Chapter 7

MR. PRESIDENT,—If an angel from the skies or a stranger from another planet were permitted to visit this earth and to examine its surface, who can doubt that his eyes would rest with astonishment upon the outstretched extent and exhaustless resources of this republic, young in years, but already rooted beyond any dynasty in history? In proportion as he considered and understood all that enters into and constitutes the national life, his astonishment would increase, for he would find a numerous people, powerful beyond precedent, without king or noble, but with the schoolmaster instead. And yet the astonishment he confessed, as all these things unrolled before him, would swell into marvel, as he learned that in this republic, arresting his admiration, where is neither king nor noble, but the schoolmaster instead, there are four million human beings in abject bondage, degraded to be chattels, under the pretence of property in man, driven by the lash like beasts, despoiled of all rights, even the right to knowledge and the sacred right of family, so that the relation of husband and wife is impossible and no parent can claim his own child, while all are condemned to brutish ignorance. Startled by what he beheld, the stranger would naturally inquire by whatauthority, under what sanction, and through what terms of law or constitution, this fearful inconsistency, so shocking to human nature itself, continues to be upheld. His growing wonder would know no bound, when he was pointed to the Constitution of the United States, as final guardian and conservator of this peculiar and many-headed wickedness.

“And is it true,” the stranger would exclaim, “that, in laying the foundations of this republic dedicated to human rights, all these wrongs were positively established?” He would ask to see that Constitution, and to know the fatal words by which the sacrifice was commanded. The trembling with which he began its perusal would be succeeded by joy as he finished; for he would find nothing in that golden text, not a single sentence, phrase, or word even, to serve as origin, authority, or apology for the outrage. And then his wonder, already knowing no bound, would break forth anew, as he exclaimed, “Shameful and irrational as is Slavery, it is not more shameful or irrational than the unsupported interpretation which makes your Constitution final guardian and conservator of this terrible and unpardonable apostasy.”

Such a stranger, coming from afar, with eyes that no local bias had distorted, and with understanding no local custom had disturbed, would naturally see the Constitution in its precise text, and would interpret it in its true sense, without prepossession or prejudice. Of course he would know, what all jurisprudence teaches and all reason confirms, that human rights cannot be taken away by any indirection, or by any vain imagining of something intended, but not said, and, as a natural consequence, that Slavery exists, if exist it canat all, only by virtue ofpositive text, and that what is true of Slavery is true also of all its incidents; and the enlightened stranger would insist, that, in every interpretation of the Constitution, that cardinal principle must never for a moment be out of mind, but must be kept ever forward as guide and master, thatSlavery cannot stand on inference, nor can any support of Slavery stand on inference. Thus informed, and in the light of pervasive principle,—

“How far that little candle throws his beams!”—

he would peruse the Constitution from beginning to end, from its opening Preamble to its final Amendment, and then the joyful opinion would be given.

There are three things he must observe: first and foremost, that the dismal words “Slave” and “Slavery” do not appear in the Constitution; so that, if the unnatural pretension of property in man lurk anywhere in that text, it is under a feigned name, or analias, which is cause of suspicion, while an imperative rule renders its recognition impossible. Next, he would consider the Preamble, which is the key to open the whole succeeding instrument; but here no single word is found which does not open the Constitution to Freedom and close it to Slavery. The object of the Constitution is announced to be “in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings oflibertyto ourselves and our posterity”; all of which, in every particular, is absolutely inconsistent with Slavery. And, thirdly, he would observe those time-honored, most efficacious, chain-breaking words in the Amendments:“No person shall be deprived oflife,liberty, or property,without due process of law.” Scorning all false interpretations and glosses fastened upon the Constitution in support of Slavery, and with these three things before him, he would naturally declare that there was nothing in the original text on which this appalling wrong could be founded anywhere within the sphere of its operation. With wonder he would ask again by what strange delusion or hallucination the reason had been so far overcome as to recognize Slavery in the Constitution, when plainly it is not there, and cannot be there. The answer is humiliating, but easy.

