Landmarks of Liberty
THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN POLITICAL
IDEALS AS RECORDED IN SPEECHES
FROM
OTIS TO HUGHES
EDITED WITH
INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY
ROBERT P. ST. JOHN
AND
RAYMOND L. NOONAN
SECOND EDITION
m
NEW YORK
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY
-Tk' //
(9 ^ >
COPYRIGHT, I920, 1922, BY
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC.
-U
PRINTED IN THE USA
PREFACE
The editors of this book have tried to gather in a
single volume as many as possible of the great speeches
that have had an important influence on the growth
of American political ideals. Had the limits of their
volume permitted, they would have begun with Crom-
well and would have traced the growth of our institu-
tions from their English sources. As it is they have
begun with the first evidence of alienation from the
Mother Country and have followed the story ^o the
close of the Great War. Speeches of much historical
importance, such as those that discussed the adoption^^^
of the Constitution, have necessarily been omitted, ^fc
The speeches here included, however, it is believed
constitute a series sufficiently complete to give stu-
dents a more intimate knowledge of our national
life and a new appreciation of the sacrifice and labor
that produced the American political fabric.
Many teachers maintain that the reading of speeches
in a collection can be made more valuable than the
prolonged study of one or two orations. A sufficiently
large number of selections, they say, permits the in-
structor to make use of comparative methods of study
that are both stimulating and interesting. As pupils
read the speeches, the teacher can emphasize, as the
welfare of the class seems to demand, historical
significance, the ideals of good citizenship, oral ex-
pression, rhetorical structure, or the principles of
argument and persuasion. It is not unlikely, more-
over, that this volume can be used with profit even
iii
.37403
iv PREFACE
by those instructors who prefer to have pupils engage
in the detailed study of one or two great speeches
rather than undertake a course in comparative read-
ing, for the volume contains material sufficiently
diverse to satisfy every taste.
The editors wish to acknowledge with thanks the
permission of President Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt,
and Otto H. Kahn to print speeches included in this
book. The Call to Arms, by H. H. Asquith, was in-
cluded through permission obtained from The Current
History Magazine, published by the New York Times
Company. The editors are also indebted to the New
York Times Company for permission to print Premier
Lloyd George's speech on America's Entrance into the
War.
CONTENTS
Introduction vn
James Otis Writs of Assistance 3
February, 1761
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. .American Taxation 11
January 14, 1766
John Wilkes War with America 19
February 6, 1775
Edmund Burke Conciliation with
America ... 25
March 22, 1775
Patrick Henry Liberty or Death . . 94
March 23, 1775
George Washington Farewell Address. . 100
September 19, 1796
Daniel Webster First Bunker Hill
Address 125
June 17, 1825
Daniel Webster Reply to Hayne... 142
January 26, 1830
Abraham Lincoln Address at Cooper
Institute 152
February 2j, i860
Edward D. Baker ) ~ T ± x . rjr ,
John C. Breckenridge \ Dehate on the War ' l6 9
August 1, 1861
John Bright The Trent Affair. . 178
December 4, 1861
Henry Ward Beecher • Speech at Liverpool 187
October 16, 1863
v
vi CONTENTS
PAUH
Abraham Lincoln The Speech at Get-
tysburg 199
November 19, 1863
Abraham Lincoln The Second In-
augural 202
March 4, 1865
Henry W. Grady The New South . . . 206
December 12, 1886
Theodoxv£ Roosevelt The Strenuous Life 213
April 10, 1899
H. H. Asquith The Call to Arms. . 225
September 5, 1914
Woodrow Wilson Message to Con-
gress 239
April 2, 1917
David Lloyd George The Meaning of
America's En-
trance into the
War 254
April 12, 1917
Woodrow Wilson Flag Day Speech. . 262
June 14, 1917
Otto H. Kahn Prussianized Ger-
many 272
September 26, 191 7
Woodrow Wilson Address at Balti-
more 280
April 6, 1918
Charles E. Hughes Limitation of Ar-
mament 287
November 12, 1921
Lives and Notes 302
INTRODUCTION
The war with Germany has brought to the minds of
the people a new interest in the problems of our na-
tional life and a deeper understanding of the meaning
and aims of democracy. A widespread desire to
stimulate intelligent patriotism through exposition of
our national ideals and study of the world's progress
toward popular government is everywhere manifesting
itself. As the time is opportune for this movement
all good citizens should do their utmost to encourage
it. In the past soap-box orators, dreamy-eyed pacifists,
and unpatriotic teachers of the type of the Russian
internationalists, have insidiously attacked and under-
mined the patriotism of our citizens both young and
old. The time has come to end such propaganda.
Our new citizens must learn that it was not unoccu-
pied land nor the Indians that made America a free
country. How painfully the human race has won the
liberty under which we live; what it cost in money,
endeavor, and blood, it is the manifest duty of live
men now to teach everywhere.
In schools and colleges instruction in patriotism
can well be based on a study of the great speeches
which step by step mark the world's progress toward
democracy. Here we find literature and history com-
bined. Here the many facts and truths of history are
not only still lighted with the spirit of the past but
they are also clothed with the language of art. Just
as battles record for the student of military science the
crises and conclusions of physical struggles for the
viii INTRODUCTION
world's freedom, so great speeches mark for the
statesman and thinker the triumphs of mind and spirit
in their struggles with the foes of progress.
For the use of young and imaginative students the
best record of history is found in the speeches that
helped make it. Unfortunately the record is incom-
plete. But where speeches exist marking the crises
through which the world has passed in its progress
towards popular government, they should be carefully
preserved and studied because of their power to re-
create the past. Speeches give more than conclusions.
They state the problem and suggest a solution which
for the time being is wavering in the balance. As the
student reads the words of the orator, he is able to
enter personally into the struggle. He weighs the
interests that are at stake and trembles for the re-
sult. As he reads speech after speech he discovers
that liberty is not a matter of course, but has been
wrung from enemies bit by bit through blood and
sweat. Through the words of the orator he learns
to value the inheritance handed down to him from
the past and gains a personal appreciation of the serv-
ices of those master minds whose heroic struggles
have helped to make the world safe for him.
Speeches are real and intense dramas of life and
history. The orator often faces opposition as relent-
less as a play hero is supposed to meet in his make-
believe world. When a great orator prepares to
speak, he takes into consideration all the elements of
his audience and the occasion. He plans by making
use of every resource in his power to meet the forces
of evil as they assail him, step by step. He may fail ;
but if his cause is essential to the progress of liberty
and democracy, the contest is not lost. Another hero
takes up the struggle and , sooner or later wins ; for
INTRODUCTION k
civilization is ever moving toward something better
and will continue to do so irresistibly. The best
record of many of the most important events in his-
tory is found in the world's great speeches and their
dramatic environment.
The chief characteristic of speeches, as compared
with other forms of literature or other documents
that record history, is that the end and aim of speeches
is action. Founded on the past, they look always into
the future. The giving of information, the gratifica-
tion of artistic desire, inspiration itself, are of minor
importance in oratory unless they influence conduct.
It is the duty of the orator, in the face of opposition,
to induce men to adopt a new course of action. This
is true even on those occasions when the rights and
liberties of men are apparently not at stake. Con-
servatism, sloth, and greed are often as hard to com-
bat as visible enemies. Webster found it quite as diffi-
cult to induce his fellow-citizens to emulate in their
daily lives the deeds of the men who fought at Bunker
Hill, as he did to vanquish Hayne and his associates
in Congress when they threatened to overthrow the
Union. Beecher's most difficult task at Liverpool was
not to control his visible opponents who sought to
break up the meeting, but to induce his hearers to
forego their own personal profit for the sake of
moral ideals. The purpose of every orator is to in-
duce men, in spite of opposition visible or invisible,
to enter upon a new course of action. The essential
characteristic of oratory is persuasion.
The speeches contained in this volume clearly illus-
trate the fact that persuasion is the end and aim of
oratory. These speeches helped to make the world safe
for democracy, not through arguments that convinced
the intellect, but through persuasive appeals that led
x INTRODUCTION
to action. The skill with which an orator adapts
his methods of appeal to his audience determines the
force of his oratory. As a means of persuasion, argu-
ment is to be reckoned with tone, with gesture, with
allusion, and with all the various forms of connota-
tion. It may be chief among these; but if it stands
alone and is not emotionally persuasive ; it is dead. A
brilliant speaker may win our intellectual assent for
each idea he advances, we may perceive the desirabil-
ity of every reform he advocates, and yet we may not
be moved to initiate one reform or to correct one
existing abuse. Through argument an orator may win
the consent of the intellect; he can never subdue the
will or lead to action until he appeals to the emotions.
The significance of this fact is neglected in schools
and colleges, although it is duly appreciated in business
and in the world generally. The salesman and the
advertiser attempt to subdue the will without being
controversial. The business man is suspicious of argu-
ment, but he is the friend of persuasion. Teachers,
on the other hand, have almost crowded persuasion
from the rhetorics and the schools. As an aspect of
discourse, it has received unmerited neglect, and argu-
ment has been unduly stressed.
In the study of Burke, for example, we have for
years made exhaustive analyses of his argument. We
have followed the course of his logic to the smallest
capillary of evidence. At this moment the argumentive
skeleton of his discourse is carefully housed in many
a teacher's closet. Such a study may not have been
unprofitable, but it is better and more interesting to
place the emphasis of our work in stating the persua-
sive problem that Burke faced, in observing the degree
of skill that he used in attempting a solution, in noting
the changes in conduct that he brought about, and
INTRODUCTION xi
in pointing out the help that he gave in the world's
struggle for democracy.
The teacher who uses this volume, therefore,
should try to lay before his pupils whatever is neces^
sary to a dramatic conception of the occasion. The
famous words should again be illumined with life
and reality. He should attempt to recreate the situa-
tion that called forth the speech and make his pupils
clearly understand the problem that was before the
orator when he rose to speak. The exact nature and
force of the opposition, and whatever defines the audi-
ence and gives it its character and sympathies, should
also be clear. With this data at his disposal, the stu-
dent will be in a position both to appreciate the orator's
skill in adapting his appeal to the prejudices and mo-
tives of his hearers and to understand his place in
history.
In order that the final appreciation of the student
may approach as nearly as possible to that of an intel-
ligent member of the audience that listened to the
message of the orator when it was first spoken, the
teacher should use each speech as a basis for exercises
in oral English. Through oral reading or declamation
the class should discover that an oration cannot make
its complete appeal as written literature. No small
part of the orator's message is transmitted through his
voice and presence.
The supreme object of the study of these speeches,
we must remember, is not mere increased facility in
English, important as that is, but fuller appreciation
of the worth of democracy and deeper devotion to the
duties of citizenship. Students who learn the signifi-
cance in history of each of the great men whose words
appear in this book, ought not to be satisfied with an
intellectual assimilation of our national ideals or with
xii INTRODUCTION
a passive pride in our country's achievements. The
persuasive utterances that in the past induced men to
struggle for liberty and democracy, should in the
hands of loyal and enthusiastic teachers be able to
inspire students with patriotism of a dynamic type.
Pupils should learn from these speeches that govern-
ments that are democratic require from their citizens
more than passive loyalty. Since the modern state is
the people, the effective force of the state can be no
greater than the sum of the public activity of its citi-
zens. The final result of the study of the dramatic
struggles recorded in this book, therefore, should be
the conclusion on the part of pupils, that active co-
operation in public affairs, is the best evidence of ap-
preciation of the inheritance that has come down to us
from the conflicts and heroism of other days.
LANDMARKS OF LIBERTY
"Let your imagination range down the old famous roads of
freedom. Powers of moral quickening come from communion
with ancient heroism. I take delight in the Old Testament story
which tells of a dead man being let down into the sepulchre of
the prophet Elisha. ' And when he touched the bones of Elisha
the man revived and stood upon his feet.' Whatever we may
think of that story it is pregnant with moral and spiritual sig-
nificance. It proclaims the vitalizing energies of the great and
noble dead. We touch our heroic ancestry and invigorating
virtue flows out of them And so, in these tremendous days of
anxious and protracted conflict, let us let ourselves down into
the sacred sepulchres of history, and seek communion with the
honored dead. Let us touch the bones of Lincoln if perchance
we may be revived and stand upon our feet. Let our minds and
hearts sink down into his letters and speeches so that his vision
may inspire our imaginations and his motives fortify our souls.
And let us touch the bones of Oliver Cromwell, for he being
dead yet speaketh, and his words are spirit and life. Let us
seek inspiration at great historic fonts. Seeing that we are com-
passed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, the faithful
knightly warriors of other days, let us nerve our hearts in their
heroisms, let us feed our wills on their exploits, and then with
their virtuous blood running in our own veins, let us bravely
turn to face the task and the menace of our own day."
John Henry Jowett
WRITS OF ASSISTANCE
February, 1761
America was settled largely by people who left their
native lands in order to secure a greater degree of re-
ligious and political liberty. In the New World, sepa-
rated by three thousand miles from the autocratic
governments of Europe, they naturally found little
reason to relinquish this love of freedom. In the
leisure hours of the long winters many read the writ-
ings of Locke, Rousseau, and other authors who have
set forth the ideals of democracy. Accordingly there
gradually grew up in America, in addition to the com-
mon desire for practical political liberty, a widespread
interest in the abstract theory of rights and govern-
ment. ""•-*
Under these circumstances it is natural that the
thirteen colonies under British rule resented fiercely
any interference with their personal rights. Especially
after the French and Indian War the colonists were
not only alert to criticize any act of Parliament that
promised to imperil the liberty under which they had
lived, but they also sought by such means as were
within their power to obtain for the colonial assem-
blies new concessions and grants. At first they were
content to build up their rights within the English
Constitution and they had no thought of separation
from the Mother Country. As late as the end of 1774
the Continental Congress in a petition to the King ex-
pressed its desire to conform in all respects to the
3
4 WRITS OF ASSISTANCE
British Constitution. The colonial troops carried the
King's colors as their flag until 1777. Indeed it is
said that until near the close of the Revolution inde-
pendence was advocated only by an aggressive
minority.
James Otis's speech against the use of writs of as-
sistance, in Boston, in 1761, marks the beginning of
the struggle in which as yet the colonists sought
merely the rights of Englishmen. The dispute with
England originated in an attempt to regulate American
commerce. The Navigation Acts of the British Parlia-
ment had required Americans to trade with the Eng-
lish only, and consequently to import only goods which
paid a duty to the Mother Country. Both to avoid the
expense of these duties and as a protest against the
injustice of the trade laws the colonists had en-
couraged smuggling and had carried on an illicit trade
with the Dutch. Not half the goods imported into
America paid the duty. It cost the British government
$35,000 to collect a revenue of $7,500. John Adams
estimated that the loss of revenue by smuggling on
molasses alone was $125,000 a year.
In 1 761, in the hope of obtaining evidence that
would convict the smugglers, the British government
invoked writs of assistance. These writs had previ-
ously been used for other purposes in both England
and America but had fallen into disuse. They were
general warrants that in spite of the common law pro-
tecting the privacy of a man's home, authorized cus-
toms agents to make " diligent and complete " search
of the property of suspected persons.
The advocate general at this time whose duty it
was as the representative of the British Crown to sup-
port the writs of assistance was James Otis. He was
not only a lawyer of great ability, but he was a man
WRITS OF ASSISTANCE 5
of lofty principle and was a commanding figure among
the colonists. That he might be free to oppose the
dangerous and detested writs, he resigned his office.
In their favor, however, his successor, Jeremy Gridley,
presented an argument to a court who sat under Gov-
ernor Hutchinson in the council chamber of the old
Town House, Boston. About the massive table were
ranged the five judges, clad in their rich robes of
scarlet English broadcloth and wearing their large
cambric bands and immense judicial wigs. Behind
them were full length portraits of Charles II and James
II arrayed in royal splendor. After Gridley had
spoken, Oxenbridge Thatcher gave the argument for
the people. Then Otis, the former officer of the
Crown, arose to support Thatcher. The words of
Adams gave most adequately the effect of his speech :
<<L Otis was a flame of fire ! With a promptitude of
classical allusions, a depth of research, a rapid sum-
mary of historical events and dates, a profusion of
legal authorities, a prophetic glance of his eye into
futurity, and a torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hur-
ried away everything before him. American inde-
pendence was then and there born ; the seeds of patriots
and heroes was then and there sown. Every man of
a crowded audience appeared to go away, as I did,
ready to take up arms against the writs of assistance.
Then and there was the first scene of the first act of
opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain."
At the conclusion of his speech Otis immediately
found himself the leader of public thought in New
England and the champion of constitutional rights in
the colonies.
6 JAMES OTIS
WRITS OF ASSISTANCE
James Otis
May it please your honors, I was desired by one of the
court to look into the books, and consider the question
now before them concerning writs of assistance. I have,
accordingly, considered it, and now appear not only in
obedience to your order, but likewise in behalf of the
inhabitants of this town, who have presented another
petition, and out of regard to the liberties of the subject.
And I take this opportunity to declare that, whether
under a fee or not (for in such a cause as this I despise a
fee), I will to my dying day oppose with all the powers
and faculties God has given me all such instruments of
slavery on the one hand, and villainy on the other, as
this writ of assistance is.
It appears to me the worst instrument of arbitrary
power, the most destructive of English liberty and the
fundamental principles of law, that was ever found in
an English law book. I must, therefore, beg your
honors' patience and attention to the whole range of
argument * that may, perhaps, appear uncommon in many
things, as well as the points of learning that are more
remote and unusual; that the whole tendency of my de-
sign may the more easily be perceived, the conclusions
better descend, and the force of them be better felt.
I shall not think much of my pains in this cause, as I
engaged in it from principle. 2 I was solicited to argue
this cause as advocate-general; and because I would not,
I have been charged with desertion from my office. To
this charge I can give a very sufficient answer. I re-
nounced that office, and I argue this cause from the same
principle; and I argue it with the greater pleasure, as
WRITS OF ASSISTANCE 7
it is in favor of British liberty, at the time when we
hear the greatest monarch upon earth declaring from his
throne that he glories in the name of Briton, and that the
privileges of his people are dearer to him than the most
valuable prerogatives of his crown; and as it is in oppo-
sition to a kind of power, the exercise of which, in former
periods of history, cost one king of England his head 3
and another his throne. I have taken more pains in this
cause than I ever will take again, although my engaging
in this and another popular cause has raised much resent-
ment. But I think that I can sincerely declare that I
cheerfully submit myself to every odious name for con-
science's sake ; and from my soul I despise all those whose
guilt, malice, or folly has made them my foes. Let the
consequences be what they will, I am determined to
proceed. The only principles of public conduct that are
worthy of a gentleman or a man are to sacrifice estate,
ease, health, and applause, and even life, to the sacred
calls of his country.
These manly sentiments, in private life, make the
good citizen; in public life, the patriot and the hero. I
do not say that when brought to the test I shall be in-
vincible. I pray God I may never be brought to the
melancholy trial; but if I ever should, it will be then
known how far I can reduce to practice principles which
I know to be founded in truth. In the meantime I will
proceed to the subject of this writ.
Your honors will find in the old books concerning the
office of a justice of the peace precedents of general war-
rants to search suspected houses. But in more modern
books you will find only special warrants to search such
and such houses, specially named, in which the com-
plainant has before sworn that he suspects his goods are
concealed ; and will find it adjudged that special warrants
only are legal. In the same manner I rely on it, that the
8 JAMES OTIS
writ prayed for id this petition, being general, is illegal.
It is a power that places the liberty of every man in the
hands of every petty officer. I say that I admit that
special writs of assistance to search special places, may
be granted to certain persons on oath; but I deny that
the writ now prayed for can be granted, for I beg leave to
make some observations on the writ itself before I pro-
ceed to other acts of Parliament.
In the first place, the writ is universal, being directed
" to all and singular justices, sheriffs, constables, and all
other officers and subjects;" so that, in short, it is directed
to every subject in the king's dominions. Every one with
this writ may be a tyrant; if this commission is legal, a
tyrant in a legal manner, also, may control, imprison, or
murder any one within the realm.
In the next place, it is perpetual; there is no return.
A man is accountable to no person for his doings. Every
man may reign secure in his petty tyranny, and spread
terror and desolation around him, until the trump of
the archangel shall excite different emotions in his soul.
In the third place, a person with this writ, in the day-
time may enter all houses, shops, etc., at will, and com-
mand all to assist him.
Fourthly, by this writ, not only deputies, etc., but even
their menial servants, are allowed to lord it over us.
What is this but to have the curse of Canaan 4 with a
witness on us; to be the servant of servants, the most
despicable of God's creation?
Now one of the most essential branches of English lib-
erty is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his
castle; and while he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a
prince in his castle. This writ, if it should be declared
legal, would totally annihilate this privilege. Custom-
house officers may enter our houses when they please;
we are commanded to permit their entry. Their menial
WRITS OF ASSISTANCE 9
servants may enter, may break locks, bars, and everything
in their way; and whether they break through malice or
revenge, no man, no court can inquire. Bare suspicion
without oath is sufficient. This wanton exercise of this
power is not a chimerical suggestion of a heated brain.
I will mention some facts. Mr. Pew had one of these
writs, and when Mr. Ware succeeded him, he endorsed
this writ over to Mr. Ware; so that these writs are nego-
tiable from one officer to another, and so your honors
have no opportunity of judging the persons to whom this
vast power is delegated. Another instance is this: Mr.
Justice Walley had called this same Mr. Ware before
him, by a constable, to answer for a breach of the Sab-
bath Day Acts, or that of profane swearing. As soon as
he had finished, Mr. Ware asked him if he had done. He
replied: " Yes." " Well, then," said Mr. Ware, " I will
show you a little of my power. I command you to permit
me to search your house for uncustomed goods ; " and
went on to search the house from the garret to the cellar,
and then served the constable in the same manner! But
to show another absurdity in this writ, if it should be
established, I insist upon it that every person, by the 14th
of Charles II, 5 has this power as well as the custom-house
officers. The words are: "It shall be lawful for any
person or persons authorized," etc. What a scene does
this open! Every man prompted by revenge, ill humor,
or wantonness, to inspect the inside of his neighbor's
house, may get a writ of assistance. Others will ask it
from self-defense; one arbitrary exertion will provoke an-
other, until society be involved in tumult and in blood. 6
In a brief statement tell how British liberty, according to Otis,
was threatened by the use of writs of assistance.
Discuss the principle " A man's house is his castle." Has it
any recognition in modern law?
Was Otis's opposition to writs of assistance based chiefly on
financial, constitutional moral, religious, or other reasons?
io JAMES OTIS
Do you think that Otis was unnecessarily alarmed?
Do you think that Otis was considered disloyal by most Eng-
lishmen of his time who were familiar with his speech?
Do you think that Otis himself believed that he was acting
the part of a loyal British subject when he delivered this speech?
Do you think that in 1761 Otis seriously considered American
independence as a means of combating injustice such as re-
sulted from the British use of writs of assistance?
How did Otis come to occupy so prominent a place in the
history of American independence?
Discuss the persuasive value of Otis's detailed account of the
operation of the writs.
AMERICAN TAXATION
January 14, 1766
The fact that the British government had found it
difficult to collect revenue from the colonies even
though writs of assistance were used did not deter
George III and his ministers from continuing to at-
tempt to obtain money from America. Increased taxes
on new sources of revenue were a necessity for the
Empire.
The Seven Years War had increased the national
debt to $700,000,000 and it had become necessary to
maintain a great navy and large standing armies in
both Europe and America. Inasmuch as a consider-
able portion of the annual budget was used to sup-
port troops to overawe the Indians and maintain the
conquest of Canada it was thought reasonable by
Grenville, the chancellor of the exchequer, that the
colonies should share in the expense. Accordingly
he proposed the Stamp Act, a measure designed to
raise sufficient money to pay one-third of the annual
cost of maintaining the army in America.
After the colonists had been given a year in which
to consider the details of the measure, he met their
agents and expressed a desire to alter the bill if he
could make it more agreeable to their wishes. Benja-
min Franklin said that the old constitutional method
of asking the assemblies to grant funds was preferable
to the system of involuntary contribution embodied in
the Stamp Act. Grenville replied that in the past when
11
12 AMERICAN TAXATION
voluntary grants were in vogue the colonies had been
unable to agree on the proportion of expense that each
should bear, a fact that Franklin could not deny.
The conference ended without material change in the
proposed bill which was passed by the House of Com-
mons with slight opposition in March 1765.
This act was planned to furnish a revenue of
$300,000, all of which was to be applied toward the
support of troops in America. The bill, however,
was received by the colonists with great indignation.
They were willing to contribute to the expenses of the
Imperial government, if the King would ask the colo-
nial assemblies to make grants; but they were un-
willing to be taxed by Parliament so long as they were
not represented in the House of Commons. Accord-
ingly the Americans refused to use the stamped paper
required by the law for nearly all commercial trans-
actions. Business practically ceased. Rioting oc-
curred in many cities, and criticism of the policy of the
British ministry became daily more bitter.
On January 14, 1766, when Parliament assembled,
the King's speech again asserted the right to tax
America. Pitt was present although he had but re-
cently recovered from a severe illness. Unfamiliar
with the calendar, because of his absence of nearly a
year, he did not know that American taxation was
to be considered; but when the subject was discussed,
so impressed was he by the seriousness of the moment
that he spoke extemporaneously with all the fire that
had made his earlier speeches famous. Many years
of Parliamentary service and continuous study of con-
ditions in America, made his words authoritative. His
speech produced an immediate change in the official
attitude toward America ; and he was able within the
next few weeks so to organize the advocates and lovers
AMERICAN TAXATION 13
of English liberty that on March 18, 1766, the ob-
noxious Stamp Act was repealed.
AMERICAN TAXATION
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham
It is a long time, Mr. Speaker, since I have attended in
Parliament. When the resolution was taken in this House
to tax America, I was ill in bed. If I could have endured
to be carried 1 in my bed — so great was the agitation of
my mind for the consequences — I would have solicited
some kind hand to have laid me down on this floor, to
have borne my testimony against it! It is now an act
that has passed. I would speak with decency of every
act of this House; but I must beg the indulgence of the
House to speak of it with freedom.
I hope a day may soon be appointed to consider the
state of the nation with respect to America. I hope gen-
tlemen will come to this debate with all the temper and
impartiality that his majesty recommends, 2 and the im-
portance of the subject requires; 3 a subject of greater im-
portance than ever engaged the attention of this House,
that subject only excepted, when, near a century ago, it
was the question whether you yourselves were to be bond
or free.
I will only speak to one point — a point which seems not
to have been generally understood, I mean to the right.
Some gentlemen seem to have considered it as a point of
honor. If gentlemen consider it in that light, they leave
all measures of right and wrong to follow a delusion that
may lead to destruction. It is my opinion that thj^ king-
dom has no right to lay a tax upon the colonies. At the
same time, I assert the authority of this kingdom over
14 WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM
the colonies to be sovereign and supreme, in every cir-
cumstance of government and legislation whatsoever.
They are the subjects of this kingdom, equally entitled
with yourselves to all the natural rights of mankind and
the peculiar privileges of Englishmen; equally bound by
its laws, and equally participating in the constitution of
this free country. The Americans are the sons, not the
bastards, of England ! Taxation is no part of the gov-
erning or legislative power. The taxes are a voluntary
gift and grant of the Commons alone. In legislation the
three estates of the realm are alike concerned ; but the
concurrence of the peers and the Crown to tax is only
necessary to clothe it with the form of a law. The gift
and grant is of the Commons alone.
In the ancient days, the Crown, the* barons, and the
clergy possessed the lands. In those days, the barons
and the clergy gave and granted to the Crown.
They gave and granted what was their own! At
present, since the discovery of America, and other cir-
cumstances permitting, the Commons are become the pro-
prietors of the la. id. The church (God bless it!) has but
a pittance. The property of the lords, compared with
that of the Commons, is a drop of water in the ocean ;
and this House represents those Commons, the proprietors
of the lands; and those proprietors virtually represent the
rest of the inhabitants. When, therefore, in this House
we give and grant, we give and grant what is our own.
But in an American tax, what do we do? "We, your
majesty's Commons for Great Britain, give and grant to
your majesty " — what? Our own property! No! "We
give and grant to your majesty " the property of your
majesty's Commons of America! It is an absurdity in
terms^
The distinction between legislation and taxation 4 is
essentially necessary to liberty. The crown and the peers
AMERICAN TAXATION 13
are equally legislative powers with the Commons. If tax-
ation be a part of simple legislation, the Crown and the
peers have rights in taxation as well as yourselves; rights
which they will claim, which they will exercise, whenever
the principle can be supported by power.
There is an idea in some that the colonies are virtually
represented in the House. I would fain know by whom
an American is represented here. Is he represented by
any knight of the shire, in any county in this kingdom?
Would to God that respectable representation was aug-
mented to a greater number ! Or will you tell him that he
is represented by any representative of a borough? — a
borough which, perhaps, its own representative never
saw ! This is what is called the rotten part of the con-
stitution. It can not continue a century. If it does not
drop, it must be amputated. The idea of a virtual rep-
resentation 5 of America in this House is the most con-
temptible idea that ever entered the head of a man. It
does not deserve a serious refutation.
The Commons of America represented in their several
assemblies have ever been in possession of the exercise of
this, their constitutional right, of giving and granting
their own money. They would have been slaves if they
had not enjoyed it! At the same time, this kingdom, as
the supreme governing and legislative power, has always
bound the colonies by her laws, by her regulations, and
restrictions in trade, in navigation, in manufactures, in
every thing except that of taking their money out of then
pockets without their consent.
Since the accession of King William, many ministers,
some of great, others of more moderate abilities, have
taken the lead of government. None of these thought,
or even dreamed, of robbing the colonies of their constitu-
tional rights. That was reserved to mark the era of the
rte administration. Not that there were wanting some,
16 WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM
when I had the honor to serve his majesty, to propose to
me to burn my fingers with an American stamp act.
With the enemy at their back, with our bayonets at their
breast, in the day of their distress, perhaps the Americans
would have submitted to the imposition; but it would
have been taking an ungenerous, an unjust advantage.
The gentleman boasts of his bounties to America! Are
not these bounties intended finally for the benefit of this
kingdom? If not, he has misapplied the national
treasures !
I am no courtier of America. 6 I stand up for this king-
dom. I maintain that the Parliament has a right to bind,
to restrain America. Our legislative power over the colo-
nies is sovereign and supreme. When it ceases to be sov-
ereign and supreme, I would advise every gentleman to
sell his lands, if he can, and embark for that country.
When two countries are connected together like England
and her colonies, without being incorporated, the one
must necessarily govern. The greater must rule the less.
But she must so rule it as not to contradict the funda-
mental principles that are common to both.
A great deal has been said without doors of the power,
the strength of America. It is a topic that ought to be
cautiously meddled with. In a good cause, on a sound
bottom, the force of this country can crush America to
atoms. I know the valor of your troops. I know the
skill of your officers. There is not a company of foot
that has served in America out of which you may not pick
a man of sufficient knowledge and experience to make a
governor of a colony there. But on this ground, on the
Stamp Act, which so many here will think a crying in-
justice, I am one who will lift up my hands against it.
In such a cause your success would be hazardous.
America, if she fell, would fall like the strong man; she
would embrace the pillars of the state and pull down the
AMERICAN TAXATION 17
Constitution with her. Is this your boasted peace — not
to sheathe the sword in the scabbard, but to sheathe it in
the bowels of your countrymen? Will you quarrel with
yourselves, now the whole house of Bourbon 7 is united
against you ; while France disturbs your fisheries in New-
foundland, embarrasses your slave trade to Africa, and
withholds from your subjects in Canada their property
stipulated by treaty; while the ransom for the Manilas
is denied by Spain, and its gallant conqueror basely tra-
duced into a mean plunderer — a gentleman whose noble
and generous spirit would do honor to the proudest
grandee of the country?
The Americans have not acted in all things with pru-
dence and temper; they have been wronged; they have
been driven to madness by injustice. Will you punish
them for the madness you have occasioned? Rather let
prudence and temper come first from this side. I will
undertake for America that she will follow the example.
*Upon the whole, I will beg leave to tell the House
what is my opinion. It is, that the Stamp Act be repealed
absolutely, totally, and immediately. That the reason for
the repeal be assigned — viz., because it was founded on
an erroneous principle. At the same time, let the sover-
eign authority of this country over the colonies be as-
serted in as strong terms as can be devised, and be made
to extend to every point of legislation whatsoever; that
we may bind their trade, confine their manufactures, and
exercise every power whatsoever, except that of taking
money from their pockets without their consent. ^
What does Chatham recognize as the supreme legal authority
and source of law for both England and America?
What were Chatham's reasons for considering the taxation of
America the most important question that had come before the
House of Commons since the days of the Stuarts?
What is the distinction made by Chatham between the right to
tax and the right to legislate?
1 8 WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM
Does modern law recognize this distinction?
Point out persuasive elements in Chatham's speech. Did he
understand the temper of Englishmen?
What statements in the last paragraph show that he did not
understand the temper of Americans?
What evidence is there in Chatham's speech that a movement
for the independence of America was already under way?
WAR WITH AMERICA
February 6, 1775
The favorable impression created by the repeal of the
Stamp Act was largely destroyed by the passage soon
after of the Declaratory Act in which Parliament laid
no import or duty but asserted its right to tax
America. This action was a colossal blunder, inas-
much as it ignored the fact that the Americans had
not refused to furnish money to support the govern-
ment but had denied this very " right " of taxation
which now was expressly reaffirmed. Before the end
of the year, also, King George III, who had no sym-
pathy with the democratic aspirations of the colonists,
induced Parliament to lay new duties on tea and other
articles imported by the Americans.
Continued disorder in America and decreasing trade
again brought about the repeal in March, 1770, of all
these duties except that on tea. The latter duty the
King determined to retain, it is said, from a desire to
" try the question with America." In the hope of mak-
ing the tax more acceptable the duty was reduced to
six cents a pound, which permitted tea to be sold in
America at a cheaper price than in England. The
colonists, however, who were seeking a democratic
system of taxation rather than low taxes, refused to
pay the decreased duty. A mob threw four ship loads
of tea into Boston harbor. Incensed with their lack
of respect for the royal authority, the King induced
Parliament to take away the old charter of Massa-
chusetts and to pass other acts of a drastic nature.
19
20 JOHN WILKES
As these measures threatened to destroy English
liberty in America, concerted action on the part of
the colonists was demanded. On September i, 1774,
the Continental Congress met ill Philadelphia and
passed resolutions in which trade with England was
boj/cotted. Nevertheless in a very calm and conciliat-
ing Petition to the King the Congress once more re-
affirmed its loyalty to the Empire and asserted its
willingness to pay all taxes justly levied in accordance
with the English Constitution. Clashes between armed
citizens and British troops, nevertheless, had already
occurred more than once. On February 6, 1775, when
John Wilkes rose in Parliament to speak it was clearly
evident that America and the Mother Country were on
the verge of war.
WAR WITH AMERICA
John Wilkes
I am surprised that in a business of so much moment as
this before the House, respecting the British colonies in
America, a cause which comprehends almost every ques-
tion relative to the common rights of mankind, almost
every question of policy and legislation, it should be re-
solved to proceed with so little circumspection, or rather
with so much precipitation and heedless imprudence.
With what temerity are we assured that the same men
who have been so often overwhelmed with praises for
their attachment to this country, for their forwardness to
grant it the necessary succors, for the valor they have
signalized in its defense, have all at once so degenerated
from their ancient manners as to merit the appellation of
seditious, ungrateful, impious rebels! But if such a.
WAR WITH AMERICA 21
change has, indeed, been wrought in the minds of this
most: loyal people, it must at least be admitted that affec-
tions so extraordinary could only have been produced by
some very powerful cause. 1 But who is ignorant, who
needs to be told of the new madness that infatuates our
ministers? Who has not seen the tyrannical counsels they
have pursued for the last ten years? They would now
have us carry to the foot of the throne 2 a resolution
stamped with rashness and injustice, fraught with blood,
and a horrible futurity. But before this be allowed them,
before the signal of civil war be given, before they are
permitted to force Englishmen to sheathe their swords in
the bowels of their fellow-subjects, I hope this House
will consider the rights of humanity, the original ground
and cause of the present dispute. Have we justice on our
side? No; assuredly no. He must be altogether a
stranger to the British Constitution who does not know
that contributions are voluntary gifts of the people; and
singularly blind not to perceive that the words " Liberty
and property " so grateful to English ears, are nothing
better than mockery and insult to the Americans, if their
property can be taken without their consent. And what
motive can there exist for this new rigor, for these ex-
traordinary measures? Have not the Americans always
demonstrated the utmost zeal and liberality whenever
their succors have been required by the Mother Country?
In the last two wars they gave you more than you
asked for, and more than their facilities warranted ; they
were not only liberal toward you, but prodigal of their
substance. They fought gallantly and victoriously by
your side, with equal valor, against our and their enemy,
the common enemy of the liberties of Europe and
America, the ambitious and faithless French, whom we
now fear and flatter. And even now at a moment when
you are planning their destruction, when you are brand-
22 JOHN WILKES
ing them with the odious appellation of rebels, what is
their language, what their protestation? Read, in the
name of heaven, the late petition of the Congress to the
King, and you will find " they are ready and willing, as
they have ever been, to demonstrate their loyalty by
exerting their utmost efforts in granting supplies and
raising forces when constitutionally required." And yet
we hear it vociferated by some inconsiderate individuals
that the Americans wish to abolish the Navigation Act;
that they intend to throw off the supremacy of Great
Britain. But would to God those assertions were not
rather a provocation than the truth! They ask nothing,
for such are the words of their petition, but for peace,
liberty, and safety. They wish not a diminution of the
royal prerogative; they solicit not any new right. They
are ready, on the contrary, to defend this prerogative, to
maintain the royal authority, and to draw closer the bonds
of their connection with Great Britain. But our minis-
ters, perhaps to punish others for their own faults, are
sedulously endeavoring, not only to relax those powerful
ties, but to dissolve and sever them forever. Their ad-
dress represents the Province of Massachusetts as in a
state of actual rebellion. The other provinces are held
out to our indignation, as aiding and abetting. Many
arguments have been employed by some learned gentle-
men among us to comprehend them all in the same of-
fense, and to involve them all in the same proscription.
Whether their present state is that of rebellion, or of
a fit and just resistance to unlawful acts of power, to
our attempts to rob them of their property and liberties,
as they imagine, I shall not declare. But I well know
what will follow, 3 nor, however strange and harsh it
may appear to some, shall I hesitate to announce it, that
I may not be accused hereafter of having failed in my
duty to my country, on so grave an occasion, and at the
WAR WITH AMERICA 23
approach of such direful calamities. Know, then, a suc-
cessful resistance is a revolution, not a rebellion ; rebel-
lion, indeed, appears on the back of a flying enemy, but
revolution flames on the breastplate of the victorious war-
rior. Who can tell whether in consequence of this day's
violent and mad address to his majesty, the scabbard may
not be thrown away by them, as well as by us; and
whether in a few years the independent Americans may
not celebrate the glorious era of the Revolution of 1775,
as we do that of 1688? The generous effort of our fore-
fathers for freedom, heaven crowned with success, or
their noble blood had dyed our scaffolds, like that of
Scottish traitors and rebels ; and the period of our history
which does us the most honor would have been deemed
a rebellion against the lawful authority of the prince, not
a resistance authorized by all the laws of God and man,
not the expulsion of a detested tyrant.
I can no more comprehend the policy than acknowledge
the justice of your deliberations. Where is your force,
what are your armies, how are they to be recruited, and
how supported? The single Province of Massachusetts
has at this moment thirty thousand men, well trained and
disciplined, and can bring in case of emergency ninety
thousand into the field ; and, doubt not they will do it,
when all that is dear is at stake, when forced to defend
their liberty and property against their cruel oppressors.
The right honorable gentleman with the blue riband 4
assures us that ten thousand of our troops and four Irish
regiments will make their brains turn in the head a little,
and strike them aghast with terror. But where does the
author of this exquisite scheme propose to send his army?
Boston, perhaps, you may lay in ashes, or it may be made
a strong garrison ; but the province will be lost to you.
You will hold Boston as you hold Gibraltar, in the midst
of a country which will not be yours; the whole Ameri-
24 JOHN WILKES
can continent will remain in the power of your enemies.
Where your fleets and armies are stationed, the possession
will be secured while they continue; but all the rest will
be lost. In the great scale of empire, you will decline, I
fear, from the decision of this day; and the Americans
will rise in independence, to power, to all the greatness
of the most renowned states — for they build on the solid
basis of general public liberty.
How according to Wilkes were the Americans provoked to
rebellion?
What rights did Wilkes believe the colonies wished England
to grant them?
What reason did Wilkes give for believing that the Ameri-
cans would gain independence and rise to great power?
Did his prophecy prove true in all details?
To what motives did Wilkes appeal in this speech?
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA
March 22, 1775
As the objectionable measures suggested by King
George III were formulated by Lord North's ministry
and passed one after another, discontent in America
steadily increased. With a fine sarcasm one legisla-
tive body after another declared that the colonies
would train soldiers in order to save the Mother Coun-
try the necessity of taxing Americans to provide troops
for their defense. In nearly all the provinces com-
panies of soldiers had in fact been equipped and
drilled.
In Parliament Pitt, Wilkes, Barre, and others had
espoused the cause of America in vain. The King and
his ministry were determined, in the face of all ex-
pediency, to assert their right to tax America. The
most that Lord North was willing to concede was that
any colony should be exempted from taxation if it
had granted for the common defense of the Empire an
amount " according to the condition, circumstances,
and situation of such colony " satisfactory to the Gov-
ernment. Although this bill conferred on the assem-
blies merely the form of making grants and still re-
tained for Parliament the right of taxation, the
measure was intended to be conciliatory. As Parlia-
ment seemed for the moment inclined to consider a
gentler policy, Burke seized the opportunity to offer,
on March 22 , 1775, conciliatory resolutions that met
adequately nearly all the constitutional demands of the
25
26 EDMUND BURKE
colonists. The partition of the Empire would prob-
ably have been avoided had not the House of Com-
mons by a vote of 270 to 78 rejected his proposals.
Members of Parliament who listened to Burke's
words were not at the time sufficiently impressed to
lend their votes, but many, after perusal of the printed
speech, when it was too late, were won over to his
views. Fox, an orator of the first rank and a con-
temporary of Burke was so thoroughly convinced of
the justice and soundness of Burke's plan that he
urged Members of Parliament " to peruse the Speech
on Conciliation again and again, to study it, to imprint
it on their minds, to impress it on their hearts." Al-
though Burke's speech failed to secure for Americans
the rights to which as English subjects they were
entitled, it recorded in imperishable form the prin-
ciples of a just and generous policy that must here-
after form a part of all humane and enlightened
government.
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA
Edmund Burke
1. I hope, 1 Sir, that, notwithstanding the austerity of the
Chair, your good nature will incline you to some degree of in-
dulgence toward human frailty. You will not think it unnatural
that those who have an object depending which strongly engages
their hopes and fears should be somewhat inclined to super-
stition. As I came into the House, full of anxiety about the
event of my motion, I found, to my infinite surprise, that the
grand penal bill, by which we had passed sentence on the trade
and sustenance of America, is to be returned to us from the
other House. I do confess I could not help looking on this
event as a fortunate omen. I look upon it as a sort of provi-
dential favor by which we are put once more in possession of
our deliberative capacity, upon a business so very questionable
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 27
in its nature, so very uncertain in its issue. By the return of
this bill, which seemed to have taken its flight forever, we are
at this very instant nearly as free to choose a plan for our
American government as we were on the first day of the session.
If, Sir, we incline to the side of conciliation, we are not at
all embarrassed, unless we please to make ourselves so, by
any incongruous mixture of coercion and restraint. We are
therefore called upon, as it were, by a superior warning voice,
again to attend to America; to attend to the whole of it to-
gether; and to review the subject with an unusual degree of
care and calmness.
2. Surely it is an awful subject, or there is none so on this
side of the grave. When I first had the honor of a seat in
this House, the affairs of that continent pressed themselves upon
us as the most important and most delicate object of parlia-
mentary attention. My little share in this great deliberation
oppressed me. I found myself a partaker in a very high trust;
and having no sort of reason to rely on the strength of my
natural abilities for the proper execution of that trust, I was
obliged to take more than common pains to instruct myself in
everything which relates to our colonies. I was not less under
the necessity of forming some fixed ideas concerning the general
policy of the British Empire. Something of this sort seemed to
be indispensable, in order, amidst so vast a fluctuation of pas-
sions and opinions, to concenter my thoughts, to ballast my con-
duct, to preserve me from being blown about by every wind of
fashionable doctrine. I really did not think it safe or manly
to have fresh principles to seek upon every fresh mail which
should arrive from America.
3. At that period I had the fortune to find myself in perfect
concurrence with a large majority in thii House. Bowing under
that high authority, and penetrated with the sharpness and
strength of that early impression, I have continued ever since,
without the least deviation, in my original sentiments. Whether
this be owing to an obstinate perseverance in error, or to a
religious adherence to what appears to me truth and reason,
it is in your equity to judge.
4. Sir, Parliament, having an enlarged view of objects, made
during this interval more frequent changes in their sentiments
and their conduct than could be justified in a particular per-
son upon the contracted scale of private information. But
though I do not hazard anything approaching to censure on the
28 EDMUND BURKE
motives of former parliaments to all those alterations, one
fact is undoubted — that under them the state of America has
been kept in continual agitation. Everything administered as
remedy to the public complaint, if it did not produce, was at
least followed by, a heightening of the distemper; until, by a
variety of experiments, that important country has been brought
into her present situation — a situation which I will not miscall,
which I dare not name, which I scarcely know how to com-
prehend in the terms of any description.
5. In this posture, Sir, things stood at the beginning of the
session. About that time 2 a worthy member of great parlia-
mentary experience, who in the year 1766 filled the chair of
the American Committee with much ability, took me aside and,
lamenting the .present aspect of our politics, told me things
were come to such a pass that our former methods of proceed-
ing in the House would be no longer tolerated; that the public
tribunal, never too indulgent to a long and unsuccessful opposi-
tion, would now scrutinize our conduct with unusual severity;
that the very vicissitudes and shiftings of ministerial measures,
instead of convicting their authors of inconstancy and want of
system, would be taken as an occasion of charging us with a
predetermined discontent which nothing could satisfy, while we
accused every measure of vigor as cruel, and every proposal of
lenity as weak and irresolute. The public, he said, would not
have patience to see us play the game out with our adversaries:
we must produce our hand. It would be expected that those
who for many years had been active in such affairs should
show that they had formed some clear and decided idea of the
principles of colony government, and were capable of draw-
ing out something like a platform of the ground which might
be laid for future and permanent tranquillity.
6. I felt the truth of what my honorable friend represented,
but I felt my situation, too. His application might have been
made with far greater propriety to many other gentlemen. No
man was indeed ever better disposed or worse qualified for
such an undertaking than myself. Though I gave so far in to
his opinion that I immediately threw my thoughts into a sort
of parliamentary form, I was by no means equally ready to
produce them. It generally argues some degree of natural im-
potence of mind or some want of knowledge of the world, to
hazard plans of government except from a seat of authority.
Propositions are made not only ineffectually but somewhat
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 29
disreputably when the minds of men are not properly disposed
for their reception ; and for my part I am not ambitious of
ridicule, not absolutely a candidate for disgrace.
7. Besides, Sir, to speak the plain truth, I have in general no
very exalted opinion of the virtue of 3 paper government, nor
of any politics in which the plan is to be wholly separated
from the execution. But when I saw that anger and violence
prevailed every day more and more, and that things were
hastening toward an incurable alienation of our colonies, I
confess my caution gave way. I felt this as one of those few
moments in which decorum yields to a higher duty. Public
calamity is a mighty leveler, and there are occasions when any,
even the slightest, chance of doing good must be laid hold on
even by the most inconsiderable person.
8. To restore order and repose to an empire so great and so
distracted as ours, is, merely in the attempt, an undertaking
that would ennoble the flights of the highest genius and obtain
pardon for the efforts of the meanest understanding. Struggling
a good while with these thoughts, by degrees I felt myself more
firm. I derived, at length, some confidence from what in other
circumstances usually produces timidity. I grew less anxious
even from the idea of my own insignificance. For judging
of what you are by what you ought to be, I persuaded myself
that you would not reject a reasonable proposition because
it had nothing but its reason to recommend it. On the other
hand being totally destitute of all shadow of influence, natural
or adventitious, I was very sure that if my proposition were
futile or dangerous, if it were weakly conceived or improperly
timed, there was nothing exterior to it of power to awe, dazzle,
or delude you. You will see it just as it is and you will
treat it just as it deserves.
9. The proposition is peace. Not peace through the
medium of war; not peace to be hunted through the
labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not peace
to arise out of universal discord, fomented from principle,
in all parts of the empire ; not peace to depend on the
juridical determination 4 of perplexing questions, or the
precise marking of shadowy boundaries of a complex
government. It is simple peace, sought in its natural
course and in its ordinary haunts. It is peace sought in
30 EDMUND BURKE
the spirit of peace, and laid in principles purely pacific.
I propose by removing the ground of the difference and
by restoring the former unsuspecting confidence of the
colonies in the Mother Country, to give permanent satis-
faction to your people; and, far from a scheme of ruling
by discord, to reconcile them to each other in the same
act, and by the bond of the very same interest which re-
conciles them to British government.
10. My idea is nothing more. Refined policy ever has
been the parent of confusion, and ever will be so as
long as the world endures. Plain good intention, which
is as easily discovered at the first view as fraud is surely
detected at last, is, let me say, of no mean force in the
government of mankind. Genuine simplicity of heart is a
healing and cementing principle. My plan therefore,
being formed upon the most simple grounds imaginable,
may disappoint some people when they hear it. It has
nothing to recommend it to the pruriency of curious ears.
There is nothing at all new and captivating in it. It has
nothing of the splendor of the project which has been
lately laid upon your table by the noble lord in the blue
ribbon. It does not propose to fill your lobby with squab-
bling colony agents, 5 who will require the interposition
of your mace at every instant to keep the peace among
them. It does not institute a magnificent auction of
finance, where captivated provinces come to general ran-
som by bidding against each other until you knock
down the hammer and determine a proportion of pay-
ments beyond all the powers of algebra to equalize and
settle.
ii. The plan which I shall presume to suggest derives,
however, one great advantage from the proposition and
registry of that 6 noble lord's project, — the idea of con-
ciliation is admissible. First, the House, in accepting
the resolution moved by the noble lord, has admitted, not-
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 31
withstanding the menacing front of our address, notwith-
standing our heavy bills of pains and penalties, 7 that we
do not think ourselves precluded from all ideas of free
grace and bounty.
12. The House has gone further: it has declared con-
ciliation admissible previous to any submission on the part
of America. It has even shot a good deal beyond that
mark and has admitted that the complaints of our former
mode of exerting the right of taxation were not wholly
unfounded. That right thus exerted is allowed to have
had something reprehensible in it, something unwise or
something grievous, since, in the midst of our heat and
resentment we of ourselves have proposed a capital alter-
ation; and, in order to get rid of what seemed so very
exceptionable, have instituted a mode that is altogether
new, one that is indeed wholly alien from all the ancient
methods and forms of Parliament.
13. The principle of this proceeding is large enough
for my purpose. The means proposed by the noble lord
for carrying his ideas into execution, I think, indeed, are
very indifferently suited to the end; and this I shall en-
deavor to show you before I sit down. But for the
present I take my ground on the admitted principle. I
mean to give peace. Peace implies reconciliation ; and
where there has been a material dispute, reconciliation
does in a manner always imply concession on the one part
or on the other. In this state of things I make no diffi-
culty in affirming that the proposal ought to originate
from us. Great and acknowledged force is not impaired
either in effect or in opinion by an unwillingness to exert
itself. The superior power may offer peace with honor
and with safety. Such an offer from such a power will
be attributed to magnanimity. But the concessions of the
weak are the concessions of fear. When such a one is
disarmed he is wholly at the mercy of his superior; and
32 EDMUND BURKE
he loses forever that time and those chances which, as
they happen to all men, are the strength and resources of
all inferior power.
14. The capital leading questions on which you must
this day decide are these two : First, whether you ought to
concede, and secondly, what your concessions ought to be.
On the first of these questions we have gained, as I have
just taken the liberty of observing to you, some ground.
But I am sensible that a good deal more is still to be
done. Indeed, Sir, to enable us to determine both on the
one and the other of these great questions with a firm and
precise judgment, I think it may be necessary to consider
distinctly the true nature and the peculiar circumstances
of the object 8 which we have before us, because after all
our struggle, whether we will or not, we must govern
America according to that nature and to those circum-
stances, and not according to our own imaginations, not
according to abstract ideas of right; by no means accord-
ing to mere general theories of government, the resort to
which appears to me in our present situation no better
than arrant trifling. I shall therefore endeavor, with
your leave, to lay before you some of the most material
of these circumstances in as full and as clear a manner as
I am able to state them.
15. The first thing that we have to consider with re-
gard to the nature of the object is the number of people in
the colonies. I have taken for some years a good deal of
pains on that point. I can by no calculation justify my-
self in placing the number below two millions of inhabi-
tants of our own European blood and color, besides at
least 500,000 others who form no inconsiderable part of
the strength and opulence of the whole. This, Sir, is, I
believe, about the true number. There is no occasion to
exaggerate where plain truth is of so much weight and
importance. But whether I put the present numbers too high
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 33
or too low, is a matter of little moment. Such is the strength
with which population shoots in that part of the world, that
state the numbers as high as we will, while the dispute con-
tinues, the exaggeration ends. While we are discussing any-
given magnitude, they are grown to it. While we spend our
time in deliberating on the mode of governing two millions,
we shall find we have millions more to manage. Your children
do not grow faster from infancy to manhood than they spread
from families to communities, and from villages to nations.
16. I put this consideration of the present and the growing
numbers in the front of our deliberation; because, Sir, this
consideration will make it evident to a blunter discernment
than yours, that no partial, narrow, contracted, pinched, occa-
sional system will be at all suitable to such an object. It will
show you that it is not to be considered as one of those
minima which are out of the eye and consideration of the law;
not a paltry excrescence of the state; not a mean dependent,
who may be neglected with little damage and provoked with
little danger. It will prove that some degree of care and
caution is required in the handling such an object; it will show
that yon ought not in reason to trifle with so large a mass
of the interests and feelings of the human race. You could at
no time do so without guilt; and be assured you will not be
able to do it long with impunity.
17. But the population of this country, the great and growing
population, though a very important consideration, will lose
much of its weight if not combined with other circumstances.
The commerce of your colonies is out of all proportion beyond
the numbers of the people. This ground of their commerce
indeed has been trod some days ago, and with great ability,
by a distinguished person at your bar. This gentleman,
after thirty-five years 1 — it is so long since he first appeared
at the same place to plead for the commerce of Great Britain
— has come again before you to plead the same cause, without
any other effect of time than that to the fire of imagination
and extent of erudition which even then marked him as one of
the first literary characters of his age, he has added a consum-
mate knowledge in the commercial interest of his country,
formed by a long course of enlightened and discriminating
experience.
18. Sir, I should be inexcusable in coming after such a person
with any detail if a great part of the members who now fill
34 EDMUND BURKE
the House had not the misfortune to be absent when he appeared
at your bar. 10 Besides, Sir, I propose to take the matter at
periods of time somewhat different from his. There is, if
I mistake not, a point of view from whence, if you will look
at this subject, it is impossible that it should not make an im-
pression upon you.
19. I have in my hand two accounts: one a#comparative state
of the export trade of England to its colonies as it stood in
the year 1704 and as it stood in the year 1772; the other a
state of the export trade of this country to its colonies alone
as it stood in 1772, compared with the whole trade of Eng-
land to all parts of the world, the colonies included, in the
year 1704. They are from good vouchers; the latter period
from the accounts on your table, the earlier from an original
manuscript of Davenant, who first established the inspector-
general's office, which has been ever since his time so abundant
a source of parliamentary information.
20. The export trade to the colonies consists of three great
branches: the African, which, terminating almost wholly in the
colonies, must be put to the account of their commerce; the
West Indian; and the North American. All these are so
interwoven that the attempt to separate them would tear to
pieces the contexture of the whole; and if not entirely destroy,
would very much depreciate the value of all the parts. I there-
fore consider these three denominations to be what in effect
they are, one trade.
21. The trade to the colonies, taken on the export side at the
beginning of this century, that is, in the year 1704, stood thus: —
Exports to North America and the West Indies £483,265
To Africa 86,665
£569,930
22. In the year 1772, which I take as a middle year between
the highest and lowest of those lately laid on your table, the
account was as follows: —
To North America and the West Indies.... £4,791,734
To Africa 866,398
To which, if you add the export trade from
Scotland, which had in 1704 no existence.. 364,000
£6,022,132
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 35
23. From five hundred and odd thousand it has grown to six
millions. It has increased no less than twelvefold. This is the
state of the colony trade as compared with itself at these two
periods within this century, and this is matter for meditation.
But this is not all. Examine my second account. See how the
export trade to the colonies alone in 1772 stood in the other
point of view, that is, as compared to the whole trade of
England in 1704.
The whole export trade of England, includ-
ing that to the colonies, in 1704 £6,509,000
Export to the colonies alone in 1772 6,022,000
Difference £487,000
24. The trade with America alone is now within less than
£500,000 of being equal to what this great commercial nation,
England, carried on at the beginning of this century with the
whole world! If I had taken the largest year of those on your
table, it would rather have exceeded. But, it will be said, is not
this American trade an unnatural protuberance, that has drawn
the juices from the rest of the body? The reverse. It is the
very food that has nourished every other part into its present
magnitude. Our general trade has been greatly augmented,
and augmented more or less in almost every part to which it
ever extended, but with this material difference, that of the
six millions which in the beginning of the century constituted
the whole mass of our export commerce, the colony trade was
but one-twelfth part: it is now, as a part of sixteen millions,
considerably more than a third of the whole. This is the
relative proportion of the importance of the colonies at these
two periods; and all reasoning concerning our mode of treat-
ing them must have this proportion as its basis, or it is a
reasoning weak, rotten, and sophistical.
25. Mr. Speaker, I can not prevail on myself to hurry over
this great consideration. It is good for us to be here. We stand
where we have an immense view of what is and what is past.
Clouds, indeed, and darkness rest upon the future. Let us,
however, before we descend from this noble eminence, reflect
that this growth of our national prosperity has happened within
the short period of the life of man. It has happened within
sixty-eight years. There are those alive whose memory might
touch the two extremities. For instance, my Lord Bathurst
36 EDMUND BURKE
might remember all the stages of the progress. He was in
1704 of an age at least to be made to comprehend such things.
He was then old enough acta parentum jam legere, et quae sit
poterit cognoscere virtus. 11 Suppose, Sir, that the angel of this
auspicious youth, foreseeing the many virtues which made him
one of the most amiable, as he is one of the most fortunate,
men of his age, had opened to him in vision that when in the
fourth generation the third prince of the House of Brunswick
had sat twelve years on the throne of that nation, which, by
the happy issue of moderate and healing councils, was to be
made Great Britain, he should see his son, Lord Chancellor
of England, turn back the current of hereditary dignity to its
fountain, and raise him to a higher rank of peerage, while
he enriched the family with a new one — if, amidst these bright
and happy scenes of domestic honor and prosperity, that angel
should have drawn up the curtain and unfolded the rising
glories of his country, and while he was gazing with admira-
tion on the then commercial grandeur of England, the genius
should point out to him a little speck, scarce visible in the
mass of the national interest, a small seminal principle, rather
than a formed body, and should tell him, " Young man, there
is America, which at this day serves for little more than to
amuse you with stories of savage men and uncouth manners,
yet shall, before you taste of death, show itself equal to the
whole of that commerce which now attracts the envy of the
world. Whatever England has been growing to by a pro-
gressive increase of improvement, brought in by varieties of
people, by succession of civilizing conquests and civilizing set-
tlements in a series of seventeen hundred years, you shall see
as much added to her by America in the course of a single
life ! " If this state of his country had been foretold to him,
would it not require all the sanguine credulity of youth and
all the fervid glow of enthusiasm to make him believe it?
Fortunate man, he has lived to see it! Fortunate indeed if
he lives to see nothing that shall vary the prospect and cloud
the setting of his day!
26. Excuse me, Sir, if, turning from such thoughts, I resume
this comparative view once more. You have seen it on a
large scale: look at it on a small one. I will point out to
your attention a particular instance of it in the single province
of Pennsylvania. In the year 1704 that province called for
£1 1,459 m value of your commodities native and foreign.
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 37
This was the whole. What did it demand in 1772? Why,
nearly fifty times as much; for in that year the export to
Pennsylvania was £507,909, nearly equal to the export to all
the colonies together in the first period.
27. I choose, Sir, to enter into these minute and particular de-
tails because generalities, which in all other cases are apt to
heighten and raise the subject, have here a tendency to sink it.
When we speak of the commerce with our colonies, fiction
lags after truth, invention is unfruitful, and imagination
cold and barren.
