APPENDIX.

“If you know better rules than these, be free,Impart them; but if not, use these with me.”[115]

“If you know better rules than these, be free,

Impart them; but if not, use these with me.”[115]

And now, what is the object of the war? This question is often asked, and the answer is not always candid. It is sometimes said that it is to abolish Slavery. Here is a mistake, or a misrepresentation. It is sometimes said, in cant language, that the object is “the Constitution as it is and the Union as it was.” Here is another mistake or misrepresentation, which becomes more offensive when it is known that by “the Constitution as it is” is meant simply the right to hold and hunt slaves, and by “the Union as it was” is meant those halcyon days of Proslavery Democracy, when the ballot-box was destroyed in Kansas, when freedom of debate was menaced in the Senate, and when chains were put upon the Boston Court-House. Not for any of these things is this war waged. Not to abolish Slavery or to establish Slavery, but simply to put down the Rebellion. And here the question occurs, How can this object be best accomplished?

In discussing this question with proper frankness, I shall develop and vindicate that policy of which the President’s Proclamation is the herald, and to which his Administration is publicly pledged. The Administration belongs to us, and we belong to the Administration. My aim is to bring the Administration and the people nearer together, by showing the ground on which they must meet, for the sake of the Republic, and that it may not perish beneath felon blows.

I start, of course, with the assumption, in which you will all unite, that this war must be brought to a close. It must not be allowed to drag its slow length along, bloody, and fruitless except with death. Lives enough have been sacrificed, graves enough have been filled, homes enough have been emptied, patriot soldiers enough have been sent back halt and maimed with one leg or one arm, tears enough have been shed. Nor is this all; treasure enough has been expended. It is common to think only of the national debt, now swelling to unnatural proportions; but this will be small by the side of the fearful sum-total of loss from destruction of property, derangement of business, and change of productive to unproductive industry. Even if we do not acceptthe conclusions of an ingenious calculator who places this damage at ten thousand millions of dollars, we must confess that it is an immensity, which, like the numbers representing sidereal distances, the imagination refuses to grasp. To stop this infinity of waste there must be peace; to stop this cruel slaughter there must be peace. In the old wars between King and Parliament, which rent England, the generous Falkland cried from his soul, “Peace! peace!” and history gratefully records his words. Never did he utter this cry with more earnestness than I do now. But how shall the blessing be secured?

I start with the further assumption, that there can be no separation of these States. Foreign nations may predict what Rebels threaten, but this result is now impossible. Pray, good Sirs, where will you run the boundary line? Shall it be the cotton limit? Shall it embrace Virginia in whole or part? How about Tennessee? Kentucky? Or shall it be the most natural line of cleavage, the slave line? And how will you adjust the navigation of the Mississippi, and the whole question of Slavery? And what principles, commercial and political, shall be established between the two Governments? But do not deceive yourselves into the idea that peace founded on separation can be anything but a delusion and a snare. Separation is interminable war, “never ending, still beginning,”—worse than the forays which ravaged the Scottish border, or the Tartar invasions which harassed China until its famous wall was built, fifteen hundred miles long, and so thick that six horsemen ride upon it abreast. War will be chronic, and we must all sleep on our arms. Better that it be all at once, rather than diffused over a generation. If blood must be shed, better for a year than for an age.

But if there be anything in the Monroe doctrine, if we could not accommodate ourselves to the foothold of Europe upon this continent, how can we recognize on our borders a malignant Slave empire, with Slavery as its boasted corner-stone, constituting what Shakespeare calls “an impudent nation,” embittered and enraged against us, without law, without humanity, and without morals,—a mighty Blue-Beard’s Chamber,—an enormous House of Ill-Fame? We would not allow the old Kingdom of the Assassins to be revived at our side. But wherein are our Rebels better?

Nor can you recognize such separation without delivering over this cherished Union to chaos. If the Rebel States are allowed to go, what can be retained? It is true, there can be no constitutional right to break up the Constitution, but the precedent unhappily recognized would unsettle this whole fabric of States. Therefore, fellow-citizens, there can be no separation. But how to prevent it,—in other words, how to hamstring the Rebellion and conquer a peace,—this is the question.

The Rebels are in arms, aroused, at home, on their own soil, and resolved never to yield. Nothing less than independence will satisfy them: if the war continues, I know not that they will be content with this. Two policies are presented on our side,—one looking primarily to Rebel conciliation, and the other looking primarily to Rebel submission. Both have the same elements, although in diverse order. The first begins with conciliation in order to end with Rebel submission, which iscart before horse. The second begins with Rebel submission in order to end with conciliation. The question is simply this,—Whether conciliation shall precede or follow submission? Conciliation is always proper, where possible; but, at this stage, it is obviously impossible. If anybody believes that now any word or act of conciliation, any forbearance on our part, any hesitation in exercise of the sternest Rights of War, will help us to victory or contribute to put down the Rebellion, let me not enter into that man’s counsels, for they can end in nothing but shame and disaster. I find that they who talk most against coercion of Rebels and coercion of States are indifferent to the coercion of four million people, men, women, and children, to work without wages under discipline of the lash. Without hesitation I say that the Rebels must be subdued,—call it coercion or subjugation, whichever you please: our war has this direct object. With victory will come conciliation, clemency, amnesty. But first victory.