People find in texts of Scripture the support of their own religious opinions or prejudices; and, in the same way, they find in texts of the Constitution the support of their political opinions or prejudices. And this may not be in either case because Scripture or Constitution, when truly interpreted, supports such opinions or prejudices, but because people are apt to find in texts simply a reflection of themselves. Most clearly and indubitably, whoever finds support of Slavery in the National Constitution has first found such support in himself: not that he will hesitate, perhaps, to condemn Slavery in words of approved gentleness, but because, from unhappy education, or more unhappy insensibility to the wrong, he has already conceded to it a certain traditional foothold of immunity, which he straightway transfers from himself to the Constitution. In dealing with this subject, it is not the Constitution, so much as human nature itself, which is at fault. Let the people change, and the Constitution will change also; for the Constitution is but the shadow, while the people are the substance.

Thank God, under influence of the struggle for national life, and in obedience to its incessant exigencies, the people have changed, and in nothing so much as on Slavery. Old opinions and prejudices have dissolved, and that traditional foothold Slavery once possessed is gradually weakening, until now it scarcely exists. Naturally this change must sooner or later show itself in the interpretation of the Constitution. But it is already visible even there, in the concession of powers over Slavery formerly denied. The time, then, has come when the Constitution, so long interpreted for Slavery, may be interpreted for Freedom. This is one stage of triumph. Universal emancipation, which is at hand, can be won only by complete emancipation of the Constitution itself, which has been so long degraded to wear chains that its real character is scarcely known.

Sometimes the concession is made on the ground ofmilitary necessity. The capacious war powers of the Constitution are invoked, and it is said that in their legitimate exercise Slavery may be destroyed. There is much in this concession,—more even than is imagined by many from whom it proceeds. It is war, say they, which puts these powers in motion; but they forget, that, wherever Slavery exists, there is perpetual war,—that Slavery itself is astate of warbetween two races, where one is for the moment victor,—pictured accurately by Jefferson as “permitting one half the citizens to trample on the rights of the other, transforming those into despots and these into enemies.”[274]Therefore, wherever Slavery exists, even in seeming peace, the war powers may be invoked to terminate a condition which isinternecine, and to overthrow pretensions hostile to every attribute of the Almighty.

It is not on military necessity alone that the concession is made. Many, as they read the Constitution now, see its powers over Slavery more clearly than before. The old superstition is abandoned; and they join with Patrick Henry, when, in the Virginia Convention, he declared the power of manumission accorded to Congress. He did not hesitate to argue against the adoption of the Constitution, because it accorded this power. And shall we be less perspicacious for Freedom than this Virginia statesman for Slavery? Discerning the power, he confessed his dismay: let us confess our joy.

We have already seen that Slavery finds no support in the Constitution. Glance now at positive provisions by which it is brought completely under control of Congress.

1. First among the powers of Congress, and associated with the power to lay and collect taxes, is that to “provide for the common defence and general welfare.” It is questioned whether this is a substantive power, or simply incident to that with which it is associated. But it is difficult, if not absurd, to insist that Congress has not this substantive power. Shall it not provide for the common defence? Shall it not regard the general welfare? If powerless to do these things in a great crisis, it had better abdicate. In the Virginia Convention, Mr. George Mason, a most decided opponent of the Constitution, said: “That Congress should have power to provide for the general welfare of the UnionI grant.”[275]The language of Patrick Henry, to which allusion has just been made, was more explicit. He foresaw thatthis power would be directed against Slavery, and did not hesitate to declare:—

“Slavery is detested. We feel its fatal effects. We deplore it with all the pity of humanity. Let all these considerations, at some future period, press with full force on the minds of Congress; let that urbanity which, I trust, will distinguish America, and the necessity of national defence,—let all these things operate on their minds; they will search that paper [the Constitution] and see if they have power of manumission. And have they not, Sir? Have they not powerto 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. They have the power in clear, unequivocal terms, and will dearly and certainly exercise it.”[276]

Language could not be more positive. To all who ask for the power of Congress over Slavery, here is a sufficient answer; and remember that this is not my speech, but the speech of Patrick Henry, who says that the Constitution “speaks to the point.”

2. Next comes the fountain, “Congress shall have power to declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a navy.” A power like this is from its nature unlimited. In raising and supporting an army, in providing and maintaining a navy, Congress is not restricted to any particular class or color. It may call upon all, and authorize thatcontractwhich the Government makes with an enlisted soldier. But such contract would be in itself an act of manumission;for a slave cannot make a contract. And if the contract be followed by actual service, who can deny its completest efficacy in enfranchising the soldier-slave and his whole family? Shakespeare, immortal teacher, gives expression to an instinctive sentiment, when he makes Henry the Fifth, on the eve of the victory at Agincourt, encourage his men by promising,—

“For he to-day that sheds his blood with meShall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,This day shall gentle his condition.”

