he subsequently be 
 came editor. Being admitted to the Bar in 1834, he found 
 himself suddenly launched into a successful and lucrative 
 practice, which even with able men, had been considered 
 the reward only of long years of patient industry and 
 assiduous application. He was soon appointed Reporter 
 of the United States Circuit Court, over which Judge 
 STORY presided ; and his three volumes of that jurist s 
 decisions, made him as well-known to the lawyers of 
 England as he was at home. In fact, he soon reached 
 so hiofh a standing-, that he delivered lectures before the 
 
 o o 
 
 Law School, in the absence of either Judge STORY or 
 Professor GREEN LEAF; and with so much acceptance 
 that, by the advice of those eminent men, he was invited 
 to the chair of a Professor in the institution. But, regard 
 ing all he had hitherto done as only preliminary to larger 
 attainments, he unhesitatingly declined the honor. The 
 learned ANDREW DUNLAP had before this written " A 
 Treatise on the Practice of the Courts of Admiralty in 
 Civil Causes of Maritime Jurisdiction," but was prevented 
 
6 EUROPEAN TRAVELS AND STUDIES. 
 
 by illness from bringing it out. The editorship of it was 
 committed to Mr. SUMNER, who received from the author 
 on his death-bed, the most unqualified and grateful 
 praise for the manner in which he had performed his 
 task. 
 
 The young lawyer had now entered upon a brilliant 
 career, with prospects that would have gratified the am 
 bition of almost any other man. But with a loftier ambi 
 tion, he threw up his practice, to visit Europe, where he 
 could pursue his studies to greater advantage, and care 
 fully survey the structure of society and government in 
 the old world. Unrestricted in means, he could travel 
 as far, or reside as long, as he pleased. 
 
 SECTION SECOND. 
 
 European Travels and Studies. 
 
 HE sailed for England, with letters of introduction from 
 Judge STORY and many distinguished Americans, to the 
 most eminent jurists and public men of Europe. Judge 
 STORY, in particular, had requested Lord BROUGHAM. 
 then Lord Chancellor, to afford him the means of witness 
 ing most advantageously, the proceedings of the Courts 
 of Westminster Hall, and observe the workings of the 
 British Constitution in every department of the Govern 
 ment. It is not surprising that with his high attainments, 
 and with such letters, he was warmly received by the 
 great men of England, and everywhere treated as a com 
 panion, and a guest. He was invited to a seat on the 
 bench in every court he entered. There was not a book, 
 
FRANCE GERMANY ITALY. 7 
 
 manuscript, or authority in a public or private library of 
 England, that was not at his command ; everybody was 
 ready to assist him in his more recondite researches ; 
 and for a whole Session he was an attentive listener to 
 the debates of Parliament. 
 
 It was the same in Paris, where, a perfect French 
 scholar, he was in constant attendance in the Chamber 
 of Deputies, frequently visiting the lecture-rooms of the 
 Sorbonne, and the College of France, all of whose Pro 
 fessors acceded to his slightest wish to aid him with the 
 fruits of their learning and experience. 
 
 General CASS, then our minister to France, was en 
 gaged in the investigation of our claim to the North 
 eastern Boundary, and at his request, Mr. SUMNER wrote 
 that celebrated Treatise on the subject, which excited 
 such great admiration in this country. 
 
 He went through Germany, with the same objects in 
 view ; and being master of that language also, he accu 
 mulated vast stores of learning by conversations with 
 the great scientists and statesmen of that nation. He 
 afterwards extended his journey to Italy, where again 
 his ripe scholarship, in that most beautiful of all modern 
 tongues, multiplied his facilities for acquisition, and en 
 hanced greatly the charms of his visit. 
 
 But his objects were not limited to the acquisition of 
 mere learning. Endowed by nature with a delicate 
 sense of the beautiful, and having an intense relish for 
 society, he often said that it was impossible for him to 
 give to ordinary persons anything like an adequate idea 
 of the exquisite pleasure he experienced in studying Art in 
 the best galleries of Europe, and enjoying the society of 
 its most learned and gifted men and women. These 
 few years he always looked back upon as the most use- 
 
8 LEGAL AUTHORSHIP. 
 
 ful and delightful of his life. He once said to me that 
 the memory of those days often broke upon his mind 
 like fresh fountains amidst the sterility of years. 
 
 During this period, he commenced to gather whatever 
 objects of art and beauty suited his refined, artistic taste ; 
 and it grew into the beautiful collection he finally made, 
 which was a source of so much pleasure to himself and 
 his friends, and imparted a nameless charm to his library- 
 home. He had a special passion for engravings, of which 
 his was doubtless the finest private collection in this 
 country. 
 
 SECTION THIRD. 
 
 Professional Life. 
 
 IN 1840 Mr. SUMNER returned from what would have 
 been to most men only a long holiday of pleasure, but 
 which to him had been a University life and a holiday, 
 all blended in one ; and, after a few hearty hand 
 shakings, he dashed again with all his fervor into the 
 study of the science of law, and its engrossing practice. 
 Again he became Lecturer at the Law School, and 
 before 1846 he had edited, with matchless ability, 
 Veseys Reports, in twenty volumes. The learning he 
 displayed in this labor was immense ; for it was by no 
 means confined to verbal, or even judicial criticism. 
 The volumes were enlivened by vivid and captivating 
 biographical sketches of great lawyers and jurists, 
 besides apt, fresh, and learned annotations. It would 
 be difficult to find another instance, in any country, of 
 
MR. SUMNER IN HIS STUDY. 
 
ORATIONS AND SPEECHES. 9 
 
 so mature and splendid a reputation won at so early an 
 age, for he had not reached his thirty-fifth year. 
 
 But Charles Sumner s life-career had not yet com 
 menced. Shining as was the structure he had already 
 reared, none knew the depths of the foundations he 
 had been laying. This ornate edifice of a dazzling 
 reputation was soon to give way for a structure of 
 more colossal proportions, which was to grow larger 
 and grander every year; and which, although it had so 
 often seemed complete, yet in his own judgment was still 
 left unfinished when he was so suddenly summoned 
 away. 1 
 
 SECTION FOURTH. 
 
 Orations and Political Speeches. 
 
 I. 
 
 MR. SUMNER S political life was now to begin, and he 
 chose for its opening the occasion of the National Anni 
 versary of 1844, which was to be observed in Boston 
 with unusual interest. A brief glance at the state of 
 public affairs at the time, will faintly show what signifi 
 cance there was in the choice of the orator, and what im 
 portant results were to follow his startling utterances. 
 
 American slavery was then in the zenith of its fearful 
 
 1 With a flippancy which hardly became a sacred place, and with a superficiality of 
 judgment that was hardly expected, even from such a quarter, and while the dead 
 Senator s body was resting in this city, on its way to the grave, the remark was 
 made from a celebrated pulpit, that he had lived three years too long. It is a 
 matter of sincere congratulation, among men who entertain a different opinion, that 
 the Supreme Council that determined that matter was not swayed by the popular 
 declaimer who made the remark. 
 
10 THE SLAVE POWER. 
 
 and unthreatened reign. It held the whole nation 
 bound hand and foot. It dictated every law passed by 
 Congress, and inspired every measure adopted in the 
 Cabinet. It controlled the Press of a free, and exulted 
 in the sanction of the Pulpit of a Christian, nation. It 
 was extending its dark shadow over soil then free, and 
 claiming its inhuman jurisdiction over every Northern 
 hearth-stone. It unblushingly boasted that it would one 
 day call the slave-roll on Bunker Hill And why should 
 the menace seem so unmeaning ? Had not Boston seen 
 William Lloyd Garrison, the chief apostle of freedom, 
 dragged through her streets with a halter about his 
 neck, within sight of that column of Liberty, with scarce 
 a protest from her opulent and polite citizens ? Had not 
 the Governor and Legislature of Georgia set a price 
 upon the head of that prophet of the coming dispensa 
 tion of freedom ; and should not the Northern Athens 
 obey the behest of her cotton king ? 
 
 African Slavery had become as sacred in the pre 
 cincts of Faneuil Hall, as it was in the slave-den of 
 Washington, where the sound of the auctioneer s hammer 
 knocking down men, women, and children to the highest 
 bidder, could be heard from the steps of the Capitol 
 itself. More slave property was owned in Boston than 
 in Charleston abolitionist was as odious a name in Bea 
 con Street as it was in the St. Charles Hotel in New Or 
 leans SLAVERY HAD BECOME THE LAW OF THE GREAT 
 REPUBLIC. 
 
 How then could Boston regard any word of irreverence 
 towards that all-powerful Institution, as less than a de 
 claration of war a I entrance against the slaveholdinof 
 
 o o 
 
 States ? And to inflame the indignity, these insulting 
 words had been uttered by one of the most brilliant and 
 
TRUE GRANDEUR OF NATIONS. II 
 
 admired of her own long-descended aristocrats ! What 
 could not be tolerated, even in so plebeian a fanatic as 
 Garrison, no longer than a rope could be thrown to a 
 howling mob, rose when coming from the lips of the 
 eloquent and travelled young patrician, the most atrocious 
 blasphemy against God and the Constitution ! And yet 
 his great theme was "The True Grandeur of Nations," 
 and the burden of his oration was Peace, an oration 
 which Cobden, the most eloquent advocate of peace in 
 Europe, pronounced " the noblest contribution ever 
 made by any modern writer to the cause of peace." But 
 it gave offence to the magnates of the Whig Party in 
 Massachusetts, since it was known that they were fast 
 drifting, body and soul, into the embraces of the slave- 
 power, which was demanding fresh aggressions upon the 
 territory of Mexico, with a view to wrest from her some 
 of her fairest possessions, to be devoted to the demon 
 of human servitude. Mr. Sumner early foresaw that 
 this would end in a collision with our sister republic, and 
 which, under the dictation of the slave oligarchy, would 
 be attended with outrages and injustice. The Whigs 
 had been greatly weakened by the death of Harrison, 
 and the wavering policy, and final defection of John 
 Tyler ; and the Democrats, preparing to regain their lost 
 power, were also ready to bid for the pro-slavery vote. 
 Thus both parties would hold up their hands for any 
 measure that would give them votes, no matter how 
 great the demolition of principle. 
 
 II. 
 
 IN this oration, Mr. Sumner uttered the memorable 
 declaration which went through the world : " In our 
 
12 INDICATIONS OF POLITICAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 age, there can be no peace that is not honorable ; there 
 can be no war that is not dishonorable." We shall give 
 no space here to any part of that oration, since other 
 speeches on the same subject were elicited by subse 
 quent occasions, when his prophecies were fast becom 
 ing history, by the anticipations of war with Mexico 
 being turned into the most active hostilities. But a 
 careful reading of that oration, which marked Mr. Sum- 
 ner s first appearance before the country as a public 
 man, will satisfy any student of his Speeches, that on 
 this Fourth of July, 1844, he gave clear indications of 
 the policy he was to pursue in future life. Nor could a 
 prophet have marked out with greater clearness, than 
 the historian could afterwards, the course Mr. Sumner 
 would take in whatever crisis might arise, involving the 
 fortunes of freedom, or of peace, in the coming struggles 
 of parties. 
 
 Another point should here be observed, for it gave 
 an index to his character which distinguished him ever 
 afterwards from nearly all the prominent men who were 
 to flourish during the approaching times of excitement 
 and trouble. We speak of his inflexibility of purpose; 
 his steady persistence in opposing at any and at all 
 hazards, whatever he believed to be morally, socially, 
 or politically wrong, his absolute insensibility to oppo 
 sition or criticism, come from what quarter they might ; 
 and the admirable and absolutely unparalleled steadi 
 ness with which he pursued the great objects of his 
 life. 
 
 He then began to experience, what he had so many 
 occasions to encounter the criticisms of his friends, as 
 well as the assaults of his enemies ; the one scarcely 
 exceeding in bitterness the cold reproofs, or only half- 
 
SUMMER S TRIALS OF CHARACTER. 13 
 
 concealed satire of the others. Without a single excep 
 tion, no man in our history has had to pass through 
 such ordeals as CHARLES SUMNER. Whenever a new 
 crisis rose in the country, he was found marching way 
 ahead of the friends who had so reluctantly just come 
 up to the last position he had taken; and thus they 
 were continually falling off from him, one by one, all 
 the time ; and sometimes whole battalions of them 
 together. 
 
 But with the single exception of the Supplemental 
 Civil Rights Bill, which caused him almost the only lin 
 gering regret he had in dying so soon, he lived to see 
 every public measure he had proposed involving a great 
 principle of liberty, either fully incorporated into the 
 Amended Constitution, or fairly expressed in some sta 
 tute that was never afterwards to be repealed. And yet 
 he seldom rose on the floor of the Senate to announce 
 for the first time a new step in advance, without finding 
 himself nearly alone ; generally without supporters ; 
 sometimes without one : and all through this protracted 
 struggle for principle, he was not only subject to the 
 violent persecution of the public press, and the desertion 
 of personal friends, but the object of official insults, and 
 even attempts at Senatorial degradation. Thus in trac 
 ing his career, we shall mark these points as we pass by 
 them, only indicating them now in brief, that the reader 
 may bear in mind these strong attributes of Mr. SUM- 
 NER S character, to enable him more fully to comprehend 
 how arduous was his warfare, how immovable was his 
 integrity, how sublime was his faith ; how he, more than 
 any other man in our history, illustrated what was so 
 well applied to BURKE, that " he never gave up to party 
 what was meant for mankind." 
 
14 HE JOINS THE ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 
 
 III. 
 
 Although Mr. Sumner had not yet taken any prominent 
 part in the anti-slavery movement, of which Boston was 
 the chief centre, yet, as early as 1838 he had become a 
 member of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, and 
 had fully made known his hostility to slavery. But he 
 differed widely with Mr. GARRISON, who cast off all alle 
 giance to the Constitution of the United States, on the 
 ground that it sanctioned slavery ; while Mr. SUMNER 
 was determined to fight the battle inside of the Constitu 
 tion ; declaring, in the most unqualified terms, that this 
 sacred instrument was hostile to slavery in all respects 
 that it was established in the spirit of the Declaration 
 of Independence, which he regarded as the charter of 
 perpetual liberty to the nation. He insisted that while the 
 Constitution did recognize the existence of involuntary 
 servitude, and conceded temporarily certain privileges 
 to slaveholders, yet, that the founders of the Instrument 
 had no belief in the perpetuity of slavery ; and, therefore, 
 he considered it to be sound policy to carry on the war 
 against slavery, under the shield of the Constitittion. 
 Hence he gave to the Party the watch-word which was 
 everywhere inscribed upon their banners, " THE REPEAL 
 OF SLAVERY UNDER THE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS OF 
 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT." 
 
 IV. 
 
 In the first address he delivered on a plan of action 
 with a view to the ultimate abolition of slavery, he said, 
 in Faneuil Hall, Nov. 4th, 1845: 
 
CONSTITUTIONAL HOSTILITY TO SLAVERY. 15 
 
 The time has passed when this can be opposed on constitutional 
 grounds. It will not be questioned by any competent authority that 
 Congress may, by express legislation, abolish slavery, first, in the Dis 
 trict of Columbia ; second, in the Territories, if there should be any ; 
 third, that it may abolish the slave trade on the high seas between the 
 States ; fourth, that it may refuse to admit any new State with a consti 
 tution sanctioning slavery. Nor can it be doubted that the people of 
 the free States may, in the manner pointed out by the Constitution, 
 proceed to its amendment. 
 
 There is in the Constitution no compromise on the subject of slavery 
 of a character not to be reached legally and constitutionally, which is the 
 only way in which I propose to reach it. Wherever power and jurisdic 
 tion are secured to Congress, they may unquestionably be exercised in 
 conformity with the Constitution. And even in the matters beyond exist 
 ing powers and jurisdiction there is a constitutional mode of action. The 
 Constitution contains an article pointing out how, at any time, amend 
 ments may be made thereto. This is an important article, giving to the 
 Constitution a progressive character, and allowing it to be moulded to 
 suit new exigencies and new conditions of feeling. The wise framers of 
 this instrument did not treat the country as a Chinese foot, never to 
 grow after its infancy, but anticipated the changes incident to its .growth. 
 
 But it was not until November 4, 1845, that he took 
 his final position on the subject ; and this he did in ad 
 dressing a mass-meeting in Faneuil Hall, against the an 
 nexation of Texas. In the opening of that speech, to 
 every sentence of which the future was to impart strange 
 significance, he paid a graceful tribute to the chairman, 
 Hon. JOHN G. PALFREY, then Secretary of the Common 
 wealth, for an act which won for him universal respect, 
 and admiration, viz., the manumission of a body of slaves 
 that had descended to him by inheritance, and whom he 
 had " conducted far away from slavery, into these more 
 cheerful precincts of freedom." " By this act," said Mr. 
 SUMNER, " he has done as a citizen, what Massachusetts 
 is now called upon to do as a State divest herself of 
 all responsibility for any occasion of slave property." 
 
l6 ADMISSION OF TEXAS OPPOSED. 
 
 In approaching his subject, he spoke of " occasions in 
 the progress of affairs when the attention of all, though 
 ordinarily opposed to each other, is arrested ; and even 
 the lukewarm, the listless, the indifferent, unite heartily in 
 a common object. Such is the case in great calamities, 
 when the efforts of all are needed to avert a fatal blow. If 
 the fire-bells startle us from our slumbers, we do not ask 
 of what faith in politics or religion is the unfortunate 
 brother who is exposed to destruction. It is enough 
 that there is misfortune to be averted. In this spirit, we 
 have assembled, putting aside all distinctions of party, 
 forgetting all disagreements of opinion, renouncing all 
 discords, only to cling to one ground on \vhich we all 
 meet in concord I mean opposition to the admission of 
 Texas as a slave State." 
 
 The scheme for the annexation of Texas, he continued, begun in 
 stealth and fraud, and with the view to extend and strengthen slavery, 
 has not yet received the final sanction of Congress. Even according 
 to the course pursued by the framers of this measure, it is necessary 
 that Texas should be formally admitted into the family of States by a 
 vote of Congress, and that her Constitution should be approved by 
 Congress. The question on this measure will arise this winter, and we 
 would, if we could, strengthen the hands and the hearts of the friends 
 of freedom by whom the measure will be opposed. 
 
 Ours is no factious or irregular course. It has the sanction of the 
 highest examples on a kindred occasion. In 1819, the question now 
 before us arose on the admission of Missouri as a slave State. I need 
 not remind you of the ardor and constancy with which this was opposed 
 at the North, by men of all parties, with scarcely a dissenting voice. 
 One universal chorus of protests thundered from the Free States against 
 the formation of what was called another black State. Meetings were 
 convened in all the considerable towns in Philadelphia, Trenton, 
 New York, New Haven, and everywhere throughout Massachusetts, in 
 order to give expression to this opposition in a manner to be audible 
 on the floor of Congress. At Boston, on December 3d, 1819, a meet 
 ing was held in the State-house, without distinction of party, and em- 
 
OPPOSITION TO ADMISSION OF MISSOURI. I/ 
 
 bracing the leaders of both sides. That meeting, in its objects, was 
 precisely like this now assembled. A large committee was appointed 
 to prepare resolutions. Of this committee, William Eustis, afterwards 
 Governor of Massachusetts, was chairman. With him were associated 
 John Phillips, at that time President of the Senate of Massachusetts 
 a name dear to every friend of the slave as the father of him to whose 
 eloquent voice we hope to listen to-night Timothy Bigelow, Speaker 
 of the House of Representatives, William Gray, Henry Dearborn, 
 Josiah Quincy, Daniel Webster, William Ward, of Medford, William 
 Prescott, Thomas H. Perkins, Stephen White, Benjamin Pickman, 
 William Sullivan, George Blake, David Cummings, James Savage, John 
 Gallison, James T. Austin, and Henry Orne. A committee, more 
 calculated to inspire the confidence of all sides, *could not have been 
 appointed. Numerous as were its members, they were all men of 
 mark, high in the confidence and affections of the country. This com 
 mittee reported the following resolutions, which were adopted by the 
 meeting : 
 
 Resolved, As the opinion of this meeting, that the Congress of the 
 United States possess the constitutional power upon the admission of 
 any new State created beyond the limits of the original territory of the 
 United States, to make the prohibition of the further extension of 
 slavery, or involuntary servitude, in such new State, a condition of its 
 admission. 
 
 Resolved, That, in the opinion of this meeting, it is just and ex 
 pedient that this power should be exercised by Congress upon the 
 admission of all new States, created beyond the original limits of the 
 United States. 
 
 The meeting in Boston was followed by one in Salem, called, accord 
 ing to the terms of the notice, "to consider whether the immense 
 region of country extending from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean 
 is destined to be the abode of Happiness, Independence, and Freedom, 
 or the wide prison of misery and slavery" Resolutions against the 
 admission of any slave State were passed, being supported by Benjamin 
 T. Pickman, Andrew Dunlap, and Joseph Story, a name of authority 
 wherever found. 
 
 By these assemblies, the Commonwealth was aroused. It opposed 
 an unbroken front to slavery. 
 
 Twenty-five years have passed since these efforts in the cause of 
 freedom. Some of the partakers in them are still spared to us, full of 
 years and honors ; but the larger part have been called from the duty 
 2 
 
1 8 SLAVERY MADE OUR OWN ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 of opposing slavery on earth, to His presence, whose service is perfect 
 freedom. But the same question which aroused their energies, presents 
 itself to us. Shall we be less faithful than they ? Will Massachusetts 
 oppose a less unbroken front now than then ? In the lapse of these 
 few years has the love of freedom diminished ? Has the sensibility to 
 human suffering lost any of the keenness of its edge ? 
 
 Let us regard the question closely. Congress is called upon to sanc 
 tion the Constitution of Texas, which not only supports slavery, but 
 which contains a clause prohibiting the Legislature of the State from 
 abolishing slavery. In doing this, it will give a fresh stamp of legis 
 lative approbation to an unrighteous system ; it will assume a new and 
 .active responsibility for the system ; it will again become a dealer, on 
 a gigantic scale, in human flesh. Yes, at this moment, when the con 
 science of mankind is at last aroused to the enormity of holding a 
 fellow-man in bondage ; when, throughout the civilized world, a slave- 
 dealer is a bye- word and a reproach, we, as a nation, are about to 
 become proprietors of a large population of slaves. Such an act, at 
 this time, is removed from the reach of the palliation often extended to 
 : slavery. Slavery, we are speciously told by those who seek to defend 
 it, is not our original sin. It was entailed upon us, so we are in 
 structed, by our ancestors ; and the responsibility is often, with exulta 
 tion, thrown upon the mother country. Now, without stopping to 
 inquire into the truth of this suggestion, it is sufficient for the present 
 purpose, to know that by welcoming Texas as a slave State we do make 
 slavery our own original sin. Here is a new case of actual transgres 
 sion which we cannot cast upon the shoulders of any progenitors, nor 
 upon any mother country, distant in time or place. The Congress of 
 the United States, the people of the United States, at this day, in this 
 -vaunted period of light, will be responsible for it ; so that it shall be said 
 ihereafter, so long as the dismal history of slavery is read, that in the year of 
 Christ, 1846, a new and deliberate act was passed to confirm and extend it. 
 
 By the present movement we propose no measure of change. We 
 do not offer to .interfere with any institutions of the Southern States, 
 nor to modify any law on the subject of slavery anywhere under the 
 Constitution of the United States. Our movement is conservative in 
 its character. It is to preserve the existing supports of freedom ; it is 
 to prevent a violation of the vital principles of free institutions. 
 
 By the proposed measure, we not only become parties to the acquisi 
 tion of a large population of slaves, with all the crime of slavery ; but 
 we open a new market for the slaves of Virginia and the Carolinas, 
 
"LET US TRY." 19 
 
 and legalize a new slave trade. A new slave trade ! Consider this 
 well. You cannot forget the horrors of what is called " the middle 
 passage," when the crowds of unfortunate human beings, stolen, and 
 borne by sea far from their warm African homes, are pressed on ship 
 board into spaces of smaller dimensions for each than a coffin. And 
 yet the deadly consequences of this middle passage have been supposed 
 to fall short of those, which are sometimes undergone by the wretched 
 caravans, driven from the exhausted lands of the Northern slave States 
 to the sugar plantations nearer to the sun of the South. It is supposed, 
 that one-quarter part often perish in these removals. I see them, in ima 
 gination, on this painful passage, chained in bands or troops, and driven 
 like cattle, leaving behind what has become to them a home and a coun 
 try (alas ! what a home, and what a country !) husband torn from wife, 
 and parent from child, and sold anew into a more direful captivity. Can 
 this take place with our consent, nay, without our most determined 
 opposition ? If the slave trade is to receive a new adoption from our 
 country, let us have no part or lot in it. Let us wash our hands of this 
 great guilt. As we read its horrors, may each of us be able to exclaim, 
 with a conscience void of offence, "Thou canst not say I did it." 
 God forbid, that the votes and voices of the freemen of the North 
 should help to bind anew the fetter of the slave ! God forbid, that the 
 lash of the slave-dealer should be nerved by any sanction from New 
 England ! God forbid, that the blood which spirts from the lacerated, 
 quivering flesh of the slave, should soil the hem of the white garments 
 of Massachusetts ! 
 
 But we are told that all exertions will be vain, and that the admis 
 sion of a new slave State is "a foregone conclusion." But this is no 
 reason why we should shrink from our duty. " I will try," was the ex 
 clamation of an American general on the field of battle. " England 
 expects every man to do his duty," was the signal of the British admi 
 ral. Ours is a contest holier than those which aroused these animating 
 words. Let us try ; let every man do his duty. 
 
 And suppose New England stands alone in these efforts ; suppose 
 Massachusetts stands alone ; is it not a noble solitude ? Is it not a 
 position of honor ? Is it not a position where she will find companion 
 ship with all that is great and generous in the past with all the disci 
 ples of truth, of right, of liberty ? It has not been her wont on former 
 occasions to inquire whether she should stand alone. Your honored 
 ancestor, Mr. Chairman, who from these walls regards our proceedings 
 to-night, did not ask whether Massachusetts would be alone, when she 
 
20 MASSACHUSETTS FOREMOST. 
 
 commenced the opposition which ended in the independence of the 
 Thirteen Colonies. 
 
 But we cannot fail to accomplish great good. It is in obedience to 
 a prevailing law of Providence, that no act of self-sacrifice, no act of 
 devotion to duty, no act of humanity can fail. It stands forever as a 
 landmark ; as a point from which to make a new effort. The cham 
 pions of equal rights and of human brotherhood shall hereafter derive 
 new strength from these exertions. 
 
 Let Massachusetts, then, be aroused. Let all her children be sum 
 moned to join in this holy cause. There are questions of ordinary 
 politics in which men may remain neutral but neutrality now is trea 
 son to liberty, to humanity, and to the fundamental principles of our 
 free institutions. Let her united voice, with the accumulated echoes 
 of freedom that fill this ancient Hall, go forth with comfort and cheer 
 to all who labor in the same cause everywhere throughout the land. 
 Let it help to confirm the wavering, and to reclaim those who have 
 erred from the right path. Especially may it exert a proper influence 
 in Congress upon the representatives of the free States. May it serve 
 to make them as firm in the defence of freedom as their opponents are 
 pertinacious in the cause of slavery. 
 
 Let Massachusetts continue to be known as foremost in the cause of 
 freedom ; and let none of her children yield to the fatal dalliance with 
 slavery. You will remember the Arabian story of the magnetic mount 
 ain, under whose irresistible attraction the iron bolts which held together 
 the strong timbers of a stately ship were drawn out, till the whole fell 
 apart, and became a disjointed wreck. Do we not find in this story an 
 image of what happens to many Northern men, under the potent mag 
 netism of Southern companionship or Southern influence ? Those 
 principles, which constitute the individuality of the Northern character, 
 which render it stanch, strong, and seaworthy, which bind it together, 
 as with iron, are drawn out one by one, like the bolts from the ill-fated 
 vessel, and out of the miserable loosened fragments is formed that hu 
 man anomaly A Northern man with Southern principles. Such a man 
 is no true son of Massachusetts. 
 
 There is a precious incident in the life of one whom our country has 
 delighted to honor, furnishing an example that we shall do well to imi 
 tate. When Napoleon, having reached the pinnacle of military honor, 
 lusting for a higher title than that of First Consul, caused a formal vote 
 to be taken on the question, whether he should be declared Emperor 
 of .France, Lafayette, at that time in retirement, and only recently, by 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY DUTIES OF WHIGS. 21 
 
 the intervention of the First Consul, liberated from the dungeons of 
 Olmutz, deliberately registered his No. At a period, in the golden de 
 cline of his high career, resplendent with heroic virtues, revisiting our 
 shores, the scene of his youthful devotion to freedom, and receiving on 
 all sides that beautiful homage of thanksgiving, which is of itself an all- 
 sufficient answer to the sarcasm against the alleged ingratitude of repub 
 lics, here in Boston, this illustrious Frenchman listened with especial 
 pride to the felicitation addressed to him, as " the man who knew so 
 well how to say no" Be this the example for Massachusetts, and may 
 it be among her praises hereafter, that on this occasion she knew so 
 well how to say NO ! 
 
 V. 
 
 So far as Mr. SUMNER had been a party man, he had 
 been counted among 1 the Whigs, for he had more hopes, 
 he said, that they would be the party of freedom. He 
 had been elected to a Whig State Convention, which 
 assembled at Faneuil Hall on the 23d of September, 
 1846, where a good deal of curiosity was excited, and 
 some solicitude felt, in regard to the course he would 
 take. But at an early stage of the meeting, being" 
 called upon by the President, he delivered a powerful 
 speech upon " The Anti-Slavery Duties of the Whig 
 Party," which produced a profound impression of admi 
 ration among all, for the boldness, the candor, and the 
 manliness of his words. But by a large majority of the 
 Convention it was regarded as a speech for unhealthy 
 agitation ; the Whigs were not prepared to go so far. 
 Neither Mr. WEBSTER nor Mr. EVERETT sympathized with 
 the sentiments of Mr. SUMNER, nor did they approve of 
 the policy of any such course as he recommended. 
 Both of those eminent men were still looking forward 
 to larger rewards for their public services. They were 
 both held in high honor at home and abroad ; Mr. 
 
22 CONSERVATISM OF EVERETT AND WEBSTER. 
 
 EVERETT being regarded as of much riper scholarship 
 and higher intellectual culture than almost any other 
 man in America ; while men felt as profound a venera 
 tion for the majesty and power of WEBSTER S mind, and 
 placed a loftier estimate upon his eloquence than per 
 haps upon that of any other living statesman. Nor 
 could it be expected that these illustrious citizens, who 
 were much older than Mr. SUMNER, and who had won 
 their enviable reputation in the calmer days of the 
 republic, could enter very warmly into such radical 
 views as the rising orator was now putting forth. Long 
 experience generally teaches the wisdom of conciliation ; 
 and the proverbial conservatism of age is, always roused 
 into alarm or hostility, when the young reformer enters 
 the field. 
 
 In the beginning of his speech, Mr. SUMNER did not 
 conceal his regret that the Convention had not been 
 summoned to sit in the country, " believing that the 
 opinions of the country, free as its bracing air, more 
 than those of Boston, would be in harmony with the 
 tone which it became them to adopt at the present 
 crisis." " In the country," he said, " is the spirit of 
 freedom ; in the city, the spirit of commerce ; and 
 though these two spirits may at times act in admirable 
 conjunction, and with irresistible strength, yet it some 
 times occurs that the generous and unselfish impulses 
 of the one, are checked and controlled by the careful 
 calculations of economy suggested by the other. Even 
 Right and Liberty are, in some minds, of less signifi 
 cance than dividends and dollars." 
 
 But I am happy, said he, that the Convention has been convoked in 
 Faneuil Hall. This place is vocal with inspiring accents, and though, 
 on other occasions, words have been uttered here which the lover of 
 
WHIGS SHOULD BE FOR FREEDOM. 23 
 
 morals, of freedom, and humanity must regret, these walls, faithful only 
 to Freedom, refuse to echo them. The Whigs of Massachusetts, assem 
 bled in Faneuil Hall, must be true to this early scene of the struggles 
 for Freedom ; they must be true to their own name, which has descended 
 to them from those who partook of those struggles. 
 
 We are a Convention of Whigs. And who are the Whigs? Some 
 may say they are the supporters of the tariff ; others, that they are the 
 advocates of internal improvements ; of measures to restrain the exer 
 cise of the veto power ; or of a bank. All these are now, or have been, 
 prominent articles in the faith of the party. But this enumeration does 
 not do justice to the character of the Whigs. 
 
 The Whigs, as their name imports, are, or ought to be, the party of 
 Freedom. They seek, or should seek, on all occasions, to carry out 
 fully and practically the principles of our institutions. The principles 
 which our fathers declared, and sealed with their blood, their Whig chil 
 dren should seek to manifest in their acts. The Whigs, therefore, rever 
 ence the Declaration of Independence, as embodying the vital truths of 
 freedom, especially that great truth, "that all men are born equal." 
 They reverence the Constitution of the United States, and seek to guard 
 it against infractions ; believing that under the Constitution, Freedom 
 can be best preserved. They reverence the Union of the States ; be 
 lieving that the peace, happiness, and welfare of all depend upon this 
 blessed bond. They reverence the public faith, and require that it 
 should be punctiliously kept in all laws, charters, and obligations. They 
 reverence the principles of morality, of truth, of justice, of right. They 
 seek to advance their country, rather than individuals ; and to promote 
 the welfare of the people, rather than of their leaders. A member of 
 such an association, founded on the highest moral sentiments, recogniz 
 ing conscience and benevolence as its animating ideas, cannot be said 
 "to give to party what was meant for mankind ;" for all the interests 
 of the party must be coincident and commensurate with the manifold 
 interests of humanity. 
 
 Such is, as I trust, or certainly should be, the Whig party of Massa 
 chusetts. It refuses to identify itself exclusively with those measures 
 of transient policy, which may, like the Bank, become "obsolete 
 ideas ; " but connects itself with everlasting principles, which can never 
 fade or decay. In doing this, it does not neglect other things ; as the 
 tariff, or internal improvements. But it treats these as subordinate. 
 Far less does it show indifference to the Constitution or the Union ; for 
 
24 DUTY OF THE WHIG PARTY. 
 
 it seeks to render these the guardians and representatives of the lofty 
 principles to which we are attached. 
 
 The Whigs have been called by you, Mr. President, the conservatives. 
 In a just sense, they should be conservatives; not of forms only, but of 
 substance ; not of the letter only, but of the living spirit. The Whigs 
 should be the conservators of the spirit of our ancestors ; conservators 
 of the great animating ideas of our institutions. They should profess 
 that truest and highest conservatism, which watches, guards, and pre 
 serves the great principles of Truth, Right, Freedom, and Humanity. 
 Such a conservatism is not narrow and exclusive ; but broad and ex 
 pansive. It is not trivial and bigoted ; but manly and generous. * It is 
 the conservatism of the Whigs of 76. 
 
 Let me say, then, that the Whigs of Massachusetts are I hope it is 
 not my wish only that is father to the thought -the party who seek the 
 establishment of Truth, Freedom, Right and Humanity, under the 
 Constitution of the United States, and by the Union of the States. 
 They are Unionists, Constitutionalists, Friends of the Right. 
 
 And the question here arises, how shall this party, inspired by these 
 principles, now act ? The answer is easy. In accordance with their 
 principles. It must utter them with distinctness, and act upon them 
 with energy. 
 
 The time, I believe, has gone by when the question is asked, What 
 has the North to do with Slavery? It might almost be answered, that, 
 politically, it had little to do with anything else, so are all the acts of 
 our government connected, directly or indirectly, with this institution. 
 Slavery is everywhere. It constitutionally enters the halls of Con 
 gress, in the disproportionate representation of the slave States. It 
 shows its disgusting front in the District of Columbia, in the shadow of 
 the Capitol, under the legislative jurisdiction of the nation ; of the 
 North as well as the South. It sends its miserable victims on the high 
 seas, from the ports of Virginia to the ports of Louisiana, beneath the 
 protecting flag of the republic. It follows into the free States, in pur 
 suance of a provision of the Constitution, those fugitives, who, under 
 the inspiration of freedom, seek our altars for safety ; nay, more, with 
 profane hands it seizes those who have never known the name of slave, 
 colored freemen of the North, and dooms them to irremediable bondage. 
 It insults and exiles from its jurisdiction the honored representatives of 
 Massachusetts, who seek, as messengers of the Commonwealth, to 
 secure for her colored citizens the peaceful safeguard of the lavv-s of the 
 Union. It not only uses the Constitution for its purposes, but abuses 
 
WEBSTER IN l82O. 25 
 
 it also. It violates the Constitution at pleasure, to build up new slave- 
 holding States. It seeks perpetually to widen its area, while profess 
 ing to extend the area of freedom. It has brought upon the country 
 war with Mexico, with its enormous expenditures, and more enormous 
 guilt. By the spirit of union among its supporters, it controls the 
 affairs uf government ; interferes with the cherished interests of the 
 North, enforcing and then refusing protection to her manufactures ; 
 makes and unmakes presidents ; usurps to itself the larger portion of 
 all offices of honor and profit, both in the army and navy, and also in 
 the civil department ; and stamps upon our whole country the charac 
 ter, before the world, of that monstrous anomaly and mockery, a slave- 
 holding republic, with the living truths of freedom on its lips, and the 
 dark mark of slavery printed on its brow. 
 
 And shall this Commonwealth continue in any way to sustain an 
 institution which its laws declare to be contrary to natural right, to 
 justice, to humanity and sound policy ? Shall the Whigs support what 
 is contrary to the fundamental principles of the party? Here the con 
 sciences of good men respond to the judgment of the court. If it be 
 wrong to hold a single slave, it must be wrong to hold many. If it be 
 wrong for an individual to hold a slave, it must be wrong for a State. 
 If it be wrong for a State, in its individual capacity, it must be wrong 
 also, in association with other States. Massachusetts does not allow 
 any of her citizens within her borders to hold slaves. Let her be con 
 sistent, and call for the abolition of slavery wherever she is, to any 
 extent, responsible for it, wherever she is a party to it, wherever it may 
 be reached by her influence ; that is, everywhere beneath the constitu 
 tion and laws of the Federal Government. " If any practice exist," 
 said Mr. Webster, in one of those earlier efforts which commended him 
 to our admiration, his address at Plymouth in 1820 "If any practices 
 exist, contrary to the principles of justice and humanity, within the 
 reach of our laws or our influence, we are inexcusable if we do not 
 exert ourselves to restrain and abolish them." 
 
 Certainly, to labor in this cause is far higher and nobler than to 
 strive merely for a repeal of the Tariff, which was once mentioned as 
 the tocsin to rally the Whigs. REPEAL OF SLAVERY UNDER THE CON 
 STITUTION AND LAWS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is a more Christian 
 and more potent watchword, because it embodies a higher sentiment, 
 and a more commanding duty. 
 
 The time has passed when this can be opposed on constitutional 
 grounds. It will not be questioned by any competent authority, that 
 
26 FRANKLIN S ABOLITION SOCIETY. 
 
 Congress may, by express legislation, abolish slavery, ist, in the District 
 of Columbia ; 2d, in the Territories, if there should be any ; 3d, that it 
 may abolish the slave trade on the high seas between the States ; 4th, 
 that it may refuse to admit any new State with a constitution sanction 
 ing slavery. Nor can it be questioned that the people of the United 
 States may, in the manner pointed out by the Constitution, proceed to 
 its amendment. It is, then, by constitutional legislation, and even by 
 amendment of the Constitution, that slavery may be reached. 
 
 And here the question arises : Are there any compromises in the Con 
 stitution of such a character as to prevent action on this subject ? I 
 wish to say, distinctly, that there is no compromise on the subject of 
 slavery, of a character not to be reached legally and constitutionally, 
 which is the only way in which I propose to reach it. Wherever power 
 and jurisdiction are secured to Congress, they may unquestionably be 
 exercised in conformity with the Constitution. And even in matters 
 beyond existing powers and jurisdiction, there is a constitutional method 
 of action. The Constitution contains an article pointing out how, at 
 any time, amendments may be made thereto. This is an important ele 
 ment, giving to the Constitution a progressive character ; and allowing 
 it to be moulded to suit new exigencies and new conditions of feeling. 
 The wise framers of this instrument did not treat the country as a Chi 
 nese foot never to grow after its infancy but anticipated the changes 
 incident to its growth. They openly declare, " Legislate, as you please, 
 in conformity with the Constitution ; and even make amendments in 
 this instrument, rendered proper by change of opinion or character, fol 
 lowing always the manner therein prescribed." 
 
 Nor can we dishonor the memories of the revered authors of the 
 Constitution, by supposing that they set their hands to it, believing that 
 slavery was to be perpetual that the republic, which, reared by them 
 to its giant stature, had snatched from Heaven the sacred fire of free 
 dom, was to be bound, like another Prometheus, in the adamantine 
 chains of fate, while slavery, like another vulture, preyed upon its vitals. 
 Let Franklin speak for them. He was President of the earliest "Aboli 
 tion Society " in the United States, and in 1 790, only two years after the 
 adoption of the Constitution, addressed a petition to Congress, calling 
 upon them " to step to the very verge of the power vested in them for 
 discouraging every species of traffic in our fellow-men." Let Jefferson 
 speak for them. His desire for the abolition of slavery was often ex 
 pressed with philanthropic warmth and emphasis. Let Washington 
 speak for them. " It is among my first wishes," he said, in a letter to 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 2/ 
 
 John Fenton Mercer, " to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this 
 country may be abolished by law." And in his will, penned with his 
 own hand, in. the last year of his life, he bore his testimony again, by 
 providing for the emancipation of all his slaves. It is thus that Wash 
 ington speaks, not only by words, but by actions louder than words, 
 " Give freedom to your slaves." The Father of his country requires, as 
 a token of the filial piety which all profess, that his example should be 
 followed. I am not insensible to the many glories of his character ; but 
 I cannot contemplate this act, without a fresh gush of admiration and 
 gratitude. The martial scene depicted on that votive canvas may fade 
 from the memories of men ; but this act of justice and benevolence shall 
 never perish. 
 
 I assume, then, that it is the duty of the Whigs, professing the prin 
 ciples of the fathers, to express themselves openly, distinctly, and 
 solemnly against slavery ; not only against its further extension, but 
 against its longer continuance under the Constitution and laws of the 
 Union. But while it is their duty to enter upon this holy warfare, it 
 should be their aim to temper it with moderation, with gentleness, with 
 tenderness, towards slave owners. These should be won, if possible, 
 rather than driven, to the duties of emancipation. But emancipation 
 should always be presented as the cardinal object of our National 
 policy. 
 
 Our representatives must be courageous and willing on all occasions 
 to stand alone, provided Right is with them. " Though every tile were 
 a devil," said Martin Luther, " yet will I enter Worms." Such a spirit 
 is needed now by the advocates of Right. They must not be ashamed 
 of the name which belongs to Franklin, Jefferson and Washington 
 and which express the idea to which they should be devoted Abolition 
 ist. They must be thorough, uncompromising advocates of the repeal 
 of slavery, of its abolition under the laws and Constitution of the 
 United States. They must be Repealers, Abolitionists. 
 
 There are a few such men now in Congress. Massachusetts has a 
 venerable representative, John Quincy Adams, whose aged bosom still 
 glows with inextinguishable fires ; like the central heats of the monarch 
 mountain of the Andes, beneath its canopy of snow. To this cause he 
 dedicates the closing energies of a long and illustrious life. Would 
 that all would join him ! 
 
 There is a Senator of Massachusetts, whom we had hoped to wel 
 come here to-day, whose position is one of commanding influence. Let 
 me address him with the respectful frankness of a constituent and a 
 
28 APPEAL TO WEBSTER. 
 
 friend : You have, Sir, by various labors, already acquired an honorable 
 place in the history of our country. By the vigor, argumentation, and 
 eloquence with which you have upheld the Union, and that interpreta 
 tion of the Constitution which makes us a Nation, you have justly 
 earned the title of Defender of the Constitution. By the successful and 
 masterly negotiation of the treaty of Washington, and by your efforts 
 to compose the strife of the Oregon, you have earned another title 
 Defender of Peace. There are yet other duties, claiming your care^ 
 whose performance will be the crown to a life of high public service. 
 Let me ask you, when again at your post in the Senate, not to forget 
 them. Dedicate, Sir, the golden years of experience happily in store 
 for you, to the grand endeavor, in the name of Freedom, to remove 
 from your country its greatest evil. In this cause you shall find inspi 
 rations to eloquence, higher than any you have yet confessed ; 
 
 To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong. 
 
 Do not shrink from the task. With your marvellous powers, and the 
 auspicious influences of an awakened public sentiment, under God, 
 who always smiles upon conscientious labors for the welfare of man, we 
 may hope for beneficent results. Assume, then, these unperformed 
 duties. The aged shall bear witness to you ; the young shall kindle 
 with rapture, as they repeat the name of Webster ; and the large com 
 pany of the ransomed shall teach their children, and their children s 
 children, to the latest generation, to call you blessed ; while all shall 
 award to you yet another title, which shall never be forgotten on earth 
 or in heaven Defender of Humanity ; by the side of which that earlier 
 title shall fade into insignificance ; as the Constitution, which is the 
 work of mortal hands, dwindles by the side of Man, who is created in 
 the image of God. 
 
 Let us here then, in Faneuil Hall, beneath the images of our fathers, 
 vow ourselves to perpetual allegiance to the Right and to perpetual 
 hostility to slavery. Ours is a noble cause ; nobler even than that of 
 our fathers, inasmuch as it is more exalted to struggle for the freedom 
 of others than for our own. The love of Right, which is the animating 
 impulse of our movement, is higher even than the love of Freedom. 
 But Right, Freedom, and Humanity all concur in demanding the aboli 
 tion of slavery. 
 
WAR WITH MEXICO. 29 
 
 VI. 
 
 v 
 
 On the i ith of May, 1846, a resolution was passed b) 
 both Houses of Congress, that " By the act of the 
 Republic of Mexico, a state of war exists between that 
 government and the United States," and the President 
 was authorized to raise fifty thousand volunteers, when 
 two days later, ten millions of dollars were appropriated 
 towards carrying on the contest. It had been plain 
 enough, after a joint resolution for the admission of Texas 
 as a State into the Union, a collision with Mexico had 
 become inevitable. It was alleged that no blame could 
 be attached to the United States, for the war which fol 
 lowed, for several reasons ; JirsfofaSl, after Santa Anna, 
 the dictator of Mexico, had been captured on the field of 
 San Jacinto, he had recognized the independence of 
 Texas, after which she could decide her political alliances 
 and relations ; second, that ever since the establishment 
 of the Republic of Mexico, in 1824, she had been an un 
 just and injurious neighbor that her treasury was re 
 plenished by plundering American vessels in the Gulf, 
 and confiscating the property of American merchants 
 within her border ; third, our Republic had remon 
 strated in vain, till 1831, when by treaty, promises of re 
 dress were made. But this had put no end to aggres 
 sions, which, by the year 1840, had amounted to upwards 
 of six millions of dollars. No settlement of these claims 
 having been made, the annexation of Texas, which took 
 place July 4, 1845, gave Mexico a full justification, in her 
 opinion, for commencing hostilities. 
 
 The war promised to be popular, and all Parties were 
 ready to join in its prosecution. No considerations of 
 
3O MR. SUMNER TO REPRESENT HIMSELF. 
 
 justice entered into the question, so far as politicians 
 were concerned ; all sides being determined to make the 
 most capital out of it they could. 
 
 The Hon. Robert C. Winthrop being" the Represen 
 tative in Congress from Boston, had voted for the war; 
 and in doing so, doubtless represented the sentiment of 
 the merchants of that city, and probably the popular 
 feeling of its citizens. 
 
 But the Declaration made by Congress, and the vote 
 of Mr. Winthrop, excited the deepest indignation of some 
 of the best men in Boston. Mr. Sumner feeling himself 
 aggrieved and humiliated in behalf of his native town, 
 but more especially in behalf of the cause of peace and 
 humanity, of which he had now become the most power 
 ful advocate on this continent, he addressed to Mr. Win 
 throp a letter which is worthy of the most careful atten 
 tion of all those who desire to have a complete compre 
 hension of Mr. Sumner s political principles, and the 
 depth and earnestness of his convictions as a man, and a 
 citizen. We cannot in this instance, nor in any other, 
 find space for any unabridged speech, or production of his 
 pen. The most we can do will be to preserve the chain 
 of his argument, allowing him, in all cases, to speak for 
 himself. We shall hope in this manner, to furnish the 
 reader everything essential for tracing the progress of Mr. 
 Sumner s views on the important interests that, during 
 his mature life, came up for action, and in whose disposal 
 he acted a prominent part. 
 
 VII. 
 
 It cost Mr. Sumner no small sacrifice of personal feel 
 ing to address such a letter to one who had from boy- 
 
SUMNER S REBUKE OF WINTHROP. 31 
 
 hood been among his intimate and most highly esteemed 
 personal friends. But while he could never allow his 
 conscience to give way to personal considerations, 
 we search in vain for any trace of personal animosity, 
 or other sentiment than one of regret. He tells Mr. 
 Winthrop that he had never failed to vote for him as a 
 Whig, whenever he had an opportunity, and had on 
 other occasions considered it proper to review his public 
 course, and to express, as he sometimes had, the sorrow 
 it had caused him. " Conscious," says he, " of no feel 
 ing towards yourself personally, except good-will, min 
 gled with the recollection of pleasant social intercourse, 
 I enter with pain upon the consideration of your vote, 
 and of the apologies for it which you and others have set 
 up. I am not a politician ; and you will pardon me, 
 therefore, if I decline to bring your conduct to any of 
 the tests of party, or of numbers ; to any sliding scale of 
 expediency ; to any standard except the golden rule of 
 right and wrong." 
 
 In speaking of the Act of Congress appropriating 
 money and men for the Mexican war, he says that he 
 shall consider the Act in six different aspects : 
 
 It is six times wrong. Six different and unanswerable reasons should 
 have urged its rejection. Six different appeals should have touched 
 every Christian heart. Let me consider them separately. 
 
 First. It is practically a DECLARATION OF WAR against a sister 
 Republic. In Congress is vested, by the Constitution of the United 
 States, the power of declaring war. Before this Act was passed, the 
 Mexican War had no legislative sanction. Without this Act, it would 
 have no legislative sanction. It is by virtue of this Act, that the pre 
 sent war is waged. It is by virtue of this Act, that an American fleet, 
 at immense cost of money, and without any gain of character, is now 
 disturbing the commerce of Mexico, and of the civilized world, by the 
 blockade of Vera Cruz. It is by virtue of this Act, that a distant ex- 
 
32 OPPOSITION TO THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 pedition has seized, with pilfering rapacity, the defenceless province of 
 California. It is by virtue of this Act, that General Kearney has 
 marched upon and captured Santa Fe. It is by virtue of this Act, that 
 General Taylor has perpetrated the massacre at Monterey. It is by 
 virtue of this Act, that desolation has been carried into a thousand 
 homes, that mothers, sisters, daughters and wives have been plunged 
 in the comfortless despair of bloody bereavement, while the uncoffined 
 bodies of sons, brothers and husbands are consigned to premature 
 graves. Lastly, it is by virtue of this Act, that the army of the United 
 States has been converted into a legalized band of brigands, marauders, 
 and banditti, in violation of the sanctions of civilization, justice and 
 humanity. The American soldiers, who have died ignobly in the 
 streets of a foreign city, in the attack upon a Bishop s palace, in con 
 test with Christian fellow-men, who were defending fire-sides and altars, 
 may claim the epitaph of Simonides : " Go, tell at Sparta, that we died 
 here in obedience to her laws" It was in obedience to this Act of 
 Congress that they laid down their lives in a barbarous war. 
 
 Second. This Act gives the sanction of Congress to an unjust war. 
 War is barbarous and brutal ; but this is unjust. It grows out of ag 
 gression on our part, and is continued by aggression. The statement 
 of facts already made is sufficient to substantiate this point. 
 
 Third. It declares that war exists " by the act of the Republic of 
 Mexico." This statement of brazen falsehood is inserted in the front 
 of the Act. But it is now admitted by most, if not all of the Whigs, 
 who unhappily voted for it, that it is not founded in fact. It is a Na 
 tional lie. 
 
 Fourth. It provides for the prosecution of the war " to a speedy and 
 successful termination" that is, for the successful prosecution of an un 
 just war. Surely no rule can be more firmly founded in morals, than 
 that we should seek the establishment of right. Never strive for the 
 triumph of wrong. 
 
 Fifth. The war has its origin in a series of measures to extend and 
 perpetuate Slavery. A wise and humane legislator should have dis 
 cerned its source, and derived therefrom fresh impulses to oppose it. 
 
 Sixth. The war is dishonorable and cowardly, as being the attack 
 of a rich, powerful, numerous and united Republic, upon a weak and 
 defenceless neighbor, distracted by civil feuds. Every consideration of 
 true honor, manliness and Christian duty, prompted gentleness and for 
 bearance towards our unfortunate Sister. 
 
 Such, Sir, is the Act of Congress, which received your sanction. It 
 
WINTHROP S SUBTERFUGES. 33 
 
 will hardly yield in importance to any measure of our Government 
 since the adoption of the Federal Constitution. It is certainly the 
 most wicked in our history, as it is one of the most wicked in all his 
 tory. The recording Muse will drop a tear over its turpitude and in 
 justice, while she gibbets it for the disgust and reprobation of mankind. 
 
 Such, Sir, is the Act of Congress to which, by your affirmative vote, 
 the people of Boston have been made parties. Through you, they have 
 been made to declare an unjust and cowardly war, with falsehood, in 
 the cause of slavery. Through you, they have been made partakers 
 in the blockade of Vera Cruz, in the seizure of California, in the capture 
 of Santa Fe, in the bloodshed of Monterey. It were idle to suppose 
 that the poor soldier, or officer only, is stained by this guilt. It reaches 
 far back, and incarnadines the Halls of Congress ; nay more, through 
 you, it reddens the hands of your constituents in Boston. Pardon this 
 language. Strong as it may seem, it is weak to express the aggrava 
 tion of your act, in joining in the declaration of an unjust war. Oh ! 
 Mr. Winthrop, rather than lend your vote to this wickedness, you 
 should have suffered the army of the United States to pass submissively, 
 through the Caudine Forks of Mexican power to perish, it might be, 
 irretrievably, like the legions of Varus. Their bleached bones, in the 
 distant valleys where they were waging an unjust war, would not tell 
 to posterity such a tale of ignominy as this lying Act of Congress. 
 
 Another apology, suggested by yourself, and vouchsafed by your de 
 fenders, is founded on the alleged duty of voting succors to General 
 Taylor s troops, and the impossibility of doing this, without voting also 
 for the Bill, after it had been converted into a Declaration of Falsehood 
 and of War. It is said that patriotism required this vote. Patriotism ! 
 is not thy name profaned by this apology ! Let one of your honored 
 predecessors, Sir, a representative of Boston on the floor of Congress, 
 Mr. Quincy, give the reply to this apology. On an occasion of trial 
 not unlike that through which you have passed, and in the same place, . 
 he gave utterance to these noble words : 
 
 But it is said this resolution must be taken " as a test of patriotism." 
 To this I have but one answer. If patriotism ask me to assert a false 
 hood, I have no hesitation in telling patriotism, "I am not prepared to- 
 make that sacrifice." The duty we owe to our country is indeed among 
 the most solemn and impressive of all obligations. But, high as it may 
 be, it is nevertheless subordinate to that, which we owe to that Being, 
 with whose name and character truth is identified. In this respect, I 
 deem myself acting, upon this resolution, under a higher responsibility 
 than either to this House, or this people. 
 3 
 
34 WINTHROP S SUBSERVIENCY TO SLAVE POWER. 
 
 Another apology, which is often supplied by your defenders, is, that 
 the majority of the Whig party joined with you, or, as it has been ex 
 pressed, that " Mr. Winthrop voted with all the rest of the weight of 
 moral character in Congress, from the Free States, belonging to the 
 Whig party, not included in the Massachusetts delegation ; " and sugges 
 tions have been made in disparagement of the fourteen, who remained 
 unshaken in their loyalty to Truth and Peace. In the question of 
 Right or Wrong, it can be of little importance, that a few fallible men, 
 constituting what is called a majority, were all of one mind. In every 
 age supple or insane majorities have been found to sanction injustice. 
 It was a majority which passed the Stamp Act, and Tea Tax ; which 
 smiled upon the persecution of Galileo ; which stood about the stake 
 of Serverus ; which administered the hemlock to Socrates ; which called 
 for the crucifixion of our Lord. But these majorities cannot make us 
 withhold condemnation from the partakers in these acts. 
 
 Let me add that, in other respects, your course has been in disagree 
 able harmony with your vote on the Mexican War Bill. I cannot 
 forget for I sat by your side at the time that on the 4th of July, 1845, 
 in Faneuil Hall, you extended the hand of fellowship to Texas ; al 
 though she had not yet been received among the States of the Union. 
 -1 cannot forget the toast, which you uttered on the same occasion, by 
 which you have connected your name with an epigram of dishonest 
 patriotism. I cannot forget your apathy at a later day, when many 
 of your constituents entered upon holy and constitutional efforts to 
 oppose the admission of Texas, with a slaveholding constitution con 
 duct strangely inconsistent with your recent avowal of " uncompromis 
 ing hostility to all measures for introducing new slave States and new 
 .-slave Territories into the Union." Nor can I forget the ardor with 
 which you devoted yourself to the less important question of the 
 Tariff indicating the relative position of the two questions in your 
 imind. As I review your course, the vote on the Mexican War Bill 
 seems to be the dark com summation. 
 
 And now let me ask you, when you resume your seat in Congress, to 
 i>ear your testimony at once, without hesitation or delay, against the 
 further prosecution of this war. Forget for a while the Sub-Treasury, 
 the Veto, even the Tariff ; and remember this wicked war. With the 
 eloquence which you command so easily, and which is your pride, call 
 for the instant cessation of hostilities. Let your cry be that of Falkland 
 in the civil wars, " Peace ! Peace ! " Think not of what you have called, 
 in your speeches, " An honorable peace." There can be no peace with 
 
FINAL APPEAL TO WINTHROP. 35 
 
 Mexico which will not be more honorable than this war. Every fresh 
 victory is a fresh dishonor. "Unquestionably," you have strangely 
 said, "We must not forget that Mexico must be willing to negotiate ! 
 No ! No ! Mr. Winthrop. We are not to wait for Mexico. Her con 
 sent is not needed ; nor is it to be asked, by a Christian statesman, 
 while our armies are defiling her soil by their aggressive footsteps. She 
 is passive. We alone are active. Stop the war. Withdraw our forces. 
 In the words of Colonel Washington, RETREAT! RETREAT! By so 
 doing, we shall cease from further wrong ; and peace will ensue. 
 
 Let me ask you, Sir, to remember in your public course the rules of 
 Right, which you obey in your private capacity. The principles of 
 morals are the same for nations and for individuals. Pardon me, if I 
 suggest that you do not appear to have acted invariably in accordance 
 with this truth. You would not, in your private capacity, set your name 
 to a falsehood ; but you have done so, as a Representative in Congress. 
 You would not, in your private capacity, countenance wrong, even in 
 your friend or your child ; but, as a Representative, you have pledged 
 yourself " not to withhold your vote from any reasonable supplies which 
 may be called for" in the prosecution of this wicked war. Do by your 
 country as by your child. You would not furnish to him means of 
 offence against his neighbors ; do not furnish them to your country. 
 Do not vote for any supplies to sustain this unrighteous purpose. Again, 
 you would not hold slaves. I doubt not you would join with Mr. Pal 
 frey, in emancipating any who should become yours by inheritance or 
 otherwise. But I have never heard of your joining in efforts, or sym 
 pathy, with those who seek to carry into our institutions that practical 
 conscience, which declares it to be equally wrong in individuals and in 
 States to sanction Slavery. 
 
 Let me ask you still further and you will know if there is any reason 
 to justify this request to bear your testimony against the Mexican 
 War, and all supplies for its prosecution, regardless of the minority in 
 which you may be placed. Think, Sir, of the cause, and not of your 
 associates. Forget for a while the tactics of party, and all its subtle 
 combinations. Emancipate yourself from its close-woven web, spun as 
 from a spider s belly, and walk in the luminous pathway of Right. Re 
 member that you represent the conscience of Boston, the churches of 
 the Puritans, the city of Channing. 
 
 Meanwhile a fresh election is at hand, and you are again a candidate 
 for the suffrages of your fellow-citizens. I shall not anticipate their 
 verdict. Your blameless private life, and your respectable attainments, 
 
36 ADVOCACY OF DR. HOWE S ELECTION. 
 
 cannot fail to receive the approbation of all ; but more than one of 
 your neighbors will be obliged to say, 
 
 Cassio, I love thee, 
 
 But never more be officer of mine. 1 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Ten days later Nov. 4, 1846 on the eve of the Con 
 gressional Election, at a meeting in the Tremont Temple 
 to advance the cause of the Election of Dr. Howe in op 
 position to Mr. Winthrop, the regular Whig candidate, 
 Mr. Sumner made one of his most effective speeches, in 
 which he said : 
 
 When in the month of July, 1830, the people of Paris rose against 
 the arbitrary ordinances of Charles X., and, after three days of bloody 
 combat, succeeded in that Revolution, by virtue of which the Dynasty 
 of Orleans now occupies the throne of France, Lafayette, votary of 
 Liberty in two hemispheres, placing himself at the head of the move 
 ment, on the second day, walked from his residence to the City Hall, 
 through streets impassable to carriages, filled with barricades, and strewn 
 with the wrecks of war. Moving along with a thin, attendance, he was 
 unexpectedly joined by a gallant Bostonian, who, though young in life, 
 was already eminent by seven years of d : sinterested service in the strug 
 gle for Grecian independence against the Turks, who had himself lis 
 tened to the whizzing of bullets, and had narrowly escaped the descend 
 ing scimitar. Lafayette, considerate as he was brave, turned to his 
 faithful friend, and said, " Do not join me ; this is a danger for French 
 men only ; reserve yourself for your own country, where you will be 
 needed." Our fellow-citizen heeded him not, but continued by his side, 
 sharing his perils. That Bostonian was Dr. Howe. And now the words 
 of Lafayette are verified. He is needed by his country. At the present 
 crisis, in our Revolution of " Three Days," he Comes forward to the 
 post of danger. 
 
 I cannot disguise the satisfaction I shall feel in voting for him 
 beyond even the gratification of personal friendship because he is not 
 a politician. His whole life is thickly studded with various labors in 
 the highest of all causes, the good of man. He is the friend of the 
 
INSTANTLY CEASE WRONG-DOING. 37 
 
 poor the friend of the blind the friend of the prisoner the friend of 
 the slave. Wherever there is suffering, there his friendship is manifest. 
 Generosity, disinterestedness, self-sacrifice and courage, have been his 
 inspiring sentiments, directed by rare sagacity and intelligence ; and 
 now, wherever Humanity is regarded, wherever there are bosoms that 
 beat responsive to philanthropic exertions, his name is cherished and 
 beloved. Such a man reflects lustre upon the place of his birth ; far 
 more than any one who has excelled only in the strife of politics, or the 
 servitude of party. 
 
 He has qualities which commend him, especially at this time. He 
 is firm, ever true, honest, inflexible, a lover of the Right. With a 
 courage that charms opposition, he would not fear to stand alone against 
 a fervid majority. Knowing War by a fearful familiarity, he is an earnest 
 defender of Peace. With a singular experience of life in other coun 
 tries, he now bring the stores which he has garnered up, and his noble 
 spirit, to the service of his fellow-citizens. May they know how to 
 value them I * * 
 
 The true Whig ground, the only ground, consistent with our profess 
 ed loyalty to the higher sentiments of dut}^, is constant uncompromising 
 opposition to the war, in all the forms in which opposition may be made. 
 Expecting right from Mexico, we must begin by doing right. We are 
 the aggressors. We must cease to be the aggressors. 
 
 This is the proper course of duty, having its foundations in the 
 immutable laws of God. Our country must do as an individual in 
 similar circumstances ; for though politicians may disown it and this 
 principle cannot be too often repeated there is but one rule of duty 
 for nations and for individuals. If any one of you, fellow-citizens, find 
 ing yourself in dispute with a neighbor, had unfortunately resorted to 
 blows and felled him to the earth, but, with returning reason, discovered 
 that you were in the wrong, what would you do ? Of course, cease 
 instantly from wrong-doing. You would help your neighbor to his feet. 
 With Christian benevolence you would seek to soothe his wrongs. You 
 would not, in the language of President Polk, seek " to conquer a peace," 
 nor, in the language of Mr. Winthrop, " to achieve an honorable peace " 
 by force. Precisely so must our country act now. We must help our 
 down-trodden Mexican neighbor to her feet. We must withdraw our 
 forces to the Neuces, and then, when ample justice has been done on 
 our side, seek justice and peace from her. Be assured these would 
 easily follow. Perhaps the same response might come from the Mexi 
 cans, that the Falerii sent to the Roman Senate, through Camillus : 
 
38 FRIENDS OF AMERICA IN PARLIAMENT. 
 
 " The Romans having preferred justice to conquest, have taught us to be 
 satisfied with submission instead of liberty." 
 
 That I may not seem to found these conclusions upon general princi 
 ples of morals only, let me invoke the example of the Whigs of England, 
 of Chatham, Camden, Burke, Fox and Sheridan, in their opposition to 
 the war of our Revolution ; denouncing it, at the outset, as unjust, and 
 never, during its whole progress, failing to declare their condemnation 
 of it ; voting against supplies for its prosecution, and against thanks for 
 the military services by which it was waged. Holding their example, as 
 of the highest practical authority on the present question of political 
 duty, and as particularly fit to be regarded by persons professing to be 
 Whigs in America, I shall make no apology for introducing at some 
 length the authentic evidence which places it beyond doubt. This is 
 to be found in the volumes of the Parliamentary Debates. I am not 
 aware that it has ever before been applied to the present discussion. 
 
 In the Debate in the Lords on the address of Thanks in Oct. 1775, 
 after the battle of Lexington and Bunker Hill the Duke of Grafton 
 said: 
 
 I pledge myself to your lordships and my country, that, if necessity 
 should require it, and my health not otherwise permit it, I mean to 
 come down to this House in a litter, in order to express my full and 
 hearty disapprobation of the measures now pursuing ; and, as I under 
 stand from the noble lords in office, meant to be pursued. 1 do pro 
 test, that if my brother or dearest friend were to be affected by the vote 
 I mean to give this evening, I cannot, possibly, resist the faithful dis 
 charge of my conscience and my duty. Were I to lose my fortune, 
 and every other thing I esteem, were I to be reduced to beggary itself, 
 the strong conviction and compulsion at once operating on my mind 
 and conscience, would not permit me to take any other part on the 
 present occasion, than that i now mean to adopt. 
 
 At the close of this Debate, a protest was signed by several peers, 
 containing the following clause : 
 
 Because we cannot, as Englishmen, as Christians, or as men of com 
 mon humanity, consent to the prosecution of a cruel civil war, so little 
 supported by justice, and so very fatal in its necessary consequences, 
 as that which is now waging against our brethren and fellow-subjects in 
 America. 
 
 In the House of Commons, on the same Address, Mr. Wilkes said : 
 
 I call the war with our brethren in America, an unjust felonious war. 
 * * * I assert that it is a murderous war, because it is an effort to 
 deprive men of their lives for standing up in the just cause of the de 
 fence of their property, and their clear rights. It becomes no less a 
 
LIBERTY DEFENDED IN PARLIAMENT. 39 
 
 murderous war, with respect to many of our fellow-subjects of this 
 Island ; for every man, either of the army or navy, who has been sent 
 by Government to America, and fallen a victim in this unnatural and 
 unjust contest, has, in my opinion, been murdered by the administra 
 tion, and his blood lies at their door. Such a war, I fear, Sir, will draw 
 down the vengeance of Heaven upon this devoted kingdom. 
 
 Mr. Fox said : 
 
 He could not consent to the bloody consequences of so silly a contest 
 about so silly an object, conducted in the silliest manner that history, or 
 observation, had ever furnished an instance of; and from which we 
 were likely to derive nothing but poverty, misery, disgrace, defeat, and 
 ruin. 
 
 Mr. Serjeant Adair said : 
 
 I am against the present war, because I think it unjust in its com 
 mencement, injurious to both countries in its prosecution, and ruinous 
 in its event. * * * I think from the bottom of my soul, that the 
 Colonies are engaged in a noble and glorious struggle. * * * Sir, 
 I could not be easy in my own mind, without entering the strongest 
 and most public protestations against measures which appear to me to 
 be fraught with the destruction of this mighty Empire. / wash my 
 hands of the blood of my fellow-subjects ; and shall at least have this 
 satisfaction, amidst the impending calamities of the public, not only to 
 think that I have contributed to, but that I have done all in my power 
 to oppose and avert the ruin of my country. 
 
 In another debate in the Lords, Nov. i5th, 1775, that strenuous 
 friend of freedom, and upholder of Whig principles, Lord Camden. 
 said : 
 
 Peace is still within our power ; nay, we can command it. A sus 
 pension of arms on our part, if adopted in time, will secure it for us ; 
 and I may add on our own terms, from which it is plain, as we have 
 been the original aggressors in this business, if we obstinately persist, we 
 are fairly answerable for all the consequences. I again repeat, what I 
 often urged before, that I was against this unnatural war from the 
 beginning. I was equally against every measure from the instant the 
 first tax was proposed, to this minute. When, therefore, it is insisted, 
 that we are only to defend and enforce our own right, I positively deny 
 it. I contend that America has been driven by cruel necessity to de 
 fend her rights from the united attacks of violence, oppression, and in 
 justice. I contend that America has been indisputably aggrieved. 
 * * * I must still think, and shall uniformly continue to assert, that 
 Great Britain has been the aggressor ; that most, if not all, the acts 
 were founded on oppression, and that if I was in America, I should 
 resist to the last such manifest exertion of tyranny, violence, and in 
 justice. 
 
 In another debate in the Commons, Dec. 8th, 1785, Mr. Fox said : 
 
40 FOX BARRE BURKE. 
 
 I have always said that the war carrying on against America is 
 unjust. 
 
 In the Commons, March nth, 1776, Col. Barre, Mr. Burke, Mr. 
 Fox, all vied in eulogies upon General Montgomery, the account of 
 whose death before Quebec had arrived some days before. 
 
 In the Commons, April 24th, 1776, a debate arose on the Budget, 
 containing resolutions to raise taxes to carry on the war against 
 America. Mr. Fox then said : 
 
 To the resolutions he should give a flat negative, and that not be 
 cause of any particular objection to the taxes proposed (although it 
 might be a sufficient ground for urging many) but because he could not 
 conscientiously agree to grant any money for so destructive, so ignoble 
 a purpose as the carrying on a war commenced unjustly, and supported 
 with no other view than to the extirpation of freedom, and the violation 
 of every social comfort. THIS HE CONCEIVED TO BE THE STRICT LINE 
 
 OF CONDUCT TO BE OBSERVED BY A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT. He then 
 
 painted the war with America as unjust, and the pursuance of the war 
 as blood-thirsty and oppressive. 
 
 Col. Barre followed, and adopted the phrase of Mr. Fox, giving his 
 flat negative to the Resolutions, as they were calculated to tax the sub 
 ject for an unjust purpose. 
 
 In the Lords, Oct. 3ist, 1776, the Duke of Grafton said: 
 
 He pledged himself to the House, and to the Public, that while he 
 had a leg to stand on, he would come down day after day to express 
 the most marked abhorrence of the measures hitherto pursued, and 
 meant to be adhered to in respect to America. 
 
 In the Commons, on the same night, Mr. Fox said : 
 
 The noble Lord who moved the amendment, said that we were in 
 the dilemma of conquering or abandoning America ; if we are reduced 
 to that, 1 am for abandoning America. 
 
 In the Commons, Nov. 6th, 1776, Mr. Burke said : 
 
 You simply tell the Colonists to lay down their arms, and then you 
 will do just as you please. Could the most cruel conqueror say less ? 
 Had you conquered the devil himself in hell, could you be less liberal ? 
 No! 
 
 In the Commons, Feb. i8th, 1777, Col. Barre said : 
 
 America must be reclaimed, not conquered or subdued. Conciliation 
 or concession are the only sure means of either gaining or retaining 
 America. 
 
 In the Commons, May i4th, 1777, another debate occurred on the 
 Budget, in the course of which Mr. Burke said : 
 
LORD CHATHAM DUKE OF RICHMOND. 41 
 
 He was and ever would be ready to support a just war, whether 
 against subjects or alien enemies; but where justice, or a color of 
 justice, was wanting, he should ever be the first to oppose it. 
 
 In the Lords, May 28th, 1777, Lord Chatham brought forward a 
 motion to put a stop to American hostilities, and said : 
 
 We have tried for unconditional submission ; try what can be gained 
 by unconditional redress. We are the aggressors. We have invaded 
 them. We have invaded them as much as the Spanish Armada invaded 
 England. * * * * In the sportsman s phrase, when you have 
 found yourself at fault, you must try back. I shall no doubt hear it 
 objected, Why should we submit or concede ? Has America done 
 anything, on her part, to induce us to agree to so large a ground of 
 concession ? I will tell you, my lords, why I think you should. You 
 Jiave been the aggressors from the beginning. If then we are the 
 aggressors, it is your lordships business to make the first overture. I 
 say again, this country has been the aggressor. You have made 
 descents upon their coasts ; you have burnt their towns, plundered 
 their country, made war upon the inhabitants, confiscated their pro 
 perty, proscribed and imprisoned their persons. / do therefore affirm, 
 that, instead of exacting unconditional submission from the Colonies, we 
 should grant them unconditional redress. We have injured them; we 
 have endeavored to enslave and oppress them. Upon this clear 
 ground, instead of chastisement they are entitled to redress. If I were 
 an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed 
 in my country, I never would lay down my arms never never 
 never. 
 
 And again Lord Chatham said : 
 
 I would sell my shirt from off my back to assist in proper measures, 
 properly and wisely conducted ; but I would not part with a single 
 shilling to the present ministers. Their plans are founded in destruc 
 tion and disgrace. It is, my lord, a ruinous and destructive war ; it is 
 full of danger ; it teems with disgrace, and must end in ruin. 
 
 In the Lords, Nov. i8th, 1777, the Duke of Richmond said : 
 
 Can we too soon put a stop to such a scene of carnage ? I know, 
 that what I am going to say is not fashionable language, but a time 
 will come when every one of us must account to God for his actions ; 
 and how can we justify causing so many innocent lives to be lost ? 
 
 In the Commons, Dec. 5th, 1778, Mr. Hartley, the constant friend 
 of America, brought forward a motion : 
 
 That it is unbecoming the wisdom and prudence of Parliament, to 
 proceed any further in the support of this fruitless, expensive, and 
 destructive war ; more especially without any specific terms of accom 
 modation declared. 
 
42 WILKES FOX SHERIDAN. 
 
 In the Lords, Feb. i6th, 1778, the Marquis of Rockingham said : 
 
 He was determined to serve his country, by making peace at any 
 rate. 
 
 In the Lords, March 23d, 1778, the Duke of Richmond brought 
 forward a motion for the withdrawal of the forces from America. 
 
 In the Commons, Nov. 27th, 1780, on a motion to thank General 
 Clinton and others, for their military services in America, Mr. Wilkes 
 said : 
 
 I think it my duty to oppose this motion, because in my idea every 
 part of it conveys an approbation of the American war ; a war 
 unfounded in principle, and fatal in its consequences to this country. 
 * * Sir, I will not thank for victories which only tend to protract a 
 destructive war. * * As I reprobate the want of principle in the 
 origin of the American war, I the more lament all the spirited exertions 
 of valor and the wisdom of conduct, which, in a good cause, I warmly 
 applaud. Thinking as I do, I see more matter of grief than of triumph, 
 of bewailing than thanksgiving, in this civil contest, and the deluge of 
 blood which has overflowed America. * * I deeply lament that the 
 lustre of such splendid victories is obscured and darkened by the want 
 of a good cause, without which no war, in the eye of truth and reason, 
 before God or man, can be justified. 
 
 Mr. Fox said : 
 
 He allowed the merits of the officers now in question, but he made a 
 distinction between thanks and praise. He might admire their valor, 
 but he could not separate the intention from the action ; they were 
 united in his mind ; there they formed one whole, and he would not 
 attempt to divide them. 
 
 Mr. Sheridan said : 
 
 There were in that House different descriptions of men who could 
 not assent to a vote of thanks that seemed to imply a recognition or 
 approbation of the American war. 
 
 Such is the doctrine of morals, sanctioned by high English examples. 
 Such should be the doctrine of an American statesman. If we apply 
 this to the existing exigency ; nay, more, if we undertake to try the 
 candidates on the present occasion by this standard, we shall find, that, 
 as Dr. Howe is unquestionably right, so Mr. Winthrop is too certainly 
 wrong. In thus exalting our own candidate, I would not unduly dis 
 parage another. It is for the sake of the cause in which we are 
 engaged, by the side of which all individuals dwindle into insignifi 
 cance, that we now oppose Mr. Winthrop. We desire to bear oui 
 testimony earnestly, heartily, sincerely, against Slavery, and the longer 
 
THE FREE-SOIL PARTY COMING. 43 
 
 continuance of the M ixican war. We demand the retreat of General 
 Taylor, and the instant withdrawal of the American forces. And even 
 if we seem to fail, in this election, we shall not fail in reality. The 
 influence of this effort will be felt. It will help to awaken and organize 
 that powerful public opinion by which this war will at last be arrested. 
 
 Hang out, then, fellow-citizens, the white banner of Peace. Unfurl 
 all its ample folds, streaming with Christian trophies. Let the citizens 
 of Boston rally about it ; and let it be borne by an enlightened, conscien 
 tious people, aroused to the condemnation of this murderous war, until 
 Mexico, wet with blood unjustly shed, shall repose undisturbed at last 
 beneath its celestial folds. 
 
 IX. 
 
 The war with Mexico had ended in the conquest of 
 that country, and the annexation of just as large a por 
 tion of its territory as we saw fit to demand. The ex 
 tension of our republic to the Pacific Ocean, with the vast 
 domain thus acquired, would now call for new legisla 
 tion, and slavery was stretching forth her hands to 
 grasp those vast regions which were now open for the 
 first time to the enterprise of the Anglo-Saxon race. 
 The Pro-slavery party at the North seemed more ready 
 than ever to yield to any demands that slavery might 
 make, and both parties vied with each other in bowing 
 to the now all-powerful Moloch. But signs were every 
 where appearing of the birth of a new party which 
 would resist the further extension of slavery over free 
 soil. There were strong men throughout the country, 
 who were preparing for a new movement. Mr. Van 
 Buren was not strong enough to command the nomi- 
 
 o o 
 
 nation of his party at Baltimore, and the Democratic 
 statesmen of New York, embracing such men as Silas 
 Wright and Gov. Dix, were preparing to stand by their 
 former political leader, in making some movement to 
 
44 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS NOBLE COURSE. 
 
 resist the imperious demands of the slave power. Sal 
 mon P. Chase, who entertained strong anti-slavery sen 
 timents, as well as Joshua Giddings, commanded great 
 influence in Ohio, while Mr. Charles Francis Adams, 
 and his friend, Charles Sumner, were putting forth their 
 mightiest efforts to restore to the old Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts Bay the spirit of liberty, whose beacon- 
 fires had long ago begun to grow dim. There was a 
 general disposition, through many portions of the North, 
 to throw off despotism of party ; and with a view to unite 
 men* of all parties against the future encroachments of 
 slavery, a mass Convention was called, to meet at Wor 
 cester on the 28th of June, 1848. In that convention, 
 Mr. Charles Francis Adams, Mr. Giddings, and Mr. 
 Sumner were the chief speakers, and the leading spirits. 
 Before Mr. Sumner spoke, Charles Francis Adams, 
 after showing how basely the Whig Party had prosti 
 tuted itself to the behests of slavery, closed with the 
 following stirring words : 
 
 The only thing to be done by all under such circumstances, is what 
 as one, individually, I have made up my mind to do, that is to have 
 nothing more to do with it. Hereafter, then, I stand free, clear, a 
 freeman, without any pledges, without any promise to any party. I 
 stand, then, ready to go forward as one in this great movement, which 
 shall establish, I hope, forever, the sacred principle of freedom through 
 out this hemisphere. Forgetting the things that are behind, I pro 
 pose that we press forward to the high calling of our new occupa 
 tion ; and, fellow-citizens, whatever may be the fate of you or me, all I 
 can now add is, to repeat the words of one with whom I take pride in 
 remembering that I have been connected " Sink or swim, live or die, 
 survive or perish; " to go with the liberties of my country, is my fixed 
 determination. 
 
 These words, which had something of the ring of the 
 old Revolution in them, transported the assembly with 
 
SUMNER S GREAT SPEECH AT WORCESTER. 45 
 
 the wildest enthusiasm. Perhaps no man, except Charles 
 Sumner, could have followed such a speaker as Mr. 
 Adams proved himself to be that day, and maintained 
 the fervor of the meeting. In alluding to what Mr. 
 Adams had said, he modestly renounced any hope of 
 exciting a deeper feeling, or even a desire to fan the 
 fires of patriotism and liberty which had been once 
 more re-kindled in the old Bay State. But one thing, 
 at least, he declared that he could do, " I can join them 
 Giddings and Adams in a renunciation of those party 
 relations which seem now inconsistent with the support 
 of freedom. Like them, I have been a Whig, because I 
 thought this Party represented the moral sentiments of 
 the country ; that it was the Party of Humanity : but it 
 has ceased to sustain this character. It does not repre 
 sent the moral sentiments of the country ; it is not the 
 Party of Humanity: and a party which renounces its 
 sentiments, must itself expect to be renounced. For 
 myself, therefore, in the coming conflict, I wish it to be 
 understood that I belong to the Party of Freedom to 
 that party which plants itself on the Declaration of In 
 dependence and the Constitution of the United States/ 
 He then proceeded with his speech, in terms of fervid 
 eloquence. 
 
 I am reminded, he said, by the transactions in which we are now 
 engaged, of an incident in French history. It was late in the night, 
 at Versailles, that a courtier of Louis XVI., penetrating the bed-cham 
 ber of his master, and arousing him from his slumbers, communicated 
 to him the intelligence big with gigantic destinies that the people of 
 Paris, smarting under wrong and falsehood, had risen in their might, and, 
 after a severe contest with hireling troops, destroyed the Bastile. The 
 unhappy monarch, turning upon his couch, said, " It is an insurrection" 
 " No, Sire," was the reply of the honest courtier, " it is a revolution: 
 And such is our Movement to-day. It is a REVOLUTION not begin- 
 
46 AUDACITY OF THE SLAVE POWER. 
 
 ning with the destruction of a Bastile, but destined to end only with the 
 overthrow of a tyranny, differing little in hardship and audacity from 
 that which sustained the Bastile of France I mean the Slave Power of 
 the United States. 
 
 By the Slave Power, I understand that combination of persons, or, 
 perhaps, of politicians, whose animating principle is the perpetuation 
 and extension of Slavery, and the advancement of Slaveholders. That 
 such a combination exists, will be apparent from a review of our his 
 tory. It shows itself, in the mildest, and perhaps the least offensive 
 form, in the undue proportion of offices under the Federal Constitution, 
 which has been held by Slaveholders. It is still worse apparent in a 
 succession of acts by which the Federal Government has been prosti 
 tuted to the cause of Slavery. Among the most important of these is 
 the Missouri Compromise, the Annexation of Texas, and the War with 
 Mexico. Mindful of the sanctions, which Slavery derived under the 
 Constitution from the Missouri Compromise of the fraud and iniquity 
 of the Annexation of Texas and of the great crime of waging an unne 
 cessary and unjust war with Mexico of the mothers, wives, and sisters 
 compelled to mourn sons, husbands, and brothers, untimely slain, as 
 these things, dark, dismal, atrocious, rise to the mind, may we not 
 brand their author, the Slave Power, as a tyranny hardly less hateful 
 than that which sustained the Bastile. 
 
 This combination is unknown to the Constitution ; nay, it exists in 
 defiance of the spirit of that instrument, and of the recorded opinions 
 of its founders. The Constitution was the crowning labor of the auth 
 ors of the Declaration of Independence. It was established to per 
 petuate, in the form of an organic law, those rights which the Declara 
 tion had promulgated, and which die sword of Washington had secured 
 " We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created 
 equal, that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights, that 
 among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" Such are 
 the emphatic words which our country took upon -its lips, when it first 
 claimed its place among the nations of the earth. These were its bap 
 tismal vows. And the preamble of the Constitution renews them, when 
 it declares its objects to be, among other things, "to establish justice, 
 to promote the general welfare, and secure the blessifigs of liberty to 
 ourselves and our posterity." Mark ; it is not to establish injustice 
 not to promote the welfare of a class, or of a few slaveholders, but the 
 general welfare ; not to foster the curse of slavery, but to secure the 
 blessings of liberty. And the declared opinions of the fathers were all 
 
THE SPIRIT OF THE FATHERS. 47 
 
 in harmony with these instruments. " I can only say," said Washing 
 ton, " that there is not a man living, who wishes more sincerely than I 
 do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery ; but there is only 
 one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and 
 that is, by the legislative authority ; and this, as far as my suffrage will 
 go, shall not be wanting." Patrick Henry, while confessing that he was 
 a master of slaves, said, " I will not, I cannot justify it. However cul 
 pable my conduct, I will so far pay my devoir to virtue, as to own the 
 excellence and rectitude of her precepts, and lament my want of con 
 formity to them. I believe a time will come, when an opportunity will 
 be offered to abolish this lamentable evil." And Franklin, as President 
 of the earliest Abolition Society of the country, signed a petition to the 
 first Congress, in which he declared that he " considered himself bound 
 to use all justifiable endeavors to loosen the bands of slavery, and pro 
 mote a general enjoyment of the blessings of freedom." Thus the 
 soldier, the orator, and the philosopher of the Revolution, all unite in 
 homage to Freedom. Washington, so wise in counsel and in battle ; 
 Patrick Henry, with his tongue of flame; Franklin, with his heaven- 
 descended sagacity and humanity, all bear testimony to the true spirit 
 of the times in which they lived, and of the institutions which they 
 helped to establish. 
 
 It is apparent that our constitution was formed by the lovers of Hu 
 man Freedom ; that it was animated by their divine spirit ; that the in 
 stitution of Domestic Slavery was regarded by them with aversion, so 
 that, though covertly alluded to, it was not named in the instrument ; 
 and that they all looked forward to the day when this evil and shame 
 would be obliterated from the land. Surely, then, it is right to say that 
 the combination, whose object is to perpetuate and extend Slavery, is 
 unknown to the Constitution, and exists in defiance of the spirit of 
 that instrument, and of the recorded opinions of its founders. 
 
 Time would fail me to dwell on the growing influence which it has 
 exerted from the foundation of the government. In the earlier periods 
 of our history it was moderate and reserved. The spirit of the 
 founders still prevailed. But with the advance of time, and as these 
 early champions passed from the scene, it became more audacious, 
 aggressive and tyrannical, till at last it has obtained the control of the 
 government, and caused it to be administered, not in the spirit of Free 
 dom, but in the spirit of Slavery. Yes ! the government of the United 
 States is now (let it be said with shame) not what it was at the begin 
 ning, a government merely permitting, while it regretted Slavery, but a 
 
48 FREEDOM POWER VS. SLAVE POWER. 
 
 government openly favoring and vindicating it, visiting also with its 
 displeasure all who oppose it. 
 
 It is during late years that the Slave Power has introduced a new 
 test for office a test which would have excluded Washington, Jeffer 
 son and Franklin. It applies an arrogant and unrelenting ostracism 
 to all who express themselves against Slavery. And now, in the mad 
 ness of its tyranny, it proposes to extend this curse to new soils not 
 darkened by its presence. It seeks to make the flag of our country 
 the carrier of Slavery into distant landb ; to scale the mountain fast 
 nesses of Oregon, and descend with its prey upon the shores of the 
 Pacific ; to cross the Rio Grande, and there, in broad territories, re 
 cently obtained by robber hands from Mexico, to plant a shameful 
 institution, which that republic has expressly abolished. * * 
 
 And now the question occurs, What is the true line of duty with re 
 gard to these two candidates ? Mr. Van Buren (and I honor him for 
 his trumpet call to the North) has sounded the true note, when he said 
 he could not vote for either of them. Though nominated by different 
 parties, they represent, as I have said, substantially the same interest 
 the Slave Power. The election of either would be a triumph of the 
 Slave Power, and entail upon the country, in all probability, the sin of 
 extending slavery. How, then, shall they be encountered ? It seems 
 to me, in a very plain way. The lovers of Freedom, of all parties, and 
 irrespective of all party association, must unite, and, by a new combina 
 tion, congenial with the Constitution, oppose both candidates. This 
 will be the FREEDOM POWER, whose single object shall be to resist 
 the SLAVE POWER. We shall put them face to face, and let them 
 grapple. Who can doubt the result ? 
 
 But it is said that we shall throw away our votes, and that our oppo 
 sition will fail. Fail, Sir ! No honest, earnest effort in a good cause 
 ever fails. It may not be crowned with the applause of men ; it may 
 not seem to touch the goal of immediate worldly success, which is the 
 end and aim of so much of life. But still it is not lost. It helps to 
 strengthen the weak with new virtue ; to arm the irresolute with proper 
 energy ; to animate all with devotion to duty, which in the end conquers 
 all. Fail ! Did the martyrs fail, when with their precious blood they sow 
 ed the seed of the Church ? Did the discomfited champions of Freedom 
 fail, who have left those names in history which can never die ? Did 
 the three hundred Spartans fail, when, in the narrow pass, they did not 
 fear to brave the innumerable Persian hosts, whose very arrows dark 
 ened the sun ? No ! Overborne by numbers, crushed to earth, they 
 
CONTINUANCE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 49 
 
 have left an example which is greater far .than any victory. Arid this is 
 the least we can do. Our example shall be the source of triumph here 
 after. It will not be the first time in history that the hosts of Slavery 
 have outnumbered the champions of freedom. But where is it written 
 that Slavery finally prevailed ? 
 
 But the assurances received here to-day show that we need not post 
 pone our anticipations of success. 1 1 seems already at hand. The heart 
 of Ohio beats responsive to the heart of Massachusetts, and all the Free 
 States are animated with the vigorous breath of Freedom. Let us not, 
 then, waste time in vain speculations between the two candidates. Both 
 are bad. Both represent a principle which we cannot sanction. 
 
 Whatever may be said by politicians to the contrary, the question of 
 Freedom is the only one now before the American people. 
 
 All other questions being withdrawn, what remains for those who, in 
 casting their votes, regard princip hs rather than men? It is clear, that 
 the only question of any present practical interest is that arising from 
 the usurpations of the Slave Power, and the efforts to extend slavery. 
 This is the vital question of our country at this time. It is the question 
 of questions. It was lately said in the Convention of the New York 
 Democracy at Utica, (and I am glad to allude to the doings of that 
 most respectable body of men,) that the movement in which we are now 
 engaged was the most important of any since the American Revolution. 
 Something more might have been said. // is a continuance of the Amer 
 ican Revolution. It is an effort to carry into effect the principles of the 
 Declaration of Independence, and to revive in the administration of 
 our government the spirit of Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson ; to 
 bring back the Constitution to the principles and practice of its early 
 founders ; to the end that it shall promote Freedom and not Slavery, 
 and shall be administered in harmony with the spirit of Freedom, and 
 not with the spirit of Slavery. 
 
 There are emphatic words in the last will and testament of Wash 
 ington, which may be adopted as a motto for the present contest. 
 After providing for the emancipation of his slaves, to take place on the 
 death of his wife, he says, " And I do expressly forbid the sale or trans 
 portation out of the said Commonwealth, of any slave I may die pos 
 sessed of under any pretence whatever! So at least should the people 
 of the United States expressly forbid the sale or transportation of any 
 slave beyond their ancient borders, under any pretence whatever. 
 
 Returning to our forefathers for their principles, let us borrow, also, 
 something of their courage and union. Let us summon to our sides 
 4 
 
50 LIBERTY EQUALITY FRATERNITY. 
 
 the majestic forms of those civil heroes, whose firmness in council was 
 equalled only by the firmness of Washington in war. Let us listen again 
 to the eloquence of the elder Adams, animating his associates in Con 
 gress to independence ; let us hang anew upon the sententious wisdom 
 of Franklin ; let us be enkindled, as were the men of other days, by the 
 fervid devotion to Freedom, which flamed from the heart of Jefferson. 
 
 Deriving instruction from our enemies, let us also be taught by the 
 Slave Power. The two hundred thousand slaveholders are always 
 united in purpose. Hence their strength. Like arrows in a quiver, 
 they cannot be broken. The friends of Freedom have thus far been 
 divided. Union^ then, must be our watchword, union among men of 
 all parties. By such a union we shall consolidate an opposition which 
 must prevail. 
 
 Let Massachusetts nurse of the men and principles which made our 
 earliest revolution vow herself anew to her early faith. Let her 
 elevate once more the torch, which she first held aloft. Let us, if need 
 be, pluck some fresh coals from the living altars of France. Let us, 
 too, proclaim " Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," Liberty to the captive 
 Equality between the master and his slave Fraternity with all men, 
 the whole comprehended in that sublime revelation of Christianity, the 
 Brotherhood of Mankind. 
 
 In the contemplation of these great interests, the intrigues of party, 
 the machinations of politicians, the combinations of office-seekers, seem 
 all to pass from our sight. Politics and morals, no longer divorced 
 from each other, become one and inseparable in the holy wedlock of 
 Christian sentiment. Such a union elevates politics, while it gives a 
 new sphere to morals. Political discussions have a grandeur which 
 they have never before assumed. Released from those topics, which 
 concern only the selfish strife for gain, and which are perhaps indepen 
 dent of morals, they come home to the hearts and consciences of men. 
 A novel forre passes into the contests of party, breathing into them the 
 breath of a new life, of Hope, of Progress, of Justice, of Humanity. 
 
 It is easy to see from this demonstration to-day, and from the glad 
 tidings that swell upon us from all the Free States, that this great cause 
 of Freedom, to which we now dedicate ourselves, will sweep the heart 
 strings of the people ! It will smite all the chords with a might to draw 
 forth emotions, such as no political struggle has ever caused before. It 
 will move the young, the middle-aged, and the old. It will find a place 
 in the family circle, and mingle with the flame of the household hearth. 
 Jt will touch the souls of mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters, until 
 
PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS AT BUFFALO. 5 1 
 
 the sympathies of all shall swell in one firm and irresistible voice against 
 the deep damnation, in this age of Christian light, of lending new sanc 
 tions to the slavery of our brother-man. 
 
 Come forth, then, men of all parties ; let us range together. Come 
 forth, all who have thus far stood aloof from parties. Here is an 
 occasion for action. Men of peace ! come forward. All who feel in 
 any way the wrong of slavery, take your stand ! Join us, ye lovers of 
 Truth, of Justice, of Humanity ! And let me call especially upon the 
 young. You are the natural guardians of Freedom. In your firm re 
 solves and generous souls, she will find her surest protection. The 
 young man, who is not willing to serve in her cause to suffer, if need 
 be, for her gives little promise of those qualities which secure an 
 honorable age. 
 
 X." 
 
 The agitation which had now for some time been go 
 ing on through the country, began to assume formidable 
 proportions the seed sown by a few strong hands had 
 begun to bear fruit. The foremost of the leading spirits 
 throughout the North assembled in convention at Buffalo, 
 announcing a platform of opposition to the further exten 
 sion of slavery, and by acclamation nominated Martin 
 Van Buren for President, and Charles Francis Adams as 
 Vice-President. On the 22d of August, the same year 
 1848 a public meeting was called at Faneuil Hall to ra 
 tify the nominations of the Buffalo Convention. Mr. Sum- 
 ner, as the presiding officer of the meeting, made the 
 following brief, but bold and comprehensive speech : 
 
 And why, in this nineteenth century, are we assembled here in Fan 
 euil Hall, to vow ourselves to this cause ? It is because it is now in 
 danger. The principles of our fathers, of Washington, Franklin, and 
 Jefferson, nay. the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Indepen 
 dence, have been assailed. Our Constitution, which was the work 
 of the lovers of Freedom, which was watched by its most devoted 
 champions, which, like the ark of the covenant, was borne on the 
 
52 SUMMER S RATIFICATION SPEECH. 
 
 shoulders of the early patriarchs of our Israel, has been prostituted to 
 the uses of Slavery. A body of men, whose principle of union was 
 unknown to the authors of the Constitution, have obtained the control 
 of the government, and caused it to be administered, not in the spirit 
 of Freedom, but in the spirit of Slavery. This combination is known 
 as the Slave Power of the United States. 
 
 This combination has obtained the sway of both the great political 
 factions of the country. Whatever may be said of the opinions of in 
 dividuals belonging to these different factions, it would be difficult to 
 say whether the whigs or democrats, in their recent conduct as national 
 parties, had most succumbed to this malign influence. The late Con 
 ventions at Baltimore and Philadelphia were controlled by it. At Balti 
 more, the delegation of the most important State of the Union known 
 to be opposed to the Wihuot Proviso--w T as refused admission to the 
 Convention. At Philadelphia, tire Wilmot Proviso itself was stifled, 
 according to the report of an Ohio delegate, amidst the cries of " Kick 
 it out ! " General Cass was nominated at Baltimore, pledged against 
 the Wilmot Proviso. General Taylor, at Philadelphia, without any 
 pledge on this all-important question, was forced upon the Conven 
 tion by the Slave Power ; nor were any principles of any kind put forth 
 by this body of professing whigs. These two candidates, apparently 
 representing opposite parties, both concur in being the representatives 
 of Slavery. They are the leaders of the two contending factions of 
 the Slave Power. I say factions ; for, what are factions but combinations 
 of men whose sole cement is a selfish desire for place and power, in 
 disregard of principles ? And such were the Conventions at Baltimore 
 and Philadelphia. 
 
 In marked contrast with these was the recent Convention at Buffalo, 
 where were* represented the good men of all the parties, whigs, demo 
 crats, and liberty men, forgetting alike all former differences, and 
 uniting in a common opposition to the Slave Power. There, by their 
 delegates, was the formidable and unsubdued Democracy of New 
 York ; there also was the devoted, inflexible Liberty party of the 
 country ; there also were the true-hearted whigs and democrats of all 
 the Free States, who in this great cause of Freedom have been, among 
 the faithless, faithful found. There also were welcome delegates from 
 the Slave States, from Maryland and Virginia, anxious to join in this 
 new and truly holy alliance. In uncounted multitude, mighty, in 
 numbers, mightier still in the harmony and unity of their proceedings, 
 this Convention consummated the object for which it was called. It 
 
PROTECTION TO MAN THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 53 
 
 has presented to the country a platform of principles, and candidates 
 who are the exponents of these principles. In their support the repre 
 sentatives of the parties there assembled, whigs, democrats, and 
 liberty men, all united. In the strength and completeness of this 
 union, I am reminded of the Mississippi, Father of Rivers, where the 
 commingling waters of the Missouri and Ohio are lost in one broad, 
 united, irresistible current, in one channel descending to the sea. 
 
 The principles which caused this union have already been widely 
 received, and will be responded to by this vast assembly. Look at 
 them. They are frankly and explicitly expressed. They were solemnly 
 and deliberately considered by a large committee, and enthusiastically 
 adopted in the Convention. They not only propose to guard the ter 
 ritories against Slavery, but to relieve the Federal Government from 
 all responsibility therefor, everywhere within the sphere of its consti 
 tutional powers. In short, on the subject of Slavery, they adopt sub 
 stantially the prayer of Franklin, who by formal petition called upon 
 Congress " to step to the verge of its constitutional power to discour 
 age every species of traffic in human flesh." They propose to bring 
 back the government to the truths of the Declaration of Independence 
 and to the principles of the fathers, to the end that it shall be admin 
 istered no longer in the spirit of Slavery, but in the spirit of Freedom. 
 
 It is no longer banks and tariffs which are to occupy the foremost 
 place in our discussions, and to give their tone, sounding always with 
 the chink of dollars and cents, to the policy of the country. Hence 
 forward, PROTECTION TO MAN shall be the true AMERICAN SYSTEM. 
 
 The candidates selected as the exponents of these principles have 
 claims upon your support, in forgetfulness of all former differences of 
 opinion. They were brought forward, not because of the past, but the 
 present ; I may add, they were sustained in the Convention by many 
 persons, notwithstanding the past. I name them with pride : Martin 
 Van Buren, the New York democrat, and Charles Francis Adams, the 
 Massachusetts whig. But these designations can no longer denote dif 
 ferent principles. Those to whom they are applied, whether democrat 
 or whig, concur in making opposition to Slavery and the Slave Power 
 the paramount principle of political action. The designations may now 
 be interchanged. Mr. Adams may be properly hailed as a New York 
 democrat, and Mr. Van Buren as a Massachusetts whig. 
 
 There are many here, doubtless, among those once connected with 
 the whig party, who, like myself on former occasions, have voted 
 against Mr. Van Buren, and who regard some portion of his career with 
 
54 THE CANDIDATES VAN BUREN AND ADAMS. 
 
 anything but satisfaction. Mr. Adams is a younger man ; but there are 
 some, doubtless, among those once connected with the democratic 
 party, who have voted against him. But these differences, and the 
 prejudices they have engendered, are all forgotten, absorbed, and lost 
 in the entire sympathy with their present position. Time changes, and 
 we change with it. He has lived to little purpose, whose mind and 
 character continue, through a lapse of years, untouched by these muta 
 tions. It is not foj the Van Buren of 1838 that we are to vote ; but 
 for the Van Buren of to-day, the veteran statesman, sagacious, deter 
 mined, experienced, who, at an age when most men are rejoicing to 
 put off their armor, girds himself anew, and enters the list as the cham 
 pion of Freedom. Having implicit confidence in the sincerity and 
 earnestness of his devotion to the cause, and in his ability to maintain 
 it to a successful result, I call upon you, as you love Freedom, and 
 value the fair fame of your country, now dishonored, to render him your 
 earnest and enthusiastic support. 
 
 Of Mr. Adams I need say nothing in this place, where his honorable 
 and efficient public services, and his private life, are so familiar. Stand 
 ing as I now do beneath the images of his father and grandfather, it will 
 be sufficient if I say that he is the heir, not only to their name, but to 
 the virtues, the abilities, and the indomitable spirit that rendered that 
 name so illustrious. 
 
 Such are our principles, and such our candidates. We present them 
 fearlessly to the country. Upon the people depends the question, 
 whether their certain triumph shall be immediate or postponed ; for 
 triumph they must. The old and ill-compacted party organizations are 
 broken, and from their ruins is now formed a new party, The Party of 
 Freedom. There are good men who longed for this, and have died with 
 out the sight. John Quincy Adams longed for it. William Ellery 
 Channing longed for it. Their spirits hover over us, and urge us to 
 persevere. Let us be true to the moral grandeur of our cause. Have 
 faith in Truth and in God, who giveth the victory. 
 
 Oh, a fair cause stands firm and will abide ; 
 Legions of angels fight upon its side ! 
 
 Fellow-citizens, I am tempted to exclaim, seeing the spirit which ani 
 mates your faces, that the work is already done to-night that the vic 
 tory is already achieved. But I would not lull you to the repose which 
 springs from too great confidence. I would rather arouse you to renewed 
 and incessant exertions. A great cause is staked upon your constancy ; 
 for without you, where among us would Freedom find its defenders ? 
 
WASHINGTON LAFAYETTE OTIS HENRY. 5 5 
 
 The sentiment of opposition to the Slave Power, to the extension of 
 Slavery, and to its longer continuance under the Constitution wherever 
 the Federal Government is responsible for it, though recognized by in 
 dividuals, and adopted also by a small and faithful party, has now for 
 the first time become the leading principle of a broad, formidable, and 
 national organization. It is indeed, as Mr. Webster has lately said, no 
 new idea; it is as old as the Declaration of Independence. But it is 
 an idea now for the first time recognized by a great political party ; for 
 if the old parties had been true to it, there would have been no occa 
 sion for our organization. It is said our idea is sectional. How is this? 
 Because the slaveholders live at the South ? As well might we say 
 that the tariff is sectional, because the manufacturers live at the North. 
 It is said that we have but one idea. This I deny ; but admitting 
 that it is so, are we not, with our one idea, better than a party with no 
 ideas at all ? And what is our one idea? It is the idea which com 
 bined our fathers on the heights of Bunker Hill. It is the idea which 
 carried Washington through a seven years war ; which inspired Lafa 
 yette ; which touched with coals of fire the lips of Adams, Otis, and 
 Patrick Henry. Ours is an idea which is, at least, noble and elevating ; 
 it is an idea which draws in its train virtue, goodness, and all the 
 charities of life all that makes earth a home of improvement and 
 happiness. 
 
 Her path where er the goddess roves, 
 
 Glory pursues, and generous shame, 
 
 The unconquerable mind, and freedom s holy flame. 
 
 We found now a new party. Its corner-stone is Freedom. Its broad, 
 all-sustaining arches are Truth, Justice, and Humanity. Like the an 
 cient Roman Capitol, at once a Temple and a Citadel, it shall be the fit 
 shrine of the genius of American institutions. 
 
 XL 
 
 The National and State elections of 1848 had come 
 and gone. The Free-soil Party, which was afterwards 
 to control the government, and give an entirely new 
 direction to public affairs, was slowly forming, and where- 
 ever the great issues were made and met, the friends of 
 Freedom had been steadily gaining ground. Strange 
 
56 SOME PRACTICAL PLAN FOR ACTION. 
 
 as it may seem, the hardest work in this great battle 
 had to be fought in Massachusetts, where Mr. Sumner 
 was the acknowledged leader of the Liberal host. 
 Clothed with no official dignity or power, to give pres 
 tige to his words or actions, -he was already commanding 
 a national influence which ma !e every speech delivered 
 in Massachusetts effective far beyond the bounds of the 
 State. John Quincy Adams had died at his post, the 
 last undismayed champion of the Revolutionary school 
 of Freedom, his heart still burning with the love of 
 liberty, and the eloquent utterances of freedom still fresh 
 from his lips. But his son, Charles Francis, had already 
 come forward in the same spirit, to tread in the steps of 
 his father, and in all quarters the roused spirit of insulted 
 American liberty was no longer to cower back from the 
 presence of her foes. But there was yet lacking, as 
 there always is in such reforms, a practical plan of oper 
 ations, to give effect to the efforts of the friends of freedom. 
 By the great majority of them, the radical Anti-slavery 
 men were still looked upon as fanatical, and generally, 
 as hostile to the Constitution ; many of them, like Mr. 
 Garrison, regarding it as the chief impediment, not only 
 to emancipation, but to the spread of slavery itself. 
 Much had been done at Buffalo by the enunciations made 
 in the Platform, and the nomination of candidates pledg 
 ed to resist the further encroachments of slavery ; and 
 around them a large body of voters had gathered at the 
 ballot-box. But the great mass of the people had yet 
 no clear idea of any practical plan of operations, that 
 could be carried out without open war upon the Consti 
 tution. At this time September 12, 1849 a Free-soil 
 Convention met at Worcester, and Mr. Sumner was in 
 vited to present an address explaining and vindicating 
 
SPEECH AT THE WORCESTER CONVENTION. $? 
 
 the Free-soil movement, and that address was adopted 
 by the Convention. As nothing appeared at the time 
 which put forth so clearly, or with so much power, the 
 great issue which was coming before the nation, we shall 
 make as copious extracts from that address, as our space 
 will admit ; for it will give every reader a better under 
 standing of the state of public feeling at the time, and 
 serve as a chart for tracing the early progress of the 
 mighty movement then starting, which will hereafter 
 doubtless be regarded as the most important feature in 
 the political history of this nation, since the adoption of 
 the Federal Constitution. Omnipresent, as Mr. Sumner 
 then declared the great issue to be, wherever any poli 
 tical election occurred, it was never to cease to challenge 
 attention, until, in his own language, " at least two things 
 are accomplished : first, the divorce of the Federal Go 
 vernment from all support or sanction of Slavery ; and 
 secondly, the conversion of this government, within its 
 Constitutional limits, to the cause of Freedom, so that it 
 shall become Freedom s open, active, and perpetual 
 ally." 
 
 Impressed by the magnitude of these interests, devoted to the 
 triumph of the righteous cause, solicitous of the true welfare of the 
 country, animated by the example of the Fathers of the Republic, 
 and desirous of breathing their spirit into our Government, the Free 
 Democracy of Massachusetts, in Convention assembled at Worcester, 
 no\v address their fellow-citizens throughout the Commonwealth. 
 Imperfectly, according to the necessity of the occasion earnestly, 
 according to the fulness of their convictions hopefully, according to 
 the confidence of their aspirations, they will proceed to unfold the 
 reasons of their appeal. They now ask your best attention. They 
 trust, through this, to secure your votes. 
 
 Our Party a permanent National Party. Fellow-citizens ; we make 
 our appeal as a National party, established to promote principles 
 deemed to be of paramount importance to the country. In assuming 
 
$8 A PERMANENT NATIONAL PARTY. 
 
 our place as a distinct party, we simply give form and direction, in 
 harmony with the usage and the genius of popular governments, to a 
 Movement which stirs the whole country, and does not find an ade 
 quate and constant organ in either of the other existing parties. In 
 France, under the royalty of Louis Philippe, the faithful friends of the 
 yet unborn Republic, formed a band together, and by their publica 
 tions, speeches, and votes, sought to influence the public mind. Few 
 at first in numbers, they became strong by united political action. In 
 England, the most brilliant popular triumph in her history, the repeal 
 of the monopoly of the Corn Laws, was finally carried, by means of a 
 newly-formed, but wide spread political organization, which combined 
 men of all the old parties, Whigs, Tories, and Radicals, and recognized 
 opposition to the Corn Laws as a special test. In the spirit of these 
 examples, the friends of Freedom have come together, in well-com 
 pacted ranks, to uphold their cherished principles, and, by combined 
 efforts, according to the course of parties, to urge them upon the 
 Government, and upon the country. 
 
 All the old organizations have contributed to our numbers, and good 
 citizens have come to us, who have not heretofore mingled in the con 
 tests of party. Here are men from the ancient democracy, believing 
 all that any democracy must be a name only, no better than sounding 
 brass or a tinkling cymbal, which does not recognize, on every occa 
 sion, the supremacy of Human .Rights, and which is not ready to do 
 and to suffer in their behalf. Here also are men, who have come out 
 of the Whig party, weary of its many professions, and of its little per 
 formance, and especially revolting at its recent sinister course with 
 regard to the cause of Freedom ; believing all that, in any devotion to 
 Human Rights, they cannot err. Here also, in solid legion, is the well- 
 tried band of the Liberty Party, to whom belongs the praise of first 
 placing the cause of Freedom under the guardianship of a special 
 political organization, whose exclusive test was opposition to Slavery. 
 
 In thus associating and harmonizing from opposite quarters, in order 
 to promote a common cause, we have learned to forget former differ 
 ences of opinion, and to appreciate the motives of each other. We have 
 learned how trivial are the matters on which we may disagree, compared 
 with the Great Issue on which we all agree. Old prejudices have van 
 ished. Fven the rancors of political antagonism have been changed and 
 dissolved, as in a potent alembic, by the natural irresistible affinities of 
 Freedom. In our union we have ceased to wear the badges of either 
 of the old organizations. We hare become a party, distinct, independent, 
 
OLD PARTY ISSUES OBSOLETE. 59 
 
 permanent, under the name of the Free Democracy. Thus in our very 
 designation expressing our devotion to Human Rights, and especially to 
 Human Freedom. 
 
 Professing honestly the sairfe sentiments, wherever we exist, in all 
 parts of the country, East and West, North and South, we are truly a 
 NATIONAL party. We are not compelled to assume one face at the 
 South and another at the North ; to blow hot in one place, and blow 
 cold in another ; to speak loudly of Freedom in one region, and vindi 
 cate Slavery in another ; in short, to present a combination, in which 
 the two extreme wings profess opinions, on the Great Issue before the 
 country, diametrically opposed to each other. We are the same every 
 where. And the reason is, because our party, unlike the other parties, 
 is bound together in support of certain fixed and well-defined principles. 
 It is not a combination, fired by partisan zeal, and kept together, as 
 with mechanical force, by considerations of political expediency only ; 
 but a sincere, conscientious, inflexible union for the sake of Freedom. 
 
 The Address shows that all the old Issues which had 
 hitherto divided the country were obsolete ; that the 
 Bank, the Sub-Treasury, the Public Lands, had disap 
 peared from the political field, and that even the Tariff 
 question could not draw a distinguishing line. 
 
 The devices of party could no longer stave off the 
 Great Issue. Politicians could by no subterfuge escape 
 it. Office-seekers could not dodge it by any trick. It 
 would mix itself up in every election. Wherever men 
 met to speak of public affairs, it would come up, in city, 
 village, field, workshop --- everywhere the question 
 sounded in the ears of men, would be, "Are you for 
 Freedom, or against it ? " 
 
 And now, instead of these superseded questions, which were con 
 nected for the most part only with the material interests of the country, 
 and which, though not unimportant in their time, all had the odor of the 
 dollar, you are called to consider a cause which is connected with all 
 that is divine in Religion, with all that is pure and noble in Morals, with 
 all that is truly practical in Politics. Unlike the other questions, it is 
 
60 THE FOUNDERS OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 not temporary or local in its character. It belongs to all times, and to 
 all countries. It is an everlasting link in the golden chain of Human 
 Progress. It is a part of the great Movement, under whose strong 
 pulsations all Christendom now shakes from side to side. It is a cause, 
 which, though long kept in check throughout our country, as also in 
 Europe, now confronts the people and their rulers, demanding to be 
 heard. It can no longer be avoided, or silenced. To every man in 
 the land it now says, with clear penetrating voice, " Are you for Free 
 dom, or are you for slavery ? " And every man in the land must answer 
 this question when he votes. 
 
 The next point to which attention was directed, was 
 the Anti-slavery sentiments of the Founders of the Re 
 public, where a plain recital of facts is given. 
 
 At the period of the Declaration of Independence there were up 
 wards of half a million of colored persons held in slavery in the United 
 States. These unhappy people were originally stolen from Africa, or 
 were the children of those who had been so stolen, and, though dis 
 tributed throughout the whole country, were to be found in the largest 
 numbers in the Southern States. But the spirit of Freedom was then 
 abroad in the land. The fathers of the Republic, leaders in the War 
 of Independence, were struck with the impious inconsistency of an 
 appeal for their own liberties while holding in bondage their fellow- 
 men, "guilty of a skin not colored like their own." In private and in 
 public they did not hesitate to bear their testimony against the atrocity. 
 The following resolution, passed at Darien, in Georgia, in 1775, and 
 preserved in the American Archives, (Vol. i., 4th series, p. 1134,) speaks, 
 in tones worthy of freemen, the sentiments of the time: "We, there 
 fore, the representatives of the extensive district of Darien, in the 
 Colony of Georgia, having now assembled in Congress, by authority 
 and free choice of the inhabitants of the said District, now freed from 
 their fetters, do resolve ; To show the world that we are not influenced 
 by any contracted or interested motives, but by a general philanthropy 
 for all mankind, of whatever climate, language, or complexion, we 
 hereby declare our disapprobation and abhorrence of the unnatural prac 
 tice of Slavery in America, however the uncultivated state of our 
 country, or other specious arguments may plead for it ; a practice found 
 ed in injustice and cruelty, and highly dangerous to our liberties as well 
 as lives, debasing part of our fellow-creatures below men, and corrupt- 
 
JEFFERSON AN ABOLITIONIST. 6l 
 
 ing the virtue and morals of the rest, and as laying the basis of that 
 liberty we contend for (and which we pray the Almighty to continue to 
 the latest posterity) upon a very wrong foundation. We, therefore, 
 resolve to use our utmost endeavors for the manumission of our slaves 
 in this colony, upon the most safe and equitable footing for the masters 
 and themselves." Would that such a voice could be heard once more 
 from Georgia ! 
 
 The spirit of Virginia is spoken of, as it found expres 
 sion through Jefferson, who by his precocious and im 
 mortal words against slavery, enrolled himself among the 
 earliest Abolitionists of the country. 
 
 In the Declaration of Independence he embodied sentiments, which, 
 when practically applied, will give Freedom to every Slave throughout 
 the land. " We hold these truths to be self-evident," says our country 
 speaking by his voice, "that all men are created equal that they are 
 endowed with certain inalienable rights that among these are life, 
 liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." And again, in the Congress of 
 the Confederation, he brought forward, as early as 1784, a resolution to 
 exclude Slavery from all the territory "ceded or to be ceded" by the 
 States of the Federal Government, and including the territory now cov 
 ered by Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. Lost at first by a single 
 vote only, this measure was substantially renewed at a subsequent day 
 by a son of Massachusetts, and in 178 7 was finally confirmed, in the 
 Ordinance of the North-Western Territory, by a unanimous vote of the 
 States and their respective delegates. 
 
 The same spirit is discerned in the Federal Constitu 
 tion which was adopted in 1788, where express provision 
 was made for the abolition of the slave-trade, the discredit 
 able words slave and slavery being allowed no place in 
 that sacred instrument ; while a clause subsequently 
 added, specifically declared that " no person shall be de 
 prived of life, liberty or property, without due process of 
 law." 
 
 It is evident, from a perusal of the debates on the Federal Constitu 
 tion, that Slavery, like the slave trade, was regarded as temporary ; and 
 
62 FRANKLIN S ABOLITION PETITION. 
 
 it seems to have been supposed by many that they would both disap 
 pear together. Nor do any words employed in our day denounce it 
 with an indignation more burning than that which glowed on the lips 
 of the fathers. Mr. Morris, of Pennsylvania, said in Convention, that 
 "he would never concur in upholding domestic slavery. It is a nefari 
 ous institution." In another mood, and with mild judicial phrase, Mr. 
 Madison " thought it wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea of 
 property in man." And Washington, in a letter written near this 
 period, says, with a frankness worthy of imitation, " There is but one 
 proper and effectual mode by which the abolition of slavery can be ac 
 complished, and that is by legislative action, and this as far as my 
 suffrage will go, shall never be wanting" 
 
 When the earliest Congress assembled, under the 
 Constitution, a petition was early presented from the 
 Abolition Society of Pennsylvania, signed by Benjamin 
 Franklin, as President. 
 
 This venerable man, whose active life had been devoted to the 
 welfare of mankind at home and abroad, who both as a philosopher and 
 a statesman had arrested the attention of the world, who had ravished 
 the lightning from the skies, and the sceptre from a tyrant, who, as a 
 member of the Continental Congress, had set his name to the Declara 
 tion of Independence, and as a member of the Convention, had again 
 set his name to the Federal Constitution, in whom, more perhaps 
 than in any other person, the true spirit of American institutions, at 
 once practical and humane, was embodied, than whom no one could be 
 more familiar with the purposes and aspirations of the founders, this 
 veteran, eighty-four years of age, within a few months only of his death, 
 now appeared by his petition at the bar of that Congress, whose powers 
 he had helped to define and establish. "Your memorialists," he says, 
 and this Convention now repeats the words of Franklin, " particularly 
 engaged in attending to the distresses arising from slavery, believe it to 
 be their indispensable duty to present this subject to your notice. They 
 have observed with real satisfaction that many important and salutary 
 powers are vested in you for promoting the welfare and securing the 
 blessings of liberty to the people of the United States; and as they 
 conceive that these blessings ought rightfully to be administered, with 
 out distinction of color, to all descriptions of people, so they indulge 
 
THE COUNTRY BECOMES PRO-SLAVERY. 63 
 
 themselves in the pleasing expectation, that nothing which can be done 
 for the relief of the unhappy objects of their care, will be either omitted or 
 delayed 1 And the memorialists conclude as follows : " Under these 
 impressions they earnestly entreat your serious attention to the subject 
 of Slavery ; that you will be pleased to countenance the restoration of 
 liberty to those unhappy men, who alone, in this land of Freedom, are 
 degraded into perpetual bondage, and who, amidst the general joy of 
 surrounding freemen, are groaning in servile subjection ; that you will 
 promote mercy and justice towards this distressed race, and that you 
 will step to the very verge of the power vested in you for DISCOURAG 
 ING every species of traffic in the persons of our fellow -men" 
 
 The Address also makes the assertion which is an 
 historical fact not often alluded to that at the time, no 
 where, under the Federal Government, did slavery ex 
 ist. It was in States only, skulking beneath the shelter 
 of local laws, that it was allowed to remain. 
 
 But the country had changed from Anti-slavery to 
 Pro-slavery. The generous sentiments which filled the 
 souls of the early patriots, had been impressed upon the 
 government they founded, as it was upon the coin they 
 circulated the image and superscription of LIBERTY. 
 But the blessings of Freedom being secured to them 
 selves, the freemen of the land grew indifferent to the 
 freedom of others : they ceased to think of the slaves. 
 The slave-masters were but few in numbers, even in the 
 slave States ; but by persevering union among them 
 selves, and through skilful tactics carrying their influ 
 ence with whatever party was in power, to promote 
 their personal interests, they succeeded through a long 
 period of years, in obtaining control of the Federal Gov 
 ernment, which resulted in a fundamental change in its 
 character. 
 
 The Usurpations and Aggressions of the Slave Power. Look at the 
 extent to which this malign influence has predominated. The Slave 
 
64 CATALOGUE OF SLAVERY AGGRESSIONS. 
 
 States are far inferior to the Free States in population, in wealth, in 
 education, in libraries, in resources of all kinds, and yet they have taken 
 to themselves the lion s share of the offices of honor and profit under 
 the Constitution. They have held the presidency for fifty-seven years, 
 while the Free States have held it for twelve years only. But without 
 pursuing the exposition of this game of political " sweep-stakes," which 
 the Slave Power has perpetually played, let us present what is more 
 important, as indicative of its spirit the aggressions and usurpations 
 by which it has turned the Federal Government from its original cha 
 racter of Freedom, and prostituted it to Slavery. 
 
 The following catalogue is given, which should be 
 carefully noticed : 
 
 Early in this century, when the District of Columbia was finally oc 
 cupied as the national capital, the Slave Power succeeded, in defiance 
 of the spirit of the Constitution, and even of the express letter of one of 
 its amendments, in securing for Slavery, within the District, the counte 
 nance of the Federal Government. Until then Slavery had existed 
 nowhere within the exclusive jurisdiction of this Government. 
 
 It next secured for Slavery another recognition under the Federal 
 Government, in the broad territory of Louisiana, purchased from 
 France. 
 
 It next placed Slavery again under the sanction of the Federal Govern 
 ment, in the territory of Florida, purchased from Spain. 
 
 Waxing powerful, it was able, after a severe struggle, to dictate terms 
 to the Federal Government, in the Missouri Compromise, compel 
 ling it to receive that State into the Union with a slave-holding Con 
 stitution. 
 
 It instigated and carried on a most expensive war in Florida, mainly 
 to recover fugitive slaves, thus employing the army of the United 
 States as slave-catchers. 
 
 It wrested from Mexico the Province of Texas in order to extend 
 Slavery, and triumphing over all opposition, finally secured its admission 
 into the Union with a Constitution making Slavery perpetual. 
 
 It next plunged the country in war with Mexico, in order to gain 
 new lands for Slavery. 
 
 With the meanness, as well as the insolence of tyranny, it has com 
 pelled the Federal Government to abstain from acknowledging the 
 
USURPATIONS OF SLAVERY. 65 
 
 neighbor republic of Hayti, where slaves have become freemen, and 
 established an independent nation. 
 
 It has compelled the Federal Government to stoop ignobly and in 
 vain, before the British Queen, to secure compensation for slaves, who, 
 in the exercise of the natural rights of man, had asserted and achieved 
 their Freedom on the Atlantic ocean, and afterwards sought shelter in 
 Bermuda. 
 
 It has compelled the Federal Government to seek to negotiate 
 treaties for the surrender of fugitive slaves, thus making it assert pro 
 perty in human flesh. 
 
 It has joined in declaring the foreign slave trade piracy, but insists 
 upon the coastwise slave tiade, with the sanction of the Federal 
 Government. 
 
 For several years it rejected the petitions to Congress adverse to 
 Slavery, thus, in order to shield Slavery, practically denying the right of 
 petition. 
 
 It denies to the free colored citizens of Massachusetts the privileges 
 secured to them tinder the Constitution of the United States, by im 
 prisoning them, and sometimes selling them into Slavery. 
 
 It insulted and exiled from Charleston and New Orleans, the 
 honored representatives of Massachusetts who were sent to those 
 places in order to throw the shield of the Constitution over her colored 
 citizens. 
 
 It has, by the pen of Mr. Calhoun, as Secretary of State, in formal 
 dispatches, made the Republic stand before the nations of the earth as 
 the vindicator of Slavery. 
 
 It has put forth the hideous effrontery that Slavery can go to all new 
 ly acquired territories, and have the protection of the national flag. 
 
 Such are some of the usurpations and aggressions of the Slave Power ! 
 By such steps the Federal Government has been perverted from its 
 original purposes, its character changed, and its powers subjected to 
 Slavery. It is pitiful to see Freedom suffer at any time from any 
 hands. It is doubly pitiful when she suffers from a Government, whose 
 earliest energies were inspired by her breath, and who learned by her 
 teachings to be strong. 
 
 So the struck eagle, stretched upon the plain, 
 No more through rolling clouds to soar again, 
 Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart, 
 And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart. 
 
 5 
 
66 DEGRADING INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel, 
 He nursed the pinion which impelled the steel, 
 While the same plumage that had warmed his nest 
 Drank the last life-drop of his bleeding breast. 
 
 A frightful, but a true picture, is drawn of the evils of 
 slavery, where it existed ; not least of which was that 
 for the husband and wife there is no marriage. The 
 
 o 
 
 mother has no assurance that her infant child will not be 
 torn from her breast, since for all who bear the name of 
 Slave, there is nothing which they can call their own. 
 But the bondman is not the only sufferer he does not 
 sit alone, in his degradation. 
 
 By his side is his master, who, in the debasing influences on his own 
 soul, is compelled to share the degradation to which he dooms his fel 
 low-man. " He must be a prodigy," says Jefferson, " who can retain 
 ihis manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances." And this 
 :is not all. The whole social fabric is disorganized ; labor loses its dig- 
 mity ; industry sickens ; education finds no schools ; religion finds no 
 churches ; and all the land of Slavery is impoverished. 
 
 The address then reaches the main question, that was 
 soon to be determined, and which constituted the rally- 
 ing-cry of the rising Party. 
 
 Shall Slavery be extended ? And now at last the Slave Power threat 
 ens to carry Slavery to the vast regions of New Mexico and California, 
 existing territories of the United States, already purged of this evil by 
 the express legislation of the recent Mexican government. It is the 
 immediate urgency of this question that has contributed to arouse the 
 Country to the successive aggressions of the Slave Power, and to its 
 undue influence over the Federal Government. This is without doubt 
 the most pressing form in which the Great Issue can be presented. 
 Nor can it be exaggerated. These territories, excluding Oregon, 
 embrace upwards of five hundred thousand square miles. The im 
 mensity of this tract may be partially comprehended, when we con 
 sider that Massachusetts contains only 7,800 miles, all New Eng- 
 
THE REMEDY SLAVERY PROHIBITION. 6/ 
 
 land only 66,280, and all the original thirteen States, which declared 
 independence, only 352,000. And the distinct question is presented, 
 whether the Federal Government shall carry to this imperial region the 
 curse of Slavery, with its monstrous brood of ignorance, poverty, and 
 degradation; or Freedom, with her attendant train of blessings. 
 
 The only remedy that can be applied : It thus be 
 came plain enough, that in order to secure freedom in 
 the Territories, slavery there must be prohibited by an 
 Act of Congress. 
 
 A direct Prohibition by Congress necessary to prevent Extension of 
 Slavery. An attempt has been made to divert attention from this 
 question, by denying the necessity of legislation by Congress to pre 
 vent the extension of Slavery to California, on the ground that the 
 climate and physical condition of the territory furnish natural obstacles 
 to its existence there. This is a weak device of the enemy. It is well 
 known that Slavery did exist there for many years, until excluded by 
 law, that California lies in the same range of latitude as the Slave 
 States of the Union, and it may be added also, as the Barbary States of 
 Africa, that the mineral wealth of California creates a demand for 
 slave labor, which would overcome any physical obstacles to its intro 
 duction, that slavery has existed in every country from which it was not 
 excluded by the laws or religion of the people, and still further, it is 
 an undeniable fact, that slaves have already been taken into California 
 and publicly sold there at enormous prices, and thousands are now on 
 thJr way thither from the Southern States and from South America. In 
 support of this last statement numerous authorities, might be adduced. 
 It is stated that a member of Congress from Tennessee has recently 
 declared, that, within his own knowledge, there would be taken to 
 California, during the summer just passed, from ten to twelve thousand 
 slaves. And another person states, from reliable evidence, that whole 
 families are moving with their slaves from Tennessee, Arkansas, and 
 Missouri. Mr. Rowe, under date of May 13, at Independence, Mo., 
 on his way to the Pacific, writes to the paper, of which he was recently 
 the editor, the Belfast Journal, Maine, "1 have seen as many as a 
 dozen teams going along with their families of slaves" And Mr. 
 Boggs, once Governor of Missouri, now a resident of California, is 
 quoted as writing to a friend at home as follows, " If your sons will 
 bring out two or three negroes, who can cook and attend at a hotel, 
 
68 THE WILMOT PROVISO. 
 
 your brother will pay cash for them at a good profit, and take it as a 
 great favor." 
 
 The Wilmot Proviso next receives the notice of the 
 address. An obscure member of Congress from the 
 State of Pennsylvania, but who became a powerful 
 champion of the new Party, had introduced a resolution 
 prohibiting the extension of slavery over soil then free. 
 This measure was earnestly endorsed, in the following 
 words : 
 
 To the end that the country and the age may not witness the foul sin 
 of a Republic dedicated to Freedom, pouring into vast unsettled lands, 
 as into the veins of an infant, the festering poison of Slavery, destined 
 as time advances, to show itself only in cancers and leprous disease, 
 we pledge ourselves to unremitting endeavors to procure the passage 
 of the Wilmot Proviso, or some other form of Congressional legisla 
 tion, prohibiting slavery in the territories, without equivocation or com 
 promise of any kind. 
 
 But the Worcester men advanced still further, and 
 pressed upon the public the question of moral responsi 
 bility in "opposition to Slavery wherever we are respon 
 sible for it" standing upon the ground of principle that 
 Slavery is wrong" ; that no human legislation can elevate 
 into respectability the blasphemy of tyranny, that man 
 can hold property in his fellow-man : 
 
 Wherever we are responsible for Slavery, we oppose it. Our oppo 
 sition is co-extensive with our responsibility. In the States, Slavery is 
 sustained by local laws ; and although we may be compelled to share 
 the stigma which its presence inflicts upon the fair fame of the country, 
 yet it receives no direct sanction at our hands. We are not responsible 
 for it there. The Federal Government, in whom we are represented, 
 is not responsible for it there. The evil is not at our own particular 
 doors. But Slavery everywhere under the Constitution of the United 
 States everywhere under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal 
 Government everywhere under the national flag is at our own par- 
 
GOVERNMENT MUST FAVOR FREEDOM. 69 
 
 ticular doors. The freemen of the North are responsible for it equally 
 with the traffickers in flesh, who haunt the shambles of the South. 
 Nor will this responsibility cease, so long as Slavery continues to exist 
 in the District of Columbia, in any territories of the United States, or 
 anywhere on the high seas, beneath the protecting flag of the Republic. 
 The fetters of every slave within these jurisdictions are bound and 
 clasped in part by the votes of Massachusetts. Their chains, as they 
 clank, seem to say, " Massachusetts helps commit this outrage." 
 
 They were not satisfied with even a complete " Di 
 vorce of the Federal Government from Slavery " that 
 it should no longer receive its sanction or support : 
 
 Federal Government must be on the side of Freedom. In accom 
 plishing these specific changes, a new tone would be given to the Re 
 public. The Slave Power would be broken, and. Slavery driven from 
 its present intrenchments under the Federal Government. The influ 
 ence of such a change would be incalculable. The whole weight of 
 the Government would then be taken from the side of Slavery, where 
 it has been placed by the Slave Power, and put on the side of Freedom, 
 according to the original purposes and aspirations of its founders. 
 This of itself is an end for which we should labor earnestly, in the 
 spirit of the Constitution. 
 
 Let it never be forgotten, as the pole-star of our policy, that the 
 Federal Government must be placed openly, actively and perpetually, 
 on the side of Freedom. 
 
 // must be openly on the side of Freedom. There must be no equivo 
 cation, concealment, or reserve in its opinions. It must not, like the 
 witches in Macbeth, "palter in a double sense." Let it avow itself dis 
 tinctly and firmly as the enemy of Slavery, and thus give to the friends 
 of Freedom, now struggling throughout the Slave States, the advantage 
 of its countenance. 
 
 // must be actively on the side of Freedom. It should not be content 
 with bearing its testimony openly. It must act. Within the constitu 
 tional sphere of its influence, it must be felt as the enemy of Slavery. 
 Let it now study to exert itself for Freedom as zealously and effectively 
 as for many years it has exerted itself for slavery. 
 
 It must be perpetually on the side of Freedom. It must not be un 
 certain, vacillating or temporary, in this beneficent policy. Let it be 
 
70 TAYLOR S ADMINISTRATION CONDEMNED. 
 
 fixed and constant in its hostility to Slavery, so that hereafter it shall 
 know no change. 
 
 Other national matters engaged the attention of the 
 Convention, such as cheap postage ; the abolition of all 
 unnecessary offices and salaries ; the election of civil 
 officers, as far as practicable, by the people ; the im 
 provement of rivers and harbors, and a general Home 
 stead Law for actual settlers. But these were all of a 
 subordinate character. 
 
 The administration of Gen. TAYLOR having now com 
 menced, its Pro-slavery character was severely exposed, 
 in the following passage : 
 
 In support of these principles, we felt it our duty to oppose the elec 
 tion of General Cass and General Taylor both of them being brought 
 forward under the influence of the Slave Power ; the first, as openly 
 pledged against the Wilniot Proviso, and the second, as a large slave 
 holder and recent purchaser of slaves, who was not known, by any acts 
 or declared opinions, to be hostile in any way to Slavery, or even 
 against its extension, and who, from his position, and from the declara 
 tions of many of his friends and neighbors, was supposed to be friendly 
 to that institution. General Taylor was elected by the people. And 
 now, while it becomes all to regard his administration with candor, we 
 cannot forget our duty to the cause which has brought us together. 
 His most ardent supporters will not venture the assertion, that his con 
 duct will bear the test of the principles of our party. We look in vain 
 for any token that the Federal Government, while in his hands, will be 
 placed, openly, actively, and perpetually, on the side of Freedom. In 
 deed, all that his " Free Soil " supporters vouchsafe, in his behalf, is the 
 assurance, that the "Second Washington" will not assume the respon 
 sibility, if the Wilmot Proviso should receive the sanction of both 
 branches of Congress, if it should prevail in the House of Representa 
 tives, and then, in that citadel of slavery, the American Senate of ar 
 resting its final passage by the Presidential Veto ! This is all. The 
 first Washington freely declared his affinity with Anti-Slavery Societies, 
 and said, that in support of any legislative measure for the abolition of 
 Slavery, HIS SUFFRAGE SHOULD NEVER BE WANTING. 
 
ITS PRO SLAVERY CHARACTER. 71 
 
 But the character of the Administration may be inferred from other 
 circumstances. First. The Slave Power continues to hold its lion s 
 share in the cabinet, and in the diplomatic posts abroad, thus ruling the 
 country at home, and representing it in foreign lands. The number of 
 votes cast in the Slave States, exclusive of South Carolina, where the 
 electors are chosen by the Legislature, at the last Presidential election, 
 was 845,050, while the number of votes cast in the Free States was 
 2,027,006. And yet there are four persons in the cabinet from the 
 Slave States, and three only from the Free States, while a slave-holding 
 President presides over all. The diplomatic representation of the 
 country at Paris, St. Petersburg, Vienna, the Hague, Brussels, Frank 
 fort, Madrid, Lisbon, Naples, Chili, Mexico, is now confided to persons 
 from Slave-holding States ; and at Rome, our Republic is represented 
 by the son of the great adversary of the Wilmot Proviso, and in Berlin, 
 by a late Senator, who was rewarded with this high appointment in con 
 sideration of his services to Slavery ; while the principles of Freedom 
 abroad are confined to the anxious care of the recently appointed 
 Minister to England. But this is not all. Secondly. The administra 
 tion, through one of its official organs at Washington, has made the 
 President threaten to "frown indignantly" upon the movements of the 
 friends of Freedom at the North, though he has had no word of indig 
 nation, and no frown, for the schemes of disunion openly put forth by 
 the friends of Slavery at the South. Thirdly. Mr. Clayton, as Secre 
 tary of State, in defiance of justice, and in mockery of the principles 
 of the Declaration of Independence, has refused a national passport to 
 a free-colored citizen, alleging that by a rule of his Department, pass 
 ports are not granted to colored persons. In marked contrast are the 
 laws of Massachusetts, recognizing such persons as citizens ; and also 
 those words of gratitude and commendation, in which General Jackson, 
 after the battle of New Orleans, addressed the black soldiers who had 
 shared, with a " nobl e enthusiasm," "the perils and glory of their white 
 fellow-citizens." Fourthly. The Post-Office Department, in a formal 
 communication with regard to what are called "incendiary publica 
 tions," has stated that the Postmaster-General "leaves the whole sub 
 ject to the discretion of Postmasters under the authority of State Gov 
 ernments." Here is no word of indignation at the idea that the mails 
 of the United States are exposed to lawless interruption from the parti 
 sans of Slavery. The Post-Office, intrusted to a son of New England, 
 assumes an abject neutrality, when the letters intrusted to its care are 
 rifled at the instigation of the Slave Power. 
 
72 A NATIONAL PARTY NECESSARY. 
 
 The necessity of a national organization is strongly 
 insisted upon. 
 
 Such is the national position of the Free Democracy. We are a 
 national party, established for national purposes, such as can be accom 
 plished by a national party only. If the principles, which we have at 
 heart, were supported openly, actively, constantly, by either of the other 
 parties, there would be no occasion for our organization. But what 
 ever may have been, or whatever may now be, the opinions of individ 
 ual members of these parties, it is undeniable that, as national parties, 
 they have never opposed Slavery in any form. Neither of them has 
 ever sustained any measure for the abolition of Slavery in the District 
 of Columbia, but, on the other hand, discountenanced all such measures. 
 Neither of them has ever opposed, in any form, the coastwise slave 
 trade under the flag of the United States. Neither of them has opposed 
 the extension of Slavery. Neither of them has ever striven to divorce 
 the Federal Government from Slavery. Neither of them has ever 
 labored to place the Federal Government openly, actively, and perpet 
 ually on the side of Freedom. Nor is there any assurance, satisfactory 
 to persons not biassed by their political associations, that either of these 
 organizations will ever, as a national party, undertake the cause of 
 Freedom. 
 
 There are circumstances in the very constitution of these parties 
 which render it difficult, if not impossible, for them to act in this behalf. 
 Constructed subtly with a view to political success, they are spread every 
 where throughout the Union, and the principles which they uphold are 
 pruned and modified to meet existing states of sentiment in different 
 parts of the country. Neither can venture, as a party, to place itself 
 on the side of Freedom, because, by such a course, it would disaffect 
 the slave-holding support, which is essential to its political success. The 
 Anti-slavery resolutions, passed by the legislatures of the North, are 
 regarded as the expressions of individual or local opinion only, and are 
 not suffered to control the action of the national party. To such an 
 extent has this been carried, that Whigs of Massachusetts, professing 
 immitigable hostility to Slavery, recently united in support of a candi 
 date for the Presidency, in whose behalf the eminent slave-holding 
 Whig, Mr. Berrien, had " implored his fellow-citizens of Georgia, Whig 
 and Democratic, to forget for a time their party divisions, and to know 
 each other only as Southern men." 
 
 Fellow-citizens, Individuals in each of the old parties strove in vain 
 
FREE-SOILISM not SECTIONALISM. 73 
 
 to. produce a change, and to induce them to become the exponents of 
 the growing Anti-slavery sentiments of the country. At Baltimore and 
 Philadelphia, in the great Conventions of these parties, Slavery tri 
 umphed. So strongly were they both arrayed against Freedom, and so 
 unrelenting were they, in ostracism of its generous supporters of all 
 who had written or spoken in its behalf that it is not going too far to 
 say, that if Jefferson, or Franklin, or Washington could have descended 
 from their spheres above, and revisited the country which they had 
 nobly dedicated to Freedom, they could not, with their well-known and 
 recorded opinions against Slavery, have received a nomination for the 
 Presidency from either of these Conventions ! 
 
 To maintain the principles of Freedom, as they have been set forth 
 in this Address, it becomes necessary to borrow a lesson from the old 
 parties to learn from them the importance of perseverance, union, and 
 especially of a distinct political organization in their support and, pro 
 fiting by these instructions, to direct the efforts of the Friends of Free 
 dom everywhere throughout the country into this channel. 
 
 The charge of sectionalism against the Free-soilers is 
 thus repelled : 
 
 Our aim is in no respect sectional, but in every respect national. It 
 is in no respect against the South, but against the Evil Spirit, whose 
 chief home is at the South, that has obtained the control of the Govern 
 ment. As well might it be said that Jefferson, Franklin, and Washing 
 ton were sectional, and against the South. 
 
 It is true that at present a large portion of the party are at the North ; 
 but if our cause is sectional on this account, then is the Tariff sectional, 
 because its chief supporters are also in the North. 
 
 Unquestionably there is a particular class of individuals against whom 
 we are obliged to act. These are the slave-masters, wherever situated 
 throughout the country, constituting, according to recent calculations, 
 not many more than 100,000 in all. This band has for years acted 
 against the whole country, and subjugated it to Slavery. Surely it does 
 not become them, or their partisans, to complain that an effort is now 
 made to rally the whole country against their tyranny. There are many 
 who forget that the larger portion of the people at the South are non- 
 slaveholders, interested equally with ourselves nay, more than we are 
 in the overthrow of that power which has so long dictated its disas 
 trous and discreditable policy to the Government. To these we may 
 
74 SAME PRINCIPLES IN STATE ELECTIONS. 
 
 ultimately look for support, so soon as our Movement is able to furnish 
 them with the needful hope and strength. 
 
 If at the present moment our efforts shall seem in any respect sec 
 tional or against the South, it is simply because the chief opponents of 
 our principles are there. But our principles are not sectional they are 
 applicable to the whole Union nay more, to all the human race. They 
 are as universal as Man. 
 
 The inquiry was everywhere made, " Why carry the 
 question of Slavery into State elections, since at the 
 North we have no laws to enact on the subject?" It is 
 thus answered : 
 
 It is our duty so to cast our votes on all occasions, as most to pro 
 mote the principles which we have at heart. And it would be wrong in 
 us to disregard the experience of political history, both at home and 
 abroad, which teaches that it is through the constant, well directed or 
 ganization of party, that these can be best maintained. The influence 
 which has already been exerted by our Movement over both the old 
 parties, and over the general sentiment of the country, affords additional 
 encouragement. And still further, assuming what few will be so hardy 
 as to deny, that it is proper for people to combine in parties to promote 
 their cherished convictions, it follows, as an irresistible consequence, 
 that this combination should be so made as to be most effective for the 
 purpose in view. What is worth doing, is worth well doing. If men 
 unite in constructing the powerful and complex machine of a political 
 organization, it must be rendered complete, and thoroughly competent 
 to do its work. This will be admitted by all. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, the question again returns, " Are you for Freedom, 
 or are you for Slavery?" If you are for Freedom, do not hesitate to 
 support the National party dedicated to this cause. 
 
 The Address closes with the following appeal : 
 
 Fellow-citizens : Such are our principles, and such our candidates. 
 Join us in their support. Join us, all who love Freedom and hate 
 Slavery. Join us, all who cherish the Constitution and the Union. 
 Help us in our endeavors to restore to them their early virtue. Join 
 us, all who reverence the memory of the fathers of the Republic, and 
 would have their spirit once more animate the land. Join us, all who 
 
RIGHTS OF COLORED PEOPLE TO EDUCATION. /5 
 
 would have the Federal Government administered in the spirit of Freedom, 
 and not in the spirit of Slavery. The occasion is urgent. Active, resolute 
 exertions must be made. It will not become the sons of the Pilgrims, 
 and the sons of the Revolution, to be neutral in this contest. Such 
 was not the temper of their fathers. In such a contest neutrality is 
 treason to Human Rights. In questions merely political, an honest 
 man may stand neuter ; but what true heart can be neuter, 
 when the distinct question is put, which we now address to the 
 people of Massachusetts, "Are you for Freedom, or are you for 
 Slavery ?" 
 
 Finally, we appeal to the moral and religious sentiments of the 
 Commonwealth. When these are fully moved, there can be no ques 
 tion of the result. We invoke the sympathy of the pulpit in our cause. 
 Let it preach deliverance to the captive. We call upon good men, of 
 all sects and of all parties, to lend us their support. You all agree in 
 our PRINCIPLES. Do not practically oppose them, by continuing your 
 adhesion to a national party that is hostile to them. Join us in pro 
 claiming them through the new Party of Freedom. And may God, 
 whose service is perfect freedom, grant his succor to our cause ! 
 
 XII. 
 
 At this early period in the struggle between Slavery 
 and Freedom, Mr. Sumner, who was always thorough 
 and practical in the application of principle, to every 
 act, and on every occasion, appeared before the Su 
 preme Court of Massachusetts, in the case of Sarah C. 
 Roberts vs. The City of Boston. The object of this 
 suit was, to have some decision of a Court of Final 
 Appeal, which should determine the civil rights of the 
 Colored people of the State. 
 
 This was the most powerful and exhaustive argument 
 in behalf of the equality of every human being before 
 the Law of Equity, which is the law of nature, and the 
 law of God, that had then been pronounced, and it has 
 never been equalled. It settled the question in Massa- 
 
76 HIS DEMOCRATIC CHRISTIAN SOUL. 
 
 chusetts, as it has since been virtually established 
 throughout the country. Even Mr. Sumner never was 
 obliged to elucidate the subject again. It constituted 
 the first great charter ever distinctly drawn up in favor 
 of the equal right of the Colored people of the United 
 States to education and the corresponding privileges 
 that grow out of it, with all other citizens. The argu 
 ment in Equity stands upon the eternal basis of justice. 
 No reply has ever been attempted against it as an argu 
 ment in Law ; and wherever its principles come in con 
 flict with municipal statutes, those statutes are arbitrary, 
 and on appeal to Courts of Final Jurisdiction, will, in 
 every free country, be overthrown. It will be seen, in 
 Mr. Sumner s subsequent career, how fully he conformed 
 his life and official acts to the high standard he had 
 raised. He carried out every one of those principles to 
 their logical conclusion, never deviating, even in the 
 smallest thing, from the courtesies which they implied. 
 He lived a large and generous life ; he moved in the 
 best society, at home and abroad : his companions were 
 the most illustrious men living. But in no instance so 
 genuinely democratic, and so purely Christian was his 
 soul, did he ever give the slightest countenance to 
 that principle of unjust Caste which, in this argument, 
 he so mercilessly condemned. In this respect, he has 
 probably had no equal among his countrymen. His ex 
 ample more perfectly illustrated the principles he advo 
 cated than that of any other man ; and he certainly had 
 a higher and broader field for their exemplification than 
 almost any other public character of his times was 
 favored with. 
 
 Considering the time when this argument was made 
 the heavy structure of Southern slavery still unshaken 
 
OSTRACISM OF THE COLORED RACE. 77 
 
 the dark cloud of prejudice against the African race 
 hanging still undispelled over the whole North the race 
 itself, without exception, ostracised from the pale of 
 Northern charity, from the precincts of Northern justice, 
 from the sacred amenities of Northern homes, from 
 the priceless advantages of Northern education, exiled 
 from every scene of social amusement and culture, 
 shut out from theatres, from lecture-rooms, from univer 
 sities, from all schools of higher education excluded 
 from the learned professions condemned everywhere to 
 the most menial and degrading offices, nowhere allow 
 ed to enter the charmed circle of a common brotherhood 
 of a universal humanity banished absolutely from all 
 the sunlight of civilization, and all the sympathies of 
 earth and spurned from every covert of refuge except 
 the bosom of Almighty God ! Such was the condition 
 of this doomed race such was the defender they found 
 in Charles Sumner, and such the argument he delivered 
 before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 It reads now, except to the young, who were 
 fortunate enough to be born in better days of the Re 
 public, where they have escaped much of the contami 
 nation of that spirit of Caste that so deeply clouded our 
 young days, like a thrice-told tale. It seems but a 
 tame enunciation of axioms no longer disputed. Ah ! 
 thank God, there is some truth in this. But let the 
 young go back, if it be to gain but a faint impression of 
 the hard road the colored people have had to tread in 
 reaching this better day ; and they may half conceive 
 how many a wounded spirit, like Charles Sumner s, bled 
 in secret sorrow, with hearts grown sore in waiting for 
 the emancipation of an enslaved race. Then will they 
 cease to wonder that to their salvation the great Senator 
 
78 TRIAL BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT. 
 
 so unreservedly dedicated his life. Then will they learn 
 why his name will be mentioned with veneration by their 
 latest posterity why he is to them, even now, the best 
 beloved name in all history. 
 
 He opened his argument by asking the Court : " Can 
 any discrimination on account of color, or race, be made, 
 under the Constitution and laws of Massachusetts, 
 among the children entitled to the benefits of our Public 
 Schools ? This is the question which the Court is now 
 to hear, to consider, and to decide." 
 
 There had been a long controversy on the subject, 
 and a great deal of angry debate had, for five years, been 
 witnessed in the School Committee. The controversy 
 had been heated and virulent. It was now to be deter 
 mined for the first time before a judicial tribunal, in an 
 action by a colored child, only five years old, who, by her 
 next friend, sued the City of Boston for damages, on ac 
 count of a refusal to receive her into one of the Public 
 Schools. 
 
 It would be difficult to imagine any case which could appeal more 
 strongly to your best judgment, whether you regard the parties or the 
 subject. On the one side is the city of Boston, strong in its wealth, in 
 its influence, in its character ; on the other side is a little child, of a 
 degraded color, of humble parents, still within the period of natural in 
 fancy, but strong from her very weakness, and from the irrepressible 
 sympathies of good men, which, by a divine compensation, come to 
 succor the weak. This little child asks at your hands her personal 
 rights. So doing, she calls upon you to decide a question which con 
 cerns the personal rights of other colored children ; which concerns the 
 Constitution and Laws of the Commonwealth ; which concerns that 
 peculiar institution of New England, the Common Schools ; which con 
 cerns the fundamental principles of human rights ; which concerns the 
 Christian character of this community. Such parties, and such inte 
 rests, so grand and various, may justly challenge your most earnest 
 attention. 
 
ALL MEN EQUAL BEFORE THE LAW. 79 
 
 The great principle involved in this case, I shall first exhibit in the 
 Constitution of Massachusetts, next in the legislation, and then in the 
 judicial decisions. I shall then consider the special circumstances of 
 this case, and show the violation of the Constitution and Laws, by the 
 School Committee of Boston answering, before I close, some of the 
 grounds on which their conduct has been vindicated. 
 
 I. I begin with the principle, that, according to the spirit of Ameri 
 can institutions, and especially of the Constitution of Massachusetts, 
 all me?t, without distinction of color or race, are equal before the law. 
 
 I might, perhaps, leave this proposition without one word of com 
 ment. The Equality of men will not be directly denied on this occa 
 sion. But that we may better appreciate its character and its limita 
 tions, let me develop with some care the origin and growth of this 
 sentiment, until it finally ripened into a formula of civil and political right. 
 
 The sentiment of Equality among men was early cherished by gener 
 ous souls. It showed itself in the dreams of ancient philosophy. It 
 was declared by Seneca ; when writing to a friend a letter of consola 
 tion on death, he said, Prima enim pars Equitatis est Equalitas. 
 (Epist. 30.) The first part of Equity is Equality. But it was enun 
 ciated with persuasive force in the truths of the Christian Religion. 
 Here we learn that God is no respecter of persons ; that he is the father 
 of all ; and that we are all his children, and brethren to each other. 
 When the Saviour taught the Lord s prayer, he taught the sublime doc 
 trine of the Brotherhood of Mankind, infolding the Equality of men. 
 
 Slowly did this sentiment enter the State. The whole constitution 
 of government in modern times was inconsistent with it. An hereditary 
 monarchy, an order of nobility, and the complex ranks of superiors 
 and inferiors established by the feudal system, all declared, not the 
 Equality, but the inequality of men, and they all conspired to perpetu 
 ate this inequality. Every infant of royal blood, every noble, every 
 vassal, was a present example, that, whatever might be the truths of 
 religion, or the sentiments of the heart, men living under these institu 
 tions were not born equal. 
 
 The boldest political reformers of early times did not venture to 
 proclaim this truth ; nor did they truly perceive it. Cromwell be 
 headed his king, but caused the supreme power to be secured in heredi 
 tary succession to his eldest son. It was left to John Milton, in poetic 
 vision, to be entranced 
 
 With fair Equality, fraternal state. 
 Sidney, who perished a martyr to liberal sentiments, drew his inspira- 
 
80 THE ENCYCLOPEDIE D ALEMBERT DIDEROT. 
 
 tion from the classic, and not from the Christian fountains. The exam 
 ples of Greece and Rome fed his soul. The Revolution of 1688, 
 partly by force} and partly by the popular voice, brought a foreigner to 
 the crown of Great Britain, and according to the boast of loyal English 
 men, the establishment of Freedom throughout the land. But the Bill 
 of Rights did not declare, nor did the genius of Somers or Maynard 
 conceive the political axiom, that all men are born equal. It may find 
 acceptance in our day from individuals in England ; but it is disowned 
 by English institutions. 
 
 It is to France that we must pass for the earliest development of this 
 idea, for its amplest illustration, and for its most complete, accurate, 
 and logical expression. In the middle of the last century appeared the 
 renowned Encyclopedic^ edited by D Alembert and Diderot. This re 
 markable production, where science, religion, and government were all 
 discussed with a revolutionary freedom, contains an article on Equality, 
 which was published in 1755. Here we find the boldest expression that 
 had then been given to this sentiment. " Natural Equality," says the 
 Encyclopedia, "is that which exists between all men by the constitution 
 of their nature only. This Equality is the principle and the foundation of 
 liberty. Natural or moral equality is then founded upon the constitu 
 tion of human nature, common to all men, who are born, grow, sub 
 sist, and die in the same manner. Since human nature finds itself the 
 same in all men, it is clear, that, according to nature s law, each ought 
 to esteem and treat the others as beings who are naturally equal to 
 himself; that is to say, who are men as well as himself." 
 
 When we consider the period at which this article was written, we 
 shall be astonished less by its incompleteness and vagueness, than by 
 its bravery and generosity. The dissolute despotism of Louis XV. 
 overshadowed France. Selfish nobles and fawning courtiers filled the 
 royal antechambers. The councils of Government were controlled by 
 royal mistresses. Only a few years before, in 1751, the King had 
 founded, in defiance of the principles of Equality, but in entire har 
 mony with the conduct of the School Committee in Boston a military 
 school, for nobles only, carrying into education the distinction of Caste. 
 At such a period the Encyclopedia did well in uttering such important 
 and effective truth. The sentiment of Equality was here fully declared. 
 Nor should we be disappointed, that, at this early day, even the boldest 
 philosophers did not adequately perceive, or if they perceived, did not 
 dare to utter, our axiom of liberty, that all men are born equal, in civil 
 and political rights. 
 
