At the Republican State Convention, held at Worcester, September 9, 1868, of which Hon. George S. Boutwell was President, the following was the last resolution of the platform, which was unanimously adopted:—“That the public life of the Honorable Charles Sumner, during three terms of service in the Senate of the United States, has fully justified the confidence which has been successively reposed in him; that his eloquent, fearless, and persistent devotion to the sacred cause of Human Rights, as well in its early struggles as in its later triumphs,—his beneficent efforts, after the abolition of Slavery, in extirpating all the incidents thereof,—his constant solicitude for the material interests of the country,—his diligence and success, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, in vindicating the policy of maintaining the just rights of the Government against foreign powers, and at the same time preserving peace with the nations,—all present a public record of rare usefulness and honor; and that his fidelity, experience, and honorable identification with our national history call for his reëlection to the high office in which he has rendered such illustrious service to his country and to mankind.”The report of theBoston Daily Advertiserstated that “the reading of the resolutions was accompanied by repeated applause,—the last one, relating to Mr. Sumner, calling forth a perfect tempest of approval.”January 19, 1869, Mr. Sumner was reëlected Senator for the term of six years, beginning with March 4th following, by the concurrent vote of the two Houses of the Legislature. The vote was as follows:—In the Senate.Charles Sumner,37Josiah G. Abbott,2In the House.Charles Sumner,216Josiah G. Abbott,15Nathaniel P. Banks,1
At the Republican State Convention, held at Worcester, September 9, 1868, of which Hon. George S. Boutwell was President, the following was the last resolution of the platform, which was unanimously adopted:—
“That the public life of the Honorable Charles Sumner, during three terms of service in the Senate of the United States, has fully justified the confidence which has been successively reposed in him; that his eloquent, fearless, and persistent devotion to the sacred cause of Human Rights, as well in its early struggles as in its later triumphs,—his beneficent efforts, after the abolition of Slavery, in extirpating all the incidents thereof,—his constant solicitude for the material interests of the country,—his diligence and success, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, in vindicating the policy of maintaining the just rights of the Government against foreign powers, and at the same time preserving peace with the nations,—all present a public record of rare usefulness and honor; and that his fidelity, experience, and honorable identification with our national history call for his reëlection to the high office in which he has rendered such illustrious service to his country and to mankind.”
“That the public life of the Honorable Charles Sumner, during three terms of service in the Senate of the United States, has fully justified the confidence which has been successively reposed in him; that his eloquent, fearless, and persistent devotion to the sacred cause of Human Rights, as well in its early struggles as in its later triumphs,—his beneficent efforts, after the abolition of Slavery, in extirpating all the incidents thereof,—his constant solicitude for the material interests of the country,—his diligence and success, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, in vindicating the policy of maintaining the just rights of the Government against foreign powers, and at the same time preserving peace with the nations,—all present a public record of rare usefulness and honor; and that his fidelity, experience, and honorable identification with our national history call for his reëlection to the high office in which he has rendered such illustrious service to his country and to mankind.”
The report of theBoston Daily Advertiserstated that “the reading of the resolutions was accompanied by repeated applause,—the last one, relating to Mr. Sumner, calling forth a perfect tempest of approval.”
January 19, 1869, Mr. Sumner was reëlected Senator for the term of six years, beginning with March 4th following, by the concurrent vote of the two Houses of the Legislature. The vote was as follows:—
FELLOW-CITIZENS,—If I have taken little part in the present canvass, you will do me the justice to believe that it is from no failure of interest in the cause for which I have so often pleaded; nor is it from any lukewarmness to the candidates. The cause is nothing less than our country redeemed from peril and dedicated to Human Rights, so as to become an example to mankind. The candidates are illustrious citizens, always loyal to this great cause, both of surpassing merit, and one of unequalled renown in the suppression of the Rebellion. In this simple statement I open the whole case. The cause would commend any candidates, and I might almost add that the candidates would commend any cause.
It is only in deference to my good physician that I have thus far forborne those customary efforts to which I was so strongly prompted; and now I speak in fear of offending against his rules. But I am unwilling that this contest shall close without my testimony, such as it is, and without mingling my voice with that general acclaim which is filling the land.