“For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition.”

3. There is still another clause: “The United States shall guaranty to every State in this Uniona republican form of government.” Here again is a plain duty. But the question recurs, What is a republican form of government? John Adams, in the correspondence of his old age, says:—

“The customary meanings of the wordsrepublicandcommonwealthhave been infinite. They have been applied to every government under heaven,—that of Turkey and that of Spain, as well as that of Athens and of Rome, of Geneva and San Marino.”[277]

But the guaranty of a republican form of government must have a meaning congenial with the purposes of the Constitution. If a government like that of Turkey, or even that of Venice, could come within the scope of this guaranty, it would be of little value; it would be words, and nothing more. Evidently, it must be construed so as to uphold the Constitution, according to all the promises of its Preamble; and Mr. Madison has left a record, first published to the Senate by the distinguished Senator from Vermont [Mr.Collamer],of the Committee on the Library, showing that it was originally suggested in part by the fear of Slavery,[278]so that in construing it we must not forget the disturbing influence. The Preamble and the record are important, disclosing the real intention. But no American need be at loss to designate some of the distinctive elements of a republic, according to the idea of American institutions. These are found, first, in the Declaration of Independence, by which it is solemnly announced “that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” And they are found, secondly, in that other guaranty and prohibition of the Constitution, in harmony with the Declaration: “No personshall be deprived of life,liberty, or property,without due process of law.” Such are essential elements of “a republican form of government,” which cannot be disowned without disowning the very muniments of our liberties; and these the United States are bound to guaranty. But all these, when set in motion, make Slavery impossible. It is idle to say that this result was not anticipated. It would be, then, only another illustration that our fathers “builded better than they knew.”

4. Independent of the guaranty, there is the other clause just quoted, in itself a source of power: “No personshall be deprived of life,liberty, or property,without due process of law.” This was part of the Constitutional Amendments proposed by the First Congress, underthe popular demand for a Bill of Rights. Though brief, it is a whole Bill of Rights. Liberty can be lost only by “due process of law,”—words borrowed from the ancient liberty-loving Common Law, illustrated by our master in law, Lord Coke, but best explained by the late Mr. Justice Bronson, of New York, in a judicial opinion:—

“The meaning of the section, then, seems to be, thatno member of the State shall be disfranchised, or deprived of any of his rights or privileges, unless the matter shall be adjudged against him upon trial had according to the course of the Common Law.… The words ‘due process of law,’ in this place, cannot mean less than a prosecution or suit instituted and conducted according to the prescribed forms and solemnities for ascertaining guilt or determining the title to property.”[279]

Such is the protection thrown by the Constitution over every “person,” without distinction of race or color, class or condition. There can be no doubt about the universality of the protection. All, without exception, come within its scope. The natural meaning is plain; but there is an incident of history which makes it plainer still, excluding all possibility of misconception. A clause of this character was originally recommended as an Amendment by two Slave States, Virginia and North Carolina, and by a slave-trading State, Rhode Island; but it was restricted by them tofreemen, thus: “Nofreemanought to be deprived of his life,liberty, or property, but bythe law of the land.”[280]When the recommendation came before Congress, the word“person” was substituted for “freeman,” and the more searching phrase “due process of law” was substituted for “the law of the land.” In making this change, rejecting the recommendation of slave-owning and slave-trading States, the authors of this Amendment revealed their purpose, thatno personwearing the human form should be deprived oflibertywithout due process of law; and the proposition was adopted by the votes of Congress, and then of the States, as part of the Constitution. Clearly, on its face, it is an express guaranty of personal liberty, and an express prohibition of its invasion anywhere.

In the face of this guaranty and prohibition,—for it is both,—how can any “person” be held as slave? Sometimes it is argued that this provision must be restricted to places within the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Government. Such formerly was my own impression, often avowed in this Chamber; but I never doubted its complete efficacy to render Slavery unconstitutional in all such places, so that “no person” could be held as a slave at the national capital or in any national territory. Constitutionally, Slavery has always been an outlaw, wherever that provision of the Constitution was applicable. Nobody doubted that it was binding on the national courts; and yet it was left unexecuted, a dead letter, killed by the predominant influence of Slavery, until at last Congress was obliged by legislative act to do what the courts failed to do, and to terminate Slavery in the national capital and national territories.