ORIGIN OF EQUALITY AMONG MEN. 8 1 
 
 He pays a touching tribute to Jean Jacques Rousseau 
 
 that solitary person, poor, of humble extraction, born 
 
 in Switzerland, of irregular education and life, enjoying 
 
 a temporary home in France, a man of audacious genius, 
 
 who set at naught the received opinions of mankind ! 
 
 His earliest appearance before the public was by an eccentric Essay 
 on the Origin of Inequality among Men, in which he sustained the irra 
 tional paradox, that men are happier in a state of nature than under the 
 laws of civilization. This was followed by a later work, the Social Con 
 tract. In both of these productions, the sentiment of Equality was 
 invoked against many of the abuses of society, and language was 
 employed going far beyond Equality in Civil and Political Rights. The 
 conspicuous position, since awarded to the speculations of Rousseau, 
 and the influence they have exerted in diffusing this sentiment, make it 
 proper to refer to them on this occasion ; but the absence of precision 
 in his propositions renders him an uncertain guide. 
 
 He next seizes hold of the French Revolution, which 
 he finely calls " that great movement for enfranchise 
 ment ; " it was the expression of this same sentiment- 
 There it received a distinct and authoritative annuncia 
 tion; for, in the successive Constitutions adopted amidst 
 the throes of those bloody struggles, the Equality of men 
 was always proclaimed. In this sweeping wave went 
 away Nobles, and Kings, and all distinctions of birth 
 they could not withstand so mighty and triumphant a. 
 truth. 
 
 The Constitution of 1791 declares in its first article as follows : " Men 
 are born and continue free and equal in their rights" In its sixth ar 
 ticle it says : "The law is the expression of the general will. It ought 
 to be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens be 
 ing equal in its eyes, are equally admissible to all dignities, places, and 
 public employments according to their capacity, and without other dis 
 tinction than their virtues and talents" At the close of the Declaration 
 of Rights there is this further explanation of it : " The National Assem- 
 
82 CONDORCET S DECLARATION. 
 
 bly, wishing to establish the French Constitution on principles which it 
 has just acknowledged and declared, abolishes irrevocably the institutions 
 which bounded liberty and equality of rights. There is no longer, neither 
 nobility, nor peerage, nor hereditary distinctions, nor distinction of order, 
 nor feudal rule, nor patrimonial justices, nor any titles, denominations 
 and prerogatives, which were thence derived, nor any order of chivalry, 
 nor any corporations or decorations, for which proofs of nobility are re 
 quired, or which supposed distinctions of birth, nor any other superiority 
 than that of public functionaries in discharge of their functions. * * * 
 There is no longer, for any part of the nation, nor for any individual, 
 any privilege or exception to the law, common to all Frenchmen." (Moni- 
 teur, 1791, No. 259.) 
 
 The Declaration of Rights of Condorcet Feb. 15, 
 1793 contained fresh inculcations of the Equality of 
 men, Article 8th saying: " The Law ought to be equal for 
 all" " Instruction is the need of all, and society owes 
 it equally to all its members." 
 
 The natural and imprescriptible rights of men are " Equality, liberty, 
 safety, property." And in the next article it shows what is meant by 
 Equality. It says, "All men are equal by nature, and before the law" 
 (Maniteur, 1793, No. 178.) Here we first meet this form of definition. 
 .At a Later day, after France had passed through an unprecedented 
 series of political vicissitudes, in some of which the rights of Equality 
 had been trampled under foot, when, at the revolution of 1830. Louis 
 .Philippe was called to a" throne surrounded by republican institutions," 
 the charter then promulgated repeated this phrase. In its first article 
 it. declared, "that Frenchmen are equal before the law, whatever may 
 may be their titles or ranks." 
 
 While recognizing this peculiar enunciation of the Equality of men, 
 as. more specific and satisfactory than the naked statement that all men 
 are borne equal, it is impossible not to be reminded that this form of 
 speech finds its prototype in the ancient Greek language. In the his 
 tory of Herodotus, we are told that "the government of the many has 
 the most beautiful name of iVovojuu a " or Equality before the law. 
 (Book 3, 80.) Thus this remarkable language, by its comprehensive 
 ness and flexibility, in an age when Equality before the law was practi- 
 .caUy unknown, nevertheless supplied a single word, which is not to be 
 
DECLARATIONS OF RIGHTS IN FRANCE. 83 
 
 found in modern tongues, to express an idea which has been practically 
 recognized only in modern times. Such a word in our own language, 
 as a substitute for Equality, might have superseded some of the criticism 
 to which this political doctrine has been exposed. 
 
 After this review, the way is now prepared to consider the nature of 
 Equality, as secured by the Constitution of Massachusetts. The De 
 claration of Independence, which was put forth after the French Ency 
 clopedia, and the political writings of Rousseau, places among self- 
 evident truths this proposition, " That all men are created equal, and 
 that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights ; 
 that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The 
 Constitution of Massachusetts repeats the same idea in a different form. 
 In the first article it says : " All men are born free and equal, and have 
 certain natural, essential and unalienable rights, among which may be 
 reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties." 
 The sixth section further explains the doctrine of Equality. It says : 
 " No man, nor corporation, or association of men, have aity other title 
 to obtain advantages, or particular and exclusive privileges, distinct from 
 those of the community, than what arises from the consideration of ser~ 
 vices rendered to the public ; and this title being in nature neither 
 hereditary, nor transmissible to children, or descendants, or relations 
 by blood, the idea of a man being born a magistrate, lawgiver, or judge, 
 is absurd and unnatural." The language here employed, in its natural 
 signification, condemns every form of inequality, in civil and political 
 institutions. 
 
 Though these declarations preceded, in point of time, the ampler de 
 clarations of Erance, they may, if necessary, be construed in the light 
 of the latter. It is evident that they aim to declare substantially the 
 same things. They are declarations of Rights, and the language em 
 ployed, though general in its character, is obviously to be restrained to 
 those matters which are within the design and sphere of a declaration 
 of Rights. It is a childish sophism to adduce in argument against them 
 the physical or mental inequalities by which men are characterized. 
 
 It is a palpable truth, that men are not born equal in physical strength, 
 or in mental capacities ; in beauty of form or health of body. Diversity 
 or inequality, in these respects, is the law of creation. From this dif 
 ference springs divine harmony. But this inequality is in no particular 
 inconsistent with a complete civil and political equality. 
 
 The equality declared by our fathers in 1776, and made the funda 
 mental law of Massachusetts in 1780, was Equality before the law. 
 
84 RIGHTS OF ALL TO SCHOOLS. 
 
 Its object was to efface all political or civil distinctions, and to abolish 
 all institutions founded upon birth. " All men are created equal," says 
 the Declaration of Independence. " All men are born free and equal," 
 says the Massachusetts Bill of Rights. These are not vain words. 
 Within the sphere of their influence no person can be created, no per 
 son can be born, with civil or political privileges, not enjoyed equally 
 by all his fellow-citizens ; nor can any institution be established recog 
 nizing any distinctions of birth. Here is the Great Charter of every 
 human being drawing his vital breath upon this soil, whatever may 
 be his condition, and whoever may be his parents. He may be poor, 
 weak, humble, black he may be of Caucasian, of Jewish, of Indian, 
 or of Ethiopian race he may be of French, of German, of English, of 
 Irish extraction but before the Constitution of Massachusetts all these 
 distinctions disappear. He is not poor, or weak, or humble, or black 
 nor Caucasian, nor Jew, nor Indian, nor Ethiopian nor French, nor 
 German, nor English, nor Irish ; he is a MAN, the equal of all his 
 fellow-men. He is one of the children of the State, which, like an im 
 partial parent, regards all its offspring with an equal care. To some 
 it may justly allot higher duties, according to their higher capacities, but 
 it welcomes all to its equal, hospitable board. The State, imitating 
 the divine justice, is no respecter of persons. 
 
 II. I now pass to the second stage of this argument, and ask atten 
 tion to a further proposition. The Legislature of Massachusetts, in 
 entire harmony with the Constitution, has made no discrimination of 
 color or race, in the establishment of Public Schools. 
 
 If such discrimination were made by the Laws, they would be uncon 
 stitutional and void. But the legislature of Massachusetts has been 
 too just and generous, too mindful of the Bill of Rights, to establish 
 any such privilege of birth. The language of the statutes is general, 
 and applies equally to all children, of whatever color or race. 
 
 The provisions of the law regulating this subject are entitled, Of the 
 Public Schools. (Revised Statutes, ch. 23.) 
 
 The first section provides, that in " Every town containing fifty fami 
 lies, or householders, there shall be kept in each year, at the charge of 
 the town, by a teacher or teachers of competent ability and good 
 morals, one school for the instruction of children in Orthography, Read 
 ing, Writing, English Grammar, Geography, Arithmetic and Good Be 
 havior, for the term of six months, or two or more such schools for 
 terms of time that shall together be equivalent to six months." The 
 2d, 3d, and 4th sections provide for the number of such schools to be 
 
COURTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 85 
 
 kept in other towns having more than five hundred inhabitants. The 
 language here employed does not recognize any discrimination of color 
 or race. Thus in every town, whether there be one or more schools, 
 they are all to be " schools for the instruction of children" generally 
 not children of any particular class, or color, or race, but children, 
 meaning the children of the town where the schools are. 
 
 The 5th and 6th sections provide for the establishment, in certain 
 cases, of a school, in which additional studies are to be pursued, 
 "which shall be kept for the benefit of all the inhabitants of the town." 
 Here the language not only does not recognize any discrimination 
 among the children, but seems directly to exclude it. 
 
 In conformity with these sections is the peculiar phraseology of the 
 memorable law of the Colonies in 1647, founding Public Schools, "to 
 the end that learning be not buried in the graves of our forefathers." 
 This law obliged towns having fifty families "forthwith to appoint one" 
 within their limits " to teach all such children as shall resort to him, to 
 write and read." (Ancient Charters, 186.) 
 
 III. The Courts of Massachusetts have never recognized any dis 
 crimination, founded on color or race, in the administration of the 
 Public Schools ; but have recognized the equal rights of all the inhabi 
 tants. 
 
 There are a few decisions only of our Court bearing on this subject, 
 but they all breathe one spirit. The sentiment of Equality animates 
 them. In the case of Commonwealth v. Davis (6 Mass. R. 146), while 
 declaring the equal rights of all the inhabitants, both in the grammar 
 and district schools, the Court said: "The schools required by the 
 statute are to be maintained for the benefit of the whole town, as it is 
 the wise policy of the law to give all the inhabitants equal privileges for 
 the education of their children in the Public Schools. Nor is it in the 
 power of the majority to deprive the minority of this privilege. * * * * 
 Every inhabitant of the town has a right to participate in the benefits 
 of both descriptions of schools, and it is not competent for a town to 
 establish a grammar school for the benefit of one part of the town to 
 the exclusion of the other, although the money raised for the support 
 of schools may be in other respects fairly apportioned." 
 
 In the case of Withington v. Eveleth (7 Pick. 106), the Court said, 
 they "were all satisfied that the power given to towns to determine and 
 define the limits of school districts, can be executed only by a geogra 
 phical division of the town for that purpose." A limitation of the dis. 
 trict, which was merely personal, was held invalid. This same principle 
 
86 EXCLUSION OF THE COLORED FROM SCHOOLS. 
 
 was again recognized in Perry v. Doe (12 Pick. R. 213), where the 
 Court s, y : "Towns, in executing the power to form school districts, 
 are bound so to do it as to include every inhabitant in some of the dis 
 tricts. They cannot lawfully omit any, and thus deprive them of the 
 benefits of our invaluable system of free schools" 
 
 IV. The exclusion of colored children from the Public Schools, open 
 to white children, is a source of practical inconvenience to them and their 
 parents, to which white persons are not exposed, and is, therefore, a vio 
 lation of Equality. The black and the w/iu e are not equal before the law. 
 
 In this rule without the exception is seen a part of the beauty of 
 our Public School system. It is the boast of England, that justice, 
 through the multitude of courts, is brought to every man s door. It 
 may also be the boast of our Public School system, that education in 
 Boston, through the multitude of schools, is brought to every white 
 man s door. But it is not brought to every black man s door. He is 
 obliged to go for it to travel for it often a great distance. Surely 
 this is not Equality before the law. 
 
 Mr. Sumner showed that the inconvenience arising 
 from the exclusion of colored children seriously affected 
 the comfort and condition of the African race in Boston ; 
 that many colored parents, anxious to be near the only 
 two schools open to their children, were compelled to 
 gather in those neighborhoods, as people in Eastern 
 countries come from a distance to rest near a fountain 
 or a well. 
 
 This is the conduct of a colored parent. He is well deserving of 
 honor for his generous efforts for his children. As they grow in knowl 
 edge, they will rise and call him blessed ; but at the same time they 
 will brand as accursed the arbitrary discrimination of color, in the Pub 
 lic Schools of Boston, which rendered it necessary for their father, out 
 of his small means, to make such sacrifices for their education. 
 
 Such a grievance, even independent of any stigma from color, calls 
 for redress. It is an inequality which the Constitution and Laws of 
 Massachusetts repudiate. But it is not on the ground of inconvenience 
 only that it is odious. And this brings me to the next point. 
 
COLOR--RACE CASTE. 87 
 
 He next takes up Caste, for which we must allow 
 liberal space, since it makes so large a portion of the 
 foundation of all human injustice. 
 
 V. The separation of children in the Public Schools of Boston, on 
 account of color or race, is in the nature of Caste, and, on this account, 
 is a violation of Equality. 
 
 The facts in this case show expressly that the child was excluded 
 from the school nearest to her dwelling, the number in the school at 
 the time warranting her admission, " on the sole ground of color." 
 The first Majority Report presented to the School Committee, to which 
 reference is made in the statement of facts, gives, with more fulness, 
 the grounds of this discrimination, saying, " It is one of races, not of 
 color, merely. The distinction is one which the Almighty has seen fit 
 to establish, and it is founded deep in the physical, mental, and moral 
 natures of the two races. No legislation, no social customs, can efface 
 this distinction." Words more apt than these to describe the heathen 
 ish relation of Caste, could not be chosen. 
 
 This will be apparent from the very definition of Caste. This term 
 is borrowed from the Portuguese word casta, which signifies family, 
 breed, race. It has become generally used to designate any hereditary 
 distinction, particularly of race. In India it is most often applied ; 
 and it is there that we must go in order to understand its full force. A 
 recent English writer on the subject says, that it is "not only a distinc 
 tion by birth, but is founded on the doctrine of an essentially distinct 
 origin of the different races, which are thus * unalterably separated." 
 (Roberts on Caste, p. 134.) This is the very ground of the Boston 
 School Committee. 
 
 But this word is not now applied for the first time to the distinction 
 between the white and black races. Alexander von Humboldt, in 
 speaking of the negroes in Mexico, has characterized them as a Caste, 
 and a recent political and juridical writer of France has used the same 
 term to denote, not only the distinctions in India, but those of our own 
 country. (Charles Comte, Traite de Legislation, torn. 4, pp. 129, 445.) 
 In the course of his remarks, he refers to the exclusion of colored chil 
 dren from the Public Schools, as among "the humiliating and brutal 
 distinctions" by which their caste is characterized. It is, then, on au 
 thority and reason, that we apply this term to the hereditary distinction 
 on account of color, which is established in the Public Schools of 
 Boston. 
 
88 BARBARISM AND CRUELTY OF CASTE. 
 
 It is when we see this discrimination in this light, that we learn to ap 
 preciate its true character. The Brahmins and the Sudras, in India, 
 from generation to generation, were kept apart. If a Sudra presumed 
 to sit upon a Brahmin s carpet, he was punished with banishment. 
 With a similar inhumanity among us, the black child, who goes to sit on 
 the same benches at school with the white child, is banished, not from 
 the country, but from the school. In both cases it is the triumph 
 of Caste. But the offence is greater with us, because, unlike the 
 Hindoos, we acknowledge that men are born equal. 
 
 The Advocate cites from high authorities, many illus 
 trations of the cruelty and barbarous character of caste, 
 as it appears in India. 
 
 Bishop Heber, of Calcutta, characterizes Caste as follows : 
 
 // is a system which tends, more than any else the devil has yet invented, 
 
 to destroy the feelings of general benevolence, and to make nine-tenths of 
 
 mankind the hopeless slaves of the remainder. 
 
 Bishop Wilson, also of Calcutta, the successor of Heber, says : 
 The Gospel recognizes no such distinctions as those of castes, im 
 posed by a heathen usage, bearing in some respects a supposed religious 
 obligation, condemning those in the lower ranks to perpetual abasement, 
 placing an immovable barrier against all general advance and improve 
 ment in society, cutting asunder the bonds of human fellowship on the 
 one hand, and preventing those of Christian love on the other. Such 
 distinctions, I say, the Gospel does not recognize. On the contrary, it 
 teaches us that God " h ath made of one blood all the nations of men." 
 
 This is the testimony of a native of Hindostan, converted to Christianity: 
 
 Caste is the stronghold of that principle of pride which makes a man 
 think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Caste infuses 
 itself into, and forms the very essence of pride itself. 
 
 Another native speaks as follows : 
 
 I therefore regard Caste as opposed to the main scope, principles, and 
 doctrines of Christianity; for, either Caste must be admitted to be true 
 and of divine authority, or Christianity must be so admitted. If you admit 
 Caste to be true, the whole fabric of Christianity must come down ; for 
 the nature of Caste and its associations destroy the first principles of 
 Christianity. Caste makes distinction among creatures where God has 
 made none. 
 
 Disguise it as you will, it is this hatefal ii stitution. But the words Caste 
 and Equality are contradictory. They mutually exclude each other. 
 
CHANGE IN THE TIMES. 89 
 
 Where Caste is, there cannot be Equality. Where Equality is, the^e 
 cannot be Caste. It is unquestionably true that there is a distinction 
 between the Ethiopian and Caucasian races. But this distinction can 
 furnish no ground for any discrimination before the law. 
 
 We abjure nobility of all kinds; but here is a nobility of the skin. 
 We abjure all hereditary distinctions ; but here is an hereditary distinc 
 tion, founded not on the merit of the ancestor, but on his color. We 
 abjure all privileges derived from birth ; but here is a privilege which 
 depends solely on the accident, whether an ancestor is black or white. 
 We abjure all inequality before the law ; but here is an inequality 
 which touches not an individual, but a race. We revolt at the relation 
 of Caste ; ttut here is a Caste which is established under a Constitution 
 declaring that all men are born equal. 
 
 VI. The Committee of Boston, charged with the superintendence of 
 the Public Schools, have no power under the Constitution and Laws of 
 Massachusetts, to make any discrimination on account of color or 
 race, among children in the Public Schools. 
 
 It has been already seen that this power is inconsistent with the 
 Constitution and Laws of Massachusetts, and with the adjudications of 
 the Supreme Court. The stream cannot rise higher than the fountain- 
 head, and if there be nothing in these elevated sources from which 
 this power can draw its sanction, it must be considered a nullity. 
 
 He shows still further that the times had changed 
 that Boston people were not living" any longer in an 
 age when they could practise these indignities with 
 impunity. 
 
 It is clear that the sentiments of the colored people have now 
 changed. The present case, and the deep interest which they manifest 
 in it, thronging the court to hang on this discussion, attest the change. 
 With increasing knowledge, they have learned to know their rights, and 
 to feel the degradation to which they have been doomed. Their 
 present effort is the token of a manly character which this Court will 
 cherish and respect. The spirit of Paul now revives in them, even 
 as when he said, " I am a Roman citizen." 
 
 But it is said that these separate schools are for the mutual benefit of 
 children of both colors, and of the Public Schools. In similar spirit, 
 Slavery is sometimes said to be for the mutual benefit of master and 
 slave, and of the country where it exists. In the one case there is a 
 
go THE GRAND REVELATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 mistake as great as in the other. This is clear. Nothing unjust, 
 nothing ungenerous, can be for the benefit of any person, or any thing. 
 Short-sighted mortals may, from some seeming selfish superiority, or 
 from a gratified vanity of class, hope to draw a permanent good ; but 
 even-handed justice rebukes these efforts, and with certain power re 
 dresses the wrong. The whites themselves are injured by the separa 
 tion. Who can doubt this ? With the law as their monitor, the)- are 
 taught to regard a portion of the human family, children of God, created 
 in his image, co-equals in his love, as a separate and degraded class ; 
 they are taught practically to deny that grand revelation of Christianity 
 the Brotherhood of Mankind. Their hearts, while yet tender with 
 childhood, are necessarily hardened by this conduct, and their subse 
 quent lives, perhaps, bear enduring testimony to this legalized un- 
 charitableness. Nursed in the sentiment of Caste, receiving it with 
 the earliest food of knowledge, they are unable to eradicate it from 
 their natures, and then weakly and impiously charge upon their 
 Heavenly Father the prejudice which they have derived from an un 
 christian school, and which they continue to embody and perpetuate 
 in their institutions. Their characters are debased, and they become 
 less fit for the magnanimous duties of a good citizen. 
 
 The Helots of Sparta were obliged to intoxicate themselves, that they 
 might teach to the children of their masters the deformity of intemper 
 ance. In thus sacrificing one class to the other, both were degraded 
 the imperious Spartan and the abased Helot. But it is with a similar 
 double-edged injustice that the School Committee of Boston have acted, 
 in sacrificing the colored children to the prejudice or fancied advantage 
 of the white. 
 
 Who can say that this does not injure the blacks? Theirs, in its 
 best estate, is an unhappy lot. Shut out by a still lingering prejudice 
 from many social advantages, a despised class, they feel this pro 
 scription from the Public Schools as a peculiar brand. Beyond this, it 
 .deprives them of those healthful animating influences, which would come 
 from a participation in the studies of their white brethren. It adds to 
 their discouragements. It widens their separation from the rest of the 
 community, and postpones that great day of reconciliation which is sure 
 to come. 
 
 The whole system of Public Schools suffers also. It is a narrow 
 perception of their high aim, which teaches that they are merely to 
 furnish to all the scholars an equal amount in knowledge, and that, 
 therefore, provided all be taught, it is of little consequence where, and 
 
BENEFITS OF ACQUAINTANCE. QI 
 
 in what company, it be done. The law contemplates not only that 
 they shall all be taught, but that they shall be taught all together. 
 They are not only to receive equal quantities of knowledge, but all are 
 to receive it in the same way. All are to approach together the same 
 common fountain ; nor can there be any exclusive source for any indi 
 vidual or any class. The school is the little world in which the child 
 is trained for the larger world of life. It must, therefore, cherish and 
 develop the virtues and the sympathies employed in the larger world. 
 And since, according to our institutions, all classes meet, without dis 
 tinction of color, in the performance of civil duties, so should they all 
 meet, without distinction of color, in the school beginning there those 
 relations of Equality which our Constitution and Laws promise to all. 
 
 As the State receives strength from the unity and solidarity of its 
 citizens, without distinction of class, so the school receives new 
 strength from the unity and solidarity of all classes beneath its roof. 
 In this way the poor, the humble, the neglected, share not only 
 the companionship of their more favored brethren, but enjoy also the 
 protection of their presence, in drawing towards the school a more 
 watchful superintendence. A degraded or neglected class, if left to 
 themselves, will become more degraded or neglected. To him that hath 
 shall be given ; and the world, true to these words, turns from the poor 
 and outcast to the rich and fortunate. It is the aim of our system of 
 Public Schools, by the blending of all classes, to draw upon the whole 
 school the attention which is too apt to be given only to the favored 
 few, and thus secure to the poor their portion of the fruitful sunshine. 
 But the colored children, placed apart in separate schools, are deprived 
 of this blessing. 
 
 He shows with great force how the welfare of classes 
 in all communities, as well as that of individuals, is 
 promoted by mutual acquaintance. The French and 
 English nations, separated only by a narrow channel, 
 across which they can look upon each other s coasts, 
 remained in a state of almost constant hostilities for 
 hundreds of years ; but when the new age came on, 
 with steamers and increased travel, prejudice, the child 
 of ignorance, began to give way ; and as they mingled 
 more and more together, they at last became friends. 
 
92 EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW. 
 
 May it please your Honors : Such are some of the things which it 
 has occurred to me to say in this important cause. I have occupied 
 much of your time, but I have not yet exhausted the topics. Still, 
 which way soever we turn, we are brought back to one single proposi 
 tion the Equality of men before the law. This stands as the mighty 
 guardian of the rights of the colored children in this case. It is the 
 constant, ever-present, tutelary genius of this Commonwealth, frown 
 ing upon every privilege of birth, upon every distinction of race, upon 
 every institution of Caste. You cannot slight it, or avoid it. You 
 cannot restrain it. God grant that you may welcome it. Do this, and 
 your words will be a "charter and freehold of rejoicing" to a race 
 which, by much suffering, has earned a title to much regard. Your 
 judgment will become a sacred landmark, not in jurisprudence only, 
 but in the history of Freedom, giving precious encouragement to all 
 the weary and heavy-laden wayfarers in this great cause. Massachu 
 setts will then, through you, have a fresh title to regard, and be once 
 more, as in times past, an example to the whole land. 
 
 You have already banished Slavery from this Commonwealth. I call 
 upon you now to obliterate the last of its footprints, and to banish the last 
 of the hateful spirits in its train, that can be reached by this Court. The 
 law, interfering to prohibit marriages between blacks and whites, has 
 been abolished by the Legislature. The railroads, which, imitating the 
 Boston schools, placed colored people apart by themselves, have been 
 compelled, under the influence of an awakened public sentiment, to 
 abandon this regulation, and to allow them to mingle with other travellers. 
 Only recently I have read that his Excellency, the present Governor of 
 Massachusetts, took his seat in a train by the side of a negro. It is in the 
 Caste schools of Boston that the prejudice of color has sought its final 
 legal refuge. It is for you to drive it forth. You do well when 3-011 
 rebuke and correct individual offences ; but it is a higher office for to 
 rebuke and correct a vicious institution. Each individual is limited in 
 his influence ; but an institution has the influence of numbers organized 
 by law. The charity of one man may counteract or remedy the un- 
 charitableness of another ; but no individual can counteract or remedy 
 the uncharitableness of an established institution. Against it private 
 benevolence is powerless. It is a monster which must be hunted down 
 by the public, and by the constituted authorities. And such is the in 
 stitution of Caste in the Public Schools of Boston, which now awaits its 
 just condemnation from a just Court. 
 
 The civilization of the age joins in this appeal. It is well known that this 
 
THE CHRISTIAN SPIRIT INVOKED. 93 
 
 prejudice of color is peculiar to our country. You have not forgotten 
 that two youths of African blood only recently gained the highest honors 
 in the college at Paris, and dined on the same day with the King of 
 France, the descendant of St. Louis, at the Palace of the Tuileries. 
 And let me add, if I may refer to my own experience, that in Paris, I 
 have sat for weeks, at the School of Law, on the same benches with 
 colored persons, listening, like myself, to the learned lectures of Dege- 
 rando and of Rossi the last is the eminent minister who has unhappily 
 fallen beneath the dagger of a Roman assassin ; nor do I remember 
 observing in the throng of sensitive young men by whom they were sur 
 rounded, any feeling towards them except of companionship and respect. 
 In Italy, at the Convent of Pallazuola, on the shores of the Alban 
 Lake, and on the site of the ancient Alba Longa, I have seen, for several 
 days, a native of Abyssinia, only recently conducted from his torrid 
 home, and ignorant of the language that was spoken about him, yet 
 mingling with the Franciscan friars, whose guest and scholar he was, in 
 delightful and affectionate familiarity. In these examples may be dis 
 cerned the Christian spirit. 
 
 And, finally, this spirit I invoke. Where this prevails, there is neither 
 Jew nor Gentile, Greek nor barbarian, bond nor free ; but all are alike. 
 From this we derive new and solemn assurances of the Equality of man 
 kind, as an ordinance of God. The bodies of men may be unequal in 
 beauty or strength ; these mortal cloaks of flesh may differ, as do these 
 worldly garments ; these intellectual faculties may vary, as do the op 
 portunities of action and the advantages of position ; but amidst all un 
 essential differences there is an essential agreement and equality. 
 Dives and Lazarus were equal in the sight of God. They must be equal 
 in the sight of all just institutions. 
 
 But this is not all. The vaunted superiority of the white race im 
 poses upon it corresponding duties. The faculties with which they are 
 endowed, and the advantages which they possess, are to be exercised 
 for the good of all. If the colored people are ignorant, degraded, and 
 unhappy, then should they be the especial objects of your care. From 
 the abundance of your possessions you must seek to remedy their lot. 
 And this Court, which is as a parent to all the unfortunate children of the 
 Commonwealth, will show itself most truly parental, when it reaches 
 down, and, with the strong arm of the law, elevates, encourages, and 
 protects its colored fellow-citizens. 
 
94 WEBSTER S ONLY SUCCESSOR. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 But these great efforts of the private citizen were 
 drawing to a close. Mr. SUMNER was soon to be trans 
 ferred to a broader field of effort and power. A radical 
 change had passed over the public mind everywhere, 
 especially in Massachusetts. There the indignation that 
 had been aroused by the passage of the Fugitive Slave 
 Bill can hardly be understood at this day. The vast 
 popularity of DANIEL WEBSTER seemed to vanish in an 
 hour after his speech of the 7th of March. Those words 
 with which he opened that speech in the Senate " I 
 find the Fugitive Slave law in the Constitution, and I 
 take no step backwards " had alienated from him the 
 friends of a lifetime, and slammed the doors of old 
 Faneuil Hall in his face. There was but one man in 
 Massachusetts that could be his successor. That man 
 was CHARLES SUMNER. But before we give an account 
 of his election, and the unforeseen circumstances which 
 attended it, we shall give some extracts from a powerful 
 speech he delivered at the Free-Soil State Convention 
 in Boston, on the 3d of October, 1850, his theme being 
 once more, OUR PRESENT ANTI-SLAVERY DUTIES. 
 
 The long session of Congress had come to an end ; 
 its members were hurrying to their homes to give an ac 
 count of their stewardship. No man at the North, who had 
 voted for the Fugitive Slave Law, was ever to recover 
 his former popularity. Many of them were to leave public 
 life forever : some with the regrets and the esteem of 
 large minorities ; others with the hostility of former 
 friends, and the contempt of whole communities. Mr. 
 WEBSTER S usefulness, however, was by no means over. 
 He was to vacate the Senate April 24, 1851, and be- 
 
WEBSTER S STATESMANSHIP. 95 
 
 come Secretary of State, under Mr. FILMORE. His 
 management of our foreign affairs then somewhat com 
 plicated commanded the confidence of the country, 
 and the respect of foreign nations, which still left a broad 
 field for the exercise of his consummate abilities in the 
 public service. But it was felt then, as it was afterwards 
 known, that his course on the Fugitive Slave Bill had 
 been an act of political suicide. On the rock of Slavery 
 the whig party had gone to pieces ; and very few good 
 men regretted its fate. Like some of the convicts of 
 a celebrated judge, it had survived its usefulness, and 
 was put out of the way. The illustrious sage of Marsh- 
 field had given place to the rising young statesman on 
 whose broad shoulders Destiny had fixed the forlorn 
 hope, not only of four million slaves, but perhaps of the 
 Republic of Washington itself. 
 
 But let us listen to the last trumpet-call to Freedom 
 that CHARLES SUMNER sounded out from the ranks of 
 the people, before he went into the National Councils to 
 lead the crusaders for the recovery of the tomb of the 
 Father of his country from the long and deep disgrace 
 which still overshadowed the soil of Mount Vernon. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Mr. SUMNER opened his speech with the words, 
 "Watchman, what of the night? And well may the 
 question be asked," he said, " for things have occurred, 
 and measures have passed into laws, which fill the day 
 itself into blackness. And yet, there are streaks of light 
 an unwonted dawn in the distant west, out of which 
 a full-orbed sun is beginning to ascend, rejoicing, like a 
 stronor man, to run his race. 
 
96 CALIFORNIA ADMITTED AS A FREE STATE. 
 
 " California had been admitted to the Union with a 
 Constitution forbidding" slavery. A hateful institution 
 which thus far, without check, had travelled with the 
 power of the Republic westward, was bidden to stop, 
 and a new and rising State guarded from its contamina 
 tion. Freedom in whose hands is the divining rod of 
 magical power, pointing the way not only to wealth un 
 told, but to every possession of virtue and intelligence 
 whose presence is better far than any mine is now at 
 last established in an extensive region on the distant 
 Pacific, between the very parallels of latitude so long 
 claimed by slavery as its peculiar home. Here is a mo 
 ral and political victory : a moral victory inasmuch as 
 Freedom has secured a new foothold where to exert her 
 far-reaching influence ; a political victory also, inasmuch 
 as, by the admission of California, the free States have 
 obtained a majority of votes in the Senate, and the BAL 
 ANCE OF POWER between Freedom and Slavery so pre 
 posterously claimed by the Slave States, in forgetfulness 
 of the true spirit of the Constitution, and in mockery of 
 HUMAN RIGHTS has been overturned. May Free Cali 
 fornia, and her Senators in Congress, never fail hereafter, 
 amidst the trials before us, in loyalty to Freedom ! God 
 forbid that the daughter should turn with ingratitude or 
 neglect from the mother that bore her." 
 
 Congress had also abolished the slave-trade in the 
 District of Columbia, and banished from the national 
 Capital the odious traffic, thus affixing upon the trade in 
 human flesh everywhere in the broad domain of the Re 
 public, the brand of Congressional reprobation. True, 
 Congress had not, as in the case of the Foreign Slave- 
 Trade, stamped it as piracy, and awarded to its perpe 
 trators the doom of pirates ; but it had condemned the 
 
SLAVERY NOT PROHIBITED ELSEWHERE. 97 
 
 trade, and gave to general scorn those who partook of 
 it ; thus preparing the way for that complete act of Abo 
 lition which was necessary to purge the National Capital 
 of its still remaining curse and shame. It had also abol 
 ished flogging in the Navy, thus rebuking the lash wher 
 ever and by whomsoever employed. These two props 
 and stays of slavery had been undermined by Congres 
 sional legislation. Without the slave-trade and the lash, 
 slavery itself must fall to the earth. 
 
 But other measures had passed, which the speaker 
 contemplated only with indignation and disgust. The 
 broad territories of New Mexico and Utah, under the ex 
 clusive jurisdiction of Congress, had been organized 
 without any prohibition of slavery. In laying the foun 
 dations there, Congress had omitted the great Ordinances 
 of Freedom, first suggested by Jefferson, and consecra 
 ted by the experience of the Northwestern Territory. 
 Moreover, a vast territory, larger than all New England, 
 had been taken from New Mexico, and ten million 
 dollars had been given to slave-holding Texas. 
 
 And still further, as if to do a deed which should "make heaven weep, 
 all earth amazed," this same Congress, in disregard of all the cherished 
 safeguards of Freedom, has passed a most cruel, unchristian, devilish law 
 to secure the return into Slavery of those fortunate bondmen who have 
 found shelter by our firesides. This is the Fugitive Slave Bill a bill 
 which despoils the party claimed as a slave whether he be in reality a 
 slave or a freeman of the sacred right of Trial by Jury, and commits 
 the question of Human Freedom the highest question known by the 
 law to the unaided judgment of a single magistrate, on ex parte evi 
 dence it may be, by affidavits, without the sanction of cross-exami 
 nation. 
 
 And yet there are streaks of light an unwonted dawn in the dis 
 tant West, out of which a full-orbed sun is beginning to ascend, rejoic 
 ing like a strong man to run his race. Video solem orientem in occi- 
 dente. By an Act of the recent Congress, California, with a Constitu- 
 7 
 
98 BALANCE OF POWER OVERTURNED. 
 
 tion forbidding Slavery, adopted in the exercise of its sovereignty as a 
 State, has been admitted into the Union. For a measure like this, 
 required not only by the simplest justice, but by the uniform practice of 
 the country, and the constitutional principles of the slave-holders them 
 selves, we may well be ashamed to confess our gratitude ; and yet I 
 cannot but rejoice in this great good accomplished. A hateful institu 
 tion, which thus far, without check, had travelled with the power of the 
 Republic, westward, is bidden to stop, and a new and rising State 
 guarded from its contamination. Freedom in whose hands is the 
 divining rod of magical power, pointing the way, not only to wealth un 
 told, but to every possession of virtue and intelligence whose presence 
 is better far than any mine of gold is now at last established in an ex 
 tensive region on the distant Pacific, between the very parallels of lati 
 tude so long claimed by Slavery as its peculiar home. 
 
 Here is a moral and political victory ; a moral victory, inasmuch as 
 Freedom has secured a new foothold where to exert her far-reaching 
 influence ; a political victory also, inasmuch as by the admission of Cal 
 ifornia, the Free States have obtained a majority of votes in the Senate, 
 .and the balance of power ; between Freedom and Slavery so preposter 
 ously claimed by the Slave States, in forgetfulness of the true spirit of 
 -the Constitution, and in mockery of Human Rights has been over 
 turned. May free California, and her Senators in Congress, never fail 
 hereafter, amidst the trials before us, in loyalty to Freedom ! God for 
 bid that the daughter should turn with ingratitude or neglect from the 
 .mother that bore her ! 
 
 Besides this Act, there are two others of this long session which may 
 be regarded with satisfaction, and which I mention at once, before con 
 sidering the reverse of the picture. The Slave trade has been abolished 
 in the District of Columbia. This measure, though small in the sight 
 of Justice, is most important. It banishes from the National Capital 
 :an odious traffic. But this is its least office. It practically affixes to 
 the whole traffic, wherever it exists not merely in Washington, within 
 the immediate sphere of the legislative act but everywhere throughout 
 the Slave States, whether at Richmond, or Charleston, or New Orleans, 
 the brand of Congressional reprobation. Yes! The people of the 
 United States, by the voice of Congress, have solemnly declared the 
 domestic traffic in slaves to be offensive in their sight. The nation has 
 judged this traffic. The nation has said to it, " Get thee behind me, 
 Satan." It is true that Congress has not, as in the case of the foreign 
 -trade, stamped it as piracy, and awarded to its perpetrators the 
 
DENIAL OF TRIAL BY JURY. 99 
 
 doom of pirates ; but it condemns the trade, and gives to general scorn 
 those who partake of it. To this extent the North may be swept into 
 ruthless captivity ; and there is no white citizen, born among us, bred 
 in our schools, partaking in our affairs, voting in our elections, whose 
 liberty is not assailed also. Without any discrimination of color, the 
 Bill surrenders all, who may be claimed as " owing service or labor," to 
 the same tyrannical judgment. And mark once more its heathenism. 
 By unrelenting provisions it visits, with bitter penalties of fine and im 
 prisonment, the faithful men and women who may render to the fugi 
 tive that countenance, succor, and shelter which Christianity expressly 
 requires ! Thus, from beginning to end, it sets at naught the best prin 
 ciples of the Constitution, and the very laws of God ! 
 
 I might occupy your time by exposing the unconstitutionality of this 
 act. In denying the Trial by Jury, it is three times unconstitutional : 
 first, as the Constitution declares " the right of the people to be secure 
 in their persons against unreasonable seizures ; " secondly, as it further 
 declares, that " No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property 
 without due process of law ;" and, thirdly, because it expressly de 
 clares, that "In suits at common law, where the value in controversy 
 shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved" 
 By this triple cord did the framers of the Constitution secure the Trial 
 by Jury in every question of Human Freedom. That man can be little 
 imbued with the true spirit of American institutions he can have 
 little sympathy with Bills of Rights he must be lukewarm for Free 
 dom, who can hesitate to construe the Constitution so as to secure this 
 safeguard. 
 
 XV. 
 
 He could not withhold the following burst of indigna 
 tion : 
 
 The soul sickens in the contemplation of this legalized outrage. In 
 the dreary annals of the Past there are many acts of shame there are 
 ordinances of monarchs, and laws, which have become a bye-word and 
 a -hissing to the nations. But, when we consider the cotmtry and the 
 age, I ask fearlessly, What act of shame, what ordinance of monarch, 
 what law can compare in atrocity with this enactment of an American 
 Congress ? I do not forget Appius Claudius, the tyrant decemvir of 
 ancient Rome, condemning Virginia as a slave ; nor Louis XIV. of 
 
100 A WORSE TYRANNY THAN THE STAMP ACT. 
 
 France, letting slip the dogs of religious persecution by the revocation 
 of the edict of Nantes ; nor Charles I. of England, arousing the patriot 
 rage of Hampden, by the extortion of Ship-money ; nor the British 
 Parliament, provoking, in our own country, spirits kindred to Hamp 
 den, by the tyranny of the Stamp Act and Tea Tax. I would not ex 
 aggerate ; I wish to keep within bounds ; but I think no person can 
 doubt that the condemnation now affixed to all these transactions, and 
 to their authors, must be the lot hereafter of the Fugitive Slave Bill, and 
 of every one, according to the measure of his influence, who gave it his 
 support Into the immortal catalogue of national crimes this has now 
 passed, drawing with it, by an inexorable necessity, its authors also, and 
 chiefly him, who, as President of the United States, set his name to 
 the Bill, and breathed into it that final breath, without which it would 
 have no life. Other Presidents may be forgotten ; but the name signed 
 to the Fugitive Slave Bill can never be forgotten. There are depths of 
 infamy, as there are heights of fame. I regret to say what I must ; but 
 truth compels me. Better far for him had he never been born ; better 
 far for his memory, and for the good name of his children, had he 
 never been President ! 
 
 I have already likened this Bill to the Stamp Act, and I trust that 
 the parallel may be continued yet further by a burst of popular feeling 
 against all action under it, similar to that which glowed in the breasts of 
 our fathers. Listen to the words of John Adams, as written in his Diary 
 for the time : 
 
 The year 1765 has been the most remarkable year of my life. That 
 enormous engine, fabricated by the British Parliament, for battering 
 down all the rights and liberties of America, I mean the Stamp Act, 
 has raised and spread through the whole continent a spirit that will 
 be recorded to our honor with all future generations. In every colony, 
 from Georgia to New Hampshire inclusively, the stamp distributors and 
 inspectors have been compelled by the unconquerable rage of the 
 people to renounce their offices. Such and so universal has been the 
 resentment of the people, that every man who has dared to speak in 
 favor of the stamps, or to soften the detestation in which they are held, 
 how great soever his abilities and virtues had been esteemed before, or 
 whatever his fortune, connections, and influence had been, has been 
 seen to sink into universal contempt and ignominy. 
 
 Surely the love of Freedom, cannot have so far cooled among us, the 
 descendants of those who opposed the Stamp Act, that we are insensible 
 to the Fugitive Slave Bill. The unconquerable rage of the people, in 
 those other days, compelled the stamp distributors and inspectors to 
 renounce their offices, and held up to detestation all who dared to 
 
HIS FEELINGS TOWARDS THE LAW. IOI 
 
 speak in favor of the stamps. And shall we be more tolerant of those 
 who volunteer in favor of this Bill more tolerant of the Slave-Hunter, 
 who, under its safeguard, pursues his prey upon our soil ? The Stamp 
 Act could not be executed here. Can the Fugitive Slave Bill ? 
 
 And here, Sir, let me say, that it becomes me to speak with peculiar 
 caution. It happens to me to sustain an important relation to this 
 Bill. Early in professional life I was designated by the late Mr. Justice 
 Story one of the Commissioners of the Courts of the United States, 
 and, though I have not very often exercised the functions of this post, 
 yet my name is still upon the lists. As such I am one of those before 
 whom, under the recent Act of Congress, the panting fugitive may be 
 brought for the decision of the question, whether he is a freeman or a 
 slave. But while it becomes me to speak witli caution, I shall not 
 hesitate to speak with plainness. I cannot forget that I am a man, 
 although I am a Commissioner. 
 
 He thus gives vent to his own feelings : 
 
 Surely, no person of humane feelings, and with any true sense of 
 justice living in a land "where bells have knolled to church " what 
 ever may be the apology of public station, could fail to recoil from such 
 service. For myself let me say, that I can imagine no office, no salary, 
 no consideration, which I would not gladly forego, rather than become 
 in any way an agent in enslaving my brother-man. Where for me would 
 be comfort and solace, after such a work ! In dreams and in waking 
 hours, in solitude and in the street, in the meditations of the closet, and 
 in the affairs of men, wherever I turned, there my victim would stare 
 me in the face ; from the distant rice-fields and sugar plantations of the 
 South, his cries beneath the vindictive lash, his moans at the thought 
 of Liberty once his, now alas ! ravished from him, would pursue me, 
 repeating the tale of his fearful doom, and sounding, forever sounding 
 in my ears, " Thou art the man ! " 
 
 XVI. 
 
 And yet, in the face of these enormities of legislation, 
 we are told, he says, that the Slavery question is settled. 
 Nothing, sir, can be settled, which is not right. Noth 
 ing can be settled which is adverse to Freedom, or con- 
 
102 DUTIES OF MASSACHUSETTS MEN. 
 
 trary to the principles of Christianity. God, nature, and 
 all the holy sentiments of the heart, repudiate any such 
 seeming settlement. 
 
 o 
 
 Turning at last to the duties of Massachusetts men, he 
 thus sums up the demands which must be made upon 
 Congress. 
 
 Sir, I will not dishonor this home of the Pilgrims, and of the Revolution, 
 by admitting nay, I cannot believe that this Bill will be executed here. 
 Individuals among us, as elsewhere, may forget humanity in a fancied 
 loyalty to law ; but the public conscience will not allow a man, who has 
 trodden our streets as a freeman, to be dragged away as a slave. By 
 his escape from bondage, he has shown that true manhood, which must 
 grapple to him every honest heart. He may be ignorant, and rude, as 
 he is poor, but he is of a true nobility. The Fugitive Slaves of the 
 United States are among the heroes of our age. In sacrificing them to 
 this foul enactment of Congress, we should violate every sentiment of 
 hospitality, every whispering of the heart, every dictate of religion. 
 
 There are many who will never shrink at any cost, and, notwithstand 
 ing all the atrocious penalties of this Bill, from efforts to save a wander 
 ing fellow-man from bondage ; they will offer him the shelter of their 
 houses, and, if need be, will protect his liberty by force. But let me be 
 understood ; I counsel no violence. There is another power stronger 
 than any individual arm which I invoke ; I mean that invincible Public 
 Opinion, inspired by love of God and man, which, without violence or 
 noise, gently as the operations of nature, makes and unmakes laws. 
 Let this opinion be felt in its Christian might, and the Fugitive Slave 
 Bill will become everywhere upon our soil a dead letter. No lawyer 
 will aid it by counsel ; no citizen will become its agent ; it will die of 
 inanition like a spider beneath an exhausted receiver. Oh ! it were 
 well the tidings should spread throughout the land, that here in Massa 
 chusetts this accursed Bill has found no servants. "Sire, I have found 
 in Bayonne honest citizens and brave soldiers only ; but not one execu 
 tioner" was the reply of the governor of that place, to the royal man 
 date from Charles IX. of France, ordering the Massacre of St. Barthol 
 omew. 
 
 But it rests with you, my fellow-citizens, by your words and your 
 example, by your calm determinations, and your devoted lives, to do 
 this work. From a humane, just, and religious people shall spring a 
 
SUMNER S ELECTION TO THE SENATE. 103 
 
 Public Opinion, to keep perpetual guard over the liberties of all within 
 our borders. Nay, more, like the flaming sword of the cherubim at the 
 gates of Paradise, turning on every side, it shall prevent any SLAVE- 
 HUNTER from ever setting foot in this Commonwealth. Elsewhere, 
 he may pursue his human prey; he may employ his congenial blood 
 hounds, and exult in his successful game. But into Massachusetts he 
 must not come. And yet again I say, I counsel no violence. I would 
 not touch his person. Not with whips and thongs would I scourge him 
 from the land. The contempt, the indignation, the abhorrence of the 
 community shall be our weapons of offence. Wherever he moves, he 
 shall find no house to receive him no table spread to nourish him no 
 welcome to cheer him. The dismal lot of the Roman exile shall be his. 
 He shall be a wanderer, without roof, fire, or water. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 The contest which resulted in the election of Mr. 
 SUMNER to the United States Senate the first time, by 
 the Legislature of Massachusetts, in 1851, was one of 
 the most protracted and memorable in the history of any 
 State. Mr. BOUTWELL, who is now the colleague of Mr. 
 SUMNER in the United States Senate, was then Gov 
 ernor of Massachusetts. 
 
 On the 1 6th of January, on motion of Mr. BARRY, a 
 member of the House, the election of a United States 
 Senator was taken up, and the contest lasted three 
 months. The Daily Evening Transcript for that year 
 gave the following history of the great contest : 
 
 The first ballot resulted as follows : 
 
 Whole number 394 
 
 Necessary to a choice 198 
 
 Charles Sumner 180 
 
 Robert C. Winthrop 1 66 
 
 A second ballot failed to elect either candidate, and the matter was 
 postponed for one week. On January 23d, the election came up again 
 
104 VOTE OF THE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 by assignment, and resulted in the same manner, Mr. Sumner receiving 
 187 votes, 192 being necessary to a choice. On the 26th of February, 
 the sixteenth ballot was taken, but no choice was made, Mr. Sumner 
 lacking two votes of the number necessary for his election. The matter 
 came up every two weeks regularly, with the same result, until the 241)1 
 of April, when the end was reached, as will be seen by the following 
 report of that day s proceedings : 
 
 The House was called to order at 9 o clock, and prayer was offered 
 by Rev. Mr. Stone. The morning business was unimportant, and at 
 9. 30 the House proceeded to the twenty-fifth ballot for United States 
 Senator, which resulted as follows : 
 
 Whole number 386 
 
 Necessary to a choice 194 
 
 Charles Sumner 192 
 
 R. C. Winthrop 168 
 
 Scattering 26 
 
 Blanks i 
 
 At the conclusion of the ballot given above, it was discovered that 
 two more votes had been cast than there were members present, and, 
 to avoid such an occurrence in future, it was ordered that, in subsequent 
 trials, the ballots be enclosed in envelopes, and if any contained more 
 than one vote, all but one should be rejected, if all the ballots so con 
 tained were for the same person. In case there should be more than 
 one candidate named, all should be thrown out. The result was as fol 
 lows : 
 
 Whole number 384 
 
 Necessary to a choice 193 
 
 Charles Sumner . . . , 193 
 
 Robert C. Winthrop 1 66 
 
 Scattering 25 
 
 Blank 2 
 
 And Charles Sumner was declared elected. 
 
 In the same issue of that journal, the following" bright 
 and pointed editorial appeared : 
 
 The mountain that has been in labor for the last three months has 
 brought forth, and Charles Sumner, Esq., has been elected for six years, 
 from the 4th of March next, to succeed Mr. Webster in the Senate of 
 the United States. This was consummated in the House of Repre- 
 
THE PRESS ON HIS ELECTION. IO5 
 
 sentatives this afternoon, on the twenty-sixth ballot, by a vote of 193, 
 being the exact number necessary in concurrence with the choice of the 
 Senate, made in January last. This will be a sore disappointment to 
 the Whig Party, who have a plurality of some 20,000 votes in the State ; 
 but the fates have so decreed, and so it must be. The die is cast, and 
 the Whigs and the indomitable Democracy have lost the game. We 
 are not prepared to proclaim the country ruined in consequence of this 
 event. Mr. Simmer is a forcible and eloquent speaker, an apt scholar, 
 a man of superioi abilities, of polished address and extensive acquaint 
 ance with the men and events of his times, and he may become a states 
 man of mark in the political arena. He will probably act and work 
 with the Whig Party on all questions but one, a vital and momentous 
 one, it is true, as he will find when he gets to Washington. Mr. Sum- 
 ner will find, on reaching the Capital, that Massachusetts, and even 
 New England, is but a fraction of the United States ; that there are in 
 terests besides hers to be looked after ; that, under his oath of office, he 
 is bound to legislate for the whole country, not a sectional part ; that 
 the constitutional rights of others must be respected ; and all this his 
 good sense will soon teach him, if he needs to be taught. Again, we 
 say, we do not yet despair of the Union. Massachusetts might have 
 seated in the Senate a man far more objectionable than Charles Sum- 
 ner ! Vive la Republique ! 
 
 The next day after the election, the Daily Advertiser, 
 then under the control of the well-known journalist, Mr. 
 NATHAN HALE, used the following severe language, 
 which referred, however, to the coalition in the Legisla 
 ture by which the election was secured, and having no 
 reference to the personal fitness of Mr. SUMNER for the 
 position : 
 
 It is the grossest outrage upon the feelings of the majority of the 
 people of the State, by a combination between two minorities, which 
 we have known to be perpetrated in any of the States of the Union. 
 We regard the event as a most unfortunate one for the reputation of 
 the State, and one which must paralyze its influence in the councils of 
 the Union, and in sustaining a course of legislation tending to har 
 monize the dissensions which have so long disturbed the quiet of the 
 country. 
 
106 THE BOSTON JOURNALS. 
 
 From a long editorial in the Courier, we extract a 
 single paragraph : 
 
 After every species and degree of fluctuation, the contest for the 
 choice of a Senator of the United States has terminated in the election 
 of Charles Simmer by a single vote. Slender as is this majority, it be 
 comes still more attenuated when taken in connection with the fact that 
 two blank votes were cast at the ballot, which were left out of the ac 
 count in estimating the number necessary to a choice. So that Mr. 
 Sumner did not in fact receive a majority of the votes of all who voted. 
 The result has been unexpected by most people, and was in truth owing 
 to the adoption of a new method of taking the vote at the last ballot, 
 when they were inclosed in sealed envelopes. Two members, who ap 
 pear to have cast real votes previously, took this occasion to vote blank. 
 Such a consummation had been foreseen, and an earnest protest was 
 made against the secret ballot by Mr. Colby, of Boston, unfortunately 
 without effect, and the election was lost by the craven skulking of some 
 poor-spirited thing. We need hardly say that the election of Mr. 
 Sumner will be regretted by all who wish the State of Massachusetts to 
 stand where she has stood, nobly and firmly fixed in her loyalty to the 
 American Union. 
 
 The Atlas treated the matter with more calmness and 
 candor : 
 
 We have from the beginning opposed the election of Mr. Sumner. 
 We believe that the Legislature has made a mistake in electing him. 
 Though a gentleman of talents and character, he is not the man best 
 suited to represent Massachusetts in the Senate of the United States. 
 We are not aware of any acts of his which require payment at a price 
 so great. He is a known scholar more than a statesman. He has 
 studied the world in the closet, through the medium of books. He has 
 mingled little in every-day active life. He is a theorist, and views the 
 world through the medium of the imagination, and not through the 
 stern realities of life. In a word, we believe him to be an " impracti 
 cable." We shall be glad if, upon further acquaintance, we find our 
 selves mistaken. The people of Massachusetts, we are certain, did not 
 wish Mr. Sumner s election. Put the question to them to-day, and a 
 large majority would decide against him. The election was brought 
 about by a coalition, by a bargain. The Governor of the State, we 
 have reason to believe, cast his influence on that side. Not that he 
 
THE POST COMMONWEALTH TRANSCRIPT. IOJ 
 
 wished Mr. Sumner elected particularly, but because he could get Mr. 
 Simmer s friends to vote for him for Governor next Fall. We believe 
 that the patronage of the State has been brought to bear upon this elec 
 tion ; that promises have been made which we shall watch closely to 
 see if they are redeemed hereafter. 
 
 The Post summed up the whole question in its charac 
 teristic way, with a bristling little paragraph : 
 
 A Whig, who refused to support Gen. Taylor because he was not 
 Whig enough ; an agitator, who would sacrifice the safety of the Union 
 by aggravating sectional animosity ; an Abolitionist, who would treat 
 the laws of the constitutional Legislature of his country as the colonists 
 did the oppressive edicts of a tyrannical power ! This is the political 
 beauty the Coalition Democrats have voted for as a member of the 
 United States Senate. 
 
 The Commonwealth was the only paper in Boston 
 who then saw in Mr. SUMNER the great statesman of 
 the future, and it gave utterance to the following re 
 markable prophecy, which has been so strikingly ful 
 filled : 
 
 Mr. Sumner will go into the Senate unpledged to the measures 
 of any party and free to pursue such a course upon all questions of 
 national policy as his own judgment and feeling of responsibility to his 
 constituents shall dictate. He will be a Senator worthy of Massachu 
 setts, "legislating," as the Transcript truly says, " for the whole country, 
 not for a sectional part, and respecting the constitutional rights of others," 
 and of all. 
 
 In commenting upon this last paragraph, the Tran 
 script said : 
 
 He goes to Washington "unpledged." There is a world of promise 
 in that confession ; for Mr. Sumner will have the courage to do right, 
 even if he contradict himself." 
 
IOS SERENITY UNDER VITUPERATION. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Thus ended the battle which determined the future 
 career of the successful candidate ; and it may be reck 
 oned among the important events which led to the 
 grand crisis that was looming up in the future. There 
 has been no instance, perhaps, since the case of Gen. 
 JACKSON, in which any public man has been chosen for a 
 high political station who became the object of such 
 bitter assaults by the Press. The vituperation heaped 
 upon him from every quarter of the Union was without 
 a parallel. But Mr. SUMNER preserved through it all the 
 most admirable dignity of behavior, and the completest 
 serenity of spirit. Neither strangers, nor the most in 
 timate friends, could discover that his spirits were even 
 ruffled ; and to reply to any of the assaults made upon 
 him, however malignant, or the prophecies of evil omen 
 which were so profusely uttered, was the last thing he 
 thought of. Indeed, through life he made it a rule never 
 to reply to attacks, unless it became necessary to for 
 tify by further authorities the facts he had stated, for 
 his faith that truth would finally prevail was never 
 shaken. He never displayed the least anxiety to win 
 conviction from the obstinate or stolid by reiterating ar 
 guments or statements already made. He believed that 
 every truth could take care of itself; that if crushed to 
 earth, it would rise again. This was sometimes at 
 tributed to recklessness, and sorhetimes to indifference ; 
 whilst all the time it was an assurance of faith which im 
 pressed those who knew him best, with its positive sub 
 limity. 
 
 But wherever the news of his election to the Senate 
 
THE FREE-SOILERS OF THE SENATE. 
 
 became known, among the three hundred thousand 
 Free-Soil voters in the recent Presidential contest, it 
 was received with unbounded joy : and these voters 
 were scattered through all the Free States. The period 
 of his election was a marked era in our politics. Most 
 of the statesmen who had swayed the country, from the 
 time of Madison, were disappearing from the field. 
 Mr. CALHOUN was already dead : HENRY CLAY was 
 soon to follow. The old Whig party had fought its last 
 battle. The Democrats had centred all their chances 
 upon the South and the Pro-Slavery party of the North, 
 and there it was to fight its last fight before it dissolved 
 in the fires of the Rebellion. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 In the Senate, Mr. SUMNER was to appear in the list 
 as a Free-Soiler. There were but two others who 
 claimed that distinction SALMON P. CHASE, from Ohio, 
 and JOHN P. HALE, from New Hampshire. These were 
 but the morning-stars of the great day of emancipation 
 that was so soon to dawn upon a redeemed country, and 
 a disenthralled race. 
 
 In his letter to the Legislature of the State, accepting 
 the honor of Senatorship, he speaks of the appointment 
 finding him in a private station, and he accepts the office 
 with " a grateful consciousness of personal indepen 
 dence ; " as an honor that had come to him unsought 
 and undesired. " I accept it," he continued, " as the 
 servant of Massachusetts, mindful of the sentiments 
 solemnly uttered by her successive Legislatures, of the 
 genius which inspires her history, and of the men, her 
 perpetual pride and ornament, who breathed into her 
 that breath of liberty which early made her an exam- 
 
110 HIS SENATORIAL CAREER BEGINS. 
 
 pie to her sister States. With me, the union is twice 
 blessed first, as the powerful guardian of the repose 
 and happiness of thirty-one sovereign States, clasped by 
 the endearing name of country : and next, as the model 
 of that all-embracing federation of States by which unity, 
 peace and concord will finally be organized among the 
 nations." He declares himself fully resolved t;o oppose 
 any effort to introduce " the sectional evil of slavery into 
 Free States." He would follow the example of the 
 great triumvirate of American Freedom, Washington, 
 Franklin and Jefferson ; and in the words of the first, he 
 concludes his letter: " I see my duty that in standing 
 up for the liberties of my country, whatever difficulties 
 and discouragements lie in my way, I dare not shrink 
 from it ; and I rely on that Being who has not left to us 
 the choice of duties, that while I shall conscientiously 
 discharge mine, I shall not finally lose my reward." 
 
 SECTION FIFTH. 
 
 Senatorial Career. 
 I. 
 
 COMPARED with the narrow field where he had hitherto 
 carried on the battle, the arena that was to witness his fu 
 ture struggles was as the two days skirmishing of Ligny 
 and Quatre Bras, to the final overthrow at Waterloo. 
 
 The scene and its surroundings Mrs. Harriet Beecher 
 Stowe has so finely sketched, it were a pity not to let 
 the reader carry it on his fancy as he goes with the 
 champions into the heat of the conflict : 
 
MRS. STOWE CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY. Ill 
 
 And now came the great battle of the Fugitive Slave Law. The 
 sorceress slavery meditated a grand coup d etat that should found a 
 Southern slave empire, and shake off the troublesome North, and to 
 that intent her agents concocted a statute so insulting to Northern 
 honor, so needlessly offensive in its provisions, so derisive of what were 
 understood to be its religious convictions and humane sentiments, that 
 it was thought verily, " The North never, will submit to this, and we 
 shall make here the breaking point." Then arose Daniel Webster, that 
 lost Archangel of New England he who had won her confidence by 
 his knowledge of and reverence for all that was most sacred in her, and 
 moved over to the side of evil ! It was as if a great constellation had 
 changed sides in the heavens, drawing after it a third part of the stars. 
 
 The North, perplexed, silenced, troubled, yielded for a moment. 
 For a brief space all seemed to go down before that mighty influence, 
 and all listened, as if spell-bound, to the serpent voice with which he 
 scoffed at the idea that there was a law of God higher than any law or 
 constitution of the United States. 
 
 But that moment of degradation was the last. Back came the 
 healthy blood, the re-awakened pulse of moral feeling in New Eng 
 land, and there were found voices on all sides to speak for the right, 
 and hearts to respond, and on this side of re-awakened moral feeling 
 Suraner was carried into the United States Senate, to take the seat 
 vacated by Webster. The right was not yet victorious, but the battle 
 had turned so far that its champion had a place to stand on in the 
 midst of the fray. 
 
 And what a battle was that ! What an ordeal ! What a gauntlet to 
 run was that of the man in Washington who in those days set himself 
 against the will of the great sorceress ! Plied with temptation on the 
 right hand and on the left, studied, mapped out like a fortress to be 
 attacked and taken, was every Northern man who entered the arena. 
 Could he be bought, bribed, cajoled, flattered, terrified? Which, or 
 all ? So planned the conspirators in their secret conclaves. 
 
 The gigantic Giddings he who brought to the strife nerves tough 
 ened by backwoods toil and frontier fights with Indians once said of 
 
ii2 SUMNER S SENATORIAL OATH. 
 
 this warfare : " I ve seen hard fighting with clubs and bullets ; I ve 
 seen men falling all around me ; but I tell you it takes more courage 
 to stand up in oire s seat in Congress and say the right thing, than to 
 walk up to the cannon s mouth. There s no such courage as that of 
 the anti-slavery men there." 
 
 Now, Simmer s superb vitality, that hardy yeoman blood which his 
 ancestors brought from England, stood him in excellent stead. His 
 strong and active brain was based on a body muscular, vigorous, and 
 healthy, incapable of nervous tremor, bearing him with a steady aplomb 
 through much that would be confusing and weakening to men of less 
 physical force. Sumner -had riot the character of a ready debater ; not 
 a light-armed skirmisher was he ; he resembled rather one of the 
 mailed warriors of ancient tourney. When he had deliberately put 
 on his armor, all polished and finished down to buckle and shoe- 
 latchet, and engraved with whatnot of classic, or Venetian, or Genoese 
 device ; when he put down his visor, steadied his lance, took sure aim, 
 and weVit man and horse against his antagonist, all went down before 
 him, as went down all before the lance of Cceur-de-Lion. 
 
 Such a charge into the enemy was his first great speech, " Freedom 
 National, Slavery Sectional," which he directed against the Fugitive 
 Slave Law. It was a perfect land-slide of history and argument ; an 
 avalanche under which the opposing party were logically buried, and it 
 has been a magazine from which catapults have been taken to beat 
 down their fortresses ever since. 
 
 II. 
 
 Mr. Sumner s credentials as Senator were presented 
 at the opening of the Thirty-second Congress, December 
 i, 1851, when he took the oath of office. On the 26th 
 of May, 1852, he presented a memorial against the 
 Fugitive Slave Bill. But he was not allowed to proceed 
 with the remarks he desired to make. On no other sub- 
 ject except slavery was any check imposed upon Senators. 
 
HE GETS THE FLOOR AT LAST. 113 
 
 But in moving- the reference of the petition to the Com 
 mittee on the Judiciary, he remarked that he hoped he 
 was not expecting" too much if, at some fit moment, he 
 should bespeak the clear and candid attention of the 
 Senate, while he undertook to set forth frankly and fully, 
 and with entire respect for that body, convictions deeply 
 cherished in his own State, though disregarded in the 
 Capital ; convictions to which he was bound by every 
 sentiment of the heart, by every fibre of his being, by all 
 his devotion to country, by his love of God and man. 
 11 Upon these," he said, " I do not now enter ; suffice it 
 for the present for me to remark, that when I undertake 
 that service, I believe I shall utter nothing which in any 
 just sense can be called sectional ; unless the Constitu 
 tion is sectional, and unless the sentiments of the Fathers 
 were sectional. It is my happiness to believe, and my 
 hope to be able to show, that according to the true spirit 
 of the Constitution, and the sentiments of the Fathers, 
 FREEDOM, and not Slavery, is national ; while SLAVERY, 
 and not Freedom, is sectional." 
 
 A vast majority of the Senate were determined that 
 Mr. Sumner should not be allowed to deliver the speech 
 which it was well known he had prepared. But he vigi 
 lantly watched his opportunity. It came at last on the 
 26th of August, 1852, and being by the Rules of the 
 Senate entitled to the floor, he held it against all oppo 
 sition for nearly four hours ; during which he pronounced 
 that immortal ORATION as it would have been called by 
 the Romans in the days of Cicero which will forever 
 be regarded as the most powerful defence of the eternal 
 principles of Freedom ever uttered in that Senate House. 
 It sounded like a voice from the dead it stirred the 
 
 whole Nation it foretold the doom of American Slavery 
 8 
 
114 PETITION OF SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 
 
 Its length precludes its full admission. But we give 
 passages sufficiently copious to preserve the chain of the 
 argument and without trying to describe the effect on 
 the vast assembly that crowded the Senate Chamber, 
 which would be at best but a poor attempt ; for, as an old 
 Greek writer said of the eloquence of his countrymen 
 " The wonder-working power of oratory must needs die 
 with the delivery." 
 
 III. 
 
 The theme was 
 
 FREEDOM NATIONAL ; SLAVERY SECTIONAL. 
 The occasion was the following memorial of the mem 
 bers of the Society of Friends of New England : 
 
 We, therefore, respectfully, but earnestly and sincerely, entreat you 
 to repeal the law of the last Congress respecting fugitive slaves ; first 
 and principally, because of its injustice towards a long sorely-oppressed 
 and deeply-injured people ; and, secondly, in order that we, together 
 with other conscientious sufferers, may be exempted from the pen 
 alties which it imposes on all who, in faithfulness to their Divine Master, 
 and in discharge of their obligations to their distressed fellow-men, feel 
 bound to regulate their conduct, even under the heaviest penalties which 
 man can inflict for so doing, by the Divine injunction, " All things 
 whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them ; " 
 and by the other commandment, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." 
 
 " The subject is at last broadly before the Senate, 
 and by the blessing of God, it shall be discussed." 
 
 These were the words with which he opened his 
 Speech, after the last impediment had been swept 
 away. He then entered upon his main argument : 
 
 Sir, a severe lawgiver of early Greece vainly sought to secure per 
 manence for his imperfect institutions, by providing that the citizen 
 who, at any time, attempted their alteration or repeal, should appear in 
 ihe public assembly with a halter about his neck, ready to be drawn if 
 
FREEDOM NATIONAL SLAVERY SECTIONAL. Il5 
 
 his proposition failed to be adopted. A tyrannical spirit among us, in 
 unconscious imitation of this antique and discarded barbarism, seeks to 
 surround an offensive institution with a similar safeguard. In the ex 
 isting distemper of the public mind and at this present juncture, no 
 man can enter upon the service which I now undertake, without a per 
 sonal responsibility, such as can be sustained only by that sense of duty 
 which, under God, is always our best support. That personal respon 
 sibility I accept Before the Senate and the country let me be held 
 accountable for this act, and for every word which I utter. 
 
 With me, sir, there is no alternative. Painfully convinced of the un 
 utterable wrongs and woes of slavery ; profoundly believing that, ac 
 cording to the true spirit of the Constitution and the sentiments of the 
 fathers, it can find no place under our National Government that it is 
 in every respect sectional, and in no respect national that it is always 
 and everywhere the creature and dependent of the States, and never 
 anywhere the creature or dependent of the Nation, and that the Nation 
 can never, by legislative or other act, impart to it any support, under the 
 Constitution of the United States ; with these convictions, I could not 
 allow this session to reach its close, without making or seizing an op 
 portunity to declare myself openly against the usurpation, injustice, 
 and cruelty of the late enactment by Congress for the recovery of 
 fugitive slaves. Full well I know, sir, the difficulties of this discussion, 
 arising from prejudices of opinion and from adverse conclusions, strong 
 and sincere as my own. Full well I know that I am in a small minority, 
 with few here to whom I may look for sympathy or support. Full well 
 I know that I must utter things unwelcome to many in this body, which 
 I cannot do without pain. Full well I know that the institution of 
 slavery in our country, which I now proceed to consider, is as sensi 
 tive as it is powerful possessing a power to shake the whole land with 
 a sensitiveness that shrinks and trembles at the touch. But, while 
 these things may properly prompt me to caution and reserve, they can 
 not change my duty, or my determination to perform it. For this I- 
 willingly forget myself, and all personal consequences. The favor and 
 good-will of my fellow-citizens, of my brethren of the Senate, sir, 
 grateful to me as it justly is I am ready, if required, to sacrifice. All 
 that I am or may be, I freely offer to this cause. 
 
 And here allow me, for one moment, to refer to myself and my posi 
 tion. Sir, I have never been a politician. The slave of principles, I 
 call no party master. By sentiment, education, and conviction, a 
 friend of Human Rights, in their utmost expansion, I have ever 
 
I [6 HE DISCLAIMS VIOLEXCE AND DISCOURTESY. 
 
 most sincerely embraced the Democratic Idea ; not, indeed, as repre 
 sented or professed by any party, but according to its real significance, 
 as transfigured in the Declaration of Independence, and in the injunc 
 tions of Christianity. 
 
 Party does not constrain me ; nor is my independence lessened by 
 any relations to the office which gives me a title to be heard on this 
 floor. And here, sir, I may speak proudly. By no effort, by no desire 
 of my own, I find myself a Senator of the United States. Never be 
 fore have I held public office of any kind. With the ample opportu 
 nities of private life I was content. No tombstone for me could bear 
 a fairer inscription than this: "Here lies one who, without the honors 
 or emoluments of public station, did something for his fellow-man." 
 From such simple aspirations I was taken away by the free choice of my 
 native Commonwealth, and placed in this responsible post of duty, 
 without personal obligation of any kind, beyond what was implied in 
 my life and published words. The earnest friends, by whose con 
 fidence I was first designated, asked nothing from me, and, throughout 
 the long conflict which ended in my election, rejoiced in the position 
 which I most carefully guarded. To all my language was uniform, that 
 I did not desire to be brought forward : that I would do nothing to pro 
 mote the result ; that I had no pledges or promises to offer ; that the 
 office should seek me, and not I the office ; and that it should find me in 
 all respects an independent man, bound to no party and to no human be 
 ing, but only, according to my best judgment, to act for the good of all. 
 In this spirit I have come here, and in this spirit I shall speak to-day. 
 
 He early disclaims violence and discourtesy in debate, 
 into whose indulgence he was never to be provoked. 
 
 Rejoicing in my independence, and claiming nothing from party ties, 
 I throw myself upon the candor and magnanimity of the Senate. I 
 now ask your attention ; but I trust not to abuse it. I may speak 
 strongly ; for I shall speak openly and from the strength of my con 
 victions. 1 may speak warmly ; for I shall speak from the heart. But 
 in no event can I forget the amenities which belong to debate, and 
 which especially become this body. Slavery I must condemn with my 
 whole soul ; but here I need only borrow the language of slaveholders 
 themselves ; nor would it accord with my habits or my sense of justice 
 to exhibit them as the impersonation of the institution Jefferson calls 
 it the "enormity" which they cherish. Of them I do not speak ; but 
 without fear and without favor, as without impeachment of any person, 
 
NO COMPROMISE FINAL. 1 1/ 
 
 I assail this wrong. Again, sir, I may err ; but it will be with the 
 Fathers. I plant myself on the ancient ways of the Republic, with its 
 grandest names, its surest landmarks, and all its original altar-fires about 
 me. 
 
 IV. 
 
 And now, on the very threshold, I encounter the objection that there 
 is a final settlement, in principle and substance, of the question of 
 Slavery, and that all discussion of it is closed. Both the old political 
 parties of the country, by formal resolutions, in their recent conven 
 tions at Baltimore, have united in this declaration. On a subject which 
 for years has agitated the public mind ; which yet palpitates in every 
 heart and burns on every tongue ; which, in its immeasurable import 
 ance, dwarfs all other subjects ; which, by its constant and gigantic 
 presence, throws a shadow across these Halls ; which at this very time 
 calls for appropriations to meet extraordinary expenses it has caused, 
 they have imposed the rule of silence. According to them, sir, we may 
 speak of everything except that alone, which is most present in all our 
 minds. 
 
 To this combined effort I might fitly reply, that, with flagrant incon 
 sistency, it challenges the very discussion which it pretends to forbid. 
 Such a declaration, on the eve of an election, is, of course, submitted 
 to the consideration and ratification of the people. Debate, inquiry, 
 discussion, are the necessary consequence. Silence becomes im 
 possible. Slavery, which you profess to banish from the public atten 
 tion, openly by your invitation enters every political meeting and every 
 political convention. Nay, at this moment it stalks into this Senate, 
 crying, like the daughters of the horseleech, " Give, give ! " 
 
 But no unanimity of politicians can uphold the baseless assumption, 
 that a law, or any conglomerate of laws, under the name of Compro 
 mise, or howsoever called, is final. Nothing can be plainer than this; 
 that, by no parliamentary device or knot, can any Legislature tie the 
 hands of a succeeding Legislature, so as to prevent the full exercise of 
 its constitutional powers. Each Legislature, under a just sense of its 
 responsibility, must judge for itself; and, if it think proper, it may revise 
 or amend, or absolutely undo the work of its predecessors. The laws 
 of the Medes and Persians are proverbially said to have been unalter 
 able ; but they stand forth in history as a single example of such irra- 
 tLnal defiance of the true principles of all law. 
 
Il8 FREEDOM OF SPEECH ABOVE ALL. 
 
 To make a law final, so as not to be reached by Congress, is, by mere 
 legislation, to fasten a new provision on the Constitution. Nay, more ; 
 it gives to the law a character which the very Constitution does not 
 possess. The wise fathers did not treat the country as a Chinese foot, 
 never to grow after infancy ; but, anticipating Progress, they declared 
 expressly that their great Act is not final. According to the Consti 
 tution itself, there is not one of its existing provisions not even that 
 with regard to fugitives from labor which may not at all times be 
 reached by amendment, and thus be drawn into debate. This is rational 
 and just. Sir, nothing from man s hands, nor law, nor constitution, can 
 be final. Truth alone is final. 
 
 Inconsistent and absurd, this effort is tyrannical also. The responsi 
 bility for the recent Slave Act and for Slavery everywhere within the 
 jurisdiction of Congress necessarily involves the right to discuss them. 
 To separate these is impossible. Like the twenty-fifth rule of the 
 House of Representatives against petitions on Slavery now repealed 
 and dishonored the Compromise, as explained and urged, is a curtail 
 ment of the actual powers of legislation, and a perpetual denial of the 
 indisputable principle that the right to deliberate is co-extensive with 
 the responsibility for an act. To sustain Slavery, it is now proposed to 
 trample on free speech. In any country this would be grievous ; but 
 here, where the Constitution expressly provides against abridging free 
 dom of speech, it is a special outrage. In vain do we condemn the des 
 potisms of Europe, while we borrow the rigors with which they repress 
 Liberty, and guard their own uncertain power. For myself, in no fac 
 tious spirit, but solemnly and in loyalty to the Constitution, as a Senator 
 of the United States, representing a free Commonwealth, I protest 
 against this wrong. On Slavery, as on every other subject, I claim the 
 right to be heard. That right I cannot, I will not abandon. " Give 
 me the liberty to know, to utter and to argue freely, above all liberties ; " 
 these are the glowing words which flashed from the soul of John Milton, 
 in his struggles with English tyranny. With equal fervor they should be 
 echoed now by every American, not already a slave. 
 
 But, sir, this effort is impotent as tyrannical. The convictions of 
 the heart cannot be repressed. The utterances of conscience must be 
 heard. They break forth with irrepressible might. As well attempt 
 to check the tides of Ocean, the currents of the Mississippi, or the 
 rushing waters of Niagara. The discussion of Slavery will proceed, 
 wherever two or three are gathered together by the fireside, on the 
 highway, at the public meeting, in the church. The movement against 
 
RELATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT TO SLAVERY. I IQ 
 
 Slavery is from the Everlasting Arm. Even now it is gathering its 
 forces, soon to be confessed everywhere. It may not yet be felt in 
 high places of office and power ; but all who can put their ears humbly 
 to the ground, will hear and comprehend its incessant and advancing 
 tread. 
 
 V. 
 
 The relations of the Government of the United States I speak of 
 the National Government to Slavery, though plain and obvious, are 
 constantly misunderstood. A popular belief at this moment makes 
 Slavery a national institution, and, of course, renders its support a 
 national duty. The extravagance of this error can hardly be surpassed. 
 An institution, which our fathers most carefully omitted to name in the 
 Constitution, which, according to the debates in the Convention, they 
 refused to cover with any " sanction," and which, at the original organi 
 zation of the Government, was merely sectional, existing nowhere on 
 the national territory, is now, above all other things, blazoned as na 
 tional. Its supporters plume themselves as national. The old political 
 parties, while upholding it, claim to be national. A National Whig is 
 simply a Slavery Whig, and a National Democrat is simply a Slavery 
 Democrat, in contradistinction to all who regard Slavery as a sectional 
 institution, within the exclusive control of the States, and with which 
 the nation has nothing to do. 
 
 As Slavery assumes to be national, so, by an equally strange perver 
 sion, Freedom is degraded to be sectional, and all who uphold it, under 
 the national Constitution, share this same epithet. The honest efforts 
 to secure its blessings, everywhere within the jurisdiction of Congress, 
 are scouted as sectional ; and this cause, which the founders of our 
 National Government had so much at heart, is called sectionalism. 
 These terms, now belonging to the commonplaces of political speech, 
 are adopted and misapplied by most persons without reflection. But 
 herein is the power of Slavery. According to a curious tradition of the 
 French language, Louis XIV., the grand monarch, by an accidental 
 error of speech, among supple courtiers, changed the gender of a noun ; 
 but Slavery has done more. It has changed word for word. It has 
 taught men to say national instead of sectional, and sectional instead of 
 national. 
 
 Slavery national ! Sir, this is all a mistake and absurdity, fit to take 
 a place in some new collection of Vulgar Errors, by some other Sir 
 
120 SLAVERY AND THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Thomas Browne, with the ancient but exploded stories, that the toad 
 had a stone in its head, and that ostriches digest iron. According to 
 the true spirit of the Constitution, and the sentiments of the Fathers, 
 Slavery and not Freedom is sectional, while Freedom and not Slavery 
 is national. On this unanswerable proposition I take my stand, and 
 here commences my argument. 
 
 The subject presents itself under two principal heads : FIRST, the 
 true relations of the National Government to Slavery, wherein it will 
 appear that there is no national fountain out of which Slavery can be 
 derived, and no national power, under the Constitution, by which it can 
 be supported. Enlightened by this general survey, we shall be prepared 
 to consider, SECONDLY, the true nature of the provision for the rendition 
 of fugitives from service, and herein especially the unconstitutional and 
 offensive legislation of Congress in pursuance thereof. 
 
 I. And now for the TRUE RELATIONS OF THE NATIONAL GOVERN 
 MENT TO SLAVERY. These will be readily apparent, if we do not 
 neglect well-established principles. 
 
 If Slavery be national, if there be any power in the National Gov 
 ernment to uphold this institution as in the recent Slave Act it must 
 be by virtue of the Constitution. Nor can it be by mere inference, impli 
 cation, or conjecture. According to the uniform admission of courts 
 and jurists in Europe, again and, again promulgated in our country, 
 Slavery can be derived only from clear and special recognition. " The 
 state of Slavery," said Lord Mansfield, pronouncing judgment in the 
 great case of Somerset*, " is of such a nature, that it is incapable of 
 being introduced on any reasons moral or political, but only by positive 
 law. It is so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it but 
 POSITIVE LAW." And a slaveholding tribunal, the Supreme Court of 
 Mississippi, adopting the same principle, has said : 
 
 "Slavery is condemned by reason, and the laws of nature. It exists 
 and can exist only through municipal regulations." (Harry v. Decker, 
 Walker R. 42.) 
 
 And another slave-holding tribunal, the Supreme Court of Kentucky, 
 has said : 
 
 " We view this as a right existing by positive law of a municipal 
 character, without foundation in the law of nature or the unwritten and 
 common law." (Rankin v. Lydia, 2 Marshall, 470.) 
 
 Of course every power to uphold Slavery must have an origin as distinct 
 as that of Slavery itself. Every presumption must be as strong against 
 
SLAVERY NOT IN THE PREAMBLE. 121 
 
 such a power as against Slavery. A power so peculiar and offensive 
 so hostile to reason so repugnant to the law of nature and the inborn 
 Rights of Man ; which despoils its victims of the fruits of their labor ; 
 which substitutes concubinage for marriage ; which abrogates the rela 
 tion of parent and child ; which, by a denial of education, abases the 
 intellect, prevents a true knowledge of God, and murders the very 
 soul ; which, amidst a plausible physical comfort, degrades man, created 
 in the Divine image, to the level of a beast ; such a power, so eminent, 
 so transcendent, so tyrannical, so unjust, can find no place in any sys 
 tem of Government, unless by virtue of positive sanction. It can spring 
 from no doubtful phrases. It must be declared by unambiguous words, 
 incapable of a double sense. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Slavery, I now repeat, is not mentioned in the Constitution. The 
 name Slave does not pollute this Charter of our Liberties. No "posi 
 tive" language gives to Congress any power to make a Slave or to hunt 
 a Slave, To find even any seeming sanction for either, we must travel, 
 with doubtful footsteps, beyond its express letter, into the region of 
 interpretation. But here are rules which cannot be disobeyed. With 
 electric might for Freedom, they send a pervasive influence through 
 every provision, clause, and word of the Constitution. Each and all 
 make Slavery impossible as a national institution. They efface from 
 the Constitution every fountain out of which it can be derived. 
 
 First and foremost, is the Preamble. This discloses the prevailing 
 objects and principles of the Constitution. This is the vestibule through 
 which all must pass, who would enter the sacred temple. Here are 
 the inscriptions by which they are earliest impressed. Here they first 
 catch the genius of the place. Here the proclamation of Liberty is 
 soonest heard. "We the People of the United States," says the 
 Preamble, " in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice^ 
 insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote 
 the general welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and 
 our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United 
 States of America." Thus, according to undeniable words, the Con 
 stitution was ordained, not to establish, secure, or sanction Slavery 
 not to promote the special interests of slaveholders not to make 
 Slavery national, in any way, form, or manner; but to " establish jus- 
 
122 IT SPEAKS FOR FREEDOM. 
 
 tice," " promote the general welfare," and " secure the blessings of 
 Liberty." Here, surely, Liberty is national. 
 
 Secondly. Next in importance to the Preamble are the explicit 
 contemporaneous declarations in the Convention which framed the 
 Constitution, and elsewhere, expressed in different forms of language, 
 but all tending to the same conclusion. By the Preamble, the Con 
 stitution speaks for Freedom. By these declarations, the Fathers speak 
 as the Constitution speaks. Early in the Convention, Gouverneur 
 Morris, of Pennsylvania, broke forth in the language of an Abolition 
 ist : "He never would concur in upholding domestic slavery. It was a 
 nefarious institution. It was the curse of Heaven on the State where 
 it prevailed." Oliver Ellsworth, of Connecticut, said : " The morality 
 or wisdom of Slavery are considerations belonging to the States 
 themselves." According to him, Slavery was sectional. 
 
 At a later day, a discussion ensued on the clause touching the 
 African slave trade, which reveals the definitive purposes of the Con 
 vention. From the report of Mr. Madison we learn what was said. 
 Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, " thought we had nothing to do with 
 the conduct of the States as to Slavery, but we ought to be careful not 
 to give any sanction to it." According to these words, he regarded 
 Slavery as sectional, and would not make it national. Roger Sherman, 
 of Connecticut, " was opposed to any tax on slaves imported, as making 
 the matter worse, because it implied they were property. He would 
 not have Slavery national. After debate, the subject was committed to 
 a Committee of eleven, who subsequently reported a substitute, 
 authorizing " a tax on such migration or importation, at a rate not 
 exceeding the average of duties laid on imports" This language, 
 classifying persons with merchandise, seemed to imply a recognition 
 that they were property. Mr. Sherman at once declared himself 
 " against this part, as acknowledging men to be property, by taxing them 
 as such under the character of slaves." Mr. Gorhani " thought Mr. 
 Sherman should consider the duty not as implying that slaves are 
 property, but as a discouragement to the importation of them." Mr. 
 Madison, in mild juridical phrase, "thought it wrong to admit in the 
 Constitution the idea that there could be property in man." After 
 discussion it was finally agreed to make the clause read : 
 
 " But a tax or duty may be imposed on such inportation, not exceed 
 ing ten dollars for each person." 
 
 The difficulty seemed then to be removed, and the whole clause was 
 adopted. This record demonstrates that the word "persons" was em- 
 
SLAVERY EXCLUDED FROM THE CONSTITUTION. 123 
 
 ployed in order to show that slaves, everywhere under the Constitution, 
 were always to be regarded as persons, and not ^property, and thus 
 to exclude from the Constitution all idea that there can be property in 
 man. Remember well, that Mr. Sherman was opposed to the clause in 
 its original form, " as acknowledging men to be property /" that Mr. 
 Madison was also opposed to it, because he " thought it wrong to admit 
 in the Constitution the idea that there could be property in man ; " and 
 that, after these objections, the clause was so amended as to exclude 
 the idea. But Slavery cannot be national, unless this idea is distinctly 
 and unequivocally admitted into the Constitution. 
 
 But the evidence still accumulates. At a still later day in the pro 
 ceedings of the Convention, as if to set the seal upon the solemn deter 
 mination to have no sanction of Slavery in the Constitution, the word 
 "servitude," which appeared in the clause on the apportionment of 
 representation, was struck out, and the word " service " inserted. This 
 was done on the motion of Mr. Randolph, of Virginia, and the reason 
 assigned for this substitution, according to Mr. Madison, in his authentic 
 report of the debate, was that " the former was thought to express the 
 condition of slaves, and the latter the obligations of free persons" 
 With such care was Slavery excluded from the Constitution. 
 
 Nor is this all. In the Massachusetts Convention, to which the Con 
 stitution, when completed, was submitted for ratification, a veteran of 
 the Revolution, General Heath, openly declared that, according to his 
 view, Slavery was sectional, and not national. His language wgs pointed. 
 " I apprehend," he says, " that it is not in our power to do anything for 
 or against those who are in Slavery in the Southern States. J^"o gentle 
 man within these walls detests every idea of Slavery more than I do ; it 
 is generally detested by people of this Commonwealth; and I ardently 
 hope the time will soon come, when our brethren in the Southern 
 States will view it as we do, and put a stop to it ; but to this we have 
 no right to compel them. Two questions naturally arise : If we ratify 
 the Constitution, shall we do anything by our acts to hold the blacks in 
 slavery or shall we become partakers in other men s sins ? I think 
 neither of them" 
 
 Afterwards, in the first Congress under the Constitution, on a motion 
 which was much debated, to introduce into the Impost Bill a duty on 
 the importation of Slaves, the same Roger Sherman, who in the National 
 Convention had opposed the idea of property in man, authoritatively 
 exposed the true relations of the Constitution to Slavery. His language 
 
124 THE RIGHTS OF HUMAN NATURE. 
 
 was, that "The Constitution does not consider these persons as pro 
 perty ; it speaks of them as persons." 
 
 Thus distinctly and constantly, from the very lips of the framers of 
 the Constitution, we learn the falsehood of the recent assumptions in 
 favor of Slavery and in derogation of Freedom. 
 
 Thirdly. According to a familiar rule of interpretation, all laws con 
 cerning the same matter, in pari materia, are to be construed together. 
 By the same reason, the grand political acts of the Nation are to be con 
 strued together, giving and receiving light from each other. Earlier 
 than the Constitution was the Declaration of Independence, embodying, 
 in immortal words, those primal truths to which our country pledged itself 
 with its baptismal vows as a Nation. " We hold these truths to be self- 
 evident," says the Nation, " that all men are created equal ; that they 
 are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that 
 among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to 
 secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their 
 just powers from the consent of the governed." But this does not 
 stand alone. There is another national act of similar import. On the 
 successful close of the Revolution, the Continental Congress, in an 
 address to the people, repeated the same lofty truth. " Let it be re 
 membered," said the Nation again, " that it has ever been the pride and 
 the boast of America, that the rights for which she has contended were 
 the rights of human nature. By the blessing of the Author of these 
 rights, they have prevailed over all opposition, and FORM THE BASIS of 
 thirteen independent States." Such were the acts of the Nation in its 
 united capacity. Whatever may be the privileges of States in their in 
 dividual capacities, within their several local jurisdictions, no power can 
 be attributed to the Nation, in the absence of positive, unequivocal 
 grant, inconsistent with these two national declarations. Here, sir, is 
 the national heart, the national soul, the national will, the national 
 voice, which must inspire our interpretation of the Constitution, and 
 enter into and diffuse itself through all the national legislation. Thus 
 again is Freedom national. 
 
 Fourthly. Beyond these is a principle of the common law, clear 
 and indisputable, a supreme rule of interpretation from which in this 
 case there can be no appeal. In any question under the Constitution 
 every word is to be construed in favor of liberty. This rule, which com 
 mends itself to the natural reason, is sustained by time-honored maxims 
 of our early jurisprudence. Blackstone aptly expresses it, when he 
 says, that "The law is always ready to catch at anything in favor of 
 
FREEDOM IS NATIONAL. 1 25 
 
 liberty." The rule is repeated in various forms. Favores ampliandi 
 sunt ; odia restringenda. Favors are to be amplified; hateful things to 
 be restrained. Lex Anglitz est lex misericordi&. The law of England 
 is a law of mercy. Anglite jura in omni casu libertati dant favorem. 
 The laws of P^ngland in every case show favor to liberty. And this 
 sentiment breaks forth in natural, though intense, force, in the maxim : 
 Impins et crudelis judicandus est qui libertati non favet. He is to be 
 adjudged impious and cruel who does not favor liberty. Reading the 
 Constitution in the admonition of these rules, again I say Freedom is 
 national. 
 
 Fifthly. From a learned judge of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, in an opinion of the court, we derive the same lesson. In con 
 sidering the question, whether a State can prohibit the importation of 
 slaves as merchandise, and whether Congress, in the exercise of its 
 power to regulate commerce among the States, can interfere with the 
 slave-trade between the States, a principle has been enunciated, which, 
 while protecting the trade from any intervention of Congress, declares 
 openly that the Constitution acts upon no man as property. Mr. 
 Justice McLean says : " If slaves are considered in some of the States 
 as merchandise, that cannot divest them of the leading and controlling 
 quality of persons by which they are designated in the Constitution. 
 The character of property is given them by the local law. This law is 
 respected, and all rights under it are protected by the P ederal authori 
 ties ; but the Constitution acts upon slaves as PERSONS a?id not as pro 
 perty. * * * "The power over Slavery belongs to the States re 
 spectively. It is local in its character, and in its effects." Here again 
 Slavery is sectional, while Freedom is national. 
 
 Sir, such, briefly, are the rules of interpretation which, as applied to 
 the Constitution, fill it with the breath of Freedom, 
 
 " Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt." 
 
 To the history and prevailing sentiments of the times we may turn for 
 further assurance. In the spirit of Freedom the Constitution was 
 formed. In this spirit our Fathers always spoke and acted. In this 
 spirit the National Government was first organized under Washington. 
 And here I recall a scene, in itself a touchstone of the period, and an 
 example for us, upon which we may look with pure national pride, 
 while we learn anew the relations of the National Government to 
 Slavery. 
 
 The Revolution had been accomplished. The feeble Government 
 
126 WASHINGTON INAUGURATED APRIL 30, 1789. 
 
 of the Confederation had passed away. The Constitution, slowly ma 
 tured in a National Convention, discussed before the people, defended 
 by masterly pens, had been already adopted. The thirteen States 
 stood forth a nation, wherein was unity without consolidation, and 
 diversity without discord. The hopes of all were anxiously hanging 
 upon the new order of things and the mighty procession of events. 
 
 VII. 
 
 With signal unanimity Washington was chosen President. Leaving 
 his home at Mount Vernon, he repaired to New York, where the first 
 Congress had already commenced its session, to assume his place as 
 elected Chief of the Republic. On the thirtieth of April, 1789, the 
 organization of the Government was completed by his inauguration. 
 Entering the Senate Chamber, where the two Houses were assembled, 
 he was informed that they awaited his readiness to receive the oath 
 of office. Without delay, attended by the Senators and Representa 
 tives, with friends and men of mark gathered about him, he moved to 
 the balcony in front of the edifice. A countless multitude, thronging 
 the open street, and eagerly watching this great espousal, 
 
 " With reverence look on his majestic face, 
 Proud to be less, but of his god-like race." 
 
 The oath was administered by the Chancellor of New York. At this 
 time, and in this presence, beneath the uncovered heavens, Washing 
 ton first took this vow upon his lips : "I do solemnly swear that I will 
 faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will 
 to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution 
 of the United States." 
 
 Over the President, on this high occasion, floated the national flag, 
 with its stripes of red, and its stars on a field of blue. As his patriot 
 eyes rested upon the glowing ensign, what currents must have rushed 
 swiftly through his soul ! In the early days of the Revolution, in those 
 darkest hours about Boston, after the battle of Bunker Hill, and before 
 the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen stripes had been first un 
 furled by him, as the emblem of Union among the Colonies for the sake 
 of Freedom. By him, at that time, they had been named the Union 
 Flag. Trial, struggle, and war were now ended, and the Union, which 
 they first heralded, was unalterably established. To every beholder, 
 these memories must have been full of pride and consolation. But look- 
 
NOT A SLAVE UNDER THE NATIONAL FLAG. \2J 
 
 ing back upon the scene, there is one circumstance which, more than 
 all its other associations, fills the soul ; more even than the suggestions 
 of Union, which I prize so much. AT THIS MOMENT, WHEN WASHING- 
 
 TON TOOK HIS FIRST OATH TO SUPPORT THE CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 UNITED STATES, THE NATIONAL ENSIGN, NOWHERE WITHIN THE 
 NATIONAL TERRITORY, COVERED A SINGLE SLAVE. Then, indeed, was 
 Slavery sectional, and Freedom national. 
 
 On the sea, an execrable piracy, the trade in slaves, was still, to the 
 national scandal, tolerated under the national flag. In the States, as a 
 sectional institution, beneath the shelter of local laws, Slavery unhappily 
 found a home. But in the only territories at this time belonging to the 
 nation, the broad region of the North-west, it had already, by the 
 Ordinance of Freedom, been made impossible, even before the adop 
 tion of the Constitution. The District of Columbia, with its fatal in- 
 cumbrance, had not yet been acquired. 
 
 The Government thus organized was Anti-Slavery in character. 
 Washington was a slave-holder ; but it would be unjust to his memory 
 not to say that he was an Abolitionist also. His opinions do not admit 
 of question. Only a short time before the formation of the National 
 Constitution, he had declared, by letter, " That it was among his first 
 wishes to see some plan adopted, by which Slavery may be abolished by 
 law ; " and again, in another letter, " That, in support of any legislative 
 measure for the abolition of slavery, his suffrage should not be want 
 ing ; " and still further, in conversation with a distinguished European 
 Abolitionist, a travelling propagandist of Freedom, Brissot de Warville, 
 recently welcomed to Mount Vernon, he had openly announced, that 
 to promote this object in Virginia, " He desired the formation of a 
 SOCIETY, and that he would second it." By this authentic testimony, 
 he takes his place with the early patrons of Abolition Societies. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 By the side of Washington, as standing beneath the national flag he 
 swore to support the Constitution, were illustrious men, whose lives 
 and recorded words now rise in judgment. There was John Adams, 
 the Vice-President great vindicator and final negotiator of our national 
 independence whose soul, flaming with freedom, broke forth in the 
 early declaration, that " Consenting to Slavery is a sacrilegious breach 
 of trust," and whose immitigable hostility to this wrong has been made 
 
128 JEFFERSON ALWAYS DENOUNCED SLAVERY. 
 
 immortal in his descendants. There also was a companion in arms, and 
 attached friend of incomparable genius, the yet youthful Hamilton, 
 who, as a member of the Abolition Society of New York, had only 
 recently united in a solemn petition for those who, " though free by f/ie 
 laws of God, are held in Slavery by the laws of the State. 1 There, too, 
 was a noble spirit, the ornament of his country, the exemplar of truth 
 and virtue, who, like the sun, ever held an unerring course, John Jay. 
 Filling the important post of Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Con 
 federation, he found time to organize the Abolition Society of New 
 York, and to act as its President, until, by the nomination of Washing 
 ton, he became Chief Justice of the United States. In his sight, 
 Slavery was an "iniquity," " a sin of crimson dye," against which minis 
 ters of the gospel should testify, and which the Government should seek 
 in every way to abolish. " Were I in the Legislature," he wrote, " I 
 would present a bill for this purpose with great care, and I would never 
 cease moving it till it became a law, or I ceased to be a member. Till 
 America comes into this measure, her prayers to heaven will be im 
 pious." 
 
 But they were not alone. The convictions and earnest aspirations 
 of the country were with them. At the North these were broad and 
 general. At the South they found fervid utterance from slaveholders. 
 By early and precocious efforts for " total emancipation," the author of 
 the Declaration of Independence placed himself foremost among the 
 Abolitionists of the land. In language now familiar to all, and which 
 can never die, he perpetually denounced Slavery. He exposed its per 
 nicious influences upon master as well as slave; declared that the- love 
 of justice and the love of country pleaded equally for the slave, and 
 that the "abolition of domestic slavery was the greatest object of desire." 
 He believed that the "sacred side was gaining daily recruits," and confi 
 dently looked to the young for the accomplishment of this good work. 
 In fitful sympathy with Jefferson, was another honored son of Virginia, the 
 Orator of Liberty, Patrick Henry, who, while confessing that he was a 
 master of slaves, said : " I will not, I cannot justify it. However cul 
 pable my conduct, I will so far pay my devoir to virtue, as to own the 
 excellence and rectitude of her precepts, and lament my want of con 
 formity to them." At this very period, in the Legislature of Maryland, 
 on a bill for the relief of oppressed slaves, a young man, afterwards by 
 his consummate learning and forensic powers, the acknowledged head 
 of the American bar, William Pinckney, in a speech of earnest, truthful 
 eloquence better far for his memory than his transcendent professional 
 
ALL THE CHURCHES OPPOSED TO SLAVERY. 129 
 
 fame branded Slavery as " iniquitous and most dishonorable ; " " found 
 ed in a disgraceful traffic ; " " as shameful in its continuance as in its 
 origin ; " and he openly declared, that, " By the eternal principles of 
 natural justice, no master in the State has a right to hold his slave in 
 bondage a single hour." 
 
 IX. 
 
 Thus at this time spoke the -NATION. The CHURCH also joined its 
 voice. And here, amidst the diversities of religious faith, it is instruc 
 tive to observe the general accord. The Quakers first bore their testi 
 mony. At the adoption of the Constitution, the whole body, under the 
 early teaching of George Fox, and by the crowning exertions of Benezet 
 and Wolman, had become an organized band of Abolitionists, pene 
 trated by the conviction that it was unlawful to hold a fellow-man in 
 bondage. The Methodists, numerous, earnest and faithful, never ceased 
 by their preachers to proclaim the same truth. Their rules in 1788 
 denounced, in formal language, " the buying or selling of bodies and 
 souls of men, women, and children, with an intention to enslave them." 
 The words of their great apostle, John Wesley, were constantly repeated. 
 On the eve of the National Convention the burning tract was circulated, 
 in which he exposes American slavery as the "vilest" of the world 
 " such Slavery as is not found among the Turks at Algiers ; " and, after 
 declaring " Liberty the birthright of every human creature, of which no 
 human law can deprive him," he pleads, " If, therefore, you have any 
 regard to justice (to say nothing of mercy or the revealed law of God), 
 render unto all their due. Give liberty to whom liberty is due, that is, 
 to every child of man, to every partaker of human nature." At the 
 same time, the Presbyterians, a powerful religious body, inspired by the 
 principles of John Calvin, in more moderate language, but by a public 
 act, recorded their judgment, recommending " to all the people under 
 their care to use the most prudent measures consistent with the interest 
 and the state of civil society, to procure eventually the final abolition of 
 Slavery in America" The Congregationalists of New England, also- 
 of the faith of John Calvin, and with the hatred of Slavery belonging to 
 the great non-conformist, Richard Baxter, were sternly united against 
 this wrong. As early as 1776, Samuel Hopkins, their eminent leader 
 and divine, published his tract, showing it to be the Duty and Interest 
 of the American States to emancipate all their African slaves, and de 
 claring that " Slavery is in every instance wrong, unrighteous and op- 
 9 
 
I3O LITERATURE THE FOE- OF SLAVERY. 
 
 pressive a very great and crying sin there being nothing of the kind 
 equal to it on the face of the earth." And, in 1791, shortly after the 
 adoption of the Constitution, the second Jonathan Edwards, a twice- 
 honored name, in an elaborate discourse often published, called upon 
 his country, "in the present blaze of light" on the injustice of slavery, 
 to prepare the way for "its total abolition." This he gladly thought at 
 hand. " If we judge of the future by the past," said the celebrated 
 preacher, " within fifty years from this time, it will be as shameful for a 
 man to hold a negro slave, as to be guilty of common robbery, or 
 theft." 
 
 Thus, at this time, the Church, in harmony with the Nation, by its 
 leading denominations, Quakers, Methodists, Presbyterians and Con- 
 gregationalists, thundered against Slavery. The COLLEGES were in 
 unison with the Church. Harvard University spoke by the voice of 
 Massachusetts, which had already abolished Slavery. Dartmouth Col 
 lege, by one of its learned Professors, claimed for the slaves " equal 
 privileges with the whites." Yale College, by its President, the emi- 
 jient divine, Ezra Stiles, became the head of the Abolition Society of 
 Connecticut. And the University of William and Mary, in Virginia, 
 testified its sympathy with this cause at this very time, by conferring 
 :upon Granville Sharpe, the acknowledged chief of British Abolitionists, 
 ithe honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. 
 
 X. 
 
 The LITERATURE of the land, such as then existed, agreed with the 
 "Nation, the Church, and the College. Franklin, in the last literary 
 labor of his life ; Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia ; Barlow, in his 
 measured verse ; Rush, in a work which inspired the praise of Clark- 
 son ; the ingenious author of the Algerine Captive the earliest Amer 
 ican novel, and though now but little known, one of the earliest Amer 
 ican books republished in London were all moved by the contempla 
 tion of Slavery. "If our fellow-citizens of the Southern States are 
 -deaf to the pleadings of nature," the latter exclaims in his work, " I 
 will conjure them, for the sake of consistency, to cease to deprive their 
 fellow-creatures of freedom, which their writers, their orators, repre 
 sentatives and senators, and even their Constitution of Government, 
 have declared to be the inalienable birthright of man." A female 
 writer and poet, earliest in our country among the graceful throng, 
 .Sarah Wentworth Morton, at the very period of the National Conven- 
 
FRANKLIN S ABOLITION SOCIETY. 131 
 
 tion admired by the polite society in which she lived, poured forth her 
 sympathies also. The generous labors of John Jay in behalf of the 
 crushed African inspired her muse ; and, in another poem, commemo 
 rating a slave, who fell while vindicating his freedom, she rendered a 
 truthful homage to his inalienable rights, in words which I now quote 
 as part of the testimony of the times : 
 
 " Does not the voice of reason cry, 
 
 * Claim the first right that Nature gave ; 
 From the red scourge of bondage fly, 
 Nor deign to live a burdened slave. " 
 
 Such, sir, at the adoption of the Constitution and at the first organi 
 zation of the National Government, was the outspoken, unequivocal 
 heart of the country. Slavery was abhorred. Like the slave trade, it 
 was regarded as transitory ; and, by many, it was supposed that they 
 would both disappear together. As the oracles grew mute at the com 
 ing of Christ, and a voice was heard, crying to mariners at sea, " Great 
 Pan is dead," so at this time Slavery became dumb, and its death seemed 
 to be near. Voices of Freedom filled the air. The patriot, the Chris 
 tian, the scholar, the writer, the poet, vied in loyalty to this cause. All 
 were Abolitionists. 
 
 XL 
 
 Glance .now at the earliest Congress under the Constitution. From 
 various quarters came memorials to this body against Slavery. Among 
 these was one from the Abolition Society of Virginia, wherein Slavery 
 is pronounced "not only an odious degradation, but an outrageous 
 violation of one of the most essential rights of human nature, and ut 
 terly repugnant to the precepts of the Gospel." Still another, of a 
 more important character, proceeded from the Abolition Society of 
 Pennsylvania, and was signed by Benjamin Franklin, as President* 
 This venerable man, whose active life had been devoted to the welfare 
 of mankind at home and abroad who, both as philosopher and states 
 man, had arrested the admiration of the world who had ravished the 
 lightning from the skies and the sceptre from the tyrant who, as a 
 member of the Continental Congress, had set his name to the Declara 
 tion of Independence, and, as a member of the National Convention, 
 had again set his name to the Constitution in whom more, perhaps, 
 than in any other person, was embodied the true spirit of American 
 
132 FRANKLINS PRAYER TO CONGRESS. 
 
 institutions, at once practical and humane than whom no one could 
 be more familiar with the purposes and aspirations of the founders 
 this veteran, eighty-four years of age, within a few months of his death, 
 now appeared by petition at the bar of that Congress, whose powers he 
 had helped to define and establish. This was the last political act of 
 his long life. Listen to the prayer of Franklin : 
 
 "Your memorialists, particularly engaged in attending to the distresses 
 arising from Slavery, believe it to be their indispensable duty to present 
 this subject to your notice. They have observed with real satisfaction 
 that many important and salutary powers are vested in you for promot 
 ing the welfare and securing the blessings of liberty to the people of the 
 United States ; and as they conceive that these blessings ought right 
 fully to be administered, without distinction of color to all descriptions of 
 people, so they indulge themselves in the pleasing expectation, that nothing 
 which can be done for the relief of the unhappy objects of their care, will 
 be either omitted or delayed." " Under these impressions, they earnestly 
 entreat your serious attention to the subject of Slavery; that you would 
 be pleased to countenance the restoration of liberty to those unhappy men, 
 who alone, in this land of Freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage, 
 and who, amidst the general joy of surrounding freemen, are groaning in 
 servile subjection; that you will promote mercy and justice towards this 
 distressed race, and that you will step to the very verge of the power 
 vested in you for DISCOURAGING every species of traffic in the 
 persons of our fellow-men" 
 
 Important words ! in themselves a key-note of the times. From his 
 grave Franklin seems still to call upon Congress to step to the very verge 
 of the powers vested in it to DISCOURAGE SLAVERY ; and, in making this 
 prayer, he proclaims the true national policy of the Fathers. Not en 
 couragement but discouragement of Slavery was their rule. 
 
 Sir, enough has been said to show the sentiment which, like a vital 
 air, surrounded the National Government as it stepped into being. In 
 the face of this history, and in the absence of any positive sanction, it is 
 absurd to suppose that Slavery, which under the Confederation was 
 merely sectional, was now constituted a national institution. Our 
 fathers did not say with the apostate angel, " Evil be thou my good ! " 
 In a different spirit they cried out to Slavery, " Get thee behind me, 
 Satan!" 
 
 But there is yet another link in the argument. In the discussions 
 which took place in the local conventions on the adoption of the Con 
 stitution, a sensitive desire was manifested to surround all persons 
 under the Constitution with additional safeguards. Fears were ex 
 pressed, from the supposed indefiniteness of some of the powers con- 
 
PREROGATIVES OF THE CONSTITUTION. 133 
 
 ceded to the National Government, and also from the absence of a 
 Bill of Rights. Massachusetts, on ratifying the Constitution, proposed 
 a series of amendments, at the head of which was this, characterized 
 by Samuel Adams, in the Convention, as "A summary of a Bill of 
 Rights:" 
 
 " That it be explicitly declared, that all powers not expressly dele 
 gated by the aforesaid Constitution are reserved to the several States, 
 to be by them exercised." 
 
 Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, with minorities in 
 Pennsylvania and Maryland, united in this proposition. In pursuance 
 of these recommendations, the first Congress presented for adoption 
 the following article, which, being ratified by a proper number of States, 
 became part of the Constitution, as the loth amendment : 
 
 " The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, 
 nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, 
 or to the people." 
 
 Stronger words could not be employed to limit the power under the 
 Constitution, and to protect the people from all assumptions of the 
 National Government, particularly in derogation of Freedom. Its 
 guardian character commended it to the sagacious mind of Jefferson, 
 who said : " I consider the foundation corner-stone of the Constitution 
 of the United States to be laid upon the tenth article of the amend- 
 ments." And Samuel Adams, ever watchful for Freedom, said : " It 
 removes a doubt which many have entertained respecting the matter, 
 gives assurance that, if any law made by the Federal Government shall 
 be extended beyond the power granted by the Constitution, and incon 
 sistent with the Constitution of this State, it will be an error, and ad 
 judged by the courts of law to be void." 
 
 Beyond all question, the National Government, ordained by the 
 Constitution, is not general or universal ; but special and particular. 
 It is a Government of limited powers. It has no power which is not 
 delegated. Especially is this clear with regard to an institution like 
 Slavery. The Constitution contains no power to make a King or to 
 support kingly rule. With similar reason it may be said, that it con 
 tains no power to make a slave, or to support a system of Slavery. 
 The absence of all such power is hardly more clear in one case than in 
 the other. But if there be no such power, all national legislation up 
 holding Slavery must be unconstitutional and void. The stream cannot 
 be higher than the fountain-head. Nay more, nothing can come out of 
 
134 PERSONS ARE NOT PROPERTY. 
 
 nothing ; the stream cannot exist, if there be no springs from which it 
 is fed. 
 
 At the risk of repetition, but for the sake of clearness, review now 
 this argument, and gather it together. Considering that Slavery is of 
 such an offensive character that it can find sanction only in " positive 
 law," and that it has no such " positive " sanction in the Constitution ; 
 that the Constitution, according to its Preamble, was ordained " to 
 establish justice" and "secure the blessings of liberty;" that, in the 
 Convention which framed it, and also elsewhere at the time, it was 
 declared not to sanction Slavery ; that, according to the Declaration of 
 Independence and the Address of the Continental Congress, the 
 Nation was dedicated to "liberty" and the "rights of human nature;" 
 that, according to the principles of the common law, the Constitution 
 must be interpreted openly, actively, and perpetually, for Freedom ; 
 that, according to the decision of the Supreme Court, it acts upon 
 slaves, not as property, but as PERSONS ; that, at the first organization 
 of the National Government under Washington, Slavery had no na 
 tional favor, existed nowhere on the national territory, beneath the 
 national flag, but was openly condemned by the Nation, the Church, 
 the Colleges and Literature of the time ; and, finally, that according to 
 an Amendment of the Constitution, the National Government can only 
 exercise powers delegated to it, among which there is none to support 
 Slavery ; considering these things, sir, it is impossible to avoid the 
 single conclusion that Slavery is in no respect a national institution, 
 and that the Constitution nowhere upholds property in man. 
 
 XII. 
 
 But there is one other special provision of the Constitution, which I 
 have reserved to this stage, not so much from its superior importance, 
 but because it may fitly stand by itself. This alone, if practically ap 
 plied, would carry Freedom to all within its influence. It is an amend 
 ment proposed by the first Congress, as follows : 
 
 " No perso?i shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due 
 process of law" 
 
 Under this aegis the liberty of every person within the national jurisdic 
 tion is unequivocally placed. I say every person. Of this there can 
 be no question. The word " person " in the Constitution embraces 
 every human being within its sphere, whether Caucasian, Indian, or 
 
THE CONSTITUTION CANNOT SUPPORT SLAVERY. 135 
 
 African, from the President to the slave. Show me a person, no matter 
 what his condition, or race, or color, within the national jurisdiction, 
 and I confidently claim for him this protection. The natural meaning 
 of the clause is clear, but a single fact of its history places it in the 
 broad light of noon. As originally recommended by North Caro 
 lina and Virginia, it was restrained to the freeman. Its language was, 
 " No freeman ought to be deprived of his life, liberty or property, but 
 by the law of the land." In rejecting this limitation, the authors of the 
 amendment revealed their purpose, that no person, under the National 
 Government, of whatever character, shall be deprived of liberty without 
 due process of law ; that is, without due presentment, indictment, or 
 other judicial proceedings. Here by this Amendment is an express 
 guarantee of Personal Liberty, and an express prohibition against its 
 invasion anywhere, at least within the national jurisdiction. 
 
 Sir, apply these principles, and Slavery will again be as when Wash 
 ington took his first oath as President. The Union Flag of the Re 
 public will become once more the flag of Freedom, and at all points 
 within the national jurisdiction will refuse to cover a slave. Beneath 
 its beneficent folds, wherever it is carried, on land or sea, Slavery will 
 disappear, like darkness under the arrows of the ascending sun like 
 the Spirit of Evil before the Angel of the Lord. 
 
 In all national territories Slavery will be impossible. 
 
 On the high seas, under the national flag, Slavery will be impossible. 
 
 In the District of Columbia Slavery will instantly cease. 
 
 Inspired by these principles, Congress can give no sanction to Slavery 
 by the admission of new Slave States. 
 
 Nowhere under the Constitution, can the Nation, by legislation or 
 otherwise, support Slavery, hunt slaves, or hold property in man. 
 
 Such, sir, are my sincere convictions. According to the Constitution, 
 as I understand it, in the light of the Past and of its true principles, 
 there is no other conclusion which is rational or tenable ; which does 
 not defy the authoritative rules of interpretation ; which does not falsify 
 indisputable facts of history ; which does not affront the public opin 
 ion in which it had its birth ; and which does not dishonor the memory 
 of the Fathers. And yet these convictions are now placed under 
 formal ban by politicians of the hour. The generous sentiments 
 which filled the early patriots, and which impressed upon the 
 Government they founded, as upon the coin they circulated, the image 
 and superscription of LIBERTY, have lost their power. The slave 
 masters, few in number, amounting to not more than three hundred 
 
136 SURRENDER OF FUGITIVE SLAVES. 
 
 and fifty thousand, according to the recent census, have succeeded in- 
 dictating the policy of the National Government, and have written 
 SLAVERY on its front. And now an arrogant and unrelenting ostracism 
 is applied, not only to all who express themselves against Slavery, but 
 to every man who is unwilling to be the menial of Slavery. A novel 
 test for office is introduced, which would have excluded all the Fathers of 
 the Republic even Washington, Jefferson and Franklin ! Yes, sir. 
 Startling it may be, but indisputable. Could these revered demigods of 
 history once again descend upon earth and mingle in our affairs, not one of 
 them could receive a nomination from the National Convention of either 
 of the two old political parties ! Out of the convictions of their hearts 
 and the utterances of their lips against Slavery they would be condemned. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 II. From this general review of the relations of the National Govern 
 ment to Slavery, I pass to the consideration of the TRUE NATURE OF 
 
 THE PROVISION FOR THE SURRENDER OF FUGITIVES FROM SERVICE, em 
 bracing an examination of this provision in the Constitution, and 
 especially of the recent act of Congress in pursuance thereof. And 
 here, as I begin this discussion, let me bespeak anew your candor. 
 Not in prejudice, but in the light of history and of reason, let us con 
 sider the subject. The way will then be easy and the conclusion cer 
 tain. 
 
 Much error arises from the exaggerated importance now attached to 
 this provision, and from the assumptions with regard to its origin and 
 primitive character. It is often asserted that it was suggested by some 
 special difficulty, which had become practically and extensively felt, 
 anterior to the Constitution. But this is one of the myths or fables 
 with which the supporters of Slavery have surrounded their false god. 
 In the Articles of Confederation, while provision is made for the sur 
 render of fugitive criminals, nothing is said of fugitive slaves or ser 
 vants ; and there is no evidence in any quarter, until after the National 
 Convention, of any hardship or solicitude on this account. No previous 
 voice was heard to express desire for any provision on the subject. 
 The story to the contrary is a modern fiction. 
 
 I put aside as equally fabulous the common saying that this provision 
 was one of the original compromises of the Constitution, and an essen- 
 ual condition of Union. Though sanctioned by eminent judicial 
 
THE FIRST HATEFUL COMPROMISE. 137 
 
 opinions, it will be found that this statement has been hastily made, 
 without any support in the records of the Convention, the only authen 
 tic evidence of the compromises ; nor will it be easy to find any author 
 ity for it in any contemporary document, speech, published letter or 
 pamphlet of any kind. It is true that there were compromises at the 
 formation of the Constitution, which were the subject of anxious debate ; 
 but this was not of them. 
 
 There was a compromise between the small and large States, by 
 which equality was secured to all the States in the Senate. There was 
 another compromise finally carried, under threats from the South, on 
 the motion of a New England member, by which the Slave States were 
 allowed Representatives according to the whole number of free persons, 
 and " three-fifths of all other persons," thus securing political power on 
 account of their slaves, in consideration that direct taxes should be ap 
 portioned in the same way. Direct taxes have been imposed at only 
 four brief intervals. The political power has been constant, and, at 
 this moment, sends twenty-one members to the other House. 
 
 There was a third compromise, which cannot be mentioned without 
 shame. It was that hateful bargain by which Congress was restrained 
 until 1808 from the prohibition of the foreign slave trade, thus securing, 
 clown to that period, toleration for crime. This was pertinaciously 
 pressed by the South, even to the extent of an absolute restraint on 
 Congress. John Rutledge said : " If the Convention thinks North 
 Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia will ever agree to this plan [the 
 Federal Constitution] unless their right to import slaves be untouched, 
 the expectation is vain. The people of those States will never be such 
 fools as to give up so important an interest." Charles Pinckney said : 
 South Carolina can never receive the plan [of the Constitution] if it 
 prohibits the slave trade." Charles Cotesworth Pinckney " thought 
 himself bound to declare candidly, that he did not think South Carolina 
 would stop her importation of slaves in any short time." The effrontery 
 of the slave-masters was matched by the sordidness of the Eastern 
 members, who yielded again. Luther Martin, the eminent member of 
 the Convention, in his contemporary address to the Legislature of 
 Maryland, has described the compromise. "I found," he says, "that 
 the Eastern members, notwithstanding their aversion to slavery, were 
 very willing to indulge the Southern States, at least with a temporary 
 liberty to prosecute the slave trade, provided the Southern States would 
 in their turn gratify them, by laying no restriction on navigation acts" 
 The bargain was struck, and at this price the Southern States gained the 
 
138 FIRST NATIONAL CONVENTION. 
 
 detestable indulgence. At a subsequent day, Congress branded the 
 slave trade as piracy, and thus, by solemn legislative act, adjudged this 
 compromise to be felonious and wicked. 
 
 Such are the three chief original compromises of the Constitution 
 and essential conditions of Union. The case of fugitives from service 
 is not of these. During the Convention, it was not in any way asso 
 ciated with these. Nor is there any evidence, from the records of this 
 body, that the provision on this subject was regarded with any peculiar 
 interest. As its absence from the articles of Confederation had not 
 been the occasion of solicitude or desire, anterior to the National Con 
 vention, so it did not enter into any of the original plans of the Con 
 stitution. It was introduced tardily, at a late period of the Convention, 
 and with very little and most casual discussion adopted. A few facts 
 will show how utterly unfounded are the recent assumptions. 
 
 The National Convention was convoked to meet at Philadelphia, on 
 the second Monday in May, 1787. Several members appeared at this 
 time ; but a majority of the States not being represented, those present 
 adjourned from day to day until the 25th, when the Convention was 
 organized by the choice of George Washington, as President. On the 
 28th, a few brief rules and orders were adopted. On the next day they 
 commenced their great work. 
 
 On the same day, Edmund Randolph, of slaveholding Virginia, laid 
 before the Convention a series of sixteen resolutions, containing his 
 plan for the establishment of a New National Government. Here was 
 no allusion to fugitive slaves. 
 
 On the same day, Charles Pinckney, of slaveholding South Carolina, 
 laid before the Convention what is called " A draft of a Federal Gov 
 ernment, to be agreed upon between the free and independent States of 
 America," an elaborate paper, marked by considerable minuteness of 
 detail. Here are provisions, borrowed from the Articles of Confedera 
 tion, securing to citizens of each State equal privileges in the several 
 States ; giving faith to the public records of the States ; and ordaining 
 the surrender of fugitives from justice. But this draft, though from the 
 flaming guardian of the slave interest, contained no allusion to fugitive 
 slaves. 
 
 In the course of the Convention other plans were brought forward ; 
 on the 1 5th June a series of eleven propositions by Mr. Patterson, of 
 New Jersey, " so as to render the Federal Constitution adequate to the 
 exigencies of Government, and the preservation of the Union ; " on the 
 1 8th June, eleven propositions by Mr. Hamilton of New York, " con- 
 
NO PROPOSITION FOR PROPERTY IN SLAVES. 139 
 
 taining his ideas of a suitable plan of Government for the United States ; " 
 and on the igth June, Mr. Randolph s resolutions, originally offered on 
 the 29th May, " as altered, amended, and agreed to in Committee of 
 the Whole House." On the 26th, twenty-three resolutions, already 
 adopted on different days in the Convention, were referred to a " Com 
 mittee of Detail," to be reduced to the form of a Constitution. On 
 the 6th August this Committee reported the finished draft of a Consti 
 tution. And yet in all these resolutions, plans and drafts, seven in 
 number, proceeding from eminent members and from able Committees, 
 no allusion was made to fugitive slaves. For three months the Con 
 vention was in session, and not a word uttered on this subject. 
 
 At last, on the 28th August, as the Convention was drawing to a close, 
 on the consideration of the article providing for the privileges of citizens 
 in different States, we meet the first reference to this matter, in words 
 worthy of note : " Gen. [Charles Cotesworth] Pinckney was not satisfied 
 with it. He SEEMED to wish some provision should be included in favor 
 of property in slaves." But he made no proposition. Unwilling to 
 shock the Convention, and uncertain in his own mind, he only seemed 
 to wish such a provision. In this vague expression of a vague desire, 
 this idea first appeared. In this modest, hesitating phrase is the germ 
 of the audacious, unhesitating Slave Act. Here is the little vapor, 
 which has since swollen, as in the Arabian tale, to the power and dimen 
 sions of a, giant. The next article under discussion provided for the 
 surrender of fugitives from justice. Mr. Butler and Mr. Charles Pinckney, 
 both from South Carolina, now moved openly to require " fugitive slaves 
 and servants to be delivered up like criminals." Here was no disguise. 
 With Hamlet it was now said in spirit : 
 
 "Seems, madam, najf, it is ; I know not seems." 
 
 But the very boldness of the effort drew attention and opposition. Mr. 
 Wilson, of Pennsylvania, at once objected : " This would oblige the 
 Executive of the State to do it at the public expense." Mr. Sherman, 
 of Connecticut, "saw no more propriety in the public seizing and sur 
 rendering a slave or servant, than a horse." Under the pressure of 
 these objections, the offensive proposition was quietly withdrawn 
 never more to be renewed. The article for the surrender of criminals 
 was then adopted. On the next day, 2pth August, profiting by the sug 
 gestions already made, Mr. Butler moved a proposition substantially 
 like that now found in the Constitution not for the surrender of 
 "fugitive slaves," as originally proposed, but simply of "persons held 
 
140 AT LAST THE FUGITIVE SLAVE BILL. 
 
 to service" which, without debate or opposition of any kind, was unan 
 imously adopted. 
 
 Here palpably was no labor of compromise no adjustment of con 
 flicting interests ; nor even any expression of solicitude. The clause 
 finally adopted was vague and faint as the original suggestion. In its 
 natural import it is not applicable to slaves. If supposed by some to 
 be so applicable, it is clear that it was supposed by others to be inap 
 plicable to them. It is now insisted that the term " persons held to 
 service" is an equivalent or synonym for " slaves." This interpretation 
 is rebuked by an incident, to which reference has been already made, 
 but which will bear repetition. On the 6th September a little 
 more than one brief week after the clause had been adopted, and 
 when, if it was deemed to be of any significance, it could not have 
 been forgotten the very word "service" came under debate, and 
 received a fixed meaning. It was unanimously adopted as a substitute 
 for " servitude " in another part of the Constitution, for the reason that 
 it "expressed the obligation of free persons" while the other expressed 
 " the condition of Slaves." In the face of this authentic evidence of 
 the sentiments of the Convention, reported by Mr. Madison, it is diffi 
 cult to see how the term " persons held to service " can be deemed to 
 express anything beyond "the obligations of free persons" Thus in 
 the light of calm inquiry, does this exaggerated clause lose its im 
 portance. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 At last, in 1850, we have another Act, passed by both Houses of Con 
 gress, and approved by the President, familiarly known as the Fugitive 
 Slave Bill. As I read this statute, I am filled with painful emotions. 
 The masterly subtlety with which it is drawn, might challenge admira 
 tion, if exerted for a benevolent purpose ; but in an age of sensibility 
 and refinement, a machine of torture, however skilful and apt, cannot 
 be regarded without horror. Sir, in the name of the Constitution 
 which it violates ; of my country which it dishonors ; of Humanity 
 which it degrades ; of Christianity which it offends, I arraign this en 
 actment, and now hold it up to the judgment of the Senate and the 
 world. Again, I shrink from no responsibility. I may seem to stand 
 alone ; but all the patriots and martyrs of history, all the Fathers of the 
 Republic, are with me. Sir, there is no attribute of God which does 
 not unite against this Act. 
 
THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS OVERTHROWN. 141 
 
 But I am to regard it now chiefly as an infringement of the Constitu 
 tion. And here its outrages, flagrant as manifold, assume the deepest 
 dye and broadest character only when we consider that by its language 
 it is not restrained to any special race or class, to the African or to the 
 person with African blood ; but that any inhabitant of the United 
 States, of whatever complexion or condition, may be its victim. With 
 out discrimination of color even, and in violation of every presumption 
 of freedom, the Act surrenders all, who may be claimed as " owing ser 
 vice or labor " to the same tyrannical proceedings. If there be any, 
 whose sympathies are not moved for the slave, who do not cherish the 
 rights of the humble African, struggling for divine Freedom, as warmly 
 as the rights of the white man, let him consider well that the rights of 
 all are equally assailed. " Nephew," said Algernon Sidney in prison, 
 on the night before his execution, " I value not my own life a chip ; 
 but what concerns me is, that the law which takes away my life may 
 hang every one of you, whenever it is thought convenient." 
 
 Though thus comprehensive in its provisions and applicable to all, 
 there is no safeguard of Human Freedom which the monster Act does 
 not set at naught. 
 
 It commits this great question than which none is more sacred in 
 the law not to a solemn trial ; but to summary proceedings. 
 
 It commits this question not to one of the high tribunals of the 
 land but to the unaided judgment of a single petty magistrate. 
 
 It commits this question to a magistrate appointed, not by the Pres 
 ident with the consent of the Senate, but by the Court ; holding his 
 office, not during good behavior, but merely during the will of the 
 Court ; and receiving, not a regular salary, but fees according to each 
 individual case. 
 
 It authorizes judgment on ex parte evidence, by affidavits, without 
 the sanction of cross-examination. 
 
 It denies the writ of Habeas Corpus, ever known as the Palladium 
 of the citizen. 
 
 Contrary to the declared purposes of the framers of the Constitution, 
 it sends the fugitive back " at the public expense." 
 
 Adding meanness to the violation of the Constitution, it bribes the 
 Commissioner by a double stipend to pronounce against Freedom. If 
 he dooms a man to Slavery, the reward is ten dollars ; but, saving him 
 to Freedom, his dole is five dollars. 
 
 The Constitution expressly secures the " free exercise of religion ; " 
 but this Act visits with unrelenting penalties the faithful men and 
 
142 CONGRESSIONAL USURPATION. 
 
 women, who may render to the fugitive that countenance, succor, and 
 shelter which in their conscience " religion " seems to require. 
 
 As it is for the public weal that there should be an end of suits, so by 
 the consent of civilized nations, these must be instituted within fixed 
 limitations of time ; but this Act, exalting Slavery above even this prac 
 tical principle of universal justice, ordains proceedings against Freedom 
 without any reference to the lapse of time. 
 
 Glancing only at these points, and not stopping for argument, vindi 
 cation, or illustration, I come at once upon the two chief radical objec 
 tions to this Act, identical in principle with those brought by our fathers 
 against the British Stamp Act ; first, that it is an usurpation by Con 
 gress of powers not granted by the Constitution, and an infraction of 
 rights secured to the States ; and, secondly, that it takes away Trial by 
 Jury in a question of Personal Liberty and a suit at common law. 
 Either of these objections, if sustained, strikes at the very root of the 
 Act. That it is obnoxious to both, seems beyond doubt. 
 
 XV. 
 
 (i.) Now, first, of the power of Congress over this subject. 
 
 The Constitution contains powers granted to Congress, compacts be 
 tween the States, and prohibitions addressed to the Nation and to the 
 States. A compact or prohibition may be accompanied by a power ; 
 but not necessarily, for it is essentially distinct in its nature. And here 
 the single question arises, Whether the Constitution, by grant, general 
 or special, confers upon Congress any power to legislate on the sub 
 ject of fugitives from service. 
 
 The whole legislative power of Congress is derived from two sources ; 
 first, from the general grant of power, attached to the long catalogue of 
 powers " to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for the 
 carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers vest 
 ed by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in 
 any department or officer thereof;" and secondly, from special grants 
 in other parts of the Constitution. As the provision in question does 
 not appear in the catalogue of powers, and does not purport to vest any 
 power in the Government of the United States, or in any department 
 or officer thereof, no power to legislate on this subject can be derived 
 from the general grant. Nor can any such power be derived from any 
 special grant in any other part of the Constitution ; for none such ex- 
 
MADISON MORRIS FRANKLIN SHERMAN. 143 
 
 ists. The conclusion must be, that no power is delegated to Congress 
 over the surrender of fugitives from service. 
 
 Thus the proceedings of the Convention show that the founders un 
 derstood the necessity of powers in certain cases, and, on consideration, 
 most jealously granted them. A closing example will strengthen the 
 argument. Congress is expressly empowered " to establish an uniform 
 rule of Naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of Bankrupt 
 cies, throughout the United States" Without this provision, these two 
 subjects would have been within the control of the States, and the 
 Nation would have had no power to establish an uniform rule thereupon. 
 Now, instead of the existing compact on fugitives from service, it 
 would have been easy, had any such desire prevailed, to add this case 
 to the clause on Naturalization and Bankruptcies, and to empower Con 
 gress TO ESTABLISH AN UNIFORM RULE FOR THE SURRENDER OF FU 
 GITIVES FROM SERVICE THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. Then, 
 
 of course, whenever Congress undertook to exercise the power, all State 
 control of the subject would have been superseded. The National 
 Government would have been constituted, like Nimrod, the mighty 
 Hunter, with power to gather the huntsmen, to halloo the pack, and 
 to direct the chase of men, ranging at will, without regard to boundaries 
 or jurisdictions, throughout all the States. But no person in the Con 
 vention, not one of the reckless partisans of slavery, was so audacious 
 as to make this proposition. Had it been distinctly made, it would 
 have been distinctly denied. 
 
 The fact that the provision on this subject was adopted unanimously, 
 while showing the little importance attached to it in the shape it finally 
 assumed, testifies also that it could not have been regarded as a source 
 of National power over Slavery. It will be remembered, that, among 
 the members of the Convention, were Gouverneur Morris, who had said 
 that he " never would concur in upholding domestic slavery ; " Elbridge 
 Gerry, who thought " we ought to be careful NOT to give any sanction to 
 it;" Roger Sherman, who was OPPOSED to any clause "acknowledg 
 ing men to be property ; " James Madison, who " thought it WRONG to 
 admit in the Constitution the idea that there could be property in man ; " 
 and Benjamin Franklin, who likened American slaveholders to Algerine 
 corsairs. In the face of these unequivocal statements, it is absurd to 
 suppose that they consented unanimously to any provision by which the 
 National Government, the work of their hands, dedicated to Freedom, 
 could be made the most offensive instrument of Slavery. 
 
 Thus much for the evidence from the history of the Convention. 
 
144 TRIAL BY JURY DENIED. 
 
 But the true principles of our Political System are in harmony with 
 this conclusion of history ; and here let me say a word of State Rights. 
 
 It was the purpose of our fathers to create a National Government, 
 and to endow it with adequate powers. They had known the perils of 
 imbecility, discord and confusion, during the uncertain days of the Con 
 federation, and desired a Government which should be a true bond of 
 Union and an efficient organ of the national interests at home and 
 abroad. But while fashioning this agency, they fully recognized the 
 Governments of the States. To the nation were delegated high powers, 
 essential to the national interests, but specific in character and limited 
 in number. To the States and to the people were reserved the powers, 
 general in character and unlimited in number, not delegated to the Na 
 tion or prohibited to the States. 
 
 And here I end this branch of the question. The true principles of 
 our Political System, the history of the National Convention, the natural 
 interpretation of the Convention, all teach that this Act is a usurpation 
 by Congress of powers that do not belong to it, and an infraction of 
 rights secured to the States. It is a sword, whose handle is at the Na 
 tional Capital, and whose point is everywhere in the States. A weapon 
 so terrible to Personal Liberty the Nation has no power to grasp. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 (2.) And now of the denial of Trial by Jury. Admitting, for the 
 moment, that Congress is entrusted with power over this subject, which 
 truth disowns, still the Act is again radically unconstitutional from its 
 denial of Trial by Jury in a question of Personal Liberty and a suit at 
 common law. Since on the one side there is a claim of property, and 
 on the other of liberty, both property and liberty are involved in the 
 issue. To this claim on either side is attached Trial by Jury. 
 
 To me, sir, regarding this matter in the light of the common law and 
 in the blaze of free institutions, it has always seemed impossible to 
 arrive at any other conclusion. If the language of the Constitution 
 were open to doubt, which it is not, still all the presumptions of law, all 
 the leanings for Freedom, all the suggestions of justice, plead angel- 
 tongued for this right. Nobody doubts that Congress, if it legislates on 
 this matter, may allow a Trial by Jury. But if it may, so overwhelming 
 is the claim of justice, it MUST. Beyond this, however, the question is 
 determined by the precise letter of the Constitution. 
 
ELBRIDGE GERRY S SUGGESTION ADOPTED. 145 
 
 Several expressions in the provision for the surrender of fugitives 
 from service, show the essential character of the proceedings. In the 
 first place, the person must be, not merely charged, as in the case of 
 fugitives from justice, but actually held to service in the State from 
 which he escaped. In the second place, he must be " delivered up on 
 ^claim of the party to whom such labor is due" These two facts, that 
 he was held to service, and that his service was due to his claimant, are 
 directly placed in issue, and must be proved. Two necessary incidents 
 of the delivery may also be observed. First, it must be made in the 
 State where the fugitive is found ; and, secondly, it restores to the 
 claimant his complete control over the person of the fugitive. From 
 these circumstances it is evident that the proceedings cannot be re 
 garded, in any just sense, as preliminary, or ancillary to some future 
 formal trial, but as complete in themselves, final and conclusive. 
 
 And these proceedings determine on the one side the question of 
 property, and on the other the sacred question of Personal Liberty in 
 its most transcendent form ; not merely Liberty for a day or a year, but 
 for life, and the Liberty of generations that shall come after, so long 
 as Slavery endures. To these questions, the Constitution, by two 
 specific provisions, attaches the Trial by Jury. One of these is the 
 familiar clause, already adduced : "No person shall be deprived of life, 
 liberty or property, without due process of law ; " that is, without due 
 proceedings at law, with Trial by Jury. Not stopping to dwell on this, 
 I press at once to the other provision, which is still more express : 
 "In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed 
 twenty dollars, the right of Trial by Jury shall be preserved." This 
 clause, which was not in the original Constitution when first adopted, 
 was suggested by the very spirit of Freedom. At the close of the 
 National Convention, Elbridge Gerry refused to sign the Constitution, 
 because, among other things, it established a " tribunal without juries, a 
 Star Chamber as to civil cases." Many united in his opposition, and 
 on the recommendation of the First Congress this additional safeguard, 
 was adopted as an amendment. 
 
 Now, regarding the question as one of property, or of Personal Liber 
 ty, in either alternative the Trial by Jury is secured. For this position 
 authority is ample. In the debate on the Fugitive Slave Bill of 1817- 
 18, a Senator from South Carolina, Mr. Smith, anxious for the asserted 
 right of property, objected, on this very floor, to a reference of the 
 question, under the writ of Habeas Corpus, to a judge without a jury. 
 Speaking solely for property, these were his words : 
 10 
 
146 JUDICIAL DECISIONS FOR FREEDOM. 
 
 " This would give the Judge the sole power of deciding the right of 
 property the master claims in his slaves, instead of trying that right by a 
 jury, as prescribed by the Constitution. He would be judge of matters of 
 law and matters of fact ; clothed with all the powers of a court. Such a 
 principle is unknown in your system of jurisprudence. Your Con 
 stitution has forbid it. It preserves the right of Trial by Jury in all 
 cases where the value in controversy exceeds twenty dollars." (De-^ 
 bates in National Intelligencer, June 15, 1818.) 
 
 But this provision has been repeatedly discussed by the Supreme 
 Court, so that its meaning is not open to doubt. Three conditions 
 are necessary, first, the proceedings must be " a suit ; " secondly, 
 "at common law;" and thirdly, "where the value in controversy 
 exceeds twenty dollars." In every such case " the right of Trial by 
 Jury shall be preserved." The decisions of the Supreme Court ex 
 pressly touch each of these points. 
 
 First. In the case of Cohe?is v. Virginia (6 Wheaton, 407), the 
 Court say : "What is a suit? We understand it to be the prosecution 
 of some claim, demand or request." Of course, then, the " claim" for 
 .a fugitive must be " a suit." 
 
 Secondly. In the case of Parsons v. Bedford (3 Peters, 456), while 
 -considering this very clause, the Court say : By common law is meant 
 not merely suits which the common law recognized among its old and 
 settled proceeding, but suits in which legal rights were to be ascer 
 tained and determined. In a just sense, the Amendment may well be 
 construed to embrace all suits, which are not of Equity or Admiralty 
 jurisdiction, whatever may be the peculiar form which they may asstime 
 .to settle legal rights" Now, since the claim for a fugitive is not a suit 
 in Equity or Admiralty, but a suit to settle what are called legal rights, 
 it must, of course, be " a suit at common law." 
 
 Thirdly. In the case of Lee v. Lee (8 Peters, 44), on a question 
 whether " the value in controversy " was " one thousand dollars and 
 upwards," it was objected that the appellants, who were petitioners for 
 Freedom, were not of the value of one thousand dollars. But the 
 Court said : " The matter in dispute is the Freedom of the petitioners. 
 This is not susceptible of pecuniary valuation. No doubt is entertained 
 of the jurisdiction of the Court." Of course, then, since liberty is 
 above price, the claim to any fugitive always and necessarily presumes 
 that " the value in controversy exceeds twenty dollars." 
 
 By these successive steps, sustained by decisions of the highest tri 
 bunal, it appears, as in a diagram, that the right of Trial by Jury is 
 .secured to the fugitive from service. 
 
UNDER THE COMMON LAW. 147 
 
 This conclusion needs no further authority ; but it may receive 
 curious illustration from the ancient records of the common law, so 
 familiar and dear to the framers of the Constitution. It is said by Mr. 
 Burke, in his magnificent speech on Conciliation with America, that 
 " nearly as many of Blackstone s Commentaries were sold in America 
 as in England," carrying thither the knowledge of those vital principles 
 of Freedom, which were the boast of the British Constitution. Imbued 
 by these, the earliest Continental Congress, in 1774, declared, "That 
 the respective Colonies are entitled to the common law of England, 
 and especially to the great and inestimable privilege of being tried by 
 their peers of the vicinage according to the course of that law." Thus, 
 amidst the troubles which heralded the Revolution, the common law was 
 claimed by our fathers as a birthright. 
 
 Now, on principle and authority, a claim for the delivery of a fugitive 
 slave is a suit at common law, and is embraced naturally and neces 
 sarily in this class of judicial proceedings. This proposition can be 
 placed beyond question. And here, especially, let me ask the attention 
 of all learned in the law. On this point, as on every other in this argu 
 ment, I challenge inquiry and answer. 
 
 History painfully records, that during the early days of the common 
 law, and down even to a late period, a system of slavery existed in 
 England, known under the name of villanage. The slave was generally 
 called a villain, though in the original Latin forms of judicial proceed 
 ings, he was termed nativus, implying slavery by birth. The incidents 
 of this condition have been minutely described, and also the mutual 
 remedies of master and slave, all of which were regulated by the com 
 mon law. Slaves sometimes then, as now, escaped from their masters. 
 The claim for them after such escape was prosecuted by a " a suit at 
 common law," to which, as to every suit at common law, the Trial by 
 Jury was necessarily attached. Blackstone, in his Commentaries (Vol. 
 II. p. 93), in words which must have been known to all the lawyers of 
 the Convention, said of villains : " They could not leave their lord 
 without his permission, but if they ran away, or were purloined from 
 him, might be CLAIMED and recovered by ACTION, like beasts or other 
 cattle." This very word "action" of itself implies "a suit at common 
 law," with Trial by Jury. 
 
 By these various proceedings, all ending in Trial by Jury, Personal 
 Liberty was guarded, even in the early, unrefined, and barbarous days 
 of the common law. Any person claimed as a fugitive slave might 
 invoke this Trial as a sacred right. Whether the master proceeded by 
 
148 UNCONSTITUTIONALLY OF THE SLAVE ACT. 
 
 seizure, as he might, or by legal process, the Trial by Jury in a suit at 
 common law, before one of the high courts of the realm, was equally 
 secured. In the case of seizure, the fugitive, reserving the proceedings, 
 might institute process against his master and appeal to a court and 
 jury. In the case of process by the master, the watchful law secured 
 to the fugitive the same protection. By no urgency of force, by no 
 device of process, could any person claimed as a slave be defrauded of 
 this Trial. Such was the common law. If its early boast, that there 
 could be no slaves in England, fails to be true, this at least may be 
 its price, that, according to its indisputable principles, the Liberty of 
 every man was placed under the guard of Trial by Jury. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Such, sir, is the argument, briefly uttered, against the constitution 
 ality of the Slave Act. Much more I might say on this matter ; much 
 more on the two chief grounds of objection which I have occupied. 
 But I am admonished to hasten on. 
 
 Opposing this Act as doubly unconstitutional from a want of power 
 in Congress and from a denial of Trial by Jury. I find myself again 
 encouraged .by the example of our Revolutionary Fathers, in a case 
 which is one of the landmarks of history. The parallel is important 
 and complete. In 1765, the British Parliament, by a notorious statute, 
 attempted to draw money from the colonies through a stamp tax, while 
 the determination of certain questions of forfeiture under the statute 
 was delegated not to the courts of common law but to Courts of 
 Admiralty without a jury. The Stamp Act, now execrated by all lovers 
 of liberty, had this extent and no more. Its passage was the signal 
 for a general flame of opposition and indignation throughout the 
 Colonies. It was denounced as contrary to the British Constitution on 
 two principal grounds : first, as a usurpation by Parliament of powers 
 not belonging to it, and an infraction of rights secured to the Colonies ; 
 and secondly, as a denial of Trial by Jury in certain cases of property. 
 
 The public feeling was variously expressed. At Boston, on the 
 arrival of the stamps, the shops were closed, the bells of the churches 
 tolled, and the flags of the ships hung at half-mast. At Portsmouth, in 
 New ^Hampshire, the bells were tolled, and notice given to the friends 
 of Liberty to hold themselves in readiness to attend her funeral. At 
 New York a letter was received from Franklin, then in London, writ- 
 
THE INFLEXIBLE SAMUEL ADAMS. 149 
 
 ten on the day after the passage of the Act, in which he said : "The 
 sun of liberty is set." The obnoxious Act, headed " Folly of Eng 
 land and Ruin of America," was contemptuously hawked through the 
 streets. The merchants of New York, inspired then by Liberty, 
 resolved to import no more goods from England until the repeal of the 
 Act ; and their example was followed shortly afterwards by the mer 
 chants of Philadelphia and Boston. Bodies of patriots were organized 
 everywhere under the name of "Sons of Liberty." The orators also 
 spoke. James Otis with fiery tongue appealed to Magna Charta. 
 
 Of all the States, Virginia whose shield bears the image of liberty 
 trampling upon chains first declared herself by solemn resolutions, 
 which the timid thought " treasonable ; " but which soon found a 
 response. New York followed. Massachusetts came next, speaking 
 by the pen of the inflexible Samuel Adams. In an Address from the 
 Legislature to the Governor, the true grounds of opposition to the 
 Stamp Act, coincident with the two radical objections to the Slave Act, 
 are clearly set forth : 
 
 "You are pleased to say that the Stamp Act is an act of Parliament, 
 and as such ought to be observed. This House, sir, has too great 
 reverence for the Supreme Legislature of the nation to question its just 
 authority. It by no means appertains to us to presume to adjust the 
 boundaries of the power of Parliament ; but boundaries there undoubtedly 
 are. We hope we may, without offence, put your Excellency in mind 
 of that most grievous sentence of excommunication solemnly denounced 
 by the Church in the name of the sacred Trinity, in the presence of 
 King Henry the Third and the estates of the realm, against all those 
 who should make statutes OR OBSERVE THEM, BEING MADE, contrary to 
 tJie liberties of Magna Charta. The Charter of this province invests the 
 General Assembly with the power of making laws for its internal gov 
 ernment and taxation ; and this Charter has never been forfeited. The 
 Parliament has a right to make all laws within the limits of their own 
 constitution." * * * " The people complain that the Act vests a single 
 judge of Admiralty with the power to try and determine their property 
 in controversies arising from internal concerns, without a jury, contrary 
 to the very expression of Magna Charta, that no freeman shall be 
 amerced, but by the oath of good and lawful men of the vicinage." * * * 
 " We deeply regret that the Parliament has seen fit to pass such an act 
 as the Stamp Act ; we flatter ourselves that the hardships of it will 
 shortly appear to them in such a light, as shall induce them in their 
 wisdom to repeal it ; in the meantime, we must beg your Excellency 
 will excuse us from doing anything to assist in the execution of it" 
 
 Thus in those days spoke Massachusetts ! The parallel still proceeds. 
 The unconstitutional Stamp Act was welcomed in the Colonies by the 
 
150 BOSTON S OPPOSITION TO THE STAMP ACT. 
 
 Tories of that day precisely as the unconstitutional Slave Act has been 
 welcomed by large and imperious numbers among us. Hutchinson, 
 at that time Lieutenant Governor and Judge in Massachusetts, wrote to 
 Ministers in England : " The Stamp Act is received with as much 
 decency as could be expected. It leaves no room for evasion, and will 
 execute itself." Like the judges of our day, in charges to grand juries, 
 he resolutely vindicated the Act, and admonished " the jurors and the 
 people" to obey. Like Governors of our day, Bernard, in his speech 
 to the Legislature of Massachusetts, demanded unreasoning submission. 
 u I shall not," says this British Governor, " enter into any disquisition 
 of the policy of this Act. I have only to say it is an Act of the Parlia 
 ment of Great Britain ; and I trust that the supremacy of that Parlia 
 ment over all the members of their wide and diffused empire never was 
 and never will be denied within these walls." Like marshals of our day, 
 the officers of the Customs made " application for a military force to 
 assist them in the execution of their duty." The military were against 
 the people. A British major of artillery at New York exclaimed, in 
 tones not unlike those now sometimes heard : " I will cram the stamps 
 down their throats with the end of my sword." The elaborate answer 
 of Massachusetts a paper of historic grandeur drawn by Samuel 
 Adams, was pronounced " the ravings of a parcel of wild enthusiasts." 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Thus in those days spoke the partisans of the Stamp Act. But their 
 weakness soon became manifest. In the face of an awakened com 
 munity, where discussion has free scope, no men, though surrounded 
 by office and wealth, can long sustain injustice. Earth, water, nature, 
 they may subdue ; but Truth they cannot subdue. Subtle and mighty, 
 against all efforts and devices, it fills every region of light with its ma 
 jestic presence. The Stamp Act was discussed and understood. Its 
 violation of constitutional rights was exposed. By resolutions of Legis 
 latures and of town meetings, by speeches and writings, by public as 
 semblies and processions, the country was rallied in peaceful phalanx 
 against the execution of the Act. To this great object, within the 
 bounds of law and the constitution, were bent all the patriot energies of 
 the land. 
 
 And here Boston took the lead. Her records at this time are full of 
 proud memorials. In formal instructions to her representatives, adopted 
 
VIRGINIA RESPONDS TO BOSTON. 151 
 
 unanimously, "having been read several times," in Town Meeting at 
 Faneuil Hall, the following rule of conduct was prescribed : 
 
 "We, therefore, think it our indispensable duty, in Justice to our 
 selves and Posterity, as it is our undoubted Privilege, in the most open 
 and unreserved, but decent and respectful Terms, to declare our great 
 est Dissatisfaction with this Law. And we think it incumbent upon you 
 by no Means to join in any public Measures for countenancing and 
 assisting in the execution of the same. But to use your best endeav 
 ors in the general Assembly to have the inherent inalienable Rights of 
 the People of this Province asserted, and vindicated, and left upon the 
 public record, that Posterity may never have reason to charge the pre 
 sent Times with the Guilt of tamely giving them away." 
 
 Virginia responded to Boston. Many of her justices of the peace sur 
 rendered their commissions "rather than aid in the enforcement of the 
 law, or be instrumental in the overthrow of their country s liberties." 
 
 As the opposition deepened, its natural tendency was to outbreak and 
 violence. But this was carefully restrained. On one occasion in 
 Boston it showed itself in the lawlessness of a mob. But the town, 
 at a public meeting in Faneuil Hall, called without delay on the 
 motion of the opponents of the Stamp Act, with James Otis as 
 chairman, condemned the outrage. Eager in hostility to the execution 
 of the Act, Boston cherished municipal order, and constantly discoun 
 tenanced all tumult, violence, and illegal proceedings. Her equal de 
 votion to these two objects drew the praises and congratulations of other 
 towns. In reply, March 2 7th, 1766, to an Address from the inhabitants 
 of Plymouth, her own consciousness of duty done is thus expressed : 
 
 " If the inhabitants of Boston have taken the legal and warrantable 
 measures to prevent that misfortune, of all others the most to be dreaded, 
 the execution of the Stamp Act, and as a necessary means of preventing 
 it, have made any spirited applications for opening the custom-houses 
 and courts of justice ; if at the same time they have borne their testimony 
 against outrageous tumults and illegal proceedings, and given any ex 
 ample of the Love of Peace and good order, next to the consciousness 
 of having done their duty is the satisfaction of meeting with the appro 
 bation of any of their fellow-countrymen." 
 
 Learn now from the Diary of John Adams the results of this system : 
 
 " The year 1 765 has been the most remarkable year of my life. That 
 enormous engine, fabricated by the British Parliament, for battering 
 down all the rights and liberties of America I mean the Stamp Act 
 has raised and spread through the whole continent a spirit that will be 
 recorded to our honor with all future generations. In every Colony, 
 from Georgia to New Hampshire inclusively, the stamp distributors and 
 
152 THE STAMP ACT IS REPEALED. 
 
 inspectors have been compelled by the unconquerable rage of the peo 
 ple to renounce their offices. Such and so universal has been the 
 resentment of the people, that every man who has dared to speak in 
 favor of the stamps, or to soften the detestation in which they are held, 
 how great soever his abilities and virtues had been esteemed before, or 
 whatever his fortune, connections and influence had been, has been 
 seen to sink into universal contempt and ignominy." 
 
 The Stamp Act became a dead letter. At the meeting of Parliament 
 numerous petitions were presented, cdling for its instant repeal. 
 Franklin, at that time in England, while giving his famous testimony 
 before the House of Commons, was asked whether he thought the peo 
 ple of America would submit to this Act if modified. His brief em 
 phatic response was : " No. never, unless compelled by force of arms." 
 Chatham, yet weak with disease, but mighty in eloquence, exclaimed in 
 ever-memorable words: "We are told America is obstinate America 
 is almost in open rebellion. Sir, I rejoice that America has resisted. 
 Three millions of people, so dead to all the feelings of liberty as volun 
 tarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make 
 slaves of all the rest. The Americans have been wronged ; they have 
 been driven to madness. I will beg leave to tell the house in a few 
 words what is really my opinion. // is that the Stamp Act be repealed, 
 absolutely, totally and immediately" It was repealed. Within less 
 than a year from its original passage, denounced and discredited, it was 
 driven from the Statute Book, In the charnel-house of history, with 
 the unclean things of the Past, it now rots. Thither the Slave Act is 
 destined to follow. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Sir, I might here stop. It is enough in this place, and on this occa 
 sion, to show the unconstitutionality of this enactment. Your duty 
 commences at once. All legislation hostile to the fundamental law of 
 i he land should be repealed without delay. But the argument is not 
 yet exhausted. Even if this Act could claim any validity or apology 
 under the Constitution, which it cannot, / / lacks that essential support 
 in the Public Conscie?ice of the States, where it is to be enforced, which 
 is the life of all law, and without which any law mtist become a dead 
 letter. 
 
 The Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Butler) was right, when, at 
 the beginning of the session, he pointedly said that a law which could 
 
WASHINGTON OPPOSED TO FORCIBLE RENDITION. 153 
 
 be enforced only by the bayonet, was no law. Sir, it is idle to suppose 
 that an Act of Congress becomes effective, merely by compliance with 
 the forms of legislation. Something more is necessary. The Act must be 
 in harmony with the prevailing public sentiment of the community upon 
 which it bears. Of course, I do not suggest that the cordial support of 
 every man or of every small locality is necessary ; but I do mean that the 
 public feelings, the public convictions, the public conscience, must not be 
 touched, wounded, lacerated, by every endeavor to enforce it. With all 
 these, it must be so far in harmony, that, like other laws, by which prop 
 erty, liberty and life are guarded, it may be administered by the ordinary 
 process of courts, without jeoparding the public peace or shocking good 
 men. If this be true as a general rule if the public support and sym 
 pathy be essential to the life of all law this is especially the case in an 
 enactment which concerns the important and sensitive rights of Personal 
 Liberty. In conformity with this principle, the Legislature of Massa 
 chusetts, by formal resolution, in 1850, with singular unanimity, declared : 
 
 " We hold it to be the duty of Congress to pass such laws only in 
 regard thereto as will be maintained by the sentiments of the Free 
 States, where such laws are to be enforced." 
 
