The resolution, which was originally for adjournment on Monday, July 14th, was amended by substituting Wednesday, July 16th, and then, as amended, adopted,—Yeas 29, Nays 10.July 14th, President Lincoln communicated to Congress the draughtof a bill to compensate any State which might abolish Slavery within its limits, the passage of which as presented he earnestly recommended. On motion of Mr. Sumner, the Message with the accompanying draught was referred to the Committee on Finance. Immediately thereafter he offered the following resolution.“Resolved, That, in order that the two Houses of Congress may have time for the proper consideration of the Message of the President and the accompanying bill for Emancipation in the States, and for the transaction of other public business, the resolution fixing Wednesday, the 16th of July, for adjournment, is hereby rescinded.”The consideration of the resolution was objected to.
The resolution, which was originally for adjournment on Monday, July 14th, was amended by substituting Wednesday, July 16th, and then, as amended, adopted,—Yeas 29, Nays 10.
July 14th, President Lincoln communicated to Congress the draughtof a bill to compensate any State which might abolish Slavery within its limits, the passage of which as presented he earnestly recommended. On motion of Mr. Sumner, the Message with the accompanying draught was referred to the Committee on Finance. Immediately thereafter he offered the following resolution.
“Resolved, That, in order that the two Houses of Congress may have time for the proper consideration of the Message of the President and the accompanying bill for Emancipation in the States, and for the transaction of other public business, the resolution fixing Wednesday, the 16th of July, for adjournment, is hereby rescinded.”
“Resolved, That, in order that the two Houses of Congress may have time for the proper consideration of the Message of the President and the accompanying bill for Emancipation in the States, and for the transaction of other public business, the resolution fixing Wednesday, the 16th of July, for adjournment, is hereby rescinded.”
The consideration of the resolution was objected to.
Letter to a Public Meeting at New York, July 14, 1862.
Washington, July 14, 1862.DEAR SIR,—I welcome and honor your patriotic efforts to arouse the country to a generous, determined, irresistible unity in support of the National Government; but the Senate is still in session, and my post of duty is here. A Senator cannot leave his post, more than a soldier.But, absent or present, the cause in which the people are to assemble has my God-speed, earnest, devoted, affectionate, and from the heart. What I can do let me do. There is no work I will not undertake, there is nothing I will not renounce, if so I may serve my country.There must be unity of hands, and of hearts too, that the Republic may be elevated to the sublime idea of a true commonwealth, which we are told “ought to be but as one huge Christian personage, one mighty growth and stature of an honest man, as big and compact in virtue as in body.”[103]Oh, Sir, if my feeble voice could reach my fellow-countrymen, in workshops, streets, fields, and wherever they meet together, if for one moment I could take to my lips that silver trumpet with tones to sound and reverberate throughout the land, I would summon all, forgetting prejudice and turning away from error, to help unite, quicken, and invigorate our common country—most beloved now that it is most imperilled—to acompactness and bigness of virtue in just proportion to its extended dominion, so that it should be as one huge Christian personage, one mighty growth and stature of an honest man, instinct with all the concentration of unity. Thus inspired, the gates of Hell cannot prevail against us.To this end the cries of faction must be silenced, and the wickedness of sedition, whether in print or public speech, must be suppressed. These are the Northern allies of the Rebellion. An aroused and indignant people, with iron heel, must tread them out forever, as men tread out the serpent so that it can neither hiss nor sting.With such concord God will be pleased, and He will fight for us. He will give quickness to our armies, so that the hosts of the Rebellion will be broken and scattered as by the thunderbolt; and He will give to our beneficent government that blessed inspiration, better than newly raised levies, by which the Rebellion shall be struck in its single vulnerable part, by which that colossal abomination, its original mainspring and present motive power, shall be overthrown, while the cause of the Union is linked with that divine justice whose weapons are of celestial temper.God bless our country! and God bless all who now serve it with singleness of heart!I have the honor to be, dear Sir,Your faithful servant,Charles Sumner.Charles Gould, Esq.,Secretary of the Select Committee.
Washington, July 14, 1862.
DEAR SIR,—I welcome and honor your patriotic efforts to arouse the country to a generous, determined, irresistible unity in support of the National Government; but the Senate is still in session, and my post of duty is here. A Senator cannot leave his post, more than a soldier.
But, absent or present, the cause in which the people are to assemble has my God-speed, earnest, devoted, affectionate, and from the heart. What I can do let me do. There is no work I will not undertake, there is nothing I will not renounce, if so I may serve my country.
There must be unity of hands, and of hearts too, that the Republic may be elevated to the sublime idea of a true commonwealth, which we are told “ought to be but as one huge Christian personage, one mighty growth and stature of an honest man, as big and compact in virtue as in body.”[103]Oh, Sir, if my feeble voice could reach my fellow-countrymen, in workshops, streets, fields, and wherever they meet together, if for one moment I could take to my lips that silver trumpet with tones to sound and reverberate throughout the land, I would summon all, forgetting prejudice and turning away from error, to help unite, quicken, and invigorate our common country—most beloved now that it is most imperilled—to acompactness and bigness of virtue in just proportion to its extended dominion, so that it should be as one huge Christian personage, one mighty growth and stature of an honest man, instinct with all the concentration of unity. Thus inspired, the gates of Hell cannot prevail against us.
To this end the cries of faction must be silenced, and the wickedness of sedition, whether in print or public speech, must be suppressed. These are the Northern allies of the Rebellion. An aroused and indignant people, with iron heel, must tread them out forever, as men tread out the serpent so that it can neither hiss nor sting.
With such concord God will be pleased, and He will fight for us. He will give quickness to our armies, so that the hosts of the Rebellion will be broken and scattered as by the thunderbolt; and He will give to our beneficent government that blessed inspiration, better than newly raised levies, by which the Rebellion shall be struck in its single vulnerable part, by which that colossal abomination, its original mainspring and present motive power, shall be overthrown, while the cause of the Union is linked with that divine justice whose weapons are of celestial temper.
God bless our country! and God bless all who now serve it with singleness of heart!
I have the honor to be, dear Sir,
Your faithful servant,
Charles Sumner.
Charles Gould, Esq.,Secretary of the Select Committee.
Speech in the Senate, on the Joint Resolution explanatory of the Act for Confiscation and Liberation, July 16, 1862.