In this transcendent guaranty and prohibition there are no words of exclusive jurisdiction. All is broad and general as the Constitution itself; and since thisprovision is in support of human rights, it cannot be restricted by any interpretation. There is no limitation in it, and nobody can supply any such limitation, without encountering the venerable maxim of law,Impius et crudelis qui Libertati non favet,—“Impious and cruel is he who does not favor Liberty.” Long enough have courts and Congress merited this condemnation. The time has come when they should merit it no longer. The Constitution should become a living letter under the predominant influence of Freedom. This conviction has brought petitioners to Congress, during the present session, asking that the Constitution shall be simply executed against Slavery, and not altered. Ah, Sir, it would be a glad sight to see that Constitution, which we have all sworn to support, interpreted generously, nobly, gloriously for Freedom, so that everywhere within its influence the chains should drop from the slave! If it be said that this was not anticipated at its adoption, I remind you of Patrick Henry, when, at the time, he said, “The paper speaks to the point.” No doubt, it does speak to the point, especially with the Amendments immediately thereafter adopted. Cicero preferred to err with Plato rather than to think right with other men. And pardon me, if, when my country is in peril from Slavery, and human rights are to be rescued, I prefer to err with Patrick Henry, in assuming power for Freedom, rather than to think right with Senators who hesitate in such a cause.

Mr. President, thus stands the case. There is nothing in the Constitution on which Slavery can rest, or find any the least support. Even on the face of that instrument it is anoutlaw; but if we look furtherinto its provisions, we find at least four distinct sources of power, which, if executed, must render Slavery impossible, while the Preamble makes them all vital for Freedom: first, the power to provide for the common defence and general welfare; secondly, the power to raise armies and maintain navies; thirdly, the power to guaranty a republican form of government; and, fourthly, the power to secureLibertyagainst all restraint without due process of law. But all these provisions are something more than powers;they are duties also. And yet we are constantly and painfully reminded that pending measures against Slavery are unconstitutional. Sir, this is an immense mistake.Nothing against Slavery can be unconstitutional.It is hesitation that is unconstitutional.

And yet Slavery still exists, in defiance of all these requirements; nay, more, in defiance of reason and justice, which can never be disobeyed with impunity, it exists, the perpetual spoiler of human rights and disturber of the public peace, degrading master as well as slave, corrupting society, weakening government, impoverishing the very soil itself, and impairing the natural resources of the country. Such an outrage, so offensive in every respect, not only to the Constitution, but also to the whole system of order by which the universe is governed, can be nothing buta national nuisance, which, for the general welfare, and in the name of justice, ought to be abated. But at this moment, when it menaces the national life, it is not enough to treat Slavery merely as a nuisance, for it is much more. It is a public enemy and traitor, wherever it shows itself, to be subdued, in the discharge of solemn guaranties of Government, and in the exercise of unquestionable andindefeasible rights of self-defence. All now admit that in the Rebel States it isa public enemy and traitor, so that the Rebellion is seen in Slavery, and Slavery is seen in the Rebellion. But Slavery throughout the country, everywhere within the national limits, is a living Unit, one and indivisible,—and thus even outside the Rebel States it is the same public enemy and traitor, lending succor to the Rebellion, and holding out “blue lights” to encourage and direct its operations. But whether national nuisance or public enemy and traitor, it is obnoxious to the same judgment, and must be abolished.

If, in abolishing Slavery, injury were done to the just interests of any human being, or to rights of any kind, there might be something to “give us pause,” even against these irresistible requirements. But nothing of the kind can ensue. No just interests and no rights can suffer. It is the rare felicity of such an act, as well outside as inside the Rebel States, that, while striking a blow at the Rebellion, and assuring future tranquillity, so that the Republic shall be no longer a house divided against itself, it will add at once to the value of the whole fee simple wherever Slavery exists, will secure individual rights, and will advance civilization itself.

There is another motive at this time. Embattled armies stand face to face, one side fighting for Slavery. The gauntlet that has been flung down we have taken up in part only. Abolishing Slavery entirely, we take up the gauntlet entirely. Then can we look with confidence to Almighty God for His blessing upon our arms. “Till America comes into this measure,” said John Jay during the Revolution, “her prayers to Heaven for Liberty will be impious.”[281]So long as we sustain Slavery,so long as we hesitate to strike at Slavery, the heavy battalions of our armies will fail. Sir Giles Overreach, attempting to draw his sword, found it “glued to the scabbard with wronged orphans’ tears.” God forbid that our soldiers shall find their swords “glued” with the tears of the slave!