 The duty of consulting these sentiments was recognized by Wash 
 ington. While President of the United States, at the close of his Ad 
 ministration, he sought to recover a slave who had fled to New Hamp 
 shire. His autograph letter to Mr. Whipple, the Collector at Portsmouth, 
 dated at Philadelphia, 28th November, 1796, which I now hold in my 
 hand, and which has never before seen the light, after describing the 
 fugitive, and particularly expressing the desire of " her mistress," Mrs. 
 Washington, for her return, employs the following decisive language : 
 
 " I do not mean, however, by this request, that such violent measures 
 should be used AS WOULD EXCITE A MOB OR RIOT, WHICH MIGHT BE THE 
 
 CASE IF SHE HAS ADHERENTS, OR EVEN UNEASY SENSATIONS IN THE 
 
 MINDS OF WELL-DISPOSED CITIZENS. Rather than either of these should 
 happen, I would forego her services altogether; and the example, also, 
 which is of infinite more importance. 
 
 " GEORGE WASHINGTON." 
 
 Mr. Whipple, in his reply, dated at Portsmouth, December 22, 1796, an 
 autograph copy of which I have, recognizes the rule of Washington ": 
 
 " I will now, sir, agreeably to your desire, send her to Alexandria, 
 if it be practicable without the consequences which you except that of 
 exciting a riot or a mob, or creating imeasy sensations in the minds of 
 well-disposed persons. The first cannot be calculated beforehand ; it 
 will be governed by the popular opinion of the moment, or the circum- 
 
154 WASHINGTON LEAVES HIS SLAVES FREE. 
 
 stances that may arise in the transaction. The latter may be sought 
 into and judged of by conversing with such persons without discover 
 ing the occasion. So far as I have had opportunity, I perceive that 
 different sentiments are entertained on this subject." 
 
 The fugitive never was returned ; but lived in freedom to a good old 
 age, down to a very recent period, a monument of the just forbearance 
 of him whom we aptly call the Father of his Country. It is true that 
 he sought her return. This we must regret, and find its apology. He 
 was at the time a slaveholder. Though often with various degrees of 
 force expressing himself against slavery, and promising his suffrage for 
 its abolition, he did not see this wrong as he saw it at the close of life, 
 in the illumination of another sphere. From this act of Washington, 
 still swayed by the policy of the world, I appeal to Washington writing 
 his will. From Washington on earth I appeal to Washington in Heaven. 
 Seek not by his name to justify any such effort. His death is above his 
 life. His last testament cancels his authority as a slaveholder. How 
 ever he may have appeared before man, he came into the presence of 
 God only as the liberator of his slaves. Grateful for this example, I am 
 grateful also that, while a slaveholder, and seeking the return of a fugi 
 tive, he has left in permanent record a rule of conduct which, if adopted 
 by his country, will make Slave-Hunting impossible. The chances of a 
 riot, or mob, or "even uneasy sensations among well-disposed persons," 
 are to prevent any such pursuit. 
 
 Sir, the existing Slave Act cannot be enforced without violating the 
 precept of Washington. Not merely " uneasy sensations of well-dis 
 posed persons," but rage, tumult, commotion, mob, riot, violence, death, 
 gush from its fatal overflowing fountains. Not a case occurs without 
 endangering the public peace. Workmen are brutally dragged from 
 employments to which they are wedded by years of successful labor ; 
 husbands are ravished from wives, and parents from children. Every 
 where there is disturbance ; at Detroit, Buffalo, Harrisburg, Syracuse, 
 Philadelphia, New York, Boston. At Buffalo the fugitive was cruelly 
 knocked by a log of wood against a red-hot stove, and his mock 
 trial commenced while the blood still oozed from his wounded head. 
 At. Syracuse he was rescued by a sudden mob; so also at Boston. 
 At Harrisburg the fugitive was shot ; at Christiana the Slave-Hunter 
 was shot. At New York unprecedented excitement, always with un 
 certain consequences, has attended every case. Again at Boston a 
 fugitive, according to the received report, was first basely seized under 
 pretext that he was a criminal ; arrested only after a deadly struggle ; 
 
WHO COULD SING FOR SLAVERY? 155 
 
 guarded by officers who acted in violation of the laws of the State ; 
 tried in a Court-House surrounded by chains, contrary to the com 
 mon law ; finally surrendered to Slavery by trampling on the criminal 
 process of the State, under an escort in violation again of the laws 
 of the State, while the pulpits trembled and the whole people, not 
 merely " uneasy," but swelling with ill-suppressed indignation, for the 
 sake of order and tranquillity, without violence witnessed the shameful 
 catastrophe. 
 
 With every attempt to administer the Slave Act, it constantly be 
 comes more revolting, particularly in its influence on the agents it 
 enlists. Pitch cannot be touched without defilement, and all who lend 
 themselves to this work seem at once and unconsciously to lose the 
 better part of man. The spirit of the law passes into them, as the 
 devils entered the swine. Upstart commissioners, the mere mushrooms of 
 courts, vie and revie with each other. Now by indecent speed, now by 
 harshness of manner, now by a denial of evidence, now by crippling the 
 defence, and now by open glaring wrong, they make the odious Act 
 yet more odious. Clemency, grace, and justice die in its presence. 
 All this is observed by the world. Not a case occurs which does not 
 harrow the souls of good men, and bring tears of sympathy to the eyes, 
 also those other noble tears which "patriots shed o er dying laws." 
 
 Sir, I shall speak frankly. If there be an exception to this feeling, 
 it will be found chiefly with a peculiar class. It is a sorry fact that the 
 " mercantile interest," in its unpardonable selfishness, twice in English 
 history, frowned upon the endeavors to suppress the atrocity of Algerine 
 Slavery ; that it sought to baffle Wilberforce s great effort for the aboli 
 tion of the African slave trade ; and that, by a sordid compromise, at the 
 formation of our Constitution, it exempted the same detested Heaven- 
 defying traffic from American judgment. And now representatives of 
 this "interest," forgetful that commerce is the child of Freedom, join in 
 hunting the Slave. But the great heart of the people recoils from this 
 enactment. It palpitates for the fugitive, and rejoices in his escape. 
 Sir, I am telling you facts. The literature of the age is all on his side. 
 The songs, more potent than laws, are for him. The poets, with voices 
 of melody, are for freedom. Who could sing for Slavery ? They who 
 make the permanent opinion of the country, who mould our youth, 
 whose words, dropped into the soul, are the germs of character, sup 
 plicate for the Slave. And now, sir, behold a new and heavenly ally. 
 A woman, inspired by Christian genius, enters the lists, like another 
 Joan of Arc, and with marvellous power, sweeps the chords of the pop- 
 
156 ARAGO REDEEMED FROM SLAVERY. 
 
 ular heart. Now melting to tears, and now inspiring to rage, her work 
 everywhere touches the conscience, and makes the Slave-Hunter more 
 hateful. In a brief period, nearly 100,000 copies of Uncle Tom s Cabin 
 have been already circulated. But this extraordinary and sudden suc 
 cesssurpassing all other instances in the records of literature cannot 
 be regarded merely as the triumph of genius. Higher far than this, it 
 is the testimony of the people, by an unprecedented act, against the 
 Fugitive Slave Bill. 
 
 I have said, sir, that this sentiment is just. And is it not ? Every 
 escape from slavery necessarily and instinctively awakens the regard of 
 all who love Freedom. The endeavor, though unsuccessful, reveals 
 courage, manhood, character. No story is read with more interest 
 than that of our own Lafayette, when, aided by a gallant South Caro 
 linian, in defiance of the despotic ordinances of Austria, kindred to 
 our Slave Act, he strove to escape from the bondage of Olmutz. Liter 
 ature pauses with exultation over the struggles of Cervantes, the great 
 Spaniard, while a slave in Algiers, to regain the liberty for which he 
 says, in his immortal work, " we ought to risk life itself, Slavery being 
 the greatest evil that can fall to the lot of man." Science, in all her 
 manifold triumphs, throbs with pride and delight, that Arago, the astron 
 omer and philosopher devoted republican also was redeemed from 
 barbarous Slavery to become one of her greatest sons. Religion re 
 joices serenely, with joy unspeakable, in the final escape of Vincent de 
 Paul. Exposed in the public squares of Tunis to the inspection of the 
 traffickers in human flesh, this illustrious Frenchman was subjected to 
 every vileness of treatment, compelled, like a horse, to open his mouth, 
 to show his teeth, to trot, to run, to exhibit his strength in lifting bur 
 dens, and then, like a horse, legally sold in market overt. Passing from 
 master to master, after a protracted servitude, he achieved his freedom, 
 and regaining France, commenced that resplendent career of charity by 
 which he is placed among the great names of Christendom. Princes 
 and orators have lavished panegyrics upon this fugitive slave ; and the 
 Catholic Church, in homage to his extraordinary virtues, has introduced 
 him into the company of saints. 
 
 Less by genius or eminent services, than by sufferings, are the fugi 
 tive slaves of our country now commended. For them every sentiment 
 of humanity is aroused : 
 
 " Who could refrain 
 
 That had a heart to love, and in that heart 
 Courage to make his love known ? " 
 
REVIEW OF THE ARGUMENT. 1 57 
 
 Rude and ignorant they may be ; but in their very efforts for Freedom, 
 they claim kindred with all that is noble in the Past. They are among 
 the heroes of our age. Romance has no stories of more thrilling inter 
 est than theirs. Classical antiquity has preserved no examples of ad 
 venturous trial more worthy of renown. Among them are men whose 
 names will be treasured in the annals of their race. By their eloquent 
 voice they have already done much to make their wrongs known, and 
 to secure the respect of the world. History will soon lend them her 
 avenging pen. Proscribed by you during life, they will proscribe you 
 through all time. Sir, already judgment is beginning. A righteous 
 public sentiment palsies your enactment. 
 
 xx. 
 
 And now, sir, let us review the field over which we have passed. 
 We have seen that any compromise, finally closing the discussion of 
 Slavery under the Constitution, is tyrannical, absurd, and impotent ; 
 that as Slavery can exist only by virtue of positive law, and as it has no 
 such positive support in the Constitution, it cannot exist within the 
 National jurisdiction ; that the Constitution nowhere recognizes prop 
 erty in man, and that, according to its true interpretation, Freedom and 
 not Slavery is national, while Slavery and not Freedom is sectional ; 
 that, in this spirit, the National Government was first organized under 
 Washington, himself an Abolitionist, surrounded by Abolitionists, while 
 the whole country, by its Church, its Colleges, its Literature, and all its 
 best voices, was united against Slavery, and the national flag at that 
 time nowhere within the National Territory covered a single slave; 
 still further, that the National Government is a Government of del 
 egated powers, and as among these there is no power to support 
 Slavery, this institution cannot be national, nor can Congress in any 
 way legislate in its behalf; and, finally, that the establishment of this 
 principle is the true way of peace and safety for the Republic. Con 
 sidering next the provision for the surrender of fugitives from service, 
 we have seen that it was not one of the original compromises of the 
 Constitution ; that it was introduced tardily and with hesitation, and 
 adopted with little discussion, and then and for a long period after was 
 regarded with comparative indifference ; that the recent Slave Act, 
 though many times unconstitutional, is especially so on two grounds 
 first, as a usurpation.by Congress of powers not granted by the Consti- 
 
158 SLAVE THAT LITANY OF WRONG AND WOE. 
 
 tution, and an infraction of rights secured to the States ; and secondly, 
 as a denial of Trial by Jury, in a question of Personal Liberty and a 
 suit at common law ; that its glaring unconstitutionality finds a proto 
 type in the British Stamp Act, which our fathers refused to obey as un 
 constitutional on two parallel grounds first, because it was a usurpa 
 tion by Parliament of powers not belonging to it under the British 
 Constitution, and an infraction of rights belonging to the Colonies ; 
 and secondly, because it was a denial of Trial by Jury in certain cases 
 of property ; that as Liberty is far above property, so is the outrage 
 perpetrated by the American Congress far above that perpetrated by 
 the British Parliament ; and, finally, that the Slave Act has not that 
 support in the public sentiment of the States where it is to be executed, 
 which is the life of all law, and which prudence and the precept of 
 Washington require. 
 
 Briefly, the States are prohibited from any " law or regulation" by which 
 any " person " escaped from " service or labor " may be discharged 
 therefrom, and on establishment of the claim to such " service or labor," 
 he is to be " delivered up." But the mode by which the claim is to be 
 tried and determined is not specified. All this is obviously within the 
 control of each State. It may be done by virtue of express legislation, 
 in which event any Legislature, justly careful of Personal Liberty, would 
 surround the fugitive with every shield of the law and Constitution. But 
 here a fact, pregnant with Freedom, must be studiously observed. The 
 name Slave that litany of wrong and woe does not appear in the 
 clause. Here is no unambiguous phrase, incapable of a double sense ; no 
 " positive " language, applicable only to slaves, and excluding all other 
 classes ; no word of that absolute certainty in every particular, which 
 forbids any interpretation except that of Slavery, and makes it impossi 
 ble " to catch at anything in favor of Liberty." Nothing of this kind 
 is here. But passing from this ; " cruelly and impiously " renouncing 
 for the moment all leanings for Freedom ; refusing " to catch at any 
 thing in favor of Liberty ; " abandoning the cherished idea of the 
 Fathers, that " It was wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea of 
 property in man ; " and, in the face of these commanding principles, 
 assuming two things, first, that, in the evasive language of this clause, 
 the Convention, whatever may have been the aim of individual mem 
 bers, really intended fugitive slaves, which is sometimes questioned ; 
 and, secondly, that, if they so intended, the language employed can be 
 judicially regarded as justly applicable to fugitive slaves, which is often 
 and earnestly denied ; then the whole proceeding* without any express 
 
THE FINAL CONCLUSION. 159 
 
 legislation, may be left to the ancient and authentic forms of the com 
 mon law, familiar to the framers of the Constitution and ample for the 
 occasion. If the fugitive be seized without process, he will be entitled 
 at once to his writ de Homine Replegiando, while the master, resorting 
 to process, may find his remedy in the writ de Nativo Habendo each 
 writ requiring Trial by Jury. If, from ignorance or lack of employ 
 ment, these processes have slumbered in our country, still they belong 
 to the great arsenal of the common law, and continue, like other an 
 cient writs, tanquam gladium in vagina, ready to be employed at the 
 first necessity. They belong to the safeguards of the citizen. But in 
 any event and in either alternative the proceedings would be by " suit 
 at common law," with Trial by Jury ; and it would be the solemn duty 
 of the court, according to all the forms and proper delays of the com 
 mon law, to try the case on the evidence ; strictly to apply all the pro 
 tecting rules of evidence, and especially to require stringent proof, by 
 competent witnesses under cross-examination, that the person claimed 
 was held to service ; that his service was due to the claimant ; that he 
 had escaped iiQio. the State where such service was due ; and also proof 
 of the laws of the State under which he was held. Still further, to the 
 Courts of each State must belong the determination of the question, to 
 what classes of persons, according to just rules of interpretation, the 
 phrase "persons held to service or labor " is strictly applicable. 
 
 Such is this much-debated provision. The Slave States, at the forma 
 tion of the Constitution, did not propose, as in the cases of Naturaliza 
 tion and bankruptcy, to empower the National Government to establish 
 an uniform rule for the rendition of fugitives from service, throughout 
 the United States ; they did not ask the National Government to 
 charge itself in any way with this service; they did not venture to 
 offend the country, and particularly the Northern States, by any such 
 assertion of a hateful right. They were content, under the sanctions of 
 compact, to leave it to the public sentiment of the States. There, I 
 insist, it shall remain. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Mr. President, I have occupied much time; but the great subject 
 still stretches before us. One other point yet remains, which I should 
 not leave untouched, and which justly belongs to the close. The 
 Slave Act violates the Constitution and shocks the Public Conscience. 
 
I6O INJUSTICE CANNOT COMMAND OBEDIENCE. 
 
 With modesty and yet with firmness let me add, sir, it offends against 
 the Divine Law. No such enactment can be entitled to support. As 
 the throne of God is above every earthly throne, so are his laws and 
 statutes above all the laws and statutes of man. To question these, is 
 to question God himself. But to assume that human laws are beyond 
 question, is to claim for their fallible authors infallibility. To assume 
 that they are always in conformity with the laws of God, is presumptu 
 ously and impiously to exalt man to an equality with God. Clearly 
 human laws are not always in such conformity ; nor can they ever be 
 beyond question from each individual. Where the conflict is open, as 
 if Congress should command the perpetration of murder, the office of 
 conscience as final arbiter is undisputed. But in every conflict the 
 same Queenly office is hers. By no earthly power can she be de 
 throned. Each person, after anxious examination, without haste, with 
 out passion, solemnly for himself must decide this great controversy. 
 Any other rule attributes infallibility to human laws, places them 
 beyond question, and degrades all men to an unthinking passive 
 obedience. 
 
 According to St. Augustine, an unjust law does not appear to be a 
 law; lex esse non videtur qucz justa non fuerit ; and the great fathers 
 of the Church, while adopting these words, declare openly that unjust 
 laws are not binding. Sometimes they are called "abuses/ and not 
 laws; sometimes "violences," and not laws. And here again the con 
 science of each person is the final arbiter. But this lofty principle is 
 not confined to the Church. A master of philosophy in early Europe, 
 a name of intellectual renown, the eloquent Abelard, in Latin verses 
 addressed to his son, has clearly expressed the universal injunction : 
 
 " Jussa potestatis terrenoe discutienda 
 
 Ccelestis tibi mox perficienda scias. 
 Siquis divinis jubeat contraria jussis 
 
 Te contra Dominum pactio nulla trahat." 
 
 The mandates of an earthly power are to be discussed ; those of Hea 
 ven must at once be performed ; nor can any agreement constrain us 
 against God. Such is the rule of morals. Such, also, by the lips of 
 judges and sages, has been the proud declaration of the English law, 
 whence our own is derived. In this conviction patriots have fearlessly 
 braved unjust commands, and martyrs have died. 
 
 And now, sir, the rule is commended to us. The good citizen, as he 
 thinks of the shivering fugitive, guilty of no crime, pursued, hunted 
 
DUTY OF DISOBEYING THE SLAVE LAW. l6l 
 
 down like a beast, while praying for Christian help and deliverance, 
 and as he reads the requirements of this Act, is filled with horror. 
 Here is a despotic mandate, to aid and assist in the prompt and effi 
 cient execution of this law." Again let me speak frankly. Not rashly 
 would 1 set myself against any provision of law. This grave responsi 
 bility I would not lightly assume. But here the path of duty is clear. 
 By the Supreme Law, which commands me to do no injustice ; by the 
 comprehensive Christian Law of Brotherhood ; by the Constitution, 
 which I have sworn to support ; I AM BOUND TO DISOBEY THIS ACT. 
 Never, in any capacity, can I render voluntary aid in its execution. 
 Pains and penalties I will endure ; but this great wrong I will not do. 
 "I cannot obey ; but I can suffer," was the exclamation of the author 
 of Pilgrim s Progress, when imprisoned for disobedience to an earthly 
 statute. Better suffer injustice than do it. Better be the victim than 
 the instrument of wrong. Better be even the poor slave, returned to 
 bondage, than the unhappy Commissioner. 
 
 There is, sir, an incident of history, which suggests a parallel, and 
 affords a lesson of fidelity. Under the triumphant exertions of that 
 Apostolic Jesuit, St. Francis Xavier, large numbers of the Japanese, 
 amounting to as many as two hundred thousand among them princes, 
 generals, and the flower of the nobility were converted to Chris 
 tianity. Afterwards, amidst the frenzy of civil war, religious persecu 
 tion arose, and the penalty of death was denounced against all who re 
 fused to trample upon the effigy of the Redeemer. This was the 
 Pagan law of a Pagan land. But the delighted historian records that 
 scarcely one from the multitude of converts was guilty of this apostasy. 
 The law of man was set at naught. Imprisonment, torture, death, were 
 preferred. Thus did this people refuse to trample on the painted 
 image. Sir, multitudes among us will not be less steadfast in refusing 
 to trample on the living image of their Redeemer. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Finally, sir, for the sake of peace and tranquillity, cease to shock the 
 Public Conscience ; for the sake of the Constitution, cease to exercise 
 a power which is nowhere granted, and which violates inviolable rights 
 expressly secured. Leave this question where it was left by our 
 fathers, at the formation of our National Government, in the absolute 
 control of the States, the appointed guardians of Personal Liberty. 
 Repeal this enactment. Let its terrors no longer rage through the 
 ii 
 
162 SENATOR KALE S PRAISES. 
 
 land. Mindful of the lowly whom it pursues ; mindful of the good men 
 perplexed by its requirements ; in the name of charity, in the name of 
 the Constitution, repeal this enactment, totally and without delay. Be 
 inspired by the example of Washington. Be admonished by those 
 words of Oriental piety " Beware of the groans of the wounded souls. 
 .Oppress not to the utmost a single heart ; for a solitary sigh has power 
 to overset a whole world." 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Some other words were uttered on the floor of the 
 Senate, after the delivery of this speech, which should 
 be preserved, since the speakers have all passed away. 
 Mr. HALE, the Senator from New Hampshire, said : 
 " I feel that I should be doing injustice to my own feel 
 ings, and injustice to my friend the Senator from Mas 
 sachusetts, if I were to fail at this time to express the 
 very great gratification with which I have listened to 
 his speech. If he were actuated by as corrupt and self 
 ish motives as can possibly be attributed to him, so far 
 .as his own personal fame is concerned he has clone 
 enough by his effort here to-day, to place himself side by 
 side with the first orators of antiquity ; and as far ahead 
 of any living American orator, as Freedom is ahead of 
 Slavery. He has to-day formed, I believe, a new era in 
 the history of the politics and the eloquence of the 
 country ; and in future generations the young men of this 
 nation will be stimulated to effort by the record of what 
 .an American Senator has done, to which all the appeals 
 drawn from ancient history would be entirely inadequate. 
 He has to-day made a draft upon the gratitude of the 
 friends of humanity and liberty that will not be paid 
 through man % y generations ; but its memory will endure 
 .as long as the English language is spoken, or the history 
 
SENATOR CHASE S EULOGIUM. 163 
 
 of this Republic shall form a part of the annals of the 
 world." 
 
 Mr. CHASE, the Senator from Ohio, used also the fol 
 lowing noble language in adopting the argument of Mr. 
 SUMNER against the Fugitive Slave Bill, and in a personal 
 vindication of the orator himself: " In the argument 
 which my friend from Massachusetts has addressed to 
 us to-day, there was no assault upon the Constitution. 
 It was a noble vindication of that great charter of gov 
 ernment, from the perversions of the advocates of the 
 Fugitive Slave Act. He only asserted that the Fugitive 
 servant clause of the Constitution is a clause of compact 
 between the States, and confers no legislative power 
 upon Congress ; and he has arrayed history and reason 
 in support of this proposition. I therefore avow my con 
 viction, that logically and historically, the argument is 
 impregnable entirely impregnable. Let me add, Mr. 
 President, that, in my judgment, this speech will mark 
 an era in American history. It will distinguish the day 
 when the advocates of that theory of governmental policy 
 Constitution construction which he has so nobly de 
 fended, and so brilliantly illustrated, no longer content to 
 stand on the defence in the contest with Slavery, boldly 
 attacks the very citadel of its power, in that doctrine 
 of finality which two of the political parties of the 
 country, through their national organizations, are endeav 
 oring to establish, as the impregnable defence of its 
 usurpation." 
 
 Mr. SEWARD happened to be absent a fact that was 
 very widely commented on, but satisfactorily explained 
 to the minds of many, by his feeling constrained to keep 
 away, because of the prominent support he had rendered, 
 and seemed disposed to continue to render, to Gen. 
 
1 64 SEWARD, WILSON, AND THE PHILLIPS UNITE. 
 
 SCOTT. But on reading the speech, he wrote to Mr. 
 SUMNER: "Your speech is an admirable, a great, a 
 very great one. That is my opinion, and everybody 
 around me, of all sorts, confess it." * 
 
 In addition to what he had already said in the Senate, 
 Mr. CHASE also wrote : " I have read, as well as heard, 
 your truly great speech. Hundreds of thousands will 
 read it, and everywhere it will carry conviction to all 
 willing to be convinced, and will infuse a feeling of in 
 certitude and a fearful looking for judgment in the minds 
 of those who resist the light, and toil in the harness of 
 party platforms, irreconcilable with justice." 
 
 Mr. HENRY WILSON, who was afterwards to be elect 
 ed to the Senate, and from its floor to its Presidency, 
 wrote : " I have read your glorious speech. How 
 proud I am that God gave me the power to aid in plac 
 ing you in the Senate ! You have exhausted the ques 
 tion. Hereafter all that can be said will be to repeat 
 your speech. It will afford to any one the most com 
 plete view of the questions in dispute, of anything ever 
 published." 
 
 Hon. STEPHEN C. PHILLIPS, who had rendered import 
 ant aid in organizing the free-soil party, in Massachu 
 setts, wrote : " I regard it as a contribution of inestima 
 ble value to our noble cause, worth all the labor, all the 
 time, all the self-sacrifice, and all the misrepresentations 
 it has cost you. It is statesmanlike in all its features, and 
 does all that is necessary to place our simple and entire 
 design in its true light before the country, and before 
 the world, and in the records of history." 
 
 Although Mr. WENDELL PHILLIPS differed with Mr. 
 SUMNER on some points, he nevertheless wrote : " I 
 have read your speech with envious admiration. It is 
 
EUROPEAN OPINIONS OF THE SPEECH. l6$ 
 
 admirable, both as a masterly argument, and a noble tes 
 timony that will endear you to thousands." 
 
 There were some millions of copies of this speech cir 
 culated through America and in Europe by the journals, 
 and in multiplied editions in large pamphlet form, both at 
 home and abroad, to the extent of several hundred 
 thousand copies. In his preface to the English edition 
 of " Uncle Tom s Cabin," LORD CARLISLE associated 
 Mr. SUMNER S speech with that work, speaking of " the 
 closeness of its logic, and the masculine vigor of its 
 eloquence." In a letter to the London Times, LORD 
 SHAFTESBURY exclaimed, " What noble eloquence ! " 
 And the distinguished phrenologist, Mr. COMBE, in a 
 letter to a celebrated American, which was soon after 
 wards published, remarked : " I have read every word 
 of this speech, with pleasure and with pain. The pain 
 arose from the subject the pleasure from sympathy 
 with, and admiration of, the speaker. I have long de 
 sired to know the merits of that most cruel and iniqui 
 tous enactment, and this speech has made them clear as 
 day." 
 
 The effect of this speech, great as it evidently was 
 at the time, was far greater than could then possibly be 
 conceived. Wherever it was read, it set people to 
 thinking : its appeals to the judgment and reason of 
 citizens could not be resisted : it insensibly colored the 
 thoughts of every thinking man : it gave a new, fresh, 
 and irreversible interpretation of the letter of the Con 
 stitution ; while it breathed all through its flaming 
 utterances the very soul of the liberty achieved by our 
 fathers. After its delivery, the Free-Soil party was 
 looked upon as the national party. The allegations of 
 sectionalism lost their force : it was slavery that was 
 
l66 DOWNING, THE LANDSCAPE GARDENER. 
 
 now branded as sectional, local, narrow, hostile to the 
 Constitution, as well as inimical to liberty itself. It did, as 
 Mr. Chase had said, constitute a new era in American 
 history ; and future times will probably regard it as the 
 grandest contribution that has been made to the spirit 
 of American nationality and freedom, since the De 
 claration of Independence. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 But Mr. SUMNER S mind was not entirely absorbed in 
 such grave themes. He had a lively sympathy with the 
 progress of the Fine Arts, and with the welfare of men 
 of genius. He cordially embraced every opportunity to 
 encourage whatever exalts and embellishes refined life. 
 Downing, the Landscape Gardener, had died soon after 
 he took charge of the public grounds of the Capital, 
 and on the presentation of a resolution to make some al 
 lowance to his widow, Mr. Sumner said : 
 
 Mr. President : The laborer is worthy of his hire ; and I believe at 
 this moment there is no question of charity to the widow of the late Mr. 
 Downing. The simple proposition is to make compensation for ser 
 vices rendered to the United States by this eminent artist as superin 
 tendent of the public grounds in Washington. And, since the plans he 
 has left behind and the impulses he has given to improvements here by 
 his incomparable genius will continue to benefit us, though he has been 
 removed, it is thought reasonable to continue his salary to the close of 
 the unexpired year from which it commenced. These plans alone have 
 been valued at five thousand dollars, and we are to have the advantage 
 of them. In pursuance of these, his successor will be able to proceed 
 in arranging the public grounds, and in embellishing the national capital, 
 without any further expenditure to procure others instead. Thus, as I 
 said at the outset, it is not a question of charity, but of compensation ; 
 and on this ground I submit that the estate of the departed artist de 
 serves the small pittance which it is proposed to supply. For myself, 
 
ADDRESSZS THE FREE-SOIL CONVENTION. l6/ 
 
 I should be much happier to vote for a larger appropriation, believing 
 that, over and above the services actually rendered in the discharge of 
 his duties, these plans are amply worth it, and that we shall all feel bet 
 ter by such a recognition of our debt 
 
 Few men in the public service have vindicated a title to regard above 
 Mr. Downing. At the age of thirty-seven he has passed away, " dead 
 ere his prime" like Lycidas, also, " stretched on a watery bier" leav 
 ing behind a reputation above that of any other citizen in the beautiful 
 department of art to which he Wets devoted. His labors and his example 
 cannot be forgotten. I know of no man among us, in any sphere of 
 life, so young as he was at his death, who has been able to perform ser 
 vices of such true, simple and lasting beneficence. By his wide and ac 
 tive superintendence of rural improvements, by his labors of the pen, 
 and by the various exercise of his genius, he has contributed essentially 
 to the sum of human happiness. And now, sir, by practical services 
 here in Washington, rendered at the call of his country, he has earned, 
 it seems to me, this small appropriation not as a charity to his desolate 
 widow, but as a compensation for labor done. I hope the amendment 
 will be agreed to. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 On his return to Boston,, after the memorable session 
 of 1851-2, the warmest welcome was extended to him from 
 every quarter. In addressing the State Convention of 
 the Free-Soil Party of Massachusetts, held at Lowell, 
 on the 1 6th of September, 1852, he delivered one of his 
 most striking speeches, some portions of which we 
 reproduce. It was on the eve of the national election. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW-CITIZENS OF MASSACHUSETTS : I 
 should be dull indeed were I insensible to this generous, overflowing, 
 heart-speaking welcome. After an absence of many months, I have 
 now come home, to breathe anew the invigorating Northern air, to 
 tread again the free soil of our native Massachusetts, and to enjoy the 
 sympathy of friends and fellow-citizens. But, while glad in your greet 
 ings, thus bounteously lavished, I cannot accept them for myself. I do 
 not deserve them. They belong to the cause which we all have at 
 heart, and which binds us together. 
 
l68 OLD PARTIES PRO-SLAVERY. 
 
 Against Freedom both the old parties are now banded. Opposed 
 to each other in the contest for power, they concur in opposing every 
 effort for the establishment of Freedom under the National Constitu 
 tion. Divided as parties, they are one as supporters of slavery. On 
 this question we can have no sympathy with either ; but must neces 
 sarily be against both. They sustain slavery in the District of Colum 
 bia ; we are against it. They sustain the coastwise slave trade under 
 the National Flag ; we abhor it. They sustain the policy of silence on 
 Slavery in the territories ; we urge the voice of positive prohibition. 
 They sustain that paragon of legislative monsters unconstitutional, un- 
 unchristian and infamous the Fugitive Slave Bill ; we insist on its re 
 peal. They concede to the Slave Power new life and protection ; we 
 cannot be content except with its total destruction. Such, fellow-citi 
 zens, is the difference between us. 
 
 And now, if here in Massachusetts, there be any persons, who, on 
 grounds of policy or conscience, feel impelled to support slavery, let 
 them go and sink in the embrace of the old parties. There they be 
 long. But, on the other hand, all who are sincerely opposed to slavery 
 who desire to act against it who seek to bear their testimony for 
 Freedom, who long to carry into public affairs those principles of 
 morality and Christian duty which are the rule of private life, let them 
 come out from both the old parties, and join us. In our third party, 
 with the declared friends of Freedom, they will find a place in harmony 
 with their aspirations. 
 
 But there is one apology, which is common to the supporters of both 
 the old parties, and which is often in their mouths when pressed for 
 their inconsistent persistence in adhering to these parties. It is dog 
 matically asserted that there can be but two parties ; that a third party 
 is impossible, particularly in our country, and that, therefore, all per 
 sons, however opposed to Slavery, must be content in one of the old 
 parties. This assumption, which is without any foundation in reason, 
 has been so often put forth, that it has acquired a certain currency ; 
 and many, who reason hastily, or who implicitly follow others, have 
 adopted it as the all-sufficient excuse for their conduct. Confessing 
 their own opposition to slavery, they yet yield to the domination of 
 party, and become dumb. All this is wrong morally, and, therefore, 
 must be wrong practically. 
 
 Party, in its true estate, is the natural expression and agency of dif 
 ferent forms of opinion on important public questions ; and itself as 
 sumes different forms precisely according to the prevalence of different 
 
NEW PARTIES ALWAYS TRIUMPH. 169 
 
 opinions. Thus in the early Italian republics there were for a while 
 the factions of the Guelphs and Ghibellins, supporters of the Pope and 
 the Emperor; also of the Whites and the Blacks, taking their names 
 from the color of their respective badges, and in England, the two fac 
 tions of the white and red roses, in which was involved the succession 
 to the crown. But in all these cases the party came into being, died 
 out, or changed with the prevailing sentiment If there be in a com 
 munity only two chief antagonist opinions, then there will be but two 
 parties, embodying these opinions. But as other opinions practically 
 prevail and seek vent, so must parties change or multiply. This is so 
 strongly the conclusion of reason and philosophy, that it could not be 
 doubted, even if there were no examples of such change and multipli 
 cation. But we need only turn to the recent history of France and 
 England, the two countries where opinion has had the freest scope to 
 find such examples. 
 
 Thus, for instance, in France and I dwell on this point because I 
 have observed myself, in conversation, that it is of practical importance 
 under Louis Philippe, anterior to the late Republic, there was the 
 party of Legitimists, supporters of the old branch of Bourbons; the 
 party of Orleanists, supporters of the existing throne ; these two cor 
 responding at the time in relative rank and power to our Whigs and 
 Democrats. But besides these, there was a third party, the small band 
 of republicans, represented in the legislature by a few persons only, but 
 strong in principles and purposes, which in February, 1848, prevailed 
 over both the others. On the establishment of the Republic the mul 
 tiplicity of parties continued until, with the freedom of opinion and the 
 freedom of the press, all were equally overthrown by Louis Napoleon, 
 and their place supplied by the enforced unity of despotism. 
 
 In England, the most important measure of recent reform, the aboli 
 tion of the laws imposing a protective duty on corn, was carried only 
 by a third party. Neither of the two old parties could be brought to 
 adopt this measure and press it to a consummation. A powerful public 
 opinion, thus thwarted in the regular channel, found an outlet in 
 another party, which was neither Whig nor Tory, but which was formed 
 from both these parties, and wherein Sir Robert Peel, the great Con 
 servative leader, took his place, side by side, in honorable coalition, 
 with Mr. Cobden, the great Liberal leader. In this way the Corn Laws 
 were finally overthrown. The multiplicity of parties in England, en 
 gendered by this contest, still continues. At the general election for 
 the new Parliament which has just taken place, the strict lines of 
 
Ti:E RISING PARTY OF FREEDOM. 
 
 ancient parties seemed to be effaced, and many were returned, not as 
 Whigs and Tories, but as Protectionists and anti-Protectionists. 
 
 Thus, by example in our own day we may confirm the principle of 
 political philosophy, that parties must naturally adapt themselves in 
 character and number to the prevailing public opinion. 
 
 Now at the present time in our country, there exists a deep controll 
 ing conscientious feeling against Slavery. You and I, sir, and all of us 
 confess it. While recognizing the Constitution, we desire to do every 
 thing in our power to relieve ourselves of responsibility for this terrible 
 wrong. We would vindicate the Constitution and the National 
 Government which it has established, from all participation in this out 
 rage. Both the old political parties, forgetful of the sentiments of the 
 Fathers and of the spirit of the Constitution, not only refuse to be in 
 any degree the agents or representatives of our convictions, but ex 
 pressly discourage and denounce them. Thus baffled in their efforts for 
 utterance, these convictions naturally seek expression in a new agency, 
 the party of Freedom. Such is the party, which, representing the great 
 doctrines of Human Rights, as enunciated in our Declaration of Inde 
 pendence, and inspired truly by the Democratic sentiment, is now 
 assembled here under the name of the Free Democracy. 
 
 The rising public opinion against Slavery cannot now flow in the old 
 political channels. It is strangled, clogged, and dammed back. But if 
 not through the old parties, then over the old parties, this irresistible 
 current shall find its way. It cannot be permanently stopped. If the 
 old parties will not become its organ, they must become its victim. 
 The party of Freedom will certainly prevail. It may be by entering 
 into, and possessing one of the old parties, filling it with our own strong 
 life ; or it may be by drawing from both to itself the good and true who 
 are unwilling to continue members of any political combination when 
 it ceases to represent their convictions. But, in one way or the other, 
 its ultimate triumph is sure. Of this let no man doubt. 
 
 At this moment we are in a minority. At the last popular election 
 in Massachusetts, there were twenty-eight thousand Free-Soilers, forty- 
 three thousand Democrats, and sixty-four thousand Whigs. But this is 
 no reason for discouragement. According to recent estimates, the pop 
 ulation of the whole world amounts to about eight hundred millions. Of 
 these only two hundred and sixty millions are Christians, while the re 
 maining five hundred and forty millions are mainly Mahometans, Brah 
 mins and Idolaters. Because the Christians are in this minority, that is 
 no reason for renouncing Christianity and for surrendering to the false 
 
COURSES OF FREE-SOIL LECTURES. I /I 
 
 religions ; nor do we doubt that Christianity will yet prevail over the 
 whole earth, as the waters cover the sea. The friends of Freedom in 
 Massachusetts are likewise in a minority ; but they will not, therefore, 
 renounce Freedom, nor surrender to the political Mahometans and idol 
 aters of Baltimore ; nor can they doubt that their cause, like Christi 
 anity, will yet prevail. 
 
 Our cause commends itself. But it is also commended by our candi 
 dates. In all that makes the eminent civilian or the accomplished 
 statesman fit for the responsibilities of government, they will proudly 
 compare with any of their competitors, while they are dear to our hearts 
 as able, well-tried, loyal supporters of those vital principles of Freedom 
 which we seek to establish under the Constitution of the United States. 
 In the Senate, Mr. Hale is admitted to be foremost in aptitude and 
 readiness of debate, whether in the general legislation of the country, 
 or in the constant and valiant championship of otir cause. His genial 
 and sun-like nature irradiates the antagonism of political controversy, 
 while his active and practical mind, richly stored with various experi 
 ence, never fails to render good service. 
 
 Of Mr. Julian, our candidate for the Vice-Presidency, let me say 
 simply that, in ability and devotion to our principles, he is a worthy 
 compeer of Mr. Hale. To vote for such men will itself be a pleasure. 
 But it will be doubly so when we reflect that in this way we bear our 
 testimony to a noble cause, with which the happiness, welfare and fame 
 of our country are indissolubly connected. 
 
 With such a cause and such candidates, let no man be disheartened. 
 The tempest may blow, but ours is a life-boat which cannot be harmed 
 by wind or wave. The genius of Liberty sits at the helm. I hear her 
 voice of cheer saying, " Whoso sails with me comes to shore." 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 The members of the Free-Soil party, in New York 
 and Boston particularly, had organized courses of lectures 
 on the Slavery question for the first time, to be delivered 
 in those cities ; and their example was followed through 
 out the whole North. Mr. SUMNER delivered the closing 
 Lecture of the New York Course at the Metropolitan 
 Theatre on the 9th of May, 1855. The chair was oc- 
 
1/2 SUMNER AT METROPOLITAN THEATRE. 
 
 cupied by Hon. WILLIAM JAY, who introduced the speaker 
 in the following words : 
 
 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : I have been requested, on the part of the 
 Society, to perform the pleasing but unnecessary office of introducing 
 to you the honored and well-known advocate of Justice, Humanity and 
 Freedom, Charles Sumner. It is not for his learning and eloquence 
 that I commend him to your respectful attention ; for learning, elo 
 quence, and even theology itself, have been prostituted in the service 
 of an institution well described by John Wesley as the sum of all villa- 
 nies. I introduce him to you as a Northern Senator on whom nature 
 has conferred the unusual gift of a backbone a man who, standing 
 erect on the floor of Congress, amid creeping things from the North, 
 with Christian fidelity denounces the stupendous wickedness of the 
 Fugitive Law and Nebraska perfidy, and in the name of Liberty, Hu 
 manity and Religion, demands the repeal of those most atrocious 
 enactments. May the words he is about to utter be impressed on your 
 consciences, and influence your conduct ! 
 
 History abounds in vicissitudes. From weakness and humility, men 
 ascend to power and place. From defeat and disparagement, enter 
 prises are lifted to triumph and acceptance. The martyr of to-day is 
 gratefully enshrined on the morrow. The stone that the builders re 
 jected is made the head of the corner. Thus it always has been, and 
 ever will be. 
 
 Only twenty years ago, in 1835, the friends of the slave in our 
 country were weak and humble, while their great Enterprise, just then 
 showing itself, was trampled down and despised. The small companies, 
 gathered together in the name of Freedom, were interrupted and often 
 dispersed by riotous mobs. At Boston, a feeble association of women, 
 called the Female Anti-Slavery Society, convened in a small room of 
 an upper story in an obscure building, was insulted and then driven out 
 of doors by a frantic crowd, politely termed at the time an assemblage 
 of " gentlemen of property and standing," which, after various deeds 
 of violence and vileness, next directed itself upon William Lloyd Gar 
 rison, known as the determined editor of the Liberator, and the origi 
 nator of the Anti-Slavery Enterprise in our day, then ruthlessly tearing 
 him away, amidst savage threats and with a halter about his neck, drag 
 ged him through the streets, until, at last, guilty only of loving liberty, if 
 not wisely, too well, this unoffending citizen was thrust into the com 
 mon jail for protection against an infuriated populace. Nor was Boston 
 alone. Even villages, in remote rural solitude, belched forth in similar 
 outrage ; while the large towns, like Providence, New Haven, Utica, 
 
CHANGE WROUGHT IN TWENTY YEARS. 1/3 
 
 Worcester, Alton, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, 
 became so many fiery craters, overflowing with rage and madness. What 
 lawless violence failed to accomplish was next urged through the forms of 
 law. By solemn legislative acts, the Slave States called on the Free States 
 " promptly and effectually to suppress all associations within their re 
 spective limits purporting to be Abolition Societies ;" and Rhode Island, 
 Massachusetts, and New York basely hearkened to the base proposition. 
 The press, too, with untold power, exerted itself in this behalf, while 
 the pulpit, the politician, and the merchant conspired to stifle discussion, 
 until the voice of Freedom was hushed to a whisper, " alas ! almost 
 afraid to know itself." 
 
 Since then in the lapse of a few years only a change has taken 
 place. Instead of those small companies, counted by tens, we have 
 now this mighty assembly, counted by thousands ; instead of an insig 
 nificant apartment, like that in Boston, the mere appendage of a print 
 ing-office, where, as in the manger itself, Truth was cradled, we have 
 now this Metropolitan Hall, ample in proportions and central in place ; 
 instead of a profane and clamorous mob. beating at our gates, dispersing 
 our assembly, and making one of our number the victim of its fury, we 
 have now peace and harmony at unguarded doors, ruffled only by a 
 generous competition to participate in this occasion ; while legislatures 
 openly declare their sympathies ; villages, towns and cities vie in the 
 new manifestation ; and the press itself, with increased power, heralds, 
 applauds and extends the prevailing influence, which, overflowing from 
 every fountain, and pouring through every channel, at last, by the 
 awakened voice of pulpit, politician and merchant, swells into an irre 
 pressible cry. 
 
 Here is a great change, worthy of notice and memory, for it attests 
 the first stage of victory. Slavery, in all its many-sided wrong, still con 
 tinues ; but here in this metropolis, ay, sir, and throughout the whole 
 North, freedom of discussion is at length secured. And this, I say, is 
 the first stage of victory herald of the transcendant Future : 
 
 " Hark ! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers ; 
 Prepare the way ! a God, a God appears ! 
 A God ! a God ! the vocal hills reply, 
 The rocks proclaim th approaching Deity." 
 
 Nor is there anything peculiar in the trials to which our cause has been 
 exposed. Thus in all ages has Truth been encountered. At first per 
 secuted, gagged, silenced, crucified, she has cried out from the prison, 
 
174 SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE NORTH. 
 
 from the torture, from the stake, from the cross, until at last her voice 
 has been heard. And when that voice is really heard, whether in mar 
 tyr cries, or in the earthquake tones of civil convulsion, or in the calm 
 ness of ordinary speech, such as I now employ, or in that still small 
 utterance inaudible to the common ear, then is the beginning of victory ! 
 " Give me where to stand, and I will move the world," said Archimedes ; 
 and Truth asks no more than did the master of geometry. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 My subject will be THE NECESSITY, PRACTICABILITY, AND DIGNITY 
 OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY ENTERPRISE, WITH GLIMPSES AT THE SPECIAL 
 DUTIES OF THE NORTH. By this enterprise I do not mean the efforts 
 of any restricted circle, sect, or party, but the cause of the slave, in all 
 its forms and degrees, and under all its names, whether inspired by 
 the pulpit, the press, the economist, or the politician, whether in the 
 early, persistent, and comprehensive demands of Garrison, the gentler 
 utterances of Channing, or the strictly constitutional endeavors of 
 others now actually sharing the public councils of the country. To 
 carry through this review, under its different heads, I shall not hesitate 
 to meet the objections which have been urged against it, so far at least 
 as I am aware of them. And now, as I speak to you seriously, I ven 
 ture to ask your serious attention even to the end. Not easily can a 
 public address reach that highest completeness which is found in min 
 gling the useful and the agreeable ; but I desire to say, that, in this ar 
 rangement and co-ordination of my remarks to-night, I seek to cultivate 
 that highest courtesy of a speaker, which is found in clearness. 
 
 I. I begin with the NECESSITY of the Anti-Slavery Enterprise. In 
 the wrong of Slavery, as defined by existing law, this necessity is plainly 
 apparent ; nor can any man within the sound of my voice, who listens 
 to the authentic words of the law, hesitate in my conclusion. A wrong 
 so grievous and unquestionable should not be allowed to continue. 
 For the honor of human nature, and for the good of all concerned, // 
 should at once cease to exist. On this simple statement, as a corner 
 stone, I found the necessity of the Anti-Slavery Enterprise. 
 
 I do not dwell, sir, on the many tales which come from the house of 
 bondage ; on the bitter sorrows there undergone ; on the flesh, galled 
 by the manacle or spirting blood beneath the lash ; on the human form 
 mutilated by the knife, or seared by red-hot iron ; on the ferocious 
 scent of blood-hounds in chase of human prey ; on the sale of fathers 
 
NECESSITY OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY ENTERPRISE. 175 
 
 and mothers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, little children 
 ever infants at the auction-block ; on the practical prostration of all 
 rights, all ties, and even all hope ; on the deadly injury to morals, sub 
 stituting concubinage for marriage, and changing the whole land of 
 Slavery into a by-word of shame, only fitly pictured by the language of 
 Dante when he called his own degraded country a House of Ill-Fame ; 
 and last of all, on the pernicious influence upon the master as well as 
 the slave, showing itself too often, even by his own confession, in rude 
 ness of manners and character, and especially in that blindness which 
 renders him insensible to the wrongs he upholds, while he, 
 
 " so perfect is his misery, 
 
 Not once perceives his foul disfigurement, 
 But boasts himself more comely than before." 
 
 On these things I do not dwell, although volumes are at hand of un 
 questionable facts and of illustrative story, so just and happy as to vie 
 with fact, out of which I might draw, until, like Macbeth, you had 
 supped full of horrors. 
 
 But all these I put aside ; not because I do not regard them of 
 moment in exhibiting the true character of Slavery, but because I 
 desire to present this argument on grounds above all controversy, 
 impeachment, or suspicion, even from slave-masters themselves. Not 
 on triumphant story, not even on indisputable facts, do I now accuse 
 Slavery, but on its character, as revealed in its own simple definition of 
 itself. Out of its own mouth do I condemn it. By the law of Slavery , 
 man, created in the image of God, is divested of his human character, 
 and declared to be a mere chattel. That this statement may not seem 
 to be put forward without precise authority, I quote the law of two 
 different States. The civil code of Louisiana thus defines a slave : 
 
 " A slave is one who is in the power of a master to whom he belongs. 
 The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, and his 
 labor. He can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything but 
 what must belong to his master." Civil Code, Art. 35. 
 
 The law of another polished slave State gives this definition : 
 
 " Slaves shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed and adjudged in law 
 to be chattels personal, in the hands of their owners and possessors, 
 and their executors, administrators and assigns, to all intents, con 
 structions and purposes whatsoever." 2 Brev. Dig. 229. (South 
 Carolina. ) 
 
 And a careful writer, Judge Stroud, in a work of juridical as well as 
 philanthropic merit, thus sums up the law : 
 
i;6 THE LAW OF SLAVERY. 
 
 " The cardinal principle of Slavery that the slave is not to be 
 ranked among sentient beings, but among things is an article of 
 property a chattel personal obtains as undoubted law in all of these 
 (the slave) States." Stroutfs Laws of Slavery, 22. 
 
 Sir, this is enough. As out of its small egg crawls forth the slimy, 
 scaly, reptile crocodile, so out of this simple definition crawls forth the 
 whole slimy, scaly, reptile monstrosity, by which a man is changed 
 into a chattel, a person is converted imo a thing, a soul is trans 
 muted into merchandise. According to this very definition, the slave 
 is held simply for the good of his master, to whose behests, his life, 
 liberty and happiness are devoted, and by whom he may be bartered, 
 leased, mortgaged, bequeathed, invoiced, shipped as cargo, stored as 
 goods, sold on execution, knocked off at public auction, and even 
 staked at the gaming-table on the hazard of a card or die. The slave 
 may seem to have a wife ; but he has not ; for his wife belongs to his 
 master. He may seem to have a child ; but he has not ; for his child 
 belongs to his master. He may be filled with the desire of knowledge, 
 opening to him the gates of hope on earth and in heaven ; but the master 
 may impiously close this sacred pursuit. Thus is he robbed not merely 
 of priyileges, but of himself; not merely of money and labor, but of 
 wife and children ; not merely of time and opportunity, but of every 
 assurance of happiness ; not merely of earthly hope, but of all those 
 divine aspirations that spring from the Fountain of Light. He is not 
 merely restrained in liberty, but totally deprived of it ; not merely 
 curtailed in rights, but absolutely stripped of them ; not merely loaded 
 with burdens, but changed into a beast of burden ; not merely bent 
 in countenance to the earth, but sunk to the legal level of a quadruped ; 
 not merely exposed to personal cruelty, but deprived of his character 
 as a person- ; not merely compelled to involuntary labor, but degraded 
 to be a rude thing ; not merely shut out from knowledge, but wrested 
 from his place in the human family. And all this, sir, is according to 
 the simple law of Slavery. 
 
 Nor is even this all. The law, by cumulative provisions, positively 
 forbids that a slave shall be taught to read. Hear this, fellow-citizens, 
 and confess, that no barbarism of despotism, no extravagance of tyranny, 
 no excess of impiety can be more blasphemous or deadly. " Train up 
 a child in the way he should go," is the lesson of sacred wisdom ; but 
 the law of Slavery boldly prohibits any such training, and dooms the 
 child to hopeless ignorance and degradation. " Let there be light," was 
 
AN OUTRAGE ON MAN AND GOD. 177 
 
 the Divine utterance at the very dawn of creation, and this command 
 ment, travelling with the ages and the hours, still speaks with the voice 
 of God ; but the law of Slavery says, " Let there be darkness." 
 
 But it is earnestly averred that slave-masters are humane, and that 
 slaves are treated with kindness. These averments, however, I pro 
 perly put aside, precisely as I have already put aside the multitudinous 
 illustrations from the cruelty of Slavery. On the simple letter of the 
 law I take my stand, and do not go beyond what is there nominated. 
 The masses of men are not better than their laws, and, whatever may 
 be the eminence of individual virtue, it is not reasonable to infer that 
 the masses of slave-masters are better than the law of Slavery. And, 
 since this law submits the slave to their irresponsible control, with power 
 to bind and to scourge to shut the soul from knowledge to separate 
 families to unclasp the infant from a mother s breast, and the wife from 
 a husband s arms, it is natural to conclude that such enormities are 
 sanctioned by them, while the brutal prohibition of instruction by sup 
 plementary law gives crowning evidence of their complete complicity. 
 And this conclusion must exist unquestioned just so long as the la\v 
 exists unrepealed. Cease, then, to blazon the humanity of slave- 
 masters. Tell me not of the lenity with which this cruel law is tempered 
 to its unhappy subjects. Tell me not of the sympathy which overflows 
 from the mansion of the master to the cabin of the slave. In vain you 
 assert thes^ instances. In vain you show that there are individuals who 
 do not exert the wickedness of the law. The law still endures. Slavery, 
 which it defines and upholds, continues to outrage Public Opinion, and, 
 within the limits of our Republic, upwards of three millions of human 
 beings, guilty only of a skin not colored like your own, are left the 
 victims of its unrighteous, irresponsible power. 
 
 Power divorced from right is devilish ; power without the check of 
 responsibility is tyrannical ; and I need not go back to the authority of 
 Plato, when I assert that the most complete injustice is that which is 
 erected into the form of law. But all these things concur in Slavery. It 
 is, then, on the testimony of slave-masters, solemnly, legislatively, judicially 
 attested in the very law itself, that I now arraign this institution as an 
 outrage upon man and his Creator. And here is the necessity of the 
 Anti-Slavery Enterprise. A wrong so transcendent, so loathsome, so 
 direful, must be encountered wherever it can be reached, and the battle 
 must be continued without truce or compromise, until the field is entirely 
 won. Freedom and Slavery can hold no divided empire ; nor can there 
 be any true repose until Freedom is everywhere established. 
 
 12 
 
178 ALLEGED DISTINCTION OF RACE. 
 
 To the necessity of the Anti-Slavery Enterprise, there are two and 
 only two vital objections ; one founded on the alleged distinction of 
 race, and the other on the alleged sanction of Christianity. All other 
 objections are of an inferior character, or are directed logically at its 
 practicability. Of these two leading objections, let me briefly speak. 
 
 i. And, first, of the alleged distinction of race. This objection itself 
 assumes two different forms, one founded on a prophetic malediction in 
 the Old Testament, and the other on the professed observations of 
 recent science. Its importance is apparent in the obvious fact, that, 
 unless such distinction be clearly and unmistakably established, every 
 argument by which our own freedom is vindicated. every applause 
 awarded to the successful rebellion of our fathers, every indignant 
 word ever hurled against the enslavement of our white fellow-citizens 
 by Algerine corsairs, must plead trumpet-tongued against the deep dam 
 nation of Slavery, whether white or black. 
 
 It is said that the Africans are the posterity of Ham, the son of Noah, 
 through Canaan, who was cursed by Noah, to be the servant of his 
 brethren, and that this malediction has fallen upon all his descendants, 
 including the unhappy Africans, who are accordingly devoted by God, 
 through unending generations, to unending bondage. Such is the 
 favorite argument often put forth at the South, and more than once 
 directly addressed to myself. Here, for instance, is a passage from a 
 letter recently received : "You need not persist," says thenvriter, "in 
 confounding .Japheth s children with Ham s, and making both races 
 one, and arguing on their rights as those of man broadly." And I have 
 been seriously assured that until this objection is answered, it will be in 
 vain to press my views upon Congress or the country. Listen now to 
 the texts of the Old Testament which are so strangely employed : 
 
 " And he (Noah) said, cursed be Canaan : a servant of servants shall 
 he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of 
 Shem ; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, 
 and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his ser- 
 vant." Genesis, chap. ix. 25-27. 
 
 That is all ; and I need only read these words in order to expose the 
 whole transpicuous humbug. But I am tempted to add, that, to justify 
 this objection, it will be necessary to maintain at least five different 
 propositions, as essential links in the chain of the African slave ; first, 
 that, by this malediction, Canaan himself was actually changed into a 
 chattel, whereas, he is simply made the servant of his brethren ; secondly, 
 that not merely Canaan, but all his posterity, to the remotest genera- 
 
ONE GREAT HUMAN FAMILY. 179 
 
 tion, was so changed, whereas the language has no such extent ; thirdly, 
 that the African actually belongs to the posterity of Canaan, an ethno 
 graphical assumption absurdly difficult to establish ; fourthly, that each 
 of the descendants of Shem and Japheth has a right to hold an African 
 fellow-man as a chattel, a proposition which finds no semblance of 
 support ; and, fifthly, that every slave-master is truly descended from 
 Shem or Japheth, a pedigree which no anxiety or audacity can prove ! 
 This plain analysis, which may fitly excite a smile, shows the five-fold 
 absurdity of an attempt to found this revolting wrong on 
 
 "Any successive title, long and dark, 
 
 Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah s ark." 
 
 The small bigotry which could find comfort in these texts, has been 
 lately exalted by the voice of science, which has undertaken to suggest 
 that the different races of men are not derived from a single pair, but 
 from several distinct stocks, according to their several distinct character 
 istics ; and it has been audaciously argued that the African is so far. in 
 ferior, as to lose all title to that liberty which is the birthright of the 
 lordly white. Now I have neither time nor disposition on this occasion 
 to discuss the question of the unity of the races ; nor is it necessary to 
 my present purpose. It may be that the different races of men pro 
 ceeded from different stocks ; but there is but one great Human Family, 
 in which Caucasian and African, Chinese and Indian, are all brothers, 
 children of one Father, and heirs to one happiness, alike on earth and 
 in heaven. " Star-eyed science " cannot shake this everlasting truth. 
 It may vainly exhibit peculiarities in the African, by which he is dis 
 tinguishable from the Caucasian. It may, in his physical form and in 
 tellectual character, presume to find the stamp of permanent inferiority. 
 But by no reach of learning, by no torture of fact, by no effrontery of 
 dogma, can it show that he is not a man. And as a man he stands be 
 fore you an unquestionable member of the Human Family, and entitled 
 to all the rights of man. You can claim nothing for yourself, as man, 
 which you must not accord to him. Life, liberty and the pursuit of 
 happiness, -which you proudly declare to be your own inalienable, God- 
 given rights, and to the support of which your fathers pledged their 
 lives, fortunes and sacred honor, are his by the same immortal title that 
 they are yours. 
 
 2. From the objection founded on the alleged distinction of race, I 
 pass to that other founded on the alleged sanction of slavery by Chris 
 tianity. And, striving to be brief, I shall not undertake to reconcile 
 
I SO A HUMAN BEING NOT PROPERTY. 
 
 texts often quoted from the Old Testament, which, whatever may be 
 their import, are all absorbed in the New ; nor shall I stop to consider 
 the precise interpretation of the oft-quoted phrase, Servants, obey your 
 masters ; nor seek to weigh any such imperfect injunction in the scales 
 against those grand commandments, on which hang all the law and the 
 prophets. Surely, in the example and teachings of the Saviour, who 
 lifted up the down-trodden, who enjoined purity of life, and overflowed 
 with tenderness even to little children, human ingenuity can find no 
 apology for an institution which tramples on man, which denies 
 woman, and sweeps little children beneath the hammer of the auc 
 tioneer. If to any one these things seem to have the license of Chris 
 tianity, it is only because they have first secured a license in his own 
 soul. Men are prone to find in uncertain, disconnected texts, a con 
 firmation of their own personal prejudices or prepossessions. And I 
 who am no divine, but only a simple layman make bold to say, that 
 whoever finds in the Gospel any sanction of Slavery, finds there merely 
 a reflection of himself. On a matter so irresistibly clear, authority is 
 superfluous ; but an eminent character, who as poet makes us forget 
 his high place as philosopher, and as philosopher, makes us forget his 
 high place as theologian, has exposed the essential antagonism between 
 Christianity and Slavery, in a few pregnant words which you will be 
 glad to hear, particularly as, I believe, they have not been before in 
 troduced into this discussion. " By a principle essential to Christian 
 ity," says Coleridge, "a person is eternally differenced from a thing ; so 
 that the idea of a Human Being necessarily excludes the idea of property 
 in that Being" 
 
 With regret, though not with astonishment, I learn that a Boston di 
 vine has. sought to throw the seamless garment of Christ over this shock 
 ing wrong. But I am patient, and see clearly how vain will be hi.s 
 effort, when I call to mind, that, within this very century, other divines 
 sought to throw the same seamless garment over the more shocking 
 slave-trade ; and that, among many publications, a little book was then 
 put forth with the name of a reverend clergyman on the title-page, to 
 prove that " the African trade for negro slaves is consistent with the 
 principles of humanity and revealed religion;" and, thinking of these 
 things, I am ready to say with Shakespeare, 
 
 " In religion, 
 
 What damned error, but some sober brow 
 Will bless it and approve it with a text ? " 
 
PRACTICABILITY OF ANTI-SLAVERY ENTERPRISE. l8l 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 II. I am now brought, in the second place, to consider the PRACTICA 
 BILITY of the Enterprise. And here the way is easy. In showing its 
 necessity, I have already demonstrated its practicability ; for the former 
 includes the latter, as the greater includes the less. Whatever is neces 
 sary, must be practicable. By a decree which has ever been a by-word 
 of tyranny, the Israelites were compelled to make bricks without straw ; 
 but it is not according to the ways of a benevolent Providence that 
 man should be constrained to do what cannot be done. Besides, the 
 Anti-Slavery Enterprise is right ; and the right is always practicable. 
 
 I know well the little faith which the world has in the triumph of 
 principles, and I readily imagine the despair with which our object is 
 regarded ; but not on this account am I disheartened. That exuberant 
 writer, Sir Thomas Browne, breaks into an ecstatic wish for some new 
 difficulty in Christian belief, that his faith might have a new victory, 
 and an eminent enthusiast went so far as to say that he believed be 
 cause it was impossible credo qida impossibile. But no such exalted 
 faith is now required. Here is no impossibility, nor is there any diffi 
 culty which will not yield to a faithful, well-directed endeavor. If to 
 any timid soul the Enterprise seems impossible because it is too beau 
 tiful, then I say at once that it is too beautiful not to be possible. 
 
 But descending from these summits, let me show plainly the object 
 which it seeks to accomplish, and herein you shall see and confess its 
 complete practicability. While discountenancing all prejudice of color 
 and every establishment of caste, the Anti-Slavery Enterprise at least 
 so far as 1 may speak for it does not undertake to change human 
 nature, or to force any individual into relations of life for which he is 
 not morally, intellectually and socially adapted ; nor does it necessarily 
 assume that a race, degraded for long generations under the iron heel 
 of bondage, can be lifted at once into all the political privileges of an 
 American citizen. But, sir, it does confidently assume, against all 
 question, contradiction, or assault whatever, that every man is entitled 
 to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; and, with equal confidence, 
 it asserts that every individual, who wears the human form, whether 
 black or while, should at once be recognized as man. I know not when 
 this is done, what other trials may be in wait for the unhappy African ; 
 but this I do know, that the Anti-Slavery Enterprise will then have tri 
 umphed, and the institution of Slavery, as defined by existing law, will 
 no longer shock mankind. 
 
1 82 THE QUESTION TO BE OPENLY CONFRONTED. 
 
 In this work the first essential, practical requisite is, that the question 
 shall be openly and frankly confronted. Do not put it aside. Do not 
 blink it out of sight. Do not dodge it. Approach it. Study it. Pon 
 der it. Deal with it. Let it rest in the illumination of speech, conver 
 sation and the press. Let it fill the thoughts of the statesman and the 
 prayers of the pulpit. When Slavery is thus regarded, its true character 
 will be recognized as a hateful assemblage of unqnestio?iable wrongs undet 
 the sanction of existing law, and good men will be moved at once to apply 
 the remedy. Already even its zealots admit that its " abuses " should 
 be removed. This is their word and not mine. Alas ! alas ! sir, it is 
 these very "abuses" which constitute its component parts, without 
 which it would not exist, even as the scourges in a bundle with the axe 
 constituted the dread fasces of the Roman lictor. Take away these, 
 and the whole embodied outrage will disappear. Surely that central 
 assumption more deadly than the axe itself by which man is changed 
 into a chattel, may be abandoned; and is not this practicable? The 
 associate scourges by which that transcendant "abuse" is surrounded, 
 may, one by one, be subtracted. The "abuse" which substitutes 
 concubinage for marriage the " abuse " which annuls the parental 
 relation the " abuse " which closes the portals of knowledge the 
 "abuse" which tyrannically usurps all the labor of another now up 
 held by "positive la.w, may by positive law be abolished. To say that 
 this is not practicable, in the nineteenth century, would be a scandal 
 upon mankind ; and just in proportion as these " abuses" cease to have 
 the sanction of law, will the institution of Slavery cease to exist. The 
 African, whatever may then be his condition, will no longer be the slave 
 over whose wrongs and sorrows the world throbs at times fiercely indig 
 nant, and at times painfully sad, while with outstretched arms, he sends 
 forth the piteous cry, " Am I not a man and a brother ? " 
 
 In pressing forward to this result, the inquiry is often presented, to 
 what extent, if any, shall compensation be allowed to the slave-masters ? 
 Clearly, if the point be determined by absolute justice, not the masters 
 but the slaves will be entitled to compensation ; for it is the slaves, who, 
 throughout weary generations, have been deprived of their toil, and all 
 its fruits which went to enrich their masters. Besides, it seems hardly 
 reasonable to pay for the relinquishment of those disgusting "abuses," 
 which, in their aggregation, constitute the bundle of slavery. Pray, 
 sir, by what tariff, price current, or principle of equation, shall their 
 several values be estimated? What sum shall be counted out as the 
 proper price for the abandonment of that pretension more indecent than 
 
RIGHT CANNOT BE FOUNDED ON WRONG. 183 
 
 fat jus prim cc noctis of the feudal age which leaves woman, whether 
 in the arms of master or slave, always a concubine ? What bribe shall 
 be proffered for the restoration of God-given paternal rights ? What 
 money shall be paid for taking off the padlock by which souls are fast 
 ened down in darkness ? How much for a quit-claim to labor now 
 meanly exacted by the strong from the weak ? And what compensa 
 tion shall be awarded for the egregious assumption, condemned by rea 
 son and abhorred by piety, which changes a man into a thing ? I put 
 these questions without undertaking to pass upon them. Shrinking in 
 stinctively from any recognition of right founded on wrongs, I find 
 myself shrinking also from any austere verdict, which shall deny the 
 means necessary to the great consummation we seek. Our fathers, un 
 der Washington, did not hesitate by Act of Congress, to appropriate 
 largely for the ransom of white fellow-citizens enslaved by Algerine cor 
 sairs ; and, following this example, I am disposed to consider the ques : 
 tion of compensation as one of expediency, to be determined by the 
 exigency of the hour and the constitutional powers of the Government ; 
 though such is rny desire to see the foul fiend of slavery in flight, that 
 I could not hesitate to build even a Bridge of Gold, if necessary, to 
 promote his escape. 
 
 The Practicability of the Anti-Slavery Enterprise has been constantly 
 questioned, often so superficially, as to be answered at once. I shall 
 not take time to consider the allegation, founded on considerations of 
 economy, which audaciously assumes that Slave Labor is more advan 
 tageous than Free Labor that Slavery is more profitable than Free 
 dom ; for this is all exploded by the official tables of the census ; nor 
 that other futile argument, that the slaves are not prepared for Free 
 dom, and, therefore, should not be precipitated into this condition, 
 for that is no better than the ancient Greek folly, where the anxious 
 mother would not allow her son to go into the water until he had first 
 learned to swim. But, as against the Necessity of the Anti-Slavery 
 Enterprise, there were two chief objections, so, also, against its Practi 
 cability there are two ; the first, founded on its alleged danger to the mas 
 ter, and the second, on its alleged damage to the slave himself. 
 
 i. The first objection, founded on the alleged danger to the master, 
 most generally takes the extravagant form, that the slave, if released 
 from his present condition, would cut his master s throat. Here is a 
 blatant paradox, which can pass for reason only among those who have 
 lost their reason. With an absurdity which finds no parallel except in 
 the defences of Slavery, it assumes that the African, when treated justly, 
 
1 84 EMANCIPATION NOT DANGEROUS. 
 
 will show a vindictiveness which he does not exhibit when treated un 
 justly ; that when elevated by the blessings of Freedom, he will develop 
 an appetite for blood which he never manifested when crushed by the 
 curse of bondage. At present, the slave sees his wife ravished from his 
 arms sees his infant swept away to the auction block sees the heav 
 enly gates of knowledge shut upon him sees his industry and all its 
 fruits unjustly snatched by another sees himself and offspring doomed 
 to a servitude from which there is no redemption ; and still his master 
 sleeps secure. Will the master sleep less secure, when the slave no 
 longer smarts under these revolting atrocities ? I will not trifle with 
 your intelligence, or with the quick-passing hour, by arguing this ques 
 tion. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 By a single Act of Parliament, the slaves of the West Indies be 
 came at once free ; and this great transition was accomplished abso 
 lutely without personal danger of any kind to the master. And yet the 
 chance of danger there was greater far than among us. In our broad 
 country, the slaves are overshadowed by a more than six-fold white 
 population. Only in two States South Carolina and Mississippi do 
 the slaves outnumber the whites, and these but slightly, while in the en 
 tire Slave States, the whites outnumber the slaves by many millions. 
 Hut it was otherwise in the British West Indies, where the whites were 
 overshadowed by a more than six-fold population. The slaves were 
 800,000, while the whites numbered only 131,000, distributed in differ 
 ent proportions on the different islands. And this disproportion has 
 since increased rather than diminished, always without danger to the 
 whites. In Jamaica, the largest of these possessions, there are now 
 upwards of 400,000 Africans, and only 37,000 whites; in Barbadoes, 
 the next largest possession, there are 120,000 Africans, and only 15,000 
 whites; in St. Lucia, 19,500 Africans, and only 600 whites; in Toba 
 go, 14,000 Africans, and only 600 whites ; in Montserrat, 6,000 Afri 
 cans, and only 150 whites; and in the Grenadines, upwards of 6,000 
 Africans, and less than 50 whites. And yet in all these places, the 
 authorities attest the good behavior of the Africans. Sir Lionel Smith, 
 the Governor of Jamaica, in his speech to the Assembly, declared that 
 their conduct " proves how well they deserved the boon of Freedom." 
 Another Governor of another island dwells on the "peculiarly rare in 
 stances of the commission of grave or sanguinary crimes among the 
 
INSTANT FREEDOM SAFE FOR THE SLAVE. 1 8$ 
 
 emancipated portion of these islands;" and the Queen of England, 
 in a speech from the throne, has announced that the complete and final 
 emancipation of the Africans had "taken place without any disturb 
 ance of public order and tranquillity." In this example I hail new con 
 firmation of the rule that the highest safety is in doing right ; and thus 
 do I dismiss the objection founded on the alleged danger to the master. 
 
 2. And I am now brought to the second objection, founded on the 
 alleged damage to the slave. It is common among the partisans of 
 Slavery, to assert that our Enterprise has actually retarded the very 
 cause it seeks to promote ; and this paradoxical accusation, which 
 might naturally show itself among the rank weeds of the South, is 
 cherished here on our Northern soil, by those who anxiously look for 
 any fig-leaf with which to cover their indifference or tergiversation. 
 
 This peculiar form of complaint is an old device, which has been in 
 stinctively employed on other occasions until it has ceased to be even 
 plausible. Thus, throughout all times, has every good cause been encoun 
 tered. The Saviour was nailed to the cross with a crown of thorns on 
 his head, as a disturber of that peace on earth which he came to de 
 clare. The disciples, while preaching the Gospel of forgiveness and 
 good-will, were stoned as preachers of sedition and discord. The re 
 formers, who sought to establish a higher piety and faith, were burnt at 
 the stake as blasphemers and infidels. Patriots, in all ages, who have 
 striven for their country s good, have been doomed to the scaffold or to 
 exile, even as their country s enemies. And those brave Englishmen, 
 who, at home, under the lead of Edmund Burke, even against their own 
 country, espoused the cause of our fathers, shared the same illogical 
 impeachment, which was touched to the quick by that orator-statesman, 
 when, after exposing its essential vice, " in attributing the ill-effect of 
 ill-judged conduct to the arguments used to dissuade us from it," he de 
 nounced it as " very absurd, but very common in modern practice, and 
 very wicked." Ay, sir, it is common in modern practice. In England, 
 it has vainly renewed itself with special frequency against the Bible So 
 cieties ; against the friends of education ; against the patrons of vacci 
 nation ; against the partisans of peace, all of whom have been openly 
 arraigned as provoking and increasing the very evils, whether of infi 
 delity, idleness, disease, or war, which they benignly sought to check. 
 And to bring an instance which is precisely applicable to our own, 
 Wilberforce, when conducting the Anti-Slavery Enterprise of England, 
 first against the slave-trade and then against Slavery itself, was told that 
 those efforts, by which his name is now consecrated forevermore, tend- 
 
1 86 GOOD OF THE ENTERPRISE ALREADY. 
 
 ed to increase the hardships of the slave, even to the extent of riveting 
 anew his chains. Such are the precedents for the imputation to which 
 our Enterprise is exposed : and such, also, are the precedents by which 
 I exhibit the fallacy of the imputation. 
 
 Sir, I do not doubt that the Enterprise has produced heat and irrita 
 tion, amounting often to inflammation, among slave-masters, which, to 
 superficial minds, may seem inconsistent with success ; but which the 
 careful observer will recognize at once as f he natural and not unhealthy 
 effort of a diseased body to purge itself of existing impurities ; and just 
 in proportion to the malignity of the concealed poison, will be the ex 
 tent of inflammation. A distemper like Slavery cannot be ejected like 
 a splinter. It is, perhaps, too much to expect that men thus tortured 
 should reason calmly that patients thus suffering should comprehend 
 the true nature of their case and kindly acknowledge the beneficent 
 work ; but not on this account can it be suspended. 
 
 In the face of this complaint, I assert that the Anti-Slavery Enterprise 
 has already accomplished incalculable good. Even now it touches the 
 national heart as it never before was touched, sweeping its strings with 
 a might to draw forth emotions such as no political struggle has ever 
 evoked. It moves the young, the middle-aged, and the old. It enters 
 the family circle, and mingles with the flame of the household hearth. 
 It reaches the souls of mothers, wives, sisters and daughters, filling all 
 with a new aspiration for justice on earth, "and awakening not merely a 
 sentiment against Slavery, such as prevailed with our fathers, but a deep, 
 undying conviction of its wrong, and a determination to leave no effort 
 unattempted for its removal. With the sympathies of all Christendom 
 as allies, it has already encompassed the slave-masters by a moral 
 blockade, invisible to the eye, but more potent than navies, from which 
 there can be no escape except in final capitulation. Thus it has created 
 the irresistible influence which itself constitutes the beginning of suc 
 cess. Already there are signs of change. In common speech, as well 
 as in writing, among slave-masters the bondman is no longer called a 
 slave, but a servant, thus, by a soft substitution, concealing and con 
 demning the true relation. Even newspapers in the land of bondage 
 blush with indignation at the hunt of men by blood-hounds, thus pro 
 testing against an unquestionable incident of Slavery. Other signs are 
 found in the added comfort of the slave ; in the enlarged attention to 
 his wants ; in the experiments now beginning, by which the slave is 
 enabled to share in the profits of his labor, and thus finally secure his 
 freedom ; and, above all, in the consciousness among slave-masters 
 
INHERENT DIGNITY OF THE ENTERPRISE. iS/ 
 
 themselves, that they dwell now as never before under the keen obser 
 vation of an ever-wakeful Public Opinion, quickened by an ever- wakeful 
 Public Press. Nor is this all. Only lately propositions have been in 
 troduced into the Legislatures of different States, and countenanced by 
 Governors, to mitigate the existing law of Slavery ; and, almost while 
 speaking, I have received the drafts of two different memorials, one 
 addressed to the Legislature of Virginia, and the other to that of 
 North Carolina, asking for the slave three things, which it will be 
 monstrous to refuse, but which, if conceded, will take from Slavery its 
 existing character ; I mean, first, the protection of the marriage rela 
 tion ; secondly, the protection of the parental relation ; and, thirdly, 
 the privilege of knowledge. Grant these, and the girdled Upas tree 
 soon must die. Sir, amidst these tokens of present success, and the 
 auguries of the future, I am not disturbed by any complaints of seeming 
 damage. " Though it consume our own dwelling, who does not ven 
 erate fire, without which human life can hardly exist*" on earth," says the 
 Hindoo proverb ; and the time is even now at hand when the Anti- 
 Slavery Enterprise, which is the very fire of Freedom, with all its inci 
 dental excesses or excitements, will be hailed with a similar regard. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 III. And now, in the ////replace, the Anti-Slavery Enterprise, which 
 I have shown to be at once necessary and practicable, is commended 
 by its inherent DIGNITY. Here the reasons are obvious and unanswer 
 able. 
 
 Its object is benevolent; nor is there, in the dreary annals of the 
 Past, a single Enterprise which stands forth more clearly and indisput 
 ably entitled to this character. With unsurpassed and touching mag 
 nanimity, it seeks to benefit the lowly whom your eyes have not seen, 
 and who are ignorant even of your labors, while it demands and receives 
 a self-sacrifice calculated to ennoble an enterprise of even questionable 
 merit. Its true rank is among works properly called philanthropic 
 the title of highest honor on earth. " I take goodness in this sense," 
 says Lord Bacon in his Essays, " the affecting of the weal of men, which 
 is what the Grecians call Philanthropeia of all virtues and dignities of 
 the mind the greatest, being the character of the Deity ; and without 
 it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a kind of 
 vermin." Lord Bacon was right, and, perhaps, unconsciously followed 
 
1 88 FREEDOM THE DARLING OF HISTORY. 
 
 a higher authority ; for, when Moses asked the Lord to show unto him 
 His glory, the Lord said, " I will make all my goodness to pass before 
 thee." Ah ! sir, Peace has trophies fairer and more perennial than any 
 snatched from fields of blood, but among all these, the fairest and most 
 perennial are the trophies of beneficence. Scholarship, literature, 
 jurisprudence, art, may wear their well-deserved honors ; but an Enter 
 prise of goodness deserves, and will yet receive, a higher palm than 
 these. 
 
 In other aspects its dignity is apj3arent. It concerns the cause of 
 Human Freedom, which, from the earliest days, has been the darling of 
 history. By all the memories of the Past ; by the stories of childhood 
 and the studies of youth ; by every example of magnanimous virtue ; by 
 every aspiration for the good and true ; by the fame of the martyrs 
 swelling through all time ; by the renown of patriots whose lives are 
 landmarks of progress ; by the praise lavished upon our fathers, you 
 are summoned to this work. Unless Freedom be an illusion, and 
 Benevolence an error, you cannot resist the appeal. But our cause is 
 nobler even than that of our fathers, inasmuch as it is more exalted to 
 struggle for the freedom of others than for our oiun. 
 
 Its practical importance at this moment gives to it an additional 
 eminence. Whether measured by the number of beings it seeks to 
 benefit ; by the magnitude of the wrongs it hopes to relieve ; by the 
 difficulties with which it is beset ; by the political relations which it 
 affects ; or by the ability and character it has enlisted, the cause of the 
 slave now assumes proportions of grandeur which dwarf all other interests 
 in- our broad country. In its presence the machinations of politicians, 
 the aspirations of office-seekers and the subterfuges of party, all sink 
 below even their ordinary insignificance. For myself, sir, I can see 
 little else at this time among us which can tempt out on to the exposed 
 steeps of public life an honest man, who wishes, by something that he 
 does, to leave the world better than he found it. I can see little else 
 which can afford any of those satisfactions which an honest man should 
 covet. Nor is there any cause which so surely promises final success ; 
 
 " Oh! a fair cause stands firm and will abide ; 
 Legions of angels fight upon its side! " 
 
 It is written that in the last days there shall be scoffers, and even this 
 P^nterprise, thus philanthropic, has not escaped their aspersions. And 
 as the objections to its Necessity were twofold, and the objections to 
 its Practicability twofold, so, also, are the aspersions twofold ; first 
 
HARD WORDS PERSONAL DISPARAGEMENT. 189 
 
 in the form of hard words, and secondly, by personal disparagement of 
 those who are engaged in it. 
 
 1. The hard words are manifold as the passions and prejudices of 
 men ; but they generally end in the imputation of " fanaticism." In such 
 a cause, I am willing to be called "fanatic," or what you will ; I care 
 not for aspersions, nor shall I shrink before hard words, either here or 
 elsewhere. I have learned from that great Englishman, Oliver Crom 
 well, that no man can be trusted " who is afraid of a paper pellet ; " 
 and I am too familiar with history not to know, that every movement 
 for reform, in Church or State, every endeavor for Human Liberty or 
 Human Rights, has been thus assailed. I do not forget with what 
 facility and frequency hard words have been employed how that 
 grandest character of many generations, the precursor of our own Wash 
 ington, without whose example our Republic might have failed the 
 great William, Prince of Orange, the founder of the Dutch Republic, 
 the United States of Holland I do not forget how he was publicly 
 branded as " a perjurer and a pest of society; " and, not to dwell on 
 general instances, how the enterprise for the abolition of the slave-trade 
 was characterized on the floor of Parliament by one eminent speaker as 
 " mischievous," and by another as " visionary and delusive ; " and how 
 the exalted characters which it had enlisted were arraigned by still an 
 other eminent speaker none other than that Tarleton, so conspicuous 
 as the commander of the British horse in the southern campaigns of our 
 Revolution, but more conspicuous in politics at home, " as a junto of 
 sectaries, sophists, enthusiasts and fanatics ; " and also were again 
 arraigned by no less person than a prince of the blood, the Duke of 
 Clarence, afterwards William IV. of England, as " either fanatics or hypo 
 crites," in one of which classes he openly placed William Wilberforce. 
 But impartial history, with immortal pen, has redressed these impas 
 sioned judgments ; and the same impartial history will yet rejudge the 
 impassioned judgments of this hour. 
 
 2. Hard words have been followed by personal disparagement, and 
 the sneer is often launched that our Enterprise lacks the authority of 
 names eminent in Church and State. If this be so, the more is the pity 
 on their account ; for our cause is needed to them more than they are 
 needed to our cause. But alas ! it is only according to the example of 
 history that it should be so. It is not the eminent in Church and State, 
 the rich and powerful, the favorites of fortune and of place, who most 
 promptly welcome Truth, when she heralds change in the existing order 
 of things. It is others in poorer condition who throw open their hospit- 
 
AT LAST THERE IS A NORTH. 
 
 able hearts to the unattended stranger. Nay, more ; it is not the dwellers 
 amidst the glare of the world, but the humble and lowly, who most clearly 
 discern new duties, as the watchers, placed in the depths of a well, may 
 observe the stars which are obscured to those who live in the effulgence 
 of noon. Placed below the egotism and prejudice of self-interest, or of 
 a class below the cares and temptations of wealth or power in the 
 obscurity of common life, they discern the new signal, and surrender 
 themselves unreservedly to its guidance. The Saviour knew this. He 
 did not call upon the Priest, or Levite, or Pharisee, to follow him ; but 
 upon the humble fisherman by the sea of Galilee. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 And now, sir, I present to you the Anti-Slavery Enterprise vindicated 
 in Necessity, Practicability and Dignity, against all objections. If there 
 be any objection which I have not answered, it is because I am not 
 aware of its existence. It remains that I should give a practical con 
 clusion to this whole matter, by showing, though in glimpses only, your 
 SPECIAL DifxiES AS FREEMEN OF THE NORTH. And, thank God ! at 
 last there is a North. 
 
 Mr. President, it is not uncommon to hear persons among us at the 
 North, confess the wrong of Slavery, and then, folding their hands in 
 absolute listlessness, ejaculate, "What can we do about it?" Such 
 men we encounter daily. You all know them. Among them are men 
 in every department of human activity who perpetually buy, build and 
 plan who shrink from no labor who are daunted by no peril of com 
 mercial adventure, by no hardihood of industrial enterprise who, 
 reaching in their undertakings across oceans and continents, would un 
 dertake " to put a girdle about the earth in forty seconds ; " and yet, 
 disheartened, they can join in no effort against Slavery. Others there 
 are, especially among the youthful and enthusiastic, who vainly sigh be 
 cause they were not born in the age of chivalry, or at least in the days 
 of the revolution, not thinking that in this Enterprise there is an oppor 
 tunity of lofty endeavor such as no Paladin of chivalry, or chief of the 
 revolution enjoyed. Others there are, who freely bestow their means 
 and time upon the distant inaccessible heathen of another hemisphere, 
 in the islands of the sea ; and yet they can do nothing to mitigate our 
 grander heathenism here at home. While confessing that it ought to 
 disappear from the e arth, they forego, renounce and abandon all exer- 
 
THE GOD THOR, AND HIS CUP. 191 
 
 tion against it. Others there are still, (such is human inconsistency !) 
 who plant the tree in whose full-grown shade they can never expect to 
 sit who hopefully drop the acorn in the earth, trusting that the oak 
 which it sends upwards to the skies will shelter their children beneath 
 its shade ; but they will do nothing to plant or nurture the great tree of 
 Liberty, that it may cover with its arms unborn generations of men. 
 
 Others still there are, particularly in the large cities, who content 
 themselves by occasional contributions to the redemption of a slave. 
 To this object they give out of ample riches, and thus seek to silence 
 the monitions of conscience. Now, I would not discountenance any 
 form of activity by which Human Freedom, even in a single case, may 
 be secured. But I desire to say, that such an act too often accom 
 panied by a pharisaical pretension, in strange contrast with the petty 
 performance cannot be considered an essential aid to the Anti-Slavery 
 Enterprise. Not in this way can any impression be made on an evil so 
 vast as Slavery as you will clearly see by an illustration which I shall give. 
 The god Thor, of Scandinavian mythology whose strength surpassed that 
 of Hercules was once challenged to drain a simple cup dry. He applied 
 it to his lips, and with superhuman capacity drank, but the water did not 
 recede even from the rim, and at last the god abandoned the effort. The 
 failure of even his extraordinary strength was explained, when he learned 
 that the simple cup had communicated, by an invisible connection, with 
 the whole vast ocean behind, out of which it was perpetually supplied, 
 and which remained absolutely unaffected by the effort. And just so will 
 these occasions of chanty, though encountered by the largest private 
 means, be constantly renewed, for they communicate with the whole 
 Black Sea of Slavery behind, out of which they are perpetually supplied, 
 and which remains absolutely unaffected by the effort. Sir, private 
 means may cope with individual necessities, but they are powerless to 
 redress the evils of a wicked institution. Charity is limited and local ; 
 the evils of Slavery are infinite and everywhere. Besides, a wrong or 
 ganized and upheld by law, can be removed only through a change of 
 the law. Not, then, by an occasional contribution to ransom a slave 
 can your duty be done in this great cause ; but only by earnest, con 
 stant, valiant efforts against the institution against the law which 
 makes slaves. 
 
 I am not insensible to the difficulties of this work. Full well I know 
 the power of Slavery. Full well I know all its various intrenchments 
 in the Church, the politics and the prejudices of the country. Full well 
 I know the sensitive interests of property, amounting to many hundred 
 
WHY SLAVERY CONCERNS THE NORTH. 
 
 millions of dollars, which are said to be at stake. But these things can 
 furnish no motive or apology for indifference, or for any folding of the 
 hands. Surely the wrong is not less wrong because it is gigantic ; the 
 evil is not less evil because it is immeasurable ; nor can the duty of 
 perpetual warfare with wrong or evil be in this instance suspended. 
 Nay, because Slavery is powerful because the Enterprise is difficult 
 therefore is the duty of all more exigent. The well-tempered soul does 
 not yield to difficulties, but presses onward forever with increased re 
 solution. 
 
 And here the question occurs, which is so often pressed in argument, 
 or in taunt, What have we at the North to do with Slavery ? In answer, 
 I might content myself by saying that as members of the human family, 
 bound together by the cords of a common manhood, there is no human 
 wrong to which we can justly be insensible, nor is there any human 
 sorrow which we should not seek to relieve ; but I prefer to say, on this 
 occasion, that, as citizens of the United States, anxious for the good 
 name, the repose and the prosperity of the Republic that it may be a 
 blessing and not a curse to mankind there is nothing among all its 
 diversified interests, under the National Constitution, with which, at 
 this moment, we have so much to do ; nor is there anything with regard 
 to which our duties are so irresistibly clear. I do not dwell on the 
 scandal of Slavery in the national capital- -of Slavery in the national 
 territories of the coast-wise slave-trade on the high seas beneath the 
 national flag, all of which are outside of State limits, and within the 
 exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, where you and I, sir, and every free 
 man of the North, are compelled to share the responsibility and help 
 to bind the chain. To dislodge Slavery from these usurped footholds 
 under the Constitution, and thus at once to relieve ourselves from a 
 grievous responsibility, and to begin the great work of emancipation, 
 were an object worthy of an exalted ambition. But before even this 
 can be commenced, there is a great work, more than any other import 
 ant and urgent, which must be consummated in the domain of national 
 politics, and also here at home in the Free States. The N itional Gov 
 ernment itself must be emancipated, so that it shall no longer wear the 
 yoke of servitude ; and Slavery in all its pretensions must be dislodged 
 from its usurped foothold, in the Free States themselves, thus relieving 
 ourselves from a grievous responsibility at our own door, and emanci : 
 pating the North. Emancipation, even within the national jurisdiction, 
 can be achieved only through the emancipation of tlic Free States, ac 
 companied by the complete emancipation of the National Government. 
 
MASTERDOM OF SLAVE OLIGARCHY. 1 93 
 
 Ay, sir, emancipation at the South can be reached only through the 
 emancipation of the North. And this is my answer to the interroga 
 tory : What have we at the North to do with Slavery ? 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 But the answer may be made yet more irresistible, while, with min 
 gled sorrow and shame, I portray the tyrannical power which holds us 
 in thraldom. Notwithstanding all its excess of numbers, wealth and 
 intelligence, the North is now the vassal of an OLIGARCHY, whose 
 single inspiration comes from Slavery. According to the official tables 
 of our recent census, the slave-masters men, women, and children all 
 told are only THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN THOU 
 SAND ; and yet this small company now dominates over the Republic, 
 determines its national policy, disposes of its offices, and sways all to 
 its absolute will. With a watchfulness that never sleeps, and an activ 
 ity that never tires with as many eyes as Argus, and as many arms as 
 Briareus the SLAVE OLIGARCHY asserts its perpetual and insati 
 ate masterdom ; now seizing a broad territory once covered by a time- 
 honored ordinance of Freedom ; now threatening to wrest Cuba from 
 Spain by violent war, or hardly less violent purchase ; now hankering 
 for another slice of Mexico, merely to find new scope for Slavery ; now 
 proposing once more to open the hideous, heaven-defying Slave-trade,, 
 and thus to replenish its shambles with human flesh ; and now, by the- 
 lips of an eminent Senator, asserting an audacious claim to the whole- 
 group of the West Indies, whether held by Holland, Spain, France, or 
 England, as "our Southern Islands," while it assails the independence 
 of Hayti, and stretches its treacherous ambition even to the distant val 
 ley of the Amazon. 
 
 In maintaining its power, the Slave Oligarchy has applied a new test 
 for office, very different from that of Jefferson : " Is he honest ; is he 
 capable ? is he faithful to the Constitution ? " These things are all for 
 gotten now in the controlling question, "Is he faithful to Slavery?" 
 With arrogant ostracism it excludes from every national office all who 
 cannot respond to this test. So complete and irrational has this tyranny 
 become, that, at this moment, while I now speak, could Washington, 
 Jefferson, or Franklin once more descend from their spheres above, to 
 mingle in our affairs and bless us with their wisdom, not one of them, 
 with his recorded, unretracted opinions on Slavery, could receive a 
 13 
 
194 GIANT STRENGTH USED HEARTLESSLY. 
 
 nomination for the Presidency from a National Convention of either of 
 the late great political parties ; nor, stranger still, could either of these 
 sainted patriots, whose names alone open a perpetual fountain of grati 
 tude in all your hearts, be confirmed by the Senate of the United States 
 for any political function whatever under the National Government 
 not even for the office of Postmaster. What I now say, amidst your 
 natural astonishment, I have more than once uttered from my seat in 
 the Senate, and no man there has made answer, for no man, who has 
 sat in its secret sessions and there learned the test which is practically 
 applied, could make answer ; and I ask you to accept this statement as 
 my testimony derived from the experience which has been my lot. Yes, 
 fellow-citizens, had this test prevailed in the earlier days, Washington 
 first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen could not 
 have been created Generalissimo of the American forces ; Jefferson 
 could not have taken his place on the Committee to draft the Declara 
 tion of Independence ; and Franklin could not have gone forth to France, 
 with the commission of the infant Republic, to secure the invaluable 
 alliance of that ancient kingdom. 
 
 And this giant strength is used with a giant heartlessness. By a cruel 
 enactment, which has no source in the Constitution which defies jus 
 tice which tramples on humanity and which rebels against God, the 
 Free States are made the hunting-ground for slaves, and you, and I, 
 and all good citizens, are -summoned to join in the loathsome and ab 
 horred work. Your hearts and judgments, swift to feel and to condemn, 
 will not require me to expose here the abomination of the Fugitive 
 .Slave Bill or its utter unconstitutionally. Elsewhere I have done this, 
 and never been answered. Nor will you expect that an enactment, so 
 entirely devoid of all just sanction, should be called by the sacred name 
 of law. History still repeats the language in which our fathers perse 
 vered, when they denounced the last emanation of British tyranny which 
 heralded the Revolution, as the Boston Port Bill, and I am content 
 with this precedent. I have said that if any man finds in the Gospel 
 any support of Slavery, it is because Slavery is already in himself; so do 
 I now say, if any man finds in the Constitution of our country any sup 
 port of the Fugitive Slave Bill, it is because that Bill is already in himself. 
 One of our ancient Masters Aristotle, I think tells us that every man 
 has a beast in his bosom ; but the Northern citizen, who has the Fugitive 
 Slave Bill there, has worse than a beast a devil ! And yet in this 
 Bill more even than in the ostracism at which you rebel does the 
 .Slave Oligarchy stand confessed ; heartless, grasping, tyrannical ; care- 
 
THE GREAT DUTY OF THE NORTH. 195 
 
 less of humanity, right, or the Constitution ; wanting that foundation of 
 justice which is the essential base of every civilized community ; stuck 
 together only by confederacy in spoliation ; and constituting in itself a 
 magnum latrocinium ; while it degrades the Free States to the condi 
 tion of a slave plantation, under the lash of a vulgar, despised and re 
 volting overseer. 
 
 Surely, fellow-citizens, without hesitation or postponement you will 
 insist that this Oligarchy shall be overthrown ; and here is the foremost 
 among the special duties of the North, now required for the honor of 
 the republic, for our own defence, and in obedience to God. Urging 
 this comprehensive duty, I ought to have hours rather than minutes 
 before me ; but, in a few words, you shall see its comprehensive im 
 portance. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy and the wickedness of the 
 Fugitive Slave Bill will be expelled from the statute-book. Prostrate 
 the Slave Oligarchy and Slavery will cease at once in the national 
 capital. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy and liberty will become the 
 universal law of all the national territories. Prostrate the Slave Oli 
 garchy and the Slave-trade will no longer skulk along our coasts, be 
 neath the national flag. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy and the na 
 tional government will be at length divorced from Slavery. Prostrate 
 the Slave Oligarchy and the national policy will be exchanged from 
 Slavery to Freedom. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy and the North 
 will be no longer the vassal of the South. Prostrate the Slave Oligar 
 chy and the North will be admitted to its just share in the trusts and 
 honors of the Republic. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy and you will 
 possess the master-key to unlock the whole house of bondage. Pros 
 trate the Slave Oligarchy and the gates of emancipation will be open 
 at the South. 
 
 But, without waiting for this consummation, there is another special 
 duty to be done here at home, on our own soil, which must be made 
 free in reality, as in name. And here I shall speak frankly, though not 
 without a proper sense of the responsibility of my words. I know that 
 I cannot address you entirely as a private citizen ; but I shall say nothing 
 here which I have not said elsewhere, and which I shall not be proud 
 to vindicate everywhere. " A lie," it has been declared, " should be 
 trampled out and extinguished forever," and surely you will do nothing 
 less with a tyrannical and wicked enactment. The Fugitive Slave Bill, 
 while it continues unrepealed, must be made a dead letter ; not by vio 
 lence ; not by any unconstitutional activity or intervention ; not even 
 by hasty conflict between jurisdictions ; but by an aroused Public 
 
196 MR. HAYES NOBLE RESIGNATION. 
 
 Opinion, which, in its irresistible might, shall blast with contempt, in 
 dignation and abhorrence, all who consent to be its agents. Thus did 
 our fathers blast all who became the agents of the Stamp Act ; and 
 surely their motive was small compared with ours. The Slave-hunter 
 who drags his victim from Africa is loathed as a monster ; but I defy- 
 any acuteness of reason to indicate the moral difference between his 
 act and that of the Slave-hunter who drags his victim from our Northern 
 free soil. A few puny persons, calling themselves the Congress of the 
 United States, with the titles of Representatives and Senators, cannot 
 turn wrong into right cannot change a man into a thing cannot re 
 verse the irreversible law of God cannot make him wicked who hunts 
 a slave on the burning sands of Congo or Guinea, and make him virtu 
 ous who hunts a slave in the colder streets of Boston or New York. 
 Nor can any acuteness of reason distinguish between the bill of sale from 
 the kidnapper, by which the unhappy African was originally transferred 
 in Congo or Guinea, and the certificate of the Commissioner, by which, 
 when once again in Freedom, he was reduced anew to bondage. The 
 acts are kindred, and should share a kindred condemnation. 
 
 One man s virtue becomes a standard of excellence for all ; and there 
 is now in Boston, a simple citizen, whose example may be a lesson to 
 Commissioners, Marshals, Magistrates ; while it fills all with the beauty 
 of a generous act. I refer to Mr. Hayes, who resigned his place in the 
 city police rather than take any part in the pack of the Slave-hunter. 
 He is now the doorkeeper of the public edifice which has been honored 
 this winter by the triumphant lectures on Slavery. Better be a door 
 keeper in the house of the Lord than a dweller in the tents of the un 
 godly. For myself, let me say, that I can imagine no office, no salary, 
 no consideration, which I would not gladly forego rather than become 
 in any way an agent for the enslavement of my brother-man. Where, 
 for me, would be comfort or solace after such a work ! In dreams and 
 waking hours, in solitude and in the street, in the study of the open 
 book and in conversation with the world, wherever I turned, there my 
 victim would stare me in the face ; while from the distant rice-fields 
 and sugar plantations of the South, his cries beneath the vindictive lash, 
 his moans at the thought of liberty once his, now, alas ! ravished away, 
 would pursue me, repeating the tale of his fearful doom, and sounding 
 forever sounding in my ears, " Thou art the man." Mr. President, 
 may no such terrible voice fall on your soul or mine ! 
 
 Yes, sir, here our duty is plain and paramount. While the Slave 
 Oligarchy, through its unrepealed Slave Bill, undertakes to enslave our 
 
THIS ENTERPRISE MUST GO ON. 197 
 
 free soil, we can only turn for protection to a Public Opinion worthy 
 of a humane, just and religious people, which shall keep perpetual 
 guard over the liberties of all within our borders , nay more, which, like 
 the flaming sword of the cherubim at the gates of Paradise, turning on 
 every side, shall prevent any Slave-hunter from ever setting foot on our 
 sacred soil. Elsewhere he may pursue his human prey ; he may em 
 ploy his congenial blood-hounds, and exult in his successful game. But 
 into these domains of Freedom he must not come. And this Public 
 Opinion, with Freedom as its watchword, must proclaim not only the 
 overthrow of the Slave Bill, but also the overthrow of the Slave Oli 
 garchy behind, the two pressing duties of the North, essential to our 
 own emancipation ; and believe me, sir, while they remain undone, no 
 thing is done. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Mr. President, far already have I trespassed upon your generous 
 patience ; but there are other things which still press for utterance. 
 Something would I say of the arguments by which our Enterprise 
 is commended ; something also of the appeal it makes to men of 
 every condition ; and something also of union, as a vital necessity 
 among all who love Freedom. 
 
 I know not if our work can be soon accomplished. I know not, 
 sir, if you or I can live to see in our Republic the vows of the Fathers 
 at length fulfilled, as the last fetter falls from the limbs of the last slave. 
 But one thing I do know, beyond all doubt or question, that this Enter 
 prise must go on that in its irresistible current, it will sweep schools, 
 colleges, churches, the intelligence, the conscience, and the religious 
 aspirations of the land, while all who stand in its way or speak evil of 
 it, are laying up for their children, if not for themselves, days of sorrow 
 and shame. Better to strive in this cause, even unsuccessfully, than 
 never to strive at all. 
 
 There is no weapon in the celestial armory of truth ; there is no 
 sweet influence from the skies ; there is no generous word that ever 
 dropped from human lips, which may not be employed. Ours, too, is 
 the argument alike of the Conservative and the Reformer, for our course 
 stands on the truest conservatism and the truest reform. It seeks the 
 conservation of Freedom itself and of its kindred historic principles ; 
 it seeks also the reform of Slavery and of the kindred tyranny by which 
 it is upheld. Religion, morals, justice, economy, the Constitution, may 
 
198 INSCRIPTIONS ON ACHILLES SHIELD. 
 
 each and all be invoked ; and one person is touched by one argument, 
 while another person is touched by another. You do not forget how 
 Christopher Columbus won Isabella of Spain to his enterprise of dis 
 covery. He first presented to her the temptation of extending her do 
 minions ; but she hearkened not. He next promised to her the daz 
 zling wealth of the Indies ; and still she hearkened not. But when at 
 last was pictured to her pious imagination the poor heathen with souls 
 to be saved, then the youthful Queen poured her royal jewels into 
 the lap of the Genoese adventurer, and, at her expense, that small 
 fleet was sent forth which gave to Spain and to mankind a New World. 
 
 As in this enterprise there is a place for every argument, so also is 
 there a place for every man. Even as on the broad shield of Achilles, 
 sculptured by divine art, was wrought every form of human activity ; so 
 in this cause, which ib the very shield of Freedom, whatever man can 
 do by deed or speech, may find its place. One may act in one way, 
 and another in another way; but all must act. Providence is felt 
 through individuals ; the dropping of water wears away the rock ; and 
 no man can be so humble or poor as to be excused from this work, 
 while to all the happy in genius, fortune or fame, it makes a special ap 
 peal. Here is room for the strength of Luther, and the sweetness of 
 Melancthon ; for the wisdom of age, and the ardor of youth ; for the 
 judgment of the statesman, and the eloquence of the orator ; for the 
 grace of the scholar, and the aspiration of the poet ; for the learning 
 of the professor, and the skill of the lawyer ; for the exhortation of the 
 preacher, and the persuasion of the press ; for the various energy of the 
 citizen, and the abounding sympathy of woman. 
 
 And still one thing more is needed, without which Liberty-loving 
 men, and even their arguments, will fail in power even as without 
 chanty all graces of knowledge, speech and faith are said to profit noth 
 ing. I mean that Unity of Spirit in itself a fountain of strength 
 which, filling the people of the North, shall make them tread under foot 
 past antipathies, decayed dissensions, and those irritating names which 
 now exist only as the tattered ensigns of ancient strife. It is right to 
 be taught by the enemy ; and with their example before us and their 
 power brandished in our very faces, we cannot hesitate. With them 
 Slavery is made the main-spring of political life, and the absorbing cen 
 tre of political activity ; with them all differences are swallowed up by 
 this one idea, as all other rods were swallowed up by the rod of Aaron ; 
 with them all unite to keep the national government under the control 
 of slave-masters ; and surely we should not do less for Freedom than 
 
THE PRESS ON THE LECTURE. 199 
 
 they do for Slavery. We too must be united. Among us at last mutual 
 criticism, crimination, and feud must give place to mutual sympathy, 
 trust and alliance. Face to face against the SLAVE OLIGARCHY must be 
 rallied the UNITED MASSES of the North, in compact political as 
 sociation planted on the everlasting base of justice knit together by 
 the instincts of a common danger, and by the holy sympathies of hu 
 manity enkindled by a love of Freedom, not only for themselves, but 
 for others determined to enfranchise the national government from 
 degrading thraldom and constituting the BACKBONE PARTY, 
 powerful in numbers, wealth, and intelligence, but more powerful still 
 in an inspiring cause. Let this be done, and victory will be ours. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 We make some extracts from the press, and individuals 
 of distinction, which will indicate the impression left by 
 that address. The Tribune said : 
 
 Mr. Sumner s speech last night was the greatest rhetorical and logi 
 cal success of the year, and was most enthusiastically praised by the 
 largest audience yet gathered in New York to hear a lecture. 
 
 The interest was such that he was constrained, much 
 against his disposition, to repeat it in Brooklyn, as he was 
 afterwards at Niblo s Theatre in New York. In intro 
 ducing him to the Brooklyn audience, Mr. Beecher said : 
 
 I am to introduce to you a statesman who follows a long train of rep 
 resentatives and statesmen who were false to the North, false to liberty ; 
 then they made a complaint that there was no North ! It was because 
 the North lost faith in her recreant children. It lost faith in its trai 
 tors, and not in Liberty. Now, if the haughty Southerners wish to en 
 gage in any more conflict of this kind, I think they will have to find 
 some other than the speaker to-night, with whom to break a lance. I 
 do not wish merely to introduce to you the "Honorable Gentleman" 
 sent from Massachusetts as a United States Senator ; my wish is to do 
 better than that : I wish to introduce to you the man, CHARLES SUM- 
 NER. 
 
 After the repetition of the lecture at Niblo s, the Trib 
 une spoke thus : 
 
2OO COUNT GUROWSKI MR. SEWARD. 
 
 That a lecture should be repeated in New York is a rare occurrence. 
 That a lecture on Anti-Slavery should be repeated in New York, even 
 before a few despised fanatics, is an unparalleled occurrence. But that 
 an Anti-Slavery lecture should be expected, night after night, to suc 
 cessive multitudes, each more enthusiastic than the last, marks an epoch 
 and a revolution in popular feeling. It is an era in the history of lib 
 erty. Niblo s was crowded last evening, long before the hour of com 
 mencement. Hundreds stood through the three hours lecture. We 
 give a full report of the words, but only of the words. 
 
 The press of the country everywhere made unex 
 pectedly strong and favorable notices of the lecture, 
 and it was reprinted in hundreds of journals. In speak 
 ing of its delivery in Metropolitan Hall, the National 
 Era, at Washington, said : 
 
 Mr. SUMNER closed, as he had continued, amid loud and protracted 
 applause, especially at the point when he said that the Fugitive Slave 
 Bill must be made a dead letter. The audience seemed wild with 
 enthusiasm. Handkerchiefs waved from fair hands, and reporters 
 almost forgot their stolid unconcern. 
 
 Count GUROWSKI, writing from Brattleboro , Vt, in 
 his enthusiastic style, said : 
 
 I have just finished the reading of your admirable Oration. I am en 
 extase. I was near to cry. You have thrown the gauntlet once more 
 to the " Gentlemen from the South," bravely, decidedly, and pitilessly. 
 Don t be astonished if they shall send you, covered with laurels as you 
 are, to Coventry. This, undoubtedly, they will do. 
 
 Being invited to deliver the same address at Auburn, 
 and pressed so earnestly that he could not refuse, he 
 was introduced to the audience by Mr. SEWARD, in 
 these words : 
 
 Fellow-citizens : A dozen years ago I was honored by being chosen 
 to bring my neighbors residing here to the acquaintance of a statesman 
 of Massachusetts, who was then directing the last energies of an 
 illustrious life to the removal of the crime of human slavery from the 
 
REASONS AGAINST SECRECY IN THE SENATE. 201 
 
 soil of our beloved country a statesman whose course I had chosen 
 for my own guidance JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, the " old man eloquent." 
 He has ascended to heaven ; you and I yet remain in the field of toil and 
 duty ; and now, by a rare felicity, I have your instructions to present 
 to you another statesman of Massachusetts, he on whose shoulders the 
 mantle of the departed one has fallen, and who, more than any other 
 of the many great and virtuous citizens of his native Commonwealth, 
 illustrates the spirit of the teacher, whom, like us, he venerated and 
 loved so much, a companion and friend of my own public labors the 
 young " man eloquent," CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 * 
 
 On the 6th of April, 1853, Mr. CHASE, of Ohio, in 
 troduced a resolution against secrecy in the proceedings 
 of the Senate, which Mr. SUMNER supported in a brief 
 speech, in which he used the following language : 
 
 In the Constitution there is no injunction of secrecy on any of the 
 proceedings of the Senate ; nor is there any requirement of publicity. 
 To the Senate is left absolutely the determination of its rules of proceed 
 ings. In thus abstaining from all regulation of this matter the framers 
 of the Constitution have obviously regarded it as in all respects within 
 the discretion of the Senate, to be exercised from time to time as it 
 thinks best. 
 
 The Senate exercises three important functions : first ^ the legislative 
 or parliamentary power, wherein it acts concurrently with the House of 
 Representatives, as well as the President ; secondly, the power " to ad 
 vise and consent "to treaties with foreign countries in concurrence with 
 the President ; and, thirdly, the power " to advise and consent " to 
 nominations by the President to offices under the Constitution. I say 
 nothing of another, rarely called into exercise, the sole power to try 
 impeachments. 
 
 At the first organization of the Government the proceedings of the 
 Senate, whether in legislation or on treaties or on nominations, were 
 with closed doors. In this respect the legislative business and execu 
 tive business were conducted alike. This continued down to the second 
 session of the Third Congress, in 1794, when, in pursuance of a formal 
 
202 SPEECH IN FANEUIL HALL. 
 
 resolution, the galleries were allowed to be opened so long as the Sen 
 ate were engaged in their legislative capacity, unless in such cases as 
 might, in the opinion of the Senate, require secrecy ; and this rule has 
 continued ever since. Here was an exercise of the discretion of the 
 Senate, in obvious harmony with public sentiment and the spirit of our 
 institutions. 
 
 The change now proposed goes still further. It opens the doors on 
 all occasions, whether legislative or executive, except when specially 
 ordered otherwise. The Senator from South Carolina [Mr. Butler] says 
 that the Senate is a confidential body, and should be ready to receive 
 confidential communications from the President. But this will still be 
 the case if we adopt the resolution now under consideration. The 
 limitation proposed seems adequate to all exigencies, while the general 
 rule will be publicity. The Executive sessions with closed doors, shroud 
 ed from the public gaze and public criticism, constitute an exceptional 
 part of our system, too much in harmony with the proceedings of other 
 Governments less liberal in character. The genius of our institutions 
 requires publicity. The ancient Roman, who bade his architect so to 
 construct his house that his guests and all that he did could be seen by 
 the world, is a fit model for the American people. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Having been invited by the leaders of the Republican 
 party in Boston to address them on the great issues of 
 the times, Mr. SUMNER delivered in Faneuil Hall -No 
 vember 2, 1855 one of his powerful speeches upon the 
 usurpations of the Slave Oligarchy, which constitutes a 
 fine introduction to the grandest, perhaps, of all his 
 speeches, so soon to be delivered in the Senate, on THE 
 CRIME AGAINST KANSAS. He began by addressing these 
 words to the vast multitude that packed the old hall : 
 " Are you for Freedom, or are you for Slavery ? Under 
 which King, Bezonian, speak or die ! Are you for 
 Freedom, with its priceless blessings, or are you for 
 Slavery, with its countless wrongs and woes ? Are you 
 
HE ADDRESSES ONLY REPUBLICANS. 2O3 
 
 for God, or are you for the Devil ? " After the wild 
 shouts and screams of the assembly had subsided, he 
 said : 
 
 Fellow-citizens, I speak plainly; nor can words exhibiting the en 
 ormity of Slavery be too plain, whether it be regarded simply in the 
 legislative and judicial decisions by which it is upheld, or in the unques 
 tionable facts by which its character is revealed. It has been my fortune 
 latterly to see Slavery face to face in its own home, in the Slave States ; 
 and I take this early opportunity to offer my testimony to the open bar 
 barism which it sanctions. I have seen a human being knocked off at 
 auction on the steps of a court-house, and as the sale went on, com 
 pelled to open his mouth and show his teeth, like a horse ; I have been 
 detained in a stage-coach, that our driver might, in the phrase of the 
 country, "help lick a nigger;" and I have been constrained, at a 
 public table, to witnesss the revolting spectacle of a poor slave, yet a 
 child, almost felled to the floor by a blow on the head from a clinched fist. 
 Such incidents were not calculated to shake my original convictions. 
 The distant slave-holder, who, in generous solicitude for that truth which 
 makes for freedom, feared that, like a certain Doctor of Divinity, I 
 might, under the influence of personal kindness, be hastily swayed from 
 these convictions, may be assured that I saw nothing to change them in 
 one tittle, but to confirm them ; while I was entirely satisfied that here in 
 Massachusetts, where all read, the true character of Slavery is better 
 known than in the Slave States themselves, where ignorance and pre 
 judice close the avenues of knowledge. 
 
 And now, grateful for the attention with which you honor me, I ven 
 ture to hope that you are assembled honestly to hear the truth ; not to 
 gratify prejudice, to appease personal antipathies, or to indulge a mor 
 bid appetite for excitement ; but with candor and your best discrimina 
 tion, to weigh facts and arguments in order to determine the course of 
 duty. I address myself particularly to the friends of Freedom the 
 Republicans on whose invitation I appear to-night, but I make bold 
 to ask you of other parties, who now listen, to divest yourselves for the 
 time, of partisan constraint to forget for the moment that you are 
 Whigs or Democrats, or how you are called, and to remember only that 
 you are men, with hearts to feel, with heads to understand, and with 
 consciences to guide. Then only will you be in a condition to receive 
 the truth. " If men are not aware of the probable bias of party over 
 
2O4 THE QUESTION NATIONAL AND LOCAL. 
 
 them, then they are so much the more likely to be blindly governed by 
 it." Such is the wise remark of Wilberforce ; and I fear that among us 
 there are too many who are unconsciously governed by such bias. 
 There are men, who, while professing candor, yet show that the bitter 
 ness of party has entered into their whole character and lives, as the 
 bitterness of the soil in Sardinia is said to appear even in its honey. 
 
 At this election we do not choose a President of the United States, 
 or member of Congress ; but a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, At 
 torney-General, and other State officers. To a superficial observer, the 
 occasion seems to be rather local than national ; it seems to belong to 
 State affairs rather than Federal to Massachusetts rather than to the 
 Unioa. And yet, such are our relations to the Union such is the sol 
 idarity of these confederate States so are we all knit together as a 
 Plural Unit, that the great question which now disturbs and over 
 shadows the whole country, becomes at once national and local, ad 
 dressing itself alike to the whole Republic and to each constituent part. 
 Freedom in Kansas, and our own Freedom here at home, are both 
 assailed. They must be defended. There are honorable responsibili 
 ties belonging to Massachusetts, as an early and constant vindicator of 
 Freedom, which she cannot renounce. " If the trumpet give an uncer 
 tain sound,, who shall prepare himself for the battle?" The distant 
 emigrant the whole country awaits the voice of our beloved Com 
 monwealth in answer to the question, Are you for Freedom or are you 
 for Slavery ? So transcendent, so exclusive, so all-absorbing at the 
 present juncture is this question, that it is vain to speak of the position 
 of candidates on other things. To be doubtful on this is to be wrong ; 
 and to be wrong on this is to be wholly wrong. Passing strange it is 
 that here in Massachusetts, in this nineteenth century, we should be 
 constrained to put this question. Passing strange, that when it is put, 
 there should be any hesitation to answer it, by voice and vote, in such 
 way as to speak the loudest for Freedom. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 At the period of the Declaration of Independence, upwards of half 
 a million colored persons were held as chattels in the United States. 
 These unhappy people were originally stolen from Africa, or were the 
 children of those who had been stolen, and, though distributed through 
 out the whole country, were to be found chiefly in the Southern States. 
 
OLD ABOLITIONISM IN MASSACHUSETTS. 20$ 
 
 The Slavery to which they were reduced was simply a continuation of 
 the violence by which they had been originally robbed of their rights, 
 and was of course as indefensible. The fathers of the Republic, lead 
 ers of the war of Independence, were struck with the inconsistency of 
 an appeal for their own liberties while holding in bondage fellow-men 
 only " guilty of a skin not colored like their own." The same con 
 viction animated the hearts of the people, whether at the North or 
 South. Out of ample illustrations, I select one which specially reveals 
 this conviction, and possesses a local interest in this community. It is 
 a deed of manumission, made after our struggles had begun, and pre 
 served in the Probate records of the County of Suffolk. Here it is : 
 
 " Know all men by these presents, that I, JONATHAN JACKSON, of 
 Newburyport, in the county of Essex, gentleman, in consideration of the 
 impropriety I feel, and have long felt, in beholding any person in constant 
 bondage more especially at a time when my country is so warmly con 
 tending for the liberty every man ought to enjoy and having some time 
 since promised my negro man, POMP, that I would give him his freedom, 
 and in further consideration of five shillings, paid me by said POMP, I do 
 hereby liberate, manumit, and set him free ; and I do hereby remise 
 and release unto said POMP, all demands of whatever nature I have 
 against said POMP. 
 
 "In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 
 nineteenth June, 1776. 
 
 "JONATHAN JACKSON. [Seal] 
 
 " Witness, Mary Coburn, William Noyes." 
 
 Such was the general spirit. Public opinion found free vent in every 
 channel. By the literature of the time by the voice of the Church, 
 and by the solemn judgment of the College, Slavery was condemned, 
 while all the grandest names of our history were arrayed openly against 
 it. Of these I might dwell on many ; but I am always pleased to men 
 tion an illustrious triumvirate from whose concurring testimony there 
 can be no appeal. There was Washington, who at one time declared 
 that " it was among his first wishes to see some plan adopted by which 
 Slavery might be abolished by law," and then at another, that to this 
 end " his suffrage should not be wanting." There also was Jefferson, 
 who by early and precocious efforts for "total emancipation," placed 
 himself foremost among the Abolitionists of the land perpetually de 
 nouncing Slavery exposing the pernicious influences upon the master, 
 as well as the Slave declaring that the love of justice and the love of 
 country pleaded equally for the Slave, and that " the abolition of do 
 mestic Slavery was the greatest object of desire." There also was the 
 
2O6 THE CONSTITUTION ORDAINED FOR FREEDOM. 
 
 venerable patriot, Benjamin Franklin, who did not hesitate to liken the 
 American master of black Slaves to the Algerine corsair with his white 
 Slaves, and who, as President of the earliest Abolition Society the same 
 of which Passmore Williamson is now the honored Secretary by solemn 
 petition, called upon Congress " to step to the very verge of the power 
 vested in it to discourage every species of traffic in the persons of our 
 fellow-men." Thus completely, by this triumvirate of Freedom, was 
 Slavery condemned, and the power of the Government invoked against it. 
 
 By such men, and in such spirit, was the National Constitution 
 framed. 
 
 The emphatic words of the Declaration of Independence, which our 
 country took upon its lips as baptismal vows, when it claimed a place 
 among the nations of the earth, were not forgotten. The preamble to 
 the Constitution renews them, when it declares the object of the people 
 of the United States to be, among other things, " to establish justice, to 
 promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty to 
 ourselves and posterity." Thus, according to undeniable words, the 
 Constitution was ordained, not to establish, secure or sanction slavery 
 not to promote the special interest of slave-masters, bound togethei 
 in oligarchical combination not to make Slavery national in any way, 
 form or manner ; but to " establish justice," which condemns Slavery 
 "to promote the general welfare," which repudiates every Oligarchy 
 and " to secure the blessings of liberty," in whose presence human 
 bondage must cease. Early in the Convention, Gouverneur Morris 
 broke forth in the language of an Abolitionist : " He never would con 
 cur in upholding domestic Slavery. It was a nefarious institution. It 
 was the curse of Heaven." In another mood, and with mild juridical 
 phrase, Mr. Madison, himself a slaveholder, " thought it wrong to ad 
 mit in the Constitution the idea of property in man." The discredita 
 ble words, Slave and Slavery, were not allowed to find a place in the 
 instrument, while a clause was subsequently added by way of amend 
 ment, and, therefore, according to the rules of interpretation, particu 
 larly revealing the sentiments of the founders, which is calculated, like 
 the Declaration of Independence, if practically applied, to carry Free 
 dom everywhere within the sphere of its influence. It was specifically 
 declared that " no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, 
 without due process of law" that is, without due presentment, indict 
 ment or other formal judicial proceedings. Here is an express guard 
 of personal Liberty, and a prohibition of Slavery everywhere within the 
 national jurisdiction. 
 
HORACE MANN IN CONGRESS. 2O/ 
 
 In this spirit was the National Constitution adopted. In this spirit 
 the National Government was first organized under Washington. And 
 here there is a fact of peculiar significance, well worthy of perpetual 
 memory. At the time this great chief took his first oath to support the 
 Constitution of the United States, the National Ensign nowhere within 
 the National Territory covered a single slave. On the sea, an exe 
 crable piracy, the trade in slaves, was still, to the national scandal, tole 
 rated, beneath the national flag. In the States, as a sectional institu 
 tion, beneath the shelter of local laws, Slavery, unhappily, found a home. 
 But in the only territories at this time belonging to the Nation the 
 broad region of the North-West it had already, by the Ordinance of 
 Freedom, been made impossible, even before the adoption of the Con 
 stitution. The District of Columbia, with its Fated Dowry, had not 
 yet been acquired. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 The actual number of slaveholders in the country was for a long time 
 unknown, and, on this account, was naturally exaggerated. It was 
 often represented to be very great. On one occasion, a distinguished 
 Representative from Massachusetts, whose name will be ever cherished 
 for his devotion to Human Rights, the Hon. Horace Mann, was rudely 
 interrupted on the floor of Congress by a member from Alabama, who 
 averred that the number of slaveholders was as many as three millions. 
 At that time there was no official document by which this assumption 
 could be corrected. But at last we have it. The late census, taken in 
 1850, shows that the whole number of this peculiar class embracing 
 men, women and children, all told, who are so unfortunate as to hold 
 slaves was only three hundred and forty-seven thousand ; and, of this 
 number, the larger part are small slaveholders, leaving only ninety- 
 two thousand persons as the owners of the great mass of slaves, and 
 as the substantial representatives of this class. And yet this small 
 company sometimes called the Slave Power, or Black Power, better 
 called the Slave Oligarchy now dominates over the Republic, deter 
 mines its national policy, disposes of its offices, and sways all to its 
 absolute will. Yes, fellow-citizens, it is an Oligarchy odious beyond 
 precedent ; heartless, grasping, tyrannical ; careless of humanity, right 
 or the Constitution ; wanting that foundation of justice which is the 
 essential base of every civilized community ; stuck together only by 
 
208 WHAT THE SLAVE OLIGARCHY APPROPRIATES. 
 
 confederacy in spoliation ; and constituting in itself a magnum latroci- 
 nium ; while it degrades the Free States to the condition of a slave plan 
 tation, under the lash of a vulgar, despised and revolting overseer. 
 
 There is nothing in the National Government which the Slave Oligar 
 chy does not appropriate. It entered into and possessed both the old 
 political parties, Whig and Democrat as witness their servile resolu 
 tions at Baltimore making them one in subserviency, though double 
 in form ; and renewing in them the mystery of the Siamese twins, which, 
 though separate in body and different in name, were constrained, by an 
 unnatural ligament, to a community of exertion. It now holds the keys 
 of every office, from that of President down to the humblest Postmaster, 
 compelling all to do its bidding. It organizes the Cabinet. It directs 
 the Army and Navy. It manages every department of public business. 
 It presides over the census. It controls the Smithsonian Institution, 
 founded by the generous charity of a foreigner, to promote the interests 
 of knowledge. It subsidizes the national press, alike in the national 
 capital and in the remotest village of the North. It sits in the chair of 
 the President of the Senate, and also in the chair of the Speaker of the 
 House. It arranges the Committees of both bodies, placing at their 
 head only the servitors of Slavery, and excluding therefrom the friends 
 of Freedom, though entitled to such places by their character and the 
 States they represent ; and thus it controls the legislation of the country. 
 
 In maintaining its power, the Slave Oligarchy has applied a test for 
 office very different from that of Jefferson, "Is he honest? Is he capa 
 ble ? Is he faithful to the Constitution ? " These things are all forgot 
 ten now in the single question, "Is he faithful to Slavery?" With 
 arrogant ostracism it excludes from every national office all who cannot, 
 respond to this test. So complete and irrational has this tyranny be 
 come, that at this moment, while I now speak, could Washington, or 
 Jefferson, or Franklin, once more descend from their spheres above, to 
 mingle in our affairs and bless us with their wisdom, not one of them, 
 with his recorded, unretr acted opinions on Slavery could receive a nomi 
 nation for the Presidency from either of the political parties calling 
 themselves national ; nor, stranger still, could either of these sainted 
 patriots, whose names alone open a perpetual fountain of gratitude in 
 all your hearts, be confirmed by the Senate of the United States for any 
 political function whatever, not even for the office of Postmaster. What 
 I now say, amidst your natural astonishment, I have often said before 
 in addressing the people, and more than once uttered from my seat in 
 the Senate, and no man there has made answer, for no man who sat in 
 
INFERIORITY OF SLAVE STATES. 2OQ 
 
 its secret sessions, and there learned the test which is practically ap 
 plied, could make answer ; and I ask you to accept this statement as 
 my testimony, derived from the experience of four years which has been 
 my lot under the commission which I have received from our honored 
 Commonwealth. Yes, fellow-citizens, had this test prevailed in the 
 earlier days, Washington first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts 
 of his countrymen could not have been created generalissimo of the 
 American forces ; Jefferson could not have taken his place on the Com 
 mittee to draft the Declaration of Independence ; and Franklin could 
 not have gone forth to France, with the commission of the infant Re 
 public, to secure the invaluable alliance of that ancient kingdom. 
 
 All tyranny, like murder, is foul at the best ; but this is most foul, 
 strange and unnatural, when it is considered that the States which are 
 the home of the Slave Oligarchy are far inferior to the Free States in 
 population, wealth, education, schools, churches, libraries, manufactures 
 and resources of all kinds. By the last census, there was in the Free 
 States a solid population of freemen, amounting to upwards of thirteen 
 millions, while in the Slave States there was a like population of only 
 six millions. In other respects, important to civilization, the disparity 
 was as great. And yet, from the beginning, they have taken to them 
 selves the lion s share among the honors and trusts of the Republic. 
 But without exposing the game of political " sweepstakes " which the 
 Slave Oligarchy has perpetually played interesting as it \vould be I 
 prefer to hold up for one moment the assumptions, aggressions and 
 usurpations by which, in defiance of the Constitution, it has made 
 Slavery national, when it is, in reality, sectional. 
 
 Early in this century, when the District of Columbia was fiually oc 
 cupied as the National Capital, the Slave Oligarchy succeeded, in 
 defiance of the spirit of the Constitution, and even of the express let 
 ter of one of its amendments, in securing for Slavery, within the 
 District, the countenance of the National Government. Until then 
 Slavery had existed nowhere on the land within the reach and exclusive 
 jurisdiction of this Government. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy next secured for Slavery another recognition 
 under the National Government, in the broad territory of Louisiana, 
 purchased from France. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy next placed Slavery again under the sanction of 
 the National Government, in the territory of Florida, purchased from 
 Spain. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy, waxinj powerful, wa; able,, after a severe strug- 
 
2IO USURPATIONS OF SLAVERY. 
 
 gle, to dictate terms to the National Government, in the Missouri Com 
 promise, compelling it to receive that State into the Union with a 
 slave-holding Constitution. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy instigated and carried on a most expensive war 
 in Florida, mainly to recover fugitive slaves, thus degrading the army of 
 the United States to be Slave-hunters. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy wrested from Mexico the Province of Texas, 
 and, triumphing over all opposition, finaHy secured its admission into 
 the Union, with a Constitution making Slavery perpetual. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy plunged the country in war with Mexico, in 
 order to gain new lands for Slavery. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy, with the meanness as well as the insolence of 
 tyranny, has compelled the National Government to abstain from 
 acknowledging the neighbor republic of Hayti, where slaves have 
 become freemen, and established an independent nation. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy has compelled the National Government to 
 .-stoop ignobly before the British Queen, to secure compensation for 
 .-slaves, who, in the exercise of the natural rights of man, had asserted 
 .and .achieved their freedom on the Atlantic Ocean, and afterwards 
 sought shelter in Bermuda. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy has compelled the National Government to 
 :seek to negotiate treaties for the surrender of fugitive slaves, thus 
 .making our Republic assert abroad, in foreign lands, property in 
 , human flesh. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy has joined in declaring the foreign slave-trade 
 piracy, but insists on the coastwise slave-trade, under the auspices of 
 ;the National Government. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy for several years rejected the petitions to Con- 
 ; gress adverse to Slavery, thus, in order to shield this wrong, practically 
 .denying the right of petition. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy, in defiance of the privileges secured under the 
 * Constitution of the. United States, imprisons the free colored citizens 
 . of Massachusetts, and sometimes sells them into bondage. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy insulted and exiled from Charleston and New 
 Orleans the honored representatives of Massachusetts, who were sent 
 to those places with the commission of the Commonwealth, in order 
 to throw the shield of the Constitution over her colored citizens. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy has, by the pen of Mr. Calhoun, as Secretary 
 of State, in formal despatches, made the Republic stand before the 
 .nations of the earth as the vindicator of Slavery. 
 
EVERY DEMAND OF SLAVERY CONCEDED. 2.1 1 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy has put forth the hideous effrontery that Slavery 
 can go to all newly acquired territories, and enjoy the protection of the 
 National Flag. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy has imposed upon the country an Act of Con 
 gress, for the recovery of fugitive slaves, revolting in its mandates, and 
 many times unconstitutional ; especially on two grounds, first, as a 
 usurpation by Congress of powers not granted by the Constitution, 
 and an infraction of rights secured to the States ; and secondly, as a 
 denial of Trial by Jury, in a question of Personal Liberty, and a suit 
 at common law. 
 
 The Slave Oligarchy, in defiance of the declared desires of the 
 Fathers to limit and discourage Slavery, has successively introduced 
 into the Union, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, 
 Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas, as slave-holding States, 
 thus, at each stage fortifying its political power, and making the 
 National Government give new sanction to Slavery. 
 
 Such, fellow-citizens, are some of the assumptions, aggressions and 
 usurpations of the Slave Oligarchy ! By such steps the National 
 Government has been perverted from its original purposes, its 
 character changed, and its powers all surrendered to Slavery. Surely, 
 no patriot soul can listen to this recital without confessing that our 
 first political duty is, at all hazards and without compromise, to oppose 
 this Oligarchy, to dislodge it from the National Government, and to 
 bring the administration back to that character which it enjoyed when 
 first organized under Washington, himself an Abolitionist, and sur 
 rounded by Abolitionists, while the whole country, by its Church, its 
 Colleges, its Literature, and all its best voices, was united against 
 Slavery, and the National Flag nowhere within the national territory 
 covered a single slave. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, I have said enough to stir you ; but this humiliating 
 tale is not yet finished. An Oligarchy seeking to maintain an outrage 
 like Slavery, and drawing its inspirations from this fountain of wicked 
 ness, is naturally base, false and heedless of justice. It is vain to ex 
 pect that men who have screwed themselves to become the propagan 
 dists of this enormity, will be constrained by any compromise, compact, 
 bargain or plighted faith. As the less is contained in the greater, so 
 
212 THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE ABOLISHED. 
 
 there is no vileness of dishonesty, no denial of human rights, that is 
 not plainly involved in the support of an enormity which begins by 
 changing man, created in the image of God, into a chattel, and sweeps 
 little children away to the auction-block. A power which Heaven 
 never gave, can be maintained only by means which Heaven can never 
 sanction. And this conclusion of reason is confirmed by late experience ; 
 and here I approach the special question under which the country now 
 shakes from side to side. The protracted struggle of 1820, known as 
 the Missouri Question, ended with the admission of Missouri as a slave- 
 holding State, and the prohibition of Slavery in all the remaining terri 
 tory West of the Mississippi and North of 36 30 . Here was a 
 solemn act of legislation, called at the time a compromise, a covenant, 
 a compact, first brought forward by the Slave Oligarchy vindicated by 
 it in debate finally sanctioned by its votes, also upheld at the time by 
 a slave-holding President, James Monroe, and his cabinet of whom a 
 majority were slaveholders, including Mr. Calhoun himself and made 
 the condition of the admission of Missouri without which that State 
 could not have been received into the Union. Suddenly, during the 
 last year without any notice in the public press or the prayer of a 
 single petition after an acquiescence of thirty-three years, and the 
 irreclaimable possession by the Slave Oligarchy of its special share in 
 the provisions of this Compromise in violation of every obligation of 
 honor, compact and good neighborhood and in contemptuous disre 
 gard of the out-gushing sentiments of an aroused North, this time- 
 honored Prohibition, in itself a Landmark of Freedom, was overturned, 
 and the vast region, now known as Kansas and Nebraska, was opened 
 to Slavery ; and this was done under the disgraceful lead of Northern 
 politicians, and with the undisguised complicity of a Northern Presi 
 dent, forgetful of Freedom, forgetful also of his reiterated pledges, that 
 during his administration the repose of the country should receive no 
 shock. 
 
 And all this was perpetrated under pretences of popular rights. 
 Freedom was betrayed by a kiss. In defiance of an uninterrupted 
 prescription down to our day early sustained at the South as well as 
 the North leaning at once on Jefferson and Washington sanctioned 
 by all the authoritative names of our history, and beginning with the 
 great Ordinance by which Slavery was prohibited in the North-West 
 it was pretended that the people of the United States, who are the pro 
 prietors of the national domain, and who, according to the Constitu 
 tion, may " make all needful rules and regulations " for its government^ 
 
OUTRAGES IN KANSAS. 213 
 
 i 
 
 nevertheless were not its sovereigns that they had no power to inter 
 dict Slavery there ; but that this eminent dominion resided in the few 
 settlers, called squatters, whom chance, or a desire to better their for 
 tunes, first hurried into these places. To this precarious handful, 
 sprinkled over immense spaces, it was left, without any constraint from 
 Congress, to decide, whether into these vast, unsettled lands, as into 
 the veins of an infant, should be poured the festering poison of Slavery, 
 destined, as time advances, to show itself in cancers and leprous 
 disease, or whether they should be filled with all the glowing life of 
 Freedom. And this great power, transferred from Congress to these 
 few settlers, was hailed by the new-fangled name of Squatter Sov 
 ereignty. 
 
 It was fit that the original outrage perpetrated under such pretences, 
 should be followed by other outrages perpetrated in defiance of these 
 pretences. In the race of emigration, the freedom-loving freemen of 
 the North promised to obtain the ascendency, and in the exercise of 
 the conceded sovereignty of the settlers, to prohibit Slavery. The Slave 
 Oligarchy was aroused to other efforts. Of course it stuck at nothing. 
 On the day of election when this vaunted popular sovereignty was first 
 invoked, hirelings from Missouri, having no home in the territory, en 
 tered it in bands of fifties and hundreds, and assuming an electoral 
 franchise to which they had no claim, trampled under foot the Consti 
 tution and laws. Violently, ruthlessly, the polls were possessed by these 
 invaders. The same Northern President, who did not shrink from un 
 blushing complicity in the original outrage, now assumed another com 
 plicity. Though prompt to lavish the Treasury, the Army and the 
 Navy of the Republic in hunting a single slave through the streets of 
 Boston, he could see the Constitution and laws, which he was sworn to 
 protect, and those popular rights which he had affected to promote, all 
 struck down in Kansas, and then give new scope to these invaders by 
 the removal of the faithful Governor, who had become obnoxious to 
 the Slave Oligarchy because he would not become its tool, and the 
 substitution of another, who vindicated the dishonest choice by making 
 haste, on his first arrival there, to embrace the partisans of Slavery. 
 The legislature, which was constituted by the overthrow of the electoral 
 franchise, proceeded to overthrow every safeguard of Freedom. At one 
 swoop it adopted all the legislation of Missouri, including its Slave 
 Code ; by another act it. imposed unprecedented conditions upon the 
 exercise of the electoral franchise, and by still another act it denounced 
 foe punishment of death no less than five times against as many different 
 
214 TO BUILD ANOTHER SLAVE STATE. 
 
 forms of interference with the alleged property in human flesh, while all 
 who only write or speak against Slavery are adjudged to be felons, 
 Yes, fellow-citizens, should any person there presume to print or circu 
 late the speech in which I now express my abhorrence of Slavery, and 
 deny its constitutional existence anywhere within the national jurisdic 
 tion, he would become liable under this act as a felon. And this over 
 throw of all popular rights is done in the name of Popular Sovereignty. 
 Surely its authors follow well the example of the earliest Squatter Sove 
 reignnone other than Satan who, stealing into Eden, was there dis 
 covered, by the celestial angels, just beginning his work; as Milton 
 tells us, 
 
 " him there they found 
 
 Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve." 
 
 Would you know the secret of this unprecedented endeavor, begin 
 ning with the repeal of the Prohibition of Slavery down to the latest 
 atrocity ? The answer is at hand. It is not merely to provide new 
 markets for Slaves, or even to guard Slavery in Missouri, but to build 
 another Slave State, and thus, by the presence of two additional slave- 
 holding Senators, to give increased preponderance to the Slave Oligar 
 chy in the National Government. As men are murdered for the sake 
 of their money, so is this territory blasted in peace and prosperity, in 
 order to wrest its political influence to the side of Slavery. 
 
 XL. 
 
 But a single usurpation is not enough to employ the rapacious ener 
 gies of our Oligarchy. At this moment, while the country is pained by 
 the heartless conspiracy against Freedom in Kansas, we are startled by 
 another effort, which contemplates, not merely the political subjugation 
 of the National Government, but the actual introduction of Slavery into 
 the Free States. The vaunt has been made, that slaves will yet be 
 counted in the secret shadow of the monument on Bunker Hill, and 
 more than one step has been taken towards this effrontery. A person 
 of Virginia has asserted his right to hold slaves in New York on the 
 way to Texas ; and this claim is still pending before the highest judicial 
 tribunal of the land. A similar claim has been asserted in Pennsyl 
 vania, and thus far been sustained by the court. A blameless citizen, 
 who in obedience to his generous impulses and in harmony with the 
 received law merely gave notice to a person held as a slave in a Free 
 
PROSTRATION OF THE SLAVE OLIGARCHY. 215 
 
 State, that she was in reality free, has been thrust into jail, and now, 
 after the lapse of months, still languishes there, the victim of this pre 
 tension ; while, that no excess might be wanting in the madness of this 
 tyranny the great writ of Habeas Corpus, proudly known as the writ 
 of deliverance, has been made the instrument of his imprisonment. 
 Outrage treads upon outrage, and great rights pass away to perish. 
 Alas! the needful tool for such work is too easily found in places low 
 and high in the alleys and cellars of Boston on the bench of the judge 
 in the chair of the President. But it is the power behind which I 
 arraign. The Slave Oligarchy does it ; the Slave Oligarchy does it all. 
 To the prostration of this Oligarchy you are bound by a three-fold 
 cord of duty ; first, as you would secure Freedom for yourselves ; 
 secondly, as you would uphold Freedom in distant Kansas ; and thirdly, 
 as you would preserve the Union in its early strength and integrity. 
 The people of Kansas are, many of them, from Massachusetts bone 
 of our bone, flesh of our flesh ; but as fellow-citizens under the Con 
 stitution, they are bound to us by ties which we cannot disown. Nay, 
 more ; by the subtle cord which connects this embryo settlement with 
 the Republic, they are made a part of us. The outrage which touches 
 them touches us. What galls them galls us. The fetter which binds 
 the slave in Kansas binds every citizen in Massachusetts. Thus are 
 we prompted to their rescue, not only to save them, but also to save 
 ourselves. The tyranny which now treads them down, has already 
 trampled on us, and only awaits an opportunity to do it again. In its 
 complete overthrow is the only way of safety. Indeed, this must be 
 done before anything else can be done. In vain you seek economy in 
 the Government improvement of rivers and harbors or dignity and 
 peace in our foreign relations, while this power holds the national purse 
 and the national sword. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, and the door 
 will be wide open for all generous reforms. Oh ! the imagination loses 
 itself in the vain endeavor to picture the good that will be then accom 
 plished. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, and Liberty will become the 
 universal law of all the national territories ; Slavery will cease at once 
 in the national capital ; the slave trade will no longer skulk along our 
 coasts beneath the national flag ; and the wickedness of the Fugitive 
 Slave Bill will be driven from the statute-book. Prostrate the Slave 
 Oligarchy, and the national Government will be at length divorced from 
 Slavery, and the national policy will be changed from Slavery to Free 
 dom. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, and the North will no longer be 
 the vassal of the South. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, and the North 
 
2l6 WEDDED TO FREEDOM. 
 
 will be admitted to its just share in the trusts and honors of the Repub 
 lic. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, and you will possess the master-key 
 with which to unlock the whole house of bondage. Prostrate the Slave 
 Oligarchy, and the gates of emancipation will be open at the South. 
 
 To this work, fellow-citizens, you are now summoned. By yoiu 
 votes you are to declare, not merely your predilection for men, but 
 your devotion to principles. Men are erring and mortal. Principles 
 are steadfast and immortal. Forgetting all other things especially 
 forgetting men you are to cast your votes so as best to promote Free 
 dom. 
 
 But in the choice of men we are driven to the organization of parties ; 
 and here occurs the practical question on which hinges our immediate 
 duty, by what political party can our desire be accomplished ? There 
 are individuals in all the parties, even the Democratic, who hate Slavery, 
 and say so ; but a political party cannot be judged by the private opin 
 ions of some of its members. Something else, more solid and tangible, 
 must appear. The party that we select to bear the burden and honor 
 of our great controversy, must be adapted to the work. It must be a 
 perfect machine. Wedded to Freedom, for better or for worse, and 
 cleaving to it with a grasp never to be unloosed, it must be clear, open 
 and unequivocal in its declarations, and must admit no other question to 
 divert its energies. It must be all in Freedom, and, like Caesar s wife, 
 it must be above suspicion. But besides this character which it must 
 sustain in Massachusetts, it must be prepared to take its place in close 
 phalanx with the united masses of the North, now organizing through 
 all the Free States, junctazque umbone phalanges, for the protection of 
 Freedom, and the overthrow of the Slave Oligarchy. 
 
 Bearing these conditions in mind, there are three parties which we 
 may dismiss, one by one, as they pass in review. Men do not gather 
 grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles ; nor do they expect patriotism 
 from Benedict Arnold. A party which sustains the tyrannies and per 
 fidies of the Slave Oligarchy, and is represented by the President, 
 through whom has come so much of all our woe, need not occupy our 
 time ; and such is the Democratic party. If there be within the sound 
 of my voice a single person, who, professing sympathy with Freedom, 
 still votes with this party, to him I would say : The name of Democrat 
 is a tower of strength ; let it not be a bulwark of Slavery; for the sake 
 of a name do not sacrifice a thing ; for the sake of party do not sur 
 render Freedom. 
 
 According to a familiar rule, handed down from distant antiquity, we 
 
THE RIP VAN WINKLE WHIGS. 2 1/ 
 
 are to say nothing but good of the dead. How, then, shall I speak of 
 the late powerful Whig party by whose giant contests the whole country 
 was once upheaved but which has now ceased to exist, except as the 
 shadow of a name ? Here, in Massachusetts, a few who do not yet 
 know that it is dead, have met together and proffered their old allegiance. 
 They are the Rip Van Winkles of our politics. This respectable char 
 ter, falling asleep in the mountains, drowsed undisturbed throughout the 
 whole war of the Revolution, and, then returning to his native village, 
 ignorant of all that had passed, proposed to drink the health of King 
 George. But our Whigs are less tolerant and urbane than this awakened 
 Dutchman. In petulant and irrational assumptions they are like the 
 unfortunate judge, who, being aroused from his slumbers on the bench 
 by a sudden crash of thunder, exclaimed, " Mr. Crier, stop the noise in 
 Court." The thunder would not be hushed ; nor will the voice of Free 
 dom, now reverberating throughout the land. Some there are among 
 these who openly espouse the part of Slavery, while others, by their 
 indifference, place themselves in the same unhappy company. If their 
 position at this moment were of sufficient importance to justify grave 
 remark, they should be exhibited as kindred in spirit and isolation to the 
 Tories of our Revolution, or, at least, as the Bourbons of Massachu 
 setts always claiming everything, learning nothing, forgetting nothing, 
 and at last condemned by an aroused people for their disloyalty to 
 Freedom. Let no person who truly loves Freedom join this company, 
 tempted by its name, its music, and its banners. 
 
 There is still another party, which claims your votes, but permit me 
 to say, at this crisis, with small pretence. I am at a loss to determine 
 the name by which it may be properly called. It is sometimes known 
 as the Know-Nothing party ; sometimes as the American party ; but it 
 cannot be entitled to these designations if they be of any value for it 
 does not claim to belong to the organization, which first assumed and 
 still retains them. It is an isolated combination, peculiar to Massachu 
 setts, which, while professing certain political sentiments, is bound 
 together by the support of one of the candidates for Governor. At this 
 moment this is its controlling idea. It is, therefore, a personal party, 
 and I trust that I shall not be considered as departing from that courtesy 
 which is with me a law, if I say that, in the absence of any appropriate 
 name, expressive of principles, it may properly take its designation 
 from the candidate it supports. 
 
 Of course, such a party wants the first ess ential condition of the or 
 ganization which we seek. It is a personal party, whose controlling ide?i 
 
2l8 THE GREAT PHALANX NOW RALLYING. 
 
 is a predilection for a man and not a principle. Whatever may be the 
 private sentiments of some of its members, clearly it is not a party 
 wedded to Freedom, for better and for worse, and cleaving to it with a 
 grasp never to be unloosed. While professing opposition to Slavery it 
 also arraigns Catholics and foreigners, and allows the question of their 
 privileges to disturb its energies. It is not all in Freedom ; nor is it, 
 like Ciesar s wife, above suspicion. Besides, even as a party of Free 
 dom, it is powerless from its isolation ; *br it stands by itself, and is in 
 no way associated with that great phalanx now rallying throughout the 
 North. In this condition should it continue to exist, it will, in the 
 coming Presidential contest, from natural affinity lapse back into the 
 American party of the country which is ranged on the side of Slavery. 
 Of course, as a separate party, it is necessarily short-lived. Cut off 
 from the main body, it may still show a brief vitality, as the head of a 
 turtle still bites for some days after it is severed from the neck : but it 
 can have no permanent existence. Surely this is not the party of 
 Freedom which we seek. 
 
 But the incompetency of this party, as the organ of our cause, is 
 enhanced by the uncongenial secrecy in which it had its origin and yet 
 shrouds itself. For myself, let me say that, on the floor of the Senate I 
 have striven, by vote and speech, in conjunction with my distinguished 
 friend Mr. CHASE, for the limitation of the secret sessions of that body, 
 under shelter of which so much of the business of the nation is trans 
 acted, and I have there presented the example of that ancient Roman, 
 who bade his architect so to construct his house that his guests and 
 all that they did might be seen by the world, as a fit model for Ameri 
 can institutions. What I have urged there I now urge here. But the 
 special aims which this party proposes, seems to be in harmony with 
 the darkness in which it begins. Even if justifiable, on any grounds of 
 public policy, they should not be associated with our cause ; but I am 
 unwilling to allude to them without expressing my frank dissent. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 It is proposed to attaint men for their religion and also for their birth. 
 If this object can prevail, vain are the triumphs of Civil Freedom in its 
 many hard-fought fields ; vain is that religious toleration which we all 
 profess. The fires of Smithfield, the tortures of the Inquisition, the 
 proscriptions of non-conformists, may all be revived. It was mainly 
 
NO CHECK ON EMIGRATION. 219 
 
 to escape these outrages, dictated by a dominant religious sect, that our 
 country was early settled, in one place by Quakers, who set at naught 
 all forms ; in another, by Puritans, who disowne d bishops ; in another, 
 by Episcopalians, who take their name from bishops ; and in yet another 
 by Catholics, who look to the Pope as their Spiritual Father. Slowly 
 among the struggling sects was evolved the great idea of the Equality 
 of all men before the law without regard to religious belief ; nor can 
 any party now organize a proscription merely for religious belief, with 
 out calling in question this unquestionable principle. 
 
 But Catholics are mostly foreigners, and, on this account, are con 
 demned. Let us see if there be any reason in this ; and here indulge 
 me with one word on foreigners. 
 
 With the ancient Greeks, a foreigner was a barbarian, and with the 
 ancient Romans, he was an enemy. In early modern times, the au 
 sterity of this judgment was relaxed ; but, under the influence of feudal 
 ism, the different sovereignties, whether provinces or nations, were kept 
 in a condition of isolation, from which they have been gradually passing 
 until now, when provinces are merged into nations, and nations are 
 giving signs that they too will yet commingle into one. In our country 
 another example is already displayed. From all nations people com 
 mingle here. As in ancient Corinth, by the accidental fusion of all 
 metals accumulated in the sacred temples, a peculiar metal was pro 
 duced, better than any individual metal, even silver or gold ; so, perhaps, 
 in the arrangements of Providence, by the fusion of all races here, 
 there may be a better race than any individual race, even Saxon or Celt. 
 Originally settled from England, the Republic has been strengthened 
 and enriched by generous contributions of population from Scotland, 
 Ireland, Switzerland, Sweden, France and Germany ; and the cry is still 
 they come. At no time since the discovery of the New World has the 
 army of emigrants pressed so strongly in this direction. Nearly half a 
 million are annually landed on our shores. The manner in which they 
 shall be received is one of the problems of our national policy. 
 
 All will admit that any influence which they may bring, hostile to our 
 institutions calculated to substitute priestcraft for religion and bigotry 
 for Christianity must be deprecated and opposed. All will admit, too, 
 that there must be some assurance of their purpose to become not 
 merely consumers of the fruits of our soil, but useful, loyal and perma 
 nent members of our community, upholders of the general welfare. 
 W T ith this simple explanation, I am not disposed to place any check 
 upon the welcome to foreigners. There are our broad lands, stretching 
 
220 WHAT FOREIGNERS HAVE DONE FOR US. 
 
 towards the setting sun ; let them come and take them. Ourselves the 
 children of the Pilgrims of a former generation, let us not turn from 
 the Pilgrims of the present. Let the home, founded by our emigrant 
 fathers, continue open in its many mansions to the emigrants of to-day. 
 
 The history of our country, in its humblest as well as most exalted 
 spheres, testifies to the merits of foreigners. Their strong arms have 
 helped furrow our broad territory with canals, and stretch in every direc 
 tion the iron rail. They have filled our workshops, navigated our ships, 
 and even tilled our fields. Go where you will, among the hardy sons 
 of toil on land or sea, and there you will find industrious and faithful 
 foreigners bending their muscles to the work. At the bar and in the 
 high places of commerce, you will find them. Enter the retreats of 
 learning, and there you will find them too, shedding upon our country 
 the glory of science. Nor can any reflection be cast upon foreigners, 
 claiming hospitality now, which will not glance at once upon the distin 
 guished living and the illustrious dead upon the Irish Montgomery, 
 who perished for us at the gates of Quebec upon Pulaski the Pole, 
 who perished for us at Savannah upon De Kalb and Steuben, the gen 
 erous Germans, who aided our weakness by their military experience 
 upon Paul Jones, the Scotchman, who lent his unsurpassed courage to 
 the infant thunders of our navy also upon those great European 
 liberators, Kosciusko of Poland, and Lafayette of Erance, each of whom 
 paid his earliest vows to Liberty in our cause. Nor should this list be 
 confined to military characters, so long as we gratefully cherish the 
 name of Alexander Hamilton, who was born in the West Indies, 
 and the name of Albert Gallatin, who was born in Switzerland, 
 and never, to the close of his octogenarian career, lost the French ac 
 cent of his boyhood both of whom rendered civic services which may 
 be commemorated among the victories of peace. 
 
 Nor is the experience of our Republic peculiar. Where is the 
 country or power which must not inscribe the names of foreigners on 
 its historic scroll ? It was Christopher Columbus, of Genoa, who dis 
 closed to Spain the New World ; it was Magellan, of Portugal, sailing 
 in the service of Spain, who first pressed with adventurous keel through 
 those distant Southern straits which now bear his name, and opened the 
 way to the vast Pacific sea; and it was Cabot, the Venetian, who first 
 conducted English enterprise to this North American continent. As in 
 the triumphs of discovery, so, also, in other fields have foreigners ex 
 celled, while serving States to which they were bound by no tie of birth. 
 The Dutch Grotius author of the sublime work, " The Laws of Peace 
 
FRANKLIN THE APOSTLE OF FREEDOM. 221 
 
 and War" an exile from his own country became the Ambassador of 
 Sweden, and, in our own day, the Italian Pozzo di Borgo, turning his 
 back upon his own country, has reached the most exalted diplomatic 
 trusts in the jealous service of Russia. In the list of monarchs on the 
 throne of England, not one has been more truly English than the Dutch 
 William. In Holland, no ruler has equalled in renown the German 
 William, Prince of Orange. In Russia, the German Catharine II. takes 
 a place among the most commanding sovereigns. And who of the 
 Swedish monarchs was a better Swede than Bernadotte, the French 
 man ; and what Frenchman was ever filled with aspirations for France 
 more than the Italian Napoleon Bonaparte ? 
 
 But I pass from these things, which have occupied me too long. A 
 party which, beginning in secrecy, interferes with religious belief, and 
 founds a discrimination on the accident of birth, is not the party for 
 us. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 It was the sentiment of that great Apostle of Freedom, Benjamin 
 Franklin, uttered during the trials of the Revolution, that, "Where 
 Liberty is, there is my country." In similar strain, I would say, " Where 
 Liberty is, there is my party." Such an organization is now happily 
 constituted here in Massachusetts, and in all the Free States, under the 
 name of the REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 In assuming our place as a distinct party, we simply give form and 
 direction, in harmony with the usage and genius of popular govern 
 ments, to a movement which stirs the whole country, and does not find 
 an adequate and constant organ in either of the other existing parties. 
 The early opposition to Slavery was simply a sentiment, out-gushing 
 from the hearts of the sensitive and humane. In the lapse of time it 
 became a determined principle, inspiring larger numbers, and showing 
 itself first in an organized endeavor to resist the annexation of slave- 
 holding Texas ; next, to prohibit Slavery in newly acquired territories : 
 and now, alarmed by the overthrow of all rights in Kansas, and the 
 domination of the Slave Oligarchy throughout the Republic, it breaks 
 forth in a stronger effort, a wider union, and a deeper channel inspiring 
 yet larger numbers and firmer resolves, while opposite quarters con 
 tribute to its power even as the fountain, first out-gushing from the 
 weeping sides of its pure mountain home, trickles in the rill, leaps in the 
 
222 PRINCIPLES OF THE NEW PARTY. 
 
 torrent, and flows in the river, till at last, swollen with accumulated 
 waters, it presses onward, forever onward, in irresistible beneficent 
 current, fertilizing and uniting the spaces which it traverses, washing the 
 feet of cities, and wooing states to repose upon its banks. 
 