While the bill providing for Confiscation and Liberation was in the hands of the President, and before its signature, it was understood that he objected to it on certain grounds, one of which was that under it real estate was forfeited beyond life. In point of fact, the President had already drawn up a Message stating his objections to its becoming a law.[104]In anticipation of these objections, a joint resolution was adopted, containing the provision, “Nor shall any punishment or proceedings under said Act be so construed as to work a forfeiture of the real estate of the offender beyond his natural life.”[105]Mr. Sumner did not sympathize with the objections, but, in his anxiety to secure the approval of the Act as a step to Emancipation, he did not hesitate to support the joint resolution.July 16th, he said:—
While the bill providing for Confiscation and Liberation was in the hands of the President, and before its signature, it was understood that he objected to it on certain grounds, one of which was that under it real estate was forfeited beyond life. In point of fact, the President had already drawn up a Message stating his objections to its becoming a law.[104]In anticipation of these objections, a joint resolution was adopted, containing the provision, “Nor shall any punishment or proceedings under said Act be so construed as to work a forfeiture of the real estate of the offender beyond his natural life.”[105]
Mr. Sumner did not sympathize with the objections, but, in his anxiety to secure the approval of the Act as a step to Emancipation, he did not hesitate to support the joint resolution.
July 16th, he said:—
MR. PRESIDENT,—Our country is in peril. This is much to say, but it must be said, and we must all govern ourselves accordingly. More than ever before, the time has come for an earnest, absolute, controlling patriotism. This is the lesson of the day. In presence of such peril, and under the weight of such duties, there is no pride of opinion which I would not freely sacrifice, nor can I stand on any order of proceeding. I ask no questions, and I make no terms. Show me how an important measure can be secured, which I think vital to the country, and I shall spare no effort to secure it.
Rules are for protection, for defence, and to facilitate business. If in any way they become an impediment, they cease to perform their natural office, and I can easily abandon them, especially when my country may suffer. Therefore, Sir, I am only slightly impressed by the argument that our information with regard to the President is informal. It is enough that a measure we all have at heart as essential to national life may fail to receive his constitutional approval, unless modified in advance by supplementary statute. Anxious for this measure, I think how it may be secured, rather than how the opinions of the President have become known to us.
Of course, Sir, I cannot share the doubts attributed to the President. To me they seem groundless and fallacious. Waiving all question of their accuracy as an interpretation of the Constitution, even in criminal proceedings, I cannot forbear saying that they proceed on the mistaken idea of a procedure byindictmentand not bywar, subjecting the country to all the constraint of a criminal trial when the exigency requires the ample latitude of war. If soldiers are sent forth to battle, if fields are occupied as camps, and houses are occupied as hospitals, without permission of the owners, it is under the War Powers of Congress, or, in other words, the belligerent rights of this Government. And it is by virtue of these same belligerent rights that the property of an enemy is taken. Now, if he be an enemy, is there in the Constitution any check upon these rights? Whether you choose to take property for life or beyond life, the Constitution is indifferent; for all constitutional limitations are entirely inapplicable to belligerent rights.There are express words ordaining that you must not “abridge the freedom of speech or of the press,” or “infringe the right of the people to keep and bear arms”; nor can you take “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” And yet, wherever your armies move, and elsewhere too, you do all these very things in the exercise of acknowledged belligerent rights. As plainly, the right of confiscation, whether for life or beyond life, is also yours.
Unhappily, Sir, our country is engaged in war,—terrible, relentless, unquestionable war,—and if we would not discard success, it must be prosecuted as war, in the full exercise of belligerent rights. If we were dealing with sporadic cases of treason, with simple sedition, or with a mere outbreak, our process would be limited by the Constitution; but with an enemy before us, lashed into fury and led on by “Até hot from Hell,” where is the limit to the powers to be employed? I remember that Burke, in his great effort on Conciliation with America, says: “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 drawing up an indictment against an whole people.”[106]But when, on account of a provision in the Constitution obviously intended only for the protection ofthe citizen, you refuse to take the property ofan enemy in open war, then do you substitute the safeguards of criminal justice for war, thus voluntarily weakening your armies and diminishing your power. I am tempted to say, that, in devotion to the form of the Constitution, you sacrifice its substance. I might say, that, in misapplying the text of the Constitution, you sacrifice the Constitution itself.
Pardon me for seeming, even briefly, to argue this question. I do it only because I would not have my vote misunderstood. I shall support the proposition, not because I concur with it, but because its adoption will help secure the approval of the bill that has so much occupied the attention of Congress and the hopes of the country.
Mr. President, I have never, from the beginning, disguised my conviction that the most important part of the bill concerns Emancipation. To save this great part, to secure this transcendent ally, to establish this assurance of victory, and to obtain for my country this lofty crown of prosperity and glory, I willingly abandon all the rest. The navigator is called sometimes to save his ship by casting part of the cargo into the sea.
But whatever the difference between the President and Congress, there are two points on which there is no difference. Blacks are to be employed, and slaves are to be freed. In this legislative proclamation the President and Congress will unite. Together they will deliver it to the country and to the world.
It is an occasion of just congratulation, that the long debates of the session have at last ripened into a measure which I do not hesitate to declare more important than any victory achieved by our arms. Thank God, the new levies will be under an inspiration which cannot fail. It is the idea of Freedom, which, in spite of all discomfiture, past or present, must give new force to the embattled armies of the Republic, making their conflicts her own.
Sir, from this day forward the war will be waged with new hopes and new promises. A new power is enlisted, incalculable in influence, strengthening our armies, weakening the enemy, awakening the sympathies of mankind, and securing the favor of a benevolent God. The infamous Order No. 3, which has been such a scandal to the Republic, is rescinded. The slave everywhere can hope. Beginning to do justice, we shall at last deserve success.
The original bill and the explanatory joint resolution were returned to the Senate together, with the approval of the President, July 17th, being the last day of the session, and just before its close.
The original bill and the explanatory joint resolution were returned to the Senate together, with the approval of the President, July 17th, being the last day of the session, and just before its close.
Letter to the Republican State Committee, September 9, 1862.
At the Republican State Convention at Worcester, September 10th,[107]Mr. Claflin, Chairman of the State Committee, read the following letter from Mr. Sumner, which, according to the report, was received with great applause.
At the Republican State Convention at Worcester, September 10th,[107]Mr. Claflin, Chairman of the State Committee, read the following letter from Mr. Sumner, which, according to the report, was received with great applause.