One question, and only one, rises in our path,—and this simply because the national representatives have been so long drugged and drenched with Slavery, which they have taken in all forms, whether of dose or douche, that, like a long-suffering patient, they are still sunk under its influence. I refer, of course, to the talk of compensation, under the shameful assumption that there can be property in man. Sir, there was a moment when I was willing to pay for Emancipation largely, or at least to any reasonable amount; but it wasas ransom, and never as compensation. Thank God, that time has passed, never to return,—and simply because money is no longer needed for the purpose. Our fathers, under Washington, never paid the Algerines for our enslaved fellow-citizens, except as ransom; and they ceased all such tribute, when emancipation could be had without it. Such must be our rule. Any other would impoverish the Treasury for nothing. The time has come for the old tocsin to sound, “Millions for defence, not a cent for tribute!” Ay, Sir; millions of dollars—with millions of strong arms also—for defence against Slave-Masters; but not a cent for tribute to Slave-Masters.

If money is paid as compensation, clearly it cannot be awarded to the master, who for generations robbed the slave of his toil and all its fruits, so that, in justice, he may be treated as trustee of accumulated earnings with interest never paid over. Any money as compensationmust belong, every dollar, to the slave. If the case were audited in Heaven’s chancery, there must be another allowance for prolonged denial of inestimable rights. Loss of wages may be estimated; but where is the tariff or price-current by which to determine those greater losses which have been the lot of every slave? Mortal arithmetic is impotent to assess the fearful sum-total. In presence of this infinite responsibility, the whole question must be referred to that other tribunal where master and slave are equal, while Infinite Wisdom tempers justice with mercy. There is a Persian tradition of Mahomet once saying that the greatest mortification at the Day of Judgment will be when the pious slave is carried to Paradise and the wicked master condemned to Hell.[282]It is only with finite powers that we on earth can imitate Divine Justice.

The theory of compensation is founded on the intolerable assumption of property in man, an idea which often intrudes into these debates, sometimes from open vindicators, and sometimes from others, who, while yielding, yet reluctantly yield, and thus their conduct is “sicklied o’er” with Slavery. Sir, parliamentary law must be observed; but, if in a parliamentary assembly indignant hisses are ever justifiable, they ought to break forth at every mention of this thing, whatever form it takes,—whether of arrogant claim, or mildest suggestion, or equivocal hint. Impious toward God, and infidel toward man, it is disowned by conscience and reason alike; nor is there any softness of argument or of phrase by which its essential wickedness can be disguised. “The fool hath said in his heart there is no God”; but it is kindred folly to say there is no Man.The first is Atheism, and the second is like unto the first. If in this world a man owns anything, it is himself. This is his great patrimony, alike from his earthly father and his Father in Heaven. It is indefeasible and perpetual,—not to be sold, not to be bought. Always owning himself, he cannot be owned by another.[283]

No man can make black white or wrong right; nor can any Congress or any multitude overcome the everlasting law of justice.

According to a well-known and capital principle of jurisprudence, stolen property cannot be sold, and the attempt to sell it, knowing the primary abstraction, is a crime. The form of sale is impotent, and the title does not pass. Wherever he finds his property, the original owner may resume it as his own. The pawnbroker who has received it in pledge must release his hold; the purchaser who has paid the price must give it up. But can a stolen man be sold? Is there any form of sale which is not impotent to complete this great transfer, so as to give it the semblance of validity against the original owner? Can the title pass? Infinitely absurd and unnatural is the pretext that a man may reclaim his stolen coat wherever he finds it, but cannot reclaim himself! Is the coat more than the man? Slavery asserts that it is; and the whole country says the same, when it sanctions the return of a fugitive slave. But this pretension is only a further outgrowth of that appalling tyranny which begins by denying the right of a man to himself.