 Our party has its origin in the exigencies of the hour. Vowing our 
 selves against Slavery wherever it exists, whether enforced by the Rus 
 sian knout, the Turkish bastinado, or the lash of the Carolina planter, 
 we do not seek to interfere with it at Petersburg, Constantinople, or 
 Charleston ; nor does any such grave duty rest upon us. Our political 
 duties are properly limited by our political responsibilities ; and we are 
 in no just sense responsible for the local law or usage by which human 
 bondage in these places is upheld. But wherever we are responsible for 
 the^ wrong, there our duty begins. The object to which, as a party, we are 
 pledged, is all contained in the acceptance of the issue which the Slave 
 Oligarchy tenders. To its repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and its 
 imperious demand that Kansas shall be surrendered to Slavery, we 
 reply, that Freedom shall be made the universal law of all the national 
 domain, without compromise, and that hereafter no Slave State shall be 
 admitted into the Union. To its tyrannical assumption of supremacy 
 in the National Government, we reply that the Slave Oligarchy shall be 
 overthrown. Such is the practical purpose of the Republican Party. 
 
 It is to uphold and advance this cause, that we have come together, 
 leaving the parties to which we have been respectively attached. Now, 
 in the course of human events, it becomes our duty to dissolve the 
 political bands which bound us to the old organizations, and to assume 
 a separate existence. Our Declaration of Independence has been 
 made. Let us, in the spirit of our Fathers, pledge ourselves to sustain 
 it with our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. In thus asso- . 
 dating and harmonizing from opposite quarters, in order to promote a 
 common cause, we have learned to forget former differences, and to 
 appreciate the motives of each other. We have learned how trivial are 
 the matters on which we may disagree, compared with the Great Issue 
 on which we all agree. Old prejudices have vanished. Even the ran 
 cors of political antagonism have been changed and dissolved, as in a 
 potent alembic, by the natural irresistible affinities of Freedom. In 
 our union we have ceased to wear the badges of either of the old or 
 ganizations. We have become a new party, distinct, independent, per 
 manent, under a new name, with Liberty as our watchword, and our 
 flag inscribed, " By this sign conquer." 
 
 Again, it is objected that the Republican party is against the Union, 
 
ADAMS OTIS PATRICK HENRY. 22$ 
 
 and we are reminded of the priceless blessings which come from this 
 fountain. Here is another bugbear. With us the Union is not the ob 
 ject of mere lip service, but it is cherished in simple sincerity, as the 
 aged Lear was loved by his only faithful daughter, " according to her 
 bond, no more nor less." Our party does nothing against the Union, 
 but everything for it. It strives to guard those great principles which 
 the Union was established to secure, and thus to keep it ever worthy of 
 our love. It seeks to overthrow that baleful Oligarchy, under which 
 the Union has been changed from a vessel of honor to a vessel of dis 
 honor. In this patriot work it will persevere, regardless of menace 
 from any quarter. Not that I love the Union less but Freedom more, 
 do I now, in pleading this great cause, insist that Freedom, at all 
 hazards, shall be preserved. God forbid, that for the sake of the 
 Union, we should sacrifice the very things for which the Union was 
 made. 
 
 And yet again, it is objected that ours is a party of a single idea. 
 This is a phrase, and nothing more. The party may not recognize cer 
 tain measures of public policy, deemed by some of special importance ; 
 but it does what is better, and what other parties fail to do. It ac 
 knowledges that beneficent principle, which, like the great central 
 light, vivifies all, and without which all is dark and sterile. The mov 
 ing cause and the animating soul of our party, is the idea of Freedom. 
 But this idea is manifold in character and influence. It is the idea of 
 the Declaration of Independence. It is the great idea of the founders 
 of the Republic. It is the idea which combined our Fathers on the 
 heights of Bunker Hill ; which carried Washington through a seven 
 years war ; which inspired Lafayette ; which touched with coals of fire 
 the lips of Adams, Otis, and Patrick Henry. Ours is an idea, which is 
 at least noble and elevating ; it is an idea which draws in its train vir 
 tue, goodness, and all the charities of life, all that makes earth a home 
 of improvement and happiness 
 
 * Her track, where er the goddess roves, 
 Glory pursues, and generous shame, 
 The unconquerable mind and Freedom s holy flame." 
 
 Thus do all objections disappear, even as the mists of morning be* 
 fore the sun, rejoicing like a strong man to run his race. The Repub 
 lican party stands vindicated in every particular. It only remains that 
 I should press the question with which I began " Are you for Free 
 dom, or are you for Slavery ? " As it is right to be taught by the 
 
224 CORNERS-TONE OF THE NEW PARTY. 
 
 enemy, let us derive instruction from the Oligarchy we oppose. The 
 three hundred and forty-seven thousand slave-masters are always 
 united. Hence their strength. Like arrows in a quiver, they cannot 
 be broken. The friends of Freedom have thus far been divided. 
 They, too, must be united. In the crisis before us, it becomes you all 
 to forget ancient feuds, and those names which have been the signal of 
 strife. There is no occasion to remember anything but our duties. 
 When the fire-bell rings at midnight, we do not ask if it be Whigs or 
 Democrats, Protestants or Catholics, natives or foreigners, who join 
 our efforts to extinguish the flames ; nor do we ask any such question 
 in selecting our leader then. Men of all parties, Whigs and Democrats, 
 or however named, let me call upon you to come forward and join in a 
 common cause. Do not hesitate. When Freedom is in danger, all 
 who are not for her are against her. The penalty of indifference, in 
 such a cause, is akin to the penalty of opposition ; as is well pictured 
 by the great Italian poet, when, among the saddest on the banks of 
 Acheron rending the air with outcries of torment, shrieks of anger. 
 and smiting of hands he finds the troop of dreary souls who had been 
 ciphers only in the great conflicts of life : 
 
 " Mingled with whom, of their disgrace the proof, 
 Are the vile angels who did not rebel, 
 Nor kept their faith to God, but stood aloof "." 
 
 Come forth, then, from the old organizations ; let us range together. 
 Come forth, all who have stood aloof from parties ; here is an oppor 
 tunity for action. You who place principles above men ! come for 
 ward. All who feel in any way the wrong of Slavery, take your stand ! 
 Join us, ye lovers of Truth, of Justice, of Humanity ! And let me 
 call especially upon the young. You are the natural guardians of 
 liberty. In your firm resolves and generous souls she will find her 
 surest protection. The young man who is not willing to serve in 
 her cause to suffer, if need be, for her gives little promise of those 
 qualities which secure an honorable age. 
 
 FELLOW-CITIZENS : We found now a new party. Its corner-stone is 
 Freedom. Its broad, all-sustaining arches are Truth, Justice, and Hu 
 manity. Like the ancient Roman Capitol, at once a Temple and a 
 Citadel, it shall be the fit shrine for the genius of American Institutions. 
 
REPEAL OF FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT ASKED. 225 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 The battle between Slavery and Freedom had been 
 waxing hotter with every debate during the spring of 
 1854. On the 22cl of June, Mr. Rockwell, of Massachu 
 setts, presented the following memorial, numerously 
 signed, chiefly by the citizens of Boston, and moved its 
 reference to the Committee on the Judiciary : 
 
 "To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in 
 Congress assembled : The undersigned, men of Massachusetts, ask for 
 the repeal of the Act of Congress of 1850, known as the FUGITIVE 
 SLAVE BILL." 
 
 Mr. Sumner spoke on the reference of the memorial 
 two days later. We extract portions of his remarks : 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT : I begin by answering the interrogatory propounded 
 by the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Jones]. He asks, "Can any one 
 suppose that, if the Fugitive Slave Act be repealed, this Union can ex 
 ist ?" To which I reply at once, that if the Union be in any way de 
 pendent on an Act I cannot call it a law so revolting in every regard 
 as that to which he refers, then it ought not to exist. To much else 
 that has fallen from that Senator I do not desire to reply. He has dis 
 cussed at length matters already handled again and again in the long 
 drawn out debates of this session. Like the excited hero of Macedo 
 nia, he has renewed past conflicts, 
 
 " And thrice he routed all his foes, 
 And thrice he slew the slain." 
 
 Of what the Senator has said on the relations of Senators, North and 
 South, of a particular party, it is not my province to speak. And yet I 
 cannot turn from it without expressing, at least, a single aspiration, that 
 men from the North, whether Whigs or Democrats, will neither be cajoled 
 nor driven by any temptation, or lash, from the support of those princi 
 ples of freedom which are inseparable from the true honor and welfare of 
 the country. At last, I trust, there will be a back-bone in the North. 
 
 This memorial proceeds mainly from persons connected with trade 
 and commerce. Now, it is a fact too well known in the history, of 
 England, and of our own country, that these persons, while often justly 
 distinguished by their individual charities and munificence, have been 
 lukewarm in their opposition to Slavery. Twice in English history the 
 
226 SUMNER ENFORCES THE PETITION. 
 
 " mercantile interest" frowned upon the endeavors to suppress the atro 
 city of Algerine Slavery ; steadfastly in England it sought to baffle 
 Wilberforce s great effort for the abolition of the African Slave-trade : 
 and, at the formation of our own Constitution, it stipulated a sordid com 
 promise, by which this same detested, Heaven-defying traffic, was saved 
 for twenty years from American judgment. But now it is all changed 
 at least in Boston. The representatives of the "mercantile interest" 
 place themselves in the front of the now movement against Slavery, 
 and, by their explicit memorial, call for the abatement of a grievance 
 which they have bitterly felt in Boston. 
 
 Mr. President, this memorial is interesting to me, first, as it asks a 
 repeal of the Fugitive Slave Bill, and secondly, as it comes from Mas 
 sachusetts. That repeal I shall be glad at any time, now and hereafter, 
 as in times past, to sustain by vote and argument; and I trust never to 
 fail in any just regard for the sentiments or interests of Massachusetts. 
 With these few remarks, I would gladly close. But there has been an 
 .arraignment here to-day, both of myself and of the Commonwealth 
 which I represent. To all that has been said of myself or the Com- 
 rnaonwealth so far as it is an impeachment of either so far as it sub 
 jects either to any just censure, I plead openly, for myself and for Mas 
 sachusetts, " not guilty." But pardon me, if I do not submit to be tried 
 by the Senate, fresh from the injustice of the Nebraska Bill. In the 
 language of the common law I put myself upon " God and the coun- 
 .try," and claim The same trial for my honored Commonwealth. 
 
 So far as the arraignment touches me personally, I hardly care to speak. 
 
 In response for Massachusetts, there are other things. Something 
 surely must be pardoned to her history. In Massachusetts stands 
 Boston. In Boston stands Faneuil Hall, where, throughout the perils 
 which preceded the Revolution, our patriot fathers assembled to vow 
 themselves to Freedom. Here in those days, spoke James Otis, full 
 of the thought that "the people s safety is the law of God." Here, 
 also, spoke Joseph Warren, inspired by the sentiment that "death 
 with all its tortures is preferable to Slavery." And here, also, thun 
 dered John Adams, fervid with the conviction that "consenting to 
 Slavery is a sacrilegious breach of trust." Not far from this venerable 
 hall between this temple of freedom and the very court-house, to 
 which the Senator [Mr. Jones] has referred is the street, where, in 
 1770, the first blood was spilt in conflict between British troops and 
 American citizens, and among the victims was one of that African 
 race, which you so much despise. Almost within sight is Bunker Hill ; 
 
BOSTON STAMP ACT TEA ACT. 227 
 
 further off, Lexington and Concord. Amidst these scenes, a Slave- 
 Hunter from Virginia appears, and the disgusting rites begin by which 
 a fellow-man is doomed to bondage. Sir, can you wonder that the 
 people were moved ? 
 
 " Who can he wise, amazed, temperate and furious, 
 Loyal and neutral, in a moment. No man." 
 
 It is true that the Slave Act was with difficulty executed, and that 
 one of its servants perished in the effort. On these grounds the 
 Senator from Tennessee charges Boston with fanaticism. I express no 
 opinion on the conduct of individuals ; but I do say, that the fanaticism, 
 which the Senator condemns, is not new in Boston. It is the same 
 which opposed the execution of the Stamp Act, and finally secured 
 its repeal, it is the same which opposed the Tea Tax. It is the 
 fanaticism which finally triumphed on Bunker Hill. The Senator says 
 that Boston is filled with traitors. That charge is not new. Boston, 
 of old, was the home of Hancock and Adams. Her traitors now are 
 those who are truly animated by the spirit of the American Revolution. 
 In condemning them, in condemning Massachusetts, in condemning 
 these remonstrants, you simply give a proper conclusion to the 
 utterance on this floor, that the Declaration of Independence is " a 
 self-evident lie." 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Here I might leave the imputations on Massachusetts. But the 
 case is stronger yet. I have referred to the Stamp Act. The parallel 
 is of such aptness and importance, that, though on a former occasion I 
 presented it to the Senate, I cannot forbear from pressing it again. 
 As the precise character of this Act may not be familiar, allow me to 
 remind the Senate, that it was an attempt to draw money from the 
 Colonies through a stamp tax, while the determination of certain 
 questions of forfeiture under the statute was delegated, not to the 
 courts of common law, but to courts of admiralty, without trial by 
 jury. This Act was denounced in the Colonies at once on its passage, 
 as contrary to the British Constitution, on two principal grounds, 
 identical in character with the two chief grounds on which the Slave 
 Act is now declared to be unconstitutional ; first, as an assumption by 
 Parliament of powers not belonging to it, and an infraction of rights 
 secured to the Colonies ; and secondly, as a denial of trial by jury in 
 
228 BOSTON LED THE COLUMN OF FREEDOM. 
 
 certain cases of property. On these grounds the Stamp Act was held 
 to be an outrage. 
 
 The Colonies were aroused against it. Virginia first declared herself 
 by solemn resolutions, which the timid thought " treasonable ; "yes, 
 sir, " treasonable," even as that word is now applied to recent mani 
 festations of opinion in Boston even to the memorial of her twenty- 
 nine hundred merchants. But these " treasonable " resolutions soon 
 found a response. New York followed. Massachusetts came next. 
 In an address from the Legislature to the Governor, the true ground 
 of opposition to the Stamp Act, coincident with the two radical 
 objections to the Slave Act, are clearly set forth, with the following 
 pregnant conclusion : 
 
 " We deeply regret that the Parliament has seen fit to pass such an 
 Act as the Stamp Act ; we flatter ourselves that the hardships of it will, 
 shortly appear to them in such a light as shall induce them, in their wis 
 dom, to repeal it ; in the meantime, we must beg your Excellency to ex 
 cuse us from doing any tiling to assist in tlie execution of it" 
 
 The Stamp Act was welcomed in the Colonies by the Tories of that 
 day, precisely as the unconstitutional Slave Act has been welcomed 
 by imperious numbers among us. Hutchinson, at that time Lieutenant 
 Governor and Judge in Massachusetts, wrote to Ministers in England : 
 
 " The Stamp Act is received with as much decency as could be ex 
 pected. It leaves no room for evasion, and will execute itself." 
 
 Like the Judges of our day, in charges to Grand Juries, he resolutely 
 vindicated the Act, and admonished " the Jurors and the people" to 
 obey. Like Governors in our day, Bernard, in his speech to the Leg 
 islature of Massachusetts, demanded unreasoning submission. " I shall 
 not," says this British Governor, "enter into any disquisition of the 
 policy of the Act. I have only to say it is an Act of the Parliament of 
 Great Britain." Like Marshals of our day, the Officers of the Customs 
 are recorded as having made "application for a military force to assist 
 them in the execution of their duty." The elaborate answer of Massa 
 chusetts the work of Samuel Adams, and one of the corner-stones of 
 our history was pronounced " the ravings of a parcel of wild enthusi 
 asts," even as recent proceedings in Boston, resulting in the memorial 
 before you, have been characterized on this floor. Was I not right in 
 adducing this parallel ? 
 
 The country was aroused against the execution of this Act. And 
 here Boston took the lead. 
 
 The opposition spread and deepened, and one of its natural tendencies 
 
PITT DEMANDED REPEAL. 229 
 
 was to outbreak and violence. On one occasion in Boston, it showed itself 
 in the lawlessness of a mob, of a most formidable character, even as is now 
 charged. Liberty, in her struggles, is too often driven to force. But the 
 town, at a public meeting in Faneuil Hall, called without delay, on the 
 motion of the opponents of the Stamp Act, with James Otis as Chairman, 
 condemned the outrage. Eager in hostility to the execution of the Act, 
 Boston cherished municipal order, and constantly discountenanced all tu 
 mult, violence and illegal proceedings. On these two grounds she then 
 stood ; and her position was widely recognized. 
 
 Thus was the Stamp Act annulled, even before its actual repeal, which 
 was pressed with assiduity by petition and remonstrance, on the next 
 meeting of Parliament. Among the potent influences was the entire 
 concurrence of the merchants, and especially a remonstrance against 
 the Stamp Act by the merchants of New York, like that now made 
 against the Slave Act by the merchants of Boston. Some sought at 
 first only for its modification. Even James Otis began with this mod 
 erate aim. The King himself showed a disposition to yield to this ex 
 tent. But Franklin, who was then in England, when asked whether 
 the Colonies would submit to the Act, if mitigated in certain particulars,, 
 replied : " No, never, unless compelled by force of arms." Then it 
 was, that the great Commoner, William Pitt, said : 
 
 " Sir, I have been charged with giving birth to sedition in America. 
 They have spoken their sentiments with freedom against this unhappy 
 Act, and that freedom has become their crime. Sorry I am to hear the 
 liberty of speech in this House imputed as a crime. But the imputa 
 tion shall not discourage me. It is a liberty I mean to exercise. No 
 gentleman ought to be afraid to exercise it. It is a liberty by which 
 the gentleman who calumniates it might and ought to have profited. 
 The gentleman tells us America is obstinate ; America is almost in open 
 rebellion. I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of slaves, 
 so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, 
 would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the rest. I would 
 not debate a particular point of law with the gentleman ; but I draw my 
 ideas of PYeedom from the vital powers of the British Constitution 
 not from the crude and fallacious notions too much relied upon, as if we 
 were but in the morning of liberty. I can acknowledge no veneration 
 for any procedure, law, or ordinance, that is repugnant to reason and 
 the first elements of our Constitution. The Americans have been 
 wronged. They have been driven to madness. Upon the whole, I 
 will beg leave to tell the House what is really my opinion. // is, that 
 the Stamp Act be repealed, absolutely, totally and immediately, and that 
 the reason for the repeal be assigned because it was founded on an erro 
 neous principle" 
 
230 REPLY TO ASSAILANTS. 
 
 Thus spoke this great orator, at the time tutelary guardian of Amer 
 ican liberty. He was not unheeded. Within less than a year from its 
 original passage, the Stamp Act assailed as unconstitutional on the 
 precise grounds which I now occupy in assailing the Slave Act was 
 driven from the statute book. 
 
 I call upon you, then, to receive the memorial, and hearken to its 
 prayer. All other memorials asking for changes in existing legislation 
 are treated with respect, promptly referred, and acted upon. This 
 should not be an exception. The memorial simply asks the repeal of 
 an obnoxious statute, which is entirely within the competency of Con 
 gress. It proceeds from a large number of respectable citizens whose 
 autograph signatures are attached. It is brief and respectful in form ; 
 and, in its very brevity, shows that spirit of freedom which should 
 awaken a generous response. In refusing to receive it or refer it, 
 according to the usage of the Senate, or in treating it with any indignity, 
 you offer an affront, not only to these numerous petitioners, but also to 
 the great right of petition, which is never more sacred than when 
 exercised in behalf of Freedom against an obnoxious statute. Permit 
 me to add, that by this course you provoke the very spirit which you 
 would repress. There is a certain plant which is said to grow when 
 trodden upon. It remains to be seen if the Boston petitioners have not 
 something of this quality. But this I know, sir, that the Slave Act, like 
 vice, is of so hideous a mien, that " to be hated it needs only to be seen ; " 
 and the occurrences of this day will make it visible and palpable to the 
 people in new forms of injustice. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 An angry personal debate followed, in which Mr. 
 Butler of South Carolina, and Mr. Mason of Virginia, 
 directed against Mr. Sumner their most violent and insult 
 ing attacks, as well as against the State he represented. 
 His REPLY TO ASSAILANTS, as the speech was afterwards 
 known, was a withering satire, which could be answered 
 only by scurrilous abuse ; his facts were impregnable. 
 
 I think, sir, that I am not the only person on this floor, who, in lately 
 listening to these two self-confident champions of the peculiar fanaticism 
 of the South, was reminded of the striking words by Jefferson, picturing 
 
ANSWERS MASON AND BUTLER. 231 
 
 the influence of Slavery, where he says, " The whole commerce between 
 master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, 
 the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading sub 
 mission on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it ; 
 for man is an imitative animal. The parent storms. The child looks 
 on, catches the lineament of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of 
 smaller slaves, gives loose to his worst passions, and, thus nursed, 
 educated and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it 
 with odious peculiarities. The man must be a prodigy who can retain his 
 manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances." Nobody who 
 witnessed the Senator from South Carolina or the Senator from Virginia in 
 this debate, will place either of them among the "prodigies" described 
 by Jefferson. As they spoke, the Senate Chamber must have seemed 
 to them, in the characteristic fantasy of the moment, a plantation well- 
 stocked with slaves, over which the lash of the overseer had free swing. 
 Sir, it gives me no pleasure to say these things. It is not according to 
 my nature. Bear witness, that I do it only in just self-defence 
 against the unprecedented assaults and provocations of this debate. 
 And, in doing it, I desire to warn certain Senators, that if they expect, by 
 any ardor of menace or by any tyrannical frown, to shake my fixed 
 resolve, they expect a vain thing. 
 
 There was, perhaps, little that fell from these two champions, as the 
 fit was on, which deserves reply. Certainly not the hard words they 
 used so readily and congenially. The veteran Senator from Virginia 
 [Mr. Mason] complained that I had characterized one of his " con 
 stituents " a person who went all the way from Virginia to Boston in 
 pursuit of a slave as a Slave-hunter. Sir, I choose to call things by 
 their right names. White I call white, and black I call black. And 
 where a person degrades himself to the work of chasing a fellow-man, 
 who, under the inspiration of Freedom and the guidance of the north 
 star, has sought a freeman s home far away from the coffle and the 
 chain that person, whomsoever he may be, I call a Slave-hunter. If 
 the Senator from Virginia, who professes nicety of speech, will give 
 me any term which more precisely describes such an individual, I will 
 use it. Until then, I must continue to use the language which seems 
 to me so apt. But this very sensibility of the veteran Senator at a 
 just term, which truly depicts an odious character, shows a shame in 
 which I exult. It was said by one of the philosophers of antiquity, that 
 a blush is the sign of virtue, and permit me to add, that, in this violent 
 sensibility, I recognize a blush mantling the cheek of the honorable 
 Senator, which even his plantation manners cannot conceal. 
 
232 JACKSON S WORDS IN 1832. 
 
 And the venerable Senator from South Carolina, too, [Mr. Butler] 
 he has betrayed his sensibility. Here let nie.say that this Senator knows 
 well that I always listen with peculiar pleasure to his racy and exube 
 rant speech, as it gurgles forth sometimes tinctured by generous ideas 
 except when, forgetful of history, and in defiance of reason, he under 
 takes to defend what is obviously indefensible. This Senator was dis 
 turbed, when to his inquiry, personally, pointedly and vehemently 
 addressed to me, whether I would join in returning a fellow-man to 
 Slavery, I exclaimed, " Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this 
 thing?" In fitful phrases, which seemed to come from the unconscious 
 excitement so common with the Senator, he shot forth various cries 
 about " dogs ; " and, among other things, asked if there was any "dog" 
 in the Constitution ? The Senator did not seem to bear in mind, through 
 the heady currents of that moment, that, by the false interpretation he 
 has fastened upon the Constitution, he has helped to nurture there a 
 whole kennel of Carolina bloodhounds, trained, with savage jaws and 
 insatiable scent, for the hunt of flying bondmen. No, sir, I do not 
 believe that there is any "kennel of bloodhounds," or even any "dog," 
 in the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 But, Mr. President, since the brief response which I made to the 
 inquiry of the Senator, and which leaped unconsciously to my lips, has 
 drawn upon me various attacks, all marked by grossness of language and 
 manner ; since I have been charged with openly declaring my purpose 
 to violate the Constitution, and to break the oath which I have taken at 
 that desk, I shall be pardoned for showing simply how a few plain 
 words will put all this down. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 The Senators, who have been so swift in misrepresentation and in 
 assault upon me as disloyal to the Constitution, deserve to be exposed, 
 and it shall be done. 
 
 Now, sir, I begin by adopting as my guide the authoritative words of 
 Andrew Jackson, in 1832, in his memorable veto of the Bank of the 
 United States. To his course, at that critical time, were opposed the 
 authority of the Supreme Court and his oath to support the Constitution. 
 Here is his triumphant reply : 
 
 " If the opinion of the Supreme Court covers the whole ground of 
 this act, it ought not to control the co-ordinate authorities of this Gov- 
 
DUTIES UNDER THE OATH. 233 
 
 ernment. The Congress, the Executive and the Court, must each for 
 itself be guided by its own opinion of the Constitution. Each public 
 officer, who takes an oath to support the Constitution, swears that he will 
 support it as he understands it, and not as it is understood by others. 
 It is as much the duty of the House of Representatives, of the Senate, 
 and of the President, to decide upon the constitutionality of any bill or 
 resolution, which may be presented to them for passage or approval, as 
 it is of the Supreme Judges when it may be brought before them for 
 judicial decision. The authority of the Supreme Court must not, there 
 fore, be permitted to control the Congress or the Executive, when act 
 ing in their legislative capacities, but to have only such influence as the 
 force of their reasoning may deserve." 
 
 Mark these words, and let them sink into your minds. " Each public 
 officer, who takes an oath to support the Constitution, swears that he 
 will support it as he understands it, and not as it is understood by oth 
 ers." Yes, sir, AS HE UNDERSTANDS IT, and not as it is understood by 
 others. Does any Senator here dissent from this rule ? Does the Sen 
 ator from Virginia ? Does the Senator from South Carolina ? 
 
 Sir, as a Senator, I have taken at your desk the oath to support the 
 Constitution, as I understand it. And understanding it as I do, I am 
 bound by that oath, Mr. President, to oppose all enactments by Con 
 gress on the subject of fugitive slaves, as a flagrant violation of the 
 Constitution ; especially must I oppose the last act as a tyrannical usur 
 pation, kindred in character to the Stamp Act, which our fathers indig 
 nantly refused to obey. Here my duties, under the oath which I have 
 taken as a Senator, end. There is nothing beyond. On this explicit 
 statement of my constitutional obligations, I stand, as upon a living 
 rock, and, to the inquiry, in whatever form addressed to my personal 
 responsibility, whether I would aid, directly or indirectly, in reducing 
 or surrendering a fellow-man to bondage, I reply again, "Is thy servant 
 a dog, that he should do this thing?" 
 
 And, sir, looking round upon this Senate, I might ask fearlessly, how 
 many there are even in this body if, indeed, there be a single Sena 
 tor, who would stoop to any such service ? Until some one rises and 
 openly confesses his willingness to become a Slave-hunter, I will not 
 believe there can be one. [Here Mr. Simmer paused, but nobody rose.] 
 And yet honorable and chivalrous Senators have rushed headlong to 
 denounce me because I openly declared my repudiation of a service at 
 which every manly bosom must revolt. " Sire, I have found in Bayonne 
 brave soldiers and good citizens, but not one executioner" was the noble 
 utterance of the Governor of that place to Charles IX. of France, in 
 
234 FAR-FAMED RESOLUTIONS OF 1/98. 
 
 response to the royal edict for the massacre of St. Bartholomew ; and 
 such a spirit, I trust, will yet animate the people of this country, when 
 pressed to the service of " dogs ! " 
 
 To that other question, which has been proposed, whether Massachu 
 setts, by State laws, will carry out the oifensive clause in the Constitution, 
 according to the understanding of the venerable Senator from South 
 Carolina, I reply that Massachusetts, at all times, has been ready to do 
 her duty under the Constitution, as she understands it ; and, I doubt 
 not, will ever continue of this mind. More than this I cannot say. 
 
 In quitting this topic, I cannot forbear to remark that the assault on 
 me for my disclaimer of all constitutional obligation, resting upon me 
 as a Senator or citizen, to aid in making a man a slave, or in surrender 
 ing him to Slavery, comes with an ill grace from the veteran Senator 
 from Virginia, a State which, by its far-famed resolutions of 1798, as 
 sumed to determine its constitutional obligations, even to the extent of 
 openly declaring two different Acts of Congress null and void ; and it 
 comes also with an ill grace from the venerable Senator from South 
 Carolina, a State which, in latter days, has arrayed itself openly against 
 the Federal authorities, and which threatens nullification as often as 
 babies cry. 
 
 Surely the Senator from South Carolina, with his silver.-white locks, 
 would have hesitated to lead this assault upon me, had he not, for the 
 moment, been entirely oblivious of the history of the State which he 
 represents. Not many years have passed since an incident occurred at 
 Charleston, in South Carolina not at Boston, in Massachusetts which 
 ought to be remembered. The postmaster of that place, acting under 
 a controlling Public Opinion there, informed the head of his Depart 
 ment at Washington that he had determined to suppress all Anti- 
 slavery publications, and requested instructions for the future. Thus, 
 in violation of the laws of the land, the very mails were rifled, and 
 South Carolina smiled approbation of the outrage. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 But there is another incident in the history of South Carolina, which 
 as a loyal son of Massachusetts, I cannot forget, and which rises now 
 in judgment against the venerable Senator. Massachusetts had com 
 missioned a distinguished gentleman, of blameless life and eminent pro 
 fessional qualities, who served with honor in the other House [Hon. 
 Samuel Hoar], to reside at Charleston for a brief period, in order to 
 
A TRIBUTE TO MASSACHUSETTS. 235 
 
 guard the rights of her free colored citizens, assailed on arrival there by 
 an inhospitable statute, so gross in its provisions that an eminent char 
 acter of South Carolina, a Judge of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States [Hon. William Johnson] had characterized it as " trampling on 
 the Constitution," and "a direct attack upon the sovereignty of the 
 United States." Massachusetts had read in the Constitution a clause 
 closely associated with that touching " fugitives from service," to the 
 following effect : " The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 
 privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States," and sup 
 posed that this would yet be recognized by South Carolina. But she 
 was mistaken. Her venerable representative, an unarmed old man, 
 with hair as silver-white almost as that of the Senator before me, was 
 beset in Charleston by a "respectable" mob, prevented from entering 
 upon his duties, and driven from the State ; while the Legislature 
 stepped in to sanction this shameless, lawless act, by placing on the 
 statute book an order for his expulsion. And yet, sir, the excitable 
 Senator from South Carolina is fired by the fancied delinquencies of 
 Massachusetts towards Slave-hunters, and also by my own refusal to 
 render them any aid or comfort ; he shoots questions in volleys, assumes 
 to measure our duties by his understanding, and ejaculates a lecture at 
 Massachusetts and myself. Sir, before that venerable Senator again 
 ventures thus, let him return to his own State, seamed all over with the 
 scars of nullification, and first lecture there. Ay, sir, let him look into 
 his own heart, and lecture to himself. 
 
 But enough for the present on the extent of my constitutional obli 
 gations to become a Slave-hunter. There are, however, yet other things 
 in the assault of the venerable Senator, which, for the sake of truth, in 
 just defence of Massachusetts, and in honor of Freedom, shall not be 
 left unanswered. Alluding to those days when Massachusetts was illus 
 trated by Otis, Hancock, and "the brace of Adamses;" when Faneuil 
 Hall sent forth echoes of liberty which resounded even to South Caro 
 lina, and the very stones in the streets of Boston rose in mutiny against 
 tyranny, the Senator with the silver-white locks, in the very ecstasy of 
 Slavery, broke forth in the ejaculation that Massachusetts was then " slave- 
 holding ;" and he presumed to hail these patriots as representatives of 
 "hardy, slaveholding Massachusetts." Sir, I repel the imputation. It 
 is true that Massachusetts was " hardy ; " but she was not, in any just 
 sense, " slaveholding." And had she been so, she could not have been 
 " hardy." The two characteristics are inconsistent as weakness and 
 strength, as sickness and health I had almost said, as death and life. 
 
236 NO SLAVE BORN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 The Senator opens a page, which I would willingly present. Sir, 
 Slavery never flourished in Massachusetts ; nor did it ever prevail there 
 at any time, even in early Colonial days, to such a degree as to be a 
 distinctive feature in her powerful civilization. Her few slaves were 
 merely for a term of years, or for life. If, in point of fact, their issue 
 was sometimes held in bondage, it was never by sanction of any statute 
 or law of Colony or Commonwealth. Such has been the solemn judg 
 ment of her Supreme Court.* In all her annals, no person was ever 
 born a slave on the soil of Massachusetts. This, of itself, is a response 
 to the imputation of the Senator. 
 
 A benign and brilliant Act of her Legislature, as far back as 1646, 
 shows her sensibility on this subject. A Boston ship had brought home 
 two negroes, seized on the coast of Guinea. Thus spoke Massachusetts : 
 
 " The General Court, conceiving themselves bound by the first op 
 portunity to bear witness against the heinous and crying sin of man- 
 stealing, also to prescribe such timely redress for what is past, and such a 
 law for the future as may sufficiently deter all those belonging to us, to 
 have to do in such vile and most odious conduct, justly abhorred of all 
 good and just men, do order that the negro interpreter, with others un 
 lawfully taken, be, by the first opportunity, at the charge of the country, 
 for the present, sent to his native country of Guinea, and a letter with 
 him of the indignation of the Court thereabout and justice thereof." 
 
 The Colony that could issue this noble decree was inconsistent with 
 itself, when it allowed its rocky face to be pressed by the footsteps of a 
 single slave. But a righteous public opinion early and constantly set 
 its face against Slavery. As early as 1701, a vote was entered upon the 
 records of Boston to the following effect : " The Representatives are 
 desired to promote the encouraging the bringing of white servants, and 
 to put a period to negroes being slaves" Perhaps, in all history, this is 
 the earliest testimony from any official body against Negro Slavery, and 
 I thank God that it came from Boston, my native town. In 1705, a 
 heavy duty was imposed upon every negro imported into the province ; 
 in 1712, the importation of Indians as servants or slaves was strictly 
 forbidden ; but the general subject of Slavery attracted little attention 
 till the beginning of the controversy, which ended in the Revolution, 
 when the rights of the blacks were blended by all true patriots with 
 those of the whites. Sparing all unnecessary details, suffice it to say, 
 that, as early as 1769, one of the courts of Massachusetts, anticipating, 
 by several years, the renowned judgment in Somersett s case, established 
 
 * Lanesboro v. West field, 16 Mass. 74. 
 
MASSACHUSETTS EXTERMINATES SLAVERY. 237 
 
 within its jurisdiction the principle of emancipation, and, under its touch 
 of magic power, changed a slave into a freeman. Similar decisions 
 followed in other places. In 1776, the whole number of blacks, both 
 free and slave, sprinkled thinly over "hardy" Massachusetts, was five 
 thousand two hundred and forty-nine, being to the whites as one is to 
 sixty-five; while in " slaveholding " South Carolina the number of 
 negro slaves, at that time, was not far from one hundred thousand, be 
 ing nearly one slave for every freeman, thus rendering that Colony any 
 thing but " hardy." At last, in 1780, even before the triumph of York- 
 town had led the way to that peace which set its seal upon our National 
 Independence, Massachusetts, animated by the struggles of the Revo 
 lution, and rilled by the sentiments of Freedom, placed in front of her 
 Bill of Rights the emphatic words, that " all men are born free and 
 equal," and by this declaration exterminated every vestige of Slavery 
 within her borders. All hail, then, to Massachusetts, the just and gen 
 erous Commonwealth in whose behalf I have the honor to speak. 
 
 Thus, sir, does the venerable Senator err when he presumes to vouch 
 Massachusetts for Slavery, and to associate this odious institution with 
 the names of her great patriots. 
 
 But the venerable Senator errs yet more, if possible, when he at 
 tributes to "slaveholding" communities a leading part in those con 
 tributions of arms and treasure by which independence was secured. 
 Here are his exact words, as I find them in the Globe, revised by 
 himself: 
 
 "Sir, when blood was shed upon the plains of Lexington and Con 
 cord, in an issue made by Boston, to whom was an appeal made, and 
 from whom was it answered ? The answer is found in the acts of 
 slaveholding States animis opibusque parati. Yes, sir, the independ 
 ence of America, to maintain republican liberty, was won by the 
 arms and treasure, by the patriotism and good faith of slaveholding 
 communities." 
 
 Mark the language, sir, as emphasized by himself. Surely, the Sen 
 ator with his silver-white locks, all fresh from the outrage of the Ne 
 braska Bill, cannot stand here and proclaim "the good faith of slave- 
 holding communities," except in irony. Yes, sir, in irony. And let me 
 add, that when this Senator presumes to say that American Independ 
 ence "was won by the arms and treasure of slaveholding communities," 
 he speaks eith ;r in irony or in ignorance. 
 
 The question which the venerable Senator from South Carolina here 
 opens, by his vaunt, I have no desire to discuss ; but, since it is pre- 
 
238 NO INJUSTICE TO SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 sented, I confront it at once. This is not the first time, during my brief 
 service here, that this Senator has sought on this floor to provoke a 
 comparison between slaveholding communities and the free States. 
 
 The Senator is strangely oblivious of the statistical contrasts. 
 
 For myself, sir, I understand the sensibilities of Senators from slave- 
 holding communities, and would not wound them by a superfluous 
 word. Of Slavery I speak strongly, as I must ; but thus far, even at the 
 expense of my argument, I have avoided the contrasts, founded on de 
 tails of figures and facts, which are so obvious between the free States 
 and "slaveholding communities;" especially have I shunned all allu 
 sion to South Carolina. But the venerable Senator, to whose discretion 
 that State has intrusted its interests here, will not allow me to be still. 
 
 God forbid that I should do injustice to South Carolina. I know 
 well the gallantry of many of her sons. I know the response which she 
 made to the appeal of Boston for union against the Stamp Act the 
 Fugitive Slave Act of that day by the pen of Christopher Gadsden. 
 And I remember with sorrow that this patriot was obliged to confess, at 
 the time, her " weakness in having such a number of slaves," though it 
 is to his credit that he recognized Slavery as a " crime." I have no 
 pleasure in dwelling on the humiliations of South Carolina ; I do not 
 desire to expose her sores ; I would not lay bare her nakedness. But 
 the Senator, in his vaunt for "slaveholding communities," has made a 
 claim for Slavery which is so inconsistent with history, and so deroga 
 tory to Freedom, that I cannot allow it to pass unanswered. 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 This, sir, is not the first time, even during my little experience here, 
 that the same claim has been made on this floor ; and this seems more 
 astonishing, because the archives of the country furnish such ample and 
 undoubted materials for its refutation. The question of the comparative 
 contributions of men by different States and sections of the country in 
 the war of the Revolution, was brought forward as early as 1790, in the 
 first Congress under the Constitution, in the animated and protracted 
 debate on the assumption of State debts by the Union On this oc 
 casion Fisher Ames, a Representative from Massachusetts, memorable 
 for his classic eloquence, moved a call upon the War Department for 
 the number of men furnished by each State to the Revolutionary armies. 
 This motion, though vehemently opposed, was carried by a small 
 
QUOTA OF REVOLUTIONARY TROOPS. 
 
 239 
 
 majority. Shortly afterwards, the answer to the call was received from 
 the Department, at that time under the charge of General Knox. This 
 answer, which is one of the documents of our history, places beyond 
 cavil or criticism the exact contributions in arms of each State. Here 
 it is copied from the first volume of the American Archives. 
 
 Statement of tJie number of troops and militia furnished by the several States, for 
 the siipport of the Revolutionary war, from 1775 to 1783, inclusive. 
 
 NORTHERN STATES. 
 New Hampshire 
 Massachusetts 
 Rhode Island . 
 Connecticut 
 New York 
 Pennsylvania 
 New Jersey 
 
 Total . 
 
 SOUTHERN STATES. 
 Delaware 
 Maryland 
 Virginia 
 North Carolina 
 South Carolina . 
 Georgia 
 
 Number of 
 
 continental 
 
 troops. 
 
 12,496 
 67,937 
 5,908 
 32,03 9 
 I7,78l 
 25,608 
 10,727 
 
 2,387 
 
 26,672 
 
 7,263 
 
 Total 
 
 2,679 
 58,421 
 
 Number of 
 militia. 
 
 2,093 
 
 15,155 
 4,284 
 
 7,792 
 3>3I2 
 
 7,357 
 6,055 
 
 376 
 5,464 
 4,163 
 2,716 
 
 12,719 
 
 Total militia 
 
 & continental 
 
 troops. 
 
 14,598 
 83,092 
 IO,I92 
 
 39,831 
 21,093 
 
 3 2 ,9 6 5 
 16,782 
 
 Conjectural 
 
 estimate of 
 
 militia. 
 
 172,496 46,048 218,553 
 
 2,763 
 19,376 
 30,835 
 
 9,969 
 
 2,679 
 71,130 
 
 3^950 
 
 1,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 21,880 
 
 12,000 
 28,000 
 
 9,930 
 76,810 
 
 It should be understood that, at this time, there was but little differ 
 ence in numbers between the population of the Southern States and that 
 of the Northern States. By the census of 1790, the Southern had a 
 population of 1,956,354; the Northern had a population of 1,968,455. 
 But, notwithstanding this comparative equality of population in the two 
 sections, the North furnished vastly more men than the South. 
 
 Of continental troops, the Southern States furnished 58,421 ; the 
 Northern furnished 172,496 ; making about three men furnished to the 
 continental army by the Northern States to one from the Southern. 
 
 Of militia, whose services are authenticated by the War Office, the 
 Southern States furnished 12,719; the Northern furnished 46,048; 
 making nearly four men furnished to the militia by the Northern States 
 to one from the Southern. 
 
24O THE SOUTH ALWAYS BEHIND. 
 
 Of militia, whose services were not authenticated by the War Office, 
 but are set down in the return as conjectural only, we have 76,810 
 furnished by the Southern States and 30,950 furnished by the Northern ; 
 making, under this head, more than two men furnished by the Southern 
 to one from the Northern. The chief services of the Southern States 
 for which the venerable Senator now claims so much it will be 
 observed with a smile, were conjectural only ! 
 
 Looking, however, at the sum total of continental troops, authenticated 
 militia and conjectural militia, we have 147,940 furnished by the South 
 ern States, while 249,503 were furnished by the Northern ; making 100,- 
 ooo men furnished to the war by the Northern more than the Southern. 
 
 But the disparity swells when we directly compare South Carolina 
 and Massachusetts. Of continental troops, and authenticated militia, 
 and conjectural militia, South Carolina furnished 33,508, while Massa 
 chusetts furnished 92,592 ; making in the latter sum nearly three men 
 for one furnished by South Carolina. Look, however, at the con 
 tinental troops and the authenticated militia furnished by the two 
 States, and here you will find only 5,508 furnished by South Carolina, 
 while 83,092 were furnished by Massachusetts being sixteen times 
 more tlian by South Carolina, and much more tJian by all the Southern 
 States together. Here are facts and figures of which the Senator ought 
 not to be ignorant. 
 
 Did the occasion require, I might go further, and minutely portray 
 the imbecility of the Southern States, and particularly of South Caro 
 lina, in the war of the Revolution, as compared with the Northern 
 States. This is a sad chapter of history, upon which I unwillingly 
 dwell. Faithful annals record that, as early as 1778, the six South 
 Carolina regiments, composing, with the Georgia regiment, the regular 
 force of the Southern Department, did not, in the whole, muster above 
 eight hundred men ; nor was it possible to fill up their ranks. During 
 the succeeding year, the Governor of South Carolina, pressed by the 
 British forces, offered to stipulate the neutrality of his State during the 
 war, leaving it to be decided at the peace to whom it should belong 
 a premonitory symptom of the secession proposed in our own day ! 
 At last, after the fatal field of Camden, no organized American force 
 was left in this region. The three Southern States animis opibusque 
 fiarati, according to the vaunt of the Senator had not a single bat 
 talion in the field ! During all this period the men of Massachusetts 
 were serving their country, not at home, but away from their own bor 
 ders ; for, from the time of the Declaration of Independence, Massa 
 chusetts never saw the smoke of an enemy s camp. 
 
GENERAL GREENE S TESTIMONY. 241 
 
 At last, by the military genius and remarkable exertions of General 
 Greene, a Northern man, who assumed the command of the Southern 
 army, South Carolina was rescued from the British power. But the 
 trials of this successful leader reveal, in a striking manner, the weak 
 ness of the "slaveholding" State which he saved. Some of these are 
 graphically presented in his letters. Writing to Governor Reed, of 
 Pennsylvania, under date of 3d May, 1781, he says : 
 
 "Those whose true interest it was to have informed Congress and 
 the people to the northward of the real state of things, have joined in 
 the deception, and magnified the strength and resources of this 
 country infinitely above their ability. Many of those, who adhere to 
 our party, are so fond of pleasure, that they cannot think of making 
 the necessary sacrifices to support the Revolution. There are many 
 good and virtuous people to the southward ; but they cannot animate 
 the inhabitants in general, as you can to the northward" Gordon s 
 History of American Revolution, vol. iv. p. 87. 
 
 Writing to Colonel Davies, under date of 23d May, 1781, he ex 
 poses the actual condition of the country : 
 
 " The animosity between the Whigs and Tories of this State renders 
 their situation truly deplorable. There is not a day passes but there 
 are more or less who fall a sacrifice to this savage disposition. The 
 Whigs seem determined to extirpate the Tories, and the Tories the 
 Whigs. Some thousands have fallen in this way in this quarter, and 
 the evil rages with more violence than ever. If a stop cannot be soon 
 put to these massacres, the country will be depopulated in a few 
 months more, as neither Whig nor Tory can live." 
 
 To Lafayette, General Greene, under date of 2pth December, 1780,. 
 describes the weakness of his troops : 
 
 " It is now within a few days of the time you mentioned of being 
 with me. Were you to arrive, you would find a few ragged, half- 
 starved troops in the wilderness, destitute of everything necessary for 
 either the comfort or convenience of soldiers." * * * "The country is 
 almost laid waste, and the inhabitants plunder one another with little 
 less than savage fury. We live from hand to mouth, and have nothing 
 to subsist on but what we collect with armed parties. In this situation, 
 I believe you will agree with me, there is nothing inviting this way, 
 especially when I assure you our whole force fit for duty, that are pro 
 perly clothed and properly equipped, does not amount to eight hundred 
 men." Johnson } s Life of Greene, vol. i. p. 340. 
 
 Writing to Mr. Varnum, a member of Congress, he says : 
 
 "There is a great spirit of enterprise prevailing among the militia of 
 these Southern States, especially with the volunteers. But their mode 
 of going to war is so destructive, that it is the greatest folly in the 
 16 
 
242 RAMSAY S HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 world to trust the liberties of a people to such a precarious defence." 
 Johnson s Life of Greene, vol. i. p. 397. 
 
 Nothing can be more authentic or complete than this testimony. 
 Here, also, is what is said by David Ramsay, an estimable citizen of 
 South Carolina, in his History of the Revolution in that State, published 
 in 1785, only a short time after the scenes which he describes : 
 
 " While the American soldiers lay encamped (in the low country 
 near Charleston), their tattered rags were so completely worn out, that 
 seven hundred of them were as naked as they were born, excepting a 
 small strip of cloth about their waists, and they were nearly as desti 
 tute of meat as of clothing." Vol. i. p. 258. 
 
 The military weakness of this "slaveholding community" is too ap 
 parent. Learn now its occasion : and then join with me in amazement 
 that a Senator from South Carolina should attribute our independence 
 to anything "slaveholding." The records of the country, and various 
 voices, all disown his brag for Slavery. The State of South Carolina, 
 iby authentic history, disowns it. Listen, if you please, to peculiar and 
 decisive testimony, under date of 29th March, 1779, from the Secret 
 Journal of the Continental Congress : 
 
 " The Committee appointed to take into consideration the circum 
 stances of the Southern States, and the ways and means for their safety 
 .and defence, report, that the State of South Carolina (as represented 
 
 by the Delegates of the said State, and by Mr. Huger, who has come, 
 here at the request of the Governor of the said State, on purpose to 
 
 explain the circumstances thereof) is UNABLE to make any effectual 
 
 efforts with militia, by reason of the great proportion of citizens neccs- 
 .sary to remain at home, to prevent insurrection among the negroes, and 
 
 to prevent the desertion of them to the enemy. That the state of the 
 country, and the great number of these people among them, expose the 
 
 inhabitants to great danger, from the endeavors of the enemy to excite 
 them to revolt or desert." Vol. i. p. 105. 
 
 Here is South Carolina secretly disclosing her military weakness, anc 
 its ignoble occasion ; thus repudiating, in advance, the vaunt of her 
 Senator, who finds strength and gratulation in Slavery rather than in 
 ^Freedom. It was during the war that she thus shrived herself, on 
 ibended knees, in the confessional of the Continental Congress. But 
 the same ignominious confession was made, some time after the war, in 
 open debate, on the floor of Congress, by Mr. Burke, a Representative 
 from South Carolina: 
 
 "There is not a gentleman on the floor who is a stranger to the 
 feeble situation of our State, when we entered into the war to oppose 
 the British power. We were not only without money, without an army 
 
MILITARY WEAKNESS OF SOUTHERN STATES. 243 
 
 or military stores, but we were few in number, and likely to be entangled 
 with our domestics, in case the enemy invaded us." Annals of Congress, 
 1789, 1791, vol. ii. p. 1484. 
 
 Similar testimony to the weakness engendered by Slavery was also 
 borne by Mr. Madison, in open debate in Congress : 
 
 " Every addition they (Georgia and South Carolina) receive to their 
 number of slaves, tends to weaken them, and render them less capable of 
 self-defence Annals of Congress, vol. i. p. 340. 
 
 The historian of South Carolina, Dr. Ramsay, a contemporary observer 
 of the very scenes which he describes, also exposes this weakness : 
 
 " The forces under the command of General Provost marched 
 through the richest settlements of the State, where are the fewest white 
 inhabitants in proportion to the number of slaves. The hapless Afri 
 cans, allured with the hope of Freedom, forsook their owners, and re 
 paired in great numbers to the royal army. They endeavored to recom 
 mend themselves to their new masters by discovering where their 
 owners had concealed their property, and were assisting in carrying it 
 off." History of South Carolina, vol. i. p. 312. 
 
 And the same candid historian, describing the invasion of the next 
 year, says : 
 
 " The slaves a second time flocked to the British army." Vol. i. p. 336. 
 
 And at a still later day, Mr. Justice Johnson, of the Supreme Court 
 of the United States, and a citizen of South Carolina, in his elaborate 
 Life of General Greene, speaking of negro slaves, makes the same un 
 happy admission. He says : 
 
 "But the number dispersed through these (Southern) States was very 
 great ; so great, as to render it impossible for the citizens to muster free 
 men enough to withstand the pressure of the British arms" Vol. ii. 
 p. 472. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 Surely, sir, this is enough, and more. Thus, from authentic docu 
 ments including the very muster-rolls of the Revolution we learn the 
 small contributions of men and the military weakness of the Southern 
 States, particularly of South Carolina, as compared with the Northern 
 States ; and from the very lips of South Carolina, on four different oc 
 casions, speaking by a Committee ; by one of her representatives in 
 Congress ; by her historian ; and by an eminent citizen, we have the 
 confession not only of weakness, but that this weakness was caused by 
 Slavery. Arid yet, in the face of this cumulative and unimpeachable 
 
244 THE RIGHTS OF HUMAN NATURE. 
 
 testimony, we are called to listen, in the American Senate, to a high 
 flying boast, from a venerable Senator, that American Independence was 
 achieved by the arms and treasure of " slave-holding communities ;" 
 an assumption, baseless as the fabric of a vision, in any way it may be 
 interpreted ; whether as meaning baldly that independence was achieved 
 by those Southern States, which were the peculiar home of Slavery, or 
 that it was achieved by any strength or influence which came from that 
 noxious source. Sir, I speak here for a Commonwealth of just renown, 
 but I speak also for a cause which is more than any Commonwealth, 
 even that which I represent ; and I cannot allow the Senator, with his 
 silver-white locks, to discredit either. Not by Slavery, but in spite of 
 it, was independence achieved. Not because, but notwithstanding, 
 there were " slave-holding communities," did triumph descend upon our 
 arms. It was the inspiration of Liberty Universal that conducted us 
 through the Red Sea of the Revolution, as it had already given to the 
 Declaration of Independence its mighty tone, resounding through the 
 ages. "Let it be remembered," said the nation, speaking by the voice 
 of the Continental Congress, at the close of the war, "that it has ever 
 been the pride and boast of America, that the rights for which she has 
 contended WERE THE RIGHTS OF HUMAN NATURE!" Yes, sir, in 
 this behalf, and by this sign, we conquered. 
 
 Such, sir, is my answer on this head to the Senator from South Caro 
 lina. If the work which I undertook has been done thoroughly, he 
 must not blame me. Whatever I undertake, I am apt to do thoroughly. 
 But while thus repelling the insinuations against Massachusetts, and the 
 assumptions for Slavery, I would not unnecessarily touch the sensibili 
 ties of that Senator, or of the State which he represents. I cannot 
 forget that, amidst all diversities of opinion, we are bound together by 
 the ties of a common country that Massachusetts and South Carolina 
 are sister States, and that the concord of sisters ought to prevail be 
 tween them ; but I am constrained to declare, that throughout this de 
 bate I have sought in vain any token of that just spirit which, within 
 the sphere of its influence, is calculated to promote the concord of 
 States or of individuals. 
 
 Such, Mr. President, is my response to all that has been said in 
 this debate so far as I deem it in any way worthy of attention. To 
 the two associate chieftains in this personal assault, the veteran Senator 
 from Virginia, and the Senator from South Carolina with the silver- white 
 locks, I have replied completely. It is true that others have joined in 
 the cry, which these associates first started ; but I shall not be tempted 
 
THE CRIME AGAINST KANSAS. 245 
 
 further. Some there are who are best answered by silence ; best an 
 swered by withholding the words which leap impulsively to the lips. 
 
 And now, turning my back upon these things, let me, as I close, 
 dwell on a single aspect of this discussion which will render it memo 
 rable. On former occasions like this, the right of petition has been 
 vehemently assailed, or practically denied. Only two years ago, me 
 morials for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Bill, presented by me, 
 were laid on your table, Mr. President, without reference to any Com 
 mittee. All is changed now. Senators have condemned the memo 
 rial, and sounded the cry of "treason," "treason," in our ears; but 
 thus far, throughout this excited debate, no person has so completely 
 outraged the spirit of our institutions, or forgotten himself, as to per 
 severe in objecting to the reception of the memorial, and its proper 
 reference. It is true, the remonstrants and their representatives here 
 have been treated with indignity ; but the great right of petition the 
 sword and buckler, of the citizen though thus discredited, has not 
 been denied. Here, sir, is a triumph for Freedom. 
 
 L. 
 
 THE CRIME AGAINST KANSAS, the most powerful of 
 all Mr. SUMNER S speeches, will always be associated 
 with the infamous attempt to murder him in the Senate 
 Chamber, two days after its delivery. In giving" an 
 account of the assault, we shall follow the relation of it 
 by Vice-President WILSON, as it will appear in the 
 second volume of his " History of the Rise and Fall of 
 the Slave Power in America," for an early copy of which 
 we are indebted to the friendship of the author. 
 
 In addition to the well-known accuracy of Mr. WILSON 
 as a public writer, he had the further advantage in this 
 case, of being on the spot when this most cowardly act 
 in the history of modern civilization, was perpetrated. 
 
 LI. 
 
 The spring of 1856, he remarks, by way of preface, had opened 
 glojinily. The Kansas-Nebraska legislation was bringing forth its 
 

 246 VICE-PRESIDENT WILSON S ACCOUNT. 
 
 legitimate fruits. Emboldened by their success, the slavery propa 
 gandists pressed on with vigor, resolved that no obstacles should pre 
 vent the realization of their cherished purposes. In Kansas the friends 
 of freedom found that the pretended proffer of popular sovereignty 
 was a delusion, and they were at once precipitated into a hand-to-hand 
 conflict. Treason was on many lips, and the cry of secession not only 
 rung in the halls of Congress but resounded throughout the South. 
 Distrusting, too, their ability to meet their opponents in the fair field of 
 debate, the advocates of slavery resolved to resort to something more 
 potent than words. If they could not rebut the speech they could in 
 timidate and overpower the speaker, and the bludgeon be made to 
 accomplish what fair argument could not effect. The border ruffian 
 policy which was filling Kansas with alarm and bloodshed had its repre 
 sentatives in Washington, walking its streets, hanging around its hotels 
 and stalking through the Capitol. To the extreme arrogance of embit 
 tered and aggressive words were added the menace and actual infliction 
 of personal violence. Indeed, the course of these men assumed the 
 form of a reckless and relentless audacity never before exhibited. 
 Members of Congress went armed in the streets and sat with loaded 
 revolvers in their desks. 
 
 It was in this state of popular feeling and during the debate on 
 Kansas affairs that Mr. Sumner delivered, on the i9th and 2oth of May, 
 his speech on the " Crime against Kansas." It was marked by the 
 usual characteristics of his more elaborate efforts, exhibiting great 
 affluence of learning, faithful research and great rhetorical finish and 
 force. It was, in the words of Whittier, " a grand and terrible philippic, 
 worthy of the great occasion ; the severe and awful truth, which the 
 sharp agony of the national crisis demanded." The speech bore the 
 marks of a determined purpose to make it exhaustive and complete ; 
 as impregnable in argument and cogent in rhetoric as it could be made 
 by the materials at his command, and by the author s acknowledged 
 ability to use them.- He summoned largely to his aid the power of 
 language, and his " words " became " things." 
 
 He divided his subject into "three different heads: THE CRIME 
 AGAINST KANSAS in its origin and extent ; THE APOLOGIES FOR THE 
 CRIME ; and THE TRUE REMEDV." Concerning the crime itself, he ad 
 duced the most incontrovertible proofs of its existence, and closed by 
 comparing Kansas, to a "gallant ship, voyaging on a pleasant summer 
 sea, assailed by a pirate crew." " Even now," he said, " the black flag 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE SPEECH. 247 
 
 of the land pirates of Missouri waves at the masthead ; in their laws 
 you hear the pirate yell and see the flash of the pirate knife ; while, in 
 credible to relate, the President, gathering the slave power at his back, 
 testifies a pirate sympathy." He said the apologies were four in 
 number: the apology " tyrannical," the apology "imbecile," the apo 
 logy "absurd," and the apology "infamous." "This is all," he said. 
 " Tyranny, imbecility, absurdity and infamy all unite to dance, like the 
 weird sisters, about this crime." Concerning the remedies, he said 
 they, too, were "fourfold" : the remedy of "tyranny," of "folly," of 
 "injustice and civil war," of "justice and peace." "These are the 
 four caskets," he said, " and you are to determine which shall be 
 opened by Senatorial votes." Having discussed these points with great 
 fulness and cogency, he thus closed : "The contest, which, beginning 
 in Kansas, reaches us, will be transferred soon from Congress to that 
 broader stage where every citizen is not only spectator, but actor ; and 
 to their judgment I confidently turn. * * * In the name of the Con 
 stitution outraged, of the laws trampled down, of humanity degraded, 
 of peace destroyed, of freedom crushed to earth, and in the name of 
 the Heavenly Father, whose service is perfect freedom, I -make this 
 last appeal." 
 
 Portraying the crime, he referred to the criminal, fitly spoke of the 
 tyrant power who inspired it, and of the more prominent agents in its 
 commission. Alluding to a fable of northern mythology, he said : 
 "Even so the creature whose paws are fastened upon Kansas, whatever 
 it may seem to be, constitutes in reality part of the slave power, which, 
 with loathsome folds, is now coiled about the whole land." 
 
 Of several of the agents of this power he had more than general 
 reasons to speak severely. Among them were Mr. Butler and Mr. 
 Douglas, who had singled him out for special attack. In this speech, 
 therefore, he took occasion to repay them for their assaults, and pro 
 posed to say " something in reference to what has fallen from Senators 
 who have raised themselves to eminence on this floor in championship 
 of human wrongs. I mean the Senator from South Carolina and the 
 Senator from Illinois, who though unlike as Don Quixote and Sancho 
 Panza, yet, like this couple, sally forth in the same adventure." Of the 
 former he spoke as " one applying opprobrious epithets to those who 
 differ from- him on this floor, calling them sectional and fanatical, 
 and their opposition to the usurpations in Kansas an uncalculating 
 
248 ASSAULT ON SUMXER. 
 
 fanaticism ! " Of the latter he said : "The Senator dreams that he can 
 subdue the North. He disclaims the open threat ; but his conduct 
 implies it. How little that Senator knows himself, or the strength of 
 the cause he persecutes ! He is but a mortal man ; but against him is 
 an immortal principle. With finite strength he wrestles with the 
 infinite, and he must fail ; against him are stronger battalions than any 
 marshalled by mortal arm, the inborn, ineradicable, and invincible 
 sentiments of the human heart ; against him is Nature in all its subtle 
 forces ; against him is God. Let him try to subdue these." 
 
 LII. 
 
 A speech so bold and unsparing in its utterances, so thorough and 
 fundamental in its logic, in which things were called by their right 
 names, and which applied the tests of Republican and Christian prin 
 ciples so severely to the vexed question, while, at the same time, it 
 administered to some of the haughty and dogmatic leaders that severe 
 rebuke their insolence deserved, could not fail, in the excited state of 
 the public mind, to produce a profound impression. Men whose 
 course had been subjected to this terrible arraignment were excited to 
 madness ; and summary vengeance was agreed upon as the only 
 remedy that would meet the exigency of the hour. 
 
 Preston S. Brooks, a Representative from South Carolina, either 
 volunteered or was selected as the agent for its infliction. After the 
 adjournment of the Senate on the 22d of May, Mr. Simmer remained 
 at his desk engaged in writing. While so engaged, Brooks, whom he 
 did not know, approached him and said : "I have read your speech 
 twice over, carefully. It is a libel on South Carolina and Mr. Butler, 
 who is a relative of mine." While these words were passing from his 
 lips he commenced a series of blows with a bludgeon upon the Senator s 
 head, by which the latter was stunned, disabled and smitten down, 
 bleeding and insensible, on the floor of the chamber. From that floor 
 he was taken by friends, borne to the ante-room, where his wounds 
 were dressed, and then he was carried by Mr. Wilson, assisted by 
 Captain Darling, door-keeper of the House, faint and bleeding, to his 
 lodgings. 
 
 This cowardly and audacious assault deeply moved the public mind ; 
 
MEETING AT SEWARB S HOUSE. 249 
 
 not only at Washington, but throughout the country, though the per 
 sonal participants therein, the criminal and his victim, were very much 
 lost sight of in the moral and political significance of the act. For the 
 moment Sumner and Brooks were regarded mainly as representative 
 men, exponents of the two civilizations which divided the country, 
 while the scenes on the 22d of May on the floor of the Senate were 
 looked upon as typical of what was being enacted on the wider theatre 
 of the nation. Mr. Sumner, though confessedly the superior of his 
 assailant in stature and physical strength, sitting and cramped beneath 
 his writing desk, over which he was bending, with pen in hand, taken 
 unawares and at disadvantage, and his assailant raining blows upon his 
 unprotected head, fairly represented freedom and slavery as they stood 
 at that time confronting each other. Freedom, though intrinsically 
 stronger than its antagonist, was yet practically weaker. So hampered 
 by the compromises of the Constitution, by the legislation of two 
 generations, by proscription and prescription, and by the overpowering 
 advantage which actual possession gave to slavery, it had been obliged 
 to succumb to its imperious antagonist, besides suffering infinite damage 
 thereby. This blow at free speech, and personal safety as well, like a 
 flash of lightning in a dark and stormy night, revealed by its lurid glare 
 the grim facts of the situation, and the people, for good reason, trem 
 bled as they gazed apprehensively into the immediate and more remote 
 future. 
 
 LIII. 
 
 In the evening of the day of the assault, the Republican Senators 
 met at the house of Mr. Seward. In a lean minority only one-fifth of 
 the Senate they knew that they were at the mercy of the majority, 
 which was dominated by the incensed and inexorable leaders of the 
 Slave Power. Always bitter and implacable, they were now still more 
 determined and audacious. Always zealous, their zeal was more in 
 flamed by the fresh fuel these proceedings would add. What new vic 
 tims would be required, who they should be, and whom their appetite 
 for vengeance, whetted by this taste of blood, would select, they knew 
 not. Not unlikely some who gathered there, like the disciples of John 
 the Baptist, after their master had fallen a victim to a tyrant s power, 
 felt that, though the night was dark and the future was forbidding, it 
 was no time to despair or to remit effort. Nor would they, without 
 remonstrance, submit to such an invasion of their personal and politi- 
 
250 A COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY. 
 
 cal rights. It was accordingly agreed that Mr. Wilson should call the 
 attention of the Senate to the subject the next day, and, unless some 
 member of the dominant party should move a committee of investiga 
 tion, Mr. Seward should make such motion. 
 
 On the assembling of the Senate, amid deep excitement, crowds 
 filling every available space in the Chamber and all its approaches, 
 Mr. Wilson rose, and having narrated briefly the facts of the transac 
 tion, said : "Sir, to assail a member of the Senate out of this Chamber 
 * for words spoken in debate is a grave offence, not only against the 
 rights of a Senator, but the constitutional privileges of this House ; but, 
 sir, to come into this Chamber and assault a member in his seat, until 
 he falls exhausted and senseless on this floor, is an offence requiring 
 the prompt and decisive action of the Senate. Senators, I have called 
 your attention to this transaction. I submit no motion. I leave it to 
 older Senators, whose character, whose position in this body and before 
 the country, eminently fit them for the task of devising measures to re 
 dress the wrongs of a member of this body and to vindicate the honor 
 and dignity of the Senate." 
 
 As no Democratic Senator proposed any action, Mr. Seward offered 
 a resolution for a committee of five members, to be appointed by the 
 President, to inquire into the assault and to report the facts, together with 
 their opinion thereon. On motion of Mr. Mason, the resolution was 
 so amended as to provide that the committee should be ch6sen by the 
 Senate ; and Pearce of Maryland, Cass of Michigan, Dodge of Wis 
 consin, Allen of Rhode Island and Geyer of Missouri, were selected. 
 The committee was chosen wholly from the Democratic party, and 
 contained no one friendly to Mr. Simmer. The same day, Lewis D. 
 Campbell introduced a resolution into the House of Representatives 
 reciting the particulars of the assault, and proposing a select committee 
 of five to report such action as might be proper for the vindication of 
 the House. After a brief debate, the resolution was adopted, and 
 Campbell of Ohio, Pennington of New Jersey, Spinner of New York, 
 Cobb of Georgia and Greenwood of Arkansas were appointed. 
 
 LIV. 
 
 This assault upon Mr. Simmer was, however, chiefly noticeable for 
 its related facts and subsequent developments. Standing alone, it was 
 
BEHAVIOR OF SENATORS. 25 I 
 
 but one of many outrages which have disfigured and disgraced human 
 history, as indefensible as they were full of pain and peril, one good 
 man suffering at the hands of a bad man from the impulse of passion 
 or the greed of gain. But, standing as it does in its relations to the 
 irrepressible conflict between freedom and slavery, it was a revelation 
 of a state of public feeling and sentiment, especially at the South, which 
 both startled and surprised the nation and the world ; though it has 
 since lost much of its special significance, looked at by the side of the 
 more horrible demonstrations of rebellion and civil war. Thus con 
 sidered, it shows Mr. Brooks as only a fit representative of the domi 
 nating influences of the slaveholding States, where not only did their 
 leading public men and presses indorse the deed as their own, and 
 defend it by voice and vote, but the people generally seemed ready to 
 vie with each other in their professed admiration of his course, so that 
 the bludgeon became the weapon of honor, the bully the hero of the 
 hour. 
 
 The committee reported want of jurisdiction, because, it contended, 
 "authority devolves solely upon the House, of which he is a member," 
 and the Senate itself took no further action. The House committee 
 entered at once upon the investigation, and proceeded to examine the 
 witnesses of the transaction. Visiting Mr. Simmer at his room, they 
 took his deposition from his sick-bed. He made substantially the same 
 statement already given, mentioning the additional fact that on coming 
 to consciousness he saw " Mr. Douglas and Mr. Toombs standing in 
 the Senate," and Mr. Slidell in the anteroom, from which the latter 
 "retreated at once." This statement becoming known, these Senators 
 felt called upon to make explanations of their knowledge of the affair 
 and of the course they adopted in relation to it. Mr. Slidell, referring 
 to the fact that he was conversing with other Senators, among whom 
 was Mr. Douglas, when a messenger rushed in with the intelligence 
 that somebody was beating Mr. Sumner, contemptuously said : "We 
 heard this remark without any particular emotion. For my part, I con 
 fess I felt none. I am not disposed to participate in broils of any kind. 
 I remained very quietly in my seat. The other gentleman did the 
 same. We did not move." He stated that, a few minutes afterward, 
 he went into the Senate Chamber, and was told that Mr. Sumner was 
 lying in a state of insensibility. Returning to the anteroom, and 
 attempting to pass out, he saw the wounded man as he was carried into 
 the anteroom, " his face covered with blood, and evidently faint and 
 
252 TOOMBS JUSTIFIES BROOKS. 
 
 weak." " I am not," said Mr. Slidell, " particularly fond of scenes of 
 any sort. I have no associations or relations of any kind with Mr. 
 Simmer. I have not spoken to him for two years. I did not think it 
 necessary to express any sympathy or make any advances toward him." 
 Slidell closed his remarks by saying he was free from any participation, 
 connection, or counsel in the matter. 
 
 Douglas, too, deemed it his duty to make some explanation. He said 
 that when the messenger passed through the room and said somebody 
 was beating Mr. Sumner, " I rose immediately to my feet. My first 
 impulse was to come into the Senate Chamber and help to put an end 
 to the affray if I could. But it occurred to my mind in an instant that 
 my relations to Mr. Sumner were such that if I came into the hall my 
 motives would be misconstrued perhaps, and I sat down again." He 
 stated that a few moments afterwards he went into the Senate Chamber 
 and saw the crowd gathering about Mr. Sumner, who was prostrate on the 
 floor. He closed his remarks by stating he did not know that he 
 was in the Capitol ; that he did not know that any man thought of 
 attacking him, and that he had not the slightest suspicion of what was 
 to happen. 
 
 Mr. Toombs said : "As for rendering Mr. Sumner any assistance, I 
 did not do it. As to what was said, some gentleman present condemn 
 ed it in Mr. Brooks. I stated to him, or to some of my own friends, 
 probably, that I approved it. That is my opinion." It was also given 
 in evidence that Mr. Keitt was present at the assault, not only con 
 senting to the action of his colleague, but with violent demonstrations 
 and profane expressions warning off all who would interfere to save the 
 victim from his assailant. 
 
 Of course, Northern men could not remain unmoved by such admitted 
 complicity with and indorsement of an outrage like that. Mr. Wade said : 
 " It is impossible for me to sit still and hear the principle announced 
 which I have heard on this occasion. I am here in a pretty bare mino 
 rity ; but when I hear, on the floor of the Senate, that an assassin-like, 
 cowardly attack has been made on a man unarmed, having no power to 
 defend himself, who was stricken down with the strong arm and almost 
 murdered, and that such attacks are approved of by Senators, it becomes 
 a question of some interest to us all, and especially to those who are 
 in the minority. A brave man may be overpowered by numbers on this 
 
BROOKS CHALLENGES WILSON. 253 
 
 floor ; but, sir, overpowered or not, live or die, I will vindicate the right 
 and liberty of debate and freedom of discussion upon this floor so long 
 as I live." 
 
 Mr. Wilson remarked that there was no conflict between the state 
 ments of Mr. Sumner and those of Slidell, Douglas and Toombs. The 
 assault itself he pronounced "brutal, murderous and cowardly." This 
 provoked the exclamation " You are a liar ! " from Mr. Butler; although, 
 at the request of Senators, he immediately withdrew the words. The 
 charge of Mr. Wilson led to a challenge from Mr. Brooks, which was 
 borne to him by General Lane of Oregon, afterward Democratic can 
 didate for the Vice-Presidency. Mr. Wilson, against the urgent advice 
 of Mr. Giddings, Mr. Colfax and other friends, immediately returned 
 this reply : 
 
 " I characterized, on the floor of the Senate, the assault upon my 
 colleague as brutal, murderous and cowardly. I thought so then. 
 I think so now. I have no qualification whatever to make in regard to 
 those words. I have never entertained, in the Senate or elsewhere, the 
 idea of personal responsibility in the sense of the duellist. I have always 
 regarded duelling as the lingering relic of a barbarous civilization, which 
 the law of the country has branded as crime. While, therefore, I re 
 ligiously believe in the right of self-defence in its broadest sense, the 
 law of my country and the matured convictions of my whole life alike 
 forbid me to meet you for the purpose indicated in your letter." 
 
 Having sent this reply by James Baffin ton, a member of the House 
 from his State, Mr. Wilson telegraphed to his wife, then in Massachu 
 setts : " Have declined to fight a duel, shall do my duty and leave the 
 result with God. If assailed, shall defend my life, if possible, at any 
 cost. Be calm." Writing a hurried note to his friends, William Claflin, 
 afterward Governor of Massachusetts, and John -B. Alley, subsequently 
 for several years a member of Congress, to befriend his son, then only- 
 ten years of age, if he should be struck down by violence, Mr. Wilson 
 armed himself for defence, resolved to go where duty called. At once a 
 meeting was held at the National Hotel by a few Southern members, 
 and the question of making an assault upon him considered ; and actual 
 violence was prevented mainly by the efforts of Mr. Orr of South 
 Carolina, as he informed Mr. Wilson in the winter of 1873, when on his 
 way to Russia as Minister of the United States. 
 
254 BROOKS EXPELLED KEITT RESIGNS. 
 
 LV. 
 
 The House committee made two reports ; the majority recommend 
 ing the expulsion of Mr. Brooks, and expressing "disapprobation of the 
 act of Henry A. Edmonson and Lawrence M. Keitt." The minority, 
 pleading want of jurisdiction, gave sixty-six votes for the minority 
 report. The House censured Keitt, but failed to condemn Edmonson. 
 Keitt resigned. One hundred and twenty-one members voted to expel 
 Brooks and ninety -five voted against expulsion. Having failed to expel 
 a two -thirds vote being necessary a vote of censure was adopted by 
 a large majority. 
 
 After these votes were declared, Mr. Brooks addressed the House in 
 a speech of mingled assumption, insolence and self-conceit. While dis 
 claiming all intention to insult Congress, the Senate or the State of Mas 
 sachusetts, he seemed to be utterly oblivious that. there had been any 
 infringement of law or the rights of others ; it being simply, he said, " a 
 personal affair, for which I am personally responsible." With infinite 
 effrontery he affirmed : " I went to work very deliberately, as I am 
 charged and this is admitted and speculated somewhat as to whether 
 I should employ a horsewhip or a cowhide ; but knowing that the Sen 
 ator was my superior in strength, it occurred to me that he might wrest 
 it from my hand, and then (for I never attempt anything I do not per 
 form) I might have been compelled to do that which I would have re 
 gretted the balance of my natural life." What that contingency he so 
 coolly admitted was, every reader can conjecture. With still greater as 
 surance and self-assertion, he claimed, as a matter of credit for his for 
 bearance, that he had not plunged the nation into civil war, as if he had 
 held the destinies of the Republic in his hands. " In my heart of 
 hearts," he said, " such a menacing line of conduct I believe would end 
 in subverting this government and drenching this hall in blood. No act 
 of mine, on my personal account, shall inaugurate revolution ; but when 
 you, Mr. Speaker, return to your own home, and hear the people of the 
 great North and they are a great people speak of me as a bad man, 
 you will do me the justice to say that a blow struck by me at this time 
 would be followed by a revolution ; and this I know." Concluding his 
 speech, he announced the resignation of his seat, and walked out of the 
 House. He returned to his constituents, was triumphantly re-elected, 
 in about two weeks went back with his commission of re-election, and 
 again took his seat. 
 
THE SOUTH ENDORSES BROOKS. 2$ 5 
 
 LVI. 
 
 But the most significant and instructive incidents and utterances re 
 main to be noted. Much of what has already been adduced might be 
 safely referred to passion, wounded feeling and inflamed hatred. The 
 language of Slidell, Douglas, Toombs and Brooks, was evidently spoken 
 in hot blood, and the votes of Mr. Brooks s constituents were cast in 
 obedience to feelings that had been roused to the highest pitch of em 
 bittered and vengeful indignation. No adequate conception of the state 
 of public sentiment and feeling then existing can be found without re 
 ference to the cooler and more deliberate expressions of public men and 
 presses outside of the narrow circle of the immediate actors in this 
 tragedy of violence and blood. Unfortunately the evidence is far too 
 conclusive to leave any doubt as to the anarchical sentiments that pre 
 vailed too generally at the South, and far too largely, indeed, at the 
 North. 
 
 Referring to a meeting of Brooks s constituents, at which resolutions 
 of approval were adopted, and a cane, with a brutal inscription, voted 
 him, a paper published at the capital of the State remarked : " Meetings 
 of approval and sanction will be held not only in Mr. Brooks s district, 
 but throughout the State at large, and a general and hearty response of 
 approval will re-echo the words well done ! from Washington to the 
 Rio Grande." The students and officers of the University of Virginia 
 also voted him a cane, on which the leading Democratic organ of the 
 South remarked approvingly : " The chivalry of the South, it seems, 
 has been thoroughly aroused." The Richmond Examiner said : : Far 
 from blarning Mr. Brooks, we are disposed to regard him as a conserva 
 tive gentleman, seeking to restore its lost dignity to the Senate, * * * 
 whose example should be followed by every Southern gentleman whose 
 feelings are outraged by unprincipled Abolitionists." The Richmond 
 Enquirer, some weeks after the assault, said : " In the main, the press 
 of the South applaud the conduct of Mr. Brooks, without condition or 
 limitation. Our approbation, at least, is entire and unreserved. * * * 
 It was a proper act, done at the proper time and in the proper place." 
 
 Nor were leading statesmen less explicit in their approval. Mr. 
 Mason, in reply to an invitation to attend a public dinner in honor of 
 Mr. Brooks, after referring to his " social and political intercourse " with 
 
256 BUCHANAN APPROVES THE ASSAULT. 
 
 their "able and justly honored representative," adds : " I know of none 
 whose public career I hold more worthy the full and cordial approba 
 tion of his constituents than his." Jefferson Davis, on the same occa 
 sion, wrote : " I have only to express to you my sympathy with the 
 feeling which prompts the sons of Carolina to welcome the return of a 
 brother who has been the subject of vilification, misrepresentation, and 
 persecution, because he resented a libellous assault upon the represen 
 tative of their mother." Nor were they alone Southern men who joined 
 in this formal indorsement. Mr. Buchanan, the Democratic candidate 
 for the Presidency, referring to Mr. Simmer s speech, characterized it as 
 " the most vulgar tirade of abuse ever delivered in a representative 
 body ; " and added that though " Mr. Brooks was inconsiderate, * * * 
 Senator Butler was a very mild man." 
 
 Mr. Savage of Tennessee, in a eulogy in the House, said : "To die 
 nobly is life s chief concern. History records but one Thermopylae ; 
 there ought to have been another, and that one for Preston S. Brooks. 
 * * * So shall the scene in the Senate chamber carry the name of 
 the deceased to all future generations, long to be remembered after all 
 men are forgotten and until these proud walls crumble into ruins." So 
 unmistakably did the leading minds of the South indorse the deed and 
 make it their own. 
 
 Nor, on the other hand, were the men of the North silent. The 
 thrill of horror and alarm which ran through the free States found 
 expression, as with fitting phrase and indignant emphasis men cha 
 racterized and denounced the diabolical and cowardly assault. On the 
 floor of Congress were those found who, at much personal hazard, 
 denounced both the assault and the assailant. In the Hoifse, John 
 Woodruff of Connecticut, a man proverbial for moderation of temper 
 and deportment, said : " If honorable gentlemen cannot wholly rid 
 themselves of an unwelcome presence, they can, at least, show their 
 appreciation of an action wanting few of the elements of the most 
 audacious crime and of a spirit equal to deeds that I will not name. 
 With an endeavor always to cultivate courtesy, I shall not hesitate, 
 here in my place or elsewhere, to freely characterize as they deserve 
 any lofty assumption of arrogance or any mean achievement of 
 cowardice." For these words he was waited upon and interrogated 
 whether he would receive a challenge from Mr. Brooks. He, however, 
 declined to receive it. 
 
BURLING AME DENOUNCES THE ASSAULT. 257 
 
 LVII. 
 
 Mr. Burlingame, afterwards Plenipotentiary to China, and from China 
 to the Western nations, spoke of the assault with boldness, eloquence 
 and force. " I denounce it," he said, " in the name of the Con 
 stitution it violates. I denounce it in the name of the sovereignty of 
 Massachusetts, which was stricken down by the blow. I denounce it 
 in the name of humanity. I denounce it in the name of civilization, 
 which it outraged. I denounce it in the name of that fair play which 
 bullies and prize-fighters respect. The Senator from Massachusetts 
 sat in the silence of the Senate Chamber, engaged in the employments 
 appertaining to his office, when a member from the House, who had 
 taken an oath to sustain the Constitution, stole into the Senate, a place 
 which had hitherto been held sacred against violence, and smote him, 
 as Cain smote his brother." Keitt exclaimed : " That is false." Bur 
 lingame replied : " I will not bandy epithets with the gentleman. I 
 am responsible for my own language ; doubtless he is responsible for 
 his." " I am," said Keitt. " I shall stand by mine," replied Bur 
 lingame. 
 
 Mr. Comins, the other Representative from Boston, said the 
 murderous blow that smote down Mr. Sumner was " the representative 
 of a power that, having failed to sustain itself in intellectual conflict, 
 resolves itself into brute force, stalks into the Senate Chamber, and 
 there, with bludgeon in hand, beats freedom over the head." " In your 
 arrogance," he said, " you assume to be the sole and rightful judges of 
 parliamentary decorum and parliamentary, law. We tell you plainly, 
 we will no longer submit to these things." This language gave no 
 little offence to Brooks and his friends, but they took no action con 
 cerning it. 
 
 Brooks felt compelled, however, to notice Burlingame s speech. 
 Several days after its delivery, William W. Boyce of South Carolina, 
 and Thomas S. Bocock of Virginia, acting for Brooks, met in con 
 sultation with Speaker Banks and George Ashmun, who were friends of 
 Burlingame, with a view of arranging the matter either amicably or 
 otherwise. Burlingame was present, and during the consultation ex 
 pressed his personal regard for Brooks, but condemned the act 
 committed by him. This nice discrimination between the actor and 
 17 
 
258 BROOKS CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. 
 
 the act was seized upon by the friends of both parties, and it was at 
 once agreed that the affair could be settled upon that declaration. 
 Though the parties and their immediate friends were satisfied, others 
 were not. The arrangement was soon the subject of public comment 
 and unfavorable criticism. Mr. Burlingame having left Washington 
 to enter the Presidential canvass in the West, Mr. Wilson telegraphed 
 him to return immediately, and he did so. On his return, a copy of 
 the Boston Courier of July 18, containing the terms of settlement, and 
 an article severely criticising Mr. Burlingame s action, was placed in 
 his hands by his colleague, Timothy Davis. He immediately declared 
 to Mr. Davis that he would withdraw the whole of his part of the 
 settlement, and he published a card in the National Intelligencer of 
 July 22, in which he placed himself upon his speech, yielding nothing 
 and retracting nothing. 
 
 Of course, Brooks took action at once, and sent a challenge by Gen. 
 Joseph Lane of Oregon. It was promptly accepted, and the arrange 
 ments and details were referred to Lewis D. Campbell of Ohio. Bur- 
 lingame absented himself from the House, remaining the most of the 
 day in the room of one of his colleagues. Early in the evening he 
 met and walked with Mr. Wilson in the grounds east of the Capitol. 
 He then expected to meet Brooks outside of the District the next 
 morning. He spoke of his wife, his children and friends at home ; 
 and, on parting, said: "My friend, you know my position ; I want you 
 to explain my conduct to my friends, a..d to defend my memory if 
 anything happens to me." Late in the evening he met Mr. Davis and 
 walked with him in the park near the City Hall. He then, at that 
 hour, supposed he should meet Brooks early the next morning ; and 
 he confided to his colleague some matters to be used in case he should 
 fall. At parting he remarked : " I do not hate Brooks, but I shall kiu 
 him." 
 
 Mr. Campbell, who wrote the reply to the challenge, decided that the 
 meeting should be held near the Clifton House in Canada, and sent 
 Mr. Burlingame, late in the night, to take the cars, at the junction in 
 Maryland, for that place. But Brooks declined to meet Burlingame at 
 the place designated, on the alleged ground that, in the then excited 
 state of public feeling at the North, it would not be safe for him to 
 undertake the journey. 
 
VOICE OF FANEUIL HALL. 259 
 
 The friends of freedom generally regretted the course of Mr. Bur- 
 lingame, though they were not unmindful of the salutary influence which 
 such a response was calculated to exert upon men who had depended 
 largely upon the unwillingness of Northern men to adopt their self- 
 styled "code of honor." Indeed, he himself did not fully indorse the 
 course he felt constrained to adopt. At a public reception, given him 
 in Boston on the i2th of September, he said: " My errors, if errors 
 they were, sprang from the dim light in which I stood and out of a 
 sincere love for the old Bay State. To my mind, a conflict which under 
 other circumstances would have been merely personal and disgraceful, 
 from the standpoint from which I viewed it, rose to the dignity of a 
 great transaction as a defence of freedom of speech. I should have 
 been wiser, I am certain, if I had followed the noble example set by 
 one now near me, who has ever been my leader, and whom I am proud 
 so to acknowledge one who represents Massachusetts in her loftiest 
 mood, on her highest plane of action one whose reason was never 
 dimmed by passion. I pay my full homage to that position here. It 
 is the right position unquestionably." 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 Public meetings, too, were held in the Northern States, at which 
 resolutions were adopted and speeches were made by their ablest and 
 most distinguished men. Faneuil Hall did not remain silent. At a 
 large and deeply excited meeting, held without distinction of sect or 
 party, Peleg W. Chandler, a leading politician, after alluding to the fact 
 that he was Mr. Simmer s personal friend but "political opponent/ 1 
 said : " It is precisely because I have been and am now his personal 
 friend, and it is precisely because I have been and now am his political 
 opponent, that I am here to-night. * * * Yet personal feelings 
 are of little or no consequence in this outrage. It is a blow not merely 
 at Massachusetts, a blow not merely at the name and fame of our com 
 mon country, it is a blow at constitutional liberty all the world over, it 
 is a stab at the cause of universal freedom. Whatever may be done in 
 this matter, however, one thing is certain, one thing is sure. The blood 
 of this Northern man now stains the Senate floor, and let me tell you 
 that not all the water of the Potomac can wash it out. Forever, for 
 ever, and aye, that stain will plead in silence for liberty wherever man 
 is enslaved, for humanity all over the world, for truth and for justice, 
 now and forever." 
 
26O FATE OF KEITT AND BROOKS. 
 
 Edward Everett, too, whose name and influence had always been 
 associated with what was termed the " conservative " side of the great 
 question at issue, spoke strongly of " the act of lawless violence, of 
 which," he said, " I know no parallel in the history of constitutional 
 government ;" adding that " for the good name, the peace, the safety of 
 the country, for the cause of free institutions throughout the world, it 
 were worth all the gold of California to blot from our history the record 
 of the past week." Cambridge, too, spoke from the lips of her dis 
 tinguished jurists, professors, and literary men ; Brown University in 
 the strong, terse words of its President ; and New York in the elo 
 quent and forceful utterances of some of its most distinguished lawyers 
 and clergymen. Indignation at the cowardly assault, sympathy for the 
 sufferer, and alarm for the future mingled largely in the sentiments 
 uttered in the burning words which thus found expression and response. 
 Besides, it entered largely into the Presidental campaign that soon com 
 menced, and became one of the battle-cries of freedom and of the new 
 party that then appealed for the first time for the suffrages of the nation. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 Nor did the interest cease with the tragedy itself and these immediate 
 demonstrations of approval or disapproval. The sequel was more 
 tragic, and, to the thoughtful, far more impressive and replete with its 
 lessons of wisdom and warning. Of the three prominent actors, the 
 most audacious, arrogant, insulting, and, for the time being, seemingly 
 most potential, Brooks and Butler, were in their graves in less than a 
 year ; while Keitt died fighting in a war which destroyed the slave sys 
 tem and swept it from the land. Brooks died suddenly, but not until 
 he had confessed to his friend, James L. Orr, that he was tired of the 
 new role he had chosen, and heart-sick of being the recognized repre 
 sentative of bullies, the recipient of their ostentatious gifts and officious 
 testimonials of admiration and regard. 
 
 Nor were all its lessons exhausted at the South. At the North the 
 subsequent developments were equally significant and sad. For, not 
 withstanding the brutality of the outrage and its unequivocal indorse 
 ment by the South, a fact fully recognized and properly condemned by 
 those public demonstrations at the North, yet, when the hour of trial 
 came, as it did in the presidential election in the autumn, the very man 
 
EUROPE WITH THE UNION. 26l 
 
 who had volunteered an apology for the assault was made President, 
 and that largely by Northern votes. Party was thus shown to be 
 stronger than principle, patriotism stronger than philanthropy, regard 
 for the Union stronger than regard for human rights, the fear of man 
 stronger than the fear of God. 
 
 LX. 
 
 The opinion of Europe concerning Mr. SUMNER was 
 all one way. There, his high character and public ser 
 vices were fully understood. There was no Pro-Slavery 
 party in Europe, outside of Spain ; nor throughout the 
 whole civilized world, beyond the limits of the United 
 States, did Mr. Brooks find an apologist. No act in 
 the barbarous record of Slavery, nor all of them put 
 together, had done so much to alienate mankind from 
 it and its brazen champions. And when at last the 
 Southern States seceded, and the Confederacy turned 
 its eyes abroad for recognition and sympathy, it met 
 with disdain and contempt from every nation and every 
 class in the Old World, except the Cotton Kings and 
 the Aristocracy of Great Britain. The ruling classes of 
 England, to some extent, did sympathize with the 
 Southern Rebellion, as they had from the hour of the 
 Declaration of Independence greeted with friendly re 
 cognition every harbinger of evil to the rising Republic 
 of the West. These classes had built the Alabama and 
 her sister corsairs they had equipped the fleet that 
 sailed out of British ports to sweep American commerce 
 from the ocean ; and these pirates had swarmed over all 
 the seas on their fiendish mission. But beyond that 
 narrow sphere, the Southern Rebellion received no aid 
 or comfort. Its leaders were regarded as parricides and 
 traitors ; whilst the down-trodden masses of men in 
 every part of the world looked upon the threatened 
 
262 THE APPROACHING CONFLICT. 
 
 overthrow of the American Union as the greatest dis 
 aster that could befall the human race. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 Not many years afterwards, what a change had come 
 over the nation, and what a vindication was finally to be 
 made ! 
 
 " For time at last sets all things even 
 And if we do but watch the hour, 
 There never yet was human power 
 
 Which could evade, if unforgiven, 
 
 The patient search and vigil long 
 
 Of him who treasures up a wrong." 
 
 The same bells that had rung out their chimes so 
 merrily to usher in the Rebellion, and reecho the curses 
 of South Carolina upon the name of SUMNER, were all 
 tolling his death-knell on the morning when the tele 
 graph flashed the news that the great champion of 
 Freedom was no more. But we will now forego any 
 expression of exultation or gratitude on this account, 
 and resume the thread of our narrative. It will lead us 
 through scenes of suffering and blood. It will remind 
 us of a hundred battle-fields where Liberty had once 
 more to pass through the fires of conflict a conflict 
 compared with which, all the struggles of the old Revo 
 lution were but the pangs of the suffering child to the 
 throes of the bleeding giant. 
 
 LXIL 
 
 In opening his great Speech THE CRIME AGAINST 
 KANSAS Mr. Sumner said, May igth and 2oth, 1856: 
 
THE CRIME AGAINST KANSAS. 263 
 
 Mr. President, You are now called to redress a great wrong. Sel 
 dom in the history of nations is such a question presented. Tariffs, 
 army bills, navy bills, land bills, are important, and justly occupy your 
 care ; but these all belong to the course of ordinary legislation. As 
 means and instruments only, they are necessarily subordinate to the 
 conservation of Government itself. Grant them or deny them, in 
 greater or less degree, and you inflict no shock. The machinery of 
 Government continues to move. The State does not cease to exist. 
 Far otherwise is it with the eminent question now before you, involving, 
 as it does, Liberty in a broad Territory, and also involving the peace of 
 the whole country, with our good name in history for evermore. 
 
 Take down your map, Sir, and you will find that the Territory of 
 Kansas, more than any other region, occupies the middle spot of North 
 America, equally distant from the Atlantic on the east, and the Pacific 
 on the west, from the frozen waters of Hudson s Bay on the north, and 
 the tepid Gulf Stream on the south, constituting the precise geographi 
 cal centre of the whole vast Continent. To such advantages of situa 
 tion, on the very highway between two oceans, are added a soil of un 
 surpassed richness, and a fascinating, undulating beauty of surface, with 
 a health-giving climate, calculated to nurture a powerful and generous 
 people, worthy to be a central pivot of American institutions. A few 
 short months have hardly passed since this spacious mediterranean 
 country was open only to the savage, who ran wild in its woods and 
 prairies ; and now it has drawn to its bosom a population of freemen 
 larger than Athens crowded within her historic gates, when her sons, 
 under Miltiades, won liberty for mankind on the field of Marathon, 
 more than Sparta contained, when she ruled Greece, and sent forth her 
 devoted children, quickened by a mother s benediction, to return with 
 their shields or on them, more than Rome gathered on her seven hills, 
 when, under her kings, she commenced that sovereign sway which 
 afterwards embraced the whole earth, more than London held, when, 
 on the fields of Crecy and Agincourt, the English banner was borne 
 victorious over the chivalrous hosts of France. 
 
 Against this Territory, thus fortunate in position and population, a 
 Crime has been committed which is without example in the records of 
 the Past. Not in plundered provinces or in the cruelties of selfish gov 
 ernors will you find its parallel ; and yet there is an ancient instance 
 which may show, at least, the path of justice. In the terrible impeach 
 ment by which the Roman Orator has blasted through all time the name 
 of Verres, charges were, that he had carried away productions of Art, 
 
264 A TYRANNICAL USURPATION. 
 
 and had violated the sacred shrines. But, amidst charges of robbery 
 and sacrilege, the enormity which most aroused the indignant voice of 
 his accuser, and which still stands forth with strongest distinctness, 
 arousing the sympathetic indignation of all who read the story, was, 
 that away in Sicily he had scourged a citizen of Rome, that the cry, 
 " I am a Roman citizen," had been interposed in vain against the lash 
 of the tyrant governor. It was in the presence of the Roman Senate 
 that this arraignment proceeded, in a temple of the Forum, amidst 
 crowds such as no orator had ever before drawn together, thronging the 
 porticos and colonnades, even clinging to the house-tops and neighbor 
 ing slopes, and under the anxious gaze of witnesses summoned from the 
 scene of crime. But an audience grander far, of higher dignity, of more 
 various people, and of wider intelligence, the countless multitude of 
 succeeding generations, in every land where eloquence has been 
 studied, or where the Roman name has been recognized, has listened 
 to the accusation, and throbbed with condemnation of the criminal. 
 Sir, speaking in an age of light, and in a land of constitutional liberty, 
 where the safeguards of elections are justly placed among the highest 
 triumphs of civilization, I fearlessly assert that the wrongs of much- 
 abused Sicily, thus memorable in history, were small by the side of the 
 wrongs of Kansas, where the very shrines of popular institutions, more 
 sacred than any heathen altar, are desecrated, where the ballot-box, 
 more precious than any work in ivory or marble from the cunning hand 
 of Art, is plundered, and where the cry, " I am an American citizen," 
 is interposed in vain against outrage of every kind, even upon life 
 itself. Are you against robbery ? I hold it up to your scorn. Are 
 you against sacrilege ? I present it for your execration. Are you for 
 the protection of American citizens ? I show you how their dearest 
 rights are cloven down, while a Tyrannical Usurpation seeks to install 
 itself on their very necks ! 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 The wickedness which I now begin to expose is immeasurably aggra 
 vated by the motive which prompted it. Not in any common lust for 
 power did this uncommon tragedy have its origin. It is the rape of a 
 virgin Territory, compelling it to the hateful embrace of Slavery ; and 
 it may be clearly traced to a depraved desire for a new Slave State, 
 hideous offspring of such a crime, in the hope of adding to the power 
 
FRATRICIDAL, PATRICIDAL WAR. 265 
 
 of Slavery in the National Government. Yes, Sir, when the whole 
 world, alike Christian and Turk, is rising up to condemn this wrong, 
 making it a hissing to the nations, here in our Republic, force ay, Sir, 
 FORCE is openly employed in compelling Kansas to this pollution, 
 and all for the sake of political power. There is the simple fact, which 
 you will vainly attempt to deny, but which in itself presents an essential 
 wickedness that makes other public crimes seem like public virtues. 
 
 This enormity, vast beyond comparison, swells to dimensions of 
 crime which the imagination toils in vain to grasp, when it is under 
 stood that for this purpose are hazarded the horrors of intestine feud, 
 not only in this distant Territory, but everywhere throughout the coun 
 try. The muster has begun. The strife i s no longer local, but national. 
 Even now, while I speak, portents lower in the horizon, threatening to 
 darken the land, which already palpitates with the mutterings of civil 
 war. The fury of the propagandists, and the calm determination of 
 their opponents, are diffused from the distant Territory over wide-spread 
 communities, and the whole country, in all its extent, marshalling hos 
 tile divisions, and foreshadowing a conflict which, unless happily averted 
 by the triumph of Freedom, will become war, fratricidal, parricidal 
 war, with an accumulated wickedness beyond that of any war in 
 human annals, justly provoking the avenging judgment of Providence 
 and the avenging pen of History, and constituting a strife such as was 
 pictured by the Roman historian, more than foreign, more than social, 
 more than civil, being something compounded of all these, and in itself 
 more than war, " sed potius commune quoddam ex omnibus, et plus 
 quam bellum" 
 
 Such is the Crime which you are to judge. The criminal also must 
 be dragged into day, that you may see and measure the power by which 
 all this wiong is sustained. From no common source could it proceed. 
 In its perpetration was needed a spirit of vaulting ambition which 
 would hesitate at nothing ; a hardihood of purpose insensible to the 
 judgment of mankind; a madness for Slavery, in spite of Constitution, 
 laws, and all the great examples of our history ; also a consciousness of 
 power such as comes from the habit of power ; a combination of ener 
 gies found only in a hundred arms directed by a hundred eyes ; a con 
 trol of Public Opinion through venal pens and a prostituted press ; an 
 ability to subsidize crowds in every vocation of life, the politician with 
 his local importance, the lawyer with his subtle tongue, and even the 
 authority of the judge on the bench, with a familiar use of men in 
 places high and low, so that none, from the President to the lowest 
 
266 THE WOE AND SHAME OF THE CRIME. 
 
 border postmaster, should decline to be its tool : all these things, and 
 more, were needed, and they were found in the Slave Power of our Re 
 public. There, Sir, stands the criminal, all unmasked before you, 
 heartless, grasping, and tyrannical, with an audacity beyond that of 
 Verres, a subtlety beyond that of Machiavel, a meanness beyond that 
 of Bacon, and an ability beyond that of Hastings. Justice to Kansas 
 can be secured only by the prostration of this influence : for this is the 
 Power behind greater than any President which succors and sustains 
 the Crime. Nay, the proceedings I now arraign derive their fearful 
 consequence only from this connection. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 In opening this great matter, I am not insensible to the austere de 
 mands of the occasion ; but the dependence of the Crime against Kan 
 sas upon the Slave Power is so peculiar and important that I trust to 
 be pardoned while I impress it by an illustration which to some may 
 seem trivial. It is related in Northern Mythology, that the God of 
 Force, visiting an enchanted region, was challenged by his royal enter 
 tainer to what seemed a humble feat of strength, merely, Sir, to lift a 
 cat from the ground. The god smiled at the challenge, and, calmly 
 placing his hand under the belly of the animal, with superhuman 
 strength strove, while the back of the feline monster arched far 
 upwards, even beyond reach, and one paw actually forsook the earth, 
 when at last the discomfited divinity desisted ; but he was little sur 
 prised at his defeat, when he learned that this creature, which seemed 
 to be a cat, and nothing more, was not merely a cat, but that it be 
 longed to and was part of the great Terrestrial Serpent which in its in 
 numerable folds encircled the whole globe. Even so the creature 
 whose paws are now fastened upon Kansas, whatever it may seem to 
 be, constitutes in reality part of the Slave Power, which, with loathsome 
 folds, is now coiled about the whole land. Thus do I exhibit the ex 
 tent of the present contest, where we encounter not merely local re 
 sistance, but also the unconquered sustaining arm behind. But from 
 the vastness of the Crime attempted, with all its woe and shame, I de 
 rive well-founded assurance of commensurate effort by the aroused 
 masses of the country, determined not only to vindicate Right against 
 Wrong, but to redeem the Republic from the thraldom of that Oligar 
 chy which prompts, directs, and concentrates the distant wrong. 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND EXTENT. 267 
 
 Such is the Crime and such the criminal which it is my duty to ex 
 pose ; and, by the blessing of God, this duty shall be done completely 
 to the end. But this will not be enough. The Apologies which, with 
 strange hardihood, are offered for the Crime must be torn away, so 
 that it shall stand forth without a single rag or fig-leaf to cover its vile- 
 ness. And, finally, the True Remedy must be shown. The subject is 
 complex in relations, as it is transcendent in importance ; and yet, if 1 
 am honored by your attention, I hope to present it clearly in all its 
 parts, while I conduct you to the inevitable conclusion that Kansas 
 must be admitted at once, with her present Constitution, as a State of 
 this Union, and give a new star to the blue field of our National Flag. 
 And here I derive satisfaction from the thought, that the cause is so 
 strong in itself as to bear even the infirmities of its advocates ; nor can 
 it require anything beyond that simplicity of treatment, and moderation 
 of manner which I desire to cultivate. Its true character is such, that, 
 like Hercules, it will conquer just so soon as it is recognized. 
 
 My task will be divided under three different heads : first, THE 
 CRIME AGAINST KANSAS, in its origin and extent ; secondly, THE APOL 
 OGIES FOR THE CRIME ; and, thirdly, THE TRUE REMEDY. * 
 
 LXV. 
 
 I undertake, in the first place, to expose the CRIME AGAINST KANSAS, 
 in origin and extent. Logically this is the beginning of the argument. 
 I say Crime, and deliberately adopt this .strongest term, as better than 
 any other denoting the consummate transgression. I would go further, 
 if language could further go. It is the Crime of Crimes, surpassing 
 far the old Crimen Majestatis, pursued with vengeance by the laws of 
 Rome, and containing all other crimes, as the greater contains the less. 
 I do not go too far. when I call it the Crime against Nature, from 
 which the soul recoils, and which language refuses to describe. To lay 
 bare this enormity I now proceed. The whole subject has become a 
 twice-told tale, and its renewed recital will be a renewal of sorrow and 
 shame ; but I shall not hesitate. The occasion requires it from the 
 beginning. 
 
 It is well remarked by a distinguished historian of our country, that, 
 " at the Ithuriel touch of the Missouri discussion, the Slave Interest, 
 hitherto hardly recognized as a distinct element in our system, started 
 up portentous and dilated," with threats and assumptions which are 
 
268 FORCED ON A RELUCTANT NORTH. 
 
 the origin of our existing national politics. This was in 1820. The 
 debate ended with the admission of Missouri as a Slaveholding State, 
 and the prohibition of Slavery in all the remaining territory west of the 
 Mississippi, and north of 36 30 , leaving the condition of other terri 
 tory south of this line, or subsequently acquired, untouched by the 
 arrangement. Here was a solemn act of legislation, called at the time 
 compromise, covenant, compact, first brought forward in this body by 
 a slaveholder, vindicated in debate by slaveholders, finally sanctioned 
 by slaveholding votes, also upheld at the time by the essential appro 
 bation of a slaveholding President, James Monroe, and his Cabinet, of 
 whom a majority were slaveholders, including Mr. Caihoun himself; 
 and this compromise was made the condition of the admission of Mis 
 souri, without which that State could not have been received into the 
 Union. The bargain was simple, and was applicable, of course, only 
 to the territory named. Leaving all other territory to await the judg 
 ment of another generation, the South said to the North, Conquer your 
 prejudices so far as to admit Missouri as a Slave State, and, in consid 
 eration of this much-coveted boon, Slavery shall be prohibited " for 
 ever" (mark here the word "forever"} in all the remaining Louisiana 
 Territory above 36 30 ; and the North yielded. 
 
 In total disregard of history, the President, in his annual message, 
 tells us that this compromise " was reluctantly acquiesced in by South 
 ern States." Just the contrary is true. It was the work of slave 
 holders, and by their concurring votes was crowded upon a reluctant 
 North. It was hailed by slaveholders as a victory. Charles Pinckney, 
 of South Carolina, in an oft quoted letter, written at eight o clock on 
 the night of its passage, says: "It is considered here by the Slavehold 
 ing States as a great triumph." At the North it was accepted as a de 
 feat, and the friends of Freedom everywhere throughout the country 
 bowed their heads with mortification. Little did they know the com 
 pleteness of their disaster. Little did they dream that the prohibition 
 of Slavery in the territory, which was stipulated as the price of their 
 fatal capitulation, would also, at the very moment of its maturity, be 
 wrested from them. 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 Time passed, and it became necessary to provide for this territory an 
 organized government. Suddenly, without notice in the public press, 
 or the prayer of a single petition, or one word of open recommendation 
 
HOW THE CRIME WAS ENGENDERED. 269 
 
 from the President, after an acquiescence of thirty-four years, and the 
 irreclaimable possession by the South of its special share under this 
 compromise, in breach of every obligation of honor, compact, and good 
 neighborhood, and in contemptuous disregard of the outgushing senti 
 ments of an aroused North, this time-honored Prohibition in itself a 
 landmark of Freedom was overturned, and the vast region now known 
 as Kansas and Nebraska was opened to Slavery. It is natural that a 
 measure thus repugnant in character should be pressed by arguments 
 mutually repugnant. It was urged on two principal reasons, so oppo 
 site and inconsistent as to fight with each other : one being, that, by 
 the repeal of the Prohibition, the Territory would be left open to the 
 entry of slaveholders with their slaves, without hindrance ; and the 
 other being, that the people would be left absolutely free to determine 
 the question for themselves, and to prohibit the entry of slaveholders 
 with their slaves, if they should think best. With some the apology 
 was the alleged rights of slaveholders ; with others it was the alleged 
 rights of the people. With some it was openly the extension of 
 Slavery ; and with others it was openly the establishment of Freedom, 
 under the guise of Popular Sovereignty. The measure, thus upheld in 
 defiance of reason, was carried through Congress in defiance of all 
 securities of legislation. These things I mention that you may see in 
 what foulness the present Crime was engendered. 
 
 It was carried, first, by whipping in, through Executive influence 
 and patronage, men who acted against their own declared judgment 
 and the known will of their constituents ; secondly, by thrusting out of 
 place, both in the Senate and House of Representatives, important busi 
 ness, long pending, and usurping its room ; thirdly, by trampling under 
 foot the rules of the House of Representatives, always before the safe 
 guard of the minority ; and, fourthly, by driving it to a close during the 
 very session in which it originated, so that it might not be arrested by 
 the indignant voice of the People. Such are some of the means by 
 which this snap judgment was obtained. If the clear will of the people 
 had not been disregarded, it could not have passed. If the Govern 
 ment had not nefariously interposed, it could not have passed. If it 
 had been left to its natural place in the order of business, it could not 
 have passed. If the rules of the House and the rights of the minority 
 had not been violated, it could not have passed. If it had been allowed 
 to go over to another Congress, when the People might be heard, it 
 would have been ended ; and then the Crime we now deplore would 
 have been without its first seminal life. 
 
2/O THE NEBRASKA ACT A SWINDLE. 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 Mr. President, I mean to keep absolutely within the limits of parlia 
 mentary propriety. I make no personal imputations, but only with 
 frankness, such as belongs to the occasion and my own character, de 
 scribe a great historical act, now enrolled in the Capitol. Sir, the Ne 
 braska Bill was in every respect a swindle. It was a swindle of the 
 North by the South. On the part of those who had already completely 
 enjoyed their share of the Missouri Compromise, it was a swindle of 
 those whose share was yet absolutely untouched ; and the plea of un- 
 constitutionality set up like the plea of usury after the borrowed 
 money has been enjoyed did not make it less a swindle. Urged as a 
 bill of peace, it was a swindle of the whole country. Urged as opening 
 the doors to slave- masters with their slaves, it was a swindle of Popular 
 Sovereignty in its asserted doctrine. Urged as sanctioning Popular 
 Sovereignty, it was a swindle of slave-masters in their asserted rights. 
 It \vas a swindle of a broad territory, thus cheated of protection against 
 Slavery. It was a swindle of a great cause, early espoused by Wash 
 ington, Franklin, and Jefferson, surrounded by the best fathers of the 
 Republic. Sir, it was a swindle of God-given, inalienable rights. Turn 
 it over, look at it on all sides, and it is everywhere a swindle ; and if 
 the word I now employ has* not the authority of classical usage, it has, 
 on this occasion, the indubitable authority of fitness. No other word 
 will adequately express the mingled meanness and wickedness of the 
 cheat. 
 
 Its character is still further apparent in the general structure of the 
 bill. Amidst overflowing professions of regard for the sovereignty of 
 the people in the Territory, they are despoiled of every essential privi 
 lege of sovereignty. They are not allowed to choose Governor, Sec- 
 retarv, Chief-Justice, Associate Justices, Attorney, or Marshal. all of 
 whom are sent from Washington ; nor are they allowed to regulate the 
 salaries of any of these functionaries, or the daily allowance of the legis 
 lative body, or even the pay of the clerks and doorkeepers : but they 
 are left free to adopt Slavery. And this is nicknamed Popular Sov 
 ereignty ! Time does not allow, nor does the occasion require, that I 
 should stop to dwell on this transparent device to cover a transcendent 
 wrong. Suffice it to say, that Slavery is in itself an arrogant denial of 
 human rights, and by no human reason can the power to establish such 
 a wrong be placed among the attributes of any just sovereignty. In 
 
ITS OFFENSIVE PROVISIONS. 
 
 refusing it such a place, I do not deny popular rights, but uphold them, 
 I do not restrain popular rights, but extend them. And, Sir, to this 
 conclusion you must yet come, unless deaf, not only to the admonitions 
 of political justice, but also to the genius of our Constitution, under 
 which, when properly interpreted, no valid claim for Slavery can be set 
 up anywhere in the National territory. The Senator from Michigan 
 [Mr. CASS] may say, in response to the Senator from Mississippi [Mr. 
 BROWN], that Slavery cannot go into the Territory, under the Constitu 
 tion, without legislative introduction ; and permit me to add, in re 
 sponse to both, that Slavery cannot go there at all. Nothing can come 
 out of nothing ; and there is absolutely nothing in the Constitution out 
 of which Slavery can be derived, while there are provisions, which, when 
 properly interpreted, make its existence anywhere within the exclusive 
 National jurisdiction impossible. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 The offensive provision in the bill is in its form a legislative anomaly, 
 utterly wanting the natural directness and simplicity of an honest trans 
 action. It does not undertake openly to repeal the old Prohibition of 
 Slavery, but seems to mince the matter, as if conscious of the swindle. 
 It says that this Prohibition, " being inconsistent with the principle of 
 non-intervention by Congress with Slavery in the States and Territories, 
 as recognized by the legislation of 1850, commonly called the Com 
 promise Measures, is hereby declared inoperative and void." Thus, 
 with insidious ostentation, is it pretended that an act violating the 
 greatest compromise of our legislative history, and loosening the founda 
 tions of all compromise, is derived out of a compromise. Then follows 
 in the bill the further declaration, entirely without precedent, which has 
 been aptly called "a stump speech in its belly," namely, " it being the 
 true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate Slavery into any 
 Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people 
 thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in 
 their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." 
 Here are smooth words, such as belong to a cunning tongue enlisted in 
 a bad cause. But whatever may have been their various hidden mean 
 ings, this at least is evident, that, by their effect, the Congressional 
 prohibition of Slavery, which had always been regarded as a seven-fold 
 shield, covering the whole Louisiana Territory north of 36 30 , is now 
 removed, while a principle is declared which renders the supplementary 
 
272 IT CLEARED THE WAY FOR SLAVERY. 
 
 prohibition of Slavery in Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington " inop 
 erative and void," and thus opens to Slavery all these vast regions, now 
 the rude cradles of mighty States. Here you see the magnitude of the 
 mischief contemplated. But my purpose is with the Crime against 
 Kansas, and I shall not stop to expose the conspiracy beyond. 
 
 Mr. President, men are wisely presumed to intend the natural con 
 sequences of their conduct, and to seek what their acts seem to pro 
 mote. Now the Nebraska Bill, on its very face, openly clears the way 
 for Slaver)-, and it is not wrong to presume that its originators intended 
 the natural consequences of such an act, and sought in this way to ex 
 tend Slavery. Of course they did. And this is the first stage in the 
 Crime against Kansas. 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 This was speedily followed by other developments. It was soon 
 whispered that Kansas must be a Slave State. In conformity with this 
 barefaced scheme was the Government of this unhappy Territory organ 
 ized in all its departments ; and thus did the President, by whose com 
 plicity the Prohibition of Slavery was overthrown, lend himself to a new 
 complicity, giving to the conspirators a lease of connivance, amount 
 ing even to copartnership. The Governor, Secretary, Chief-Justice, 
 Associate Justices, Attorney, and Marshal, with a whole caucus of other 
 stipendiaries, nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, 
 are all commended as friendly to Slavery. No man with the sentiments 
 of Washington or Jefferson or Franklin finds favor ; nor is it too much 
 to say, that, had these great patriots once more come among us, not 
 one of them, with his recorded, unretracted opinions on Slavery, could 
 be nominated by the President or confirmed by the Senate for any post 
 in that Territory. With such auspices the conspiracy proceeded. 
 Even in advance of the Nebraska Bill, secret societies were organized 
 in Missouri, ostensibly to protect her institutions, and afterwards, under 
 the name of " Self-Defensive Associations" and "Blue Lodges," these 
 were multiplied throughout the western counties of that State, before 
 any counter movement of the North. It was confidently anticipated, 
 that, by the activity of these societies, and the interest of slaveholders 
 everywhere, with the advantage derived from the neighborhood of Mis 
 souri and the influence of the Territorial Government, Slavery might be 
 introduced into Kansas, quietly, but surely, without arousing conflict, 
 
A PICTURE OF DIREFUL TRUTH. 2/3 
 
 that the crocodile egg might be stealthily dropped in the sunburnt soil, 
 there to be hatched, unobserved until it sent forth its reptile monster. 
 
 But the conspiracy was unexpectedly balked. The debate, which 
 convulsed Congress, stirred the whole country. From all sides atten 
 tion was directed upon Kansas, which at once became the favorite goal 
 of emigration. The bill loudly declares that its object is " to leave the 
 people perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in 
 their own way " ; and its supporters everywhere challenge the de 
 termination of the question between Freedom and Slavery by a com 
 petition of emigration. Thus, while opening the Territory to Slavery, 
 the bill also opens it to emigrants from every quarter, who may by 
 votes redress the wrong. The populous North, stung by sense of out 
 rage, and inspired by a noble cause, are pouring into the debatable 
 land, and promise soon to establish a supremacy of numbers there, in 
 volving, of course, a just supremacy of Freedom. 
 
 Then was conceived the consummation of the Crime against Kansas. 
 What could not be accomplished peaceably was to be accomplished 
 forcibly. The reptile monster, that could not be quietly and securely 
 hatched there, is to be pushed full-grown into the Territory. All efforts 
 are now applied to the dismal work of forcing Slavery upon Free Soil. 
 In flagrant derogation of the very Popular Sovereignty whose name 
 helped to impose this bill upon the country, the atrocious object is dis 
 tinctly avowed. And the avowal is followed by the act. Slavery is 
 forcibly introduced into Kansas, and placed under formal safeguard of 
 pretended law. How this is done belongs to the argument. 
 
 In depicting this consummation, the simplest outline, without one 
 word of color, will be best. Whether regarded in mass or detail, in 
 origin or result, it is all blackness, illumined by nothing from itself, but 
 only by the- heroism of the undaunted men and women whom it en 
 vironed. A plain statement of facts is a picture of direst truth, which 
 faithful History will preserve in its darkest gallery. In the foreground 
 all will recognize a familiar character, in himself connecting link be 
 tween President and border ruffian, less conspicuous for ability than 
 for the exalted place he has occupied, who once sat in the seat where 
 you now sit, Sir, where once sat John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, 
 also, where once sat Aaron Burr. I need not add the name of 
 David R. Atchison. You do not forget, that, at the session of Congress 
 immediately succeeding the Nebraska Bill, he came tardily to his duty 
 here, and then, after a short time, disappeared. The secret was long 
 since disclosed. Like Catiline, he stalked into this Chamber, reeking 
 18 
 
274 HOW THE TERRITORY WAS OVERRUN. 
 
 with conspiracy, immo etiam in Senatum venit, and then, like Cati 
 line, he skulked away, abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit, to join and pro 
 voke the conspirators, who at a distance awaited their congenial chief. 
 Under the influence of his malign presence the Crime ripened to its 
 fatal fruits, while the similitude with Catiline is again renewed in the 
 sympathy, not even concealed, which he finds in the very Senate itself, 
 where, beyond even the Roman example, a Senator has not hesitated 
 to appear as his own compurgator. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 And now, as I proceed to show the way in which this Territory was 
 overrun and finally subjugated to Slavery, I desire to remove, in ad 
 vance, all question with regard to the authority on which I rely. The 
 evidence is secondary, but it is the best which, in the nature of the 
 xcase, can be had ; and it is not less clear, direct, and peremptory than 
 any by which we are assured of the campaigns in the Crimea or the fall 
 of Sebastopol. In its manifold mass, I confidently assert that it is such 
 a body of evidence as the human mind is not able to resist. It is 
 found in the concurring reports of the public press, in the letters of 
 correspondents, in the testimony of travellers, and in the unaffected 
 story to which I have listened from leading citizens, who, during this 
 winter, have " come flocking " here from that distant Territory. It 
 breaks forth in the irrepressible outcry, reaching us from Kansas, whose 
 truthful tones leave no ground of mistake. It addresses us in formal 
 complaint, instinct with the indignation of a people determined to be 
 ifree, and unimpeachable as the declarations of a murdered man on his 
 : dying-bed against his murderer. And let me add, that all this testimony 
 finds echo in the very statute-book of the conspirators, and also in lan 
 guage dropped from the President of the United States. 
 
 I begin with an admission from the President himself, in whose sight 
 the people of Kansas have little favor. After arraigning the innocent 
 emigrants from the North, he is constrained to declare that their con 
 duct is " far from justifying the illegal and reprehensible counter move 
 ments which ensued." By the reluctant admission of the Chief Magis 
 trate, then, there was a counter movement at or.ce " illegal and repre 
 hensible" I thank thee, President, for teaching me these words ; and 
 I now put them in the front of this exposition, as in themselves a con 
 fession. Sir, this " illegal and reprehensible counter movement " is 
 
GRAND INVASION OF THE TERRITORY. 2/5 
 
 none other than the dreadful Crime under an apologetic alias by 
 which, through successive invasions, Slavery is forcibly planted in this 
 Territory. 
 
 Next to this Presidential admission must be placed details of in 
 vasions, which I now present as not only " illegal and reprehensible," 
 but also unquestionable evidence of the resulting Crime. 
 
 The violence, for some time threatened, broke forth on the 2pth of 
 November, 1854, at the first election of a Delegate to Congress, when 
 companies from Missouri, amounting to upwards of one thousand, 
 crossed into Kansas, and with force and arms proceeded to vote for 
 General Whitfield, the candidate of Slavery. An eye-witness, General 
 Porneroy, of superior intelligence and perfect integrity, thus describes 
 this scene : 
 
 "The first ballot-box that was opened upon our virgin soil was closed 
 to us by overpowering numbers and impending force. So bold and 
 reckless were our invaders, that they cared not to conceal their attack. 
 They came upon us, not in the guise of voters, to steal away our fran 
 chise, but boldly and openly, to snatch it with a strong hand. They 
 came directly from their own homes, and in compact and organized 
 bands, with arms in hand and provisions for the expedition, marched 
 to our polls, and when their work was done, returned whence they 
 came." 
 
 Here was an outrage at which the coolest blood of patriotism boils. 
 Though, for various reasons unnecessary to develop, the busy settlers 
 allowed the election to pass uncontested, still the means employed were 
 none the less " illegal and reprehensible." * 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 This infliction was a significant prelude to the grand invasion of the 
 3oth of March, 1855, at the election of the first Territorial Legislature 
 under the organic law, when an armed multitude from Missouri entered 
 the Territory in larger numbers than General Taylor commanded at 
 Buena Vista, or than General Jackson had within his lines at New 
 Orleans, much larger than our fathers rallied on Bunker Hill. On 
 they came as "an army with banners," organized in companies, with 
 officers, munitions, tents, and provisions, as though marching upon a 
 foreign foe, and breathing loud-mouthed threats that they would carry 
 their purpose, if need were, by the bowie-knife and revolver. Among 
 them, according to his own confession, was David R. Atchison, belted 
 
2/6 THE BURSTING OF THE STORM. 
 
 with the vulgar arms of his vulgar comrades. Arrived at their several 
 destinations on the night before the election, the invaders pitched their 
 tents, placed their sentries, and waited for the coming day. The same 
 trustworthy eye-witness whom I have already quoted says of one local 
 ity :- 
 
 " Baggage-wagons were there, with arms and ammunition enough for 
 a protracted fight, and among them two brass field-pieces, ready 
 charged. They came with drums beating and flags flying, and their 
 leaders were of the most prominent and conspicuous men of their 
 State." 
 
 Of another locality he says : 
 
 " The invaders came together in one armed and organized body, with 
 trains of fifty wagons, besides horsemen, and the night before election 
 pitched their camp in the vicinity of the polls ; and having appointed 
 their own judges in place of those who, from intimidation or otherwise, 
 failed to attend, they voted without any proof of residence." 
 
 With this force they were able, on the succeeding day, in some 
 places, to intimidate the judges of elections, in others to substitute 
 judges of their own appointment, in others to wrest the ballot-boxes 
 from their rightful possessors, and everywhere to exercise a complete 
 control of the election, and thus, by preternatural audacity of usurpa 
 tion, impose a Legislature upon the free people of Kansas. Thus was 
 conquered the Sebastopol of that Territory ! 
 
 It was not enough to secure the Legislature. The election of a 
 member of Congress recurred on the ist of October, 1855, and the same 
 foreigners, who had learned their strength, again manifested it. Another 
 invasion, in controlling numbers, came from Missouri, and once more 
 forcibly exercised the electoral franchise in Kansas. 
 
 LXXII. 
 
 At last, in the latter days of November, 1855, a storm, long gather 
 ing, burst upon the heads of the devoted people. The ballot-boxes had 
 been violated, and a Legislature installed, which proceeded to carry out 
 the conspiracy of the invaders; but the good people of the Territory, 
 born to Freedom, and educated as American citizens, showed no signs 
 of submission. Slavery, though recognized by pretended law, was in 
 many places practically an outlaw. To the lawless borderers this was 
 hard to bear ; and, like the heathen of old, they raged, particularly 
 against the town of Lawrence, already known, by the firmness of its 
 
THE GOVERNOR S SERVILITY TO SLAVERY. 277 
 
 principles and the character of its citizens, as citadel of the good cause. 
 On this account they threatened, in their peculiar language, to "wipe 
 it out." Soon the hostile power was gathered for this purpose. The 
 wickedness of this invasion was enhanced by the way in which it began. 
 A citizen of Kansas, by the name of Dow, was murdered by a partisan 
 of Slavery, in the name of " law and order." Such an outrage naturally 
 aroused indignation and provoked threats. The professors of " law 
 and order " allowed the murderer to escape, and, still further to illus 
 trate the irony of the name they assumed, seized the friend of the mur 
 dered man, whose few neighbors soon rallied for his rescue. This 
 transaction, though totally disregarded in its chief front of wickedness, 
 became the excuse for unprecedented excitement. The weak Gov 
 ernor, with no faculty higher than servility to Slavery, whom the 
 President, in official delinquency, had appointed to a trust worthy only 
 of a well-balanced character, was frightened from his propriety. By 
 proclamation he invoked the Territory. By telegraph he invoked the 
 President. The Territory would not respond to his senseless appeal. 
 The President was false. But the proclamation was circulated through 
 out the border counties of Missouri ; and Platte, Clay, Carroll, Saline, 
 Howard, and Jackson, each of them, contributed a volunteer company, 
 recruited from the roadsides, and armed with weapons which chance 
 afforded, known as "the shot-gun militia," with a Missouri officer as 
 commissary-general, dispensing rations, and another Missouri officer as 
 general-in-chief, with two wagon-loads of rifles, belonging to Missouri, 
 drawn by six mules, from its arsenal at Jefferson City, with seven 
 pieces of cannon, belonging to the United States, from its arsenal at 
 Liberty ; and this formidable force, amounting to at least 1,800 men, 
 terrible with threats, oaths, and whiskey, crossed the borders, and en 
 camped in larger part on the Wakarusa, over against the doomed town 
 of Lawrence, now threatened with destruction. With these invaders 
 was the Governor, who by this act levied war upon the people he was 
 sent to protect. In camp with him was the original Catiline of the 
 conspiracy, while by his side were the docile Chief- Justice and the 
 docile Judges. But this is not the first instance in which an unjust 
 governor has found tools where he ought to have found justice. In the 
 great impeachment of Warren Hastings, the British orator by whom it 
 was conducted exclaims, in words strictly applicable to the misdeed I 
 here denounce : " Had he not the Chief-Justice, the tamed and domes 
 ticated Chief- Justice, who waited on him like a familiar spirit ? " Thus 
 was this invasion countenanced by those who should have stood in the 
 
278 FIVE INVASIONS OF KANSAS. 
 
 breach against it. For more than a week it continued, while deadly 
 conflict was imminent, I do not dwell on the heroism by which it was 
 encountered, or the mean retreat to which it was compelled ; for that 
 is not necessary in exhibiting the Crime which you are to judge. But 
 I cannot forbear to add other features, furnished in a letter written at 
 the time by a clergyman, who saw and was part of what he describes. 
 
 " Our citizens have been shot at, and in two instances murdered, our 
 houses invaded, hay-ricks burnt, corn and other provisions plundered, 
 cattle driven off, all communication cut off between us and the States, 
 wagons on the way to us with provisions stopped and plundered, and 
 the drivers taken prisoners, and we in hourly expectation of an attack. 
 Nearly every man has been in arms in the village. Fortifications have 
 been thrown up, by incessant labor night and day. The sound of the 
 drum and the tramp of armed men resounded through our streets, fam 
 ilies fleeing with their household goods for safety. Day before yester 
 day the report of cannon was heard at our house, from the direction of 
 Lecompton. Last Thursday one of our neighbors, one of the most 
 peaceable and excellent of men, from Ohio, on his way home, was 
 set upon by a gang of twelve men on horseback, and shot down. Over 
 eight hundred men are gathered under arms at Lawrence. As yet no 
 act of violence has been perpetrated by those on our side. No blood of 
 retaliation stains our hands. We stand, and are ready to act, purely 
 in the defence of our homes and lives." 
 
 LXXIII. 
 
 The catalogue is not yet complete. On the i5th of December, when 
 the people assembled to vote on the Constitution submitted for adop 
 tion, only a few days after the Treaty of Peace between the Governor 
 orf the one side and the town of Lawrence on the other, another and 
 fifth irruption was made. But I leave all this untold. Enough of these 
 details has been given. 
 
 Five several times and more have these invaders entered Kansas in 
 armed array, and thus five several times and more have they trampled 
 upon the organic law of the Territory. These extraordinary expeditions 
 are simply the extraordinary witnesses to successive, uninterrupted vio 
 lence. They stand out conspicuous, but not alone. The spirit of evil, 
 in which they had their origin, is wakeful and incessant. From the be 
 ginning it hung upon the skirts of this interesting Territory, harrowing 
 its peace, disturbing its prosperity, and keeping its inhabitants under 
 the painful alarms of war. All security of person, property, and labor 
 was overthrown ; and when I urge this incontrovertible fact, I set forth 
 
CIVILIZATION AVERTS HER FACE. 2/9 
 
 a wrong which is small only by the side of the giant wrong for the con 
 summation of which all this is done. Sir, what is man, what is govern 
 ment, without security, in the absence of which nor man nor government 
 can proceed in development or enjoy the fruits of existence ? Without 
 security civilization is cramped and- dwarfed. Without security there is 
 no true Freedom. Nor shall I say too much, when I declare that 
 security, guarded of course by its parent Freedom, is the true end and 
 aim of government. Of this indispensable boon the people of Kansas 
 are despoiled, absolutely, totally. All this is aggravated by the nature 
 of their pursuits, rendering them peculiarly sensitive to interruption, and 
 at the same time attesting their innocence. They are for the most part 
 engaged in the cultivation of the soil, which from time immemorial has 
 been the sweet employment of undisturbed industry. Contented in the 
 returns of bounteous Nature and the shade of his own trees, the hus 
 bandman is not aggressive ; accustomed to produce, and not to destroy, 
 he is essentially peaceful, unless his home is invaded, when his arm de 
 rives vigor from the soil he treads, and his soul inspiration from the 
 heavens beneath whose canopy he daily toils. Such are the people of 
 Kansas, whose security has been overthrown. Scenes from which Civ 
 ilization averts her countenance are part of their daily life. Border 
 incursions, which in barbarous ages or barbarous lands fretted and har 
 ried an exposed people, are here renewed, with this peculiarity, that 
 our border robbers do not simply levy blackmail and drive off a few 
 cattle, like those who acted under the inspiration of the Douglas of 
 other days, they do not seize a few persons, and sweep them away 
 into captivity, like the African slave-traders, whom we brand as pirates, 
 but they commit a succession of deeds in which border sorrows and 
 African wrongs are revived together on American soil, while, for the 
 time being, all protection is annulled, and the whole Territory is en 
 slaved. 
 
 LXXIV. 
 
 Private griefs mingle their poignancy with public wrongs. I do not 
 dwell on the anxieties of families exposed to sudden assault, and lying 
 down to rest with the alarms of war ringing in their ears, not knowing 
 that another day may be spared to them. Throughout this bitter win 
 ter, with the thermometer at thirty degrees below zero, the citizens of 
 Lawrence were constrained to sleep under arms, with sentinels pacing 
 constant watch against surprise. Our souls are wrung by individual in- 
 
280 BOWIE-KNIVES AND REVOLVERS. 
 
 stances. In vain do we condemn the cruelties of another age, the re 
 finements of torture to which men were doomed, the rack and thumb 
 screw of the Inquisition, the last agonies of the regicide Ravaillac, 
 " Luke s iron crown, and Damien s bed of steel ; " 
 
 for kindred outrages disgrace these borders. Murder stalks, Assassina 
 tion skulks in the tall grass of the prairie, and the vindictiveness of man 
 assumes unwonted forms. A preacher of the Gospel has been ridden 
 on a rail, then thrown into the Missouri, fastened to a log, and left to 
 drift down its muddy, tortuous current. And lately we have the tidings 
 of that enormity without precedent, a deed without a name, where a 
 candidate for the Legislature was most brutally gashed with knives and 
 hatchets, and then, after weltering in blood on the snow-clad earth, 
 trundled along, with gaping wounds, to fall dead before the face of his 
 wife. It is common to drop a tear of sympathy over the sorrows of 
 our early fathers, exposed to the stealthy assault of the savage foe, 
 and an eminent American artist has pictured this scene in a marble 
 group, on the front of the National Capitol, where the uplifted toma 
 hawk is arrested by the strong arm and generous countenance of the 
 pioneer, whose wife and children find shelter at his feet ; but now the 
 tear must be dropped over the sorrows of fellow-citizens building a new 
 State in Kansas, and exposed to the perpetual assault of murderous 
 robbers from Missouri. Hirelings, picked from the drunken spew and 
 vomit of an uneasy civilization, having the form of men, 
 
 " Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men ; 
 
 As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, 
 Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves are clept 
 All by the name of dogs," 
 
 leashed together by secret signs and lodges, renew the incredible atroci 
 ties of the Assassins and the Thugs, showing the blind submission of 
 the Assassins to the Old Man of the Mountain in robbing Christians on 
 the road to Jerusalem, and the heartlessness of the Thugs, who, avow 
 ing that murder is their religion, waylay travellers on the great road 
 from Agra to Delhi, with the more deadly bowie-knife for the dagger 
 of the Assassin, and the more deadly revolver for the noose of the 
 Thug. 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 In these invasions, with the entire subversion of all security in 
 this Territory, the plunder of the ballot-box, and the pollution of the 
 
HOW THE CRIME WAS DONE. 28l 
 
 electoral franchise, I show simply the process of unprecedented Crime. 
 If that be the best government where injury to a single citizen is re 
 sented as injury to the whole State, what must be the character of a 
 government which leaves a whole community of citizens thus exposed ? 
 In the outrage upon the ballot-box, even without the illicit fruits which 
 I shall soon exhibit, there is a peculiar crime, of the deepest dye, 
 though subordinate to the final Crime, which should be promptly 
 avenged. In other lands, where royalty is upheld, it is a special offence 
 to rob the crown-jewels, which are emblems of that sovereignty before 
 which the loyal subject bows, and it is treason to be found in adultery 
 with the queen, for in this way may a false heir be imposed upon the 
 State ; but in our Republic the ballot-box is the single priceless jewel 
 of that sovereignty which we respect, and the electoral franchise, where 
 are born the rulers of a free people, is the royal bed we are to guard 
 against pollution. In this plain presentment, whether as regards se 
 curity or as regards elections, there is enough, without proceeding 
 further, to justify the intervention of Congress, promptly and com 
 pletely, to throw over this oppressed people the impenetrable shield of 
 the Constitution and laws. But the half is not yet told. 
 
 As every point in a wide-spread horizon radiates from a common 
 centre, so everything said or done in this vast circle of Crime radiates 
 from the One Idea, that Kansas, at all hazards, must be made a Slave 
 State. In all the manifold wickednesses that occur, and in every suc 
 cessive invasion, this One Idea is ever present, as Satanic tempter, 
 motive power, causing cause. Talk of " one idea ! " Here it is with a 
 vengeance ! 
 
 To accomplish this result, three things are attempted : first, by out 
 rage of all kinds, to drive the friends of Freedom out of the Territory ; 
 secondly, to deter others from coming ; and, thirdly, to obtain complete 
 control of the Government. The process of driving out, and also of 
 deterring has failed. On the contrary, the friends of Freedom there 
 have become more fixed in resolve to stay and fight the battle which 
 they never sought, but from which they disdain to retreat, while the 
 friends of Freedom elsewhere are more aroused to the duty of timely 
 succor by men and munitions of just self-defence. 
 
 While defeated in the first two processes, the conspirators succeeded 
 in the last. By the violence already portrayed at the election of the 
 3oth of March, when the polls were occupied by armed hordes from 
 Missouri, they imposed a Legislature upon the Territory, and thus, 
 under the iron mask of law, established a Usurpation not less complete 
 
282 FOREIGNERS IMPOSE A CONSTITUTION. 
 
 than any in history. That this was done I proceed to prove. Here is 
 the evidence : 
 
 LXXVI. 
 
 1. Only in this way can this extraordinary expedition be adequately 
 explained. In the words of Moliere, once employed by John Quincy 
 Adams in the other House, " Que diable alia lent- Us faire dans cette 
 galere?" What did they go into the Territory for? If their purposes 
 were peaceful, as has been suggested, why cannons, arms, flags, num 
 bers, and all this violence ? As simple citizens, proceeding to the 
 honest exercise of the electoral franchise, they might go with nothing 
 more than a pilgrim s staff. Philosophy always seeks a sufficient cause, 
 and only in the One Idea already presented can a cause be found in 
 any degree commensurate with the Crime ; and this becomes so only 
 when we consider the mad fanaticism of Slavery. 
 
 2. Public notoriety steps forward to confirm the suggestion of reason. 
 In every place where Truth can freely travel it is asserted and under 
 stood that the Legislature was imposed upon Kansas by foreigners from 
 Missouri ; and this universal voice is now received as undeniable 
 verity. 
 
 3. It is also attested by harangues of the conspirators. Here is 
 what Stringfellow said before the invasion : 
 
 " To those who have qualms of conscience as to violating laws, 
 State or National, the time has come when such impositions must be 
 disregarded, as your rights and property are in danger; and I advise, 
 you, one and all, to enter every election district in Kansas, in defiance of 
 Reedcr and his vile myrmidons, and vote at the point of the bowie-knife 
 a?id revolver. Neither give nor take quarter, as our cause demands it. 
 It is enough that the slaveholding interest wills it, from which there is 
 no appeal. What right has Governor Reeder to rule Missourians in 
 Kansas ? His proclamation and prescribed oath must be repudiated. 
 It is your interest to do so. Mind that Slavery is established where it 
 is not prohibited." 
 
 Here is what Atchison said after the invasion : 
 
 " Well, what next ? Why, an election for members of the Legislature 
 to organize the Territory must be held. What did I advise you to do 
 then ? Why, meet them on their own ground, and beat them at their 
 own game again ; and cold and inclement as the weather was, I went 
 over with a company of men. My object in going was not to vote. I 
 had no right to vote, unless 1 had disfranchised myself in Missouri. I 
 was not within two miles of a voting-place. My object in going was 
 
SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY. 283 
 
 not to vote, but to settle a difficulty between two of our candidates : 
 and the Abolitionists of the North said, and published it abroad, that 
 Atchison was there with bowie-knife and revolver, and, by God, / was 
 true ! I never did go into that Territory, I never intend to go into 
 that Territory, without being prepared for all such kind of cattle. 
 Well, \ve beat them, and Governor Reeder gave certificates to a 
 majority of all the members of both Houses, and then, after they were 
 organized, as everybody will admit, they were the only competent per 
 sons to say who were and who were not members of the same." 
 
 4. It is confirmed by contemporaneous admission of The Squatter 
 Sovereign, a paper published at Atchison, and at once the organ of 
 the President and of these Borderers, which, under date of ist April, 
 thus recounts the victory : 
 
 "INDEPENDENCE, [MISSOURI,] March 31, 1855. 
 
 " Several hundred emigrants from Kansas have just entered our city. 
 They were preceded by the Westport and Independence brass bands. 
 They came in at the west side of the public square, and proceeded en 
 tirely around it, the bands cheering us with fine music, and the emi 
 grants with good news. Immediately following the bands were about 
 two hundred horsemen in regular order ; following these were one hun 
 dred and fifty wagons, carriages, etc. They gave repeated cheers for 
 Kansas and Missouri. They report that not an Anti-slavery man will 
 be in the Legislature of Kansas. We have made a clean sweep" 
 
 5. It is also confirmed by contemporaneous testimony of another 
 paper, always faithful to Slavery, the " New York Herald," in the letter 
 of a correspondent from Brunswick, Missouri, under date of 2oth April, 
 1855=- 
 
 " From five to seven thousand men started from Missouri to attend 
 the election, some to remove, but the most to return to their families, 
 with an intention, if they liked the Territory, to make it their permanent 
 abode at the earliest moment practicable. But they intended to vote. 
 The Missourians were, many of them, Douglas men. There were one 
 hundred and fifty voters from this county, one hundred and seventy-five 
 from Howard, and one hundred from Cooper. Indeed, every county 
 furnished its quota ; and when they set out, it looked like an army. 
 
 .... They were armed And, as there were no houses in the 
 
 Territory, they carried tents. Their mission was a peaceable one, to 
 vote, and to drive down stakes for their future homes. After the elec 
 tion some fifteen hundred of the voters sent a committee to Mr. Reeder 
 to ascertain if it was his purpose to ratify the election. He answered 
 that it was, and said the majority at an election must carry the day. 
 But it is not to be denied that the fifteen hundred, apprehending that 
 the Governor might attempt to play the tyrant, since his conduct has 
 already been insidious and unjust, wore on their hats bunches of hemp. 
 
284 IRREFRAGABLE TESTIMONY. 
 
 They were resolved, if a tyrant attempted to trample upon the rights of 
 the sovereign people, to hang him." 
 
 6. It is again confirmed by testimony of a lady for five years resident 
 in Western Missouri, who thus writes in a letter published in the "New 
 Haven Register : " 
 
 " MIAMI, SALINE COUNTY, November 26, 1855. 
 
 " You ask me to tell you something about the Kansas and Missouri 
 troubles. Of course you know in what they have originated. There is 
 no denying that the Missourians have determined to control tJie elections, 
 if possible ; and I do not know that their measures would be justifiable, 
 except upon the principle of self-preservation ; and that, you know, is 
 the first law of Nature," 
 
 7. And it is confirmed still further by the Circular of the Emigration 
 Society of Lafayette County, in Missouri, dated as late as 25th March, 
 1856, where the efforts of Missourians are openly confessed. 
 
 "The western counties of Missouri have for the. last two years been 
 heavily taxed, both in money and time, in fighting the battles of the 
 South. Lafayette County alone has expended more than one hundred 
 thousand dollars in money, and as much or more in time. Up to this 
 time the border counties of Missouri hare upheld and maintained the 
 rights and interests of the South in this struggle, unassisted, and not un 
 successfully. But the Abolitionists, staking their a,ll upon the Kansas 
 issue, and hesitating at no means, fair or foul, are moving heaven and 
 earth to render that beautiful Territory a Free Stated 
 
 8. Here, also, is amplest testimony to the Usurpation, by the " In 
 telligencer," a leading paper of St. Louis, Missouri, made in the ensu 
 ing summer. 
 
 "Atchison and Stringfellow, with their Missouri followers, over 
 whelmed the settlers in Kansas, browbeat and bullied them, and took 
 the Government from their hands. Missouri votes elected the present 
 body of men, who insult public intelligence and popular rights by styl 
 ing themselves the Legislature of Kansas. This body of men are 
 helping themselves to fat speculations by locating the seat of Govern 
 ment and getting town lots for their votes. They are passing laws 
 disfranchising all the citizens of Kansas who do not believe Negro 
 Slavery to be a Christian institution and a national blessing. They are 
 proposing to punish with imprisonment the utterance of views inconsist 
 ent with their own. And they are trying to perpetuate their preposter 
 ous and infernal tyranny by appointing for a term of years creatures of 
 their own, as commissioners in every county, to lay and collect taxes, 
 and see that the laws they are passing are faithfully executed. Has this 
 age anything to compare with these acts in audacity ?" 
 
 9. In harmony with all these is the authoritative declaration of Gov- 
 
SLAVERY ERECTED IN KANSAS. 285 
 
 ernor Reeder, in a speech to his neighbors at Easton, Pennsylvania, at 
 the end of April, 1855, and immediately afterwards published in the 
 Washington " Union." Here it is. 
 
 " It was, indeed, too true that Kansas had been invaded, conquered, 
 subjugated, by an armed force from beyond her borders, led on by a 
 fanatical spirit, trampling under foot the principles of the Kansas Bill 
 and the right of suffrage." 
 
 10. In similar harmony is the complaint of the people of Kansas, in 
 public meeting at Big Springs, on the 5th of September, 1855, em 
 bodied in these words : 
 
 " Resolved, That the body of men who for the last two months have 
 been passing laws for the people of our Territory, moved, counselled, 
 and dictated to by the demagogues of Missouri, are to us a foreign 
 body, representing only the lawless invaders who elected them, and not 
 the people of the Territory, that we repudiate their action, as the 
 monstrous consummation of an act of violence, usurpation, and fraud, 
 unparalleled in the history of the Union, and worthy only of men un 
 fitted for the duties and regardless of the responsibilities of Repub 
 licans." 
 
 11. Finally, the invasion which ended in the Usurpation is clearly 
 established from official Minutes laid on our table by the President. 
 But the effect of this testimony has been so amply exposed by the Sen 
 ator from Vermont [Mr. COLLAMER], in his able and indefatigable 
 argument, that I content myself with simply referring to it. * 
 
 LXXVII. 
 
 Thus was the Crime consummated. Slavery stands erect, clanking 
 its chains on the Territory of Kansas, surrounded by a code of death, 
 and trampling upon all cherished liberties, whether of speech, the press, 
 the bar, the trial by jury, or the electoral franchise. And, Sir, all this 
 is done, not merely to introduce a wrong which in itself is a denial of 
 all rights, and in dread of which mothers have taken the lives of their 
 offspring, not merely, as is sometimes said, to protect Slavery in Mis 
 souri, since it is futile for this State to complain of Freedom on the 
 side of Kansas, when Freedom exists without complaint on the side of 
 Iowa, and also on the side of Illinois, but it is done for the sake of 
 political power, in order to bring two new slaveholding Senators upon 
 this floor, and thus to fortify in the National Government the desperate 
 chances of a waning Oligarchy. As the gallant ship, voyaging on 
 pleasant summer seas, is assailed by a pirate crew, and plundered of its 
 
286 APOLOGIES FOR THE CRIME. 
 
 doubloons and dollars, so is this beautiful Territory now assailed in 
 peace and prosperity, and robbed of its political power for the sake of 
 Slavery. Even now the black flag of the land pirates from Missouri 
 waves at the mast-head ; in their laws you hear the pirate yell and see 
 the flash of the pirate knife ; while, incredible to relate, the President, 
 gathering the Slave Power at his back, testifies a pirate sympathy. 
 
 Sir, all this was done in the name of Popular Sovereignty. And 
 this is the close of the tragedy. Popular Sovereignty, which, when 
 truly understood, is a fountain of just power, has ended in Popular 
 Slavery, not in the subjection of the unhappy African race merely, but 
 of this proud Caucasian blood which you boast. The profession with 
 which you began, of All by the People, is lost in the wretched reality of 
 Nothing for the People. Popular Sovereignty, in whose deceitful name 
 plighted faith was broken and an ancient Landmark of. Breedom over 
 turned, now lifts itself before us like Sin in the terrible picture of 
 Milton, which 
 
 " seemed woman to the waist, and fair, 
 But ended foul in many a scaly fold 
 Voluminous and vast, a serpent armed 
 With mortal sting : about her middle round 
 A cry of hell-hounds never ceasing barked 
 With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung 
 A hideous peal ; yet, when they list, would creep, 
 If aught disturbed their noise, into her womb, 
 And kennel there, yet there still barked and howled 
 i Within, unseen." 
 
 The image is complete at all points ; and with this exposure I take my 
 leave of the Crime against Kansas. 
 
 LXXVIII. 
 
 Emerging from all the blackness of this Crime, where we seem to 
 have been lost, as in a savage wood, and turning our backs upon it, as 
 upon desolation and death, from which, while others have suffered, we 
 have escaped, I come now to THE APOLOGIES which the Crime has 
 found. Sir, well may you start at the suggestion, that such a series of 
 wrongs, so clearly proved by various testimony, so openly confessed by 
 the wrong-doers, and so widely recognized throughout the country, 
 should find apologists. But partisan spirit, now, as in other days, hesi 
 tates at nothing. Great crimes of history have never been without 
 
THE APOLOGY TYRANNICAL. 28/ 
 
 apologies. The massacre of St. Bartholomew, which you now instinct 
 ively condemn, was at the time applauded in high quarters, and even 
 commemorated by a Papal medal, which may still be procured at 
 Rome, as the Crime against Kansas, which is hardly less conspicuous 
 in dreadful eminence, has been shielded on this floor by extenuating 
 words, and even by a Presidential message, which, like the Papal 
 medal, can never be forgotten in considering the perversity of men. 
 
 Sir, the crime cannot be denied. The President himself has admit 
 ted " illegal and reprehensible " conduct. To such conclusion he was 
 compelled by irresistible evidence. But what he mildly describes I 
 openly denounce. Senators may affect to put it aside by a sneer, or to 
 reason it away by figures, or to explain it by theory, such as desperate 
 invention has produced on this floor, that the Assassins and Thugs of 
 Missouri are in reality citizens of Kansas ; but all these efforts, so far 
 as made, are only tokens of weakness, while to the original Crime they 
 add another offence of false testimony against innocent and suffering 
 men. But the Apologies for the Crime are worse than the efforts at 
 denial. In essential heartlessness they identify their authors with the 
 great iniquity. 
 
 They are four in number, and fourfold in character. The first is the 
 Apology tyrannical ; the second, \\iQApology imbecile; the third, the 
 Apology absurd ; and the fourth, the Apology infamous. This is all. 
 Tyranny, imbecility, absurdity, and infamy all unite to dance, like the 
 weird sisters, about this Crime. 
 
 LXXIX. 
 
 The Apology tyrannical is founded on the mistaken act of Governor 
 Reeder, in authenticating the Usurping Legislature, by which it is as 
 serted, that, whatever may have been the actual force or fraud in its 
 election, the people of Kansas are effectually concluded, and the whole 
 proceeding is placed under formal sanction of law. According to this 
 assumption, complaint is now in vain, and it only remains that Con 
 gress should sit and hearken to it, without correcting the wrong, as the 
 ancient tyrant listened and granted no redress to the human moans that 
 issued from the heated brazen bull which .subtile cruelty had devised. 
 This I call the Apology of technicality inspired by tyranny. 
 
 The facts on this head are few and plain. Governor Reeder, after 
 allowing only five days for objections to the returns, a space of time 
 
288 APOLOGY IMBECILE. 
 
 unreasonably brief in that extensive Territory, declared a majority of 
 the members of the Council and of the House of Representatives 
 "duly elected," withheld certificates from certain others, because of 
 satisfactory proof that they were not duly elected, and appointed a 
 day for new elections to supply these vacancies. Afterwards, by formal 
 message, he recognized the Legislature as a legal body, and when he 
 vetoed their act of adjournment to the neighborhood of Missouri, he 
 did it simply on the ground of illegality in such adjournment under the 
 organic law. Now to every assumption founded on these facts 
 there are two satisfactory replies : first, that no certificate of the Gov 
 ernor can do more than authenticate a subsisting legal act, without of 
 itself infusing legality where the essence of legality is not already; and, 
 secondly, that violence or fraud, wherever disclosed, vitiates completely 
 every proceeding. In denying these principles, you place the certificate 
 above the thing certified, and give a perpetual lease to violence and 
 fraud, merely because at an ephemeral moment they are unquestioned. 
 This will not do. 
 
 Sir, I am no apologist for Governor Reeder. There is sad reason to 
 believe that he went to Kansas originally as tool of the President ; but 
 his simple nature, nurtured in the atmosphere of Pennsylvania, revolted 
 at the service required, and he turned from his patron to duty. Grievous 
 ly did he err in yielding to the Legislature any act of authentication : but 
 in some measure he has answered for this error by determined effort since 
 to expose the utter illegality of that body, which he now repudiates en 
 tirely. It was said of certain Roman Emperors, who did infinite mis 
 chief in their beginnings and infinite good towards their end, that they 
 should never have been born or never died ; and I would apply the 
 same to the official life of this Kansas Governor. At all events, I dis 
 miss the Apology founded on his acts, as the utterance of Tyranny by 
 the voice of Law, transcending the declaration of the pedantic judge, 
 in the British Parliament, on the eve of our Revolution, that our fa 
 thers, notwithstanding their complaints, were in reality represented in 
 Parliament, inasmuch as their lands, under the original charters, were 
 held " in common socage, as of the manor of East Greenwich in Kent," 
 which, being duly represented, carried with it all the Colonies. Thus 
 in another age has Tyranny assumed the voice of Law. 
 
 Next comes the Apology imbecile, which is founded on the alleged 
 want of power in the President to arrest this Crime. It is openly as 
 serted, that, under existing laws, the Chief Magistrate has no authority 
 to interfere in Kansas for this purpose. Such is the broad statement, 
 
APOLOGY ABSURD. 289 
 
 which, even if correct, furnishes no Apology for any proposed ratifica- 
 lion of the Crime, but which is in reality untrue; and this I call the 
 Apology of imbecility. 
 
 LXXX. 
 
 Next comes the Apology absurd, which is, indeed, in the nature of 
 pretext. It is alleged that a small printed pamphlet, containing the 
 "Constitution and Ritual of the Grand Encampment and Regiments 
 of the Kansas Legion," was taken from the person of one George F. 
 Warren, who attempted to avoid detection by chewing it. The oaths 
 and grandiose titles of the pretended Legion are all set forth, and this 
 poor mummery of a secret society, which existed only on paper, is 
 gravely introduced on this floor, in order to extenuate the Crime against 
 Kansas. It has bee,n paraded in more than one speech, and even 
 stuffed into the report of the Committee. 
 
 A part of the obligations assumed by the members of this Legion 
 shows why it is thus pursued, while also attesting its innocence. It is 
 as follows : 
 
 "I will never knowingly propose a person for membership in this 
 order who is not in favor of making Kansas a Free State, and whom I 
 feel satisfied will exert his entire influence to bring about this result. 1 
 will support, maintain, and abide by any honorable movement made by 
 the organization to secure this great end, which will not conflict with the 
 laws of the country and the Constitution of the United States" 
 
 Kansas is to be made a Free State by an honorable movement which 
 will not conflict with the laws and the Constitution. That is the object 
 of the organization, declared in the very words of the initiatory obliga 
 tion. Where is the wrong in this ? What is there here to cast re 
 proach, or even suspicion, upon the people of Kansas ? Grant that 
 the Legion was constituted, can you extract from it any Apology for 
 the original Crime, or for its present ratification ? Secret societies, 
 with extravagant oaths, are justly offensive ; but who can find in this 
 mistaken machinery any excuse for the denial of all rights to the 
 people of Kansas ? All this I say on the supposition that the society 
 is a reality, which it is not. Existing in the fantastic brains of a few 
 persons only, it never had any practical life. It was n^ever organized. 
 The whole tale, with the mode of obtaining the copy of the Constitu 
 tion, is at once cock -and bull story and mare s nest, trivial as the 
 former, absurd as the latter, and to be dismissed, with the Apology 
 19 
 
290 REMEDIES PROPOSED. 
 
 founded upon it, to the derision which triviality and absurdity justly re 
 ceive. 
 
 It only remains, under this head, that I should speak of the Apology 
 infamous, founded on false testimony against the Emigrant Aid Com 
 pany, and assumptions of duty more false than the testimony. Defying 
 truth and mocking decency, this Apology excels all others in futility and 
 audacity, while, from its utter hollowness, it proves the utter impotence 
 of the conspirators to defend their Crime. Falsehood, always infamous, 
 in this case arouses unwonted scorn. An association of sincere be 
 nevolence, faithful to the Constitution and laws, whose only fortifications 
 are hotels, school-houses, and churches, whose only weapons are saw-mills, 
 tools, and books, whose mission is peace and good-will, is grossly assailed 
 on this floor, and an errand of blameless virtue made the pretext for an 
 unpardonable Crime. Nay, more, the innocent are sacrificed, and 
 the guilty set at liberty. They who seek to do the mission of the Sav 
 iour are scourged and crucified, while the murderer, Barabbas, with the 
 sympathy of the chief priests, goes at large. * * 
 
 LXXXI. 
 
 From this ample survey, where one obstruction after another had 
 been removed, I now pass, in the third place, to the consideration of 
 the remedies proposed, ending with THE TRUE REMEDY. 
 