Boston, September 9, 1862.MY DEAR SIR,—As a servant of the State, I have always recognized the right of my constituents in State Convention to expect from me such counsels on public affairs as I could offer, and I have accepted with gratitude the invitations with which they have honored me. If now, in these dark days, when danger thickens, I do not take advantage of the opportunity you present, believe me, it is not from indifference, nor is it because our duties at this moment are uncertain.Eagerly do gallant soldiers (God bless them!) rush to the field of death for the sake of their country. Eagerly do good citizens at home (God bless them!) contribute of their abundance, or it may be of their poverty, to smooth the lot of our gallant soldiers. But there is another duty, hardly less commanding. It is union, without distinction of party, to uphold the Government, and also to uphold those who uphold the Government. Therefore do I recognize the just liberality of the call for our Convention, which is addressed not only to Republicans, but also to “all who support the present National and State Governments and are in favor of the use of all means necessary for the effectual suppression of the Rebellion.” Under such a call there is no patriot citizen of the Commonwealth who may not claim a place.Is there a patriot citizen who hesitates to support the National Government, beleaguered by a rebel enemy?Is there a patriot citizen who hesitates to support the State Government, now, under the inspiring activity and genius of John A. Andrew, so efficiently sustaining the National Government?And is there a patriot citizen who is not for the use of all means necessary for the effectual suppression of the Rebellion?Were I able to be at the Convention, according to the invitation with which you honor me, gladly would I appeal to all such citizens. This country must be saved; and among the omens of victory I hail confidently that unanimity of sentiment and trust with which all loyal citizens now look to the National Government, determined that nothing of energy or contribution or sacrifice shall be wanting, by which its supremacy may be reëstablished. Another omen is yet needed. It is that the people, forgetting the past, shall ascend to that plane of justice and truth where is the light of candor, and all shall frown indignantly upon the rancors and animosities of party, which even now are so disturbing in their influence, shall silence the senseless prejudices of personal hate, and stifle the falsehoods of calumny, so that here among ourselves there may be unity and concord, giving irresistible strength to our patriotic labors.Beyond this appeal from heart to heart, I should rejoice to show clearlyhow to hamstring this Rebellion and to conquer a peace, all of which I am sure can be done. To thissingle practical purposeall theories, prepossessions, and aims must yield. So absorbing at the present moment is this question, that nothing is practical which does not directly tend to its final settlement. All else is blood-stained vanity. And the citizen soldiers you send forth to battle may justly complain, if you neglect any means by which they may be strengthened. Good Democrats, who have enjoyed the confidence of their party and also public trust,—Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, and Robert Dale Owen, of Indiana,—bear their generous testimony. So also does Parson Brownlow, of Tennessee, in a letter which I have just read, where he says that the negroes “must be urged in every possible way to crush out this infernal Rebellion.” Butler bore his testimony, when, by virtue of an outstanding order of the Rebel Governor of Louisiana, he organized a regiment of colored persons in the national service. Banks also symbolized the idea, when, overtaking the little slave-girl on her way to Freedom, he lifted her upon the national cannon. In this act—the brightest, most touching, and most suggestive of the whole war, which Art will hereafter rejoice to commemorate—our Massachusetts general gave a lesson to his country. Who can doubt that the country will yet be saved?I hopeyou will excuse me to my fellow-citizens of the Convention, and believe me, with much regard,Very faithfully yours,Charles Sumner.To Hon. Wm. Claflin,Chairman of State Committee.
Boston, September 9, 1862.
MY DEAR SIR,—As a servant of the State, I have always recognized the right of my constituents in State Convention to expect from me such counsels on public affairs as I could offer, and I have accepted with gratitude the invitations with which they have honored me. If now, in these dark days, when danger thickens, I do not take advantage of the opportunity you present, believe me, it is not from indifference, nor is it because our duties at this moment are uncertain.
Eagerly do gallant soldiers (God bless them!) rush to the field of death for the sake of their country. Eagerly do good citizens at home (God bless them!) contribute of their abundance, or it may be of their poverty, to smooth the lot of our gallant soldiers. But there is another duty, hardly less commanding. It is union, without distinction of party, to uphold the Government, and also to uphold those who uphold the Government. Therefore do I recognize the just liberality of the call for our Convention, which is addressed not only to Republicans, but also to “all who support the present National and State Governments and are in favor of the use of all means necessary for the effectual suppression of the Rebellion.” Under such a call there is no patriot citizen of the Commonwealth who may not claim a place.
Is there a patriot citizen who hesitates to support the National Government, beleaguered by a rebel enemy?
Is there a patriot citizen who hesitates to support the State Government, now, under the inspiring activity and genius of John A. Andrew, so efficiently sustaining the National Government?
And is there a patriot citizen who is not for the use of all means necessary for the effectual suppression of the Rebellion?
Were I able to be at the Convention, according to the invitation with which you honor me, gladly would I appeal to all such citizens. This country must be saved; and among the omens of victory I hail confidently that unanimity of sentiment and trust with which all loyal citizens now look to the National Government, determined that nothing of energy or contribution or sacrifice shall be wanting, by which its supremacy may be reëstablished. Another omen is yet needed. It is that the people, forgetting the past, shall ascend to that plane of justice and truth where is the light of candor, and all shall frown indignantly upon the rancors and animosities of party, which even now are so disturbing in their influence, shall silence the senseless prejudices of personal hate, and stifle the falsehoods of calumny, so that here among ourselves there may be unity and concord, giving irresistible strength to our patriotic labors.
Beyond this appeal from heart to heart, I should rejoice to show clearlyhow to hamstring this Rebellion and to conquer a peace, all of which I am sure can be done. To thissingle practical purposeall theories, prepossessions, and aims must yield. So absorbing at the present moment is this question, that nothing is practical which does not directly tend to its final settlement. All else is blood-stained vanity. And the citizen soldiers you send forth to battle may justly complain, if you neglect any means by which they may be strengthened. Good Democrats, who have enjoyed the confidence of their party and also public trust,—Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, and Robert Dale Owen, of Indiana,—bear their generous testimony. So also does Parson Brownlow, of Tennessee, in a letter which I have just read, where he says that the negroes “must be urged in every possible way to crush out this infernal Rebellion.” Butler bore his testimony, when, by virtue of an outstanding order of the Rebel Governor of Louisiana, he organized a regiment of colored persons in the national service. Banks also symbolized the idea, when, overtaking the little slave-girl on her way to Freedom, he lifted her upon the national cannon. In this act—the brightest, most touching, and most suggestive of the whole war, which Art will hereafter rejoice to commemorate—our Massachusetts general gave a lesson to his country. Who can doubt that the country will yet be saved?
I hopeyou will excuse me to my fellow-citizens of the Convention, and believe me, with much regard,
Very faithfully yours,
Charles Sumner.
To Hon. Wm. Claflin,Chairman of State Committee.
Speech at Faneuil Hall, October 6, 1862. With Appendix, on the Nomination and Reëlection of Mr. Sumner as Senator.