The Christian Church, by beautiful, glorious example,testifies from earliest days against this pretension. Hermes, Prefect of Rome, converted to Christ, comes to church on Easter with twelve hundred and fifty slaves, whom after baptism he sets free. Chromatius, another Prefect of Rome, under Diocletian, also a convert, gives liberty after baptism to fourteen hundred, while he proclaims, “They who begin to be children of God must not be slaves of men.” St. Germain, the admirable Bishop of Paris, on receiving alms, cries out, “Thanks be to God, we can now ransom a slave!” This list might be extended. Better even than such personal testimony is the same sentiment manifest in social institutions. St. Theodore, illustrious in the Eastern Church, imposed this rule upon its monasteries: “You must never employ slaves, neither in personal service, nor in affairs of the convent, nor in culture of the earth;the slave is a man created in the image of God.” The Church of the West was not less earnest. St. Benedict of Aniane, the second of the name in canonization, would not allow convents to be served by a slave. In the bosom of these retreats, as also in the priesthood, the former slave mingled with the former lord, nor was there any obstacle between him and the bishop’s crosier. Onesimus, once the slave of Philemon, and hailed as brother beloved by Paul, is said to have become bishop of Ephesus.[284]

In the testimony of the Christian Church there is one character of precious example: I refer to Pope Gregory, justly meriting by his life the title of Great, which has been preserved by history. Through him England first tasted the blessings of Christianity. Fair-hairedSaxons from the distant island, standing for sale in the market of Rome, enlisted his sympathy. When told that they were Angles, he exclaimed, “Not Angles, but Angels,”—“Non Angli, sed Angeli”—and he insisted on their ransom and instruction to become the apostles of their countrymen. Under his auspices St. Augustin commenced the work, so that the conversion of England may be traced to the sympathies aroused by English slaves on the banks of the Tiber. A letter from St. Gregory shows the spirit in which he acted. Giving freedom to two bondmen, he wrote these commanding words: “Since our Redeemer, Maker of the whole creation, being hereto propitiated, has been pleased to assume human flesh, that, by the grace of his divinity, the chain of slavery wherewith we were held captive being broken, he might restore us to pristine liberty, it is well that men whom Nature from the beginning has brought forth free and the law of nations has subjected to the yoke of servitude, should by benefit of manumission be restored to the liberty wherein they were born.”[285]And do not these words speak to us now?

Foremost of all in history who have vindicated human liberty, and associated their names with it forevermore, stands John Milton, Secretary of Oliver Cromwell, and author of “Paradise Lost.” Cradled under a lawless royalty, he helped to found and support the English Commonwealth, while in all that he wrote he pleaded for human rights,—now in defence of the English people, who had beheaded their king, and now in immortal poems which show how wisely and well he loved the cause he had made his own. Nowhere has the assumptionof property in man been encountered more completely than in the conversation between the Archangel and Adam, after the former had pictured a hunter whose game was “men, not beasts”:—

“O execrable son, so to aspireAbove his brethren, to himself assumingAuthority usurped, from God not given!He gave us only over beast, fish, fowlDominion absolute; that right we holdBy His donation; but man over menHe made not lord, such title to HimselfReserving, human left from human free.”[286]

“O execrable son, so to aspire

Above his brethren, to himself assuming

Authority usurped, from God not given!

He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl

Dominion absolute; that right we hold

By His donation; but man over men

He made not lord, such title to Himself

Reserving, human left from human free.”[286]

Every assertor of this property puts himself in the very place of the hunter of “men, not beasts,” described as “execrable son, so to aspire.” The language is not too strong. “Execrable” is the assumption,—“execrable” wherever made: “execrable” on the plantation, “execrable” in this Chamber, “execrable” in every form it takes, “execrable” in all its consequences, especially “execrable” as an apology for hesitation against Slavery. The assumption, wherever it shows itself, must be beaten down under our feet, like Satan himself, in whom it has its origin.

Again, we are brought by learned Senators to the Constitution, which requires that there shall be “just compensation,” where “private property” is taken for public use. But, plainly, here the requirement is absolutely inapplicable, for there is no “private property” to take. Slavery is but a bundle of barbarous pretensions, from which certain persons are to be released. At what price shall the bundle be estimated? How much shall be paid for the controlling pretension of property in man? How much allowed for that other pretension toshut the gates of knowledge, and keep the victim from the Book of Life? How much given for ransom from the pretension to rob a human being of his toil and all its fruits? And, Sir, what “just compensation” shall be voted for renouncing that Heaven-defying pretension, too disgusting to picture, which, trampling on the most sacred relations, makes wife and child the wretched prey of lust and avarice? Let these pretensions be renounced, and Slavery ceases to exist; but there can be no “just compensation” for any such renunciation. Heart, reason, religion, the Constitution itself, rise in judgment against it. As well vote “just compensation” to the hardened offender who renounces disobedience to the Ten Commandments, and promises that he will cease to steal, cease to commit adultery, and cease to covet his neighbor’s wife! Ay, Sir, there is nothing in the Constitution to sanction any such outrage. Such an appropriation would be unconstitutional.