28. So far, Sir, as to the importance of the object in
the view of its commerce, as concerned in the exports from
England. If I were to detail the imports, I could show
how many enjoyments they procure which deceive the
burden of life; how many materials which invigorate the
springs of national industry and extend and animate every
part of our foreign and domestic commerce. This would
be a curious subject indeed, but I must prescribe bounds
to myself in a matter so vast and various.
29. I pass, therefore, to the colonies in another point of
view — their agriculture. This they have prosecuted with
such a spirit that, besides feeding plentifully their own
growing multitude, their annual export of grain, com-
prehending rice, has some years ago exceeded a million in
value. Of their last harvest, I am persuaded they will
export much more. At the beginning of the century some
of these colonies imported corn from the Mother Country;
for some time past the Old World has been fed from the
New. The scarcity which you have felt would have been
a desolating famine, if this child of your old age, with a
true filial piety, with a Roman charity, 12 had not put the
full breast of its youthful exuberance to the mouth of its
exhausted parent.
30. As to the wealth which the colonies have drawn
from the sea by their fisheries, you had all that matter
fully opened at your bar. You surely thought those acqui-
38 EDMUND BURKE
sitions of value, for they seemed even to excite your envy, 1,1
and yet the spirit by which that enterprising employment
has been exercised ought rather, in my opinion, to have
raised your esteem and admiration. And pray, Sir, what
in the world is equal to it? Pass by the other parts, and
look at the manner in which the people of New England
have of late carried on the whale fishery. While we fol-
low them among the tumbling mountains of ice, and be-
hold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of
Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits, while we are looking
for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear that they have
pierced into the opposite region of polar cold, that they
are at the antipodes, and engaged under the frozen Ser-
pent 14 of the south. Falkland Island, which seemed too
remote and romantic an object for the grasp of national
ambition, is but a stage and resting place in the progress
of their victorious industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat
more discouraging to them than the accumulated winter
of both poles. We know that while some of them draw
the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa,
others run the longitude and pursue their gigantic game
along the coast of Brazil. No sea but what is vexed by
their fisheries. No climate that is not witness to their
toils. Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the ac-
tivity of France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of
English enterprise, ever carried this most perilous mode
of hardy industry to the extent to which it has been
pushed by this recent people — a people who are still, as it
were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the
bone of manhood.
31. When I contemplate these things, when I know
that the colonies in general owe little or nothing to any
care of ours, and that they are not squeezed into this happy
form by the constraints of watchful and suspicious gov-
ernment, but that, through a wise and salutary neglect,
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 39
a generous nature has been suffered to take her own way
to perfection — when I reflect upon these effects, when I
see how profitable they have been to us, I feel all the
pride of power sink, and all presumption in the wisdom of
human contrivances melt and die away within me. My
rigor relents. I pardon something to the spirit of liberty.
32. I am sensible, Sir, that all which I have asserted in
my detail is admitted in the gross, but that quite a differ-
ent conclusion is drawn from it. America, gentlemen
say, is a noble object; it is an object well worth fighting
for. Certainly it is, if fighting a people be the best way of
gaining them. Gentlemen in this respect will be led to
their choice of means by their complexions and their
habits. Those who understand the military art will of
course have some predilection for it. Those who wield
the thunder of the state may have more confidence in the
efficacy of arms. But I confess, possibly for want of this
knowledge, my opinion is much more in favor of prudent
management than of force — considering force not as an
odious, but a feeble instrument for preserving a people
so numerous, so active, so growing, so spirited as this, in
a profitable and subordinate connection with us.
33. First, Sir, permit me to observe that the use of
force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a mo-
ment, but it does not remove the necessity of subduing
again ; and a nation is not governed which is perpetually
to be conquered.
34. My next objection is its uncertainty. Terror is
not always the effect of force, and an armament is not a
victory. If you do not succeed, you are without resource ;
for, conciliation failing, force remains; but, force failing,
no further hope of reconciliation is left. Power and au-
thority are sometimes bought by kindness, but they can
never be begged as alms by an impoverished and defeated
violence.
40 EDMUND BURKE
35. A further objection to force is that you impair the
object by your very endeavors to preserve it. The thing
you fought for is not the thing which you recover, but
depreciated, sunk, wasted, and consumed in the contest.
Nothing less will content me than whole America. I do
not choose to consume its strength along with our own ;
because in all parts it is the British strength that I con-
sume. I do not choose to be caught by a foreign enemy
at the end of this exhausting conflict, and still less in the
midst of it. I may escape, but I can make no insurance
against such an event. Let me add that I do not choose
wholly to break the American spirit; because it is the
spirit that has made the country.
36. Lastly, we have no sort of experience in favor of
force as an instrument in the rule of our colonies. Their
growth and their utility has been owing to methods alto-
gether different. Our ancient indulgence has been said
to be pursued to a fault. It may be so. But we know,
if feeling is evidence, that our fault was more tolerable
than our attempt to mend it, and our sin far more salu-
tary than our penitence.
37. These, Sir, are my reasons for not entertaining
that high opinion of untried force by which many gentle-
men, for whose sentiments in other particulars I have
great respect, seem to be so greatly captivated. But there
is still behind a third consideration concerning this object,
which serves to determine my opinion on the sort of
policy which ought to be pursued in the management of
America, even more than its population and its commerce:
I mean its temper and character.
38. In this character of the Americans a love of free-
dom is the predominating feature which marks and distin-
guishes the whole; and as an ardent is always a jealous
affection, your colonies become suspicious, restive, and un-
tractable, whenever they see the least attempt to wrest
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 41
from them by force or shuffle from them by chicane what
they think the only advantage worth living for. This
fierce spirit of liberty is stronger in the English colonies
probably than in any other people of the earth; and this
from a great variety of powerful causes, which, to understand
the true temper of their minds and the direction which this
spirit takes, it will not be amiss to lay open somewhat more
largely.
39. First, the people of the colonies are descendants of Eng-
lishmen. England, Sir, is a nation which still, I hope, respects,
and formerly adored, her freedom. The colonists emigrated
from you when this part of your character was most pre-
dominant; and they took this bias and direction the moment
they parted from your hands. They are therefore not only
devoted to liberty, but to liberty according to English ideas
and on English principles. Abstract liberty, like other mere
abstractions, is not to be found. Liberty inheres in some sen-
sible object; and every nation has formed to itself some favorite
point, which by way of eminence becomes the criterion of their
happiness. It happened, you know, Sir, that the great contests
for freedom in this country were from the earliest times chiefly
upon the question of taxing. Most of the contests in the
ancient commonwealths turned primarily on the right of elec-
tion of magistrates, or on the balance among the several orders
of the state. The question of money was not with them so
immediate. But in England it was otherwise. On this point
of taxes the ablest pens and most eloquent tongues have been
exercised ; the greatest spirits have acted and suffered. In
order to give the fullest satisfaction concerning the importance
of this point, it was not only necessary for those who in
argument defended the excellence of the English Constitution
to insist on this privilege of granting money as a dry point of
fact, and to prove that the right had been acknowledged in
ancient parchments and blind usages to reside in a certain
body called a House of Commons. They went much further:
they attempted to prove, and they succeeded, that in theory it
ought to be so from the particular nature of a House of Com-
mons as an immediate representative of the people, whether
the old records had delivered this oracle or not. They took
infinite pains to inculcate, as a fundamental principle, that in
all monarchies the people must in effect, themselves, mediately
42 EDMUND BURKE
or immediately, possess the power of granting their own money,
or no shadow of liberty could subsist. The colonies draw from
you, as with their lifeblood, these ideas and principles. Their
love of liberty, as with you, fixed and attached on this specific
point of taxing. Liberty might be safe or might be endangered
in twenty other particulars, without their being much pleased or
alarmed. Here they felt its pulse; and as they found that
beat, they thought themselves sick or sound. I do not say
whether they were right or wrong in applying your general
arguments to their own case. It is not easy indeed to make a
monopoly of theorems and corollaries. The fact is that they
did thus apply those general arguments; and your mode of
governing them, whether through lenity or indolence, through
wisdom or mistake, confirmed them in the imagination that
they, as well as you, had an interest in these common principles.
40. They were further confirmed in this pleasing error by the
form of their provincial legislative assemblies. Their govern-
ments are popular in a high degree; some are merely popular;
in all the popular representative is the most weighty; and this
share of the people in their ordinary government never fails
to inspire them with lofty sentiments, and with a strong aversion
from whatever tends to deprive them of their chief importance.
41. If anything were wanting to this necessary operation of
the form of government, religion would have given it a com-
plete effect. Religion, always a principle of energy, in this new
people is no way worn out or impaired; and their mode of
professing it is also one main cause of this free spirit. The
people are Protestants, and of that kind which is the most
adverse to all implicit submission of mind and opinion. This
is a persuasion not only favorable to liberty, but built upon it.
I do not think, Sir, that the reason of this averseness in the
dissenting churches from all that looks like absolute govern-
ment is so much to be sought in their relig'ous tenets as in their
history. Every one knows that the Roman Catholic religion
is at least coeval with most of the governments where it pre-
vails; that it has generally gone hand in hand with them and
received great favor and every kind of support from authority.
The Church of England, too, was formed from her cradle
under the nursing care of regular government. But the dissent-
ing interests have sprung up in direct opposition to all the
ordinary powers of the world, and could justify that opposition
only on a strong claim to natural liberty. Their very existence
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 43
depended on the powerful and unremitted assertion of that
claim. All Protestantism, even the most cold and passive, is
a sort of dissent. But the religion most prevalent in our
northern colonies is a refinement on the principle of resistance:
it is the dissidence of dissent 15 and the Protestantism of the
Protestant religion. This religion, under a variety of denomina-
tions agreeing in nothing but in the communion of the spirit
of liberty, is predominant in most of the northern provinces,
where the Church of England, notwithstanding its legal rights,
is in reality no more than a sort of private sect, not composing
most probably the tenth of the people. The colonists left
England when this spirit was high, and in the emigrants was
the highest of all; and even that stream of foreigners which
has been constantly flowing into these colonies has, for the
greatest part, been composed of dissenters from the establish-
ments of their several countries, and have brought with them
a temper and character far from alien to that of the people
with whom they mixed.
42. Sir, I can perceive by their manner that some gentlemen
object to the latitude of this description, because in the southern
colonies the Church of England forms a large body and has
a regular establishment. It is certainly true. There is, how-
ever, a circumstance attending these colonies, which, in my
opinion, fully counterbalances this difference, and makes the
spirit of liberty still more high and haughty than in those to the
northward. It is that in Virginia and the Carolinas they have
a vast multitude of slaves. Where this is the case in any
part of the world, those who are free are by far the most
proud and jealous of their freedom. Freedom is to them not
only an enjoyment, but a kind of rank and privilege. Not
seeing there that freedom, as in countries where it is a common
blessing and as broad and general as the air, may be united
with much abject toil, with great misery, with all the exterior
of servitude, liberty looks, among them, like something that
is more noble and liberal. I do not mean, Sir, to commend the
superior morality of this sentiment, which has at least as much
pride as virtue in it; but I can not alter the nature of man.
The fact is so; and these people of the southern colonies are
much more strongly and with a higher and more stubborn
spirit attached to liberty than those to the northward. Such
were all the ancient commonwealths; such were our Gothic
ancestors; such in our days were the Poles; and such will be
44 EDMUND BURKE
all masters of slaves who are not slaves themselves. In such
a people, the haughtiness of domination combines with the
spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and renders it invincible.
43. Permit me, Sir, to add another circumstance in our colo-
nies which contributes no mean part toward the growth and ef-
fect of this untractable spirit: I mean their education. In no
country perhaps in the world is the law so general a study. The
profession itself is numerous and powerful, and in most prov-
inces it takes the lead. The greater number of the deputies sent
to the Congress were lawyers. But all who read (and most do
read) endeavor to obtain some smattering in that science. I
have been told by an eminent bookseller that in no branch of
his business, after tracts of popular devotion, were so many
books as those on the law exported to the plantations. The
colonists have now fallen into the way of printing them for
their own use. I hear that they have sold nearly as many of
Blackstone's Commentaries in America as in England. General
Gage marks out this disposition very particularly in a letter
on your table. He states that all the people in his government
are lawyers or smatterers in law, and that in Boston they
have been enabled by successful chicane wholly to evade many
parts of one of your capital penal constitutions. The smartness
of debate will say that this knowledge ought to teach them
more clearly the rights of legislature, their obligations to
obedience, and the penalties of rebellion. All this is mighty
well. But my honorable and learned friend 10 on the floor,
who condescends to mark what I say for animadversion, will
disdain that ground. He has heard, as well as I, that when
great honors and great emoluments do not win over this
knowledge to the service of the state, it is a formidable
adversary to government. If the spirit be not tamed and
broken by these happy methods, it is stubborn and litigious. 17
Abeunt studia in mores. This study renders men acute, in-
quisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defense, full
of resources. In other countries the people, more simple and
of a less mercurial cast, judge of an ill principle in govern-
ment only by an actual grievance ; here they anticipate the
evil, and judge of the pressure of the grievance by the bad-
ness of the principle. They augur misgovernment at a distance,
and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.
44. The last cause of this disobedient spirit in the colonies is
hardly less powerful than the rest, as it is not merely moral,
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 45
but laid deep in the natural constitution of things. Three
thousand miles of ocean lie between you and them. No
contrivance can prevent the effect of this distance in
weakening government. Seas roll and months pass, be-
tween the order and the execution ; and the want of a
speedy explanation of a single point is enough to defeat a
whole system. You have, indeed, winged ministers of
vengeance, who carry your bolts in their pounces to the
remotest verge of the sea. But there a power steps in
that limits the arrogance of raging passions and furious
elements, and says, " So far shalt thou go, and no farther."
Who are you, that you should fret and rage, and bite the
chains of Nature? Nothing worse happens to you than
does to all nations who have extensive empires; and it
happens in all the forms into which empire can be thrown.
In large bodies the circulation of power must be less
vigorous at the extremities. Nature has said it. The
Turk can not govern Egypt and Arabia and Kurdistan
as he governs Thrace; nor has he the same dominion in
Crimea and Algiers which he has at Brusa and Smyrna.
Despotism itself is obliged to truck and huckster. The
Sultan gets such obedience as he can. He governs with
a loose rein, that he may govern at all; and the whole of
the force and vigor of his authority in his center is
derived from a prudent relaxation in all his borders.
Spain, in her provinces, is perhaps not so well obeyed
as you are in yours. She complies, too; she submits; she
watches times. This is the immutable condition, the
eternal law, of extensive and detached empire.
45. Then, Sir, from these six capital sources: of de-
scent, of form of government, of religion in the northern
provinces, of manners in the southern, of education, of
the remoteness of situation from the first mover of govern-
ment — from all these causes a fierce spirit of liberty
has grown up. It has grown with the growth of the
46 EDMUND BURKE
people in your colonies, and increased with the increase
of their wealth — a spirit that, unhappily meeting with an
exercise of power in England, which, however lawful, is
not reconcilable to any ideas of liberty, much less with
theirs, has kindled this flame that is ready to consume
us.
46. I do not mean to commend either the spirit in this
excess, or the moral causes which produce it. Perhaps a
more smooth and accommodating spirit of freedom in
them would be more acceptable to us. Perhaps ideas
of liberty might be desired, more reconcilable with an
arbitrary and boundless authority. Perhaps we might
wish the colonists to be persuaded that their liberty is
more secure when held in trust for them by us, as their
guardians during a perpetual minority, than with any
part of it in their own hands. The question is, not
whether their spirit deserves praise or blame, but — what,
in the name of God, shall we do with it? You have be-
fore you the object, such as it is, with all its glories, with all
its imperfections on its head. You see the magnitude, the
importance, the temper, the habits, the disorders. By all
these considerations we are strongly urged to determine some-
thing concerning it. We are called upon to fix some rule and
line for our future conduct which may give a little stability to
our politics, and prevent the return of such unhappy delibera-
tions as the present. Every such return will bring the matter
before us in a still more untractable form. For, what astonish-
ing and incredible things have we not seen already! What
monsters have not been generated from this unnatural conten-
tion! While every principle of authority and resistance has
been pushed upon both sides as far as it would go, there is
nothing so solid and certain either in reasoning or in practice,
that has not been shaken. Until very lately all authority in
America seemed to be nothing but an emanation from yours.
Even the popular part of the colony constitution derived all its
activity and its first vital movement from the pleasure of the
crown. We thought, Sir, that the utmost which the discon-
tented colonists could do was to disturb authority; we never
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 47
dreamt they could of themselves supply it, knowing in general
what an operose business it is to establish a government abso-
lutely new. But having for our purposes in this contention
resolved that none but an obedient assembly should sit, the
humors of the people there, finding all passage through the
legal channel stopped, with great violence broke out another
way. Some provinces have tried their experiment, as we have
tried ours; and theirs has succeeded. They have formed a
government sufficient for its purposes, without the bustle of
a revolution, or the troublesome formality of an election.
Evident necessity and tacit consent have done the business
in an instant. So well they have done it that Lord Dun-
more 18 (the account is among the fragments on your
table) tells you that the new institution is infinitely better
obeyed than the ancient government ever was in its most
fortunate periods. Obedience is what makes government, and
not the names by which it is called — not the name of governor,
as formerly, or committee, as at present. This new government
has originated directly from the people, and was not trans-
mitted through any of the ordinary artifical media of a positive
constitution. It was not a manufacture ready formed and
transmitted to them in that condition from England. The evil
arising from hence is this: that the colonists having once found
the possibility of enjoying the advantages of order in the
midst of a struggle for liberty, such struggles will not hence-
forward seem so terrible to the settled and sober part of man-
kind as they had appeared before the trial.
47. Pursuing the same plan of punishing by the denial of the
exercise of government to still greater lengths, we wholly
abrogated the ancient government of Massachusetts. We were
confident that the first feeling, if not the very prospect of
anarchy, would instantly enforce a complete submission. The
experiment was tried. A new, strange, unexpected face of
things appeared. Anarchy is found tolerable. A vast province
has now subsisted, and subsisted in a considerable degree of
health and vigor for near a twelvemonth, without governor,
without public council, without judges, without executive magis-
trates. How long it will continue in this state, or what may
arise out of this unheard-of situation, how can the wisest of
us conjecture? Our late experience has taught us that many
of those fundamental principles, formerly believed infallible,
are either not of the importance they were imagined to be, or
48 EDMUND BURKE
that we have not at all adverted to some other far more impor-
tant and far more powerful principles which entirely overrule
those we had considered as omnipotent. I am much against
any further experiments which tend to put to the proof any
more of these allowed opinions which contribute so much to
the public tranquillity. In effect, we suffer as much at home
by this loosening of all ties, and this concussion of all estab-
lished opinions, as we do abroad. For, in order to prove
that the Americans have no right to their liberties, we are
every day endeavoring to subvert the maxims which pre-
serve the whole spirit of our own. To prove that the
Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to de-
preciate the value of freedom itself ; and we never seem
to gain a paltry advantage over them in debate without
attacking some of those principles or deriding some of
those feelings for which our ancestors have shed their
blood.
48. But, Sir, in wishing to put an end to pernicious ex-
periments, I do not mean to preclude the fullest inquiry.
Far from it. Far from deciding on a sudden or partial
view, I would patiently go round and round the subject,
and survey it minutely in every possible aspect. Sir, if
I were capable of engaging you to an equal attention, I
would state that, as far as I am capable of discerning,
there are but three ways of proceeding relative to this
stubborn spirit which prevails in your colonies and disturbs
your government. These are, 19 to change that spirit, as
inconvenient, by removing the causes; to prosecute it as
criminal ; or to comply with it as necessary. I would not
be guilty of an imperfect enumeration ; I can think of
but these three. Another has indeed been started — that
of 20 giving up the colonies ; but it met so slight a reception
that I do not think myself obliged to dwell a great while
upon it. It is nothing but a little sally of anger, like the
frowardness of peevish children who, when they can not
get all they would have, are resolved to take nothing.
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 4 9
49. The first of these plans, to change the spirit, as in-
convenient, by removing the causes, I think is the most
like a systematic proceeding. It is radical in its principle;
but it is attended with great difficulties, some of them
little short, as I conceive, of impossibilities. This will
appear by examining into the plans which have been pro-
posed.
50. As the growing population in the colonies is evi-
dently one cause of their resistance, it was last session
mentioned in both Houses by men of weight, and received
not without applause, that in order to check this evil, it
would be proper for the crown to make no further grants
of land. But to this scheme there are two objections.
The first, that there is already so much unsettled land in
private hands as to afford room for an immense future
population, although the crown not only withheld its
grants, but annihilated its soil. If this be the case, then
the only effect of this avarice of desolation, this hoarding
of a royal wilderness, would be to raise the value of the
possessions in the hands of the great private monopolists,
without any adequate check to the growing and alarming
mischief of population.
51. But if you stopped your grants, what would be the
consequence? The people would occupy without grants.
They have already so occupied in many places. You
can not station garrisons in every part of these deserts.
If you drive the people from one place, they will carry
on their annual t'llage, and remove with their flocks and
herds to another. Many of the people in the back settle-
ments are already little attached to particular situations. Al-
ready they have topped the Appalachian Mountains. From
thence they behold before them an immense plain, one vast,
rich, level meadow; a square of five hundred miles. Over
this they would wander without a possibility of restraint;
they would change their manners with the habits of their life ;
would soon forget a government by which they were disowned ;
50 EDMUND BURKE
would become hordes of English Tartars; and, pouring down
upon your unfortified frontiers a fierce and irresistible cavalry,
become masters of your governors and your counselors, your
collectors and comptrollers, and of all the slaves that adhered
to them. Such would, and in no long time must be, the effect
of attempting to forbid as a crime and to suppress as an
evil the command and blessing of Providence, " Increase and
multiply." Such would be the happy result of an endeavor to
keep as a lair of wild beasts that earth which God by an
express charter has given to the children of men. Far dif-
ferent, and surely much wiser, has been our policy hitherto.
Hitherto we have invited our people, by every kind of bounty,
to fixed establishments. We have invited the husbandman
to look to authority for his title. We have taught him
piously to believe in the mysterious virtue of wax and parch-
ment. We have thrown each tract of land, as it was peopled,
into districts, that the ruling power should never be wholly
out of sight. We have settled all we could, and we have
carefully attended every settlement with government.
52. Adhering, Sir, as I do, to this policy, as well as for the
reasons I have just given, I think this new project of hedging
in population to be neither prudent nor practicable.
53. To impoverish the colonies in general, and in par-
ticular to arrest the noble course of their marine enter-
prises, would be a more easy task. I freely confess it.
We have shown a disposition to a system of this kind,
a disposition even to continue the restraint after the
offense, looking on ourselves as rivals to our colonies,
and persuaded that of course we must gain all that they
shall lose. Much mischief we may certainly do. The power
inadequate to all other things is often more than sufficient
for this. I do not look on the direct and immediate
power of the colonies to resist our violence as very
formidable. In this, however, I may be mistaken. But
when I consider that we have colonies for no purpose but
to be serviceable to us, it seems to my poor understanding
a little preposterous to make them unserviceable in order
to keep them obedient. It is, in truth, nothing more than
the old, and, as I thought, exploded problem of tyranny,
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 51
which proposes to beggar its subjects into submission.
But remember, when you have completed your system of
impoverishment, that Nature still proceeds in her ordinary
course; that discontent will increase with misery; and
that there are critical moments in the fortune of all
states when they who are too weak to contribute to
your prosperity may be strong enough to complete your
ruin. Spoliatis arma supersunt. 21
54. The temper and character which prevail in our
colonies are, I am afraid, unalterable by any human art.
We can not, I fear, falsify the pedigree of this fierce peo-
ple, and persuade them that they are not sprung from
a nation in whose veins the blood of freedom circulates.
The language in which they would hear you tell them
this tale would detect the imposition: your speech would
betray you. An Englishman is the unflttest person on
earth to argue another Englishman into slavery.
55. I think it is nearly as little in our power to change their
republican religion as their free descent, or to substitute the
Roman Catholic as a penalty, or the Church of England,
as an improvement. The mode of inquisition and dragooning
is going out of fashion in the Old World, and I should not
confide much to their efficacy in the New. The education of
the Americans is also on the same unalterable bottom with
their religion. You can not persuade them to burn their books
of curious science, to banish their lawyers from their courts
of laws, or to quench the lights of their assemblies by refusing
to choose those persons who are best read in their privileges.
It would be no less impracticable to think of wholly annihi-
lating the popular assemblies in which these lawyers sit. The
army, by which we must govern in their place, would be far
more chargeable to us, not quite so effectual, and perhaps, in
the end, full as difficult to be kept in obedience.
56. With regard to the high aristocratic spirit of Virginia and
the southern colonies, it has been proposed, I know, to reduce
it by declaring a general enfranchisement of their slaves. This
project has had its advocates and panegyrists, yet I never
could argue myself into any opinion of it. Slaves are often
much attached to their masters. A general wild offer of liberty
52 EDMUND BURKE
would not always be accepted. History furnishes few instances
of it. It is sometimes as hard to persuade slaves to be free as
it is to compel freemen to be slaves; and in this auspicious
scheme we should have both these pleasing tasks on our hands
at once. But when we talk of enfranchisement, do we not per-
ceive that the American master may enfranchise too, and arm
servile hands in defense of freedom — a measure to which other
people have had recourse more than once, and not without
success, in a desperate situation of their affairs.
57. Slaves as these unfortunate black people are, and dull as
all men are from slavery, must they not a little suspect the offer
of freedom from that very nation which has sold them to their
present masters? — from that nation one of whose causes of
quarrel with those masters is their refusal to deal any more in
that inhuman traffic? An offer of freedom from England would
come rather oddly, shipped to them in an African vessel which
is refused an entry into the ports of Virginia or Carolina with
a cargo of three hundred Angola negroes. It would be curious
to see the Guinea captain attempting at the same instant to
publish his proclamation of liberty and to advertise his sale of
slaves.
58. But let us suppose all these moral difficulties got
over. The ocean remains. 22 You can not pump this dry ;
and as long as it continues in its present bed, so long all the
causes which weaken authority by distance will continue.
"Ye gods, annihilate but space and time,
And make two lovers happy!" —
was a pious and passionate prayer, but just as reasonable
as many of the serious wishes of very grave and solemn
politicians.
59. If then, Sir, it seems almost desperate to think of
any alterative course for changing the moral causes, and
not quite easy to remove the natural, which produce preju-
dices irreconcilable to the late exercise of our authority,
but that the spirit infallibly will continue, and continu-
ing, will produce such effects as now embarrass us — the
second mode under consideration is to prosecute that spirit
in its overt acts as criminal.
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 53
60. At this proposition I must pause a moment. The
thing seems a great deal too big for my ideas of juris-
prudence. It should seem to my way of conceiving such
matters, that there is a very wide difference in reason
and policy between the mode of proceeding on the irregu-
lar conduct of scattered individuals, or even of bands of
men, who disturb order within the state, and the civil
dissensions which may from time to time on great ques-
tions agitate the several communities which compose a
great empire. It looks to me to be narrow and pedantic
to apply the ordinary ideas of criminal justice to this
great public contest. I do not know the method of draw-
ing up an indictment against a whole people. I can not
insult and ridicule the feelings of millions of my fellow-
creatures as Sir Edward Coke 23 insulted one excellent
individual, Sir Walter Raleigh, at the bar. I hope I
am not ripe to pass sentence on the gravest public bodies,
intrusted with magistracies of great authority and dignity,
and charged with the safety of their fellow-citizens upon
the very same title that I am. I really think that for
wise men this is not judicious; for sober men, not decent;
for minds tinctured with humanity, not mild and mer-
ciful.
61. Perhaps, Sir, I am mistaken in my idea of an empire, as
distinguished from a single state or kingdom. But my idea
of it is this: that an empire is the aggregate of many states
under one common head, whether ihis head be a monarch, or
a presiding republic. It does, in such constitutions, frequently
happen (and nothing but the dismal, cold, dead uniformity
of servitude can prevent its happening) that the subordinate
parts have many local privileges and immunities. Between
these privileges and the supreme common authority, the line
may be extremely nice. Of course disputes — often, too, very
bitter disputes — and much ill blood, will arise; but though
every privilege is an exemption, in the case, from the ordinary
exercise of the supreme authority, it is no denial of it. The
claim of a privilege seems rather, ex 2 * vi termini, to imply
54 EDMUND BURKE
a superior power; for to talk of the privileges of a state or
of a person who has no superior, is hardly any better than
speaking nonsense. Now, in such unfortunate quarrels among
the component parts of a great political union of communities,
I can scarcely conceive anything more completely imprudent
than for the head of the empire to insist that, if any privilege
is pleaded against his will or his acts, his whole authority is
denied, instantly to proclaim rebellion, to beat to arms, and
to put the offending provinces under the ban. Will not this,
Sir, very soon teach the provinces to make no distinctions on
their part? Will it not teach them that the government against
which a claim of liberty is tantamount to high treason is a
government to which submission is equivalent to slavery? It
may not always be quite convenient to impress dependent com-
munities with such an idea.
62. We are, indeed, in all disputes with the colonies, by the
necessity of things, the judge. It is true, Sir. But I confess
that the character of judge in my own cause is a thing that
frightens me. Instead of filling me with pride, I am exceed-
ingly humbled by it. I can not proceed with a stern, assured,
judicial confidence, until I find myself in something more like
a judicial character. I must have these hesitations as long as
I am compelled to recollect that, in my little reading upon
such contests as these, the sense of mankind has at least as
often decided against the superior as the subordinate power.
Sir, let me add, too, that the opinion of my having some abstract
right in my favor would not put me much at my ease in passing
sentence, unless I could be sure that there were no rights which,
in their exercise under certain circumstances, were not the most
odious of all wrongs and the most vexatious of all injustice.
Sir, these considerations have great weight with me when I
find things so circumstanced that I see the same party at once
a civil litigant against me in point of right, and a culprit
before me, while I sit as a criminal judge on acts of his, whose
moral quality is to be decided upon the merits of that very
litigation. Men are every now and then put by the complexity
of human affairs into strange situations, but justice is the
same, let the judge be in what situation he will.
63. There is, Sir, also a circumstance which convinces me that
this mode of criminal proceeding is not (at least in the present
stage of our contest) altogether expedient; which is nothing
less than the conduct of those very persons who have seemed to
adopt th
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 55
adopt that mode by lately declaring a rebellion in Massachusetts
Bay, as they had formerly addressed 25 to have traitors brought
hither, under an act of Henry the Eighth, for trial. For
though rebellion is declared, it is not proceeded against as
such; nor have any steps been taken toward the apprehension
or conviction of any individual offender, either on our late or
our former address; but modes of public coercion have been
adopted, and such as have much more resemblance to a sort
of qualified hostility toward an independent power than the
punishment of rebellious subjects. All this seems rather incon-
sistent; but it shows how difficult it is to apply these juridical
ideas to our present case.
64. In this situation, let us seriously and coolly ponder.
What is it we have got by all our menaces, which have
been many and ferocious? What advantage have we de-
rived from the penal laws we have passed, and which,
for the time, have been severe and numerous? What ad-
vances have we made toward our object by the sending
of a force which, by land and sea, is no contemptible
strength? Has the disorder abated? Nothing less.
When I see things in this situation, after such confident
hopes, bold promises, and active exertions, I can not for
my life avoid a suspicion that the plan itself is not cor-
rectly right.
65. If, then, the removal of the causes of this spirit of
American liberty be, for the greater part, or rather en-
tirely, impracticable, if the ideas of criminal process be
inapplicable, or, if applicable, are in the highest degree
inexpedient, what way yet remains? No way is open
but the third and last — to comply with the American spirit
as necessary, or, if you please, to submit to it as a nec-
essary evil. 26
66. If we adopt this mode, if we mean to conciliate
and concede, let us see of what nature the concession ought
to be. To ascertain the nature of our concession, we must
look at their complaint. The colonies complain that they
have not the characteristic mark and seal of British free-
56 EDMUND BURKE
dom. They complain that they are taxed in a Parliament
in which they are not represented. If you mean to satisfy
them at all, you must satisfy them with regard to this
complaint. If you mean to please any people, you must
give them the boon which they ask, not what you may
think better for them but of a kind totally different.
Such an act may be a wise regulation, but it is no con-
cession; whereas our present theme is the mode of giving
satisfaction.
67. Sir, I think you must perceive that I am resolved
this day to have nothing at all to do with the question
of the right of taxation. Some gentlemen startle, but it is
true; I put it totally out of the question. It is less than
nothing in my consideration. I do not indeed wonder,
nor will you, Sir, that gentlemen of profound learning
are fond of displaying it on this profound subject. But
my consideration is narrow, confined, and wholly limited
to the policy of the question. I do not examine whether
the giving away a man's money be a power excepted and
reserved out of the general trust of government ; and how
far all mankind, in all forms of polity, are entitled to an
exercise of that right by the charter of nature; or whether,
on the contrary, a right of taxation is necessarily involved
in the general principle of legislation, and inseparable
from the ordinary supreme power. These are deep ques-
tions, where great names militate against each other;
where reason is perplexed, and an appeal to authorities
only thickens the confusion; for high and reverend au-
thorities lift up their heads on both sides, and there is no
sure footing in the middle. This point is the great
" Serbonian bog,
Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old,
Where armies whole have sunk."
I do not intend to be overwhelmed in that bog, though
in such respectable company. The question with me is,
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 57
not whether you have a right to render your people miser-
able, but whether it is not your interest to make them
happy. It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do, but
what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.
Is a politic act the worse for being a generous one? Is
no concession proper but that which is made from your
want of right to keep what you grant? Or does it lessen
the grace or dignity of relaxing in the exercise of an
odious claim, because you have your evidence-room full of
titles, and your magazines stuffed with arms to enforce
them? What signify all those titles and all those arms?
Of what avail are they when the reason of the thing tells
me that the assertion of my title is the loss of my suit,
and that I could do nothing but wound myself by the
use of my own weapons?
68. Such is steadfastly my opinion of the absolute
necessity of keeping up the concord of this empire by a
unity of spirit, though in a diversity of operations, that if
I were sure the colonists had, at their leaving this coun-
try, sealed a regular compact of servitude; that they had
solemnly abjured all the rights of citizens; that they had
made a vow to renounce all ideas of liberty for them and
their posterity to all generations ; yet I should hold myself
obliged to conform to the temper I found universally
prevalent in my own day, and to govern two millions of
men, impatient of servitude, on the principles of freedom.
I am not determining a point of law; I am restoring tran-
quillity; and the general character and situation of a
people must determine what sort of government is fitted
for them. That point nothing else can or ought to deter-
mine.
69. My idea, therefore, without considering whether
we yield as matter of right or grant as matter of favor, is
to admit the people of our colonies into an interest in the
Constitution; and by recording that admission in the
58 EDMUND BURKE
journals of Parliament, to give them as strong an assur-
ance as the nature of the thing will admit, that we mean
forever to adhere to that solemn declaration of systematic
indulgence.
70. Some years ago, the repeal of 27 a revenue act upon
its understood principle might have served to show that
we intended an unconditional abatement of the exercise of
a taxing power. Such a measure was then sufficient to
remove all suspicion and to give perfect content. But
unfortunate events since that time may make something
further necessary, and not more necessary for the satis-
faction of the colonies than for the dignity and con-
sistency of our own future proceedings.
71. I have taken a very incorrect measure of the disposition
of the House, if this proposal in itself would be received with
dislike. I think, Sir, we have few American financiers. But
our misfortune is, we are too acute; we are too exquisite in
our conjectures of the future for men oppressed with such
great and present evils. The more moderate among the
opposers of parliamentary concession freely confess that they
hope no good from taxation; but they apprehend the colonists
have further views; and if this point were conceded, they
would instantly attack the trade laws. These gentlemen are
convinced that this was the intention from the beginning, and
the quarrel of the Americans with taxation was no more than
a cloak and cover to this design. Such has been the language,
even of a gentleman of real moderation and of a natural
temper well adjusted to fair and equal government. I am,
however, Sir, not a little surprised at this kind of discourse
whenever I hear it; and I am the more surprised on account
of the arguments which I constantly find in company with it,
and which are often urged from the same mouths and on the
same day.
72. For instance, when we allege that it is against reason to
tax a people under so many restraints in trade as the Ameri-
cans, the noble lord in the blue ribbon shall tell you that the
restraints on trade are futile and useless, of no advantage
to us, and of no burden to those on whom they are imposed ;
that the trade to America is not secured by the Acts of Nav-
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 59
igation, but by the natural and irresistible advantage of a
commercial preference.
73. Such is the merit of the trade laws in this posture of the
debate. But when strong internal circumstances are urged
against the taxes; when the scheme is dissected; when ex-
perience and the nature of things are brought to prove, and
do prove, the utter impossibility of obtaining an effective
revenue from the colonies; when these things are pressed, or
rather press themselves, so as to drive the advocates of colony
taxes to a clear admission of the futility of the scheme — then,
Sir, the sleeping trade laws revive from their trance, and this
useless taxation is to be kept sacred, not for its own sake,
but as a counterguard and security of the laws of trade.
74. Then, Sir, you keep up revenue laws which are mischiev-
ous, in order to preserve trade laws that are useless. Such is
the wisdom "of our plan in both its members. They are sepa-
rately given up as of no value, and yet one is always to be
defended for the sake of the other. But I can not agree with
the noble lord nor with the pamphlet from whence he seems
to have borrowed these ideas concerning the inutility of the trade
laws; for, without idolizing them, I am sure they are still
in many ways of great use to us; and in former times they
have been of the greatest. They do confine and they do
greatly narrow the market for the Americans. But my per-
fect conviction of this does not help me in the least to dis-
cern how the revenue laws form any security whatsoever to
the commercial regulations; or that these commercial regula-
tions are the true ground of the quarrel; or that the giving
way, in any one instance, of authority, is to lose all that may
remain unconceded.
75. One fact is clear and indisputable: the public and
avowed origin of this quarrel was on taxation. This
quarrel has indeed brought on new disputes on new
questions, but certainly the least bitter and the fewest
of all on the trade laws. To judge which of the two be
the real, radical cause of quarrel, we have to see whether
the commercial dispute did in order of time precede
the dispute on taxation. There is not a shadow of
evidence for it. Next, to enable us to judge whether at
this moment a dislike to the trade laws be the real cause
60 EDMUND BURKE
of quarrel, it is absolutely necessary to put the taxes out
of the question by a repeal. See how the Americans act
in this position, and then you will be able to discern
correctly what is the true object of the controversy, or
whether any controversy at all will remain. Unless you
consent to remove this cause of difference, it is impos-
sible, with decency, to assert that the dispute is not upon
what it is avowed to be. And I would, Sir, recommend
to your serious consideration, whether it be prudent to
form a rule for punishing people, not on their own acts,
but on your conjectures? Surely it is preposterous at
the very best. It is not justifying your anger by their
misconduct, but it is converting your ill will into their
delinquency.
76. " But the colonies will go further. " 28 Alas! alas!
when will this speculating against fact and reason end?
What will quiet these panic fears which we entertain of
the hostile effect of a conciliatory conduct? Is it true
that no case can exist in which it is proper for the sov-
ereign to accede to the desires of his discontented sub-
jects? Is there anything peculiar in this case to make a
rule for itself? Is all authority of course lost when it is
not pushed to the extreme? Is it a certain maxim that
the fewer causes of dissatisfaction are left by govern-
ment, the more the subject will be inclined to resist and
rebel ?
77. All these objections being in fact no more than sus-
picions, conjectures, divinations, formed in defiance of
fact and experience, they did not, Sir, discourage me
from entertaining the idea of a conciliatory concession,
founded on the principles which I have just stated.
78. In forming a plan for this purpose, I endeavored
to put myself in that frame of mind which was the most
natural and the most reasonable and which was cer-
tainly the most probable means of securing me from all
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 61
error. I set out with a perfect distrust of my own
abilities; a total renunciation of every speculation of
my own; and with a profound reverence for the wisdom
of our ancestors, who have left us the inheritance of so
happy a constitution and so flourishing an empire, and
what is a thousand times more valuable — the treasury of
the maxims and principles which formed the one and
obtained the other.
79. During the reigns of the kings of Spain of the Aus-
trian family, whenever they were at a loss in the Spanish
councils, it was common for their statesmen to say that
they ought to consult the genius of Philip the Second.
The genius of Philip the Second 29 might mislead them,
and the issue of their affairs showed that they had not
chosen the most perfect standard. But, Sir, I am sure
that I shall not be misled when, in a case of constitu-
tional difficulty, I consult the genius of the English Con-
stitution. 30 Consulting at that oracle (it was with all
due humility and piety) I found four capital examples
in a similar case before me: those of Ireland, Wales,
Chester, and Durham.
80. Ireland, before the English conquest, though never gov-
erned by a despotic power, had no parliament. How far the
English Parliament itself was at that time modeled according to
the present form, is disputed among antiquarians. But we
have all the reason in the world to be assured that a form
of parliament such as England then enjoyed, she instantly
communicated to Ireland; and we are equally sure that almost
every successive improvement in constitutional liberty, as fast
as it was made here, was transmitted thither. The feudal
baronage and the feudal knighthood, the roots of our primi-
tive constitution, were early transplanted into that soil, and
grew and flourished there. Magna Charta, if it did not give
us originally the House of Commons, gave us at least a House
of Commons of weight and consequence. But your ancestors
did not churlishly sit down alone to the feast of Magna Charta.
Ireland was made immediately a partaker. This benefit of
English laws and liberties, I confess, was not at first extended
62 EDMUND BURKE
to all Ireland. Mark the consequence: English authority and
English liberties had exactly the same boundaries. Your
standard could never be advanced an inch before your privi-
leges. Sir John Davies shows beyond a doubt that the refusal
of a general communication of these rights was the true cause
why Ireland was five hundred years in subduing; and after
the vain projects of a military government, attempted in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, it was soon discovered that nothing
could make that country English in civility and allegiance
but your laws and your forms of legislature. It was not
English arms, but the English Constitution, that conquered
Ireland. From that time Ireland has ever had a general par-
liament, as she had before a partial parliament. You changed
the people; you altered the religion; but you never touched
the form or the vital substance of free government in that
kingdom. You deposed kings; you restored them; you altered
the succession to theirs, as well as to your own crown; but
you never altered their constitution, the principle of which
was respected by usurpation, restored with the restoration of
monarchy, and established, I trust, forever, by the glorious
Revolution. This has made Ireland the great and flourishing
kingdom that it is; and from a disgrace and a burden in-
tolerable to this nation, has rendered her a principal part
of our strength and ornament. This country can not be said
to have ever formally taxed her. The irregular things done
in the confusion of mighty troubles and on the hinge of great
revolutions, even if all were done that is said to have been
done, form no example. If they have any effect in argument,
they make an exception to prove the rule. None of your own
liberties could stand a moment, if the casual deviations from
them at such times were suffered to be used as proofs of their
nullity. By the lucrative amount of such casual breaches in
the Constitution, judge what the stated and fixed rule of
supply has been in that kingdom. Your Irish pensioners would
starve if they had no other fund to live on than taxes granted
by English authority. Turn your eyes to those popular grants
from whence all your great supplies are come, and learn to
respect that only source of public wealth in the British Empire.
81. My next example is Wales. This country was said to be
reduced by Henry the Third. It was said more truly to be
so by Edward the First. But though then conquered, it was
not looked upon as any part of the realm of England. Its
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 63
old constitution, whatever that might have been, was destroyed ;
and no good one was substituted in its place. The care of
that tract was put into the hands of lords marchers — a form
of government of a very singular kind; a strange heterogeneous
monster, something between hostility and government; perhaps
it has a sort of resemblance, according to the modes of those
times, to that of commander in chief at present, to whom all
civil power is granted as secondary. The manners of the
Welsh nation followed the genius of the government: the
people were ferocious, restive, savage, and uncultivated, some-
times composed, never pacified. Wales, within itself, was
in perpetual disorder; and it kept the frontier of England
in perpetual alarm. Benefits from it to the state there were
none. Wales was only known to England by incursion and
invasion.
82. Sir, during that state of things, Parliament was not idle.
They attempted to subdue the fierce spirit of the Welsh by
all sorts of rigorous laws. They prohibited by statute the
sending all sorts of arms into Wales, as you prohibit by
proclamation (with something more of doubt on the legality)
the sending arms to America. They disarmed the Welsh by
statute, as you attempted (but still with more question on
the legality) to disarm New England by an instruction. They
made an act to drag offenders from Wales into England for
trial, as you have done (but with more hardship) with regard
to America. By another act, where one of the parties was
an Englishman, they ordained that his trial should be always
.by English. They made acts to restrain trade, as you do;
and they prevented the Welsh from the use of fairs and
markets, as you do the Americans from fisheries and foreign
ports. In short, when the statute book was not quite so much
swelled as it is now, you find no less than fifteen acts of
penal regulation on the subject of Wales.
83. Here we rub our hands. "A fine body of precedents for
the authority of Parliament and the use of it!" I admit it
fully; and pray add likewise to these precedents, that all the
while Wales rid this kingdom like an incubus; that it was
an unprofitable and oppressive burden; and that an English-
man traveling in that country could not go six yards from the
highroad without being murdered.
84. The march of the human mind is slow. Sir, it was not
until after two hundred years discovered that, by an eternal
64 EDMUND BURKE
law, Providence had decreed vexation to violence, and pov-
erty to rapine. Your ancestors did, however, at length open
their eyes to the ill-husbandry of injustice. They found that
the tyranny of a free people could of all tyrannies the least
be endured; and that laws made against a whole nation were
not the most effectual methods for securing its obedience.
Accordingly, in the twenty-seventh year of Henry the Eighth,
the course was entirely altered. With a preamble stating the
entire and perfect rights of the crown of England, it gave to
the Welsh all the rights and privileges of English subjects.
A political order was established; the military power gave
way to the civil; the marches were turned into counties. But
that a nation should have a right to English liberties, and
yet no share at all in the fundamental security of these lib-
erties — the grant of their own property — seemed a thing so
incongruous that, eight years after — that is, in the thirty-fifth
of that reign — a complete and not ill-proportioned representa-
tion by counties and boroughs was bestowed upon Wales by act
of Parliament. From that moment, as by a charm, the tumults
subsided, obedience was restored, peace, order, and civilization
followed in the train of liberty. When the day-star of the
English Constitution had arisen in their hearts, all was har-
mony within and without —
" Simul alba nautis
Stella refulsit,
Defluit saxis agitatus humor;
Concidunt venti, fugiuntque nubes,
Et minax (quod sic voluere) ponto
Unda recumbit." 31
85. The very same year the county palatine of Chester re-
ceived the same relief from its oppressions and the same remedy
to its disorders. Before this time Chester was little less dis-
tempered than Wales. The inhabitants, without rights them-
selves, were the fittest to destroy the rights of others; and
from thence Richard the Second drew the standing army of
archers with which for a time he oppressed England. The peo-
ple of Chester applied to Parliament in a petition penned as
I shall read to you:
86. " To the king our sovereign lord, in most humble wise
shewen unto your most excellent Majesty, the inhabitants of
your Grace's county palatine of Chester: (1) That where the
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 65
said county palatine of Chester is and hath been always hitherto
exempt, excluded and separated out and from your high court
of Parliament, to have any knights and burgesses within the
said court; by reason whereof the said inhabitants have hitherto
sustained manifold disherisons, losses, and damages, as well in
their lands, goods, and bodies, as in the good, civil, and politic
governance and maintenance of the commonwealth of their said
country: (2) And forasmuch as the said inhabitants have
always hitherto been bound by the acts and statutes made and
ordained by your said Highness, and your most noble progeni-
tors, by authority of the said court, as far forth as other
counties, cities, and boroughs have been, that have had their
knights and burgesses within your said court of Parliament,
and yet have had neither knight ne burgess there for the said
county palatine; the said inhabitants, for lack thereof, have
been oftentimes touched and grieved with acts and statutes
made within the said court, as well derogatory unto the most
ancient jurisdictions, liberties, and privileges of your said
county palatine, as prejudicial unto the commonwealth, quiet-
ness, rest, and peace of your Grace's most bounden subjects
inhabiting within the same."
87. What did Parliament with this audacious address? Re-
ject it as a libel? Treat it as an affront to government? Spurn
it as a derogation from the rights of legislature? Did they
toss it over the table? Did they burn it by the hands of the
common hangman? They took the petition of grievance, all
rugged as it was, without softening or temperament, unpurged
of the original bitterness and indignation of complaint; they
made it the very preamble to their act of redress, and con-
secrated its principle to all ages in the sanctuary of legislation.
88. Here is my third example. It was attended with the suc-
cess of the two former. Chester, civilized as well as Wales, has
demonstrated that freedom, and not servitude, is the cure of
anarchy; as religion, and not atheism, is the true remedy for
superstition. Sir, this pattern of Chester was followed in the
reign of Charles the Second with regard to the county palatine
of Durham, which is my fourth example. This county had
long lain out of the pale of free legislation. So scrupulously
was the example of Chester followed, that the style of the pre-
amble is nearly the same with that of the Chester Act; and
without affecting the abstract extent of the authority of Parlia-
ment, it recognizes the equity of not suffering any considerable
66 EDMUND BURKE
district in which the British subjects may act as a body to be
taxed without their own voice in the grant.
89. Now, if the doctrines of policy contained in these
preambles, and the force of these examples in the acts of
Parliament, avail anything, what can be said against
applying them with regard to America? Are not the
people of America as much Englishmen as the Welsh?
The preamble of the Act of Henry the Eighth says the
Welsh speak a language no way resembling that of his
Majesty's English subjects. Are the Americans not as
numerous? If we may trust the learned and accurate
Judge Barrington's account of North Wales, and take
that as a standard to measure the rest, there is no com-
parison. The people can not amount to above 200,000
■ — not a tenth part of the number in the colonies. Is
America in rebellion? Wales was hardly ever free from
it. Have you attempted to govern America by penal
statutes? You made fifteen for Wales. But your legis-
lative authority is perfect with regard to America!
Was it less perfect in Wales, Chester, and Durham?
But America is virtually represented! What! does
the electric force of virtual representation more easily
pass over the Atlantic than pervade Wales, which lies
in your neighborhood ? or than Chester and Durham, sur-
rounded by abundance of representation that is actual and
palpable? But, Sir, your ancestors thought this sort of
virtual representation, however ample, to be totally in-
sufficient for the freedom of the inhabitants of terri-
tories that are so near and comparatively so inconsider-
able. How then can I think it sufficient for those which
are infinitely greater and infinitely more remote?
90. You will now, Sir, perhaps, imagine that I am on
the point of proposing to you a scheme for a repre-
sentation of the colonies in Parliament. Perhaps I might
be inclined to entertain some such thought, but a great
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 67
flood stops me in my course. Opposuit natura 32 — I can
not remove the eternal barriers of the creation. The
thing, in that mode, I do not know to be possible. As
I meddle with no theory, I do not absolutely assert the
impracticability of such a representation. But I do not
see my way to it; and those who have been more confi-
dent have not been more successful. However, the arm
of public benevolence is not shortened, and there are
often several means to the same end. What Nature has
disjoined in one way, Wisdom may unite in another.
When we can not give the benefit as we would wish,
let us not refuse it altogether. If we can not give the
principal, let us find a substitute. But how? Where?
What substitute?
91. Fortunately I am not obliged for the ways and
means of this substitute to tax my own unproductive in-
vention. I am not even obliged to go to the rich treasury
of the fertile framers of imaginary commonwealths; not
to the Republic of Plato ; 33 not to the Utopia of More ;
not to the Oceana of Harrington. It is before me; it
is at my feet —
" and the rude swain
Treads daily on it with his clouted shoon."
I only wish you to recognize, for the theory, the ancient
constitutional policy of this kingdom with regard to rep-
resentation, as that policy has been declared in acts of
Parliament; and as to the practice, to return to that
mode which a uniform experience has marked out to
you as best, and in which you walked with security,
advantage, and honor, until the year 1763. 34
92. My resolutions therefore mean to establish the
equity and justice of a taxation of America by grant, and
not by imposition;^ to mark the legal competency of the
colony assemblies for the support of their government
68 EDMUND BURKE
in peace, and for public aids in time of war; to acknowl-
edge that this legal competency has had a dutiful and
beneficial exercise; and that experience has shown the
benefit of their grants and the futility of parliamentary
taxation as a method of supply,
93. These solid truths compose six fundamental propositions.
There are three more resolutions corollary to these. If you
admit the first set, you can hardly reject the others. But if
you admit the first, I shall be far from solicitous whether
you accept or refuse the last. I think these six massive pillars
will be of strength sufficient to support the temple of British
concord. I have no more doubt than I entertain of my exist-
ence that, if you admitted these, you would command an imme-
diate peace, and, with but tolerable future management, a
lasting obedience in America. I am not arrogant in this
confident assurance. The propositions are all mere matters
of fact; and if they are such facts as draw irresistible con-
clusions even in the stating, this is the power of truth, and not
any management of mine.
94. Sir, I shall open the whole plan to you, together with
such observations on the motions as may tend to illustrate them
where they may want explanation. The first is a resolution —
95. I. "That the colonies and plantations of Great Britain
in North America, consisting of fourteen 36 separate govern-
ments and containing two millions and upwards of free in-
habitants, have not had the liberty and privilege of electing
and sending any knights and burgesses, or others, to represent
them in the high court of Parliament."
This is a plain matter of fact, necessary to be laid down, and,
excepting the description, it is laid down in the language
of the constitution: it is taken nearly verbatim from acts of
Parliament.
The second is like unto the first —
96. II. "That the said colonies and plantations have been
liable to, and bounden by, several subsidies, payments, rates,
and taxes, given and granted by Parliament, though the said
colonies and plantations have not their knights and burgesses in
the said high court of Parliament, of their own election, to rep-
resent the coadition of their country; by lack whereof they have
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 69
been oftentimes touched and grieved by subsidies given, granted,
and assented to in the said court, in a manner prejudicial to the
commonwealth, quietness, rest, and peace of the subjects in-
habiting within the same."
97. Is this description too hot or too cold, too strong or too
weak? Does it arrogate too much to the supreme legislature?
Does it lean too much to the claims of the people? If it runs
into any of these errors, the fault is not mine. It is the lan-
guage of your own ancient acts of Parliament.
" Non meus hie sermo, sed quae praecepit Ofellus,
Rusticus, abnormis sapiens." 37
It is the genuine produce of the ancient, rustic, manly, home-
bred sense of this country. I did not dare to rub off a particle
of the venerable rust that rather adorns and preserves than
destroys, the metal. It would be a profanation to touch with
a tool the stones which construct the sacred altar of peace. I
would not violate with modern polish the ingenuous and noble
roughness of these truly constitutional materials. Above all
things, I was resolved not to be guilty of tampering — the odious
vice of restless and unstable minds. I put my foot in the
tracks of our forefathers, where I can neither wander nor
stumble. Determining to fix articles of peace, I was resolved
not to be wise beyond what was written. I was resolved to
use nothing else than the form of sound words, to let others
abound in their own sense, and carefully to abstain from all
expressions of my own. What the law has said, I say. In all
things else I am silent. I have no organ but for her words.
This, if it be not ingenious, I am sure is safe.
98. There are indeed words expressive of grievance in this
second resolution which those who are resolved always to be
in the right will deny to contain matter of fact as applied
to the present case, although Parliament thought them true
with regard to the counties of Chester and Durham. They
will deny that the Americans were ever " touched and grieved "
with the taxes. If they consider nothing in taxes but their
weight as pecuniary impositions, there might be some pretense
for this denial. But men may be sorely touched and deeply
grieved in their privileges as well as in their purses. Men
may lose little in property by the act which takes away all
their freedom. When a man is robbed of a trifle on the high-
70 EDMUND BURKE
way, it is not the twopence lost that constitutes the capital
outrage. This is not confined to privileges. Even ancient in-
dulgences, withdrawn without offense on the part of those
who enjoyed such favors, operate as grievances. But were
the Americans then not touched and grieved by the taxes, in
some measure, merely as taxes? If so, why were they almost
all either wholly repealed or exceedingly reduced? Were they
not touched and grieved even by the regulating duties of
the sixth of George the Second ? Else why were the duties
first reduced to one third in 1764, and afterward to a third
of that third in the year 1766? Were they not touched and
grieved by the Stamp Act? I shall say they were, until that
tax is revived. Were they not touched and grieved by the
duties of 1767, which were likewise repealed, and which Lord
Hillsborough 3S tells you, for the ministry, were laid con-
trary to the true principle of commerce? Is not the assurance
given by that noble person to the colonies of a resolution to
lay no more taxes on them, an admission that taxes would
touch and grieve them? Is not the resolution of the noble
lord in the blue ribbon, now standing on your journals, the
strongest of all proofs that parliamentary ^subsidies really
touched and grieved them? Else why all these changes, modi-
fications, repeals, assurances, and resolutions?
The next proposition is —
99. III. " That from the distance of the said colonies and
from other circumstances, no method hath hitherto been devised
for procuring a representation in Parliament for the said colo-
This is an assertion of a fact. I go no further on the paper,
though in my private judgment a useful representation is
impossible. I am sure it is not desired by them; rtor ought it,
perhaps, by us; but I abstain from opinions.
The fourth resolution is —
100. IV. " That each of the said colonies hath within itself
a body, chosen in part or in the whole, by the freemen, free-
holders, or other free inhabitants thereof, commonly called the
General Assembly or General Court, with powers legally to
raise, levy, and assess, according to the several usage of such
colonies, duties and taxes toward defraying all sorts of public
services."
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 71
101. This competence in the colony assemblies is certain. It
is proved by the whole tenor of their acts of supply in all the
assemblies, in which the constant style of granting is, " an
aid to his Majesty"; and acts granting to the crown have
regularly for near a century passed the public offices without
dispute. Those who have been pleased paradoxically to deny
this right, holding that none but the British Parliament can
grant to the crown, are wished to look to what is done, not
only in the colonies, but in Ireland, in one uniform unbroken
tenor every session. Sir, I am surprised that this doctrine
should come from some of the law servants of the crown. I
say that if the crown could be responsible, his Majesty — but
certainly the ministers, and even these law officers themselves
through whose hands the acts pass, biennially in Ireland or
annually in the colonies, are in an habitual course of com-
mitting impeachable offenses. What habitual offenders have
been all presidents of the council, all secretaries of state, all
first lords of trade, all attorneys and all solicitors-general !
However, they are safe, as no one impeaches them; and there
is no ground of charge against them, except in their own
unfounded theories.
The fifth resolution is also a resolution of fact —
102. V. "That the said General Assemblies, General Courts,
or other bodies legally qualified as aforesaid, have at sundry
times freely granted several large subsidies and public aids for
his Majesty's service, according to their abilities, when required
thereto by letter from one of his Majesty's principal secretaries
of state; and that their right to grant the same, and their
cheerfulness and sufficiency in the said grants, have been at
sundry times acknowledged by Parliament."
To say nothing of their great expenses in the Indian wars,
and not to take their exertion in foreign ones so high as the
supplies in the year 1695, not to go back to their public con-
tributions in the year 1710, I shall begin to travel only where
the journals give me light, resolving to deal in nothing but
fact authenticated by parliamentary record, and to build myself
wholly on that solid basis.
103. On the 4th of April, 1748, a committee of this House
came to the following resolution:
" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee that it
is just and reasonable that the several provinces and colonies
72 EDMUND BURKE
of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode
Island be reimbursed the expenses they have been at in taking
and securing to the crown of Great Britain the island of Cape
Breton and its dependencies."
These expenses were immense for such colonies. They were
above .£200,000 sterling; money first raised and advanced on
their public credit.
104. On the 28th of January, 1756, a message from the king
came to us to this effect:
u His Majesty, being sensible of the zeal and vigor with
which his faithful subjects of certain colonies in North
America have exerted themselves in defense of his Majesty's
just rights and possessions, recommends it to this House to
take the same into their consideration, and to enable his
Majesty to give them such assistance as may be a proper re-
ward and encouragement"
105. On the 3d of February, 1756, the House came to a suit-
able resolution, expressed in words nearly the same as those of
the message, but with the further addition, that the money then
voted was an encouragement to the colonies to exert them-
selves with vigor. It will not be necessary to go through all
the testimonies which your own records have given to the
truth of my resolutions: I will only refer you to the places
in the journals:
Vol. xxvii. — May 16 and 19, 1757.
Vol. xxviii.— June 1, 1758; April 26 and 30, 1759; March 26
and 31 and April 28, 1760; January 9 and 20,
1761.
Vol. xxix. — January 22 and 26, 1762; March 14 and 17, 1763.