A patriot’s blood,Well spent in such a strife, may earn, indeed,And for a time insure to his loved land,The sweets of Liberty and Equal Laws.Cowper,The Task, Book V. 714-717.I assure you,He that has once the Flower of the Sun,The perfect ruby which we call Elixir,Not only can do that, but by its virtueCan confer Honor, Love, Respect, Long Life,Give Safety, Valor,—yea, and Victory,—To whom he will.Ben Jonson,The Alchemist, Act II. Sc. 1.Rendez-les libres,—et plus près que vous de la nature, ils vaudront beaucoup mieux que vous.—Condorcet,Note 109 aux Pensées de Pascal.When a leak is to be stopped, or a fire extinguished, do not all hands coöperate without distinction of sect or party? Or if I am fallen into a ditch, shall I not suffer a man to help me out, until I have first examined his creed?—Bishop Berkeley,A Word to the Wise, or an Exhortation to the Roman Catholic Clergy of Ireland: Works (London, 1837), p. 360.May Congress not say that every black man must fight? Did we not see a little of this last war?… Have they not power to provide for the general defence and welfare? May they not think that these call for the abolition of Slavery? May they not pronounce all slaves free? And will they not be warranted by that power? This is no ambiguous implication or logical deduction. The paper speaks to the point.—Patrick Henry.Debates in the Virginia Convention on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: Elliot’s Debates, Vol. III. p. 590.The natural strength of the country, in point of numbers, appears to me to consist much more in the blacks than in the whites. Could they be incorporated and employed for its defence, it would afford you double security. That they would make good soldiers I have not the least doubt.—Major-General Nathanael Greene,Letter to Governor Rutledge: Johnson’s Life of Greene, Vol. II. p. 274.
A patriot’s blood,Well spent in such a strife, may earn, indeed,And for a time insure to his loved land,The sweets of Liberty and Equal Laws.Cowper,The Task, Book V. 714-717.
A patriot’s blood,Well spent in such a strife, may earn, indeed,And for a time insure to his loved land,The sweets of Liberty and Equal Laws.Cowper,The Task, Book V. 714-717.
A patriot’s blood,
Well spent in such a strife, may earn, indeed,
And for a time insure to his loved land,
The sweets of Liberty and Equal Laws.
Cowper,The Task, Book V. 714-717.
I assure you,He that has once the Flower of the Sun,The perfect ruby which we call Elixir,Not only can do that, but by its virtueCan confer Honor, Love, Respect, Long Life,Give Safety, Valor,—yea, and Victory,—To whom he will.Ben Jonson,The Alchemist, Act II. Sc. 1.
I assure you,He that has once the Flower of the Sun,The perfect ruby which we call Elixir,Not only can do that, but by its virtueCan confer Honor, Love, Respect, Long Life,Give Safety, Valor,—yea, and Victory,—To whom he will.Ben Jonson,The Alchemist, Act II. Sc. 1.
I assure you,
He that has once the Flower of the Sun,
The perfect ruby which we call Elixir,
Not only can do that, but by its virtue
Can confer Honor, Love, Respect, Long Life,
Give Safety, Valor,—yea, and Victory,—
To whom he will.
Ben Jonson,The Alchemist, Act II. Sc. 1.
Rendez-les libres,—et plus près que vous de la nature, ils vaudront beaucoup mieux que vous.—Condorcet,Note 109 aux Pensées de Pascal.
When a leak is to be stopped, or a fire extinguished, do not all hands coöperate without distinction of sect or party? Or if I am fallen into a ditch, shall I not suffer a man to help me out, until I have first examined his creed?—Bishop Berkeley,A Word to the Wise, or an Exhortation to the Roman Catholic Clergy of Ireland: Works (London, 1837), p. 360.
May Congress not say that every black man must fight? Did we not see a little of this last war?… Have they not power to provide for the general defence and welfare? May they not think that these call for the abolition of Slavery? May they not pronounce all slaves free? And will they not be warranted by that power? This is no ambiguous implication or logical deduction. The paper speaks to the point.—Patrick Henry.Debates in the Virginia Convention on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: Elliot’s Debates, Vol. III. p. 590.
The natural strength of the country, in point of numbers, appears to me to consist much more in the blacks than in the whites. Could they be incorporated and employed for its defence, it would afford you double security. That they would make good soldiers I have not the least doubt.—Major-General Nathanael Greene,Letter to Governor Rutledge: Johnson’s Life of Greene, Vol. II. p. 274.
The anxiety which prevailed so extensively was restored by the Proclamation of Emancipation, at last put forth by the President, September 22, 1862. Besides enjoining obedience to the Acts of Congress already passed against Slavery, it declared:—“That, on the first day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”[108]The work was completed by the final proclamation of January 1, 1863.[109]There was an echo to these proclamations throughout the country, and also from the Rebel States. TheRichmond Whigsaid of the first: “It is a dash of the pen to destroy four millions of our property, and is as much as a bid for the slaves to rise in insurrection, with the assurance of aid from the whole military and naval power of the United States.” In another article, it spoke of “the fiends of the new programme.” These feelings, after debate in the Rebel Congress, found vent in the following terms.“That, in the judgment of Congress, the proclamations of the President of the United States, dated respectively September twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and January first, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and the other measures of the Government of the United States, and of its authorities, commanders, and forces, designed or tending to emancipate slaves in the Confederate States, or to abduct such slaves, or to incite them to insurrection, or to employ negroes in war against the Confederate States, or to overthrow the institution of African Slavery and bring on a servile war in these States, would, if successful, produce atrocious consequences, and they are inconsistent with the spirit of those usages which in modern warfare prevail among civilized nations; they may, therefore, be properly and lawfully repressed by retaliation.”[110]The earlier proclamation caused a thrill in Massachusetts. Earnest people, who had longed for it, were rejoiced and comforted. At the invitation of his fellow-citizens, Mr. Sumner consented to address them at Faneuil Hall, in response to the proclamation.The proceedings at this crowded meeting, which was held at noon, are copied from the newspapers of the day.The meeting was called to order by George S. Hale, Esq., Chairman of the Ward and City Committee, who submitted the following list of names for the officers of the meeting.President,—William Claflin, of Newton.Vice-Presidents,—Francis B. Crowninshield, Alexander H. Bullock, Julius Rockwell, Peleg W. Chandler, Oakes Ames, John Gardner, Lee Claflin, Robert W. Hooper, James M. Barnard, Francis B. Fay, Jacob Sleeper, Edward S. Tobey, Stephen H. Phillips, Waldo Higginson, Samuel May, John Nesmith, William J. Rotch, Eliphalet Trask, Martin Brimmer, Henry I. Bowditch, Gerry W. Cochrane, Charles H. Parker, Charles O. Whitmore, John D. Baldwin, John R. Brewer, John M. S. Williams, James P. Thorndike, Samuel Hall, Artemas Lee, Robert B. Storer, Julius A. Palmer, John L. Emmons, William I. Bowditch, Abel G. Farwell, Alvah Crocker, Otis Norcross, John J. May, Phineas E. Gay, Nathan Cushing, Robert C. Pitman, Alexander H. Twombly, Warren Sawyer, James Adams, Moses Kimball, Theodore Otis, Alvah A. Burrage, David Snow, Edwin Lamson, John Demeritt, John M. Forbes, William Washburn, Arba Maynard, Joseph T. Bailey, Osborn Howes, Daniel Farrar, John Chandler, John Q. A. Griffin, Robert E. Apthorp, William Bellamy, Alexander Wadsworth, Edward Buffinton, Nehemiah Boynton, Phineas J. Stone, William B. Spooner, Frederick Nickerson, P. Emory Aldrich, Abijah W. Farrar, William Pope, Charles C. Barry, Timothy W. Hoxie, Avery Plumer, Ephraim Allen, J. Warren Merrill, Peter B. Brigham, George F. Williams, Pliny Nickerson, John A. Nowell, Arthur W. Tufts, Roland Worthington, John Bertram, Frank B. Fay, J. Ingersoll Bowditch, William Endicott, Jr., Edward Atkinson, Nathaniel C. Nash, Franklin Snow, J. Wingate Thornton, Samuel Johnson, Edward A. Raymond, Albert L. Lincoln, Francis E. Parker, Charles O. Rogers, William Fox Richardson, John G. Webster, Leister M. Clark, Chester Guild, Jr., Estes Howe, William Brigham.Secretaries,—William S. Robinson, Delano A. Goddard, Stephen N. Stockwell, William W. Clapp, Jr., Hamlin R. Harding, H. Burr Crandall, Henry M. Burt, Ebenezer Nelson, George H. Monroe, Stephen N.Gifford.On taking the chair, Mr. Claflin was received with great applause. He spoke as follows.