Mr. Madison said in the Convention that it was “wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea that there could be property in men.”[287]Of course it was wrong. It was criminal and unpardonable. Thank God, it was not done. But Senators admit this “idea” daily. They take it from themselves, and then introduce it where Mr. Madison said it was “wrong.” But if “wrong” at the adoption of the Constitution, how much worse now! There is no instinct of patriotism, as there is no conclusion of reason, which must not be against the abomination; and yet, Sir, it is allowed to enter into these debates. Sometimes it stalks, and sometimesit skulks; but whether stalking or skulking, it must be encountered with the same indignant rebuke, until it ventures no longer to show its head.

Putting aside, then, all objection, whether from open opposition or lukewarm support, the great question recurs, that question which dominates this debate, How shall Slavery be overthrown? The answer is threefold: first, by the courts, declaring and applying the true principles of the Constitution; secondly, by Congress, in the exercise of the powers belonging to it; and, thirdly, by the people, through an Amendment of the Constitution. Court, Congress, people, all may be invoked; and the occasion justifies the appeal.

1. Let the appeal be made to the courts. But, alas! one of the saddest chapters in our history is the conduct of judges, lending themselves to the support of Slavery. Injunctions of the Constitution, guaranties of personal liberty, and prohibitions against its invasion have all been forgotten. Courts, which should be asylums of Liberty, have been changed into strongholds of Slavery; and the Supreme Court of the United States, by final decision as shocking to the Constitution as to the public conscience, proclaimed itself tutelary stronghold of all. It was part of the national calamity, that, under the influence of Slavery, Justice, like Astræa of old, fled. But now, at last, in a regenerated Republic, with Slavery waning, and the people rising in judgment against it, let us hope that the judgments of courts may be reconsidered, and the powers of the Constitution in behalf of Liberty fully exercised, so that human bondage shall no longer find an unnatural support from the lips of judges,—

“and ancient fraud shall fail,Returning Justice lift aloft her scale.”

“and ancient fraud shall fail,

Returning Justice lift aloft her scale.”

Sir, no court can afford to do an act of wrong. Its business is justice; and when, under any apology, it ceases to do justice, it loses those titles to reverence otherwise so willingly bestowed. There are instances of great magistrates openly declaring disobedience to laws “against common right and reason,” and their names are mentioned with gratitude in the history of jurisprudence. There are other instances of men holding the balance and the sword, whose names are gathered into a volume as “atrocious judges.” If our judges, cruelly interpreting the Constitution in favor of Slavery, do not come into the latter class, they can claim no place among those others who have stood for justice, like the rock on which the sea breaks in idle spray. Vainly do you attempt to frame injustice into a law, or to sanctify it by any judgment of court. From Cicero we learn, that, “if commands of the people, if decrees of princes, ifopinions of judgeswere sufficient to constitute right, then were it right to commit highway robbery, right to commit adultery, right to set up forged wills.”[288]And Augustine tells us, with saintly authority, that what is unjust cannot be law.[289]Every law and every judgment of court, to be binding, must have at its back the everlasting, irrepealable law of God. Doubtless the model decision of the American bench, destined to be quoted hereafter with most honor, because the boldest in its conformity with great principles of humanity and social order, was that of the Vermont judge who refusedto surrender a fugitive slaveuntil his pretended master could show a title-deed from the Almighty.

But courts have no longer occasion for such boldness. They need not step outside the Constitution. It is only needed that they should follow just principles in its interpretation. Let them be guided by a teacher like Edmund Burke, who spoke as follows:—

“Men cannot covenant themselves out of their rights and their duties; nor by any other means can arbitrary power be conveyed to any man.Those who give to others such rights perform acts that are void as they are given.…Those who give and those who receive arbitrary power are alike criminal, and there is no man but is bound to resist it to the best of his power, wherever it shall show its face to the world. It is a crime to bear it, when it can be rationally shaken off.”[290]

Or let them be guided by that other teacher, Lord Chatham, when he said:—

“With respect to the decisions of courts of justice, I am far from denying them their due weight and authority; yet, placing them in the most respectable view, I still consider them, not as law, but as an evidence of the law; and before they can arrive even at that degree of authority, it must appear that they are founded in and confirmed by reason,—that they are supported by precedents taken from good and moderate times,—that they do not contradict any positive law,—that they are submitted to without reluctance by the people,—that they are unquestioned by the legislature (which is equivalent to a tacit confirmation),—and, what in my judgment is by far the most important, that they do not violate the spirit of the Constitution.”[291]