 The Remedy should be coextensive with the original Wrong ; and 
 since, by the passage of the Nebraska Bill, not only Kansas, but also 
 Nebraska, Minnesota, Washington, and even Oregon, are opened to 
 Slavery, the original Prohibition should be restored to its full activity 
 throughout these various Territories. By such happy restoration, made 
 in good faith, the whole country would be replaced in the condition i . 
 enjoyed before the introduction of that dishonest measure. Here is 
 the Alpha and the Omega of our aim in this immediate controversy. 
 But no such extensive measure is now in question. The Crime against 
 Kansas is special, and all else is absorbed in the special remedies for 
 it. Of these I shall now speak. 
 
 As the Apologies were fourfold, so are the proposed Remedies four 
 fold ; and they range themselves in natural order, under designations 
 which so truly disclose their character as even to supersede argument. 
 First, we have the Remedy of Tyranny ; next, the Remedy of Folly ; 
 next, the Remedy of Injustice and Civil War ; and, fourthly, the Remedy 
 
REMEDY OF TYRANNY OF FOLLY. 2QI 
 
 of Justice and Peace. There are the four caskets ; and you are to de 
 termine which shall be opened by Senatorial votes. 
 
 There is the Remedy of Tyranny, which, like its complement, the 
 Apology of Tyranny, though espoused on this floor, especially by the 
 Senator from Illinois, proceeds from the President, and is embodied 
 in a special message. It proposes enforced obedience to the existing 
 laws of Kansas, "whether Federal or local" when, in fact, Kansas has 
 no " local " laws, except those imposed by the Usurpation from Mis 
 souri, and it calls for additional appropriations to complete this work of 
 tyranny. 
 
 I shall not follow the President in his elaborate endeavor to prejudge 
 the contested election now pending in the House of Representatives ; 
 for this whole matter belongs to the privileges of that body, and neither 
 the President nor the Senate has a right to intermeddle therewith. I 
 do not touch it. But now, while dismissing it, I should not pardon my 
 self if I failed to add, that any person who founds his claim to a seat 
 in Congress on the pretended votes of hirelings from another State, 
 with no home on the soil of Kansas, plays the part of Anacharsis 
 Clootz, who, at the bar of the French Convention, undertook to repre 
 sent nations that knew him not, or, if they knew him, scorned him, with 
 this difference, that in our American case the excessive farce of the 
 transaction cannot cover its tragedy. But all this I put aside, to deal 
 only with what is legitimately before the Senate. * * * 
 
 LXXXII. 
 
 Next comes Remedy of Folly, which, indeed, is also a Remedy of 
 Tyranny ; but its Folly is so surpassing as to eclipse even its Tyranny. 
 It does not proceed from the President. With this proposition he is 
 not in any way chargeable. It comes from the Senator from South 
 Carolina, who, at the close of a long speech, offered it as his single con 
 tribution to the adjustment of this question, and who thus far stands 
 alone in its support. It might, therefore, fitly bear his name ; but that 
 which I now give to it is a more suggestive synonym. 
 
 This proposition, nakedly expressed, is, that the people of Kansas 
 should be deprived of their arms. That I may not do the least injus 
 tice to the Senator, I quote his precise words. 
 
 "The President of the United States is under the highest and most 
 solemn obligations to interpose ; and if I were to indicate the mannei in 
 
292 REMEDY OF CIVIL WAR. 
 
 which he should interpose in Kansas, I would point out the old Common 
 Law process. I would serve a warrant on Sharp s rifles ; and if Sharp s 
 rifles did not answer the summons, and come into court on a day cer 
 tain, or if they resisted the Sheriff, I would summon tine posse comitatus, 
 and I would have Colonel Sumner s regiment to be part of that posse 
 comitatus" 
 
 Really, Sir, has it come to this ? The rifle has ever been the com 
 panion of the pioneer, and, under God, his tutelary protector against 
 the red man and the beast of the forest. Never was this efficient 
 weapon more needed in just self-defence than now in Kansas; and at 
 least one article in our National Constitution must be blotted out be 
 fore the complete right to it can be in any way impeached. And yet 
 such is the madness of the hour, that, in defiance of the solemn guar 
 anty in the Amendments to the Constitution, that " the right of the 
 people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," the people of 
 Kansas are arraigned for keeping and bearing arms, and the Senator 
 from South Carolina has the face to say openly on this floor that they 
 should be disarmed, of course that the fanatics of Slavery, his allies 
 and constituents, may meet no impediment. Sir, the Senator is vener- 
 erable with years ; he is reputed also to have worn at home, in the 
 State he represents, judicial honors ; and he is placed here at the head 
 of an important Committee occupied particularly with questions of 
 law ; but neither his years, nor his position, past or present, can give 
 respectability to the demand he makes, or save him from indignant 
 condemnation, when, to compass the wretched purposes of a wretched 
 cause, he thus proposes to trample on one of the plainest provisions of 
 Constitutional Liberty. 
 
 LXXXIII. 
 
 Next comes the Remedy of Injustice and Civil War, organized by 
 Acts of Congress. This proposition, which is also an offshoot of the 
 original Remedy of Tyranny, proceeds from the Senator of Illinois 
 [Mr. DOUGLAS], with the sanction of the Committee on Territories, and 
 is embodied in the bill now pressed to a vote. 
 
 By this bill it is proposed as follows : 
 
 " That, whenever it shall appear, by a census to be taken under the 
 direction of the Governor, by the authority of the Legislature, that 
 there shall be 93,420 inhabitants (that being the number required by 
 the present ratio of representation for a member of Congress) within. 
 
USURPATION MUST BE OVERTHROWN. 293 
 
 the limits hereafter described as the Territory of Kansas, the Legisla 
 ture of said Territory shall be, and is hereby, authorized to provide by law 
 for the election of delegates by the people of said Territory, to assemble 
 in Convention and form a Constitution and State Government, prepara 
 tory to their admission into the Union on an equal footing with the 
 original States in all respects whatsoever, by the name of the State of 
 Kansas." 
 
 Now, Sir, consider these words carefully, and you will see, that, 
 however plausible and velvet-pawed they may seem, yet in reality they 
 are most unjust and cruel. While affecting to initiate honest proceed 
 ings for the formation of a State, they furnish to this Territory no re 
 dress for the Crime under which it suffers ; nay, they recognize the very 
 Usurpation in which the Crime ends, and proceed to endow it with 
 new prerogatives. It is by authority of the Legislature that the census 
 is to be taken, which is the first step in the work. It is also by author 
 ity of the Legislature that a Convention is to be called for the formation 
 of a Constitution, which is the second step. But the Legislature is not 
 obliged to take either of these steps. To its absolute willfulness is it 
 left to act or not to act in the premises. And since, in the ordinary 
 course of business, there can be no action of the Legislature till Jan- 
 nary of the next year, all these steps, which are preliminary in character, 
 are postponed till after that distant day, thus keeping this great ques 
 tion open, to distract and irritate the country. Clearly this is not what 
 is required. The country desires peace at once, and is determined to 
 have it. But this objection is slight by the side of the glaring tyranny, 
 that, in recognizing the Legislature, and conferring upon it these new 
 powers, the bill recognizes the existing Usurpation, not only as the 
 authentic government of the Territory for the time being, but also as 
 possessing a creative power to reproduce itself in the new State. Pass 
 this bill, and you enlist Congress in the conspiracy, not only to keep 
 the people of Kansas in their present subjugation throughout their Ter 
 ritorial existence, but also to protract this subjugation into their exist 
 ence as a State, while you legalize and perpetuate the very force by 
 which Slavery is already planted there. * * * 
 
 Thus, on every ground of precedent, whether as regards population 
 or forms of proceeding, also, on the vital principle of American Insti 
 tutions, and, lastly, on the supreme law of self-defence, do I now 
 invoke the power of Congress to admit Kansas at once and without 
 hesitation into the Union. " New States may be admitted by the Con 
 gress into this Union" : such are the words of the Constitution. If you 
 
294 REACHING THE GOAL. 
 
 hesitate for want of precedent, then do I appeal to the great principle 
 of American Institutions. If, forgetting the origin of the Republic, you 
 turn away from this principle, then, in the name of human nature, 
 trampled down and oppressed, but aroused to just self-defence, do I" 
 plead for the exercise of this power. Do not hearken, I pray you, to 
 the propositions of Tyranny and Folly ; do not be ensnared by that 
 other proposition of the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Douglas], where is 
 the horrid root of Injustice and Civil War; but apply gladly, and at 
 once, the True Remedy, where are Justice and Peace. 
 
 LXXXIV. 
 
 Mr. President, an immense space has been traversed, and I stand 
 now at the goal. The argument in its various parts is here closed. 
 The Crime against Kansas has been displayed in its origin and extent, 
 beginning with the overthrow of the Prohibition of Slavery, next crop 
 ping out in conspiracy on the borders of Missouri, then hardening into 
 continuity of outrage through organized invasion and miscellaneous as 
 saults where all security was destroyed, and ending at last in the per 
 fect subjugation of a generous people to an unprecedented Usurpation. 
 Turning aghast from the Crime, which, like murder, confesses itself 
 " with most miraculous organ," we have looked with mingled shame 
 and indignation upon the four Apologies, whether of Tyranny, Imbecil 
 ity, Absurdity, or Infamy, in which it is wrapped, marking especially 
 false testimony, congenial with the original Crime, against the Emigrant 
 Aid Company. Then were noted, in succession, the four Remedies, 
 whether of Tyranny, Folly, Injustice, and Civil War, or of Justice and 
 Peace, which last bids Kansas, in conformity with past precedents and 
 under exigencies of the hour, for redemption from Usurpation, to take 
 her place as a State of the Union ; and this is the True Remedy. If 
 in this argument I have not unworthily vindicated Truth, then have I 
 spoken according to my desires, if imperfectly, then only according to 
 my powers. But there are other things, not belonging to the argu 
 ment, which still press for utterance. 
 
 Sir, the people of Kansas, bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh, 
 with the education of freemen and the rights of American citizens, now 
 stand at your door. Will you send them away, or bid them enter ? 
 Will you push them back to renew their struggle with a deadly foe, or 
 will you preserve them in security and peace? Will you cast them 
 
THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT GUILTY. 295 
 
 again into the den of Tyranny, or will you help their despairing efforts 
 to escape ? These questions I put with no common solicitude, for I 
 feel that on their just determination depend all the most precious in 
 terests of the Republic ; and I perceive too clearly the prejudices in 
 the way, and the accumulating bitterness against this distant people, 
 now claiming a simple birthright, while I am bowed with mortification, 
 as I recognize the President of the United States, who should have 
 been a staff to the weak and a shield to the innocent, at the head of this 
 strange oppression. 
 
 LXXXV. 
 
 At every stage the similitude between the wrongs of Kansas and 
 those other wrongs against which our fathers rose becomes more appa 
 rent. Read the Declaration of Independence, and there is hardly an 
 accusation against the British Monarch which may not now be hurled 
 with increased force against the American President. The parallel has 
 fearful particularity. Our fathers complained, that the King had " sent 
 hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their sub 
 stance," that he had "combined with others to subject us to a juris 
 diction foreign to our Constitution, giving his assent to their acts of pre 
 tended legislation" that he had "abdicated government here, by de 
 claring us out of his protection, and waging war against us" that he 
 had "excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and endeavored to 
 bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless savages" that 
 " our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury." 
 And this arraignment was aptly followed by the damning words, that 
 "a Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may de 
 fine a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." And surely the 
 President who does all these things cannot be less unfit than a Prince. 
 At every stage the responsibility is brought directly to him. His offence 
 is of commission and omission. He has done that which he ought 
 not to have done, and has left undone that which he ought to have done. 
 By his activity, the Prohibition of Slavery was overturned. By his fail 
 ure to act, the honest emigrants in Kansas are left a prey to wrong of 
 all kinds. His activity and inactivity are alike fatal. And now he 
 stands forth the most conspicuous enemy of that unhappy Territory. 
 
 As the tyranny of the British King is all renewed in the President, so 
 are renewed on this floor the old indignities which embittered and fo- 
 
296 INTERVAL OF ILLNESS AND REPOSE. 
 
 mented the troubles of our fathers. The early petition of the American 
 Congress to Parliament, long before any suggestion of Independence, 
 was opposed like the petitions of Kansas because that body " was 
 assembled without any requisition on the part of the Supreme Power." 
 Another petition from New York, presented by Edmund Burke, was 
 flatly rejected, as claiming rights derogatory to Parliament. And still 
 another petition from Massachusetts Bay was dismissed as "vexatious 
 and scandalous," while the patriot philosopher who bore it was exposed 
 to peculiar contumely. Throughout the debates our fathers were made 
 the butt of sorry jest and supercilious assumption. And now these 
 scenes, with these precise objections, are renewed in the American 
 Senate. * * * 
 
 SECTION SIXTH. 
 
 The Interval of Illness and Repose. 
 
 I. 
 
 WHEN the assault was made on Mr. SUMNER, he was 
 not only in perfect health, but in the enjoyment of a 
 degree of physical strength and corresponding intellect 
 ual vigor, that few men ever possess. It was the testi 
 mony of the surgeons and by-stanclers who saw his body 
 entirely undres sed for an examination, to trace the extent 
 of his injury, that they had never seen a human form 
 more perfectly developed, for beauty, symmetry, and 
 power. It was the belief of the many eminent surgeons 
 and distinguished men on both sides of the Atlantic, 
 who, during the next three or four years, treated his 
 case professionally, that the only hope for his ultimate 
 recovery lay in the exceptional and almost unparalleled 
 vigor and vitality of his physical system. 
 
THE SEA-SIDE AND THE MOUNTAINS. 2Q/ 
 
 After the assault, from which he supposed he would 
 recover in a few days, it soon became evident that the 
 pressure upon the brain, connected with weakness in the 
 spinal column, would render any early recovery an im 
 possibility. He became the guest of FRANCIS P. BLAIR, 
 at Silver Spring" within an easy carriage ride of 
 Washington. In the fore part of July, he found himself 
 well enough to go on to Philadelphia, where he received 
 the kindest attention from the family of Mr. JAMES T. 
 FURNESS. At their invitation, he went with them to Cape 
 May. Afterwards, under advice of Dr. R. N. JACKSON, 
 he was removed to Cresson, among the highlands of 
 Pennsylvania. But no signs of immediate restoration 
 appeared, and in the beginning of October he once 
 more reached his home in Boston. This return he had 
 postponed, at the earnest persuasion of his medical ad 
 viser, who foresaw that his entry to Boston would be 
 attended with the greatest excitement, for the feeling 
 which inflamed the people of Massachusetts, of indigna 
 tion on the one side, and of the tenderest affection on 
 the other, could not be repressed. 
 
 II. 
 
 The welcome which Massachusetts extended to her 
 Senator on his return, was an imposing demonstration of 
 honor and love. Boston was decorated as she had never 
 been for the gayest festival. Thousands had flocked from 
 every district of the State, and every city in New Eng 
 land ; and the occasion was marked by every token of 
 respect, and made touching by every proof of sympathy 
 and affection. With great difficulty, and in a feeble voice, 
 he thus returned his thanks from the platform which had 
 
298 WELCOME OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 been erected in front of the Capitol, and up whose steps 
 he was assisted by the most venerable men of Boston : 
 
 It is a pleasure to be once more among the scenes of home ; to look 
 upon familiar objects, the State House, the Common, and well-known 
 Streets. It is more pleasant still to behold the countenances of friends. 
 And all this pleasure, sir, is enhanced by the welcome which you now 
 give me, in behalf of the Commonwealth which for five years I have 
 served, honestly, earnestly, and constantly, in an important field of 
 duty, to which I was introduced by an unsought suffrage. 
 
 Sir, I thank you for this welcome ; I thank, also, the distinguished 
 gentlemen who have honored this occasion by their presence. I thank, 
 too, these swelling multitudes who contribute to me the strength and 
 succor of their presence ; and my soul overflows especially to the young 
 men of Boston, out of whose hearts, as from an exuberant fountain, 
 this broad-spreading hospitality took its rise. 
 
 My earnest desire, often expressed, has been, that I might be allowed 
 to return home quietly, without show or demonstration of any kind. 
 And this longing was enforced by my physical condition, which, though 
 vastly improved at this time, and advancing surely towards complete 
 health, is still exposed to the peril of relapse, or at least to the arrest of 
 those kindly processes of Nature essential to the restoration of a shat 
 tered system. But the spontaneous kindness of this reception makes 
 me forget my weakness, makes me forget my desire for repose. 
 
 I thank you, sir, for the suggestion of seclusion, and the security 
 which that suggestion promises to afford. 
 
 Something more, sir, I would say, but I am admonished that voice 
 and strength will not permit. With your permission, therefore, I will 
 hand the reporters what I should be glad to say, that it may be printed. 
 
 [The remainder of the speech is printed from Mr. Simmer s manu 
 script.] 
 
 III. 
 
 More than five months have passed since I was disabled from the 
 performance of my public duties. During this weary period 1 have 
 been constrained to repeat daily the lesson of renunciation, confined 
 at first to my bed, and then only slowly regaining the power even to 
 walk. But, beyond the constant, irrepressible grief which must well up 
 in the breast of every patriot, as he discerns the present condition of 
 
HIS RECEPTION SPEECH. 299 
 
 his country, my chief sorrow has been caused by the necessity, to which 
 I was doomed, of renouncing all part in the contest for human rights, 
 which, beginning in Congress, has since enveloped the whole land. 
 
 The Grecian Chief, grievously ill of a wound from the stealthy bite of 
 a snake, and left behind while his companions sailed to the siege of 
 Troy, did not repine more at his enforced seclusion. From day to day, 
 and week to week, I vainly sought that health which we value most 
 when lost, and which perpetually eluded my pursuit. For health I 
 strove, for health I prayed. With uncertain steps I sought it at the sea 
 shore, and I sought it on the mountain-top. 
 
 " Two voices are there : one is of the sea, 
 One of the mountains ; each a mighty voice : 
 In both from age to age thou didst rejoice, 
 They were thy chosen music, Liberty ! 
 
 I listened to the admonitions of medical skill, and I courted all the 
 bracing influences of Nature, while time passed without the accustomed 
 healing on its wings. I had confidently hoped to be restored so as to 
 take my seat in the Senate, and to be heard there again, long before 
 the session closed. But Congress adjourned, leaving me still an invalid. 
 My next hope was, that I might be permitted to appear before the 
 people during the present canvass, and with heart and voice plead 
 the great cause now in issue. Even now, though happily lifted from 
 long prostration, and beginning to assume many of the conditions of 
 health, I am constrained to confess that I am an invalid, cheered, 
 however, by the assurance that I shall soon be permitted, with unim 
 paired vigor, to resume all the responsibilities of my position. 
 
 Too much have I said about myself; but you will pardon it to the 
 occasion, which, being personal in character, invites these personal con 
 fessions. With more pleasure I turn to other things. 
 
 I should feel that I failed in one of those duties which the heart 
 prompts and the judgment confirms, if I allowed this first opportunity 
 to pass without sincerest acknowledgment to my able, generous, and 
 faithful colleague, Mr. Wilson. Together we labored in mutual trust, 
 honorably leaning upon each other. By my disability he was left sole 
 representative of Massachusetts on the floor of the Senate, throughout 
 months of heated contest, involving her good name and most cherished 
 sentiments. All who watched the currents of debate, even as imper 
 fectly as I did in my retirement, know with what readiness, courage and 
 power he acted, showing himself, by extraordinary energies, equal 
 
3OO HIS PORTRAIT OF HIS MOTHER-STATE. 
 
 to the extraordinary occasion. But it is my especial happiness to re 
 cognize his unfailing sympathies for myself, and his manly assumption 
 of all the responsibilities of the hour. 
 
 IV. 
 
 I am not here to indulge in eulogy, nor to open any merit-roll of service ; 
 but the same feeling which prompts these acknowledgments to my col 
 league, embraces also the Commonwealth from whom we have received 
 our trust. To Massachusetts, mother of us all, great in resources, 
 great in children, I now pledge anew my devotion. Never before did 
 she inspire equal pride and affection ; for never before was she so com 
 pletely possessed by those sentiments which, when manifest in Com 
 monwealth or citizen, invest the character with its highest charm, so 
 that what is sown a natural body is raised a spiritual body. My filial 
 love does not claim too much, when it exhibits her as approaching the 
 pattern of a Christian Commonwealth, which, according to the great 
 English Republican, John Milton, <; ought to be but as one huge Chris 
 tian personage, one mighty growth and stature of an honest man, as 
 big and compact in virtue as in body." Not through any worldly 
 triumphs, not through the vaults of State street, the spindles of Lowell, 
 or even the learned endowments of Cambridge, is Massachusetts thus, 
 but because, seeking to extend everywhere within the sphere of her in 
 fluence the benign civilization which she cultivates at home, she stands 
 forth the faithful, unseduced supporter of Human Nature. Wealth has 
 its splendor, and the intellect has its glory ; but there is a grandeur in 
 such service which above all that, these can supply. For this she has 
 already the regard of good men, and will have the immortal life of his 
 tory. For this she has also the reproach and contumely always through 
 out the ages poured upon those who have striven for justice on earth. 
 Not now for the first time in human struggle, has Truth, when most dis 
 honored, seemed most radiant, gathering glory even out of obloquy. 
 When Sir Harry Vane, courageous champion of the English Common 
 wealth, was dragged on a hurdle up the Tower Hill to suffer death by 
 the axe, one of the multitude cried out to him, " That is the most glo 
 rious seat you ever sat on ! " And again, when Russell was exposed 
 in the streets, on his way to a similar scaffold, the people, according to 
 the simple narrative of his biographer, imagined they saw Liberty and 
 Virtue sitting by his side. Massachusetts is not without encouragement 
 in her own history. She has seen her ports closed by arbitrary power, 
 
SOME OF HER FALSE CHILDREN. 301 
 
 she has seen her name made a byword of reproach, she has seen her 
 cherished leaders, Hancock and Adams, excepted from all pardon by 
 the Crown ; but then, when most dishonored, did Massachusetts deserve 
 most, for then she was doing most for the cause of all. And now, when 
 Massachusetts is engaged in a greater cause than that of our fathers, 
 how serenely can she turn from the scoff and jeer of heartless men ! 
 Her only disgrace will be in disloyalty to truth which is to make her free. 
 Worse to bear oh, far worse ! than the evil speaking of others, is 
 the conduct of some of her own children. It is hard to see the scholar 
 ship which has been drawn from her cisterns, and the riches accumu 
 lated under her hospitable shelter, now employed to weaken and dis 
 credit that cause which is above riches or scholarship. It is hard, 
 while fellow-citizens in Kansas plead for deliverance from a cruel 
 Usurpation, and while the whole country, including her own soil, is 
 trodden down by a domineering and brutal Despotism, to behold sons 
 of Massachusetts in sympathy, open or disguised, with the vulgar 
 enemy, quickening everywhere the lash of the taskmaster, and helping 
 forward the Satanic carnival, when Slavery shall be fastened not only 
 upon prostrate Kansas, but upon all the Territories of the Republic, 
 when Cuba shall be torn from a friendly power by dishonest force, 
 and when the slave-trade itself, with all its crime, its woe, and its 
 shame, shall be opened anew under the American flag. Alas, that 
 any child of Massachusetts, in wickedness of heart, or in weakness of 
 principle, or under the delusion of partisan prejudice, should join in 
 these things ! With such, I have no word of controversy at this 
 hour. But, leaving them now, in my weakness, I trust not to seem 
 too severe, if I covet for the occasion something of the divine power 
 
 " To bend the silver bow with tender skill, 
 While, void of pain, the silent arrows kill." 
 
 V. 
 
 Gladly from these do I turn to another character, yet happily spared 
 to Massachusetts, whose heart beats strong with the best blood of the 
 Revolution, and with the best sentiments by which that blood was 
 enriched. The only child of one of the authors of American Liberty, 
 for many years the able and courageous Representative of Boston on 
 the floor of Congress, where his speeches were the masterpieces of the 
 time, distinguished throughout a long career by the grateful trust of his 
 
302 TRIBUTE TO JOSIAH QUINCY. 
 
 fellow-citizens, happy in all the possessions of a well-spent life, and 
 surrounded by " honor, love, obedience, troops of friends," with an 
 old age which is second youth, JOSIAH QUINCV, still erect under the 
 burden of eighty-four winters, puts himself at the head of our great 
 battle, and never before, in the ardor of youth, or the maturity of 
 manhood, did he show himself so grandly conspicuous, and add so 
 much to the heroic wealth of our history. His undaunted soul, lifted 
 already to glimpses of another life, may shame the feebler spirits of a 
 later generation. There is one other personage, at a distant period, 
 who, with precisely the same burden of winters, asserted the same 
 supremacy of powers. It is the celebrated Dandolo, Doge of Venice, 
 at the age of eighty-four, of whom the historian Gibbon has said, in 
 words strictly applicable to our own Quincy : " He shone, in the last 
 period of human life, as one of the most illustrious characters of the 
 times : under the weight of years he retained a sound understanding 
 and a manly courage, the spirit of an hero, and the wisdom of a 
 patriot." This old man carried the Venetian Republic over to the 
 Crusaders, and exposed his person freely to all the perils of Avar, so 
 that the historian describes him, in words again applicable to our day, 
 saying : " In the midst of the conflict, the Doge, a venerable and con 
 spicuous form, stood aloft, on the prow of his galley," while " the 
 great standard of St. Mark was displayed before him." Before the 
 form of our venerable head is displayed the standard of a greater 
 Republic than Venice, thrilling with its sight greater multitudes than 
 ever gazed on the sta.ndard of St. Mark, while a sublimer cause is ours 
 than the cause of the Crusaders ; for our task is not to ransom an 
 empty sepulchre, but to rescue the Saviour himself, in the bodies of his 
 innumerable children, not to dislodge the Infidel from a distant 
 foreign soil, but to displace him from the very Jerusalem of our 
 liberties. 
 
 May it please your Excellency, I forbear to proceed further. With 
 thanks for this welcome, accept also my new vows of duty. In all 
 simplicity, let me say that I seek nothing but the triumph of Truth. 
 To this I offer my best efforts, careless of office or honor. Show me 
 that I am wrong, and I stop at once ; but in the complete conviction 
 of right I shall persevere against all temptations, against all odds, 
 against all perils, against all threats knowing well, that, whatever may 
 be my fate, the Right will surely prevail. Territorial place is deter 
 mined by celestial observation. Only by watching the stars can the 
 manner safely pursue his course ; and it is only by obeying those lofty 
 
REELECTION TO THE SENATE. 303 
 
 principles, which are above men and human passion, that we can make 
 our way safely through the duties of life. In such obedience I hope 
 to live, while, as a servant of Massachusetts, I avoid no labor,- shrink 
 from no exposure, and complain of no hardship. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Once more in his native city, surrounded with every 
 comfort, and watched over with the greatest vigilance 
 by Dr. MARSHALL S. PERRY, his attending physician, 
 with the consultation of the venerable Dr. JAMES JACK 
 SON, and all the suggestions the most learned medical 
 men of Boston could give, he remained several months, 
 as quietly as possible, in his own house, most of the 
 time lying on the sofa or bed. 
 
 Meantime, in this state of prostration, with no imme 
 diate prospect of recovery, he had been reflected for the 
 second term to the Senate of the United States by un 
 animity almost without a parallel. The vote of the 
 Senate was given to him without a dissenting voice ; 
 and in the Assembly, constituted of several hundred 
 members, there were only a few scattering votes. 
 
 At last he felt so much restored that, against the per 
 suasion of many friends, he started for Washington, 
 reaching the Capital just before the close of the session, 
 but in time to determine by his vote the fate of the 
 Tariff of 1857. After being sworn in for his second 
 term, on the 4th of March, he yielded to the persuasion 
 of his friends, who were unanimous in the opinion that 
 nothing but rest and recreation could restore him ; and 
 on the 7th of March he sailed for Havre. 
 
 VII. 
 
 He was no stranger in Europe. Throughout the 
 British Islands, and on the Continent, all the great men 
 
304 HIS SOJOURN IN EUROPE. 
 
 in science, in literature, in jurisprudence, with the friends 
 of humanity, were prepared to give him the most gen 
 erous greeting. Mr. GEORGE COMBE, the distinguished 
 physiologist, who interested himself most earnestly in his 
 case, after consultation with SIR JAMES CLARK, Physician 
 to the Queen, advised him strongly against any early re 
 turn to public life. But so deep was his anxiety about 
 certain measures before Congress, he could not be de 
 terred from returning; and in December, 1857, he was 
 once more in his seat. But he soon found that applica 
 tion to public affairs brought on a recurrence of his un 
 favorable symptoms, and a series of relapses induced him 
 at last to make one more, and, if necessary, a protracted 
 effort for recovery. Consequently, on the 226. of May, 
 the following year, 1858, he once more embarked for 
 Europe. 
 
 At Paris he placed himself under the care of Dr. 
 BROWN-SEQUARD, the illustrious physiologist and spe 
 cialist, who made a more thorough and analytical diag 
 nosis of his case than had ever been made ; and he un 
 reservedly expressed the opinion that " the blows on the 
 head had taken effect by contre-coups in the spine, pro 
 ducing disturbance in the spinal cord." " What then 
 shall be the remedy ? " inquired Mr. Sumner. " Fire," 
 answered Dr. BROWN-SEQUARD. " When can you ap 
 ply it ? " " To-morrow, if you please." " Why not this 
 afternoon ? " That afternoon it was done by the moxa, 
 which was followed by seven other applications, always 
 without chloroform, since Mr. SUMNER remarked that he 
 wished to comprehend the whole process ; and as for the 
 pain, he cared nothing for it. 
 
 This treatment had taken place in the month of June, 
 and the result justified the sagacity and learning of Mr. 
 
DR. BROWN-SEQUARD. 305 
 
 SUMNER S very great medical adviser. Probably within 
 the whole range of modern chemistry, its subtle elements 
 of power have in no instance been so exhaustively in 
 voked for the restoration of life ; for, although a perfect 
 cure seemed to be an impossibility, yet beyond all doubt 
 it is owing to the matchless learning, and more than 
 friendly assiduity, of Dr. BROWN-SEQUARD, that Mr. Sum- 
 ner s valuable life was protracted with almost unabated 
 vigor during the long period of sixteen years. 
 
 To show the elasticity of Mr. Sumner s mind, and 
 the strange power of recuperation his physical system 
 possessed, he spent most of the time during the painful 
 treatment he was subjected to, in the careful study of 
 engravings ; and thus with the assistance of the finest 
 artists in Paris, he matured his connoisseurship in that 
 exquisitely beautiful department of Art. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 After journeying leisurely through Switzerland, Ger 
 many, and the northern part of Italy, taking Berlin, Vienna, 
 Munich, Venice, and Trieste en route, he reached Paris, 
 where he made preparations for his immediate return to 
 America. But in a medical conference held by Dr. 
 BROWN-SEQUARD, Dr. GEORGE HAYWARD, and the il 
 lustrious French practitioner, Dr. TROUSSEAU, he was 
 informed that death would be the inevitable result of so 
 rash an undertaking. Escaping, therefore, from all the 
 excitements of Paris, which meant the excitements of 
 Europe, he fled to Montpelier, in the south of France, 
 where he led a life of absolute retirement. Every day 
 he was cupped on the spine, and three-quarters of his 
 time was spent on his bed or sofa, sleeping whenever 
 
 20 
 
306 RETURN TO THE SENATE. 
 
 he could, but finding his chief recreation in reading ; 
 although he would frequently attend the public lectures 
 at the College, on History and Literature. 
 
 IX. 
 
 No portion of the earth approaches nearer to the 
 ideal of the invalid s paradise, than the south of France. 
 Bordering on the Mediterranean, 
 
 " That tideless sea, 
 Which ceaseless rolls eternally ; " 
 
 whose waters vary in temperature only one or two 
 degrees in the year, and whose climate combines all the 
 soft and genial influences so completely embraced in the 
 term mezzo giorno, and far away from the fire-life 
 Americans lead, he was now on the road to substantial 
 recovery. After one more rapid dash through Italy, he 
 reported himself in Paris to Dr. BROWN-SEQUARD, who 
 now pronounced him well. For a month he took the sea- 
 baths at Havre, and at the opening of Congress in 
 December, he was once more in his Senatorial seat. 
 
 SECTION SEVENTH. 
 
 Return to the Senate. 
 I. 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER now put on again the armor in 
 which he had fallen paralyzed at his post of duty, and 
 once more advanced to the front of the battle. That 
 
AGAIN IN THE FRONT OF BATTLE. 30/ 
 
 cause had been gaining ground faster, perhaps, because 
 of his absence, so eloquent was that always VACANT 
 CHAIR than if he had not been taken from the scene. 
 Other champions just as true, if not so mighty, had 
 sprung to the van of conflict. Now the acknowledged 
 leader was once more in the field, and his clarion voice 
 rang out loud and clear along the whole line of battle. 
 
 Those who gazed on his noble form once more, could 
 not but be reminded of the fate of BROOKS, the assassin, 
 nor fail to mark the absence of Butler, the occasion of 
 the crime. Time had spared neither of them. They 
 had gone to their graves, leaving names to rot their 
 infamous way to oblivion. 
 
 II. 
 
 His speech on THE BARBARISM OF SLAVERY from which 
 we shall soon quote largely, roused the same infernal 
 spirit which Mr. SUMNER had so forcibly depicted, and 
 a party of ruffians made several attempts four days after 
 wards, to enter his lodgings, with the purpose, as subse 
 quently avowed, of taking his life. Senator Wilson, who 
 had gone to the street door on the ringing of the bell, pre 
 vented their entrance by telling them Mr. SUMNER had not 
 yet returned, and instantly took effectual means for his pro 
 tection. A party of brave Kansas men, without Mr. SUM- 
 NER S knowledge, acted as a body-guard, keeping within 
 covering distance of him wherever he went ; for he still 
 walked about unarmed, and with no special precaution 
 against violence. It was his desire not to give publicity 
 to the intentions of the assassins ; but they became 
 known, and from various parts of the country, men either 
 started for Washington, or volunteered their services, at 
 
308 SPEECH ON THE BARBARISM OF SLAVERY. 
 
 whatever hazard, to protect the person of the Senator. 
 Mr. BURLINGAME, Mr. JOHN SHERMAN, or Mr. WILSON, 
 slept in the room opening into his chamber. The Mayor 
 of Washington, who had learned the purposes of the 
 assassins, invited Mr. SUMNER to make affidavits of the 
 facts, or lodge a complaint. The latter he declined to 
 do, on the ground that, from the past, neither he nor his 
 friends could rely upon Washington magistrates. But 
 the Mayor finally brought the ringleader, who was a Vir 
 ginian, and a well-known office-holder under the admin 
 istration, to Mr. SUMNER S room to apologize. 
 
 The correspondents of the Chicago Press and Tribune, 
 wrote, June 5th : 
 
 The speech of Charles Sumner yesterday, was probably the most 
 masterly and exhaustive argument against human bondage, that has 
 ever been made in this, or any other country, since man first com 
 menced to oppress his fellow-man. He took the floor at ten minutes 
 past twelve, and spoke until a little after four. The tone of the speech 
 was not vindictive, and yet there was a terrible severity running through 
 it, that literally awed the Southern Senators. As an effort, it will live 
 in history long after the ephemeral contest of this age shall have passed 
 away. Indeed, while listening to it, I could not but feel, and the 
 same feeling was 1 know experienced by others that the eloquent and 
 brave orator was speaking rather to future generations, and to the 
 impartial audience of the civilized world, than to the men of to-day, 
 with a view of effecting any result upon the elements by which he was 
 immediately surrounded. 
 
 The correspondent "of the New York Evening Post: 
 
 Mr. Sumner s speech was a tremendous attack upon Slavery, and yet 
 was utterly devoid of personalities. He attacked the Institution, and 
 not individuals ; but his language was very severe. There was no let-up 
 in the severity from beginning to end. 
 
 The correspondent of the Boston Traveller said : 
 
 So far as personal violence was to be apprehended, we think he was 
 
RESPONSES TO HIS GREAT SPEECH. 309 
 
 as unconcerned as a man could be. Anxiety on that account might 
 have been felt by his friends, but not by him. He seemed to be all- 
 forgetful of himself, and to have his mind dwelling on the cause to 
 which he was devoted, the race for which he was to plead, and on the 
 responsibility under which he stood to his country, and to generations 
 to come. There was something sublime in the orator, and the ma 
 jesty with which he spoke." 
 
 His speech and his conduct were fully endorsed by 
 the Legislature of Massachusetts. CARL SCHURZ, writing 
 from Milwaukee, said : 
 
 Allow me to congratulate you on the success of your great speech. 
 It did me good to hear again the true ring of the moral Anti-Slavery 
 sentiment. If we want to demolish the Slave Power, we must educate 
 the hearts of the people, no less than their heads. 
 
 JOSHUA R. GIDDINGS, so long the champion of Free 
 dom, in Congress, wrote : 
 
 My heart swells with gratitude to God that you are again permitted 
 to stand in the Senate, and maintain the honor of the nation, and of 
 mankind. 
 
 GERRIT SMITH said : 
 
 God be praised for the proof it affords that you are yourself again 
 aye, more than yourself! I say more, for, though " The Crime against 
 Kansas " was the speech of your life, this is the speech of your life. 
 This eclipses that. The slaveholders will all read this speech, and will 
 all be profited by its clear, certain, and convincing proofs. The 
 candid among them will not dislike you for it ; not a few of them will, 
 at least in their hearts, thank and honor you for it. Would that they 
 all might see that there is no wrong or malice whatever in your heart. 
 I am scattering through my county this great speech of your life. 
 
 WENDELL PHILLIPS : " It is heart-stirring and cheering 
 to hear your voice once more along the lines. Those 
 were four nobly used hours. Twas a blast of the old, 
 
3IO THE GATHERING STORM. 
 
 well-known bugle, and fell on welcoming ears and 
 thankful hearts." 
 
 And so, by the hundred, came pouring in piles of 
 letters from the most eminent statesmen and lovers of 
 Freedom in every part of the land, revealing the fact, 
 that a wider and a deeper sentiment ot indignation had 
 been awakened against the aggressions of the Slave 
 Power, than had been provoked even by the atrocities 
 of border ruffianism in the West. 
 
 III. 
 
 But many of the leading journals of the Republican 
 party affected to lament the delivery of the speech, 
 apprehensive it would injure their prospects in the 
 Presidential campaign that was not far off. But they 
 had occasion ere long to talk in a different strain. It 
 was fast becoming evident that the day of compromise 
 and soft words had gone by forever that what Mr. 
 SEWARD had denominated the " Irrepressible Conflict," 
 was at hand that the gathering storm was soon r o 
 burst that the loud threats of Secessionists meant 
 something that the feeling of the Slavery leaders in 
 Congress was rapidly getting beyond all limits of con 
 trol that they were determined to place Slavery once 
 more on a solid basis of political power, or break up 
 the Union. They had everywhere grown desperate ; 
 their insatiate malice could no longer be appeased 
 except with Sumner s blood ; and all the while they 
 were known, not only to have the sympathy of pro- 
 Slavery men at the North, in both the old parties, but 
 the reiterated assurances and guarantees of their leaders 
 that they could rely upon the North in any attempt, no 
 
THE BARBARISM OF SLAVERY PORTRAYED. 31! 
 
 matter how desperate, they might make, to crush out 
 Abolitionism. In fact, many of the Democratic papers 
 at the North seemed anxious to rival their brethren in 
 the South everywhere the strife was to out-Herod 
 Herod and this continued so until the explosion at last 
 took place, when the Secessionists found of a truth, 
 that they had aid, comfort, abettors, and fellow-con 
 spirators all through the North, especially in the chief 
 cities, which, in the beginning of the Rebellion, swarmed 
 with angry and unscrupulous men, ready to do the 
 bidding of Slavery and Secession. 
 
 But a great change had been coming over the public 
 mind in the Free States a mighty revolution was going 
 on Slavery was becoming so hateful and odious, that at 
 last the manhood of the North was roused, never to 
 sleep again until some effectual check was given to the 
 aggressions of Slavery and the insolence of its cham 
 pions. 
 
 IV. 
 
 On the 4th of June, 1860, Senator Sumner, in rising to 
 deliver his speech on The Barbarism of Slavery, said : 
 
 Mr. President, undertaking now, after a silence of more than four 
 years, to address the Senate on this important subject, I should sup 
 press the emotions natural to such an occasion, if I did not declare on 
 the threshold my gratitude to that Supreme Being through whose benign 
 care I am enabled, after much suffering and many changes, once again 
 to resume my duties here, and to speak for the cause so near my heart. 
 To the honored Commonwealth whose representative I am, and also 
 to my immediate associates in this body, with whom I enjoy the fellow 
 ship which is found in thinking alike concerning the Republic, I owe 
 thanks which I seize the moment to express for indulgence extended 
 to me throughout the protracted seclusion enjoined by medical skill ; 
 and I trust that it will not be thought unbecoming in me to put on 
 
312 NO PERSONAL GRIEFS TO UTTER. 
 
 record here, as an apology for leaving my seat so long vacant, without 
 making way, by resignation, for a successor, that I acted under the illu 
 sion of an invalid, whose hopes for restoration to natural health con 
 tinued against oft-recurring disappointment. 
 
 When last I entered into this debate, it became my duty to expose 
 the Crime against Kansas, and to insist upon the immediate admission 
 of that Territory as a State of this Union, with a Constitution forbidding 
 Slavery. Time has passed, but the question remains. Resuming the 
 discussion precisely where I left it, I am happy to avow that rule of 
 moderation which, it is said, may venture to fix the boundaries of wis 
 dom itself. I have no personal griefs to utter : only a vulgar egotism 
 could intrude such into this Chamber. I have no personal wrongs to 
 avenge : only a brutish nature could attempt to wield that vengeance 
 which belongs to the Lord. The years that have intervened and the 
 tombs that have opened since I spoke have their voices, too, which I 
 cannot fail to hear. Besides, what am I, what is any man among the 
 living or among the dead, compared with the question before us? It 
 is this alone which I shall discuss, and I begin the argument with that 
 easy victory which is found in charity. 
 
 V. 
 
 The Crime against Kansas stands forth in painful light. Search his 
 tory, and you cannot find its parallel. The slave-trade is bad ; but even 
 this enormity is petty, compared with that elaborate contrivance by 
 which, in a Christian age and within the limits of a Republic, all forms 
 of constitutional liberty were perverted, all the rights of human nature 
 violated, and the whole country held trembling on the edge of civil 
 war, while all this large exuberance of wickedness, detestable in itself, 
 becomes tenfold more detestable, when its origin is traced to the mad 
 ness for Slavery. The fatal partition between Freedom and Slavery, 
 known as the Missouri Compromise, the subsequent overthrow of this 
 partition, and the seizure of all by Slavery, the violation of plighted 
 faith, the conspiracy to force Slavery at all hazards into Kansas, the 
 successive invasions by which all security there was destroyed, and the 
 electoral franchise itself was trodden down, the sacrilegious seizure of 
 the very polls, and, through pretended forms of law, the imposition of 
 a foreign legislature upon this Territory, the acts of this legislature, 
 fortifying the Usurpation, and, among other things, establishing test- 
 oaths, calculated to disfranchise actual settlers friendly to Freedom, 
 
SLAVERY MUST BE DISCUSSED. 313 
 
 and securing the privileges of the citizen to actual strangers friendly to 
 Slavery, the whole crowned by a statute, "the be-all and the end-all" 
 of the whole Usurpation, through which Slavery was not only recog 
 nized on this beautiful soil, but made to bristle with a Code of Death 
 such as the world has rarely seen, all these I fully exposed on a for 
 mer occasion. And yet the most important part of the argument was 
 at that time left untouched : I mean that found in the Character of 
 Slavery. This natural sequel, with the permission of the Senate, I now 
 propose to supply. 
 
 Motive is to Crime as soul to body ; and it is only when we compre 
 hend the motive that we can truly comprehend the Crime. Here the 
 motive is found in Slavery and the rage for its extension. Therefore, 
 by logical necessity, must Slavery be discussed, not indirectly, timidly, 
 and sparingly, but directly, openly, and thoroughly. It must be ex 
 hibited as it is, alike in its influence and its animating character, so that 
 not only outside, but inside, may be seen. 
 
 VI. 
 
 This is no time for soft words or excuses. All such are out of place. 
 They may turn away wrath; but what is the wrath of man? This is no 
 time to abandon any advantage in the argument. Senators sometimes 
 announce that they resist Slavery on political grounds only, and remind 
 us that they say nothing of the moral question. This is wrong. Slavery 
 must be resisted not only on political grounds, but on all other grounds, 
 whether social, economical, or moral. Ours is no holiday contest ; nor 
 is it any strife of rival factions, of White and Red Roses, of theatric 
 Neri and Bianchi ; but it is a solemn battle between Right and Wrong, 
 between Good and Evil. Such a battle cannot be fought with rosewa- 
 ter. There is austere work to be done, and Freedom cannot consent 
 to fling away any of her weapons. 
 
 if I were disposed to shrink from this discussion, the boundless as 
 sumptions made by Senators on the other side would not allow me. 
 The whole character of Slavery, as a pretended form of Civilization, is 
 put directly in issue, with a pertinacity and a hardihood which banish all 
 reserve on this side. In these assumptions Senators from South Caro 
 lina naturally take the lead. Following Mr. Calhoun, who pronounced 
 Slavery " the most solid and durable foundation on which to rear free 
 and stable political institutions," and Mr. McDufne, who did not shrink 
 
3H ARROGANT ASSUMPTIONS OF SLAVERY. 
 
 from calling it " the corner-stone of our republican edifice," the Senator 
 from South Carolina [Mr. Hammond] insists that its " frame of society 
 is the best in the world ;" and his Colleague [Mr. Chesnut] takes up 
 the strain. One Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Jefferson Davis] adds, 
 that Slavery " is but a form of civil government for those who by their 
 nature are not fit to govern themselves ; " and his cplleague [Mr. Brown] 
 openly vaunts that it " is a great moral, social, and political blessing, 
 a blessing to the slave, and a blessing to the master." One Senator 
 from Virginia [Mr. Hunter], in a studied vindication of what he is 
 pleased to call " the social system of the South," exalts Slavery as " the 
 normal condition of human society," " beneficial to the non-slave-owner 
 as it is to the slave-owner," " best for the happiness of both races,"- 
 and, in enthusiastic advocacy, declares, " that the very keystone of the 
 mighty arch, which, by its concentrated strength, and by the mutual 
 support of its parts, is able to sustain our social superstructure, consists 
 in the black-marble block of African Slavery : knock that out, and the 
 mighty fabric, with all that it upholds, topples and tumbles to its fall." 
 These are his very words, uttered in debate here. And his colleague 
 [Mr. Mason], who never hesitates where Slavery is in question, pro 
 claims that it is " ennobling to both races, the white and the black, "- 
 a word which, so far as the slave is concerned, he changes, on a subse 
 quent day, to "elevating," assuming stiU that it is " ennobling" to the 
 whites, which is simply a new version of the old assumption, by Mr. 
 McDuffie, of South Carolina, that " the institution of Domestic Slavery 
 supersedes the necessity of an order of nobility." 
 
 VII. 
 
 Thus, by various voices, is Slavery defiantly proclaimed a form of 
 Civilization, not seeing that its existence is plainly inconsistent with 
 the first principles of anything that can be called Civilization, except 
 by that figure of speech in classical literature where a thing takes its 
 name from something which it has not, as the dreadful Fates were called 
 merciful because they were without mercy. Pardon the allusion, if I 
 add, that, listening to these sounding words for Slavery, I am reminded 
 of the kindred extravagance related by that remarkable traveller in 
 China, the late Abbe Hue, where a gloomy hole in which he was lodged, 
 infested by mosquitoes and exhaling noisome vapors, with light and air 
 entering by a single narrow aperture only, was styled by Chinese pride 
 
SATAN ALWAYS SATAN. 315 
 
 "The Hotel of the Beatitudes." According to a Hindoo proverb, the 
 snail sees nothing but its own shell, and thinks it the grandest palace 
 in the universe. This is another illustration of the delusion which we 
 are called to witness. 
 
 It is natural that Senators thus insensible to the true character of 
 Slavery should evince an equal insensibility to the true character of the 
 Constitution. This is shown in the claim now made, and pressed with 
 unprecedented energy, degrading the work of our fathers, that by virtue 
 of the Constitution the pretended property in man is placed beyond 
 the reach of Congressional prohibition even within Congressional juris 
 diction, so that the slave-master may at all times enter the broad out 
 lying territories of the Union with the victims of his oppression, and 
 there continue to hold them by lash and chain. 
 
 Such are two assumptions, the first of fact, and the second of Consti 
 tutional Law, now vaunted without apology or hesitation. I meet them 
 both. To the first I oppose the essential Barbarism of Slavery, in all 
 its influences, whether high or low, as Satan is Satan still, whether 
 towering in the sky or squatting in the toad. To the second I oppose 
 the unanswerable, irresistible truth, that the Constitution of the United 
 States nowhere recognizes property in man. These two assumptions 
 naturally go together. They are " twins " suckled by the same wolf. 
 They are the "couple" in the present slave-hunt. And the latter can 
 not be answered without exposing the former. It is only when Slavery 
 is exhibited in its truly hateful character that we fully appreciate the 
 absurdity of the assumption, which, in defiance of express letter in the 
 Constitution, and without a single sentence, phrase, or word upholding 
 human bondage, yet foists into this blameless text the barbarous idea 
 that man can hold property in man. 
 
 On former occasions I have discussed Slavery only incidentally ; as, 
 in unfolding the principle that Slavery is Sectional and Freedom Na 
 tional ; in exposing the unconstitutionally of the Fugitive Slave Bill ; 
 in vindicating the Prohibition of Slavery in the Missouri Territory ; in 
 exhibiting the imbecility, throughout the Revolution, of the Slave States, 
 and especially of South Carolina ; and, lastly, in unmasking the Crime 
 against Kansas. On all these occasions, where I spoke at length, I said 
 too little of the character of Slavery, partly because other topics were 
 presented, and partly from a prevailing disinclination to press the argu 
 ment against those whom I knew to have all the sensitiveness of a sick 
 man. But, God be praised, this time has passed, and the debate is 
 now lifted from details to principles. Grander debate has not occurred 
 
316 SLAVERY S FIRST ASSUMPTION. 
 
 in our history, rarely in any history ; nor can it close or subside, ex 
 cept with the triumph of Freedom. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 FIRST ASSUMPTION. 
 
 Of course I begin with the assumption of fact, which must be treated 
 at length. 
 
 It was the often- quoted remark of John Wesley, who knew well how 
 to use words, as also how to touch hearts, that Slavery is " the sum of 
 all villainies." The phrase is pungent ; but it were rash in any of us to 
 criticise the testimony of that illustrious founder of Methodism, whose 
 ample experience of Slavery in Georgia and the Carolinas seems to 
 have been all condensed in this sententious judgment. Language is 
 feeble to express all the enormity of an institution which is now exalted 
 as in itself a form of civilization, " ennobling" at least to the master, if 
 not to the slave. Look at it as you will, and it is always the scab, the 
 canker, the " barebones," and the shame of the country, wrong, not 
 merely in the abstract, as is often admitted by its apologists, but wrong 
 in the concrete also, and possessing no single element of right. Look 
 at it in the light of principle, and it is nothing less than a huge insur 
 rection against the eternal law of God, involving in its pretensions the 
 denial of all human rights, and also the denial of that Divine Law in 
 which God himself is manifest, thus being practically the grossest lie 
 and the grossest atheism. Founded in violence, sustained only by vio 
 lence, such a wrong must by sure law of compensation blast master as 
 well as slave, blast the lands on which they live, blast the community 
 of which they are part, blast the government which does not forbid the 
 outrage ; and the longer it exists and the more completely it prevails, 
 must its vengeful influences penetrate the whole social system. Bar 
 barous in origin, barbarous in law, barbarous in all its pretensions, bar 
 barous in the instruments it employs, barbarous in consequences, 
 barbarous in spirit, barbarous wherever it shows itself, Slavery must 
 breed Barbarians, while it develops everywhere, alike in the individual 
 and the society to which he belongs, the essential elements of Ba?uar- 
 ism. In this character it is conspicuous before the world. 
 
 Undertaking now to expose the BARBARISM OF SLAVERY, the whole 
 broad field is open before me. There is nothing in its character, its 
 manifold wrong, its wretched results, and especially in its influence on 
 
TWO CIVILIZATIONS IMPOSSIBLE. 3*7 
 
 the class claiming to be ennobled" by it, that will not fall naturally 
 under consideration. 
 
 IX. 
 
 I know well the difficulty of this discussion, involved in the humili 
 ating truth with which I begin. Senators, on former occasions, reveal 
 ing their sensitiveness, have even protested against comparison between 
 what were called " two civilizations," meaning the two social systems 
 produced respectively by Freedom and Slavery. The sensibility and 
 the protest are not unnatural, though mistaken. "Two civilizations ! " 
 Sir, in this nineteenth century of Christian light there can be but one 
 Civilization, and this is where Freedom prevails. Between Slavery and 
 Civilization there is essential incompatibility. If you are for the one, 
 you cannot be for the other ; and just in proportion to the embrace of 
 Slavery is the divorce from Civilization. As cold is but the absence of 
 heat, and darkness but the absence of light, so is Slavery but the absence 
 of justice and humanity, without which Civilization is impossible. That 
 slave-masters should be disturbed, when this is exposed, might be ex 
 pected. But the assumptions so boastfully made, while they may not 
 prevent the sensibility, yet surely exclude all ground of protest, when 
 these assumptions are exposed. 
 
 Nor is this the only difficulty. Slavery is a bloody Touch-Me-Not, 
 and everywhere in sight now blooms the bloody flower. It is on the 
 wayside as we approach the National Capitol ; it is on the marble steps 
 which we mount ; it flaunts on this floor. I stand now in the house of 
 its friends. About me, while I speak, are its most jealous guardians, who 
 have shown in the past how much they are ready to do or not to do, 
 where Slavery is in question. Menaces to deter me have not been 
 spared. But I should ill deserve the high post of duty here, with which 
 I am honored by a generous and enlightened people, if I could hesitate. 
 Idolatry has been exposed in the presence of idolaters, and hypocrisy 
 chastised in the presence of Scribes and Pharisees. Such examples 
 may impart encouragement to a Senator undertaking in this presence 
 to expose Slavery ; nor can any language, directly responsive to Senatorial 
 assumptions made for this Barbarism, be open to question. Slavery 
 can be painted only in sternest colors; nor can I forget that Nature s 
 sternest painter has been called the best. 
 
 THE BARBARISM OF SLAVERY appears, frst, in the character of 
 Slavery, and, secondly, in the character of Slave-Masters. 
 
3l8 HE LETS SLAVERY PAINT ITSELF. 
 
 Under the first head we shall properly consider (i) the Law of Slavery 
 with its Origin, and (2) the practical results of Slavery, as shown in com 
 parison between the Free States and the Slave States. 
 
 Under the second head we shall naturally consider (i) Slave-Masters 
 as shown in the Law of Slavery ; (2) Slave-Masters in their relations 
 with slaves, here glancing at their three brutal instruments ; (3) Slave- 
 Masters in their relations with each other, with society, and with Gov 
 ernment ; and (4) Slave-Masters in their unconsciousness. 
 
 The way will then be prepared for the consideration of the assump 
 tion of Constitutional Law. 
 
 X. 
 
 In presenting the CHARACTER OF SLAVERY, there is little for me, ex 
 cept to make Slavery paint itself. When this is done, the picture will 
 need no explanatory words. 
 
 (i.) I begin with the Law of Slavery and its Origin ; and here this 
 Barbarism sketches itself in its own chosen definition. It is simply 
 this : Man, created in the image of God, is divested of the human char 
 acter, and declared to be a " chattel," that is, a beast, a thing, or 
 article of property. That this statement may not seem made without 
 precise authority, I quote the statutes of three different States, begin 
 ning with South Carolina, whose voice for Slavery has always unerring 
 distinctiveness. According to the definition supplied by this State, 
 slaves 
 
 "shall be deemed, held, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be 
 chattels personal in the hands of .their owners and possessors, and their 
 executors, administrators, and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and 
 purposes whatsoever." 
 
 And here is the definition supplied by the Civil Code of Louisiana : 
 
 "A slave is one who is in the power of a master to whom he belongs. 
 The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, and his 
 labor. He can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything, but 
 what must belong to his master." 
 
 In similar spirit the law of Maryland thus indirectly defines a slave as 
 an article: 
 
 " In case the personal property of a ward shall consist of specific 
 articles, such as slaves, working beasts, animals of any kind, .... the 
 court, if it shall deem it advantageous for the ward, may at any time 
 pass an order for the sale thereof." 
 
 Not to occupy time unnecessarily, I present a summary of the pre- 
 
THE SLAVE FOR THE MASTER S USE. 319 
 
 tended law defining Slavery in all the Slave States, as made by a careful 
 writer, Judge Stroud, in a work of juridical as well as philanthropic 
 merit : 
 
 "The cardinal principle of Slavery that the slave is not to be ranked 
 among setitient beings, but among things, is an article of property, a 
 chattel personal obtains as undoubted law in all of these [Slave] 
 States." 
 
 Out of this definition, as from a solitary germ, which in its pettiness 
 might be crushed by the hand, towers our Upas Tree and all its gigan 
 tic poison. Study it, and you will comprehend the whole monstrous 
 growth. 
 
 Sir, look at its plain import, and see the relation which it establishes. 
 The slave is held simply for the use of his master, to whose behests his 
 life, liberty, and happiness are devoted, and by whom he may be bartered, 
 leased, mortgaged, bequeathed, invoiced, shipped as cargo, stored as 
 goods, sold on execution, knocked off at public auction, and even 
 staked at tne gaming-table on the hazard of a card or a die, all accord 
 ing to law. Nor is there anything, within the limit of life, inflicted on a 
 beast, which may not be inflicted on the slave. He may be marked 
 like a hog, branded like a mule, yoked like an ox, hobbled like a horse, 
 driven like an ass, sheared like a sheep, maimed like a cur, and con 
 stantly beaten like a brute, all according to law. And should life 
 itself be taken, what is the remedy ? The Law of Slavery, imitating 
 that rule of evidence which in barbarous days and barbarous countries 
 prevented the Christian from testifying against the Mahometan, openly 
 pronounces the incompetency of the whole African race, whether bond 
 or free, to testify against a white man in any case, and thus, after sur 
 rendering the slave to all possible outrage, crowns its tyranny by exclud 
 ing the very testimony through which the bloody cruelty of the Slave- 
 Master might be exposed. 
 
 Thus in its Law does Slavery paint itself; but it is only when we look 
 at details, and detect its essential elements, five in number, all inspired 
 by a single motive, that its character becomes completely manifest. 
 
 XL 
 
 Foremost, of course, in these elements, is the impossible pretension, 
 where Barbarism is lost in impiety, by which man claims property in man. 
 Against such blasphemy the argument is brief. According to the Law 
 of Nature, written by the same hand that placed the planets in their 
 
32O THE ABROGATION OF MARRIAGE. 
 
 orbits, and, like them, constituting part of the eternal system of the 
 Universe, every human being has complete title to himself direct from 
 the Almighty. Naked he is born ; but this birthright is inseparable 
 from the human form. A man may be poor in this world s goods ; but 
 he owns himself. No war or robbery, ancient or recent, no capture 
 no middle passage, no change of clime, no purchase money, no 
 transmission from hand to hand, no matter ho*.v many times, and no 
 matter at what price, can defeat this indefeasible, God-given franchise. 
 And a divine mandate, strong as that which guards Life, guards Liberty 
 also. Even at the very morning of Creation, when God said, " Let 
 there be light," earlier than the malediction against murder. he set 
 the everlasting difference between man and chattel, giving to man "do 
 minion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over 
 every living thing that moveth upon the earth." 
 
 " That right we hold 
 By his donation ; hut man over men 
 He made not lord : such title to himself 
 Reserving, human left from human free." 
 
 Slavery tyrannically assumes power which Heaven denied, while, un 
 der its barbarous necromancy, borrowed from the Source of Evil, a man 
 is changed into a chattel, a person is withered into a thing, a soul is 
 shrunk intb merchandise. Say, Sir, in lofty madness, that you own the 
 sun, the stars, the moon ; but do not say that you own a man, endowed 
 with soul to live immortal, when sun and moon and stars have passed 
 away. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Secondly. Slavery paints itself again in its complete abrogation of 
 marriage, recognized as a sacrament by the Church, and as a contract 
 by the civil power, wherever civilization prevails. Under the Law of 
 Slavery no such sacrament is respected, and no such contract can exist. 
 The ties formed between slavey are all subject to the selfish interests or 
 more selfish lust of the master, whose license knows no check. Natu 
 ral affections which have come together are rudely torn asunder : nor 
 is this all. Stripped of every defence, the chastity of a whole race is 
 exposed to violence, while the result is recorded in tell-tale faces of 
 children, glowing with a master s blood, but doomed for their mother s 
 skin to Slavery through descending generations. The Senator from 
 
ABROGATION OF THE PARENTAL RELATION. 321 
 
 Mississippi [Mr. Brown], galled by the comparison between Slavery and 
 Polygamy, winces. . I hail this sensibility as the sign of virtue. Let 
 him reflect, and he will confess that there are many disgusting elements 
 in Slavery, not present in Polygamy, while the single disgusting element 
 of Polygamy is more than present in Slavery. By license of Polygamy, 
 one man may have many wives, all bound to him by marriage-tie, and 
 in other respects protected by law. By license of Slavery, a whole race 
 is delivered over to prostitution and concubinage, without the protec 
 tion of any law. Surely, Sir, is not Slavery barbarous ? 
 
 Thirdly. Slavery paints itself again in its complete abrogation of the 
 parental relation, provided by God in his benevolence for the nurture 
 and education of the human family, and constituting an essential part 
 of Civilization itself. And yet by the Law of Slavery happily begin 
 ning to be modified in some places this relation is set at nought, and 
 in its place is substituted the arbitrary control of the master, at whose 
 mere command little children, such as the Saviour called unto him, 
 though clasped by a mother s arms, are swept under the hammer of the 
 auctioneer. I do not dwell on this exhibition. Sir, is not Slavery bar 
 barous ? 
 
 fourthly. Slavery paints itself again in closing the gates of knowledge, 
 which are also the shining gates of Civilization. Under its plain, un 
 equivocal law, the bondman, at the unrestrained will of his master, is 
 shut out from all instruction ; while in many places incredible to re 
 late the law itself, by cumulative provisions, positively forbids that he 
 shall be taught to read ! Of course the slave cannot be allowed to 
 read : for his soul would then expand in larger air, while he saw the 
 glory of the North Star, and also the helping truth, that God, who made 
 iron, never made a slave ; for he would then become familiar with the 
 Scriptures, with the Decalogue still speaking in the thunders of Sinai, 
 with that ancient text, " He that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if 
 he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death " with that 
 other text, " Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and 
 equal," with that great story of Redemption, when the Lord raised 
 the slave-born Moses to deliver his chosen people from the house of 
 bondage, and with that sublimer story, where the Saviour died a cruel 
 death, that all men, without distinction of race, might be saved, leaving 
 to mankind a commandment which, even without his example, makes 
 Slavery impossible. Thus, in order to fasten your manacles upon the 
 slave, you fasten other manacles upon his soul. The ancients main 
 tained Slavery by chains and death : you maintain it by that infinite 
 
 21 
 
322 APPROPRIATION OF THE SLAVE S TOIL. 
 
 despotism and monopoly through which human nature itself is degraded. 
 Sir, is not Slavery barbarous ? 
 
 Fifthly. Slavery paints itself again in the appropriation of all the 
 toil of its victims, excluding them from that property in their own earn 
 ings which the Law of Nature allows and Civilization secures. The 
 painful injustice of this pretension is lost in its meanness. It is robbery 
 and petty larceny under garb of law. And even the meanness is lost 
 in the absurdity of its associate pretension, that the African, thus des 
 poiled of all earnings, is saved from poverty, and that for his own good 
 he must work for his master, and not for himself. Alas, by such fallacy 
 is a whole race pauperized ! And yet this transaction is not without 
 illustrative example. A sombre poet, whose verse has found wide favor, 
 pictures a creature who 
 
 " with one hand put 
 A penny in the urn of poverty, 
 And with the other took a shilling out." 
 
 And a celebrated traveller through Russia, more than a generation ago, 
 describes a kindred spirit, who, while devoutly crossing himself at church 
 with his right hand, with the left deliberately picked the pocket of a fel- 
 llow-sinner by his side. Not admiring these instances, I cannot cease 
 to deplore a system which has much of both, while, under affectation 
 of charity, it sordidly takes from the slave all the fruits of his bitter 
 sweat, and thus takes from him the main spring to exertion. Tell me, 
 .Sir, is not Slavery barbarous? 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Such is Slavery in its five special elements of Barbarism, as recog 
 nized by law : first, assuming that man can hold property in man ; sec 
 ondly, abrogating the relation of husband and wife ; thirdly, abrogating 
 the parental tie ; fourthly, closing the gates of knowledge ; and, fifthly, 
 .appropriating the unpaid labor of another. Take away these elements, 
 rsometimes called "abuses," and Slavery will cease to exist; for it is 
 these very "abuses" which constitute Slavery. Take away any one of 
 them, and the abolition of Slavery begins. And when I present Slavery 
 for judgment, I mean no slight evil, with regard to which there may be 
 reasonable difference of opinion, but I mean this fivefold embodiment 
 of " abuse," this ghastly quincunx of Barbarism, each particular of which, 
 if considered separately, must be denounced at once with all the ardor 
 
JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU DR. CHANNING. 323 
 
 of an honest soul, while the whole fivefold combination must awake a 
 fivefold denunciation. The historic pirates, once the plague of the Gulf 
 whose waters they plundered, have been praised for the equity with 
 which they adjusted the ratable shares of spoil, and also for generous 
 benefactions to the poor, and even to churches, so that Sir Walter Scott 
 could say, 
 
 " Do thou revere 
 The statutes of the Buccaneer." 
 
 In our Law of Slavery what is there to revere ? what is there at which 
 the soul does not rise in abhorrence ? 
 
 But this fivefold combination becomes yet more hateful when its sin 
 gle motive is considered ; and here Slavery paints itself finally. The 
 Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Jefferson Davis] says that it is " but a 
 form of civil government for those who by their nature are not fit to 
 govern themselves." The Senator is mistaken. It is an outrage, where 
 five different pretensions all concur in one single object, looking only 
 to the profit of the master, and constituting its ever-present motive 
 power, which is simply to compel the labor of fellow-men without wages. 
 If I pronounce this object not only barbarous, but brutal, I follow the 
 judgment of Luther s Bible, in the book " Jesus Sirach," known in our 
 translation as Ecclesiasticus, where it is said : "He that giveth not his 
 wages to the laborer, he is a bloodhound" 
 
 Slavery is often exposed as degrading Humanity. On this fruitful 
 theme nobody ever expressed himself with the force and beautiful 
 eloquence of our own Channing. His generous soul glowed with indig 
 nation at the thought of man, supremest creature of earth, and first of 
 God s works, despoiled of manhood and changed to a thing. But earlier 
 than Channing was Jean Jacques Rousseau, who, with similar eloquence 
 and the same glowing indignation, vindicated Humanity. How grandly 
 he insists that nobody can consent to be a slave, or can be born a 
 slave ! Believing Liberty the most noble of human attributes, this 
 wonderful writer will not stop to consider if descent to the condition of 
 beasts be not to degrade human nature, if renunciation of the most 
 precious of all God s gifts be not to offend the Author of our being ; 
 but he demands only by what right those who degrade themselves to 
 this depth can subject their posterity to the same ignominy, renouncing 
 for them goods which do not depend upon any ancestors, and without 
 which life itself is to all worthy of it a burden ; and he justly concludes, 
 that, as to establish Slavery, it is necessary to violate Nature, so, to 
 
324 DEGRADATION OF A WHOLE RACE. 
 
 perpetuate this claim, it is necessary to change Nature. His final 
 judgment, being the practical conclusion of this outburst, holds up ju 
 risconsults, gravely pronouncing that the child of a slave born a slave, as 
 deciding, in other terms, that a man is not born a man, thus exposing 
 the peculiar absurdity of that pretension by which Slavery is transmit 
 ted from the mother to her offspring, as expressed in the Latin scrap on 
 which the Senator from Virginia [Mr. MASON] relies : Partus seguititr 
 ventrem. 
 
 If the offense of Slavery were less extended, if it were confined to 
 some narrow region, if it had less of grandeur in its proportions, 
 of its victims were counted by tens and hundreds instead of 
 millions, the five-headed enormity would find little indulgence ; all 
 would rise against it, while Religion and Civilization would lavish 
 choicest efforts in the general warfare. But what is wrong when done 
 to one man cannot be right when done to many. If it is wrong 
 thus to degrade a single soul, if it is wrong thus to degrade 
 you, Mr. President, it cannot be right to degrade a whole race ! 
 And yet this is denied by the barbarous logic of Slavery, which, taking 
 advantage of its own wrong, claims immunity because its usurpation has 
 assumed a front of audacity that cannot be safely attacked. Unhappily 
 there is Barbarism elsewhere in the world ; but American Slavery, 
 as defined by existing law, stands forth as the greatest organized Bar 
 barism on which the sun now looks. It is without a single peer. Its 
 author, after making it, broke the die. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 If curiosity carries us to the origin of this law, and here I approach 
 a topic often considered in this Chamber, we shall again confess its 
 Barbarism. It is not derived from the Common Law, that fountain of 
 Liberty ; for this law, while unhappily recognizing a system of servitude 
 known as villeinage, secured to the bondman privileges unknown to the 
 American slave, guarded his person against mayhem, protected his 
 wife against rape, gave to his marriage equal validity with the marriage 
 of his master, and surrounded his offspring with generous presumptions 
 of Freedom, unlike that rule of yours by which the servitude of the 
 mother is necessarily stamped upon the child. It is not derived from 
 the Roman Law, that fountain of Tyranny, for two reasons : first, be 
 cause this law, in its better days, when its early rigors were spent, like 
 
ORIGIN OF SLAVERY IN AFRICA. 325 
 
 the Common Law itself, secured to the bondman privileges unknown 
 to the American slave, in certain cases of cruelty rescued him from 
 his master, prevented separation of parents and children, also of broth 
 ers and sisters, and even protected him in the marriage relation ; and, 
 secondly, because the Thirteen Colonies were not derived from any of 
 those countries which recognized the Roman Law, while this law, even 
 before the discovery of this continent, had lost all living efficacy. It is 
 not derived from the Mohammedan Law ; for, under the mild injunc 
 tions of the Koran, a benignant servitude, unlike yours, has prevailed, 
 where the lash is not allowed to lacerate the back of a female, 
 where no knife or branding-iron is employed upon any human being, 
 to mark him as the property of his fellow-man, where the master is 
 expressly enjoined to listen to the desires of his slave for emancipa 
 tion, and where the blood of the master, mingling with that of his 
 bondwoman, takes from her the transferable character of chattel, and 
 confers complete freedom upon their offspring. It is not derived from 
 the Spanish Law ; for this law contains hnmane elements unknown to 
 your system, borrowed, perhaps, from Mohammedan Moors who so 
 long occupied Spain ; and, besides, our Thirteen Colonies had no um 
 bilical connection with Spain. Nor is it derived from English statutes 
 or American statutes ; for we have the positive and repeated averment 
 of the Senator from Virginia [Mr. MASON], and also of other Senators, 
 that in not a single State of the Union can any such statutes establishing 
 Slavery be found. From none of these does it come. 
 
 No, Sir, not from any land of Civilization is this Barbarism derived. 
 It comes from Africa, ancient nurse of monsters, from Guinea, Daho 
 mey, and Congo. There is its origin and fountain. This benighted 
 region, we are told by Chief-Justice Marshall in a memorable judgment, 
 still asserts a right, discarded by Christendom, to enslave captives taken 
 in war ; and this African Barbarism is the beginning of American Slavery. 
 The Supreme Court of Georgia, a Slave State, has not shrunk from this 
 conclusion. " Licensed to hold slave property," says the Court, " the 
 Georgia planter held the slave as a chattel, either directly from the slave 
 trader or from those who held under him, and he from the slave-captor 
 in Africa. The property of the planter in the slave became thus the pro 
 perty of the original captor." it is natural that a right thus derived in 
 defiance of Christendom, and openly founded on the most vulgar 
 Paganism, should be exercised without mitigating influence from Chris 
 tianity, that the master s authority over the person of his slave, over 
 his conjugal relations, over his parental relations, over the employment 
 
326 HOME OF THE SLAVE CODE. 
 
 of his lime, over all his acquisitions, should be recognized, while no 
 generous presumption inclines to Freedom, and the womb of the bond 
 woman can deliver only a slave. 
 
 xv. 
 
 From its home in Africa, where it is sustained by immemorial usage, 
 this Barbarism, thus derived and thus developed, traversed the ocean 
 to American soil. It entered on board that fatal slave-ship, 
 
 "Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark," 
 
 which in 1620 landed its cruel cargo at Jamestown, in Virginia ; and it 
 has boldly taken its place in every succeeding slave-ship, from that 
 early day till now, helping to pack the human freight, regardless of 
 human agony, surviving the torments of the middle passage, survi 
 ving its countless victims plunged beneath the waves ; and it has left 
 the slave-ship only to travel inseparable from the slave in his various 
 doom, sanctioning by its barbarous code every outrage, whether of may 
 hem or robbery, lash or lust, and fastening itself upon his offspring to 
 the remotest generation. Thus are barbarous prerogatives of barbar 
 ous half-naked African chiefs perpetuated in American Slave-Masters, 
 while the Senator from Virginia [Mr. MASON], perhaps unconscious of 
 their origin, perhaps desirous to secure for them the appearance of a 
 less barbarous pedigree, tricks them out with a phrase of the Roman 
 Law, discarded by the Common Law, which simply renders into ancient 
 Latin an existing rule of African Barbarism, recognized as an existing 
 rule of American Slavery. 
 
 Such is the plain juridical origin of the American slave code, now 
 vaunted as a badge of Civilization. Bnt all law, whatever its juridical 
 origin, whether Christian or Mohammedan, Roman or African, may be 
 traced to other and ampler influences in Nature, sometimes of Right 
 and sometimes of Wrong. Surely the law which stamped the slave- 
 trade as piracy punishable with death had a different inspiration from 
 that other law which secured immunity for the slave-trade throughout 
 an immense territory, and invested its supporters with political power. 
 As there is a nobler law above, so there is a meaner law below, and 
 each is felt in human affairs. 
 
 Thus far we have seen Slavery only in pretended law, and in the 
 origin of that law. Here I might stop, without proceeding in the argu- 
 
PRACTICAL RESULT OF SLAVERY. 327 
 
 nient ; for on the letter of the law alone must Slavery be condemned. 
 But the tree is known by its fruits, which I shall now exhibit : and this 
 brings me the second stage of the argument. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 (2.) In considering the practical result of Slavery, the materials are so 
 obvious and diversified that my chief care will be to abridge and reject : 
 and here I put the Slave States and Free States face to face, showing 
 at each point the blasting influence of Slavery. 
 
 Before proceeding vvith these details, I would for one moment expose 
 that degradation of free labor, which is one of the general results. Where 
 there are slaves, whose office is work, it is held disreputable for a white 
 man to soil his skin or harden his hands with honest toil. The Slave- 
 Master of course declines work, and his pernicious example infects all 
 others. With impious resolve, they would reverse the Almighty decree 
 appojnting labor as the duty of man, and declaring that in the sweat of 
 his face shall he eat his bread. The Slave-Master says, " No ! this is 
 true of the slave, of the black man, but not of the white man : he shall 
 not eat his bread in the sweat of his face." Thus is the brand of degra 
 dation stamped upon that daily toil which contributes so much to a true 
 Civilization. It is a constant boast in the Slave States, that white men 
 there will not perform work performed in the Free States. Mr. Cal- 
 houn and Mr. Waddy Thompson made this boast. Let it be borne in 
 mind, then, that, where Slavery prevails, there is not only despair for 
 the black man, but inequality and ignominy for the white laborer. By 
 necessary consequence, the latter, whether emigrating from our Free 
 States or fleeing from oppression and wretchedness in his European 
 home, avoids a region disabled by such a social law. Hence a twofold 
 injustice : practically he is excluded from the land, while the land itself 
 becomes a prey to that paralysis which is caused by a violation of the 
 laws of God. And now for the testimony. 
 
 The States where this Barbarism exists excel the Free States in all 
 natural advantages. Their territory is more extensive, stretching over 
 851,448 square miles, while the Free States, including California, em 
 brace only 612,597 square miles. Here is a difference of more than 
 238,000 square miles in favor of the Slave States, showing that Freedom 
 starts in this great rivalry with a field more than a quarter less than that 
 of Slavery. In happiness of climate, adapted to productions of special 
 
328 THE HARPY DEFILES THE BANQUET. 
 
 value, in exhaustless motive power distributed throughout its space, 
 in natural highways, by more than fifty navigable rivers, never closed 
 by the rigors of winter, and in a stretch of coast, along Ocean and 
 Gulf, indented by hospitable harbors, the whole presenting incompar 
 able advantages for that true Civilization, where agriculture, manufac 
 tures, and commerce, both domestic and foreign, blend, in all these 
 respects the Slave States excel the Free States, whose climate is often 
 churlish, whose motive power is less various, whose navigable rivers are 
 fewer and often sealed by ice, and whose coast, while less in extent and 
 with fewer harbors, is often perilous from storm and cold. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 But Slavery plays the part of a Harpy, and denies the choicest 
 banquet. See what it does with this territory, thus spacious and fair. 
 
 An important indication of prosperity is in the growth of population. 
 In this respect the two regions started equal. In 1790, at the first 
 census under the Constitution, the population of the present Slave 
 States was 1,961,372, of the present Free States 1,968,455, showing a 
 difference of only 7,083 in favor of the Free States. This difference, at 
 first merely nominal, has been constantly increasing since, showing 
 itself more strongly in each decennial census, until, in 1850, the pop 
 ulation of the Slave States swollen by the annexation of three foreign 
 Territories, Louisiana, Florida, and Texas, was only 9,612,969, while 
 that of the Free States, without such large annexations, reached 
 13,434,922, showing a difference of 3,821,953 in favor of Freedom. 
 But this difference becomes still more remarkable, if we confine our 
 inquiries to the white population, which at this period was only 
 6,184,477 m tne Slave States, while it was 13,238,670 in the Free 
 States, showing a difference of 7,054,193 in favor of Freedom, and 
 showing also that the white population of the Free States had not only 
 doubled, but, while occupying a smaller territory, commenced to triple, 
 that of the Slave States. The comparative sparseness of the two pop 
 ulations furnishes another illustration. In the Slave States the average 
 number of inhabitants to a square mile was 11.29, while in the Free 
 States, it was 21.93 or almost two to one in favor of Freedom. 
 
 These results are general ; but if we take any particular Slave State, 
 and compare it with a Free State, we shall find the same marked 
 evidence for Freedom. Take Virginia, with a territory of 61,352 square 
 
SLAVE AND FREE STATES CONTRASTED. 329 
 
 miles, and New York, with a territory of 47,000, or over 14,000 square 
 miles less than her sister State. New York has one seaport, Virginia 
 some three or four ; New York has one noble river, Virginia has 
 several ; New York for 400 miles runs along the frozen line of Canada, 
 Virginia basks in a climate of constant felicity. But Freedom is better 
 than climate, river, or seaport. In 1790 the population of Virginia was 
 748,308, and in 1850 it was 1,421,661. In 1790 the population of New 
 York was 340,120, and in 1850 it was 3,097,394. That of Virginia had 
 not doubled in sixty years, while that of New York had multiplied more 
 than ninefold. A similar comparison may be made between Ken 
 tucky, with 37,680 squares miles, admitted into the Union as long ago 
 as 1792, and Ohio, with 39,964 square miles, admitted into the Union in 
 1802. In 1850, the Slave State had a population of only 982,405, 
 while Ohio had a population of 1,980,329, showing a difference of nearly 
 a million in favor of Freedom. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 As in population, so also in the value of property, real and personal, 
 do the Free States excel the Slave States. According to the census of 
 1850, the value of property in the Free States was $4,102,162,098, 
 while in the Slave States it was $2,936,090,737; or, if we deduct the 
 asserted property in human flesh, only $1,655,945,137, showing an 
 enormous difference of billions in favor of Freedom. In the Free 
 States the valuation per acre was $10.46, in the Slave States only $3.04. 
 This disproportion was still greater in 1855, when, according to the 
 Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, the valuation of the Free States 
 was $5,770,197,679, or $14.71 per acre; and of the Slave States, $3,- 
 977,354,046, or, if we deduct the asserted property in human flesh, $2,- 
 505,186,446, or $4.59 per acre. Thus in five years from 1850 the valu 
 ation of property in the Free States received an increase of more than 
 the whole accumulated valuation of the Slave States in 1850. 
 
 Looking at details, we find the same disproportions. Arkansas and 
 Michigan, nearly equal in territory, were organized as States by simul 
 taneous Acts of Congress ; and yet in 1855 tne whole valuation of Ar 
 kansas, including its asserted property in human flesh, was only $64,- 
 240,726, while that of Michigan, without a single slave, was $116,593,- 
 580. The whole accumulated valuation of all the Slave States, deduct 
 ing the asserted property in human flesh, in 1850, was only $1,655,945,- 
 
330 AGRICULTURE MINING MECHANICS. 
 
 137 ; but the valuation of New York alone, in 1855, reached the nearly 
 equal sum of $1,401,285,279. The valuation of Virginia, South Caro 
 lina, Georgia, Florida, and Texas, altogether, in 1850, deducting human 
 flesh, was $559,224,920, or simply $1.96 per acre, being less than that 
 of Massachusetts alone, which was $573,342,286, or $114.85 per acre. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The Slave States boast of agriculture ; but here again, notwithstand 
 ing superior natural advantages, they must yield to the Free States at 
 every point, in the number of farms and plantations, in the number of 
 acres improved, in the cash value of farms, in the average value per 
 acre, and in the value of farming implements and machinery. Here is 
 a short table. 
 
 Free States. Slave States. 
 
 Number of farms 873,608 569,201 
 
 Acres of improved land 57,720,494 54,970,327 
 
 Cash value of farms $2,147,218,478 $1,117,649,649 
 
 Average value per acre $19.17 $6.18 
 
 Value of farming implements $85,840,141 $65,345,625 
 
 Such is the mighty contrast. But it does not stop here. Careful 
 tables place the agricultural products of the Free States, for the year 
 ending June, 1850, at $888,634,334, while those of the Slave States were 
 $631,277,417 ; the product per acre in the Free States at $7.94, and the 
 product per acre in the Slave States at $3.49 ; the average product of each 
 agriculturist in the Free States at $342, and in the Slave States at $171. 
 Thus the Free States, with a smaller population engaged in agriculture 
 than the Slave States, and with smaller territory, show an annual sum 
 total of agricultural products surpassing those of the Slave States by two 
 hundred and twenty-seven millions of dollars, while twice as much is 
 produced by each agriculturist, and more than twice as much is pro 
 duced on an acre. The monopoly of cotton, rice, and cane-sugar, with 
 a climate granting two and sometimes three crops in the year, is thus 
 impotent in competition with Freedom. 
 
 xx. 
 
 In manufactures, mining, and the mechanic arts the failure of the 
 Slave States is greater still. It appears at all points, in the capital 
 
DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN COMMERCE. 331 
 
 employed, in the value of the raw material, in the annual wages, and in 
 the annual product. A short table will show the contrast. 
 
 Free States. Slave States. 
 
 Capital $430,240,051 $95,029,877 
 
 Value of raw material 465,844,092 86, 190,639 
 
 Annual wages I9543 6 453 332475 6 
 
 Annual product 842,586,058 165,423,027 
 
 This might be illustrated by details with regard to different manufac 
 tures, as shoes, cotton, woollens, pig iron, wrought iron, and iron cast 
 ings, all showing the contrast. It might also be illustrated by com 
 parison between different States, showing for instance, that the 
 manufactures of Massachusetts during the last year, exceeded those of 
 all the Slave States combined. 
 
 In commerce the failure of the Slave States is on a yet larger scale. 
 Under this head the census does not supply proper statistics, and we 
 are left to approximations from other sources ; but these are enough 
 for our purpose. It appears, that, of products which enter into 
 commerce, the Free States had an amount valued at $1,377,199,968, 
 the Slave States an amount valued only at $410,754,992 ; that, of 
 persons engaged in trade, the Free States had 136,856, and the Slave 
 States 52,662; and that, of tonnage employed, the Free State had 
 2,791,096 tons, and the Slaves States only 726,284. This was in 1850. 
 But in 1855 the disproportion was still greater, the Free States having 
 4,320,768 tons, and the Slave States 855,510 tons, being a difference of 
 five to one, and the tonnage of Massachusetts alone being 979,210 
 tons, an amount larger than that of all the Slave States together. The 
 tonnage built during this year by the Free States was 528,844 tons, by 
 the Slave States 52,938 tons. Maine alone built 215,905 tons, or more 
 than four times the whole built in the Slave States. 
 
 The foreign commerce of the Free States, in 1855, as indicated by 
 exports and imports, was $404,365,503 ; of the Slave States, $132,062,- 
 196. The exports of the Free States were $167,520,693; of the Slave 
 States, including the vaunted cotton crop, $107,475,668. The imports 
 of the Free States were $236,844,810 ; of the Slave States, $24,586,- 
 528. The foreign commerce of New York alone was more than twice 
 as large as that of all the Slave States ; her imports were larger, and her 
 exports were larger also. Add to this evidence of figures the testimony 
 of a Virginian, Mr. Loudon, in a letter written just before the sitting of 
 a Southern Commercial Convention. Thus he complains and testi 
 fies : 
 
332 RAILROADS POST-OFFICES CHARITY. 
 
 "There are not half a dozen vessels engaged in our own trade that 
 are owned in Virginia ; and I have been unable to find a vessel at Liv 
 erpool loading for Virginia within three years, during the height of our 
 busy season." 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Railroads and canals are the avenues of commerce ; and here again 
 the Free States excel. Of railroads in operation in 1854, there were 
 13,105 miles in the Free States, and 4,212 in the Slave States. Of 
 canals there were 3,682 miles in the Free States, and 1,116 in the Slave 
 States. 
 
 The Post-Office, which is the agent not only of commerce, but of civ 
 ilization, joins in the uniform testimony. According to the tables for 
 1859, tne postage collected in the Free States was $5,581,749, and the 
 expense of carrying the mails $6,945,545, leaving a deficit of $1,363,- 
 796. In the Slave States the amount collected was only $1,936,167, 
 and the expense of carrying the mails $5,947,076, leaving the enormous 
 deficit of $4,010,909, the difference between the two deficits being 
 $2,647,113. The Slave States did not pay one-third of the expense in 
 transporting their own mails ; and not a single Slave State paid for 
 transporting its own mails, not even the small State of Delaware. Mas 
 sachusetts, besides paying for hers, had a surplus larger by one-half 
 than the whole amount collected in South Carolina. 
 
 According to the census of 1850, the value of churches in the Free 
 States was $66,177,586; in the Slave States $20,683,265. 
 
 The voluntary charity contributed in 1855, for certain leading pur 
 poses of Christian benevolence, was, in the Free States, $955,511 ; for 
 the same purpose in the Slave States, $193,885. For the Bible cause 
 the Free States contributed $321,365; the Slave States, $67,226. 
 For the Missionary cause the former contributed $502,174; and the 
 latter, $101,934. For the Tract Society the former contributed 
 $131,972 ; and the latter, $24,725. The amount contributed for 
 Missions by Massachusetts was greater than that contributed by all the 
 Slave States, and more than eight times that contributed by South 
 Carolina. 
 
 Nor have the Free States been backward in charity for the benefit of 
 the Slave States. The records of Massachusetts show that as long ago 
 as 1781, at the beginning of the Government, there was a contribution 
 throughout the Commonwealth, under the particular direction of that 
 eminent patriot, Samuel Adams, for the relief of inhabitants of South 
 
EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 333 
 
 Carolina and Georgia. In 1855 we were saddened by the prevalence 
 of yellow fever in Portsmouth, Virginia ; and now, from a report of the 
 Relief Commitee of that place, we learn that the amount of charity con 
 tributed by the Slave States exclusive of Virginia, the afflicted State, 
 was $12,182 ; and including Virginia, it was $33,398 ; while $42,547 was 
 contributed by the Free States. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 In all this array we see the fatal influence of Slavery. But its Bar 
 barism is yet more conspicuous, when we consider its Educational Es 
 tablishments, and the unhappy results naturally ensuing from their im 
 perfect character. 
 
 Of colleges, in 1856, the Free States had 61, and the Slave States 59 ; 
 but the comparative efficacy of the institutions assuming this name may 
 be measured by certain facts. The number of graduates in the PYee 
 States was 47,752, in the Slave States 19,648; the number of ministers 
 educated in Slave colleges was 747, in Free colleges 10,702 ; and the 
 number of volumes in the libraries of Slave colleges 308,011, in the 
 libraries of Free colleges 668,497. If materials were at hand for com 
 parison between these colleges, in buildings, cabinets, and scientific 
 apparatus, or in standard of scholarship, the difference would be still 
 more apparent. 
 
 Of professional schools, teaching law, medicine, and theology, the 
 Free States had 65, with 269 professors, 4,417 students, and 175,951 
 volumes in their libraries ; while the Slave States had only 32 profes 
 sional schools, with 122 professors, 1,816 students, and 30,796 volumes 
 in their libraries. The whole number educated at these institutions in 
 the Free States was 23,513, in the Slave States, 3,812. Of these, the 
 largest number in the Slave States study medicine, next theology, and 
 lastly law. According to the census, there are only 808 students in the 
 Slave theological schools, and 747 studying for the ministry in Slave 
 colleges ; and this is the education of the Slave clergy. In the law 
 schools of the Slave States the number ofstudents is only 240, this being 
 the sum-total of public students in the land of Slavery devoted to that 
 profession which is the favorite stepping-stone to political life, where 
 Slave-Masters claim such a disproportion of office and honor. 
 
 Of academies and private schools, in 1850, the Free States, not 
 withstanding multitudinous public schools, had 3,197, with 7,175 
 teachers, 154,893 pupils, and an annual income of $2.457,372 ; the 
 
334 IN SYSTEMS OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 
 
 Slave States had 2,797 academies and private schools, with 4,913 
 teachers, 104,976 pupils, and an annual income of $2,079,724. 
 In the absence of public schools, to a large extent, where Slavery 
 exists, the dependence must be upon private schools ; and yet 
 even here the Slave States fall below the Free States, whether we con 
 sider the number of schools, the number of pupils, the number of 
 teachers, or the amount paid for their support. 
 
 XXIIL 
 
 In public schools, open to all, poor and rich alike, the preeminence 
 of the Free States is complete. Here the figures show a difference as 
 wide as that between Freedom and Slavery. Their number in the 
 Free States is 62,433, w ^ tn 72,621 teachers, and with 2,769.901 pupils, 
 supported at an annual expense of $6,780,337. Their number in the 
 Slave States is 18,507, with 19,307 teachers, and with 581,861 pupils, 
 supported at an annual expense of $2,719,534. This difference may be 
 illustrated by details. Virginia, an old State, and more than a third larger 
 than Ohio, has 67,353 pupils in her public schools, while the latter State has 
 484, 153. Arkansas, equal in age and size with Michigan, has only 8,493 
 pupils at her public schools, while the latter State has 110,455. South 
 Carolina, nearly four times as large as Massachusetts, has 17,838 pupils 
 at public schools, while the latter State has 176,475. South Carolina 
 spends for this purpose, annually, $200,600 ; Massachusetts, $1,006,- 
 795. Baltimore, with a population of 169,054, on the Northern verge 
 of Slavery, has school buildings valued at $105,729; Boston, with a 
 population of 136,881, has school buildings valued at $729,502. Balti 
 more has only 37 public schools, with 138 teachers, and 8, on pupils, 
 supported at an annual expense of $32,423 ; Boston has 203 public 
 schools, with 353 teachers, and 20,369 pupils, supported at an annual 
 expense of $237,100. Even these figures do not disclose the whole 
 difference ; for there exist in the Free States teachers institutes, nor 
 mal schools, lyceums, and public courses of lectures, unknown in the 
 region of Slavery. These advantages are enjoyed by the children of 
 colored persons ; and here is a comparison which shows the degrada 
 tion of the Slave States. It is their habit particularly to deride free 
 colored persons. See, now, with what cause. The number of colored 
 persons in the Free States is 196,016, of whom 22,043, or more than 
 one-ninth, attend school, which is a larger proportion than is supplied 
 
PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 335 
 
 by the whites of the Slave States. In Massachusetts there are 9,064 
 colored persons, of whom 1,439, or "early one-sixth, attend school, 
 which is a much larger proportion than is supplied by the whites of South 
 Carolina. 
 
 Among educational establishments are public libraries ; and here, 
 again, the Free States have their customary eminence, whether we con 
 sider libraries strictly called public, or libraries of the common school, 
 Sunday-school, college, and church. The disclosures are startling. 
 The number of libraries in the Free States is 14,893, and the sum-total 
 of volumes is 3,883,617; the number of libraries in the Slave States 
 is 713, and the sum-total of volumes is 654,194 : showing an excess 
 for Freedom of more than fourteen thousand libraries, and more than 
 three millions of volumes. In the Free States the common-school 
 libraries are 11,881, and contain 1,589,683 volumes; in the Slave 
 States they are 186, and contain 57,721 volumes. In the Free States 
 the Sunday-school libraries are 1,713, and contain 474,241 volumes ; in 
 the Slave States they are 275, and contain 68,080 volumes. In the 
 Free States the college libraries are 132, and contain 660,573 volumes ; 
 in the Slave States they are 79, and contain 249,248 volumes. In the 
 Free States the church libraries are 109, and contain 52,723 volumes ; 
 in the Slave States they are 21, and contain 5,627 volumes. In the 
 Free States the libraries strictly called public, and not included under 
 heads already enumerated, are 1,058, and contain 1,106,397 volumes ; 
 those of the Slave States are 152, and contain 273,518 volumes. 
 
 Turn these figures over, look at them in any light, and the conclusion 
 is irresistible for Freedom. The college libraries alone of the Free 
 States are greater than all the libraries of Slavery ; so, also, are the 
 libraries of Massachusetts alone greater than all the libraries of Slavery; 
 and the common-school libraries alone of New York are more than 
 twice as large as all the libraries of Slavery. Michigan has 107,943 
 volumes in her libraries ; Arkansas has 420 ; and yet the Acts for the 
 admission of these two States into the Union were passed on the same 
 day. 
 
 , XXIV. 
 
 Among educational establishments, one of the most efficient is the 
 press ; and here again all things testify for Freedom. The Free States 
 excel in the number of newspapers and periodicals published, whether 
 daily, semi-weekly, weekly, semi-monthly, monthly, or quarterly, and 
 
336 THE PRESS PRINTERS PUBLISHERS. 
 
 whatever their character, whether literary, neutral, political, religious, 
 or scientific. The whole aggregate circulation in the Free States is 
 334,146,281, in the Slave States 81,038,693 ; in Free Michigan 3,247,- 
 736, in Slave Arkansas 377,000 ; in Free Ohio 30,473,407, in Slave 
 Kentucky 6,582,838; in Slave South Carolina 7,145,930, in Free Mas 
 sachusetts 64,820,564, a larger number than in the twelve Slave States, 
 Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Geor 
 gia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, 
 combined. This enormous disproportion in the aggregate is also pre 
 served in the details. In the Slave States political newspapers find 
 more favor than all others together ; but even of these they publish 
 only 47,243,209 copies, while the Free States publish 163,583,668. 
 Numerous as are political newspapers in the Free States, they form 
 considerably less than one-half the aggregate circulation of the Press, 
 while in the Slave States they constitute nearly three-fifths. Of neutral 
 newspapers the Slave States publish 8,812,620, the Free States 79,156,- 
 733. Of religious newspapers the Slave States publish 4,364,832, the 
 Free States 29,280,652. Of literary journals the Slave States publish 
 20,245,360, the Free States 57,478,768. And of scientific journals the 
 Slave States publish 372,672, the Free States 4,521,260. Of these last 
 the number of copi- published in Massachusetts alone is 2,033,260, 
 more than five times the number in the whole land of Slavery. Thus, 
 in contributions to science, literature, religion, and even politics, as 
 attested by the activity of the periodical press, do the Slave States 
 miserably fail, while darkness gathers over them, increasing with time. 
 According to the census of 1810, the disproportion in this respect be 
 tween the two regions was only as two to one ; it is now more than four 
 to one, and is still darkening. 
 
 The same disproportion appears with regard to persons connected 
 with the Press. In the Free States the number of printers was 11,812, 
 of whom 1,229 were m Massachusetts ; in the Slaves States there were 
 2,625, f whom South Carolina had only 141. In the Free States the 
 number of publishers was 331 ; in the Slave States, 24. Of these, 
 Massachusetts had 51, or more than twice as many as all the Slave 
 States ; while South Carolina had but one. In the Free States the 
 authors were 73 ; in the Slave States, 6, Massachusetts having 17, and 
 South Carolina none. These suggestive illustrations are all derived 
 from the last official census. If we go to other sources, the contrast is 
 still the same. Of the authors mentioned in Duyckinck s " Cyclo 
 pedia of American Literature," 434 are of the Free States, and only 90 
 
AUTHORS PATENTS EMIGRATION. 337 
 
 ot the Slave States. Of the poets mentioned in Griswold s " Poets and 
 Poetry of America," 122 are of the Free States, and only 16 of the 
 Slave States. Of the poets whose place of birth appears in Read s 
 " Female Poets of America," 71 are of the Free States, and only n of 
 the Slave States. If we try authors by weight or quality, it is the 
 same as when we try them by numbers. Out of the Free States come all 
 whose works have a place in the permanent literature of the country, 
 Irving, Prescott, Sparks, Bancroft, Emerson, Motley, Hildreth, Haw 
 thorne ; also. Bryant, Longfellow, Dana, Halleck, Whittier, Lowell, 
 and I might add indefinitely to the list. But what name from the Slave 
 States can find entrance there ? 
 
 A similar disproportion appears in the number of Patents, during the 
 last three years, 1857, 1858, and 1859, attesting the inventive industry 
 of the contrasted regions. In the Free States there were 9,557; in the 
 Slave States, 1,306 : making a difference of 8,251 in favor of Freedom. 
 The number in Free Massachusetts was 1,351 ; in Slave South Carolina, 
 39. The number in Free Connecticut, small in territory and population, 
 was 628 ; in Slave Virginia, large in territory and population, 184. 
 
 From these things we might infer the ignorance prevalent in the 
 Slave States ; but this shows itself in specific results of a deplorable 
 character, authenticated by the official census. In the Slave States 
 there were 493,026 native white adults, persons over twenty years of 
 age, unable to read and write ; while in the Free States, with double 
 the native white population, there were but 248,725 persons of this 
 class in this unhappy predicament : in the Slave States the proportion be 
 ing i in 5 of the adult native whites ; in the Free States i in 22. The 
 number in Free Massachusetts, in an adult native white population of 
 47?375> was 1,055, or I m 446 ; the number in Slave South Carolina, 
 in a like population of only 120,136, was 15,580, or i in 8. The num 
 ber in Free Connecticut was i in 256, in Slave Virginia i in 5 ; in Free 
 New Hampshire i in 192, and in Slave North Carolina i in 3. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Before leaving this picture, where the dismal colors all come from 
 official sources, there are two other aspects in which Slavery may be 
 regarded. 
 
 i. The first is its influence on emigration. The official compendium 
 of the census (page 115) tells us that inhabitants of Slave States 
 who are natives of Free States are more numerous than inhabi- 
 
 22 
 
338 LIFE-GIVING POWER OF FREEDOM. 
 
 tants of Free States who are natives of Slave States. This is 
 an egregious error. Just the contrary is true. The census of 1850 
 found 606,139 in the Free States who were born in the Slave States, 
 while only 206,624 born in the Free States were in the Slave States. 
 And since the white population of the Free States is double that of 
 the Slave States, it appears that the proportion of whites moving from 
 Slavery is six times greater than that of whites moving into Sl-avery. 
 This simple fact discloses something of the aversion to Slavery which 
 is aroused even in the Slave States. 
 
 2. The second is furnished by the character of the region on the 
 border-line between Freedom and Slavery. In general, the value of 
 land in Slave States adjoining Freedom is advanced, while the value of 
 corresponding lands in Free States is diminished. The effects of Free 
 dom and Slavery are reciprocal. Slavery is a bad neighbor ; Freedom 
 is a good neighbor. In Virginia, lands naturally poor are, by nearness 
 to Freedom, worth $12.98 an acre, while richer lands in other parts of 
 the State are worth only $8.42. In Illinois, lands bordering on Slavery 
 are worth only $4.54 an acre, while other lands in Illinois are 
 worth $8.05. As in the value of lands, so in all other influences is 
 Slavery felt for evil, and Freedom felt for good ; and thus is it clearly 
 shown to be for the interest of the Slave States to be surrounded by a 
 circle of Free States. 
 
 At every point is the character of Slavery more and more manifest, 
 rising and dilating into an overshadowing Barbarism, darkening the 
 whole land. Through its influence, population, values of all kinds, 
 manufactures, commerce, railroads, canals, chanties, the post-office, 
 colleges, professional schools, academies, public schools, newspapers, 
 periodicals, books, authorship, inventions, are all stunted, and, under 
 .a Government which professes to be founded on the intelligence of the 
 people, one in five of native white adults in the region of Slavery is 
 officially reported as unable to read and write. Never was the saying 
 of Montesquieu more triumphantly verified, that countries are not cul 
 tivated by reason of their fertility, but by reason of their liberty. To 
 this truth the Slave States testify perpetually by every possible voice. 
 Liberty is the powerful agent which drives the plough, the spindle, and 
 the keel, opens avenues of all kinds, inspires charity, awakens love 
 of knowledge, and supplies the means of gratifying it. Liberty is the 
 first of schoolmasters : nay, more ; it is the Baconian philosophy of 
 Civilization, through which the powers and activities of man are en 
 larged beyond measure or imagination. 
 
THE BARBARY OF THE UNION. 339 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Unerring and passionless figures thus far are our witnesses. But 
 their testimony will be enhanced by a final glance at the geographical 
 character of the Slave States ; and here there is a singular and instruc 
 tive parallel. 
 
 Jefferson described Virginia as "fast sinking" to be "the Barbary of 
 the Union," meaning, of course, the Barbary of his day, which had not 
 yet turned against Slavery. And Franklin also wrote, that he did "not 
 wish to see a new Barbary rising in America, and our long extended 
 coast occupied by piratical States." In this each spoke with prophetic 
 voice. Though on different sides of the Atlantic and on different con 
 tinents, our Slave States and the original Barbary States occupy nearly 
 the same parallels of latitude, occupy nearly the same extent of longi 
 tude, embrace nearly the same number of square miles, enjoy kindred 
 advantages of climate, being equally removed from the cold of the 
 North and the burning heat of the tropics, and also have similar bound 
 aries of land and water, affording kindred advantages of ocean and sea, 
 with this difference, that the boundaries of the two regions are precisely 
 reversed, so that where is land in one is water in the other, while in 
 both there is the same extent of ocean and the same extent of sea. 
 Nor is this all. Algiers, for a long time the most obnoxious place in 
 the Barbary States of Africa, once branded by an indignant chronicler 
 as " the wall of the Barbarian world," is situated near the parallel of 
 36 30 north latitude, being the line of the Missouri Compromise, 
 which once marked the wall of Slavery in our country west of the Mis 
 sissippi, while Morocco, the chief present seat of Slavery in the African 
 Barbary, is near the parallel of Charleston. There are no two spaces 
 on the surface of the globe, equal in extent (and careful examination 
 will verify what I am about to state), which present so many distinctive 
 features of resemblance, whether we consider the common regions of 
 latitude in which they lie, the common nature of their boundaries, their 
 common productions, their common climate, or the common Barbarism 
 which sought shelter in both. I do not stop to inquire why Slavery- 
 banished at last from Europe, banished also from that part of this hemi 
 sphere which corresponds in latitude to Europe should have intrenched 
 itself, in both hemispheres, in similar regions of latitude, so that Virginia, 
 Carolina, Mississippi, and Missouri are the American complement to 
 Morocco, Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis. But there is one important point 
 
340 MR. CHESTNUT, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 in the parallel which remains to be fulfilled. The barbarous Emperor 
 of Morocco, in the words of a treaty, so long ago as the last century, 
 declared his desire that " the odious name of Slavery might be effaced 
 from the memory of men ; " while Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis, whose tena 
 city for the Barbarism was equalled only by that of South Carolina, have 
 renounced it one after another, and delivered it over to the indignation 
 of mankind. Following this example, the parallel will be complete, 
 and our Barbary will become the complement in Freedom to the Afri 
 can Barbary, as it has already been its complement in Slavery, and is 
 unquestionably its complement in geographical character. 
 
 Thus, sir, speaking for Freedom in Kansas, I have spoken for Free 
 dom everywhere, and for Civilization ; and as the less is contained in 
 the greater, so are all arts, all sciences, all economies, all refinements, 
 all charities, all delights of life, embodied in this cause. You may 
 reject it, but it will be only for to-day. The sacred animosity of Free 
 dom and Slavery can end only with the triumph of Freedom. The 
 same question will be carried soon before that high tribunal, supreme 
 over Senate and Court, where the judges are counted by millions, and 
 the judgment rendered will be the solemn charge of an awakened 
 people, instructing a new President, in the name of Freedom, to see 
 that Civilization receives no detriment. * * * 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 I omit altogether that part of the speech which treats 
 of the character of Slave-masters, and the black array of 
 violence and crime as evidence of low civilization through 
 out the South ; and the treatment of Northern citizens, 
 when in the power of Southern men, wherever they ex 
 pressed any views not agreeing with the Institution. 
 
 When Mr. SUMNER resumed his seat, Mr. Chestnut, 
 of South Carolina, uttered these words : 
 
 " Mr. President, after the extraordinary, though characteristic, speech 
 just uttered in the Senate, it is proper that I assign the reason for the 
 position we are now inclined to assume. After ranging over Europe, 
 crawling through the back doors to whine at the feet of British aris 
 tocracy, craving pity, and reaping a rich harvest of contempt, the 
 slanderer of States and men reappears in the Senate. We had hoped to 
 
HIS UNCONTROLLABLE RAGE. 341 
 
 be relieved from the outpourings of such vulgar malice. We had hoped 
 that one who had felt, though ignominiously he failed to meet, the con 
 sequences of a former insolence would have become wiser, if not better, 
 by experience. In this I am disappointed, and I regret it. Mr. Pre 
 sident, in the heroic ages of the world men were deified for the pos 
 session and the exercise of some virtues, wisdom, truth, justice, 
 magnanimity, courage. In Egypt, also, we know they deified beasts and 
 reptiles ; but even that bestial people worshipped their idols on account 
 of some supposed virtue. It has been left for this day, for this country, 
 for the Abolitionists of Massachusetts, to deify the incarnation of malice, 
 mendacity, and cowardice. Sir, we do not intend to be guilty of aid 
 ing in the apotheosis of pusillanimity and meanness. We do not intend 
 to contribute, by any conduct on our part, to increase the devotees at 
 the shrine of this new idol. We know what is expected and what is 
 desired. We are not inclined again to send forth the recipient of 
 PUNISHMENT howling through the world, yelping fresh cries of 
 slander and malice. These are the reasons, which I feel it due to myself 
 and others to give to the Senate and the country, why we have quietly 
 listened to what has been said, and why we can take no other notice of 
 the matter." 
 
 He spoke with uncontrollable rage, and was listened 
 to with eagerness and approval by the Slave-masters of 
 the Senate, both from the North and the South. There 
 was no call to order by the Chair, which was at the time 
 occupied by Mr. BIGLER, of Pennsylvania. The storm 
 seemed ready to burst once more in violence. But this 
 time brutality and murder were to seek more cowardly 
 and skulking assassins. We have seen how they were 
 foiled by the vigilance of Mr. SUMNER S friends. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Shortly after the delivery of his last speech, Mr. 
 SUMNER presented a petition of citizens of Massachusetts 
 of African descent, praying the Senate to suspend the 
 labors of the Select Committee which had been ap 
 pointed to investigate the late invasion and seizure of 
 property at Harper s Ferry, and that all persons now in 
 custody under the proceedings of such committee, be dis- 
 
342 MADNESS PRECEDES DESTRUCTION. 
 
 charged. This was referred to the Select Committee, 
 June 5th. On the i5th of the month, Mr. MASON re 
 ported from that Committee, a resolution, " that the 
 paper purporting to be a petition from citizens of the 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts of African descent, 
 presented to the Senate by CHARLES SUMNER, a Senator 
 of Massachusetts, be returned by the Secretary to the 
 Senator who presented it." Supposing that this resolu 
 tion would be called up, Mr. SUMNER prepared some 
 notes of a speech he intended to deliver on the subject, 
 in which the following paragraph occurred : 
 
 "There is a saying of antiquity, which has the confirming voice of all 
 intervening time, that Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make 
 mad. And now, sir, while humbled for my country that such a proposi 
 tion should be introduced into the Senate, I accept it as an omen of 
 that madness which precedes the fall of its authors." 
 
 But the resolution never was called up, and no other 
 resolution of such tyrannical hardihood and shameless 
 insult, was ever renewed in that Senate house, for the 
 great struggle was at hand, in which ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 was to be triumphantly elected President of the United 
 States. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 On his way from Washington, after the adjournment 
 of Congress, at the invitation of the Young Men s Re 
 publican Union, New York City, the Senator delivered 
 a powerful campaign speech on " THE REPUBLICAN 
 PARTY: ITS ORIGIN, NECESSITY AND PERMANENCE," to a 
 mass meeting at Cooper Institute, July n, 1860. 
 
 It was evident that the movement had now become 
 formidable enough to command respect from all parties. 
 
CAMPAIGN SPEECH AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 343 
 
 Of the thousands who packed that hall an auditory 
 which seemed more like a gathering for a grand concert, 
 or festival, than a political mass meeting few have for 
 gotten the imposing character of the assemblage, or the 
 strange mingling of earnest determination and unre 
 strained enthusiasm, manifested on the occasion. The 
 scene is thus described by the Evening Post : 
 
 Mr. SUMNER was as happy in manner, as he was forcible in the matter 
 of his speech. His commanding person, his distinct utterance, and his 
 graceful elocution, combined with the eloquence of his words in keep 
 ing the immense auditory to their seats for two hours, without a move 
 ment, and almost without a breath, save when the applause broke forth. 
 It is the first time Mr. Sumner has spoken in public since he was laid 
 low in the Senate House, and New York by this grand demonstration 
 has shown its eagerness to welcome him to the field of so many former 
 triumphs. 
 
 Mr. SEWARD wrote to the speaker : " Your speech, in 
 every part, is noble and great. Even you never spoke 
 so well." 
 
 We have no room for this Oration for it is worthy of 
 the name : it is enough, however*, to say that, without 
 any sacrifice of the lofty tone and scholarly finish of his 
 Senatorial speeches, it most strikingly popularized the 
 chief arguments that had made the burden of his former 
 efforts that it was printed entire in the Tribune, Times, 
 Herald and World, and that enormous editions were cir 
 culated by the Young Men s Republican Union, while 
 the Republican press everywhere reproduced it, till it 
 fell like leaves in Vallambrosa/ upon every farm, roof- 
 tree, counting-house, and workshop, in the great Free 
 North. 
 
 A Republican wigwam was to be dedicated in New 
 York on the 6th of the following August, at which an 
 
344 LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION RATIFIED. 
 
 effort was made to get Mr. SUMXER to speak ; but they 
 had to be content with a hearty reply, in which he 
 said : 
 
 As citizens of a great Metropolis, you have duties of peculiar dif 
 ficulty. It is in these centres that the Pro-Slavery sentiment of the 
 North shows itself with a violence often kindred to that of the planta 
 tion, so as to almost justify the language of Jefferson, who called great 
 cities " sores" on the body politic. Even this expression does not seem 
 too strong, when we recognize the infection of Slavery, breaking out 
 sometimes in violence and mobs, and as constantly manifest in the press, 
 public speeches, and in a corrupt public sentiment. It belongs to the 
 Republican party, by gentle and healing influences, guided by a firm 
 hand, to inaugurate the work of cure, that health may be substituted 
 for disease. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 On the 29th of the same month, the Republicans of 
 Massachusetts assembled in Mass Convention at Wor 
 cester, to ratify the nomination of Mr. LINCOLN for 
 President, and JOHN A. ANDREW, for the first time, as 
 Governor of Massachusetts. Mr. SUMNER delivered the 
 principal speech, on *> The Presidential Candidates, and 
 the Issues of the Canvass." He went into a clear and 
 analytical exposition of the entire merits of the ques 
 tion, the comparative claims for support of LINCOLN and 
 HAMLIN, representing the now formidable Republican 
 party ; of BRECKENRIDGE and LANE, the candidates of 
 the now clearly announced champions of the Democra 
 tic Pro-Slavery Party ; of DOUGLAS and JOHNSON, the 
 candidates of the seceding body of Democrats, known as 
 the DOUGLAS, or Squatter Sovereignty Party ; and of 
 BELL and EVERETT, candidates of the few old remaining 
 Whigs, who, like venerable barnacles, were still clinging 
 to a sinking ship. Nothing but imperative necessity ex- 
 
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 345 
 
 eludes that speech from this volume. This memorable 
 campaign, brought out from these four quarters more 
 ability in debate, and excited a deeper interest among 
 all classes, North and South, than any other within re 
 cent times ; nor has any campaign perhaps ever mar 
 shalled, in public meetings and at the ballot-box, such 
 excited and contending hosts. 
 
 SECTION EIGHTH. 
 
 The War of the Rebellion. 
 I. 
 
 THE first shot into Fort Sumter was the signal-gun 
 of the greatest and the strangest war ever waged on 
 earth. 
 
 That shot was thrown to the feet of Liberty in defiance. 
 It was intended to inaugurate a life-or-death struggle 
 between Slavery and Freedom. It did its work ; and 
 the cannon which threw it will live longer in history 
 than the torch of the wretch who burned the Ephesian 
 Temple. 
 
 Again, and on a higher stage, the struggle was to come, 
 to test the vital forces of Civilization and Barbarism, of 
 Progress and Retrogression, of Order and Anarchy, 
 of Life or Death, for men and communities, for society 
 and governments. Above all was it a final grapple 
 between the Past whose dead had buried its own dead, 
 and the Future which was to give life to all. 
 
 Something like this had been witnessed during the 
 
346 DEAD NATIONS NEVER RETURN. 
 
 many thousand years of deadly strife the human race 
 had been going through, in approaching Liberty as 
 the road to God, the shrine where all nations are yet 
 to worship. 
 
 The records of human defeats, sufferings, and triumphs, 
 show little more than the heroism of the true and the 
 good, in resisting the false and the bad. 
 
 
 
 II. 
 
 It seems to be the will of Heaven that nations must 
 work out their own salvation as nations. The final 
 Court of Appeals, to which even the uneducated con 
 science points its indexing finger, will judge the indi 
 vidual, not the community. 
 
 When nations pass away, they never return. We 
 survey their wrecks stranded on the shore of time, 
 merely to read some commentaries on their history, 
 their rise and development, their decline and fall. But 
 civilization, which means progression towards the just, 
 the great, the safe and sublime, was the law God insti 
 tuted for Society. 
 
 Great thoughts never die. They go among the eter 
 nal archives of human hope and security, to which the 
 treasures of successive a^es are committed. 
 
 o 
 
 In the literature and arts of the ancients, we have 
 most of the finest thoughts of the finest minds, the 
 chief records of the noblest deeds of the noblest men. 
 And thus the torch of light is safely transmitted from 
 age to age. 
 
 All its effulgence was shed over us from the hour 
 our country was born. We had inherited all the earth 
 could give us, with the fairest and broadest field for its 
 
VISION OF LIBERTY IN THE NEW WORLD. 347 
 
 use and development. The Creator had looked on us 
 benignantly, as our fathers sailed for a new home be 
 yond the sea to find a resting-place for earth s children. 
 Thus high did Heaven seem to fix its purpose on 
 North America, thus sublimely did our founders com 
 prehend the fact. 
 
 III. 
 
 Our history had been more wonderful than the dreams 
 of Oriental fancy. All the images of wealth, prosperity, 
 and power that had ever thrilled the brain-pulses of the 
 most ideal disciple of Plato, vanished into thin air before 
 the form of Young American Liberty, rising from this 
 fresh continent, proclaiming to the race freedom, order, 
 and happiness for all. No such treasure had before 
 been committed to men. When He spread this festival, 
 He asked all nations to come. Hardly a day went by, 
 but some winged messenger came from the Old World, 
 freighted with hearts that were weary, seeking a new 
 roof-tree, with muscles that were over-strained by 
 the unpaid toil of Europe ; but all ready to carry out 
 the dreams of personal, manly, ennobling social life. 
 
 The best minds and the warmest hearts on the other 
 side of the water understood America. They knew our 
 history, and they burned with enthusiasm to mix their 
 fortunes up with our earlier settlers. 
 
 They did ; and even this tide of national disaster 
 hardly arrested their coming. They were arriving still ; 
 and they found fertile soil and free institutions for their 
 free possession, till at last all Europe and Asia will 
 together rejoice in the triumph of the thoughts and de 
 sires of the brave and humane men who constructed our 
 system of civic life. 
 
348 OUR PROGRESS TILL i860. 
 
 IV. 
 
 And thus we went on till 1860, pressing- our free 
 course to wealth without limit, to prosperity beyond our 
 own comprehension, and to happiness so complete that 
 we forgot the source of it all, when we made the dread 
 ful discovery for the first time, that our career was 
 arrested for a while, if not forever. We were not going 
 too fast ; we were only on the wrong road. We were 
 rushing madly from the sphere where our Maker had 
 placed us, and He laid His great hand on His own 
 work, when suddenly thirty millions of people, under one 
 government, stood paralyzed on the brink of ruin. 
 
 We had allowed Slavery to become the law of the 
 land. We had dethroned the Liberty we had boasted 
 of, and enthroned the Dagon of Human Servitude in its 
 place. We had prostituted to the basest purpose the 
 great gift bestowed on us so lavishly ; and in the merci 
 less greed for gain, when we already had a thousand 
 times more than we could use, we ran riot into every 
 form of luxury and licentiousness which could tempt the 
 appetite, exalt the pride, or inflame the ambition of our 
 people. 
 
 Religion, with all its sublime traditions, and all its 
 holy allurements to the better life we could lead, had 
 lost much of its magic power over the great masses 
 over the young and the old, except the few who were 
 mercifully removed from the great whirlpool of the 
 heated life we were livingf ; for the rest all clutched like 
 
 O 
 
 birds of prey for the nearest carrion; and we "jumped 
 the life to come. " 
 
ARRESTED AT OUR BELSHAZZAR FEAST. 349 
 
 V. 
 
 In the midst of our National Belshazzar-Feast, of 
 pride, voluptuousness, and enchantment, the shot at 
 Fort Sumter fell like a bolt of lightning*. It struck the 
 hearts of the revellers, and we began to take our eyes 
 from the dust and turn them up to heaven. 
 
 By one wave of that wand which never waves twice 
 to do its work, the handwriting was written on all the 
 walls, and the Palace of our greatness was sinking to 
 ashes. The Republic was at stake. We had played, 
 and we had lost ! 
 
 We had attempted an impossibility. We had tried 
 to make Liberty and Slavery live together on the same 
 soil. 
 
 While the free North was prospering, we had allowed 
 the enslaved to be immolated. While we could flourish 
 under the fragrant branches of Liberty s tree, we were 
 manuring the roots of the Upas, whose branches were 
 spreading over our Northern communities, our homes, 
 our hearts. Its subtle and deadly poison had already 
 struck through the veins and arteries, and approached 
 the springs of life. 
 
 For a moment we were like a traveler arrested in the 
 speed of his journey, with a fevered pulse and difficult 
 breathing. The discovery did not come all at once ; nor 
 did the nation feel it deeply enough for a long time, to 
 be ready to recover. To Europe it looked like the be 
 ginning of our national end an irrevocable leap to 
 ruin. 
 
 Was it death ? or was it fever with delirium ? 
 
 It was both ! 
 
 The only question, after two years of struggle, which 
 
350 SUMNER S MIGHTY INFLUENCE. 
 
 blotted out all the puny strifes of other empires, was 
 whether there was a resurrection and a redeemed life 
 for the great Republic of the world. 
 
 VI. 
 
 If Mr. SUMNER had more to do than any other man 
 in influencing public opinion on the subject of Slavery ; 
 and, as was alleged by his enemies at the time, more 
 to do with bringing on the Rebellion a false and 
 scandalous charge it is certain that he was no less 
 active in shaping the policy of the Senate after the war 
 had got fairly under way. It might be a more accurate 
 statement to say that he had more to do in shaping the 
 opinion of the nation, than that of the Senate, or ad 
 ministration ; for, not being a politician, in the common 
 acceptation of that term, he never sought to stand well 
 with the politicians of his time, nor with men in power. 
 He was the great Outsider the great Commoner, the 
 Prophet, the Apostle, the Teacher, the Guide, of 
 the American People. Sooner or later, his views on 
 all the great measures that occupied the public mind, 
 became public opinion. Wild, ultra, extravagant as he 
 was often called, the sober judgment of the country to 
 which he always appealed, was sure in the end to come 
 to his position. 
 
 VII. 
 
 On the first of October, 1861, he addressed the 
 Republican State Convention, which again met at Wor 
 cester, on the topic of the hour, in a most effective 
 speech, which, under various titles, was widely circulated. 
 In one pamphlet it was called " Emancipation the Cure 
 
ANOTHER SPEECH AT WORCESTER. 35 1 
 
 of the Rebellion ; " another, " Union and Peace : how 
 they shall be restored ; " and again, " Emancipation our 
 best Weapon." In opening the business of the Con 
 vention, its chairman, Mr. Dawes, said : " Since last 
 assembled here for a kindred purpose, the mighty 
 march of events has borne the popular effort on to a 
 higher plane, than ever before opened to the gaze of 
 man. Massachusetts cannot if she would, and thank 
 God, she would not if she could, perform an indifferent 
 part in this life-struggle of the Republic." 
 
 As Mr. SUMNER rose to speak, the warmth of his 
 reception indicated feelings of gratitude for his public 
 services, that must have been grateful to him after all 
 that had occurred. But he well knew that the Repub 
 lican party even in Massachusetts, was by no .means 
 unanimous in regard to the policy which the administra 
 tion should pursue on the subject of slavery. It is well 
 remembered by those who were sufficiently informed at 
 the time, that .the Anti-Slavery tendencies of Mr. 
 LINCOLN and his Cabinet were far from being of a 
 radical type. The President had from the beginning, 
 emphatically announced that he entertained no hostility 
 against Slavery, nor did he propose to interfere with it 
 where it existed by due process of law. It is safe to 
 say that no member of his Cabinet differed with him 
 materially in these respects : nor did any considerable 
 portion of those who participated in the early events of 
 the war, mix up the merits or demerits of Slavery with 
 the subject. But believing, as Mr. SUMNER did, that 
 Slavery was short-lived, and that in the collision which 
 the South itself had brought on, Emancipation must be 
 the final result, he spoke and acted on this conviction. 
 He was as well persuaded what the result of the appeal 
 
352 HE INVOKES EMANCIPATION. 
 
 to battle would be, when it was first made, as he ever 
 became afterwards. Abhorring bloodshed, and willing 
 to avoid it up to the last possible moment, he saw no 
 alternative but victory, after the dernier ressort of Slavery 
 had been invoked. As a war-measure, he was, from 
 the start, in favor of a Proclamation of Emancipation ; 
 the earliest, probably, to entertain this opinion ; certainly 
 the first to openly express it. The result vindicated 
 his prescience. He had foreseen, also, that the danger 
 of a recognition of the Southern Confederacy by the 
 great Powers of Europe, could be averted in no other 
 way ; for no European Cabinet would hazard inter 
 vention or recognition of the South, if they clearly saw 
 that the struggle had become a simple issue between 
 Freedom and Slavery. He was therefore urgent in 
 pressing these views, at all times, and in all quarters. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 And now after glancing briefly at his public course in 
 reference to the atrocities of the Fugitive Slave Law 
 at his argument proving Freedom to be national, and 
 Slavery sectional his efforts to prevent the extension 
 of slavery over new Territories the vindication of 
 Freedom in Kansas the tyrannical usurpations of the 
 Slave Oligarchy ; and more particularly the way in 
 which he had dragged the barbarism of slavery into the 
 light of public gaze, he said to the Worcester Conven 
 tion : " These are topics no longer of practical interest ; 
 they are not of to-day. Let us," he said, " rejoice that 
 so much has been gained, and from the extent of the 
 present triumph, take hope and courage for the future. 
 Providence will be with the good cause in times to come, 
 
HE EXULTS IN VIEW OF THE PAST. 353 
 
 as in times past. Others may despair ; I do not. Others 
 may see gloom ; I cannot. Others may hesitate ; I will 
 not. Already is the nation saved." 
 
 He could not withhold the expression of his thanks 
 to Almighty God that Emancipation had already begun 
 to count its victories. " The Slave Oligarchy," he con 
 tinued, in one of his cumulative bursts of volcanic 
 argument, " which, according to the vaunt of a slave- 
 holding Senator, has ruled the Republic for more than 
 fifty years ;- which has stamped its degrading character 
 upon the national forehead which has entered into, 
 and possessed, not only the politics, but the literature, 
 and even the religion of the land which has embroiled 
 us at home, and given us a bad name abroad 
 which has wielded at will, President, Cabinet, and even 
 judicial tribunals which has superseded public opinion 
 by substituting its own immoral behests which has ap 
 propriated to itself the offices and honors of the Re 
 public which has established Slavery as the single test 
 and shibboleth of favor, -which, after opening all our 
 Territories to this wrong, was already promising to re 
 new the Slave-trade and its unutterable woes, nay, 
 more, which in the instinct of that "tyranny through 
 which it ruled, was beating down all safe-guards of 
 human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, 
 security of person, and delivering the whole country to 
 a sway whose vulgarity was second only to its madness 
 this domineering Slave Oligarchy is dislodged from 
 the National Government, never more to return. Thus 
 far at least has Emancipation prevailed. The greatest 
 slave of all is free. Pillars greater than those of Her 
 cules might fitly mark this progress." 
 2 3 
 
354 EMANCIPATION WOULD END THE WAR. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Impatient at the feebleness of the short-sighted policy 
 with which we were carrying on the war during the 
 first year acting simply on the defensive " Defence, 
 did I say ? With mortification I utter the word. Rebel 
 conspirators have set upon us, and now besiege the 
 National Government. They besiege it at Washington, 
 where are the President and his Cabinet, with the 
 National archives. They besiege it at Fortress Monroe, 
 on the Atlantic; at St. Louis on the Mississippi; and 
 now they besiege it in Kentucky. Everywhere we are 
 on the defensive. Strongholds are wrested from us ; 
 soldiers gathered under the folds of the national flaof 
 
 O> O 
 
 are compelled to surrender ; citizens, whose only offence 
 is loyalty, are driven from their homes ; bridges are 
 burned ; railways are disabled ; steamers and ships are 
 seized ; the largest navy yard of the country is appro 
 priated ; commerce is hunted on the sea ; and property, 
 wherever it can be reached, ruthlessly robbed or de 
 stroyed ! Do you ask in whose name all this is done ? 
 The answer is easy. Not in the name of God and 
 the Continental Congress, as Ethan Allen summoned 
 Ticonderoga, but in the name of Slavery. It is often 
 said that war will make an end of Slavery. This is 
 probable. But it is surer still that the overthrow of 
 .Slavery will make an end of the war. Therefore do I 
 believe, beyond all question, that reason, justice, and 
 policy, each and all unite in declaring that the war must 
 be brought to bear directly on the grand conspirator 
 and omnipresent enemy. Not to do so, is to take upon 
 ourselves all the weakness of Slavery, while we leave 
 
THE AUTHOR S INTERCOURSE WITH MR. SUMNER. 355 
 
 to the rebels its boasted resources of military strength. 
 It is not necessary even to carry the war into Africa. 
 It will be enough if we carry Africa into the war. 
 The moment this is done, Rebellion will begin its bad 
 luck, and the Union become secure forever." 
 
 Mr. SUMNER had been addressing as intelligent an 
 auditory one as well instructed in public affairs, as 
 almost any that could be assembled ; and he carried the 
 Convention with him. He was far in advance of the 
 public opinion of the time ; and it was only because 
 public opinion was behind events, that years more 
 of humiliating disaster were to attend our armies, and 
 prolong the life of the Rebellion. 
 
 X. 
 
 Being at the time, and continuing until the close of 
 the war, a close observer, in Washington, of men and 
 events, and with every facility that I desired for infor 
 mation on any and all subjects connected with the 
 stupendous crisis the nation was passing through, I 
 shall hereafter, in this recital, draw with considerable 
 freedom upon my own personal sources of knowledge. 
 
 There was scarcely a public man on either side, in 
 this great struggle, that I had not, during former years, 
 been acquainted with. It was especially during the first 
 two years of the war, that I had constant and confiden 
 tial intercourse with Mr. SUMNER himself; and as this 
 record is confined mainly to the part he acted in the 
 great drama, I shall make some statements of my own 
 knowledge concerning facts which could not at the time 
 be communicated to the public. During the whole 
 period of the war, I kept a daily record of facts concern- 
 
356 SUMNER URGES LINCOLN IN VAIN. 
 
 ing men and events ; and from that record I shall transfer 
 much relating to the views and course of Mr. SUMNER, 
 as well as those of President LINCOLN, the progress of 
 whose opinions I traced with indescribable interest up 
 to the moment the Proclamation of Emancipation was 
 issued, when his policy was fully settled. From the 
 stand he then took, he never afterwards deviated the 
 breadth of a hair ; although he was frequently obliged 
 either to act against the well-known views of several 
 members of his Cabinet, or, as sometimes occurred, 
 Avithout their knowledge, and solely on his own respon 
 sibility, since he knew that the country would hold him 
 answerable for the policy of the administration. Nor 
 was he the man ever to shirk a public or a private duty. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Everybody will remember the dismay with which the 
 news of the first battle of Bull Run spread through the 
 country. Two or three days after this event, Mr. SUM 
 NER called upon the President, with a view of urging 
 for the first time, the policy of Emancipation. I saw 
 the Senator shortly after, and he gave me an account of 
 that interview which lasted till midnight. He said the 
 President did not agree with him ; that he still adhered 
 to the policy of forbearance, believing that the country 
 was not prepared to go so far as Mr. Sumner would 
 advise. Least of all did the President favor either of 
 the two bills he had introduced before the battle of 
 Bull Run, one of which that of July i6th was " For 
 the confiscation of property of persons in rebellion 
 against the Constitution and laws of the United States ; " 
 and the other, two days later, " For the punishment of 
 
PRO-SLAVERY POLICY OF THE CABINET. 357 
 
 conspiracy, and kindred offenses against the United 
 States, and for the confiscation of the property of the 
 offenders." No mention had been made of Slavery in 
 these bills, but they indicated a policy altogether too 
 vigorous to command at that time the approval of Mr. 
 LINCOLN. 
 
 The difference and a very great one it was between 
 the two men s views, was, that Mr. SUMNER believed the 
 hour had come for resorting to the full exercise of the 
 War Pozver, desiring to have the President boldly lead 
 the way in the enunciation. But Mr. LINCOLN could 
 not see it in that light ; and on the I7th of July, the day 
 that intervened between Mr. SUMNER S two bills, the 
 following General Order from Headquarters, was issued 
 by Mr. CAMERON, Secretary of War : 
 
 Fugitive slaves will under no pretext whatever be permitted to reside, 
 or in any way be harbored in the quarters and camps of the troops 
 serving in this Department ; neither will such slaves be allowed to 
 accompany troops on the march. Commanders of troops will be held 
 responsible for a strict observance of the Order." 
 
 In fact, during the first year of the war, Mr. LINCOLN S 
 administration acted in superfluous good faith with the 
 Rebels. Only a week after the Secretary s Order, the 
 Attorney-General instructed the Marshals of Missouri 
 to execute the Fugitive Slave Act throughout their dis 
 tricts. But some interruptions were to take place in 
 carrying it out in Virginia ; for on the 3oth of July, Gen. 
 BUTLER, in a letter to the Secretary of War, expressed 
 the opinion that " since an able-bodied Negro, fit to 
 work in the trenches, is property liable to be used in aid 
 of the Rebellion, he consequently becomes a contraband 
 of War / " and without any hesitation he defined his 
 policy, as a General in the service, by saying : 
 
358 GEN. BUTLER S CONTRABANDS. 
 
 In a state of Rebellion, I would confiscate that which was used to 
 oppose my aims, and take all that property which constituted the 
 wealth of that State, and furnished the means by which the war is pros 
 ecuted, besides being the cause of the war. And if, in so doing, it 
 should be objected that human beings were brought to the free enjoy 
 ment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, such objections 
 might not require much consideration. 
 
 XII. 
 
 But Mr. CAMERON thought differently ; and on the 8th 
 of August, in orders to Gen. BUTLER, he said : " It is 
 the desire of the President that all existing rights, in all 
 
 o o 
 
 the States, be fully respected and maintained. Nor 
 will you, except in cases where the public good may 
 seem to require it, prevent the voluntary return of any 
 fugitive, to the service from which he may have escaped." 
 The General remarked after reading this despatch, " This 
 is too ridiculous to be laughed at." 
 
 To sweep away the last doubt on the subject, a week 
 later, Mr. SMITH, Secretary of the Interior, at a dinner 
 in Providence, R. I., said : 
 
 The minds of the people of the South have been deceived by the 
 artful representations of Democrats, who have assured them that the 
 people of the North were determined to bring the power of this govern 
 ment to bear upon them for the purpose of crushing out this institution 
 of Slavery ; but the government of the United States has no more right 
 to interfere with the institution of Slavery in South Carolina, than it 
 has to intefere with the peculiar institution of Rhode Island whose 
 benefits I have enjoyed : 
 
 Referring, we suppose, to a good dinner ; nor, from 
 the well-known habits of Mr. SMITH, can we attribute 
 the utterance of such a sentiment to the befuddling in 
 fluence of the proverbially fine wine the gentlemen of 
 Rhode Island drink. 
 
REASONS WHY LINCOLN HUNG BACK. 359 
 
 XIII. 
 
 But another, and still more decisive endorsement of 
 the administration policy, was seen in the treatment of 
 General Fremont, who, on the 3Oth of August, had 
 issued the following tellinqr Proclamation from the West 
 
 o o 
 
 ern Department : 
 
 The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Mis 
 souri wlw shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall 
 be proven to have taken an active part with their enemies in the field, 
 is declared to be confiscated to the public use, AND THEIR SLAVES, IF ANY 
 
 THEY HAVE, ARE HEREBY DECLARED FREEMEN. 
 
 A shout of gladness went through the country when 
 FREMONT S act became known. But Mr. LINCOLN still 
 hung back, doubtless for reasons which, to his usually 
 sound judgment, were overrulino-. He said at the 
 
 Jo o 
 
 time to many of us who held Mr. SUMMER S views, that 
 "It would do no good to go ahead any faster than the 
 country would follow." About this time he said to me, 
 "You know the old Latin motto, festiiia lente. How 
 do the Italians those bastard Romans say the same 
 thinor now ? " 
 
 o 
 
 " They have improved on it, Mr. President; they say, 
 andate adaggio, perchcJio primooa Go slow, because 
 I am in a hurry. 
 
 " That s it, exactly. I think SUMNER, and the rest of 
 you, would upset our apple-cart altogether, if you had 
 your way. We ll fetch em ; just give us a little time. 
 We didn t go into the war to put down Slavery, but to 
 put the flag back ; and to act differently at this moment, 
 would, I have no doubt, not only weaken our cause, 
 but smack of bad faith ; for I never should have had 
 
360 SUMXER FIRMLY FOR EMANCIPATION. 
 
 votes enough to send me here, if the people had sup 
 posed I should try to use my power to upset Slavery. 
 Why, the first thing you d see, would be a mutiny in the 
 army. No! We must wait until every other means has 
 been exhausted. This thunderbolt will keep! 
 
 I replied by telling a story, as I didn t consider that 
 the President of the United States could claim any spe 
 cial monopoly in that line 
 
 " That reminds me, Mr. LINCOLN, of a neighbor of 
 ours in Connecticut, to whom, one fall, we gave some 
 apples, with directions how to preserve them. They 
 were to be laid clown in a barrel of dry sand, headed up, 
 and not opened till the 4th of July, the next year. On 
 that morning he paid us a visit, and announced that he 
 had opened his apples. Well, did they keep ? Yes, 
 said he, * they kept : but they were all rotten ! 
 
 Mr. LINCOLN, who was kind enough to laugh at other 
 people s jokes as heartily as he expected everybody to 
 laugh at his own, took it in good part, and replied : 
 
 " The powder in this bombshell will keep dry : and 
 when the fuse is lit, I intend to have them touch it off 
 themselves." 
 
 While Mr. SUMNER was disposed to render all the aid 
 he could to Mr. LINCOLN, he everywhere advocated a 
 widely different policy, the one which he first announced 
 at Worcester, repeated and reiterated in speeches in 
 the Senate, in his daily conversation, and in his broad 
 correspondence with enlightened men all over Christen 
 dom. In England, France, and Germany, his views were 
 widely made known, under the advocacy of the foremost 
 of the Liberals, and their organs in England ; by such 
 men as Count GASPARIN, and EDOUARD LABOULAYE, of 
 Paris ; by JOSHUA R. GIDDINGS, our Consul-General 
 
SUMNER AGAIN AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 361 
 
 at Montreal ; by CARL SCIIURZ, then Minister to Spain ; 
 by WILLIAM S. THAYER, Consul- General to Egypt ; 
 while at home, even such men as ORESTES A. BROWNSON, 
 the most vigorous thinker and writer of the Catholic 
 Church and, in fact, from all orders and classes of 
 men, the Speech at Worcester had been warmly ap 
 plauded, and the course he was afterwards taking, most 
 earnestly sanctioned. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 But while this thing was slowly righting itself in the 
 councils of the administration, Mr. SUMNER S voice was 
 once more heard in Cooper Institute, where, on the 2/th 
 of November still in the year 1861 he pronounced 
 another famous oration, on "The Rebellion: its Origin 
 and Mainspring," in which he once more surveyed the 
 whole field. The key-note of this speech will be found 
 in the following passage, which is one of the clearest of 
 his many lucid interpretations of the wonderful events 
 then transpiring : 
 
 The duty which I announce, if not urgent now, as a MILITARY 
 NECESSITY, in just self-defence, will present itself constantly, as our 
 armies advance in the Slave States, or land on their coasts. If it does 
 not stare us in the face at this moment, it is because, unhappily, we are 
 still everywhere acting on the defensive. As we begin to be success 
 ful, it must rise before us for practical decision ; and we cannot avoid 
 it. There will be slaves in our camps, or within our extended lines, 
 whose condition we must determine. There will be slaves also claimed 
 by Rebels whose continued chattelhood we should scorn to recognize. 
 The decision of these two cases settles the whole great question. Nor 
 can the Rebels complain. They challenge our army to enter upon 
 their territory in the free exercise of all the powers of war according 
 to which, as you well know, all private interests are subordinated to 
 
362 ONE STEP TOWARDS EMANCIPATION. 
 
 the public safety, which, for the time, becomes the supreme law, above 
 all other laws, above even the Constitution itself. If everywhere under 
 the flag of the Union, in its triumphant march, Freedom is substituted 
 for Slavery, this outrageous Rebellion will not be the first instance in 
 history where God has turned the wickedness of man into a blessing ; 
 nor will the example of Samson stand alone, when he gathered honey 
 from the carcass of the dead and rotten lion. 
 
 Events, too, under Providence, are our masters. For the Rebels 
 there can be no success. For them, every road leads to disaster. For 
 them, defeat is bad, but victory worse ; for then will the North be in 
 spired to sublimer energy. The proposal of Emancipation which shook 
 ancient Athens followed close upon the disaster at Chseronea ; and the 
 statesman who moved it vindicated himself by saying that it proceeded 
 not from him, but from Chseronea. The triumph of Hannibal at 
 Cannre drove the Roman Republic to the enlistment and enfranchise 
 ment of eight thousand slaves. Such is history, which we are now re 
 peating. The recent Act of Congress, giving freedom to slaves em 
 ployed against tis, familiarly known as the Confiscation Act, passed 
 the Senate on the morning after the disaster at Manassas. 
 
 XV. 
 
 This bill, which passed the Senate on the 22d of July, 
 and was voted for by every Republican, declared : 
 
 That whenever any person, claiming to be entitled to the services or 
 labor of any other person, under the laws of any State, shall employ 
 such person in aiding or promoting any insurrection, or in resisting the 
 laws of the United States, or shall permit him to be so employed, shall 
 forfeit all right to such services or labor, and the person whose labor or 
 services is thus claimed, shall be discharged thenceforth therefrom, any 
 law to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 n substance, the same bill passed the House of Repre 
 sentatives, and the President signed it on the 6th of the 
 following month. 
 
 This Cooper Institute speech was sent out on the 
 wings of every wind as fast as copies could be thrown 
 
WESTERN TERRACE OF TLIE CAPITOL. 
 
DEATH OF COL. BAKER AT BALL S BLUFF. 363 
 
 out by the Titan arms of steam, and had not a little to 
 do in preparing the country for the higher and more 
 effective policy soon to be adopted. 
 
 We are restricted from indulging in any description of 
 war scenes, for this book is a record of the deeds of a 
 non-combatant; one who nevertheless swayed a mightier 
 power than any General in the army, or any minister in 
 the Cabinet. But in introducing what Mr. SUMNER said 
 in the Senate, when funeral honors were being paid to 
 Col. BAKER, we will cast a glance at the feeling in Wash 
 ington, on the night which followed the battle of Ball s 
 Bluff 
 
 XVI. 
 
 It was a gloomy night in Washington. One of the 
 unexpected and heart-chilling disasters which befell our 
 arms in the early history of the war, had that day hap 
 pened at Ball s Bluff (October 21, 1861). Our forces 
 had been routed and slaughtered, and the gallant 
 . Colonel Baker, who had left the Senate chamber to lead 
 his splendid California Regiment to the war, had fallen, 
 dying instantly, pierced at the same second by nine bul 
 lets. This was a national loss. His place in the army, 
 in the Senate, in the hearts of the people of California 
 and Oregon, in the admiration of his companions-in-anns 
 in Mexico, and in the realms of eloquence, would remain 
 vacant. No man living was invested with all these rare 
 and great attributes in so eminent a degree. The ap 
 parently well-founded suspicion that he had fallen a 
 victim to the foulest treason, subsequently mingled the 
 intensest indignation with inconsolable grief for his cruel 
 and untimely death. 
 
 It was late in the evening when the news reached 
 
364 WASHINGTON DURING THE WAR. 
 
 Willard s; but a large crowd was still there, among 
 whom, as always, were many well-known public men. 
 In those days secession was more popular in Washing 
 ton than it was ever to be again. Not only was some 
 slimy spy lurking within earshot of every man worth 
 tracking, but there were scores of strong sympathizers 
 with the Rebellion, who caught with avidity the first 
 rumor of disaster to the national arms.* 
 
 * In "My War Note-Book, " MS., I find the following Jan. 62 about parties 
 and feeling in Washington Cloaked Foes Croakers, and all other Secessionists. 
 No war ever began with greater unanimity. The mighty heart of the people leaped 
 at a single bound, from its full but tranquil pulsations, into the wild and hurried beat 
 ings of a continental enthusiasm. From the bleak hill-sides of New England, from 
 the shores of the ocean lakes of the North, from the undulating prairies of the dis 
 tant West, from the crowded marts of commerce, and from ten thousand hamlets of 
 peace and plenty, a million men went rushing to avenge the insulted honor of the 
 nation, and to plant once more on our outer battlements the fallen standard of the 
 Republic. 
 
 The flow of that current was irresistible ; everything gave way to the tramp of 
 the embattled hosts. It was no time for trifling, nor for triflers. The secret foe of 
 the Union kept his own counsel. The men whose hearts were with the parricides of 
 the Fatherland stood back from the on-rolling tide, and cursed the gathering tempest. 
 But the horde of politicians, who had retired in sullen disappointment from the late 
 Presidential election, with hearts all covered with gangrene, and pockets once filled, 
 but now emptied of the rewards of corruption and crime, many of these seized the 
 first chance that invited to new scenes of robbery and peculation. 
 
 The politicians of all parties, en masse, adopted the war, and they carried it on 
 to its last day. They, at least, "made a good thing out of it," as they said. 
 
 But this greedy horde could not all be satisfied. There were not green things 
 enough for all the locusts ; there were not lambs enough for the whole pack of 
 wolves. They were not patriotic enough to fight anywhere except at an election ; 
 they were too lazy to work, and they must eat, and most of them drink a great 
 deal. There were not commissions enough in the army, nor sinecures in civil life, 
 for even the more "decent" of this class; and finally, when the war had been 
 inaugurated into a grand, solemn fact., and it rose up to the gaze of the world in all 
 its stupendous proportions, black with treason, and smoking with blood unrighteously 
 shed, this unpaid, unbribed, unwashed locust-swarm seized the first occasion to dis 
 parage the administration, and to exaggerate the ill fortune, and condemn the man 
 agement of the war. 
 
 Every disappointed seeker for office began to "doubt how the thing would come 
 oiu." Day by day he shook his head despairingly; and when he was finally told to 
 "get out of the way, and be oft"" with himself, he swore, in the holy indignation 
 
A SECESSION CAPITAL. 365 
 
 Those abettors and agents of Davis wore the mask 
 as closely as they could ; and, although the habitues of 
 the capital could tell them at a glance, and, by an in 
 stinct of loyalty nearly infallible, know when one of 
 
 of his soul, that " the generals were all fools, the Cabinet all rascals, and Old Abe 
 n &c." 
 
 Then the Secessionists proper. Washington swarmed with them. They were 
 never asleep. Well might a member of Mr. Davis s cabal, in writing to a friend 
 there (the letter was intercepted), say, "The Lincolnites may rest assured we shall 
 only alarm their capital. We do not want it. It is of more use to us in their 
 hands. It answers all our purposes. Our friends are there, and they are doing their 
 work." They were, and they found no lack of coadjutors or agents in any depart 
 ment : while their sympathizers were slyly gliding from salon to salon in every hotel 
 where the best society held its conversazzioni . 
 
 So, too, was it in the private houses of the rich. Washington had always been a 
 Southern city. Now it was A SECESSION CAPITAL. Its society had always 
 been of the Southern type. There were wealth, taste, pride, gallantry, beauty, 
 pleasure, and somewhat of the abandon which we recognize the nearer we go to the 
 tropics. Few of the rich families of the North came here, fewer still lived here. All 
 the richest families of the South did both. Washington they looked upon as their 
 Northern home. Here all the Foreign Embassies were established, and spasmodic 
 efforts were made to have and hold a Republican court. 
 
 But over it all was spread the slime of Slavery. The population was made up of 
 Foreign Ministers, Heads of Department, Members of Congress, Judges of the 
 Supreme Court, old dowagers and wives of absent officers, poor clerks, "poor 
 whites," shiftless and lazy negroes, and still poorer and lazier office-seekers. 
 
 Once rid of the atmosphere reeking with the slave-lash and the bowie-knife, which 
 the politics and politicians of the South had infused into Washington, there came 
 the first hope of Society in the capital. It was the only capital of any nation with 
 out society. I need not say that by society I mean intercourse between that body of 
 men and women who represent the highest culture and intelligence, the greatest re 
 finement, delicacy, and blandishments of women, the loftiest standard of honor and 
 chivalry in men, the fullest appreciation of learning, art, and beauty to which a 
 nation has attained. To be society worthy of the name, such reunions must re 
 present the best civilization of the people. In later days, such society has not 
 been seen in Washington. Its palmy days passed away with the graceful regime ot 
 Ladies Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Sedgwick, Bingham, and that glorious 
 company of superb women who lent the fascinations of wit, taste, and beauty to 
 adorn the early clays of the Republic. 
 
 But through the medium of such society as we have had, the virus of practical 
 secession has been industriously injected, and in all its subtlest forms. It has worn 
 chameleon hues ; it has borrowed, for the time, all the lights and shadows that lay 
 within its reach. 
 
 In one coterie, severe criticisms were passed on generals at the head of their 
 
366 A DEN OF SHE-VIPERS BROKEN UP. 
 
 them entered the room, yet on some occasions the sud 
 den announcement of bad news for our cause threw them 
 from their guard, and a gleam of fiendish delight flashed 
 from their faces. 
 
 armies ; and, with all the eagerness of cormorant birds snuffing the carrion from 
 afar, they seized the first discouraging rumor floating on the idle wind, and blew the 
 gentlest breeze into a tempest. 
 
 If* a secession woman had a husband, or brother, or lover, who had been refused a 
 commission in the army, she did not hesitate to predict "the final failure of the 
 Yankee cause, and the ultimate triumph of the chivalric sons of the South," " the 
 dear, sunny South." 
 
 And thus indignant crinoline, which had flirted in vain for a lover by being patriotic, 
 became secesh when sailing in disloyal waters. 
 
 In another circle of men, or women, or both (all of the upper classes, so called), 
 serious and downcast looks were seen, and to every new visitor the "deep and painful 
 regret" was expressed "lest Mr. Lincoln might be going too far in making his 
 arrests;" "and are they not arbitrary? And then to take gentlemen from their 
 offices, and even from their sleeping-chambers, and convey them to a distant city, and 
 plunge them into a foul prison, tenanted by felons and haurited by rats ! And then 
 think of General Butler ! that vulgar Yankee ! who published one of his tyrannical 
 edicts, and placarded the insult on every corner of the Crescent City, to the ladies of 
 New Orleans " ! 
 
 And yet these same "gentle angels" were at the time besieging President and 
 
 Secretaries for a commission for , " a brave and gallant fellow, \vho had 
 
 rendered such signal services to the Federal cause, and longed so earnestly to put the 
 old flag back where it once waved so proudly." 
 
 This class of females have shown an alacrity and cleverness in their management in 
 Washington which would have been admirable in any honest cause. But they were 
 completely outdone by the artistes of the secession drama. Some few, sprightly, 
 sharp-witted, and as the world goes charming women, undertook the more 
 difficult parts. They were in no hot haste to win. They were looking for the main 
 chance, to fail once or twice, perhaps, but to win at last. 
 
 Never did Paul Morphy move chess-men with more studied care ; never did he 
 conceal more completely every line of expression in hib face ; never did his heart 
 palpitate with half the excitement, while making his decisive and finishing play. 
 
 These women of the world watched every expression in the eyes of their listeners, 
 and measured every gesture they made before the men who, meeting them by design 
 or accident, swelled the retinue of their impoverished but pretentious court. 
 
 Nothing but well-merited severity, visited at the right time and on the right heads, 
 broke up this den of she-vipers that were striking their deadly fangs into the vitals of 
 the Republic. There was squirming and hissing, but the den was finally broken up. 
 
 All these subtle agencies of secession worked harmoniously with bolder and more 
 public demonstrations of disloyalty. In both Houses of Congress, men no better 
 than South Carolina traitors (often not half so bad;, and always more dangerous, un- 
 
THE NEWS AT WILLARD S. 367 
 
 " Baker was killed at Ball s Bluff this afternoon." 
 Never did news transform men s countenances quicker. 
 
 One class received it with blank amazement and horror ; 
 
 the other, with demoniac exultation. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Words fell which neither party could restrain ; and the 
 blood of the coolest began to boil when they heard the 
 murdered Baker s name insulted. A movement was 
 made which bolder men than traitors would not have at 
 tempted to resist. The villains started by a common im 
 pulse for the two doorways, or that mosaic pavement 
 would have worn another color within ten seconds. A 
 minute later, the place was cleansed; the unclean spirits 
 had gone out ! all but one, perhaps. 
 
 A very red- faced, stalwart man, who had stood by arid 
 seen all that had been going on without saying a word, 
 finally remarked with a pretty determined air, that " as 
 for himself he didn t care much about the fight. He 
 
 blushingly reviled the Union, laughed the Republic to scorn, and trod the holy 
 traditions of our r<w/;//07z-\VEALTH into the dust. 
 
 These traitors were allowed to play the part of Catiline in open House, in open 
 Senate, in the streets, most of all, in that loud-mouthed, blatant talk which is 
 deemed eloquence in bar-rooms, but bad manners in decent society, and treason 
 anywhere. 
 
 And one of the chief themes of noisy discourse illegal arrests ! Why illegal ? 
 Is it illegal to arrest the murderer of a man ? and is it not legal and just to seize and 
 incarcerate the villain who is contemplating the wholesale murder of the friends of the 
 nation the defenders of its Union, the protectors of its peace, its nationality and 
 life? Is violence to be the law? Is the wretch who brandishes the torch of the 
 incendiary recklessly, and scatters fire, arrows, and death through peaceful and loyal 
 communities, to go on in his dreadful mission unchecked, unmanacled, unchained ? 
 
 If such men escape justice, where can good citizens look for it ? 
 
 If the severity of Mr. Lincoln is complained of by treason-hatchers or treason- 
 mongers, how infinite must be the all-forgiving benevolence of that much-abused 
 man ! t 
 
 No ! no ! a thousand times No ! No blood rests on that troubled head. 
 
368 WHO OWNS THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 lived en the Lower Mississippi, and the people down his 
 way could take care of themselves. As long as they 
 owned the Mississippi, the d d Abolitionists could make 
 all the muss they pleased. We hold the Gulf of Mexico, 
 and the Northwest, and the Yankees may be d d." 
 
 A very tall, lean, awkward, bony-looking man sidled 
 quietly up to the Mississippian, and, putting his nose, by 
 a stoop, quite close to his face, said, in unmistakable far- 
 Western : 
 
 " Look here, stranger," and gently emphasizing his 
 remark by taking the stranger s left ear between his 
 thumb and finger ; " now, yu may not know it, but I 
 live in Minnesoty, and we make that Mississippi water 
 you call yourn, and we kalkilate to use it some." 
 
 The stranger s hand moved pretty quick for a side- 
 pocket, but not quite quick enough. I saw a movement, 
 I heard a blow, and the blood spattered surrounders 
 slightly. In less time than such enterprises usually re 
 quire, the stranger had fallen heavily on the marble 
 floor, striking his head against an iron column, and re 
 maining in a condition which rendered it desirable to 
 have his friends look after him, if he had any. 
 
 The Western gentleman was congratulated, when 
 he apologized, " I didn t want to hurt the feller, and I 
 didn t care about his bowie-knife going through me, 
 nother. But the tarnal traitor must let the old country 
 alone, and/^nickilarly that big river. We want to use 
 that thar water out West." 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Baker s body was brought across the Potomac the 
 evening he fell. It rested all day, and then by ambu- 
 
BAKER S GRAVE IN CALIFORNIA. 369 
 
 lance was conveyed to Washington, and carried through 
 the same hospitable doorway of his friend Colonel Webb, 
 from whose steps we had parted with him as he mounted 
 his horse and gave us his warm, earnest hand only two 
 mornings before ! Oh, how radiant was his face ! how 
 athletic and symmetrical his form ! how unsullied his 
 ambition ! how pure his devotion to God and country ! 
 
 " God spare his life, at least ! " we said, as we saw him 
 disappear around the corner ! This prayer Heaven 
 could not grant. 
 
 The following day, when the last preparations for the 
 tomb had been made, we went to gaze once more, and 
 for the last time, on what of earth remained in the form 
 which so lately enshrined the noble spirit. 
 
 " Then mournfully the parting bugle bade 
 Its farewell o er the grave." 
 