To obtain victory, two things are needed: first, a precise comprehension of the case, and, secondly, vigor of conduct. One will not do without the other. It will not be enough to comprehend the case, unless you are ready to treat it with corresponding vigor. And it will not be enough to have vigor, unless you discern clearly how the case shall be treated. To this end there must be statesmen as well as generals.

The first duty of the good physician is to understand the condition of his patient,—whether it is a case of medicine or surgery, of cutaneous eruption or deep-seated cancer. This is called diagnosis. Of course, if this fails, the whole treatment will be a failure. Butthe statesman, in all the troubles of his country, has the same preliminary duty. He, too, must see whether it is a case for medicine or surgery, of cutaneous eruption or deep-seated cancer. And since all that he does must be precisely according to his judgment of the case, error here must be equally fatal.

Next to comprehension of the case is vigor in conduct, which is more needful in proportion as the case becomes desperate. This must be not only in the field, but also in council,—not only against the serried front of the enemy, but against those more fatal influences that come from lack of comprehension or lack of courage. The same vigor we require in our generals must be required also in our statesmen,—the same spirit must animate both. No folding of the hands, no putting off till to-morrow what can be done to-day, no hesitation, no timidity, butaction,action,action, straightforward, manly, devoted action. It is easy to see that this is required in the field; but it is no less required in every sphere of the Government, from President to paymaster.

In war there are some who content themselves with triumphs of prudence instead of triumphs of courage, and spend much time in trying how not to be beaten, instead of how to beat. They are content to forego victory, if they can escape defeat, forgetting that Fabius was only a defender and not a conqueror, that a policy fit at one time may be unfit at another, that a war waged in an enemy’s country cannot be defensive, nor can it prevail by any procrastination. People at home, on their own soil, can afford to wait. Every month, every week, every day is an ally. But we cannot wait. No moment must be spared. Not in this way battled those ancient commanders called “The Two Thunderbolts of War.” Not in this way did Napoleon defeat the Austrian forces at Marengo, and shatter the Prussian power on the field of Jena.

But there are “thunderbolts” of the cabinet as well as of the field. The elder Pitt, who was only a civilian, infused his own conquering soul into the British arms, making them irresistible; and the French Carnot, while a member of the Committee of Public Safety, was said to have organized victory. Such is the statesmanship now needed for us. And there must be generals who will carry forward all that the most courageous statesmanship directs.

Armies and men we have of rarest quality. Better never entered a field or kept step to drum-beat. Intelligent and patriotic, they have left pleasant homes, to offer themselves, if need be, for their country. They are no common hirelings, mere food for powder, but generous citizens, who have determined that their country shall be saved. Away in camp, or battle, or hospital, let them not be forgotten. But, better than gratitude even, we owe them the protection which comes from good generals and courageous counsels. O God! let them not be led to useless slaughter like sheep, nor be compelled to take the hazard of death from climate and exposure, as well as from ball and bayonet, without giving them at once all the allies which can be rallied to their support. In the name of humanity, and for the sake of victory, I make this appeal. But the loyal everywhere are allies. And does loyalty depend upon color? Is it skin or heart that we consult? Do youask the color of a benefactor? As I listen to people higgling on the question how to treat Africans coming to our rescue, I am reminded of that famous incident, where the Emperor of Austria, driven back by the Turks, three hundred thousand strong, and besieged in Vienna until at the point of surrender, was suddenly saved by the gallant Sobieski of Poland. The Emperor, big with imperial pride, thought chiefly of his own supereminent rank,—as a Proslavery Democrat thinks of his,—and hesitated how to receive his Polish benefactor, who was only an elected king, when the Austrian commander said: “Sire, receive him as the saviour of your empire.” The Emperor gave to his saviour hardly more than a cold salute; and we are told to imitate this stolid ingratitude.

Wherever I turn in this war, I find the African ready to be our saviour. If you ask for strategy, I know nothing better than that of the slave, Robert Small, who brought the Rebel steamer Planter with its armament out of Charleston, and surrendered it to our Commodore as prize of war. If you ask for successful courage, I know nothing better than that of the African, Tillman, who rose upon a Rebel prize-crew, and, overcoming them, carried the ship into New York. If you ask for heroism, you will find it in that nameless African on board the Pawnee, who, while passing shell from the magazine, lost both his legs by a ball, but, still holding a shell, cries out, “Pass up the shell,—never mind me; my time is up.” If you ask for fidelity, you will find it in that slave, also without a name, who pointed out the road of safety to the harassed, retreating Army of the Potomac. And if you ask for evidence of desire for freedom, you willfind it in the little slave-girl, journeying North, whom Banks took up on his cannon.