106. Sir, here is the repeated acknowledgment of Parliament
that the colonies not only gave, but gave to satiety. This nation
has formally acknowledged two things: first, that the colonies
had gone beyond their abilities, Parliament having thought it
necessary to reimburse them; secondly, that they had acted
legally and laudably in their grants of money and their main-
tenance of troops, since the compensation is expressly given as
reward and encouragement. Reward is not bestowed for acts
that are unlawful, and encouragement is not held out to things
that deserve reprehension. My resolution therefore does noth-
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 73
ing more than collect into one proposition what is scattered
through your journals. I give you nothing but your own,
and you can not refuse in the gross what you have so often
acknowledged in detail. The admission of this, which will be
so honorable to them and to you, will indeed be mortal to all
the miserable stories by which the passions of the misguided
people have been engaged in an unhappy system. The people
heard, indeed, from the beginning of these disputes, one thing
continually dinned in their ears — that reason and justice de-
manded that the Americans, who paid no taxes, should be
compelled to contribute. How did that fact of their paying
nothing stand when the taxing system began? When Mr.
Grenville began to form his system of American revenue, he
stated in this House that the colonies were then in debt two
million six hundred thousand pounds sterling money, and was
of opinion they would discharge that debt in four years. On
this state, those untaxed people were actually subject to the
payment of taxes to the amount of six hundred and fifty thou-
sand a year. In fact, however, Mr. Grenville was mistaken.
The funds given for sinking the debt did not prove quite so
ample as both the colonies and he expected. The calculation
was too sanguine: the reduction was not completed till some
years after, and at different times in different colonies. How-
ever, the taxes after the war continued too great to bear any
addition with prudence or propriety; and when the burdens im-
posed in consequence of former requisitions were discharged,
our tone became too high to resort again to requisition. No
colony since that time ever has had any requisition whatsoever
made to it.
107. We see the sense of the crown and the sense of Parlia-
ment on the productive nature of a revenue by grant. Now
search the same journals for the produce of the revenue by im-
position. Where is it? Let us know the volume and the page?
What is the gross, what is the net produce? To what service
is it applied? How have you appropriated its surplus? What!
can none of the many skillful index makers that we are now
employing find any trace of it? Well, let them and that rest
together. But are the journals, which say nothing of the
revenue, as silent on the discontent? Oh, no! a child may find
it. It is the melancholy burden and blot of every page.
108. I think, then, I am, from those journals, justified in the
sixth and last resolution, which is —
74 EDMUND BURKE
VI. " That it hath been found by experience that the manner
of granting the said supplies and aids by the said General As-
semblies hath been more agreeable to the said colonies, and
more beneficial and conducive to the public service, than the
mode of giving and granting aids in Parliament, to be raised
and paid in the said colonies."
109. This makes the whole of the fundamental part of the
plan. The conclusion is irresistible. You can not say that you
were driven by any necessity to an exercise of the utmost rights
of legislature. You can not assert that you took on yourselves
the task of imposing colony taxes, from the want of another
legal body that is competent to the purpose of supplying the
exigencies of the state without wounding the prejudices of the
people. Neither is it true that the body so qualified and having
that competence had neglected the duty.
no. The question now on all this accumulated matter is —
whether you will choose to abide by a profitable experience, or
a mischievous theory; whether you choose to build on imagina-
tion or fact; whether you prefer enjoyment or hope; satis-
faction in your subjects, or discontent?
in. If these propositions are accepted, everything which has
been made to enforce a contrary system must, I take it for
granted, fall along with it. On that ground I have drawn the
following resolution, which, when it comes to be moved, will
naturally be divided in a proper manner:
112. I. "That it may be proper to repeal an act made in the
seventh year of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled, ' An
act for granting certain duties in the British colonies and planta-
tions in America; for allowing a drawback of the duties of cus-
toms upon the exportation from this kingdom, of coffee and
cocoanuts of the produce of the said colonies or plantations; for
discontinuing the drawbacks payable on China earthenware ex-
ported to America; and for more effectually preventing the
clandestine running of goods in the said colonies and planta-
tions.' And that it may be proper to repeal an act made in
the fourteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled,
1 An act to discontinue, in such manner and for such time as
are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading or
shipping, of goods, wares, and merchandise, at the town and
within the harbor of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts
Bay, in North America.' — And that it may be proper to repeal
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 75
an act made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present
Majesty, entitled, * An act for the impartial administration of
justice in the cases of persons questioned for any acts done by
them in the execution of the law, or for the suppression of riots
and tumults, in the province of Massachusetts Bay, in New
England.' — And that it may be proper to repeal an act made in
the fourteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled,
' An act for the better regulating the government of the
province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England.' — And also,
that it may be proper to explain and amend an act made in
the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth,
entitled, ' An act for the trial of treasons committed out of the
king's dominions.' "
113. I wish, Sir, to repeal the Boston Port Bill, because, inde-
pendently of the dangerous precedent of suspending the rights
of the subject during the king's pleasure, it was passed, as I
apprehend, with less regularity, and on more partial principles,
than it ought. The corporation of Boston was not heard before
it was condemned. Other towns, full as guilty as she was,
have not had their ports blocked up. Even the restraining
bill 39 of the present session does not go to the length of the
Boston Port Act. The same ideas of prudence which induced
you not to extend equal punishment to equal guilt, even when
you were punishing, induced me, who mean not to chastise,
but to reconcile, to be satisfied with the punishment already
partially inflicted.
114. Ideas of prudence and accommodation to circumstances
prevent you from taking away the charters of Connecticut and
Rhode Island, as you have taken away that of Massachusetts
colony, though the crown has far less power 40 in the two
former provinces than it enjoyed in the latter; and though the
abuses have been full as great, and as flagrant, in the ex-
empted as in the punished. The same reasons of prudence
and accommodation have weight with me in restoring the
charter of Massachusetts Bay. Besides, Sir, the act which
changes the charter of Massachusetts is in many particulars so
exceptionable that, if I did not wish absolutely to repeal, I
would by all means desire to alter it, as several of its pro-
visions tend to the subversion of all public and private justice.
Such, among others, is the power in the governor to change
the sheriff at his pleasure, and to make a new returning officer
76 EDMUND BURKE
for every special cause. It is shameful to behold such a regu-
lation standing among English laws.
115. The act for bringing persons accused of committing mur-
der under the orders of government to England for trial is but
temporary. That act has calculated the probable duration of
our quarrel with the colonies, and is accommodated to that
supposed duration. I would hasten the happy moment of
reconciliation, and therefore must, on my principle, get rid of
that most justly obnoxious act.
116. The act of Henry the Eighth for the trial of treasons, I
do not mean to take away, but to confine it to its proper bounds
and original intention; to make it expressly for trial of
treasons (and the greatest treasons may be committed) in
places where the jurisdiction of the crown does not extend.
117. Having guarded the privileges of local legislature, I
would next secure to the colonies a fair and unbiased judica-
ture; for which" purpose, Sir, I propose the following resolu-
tion:
II. "That, from the time when the General Assembly or
General Court of any colony or plantation in North America
shall have appointed, by act of Assembly duly confirmed, a set-
tled salary to the offices of the chief justice and other judges of
the superior courts, it may be proper that the said chief justice
and other judges of the superior courts of such colony shall hold
his and their office and offices during their good behavior; and
shall not be removed therefrom, but when the said removal shall
be adjudged by his Majesty in council, upon a hearing on com-
plaint from the General Assembly, or on a complaint from the
governor or council or the House of Representatives, severally,
of the colony in which the said chief justice and other judges
have exercised the said offices."
118. The next resolution relates to the courts of admiralty.
It is this:
III. " That it may be proper to regulate the courts of ad-
miralty or vice-admiralty authorized by the fifteenth chapter of
the fourth of George the Third, in such a manner as to make
the same more commodious to those who sue or are sued in the
said courts, and to provide for the more decent maintenance of
the judges in the same."
CONCILIATION WITPI AMERICA 77
119. These courts I do not wish to take away: they are in
themselves proper establishments. This court is one of the capi-
tal securities of the Act of Navigation. The extent of its juris-
diction, indeed, has been increased; but this is altogether as
proper, and is indeed on many accounts more eligible, where
new powers were wanted, than a court absolutely new. But
courts incommodiously situated, in effect, deny justice; and a
court partaking in the fruits of its own condemnation is a
robber. The Congress complain, and complain justly, of this
grievance.
120. These are the three consequential propositions. I have
thought of two or three more; but they come rather too near
detail, and to the province of executive government, which I
wish Parliament always to superintend, never to assume. If
the first six are granted, congruity will carry the latter three.
If not, the things that remain unrepealed will be, I hope,
rather unseemly encumbrances on the building, than very ma-
terially detrimental to its strength and stability.
121. Here, Sir, I should close; but I plainly perceive some
objections remain, which I ought, if possible, to remove. The
first will be that, in resorting to the doctrine of our ancestors
as contained in the preamble to the Chester Act, I prove too
much; that the grievance from a want of representation, stated
in, that preamble, goes to the whole of legislation as well as
to taxation. And that the colonies, grounding themselves upon
that doctrine, will apply it to all parts of legislative authority.
122. To this objection, with all possible deference and humil-
ity, and wishing as little as any man living to impair the small-
est particle of our supreme authority, I answer that the words
are the words of Parliament, and not mine, and that all false
and inconclusive inferences drawn from them are not mine,
for I heartily disclaim any such inference. I have chosen the
words of an act of Parliament which Mr. Grenville, surely
a tolerably zealous and very judicious advocate for the
sovereignty of Parliament, formerly moved to have read at
your table in confirmation of his tenets. It is true that Lord
Chatham considered these preambles as declaring strongly in
favor of his opinions. He was a no less powerful advocate
for the privileges of the Americans. Ought I not from hence
to presume that these preambles are as favorable as possible
to both, when properly understood — favorable both to the rights
of Parliament, and to the privilege of the dependencies of this
78 EDMUND BURKE
crown? But, Sir, the object of grievance in my resolution I
have not taken from the Chester, but from the Durham Act,
which confines the hardship of want of representation to the
case of subsidies, and which therefore falls in exactly with the
case of the colonies. But whether the unrepresented counties
were de jure or de facto bound, the preambles do not accu-
rately distinguish; nor indeed was it necessary; for, whether
de jure or de facto, the legislature thought the exercise of the
power of taxing, as of right or as of fact without right, equally
a grievance, and equally oppressive.
123. I do not know that the colonies have, in any gen-
eral way or in any cool hour, gone much beyond the de-
mand of immunity in relation to taxes. It is not fair to
judge of the temper or dispositions of any man or any set
of men when they are composed and at rest, from their
conduct or their expressions in a state of disturbance and
irritation. It is, besides, a very great mistake to imagine
that mankind follow up practically any speculative prin-
ciple, either of government or of freedom, as far as it
will go in argument and logical illation. We English-
men stop very short of the principles upon which we sup-
port any given part of our Constitution, or even the whole
of it together. I could easily, if I had not already tired
3 r ou, give you very striking and convincing instances of
it. This is nothing but what is natural and proper. All
government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment,
every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on com-
promise and barter. We balance inconveniences; we give
and take; we remit some rights that we may enjoy others;
and we choose rather to be happy citizens than subtle dis-
putants. As we must give away some natural liberty to
enjoy civil advantages, so we must sacrifice some civil
liberties for the advantages to be derived from the com-
munion and fellowship of a great empire. But in all fair
dealings, the thing bought must bear some proportion to
the purchase paid. None will barter away the immediate
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 79
jewel of his soul. Though a great house is apt to make
slaves haughty, yet it is purchasing a part of the artificial
importance of a great empire too dear to pay for it all
essential rights and all the intrinsic dignity of human
nature. None of us who would not risk his life rather
than fall under a government purely arbitrary. But al-
though there are some among us who think our Consti-
tution wants many improvements to make it a complete
system of liberty, perhaps none who are of that opinion
would think it right to aim at such improvement by dis-
turbing his country and risking everything that is dear
to him. In every arduous enterprise, we consider what
we are to lose as well as what we are to gain; and the
more and better stake of liberty every people possess, the
less they will hazard in a vain attempt to make it more.
These are the cords of man. Man acts from adequate
motives relative to his interest, and not on metaphysical
speculations. Aristotle, the great master of reasoning,
cautions us, and with great weight and propriety, against
this species of delusive geometrical accuracy in moral argu-
ments, as the most fallacious of all sophistry.
124. The Americans will have no interest contrary to
the grandeur and glory of England, when they are not
oppressed by the weight of it; and they will rather be
inclined to respect the acts of a superintending legislature
when they see them the acts of that power which is itself
the security, not the rival, of their secondary importance.
In this assurance, my mind most perfectly acquiesces ; and
I confess I feel not the least alarm from the discontents
which are to arise from putting people at their ease; nor
do I apprehend the destruction of this empire from giving,
by an act of free grace and indulgence, to two millions
of my fellow-citizens, some share of those rights upon
which I have always been taught to value myself.
80 EDMUND BURKE
125. It is said, indeed, that this power of granting, vested in
American assemblies, would dissolve the unity of the empire,
which was preserved entire, although Wales, and Chester, and
Durham were added to it. Truly, Mr. Speaker, I do not know
what this unity means; nor has it ever been heard of, that I
know, in the constitutional policy of this country. The very
idea of subordination of parts excludes this notion of simple
and undivided unity. England is the head; but she is not the
head and the members too. Ireland has 41 ever had from the
beginning a separate, but not an independent legislature;
which, far from distracting, promoted the union of the whole.
Everything was sweetly and harmoniously disposed through
both islands for the conservation of English dominion and the
communication of English liberties. I do not see that the same
principles might not be carried into twenty islands, and with
the same good effect. This is my model with regard to
America, as far as the internal circumstances of the two coun-
tries are the same. I know no other unity of this empire than
I can draw from its example during these periods, when it
seemed to my poor understanding more united than it is now,
or than it is likely to be by the present methods.
126. But since I speak of these methods, I recollect, Mr.
Speaker, almost too late, that I promised, before I finished, to
say something of the proposition of the noble lord on the floor,
which has been so lately received, and stands on your journals.
I must be deeply concerned whenever it is my misfortune to
continue a difference with the majority of this House. But as
the reasons for that difference are my apology for thus troub-
ling you, suffer me to state them in a very few words. I shall
compress them into as small a body as I possibly can, having
already debated that matter at large when the question was
before the committee.
127. First, then, I can not admit that proposition of
a ransom by auction, because it is a mere project. It is
a thing new, unheard of, supported by no experience, justi-
fied by no analogy, without example of our ancestors, or
root in the Constitution. It is neither regular parlia-
mentary taxation nor colony grant. Experimentum in
corpore vili 42 is a good rule, which will ever make me
adverse to any trial of experiments on what is certainly
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 81
the most valuable of all subjects — the peace of this empire.
128. Secondly, it is an experiment which must be fatal
in the end to our Constitution. For what is it but a
scheme for taxing the colonies in the antechamber of the
noble lord and his successors? To settle the quotas and
proportions in this House, is clearly impossible. You, Sir,
may flatter yourself you shall sit a state auctioneer with
your hammer in your hand, and- knock down to each
colony as it bids. But to settle, on the plan laid down by
the noble lord, the true proportional payment for four or
five and twenty governments^ according to the absolute
and the relative wealth of each, and according to the Brit-
ish proportion of wealth and burden, is a wild and chi-
merical notion. This new taxation must therefore come
in by the back door of the Constitution. Each quota
must be brought to this House ready formed. You can
neither add nor alter. You must register it. You can do
nothing further. For on what grounds can you deliberate
either before or after the proposition ? You can not hear
the counsel for all these provinces quarreling each on its
own quantity of payment, and its proportion to others.
If you should attempt it, the committee of provincial ways
and means, or by whatever other name it will delight to
be called, must swallow up all the time of Parliament.
129. Thirdly, it does not give satisfaction to the complaint of
the colonies. They complain that they are taxed without their
consent; you answer that you will fix the sum at which they
shall be taxed ; that is, you give them the very grievance for
the remedy. You tell them, indeed, that you will leave the
mode to themselves. I really beg pardon; it gives me pain to
mention it; but you must be sensible that you will not perform
this part of the compact. For, suppose the colonies were to
lay the duties which furnished their contingent upon the im-
portation of your manufactures; you know you would never
suffer such a tax to be laid. You know, too, that you would
not suffer many other modes of taxation. So that, when you
come to explain yourself, it will be found that you will neither
82 EDMUND BURKE
leave to themselves the quantum nor the mode, nor indeed
anything. The whole is delusion from one end to the other.
130. Fourthly, this method of ransom by auction, unless it be
universally accepted, will plunge you into great and inextrica-
ble difficulties. In what year of our Lord are the proportions
of payments to be settled ? To say nothing of the impossibility
that colony agents should have general powers of taxing the
colonies at their discretion, consider, I implore you, that the
communication by special messages and orders between these
agents and their constituents on each variation of the case, when
the parties come to contend together and to dispute on their
relative proportions, will be a matter of delay, perplexity, and
confusion that never can have an end.
131. If all the colonies do not appear at the outcry, what is
the condition of those assemblies who offer, by themselves or
their agents, to tax themselves up to your ideas of their propor-
tion? The refractory colonies who refuse all composition will
remain taxed only to your old impositions, which, however
grievous in principle, are trifling as to production. The
obedient colonies in this scheme are heavily taxed ; the refrac-
tory remain unburdened. What will you do? Will you lay
new and heavier taxes by Parliament on the disobedient? Pray
consider in what way you can do it. You are perfectly con-
vinced that, in the way of taxing, you can do nothing but at
the ports. Now suppose it is Virginia that refuses to appear
at your auction, while Maryland and North Carolina bid
handsomely for their ransom and are taxed to your quota: how
will you put these colonies on a par? Will you tax the tobacco
of Virginia? If you do, you give its death-wound to your
English revenue at home, and to one of the very greatest arti-
cles of your own foreign trade. If you tax the import of that
rebellious colony, what do you tax but your own manufactures,
or the goods of some other obedient and already well-taxed
colony? Who has said one word on this labyrinth of detail
which bewilders you more and more as you enter into it?
Who has presented, who can present you with a clew to lead
you out of it? I think, Sir, it is impossible that you should
not recollect that the colony bounds are so implicated in one
another (you know it by your other experiments in the bill
for prohibiting the New England fishery) that you can lay no
possible restraints on almost any of them which may not be
presently eluded, if you do not confound the innocent with th-
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 83
guilty, and burden those whom, upon every principle, you
/ught to exonerate. He must be grossly ignorant of America
who thinks that, without falling into this confusion of all rules
of equity and policy, you can restrain any single colony, espe-
cially Virginia and Maryland, the central and most important
of them all.
132. Let it also be considered that, either in the pres-
ent confusion you settle a permanent contingent, which
will and must be trifling, and then you have no effectual
revenue; or you change the quota at every exigency, and
then on every new repartition you will have a new
quarrel.
133. Reflect, besides, that when you have fixed a quota
for every colony, you have not provided for prompt and
punctual payment. Suppose one, two, five, ten years'
arrears: you can not issue a treasury extent against the
failing colony. You must make new Boston Port Bills,
new restraining laws, new acts for dragging men to Eng-
land for trial. You must send out new fleets, new
armies. All is to begin again. From this day forward
the empire is never to know an hour's tranquillity. An
intestine fire will be kept alive in the bowels of the
colonies, which one time or other must consume this
whole empire. I allow indeed that the Empire of Ger-
many raises her revenue and her troops by quotas and
contingents; but the revenue of the empire, and the army
of the empire, is the worst revenue and the worst army
in the world.
134. Instead of a standing revenue, you will therefore
have a perpetual quarrel. Indeed, the noble lord who pro*
posed this project of a ransom by auction seems himself
to be of that opinion. His project was rather designed
for breaking the union of the colonies than for establish-
ing a revenue. He confessed he apprehended that his
proposal would not be to their taste. I say this scheme
of disunion seems to be at the bottom of the project; for
84 EDMUND BURKE
I will not suspect that the noble lord meant nothing but
merely to delude the nation by an airy phantom which
he never intended to realize. But whatever his views
may be, as I propose the peace and union of the colonies
as the very foundation of my plan, it can not accord with
one whose foundation is perpetual discord.
135. Compare the two. This I offer to give you is
plain and simple. The other full of perplexed and intri-
cate mazes. This mild; that harsh. This is found by
experience effectual for its purposes; the other is a new
project. This is universal; the other calculated for cer-
tain colonies only. This is immediate in its conciliatory
operations; the other remote, contingent, full of hazard.
Mine is what becomes the dignity of a ruling people —
gratuitous, unconditional, and not held out as a matter of
bargain and sale. I have done my duty in proposing it
to you. I have indeed tired you by a long discourse;
but this is the misfortune of those to whose influence
nothing will be conceded, and who must win every inch
of their ground by argument. You have heard me with
goodness. May you decide with wisdom! For my part,
I feel my mind greatly disburthened by what I have
done to-day. I have been the less fearful of trying your
patience, because on this subject I mean to spare it alto-
gether in future. I have this comfort, that in every stage
of the American affairs I have steadily opposed the meas-
ures that have produced the confusion, and may bring on
the destruction, of this Empire. I now go so far as to
risk a proposal of my own. If I can not give peace to
my country, I give it to my conscience.
136. But what, says the financier, is peace to us with-
out money? Your plan gives us no revenue. No! But
it does; for it secures to the subject the power of refusal,
the first of all revenues. Experience is a cheat, and fact
a liar, if this power in the subject of proportioning his
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 85
grant, or of not granting at all, has not been found the
richest mine of revenue ever discovered by the skill or
by the fortune of man. It does not indeed vote you
152,750/. iu. iY\d., nor any other paltry limited sum;
but it gives the strong box itself, the fund, the bank —
from whence only revenues can arise amongst a people
sensible to freedom. Posita luditur area.* 3 Cannot you,
in England — cannot you, at this time of day — cannot you,
a House of Commons, trust to the principle which has
raised so mighty a revenue, and accumulated a debt of
near £140,000,000 in this country? Is this principle to
be true in England, and false everywhere else? Is it not
true in Ireland? Has it not hitherto been true in the
colonies? Why should you presume that in any country
a body duly constituted for any function will neglect to
perform its duty, and abdicate its trust? Such a pre-
sumption would go against all governments in all modes.
But, in truth, this dread of penury of supply from a free
assembly, has no foundation in Nature. For first ob-
serve that, besides the desire which all men have natu-
rally of supporting the honor of their own government,
that sense of dignity and that security to property which
ever attends freedom, has a tendency to increase the stock
of the free community. Most may be taken where most
is accumulated. And what is the soil or climate where
experience has not uniformly proved that the voluntary
flow of heaped-up plenty, bursting from the weight of its
own rich luxuriance, has ever run with a more copious
stream of revenue than could be squeezed from the dry
husks of oppressed indigence by the straining of all the
politic machinery in the world?
137. Next, we know that parties must ever exist in a
free country. We know, too, that the emulations of such
parties, their contradictions, their reciprocal necessities,
their hopes, and their fears, must send them all in their
26 EDMUND BURKE
tuttlS to him that holds the balance of the State. The
parties are the gamesters; but the government keeps the
table, and is sure to be the winner in the end- When this
game is played, I really think it is more to be feared that
the people will be exhausted, than that government will
not be supplied. Whereas, whatever is got by acts of
absolute power, ill obeyed, because odious, or by con-
tracts, ill kept, because constrained, will be narrow,
feeble, uncertain, and precarious.
" Ease would retract vows made in pain, as violent and
void."
138. I, for one, protest against compounding our de-
mands. I declare against compounding, for a poor limited
sum, the immense, ever-growing, eternal debt which is due
to generous government from protected freedom. And so>
may I speed in the great object I propose to you, as I
think it would not only be an act of injustice, but would
be the worst economy in the world, to compel the colonies:
to a sum certain, either in the way of ransom or in the
way of compulsory compact.
139. But to clear up my ideas on this subject, a reve-
nue from America transmitted hither — do not delude
yourselves — you never can receive it; no, not a shilling.
We have experience that from remote countries it is not
to be expected. If, when you attempted to extract reve-
nue from Bengal you were obliged to return in loan what
you had taken in imposition, what can you expect from
North America? For certainly, if ever there was a
country qualified to produce wealth, it is India; or an
institution fit for the transmission, it is the East India
Company. America has none of these aptitudes. If
America gives you taxable objects on which you lay your
duties here, and gives you, at the same time, a surplus
by a foreign sale of her commodities to pay the duties on
these objects which you tax at home, she has performed
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 87
her part to the British revenue. But with regard to her
own internal establishments, she may, I doubt not she
will, contribute in moderation. I say in moderation, for
she ought not to be permitted to exhaust herself. She
ought to be reserved to a war, the weight of which, with
the enemies that we are most likely to have, must be
considerable in her quarter of the globe. There she may
serve you, and serve you essentially.
140. For that service — for all service, whether of reve-
nue, trade, or empire — my trust is in her interest in the
British Constitution. My hold of the colonies is in the
close affection which grows from common names, from
kindred blood, from similar privileges, and equal protec-
tion. These are ties which, though light as air, are as
strong as links of iron. Let the colonies always keep the
idea of their civil rights associated with your government,
they will cling and grapple to you, and no force under
heaven will be of power to tear them from their allegiance.
But let it be once understood that your government may
be one thing and their privileges another, that these two
things may exist without any mutual relation, the cement
is gone, the cohesion is loosened, and everything hastens
to decay and dissolution. As long as you have the wisdom
to keep the sovereign authority of this country as the
sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our
common faith, wherever the chosen race and sons of Eng-
land worship freedom, they will turn their faces towards
you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will
have; the more ardently they love liberty, the more per-
fect will be their obedience. Slavery they can have any-
where. It is a weed that grows in every soil. They may
have it from Spain ; they may have it from Prussia. But,
until you become lost to all feeling of your true interest
and your natural dignity, freedom they can have from
none but you. This is the commodity of price, of which
88 EDMUND BURKE
you have the monopoly. This is the true Act of Naviga-
tion, which binds to you the commerce of the colonies,
and through them secures to you the wealth of the world.
Deny them this participation of freedom, and you break
that sole bond which originally made and must still pre-
serve the unity of the empire. Do not entertain so weak
an imagination as that your registers and your bonds,
your affidavits and your sufferances, your cockets and your
clearances are what form the great securities of your com-
merce. Do not dream that your letters of office, and
your instructions, and your suspending clauses, are the
things that hold together the great contexture of the mys-
terious whole. These things do not make your govern-
ment. Dead instruments, passive tools as they are, it is
the spirit of the English communion that gives all their
life and efficacy to them. It is the spirit of the English
Constitution which, infused through the mighty mass,
pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivifies every part of
the Empire, even down to the minutest member.
141. Is it not the same virtue which does everything
for us here in England ? Do you imagine, then, that it is
the Land Tax Act which raises your revenue? that it is
the annual vote in the Committee of Supply which gives
you your army? or that it is the Mutiny Bill which in-
spires it with bravery and discipline? No! surely no!
It is the love of the people ; it is their attachment to their
government, from the sense of the deep stake they have
in such a glorious institution, which gives you your army
and your navy, and infuses into both that liberal obedi-
ence without which your army would be a base rabble,
and your navy nothing but rotten timber.
142. All this, I know well enough, will sound wild
and chimerical to the profane herd of those vulgar and
mechanical politicians who have no place among us; a sort
of people who think that nothing exists but what is gross
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 89
and material, and who, therefore, far from being quali-
fied to be directors of the great movement of empire, are
not fit to turn a wheel in the machine. But to men
truly initiated and rightly taught, these ruling and master
principles, which, in the opinion of such men as I have
mentioned, have no substantial existence, are in truth
everything, and all in all. Magnanimity in politics is
not seldom the truest wisdom, and a great empire and
little minds go ill together. If we are conscious of our
station, and glow with zeal to fill our places as becomes
our situation and ourselves, we ought to auspicate all our
public proceedings on America with the old warning of
the church, Sursum cordaf 4 * We ought to elevate our
minds to the greatness of that trust to which the order
of Providence has called us. By adverting to the dignity
of this high calling, our ancestors have turned a savage
wilderness into a glorious empire, and have made the
most extensive, and the only honorable conquests, not by
destroying, but by promoting the wealth, the number, the
happiness of the human race. Let us get an American
revenue as we have got an American empire. English
privileges have made it all that it is; English privileges
alone will make it all it can be.
143. In full confidence of this unalterable truth, I nor/
(quod felix faustumque sit) 45 lay the first stone of the
Temple of Peace: and I move you —
144. Moved,
I. " That the colonies and plantations of Great Britain
in North America, consisting of fourteen separate gov-
ernments, and containing two millions and upwards of
free inhabitants, have not had the liberty and privilege
of electing and sending any knights and burgesses, or
others, to represent them in the high court of Parlia-
ment.
go EDMUND BURKE
145. II. " That the said colonies and plantations have
been liable to, and bounden by, several subsidies, pay-
ments, rates and taxes, given and granted by Parliament,
though the said colonies and plantations have not their
knights and burgesses in the said high court of Parlia-
ment, of their own election, to represent the condition of
their country ; by lack whereof they have been oftentimes
touched and grieved by subsidies given, granted and as-
sented to, in the said court, in a manner prejudicial to
the commonwealth, quietness, rest and peace of the sub-
jects inhabiting within the same.
146. III. " That, from the distance of the said colonies
and from other circumstances, no method hath hitherto
been devised for procuring a representation in Parliament
for the said colonies.
147. IV. " That each of the said colonies hath within
itself a body, chosen in part or in the whole by the free-
men, freeholders or other free inhabitants thereof, com-
monly called the general assembly, or general court; with
powers legally to raise, levy and assess, according to the
several usages of such colonies, duties and taxes towards
defraying all sorts of public services.
148. V. " That the said general assemblies, general
courts, or other bodies legally qualified as aforesaid, have
at sundry times freely granted several large subsidies and
public aids for his Majesty's service, according to their
abilities, when required thereto by letter from one of his
Majesty's principal secretaries of state; and that their
right to grant the same and their cheerfulness and suf-
ficiency in the said grants have been at sundry times ac-
knowledged by Parliament.
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 91
149. VI. " That it hath been found by experience that
the manner of granting the said supplies and aids by the
said general assemblies hath been more agreeable to the
inhabitants of the said colonies, and more beneficial and
conducive to the public service, than the mode of giving
and granting aids and subsidies in Parliament, to be raised
and paid in the said colonies. ,,
150. VII. "That it may be proper to repeal an act
made in the seventh year of the reign of his present Maj-
esty, entitled, ' An act for granting certain duties in the
British colonies and plantations in America; for allowing
a drawback of the duties of customs upon the exportation
from this kingdom, of coffee and cocoanuts of the produce
of the said colonies or plantations; for discontinuing the
drawbacks payable on China earthenware exported to
America; and for more effectually preventing the clan-
destine running of goods in the said colonies and planta-
tions/
151. VIII. "That it may be proper to repeal an act
made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present
Majesty, entitled, ' An act to discontinue, in such manner
and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing
and discharging, lading or shipping, of goods, wares and
merchandise, at the town and within the harbor of Bos-
ton, in the province of Massachusetts Bay, in North
America/
152. IX. "That it may be proper to repeal an act
made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present
Majesty, entitled, ' An act for the impartial administra-
tion of justice in the cases of persons questioned for any
acts done by them in the execution of the law, or for the
suppression of riots and tumults, in the province of Massa-
chusetts Bay, in New England,'
92 EDMUND BURKE
153. X. " That it may be proper to repeal an act
made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present
Ilajesty, entitled, 'An act for the better regulating the
government of the province of Massachusetts Bay, in New
England.'
154. XL " That it may be proper to explain and
amend an act made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign
of King Henry the Eighth, entitled ' An act for the trial
of treasons committed out of the king's dominions. '
155. XII. " That from the time when the general as-
sembly, or general court, of any colony or plantation in
North America shall have appointed by act of assembly
duly confirmed, a settled salary to the offices of the chief
justice and other judges of the superior courts, it may be
proper that the said chief justice and other judges of the
superior courts of such colony shall hold his and their
office and offices during their good behavior, and shall not
be removed therefrom but when the said removal shall be
adjudged by his Majesty in council, upon a hearing on
complaint from the general assembly, or on a complaint
from the governor or council or the house of representa-
tives severally, of the colony in which the said chief jus-
tice and other judges have exercised the said offices.
156. XIII. " That it may be proper to regulate the
courts of admiralty or vice-admiralty authorized by the
fifteenth chapter of the fourth of George the Third, in
such a manner as to make the same more commodious to
those who sue and are sued in the said courts; and to
provide for the more decent maintenance of the judges of
the same."
Why was the British government so determined to assert its
right to tax America?
CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 93
What was Lord North's plan and why was it not suitable as
a remedy?
State briefly the substance of Burke's conciliatory resolutions.
Chatham, Wilkes, and Burke each considered the American
question one of the most important that had been brought before
the House of Commons. How do they seem to differ regarding
the reason for its importance?
If Burke's plan had been followed, what would probably
have been the effect on the history of the British Empire?
How do you think the history of America would have been
influenced if Burke's plan had been followed?
By what means did Burke hope to infuse the colonies with a
patriotic love for English institutions and the empire?
Was any part of Burke's plan introduced into later colonial
policy?
Discuss the accuracy of Burke's estimate of colonial char-
acter.
What democratic principle, advocated by Burke in this speech,
has since his time become commonly accepted as characteristic
of just and sound government?
How does Burke's style differ from that of Otis, Chatham,
and Wilkes?
What are the persuasive advantages and disadvantages of
such a style?
Would Burke's oratorical style be more or less acceptable in
our day than it was in 1775? Why?
Comment briefly on Burke's emphasis on causes and results.
Enumerate the various motives to which Burke appealed.
Point out instances where Burke's diction is a source of per-
suasive power.
Knowing what you do of the audience and Burke's speech,
how do you account for the fact that the House of Commons
rejected his plan by a vote of 270 to 78?
LIBERTY OR DEATH
March 23, 1775
On March 23, 1775, the old church at Richmond, Va.
was crowded to the doors by the Convention of Dele-
gates. George Washington and other prominent men
were there in the audience. Five days previously,
Henry had spoken of war with England as inevitable,
and had introduced resolutions for defense. Many of
the ablest men in the colonies considered this action
premature. Many conceded that war was possible, even
probable; but no one had ventured to declare it
unavoidable. Feeling against the Mother Country was
running decidedly high, and when Henry had concluded
his " individual declaration of war against Great
Britain," the Convention of Delegates was a new
body. " To arms," seemed to quiver on every lip ;
their souls were on fire for action. Tyler says, " Henry
rose with an unearthly fire burning in his eye. He
commenced somewhat calmly, but the smothered ex-
citement began more and more to play upon his fea-
tures and thrill in the tones of his voice. The tendons
of his neck stood out white and rigid like whipcords.
His voice rose louder and louder, until the walls of
the building, and all within them seemed to shake and
rock in its tremendous vibrations. Finally his pale
face and glaring eyes became terrible to look upon.
Men leaned forward in their seats, with their heads
strained forward, their faces pale, and their eyes
glaring like the speaker's. His last exclamation,
* Give me liberty or give ' me death ! ' was like the
shout of the leader which turns the rout of battle."
94
LIBERTY OR DEATH 95
LIBERTY OR DEATH
Patrick Henry
No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism,
as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who
have just addressed the House. But different men often
see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore,
I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those
gentlemen, if, entertaining as I do opinions of a char-
acter very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my senti-
ments freely and without reserve. This is no time for
ceremony.
The question before the House is one of awful moment
to this country. For my own part, I consider it as noth-
ing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in
proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be
the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we
can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfil the great responsi-
bility which we hold to God and our country. Should
I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of
giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of trea-
son toward my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward
the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly
kings.
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the
illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a
painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she
transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men,
engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are
we disposed to be of the number of those, who, having
eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which
so nearly concern their temporal salvation ? For my part,
whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to
96 PATRICK HENRY
know the whole truth ; to know the worst, and to provide
for it.
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided ; and
that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of
judging of the future but by the past. And judging pje
the past, I wish to know what there has been in the con-
duct of the British ministry, for the last ten years, to
justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been
pleased to solace themselves and the House? Is it that
insidious smile 1 with which our petition has been lately
received ? Trust it not, sir ; it will prove a snare to your
feet. Suffer not yourself to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask
yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition
comports with those warlike preparations which cover
our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies
necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we
shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force
must be called in to win back our love? Let us not
deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war
and subjugation ; the last arguments to which kings
resort.
I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if
its purpose be not to force us to submission ? Can gentle-
men assign any other possible motive for it. Has Great
Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world to call for
all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she
has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for
no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us
those chains, which the British ministry have been so long
forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall
we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the
last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the
subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every
light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain.
Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication?
LIBERTY- OR DEATH 97
What terms shall we find, which have not been already
exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive our-
selves longer. Sir, we have done everything that could
be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We
have petitioned ; we have remonstrated ; we have suppli-
cated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne,
and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyran-
nical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our peti-
tions have been slighted ; our remonstrances have produced
additional violence and insult; our supplications have
been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with con-
tempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these
things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and recon-
ciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we
wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those
inestimable privileges for which we have been so long
contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble
struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and
which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon, until
the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained — we
must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal
to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!
/, They tell us, sir, that we are weak — unable to cope
with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be
•stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year?
Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a
British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall
we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall
we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying
supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom
of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and
foot?
Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those
means which the God of nature has placed in our power.
Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of
98 PATRICK HENRY
liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess,
are invincible by any force which our enemy can send
against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles
alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies
of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our
battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone;
it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir,
we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it,
it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no
retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are
forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of
Boston! The war is inevitable — and let it come! I
repeat it, sir, let it come!
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen
may cry " Peace, peace " — but there is no peace. The
war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from
the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding
arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why
stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish?
What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so
sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and
slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what
course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty
or give me death!
To what land did Henry refer when in the second paragraph
he spoke of treason to his country?
Does Henry offer sound arguments for immediate action?
Had the injustice of the British government materially af-
fected living conditions in America?
Does Henry anywhere appeal to the ambitions of his hearers
or hold before them financial or material arguments for inde-
pendence?
Discuss the persuasive value of Henry's offering to stand alone
unto death, if need be, rather than submit. Refer to other
instances in history or literature of similar emotional appeal.
Point out the many biblical phrases and comment on their
persuasive value.
LIBERTY OR DEATH 99
To what motives and emotions did Henry address his appeal?
As compared with Otis, is his speech chiefly argumentative
or persuasive?
Is the current popularity of this speech due chiefly to its
literary value, to its historical associations, or to its apprecia-
tion of liberty?
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS
September 19, 1796
George Washington busied himself with the affairs
of his household and estate for one month after he
had listened to Patrick Henry's impassioned appeal;
and then, at the call of the Continental Congress, set
out, May 3, 1775, for Philadelphia. He little dreamed
that eight years would go by before he would again be
free to enjoy the leisure of his home and fields.
On June 15, 1775, he was made commander-in-chief
of the American forces. A few weeks later at Cam-
bridge he inspected the troops and found them without
discipline, without munitions, and without food. In
response to his most urgent requisitions, Congress
either granted supplies grudgingly or delayed action.
How under these disheartening conditions he was able
to form an army and lead it to victory is almost in-
comprehensible.
The state of public opinion, moreover, caused Wash-
ington nearly as much concern as the condition of his
army. He was continually harassed by hostile criti-
cism. More than once, against his better judgment, he
was forced to fight battles that became defeats. But
at last the righteousness of the cause and his indomita-
ble courage prevailed. In the course of six years he led
his army through Valley Forge to Yorktown, where in
1781 Cornwallis surrendered.
On Christmas Eve, 1783, Washington returned to
Mount Vernon, hoping to pass his life with his house-
hold in peaceful enjoyment of the victory he had won.
100
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 101
It was not to be his privilege, however, to live the life
of a private citizen. Those were perilous years that
followed the war. Once when bloodshed and insur-
rection seemed imminent, by personal influence Wash-
ington had quelled the disturbance and had aroused
the patriotism of the disputants. In like manner from
time to time he was summoned from Mount Vernon
when danger menaced the country in near or remote
regions. Finally in 1787, when the Constitutional Con-
vention met in Philadelphia, he was made chairman.
Washington had feared that when disputes arose, the
Confederation — which was merely a league of friend-
ship — would lack power to compel obedience. He had
called it a shadow without substance. At the Con-
stitutional Convention, accordingly, he assisted Hamil-
ton in securing the adoption of a constitution that
created a strong central government.
In 1789, when elected president, he possessed in this
constitution the working-plan for forming a Union.
But he was without models or precedents for such
statecraft. Out of thirteen diverse commonwealths, it
was his duty to build a nation. He had even to create
a national spirit. Under the Confederation the states
had been loosely joined and had regarded one another
with almost as much jealousy as if they had been for-
eign countries. The wonder was not that there were
differences in 1789 but rather that they had been able
to unite as they did in 1775. Almost every one re-
garded the Union as an experiment and many be-
lieved that it could not long exist. The Constitution
had not been adopted unanimously ; and a thousand
men were already advocating a thousand changes.
Some states were on the verge of secession ; there were
post-revolutionary troubles such as now exist in Rus-
sia; demagogues were rampant. Only the clear-eyed
102 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS
could see anything but confusion. The story, which
will not be told here, of how Washington unified and
harmonized these diverse and conflicting elements, is
even more marvelous than the account of the victory
he had won over England by the aid of his ragged and
half-starved troops.
When at length indecision and confusion had been
banished, Washington found that definite and very
real perils had taken their place. On account of eco-
nomic differences the South became pitted against the
North. A part of the people wished to join with the
French revolutionists in their war against England;
others wanted to fight Spain, with the hope of opening
up the Mississippi valley. In Pennsylvania the author-
ity of the Federal government to lay taxes had been
disputed and it took fifteen thousand men to end the
uprising. These newer perils Washington met one by
one and terminated them, or at least made them less
dangerous.
It was with no little sacrifice that Washington de-
voted himself to public affairs. His tastes were nat-
urally domestic. He took no pleasure in glory or vain
show. He would have preferred to live quietly on the
estate that he had cherished and adorned in the early
years of his manhood. More than once he had sug-
gested retirement from public life but had been per-
suaded by the appeals of his countrymen to resume the
burden of government. Finally, however, near the
close of his second term as president, he realized that
no persuasion, however appreciative or loyal, could
heal the infirmities of age; and he declined to be a
candidate for reelection.
He had devoted forty-five years of his life to his
country and for twenty-five years had rendered service
that no other man could have given. With an affection
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 103
for the Union as fervent as the love of a father for
his child, he prepared his Farewell Address. His
words reflect the labors, sacrifices, and hopes of one
who had led his country through the most critical
period of its history and was at length compelled to
place the supreme object of his affection in the hands
of others. With parental solicitude Washington ap-
pealed to the American people to act thoughtfully, de-
liberately, and reasonably in all that concerns the wel-
fare of the country. With sagacity and insight almost
prophetic, he warned them against perils without and
perils within. So thoughtfully is his advice expressed
that it is as valuable to-day as when first written. Its
maxims are founded both upon the wisdom that comes
from experience and upon sound principles of gov-
ernment.
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF
THE UNITED STATES
George Washington
Friends and Fellow-Citizens:
The period for a 1 new election of a citizen, to admin-
ister the executive government of the United States,
being not far distant, and the time actually arrived, when
your thoughts must be employed in designating the per-
son, who is to be clothed with that important trust, it
appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a
more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should
now apprize you of the resolution I have formed, to de-
cline being considered among the number of those, out of
whom a choice is to be made.
io4 GEORGE WASHINGTON
I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be
assured, that this resolution has not been taken without
a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to
the relation, which binds a dutiful citizen to his country;
and that, in withdrawing the tender of service, which
silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by
no diminution of zeal for your future interest; no de-
ficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness; but
am supported by a full conviction that the step is com-
patible with both.
The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the
office to which your suffrages have twice called me, have
been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of
duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your
desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much
earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I
was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retire-
ment from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The
strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last
election, had even led to the preparation of an address
to declare it to you ; but mature reflection on the then
perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign
nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to
my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.
I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as
well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclina-
tion incompatible with the sentiment of duty or pro-
priety; and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be
retained for my services, that in the present circumstances
of our country you will not disapprove my determination
to retire.
The impressions with which I first undertook the
arduous trust were explained 2 on the proper occasion.
In the discharge of this trust I will only say that I have,
with good intentions, contributed towards the organiza-
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 105
tion and administration of the government the best ex-
ertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable.
.Not unconscious, in the outset, of 3 the inferiority of my
qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still
more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives
to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing
weight of years admonishes me more and more that the
shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be
welcome. Satisfied, that, if any circumstances have given
peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I
have the consolation to believe, that, while choice and
prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism
does not forbid it.
Tin looking forward to the moment, which is intended
to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do
not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of
that debt of gratitude, which I owe to my beloved coun-
try for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still
more for the steadfast confidence with which it has sup-
ported me; and for the opportunities I have thence en-
joyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by
services faithful and persevering,- though in usefulness
unequal to my zeal. If benefits' have resulted to our •♦
country from these services, let it always be remembered
to your praise, and as an instructive example in our an-
nals, that under circumstances in which the passions,
agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst
appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune
often discouraging, in situations in which not unfre-
quently want of success has countenanced the spirit of
criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential
prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which
they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea,<<>
I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incite-
ment to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you
io6 GEORGE WASHINGTON
the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union
and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free
constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be.
sacredly maintained ; that its administration in every de-
partment may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that,
in fine, the happiness of the people of these states, under
the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by so
careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this bless-
ing, as will acquire to them the glory of recommending
it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every
nation which is yet a stranger to it.
Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for
your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and
the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude,
urge me, on an occasion like the present, to ofTer to your
solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent
review, some sentiments, which are the result of much
reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which
appear to me all-important to the permanency of your
felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with
the more freedom, as you can only see in them the dis-
interested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly
have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I
forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent recep-
tion of my sentiments on 4 a former and not dissimilar
occasion.
Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every liga-
ment of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is neces-
sary to fortify or confirm the attachment.
The unity of government, which constitutes you one
people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so: for it
is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence,
the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace
abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very
liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 107
foresee that, from different causes and from different
quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices em-
ployed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this
truth ; as this is the point in your political fortress against
which the batteries of internal and external enemies will
be most constantly and actively (though often covertly
and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment, that
you should properly estimate the immense value of your
national Union to your collective and individual happi-
ness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and im-
movable attachment to it ; accustoming yourselves to think
and speak of it as of the 5 Palladium of your political
safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with
jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest
even a suspicion, that it can in any event be abandoned;
and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every
attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the
rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link to-
gether the various parts.
For this you have every inducement of sympathy and
interest. Citizens, by birth or choice,? of a common coun-
try, that country has a right to concentrate your affec-
tions. ( The name of American, which belongs to you, in
your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride
of patriotism, Jmore than any appellation derived from
local discriminations. With slight shades of difference,
you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political
principles. You have in a common cause fought and
triumphed together; the independence and liberty you
possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts,
of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.
But these considerations, however powerfully they ad-
dress themselves to your sensibility, are greatly out-
weighed by those, which apply more immediately to your
interest. Here every portion of our country finds the
108 GEORGE WASHINGTON
most commanding motives for carefully guarding and
preserving the union of the whole.
The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the
South, protected by the equal laws of a common govern-
ment, finds in the productions of the latter great addi-
tional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise
and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The
South in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency
of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce
expand. Turning partly into its own channels the sea-
men of the North, it finds its particular navigation in-
vigorated; and while it contributes in different ways to
nourish and increase the general mass of the national
navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a mari-
time strength to which itself is unequally adapted. The
East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds,
and in the progressive improvement of interior communi-
cations, by land and water, will more and more find, a
valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from
abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives
from the East supplies requisite to its growth and com-
fort, and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it
must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensa-
ble outlets for its own productions to the weight, influ-
ence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic
side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community
of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the
West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived
from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and
unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be
intrinsically precarious.
While, then, every part of our country thus feels an
immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts
combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means
and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportion-
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 109
ably greater security from external danger, a less fre-
quent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and,
what is of inestimable value, they must derive from
union an exemption from those broils and wars between
themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring coun-
tries not tied together by the same governments, which
their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce,
but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and
intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise,
they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military
establishments, which, under any form of government,
are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded
as particularly hostile to Republican liberty. In this
sense it is, that your Union ought to be considered as
a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the
one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.
These considerations speak a persuasive language to
every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the con-
tinuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic
desire. Is there a doubt, whether a common government
can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it.
To listen to mere speculation in such a case were crim-
inal. We are authorized to hope, that a proper organ-
ization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of gov-
ernments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a
happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair
and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious
motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while
experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticabil-
ity, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism
of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its
bands.
In contemplating the causes which may disturb our
Union, it occurs as matter of serious concernment that
any ground should have been furnished for character-
no GEORGE WASHINGTON
izing parties by geographical discriminations, Northern
and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing
men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real
difference of local interests and views. One of the ex-
pedients of party to acquire influence, within particular
districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of
other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much
against the jealousies and heart-burnings which spring
from these misrepresentations. They tend to render
alien to each other those who ought to be bound together
by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western
country have lately had a useful lesson on this head.
They have seen, in the negotiation by the Executive, and
in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the 6 treaty
with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event,
throughout the United States, a decisive proof how un-
founded were the suspicious propagation among them of
a policy in the general government and in the Atlantic
States unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mis-
sissippi. They have been witnesses to the formation of 7
two treaties, that with Great Britain, and that with Spain,
which secure to them everything they could desire, in
respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their
prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the
preservation of these advantages on the union by which
they were procured? Will they not henceforth be deaf
to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever
them from their brethren and connect them with aliens?
To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a gov-
ernment for the whole is indispensable. No alliances,
however strict, between the parts can be an adequate
substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions
and interruptions, which all alliances in all times have
experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have
improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a con-
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS in
stitution of government better calculated than your
former for an intimate Union, and for the efficacious
management of your common concerns. This govern-
ment, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and
unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature de-
liberation, completely free in its principles, in the dis-
tribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and
containing within itself a provision for its own amend-
ment, has a just claim to your confidence and your sup-
port. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws,
acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the
fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our
political systems is the right of the people to make and
to alter their constitutions of government. But the con-
stitution which at any time exists, till changed by an
explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly
obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the
right of the people to establish government presupposes
the duty of every individual to obey the established gov-
ernment.
All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all com-
binations and associations, under whatever plausible char-
acter, with the real design to direct, control, counteract,
or awe the regular deliberation and action of the con-
stituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental
principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize
faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force, to
put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the
will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising
minority of the community ; and according to the alternate
triumphs of different parties, to make the public admin-
istration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous
projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent
and wholesome plans digested by common counsels, and
modified by mutual interests.
ii2 GEORGE WASHINGTON
However combinations or associations of the above
descriptions may now and then answer popular ends, they
are likely, in the course of time and things, to become
potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and un-
principled men will be enabled to subvert the power of
the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of gov-
ernment; destroying afterwards the very engines which
have lifted them to unjust dominion.
Towards the preservation of your government, and the
permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite,
not only that you steadily discountenance irregular op-
positions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you
resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its princi-
ples, however specious the pretexts. One method of
assault may be to effect in the forms of the constitution
alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and
thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown.
In all the changes to which you may be invited, remem-
ber that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix
the true character of governments, as of other human
institutions; that experience is the surest standard, by
which to test the real tendency of the existing constitu-
tion of a country ; that facility in changes, upon the credit
of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual
change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opin-
ion ; and remember, especially, that, for the efficient man-
agement of your common interests, in a country so ex-
tensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is
consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indis-
pensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government,
with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest
guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where
the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprise
of faction, to confine each member of the society within
the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 113
the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person
and property.
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties
in the state, with particular reference to the founding of
them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take
a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most
solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of
party, generally.
This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our na-
ture, having its root in the strongest passions of the human
mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments,
more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed ; but, in those
of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness,
and is truly their worst enemy.
The alternate domination of one faction over another,
sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dis-
sension, which in different ages and countries has perpe-
trated 8 the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful
despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and
permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which
result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security
and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and
sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more
able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this
disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the
ruins of public liberty.
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind
(which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of
sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit
of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of
a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
It serves always to distract the public councils, and
enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the com-
munity with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kin-
dles the animosity of one part against another, foments
ii4 GEORGE WASHINGTON
occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to
foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated
access to the government itself through the channels of
party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one
country are subjected to the policy and will of another.
There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are
useful checks upon the administration of the government,
and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within
certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a
monarchical cast patriotism may look with indulgence, if
not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of
the popular character, in governments purely elective, it
is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural
tendency it is certain there will always be enough of that
spirit for every salutary purpose. And, there being con-
stant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force
of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not
to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to pre-
vent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it
should consume.
It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in
a free country should inspire caution, in those intrusted
with its administration, to confine themselves within their
respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise
of the powers of one department to encroach upon an-
other. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate
the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to
create, whatever the form of government, a real despot-
ism. A just estimate of that love of power, and prone-
ness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart,
is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position.
The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of
political power, by dividing and distributing it into dif-
ferent depositories, and constituting each the guardian
of the public weal against invasions by the others, has
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 115
been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some
of them in our country and under our own eyes. To
preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them.
If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modi-
fication of the constitutional powers be in any particular
wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way
which the constitution designates. But let there be no
change by usurpation ; for, though this, in one instance,
may be the instrument for good, it is the customary
weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The
precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent
evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at
any time yield.
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to po-
litical prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable
supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of
patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars
of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of
men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the
pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A
volume could not trace all their connections with private
and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is
the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the
sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are
the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And
let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality
can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be
conceded to the influence of refined education on minds
of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid
us to expect that national morality can prevail in ex-
clusion of religious principle.
It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a
necessary spring of popular government. The rule, in-
deed, extends with more or less force to every species of
free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it,
n6 GEORGE WASHINGTON
can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the
foundation of the fabric?
Promote, then, as an object of primary importance,
institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In
proportion as the structure of a government gives force
to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should
be enlightened.
As a very important source of strength and security, 9
cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is, to
use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of ex-
pense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that
timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently
prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding
likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning
occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of
peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may
have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon pos-
terity the burthen, which we ourselves ought to bear.
The execution of these maxims belongs to your repre-
sentatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should
cooperate. To facilitate to them the performance of their
duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in
mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be
revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that
no taxes can be devised, which are not more or less incon-
venient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment,
inseparable from the selection of the proper objects
(which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a
decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct
of the government in making it, and for a spirit of ac-
quiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which
the public exigencies may at any time dictate.
)jr Observe good faith and justice towards all nations;
cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 117
morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good
policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of
a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great
nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too
novel example of a people always guided by an exalted
justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the
course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would
richly repay any temporary advantages which might be
lost by a steady adherence to it? Can it be that Provi-
dence has not connected the permanent felicity of a
nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is
recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human
nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?
In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essen-
tial than that permanent 10 inveterate antipathies against
particular nations, and passionate attachment for others,
should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and
amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The
nation which indulges towards another an habitual ha-
tred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave.
It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of
which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and
its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another
disposes each more readily to offer insult and, injury, to
lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty
and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of
dispute occur. Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, en-
venomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by
ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the gov-
ernment, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The
government sometimes participates in the national pro-
pensity, and adopts through passion what reason would
reject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the
nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by
n8 GEORGE WASHINGTON
pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives.
The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of na-
tions has been the victim.
So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for
another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the
favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary
common interest, in cases where no real common interest
exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other,
betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels
and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or
justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite
nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly
to injure the nation making the concessions; by unneces-
sarily parting with what ought to have been retained;
and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to
retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are
withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or de-
luded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite
nation) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their
own country, without odium, sometimes even with popu-
larity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense
of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion,
or a laudable zeal for public good, the base of foolish
compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.
As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways,
such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly
enlightened and independent patriot. How many oppor-
tunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions,
to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opin-
ion, to influence or awe the public councils! Such an
attachment of a small or weak towards a great and pow-
erful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the
latter.
Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence ( I con-
jure you to believe me, fellow citizens) the jealousy of
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 119
a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history
and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the
most baneful foes of Republican government. But that
jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; else it becomes
the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead
of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one
foreign nation, and excessive dislike of another, cause
those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side
and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on
the other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of
the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious;
while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and con-
fidence of the people, to surrender their interests.
The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign
nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have
with them as little political connection as possible. So
far as we have already formed engagements, let them be
fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.
\L Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us
I have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be
engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are
essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it
must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial
ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the
ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or
enmities.
Our detached and distant situation invites and enables
us to pursue a different course^A If we remain one people,
under an efficient government, the period is not far off,
when we may defy material injury from external annoy-
ance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause
the neutrality, we may at any time resolve upon, to be
scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under
the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not
lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may
120 GEORGE WASHINGTON
choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice,
shall counsel.
Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation?
Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground ? Why,
by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of
Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils
of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or
^-—caprice ?
X It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alli-
ances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I
mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not
be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to
existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applica-
ble to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always
the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engage-
ments be observed in their genuine senses. But, in my
opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend
them.
Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable estab-
lishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may
safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary
emergencies.
X Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are
recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But
even our commercial policy should hold an equal and
impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive
favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of
things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the
streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing,
with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable
course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to
enable the government to support them, conventional
rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances
and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and lia-
ble to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 121
experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly
keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for
disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with
a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept
under that character, that, by such acceptance, it may
place itself in the condition of having given equivalents
for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with
ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no
greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors
from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experi-
ence must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.
In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of
an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will
make the strong and lasting impression I could wish ; that
they will control the usual current of the passions, or
prevent our nation from running the course, which has
hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may
even flatter myself, that they may be productive of some
partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now
and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to
warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard
against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope
will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your wel-
fare, by which they have been dictated.
How far in the discharge of my official duties, I have
been guided by the principles which have been delineated,
the public records and other evidences of my conduct
must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the
assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least
believed myself to be guided by them.X
In relating to the still subsisting war in Europe, 11 my
proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, is the index to
my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by
that of your representatives in both Houses of Congress,
the spirit of that measure has continually governed me,
122 GEORGE WASHINGTON
uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from
it.
After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best
lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country,
under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to
take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neu-
tral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as
should depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation,
perseverance, and firmness.
The considerations, which respect the right to hold this
conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I
will only observe, that, according to my understanding of
the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of
the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all.
The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred,
without any thing more, from the obligation which jus-
tice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in
which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations
of peace and amity towards other nations.
The inducements of interest for observing that con-
duct will best be referred to your own reflections and
experience. With me, a predominant motive has been
to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and
mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without
interruption to that degree of strength and consistency
which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the com-
mand of its own fortunes.
Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administra-
tion, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am never-
theless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable
that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they
may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or
mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also
carry with me the hope that my country will never cease
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 123
to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty-five
years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright
zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned
to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of
rest.
Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and
actuated by that fervent love towards it which is so
natural to a man who views in it the native soil of him-
self and his progenitors for several generations, I antici-
pate with pleasing expectation that retreat, in which I
promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoy-
ment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens,
the benign influence of good laws under a free govern-
ment, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy
reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and
dangers.
Nearly two thousand amendments to the constitution of the
United States have been formally proposed. Those that have
been adopted have in the main supported what policy of
Washington's?
Were any of Washington's fears of the fury of party spirit
ever realized in America?
What do you suppose would be Washington's attitude to-
ward party government such as exists in the United States
to-day?
What circumstances make Washington's policy of national
isolation less practicable to-day than in 1796?
Is there in the Farewell Address any statement of policy that
would justify our participation in the World War?
What is Washington's attitude toward military prepared-
ness?
Can you find in Washington's life or policy any reason for
believing that he would favor disarmament to-day?
What differences in style do you find as you compare this
address with Patrick Henry's speech? Glance at Beecher's
Speech at Liverpool and make a comparison.
Do you believe this speech would have at once created a
124 GEORGE WASHINGTON
favorable impression if Washington had delivered it orally be-
fore Congress?
What elements of persuasion, as distinguished from common
sense and argument, do you find in this address?
What reason is there for calling Washington " The Father
of his Country"?
WEBSTER'S FIRST BUNKER HILL ADDRESS
June 17, 1825
There came to the United States of America in 181 5
a remarkable period of peace and prosperity. The
War for Independence had been carried to a success-
ful conclusion and the thirteen original states under
enlarged Federal authority had been drawn into a
well-organized union. Minor difficulties with France
or England had been removed through war or diplo-
macy. At this happy time, state after state was added
to the Union. In territory, in population, in wealth,
in education, unexampled progress was made. It was
a period when undisturbed by rumors of war, for the
anti-slavery contest had not yet become critical, Amer-
icans turned ag ain at the ijMeisure, as in the colonial
days, to consider the fundamental principles of gov-
ernment and sought to shape anew their expanding
political ideals.
It was fitting, therefore, that when a vast assem-
blage of Americans met at Bunker Hill on June 17,
1825, to lay the corner stone of a monument com-
memorating the heroic deeds of the men of 1776, that
Daniel Webster, the orator of the day, should use the
occasion to inspire his countrymen with the spirit of
true patriotism. He reminded his hearers of the power
of public opinion to make right supreme over might,
and he urged them to emulate the example of their
forefathers, that the young and growing nation — " the
125
126 BUNKER HILL ADDRESS
last hope of mankind " — might have a beneficent effect
on the progress of the world.