“Ladies and Gentlemen,—None of you can be more disappointed at the present time than myself, that I am called upon to occupy this position.“At the last moment we were informed that his Excellency the Governor[111]was compelled by the duties of his position, and his desire ever to do for the interests of those brave men who have gone forth for our defence, to leave the State, and to leave us to-day in your hands. [Applause.]“Under these circumstances, and at the last moment, by the desire of the Committee of Arrangements, I consented to occupy this position; but you will, of course, excuse me from making any remarks on this occasion. My heart is in the cause. This is a great era, and this is the time when every man should come up to the work and fight for this nation, doing everything which he can, whether by his purse or his sword, to sustain the Government. [Cheers.]“Thanking you for the honor you have conferred upon me, I now await any motion which may be made.”Resolutions sustaining Emancipation were then read by Charles W. Slack, and, amidst cries of “Good!” and great applause, were adopted.The President then said:—“I now introduce to you Massachusetts’—ay, Boston’s—honored son. I need not praise him, I need not eulogize him; but I will simply say, it isCharles Sumner.”The enthusiasm that followed Senator Sumner’s stepping on the platform was not surpassed by anything that has been seen in the Hall since Senator Webster took the same place onhisreturn from Washington years ago. The air below was dark with waving hats, and along the galleries white with fluttering kerchiefs. When the applause subsided, a colored man cried out, “God bless Charles Sumner!” in an earnest, trembling, “tearful” voice, and the applause was renewed.The meeting is described as “of much enthusiasm on the part of the overflowing audience that gathered and tried to gather within the ancient walls.”A few sentences from the LondonMorning Starwill show how this effort was recognized at a distance.“The Massachusetts Senator has lately had a meeting with his constituents. Fragments and summaries of his speech at Faneuil Hall have found their way into most English newspapers. Let the sympathizers with the South produce, if they can, from their side of Mason and Dixon’s line, any utteranceto compare with it in all the qualities that should commend human speech to human audience.…“This representative of a powerful community addresses to his fellow-citizens considerations upon the conduct of a war in which they and he are more deeply interested than any English constituency has been in any war which England has waged since the days of Cromwell. It is such a speech as Hampden might have spoken in Buckinghamshire, or Pym in the Guildhall. It treats both of principles and policy,—of the means of success, and of the ends which can alone sanctify the struggle or glorify success. It breathes throughout the spirit of justice and of freedom.…“Throughout his public life, Mr. Sumner has held the same doctrines, expressed the same spirit.… He is the leader of a party, as well as the representative of the first New England State, and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Congress. Too advanced a thinker and too pure a politician for office in a Cabinet undecided on the Slavery Question, he has pioneered its way and shaped its conclusions. Is he not a man whose name should check the blustering apologists of Slavery and Secession?… The Rebellion is just such a blow at the Union as Preston Brooks struck at Charles Sumner; and yet there are English hands and voices to applaud the deed, as worthy heroes of patriotism and civilization.”In urging Emancipation, Mr. Sumner always felt, that, besides sustaining the cause of justice, he was helping our country with foreign nations.
The anxiety which prevailed so extensively was restored by the Proclamation of Emancipation, at last put forth by the President, September 22, 1862. Besides enjoining obedience to the Acts of Congress already passed against Slavery, it declared:—
“That, on the first day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”[108]
“That, on the first day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”[108]
The work was completed by the final proclamation of January 1, 1863.[109]
There was an echo to these proclamations throughout the country, and also from the Rebel States. TheRichmond Whigsaid of the first: “It is a dash of the pen to destroy four millions of our property, and is as much as a bid for the slaves to rise in insurrection, with the assurance of aid from the whole military and naval power of the United States.” In another article, it spoke of “the fiends of the new programme.” These feelings, after debate in the Rebel Congress, found vent in the following terms.
“That, in the judgment of Congress, the proclamations of the President of the United States, dated respectively September twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and January first, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and the other measures of the Government of the United States, and of its authorities, commanders, and forces, designed or tending to emancipate slaves in the Confederate States, or to abduct such slaves, or to incite them to insurrection, or to employ negroes in war against the Confederate States, or to overthrow the institution of African Slavery and bring on a servile war in these States, would, if successful, produce atrocious consequences, and they are inconsistent with the spirit of those usages which in modern warfare prevail among civilized nations; they may, therefore, be properly and lawfully repressed by retaliation.”[110]
“That, in the judgment of Congress, the proclamations of the President of the United States, dated respectively September twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and January first, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and the other measures of the Government of the United States, and of its authorities, commanders, and forces, designed or tending to emancipate slaves in the Confederate States, or to abduct such slaves, or to incite them to insurrection, or to employ negroes in war against the Confederate States, or to overthrow the institution of African Slavery and bring on a servile war in these States, would, if successful, produce atrocious consequences, and they are inconsistent with the spirit of those usages which in modern warfare prevail among civilized nations; they may, therefore, be properly and lawfully repressed by retaliation.”[110]
The earlier proclamation caused a thrill in Massachusetts. Earnest people, who had longed for it, were rejoiced and comforted. At the invitation of his fellow-citizens, Mr. Sumner consented to address them at Faneuil Hall, in response to the proclamation.
The proceedings at this crowded meeting, which was held at noon, are copied from the newspapers of the day.
The meeting was called to order by George S. Hale, Esq., Chairman of the Ward and City Committee, who submitted the following list of names for the officers of the meeting.