It is now as at earlier stages of our history. The African is performing his patriotic part, so far as you will let him. At the famous massacre, when the first blood of the Revolution reddened the ice-clad pavements of Boston, Crispus Attucks, an African, once a slave, was among the victims. At Bunker Hill, where our homely troops first stood against British valor, Peter Salem, also an African once a slave, was conspicuous for courage, to the cost of the royal officer who scaled the rampart, so that History names him with honor, and Art presents him in the fore-front of the battle. Trumbull has portrayed the scene. So long as that picture endures, so long as that historic battle haunts the memory, you cannot forget the African fellow-soldier of Prescott and Warren. But there are others like him, ready now to do the same service.

Not for the first time do I here make this appeal. Constantly I have made it before the people and in the Senate, by speech and proposition. I give an instance, being a resolution in the Senate, offered May 26th of this year.

“Resolved, That, in the prosecution of the present war for the suppression of a wicked Rebellion, the time has come for the Government of the United States to appeal to the loyalty of the whole people everywhere, but especially in the Rebel districts, and to invite all, without distinction of color, to make their loyalty manifest by ceasing to fight or labor for the Rebels, and also by rendering every assistance in their power to the cause of the Constitution and the Union, according to their ability, whether by arms, or labor, orinformation, or in any other way; and since protection and allegiance are reciprocal duties, dependent upon each other, it is the further duty of the Government of the United States to maintain all such loyal people, without distinction of color, in their rights asmen, according to the principles of the Declaration of Independence.”[116]

I need not stop to discuss this resolution. You know my opinions, and how I have pressed them in debate. You may also be assured that I have never failed to present them in that quarter where it was peculiarly important they should prevail. On the 4th of July of the present year, in a personal interview with the President, I said: “You need more men, not only at the North, but at the South, in the rear of the Rebels: you need the slaves. Say the word, and you can give to our armies this invaluable alliance,—you can change the rear-guard of the Rebellion into the advance-guard of the Union. It is now the 4th of July. You can make this day more sacred and more historic, and do for it better than the Continental Congress.” Had Emancipation been spoken at that time, I cannot doubt that the salvation of our country would have begun thus earlier. Of course, such a word would have been a blast from the war-trumpet, justified as a military necessity, according to examples of history and the heart of man. And such a blast the President has now blown.

But it is said that all appeal to slaves is unconstitutional; and it is openly assumed that rebels making war on the Constitution are not, like other public enemies, beyond its protection. Why this peculiar tenderness, whenever Slavery is in question? Battalions may be shot down, and property taken without due process of law, but Slavery must not be touched. The ancient Egyptians, when conquered, submitted easily to loss of life and property; but when a Roman soldier happened to kill a cat in the streets, they rose and tore him limb from limb with such violent excitement that the generals overlooked the outrage for fear of insurrection. Slavery is our sacred cat, not to be touched without fear of insurrection. Sir, I am tired and disgusted at hearing the Constitution perpetually invoked for Slavery. According to certain authorities, the Constitution is all for Slavery and nothing for Freedom. I am proud to own that with me just the reverse is the case. There are people who keep apothecaries’ scales, in which they nicely weigh everything done for Freedom. I have no such scales, where Freedom is in question, nor do I hesitate to say that in a case of Freedom all such nicety is unconstitutional. The Constitution is not mean, stingy, and pettifogging, but open-handed, liberal, and just, inclining always in favor of Freedom, and enabling the Government, in time of war, not only to exercise any Rights of War, including liberation of slaves, but also to confer any largess or bounty—it may be of money, or, better still, of freedom—for services rendered. I do not dwell now on the unanswerable argument by which John Quincy Adams has placed this power beyond question.[117]Whatever the provisions of the Constitution for protection of the citizen, they are inapplicable to what is done against a public enemy. The law of an Italian city prohibited the letting of blood under penalty of death; but this did not doomthe surgeon who opened a vein to save the life of a citizen. In war there is no constitutional limit to the activity of the Executive, except the emergency. The safety of the people is the highest law. There is no blow the President can strike, there is nothing he can do against the Rebellion, that is not constitutional. Only inaction can be unconstitutional.

Some there are who would sacrifice the lives of our Northern liberty-loving people, and, if this does not save the Union, then strike Slavery. This again is putting cart before horse. Slavery should be struck to save precious blood. The life of a single patriot is worth more than all Slavery; ay, more, it has stronger securities in the Constitution.

Search the writers on the Law of Nations, and you will find the appeal to slaves justified. Search history, whether in ancient or modern times, and you will find it justified by example. In our Revolution, this appeal was made by three different British commanders,—Lord Dunmore, Sir Henry Clinton, and Lord Cornwallis. I do not stop for details. That their appeal was not unsuccessful is evident from concurring testimony. Its propriety was admitted by Jefferson, while describing his own individual losses from Cornwallis.