Or let them go back to that early Spanish testimony against the Slave-Trade and Slavery, when De Soto, in lectures at Salamanca, thus spoke:—

“It is affirmed that the unhappy Ethiopians are by fraud or force carried away and sold as slaves. If this is true, neither those who have taken them, nor those who purchased them, nor those who hold them in bondage can ever have a quiet conscience till they emancipate them,even if no compensation should be obtained.”[292]

Or, let them accept the unanswerable judgment of that acute moralist, the late Archbishop Whately, who in simple words shows the superior title of the slave:—

“A slave cannot fairly be called a thief for taking anything from his master, or for stealing his own liberty. He may be considered as in an enemy’s country, in the midst of those who recognize no rights of his as against them, and who therefore have no rights as against him.”[293]

If courts were thus inspired, it is easy to see that Slavery would disappear under righteous judgment.

2. Unhappily, courts will not perform the duty of the hour, and we turn elsewhere. Appeal must be made to Congress; and here, as has been fully developed, the powers are ample, unless in their interpretation you surrender in advance to Slavery. By a singlebrief statute, Congress may sweep Slavery out of existence. Patrick Henry saw and declared, that, under the influence of a growing detestation of Slavery and the increasing “urbanity” of the people, this must be expected, while all the capacious war powers proclaim trumpet-tongued that it can be done constitutionally, and the peace powers echo back the war powers.

Here we encounter again the “execrable” pretension of property in man, with the attendant claim of “just compensation” for the renunciation of Heaven-defying wrongs. But this is no more incident to abolition by Act of Congress than by Amendment of the Constitution; so that, “if just compensation” can be discarded in one case, it can be in the other. But the votes on the latter proposition already taken in the Senate testify that it is discarded. Sir, let the “execrable” pretension never again be named, except for condemnation, no matter how or when it appears, or what form it takes. Let the “idea,” originally branded as so “wrong” that it could not find place in the Constitution, never find place in our debates.

Even if Congress be not prepared for that single decisive measure promptly ending this whole question and striking Slavery to death, there are other measures by which the end may be hastened. The towering Upas may be girdled, even if not felled at once to earth. Already, by Acts of Congress, Slavery is abolished in the national capital and in the national territories. This is not enough.

The Fugitive Slave Bill, conceived in iniquity, and imposed upon the North as a badge of subjugation, may be repealed.

The coastwise Slave-Trade may be deprived of all support in the statute-book.

The traffic in human beings, as an article of “commerce among the States,” may be extirpated.

And, above all, that odious rule of evidence, so injurious to justice and discreditable to the country, excluding the testimony of colored persons, may be abolished, at least in national courts.

And there is one other thing to be done. The enlistment of colored persons must be encouraged by legislation in every possible form; for enlistment is emancipation. That contract whereby the soldier-slave promises service at hazard of life, like the contract of marriage, fixes the equality of the parties, which Congress, for the national defence, and the national character also, will sacredly maintain.

All these things at least may be done, and, when they are done, Heaven and Earth will be glad, for they will have assurance that all will be done.

3. Nor will even these suffice. The people must be summoned to confirm the whole work. It is for them to put the capstone upon the sublime structure. An Amendment of the Constitution may do what courts and Congress decline to do, or, even should they act, it may cover their action with its panoply. Such an Amendment will give completeness and permanence to Emancipation, while bringing the Constitution into avowed harmony with the Declaration of Independence. Happy day, long wished for, destined to gladden those beatified spirits who have labored on earth to this end, but died without the sight!

And yet I would not indiscreetly take counsel of ourhopes. From the nature of the case, such an Amendment cannot be consummated at once. Time must intervene, with opportunities of opposition. It can pass Congress only by a vote of two thirds in both branches; and then it must be adopted by the Legislatures of three fourths of the States. Even under most favorable circumstances, it is impossible to say when it can become part of the Constitution. Too tardily, I fear, for all the good that is sought. Therefore I am not content with this measure alone. It postpones till to-morrow what ought to be done to-day; and I much fear that it will be made the apology for indifference to other efforts of direct practical value,—as if it were pardonable to neglect for a day the duties we owe to Human Rights.

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