President,—William Claflin, of Newton.
Vice-Presidents,—Francis B. Crowninshield, Alexander H. Bullock, Julius Rockwell, Peleg W. Chandler, Oakes Ames, John Gardner, Lee Claflin, Robert W. Hooper, James M. Barnard, Francis B. Fay, Jacob Sleeper, Edward S. Tobey, Stephen H. Phillips, Waldo Higginson, Samuel May, John Nesmith, William J. Rotch, Eliphalet Trask, Martin Brimmer, Henry I. Bowditch, Gerry W. Cochrane, Charles H. Parker, Charles O. Whitmore, John D. Baldwin, John R. Brewer, John M. S. Williams, James P. Thorndike, Samuel Hall, Artemas Lee, Robert B. Storer, Julius A. Palmer, John L. Emmons, William I. Bowditch, Abel G. Farwell, Alvah Crocker, Otis Norcross, John J. May, Phineas E. Gay, Nathan Cushing, Robert C. Pitman, Alexander H. Twombly, Warren Sawyer, James Adams, Moses Kimball, Theodore Otis, Alvah A. Burrage, David Snow, Edwin Lamson, John Demeritt, John M. Forbes, William Washburn, Arba Maynard, Joseph T. Bailey, Osborn Howes, Daniel Farrar, John Chandler, John Q. A. Griffin, Robert E. Apthorp, William Bellamy, Alexander Wadsworth, Edward Buffinton, Nehemiah Boynton, Phineas J. Stone, William B. Spooner, Frederick Nickerson, P. Emory Aldrich, Abijah W. Farrar, William Pope, Charles C. Barry, Timothy W. Hoxie, Avery Plumer, Ephraim Allen, J. Warren Merrill, Peter B. Brigham, George F. Williams, Pliny Nickerson, John A. Nowell, Arthur W. Tufts, Roland Worthington, John Bertram, Frank B. Fay, J. Ingersoll Bowditch, William Endicott, Jr., Edward Atkinson, Nathaniel C. Nash, Franklin Snow, J. Wingate Thornton, Samuel Johnson, Edward A. Raymond, Albert L. Lincoln, Francis E. Parker, Charles O. Rogers, William Fox Richardson, John G. Webster, Leister M. Clark, Chester Guild, Jr., Estes Howe, William Brigham.
Secretaries,—William S. Robinson, Delano A. Goddard, Stephen N. Stockwell, William W. Clapp, Jr., Hamlin R. Harding, H. Burr Crandall, Henry M. Burt, Ebenezer Nelson, George H. Monroe, Stephen N.Gifford.
On taking the chair, Mr. Claflin was received with great applause. He spoke as follows.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,—None of you can be more disappointed at the present time than myself, that I am called upon to occupy this position.“At the last moment we were informed that his Excellency the Governor[111]was compelled by the duties of his position, and his desire ever to do for the interests of those brave men who have gone forth for our defence, to leave the State, and to leave us to-day in your hands. [Applause.]“Under these circumstances, and at the last moment, by the desire of the Committee of Arrangements, I consented to occupy this position; but you will, of course, excuse me from making any remarks on this occasion. My heart is in the cause. This is a great era, and this is the time when every man should come up to the work and fight for this nation, doing everything which he can, whether by his purse or his sword, to sustain the Government. [Cheers.]“Thanking you for the honor you have conferred upon me, I now await any motion which may be made.”
“Ladies and Gentlemen,—None of you can be more disappointed at the present time than myself, that I am called upon to occupy this position.
“At the last moment we were informed that his Excellency the Governor[111]was compelled by the duties of his position, and his desire ever to do for the interests of those brave men who have gone forth for our defence, to leave the State, and to leave us to-day in your hands. [Applause.]
“Under these circumstances, and at the last moment, by the desire of the Committee of Arrangements, I consented to occupy this position; but you will, of course, excuse me from making any remarks on this occasion. My heart is in the cause. This is a great era, and this is the time when every man should come up to the work and fight for this nation, doing everything which he can, whether by his purse or his sword, to sustain the Government. [Cheers.]
“Thanking you for the honor you have conferred upon me, I now await any motion which may be made.”
Resolutions sustaining Emancipation were then read by Charles W. Slack, and, amidst cries of “Good!” and great applause, were adopted.
The President then said:—
“I now introduce to you Massachusetts’—ay, Boston’s—honored son. I need not praise him, I need not eulogize him; but I will simply say, it isCharles Sumner.”
“I now introduce to you Massachusetts’—ay, Boston’s—honored son. I need not praise him, I need not eulogize him; but I will simply say, it isCharles Sumner.”
The enthusiasm that followed Senator Sumner’s stepping on the platform was not surpassed by anything that has been seen in the Hall since Senator Webster took the same place onhisreturn from Washington years ago. The air below was dark with waving hats, and along the galleries white with fluttering kerchiefs. When the applause subsided, a colored man cried out, “God bless Charles Sumner!” in an earnest, trembling, “tearful” voice, and the applause was renewed.
The meeting is described as “of much enthusiasm on the part of the overflowing audience that gathered and tried to gather within the ancient walls.”
A few sentences from the LondonMorning Starwill show how this effort was recognized at a distance.
“The Massachusetts Senator has lately had a meeting with his constituents. Fragments and summaries of his speech at Faneuil Hall have found their way into most English newspapers. Let the sympathizers with the South produce, if they can, from their side of Mason and Dixon’s line, any utteranceto compare with it in all the qualities that should commend human speech to human audience.…“This representative of a powerful community addresses to his fellow-citizens considerations upon the conduct of a war in which they and he are more deeply interested than any English constituency has been in any war which England has waged since the days of Cromwell. It is such a speech as Hampden might have spoken in Buckinghamshire, or Pym in the Guildhall. It treats both of principles and policy,—of the means of success, and of the ends which can alone sanctify the struggle or glorify success. It breathes throughout the spirit of justice and of freedom.…“Throughout his public life, Mr. Sumner has held the same doctrines, expressed the same spirit.… He is the leader of a party, as well as the representative of the first New England State, and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Congress. Too advanced a thinker and too pure a politician for office in a Cabinet undecided on the Slavery Question, he has pioneered its way and shaped its conclusions. Is he not a man whose name should check the blustering apologists of Slavery and Secession?… The Rebellion is just such a blow at the Union as Preston Brooks struck at Charles Sumner; and yet there are English hands and voices to applaud the deed, as worthy heroes of patriotism and civilization.”