“He destroyed all my growing crops of corn and tobacco; he burned all my barns, containing the same articles of the last year, having first taken what corn he wanted; he used,as was to be expected, all my stock of cattle, sheep, and hogs, for the sustenance of his army, and carried off all the horses capable of service.…He carried off, also, about thirty slaves. Had this been to give them freedom, he would have done right.…From an estimate I made at that time,on the best information I could collect, I supposed the State of Virginia lost, under Lord Cornwallis’s hands, that year, about thirty thousand slaves.”[118]

It would be difficult to imagine testimony stronger. Here was a sufferer, justly indignant for himself and his State; but he does not doubt that an enemy would do right in carrying off slaves to give them freedom.

The enterprise of Lord Dunmore deserves more particular mention. His proclamation was thus explicit:—

“And I do hereby further declare all indented servants, negroes or others (appertaining to rebels), free, that are able and willing to bear arms, they joining his Majesty’s troops as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this colony to a proper sense of their duty to his Majesty’s crown and dignity.”[119]

Its effect is amply attested. Edmund Pendleton writes to Richard Henry Lee: “Letters mention that slaves flock to him in abundance; but I hope it is magnified.”[120]Lord Dunmore reports to his Government at home: “I have been endeavoring to raise two regiments here,—one of white people, the other of black. The former goes on very slowly, but the latter very well.”[121]Nothing shows the consternation more than a letter of Washington, who, after saying that “Lord Dunmore should be instantly crushed, if it takes the force of the whole colony to do it,” proceeds:—

“Otherwise, like a snow-ball in rolling, his army will getsize,—some through fear, some through promises, and some through inclination joining his standard: but that which renders the measure indispensably necessary is the negroes; for, if he gets formidable, numbers of them will be tempted to join who will be afraid to do it without.”[122]

To these authorities add the exclamation of Zubly, in the Continental Congress from Georgia:—

“I look on the plan we heard of yesterday to be vile, abominable, and infernal; but I am afraid it is practicable.”[123]

Naturally the representative of slave-masters did not approve it. It is enough that he thought it “practicable.”

Several years later, Lord Dunmore reiterated his sentiments and vindicated his appeal. This was at Charleston, where he addressed a communication to Sir Henry Clinton at New York, under date of February 2, 1782, in which he says:—

“Every one that I have conversed with think—and, I must own, my own sentiments perfectly coincide with theirs—that the most efficacious, expeditious, cheapest, and certain means of reducing this country to a proper sense of their duty is in employing the blacks, who are, in my opinion, not only better fitted for service in this warm climate than white men, but they are also better guides, may be got on much easier terms, and are perfectly attached to our sovereign. And by employing them, you cannot devise a means more effectual to distress your foes, not only by depriving them of their property, but by depriving them of their labor. You in reality deprive them of their existence; for without their labor they cannot subsist.”[124]

These examples, with all this testimony, vindicate our Proclamation.

There are other instances nearer our own day. During the last war with England, Admiral Cochrane, commander-in-chief of the British squadron on the American station, was openly charged with inviting slaves of our planters to join the British standard, although the phraseology of his proclamation was covert, offering “all those who might be disposed to emigrate from the United States” service under his Majesty, or encouragement as “free settlers” in the British possessions.[125]Something similar has been anticipated by our own Government on the coast of Florida, as appears from an official report.

“In the event of war with either of the great European powers possessing colonies in the West Indies, there would be danger of the Peninsula of Florida being occupied by blacks from the islands. A proper regard to the security of our Southern States requires that prompt and efficient measures be adopted to prevent such a state of things.”[126]

Here is distinct recognition of danger from black soldiers, if employed against us.

Admitting that an appeal to slaves is constitutional, and also according to examples of history, it is said that it will be unavailing, for the slaves will not hearken to it. Then why not try? It can do no harm, and willat least give us a good name. But, if not beyond learning from the enemy, we shall see that the generals most hated on our side, and, like Adams and Hancock in the Revolution, specially excepted from pardon, are Phelps and Hunter, plainly because the ideas of these generals are more dreaded than any battery or strategy. Of this be assured: the opponents of this appeal are not anxious because it will fail; only because it may be successful do they oppose it. They fear it will reach the slaves, rather than not reach them.

Look at it candidly, and you cannot deny that it must produce an effect. It is idle to say that its influence will be bounded by our jurisdiction. When the mill-gates are lifted, all the water above, in its most distant sources, starts on its way; and so will the slaves. Remote kingdoms trembled at the Pope’s excommunication and interdict, and an elegant historian has described the thunders of the Vatican intermingling with the thunders of war. Christendom shook when Luther nailed his theses on the church-door of Wittenberg. An appeal to our slaves will be hardly less prevailing. Do you ask how it would be known? The fall of Troy, long before our telegraph, was flashed by beacon-fires from Mount Ida to Argos. The slave telegraph is not as active as ours, but it is hardly less sure. It takes eight days for a despatch from Fortress Monroe to the Gulf of Mexico. The glad tidings of Freedom will travel with the wind, with the air, with the light, quickening and inspiring the whole mass. Secret societies of slaves, already formed, will be among the operators. That I do not speak without authority, please listen to the words of John Adams, taken from his Diary, under date of 24th September, 1775.