This oration is the finest example of commemorative
address, ancient or modern, that the world has seen.
It was not a speech, that in a dramatic crisis moved
men to perform an act or make a decision that would
turn the course of history to a new direction; but not
on that account should its influence be belittled. It
helped to shape American ideals. It formulated and
made dynamic the first fifty years of American history,
and recorded for all time some of the dearly-purchased
principles of democracy.
The occasion in itself was most impressive. It
was a mild June morning. Rain the previous day
had brought to trees and grass their brightest green.
Overhead was a sky almost cloudless ; and in the dis-
tance shimmered the blue harbor, the scene of the
Boston Tea Party. The great audience was gathered
on the very eminence where the Battle of Bunker
Hill had been fought. At the left was marked the
spot where Warren fell. On the platform beside
Webster was Lafayette, most beloved among the dis-
tinguished foreigners who had come to America dur-
ing the Revolution to serve in the cause of freedom.
Nearby were forty survivors of the battle, some of
them dressed in their old uniforms — men who were
now aged and feeble.
When the orator arose to speak the vast assemblage
was silent with reverent attention. Never was occa-
sion more fit for a great commemorative address.
BUNKER HILL ADDRESS 127
ORATION ON THE LAYING OF THE COR-
NERSTONE OF THE BUNKER HILL
MONUMENT
Daniel Webster
This uncounted multitude before me and around me
proves the feeling which the occasion has excited. These
thousands of human faces, glowing with sympathy and
joy, and from the impulses of a common gratitude turned
reverently to heaven in this spacious temple of the firma-
ment, proclaim that the day, the place, and the purpose
of our assembling have made a deep impression on our
hearts.
If, indeed, there be anything in local association fit
to affect the mind of man, we need not strive to repress
the emotions which agitate us here. We are among the
sepulchres of our fathers. We are on ground, distin-
guished by their valor, their constancy, and the shedding
of their blood. We are here, not to fix an uncertain date
in our annals, nor draw into notice an obscure and un-
known spot. If our humble purpose had never been con-
ceived, if we ourselves had never been born, the 17th of
June, 1775, would have been a day on which all subse-
quent history would have poured its light, and the emi-
nence where we stand a point of attraction to the eyes
of successive generations. But we are Americans. We
live in what may be called the early age of this great
Continent; and we know that our posterity, through all
time, are here to enjoy and suffer the allotments of hu-
manity. We see before us a probable train of great
events ; we know that our own fortunes have been happily
cast ; and it is natural, therefore, that we should be moved
by the contemplation of occurrences which have guided
128 DANIEL WEBSTER
our destiny before many of us were born, and settled tbe
condition in which we should pass that portion of our
existence which God allows to men on earth.
We do not read even of the discovery of this continent,
without feeling something of a personal interest in the
event; without being reminded how much it has affected
our own fortunes and our own existence. It would be
still more unnatural for us, therefore, than for others, to
contemplate with unaffected minds that interesting, I may
say that most touching and pathetic scene, when the great
discoverer of America stood on the deck of his shattered
bark, the shades of night falling on the sea, yet no man
sleeping; tossed on the billows of an unknown ocean, yet
the stronger billows of alternate hope and despair tossing
his own troubled thoughts; extending forward his
harassed frame, straining westward his anxious and eager
eyes, till Heaven at last granted him a moment of rapture
and ecstacy, in blessing his vision with the sight of the
unknown w T orld.
Nearer to our times, more closely connected with our
fates, and therefore still more interesting to our feelings
and affections, is the settlement of our own country by
colonists from England. We cherish every memorial of
these worthy ancestors; we celebrate their patience and
fortitude; we admire their daring enterprise; we teach
our children to venerate their piety; and we are justly
proud of being descended from men who have set the
world an example of founding civil institutions on the
great and united principles of human freedom and human
knowledge. To us, their children, the story of their
labors and sufferings can never be without its interest.
We shall not stand unmoved on the shore of Plymouth,
while the sea continues to wash it; nor will our brethren
in another early and ancient colony 1 forget the place of
its first establishment, till their river shall cease to flow
BUNKER HILL ADDRESS 129
by it. No vigor of youth, no maturity of manhood, will
lead the nation to forget the spots where its infancy was
cradled and defended.
But the great event in the history of the continent,
which we are now met here to commemorate, that prodigy
of modern times, at once the wonder and the blessing of
the world, is the American Revolution. In a day of
extraordinary prosperity and happiness, of high national
honor, distinction, and power, we are brought together
in this place by our love of country, by our admiration
of exalted character, by our gratitude for signal services
and patriotic devotion.
The Society whose organ I am 2 was formed for the
purpose of rearing some honorable and durable monu-
ment to the memory of the early friends of American
Independence. They have thought, that for this object
no time could be more propitious than the present pros-
perous and peaceful period; that no place could claim
preference over this memorable spot; and that no day
could be more auspicious to the undertaking, than the
anniversary of the battle which was here fought. The
foundation of that monument 3 we have now laid. With
solemnities suited to the occasion, with prayers to Al-
mighty God for His blessing, and in the midst of this
cloud of witnesses, we have begun the work. We trust
it will be prosecuted, and that, springing from a broad
foundation, rising high in massive solidity and unadorned
grandeur, it may remain as long as Heaven permits the
works of man to last, a fit emblem, both of the events in
memory of which it is raised, and of the gratitude of those
who have reared it.
We know, indeed, that the record of illustrious actions
is most safely deposited in the universal remembrance of
mankind. We know, that if we could cause this structure
to ascend, not only till it reached the skies, but till it
130 DANIEL WEBSTER
pierced them, its broad surfaces could still contain but
part of that which, in an age of knowledge, hath already
been spread over the earth, and which history charges
itself with making known to all future times. We know
that no inscription on entablatures less broad than the
earth itself can carry information of the events we com-
memorate where it has not already gone; and that no
structure, which shall not outlive the duration of letters
and knowledge among men, can prolong the memorial.
But our object is, by this edifice, to show our own deep
sense of the value and importance of the achievements of -
our ancestors; and, by presenting this work of gratitude
to the eye, to keep alive similar sentiments, and to foster
a constant regard for the principles of the Revolution.
Human beings are composed, not of reason only, but of
imagination also, and sentiment; and that is neither
wasted nor misapplied which is appropriated to the pur-
pose of giving right direction to sentiments, and opening
proper springs of feeling in the heart. Let it not be sup-
posed that our object is to perpetuate national hostility,
or even to cherish a mere military spirit. It is higher,
purer, nobler. We consecrate our work to the spirit of
national independence, and we wish that the light of
peace may rest upon it forever. We rear a memorial of
our conviction of that unmeasured benefit which has been
conferred on our land, and of the happy influences which
have been produced, by the same events, on the general
interests of mankind. We come, as Americans, to mark
a spot which must forever be dear to us and our posterity.
We wish that whosoever, in all coming time, shall turn
his eye hither, may behold that the place is not indis-
tinguished where the first great battle of the Revolution
was fought. We wish that this structure may proclaim
the magnitude and importance of that event to every class
and every age. We wish that infancy may learn the
BUNKER HILL ADDRESS 131
purpose of its erection from maternal lips, and that weary
and withered age may behold it, and be solaced by the
recollections which it suggests. We wish that labor may
look up here, and be proud, in the midst of its toil. We
wish that, in those days of disaster, which, as they come
upon all nations, must be expected to come upon us also,
desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and
be assured that the foundations of our national power are
still strong. We wish that this column, rising toward
heaven among the pointed spires of so many temples dedi-
' cated to God, may contribute also to produce in all minds,
a pious feeling of dependence and gratitude. We wish,
finally, that the last object to the sight of him who leaves
his native shore, and the first to gladden his who revisits
it, may be something which shall remind him of the lib-
erty and the glory of his country. Let it rise! let it rise,
till it meet the sun in his coming; let the earliest light of
the morning gild it, and parting day linger and play on its
summit.
We still have among us some of those who were active
agents in the scenes of 1775, and who are now here from
every quarter of New England, to visit once more, and
under circumstances so affecting, I had almost said so
overwhelming, this renowned theatre of their courage and
patriotism.
^C< Venerable men! 4 you have come down to us from a
former generation. Heaven has bounteously lengthened
out your lives, that you might behold this joyous day.
You are now where you stood fifty years ago, this very
hour, with your brothers and your neighbors, shoulder
to shoulder, in the strife for your country. Behold, how
altered ! The same heavens are indeed over our heads ; the
same ocean rolls at your feet; but all else how changed!
You hear now no roar of hostile cannon, you see no mixed
volumes of smoke and flame rising from burning Charles-
132 DANIEL WEBSTER
town. The ground strewed with the dead and dying;
the impetuous charge; the steady and successful repulse;
the loud call to repeated assault; the summoning of all
that is manly to repeated resistance; a thousand bosoms
freely and fearlessly bared in an instant to whatever of
terror there may be in war and death; — all these you
have witnessed, but you witness them no more. All is
peace. The heights of yonder metropolis, its towers and
roofs, which you then saw filled with wives and children
and countrymen in distress and terror, and looking with
unutterable emotions for the issue of the combat, have
presented you to-day with the sight of its whole happy
population, come out to welcome and greet you with a
universal jubilee. Yonder proud ships, by a felicity of
position appropriately lying at the foot of this mount, and
seeming fondly to cling around it, are not means of an-
noyance to you, but your country's own means of distinc-
tion and defense. All is peace; and God has granted you
this sight of your country's happiness, ere you slumber in
the grave. He has allowed you to behold and to partake
the reward of your patriotic toils; and He has allowed
us, your sons and countrymen, to meet you here, and in
the name of the present generation, in the name of your
country, in the name of liberty, to thank you!
The Battle of Bunker Hill was attended with the most
important effects beyond its immediate results as a mili-
tary engagement. It created at once a state of open,
public war. There could now be no longer a question of
proceeding against individuals, as guilty of treason or
rebellion. That fearful crisis was past. The appeal lay
to the sword, and the only question was, whether the
spirit and the resources of the people would hold out till
the object should be accomplished. Nor were its general
consequences confined to our own country. The previous
proceedings of the colonies, their appeals, resolutions, and
BUNKER HILL ADDRESS 133
addresses, had made their cause known to Europe. With-
out boasting, we may say, that in no age or country has
the public cause been maintained with more force of
argument, more power of illustration, or more of that
persuasion which excited feeling and elevated principle
can alone bestow, than the Revolutionary state papers
exhibit. These papers will forever deserve to be studied
not only for the spirit which they breathe, but for the
ability with which they were written.
To this able vindication of their cause, the colonies
had now added a practical and severe proof of their own
true devotion to it, and given evidence also of the power
which they could bring to its support. All now saw, that
if America fell, she would not fall without a struggle.
Men felt sympathy and regard, as well as surprise, when
they beheld these infant states, remote, unknown, unaided,
encounter the power of England, and, in the first con-
siderable battle, leave more of their enemies dead on
the field, in proportion to the number of combatants,
than had been recently known to fall in the wars of
Europe.
Information of these events, circulating throughout the
world, at length reached the ears of one who now hears
me. 5 He has not forgotten the emotion which the fame
of Bunker Hill, and the name of Warren, excited in his
youthful breast.
Sir, we are assembled to commemorate the establish-
ment of great public principles of liberty, and to do honor
to the distinguished dead. The occasion is too severe for
eulogy of the living. But, Sir, your interesting relation
to this country, the peculiar circumstances which sur-
round you and surround us, call on me to express the
happiness which we derive from your presence and aid in
this solemn commemoration.
Fortunate, fortunate man! With what measure of
134 DANIEL WEBSTER
devotion will you not thank God for the circumstances
of your extraordinary life ! You are connected with both
hemispheres and with two generations. Heaven saw fit
to ordain, that the electric spark of liberty should be con-
ducted, through you, from the New World to the Old;
and we, who are now here to perform this duty of pa-
triotism, have all of us long ago received it in charge
from our fathers to cherish your name and your virtues.
You will account it an instance of your good fortune, Sir,
that you crossed the seas to visit us at a time which
enables you to be present at this solemnity. You now
behold the field, the renown of which reached you in the
heart of France, and caused a thrill in your ardent bosom.
You see the lines of the little redoubt thrown up by the
incredible diligence of Prescott; defended to the last
extremity by his lion-hearted valor; and within which the
corner-stone of our monument has now taken its posi-
tion. You see where Warren fell, and where Parker,
Gardner, McCleary, Moore, and other early patriots fell
with him. Those who survived that day, and whose lives
have been prolonged to the present hour, are now around
you. Some of them you have known in the trying scenes
of the war. Behold! they now stretch forth their feeble
arms and embrace you. Behold ! they raise their trembling
voices to invoke the blessing of God on you and yours
forever.
Sir, you have assisted us in laying the foundation of
this structure. You have heard us rehearse, with our
feeble commendation, the names of departed patriots.
Monuments and eulogy belong to the dead. We give
them this day to Warren and his associates. On other
occasions they have been given to your more immediate
companions in arms, to Washington, to Greene, to Gates,
to Sullivan, and to Lincoln. We have become reluctant
to grant these, our highest and last honors, further. We
BUNKER HILL ADDRESS 135
would gladly hold them yet back from the little remnant
of that immortal band. " Serus in coelum redeas" 8
Illustrious as are your merits, yet far, oh, very far distant
be the day, when any inscription shall bear your name, or
any tongue pronounce its eulogy !
The leading reflection to which this occasion seems to
invite us, respects the great changes which have happened
in the fifty years since the battle of Bunker Hill was
fought. And it peculiarly marks the character of the
present age, that, in looking at these changes, and in esti-
mating their effect on our conditions, we are obliged to
consider, not what has been done in our country only,
but in others also. In these interesting times, while na-
tions are making separate and individual advances in
improvement, they make, too, a common progress; like
vessels on a common tide, propelled by the gales at differ-
ent rates, according to their several structure and man-
agement, but all moved forward by one mighty current,
strong enough to bear onward whatever does not sink
beneath it.
The great wheel of political revolution began to move
in America. Here its rotation was guarded, regular, and
safe. Transferred to the other Continent, from unfortu-
nate but natural causes, it received an irregular and
violent impulse; it whirled along with a fearful celerity;
till at length, like the chariot-wheels in the races of an-
tiquity, it took fire from the rapidity of its own motion,
and blazed onward, spreading conflagration and terror
around.
We learn from the result of this experiment, how for-
tunate was our own condition, and how admirably the
character of our people was calculated for setting the
great example of popular governments. The possession of
power did not turn the heads of the American people, for
they had long been in the habit of exercising a great
136 DANIEL WEBSTER
degree of self-control. Although the paramount authority
of the parent state existed over them, yet a large field
of legislation had always been open to our colonial as-
semblies. They were accustomed to representative bodies
and the forms of free government; they understood the
doctrine of the division of power among different branches
and the necessity of checks on each. The character of
our countrymen, moreover, was sober, moral, and re-
ligious; and there was little in the change to shock their
feelings of justice and humanity, or even to disturb an
honest prejudice. We had no domestic throne to over-
turn, no privileged orders to cast down, no violent changes
of property to encounter. In the American Revolution,
no man sought or wished for more than to defend and
enjoy his own. None hoped for plunder or for spoil.
Rapacity was unknown to it; the axe was not among the
instruments of its accomplishment; and we all know that
it could not have lived a single day under any well-
founded imputation of possessing a tendency adverse to
the Christian religion.
It need not surprise us, that, under circumstances less
auspicious, political revolutions elsewhere, even when well
intended, have terminated differently. It is, indeed, a
great achievement, it is the masterwork of the world, to
establish governments entirely popular on lasting founda-
tions; nor is it easy, indeed, to introduce the popular prin-
ciple at all into governments to which it has been alto-
gether a stranger. It cannot be doubted, however, that
Europe has come out of the contest, in which she has
been so long engaged, with greatly superior knowledge,
and, in many respects, in a highly improved condition.
Whatever benefit has been acquired is likely to be re-
tained, for it consists mainly in the acquisition of more
enlightened ideas. And although kingdoms and provinces
may be wrested from the hands that hold them, in the
BUNKER HILL ADDRESS 137
same manner they were obtained ; although ordinary and
vulgar power may, in human affairs, be lost as it has been
won; yet it is the glorious prerogative of the empire of
knowledge, that what it gains it never loses. On the
contrary, it increases by the multiple of its own power;
all its ends become means; all its attainments, helps to
new conquests. Its whole abundant harvest is but so
much seed wheat, and nothing has limited, and nothing
can limit, the amount of ultimate product.
Under the influence of this rapidly increasing knowl-
edge, the people have begun, in all forms of government,
to think and to reason, on affairs of state. Regarding
government as an institution for the public good, they
demand a knowledge of its operations, and a participation
in its exercise. A call for the representative system,
wherever it is not enjoyed, and where there is already
intelligence enough to estimate its value, is perseveringly
made. Where men may speak out, they demand it ; where
the bayonet is at their throats, they pray for it.
When Louis the Fourteenth said, " I am the State," 7
he expressed the essence of the doctrine of unlimited
power. By the rules of that system, the people are dis-
connected from the State; they are its subjects, it is their
lord. These ideas, founded in the love of power, and long
supported by the excess and the abuse of it, are yielding,
in our age, to other opinions; and the civilized world
seems at last to be proceeding to the conviction of that
fundamental and manifest truth, that the powers of gov-
ernment are but a trust, and that they cannot be lawfully
exercised but for the good of the community. As knowl-
edge is more and more extended, this conviction becomes
more and more general. Knowledge, in truth, is the great
sun in the firmament. Life and power are scattered with
all its beams. The prayer of the Grecian champion, when
enveloped in unnatural clouds and darkness, is the ap-
138 DANIEL WEBSTER
propriate political supplication for the people of every
country not yet blessed with free institutions:
" Dispel this cloud, the light of heaven restore,
Give me to see, — and Ajax asks no more."
We may hope that the growing influence of enlight-
ened sentiment will promote the permanent peace of the
world. Wars to maintain family alliances, to uphold or
to cast down dynasties, and to regulate successions to
thrones, which have occupied so much room in the history
of modern times, if not less likely to happen at all, will be
less likely to become general and involve many nations,
as the great principle shall be more and more established,
that the interest of the world is peace, and its first great
statute, that every nation possesses the power of estab-
lishing a government for itself. But public opinion has
attained also an influence over governments who do not
admit the popular principle into their organization. A
necessary respect for the judgment of the world operates,
in some measure, as a control over the most unlimited
forms of authority. It is owing, perhaps, to this truth,
that the interesting struggle of the Greeks 8 has been suf-
fered to go on so long, without a direct interference,
either to wrest that country from its present masters, or
to execute the system of pacification by force; and, with
united strength, lay the neck of Christian and civilized
Greece at the foot of the barbarian Turk. Let us thank
God that we live in an age when something has influence
besides the bayonet, and when the sternest authority does
not venture to encounter the scorching power of public
reproach. Any attempt of the kind I have mentioned
should be met by one universal burst of indignation; the
air of the civilized world ought to be made too warm to
be comfortably breathed by any one who would hazard it.
BUNKER HILL ADDRESS 139
And, now, let us indulge an honest exultation in the
conviction of the benefit which the example of our country
has produced, and is likely to produce, on human freedom
and human happiness. Let us endeavor to comprehend
in all its magnitude, and to feel in all its importance, thd"
part assigned to us in the great drama of human affairs.
We are placed at the head of the system of representative
and popular governments. Thus far our example shows
that such governments are compatible, not only with
respectability and power, but with repose, with peace, with
security of personal rights, with good laws, and a just
administration.
We are not propagandists. Wherever other systems
are preferred, either as being thought better in them-
selves, or as better suited to existing conditions, we leave
the preference to be enjoyed. Our history hitherto proves,
however, that the popular form is practicable, and that
with wisdom and knowledge men may govern themselves;
and the duty incumbent on us is to preserve the con-
sistency of this cheering example, and take care that noth-
ing may weaken its authority with the world. If, in our
case, the representative system ultimately fail, popular
governments must be pronounced impossible. No com-
bination of circumstances more favorable to the experi-
ment can ever be expected to occur. The last hopes of
mankind, therefore, rest with us; and if it should be pro-
claimed that our example had become an argument against
the experiment, the knell of popular liberty would be
sounded throughout the earth.
These are excitements to duty; but they are not sug-
gestions of doubt. Our history and our condition, all
that is gone before us, and all that surrounds us, au-
thorize the belief that popular governments, though sub-
ject to occasional variations, in form perhaps not always
for the better, may yet, in their general character, be as
Ho DANIEL WEBSTER
durable and permanent as other systems. We know,
indeed, that in our country any other is impossible. The
principle of free governments adheres to the American
soil. It is bedded in it, immovable as its mountains.
\X"C&4*4 let the sacred obligations which have devolved on
this generation, and on us, sink deep into our hearts.
Those who established our liberty and our government
are daily dropping from among us. The great trust now
descends to new hands. Let us apply ourselves to that
which is presented to us, as our appropriate object. We
can win no laurels in a war for independence. Earlier
and worthier hands have gathered them all. Nor are
there places for us by the side of Solon, and Alfred, and
other founders of states. Our fathers have filled them.
But there remains to us a great duty of defense and
preservation; and there is opened to us, also, a noble
pursuit, to which the spirit of the times strongly invites
us. Our proper business is improvement. Let our age
be the age of improvement. In a day of peace, let us
advance the arts of peace and the works of peace. Let
us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers,
build up its institutions, promote all its great interests,
and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may
not perform something worthy to be remembered. Let
us cultivate a true spirit of union and harmony. In pur-
suing the great objects which our condition points out to
us, let us act under a settled conviction, and an habitual
feeling, that these twenty-four States are one country.
Let our conceptions be enlarged to the circle of our duties.
Let us extend our ideas over the whole of the vast field
in which we are called to act. Let our object be, our
COUNTRY, OUR WHOLE COUNTRY, AND NOTHING BUT
our country. And, by the blessing of God, may that
country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not
of oppression and terror, but of Wisdom, of Peace, and
BUNKER HILL ADDRESS 141
of Liberty, upon which the world may gaze with ad-
miration forever!
Exactly what did Webster wish. to commemorate?
In what sense is this speech a valedictory of the American
Revolution?
In what respects was the occasion fit for a commemorative
address?
Did the orator in delivering this address contend with opposi-
tion of any sort?
Why is formal argument out of place in this address?
Point out instances where Webster used persons or places to
make his words persuasive.
Why were current events given a place in this commemora-
tive address?
State as briefly as possible the thought that underlies the
address as a whole.
Point out respects in which Webster's ideal of government is
more democratic than Chatham's.
WEBSTER'S REPLY TO HAYNE
January 26, 1830
In 1824 when Henry Clay proposed a tariff bill which
raised the duty on imported goods to thirty-three
and a third per cent and to a minimum of thirty cents
a yard on cotton cloth, the measure was opposed by
Daniel Webster. He maintained that Engish manu-
facturers had prospered in spite of protection, not
because of it; and he questioned the wisdom of at-
tempting to support a business that " cannot support
itself." Much more outspoken in their opposition to
a protective tariff at this time, however, were Cal-
houn, Randolph, and other southern statesmen. They
held that the current import duties were designed to
rob the southern agriculturists for the benefit of New
England.
In 1828 when a still higher tariff was under discus-
sion Webster failed to oppose the measure. While in
theory he was still inclined to free trade, he believed
it unwise to press his own views since the country
had committed itself to protection in 1824 and various
industries had been organized with that understand-
ing. This change in his public policy, without regard
for his conflicting personal feelings, is a tribute to
the earnestness and sincerity of his patriotism. The
bill when passed was dubbed by the South, The Tariff
of Abominations. Unable to overcome the sentiment
in favor of protection in Congress, Vice-President
Calhoun formulated his doctrine of Nullification.
142
REPLY TO HAYNE 143
According to this theory, any state might forbid the
operation within its limits of any act of Congress
which in its opinion did not accord with the Federal
Constitution. Although rumors of South Carolina's
advocacy of Nullification were current, the doctrine
was never presented in Congress until a Land Bill was
debated in 1830.
This measure which proposed to cease tempo-
rarily, the marketing of public land, was strenuously
opposed by members of Congress from the Western
States. Mr. Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina,
was quick to note this lack of agreement between the
West and the East, and he attempted to use the dif-
ference of opinion for the benefit of his own state.
He proposed that the South and West unite their
forces in Congress to secure desired legislation. The
South was to get a lower tariff and the West was to
obtain legislation that would facilitate the marketing
of public land. In furthering this plan he eulogized
South Carolina and attacked New England from many
points of view. In particular he criticized the tariff
legislation favored by New England and, in the course
of his discussion, set forth for the first time a full
exposition of Calhoun's doctrine of Nullification.
The day following Hayne's speech, Webster, then
in his first term as senator from Massachusetts, made
his famous reply. He had had only the intervening
night in which to make formal preparation, but he
never spoke to better advantage. In clearness and dig-
nity of language, and in force of argument, his speech
is unsurpassed. His words, as Lodge says, which rang
out in 1830 in the Senate Chamber have come down
through the long years of political conflict and civil
war and at last have become part of the political creed
of every one of his countrymen. He expressed what
i 4 4 DANIEL WEBSTER
the truest patriots of his time felt but could not say.
He defined the character of the Union.
REPLY TO HAYNE
Daniel Webster
Let me observe that the eulogium pronounced by the
honorable gentleman 1 on the character of the State of
South Carolina, for her Revolutionary and other merits,
meets my hearty concurrence. 2 I shall not acknowledge
that the honorable member goes before me in regard to
whatever of distinguished talent, or distinguished charac-
ter, South Carolina has produced. I claim part of the
honor; I partake in the pride of her great names. I
claim them for countrymen, one and all — the Laurenses,
the Rutledges, the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, the Marions —
Americans all, whose fame is no more to be hemmed in
by state lines, than their talents and patriotism were
capable of being circumscribed within the same narrow
limits. In their day and generation they served and hon-
ored the country, and the whole country; and their re-
nown is of the treasures of the whole country. Him
whose honored name 3 the gentleman himself bears, —
does he esteem me less capable of gratitude for his patri-
otism, or sympathy for his sufferings, than if his eyes had
first opened upon the light of Massachusetts instead of
South Carolina? Sir, does he suppose it in his power to
exhibit a Carolina name so bright as to produce envy in
my bosom? No, sir, increased gratification and delight,
rather. I thank God that, if I am gifted with little of the
spirit which is able to raise mortals to the skies, I have
yet none, as I trust, of that other spirit which would drag
angels down. When I shall be found, sir, in my place
REPLY TO HAYNE 145
here in the Senate, or elsewhere, to sneer at public merit,
because it happens to spring up beyond the little limits
of my own state or neighborhood ; when I refuse, for any
such cause or for any cause, the homage due to American
talent, to elevated patriotism, to sincere devotion to lib-
erty and the country; or, if I see an uncommon endow-
ment of heaven, if I see extraordinary capacity and virtue,
in any son of the South, and if, moved by local prejudice
or gangrened by state jealousy, I get up here to abate the
tithe of a hair from his just character and just fame, may
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!
Sir, let me recur to pleasing recollections; let me in-
dulge in refreshing remembrance of the past; let me
remind you that, in early times, no states cherished
greater harmony, both in principle and feeling, than Mas-
sachusetts and South Carolina. Would to God that har-
mony might again return! Shoulder to shoulder they
went through the Revolution; hand in hand they stood
round the administration of Washington, and felt his
own great arm lean on them for support. Unkind feel-
ing (if it exists), alienation, and distrusts are the growth,
unnatural to such soils, of false principles since sown.
They are weeds, the seeds of which that same great arm
never scattered.
Mr. President, I shall enter on no encomium upon
Massachusetts; she needs none. There she is! Behold
her, and judge for yourselves. There is her history ; the
world knows it by heart. The past, at least, is secure.
There is Boston, and Concord, and Lexington, and
Bunker Hill; and there they will remain forever. The
bones of her sons, falling in the great struggle for Inde-
pendence, now lie mingled with the soil of every state
from New England to Georgia; and there they will lie
forever. And, sir, w T here American liberty raised its
first voice, and where its youth was nurtured and sus-
i 4 6 DANIEL WEBSTER
tained, there it still lives, in the strength of its manhood
and full of its original spirit. If discord and disunion
shall wound it, if party strife and blind ambition shall
hawk at it and tear it, if folly and madness, if uneasiness
under salutary and necessary restraint shall succeed in
separating it from that Union by which alone its existence
is made sure, it will stand, in the end, by the side of that
cradle in which its infancy was rocked ; it will stretch
forth its arm with whatever vigor it may still retain over
the friends who gather round it; and it will fall at last,
if fall it must, amid the proudest monuments of its own
glory, and on the very spot of its origin.
I understand the honorable gentleman from South
Carolina to maintain that it is a right of the state legis-
latures to interfere whenever, in their judgment, this
government transcends its constitutional limits, and to
arrest the operation of its laws. I understand him to
maintain this right, as a right existing under the Consti-
tution, not as a right to overthrow it on the ground of
extreme necessity, such as would justify violent revolu-
tion. I understand him to insist that, if the exigency of
the case, in the opinion of any state government, require
it, such state government may, by its own sovereign au-
thority, annul an act of the general government which it
deems plainly and palpably unconstitutional.
This leads us to inquire into the origin of this govern-
ment and the source of its power. Whose agent is it?
Is it the creature of the state legislators, or the creature
of the people? If the government of the United States
be the agent of the State governments, then they may
control it, provided they can agree in the manner of con-
trolling it ; if it be the agent of the people, then the people
alone can control it, restrain it, modify, or reform it. It
is observable enough that the doctrine for which the
honorable gentleman contends leads him to the necessity
REPLY TO HAYNE 147
of maintaining, not only that this general government is
the creature of the States, but that it is the creature of each
of the States severally, so that each may assert the power
for itself of determining whether it acts within the limits
of its authority. It is the servant of four and twenty
masters, of different wills and different purposes, and yet
bound to obey all. This absurdity (for it seems no less)
arises from a misconception as to the origin of this gov-
ernment and its true character. It is, sir, the people's
Constitution, 4 the people's government, made for the
people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.
The people of the United States have declared that this
Constitution shall be the supreme law. We must either
admit the proposition or dispute their authority.
The States are, unquestionably, sovereign, so far as
their sovereignty is not affected by this supreme law. But
the State legislatures, as political bodies, however sover-
eign, are yet not sovereign over the people. So far as the
people have given power to the general government, so
far the grant is unquestionably good, and the government
holds of the people, and not of the State governments.
We are all agents of the same supreme power, the people.
The general government and the State governments de-
rive their authority from the same source. Neither can,
in relation to the other, be called primary, though one is
definite and restricted, and the other general and residu-
ary. The national government possesses those powers
which it can be shown the people have conferred on it,
and no more. All the rest belongs to the State govern-
ments, or to the people themselves.
I must now beg to ask, sir, whence is this supposed
right of the States derived? Where do they find the
power to interfere with the laws of the Union ? Sir, the
opinion which the honorable gentleman maintains is a
notion founded on a total misapprehension, in my judg-
148 DANIEL WEBSTER
ment, of the origin of this government, and of the founda-
tion on which it stands. I hold it to be a popular gov-
ernment, erected by the people; those who administer it
responsible to the people; and itself capable of being
amended and modified, just as the people may choose it
should be. It is as popular, just as truly emanating from
the people, as the State governments. It is created for
one purpose; the State governments for another. It has
its own powers; they have theirs. There is no more
authority with them to arrest the operation of a law of
Congress, than with Congress to arrest the operation of
their laws.
We are here to administer a Constitution emanating
immediately from the people, and trusted by them to our
administration. It is not the creature of the State gov-
ernments. It is of no moment to the argument, that cer-
tain acts of the State legislatures are necessary to fill our
seats in this body. That is not one of their original State
powers, a part of the sovereignty of the State. It is a
duty which the people, by the Constitution itself, have
imposed on the State legislatures, and which they might
have left to be performed elsewhere, if they had seen fit.
So they have left the choice of president with electors;
but all this does not affect the proposition that this whole
government, president, Senate, and House of Representa-
tives, is a popular government. It leaves it still all its
popular character. The governor of a State (in some
of the States) is chosen, not directly by the people, but
by those who are chosen by the people, for the purpose
of performing, among other duties, that of electing a gov-
ernor. Is the government of the State, on that account,
not a popular government? This government, sir, is the
independent offspring of the popular will. It is not the
creature of State legislatures; nay, more, if the whole
truth must be told, the people brought it into existence,
REPLY TO HAYNE 149
established it, and have hitherto supported it, for the very
purpose, among others, of imposing certain salutary re-
straints on State sovereignties. The States cannot now
make war; they cannot contract alliances; they cannot
make, each for itself, separate regulations of commerce;
they cannot lay imposts; they cannot coin money. If
this Constitution, sir, be the creature of State legislatures,
it must be admitted that it has obtained a strange control
over the volitions of its creators.
Mr. President, I have thus stated the reasons of my
dissent to the doctrines which have been advanced and
maintained. I am conscious of having detained you and
the Senate much too long. I was drawn into the debate
with no previous deliberation, such as is suited to the
discussion of so grave and important a subject. But it is
a subject of which my heart is full, and I have not been
willing to suppress the utterance of its spontaneous senti-
ments. I cannot even now persuade myself to relinquish
it, without expressing once more deep conviction that,
since it represents nothing less than the union of the
States, it is of the most vital and essential importance to
the public happiness.
I profess, sir, in my career hitherto to have kept steadily
in view the prosperity and honor of the whole country
and the preservation of our federal Union. It is to that
Union we owe our safety at home and our consideration
and dignity abroad. It is to that Union that we are
chiefly indebted for whatever makes us most proud of our
country. That Union we reached only by the discipline
of our virtues in the severe school of adversity. It had its
origin in the necessities of disordered finance, prostrate
commerce, and ruined credit. Under its benign influence
those great interests immediately awoke, as from the dead,
and sprang forth with newness of life. Every year of
its duration has teemed with fresh proofs of its utility
i 5 o DANIEL WEBSTER
and its blessings; and although our territory has stretched
out wider and wider and our population spread farther
and farther, they have not outrun its protection or its
benefits. It has been to us all a copious fountain of na-
tional, social, and personal happiness.
I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond the
Union to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess
behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of pre-
serving liberty when the bonds that unite us together
shall be broken asunder. I have not accustomed myself
to hang over the precipice of disunion, to see whether with
my short sight I can fathom the depth of the abyss below ;:
nor could I regard him as a safe counselor in the affairs
of this government, whose thoughts should be mainly bent
on considering, not how this Union may be best pre-
served, but how tolerable might be the condition of the
people when it should be broken up and destroyed.
While the Union lasts we have high, exciting, grati-
fying prospects spread out before us for us and our chil-
dren. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the veil. God
grant that in my day at least that curtain may not rise!
God grant that on my vision never may be opened what
lies behind! When my eyes shall be turned to behold
for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him
shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a
once glorious Union; on States dissevered, discordant,
belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched,
it may be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and
lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the
Republic, now known and honored throughout the earth,
still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming
in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor
a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miser-
able interrogatory as, "What is all this worth ?" nor
those other words of delusion and folly, " Liberty first
REPLY TO HAYNE 151
and Union afterward " ; but everywhere, spread all over
in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample
folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in
every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment
dear to every American heart — Liberty and Union, now
and forever, one and inseparable!
What was the rhetorical and persuasive effect of Webster's
praise of South Carolina?
From what source does Webster derive all legal authority?
In what sense is the Constitution the supreme law of the land ?
Whose views were the more democratic, Hayne's or Web-
ster's ?
What reason is there for maintaining that this speech was
one of the important influences that brought on the Civil War?
To what motives did Webster appeal in this speech?
ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE
February 27, i860
At the close of the Revolution Massachusetts abol-
ished slavery, and her example was gradually followed
by the other states north of Virginia. At that time in
the South also it seemed probable that little by little
slavery would disappear until the entire territory of
the United States was free. The invention of the cot-
ton gin in 1793, however, increased many times the
profit that could be gained from slave labor and ar-
rested the movement for abolition. After the begin-
ning of the nineteenth century the prosperity of the
South seemed to depend on the continuance of slavery.
In the North the sentiment for abolition meanwhile
grew stronger, but the difference of opinion between
the two sections was not yet so profound as to pre-
vent the adoption in 1820 of Henry Clay's Missouri
Compromise which limited the spread of slavery in
the territories north of latitude 36 ° 30'. In 1830
in Boston, William Lloyd Garrison began to publish
The Liberator and thereby initiated in the face of
great opposition even in the North an aggressive strug-
gle against slavery.
In 1850 again Henry Clay was able to secure in
Congress, with great difficulty, a colorless compromise
between the two conflicting sections. Among its
terms was a provision that the territories of Utah and
New Mexico were to be organized without any Fed-
eral action concerning slavery. It was not long, how-
ever, before slavery was introduced into these terri-
152
ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 153
tories through the action of their territorial legislatures
This result enabled Stephen A. Douglas, the leader of
the Northern Democrats to secure by the aid of
Southern votes the passage by Congress in 1854 of
the Kansas-Nebraska bill, a measure that abrogated
the Missouri Compromise and left to home rule or
" popular sovereignty " to determine whether Kansas
and Nebraska were to be free or slave. To combat
this measure the Republican party was organized.
In 1857, however, the Supreme Court, in the Dred
Scott decision, held that the Constitution recognized
slaves as property which Congress must protect. This
view, unexpectedly favorable to slavery, was at once
adopted by the South in place of Douglas's theory of
state authority or " popular sovereignty." The Demo-
crats in the North were unwilling to support the Dred
Scott decision as it seemed to place slavery under the
protection of Congress and to do away with all future
possibility of compromise. Many of the Northern
Democrats at this time accordingly were forced from
their neutral position and preferring to oppose rather
than defend slavery were absorbed by the Republican
party.
In 1858 in Illinois Douglas was the candidate of the
Democratic party for the United States senate and
Abraham Lincoln was nominated by the Republicans.
Lincoln challenged Douglas, who was a highly edu-
cated and brilliant speaker, to a series of seven public
debates; and Douglas accepted on the condition that
he should both open and close each debate. The
contest has been called the greatest " intellectual
wrestle " that has taken place in America. The
speeches were reported throughout the country and
the contest was followed with interest everywhere.
Although the legislature sent Douglas to the Senate,
154 ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE
the people supported Lincoln. It was generally con-
ceded that he had had the better of the argument, and
Illinois went Republican by five thousand majority.
All over the North the people were eager to see this
young giant of the West who in force of logic and
strategic ability had proved his superiority to one of
the foremost politicians and debaters of the time.
When Lincoln was invited in October, 1859, by the
Young Men's Republican Club of New York City to
deliver a political address before their association, he
accepted with eagerness. Douglas had recently spoken
at Columbus and had reaffirmed his doctrine of " popu-
lar sovereignty " for the control of slavery. He had
attempted to ground his views upon the authority of
the Constitution and the writings of the founders of
the republic. He had closed his speech by saying,
" Our fathers, when they framed this government
under which we live, understood this question as well
and even better, than we do now." To these senti-
ments Lincoln determined to reply; and he worked
long and laboriously to make his answer conclusive.
Finally, on February 27, i860, in the large hall of
Cooper Institute, he rose to give his address before a
great audience. He was far from feeling confident.
He spoke the first sentences with diffidence — But why
write the story anew? It is told in the words of one
who heard him speak. Joseph Choate says:
" It is now forty years since I first saw and heard
Abraham Lincoln, but the impression which he left
on my mind is ineffaceable. After his great successes
in the West he came to New York to make a political
address. He appeared in every sense of the word like
one of the plain people among whom he loved to be
counted. At first sight there was nothing impressive
or imposing about him — except that his great stature
ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 155
singled him out from the crowd; his clothes hung
awkwardly on his giant frame, his face was of a dark
pallor, without the slightest tinge of color; his seamed
and rugged features bore the furrows of hardship and
struggle; his deep-set eyes looked sad and anxious;
his countenance in repose gave little evidence of that
brain power which had raised him from the lowest to
the highest station among his countrymen ; as he talked
to me before the meeting, he seemed ill at ease, with
that sort of apprehension which a young man might
feel before presenting himself to a new and strange
audience, whose critical disposition he dreaded. It
was a great audience, including all the noted men —
all the learned and cultured — of his party in New
York: editors, clergymen, statesmen, lawyers, mer-
chants, critics. They were all very curious to hear
him. His fame as a powerful speaker had preceded
him, and exaggerated rumor of his wit — the worst
forerunner of an orator — had reached the East. When
Mr. Bryant presented him, on the high platform of
Cooper Institute, a vast sea of eager faces, upturned,
greeted him, full of intense curiosity to see what this
rude child of the people was like. He was equal
to the occasion. When he spoke he was transformed ;
his eyes kindled, his voice rang, his face shone and
seemed to light up the whole assembly. For an hour
and a half he held his audience in the hollow of his
hand. His style of speech and manner of delivery were
severely simple. What Lowell called ' The grand
simplicities of the Bible/ with which he was so fa-
miliar, were reflected in his discourse. With no at-
tempt at ornament or rhetoric, without parade or
pretence, he spoke straight to the point. If any came
expecting the turgid eloquence or the ribaldry of the
frontier, they must have been startled at the earnest
156 ABRAHAM LINCOLN
and sincere purity of his utterances. It was marvel-
lous to see how this untutored man, by mere self-
discipline and the chastening of his own spirit, had
outgrown all meretricious arts, and found his own way
to the grandeur and strength of absolute simplicity."
" That night the great hall, and the next day the
whole city rang with delighted applause and con-
gratulations, and he who had come as a stranger de-
parted with the laurels of a great triumph. "
It was the last time that Abraham Lincoln spoke as
a stranger before any audience. He who had been
the leader of the Republicans of the Middle West had
now become the foremost Republican of America. He
was nominated for the presidency in the convention at
Chicago on May 16, i860, and was elected president
the following November.
Lincoln's speech at Cooper Union was influential in
unifying Northern anti-slavery sentiment, in insuring
the success of the anti-slavery party, and in securing
for America the election of a great president and a
great moral leader.
ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE
Abraham Lincoln
Mr. President and Fellow-Citizens of New York:
The facts with which I shall deal this evening are mainly
old and familiar ; nor is there anything new in the general
use I shall make of them. If there shall be any novelty,
it will be in the mode of presenting the facts, and the
inferences and observations following that presentation.
In his speech last autumn at Columbus Ohio, as reported
in the New York Times, Senator Douglas said :
ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 157
Our fathers, when they framed the government under which
we live, understood this question just as well, and even better,
than we do now.
I fully endorse this, and I adopt it as a text for this dis-
course. I so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and
agreed starting point for a discussion between Republi-
cans and that wing of the Democracy headed by Senator
Douglas. It simply leaves the inquiry: What was the
understanding those fathers had of the question men-
tioned ?
What is the frame of government under which we live?
The answer must be, " The Constitution of the United
States." 1 That Constitution consists of the original
framed in 1787, and under which the present government
first went into operation, and twelve subsequently framed
amendments, the first ten of which were framed in 1789.
Who were our fathers that framed the Constitution?
I suppose the " thirty-nine " who signed the original in-
strument may be fairly called our fathers who framed
that part of the present government. It is almost exactly
true to say they framed it, and it is altogether true to say
they fairly represented the opinion and sentiment of the
whole nation at that time. Their names, being familiar
to nearly all, and accessible to quite all, need not now be
repeated.
I take these " thirty-nine," for the present, as being
" our fathers who framed the government under which
we live." What is the question which, according to the
test, those fathers understood " just as well and even
better than we do now "?
It is this: Does the proper division of local from
Federal authority, or anything in the Constitution forbid
our Federal Government to control as to slavery in our
Federal Territories?
Upon this, Senator Douglas holds the affirmative, and
158 ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Republicans the negative. This affirmation and denial
form an issue; and this issue — this question — is precisely
what the text declares our fathers understood " better
than we." Let us now inquire whether the " thirty-
nine," or any of them, ever acted upon this question ; and,
if they did, how they acted upon it — how they expressed
that understanding.
We have twenty-three out of our thirty-nine fathers
" who framed the government under which we live," who
have, upon their official responsibility and their corporal
oaths, 2 acted upon the very question which the text affirms
they " understood just as well, and even better, than we
do now " ; and twenty-one of them — a clear majority of
the whole " thirty-nine " — so acting upon it as to make
them guilty of gross political impropriety and willful per-
jury, if, in their understanding, any proper division be-
tween local and Federal authority, or anything in the
Constitution they had made themselves, and sworn to
support, forbade the Federal Government to control as
to slavery in the Federal Territories. Thus the twenty-
one acted and, as actions speak louder than words, so
actions under such responsibility speak still louder.
The remaining sixteen of the " thirty-nine," so far as
I have discovered, have left no record of their under-
standing upon the direct question of Federal control of
slavery in the Federal Territories. But there is much
reason to believe that their understanding upon the ques-
tion would not have appeared different from that of their
twenty-three compeers, had it been manifested at all.
For the purpose of adhering rigidly to the text, I have
purposely omitted whatever understanding may have been
manifested by any person, however distinguished, other
than the thirty-nine fathers who framed the original Con-
stitution; and for the same reason I have also omitted
whatever understanding may have been manifested by
ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 159
any of the " thirty-nine " even on any other phase of the
general question of slavery. If we should look into their
acts and declarations on those other phases, as the foreign
slave trade and the morality and policy of slavery gener-
ally, it would appear to us that on the direct question of
Federal control of slavery in Federal Territories, the six-
teen, if they had acted at all, would probably have acted
just as the twenty-three did. Among that sixteen were
several of the most noted anti-slavery men of those times
— as Dr. Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur
Morris — while there was not one now known to have
been otherwise, unless it may be John Rutledge, of South
Carolina.
The sum of the whole is that of our thirty-nine fathers
who framed the original Constitution, twenty-one — a
clear majority of the whole — certainly understood that
no proper division of local from Federal authority, nor
any part of the Constitution, forbade the Federal Govern-
ment to control as to slavery in the Federal Territories;
while all the rest had probably the same understanding.
Such, unquestionably, was the understanding of our
fathers who framed the original Constitution; and the
text affirms that they understood the question " better
than we."
And now, if they would listen — as I suppose they will
not — I would address a few words to the Southern people.
I would say to them: You consider yourselves a rea-
sonable and a just people; and I consider that in the
general qualities of reason and justice you are not inferior
to any other people. Still, when you speak of us Repub-
licans, you do so only to denounce us as reptiles, or, at
the best, as no better than outlaws. You will grant a
hearing to pirates or murderers, but nothing like it to
" Black Republicans." In all your contentions with one
another, each of you deems an unconditional condemna-
160 ABRAHAM LINCOLN
tion of " Black Republicanism " as the first thing to be
attended to. Indeed, such condemnation of us seems to
be an indispensable prerequisite — license, so to speak —
among you to be admitted or permitted to speak at all.
Now, can you or not be prevailed upon to pause and to
consider whether this is quite just to us, or even to your-
selves? Bring forward your charges and specifications,
and then be patient long enough to hear us deny or
justify.
You say we are sectional. We deny it. That makes
an issue ; and the burden of proof is upon you. You
produce your proof; and what is it? Why, that our
party has no existence in your section — gets no votes in
your section. The fact is substantially true; but does it
prove the issue? If it does, then, in case we should,
without change of principle, begin to get votes in your
section, we should thereby cease to be sectional. You can-
not escape this conclusion; and yet, are you willing to
abide by it? If you are, you will probably soon find that
we have ceased to be sectional, for we shall get votes
in your section this very year. You will then begin to
discover, as the truth plainly is, that your proof does not
touch the issue. The fact that we get no votes in your
section is a fact of your making, and not of ours. And
if there be fault in that fact, that fault is primarily yours,
and remains so until you show that we repel you by some
wrong principle or practice. If we do repel you by any
wrong principle or practice, the fault is ours; but this
brings you to where you ought to have started — to discus-
sion of the right or wrong of our principle. If our prin-
ciple, put in practice, would wrong your section for the
benefit of ours, or for any other object, then our principle,
and we with it, are sectional, and are justly opposed and
denounced as such. Meet us, then, on the question of
whether our principle, put in practice, would wrong your
ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 161
section; and so meet us as if it were possible that some-
thing may be said on our side. Do you accept the chal-
lenge? No? Then you really believe that the principle
which " our fathers who framed the Government under
which we live " thought so clearly right as to adopt it, and
indorse it again and again, upon their official oaths, is in
fact so clearly wrong as to demand your condemnation
without a moment's consideration.
Again, you say we have made the slavery question
more prominent than it formerly was. We deny it. We
admit that it is more prominent, but we deny that we
made it so. It was not we, but you, who discarded the
old policy of the fathers. We resisted, and still resist,
your innovation; and thence comes the greater promi-
nence of the question. Would you have that question
reduced to its former proportions? Go back to that old
policy. What has been will be again, under the same
conditions. If you would have the peace of the old
times, readopt the precepts and policy of the old times.
You charge that we stir up insurrections among your
slaves. We deny it; and what is your proof? Harper's
Ferry! John Brown! 3 John Brown was no Republican;
and you have failed to implicate a single Republican in
his Harper's Ferry enterprise. If any member of our
party is guilty in that matter, you know it, or you do not
know it. If you do know it, you are inexcusable for not
designating the man and proving the fact. If you do not
know it, you are inexcusable for asserting it, and espe-
cially for persisting in the assertion after you have tried
and failed to make the proof. You need not be told that
persisting in a charge which one does not know to be true,
is simply malicious slander.
Some of you admit that no Republican designedly aided
or encouraged the Harper's Ferry affair, but still insist
that our doctrines and declarations necessarily lead to such
1 62 ABRAHAM LINCOLN
results. We do not believe it. We know we hold no doc-
trine, and make no declaration, which were not held to
and made by " our fathers who framed the Government
under which we live." You never dealt fairly by us in
relation to this affair. When it occurred, some important
state elections were near at hand, and you were in evi-
dent glee with the belief that, by charging the blame upon
us, you could get an advantage, of us in those elections.
The elections came, and your expectations were not quite
fulfilled. Every Republican knew that, as to himself at
least, your charge was a slander, and he was not much in-
clined by it to cast his vote in your favor. Republican
doctrines and declarations are accompanied with a con-
tinual protest against any interference whatever with your
slaves, or with you about your slaves. Surely, this does not
encourage them to revolt. True, we do, in common with
" our fathers who framed the Government under which
we live," declare our belief that slavery is wrong; but
the slaves do not hear us declare even this. For anything
we say or do, the slaves would scarcely know there is a
Republican party. I believe they would not, in fact, gen-
erally know it but for your misrepresentations of us in
their hearing. In your political contests among your-
selves, each faction charges the other with sympathy with
Black Republicanism; and then, to give point to the
charges, defines Black Republicanism to simply be insur-
rection, blood, and thunder among the slaves.
John Brown's effort was peculiar. It was not a slave
insurrection. It was an attempt by white men to get up a
revolt among slaves, in which the slaves refused to par-
ticipate. In fact, it was so absurd that the slaves, with
all their ignorance, saw plainly enough it could not suc-
ceed. That affair, in its philosophy, corresponds with
the many attempts, related in history, at the assassination
of kings and emperors. An enthusiast broods over the
ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 163
oppression of a people till he fancies himself commissioned
by Heaven to liberate them. He ventures the attempt,
which ends in little else than in his own execution.
Orsini's attempt on Louis Napoleon, 4 and John Browns
attempt at Harper's Ferry, were, in their philosophy, pre-
cisely the same. The eagerness to cast blame on old
England in the one case, and on New England in the
other, does not disprove the sameness of the two things.
And how much would it avail you, if you could, by the
use of John Brown, Helper's book, 5 and the like, break
up the Republican organization? Human action can be
modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be
changed. There is a judgment and a feeling against
slavery in this nation, which cast at least a million and a
half of votes. You cannot destroy that judgment and
feeling — that sentiment — by breaking up the political or-
ganization which rallies around it. You can scarcely
scatter and disperse an army which has been formed into
order in the face of your heaviest fire; but if you could,
how much would you gain by forcing the sentiment which
created it out of the peaceful channel of the ballot box
into some other channel? What would that other chan-
nel probably be? Would the number of John Browns
be lessened or enlarged by the operation?
But you will break up the Union rather than submit
to a denial of your constitutional rights.
That has a somewhat reckless sound; but it would be
palliated, if not fully justified, were we proposing, by
the mere force of numbers, to deprive you of some right
plainly written down in the Constitution. But we are
proposing no such thing.
When you make these declarations you have a specific
and well-understood allusion to an assumed constitutional
right of yours to take slaves into the Federal Territories,
and to hold them there as property. But no such right
1 64 ABRAHAM LINCOLN
is specifically written in the Constitution. That instru-
ment is literally silent about any such right. We on the
contrary, deny that such a right has any existence in the
Constitution, even by implication.
Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will de-
stroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe
and force the Constitution as you please, on all points in
dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all
events.
This, plainly stated, is your language. Perhaps you will
say the Supreme Court has decided the disputed consti-
tutional question in your favor. Not quite so. But
waiving the lawyer's distinction between dictum and de-
cision, the court has decided the question for you in a sort
of way. The court has substantially said, it is your con-
stitutional right to take slaves into the Federal Terri-
tories, and to hold them there as property.
And then it is to be remembered that " our fathers who
framed the Government under which we live " — the men
who made the Constitution — decided this same constitu-
tional question in our favor long ago: decided it without
a division among themselves when making the decision ;
without division among themselves about the meaning
of it after it was made, and, so far as any evidence
is left, without basing it upon any mistaken statement
of facts.
Under all these circumstances do you really feel
yourselves justified to break up this government unless
such a court decision as yours is shall be at once sub-
mitted to as a conclusive and final rule of political action ?
But you will not abide the election of a Republican
President! In that supposed event, you say, you will
destroy the Union; and then, you say, the great crime
of having destroyed it will be upon us ! That is cool. A
highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through
ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 165
his teeth, " Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and
you will be a murderer ! "
To be sure, what the robber demanded of me — my
money — was my own; and I had a clear right to keep
it; but it was no more my own than my vote is my
own ; and the threat of death to me, to extort my money,
and the threat of destruction to the Union, to extort nrg
vote, can scarcely be distinguished in principle.
A few words now to Republicans. It is exceedingly
desirable that all parts of this great Confederacy sna u
be at peace, and in harmony one with another. L e t. us
Republicans do our part to have it so. Eve' tl though
much provoked, let us do nothing through r,assion and
ill temper. Even though the Southern peo pl e w jU no t
so much as listen to us, let us calmly consider their
demands, and yield to them if, in our de T | 1D erate view of
our duty, we possibly can. Judging br a u t h ey say and
do. and by the subject and nature of their controversy
with us, let us determine, if we cr ^ wna t will satisfy
them.
Will they be satisfied if the Territories be uncondition-
ally surrendered to them? We know they will not. In
all their present complaints against us, the Territories are
scarcely mentioned. Invasions and insurrections are the
rage now. Will it satisfy \hern if in the future we have
nothing to do with invasions and insurrections ? We know
it will not. We so know, because we know we never had
anything to do with invasions and insurrections; and yet
this total abstaining does not exempt us from the charge
and the denunciation.
The question recurs, What will satisfy them? Simply
this: we must not only let them alone, but we must some-
how convince them that we do let them alone. This, we
know by experience, is no easy task. We have been so
trying to convince, them from the very beginning of our
166 ABRAHAM LINCOLN
organization, but with no success. In all our platforms
and speeches we have constantly protested our purpose to
let them alone; but this has had no tendency to convince
them. Alike unavailing to convince them is the fact that
they have never detected a man of us in any attempt to
disturb them.
These natural and apparently adequate means all fail-
ing, what will convince them ? This, and this only : cease
to call slavery ivrong, and join them in calling it right.
And this must be done thoroughly — done in acts as well
as in words. Silence will not be tolerated — we must place
ourselves avowedly with them. Senator Douglas's new
sedition law must be enacted and enforced, suppressing
all declarations that slavery is wrong, whether made in
politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private. We must
arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy pleasure.
We must pull down our Free-State constitutions. The
whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all taint of
opposition to slavery, before they will cease to believe that
all their troubles proceed from us.
I am quite aware they do not state their case pre-
cisely in this way. Most of them would probably say
to us, " Let us alone; do nothing to us, and say what
you please about slavery." But we do let them alone, — -
have never disturbed them, — so that, after all, it is what
we say which dissatisfies them. They will continue to
accuse us of doing, until we cease saying.
I am also aware they have not as yet in terms de-
manded the overthrow of our Free-State constitutions.
Yet those constitutions declare the wrong of slavery
with more solemn emphasis than do all other sayings
against it; and when all these other sayings shall have
been silenced, the overthrow of these constitutions will
be demanded, and nothing be left to resist the demand.
It is nothing to the contrary that they do not demand
-
ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 167
the whole of this just now. Demanding what they do,
and for the reason they do, they can voluntarily stop
nowhere short of this consummation. Holding, as they
do, that slavery is morally right and socially elevating,
they cannot cease to demand a full national recognition
of it as a legal right and a social blessing.
Nor can we justifiably withhold this on any ground
save our conviction that slavery is wrong. If slavery
is right, all words, acts, laws, and constitutions against
it are themselves wrong, and should be silenced and
swept away. If it is right, we cannot justly object to
its nationality — its universality; if it is wrong they can-
not justly insist upon its extension — its enlargement. All
they ask we could readily grant, if we thought slavery
right; all we ask they could as readily grant, if they
thought it wrong. Their thinking it right and our think-
ing it wrong is the precise fact upon which depends the
whole controversy. Thinking it right, as they do, they
are not to blame for desiring its full recognition as being
right; but thinking it wrong, as we do, can we yield to
them? Can we cast our votes with their view, and
against our own? In view of our moral, social, and
political responsibilities, can we do this?
Wrong as we think slavery is, we can yet afford to let
it alone where it is, because that much is due to the
necessity arising from its actual presence in the nation;
but can we, while our votes will prevent it, allow it to
spread into the national Territories, and to overrun us
here in these free States? If our sense of duty forbids t
this, then let us stand by our duty fearlessly and effec- 1
tively. Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical
controversies wherewith we are so industriously plied and
belabored, — contrivances such as groping from some mid-
dle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the
search for a man who should be neither a living man nor
1 68 Abraham Lincoln
a dead man ; such as a policy of " don't care " on a ques-
tion about which all true men do care; such as Union
appeals beseeching true Union men to yield to Disunion-
ists, reversing the divine rule and calling not the sinners
but the righteous to repentance; such as invocations to
Washington, imploring men to unsay what Washington
said and undo what Washington did.
Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false ac-
cusations against us> nor frightened from it by menaces of
destruction to the government, nor of dungeons to our-
selves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in
that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we
understand it.
Compare Lincoln's style in this speech with the style of his
shorter masterpieces.
Discuss the argumentative and persuasive value of the phrase
" our fathers who framed the government under which we live."
What evidence is furnished by this speech to show that Lin-
coln was a shrewd debater?
What effect would you expect this speech to have on an audi-
ence in New York City in Lincoln's day?
What is the significance of the expression " black Repub-
lican M ?
Compare the " opposition " against which Lincoln contended
with that encountered by earlier American orators.
What circumstances in the situation entitle Lincoln to be
called heroic because of his delivery of this speech?
In what respects is the question discussed by Lincoln in this
speech the same as that discussed by Webster in his Reply to
Hayne?
What were Lincoln's views concerning the constitutionality
of slavery?
In what respects was Lincoln, in this speech, conservative and
in what respects revolutionary?
How did this speech assist in extending and enlarging Amer-
ica's conception of democracy?
BRECKENRIDGE-BAKER DEBATE ON THE
WAR
August i, 1861
This debate, it is said, produced the most dramatic
scene that ever occurred in Congress. It took place in
a period of deepest depression at the beginning of the
Civil War, when the Confederacy was most defiant,
and most successful. Although disaster had followed
disappointment and the rebel army was but twenty
miles from Washington, the war was being fought in
an aimless and half-hearted way, for men with South-
ern sympathies were still powerful in Congress.
Such was the condition on August 1, 1861, when
there was taken up for discussion the Insurrection and
Sedition Bill, an act that provided for martial instead
of civil law in such districts as were designated by
the President as in a state of insurrection. On the
day set for the debate, when it was learned that
Senator Breckenridge of Kentucky was about to de-
liver in opposition to this bill the speech he had been
preparing, the Republican senators conferred as who
should be selected to make the reply. They agreed,
that the task should be given to Baker, who at the tinier
was drilling his regiment at the foot of Meridan JM1',,
about a mile from the Senate Chamber.
On receiving the summons, Baker sprang, a/ft once-
into the saddle and without change of clotJ%q& rode to>
the Capitol. In his colonel's uniform ]%$> entered the
eastern door while Breckenridge was^ still speaking^
169
170 JOHN C. BRECKENRIDGE
Advancing to his seat, he laid his sword across his
desk and listened restlessly to the speech. As soon as
the Senator from Kentucky had concluded, he sprang
to the floor his face aglow with excitement.