“The Massachusetts Senator has lately had a meeting with his constituents. Fragments and summaries of his speech at Faneuil Hall have found their way into most English newspapers. Let the sympathizers with the South produce, if they can, from their side of Mason and Dixon’s line, any utteranceto compare with it in all the qualities that should commend human speech to human audience.…
“This representative of a powerful community addresses to his fellow-citizens considerations upon the conduct of a war in which they and he are more deeply interested than any English constituency has been in any war which England has waged since the days of Cromwell. It is such a speech as Hampden might have spoken in Buckinghamshire, or Pym in the Guildhall. It treats both of principles and policy,—of the means of success, and of the ends which can alone sanctify the struggle or glorify success. It breathes throughout the spirit of justice and of freedom.…
“Throughout his public life, Mr. Sumner has held the same doctrines, expressed the same spirit.… He is the leader of a party, as well as the representative of the first New England State, and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Congress. Too advanced a thinker and too pure a politician for office in a Cabinet undecided on the Slavery Question, he has pioneered its way and shaped its conclusions. Is he not a man whose name should check the blustering apologists of Slavery and Secession?… The Rebellion is just such a blow at the Union as Preston Brooks struck at Charles Sumner; and yet there are English hands and voices to applaud the deed, as worthy heroes of patriotism and civilization.”
In urging Emancipation, Mr. Sumner always felt, that, besides sustaining the cause of justice, he was helping our country with foreign nations.
Fellow-Citizens of Massachusetts:—
Meetings of the people in ancient Athens were opened with these words: “May the gods doom to perdition that man, and all his race, who, on this occasion, shall speak, act, or contrive anything against the Commonwealth!” With such an imprecation all were summoned to the duties of the citizen. But duties become urgent in proportion to perils. If ever there were occasion for these solemn words, it is now, when the country is in danger, when the national capital itself is menaced, when all along the loyal border, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Territories west of the Mississippi, barbarian hordes, under some Alaric of Slavery, are marshalling forces, and death is knocking at the doors of so many happy homes. If ever there was occasion when country might claim the best and most self-forgetful effort of all, it is now. Each in his way must act. Each must do what he can: the youthful and strong by giving themselves to the service; the weak, if in no other way, by scraping lint. Such is the call of patriotism. The country must be saved.
Among omens which I hail with gladness is the union now happily prevailing among good men in support of the Government, whether State or National,—forgetting that they were Democrats, forgetting that they were Whigs, and disregarding old party names, toremember only the duties of the citizen. Another sign, not less cheering, is the generous devotion which all among us of foreign birth offer to their adopted country. Germans fight as for fatherland, and Irishmen fight as for loved Erin; nor can our cause be less dear to the latter, now that the spirit of Grattan and O’Connell has entered into it.
Surely this is no time for the strife of party. Its jealousies and antipathies are now more than ever irrational. Its clamors of opposition are now more than ever unpatriotic. Unhappily, there are some to whom its bitter, unforgiving temper has become so controlling, that, even at this moment, they would rather enlist to put down a political opponent than to put down the rebel enemy of their country,—they would rather hang Henry Wilson or John A. Andrew than hang Jefferson Davis or Robert Toombs. Such persons, with all their sweltered venom, are found here in Massachusetts. Assuming the badge of “No Party,” they are ready for any party, new or old, by which their prejudices may be gratified,—thus verifying the pungent words of Colonel Benton: “Wherever you will show me a man with the words ‘No Party’ in his mouth, I will show you a man that figures at the head or dangles at the tail of the most inveterate party that ever existed.” Of course, such persons are not expected to take part in a meeting like the present, which seeks to unite rather than divide, while it rallies all to the support of the President, and to that policy of Freedom he has proclaimed.
Thank God that I live to enjoy this day! Thank God that my eyes have not closed without seeing this great salvation! The skies are brighter and the air is purer now that Slavery is handed over to judgment.
By the proclamation of the President, all persons held as slaves January 1, 1863, within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. Beyond these most effective words, which do not go into operation before the new year, are other words of immediate operation, constituting a present edict of Emancipation. The President recites the recent Acts of Congress applicable to this question, and calls upon all persons in the military and naval service to observe, obey, and enforce them. But these Acts provide that all slaves of Rebels, taking refuge within the lines of our army, all slaves captured from Rebels or deserted by them, and all slaves found within any place occupied by Rebel forces and afterwards occupied by forces of the United States, shall be forever free of servitude, and not again held as slaves; and these Acts further provide, that no person in the military or naval service shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of any claim to a slave, or surrender any such person to his claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service: so that by these Acts, now proclaimed by the President, Freedom is practically secured to all who find shelter within our lines, and the glorious flag of the Union, wherever it floats, becomes the flag of Freedom.
Thank God for what is already done, and let us all take heart as we go forward to uphold this great edict! For myself, I accept the Proclamation without note or comment. It is enough for me, that, in the exercise of the War Power, it strikes at the origin and mainspring of this Rebellion; for I have never concealed the conviction that it matters little where we strike Slavery, provided only that we strike sincerely and in earnest. So is it all connected, that the whole must suffer with every part, and the words of the poet will be verified, that,—
“whatever link you strike,Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.”
“whatever link you strike,Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.”
“whatever link you strike,
Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.”
On this most interesting occasion, so proper for gratitude, it is difficult to see anything but the cause; and yet, appearing before you on the invitation of a Committee of the Commonwealth, I must not forget that I owe this privilege to my public character as Senator of Massachusetts. In this character I have often been invited before; but now the invitation has more than accustomed significance; for, at the close of a long period of public service, it brings me face to face with my constituents. In a different condition of the country, I could not decline the opportunity of reviewing the relations between us,—of showing, at least, how you took me from private station, all untried, and gave me one of your highest trusts, and how this trust was enhanced by the generosity with which you sustained me against obloquy and vindictive assault, especially by your unparalleled indulgence to me throughout a protracted disability,—and perhaps, might I be so bold, of presenting for your consideration some sketch of what I have attempted, conscious, that, if not always successful, I have been at all times faithful to cherished convictions, and faithful also to your interests, sparing nothing of time or effort, and making up by industry for any lack of ability, so that, during a service of more than eleven years, I have never once visited home while Congress was in session, or been absent for a single day, unless when suffering from that disability to which I have referred, and during the session which has just closed, filled with most laborious duties from beginning to end, I was not out of my seat a single hour. But this is no time for such a review. I have no heart for it, while my country is in danger. And yet I shall not lose the occasion to challenge the scrutiny of all, even here in this commercial metropolis, where the interests of business are sometimes placed above all other interests. Frankly and fearlessly I make my appeal. In all simplicity, I ask you to consider what I have done as your servant, whether in the Senate or out of the Senate, in matters of legislation or of business. If there is any one disposed to criticize or complain, let him be heard. Let the whole record be opened, and let any of the numerous visitors who have sought me on business testify. I know too well the strength of my case to shrink from any inquiry, even though stimulated by the animosity of political warfare.[112]
But there are two accusations, often repeated, to whichI reply on the spot; and I do so with less hesitation, because the topics are germane to this debate. The first is, that from my place in the Senate I early proclaimed Slavery to be Barbarism. Never shall the cause of Freedom go by default, if I can help it; and I rejoice, that, on that occasion, in presence of the slaveholding conspirators vaunting the ennobling character of Slavery, I used no soft words. It is true, that, in direct reply to most offensive assumptions, I proclaimed Slavery barbarous in origin, barbarous in law, barbarous in all its pretensions, barbarous in the instruments it employs, barbarous in consequences, barbarous in spirit, barbarous wherever it shows itself,—while it breeds barbarians, and develops everywhere, alike in the individual and the society to which he belongs, the essential elements of barbarism. It is true, that, on the same occasion, I portrayed Slavery as founded in violence and sustained only by violence, and declared that such a wrong must, by sure law of compensation, blast the master as well as the slave, blast the land on which they live, blast the community of which they are part, blast the government which does not forbid the outrage, and the longer it exists, and the more completely it prevails, must its blasting influence penetrate the whole social system. Was I not right? Since then the testimony is overwhelming. A committee of the Senate has made a report, extensively circulated, on the barbarities of this Rebellion. You know the whole story to which each day testifies. It is in some single incident that you see the low-water mark of social life; and I know nothing in which the barbarism of Slavery is more completely exhibited than in the fate of our brave soldiers, dug up from honorable graves, where at last they had found rest, that their bones might be carvedinto keepsakes and their skulls into drinking-cups to gratify the malignant hate of Slave-Masters.