“These gentlemen [Georgia delegates] give a melancholy account of the state of Georgia and South Carolina. They say, that, if one thousand regular troops should land in Georgia, and their commander be provided with arms and clothes enough, and proclaim freedom to all the negroes who would join his camp, twenty thousand negroes would join it from the two provinces in a fortnight. The negroes have a wonderful art of communicating intelligence among themselves: it will run several hundreds of miles in a week or fortnight.”[127]

This is testimony. The destructive avalanche of the Alps is sometimes started by the winding of a horn, and a structure so irrational as Slavery will tremble at a sound.

From such appeal two things must ensue. First, the slaves will be encouraged in loyalty; and, secondly, the masters will be discouraged in disloyalty. Slave labor, which is the mainspring and nursery of Rebel supplies, without which the Rebellion must starve, will be disorganized, while a panic spreads among slave-masters absent from their homes. The most audacious Rebels will lose their audacity, and, instead of hurrying forward to deal parricidal blows at their country, will hurry backward to defend their own firesides. The Rebellion will lose its power. It will be hamstrung.

That such a panic would ensue is attested by the confession of the South Carolina delegation in the old Continental Congress, as appears by its Secret Journal, under date of 29th March, 1779, that this State was “unableto make any effectual efforts with militia, by reason of the great proportion of citizens necessary to remain at home to prevent insurrections among the negroes, and to prevent the desertion of them to the enemy.”[128]It is attested, also, by the concurring testimony of Southern men in other days, especially in those remarkable words of John Randolph: “The night-bell never tolls for fire in Richmond that the frightened mother does not hug her infant the more closely to her bosom, not knowing what may have happened.”[129]It is attested also by the actual condition of things when John Brown entered Virginia, as pictured in familiar words:—

“He captured Harper’s FerryWith his nineteen men so few,And he frightened Old VirginnyTill she trembled through and through.”

“He captured Harper’s Ferry

With his nineteen men so few,

And he frightened Old Virginny

Till she trembled through and through.”

Asserting the efficacy of this appeal, I ground myself on no visionary theories or vain hopes, but on the nature of man and authentic history. To doubt its efficacy is to doubt that man is man, with a constant desire for liberty as for life, and it is also to doubt the unquestionable instances in our own history where this desire has been displayed by African slaves. That a government exposed to the assaults of a merciless barbarian foe should so long reject this irresistible alliance is among questions to excite the astonishment of future ages.

What, then, are the reasons alleged against this appeal? They all resolve themselves into objections of fact. The President, by his Proclamation, has already answered them practically; but I will take them up in detail.

(1.) The first objection, and most often repeated, is one which it is difficult to treat with patience. We are told that the appeal will offend the Border States, and that, in this moment of trial, we must do as they tell us. It is, of course, slave-masters who speak for the Border States; and permit me to say, such persons, continuing to swear by Slavery, are not competent witnesses. Believing in Slavery, wedded to Slavery, they are as incompetent to testify as husband and wife are incompetent to testify for each other. Just in proportion as we follow them we are misled, and we shall continue to be misled so long as we follow them. Their influence is perpetual paralysis. Nobody can counsel safely at this moment who adheres to Slavery, or fails to see Slavery as the origin and mainspring of the Rebellion. It is well known that for a long time in England all efforts against Slavery, led by Wilberforce and Clarkson, were discountenanced and opposed by the slave-masters in the distant islands. Whatever the proposition, whether to abridge, to mitigate, or ameliorate, there was always one steady dissent. Put not your trust in slave-masters,—do not hearken to their promises,—do not follow their counsels. Such is the plain lesson of English history, of French history, of Dutch history, of every country which has dealt with this question,—ay, of Russian history at this very moment,—and such, also, is the positive caution of English statesmen. On this point we have the concurring testimony of three names, each of which is an authority. It is all embodied in a brief passage of a speech by Lord Brougham.

“I entirely concur in the observation of Mr. Burke, repeated and more happily expressed by Mr. Canning, that the masters of slaves are not to be trusted with making laws upon Slavery,—that nothing they do is ever found effectual,—and that, if by some miracle they ever chance to enact a wholesome regulation, it is always found to want what Mr. Burke callsthe executory principle,—it fails to execute itself.”[130]

These are emphatic words, and as often as I am reminded of the opinions of Slave-Masters on our present duties, when Slavery is in question, I think of them as a solemn warning, confirmed by all the teachings of experience in our own country, early and late.