At the conclusion of his impromptu speech, he re-
mounted his horse and rode back to his regiment. He
died heroically a few weeks later at the battle of
Ball's Bluff. Breckenridge became a major-general in
the Confederate army, and finally was made secretary
of war for the Confederate States.
DEBATE ON THE WAR
John C. Breckenridge
Mr. President: Gentlemen talk about the Union as if
it was an end instead of a means. They talk about it as if
it was the Union of these states which alone had brought
into life the principles of public and of personal liberty.
Sir, they existed before, and they may survive it. Take
care that in destroying one idea you do not destroy not
only the Constitution of your country, but sever what re-
mains of the Federal Union. These external and sacred
principles of public men and of personal liberty, which
lived before the Union and will live forever and ever
somewhere, must be respected; they cannot with im-
punity be overthrown; and if you force the people to the
issue between any form of government and these priceless
principles, that form of government will perish ; they will
tear it asunder as the irrepressible forces of nature rend
whatever opposes them.
Mr. President, we are on the wrong tack; we have been
from the beginning. The people begin to see it. Here we
DEBATE ON THE WAR 171
have been hurling gallant fellows on to death, and the
blood of Americans has been shed — for what ? They have
shown their prowess, respectively — that which belongs to
the race — and shown it like men. But for what have the
United States soldiers, according to the exposition we
have here to-day, been shedding their blood and display-
ing their dauntless courage? It has been to carry out
principles that three-fourths of them abhor ; for the prin-
ciples contained in this bill and continually avowed on
the floor of the Senate, are not shared, I venture to say,
by one-fourth of the army.
I have said, sir, that we are on the wrong tack. Noth-
ing but ruin, utter ruin, to the North, to the South, to
the East, to the West will follow the prosecution of this
contest. You may look forward to countless treasures all
spent for the purpose of desolating and ravaging this con-
tinent; at the end leaving us just where we are now; or if
the forces of the United States are successful in ravaging
the whole South, what on earth will be done with it after
that is accomplished ? Are not gentlemen now perfectly
satisfied that they have mistaken a people for a faction?
Are they not perfectly satisfied that to accomplish their
object, it is necessary to subjugate to conquer — ay, to
exterminate — nearly ten millions of people? Do you not
know it? Does not everybody know it? Does not the
world know it ? 1 Let us pause, and let the Congress of
the United States respond to the rising feeling all over
this land in favor of peace. 2 War is separation; in the
language of an eminent gentleman now no more, it is dis-
union, eternal and final disunion. We have separation
now; it is only made worse by war, and an utter extinc-
tion 6x all those sentiments of common interest and feeling
which might lead to political reunion founded upon con-
sent and upon a conviction of its advantages. Let the
war go on, however, and soon in addition to the moans
172 JOHN C. BRECKENRIDGE
of widows and orphans all over this land, you will hear
the cry of distress from those who want food and the
comforts of life. The people will be unable to pay the
grinding taxes which a fanatical spirit will attempt to
impose upon them. Nay, more, sir; you will see further
separation. The Pacific slope now, doubtless, is devoted
to the union of states. Let this war go on till they find
the burdens of taxation greater than the burdens of a
separate condition, and they will assert it. Let the war
;go on until they see the beautiful features of the old
Confederacy beaten out of shape and comeliness by the
Ibrutalizing hand of war, and they will turn aside in dis-
;gust from the sickening spectacle, and become a separate
nation. Fight twelve months longer, and the already
i opening differences that you see between New England
•and the great Northwest will develop themselves. You
have two confederacies now. Fight, twelve months and
you will have three; twelve months longer, and you will
have four.
I will not enlarge upon it, sir. I am quite aware that
all I say is received with a sneer of incredulity 3 by the
gentlemen who represent the far Northeast; but let the
future determine who was right and who was wrong.
We are making our record here; I, my humble one, amid
tthe sneers and aversion of nearly all who surround me,
;giving my votes, and uttering my utterances according to
imy convictions, with but few approving voices, and sur-
rounded by scowls. The time will soon come, Senators
when history will put her final seal upon these proceed-
ings, and if my name shall be recorded there, going along
with yours as an actor in these scenes, I am willing to
abide, fearlessly, her final judgment.
DEBATE ON THE WAR 173
Edward D, Baker
Mr. President: It has not been my fortune to participate
in at any length, indeed, nor to hear very much of, the
discussion which has been going on — more, I think, in the
hands of the Senator from Kentucky than anybody else —
upon all the propositions connected with this war; and as
I really feel as sincerely as he can an earnest desire to pre-
serve the Constitution of the United States for everybody,
South as well as North, I have listened for some little
time past to what he has said with an earnest desire to
apprehend the point of his objection to this particular bill.
Mr. President^ the honorable senator says there is a
state of war. The Senator from Vermont 4 agrees with
him ; or rather, he agrees with the Senator f rorn Vermont
in that. What then? There fe a state of public war;
none the less war because ft is urged from the other side;
not the less war because it is unjust; not the less war
because it is a war of insurrection and rebellion. It is
still war; and I am willing to say it is public war, — public
as contra-distinguished from private war. What then?
Shall we carry that war on? Is it his duty as a senator
to carry it on? If so, how? By armies under command 1
by military organization and authority, advancing to sup-
press insurrection and rebellion. Is that wrongs? Is that
unconstitutional? Are we not bound; to do, with who-
ever levies war against u&, as we would' do if he were ai
foreigner? There is no; distinction as to) the mode off
carrying. <swr wair;; we carry orr war against an advancing
arony jjusfc; the- same whether it be from Russia or from:
South Carolina. Will the honorable senator tell me it is
our duty to> stay here, within fifteen miles of the enemy
seeking to advance upon us every hour, and talk about
nice questions of constitutional construction as to whether
it is war or merely insurrection? No, sir. It is our
174 EDWARD D. BAKER
duty to advance, if we can; to suppress insurrection; to
put down rebellion; to dissipate the rising; to scatter the
enemy; and when we have done so, to preserve, in the
terms of the bill, the liberty, lives, and property of the
people of the country, by just and fair police regulations.
I agree that we ought to do all that we can to limit, to
restrain, to fetter the abuse of military power. Bayonets
are at best illogical arguments. I am not willing, ex-
cept as a case of sheerest necessity, ever to permit a mili-
tary commander to exercise authority over life, liberty, and
property. But, sir, it is part of the law of war; you
cannot carry in the rear of your army your courts; you
cannot organize juries; you cannot have trials according
to the forms and ceremonial of the common law amid the
clangor of arms; and somebody must enforce police regu-
lations in a conquered or occupied district. I ask the
Senator from Kentucky again respectfully, is that uncon-
stitutional; or if in the nature of war it must exist, even
if there be no law passed by us to allow it, is it uncon-
stitutional to regulate it? That is the question, to which
I do not think he will make clear and distinct reply.
I confess, Mr. President, that I would not have pre-
dicted three weeks ago the disasters which have overtaken
our arms; and I do not think (if I were to predict now)
that six months hence the senator will indulge in the same
tone of prediction which is his favorite key now. I would
ask him what would you have us do now — a Confederate
army within twenty miles of us, advancing or threatening
to advance, to overwhelm our government; to shake the
pillars of the Union; to bring it round your head, if you
stay here, in ruins? Are we to stop and talk about an
uprising sentiment in the North against the war? Are we
to predict evil, and retire from what we predict? Is it
not the manly part to go on as we have begun, to raise
money, and levy armies, to organize them, to prepare to
DEBATE ON THE WAR 175
advance; when we do advance, to regulate that advance
by all the laws and regulations that civilization and
humanity will allow in time of battle? Can we do any-
thing more ? To talk to us about stopping is idle ; we will
never stop. Will the senator yield to rebellion? Will
he shrink from armed insurrection? Will his state
justify it? Will its better public opinion allow it? Shall
we send a flag of truce? What would he have? Or
would he conduct this war so feebly, that the whole world
would smile at us in derision? What would he have?
These speeches of his, sown broadcast over the land, what
clear distinct meaning have they? Are they not intended
for disorganization in our very midst? Are they not
intended to dull our weapons? Are they not intended to
destroy our zeal? Are they not intended to animate our
enemies? Sir, are they not words of brilliant, polished
treason, even in the very Capitol of the Confederacy ? 5
I tell the senator that his predictions, sometimes for
the South, sometimes for the Middle States, sometimes
for the Northeast, and then wandering away in airy
visions out to the far Pacific, about the dread of our
people, as for loss of blood and treasure, provoking them
to disloyalty, are false in sentiment, false in fact, and
false in loyalty. The Senator from Kentucky is mistaken
in them all. Five hundred million dollars. What then?
Great Britain gave more than two thousand million in
the great battle for constitutional liberty which she led
at one time almost single-handed against the world.
Five hundred thousand men. What then? We have
them ; they are ours ; they are the children of the country.
They belong to the whole country; they are our sons; our
kinsmen ; and there are many of us who will give them all
up before we will abate one word of our just demand, or
retreat one inch from the line which divides right from
Tvrong.
176 EDWARD D. BAKER
Sir, it is not a question of men or of money in that
sense. All the money, all the men, are, in our judgment,
well bestowed in such a cause. When we give them, we
know their value. Knowing their value well, 6 we give
them with the more pride and the more joy. Sir, how
can we retreat? Sir, how can we make peace? Who
shall treat? What commissioners? Who would go?
Upon what terms? Where is to be your boundary line?
Where the end of the principles we shall have
to give up? What will become of our consti-
tutional government? What will become of pub-
lic liberty? What of past glories? What of
future hopes? Shall we sink into the insignificance of
the grave — a degraded, defeated, emasculated people,
frightened by the results of one battle, and scared at
the visions raised upon this floor by the imagination of the
Senator from Kentucky? No, sir; a thousand times, no,
sir. We will rally — if, indeed, our words be necessary —
we will rally the people, the loyal people, of the whole
country. They will pour forth their treasure, their money,
their men, without stint, without measure. The most
peaceable man in this body may stamp his foot upon this
Senate Chamber floor, as of old a warrior and a senator
did, and from that single stamp there will spring forth
armed legions.
Shall one battle determine the fate of an empire? or
the loss of one thousand men or twenty thousand, or
$100,000,000 or $500,000,000? In a year's peace, in
ten years at most, of peaceful progress we can restore
them all. 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 for labor to procure the neces-
saries of life. When that is said, all is said. If we have
the country, the whole country, the Union, the Constitu-
DEBATE ON THE WAR 177
tion, free government — with these there will return all
the blessings of well-ordered civilization; the path of the
country will be a career of greatness and of glory such as,
in the olden time, our fathers saw in the dim visions of
years yet to come, and such as would have been ours to-
day, if it had not been for the treason for which the
senator too often seeks to apologize.
Why did Breckenridge's speech arouse sneers of incredulity?
Do you think that Breckenridge was sincere in his appeal to
the future?
What was the political advantage that Breckenridge hoped to
attain by remaining a member of the Federal Congress?
Who during recent war followed in the footsteps of Brecken-
ridge and acted his part?
To what extent was Baker's dramatic entrance responsible
for the effect of his speech?
Comment on Baker's transition from polite questioning to
impassioned denunciation.
Comment on the argumentative and persuasive effect of
Baker's failure to dispute his opponent's estimate of loss of
men and property.
Compare the motives appealed to by Breckenridge with those
to which Baker appealed.
Contrast the style of the two men. Is it the result of charac-
ter and training?
What seems to be Baker's controlling purpose in delivering
this speech?
THE TRENT AFFAIR
December 4, 1861
When war was declared in America the sympathy of
the ruling and influential classes of people in England
was largely with the South. The aristocracy of
Britain thought they saw in the fight the struggle of
conservative and established government against the
demagogic champions of democracy. In the House of
Commons, Mr. Roebuck, a member for Sheffield, had
brought forward a motion in favor of the recognition
of the South. He said : " The men of the South are
Englishmen; but the army of the North is composed
of the scum of Europe." Even those who possessed
democratic sentiments and who were opposed to sla-
very were slow to show their sympathy with the
North, for it was maintained that the success of the
Confederacy would promote England's economic wel-
fare.
While public sentiment in Great Britain was in this
condition an event occurred in November, 1861, that
nearly led to war between England and the United
States. The Confederate government sent two envoys
from Havana to England and France in the British
mail steamer Trait. The ship was stopped by the
U. S. sloop of war San Jacinto, commanded by Cap-
tain Wilkes, and the envoys were seized and im-
prisoned in a fort in Boston harbor. The affair raised
a storm of indignation in England. Lord Russell, the
Foreign Secretary, demanded from Secretary Seward
the immediate release of the prisoners.
178
THE TRENT AFFAIR 179
Under these circumstances, and while meetings
advocating war were being held in many places in
England, Bright delivered this address at Rochdale on
December 4, 1861. He succeeded in stemming the
tide of exasperation and in inducing the Engish na-
tion to consider the affair calmly and sympathetically.
As he predicted in his speech, the American govern-
ment acknowledged the justice of the English claim
and released the prisoners. But even then war was
narrowly averted, for, Lord Palmerston, the Prime
Minister, was inclined to follow up the matter. He
was finally restrained through the influence of Queen
Victoria and by the public sentiment aroused by Bright.
England never recognized the Southern Confederacy;
the most that the South ever obtained was the acknowl-
edgement of its rights as a belligerent.
THE TRENT AFFAIR
John Bright
Eighty-five years ago, at the time when some of our
oldest townsmen were very little children, there were, on
the North American continent, colonies, mainly of Eng-
lishmen, containing about three millions of souls. These
colonies we have seen a year ago constituting the
United States of North America, and compris-
ing a population of no less than thirty millions of
souls. We know that in agriculture and manu-
factures, with the exception of this kingdom, there
is no country in the world which in these arts
may be placed in advance of the United States. With
regard to inventions, I believe, within the last thirty
years, we have received more useful inventions from the
i&o JOHN BRIGHT
United States than from all the other countries of the
earth. In that country there are probably ten times as
many miles of telegraph as there are in this country, and
there are at least five or six times as many miles of rail-
way. The tonnage of its shipping is at least equal to ours,
if it does not exceed ours. The prisons of that country —
for, even in countries the most favored, prisons are need-
ful — have been models for other nations of the earth;
and many European governments have sent missions at
different times to inquire into the admirable system of
education so universally adopted in their free schools
throughout the Northern States.
This is a very fine, but a very true picture; yet it has
another side to which I must advert. There has been
one great feature in that country, one great contrast,
which has been pointed to by all who have commented
upon the United States as a feature of danger, as a con-
trast calculated to give pain. There has been in that
country the utmost liberty to the white man, and bondage
and degradation to the black man. Now rely upon it,
that wherever Christianity lives and flourishes, there must
grow up from it, necessarily, a conscience hostile to any
oppression and to any wrong; and, therefore, from the
hour when the United States Constitution was formed,
so long as it left there this great evil — then comparatively
small, but now so great — it left there seeds of that which
an American statesman has so happily described of that
11 irrepressible conflict " of which now the whole world
is the witness. It has been a common thing for men dis-
posed to carp at the United States to point to this blot
upon their fair fame, and to compare it with the boasted
declaration of freedom in their Deed and Declaration of
Independence.
I will not discuss the guilt of the men who, ministers
of a great nation only last year, conspired to overthrow it.
THE TRENT AFFAIR 181
I will not point out or recapitulate the statements of the
fraudulent manner in which they disposed of the funds in
the national exchequer. I will not point out by name
any of the men, in this conspiracy, whom history will des-
ignate by titles they would not like to hear; but I say
that slavery has sought to break up the most free govern-
ment in the world, and to found a new State, in the nine-
teenth century, whose corner-stone is the perpetual bond-
age of millions of men.
It has been said, " How much better it would be " —
not for the United States, but — " for us, that these States
should be divided." I recollect meeting a gentleman in
Bond Street one day before the session was over. He was
a rich man and one whose voice is much heard in the
House of Commons; but his voice is not heard when he
is on his legs, but when he is cheering other speakers;
and he said to me: " After all, this is a sad business about
the United States; but I think it very much better that
they should be split up. In twenty years " — or in fifty,
I forget which it" was — " they will be so powerful that
they will bully all Europe." And a distinguished member
of the House of Commons — distinguished there by his
eloquence, distinguished more by his many writings — I
mean Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton — he did not exactly ex-
press a hope, but he ventured on something like a predic-
tion, that the time would come when there would be, I
do not know how many, but about as many independent
States on the American continent as you can count upon
your fingers.
There can not be a meaner motive than this I am
speaking of, in forming a judgment on this question : that
it is " better for us " — for whom? the people of England,
or the government of England? — that the United States
should be severed, and that the North American continent
should be as the continent of Europe is in many States,
1 82 JOHN BRIGHT
and subject to all the contentions and disasters which have
accompanied the history of the states of Europe. I should
say that, if a man had a great heart within him, he would
rather look forward to the day, when, from that point
of land which is habitable nearest to the Pole, to the shores
of the Great Gulf, the whole of that vast continent might
become one great confederation of States — without a great
army, and without a great navy — not mixing itself up
with the entanglements of European politics — without a
custom house inside, through the whole length and breadth
of its territory — and with freedom everywhere, equality
everywhere, law everywhere, peace everywhere; such a
confederation would afford at least some hope that man is
not forsaken of Heaven, and that the future of our race
may be better than the past.
Now I am obliged to say — and I say it with the utmost
pain — that if we have not done things that are plainly
hostile to the North, and if we have not expressed affec-
tion for slavery, and, outwardly and openly, hatred for the
Union — I say that there has not been that friendly and
cordial neutrality, which, if I had been a citizen of the
United States, I should have expected ; and I say further,
that, if there has existed considerable irritation at that, it
must be taken as a measure of the high appreciation which
the people of those States place upon the opinion of the
people of England.
But there has occurred an event which was announced
to us only a week ago, which is one of great importance,
and it may be one of some peril. It is asserted that what
is called " international law " has been broken by the
seizure of the Southern commissioners on board an Eng-
lish trading steamer by a steamer of war of the United
States.
Now, the act which has been committed by the Ameri-
can steamer, in my opinion, whether it was legal or not,
THE TRENT AFFAIR 183
was both impolitic and bad. That is my opinion. I
think it may turn out, almost certainly, that, so far as the
taking of those men from that ship was concerned, it was
an act wholly unknown ' to, and unauthorized by, the
American government. And if the American government
believe, on the opinion of their law officers, that the act is
illegal, I have no doubt they will make fitting reparation ;
for there is no government in the world that has so
strenuously insisted upon modifications of international
law, and has been so anxious to be guided always by the
most moderate and merciful interpretation of that law.
Now, our great advisers of the Times newspaper have
been persuading people that this is merely one of a series
of acts which denote the determination of the Washing-
ton government to pick a quarrel with the people of Eng-
land. Did you ever know anybody who was not very
nearly dead drunk, who, having as much upon his hands
as he could manage, would offer to fight everybody about
him? Do you believe that the United States government
presided over by President Lincoln, so constitutional in
all his acts, so moderate as he has been — representing at
this moment that great party in the United States, hap-
pily now in the ascendancy, which has always been espe-
cially in favor of peace, and especially friendly to Eng-
land — do you believe that such a government, having now
upon its hands an insurrection of the most formidable
character in the South, would invite the armies and the
fleets of England to combine with that insurrection, and,
it might be, to render it impossible that the Union should
ever again be restored? I say, that single statement,
whether it came from a public writer or a public speaker,
is enough to stamp him forever with the character of
being an insidious enemy of both countries.
What can be more monstrous than that we, as we call
ourselves, to some extent, an educated, a moral, and a
1 84 JOHN BRIGHT
Christian nation — at a moment when an accident of this
kind occurs, before we have made a representation to the
American government, before we have heard a word from
it in reply — should be all up in arms, 1 every sword leap-
ing from its scabbard, and every man looking about for
his pistols and his blunderbusses? I think the conduct
pursued — and I have no doubt just the same is pursued
by a certain class in America — is much more the conduct
of savages than of Christian and civilized men. No, let
us be calm. You recollect how we were dragged into
the Russian war — how we " drifted " into it. You know
that I, at least, have not upon my head any of the guilt
of that fearful war. You know that it cost one hundred
millions of money to this country ; that it cost at least the
lives of forty thousand Englishmen; that it disturbed
3 r our trade ; that it nearly doubled the armies of Europe ;
that it placed the relations of Europe on a much less peace-
ful footing than before; and that it did not effect one
single thing of all those that it was promised to effect.
Now, then, before I sit down, let me ask you what is
this people, about which so many men in England at this
moment are writing, and speaking, and thinking, with
harshness, I think with injustice, if not with great bitter-
ness? Two centuries ago, multitudes of the people of
this country found a refuge on the North American con-
tinent, escaping from the tyranny of the Stuarts and from
the bigotry of Laud. Many noble spirits from our coun-
try made great experiments in favor of human freedom
on that continent. Bancroft, the great historian of his
own country, has said, in his own graphic and emphatic
language, " The history of the colonization of America
is the history of the crimes of Europe."
' At this very moment, then, there are millions in the
United States who personally, or whose immediate parents
ha^e at one time been citizens of this country. They have
THE TRENT AFFAIR 185
found a home in the Far West ; they subdued the wilder-
ness; they met with plenty there, which was not afforded
them in their native country; and they have become a
great people. There may be persons in England who are
jealous of those States. There may be men who dislike
democracy, and who hate a republic; there may be even
those whose sympathies warm toward the slave oligarchy
of the South. But of this I am certain, that only mis-
representation the most gross, or calumny the most wicked
can sever the tie which unites the great mass of the people
of this country with their friends and brethren beyond the
Atlantic.
Now, whether the Union will be restored or not, or
the South achieve an unhonored independence or not, I
know not, and I predict not. But this I think I know —
that in a few years, a very few years, the twenty millions
of freemen in the North will be thirty millions, or even
fifty millions — a population equal to or exceeding that of
this kingdom. When that time comes, I pray that it may
not be said among them, that in the darkest hour of their
country's trials, England, the land of their fathers, looked
on with icy coldness and saw, unmoved, the perils and
calamities of their children. As for me, I have but this
to say : I am but one in this audience, and but one in the
citizenship of this country; but if all other tongues are
silent, 2 mine shall speak for that policy which gives hope
to the bondmen of the South, and which tends to generous
thoughts, and generous words, and generous deeds, be-
tween the two great nations who speak the English lan-
guage, and from their origin are alike entitled to the
English name.
How do you account for the fact that at the beginning of the
Civil War the sympathy of most Englishmen was with the
South?
What considerations, whether urged by Bright, Beecher, cr
1 86 JOHN BRIGHT
others, caused England's sympathy gradually to swing over to
the North?
Was Bright's estimate of America a just one?
What does the temper of Bright's speech imply concerning
the character of the British public and his audience?
What reception did his speech receive in England?
Compare Bright's "if all other tongues were silent" with a
similar emotional appeal made by Patrick Henry.
Discuss President Lincoln's attitude toward the Trent Affair.
How was the Affair finally adjusted?
BEECHER'S SPEECH AT LIVERPOOL
October 16, 1863
Although Bright had been able to prevent England
from entering the war in behalf of the Southern Con-
federacy he had not been able to do away with all
antagonism toward the North. Sentiment in the
manufacturing districts of England and generally
among the working and business classes, was with
the South when Beecher delivered his address in Liver-
pool on October 16, 1863. Lack of cotton and the
closing of Southern markets to English goods had
brought no little distress to the poorer people. It
was Beecher's task to try to win over to the side of
the North the moral support of those whose economic
welfare seemed to depend on the success of the South.
When it was announced that he was to speak in
Liverpool, the mob-spirit of the community was
aroused and the opposition was organized to make a
determined and desperate attempt to prevent the de-
livery of the speech. The streets were placarded with
abusive and scurrilous posters urging Englishmen to
" see that he gets the welcome that he deserves." The
leading papers published editorial articles attacking
Mr. Beecher. It was openly declared that if he at-
tempted to address the meeting he would never leave
Liverpool alive.
On the evening of the 16th the great hall was packed
with enemies and with sympathizers. When Mr.
Beecher came upon the platform there were cat-calls
187
1 88 HENRY WARD BEECHER
and cheers for several minutes, and the chairman with
great difficuty obtained the opportunity to introduce
the speaker. The tumult continued for three hours
excepting the few brief intervals when Mr. Beecher
succeeded in obtaining the involuntary attention of
his audience. Laughter, shouts, hisses, and insults
continually interrupted the delivery of the address.
On at least two occasions men were carried forcibly
from the hall. Nevertheless, Mr. Beecher was able,
in spite of all opposition, to create with his audience an
impression that was of great benefit to the cause of
the North; and the published report of his address,
which the next day was spread all over England, be-
came one of the important influences that led Great
Britain to decide finally against lending her assistance
to the Confederacy.
SPEECH AT LIVERPOOL
Henry Ward Beecher
For more than twenty-five years I have been made per-
fectly familiar with popular assemblies in all parts of my
country except the extreme South. There has not for the
whole of that time been a single day of my life when it
would have been safe for me to go south of Mason and
Dixon's line 1 in my own country, and all for one reason:
my solemn, earnest, persistent testimony against that
which I consider to be the most atrocious thing under the
sun — the system of American slavery in a great free re-
public. [Cheers.] I have passed through that early
period when right of free speech was denied to me. Again
and again I have attempted to address audiences that, for
no other crime than that of free speech, visited me with
SPEECH AT LIVERPOOL 189
all manner of contumelious epithets; and now since I
have been in England, although I have met with greater
kindness and courtesy on the part of most than I deserved,
yet, on the other hand, I perceive that the Southern in-
fluence prevails to some extent in England. [Applause
and uproar.] It is my old acquaintance; I understand it
perfectly — [laughter] — and I have always held it to be an
unfailing truth that where a man had a cause that would
bear examination he was perfectly willing to have it
spoken about. [Applause.] And when in Manchester
I saw those huge placards : " Who is Henry Ward
Beecher?" — [laughter, cries of " Quite right," and ap-
plause] — and when in Liverpool I was told that there
were those blood-red placards, purporting to say what
Henry Ward Beecher had said, and calling upon English-
men to suppress free speech — I tell you what I thought.
I thought simply this: " I am glad of it." [Laughter.]
Why? Because if they had felt perfectly secure, that you
are the minions of the South and the slaves of slavery,
they would have been perfectly still. [Applause and
uproar.] And, therefore, when I saw so much nervous
apprehension that, if I were permitted to speak — [hisses
and applause] — when I found they were afraid to have
me speak — [hisses, laughter, and " No, no!"] — when I
found that they considered my speaking damaging to their
cause — [applause] — when I found that they appealed
from facts and reasonings to mob law — [applause and
uproar] — I said, no man need tell me what the heart and
secret counsel of these men are. They tremble and are
afraid. [Applause, laughter, hisses, " No, No!" and a
voice: "New York mob."] Now, personally, it is a
matter of very little consequence to me whether I speak
here to-night or not. [Laughter and cheers.] But, one
thing is very certain, if you do permit me to speak here
to-night you will hear very plain talking. [Applause and
i 9 o HENRY WARD BEECHER
hisses.] You will not find a man — [interruption] — you
will not find me to be a man that dared to speak about
Great Britain three thousand miles off, and then is afraid
to speak to Great Britain when he stands on her shores.
[Immense applause and hisses.] And if I do not mistake
the tone and temper of Englishmen, they had rather have
a man who opposes them in a manly way — [applause from
all parts of the hall] — than a sneak that agrees with them
in an unmanly way. [Applause and " Bravo! "] Now,
if I can carry you with me by sound convictions, I shall
be immensely glad — [applause] — ; but if I cannot carry
you with me by facts and sound arguments, I do not wish
you to go with me at all; and all that I ask is simply
fair play. [Applause, and a voice: " You shall have
it, too."]
Those of you who are kind enough to wish to favor
my speaking — and you will observe that my voice is
slightly husky, from having spoken almost every night in
succession for some time past, — those who wish to hear
me will do me the kindness simply to sit still, and to keep
still — and I and my friends the Secessionists will make all
the noise. [Laughter.]
Wherever a nation that is crushed, cramped, degraded
under despotism is struggling to be free, you — Leeds,
Sheffield, Manchester, Paisley — all have an interest that
that nation should be free. When depressed and back-
ward people demand that they may have a chance to rise
' — Hungary, Italy, Poland — it is a duty for humanity's
sake, it is a duty for the highest moral motives, to sym-
pathize with them ; but besides all these there is a material
and an interested reason why you should sympathize with
them. Pounds and pence join with conscience and with
honor in this design. Now, Great Britain's chief want is
— what ?
They have said that your chief want is cotton. I deny
SPEECH AT LIVERPOOL 191
it. Your chief want is consumers. [Applause and hisses.]
You have got skill, you have got capital, and you have
got machinery enough to manufacture goods for the whole
population of the globe. You could turn out fourfold
as much as you do, if you only had the market to sell in.
It is not so much the want, therefore, of fabric, though
there may be a temporary obstruction of it; but the prin-
cipal and increasing want — increasing from year to year
— is, where shall we find men to buy what we can manu-
facture so fast? [Interruption, and a voice, " The Mor-
rill tariff/' 2 and applause.] Before the American war
broke out, your warehouses were loaded with goods that
you could not sell. [Applause and hisses.] You had
over-manufactured; what is the meaning of over-manu-
facturing but this: that you had skill, capital, machinery,
to create faster than you had customers to take goods off
3'our hands? And you know that rich as Great Britain is,
vast as are her manufactures, if she could have fourfold
the present demand, she could make fourfold riches to-
morrow; and every political economist will tell you that
your want is not cotton primarily, but customers. There-
fore, the doctrine, how to make customers, is a great deal
more important to Great Britain than the doctrine how
to raise cotton. It is to that doctrine I ask from you,
business men, practical men, men of fact, sagacious Eng-
lishmen — to that point I ask a moment's attention.
[Shouts of " Oh, oh! " hisses, and applause.] There are
no more continents to be discovered. [Hear, hear!]
The market of the future must be found — how? There
is very little hope of any more demand being created by
new fields. If you are to have a better market there
must be some kind of process invented to make the old
fields better. [A voice, " Tell us something new," shouts
of " Order," and interruption.] Let us look at it, then.
You must civilize the world in order to make a better
i 9 2 HENRY WARD BEECHER
class of purchasers. [Interruption.] If you were to press
Italy down again under the feet of despotism, Italy, dis-
couraged, could draw but very few supplies from you.
But give her liberty, kindle schools throughout her valleys,
spur her industry, make treaties with her by which she
can exchange her wine, and -her oil, and her silk for your
manufactured goods; and for every effort that you make
in that direction there will come back profit to you _ by
increased traffic with her. [Loud applause.] If Hungary
asks to be an unshackled nation — if by freedom she will
rise in virtue and intelligence, then by freedom she will
acquire a more multifarious industry, which she will be
willing to exchange for your manufactures. Her liberty
is to be found — where? You will find it in the Word
of God, you will find it in the code of history; but you
will also find it in the Price Current [Hear, hear!] ; and
every free nation, every civilized people — every people
that rises from barbarism to industry and intelligence, be-
comes a better customer. Now, there is in this a great and
sound principle of political economy. [" Yah, yah ! " from
the passage outside the hall, and loud laughter.] If the
South should be rendered independent — [at this juncture
mingled cheering and hissing became immense; half the
audience rose to their feet, waving hats and handkerchiefs,
and in every part of the hall there was the greatest com-
motion and uproar.] Well, you have had your turn now;
now let me have mine again. [Loud applause and laugh-
ter.] It is a little inconvenient to talk against the wind;
but after all, if you will just keep good-natured — I am not
going to lose my temper; will you watch yours? [Ap-
plause.] Besides all that, it rests me, and gives me a
chance, you know, to get my breath. [Applause and
hisses.] And I think that the bark of those men is worse
than their bite. They do not mean any harm — they don't
know any better. [Loud laughter, applause, hisses, and
SPEECH AT LIVERPOOL 193
continued uproar.] I was saying, when these responses
broke in, that it was worth our while to consider both
alternatives. What will be the result if this present strug-
gle shall eventuate in the reparation of America, and
making the South — [loud applause, hisses, hooting, and
cries of " Bravo! "] — a slave territory exclusively — [cries
of " No, no! " and laughter] — and the North a free ter-
ritory, — what will be the first result? You will lay
the foundation for carrying the slave population clear
through to the Pacific Ocean. This is the first step.
There is not a man that has been a leader of the South
any time within these twenty years that has not had this
for a plan. It was for this that Texas was invaded, first
by colonists, next by marauders, until it was wrested from
Mexico. It was for this that they engaged in the Mexi-
can War itself, by which the vast territory reaching to the
Pacific was added to the Union. Never for a moment
have they given up the plan of spreading the American
institutions, as they call them, straight through toward
the West, until the slave, who has washed his feet in the
Atlantic, shall be carried to wash them in the Pacific.
[Cries of " Question," and uproar.] There! I have got
that statement out, and you cannot put it back. [Laugh-
ter and applause.] Now, let us consider the prospect.
If the South becomes a slave empire, w T hat relation will it
have to you as a customer? [A voice: "Or any other
man." Laughter.] It would be an empire of twelve
millions of people. Now, of these, eight millions are
white, and four millions black. [A voice: " How many
have you got? " Applause and laughter. Another voice:
"Free your own slaves!"] Consider that one-third of
the whole are the miserably poor, unbuying blacks. [Cries
of " No, no! " "Yes, yes! " and interruption.] You do
not manufacture much for them. [Hisses, "Oh!"
"No!"] You have not got machinery coarse enough.
i 9 4 HENRY WARD BEECHER
[Laughter, and " No."] Your labor is too skilled by far
to manufacture bagging and linsey-woolsey. [A South-
erner: " We are going to free them, every one."] Then
you and I agree exactly. [Laughter.] One other third
consists of a poor, unskilled, degraded white population;
and the remaining one-third, which is a large allowance,
we will say, intelligent and rich.
Now here are twelve million of people, and only one-
third of them are customers that can afford to buy the
kind of goods that you bring to market. [Interruption
and uproar.] My' friends, I saw a man once, who was
a little late at a railway station, chase an express train.
He did not catch it. [Laughter.] If you are going to
stop this meeting, you have got to stop it before I speak;
for after I have got the things out, you may chase as long
as you please — you would not catch them. [Laughter
and interruption.] But there is luck in leisure; I am
going to take it easy. [Laughter.] Two-thirds of the
population of the Southern States to-day are non-
purchasers of English goods. [A voice: " No, they are
not;" "No, no! " and uproar.] Now you must recollect
another fact — namely, that this is going on clear through
to the Pacific Ocean; and if by sympathy or help you
establish a slave empire, you sagacious Britons — [" Oh,
oh!" and hooting] — if you like it better, then, I will
leave the adjective out — [laughter, Hear! and applause]
— are busy in favoring the establishment of an empire
from ocean to ocean that should have fewest customers
and the largest non-buying population. [Applause, " No,
no! " A voice: " I thought it was the happy people that
populated fastest."]
Now, what can England make for the poor white popu-
lation of such a future empire, and for her slave popula-
tion? What carpets, what linens, what cottons can you
sell them? What machines, what looking-glasses, what
SPEECH AT LIVERPOOL 195
combs, what leather, what books, what pictures, what
engravings? [A voice: " We'll sell them ships."] You
may sell ships to a few, but what ships can you sell to
two-thirds of the population of poor whites and blacks?
[Applause.] A little bagging and a little linsey-woolsey,
a few whips and manacles, are all that you can sell for the
slave. [Great applause and uproar.] This very day, in
the slave States of America there are eight millions out
of twelve millions that are not, and cannot be your cus-
tomers from the very laws of trade. [A voice: "Then
how are they clothed?" and interruption.]
There is another fact that I wish to allude to — not for
the sake of reproach or blame, but by way of claiming
your more lenient consideration — and that is, that slavery
was entailed upon us by your action. [Hear, hear!]
Against the earnest protests of the colonists the then gov-
ernment of Great Britain — I will concede not knowing
what were the mischiefs — ignorantly, but in point of fact,
forced slave traffic on the unwilling colonists. [Great
uproar, in the midst of which one individual was lifted
up and carried out of the room amid cheers and hisses.]
I do not ask that you should justify slavery in us,
because it was wrong in you two hundred years ago ; but
having ignorantly been the means of fixing it upon us,
now that we are struggling with mortal struggles to free
ourselves from it, we have a right to your tolerance, your
patience, and charitable constructions.
No man can unveil the future; no man can tell what
revolutions are about to break upon the world; no man
can tell what destiny belongs to France, nor to any of the
European powers; but one thing is certain, that in the
exigencies of the future there will be combinations and
recombinations, and that those combinations that are of
the same faith, the same blood, and the same substantial
interests, ought not to be alienated from each other, but
196 HENRY WARD BEECHER
ought to stand together. [Immense cheering and hisses.]
I do not say that you ought not to be in the most friendly
alliance with France or with Germany; but I do say
that your own children, the offspring of England, ought
to be nearer to you than any people of strange tongue.
[A voice: " Degenerate sons," applause and hisses; an-
other voice: " What about the Trent?"]. If there had
been any feelings of bitterness in America, let* me tell you
that they had been excited, rightly or wrongly, under
the impression that Great Britain was going to intervene
between us and our own lawful struggle. [A voice:
" No! " and applause.] With the evidence that there is
no such intention all bitter feelings will pass away. [Ap-
plause.] We do not agree with the recent doctrine of
neutrality 3 as a question of law. But it is past, and we
are not disposed to raise that question. We accept it now
as a fact, and we say that the utterance of Lord Russell 4
at Blairgowrie — [applause, hisses, and a voice: "What
about Lord Brougham? "] — together with the declaration
of the government in stopping war-steamers here — -
[great uproar, and applause] — has gone far toward quiet-
ing every fear and removing every apprehension from
our minds. [Uproar and shouts of applause.] And now
in the future it is the work of every good man and patriot
not to create divisions, but to do the things that will
make for peace. ["Oh, oh!" and laughter.] On our
part it shall be done. [Applause and hisses, and " No,
No! "] On your part it ought to be done; and when in
any of the convulsions that come upon the world, Great
Britain finds herself struggling single-handed against the
gigantic powers that spread oppression and darkness —
[Applause, hisses, and uproar] — there ought to be such
cordiality that she can turn and say to her first-born and
most illustrious child, " Come! " [Hear, hear! applause,
tremendous cheers, and uproar.] I will not say that
SPEECH AT LIVERPOOL 197
England cannot again, as hitherto, single-handed manage
any power— [applause and uproar] — but I will say that
England and America together for religion and liberty —
[A voice: " Soap, soap," uproar, and great applause] —
are a match for the world. [Applause; a voice: " They
don't want any more soft soap."] Now, gentlemen and
ladies — [A voice: "Sam Slick," and another voice:
" Ladies and gentlemen, if you please "] — when I came
I was asked whether I would answer questions, and I
very readily consented to do so, as I had in other places;
but I will tell you it was because I expected to have the
opportunity of speaking with some sort of ease and quiet.
[A voice: "So you have."] I have for an hour and a
half spoken against a storm 5 — [Hear, hear!] — and you
yourselves are witnesses that, by the interruption, I have
been obliged to strive with my voice, 6 so that I no longer
have the power to control this assembly. [Applause.]
And although I am in spirit perfectly willing to answer
any question, and more than glad of the chance, yet I
am by this very unnecessary opposition to-night incapaci-
tated physically from doing it. Ladies and gentlemen, I
bid you' good-evening.
Why did the announcement that Mr. Beecher was to Bpeak
in Liverpool meet with intense opposition?
How can you account for the fact that an audience that had
assembled presumably to hear Beecher speak seemed so unwill-
ing to listen?
What means did Beecher take to gain the sympathy of his
audience?
Was Beecher successful in gaining the attention of his Liver-
pool audience?
Do you think Beecher, in spite of the uproar against which
he strove to speak, accomplished anything of value that night?
Do you think that Beecher delivered this speech approxi-
mately in the form that he outlined before he came to the hall?
Can you find an instance in his speech where Beecher changed
i 9 8 HENRY WARD BEECHER
the conclusion of a sentence so as to turn the laugh on oppo-
nents who had interrupted him?
When Beecher said that England might say to her first-born
child, " Come," do you suppose he had in mind such an emerg-
ency as the Great War?
What had Beecher hoped to accomplish in his English ad-
dresses, and to what extent was he successful?
LINCOLN'S SPEECH AT GETTYSBURG
November 19, 1863
At Gettysburg, July 1, 2, and 3, General Meade and
the Federal army brought to an end the long series of
Northern defeats that had culminated in the alarming
disasters at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.
Gettysburg was the turning point in the Civil War.
Together with Grant's success at Vicksburg, it brought
new hope to the defenders of the Union, although it
was still evident that a long hard struggle remained.
The state of Pennsylvania soon after the battle gave
to the Federal government seventeen and a half acres
of land to be used as a national cemetery in which to
bury the fifty thousand men who fell on the field.
On November 19, 1863, the cemetery was formally
dedicated. Edward Everett was the orator of the
day; but President Lincoln was asked to make a few
remarks in which he was formally to set apart the
grounds to their use.
On the train that took President Lincoln to Gettys-
burg he wrote out with pencil the words that he
planned to speak. At Gettysburg a grand procession
accompanied by military music marched to the summit
of the little hill overlooking the battlefield, where amid
the trees a stand for the speakers had been erected.
Edward Everett delivered an elaborate polished ora-
tion two hours long in which he reviewed the objects
of the war and the battle and its consequences. The
President then spoke the few simple words that the
199
200 ABRAHAM LINCOLN
world has since appraised as one of the greatest
speeches ever delivered.
SPEECH AT THE DEDICATION OF THE
NATIONAL CEMETERY AT
GETTYSBURG
Abraham Lincoln
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth
on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created
equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great
battlefield 1 of that war. We have come to dedicate a
portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who
here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot
consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave
men, living and dead, who struggled here, have conse-
crated it far above our power to add or detract. The
world will little note, nor long remember, what we say
here; but it can never forget what they did here. It is
for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the un-
finished work which they who fought here have thus far
so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated
to the great task remaining before us, that from these
honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause
for which they gave the last full measure of devotion ;
that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have
died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a
SPEECH AT GETTYSBURG 201
new birth of freedom, and that government of the people,
by the people, for the people shall not perish from the
earth.
Show that this speech was peculiarly appropriate to the occa-
sion of its delivery.
In what respect is the central thought of this speech like the
central thought of Webster's First Bunker Hill Oration?
In what respect is the conception of democratic government as
expressed in this speech like that expressed by Webster in his
Reply to Hayne?
Is there anything in this speech that indicates that Lincoln
was conscious that the nation was fighting to preserve demo-
cratic institutions and not merely the American Union?
What did Lincoln mean by "a new birth of freedom"?
Can you tell why this speech is considered one of the greatest
ever delivered?
LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS
March 4, 1865
When Lincoln approached the beginning of his sec-
ond term the long struggle was nearly concluded. If,
however, the end had not been in sight, the Union
government could hardly have continued the contest.
Blood and treasure had been poured out until the
North was almost exhausted. Although the rebellious
forces of the South were nearly subdued, the future
of the Union was dark.
The President's policies had, at last, gained the al-
most unanimous support of the North. One by one
his enemies and traducers had been silenced; but
Lincoln had no thought of exultation over his triumph.
On the occasion of his second inauguration, with .a_
devout and chastened spirit, he recognizedthe sin cerity
of the South, the righteousness of the j:ause of the
North, and the authority of the Almighty to sit in
judgment over both. His solemn words are often
likened to the more lofty portions of the Old Testa-
ment. No greater speech was ever spoken. So con-
trite was his spirit, that many readers seem to find
his words inspired with a prophetic realization of his
impending doom.
202
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 203
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS
Abraham Lincoln
Fellow-countrymen : At this second appearing to take
the oath of the presidential office there is less occasion for
an extended address than there was at the first. Then
a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued
seemed fitting and proper. Now at the expiration of four
years, during which public declarations have been con-
stantly called forth on every point and phase of the great
contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses
the energies of the natiany little that is new could be
presented.
The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly
depends, is as well known to the public as to myself,
and is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging
to all. With high hopes for the future, no prediction in
regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago
all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending
civil war. All dreaded it ; all sought to avert it. While
the inaugural address was being delivered from this place,
devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insur-
gent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without
war — seeking to dissolve the Union and divide the effects
by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but one of
them would make war rather than let the nation survive,
and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.
And the war came. One-eighth of the whole population
were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the
Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These
slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All
knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war.
?o 4 ABRAHAM LINCOLN
To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the
object for which the insurgents would rend the Union,
even by war, while the government claimed no right to
do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.
Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or
the duration which it has already attained. Neither an-
ticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or
even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked
for an easier triumph and a result less fundamental and
astounding.
Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God;
{ and each invokes His aid against the other.
It may seem strange that any man should dare to ask
a just God's assistance in wringing his bread from the
sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we
be not judged.
The prayers of both could not be answered. That of
neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His
own purposes.
" Woe unto the world because of offences, for it must
needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by
whom the offence cometh."
If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of
those offences, which in the providence of God must needs
come, but which, having continued through His appointed
time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to
both North and South this terrible war as the woe due
to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern
« therein any departure from those Divine attributes which
l^JieJielkv-ess in a living God always ascribe to Him?
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this
m ighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if
JGo d~wills that it continue ) until all the wealth piled by
I the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited
toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 205
with the lash shall be paid with another drawn with the
sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it
must be said, " The judgments of the Lord are true and
\ righteo us altogether/J .
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with
firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right,
let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind
up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have
borne the battle, and for his widow and orphans ; to do
all which may achieve and cherish^ a just and lasting
peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Compare the length and scope of this speech with that of
other presidential inaugural addresses.
Did Lincoln do well to use biblical diction in this state paper?
What was the emotional effect of Lincoln's showing in this
speech that his work was merged with his religion?
Did the President in your opinion correctly state the cause of
the war?
Did President Lincoln's address lose effectiveness in any
degree because he failed to predict success for the Union armies?
What sentiments expressed by Lincoln in this speech finally
convinced the Confederacy that the North had determined to
prosecute the war vigorously to the end?
What attitude toward his enemies is shown by Lincoln in
this speech?
How is the character of Lincoln reflected in his confidences,
hopes, and aims?
To what sentiments and motives does Lincoln appeal?
Did Lincoln in this speech establish a precedent in the his-
tory of democratic government for toleration of opponents'
views and respect for differing opinion, or can you point to
similar sentiments expressed previously by some other orator?
THE NEW SOUTH
December 21, 1886
The close of the war left the South impoverished and
almost hopeless. Roads, bridges, and buildings were
destroyed; and the land was desolated. The dis-
banded Confederate soldiers had to begin life over
again without resources and often without health.
Four million freedmen who owned no property were
scattered throughout the country where few were able
to employ them.
Improvement came very slowly. The former slaves
lacked the training that would make them industrious.
They were inclined to live in idleness. In bitter oppo-
sition to the will of the North, the Southern legis-
latures passed laws that tended to keep the negroes in
a state of subjection and prevented the exercise of their
newly gained rights. In retaliation Congress declined
to receive the representatives and senators elected
by the states that had seceded. Northern carpet-
baggers and unprincipled adventurers attempted to
gain political control in the South or deliver authority
into the hands of the negroes. So slowly was progress
made toward reconstruction and reconciliation that it
was not until 1872 that Congress granted a fairly com-
plete general amnesty to those who had fought for
the Confederacy. Indeed not until many years later
were the last remaining disabilities removed.
Chief among those who during this critical period
were instrumental in producing a better understand-
206
THE NEW SOUTH 207
ing between the North and the South was Henry W.
Grady. At a dinner of the New England Society in
New York on December 21, 1886, at a time when the
country was ripe for the word, he delivered a speech
which among the younger generation stimulated every-
where a resolve to end forever the prejudices and
animosities that had survived the Civil War. This
speech marks the climax of the reconciliation. The
last echo of the strife was stilled in 1898 when the
sons of the soldiers of the Blue and of the Gray fought
together in the Spanish-American War.
THE NEW SOUTH
Henry W. Grady
" There was a South of slavery and secession — that
South is dead. There is a South of union and freedom —
that South, thank God, is living, breathing, growing every
hour." These words, delivered from the immortal lips
of Benjamin H. Hill, 1 at Tammany Hall, 2 in 1866, true
then, and truer now, I shall make my text to-night.
In speaking to the toast with which you have honored
me, I accept the term, " The New South," as in no sense
disparaging to the old. Dear to me, sir, is the home of
my childhood, and the traditions of my people. I would
not, if I could, dim the glory they won in peace and war,
or by word or deed take aught from the splendor and
grace of their civilization, never equalled, and perhaps
never to be equalled in its chivalric strength and grace.
There is a new South, not through protest against the
old, but because of new conditions, new adjustments, and,
if you please, new ideas and aspirations.
Doctor Talmage 3 has drawn for you, with a master's
208 HENRY W. GRADY
hand, the picture of your returning armies. He has told
you how, in the pomp and circumstance of war, they came
back to you, marching with proud and victorious tread,
reading their glory in a nation's eyes! Will you bear
with me while I tell you of another army that sought its
home at the close of the late war — an army that marched
home in defeat and not in victory — in pathos and not in
splendor, but in glory that equalled yours, and to hearts
as loving as ever welcomed heroes home ? Let me picture
to you the foot-sore Confederate soldier, ar, buttoning
up in his faded gray jacket the parole which was to bear
testimony to his children of his fidelity and faith, he
turned his face southward from Appomattox in April,
1865.
Think of him as ragged, half-starved, heavy-hearted,
enfeebled by want and wounds having fought to ex-
haustion, he surrenders his gun, wrings the hands of his
comrades in silence, and lifting his tear-stained and pallid
face for the last time to the graves that dot old Virginia
hills, pulls his gray cap over his brow and begins the slow
and faithful journey. What does he find — let me ask you
who went to your homes eager to find, in the welcome you
had justly earned, full payment for four years' sacrifice —
what does he find when, having followed the battle
stained cross against overwhelming odds, dreading death
not half so much as surrender, he reaches the home he
left so prosperous and beautiful?
He finds his home in ruins, his farm devastated, his
slaves free, his stock killed, his barns empty, his trade de-
stroyed, his money worthless, his social system, feudal in
its magnificence, swept away; his people without law or
legal status, his comrades slain, and the burdens of others
heavy on his shoulders. Crushed by defeat, his very tradi-
tions are gone. Without money, credit, employment,
material, or training, and, besides all this, confronted with
THE NEW SOUTH 209
the gravest problem that ever met human intelligence 1 —
the establishing of a status for the vast body of his liber-
ated slaves.
What does he do — this hero in gray, with a heart of
gold ? Does he sit down in sullenness and despair ? Not
for a day. Surely, God, who had stripped him of his
prosperity, inspired to him in his adversity. As ruin was
never before so overwhelming, never was restoration
swifter. The soldiers stepped from the trenches into the
furrow; horses that had charged Federal guns marched
before the plow; and the fields that ran red with human
blood in April were green with the harvest in June. From
the ashes left us in 1864 4 we have raised a brave and
beautiful city. Somehow or other we have caught the
sunshine in the bricks and mortar of our homes, and have
builded therein not one ignoble prejudice or memory.
The old South rested everything on slavery and agri-
culture, unconscious that these could neither give nor
maintain healthy growth. The new South presents a per-
fect democracy, the oligarchs in the popular movement —
a social system compact and closely knitted, less splendid
on the surface, but stronger at the core; a hundred farms
for every plantation, fifty homes for every palace, and a
diversified industry that meets the complex needs of this
complex age.
The new South is enamored of her new work. Her
soul is stirred with the breath of a new life. The light
of a grander day is falling fair on her face. She is thrill-
ing with the consciousness of a growing power and pros-
perity. As she stands upright, full-statured and equal
among the people of the earth, breathing the keen air and
looking out upon the expanding horizon, she understands
that her emancipation came because in the inscrutable wis-
dom of God her honest purpose was crossed, and her
brave armies were beaten.
210 HENRY W. GRADY
This is said in no spirit of time-serving or apology.
The South has nothing for which to apologize. She be-
lieves that the late struggle between the States was war
and not rebellion, revolution and not conspiracy, and that
her convictions were as honest as yours. I should be
unjust to the dauntless spirit of the South and to my own
convictions if I did not make this plain in this presence.
The South has nothing to take back. 5 In my native town
of Athens is a monument that crowns its central hills — a
plain, white shaft. Deep cut into its shining side is a
name dear to me 6 above the names of men, that of a brave
and simple man who died in a brave and simple faith.
Not for all the glories of New England — from Plymouth
Rock all the way — would I exchange the heritage he left
me in his soldier's death. To the feet of that shaft I
shall send my children's children to reverence him who
ennobled their name with his heroic blood. But, sir,
speaking from the shadow of that memory, which I honor
as I do nothing else on earth, I say that the cause in which
he suffered and for which he gave his life was adjudged
by higher and fuller wisdom than his or mine, and I am
glad that the omniscient God held the balance of battle
in His Almighty Hand, and that human slavery was
swept forever from American soil — the American Union
saved from the wreck of war.
This message, Mr. President, comes to you from con-
secrated ground. Every foot of the soil about the city
in which I live is sacred as a battle-ground of the Re-
public. Every hill that invests it is hallowed to you by
the blood of your brothers who died for your victory, and
double hallowed to us by the blood of those who died
hopeless, but undaunted, in defeat — sacred soil to all of
us, rich with memories that make us purer and stronger
and better, silent but stanch witnesses in its red desolation
of the matchless valor of American hearts and the death-
THE NEW SOUTH 211
less glory of American arms — speaking an eloquent wit-
ness, in its white peace and prosperity, to the indissoluble
union of American people.
Now, what answer has New England to this message?
Will she permit the prejudice of war to remain in the
hearts of the conquered? Will she transmit this preju-
dice to the next generation, that in their hearts which
never felt the generous ardor of conflict it may perpetuate
itself? Will she withhold, save in strained courtesy, the
hand which, straight from his soldier's heart, Grant of-
fered to Lee at Appomattox? Will she make the vision
of a restored and happy people, which gathered above the
couch of your dying captain, filling his heart with grace,
touching his lips with praise, and glorifying his path to
the grave — will she make this vision on which the last
sigh of his expiring soul breathed a benediction, a cheat
and delusion? If she does, the South, never abject in
asking for comradeship must accept with dignity its re-
fusal ; but if she does not refuse to accept in frankness and
sincerity this message of good-will and friendship, then
will the prophecy of Webster, delivered in this very so-
ciety forty years ago amid tremendous applause, become
true, be verified in its fullest sense, when he said : " Stand-
ing hand to hand and clasping hands, we should remain
united as we have been for sixty years, citizens of the
same country, members of the same government, united,
all united now and forever. ,,
Can you tell why the Civil War was more destructive to the
South than to the North?
Was Grady wise in praising the Old South at the beginning
of his speech?
When the South entered upon the Civil War was it actuated
by selfish ambition, or did it believe in the justice and right-
eousness of its cause ?
In what respects did the New South differ from the Old ?
When the war was over was it the best policy for the North
212 HENRY W. GRADY
to attempt to placate and conciliate the South or to hold it in
subjection?
Do you think that Grady's reference to Dr. Talmage's speech
is an instance of skillful transition and connection, or do you
think that after Grady took his place at the table he originated
the eloquent description of the Confederate soldier's return?
Would Grady have done better not to refer to his father's
record in the war?
Enumerate the instances in this speech where Grady shows
that there is a common sentiment in which the North and the
South can unite.
Grady speaks of what new democracy?
In what sense does this speech mark a period in American
history?
THE STRENUOUS LIFE
April 10, 1899
The Civil War determined the relation of the Federal
government to the states, but it took another war to
settle its relation to the other nations of the world.
Washington had advised against entangling alliances
with foreign powers and President Monroe, in his
famous message of 1823, in an attempt to promote the
peace and safety of the United States and to render
more remote the possibility of clashes with European
nations, declared that henceforth the American conti-
nents were not to be colonized by foreign powers. In
a word, the United States in the Monroe Doctrine an-
nounced that it denied to European powers any action
that endangered the sovereignty of any American
nation.
In the course of time, however, irresponsible South
American governments discovered that after failing to
discharge their obligations to foreign nations they
might escape punishment by hiding behind the Monroe
Doctrine. Gradually, therefore, for the sake of jus-
tice, the United States found it necessary to exercise
a certain degree of control over the countries it pro-
tected. Instead of assuring the United States peace-
ful isolation, the Monroe Doctrine seemed to promise
to keep the country perpetually involved in South
American affairs and to bring it from time to time
into grave danger of war with Europe.
The crisis came in connection with the Cuban war
for independence in the last years of the century. Con-
213
214 THE STRENUOUS LIFE
ditions in Cuba had become intolerable. Business had
been ruined; thousands of men, women, and children
had been shot or starved; and there was no prospect
that Spain could maintain her sovereignty. Warnings
given by President Cleveland and President Mc-
Kinley had been unheeded. On April 19, 1898, Con-
gress finally passed a resolution declaring Cuba free.
War with Spain followed soon after.
The first notable battle was fought May 1, 1898, by
Commodore Dewey in Manila Bay where he totally
destroyed the enemy's fleet. The most important land
battle was fought near Santiago, Cuba, where Colonel
Roosevelt led a brilliant and successful assault on San
Juan Hill. Before the peace protocol was signed on
August 13, the United States had won the Philippines,
Cuba, and other islands.
To win the Philippines proved to be easier than to
know what to do with them. Cuba, under the protec-
tion of the United States, seemed able to rule itself
and was given its independence; but the Philippine
islands were inhabited largely by half-civilized races
utterly unfit to govern themselves. Were they to be
handed back to the misrule of Spain, or to be aban-
doned to anarchy or the exploitation of some grasping
power? Great difference of opinion existed among
American statesmen and many were the plans pro-
posed, but gradually it became clear that the time had
come when the United States should cast aside that
outworn view of the Monroe Doctrine, that sought
for America isolation and separation from the rest of
the world, and should adopt a new, expanded, and
generous interpretation, that would place the country
among world powers and would recognize an obliga-
tion and duty to promote liberty and democracy
wherever possible throughout the globe.
THE STRENUOUS LIFE 215
More than any other man, Theodore Roosevelt was
influential in upholding this ideal. He maintained that
it was a relic of primitive civilization for a nation to
avoid physical, mental, and moral exchange with its
neighbors, that only by shirking its duty could it neg-
lect to take part in solving world problems, and only
through blind stupidity could it fail to provide itself
with the army and navy necessary to protect its lib-
erty and the liberty of others. He set forth these
views in many addresses. The most notable, however,
was given at the Hamilton Club, in Chicago, on April
10, 1899. It is called The Strenuous Life. Its vision
is so far in advance of the views of most American
statesmen of his time that it seems like a prophecy of
the liberal American spirit that in the world crisis of
191 7 was to rise supreme over ignoble timidity and all
selfish considerations.
<Z> f*
THE STRENUOUS LIFE
<£>
Theodore Roosevelt &
In speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, ^
men of the state which gave to the country Lincoln and
Grant, men who pre-eminently and distinctly embody all
that is most American in the American character, I wish
to preach not the doctrine of ignoble ease but the doctrine
of the strenuous life; the life of toil and effort; of labor
and strife; to preach that highest form of success which
comes not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to
the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship,
or from bitter toil, and who out of these^wins the splendid
ultimate triumph.
A life of ignoble ease, a life of that peace which springs
216 THEODORE ROOSEVELT
merely from lack of desire or of power to strive after
great things, is as little worthy of a nation as of an indi-
vidual. I ask only that what every self-respecting Ameri-
can demands from himself, and from his sons, shall be
demanded of the American nation as a whole. Who
among you would teach your boys that ease, that peace, is
to be the first consideration in their eyes, to be the ulti-
mate goal after which they strive? You men of Chicago
have made this city great, you men of Illinois have done
your share, and more than your share in making America
great, because you neither preach nor practice such a doc-
trine. You work yourselves and you bring up your sons
to work.
We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire
the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who
never wrongs his neighbor; who is prompt to help a
friend; but who has the virile qualities necessary to win
in the stern strife of actual life. It is hard to fail; but
it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life
we get nothing save by effort.
As it is with the individual so it is with the nation.