The other accusation is similar in character. It is said that I have too often introduced the Slavery Question. At this moment, seeing what Slavery has done, I doubt if you will not rather say that I have introduced it too seldom. If, on this account, I neglected any single interest of my constituents, if I was less strenuous whenever foreign relations or manufactures or commerce or finances were involved, if I failed to take my part in all that concerns the people of Massachusetts and in all embraced within the manifold duties of a Senator, then, indeed, I might be open to condemnation. But you will not regret that your representative, faithful in all other things, was ever constant and earnest against Slavery, and that he announced from the beginning the magnitude of the question, and our duties with regard to it. Say what you will, the slave is the humblest and the grandest figure of our times. What humility! what grandeur! both alike illimitable! In his presence all other questions are so petty, that for a public man to be wrong with regard to him is to be wholly wrong. How, then, did I err? The cause would have justified a better pertinacity than I can boast. In the Senate of Rome, the elder Cato, convinced that peace was possible only by the destruction of Carthage, concluded all his speeches, on every matter of debate, by the well-known words: “But whatever you may think of the question under consideration, this I know, Carthage must be destroyed.” I have never read that the veteran Senator was condemned for the constancy of his patriotic appeal. With stronger reason far, I, too, might always have cried, “This I know, Slavery must be destroyed,”—Delendaest Servitudo. But, while seeking to limit and constrain Slavery, I never proposed anything except in strictest conformity with the Constitution; for I always recognized the Constitution as my guide, which I was bound in all respects to follow.[113]
Such are accusations to which I briefly reply. Now that we are all united in the policy of Emancipation, they become of little consequence; for, even if I were once alone, I am no longer so. With me are the loyal multitudes of the North, now arrayed by the side of the President, where, indeed, I have ever been.
If you will bear with me yet longer in allusions which I make with reluctance, I would quote, as my unanswerable defence, the words of Edmund Burke, when addressing his constituents at Bristol.
“And now, Gentlemen, on this serious day, when I come, as it were, to make up my account with you, let me take to myself some degree of honest pride on the nature of the charges that are against me. I do not here stand before you accused of venality or of neglect of duty. It is not said, that, in the long period of my service, I have in a single instance sacrificed the slightest of your interests to my ambition or to my fortune. It is not alleged, that, to gratify any anger or revenge of my own or of my party, I have had a share in wronging or oppressing any description of men, or any one man in any description. No! the charges against me are all of one kind,—that I have pushed the principles of general justice and benevolence too far,—further than a cautious policy would warrant, and further than the opinions of many would go along with me. In every accidentwhich may happen through life, in pain, in sorrow, in depression, and distress, I will call to mind this accusation, and be comforted.”[114]
“And now, Gentlemen, on this serious day, when I come, as it were, to make up my account with you, let me take to myself some degree of honest pride on the nature of the charges that are against me. I do not here stand before you accused of venality or of neglect of duty. It is not said, that, in the long period of my service, I have in a single instance sacrificed the slightest of your interests to my ambition or to my fortune. It is not alleged, that, to gratify any anger or revenge of my own or of my party, I have had a share in wronging or oppressing any description of men, or any one man in any description. No! the charges against me are all of one kind,—that I have pushed the principles of general justice and benevolence too far,—further than a cautious policy would warrant, and further than the opinions of many would go along with me. In every accidentwhich may happen through life, in pain, in sorrow, in depression, and distress, I will call to mind this accusation, and be comforted.”[114]
Among the passages in eloquence which can never die, I know none more beautiful or heroic. If I invoke its protection, it is with the consciousness, that, however unlike in genius and fame, I am not unlike its author in the accusations to which I have been exposed.
Fellow-citizens, a year has passed since I addressed you; but, during this time, what events for warning and encouragement! Amidst vicissitudes of war, the cause of Human Freedom has steadily and grandly advanced,—not, perhaps, as you could desire, yet it is the only cause which has not failed. Slavery and the Black Laws all abolished in the national capital; Slavery interdicted in all the national territory; Hayti and Liberia recognized as independent republics in the family of nations; the slave-trade placed under the ban of a new treaty with Great Britain; all persons in the military and naval service prohibited from returning slaves, or sitting in judgment on the claim of a master; the slaves of Rebels emancipated by coming within our lines; a tender of compensation for the abolition of Slavery: such are some of Freedom’s triumphs in the recent Congress. Amidst all doubts and uncertainties of the present hour, let us think of these things and be comforted. I cannot forget, that, when I last spoke to you, I urged the liberation of the slaves of Rebels, and especially that our officers should not be permitted to surrender back to Slavery any human being seekingshelter within our lines; and I further suggested, if need were, a Bridge of Gold for the retreating Fiend. And now all that I then proposed is embodied in the legislation of the country as the supreme law of the land.
It was asa military necessitythat I urged these measures; it is as a military necessity that I now uphold them, and insist upon their completest and most generous execution, so that they shall have the largest scope and efficacy. Not as Abolitionist, not as Antislavery man, not even as philanthropist,—if I may claim that honored name,—do I now speak. I forget, for the moment, all the unutterable wrong of Slavery, and all the transcendent blessings of Freedom; for they do not belong to this argument. I think only of my country menaced by rebellion, and ask how it shall be saved. But I have no policy, no theory, no resolutions to support,—nothing which I will not gladly abandon, if you will show me anything better.