(2.) Another objection is, that officers in our army will fling down their arms. Very well,—let the traitors fling down their arms: the sooner, the better. They are unworthy to bear arms, and should be delivered up to the hissing and execration of mankind. But I will not dishonor officers with the commission of the United States by such imputation on their loyalty and common sense. As officers they must know their duty too well, and as intelligent men they must know that the slaves are calculated to be their best and surest allies.

(3.) Another objection is, that Slavery is a “side issue,” not to be touched until the war is ended. But these wise objectors forget that it is precisely in order to end the war that Slavery is to be touched, and that, when they oppose the effort, they make a “side issue” in its behalf, calculated to weaken the national arm.

(4.) Another objection has its origin in pity, that theRebels may be saved from a slave insurrection. God forbid that I should fail in any duty of humanity, or tenderness even; but I know no principle of war or of reason by which our Rebels should be saved from the natural consequences of their own conduct. When they rose against a paternal Government, they set the example of insurrection which has carried death to innumerable firesides. They cannot complain, if their slaves, with better reason, follow it. According to an old law, bloody inventions return to plague the inventor. But this whole objection proceeds on a mistaken idea of the African slave. The story of San Domingo, so often quoted against him, testifies to his humanity. Only when Napoleon, in an evil hour, sought to reënslave him, did those scenes of blood occur, which exhibit less the cruelty of the slave than the atrocious purpose of the white man. The African is not cruel, vindictive, or harsh, but gentle, forgiving, and kind. Such is authentic history. Nor does it appear, when the slaves left their masters, on the appeal of the British commanders, during our Revolution, that they were guilty of any excess. It is true that labor was disorganized, and the whole community weakened; and this is what we seek to accomplish in the Rebel States.

(5.) And yet one more objection is sometimes advanced. It is said that an appeal to the slaves will make them overflow into the North, where they will compete with other labor. This ill-considered and trivial objection subordinates the suppression of the Rebellion to a question of labor, and, by a “side issue,” diverts attention from the great object at heart. But it becomes absurd, when you consider, as every candid observer must admit, that no such objection can arise. There is no danger of any such overflow. It is preciselythe pressure of Slavery, and not the license of Freedom, that causes overflow. If Slavery were removed, the Africans would flow back, instead of overflowing here. The South is their natural home, and there they will go when justice at last prevails.

Such are the objections of fact, so far as any exist within my knowledge. If any other has been made, I do not know it. I ask you frankly, have I not answered them?

But, fellow-citizens, I shall not leave the argument at this stage. It is not enough to show that slaves can render important assistance, by labor, by information, or by arms, and that there is no reasonable objection to calling upon them, with other loyalists, in support of the Union. The case is stronger still.Without the aid of the slaves this war cannot be ended successfully.Their alliance is, therefore, a necessity. In making this assertion I know well the responsibility I assume, nor do I assume it lightly. But the time has come when the truth must be told. Let me be understood. As war is proverbially uncertain, I cannot doubt that fortune will again light upon our arms. The force of the Rebellion may be broken even without appeal to the slaves. But I am sure that with the slaves our victory will be more prompt, while without them it can never be effectual completely to crush out the Rebellion. It is not enough to beat armies. Rebel communities, envenomed against the Union, must be restored, and a wide-spread region quieted. This can be done only by removal of the disturbing cause, and the consequent assimilation of the people, so that no man shall call another master. If Slavery be regarded as a disease, it must be extirpated by knife and cautery; for only in this way can the healthful operations of national life be regained. If regarded as a motive, it must be expelled from the system, that it may no longer exercise its malign influence. So long as Slavery continues, the States in which it exists will fly madly from the Union, but with its destruction they will lose all such tendency. The Slave States, by the influence of Slavery, are nowcentrifugal; but with Slavery out of the system, they will becentripetal. Such is the law of their being. And it should be our present policy to take advantage of this law for the benefit of the Union. Nay, from the necessity of the case, this must be done.

A united people cannot be conquered. Defeated on the battle-field, they will remain sullen and revengeful, ready for another rebellion. This is the lesson of history. Even Hannibal, after crushing in the field all the armies of Rome, and ranging at will throughout Italy, was obliged to confess the inadequacy of his triumphs, while he appealed for help to the subjects of Rome, exciting them to insurrection, and arousing them against the Roman power. To this long-cherished plan were directed all the energies he could spare from battle, believing that in this way his enemy could be brought under a double fire. But it is known that the people of the Slave States are not wholly united, and that among them are large numbers ready at call to uphold the Union. From the beginning of the war, we have assumed, as an element of strength, the presence there of large numbers devoted to the Union, ready at the proper moment to coöperate with the national forces. Yet most of these faithful Unionists are not white. The Unionists of the South are black. Let these be rallied, and the Rebellion will be exposed not only to a fire in front, but also to a fire in the rear. The two together are necessary to the operations of war. The Union army thus far is like a single blade of a pair of scissors, which, though of choicest steel with sharpest edge, must be comparatively useless. Let the other blade be conjoined, and the instrument will be perfect. The scissors of Fate could not cut more surely.