 California claimed her hero and statesman, and his 
 ashes now repose on the calm shore of that ocean which 
 washes the western base of the empire for whose glory 
 he lived and died. His body lies in Lone Mountain 
 Cemetery, near the city of San Francisco, and over it 
 should have risen one of the most superb monuments 
 which the genius of Art has erected to human great 
 ness.* 
 
 In the closing paragraph of the last speech of Col- 
 
 * On the 27th of March (1874), I wrote to Hon. A. A. Sargent, Senator from 
 California, to learn the present condition of Col. Baker s grave ; and in reply, I re 
 ceived the following interesting information from Mr. Robert J. Stevens, son-in-law 
 of Col. Baker : 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., March sist, 1874. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I hasten to reply to your note of this morning, enclosing letter 
 of Mr. C. Edwards Lester, inquiring about Baker monument. The plans for such 
 monument, very magnificent, and studiously elaborated the work of Horatio Stone 
 were sent by Rev. H. W. Bellows to Thos. Starr King at San Francisco (1862), 
 and doubtless would have been in marble ere this, had it not been for his untimely 
 24. 
 
370 BAKER S LAST SPEECH IN THE SENATE. 
 
 onel Baker in the Senate, provoked by the insulting 
 words of the Catiline whom for a few days longer 
 Heaven had condemned our patience to tolerate as a 
 Senator of the United States, the California Senator, ris 
 ing in his place, said, 
 
 There will be some graves reeking with blood, watered by the tears 
 of affection. There will be some privation. There will be some loss 
 of luxury. There will be somewhat more need of labor to procure the 
 necessaries of life. When that is said, all is said. If we have the 
 country, the whole country, the Union, the Constitution, free gov 
 ernment, with these will return all the blessings of well-ordered civiliza 
 tion. The path of the country will be a career of greatness and of 
 glory such as our fathers, in the olden time, foresaw in the dim visions 
 of years yet to come ; and such as would have been ours to-day, had it 
 not been for the treason for which the Senator too often seeks to apol 
 ogize. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 On this occasion Mr. LINCOLN was present. He en 
 tered the Senate Chamber, supported by the Senators 
 from Illinois, and was presented to the Vice-Presiclent, 
 who invited him to a seat by his side on the clai s ap 
 propriated to the President of the Senate. Mr. SUM 
 MER uttered the following words : 
 
 death. They are now deposited with the Society of California Pioneers, in their new 
 building, subject to my order. 
 
 The grave of Baker (at Lone Mountain) is principally marked by the towering 
 monument of Broderick a few yards distant. It is in the midst of a considerable enclos 
 ure, walled with concrete handsomely coped with fine stone ; it has above it a slab or 
 tablet on columns of marble; this was done by myself, from the proceeds of his small 
 estate. Capt. E. D. Baker the younger son is now engaged in carrying out the 
 original idea of perfecting the enclosure by surmounting the low wall with a bronze 
 railing of a military pattern, and it is his care that maintains the flower garden inside 
 the wall. 
 
 Very truly your obedient servant, 
 
 ROBT. J. STEVENS. 
 Hon. A. A. SARGENT, U. S. Senate. 
 
SUMNER S EULOGY ON BAKER. 371 
 
 Mr. President : The Senator to whom we now say farewell, was gen 
 erous in funeral homage to others. More than once he held great 
 companies in rapt attention while doing honor to the dead. Over the 
 coffin of Broderick he proclaimed the dying utterance of that early 
 victim, and gave to it the fiery wings of his own eloquence : " They 
 have killed me because I was opposed to the extension of slavery, and 
 a corrupt administration ; " and as the impassioned orator repeated 
 these words, his own soul was knit in sympathy with the departed ; 
 and thus at once did he win to himself the friends of Freedom, though 
 distant. * * Baker was Orator and Soldier. To him belongs the rare re 
 nown of this double character. Perhaps he carried into war something 
 of the confidence inspired by the conscious sway of great multitudes, as 
 he surely brought into speech something of the ardor of war. Call 
 him, if you will, the Rupert of Battle ; he was also the Rupert of De 
 bate. * * Child of Poverty ; he was brought, while yet in tender years, 
 to Philadelphia, where he began life, an exile, having being born on a 
 foreign soil. His earliest days were passed at the loom, rather than at 
 school ; and yet, from this lowliness he achieved the highest posts of 
 trust and honor, being at the same time Senator and General. It was 
 the boast of Pericles, in his funeral oration in the Ceramicus, over the 
 dead who had fallen in battle, that the Athenians readily communicated to 
 all, the advantages which they themselves enjoyed ; that they did not 
 exclude the strangers from their walls, and that Athens was a city open 
 to the Human Family. The same boast may be repeated by us, with 
 better reason, as we commemorate our dead fallen in battle. * * 
 
 In the Senate, he took at once the part of Orator. His voice was 
 not full and sonorous, but sharp and clear ; it was penetrating rather 
 than commanding ; and yet, when touched by his ardent nature, became 
 sympathetic, and even musical. Countenance, body and gesture all 
 shared the unconscious inspiration of his voice, and he went on, master 
 of his audience, and master also of himself. All his faculties were 
 completely at command ; ideas, illustrations, words, seemed to come 
 unbidden, and range in harmonious forms as in the walls of ancient 
 Thebes each stone took its proper place of its own accord, moved 
 only by the music of a lyre. * * His oratory was graceful, sharp, and 
 flashing, like a cimeter; but his argument was powerful and sweeping 
 like a battery. 
 
 Not content with the brilliant opportunities of this chamber, he ac 
 cepted a commission in the army, vaulting from the Senate to the saddle, 
 as he had already leaped from Illinois to California. * * His career as a 
 
372 WHO KILLED BAKER. 
 
 general was short, though shining. * * He died with his face to the foe 
 and he died so instantly that he passed from the service of his country 
 to the service of his God. It is sweet and becoming to die for country : 
 such a death, sudden, but not unprepared for, is the crown of the pa 
 triot soldier. 
 
 But the question is painfully asked, who was the author of this 
 tragedy, now filling the Senate Chamber, as it has already filled the 
 country, with mourning? There is a strong desire to hold somebody 
 responsible, where so many perish so improfitably. But we need not 
 appoint committees or study testimony, to know precisely who took 
 this precious life. That great criminal is easily detected, still erect and 
 defiant, without concealment or disguise. The guns, the balls, the men 
 that fired them, are of little importance. It is the Power behind all, 
 saying, "The State; it is I," that took this precious life: and this 
 power is Slavery. The nine balls that slew our departed brother, came 
 from Slavery. Every gaping wound of his slashed bosom, testifies 
 against Slavery. Every drop of his generous blood cries out from the 
 ground against Slavery. The brain so rudely shattered, has its own 
 voice ; and the tongue so suddenly silenced in death, speaks now, 
 with more than living eloquence. To hold others responsible is to hold 
 the dwarf agent, and dismiss the giant principal. Nor shall we do great 
 service, if, merely criticising some local blunder, we leave untouched 
 that fatal forbearance through which the weakness of the Rebellion is 
 changed into strength, and the strength of our armies is changed into 
 weakness. 
 
 May our grief to-day be no hollow pageant, nor expend itself in this 
 funeral pomp ! It must become a motive, an impulse to patriot action. 
 But patriotism itself, that commanding charity, embracing so many 
 other charities, is only a name, and nothing else, unless we resolve 
 calmly, plainly, solemnly, that Slavery, the barbarous enemy of our 
 country, the irreconcilable foe of our Union, the violator of our Con 
 stitution, the disturber of our peace, the vampire of our national life, 
 the assassin of our children, and the murderer of our dead Senator, 
 shall be struck down. And the way is easy. The just avenger is at 
 hand, with weapon of celestial temper : let it be drawn. Until this is 
 done, the patriot, discerning clearly the secret of our weakness, can 
 only say, sorrowfully 
 
 " Bleed, bleed, poor country ! 
 Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, 
 For goodness dares not check thee ! " 
 
CODIFYING THE NATIONAL STATUTES. 373 
 
 Mr. SUMNER was bitterly assailed by all the Pro- 
 Slavery journals of the North, for having, as was al 
 leged, " even in the burial-service of the dead, mingled 
 his sectional hate and personal wrath." But WILLIAM 
 LLOYD GARRISON, in alluding to this, well said : " When 
 there is howling in the pit, there is special rejoicing in 
 heaven." 
 
 XX. 
 
 Nearly ten years before, when Mr. SUMNER first enter 
 ed the Senate, he had presented a Resolution for a 
 Revision and Consolidation of the National Statutes, 
 and on many occasions at succeeding Sessions, he 
 brought it forward, all without avail. At last, in his 
 message, December 3, 1861, Mr. LINCOLN having recom 
 mended the measure, Mr. SUMNER again brought for 
 ward the old resolution, on which he said : " Some 
 thing in earnest, sir, must be done. The ancient 
 Roman laws, when first codified, were so cumbersome 
 that they made a load for several camels. Ours swell 
 to twelve heavy volumes, too expensive to be afforded 
 by any except the few, while they should be in every 
 public library and law office throughout the country." 
 He advocated the reducing them to a single volume, as 
 the cumbersome laws of Massachusetts had been, and 
 of which the people of that State had purchased up 
 wards of ten thousand copies. " I hope, sir, there will 
 be no objection founded on the condition of the country. 
 I do not forget the old saying, that the laws are silent 
 in the midst of arms ; but I would have our Republic 
 show, by example, that such is not always the case. It 
 will be something if, through the din of war, this work 
 
374 NO PATENTS FOR COLORED INVENTORS. 
 
 of peace proceeds, changing the national statutes into a 
 harmonious text, and making it accessible to all." 
 
 But nothing effectual was done about it till 1866, when 
 the bill was passed. The revision and consolidation 
 were to be completed within three years ; but the work 
 was neglected, although the salaries were drawn by 
 CALEB GUSHING, Mr. JAMES, of Ohio, and Mr. JOHNSTON, 
 of Pennsylvania. In 1870, a supplementary Act was 
 passed, and President Grant reappointed Mr. JAMES, 
 and associated with him Mr. ABBOTT, of New York, and 
 Mr. BARRINGER, of North Carolina. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 To the disgrace of the Republic, three quarters of a 
 century went by after the adoption of the Constitution, 
 before a colored man was allowed to take out a patent 
 in this country ! Mr. Sumner introduced the following 
 resolution : 
 
 That the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office be instructed 
 to consider if any further legislation is necessary in order to secure to 
 persons of African descent, in our own country, the right to take out 
 patents for useful inventions, under the Constitution of the United 
 States. 
 
 He remarked : " If I can have the attention of the chairman of the 
 Committee on Patents, I will state to him why this resolution is in 
 troduced. It has come to my knowledge that an inventor of African 
 descent, living in Boston, applied for a patent, under the Constitution 
 and laws of the land, and was refused, on the ground that according 
 to the DRED SCOTT decision, he is not a citizen of the United States, 
 and therefore a patent cannot issue to him. I wish the Committee to 
 consider whether, in any way, that abuse can be removed." 
 
 The resolution was agreed to unanimously ; but no re 
 port was made by the Committee, since it was a case for 
 
ON THE SEIZURE OF MASON AND SLIDELL. 375 
 
 interpretation, rather than legislation ; and the question, 
 like that of passports, was practically settled soon after, 
 by the opinion of the Attorney-General, that a free man, 
 colored, born in the United States, is a citizen. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Mr. SUMNER S. able speech on the surrender of MASON 
 and SLIDELL, the Rebel agents taken from the British 
 
 5 
 
 mail steamer Trent, must receive a notice, however brief 
 we may be compelled to make it. 
 
 After the Senate had been purged by the flight of 
 some of the Rebel members, the quiet retirement of 
 others, and the expulsion of the rest, Mr. SUMNER was 
 appointed chairman of the Committee on Foreign Rela 
 tions. Little objection was made to the choice, for it was 
 universally known that he was not only better qualified 
 to fill that place than any other member, but that his 
 familiarity with the condition of Foreign Nations, his 
 profound and minute knowledge of International Law, 
 and his clear conception of the position of our govern 
 ment during the crisis, towards the other governments 
 of the world, all stamped him as the ablest man in the 
 country. It was, therefore, a most fortunate occurrence 
 that when the Trent difficulty came up, the whole ques 
 tion w r ould be illuminated by his knowledge, and en 
 forced by his eloquence. Here a few words of explana 
 tion become necessary. 
 
 Soon after the Rebellion began, its leaders appointed 
 two of their ablest men, JAMES M. MASON, of Virginia, 
 and JOHN SLIDELL, of Louisiana, Commissioners, the 
 first to England, and the second to France, with in 
 structions and despatches, the exact purport of which did 
 
3/6 CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE SEIZURE. 
 
 not become known. But the object of their mission was 
 to obtain a recognition of the Southern Confederacy as 
 an independent State, if possible ; or in any event, the 
 recognition of the Southern States as belligerents. The 
 Rebel ports being under strict blockade, they could cross 
 the Atlantic only by reaching Havana, where, under a 
 neutral flag, they might get conveyance to Europe. They 
 took passage in the Trent, bound from Havana to St. 
 Thomas, from which island a regular line of British 
 steamers ran to England. 
 
 o 
 
 In Mr. RICHARD H. DANA S notes to Wheaton s Ele 
 ments of International Law, he says of the envoys : 
 4< Their character and destination were well known 
 to the agent and master of the Trent, as well as the 
 great interest felt by the Rebels that they should, and by 
 the United States officials that they should not, reach 
 their destination in safety." 
 
 As passengers, they were now on the high seas. 
 Within a few hours sail of Nassau, the Trent was 
 stopped and searched by the United States war vessel 
 San Jacinto, commanded by Captain WILKES, who, 
 without instructions, and entirely on his own responsi 
 bility, seized the two commissioners and their secretaries, 
 and returned with them as prisoners to the United States, 
 while the Trent was left to proceed on her voyage. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 The news of their seizure was received with un 
 bounded sympathy and approbation. The press, and the 
 public men of the country generally, not only gave their 
 approval, but even their praise. On the ^oth of 
 November, 1861, the Secretary of the Navy wrote a 
 
RASH PROPOSALS IN CONGRESS. 377 
 
 letter to Capt. WILKES, congratulating the commander, 
 the officers, and the crew on the act, applauding the in 
 telligence, ability, decision and firmness of the com 
 mander, and alluding to his forbearance in omitting to 
 capture the vessel itself. 
 
 Two days later the first day of its session a joint 
 Resolution was offered by OWEN LOVEJOY in the House 
 of Representatives, tendering the thanks of Congress to 
 Captain WILKES " for his brave, adroit, and patriotic 
 conduct in his arrest and detention of the traitors JAMES 
 M. MASON and JOHN SLIDELL." On reaching the 
 Senate, the Resolution was referred to the Committee 
 on Naval Affairs, although Mr. SUMNER suggested its 
 reference to the Committee on Foreign Relations. Mr. 
 
 o 
 
 HALE, carried away by his own generous and patriotic 
 impulses, went with the popular tide against the sur 
 render of the Confederate Commissioners, under any 
 and all circumstances. But as nothing was yet known 
 of the course which the British Government would 
 pursue, Mr. SUMNER addressed a few calm words to the 
 Senate, deprecating the hasty presentation of any such 
 Resolution, to which the Senate listened with great 
 respect. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 The seizure of the Commissioners was no sooner 
 known in England, than a burst of indignation was 
 witnessed, and by the first steamer, despatches were 
 received from Earl RUSSELL to Lord LYONS the British 
 Minister at Washington, dated London, November 3Oth, 
 which were read to Mr. Seward on the igth of De 
 cember. A peremptory demand was made for the 
 
378 ENGLAND BENT ON WAR. 
 
 liberation of the two Commissioners and their sec 
 retaries, and an apology for the aggression which had 
 been committed, with no further delay than seven days; 
 after which, if not complied with, the minister was 
 instructed to leave Washington, with all the members of 
 his legation, taking with him the archives of the 
 legation, and reporting immediately in London. He was 
 also to communicate all information in his power to the 
 British Governors of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Bruns 
 wick, Jamaica, Bermuda, and such other of her Ma 
 jesty s possessions as were within his reach. 
 
 All this meant war. England saw her opportunity, 
 and she was determined to embrace it. The settlement 
 of the difficulty was fortunately made before these latter 
 instructions to the British Minister were known. But 
 being so positive and peremptory, admitting no pos 
 sibility of delay, or time for arbitration, announcing the 
 alternatives of instant surrender, with apology, or hosti 
 lities, fully showed the spirit of the British Government. 
 We learn also from the Annual British Register for 
 1 86 1, page 254, how promptly England was acting up 
 to the plan of immediate war, for that official statement 
 says : 
 
 Troops were dispatched to Canada with all possible expedition, and 
 that brave and loyal colony called out its militia and volunteers, so as 
 to be ready to act at a moment s notice. Our dockyards here re 
 sounded with the din of workmen getting vessels fitted for sea, and 
 there was but one feeling which animated all classes and parties in the 
 country, and that was, a determination to vindicate our insulted honor, 
 and uphold the inviolability of the national flag. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 In the meantime, before Earl RUSSELL S dispatch was 
 
BRITISH CONDUCT SEVERELY CRITICISED. 379 
 
 received in Washington, or any possibility of news of 
 the state of feeling in England could have reached here, 
 Mr. SEWARD, Secretary of State, wrote to Mr. ADAMS, 
 our Minister at London, an account of what had occurred, 
 and stated that " Captain Wilkes acted without any 
 instructions from the government, and he trusted that 
 there would be no difficulty in adjusting the matter, if 
 the British Government should be disposed to meet the 
 case in the same pacific spirit which animated the 
 President and his administration." By a singular coin 
 cidence, this letter was read by Mr. ADAMS to Earl 
 RUSSELL on the very same day that Lord LYONS had 
 read the English Secretary s demand to Mr. SEWARD. 
 It was then in the power of Earl RUSSELL to make the 
 purport of Mr. SEWARD S letter known, which would at 
 once have allayed the war fever which the British 
 ministry had done everything in their power to in 
 flame. But this was not done. In speaking of this, 
 Mr. DANA remarks : 
 
 The truth seems to be that, so long as they were uncertain whether 
 their menace of war might not lead to war, they could not afford to 
 withdraw the chief motive for the war spirit in the British people, and 
 admit that their warlike demonstration had been needless. Their 
 popular support depended upon the general belief in a necessity for 
 their having accompanied their demand with the preparations and 
 menace of war. 
 
 This conduct of the British government subsequently 
 cost her a large portion of the respect of the civilized 
 world. In Count de Gasparin s L Am eriqite dcvant 
 I Europe, in which that eminent publicist treats the 
 whole question with consummate learning and ability, 
 he remarks : 
 
 Between great nations, between sister nations, it was a strange 
 
380 WHY THE COMMISSIONERS WERE SURRENDERED. 
 
 opening. The usage is hardly to commence with an ultimatum that 
 is, to commence with the end. Ordinarily, when there has been a 
 misunderstanding or regrettable act, especially when that act comes 
 within a portion of the Law of Nations which is yet full of obscurity, 
 the natural opening is to ask for explanations as to the intentions, and 
 for reparation for what has been done, without mixing therewith an 
 immediate menace of rupture. 
 
 It is astonishing that a demand of apology should figure in the 
 original programme, where it was entirely out of place. Seeing such 
 haste, and proclamation so lofty of an exigence above debate ; seeing 
 the idea of an impious war accepted with so much ease by some, and 
 with such joy so little dissembled by others, Europe declared without 
 ambiguity or reserve, that if England were not miraculously saved from 
 her own undertaking that if she went so far as to fire a cannon at the 
 North as an ally of the South, she would tear with her own hands her 
 principal titles to the respect of the civilized world ; for from the 
 moment that England becomes only the ally of Slave-traders, she has 
 abdicated. 
 
 But the wisest council prevailed in Mr. LINCOLN S 
 Cabinet. A very brief examination of the case showed 
 that the act of Captain WILKES could, under no circum 
 stances, be sustained ; and that the surrender of the 
 prisoners, with or without a demand from the British 
 Government, would be only in strict conformity with the 
 precedents which had been established by our own 
 government. Consequently, without any regard to 
 popular clamor, Mr. LINCOLN peremptorily ordered a 
 release of the Rebel Commissioners, who had been 
 confined in Fort Warren, in Boston harbor ; and that 
 portion of the precious freight of which the steamer 
 Trent had been relieved, was handed over to the 
 British Government, much to the regret of the war 
 party of Great Britain. 
 
 Before this had taken place, however, Mr. SUMNER, 
 who had received letters from distinguished friends of 
 
SUMMER S SPEECH ON THE TRENT AFFAIR. 381 
 
 America in England, read them, to the President, and his 
 Cabinet. One from RICHARD COBDEN, January 23, 
 1862, said: "It is perhaps well that you settle the 
 matter by sending" away the men at once ; consistently 
 with your own principles, you could not have justified 
 their detention! 
 
 Mr. SUMNER S speech in the Senate to which his 
 position as chairman of the Committee on Foreign 
 Affairs gave additional weight soon followed, and it 
 settled the opinion of the world on that subject forever. 
 His mild rebuke of Mr. HALE S patriotic, but indiscreet 
 motion and speech, had induced that Senator to with 
 draw the Resolution, for he had treated the whole 
 matter on a hypothesis, by assuming that Great Britain 
 had made an arrogant demand, when he knew nothing 
 of the sort. " Who in the Senate," inquired Mr. SUM- 
 NER, "knows it? Who in the country knows it? I 
 don t believe it will not believe it, except on evidence. 
 I submit, therefore, that the Senator acted too swiftly." 
 
 We need not make any quotations from this ex 
 haustive speech. The object of its delivery was fully 
 accomplished, and England had the mortification of 
 learning that we had acted right, without any reference 
 to her threats or demands. 
 
 There was no end to the congratulations Mr. SUMNER 
 
 o 
 
 received from his countrymen, and from the illuminated 
 statesmen of all European countries. He showed me 
 whole stacks of letters, journals, reviews, of which he 
 remarked : " The grand source of satisfaction is, that 
 we have done right : and I shall live long enough, I 
 hope, to read these through some time." 
 
382 CONDITION OF MEXICO IN 1 862. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Mr. WILKINSON, of Minnesota, having submitted to 
 the Senate unmistakable evidence of disloyalty to the 
 United States, on the part of Senator BRIGHT, of In 
 diana, he introduced a resolution for his expulsion. It 
 passed a very thorough discussion, in which Mr. SUM- 
 NER took a prominent part, in two speeches, January 
 2 ist and February 4th, which resulted in the expulsion 
 of Mr. BRIGHT, and on the 24th of January the Presi 
 dent approved the Resolution. This wound up the 
 public career of that traitor, who, without the courage 
 of his Confederate associates, added the meanness of a 
 skulking hypocrisy to the infamy of his treason. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 We must glance, although it be only for a moment, at 
 the condition of Mexico in the bejnnninqf of the year 
 
 o o J 
 
 1862. The EMPEROR of FRANCE, who had for some time 
 been indulging in the visionary dream of establishing 
 an Empire in Mexico, had, through the subtle diplomacy 
 of his agents, induced Great Britain and Spain to unite 
 with France, in obtaining redress and security from 
 Mexico, for the subjects of the three Great Powers, 
 with indemnity for claims due from that Republic. A 
 Convention to that effect was made in London, October 
 31, 1 86 1, and a month later, a note was addressed 
 to the United States inviting us to join in that de 
 mand. Of course, the invitation was -declined. Mr. 
 CORWIN had been sent, minister to Mexico, with in 
 structions to report to his government the actual con- 
 
MINISTER CORWIN S OPINIONS. 383 
 
 dition of affairs in that country, and to prevent the 
 Southern Confederacy from obtaining any recognition 
 there, thus cutting off all hope of augmenting the power 
 of the South by acquisition, accompanied with Slavery, 
 in Mexico, or any of the Spanish American Republics. 
 He was also to use all proper means to prevent any 
 European Power from gaining a permanent hold on this 
 continent. On the 4th of April, 1862, in writing to 
 Senator SUMNER, Mr. CORWIN spoke as follows : 
 
 In the first object, I have fully succeeded. The Southern Commis 
 sioner, after employing persuasion and threats, finally took his leave of 
 the city, sending back from Vera Cruz, as I am informed, a very 
 offensive letter to the government here. In obtaining the second end, 
 I have had more difficulty. * * * If the French attempt to conquer 
 this country, it is certain to bring on a war of two or three years dura 
 tion. The gorges of the mountains, so frequent here, would afford to 
 small detachments, stronger holds than any position fortified by art ; 
 and the Mexicans have a strong hatred of foreign rule, which animates 
 the whole body of the people. I trust our government will remonstrate 
 firmly against all idea of European conquest on this continent, and in 
 such time as to have its due influence on the present position of France 
 in Mexico. 
 
 But I am satisfied this danger may be avoided by the pecuniary aid 
 proposed by the present treaty with us, and the united diplomacy of 
 England, Spain, and the United States. If these means are not promptly 
 and energetically applied, a European power may fasten itself upon 
 Mexico, which it will become a necessity with us at no distant day to 
 dislodge. To do this, in the supposed event, would cost us millions, 
 twenty times told, more than we now propose to lend upon undoubted 
 security. 
 
 When the ambitious designs of NAPOLEON became 
 fully known, England and Spain withdrew. The Em 
 peror landed a large army on the Mexican soil, and in 
 the prosecution of the macl enterprise, ultimately wit 
 nessed the defeat of his object. The brave and virtuous 
 
384 END OF AX INSANE EXPEDITION. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN, whom he had placed upon the recon 
 structed throne of Mexico, was brought to a just and 
 ignominious death, many thousands of the finest sol 
 diers in France left their bones on the soil ; her 
 generals reaped no laurels in the field ; her ministers 
 gained no fame in the cabinet ; an enormous amount of 
 treasure was uselessly expended ; and Napoleon dis 
 covered, only too late, that in the insane expedition, he 
 had found his Moscow, from which dated the beginning 
 of the decline of his power, which was effectually extin 
 guished a few years later at Sedan. 
 
 On the 1 7th of December, 1861, the President, in a 
 message, transmitted to the Senate a draft of a Conven 
 tion with the Republic of Mexico, in pursuance of the 
 plan suggested by Mr. CORWIN. Mr. SEWARD ear 
 nestly recommended the proposition of the President, but 
 the following resolution finally passed that body : 
 
 That, in reply to several messages of the President, with regard to a 
 treaty with Mexico, the Senate express the opinion that it is not ad 
 visable to negotiate a treaty that will require the United States to 
 assume any portion of the principal or interest of the debt of Mexico, 
 or that will require the concurrence of the European powers. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Another infamous law had stood upon the statute 
 books of the United States, from March 3, 1825, for 
 more than a third of a century. It was as follows : 
 
 That no other than a free white person shall be employed in convey 
 ing the mail, and any contractor who shall employ, or permit any other 
 than a free white person to carry, the mail, shall for every such offence, 
 incur a penalty of twenty dollars. 
 
 This bill was to blacken the statute book no longer. 
 On the 1 8th of March, 1862, Mr. SUMNER asked and 
 
A PROPHETIC LETTER. 385 
 
 obtained the unanimous consent of the Senate to intro 
 duce a bill to remove all disqualifications of color, in 
 carrying the mails. It was reported back on the 27th of 
 the month, by Mr. COLLAMER, of Vermont, Chairman 
 of the Committee on Post-offices, without amendment, 
 and passed. But in the House, it was laid on the table, 
 by a large majority, on motion of Mr. COLFAX. It was 
 renewed, however, by Mr. SUMNER, in the next Congress, 
 and became a laAv. 
 
 The original of the subjoined letter from Senator 
 Sumner, with the italics marked by its author, is among 
 the papers left by the late Count Gurowski. It shows 
 the clear prophetic vision of the writer. 
 
 WASHINGTON, 8 Jan., 61. 
 
 MY DEAR COUNT : You will pardon my seeming negligence, and 
 believe that whatever you write always interests and pleases me. 
 
 Your book, I find on inquiry, has been received by many Senators, 
 who speak of it warmly. I hope that the publishers speak as well. I 
 wish you were here, that I might have the advantage of your conversa 
 tion and of your overflowing knowledge and sympathy, too. Daily and 
 hourly I plead for firmness against concession in any form. 
 
 Sunday evening I had a visit from Thurlow Weed and Seward. The 
 former told me that he found himself " alone." Nobody united with 
 him. I rejoiced. Aspinwall and Corning are here for the same object. 
 They urge that we cannot have a united North unless we make an effort 
 for adjustment ; to which I reply : " We have the verdict of the people 
 last November that is enough." 
 
 But these compromisers do not comprehend the glory of a principle. 
 Per is sent les colonies plutot qit un principe ! That exclamation exalts 
 a period which has many things to be deplored. 
 
 The slave States are mad. They will all move. Nothing now but 
 abject humiliation on the part of the North can stay them. Nobody 
 can foresee precisely all that is in the future, but I do not doubt that any 
 conflict will precipitate the doom of slavery. It will probably go down.: 
 in blood. 
 
 Bon soir ! je vous embrasse de tout mon cceur. 
 
 Ever yours, CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 25 
 
386 SLAVERY ABOLISHED IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 The next measure that came up before the Senate, 
 on which Mr. SUMNER spoke at any length, was the bill 
 for the Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia, 
 March 31, 1862. On the i6th of April it was approved 
 by the President, who sent a message expressing gratifi 
 cation " that the two principles, compensation and coloni 
 zation, are both recognized and practically applied in the 
 act." The bill had been introduced into the Senate by 
 Mr. WILSON, to provide for a commission to appraise 
 the claims on account of the slaves liberated, limiting 
 
 o 
 
 their allowance, in the aggregate, to an amount equal to 
 three hundred dollars a slave, and appropriating one 
 million dollars to pay loyal owners ; to which Mr. Doo- 
 LITTLE added the amendment, appropriating one hundred 
 thousand dollars for the colonization of slaves who desired 
 to emigrate to Hayti or Liberia. " For," as Mr. LINCOLN 
 said of himself, " I am so far behind the Sumner light 
 house, that I still stick to my old colonization hobby." 
 But Mr. SUMNER, who preferred half a loaf to no 
 bread, was willing to vote money for emancipation, as a 
 ransom. While he disclaimed the title of the master to 
 any remuneration whatever, he regarded it as a good 
 beginning, of which he prophetically saw a better end. 
 It was a blow levelled at Slavery outside of the District, 
 as well as in it, and unmistakably proclaimed the power 
 :and duty of Congress over the whole subject. Con 
 gratulations came from all sides, but the best was from 
 FREDERICK DOUGLASS, himself a redeemed slave. He 
 wrote to Mr, SUMNER : 
 
 I want only a moment of your time to give you my thanks for your 
 great speech in the Senate on the Bill for the Abolition of Slavery in 
 
SUMNER S BRIGHT AND DARK HOURS. 387 
 
 the District of Columbia. I trust I am not dreaming ; but the events 
 taking place seem like a dream. If slavery is really dead in the Dis 
 trict of Columbia, and merely waiting the ceremony of " Dust to dust " 
 by the President, to you, more than to any other American statesman, 
 belongs the honor of this great triumph of justice, liberty, and sound 
 policy. I rejoice for my own freed brothers, and, sir, I rejoice for you. 
 You have lived to strike down in Washington the power that lifted the 
 bludgeon against your own free voice. I take nothing from the good 
 and brave men who have co-operated with you. There is, or ought to 
 be, a head to every body ; and whether you will or not, the slaveholder 
 and the slave look to you as the best embodiment of the Anti-Slavery 
 idea now in the councils of the nation. May God sustain you ! 
 
 I shall never forget how Mr. SUMNER S face brightened, 
 and his eyes swam in the luxury of gratitude, whenever 
 he received such letters, exclaiming with fervor, as he 
 rose and shook himself, walking the floor " Thank God 
 we have such opportunities to do good ! And where on 
 earth will you find hearts that so readily melt with gra 
 titude, as in the negro breast ? " And yet his severest 
 trial, during these days, was in as he expressed it 
 " screwing Old Abe up to the sticking point." And 
 then, with considerable impatience, he broke out, " How 
 slow this child of Freedom is being born ! If other 
 children found as much difficulty in getting into the 
 world, the earth would be depopulated with this genera 
 tion. The idea of a man having to buy himself! We 
 voted the money however, only as a ransom, as nations 
 redeemed their citizens from Algerine slavery. But this 
 business of buying men into, or out of slavery will 
 cease very soon." 
 
 XXX. 
 
 In the time of the Caesars, as the traveler from the 
 East approached Rome, over the Appian Way, he 
 
388 RECOGNITION OF LIBERIA AND HAYTI. 
 
 passed milestones some of which are still standing", 
 after two thousand years telling him how near he was 
 to the Eternal City. So, too, those who read our writ 
 ings of this period, will trace with interest the Measures 
 enacted by our government, which successfully marked 
 the progress we were then making towards Universal 
 Liberty. One of them will be an Act passed the 3d of 
 June, 1862, recognizing the Independence of Hayti and 
 Liberia. Although it seemed to concern but a handful 
 of people, on the distant African coast, founded by 
 American-born citizens, and fostered by the benevolence 
 of the generous and the good in our own country, and 
 which had, above all other communities on the earth, the 
 first claim to our recognition and friendship ; and the 
 other, a people who had successfully achieved their inde 
 pendence in our neighborhood, striking for the same holy 
 cause of Liberty which our fathers struck for ; and 
 although they had both vainly looked for official recogni 
 tion by our Republic, yet the taint of color was on them 
 the curse of caste shut them out from the pale of our 
 political charity, although they had encountered no such 
 difficulty with any of the other nations of the globe. 
 
 Feeling that this disgrace had rested long enough on 
 our government, Mr. LINCOLN, in his first Annual Mes 
 sage, had proposed the recognition of the independence 
 and sovereignty of Hayti and Liberia. Of course, it 
 encountered the bitter opposition of every Pro- Slavery 
 Senator, and every hater of the colored race. A reso 
 lution had been introduced into the Senate as long ago 
 as July ist, 1836; and again in January and March of 
 the following year. But with the exception of that 
 venerable Sage and apostle of Liberty, JOHN QUINCY 
 ADAMS, scarcely a voice was heard in either House in 
 
VIOLENT OPPOSITION FROM THE SOUTH. 389 
 
 advocacy of the measure. Mr. HAMILTON, of South 
 Carolina, declared that Haytien independence could not 
 be tolerated in any form ; and his colleague, Mr. HAYNE, 
 not only deprecated any such recognition, but demanded 
 that our ministers in South America and Mexico, should 
 protest against the independence of Hayti. Mr. LEGARE, 
 also of the same State, opposed it violently. He was 
 an accomplished scholar ; but even the amenities of 
 literary culture had not gained any covert in his breast, 
 where sympathy with black men struggling for elevation 
 could find shelter. He said that the memorial originated 
 in a design to revolutionize the South, and convulse the 
 Union. " As sure as you live, sir," was his prophecy, 
 " if this course is permitted to go on, the sun of this 
 Union will go down in blood, and go down to rise no 
 more. I will vote unhesitatingly against nefarious de 
 signs like these. They are treason ! " 
 
 Better things than those surely were to be hoped from 
 Mr. BENTON, of Missouri, who prided himself on being 
 considered the " illuminated " Senator. Even he used 
 this language : " The peace of eleven States in this 
 Union will not permit the fruits of a successful negro 
 insurrection to be exhibited among them." And all this 
 while the sacred form of Liberty lay crushed under the 
 wheels of the Slavery Juggernaut. But the victims of 
 this national idol were not to be forever offered up 
 these immolations in our Temple dedicated to the God 
 dess of Liberty were to cease. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 On the 23d of April, on motion of Mr. SUMNER, the 
 Senate proceeded to consider the bill, when he delivered 
 
390 AN EVENING WITH THE HAYTIEN MINISTER. 
 
 an eloquent and convincing speech. It was the first ar 
 gument worthy of the name ever uttered in either House 
 on that subject, and it did its work so effectually, that it 
 proved to be the last that was ever to be required. Com 
 missioners were appointed by the three governments, 
 and diplomatic intercourse was at once instituted. 
 
 On the arrival of the Minister of the Republic of 
 Hayti, I sought an early opportunity of making his ac 
 quaintance ; and with a letter of introduction from Mr. 
 Sumner I called at his residence, which had been just 
 prepared for the reception of himself and family. I 
 \vas politely received by his secretary, a handsome and 
 gentlemanly young man who said in fine English, " The 
 minister will soon come in. He does not speak English 
 well, but of course you are so recently from Europe 
 you must speak French and Italian one of which is 
 his mother tongue, and the other his favorite." I was 
 glad, for it happened also to be mine. 
 
 In a moment the gentleman entered with Mr. Sum- 
 ner s letter in one hand, and taking mine warmly with 
 the other, led me to a sofa. In my Note-book of the 
 War MS., I fined the following entry : 
 
 I passed a most charming evening with the Haytien 
 Minister no one being present but his Secretary. 
 Having just moved into a new house a modest but 
 nice one in the new part of the town to the North, he 
 apologized for being non ancora pcrfcttamcnte stabilito, 
 although the parlor was furnished in exquisite taste. 
 He was sorry that he did not yet feel quite as much at 
 home with our language as he soon hoped to, and so 
 we dropped into Italian. He told me more about his 
 native Island than I had ever learned from all other 
 sources ; and as I desired it, he spoke freely about him- 
 
A DESCRIPTION OF HIM. 391 
 
 self. His ancestors had been slaves. He had been 
 early sent to Europe for his education, and entering" the 
 public service on his return, he was gratified with the 
 appointment to Washington on the recognition of his 
 Republic. He spoke with veneration of Mr. LINCOLN, 
 and the hearty reception he had given him but of Mr. 
 SUMNER he spoke with the deepest affection. " The 
 name of no American," he said, "is so dear to the Hay- 
 tien people as CHARLES SUMNER I cannot even except 
 Washington himself. He left us only his grand ex 
 ample. But Signor CARLO IL SENATORS ! why, his picture 
 is in every cottage in Hayti. He has done everything 
 for us." Two hours flew by before I knew it. We 
 talked of what the Italians were doing of the progress 
 of the Democratic principle in Europe of Art, Litera 
 ture, everything. Young as he is and he cannot be 
 over 27 he has not only been superbly educated, but 
 he has done a great deal of hard thinking. The study 
 of government, especially the history of Free States, 
 seems to have had for him a fascination ; \vhile his fami 
 liarity with our history and institutions is as striking 
 as De Tocqueville s or Chevalier s. I came away alto 
 gether captivated. He is the most accomplished and 
 gentlemanly foreigner I have met in Washington among 
 the whole diplomatic corps. How my cheek burned 
 when I thought that at no respectable Hotel could he 
 have been received as a guest ! Demon, darkest and 
 meanest of all the hell-born crew ! Thy name is Caste ! 
 The minister is just above the medium height finely 
 formed, brilliant face, the complexion being rather dark, 
 but his cheek glowing with the warm tint, and his eye 
 with the liquid beauty of the Creole his voice soft, but 
 clear and earnest; easy in manner, and what the Italians 
 
392 TREATY FOR SUPPRESSING THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 so well call simpatico his dress ? well, he was so well 
 dressed I don t remember what he had on. His acquaint 
 ance is a real acquisition in the dreadful rowdyism of 
 this city, which has become disgusting during the war. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 In the early part of 1862, after a conference between 
 Mr. SEWARD and Senator SUMNER, negotiations were 
 opened, and finally a Treaty concluded with Great Brit 
 ain, for a mutual and restricted right of search, and 
 mixed courts, with a view to the suppression of the 
 Slave-trade. It was signed by Mr. SEWARD and Lord 
 LYONS oh the ;th of April. On the 24th of that month 
 Mr. SUMNER introduced a Resolution of ratification, ac 
 companied by so convincing a speech, that the ayes and 
 noes were dispensed with, and the resolution agreed to, 
 without a dissenting vote. 
 
 He had opened his speech by alluding to the fact that 
 NATHANIEL GORDON, a Slave-trader, commanding the 
 Slave-ship Erie, had been executed in New York on 
 the 2ist of the preceding February, " being the first in 
 our history to suffer for this immeasurable crime. Eng 
 lish lawyers," he continued, " dwell much upon treason 
 to the King, which they denounce in a term borrowed 
 from the ancient Romans /ore-majesty ; but the Slave- 
 trade is treason to man, being nothing else than Icse- 
 humanity. Much as I incline against capital punishment, 
 little as I am disposed to continue this barbarous pen 
 alty unworthy of a civilized age, I see so much good in 
 this example, at the present moment, that I can reconcile 
 myself to it without a pang. Clearly, it will be a warning 
 to Slave-traders, and also notice to the civilized world 
 
SUMNER MILESTONES. 393 
 
 that at last we are in earnest. While it helps make the 
 Slave-trade detestable, crime is seen in the punishment ; 
 and the gallows sheds upon it that infamy which nothing 
 short of martyrdom in a good cause can overcome." 
 
 He went on to show that our flag had been dese 
 crated by this hateful commerce that ships equipped in 
 New York were tempted by its cruel gains. But to 
 stop this, had been found impossible while Slavery 
 prevailed in the National Government. Here was an 
 other milestone set up, that the future traveler will 
 
 discern. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Still another milestone was about to be planted. Al 
 though the Generals in our army were continually 
 receiving most valuable information from fugitive slaves, 
 and many a disaster was prevented, as well as many a 
 success obtained through their information of the posi 
 tions, movements, and plans of the Rebels, as well as 
 from their indispensable services as faithful and intelli 
 gent guides, still, the prevailing sentiment in the army 
 was for the rendition of such fugitives. Slave-holders 
 were allowed to enter the camps of our Generals, and 
 search private quarters of officers for slaves. This was 
 particularly the case under General HOOKER S command ; 
 while General McCooK s conduct, by way of rendering 
 extraordinary facilities to Slave-hunters, was widely ap 
 plauded by a journal at Nashville ; and in many other 
 instances. Yet these officers could all plead, in behalf 
 of their conduct, the infamous " Order No. 3," of Major- 
 General HALLECK, in which he said : 
 
 We will prove to them Slave-holders that we come to restore, not 
 to violate, the Constitution and the laws. * * * It does not belong to 
 the military to decide upon the relation of master and slave : such ques- 
 
394 SFEECH AGAINST RENDITION OF FUGITIVES. 
 
 tions must be settled by the civil courts. No fugitive slaves will, 
 therefore, be admitted within our lines or camps, except when specially 
 ordered by the General commanding. 
 
 In HORACE GREELEY S American Conflict, the author 
 well says : 
 
 Never was a therefore more misplaced. How were the persons pre 
 senting themselves adjudged to be or known as fugitive slaves ? Plainly, 
 by the color of their skins, and that only. The sole end of this regu 
 lation was the remanding of all slaves to their masters, seven-eighths of 
 whom were most envenomed, implacable Rebels by depriving them 
 of refuge within our lines from those masters power. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 In the same reliable work, volume 2, pages 241-256, 
 will be found an extended, but very humiliating account 
 of this impolitic and inhumane policy. On the ist of 
 May, 1862, Senator WILSON introduced a resolution of 
 inquiry on this subject, which was enforced by a strong 
 speech of Mr. SUMNER, closing in the following words : 
 
 How often must I repeat, that Slavery is the constant Rebel and 
 universal enemy? It is traitor and belligerent together, and is always 
 to be treated accordingly. Tenderness to Slavery now, is practical 
 disloyalty, and practical alliance with the enemy. Believe me, sir, 
 against the officers named I have no personal unkindness ; I should 
 much prefer to speak in their praise. But I am in earnest. While I 
 have the honor of a seat in the Senate, no success, no victory, shall be 
 apology or shield for a General who insults human nature. From the 
 midst of his triumphs, I will drag him forward to receive the con 
 demnation which such conduct deserves. 
 
 This movement ended in something effectual. The 
 Bill for Confiscation and Liberation being passed, was 
 approved on the i;th of July, providing for the freedom 
 of the slaves of Rebels ; and all the enactments on this 
 subject were embraced by the President in the First 
 Proclamation of Emancipation, September 22, 1862. 
 
THE BATTLE-FLAG RESOLUTION. 395 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 As early as May 8, 1862, Mr. SUMNER introduced a 
 Resolution which was the beginning- of a policy on his 
 part steadily pursued to the end, prohibiting the names 
 of victories over fellow-citizens from being inscribed on 
 the regimental colors. It ended years after, as all the 
 world knows and Massachusetts too well in covering 
 that State with dishonor, and her Senator with undying 
 glory ; her vote of censure was a stain which, however, 
 she was able to wipe out before her great Senator was 
 called to his reward. 
 
 After the capture of Williamsburg, May 6th, General 
 MCCLELLAN having, in a dispatch, asked of the War De 
 partment whether he would be authorized in following 
 the example of other Generals, to direct the names 
 of battles to be placed on the colors of regiments, Mr. 
 SUMNER S Resolution was : " That in the efforts now 
 making for the restoration of the Union, and the estab 
 lishment of peace throughout the country, it is inexpe 
 dient that the names of victories obtained over our 
 fellow-citizens, should be placed on the regimental 
 colors of the United States." But Mr. HALE objected 
 to its consideration, and it was postponed. A few days 
 later, even Mr. WILSON introduced a joint resolution to 
 authorize the President to permit regiments of the vol 
 unteer forces to inscribe on their flags the names of 
 battles in which such regiments had been engaged. 
 But fortunately for Mr. WILSON, as well as Mr. HALE, 
 the whole matter was dropped. 
 
 Mr. SUMNER S movement, however, was fully appre 
 ciated by people whose hearts were exactly in the right 
 place, and in sound condition. But it received one 
 
396 SUMNER ENDORSED BY GEN. SCOTT. 
 
 endorsement worth a lifetime to win, for it came from 
 that great General and patriot who was then putting 
 forth his last and best efforts for his country in the midst 
 of her trouble. In his Autobiography, volume i, page 
 190, Lieut.-Gen. SCOTT left these imperishable words : 
 
 t 
 It had been proposed, without due reflection, by one of our gallant 
 
 commanders engaged in the suppression of the existing Rebellion, to 
 place on the banners of his victorious troops, the names of their bat 
 tles. The proposition was rebuked by the Resolution submitted by 
 the Hon. Mr. SUMNER, which was noble, and from the right quarter. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 On the 1 2th of May, and again on the 28th of June, 
 Mr. SUMNER attempted in vain to get a Resolution 
 passed providing that " In all judicial proceedings to 
 confiscate the property and free the slaves of Rebels, 
 there shall be no exclusion of any witnesses on account 
 of color." 
 
 He had already made two efforts against the exclu 
 sion of witnesses under this pretext. But this states 
 man, although ever vigilant, was ever patient in hope. 
 He knew, as well as any old prophet of Judea forecast 
 the future, that the day of absolute emancipation for a 
 whole race was sure to dawn ; and so on, through the 
 shadows, as the light came streaming in, he beckoned 
 every ray, as a harbinger from the east, announcing the 
 approach of the sun.* 
 
 * In reply to the question, " What will be the end of all this ? " from a Senator 
 whose heart was only half with us at this time, I addressed the following reply 
 which Mr. Sumner so warmly approved of. I will reproduce it here. 
 
 " How is it to end?" 
 
 As ail the other great wrongs of the world have ended, not in blood merely ; for 
 
ANSWER TO "HOW WILL ALL THIS END?" 3Q/ 
 
 But by this time, Mr. SUMNER had grown strong 
 enough to set up milestones for himself, without any 
 help from the Senate ; and hereafter we may call these 
 rejected resolutions the SUMNER MILESTONES, and not 
 the Senatorial. They marked the road to Freedom. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Instead of a matter of surprise that the good Abra 
 ham Lincoln sometimes lost his patience, I always won- 
 
 men spill that freer than water over trifles, but by exterminating the power and 
 the works cf the wrong-doer, and, if necessary, the wrong-doer himself. 
 
 This does not mean half as much as GOD means when HE has traitors to deal with. 
 History, the sacred chronicler from the grave, is Heaven s secretary. Open his 
 books, and see how the Ruler of nations treats bad leaders of communities and 
 empires. 
 
 What became of a polluted world when its Maker could find no place in his great 
 heart to screen or hold its bad people any longer ? 
 
 He drowned them ! So your Bible tells you. 
 
 What became of his own chosen people, for whom he had wrought miracles by 
 land and water, to whom he had committed his holy tabernacle, the evidence of 
 his divine presence by night and day in the everlasting flame, that never ceased to 
 burn over the altar of his holy temple, telling that the Protector of Israel was there, 
 his chosen people, on whom HE had lavished the wealth of his kingdom, and to whom 
 he at last gave the most precious gem in his diadem, his " eternally begotten and 
 well-beloved Son " ? Read the fate of that chosen people wherever the winds of 
 heaven sweep, and, innumerable although they be, they are among the nations only 
 chaff on the summer threshing-floor. 
 
 What became of the Egyptian tyrant after he rejected the counsels of the great 
 Hebrew statesman and set himself up against Moses " proclamation of emancipa 
 tion " ? 
 
 Drowning again. 
 
 What became of Sodom and Gomorrah? Brimstone and fire. 
 
 What became of Babylon and Nineveh, Tyre and Sidon, and all the great empires 
 and states of antiquity? Any Sunday-school scholar can answer these questions. 
 They did wrong ; they persisted in wrong ; they insulted God and ground his help 
 less ones into the dust. They were foretold their fate ; they met it, and wound up 
 their history, falling charred corpses into their sepulchres ; and future Layards and 
 Champollions have busied themselves in digging away with Birmingham picks and 
 spades, to heave up from the ashes of ages some few remains of these triflers with 
 " the divine humanity." 
 
 Modern history tells the same story; for God is just as much the Governor of 
 
398 AN AMERICAN SLAVE EMPIRE. 
 
 dered that he kept it at all. As soon as Mr. Edward 
 Stanley reached his post as Provisional Governor of 
 North Carolina, he made a striking display of his power 
 by ordering 1 the Colored Schools recently established by 
 
 all the earth to-day, as he was before the Caesars. No new dispensation has been 
 granted to nations. It is graven among the pandects of eternity that "the nation 
 that will not serve me shall perish." 
 
 Heaven s code never changes. The decisions of that Court of final Appeals are 
 never reversed. 
 
 Charles I. of England did not understand this philosophy. His ignorance cost him 
 his head from the window of Palace Hall. 
 
 Louis XVI. did not understand it ; and his head rolled from the guillotine in 
 Paris. 
 
 So have a whole regal mob of the oppressors of mankind, sooner or later, from 
 Tarquin to Louis, been sent to their doom by the swift judgment of Heaven. 
 
 Modern nations have followed the same road as ancient empires wherever they have 
 violated the great laws of civic prosperity and endurance. They have gone to ruin 
 over the same beaten track where the dead dynasties of the past had left their bones. 
 
 No statesman will pretend, be he saint or sinner, that a man or a nation can con 
 tend against the Almighty and prosper. Justice and freedom are the fundamental 
 statutes of God s system of jurisprudence. Neither men nor nations are exempt. 
 These laws never change; and, thank God, we strike solid bottom when we are deal 
 ing with Him! 
 
 Whatever may have been the pretexts of this Rebellion, every man who is not wil 
 fully blind saw its immediate object in the beginning. But, separation once effected, 
 was not the ultimate design equally clear ? the establishment and consolidation of a 
 colossal meridional empire, stretching from the free States of this Union towards the 
 south, absorbing Mexico and Central America, Cuba, and all the islands of the sur 
 rounding archipelago, and appropriating all the South American States east of the 
 Andes ? 
 
 This empire was to rest on African Slavery as its basis, and its wealth and power 
 were to spring from a complete monopoly of cotton, and the principal tropical pro 
 ducts of the world. 
 
 Nor would the ultimate achievement have been beyond the regions of probability, 
 had the leaders been allowed to break away from their allegiance and "go in peace." 
 
 They contemplated nothing impossible in the gradual absorption of these vast ter 
 ritories, partly by arms, and partly by treaties of annexation. They would have been 
 only re-establishing African slavery where it had but recently been abolished, more 
 by the shock of revolution than as a reform in the gradual progress of society. 
 They would have encountered no unconquerable obstacles in the re-establishment of 
 domestic slavery for a while at least. Slavery is congenial to the tastes of the Span- 
 i>h and Portuguese nations, and in full harmony with the lower civilization which ex 
 ists among their mixed American descendants. 
 
 Besides, they wo.tld have readily found an ally in Cuba, which, on fair terms, 
 
GOV. STANLEY CLOSES COLORED SCHOOLS. 399 
 
 Vincent Colyer and others to be shut they were "for 
 bidden by the Laws of the State" ! Mr. Colyer hurried 
 on to Washington and called on Mr. SUMNER, who at 
 once drove with him to the President s. After hearing 
 what had been done, Mr. Lincoln excitedly exclaimed, 
 " Do you take me for a School-Committee-Man ? " 
 
 would gladly have joined this gigantic Power, and, asserting her independence, as all 
 the other Spanish-American states had done, sprung to the alliance to assert her 
 freedom, and save her half a million of slaves. 
 
 Stepping on the South American continent, this new Power would have trodden 
 triumphantly over a score of torn and shattered Republics on its march to Brazil, 
 where it would have hoped to find a cordial ally and partner in that vast but youthful 
 empire. 
 
 Thus the only slave-holders and the only slave-empires of the earth would have met, 
 and reared a structure which might have arrested for an age the progress of meridi 
 onal American regions. 
 
 Something far less strange than this would be, had long been history. The civili 
 zation of ages was overthrown, and to all appearances the world s march was arrested 
 for a thousand years. The combination of barbaric forces has often proved for the 
 time too mighty for civilization. Even Christ s temples have been overthrown in a 
 hundred nations, and thirty generations, embracing uncounted hundreds of millions, 
 have ever since been groping in heathen darkness around their ruins. Although the 
 mighty stream of human progress, as a volume, moves steadily on, yet some of its 
 vast eddies move backward before their waters can once more mingle in the general 
 current. 
 
 Such a concentration of all the elements of barbaric power, with all the irresistible 
 appliances of modern inventions, could, by the forced labor of the enslaved and de 
 pendent classes, have reared a structure against which not only the puny shafts of 
 refined nations would have struck in vain, but which would have overshadowed other 
 states and ruled for a while sovereign of the ascendant. 
 
 No meaner vision than this rested on the eyes of the projectors of the Southern re 
 bellion. The only difficult step in the accomplishment of this stupendous scheme was 
 the first one, secession from the Government of the United States. This was to 
 prove an impossibility. All the rest would have followed at half the cost in blood 
 and treasure which the South has already expended during the first two years of the 
 war. The total enslavement of the depressed classes, and the creation of a powerful 
 oligarchy of coadjutors, would have rapidly crystallized all the incoherent elements of 
 society throughout all those semi-barbarous and revolution-devastated countries. Or 
 der would have sprung from chaos ; but it would have been the order which reigns in 
 the realms of tyrants ; wealth would have been multiplied by magic, but it would 
 ha\e been the fruit of involuntary and hopeless toil. But such did not happen to be 
 the will of Heaven. This virgin continent was not destined to so horrible a prosti 
 tution. The clock of Time was not to go back again a thousand years. 
 
4CO SUMNER CALLS FOR INFORMATION. 
 
 "Not at all; I take you for President of the United 
 States, and I come with a case of wrong-, in attending 
 to which your predecessor, George Washington, if alive, 
 might add to his renown." In an instant Mr. Lincoln s 
 tone changed, and he heard the case patiently. Return 
 ing to the Senate Chamber, June 2, 1862, Mr. SUMNER 
 offered the following : 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary of War be requested to communicate 
 to the Senate copies of any commissions or orders from his Department 
 undertaking to appoint Provisional Governors in Tennessee and North 
 Carolina, with the instructions given to the Governors. 
 
 Unanimous leave being granted, he said: "If any 
 person in the name of the United States, has under 
 taken to close a school for little children, whether white 
 or black, it is important that we should know the 
 authority under which he assumes to act. Surely nobody 
 here will be willing to take the responsibility for such 
 an act. It is difficult to conceive that one of the first- 
 fruits of national victory, and the re-establishment of na 
 tional power should be an enormity not easy to char 
 acterize in any terms of moderation. Sir, in the name of 
 the Constitution, of humanity, and of common-sense, I 
 protest against such impiety under sanction of the 
 United States." 
 
 In writing to a friend three days later, he said, " Your 
 criticism of the President is hasty. I am confident, if 
 you knew him as I do, you would not make it. I am 
 happy to let you know that he has no sympathy with 
 Stanley in his absurd wickedness, in closing the schools ; 
 nor, again, in his other act of turning our camps into 
 hunting-ground for slaves. He repudiates both, posi 
 tively." 
 
SUMNER S CONFIDENCE IN LINCOLN. 401 
 
 In the same letter he also said : " Could you, as has 
 been my privilege often, have seen the President, while 
 considering the great questions on which he has already 
 acted, beginning with the invitation to Emancipation in 
 the States, then Emancipation in the District of Colum 
 bia, and the acknowledgment of the Independence of 
 Hayti and Liberia, even your zeal would be satisfied ; 
 for you would feel the sincerity of his purpose to do 
 what he can to carry forward the principles of the Decla 
 ration of Independence. His whole soul is occupied, 
 especially, by the first proposition, so peculiarly his own. 
 In familiar intercourse with him, I remember nothing 
 more touching than the earnestness and completeness 
 with which he embraced the idea. To his mind it was 
 just and beneficent, while it promised the sure end of 
 Slavery. To me, who had already proposed a Bridge 
 of Gold for the retreating Fiend, it was most welcome. 
 Proceeding from the President it must take its place 
 among the great events of history. I say to you, there 
 fore, Stand by the Administration." * 
 
 * A European correspondent asked me to give him an idea of Mr. Lincoln s char 
 acter. I sent the following reply : 
 
 You ask me about Mr. Lincoln : what kind of a man what kind of a President 
 he is. 
 
 When Mr. Lincoln entered the Presidential mansion, he could not have answered 
 either of these questions himself. It is a matter of doubt if he could do it even now. 
 
 It was once a post for the coronation retirement of a statesman, when he had earned 
 the supreme honors of the state. In times of peace our great public men found their 
 legitimate way to the Home of the Presidents as Washington wished to have the 
 White House called. Those honors then were always worthily won, and the laurel 
 wreath kept green on the brows of all their wearers, at least till the last of the 
 primitive chieftains went to his untroubled rest under the shades of the " Hermitage." 
 
 Yes, those men lived to reap the rich rewards of peace after their battles; of repose 
 after their toils. 
 
 But it was no pillow of down on which Abraham Lincoln was invited to lay his- 
 head. He thought he understood something of what had been committed to him ;. 
 and when he stood on the eastern portico of the Capitol, all blanched before the surg 
 ing sea of anxious men and women who were waiting to learn " What of the night ? " 
 26 
 
402 MR. LINCOLN S CHARACTER DRAWN. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 On the i pth of January, 1862, Senator McDouGALL, of 
 California, had introduced into the Senate a series of 
 Resolutions concerning the attempt to subject the Repub 
 lic of Mexico to French authority, in which the following 
 peremptory clause appeared : " That it is the duty of 
 
 would bring from the new sentinel, he uttered words to which the events of the future 
 were to give an astounding and unforeseen significance. 
 
 Lincoln s Presidency has been a heritage of trouble. No good man in his senses 
 would have taken the honor, if he could have foreseen a tithe of its bewildering heart- 
 achings, the treason, the blood, the agony it would cost the noble nation, betrayed 
 by its own children, immolated before his own eyes, or the home-troubles it would 
 bring to his fireside. 
 
 But the men who voluntarily assume the direction of public, or even private, affairs, 
 must be ready for any emergency. Nobody has any right to assume that everything 
 \vill go right. Nor is there any ground to suppose that Mr. Lincoln did. On the 
 ccntrary, his inaugural address clearly proved that his eye had pierced the probable 
 future, not, indeed, all that future which has since become history, for human ken 
 could not reach so far. But that he has had to confront more surprises, and grapple 
 with more difficulties than could have been known to, or anticipated by any human in 
 telligence, will hardly be denied. 
 
 Some peculiar and fortunate qualities in his character have enabled him not only to 
 -save the country from ruin, but also to inspire and sustain a most healthy state of the 
 body politic, in the midst of the avalanches and whirlwinds which have struck and 
 shaken our whole system of civic life. 
 
 His first characteristic is self-control. lie very seldom loses his equanimity. 
 This gives room for the constant exercise of his judgment. 
 
 His second characteristic is his good, plain, home-made common-sense, "This is 
 a quality," Southey said, " rarer than genius." So far as all the real business of life 
 is concerned for men or nations, strong common-sense is the surest and safest guide. 
 Through this alembic all the unfriendly and dangerous elements of this terrible 
 conflict have had to pass. 
 
 Another quality has mingled itself, by the laws of affinity in moral chemistry, with 
 Mr. Lincoln s executive acts, humor, bonJiommic, good nature. Men have com 
 plained of him on this ground. They have charged him with levity. But these 
 critics should remember one of the fine sayings of Malesherbes, the great Frenchman, 
 " A fortunate dash of pleasantry has often saved the peace of families, sometimes of 
 an empire." It is fully believed that Mr. Lincoln s cheerfulness has dissipated many 
 a cloud that lowered around the " Home of the Presidents," and left its fragments 
 " in the deep ocean buried." And, last of all, his firm faith in the durability of the 
 republic is unbroken. All these qualities, united, make him what he is. 
 
MR. LINCOLN S WRITTEN OPINION. 403 
 
 this Republic to require of the government of France, 
 that her armed forces be withdrawn from the territories 
 of Mexico," and on the 3d of February, when the Reso 
 lutions came up for consideration, Mr. McDouGALL made 
 an elaborate speech, in which he doubtless expressed 
 the prevailing sentiment of the Senate, and of the coun 
 try, so far as the intervention of France and our sympa 
 thy with Mexico were concerned. But it was in violation 
 of all prudential considerations, under the circumstances. 
 In the affairs of nations, sometimes those things that 
 are right in themselves, are altogether wrong, all things 
 considered. Mr. McDouGALL did not make this distinc 
 tion. But statesmanship could not afford to overlook it. 
 In speaking on this subject, Mr. LINCOLN expressed the 
 same words that he did to me when the Trent matter 
 came up, which were exactly these, as he afterwards 
 wrote them to me himself: "At that time, we were not 
 prepared to shoulder fresh troubles, having all we could 
 carry, of our own! 
 
 So thought Mr. SUMNER, who, in reply to Senator 
 McDouGALL, said: 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT, At the present moment there is one touchstone 
 to which I am disposed to bring every question, especially in our foreign 
 relations ; and this touchstone is its influence on the suppression of the 
 Rebellion. A measure may in itself be just or expedient ; but if it 
 would be a present burden, if it w r ould add to our embarrassments and 
 troubles, and especially if it would aggravate our military condition, 
 then, whatever may be its merits, I am against it. To the suppression 
 of the Rebellion the country offers life and treasure without stint, and 
 it expects that these energies shall not be sacrificed or impaired by the 
 assumption of any added responsibilities. 
 
 If I bring these Resolutions to this touchstone, they fail. They may 
 be right or wrong in fact or principle, but their influence at this mo 
 ment, if adopted, must be most prejudicial to the cause of the Union. 
 Assuming the tone of friendship to Mexico, they practically give to the 
 
404 SUMNER ON OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS. 
 
 Rebellion a most powerful ally, for they openly challenge war with 
 France. There is madness in the proposition. I do not question the 
 motives of the Senator, but it would be difficult to conceive anything 
 more calculated to aid and comfort the Rebellion, just in proportion to 
 its adoption. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. The present 
 war is surely enough, without adding war with France. 
 
 It is sufficient that the policy of the Senator from California, without 
 any certainty of good to Mexico, must excite the hostility of France, 
 and give to the Rebellion army and fleets, not to mention that recogni 
 tion and foreign intervention which we deprecate. 
 
 Let us all unite to put down the Rebellion. This is enough for the 
 present. 
 
 If Senators are sensitive, when they see European monarchies again 
 setting foot on this hemisphere, entering Mexico with their armies, 
 entering New Granada with their influence, and occupying the ancient 
 ; San Domingo, let them consider that there is but one way in which 
 this return of empire can be arrested. It is by the suppression of the 
 Rebellion. Let the Rebellion be overcome, and this whole continent 
 will fall naturally, peacefully, and tranquilly under the irresistible influ 
 ence of American institutions. Resolutions cannot do this, nor 
 speeches. I therefore move that the Resolutions lie on the table. 
 
 They did. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Our foreign relations, such as they were, such as 
 they might be, was the subject which, next to the 
 varying fortunes of the War for the Union, now occu 
 pied the anxious thoughts of statesmen at home and 
 abroad. 
 
 Sometimes it is as true with nations as with individuals 
 that an age is crowded into an hour, that the flash of a 
 sabre may do in a second what a whole generation has 
 waited for, that exhausted patience among men and 
 governments may assume the prerogatives of the Al 
 mighty, and let the bolt and the flash come together. 
 But beware where the bolt strikes. 
 
HOW EUROPE FELT TOWARDS US. 4O5 
 
 This had a full application in our experience. We found 
 our enemies had become those of our own household. 
 They attempted to break up our Government, to over 
 throw our Union, to destroy our prosperity, and wind 
 up our history as a first-class Power. The Government 
 of the United States had never deviated from the accom 
 plishment of its legitimate objects. It was made for all, 
 and it had protected all. No State could claim that it 
 had been wronged in any measure, without instantly 
 having its wrong adjusted by the supreme legislative, ju 
 dicial, or executive power. 
 
 And thus, without any infraction of law or any inva 
 sion of prerogative, one section of the country was ar 
 rayed in hostility against the other ; and suddenly we 
 found ourselves threatened with the choice of two evils, 
 a struggle to the death, if necessary, against dismem 
 berment, if not indeed against total destruction ; or to 
 submit tamely to inevitable ruin. 
 
 This was a new spectacle for the nations of Europe 
 to look on ; and, as might be expected, it gave them 
 a good chance for showing how truly they had rejoiced 
 in our prosperity, or how glad they would be in our mis 
 fortune. 
 
 XL. 
 
 RUSSIA, by all odds the grandest of all European 
 structures, without waiting an hour for consultation 
 with other Powers, sent back her assurances of sympa 
 thy with us in our efforts to frustrate this treasonable 
 attempt to break up a free and prosperous Government, 
 which had proved so powerful and beneficent a shield 
 for the protection of all its people. 
 
4G<3 FRIENDSHIP OF RUSSIA. 
 
 Russia is the natural ally of the United States. She 
 has a vast territory, and all her people look to her for 
 protection. She has, during" a thousand years, been 
 slowly but surely emerging from Asiatic barbarism into 
 the light and strength of modern civilization. She has, 
 moreover, done what no other nation had done : she 
 has carried the masses of her people along with her as 
 fast as she has travelled herself. 
 
 Oriental in her origin, she has maintained a patriarchal 
 government. If it has ever been a despotism in form, it 
 W 7 as manifestly the only machinery strong enough to gov 
 ern, protect, and bless all her people. 
 
 She undertook a work far more difficult than Rome 
 had to do. She had to aggregate, harmonize, and blend 
 together the great nomadic tribes of the East. When 
 from the affluent social systems of Asia, bursting with 
 crowded populations, they drifted westward on her now 
 European territories, Russia was submerged by wild, 
 strange, and savage races. She had the most stupen 
 dous task given to her which any nation has ever had to 
 perform. Contending with difficulties which had never 
 before been encountered, she has at last presented to the 
 world the wonderful spectacle of a mighty empire made 
 up of countless dissevered and warring communities, all 
 ferocious, all untamed, all nomadic, all speaking different 
 tongues, and representing all the religious superstitions 
 of the East; but now all blended in a homogeneous so 
 cial and political system, which has not only eclipsed, in 
 the culture of its upper classes, the refinement of Euro 
 pean courts, and matched them in the arts of war and 
 peace, but has boldly struck the shackles of slavery from 
 the limbs of as many million men as now make up 
 the population of all our old Free States. I cannot resist 
 
BAYARD TAYLOR S ODE TO RUSSIA. 
 
 407 
 
 the desire here to link BAYARD TAYLOR S grandest poem 
 with this portion of our historic chain. * 
 
 That involuntary servitude should be abolished by the 
 most despotic of nations, with the applause of the world, 
 and the day of emancipation (March 3, 1863) be ushered 
 in by chimes of gratitude and thanksgiving from every 
 church-spire in the Russian Empire, while the great Re 
 public of the world still bound the fetters upon four mil 
 lion slaves, will hereafter read strangely in history. 
 
 But a wiser and broader statesmanship than ours 
 Of uides the destinies of Russia. 
 
 * A THOUSAND YEARS. 
 
 A thousand years, through storm and fire, 
 
 With varying fate, the work has grown, 
 Till Alexander crowns the spire 
 
 Where Rurik laid the corner-stone. 
 
 The chieftain s sword that could not rust, 
 But bright in constant battle grew, 
 
 Raised to the world a throne august, 
 A nation grander than he knew. 
 
 Nor he alone ; but those who have, 
 
 Through faith or deed, an equal part, 
 
 The subtle brain of Yaroslav, 
 
 Vladimir s arm, and Nikon s heart, 
 
 The later hands that built so well 
 
 The work sublime which these began, 
 
 And up from base to pinnacle 
 
 Wrought out the Empire s mighty plan, 
 
 All these to-day are crown d anew, 
 And rule in splendor where they trod, 
 
 While Russia s children throng to view 
 Her holy cradle, Novgorod, 
 
 From Volga s banks, from Dwina s side, 
 From pine-clad Ural, dark and long, 
 
 Or where the foaming Terek s tide 
 Leaps down from Kasbek, bright with song, 
 
 From Altai s chain of mountain-cones, 
 
 Mongolian deserts far and free, 
 And lands that bind, through changing zones, 
 
 Tlu: Eastern and the Western Sea. 
 
 To every race she gives a home, 
 
 And creeds and laws enjoy her shade, 
 
 Till far beyond the dreams of Rome 
 Her Caesar s mandate is obey d. 
 
 She blends the virtues they impart, 
 And holds within her life combined 
 
 The patient faith of Asia s heart, 
 
 The force of Europe s restless mind. 
 
 She bids the nomad s wandering cease, 
 She binds the wild marauder fast ; 
 
 Her ploughshares turn to homes of peace 
 The battle-fields of ages past. 
 
 And, nobler far, she dares to know 
 
 Her future s task, nor knows in vain, 
 
 But strikes at once the generous blow 
 That makes her millions men again ! 
 
 So, firmer based,, her power expands, 
 Nor yet has seen its crowning hour, 
 
 Still teaching to the struggling lands 
 That Peace the offspring is of Power. 
 
 Build up the storied bronze, to tell 
 The steps whereby this height she trod, 
 
 The thousand years that chronicle 
 The toil of man, the help of God ! 
 
 And may the thousand years to come 
 The future ages, wise and free 
 
 Still see her flag and hear her drum 
 Across the world, from sea to sea, 
 
 Still find, a symbol stern and grand, 
 Her ancient eagle s strength unshorn, 
 
 One head to watch the western land 
 
 And one to guard the land of morn ! 
 NOVGOROD, RUSSIA, Sept. 20, 1862. 
 
408 ENGLAND S FEELING IN CONTRAST. 
 
 It was from such a nation that the earliest words of 
 sympathy and confidence came when our first domestic 
 troubles began ; and it was not forgotten by the Ameri 
 can people when that tempest swept by. We see new 
 storms gathering over Europe, and our aid may be in 
 voked against Russia, and invoked in vain. States 
 men know that while individuals may forgive, nations 
 never do. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 How has England looked on this contest ? Strange 
 enough has been the course she has taken. She will 
 hardly be able hereafter to explain it to others : it is 
 doubtful if she can do it now even to herself. 
 
 England lives in America to-day, and is dying at home. 
 
 England is clinging to her sepulchres, and she may 
 well do it ; for the places where her great ones repose 
 are the greenest spots on her island. 
 
 We Americans cheated ourselves most egregiously 
 when we thought England once the head of the slave- 
 trade, and only a few years ago the front of the aboli 
 tionism of the world would turn her slavery-hating back 
 on the only organized band of slavery propagandism on 
 the earth ! 
 
 Poor fools we ! Just as though the British aristoc 
 racy the true name for the British Government meant 
 anything but interference and trouble for us when her 
 Grace the Duchess of Sutherland chaperoned the gifted 
 Harriet Beecher Stowe through the court of her Majesty, 
 simply because Mrs. Stowe, by writing a great dramatic 
 novel against slavery, could be made a cat s-paw to pull 
 the chestnuts of the British aristocracy out of the fire ! 
 
INSINCERITY OF ENGLISH PROFESSIONS. 409 
 
 Yes, abolitionism suited the purposes of the British 
 aristocracy just then ; and lords and ladies swarmed at 
 negro-emancipation gatherings at Exeter Hall. On all 
 such occasions three standing jokes were played off, to 
 the infinite amusement of dukes and duchesses, duch 
 esses more particularly. 
 
 First, there must be a live American negro, the 
 blacker the better, sometimes ; but they generally got 
 one as little black as possible, and an octoroon threw 
 them into the highest state of subdued frenzy admissible 
 in the upper classes. The aforesaid negro must have 
 escaped from the indescribable horrors and barbarities 
 of slavery in the Southern States, gashed, manacled 
 if he showed the manacles, so much the better a sam 
 ple of American barbarism, and a burning shame on the 
 otherwise fair cheek of the goddess of American liberty. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said my lord Brougham; nothing stands 
 in your way now but negro slavery. Abolish that, and 
 every heart in England is with you." 
 
 Secondly, at these Exeter Hall meetings they must 
 have a live American abolitionist, once a slaveholder 
 who had emancipated his slaves. Here they found their 
 man in the noble Judge Birney, as in \he. first they found 
 a splendid specimen of a runaway octoroon in Frederick 
 Douglas, Esq., the black Douglas, and who, by-the- 
 by, made a better speech by far than any aristocrat in 
 England. 
 
 Thirdly, and last of all, some ecclesiastic gentleman 
 bestowed upon the proceedings the benediction. 
 
 This would have been well enough, certainly so far 
 as the benediction was concerned, had not future 
 events proved beyond a doubt that, at the very moment 
 these curious things were occurring, the whole prestige 
 
410 HATRED OF ENGLAND S RULING CLASSES. 
 
 of the British empire was invoked to sanctify and adorn 
 a spirit of hostility to the Government of the United 
 States, and that the solemnities of our holy religion were 
 also invoked in the same cause. 
 
 But to my unpractised eye it looked at the time very 
 much as later events have shown it, a thorough hatred 
 of America by the ruling classes of England. 
 
 Atone time Lord Brougham presided; again, O Con- 
 nell ; and again, the venerable Thomas Clarkson : they 
 even got his Royal Highness Prince Albert to do it 
 once, on a somewhat narrower scale, where even ten 
 der young duchesses could attend with impunity the 
 American negro always being present, like Tom Thumb 
 in Barnum s chief amusements and, being fortified with 
 a supply of highly-perfumed kerchiefs, the young 
 duchesses managed generally to live it through and 
 revive after reaching the open air ! 
 
 These farces were played off all through the British 
 Islands ; and the poor British people who, from long 
 habit, I suppose, go where " their betters " go, when 
 allowed to -joined in the movement, and "American 
 anti-slavery societies " were everywhere established. 
 Even chambermaids and factory-girls contributed to 
 raise a fund to send " English missionaries " over here 
 "to enlighten the North about the duty of the South to 
 abolish slavery." 
 
 Some of these scenes were sufficiently vulgar ; but they 
 were sometimes got up, in some respects, in fine taste. 
 One occasion I recall with the highest pleasure, which, 
 although ostensibly an anti-slavery dinner, was limited 
 chiefly in its company to the literary men of London.* 
 
 * Among the good things of that evening was a short poem written for the occa 
 sion by Wm. Beattie, M.D., the gifted and well-known author of "Scotland Illus- 
 
DR. BEATTIE S ADDRESS TO OUR POETS. 411 
 
 It was a noble enthusiasm among the people ; but it 
 was anybody could see through it, for it was the veriest 
 gauze all an aristocratic sham. It did not mean any 
 thing for human freedom. It meant hostility to the 
 United States. It was got up by British politicians. 
 Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington had no 
 part or parcel in it, unless it were through sheer courtesy 
 to the men of their class. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 This English crusade against the United States was 
 got up by the British aristocracy in sheer animosity 
 against our Government, not so much, perhaps, 
 against our people, chiefly because they cared nothing 
 about them. It was our system of government they 
 hated, because it was a standing, growing, and luminous 
 reproof of the blighting and degrading system of Eng- 
 
 trated," etc. I do not know if it has been published. I remember some of the 
 stanzas. It is an address from " England s Poets to the Poets of America." 
 
 Your Garrison has faun d the flame, Oh, where should Freedom s hope abide, 
 Child, Chapman, Pierpont, caught the fire, Save in the bosoms of the free? 
 
 And, roused at Freedom s hallow d name, Where should the wretched negro hide, 
 Hark ! 1 ryant, Whittier, strike the lyre ; Save in the shade of Freedom s tree? 
 
 While here hearts myriad trumpet-toned, Oh, by those songs your children sing, 
 
 Montgomery, Cowper, Campbell, Moore, The lays that soothe your winter fires, 
 
 To Freedom s glorious cause respond, The hopes, the hearths, to which you cling, 
 
 In sounds which thrill through every core. The sacred ashes of your sires, 
 
 Their voice has conjured up a power By all the joys that crown the free, 
 
 No fears can daunt, no foes arrest, Love, honor, fame, the hope of Heaven, 
 
 Which gathers strength with every hour Wake in your might, that earth may se^ 
 
 And strikes a chord in every breast, God s gifts have not been vainly give^. 
 
 A power that soon in every land Bards of Freedom s favor d land, 
 
 On Europe s shore, on ocean s flood Strike at last your loftiest key, 
 
 Shall smite the oppressors of mankind Peal the watchword through the land, 
 
 And blast the traffickers in blood. Shout till every slave be free. 
 
 Long has he drain d the bitter cup, 
 
 Long borne the burden, clank d the chain ; 
 But now the strength of Europe s up, 
 
 A strength that ne er shall sleep again. 
 
412 STARVATION IN ENGLAND. 
 
 land, which starves the masses of her people in order 
 that the privileged few may die of surfeit. 
 
 " Blackwood s Magazine," an authority not likely to 
 be charged with hostility towards the British oligarchy, 
 nor with favoritism towards our republic, said in speak 
 ing on this same subject in the same year 1840 
 
 " It were well if some ingenious optician could invent 
 an instrument which would remedy the defects of that 
 long-sighted benevolence which sweeps the field for 
 distant objects of compassion, while it is blind as a bat to 
 the misery around its own doors." 
 
 Well said ! I saw and felt it all when I went through 
 the streets and lanes and cellars of Manchester, where 
 fifty thousand blanched skeleton men, women, and chil 
 dren were, slowly or rapidly, dying of starvation. In 
 that city, also, vast anti-slavery meetings were got up 
 to induce the North to put down slavery in the South. 
 These assemblages were invariably under the auspices 
 of the aristocracy, and they were held where the police 
 were stationed at the doorways to drive off the famish 
 ing, lest their plaint of hunger might salute the ears of 
 their bloated task-masters. 
 
 There was no lack of cotton in Manchester then. 
 There was something worse than that. It was the same 
 old complaint you will find in any part of England, 
 the poor over-worked and under-fed to make the rich 
 richer and the poor poorer. 
 
 I went up to Paisley, where more than half the po 
 pulation were being fed from soup-kettles, and pretty 
 poor soup at that. There, too, the abolition of Ameri 
 can slavery seemed to be the only thing which drew 
 forth the sympathies or reached the charity of the 
 aristocratic classes. 
 
ENGLAND OWED US NO GOOD-WILL. 413 
 
 So everywhere in England it was, " that long-sighted 
 benevolence, sweeping the distant horizon for objects of 
 compassion, but blind as a bat to the misery at the 
 door." 
 
 It was not so in 1840 alone. I have been in England 
 several times since, but I never saw a good year for the 
 poor of that oppressive empire. 
 
 To show that this was all the poorest of shams, and 
 that England owed us no good-will, let us step from 
 1840 to 1863. 
 
 We saw all things the same in England, except in the 
 "negro business." Here all was changed. British 
 sympathy was shifted from the slave and lavished on 
 his master, from " moral pocket-handkerchiefs and reli 
 gious fine tooth-combs " to the overseer s lash and the 
 unleashed bloodhound, from the maintenance of free 
 institutions to their overthrow, from civilization to bar 
 barism, from liberty to bondage. 
 
 In 1840, Mr. Stephenson, our Virginia slave-breeding 
 Ambassador near the Court of St. James, became so 
 odious that no chance to snub or insult him was lost by 
 the British Government. 
 
 Mr. Adams, holding that same post, and embellishing 
 it with all the great and noble qualities of illuminated 
 talents and Christian philanthropy, was treated with far 
 more neglect and far less cordiality by the same class 
 which pretended to despise Stephenson and feted Har 
 riet Beecher Stowe. 
 
 Then England complained of our remissness or shirk 
 ing in not doing our share towards putting down the 
 slave-trade. Now all her sympathies were with the sup 
 porters of slavery itself, which was the only support of 
 slavery on the earth ; and her ship-yards and arsenals 
 
4H PLAIN LETTER TO LORD JOHN RUSSELL. 
 
 were taxed to their utmost to build fleets of the strong 
 est and swiftest steam pirates, to help the slave-driving 
 Confederacy in sweeping our peaceful commerce from 
 the sea, once more to inaugurate the traffic in flesh and 
 blood. 
 
 The British Government knew, when the Alabama s 
 keel was laid, that she was to become a pirate ; and our 
 minister protested against it in vain. Three hundred 
 of the rich merchants of England, in broad daylight, 
 boasted of their purpose, and exulted over its success 
 ful execution. 
 
 The British Government gave the earliest and hearti 
 est encouragement to the rebellion, by recognizing it as 
 a belligerent power the moment its task-masters reached 
 London. It allowed all the materials and munitions of 
 war the rebels called for to be furnished, and, from the 
 first hour, gave to the Rebellion all the aid and comfort 
 it dared to furnish our enemies, in their atrocious attempt 
 to immolate liberty, and enthrone slavery in the Western 
 world ! * 
 
 * It has amazed those who were familiar with Lord John Russell s public history 
 that he should have trifled so heartlessly with the great issues of civilization and free 
 government at stake in this Rebellion. This shuffling cost him the confidence of the 
 great middle class in England and the respect of the world. If the following letter 
 addressed to him may seem to be unlike letters usually written to titled men, I con 
 sider it quite respectful enough to the man who struck hands with pirates and became 
 pimp to the propagandists of negro slavery. Although written more than eleven 
 years ago, I see no occasion for retracting a syllable or cancelling a word. 
 
 MY LORD : We have a habit you are not much accustomed to, of straight talk 
 and honest dealing : so you need not be amazed if we speak very plainly in this 
 despatch. 
 
 You have all your life been a place- seeker or a place-holder. To get power and 
 money, you have always turned your back on your friends, and let your Reform meas 
 ures go to the dogs. Whenever you have been an " out," and any American question 
 came up, you were a warm advocate of our Republic. When you were an k in," 
 you changed your tone. When Liberty was at stake in a foreign nation, or at home, 
 you have been its noisiest champion, if an " out." If an "in," you have done your 
 best to crush it, in Ireland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Poland. It was with a pang 
 
HIS UNWORTHY CONDUCT. 415 
 
 No jurist will pretend to say that in all this she did 
 not violate the spirit, if not the letter, of her own laws 
 of neutrality, and the laws of nations. No intelligent 
 man will deny that by these acts she prolonged and 
 inflamed that accursed war. No man in his senses sup 
 poses for a moment that England would have ventured 
 
 that you saw even old Greece become free. For half a century, if an "out," you 
 have brawled for Freedom and Free Governments; if an "in," you have resorted to 
 the very last trick to keep there. You have, if an "out," always paraded your 
 friendship for the United States, and virulently assailed any Tory or Conservative 
 ministry. "In" again, you first veered, then hesitated, then tacked, and then at 
 tacked us, our Government, and all American things. You know our Republic has 
 never had any fair play from any ministry except the Tories or Conservatives. All 
 Americans involuntarily say of British politicians of your stripe, " Save us from our 
 friends, and we will take care of our enemies." But you have reserved the meanest 
 and most bare-faced tergiversation of your public life till you were pressing the verge 
 of your mortal existence. After pointing a thousand times with exultation to our 
 great and prosperous nation, and deploring the two wars waged against us, you are 
 now gloating over the prospect (as you deem it) of our speedy disruption and down 
 fall. After hobnobbing with every abolitionist and feting every run-away American 
 negro who managed to reach England, and imploring Britons no longer to use slave- 
 grown cotton and sugar, you now take sides with the "nigger-driving" secessionists 
 of the rebel States, who are trying to break clown freedom in America, and extend 
 the area of that accursed institution, and sanctify the revival of the African slave- 
 trade. You are threatening war against the United States unless we will surrender 
 two intercepted traitors on their way to your abolition arms and sympathies, the 
 chiefest emissaries which the slavery you have always pretended to hate, could send 
 to your shores. 
 
 O JOHN RUSSELL ! how unworthy is all this of the descendant of your great an 
 cestor, who sealed with his blood on the scaffold his life-long devotion to the cause of 
 justice and human freedom ! Why must you, just as you are ending your career, rob 
 your proud name of that ancient halo which has gathered around it, by expending 
 your last efforts in trying to blot out Free Government, for which the founder of your 
 race so nobly died, and perpetuating on our virgin soil African slavery, which the 
 world is clamoring to see blotted out ? 
 
 My lord, do you plead that the necessity of slave-grown cotton calls for so das 
 tardly a betrayal by yourself of all the sonrenirs of your life? And will you, to ac 
 complish this purpose, trample on all the canons of international law, and become 
 public robber and go and steal this cotton? If you attempt it, will you succeed? 
 How much. cotton would you get before your ministry went down? Before you lost 
 a market for your commerce with twenty-three million freemen ? Before our bread- 
 sUiffs, which are now keeping the wolf away from British doors, would reach your 
 shores ? Before bread-riots would occur throughout the British Islands which would 
 
4l6 ENGLAND OUR STEP-MOTHER. 
 
 on such a course of hostility and inhumanity at any other 
 period of our history since the Peace of 1815. 
 
 No other thoughts can suggest themselves to impar 
 tial men that, while we were going through a domestic 
 trouble, a great trouble, which filled every true heart 
 in America or elsewhere with a sadness which dragged 
 us " down to the depths of the earth." 
 
 Little did England then dream, that within eight short 
 
 make you turn pale ? Before all seas would swarm with our privateers, now twenty- 
 fold more numerous than in 1812, when you found them too fleet and too strong for 
 you? Before you encountered, in addition to two millions of our native soldiers and 
 sailors, half a million of adopted citizens, able-bodied men, formerly British sub 
 jects, and burning to avenge the wrongs of centuries inflicted on their devoted 
 Island ? 
 
 My lord, do you plead that the exigencies of statesmanship demand that you should 
 turn the arms of the earth against you ? Do you suppose that NAPOLEON would lose 
 such a chance for avenging Waterloo? Or Russia for taking Constantinople? Or all 
 despotisms for crushing your supremacy ? Or all the peoples of Europe for crushing 
 monarchy ? 
 
 It would seem that England* should be willing, at least, to let us manage our do 
 mestic affairs, since she has incurred a quarter of her national debt in interfering 
 with them; that she should not now take to her arms "the foul corpse of African 
 slavery on our soil," when it cost her five hundred million dollars to get rid of it in 
 her own territories ! Should not the Founder of Modern Liberty be glad to see how 
 prosperously the brood of her young eagles had founded an empire-home in the New 
 World s forests, and not writhe, and chafe, and bark at and hawk at our nest, till she 
 could come here and tear it to pieces ? 
 
 The time had gone by, we hoped, when England, our oivn mother, would try to 
 become our step-mother ! Why could she not have been proud in the pride of her 
 daughter, and let her wear the jewels she had herself so nobly won? And yet mali 
 cious people say that England acts like some old dame, who, after parting with the 
 title to a daughter s estate, feels that she has still some reserved right left to inter 
 fere in what no longer concerns her, and casts now and then an envious glance at 
 beauty yet unshrivelled, and conquests forever beyond her reach. 
 
 Can it be, my lord, that such unworthy feelings as these can now enter your heart 
 as an English statesman ? We cannot believe it. Can you desire to put one more 
 great trouble on the heart of your beloved, widowed queen? We will not believe it. 
 
 My lord, you should be engaged in doing some good to the people of your own 
 empire, rather than in trying to hurt a great, a kindred, and a friendly nation. After 
 attempting so long to be a statesman, do not finish by being only a ministerial bully. 
 
 I am, my lord, your obedient servant, 
 
 C. EDWARDS LESTER. 
 
SUMNER FOR COLORED TROOPS. 417 
 
 years and chiefly through the influence of CHARLES 
 SUMNER she would be forced to yield to arbitration, 
 and branded by a-n impartial Tribunal as a public enemy 
 of the United States, and condemned to pay exemplary 
 damages for herv-crime. 
 
 XLIIL 
 
 On the 26th of May 1862 of the previous year, Sen 
 ator SUMNER had introduced a Resolution to the effect 
 that the time had come for the nation to invite all persons, 
 without distinction of color, to come forward every 
 where to render all the assistance in their power to the 
 cause of the Union, according to their ability, whether by 
 arms, labor, information, or in any other way. On the 
 1 7th of the following July, an Act was approved, au 
 thorizing the President to receive into the service of the 
 United States, persons of African descent who might be 
 found competent to aid in constructing entrenchments, 
 or performing camp service or labor. 
 
 This was the beginning of a wise policy in our legisla 
 tion regarding the employment of Colored men. In the 
 following October, at Fanueil Hall, Mr. SUMNER had 
 spoken in justification of a direct appeal to the slaves of 
 Rebels : but this was on all sides regarded as premature, 
 at least. On the Qth of the following February, 1863, 
 however, he introduced a bill to raise additional soldiers 
 for the service of the United States, and to accept every 
 able-bodied free male person of African descent, of the 
 age of eighteen, and under forty-five years, for military 
 service, the monthly pay of such free persons to be the 
 same as that of volunteers ; provided, that the whole 
 
 number thus called into the service should not exceed 
 
 27 
 
4i 8 AUTHOR S HISTORIC STATEMENT. 
 
 one hundred thousand men. But the Bill was not reach 
 ed during the session. Colored volunteers had, how 
 ever, been accepted everywhere, and the evidence of 
 their bravery, and above all, their patriotic zeal, was 
 placed beyond criticism it was above praise. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 When the policy of the employment of African troops 
 was first being agitated, I prepared by request, the 
 following historic statement on the subject which Mr. 
 LINCOLN made use of in his discussions with his friends 
 and advisers, and which, by the advice of Mr. SUMNER, 
 was anonymously printed after it had passed his thor 
 ough revision. He believed it would fortify his position 
 in the Senate, and Mr. LINCOLN with his Cabinet. The 
 result justified those convictions. 
 
 Those who have declaimed loudest against the employment of negro 
 troops have shown a lamentable amount of ignorance, and an equally 
 lamentable lack of common sense. They know as little of the military 
 history and martial qualities of the African race as they do of their own 
 duties as commanders. 
 
 All distinguished generals of modern times who have had opportu 
 nities to use negro soldiers, have uniformly applauded their subordi 
 nation, bravery,- and powers of endurance. Washington solicited the 
 military services of negroes in the Revolution, and rewarded them. 
 Jackson did the same in the War of 1812. Under both those great 
 captains the negro troops fought so well that they received unstinted 
 ;praise. 
 
 Bancroft, in speaking of the battle of Bunker Hill (vol. vii. p. 421. 
 History of United States), says : 
 
 " Nor should history forget to record that as in the army at Cam 
 bridge, so also in this gallant band, the free negroes of the colony had 
 their representatives. For the right of free negroes to bear arms in the 
 public defence was at that day as little disputed in New England as their 
 
NEGRO TROOPS IN WASHINGTON S ARMY. 419 
 
 other rights. They took their places, not in a separate corps, but in the 
 ranks with the white men ; and their names may be read on the pension- 
 rolls of the country side by side with those of other soldiers of the Re 
 volution." 
 
 In the Memoir of Major Samuel Lawrence (by Rev. Dr. Lothrop, pp. 
 8, 9) the following passage occurs : 
 
 "At one time he commanded a company whose rank and file were 
 all negroes, of whose courage, military discipline, and fidelity he always 
 spoke with respect. On one occasion, being out reconnoitring with 
 this company, be got so far in advance of his command that he was 
 surrounded and on the point of being made prisoner by the enemy. 
 The men, soon discovering his peril, rushed to his rescue, and fought 
 with the most determined bravery till that rescue was effectually 
 secured." 
 
 When the Committee of Conference on the condition of the army 
 agreed that negro soldiers should be rejected altogether, Washington, 
 on the 3ist of December, 1775, wrote from Cambridge to the President 
 of Congress as follows : 
 
 " It has been represented to me that the free negroes who have 
 served in this army are very much dissatisfied at being discarded. As 
 it is to be apprehended that they may seek employ in the ministerial 
 army, I have presumed to depart from the resolution respecting them, 
 and have given license for their being enlisted. If this is disapproved 
 of by Congress, I will put a stop to it." Sparks s Life of Washington, 
 vol. iii., pp. 218, 219. 
 
 Congress sustained Washington in disregarding the resolution. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 The secret journals of Congress (vol. L, pp. 107, no), March 29, 
 1779, show that the States of South Carolina and Georgia were "re 
 commended to raise immediately three thousand able-bodied negroes. 
 That every negro who shall well and faithfully serve as a soldier to the 
 end of the present war, and shall then return his arms, be emancipated 
 and receive the sum of fifty dollars." 
 
 Washington, Hamilton, Greene, Lincoln, and Lawrence, warmly ap 
 proved of the measure. In 1 783 the General Assembly of Virginia 
 passed "An act directing the emancipation of certain slaves who have 
 served as soldiers in this war." 
 
420 COLORED HEROES AT RED BANK. 
 
 We next give an extract from an act of the "State of RJiodc Island 
 and Providence Plantations, in General Assembly" February session, 
 !7 7 8 : "Whereas, for the preservation of the rights and liberties of the 
 United States, it is necessary that the whole powers of Government 
 should be exerted in recruiting the Continental battalions ; and whereas 
 his Excellency General Washington hath enclosed to this State a pro 
 posal, made to him by Brigadier-General Varnum, to enlist into the 
 two battalions, raising by this State, such slaves as should be willing to 
 enter into the service ; and whereas history affords us frequent prece 
 dents of the wisest, the freest and bravest nations having liberated their 
 slaves and enlisted them as soldiers to fight in defence of their country ; 
 and, also, whereas the enemy, with a great force, have taken possession 
 of the capital and a great part of this State, and this State is obliged to 
 raise a very considerable number of troops for its own immediate de 
 fence, whereby it is in a manner rendered impossible for this State to 
 furnish recruits for the said two battalions without adopting the said 
 measure so recommended; 
 
 "It is Voted and Resolved, That every able-bodied negro, mulatto, or 
 Indian man-slave in this State may enlist into either of the said two 
 battalions, to serve during the continuance of the present war with 
 Great Britain ; that every slave so enlisting shall be entitled to and re 
 ceive all the bounties, wages, and encouragements allowed by the Con 
 tinental Congress to any soldier enlisting in their service. 
 
 "// is further Voted and Resolved, That every slave so enlisting 
 shall, upon his passing muster before Colonel Christopher Green, be 
 immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress, and 
 be absolutely FREE, as though he had never been encumbered with 
 any kind of servitude or slavery." 
 
 The negroes enlisted under this act were the men who immortalized 
 themselves at Red Bank. 
 
 Arnold, in his "History of Rhode Island," vol. ii., pp. 427, 428, de 
 scribing the "battle of Rhode Island," fought August 29, 1778, says, 
 "A third time the enemy, with desperate courage and increased 
 strength, attempted to assail the redoubt, and would have carried it, but 
 for the timely aid of two Continental battalions despatched by Sullivan 
 to support his almost exhausted troops. It was in repelling these furi 
 ous onsets that the newly-raised black regiment, under Colonel Green, 
 distinguished itself by deeds of desperate valor. Posted behind a 
 thicket in the valley, they three times drove back the Hessians, who 
 charged repeatedly down the hill to dislodge them." 
 
COMMODORE CHAUNCEY S BLACK SAILORS. 421 
 
 Negroes have always been favorites * in our navy, and their names 
 always entered on the ships books without distinction. Commodore 
 Chauncey thus speaks : 
 
 u. j r egret that you are not pleased with the men sent you by Messrs. 
 Champlin and Forrest, for, to my kno\yledge, a part of them are not 
 surpassed by any seamen we have in the fleet ; and I have yet to learn 
 that the color of the skin, or the cut and trimmings of the coat, can 
 affect a man s qualifications or usefulness. I have nearly fifty blacks 
 on board of this ship, and many of them are among my best men." 
 
 In October, 1814, the State of New York passed an act to authorize 
 the raising of two regiments of men of color. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 The following proclamation and address of General Andrew Jack 
 son covers the whole ground, and breathes the magnanimous spirit of 
 that hero-patriot : 
 
 "HEAD-QUARTERS, 7TH MILITARY DISTRICT. 
 "MOBILE, September 21, 1814. 
 
 " To THE FREE COLORED INHABITANTS OF LOUISIANA. 
 
 " Through a mistaken policy, you have heretofore been deprived of 
 
 * "In referring to Mr. Wickliffe s remarks against Generals Butler and Hunter, 
 he (Mr. Dunn) pointed to the fact that General Jackson employed colored soldiers 
 in the defence of New Orleans and complimented them upon their gallantry and 
 good order. Kentuckians were in that battle with black men. Commodore Perry 
 fought his battles on Lake Erie with the help of black men ; and black men, too, 
 fought in the Revolutionary War. Commodores Stringham and Woodhull severally 
 testify to the valuable services of the blacks in the navy, saying they are as brave as 
 any who ever stood at the guns. They fought before Vicksburg, and elsewhere. 
 
 " The rebels employ them wherever they can. When they cannot get them 
 willingly, they force them, as they did at Yorktown, to take the front rank of danger. 
 Why not now not only educate them to the use of arms, but prepare them to hold the 
 Southern country wrested from rebels? He did not want the white man to go down 
 and perish there. The negro population, armed, can hold the traitors in subjection. 
 The gentleman from Kentucky was apprehensive if arms were placed ift the hands of 
 blacks that they would commit great barbarities. * What, he asked, replying to 
 that remark, had become of the Christian teachings which were said to prevail in 
 the South? He said that General Meigs had informed him additional numbers of 
 blacks were required to man the ships, this class of persons having proved highly 
 valuable in the naval service." 
 
422 GEN. JACKSON S PROCLAMATION, IN 1814. 
 
 a participation in the glorious struggle for national rights in which our 
 country is engaged. This no longer shall exist. 
 
 " As sons of freedom, you are now called upon to defend our most 
 inestimable blessing. As Americans, your country looks with con 
 fidence to her adopted children for a valorous support, as a faithful 
 return for the advantages enjoyed under her mild and equitable govern 
 ment. As fathers, husbands, and brothers, you are summoned to rally 
 around the standard of the eagle, to defend all which is dear in 
 existence. 
 
 " Your country, although calling for your exertions, does not wish 
 you to engage in her cause without amply remunerating you for the 
 services rendered. Your intelligent minds are not to be led away by 
 false representations. Your love of honor would cause you to despise 
 the man who should attempt to deceive you. In the sincerity of a 
 soldier, and the language of truth, I address you. 
 
 " To every noble-hearted, generous freeman of color, volunteering 
 to serve during the present contest with Great Britain, and no longer, 
 there will be paid the same bounty in money and lands now received 
 by the white soldiers of the United States, viz. : one hundred and 
 twenty-four dollars in money, and one hundred and sixty acres of land. 
 The non-commissioned officers and privates will also be entitled to the 
 same monthly pay and daily rations, and clothes, furnished to any 
 American soldier. 
 
 " On enrolling yourselves in companies, the major-general command 
 ing will select officers for your government from your white fellow-citi 
 zens. Your non-commissioned officers will be appointed from among 
 yourselves. 
 
 "Due regard will be paid to the feelings of freemen and soldiers. 
 You will not, by being associated with white men in the same corps, be 
 exposed to improper comparisons or unjust sarcasm. As a distinct, 
 independent battalion or regiment, pursuing the path of glory, you will, 
 undivided, receive the applause and gratitude of your countrymen. 
 
 "To assure you of the sincerity of my intentions, and my anxiety to 
 engage your invaluable services to our country, I have communicated 
 my wishes to the Governor of Louisiana, who is fully informed as to 
 the manner* of enrolment, and will give you every necessary information 
 on the subject of this address. " ANDREW JACKSON, 
 
 " Major- General commanding" 
 JViles s Register^ vol. vii., p. 205. 
 
JACKSON S ADDRESS TO COLORED TROOPS. 423 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 At the close of a review of the white and colored troops in New 
 Orleans, on Sunday, December 18, 1814, General Jackson s address to 
 the troops was read by Edward Livingston, one of his aids, and the 
 following is the portion addressed : 
 
 "To THE MEN OF COLOR. Soldiers ! From the shores of Mobile I 
 collected you to arms, I invited you to share in the perils, and to 
 divide the glory of your white countrymen. I expected much from 
 you ; for I was not uninformed of those qualities which must render 
 you so formidable to an invading foe. I knew that you could endure 
 hunger and thirst, and all the hardships of war. I knew that you 
 loved the land of your nativity, and that, like ourselves, you had to 
 defend all that is most dear to man. But you surpass my hopes. I 
 have found in you, united to these qualities, that noble enthusiasm 
 which impels to great deeds. 
 
 " Soldiers ! The President of the United States shall be informed of 
 your conduct on the present occasion ; and the voice of the represen 
 tatives of the American nation shall applaud your valor, as your 
 general now praises your ardor. The enemy is near. His sails cover 
 the lakes. But the brave are united ; and if he finds us contending 
 among ourselves, it will be for the prize of valor, and fame, its noble 
 reward." Aries s Register, vol. vii., pp. 345, 346.* 
 
 But the course of events has pretty effectually changed public opinion 
 on the subject. From Major-General Hunter s department, f and 
 
 * For many of the foregoing data I am indebted to Mr. George Livermore s re 
 cent and valuable work, entitled "An Historical Research respecting the Opinions of 
 the Founders of the Republic on Negroes as Slaves, as Citizens, and as Soldiers." 
 
 f In a letter from General Hunter, written from South Carolina, Feb. n, 1863, 
 to a friend, he says :* 
 
 " Finding that the able-bodied negroes did not enter the military service as rapidly 
 as could be wished, I have resolved, and so ordered, that all who are not regularly 
 employed in the Quartermaster s Department, or as officers servants, shall be drafted. 
 In this course I am sustained by the views of all the more intelligent among them. 
 
 "In drafting them I was actuated by several motives, the controlling one being 
 that I regarded their service as a military necessity if this war is to be ended in a 
 triumph of the Union arms. Subordinate to this consideration, I regard the strict 
 discipline of military life as the best school in which this people can be gradually 
 lifted toward our higher civilization; and their enrolment in the negro brigade will 
 have the further good effect of rendering mere servile insurrection, unrestrained by 
 
424 ADVANTAGES OF COLORED SOLDIERS. 
 
 from other quarters, the official reports of the services of negro" regi 
 ments in the field are highly satisfactory. The superiority of African 
 troops has been completely demonstrated in several important re 
 spects. 
 
 1. They have nothing to fear from those Southern diseases which 
 prove so fatal to Northern men. 
 
 2. They can endure greater hardships and exposures, in camp, on the 
 march, and on the field of action. 
 
 3. They are more readily reduced to camp-discipline, and, from life 
 long habits of unquestioning obedience, are by no means likely to be 
 guilty of insubordination ; while desertion especially in slave-districts 
 will be almost unknown. 
 
 Finally, they fight not only for freedom and all the blessings it brings, 
 but to escape the ignominious and dreadful death they must endure if 
 they once more fall into the hands of their revengeful task-masters. 
 
 But other considerations of the gravest magnitude, must enter into 
 the general estimate. 
 
 Whenever or however this war may end, nobody supposes it will 
 leave us without a military and naval force strong enough to protect 
 ourselves against insurrection at home, and aggression or insult from 
 abroad. 
 
 Our standing army might ultimately be made up chiefly of emancipat 
 ed negroes ; and so may our navy ; and they would in time make such a 
 military and maritime force as never has been seen. 
 
 Since the days of slavery are numbered in the rebel States, where the 
 institution falls with the fall of the rebellion, and in the border States, 
 where the people, under an enlightened policy, are abolishing it them 
 selves, it may require a vast armed force to enable the Government to 
 carry out such mighty changes as will necessarily attend the reconstruc 
 tion of Southern society. 
 
 For this stupendous work the negroes will be the reliable instruments 
 of the Government in vindicating the strength, the honor, and the glory 
 of the republic. Another heavy force will be required in rebuilding 
 the overthrown structures, and repairing the waste places of war s deso 
 lations. 
 
 the laws and usages of war, less likely. If any further argument were needed to 
 justify my course, it would be found in my deep conviction that freedom (like all 
 other blessings) can never be justly appreciated except by men who have been taught 
 the sacrifices which are its price. In this course, let me add, I expect to be sustained 
 by all the intelligent and practically-minded friends of the enfranchised bondman." 
 
180,000 COLORED TROOPS IN THE, UNION ARMY. 425 
 
 It is not improbable, too, that another vast army may be needed to 
 build the Pacific Railroad, ship-canals, and other great works of protec 
 tion and defence.* 
 
 And he would be both a short-sighted and sanguine optimist who 
 should leave out of the horoscope of the next few years, the contingen 
 cies, if not the probabilities, of a collision with Great Britain. That 
 struggle is as inevitable as this rebellion was. All the issues have been 
 gathering, and the result must come, unless through a premature flash 
 of the millennium, all our difficulties should be settled by Arbitration, 
 which Heaven grant, although it seems like praying for the " happy 
 thousand years." No mortal power can protract it forever. We must 
 be prepared for it, so that it can at no time take us by surprise. This 
 is now the feeling among all parties and sections throughout the coun 
 try. This feeling will not change. Nations never forgive wrongs or 
 insults. Ours must and will be avenged. The African race emanci 
 pated will hereafter constitute the great body-guard of the Union. 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 In his American Conflict, Mr. GREELEY estimates the 
 number of colored troops in the service, from first to 
 last, at 180,000, of whom 29,298 died: the largest mili- 
 
 * In speaking on the subject of defence for the Northern frontier, Senator Arnold, 
 of Rhode Island, used the following striking language : 
 
 He said, "It is the duty of the statesman not only to crush the rebellion, but to 
 cement the Union. This canal will revive the idea of national unity ^ the grand 
 idea which has inspired the vast and sublime efforts of the people to restore the na 
 tional unity. This canal will be an east-and-west Mississippi. He spoke of the un 
 qualified devotion of the West to the Union. There were rebels in the West, and 
 elsewhere, who are seeking to alienate the West from the East. To this traitorous 
 band was addressed the proclamation of the rebel General Bragg. How the West 
 responds, the rebels learned from the mouths of her cannon at Murfreesborough. 
 The soldiers of the East and the West, fighting together on many a glorious and san 
 guinary field, will with their blood cement a union and a nationality so strong and 
 deep that no sectional appeal can ever shake the loyalty of the glorious band of loyal 
 States. The West will regard as traitors alike those who suggest a peace with any 
 portion of the Mississippi in rebel hands, and those who suggest a Union with patri 
 otic, brave New England left out. 
 
 " The Northern frontier fhust be defended ; and this canal is the cheapest and best 
 means of defending it. While the Atlantic shore is protected from any foreign ene 
 my by three thousand miles of ocean, by forts and fortifications from Maine to le- 
 rida, by a navy which has cost hundreds of millions, the Northern frontier, not less 
 
426 SENATOR ARNOLD ON PUBLIC DEFENCE. 
 
 tary African force we have any knowledge of in history, 
 ever mustered into the service of any government, and 
 the proportion of loss being- very much larger than 
 among our White troops, of which only one in ten died 
 in the service, while of the Black troops, the loss was 
 nearly one to six. 
 
 This does not look like a record of cowardice, or inca 
 pacity. It is believed that, take their record all through, 
 it was unsurpassed in courage, fidelity, and patriotism ; 
 while in steadiness, patience, and subordination, it was 
 perhaps unrivalled. Nor should another thing be over 
 looked, although it can be easily accounted for. It im 
 proves the manner, the spirit, and the whole bearing of 
 
 important, is entirely defenceless, and within easy cannon-range for hundreds of miles 
 of a foreign territory. 
 
 "The North-west cheerfully pays her proportion for the defence of the Atlantic, 
 and will pay further large appropriations now required. But we ask, in justice, that 
 the Northern frontier should be secured. 
 
 " He then read a memorial of ex-President Fillmore and others, showing the ex 
 posed condition of Lake Erie, and showed that the lakes by the Canadian canals 
 were accessible to British gunboats, and the lake cities and commerce were exposed 
 to destruction. This canal will enable us to place our gunboats on the lakes. He 
 read a letter from Admiral Porter, showing that we had now afloat more than fifty 
 gunboats which could pass from the ocean to the lakes by this canal. 
 
 " He then presented the importance fiscal, commercial, and agricultural of the 
 interests thus seeking protection. 
 
 " Fifty-eight million bushels of bread stuffs were shipped from Chicago alone during 
 the past year. The commerce of the lakes was at least four hundred millions per an 
 num. Corn, since cotton had committed felo de se, was now king, and kept the 
 peace between Europe and America. This enlarged canal is the cheapest mode of 
 defending the lakes. The whole cost of the canal was only thirteen million dollars. 
 This will turn the Mississippi into the lakes, and unite forever the East and the West. 
 Every dollar thus expended in defence cheapens transportation. 
 
 " The capacity of the proposed Illinois Canal will be twelve times that of the Erie 
 Canal. The largest steamers which navigate the Mississippi will steam directly to 
 Lake Michigan. These grand results cost only thirteen millions. It will rapidly 
 pay for itself, and is then to leave a grand national freerhighway. It will add to the 
 taxable property of the Union as much, or more, than the Erie Canal has done. It 
 will give stability to our Government, and add to the national wealth. It will in 
 crease both our ability to borrow money and to pay it." 
 
IMPROVEMENT IN THE COLORED RACE. 42/ 
 
 any man to enter a military service ; but the effect upon 
 the Black troops was still more perceptible. Inured to 
 obedience, and gifted with intuitive quickness and power 
 of imitation, they became more plastic in evolution : 
 while their former social inferiority had inspired them 
 with an ambition they had never felt before, to improve 
 their chances for social elevation. There was more 
 room for improvement, it will be said. Granted. But 
 herein is conceded all that is claimed by the friends of 
 the Colored race capacity for improvement, quickness 
 of perception, and readiness to embrace chances. Cer 
 tainly we have no knowledge, in human records, of a 
 case on so large a scale, of the sitdden transition of a vast 
 community from a state of abject servitude to one of 
 political equality. It was claimed to be a new and 
 doubtful experiment and it was. But the result sur 
 passed the expectations of its best prophets. The 
 change was instantly visible ; not only in the Southern 
 districts where shackles were struck off by a lightning 
 blow, but it was seen everywhere, through the North, 
 East, and West ; in every community the negro popula 
 tion began to show signs of resurrection. New ambition 
 fired the general body. They all seemed to act upon 
 their good behavior, and to feel that the better they 
 acted, the more they helped their cause. And this 
 " Hope the charmer," was the inspiring angel. Vice 
 perceptibly diminished among them. Habits of industry, 
 sobriety, frugality, and thrift ; frequency in attending 
 schools ; tidying up of apartments, and their surroundings ; 
 better dressing of men, women, and children ; a quicker 
 sympathy with all the interests of society ; grateful re 
 cognition of new kindnesses shown to them, instead of 
 a spirit of assumption, or gratified vanity : 
 
428 AN EVENING S READING TO SUMNER. 
 
 These were some of the fresh aspects which began 
 to be seen wherever the Colored people were found ; 
 and it gave good ground for encouragement to assist 
 them. A new responsibility was rolled upon the whole 
 rank and file of the body of White society. Even those 
 who had been the least hopeful, not to say the most 
 provokingly prophetic of evil omen, found themselves 
 insensibly participating in the general feeling of sym 
 pathy and respect. And so the five millions of Ameri 
 cans of African descent halted suddenly on their dreary 
 and downward road, and with a " right about face," 
 they began their " forward march." 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 No Senator entered more warmly into any measure 
 that was proposed for the efficiency of our system of 
 military hospitals, nor manifested a deeper sympathy 
 for disabled soldiers. One evening as he was resting 
 on his sofa from a very wearying day in the Senate, I read 
 to him from " My War Note-Book," the following 
 passages of scenes I had recently witnessed in the hos 
 pitals around Washington. 
 
 Heroism in the Hospital. It was as often witnessed there, and in 
 
 sublimer forms, perhaps, than in the field. We came to the body of 
 
 a non-commissioned officer, a fine, large man, who, during the last few 
 hours, had become delirious. His thigh-bone had been shattered by a 
 Minie-ball so high up, that amputation could not be performed. So 
 there was nothing left for him, but to lie there and die. Watching the 
 terrible hues of mortification coming upon his limb, feeling the poison 
 steal up towards his vitals, seizing and deadening new tissues every 
 hour it proved too fearful for even his vigorous frame. He would 
 utter no cry nor complaint, and his mind, with the suppressed torture, 
 flew to insanity for relief. As we approached his cot, he fixed his cold, 
 
HEROISM IN THE HOSPITAL. 429 
 
 despairing eyes upon us, and pointing back over his shoulder, ex 
 claimed, "Do you see him? Old Death, there, sitting at the head 
 board and laughing? A grim army-joker, in truth ! The other night I 
 felt a cold touch, and it woke me. The moon flung in a bar of light, 
 and I saw Old Death feeling of my wound. His icy touch benumbed 
 it ; and the next time I woke, his hand was slowly closing round my 
 leg. So it goes ! He ll be soon pulling at my heart-strings." The 
 maniac then stopped, as if trying to remember. After a low, sardonic 
 laugh, he continued : " I plead with him ; I told him they d be lonely 
 at the old home in Illinois. A wife and child are pleasanter than a 
 tomb, I said. He laughed at that." We had to leave him ; and 
 what a sight it was ! The rottenness of the grave, and the vitality of 
 a strong man, joined in a terrific grapple on a- hospital bed. Life, with 
 the full pulse of five-and-twenty years, had marshalled all its forces, 
 and been defeated. His name was C. P. Dunster, of Illinois. 
 
 A noble young fellow in the Douglass Hospital had been injured by 
 the passage of a shell near his head. Shortly after, a solid shot carried 
 away his left arm. He was well treated on the field, and sent to 
 Washington for recovery. Here, the effect of the concussion of that 
 screaming shell, began to show itself on the brain. He became 
 delirious. Watching by him one night, I took down some of his strange 
 ravings: "No! I won t go home till the Union is safe. I d rather 
 die here, by the roots of this old tree, and dig my own grave, than have 
 any croaker in Wisconsin say that / let the old flag drop ! Not I ! 
 Bring it out ! Let me see it once more ! Now I am ready for the 
 last charge one more chance at the rebels !" and springing from the 
 bed, he plunged forward. I caught him, and laid him down gently. 
 A quiver went through his body, a flash came from his beautiful face, 
 and every muscle fell. The pulse had stopped. 
 
 " He slept his last sleep, he had fought his last battle ; 
 No sound could awake him to glory again." 
 
 L. 
 
 Another youthful soldier, slowly coming up from what he called 
 "that Chickahominy fever " Don t you ever get disheartened ?" 
 "Yes; once in a while, about myself, while I am here alone, after 
 midnight ; it seems so long before daylight. I never was sick before. 
 I may be able to fight again yet but, disheartened about our great 
 
430 DYING AWAY FROM HOME. 
 
 cause? Never ! Why shouldn t /stand by the old flag, as well as any 
 other man ? But if our whole army sinks into the earth, the cause is 
 just as safe as ever. I believe in a God my mother taught me that ; 
 and He can t afford to let this country go down." And as he heroically 
 lifted his clinched fist, his wrist was so thin and white the gaslight 
 shone through it. 
 
 " The battle of Williamsburg was over, the rebels driven from the 
 field ; the war-storm hushed, and the sad duty of caring for our 
 wounded, and burying our dead remained to be performed. Groping 
 our way through the darkness, we came upon the body of a pale, 
 slender, beardless boy, a member of Co. I, 37tlv Regiment, N. Y. 
 Volunteers one of hundreds who had marched from their beautiful hill- 
 girt homes in Cattaraugus County. We raised him up. He was not 
 dead, but badly wounded. On carrying him to our improvised hospi 
 tal, the surgeon pronounced his wound mortal. He heard the decision ; 
 and although suffering greatly, not a sigh, or groan, or even an ex 
 clamation of surprise, passed his lips. He was asked if he desired to 
 send any message to his family. I shall never forget how his mild blue 
 eye lit up. After a moment s pause he said, Tell them that Lafayette 
 Morrow, the boy soldier, died at his post, and sends his love. Turning 
 over with a deep sigh, he added wearily, I think I will sleep now. He 
 did the sleep -that knows no waking. " 
 
 During the desperate fight at Williamsbtirg, while the Color-company 
 of the 57th New York went rushing over the bodies of the dying and 
 dead, to take the place of a New Jersey regiment which had fallen back 
 half slaughtered, one gallant fellow, who had been carried to the rear, 
 was seen leaning against a tree, swinging one bleeding arm, while the 
 other hung shattered and dangling by his side, screaming out in his 
 death-agony, " There goes the old flag ! Hold her up, boys, forever ! " 
 and fell a senseless, gory mass at the roots of the tree. In returning 
 from the field from which the rebels had been driven, two men left the 
 ranks to look after the dead soldier. They dug his grave where he lay, 
 and long before now the oak " hath shot his roots abroad, and pierced 
 his mould." 
 
 I have seen many who had seldom thought about their own death 
 boys, who left homes of luxury, fondled by sister s caresses, and 
 mother s love, brought from the battle-field, and laid down in a 
 hospital to die. When the fading twilight of a joyous youth was passing 
 into the deep eclipse of death s shadow as it moved out from the 
 unknown land, those who had thought of the last hour so sure to come, 
 
SCENES IN THE WASHINGTON HOSPITALS. 431 
 
 and grown familiar with what cannot be seen till we meet it those few 
 who had been introduced to the far-off future till their Father s house 
 became their home such boys, and the thoughtless ones, too, all had 
 one solicitude alike " Land where my fathers died save her, oh 
 
 God !" Young Osgood was buried at the Soldiers Home. Before 
 
 recovering his body, they had to open seven coffins, and when they at 
 last reached the dust of the loved one, another name was inscribed on 
 the case. Oh to gather the ashes of a stranger, when the breaking 
 heart can be healed only by the last act of affection done to the de 
 parted loved one. 
 
 LI. 
 
 The surgeon said, " He can hardly live." 
 
 He laid the hand down softly, and left this patient, to pass through 
 the ward. 
 
 It seemed to say that all that earth could do had been done, to save 
 the life of the gallant young soldier. I followed the surgeon a few steps 
 on the routine of duty. We stopped, and looked each other in the 
 face. He knew I wanted to know the whole truth. 
 
 " Must this boy die ? " 
 
 " There is a shadow of a chance. 1 will come again after midnight." 
 
 I went back, with a heavy heart, to the cot we had left, and, knowing 
 something of hospitals and dying men, I sat down to wait and see 
 what new symptoms would occur, with the full directions of the surgeon 
 in any event. 
 
 The opiate, or whatever it may have been, which I had last adminis 
 tered, could not take effect at once ; and, somewhat worn out with the 
 day s labors, I sat down to think. To sleep, was out of the question ; 
 for I had become so deeply interested in this young man it seemed to 
 me I could not give him up. * * 
 
 It was nearly midnight. The gas had been turned off just enough to 
 leave the light needed, and twilight was grateful to the sick-room ; for 
 in this vast chamber there were more than two hundred sick men. 
 Now and then came a suppressed moan from one couch, or a low plaint 
 of hopeless pain, while at intervals thrilled from the high ceiling the 
 shrill scream of agony. But all the while the full harvest-moon was 
 pouring in all the lustrous sympathy and effulgence it could give, as it 
 streamed over the marble pile called the Patent Office, the unfinished 
 north wing of which had been dedicated to this house of suffering. 
 
432 A BRAVE ONEIDA COUNTY BOY. 
 
 Almost noiselessly, the doors of this ward opened every few moments, 
 for the gentle tread of the night nurses, who came, in their sleepless 
 vigils, to see if in these hours they could render some service to the 
 stricken, the fallen, and yet not comfortless. 
 
 Leaving my young friend for a few moments, I walked through the 
 north aisle ; and it seemed to me so perfect was the regime of the 
 hospital, so grand were its architectural proportions more like walking 
 through some European cathedral by moonlight, than through a place 
 for sick soldiers. The silence greater than speech, the suffering unex 
 pressed, the heroism which did not utter one complaint, the complete 
 ness of the whole system of care and curative process, made one of 
 those sights and scenes which I would not tear away from my memory 
 if I could ; for they have mingled themselves with associations that will 
 link each month and year of time to come with all the months and 
 years gone before them. 
 
 LII. 
 
 I felt a strange interest in this young man, whom I had left in what 
 I supposed was his last quiet slumber ; and yet I knew he would wake 
 once more before he died. I approached his cot again. He was 
 still sleeping, and so tranquilly I felt a little alarmed lest he might 
 never wake, till I touched his pulse and found it still softly beating. 
 
 I let him sleep, and thought I would sit by his side till the surgeon 
 came. 
 
 I took a long, free breath, for I supposed it was all hopelessly over. 
 Then I thought of his strange history : I knew it well. 
 
 He was born not far from Trenton Falls, the youngest son, among 
 several brothers, of one of the brave tillers of that hard soil. He had 
 seen his family grow up nobly and sturdily, under the discipline of a* 
 good religion and good government, and with a determination to defend 
 both. When his country s troubles began, his first impulses thus found 
 expression to his brothers : " Let me go ; for you are all married ; 
 and if I fall, no matter." 
 
 He went. He had followed the standard of the Republic into every 
 battle-field where the struggle carried him, till, worn out, but not 
 wounded, he was borne to this hospital in Washington, a sick boy. He 
 seemed to have a charmed life, for on several occasions his comrades 
 had been shot dead or wounded on either side ; and when his last car 
 tridge had done execution, he carried off two of his wounded companions 
 
THE TWO LOADSTONES LOVE, COUNTRY. 433 
 
 from the field, bearing them and their muskets to the rear, if there 
 were a rear in the flight from the Bull Run of July, 61, and nourished 
 and watched and stood by these comrades till they died, and then got 
 the help of a farmer to carry them with his cart, a whole day afterward, 
 to be buried in a place which he chose. 
 
 This boy s example had inspired that farmer with such benevolence 
 if he were not inspired by patriotism already that he made honored 
 graves for them ; and the writer of this work knows where their ashes 
 res t. 
 
 When this was all over, the boy came back, as a kind of rear-guard, 
 of one, in the flight of the army of the Potomac, and, having reached 
 the city of Washington and reported himself to his commander, fell 
 senseless on Pennsylvania Avenue. He was taken to a neighboring 
 house and well cared for ; and I saw him in the hospital of which [ 
 have spoken. 
 
 But this was only his life as a soldier. There was another and a 
 deeper life than that. The great loadstone that led him away was the 
 magnet of his nation. Another loadstone held his heart at home : it 
 was the magnet of Love. 
 
 His wild and wayward history wild only with adventure and wayward 
 only with romance, he seemed to me, as I looked upon his face, so 
 calm, and chiselled into sculptured beauty, I thought, either he looked 
 like an Apollino with his unstrung bow, or a nautilus, cast on the tur 
 bulent ocean, to be wafted to some unknown clime, or sink forever, on 
 the floor of the deep sea, to find a coral sepulchre. 
 
 His dark eyelashes bent up in such clear relief against their white 
 ground slowly and calmly began to move. 
 
 I sprang to my feet ; for it seemed to me there was a chance yet. 
 
 The surgeon was long in coming ; and yet I knew he would come. 
 He did. His sharp and experienced eye, as he approached the cot, 
 opened with surprise. Touching my shoulder, he said, with surprise, 
 
 " He is still alive." 
 
 In an instant, taking the hand of the dying or dead boy, I scarcely 
 knew which, a faint smile passed over the surgeon s face. 
 
 " I am not sure but he may come up yet. If he revives, there is 
 one chance left for him, if it be but one in a thousand. But I will 
 work for that chance, and see what it will come to. Here Art triumphs, 
 if it triumphs at all. " 
 
 The pulse seemed to be coming as he took the hand. 
 
 "It acts strangely ; but I have seen two or three cases very much 
 28 
 
434 COMING BACK TO LIFE. 
 
 like it. Mind you, I do not think we can do much with this case ; but 
 you stay and watch, and I will come back in half an hour." 
 
 So, while he went through some other wards, I watched the patient. 
 The last glimmer of life, which had given some light as this scene was 
 being enacted, faded into what seemed to me the calmest repose of 
 death. 
 
 But then, I thought, it is a strange sight, a heart filled with the 
 earnest passions of youth, in the first hopes of life budding into their 
 fruition beneath his own primeval forest-shades, where, if there be an 
 element that ever sanctified an early life, it would have built a sanctuary 
 for the love he must have borne to the fair being for whom he had 
 treasured up his boyhood s jewels, for whom he gave up everything of 
 the earth earthy, to rescue a Republic, and then go back after this 
 episode of suffering to inaugurate the life of a citizen farmer on the 
 bleak hills of New York : if all this could not sustain him, what 
 could ? 
 
 In former visits to him he had made me his confidant in regard to 
 tfhese matters. He seemed to be haunted with the idea that he would, 
 ;after all, return to Utica, and once more see those he loved ; and yet 
 ;he also seemed to me like one whose days were numbered, and the 
 surgeon had told me, after repeated counsels with his professional 
 brethren, that it was next to impossible to save his life, and that 1 must 
 not expect it. 
 
 All the while I clung to the belief that some vitality of faith, or love, 
 or hope, or patriotism, or divine aid, would still send that boy back to 
 the banks of the Mohawk. 
 
 I saw another nervous twitch around the temples. I felt his pulse. 
 It was an indication of hope, or sudden death. 
 
 The surgeon came by again. 
 
 " That boy has wonderful vitality," he said, as he looked at his face. 
 Whether it was purely my fancy, my hope, or a fact, I did not know, 
 but twilight seemed to pass over his face. 
 
 "Yes, yes I I wait a moment. Oh, I shall not die !" 
 
 He opened his eyes calmly, and then a glow which I shall never for 
 get suffused his cheek, and, lifting his emaciated hands for the first time 
 in several weeks, feebly, it is true, but they seemed to me strong, 
 he exclaimed, in a natural voice, " How floats the old flag now, boys?" 
 
 The transition from death to life seemed like enchantment. I could 
 scarcely believe my senses. And yet I knew that if he ever rallied this 
 would be the way. 
 
IS BELLA WELL? 435 
 
 I now feared that his excitement would carry him beyond his strength. 
 I could not keep him from talking. I was bending over him to see if 
 he would remember me. Looking me steadily in the eyes, his brows 
 knit with perplexity for a few seconds, when with a smile of delight 
 
 and surprise he said, " Yes ! yes ! It is you, Mr. L . I am glad 
 
 you stayed with me. I have been dreaming about you while I ve 
 been asleep ; and I must have been asleep a great while. How 
 long ? " 
 
 I told him enough to let him understand how ill he had been, how 
 long, and how weak he still was. He did not realize it. His eyes 
 wandered down to his thin hands, white as alabaster, and through which 
 the pale-blue thread-like veins wandered. 
 
 " Oh ! Is it I ? so lean ? I was not so when I fell sick." And large 
 tears rolled down his cheeks. 
 
 I implored him to be quiet and rest, and I promised him he should 
 get better every day, and be able to go home in a short time. But he 
 grew impatient the more I tried to soothe and restrain him. 
 
 He looked at me beseechingly, and asked, "Won t you let me talk 
 a little ? I must know something more, or it seems to me I shall go 
 crazy. Please put your ear down to me : I won t speak loud, I 
 won t get excited." 
 
 I did. " Have you got any letters for me ? " 
 
 "Yes, but they are at my office. You shall have them to-morrow. 
 They are all well at home." 
 
 " And Bella ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Oh, God be praised ! " 
 
 After a few moments of repose, he again opened his eyes wide. 
 
 " I have been gone so long from the army ! It seemed as though I 
 never could get back when I got home. I got away ; and I wandered, 
 and wandered. Oh, how tired I was ! Where is McDowell ? Is 
 General Scott dead ? They said so. Did they carry off Old Abe ? 
 Ho\v did he get back ? Did the Rebels get into Washington that 
 night ? How long have I been sick ? What place is this ? Oh, my 
 head ! my head ! " 
 
 I was frightened. He had risen from the deep ocean into the sun 
 light for a brief hour, and now he seemed to be going down to come 
 up no more. The tender chord of memory had given way. In a little 
 while the surgeon came by, and I told him what had happened. 
 
 " I was afraid of that. But I think we can manage it. If he wakes 
 
436 LIBERTY CHEAP .AT ANY PRICE. 
 
 again within two hours, give him this powder on his tongue, and a sip 
 of the liquid. If he does not, wake him gently." 
 
 And so that anxious night wore away. In the morning he woke 
 bright and clear; and from that hour he began to get well. But for 
 whole days his life was pulsating in its gossamer tenement, fluttering 
 over the misty barriers of the spirit-world. 
 
 Bella s letters, received during his extreme illness, could now be 
 read. They were among the noblest ever written by woman. 
 
 " Our heart-prayers for you have been answered by our Father. We 
 now wait only for your return. When we parted, it was not with re 
 pining : you had gone to the altar of your country in solemn and com 
 plete dedication. I too was prepared for the sacrifice. I expected it, 
 although I knew how crushingly the blow would fall. But if you had 
 not loved your country better than Bella, it would have broken her 
 heart. I hope now in a few weeks you will be again by my side. 
 When your health is once more restored, I will promise in advance, as 
 you desire, not to try to keep you from rejoining your regiment ; and if 
 the stars have written that Walter shall not be my husband, God has 
 decreed that I shall die a widow never married." 
 
 He did return to the Mohawk Valley. He married Bella. He re 
 turned to the war ; and on the eve of the great day of Antietam he 
 heard that his son was born, and the hero-father died by the side of 
 Hooker. Sic transit gloria mundi. 
 
 "How much Liberty costs!" sadly said Mr. Sumner. 
 " But it is cheap at any price." 
 
 LIII. 
 
 In the memorable speech of Mr. SUMNER at Cooper In 
 stitute, September 10, 1863, on Our Foreign Relations, 
 Mr. GREELEY, who had been suspected of a lack of cor 
 dial approval of some of Mr. SUMNER S views, said in a 
 communication to the Independent : 
 
 Mr. Sumner s speech is not, therefore, a mere rehearsal and arraign 
 ment of national wrongs already endured ; it is a protest and a warn 
 ing against those which are imminently threatened. In showing how 
 
SUMNER AGAIN AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 437 
 
 deeply, flagrantly, France and England have already sinned against us, 
 he admonishes them against persistence in the evil course on which 
 they have entered, against aggravating beyond endurance the indigni 
 ties and outrages they have already heaped upon us. * * Mr. Surn- 
 ner s is the authentic voice, not of the mob, but of the people. He 
 utters the sentiments of the conscientious, the intelligent, the peace-lov 
 ing. His inoffensive protest against the wrongs to which we have been 
 subjected, is utterly devoid of swagger or menace. It is a simple but 
 cogent demonstration, by the application thereto of the established 
 principles of International Law, of a systematic injustice to which we 
 as a people have been subjected. A miracle of historical and states 
 manlike erudition, his address is severe without being harsh, an in 
 dictment, judicial in its calmness, its candor, its resistless cogency. 
 
 This speech had inflamed a spirit of bitter animosity 
 towards the country among the leading classes of Eng 
 land. Earl RUSSELL not only justified everything the 
 British Ministry had done in a hostile spirit towards the 
 United States, but he gloried in it. Even the London 
 Daily Nczus, which tried to be favorable to us, criticised 
 the speech at length, with great severity. And in the 
 press of the British Empire, hardly a journal of any espe 
 cial influence could speak of us without bitterness, ex 
 cept the Morning Star, of London, which from the be 
 ginning to the end of the Rebellion, bravely and nobly 
 sustained our national cause. It said : 
 
 The Hon. CHARLES SUMNER has not belied the confidence inspired 
 by a long and illustrious career. He is as firmly as ever the friend of 
 peace, and especially of peace between Great Britain and America. 
 The eloquent voice which has so often employed the stores of a richly 
 furnished mind in persuasives to international amity, has not, as the 
 telegrams suggested, been inflamed by the heat of domestic conflict to 
 the diffusion of discord between kindred peoples. His speech at New 
 York on the loth of September is, indeed, heavy with charges against 
 France and England. But it is an appeal for justice, not an incentive 
 to strife. It is a complaint of hopes disappointed, of friendship with 
 held, of errors hastily adopted and obstinately maintained. It is, 
 
438 THE MORNING STAR OF LONDON. 
 
 however, an argument which does honor even to those against whom it 
 is urged, and which aims to establish future relations of the closest 
 alliance. Senator Simmer s chief reproach is this, that we have acted 
 unworthily of ourselves, unfaithfully to our deepest convictions and best 
 memories. * There runs through the whole of Mr. 
 
 Simmer s gigantic oration far too long to have been spoken as printed, 
 but yet without a word of superfluous argument or declamation an 
 idea on which we can now only touch. From the first sentence to the 
 last, Slavery is present to his mind. It colors all his reasoning. It 
 inspires him to prodigious eloquence. Not merely as the Senator for 
 Massachusetts, the honored chieftain of the political Abolitionists, 
 but as the Chairman on Foreign Relations, he sees everywhere the 
 presence of the Slave Power. Against it he invokes, in periods of 
 classic beauty, all the moral forces of the Mother Country. To Eng 
 land he makes a pathetic and passionate appeal more for her own sake 
 than that of the slave more for the sake of the future than of present 
 effects that she withdraw all favor and succor from Rebel slave 
 owners.* 
 
 LIV. 
 
 Mr. SUMNER had now been in the Senate for nearly 
 twelve years, and Massachusetts was to re-elect him for 
 the third term, or choose another man. What were 
 called his extreme views, had alienated from him large 
 
 * From OUR FIRST HUNDRED YEARS, where I treat this whole subject with 
 some portion of the attention which its importance claims, I extract a brief passage : 
 
 " That England should choose such a period of our national adversity, such a 
 moment as she had so often passed through, of vindicating the supremacy of govern 
 ment to save civilization a moment when she saw what she fondly deemed, a fatal 
 blow struck at our prosperity, if not our very existence at such an hour to join our 
 foes, to make our destruction sure ! She was the only nation that contemplated 
 with satisfaction our impending doom ! Thank God, she was not to see it ! We 
 have been punished for our national sins till the blood burst from every pore ; but 
 we did not die. In the Doomsday- Book of Nations, many a leaf must be turned, 
 after England s record is passed, before ours can be reached. Nations never die in 
 the morning of life. They are chastised in their youth, that they may grow up into 
 wisdom and righteousness. But when they have grown hoary in crime, and chas 
 tisement will no longer end in reformation, they must go to their graves unwept, 
 unrepentant, unforgiven." 
 
ONCE MORE IN FANEUIL HALL. 439 
 
 numbers of his party, and especially in Massachusetts it 
 was known that in attempting his re-election, his friends 
 \vould encounter the most bitter opposition. The First 
 Proclamation of Emancipation, September 22, 1862, 
 had filled the hearts of his friends with new hope, and 
 inspired his enemies with greater malignity. A meeting 
 was called of the citizens of Boston, to respond to the 
 First Proclamation, and once more, October 6th the 
 Senator was to address his constituents in Faneuil Hall. 
 Before an immense meeting, which was transported 
 with the greatest enthusiasm, he pronounced his well- 
 known speech on the policy of EMANCIPATION, in the 
 opening of which he uttered the following words in de 
 fence of his public course : 
 
 Such are accusations to which I briefly reply. Now that we are all 
 united in the policy of Emancipation, they become of little con 
 sequence ; for even if I was once alone, I am no longer so. With 
 me are the loyal multitudes of the North, now arrayed by the side of 
 the President, where, indeed, I have ever been. 
 
 If you will bear with me yet longer in allusions which I make with 
 reluctance, I would quote, as my unanswerable defence, the words of 
 Edmund Burke, when addressing his constituents at Bristol. 
 
 "And now, gentlemen, on this serious day, when I come, as it were, 
 to make up my account with you, let me take to myself some degree 
 of honest pride on the nature of the charges that are against me. I 
 do not here stand before you accused of venality, or of neglect of 
 duty. It is not said that, in the long period of my service, I have in a 
 single instance sacrificed the slightest of your interests to my ambition 
 or to my fortune. It is not alleged, that, to gratify any anger or 
 revenge of my own or of my party, I have had a share in wronging or 
 oppressing any description of men, or any one man of any description. 
 No ! the charges against me are all of one kind, that I have pushed 
 the principles of general justice and benevolence too far, further than 
 a cautious policy would warrant, and further than the opinion of many 
 would go along with me. In every accident which may happen 
 through life, in pain, in sorrow, in depression, and distress, I will call 
 to mind this accusation, and be comforted." 
 
 Among the passages in eloquence which can never die, I know none 
 
440 ELECTED FOR THE THIRD TERM. 
 
 more beautiful or heroic. If I invoke its protection, it is with the 
 consciousness, that, however unlike in genius and fame, I am not 
 unlike its author in the accusations to which I have been exposed. 
 
 FELLOW-CITIZENS, a year has passed since I addressed you ; but, 
 during this time, what events of warning and encouragement ! Amidst 
 vicissitudes of war, the cause of Human Freedom has steadily and 
 grandly advanced, not, perhaps, as you could desire, yet it is the only 
 cause which has not failed. Slavery and the Black Laws are abolished 
 in the national capital ; slavery interdicted in all the national territory ; 
 Hayti and Liberia recognized as independent republics in the family of 
 nations ; the slave-trade placed under the ban of a new treaty with 
 Great Britain; all persons in the military and naval service prohibited 
 from returning slaves, or sitting in judgment on the claim of a master; 
 the slaves of Rebels emancipated by coming within our lines ; a tender 
 of compensation for the abolition of Slavery : such are some of Free 
 dom s triumphs in the recent Congress. Amidst all doubts and uncer 
 tainties of the present hour, let us think of these things and be com 
 forted. I cannot forget, that, when I last spoke to you, I urged the 
 liberation of the slaves of the Rebels, and especially that our officers 
 should not be permitted to surrender back to Slavery any human being 
 seeking shelter within our lines ; and I further suggested, if need were, 
 a Bridge of Gold for the retreating fiend. And now all that I then pro 
 posed is embodied in the legislation of the country as the supreme law 
 of the land. 
 
 LV. 
 
 The effect of the speech was best measured in the sub 
 sequent nomination and reelection of the speaker. On the 
 1 5th of the following January, at noon, each branch of the 
 State Legislature proceeded in its own chamber, as by 
 previous appointment, to the election, which was by viva 
 voce. The roll was called, and thirty-three Senators out 
 of thirty-six again announced Mr. SUMNER to be their 
 first choice ; while one hundred, and ninety-four as against 
 forty-one, proclaimed the same preference in the House 
 of Representatives. When the result was announced, 
 
HORACE GREELEY ON CHARLES SUMNER. 441 
 
 an unusual thing in a Massachusetts Legislature, 
 manifestations of applause were too earnest to be read 
 ily suppressed. 
 
 Again we quote the words of HORACE GREELEY, in an. 
 article signed by his name, in the N. Y. Independent, 
 entitled Charles Sumner as a Statesman : 
 
 For the first time in our political history, a party has been organized 
 and a State ticket nominated for the sole purpose of defeating the re 
 election of one Who is not a State officer, and never aspired to be. 
 Governor Andrew is regarded with a hostility intensified by the fewness 
 of those who feel it ; but the bitterness with which Mr. Sumner is hated 
 insists on the gratification of a canvass, even though a hopeless one ; 
 and, since there was no existing party by which this could be attempted 
 without manifest futility, one was organized for the purpose. And it 
 was best that this should be. Let us have a canvass of the friends and 
 the enemies of Mr. Sumner in the State which he has so honored. 
 
 I have said, that, while Senators have shared his convictions, none 
 has seemed so emphatically, so eminently as he, to embody and repre 
 sent the growing, deepening Anti-slavery sentiment of the country. 
 None has seemed so invariably to realize that a public wrong is a pub 
 lic danger ; that injustice to the humblest and weakest, is peril to the 
 well-being of all. Others have seemed to regard the recent develop 
 ments of disunion and treason with surprise and alarm : he has esteemed 
 them the bitter, but natural, fruit of the deadly tree we have so long 
 been watering and cherishing. The profound, yet simple truth, that 
 "RIGHTEOUSNESS exalteth a nation," that nothing else is so baleful 
 as injustice, that the country which gains a large accession of territory 
 or of wealth at the cost of violating the least tittle of the canons of eter 
 nal rectitude, has therein made a ruinous mistake, that nothing else 
 can be so important or so profitable as stern uprightness ; such is the 
 key-note of his lofty and beneficent career. May it be vouchsafed him 
 to announce from his seat in the Senate the final overthrow of the de 
 mon he has so faithfully, so nobly resisted ; and from Greenland to Pa 
 nama, from the St. John to the Pacific, the sun in his daily course looks 
 down on no master, and no slave ! 
 
 LVI. 
 
 At the same time, another and more significant article 
 
442 EFFECT OF LINCOLN S PROCLAMATION. 
 
 appeared in the National Intelligencer,- of Washington, 
 which had always been politically"hostile to Mr. SUMNER ; 
 and this hostility had been displayed with as much as 
 perity as its venerable editor ever allowed to appear in 
 the columns of that dignified and able journal. 
 
 This is the third time that this gentleman has been thus honored by 
 the Legislature of Massachusetts. Such repeated tokens of confidence 
 would seem sufficiently to indicate, that, whatever dissent from the views 
 of Mr. Sumner may elsewhere exist, he is the favorite,* as he is admitted 
 by all to be the able representative of the opinions entertained by a 
 majority of the people of this great and influential State. And these 
 views now predominate in the conduct of the present Administration, 
 which may be said to have adopted, reluctantly and at a late day, the 
 political and military policy early commended to its favor by Mr. 
 Sumner. 
 
 If we are not able to concur with Mr. Sumner in certain of his 
 opinions on questions, of domestic politics, it gives us only the greater 
 pleasure to bear our cheerful and candid testimony to the enlightened 
 judgment and peculiar qualifications he brings to the discharge of the 
 important duties devolved on him as Chairman of the Committee on 
 Foreign Relations in the Senate. In this capacity he has deservedly 
 won the confidence of the whole country. 
 
 LVII. 
 
 It had been claimed by the friends of a more vigorous 
 policy than the President had hitherto adopted, that the 
 cause of the Union would gain strength after the Pro 
 clamation of September 22d. Their prophecies were 
 more than fulfilled : for when the one hundred days, of 
 which the President had given notice, had expired, and 
 the full and Great Proclamation, as it was well called, of 
 January ist, 1863, appeared, the skies everywhere be 
 gan to brighten. A new spirit of hope dawned over the 
 popular mind ; a fresh spirit of Freedom and enthusiasm 
 for Liberty inflamed the popular heart ; new zeal went 
 
COLORED SUFFRAGE IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 443 
 
 through the army. Slavery was losing its last hold up 
 on the North, and the star of Hope, which had hitherto 
 sent but feeble rays through the clouded air, was to give 
 place to the full-orbed sun of Liberty. 
 
 The leaders of the Rebellion saw the rising tide at the 
 North swelling against them, and they began to display 
 a vigor and determination, which, desperate as their 
 cause might seem to impartial and well-informed ob 
 servation, were to indicate how fearfully the agencies of 
 a bad cause may be multiplied, as they are marshalled 
 for the final conflict, which gives the last energy to de 
 spair. 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 The extension of suffrage to Colored citizens of the 
 District of Columbia, being before the Senate, Mr. 
 SUMNER said : 
 
 The bill for impartial suffrage in the District of Columbia, concerns 
 directly some twenty thousand colored persons, whom it will lift to the 
 adamantine platform of equal rights. If it were regarded simply in its 
 bearings on the District, it would be difficult to exaggerate its value ; 
 but when it is regarded as an example to the whole country under the 
 sanction of Congress, its value is infinite. It is in the latter character 
 that it becomes a pillar of fire to illumine the footsteps of millions. 
 What we do here will be done in the disorganized States. Therefore, 
 we must be careful that what we do here is best for the disorganized 
 States. 
 
 If the question could be confined in its influence to the District, I 
 should have little objection to an educational test. I should be glad 
 to witness the experiment and be governed by the result. But the 
 question cannot be limited to the District. Practically, it takes the 
 whole country into its sphere. We must, therefore, act for the whole 
 country. This is the exigency of the present moment. 
 
 Now, to my mind nothing is clearer than the absolute necessity of 
 the suffrage for all Colored persons in the disorganized States. It will 
 
444 SYMPATHY WITH EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 
 
 not be enough if you give it to those who read and write ; you will 
 not in this way acquire the voting force which you need there for 
 the protection of Unionists, whether white or black. You will not se 
 cure the new allies which are essential to the national cause. As you 
 once needed the muskets of the Colored persons, so now you need 
 their votes ; and you must act now with little reference to theory. 
 You are bound by the necessities of the case. Therefore, when I am 
 asked to open the suffrage to women, or when I am asked to establish 
 an educational standard, I cannot on the present bill simply because 
 the controlling necessity under which we act will not allow it. By a 
 singular providence, we are now constrained to this measure of enfran 
 chisement for the sake of peace, security, and reconciliation, so that 
 loyal persons, white or black, may be protected, and that the republic 
 may live. Here in the District of Columbia we begin the real work of 
 reconstruction, by which the Union will be consolidated forever. 
 
 The Bill was passed by a large majority ; but being 1 
 vetoed by the President, as all good measures then 
 were, it was passed over his veto by two-thirds of both 
 Houses. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 In the Senate, on the 8th of May, he reported the 
 following resolutions : 
 
 Resolved, etc., That the Congress of the United States has learned 
 with deep regret of the attempt made upon the life of the Emperor of 
 Russia by an enemy of emancipation. The Congress send their greeting 
 to his Imperial Majesty and to the Russian nation, and congratulates 
 the twenty million serfs upon the providential escape from danger of 
 the sovereign to whose head and heart they owe the blessings of their 
 freedom. 
 
 And be it further resolved, That the President of the United States be 
 requested to forward a copy of this resolution to the Emperor of Rus 
 sia. 
 
 Mr. SUMNER said: 
 
 The public prints have informed us that an attempt was made on 
 the life of the Emperor of Russia, by a person animated against him on 
 
THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. 445 
 
 account of his divine effort to establish emancipation. That report, I 
 am inclined to think, has not disclosed completely the whole case. It 
 does not appear, from what we are told, that the special ground of ani 
 mosity to the Emperor at the present moment, is- so much the original 
 act of emancipation as the courage and perseverance and wisdom which 
 he has displayed in carrying it forward to its practical results. 
 
 I have had occasion, formerly, to remind the Senate how completely 
 the Emperor has done his work. Not content with issuing the decree 
 of emancipation, which was in the month of February, 1861, he has 
 proceeded, by an elaborate system of regulations, to provide in the 
 first place, for what have been called the civil rights of all the recent 
 serfs ; then, in the next place, to provide especially for their rights in 
 court ; then, again, to provide for their rights in property, securing to 
 every one of them a homestead ; and then, again, by providing for them 
 rights of public education. Added to all these, he has secured to them 
 also political rights, giving to every one the right to vote for all local 
 officers, corresponding to our officers of the town and of the county. 
 It is this very thoroughness with which he has carried out his decree of 
 emancipation, that has aroused against him the ancient partisans of 
 slavery ; and I doubt not it was one of these who aimed at him that blow 
 which was so happily arrested. The laggard and the faithless are not 
 pursued by assassins. 
 
 The Emperor of Russia was born in 1818, and is now forty-eight 
 years of age. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his late fa 
 ther in 1855. Immediately after his accession, he was happily inspired 
 to bring about emancipation in his great country. One of his first ut 
 terances when declaring his sentiments, was, that it was important that 
 this great work should begin from a.bove, to the end that it should 
 not proceed from below. Therefore he insisted that the Imperial 
 Government itself should undertake the blessed work, and not leave it 
 to the chance of insurrection or of blood. He went forth bravely, 
 encountering much opposition ; and now, that emancipation has 
 been declared in form, he is still going forward bravely in order to 
 crown it, by assuring all those rights, without which emancipation is 
 little mere than a name. It was, therefore, on account of his thorough 
 ness in the work, that he became the mark of the assassin ; and, sir, 
 our country does well when it offers its homage to the sovereign who 
 has attempted so great a task, under such difficulties and at such haz 
 ards, making a landmark of civilization. 
 
-446 HOW TO TREAT THE REBEL STATES. 
 
 The measure was adopted, and the resolution trans 
 mitted to the Emperor of Russia, in the iron-clad steamer 
 Miantonomah. 
 
 LX. 
 
 No public man seemed to have such clear ideas of 
 that all-important subject, of how we should treat the 
 Rebel States. The policy Mr. SUMNER proposed in the 
 beginning, he adhered to till the end. It was dictated 
 by enlightened judgment, and a spirit of hearty good 
 will to the South ; for in his case, as in that of HORACE 
 GREELEY, GERRIT SMITH, and many others of the most 
 enthusiastic champions of Freedom, their hostility was 
 against a system of wrong, rather than against the 
 wrong-doer. They wanted to see the system extermi 
 nated, without the ruin of its upholders. There was, 
 therefore, nothing strange in what could hardly be un 
 derstood at the time the expression of so much sympa 
 thy with the South in her prostration. The first hand 
 extended to the Chief of the Rebellion was by HORACE 
 GREELEY, in the bail-bond of JEFF. DAVIS, for which he 
 received the jeers of thousands. While the war lasted, 
 these men advocated its prosecution with unrelenting 
 vigor. When it ceased, the cry went out, " All hands 
 to the rescue save what we can from the wreck ! " 
 And, without the fear of contradiction, I boldly assert, 
 that after the South laid down their arms, the earliest, 
 the strongest, the most constant friends they had at the 
 North, were among the file-leaders of the first crusade 
 against Slavery, and among the rank and file of the men 
 who had done the hardest fighting during the war. 
 
 In the October number of the Atlantic Monthly for 
 
MILITARY RULE IN THE SOUTH. 447 
 
 1863, with his usual ability, in an article on Our Domestic 
 Relations, or, How to Treat the Rebel States, Mr. 
 SUMNER goes over a part of this ground. Assuming 
 that the Union victory had already been substantially 
 won, although hundreds of thousands of lives, and un 
 counted millions of treasure were yet to be added to 
 complete the immolation, the Senator enters upon the 
 discussion of a question which was soon to assume such 
 vast magnitude How we were to treat the Rebel 
 
 o 
 
 States. It became clear that the same Supreme Power 
 which in its sovereignty was suppressing the Rebellion, 
 and vindicating the laws, would be obliged to fix the 
 conditions of perpetual peace, and determine by what 
 process the transition from rebellion to loyalty might be 
 most surely accomplished. 
 
 It was plain enough that the doctrine of State Rights, 
 which had been at the bottom of the Rebellion, would 
 have to go by the board. The absurdity of two sov 
 ereignties, to say nothing about thirty or forty, in one 
 community, subject only at their caprices to the Sov 
 ereign over all, was an absurdity that would no longer 
 require extensive argument. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 Early in the progress of affairs, Mr. SUMNER foresaw 
 the danger that would arise from Military Rule in the 
 South. The appointment of Military Governors, which 
 had then already been done for Tennessee, South Car 
 olina, North Carolina, and Louisiana, and as was sub 
 sequently done over other subjugated States, was a 
 necessity at the time, in which all men of sense concurred. 
 But he anticipates the possible danger that this impera- 
 
448 POSSIBLE ABUSE OF THE POWER. 
 
 torial dominion, indefinite in extent, might also be 
 indefinite in duration ; for, if under the Constitution and 
 laws it be proper to constitute such Governors, it is clear 
 that they may be continued without regard to time for 
 years, if you please, as well as for weeks ; and the whole 
 region which they are called to sway might become a 
 military empire, with all powers, executive, legislative, 
 and even judicial, derived from one man in Washington. 
 
 Could any prophet have foreseen clearer what actu 
 ally followed in so atrociously unrepublican a form, and 
 in violation of all the Republican souvenirs of our coun 
 try in the case of Louisiana ? It would have been well 
 enough if this tremendous power at Washington had 
 limited itself, as it had done in the appointment of Mili 
 tary Governors in Mexico and California after their con 
 quest, and before peace. But to appoint Military Gov 
 ernors, and prolong their power in a conquered country , 
 beyond all civil jurisdiction, beyond an undoubted 
 necessity, and their appointment for temporary purposes 
 by the urgent necessity of suppressing a Rebellion the 
 distinction must be very clearly drawn, and the civil 
 power must come in the first moment the opportunity 
 occurred, and the military power be withdrawn. 
 
 Then comes in the power of Congress to establish 
 Provisional Governments ; and even these provisional 
 governments must hold sway no longer than the voice 
 of the people who are to be governed, shall be heard in 
 the appointment of their own Governors. On this point 
 the opinion of Chancellor KENT is quoted : 
 
 "Though the Constitution vests the executive power in the Presi 
 dent, arid declares him Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy of 
 the United States, these powers must necessarily be subordinate to the 
 legislative power in Congress. It would appear to me to be the policy 
 
CARPETBAGISM IN THE SOUTH. 449 
 
 or true construction of this simple and general grant of power to the 
 President, not to suffer it to interfere with those specific powers of Con 
 gress which are more safely deposited in the legislative department, and 
 that the powers thus assumed by the President do. not belong to him, but 
 
 to Congress" 
 
 It has been in violation of this principle that so much 
 harm has been done to the South that the Executive 
 Power at Washington has been so severe in its re 
 pression as to carry a blight all through the South, 
 both to the White man and the Black man. This, of 
 course, has been attended with executive favoritism, by 
 which, under a regime since known as Carpetbagism, 
 robberies to the extent of many millions have been 
 committed, fortunes untold extorted from the help 
 less, and insults, injuries, and wrongs without number 
 inflicted upon a prostrate and ruined people. 
 
 LXII. 
 
 Mr. SUMNER looks at the argument of the State for 
 feiture thus : 
 
 But again it is sometimes said., that the States, by their flagrant 
 treason, have forfeited their rights as States, so as to be civilly dead. 
 It is a patent and indisputable fact, that this gigantic treason was 
 inaugurated with all the forms of law known to the States ; that it was 
 carried forward not only by individuals, but also by States, so far as 
 States can perpetrate treason ; that the States pretended to withdraw 
 bodily in their corporate capacities ; that the Rebellion, as it showed 
 itself, was by States as well as in States ; that it was by the governments 
 of States as well as by the people of States ; and that, to the common 
 observer, the crime was consummated by the several corporations, as 
 well as by the individuals of whom they were composed. From this 
 fact, obvious to all, it is argued, that, since, according to Blackstone, 
 "a traitor hath abandoned his connection with society, and hath no 
 longer any right to the advantages which before belonged to him 
 29 
 
450 THE SOUTHERN STATES VACATED. 
 
 purely as a member of the community," by the same principle the 
 traitor State is no longer to be regarded as a member of the Union. 
 But it is not necessary, on the present occasion, to insist on the 
 application of any such principle to States. 
 