It is a base untruth to say that happy is the nation that
' has no history. Thrice happy is the nation that has a
glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things,
to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by
failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who
neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in
the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
If in 1 86 1 the men who loved the Union had believed
that peace was the end of all things and war and strife
the worst of all things, and had acted up to their belief,
we would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, we
would have saved hundreds of millions of dollars. More-
over, besides, saving all the blood and treasure we then
lavished, we would have prevented the heart-break of
THE STRENUOUS LIFE 217
many women, the dissolution of many homes; and we
would have spared the country those months of gloom and
shame when it seemed as if our armies marched only to
defeat. We could have avoided all this suffering, simply
by shrinking from strife. And if we had thus avoided it,
we would have shown that we were weaklings and that
we were unfit to stand among the great nations of the
earth. Thank God for the iron in the blood of our
fathers, the men who upheld the wisdom of Lincoln and
bore sword or rifle in the armies of Grant! Let us, the
children of the men who proved themselves equal to the
mighty days — let us, the children of the men who carried
the great Civil War to a triumphant conclusion, praise the
God of our fathers that the ignoble counsels of peace were
rejected, that the suffering and loss, the blackness of sor-
row and despair, were unflinchingly faced, and the years
of strife endured; for in the end the slave was freed,
the Union restored, and the mighty American re-
public placed once more as a helmeted queen among the
nations.
If we are to be a really great people, we must strive in
good faith to play a great part in the world. We cannot
avoid meeting great issues. All that we can determine
for ourselves is whether we shall meet them well or ill.
In 1898 we could not help being brought face to face
with the problem of war with Spain. All we could
decide was whether we should shrink like cowards from
the contest, or enter it as beseemed a brave and high-
spirited people; and, once in, whether failure or success
should crown our banners. So it is now. We cannot
avoid the responsibilities that confront us in Hawaii,
Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. All we can
decide is whether we shall meet them in a way that will
redound to the national credit, or whether we shall make
our dealings with these new problems a dark and
"
218 THEODORE ROOSEVELT
shameful page in our history. To refuse to deal with
them at all merely amounts to dealing with them badly.
We have a given problem to solve. If we undertake the
solution, there is, of course, always danger that we may
not solve it aright; but to refuse to undertake the solu-
tion simply renders it certain that we cannot possibly solve
it aright. The timid man, the lazy man, the man who
distrusts his country, the over-civilized man, who has lost
the great fighting, masterful virtues, the ignorant man,
and the man of dull mind, whose soul is incapable of
feeling the mighty life that thrills " stern men with
empires in their brains " — all these, of course, shrink from
seeing the nation undertake its new duties; shrink from
seeing us build a navy and an army adequate to our
needs; shrink from seeing us do our share of the world's
work, by bringing order out of chaos in the great, fair
tropic islands from which the valor of our soldiers and
sailors has driven the Spanish flag. These are the men
who fear the strenuous life, who fear the only national
life which is really worth leading. They believe in that
cloistered life which saps the hardy virtues in a nation,
as it saps them in the individual ; or else they are wedded
to that base spirit of gain and greed which recognizes in
commercialism the be-all and end-all of national life,
instead of realizing that, though an indispensable element,
it is, after all, but one of the many elements that go to
make up true national greatness. • No country can long
endure if its foundations are not laid deep in the mate-
rial prosperity which comes from thrift, from business
energy and enterprise, from hard, unsparing effort in
the fields of industrial activity; but neither was any na-
tion ever yet truly great if it relied upon material pros-
perity alone. All honor must be paid to the architects o£
our material prosperity, to the great captains of industry
who have built our factories and our railroads, to the
THE STRENUOUS LIFE 219
strong men who toil for wealth with brain or hand; for
great is the debt of the nation to these and their kind.
But our debt is yet greater to the men whose highest type
is to be found in a statesman like Lincoln, a soldier like
Grant. They showed by their lives that they recognized
the law of work, the law of strife; they toiled to win a
competence for themselves and those dependent upon
them; but they recognized that there were yet other and
even loftier duties — duties to the nation and duties to
the race.
We cannot sit huddled within our own borders and
avow ourselves merely an assemblage of well-to-do huck-
sters who care nothing for what happens beyond. Such
a policy would defeat even its own end ; for as the nations
grow to have ever wider and wider interests, and are
brought into closer and closer contact, if we are to hold
our own in the struggle for naval and commercial su-
premacy, we must build up our power without our own
borders. We must build the isthmian canal, and we must
grasp the points of vantage which will enable us to have
our say in deciding the destiny of the oceans of the East
and the West.
So much for the commercial side. From the standpoint
of international honor the argument is even stronger.
The guns that thundered off Manila and Santiago left
us echoes of glory, but they also left us a legacy of duty.
If we drove out a mediaeval tyranny only to make room
for savage anarchy, we had better not have begun the
task at all. It is worse than idle to say that we have no
duty to perform and can leave to their fates the islands
we have conquered. Such a course would be the course
of infamy. It would be followed at once by utter chaos
in the wretched islands themselves. Some stronger, man-
lier power would have to step in and do the work; and
we would have shown ourselves weaklings, unable to
220 THEODORE ROOSEVELT
carry to successful completion the labors that great and
high-spirited nations are eager to undertake.
The work must be done. We cannot escape our re-
sponsibility, and if we are worth our salt, we shall be glad
of the chance to do the work — glad of the chance to show
ourselves equal to one of the great tasks set modern civi-
lization. But let us not deceive ourselves as to the im-
portance of the task. Let us not be misled by vain glory
into underestimating the strain it will put on our powers.
Above all, let us, as we value our own self-respect, face
the responsibilities with proper seriousness, courage, and
high resolve. We must demand the highest order of in-
tegrity and ability in our public men who are to grapple
with these new problems. We must hold to a rigid ac-
countability those public servants who show unfaithfulness
to the interests of the nation or inability to rise to the
high level of the new demands upon our strength and our
resources.
Our army needs complete reorganization 1 — not merely
enlarging — and the reorganization can only come as the
result of legislation. A proper general staff should be.
established, and the positions of ordnance, commissary,
and quartermaster officers should be filled by detail from
the line. Above all, the army must be given a chance to
exercise in large bodies. Never again should we see, as
we saw in the Spanish War, major-generals in command
of divisions who had never commanded three companies
together in the field. Yet, incredible to relate, the recent
Congress has shown a queer inability to learn some of the
lessons of the war. There were large bodies of men in
both branches who opposed the declaration of war, who
opposed the ratification of peace, who opposed the up-
building of the army, and who even opposed the purchase
of armor at a reasonable price for the battleships and
cruisers, thereby putting an absolute stop to the building
THE STRENUOUS LIFE 221
of any new fighting ships for the navy. If during the
years to come any disaster should befall our arms, afloat
or ashore, and thereby any shame come to the United
States, remember that the blame will lie upon the men
whose names appear upon the roll-calls of Congress on
the wrong side of these great questions. On them will
lie the burden of any loss of our soldiers and sailors, of
any dishonor to the flag; and upon you and the people
of the country will lie the blame, if you do not repudiate,
in no unmistakable way, what these men have done. The
blame will not rest upon the untrained commander of
untried troops; upon the civil officers of a department,
the organization of which has been left utterly inadequate ;
or upon the admiral with insufficient number of ships;
but upon the public men who have so lamentably failed
in the forethought as to refuse to remedy these evils long
in advance, and upon the nation that stands behind those
public men.
The army and navy are the sword and the shield which
this nation must carry if she is to do her duty among the
nations of the earth — if she is not to stand merely as the
China of the Western Hemisphere. Our proper conduct
toward the tropic islands we have wrested from Spain
is merely the form which our duty has taken at the mo-
ment. Of course, we are bound to handle the affairs of
our own household well. We must see that there is civic
hor^sty, civic cleanliness, civic good sense in our home
administration of city, state, and nation. We must strive
for honesty in office, for honesty towards the creditors
of the nation and of the individual; for the widest free-
dom of individual initiative where possible and for the
wisest control of individual initiative where it is hostile
to the welfare of the many. But because we set our own
household in order, we are not thereby excused from play-
ing our part in the great affairs of the world. A man's
222 THEODORE ROOSEVELT
first duty is to his own home, but he is not thereby excused
from doing his duty to the state; for if he fails in this
second duty it is under the penalty of ceasing to be a free-
man. In the same way, while a nation's first duty is
within its own borders, it is not thereby absolved from
facing its duties in the world as a whole ; and if it refuses
to do so, it merely forfeits its rights to struggle for a place
among the peoples that shape the destiny of mankind.
I have scant patience with those who fear to undertake
the task of governing the Philippines, and who openly
avow that they do fear to undertake it, or that they shrink
from it because of the expense and trouble; but I have
even scanter patience with those who make a pretense of
humanitarianism to hide and cover their timidity, and
who cant about " liberty " and " the consent of the gov-
erned," in order to excuse themselves for the unwilling-
ness to play the part of men. Their doctrines, if carried
out, would make it incumbent upon us to leave the
Apaches of Arizona to work out their own salvation and
to decline to interfere in a single Indian reservation.
Their doctrines condemn your forefathers and mine for
ever having settled in these United States.
When once we have put down armed resistance, when
once our rule is acknowledged, then an even more diffi-
cult task will begin, for then we must see to it that the
islands are administered with absolute honesty and with
good judgment. If we let the public service of the
islands be turned into the prey of the spoils politician we
shall have begun to tread the path which Spain trod to
her own destruction. We must send out there only good
and able men, chosen for their fitness, and not because of
their partisan service; and these men must not only ad-
minister impartial justice to the natives and serve their
own government with honesty and fidelity, but they must
also show the utmost tact and firmness, remembering that
THE STRENUOUS LIFE 223
with such people as those with whom we are to deal weak-
ness is the greatest of crimes, and that next to weakness
comes lack of consideration for their principles and preju-
dices.
) I preach to you, then, my countrymen, that our country
calls not for the life of ease, but for the life of strenuous
endeavor. The twentieth century looms before us big
with the fate of many nations. If we stand idly by, if
we seek merely swollen, slothful ease, and ignoble peace, 2
if we shrink from the hard contests where men must win
at hazard of their lives and at the risk of all they hold
dear, then the bolder and the stronger peoples will pass us
by and will win for themselves the domination of the
world. 3 Let us therefore boldly face the life of strife,
resolute to do our duty well and manfully; resolute to
uphold righteousness by deed and by word ; resolute to be
both honest and grave to serve high ideals, yet to use
practical methods. Above all, let us shrink from no strife,
moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided
that we are certain that the strife is justified ; for it is only
through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor,
that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national
greatness.
Is " happy is the nation that has no history " true from the
point of view of modern historical method?
Compare the great issues of which Roosevelt spoke in 1899
with those that confronted Wilson in 191 6.
What do you think of Roosevelt's practical politics as reflected
in his reference to the roll-calls of Congress?
In what respects is peace for man or nation not an end in
itself?
Nietzsche said " live dangerously." Looking at the matter
from a broad point of view, which do you think is the better
habit, peace or strife?
In what respects did Roosevelt by means of this speech
attempt to alter the military policy of the United States?
Did Roosevelt recommend this change in military policy
22 4 THEODORE ROOSEVELT
through nervousness, a belligerent disposition, an intimate
knowledge of public affairs, or vision?
Does this speech in your opinion preserve a proper balance
between physical power and moral duty?
How did the Spanish War affect the foreign policy of the
United States?
Was the new policy more democratic or less democratic than
the old?
In what senses did the United States at the end of Spanish
War become a world power?
Was Washington's advice against entangling alliances bad,
was it outworn, or had it been misinterpreted?
Is Roosevelt truly democratic when he denies the right of
self-government to Apaches and savage Philippinos?
Does Roosevelt in this speech recognize, in the words of
Lincoln, " a new birth of freedom " ?
Is Roosevelt in this speech urging America to work for selfish
ends, or is he advocating national altruism?
THE CALL TO ARMS
September 5, 1914
The twenty-eighth of June, 1914, will probably be
taken by historians as the beginning of the Great
War. As a matter of fact the war was the inevitable
outgrowth of a very insidious development that can be
traced as far back as the downfall of Napoleon and
the resulting diplomatic agreements of the Congress of
Vienna.
As a consequence of secret conventions made at this
conference, liberty and democracy found thereafter
their haven in the freedom-loving lands of England
and France, while autocracy and absolutism were nour-
ished in Germany, Austria, and Russia. France de-
veloped a republican form of government, and her
people like the people of England decided for them-
selves how they were to be ruled. In Germany, on the
other hand, a Prussian military clique, under the
leadership of the Kaiser, seized the reins of state and
drove the people into a highly organized system of
autocratic control.
The constitution of Germany, in contrast with that
of the United States, was made by hereditary rulers
and never was approved by vote of the people. Not
even the Kaiser was accountable directly to his sub-
jects, for he maintained that he ruled by Divine Right.
The chief legislative body of the Empire was the
Bundesrath, the members of which were appointed by
the rulers of the various German states. As the
Kaiser had twenty votes in this council of sixty-one
225
226 THE CALL TO ARMS
members, he was able both to control legislation and,
with the use of but fourteen of his votes, to block
changes in the constitution. The Reichstag, the popu-
lar assembly, was given very little political power and
was utterly unable to secure for Germany democratic
government. Constitutional or other radical reform
could come only through revolution.
When in 187 1 at the time of the Franco-Prussian
war, the German army in eight months overran France
and secured an indemnity of $1,000,000,000, and the
two invaluable provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, the
German rulers became war-mad and lost their desire
to win greatness slowly through the arts of peace.
They planned to found a great empire by means of the
sword. Year after year they drilled, increased, and
perfected their army until it became the most formi-
dable in Europe. In 1900 they began to construct a
powerful navy. So the power of the military authori-
ties grew until it might be said that Germany was not
a country that possessed an army ; it was an army that
possessed a country.
In a shameless way, moreover, the German people
furthered the plan of their rulers for conquest and
dominion. They submitted blindly to arbitrary au-
thority. They planned to build in time a railway
which was to extend from Berlin to Bagdad and
was to be the artery of a greater German Empire that
would in time add to Austria, Bulgaria, and Turkey,
and Persia, and India.
In 1 91 4 the Kiel naval canal connecting the North
Sea and the Baltic was completed. The Great Army
bill of 191 3 had brought the army to an unprecedented
size, and it had been drilled until it was fit. All was
ready. But little Servia was in the way. The Bagdad
railway passed through her territories and she placed
THE CALL TO ARMS ^27
a hostile barrier between Germany and her allies on the
east.
On June 28, 1914, a son of the Emperor of Aus-
tria was murdered by a Serb in Sarajevo. Austria
seemed to be convinced that Servia had planned the
assassination because of her objection to Austria's con-
trol of Bosnia and other Serb provinces. On July 23,
1914, Austria sent Servia an insulting ultimatum.
Servia, however, granted all that was asked excepting
permission for Austrian officials to sit in Servian
courts. Austria, nevertheless, refused to accept this
answer and on July 28, 1914, declared war on Servia.
On August I, Germany, which had already begun gath-
ering her troops, declared war on Russia, giving as her
reason the statement that the latter nation was begin-
ning to mobilize.
War with France was the inevitable outcome. Ger-
man military leaders knew that the theater of
war would be west of the Rhine and pre-
pared to carry out their plans for attacking France
through Belgium, the neutrality of which had
been guaranteed by the treaties of 1839 and
1870, in which France, Prussia, and Great Britain
were parties. When Germany in spite of all
pledges crossed the border and violated the neutrality
of Belgium, Great Britain declared war on Germany,
and on August 1 with her army of 150,000 began to
help preserve the sovereignty of the little country. The
heroic and unexpected resistance on the part of the
Belgians delayed the Germans in their march to Paris,
and it was August 24 before the frontiers of France
were sighted. In September came the great battle of
the Marne in which the French under Marshal Joffre
disastrously drove back the Germans and saved the
yorld^for democracy. Defeated in their initial sur-
world.
228 H. H. ASQUITH
prise attack, Germany resorted to trench warfare and
defensive tactics.
Germany's invasion of Belgium aroused every man
and woman in England. On August 28, 1914, Premier
Asquith addressed a note to the Lord Mayor of Lon-
don, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, the Lord Mayor
of Dublin, and the Lord Mayor of Cardiff, in which he
advocated the holding of public meetings to make plain
the justice of England's cause. The response was most
enthusiastic. The offer of Mr. Asquith to assist this
movement by addressing such meetings was accepted
by the heads of the four cities, and in September the
Prime Minister delivered four memorable addresses
summoning Great Britain to arms. Thousands of peo-
ple were turned away from the great Guildhall in the
city of London on the evening of September 5, 1914,
when the address known as The Call to Arms was de-
livered. Through the throng that heard him, he spoke
to the people not only of Engand but of the whole
British Empire, calling them to rise as one to save
Europe by their example. The patriotic ardor with
which the address was received was truly prophetic of
the zeal and unanimity of the military response.
THE CALL TO ARMS
H. H. Asquith
My Lord Mayor and Citizens of London: It is
three and a half years since I last had the honor of ad-
dressing in this hall a gathering of the citizens. We were
then met under the presidency of one of your predecessors,
men of all creeds and parties, to celebrate and approve the
joint declaration of the two great English-speaking states
THE CALL TO ARMS 229
that for the future any differences between them should
be settled, if not by agreement, at least by judicial inquiry
and arbitration, and never in any circumstances by war.
[Cheers.] Those of us who hailed that great Eirenicon *
between the United States and ourselves as a landmark on
the road of progress were not sanguine enough to think,
or even to hope, the era of war was drawing to a
close. But still less were we prepared to anticipate the
terrible spectacle which now confronts us of a contest
which for the number and importance of the powers
engaged, the scale of their armaments and armies, the
width of the theatre of conflict, the outpouring of blood
and the loss of life, the incalculable toll of suffering levied
upon non-combatants, the material and moral loss ac-
cumulating day by day to the higher interests of civilized
mankind — a contest which in every one of these aspects is
without precedent in the annals of the world. [Hear,
hear!] We were very confident three years ago in the
rightness of our position, when we welcomed the new
securities for peace. We are equally confident in it to-day,
when reluctantly, and against our will, but with a clear
judgment and a clean conscience, [cheers] we find our-
selves involved with the whole strength of this empire in
a bloody arbitration between might and right. The issue
has passed out of the domain of argument into another
field, but let me ask you, and through you the world out-
side, what would have been our condition as a nation to-
day if we had been base enough through timidity or
through perverted calculation of self-interest, or through
a paralysis of the sense of honor and duty, [cheers] if we
had been base enough to be false to our word and faithless
to our friends?
Our eyes would have been turned at this moment with
those of the whole civilized world to Belgium, a small
state, which has lived for more than seventy years under
2 3 o H. H. ASQUITH
the several and collective guarantees to which we in com-
mon with Prussia and Austria were parties, and we should
have seen at the instance and by the action of two of these
guaranteeing powers her neutrality violated, her inde-
pendence strangled, her territory made use of as affording
the easiest and the most convenient road to a war of un-
provoked aggression against France. We, the British
people, would at this moment have been standing by with
folded arms and with such countenance as we could com-
mand while this small and unprotected State, in defense of
her vital liberties, made a heroic stand against overween-
ing and overwhelming force; we should have been admir-
ing as detached spectators the siege of Liege, the steady
and manful resistance of a small army to the occupation of
their capital, with its splendid traditions and memories,
the gradual forcing back of the patriotic defenders of their
native land to the ramparts of Antwerp, countless out-
rages inflicted by buccaneering levies exacted from the
unoffending civil population, and, finally, the greatest
crime committed against civilization and culture since the
Thirty Years' War, the sack of Louvain, 2 [Cries of
Shame!] with its buildings, its pictures, its unique library,
its unrivaled associations — a shameless holocaust of irre-
parable treasures lit up by blind barbarian vengeance.
[Prolonged cheers.] What account should we, the Gov-
ernment and the people of this country, have been able
to render to the tribunal of our national conscience and
sense of honor if, in defiance of our plighted and solemn
obligations, we had endured, nay, if we had not done our
best to prevent, yes, and to avenge, these intolerable out-
rages ? For my part I say that sooner than be a silent wit-
ness — which means in effect a willing accomplice — of this
tragic triumph of force over law and of brutality over
freedom, I would see this country of ours blotted out of
the pages of history. [Prolonged cheers.]
THE CALL TO ARMS 231
That is only a phase — a lurid and illuminating phase
in the contest in which we have been called by the man-
date of duty and of honor to bear our part. The cynical
violation of the neutrality of Belgium was, after all, but
a step — the first step — in a deliberate policy of w T hich,
if not the immediate, the ultimate, and the not far dis-
tant aim, was to crush the independence and autonomy
of the free states of Europe. First Belgium, then Hol-
land, then Switzerland, countries like our own, imbued
and sustained with the spirit of liberty, were one after
another to be bent to the yoke, and these ambitions were
fed and fostered by a body of new doctrines and new
philosophies preached by professors and learned men.
The free and full self-development which to these small
states, to ourselves, to our great and growing dominions
over the seas, to our kinsmen across the Atlantic, is the
well-spring and life-breath of national existence — that
free self-development is the one capital offense in the code
of those who have made force their supreme divinity, and
who upon its altars are prepared to sacrifice both the
gathered fruits and the potential germs of the unfettered
human spirit. I use this language advisedly. This is
not merely a material; it is also a spiritual conflict.
[Cheers.] Upon its issues, everything that contains
promise and hope, that leads to emancipation and a fuller
liberty for the millions who make up the mass of man-
kind, will be found sooner or later to depend.
Let me now just for a moment turn to the actual situ-
ation in Europe. How do we stand? For the last ten
years, by what I believe to be happy and well-considered
diplomatic arrangements, we have established friendly and
increasingly intimate relations with the two powers, France
and Russia, with whom, in days gone by, we have had in
various parts of the world occasion for constant friction,
and now and again for possible conflict. Those new and
232 H. H. ASQUITH
better relations, based in the first instance upon business
principles of give and take, matured into a settled temper
of confidence and good-will. They were never in any
sense or at any time, as I have frequently said in this
hall, directed against other powers. No man in the his-
tory of the world has ever labored more strenuously or
more successfully than my right honorable friend Sir Ed-
ward Grey 3 [cheers] for that which is the supreme inter-
est of the modern world, a general and abiding peace. It
is, I venture to think, a very superficial criticism which
suggests that under his guidance the policy of this country
has ignored, still less that it has counteracted and ham-
pered, the concert of Europe. It is little more than a
year ago that under his presidency, in the stress and strain
of the Balkan crisis, the ambassadors of all the great
powers met here day after day curtailing the area of
possible differences, reconciling warring ambitions and
aims, and preserving against almost incalculable odds the
general harmony. And it was in the same spirit and with
the same purpose, when a few weeks ago Austria delivered
her ultimatum to Servia, that our foreign secretary put
forward the proposal for a mediating conference between
the four powers who were not directly concerned — Ger-
many, France, Italy, and ourselves. If that proposal had
been accepted, actual controversy would have been settled
with honor to everybody, the whole of this terrible welter
would have been avoided. [Hear, hear!]
And with whom does the responsibility rest [cries of
The Kaiser!] for this refusal and for all the illimitable
suffering which now confronts the world? One power
and one power only, and that power — Germany. [Loud
hisses.] That is the front and origin of this world-wide
catastrophe. We are persevering to the end. No one
who has not been confronted as we were with the respon-
sibility of determining the issues of peace and war can
THE CALL TO ARMS 233
realize the strength and energy and persistency with which
we have labored for peace. We persevered by every ex-
pedient that diplomacy could suggest, straining almost to
the breaking point our most cherished friendships and
obligations, even to the last, making effort upon effort,
and hoping against hope. Then, and only then, when we
were at last compelled to realize that the choice lay be-
tween honor and dishonor, between treachery and good
faith, when at last we reached the dividing line which
makes or mars a nation worthy of the name, it was then,
and then only, that we declared for war. Is there any
one in this hall or in this United Kingdom or in the vast
empire of which we here stand in the capital and centre
who blames or repents our decision? [Cries of No!]
For these reasons, as I believe, we must steel ourselves to
the task, and in the spirit which animated our forefathers
in their struggle against the domination of Napoleon we
must and we shall persevere to the end. [Cheers.]
It would be a criminal mistake to underestimate either
the magnitude, the fighting quality, or the staying power
of the forces which are arrayed against us. But it would
be equally foolish and equally indefensible to belittle our
own resources, whether for resistance or attack. Bel-
gium has shown us by a memorable and a glorious example
what can be done by a relatively small State when its
citizens are animated and fired by the spirit of patriotism.
In France and Russia we have as allies two of the great-
est powers of the world engaged with us in a common
cause, who do not mean to separate 4 themselves from us
any more than we mean to separate ourselves from them.
We have upon the seas the strongest and most magnificent
fleet that has ever been seen. The expeditionary force
which left our shores less than a month ago has never
been surpassed, as its glorious achievements in the field
have already made clear, not only in material and equip-
234 H. H. ASQUITH
ment but in the physical and the moral quality of its con-
stituents. [Cheers.]
As regards the navy, I am sure my right honorable
friend (Mr. Winston Churchill) will tell you there is
happily little more to be done. I do not flatter it when
I say that its superiority is equally marked in every de-
partment and sphere of its activity. [Cheers.] We rely
on it with the most absolute confidence, not only to guard
our shores against the possibility of invasion, not only to
seal up the gigantic battleships of the enemy in the in-
glorious seclusion of his own ports, whence from time to
time, he furtively steals forth to sow the seeds of mur-
derous snares, which are more full of menace to neutral
ships than to the British fleet. Our navy does all this,
and while it is thirsting, I do not doubt, for that trial
of strength in a fair and open fight, which is so far pru-
dently denied it, it does a great deal more. It has hunted
the German mercantile marine from the high seas. It
has kept open our own sources of food supply and has
largely curtailed those of the enemy, and when the few
German cruisers which still infest the more distant ocean
routes have been disposed of, as they will be disposed of
very soon, [cheers] it will achieve for British and neutral
commerce passing backward and forward, from and to
every part of our empire, a security as complete as it has
ever enjoyed in the days of unbroken peace. Let us honor
the memory of the gallant seamen who, in the pursuit of
one or another of these varied and responsible duties, have
already laid down their lives for their country.
In regard to the army there is a call for a new, a con- ■
tinuous, a determined, and a united effort. For, as the
war goes on, we shall have not merely to replace the
wastage caused by casualties, not merely to maintain our
military power at its original level, but we must, if we
are to play a worthy part, enlarge its scale, increase its
THE CALL TO ARMS 235
numbers and multiply many times its effectiveness as a
fighting instrument. The object of the appeal which I
have made to you, my Lord Mayor, and to the other chief
magistrates of our capital cities is to impress upon the
people of the United Kingdom the imperious urgency
of this supreme duty. Our self-governing dominions
throughout the empire, without any solicitation on our
part, have demonstrated with a spontaneousness and a
unanimity unparalleled in history their determination to
affirm their brotherhood with us and to make our cause
their own. From Canada, from Australia, from New
Zealand, from South Africa, and from Newfoundland,
the children of the empire 5 assert, not as an obligation,
but as a privilege, their right and their willingness to con-
tribute money and material, and what is better than all,
the strength and sinews, the fortunes, and the lives of
their best manhood. [Cheers.] India, too, with no less
alacrity, has claimed her share in the common task. Every
class and creed, British and natives, Princes and people,
Hindus and Mohammedans, vie with one another in noble
and emulous rivalry. Two divisions of our magnificent
Indian Army are already on their way. [Cheers.] We
welcome with appreciation and affection their proffered
aid. In an empire which knows no distinction of race
or cause we all alike as subjects of the King-Emperor
are joint and equal custodians of our common interests
and fortunes. We are here to hail with profound and
heartfelt gratitude their association, side by side and
shoulder to shoulder, with our home and dominion troops,
under the flag which is the symbol to all of a unity that
a world in arms cannot dissever or dissolve. With these
inspiring appeals and examples from our fellow-subjects
all over the world, what are we doing and what ought we
to do here at home?
Mobilization was ordered 6 on the 4th of August ; imme-
236 H. H. ASQUITH
diately afterward Lord Kitchener Issued his call for ioo,-
ooo recruits for the regular army, which has been followed
by a second call for another 100,000. The response up
to to-day gives us between 250,000 and 300,000. I am
glad to say that London has done its share. The total
number of Londoners accepted is not less than 42,000.
[Cheers.] I need hardly say that that appeal involves no
disparagement or discouragement of the territorial force.
The number of units in that force who have volunteered
for foreign service is most satisfactory and grows every
day. We look to them with confidence to increase their
numbers, to perfect their organization and training, and
to play efficiently the part which has always been assigned
to them, both offensive and defensive, in the military
system of the empire. But to go back to the expansion of
the regular army. We want more men — men of the best
fighting quality, and if for a moment the number who
offer themselves and are accepted should prove to be in
excess of those who can at once be adequately trained and
equipped, do not let them doubt that prompt provision
will be made for the incorporation of all willing and able
men in the righting forces of the kingdom. We want,
first of all, men, and we shall endeavor to secure them.
Men desiring to serve together shall, wherever possible,
be allotted to the same regiment or corps. The raising of
battalions by counties or municipalities with this object
will be in every way encouraged. But we want not less
urgently a larger supply of ex-non-commissioned officers,
and the pick of the men with whom in the past days they
served, men, therefore, whom in most cases we shall be
asking to give up regular employment and to return to
the work of the State, which they alone are competent to
do. The appeal we make is addressed quite as much
to their employers as to the men themselves. The men
ought to be absolutely assured of reinstatement 7 in their
THE CALL TO ARMS 237
business at the end of the war. Finally, there are num-
bers of commissioned officers now in retirement who are
much experienced in the handling of troops and have
served their country in the past. Let them come forward,
too, and show their willingness, if need be, to train bodies
of men for whom at the moment no cadre or unit can be
found.
I have little more to say. Of the actual progress of
the war I will not say anything, except that in my judg-
ment in whatever direction we look there is abundant
ground for pride and for confidence. I say nothing more,
because I think we should all bear in mind that we are at
present watching the fluctuations of fortune only in the
early stages of what is going to be a protracted struggle.
We must learn to take long views, and to cultivate, above
all, other faculties — those of patience, endurance, and
steadfastness. Meanwhile, let us go, each of us, to his or
her appropriate place in the great common task. Never
had a people more or richer sources of encouragement and
inspiration. Let us realize, first of all, that we are fight-
ing as a united empire, in a cause worthy of the highest
traditions of our race. Let us keep in mind the patient
and indomitable seamen, who never relax for a moment,
night or day, their stern vigil of the lonely sea. Let us
keep in mind our gallant troops, who to-day, after a fort-
night's continuous fighting under conditions which would
try the metal of the best army that ever took the field,
maintain not only an undefeated but an unbroken front.
[Cheers.] Finally, let us recall the memories of the great
men and the great deeds of the past, commemorated, some
of them, in the monuments which we see around us on
these walls, not forgetting the dying message of the
younger Pitt, his last public utterance, made at the table
of one of your predecessors, my Lord Mayor, in this very
hall: "England has saved herself by her exertions, and,
238 H. H. ASQUITH
will, as I trust, save Europe by her example." The Eng-
land of those days gave a noble answer to his appeal, and
did not sheath the sword until, after nearly twenty years
of fighting, the freedom of Europe was secured. Let us
go and do likewise. [Prolonged cheers.]
What influence had Asquith's The Call to Arms on the growth
of American political ideals?
From what points of view was the Great War an attack on
democracy?
Point out practices in the government of Germany in 1914
that were repudiated by the English previous even to American
independence.
Had it been customary in England for the prime minister to
appeal directly to the people?
What purpose was served by Asquith's reference in the first
paragraph of his speech to the peace treaty with America?
Compare Asquith's statement of Germany's aims with the
accounts given by Lloyd-George and President Wilson.
Comment briefly on Britain's attempts to avoid the war.
What, according to Asquith, was the predominating motive
that led England to engage in the war?
Contrast the style of Asquith's speech with that of Patrick
Henry's. Does the difference indicate corresponding degrees
of sincerity and determination.
If you were to judge by the applause recorded in this speech,
what motives or emotions chiefly animated the audience?
What was the effect of the war on the solidarity of the
British Empire?
How does this speech point to a democracy broader than any
that had yet existed?
PRESIDENT WILSON'S MESSAGE TO
CONGRESS
April 2, 1917
When the Germans invaded Belgium, Americans were
appalled by the ruthless violation of treaties and of
the principles of humanity and international law. The
suddenness of the. attack and the effects of unsuspected
German propaganda, however, clouded the issues and
made it seem uncertain what course of action ought
to be followed. It seemed best to remain neutral. Ac-
cordingly early in August, 1914, President Wilson ap-
pealed to the American people in these words, " Every
man who really loves America will act and speak in
the true spirit of neutrality, which is the spirit of
impartiality and fairness and friendliness to all con-
cerned. ,, It is true that at this time there were Ameri-
cans who fully appreciated the sublime heroism with
which Belgium was holding back the foes of civiliza-
tion, but the nation as a whole was not then ready for
war.
For years America had devoted herself to thoughts
of peace. The military establishment of Germany had
been looked upon with amusement, for it was a com-
mon American view that the last war in the history
of the world had been fought. Very little was known
about European politics and false statements made by
German agents were easily believed. One-third of the
population of the United States was foreign born and
naturally as regards European affairs divided in their
sympathies. In addition to the hundreds of thousands
239
2 4 o MESSAGE TO CONGRESS
of German-Americans who were hostile to the Allies,
there were numerous other persons who for one reason
or another were unfriendly to England or France or
Russia. Even some of those citizens who thought it
our moral and political duty to take the side of Bel-
gium advised in 1914 that America continue for a
longer period its policy of neutrality since the Ameri-
can army was so poorly equipped and was so pitifully
small.
The situation, however, gradually changed. When
through diplomatic means Germany had failed to pre-
vent American firms from selling ' munitions to her
enemies, she endeavored through paid agents and spies
to initiate a campaign of violence in the United States
by inciting strikes, encouraging sabotage, and dynamit-
ing buildings. Although such actions on Germany's
part naturally cost her many supporters, the feeling
against her did not become intensely bitter until Febru-
ary, 191 5, when in utter lack of regard for interna-
tional law, Germany announced that she was about to
use submarines to destroy, instead of capture, enemy
merchant vessels on sight and to prevent neutrals from
trading with England and France.
Even this contempt for American rights, neverthe-
less, did not stir Americans so deeply as the growing
conviction that England and France were fighting a
battle for civilization. The cockneys of London,
many of them miserable little men, had left their cabs
and high stools in the offices, had sent their poorly
nourished wives and children to the munition factories
and the farms, and had gone to Ypres and the Somme
and there had laid down their lives by thousands in
support of the principles from which had grown the
sweetness and light of American life. At Verdun the
German hordes determined that France should be bled
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS 241
white and Prussians would hew a way to the west.
With poison gas and bayonet, with shell and machine-
gun, they cut down division after division of French
soldiers. The poilus blocked the roads with their
bodies and the Germans did not pass. As the months
went by it became clearer to most Americans that
England and France were fighting our fight while we
stood idly by.
Meanwhile submarine activity was becoming more
serious. After numerous vessels had been torpedoed
with the loss of some American lives, the great liner
Lusitania, carrying 1,918 men, women, and children,
was sunk, May 7, 1915. Among the 1,154 passengers
drowned were 114 Americans. So great was the hor-
ror and resentment created throughout the country by
this act that probably a majority of United States
citizens believed that the time had come when America
should enter the war to help the Allies. President
Wilson, however, still cherished the hope that if
America remained neutral the United States might be
the means of reconciling the contending powers and
thereby saving endless suffering and millions of lives.
The President's forbearance and patience were sorely
tried when soon after the destruction of the Lusitania
other ships were sunk without any effort to save pas-
sengers. His spirit can be compared only to that of
Lincoln in the Civil War when resisting alike the taunts
and slurs of radical abolitionists and the threats of
Southern sympathizers, he waited with infinite patience
until the time was fit before he issued his proclamation
that the slaves were free.
On January 31, 19 17, the German government an-
nounced that the next day it would begin unrestricted
submarine warfare of a far more ruthless character
and would sink enemy and neutral ships alike if found
242 WOODROW WILSON
in the proscribed zones. On February 3, 1917, the
German ambassador at Washington was dismissed.
On February 28, the Federal Secret Service made pub-
lic the Zimmermann note in which Germany proposed
to Mexico that she and Japan form a military alliance
for the purpose of gaining territory from the United
States. It was no longer possible for any American
statesman, no matter how peace-loving, to defend these
acts. At last the country was practically unanimous
for armed resistance. In the world's history no na-
tion able to protect itself had ever been more reluctant
than the United States to relinquish a policy of peace
and adopt a policy of war.
Even under these circumstances German spies and
sympathizers made a last effort to prevent action on
the part of the United States. As Congress assem-
bled in extraordinary session at the call of the Presi-
dent, an attempt was made by German propagandists
to create the impression that many citizens were still
opposed to America's taking the part of the Allies.
On April 2, 1917, however, in the presence of both
houses of Congress assembled in joint session, the
President with calmness and dignity delivered what is
probably the most momentous Message ever spoken by
an American executive.
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS
April 2, 1917
Woodrow Wilson
Gentlemen of the Congress: I have called the Con-
gress into extraordinary session 1 because there are serious,
very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made imme-
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS 243
diately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally
permissible 2 that I should assume the responsibility of
making.
On the third of February last I officially laid before
you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial Ger-
man Government that on and after the first day of Febru-
ary it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or
of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel
that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain
and Ireland or the western coast of Europe or any of
the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the
Mediterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the
German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since
April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat
restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in con-
formity with its promise then given to us 3 that passenger
boats should not be sunk and that due warning would be
given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek
to destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape at-
tempted, and care taken that their crews were given at
least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats.
The precautions taken were meagre and haphazard
enough, as was proved in distressing instance after in-
stance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business,
but a certain degree of restraint was observed. The new
policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every
kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their
destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the
bottom without warning and without thought of help or
mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals
along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and
ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken
people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with
safe conduct through the proscribed areas by the German
Government itself and were distinguished by unmistakable
I
244 WOODROW WILSON
marks of identity, have been sunk * with the same reckless
lack of compassion or of principle.
I was for a little while unable to believe that such things
would in fact be done by any government that had hitherto
subscribed to the humane practices of civilized nations.
International law had its origin in the attempt to set up
some law which would be respected and observed upon the
seas, where no nation had right of dominion and where
lay the free highways of the world. By painful stage after
stage has that law been built up, with meager enough re-
sults, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be
accomplished, but always with a clear view, at least, of
what the heart and conscience of mankind demanded.
This minimum of right the German Government has
swept aside under the plea of retaliation and necessity and
because it had no weapons which it could use at sea except
these which it is impossible to employ as it is employing
them without throwing to the winds all scruples of hu-
manity or of respect for the understandings that were
supposed to underlie the intercourse of the world. I am
not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense
and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and whole-
sale destruction of the lives of non-combatants, men,
women, and children, engaged in pursuits which have
always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been
deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid
for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people can not
be. The present German submarine warfare against com-
merce is a warfare against mankind.
It is a war against all nations. American ships have
been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has
stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and peo-
ple of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk
and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There
has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all man-
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS 245
kind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet
it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with
a moderation of counsel and a temperateness of judgment
befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We
must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be
revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might
of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human
right, of which we are only a single champion.
When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth of
February last I thought that it would suffice to assert
our neutral rights with arms, our right to use the seas
against unlawful interference, our right to keep our peo-
ple safe against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality,
it now appears, is impracticable. Because submarines are
in effect outlaws when used as the German submarines
have been used against merchant shipping, it is impossible
to defend ships against their attacks as the law of nations
has assumed that merchantmen would defend themselves
against privateers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase
upon the open sea. It is common prudence in such circum-
stances, grim necessity indeed, to endeavor to destroy them
before they have shown their own intention. They must
be dealt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. The Ger-
man Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms
at all within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed,
even in the defense of rights which no modern publicist
has ever before questioned their right to defend. The
intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which we
have placed on our merchant ships will be treated as be-
yond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as
pirates would be. Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough
at best; in such circumstances and in the face of such
pretentions it is worse than ineffectual : it is likely only to
produce what it was meant to prevent; it is practically
certain to draw us into the war without either the rights
246 WOODROW WILSON
or the effectiveness of belligerents. There is one choice
we cannot make, we are incapable of making : we will not
choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred
rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or vio-
lated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselves
are no common wrongs ; they cut to the very roots of hu-
man life.
With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical
character of the step I am taking and of the grave respon-
sibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience
to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the
Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial Ger-
man Government to be in fact nothing less than war
against the government and people of the United States;
that it formally accept the status of belligerent which has
thus been thrust upon it ; and that it take immediate steps
not only to put the country in a more thorough state of
defense but also to exert all its power and employ all its
resources to bring the government of the German Empire
to terms and end the war.
What this will involve is clear. It will involve the
utmost practicable cooperation in counsel and action with
the governments now at war with Germany, and, as in-
cident to that, the extension to those Governments of
the most liberal financial credits, in order that our re-
sources may, so far as possible, be added to theirs. It
will involve the organization and mobilization of all the
material resources of the country to supply the materials
of war and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the
most abundant, and yet the most economical and efficient,
way possible.
It will involve the immediate full equipment of the
navy in all respects, but particularly in supplying it
with the best means of dealing with the enemy's sub-
marines. It will involve the immediate addition to the
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS 247
armed forces of the United States, already provided for
by law in case of war, of at least 500,000 men, who
should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of
universal liability to service, and also the authorization
of subsequent additional increments of equal force so soon
as they may be needed and can be handled in training.
It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate
credits to the government, sustained, I hope, so far as they
can equitably be sustained by the present generation, by
well-conceived taxation. I say sustained so far as may be
equitable by taxation because it seems to me that it would
be most unwise to base the credits which will now be
necessary entirely on borrowed money. It is our duty, I
must respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as
we may against the very serious hardships and evils which
would be likely to arise out of the inflation which would
be produced by vast loans. In carrying out the measures
by which these things are to be accomplished we should
keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering as
little as possible in our own preparation and in the equip-
ment of our own military forces with the duty — for it
will be a very practical duty — of supplying the nations
already at war with Germany with the materials which
they can obtain only from us or by our assistance. They
are in the field and we should help them in every way to
be effective there.
I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the sev-
eral executive departments of the government for the
consideration of your committees, measures for the
accomplishment of the several objects I have mentioned.
I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as
having been framed after very careful thought by the
branch of the government upon which the responsibility
of conducting the war and safeguarding the nation will
most directly fall.
248 WOODROW WILSON
While we do these things, these deeply momentous
things, let us be very clear, and make very clear to all the
world what our motives and our objects are. 5 My own
thought has not been driven from its habitual and normal
course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and
I do not believe that the thought of the nation has been
altered or clouded by them. I have exactly the same thing
in mind now that I had in mind when I addressed the
Senate on the 22d of January last; the same that I had in
mind when I addressed the Congress on the 3d of Febru-
ary and on the 26th of February. Our object now, as
then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in
the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic
power and to set up amongst the really free and self-
governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose
and of action as will henceforth ensure the observance of
those principles. Neutrality is no longer feasible or desir-
able where the peace of the world is involved and the
freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that peace and
freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments
backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by
their will, not by the will of their people. We have seen
the last of neutrality in such circumstances. We are at the
beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the
same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong
done shall be observed among nations and their govern-
ments that are observed among the individual citizens of
civilized states.
We have no quarrel with the German people. We
have no feeling towards them but one of sympathy and
friendship. It was not upon their impulse that their gov-
ernment acted in entering this war. It was not with their
previous knowledge or approval. It was a war deter-
mined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the
old, unhappy days 6 when peoples were nowhere consulted
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS 249
by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged in the
interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men
who were accustomed to use their fellow men as pawns
and tools. Self-governed nations do not fill their neigh-
bor states with spies or set the course of intrigue to bring
about some critical posture of affairs which will give them
an opportunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs
can be successfully worked out only under cover and
where no one has the right to ask questions. Cunningly
contrived plans of deception or aggression, carried, it may
be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and
kept from the light only within the privacy of courts or
behind the carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and
privileged class. They are happily impossible where public
opinion commands and insists upon full information con-
cerning all the nation's affairs.
A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained
except by a partnership of democratic nations. No auto-
cratic government could be trusted to keep faith within it
or observe its covenants. It must be a league of honour,
a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals
away; the plottings of inner circles who could plan what
they would and render account to no one would be a cor-
ruption seated at its very heart. Only free peoples can
hold their purpose and their honour steady to a common
end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow
interest of their own.
One of the things that has served to convince us that
the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our
friend is that from the very outset of the present war
it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even our
offices of government with spies and set criminal intrigues
everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel,
our peace within and without, our industries and our
commerce. Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were
2 5o WOODROW WILSON
here even before the war began, and it is unhappily not
a matter of conjecture but a fact proved in our courts
of justice that the intrigues which have more than once
come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dis-
locating the industries of the country have been carried
on at the instigation, with the support, and even under
the personal direction of official agents of the Imperial
Government accredited to the Government of the United
States. Even in checking these things and trying to
extirpate them we have sought to put the most generous
interpretation possible upon them because we knew that
their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or purpose of
the German people toward us (who were, no doubt, as
ignorant of them as we ourselves were) but only in the
selfish designs of a government that did what it pleased
and told its people nothing. But they have played their
part in serving to convince us at last that that government
entertains no real friendship for us and means to act
against our peace and security at its convenience. That
it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the
intercepted note 7 to the German Minister at Mexico
City is eloquent evidence.
We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose be-
cause we know that in such a government, following
such methods, we can never have a friend ; and that in the
presence of its organized power, always lying in wait to
accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no
assured security for the democratic governments of the
world. We are now about to accept gauge of battle with
this natural foe of liberty, and shall, if necessary, spend
the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pre-
tensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the
facts with no veil of false pretense about them, to fight
\thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the libera-
tion of its peoples — the German people included — for the
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS 251
rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men
everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience.
The world mustjj&jnade safe^f or democracy. Its peace
must be planted upon trie trusted foundations of political
liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire
no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for
ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we
shall freely make. We are but one of the champions
of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when
those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the
freedom of the nation can make them.
Just because we fight without rancor and without self-
ish objects, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we
shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel
confident, conduct our operations as belligerents without
passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the
principles of right and of fair play we profess to be
fighting for.
I have said nothing of the governments allied with the
Imperial Government of Germany because they have not
made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right
and our honor. The Austro-Hungarian Government has,
indeed, avowed its unqualified indorsement and acceptance
of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now
without disguise by the Imperial German Government,
and it has therefore not been possible for this government
to receive Count Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently ac-
credited to this government by the Imperial and Royal
Government of Austria-Hungary; but that government
has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the
United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the
present at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations
with the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only
where we are clearly forced into it because there are no
Dther means of defending our rights.
other rr
252 WOODROW WILSON
It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as
belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because
we act without animus, not in enmity towards a people or
with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage upon
them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible
government which has thrown aside all considerations of
humanity and of right and is running amuck. We are,
let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people,
and shall desire nothing so much as the early reestablish-
ment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between
us, — however hard it may be for them, for the time being,
to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. We have
borne with their present government through all these
bitter months because of that friendship, — exercising a
patience and forbearance which would otherwise have
been impossible. We shall, happily, still have an oppor-
tunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and
actions towards the millions of men and women of Ger-
man birth and native sympathy who live amongst us and
share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it towards
all who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the
government in the hour of test. They are, most of them,
as true and loyal Americans as if they had never known
any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to
stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who
may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should
be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of
stern repression ; but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift
it only here and there and without countenance except
from a lawless and malignant few.
""It is a distressing and oppressive duty, Gentlemen of
the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing
you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial
and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead
this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS 253
and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to
be in the balance. But the right is more precious than
peace, and we shall fight for trie things which we have
always carried nearest our hearts, — for democracy, for the
right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in
their own governments, for the rights and liberties of
small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a
concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to
all nations and make the world itself at last free. To
such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes,
everything that we are and everything that we have, with
the pride of those who know T that the day has come when
America is privileged to spend her blood and her might
for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and
the peace which she has treasured. God helping Her, she
can do no other. 8
Who in America has the power to declare war?
What were the " choices of policy " before Congress at the
time this speech was delivered?
Could President Wilson have made a distinction between the
German people and the German government if the German
government had been truly democratic?
Premier Asquith in The Call to Arms said that England in
entering the war was actuated by no narrow or selfish na-
tionalism. Is President Wilson equally altruistic in outlining
America's course?
The United States first guarded its own liberty; later it
attempted to protect weak American republics; finally it helped
to make the world safe for democracy. Was this expansion
of its sphere of action the result of a growing moral conscious-
ness, or was it due to other influences?
Did President Wilson advocate a new principle in inter-
national law when he maintained that " the same standards of
conduct and responsibility for wrong done should be observed
among nations and their governments that are observed among
the individual citizens of civilized states"?
THE MEANING OF AMERICA'S ENTRANCE
INTO THE WAR
April 12, 1917
The news that the American Congress had declared
war against Germany was received with joy and en-
thusiasm throughout France and England. The Lon-
don papers were rilled with articles of appreciation and
with accounts of the material and moral aid that was
about to come to the Allies. It was the general opinion
of English statesmen that the entrance of America into
the struggle was the most important event of the war.
Ex-premier Asquith said that a day had dawned whose
" sun shall not set until the two great English-speaking
democracies can rejoice together, as fellow-workers
and fellow-combatants, over the triumph of freedom
and of right." L&r^^*^
At the American Luncheon Club," on April 12, 1917,
a great company of distinguished Americans and
Britons gathered to celebrate America's entrance into
the war. It was said that no unofficial social event
within a generation had brought together more men of
prominence than were present on this occasion. After
the cloth had been removed and toasts to President
Wilson and King George had been drunk with much
enthusiasm, Ambassador Page, who was presiding,
spoke of the President's recent message to Congress.
" From all of the states, from the states of the great
Mississippi valley, from the South and from the Pacific
they will come — as many millions as you need. We
254
AMERICA'S ENTRANCE INTO THE WAR 255
come in answer only to the high call of duty and not
for any national reward ; not for territory, not for in-
demnity or conquest; not for anything except the
high duty to succor democracy when it is desperately
assailed."
The reply made by Premier Lloyd-George to the
words of Ambassador Page is one of the most impor-
tant historical documents brought forth by the great
struggle for democracy. It is known as Lloyd-
George's speech on The Meaning of America's En-
trance into the War.
THE MEANING OF AMERICA'S ENTRANCE
INTO THE WAR
David Lloyd-George
I am in the happy position of being, T think, the first
Prime minister of the Crown who, speaking on behalf
of the people of this country, can salute the American
nation as comrades in arms. I am glad; I am proud. I
am glad not merely because of the stupendous resources
which this great nation will bring to the succor of the
alliance, but I rejoice as a democrat that the advent of
the United States into this war gives the final stamp and
seal to the character of the conflict as a struggle against
military autocracy throughout the world.
This was the note which ran through the great deliver-
ance of President Wilson. It was echoed, Sir, in your
resounding words to-day. The United States of America
have the noble tradition never broken, of having never
engaged in war except for liberty. And this is the great-
est struggle for liberty that they have ever embarked
upon. 1 am not at all surprised, when one recalls the
256 DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE
wars of the past, that America took its time to make up
its mind about the character of this struggle. In Europe
most of the great wars of the past were waged 'for dynastic
aggrandizement and conquest. No wonder when this
great war started that there were some elements of sus-
picion still lurking in the minds of the people of the
United States of America. There were those who thought
perhaps that Kings were at their old tricks, and although
they saw the gallant Republic of France fighting, they —
some of them perhaps — regarded it as the poor victim of
a conspiracy of monarchical swashbucklers. 1 The fact
that the United States of America has made up its mind,
finally makes it abundantly clear to the world that this
is no struggle of that character, but a great fight for hu-
man liberty.
They naturally did not know at first what we had
endured in Europe for years from this military caste in
Prussia. It never has reached the United States of
America. Prussia was not a democracy. The Kaiser
promises that it will be a democracy after the war. I
think he is right. But Prussia not merely was not a
democracy. Prussia was not a state; Prussia was an
army. It had great industries that had been highly de-
veloped ; a great educational system ; it had its univer-
sities; it had developed its science.
All these were subordinate to the one great predomi-
nant purpose, the purpose of an all-conquering army
which was to intimidate the world. The army was the
spear-point of Prussia; the rest was but the gilded haft.
That was what we had to deal with in these old coun-
tries. It was an army that in recent times had waged
three wars, all of conquest, 2 and the unceasing tramp
of its legions through the streets of Prussia, on the parade
grounds of Prussia, had gone to the Prussian head. The
Kaiser, when he witnessed it on a grand scale at his re-
AMERICA'S ENTRANCE INTO THE WAR 257
views, got drunk with the sound of it. He delivered the
law to the world as if Potsdam were another Sinai, and
he was uttering the law from the thunder clouds.
But make no mistake. Europe was uneasy. Europe
was half intimidated. Europe was anxious. Europe was
apprehensive. We knew the whole time what it meant.
What we did not know was the moment it would come.
This is the menace ; this is the apprehension from which
Europe had suffered for over fifty years. It paralyzed
the beneficent activity of all states, which ought to be
devoted to concentrating on the well-being of their peo-
ples. They had to think about this menace, which was
there constantly as a cloud ready to burst over the land.
No one can tell except Frenchmen what they endured
from this tyranny, patiently, gallantly, with dignity, till
the hour of deliverance came.
I have been asking myself the question, Why did Ger-
many deliberately, in the third year of the war, provoke
America to this declaration and to this action — deliber-
ately, resolutely? It has been suggested that the reason
was that there were certain elements in American life
which they were under the impression would make it im-
possible for the United States to declare war. That I
can hardly believe. But the answer has been afforded by
Marshal von Hindenburg himself, in the very remarkable
interview which appeared in the press, I think, only this
morning.
He depended clearly on one of two things. First, that
the submarine campaign, would have destroyed interna-
tional shipping to such an extent that England would
have been put out of business before America was ready.
According to his computation, America can not be ready .
for twelve months. He does not know America. In the
alternative, that when America is ready, at the end of
twelve months, with her army, she will have no ships to
258 DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE
ti an port that army to the field of battle. In von Hin-
denburg's words, " America carries no weight," I suppose
he means she has no ships to carry weight. On that, un-
doubtedly, they are reckoning.
Well, it is not wise always to assume that even when
the German General Staff, which has miscalculated so
often, makes a calculation it has no grounds for it. It
therefore behooves the whole of the Allies, Great Britain
and America in particular, to see that the reckoning of
von Hindenburg is as false as the one he made about his
famous line, which we have broken already.
The road to victory, the guarantee of victory, the abso-
lute assurance of victory is to be found in one word —
ships; and a second word — ships; and a third word —
ships. And with that quickness of apprehension which
characterizes your nation, Mr. Chairman, I see that they
fully realize that, and to-day I observe that they have
already made arrangements to build one thousand 3,000-
tonners for the Atlantic. I think that the German mili-
tary advisers must already begin to realize that this is
another of the tragic miscalculations which are going to
lead them to disaster and to ruin. But you will pardon
me for emphasizing that. We are a slow people in these
islands — slow and blundering — but we get there. You
get there sooner, and that is why I am glad to see you in.
But may I say that we have been in this business for
three years? We have, as we generally do, tried every
blunder. In golfing phraseology, we have got into every
bunker. But we have got a good niblick. We are right
out on the course. But may I respectfully suggest that it
is worth America's while to study our blunders, so as to
begin just where we are now and not where we were
three years ago? That is an advantage. In war, time
has as tragic a significance as it has in sickness. A step
which, taken to-day, may lead to assured victory, taken
AMERICA'S ENTRANCE INTO THE WAR 259
to-morrow may barely avert disaster. All the Allies have
discovered that. It was a new country for us all. It
was trackless, mapless. We had to go by instinct. But
we found the way and I am glad that you are sending
your great naval and military experts here, just to ex-
change experiences with men who have been through all
the dreary, anxious crises of the last three years.
America has helped us even to win the battle of Arras.
She has been making guns, making ammunition, giving
us machinery to prepare both; she has supplied us with
steel, and she has got all that organization and she has
got that wonderful facility, adaptability, and resourceful-
ness of the great people who inhabit that great continent.
Ah! It was a bad day for military autocracy in Prussia
when it challenged the great Republic of the West. We
know what America can do, and we also know that now
she is in it, she will do it. She will wage an effective and
successful war.
There is something more important. She will insure a
beneficent peace. I attach great importance — and I am
the last man in the world, knowing for three years what
our difficulties have been, what our anxieties have been,
and what our fears have been — I am the last man to say
that the succor which is given us from America is not
something in itself to rejoice in, and to rejoice in greatly.
But I do not mind saying that I rejoice even more in the
knowledge that America is going to win the right to be at
the conference table when the terms of peace are being
discussed. That conference will settle the destiny of
nations — the course of human life — for God knows how
many ages. It would have been tragic for mankind if
America had not been there, and there with all the influ-
ence, all the power, and the right which she now has won
by flinging herself into this great struggle.
I can see peace coming now — not a peace which will
260 DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE
be the beginning of war, not a peace which will be an
endless preparation for strife and bloodshed; but a real
peace. The world is an old world. It has been rocking
and swaying like an ocean, and Europe — poor Europe! —
has always lived under the shadow of the sword. When
this war began, two-thirds of Europe was under auto-
cratic rule. Now it is the other way about; and democ-
racy means peace. The democracy of France did not
want war; the democracy of Italy hesitated long before
they entered the war; the democracy of this country
shrank from it — shrank and shuddered — and never would
have entered the caldron had it not been for the inva-
sion of Belgium. The democracies sought for peace;
strove for peace. If Prussia had been a democracy there
would have been no war. Strange things have happened
in this war. There are stranger things to come, and
they are coming rapidly.
There are times in history when this world spins so
leisurely along its destined course that it seems for cen-
turies to be at a standstill ; but there are also times when
it rushes along at a giddy pace, covering the track of
centuries in a year. Those are the times we are living
now. Six weeks ago Russia was an autocracy; she is
now one of the most advanced democracies in the world.
To-day we are waging the most devastating war that the
world has ever seen ; to-*rnorrow — perhaps not a distant
to-morrow — war may be abolished forever from the cate-
gory of human crimes. This may be something like the
fierce outburst of winter which we are now witnessing
before the complete triumph of the sun. It is written of
those gallant men who won that victory Monday 3 — men
from Canada, from Australia, and from this old country,
which has proved that in spite of its age it is not decrepit
— it is written of those gallant men that they attacked
with the dawn — fit work for the dawn! — to drive out of
AMERICA'S ENTRANCE INTO THE WAR 261
forty miles of French soil those miscreants who had de-
filed it for three years. " They attacked with the dawn."
Significant phrase!
The breaking up of the dark rule of the Turk, which
for centuries had clouded the sunniest land in the world,
the freeing of Russia from an oppression which had cov-
ered it like a shroud for so long, the great declaration of
President Wilson coming with the might of the great
nation which he represents into the struggle for liberty are
heralds of the dawn. " They attacked with the dawn,"
and these men are marching forward in the full radiance
of that dawn, and soon Frenchmen and Americans, Brit-
ish, Italians, Russians, yea, and Serbians, Belgians, Mon-
tenegrins, will emerge into the full light of a perfect day.
Compare Lloyd-George's literary and oratorical style with
that of President Wilson.
Had the United States ever formed a military alliance with
Great Britain previous to this war?
Show, if you can, how all the wars in which America en-
gaged had liberty for their objective.
What was Lloyd-George's meaning when he said " democracy
means peace "?
Did America, as Lloyd-George hoped, profit by England's
mistakes?
Compare the peroration with the closing of one of Wilson's
great addresses.
What effect was produced in England by America's entrance
into the war?
PRESIDENT WILSON'S FLAG DAY SPEECH
June 14, 1917
As soon as Congress had passed the resolution declar-
ing war with Germany, the United States government
began to put forth its utmost resources to prepare an
army. It seemed best to adopt universal military
service, since volunteer service was neither efficient nor
truly democratic. On May 18, 1917, Congress with
some opposition passed the selective draft law; and
the President issued a proclamation in which he said
the word conscription was used, not because any were
unwilling. It signified " rather a selection from a na-
tion which has volunteered in mass."
The hopes thus expressed were realized. On June
5, the day of registration, " ten million men, rich and
poor alike, left their occupations and responded to the
call quietly, gravely, willingly." As they prepared to
leave their homes and all that they most prized, they
could not help considering whether country and insti-
tutions were worth the sacrifice. The result of their
deliberation was a more complete devotion, a more
ardent patriotism, and a deeper reverence for the flag.
It was, therefore, to a nation serious-minded and
deeply devoted to its new duties, that President Wilson
spoke on June 14, 1917. It had been planned, in con-
nection with an elaborate celebration of Flag Day in
the Capital city of the nation, that the President should
deliver an address in the park near Washington Monu-
ment. The weather proved to be unfavorable. Sev-
eral thousand people, nevertheless, gathered in the rain
262
THE FLAG DAY SPEECH 263
about the speaker's stand and awaited eagerly the ad-
dress of the Chief Executive. Most of the members
of the cabinet were present. Robert L. Lansing, sec-
retary of state, introduced the speaker. The President
made use of the occasion to speak to those who were
soon to follow the flag into foreign lands of the occur-
rences which had caused the nation to cast aside its
old traditions and adopt new views. He told of the
evils to be overcome, and spoke eloquently of purposes
and principles that were destined, with the help of our
army, to bring a better day to the world and to add a
new luster to the flag.