Is not our duty clear? And is not the President completely vindicated? By Emancipation we not only hasten the war to a close, but we give it an effectivefinality, preventing it from breaking forth anew, which can be obtained in no other way. The heads of the hydra will be extirpated and the monster destroyed, never more to show itself. Without Emancipation the whole contest is delivered over to present uncertainty, while the future is left to glare with all the horrors of civil strife unsuppressed. The last chapter of “Rasselas” is entitled “The Conclusion, in which Nothing is Concluded”; and this will be the proper title for the history of this war, if Slavery is allowed to endure. If you would trample down the Rebellion, you must trample down Slavery; and, believe me, it must be completely done. Among the terrible pictures in the immortal poem of Dante, where crime on earth is portrayed in so many fearful punishments, is that of Caiaphas, high-priest of the Jews, who, as penalty for his sacrifice of the Saviour, was stretched on the floor of Hell, where all who passed must tread on him.

“Naked athwart this pathway he must lie,Condemned, as thou perceiv’st, to undergoThe weight of every one who passes by.”[131]

“Naked athwart this pathway he must lie,

Condemned, as thou perceiv’st, to undergo

The weight of every one who passes by.”[131]

Such should be the final fate of Slavery, naked and dishonored, stretched where all may tread upon it. Never can the Rights of War be employed more justly than to create this doom.

It was easy to see from the beginning that the Rebellion had its origin in Slavery,—that without Slavery it never could have broken forth,—that, when begun, it was continued only through Slavery,—that Slavery was at once the curse that pursued, the principle that governed, and the power that sustained,—and the Oligarchy of slave-masters, three hundred and fifty thousand all told, were the criminals through whom all this direful wickedness was organized and waged. Such is the unquestionable diagnosis of the case, which history will recognize, and a wise statesmanship must have seen promptly. Not to see Slavery in this guilty character was a mistake, and grievously have we answered for it. All are agreed now that Buchanan played into Rebel hands, when, declaring that there can be no coercion of a State, he refused to touch the Rebellion. Alas! alas! we, too, may play into Rebel hands, when, out of strange and incomprehensible forbearance, we refuse to touch Slavery, which is the very life of the Rebellion. Pardon these allusions, made in no spirit of criticism, but simply that I may accumulate new motives for that Proclamation which I rejoice to welcome as herald of peace.

There are many generals already in the field,—upwards of thirty major-generals, and two hundred brigadiers; but, meritorious and brave as they may be,there is a general better than all, whom the President now commissions,—I mean General Emancipation.

It is common to speak of God as on the side of the heavy battalions. Whatever the truth of this saying, it does not contain the whole truth. Heavy battalions are something, but they are not everything. Even if prevailing on the battle-field, which is not always the case, the victory they compel is not final. It is impotent to secure that tranquillity essential to national life. Mind is above matter, right is more than force, and it is vain to attempt conquest merely by matter or by force. If this can be done in small affairs, it cannot in large; for these yield only to moral influences. Napoleon was the great master of war, and yet, from his utterances at St. Helena, the legacy of his transcendent experience, comes this confession: “The more I study the world, the more am I convinced of the inability ofbrute forceto create anything durable.” And another Frenchman, of subtile thought and perfect integrity, whose name is linked forever with American institutions, De Tocqueville, has paid a similar tribute to truth. “Force,” says he, “is never more than a transient element of success. A government only able to crush its enemies on the field of battle would very soon be destroyed.” In these authoritative words of the warrior and the thinker there is warning not to put trust in batteries or bayonets, while an unconquerable instinct makes us confess that might cannot constitute right.

Let the war end on the battle-field alone, and it will be only in appearance that it will end, not in reality. Time will be gained for new efforts, and Slavery will coil itself to spring again. The Rebellion may seem tobe vanquished, and yet it will triumph. The Union may seem to conquer, and yet it will succumb. The Republic may seem to be saved, and yet it will be lost,—handed over a prey to that injustice which, so long as it exists, must challenge the judgments of a righteous God.

Thus, for the sake of peace, which we all desire, do I now plead for Freedom, through which alone peace can be secured. Are you earnest for peace? then must you be earnest for Freedom also. Would you uphold the Union against treason? then must you uphold Freedom, without which bloody treason will flourish over us. But Freedom is adopted by Congress and proclaimed by the President as one of the agencies in the prosecution of the war. Therefore it must be maintained with all our souls and all our hearts and all our might. The hour of debate has passed, the hour of action has sounded. In opposing solemn Acts of Congress, which, according to the Constitution, are now the supreme law of the land, passed for the national defence,—in opposing the Proclamation of the President,—nay, in discouraging Freedom,—you are as bad as if you discouraged enlistments. It is through Freedom, as well as arms, that the war will be waged; and the same loyalty that supports the one is now due to the other. The discouragement of enlistments is recognized as seditious and traitorous; but the discouragement of this new force, adopted by the Government for the suppression of the Rebellion, is only another form of sedition and treason, which an indignant patriotism will spurn. Emancipation is now a war measure, to be sustained as you sustain an armyin the field.