 Without going into theories about State suicide, or 
 State abdication, or any of those endless mazes, he 
 asserts the plain fact that, for the time being , in the 
 absence of a loyal government, those States could take 
 no part and perform no function in the Union or in the 
 administration of civil government. The bright spaces 
 once occupied by those governments, were abandoned 
 and vacated. He continues : 
 
 That patriot Senator, Andrew Johnson, faithful among the faithless. 
 the Abdiel of the South, began his attempt to reorganize Tennessee 
 iby an Address, as early as the i8th of March, 1862, in which he made 
 nise of these words : 
 
 " I find most, if not all, of the offices, both State and Federal, 
 vacated, either by actual abandonment, or by the action of the in- 
 .cumbents in attempting to subordinate their functions to a power in 
 hostility to the fundamental law of the State, and subversive of her 
 .national allegiance." 
 
 In employing the word " vacated," Mr. Johnson hit upon the very term 
 -which, in the famous resolution of 1688, was held to be most effective 
 in dethroning King James. After declaring that he had abdicated the 
 government, it was added, " that the throne had thereby become 
 vacant" on which Macaulay happily remarks : 
 
 " The word abdication conciliated politicians of a more timid school. 
 To the real statesman the simple important clause was that which 
 declared the throne vacant ; and if that clause could be carried, he 
 -cared little by what preamble it might be introduced." 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 It was therefore enough that the Southern States were 
 declared vacated, as in fact they were ; and the road was 
 open to the exercise of a rightful Federal jurisdiction, 
 
THREE SOURCES OF CONGRESSIONAL POWER. 451 
 
 until the period should arrive when they could claim their 
 rights, as well-ordered communities, to again resume 
 self-government under the aegis of a common protecting 
 Constitution. 
 
 The three sources of Congressional power during this 
 interval of transition, he makes to consist, first, in the 
 necessity of the case ; for where there is no other 
 government within a certain district of our territory, 
 the jurisdiction must lie with Congress ; for it is incident 
 to the guardianship of the eminent domain which belongs 
 to the United States wherever its people, or property, 
 or territory exist. Secondly, this jurisdiction is also 
 derived from the Rights of War. The power of the 
 President to appoint Military Governors, was a War 
 Power, and that was a Congressional Power ; for among 
 its prerogatives, the Constitution clearly enumerates " to 
 declare war," " suppress insurrections," and " support 
 armies." It is Congress that conquers, and the same 
 authority that conquers, must govern. " Would you 
 know," inquires Mr. SUMNER, " the extent of these 
 powers that must be conceded to Congress ? " He gives 
 the following answer : 
 
 They will be found in the authoritative texts of Public Law, in the 
 works of Grotius, Vattel, and Wheaton. They are the powers con 
 ceded by civilized society to nations at war, known as the Rights of 
 \Yar, at once multitudinous and minute, vast and various. It would be 
 strange, if Congress could organize armies and navies to conquer, and 
 could not also organize governments to protect. 
 
 De Tocqueville, who saw our institutions with so keen an eye, re 
 marked, that, since, in spite of all political fictions, the preponderating 
 power resided in the State governments, and not in the National Go 
 vernment, a civil war here " would be nothing but a foreign Avar in 
 disguise." Of course the natural consequence would be to give the 
 National Government in such a civil war, all the rights which it would 
 
452 MEANING OF REPUBLICAN FORM. 
 
 have in a foreign war. And this conclusion from the observation of 
 the ingenious publicist has been practically adopted by the Supreme 
 Court of the United States in those recent cases where this tribunal, 
 after the most learned argument, followed by the most careful con 
 sideration, adjudged, that, since the Act of Congress of July i3th, 1861, 
 the National Government has been waging "a territorial civil war," in 
 which all property afloat belonging to a resident of the belligerent 
 territory is liable to capture and condemnation as lawful prize. P.ut 
 surely, if the National Government may stamp upon all residents in this 
 belligerent territory the character of foreign enemies, so as to subject 
 their ships and cargoes to the penalties of confiscation, it may perform 
 the milder service of making all needful rules and regulations for the 
 government of this territory under the Constitution, so long as may be 
 requisite for the sake of peace and order ; and since the object of 
 war is " indemnity for the past and security for the future," it may- 
 do everything necessary to make these effectual. But it will not be 
 enough to crush the Rebellion. Its terrible root must be extermi 
 nated, so that it may no more flaunt in blood 
 
 The last point is found in the Constitutional provision 
 that "The United States shall guarantee to every State 
 in this Union a Republican form of government, and 
 shall protect each of them against invasion." In these 
 words, <( guarantee " and " obligation " on the part of the 
 Federal Government, is found the recognition of the 
 original concession it had of a power conferring juris 
 diction above all pretended State rights. And the occa 
 sion had come with the war, for the exercise of that two 
 fold power of the national government which had been 
 thus solemnly conceded. He therefore remarks that- 
 All that Congress proposes is simply to recognize the actual condition 
 of the States, and to undertake their temporary government, by provid 
 ing for the condition of political syncope into which they have fallen ; 
 and, during this interval, to substitute its own constitutional powers for 
 the unconstitutional powers of the Rebellion. Of course, therefore, 
 Congress will blot no star from the flag, nor will it obliterate any State 
 liabilities. But it will seek, according to its duty, in the best way, to 
 
SUMNER S. CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT. 453 
 
 maintain the great and real sovereignty of the Union, by upholding the 
 flag unsullied, and by enforcing everywhere within its jurisdiction the 
 supreme law of the Constitution. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 He closes his luminous essay, in these words : 
 
 To my mind nothing can be clearer, as a proposition of constitutional 
 law, than that everywhere within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Na 
 tional Government Slavery is impossible. The argument is as brief as 
 it is unanswerable. Slavery is so odious that it can exist only by virtue 
 of positive law, plain and unequivocal ; but no such words can be found 
 in the Constitution. Therefore Slavery is impossible within the exclusive 
 jurisdiction of the National Government. For many years I have had 
 this conviction, and have constantly maintained it. I am glad to believe 
 that it is implied, if not expressed, in the Chicago Platform. Mr. Chase, 
 among our public men, is known to accept it sincerely. Thus Slavery 
 in the Territories is unconstitutional ; but if the Rebel territory falls 
 under the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Government, then 
 Slavery will be impossible there. In a legal and constitutional sense, 
 it will die at once. The air will be too pure for a slave. I cannot doubt 
 that this great triumph has been already won. The moment that the 
 States fell, Slavery fell also ; so that even without any Proclamation of 
 the President, Slavery had ceased to have a legal and constitutional ex 
 istence in every Rebel State. * * But enough. The case is clear. 
 Behold the Rebel States in arms against that paternal government to 
 which, as the supreme condition of their constitutional existence, they 
 owe duty and love ; and behold all legitimate powers, executive, legis 
 lative, and judicial, in these States, abandoned and vacated. // only 
 remains that Congress should enter and assume the proper jurisdiction. 
 If we are not ready to exclaim with Burke, speaking of Revolutionary 
 France, "It is but an empty space on the political map," we may at 
 least adopt the response hurled back by Mirabeau, that this empty 
 space is a volcano red with flames, and overflowing with lava-floods. 
 But whether we deal with it as " empty space" or as "volcano," the 
 jurisdiction, civil and military, centres in Congress, to be employed for 
 the happiness, welfare, and renown of the American people,- changing 
 Slavery into Freedom, and present chaos into a Cosmos of perpetual 
 beauty and power. 
 
454 THE PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 LXV. 
 
 As a war measure, The Proclamation of Emancipa 
 tion, Jan. i, 1863, was the first effectual blow struck at 
 the heart of the rebellion. It shook the structure to the 
 centre. It was the last thing the slave oligarchy had 
 thought of. It came upon them like the trump of doom. 
 It annihilated all hope of intervention by the Powers of 
 Europe, in behalf of the slave-propped rebellion. This 
 they acknowledged themselves. They saw it was 
 clear enough even to the blind that the first throne in 
 Europe which took sides with slavery in America, would 
 crumble to dust in the earthquake of a revolution. It 
 banished all idea of the recognition of the Confederacy 
 from the brain of every minister in Europe. 
 
 It was one of the grandest deeds ever enacted on the 
 earth ; it will have more influence over the fortunes of 
 the human race, than almost any act of any other ruler 
 of nations. Scarcely had a short month gone by, be 
 fore it was known to every sitter in the Valley of the 
 Shadow of Death ; and it colored the policy of every 
 government in Europe. Those who sneered at it as a 
 pompous brutum fulmen, forgot that slavery never was 
 restored, where it had, by supreme authority, once been 
 proclaimed abolished. Liberty takes no such steps 
 backward. Slavery had been abolished by proclamation 
 in San Domingo ; it was the attempt to reinstate it, that 
 whelmed that island in blood. Anywhere else, it would 
 have the same effect. 
 
 Lord Russell ridiculed it because it was levelled only 
 at " Slavery over territory beyond Mr. Lincoln s control, 
 while all the States and Districts held by Federal armies 
 were exempt." This would be a very flimsy objection, 
 
DEATH-KNELL OF AFRICAN SLAVERY. 455 
 
 if it were true ; but it was not. His Lordship forgot 
 that the Proclamation was purely a war measure. Hu 
 mane and sublime as the results were to be, it was not 
 done as an act of humanity. Its sole immediate object 
 was like that of any other war measure to weaken 
 the enemies of the country, and strengthen its friends. 
 In this light the measure was adopted for, and intended 
 to apply only to, districts in rebellion ; it was to take 
 effect there, at the cannon s mouth. 
 
 Slave labor was the strong prop of the revolt. It 
 either raised bread and meat on the plantations, or it did 
 the heavy work of the camp ; and able-bodied slaves had, 
 from the hour the rebellion began, been as necessary, 
 and often as efficient, as white soldiers in the field. 
 This gave the South half a million extra soldiers. It 
 would have been no war measure to proclaim slavery 
 abolished in districts which were loyal ; for our friends 
 there, would thus, not only have been punished for their 
 loyalty, but deprived of the very slave-labor aid to 
 strengthen them in fighting our enemies, which the Pro 
 clamation was intended to rob the rebels of. Besides, 
 thinking men knew that the Proclamation was not a mere 
 isolated act ; it was part and parcel of the imperative 
 policy of a government charged with the responsibility 
 of rescuing itself from imminent, and appalling danger. 
 Universal emancipation of the African race everywhere, 
 was embraced in the plan ; for the rebellion had made it 
 inevitable. 
 
 The Proclamation was hailed with gladness by all the 
 uncompromising friends of the Union ; and intelligent 
 men saw, that, hastily as the verdict had been rendered, 
 sanctioning the act, the approval was the solemn voice 
 of the nation ; and the ratification of the deed sounded 
 
456 EMANCIPATION OF THE AFRICAN RACE. 
 
 the death-knell of African Slavery. It was the sudden 
 beginning of a swift end. 
 
 Students of History ! Let memory go gleaning over 
 all the fields of the past: where will she find an instance 
 that Freedom had once proclaimed Slavery dead, where 
 it ever lived again? Some systems of wrong, once sent 
 to their graves, have no resurrection. 
 
 But these results were only the first steps in the march 
 of the earthquake which had startled the world. Some 
 events are understood just about as well before, as after, 
 they happen. On the subject of African slavery, the 
 voice of no nation could be so potential as America s. 
 When slavery was declared abolished here, it meant 
 that it had received its death-wound in every land. If 
 negro slavery fell dead before our altars where liberty 
 was born, it would carry all like systems with it to a com 
 mon sepulchre. 
 
 SECTION NINTH. 
 
 Emancipation of the African Race. 
 
 I. 
 
 In the debate, on the passage of the bill amending the 
 Charter of the City of Washington, in May, 1864, preju 
 dice and injustice still insisted on inserting the word 
 white before the word male, so as to exclude Colored 
 suffrage. When all its advocates had finished, Mr. SUM- 
 NER dropped a few words, especially to Mr. WILLEY, of 
 West Virginia, who had opposed the extension of the 
 right to Colored people, with the violence indicated by 
 
SLAVERY DIES HARD. 457 
 
 these words: "This provision, I undertake to say, is 
 not only odious to the people of this District, but that it 
 will be disastrous in its results, not only here, but in its 
 influence on popular opinion everywhere in the nation." 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT, Slavery dies hard. It still stands front to front 
 with our embattled armies, holding them in check. It dies hard on the 
 battle-field ; it dies hard in the Senate Chamber. We have been com 
 pelled during this session, to hear various defences of slavery, some 
 times in its most offensive forms. Slave-hunting has been openly vin 
 dicated ; and now to-day the exclusion of Colored persons from the 
 electoral franchise, simply on account of color, is openly vindicated ; 
 and the Senator from West Virginia, newly introduced into this Cham 
 ber, from a State born of Freedom, rises to uphold Slavery in one of its 
 meanest products. Had Slavery never existed among us, there would 
 have been no such prejudice as that of which the Senator makes him 
 self the Representative. * * The Senator says he has not vindicated 
 Slavery. If he has not used the word, he has vindicated the thing, in 
 one of its most odious features. He seeks to blast a whole race, merely 
 on account of color. Would he ever have proposed such injustice, but 
 for the prejudice nursed by Slavery ? Had not Slavery existed, would 
 any such idea have found place in a Senator naturally so generous and 
 humane ? No, sir. He spoke with the voice of Slavery, which he 
 cannot forget. He spoke under the unhappy and disturbing influences 
 which Slavery has left in his mind. 
 
 Now, Sir, I am against Slavery, wherever it shows itself, whatever 
 form it takes. I am against Slavery when compelled to meet it directly, 
 and I am against Slavery in all its products and its offspring. I am 
 against Slavery when encountering the beast outright, or only its tail. 
 The prejudices of which the Senator makes himself the representative 
 to-day, permit me to say, are nothing but the tail of Slavery. Unhap 
 pily, while we have succeeded in abolishing Slavery in this District, 
 we have not yet abolished the tail : and the tail has representatives in 
 the Senate chamber, as the beast once had. * * The enjoyment of the 
 electoral franchise by the Colored citizens in the State of North Carolina, 
 for a long time after the Constitution, is not a matter of doubt. Her 
 most eminent magistrate, the late Mr. Justice Gaston, accomplished as 
 a jurist and a man, laid down the law of his State in emphatic words. 
 Pronouncing the opinion of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, in 
 the casrof The State vs. Manuel, in 1838, he said: 
 
45S BUREAU OF FREEDMEN S AFFAIRS. 
 
 "Slaves manumitted here become free men, and therefore, if born in 
 North Carolina, are citizens of North Carolina, and all free persons in 
 the State are corn citizens of the State. The Constitution extended 
 the elective franchise to every free man who had arrived at the age of 
 twenty-one, and paid a public tax : and it is a matter of universal noto 
 riety tliat under it free persons, without regard to color, claimed and 
 exercised the franchise until it was taken from free men of Color a 
 few years since by our amended Constitution" 
 
 At this moment of revolution, when our country needs the blessing 
 of Almighty God, and the strong arm of all her children, this is not 
 a time for us solemnly to enact injustice. In duty to our country, and in 
 duty to God, I plead against any such thing. We must be against Slav 
 ery in its original shape, and in all its brood of prejudice and error. 
 
 II. 
 
 This speech killed the bill. It was brought up again, 
 but this second battle for suffrage in the District was 
 lost this time by only two votes. In fact, it was a battle 
 won ; for shortly afterwards the emancipation of the 
 Colored people of the District was made complete. A 
 far greater measure, however, was soon to come before 
 Congress. After a long and disjointed debate in the 
 House of Representatives, a Bill was adopted by that 
 body to establish a BUREAU OF FREEDMEN S affairs. 
 When the Bill reached the Senate, a substitute was pre 
 pared by Mr. SUMNER, for the House Bill was by no 
 means satisfactory. Some of the best men in the coun 
 try laid before the Committee different projects, no less 
 than nine or ten in all, and among their authors were 
 such men as ROBERT DALE OWEN, JOHN JAY, and ED 
 WARD L. PIERCE. But the Bill drafted by Mr. SUMNER, 
 and adopted by his Committee, after having been pre 
 pared with the utmost care, was presented to the Senate, 
 and explained and enforced by Mr. SUMNER in an able 
 
SPEECH ON THE FREEDMEN S BUREAU. 459 
 
 speech. It embraced ten sections, the first of which 
 provided that " An office should be created in the Treas 
 ury Department, to be called THE BUREAU OF FREED- 
 MEN, and meaning thereby such persons as have become 
 free since the beginning of the present war." 
 
 From this most effective and beautiful speech I can 
 not resist the temptation of extracting a few passages. 
 He opened thus : 
 
 III. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT, The Senate, only a short time ago, was engaged 
 for a week considering how to open an iron way from the Atlantic to 
 the Pacific. It is now to consider how to open the way from Slavery 
 to Freedom. * * In what I have to offer, I shall confine myself to a sim 
 ple statement which I hope will not be taken as dictated by any spirit 
 of controversy, or any pride of opinion. Nothing of that kind could 
 justly enter into such a discussion as this. The importance of the 
 measure is seen at a glance ; it is clearly a charity and a duty. By 
 virtue of existing Acts of Congress, and also under the Proclamation of 
 the President, large numbers of slaves have suddenly become free. 
 They may be counted already by the hundred-thousand ; in the pro 
 gress of victory, they will be counted by the million. Deriving their 
 freedom from the United States, the national government cannot be 
 excused from making such provisions as may be required for their 
 immediate protection during the present transition period. The freedom 
 conferred must be rendered useful, or at least saved from being a 
 burden. Reports, official and unofficial, show the necessity of action. 
 In some places it is a question of life and death. 
 
 After glancing at these reports from the Southern 
 States, which showed that wherever our arms had pre 
 vailed, the old social system had been destroyed, mas 
 ters having fled from slaves, and slaves assuming a new 
 character released from former obligations and sent 
 adrift in the world, rolling like eddies around military 
 posts, and all of them looking to the victorious power to 
 
460 HELPLESSNESS OF THE EMANCIPATED. 
 
 which they had fled for protection ; the exigency was 
 pressing. It had been alleged that most of them were 
 idle and vicious, and indisposed to work ; but General 
 BANKS, then having command in Louisiana, used these 
 words in one of his despatches : " Wherever in the 
 Department they have been well treated, and reasonably 
 compensated, they have invariably rendered faithful 
 service to their employers. From many persons who 
 manage plantations, I have received the information that 
 there is no difficulty whatever in keeping them at work, 
 if the conditions to which I have referred, are complied 
 with." 
 
 IV. 
 
 But the curse of Slavery was still on them somebody 
 must take them by the hand ; for, however generous had 
 been the aid given by private societies organized at the 
 East and West, their efforts, of necessity, were wholly 
 inadequate to the work. Without government super 
 vision, distress would become all but universal, and 
 thousands be left to perish. Mr. SUMNER showed that the 
 service required was too vast and complex for unorgan 
 ized individuals. Nothing but the government could 
 supply the adequate machinery, and extend the proper 
 net-work of assistance, with the proper unity of opera 
 tion. The national government must interfere in the 
 case precisely as in building the Pacific Railroad. It 
 was therefore a matter of imperative necessity that a 
 Bridge from Slavery to Freedom should be constructed ; 
 and call it charity, or duty, it was as sacred as humanity. 
 The bill he had proposed, would protect the Freedman 
 from any system of serfdom, or enforced apprenticeship 
 
FIRST COMMISSION ON FREEDMEN. 461 
 
 an idea which many of the former slave-masters clung 
 to as a reliance for the still imremunerated labor of those 
 from whom it had once been exacted. To the Treasury 
 Department had already been confided jurisdiction over 
 " houses, tenements, lands and plantations, deserted and 
 abandoned by insurgents within the lines of military 
 occupation." The Bill provided against any system of 
 enforced labor or apprenticeship. It was constructed 
 just as carefully as to what it should not attempt to do ; 
 the trouble being in all such cases in trying to ac 
 complish too much. " It does not," as he remarked, 
 " assume to provide ways and means of support for the 
 Freedmen ; but it does look to securing them the oppor 
 tunity of labor, according to well-guarded contracts, and 
 under the friendly advice of the agents of the Govern 
 ment, who will take care that they are protected from 
 abuse of all kinds." 
 
 The Commission on Freedmen, appointed by the 
 Secretary of War, in their report had already said : 
 " For a time we need a Freedmen s Bureau ; not because 
 these people are negroes only, because they are men 
 who have been for generations despoiled of their rights. 
 This Commission has already recommended the estab 
 lishment of such a Bureau." 
 
 It was a long, hard fight. It encountered at every 
 step, whenever it came up, bitter opposition. It finally 
 passed the Senate, on the 28th of June ; but it had a 
 still harder struggle to go through in the House, where 
 it did not pass until the gth of February of the following 
 year, and then only by a majority of two. It had the 
 ordeal of another struggle in the Senate, when it at last 
 passed that body without a division, and on the same 
 day, March 3d, was approved by the President, and the 
 
462 LETTER OF COUNSEL TO AFRICANO-AMERICANS. 
 
 FREEDMEN S BUREAU WAS ESTABLISHED. For whatever 
 abuses may afterwards have crept into the administration 
 of the system it was no more to blame, than was the sys 
 tem of contracts for munitions of war, or any other depart 
 ment for the war to save the Union was disgraced 
 from beginning to end by robbery and plunder. But 
 the historic pen which traces the first steps of mil 
 lions of Freedmen to civilization, will have to record 
 the fact that this BUREAU was, what Mr. SUMNER had 
 first declared it to be, THE BRIDGE TO FREEDOM.* 
 
 * After the Proclamation of Emancipation I addressed the following Letter of 
 Counsel to colored men, which met the warm approval of Mr. Lincoln and Sena 
 tor Stunner. It may not be wholly inappropriate now. 
 
 WASHINGTON, Jan. ist, 1863. 
 KIND WORDS TO AFRICANO-AMERICANS. 
 
 FELLOW-MEN : The day you have waited for so long has at last come. 
 
 You are all free now, or you soon will be Your charter has been duly signed 
 by the President of the United States, and that deed is ratified in heaven. 
 
 God is always on the right side : he is the everlasting friend of freedom. 
 
 Being free, your earthly salvation is put into your own hand?. While you had a 
 master, he gave you bread, clothing, and shelter such as they were. In escaping the 
 lash, you must provide these things for yourselves. You have always claimed you 
 could do it, and your friends believe you can. What is still better, you have through 
 generations proved you could not only support yourselves, but your masters too. 
 
 Now, laying all theories aside, and coming down to practical business, think what 
 questions are before you. But first let me tell you what is not before you. 
 
 1. You need not give yourselves any trouble about the great question of your free 
 dom. It is a moral fact. It will be an actual material fact sooner by far than you 
 can prepare for it. Remember that when the song of freedom is once sung its notes 
 will vibrate forever. Slavery is mortal, and must die ; Liberty is eternal. 
 
 2. Give yourselves no solicitude about the prejudice against your color ; for that 
 prejudice does not exist in pure and generous hearts in such a form or to such an 
 extent as materially to interfere with your prosperity and future elevation. Let your 
 minds rather be directed to the means you should employ for accomplishing the 
 destiny which is now within your reach. 
 
 First. Get work as soon as you can, anything that is honorable, and begin to 
 lay up money. If you are idle, you will be despised as vagabonds; if you contract 
 bad habits, you will have no friends ; if you commit crime, you will be punished 
 without mercy. In no community whatever can you expect to escape punishment 
 when you do wrong. The color of the white man may save him, no matter how 
 
RESOLUTIONS OFFERED FOR RETALIATION. 463 
 
 V. 
 
 On the 23d of January, 1863, a joint resolution was 
 offered in the Senate, advising retaliation for the cruel 
 treatment of prisoners in the hands of the Rebels. 
 
 " As it has come to the knowledge of Congress, that great numbers of 
 our soldiers who have fallen as prisoners of war into the hands of the in 
 surgents, have been subjected to treatment unexampled for cruelty in the 
 history of civilized war, and finding its parallels only in the conduct of 
 savage tribes a treatment resulting in the death of multitudes by the 
 slow but designed process of starvation, and by mortal diseases occa 
 sioned by insufficient and unhealthy food, by wanton exposure of their 
 person to the inclemency of the weather, and by deliberate assassination 
 of innocent and unoffending men, and the murder in cold blood of 
 prisoners after surrender ; and as a continuance of these barbarities, in 
 contempt of the laws of war, and in disregard of the remonstrance of the 
 national authorities, has presented the alternative of suffering our brave 
 soldiers thus to be destroyed, or to apply the principle of retaliation for 
 their protection ;" the resolution declares that, " in the judgment of Con- 
 black his crime or loathsome his bestiality. But if you once put that bitter cup to 
 your lips you will have to drain it to the last dregs. Here your friends cannot save 
 you. You must beware in time, and escape the danger. 
 
 The law was made for you as well as for white men, and in your case it will be 
 sternly enforced. Few voices will be heard pleading in your behalf, on the ground 
 that you have been a slave. On the contrary, you will find what does not often 
 happen that all the bad as well as the good will be arrayed against you. If you do 
 not keep a sharp look-out, you will find that freedom, although a holy, is often a 
 dangerous gift. A great poet says, " Lord of himself, that heritage of woe." 
 
 Second : GET KNOWLEDGE Other things being equal, your progress and ele 
 vation will depend entirely upon the amount of your intelligence. Ignorance is 
 one of the principal curses of slavery. In Heaven s name, rid yourselves of it as 
 quickly as possible. 
 
 FIRST OF ALL, LEARN TO READ, and teach your wives and children. Do it 
 nights and Sundays, if you can find no other time. And when this is done you will, 
 indeed, find yourselves in a new world. You don t know how much good it would 
 do you all. Ignorance cannot help you or anybody else. Ignorance is dark 
 knowledge is light. Do not think you have done much till you can read 
 that glorious book which our Father sent down to us from heaven. It is 
 his voice. It speaks to you. You must learn to read it. But, whatever you may 
 neglect for yourselves, don t, oh, don t let your children grow up in ignorance ; for 
 they would still be under the curse of slavery. Get as near to the school-house and 
 a Sunday-school as you can. There will hereafter be no law in the South punishing 
 
464 BARBARITY PROPOSED FOR BARBARITY. 
 
 gress it has become justifiable and necessary that the President should, in 
 order to prevent the continuance and recurrence of such barbarities, and 
 to insure the observance by the insurgents of the laws of civili/ed war, 
 resort at once to measures of retaliation ; that in the opinion of Con 
 gress, such retaliation ought to be inflicted upon the insurgent officers 
 now in our hands, or hereafter to fall into our hands as prisoners ; that 
 such officers ought to be subjected to like treatment practised toward 
 our officers or soldiers in the hands of the insurgents, in respect to 
 quantity and quality of food, clothing, fuel, medicine, medical attend 
 ance, personal exposure, or other mode of dealing with "them ; 
 that, with a view to the same ends, the insurgent prisoners in our hands 
 ought to be placed under the control and in the keeping of officers 
 and men who have themselves been prisoners in the hands of the insur 
 gents, and have thus acquired a knowledge of their mode of treating 
 Union prisoners ; that explicit instructions ought to be given to the 
 forces having the charge of such insurgent prisoners, requiring them to 
 carry out strictly and promptly the principles of this resolution in every 
 case, until the President, having received satisfactory information of the 
 abandonment by the insurgents of such barbarous practices, shall revoke 
 or modify those instructions. Congress do not, however, intend by 
 this resolution to limit or restrict the power of the President to the 
 modes or principles of retaliation herein mentioned, but only to advise 
 a resort to them as demanded by the occasion." 
 
 anybody that teaches you to read. All good people will help you, and you will find 
 it not only very easy, after a little while, but very delightful. Then, and then only, 
 will you know what freedom is worth. 
 
 You must forget and forgive all the wrongs you have suffered. "If you forgive 
 not, neither shall you be forgiven." This is God s rule ; and you must obey it if you 
 would have his blessing. I know how hard it will sometimes come to forgive those 
 who have sold your wives and children and heaped on your heads wrong upon wrong. 
 But you must do it. Christ did it to his murderers. " Vengeance is mine, saith the 
 Lord." 
 
 All your friends are proud to hear that you have behaved so well wherever you have 
 been instantly set free. The foes of emancipation predicted that you would be guilty 
 of every crime. But of the tens of thousands who have suddenly passed into freedom, 
 no record of crime yet appears against you. We can now point to your example, and 
 justify ourselves for all the confidence we have had in you. 
 
 So too are we happy and grateful to learn that the three millions and a half of 
 your race who still clank the chain are meekly and patiently waiting for the day of 
 their liberation. God grant that they may wait patiently still ! While HE is doing 
 the work, do not stand in His way. Show to the world that you were worthy to be 
 free. The more you prove this, the quicker the fetters will fall. Let it be God s act. 
 He will hasten it in his time. 
 
 From the beginning of the war till now, you have been compelled to look on, idle 
 spectators of this great struggle; and you know the reason why. The war was not 
 begun by the North, nor was it carried on by the North for the sake of destroying 
 
SUMNER S CIVILIZED SUBSTITUTE. 465 
 
 VI. 
 
 This resolution was vigorously defended by Mr. WADE, 
 of Ohio, and Mr. HOWARD, of Michigan ; but Mr. SUM- 
 NER moved the following, as a substitute : 
 
 That retaliation is harsh always, even in the simplest cases, and is 
 permissible only where, in the first place, it may reasonably be expected 
 to effect its object ; and where, in the second place, it is consistent with 
 the usages of civilized society ; and that, in the absence of these essen 
 tial conditions, it is a useless barbarism, having no other end than ven 
 geance, whidi is forbidden alike to nations and to men. 
 
 And be it further resolved, That the treatment of our officers and 
 soldiers in rebel prisons is cruel, savage and heart-rending, beyond all 
 precedent ; that it is shocking to morals ; that it is an offence against 
 human nature itself; that it adds new guilt to the crime of the rebellion, 
 and constitutes an example from which history will turn with sorrow and 
 disgust. 
 
 And be it further resolved, That any attempted imitation of rebel 
 
 slavery. It was begun by the slave-holders to destroy the Union, extend slavery, and 
 open the slave-trade. The North went into it to preserve the Union ; and when we 
 found that slavery would destroy the republic unless slavery should be wiped out it 
 self, then Mr. Lincoln declared freedom to all the slaves of all the enemies of the 
 Union. 
 
 Now it has come to this, that this great war is between slavery and freedom. It Jias 
 become a war for you. Now you can come into the fight, and take the field, and 
 help work out your own salvation. And you must do it; for remember that "he 
 who would be free, himself must strike the blow." If you will not help yourselves, 
 whom are you to look to ? 
 
 Yes, you must not hang back. Enlist in the army the first chance you get. If you 
 are not as ready and willing to spill your blood for your own freedom as white men 
 are to do it for you, then you will prove, what your masters have always said, that 
 you are not fit nor worthy to be free. You are not asked to take a life, or use or 
 destroy any property, except as soldiers, under the command of your officers. In all 
 this you are doing but your duty as men and citizens of a great and glorious country. 
 
 You will not forget that mankind respect nothing so much as valor. To fight gal 
 lantly in a good cause will win for you and your race more honor and respect than 
 you can win in any other way. By showing that you are good soldiers, you will do 
 more towards your own progress and elevation than all your friends could do for you 
 in a century. 
 
 In this way, and in this way only, can you repay the debt of gratitude which you owe 
 30 
 
466 NEW PLEDGES FOR ENDING THE REBELLION. 
 
 barbarism in the treatment of prisoners would be plainly impracticable, 
 on account of its inconsistency with the prevailing sentiments of hu 
 manity among us ; that it would be injurious at home, for it would bar 
 barize the whole community ; that it would be utterly useless, for it 
 could not affect the cruel authors of the revolting conduct which we 
 seek to overcome ; that it would be immoral, inasmuch as it proceeded 
 from vengeance alone ; that it could have no other result than to de 
 grade the national character and the national name, and to bring down 
 upon our country the reprobation of history ; and that being thus im 
 practicable, useless, immoral, and degrading, it must be rejected as a 
 measure of retaliation, precisely as the barbarism of roasting or eating 
 prisoners is always rejected by civilized powers. 
 
 And be it further resolved, That the United States, filled with grief 
 :and sympathy for the cherished citizens who, as officers and soldiers, 
 have become the victims of Heaven-defying outrage, hereby declare 
 their solemn determination to put an end to this great iniquity by put 
 ting an end to the rebellion of which it is the natural fruit ; that to secure 
 this humane and righteous consummation, they pledge anew their best 
 energies and all the resources of the whole people ; and they call upon 
 .all to bear witness that in this necessary warfare with barbarism, they re- 
 
 "to your deliverers. Every brave deed you do, the higher your fidelity to your flag, 
 the more complete your subordination and discipline, the higher you and your race 
 will stand, not only with your commanders and with the whole country, but with all 
 nations. 
 
 Never before have Africans had such a chance ! In the name, then, of your nearly 
 :iive millions in the United States, of more than half as many in South America and 
 the West India Islands, and of the uncounted millions on the great continent of 
 Africa, we call on you to shoulder the musket ! and let your valor and martial achieve 
 ments work the long-delayed redemption of a mighty people. 
 
 Another consideration, which is likely to be of grave magnitude hereafter, should 
 not be left out of sight now. It is EMIGRATION, NOT COLONIZATION MERELY. It 
 1 as been a Sisyphus work for us to try to found colonies in Africa while we held mil- 
 Jions of slaves at home, and offered no inducement to emigrate except either to be 
 .made free at the price of expatriation, or to receive the poor boon of escaping the 
 Jilighting influence of prejudice against color, at the cost of a life-long exile among 
 .barbarians of a darker skin, and no knowledge of civilization or the living God. 
 
 Few of your race went to Africa on these hard terms ; and I am glad of it. 
 
 I might now March 28th, 1874, when we have the sad news of Dr. Livingstone s 
 death in the heart of Africa press this consideration with earnestness: for it is my 
 full conviction that the civilization of Afiica which is so sure to come will he 
 effected chiefly through the agency of the emancipated Africano- American Race. 
 
SPEECH SUSTAINING THE SUBSTITUTE. 467 
 
 nounce all vengeance and every evil example, and plant themselves 
 firmly on the sacred landmarks of civilization, under the protection of 
 that God who is present with every prisoner, and enables heroic souls 
 to suffer for their country. 
 
 In sustaining his Resolutions Mr. SUMNER said : 
 
 " Now, sir, I believe that the Senate will not undertake in this 
 age of Christian light, under any inducement, under any provocation, 
 to counsel the Executive Government to enter into any such compe 
 tition with barbarism. Sir, the thing is impossible; it cannot be en 
 tertained ; we cannot be cruel, or barbarous, or savage, because the 
 rebels, whom we are now meeting in warfare, are cruel, barbarous, 
 and savage. We cannot imitate that detested example. Sir, we 
 find no precedent for it in our own history, nor in the history of other 
 nations. * * The Senator from Michigan, who advocates so elo 
 quently this unprecedented retaliation, attempted a description of the 
 torments of the rebel prisons; but language failed him. After speaking 
 of their immeasurable criminality, and the horrors of these scenes, 
 which he said were * absolutely indescribable, he proceeded to ask that 
 we should do these same things ; that we should take the lives of pris 
 oners, even by freezing and starvation, or turn them into living 
 skeletons by Act of Congress." 
 
 Mr. SUMNER S amendment, to the honor of the Senate, 
 was adopted by a large majority, although rejected in 
 the House. 
 
 VII. 
 
 In a letter to the NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY of New 
 York, December 2ist, 1863, Mr. SUMNER said: "Amid 
 all the sorrows of a conflict without precedent, let us 
 hold fast to the consolation that it is in simple obedience 
 to the spirit in which New England was founded, that 
 we are now resisting the bloody efforts to raise a wicked 
 power on the corner-stone of Human Slavery, and that 
 as New Englanders we could not do otherwise. If such 
 
468 ON BUILDING THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 
 
 a wicked power can be raised on this continent, the 
 Mayflower traversed its wintry sea in vain." 
 
 " We remember too that another ship crossed at the 
 same time, buffeting the same sea. It was a Dutch 
 ship with twenty slaves, who were landed at Jamestown, 
 in Virginia, and became the fatal seed of that Slavery 
 which has threatened to overshadow the land. Thus 
 the same ocean, in the same year, bore to the Western 
 Continent the Pilgrim Fathers, consecrated to Human 
 Liberty, and also a cargo of slaves. In the holds of 
 those two ships were the germs of the present direful 
 war ; and the simple question now is between the May 
 flower and the slave ship. Who that has not forgotten 
 God can doubt the result ? The Mayflower must pre 
 vail." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Being invited by the Colored citizens of Boston to a 
 public meeting for the celebration of Emancipation, he 
 was obliged to decline; but in reply, he said: " I am 
 glad that you celebrated the day. It deserved your 
 celebration, your thanksgiving, and your prayers. ON 
 
 THAT DAY AN ANGEL APPEARED UPON THE EARTH." 
 
 IX. 
 
 On the building of the Pacific Railroad May 23d, 
 1863 " I have always voted for it, and now that it is 
 authorized by Congress, I follow it with hope and confi 
 dence. Let the Road be built, and its influence will be 
 incalculable. People will wonder that the world lived so 
 long without it. Conjoining the two oceans, it will be 
 an agency of matchless power, not only commercial, 
 
UNION OF MISSISSIPPI AND LAKES. 469 
 
 but political. It will be a new girder to the Union, a 
 new help to business, and a new charm to life. New 
 houses and new towns will spring up, making new de 
 mand for labor and supplies. Civilization will be pro 
 jected into the forest and over the plain, while the desert 
 is made to yield its increase. There is no productiveness 
 to compare with that from the upturned sod which re 
 ceives the iron rail. In its crop are school-houses and 
 churches, cities and States." 
 
 On the " Union of the Mississippi and the Lakes by 
 canal" May 27, 1863 "The proposition to unite the 
 greatest navigable river in the world with the greatest 
 inland sea, is characteristic of the West. Each is worthy 
 of the other. With this union, the Gulf of Mexico will 
 be joined to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the whole 
 continent, from Northern cold to Southern heat, trav 
 ersed by one generous flood, bearing upon its bosom 
 untold commerce. Let its practicability be demonstrated 
 and the country will command it to be done, as it has 
 already commanded the opening of the Mississippi. 
 Triumphant over the wickedness of an accursed Re 
 bellion, we shall achieve another triumph, to take its 
 place among the victories of Peace. Mirabeau was right 
 when he protested against the use of the word impossi 
 ble, as simple stupidity. But I doubt if the word will be 
 found in any Western dictionary." 
 
 XL 
 
 The managers of the Young Men s Association of 
 Albany, after excluding from their lecture-room all 
 
470 AMENDMENT ABOLISHING SLAVERY. 
 
 Colored persons, had invited Senator SUMNER to address 
 them, on the character and history of Lafayette. Their 
 heroic achievement seems to have been fully appreciated, 
 and they received the following" well-merited reply : 
 " I am astonished at the request. I cannot consent to 
 speak of LAFAYETTE, who was not ashamed to fight be 
 side a black soldier, to an audience too delicate to sit be 
 side a black citizen. I cannot speak of Lafayette, who 
 was a friend of universal liberty, under the auspices of a 
 society which makes itself the champion of caste and vul 
 gar prejudice." This can hardly be called a SUMNER 
 milestone, but it is one of those little shining pebbles that 
 the feet of the traveler may turn up, on the sands of time 
 like some ancient intaglio with the two charmed 
 names : Lafayette Sumner. 
 
 XII. 
 
 At last the long struggle was drawing to a close ; the 
 battle in the Senate was virtually ended the victory 
 won. While the CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ABOLISH 
 ING SLAVERY THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES, was on 
 its passage, 8th of April, 1864, the great Massachusetts 
 Senator rose in his place in the Senate House, and 
 delivered his final argument, which opened with these 
 words : 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT, If an angel from the skies or a stranger from 
 another planet were permitted to visit this earth and to examine its 
 surface, who can doubt that his eyes would rest with astonishment upon 
 the outstretched extent and exhaustless resources of this republic, young 
 in years, but already noted beyond any dynasty in history ? In propor 
 tion as he considered and understood all that enters into and constitutes 
 the national life, his astonishment would increase, for he would find a 
 numerous people, powerful beyond precedent, without king or noble, 
 but with the schoolmaster instead. And yet the astonishment he con- 
 
THE CONSTITUTION OPPOSED TO SLAVERY. 471 
 
 fessed, as all these things unrolled before him, would swell into marvel, 
 as he learned that in this republic, arresting his admiration, where is 
 neither king nor noble, but the schoolmaster instead, there are four 
 million human beings in abject bondage, degraded to be chattels, under 
 the pretence of property in man, driven by the lash like beasts, despoiled 
 of all their rights, even the right to knowledge and the sacred right of 
 family, so that the relation of husband and wife is impossible, and no 
 parent can claim his own child, while all are condemned to brutish 
 ignorance. Startled by what he beheld, the stranger would naturally 
 inquire by what authority, under what sanction, and through what terms 
 of law or constitution, this fearful inconsistency, so shocking to human 
 nature itself, continues to be upheld. His growing wonder would know- 
 no bounds, when he was pointed to the Constitution of the United 
 States, as final guardian and conservator of this peculiar and many- 
 headed wickedness. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 After showing that Slavery finds no support in the 
 Constitution, he glances at the positive provisions by 
 which it is brought completely under the control of 
 Congress, 
 
 i. Among the powers of Congress, and associated 
 with the power to lay and collect taxes, is that " to pro 
 vide for the common defence and general welfare." In 
 the Virginia Convention, Mr. GEORGE MASON, a most 
 decided opponent of the Constitution, said : That 
 Congress should have power to provide for the general 
 welfare of the Union, I grant." But PATRICK HENRV 
 was far more explicit ; he foresaw that this power would 
 be directed against Slavery, and he unhesitatingly de 
 clared : 
 
 Slavery is detested. We feel its fatal effects. We deplore it, with 
 all the pity of humanity. Let all these considerations, at some future 
 period, press with full force on the mind of Congress. T^et that ur 
 banity, which, I trust, will distinguish America, and the necessity of 
 of national defence let all these things operate on their minds. They 
 
47 2 THE CONSTITUTION ANALYZED. 
 
 will search that paper the Constitution and see if they have power 
 of manumission and have they not, sir? Have they not power to pro- 
 ride for the general defence and welfare ? May they not think that these 
 call for the abolition of Slavery ? May they not pronounce all slaves 
 free ? And will they not be warranted by that power ? This is no ambi 
 guous implication or logical deduction. The paper speaks to the point 
 they have the power in clear, unequivocal terms, and will clearly and 
 certainly exercise it. 
 
 2. Next comes the fountain. " Congress shall have 
 power to declare war, to raise and support armies, to 
 provide and maintain a navy." He shows that this 
 power must authorize the government to contract with 
 all enlisted soldiers, and such a contract would be an 
 act of manumission, for a slave cannot make a contract. 
 
 3. There is still another clause. " The United States 
 shall guarantee to every State in this Union, a Republi 
 can form of Government." JOHN ADAMS, in the corre 
 spondence of his old age, says: "The customary mean 
 ings of the words Republican and Commonwealth 
 have been infinite. They have been applied to every 
 government under heaven that of Turkey, and that of 
 Spain, as well as that of Athens, and of Rome ; of Ge 
 neva and San Marino." But the guaranteeing of a 
 Republican form of Government, was too explicit to leave 
 any doubt ; and such a form could not embrace involun 
 tary servitude. 
 
 4. Another source of power is found in " No person 
 shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due 
 process of law." Liberty can thus be lost, only by " due 
 process of law." This was the sheet-anchor of all the 
 old Bills of Rights. So Lord Coke defined it as being 
 borrowed from the Common Law. The late Justice 
 BRONSON, of New York, in a judicial opinion, said : 
 " The meaning of the section, then, seems to be, that no 
 
CONSTITUTIONAL SLAVERY AN OUTLAW. 473 
 
 member of the State shall be disfranchised, or deprived 
 of any of his rights or privileges, unless the matter shall 
 be adjudged against him upon trial had according to the 
 course of the Common Law. * * The words due pro 
 cess of law/ in this place, cannot mean less than a pro 
 secution or suit instituted and conducted according to 
 the prescribed forms and solemnities for ascertaining 
 guilt, or determining the title to property." He thus 
 argues conclusively that, under these guarantees and 
 prohibitions, no person can be held as a slave. 
 
 Constitutional slavery," Mr. SUMNER said, "has al 
 ways been an outlaw wherever that provision of the Con 
 stitution was applicable. Nothing against slavery can be 
 unconstitutional : it is hesitation that is unconstitutional. 
 And yet, slavery still exists, in defiance of all these require 
 ments," and he demands that it shall be forever abolished, 
 by the supreme authority of the Republic. That 
 authority, he claims, does exist in Congress, which is 
 clothed with the supreme power of legislation ; and if 
 this shall be called in question, we have that grand re 
 course still left, appealing to the authority which made 
 the Constitution. Therefore he argues for that Amend 
 ment which was ultimately to follow the law as enacted 
 by Congress, after the hard struggle Liberty had to go 
 through, to achieve its final victory. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Tuesday, the 27th day of January, 1865, was the time 
 for the final vote on the Amendment to the Constitu 
 tion, in the House of Representatives. Vice-President 
 WILSON says in his "Anti-Slavery Measures of Con 
 gress,"- 
 
474 WILSON S ANTI-SLAVERY MEASURES. 
 
 Notice had been previously given, by Mr. Ashley, that the vote would 
 be taken on that day. The nation, realizing the transcendent magni 
 tude of the issue, awaited the result with profound anxiety. The 
 galleries, and the avenues leading to them, were early thronged by a 
 dense mass intensely anxious to witness the scene. Senators, Cabinet 
 officers, Judges of the Supreme Court, and even strangers, crowding 
 on to the floor of the House, watched its proceedings with absorbing 
 interest. During the roll-call, the vote of Speaker Colfax, and the 
 votes of Mr. English, Mr. Ganson, and Mr. Baldwin, with assured 
 success, were warmly applauded by the Republican side. And when 
 the Speaker declared, that, the Constitutional majority of two-thirds 
 having voted in the affirmative, the joint resolution was passed, the an 
 nouncement was received by the House and the spectators on the floor 
 with a wild outburst of enthusiastic applause. The Republican members 
 instantly sprang to their feet, and applauded with cheers and clapping 
 of hands. The spectators in the crowded galleries waved their hats, 
 and made the Chamber ring with enthusiastic plaudits. Hundreds of 
 ladies, gracing the galleries with their presence, rose in their seats ; and 
 by waving their handkerchiefs, and participating in the general demon 
 stration of enthusiasm, added to the intense excitement and interest of a 
 scene that will long be remembered by those who were fortunate enough 
 to witness it. For several minutes, the friends of this crowning act of 
 emancipation gave themselves up to congratulations and demonstrations 
 of public joy. "In honor," said Mr. Ingersoll (Rep.), of Illinois, "of 
 this immortal and sublime event, I move that the House adjourn." 
 The Speaker declared the motion carried ; and then, again, cheering and 
 demonstrations of applause were renewed. Mr. Harris (Dem.), of 
 Maryland, demanded the yeas and nays on the adjournment, yeas, 121 ; 
 nays, 24. So the House adjourned, having on that day passed a measure 
 which made Slavery forever impossible in the Republic of the United 
 States. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Those who knew and loved Mr. Lincoln as many of us 
 did, were more disposed to sympathize with him in the 
 deep sadness which weighed down his spirit, than to 
 criticise his occasional facetious remarks, in which, on 
 his account chiefly, we were so glad to hear him indulge 
 
THE DARK IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 475 
 
 The following" extracts from OUR FIRST HUNDRED 
 YEARS, page 596, may illustrate the subject : 
 
 The Dark in the White House, -Feb. 22, 1862. "Willie Lincoln 
 is dead ! " Everybody in Washington knew Willie ; and everybody was 
 sad. Sad, for it seemed hard for the lovely boy to be taken away so 
 early, while the sun was just gilding the mountain up which he was 
 pressing, and from which he could look down the sweet valley, and 
 see so far into the future ! Sad for her who held him as one of the jew 
 els of her home-coronet ; dearer than all the insignia of this world s 
 rank. That coronet was broken, now. Its fragments might dazzle, 
 and grace still ; but it could never be the same coronet again. Sad for 
 the master of the Executive Mansion, for there was weight enough 
 pressing on that tired brain, sorrow enough in that great heart. With 
 the burden of a mighty republic on his shoulders a republic betrayed, 
 and wounded in the house of its friends a republic that had cost so 
 much and become so dear to its own true children, and in whose pros 
 perity the hopes of all men who waited for the consolation of the na 
 tions, were bound up a republic for whose safety and triumph, God, 
 angels, and all good men would forever hold him responsible, and dis 
 aster clouding almost every battle-field it seemed to us for a moment, 
 when we heard the news of the boy s death, that even heaven s own 
 " sweet fountain " of pity had dried up. 
 
 It was a wild winter night, but I wished to see again how far the pro 
 cess of Willie s embalmment had gone, and as Dr. B was to make 
 
 one more visit that night, I took his arm at a late hour, and we walked 
 up together. The wind howled desolately ; angry gusts struck us at 
 every corner : tempest-clouds were careering high up in the heavens : 
 and the dead leaves of last year, as they flew cuttingly against our 
 cheeks, seemed to have come out of their still graves to "join in the 
 dreadful revelry" of the death of the Republic of Washington, on the 
 very anniversary of his birth for it was on the eve of the 22d of Feb 
 ruary, the night in which he was born. 
 
 " Is it not among the strangest of things that this event should have 
 happened ? " " No, doctor : I do not so regard it ; still stranger events 
 than this have taken place in the White House. It has been no more 
 exempt from trouble, than the other dwellings of America. Poor Gen 
 eral Harrison entered it, as a Prince goes to his palace to rule a great 
 people ; in one month he was borne from it, to his grave. General 
 Taylor, fresh from the fields of his fame as a patriot warrior, came here 
 
4/6 HINTS FOR UNION SPEECHES. 
 
 only to pass a few months of troubled life, and then surrender to the 
 only enemy he ever yielded to. Fillmore, who also was summoned 
 here by the act of God, after acquitting himself most manfully and hon 
 orably of all his duties, had scarcely vacated the mansion, before he was 
 called to entomb the wife of his youth and the mother of his children, 
 of whom the fair one he loved best, soon after went to the same repose. 
 He descended from his high place to become the chief mourner ; and 
 his ovation was a funeral at Buffalo. So, too, with his successor, who 
 left the new-made grave of his only son in Concord, killed in an instant, 
 to be inaugurated at the Capitol, and enter as a mourner, this stately 
 mansion." 
 
 "Yes, gentlemen," said Edward, the chief door-keeper, "it is all 
 still in the house now." We entered the Green Room ; Willie lay in 
 his coffin. The lid was off. He was clothed in his soldier s dress. He 
 had been embalmed by the process of Susquet, of Paris, and thus Wil 
 lie Wallace Lincoln s body was prepared for its final resting-place in 
 the home of his happy childhood. One more look at the calm face, 
 which still wore its wonted expression of hope and cheerfulness, and we 
 left him to his repose. 
 
 In the meantime, a measured footfall had come faintly from the East 
 Room, and the tall form of the chief mourner was passing into the sa 
 cred place. "Is it all well? All my thanks." Leaving the stricken 
 President in the solemn silence of the deep night, alone with his boy, 
 we passed out of the mansion. The coming storm was clouding the 
 heavens with a deep mourning, and its heavy sighings wrapped the 
 Home of the Presidents in sadness and gloom. " God heal the broken 
 hearts left there," was our only prayer. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Being frequently asked during the war, to help friends 
 prepare addresses to be delivered on the all-engrossing 
 topic of the time, I sent the following hints for their 
 use : 
 
 WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 1862. 
 
 THE IMMOLATION AND REDEMPTION OF THE AFRICAN RACE. 
 Nations pay dear for liberty. Civilization the sole object of free 
 government crystallizes slow. But, once firmly established, it resists 
 the untiring " course of all-impairing Time." 
 
HOW SLAVERY HAS DESTROYED NATIONS. 477 
 
 The true civilization, in perfection, is yet to come. The world has 
 been filled with false civilizations ; and history shows that they have 
 not vitality enough to preserve nations from decadence. 
 
 It has been just as plainly proved that where slavery existed it either 
 destroyed civilization, or was destroyed by it. The two never could 
 live together. China and Japan are the only two ancient Asiatic 
 nations that have preserved their early civilization, or even their exist 
 ence. Slavery never existed among them. 
 
 So in Europe : Slavery destroyed every European nation that main 
 tained it. Greece, Rome, the empire of the Othman, where are they ? 
 But Slavery never existed among the Magyars or Slavonic nations ; 
 nor have they ever been subjugated, much less destroyed. Hungary 
 is a vast and illuminated nation, and is advancing in civilization ; while 
 Russia has removed the last encumbrance to her progress by emanci 
 pating twenty million serfs, and is now moving on to complete civiliza 
 tion faster than any other people. The Swiss never breathed the tainted 
 air of slavery ; her people have always been free, and in civilization 
 they have lagged behind those of no other country. 
 
 At an early period England and France abolished villanage, and fol 
 lowed in the wake of Italy, which was the first of the nations to give 
 revival to letters, commerce, and arts. 
 
 So we find that just in proportion as nations emancipated themselves 
 from the thraldom of a system of forced or involuntary labor, just in 
 that proportion they advanced in knowledge, wealth, and the elements 
 of endurance. A careful survey of truthful history would establish this 
 as a fixed and clearly-determined law for the physical and moral progress 
 and development of states. Nations may grow strong, or rather for 
 midable, for a while, under the sceptre of a tyrant, and the slave-lash 
 of an oligarchy. But such strength is weakness : it does not last. It 
 is against all the ordinances of God that it should. 
 
 This is pre-eminently true in our age, when daylight is dawning upon 
 all peoples. Darkness has lost its power. Universal light is now assert 
 ing its dominion. No power can contend against it. Darkness must 
 give way. 
 
 So far as my argument on the subject of slavery in the United States 
 or elsewhere is concerned, it matters not whether the reader accept or 
 not the code of revealed religion which I offer as authority ; for profane 
 history coincides with it perfectly. There is no sort of conflict between 
 the two. The plagues that wasted the vitals of dead nations are just as 
 legibly inscribed on their tombs, for their readers, as they were on the 
 
4/8 DEBT OF AMERICA TO AFRICA. 
 
 pages of prophecy before the events took place. God alone writes 
 history before it happens. Both records are so clear that he who runs 
 may read ; and the wise and good man who reads either will run to 
 rescue his country from the curse which God has chained to the chariot- 
 wheels even of the mightiest empires which dare to make war on the 
 eternal principles of justice which support his empire. 
 
 Go where we will, from the Pillars of Hercules to the gates of the 
 Oriental morning, 
 
 " Rude fragments now 
 
 Lie scatter d where the shapely column stood. 
 Their palaces are dust." 
 
 Journey through the home of the Saracens, a race of scholars and 
 warriors, 
 
 "Dead Petra in her hill-tomb sleeps : 
 Her stones of emptiness remain ; 
 Around her sculptured mystery sweeps 
 The lonely waste of Edom s plain. 
 
 "Unchanged the awful lithograph 
 
 Of power and glory undertrod, 
 Of nations scatter d like the chaff 
 
 Blown from the threshing-floor of God." 
 
 Let us calculate the debt which America owes to Africa. We can reach 
 something like an approximation to the number of Africans or Africano- 
 Americans who have lived and died on our soil. We do not propose 
 to enumerate any considerable portion of the wrongs we have inflicted 
 on that people, how many we stole from their homes, how many 
 perished in the passage, ho\v many cruelties and indignities they and 
 their descendants have suffered, and are suffering to this horr. That 
 were a work for which any created being would find himself unequal. 
 It will be found to occupy no inconsiderable space in the records of 
 the last tribunal before which the human race will be cited to appear. 
 
 We will therefore determine, as accurately as we can, how many lives. 
 Africa has offered up for this nation. But first let us glance at the 
 origin of slavery in the United States. We borrow a striking passage 
 from the classic and powerful pen of Senator Sumner, who has probably 
 investigated the whole African question, in all its relations, more pro 
 foundly than any other man living, certainly more so than any other 
 American. In one of his orations he draws the following picturesque 
 ar.d start ing contrast : 
 
THIRTEEN MILLION AFRICANS IMMOLATED. 479 
 
 "In the winter of 1620, the Mayflower landed its precious cargo at 
 Plymouth rock. This small band, cheered by the valedictory prayers 
 o the Puritan pastor, John Robinson, braved sea and wilderness for the 
 sake of liberty. In this inspiration our Commonwealth began. That 
 s ime year another cargo, of another character, was landed at James 
 town, in Virginia. It was nineteen slaves, the first that ever touched 
 and darkened our soil. Never in history was greater contrast. There 
 was the Mayflower, filled with men, intelligent, conscientious, prayer 
 ful, all braced to hardy industry, who, before landing,* united in a 
 written compact by which they constituted themselves a civil body 
 politic, bound to frame just and equal laws. And there was the 
 slave-ship, with its fetters, its chains, its bludgeons, and its whips, with 
 its wretched victims, forerunners of the long agony of the slave-trade, 
 and with its wretched tyrants, rude, ignorant, and profane, 
 
 who had learn d their only prayers 
 From curses, ***** 
 
 and who carried in their hold the barbarous slavery whose single object 
 is to compel labor without wages, which no just and equal laws can sanc 
 tion. 
 
 "Thus in the same year," says Charles Sumner, "began two mighty 
 influences ; and these two influences still prevail far and wide through 
 out the country. But they have met at last in final grapple ; and you 
 and I are partakers in this holy conflict. The question is simply be 
 tween the Mayflower and the slave-ship." 
 
 Beginning with the first importation of Africans in 1620 (nineteen), 
 we find their increase till 1790, slave and free, amounting to 757,363, 
 From 1790 (first census) to 1860 (eighth census), slave and free, 4,441,- 
 730. It is and will always remain impossible to determine the number 
 of the African race whose ashes sleep in our soil; but, applying the ratio 
 of increase from 1790 to 1860 to the period undetermined, it is easy to 
 approximate the number. My most careful estimate renders it certain 
 that the number of persons of African descent who have died in our 
 country cannot fall short of eight millions and a half, or nearly twice as 
 many as are now living. 
 
 Thus we roll up the figures to thirteen millions, living and dead, each 
 one of whom has felt the blighting curse of slavery, more or less of 
 the miseries and degradation which are its legitimate and inevitable 
 consequences ! 
 
 This is the immolation ; and it is the most appalling and stupendous 
 
480 COUNTS IX OUR TERRIBLE INDICTMENT. 
 
 in the annals of the human race. Leaving out all the barbarities attend 
 ing the capture and ocean-transportation ; the brutal atrocities the 
 stolen Africans suffered by a system of merciless task-labor under the 
 lash, the maiming and torture of nerve and muscle, with the endless 
 category of physical suffering, still each one of the mighty host of Afri- 
 cano-Americans an army of thirteen millions^ bond and free, living and 
 dead appears in solemn judgment against his individual oppressor and 
 against the whole nation. The one has perpetrated the murder, and 
 the Government has stood by and consented unto his death, and held 
 the garments of those that slew him. 
 
 What are the counts in this terrible indictment ? 
 
 1. The annihilation of home, whose charities are just as dear to the 
 lower as to the higher classes of beings. Torn from their continental 
 homes and transplanted to a new world, they should at least have had a 
 chance to strike their roots into a stranger soil. But cupidity, accident, 
 or caprice tore the plant up by the roots, and, with comparatively few 
 exceptions, subjected it to a new and trying process of acclimation. 
 
 2. The annihilation of marriage. This sacrilegious blow at the first, 
 the holiest, and the dearest of all God s institutions struck the race. It 
 cast the deadliest blight which can fall on man. It made more bastards 
 in America than ever lived elsewhere under heaven. 
 
 3. The annihilation of light. . This means the impious inauguration 
 of heathenism in the very garden of God. No home, no wife or children 
 he can call his own ! Can a higher insult be offered to a man made in 
 the divine image and for whom the Son of man died? Oh, how incom 
 parably blessed in the contrast was the Thracian slave dragged to Rome 
 to make, in the arena, a holiday for the slave-holders of the Eternal 
 City ! He left at least a home, wife, children. 
 
 "I see before me the gladiator lie : 
 
 He leans upon his hand ; his manly brow 
 Consents to death, but conquers agony. 
 * * * * His eyes 
 
 Were with his heart, and that was far away : 
 He reck d not of the life he lost, nor prize, 
 But where his rude hut by the Danube lay. 
 There were his young barbarians, all at play, 
 There was their Dacian mother, he, their sire, 
 Butcher d to make a Roman holiday ! 
 All this rush d with his blood : shall he expire, 
 And unavenged ? Arise ! ye Goths, and glut your ire !" 
 
WHAT AFRICA HAS SUFFERED. 481 
 
 I am fully aware that a fallacy will be alleged against this argument, 
 that a demurrer will be entered against each and every count in the 
 general indictment. It will be said, 
 
 i st. That through slavery and the slave-trade alone have any portion 
 of the African race been introduced to the light and blessings of civili 
 zation. This is a mean and blasphemous subterfuge. Just as though 
 any such idea ever mixed itself up with the thoughts of the slave- 
 vampires of the African coast ! Just as though the century-protracted 
 efforts of the Saracens to overthrow the religion of Christ were worthy 
 of praise because they brought Christendom to its feet, in the vindication 
 of Christianity ! As soon should the sight of the fair-haired Angli boys 
 brought to Rome and sold as slaves, and thus become the occasion of 
 the introduction of the gospel into Britain, have justified the kidnappers 
 who did the nefarious work ! As soon plead pardon for the traitor of 
 all the ages for selling the Man of sorrows, because " when he bowed 
 his head on the cross he dragged the pillars of Satan s kingdom to the 
 dust." 
 
 2d. They have risen far higher here in the scale of physical comfort. 
 This I deny. They have not, as a community , enjoyed as much physi 
 cal comfort as the wild beast in his lair, or the cattle on a thousand 
 hills. By no means has their animal condition approached that of the 
 native African tribes. 
 
 I fully believe yea, I certainly know, and I believe and know it 
 more profoundly than any slaughterer of men that the wrath of man 
 shall be made to praise God, while the remainder thereof he will 
 restrain. But let no man, who has ever been a willing party to the 
 awful crime we are speaking of, come forward now, while daylight is 
 breaking over Africa, and claim any participation in the glory which is 
 coming. For this dawn such men never longed ; they never con 
 templated that rising sun with any exultation. 
 
 And yet how nobly has Africa earned the boon of civilized life ! 
 She has from the earliest ages been the slave of the nations. All men 
 who had ships went to her coasts and sailed up her great rivers to steal 
 her children. The Egyptians lashed them to their toil, in the valley of 
 the Nile. The Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, and the Arabs stole 
 them from the Mediterranean coast. The Portuguese, the Spanish, the 
 Dutch, the English, kidnapped them by the hundred thousand on the 
 coast of the Atlantic ; and, last of all, as late as within the memory of 
 men now living, the African slave-trade constituted the most profitable 
 branch of the commerce of New England. 
 3 1 
 
482 ALL HAIL, NIOBE OF NATIONS 1 . 
 
 The blessed light of civilization which had irradiated every other con 
 tinent never illuminated Africa. Great empires had been founded on 
 the African coasts, the arts that exalt and embellish life had been 
 carried and cultured there by the Pharaohs, the Alexanders, the Han- 
 uibals, the Arab, the Saracen, the Moor, and the Briton ; but it was 
 not for the poor African. Light, which came to all others, came not 
 to him. Every empire ever founded in Africa was cemented by the 
 blood of her helpless people. But the day of her emancipation has 
 come. 
 
 She has waited for it over three thousand years. God has accepted 
 the sacrifice. The indications of Providence are too plain to be mis 
 taken. No unknown portion of the globe has been so thoroughly ex 
 plored during the present century. No nation has ever been so ready 
 to receive Christianity and the arts of peace. No one can more readily 
 be brought into the family of nations. No country ever had so many 
 missionaries ready to carry to a benighted continent commerce, agricul 
 ture, manufactures, education, and the light of everlasting truths. 
 
 .All hail, then, Niobe of the nations ! 
 
 "Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling; . . . 
 thou shalt no more drink it again." 
 
 "Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my 
 standard to the people ; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and 
 .thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders." 
 
 "Ye shall be redeemed without money." 
 
 "Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember 
 the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine 
 husband, . . . and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel." 
 
 " O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I 
 will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sap 
 phires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of car 
 buncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children 
 -shall be taught of the Lord ; and great shall be the peace of thy children. 
 . .. . Thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and 
 from terror ; for it shall not come near thee." 
 
 "For I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; 
 and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and 1 will stain 
 all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the 
 year of my redeemed is come." 
 
DUTY TO FALLEN SOLDIERS. 483 
 
 " Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God." 
 "I the Lord have spoken it." * 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Feeling very deeply the ditty of the Republic to its 
 fallen soldiers, after consultation with Mr. SUMNER, and 
 many of our leading public men in Washington, I pre 
 pared the following, which was effectively used in the 
 movement soon started, and pushed with such great vigor 
 that it ended in the establishment of the National Ceme 
 teries, which have reflected so much honor upon the 
 country : 
 
 THE DUTY OF THE REPUBLIC TO ITS FALLEN HEROES. 
 
 "Ccelumque aspicit et dulcis moriens reminiscitur Argos." VIRG. 
 
 " Such honors Ilion to her hero paid, 
 
 And peaceful slept the mighty Hector s shade. 
 
 * * * * * 
 Here let me grow to earth! since Hector lies 
 On the bare beach deprived of obsequies. 
 Oh, give rne Hector! to my eyes restore 
 His corse, and take the gifts! I ask no more. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 The best, the bravest of my sons are slain. 
 
 * * * * * * 
 P or him through hostile camps I bend my way. 
 
 * * H= * * 
 
 Lo! to thy prayer restored, thy breathless son. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 Steeped in their blood, and in the dust outspread, 
 Nine days neglected, lay exposed the dead." ILIAD. 
 
 The first duty of a Government is to protect the life of the soldier; 
 the second is to give him honorable burial when he has fought his last 
 battle. This duty has been recognized by all nations, and it has been 
 
 * "And we may see in all this that law of compensation which God vouchsafes the 
 wrpnged and suffering for all their woes and suffering. After being afflicted by nigh 
 three centuries of servitude, God calls chosen men of this race from all the lands of 
 their thraldom, men laden with gifts, intelligence and piety, to the grand and noble 
 
484 PLEA FOR NATIONAL CEMETERIES. 
 
 considered imperative. No nation so barbarous as to neglect the ashes 
 of its patriots, no family so divested of social affection as not to de 
 sire to recover the earthly relics of one of their number who died awav 
 from home. 
 
 That mysterious chain which binds the heart of the survivor to thu 
 dust of the departed is now binding the hearts of an innumerable com 
 pany of our people to the graves of our fallen soldiers. To recover 
 the ashes of the loved one is the first thought that occurs ; and the un 
 certainty of the spot where the body is reposing intensifies the grief. 
 Promiscuous burial the human soul abhors. 
 
 This feeling is natural, and it cannot be repressed. Virgil has beau- 
 fully expressed it in the line we have quoted above With his back to 
 the earth and his eyes on heaven, the dying soldier thinks of his beloved 
 home. It is generally among the very last wishes of those dying among 
 strangers, that they could die at home. 
 
 Our fancies will visit the red fields of valor which have been sancti 
 fied by the baptism of patriotic blood ; they will haunt the halls of our 
 hospitals, filled with the suffering, and steal into the countless chambers 
 of the bereaved, where Rachels are "weeping for their children, and 
 will not be comforted, because they are not." 
 
 The duties of Governments to their fallen soldiers apply with pecu 
 liar force to the soldiers and families of republics. Our grand army of 
 a million men is a fair, full, and honorable representation of the great 
 body of the people. There are whole regiments and brigades where 
 there is not a man who did not leave home and kindred for the war, 
 kindred who watch with tenderness and apprehension the news of every 
 battle, and whose affection spreads its drooping wings over the camp 
 where the soldier sleeps. How many of our rank and file would not 
 have Christian burial if they died at home, and some plain stone, at 
 least, in memoriam, placed to mark the last couch of the sleeper? 
 How many of our army, fallen already, have not left friends who would 
 part with some treasure to recover the bodies of those they loved, or at 
 least to know the spot of sepulture ? 
 
 Hundreds of instances yes, thousands are known of attempts, 
 often fruitless, to find, identify, mark, the spot, or make inquiries about 
 
 mission which they only can fulfil, even to plant colonies, establish churches, found 
 missions, and lay the foundations of universities along the shores and beside the banks 
 of the great rivers of Africa, so that the grandeur and dignity of their duties may 
 neutralize all the long, sad memories of their servitude and sorrows. * Grummet s 
 Future of Africa, p. 127. 
 
DOWNFALL OF THE REBELLION. 485 
 
 the graves. The Western battle-fields alone have grouped a million 
 stricken hearts around those suddenly-created sepulchres of the brave. 
 Our officers and soldiers put forth their last heroic exertions, in every 
 skirmish and in every fight, to bring off our dead, or bury them on the 
 field, preserving their identity as far as the horrible exigencies of war 
 will allow. 
 
 But this was not enough ; and the Sanitary Commission early under 
 took to obtain information by which " the place of burial of the volun 
 teers who have been killed in battle, or who have died in hospitals, may 
 be established. They have also elaborated a system of records for 
 those dying in hospitals, and of indications of their burial-place, by 
 which their bodies may be identified ; which has received approval, and 
 been ordered to be carried out, blanks and tablets for the purpose 
 being furnished to each regimental quartermaster." 
 
 This plan was warmly embraced by Congress and the Soldiers Re 
 lief Associations, and it was in the main adopted, and has been carried 
 out as far as it seemed possible. 
 
 One thing more was needed. Besides having cemeteries, larger or 
 smaller, wherever our soldiers have fallen, we should have a great 
 national cemetery for soldiers near Washington, where all our brave 
 men who fall in the service in this neighborhood, or who can be brought 
 here, may have honorable graves. Each State shall have a space al 
 lotted for its own citizens ; and this City of the Dead should be embel 
 lished by emblems of art and beauty, which exalt and refine civilized life. 
 The cost of this war for one hundred minutes would munificently ac 
 complish this. 
 
 SECTION TENTH. 
 
 Downfall of the Rebellion. 
 I. 
 
 MR. GREELEY has given, towards the close of his 
 American Conflict, an affecting description of the part 
 ing of LEE with his devoted followers. He says : 
 
486 GEN. LEE S PARTING WITH HIS SOLDIERS. 
 
 It was a sad one. Of the proud army which, dating its victories from 
 Bull Run, had driven McClellan from before Richmond, and withstood 
 his best efforts at Antietam, and shattered Burnside s host at Fredericks- 
 burg, and worsted Hooker at Chancellorsville, and fought Meade so 
 stoutly, though unsuccessfully, before Gettysburg, and baffled Grant s 
 bounteous resources and desperate efforts in the Wilderness, at Spott- 
 sylvania, on the North Anna, at Cold Harbor, and before Petersburg 
 and Richmond, a mere wreck remained. It is said that 27,000 were 
 included in Lee s capitulation; but of these not more than 10,000 had 
 been able to carry their arms thus far on their hopeless and almost 
 foodless flight. Barely nineteen miles from Richmond when surren 
 dered, the physical possibility of forcing their way thither, even at the 
 cost of half their number, no longer remained. And if they were all 
 safely there, what then ? The resources of the Confederacy were 
 utterly exhausted. Of the 150,000 men whose names were borne on 
 its muster-rolls a few weeks ago, at least one-third were already disabled 
 or prisoners, and the residue could neither be clad nor fed not to 
 dream of their being fitly armed or paid ; while the resources of the 
 loyal States were scarcely touched, their ranks nearly or quite as full 
 as ever, and their supply of ordnance, small-arms, munitions, etc., more 
 ample than in any previous April. Of the million or so borne on our 
 muster-rolls, probably not less than half were then in active service, 
 with half so many more able to take the field at short notice. The 
 Rebellion had failed and gone down ; but the Rebel Army of Virginia 
 and its commander had not failed. Fighting sternly against the Inevit 
 able against the irrepressible tendencies, the generous aspirations of 
 the age they had been proved unable to succeed where success would 
 have been a calamity to their children, to their country, and the human 
 race. And, when the transient agony of defeat had been endured and 
 had passed, they all experienced a sense of relief, as they crowded 
 around their departing chief, who, with streaming eyes, grasped and 
 pressed their outstretched hands, at length finding words to say, " Men, 
 we have fought through the War together. I have done the best that I 
 could for you." There were few dry eyes among those who witnessed 
 the scene ; and our soldiers hastened to divide their rations with their 
 late enemies, now fellow-countrymen, to stay their hunger until provi 
 sions from our trains could be drawn for them. Then, while most of 
 our army returned to Burkesville, and thence, a few days later, to 
 Petersburg and Richmond, the work of paroling went on, under the 
 guardianship of Griffin s and Gibbon s infantry, with McKenzie s cavalry ; 
 
LINCOLN S VISIT TO RICHMOND. 487 
 
 and, so fast as paroled, the Confederates took their way severally to 
 their respective homes : many of them supplied with transportation, as 
 well as food, by the government they had fought so long and so bravely 
 to subvert and destroy. 
 
 II. 
 
 The day after the fall of Richmond, Mr. LINCOLN vis 
 ited the Capital of the late Confederacy, so recently and 
 suddenly abandoned by its fugitive chief. Being recog 
 nized by the Black population as he entered Richmond, 
 there was a rush which packed the street, and a shout 
 of welcome that rang through the city. 
 
 On the day of LEE S surrender he returned to Wash 
 ington, and the next evening he addressed the vast mul- 
 titude assembled before the Executive Mansion. In a 
 speech characterized by two qualities so peculiar to him 
 self ; turning over to Congress the settlement of all diffi 
 culties connected with the representation of the revolted 
 States, and expressing his desire that some participation 
 in government, through right of suffrage, might be ac 
 corded to that vast Colored population, who had so re 
 cently come out from the house of bondage : but, above 
 all, without a trace of bitterness or resentment towards 
 the late enemies of the Republic, he expressed an 
 anxious wish that those States should be restored to all 
 the functions of self-government, and equal power in the 
 Union, at the earliest moment that might be consistent 
 with the integrity, safety, and tranquillity of the nation. 
 
 III. 
 
 The next day, April 12, the telegraph flashed through 
 the country an order from the War Department, to put 
 a stop to all drafting and recruiting for our armies, the 
 
488 LINCOLN S ASSASSINATION. 
 
 purchase of arms, munitions, and provisions of war, the 
 reduction in number of Generals and Staff officers, and 
 the instant removal of all military restrictions on com 
 merce and trade. 
 
 It happened to be just four years after the surrender 
 of Fort Sumter by Major ANDERSON, and a crowd of 
 loyal citizens had sailed down to Charleston, to raise 
 over the ruins of that historic fortress, the very flag 
 which ANDERSON had borne away with him when he was 
 driven in helplessness from his post. 
 
 All through the country it was a gala day. Peace had 
 come, with victory. The President had passed some 
 hours with his Cabinet, to listen to a report from Gen. 
 GRANT, who had just arrived from Appomattox, and it 
 was proposed that the party should seek some relaxation 
 from the labors and excitements of the day, by attending 
 the theatre. Mr. GREELEY gives the following simple 
 account : 
 
 At 8 P.M., the President and his wife, with two others, rode to the 
 theatre, and were ushered into the private box previously secured by 
 him ; where, at 10^ P.M., while all were intent on the play, an actor of 
 Baltimore birth, John Wilkes Booth by name, son of the more emi 
 nent English-born tragedian, Junius Brutus Booth, availing himself of 
 that freedom usually accorded at theatres to actors, entered at the front 
 door, stood for a few moments, after presenting a card to the Presi 
 dent s messenger, in the passage-way behind the dress-circle, surveying 
 the spectacle before him ; then entered the vestibule of the President s 
 private box, shut the door behind him, fastened it from the inside by 
 placing a short plank (previously provided) against it, with its foot 
 against the opposite wall, and then, holding a pistol and a dagger in 
 either hand, stepped through the inner door into the box just behind 
 the President, who was leaning forward, with his eyes fixed on the 
 stage, and fired his pistol, while holding it close to the back of the 
 President s head, piercing his skull behind the left ear, and lodging the 
 ball, after traversing the brain, just behind the right eye. Mr. Lincoln s 
 h-j-ul fell slightly forward, his eyes closed, but he uttered no word or cry ; 
 
SUMNER S EULOGY OF LINCOLN. 489 
 
 and though life was not extinct for nine hours thereafter, he gave, 
 thenceforth to his death in a neighboring house, at 7: 22 next morning, 
 no sign of intelligence ; and it is probable that he never on earth knew 
 that he had been shot, or was conscious even of suffering, much less of 
 malice and murder. 
 
 A merciful heaven, that knew his work was done, now 
 flung open its doors to receive the Savior of the Union, 
 and the Deliverer of the African race. 
 
 From no lips could the eulogy of ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 fall so gracefully, as from CHARLES SUMNER S : 
 
 In the universe of God there are no accidents. From the fall of a 
 sparrow to the fall of an empire, or the sweep of a planet, all is ac 
 cording to Divine Providence, whose laws are everlasting. It was no 
 accident which gave to his country the patriot whom we now honor. 
 It was no accident which snatched this patriot so suddenly and so 
 cruelly from his sublime duties. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh 
 away ; blessed be the name of the Lord. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The following condensed summary of Anti-Slavery 
 measures in Congress, which Vice-President WILSON 
 gives in the close of his work on that subject, is here 
 quoted, to convey to the reader more distinctly, their 
 scope and magnitude : 
 
 When the Rebellion culminated in active hostilities, it was seen that 
 thousands of slaves were used for military purposes by the rebel forces. 
 To weaken the forces of the Rebellion, the 37th Congress decreed that 
 such slaves should be forever free. 
 
 As the Union armies advanced into the Rebel States, slaves, inspired 
 by the hope of personal freedom, flocked to their encampments, claim 
 ing protection against Rebel masters, and offering to work or fight for 
 the flag whose stars for the first time gleamed upon their vision with the 
 radiance of liberty. Rebel masters and Rebels sympathizing with mas 
 ters sought the encampments of the loyal forces, demanding the sur 
 render of the escaped fugitives ; and they were often delivered up by 
 
490 ANTI SLAVERY MEASURES OF CONGRESS. 
 
 officers of the army. To weaken the power of the insurgents, to 
 strengthen the loyal forces, and assert the claims of humanity, the 37th 
 Congress enacted an article of war, dismissing from the service officers 
 guilty of surrendering these fugitives. 
 
 Three thousand persons were held as slaves in the District of Colum 
 bia, over which the nation exercised exclusive jurisdiction: the 37th 
 Congress made these three thousand bondmen freemen, and made 
 slave- holding in the capital of the nation for evermore impossible. 
 
 Laws and ordinances existed in the national capital, that pressed with 
 merciless rigor upon the Colored people: the 37th Congress enacted 
 that Colored persons should be tried for the same offences, in the same 
 manner, and be subject to the same punishments, as white persons ; 
 thus abrogating the " Black Code." 
 
 Colored persons in the capital of this Christian nation were denied 
 the right to testify in the judicial tribunals, thus placing their property, 
 their liberties, and their lives, in the power of unjust and wicked men : 
 the 37th Congress enacted that persons should not be excluded as wit 
 nesses in the courts of the District, on account of color. 
 
 In the capital of the nation, Colored persons were taxed to support 
 schools, from which their own children were excluded ; and no public 
 schools were provided for the instruction of more than four thousand 
 youth : the 38th Congress provided by law that public schools should 
 be established for Colored children, and that the same rate of appropri 
 ations for Colored schools should be made, as are made for the educa 
 tion of white children. 
 
 The railways chartered by Congress excluded from their cars Colored 
 persons without the authority of law : Congress enacted that there should 
 be no exclusion from any car, on account of color. 
 
 V. 
 
 Into the Territories of the United States, one-third of the surface 
 of the country, the slave-holding class claimed the right to take and 
 hold their slaves, under the protection of the law: the 37th Congress 
 prohibited slavery for ever in all the existing territory, and in all terri 
 tory which may hereafter be acquired ; thus stamping freedom for all, 
 for ever, upon the public domain. 
 
 As the war progressed, it became more clearly apparent that the 
 Rebels hoped to win the Border Slave States ; that Rebel sympathi/en- 
 in those States hoped to join the Rebel States ; and that emancipation 
 
WHAT SLAVERY HAD BEEN. 49.1 
 
 in loyal States would bring repose to them, and weaken the power 
 of the Rebellion : the 37th Congress, on the recommendation of the 
 President, by the passage of a joint resolution, pledged the faith of the 
 nation to aid loyal States to emancipate the slaves therein. 
 
 The hoe and spade of the Rebel slave were hardly less potent for 
 the Rebellion than the rifle and bayonet of the Rebel soldier. Slaves 
 sowed and reaped for the Rebels, enabling the Rebel leaders to fill the 
 wasting ranks of their armies, and feed them. To weaken the military 
 forces and the power of the Rebellion, the 37th Congress decreed that 
 all slaves of persons giving aid and comfort to the Rebellion, escaping 
 from such persons, and taking refuge within the lines of the army ; all 
 slaves captured from such persons, or deserted by them ; all slaves of 
 such persons, being within any place occupied by Rebel forces, 
 and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be 
 captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not 
 again held as slaves. 
 
 The provisions of the Fugitive-slave Act permitted disloyal masters 
 to claim, and they did claim, the return of their fugitive bondmen : 
 the 37th Congress enacted that no fugitive should be surrendered un 
 til the claimant made oath that he had not given aid and comfort to 
 the Rebellion. 
 
 The progress of the Rebellion demonstrated its power, and the needs 
 of the imperilled nation. To strengthen the physical forces of the 
 United States , the 37th Congress authorized the President to receive 
 into the military service persons of African descent ; and every such 
 person mustered into the service, his mother, his wife, and children, 
 owing service or labor to any person who should give aid and comfort 
 to the Rebellion, was made forever free. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The African slave-trade had been carried on by slave-pirates under 
 the protection of the flag of the United States. To extirpate from the 
 seas that inhuman traffic, and to vindicate the sullied honor of the 
 nation, the Administration early entered into treaty stipulations with 
 the British Government for the mutual right of search within certain 
 limits ; and the 37th Congress hastened to enact the appropriate legis 
 lation to carry the treaty into effect. 
 
 The slave-holding class, in the pride of power, persistently refused 
 
492 HOW SLAVERY DIED. 
 
 to recognize the independence of Hayti and Liberia ; thus dealing 
 unjustly towards those nations, to the detriment of the commercial 
 interests of the country : the 37th Congress recognized the inde 
 pendence of those republics by authorizing the President to establish 
 diplomatic relations with them. 
 
 By the provisions of law, White male citizens alone were enrolled in 
 the militia. In the Amendment to the acts for calling out the militia, 
 the 37th Congress provided for the enrolment and drafting of citizens, 
 without regard to color ; and, by the Enrolment Act, Colored persons, 
 free or slave, are enrolled and drafted the same as White men. The 
 38th Congress enacted that Colored soldiers shall have the same pay, 
 clothing, and rations, and be placed in all respects upon the same foot 
 ing, as White soldiers. To encourage enlistments, and to aid eman 
 cipation, the 38th Congress decreed that every slave mustered into the 
 military service shall be free forever ; thus enabling every slave fit for 
 military service to secure personal freedom. 
 
 By the provisions of the fugitive-slave acts, slave hunters could 
 hunt their absconding bondmen, require the people to aid in their recap 
 ture, and have them returned at the expense of the nation. The 38th 
 Congress erased all fugitive-slave acts from the statutes of the 
 Republic. 
 
 The law of 1807 legalized the coastwise slave-trade : the 38th Con 
 gress repealed that act, and made the trade illegal. 
 
 The courts of the United States receive such testimony as is permit 
 ted in the States where the courts are holden. Several of the States 
 exclude the testimony of Colored persons. The 38th Congress made 
 it legal for Colored persons to testify in all the courts of the United 
 States. 
 
 Different views are entertained by public men relative to the re 
 construction of the governments of the seceded States, and the validity 
 of the President s Proclamation of Emancipation. The 38th Congress 
 passed a bill providing for the reconstruction of the governments of the 
 Rebel States, and for the emancipation of the slaves of those States ; 
 but it did not receive the approval of the President. 
 
 Colored persons were not permitted to carry the United States mails : 
 the 38th Congress repeated the prohibitory legislation, and made it 
 lawful for persons of Color to carry the mails. 
 
 Wives and children of Colored persons in the military and naval 
 service of the United States were often held as slaves ; and, while 
 husbands and fathers were absent fighting the battles of the country, 
 
FINAL EXTINCTION OF SLAVERY. 493 
 
 these wives and children were sometimes removed and sold, and often 
 treated with cruelty : the 38th Congress made free the wives and children 
 of all persons engaged in the military or naval service of the country. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The disorganization of the slave system, and the exigencies of civil 
 war, have thrown thousands of freedmen upon the charity of the nation : 
 to relieve their immediate needs, and to aid them through the transition 
 period, the 38th Congress established a Bureau of Freedmen. 
 
 The prohibition of slavery in the Territories, its abolition in the Dis 
 trict of Columbia, the freedom of Colored soldiers, their wives and 
 children, emancipation in Maryland, West Virginia, and Missouri, and 
 by the reorganized State authorities of Virginia, Tennessee, and Louisi 
 ana, and the President s Emancipation Proclamation, disorganized 
 the slave system, and practically left few persons in bondage ; but 
 slavery still continued in Delaware and Kentucky, and the slave codes 
 remain unrepealed in the Rebel States. To annihilate the slave sys 
 tem, its codes and usages ; to make slavery impossible, and freedom 
 universal the 38th Congress submitted to the people the anti-slavery 
 amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The adoption 
 of that crowning measure assures freedom to all. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Such are the "ANTI-SLAVERY MEASURES" of the Thirty-seventh and 
 Thirty-eighth Congresses during the past four crowded years. Seldom 
 in the history of nations is it given to any body of legislators or law 
 givers to enact or institute a series of measures so vast in their scope, 
 so comprehensive in their character, so patriotic, just, and humane. 
 
 But, while the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses were en 
 acting this anti-slavery legislation, other agencies were working to the 
 consummation of the same end the complete and final abolition of 
 slavery. The President proclaims three and a half millions of bond 
 men in the Rebel States henceforward and forever free, Maryland, Vir 
 ginia, and Missouri adopt immediate and unconditional emancipation. 
 The partially reorganized Rebel States of Virginia and Tennessee, 
 Arkansas and Louisiana, accept and adopt the unrestricted abolition of 
 slavery. Illinois and other States hasten to blot from their Statute- 
 
494 AVAILABILITY A FATAL POLICY. 
 
 books their dishonoring Black codes. The Attorney-General officially 
 pronounces the Negro a citizen of the United States. The Negro, who 
 had no status in the Supreme Court, is admitted by the Chief-Justice 
 to practice as an Attorney before that august tribunal. Christian men 
 and women follow the loyal armies with the agencies of mental and 
 moral instruction to fit and prepare the enfranchised freedmen for the 
 duties of the higher condition of life now opening before, them. 
 
 IX. 
 
 The death of LINCOLN carried ANDREW JOHNSON to 
 the Presidential office. The result proved how foolish, 
 if not how fatal, is the policy of political parties who are 
 guided more by present availability than by profound 
 sagacity, or high principle, in the choice of candidates. 
 This had proved true on two former occasions with the 
 Whig party. In 1840 they had nominated for the Presi 
 dency a most respectable, pure, and patriotic man, who 
 was so far in the decline of life and vigor, that his little 
 remaining strength soon gave way to the worry and 
 pressure of the occasion ; and for the Vice-Presidency, 
 a man who was conspicuously destitute of every quali 
 fication necessary for the station he was called upon to 
 fill. His administration ended in lamentable failure for 
 himself, and in humiliation to his party. The same 
 policy prevailed in the nomination of Gen. TAYLOR, who, 
 as a blunt and patriotic old soldier, had done his duty 
 well, but who had not one conceivable quality to insure 
 a successful administration. The party were no more 
 successful, although the country was more fortunate, 
 in having its affairs fall into the hands of a providential 
 successor. Mr. FILLMORE had the integrity and sense 
 to keep faith with his party, and surround himself by 
 able and illustrious advisers. But his ambition, as well 
 
ANDREW JOHNSON BECOMES PRESIDENT. 495 
 
 as their own, rose no higher than stemming, as well as 
 they could, the rising tide which was to sweep the past 
 away, banishing the supremacy of the slave-power from 
 the control of national affairs, and introducing a new 
 period of national activity for the more liberal spirit of 
 the advancing age. 
 
 X. 
 
 But, of all the misfortunes which attended that party, 
 and impaired its administration of affairs, the greatest was 
 in following out the same policy, for the third time. Of 
 the men who nominated ANDREW JOHNSON for the Vice- 
 Presidency, few ever thought of the contingency of Mr. 
 LINCOLN S death. But there must have been members 
 enough in the Convention fully aware of the entire unfit- 
 ness of Mr. JOHNSON for the execution of any high 
 trust whatever. Born and brought up in a community 
 where few of the amenities of civilized life were known ; 
 with poor chances for a knowledge of public affairs, and 
 fewer still for intellectual culture ; coarse-grained by na 
 ture, but gigantic in build and well calculated to " rough 
 it," in rude communities, ANDREW JOHNSON fought his 
 way by sheer force into public observation. And although 
 not destitute of a certain degree of native sturdiness of 
 character, and a careless openness of manner which was 
 easily mistaken by the vulgar for magnanimity and 
 greatness ; and having, neither by inheritance nor ac 
 quisition, any interest in common with the better classes 
 of the South, his restless nature urged him into the first 
 collisions of political parties. Happening to take the 
 right side, at the right moment, he was swept on by the 
 current of fortune, till its last crowning freak landed him 
 
496 ANDREW JOHNSON S CHARACTER. 
 
 in the Presidential chair. But no native endowment, or 
 habit of mind, had fitted him for the new and exalted 
 sphere. Incapable either of comprehending the difficul 
 ties of his position, of choosing discreet private advisers, 
 or even of listening to their counsels when once chosen, 
 the bull-headed obstinacy of his character found a most 
 welcome field for rioting in the slouo-h of his ignorance 
 
 O O <!5 
 
 and passion. 
 
 Familiar only with the stereotype formulas of tra 
 ditional democracy, and the free slang of the West 
 ern stump, he was entirely incompetent to grapple with 
 any problem of statesmanship, or hold his passions iu 
 subjection long enough for wise deliberation. He soon 
 found himself plunged into a sea of difficulties. In 
 capable of retaining his old friends, or of making new 
 ones ; possessing no qualities which bound men to him 
 by any stronger ties than office ; conscious of a total lack 
 of the dignity which so high an office confers ; and 
 knowing that his inferiority became the more conspicuous 
 in contrast with the loftiness of his position ; rash and 
 hasty in judgment ; too ignorant to know how, and too 
 obstinate to find out when to yield or retreat ; he went 
 through his Presidential term with just about as much 
 sagacity and dignity as the proverbial bull goes through a 
 china-shop. What little there was of reputation for him 
 to lose when he went into office, he managed to get rid 
 of pretty quick ; and the poor man must at last have felt 
 about as much relieved in getting rid of his party and 
 his office, as they felt in getting rid of him. 
 
 But neither his obstinacy nor his ignorance worked any 
 great mischief. The national sentiment was well re- 
 
 O 
 
 presented in both Houses of Congress, and gradually the 
 dashing stream of events was washing away the slime of 
 
SENATE CHAMBER SOKNK 
 
THE AUGEAN STABLES CLEANSED. 497 
 
 Slavery from the nation. For that slime had been 
 gathering as gangrene gathers over old sores, and foul 
 matter concretes in dark, dank places, away from the 
 sunshine and pure air. The long-obstructed flood 
 gates had broken way, and the rushing waters had 
 cleansed the Augean stable. 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON S Cabinet was made up chiefly of good 
 and able men ; and as he did not know enough about 
 Foreign Affairs, even to interfere with the Depart 
 ment of State, besides being altogether too weak a 
 man to cope with the gigantic force of STANTON, wis 
 dom and vigor characterized those departments ; while 
 Congress was powerful enough to carry through a whole 
 series of beneficent measures against his unavailing op 
 position. One by one the cardinal Amendments to the 
 Constitution had passed both Houses, and been reenacted 
 over his vetoes. Every necessary restraint was imposed 
 on his tendency to do mischief; he was, by special enact 
 ments, stripped of much of his executive power ; so that 
 he went hamstrung through his term. His writhings 
 and bellowings, as these withes were bound around him, 
 were characteristic of such demonstrations on the part 
 of the lower animals, under similar circumstances. It 
 was a public relief when he made way for the great 
 soldier who became his successor, and in whom the 
 nation was justified in feeling absolutely safe ; for they 
 could repose on his supreme knowledge of the military 
 condition of the country, and how the integrity and 
 power of the Union had been vindicated ; while from no 
 quarter, at the time, nor do we believe, since, was 
 breathed a doubt that the patriotism of the citizen was 
 not as much above suspicion, as his valor had been 
 above praise. 
 32 
 
498 THE THREE GREAT AMENDMENTS. 
 
 XI. 
 
 The THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT had abolished Slavery. 
 The Fourteenth had secured the rights of citizenship to 
 all persons born or naturalized in the United States, 
 and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, disabling a cer- 
 tian class of chief officers in the late Rebellion ; declar 
 ing the validity of the national debt, and forbidding 
 the payment of the debt of the so-called Confederacy. 
 The FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT secured the right of suf 
 frage to all the citizens of the Republic without regard to 
 race, color, or previous condition, the joint resolution for 
 which passed both Houses on the 26th of February, 
 1869; while, about the same time, a law was enacted, the 
 chief provision of which was as follows : " The faith of 
 the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment 
 in coin or its equivalent, of all interest-bearing obligations 
 of the United States, except in cases where the law au 
 thorizing the issue of any such obligation, has expressly 
 provided that the same may be paid in lawful money or 
 other currency than gold and silver." 
 
 To each one of these cardinal measures, which se 
 cured the fruits of the great struggle, and established 
 the government upon a basis too strong to be questioned, 
 at least by the generation of men now living, Senator 
 SUMNER gave his unwearied attention, and his most 
 earnest support. A vast number of other measures, 
 necessary or beneficent, were also passed, which, by 
 virtue of provisions made in the Amendments them 
 selves, clothed Congress with power to enforce them by 
 proper legislation ; in most of which Mr. SUMNER actively 
 participated, and over all of which he cast the illumina- 
 
THE JOHNSON-CLARENDON TREATY. 499 
 
 tion of his learning, enforced by the power of his elo 
 quence. 
 
 XII. 
 
 In one respectand perhaps in others sufficient jus 
 tice has not been done to ANDREW JOHNSON S motives, 
 for he gave no evidence of corruption in office ; and with 
 all his imperfections, he never displayed any lack of 
 patriotism. But we speak specially in reference to his 
 efforts to terminate our complications with Great Britain, 
 by a final treaty, and appointing Mr. REVERDY JOHNSON, 
 a learned, venerable, and high-minded gentleman, Minis 
 ter to England for this purpose. The prospect seemed 
 to be fair that our perplexing difficulties with England 
 would find a termination ; but in the opinion of the people 
 of the country, as well as of the Senate, the envoy made a 
 failure in his efforts, for the JOHNSON- CLARENDON Treaty, 
 whatever it may have meant, was unanimously rejected 
 by the Senate. It was on this occasion that Mr. SUMNER 
 pronounced that exhaustive argument in favor of Ameri 
 can indemnity, the mere rumor of which so frightened 
 that fast-anchored isle from her propriety, that not a jour 
 nal in the British Empire dared to print the speech. 
 There were certain reasons why the public men of Great 
 Britain were horrified by that speech. First of all, Mr. 
 SUMNER was a great favorite in England : he was re 
 garded as our foremost statesman ; and being Chairman 
 of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, a weight was car 
 ried with his opinion which British politicians supposed 
 would be irresistible with the American people. No 
 such Philippic was supposed possible to come from a 
 man who enjoyed such great reputation and popularity 
 in England. It was looked upon as treason to all his 
 
500 SUMNER S SPEECH ON THE TREATY. 
 
 antecedents ; as a betrayal of all his English friends ; as 
 an outrage on every principle of International law ; and 
 as a gross and unpardonable insult to the British 
 Empire. 
 
 The indignity was still more inflamed by insisting upon 
 the payment of an incredible amount for indirect claims, 
 and constructive damages, with the proposition to seize 
 at once the British Colonies in America, as a security 
 for the debt which England owed for sweeping our com 
 merce from the ocean, prolonging our war, giving aid 
 and comfort to the rebels, and lending all the assistance 
 she could without open hostilities, to sustain the falling 
 cause of slavery, and trying her best to work the politi 
 cal ruin of this country. 
 
 That speech cost Mr. SUMNER, for the time being, 
 about every friend he had in the British Empire ; but there 
 were some men in England who looked upon the whole 
 case dispassionately, and who did not hesitate, through 
 the press, at the time, to help arrest this new storm of 
 passion and hate that was again sweeping over the Brit 
 ish Isles. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 In speaking of the duty of Congress to secure univer 
 sal suffrage, both at the North, as well as at the South, 
 for all its citizens, he had said : 
 
 I submit that the doing it in the loyal States is only the just comple 
 ment to your action in the Rebel States. How can you look the Rebel 
 States in the face when you have required colored suffrage of them, and 
 fail to require it in the other States? Be just; require it in the loyal 
 States as you have now required it in the Rebel States. There is an un 
 answerable argument, and I submit it on the question of order. If we 
 are now privileged to consider only matters that are in aid of the re 
 construction measures, then I submit that this bill is in aid of those 
 
CIVIL RIGHTS SUPPLEMENT BILL. 5<DI 
 
 measures, for it is to give them completeness and roundness. Unless 
 you pass this bill your original measure is imperfect ; ay, it is radically 
 unjust. I know it is said you have one title to legislation over the Rebel 
 States which you have not over the loyal States, to wit, that they have 
 been in rebellion ; but the great cardinal sources of power over the 
 Rebel States are identical with those over the loyal States. They are 
 one and the same. There is the clause in the Constitution directing you 
 to guarantee a republican form of government. It is a clause which is 
 like a sleeping giant in the Constitution, never until this recent war 
 awakened but now it comes forward with a giant s power. There is no 
 clause in the Constitution like it. There is no clause which gives to 
 Congress such a supreme power over the States, as that clause. There, 
 as I have already said, you have the two other clauses. Your power 
 under the Constitution is complete. It is not less beneficial than com 
 plete. * * Who then can hesitate ? Look at it in any light which 
 you please. Regard it as the completion of these reconstruction meas 
 ures ; regard it as a constitutional enactment ; regard it as a measure 
 of expediency in order to secure those results which we all desire at the 
 approaching elections; and who can hesitate? You have had no bill 
 before you for a long time, the passage of which would be of more prac 
 tical advantage than this. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 On the 1 2th of May, 1870, Mr. SUMNER introduced 
 his Civil Rights Supplement ; and in doing so, said that 
 the passage of the Bill would render further legislation 
 on the subject unnecessary. It declares all citizens of 
 the United States, without distinction of race and color, 
 entitled to equal and impartial enjoyment of accommoda 
 tion, advantage, facility or privilege afforded by common 
 carriers on railroads, steamboats, or other public convey 
 ance ; in hotels, licensed theatres and other houses of 
 public entertainment ; common schools and other insti 
 tutions of learning authorized by law ; church institutions, 
 incorporated either by National or State authority ; also 
 on juries in all courts, both National and State. It sub- 
 
5O2 JUSTICE TO THE COLORED RACE EVERYWHERE. 
 
 jects any one violating, or inciting to violation of its pro 
 visions, to payment of $500 to the person aggrieved, 
 and imprisonment, and a further fine of from $500 to 
 $1,000. When the violation is committed by a corpora 
 tion, the penalty to be forfeiture of charter. He intro 
 duced substantially the same Bill on the 2Oth of January, 
 1871, the one which he commended so earnestly to his 
 friend Judge Hoar, with almost his dying breath. 
 
 XV. 
 
 In the debate on the Amnesty Bill, December 2Oth, 
 1871, he used the following language on justice to the 
 Colored race everywhere : 
 
 We have all heard of the old saying, " Let us be just before we are 
 generous." I do not like to be against anything that may seem to be 
 generous ; but I do insist always upon justice ; and now that it is pro 
 posed to be generous to those who were engaged in the rebellion, I in 
 sist upon justice to the Colored race everywhere throughout this land ; 
 and in that spirit I shall ask the Senate to adopt as an amendment in 
 the form of additional sections, what is already known in this Chamber 
 as the Supplementary Civil Rights Bill. * * I insist that by the law 
 of the land all persons, without distinction of color, shall be equal be 
 fore the law. Show me, therefore, a legal institution, anything created 
 or regulated by law, and I show you what must be opened equally to 
 all without distinction of color. Notoriously, the hotel is a legal insti 
 tution originally established by the common law, subject to minute 
 provisions and regulations ; notoriously, public conveyances are in the 
 nature of common carriers, subject to a law of their own ; notoriously, 
 schools are public institutions, created and maintained by law ; and 
 now I simply insist that in the enjoyment of those institutions, there 
 shall be no exclusion on account of color. * * I hope there will be 
 no question about adopting this amendment. But I will ask once more 
 my friends over the way, who insist upon amnesty, to unite with me now 
 in justice to the Colored race. Let us do this work all at once. I wish 
 to have the pleasure of voting for this bill. I wish to unite with tlv.j 
 Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Alcorn) in the generosity that he pro- 
 
Till-: PRESIDENCY AS A TRUST. 503 
 
 poses ; but I do implore him to unite with me in justice to his own con 
 stituents. Treat the two together ; put them both in the same bill ; 
 pass them by a two-thirds vote, and let the country see how grandly 
 unanimous we are in an act which is at once generous and just, full of 
 generosity, the noblest generosity, the grandest magnanimity in human 
 history, and full, also, of simple justice. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 In the United States Senate, May 31, 1872, in speak 
 ing of the Presidency as a trust, and the Republicans as 
 being a personal party, he used this language, which 
 alienated him pretty effectually from that great organiza 
 tion : 
 
 To the Republican party, devoted to ideas and principles, I turn now 
 with more than ordinary solicitude. Not willingly can I see it sacrificed. 
 Not without earnest effort against the betrayal, can I suffer its ideas and 
 principles to be lost in the personal pretensions of one man. Both the 
 old parties are in a crisis, with this difference between the two : The 
 Democracy is dissolving ; the Republican party is being absorbed. The 
 Democracy is falling apart, thus losing its vital unity ; the Republican 
 party is submitting to a personal influence, thus visibly losing its vital 
 character. The Democracy is ceasing to exist. The Republican party 
 is losing its identity. Let the process be completed, and it will be no 
 longer that Republican party which I helped to found and always served, 
 but only a personal party ; while, instead of those ideas and principles 
 which we have been so proud to uphold, will be Presidential pretensions ; 
 and instead of Republicanism there will be nothing but Grantism. 
 Political parties are losing their sway. Higher than party are country 
 and the duty to save it from Caesar. The caucus is at last understood 
 as a political engine, moved by wire-pullers ; and it becomes more in 
 supportable in proportion as directed to personal ends ; nor is its cha 
 racter changed when called a National Convention. Here, too, are 
 wire-pullers ; and when the great Office-holder and the great Office- 
 seeker are one and the same, it is easy to see how naturally the engine 
 responds to the central touch. A political convention is an agency and 
 a convenience ; but never a law, least of all a despotism ; and when it 
 seeks to impose a candidate whose name is a synonym of pretensions 
 
504 SUMNER S LETTER TO COLORED CITIZENS. 
 
 unrepublican in character, and hostile to good government, it will be 
 for earnest Republicans to consider well how clearly party is subordi 
 nate to country. Such a nomination can have no just obligation. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 In a letter to Colored citizens, on Harmony between 
 the Races, he wrote: 
 
 Thus far, in constant efforts for the Colored Race, I have sincerely 
 sought the good of all ; which I was convinced would be best obtained 
 in fulfilling the promises of the Declaration of Independence, making 
 all equal in rights. The spirit in which I acted appears in an early 
 speech, when I said : " Nothing in hate, nothing in vengeance." Never 
 have I asked for punishment. Most anxiously I have looked for the 
 time, which seems now at hand, when there shall be reconciliation ; not 
 only between the North and South, but between the two races ; so that 
 the two races and the two sections may be lifted from the ruts and 
 grooves in which they are now fastened ; and, instead of irritating antag 
 onism without end, there shall be sympathetic cooperation. The ex 
 isting differences ought to be ended. There is a time for all things, and 
 we are admonished by a widespread popular uprising bursting the bonds 
 of party, that the time has come for estrangement to cease between 
 people who by the ordinance of God must live together. Gladly do I 
 welcome these happy signs ; nor can I observe without regret the colored 
 people in organized masses resisting the friendly overtures, even to the 
 extent of intimidating those who are the other way. It is for them to 
 consider carefully whether they should not take advantage of the unex 
 pected opening, and recognize the bail bond given at Baltimore as the 
 assurance of peace, holding the parties to the full performance of its 
 conditions, provided always that their rights are fixed. I am sure it 
 cannot be best for the colored people to band together in a hostile 
 camp, provoking antagonism and keeping alive the separation of races. 
 Above all there must be no intimidation, but every voter must act freely, 
 without constraint from league or lodge. Much better will it be when 
 two political parties compete for your vote, each anxious for your 
 support. Only then will that citizenship by which you are entitled to 
 the equal rights of all, have its full fruits. Only then will there be that 
 hurmony which is essential to a true civilization. 
 
THE WONDERFUL YEAR l8/O. 505 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 The year 1870 witnessed a series of astounding con 
 vulsions in Europe, the record of which, even while they 
 were taking place, seemed to transcend in magnitude 
 any preceding revolutions, partaking more of the 
 dreams of romance, than the sober transactions of his 
 tory. The resistless march of the great German armies 
 into the heart of France ; the capture, in rapid succes 
 sion of her fortified cities and army corps ; the overthrow 
 of the throne of NAPOLEON III. and the imprisonment of 
 its Emperor ; the final occupation of Rome by the national 
 Government of Italy, and the annihilation at last of the 
 Temporal sovereignty of the Pope, all crowded to 
 gether within the space of a few months, read, even at 
 thir. short distance of time, like a fairy tale. 
 
 In the meantime, the Federal Government of the 
 United States was becoming more and more consoli 
 dated. All the States were restored to their old places 
 in the Union, under Constitutions made by themselves, 
 and approved by Congress ; and once more their civil 
 powers were administered by citizens of their own choice. 
 The giant form of the Rebellion was fast moving into 
 the dim past, and a new vista of progress and splendor 
 was opening to the advancing Republic. Early in the 
 year, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution had 
 been ratified by the necessary number of States, twenty- 
 nine having voted for it. The announcement of the re 
 sult was made on the 3Oth of March, by a message from 
 the President, and a bill was at once introduced, and 
 speedily passed, to secure freedom of suffrage to the 
 whole Colored population of every State in the Union. 
 It was vain any longer in Congress to oppose the enact- 
 
5C6 JOY IN WASHINGTON OVER THE RATIFICATION. 
 
 ment ; outside of Congress all opposition jyas known to 
 be unavailing. The final decision of a great Nation was 
 clothed with a solemnity of sanction which transcended 
 that of any divinity which ever hedged a king. 
 
 The public joy in the capital was manifested by illu 
 minations, serenades, and speeches. To the multitude 
 amongst them thousands of the colored of both sexes- 
 assembled in front of the Executive Mansion, President 
 GRANT ventured upon one of the longest speeches of 
 his life. He said : 
 
 I can assure those present that there has been no event since the 
 close of the war in which I have felt so deep an interest, as that of the 
 ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution by three- 
 fourths of the States of the Union. I have felt the greatest anxiety, 
 ever since I have been in this house, to know that that was to be se 
 cured. It looked to me as the realization of the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence. I cannot say near so much on this subject as I would like 
 to, not being accustomed to public speaking ; but I thank you very 
 much for your presence this evening. 
 
 But this speech, long as it was for him was greeted 
 with tremendous and prolonged cheers, and the crowd 
 retired, as the band struck up what seemed to have al 
 ready become one of the national airs "John Brown s 
 body lies mouldering in the grave." 
 
 XIX. 
 
 But the grandest demonstration of all was before the 
 house of Senator SUMNER. It was the first time he had 
 ever appeared and responded on such an occasion, and 
 he embraced the opportunity to lift the flag of reform 
 and progress still higher, rather than to fritter away such 
 precious moments in public or self congratulation. 
 
 He did, in the beginning, congratulate the now silent 
 
SUMNER S RESPONSE TO THE SERENADE. 507 
 
 multitude on the great results accomplished in securing 
 equal rights for all, which had so long been his object, 
 and his hope ; and to greet the hour when the promise 
 of the Declaration of Independence had become a real 
 ity. He would not say that it was entirely accomplished, 
 for it was not. It was his nature to think more of what 
 , remains to be done, than of what has been done more 
 of duties than of triumphs. He had only just heard 
 from Philadelphia of a decision in a court of justice, that 
 a colored person of foreign birth could not be natural 
 ized in this country, because of color. This is in accord 
 ance with an old statute a relic of the days of slavery. 
 He had now a bill before the Judiciary Committee of 
 the Senate, striking the word " white " from our natural 
 ization laws. It remains further that equal rights shall 
 be conceded in all the public conveyances in the United 
 States, that no one be excluded therefrom by reason 
 of color. It also remains, he said, that you here in 
 Washington shall complete this equality of rights in your 
 common schools. You all go together to vote, and any 
 person may find a seat in the Senate of the United 
 States ; but the child is shut out of the common school on 
 account of color. This discrimination must be abolished. 
 All schools must be open to all, without distinction of 
 color. In accomplishing this, you will work, not only 
 for yourselves, but will set an example for all the land, 
 and most especially for the South. Only in this way can 
 your school system be extended for the equal good of 
 all. And now, as you have at heart the education of 
 your children, that they should grow up in that know 
 ledge of equal rights, so essential for their protection to 
 the world, it is your bounden duty here in Washington 
 to see that this is accomplished. Your school system 
 
508 THE SAN DOMINGO SCHEME. 
 
 must be founded on equal rights, so that no one shall 
 be excluded on account of color. 
 
 XX. 
 
 The President, and a strong party with him, were 
 anxious to secure the annexation of Dominica, and with 
 this object in view, on the 5th of December, 1870, in 
 his annual message, he had said: " I now firmly believe 
 that the moment it is known that the United States have 
 entirely abandoned the project of accepting as a part of 
 its territory, the Island of San Domingo, a free port 
 will be negotiated for by European powers, in the Bay 
 of Samana ; " and ringing some changes upon the 
 MONROE doctrine, he manifested a strong wish to have 
 
 o 
 
 something effectual done on the subject. On the i2th 
 of the month, Mr. MORTON offered Resolutions autho 
 rizing the President to appoint three Commissioners, 
 and a Secretary, to proceed to the Island, to obtain all 
 sorts of information, etc., and report. 
 
 When the matter came up, Mr. SUMNER, who com 
 prehended the whole subject better than any man in 
 either House, moved that the Senate proceed to the 
 consideration of Executive business ; and he spoke 
 against the whole annexation scheme. He began by 
 saying : " Mr. President, The resolution before the 
 Senate commits Congress to a dance of blood. It is 
 a new step in a measure of violence ; several steps have 
 already been taken, and Congress is now summoned to 
 take another." He went on to show that " the motive 
 which prompted the appointment of this Commission 
 was by no means limited to inquiry concerning the con 
 dition of that Island, but it committed Congress to the 
 
, COLORED CONVENTION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 509 
 
 policy of its annexation. He foresaw that the country 
 would suffer in its good name ; that the negotiation for 
 annexation was begun with a person known as BUEN 
 AVENTURA BAEZ, whom official and unofficial evidence 
 showed to be a political jockey ; that it was a scheme 
 which would be attended with violence towards Dominica 
 and violence towards Hayti." 
 
 XXL 
 
 A convention of delegates representing the Negro 
 population of the country had been held in St. Louis, on 
 the 2 /th of September, which, among other Resolutions, 
 passed one asking all the State Legislatures to enact a 
 compulsory law compelling all children between seven 
 and twelve years of age to attend school. Another Con 
 vention representing all the Negro population in the 
 late slave-holding States, was held at Columbia, South 
 Carolina, on the 24th of October. It was a manly and 
 noble address which the delegates adopted to be sent 
 out to the people of the United States, a portion of 
 which was as follows : 
 
 While we have, as a body, contributed our labor in the past to en 
 hance the wealth and promote the welfare of the community, we have 
 as a class been deprived of one of the chief benefits to be derived from 
 industry, namely, the acquisition of education and experience, the return 
 that civilization makes for the labor of the individual. Our want in this 
 respect not only extends to general education, and experience such as 
 fit the man to adorn the society of his fellows, but to that special edu 
 cation and experience required to enable us to enter successfully the 
 departments of a diversified industry. 
 
 We ask that your Representatives in Congress may be instructed to 
 afford such aid, in extending education to the uneducated classes in the- 
 States we represent, as may be consistent with the financial interests of 
 the nation. Although we urge our unrequited labors in the past as the 
 
510 ADDRESS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 
 
 ground of this appeal, yet we do not seek these benefits for ourselves 
 alone, but for the white portion of the laboring-class in our States, whose 
 need is as great as ours. 
 
 In order to secure the promotion of our industrial interests, you can 
 render us assistance. It is true we have no demands to make of the 
 national government in this respect ; but it is in the power of the people 
 of the United States to aid us materially. In order to advance our 
 knowledge and skill in the industrial arts, it is necessary that we should 
 have the advantage of the means employed in the country at large for 
 those purposes. That in preparing for industrial pursuits and in putting 
 our skill in operation, we should come in contact with educated and 
 experienced workmen, and be put in possession of the result of their 
 skill and knowledge. If the trades and workshops are shut against us, 
 we cannot reach that point of excellence to which we desire to attain. 
 We ask your aid and sympathy in placing us on the same footing in 
 reference to the pursuit of industry, as that enjoyed by other citizens. 
 If, after having access to the means of becoming skillful workmen, we 
 fail to attain that standing, we are content to take rank among the in 
 dustrial classes of the country according to the degree of our proficiency. 
 Should we be excluded from these benefits, a state of things will arise, 
 most prejudicial to the interest of skilled labor, namely, the existence of 
 a great body of workmen ready to supply the market with poor work, 
 at cheap rates. While slavery existed, the Northern States were not 
 affected by the low state of the industrial arts in the Southern States ; 
 but labor being now free to find the best market, it is, beyond question, 
 the interest of the artificers of the North to raise the standard of profi 
 ciency at the South. It is clearly the interest of the great industries of 
 the North to strengthen themselves by alliance with those at the South. 
 This result would be practicable to the fullest extent, if those of our 
 color throughout the North could be placed in a position to bring among 
 us the best knowledge and skill in the departments of trade to which 
 they belong. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 During the session of this Convention, the following 
 letter from Mr. SUMNER was read : 
 
 BOSTON, October 21, 1871. 
 
 DEAR SIR : I am glad that our colored fellow-citizens are to have a 
 convention of their own. So long as they are excluded from rights, or 
 
SUMNER S LETTER TO THE COLORED CONVENTION. 511 
 
 suffer in any way, on account of color, they will naturally meet together 
 in order to find a proper remedy, and, since you kindly invite me to 
 communicate with the convention, I make bold to offer a few brief 
 suggestions. 
 
 In the first place, you must at all times insist upon your rights, and 
 here I mean not only those already accorded, but others still denied, 
 all of which are contained in equality before the law. Wherever the 
 law supplies a rule, there you must insist upon equal rights. How much 
 remains to be obtained, you know too well in the experience of life. 
 Can a respectable colored citizen travel on steamboats or railways, or 
 public conveyances generally, without insult on account of color? 
 Let Lieutenant-Governor Dunn, of Louisiana, describe his journey 
 from New Orleans to Washington. Shut out from proper accommoda 
 tions in the cars, the doors of the Senate Chamber opened to him, and 
 there he found the equality which a railroad conductor had denied. 
 Let our excellent friend, Frederick Douglass, relate his melancholy 
 experience, when, within sight of the Executive Mansion, he was thrust 
 back from the dinner-table where his brother commissioners were already 
 seated. You know the outrage. I might ask the same question in 
 regard to hotels, or even common schools. An hotel is a legal institu 
 tion, and so is a common school. As such, each must be for the equal 
 benefit of all. Now, can there be any exclusion from either on ac 
 count of color? It is not enough to provide separate accommodations 
 for colored citizens, even if in all respects as good as those of other 
 persons. Equality is not found in an equivalent, but only in equality. 
 In other words, there must be no discrimination on account of color. 
 The discrimination is an insult and a hindrance, and a bar, which not 
 only always destroys comfort and prevents equality, but weakens all 
 other rights. 
 
 The right to vote will have new security when your equal right in 
 public conveyances, hotels, and common schools, is at last established ; 
 but here you must insist for yourselves, by speech, by petition, and by 
 vote. Help yourselves, and others will help you also. The Civil 
 Rights law needs a supplement to cover such cases. This defect has 
 been apparent from the beginning, and, for a long time, I have striven 
 to remove it. I have a bill for this purpose now pending in the Senate. 
 Will not my colored fellow-citizens see that those in power shall no 
 longer postpone this essential safeguard ? Surely, here is an object 
 worthy of effort. 
 
 Nor has the Republican party done its work until this is established. 
 
512 HIS ADVICE TO THE CONVENTION. 
 
 Is it not better to establish all our own people in the enjoyment of 
 equal rights before we seek to bring others within the sphere of our in 
 stitutions, to be treated as Frederick Douglass was on his way to the 
 President from St. Domingo ? It is easy to see that a small part of the 
 means, the energy and the determined will spent in the expedition to St. 
 Domingo, and in the prolonged war-dance about that island, with men 
 ace to the black Republic of Hayti, would have secured all our colored 
 fellow-citizens in the enjoyment of equal rights. Of this there can be 
 no doubt. 
 
 Among the cardinal objects in education which must be insisted on 
 must be equality, side by side with the alphabet. It is vain to teach 
 equality, if you do not practise it. It is vain to recite the great words 
 of the Declaration of Independence, if you do not make them a living 
 reality. What is lesson without example ? As all are equal at the 
 ballot-box, so must all be equal at the common school. Equality in the 
 common school is the preparation for equality at the ballot-box ; there 
 fore do I put this among the essentials of education. 
 
 In asserting your own rights you will not fail to insist upon justice to 
 all, under which is necessarily included purity in the government. 
 Thieves and money-changers, whether Democrats or Republicans, 
 must be driven out of our temple. Tammany Hall and the Republican 
 self-seekers must be overthrown. There should be no place for either. 
 Thank God, good men are now coming to the rescue ! Let them, while 
 uniting against corruption, insist upon equal rights for all, and also the 
 suppression of lawless violence, wherever it shows itself, whether in the 
 Ku-klux Klan outraging the South, or illicit undertakings outraging the 
 black Republic of Hayti. 
 
 To these inestimable objects, add specie payments, and you have a 
 platform which ought to be accepted by the American people. Will 
 not our colored fellow-citizens begin this good work ? Let them at the 
 same time save themselves and save the country. These are the only 
 hints which I submit to the convention, hoping that its proceedings will 
 tend especially to the good wishes of the colored race. Accept my 
 thanks and best wishes, and believe me faithfully yours, 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 During the years which followed the close of the Re 
 bellion, Senator SUMNER embraced every available op- 
 
COLORED NATIONAL CONVENTION, NEW ORLEANS. $13 
 
 portunity to press his Civil Rights Bill upon the Senate. 
 Speech after speech, resolution after resolution, the occa 
 sion of presenting" petitions from Colored persons, one 
 and all were alike to him. But he seemed to encounter 
 that worst of all obstacles, indifference which it was 
 impossible to overcome. Upon a direct vote, as a mat 
 ter of principle, none of the friends of the three grand 
 Amendments to the Constitution would have pretended 
 to argue ; and all objections urged were either confessedly 
 futile, or totally unworthy of the spirit of Congress that 
 had achieved so much for humanity, and for the elevation 
 of the Colored race. 
 
 A Colored National Convention assembled in New 
 Orleans in 1872, on the I5th of April. There were 
 many able delegates in that body, and their proceedings 
 were marked with high intelligence, calm deliberation, 
 and maturity of judgment. The following letter was 
 read from Mr. SUMNER, and received with the profoundest 
 respect and many demonstrations of admiration and gra 
 titude : 
 
 * WASHINGTON, April 7, 1872. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR : In reply to your inquiry, I make haste to say that, 
 in my judgment, the Colored Convention should think more of prin 
 ciples than of men, except so far as men may stand for principles. 
 Above all, let them insist on the rights of their own much-abused and 
 insulted people. It is absurd for anybody to say that he "accepts the 
 situation," and then deny the equal rights of the colored man. If the 
 " situation " is accepted in good faith, it must be entirely, including 
 not merely the abolition of slavery and the establishment of equal 
 suffrage, but also all those other rights which are still denied and 
 abridged. There must be complete equality before the law, so that in 
 all institutions, agencies or conveniences, erected or regulated by law, 
 there can be no discrimination on account of color, but a black man 
 shall be treated as a white man. 
 
 In maintaining their rights, it will be proper for the convention to 
 invoke the Declaration of Independence, so that its principles and 
 33 
 
5H A FRIEND S LAST EVENING WITH SUMNER. 
 
 promises shall become a living reality, never to be questioned in any 
 way, but recognized always as a guide of conduct, and a governing rule 
 in the interpretation of the national Constitution, being in the nature of 
 a bill of rights, preceding the Constitution. It is not enough to pro 
 claim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. 
 Equality must be proclaimed also, and as, since both are promised by 
 the great declaration, which is a national act, and as from their nature 
 they should be uniform throughout the country, both must be placed 
 under the safeguard of national law. There can be but one liberty and 
 one equality, the same in Boston and New Orleans, the same every 
 where throughout the country. The colored people are not ungenerous, 
 and therefore will incline to any measures of good-will and reconcilia 
 tion ; but I trust no excess of benevolence will make them consent to 
 any postponement of those equal rights which are now denied. The 
 disabilities of colored people, loyal and long-suffering, should be re 
 moved before the disabilities of former rebels, or at least the two re 
 movals should go hand-in-hand. It only remains that I should say, 
 " Stand firm ! " The politicians will then know that you are in earnest, 
 and will no longer be trifled with. Victory will follow soon, and the 
 good cause be secure forever. Meanwhile, accept my best wishes for 
 the convention, and believe me, dear professor, faithfully yours, 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER, 
 To Professor JOHN M. LANGSTON. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 An intimate friend who had made his last call upon the 
 Senator the Monday evening previous to his death, thus 
 wrote, in the Washington Chronicle : 
 
 He greeted me, saying, " I am so weary thinking over my speech on 
 finance.* I wanted a change a ray of sunlight and I am so glad you 
 
 * One cause of regret, even in his dying hours, was that he had not l>een well 
 enough to participate in the Debate on Finance then going on in the Senate. But al 
 though his inflexible opposition to any further inflation of the currency was well 
 known, he placed the matter beyond the reach of doubt by writing the following with 
 his own hand: "Mr. Sumner consented with great reluctance to the original 
 measure suspending specie payments, and he has been always for the earliest practi 
 cable resumption. At different times he has introduced bills to secure this result, and 
 has urged it by speech at home and in the Senate. During the present session he has 
 
SUMNER AT HOME. 5*5 
 
 came." He at once began to talk on European politics, which to him 
 was an outspread map, and whose kaleidoscopic changes he viewed 
 with absorbing interest. He spoke of Gladstone his noble struggle in 
 the cause of Liberalism, his success, his failure, and his fall ; he gave a 
 sketch of a breakfast with him, and summed up by expressions of his 
 firm faith in the ultimate triumph of those principles which Gladstone 
 so nobly championed. " A great man under the shadow of a defeat," 
 said he, " is taught how precious are the uses of adversity, and as an 
 oak tree s roots are strengthened by its shadow, so all defeats in a good 
 cause are but resting-places on the road to victory at last." He spoke 
 of the patchwork Empire of Germany, of Bismarck, and Delia Mar 
 mora of truth, stranger than fiction, viz., of the Italian statesman s as 
 sertion of Bismarck s offer to cede France a portion of German territory 
 of the impolicy of the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine of the dif 
 ferences with the Catholic Church, the imprisonment of her prelates 
 and then, taking a volume of Milton, he read, in deep, rich tones of 
 tender melody, his famous sonnet upon the persecution of the Wal- 
 denses during Cromwell s protectorate. 
 
 In closing, he added : " Thus history revenges herself." About this 
 time his evening mail was brought ; whenever he came to one interest 
 ing note or letter he would look it over and then hand it to me to read. 
 * * * The next letter was from Philadelphia, an anonymous attack of 
 the bitterest description, impugning his motives concerning his speech 
 on the International Centenary Exposition, winding up with a threat of 
 violence, which I forbear to transcribe. As lie handed it to me he said, 
 good-humoredly : "I am used to such letters." I read it, and, as I did 
 so, consigned it to the blazing grate. The next letter was from 
 Indiana, one of those good, whole-souled letters, full of sympathy and 
 admiration, with an urgent, earnest invitation for him to visit the writer 
 next summer, and an offer of generous and unstinted hospitality. 
 "There," said he, " you have burned the bane, and here is the anti 
 dote." His next letter was from Boston, full of hearty thankfulness for 
 his restoration to health, and cheer for the future. It was closely writ- 
 introduced a bill providing for the monthly withdrawal of greenbacks by the substitu 
 tion of compound interest notes, which has been approved by many leading financial 
 characters, and especially by the Boston Board of Trade. He regrets the withdrawal 
 of money from Massachusetts, but regards this measure as insignificant by the side of 
 the attempt to inflate the currency. He sees no objection to free banking if united 
 with specie payments. The possibility of a new issue of inconvertible paper he re 
 gards with amazement and anxiety, and, in his judgment, such an issue would be a 
 detriment and a shame." 
 
5l6 LAST SPEECH IN THE SENATE. 
 
 ten, and as he handed it to me he said : " This is no summer friend." 
 The last of many letters was one of congratulation about the Massa 
 chusetts legislative resolutions, rescinding the vote of censure. I never 
 saw him look more happy than when he finished reading it. He then 
 arose and showed me with satisfaction the legislative resolutions beau 
 tifully engrossed on parchment, and observed the copies for the Re 
 presentatives were simply on paper. I asked, " Will you address the 
 Senate when they are presented ?" He replied, "The dear old Com 
 monwealth has spoken for me, and that is enough." 
 
 XXV. 
 
 His last speech in the Senate the Friday before his 
 death was on the subject of the Centennial Celebra 
 tion, strongly urging that it should be made simply a 
 National, and not an International affair fearing it would 
 be attended with corruption, and end in failure ; and in 
 doing so, he laid down the following propositions, which 
 he commended to the attention of the Senate and the 
 country, and which he intended subsequently to enforce 
 by further argument : 
 
 The Centennial celebration of 1876 should be first and foremost, and 
 I think it scarcely too much to say, only a grateful vindication of 1776. 
 
 It should be severely and grandly simple, not ostentatious or boast 
 ful. 
 
 It should be inexpensive, for a thousand obvious reasons but, above 
 all, because it does not become a nation any more than an individual 
 on the verge of bankruptcy to be extravagant, especially at the moment 
 when the attention of the world is invited to the study and imitation of 
 her methods of management. 
 
 It should be national and not provincial. It should be so conducted 
 that all, and not a few only, can participate in it. 
 
 It should not involve the displacement of large masses of people, 
 which is perilous to the health, expensive, and more or less demoraliz 
 ing. 
 
 It should be free from every feature calculated to sectionalize or di 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE CLOSING SCENES. 5 1/ 
 
 vide trie country, and be so managed as to secure the greatest possible 
 harmony and unanimity. 
 
 It should be as educating and elevating in its influences as possible, 
 both in this and foreign countries. 
 
 All these results may be secured by proper instrumentalities. I think 
 none of them will be if the Philadelphia scheme is encouraged by the 
 Federal Government any further. Of the international part of it, the 
 converting it into a European Fair, with an American corner for Yankee 
 notions, I will not trust myself to speak. 
 
 To all these considerations I add yet another. A World s Fair is 
 essentially governmental in character. Such it has been in other coun 
 tries, and such I fear it must be in ours. The Government invites, the 
 Government is host; the Government, therefore, must guide and shape 
 its conduct, and must pay the expenses, as if it were the army or navy. 
 
 SECTION ELEVENTH. 
 
 His Death, and Public Honors to his Memory. 
 
 I. 
 
 PROBABLY one of the most careful and accurate accounts 
 of Mr. Sumner s illness and death that appeared at the 
 time, or that will be likely to be given hereafter, was 
 printed in that very able journal, the Boston Daily 
 Globe. The writer was a personal friend of the great 
 statesman, and an eye-witness of the scenes he describes. 
 His account was written and transmitted to Boston the 
 evening of the sad day, and appearing later, also, in 
 weekly edition, any inadvertencies would be corrected. 
 
 The Hon. Charles Sunnier died at ten minutes before three o clock, 
 this afternoon, March n. Those present in the chamber when the 
 
5l8 HIS FRIENDS AT HIS LAST DINNER. 
 
 Senator expired were his physicians, Senator Schurz, Judge Hoar, Mr. 
 Hooper, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Downing. 
 
 The sudden illness of Senator Stunner, which terminated fatally, to-day, 
 was known only to his physician and a few of his most intimate friends, 
 last night. On Monday evening, he complained of some symptoms of 
 his attack of last winter, but neither he nor his friends paid much at 
 tention to it. Yesterday, he went to the Senate, as usual, and appeared 
 to be in good health and spirits. Several persons who had not seen him 
 for some time remarked that he looked unusually well. About two 
 o clock, yesterday afternoon, the Hon. Samuel Hooper visited Mr. 
 Sumner, at his seat in the Senate. The Senator then complained of 
 acute pain in the region of the heart, and said something about going 
 home early. Mr. Hooper volunteered to drive him home in his carnage, 
 at half-past three, the hour at which Mr. Hooper generally leaves the 
 House. Mr. Sumner accepted the invitation, whereupon Mr. Hooper 
 returned to the House, saying he would call for him at the hour desig 
 nated. In the meantime, Mr. Sumner attended to his business in the 
 Senate, writing letters, and occasionally listening to the financial debate 
 which was in progress. About half-past three, Mr. Hooper appeared 
 in the Senate. Mr. Sumner remarked that the pain was only temporary, 
 and he did not feel it then. He and Mr. Hooper left together, the 
 latter s carriage taking the Senator to his residence, corner of H Street 
 and Vermont Avenue. At six o clock he dined, having as his guests the 
 Hon. H. L. Pierce, of Boston, and Major Ben. Perley Poore. At 
 dinner, he appeared to be in his usual health and enjoyed the meal with 
 his customary heartiness and zest. Mr. Pierce and Major Poore took 
 their departure about half-past eight o clock. During the progress of 
 the dinner, the Senator referred to his health, and particularly to the 
 pain he had experienced in the afternoon. He seemed to dread a re 
 turn of the attack of last winter, but his guests expressed the hope that 
 nothing serious would follow. 
 
 Between nine and ten o clock in the evening, the paroxysm of pain 
 returned, and steadily increased until the Senator called upon his sec 
 retary, Mr. Johnson, for aid. His physician, Dr. Tabor Johnson, hap 
 pened to be present, and, at Mr. Sumner s request, administered a sub 
 cutaneous injection of morphine. His feet were bathed in hot water, 
 with mustard and salt. This afforded temporary relief, and, at the re 
 quest of Dr. Johnson, Mr. Sumner retired to bed. As soon as the 
 soothing effect of the morphine passed away, the pain returned, with 
 more intensity. It was now near midnight, and Mr. Johnson, becoming 
 
FEELING IN WASHINGTON. MR. DANA S SUN. 519 
 
 alarmed at the threatening symptoms, thought it prudent to call in more 
 medical aid and the assistance of such of the Senator s friends as were 
 in the vicinity. He awoke Mr, James Wormley, the well-known 
 colored caterer, and Mr. Simmer s lifelong devoted friend. Mr. 
 Wormley informed the Hon. Samuel Hooper, who lives directly opposite 
 Wormley s Hotel, and also the Hon. Henry L. Pierce, who is a guest 
 at Wormley s. 
 
 Mr. DANA, in his New York 82111, thus touchingly 
 speaks of the feeling" which pervaded Washington : 
 
 As CHARLES SUMMER lay dying, the sorrow of an entire nation was 
 seen in the air of affliction which pervaded the Federal city. The 
 breathless suspense which awaited the departure of his spirit was con 
 fined to no class. If there was gloom in the Capitol there was mourn 
 ing in the cabin. Courtly Senators deplored a public calamity, and 
 exchanged graceful tributes to the memory of a statesman ; but the 
 enfranchised slave bewailed a personal loss, and raised his unfettered 
 hands to bless a benefactor. All men who love justice and honor 
 integrity, felt that justice and integrity were about to lose a well-tried, 
 living exemplar. Many, indeed, bemoaned it as a sad hour for SUMNER 
 to die in. They remembered his work, that it was done ; but they re 
 membered his soul, that it was pure, and they would have had it pass 
 away unvexed by the licentious practices which at present prevail in 
 the Government he lived to serve. 
 
 Men spoke softly on the street ; their very voices betokened the im 
 pending event, and even their footfalls are said to have been lighter 
 than common. But in the neighborhood of the Senator s house there 
 was a scene of singular and touching interest. Splendid equipages 
 rolled to the corner over pavements conceived in fraud and laid in cor 
 ruption, to testify the regard of their occupants for eminent purity of 
 life. Liveried servants carried hopeless messages from the door of him 
 \vho was simplicity itself, and to whom the pomp and pageantry of this 
 evil day were but the evidences of guilty degeneracy. Through all 
 those lingering hours of anguish the sad procession came and went. 
 On the sidewalk stood a numerous and grateful representation of the 
 race to whom he had given the proudest efforts and the best energies 
 of his existence. The black man bowed his head in unaffected grief, 
 and the black woman sat hushing her babe upon the curbstone, in mute 
 expectation of the last decisive intelligence from the chamber above. 
 
520 SUMNER S LAST HOURS. 
 
 The Globe continues : 
 
 In the meantime, a messenger was despatched for Dr. Lincoln. The 
 entire party was soon at the bedside of Mr. SUMNKR, who. by this time, 
 was suffering great pain. After another injection of morphine, and a 
 dose of brandy and ammonia, he seemed easier, and at t\vo o clock he 
 had so much improved that his friends, with the exception of his sec 
 retary, thought it safe to retire to their homes. The Senator appeared 
 to be unusually sensitive, and apologized for giving so much trouble. 
 He told his secretary, Mr. Johnson, and his physicians, to go to bed, 
 assuring them that he was much better. Dr. Johnson remained all 
 night, watching with anxiety the development of the symptoms. It is 
 proper to state that during all his illness. Dr. Johnson has merely acted 
 under the advice of Dr. Brown-Sequard, only administering the pre 
 scriptions of that physician, who thoroughly understood Mr. Su inner s case. 
 
 Towards morning the Senator grew worse, his symptoms became 
 more alarming, and he began to lose strength rapidly. About six 
 o clock, Mr. Wormley, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Pierce, and other friends ar 
 rived, and it was at once decided to have a consultation of physicians. 
 Surgeon-General Barnes. Dr. Lincoln, and Dr. W. P. Johnson were 
 summoned, and were soon in attendance. The result of the consul 
 tation was the opinion that Mr. Sumner could scarcely survive. At 
 the Senator s request, Mr. Wormley telegraphed to New York for Dr. 
 Brown-Sequard, to Philadelphia for Colonel J. W. Forney, and other 
 intimate personal friends. Those around his bedside are of the opinion 
 that, at this time, Mr. Sumner fully realized the dangerous character of 
 his condition. Everything was done by the physicians and those in at 
 tendance to procure relief, but all to no purpose. The frequent injec 
 tion of morphine seemed to relieve, in some degree, the pain, while the 
 administering of stimulants arrested, for a time, the failing strength. It 
 was now manifest to all that the death of the great Senator was ap 
 proaching. His secretary telegraphed at once to Mr. Sumner s only 
 surviving relative, Mrs. Dr. Hastings, his sister, at San Francisco, 
 informing her of her brother s condition. The news of his illness 
 spread rapidly through the city, and hundreds of people (white and 
 black), wended their way to his residence. 
 
 Only his physicians, his secretary, the members of the Massachusetts 
 delegation, and a few friends were admitted to the Senator s bed 
 chamber and his library adjoining. Every effort was made to sustain 
 life until the arrival of Dr. Brown-Sequard, who was expected at half- 
 
SENATOR SUMNER S LAST MOMENTS. 
 
 ANTHONY. 
 DOWNING. 
 POORE. 
 
 HOAR. SCHURZ. 
 
 WORMLEY. 
 
FRIENDS AROUND HIS DEATH-BED. 52! 
 
 past five o clock. It was supposed by the Senator s friends that he 
 might be able to do something to save his life. A telegram was 
 received from Dr. Sequard stating that he had left New York on the 
 early train, and recommending that an electric bath be administered. 
 When this was received, the Senator s nervous system was so prostrated 
 that the physicians in attendance feared the bath might result in violent 
 convulsions, and they did not like to take the responsibility. He grew 
 worse ; became unconscious, and at times delirious. Occasionally, 
 however, he would recognize those around him. Among those almost 
 constantly in attendance in the Senator s bed-chamber were Senator 
 Schurz, Judge E. Rockwood Hoar, Mr. Pierce, and Mr. Hooper. 
 
 To those around him he frequently expressed regrets about the un 
 finished condition of his works. He said : "I should not regret this, 
 if my book was finished," alluding to his speeches and writings, now in 
 course of publication. He was always in the habit of calling this his 
 "Book." This appeared to be constantly on his mind; and, when suf 
 fering intense agony and rolling about in the bed, he would exclaim, 
 " My book, my book," in a tone of utter hopelessness. At one time he 
 said, and this was the last allusion he made to the subject, "My book 
 will not be finished, but the great account is closed.* It is the opinion 
 of his secretary that his allusion to the great account meant his account 
 with American slavery and the conflict engendered. When Judge 
 Hoar entered the Senator s room at 10 o clock, this morning, he im 
 mediately recognized him. Mr. Johnson had lifted him up, and had 
 his arm under him. He said, "Don t let the bill be lost," to which Mr. 
 Johnson replied, " Certainly not, Senator." Mr. Sumner answered, " You 
 mistake : I mean the Civil Rights Bill ;" and then turning to Judge Hoar, 
 who was holding his hand, he said, " Judge, the Civil Rights Bill ; don t let 
 it be lost." Upon each appearance of Judge Hoar after that, the Se 
 nator said something about the Civil Rights Bill, until his secretary, sup 
 posing that the presence of Judge Hoar called this to his mind and 
 disturbed him, suggested that he withdraw. 
 
 * It was reported, says the N. Y. Tribune, that Mr. Sumner expressed his regret 
 that he must die before his book was completed, and the natural inference was that 
 he alluded to his forthcoming volume on the " Prophetic Voices Concerning Ame 
 rica." But it seems the word he really used was his " work," and that he thus 
 referred to his pending bill for securing full civil rights to the freedmen he had done 
 so much to redeem from bondage. 
 
 The Tribune is doubtless correct. His life-work^ and not a book, was his " ruling 
 passion strong in death." 
 
522 HE DIES AT 2.50 P.M., MARCH II, 1874. 
 
 Towards the close of the eventful scene, Judge Hoar came into the 
 room, when the Senator again called attention to the bill, whereupon 
 Judge Hoar promised him that it should not be lost, at the same time 
 kissing the Senator s hand. About ten minutes before his death, he 
 called Judge Hoar and said : 
 
 " Tell Emerson I love and revere him." 
 
 The Judge answered, " I will tell Emerson you love and revere him, 
 for he has told me you had the whitest soul he ever knew." 
 
 During his great pain he would exclaim, " I am so tired; this can t 
 last long." 
 
 Among those who called was Frederick Douglass, but the Senator 
 was then too far gone to recognize him. A little before 2 o clock, Mr. 
 Sumner apparently fell asleep ; but he soon awoke and seemed better. 
 His friends hoped a change for the better had taken place, but it soon 
 became apparent he was rapidly sinking, while he was evidently suf 
 fering less pain. Towards the end, it is said, he was entirely conscious, 
 and recognized all around him. At 2.50 o clock, Dr. Lincoln had his 
 hand on the Senator s pulse while George T. Downing was holding his 
 other hand. Suddenly there was a convulsive movement of the mus 
 cular system, the Senator grasping the hand of Downing so powerfully 
 that he almost crushed it. Then, with a sudden throwing up of his 
 hands, the Senator expired just as the clock in his library struck 
 three, though the correct time was about ten minutes earlier. 
 
 II. 
 
 The Boston Daily Advertiser thus describes the pub 
 lic obsequies of Friday at the Capitol : 
 
 The scene at the residence was the most unusual. There was no re 
 lative present and yet the house was filled with mourners. The Mas 
 sachusetts delegation, with their families, assembled early and went 
 with the remains to the Capitol. A great assemblage of colored men, 
 headed by Fred. Douglass, followed the hearse, and after them came 
 carriages with the committees and mourners. The coffin was placed 
 in the centre of the rotunda, the outer cover removed, a plate glass 
 covering the entire top of the coffin, and the features and figure of Mr. 
 Sumner were clearly exposed. He was dressed in a full suit of black, 
 with his hand on his breast, as he had so often held it while speaking. 
 The features were not entirely natural, but there was far less change 
 
PUBLIC OBSEQUIES AT THE CAPITOL. 523 
 
 than all his friends had feared. There was a great profusion of choice 
 flowers upon and around the coffin, some from the White House and 
 some from colored ladies, and the floral offerings, like the company 
 gathered to honor his memory, were from all classes and conditions. 
 The rotunda, the Senate chamber and the porches were heavily draped. 
 The great building, like the multitude it contained, was in mourning. 
 Long before the hour for the services in the Senate drew near, the gal 
 leries were crowded, and nearly all the Senators were promptly in their 
 places. The House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, the President 
 and all the Cabinet, were successively announced, and each were re 
 ceived by the whole body present standing. General Sherman and 
 many other officers of the army, Admiral Porter, with a number of his 
 associates, and the authorities of the district were present. The lega 
 tions sent a large representation, and the diplomatic gallery was filled 
 with the wives and families of the Cabinet and the legations. At pre 
 cisely 2.20 the pall-bearers appeared at the door with the coffin. The 
 great company, so fully representing the nation, rose and stood in pro 
 found silence as the coffin, covered with flowers, but open and so ex 
 posed that all could see, was carried slowly up to its place before the 
 desk. The arrangement brought those together who, had not death 
 stepped in, would seldom so meet. Nearest to the head of the coffin 
 sat the President; next to him Secretary Fish, and nearest the foot. 
 Senator Schurz. And here in the presence of this death, they were all 
 moved alike to tears. The nation in its three branches, legislative, ex 
 ecutive and judicial, stood close around the coffin, and the people from 
 all quarters of the land looked down upon it. The eyes of the great 
 throng seemed to wander from the coffin to the one empty chair and 
 unoccupied desk, and back to the features of the dead Senator in his 
 coffin. The religious exercises were brief, lasting but half an hour, and 
 at their close Senator Carpenter, in a tone and manner which none who 
 heard and felt will ever forget, made this simple and beautiful announce 
 ment : "And now the Senate of the United States entrusts the re 
 mains of Charles Sumner to its sergeant-at-arms and the committee ap 
 pointed to convey them to his home, there to commit them, earth to 
 earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the soil of the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts. Peace to his ashes." It was by far the most impres 
 sive sentence uttered in the chamber, and all were deeply moved by it. 
 
524 THE FUNERAL TRAIN TO BOSTON. 
 
 III. 
 
 The funeral train reached New York at midnight, 
 when the casket was conveyed to the Fifth Avenue Ho 
 tel and rested in a private parlor until the next morning, 
 when it was escorted to the Grand Central Depot by a 
 committee of the Union League. At New York the 
 
 o 
 
 Congressional deputation, which embraced nearly every 
 Massachusetts member, welcomed Messrs. A. A. Low, 
 S. B. Chittenden, Cyrus W. Field, and Elliott C. Cow- 
 din, a committee appointed to attend the funeral by the 
 New York Chamber of Commerce. The party then 
 comprised Senator Anthony, Carl Schurz, Gen. B. F. 
 Butler, James G. Blaine, J. M. S. Williams, Daniel W. 
 Gooch, Aaron A. Sargent, John Sherman, Richard J. 
 Oglesby, Augustus S. Merriman, Stephen A. Hurlbut, 
 Eugene Hale, Charles Foster, Joseph H. Rainey, 
 Charles Clayton, Henry J. Scudder, Samuel J. Randall, 
 Joseph B. Beck, John Hancock, James Buffinton, Henry 
 L. Dawes, George F. Hoar, E. R. Hoar, Henry L. 
 Pierce, B. W. Harris, Samuel Hooper, Alvah Crocker and 
 Mr. George M. Downing, President of the Civil Rights 
 Council in Washington. The casket rested in the cen 
 tre of a baggage-car, draped in black and white, and 
 was under the charge of Sergeant-at-Arms French, as 
 sisted by the Chief of the Capitol Police, with six men. 
 It was what has been called a State casket, composed of 
 rosewood covered with black broadcloth and very heavi 
 ly mounted with silver. A drapery of black covered the 
 casket except when stops were made at the several sta 
 tions, when the doors were thrown open and the casket 
 was exposed to public view, guarded by the colored sen 
 tinels who had it in charge. Behind the baggage-car, 
 
DEMONSTRATIONS OF RESPECT AND GRIEF. 525 
 
 two drawing-room cars contained the mourners, and all 
 was attached to the rear of the fast train from New 
 York City. The depots on the line were hung in mourn 
 ing, and flags \vere at half-mast. 
 
 All along on its mournful way, the funeral train was 
 greeted by demonstrations of respect and grief. At every 
 village and station silent crowds stood waiting for it to 
 come and pass, while at New Haven, and other cities, the 
 whole population seemed to pour out to pay their last 
 tribute to the dust of the great Statesman. At Spring 
 field, Mr. HAYES, with the Committee of the Massachu 
 setts Legislature, appeared, and thus addressed Senator 
 ANTHONY: Gentlemen of the Congressional Committee, 
 
 o 
 
 the Legislature of Massachusetts has charged us with the 
 duty of waiting upon you and receiving the remains of 
 our beloved Senator. Permit me to conduct you and the 
 members of the Massachusetts delegation in Congress, 
 and the honored guests of the State to its Capitol, when 
 it shall please you to continue your journey. 
 
 Senator Anthony replied to the address of Hon. Mr. 
 Hayes, thanking the committee for the reception and 
 for the sympathy expressed, and their union in the dis 
 charge of the sad duty imposed upon them. 
 
 For many miles before reaching its destination the 
 cars seemed to be passing through walls of mourning 
 people, over which waved in sadness the draped national 
 emblem. As the evening shadows lengthened, and the 
 light of that long day was fading, the home of the great 
 departed was reached. 
 
 IV. 
 
 While the funeral train was threading the valleys of 
 Massachusetts, the people of Boston had flocked to 
 
526 PUBLIC MEETING IN FANEUIL HALL. 
 
 Faneuil Hall, that sacred shrine of Liberty, where the 
 heart of New England was to pour out its last plaint of 
 love and grief. The representative of the New York 
 Herald that everywhere present photographer of the 
 age thus describes the scene : 
 
 Never since the old Cradle of Liberty was dedicated to freedom lias 
 there been such a gathering within its portals. The persons making up 
 the vast concourse assembled seemed as if each had lost a dear 
 personal friend. Many of them had before sat in this old historic hall 
 to listen to his eloquent addresses, and now they were gathered to pay 
 a sad and feeling tribute to his memory. The interior of the venerable 
 building presented a solemn and funereal aspect, with its windows 
 curtained in black, shutting out the light of day, while its gas-jets 
 burned dimly along the edge of the balconies. The emblems of grief, 
 blended with the permanent memorials of the patriots of former days 
 and the statesmen of later days, imparted to the hall an air of subdued 
 mourning in consonance with the feelings of the community. The 
 historical rostrum was heavily draped with sombre folds and festoons, 
 as was the great painting of the scene in the Senate Chamber when the 
 Great Defender of the Constitution replied to the arrogant South 
 Carolinian. The facade of the galleries was neatly decorated with 
 festoons, caught up at the columns with black lappels with white 
 borders. Behind this extended another line of drapery in pure black, 
 and above it, at the tops of the gallery pillars, white and black festoons 
 alternated on either side of the hall. The cornice over the gallery 
 windows was similarly adorned. The clock, upon the front gallery, 
 was entirely hidden by a life-like portrait of Mr. Simmer, resting 
 beneath an arch bearing the name " Charles Sumner," and flanked 
 with tablets, upon which were inscribed the date of birth " February 
 6, 1811" and decease "March n, 1874." From the centre of the 
 ceiling radiated long strips of black and white bunting and four 
 American flags. Seats were arranged on either side of the platform 
 for the accommodation of the members of the city government and 
 others, and the galleries were reserved for ladies. All the rest of the 
 hall was clear and open to the general public. The doors were open 
 to the ladies at half-past ten o clock, at which hour several hundred, 
 who had been waiting upwards of an hour in the bleak wind without, 
 were admitted to the hall. The galleries were speedily filled, and 
 
HON. JAMES B. SMITH S SPEECH. 527 
 
 many who arrived late were disappointed in not finding seats. At half- 
 past eleven the guards which had been stationed at the approaches to 
 the hall were drawn in, and the general public admitted. In fifteen 
 minutes after the public were allowed to enter, every seat and every 
 available standing place in the hall were occupied, and a sea of 
 saddened upturned faces greeted the distinguished gentlemen who as 
 sembled on the platform. 
 
 V. 
 
 For hours the eloquence of Massachusetts, chastened 
 by the solemnity of the occasion, consecrated the scene. 
 Hon. Alex. H. Rice, Gen. N. P. Banks, Mr. Gaston, the 
 Democratic Mayor, Edward Everett Hale, Richard H. 
 Dana, and other eminent men spoke. But perhaps the 
 most affecting- words fell from the trembling lips of Hon. 
 Jas. B. Smith, member of the Legislature for Cam 
 bridge, the personal friend of Mr. SUMNER : 
 
 Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen : I would not appear before you to-day 
 to say a word, for I do not feel able to do it, and I can only say, Mas 
 sachusetts has lost a Senator, the United States has lost a statesman, 
 the world has lost a philanthropist, and I have lost a friend. 
 
 I would not trust myself out here before you to-day except but for 
 one reason. I shook Mr. Simmer s hand for the last time last Sunday 
 evening, at half-past eight o clock. He bade me say to the people of 
 Massachusetts, through their Legislature, this : "I thank them for re 
 moving that stain from me ; I thank those that voted for me. Tell 
 those that voted against me that I forgive them all, for I know if they 
 knew my heart they would not have done it. I knew Massachusetts 
 was brave, and wanted to show to the world that it was magnanimous, 
 too, and that was my reason for my action." 
 
 I have felt that the greatest tribute that I could pay to him for his 
 kindness to me was simply to drop a tear to his memory ; but our hon 
 ored Mayor was kind enough to bring me forth to show you the fruits 
 of his labor. 
 
 I can go back to the time when I sat under the eagle in this hall and 
 when I saw some one stand on this platform, and I did wish when I 
 
528 FEELING IN THE ASSEMBLY. 
 
 heard certain expressions that I could sink. I can go back to my boy. 
 hood, when I have seen other boys in their sports and plays, and I 
 would walk off in the woods and say, "Oh God, why was I born." 
 
 I can remember forty-five years ago, on a Christmas Day, passing 
 through the orchard and saw a silk-worm hanging to the leaf of a tree, 
 when my eyes turned up to my God, and I said, "Why am 1 here ?" 
 There hangs something out of the cold, but it will be a butterfly. I 
 took it home, hung it in the room, put it where it was warm, and it 
 hatched out before the atmosphere was prepared to receive it. I lifted 
 the window and it flew off, but had to return, as it could not stand the 
 atmosphere. And just so was I brought forth by the eloquence of 
 Charles Sumner, and I have been turned loose on the public atmos- 
 phera, for really I had to suffer intensely ; and I could only feel at 
 home and feel well when I turned back into his presence, and his arms 
 were always open to receive me. (Applause.) 
 
 And now, Mr. Mayor, our ship in which he has commanded is still 
 adrift. We are standing out now in the open sea, with a great storm, 
 and in behalf of those five millions of people of the United States, I 
 beg of you to give us a good man to take hold where he left off. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 We are not educated up to that point. We cannot speak for our 
 selves. We must depend upon others. We stand to-day like so many 
 little children, whose parents have passed away. W T e can weep, but we 
 don t understand it; we can weep, but we must beg of you to give us 
 a man who will still lead us forward until we shall have accompanied all 
 those thousands for which he offered his life. 
 
 Mr. Mayor, I thank you for this. I have appeared in Faneuil Hall 
 many times. If I was only able to, if I only had his tongue, if I could 
 only thank him for what he has done, but I cannot ; but such as I have 
 I give him. (Applause.) Mr. Mayor, I second the resolutions. 
 
 Of the letter read from Charles Francis Adams, the 
 Globe said : 
 
 Last, but not least, the tribute of such a conservative statesman 
 as Charles Francis Adams to the great qualities of his friend and asso 
 ciate of many years was worthy of the historic name he bears, and 
 makes us take fresh courage when we think of what virtues still dignify 
 the character and lives of some of our public men. Sumner lives again 
 in these eloquent words of recognition of his noble services and life, 
 
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS S LETTER. 52Q 
 
 and the memorial that is suggested in the resolutions will fitly supple 
 ment the monumental career that he has left for our example and guid 
 ance. This memorial will, we trust, preserve for many generations the 
 likeness of the great man whose mortal remains are, to-day, to be borne 
 through our streets and laid beneath the sods of Mount Auburn. 
 
 57 MOUNT VERNON STREET, March 13, 1874. 
 Richard H. Dana, Jr., Esq. : 
 
 MY DEAR MR. DANA I regret much that an engagement previously 
 made must prevent me from joining you in the proceedings in honor of 
 our late friend, contemplated to-morrow in Faneuil Hall. It would 
 have given me a mournful satisfaction to contribute my mite to the gen 
 eral testimony borne to his long and arduous labors in the country s 
 service, and more particularly to that portion of them with which you 
 and I were both most familiar. It is now nearly thirty years since we 
 became associated in the prosecution of one great reform in the polit 
 ical institutions of this country. It is more than twenty since Mr, 
 Sumner attained a position that enabled him the most fully to develop 
 his great powers to the attainment of that end. How much he exerted 
 himself during the early days of severe trial, and how deeply he suffered 
 in his own person as a penalty for his courageous persistence in de 
 nouncing wrong, the public know too well to need further illustration at 
 this time. Like most reformers, he possessed that species of ardor and 
 impetuosity which seems almost indispensable to rouse the sympathy 
 and secure the co-operation of the great and controlling masses of the 
 people of a republic, in the difficult work of changing settled convic 
 tions at the hazard of overturning cherished institutions. The trial was 
 a very costly one, we all admit, but when we look to see how it has 
 cleared us from the most threatening evils that weighed upon the minds 
 of the early founders of the Republic, we cannot be too thankful to 
 each and all of the intrepid band who took the lead in the work of reno 
 vation, and persistently carried it on to the glorious end. Among that 
 number the name of Charles Sumner must ever remain blazoned in the 
 most conspicuous characters. 
 