THE FLAG DAY SPEECH
Woodrow Wilson
My Fellow Citizens: We meet to celebrate Flag Day }
because this flag which we honor and under which we
serve is the emblem of our unity, our power, our thought
and purpose as a nation. It has no other character 2 than
that which we give it from generation to generation.
The choices are ours. It floats in majestic silence above
the hosts that execute those choices, whether in peace or
in war. And yet, though silent, it speaks to us — speaks to
us of the past, of the men and women who went before us
and of the records they wrote upon it. We celebrate the
day of its birth ; and from its birth until now it has wit-
nessed a great history, has floated on high the symbol of
great events, of a great plan of life worked out by a
great people. We are about to carry it into battle, to lift
it where it will draw the fire of our enemies. We are
about to bid thousands, hundreds of thousands, it may be
millions of our men, the young, the strong, the capable
264 WOODROW WILSON
men of the Nation, to go forth and die beneath it on
fields of blood far away — for what? For some unaccus-
tomed thing? For something for which it has never
sought the fire before? American armies were never be-
fore sent across the seas. Why are they sent now? For
some new purpose for which this great flag has never been
carried before, or for some old, familiar, heroic purpose for
which it has seen men, its own men, die on every battle
field upon which Americans have borne arms since the
Revolution ?
These are questions which must be answered. We are
Americans. We in our turn serve America, and can
serve her with no private purpose. We must use her
flag as she has always used it. We are accountable at
the bar of history and must plead in utter frankness what
purpose it is we seek to serve. It is plain enough how
we were forced into the war. The extraordinary insults
and aggressions of the Imperial German Government left
us no self-respecting choice but to take up arms in defense
of our rights as a free people and of our honor as a
sovereign government. The military masters of Ger-
many denied us the right to be neutral. They filled our
unsuspecting communities with vicious spies and con-
spirators and sought to corrupt the opinion of our people
in their own behalf. When they found that they could
not do that their agents diligently spread sedition among
us and sought to draw our own citizens from their al-
legiance — and some of these agents were men connected
with the official embassy of the German Government itself
here in our own capital. 3 They sought by violence to
destroy our industries and arrest our commerce. They
tried to incite Mexico to take up arms against us and to
draw Japan into a hostile alliance with her — and that, not
by indirection but by direct suggestion from the Foreign
Office in Berlin. They impudently denied us the use of
THE FLAG DAY SPEECH 265
the high seas and repeatedly executed their threat that
they would send to their death any of our people who ven-
tured to approach the coasts of Europe. And many of our
own people were corrupted. Men began to look upon
their own neighbors with suspicion and to wonder in their
hot resentment and surprise whether there was any com-
munity in which hostile intrigue did not lurk. What
great nation in such circumstances would not have taken
up arms? Much as we had desired peace it was denied
us, and not of our own choice. This flag under wrrch
we serve would have been dishonored had we withheld
our hand.
But that is only part of the story. We know now as
clearly as we knew before we were ourselves engaged
that we are not the enemies of the German people and
that they are not our enemies. They did not originate or
desire this hideous war or wish that we should be drawn
into it ; and we are vaguely conscious that we are fighting
their cause, as they will some day see it, as well as our
own. They are themselves in the grip of the same sinister
power that has now at last stretched its ugly talons out
and drawn blood from us. The whole world is at war
because the whole world is in the grip of that power and
is trying out the great battle which shall determine
whether it is to be brought under its mastery or fling itself
free.
The war was begun by the military masters of Ger-
many, who proved to be also the masters of Austria-
Hungary. These men have never regarded nations as
peoples, men, women, and children of like blood and
framed as themselves, for whom governments existed
and in whom governments had their life. They have
regarded them merely as serviceable organizations which
they could by force or intrigue bend or corrupt to their
own purpose. They have regarded the smaller states in
266 WOODROW WILSON
particular and the peoples who could be overwhelmed by
force as their natural tools and instruments of domina-
tion. Their purpose has long been avowed. The states-
men of other nations, to whom that purpose was incredible,
paid little attention; regarded what German professors
expounded in their class rooms, and German writers set
forth to the world as the goal of German policy, as
rather the dream of minds detached from practical affairs,
as preposterous private conceptions of German destiny,
than as the actual plans of responsible rulers; but the
rulers of Germany themselves knew all the while what
concrete plans, what well-advanced intrigues, lay back
of what the professors and the writers were saying, and
were glad to go forward unmolested, filling the thrones
of Balkan states with German princes, putting German
officers at the service of Turkey to drill her armies and
make interest with her government, developing plans of
sedition and rebellion in India and Egypt, setting their
fires in Persia. The demands made by Austria upon
Serbia were a mere single step in a plan which compassed
Europe and Asia, from Berlin to Bagdad. They hoped
those demands might not arouse Europe, but they meant
to press them whether they did or not, for they thought
themselves ready for the final issue of arms.
Their plan was to throw a broad belt of German
military power and political control across the very
center of Europe and beyond the Mediterranean into the
heart of Asia, and Austria-Hungary was to be as much
their tool and pawn as Serbia or Bulgaria or Turkey or
the ponderous states of the East. Austria-Hungary, in-
deed, was to become part of the Central German Empire,
absorbed and dominated by the same forces and influences
that had originally cemented the German states them-
selves. The dream had its heart at Berlin. It could
have had a heart nowhere else. It rejected the idea of
THE FLAG DAY SPEECH 267
solidarity of race entirely. The choice of peoples played
no part in it at all. It contemplated binding together
racial and political units which could be kept together
only by force — Czechs, Magyars, Croats, Serbs, Ruman-
ians, Turks, Armenians — the proud states of Bohemia
and Hungary, the stout little commonwealths of the Bal-
kans, the indomitable Turks, the subtle peoples of the
East. These people did not wish to be united. They
ardently desired to direct their own affairs, and would
be satisfied only by undisputed independence. They could
be kept quiet only by the presence or the constant threat
of armed men. They would live under a common power
only by sheer compulsion and await the day of revolution.
But the German military statesmen had reckoned with all
that and were ready to deal with it in their own way.
And they have actually carried the greater part of that
amazing plan into execution! Look how things stand.
Austria is at their mercy. It has acted, not upon its own
initiative or upon the choice of its own people, but at
Berlin's dictation ever since the war began. Its people
now desire peace, but cannot have it until leave is
granted from Berlin. The so-called Central Powers are
in fact but a single Power. Servia is at its mercy, should
its hands be but for a moment freed. Bulgaria has con-'
sented to its will, and Roumania is overrun. The Turkish
armies, which Germany trained, are serving Germany,
certainly not themselves, and the guns of German war-
ships 4 lying in the harbor at Constantinople remind
Turkish statesmen every day that they have no choice but
to take their orders from Berlin. From Hamburg to the
Persian Gulf the net is spread.
Is it not easy to understand the eagerness for peace that
has been manifested from Berlin ever since the snare was
set and sprung? Peace, peace, peace has been the talk of
of her Foreign Office for now a year and more ; not peace
268 WOODROW WILSON
upon her own intiative, but upon the initiative of the na-
tions over which she now deems herself to hold the advan-
tage. A little of the talk has been public, but most of it
has been private. Through all sorts of channels it has
come to me, and in all sorts of guises, but never with the
terms disclosed which the German Government would be
willing to accept. That government has other valuable
pawns in its hands besides those I have mentioned. It
still holds a valuable part of France, though with slowly
relaxing grasp, and practically the whole of Belgium. Its
armies press close upon Russia and overrun Poland at
their will. It cannot go further; it dare not go back. It
wishes to close its bargain before it is too late and it has
little left to offer for the pound of flesh it will demand.
The military masters under whom Germany is bleeding
see very clearly to what point Fate has brought them. If
they fall back or are forced back an inch, their power
both abroad and at home will fall to pieces like a house
of cards. It is their power at home they are thinking
about now more than their power abroad. It is that
power which is trembling under their very feet ; and deep
fear has entered their hearts. They have but one chance
to perpetuate their military power or even their con-
trolling political influence. If they can secure peace now
with the immense advantages still in their hands which
they have up to this point apparently gained, they will
have justified themselves before the German people: they
will have gained by force what they promised to gain by
it: an immense expansion of German power, an immense
enlargement of German industrial and commercial oppor-
tunities. Their prestige will be secure, and with their
prestige their political power. If they fail, their people
will thrust them aside; a government accountable to the
people themselves will be set up in Germany as it has been
in England, in the United States, in France, and in all the
THE FLAG DAY SPEECH 269
great countries of the modern time except Germany. If
they succeed they are safe and Germany and the world
are undone; if they fail Germany is saved and the world
will be at peace. If they succeed, America will fall within
the menace. We and all the rest of the world must re-
main armed, as they will remain, and must make ready for
the next step in their aggression; if they fail, the world
may unite for peace and Germany may be of the union.
Do you not now understand the new intrigue, the in-
trigue for peace, and why the masters of Germany do not
hesitate to use any agency that promises to effect their pur-
pose, the deceit of the nations? Their present particular
aim is to deceive all those who throughout the world stand
for the rights of peoples and the self-government of na-
tions; for they see what immense strength the forces of
justice and of liberalism are gathering out of this war.
They are employing liberals in their enterprise. They are
using men, in Germany and without, as their spokesmen
whom they have hitherto despised and oppressed, using
them for their own destruction, — socialists, the leaders
of labor, the thinkers they have hitherto sought to silence.
Let them once succeed and these men, now their tools, will
be ground to powder beneath the weight of the great
military empire they will have set up ; the revolutionists in
Russia will be cut off from all succor or cooperation in
western Europe and a counter revolution fostered and
supported; Germany herself will lose her chance for
freedom; and all Europe will arm for the next, the final
struggle.
The sinister intrigue is being no less actively conducted
in this country than in Russia and in every country in
Europe to which the agents and dupes of the Imperial
German Government can get access. That government
has many spokesmen here, in places high and low. They
have learned discretion. They keep within the law. It is
270 WOODROW WILSON
opinion they utter now, not sedition. They proclaim the
liberal purposes of their masters; declare this a foreign
war which can touch America with no danger to either
her lands or her institutions; set England at the center of
the stage and talk of her ambition to assert economic
dominion throughout the world ; appeal to our ancient
tradition of isolation 5 in the politics of the nations ; and
seek to undermine the government with false professions
of loyalty to its principles.
But they will make no headway. The false betray
themselves always in every accent. It is only friends and
partisans of the German Government whom we have al-
ready identified who utter these thinly disguised dis-
loyalties. The facts are patent to all the world, and no-
where are they more plainly seen than in the United
States, where we are accustomed to deal with facts and not
with sophistries; and the great fact that stands out above
all the rest is that this is a peoples' war, a war for free-
dom and justice and self-government amongst all the
nations of the world, a war to make the world safe for
the peoples who live upon it and have made it their own,
the German people themselves included ; and that with
us rests the choice to break through all these hypocrisies
and patent cheats and masks of brute force and help set
the world free, or else stand aside and let it be dominated
a long age through by sheer weight of arms and the arbi-
trary choices of self-constituted masters, by the nation
which can maintain the biggest armies and the most irre-
sistible armaments, — a power to which the world has
afforded no parallel and in the face of which political
freedom must wither and perish. /
For us there is but one choice. We have made it. Woe
be to the man or group of men tKat seeks to stand in our
way in this day of high resolution when every principle we
hold dearest is to be vindicated and made secure for the
THE FLAG DAY SPEECH 271
salvation of the nations. We are ready to plead at the
bar of history, and our flag shall wear a new luster. Once
more we shall make good with our lives and fortunes the
great faith to which we were born, and a new glory shall
shine in the face of our people.
Which is the more democratic, universal military service or
volunteer service?
What is your answer to President Wilson's question? Was
it for some new purpose, or for some old familiar purpose,
that our soldiers were sent across the sea in 1917?
Is the President's account of German intrigue chiefly argu-
mentative or persuasive?
Discuss the danger of Germany's peace intrigue. What steps
had been taken in America at this time to combat it?
What did President Wilson mean when he said " our flag
shall wear a new luster"?
PRUSSIANIZED GERMANY
September 26, 1917
The declaration of war against Germany was passed
by Congress with a vote of 461 to 56 ; and probably an
even larger proportion of the citizens of the country
was at that time in favor of resisting the Central Em-
pires through force of arms. When the Selective
Draft Law was enacted the people responded with
remarkable good-will. Even in remote districts settled
largely by citizens of foreign birth the burdens of mili-
tary life were accepted with far less disturbance than
had marked the enforcement of the draft in New
York City in 1861. There was in 19 17 no open re-
sistance to the authority of the government ; neverthe-
less there remained throughout the country numerous
individual agitators of noisy dispositions and pro-
German sympathies; and German propagandists were
still able to arouse among pacifists, obstructionists, and
some citizens of foreign birth, a babble of talk more
or less seditious in its nature. Newspapers under
German influence or control, abused their privilege of
free speech ; and by conflicting advice as well as by
direct opposition, endeavored to prevent the nation
from taking the speedy, vigorous, and unified action
that is essential to military success.
The success of America's part in the war might have
been seriously endangered had not the government
and various organizations of patriotic citizens taken
vigorous means to curb the action of spies and enemy
agents and to impress upon pacifists the fact that it
272
PRUSSIANIZED GERMANY 273
was no time to talk of the blessings of peace when the
country was at war. Citizens of foreign birth were
also informed that cosmopolitan views must make way
for American ideals.
When the United States first entered the Great War,
much sympathy had been felt for the citizens of Ger-
man birth whose friends and relatives were enrolled in
the armies of the enemy. To a fault native citizens
had been considerate of their feelings. As soon, how-
ever, as seditious talk, fanned by German intrigue,
flared up among the foreign born population, resent-
ment was everywhere aroused. Opposition to disloyal
agitation became intense throughout the country, and
organized effort was used to bring sedition to an end.
Not all German-Americans were pro-German in
their sympathies. Certain Americans of German birth
were conspicuous for their patriotic devotion to Amer-
ican institutions and for their abhorrence of the aims
of Prussian autocracy. If Germany had hoped that
through the use of subsidized newspapers and clandes-
tine associations, she could array the entire American
citizenship of German descent on the side of the Fa-
therland, she was defeated as completely as in any
battle of the war. Among the first to shed their blood
for America were citizens with German names.
Among men of German birth who at this time ren-
dered conspicuous service to the nation was Otto H.
Kahn. It was partly through his influence that late
in 191 7 practically every form of disloyal utterance
was discontinued or stamped out. He had faith that
an argumentative and persuasive appeal addressed di-
rectly to citizens of foreign birth who were speaking
sedition or were adhering to their oath of allegiance
with half-hearted loyalty would be effective both to
seal their lips and to change their aims and sympathies*
274 OTTO H. KAHN
On September 26, 1917, while the country was still
aroused with efforts to end seditious agitation, Mr.
Kahn delivered a patriotic address before the Chamber
of Commerce in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a city in-
habited by people of German ancestry and situated in a
region in which the German language was extensively
spoken. His speech was remarkably effective. It
spread far beyond the hall where it was spoken and
brought to the hearts of naturalized American citizens
a clearer understanding of the obligations involved in
the oath of citizenship. It stirred millions of German-
Americans and other hyphenated Americans to higher
standards of loyalty and recorded in English of un-
usual excellence a final disapproval of racial subdivi-
sions in American citizenship.
PRUSSIANIZED GERMANY
Otto H. Kahn
I speak as one who has seen the spirit of the Prussian
governing class at work from close by, having at its
disposal and using to the full practically every agency for
molding the public mind.
I have watched it proceed with relentless persistency
and profound cunning to instill into the nation the
demoniacal obsession of power-worship and world-
dominion, to modify and pervert the mentality — indeed
the very fibre and moral Substance — of the German
people, a people which until misled, corrupted and sys-
tematically poisoned by the Prussian ruling caste, was and
deserved to be, an honored, valued, and welcome member
of the family of nations.
. I have hated that spirit ever since it came within my
PRUSSIANIZED GERMANY 275
ken many years ago; hated it all the more as I saw it
ruthlessly pulling down a thing which was dear to me —
the old Germany to which I was linked by ties of blood,
by fond memories, and cherished sentiments.
The difference in the degree of guilt as between the
German people and their Prussian or Prussianized rulers
and leaders for the monstrous crime of this war and the
atrocious barbarism of its conduct is the difference be-
tween the man who, acting under the influence of a poison-
ous drug, runs amuck in mad frenzy, and the unspeakable
malefactor who administered that drug, well knowing
and fully intending the ghastly consequences which were
bound to follow.
The world fervently longs for peace. But there can
be no peace answering to the true meaning of the word —
no peace permitting the nations of the earth, great and
small, to walk unarmed and unafraid — until the teach-
ing and the leadership of the apostles of an outlaw creed
shall have become discredited and hateful in the sight
of the German people; until that people shall have awak-
ened to a consciousness of the unfathomable guilt of those
whom they have followed into calamity and shame; until
a mood of penitence and of a decent respect for the
opinions of mankind shall have supplanted the sway of
what President Wilson has so trenchantly termed " trucu-
lence and treachery."
God strengthen the conscience and the understanding,
the will and the power of the German people so that they
may find the only way which will give to the world an
early peace, the only road * which in time will lead Ger-
many back into the family of nations from which it is
now an outcast.
From each successive visit to Germany for twenty-five
years I came away more appalled by the sinister transmu-
tation Prussianism had wrought amongst the people and
276 OTTO H. KAHN
by the portentous menace I recognized in it for the entire
world.
It has given to Germany unparalleled prosperity, bene-
ficent and advanced social legislation, and not a few other
things of value, but it had taken in payment the soul of
the race. It had made a " devil's bargain."
And when this war broke out in Europe I knew that
the issue had been joined between the powers of brutal
might and insensate ambition on the one side and the
forces of humanity and liberty on the other; between
darkness and light.
Many there were at that time — and amongst them men
for whose character I had high respect and whose mo-
tives were beyond any possible suspicion — who saw their
own and America's duty in strict neutrality, mentally
and actually, but personally I believed from the begin-
ning of the war, whether we liked all the elements of the
Allies combination or not — and I certainly did not like
the Russia of the Czars — that the cause of the Allies was
America's cause.
I believed that this was no ordinary war between peo-
ples for a question of national interest, or even national
honor, but a conflict between fundamental principles, aims,
and ideas; and so believing I was bound to feel that the
natural lines of race, blood and kinship could not be the
determining lines for one's attitude and alignment, but
that each man, regardless of his origin, had to decide ac-
cording to his judgment and conscience on which side was
the right and on which was the wrong and take his stand
accordingly, whatever the wrench and anguish of the de-
cision. And thus I took my stand three years ago.
But whatever one's views and feelings, whatever the
country of one's birth or kin, only one course 2 was left
for all those claiming the privilige of American citizen-
ship when after infinite forbearance the President decided
PRUSSIANIZED GERMANY 277
that our duty, honor, and safety demanded that we take
up arms against the Imperial German Government, and
by action of Congress the cause and the fight against that
Government were declared our cause and our fight.
The duty of loyal allegiance and faithful service to his
country, even unto death, rests, of course, upon every
American. But, if it be possible to speak of a compara-
tive degree concerning what is the highest as it is the
most elementary attribute of citizenship, that duty may
almost be said to rest with an even more solemn and
compelling obligation upon Americans of foreign origin
than upon native Americans.
For we Americans of foreign antecedents are here not
by the accidental right of birth, but by our own free
choice for better or for worse.
We are your fellow citizens because we made solemn
oath of allegiance to America. Accepting that oath as
given in good faith, you have opened to us in generous
trust the portals of American opportunity and freedom,
and have admitted us to membership in the family of
Americans, giving us equal rights in the great inheritance
which has been created by the blood and the toil of your
ancestors, asking nothing from us in return but decent
citizenship and adherence to those ideals and principles
which are symbolized by the glorious flag of America.
Woe to the foreign-born American who betrays the
trust which you have reposed in him !
Woe to him who considers his American citizenship
merely as a convenient garment to be worn in fair weather
but to be exchanged for another one in time of storm and
stress !
Woe to the German-American, so-called who, in this sa-
cred war for a cause as high as any for which ever people
took up arms, does not feel a solemn urge, does not show
an eager determination to be in the very fore-front of the
278 OTTO H. KAHN
struggle; does not prove a patriot's jealousy, in thought,
in action, and in speech to rival and to outdo his native-
born fellow citizen in devotion and in willing sacrifice for
the country of his choice and adoption and sworn al-
legiance, and of their common affection and pride.
As Washington led Americans of British blood to fight
against Great Britain, as Lincoln called upon Americans
of the North to fight their very brothers of the South, so
Americans of German descent are now summoned to join
in our country's righteous struggle against a people of their
own blood, which, under the evil spell of a dreadful
obsession, and, Heaven knows, through no fault of ours,
has made itself the enemy of this peaceloving nation, as
it is the enemy of peace and right and freedom through-
out the world.
To gain America's independence, to defeat oppression
and tyranny, was indeed to gain a great cause. To pre-
serve the Union, to eradicate slavery, was perhaps a
greater still. To defend the very foundations of liberty
and humanity, the very groundwork of fair dealing be-
tween nations, the very basis of peaceable living together
among the peoples of the earth against the fierce and
brutal onslaught of ruthless, lawless, faithless might; to
spend the lives and the fortunes of this generation so that
our descendants may be freed from the dreadful calamity
of war and the fear of war, so that the energies and bil-
lions of treasure now devoted to plans and instruments
of destruction may be given henceforth to fruitful works
of peace and progress and to the betterment of the con-
ditions of the people — that is the highest cause for which
any people ever unsheathed its sword.
He who shirks the full measure of his duty and alle-
giance in that noblest of causes, be he German-American,
Irish- American, or any other hyphenated American, be
he I. W. W., or Socialist, or whatever the appellation,
PRUSSIANIZED GERMANY 279
does not deserve to stand amongst Americans or, indeed,
amongst free men anywhere.
He who tries, secretly or overtly, to thwart the de-
clared will and aim of the nation in this holy war is a
traitor, and a traitor's fate should be his.
Why was unity of sentiment and action of the greatest im-
portance at the time this speech was delivered?
What means does Kahn take at the beginning of his speech
to secure the sympathetic attention of his audience?
Contrast the growth of the American spirit with that of the
Prussian military despotism.
What seems to be Kahn's attitude toward the transplanting
to America of European languages, customs, and modes of
living?
What means does Kahn take to induce German-Americans to
oppose themselves against people of their own blood?
Discuss the duties and privileges of an " American by
choice."
Why was this speech widely read and quoted?
PRESIDENT WILSON'S ADDRESS AT
BALTIMORE
April 6, 19 1 8
In the spring of 1918 the forces of the Central Em-
pires were apparently more successful than at any
other time during the war. Hundreds of square miles
of Italian territory were held by the Austrians and
through the shameful treaty of Brest-Litovsk Russia
had become the slave or vassal of Germany. The
effect in America of this success on the part of our
enemies was increased activity rather than discourage-
ment.
It had required nearly three years of observation,
study, and thought before America could be aroused
from its dream of peace and induced to take part in
the war. It took a year of participation in the war
before activity really became an adequate measure of
our resources. But no illusion regarding Prussian
aims could be cherished subsequent to the publication
of the terms of the Russian treaties. America had
cherished the ideal of liberty through enlightenment
even before the War for Independence and had
throughout her career been incomparably peace-loving.
But Prussian autocracy had forced her in a few brief
years to organize herself into a great war-machine
fitted to answer the Hun with the only arguments that
he could understand. With vacillation and debate left
behind, and with a unity of purpose and sentiment that
was awe-inspiring, this great nation in April, 1918.
280
ADDRESS AT BALTIMORE , 281
devoted all its resources almost to the last man and
the last dollar to the war for liberty.
Two war loans had already been floated with re-
markable success. Public opinion had demanded that
every penny must be saved for the fight. Personal
extravagance was a disgrace. The curtailment of dis-
play, the wearing of old clothes, extreme economy in
food, were universal. When the Third Liberty Loan
was announced, President Wilson was asked to take
part in the opening of the campaign. On April 6.
19 1 8, at Batimore, he reviewed twelve thousand
troops from Camp Meade and a little later at the Fifth
Regiment Armory was introduced by Ex-Governor
Goldsborough to an audience of fifteen thousand per-
sons to whom he addressed the speech which follows.
In clearness, in directness, in general rhetorical excel-
lence, it is unsurpassed by any other address called
forth by the war.
ADDRESS AT BALTIMORE
Woodrow Wilson
Fellow-citizens: This is the anniversary 1 of our
acceptance of Germany's challenge to fight for our right
to live and be free, and for the sacred rights of freemen
everywhere. The nation is awake. 2 There is no need
to call to it. We know what the war must cost, our
utmost sacrifice, the lives of our fittest men, and, if need
be, all that we possess.
The loan we are met to discuss is one of the least parts
of what we are called upon to give and to do, though in
itself imperative. The people of the whole country are
alive to the necessity of it, and are ready to lend to the
282 WOODROW WILSON
utmost, 3 even where it involves a sharp skimping and
daily sacrifice to lend out of meagre earnings. They will
look with reprobation and contempt upon those who can
and will not, upon those who demand a higher rate of
interest, upon those who think of it as a mere commercial
transaction. I have not come, therefore, to urge the loan.
I have come only to give you, if I can, a more vivid con-
ception of what it is for.
The reasons for this great war, the reason why it had
to come, the need to fight it through, and the issues that
hang upon its outcome, are more clearly disclosed now
than ever before. It is easy to see just what this particu-
lar loan means, because the cause we are fighting for
stands more sharply revealed than at any previous crisis
of the momentous struggle. The man who knows least 4
can now see plainly how the cause of justice stands, and
what the imperishable thing he is asked to invest in. Men
in America may be more sure than they ever were before
that the cause is their own, and that, if it should be lost,
their own great nation's place and mission in the world
would be lost with it.
I call you to witness, my fellow-countrymen, that at
no stage of this terrible business have I judged the pur-
poses of Germany intemperately. I should be ashamed
in the presence of affairs so grave, so fraught with the
destinies of mankind throughout all the world, to speak
with truculence, to use the weak language of hatred or
vindictive purpose. We must judge as we would be
judged. I have sought to learn the objects Germany has
in this war from the mouths of her own spokesmen, and
to deal as frankly with them as I wished them to deal
with me. I have laid bare our own ideals, our own pur-
poses, without reserve or doubtful phrase, and have asked
them to say as plainly what it is that they seek.
We have ourselves proposed no injustice, no aggres-
ADDRESS AT BALTIMORE 283
sion. We are ready, whenever the final reckoning is
made, to be just to the German people, deal fairly with
the German power, as with all others. There can be no
difference between peoples in the final judgment, if it is
indeed to be a righteous judgment. To propose anything
but justice, even-handed and dispassionate justice, to Ger-
many at any time, whatever the outcome of the war,
would be to renounce and dishonor our own cause, for
we ask nothing that we are not willing to accord.
It has been with this thought that I have sought to
learn from those who spoke for Germany whether it was
justice or dominion and the execution of their own will
upon the other nations of the world that the German
leaders were seeking. They have answered — answered in
unmistakable terms. They have avowed that it was not
justice, but dominion and the unhindered execution of
their own will. The avowal has not come from Ger-
many's statesmen. It has come from her military leaders,
who are her real rulers. Her statesmen have said that
they wished peace, and were ready to discuss its terms
whenever their opponents were willing to sit down at the
conference table with them. Her present Chancellor has
said — in indefinite and uncertain terms, indeed, and in
phrases that often seem to deny their own meaning, but
with as much plainness as he thought prudent — that he
believed that peace should be based upon the principles
which we had declared would be our own in the final
settlement?^ ^^
At Brest-Litovsk her civilian delegates spoke in similar
terms; professed their desire to conclude a fair peace and
accord to the peoples with whose fortunes they were deal-
ing the right to choose their own allegiances. But action
accompanied and followed profession. Their military
masters, the men who act for Germany and exhibit her
purpose in execution, proclaimed a very different conclu-
284 WOODROW WILSON
sion. We can not mistake what they have done — in Rus-
sia, in Finland, in the Ukraine, in Rumania. The real
test of their justice and fair play has come. From this we
may judge the rest.
They are enjoying in Russia 5 a cheap triumph in which
no brave or gallant nation can long take pride. A great
people, helpless by their own act, lies for the time at their
mercy. Their fair professions are forgotten. They no-
where set up justice, but everywhere impose their power
and exploit everything for their own use and aggrandize-
ment, and the peoples of conquered provinces are invited
to be free under their dominion !
Are we not justified in believing that they would do
the same things at their western front if they were not
there face to face with armies whom even their countless
divisions cannot overcome? If, when they have felt their
check to be final, they should propose favorable and equit-
able terms with regard to Belgium and France and Italy,
could they blame us if we concluded that they did so only
to assure themselves of a free hand in Russia and the
East?
Their purpose is, undoubtedly, to make all the Slavic
peoples, all the free and ambitious nations of the Baltic
Peninsula, all the lands that Turkey has dominated and
misruled, subject to their will and ambition, and build
upon that dominion an empire of force upon which they
fancy that they can then erect an empire of gain and com-
mercial supremacy — an empire as hostile to trie Americas
as to the Europe which it will overawe — an empire which
will ultimately master Persia, India, and the peoples cf
the Far East.
In such a program our ideals, the ideals of justice and
humanity and liberty, the principle of the free self-
determination of nations, upon which all the modern
world insists, can play no part. They are rejected for
ADDRESS AT BALTIMORE 285
the ideals of power, for the principle that the strong must
rule the weak, that trade must follow the flag, whether
those to whom it is taken welcome it or not, that the
peoples of the world are to be made subject to the patron-
age and overlordship of those who have the power to
enforce it.
That program once carried out, America and all who
care or dare to stand with her must arm and prepare
themselves to contest the mastery of the world — a mastery
in which the rights of common men, the rights of women
and of all who are weak, must for the time being be
trodden under foot and disregarded and the old, age-
long struggle for freedom and right begin again at its
beginning. Everything that America has lived for and
loved and grown great to vindicate and bring to a glo-
rious realization will have fallen in utter ruin and the
gates of mercy once more pitilessly shut upon mankind!
The thing is preposterous and impossible; and yet is
not that what the whole course and action of the German
armies has meant wherever they have moved? I do not
wish, even in this moment of utter disillusionment, to
judge harshly or unrighteously. I judge only what the
German arms have accomplished with unpitying thorough-
ness throughout every fair region they have touched.
What, then, are we to do? For myself, I am ready,
ready still, ready even now, to discuss a fair and just and
honest peace at any time that it is sincerely purposed — a
peace in which the strong and the weak shall fare alike.
But the answer, when I proposed such a peace, came from
the German commanders in Russia and I cannot mistake
the meaning of the answer.
I accept the challenge. I know that you accept it. All
the world shall know that you accept it. It shall appear
in the utter sacrifice and self-forgetfulness with which we
shall give all that we love and all that we have to redeem
286 WOODROW WILSON
the world and make it fit for free men like ourselves to
live in. This now is the meaning of all that we do. Let
everything that we say, my fellow-countrymen, every-
thing that we henceforth plan and accomplish, ring true
to this response till the majesty and might of our con-
certed power shall fill the thought and utterly defeat the
force of those who flout and misprize what we honor and
hold dear.
Germany has once more said that force, and force alone,
shall decide whether justice and peace shall reign in the
affairs of men, whether right as America conceives it or
dominion as she conceives it shall determine the destinies
of mankind. There is, therefore, but one response possible
from us: Force, force to the utmost, 6 force without stint
or limit, the righteous and triumphant force which shall
make right the law of the world and cast every selfish
dominion down in the dust.
How were the Liberty Loans used?
What was the authority, force, or power that organized
America and gave it the determination and the unity of action
that we see reflected in President Wilson's Baltimore address?
How did American women help to win the war?
What characteristics of President Wilson's style in this speech
imply a sympathetic and responsive audience?
What effect do you suppose was produced in Germany by
this address?
Would it have been better if previous to 1914 the United
States had maintained in accordance with President Roosevelt's
advice a greatly enlarged army and navy?
In what respects was democracy in America advanced during
the Great War?
THE LIMITATION OF ARMAMENT
November 12, 1921
The allied armies of liberty and democracy under
Marshal Foch applied the remedy of " Force, force to
the utmost " so relentlessly that the year 1918 saw the
collapse of militarism and autocracy. On September
30 Bulgaria surrendered. A month later Turkey gave
in to the Allies, and on November 4 Austria-Hungary
joined the ranks of the defeated. Deserted by their
fellow conspirators, defeated at the front, and dis-
turbed by social uprisings within, Germany too realized
that democracy will prevail. On November 9 the
Kaiser was forced to abdicate after a reign of thirty
years and to renounce the Imperial throne for his sons.
Two days later, the eleventh of November, 1918, the
Allies granted Germany an armistice, the terms of
which were equivalent to complete and unconditional
surrender.
The close of hostilities, however, did not formally
end the war. Not until three years later, November
18, 1921, was the last treaty signed and peace pro-
claimed. The slowness of the United States in of-
ficially terminating the war was due to the reluctance
of many Americans to accept the treaty of Versailles.
In addition to specifying the acts of reparation to be
made by Germany and the conditions of peace, this
document attempted to establish a League of Nations
pledged to take an active part — even to the use of
military force if necessary — in the settlement of world
problems. Various interests at this time made the
287
288 THE LIMITATION OF ARMAMENT
United States hesitate to take such a pledge. The exi-
gencies of politics and the American tradition of keep-
ing aloof from foreign entanglements — despite the en-
larged view of the Monroe Doctrine, the acquisition
of the Philippines, and our part in the World War —
seemed to forbid our entering into a military alliance.
Nevertheless it was the common opinion in America
that something in addition to the signing of routine
treaties must be done by the United States to lessen
the evils of war.
In recognition of this feeling President Harding
invited the governments of the British Empire, France,
Italy, and Japan to participate in a conference in
Washington to discuss limitation of armament. The
invitation was sent out August 11, 1921, and the dele-
gates were asked to assemble on November 11, the
anniversary of the armistice. On the morning of No-
vember 12 the first session was held in the building of
the National Society of the Daughters of the American
Revolution. At an early hour the streets and park-
ways in the vicinity were crowded with thousands of
citizens anxious to get the first news from the confer-
ence or eager to obtain sight of distinguished visitors.
Soon after ten o'clock the delegates from each of the
five principal powers with assistants and military ex-
perts had taken their seats ; and there were also present
representatives of nations interested in minor ques-
tions that were to be considered by the conference.
The galleries were filled with members of Congress,
the diplomatic corps, and other distinguished persons.
When the President entered by a rear door and
passed to his seat, a tribute of applause marked the
beginning of the conference. A moment of silence
followed ; and while visitors and delegates awaited
expectantly the first opening movement, a breeze from
THE LLMITATION OF ARMAMENT 289
a lofty window gathered the flags of the participating
nations and drew them together at the ceiling in a
bond of impressive symbolism. When the chaplain's
prayer was concluded, Secretary Hughes, as pro
tempore chairman, announced the President of the
United States.
After welcoming the delegates President Harding
said that the action taken by the conference would have
an influence on all human progress. A war-wearied
world was demanding assurances of lasting peace.
The measureless cost of conflict and the burden of
armament made all thoughtful peoples seek to have
war outlawed. The millions who pay in peace and
die in war wish their statesmen to turn the cost of
destruction into means for construction. " The United
States," he added, " welcomes you with unselfish
hands. We harbor no fears ; we have no sordid ends
to serve; we suspect no enemy; we contemplate nor
apprehend no conquest. Content with what we have,
we seek nothing which is another's. We only wish to
do with you that finer, nobler thing which no nation
can do alone. "
The President's speech created an excellent impres-
sion. Every nation was sick of war and every nation
was hoping that some means could be found for set-
tling differences without conflict. The President's
address, therefore, was exactly adapted to the occasion,
although it contained nothing very startling or new.
Nor was there anything unusual expected from Secre-
tary Hughes. The delegates were settled in their belief
that the first session would be devoted to addresses of
welcome and the expression of the common desire for
lasting peace. While the audience was thus listening
with due and formal decorum, Secretary Hughes pre-
sented, in simple, unemotional language, his proposal
2 9 o THE LIMITATION OF ARMAMENT
for a ten-year naval holiday and the destruction of
capital ships. Instantly looks of astonishment flashed
into the faces of the delegates and a burst of ap-
plause swept through the galleries. The conference at
Washington was destined to create a precedent in inter-
national councils. At the Hague and elsewhere repre-
sentatives of powerful nations had discussed means
for alleviating the horrors of armed conflicts, but no
definite and practical proposition for limiting the arma-
ment necessary for carrying on war had ever before
been presented at an international conference.
The sincerity that had been shown by President
Harding and Secretary Hughes soon infected the dele-
gates. Nations that had been rivals pledged them-
selves to make sacrifices essential to the carrying out
of the plan. The highest hopes were everywhere enter-
tained for the success of the conference. Leaders of
thought maintained that if it were possible to limit
armaments through international agreement, it would
be possible by the same means to reduce armaments
little by little until they were completely abolished. If
nations could be induced to curtail their preparation
for war, the fear of war would gradually disappear
and war would soon become unnecessary.
The time at which Secretary Hughes delivered this
address was opportune for the acceptance of his views.
The world still staggered under its burden of debt and
suffering. In no country was there prosperity equal
to that of 1914; and in many lands disease, famine,
and crime prolonged the misery of the conflict. From
its seven years of suffering the world at last had
learned that quarrels cannot be settled by w r ar. War,
whether voluntary or involuntary, merely postpones
settlement. Settlement can come only through the
institutions of peace.
THE LIMITATION OF ARMAMENT 291
LIMITATION OF ARMAMENT
Charles Evans Hughes
It is with a deep sense of privilege and responsibility that
I accept the honor you have conferred.
Permit me to express the most cordial appreciation of
the assurances of friendly cooperation, which have been
generously expressed by the representatives of all the
invited Governments. The earnest desire and purpose,
manifested in every step in the approach to this meeting,
that we should meet the reasonable expectation of a
watching world by effective action suited to the oppor-
tunity, is the best augury for the success of the con-
ference.
The President invited the Governments of the British
Empire, France, Italy, and Japan to participate in a con-
ference on the subject of limitation of armament, in con-
nection with which Pacific and Far Eastern questions
also would be discussed. It would have been most agree-
able to the President to have invited all the powers to
take part in this conference, but it was thought to be a
time when other considerations should yield to the prac-
tical requirements of the existing exigency, and in this
view the invitation was extended to the group known as
the principal allied and associated powers, which, by
reason of the conditions produced by the war, control in
the main the armament of the world. The opportunity
to limit armament lies within their grasp.
It was recognized, however, that the interests of other
powers in the Far East made it appropriate that they
should be invited to participate in the discussion of Pacific
and Far Eastern problems, and, with the approval of the
five powers, an invitation to take part in the discussion
292 CHARLES EVANS HUGHES
of those questions has been extended to Belgium, China,
The Netherlands and Portugal.
The inclusion of the proposal for the discussion of
Pacific and Far Eastern questions was not for the pur-
pose of embarrassing or delaying an agreement for lim-
itation of armament, but rather to support that under-
taking by availing ourselves of this meeting to endeavor
to reach a common understanding as to the principles
and policies to be followed in the Far East and thus
greatly to diminish and, if possible, wholly to remove, 1
discernible sources of controversy. It is believed that by
interchanges of views at this opportune time the Govern-
ments represented here may find a basis of accord and
thus give expression to their desire to assure enduring
friendship.
In the public discussions which have preceded the con-
ference, there have been apparently two competing views;
one, that the consideration of armament should await the
result of the discussion of Far Eastern questions, and,
another, that the latter discussion should be postponed
until an agreement for limitation of armament has been
reached. I am unable to find sufficient reason for adopt-
ing either of these extreme views. I think that it would
be most unfortunate if we should disappoint the hopes
which have attached to this meeting by a postponement
of the consideration of the first subject.
The world looks to this conference to relieve humanity
of the crushing burden created by competition in arma-
ment, and it is the view of the American Government
that we should meet that expectation without any un-
necessary delay. It is therefore proposed that the con-
ference should proceed at once to consider the question
of the limitation of armament.
This, however, does not mean that we must postpone
the examination of 2 the Far Eastern questions. These
THE LIMITATION OF ARMAMENT 293
questions of vast importance press for solution. It is
hoped that immediate provision may be made to deal
with them adequately, and it is suggested that it may
be found to be entirely practicable through the distribu-
tion of the work among designated committees to make
progress to the ends sought to be achieved without either
subject being treated as a hindrance to the proper con-
sideration and disposition of the other.
The proposal to limit armament by agreement of the
powers is not a new one, and we are admonished by the
futility of earlier effort. It may be well to recall the
noble aspirations which were voiced twenty-three years
ago in the imperial rescript of his Majesty the Emperor
of Russia. It was then pointed out with clarity and em-
phasis that the intellectual and physical strength of the
nations, labor and capital are for the major part diverted
from their natural application and unproductively con-
sumed. Hundreds of millions are devoted to acquiring
terrible engines of destruction, which, though to-day
regarded as the last word of science, are destined to-
morrow to lose all value in consequence of some fresh
discovery in the same field. National culture, economic
progress and the production of wealth are either paralyzed
or checked in their development.
Moreover, in proportion as the armaments of each
power increase, so do they less and less fulfill the object
which the Governments have set before themselves. The
economic crises, due in great part to the system of arma-
ments a Voutrance and the continual danger which lies
in this massing of war material, are transforming the
armed peace of our days in a crushing burden, which the
peoples have more and more difficulty in bearing. It ap-
pears evident, then, that if this state of things were pro-
longed it would inevitably lead to the calamity which it
is desired to avert, and the horrors of which make every
294 < CHARLES EVANS HUGHES
thinking man shudder in advance. To put an end to these
incessant armaments and to seek the means of warding
off the calamities which are threatening the whole world
— such is the supreme duty which is to-day imposed on
all States.
It was with this sense of obligation that his Majesty
the Emperor of Russia proposed the conference which
was " to occupy itself with this grave problem," and
which met at The Hague in the year 1899.
Important as were the deliberations and conclusions of
that conference, especially with respect to the pacific set-
tlement of international disputes, its result in the specific
matter of limitation of armament went no further than
the adoption of a final resolution setting forth the opinion
that the restriction of military charges which are at
present a heavy burden on the world, is extremely desira-
ble for the increase of the material and moral welfare
of mankind, and the utterance of the wish that the Gov-
ernments may examine the possibility of an agreement as
to the limitation of armed forces by land and sea, and
of war budgets.
It was seven years later that the Secretary of State of
the United States, Mr. Elihu Root, in answering a note
of the Russian Ambassador suggesting in outline a pro-
gram of the second peace conference, said :
" The Government of the United States, therefore,
feels it to be its duty to reserve for itself the liberty to
propose to the second peace conference, as one of the sub-
jects for consideration, the reduction or limitation of
armaments, in the hope that, if nothing further can be
accomplished, some slight advance may be made toward
the realization of the lofty conception which actuated
the Emperor of Russia in calling the first conference."
It is significant that the Imperial German Govern-
ment expressed itself as " absolutely opposed to the ques-
THE LIMITATION OF ARMAMENT 295
tion of disarmament," and that the Emperor of Germany
threatened to decline to send delegates if the subject of
disarmament was to be discussed. In view, however, of
the resolution which had been adopted at the first Hague
conference, the delegates of the United States were in-
structed that the subject of limitation of armament
should be regarded as unfinished business, and that the
second conference should ascertain and give full consid-
eration to the result of such examination as the Govern-
ments may have given to the possibility of an agreement
pursuant to the wish expressed by the first conference.
But by reason of the obstacles which the subject had
encountered, the second peace conference at The Hague,
although it made notable progress in provision for the
peaceful settlement of controversies, was unable to deal
with limitation of armament except by a resolution in
the following general terms:
" The conference confirms the resolution adopted by
the conference of 1899 in regard to the limitation of
military expenditure; and, inasmuch as military expendi-
ture has considerably increased in almost every country
since that time, the conference declares that it is emi-
nently desirable that the Governments should resume the
serious examination of this question."
This was the fruition of the efforts of eight years.
Although the effect was clearly perceived, the race in
preparation of armaments, wholly unaffected by these
futile suggestions, went on until it fittingly culminated
in the greatest war of history, and we are now suffering
from the unparalleled loss of life, the destruction of
hopes, the economic dislocations, and the widespread im-
poverishment which measure 3 the cost of the victory over
the brutal pretensions of military force.
But if we are warned by the inadequacy of earlier
endeavors for limitation of armament, we cannot fail to
296 CHARLES EVANS HUGHES
recognize the extraordinary opportunity now presented.
We not only have the lessons of the past to guide us,
not only do we have the reaction from the disillusioning
experiences of war, but we must meet the challenge of
imperative economic demands. What was convenient or
highly desirable before is now 4 a matter of vital necessity.
If there is to be economic rehabilitation, ii the longings
for reasonable progress are not to be denied, if we are to
be spared the uprisings of peoples made desperate in the
desire to shake off burdens no longer endurable, com-
petition in armament must stop. The present oppor-
tunity not only derives its advantage from a general ap-
preciation of this fact, but the power to deal with the
exigency now rests with a small group of nations repre-
sented here, who have every reason to desire peace and
to promote amity.
The astonishing ambition which lay athwart the prom-
ise of the second Hague conference no longer menaces
the world, and the great opportunity of liberty-loving
and peace-preserving democracies has come. Is it not
plain that the time has passed for mere resolutions that
the responsible powers should examine the question of
limitation of armament? We can no longer content our-
selves with investigations, with statistics, with reports,
with the circumlocution of inquiry. The essential facts
are sufficiently known. The time is come, and this con-
ference has been called not for general resolutions or
mutual advice, but for action.
We meet with full understanding that the aspirations
of mankind are not to be defeated either by plausible
suggestions of postponement or by impracticable counsels
of perfection. Power and responsibility are here, and the
world awaits a practicable program which shall at once
be put into execution.
I am confident that I shall have your approval in
THE LIMITATION OF ARMAMENT 297
suggesting that in this matter, as well as in others before
the conference, it is desirable to follow the course of
procedure which has the best promise of achievement
rather than one which would facilitate division, and thus,
constantly aiming to agree so far as possible, we shall,
with each point of agreement, make it easier to proceed
to others.
The question in relation to armaments which may be
regarded as of primary importance at this time and with
which we can deal most promptly and effectively is the
limitation of naval armament. There are certain general
considerations which may be deemed pertinent to this
subject.
The first is that the core of the difficulty is to be
found in the competition in naval programs, and that, in
order appropriately to limit naval armament, competition
in its production must be abandoned. Competition will
not be remedied by resolves with respect to the method
of its continuance. One program inevitably leads to an-
other, and, if competition continues, its regulation is
impracticable. There is only one adequate way out, and
that is to end it now.
It is apparent that this cannot be accomplished with-
out serious sacrifices. Enormous sums have been ex-
pended upon ships under construction, and building pro-
grams which are now under way cannot be given up
without heavy loss. Yet if the present construction of
capital ships goes forward, other ships will inevitably be
built to rival them, and this will lead to still others.
Thus the race will continue, so long as ability to con-
tinue lasts. The effort to escape sacrifices is futile. We
must face them or yield our purpose.
It is also clear that no one of the naval powers should
be expected to make the sacrifices alone. The only hope
of limitation of naval armament is by agreement among
298 CHARLES EVANS HUGHES
the nations concerned, and this agreement should be en-
tirely fair and reasonable in the extent of the sacrifices
required of each of the powers. In considering the basis
of such agreement and the commensurate sacrifices to be
required it is necessary to have regard to the existing
naval strength of the great naval powers, including the
extent of construction already effected in the case of
ships in process. This follows from the fact that one
nation is as free to compete as another, and each may
find grounds for its action.
What one may do another may demand the oppor-
tunity to rival, and we remain in the thrall of competitive
effort.
I may add that the American delegates are advised by
their naval experts that the tonnage of capital ships may
fairly be taken to measure the relative strength of navies,
as the provision for auxiliary combatant craft should
sustain a reasonable relation to the capital ship tonnage
allowed.
It would also seem to be a vital part of a plan for the
limitation of naval armament that there should be a naval
holiday. It is proposed that for a period of not less than
ten years there should be no further construction of
capital ships.
I am happy to say that I am at liberty to go beyond
these general propositions, and, on behalf of the American
delegation acting under the instructions of the President
of the United States, to submit to you a concrete proposi-
tion for an agreement for the limitation of naval arma-
ment.
It should be added that this proposal immediately con-
cerns the British Empire, Japan and the United States.
In view of the extraordinary conditions, due to the World
War, affecting the existing strength of the navies of
France and Italy, it is not thought to be necessary to
THE LIMITATION OF ARMAMENT 299
discuss at this stage of the proceedings the tonnage allow-
ance of these nations, but the United States proposes that
this matter be reserved for the later consideration of the
conference.
In making the present proposal the United States is
most solicitous to deal with the question upon an entirely
reasonable and practicable basis to the end that the just
interests of all shall be adequately guarded, and the na-
tional security and defense shall be maintained. Four
general principles have been applied :
1 That all capital shipbuilding programs, either
actual or projected, should be abandoned.
2 That further reduction should be made through
the scrapping of certain of the older ships.
3 That in general regard should be had to the exist-
ing naval strength of the powers concerned.
4 That the capital ship tonnage should be used as the
measurement of strength for navies, and a proportionate
allowance of auxiliary combatant craft prescribed.
With 5 the acceptance of this plan, the burden of
meeting the demands of competition in naval armament
will be lifted. Enormous sums will be released to aid
the progress of civilization. At the same time the proper
demands of national defense will be adequately met, and
the nations will have ample opportunity during the naval
holiday of ten years to consider their future course.
Preparation for future naval war shall stop now. I shall
not attempt at this time to take up the other topics which
have been listed on the tentative agenda proposed in
anticipation of the conference.
Why is it more feasible to limit naval armament than land
armament?
If the Hughes plan for scrapping a billion dollars' worth of
ships is carried out, what do you think will be the economic
results?
3 oo CHARLES EVANS HUGHES
In what ways will a decrease of armament lessen the
probability of war?
Point out one or more instances in this speech where Secre-
tary Hughes shrewdly anticipated difficulties and attempted to
circumvent them.
Compare the oratorical style of this speech with that of the
Farewell Address. How far is the difference in style indicative
of a difference in social conditions?
As we scan the pages of history we trace in the
words of the great thinkers and speakers the evolu-
tion of the principles of liberty and democracy that
have helped to make the world equitable and safe for
us. We read the words of Burke, of Lincoln, and of
Wilson, and realize how great men in days that are
gone met the crises that confronted them and won the
priceless heritage that is ours. But the fight for lib-
erty and democracy was not finished by the great
statesmen who have gone before us, nor was it ended
with the Great War, nor will it terminate with the
making of a League of Nations. It can never end
while there is a human race. As long as there are
hearts to beat and souls to aspire, men will seek to
brighten the flame of liberty.
If we may judge the future by the past, Americans
can look forward with confidence to an ever-brighten-
ing day. As President McKinley once said :
" Thus far we have done our supreme duty. Shall
we now, when the victory won in war is to be written
in the treaty of peace and the civilized world applauds
and awaits in expectation, turn timidly away from the
duties imposed upon the country by its own great
deeds? And when the mists fade and we see with
clearer vision, may we not go forth rejoicing in a
strength which has been employed solely for humanity
and always been tempered with justice and mercy,
confident of our ability to meet the exigencies that
await, because confident that our course is one of duty
and our cause that of right? "
301
LIVES AND NOTES
JAMES OTIS
James Otis was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, February
5, 1725. In 1743 he was graduated from Harvard. He soon
became a distinguished lawyer. In February, 1761, as a result
of his famous speech on the Writs of Assistance, he was elected
to the Colonial Assembly. In 1765 he was a delegate for
Massachusetts to the Colonial Congress. Four years later his
active life was ended by a ruffianly attack received in a
darkened room in a coffee house from a number of men whose
anger he had stirred through a controversy in the newspapers.
He never recovered from the effects of this brutal assault and
was thereafter subject to recurring periods of insanity. On
May 23, 1783, he was killed by a stroke of lightning.
Writs of Assistance
The text is taken from William Tudor's Life of James Otis,
Boston, 1823.
1 The whole range of argument. The speech as originally
delivered was a learned and exhaustive legal argument that
occupied four or five hours. The brief section given here was
recorded by John Adams, who was present, and is all that
remains.
2 / engaged in it from principle. Note the persuasive influ-
ence of his manly and conscientious attitude.
3 One king his head. Charles I had been executed after trial
"by the Rump Parliament in 1649. As a result of the "Peaceful
Revolution of 1688" James II had been forced to flee, and
William of Orange was invited to become king.
4 Curse of Canaan. See Genesis 9:25. The curse was visited
upon Canaan by Noah because of Canaan's father's sin.
5 i^th Charles II refers to a law made in the fourteenth year
of the reign of Charles II.
6 Tumult and blood. Is the last part of Otis's speech an
exaggeration?
302
LIVES AND NOTES 303
WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, was born at Westminster
in 1708. He was educated at Eton, and at Trinity College,
Oxford. At both schools he gave much attention to rhetoric
and elocution. On account of ill health he was not graduated
from Oxford, but after leaving the university continued his
studies. His favorite pastime was to translate and read aloud
the works of Demosthenes, his model. In addition to this, he
s.udied the sermons of Dr. Barrow, and memorized Bailey's
Dictionary. With this preparation in rhetoric he coupled ardu-
ous study of voice and gesture. To a tall, imposing — almost
princely — bearing, Chatham added every kind of power known
to orators. Ridicule and taunt vied with pathos and exultation
as he moved his hearers to enthusiasm. His language at all
times was simple and free from figures of speech. He followed
intuition rather than reason. His speeches naturally were not
set pieces, for he depended on the occasion for his choice of
words.
To this unusual ability in rhetoric and a magnetic personal
bearing, Chatham added unquestionable sincerity and a deep
sense of national honor and dignity. His passion for liberty
made him the friend of the American people. " I rejoice," he
said, " that America has resisted. Three millions of people so
dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to let them-
selves be made slaves would have been fit instruments to make
slaves of all the rest. 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! "
While Chatham was in power, Walpole and the other min-
isters were forced to take second place. The jealousy of his
opponents and the autocracy of his manner, nevertheless, did
not diminish his popularity. When he died, May n, 1778,
liberty and democracy lost one of their staunchest advocates.
American Taxation
The text is slightly abridged from The World's Famous Ora-
tions, vol. Ill, p. 197, New York, 1906.
1 / could have endured to be carried. In what ways does
the use of this expression help Chatham to get a hearing?
2 His majesty recommends. Compare this reference to the
King with that of Otis.
304 LIVES AND NOTES
3 The importance of the subject. Burke said of the American
question, " Surely it is an awful subject or there is none this
side the grave." The vision of these two statesmen is as
remarkable as the shortsightedness of the King and most of
his ministers. Had America been granted full participation in
the English Constitution and even representation in Parliament,
England, through the precedent, would have become the center
of a great world empire; there would have been no Irish ques-
tion, and instead of being joined as now by an uncertain and
intangible bond, the British colonies would have become organic
members of a vast but unified nation.
4 The distinction between legislation and taxation. This was
the British view and was maintained also by Burke. The
Americans, however, prior to the declaration of independence
had denied the distinction and had passed from " No taxation
without representation" to "No legislation without representa-
tion."
5 Virtual representation should be recognized as a step toward
democracy. It at least acknowledged the right of representa-
tion.
G I am no courtier of America. Chatham's career as states-
man illustrates the ultimate correctness and worth of a policy
based on justice and right.
7 The whole house of Bourbon. Kings descended from the
Bourbon family ruled at this time in France, Spain, and Naples.
JOHN WILKES
John Wilkes was born in London in 1727. He came from a
wealthy family and received a good education at the University
of Leyden. He was elected to Parliament in 1757. In 1762,
when Lord Bute forced Pitt from office, Wilkes published The
North Briton in order to aid IJitt. No. 45 of this paper in
which he maligned the government was adjudged a seditious
libel and Wilkes was sent to jail. On appeal to the courts,
however, he was awarded $20,000 damages for illegal im-
prisonment. In 1769 he was elected four times in succession
to sit in Parliament for Middlesex, but the House of Commons
each time refused to accept him and seated his opponent who
had received fewer votes. He became a popular hero and
would have gained the support of the entire country but for his
bad personal character. In 1774 he was elected Lord Mayor
of London. He represented Middlesex in Parliament from
LIVES AND NOTES 305
1774 to 1790 and became the champion of the right of free
representation by British constituencies. He died in 1797.
War with America
For the complete text see Speeches of Mr. Wilkes in the
House of Commons, Third ed., p. 7. Preface dated London,
December 9, 1786.
1 Some very powerful cause. This statement finds a point
of agreement with the audience and arouses their interest in
wha' is to come.
2 Carry to the foot of the throne. The House of Commons,
assembled as a committee of the whole, was considering an
address to the King upon the disturbances in America. The
language and spirit of the resolution was such that it virtually
proposed a policy of war.
3 / well know what will follow. Only those who are familiar
with the state of public opinion in the colonies in February,
1775, can appreciate how remarkable is this prophecy and its
fulfillment. The Americans at this time sought merely to use
whatever means were necessary to secure their rights as English-
men under the English Constitution. Although, no doubt, there
were in America as in every country discontented individuals
who sought revolution as the remedy for all political evils,
there was when Wilkes spoke no general demand in the colonies
for independence. John Jay said that previous to the rejection
of the second petition of Congress in 1775 he ' never heard an
American of any class or any description express a wish for the
independence of the colonies.'
Even after the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill in the
Dickinson declaration, published by George Washington when
he took command of the American troops, it is said, " We most
solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting
the utmost energy of those powers which our beneficent Creator
has graciously bestowed upon us, the arms which we have been
compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of
every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverence employ
for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind
resolved to die freemen than to live slaves.
" Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our friends
and fellow-subjects in any part of the empire, we assure them
that we mean not to dissolve that union which has so long and
so happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish
306 LIVES AND NOTES
to see restored. Necessity has not yet driven us into that des-
perate measure, or induced us to incite any other nation to war
against them. We have not raised armies with ambitious
designs of separating from Great Britain, and establishing
independent states."
The demand for independence that was prevalent throughout
the colonies a few months later was the outgrowth of military
necessity. After Arnold's disastrous expedition into Canada it
seemed impossible that the poorly organized American troops
could cope with the armies of Great Britain without foreign
help. Although the great body of Englishmen sympathized
with the colonists in their struggle for liberty, Parliament and
the King seemed bent on destroying America. The government
finding it difficult to induce Britons to fight their kin across the
sea, hired seventeen thousand Hessians to prosecute the war.
The use of mercenary soldiers, of whom an indefinite number
could be secured, convinced the colonists that they never could
succeed in arms except through an alliance with foreign
powers, which necessitated separation from the empire. The
eyes of the American patriots, therefore, turned in 1776 more or
less reluctantly to France, and Silas Deane was sent as am-
bassador to Paris.
On June 7 1776, Richard Lee of Virginia introduced into
the Continental Congress the following resolution:
" Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought
to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from
all allegiance to the British crown; and that all political con-
nection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and
of right ought to be, totally dissolved." On July 4, 1776, the
resolution was incorporated in the Declaration of Independence
and was passed.
Wilkes, on February 6, 1775, was led to make his remarkable
prophecy, not through any rumor that the colonists would seek
independence, but merely through his knowledge of the temper
of the King and his ministers, and his belief in the determina-
tion and earnestness of the American people, and his faith in
the ultimate triumph of the principles of universal liberty that
were involved.
4 The blue riband. Lord North, the prime minister, was a
Knight of the Garter. The badge of the. order was a blue
ribbon.
LIVES AND NOTES 307
EDMUND BURKE
Edmund Burke was born in Ireland, January 12, 1729. In
1748 he was graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, and two
years later took up the study of law at the Temple, London.
For six years little was heard of him, and then he published a
Vindication of Natural Society, and a Philosophical Inquiry
into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful.
As a result of the fame these essays brought him he became
a member of Johnson's famous literary club. He was also en-
gaged to prepare a survey of important events for the Annual
Register. For thirty years he edited this annual chronicle, and
it is largely through the information thus gained that he was
able to speak authoritatively in Parliament.
In 1761, he became aLVtstant-secretary to the lord lieutenant
of Ireland. Rather than become a political vassal, he resigned
in 1765, but his generally recognized ability soon won him an
appointment with Lord Rockingham, the prime minister. In
1766 he was elected to Parliament for the pocket-borough of
Wendovcr. In 1774, in recognition of his speech on American
Taxation, he was elected to represent Bristol, a city second in
importance in England. It was immediately after this election
which greatly added to his prestige, that he delivered his mas-
terpiece on Conciliation with America. With his death in
1797, his long fight for just and honest government came to a
close.