If the instincts of patriotism did not prompt this support, I should find a sufficient motive in that duty which we all owe to the Supreme Ruler, God Almighty, whose visitations upon our country are now so fearful. Not rashly would I make myself the interpreter of His will; and yet I am not blind. According to a venerable maxim of jurisprudence, “Whoso would have equity must do equity”; and God plainly requires equity at our hands. We cannot expect success while setting at nought this requirement, proclaimed in His divine character, in the dictates of reason, and in the examples of history,—proclaimed, also, in the events of this protracted war. Terrible judgments have fallen upon the country: plagues have been let loose, rivers have been turned into blood, and there is a great cry throughout the land, for there is not a house where there is not one dead; and at each judgment we seem to hear that terrible voice which sounded in the ears of Pharaoh: “Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.” I know not how others are touched, but I cannot listen to the frequent tidings of calamity descending upon our arms, of a noble soldier lost to his country, of bereavement at the family hearth, of a youthful son brought home dead to his mother, without catching the warning, “Let my people go!” Nay, every wound, every sorrow, every hardship, all that we are compelled to bear in taxation, in want, in derangement of business, has a voice crying, “Let my people go!”

And now, thank God, the word is spoken!—greater word was seldom spoken. Emancipation has begun, and our country is already elevated and glorified. The war has not changed inobject, but it has changed incharacter. Its object now, as at the beginning, is simply to put down the Rebellion; but its character is derived from the new force at length enlisted, stamping itself upon all that is done, and absorbing the whole war to itself. Vain will it be again to delude European nations into foolish belief that Slavery has nothing to do with the war, that it is a war for empire on one side and independence on the other, and that all generous ideas are on the side of the Rebellion. And vain, also, will be that other European cry,—whether from an intemperate press or the cautious lips of statesmen,—that separation is inevitable, and that our Government is doomed to witness the dismemberment of the Republic. With this new alliance, such forebodings will be falsified, the wishes of the fathers will be fulfilled, and the rights of human nature, which were the declared object of our Revolution, vindicated. Thus inspired, the sword of Washington—that sword which, according to his last will and testament, was to be drawn only in self-defence, or in defence of country and its rights—will once more marshal our armies to victory, while the national flag, wherever it floats, will give freedom to all beneath its folds, and the proud inscription be at last triumphantly verified: “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.”

But, fellow-citizens, the war we wage is not merely for ourselves, it is for all mankind. Slavery yet lingers in Brazil, and beneath the Spanish flag in those two golden possessions, Cuba and Porto Rico; but nowhere can it survive extinction here. Therefore we conquerfor Liberty everywhere. In ending Slavery here we open its gates all over the world, and let the oppressed go free. Nor is this all. In saving the Republic we save Civilization. Man throughout his long pilgrimage on earth has been compelled to suffer much, but Slavery is the heaviest burden he has been called to bear: it is the only burden our country has been called to bear. Let it drop, and this happy Republic, with humanity in its train, all changed in raiment and in countenance, like the Christian Pilgrim, will hurry upward to the celestial gate. If thus far our example has failed, it is simply because of Slavery. Vain to proclaim our unparalleled prosperity, the comfort diffused among a numerous people, resources without stint, or even the education of our children; the enemies of the Republic had but to say, “There is Slavery,” and our example became powerless. But let Slavery disappear, and the same example will be of irresistible might. Without firing a gun or writing a despatch, it will revolutionize the world.

Therefore the battle we fight belongs to the grandest events of history. It constitutes one of those epochs from which humanity will date. It is one of the battles of the ages, as when the millions of Persia were hurled back from Greece, or when the Mohammedans, victors in Africa and Spain, were hurled back from France by Charles Martel, and Western Europe was saved to Christianity. In such a cause no effort too great, no faith too determined. To die for country is pleasant and honorable. But all who die for country now die also for humanity. Wherever they lie in bloody fields, they will be remembered as heroes through whom the Republic was saved and civilization established forever.

But there are duties elsewhere than in bloody conflict. Each of us, in his place at home, by his best efforts, can do something, not only to sustain the soldier in the field, but also to uphold that sublime edict which will be to the soldier both sword and buckler, while it gives to the conflict all the grandeur of a great idea. In this hour of trial let none fail. Above all, let none go over to the enemy, even should his tents for the moment be pitched in Faneuil Hall,[132]assured that there can be but two parties: the party of our country, with the President for its head, and Emancipation its glorious watchword; and the party of Rebellion, with Jefferson Davis for its head, and no other watchword than Slavery.

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