 To the attainment of this great end two qualities were indispensable 
 and both of these belonged to Mr. Sumner. One of them was firm 
 ness, which insured persistency over all obstacles. The second was 
 personal integrity, unassailable by any form of temptation, however 
 specious. After nearly a quarter of a century of trial there is not a 
 trace left of the power of any temptation, either in the form of pecuni- 
 34 
 
530 SENATOR ANTHONY DELIVERS THE BODY. 
 
 ary profit, or the much more dangerous one of management for place. 
 He was pure throughout and this was the crowning honor of his great 
 
 career. 
 
 I am very truly yours, 
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The train arrived at Boston at 7 o clock in the even 
 ing, where the Committee were received by Mayor 
 COBB, when the coffin was placed in a hearse drawn by 
 four horses, escorted by a mounted Guard of Honor 
 from the First Battalion, and followed by a long Hne of 
 carriages, and an immense procession, through Lincoln, 
 Sumner, Winter, Tremont, and Park streets, to the State 
 House. The bells of the city were all tolling, business 
 was suspended, and a deep gloom had settled over the 
 old town which had given birth to its illustrious but now 
 departed son. 
 
 The casket was slowly borne up the steps of the State 
 House, and deposited on a lofty catafalque. Forty of 
 the Shaw Guards, under Major LEWIS GAUL, were in 
 charge of Doric Hall, where the catafalque had been 
 placed. Following the casket, came the mourners, 
 headed by Col. W. B. STOKER, who introduced Senator 
 ANTHONY to Gov. WASHBURN, when the Senator uttered 
 these grand, but chaste and appropriate words : 
 
 May it please your Excellency, We are commanded by the Senate 
 of the United States to render back to you your illustrious dead. 
 Nearly a quarter of a century ago you dedicated to the public service a 
 man who was even then greatly distinguished. He remained in it, 
 quickening its patriotism, informing its councils, and leading in its 
 deliberations, until, having survived in continuous service all his original 
 associates, he has closed his earthly career. With reverent hands we 
 bring to you his mortal part, that it may be committed to the soil of 
 the State, already renowned, that gave him birth. Take it ; it is yours. 
 
FROM HIS RESIDENCE TO THE CAPITOL. 
 
SATURDAY NIGHT OF SILENCE AND GLOOM. 531 
 
 The part which we do not return to you is not wholly yours to receive, 
 nor altogether ours to give. It belongs to the country, to mankind, to 
 freedom, to civilization, to humanity. We come to you with emblems 
 of mourning which faintly typify the sorrow that dwells in the breasts 
 upon which they lie. So much is due to the infirmity of human nature. 
 But, in the view of reason and philosophy, is it not rather a matter of 
 exultation, that a life so pure in its personal qualities, so high in its 
 public aims, so fortunate in the fruition of noble effort, has closed 
 safely before age had marred its intellectual vigor, before time had 
 dimmed the lustre of its genius ! 
 
 May it please your Excellency, Our mission is completed. We 
 commit to you the body of Charles Simmer. His undying fame the 
 muse of history has already taken in her keeping. 
 
 The Governor tendered to the Committee the thanks 
 of the Commonwealth for the tender care of the precious^ 
 dust of its Representative, assuring them that it should 
 ever be cherished by Massachusetts as among its most 
 precious treasures. The hospitalities of the Common 
 wealth were then extended to the Congressional Com 
 mittee, who were escorted to the Revere House. The 
 crowd then retired from the State House, the iron gates 
 were closed, and the Capitol of Massachusetts was left 
 to a night of silence and gloom. 
 
 VII. 
 
 From the columns of the American Traveler, which 
 among all the able journals of Boston, gave dignified 
 and touching descriptions of the scenes, we transfer the 
 following : 
 
 From nine o clock Sunday morning until a very late hour in the after 
 noon, there were at no time less than five thousand people in Beacon 
 Street, opposite the State House. The iron gates, guarded by State and 
 city police, were thrown open at fifteen minutes past nine, and from 
 that hour until noon, a constant stream passed through the State House, 
 
532 DECORATIONS OF DORIC HALL. 
 
 finding exit at the door on Mount Vernon Street. The total number 
 was at least thirty-five thousand. Doric Hall has been beautifully de 
 corated. Around the cornices are festoons of black and white cloth ; 
 each festoon is looped up with a rosette, with pendent drapery. Over 
 the centre entrance and over the arches of the windows are heavy drap 
 eries, and the alcoves on each side of them are hung with black, hand 
 somely looped. In the rear of the hall, over the niche where the statue 
 of Washington stood, are black cloth curtains, looped up from the centre, 
 relieved by a little white at the top, and in front of this a shield with 
 Mr. Stunner s monogram. On each side of these curtains and next the 
 cannons are three national flags draped. The bases of the columns in 
 the hall are draped with black, as are the tops from the door to the rear 
 of the hall. The catafalque is covered with black cloth and draped with 
 black alpaca with white fringe, the festoons looped up with large black 
 and white rosettes. Mr. Simmer s monogram is placed at the end of 
 the structure next to the entrance door, sides and ends are festoons of 
 s*milax, and along the upper edge are fixed at intervals calla lilies, the 
 blossoms filled with violets, and surrounded with begonia leaves and 
 ferns. The top of the dais is strewn with a variety of choice flowers, 
 including roses, violets, and carnations. At the head of the casket, and 
 resting upon the catafalque, stands a magnificent cross seven feet high, 
 formed of calla blossoms and leaves of the calla plant, carnations, vio 
 lets, spiral japonicas, azaleas, and stock gilley. The foot of the cross is 
 fixed to a pedestal covered with begonia rex and calladicus marantas. 
 At the foot of the casket and rising from the marble floor stands a column 
 of flowers emblematical of an incomplete life. This is six feet high, and 
 is formed of flowers and leaves similar to those composing the cross. 
 Upon the top of the broken shaft, which is thickly studded with roses, 
 rests a pall of violets, and the base is covered with a collection of choice 
 foliage and exotics. At the foot and on one side of the casket stands 
 an upright anchor of roses and violets, the cable of which, formed of 
 smilax and violets, extends along the upper edge and forms the dressing 
 of the casket. This is shaded with roses and pinks. On the other side 
 is a broken lyre, the strings of which are formed of violets. In the centre 
 of one side of the casket is placed a mound of rich blossoms and on the 
 other a basket of flowers, while at the upper corners of the catafalque 
 stand two small crosses. Festoons of smilax, caught up at the handles, 
 and sago palms form the decoration of the sides of the casket, on the 
 top of which rests a large bouquet of callas and other choice flowers ; 
 and also a large floral heart, the offering of colored citizens of Boston, 
 
THE BODY LYING IN STATE IN DORIC HALL, 
 
CHASTE SIMPLICITY OF BOSTON S TRIBUTES. 533 
 
 with the following inscription : " From the colored citizens of Boston. 
 Charles Simmer, you gave us your life, we give you our (hearts)." A 
 still larger floral design, the gift of a club of the friends of Mr. Simmer 
 in Brooklyn, is placed on the top of the dais facing the main entrance 
 to Doric Hall, and bears the following inscription wrought in violets 
 upon a bed of white carnations : " DON T LET THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL 
 FAIL." Above the catafalque is suspended a crown of glory, beneath 
 which floats a white dove in full flight, holding in its beak an olive 
 branch. In front of the alcove in which stands the statue of Washing 
 ton, are placed three pots of dutzia graccilis in full bloom, and in front 
 of the alcove containing the marble bust of Mr. Sumner is displayed a 
 large design in carnations, immortelles, and violets, with which latter 
 blossom was wrought the motto of the deceased statesman, " EQUAL 
 RIGHTS TO ALL." 
 
 The funeral obsequies were conducted with that 
 chaste simplicity which always characterizes whatever 
 tokens of respect that venerable city pays, as she has had 
 such frequent occasions, to her many illustrious sons. A 
 few moments before the doors were shut, Mr. GEORGE 
 SEXXAT placed on the beautiful monument of flowers at 
 the foot of the casket, the following epitaph : 
 
 Humanitas Justitiaque 
 Maerent Et Maerebunt 
 
 Te 
 
 Sumner Justitue Cultor Eximius 
 Justitia Ob Vitam Purissima 
 
 Inter Sordiores 
 Humanitas Ut Tibi Nusquam 
 
 Aliena 
 
 Tu Fine Labor um 
 Immortalis Initio 
 
 Gaudeas 
 
 Tali Morte 
 
 Tale Superstite Nullo 
 
 Felix Faustus Fortunatus 
 
 Gloria Resurgens 
 
 Ave. 
 
534 CEREMONIES AT KING S CHAPEL. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 The following may be given as a nearly literal translation : 
 
 Humanity and Justice 
 Mourn and will mourn 
 
 Thee, 
 O Simmer, most renowned Fosterer 
 
 of Justice I 
 Justice, on account of thy most pure life 
 
 Among the base ; 
 
 Humanity, in that she never was a stranger to Thee. 
 Thou rejoicest in the end of labors and the beginning of Immortality. 
 
 O Happy, Blessed, and Fortunate One, 
 
 In such a Death that none like Thee remains. 
 
 Rising to Glory, 
 
 Hail! 
 
 VIII. 
 
 At half-past two, the procession moved to King s 
 Chapel. On entering, preceding the Mayor were four 
 men who bore a massive cross nine feet in height, com 
 posed of calla lilies, camellias, lilies of the valley, violets 
 and other exotics. At the base, in a bed of white violets, 
 were the words : "A tribute from his native city and 
 home." 
 
 Impressive ceremonies were held. After the response 
 from the choir, at the close of the special invocation 
 " Almighty and ever-living God, we fly to Thee as our 
 eternal refuge ; we rest ourselves upon Thee, the Rock 
 of ages," etc. they sang MONTGOMERY S hymn, " Servant 
 of God, well done." The benediction followed, and 
 the services closed with the playing of the funeral march 
 of MENDELSSOHN as the assemblage moved slowly from 
 the church. Of the grand procession to Mount Auburn, 
 the Daily Globe said : 
 
THE PROCESSION TO MOUNT AUBURN. 535 
 
 The absence of any great military or civic display would ha\ e im 
 pressed an intelligent foreigner as a strange thing in a funeral ceremony 
 of a great public character. What there was of these, however, was 
 eminently appropriate for the obsequies of the great Senator whose ef 
 forts in the cause of peace were so well supplemented by his conflicts 
 for the equality of human rights. The chiefs of the State in present 
 and in former years, the men most eminent in its councils, and those 
 who stand highest in intellect and culture, bore the pall of the most 
 illustrious representative whom Massachusetts for many years lias had 
 in the assembly of the nation. Behind them came the representatives 
 of the dusk) 7 race, for whom Charles Sumner battled and suffered, and 
 in whose cause he laid down his life. No gorgeous display of military 
 pomp and pride, such as signalized -the obsequies of Napoleon, or 
 Wellington, or Nelson, could have had a tithe of the significance of the 
 presence of these representatives of an enfranchised race, mourning 
 the loss of their friend and benefactor. 
 
 As the procession passed from the capitol, in whose Doric Hall, hung 
 with the torn and tattered flags of the conflict in which he was a mar 
 tyr, the great Senator laid in state on his return to deliver up the trust 
 confided to him by his beloved Commonwealth, there were sad yet 
 glorious memories of how nobly his life-work had been performed. 
 The old stone chapel, with its associations of colonial days, received, 
 with fitting tribute of honor and love, the mortal remains of a kinglier 
 nature than any with which its historic walls were ever associated, and 
 the dirge of the band without, seemed the echo to the waiting populace 
 of the solemn music that pealed through the venerable edifice. Fit 
 ting in their impressive simplicity were these funeral services, and when 
 the tolling bells throughout the city heralded the passage of the pro 
 cession to Mount Auburn, there was a sad significance suggested by 
 the places through which it passed. By the fairest and the stateliest 
 abodes of the city of his birth, whose social and intellectual attractions 
 were, though so highly prized, less to him than the rights of the hum 
 blest negro ; past the cherished scenes of his collegiate life and legal 
 study, where he laid the foundations of the scholarship and culture 
 which adorned his later life, the mortal remains of Charles Surnner 
 were borne. His dear alma mater, for whom he had a scholar s affec 
 tion and a filial love, may well have sighed as all that was mortal of her 
 favorite son passed by her to the tomb. In the shades of Mount Au 
 burn, he sleeps well ; his earthly work all done, his meniory a precious 
 legacy to the people of the city of his birth, to the State, the nation 
 
53^ LAST SCENES AT THE GRAVE. 
 
 and the world, and his example a needed stimulus to carry on the work 
 which he so worthily began. 
 
 IX. 
 
 The cortege reached the SUMNER burial lot just as the 
 sun was going" clown. Reverently and by tender hands 
 the casket was placed by the side of the grave. At the 
 foot stood RALPH WALDO EMERSON, Dr. HOLMES, and 
 Vice- President WILSON, and around them gathered the 
 members of the Washington delegation. At the head, 
 was a beautiful cross of ivy, and sheaves of ripened 
 wheat, with spring violets. Outside the reserved space, 
 were clustered thousands who had orathered to witness 
 
 o 
 
 this scene of worship and love. All stood bowed and 
 uncovered when the brief services began. After Chap 
 lain SUNDERLAND had recited the Lord s Prayer, a choir 
 of forty gentlemen from the Apollo Club sang that in 
 imitable ode of Horace, Integer vitce. While this solemn 
 music was rising, two ladies, the only mourners of their 
 sex within the enclosure, stepped forward and placed 
 upon the coffin, already laden with floral tributes of 
 rarest beauty, an exquisite wreath, and a cross. * 
 
 Rev. HENRY W. FOOTE pronounced the words, " I 
 heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me, Write : 
 From henceforth blessed are the dead who die in the 
 Lord, for so saith the Spirit. They have rested from 
 their labors, and their works do follow them." And as 
 the dust began to fall upon all there was mortal left of 
 
 * A request was received from Mrs. Hastings, Mr. Sumner s sister in San Fran 
 cisco, asking Miss Maud Howe, daughter of Dr. S. G. Howe, to have prepared for 
 her a wreath and cross, the description of which was fully given, which she wished to 
 have placed on the Senator s coffin previously to burial. The order was tenderly exe 
 cuted at the grave in Mount Auburn. 
 
MOUNT AUBURN. 
 
TRIBUTES FROM THE BOSTON PULPIT. 537 
 
 the great sleeper, the bereaved multitude slowly left the 
 City of the Dead. The ashes of the Statesman had at 
 last found their congenial resting-place, by the side of 
 those of his beloved mother. 
 
 X. 
 
 The following day was the New England Sabbath, 
 and it dawned without a cloud. All things betokened the 
 coming spring. " In every sheltered place," said the 
 Post, " the grass was springing fresh and green, and 
 the birds piped merry melodies from the limbs of the 
 budding trees. The face of nature was gay, but many 
 sad hearts were abroad, and thousands as they slowly 
 made their way to the various places of worship, thought 
 of departed worth and genius rather than of the glories 
 of the natural world. In almost every pulpit of the 
 city, words were spoken in eulogy of Mr. Sumner." 
 
 This volume could not contain them all. The pulpit 
 of the Church of the Disciples was tastefully draped in 
 purple in this case, more than royal mourning, and 
 on the table stood a bust of SUMNER. Not venturing to 
 speak at length, the address of the pastor, JAMES FREE 
 MAN CLARKE, was read. From it we take a few pas 
 
 sages : 
 
 The friends who have fought by his side during long years when 
 success seemed hopeless, whose little barques have sailed attendant 
 on his and partaken the same gales ; younger men who have chosen 
 him for their leader, and amid the thick of battle pressed on where they 
 saw his white plume waving, now clasp hands in silent sympathy. The 
 colored people, whose hearts are always right, though their heads are 
 often wrong, now recognize in him the best friend their race have ever 
 had ; a friend who with his dying breath still besought that equal rights 
 might be given them. Massachusetts, disgraced by an unauthorized 
 act of one of her Legislatures, hastened to right the wrong where it was 
 
538 JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE S DISCOURSE. 
 
 given, and happily her voice reached him in the Senate Chamber before 
 he left it forever. Even those who opposed him now hasten to revise 
 their opinions and float in the great current of sympathy. The Ameri 
 can people admire smart people, but this event has shown that Charles 
 Simmer is loved. So it was shown that the people loved Abraham 
 Lincoln and John A. Andrew, and they were men of the same type of 
 honesty, sincerity, and conscience. 
 
 He was unpopular from first to last. He loved peace with all his 
 heart, but was always in war. He loved approbation, but never bought 
 it. He loved the good-will of men, but was obliged to relinquish it. 
 He loved sunshine, but had to live in storms. His fidelity to principle 
 cost him dearly. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln and Simmer were always friends. Difference of 
 opinion never estranged them. Many disliked Sumner because he 
 always kept himself on that upper level of principle. The air was not 
 suited for them to breathe. He would not come down to the more com 
 fortable platform of party expediency. When a man dies whose virtues 
 have created hostility there often comes a singular reaction. It was the 
 case with Lincoln when the nation was weeping " in the passion of an 
 angry grief," and so it is with Charles Sumner. Death removing him 
 from our outward eye enables us to see him inwardly and truly. Thus 
 we have looked at a mountain and only seen the creeping mists and 
 clouds which concealed it. So when the west wind moved the air the 
 vapors suddenly were dispersed and the pure snowy summits came out 
 in sharp outline against the blue sky. Death does the office of that 
 cold wind. After the earthquake and fire and whirlwind of passionate 
 and godless strife have passed, death comes and the Lord speaks in that 
 still small voice. 
 
 When any important subject came up, Sumner, being a statesman 
 and not a mere politician, always studied it in the light of history and 
 political science, without reference to party interests. He sought to 
 declare the truth. The country is in peril to-day because there are so 
 few statesmen in public life. He believed in men and his life was 
 devoted to the service of his fellow-men, high and low, rich and poor, 
 white and black. In him man was sacred. During all the long contest 
 wiih slavery his voice was heard like a trumpet appealing for the rights 
 of man. He stood conspicuous in the nation s eye, a young Apollo " In 
 silent majesty of stern disdain," and dreadful was the clangor of his sil 
 ver bow as he shot his arrows thick and fast into the sophisms used by 
 the slave-holders and their allies. When they could not reply by argu 
 
THE BLOODY COAT.. CAPT. JOHN BROWN. 539 
 
 ment they silenced him with murderous blows, but Simmer did as much 
 for the cause of freedom by his suffering as he had done by his speech. 
 When the news reached Boston of that assault, a meeting was hastily 
 called. The men who ought to have spoken were absent, and, said Mr. 
 Clarke, I remember with some pleasure that I had the opportunity of 
 speaking first in Boston against that cowardly, brutal, and murderous 
 assault. But many a man who did not raise his voice in public at that 
 time took a vow of hostility in his heart against the institution which 
 prompted that assassination. 
 
 Once, while Mr. Sumner was here in Boston, still suffering from 
 those injuries, I called at his house in Hancock Street. He was resting 
 in an easy-chair, and with him were three gentlemen. He introduced 
 them to me, one as Captain John Brown, of Ossawattamie. They were 
 speaking of this assault by Preston Brooks, and Mr. Sumner remarked : 
 "The coat I had on at that time is in that closet. The collar is stiff 
 with blood. You can see it if you please." Captain John Brown arose, 
 went to the closet, slowly opened the door, carefully took down the 
 coat and looked at it for a few moments with the reverence with which 
 a Roman Catholic regards the relics of a saint. Perhaps the sight 
 caused him to feel a still deeper horror of slavery, and to take a stronger 
 resolution of attacking it in its strongholds. So the blood of martyrs is 
 the seed of the Church. 
 
 Allusion was made to the encouragement that Mr. Sumner took when 
 discouraged and unhappy from the fear that his work was done forever 
 after the assault, by reading certain lines of Milton, of which he was 
 very fond. Milton still lives in his great example, and so does Sumner. 
 Milton stood by the side of Sumner in that dark hour, and so shall Sum 
 ner inspire and awaken other souls centuries hence, so that they in turn 
 can say, " I have fought the good fight ; I have finished my course ; I 
 have kept the faith." He then spoke of Mr. Sumner s visit to a Wednes 
 day evening meeting at this church, and how his heart went out to the 
 young people there, and what a happy evening it was. Nothing could 
 be more modest, genial and friendly than were his words and conversa 
 tion at that time. A happy smile was on his face all the evening, and I 
 could not but fancy that he felt more at home among those youthful 
 admirers than in the Senate chamber or among his political associates. 
 It is a pleasant memory to carry in our hearts. 
 
 Few of the ten thousand pulpits of New England but 
 paid tributes to the virtues of the deceased Statesman. 
 
540 THE REPUBLIC IN MOURNING. 
 
 XI. 
 
 It were vain to attempt any adequate description of 
 the tokens of respect and sorrow which were displayed 
 throughout the country. The funeral bells went tolling 
 with the sun in its circuit, from noon-day on the Atlantic 
 to the noon-day of the Pacific, the two oceans bounda 
 ries of a continent stricken by a common grief. 
 
 Memorial meetings were held in every State and 
 Territory of the Union ; everywhere, Morse s lightning 
 had made it a funeral-day in America. 
 
 A hundred thousand flags drooped to his memory : 
 he was the theme of eulogy in ten thousand Universities, 
 and schools of learning : his praises were uttered over 
 countless work-benches, and among diversified scenes of 
 honest toil : the plough halted in the furrow of a million 
 upturning fields : the incense of prayer for the repose 
 of his gentle spirit, witnessed only by guardian angels, 
 went up from myriads of closets : his pictures were 
 wreathed in mourning in the humble cabins of innume 
 rable homes of his dusky worshippers : -young mothers 
 pressed his name on the foreheads of new-born babes : 
 the news of his death cast a shadow over many a 
 bridal morning, and folded the wings of love around many 
 a scene of enchantment : the old sank tremblingly into 
 their easy-chairs, as they heaved one of their latest sighs 
 to his cherished memory ; and the dying, with the last 
 praises of earth, thanked the God of Liberty that its 
 great champion had lived. And so, from the frozen 
 gates of our Republic on the North, where the brooks 
 had not yet begun to murmur, down to meet the blush 
 ing spring in its coming, till it reached the orange -groves 
 of Florida, one wave of sorrow swept its gentle way : 
 
HIS WORK WAS COMPLETE. 541 
 
 while under the oceans, the sad news was flashing- to 
 distant nations. There was not a clime where the tribute 
 of tears was not paid to him. It was one of those few 
 funeral days in which the obsequies of a great philan 
 thropist were held within twenty-four hours, all round 
 the globe. He was the friend of Humanity, and Hu 
 manity wept when he was no more. 
 
 XII. 
 
 But the deepest grief was in the hearts of the children 
 of Africa, for whose redemption he had lived and died. 
 Never again were they to have such a friend ; and, 
 blessed be God ! the day had gone by when they would 
 ever need another like him. 
 
 It w r as, then, after all, a vain and needless regret of 
 SUMNER, in his last hours, that his WORK was not done. 
 It was done. The immolation was perfected HIS WORK 
 
 WAS COMPLETE.* 
 
 A few brief passages more must be entwined into the 
 final wreath we lay over his ashes. 
 
 The Boston Daily Advertiser draws the parallel 
 between the American Senator and Edmund Burke. 
 
 Mr. Simmer will hold some such place in history as that which 
 belongs to Edmund Burke, who is as well known to our times, though 
 he has been in his grave almost fourscore years, as he was to his con 
 temporaries, and there is every reason for supposing that he will be 
 just as well known in future centuries as he is known to the nineteenth 
 century. Burke was in Parliament about twenty-eight years. He held 
 office and never high office only about a year. He belonged to the 
 opposition throughout most of his public life. He was never popular 
 in the House of Commons. Often he spoke to empty benches, and 
 
 * It is most earnestly to be hoped that before it be too late, some one qualified 
 for the labor shall have commenced the collection of TRIBUTES PAID TO CHARLES 
 SUMNER by the Pulpit, the Press, the Memorial Meetings, and by individuals every 
 where. With the exception of LINCOLN S, such a collection would be unrivalled in 
 magnitude and veneration by any that could have been^made for any other man who 
 has in our times lived on this continent, perhaps in the world. 
 
542 CHARLES SUMNER AND EDMUND BURKE. 
 
 not imfrequently to the most hostile of hearers. He became, under the 
 workings of poverty and illness, of disappointments and insults, one of 
 the most irritable of mankind. He indulged in savage language on 
 occasions that even the most factious and fractious of men ordinarily 
 have allowed to control their imaginations and to bridle their tongues. 
 He was, for most of his public life, positively odious to the majority of 
 the English people. Yet he was the ablest man of his time, and made 
 the ablest speeches that ever were heard in the British Parliament. 
 His original legislation was small, nor does any great statute owe its 
 existence to him. But he connected himself and his history by the 
 most indissoluble of ties with a number of the greatest subjects that ever 
 were discussed and debated by man : with the contest between England 
 and her American Colonies ; with Catholic Emancipation ; with the 
 Trial of Warren Hastings, and generally with all East Indian affairs ; 
 with the French Revolution, and with other matters ; and the dozen 
 volumes which contain his writings and speeches belong to the very 
 first rank of British political and historical literature, and they are read 
 by every man who aspires to understand history and politics. Mr. 
 Simmer, like Burke, often was in opposition ; like Burke, he would not 
 be governed by his party when he thought that party was in the wrong ; 
 like Burke, his sympathies were with the oppressed, and he would labor 
 hard for men whom he never could expect to see, and many of whom 
 never could hear of him ; and, like Burke, his works make his best 
 monument, and are integral parts of the history of his country and his 
 age. Finally, as he resembled Burke in the character of his labors, and 
 in his readiness to be the champion of the wronged and the oppressed, 
 so will he resemble him in the circumstance that his fame will be the 
 greater as it is removed from the mists of contemporary calumny and 
 detraction ; and the true proportions of his character will stand out 
 clearly before men when " the dead grow visible from the shades of 
 time." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Among" the most eloquent of tributes from the pulpit 
 was the one which fell from Rev. Dr. E. H. CIIAPIX, 
 whose lips when speaking in behalf of humanity always 
 seem to be touched with a live coal from the celestial 
 altar. We caught but a single flaming passage : 
 
 That man, the announcement of whose death has come upon us so 
 suddenly, and which has startled us like the vanishing of some conspi- 
 
TRIBUTES BY CHAPIN AND FROTHINGHAM. 543 
 
 cuous landmark, with the associations of the most exciting period of 
 our national history clinging around it, was one in whom large gifts and 
 rich acquirements were fused into the condensed energy and solid 
 splendor of moral purpose. He has died in his harness, with the dents 
 of many conflicts upon his shield, and the serene light of victory on his 
 crest. But while among the great men who have fallen so thickly 
 around us, there may have been those who matched him in ability, and 
 excelled him in genius, we must look far and wide through our land, 
 and through our age, to find any who have equalled him in this loyalty 
 of conviction, this sublime tenacity of righteousness. For this, as he 
 lies to-day in the Capitol of his grand old State, he is mourned and 
 honored. For this, to-morrow, the overshadowing regret of a nation, 
 and the tears of an emancipated race, will follow to the grave of 
 CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 Rev. O. B. FROTHINGHAM the author of that noble 
 Biography of a noble life Theodore Parker s : 
 
 Charles Sumner was a statesman who knew what statesmanship was 
 meant for. He kept before him all the time the idea of the State. He 
 did not wish to put his hand into the treasury ; he did not seek or ask 
 to be sent to the Senate because he might have an independent for 
 tune, for the reputation of a public man, complimented and flattered by 
 his countrymen. He felt himself a servant of the public. He was a 
 man who carried his consciousness so far that he seemed to be vision 
 ary, a man who so perpetually clung to the ideal that men said he was 
 a man of one idea. He was. He believed in God in government. 
 He sometimes erred; of course he did ; he was a man. He cherished 
 a profound and personal interest in the ideal of law, the ideal of govern 
 ment, and worked to bring about the time, if it ever could be brought 
 about, when war should cease and slavery of all kinds be done away 
 and the different conditions of men equalized, and justice, simple jus 
 tice, should be done to the smallest man, the meanest man and woman 
 in the land, and that these privileges should be extended over all the 
 earth. That was Charles Sumner. He was a man who had the heart 
 of a little child, but it was the heart of a little child of God. 
 
 Rev. THEODORE L. CUYLER 
 
 Some of the most soul-stirring eloquence of this generation came 
 from the lips of Charles Sumner. His utterances commanded a willing 
 ear in two hemispheres. He must be regarded as the impersonation of 
 patriotism. No soldier ever gave his life more willingly, nor did his 
 
544 THE MIRACLE OF THE SLAVE PICTURE. 
 
 country more service than did Charles Sumner. His incorruptibility 
 was never impeached. No one ever dared offer him a bribe. He was 
 always on the side of justice, and did not care what the consequences 
 might be ; to give the largest freedom to every man of every color was 
 the polar star on Charles Sumner s horizon which never set. The type 
 of manhood of which Charles Sumner was a representative, is growing 
 scarcer every year. When his body was taken from the Senate cham 
 ber last Friday he did not leave his peer behind him. He stood pre 
 eminent as a scholar, as a statesman, and in general culture. He was 
 a fine model for our American youth to emulate. He was a splendid 
 example for the advancement of those principles which make true 
 patriots. 
 
 The genial Washington correspondent of Mr. Beech- 
 er s Christian Union 
 
 This house of his was as wonderful and as curious as the man him 
 self. It was so crow r ded with all things rare and beautiful, and so many 
 of them bore on their faces or carried in their hands a story they seemed 
 longing to tell, that he must have little of feeling or culture who did not 
 find the very walls an inspiration. Over the mantel in his dining-room, 
 hung the painting he has singled out from the rest and willed to his 
 friend, Mr. Smith, of Boston. It is called " The Miracle of the Slave." 
 Mr. Simmer s ow r n words, as nearly as I can remember them, will tell 
 its story better than I can. Said he, at a breakfast party one morning, 
 " I suppose that picture, or its original, did more than any one thing 
 toward my first election. I saw it first on my first trip to Europe, but 
 it made no great impression on me. Still the picture remained in my 
 mind, though I thought no more about it. When I w r as a candidate for 
 the Senate, they wanted me to speak in Faneuil Hall, and at last they 
 persuaded me to. It was at the time of the Fugitive Slave excitement 
 in Boston, and while I was speaking I remembered that picture. So I 
 said to the audience : There is in Venice a picture of a slave brought 
 before the judge to be remanded to his owner. On the one side are the 
 soldiers who have brought him there, on the other the men from whom he 
 has fled. Just as the judge is about to give him back to their tyranny, 
 St. Mark appears from the heavens and strikes off the fetters from the 
 hands and feet of the trembling man. So, if ever Massachusetts 
 remands to his master a slave who has sought protection in her borders, 
 I pray God that the holy angels may themselves appear and strike the 
 fetters from his hands and feet. The next time I went to Venice, in 
 rummaging around the print-shops, I found this picture, and was told 
 
HIS CHARACTER BY BEECHER. 545 
 
 that it was either a very old copy, or possibly the original sketch from 
 which Tintoretto painted the larger picture. I determined to have it at 
 any price, and before I left the shop it belonged to me." 
 
 And of him Mr. BEECHER himself said, in one of his 
 glowing discourses 
 
 The greatest gift of God to a nation is upright men for magistrates, 
 statesmen, and rulers. That republic is poor, although every wind may 
 waft to it the richest stores, that is not governed by noble men. Signs 
 of Government decay show themselves sooner than anywhere else in 
 the men who govern. When rulers seek the furtherance of their own 
 ends, when laws and the whole framework of Government are only so 
 many instruments of wrong, the nation cannot be far from decadence. 
 
 Simmer s love of justice and truth made him essentially a Democrat. 
 Personally, he was not one, but he became one in the times in which he 
 lived. By the force of circumstances he became the leader of his party. 
 He came forward at the time when Webster, Choate, and Holt were the 
 heroes in Massachusetts, when it was almost worth a man s life to say 
 a word against any of them. Now, how is it ? By nature Sumner was 
 endowed with a manly person, of an admirable cast of mind ; yet he 
 was a made-up man. He fell lately from the blow he received in his 
 earlier career, and neither Brown nor Lincoln was a greater martyr for 
 liberty than Charles Simmer. How beautiful to die so ! The club that 
 struck him was better than knighting him. It brought him to honor 
 and immortality. No son possesses his name. No child shall carry it 
 down to posterity. He is cut off from that. But the State of Massa 
 chusetts shall carve his name so deep that no hand can rub it out. No 
 son or daughter wept at his bier, but down a million dusky cheeks the 
 tears stream ; and they feel that a father and protector has gone from 
 among them, and I would rather have the honor of the smitten than the 
 honor of the high. He joined himself to the best things of his time, and 
 now he is with God. Nothing can speak better for his principles than 
 the fact that corrupt men dared not approach him. He made this re 
 mark to me once : " People think Washington such a corrupt place, 
 but I don t believe a word of it; I have lived here a long time, and I 
 have never seen any of it ! " And he never did. His was not a bellig 
 erent statesmanship. He was an advocate for peace, although he de 
 manded justice. Everywhere his views were against violence, and his 
 preference for peace based upon justice, and for the defence of the poor 
 and the needy. He was a statesman, indeed, and the more to be hon 
 ored because his tastes did not lead him to the common people. His 
 35 
 
54-6 TRIBUTES BY PUTNAM AND TALMAGE. 
 
 was an example of personal integrity, much misunderstood partly from 
 his own fault, and partly from circumstances. All the gathered treasures 
 of ages were his, and these he employed to build better huts for the 
 lowly. No man has surpassed him in his service to the poor and the 
 needy. When any disability has been removed, every poor and honest 
 man will be made to participate in the bounty he gave his life to 
 preserve. 
 
 Rev. A. P. PUTNAM 
 
 His only feeling toward those who had wronged him was that of for 
 giveness and pity ; his noble effort at extending the olive branch of peace 
 by proposing in Congress that the names of battles with fellow-citizens 
 should not be continued on the Army Register, or placed on the regi 
 mental colors of the United States, "perhaps," said the speaker, "the 
 purest and most beautiful act which Mr. Su inner ever performed, and 
 one which will be more and more remembered to his honor and glory 
 in all the hereafter. Massachusetts and the vote of censure regarding 
 the measure was here touched upon in the following words : " Dear 
 Old Massachusetts ! how could she have been betrayed into conduct 
 like that ? Bitterly indeed will she rue the day when she discarded her 
 chivalrous leader of. years ago, and sold herself to one who really never 
 knew her or loved, and who now, from his exalted seat of power and 
 patronage, rewards her devotion by appointments which are an insult, 
 and by tyranny which a free people will not long bear. The State will 
 yet right itself. Her heart has soundness in it still, and in that better 
 time which is to come, she will revere Charles Sumner as the noblest 
 of all her sons. 
 
 Rev. T. DE WITT TALMAGE 
 
 We have never had a better lesson concerning the hollowness and 
 uncertainty of worldly honors than we have had in the life and death of 
 Charles Sumner. Now the land uncovers its head as a silent body goes 
 through to its burial-place. Independence Hall is offered for the 
 reception of the remains. The flags are at half-mast. Funeral 
 eulogiums are sounded through the land, and the minute guns on 
 Boston Common throb, now that his heart has ceased to beat. But 
 while he lived, how pursued he was ; how maltreated, how censured by 
 legislative resolutions, how caricatured in the pictorials, how charged 
 with every ambitious and impure motive ! his domestic life assailed, 
 and all the urns of scorn, and hatred, and billingsgate and falsehood 
 emptied on his head ! And when Brooks club struck him down in 
 the Senate Chamber, there were hundreds of thousands to cry, " Good 
 
DISCOURSES BY HAZEN AND MACARTHUR. 547 
 
 for him served him right ! " When the speaker saw such a man as 
 Charles Sumner, pursued for a lifetime by all the hounds of the 
 political kennels, buried under a mountain of flowers and amid a great 
 national requiem, he saw what a hypocritical thing was human favor ! 
 We take a quarter of a century in trying to pull down his fame, and the 
 next quarter of a century in attempting to build his monument. Either 
 we were wrong then, or are wrong now. 
 
 Rev. E. O. HAZEN 
 
 In culture and in acquaintance with the works of the past and with 
 the men of the past he stood, perhaps, without a peer in this country ; 
 but his great characteristic was fidelity to what he believed to be right. 
 Early he came to the conclusion that his great nation possessed a pure, 
 healthy constitution, and that the greatest evil under which the nation 
 suffered was exceptional ; that it was not an integral part of our 
 political economy, and that properly worked, our nation could cast out 
 that evil without a revolution and without any radical change in its 
 organic character ; and he resolved that his life should be devoted to 
 that work ; and he was successful. Had there not been some men to 
 do the work of Charles Sumner, there never would have been the call 
 for such a man as Abraham Lincoln, and never would this great work 
 have been wrought out. Though he was not seemingly endowed with 
 that wondrous, strange, magnetic power that calls out the love of 
 individuals for himself in an extraordinary degree, he will be followed 
 to his grave especially with the tears of that race which he was the 
 instrument in the hands of God so greatly of blessing. 
 
 Rev. Dr. MACARTHUR, Colored Baptist Church, New 
 York- 
 
 We shall not again see another Sumner in our halls of legislation. 
 The school to which he belonged is a thing of the past. We have men 
 now of a narrower gauge, a lower tone and a feebler grasp ; men who 
 may be sharp and shrewd, but who certainly are not broad, compre 
 hensive and scholarly. The princely form of the great Senator we shall 
 see no more ; the fine, full, melodious voice is silent forever. One 
 day he is in his place, a leader and king among men ; the next day he 
 is numbered among the dead. One day Canon Kingsley speaks loving 
 words with him in Washington ; the next evening Canon Kingsley in 
 Brooklyn speaks loving words of him, and mourns him dead. He has 
 fallen crowned with honor an apostle of liberty a martyr of freedom. 
 
548 THE LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL. 
 
 The spirit of barbarism and slavery struck him down 18 years ago. He 
 never fully recovered. 
 
 There is, too, among some of us, a sort of idea, that, to be a great 
 man, one must have been poor, ignorant and somewhat coarse. We 
 rejoice that the genius of our Government is such that men coming 
 from the lowest place, may go to the highest ; but we must not forget 
 that poverty and ignorance are a great drawback, and that when men 
 rise from these conditions, they rise in spite of these hindrances, and 
 not because of them. Mr. Simmer s life from first to last was along a 
 different line. He was born to position and wealth. He was born 
 heir to a glorious inheritance. He was born of ancestors who were 
 scholars, gentlemen, Christians. He received a fine body, a glorious 
 intellect, and a noble heart. His leisure and his wealth might have 
 been a curse to him ; they might have taken away from him, as from 
 many others, all ambition and desire for scholarship and promotion. 
 They, however, quickened the desire for both, as they furnished the 
 opportunity for the attainment of either. 
 
 He was just such a man as we can least afford to lose. American 
 society and political life have too few such men. Who can take the 
 place which Charles Simmer filled ? The great principles of the 
 science of political economy are not studied, far less understood, 
 by the majority of our public men. The days of scholars and thinkers 
 of the higher order, the days of Seward, Chase, and Sumner, seem to 
 be numbered. A species of rowdyism, Butlerism, with an obliquity of 
 moral vision which looks past the right, and mistakes success for honest 
 ability, is imminent and greatly to be dreaded. A radical reform is 
 needed here. Precisely here is Mr. Simmer s life peculiarly valuable. 
 We need to learn the necessity of patient and untiring perseverance, 
 if we are to accomplish great things for God or man. 
 
 The Louisville Courier- Journal, in a long and feeling 
 notice, says- 
 Fifteen years ago, the news that Charles Surnner was dead, would 
 have been received with something like rejoicing by the people of the 
 South ; ten years ago they would have hailed it as a message from Hea 
 ven, telling them that an enemy had been removed from the face of the 
 earth. To-day, they will read it regretfully, and their comment will be, 
 " He was a great man, he was an honest man ; as he has forgiven us, 
 so have we long ago forgiven him." 
 
THE CHICAGO AND CINCINNATI PRESS. 54Q 
 
 JOHN G. WHITTIER to a personal friend 
 
 The dear and noble Sumner ! My heart is too full for words, and in 
 deepest sympathy of sorrow I reach out my hands to thee, who loved 
 him so well. He has died as he wished to, at his post of duty, and 
 when the heart of his beloved Massachusetts was turned towards him 
 with more than the old-time love and reverence. God s peace be with 
 him. 
 
 The Chicago Times 
 
 The death of Charles Sumner has taken away another of the very few 
 Americans who have done honor to the name of statesmen. There is 
 not left in the public councils his equal in political learning, in integrity, 
 in high devotion to whatever he believed to be right. Though untrusted 
 by time-serving partisans, he stood head and shoulders above them all, 
 both in intellectual greatness, and in devotion to principle. 
 
 The Chicago Tribune 
 
 No man has ever graced the American Senate, who will be remem 
 bered longer, or more gratefully than he. He walked on a higher plane 
 than Mr. Sevvard. He went deeper into the merits of the anti-slavery 
 cause than Mr. Chase. He was the most inflexible man of his time, as 
 well as the most polished and erudite of his contemporaries. His in 
 dustry was even more vast than his learning. His personal purity was 
 so far above reproach that he was never even accused of dishonor. 
 
 The Chicago Inter -Ocean 
 
 He was a just man, pure in private and in public life. His faults 
 were transient, and his virtues constitute a permanent legacy to the 
 people of the country he served with distinguished ability and unsullied 
 honor. 
 
 The Cincinnati Commercial 
 
 Air. Sumner was a man of great dignity of manner. He had an im 
 posing address, a leonine head, a sonorous voice. To the scholar he 
 united the wisdom of the sage, and to the reformer the discretion of the 
 statesman. 
 
 The Cincinnati Gazette 
 
 Charles Sumner is an honor to the American name, and an example 
 for future generations of young Americans who aspire to be statesmen. 
 He has shown them a way to honor and fame through the highest paths 
 
55O INDIANA, MICHIGAN, AND OHIO. 
 
 of rectitude, and through devotion to the cause of the oppressed and 
 down-trodden. 
 
 The Cincinnati Times 
 
 He goes to his grave with a character unsullied by a political career 
 of thirty years, and carrying the gratitude of a nation, and the worship 
 of a race freed from bondage, and elevated to the rights of citizenship. 
 
 The Indianapolis Journal 
 
 Had he been free from faults he would have been either more or less 
 than human ; but, taking him for all in all, it cannot be denied that 
 America has lost one of her greatest men. 
 
 The Indianapolis Sentinel 
 
 When the proper time comes, and the story is adequately told, Charles 
 Sumner will stand as the type of the noblest American of his genera 
 tion a Washington in purity, a Luther in fervor, a Cromwell in persist 
 ence and greatness of soul a man beyond the loftiest ideal of public 
 virtue. 
 
 The Detroit Free Press 
 
 He belonged to that class of statesmen who were governed in their 
 action by their ideas of what was just and right, and who could not be 
 moved from their settled convictions by any considerations of policy or 
 expediency. 
 
 The Cleveland Leader 
 
 His death leaves a vacancy in the Senate which must long remain 
 but imperfectly filled. The noble services of his life so far overbalance 
 his errors, that men of all parties will forget his faults, and join sorrow 
 fully in the reverent procession which will follow the veteran of the 
 Senate to his grave. 
 
 The Cleveland Herald 
 
 The principal objection to him was that he was almost all intellect. 
 Had he been less an incarnation of intellectual greatness, and possessed 
 more of human weakness, he would have been less isolated from the 
 people who admired his learning, but sometimes doubted his judgment. 
 
 The Buffalo Commercial 
 
 Those who most hotly hated Charles Sumner as a leader in the sec 
 tional strife which culminated in civil war, will surely feel their animosi- 
 
PITTSBURG, RICHMOND. DR. GARNET. 551 
 
 ties soften when they remember, that it was his noble effort to heal the 
 wounds of that war, and blot out its melancholy traces, which brought 
 upon him the censure of his own State. For Massachusetts also, this 
 fact will not be without instructive suggestion. 
 
 The Pittsburg Despatch 
 
 Whatever political prejudices occasionally existed against him, he 
 was undoubtedly the highest and most commendable type of American 
 statesmen. Intelligent, generous-hearted, of refined sensibilities, he 
 expressed the clear truth as he saw it without regard for opposition. 
 He was a man who could not intentionally be guilty of meanness, and 
 who was above intrigue. 
 
 The Pittsburg Chronicle 
 
 Brave, in days when it took bravery of the most lofty kind, to be the 
 advocate of a lowly and down-trodden race, Simmer will live in the 
 memory of all as a man of the most conspicuous mark. 
 
 The Richmond Journal - 
 
 The sudden passing away of this profound scholar and statesman will 
 cause a deep feeling of sorrow to pervade the breasts of his many 
 friends both in this country and Europe. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. H. H. GARNET, the eloquent pastor of 
 the Colored Presbyterian Church of New York him 
 self a fugitive from Slavery in his boyhood delivered a 
 touching and beautiful address at the great Colored 
 meeting, at Cooper Institute : 
 
 He did not know to what religious creed Mr. Sumner belonged, nor 
 need we inquire concerning a man whose faith and life-work are so 
 clearly exhibited ; but he did know that the self-sacrificing spirit that 
 was in Christ, the Saviour of the world, and the broad humanity of the 
 Gospel, were as clearly illustrated in his life and public services, as in 
 those of any other man he ever knew. The great and illustrious states 
 man literally resisted oppression of every form even unto blood ; and 
 he laid down his life for his brethren. The old Anti-Slavery leaders are 
 fast passing away. Chase and Stanton are gone, and John Brown and 
 Lincoln are in their tombs ; and to-morrow the mortal remains of Sum 
 ner will be laid in their last resting-place. But the principles of liberty 
 
552 SUMNER S LETTER ABOUT BATTLE-FLAGS. 
 
 are imperishable. The people of Massachusetts would doubtless rear 
 a fitting tomb to his memory, and other States would vie with them in 
 doing honor to his noble deeds ; but there was one class of American 
 citizens who had written his name on the living monuments of their 
 hearts. He meant that class for whose welfare he labored, suffered, 
 and died. In the language of his life-long friend, John Greenleaf 
 \Vhittier, those millions recently crowned with the blessings of liberty 
 and enfranchisement, as they shall think of their departed friend, they 
 will say : 
 
 " We ll think of thee, O brother ! 
 And thy sainted name shall be 
 In the blessings of the captive, 
 And the anthems of the free." 
 
 The Springfield Republican, of Springfield, Mass., 
 that able and always illuminated journal, in a memorial 
 issue devoted chiefly to Mr. SUMNER, prints a letter from 
 him to a personal friend, dated March 20, 1873, in which, 
 after alluding" to his sickness, which he says "goes back 
 in its origin to injuries received seventeen years ago," 
 he speaks as follows of his " battle-flag" bill: 
 
 It seems to me unjust and hard to understand that my bill can be 
 called hostile to the soldier or to the President, when it was introduced 
 by me May 8, 1862, and then again Feb. 27, 1865, and when it has 
 been commended by Gen. Scott, Gen. Robert Anderson, and Gen. 
 Thomas, all good and true soldiers. If persons would only consider 
 candidly my original convictions on this question, they would see how 
 natural and inevitable has been my conduct. As if in such a matter I 
 could have "hostility" or "spite" to anybody. I am a public servant, 
 and never was I moved by a purer sense of duty than in this bill, all 
 of which will be seen at last. Meanwhile men will flounder in miscon 
 ception and misrepresentation, to be regretted in the day of light. 
 
 Sincerely yours, CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 We cannot, however, bring even this brief list of cita 
 tions to a close without some tributes, which Mr. G. W. 
 
SPIRIT OF THE ENGLISH JOURNALS. 553 
 
 SMALLEY, the accomplished London correspondent of 
 T/ie New York Tribune, sent from the English jour 
 nals, which during the Alabama discussions spoke of the 
 leader of the American Senate with so much bitterness : 
 "It is an honor to The Times, however" Mr. Smalley 
 remarks, that it lifts itself high enough to say : 
 
 Yet when we look back upon the 30 years during which Mr. Charles 
 Sumner was among the foremost in the United States, we must admit 
 that his career was such as to deserve the highest admiration and grati 
 tude of his fellow-citizens ; and those who are disposed to judge his 
 faults with severity must remember how much there was to provoke to 
 intemperance of judgment the man who was pursued with such ani 
 mosity that he barely escaped with life from a cowardly assault in the 
 Senate Chamber at Washington. 
 
 The Daily News, which, during the arbitration, was one of Mr. Sum 
 ner s most hostile critics, lays aside its animosities in order to do him 
 justice. The article is obviously by one who knew him, and thus speaks 
 of his appearance and character : 
 
 During his recent visit to England, his friends noticed that he was 
 growing somewhat bowed and heavy, and showing rather prematurely the 
 weight of years. But until this very late period he had the advantage 
 of as striking a presence as any public man in our day has ever dis 
 played. Physically, there was, perhaps, no statesman of our time so 
 remarkable, except Prince von Bismarck ; and without odious com 
 parisons it may be observed that Mr. Sumner had a very handsome 
 face, as well as a form of almost gigantic proportions, and a bearing 
 expressive of singular energy and strength of will. His character and 
 career as a politician were well in harmony with his appearance. 
 Whatever he willed he strongly willed. All the flexibilities and docili 
 ties, all the quickness that suits itself with ease to new conditions, all 
 the dexterity which extracts the utmost advantage out of unavoidable 
 compromises, all the artistic self-control with which clever statesmen 
 have sometimes contrived to give to defeat itself the appearance of a 
 qualified victory all this was wanting to Mr. Sumner. He had clear 
 principles, a strong will, and a vigorous intellect, which went straight 
 at obstacles, and either crushed over them at once, or drew back and 
 tried to crush over them again. 
 
 He was an accomplished scholar, a good linguist, a master of Euro 
 pean literature, and almost a devotee of art. During his latest visit to 
 Europe, a year or two back, he found no pleasure so great as that of 
 ransacking the old bookshops and bookstalls of Paris for quaint and 
 curious editions to add to his collection. He was a great talker upon 
 
554 DAILY NEWS, THE GLOBE, THE ECHO. 
 
 art and literature, as well as upon politics ; and talked, as he did every 
 thing, with tremendous energy and with an individual self-confidence 
 which his enemies, and some even of his friends, set down as egotism. 
 Many slyly satirical or humorous stories were told in America apropos 
 of Mr. Simmer s faith in his own eloquence stories which would have 
 affected Mr. Stunner little even if he had heard them, for he was one of 
 the very few Americans who have no perception of the meaning of a 
 jest. He was a strong, serious man, often in the wrong, often unfair 
 in his judgment, but never consciously yielding to prejudice ; always 
 inflexibly faithful to his principles as he saw them, and gifted with 
 power of thought and speech and work enough to make him a distinct 
 and a memorable figure in the history of his country s political growth. 
 
 The Globe, the evening Conservative daily, contains a tribute to Mr. 
 Simmer, indeed, quite remarkable, and the more gratifying from an op 
 ponent of Liberalism. The Globe says : 
 
 From 1850, when he was elected to the seat in the Senate vacated by 
 Webster, who had entered the Fillmore Cabinet, the name of Simmer 
 has been as famous in Europe as in the United States. In his own 
 country the influence he exerted was always great, and his ten years 
 Chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations made him a 
 power abroad. His argument in the famous Mason and Slidell case, 
 to the effect that the seizure on a British ship was unjustifiable according 
 to the law of nations, gave temporary offence to his countrymen, but on 
 the whole Simmer was one of the most popular American statesmen of 
 this generation. The secret of his success was due to the ability he 
 possessed of catching " the opinion of to-morrow" on any question in 
 which public opinion was excited. Once having found this and his 
 statesmanlike mind seldom missed in the search he maintained his po 
 sition with admirable tenacity till " the opinion of to-morrow" became that 
 of to-day. When necessity required he declined to act as the mouthpiece 
 of public opinion, assured that the time would soon come when, without 
 changing his own attitude, he would be its correct exponent. 
 
 The Echo, a very widely circulated Liberal paper, thinks some future 
 biographer may explain why Mr. Sumner lost his hold of power and in 
 fluence, and this will be his conclusion : 
 
 He may and probably will regard Charles Sumner as too pure and 
 upright-minded a man for the highest political success. He was im 
 pulsive, too, and this is apt to detract from the influence of a statesman 
 as a leader. No American of equal importance admired England more 
 and yet none was popularly regarded as more her enemy. His famous 
 speech putting forth the first mention of the Indirect Claims, made 
 Englishmen too ready to forget his great services to humanity in regard 
 to the Abolition of Slavery. Perhaps Mr. Sumner was a man of too 
 self-conscious, too refined a mind, for success ; one who was ever careful 
 
THE EXAMINER AND ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES. 555 
 
 in self-examination, and too careless of the thoughts of others for the 
 largest popularity. 
 
 The Pall Mall Gazette is silent ; for which, all thanks. So is The 
 Saturday Review for this week. It is pleasant to find in The Examiner 
 the following paragraph : 
 
 The obituary of the week includes the name of Charles Sumner, an 
 American for whom Englishmen have always felt the greatest respect 
 and sympathy. His voice was most powerfully raised against the insti 
 tution of Slavery in the Southern States long before the issue of civil 
 war came to solve the otherwise unsolvable question. On all other 
 matters where individual liberty was at stake, Mr. Charles Sumner was 
 ever found among the boldest and most uncompromising champions of 
 the oppressed ; and he was not without that meed of persecution which 
 is the invariable fate of men of his heroic character. 
 He annoyed some of his friends by supporting the claims for " indirect 
 damages" in the Alabama case ; but we have reason to believe that 
 the conduct of our Government in the proceedings which led up to the 
 arbitration, went far to bring Mr. Sumner back to his former apprecia 
 tion of England and Englishmen. 
 
 All the more pleasant, because the controlling influence in The Exam 
 iner is now in the hands of one of the men I have referred to as faithful 
 friends to us during the Rebellion, and then losing patience and waxing 
 wroth during the arbitration business. 
 
 Among all the articles I have seen in English papers there is none 
 comparable for careful study of Mr. Sumner s character and acts, and 
 wise estimate of them, to that in The Anglo-American Times ; a 
 journal, I should add, edited by Englishmen, and written by English 
 men, and which other Englishmen would do well to study for its teach 
 ing and example. It says : 
 
 Perhaps of all Americans, Charles Sumner stood foremost in the es 
 teem of his countrymen. He was eloquent, he was cultured, pure in 
 character, lofty in aspiration, patriotic and unselfish in his aims. Few 
 men have been so tried by the perversity of human nature, yet he never 
 lost faith in it. In all the broad Union there was no more ardent lover 
 of freedom, nor any man with a stronger faith in the institutions of the 
 Republic he loved so well and worked for so long and faithfully. In 
 deed, he may be called a martyr to his devotion to human rights ; for 
 his death is traceable to the assault Mr. Brooks made upon him in the 
 Senate Chamber. He was a tall, handsome, strongly built man ; but 
 the injuries he then received laid him on a bed of sickness for years, 
 causing him intense suffering, ultimately sending him to his grave at an 
 age when a period of usefulness might still be looked for. But Charles 
 Sumner was too earnest to witness unmoved the Administration sinking 
 into corruption ; and he worked so assiduously to stem the current that 
 
556 WORTHY TRIBUTE TO SUMNER S CHARACTER. 
 
 he helped towards the accomplishment of the assassin s design, till his 
 medical adviser almost forced him, in the midst of the last Presidential 
 campaign, to run across to Europe, effectually to shut from his sight 
 papers, books, and business, * * * 
 
 We now know, as do all who study American politics, that Senator 
 Sumner was in the right ; an admission truth compels us to make, al 
 though, at the time, we shared that feeling. It is because we now more 
 fully comprehend the magnitude of the contest and the difficulties of 
 the position in the struggle of the statesman against the "politicians," 
 that we are able to appreciate the force of what the Senator then said ; 
 and we may add, that we deplore the loss of the great leader in the 
 cause of reform. The Senator has passed away at the climax, leaving 
 the conduct of the war to other, though, we fear, less efficient hands, 
 but not till the great utility of his life had been impaired through his 
 failing health. He leaves, however, a record, not only as an example 
 to the young, but to inspire those bent on carrying on the war against 
 the political system which has bred such corruption, to a successful 
 issue ; a reputation unblemished in an atmosphere of intrigue ; pure, 
 where political purity is rare ; ever surrounded by strong temptations, 
 wielding, as he did, a power greater than has perhaps yet been wielded 
 on the continent of North America. 
 
 With that I close, rejoicing that, in the country which Mr. Sumner 
 loved and the opinion of which he valued so highly, at least one trib 
 ute not unworthy of him has appeared. I should add that in the 
 leading provincial journals, the articles I have seen are, on the whole, 
 more just than those of London. 
 
 But it was not from England that justice to the de 
 parted statesman was expected to come. By the en 
 lightened and unprejudiced journalists of the continent 
 of Europe to which strangeness of language gives the 
 impartiality of time CHARLES SUMNER met that judg 
 ment at once, which in England is shown the Americans 
 only by the next generation. 
 
 Perhaps in no quarter has Senator Sumner s character 
 as a man and a statesman, been more candidly drawn, 
 than it was in the Boston Journal on the day of his 
 funeral : 
 
 The time has not come for doing full justice to the great career and 
 the great character so faintly outlined in the preceding sketch. Mr. 
 
HIS PORTRAIT BY THE BOSTON JOURNAL. 557 
 
 Sumner was essentially different from the most distinguished American 
 statesmen who had gone before him. He was primarily a scholar, con 
 strained by prophetic moral impulses into the field of politics. In en- 
 cyclopediac knowledge none of our statesmen are to be compared with 
 him, unless it may have been John Quincy Adams. In philosophical 
 tendencies he somewhat resembled Jefferson, while he revealed an 
 earnestness, breadth and fervor in his humane sympathies which were 
 as much superior to Jefferson s as his eloquence was greater. He was 
 not a great debater, on account, partly, of the scholastic character of 
 his mind, and because he had a peculiar conception of the sphere of a 
 Senator. He once said : "A seat here in the Senate is a lofty pulpit 
 with a mighty sounding-board, and the whole wide-spread people is the 
 congregation." Whenever he arose, therefore, to speak, it was not 
 merely to discuss the legislative question in hand and to address the 
 little circle of Senators around him ; he was to expound in their full 
 ness the large relations and suggestions of the topic for the benefit of 
 the press and the whole American nation. His speeches were treatises 
 winged with oratory. There is nothing like them in the records of our 
 national eloquence. They are wanting in the massive simplicity, the 
 conciseness and severe taste of Webster s speeches ; their profusion of 
 historic allusions and quotations would seem artificial, but for its being 
 the natural expression of the author s mind, and it is doubtful if the 
 peculiarity will give pleasure to another generation of readers. But 
 the force of reasoning, the broad energy of purpose, sweeping along 
 like the Mississippi like that, too, showing its power in its crevasses 
 as well as in its legitimate channel and the soul of moral heroism 
 which illumines every sentence, will never want for admirers ; what is 
 better, will never cease to disseminate good influences and to bear good 
 fruit among mankind. 
 
 This moral heroism, indeed, constitutes the crowning distinction of 
 Charles Sumner, and gives him his title to immortal fame. It shone 
 about his whole working life as a public servant. Throughout his 
 checkered career no enemy and none had bitterer than he was ever 
 found bold enough to connect his name with any jobbery or inter 
 ested scheme. His integrity was more than Roman, it was Chris 
 tian. So, too, this heroism was seen in its triumphing over the adverse 
 influences of his training and in its transformation of his own character. 
 He was not democratic in his personal sympathies, while the associa 
 tions of his early life were limiting if not aristocratic in their tendencies ; 
 and no one from tlience could have predicted that here was to be the 
 
558 CHAPLET WOVEN BY GRACE GREENWOOD. 
 
 champion of equality, the apostle of deliverance to the poor and de 
 spised of another race. But the principle that was in him took him up 
 with the devotion of a Luther and the zeal of a Loyola. All men be 
 came alike in his eyes alike entitled to justice, to the protection and 
 the immunities of the law. In pursuit of this object he feared noth 
 ing on earth and he spared nothing that stood in his way. And 
 though his unswerving fidelity brought him to death s door, he lived 
 as few of the world s heroes have to see his complete triumph, and 
 to feel in his heart, we have no doubt, the sweet consciousness that 
 mankind would never willingly let his memory die. 
 
 But amongst all the floral offerings which " deck his 
 sylvan grave," one at least shall be laid there by the 
 gentle hand of woman : and whose fingers could better 
 weave the chaplet than Grace Greenwood s ? 
 
 With the memory of my great friend (can it be that he is already only 
 a memory ?) come certain further off, pale and uncertain presences 
 the friends who were about him when I knew him first Hawthorne, 
 with his noble, sensitive face, his deep-set, furtive, melancholy eyes ; Starr 
 King, radiant with genius. and princely in his perfect humanity; that 
 beautiful wife of his poet-friend, she whose sweet, sad voice was pro 
 phetic of her martyr-like fate ; that scholarly brother, so like him in 
 person, in voice, in love of books and art ; and that illustrious scientist, 
 beloved and revered alike upon two hemispheres, that sweet, strong, 
 childlike and grand human soul we knew as Louis Agassiz. These and 
 many more choice spirits whose lives have mingled with or touched on 
 his, come before me, and I am inexpressibly comforted by the thought 
 of the goodly company he has been called to rejoin. 
 
 Whenever I have had a friend from abroad to whom I would show 
 special courtesy, I have taken him or her to that beautiful house by the 
 Arlington, and have always been sure of a welcome. Whatever his 
 engagements or his ailments, if able to see his friends at all, he received 
 them with a cordial grasp of the hand, and that rare, sweet smile, which 
 was like a burst of pure Spring sunshine on a sombre day. I was in 
 that house on the morning of that sad Wednesday, lingering and wait 
 ing, with other friends, refusing to believe that there was "no hope." 
 I saw there men I had heard called, and half believed to be. hardened 
 and heartless politicians, weeping like women, and, despite the judg 
 ment of his enemies and detractors, I was doubly convinced that the 
 man had a "genius to be loved." 
 
THE SILENT HOUSE AND VACANT CHAIR. 559 
 
 Last evening I passed by that house so soon to be despoiled of its 
 precious books and art-treasures. It was apparently unchanged lighted 
 up as cheerfully as before he went away ; even the graceful transparen 
 cies in those pleasant study-windows remained as they were. The hall- 
 door was open, and the gas-light shone full on the tall, old-fashioned 
 clock, which had ticked off for him so many hours of faithful toil of 
 weary wakefulness, of cruel pain, till that last moment of mental agony, 
 when his great, pure, honest heart broke. 
 
 How plainly that old clock repeats to the souls who loved the master 
 of the house : 
 
 " Never here, forever there, 
 
 Where all parting, pain and care, 
 
 And death and time shall disappear : 
 
 Forever there, but never here ! 
 
 The horologe of eternity 
 
 Sayeth this incessantly, 
 
 Forever never never, forever ! 
 
 The face of Mr. Simmer in death bore more than the usual resem 
 blance to Edmund Burke. With his gray hair resting like a glory on 
 the pillow, he looked very noble, but so tired ! We felt amid our griev 
 ing that all was well. God had given His beloved sleep. 
 
 Most of the floral offerings laid on the great Senator s coffin were 
 from his colored friends. They lavished upon him the most rare and 
 costly flowers. On his desk stood a bouquet of roses and azalias, white 
 as the "white soul" Emerson so honored. 
 
 Saddest of all sights was his empty chair, draped in mourning, and 
 yet an august presence seemed to hover about it. If, indeed, he were 
 there able to see, and hear, and understand ; if he looked around on the 
 scene of many struggles and conflicts, on his enemies and on his friends, 
 what poor things must have seemed to him all human strifes and ani 
 mosities ; how precious human love and loyalty ; how great and sor 
 rowful a thing life ; how beautiful and blessed death ! 
 
560 THE STERN DUTY OF THE HISTORIAN. 
 
 SECTION TWELFTH. 
 
 His Character and Fame. 
 
 I. 
 
 IN tracing Mr. SUMNER S course in the Senate, I inten 
 tionally avoided any account of his rupture with the 
 President, and the alienation from him of the great body 
 of the Republican party. I took this course partly from 
 a repugnance I have had all my life to entering into the 
 contests and bickerings of partisans ; and partly from 
 reluctance to appear in any attitude of hostility to a 
 President, a Secretary of State, and the leaders of the 
 great political organization which had saved the nation 
 from overthrow, and by so many noble and beneficent 
 acts, commanded the confidence of the country, and the 
 respect of mankind. I did not deem it worthy of a pa 
 triotic man, to allow any disappointment, or even per 
 sonal injury, however deep, to deter him from supporting 
 a party that was doing so well ; while it should always 
 be beneath the true dignity of a historian, to cast over 
 the mind of his reader any of the shadows of party con 
 flicts to disturb the judgment with which the occurrence 
 of important events should be contemplated. At the 
 same time, I should feel that I was acting utterly unwor 
 thy of the responsibility I assumed in writing this book, 
 if I should close it without an unqualified expression of 
 the disapproval which all honorable minds must enter 
 tain of that act of insult, folly and cowardice by which 
 the greatest man in the American Senate, was displaced 
 from the Chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign 
 Affairs. The petty annoyances and revenges with which 
 
SUMMER S RUPTURE WITH THE ADMINISTRATION. 561 
 
 his manhood, independence, and integrity were outraged, 
 and the hatred manifested against him, were pitiful in 
 deed ! 
 
 It would, now, be wrong a wrong to the memory of 
 CHARLES SUMNER, and a wrong to the truth of history, 
 to withhold any portion of the facts, however unfavora 
 bly they may reflect upon others : and if, in moving this 
 shadow from the fair fame of the great Senator, it falls 
 upon other men, however bright their names may hith 
 erto have been, or however high they may stand to-day, 
 all this is their business, not mine. They make his 
 tory : I write it. 
 
 II. 
 
 The facts, then, are these. It was well-known that 
 the only reason alleged for the removal by the Senate 
 of Mr. SUMNER from the position he had for many years 
 filled with such consummate ability, as Chairman of the 
 Committee on Foreign Affairs, was, that he was not 
 upon friendly social terms with the President and the 
 Department of State. He prepared, at the time, a care 
 ful statement showing why the cordiality of those rela 
 tions had been disturbed ; and it was known that he in 
 tended to deliver that speech in the Senate. But his 
 friends Mr. TRUMBULL and CARL SCHURZ, to whom his 
 intention was made known, dissuaded him from his pur 
 pose, by appealing to his generous nature; and to this 
 appeal he yielded. During three years " he refrained 
 from delivering it, suffering in silence the most offensive 
 imputations from those who were unable to appreciate 
 his loyal support, or his disinterested opposition." 
 These words I have quoted from the New York 
 36 
 
562 THE JUDGMENT OF THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE. 
 
 Tribune of this Monday morning, April 6, 1874 in 
 which the editor says : 
 
 In the opinion of his friends, the time has come when this speech, 
 suppressed by its illustrious author from the highest considerations of 
 dignity and patriotism, should be given to the country, in explanation 
 of the circumstances which lost to the Senate the influence of its great 
 est and purest member, and by which the Administration deprived it 
 self of a friend as powerful as he was unselfish. 
 
 We presume the essential facts of this disclosure will remain undis 
 puted. As to the inferences to be drawn from them, there are many who 
 will disagree with Mr. Sumner as to the share of responsibility which 
 should rest upon the Secretary of State for the course pursued by the 
 Administration towards Mr. Motley. It is probable that the Senator 
 may have revised his own judgment at a later day, as it is certain that 
 he gave his hearty support and approval to the course of the Secretary 
 of State in reference to the seizure of the Virginius, The facts here 
 brought forward would seem to point to what every candid person must 
 regard as the vulnerable feature of the Secretary s administration his 
 tendency to yield to the vulgar malice and ignorant caprices of the 
 President, instead of obeying his own instincts, and resisting or resign 
 ing. 
 
 The chief discredit, however, as we have said before, falls upon the 
 . Senate of the United States. Their most valuable and distinguished 
 member opposed, in a frank and open manner, with his usual energy, 
 but with his usual courtesy also, a plan of the President to acquire, by 
 unconstitutional means, a neighboring island. He succeeded in defeat 
 ing this scheme in the Senate. The President, upon this, dismissed our 
 Minister at London, because he was an intimate friend of Mr. Sumner ; 
 he also said " that if he were not President he would call Mr. Sumner 
 to account.;" his aide-de-camp, the messenger between the Executive 
 .Mansion and the Senate Chamber, said, "if he were not an officer of 
 the army he would chastise Mr. Sumner." The Senate, far from resent 
 ing these indecent attacks, sided with the Executive against their col 
 league, and hastened to propitiate the angry President by depriving the 
 Massachusetts Senator of his places on the Committees where he had 
 no rival. Into the vast vacancy which he made at the head of the 
 Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Simon Cameron was put by the vote 
 of a Senate which seemed to have lost with its conscience its sense of 
 honor, and the most -scholarly statesman of our time was further grossly 
 
JUSTICE FROM THE MUSE OF HISTORY. 563 
 
 insulted by being placed fourth in the Committee on Education, pre 
 sided over by Mr. Flanagan of Texas. The document we print to-day 
 will show how much excuse they had for this piece of folly and slavish 
 subservience. It is a part of the history of the country, and an import 
 ant chapter in the biography of one of its first statesmen. 
 
 It is due also to the fair fame of the most brilliant 
 historian America has yet given to the world, that the 
 insult to him should be hurled back where it came from ; 
 and that another illustration may be given of the glori 
 ous fact, that the fame of such men as JOHN LOTHROP 
 MOTLEY and CHARLES SUMNER, is in the keeping of the 
 Muse of History, and not of the politician. She presides 
 serenely over the tribunal of justice, and from her stern 
 awards there is no appeal. 
 
 In preserving this speech, we have reproduced it with 
 typographical accuracy from the Tribune. The circum 
 stances under which the speech was prepared and sup 
 pressed, were stated by the eminent author himself, in 
 the subjoined note, with which the Tribune introduces 
 the speech itself: 
 
 III. 
 
 To the Reader. This statement was prepared in March, shortly after 
 the debate in the Senate, but was withheld at that time from unwilling 
 ness to take part in the controversy, while able friends regarded the 
 question of principle involved as above every personal issue. Yielding 
 at last to various pressure, Mr. Sumner concluded to present it at the 
 recent called session of the Senate, but the Treaty with Great Britain 
 and the case of the newspaper correspondents were so engrossing as to 
 leave no time for anything else. 
 WASHINGTON, June, 1871. 
 
 Mr. SUMNER While I was under trial before the Senate, on articles 
 of impeachment presented by the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Howe), 
 J forbore taking any part in the debate, even in reply to allegations, 
 asserted to be of decisive importance, touching my relations svith the 
 
564 SUMNER S SUPPRESSED SPEECH. 
 
 President and Secretary of State. All this was trivial enough ; but 
 numerous appeals to me, from opposite parts of the country, show that 
 good people have been diverted by these allegations from the question 
 of principle involved. Without intending in any way to revive the 
 heats of that debate, I am induced to make a plain statement of facts, 
 so that the precise character of those relations shall be known. 1 do 
 this with unspeakable reluctance, but in the discharge of a public duty 
 where the claims of patriotism are above even those of self-defence. 
 The Senate and the country have an interest in knowing the truth of 
 this matter, and so also has the Republican party, which cannot be 
 indifferent to pretensions in its name ; nor will anything but the com- 
 pletest frankness be proper for the occasion. 
 
 In overcoming this reluctance I am aided by Senators who are deter 
 mined to make me speak. The Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Howe), 
 who appears- as prosecuting officer, after alleging these personal rela 
 tions as the gravamen of accusation against me making the issue 
 pointedly on this floor, and actually challenging reply not content 
 with the opportunity of this Chamber, hurried to the public press, 
 where he repeated the accusation, and now circulates it, as I am told, 
 under his frank, crediting it in formal terms to the liberal paper in 
 which it appeared, but without allusion to the editorial refutation which 
 accompanied it. On still another occasion, appearing still as pros 
 ecuting officer, the same Senator volunteered out of his own invention 
 to denounce me as leaving the Republican party ; and this he did, with 
 infinite personality of language and manner, in the very face of my 
 speech to which he was replying where, in positive words, I declare 
 that I speak " for the sake of the Republican party," which I hope to 
 save from responsibility for wrongful acts, and then, in other words, 
 making the whole assumption of the Senator an impossibility, 1 an 
 nounce, that in speaking for the Republican party it is " because from 
 the beginning I have been the faithful servant of that party, and aspire 
 to see it strong and triumphant." In the face of this declared aspira 
 tion, in harmony with my whole life, the Senator delivered his attack, 
 and, assuming to be nothing less than Pope, launched against me his 
 bull of excommunication. Then, again playing Pope, he took back his 
 thunder, with the apology that others thought so ; and this alleged 
 understanding of others, he did not hesitate to set above my positive 
 and contemporaneous language, that I aspired to see the Republican 
 party strong and triumphant. Then came the Senator from Ohio (Mr. 
 
WHY SUMNER OPPOSED THE PRESIDENT S SCHEME. 565 
 
 Sherman), who, taking up his vacation pen, added to the articles of 
 impeachment, by a supplementary allegation, adopted by the Senator 
 under a misapprehension of facts. Here was another challenge. Dur 
 ing all this time I have been silent. Senators have spoken, and then 
 rushed into print ; but I have said nothing. They have had their own 
 way with regard to me. It is they who leave me no alternative. 
 
 It is alleged that I have no personal relations with the President. 
 Here the answer is easy. I have precisely the relations which he has 
 chosen. On reaching Washington in December last, I was assured from 
 various quarters that the White House was angry with me, and soon 
 afterward the public journals reported the President as saying to a 
 Senator that if he were not President, he " would call me to account." 
 What he meant I never understood, nor would I attribute to him more 
 than he meant ; but that he used the language reported I have no 
 doubt, from information independent of the newspapers. I repeat that 
 on this point I have no doubt. The same newspapers reported also, 
 that a member of the President s household, enjoying his peculiar con 
 fidence, taking great part in the Santo Domingo scheme, had menaced 
 me with personal violence. I could not believe the story except on 
 positive, unequivocal testimony. That the menace was made on the con 
 dition of his not being an army officer, I do not doubt. The member of 
 the household when interrogated by my excellent colleague (Mr. Wil 
 son) positively denied the menace, but I am assured, on authority above 
 question, that he has since acknowledged it, while the President still re 
 tains him in service, and sends him to this Chamber. 
 
 During this last session, I have opposed the Presidential policy on an 
 important question ; but always without one word touching motives, or 
 one suggestion of corruption on his part, although I never doubted that 
 there were actors in the business who could claim no such immunity. 
 It now appears that Fabens, who carne here as plenipotentiary to press 
 the scheme, has concessions to such amount that the diplomatist is lost 
 in the speculator. I always insisted that the President was no party to 
 any such transaction. I should do injustice to my own feelings if I did 
 not here declare my regret that I could not agree with the President. 
 I tried to think as he did, but I could not. I listened to the arguments 
 on his side ; but in vain. The adverse considerations multiplied with 
 time and reflection. To those who know the motives of my life, it is 
 superfluous for me to add that I sought simply the good of my country 
 
566 HE FEELS FORCED TO THE REVELATION. 
 
 and Humanity, including especially the good of the African race, to 
 which our country owes so much. 
 
 Already there was anger at the White House when the scheme to buy 
 and annex half an island in the Caribbean Sea was pressed upon the 
 Senate in legislative session, under the guise of appointing a Commis 
 sion, and it became my duty to expose it. Here I was constrained to 
 show how, at very large expense, the usurper Baez was maintained in 
 power by the Navy of the United States, to enable him to sell his 
 country, while at the same time the independence of the Black Re 
 public was menaced, all of which was in violation of International Law, 
 and of the Constitution of the United States, which reserves to Con 
 gress the power " to declare war." What I said was in open debate, 
 where the record will speak for me. I hand it over to the most careful 
 scrutiny, knowing that the President can take no just exception to it, 
 unless he insists upon limiting proper debate, and boldly denies the 
 right of a Senator to express himself freely on great acts of wrong. Nor 
 will any Republican Senator admit that the President can impose his 
 own sole will upon the Republican party. Our party is in itself a Re 
 public with universal suffrage, and until a measure is adopted by the 
 party, no Republican President can make it a party test. 
 
 Much as I am pained in making this statement with regard to the 
 President, infinitely more painful to me is what I must present with re 
 gard to the Secretary of State. Here again I remark that I am driven 
 to this explanation. His strange and unnatural conduct toward me, and 
 his prompting of Senators, who, one after another, have set up my al 
 leged relations with him as ground of complaint, make it necessary for 
 me to proceed. 
 
 We were sworn as Senators on the same day, as far back as 1851, and 
 from that distant time were friends, until the Santo Domingo business in 
 tervened. Nothing could exceed our kindly relations in the past. On 
 the evening of the inauguration of Gen. Grant as President, he was at 
 my house with Mr. Motley in friendly communion, and all uniting in 
 aspirations for the new Administration. Little did Mr. Motley or myself 
 imagine in that social hour that one of our little circle was so soon 
 to turn upon us both. 
 
 Shortly afterward Mr. Fish became Secretary of State, and began 
 his responsible duties by appealing to me for help. I need not say 
 
SUMNER IN CONFERENCE WITH SECRETARY FISH. 567 
 
 that I had pleasure in responding to his call, and that I did what I 
 could most sincerely and conscientiously to aid him. Of much, from 
 his arrival down to his alienation on the Santo Domingo business, I pos 
 sess the written record. For some time he showed a sympathy with 
 the scheme almost as little as my own. But as the President grew in 
 earnestness the Secretary yielded, until tardily he became its attorney. 
 Repeatedly he came to my house, pleading for the scheme. Again and 
 again he urged it ; sometimes at my house and sometimes at his own. 
 I was astonished that he could do so, and expressed my astonishment 
 with the frankness of old friendship. For apology, he announced that 
 he was the President s friend, and took office as such. " But," said I, 
 "you should resign rather than do this thing." This I could not re 
 frain from remarking on discovery from dispatches in the State Depart 
 ment that the usurper Baez was maintained in power by our navy. 
 This plain act of wrong required instant redress ; but the Secretary as 
 tonished me again by his insensibility to my appeal for justice. He 
 maintained the President, as the President maintained Baez. I confess 
 that I was troubled. 
 
 At last, some time in June, 1870, a few weeks before the Santo Do 
 mingo treaty was finally rejected by the Senate, the Secretary came to 
 my house about 9 o clock in the evening and remained till after the 
 clock struck midnight, the whole protracted visit being occupied in 
 earnest and reiterated appeal that I should cease my opposition to the 
 Presidential scheme ; and here he urged that the election which made 
 Gen. Grant President had been carried by him and not by the Repub 
 lican party, so that his desires were entitled to especial attention. In 
 his pressure on me he complained that I had opposed other projects of 
 the President. In reply to my inquiry he named the repeal of the Ten- 
 ure-of-Office Act, and the nomination of Mr. Jones as Minister to Brus 
 sels, both of which the President had much at heart, and he concluded 
 with the Santo Domingo treaty. I assured the Secretary firmly and 
 simply that, seeing the latter as I did with all its surroundings, my duty 
 was plain, and that I must continue to oppose it so long as it appeared 
 to me wrong. He was not satisfied, and renewed his pressure in vari 
 ous forms, returning to the point again and again with persevering as 
 siduity, that would not be arrested, when at last, finding me inflexible, 
 he changed his appeal, saying, " Why not go to London ? 1 offer you 
 the English mission. It is yours." Of his authority from the President 
 I know nothing. I speak only of what he said. My astonishment was 
 
568 REMOVAL OF MR. MOTLEY. 
 
 heightened by indignation at this too palpable attempt to take me from 
 my post of duty ; but I suppressed the feeling which rose to the lips, 
 and, reflecting that he was an old friend and in my own house, answered 
 gently, " We have a Minister there who cannot be bettered." Thus 
 already did the mission to London begin to pivot on Santo Domingo. 
 
 I make this revelation only because it is important to a correct un 
 derstanding of the case, and because the conversation from beginning 
 to end was official in character, relating exclusively to public business, 
 without suggestion or allusion of a personal nature, and absolutely 
 without the slightest word on my part leading in the most remote de 
 gree to any such overture, which was unexpected as undesired. The 
 offer of the Secretary was in no respect a compliment or kindness, but 
 in the strict line of his endeavor to silence my opposition to the Santo 
 Domingo scheme, as is too apparent from the facts, while it was plain, 
 positive, and unequivocal, making its object and import beyond ques 
 tion. Had it been merely an inquiry, it were bad enough under the 
 circumstances, but it was direct and complete as by a plenipotentiary. 
 
 Shortly afterward, being the day immediately following the rejection 
 of the Santo Domingo Treaty, Mr. Motley was summarily removed, ac 
 cording to present pretence, for an offending not only trivial and formal, 
 but condoned by time, being a year old very much as Sir Walter Ra 
 leigh, after being released from the Tower to conduct a distant expedi 
 tion as admiral of the fleet, was at his return beheaded on a judgment 
 of fifteen years standing. The Secretary in conversation and in cor 
 respondence with me undertook to explain the removal, insisting for 
 a long time that he was " the friend of Mr. Motley ; " but he always 
 made the matter worse, while the heats of Santo Domingo entered into 
 the discussion. 
 
 At last, in January, 1871, a formal paper justifying the removal and 
 signed by the Secretary was laid before the Senate. Glancing at this 
 document I found, to my surprise, that its most salient characteristic 
 was constant vindictiveness toward Mr. Motley, with effort to wound 
 his feelings, and this was signed by one who had sat with him at my 
 house in friendly communion and common aspiration on the evening of 
 the inauguration of Gen. Grant, and had so often insisted that he was 
 " the friend of Mr. Motley ; " while, as if it was not enough to insult 
 one Massachusetts citizen in the public service, the same document, 
 
569 
 
 after a succession of flings and sneers, makes a kindred assault on me ; 
 and this is signed by one who so constantly called me "friend," and 
 asked me for help. The Senator from Missouri (Mr. Schurz) has 
 already directed attention to this assault, and has expressed his judg 
 ment upon it, confessing that he "should not have failed to feel the in 
 suit," and then exclaiming with just indignation, " when such things are 
 launched against any member of this body, it becomes the American 
 Senate to stand by him and not to attempt to disgrace and degrade him 
 because he shows the sensitiveness of a gentleman." (Congressional 
 Globe Debate, of March 10, 1871.) It is easy to see how this Senator 
 regarded the conduct of the Secretary. Nor is its true character open 
 to doubt, especially when we consider the context, and how this full 
 blown personality naturally flowered out of the whole document. 
 
 Mr. Motley, in his valedictory to the State Department, had alluded 
 to the rumor that he was removed on account of my opposition to the 
 Santo Domingo Treaty. The document signed by the Secretary, while 
 mingling most offensive terms with regard to his " friend " in London, 
 thus turns upon his "friend" in Washington : 
 
 " It remains only to notice Mr. Motley s adoption of a rumor, which 
 had its origin in this city in a source bitterly, personally, and vindictive 
 ly hostile to the President. 
 
 " Mr. Motley says it has been rumored that he was removed from 
 the post of Minister to England on account of the opposition made by 
 an eminent Senator who honors me (him) with his friendship to the 
 Santo Domingo Treaty. 
 
 " Men are apt to attribute the causes of their own failures or their own 
 misfortunes to others than themselves, and to claim association or seek 
 a partnership with real or imaginary greatness with which to divide their 
 sorrows or their mistakes. There can be no question as to the identity 
 of the eminent Senator at whose door Mr. Motley is willing to deposit 
 the cause of his removal. But he is entirely mistaken in seeking a 
 vicarious cause of his loss in confidence and favor, and it is unworthy of 
 Mr. Motley s real merit and ability, and injustice to the venerable 
 Senator alluded to (to whose influence and urgency he was originally 
 indebted for his nomination}, to attribute to him any share in the cause 
 of his removal. 
 
 " Mr. Motley must know, or if he does not know it he stands alone 
 in his ignorance of the fact, that many Senators opposed the Santo Do 
 mingo Treaty openly, generously, and witli as tnucJi efficiency as did the 
 distinguished Senator to whom he refers, and have nevertheless con 
 tinued to enjoy the undiminished confidence and the friendship of the Presi 
 dent, than whom no man living is more tolerant of honest and manly 
 differences of opinion, is more single or sincere in his desire for the 
 
5/0 OFFICIAL INSULTS TO THE SENATOR. 
 
 public welfare, is more disinterested or regardless of what concerns him 
 self, is more frank and confiding in his own dealings, is more sensitive 
 to a betrayal of confidence, or would look with more scorn and contempt 
 upon one who uses the words and assurances of friendship to cover a 
 secret and determined purpose of hostility." (Senate Executive Docu 
 ment No. 11, pp. 36, 37, XLIst Congress. Third Session.) 
 
 The eulogy of the President here is at least singular, when it is con 
 sidered that every dispatch of the Secretary of State is by order of the 
 President; but it is evident that the writer of this dispatch had made up 
 his mind to set all rule at defiance. If beyond paying court to the Presi 
 dent, even at the expense of making him praise himself, the concluding 
 sentence of this elaborate passage, so full of gall from beginning to end, 
 had any object, if it were anything but a mountain of words, it was an 
 open attempt to make an official document the vehicle of personal in 
 sult to me, and this personal insult was signed " Hamilton Fish." As 1 
 became aware of it, and found also that it was regarded by others in the 
 same light, I was distressed and perplexed. I could not comprehend 
 it. I knew not why the Secretary should step so far out of his way, in 
 a manner absolutely without precedent, to treat me with ostentatious 
 indignity, especially when I thought that for years I had been his friend, 
 that I had never spoken of him except with kindness, and that con 
 stantly since assuming his present duties he had turned to me for help. 
 This was more incomprehensible when I considered how utterly ground 
 less were all his imputations. I have lived in vain if such an attempt 
 on me can fail to rebound on its author. 
 
 Not lightly would I judge an ancient friend. For a time I said 
 nothing to anybody of the outrage, hoping that perhaps the Secretary 
 would open his eyes to the true character of the document he had 
 signed, and volunteer some friendly explanation. Meanwhile a propo 
 sition to resume negotiations was received from England, and the Sec 
 retary, it seems, desired to confer with me on the subject ; but there 
 was evident consciousness on his part that he had done wrong, for, in 
 stead of coming to me at once, he sent for Mr. Patterson of the Senate, 
 and telling him that he wished to confer with me, added that he did not 
 know precisely what were his relations with me, and how I should re 
 ceive him. Within a brief fortnight I had been in conference with him 
 at the State Department and had dined at his house, beside about the 
 same time making a call there. Yet he was in doubt about his relations 
 with me. Plainly because since the conference, the dinner, and the 
 
THE SECRETARY S CONDUCT SET FORTH. 571 
 
 call, the document signed by him had been communicated to the Senate, 
 and the conscience-struck Secretary did not know how I should take it. 
 Mr. Patterson asked me what he should report. I replied, that should 
 the Secretary come to my house he would be received as an old friend, 
 and that at any time I should be at his service for consultation on pub 
 lic business, but that I could not conceal my deep sense of personal 
 wrong received from him absolutely without reason or excuse. That 
 this message was communicated by Mr. Patterson, I cannot doubt, for 
 the Secretary came to my house and there was a free conference. How 
 frankly I spoke on public questions without one word on other things, 
 the Secretary knows. He will remember if any inquiry, remark, or allu 
 sion escaped from me except in reference to public business. The 
 interview was of business and nothing else. 
 
 On careful reflection, it seemed to me plain, that, while meeting the 
 Secretary officially, it would not be consistent with self-respect for me 
 to continue personal relations with one who had put his name to a docu 
 ment, which, after protracted fury toward another, contained a studied 
 insult to me, where the fury is intensified rather than tempered by too 
 obvious premeditation. Public business must not suffer ; but, in such 
 a case, personal relations naturally cease ; and this rule 1 have followed 
 since. Is there any Senator who would have done less ? Are there 
 not many who would have done more ? I am at a loss to understand 
 how the Secretary could expect anything beyond those official relations 
 which I declared my readiness at all times to maintain, and which, even 
 after his assault on me, he was willing to seek at my own house. To 
 expect more shows on his part grievous insensibility to the thing he had 
 done. Whatever one signs he makes his own, and the Secretary, when 
 he signed this document, adopted a libel upon his friend, and when he 
 communicated it to the Senate he published the libel. Nothing like it 
 can be shown in the history of our Government. It stands alone. The 
 Secretary is alone. Like Jean Paul in German literature, his just title 
 will be "the only one." For years I have known Secretaries of State, 
 and often differed from them, but never before did I receive from one 
 anything but kindness. Never before did a Secretary of State sign a 
 document libelling an associate in the public service, and publish it to 
 the world. Never before did a Secretary of State so entirely set at 
 defiance every sentiment of friendship. It is impossible to explain this 
 strange aberration except from the disturbing influences of Santo 
 Domingo. But whatever its origin, its true character is beyond question. 
 
57 2 OFFICIAL MISREPRESENTATIONS. 
 
 As nothing like this State paper can be shown in the history of our 
 Government, so also nothing like it can be shown in the history of 
 other governments. Not an instance can be named in any country 
 where a personage in corresponding official position has done such a 
 thing. The American Secretary is alone, not only in his own country, 
 but in all countries ; " none but himself can be his parallel." Seneca, 
 in the Hercules Furens, has pictured him : 
 
 " Qiueris Alcicfoe parem ? 
 Nemo est nisi ipse." 
 
 He is originator and first inventor, with all prerogatives and responsibili 
 ties thereto belonging. 
 
 I have mentioned only one sally in this painful document ; but the 
 whole, besides its prevailing offensiveness, shows inconsistency with 
 actual facts of my own knowledge, which is in entire harmony with the 
 recklessness toward me, and attests the same spirit throughout. Thus 
 we have the positive allegation that the death of Lord Clarendon, June 
 27, 1870, "determined the time for inviting Mr. Motley to make place 
 for a successor," when, in point of fact, some time before his lordship s 
 illness, even the Secretary had invited me to go to London as Mr. Mot 
 ley s successor thus showing that the explanation of Lord Clarendon s 
 death was an after-thought when it became important to divert attention 
 from the obvious dependence of the removal upon the defeat of the 
 Santo Domingo treaty. 
 
 A kindred inconsistency arrested the attention of The London Times 
 in its article of January 24, 1871, on the document signed by the Secre 
 tary. Here, according to this journal, the document supplied the means 
 of correction, since it set forth that on the 25th June, two days before 
 Lord Clarendon s death, Mr. Motley scorning removal was announced in 
 a London journal. After stating the alleged dependence of the removal 
 upon the death of Lord Clarendon, the journal, holding the scales, re 
 marks, "And yet there is at least one circumstance appearing, strange 
 to say, in Mr. Fish s own dispatch, which is not quite consistent with the 
 explanation he sets up of Mr. Motley s recall." Then, after quoting 
 from the document, and mentioning that its own correspondent at Phila 
 delphia did, on the 25th June, " send us a message that Mr. Motley was 
 about to be withdrawn," the journal mildly concludes that " as this was 
 t>vo days before Lord Clarendon s death, which was unforeseen here, and 
 
THE TRUE REASONS FOR MOTLEY S REMOVAL. 5/3 
 
 could not have been expected in the States, it is difficult to connect the 
 resolution to supersede the late American Minister with the change at 
 our Foreign Office." The difficulty of The. Times is increased by the 
 earlier incident with regard to myself. 
 
 Not content with making the removal depend upon the death of 
 Lord Clarendon when if was heralded abroad, not only before the death 
 of this minister had occurred, but while it was yet unforeseen, the docu 
 ment seeks to antedate the defeat of the Santo Domingo treaty, so as to 
 interpose "weeks and months" between the latter event and the re 
 moval. The language is explicit. The treaty," says the document, 
 " was admittedly be practically dead, and was only wanting the formal 
 action of the Senate for weeks and months before the decease of the 
 illustrious statesman of Great Britain." Weeks and months. And yet 
 during the last month, when the treaty "was admitted to be practically 
 dead," the Secretary who signed the document passed three hours at 
 my house, pleading with me to withdraw my opposition, and finally 
 wound up by the tender to me of the English mission, with no other 
 apparent object than simply to get me out of the way. 
 
 Then again we have the positive allegation that the President em 
 braced an opportunity " to prevent any further misapprehension of his 
 views through Mr. Motley by taking from him the right to discuss 
 further the Alabama claims," whereas the Secretary, in a letter to me at 
 Boston, dated at Washington, Oct. gth, 1869, informs me that the dis 
 cussion of the question was withdrawn from London, " because [the ital 
 ics are the Secretary s] we think that when renewed it can be carried on 
 here, with a better prospect of settlement, than where the late attempt at 
 a convention which resulted so disastrously and was conducted so strange 
 ly was had ;" and what the Secretary thus wrote he repeated in conver 
 sation when we met, carefully making the transfer to Washington depend 
 upon our advantage here, from the presence of the Senate thus show 
 ing that the pretext put forth to wound Mr. Motley was an afterthought. 
 
 Still further, the document signed by the Secretary alleges, by way of 
 excuse for removing Mr. Motley, " the important public consideration 
 of having a representative in sympathy with the President s views," 
 whereas, when the Secretary tendered the mission to me, no allusion 
 was made to " sympathy with the President s views," while Mr. Motley, 
 it appears, was charged with agreeing too much with me all of which 
 
574 A Ft LL REVELATION OF THE FACTS. 
 
 shows how little this matter had to do with the removal, and how much 
 the Santo Domingo business at the time was above any question of con 
 formity on other things. 
 
 In the amiable passage already quoted there is a parenthesis which 
 breathes the prevailing spirit. By way of aspersion on Mr. Motley and 
 myself, the country is informed that he was indebted for his nomination 
 to "influence and urgency" on my part. Of the influence I know 
 nothing ; but I deny positively any "urgency. I spoke with the Presi 
 dent on this subject once casually, on the stairs of the Executive man 
 sion, and then again in a formal interview. And here, since the effort 
 of the Secretary, I shall frankly state what I said and how it was intro 
 duced. I began by remarking that, with the permission of the Presi 
 dent, I should venture to suggest the expediency of continuing Mr. 
 Marsh in Italy, Mr. Morris at Constantinople, and Mr. Bancroft at Ber 
 lin, as all these exerted a peculiar influence and did honor to our coun 
 try. To this list I proposed to add Dr. Howe of Greece, believing that 
 he, too, would do honor to our country, and also Mr. Motley in Lon 
 don, who, I suggested, would have an influence there beyond his official 
 position. The President said that nobody should be sent to London 
 who was not " right " on the claims question, and he kindly explained to 
 me what he meant by "right." From this time I had no conversation 
 with him about Mr, Motley, until after the latter had left for his post, 
 when the President volunteered to express his great satisfaction in the 
 appointment. Such was the extent of my "urgency;" nor was I 
 much in advance of the Secretary at that time, for he showed me what 
 was called the " brief" at the State Department for the English mission, 
 with Mr. Motley s name at the head of the list. 
 
 Other allusions to myself would be cheerfully forgotten if they were 
 not made the pretext to assail Mr. Motley, who is held to severe ac 
 count for supposed dependence on me. If this were crime, not the 
 Minister but the Secretary should suffer, for it is the Secretary and not 
 the Minister who appealed to me constantly for help, often desiring me 
 to think for him, and more than once to hold the pen for him. But 
 forgetting his own relations with me, the Secretary turns upon Mr. Mot 
 ley, who never asked me to think for him or to hold the pen for him. 
 Other things the Secretary also forgot. He forgot that the blow he 
 dealt, whether at Mr. Motley or myself, rudely tore the veil from the 
 past, so far as its testimony might be needed in elucidation of the truth ; 
 
BUHNER S RELATIONS WITH SECRETARY FISH. 575 
 
 that the document he signed was a challenge and provocation to meet 
 him on the facts, without reserve or concealment ; that the wantonness 
 of assault on Mr. Motley was so closely associated with that on me, 
 that any explanation that I might make must be a defence of him ; 
 that even if duty to the Senate and myself did not require this ex 
 planation, there are other duties not to be disregarded, among which 
 is duty to the absent, who cannot be pennitte.d to suffer unjustly 
 duty to a much-injured citizen of Massachusetts, who may properly 
 look to a Senator of his State for protection against official wrong 
 duty also to a public servant insulted beyond precedent, who besides 
 writing and speaking most effectively for the Republican party and for 
 this Administration, has added to the renown of our country by unsur 
 passed success in literature, commending him to the gratitude and good 
 will of all. These things the Secretary strangely forgot when he dealt 
 a blow which tore the vail. 
 
 The crime of the Minister was dependence on me. So says the 
 State paper. A simple narrative will show who is the criminal. My 
 early relations with the Secretary have already appeared, and how he 
 began by asking me for help, practising constantly on this appeal. A 
 few details will be enough. At once on his arrival to assume his new 
 duties he asked my counsel about appointing Mr. Bancroft Davis Assis 
 tant Secretary of State, and I advised the appointment, without suffi 
 cient knowledge I am inclined to believe now. Then followed the 
 questions with Spain growing out of Cuba, which were the subject of 
 constant conference, where he sought me repeatedly and kindly listened 
 to my opinions. Then came the instructions for the English mission 
 known as the dispatch of May 16, 1869. At each stage of these in 
 structions I was in the counsels of the Secretary. Following my sug 
 gestion he authorized me to invite Mr. Motley in his name to prepare 
 the " memoir " or essay on our claims, which, notwithstanding its en 
 tirely confidential character, he drags before the world, for the purpose 
 of assault, in a manner clearly unjustifiable. Then, as the dispatch 
 was preparing, he asked my help especially in that part relating to the 
 concession of belligerent rights. I have here the first draft of this im 
 portant passage in pencil and in my own handwriting, varying in no es 
 sential respect from that adopted. Here will be found the distinction 
 on which I have always insisted, that while other Powers conceded 
 belligerent rights to our rebels, it was in England only that the con 
 cession was supplemented by acts causing direct damage to the United 
 
576 MOTLEY S OFFICIAL CONDUCT. 
 
 States. Not long afterward, in August. 1869, when the British storm 
 had subsided, I advised that the discussion should be renewed by an elab 
 orate communication, setting forth our case in length and breadth, but 
 without any estimate of damages, throwing upon England the opportunity, 
 if not the duty, of making some practical proposition. Adopting this 
 recommendation, the Secretary invited me to write the dispatch. [ 
 thought it better that it should be done by another, and I named for 
 this purpose an accomplished gentleman, whom I knew to be familiar 
 with the question, and he wrote the dispatch. This paper, bearing date 
 Sept. 25, 1869, is unquestionably the ablest in the history of the pre 
 sent Administration, unless we except the last dispatch of Mr. 
 Motley. 
 
 In a letter dated at Washington, Oct. 15, 1869, and addressed to me 
 at Boston, the Secretary describes this paper in the following terms : 
 " The dispatch to Motley (which I learn by a telegram from him has 
 been received) is a calm, jfo// review of our entire case, making no de 
 mand, no valuation of damages, but I believe covering all the ground 
 and all the points that have been made on our side. I hope that it will 
 meet your views. I think it will. It leaves the question with Great 
 Britain to determine when any negotiations are to be renewed." The 
 Secretary was right in his description. It was "a full review of our 
 whole case ; " " covering all the ground and all the points ; " and it did 
 meet my views, as the Secretary thought it would, specially where it 
 arraigned so strongly that fatal concession of belligerent rights on the 
 ocean, which in any faithful presentment of the national cause, will 
 always be the first stage of evidence, since without this precipitate and 
 voluntary act, the common law of England was a positive protection 
 against the equipment of a corsair ship, or even the supply of a blockade 
 runner for unacknowledged rebels. The conformity of this dispatch 
 with my view s was recognized by others besides the Secretary. It is 
 well known that Lord Clarendon did not hesitate in familiar conversation 
 to speak of it as "Mr. Simmer s speech over again ; " while another 
 .English personage said that "it out-Sumnered Simmer." And yet with 
 his name signed to this dispatch, written at my suggestion, and in entire 
 conformity with my views, as admitted by him and recognized by the 
 English Government, the Secretary taunts Mr. Motley for supposed 
 harmony with me on this very question. This taunt is still more un 
 natural when it is known that this dispatch is in similar conformity with 
 the " memoir " of Mr. Motley, and was evidently written with knowl- 
 
OUR INSULTED MINISTER. 577 
 
 edge of that admirable document, where the case of our country is 
 stated with perfect mastery. But the story does not end here. 
 
 On the communication of this dispatch to the British Government, 
 Mr. Thornton was instructed to ascertain what would be accepted by 
 our Government, when the Secretary, under date of Washington, Nov. 
 6, 1869, reported to me this application, and then, after expressing un 
 willingness to act on it until he " could have an opportunity of consult 
 ing" me, he wrote, -When will you be here ? Will you either note what 
 you think will be sufficient to meet the views of the Senate and of the 
 country, or will you formulate such proposition ?" After this respon 
 sible commission, the letter winds up with the earnest request : " Let 
 me hear from you as soon as you can (the italics are the Secretary s), and 
 I should like to confer with you at the earliest convenient time." On 
 my arrival at Washington the Secretary came to my house at once, and 
 we conferred freely. Santo Domingo had not yet sent its shadow into 
 his soul. 
 
 It is easily seen that here was constant and reiterated appeal to me, 
 especially on our negotiations with England, and yet in the face of this 
 testimony, where he is the unimpeachable witness, the Secretary is 
 pleased to make Mr. Motley s supposed relations with me the occasion 
 of insult to him, while, as if this were not enough, he crowns his work 
 with personal assault on me all of which, whether as regards Mr. 
 Motley or me, is beyond comprehension. 
 
 How little Mr. Motley merited anything but respect and courtesy 
 from the Secretary, is attested by all who know his eminent position in 
 London, and the service he rendered to his country. Already the 
 London press, usually slow to praise Americans when strenuous for 
 their country, has furnished its voluntary testimony. The Daily News 
 of August 1 6, 1870, spoke of the insulted Minister in these terms : 
 
 We are violating no confidence in saying that all the hopes of Mr. 
 Motley s official residence in England have been amply fulfilled, and 
 that the announcement of his unexpected and unexplained recall was 
 received with extreme astonishment and unfeigned regret. The vacancy 
 he leaves cannot possibly be filled by a Minister more sensitive to the 
 honor of his Government, more attentive to the interests of his country, 
 and more capable of uniting the most rigorous performance of his public 
 duties with the high-bred courtesy and conciliatory tact and temper that 
 37 
 
5/8 SACRIFICE OF SENATOR AND MINISTER. 
 
 make those duties easy and successful. Mr. Motley s successor will 
 find his mission wonderfully facilitated by the firmness and discretion 
 that have presided over the conduct of American affairs in this country 
 during too brief a term, too suddenly and unaccountably concluded. 
 
 The London press had not the key to this extraordinary transaction. 
 It knew not the potency of the Santo Domingo spell ; nor its strange 
 influence over the Secretary, even breeding insensibility to instinctive 
 amenities, and awakening peculiar unfriendliness to Mr. Motley, so 
 amply certified afterward in an official document under his own hand 
 all of which burst forth with more than the tropical luxuriance of the 
 much-coveted island. 
 
 I cannot disguise the sorrow with which I offer this explanation. In 
 self-defence, and for the sake of truth, do I now speak. I have culti 
 vated forbearance, and hoped from the bottom of my heart that I might 
 do so to the end. But beyond the call of the public press has been the 
 defiant challenge of Senators, and also the consideration sometimes 
 presented by friends, that my silence might be misinterpreted. Tardily 
 and most reluctantly I make this record, believing it more a duty to the 
 Senate than to myself, but a plain duty to be performed in all simplicity 
 without reserve. Having nothing to conceal, and willing always to be 
 judged by the truth, I court the fullest inquiry, and shrink from no con 
 clusion founded on an accurate knowledge of the case. 
 
 If this narration enables any one to see in clearer light the injustice 
 done to Mr. Motley, then have I performed a further duty too long 
 postponed ; nor will it be doubted by any honest nature, that since the 
 assault of the Secretary, he was entitled to that vindication which is 
 found in a statement of facts within my own knowledge. Anything 
 short of this would be a license to the Secretary in his new style of 
 State paper, which, for the sake of the public service and of good-will 
 among men, must be required to stand alone, in the isolation which be 
 comes its abnormal character. Plainly without precedent in the past, 
 it must be without chance of repetition in the future. 
 
 Here I stop. My present duty is performed when I set forth the 
 simple facts, exhibiting those personal relations which have been drawn 
 in question, without touching the questions of principle behind. 
 
 TllUS HE BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH. 
 
SENATOR WILSON S WISE COUNSELS. 579 
 
 From The Boston Globe we extract : 
 
 The following letter from Vice-President Wilson, written while he was Senator, is 
 interesting as corroborating the statements in Sumner s suppressed speech. This let 
 ter was written only eight days after the death of Lord Clarendon, the event which, 
 according to Secretary Fish, fixed the time for Motley s removal. The letter was 
 written "after much reflection." The report of the contemplated removal must 
 have gained circulation and credit more than a week before the date of the letter to 
 have enabled Wilson to give much attention to it. 
 
 UNITED STATES SENATE CHAMBER, ) 
 WASHINGTON, July 5, 1870. ) 
 
 PRESIDENT GRANT Dear Sir : After much reflection I have decided that duty 
 demands that I should write to you my views touching the proposed removal of Mr. 
 Motley. I fear you will make a sad mistake if you remove him, and I beg of you to 
 consider the case carefully before acting. His removal is believed to be aimed at Mr. 
 Sumner. Right or wrong, this will be the construction put upon it. Can you, my 
 dear Sir, afford to have such an imputation rest upon your administration? Mr. 
 Motley is one of the best known and most renowned of our countrymen. In letters 
 he is recognized as one of the foremost living authors of our country or of the world. 
 Office can add little to his reputation. Removal from office, while it will wound his 
 feelings, will not affect his standing among the most cultivated of the age. I assure 
 you, my dear Sir, that the men of Massachusetts, who gave you more than 75,000 
 majority, are proud to number Mr. Motley among their most loved and honored sons. 
 They remember that during the war his pen, voice, and social influence and position 
 were on the side of his struggling country. They were grateful to you for his appoint 
 ment as Minister to England. I need not say that they are surprised at the rumor 
 that he is to be removed. They are pained to have it said that his removal is on 
 account of Mr. Simmer s opposition to the Santo Domingo treaty. His removal 
 will be regarded by the Republicans of Massachusetts as a blow not only at him, but 
 at Mr. Sumner. 
 
 There has been much feeling about the treaty. Imprudent words have been ut 
 tered, as they always are when men s feelings are excited. Perhaps Mr. Sumner may 
 have said things that may have been distasteful to you, but the people of Massachu 
 setts are with him as ten to one. Holding on general principles that the prominent 
 interests of the country would be advanced by a foothold in the Gulf, and wishing to 
 sustain your Administration whenever I could do so, I voted for the treaty, though I 
 knew that nine-tenths of the people of my State were against it, I had nothing to 
 gain and something to lose by such a vote. I am ready to take the consequences of 
 that vote, but I am not insensible to the fact that the dismissal of Mr. Motley, under 
 present circumstances, will not only be a loss to your Administration, but a blow to 
 me. Personally, I ask nothing, but I do entreat you, before acting, to look well to 
 the matter. Your Administration is menaced by great opposition, and it needs peace 
 and unity among the people and in Congress. The head of a great party, the Presi 
 dent of the United States has much to forget and forgive, but he can afford to be 
 magnanimous and forgiving. I want to see the President and Congress in harmony, 
 and the Republican party united and victorious. To accomplish this, we must all be 
 just, charitable, and forgiving. Very truly, 
 
 HENRY WILSON. 
 
580 SUMNER S BRIEF MARRIED LIFE. 
 
 IV. 
 
 This seems also to be the proper place to allude to 
 Mr. SUMNER S unfortunate marriage, but fortunately brief 
 married life. In speaking of it, the Boston Journal 
 holds the following discreet language : 
 
 At this period of his life 1866 the friends of Mr. Sumner were 
 much gratified by the announcement of his marriage with the widow of 
 a son of Hon. Samuel Hooper, formerly Miss Mason of Boston. The 
 union, however, proved unfortunate, and a separation by mutual con 
 sent soon followed, involving no diminution of respect to Mr. Sumner 
 on the part of those best acquainted with the circumstances. Though 
 thus deprived of the crowning felicities of a home, his house, with its 
 rare treasures of literature and art, and its host, ever far more genial in 
 private than his somewhat austere public life indicated, continued to be 
 one of the most attractive in Washington. 
 
 V. 
 
 It is a dangerous experiment, after a certain period of 
 life, especially such a life as a very great man, with con 
 firmed habits of seclusion and study, must lead to go out 
 into a new world, so foreign to the one he had lived in 
 so long, and leave forever the temple around whose 
 altars are hung all the garlands of triumph, and the 
 wreaths of an early love ; for the new life can never be 
 what once it miofht have been. Nor should it be too 
 
 o 
 
 rashly assumed, that amongst this class, however few 
 may be their number, there is a single life unhallowed 
 by romantic souvenirs. They may be buried away out of 
 sight from all others, deep under the fallen leaves of 
 many years ; but they are all still there, tremulous to 
 every sweep of Memory s wing. 
 
 In such cases, the tenderness that is still cherished, to 
 
PURE AND BEAUTIFUL LOVE FOR A MOTHER. 581 
 
 all appearances in vain, for the departed one, takes a 
 new direction ; and the love for such a mother as 
 CHARLES SUMNER had, may grow dearer with each 
 coming year. Each new silver hair, slowly stealing in 
 among the tresses of fresher days, only clothes the 
 head with the charm of a new consecration.* 
 
 There is nothing strange that such men are passion 
 ately admired by gifted and beautiful women. The 
 native gallantry of a fine soul, however, may often be 
 somewhat quenched by too constant a familiarity with 
 something that falls far below the divine ideal, for this 
 finds its best impersonation in the gentleness which 
 makes each man s mother a Madonna something holier 
 
 o 
 
 than a mere woman something apart from the other 
 million of women, gentle as may be the rustling of the 
 wings of the common flock. 
 
 And so, in a single life, where memory goes back fond 
 ly to this ideal that has lived so long, it finds its most ex 
 pressive limnings in the indefinable grace of a gentle and 
 beautiful mother. This, in such a man, becomes a 
 heroine-worship, which may be as sacred in the mascu 
 line soul, and sublimer, than the dewy love of girlhood s 
 morninor. 
 
 o 
 
 * A similar nearly a parallel case inspired these verses, addressed as a little 
 Christmas carol, to a very venerable, but still radiantly beautiful lady, who did so 
 much to brighten the life of the writer : 
 
 So gently has Old Father Time His fingers now seem soft and warm ; 
 
 Laid his cold fingers on thy head, The ice has melted from his frosty hand ; 
 
 I fain would ring for him another chime, His touch passed gently o er thy faultless form, 
 
 For he grows young in thee there are no dead. He must have breathed on thee from Summer Land. 
 
 And so the years go harmless by thee, 
 
 Leaving no sign but shining silver hair ; 
 And this, thy beauty s touching coronal, 
 
 Is the sole proof he has been there. 
 
582 WHEN MARRIAGE IS A LEAP IN THE DARK. 
 
 VI. 
 
 When life has gone on so long in this way, and the 
 brave, manly soul has preserved enshrined this worship 
 of woman in a mother s form, and it has filled the tem 
 ple of home with so much of the charm of the sunniest 
 matrimony, without its fretting cares, and its vulgar and 
 corroding passions to marry then is a leap in the dark : 
 the more so, when, through disparity of age, the gid 
 diness and absorption of early selfishness graze rather 
 harshly on the soberer serenity of the quiet afternoon of 
 life, and set the sensitive nerves trembling. The hazard 
 is still greater if it be a widow and above all, a young 
 one that becomes the new wife. If just one million of 
 such marriages were to pass before me in judgment, I 
 should exempt that million of brides from all blame in 
 the inevitable consequences that must follow this unna 
 tural wedding of Winter and Spring ; or better still, of 
 Spring and Autumn, for they are still further asunder 
 than the two other seasons. All this I believe to be 
 literally true : but in saying it, I feel very much as boys 
 do when they know they are skating over thin ice ; and 
 so the quicker the safer. 
 
 VII. 
 
 It would be difficult to conceive of circumstances more 
 auspicious for intellectual culture, than those which sur 
 rounded the life of CHARLES SUMNER. I have else 
 where spoken of some of them ; but the enumeration 
 would be far from complete if I omitted the most im 
 portant one, perhaps, of all personal social freedom : 
 
MARRIAGE NOT ALWAYS BEST. 583 
 
 for, with a brief interval, all through life he was master 
 of his own time, and of his own mind. 
 
 However much we may praise marriage, however 
 sacred it maybe as a divine institution. however beau 
 tiful the fruits which so often grow in the garden of wed 
 ded love, however indispensable the institution of fam 
 ily to the fair superstructure of civilization, and however 
 great the blessings that flow from married life, yet it is 
 not so unmixed a blessing necessarily, as not to preclude 
 in some instances, the acquisition of higher possessions 
 than ordinarily consist with the married state. 
 
 This is especially so, in those cases where an early 
 disappointment, for a long time, if not forever afterwards, 
 diverts the mind from social pleasure to the cultivation 
 of such pursuits as find their best realization only where 
 they engross all the powers of the being. It is not only 
 possible, but we constantly witness instances, where the 
 highest powers for achievement in learning, in explora 
 tion, and discovery and in many other fields of unself 
 ish effort, are brought into play for the good of mankind, 
 that we never should have heard of, if such capacities 
 and endowments had been engrossed in the endearments 
 of love, and the sweet charities of home. It is altogether 
 out of the question for any man to do full justice to the 
 absorbing cares of married life, filling all its duties com 
 pletely, and generously, to find time for doing his best 
 through a lifetime at anything else. Love is exacting ; 
 and the instances are very rare in which women have 
 been willing to waive devotion to themselves, that their 
 husbands might accomplish some great purpose. 
 
 And therefore the mystery all vanishes, which has 
 been supposed to hang over the infelicities of married 
 life, among men of genius. It ought to be a matter of 
 
584 ADVANTAGES OF PERSONAL FREEDOM. 
 
 no surprise that SOCRATES had his Xantippe ; that MIL 
 TON had no sympathizer in his own family with Paradise 
 Lost; that COLUMBUS should have had a discontented 
 wife ; or that the thousand and one great men who have 
 done the hardest and the best work yet accomplished 
 on the earth, should have found their home-gardens 
 pretty much overrun with weeds. This implies nothing in 
 derogation of the charms of woman, for such marriages 
 might be expected to be unhappy. It is well for men 
 gifted in so extraordinary a degree, not to marry. Lord 
 COKE said, " Law is a jealous mistress ; " and for that 
 matter, so is every other science, art, or pursuit which 
 will not yield up its choicest fruits to anything but abso 
 lute dedication.* 
 
 * The whole story is well told by a friend of ours who favored us with a glance at 
 that chapter of his autobiography devoted to an account of \i\$ first year of enforced 
 ^reedom from the engrossing cares of married life. Marrying very young a most 
 beautiful and charming girl, who became the mother of his children, and the presiding 
 divinity of the temple of home, where he worshipped, his heart never strayed, nor 
 was hers ever alienated. Encountering trials enough, it is true, in the strife of life, 
 but that life filled always with the sunshine of love ; with far more than an average 
 share of good fortune ; thirty-seven years of such happiness as are seldom witnessed 
 in succession, marked and rounded out a beautiful existence. All his affection was 
 in his home ; his heart was bound up in his wife and children. All that intellectual 
 and social culture could do, had been done for them all. In every land where they 
 traveled, and in every circle where they moved, they presented an exceptional instance 
 of domestic happiness. 
 
 With a fondness for literature and science, and rare opportunities for their culture, 
 they never impaired, in the faintest degree, his love as a father or a husband he was 
 an idolater of wife and children. But some very strange and unfortunate occur 
 rences took place, reflecting no dishonor, or even discredit, but being simply a sheer 
 misfortune. A visit to a distant relation was prolonged through the malign influence 
 of other parties, into temporary abandonment at least, and it were a long, sad tale 
 to tell. 
 
 His love had not been impaired, and in the utter desolation of his spirit, he was 
 driven to the verge of madness. But summoning all the strength of his character, 
 and all the pride of his manhood, he betook himself to his studies, and buried, as far 
 as he could, every thought of the past, in exclusive devotion to his beloved pursuits. 
 
 After a long time the storm passed the victory was achieved ; and becoming once 
 more master of his own mind and of his own time, the amount of work he performed, 
 
SUMNER S ONE ALL-ENGROSSING LOVE. 585 
 
 It may be urged that celibacy fosters egotism and 
 selfishness and in many cases it does. It need not be 
 so, nor will it if the person, be it man or woman, is dedi 
 cated to the service of humanity. Women like FLORENCE 
 NIGHTINGALE, and a myriad of bright names that have 
 adorned the single life of convent, and the active duties 
 of charity, have not made hard-hearted women. Such 
 lives as HOWARD and LIVINGSTONE led, did not make 
 hard-hearted men. In the prosecution of such pursuits, 
 very little food is found for nurturing egotism and self 
 ishness. It was fortunate for humanity, and fortunate 
 beyond estimate for the colored race, that CHARLES 
 SUMNER had but one all-engrossing love, and that this 
 love was for his brother man. 
 
 and its superb quality, became absolutely incredible. Having passed through sorrow 
 without bringing any of the bitterness of it away with him, and having recovered his 
 primitive health and strength, which had drooped for a while, he thus describes the 
 position in which he found himself : 
 
 " Personal Freedom. No more annihilation of time in what I have at last discov 
 ered were but the harassing cares and frivolous occupations of married life. The sweet 
 charities of domestic bliss have indeed fled ; but in the large space they once filled, 
 I find ample verge and room enough for sturdier, healthier and fresher plants to 
 grow ; plants which will return with the infallibility of eternal law, the fruit earned 
 by diligence and generosity of culture." 
 
 He was master of his own time, and of his own mind ; and for the first time since his 
 college days he says, " I had not thought of this, till E. s last letter, in which I was told 
 that I had been unqualifiedly discarded forever. Free ? It was a new idea so new 
 that I did not altogether take it in : nor have I, yet. But it will gradually unfold itself, 
 I think. Why ! only fancy how free I shall be every one of the twenty-four hours 
 of each day all my own : with none of the old calls to duty ; no unwelcome people 
 to meet ; no little thing to * get ; no ungrateful gossip to hear ; no irritating, hard, 
 cold, or bitter remarks, lightly dropped, but sharper than needles ! No forebodings 
 about what may happen ; no apprehensions of future poverty ; above all, the conscious 
 ness that no whole day, nor hour, was absolutely at my own control ! But to go to 
 bed only when I feel like it, to get up only when I am ready : to go out, and come 
 in, to read when, where, and what I please ; and walk or ride, or talk, or be silent ; 
 above all, perhaps, to have my own hours for communion with my own soul, as 
 everybody should have : all this ! it seemed too much ; more than I had deserved, 
 more than I have even yet learned how to use. Oh ! is it possible that I can feel 
 far enough away from the sight of the cruel coast where my lifeboat went to 
 
586 SETTLEMENT WITH ENGLAND BY ARBITRATION. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 During this year, 1872, Mr. SUMNER witnessed what 
 he justly deemed one of the most important events that 
 had occurred in the history of the intercourse of nations 
 the settlement of the long-pending" and constantly me 
 nacing difficulties between Great Britain and the United 
 States, BY ARBITRATION. It will be remembered that 
 
 pieces ? Will those rocks fade away clean out of view, as I take my staff, and 
 swing my little bundle over my shoulder, for the new, solitary journey ? I thank 
 God this shipwreck need not prove an unmixed disaster. In the future, I may find 
 it was all for the best. * My regime of living now works easy in all 
 
 things. Physically and intellectually I am master of my own mind, as well as of my 
 own time. The amount of work, of all kinds, I have done during the last few months, 
 is amazing, as I review it. Since my college days, I have had no such unrestricted 
 freedom ; nor was I ever conscious of acquiring or feeling so steadily increasing a 
 momentum, moral and intellectual. I feel it on starting from a short halt ; every 
 interruption, voluntary or accidental, seems to invest the machine with added power. 
 My soul, too, is fully at peace. I am conscious of a prevailing desire to act man 
 fully, and lojally, and filially towards God; honestly with myself, and with jus 
 tice and charity towards my fellow-men. I know how imperfectly I am doing all 
 this, no : I cannot know this : let me say I feel something of it. But I hear 
 the dying thunders, still rolling in the distance dark clouds still hang around 
 the horizon, and the red lightning flashes out angrily from their rifted masses. 
 If an unhappy dream wakes me in the deep night, a cold chill steals over 
 me, and I lie for hours in the paralysis of a deathly prostration : but these 
 periods occur less often, and now and then some of the loveliest visions come 
 in my sleep. A few nights since, I dreamed of the young days of our forest love, 
 with all its rapt embraces, and she was in all the dewy freshness of her beauty. We 
 wandered for hours along the lake, and strolled under the wide branches of the old 
 trees. Nor did I wake till the sun came through the window. How thankful I 
 was ! What gentle spirit painted that divine scene, and held the curtain with such 
 steady and patient hands? I shall know the artist, some day : I can more than half 
 guess, now." 
 
 " Yes ; now I can work. The few lares penates left, are all gathered around me ; 
 my tools are all laid out on my work-bench, and I have dedicated myself afresh to 
 the sole object of existence a higher life. Had it not been for a lifetime of intel 
 lectual culture, such a loss as I have gone through, would have driven me to madness." 
 
 " Such power to work, such breadth of comprehension of things possible to be 
 done, such acquisition of strength in geometrical ratio, by unbroken continuity, of 
 dedication to a grand thought this is not often coincident with the distracting 
 cares of married life." 
 
PEACE THE BEGINNING AND END OF HIS LIFE. 587 
 
 Mr. SUMNER began his political life, as we have men 
 tioned in an early part of this volume, in 1844, when he 
 pronounced the oration on THE TRUE GRANDEUR OF NA 
 TIONS ; the burden of which was PEACE, and which COB- 
 DEN, its most eloquent advocate in Europe, had pronounc 
 ed the noblest contribution ever made by any modern 
 writer to the cause of peace. In that oration the memor 
 able words were uttered which resounded through the 
 world ; which were quoted at every subsequent Peace 
 Convention on the globe, and which were received with 
 cheers when his health was drank at Geneva "In our 
 age, there can be no peace that is not honorable ; there 
 can be no war that is not dishonorable." 
 
 He was now to see the two foremost nations of the 
 earth practically adopt that sentiment, and come for 
 ward, setting an example for the first time, on so broad 
 a scale, of yielding up all their claims and disputes to 
 the awards of a peaceful arbitration. How far his re 
 peated and noble efforts in behalf of this cause, had been 
 influential in bringing about this grand result, can, of 
 course, never be known. But in conversation with some 
 of the ablest men who assisted in that arbitration, I was 
 left without a doubt that not one of them had escaped 
 the influence of the mind of CHARLES SUMNER during 
 the last quarter of a century. Nor could he consider 
 that he had led his life in vain, had he had no other re 
 ward than the consciousness of having contributed so 
 largely to so great an event. It was the first triumph 
 the Peace Party of the world had ever won. It rendered 
 subsequent victories easier ; it inspired the lovers of 
 Peace and Humanity everywhere with new hope. The 
 dawn of a better day was approaching; its first gray 
 lines were fretting the east ; the lark was singing at 
 
588 THE OLIVE BRANCH TO ALL NATIONS. 
 
 heaven s gate ; and the Dove of Peace was on its flight, 
 with the olive-branch in her mouth,, to all the nations. 
 
 SENATOR SUMNER S WILL. 
 
 Mr. Francis V. Balch, the executor of Senator Sumner s will, entered it for probate 
 in Boston. It is written by the Senator s own hand : 
 
 1. I bequeath to Henry W. Longfellow, Francis V. Balch and Edward L. Pierce, 
 as trustees, all my papers, manuscripts and letter-books, to do with them what they 
 think best, with power to destroy them, to distribute them in some public library, or 
 to make extracts from them for publication. 
 
 2. I bequeath to the trustees above mentioned $3,000, or so much as may be 
 needed to complete the edition of my speeches and papers, should the same be 
 unfinished at my death. It is hoped that no part of this sum will be needed. 
 
 3. I bequeath to the library of Harvard College my books and autographs, whether 
 in Washington or Boston, with the understanding that duplicates of works already 
 belonging to the college library may be sold or exchanged for its benefit. 
 
 4. I bequeath to the City of Boston, for the Art Museum, my pictures and 
 engravings, except the picture known as the "Miracle of the Slave," with the 
 injunction that the trustees shall do with them what they think best, disposing of all 
 for the benefit of the museum. 
 
 5. I bequeath to my friends of many years, Henry W. Longfellow and Samuel 
 G. Howe, my bronzes, to be divided between them ; also to Henry W. Longfellow 
 the Psyche and that bust of the young Augustus, in marble ; to my friend Joshua B. 
 Smith, the picture known as the " Miracle of the Slave," and to the City of Boston, 
 for the Art Museum, the bust of myself, by Crawford, taken during my visit to Rome 
 in 1839. 
 
 6. I bequeath to the daughters of Henry W. Longfellow $2,000, also to the 
 daughters of Samuel G. Howe $2,000, and to the daughters of James T. Furniss of 
 Philadelphia $2,000, which I ask them to accept in token of my gratitude for the 
 friendship their parents have shown me. 
 
 7. I bequeath to Hannah Richmond Jacobs, only surviving sister of my mother, an 
 annuity of $500, to be paid by my executor for the remainder of her life. 
 
 8. I direct my executor to make all provision for perpetual care of my mother s lot 
 at Mount Auburn. 
 
 9. I bequeath to the President and Fellows of Harvard College $1,000, in trust 
 for an annual prize for the best dissertation by any student of the College or any of 
 its schools, undergraduate or graduate, on universal peace and the methods by which 
 war may be permanently suspended. I do this in the hope of drawing the attention 
 of students to the practicability of organizing peace among nations, which I sincerely 
 believe may be done. I cannot doubt that the same modes of decision which now 
 prevail between individuals, between towns and between smaller communities, may be 
 extended to nations. 
 
SENATOR SUMNER S WILL. 589 
 
 10. All the residue of my estate, real and personal, I bequeath and devise to my 
 executor in trust, to be sold at such time and in such way as he shall think best, the 
 proceeds to be distributed in two equal moieties, as follows : One moiety to be paid 
 my sister, Julia Hastings, wife of John Hastings of San Francisco, Cal., for her sole 
 and exclusive use ; or, should she die before me, then in equal portions to her three 
 daughters or the survivor, each portion to be for the sole and exclusive use of such 
 daughter. The other moiety to be paid to the President and Fellows of Harvard 
 College, in trust, for the benefit of the College library, my desire being that the in 
 come should be applied to the purchasing of books relating to politics and fine arts. 
 This bequest is made in filial regard for the College. In selecting especially the 
 library, I am governed by the consideration that all my life I have been a user of 
 books, and having few of my own, I have relied on the libraries of friends and on 
 public libraries ; so that what I now do is only a return for what I have freely re 
 ceived. 
 
 11. I appoint Francis V. Balch executor of this will, and desire that the trustees 
 of my papers may be exempt from giving bonds. 
 
 In testimony whereof, I hereunto set my hand this second day of September, 1873, 
 at Boston. CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 THE END. 
 
LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 SECTION FIRST. 
 Parentage and Education* 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Author s Tribute to Sumner 
 
 The Three Great Funerals of our time Lin 
 coln, Greeley, Sumner 2 
 
 Parentage and Auspicious Birth 3 
 
 Academic and University Course 4 
 
 Study and Practice of Law. He delivers Law 
 Lectures. Edits Dunlap s Treatise 5 
 
 SECTION SECOND. 
 European Studies and Travels. 
 
 Sails for Europe 6 
 
 Travels and Studies in France, Germany, Italy 7 
 
 SECTION THIRD. 
 Professional Life, 1840. 
 Lectures at the Law School. Edits Vesey s 
 Reports. Continues legal studies and 
 practice until 1846 8-9 
 
 SECTION FOURTH. 
 Orations and Political SfeecJies. 
 Enters on Public Life, 1844. Commences war 
 
 upon American Slavery 10 
 
 Speech on the True Grandeur of Nations n 
 
 Indications of Political Principles 12 
 
 Sumner s Trials of Character 13 
 
 He joins the Anti-Slavery Society 14 
 
 Constitutional Hostility to Slavery 15 
 
 Admission of Texas opposed 16 
 
 Opposition to Admission of Missouri 17 
 
 Slavery made our own original sin 18 
 
 " Let us try" 19 
 
 Massachusetts foremost. . . .20 
 
 Anti-Slavery duties of Whigs 21 
 
 Conservatism of Everett and Webster 22 
 
 Whigs should be for Freedom , . . . 23 
 
 Duty of the Whig Party 24 
 
 Webster in 1820 25 
 
 Franklin s Abolition Society 26 
 
 John Quincy Adams 27 
 
 Appeal to Webster 28 
 
 War with Mexico , 29 
 
 Mr. Sumner to represent himself. 30 
 
 Sumner s Rebuke of Winthrop 31 
 
 Opposition to the Mexican War 32 
 
 Winthrop s Subterfuges 33 
 
 Winthrop s Subserviency to Slave Power 34 
 
 Final Appeal to Winthrop 35 
 
 Advocacy of Dr. Howe s Election 36 
 
 Instantly cease wrong-doing 37 
 
 Friends of America in Parliament 38 
 
 Liberty defended in Parliament 39 
 
 Fox Barre Burke 40 
 
 Lord Chatham Duke of Richmond 41 
 
 Wilkes Fox Sheridan 42 
 
 The Free-Soil Party coming 43 
 
 Charles Francis Adams Noble Course 44 
 
 Sumner s great speech at Worcester. : 45 
 
 Audacity of the Slave Power 46 
 
 The Spirit of the Fathers , 47 
 
 Freedom Power vs. Slave Power 48 
 
 Continuance of the American Revolution 49 
 
 Liberty Equality Fraternity 50 
 
 Presidential Nominations at Buffalo 51 
 
 Sumner s Ratification Speech 52 
 
 Protection to man the American System 53 
 
 The Candidates Van Buren and Adams. ... 54 
 
 Washington Lafayette Otis Henry 55 
 
 Some Practical Plan for Action 56 
 
592 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Speech at the Worcester Convention 57 
 
 A Permanent National Party 58 
 
 Old Party Issues Obsolete 59 
 
 The Founders of the Republic 60 
 
 Jefferson an Abolitionist 61 
 
 Franklin s Abolition Petition 62 
 
 The Country becomes Pro-Slavery 63 
 
 Catalogue of Slavery Aggressions 64 
 
 Usurpations of Slavery 65 
 
 Degrading Influence of Slavery 66 
 
 The Remedy Slavery Prohibition 67 
 
 The Wilmot Proviso 68 
 
 Government must favor Freedom 69 
 
 Taylor s Administration condemned 70 
 
 Its Pro-Slavery Character 71 
 
 A National Party necessary 72 
 
 Free-Soilism not Sectionalism 73 
 
 Same Principles in State Elections 74 
 
 Rights of Colored People to Education 75 
 
 His Democratic Christian Soul 76 
 
 Ostracism of the Colored Race 77 
 
 Trial before the Supreme Court 78 
 
 All Men Equal before the Law 79 
 
 The Encyclopedic D Alembert Diderot 80 
 
 Origin of Equality among Alen 81 
 
 Condorcet s Declaration 82 
 
 Declarations of Rights in France 83 
 
 Rights of all to Schools * 84 
 
 Courts of Massachusetts 85 
 
 Exclusion of the Colored from Schools 86 
 
 Color Race Caste 87 
 
 Barbarism and Cruelty of Caste 88 
 
 Change in the Times 89 
 
 The grand Revelation of Christianity 90 
 
 Benefits of Acquaintance 91 
 
 Equality before the Law 92 
 
 The Christian Spirit Invoked 93 
 
 Webster s only Successor. 94 
 
 Webster s Statesmanship 95 
 
 California Admitted as a Free State 96 
 
 Slavery not Prohibited Elsewhere.. . 97 
 
 Balance of Power Overturned 98 
 
 Denial of Trial by Jury 99 
 
 A worse Tyranny than the Stamp Act 100 
 
 His Feelings towards the Law 101 
 
 Duties of Massachusetts Men 102 
 
 Sumner s Election to the Senate 103 
 
 Vote of the Legislature 104 
 
 The Press on his Election. 105 
 
 The Boston Journals 106 
 
 The Post Commonwealth Transcript . . . . 107 
 
 Serenity under Vituperation 108 
 
 The Free-Soilers of the Senate 109 
 
 SECTION FIFTH. 
 
 Senatorial Career. 
 
 His Senatorial Career begins no 
 
 Mrs. Stowe Condition of the Country in 
 
 PA OH 
 
 Sumner s Senatorial Oath 112 
 
 He gets the Floor at last 113 
 
 Petition of Society of Friends 114 
 
 Freedom National Slavery Sectional 115 
 
 He Disclaims Violence and Discourtesy 116 
 
 No Compromise Final 117 
 
 Freedom of Speech above all 1 18 
 
 Relations of the Government to Slavery 119 
 
 Slavery and the National Government 120 
 
 Slavery not in the Preamble 121 
 
 It Speaks for Freedom 122 
 
 Slavery Excluded from the Constitution 123 
 
 The Rights of Human Nature 124 
 
 Freedom is National 135 
 
 Washington Inaugurated, April 30, 1789 126 
 
 Not a Slave under the National Flag 127 
 
 Jefferson always Denounced Slavery 128 
 
 All the Churches Opposed to Slavery 129 
 
 Literature the Foe of Slavery ... 130 
 
 Franklin s Abolition Society 131 
 
 Franklin s Prayer to Congress 132 
 
 Prerogatives of the Constitution 133 
 
 Persons are not Property 134 
 
 The Constitution cannot Support Slavery 135 
 
 Surrender of Fugitive Slaves 136 
 
 The First Hateful Compromise 137 
 
 First National Convention 138 
 
 No Proposition for Property in Slaves 139 
 
 At Last the Fugitive Stave Bill 140 
 
 The Writ of Habeas Corpus Overthrown 141 
 
 Congressional Usurpation 142 
 
 Madison Morse Franklin Sherman 143 
 
 Trial by Jury Denied 144 
 
 Elbridge Gerry s Suggestion adopted 145 
 
 Judicial Decisions for Freedom 146 
 
 Under the Common Law 147 
 
 Unconstitutionally of the Slave Act 148 
 
 The Inflexible Samuel Adams 149 
 
 Boston s Opposition to the Stamp Act 150 
 
 Virginia Responds to Boston 151 
 
 The Stamp Act is Repealed 152 
 
 Washington Opposed to Forcible Rendition. . 153 
 
 Washington Leaves his Slaves Free 154 
 
 Who Could Sing for Slavery 155 
 
 Arago Redeemed from Slavery 156 
 
 Review of the Argument 157 
 
 Slave that Litany of Wrong and Woe 158 
 
 The Final Conclusion 159 
 
 Injustice cannot Command Obedience 160 
 
 Duty of Disobeying the Slave Law 161 
 
 Senator Kale s Praises 162 
 
 Senator Chase s Eulogium 163 
 
 Seward, Wilson, and the Phillips unite 164 
 
 European Opinions of the Speech 165 
 
 Downing, the Landscape Gardener 166 
 
 Addresses the Free-Soil Convention 167 
 
 Old Parties Pro-Slavery 168 
 
 New Parties always Triumph 169 
 
INDEX. 
 
 593 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Rising Party of Freedom 170 
 
 Courses of Free-Soil Lectures. 171 
 
 Sumner at the Metropolitan Theatre 172 
 
 Change Wrought in Twenty Years 173 
 
 Special Duties of the North 174 
 
 Necessity of the Anti-Slavery Enterprise 175 
 
 The Law of Slavery 176 
 
 An Outrage on Man and God 177 
 
 Alleged Distinction of Race 178 
 
 One Great Human Family 179 
 
 A Human Being not Property 180 
 
 Practicability of Anti-Slavery Enterprise 181 
 
 The Question to be openly Confronted 182 
 
 Right Cannot be Founded on Wrong 183 
 
 Emancipation not Dangerous 184 
 
 Instant Freedom safe for the Slave 185 
 
 Good of the Enterprise Already 186 
 
 Inherent Dignity of the Enterprise 187 
 
 Freedom the Darling of History 188 
 
 Hard Words Personal Disparagement 189 
 
 At Last there is a North 190 
 
 The God Thor, and his Cup 191 
 
 Why Slavery Concerns the North 192 
 
 Masterdom of Slave Oligarchy 193 
 
 Giant Strength used Heartlessly 194 
 
 The Great Duty of the North 195 
 
 Mr. Hayes Noble Resignation 196 
 
 This Enterprise must go on 197 
 
 Inscriptions on Achilles Shield 198 
 
 The Press on the Lecture 199 
 
 Count Gurowski Mr. Seward 200 
 
 Reasons against Secrecy in the Senate 201 
 
 Speech in Faneuil Hall 202 
 
 He addresses only Republicans 203 
 
 The Question National and Local 204 
 
 Old Abolitionism in Massachusetts 205 
 
 The Constitution Ordained for.Freedom 206 
 
 Horace Mann in Congress 207 
 
 What the Slave Oligarchy Appropriates 208 
 
 Inferiority of Slave States" 209 
 
 Usurpations of Slavery 210 
 
 Every Demand of Slavery Conceded 211 
 
 The Missouri Compromise Abolished 212 
 
 Outrages in Kansas 213 
 
 To Build another Slave State 214 
 
 Prostration of the Slave Oligarchy 215 
 
 Wedded to Freedom 216 
 
 The Rip Van Winkle Whigs 217 
 
 The Great Phalanx now Rallying 218 
 
 No Check on Emigration 219 
 
 W T hat Foreigners have done for us 220 
 
 Franklin the Apostle of Freedom 221 
 
 Principles of the New Party 222 
 
 Adams Otis Patrick Henry 223 
 
 Corner-stone of the New Party 224 
 
 Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act asked 225 
 
 Sumner Enforces the Petition 2?6 
 
 Boston Stamp Act Tea Act 227 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Boston led the Column of Freedom 228 
 
 Pitt Demanded Repeal 229 
 
 Reply to Assailants 230 
 
 Answers Mason and Butler 231 
 
 Jackson s Words in 1832 232 
 
 Duties under the Oath 233 
 
 Far-famed Resolutions of 1798 234 
 
 A Tribute to Massachusetts 235 
 
 No Slave born in Massachusetts 236 
 
 Massachusetts Exterminates Slavery 237 
 
 No Injustice to South Carolina 238 
 
 Quota of Revolutionary Troops 239 
 
 The South Always Behind 240 
 
 General Greene s Testimony 241 
 
 Ramsay s History of the Revolution 243 
 
 Military Weakness of Southern States 243 
 
 The Rights of Human Nature 244 
 
 The Crime Against Kansas 245 
 
 Vice-President Wilson s Account 246 
 
 Analysis of the Speech 247 
 
 Assault on Sumner 248 
 
 Meeting at Seward s House 249 
 
 A Committee of Inquiry 250 
 
 Behavior of Senators 251 
 
 Toombs Justifies Brooks 252 
 
 Brooks Challenges Wilson 253 
 
 Brooks Expelled Keitt Resigns 254 
 
 The South Endorses Brooks 255 
 
 Buchanan Approves the Assault 256 
 
 Burlingame Denounces the Assault 257 
 
 Brooks Challenge Accepted 258 
 
 Voice of Faneuil Hall 259 
 
 Fate of Keitt and Brooks 260 
 
 Europe with the Union 261 
 
 The Approaching Conflict . 262 
 
 The Crime Against Kansas 263 
 
 A Tyrannical Usurpation 264 
 
 Fratricidal, Patricidal War 265 
 
 The Woe and Shame of the Crime 266 
 
 Its Origin and Extent 267 
 
 Forced on a Reluctant North 268 
 
 How the Crime was Engendered 269 
 
 The Nebraska Act a Swindle 270 
 
 Its Offensive Provisions. . . . 
 
 is 271 
 
 It Cleared the Way for Slavery 272 
 
 A Picture of Direful Truth 273 
 
 How the Territory was Overrun 274 
 
 Grand Invasion of the Territory 275 
 
 The Bursting of the Storm 276 
 
 The Governor s Servility to Slavery 277 
 
 Five Invasions of Kansas 278 
 
 Civilization Averts her Face 279 
 
 Bowie-knives and Revolvers 280 
 
 How the Crime was done 281 
 
 Foreigners Impose a Constitution 282 
 
 Squatter Sovereignty 283 
 
 Irrefragable Testimony 284 
 
 Slavery Erected in Kansas 258 
 
594 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Apologies for the Crime 286 
 
 The Apology Tyrannical 287 
 
 Apology Imbecile 288 
 
 Apology Absurd 289 
 
 Remedies Proposed 290 
 
 Remedy of Tyranny of Folly 291 
 
 Remedy of Civil War 292 
 
 Usurpation must be Overthrown 293 
 
 Reaching the Goal 294 
 
 The American President Guilty 295 
 
 SECTION SIXTH. 
 The Interval of Illness and Repose. 
 
 His Health when Assaulted 296 
 
 The Seaside and the Mountains 297 
 
 Welcome of Massachusetts 298 
 
 His Reception Speech ._ 299 
 
 His Portrait of his Mother State 300 
 
 Some of Her False Children 301 
 
 Tribute to Josiah Quinoy 302 
 
 Re-election to the Senate 303 
 
 His Sojourn in Europe 304 
 
 Dr. Brown-Sequard 305 
 
 Return to the Senate 306 
 
 SECTION SEVENTH. 
 Return to the Senate. 
 
 Again in the Front of Battle 307 
 
 Speech on the Barbarism of Slavery 308 
 
 Responses to His Great Speech 309 
 
 The Gathering Storm 3 to 
 
 The Barbarism of Slavery Portrayed 311 
 
 No Personal Griefs to Utter 312 
 
 Slavery must be Discussed 313 
 
 Arrogant Assumptions of Slavery 314 
 
 Satan always Satan 315 
 
 Slavery s First Assumption 316 
 
 Two Civilizations Impossible 317 
 
 He lets Slavery Paint Itself 318 
 
 The Slave for the Master s Use 319 
 
 The Abrogation of Marriage 320 
 
 Abrogation of the Parental Relation 321 
 
 Appropriation of the Slave s Toil 322 
 
 Jean Jacques Rousseau Dr. Channing 323 
 
 Degradation of a Whole Race 324 
 
 Origin of Slavery in Africa 325 
 
 Home of the Slave Code 326 
 
 Practical Result of Slavery 327 
 
 The Harpy defies the Banquet 328 
 
 Slave and Free States Contrasted 329 
 
 Agriculture Mining Mechanics 330 
 
 Domestic and Foreign Commerce 331 
 
 Railroads Post-offices Charity 332 
 
 Educational Establishments 333 
 
 In Systems of Common Schools 334 
 
 Public Libraries 335 
 
 The Press Printers Publishers 336 
 
 Authors Patents Emigration 337 
 
 Life-giving Power of Freedom 338 
 
 The Barbary of the Union 339 
 
 Mr. Chestnut, of South Carolina 340 
 
 His Uncontrollable Rage 341 
 
 Madness Precedes Destruction. 342 
 
 Campaign Speech at Cooper Institute 343 
 
 Lincoln s Administration Ratified 344 
 
 SECTION EIGHTH. 
 
 The War of the Rebellion. 
 
 First Shot into Fort S umter 345 
 
 Dead Nations never Return 346 
 
 Vision of Liberty in the New World 347 
 
 Our Progress till 1860 348 
 
 Arrested at our Belshazzar Feast 349 
 
 Sumner s Mighty Influence 350 
 
 Another Speech at Worcester 351 
 
 He Invokes Emancipation 352 
 
 He Exults in View of the Past 353 
 
 Emancipation would end the War 354 
 
 The Author s Intercourse with Mr. Sumner. . . 355 
 
 Sumner Urges Lincoln in Vain 356 
 
 Pro-Slavery Policy of the Cabinet 357 
 
 Gen. Butler s Contrabands 358 
 
 Reasons why Lincoln Hung Back 359 
 
 Sumner Firmly for Emancipation 360 
 
 Sumner again at Cooper Institute 361 
 
 One Step towards Emancipation 362 
 
 Death of Col. Baker at Ball s Bluff 363 
 
 Washington during the War 364 
 
 A Secession Capital 365 
 
 A Den of the She-vipers Broken up 366 
 
 The News at Willard s 367 
 
 Who Owns the Mississippi ? 368 
 
 Baker s Grave in California 369 
 
 Baker s Last Speech in the Senate 370 
 
 Sumner s Eulogy on Baker 371 
 
 Who Killed Baker? 372 
 
 Codifying the National Statutes 373 
 
 No Patents for Colored Inventors 374 
 
 On the Seizure of Mason and Slidell 375 
 
 Circumstances of the Seizure 376 
 
 Rash Proposals in Congress 377 
 
 England Bent on War 378 
 
 British Conduct Severely Criticised 379 
 
 Why the Commissioners were Surrendered . . . 380 
 
 Sumner s Speech on the Trent Affair 381 
 
 Condition of Mexico in 1862 382 
 
 Minister Corwin s Opinion 383 
 
 End of an Insane Expedition 384 
 
 A Prophetic Letter 385 
 
 Slavery Abolished in the District of Columbia. 386 
 
 Sumner s Bright and Dark Hours 387 
 
 Recognition of Liberia and Hayti 388 
 
INDEX. 
 
 595 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Violent Opposition from the South 389 
 
 An Evening with the Haytian Minister 390 
 
 A Description of Him 391 
 
 Treaty for Suppressing the Slave Trade 392 
 
 Sumner Milestones 393 
 
 Speech against Rendition of Fugitives 394 
 
 The Battle-Flag Resolution 395 
 
 Sumner Endorsed by Gen. Scott 396 
 
 Answer to " How will all this End ? " 397 
 
 An American Slave Empire 398 
 
 Gov. Stanley Closes Colored Schools 399 
 
 Sumner Calls for Information 400 
 
 Sumner s Confidence in Lincoln 401 
 
 Mr. Lincoln s Character Drawn 402 
 
 Mr. Lincoln s Written Opinion 403 
 
 Sumner on Our Foreign Relations 404 
 
 How Europe Felt Toward Us 405 
 
 Friendship of Russia 406 
 
 Bayard Taylor s Ode to Russia 407 
 
 England s Feeling in Contrast 408 
 
 Insincerity of English Professions 409 
 
 Hatred of England s Ruling Classes 410 
 
 Dr. Beattie s Address to Our Poets 411 
 
 Starvation in England 412 
 
 England Owed Us no Good-will 413 
 
 Plain Letter to Lord John Russell 414 
 
 His Unworthy Conduct 415 
 
 England Our Step-mother 416 
 
 Sumner for Colored Troops 417 
 
 Author s Historic Statement 418 
 
 Negro Troops in Washington s Army 419 
 
 Colored Heroes at Red Bank 420 
 
 Commodore Chauncey s Black Sailors 421 
 
 Gen. Jackson s Proclamation in 1814 422 
 
 Jackson s Address to Colored Troops 423 
 
 Advantages of Colored Soldiers 424 
 
 180,000 Colored Troops in the Union Army.. . 425 
 
 Senator Arnold on Public Defence 426 
 
 Improvement in the Colored Race 427 
 
 An Evening s Reading to Sumner 428 
 
 Heroism in the Hospital 429 
 
 Dying Away from Home 430 
 
 Scenes in the Washington Hospitals 431 
 
 A Brave Oneida County Boy 432 
 
 The Two Loadstones Love, Country 433 
 
 Coming Back to Life 434 
 
 Is Bella Well? 435 
 
 Liberty Cheap at Any Price 436 
 
 Sumner again at Cooper Institute 437 
 
 The Morning Star of London 438 
 
 Once More in Faneuil Hall 439 
 
 Elected for the Third Term 440 
 
 Horace Greeley on Charles Sumner 441 
 
 Effect of Lincoln s Proclamation 442 
 
 Colored Suffrage in District of Columbia 443 
 
 Sympathy with Emperor Alexander 444 
 
 The Emperor of Russia 445 
 
 How to Treat the Rebel States 446 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Military Rule in the South 447 
 
 Possible Abuse of the Power 448 
 
 Carpet-bagism in the South 449 
 
 The Southern States Vacated 450 
 
 Three Sources of Congressional Power 451 
 
 Meaning of Republican Reform 452 
 
 Sumner s Constitutional Argument 453 
 
 The Proclamation of Emancipation 454 
 
 Death-Knell of American Slavery 455 
 
 Slavery Dead Never Lives Again 456 
 
 SECTION NINTH. 
 Emancipation of the African Race. 
 
 Slavery Dies Hard 457 
 
 Bureau of Freedmen s Affairs 458 
 
 Speech on the Freedmen s Bureau 459 
 
 Helplessness of the Emancipated 460 
 
 First Commission on Freedmen 461 
 
 Letter of Counsel to Africano-Americans 462 
 
 Resolutions Offered for Retaliation 463 
 
 Barbarity Proposed for Barbarity 464 
 
 Sumner s Civilized Substitute 465 
 
 New Pledges for Ending the Rebellion 466 
 
 Speech Sustaining the Substitute 467 
 
 On Building the Pacific Railroad 468 
 
 Union of Mississippi and Lakes 469 
 
 j Amendment Abolishing Slavery 470, 
 
 I The Constitution Opposed to Slavery 471 
 
 The Constitution Analyzed 472 
 
 Constitutional Slavery an Outlaw 473 
 
 Wilson s Anti-Slavery Measures 474 
 
 The Dark in the White House 475 
 
 j Hints for Union Speeches 476 
 
 I How Slavery has Destroyed Nations 477 
 
 | Debt of America to Africa 478 
 
 j Thirteen Million Africans Immolated 479 
 
 I Counts in our Terrible Indictment 480 
 
 What Africa has Suffered 481 
 
 All Hail ! Niobe of the Nations 482 
 
 Duty to Fallen Soldiers 483 
 
 Plea for National Cemeteries 484 
 
 Congress Adopts the Plan 485 
 
 SECTION TENTH. 
 Downfall of the Rebellion. 
 
 Gen. Lee s Parting with His Soldiers 486 
 
 Lincoln s Visit to Richmond 487 
 
 Lincoln s Assassination 488 
 
 Sumner s Eulogy of Lincoln 489 
 
 Anti-Slavery Measures of Congress 490 
 
 \Vhat Slavery had been 491 
 
 How Slavery Died 492 
 
 Final Extinction of Slavery 493 
 
 Availability a Fatal Policy 494 
 
 Andrew Johnson becomes President 495 
 
59 6 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Andrew Johnson s Character 496 
 
 The Augean Stables Cleansed 497 
 
 The Three Great Amendments 498 
 
 The Johnson-Clarendon Treaty. 499 
 
 Sumner s Speech on the Treaty 500 
 
 Civil Rights Supplement Bill 501 
 
 Justice to the Colored Race Everywhere 502 
 
 The Presidency as a Trust 503 
 
 Sumner s Letter to Colored Citizens 504 
 
 The Wonderful Year 1870 505 
 
 Joy in Washington over the Ratification 506 
 
 Sumner s Response to the Serenade 507 
 
 The San Domingo Scheme 508 
 
 Colored Convention in South Carolina 509 
 
 Address to the American People 510 
 
 Sumner s Letter to the Colored Convention. . . 511 
 
 His Advice to the Convention 512 
 
 Colored National Convention, New Orleans.. 513 
 
 A Friend s Last Evening with Sumner 514 
 
 Sumner at Home 515 
 
 Last Speech in the Senate 516 
 
 SECTION ELEVENTH. 
 His Death, and Public Honors to His Memory. 
 
 Descriptions of the Closing Scenes 517 
 
 His Friends at His Last Dinner 518 
 
 Feeling in Washington. Mr. Dana s Sun. . . . 519 
 
 Sumner s Last Hours 520 
 
 Friends around his Death-bed 521 
 
 He Dies at 2:50 P.M., March n, 1874 522 
 
 Public Obsequies at the Capitol 523 
 
 The Funeral Train to Boston 524 
 
 Demonstrations of Respect and Grief 525 
 
 Public Meeting in Faneuil Hall 526 
 
 Hon. James B. Smith s Speech 527 
 
 Feeling in the Assembly 528 
 
 Charles Francis Adams Letter 529 
 
 Senator Anthony Delivers the Body 530 
 
 Saturday Night of Silence and Gloom 531 
 
 Decorations of Doric Hall 532 
 
 Chaste Simplicity of Boston s Tributes 533 
 
 Ceremonies at King s Chapel 534 | 
 
 The Procession to Mount Vernon 535 
 
 Last Scenes at the Grave 536 
 
 Tributes from the Boston Pulpit 537 j 
 
 James Freeman Clarke s Discourse 538 \ 
 
 The Bloody Coat Capt. John Brown 539 
 
 The Republic in Mourning 540 ! 
 
 His Work was Complete 541 | 
 
 Charles Sumner and Edmund Burke 542 ; 
 
 Tributes by Chapin and Frothingham 543 
 
 The Miracle of the Slave Picture 544 
 
 His Character by Beecher 545 
 
 Tributes by Putnam and Talmage 546 
 
 Discourses by Hazen and MacArthur 547 
 
 The Louisville Courier-Journal. 548 
 
 The Chicago and Cincinnati Press 549 
 
 Indiana, Michigan and Ohio 550 
 
 Pittsburg, Richmond Dr. Garnet 551 
 
 Sumner s Letter about Battle-Flags 552 
 
 Spirit of the English Journals 553 
 
 Daily News The Globe The Echo 554 
 
 The Examiner a.nA Anglo-American Times. 555 
 
 Worthy Tribute to Sumner s Character 556 
 
 His Portrait by the Boston Journal 557 
 
 Chaplet Woven by Grace Greenwood 558 
 
 The Silent House and Vacant Chair 559 
 
 SECTION TWELFTH. 
 His Character and Fame. 
 
 The Stern Duty of the Historian 560 
 
 Sumner s Rupture with the Administration. . . 561 
 
 The Judgment of the New York Tribune 562 
 
 Justice from the Muse of History 563 
 
 Sumner s Suppressed Speech 564 
 
 Why Sumner opposed the President s Scheme. 565 
 
 He feels Forced to the Revelation 566 
 
 Sumner in Conference with Secretary Fish . . . 567 
 
 Removal of Mr. Motley 568 
 
 The Secretary s Reply to Mr. Motley 569 
 
 Official Insults to the Senator 570 
 
 The Secretary s Conduct set forth 571 
 
 Official Misrepresentations 572 
 
 The True Reasons for Motley s Removal 573 
 
 A Full Revelation of the Facts 574 
 
 Sumner s Relations with Secretary Fish 575 
 
 Motley s Official Conduct 576 
 
 Our Insulted Minister 577 
 
 Sacrifice of Senator and Minister 578 
 
 Senator Wilson s Wise Counsels 579 
 
 Sumner s Brief Married Life 580 
 
 Pure and Beautiful Love of a Mother 581 
 
 When Marriage is a Leap in the Dark 582 
 
 Marriage not Always Best 583 
 
 Advantages of Personal Freedom 584 
 
 Sumner s One All-engrossing Love 585 
 
 Settlement with England by Arbitration 586 
 
 Peace the Beginning and End of His Life. . . . 587 
 
 The Olive Branch to All Nations 588 
 
 Senator Sumner s Will 589 
 
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