Conciliation with America
The text is taken from The Works of Edmund Burke, Lon-
don, 1801, vol. Ill, p. 25. The editors suggest that not more
than half of Conciliation with America be assigned for class
study. In their experience results have justified the omission
of the less important parts of the speech and much corrobora-
tive detail. In the present edition the suggested omissions are
printed in smaller type.
1 Sir. Sir Philip Norton, Speaker of the House of Commons.
2 A worthy member. Mr. Rose Fuller, who in 1774 moved
to repeal the tax on tea. It was on this motion that Burke
delivered his speech on American Taxation..
308 LIVES AND NOTES
3 Paper government. Theoretical government, possibly a
reference to Locke's scheme of colonial government for Caro-
lina.
4 Juridical determination. This project of Lord North's,
Burke had called an M auction of finance " since each colony
through the size of its appropriation was to bid for privi-
leges. That it did not provide for a free grant from the
colonies is evident: for the share that any colony should be
required to furnish for defense was determined by the authori-
ties in England; most of the former obnoxious taxes could be
retained under the provision for regulating commerce; and,
finally, if the assemblies failed to give, the revenue would be
exacted.
5 Colony agents. As the colonies lacked the privilege of
direct representation in Parliament, they often sent agents to
watch legislation and try to influence it. The fact that they
had to stay in the lobby, gave rise to the word lobbyist.
6 Noble lord's project. The project is outlined in the fol-
lowing resolution passed by the House on February 20, 1775:
" That when the Governor, Council, or Assembly, or Gen-
eral Court, of any of his Majesty's Provinces or Colonies in
America, shall propose to make provision, according to the
condition, circumstances, and situation, of such Province or
Colony, for contributing their proportion to the Common De-
fense (such proportion to be raised under the Authority of the
General Court, or General Assembly, of such Province or
Colony, and disposable by Parliament), and shall engage to
make provision also for the support of the Civil Government,
and the Administration of Justice, in such Province or Colony,
it will be proper, if such Proposal shall be approved by his
Majesty, and the two Houses of Parliament, and for so long
as such Provision shall be made accordingly, to forbear, in
respect of such Province or Colony, to levy any duty, Tax, or
Assessment, or to impose any further Duty, Tax, or Assess-
ment, except such duties as it may be expedient to continue to
levy or impose, for the Regulation of Commerce; the Nett
Produce of the Duties last mentioned to be carried to the
account of such Province or Colony respectively."
7 Bills of pains and penalties. Such were the Boston Port
bill and the Grand Penal bill. .
8 The object was America as a commercial ally of Britain.
9 This gentleman. Richard Glover, the poet, who petitioned
Parliament against the Spaniards in 1742.
LIVES AND NOTES 309
10 Bar. The railing that excludes non-members from the
main area of the House of Commons.
11 A eta parentum jam legere et qua sit potent eognoscere
virtus. To read the deeds of his forefathers and to know what
virtue is.
12 Roman charity. He refers to the Roman story of Cymon,
who, condemned to death by starvation, was kept alive by his
daughter, Xanthippe, who visited him in prison and nourished
him with milk from her breasts.
13 Seemed even to excite your envy. Lord North's Grand
Penal bill attempted to put a stop to the New England fisheries.
14 Frozen serpent. Hydrus, a small constellation within the
Antarctic Circle.
15 Dissidence of dissent. Extreme dissent.
16 Friend. Attorney-general Thurlow.
17 Abeunt studia in mores. Studies pass into character.
18 Lord Dunmore. Governor of Virginia.
19 To change that spirit. Note the argument by elimination.
Burke prefers to have the third choice accepted because the
other two were unsuitable rather than force validity by specific
argument.
20 Giving up the colonies. Dean Tucker of Gloucester advo-
cated the giving up of the colonies in 1774, maintaining that
England could get the entire trade of America by merely of-
fering the best market.
21 Spoliatis arma supersunt: Juvenal, Satires VIII, 124.
"Those who have been despoiled, may resort to arms."
22 The ocean remains. This suggests a very real and effec-
tive argument. When it required months to cross the sea the
bonds between America and the Mother Country were neces-
sarily weak. The lack of speedy and adequate communication
with England was undoubtedly one of the most important
causes of the demand for independence.
Among neighbors an understanding is necessary even though
we ignore people far away with whom we have no dealing.
One of the chief incentives to the growth of Federal authority
in America has been improvement in transportation and com-
munication. In like manner modern development in these arts
makes it impossible for America longer to ignore her interna-
tional obligations.
23 Sir Edvoard Coke. An erudite but heartless magistrate
who in 1603 at the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh for treason
assailed the prisoner in spiteful language.
310 LIVES AND NOTES
24 Ex vi termini. From the meaning of the word.
25 Formerly addressed. They petitioned the King, February
13, 1769.
26 A necessary evil. Is not this argumentative rather than
persuasive?
27 Revenue act. The Stamp Act.
28 The colonies will go further. Burke's opponents feared
that if the revenue laws were repealed, it would be the first
step toward self-government and the permanent loss of the
colonies. Burke later refutes this.
29 Philip the Second: son of Charles V. He is best known for
his famous fleet, the Spanish Armada, with which he unsuccess-
fully tried to wrest the English throne from Elizabeth.
30 The genius of the English Constitution. The English Con-
stitution is not a single, written document containing the funda-
mental principles of government as does the Constitution of the
United States. It is rather made up of historical traditions, and
important acts, such as the Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights,
and other charters. It is by no means indefinite or vaguely
defined. Burke refers to it with perfect confidence, finding in
its treatment of Ireland, Chester, Wales, and Durham, satis-
factory precedents for a different treatment of the American
colonies than that advocated by Lord North and his followers.
31 Simul, etc. Horace, Odes, I, 12, 27-32. As soon as the
bright star shone upon the sailors, the troubled water recedes
from the rocks, the winds die away, the clouds scatter, and
because they (Castor and Pollux) have so willed, the threaten-
ing wave subsides into the sea.
32 Opposuit natura: nature opposes it.
33 Republic of Plato, etc.: well-known accounts of ideal com-
monwealths.
34 The year 1763: the year in which Grenville came into
power. Before this a policy of "salutary neglect" had been
pursued, but was then discarded for a new policy of exaction.
35 By grant and not by imposition. The colonial assemblies
were to vote money to the King as a voluntary gift, and were
not to be subjected to taxes, such as the Stamp Act, imposed by
Parliament without their being consulted. This involved the
repeal of the Declaratory Act.
36 Fourteen colonies. Quebec was included.
LIVES AND NOTES 311
37 Non meus, etc. The language is not mine, but that taught
by Ofellus, a rustic, but unusually wise.
38 Lord Hillsborough. Secretary of State for the colonies,
1768-1772.
39 Restraining bill. The Grand Penal Bill.
40 Far less power. The King did not have the power of
veto in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
41 Ireland has. The Irish Parliament was abolished in 1800.
42 Experimentum in corpore vili. Let us experiment on a
worthless object.
43 Posita luditur area. The money chest is given as a stake.
44 Sursum corda! Lift up your hearts! is the exhortation
with which in the service of the church the priest proceeds to
consecrate the elements.
45 Quod felix faiistumque sit. May it be happy and fortu-
nate. It is the Roman invocation on beginning or concluding a
solemn act.
PATRICK HENRY
Patrick Henry was born in Hanover County, Virginia, in
1736. With James Otis he shares the distinction of being the
first to advocate resistance by force of arms as the only remedy
for the evils existing in the relations between England and
America. Under his leadership, Virginia was the first state to
oppose the Stamp Act. He introduced into the House of Bur-
gesses a resolution denying that Parliament had the right to
tax the American colonies. He realized that the trouble was
caused by the ministers of George III, and in the frequently
quoted passage boldly asserted, " Caesar had his Brutus, Charles
I had his Cromwell, and George III " Here pausing until
the cry of " Treason ! " from several parts of the house had
ended, he deliberately added " may profit by their example. If
this be treason, make the most of it." Henry was twice elected
governor of Virginia, and his influence was very important in
the formation of the Constitution of the United States. He was
somewhat afraid of setting up a strong central government, for
as he often said, "A wrong step made now will plunge us into
misery, and our republic will be lost." He died in Charlotte
County, Virginia, in the same year as Washington, 1799.
312 LIVES AND NOTES
Liberty or Death
The text is taken from The Life, Correspondence, and
Speeches of Patrick Henry, by William Wirt Henry, New York,
1891, vol. I, p. 262. Moses Coit Tyler says of the version of
the speech here followed, that it certainly gives the substance
of Henry's argument and is " probably more authentic than are
most of the famous speeches attributed to public characters
before reporters' galleries were opened and before the art of
reporting was brought to its present perfection."
1 That insidious smile. A rumor was current that nearly all
that the Continental Congress had asked for in its petition to
the King on September 1, 1774, was about to be granted.
Henry's distrust of this report was justified, for the rumor
proved to be unfounded.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
George Washington was born in Westmoreland county, Vir-
ginia, on February 22, 1732, of sturdy old English stock. His
father, Augustine Washington, was a successful planter.
While Washington was still an infant the family lived for
a time on the estate on the Potomac now known as Mount
Vernon; but they soon moved again to another of his father's
farms. At Fredericksburg, Va., he received a common school
education; he also studied surveying and possibly learned a
little Latin.
At the age of fifteen he returned to Mount Vernon to live
with his brother. There he became acquainted with Lord
Fairfax and was engaged by this gentleman to survey his
tracts of land beyond the Blue Ridge. It was a romantic and
venturesome undertaking for a boy of sixteen. For three years
he lived much of the time in the wilderness and became expert
in woodcraft.
In 1753 Governor Dinwiddie selected the young surveyor to
bear a message of remonstrance to the commandant of the
French who were attempting to establish settlements in the
Ohio valley. The hazardous mission was performed so success-
fully that Washington was made a lieutenant colonel and was
soon attached to the staff of General Braddock. In the French
and Indian war he gained a knowledge of military tactics
and the reputation at the age of twenty-six as the best known
LIVES AND NOTES 313
military man in America. Through the disasters that the
army experienced, he had learned one most valuable fact —
that British regulars were not invincible.
In 1759 he married Mrs. Martha Custis and lived the life of
a planter and country gentleman on his estate of 2500 acres
at Mount Vernon. During these years he was a member of
the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1774 he journeyed on
horseback with Patrick Henry to attend the Continental Con-
gress in Philadelphia.
When he was made commander-in-chief of the American
forces he called all to witness that he assumed the office as
an act of duty and not by his own desire. Through the entire
war he refused to accept a cent of pay. After his retirement
from the presidency he lived at Mount Vernon but two years
and died, at the age of sixty-seven, on December 14, 1799.
The Farewell Address
The text is that of the Philadelphia American Daily Ad-
vertiser for September 19, 1796, with sufficient changes to make
it conform to modern practices in orthography.
Near the close of Washington's first term as president, when
he contemplated retiring from office, he sent Madison notes he
had prepared for a farewell address and asked for assistance.
The suggestions offered by Madison he used to a certain extent
when preparing the address he drew up near the close of his
second term. This new manuscript was forwarded to Alex-
ander Hamilton for further advice. Hamilton, after many
conferences with Chief Justice Jay, sent his suggestions to the
president. These manuscripts Washington considered carefully
and at last, after much rigorous and careful revision, pro-
duced the speech that is known to-day as his Farewell Address.
That it embodies the ideas and thoughts of Washington and
was composed in the main by Washington himself, is the
opinion of the most reliable historians and critics.
In the Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
vol. I, part 2, page 256, David C. Claypole, editor of the
Daily Advertiser, has given an account of the original publica-
tion of the Farewell Address:
" A few days before the appearance of this memorable docu-
ment in print, I received a message from the President by his
private secretary signifying his desire to see me. I waited on
him at the appointed time, and found him sitting alone in the
3H LIVES AND NOTES
drawing-room. He received me very kindly and after I had
paid my respects to him, desired me to take a seat near him —
then addressing himself to me said, that he had for some time
past contemplated withdrawing from public life, and had at
length concluded to do so at the end of the (then) present
term; that he had some thoughts and reflections on the occa-
sion, which he deemed proper to communicate to the people of
the United States in the form of an address, and which he
wished to appear in the Daily Advertiser, of which I was
editor. He paused, and I took occasion of thanking him for
having preferred that paper as the channel of his communica-
tion with the people, especially as I viewed this selection as
indicating his approbation of the principles and manner irt
which the work was conducted. He silently assented, and
asked when the publication could be made. I answered that
the time should be made perfectly convenient to himself, and
the following Monday was fixed on; — he then told me his
secretary would call on me with the copy of the address on
the next (Friday) morning and I withdrew.
" After the proof sheet had been compared with the copy
and corrected by myself, I carried another proof and then a
revise to be examined by the President, who made but few
alterations from the original, except in the punctuation, in
which he was very minute.
" The publication of the Address dated 'United States, Sep-
tember 17, 1796,' being completed on the 19th, I waited on the
President with the original, and in presenting it to him ex-
pressed my regret at parting with it and how much I should
be gratified by being permitted to retain it; upon which, in an
obliging manner, he handed it back to me, saying, that if I
wished for it, I might keep it; and I took my leave of him."
The original document and a copy of the paper in which
it was first published are preserved in the New York Public
Library.
1 New election. November 8, 1796. As the electoral college
at that time actually chose a president, it was not necessary to
announce candidates so far in advance as now.
2 On the proper occasion. In his inaugural address of April
30, 1789.
3 The inferiority of my qualifications. Chief Justice Jay, in
a letter written in 1811, gives personal testimony to support
Washington's authorship of the Address and observes that such
words as these and similar expressions at the end of the speech
LIVES AND NOTES 315
could hardly come from any one except George Washington.
4 A former and not dissimilar occasion. His letter of fare-
well to the army, June 8, 1783.
5 Palladium. An image of Athene, that as long as pre-
served, conferred safety on Troy.
6 Treaty with Spain. The Pinckney treaty of 1795 estab-
lished the southern boundary of the United States and insured
the free navigation of the Mississippi river.
7 Two treaties. The second was the treaty with England
negotiated by Chief Justice Jay. Among other advantages it
freed the West from British soldiers that had been quartered
there; but it secured far fewer trading rights than were de-
sired and it failed to terminate the impressment of American
seamen.
8 The most horrid enormities. Probably Washington had
in mind the Reign of Terror. Observe, as you read on, that
Washington's counsel is that citizens should discourage, re-
strain, moderate, mitigate, and assuage the fury of party
spirit. He does not condemn the orderly association of people
of like view for the promotion -of any proper object.
9 Cherish public credit. In 1780 John Jay was sent as
plenipotentiary to Spain with the hope that he would be able
to obtain a subsidy for America. Spain turned a deaf ear to
his entreaty and would not even recognize his credentials. In
the meantime Congress had drawn bills upon him for more
than half a million dollars. Jay first used his personal means
and then begged money where he could, but at last was forced
to protest the bills. The credit of the new country was, how-
ever, saved for the time being by a subsidy granted by France.
At the close of the Revolution the country was again bank-
rupt and was unable to borrow money anywhere. Manyr
specious arguments were offered by influential men for the-
cancellation of all American public debts. Washington would
not countenance the plan. He appointed as Secretary of the;
Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was honest and far-seeinp;
beyond most men of his time. Hamilton established the excise
and a national banking system, and announced to the world*
that he would pay with interest every cent of American debt..
10 Inveterate antipathies. Great Britain, France, z»nd Spain
were each detested at this time by a different group of th?
American people and were each equally favored by others. In
1793 the French sent Genet as minister to America. Without
even presenting his credentials to, the Fecteual governsment^ fee.
316 LIVES AND NOTES
began enlisting American recruits and fitting out privateers to
prey on British commerce. Some favored him because of love
for France, and others because of hatred for England He
caused much disturbance before his commission was cancelled.
11 My proclamation. A proclamation of neutrality in the war
of England, Prussia, Austria, Holland, and Spain against
France.
DANIEL WEBSTER
Daniel Webster was born at Salisbury, New Hampshire, in
1782 of extremely poor parents. In spite of his poverty, his
father was resolved that the boy should be well educated. Al-
though hindered by many obstacles, Daniel was finally gradu-
ated from Dartmouth in 1801. After a brief experience at
teaching he entered law and long stood at the head of his pro-
fession.
In 1819 occurred his first great legal battle, the celebrated
Dartmouth College case, in which the corporation was first
recognized as a legal entity. But it is really as a persuasive
orator that he achieved his greatest fame. In December, 1820,
he delivered an oration at the two hundredth anniversary of
the founding of Plymouth Colony. In June, 1825, came the
famous address at Bunker Hill. The following year he spoke at
Fanueil Hall on Adams and Jefferson.
Webster represented Portsmouth, N. H. in the House of
Representatives from 1813 to 1827, when he was elected United
States senator from Massachusetts. In 1830, his Reply to
Hayne placed him at once in a foremost position among Ameri-
can statesmen and marked the climax of his political career.
In 1839, he became secretary of state to President Harrison,
and continued in office under President Tyler. In 1842 he
negotiated with Lord Ashburton a treaty establishing the
boundary line between the United States and Canada. For a
few years he enjoyed private life, but in 1845 was sent again
to the Senate, and was there active during the Mexican War.
His support of the Compromise of 1850 "in all its points" in-
cluding the Fugitive Slave Law did much to lessen his popu-
larity and . dim his fame. When Fillmore became president
Webster again became secretary of state, and occupied that
position until he died, October 24, 1852.
LIVES AND NOTES 317
First Bunker Hill Address
The text is slightly abridged from vol. I, p. 59 of The
Works of Daniel Webster, 6th ed., Boston, 1853.
1 Ancient colony. This description would apply to Virginia,
New York and other colonies.
2 Society whose organ I am. The Bunker Hill Monument
Association was founded in 1823. Daniel Webster was its sec-
ond president.
3 The foundation of that monument. Seventeen years later
the granite obelisk, 221 feet in height, was completed.
4 Venerable men. Two hundred veterans of the Revolution-
ary War were present; forty of them had taken part in the
battle of Bunker Hill.
5 One who now hears me. The Marquis de Lafayette came
to the United States in 1777 and was given a commission as
major-general He took part in several battles and was once
wounded. When he returned to America in 1825 as the nation's
guest, he was given a triumphal progress wherever he went.
Q Serus in coelum redeas. May it be lnog before you return
to heaven.
1 " I am the state." This is the French expression of the Eng-
lish principle of the Divine Right of Kings.
8 Struggle of the Greeks: the Greek war with the Turks for
independence.
Webster's Reply to Hayne
The text is abridged from vol. Ill, pp. 249-349 of The Works
of Daniel Webster, 6th ed., Boston, 1853. I* was spoken origi-
nally in connection with the debate of Foot's bill to limit the
sale of public lands and was known extensively as Webster's
speech on Foot's resolution. It required a day for its delivery.
1 The honorable gentleman: Robert Y. Hayne. He was born
in South Carolina in 1791 and became speaker of the state as-
sembly in 1816. He refused the attorney-generalship of the
United States to become the attorney-general of South Carolina.
In 1822 he was elected to the United States Senate, where he
frequently presented with eloquence the views of Calhoun who
was vice-president. He afterward became governor of South
Carolina and died in 1840.
2 Hearty concurrence. Webster's generosity and his love for
the Union as a whole, leaves no doubt that this is his sincere
318 LIVES AND NOTES
opinion. As a debater, nevertheless, he was accustomed to dif-
fer with his opponents on as few matters as possible and to try-
to turn the ideas that they presented most elaborately into argu-
ments for his own side.
3 Honored name. Hayne's grandfather was a famous Revo-
lutionary patriot. This generous reference to the ancestry of
his opponent, went far to disarm criticism and to secure for
Webster a sympathetic hearing.
4 The people's constitution. On the morning of this debate
a friend of Webster's said, "It is a critical moment; and it is
time, it is high time that the people of this country should know
what this Constitution is." " Then," replied Mr. Webster, " by
the blessing of heaven they shall learn this day before the sun
goes down what I understand it to be." Webster held that
the will of the people exercised through the Federal govern-
ment is supreme and of necessity the states must submit.
The emphasis secured by his recurring use of the word
■ people ' in this paragraph, reminds one of the similar use of the
word in Lincoln's Gettysburg speech.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States,
was born in Harden County, Kentucky, February 12, 1809. In
spite of the limitations and hardships of his early life, he edu-
cated himself by reading and diligent study. In 1834, he was
elected to the legislature of Illinois, and three years later was
admitted to the bar. In 1846 he was elected to Congress, and
in 1858 was defeated for the United States Senate by Stephen
A. Douglas. Two years later he became president, and entered
upon an administration of unparalleled greatness and perma-
nent service. Perhaps no other presidential term has been
chronicled with so much detail and painstaking research; and
certainly no public career was ever more worthy of compre-
hensive study. On April 14, 1865, his life was suddenly ended
by the assassin's bullet.
" He lived," said Joseph H. €h.<*are, u to see his proclamar
tion of emancipation embodied w\ a>n amendment to. the Consti-
tution. It was given t©> him to. witness the surrender of the
Rebel Army and the fall of their capitol, and the starry flag
that he loved waving in triumph over the national soil. When
he died by the madman's hand in the supreme hour of victory
the vanquished lost their best friend, and the human race one
LIVES AND NOTES 319
of its noblest examples, and all the friends of freedom and
justice, in whose cause he lived and died, joined hands as
mourners at his grave."
Lincoln's Address at Cooper Institute
The text is abridged from Address of Abraham Lincoln Issued
by the Young Men's Republican Club, New York, i860.
1 The Constitution of the United States. The constitutional
convention met in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, on May
2 5> *787. There were fifty-five delegates chosen from among
the most distinguished men in America. After Washington had
been elected chairman, the convention debated in secret for
nearly four months. When the work was completed, thirty-
nine of the forty-two delegates then present signed the docu-
ment. Its success is largely due to the fact that it was founded,
not on theory, but on approved precedent existing in the Eng-
lish Constitution or in the organization of the American states.
It is unequalled by any work of its kind produced during the
history of the world.
2 Corporal oath: a solemn oath, originally so named from
laying the hand on some sacred object, as the corporal-cloth of
the altar.
3 John Brown was a fanatic who had been spurred on to vio-
lence by his experiences in Kansas in 1854 during the struggle
for control by the slavery and anti-slavery factions. After
seizing the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Va., he ' emancipated ' the
slaves in that vicinity. He was soon overpowered, tried for
treason, and hanged. Although Brown's action was not justi-
fied by the abolitionists, the incident greatly increased the
growing ill-will between the South and the North.
4 Orsini's attempt on Louis Napoleon. About two years be-
fore the delivery of this speech, Felice Orsini, an Italian pa-
triot, attempted to assassinate Napoleon III. The English
people were suspected by the French of being in sympathy with
the plot.
5 Helper's book: The Impending Crisis of the South, by Hin-
ton Rowan Helper, of North Carolina, was published in 1857
and had an extensive sale. It was a severe criticism of slavery.
EDWARD D. BAKER
Edward Dickinson Baker was born in London, England,
February 24, 1811. In 181$ his father moved to Philadelphia,
3 2o LIVES AND NOTES
and ten years later to Illinois. He followed his father's trade
as weaver for a while, and then took up the study of law. He
was admitted to the bar at Springfield, and in 1837 was sent to
the state legislature. In 1840 he was made state senator, and
four years later representative to Congress. He resigned his
seat in 1846 to take active part in the Mexican War in which
he distinguished himself at the siege of Vera Cruz and at Cerro
Gordo. From 1849 to 1851 he againserved in Congress. In the
latter year he went to California to practice law. In i860 he
was elected United States senator from Oregon. At the out-
break of the Civil War he became colonel of a volunteer regi-
ment, and at the battle of Ball's Bluff on October 21, 1861, he
was killed in action.
Breckenridge-Baker Debate on the War
The text is abridged from The Congressional Globe, 37th
Congress, First Session, pp. 376-380.
1 Does not the world know itf When all is in doubt and the
future dark, such asseveration seems unanswerable. At such
times it needs a brave man to make a courageous reply.
2 In favor of peace, etc. Bereavement, hunger, expense, as
noted by Breckenridge, are the inevitable accompaniments of
war, but are not arguments concerning the justice of the dis-
pute or its necessity. Did the use of these ideas help Brecken-
ridge to accomplish his purpose?
3 A sneer of incredulity. This is an interesting snapshot
of the faces of his audience.
4 The Senator from Vermont. Senator Collamer had opposed
the bill because he believed that the commanding general ought
to be left utterly free to conduct military affairs without any
regulation on the part of Congress.
5 Capitol of the Confederacy. In Twenty Years in Con-
gress, vol. I, p. 344, Blaine says, " Breckenridge made a speech
of which it is a fair criticism to say that it reflected in all
respects the views held by the Confederate Congress then in
session in Richmond."
6 Knowing their value well. Logical argument cannot cope
with the emotional and persuasive force of words such as these.
JOHN BRIGHT
John Bright was born in Greenbank, Rochedale, England in
1811. Unlike most celebrated orators he had little education
LIVES AND NOTES 321
other than that gained by experience, for at the age of fifteen
he started his business career in his father's factory. In 1832
he championed the Liberal cause in the reform movement and
seven years later attained prominence as a member of the
Anti-Corn Law League. In this campaign he became the
close friend and associate of Richard Cobden, the inspiring
genius of the Free Trade movement. In 1843 Bright was
elected to Parliament and immediately advocated the extension
of free trade. During the War of the Crimea, Bright opposed
the government in its course, and as a result was defeated in the
city of Manchester in 1857. He immediately found ardent sup-
porters in Birmingham and was returned to Parliament as
representative of that city. During the American Civil War
he defended the cause of the North and was largely responsible
for the fact that England did not, like France recognize the
independence of the Confederacy. In 1882 he resigned his seat
in the cabinet because of lack of agreement with Mr. Gladstone,
the prime minister, in regard to the bombardment of Alexan-
dria. The remaining years of his life were spent in com-
parative retirement, and in 1889 he died.
The Trent Affair
The text is abridged from p. 167 of vol I of Speeches on
Questions of Public Policy, by John Bright, 2 vols., London,
1868.
1 All up in arms. When the news of the capture of the com-
missioners reached England, a great outburst of anger over-
spread the kingdom and the government began making prepa-
rations for war. Great quantities of munitions were shipped to
Canada. Thirty thousand soldiers were put on board ship with
the understanding that they were to go to Charlestown to join
the Confederates. In reality they were sent to Halifax.
2 // all other tongues are silent. With such statements
Bright was able to secure sympathy for his position and to
dull the criticism that his views were not representative.
John Lothrop Motley, the historian, wrote to Bright as fol-
lows: "When I first read your speech at Rochdale, I wished
to write and thank you for it at once. But I found myself too
agitated to do so. I laid it aside for two days, and I have
just now read it all through again. I should perhaps have been
inclined to dwell more, in writing to you, upon the breadth
and accuracy of view, the thorough grasp of the subject and
322 LIVES AND NOTES
the lucid flow of argument by which your speech was char-
acterized ; but the peculiar circumstances under which it was
delivered make it impossible for me to express my emotions in
any other way than in one grand burst of gratitude to the
speaker. Thank God! our noble mother tongue is not entirely
given over to revilings and denunciations of those who speak
it beyond the sea And I honor you more than I can tell,
for your courage in thus standing up, in the midst of the tem-
pest of unreasoning wrath now sweeping over England, to
defend not an unpopular but apparently a hated cause."
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Henry Ward Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut,
June 24, 1813. In 1834 he was graduated from Amherst Col-
lege, and three years later from the Lane Theological Seminary
in Cincinnati, Ohio, of which his father Lyman Beecher, was
president. He entered the ministry as pastor of a church at
Lawrenceberg, Indiana, and later removed to Indianapolis. In
1847, he became pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, which
under his leadership became, next to Old South Church, Boston,
the historic church of America.
During the Civil War Mr. Beecher was an ardent abolitionist
and Unionist. In 1863 he travelled in England on behalf of the
North, and delivered five memorable addresses. Although he
met with opposition during the delivery of the first three of his
addresses, the reception given to the fourth was by far the
stormiest. Placards denouncing him had been generously dis-
tributed in Liverpool where he was to speak, and at least half
the audience were opposed to his views. By means of this
speech, however, he succeeded in changing the sentiments of
almost all England even though he failed to win the particular
audience. Consequently when he appeared in London, October
20, 1863, Exeter Hall was so crowded he could hardly enter.
Instead of opposition he met with sympathy. During the four
days since his speech at Liverpool, England had experienced a
great change of heart. British sentiment now favored him, and
his last address at London was little short of a triumph. The
persuasive power of his speeches has probably never been ex-
celled. Certainly few men ever by their words accomplished
more for their country.
In addition to his work as preacher and orator, he was for
.years the editor of The Christian Union and The New York
LIVES AND NOTES 323
Independent. In 1886 he again travelled in England, and was
royally entertained as the ambassador from the hearts of
a friendly people. On March 8, 1887, he died.
Beecher's Speech at Liverpool
The text is abridged from p. 515 of Patriotic Addresses in
America and England, by Henry Ward Beecher, Ed. John R.
Howard, New York, 1887.
Mason and Dixon's line: a line determining the boundary of
Maryland, located in 1763 by two surveyors from whom it was:
named. It later marked the division between the free and the
slave states.
2 Morrill tariff. This tariff, passed in 1861, greatly increased
duties. In order to produce funds for war, its rates were raised
twice in one year. Its provisions were extremely distasteful to
manufacturing interests in England. Even Bright called it, " the
monstrous and absurd tariff."
3 Recent doctrine of neutrality. The position of neutrality
which England had assumed was defended on the ground that
foreign powers could not respect the Federal blockade of the
Southern ports without recognizing that a state of war between
two sovereign states existed. In 183 1, however, Russia had
blockaded her own ports held by Circassian rebels and Eng-
land did not acknowledge the belligerent rights of the rebels.
4 Lord Russell. Lord John Russell, the foreign secretary,
used his influence consistently in favor of the cause of the
North. While the official government of England did little in a
direct way to aid the North, it did much indirectly. Although
there were Englishmen, like Lord Palmerston, who espoused the
cause of the Confederacy, there were in every English town
men who, like John Bright, used every means at their command
throughout the war to help America free the slaves and pre-
serve the Union.
5 Against a storm. Every orator who attempts to influence
an audience encounters opposition which, even if not apparent,
seeks to make his words ineffective. Seldom, indeed, is opposi-
tion as tangible and evident as that which Beecher met while
delivering this speech.
6 Strive with my voice. The speech with interruptions had
occupied three hours.
324 LIVES AND NOTES
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Speech at the Dedication of the National Cemetery at
Gettysburg
The text here used is that made by Lincoln for the Soldiers
and Sailors' Fair at Baltimore in 1864. It can be found in 31
pamphlet known as The Address of the Hon. Edward Everett
at the National Cemetery of Gettysburg, November iq, 1863,
with the dedicatory Speech of President Lincoln and Other
Exercises of the Occasion, Little, Brown, and Co., Boston, 1864.
1 A great battle-field. Every year thousands of American
citizens make a pilgrimage to the spot, now marked with a
bronze memorial, where this address was first delivered. Near
the cemetery on the battle ground is a national park of unique
interest.
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
The text is taken from The Complete Works of Abraham
Lincoln, vol. II, p. 656, New York, 1894.
This speech was delivered but six weeks before Lincoln's
death; but in one sense these weeks were the best of his life.
His Second Inaugural address had confirmed the reputation that
had come with the Gettysburg speech. It was called the great-
est state paper of the century. Scholars and critics in Europe
and America testified that the former backwoodsman had be-
come one of the foremost writers of English in the world. He
was hailed everywhere as chief among patriots and states-
men. His high hopes for the future were also realized. On
April i Sherman defeated the Confederates at Five Forks.
The next day Grant won at Petersburg; and the day following,
Richmond fell. On April 9 Lee surrendered at Appomattox
and the Confederacy was beaten.
As Lincoln's funeral train in the latter part of April passed
through the chief cities of the East on its progress toward
Springfield, banners were hung in every town bearing the wbrds
with which Lincoln began the last paragraph of this speech —
" With malice for none, with charity for all."
HENRY W. GRADY
Henry Woodfin Grady was born at Athens, Georgia, May
24, 1850. After completing his education at the universities of
Georgia and Virginia, he entered upon his life work, journalism.
LIVES AND NOTES 325
After serving for several years as a correspondent and editor of
several papers, he became part owner and editor of The
Atlanta Constitution. In 1886 at the annual dinner of the
New England Society in New York City, he delivered his
address called The New South. The next morning, his speech
occupied the chief place in the newspapers, and parts of it
were reprinted all over the country. This sudden fame en-
couraged Grady to make many other addresses on similar
topics. In this dual capacity of speaker and editor, he used
his influence to eradicate the last traces of prejudice that lin-
gered between the North and the South as a result of the Civil
War. He died December 23, 1889.
The New South
The text in full is found at page 7 of The Complete Ora-
tions and Speeches of Henry IV. Grady, edited by Edwin D.
Shurter, no date, Norwood. The version used here follows in
most respects that used in Select Orations, ed. A. M. Hall, New
York, 1911.
1 Benjamin H. Hill. Benjamin Harvey Hill was born in
1823 and died in 1882. In 1861, in the Georgia state convention
to discuss secession, he spoke with great power in favor of
Georgia's remaining in the Union. Nevertheless he went with
his friends into the Confederate army. After the war was
over he was imprisoned for at time at Fort Lafayette in New
York harbor. Later he became a patriotic and useful member
of the United States Senate.
2 Tammany Hall is located at 145 East Fourteenth street,
New York City. It is the meeting place of the Tammany so-
ciety, an important organization in the Democratic party.
3 Dr. Talmage. Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D.D., was famous
as lecturer and as pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Presby-
terian Church. His somewhat sensational sermons were widely
puMished.
4 Ashes left us in 1864. Atlanta at the beginning of the Civil
War was strongly fortified by the Confederates and was de-
fended first by General Johnston and then by General Hood.
It was captured by Sherman in September, 1864, and as a con-
sequence of military operations was nearly destroyed by fire.
. 5 The South has nothing to take back. One might well con-
sider it difficult to induce a Northern audience in 1886 to accept
that view. Through what logic or new evidence could the
326 LIVES AND NOTES
speaker hope to reconcile the conflicting opinions of the North
and the South? Grady's statement might well be considered
the opening sally in a fierce dispute and better suited to arouse
enmity than to win reconciliation. Such would have been the
case had the orator proceeded to debate the justice of his
cause. He was content, however, to lay argument aside and to
rely on persuasion. When he referred to sentiments universal
among men and wakened in his audience a common love for
country, home, and family, he and his hearers met on ground
where there was no difference of opinion, and the irreconcilable
conflict was forgotten.
6 A name dear to me. The father of the speaker, Colonel
Grady, was born in North Carolina but became a prominent
business man in Athens, Georgia. He entered the Confederate
army and was killed while leading his regiment in a charge at
Petersburg.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-fifth president of the United
States, was born in New York City in 1858. Shortly after his
graduation from Harvard University, he became a member of
the New York state legislature. He subsequently held several
important public offices, including that of police commissioner
of New York City, and member of the United States Civil
Service Commission. In 1898 he resigned as assistant secretary
of the navy to organize a volunteer cavalry regiment which
later became famous as the " Rough Riders." At the conclu-
sion of the Spanish American War, he was elected governor of
New York State, and in 1900 was elected vice-president of the
United States. In September, 1901, at the death of President
William McKinley, Roosevelt became president; and in 1904
by vote of the people was returned to the same office. In 1912
he broke away from the Republican party and ran for the
presidency on the Progressive ticket, but was defeated by
Woodrow Wilson. He subsequently engaged in literary work
and took an active part in public affairs. At the beginning
of the war he espoused the side of the allies; and when the
United States entered the contest, offered to raise and equip a
regiment. He died suddenly on January 6, 1919.
History will credit to the public life of Theodore Roosevelt
the aid he gave to downtrodden wage-earners, his advocacy
of military preparedness, and his ideal that with men and na-
LIVES AND NOTES 327
tions expanded influence implies enlarged duty. As a private
citizen he will be remembered for his joy in living, his cheer-
ful optimism, the gentleness of his family life, and the warmth
of his friendship. The breadth of his sympathy is shown in
the fact that during his presidency the White House was the
resort alike of philosophers and theologians, and of prize-
fighters and Rough Riders. He preferred to win through con-
test rather than compromise. His adherence to the side of
justice and his moral and physical courage were never in
doubt. His political opponents commended his sincerity and
manliness. Before his death he was known both at home and
abroad as " America's first citizen."
The Strenuous Life
The text is abridged from The Strenuous Life, The Century
Company, New York, 1902.
Observe the means taken by the speaker in the first two
paragraphs to secure the benevolent attention of his audience.
1 Our army needs complete reorganization. It is said that we
won the war with Spain not because of our military efficiency,
but because decrepit Spain was poorer than we. Many of the
principal officers of our army not only had had no experience
in the field with large bodies of men but were also physically
unable to endure the hardships of a campaign. Late in Roose-
velt's last term as president he directed that each army officer
should prove his ability to walk fifty miles in three days or
ride one hundred. As his order was bitterly opposed by the
army and by the press, the President gave an illustration of
the strenuous life by riding on horseback over one hundred
miles in a single day.
2 Ignoble peace. In his Autobiography Roosevelt says there
are men who put peace ahead of righteousness and " who seek
to make the United States impotent for international good
under the pretense of making us impotent for international evil.
All the men of this kind, and all the organizations they have
controlled, since we began our career as a nation, all put to-
gether, have not accomplished one hundredth part as much for
both peace and righteousness, have not done one hundredth
part as much either for ourselves or for other peoples, as was
accomplished by the people of the United States when they
fought the war with Spain, and with resolute good faith and
328 LIVES AND NOTES
commonsense worked out the solution of the problems which
sprang from the war."
3 The domination of the world. While President Roosevelt
may not have had the German nation definitely in mind, it is
true that it was even then using every means to extend its em-
pire and was very jealous of the expansion of other powers.
HERBERT HENRY ASQUITH
The Right Honorable Herbert Henry Asquith was born at
Morley, Yorkshire, England, September 12, 1852. He was edu-
cated at the City of London School and Balliol College, Oxford.
In 1886 he was elected member of Parliament for East Fife and
holds that office to this day. In 1892 he was appointed secre-
tary of state for the Home Department and ecclesiastical com-
missioner. He held both these offices for three years. From
1905 to 1908 he was chancellor of the exchequer, and in the
latter year became First Lord of the Treasury and prime min-
ister. When war was declared he heroically took the respon-
sibility for its management on his own shoulders by becoming
secretary of state for war. Although he subsequently gave way
to David Lloyd-George he was generally recognized by his
friends and opponents alike as a stalwart supporter of the war
and as one of the master leaders in the United Kingdom.
The Call to Arms
The text is found in The New York Times Current History
of the European War, vol. I, No. 2, pp. 309-313. It has been
slightly abbreviated.
One cannot but admire the spirit that animates this speech
when one remembers that it was spoken before the Germans
were checked in the battle of the Marne.
1 Eirencon. A measure for securing peace. The proposed
arbitration treaties were at that time under discussion. The
treaty between Great Britain and the United States was as-
sured but not finally revised, approved, and signed by both
nations until October 8, 1914. It provided that matter in dis-
pute between the two nations must be referred to an interna-
tional commission for investigation. It also bound each nation
not to enter upon hostilities before receiving a report from the
commission. Similar treaties were made by the United States
with nearly all other civilized powers except Germany which
declined to be so bound.
LIVES AND NOTES 329
2 The sack of Louvain. At Louvain in addition to the out-
rages that marked the progress of the Germans through Belgium,
they destroyed the beautiful cathedral and burned the library
with its priceless manuscripts.
3 Sir Edward Grey. For an account of what Lord Grey, sec-
retary of foreign relations, had accomplished for the world's
peace before the beginning of the Great War, see Europe's
Ablest Diplomat, an article in Harpers Weekly for May 3, 1913.
In 1914 when Austria delivered her ultimatum to Servia, Grey
at once sought to have the difference submitted to arbitration.
On July 27 he proposed that France, Italy, Germany, and
Russia meet in London in conference. Germany declined. He
then proposed that Austria and Russia confer; and Austria
declined. He next suggested that Austria occupy Belgrade and
the neighboring territory as a pledge for a satisfactory settle-
ment on the part of the powers. On July 29 he announced that
as far as England was concerned, mediation was ready to come
into operation by any method that Germany thought possible.
4 Who do not mean to separate. On the very day that this
speech was delivered England, France, and Russia, signed a
treaty binding each not to conclude a separate peace.
5 The children of the empire. The relations between the
colonies and the Mother Country may well be contrasted with
that existing during the premiership of Lord North, minister of
George III to whom clung German traditions. The filial
response of the children of the empire far surpassed Edmund
Burke's most hopeful dreams.
6 Mobilization was ordered. Only a month had passed since
war was declared, but the response to the call for volunteers
had been such as to upset all the German calculations and to
make a victory at the Marne a possibility.
7 Absolutely assured of reinstatement. Such expressions indi-
cate how little statesmen realized the possible extent and dura-
tion of the war.
WOODROW WILSON
Woodrow Wilson was born at Staunton, Virginia, on Decem-
ber 28, 1856. His early life was spent in the South. In 1879
he was graduated from Princeton College, and two years later
was graduated in law from the University of Virginia. After a
brief experience in law he studied at Johns Hopkins University.
330 LIVES AND NOTES
His thesis for the doctorate, Congressional Government, was his
first important writing.
In 1890 he became professor of history at Princeton, and in
1902 was made president of the university. In 1910 he was
elected governor of New Jersey — the first Democrat to hold that
ofhce in sixteen years. In 1912, he was chosen for the presidency
of the United States, and in 1916 was re-elected. On each occa-
sion he filled the high office with distinction. Besides his rare
insight as statesman, President Wilson has unusual ability as
a master of prose style. In these days of almost countless
political documents of world-wide importance, the pronounce-
ments of the President are generally accorded first place, both
for their form and for their sober wisdom.
Message to Congress, April 2, 1917
The text is taken from How the War Came to America, a
pamphlet issued by the Committee on Public Information,
Washington, 1918.
1 Extraordinary session. The session was extraordinary in
the sense that it was a special session. The regular session met
the first Monday in December.
2 Constitutionally permissible. The president cannot declare
war as the Constitution specifically gives that power to Con-
gress.
3 Its promise then given us. The President refers to the
pledge given in answer to our protests at the sinking of the
Sussex that in the future Germany would not sink merchant ves-
sels without warning and an opportunity for those on board to
escape. Germany's attempt to avoid responsibility for this
pledge by making it contingent on Great Britain's not continu-
ing the blockade was thwarted by President Wilson's note of
May 8, 1916, in which he stated that the United States could
not consider the promise in any way contingent on the actions of
any other country; and as Germany made no reply, consent was
understood in accordance with the usages of international law.
4 Ships have been sunk. Eight American ships had been
sunk in the previous two months. Two hundred and twenty-
six Americans had lost their lives, one hundred and fourteen
of whom perished in the sinking of th^ Lusitania.
5 Make very clear to all the world what our motives and err
objects are. This President Wilson was most successful in
accomplishing. Cardinal Mercier, on Memorial Day, 1919, well
LIVES AND NOTES 33*
expressed the common understanding of America's aim.
" Glorious America went into the war, unurged by any politi-
cal or material interests; without any idea of territorial con-
quest or vengeance, and gave the world a magnificent proof
of strength and energy. With an improvised army, attaining
immediately to the perfection of those created by traditions of
discipline, military science, and strategy.
" In days gone by, knights would bring swords before the
altar and beg God's blessing. The Pontiff would answer their
call, saying, 'If 1 die here, never wound man unjustly; de-
fend all that is right and all that is true.' Then the knight,
three times brandishing his naked sword, and the Pontiff giving
him the kiss of peace would say, f Peace be with you.'
" Three times within little more than a century have the
sons of the Great Republic drawn sword from the sheath for
liberty. Three times also it has given them victory. In 1776,
George Washington with the help of Lafayette, conquered for
Independence. In 1865, Abraham Lincoln drew asunder the
chains of slavery. On the second of April, 1917, your Presi-
dent called forth the members of Congress and spoke those im-
portant words that right is more precious than peace."
6 The old, unhappy days. Wordsworth says the solitary
reaper sang a ballad on
" old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago.."
7 The intercepted note. He refers to the Zimmerman note of
January 19, 1917, in which Mexico was notified of the com-
ing of unrestricted submarine warfare and was offered an
alliance with Germany. Mexico was to attempt to secure the
aid of Japan and was to invade the United States in the hope of
conquering Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Germany was to
assist the operations financially. The American Pro-German
press immediately branded the note as a forgery, but Germany
not only acknowledged the genuineness of the note but de-
fended it.
8 She can do no other. President Wilson closes his address
with an adaptation of a German sentiment that has come down
from better days. The reference is to the closing words of
Martin Luther's eloquent refusal to retract before the Diet of
Worms, " Here stand I. God helping me I can do no other."
332 LIVES AND NOTES
DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE
The Right Honorable David Lloyd-George was born at Man-
chester, England, in 1863. After completing his studies at the
Llanystymdwy Church School he became in 1884 a solicitor. In
1905 he became president of the Board of Trade; and, during
the three years he held that office, distinguished himself for
executive ability and breadth of vision. In 1908 he succeeded
Mr. Asquith as chancellor of the exchequer, and in 1916 when
the Liberal ministry came into power he succeeded Asquith as
prime minister. Although beset by many perplexing problems
Lloyd-George maintained his ministry through his tact in
carrying on the government and his success in waging a victori-
ous war.
The Meaning of America's Entrance into the War
The text is taken slightly abbreviated from The New York
Times of April 13, 1917.
1 Monarchical swashbucklers. A swashbuckler is a bully; or
a swaggering, boasting fellow.
2 Three wars all of conquest. Germany fought in 1864 with
Denmark; in 1866, with Austria; and in 1870, with France.
3 That victory on Monday. On Monday, April 9, 191 7, oc-
curred the battle of Vimy Ridge.
WOODROW WILSON
The Flag Day Speech
The text is taken from How the War Came to America, a
pamphlet issued by the Committee on Public Information, Wash-
ington, 1918.
1 Flag Day. The flag of the United States was formally
adopted by Congress on June 14, 1777. The governor of New
York State in 1897 first officially recommended the celebration
of the anniversary as an incentive to patriotism. The day is
now observed throughout the nation.
2 // has no other character than what we give it. The form
of this statement was probably influenced by Secretar)' of the
Interior Franklin K. Lane's speech on The Makers of the Flag.
The following sentences in which the flag is represented as
speaking, are quoted from the speech, " I am whatever you
LIVES AND NOTES 333
make me, nothing more. I am your belief in yourself, your
dream of what a people may become. I am the day's work of
the weakest man and the largest dream of the most daring. I
am the Constitution and the courts, statutes and the statute-
makers, soldier and dreadnaught, drayman and street sweep,
cook, counselor, and clerk. I am what you make me, nothing
more."
3 The German government itself here in our own Capital.
Count J. H. von Bernstoff, the German ambassador to the United
States, with the help of Dr. Bernhard Dernberg, directed Ger-
man propaganda in America. Bernstoff was connected with the
Zimmerman note. On January 22, 1917, he asked the German
foreign office for $50,000, with which to try to influence Congress,
and he was in communication with agents who undertook
sabotage. Dr. Constantin Dumba, the Austrian ambassador to
the United States, was vigorously engaged in fomenting labor
troubles. His activity in this direction was first definitely
established through one of his letters that fell into British hands.
4 The guns of German warships. At the beginning of the
war the German cruisers, the Goeben and the Breslau, took
refuge in the Dardanelles. Instead of interning these ships in
accordance with international law, the Turkish government —
then ostensibly neutral — pretended to buy them.
5 Our ancient tradition of isolation. This marks an advance
into participation in world politics beyond even that advocated
by President Roosevelt at the time of the Spanish-American
War.
OTTO H. KAHN
Otto H. Kahn was born in Mannheim, Germany, February
21, 1867. His early life was spent in that city and there he
received a college education and was enrolled for one year in
the German army. After learning banking in Germany, he
spent fivje years in London in a branch of the Deutsche Bank.
In August, 1893, he came to America and took up his residence
in New York where he became identified with American social
and commercial life. Although perhaps best known as a mem-
ber of Kuhn, Loeb, & Company and as a director of several
trust and railroad corporations, he has nevertheless generously
devoted himself to the promotion of numerous artistic and
literary movements. In the field of music he has served his fel-
low citizens as chairman of the Metropolitan and Century
334 LIVES AND NOTES
Opera companies, and has assisted several other musical or-
ganizations both in America and in England. His pen and
voice have constantly championed the cause of democracy and
social and political reform. He has looked to education to help
solve many of the social problems of the day and has always
been a generous supporter of such work. When the great
problem of the world war presented itself to the American
people, German born though he was, Mr. Kahn immediately
took the side of justice and democracy against Prussian domi-
nation. His first hand knowledge of German conditions and his
thorough-going Americanism enabled him to perform a unique
service in mobilizing the loyalty of American citizens of Ger-
man birth.
Prussianized Germany
The text is taken from pp. 77-87, Right above Race, New
York, 1918.
President Wilson has said: "I would not be afraid upon the
test of ' America first ' to take a census of all the foreign born
citizens of the United States, for I know that the majority of
them came here because they believed in America; and their
belief in America made them better citizens than some peo-
ple who were born in America. ... I am not deceived as to
the balance of opinion among the foreign born citizens of the
United States, but I am in a hurry for an opportunity to have a
line-up and let the men who are thinking first of other countries
stand on one side, and all those that are for America, first, last,
and all the time, on the other side."
1 The only road. The German people were led astray
through the substitution of propaganda for education; a re-
turn to their former happy condition could be effected only
through revolution.
2 Only one course. In Where Do You Stand? a book ad-
dressed to German-Americans, Herman Hagedorn writes as
follows. " Where do you stand ? The question has been put to
nations and to men again and again since that tragic day in
1914 when the Great War began. Turkey and Bulgaria an-
swered it in one way; Servia and Belgium, in another.
" We Americans of German origin stand at the cross-roads.
If we step forth now, without hesitation, and without reserve
for America and her cause, we will be regarded henceforth as
Americans and nothing but Americans, loved and respected
LIVES AND NOTES 335
more possibly than any other element in our population, because
we have been put to the greatest test of all and have proved
faithful to the Republic.
" I appeal to you because I am one of you. I have been torn
as you are torn. I love German men and women and German
forests and hills and songs as you love them. I too have a
father in Germany; I too had a German mother; and I too
have brothers fighting in Germany's armies. For a time my
reason as well as my heart was with Germany's cause, and even
after my reason would no longer Tet me hope for Germany's
triumph, for a time my heart was still rebelliously thrilled at
the news of a German victory.
" And I say to you most solemnly, the time has come for us
all who are of German origin to stand forth and individually
and collectively, publicly declare ourselves.
" I am against Germany. I wish to see my country victori-
ous and Germany defeated. To the fulfilment of this wish, I
pledge my hands, my heart, and my spirit."
WOODROW WILSON
President Wilson's Address at Baltimore
The text of this speech is taken from The Brooklyn Eagle
of April 7, 1918.
1 This is the anniversary. Congress declared war on April
6, 1917.
2 The nation is awake. Unity of sentiment and unity of
action were at last found throughout the nation.
3 Are ready to lend to the utmost. The first Liberty Loan
was opened on June 15, 1917. $2,000,000,000 was offered at
3^2 per cent and $3,035,226,850 was subscribed. The second
loan came on October 27, 1917. The amount asked was $3,000,-
000,000 at 4 per cent and $4,617,532,300 was subscribed. The
loan offered on April 6, 1917, the day of this speech, was for
$3,000,000,000 at 4*4 per cent. $4,170,019,650 was subscribed.
The fact that seventeen million people subscribed not less than
fifty dollars each for the third loan indicates the sense of per-
sonal responsibility that animated the American nation in the
second year of American participation in the Great War.
4 The man who knows least can now see plainly. Note the
confident, optimistic tone of the speaker. He knows that a
united nation stands behind him.
336 LIVES AND NOTES
5 They are enjoying in Russia a cheap triumph. On Decem-
ber 15, 1917, as a result of generous promises on the part of
Germany, an armistice was signed between the Central Powers
and the Bolsheviki government of Russia at Brest-Litovsk. In
the parley that followed Germany rapidly withdrew the rea-
sonable advances that she had made at first. Not only did
Germany refuse to evacuate Russian occupied territory, but she
refused to allow the Russian people to determine their own
form of government and political affiliations. Russia, more-
over, was to be obligated to indemnify Germany for war
losses, but the latter would not be expected to repay Russia for
damages done in the war.
6 Force to the utmost. America mobilized 4,272,521 men. Of
these over 2,000,000 were sent to France. At the time the
armistice was signed the United States possessed the largest
army on the western front except that of France.
CHARLES EVANS HUGHES
Charles Evans Hughes, the son of Reverend David D.
Hughes, a Baptist clergyman, was born in Glens Falls, New
York, in 1862. After his graduation from Brown University
he took up the study of law in preparation for his subsequent
practice in New York City. While engaged in this profession
he came into national prominence as a special investigator of
the irregular practices of the large life insurance corporations.
The public admiration he won for himself in this investigation
sent him in 1907 to the governor's chair at Albany.
His administration as governor was characterized by ag-
gressive but sound legislation. Among other reforms that he
urged was the abolishment of commercialized race-track gam-
bling. In 1909 he was reelected as governor but resigned the
following year to accept an appointment from President Taft
as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
In 1916 he accepted the Republican nomination for president.
With the assistance of both Theodore Roosevelt and Ex-
president Taft he tried to lead the Republican party to victory,
but was unsuccessful. During the World War, as chairman
of the board appointed to administer the Selective Service Act,
he gave his country efficient aid in enforcing the draft.
In 1920 he was appointed Secretary of State by President
Harding. In spite of the difficulties occasioned by a marked
LIVES AND NOTES 337
change of national policy he administered the complex affairs
of this important office so successfully as to win both the
plaudits of his countrymen and the respect and confidence of
European statesmen. Mr. Balfour said in nominating him for
chairman of the conference for the limitation of armament
that Secretary Hughes was fitted for the great and responsible
duty by capacity, character, courtesy, and experience. His
private and public life have been so admirable that his op-
ponents, even in the heat of political controversy, are inclined
rather to attack his policies than attempt to dispute either his
ability or character.
Limitation of Armament
The text is that found in the daily papers of November 13,
1921.
1 Discernible sources of controversy. Differences of opinion
concerning the rights of oriental labor, the reputed ambition
of Japan to control the islands of the Pacific, opportunities for
trade with China, the Anglo-Japanese alliance, and the loca-
tion of cable and naval stations, had at times been considered
possible causes of war between the United States and other
countries.
2 The Far Eastern questions. On December 13, 1921, repre-
sentatives of Japan, Great Britain, France, and the United
States signed a four power treaty in which they engaged for
ten years to cooperate peacefully in the Pacific. In case of
controversy they agreed to meet in conference to determine
upon appropriate action.
3 The cost of victory. Ten million lives were lost in the
World War, two hundred and fifty billion dollars' worth of
property was destroyed, and the national debts of the principal
countries rose from forty-three billion dollars in 1913 to three
hundred and eighty-two billion dollars in 1920. Because of
the war the German debt increased fifty fold; the United
States debt, twenty-four fold; the British debt, twelve fold;
the French debt, eight fold; and the Italian debt, six fold.
4 A matter of vital necessity. Great Britain's expense for
her navy rose from $150,000,000 in 1907 to $1,670,000,000 in
1918; and during the same period the annual naval expense
of the United States increased from $100,000,000 to $1,800,-
000,000. It is expected that the Hughes plan will save a total
of $600,000,000 a year for the three countries concerned.
338 LIVES AND NOTES
5 With the acceptance of this plan. The concrete plan which
Secretary Hughes laid before the conference at this point in
his address is as follows:
The United States is now completing its program of 1916
calling for ten new battleships and six battle cruisers. One
battleship has been completed. The others are in various
stages of construction; in some cases from sixty to eighty per
cent, of the construction has been done. On these fifteen
capital ships now being built over $330,000,000 have been spent.
Still the United States is willing, in the interest of an immedi-
ate limitation of naval armaments, to scrap all these ships.
The United States proposes, if this plan is accepted:
(1) To scrap all capital ships now under construction.
This includes six battle cruisers and seven battleships on the
ways and in the course of building, and two battleships
launched.
The total number of new capital ships thus to be scrapped
is fifteen. The total tonnage of the new capital ships when
completed would be 618,000 tons.
(2) To scrap all of the older battleships up to, but not
including, the Delaware and North Dakota. The number of
these old battleships to be scrapped is fifteen. Their total ton-
nage is 227,740 tons.
Thus the number of capital ships to be scrapped by the
United States, if this plan is accepted, is thirty, with an aggre-
gate tonnage (including that of ships in construction, if com-
pleted) of 845,740 tons.
The plan contemplates that Great Britain and Japan shall
take action which is fairly commensurate with this action on
the part of the United States.
It is proposed that Great Britain:
(1) Shall stop further construction of the four new Hoods,
the new capital ships not laid down, but upon which money
has been spent. The four ships, if completed, would have a
tonnage displacement of 172,000 tons.
(2) Shall, in addition, scrap her pre-dreadnoughts, second
line battleships and first line battleships up to, but not includ-
ing the King George V. class.
These, with certain pre-dreadnoughts which it is understood
have already been scrapped, would amount to nineteen capital
ships and a tonnage reduction of 411,375 tons.
The total tonnage of ships thus to be scrapped by Great
LIVES AND NOTES 339
Britain (including the tonnage of the four Hoods, if com-
pleted) would be 583,375 tons.
It is proposed that Japan:
(1) Shall abandon her program of ships not yet laid down,
viz., the K-Il, Oivari, No. 7 and No. 8, battleships, and Nos. 5,
6, 7 and 8, battle cruisers.
It should be observed that this does not involve the stopping
of construction, as the construction of none of these ships has
been begun.
(2) Shall scrap three capital ships (the Mutsu, launched;
the Tosa, the Kago, in course of building), and four battle
cruisers (the Amagi and Akagi, in course of building, and the
Atoga and Takao, not yet laid down, but for which certain
material has been assembled).
The total number of new capital ships to be scrapped under
this paragraph is seven. The total tonnage of these new
capital ships, when completed, would be 289,130 tons.
(3) Shall scrap all pre-dreadnoughts and battleships of the
second line. This would include the scrapping of all ships up
to, but not including, the Settsu; that is, the scrapping of ten
old ships, with a total tonnage of 159,828 tons.
The total reduction of tonnage on vessels existing, laid down
or for which material has been assembled (taking the tonnage
of the new ships when completed) would be 448,928 tons.
Thus, under this plan, there would be immediately destroyed,
of the navies of the three powers, sixty-six capital righting
ships, built and building, with a total tonnage of 1,878,043.
It is proposed that it should be agreed by the United States,
Great Britain and Japan that their navies, with respect to
capital ships, within three months after the making of th?
agreement, shall consist of certain ships, designated in the pro-
posal, and number for the United States 18, for Great Britain
22, for Japan 10.
The tonnage of these ships would be as follows: Of the
United States 500,650, of Great Britain 604,450, of Japan
299,700. In reaching this result the age factor in the case of
the respective navies has reached appropriate consideration.
With respect to replacement, the United States proposes:
(1) That it be agreed that the first replacement tonnage
shall not be laid down until ten years from the date of ths
agreement.
(2) That replacements be limited by an agreed maximum
of capital ship tonnage as follows:
340 LIVES AND NOTES
For the United States, 500,000 tons.
For Great Britain, 500,000 tons.
For Japan, 300,000 tons.
(3) That, subject to the ten year limitation above fixed and
the maximum standard, capital ships may be replaced when
they are twenty years old by new capital ship construction.
(4) That no capital ship shall be built in replacement wilh
a tonnage displacement of more than 35,000 tons.
I have sketched the proposal only in outline, leaving the
technical details to be supplied by the formal proposition, which
is ready for submission to the delegates.
The plan includes provision for the limitation of auxiliary
surface combatant craft. This term embraces three classes,
that is:
(1) Auxiliary surface combatant craft, such as cruisers (ex-
clusive of battle cruisers), flotilla leaders, destroyers, and vari-
ous surface types; (2) submarines and (3) airplane carriers.
On December 15, 1921, the representatives of the United
States, Great Britain, and Japan signed the so-called 5-5-3
Three Power naval agreement. It practically reproduced the
Hughes plan; but it. permitted the completion of the North
Dakota and the Delaware by the United States and two super-
Hoods by Great Britain. Japan was released from destroying
the sentiment-financed Mutsu which was built with yen and
sen from the pockets of the poor.
On February 6, 1922, the representatives of the conferring
powers solemnly signed treaties concerning the limitation of
naval armament, the specification of national rights in the
Pacific, the restriction of the use of poison gas and submarines
*in warfare, and the maintenance of native rule in China. The
conference then came to an end.
j^4
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