Indulge me still further while for a moment I allude to myself. The Republican State Convention has by formal resolution presented me for reëlection to the Senate, so that this question enters into the larger canvass. Meeting my fellow-citizens now, it would not beout of order, I believe, nor should I depart from any of the proprieties of my position, if I proceeded to give you an account of my stewardship during the term of service about to expire. But when I consider that this extends over six busy years, beginning while the Rebellion still raged and continuing through all the anxious period of Reconstruction,—that it embraces nothing less than the Abolition of Slavery, and all the steps by which this transcendent measure was promoted and consummated, also the various efforts for the establishment of Equal Rights, especially in the court-room and at the ballot-box, thus helping the fulfilment of the promises originally made in the Declaration of Independence,—that it embraces, besides, all the infinite questions of taxation, finance, railroads, business and foreign relations, including many important treaties, among which was that for the acquisition of the Russian possessions in North America,—and considering, further, how these transactions belong to the history of our country, where they are already read, I content myself with remarking that in all of them I have borne a part, I trust not unworthy of the honored Commonwealth whose representative I am; and here I invite your scrutiny and candid judgment.
Possibly some of the frequent criticism to which I have been exposed is already dulled by time or answered by events. A venerable statesman, eminent in the profession, once rebuked me for the termEquality before the Law, which I had taken from the French, as expressing more precisely than the Declaration of Independence that equality in rights which is all that constitutions or laws can secure. My learned critic had never met this term in the Common Law, or in theEnglish language, and therefore he did not like the innovation. In the same spirit other efforts have been encountered, often with virulence, especially those two fundamentals of Reconstruction,—first, the power of Congress over the Rebel States, whether as territories, or provinces, or as States having no republican government, or, according to the language of President Lincoln, “out of their proper practical relation with the Union,”[265]and, secondly, the necessity of lifting the freedman into Equal Rights, civil and political, so as to make him a part of the body politic. Who can forget the clamor at these two propositions? All this has happily ceased, except as an echo from Rebels and their allies, whose leading part is a protest against the power of Congress and the equal rights of the freedman.
Though formal criticism has tardily died out, there is sometimes a warning against men of “one idea,” with a finger-point at myself. Here I meet my accuser face to face. What duty have I failed to perform? Let it be specified. What interest have I neglected? Has it been finance? The “Globe” will show my earnest and elaborate effort at the beginning of the war, warning against an inconvertible currency, and a similar effort made recently to secure the return to specie payments. Has it been taxation, or commerce, or railroads, or business in any of its forms, or foreign relations, with which, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on this subject, I have been particularly connected? On all of these I refer to the record. What, then, have I neglected? It is true, that, while bearing these things in mind andneglecting none, I felt it a supreme duty to warn my country against the perils from Slavery, and to insist upon irreversible guaranties for the security of all, especially those freedmen whom we could not consent to sacrifice without the most shameful ingratitude. As the urgency was great, I also was urgent. In season and out of season, at all times, in all places, here at home and in the Senate, I insisted upon the abolition of Slavery, and the completion of this great work by the removal of its whole brood of inequalities, so that it should not reappear in another form. But my earnestness and constancy only imperfectly represented the cause. There could be no excess,—nothing too strong. The Republic was menaced; where was the limit to patriotic duty? Human Rights were in jeopardy; who that had a heart to feel could be indifferent? Nobody could do too much. This was not possible. No wisdom too great, no voice too eloquent, no courage too persevering. Of course, I claim no merit for effort in this behalf; but I appeal to you, my fellow-citizens, that the time for reproach on this account is past. We must be “practical,” says the critic. Very well. Here we agree. But, pray, who has been “practical”? Is it those laggards, who, after clinging to Slavery, then denied the power of Congress, and next scouted the equal rights of the freedman? Permit me to say that the “practical” statesman foresees the future and provides for it.
Whoever does anything with his whole heart makes it for the time his “one idea.” Every discoverer, every inventor, every poet, every artist, every orator, every general, every statesman, is absorbed in his work; and he succeeds just in proportion as for the time it becomes his “one idea.” The occasion must not be unworthy orpetty; but the more complete the self-dedication, the more effective is the result. I know no better instance of “one idea” pursued to a triumphant end than when our candidate, after planning his campaign, announced that he meant “to fight it out on this line, if it took all summer.” Here was no occasion for reproach, except from Rebels, who would have been glad to see him fail in that singleness of idea which gave him the victory. There are other places where the same singleness is needed and the idea is not less lofty. The Senate Chamber has its battles also; and the conflict embraces the whole country. Personally, I have nothing to regret, except my own inadequacy. I would have done more, if I could. Call it “one idea.” That idea is nothing less than country, with all that is contained in that inspiring word, and with the infinite vista of the same blessings for all mankind.
From these allusions, suggested by my own personal relations, I come directly to the issues of this canvass. Others have presented them so fully that there is less need of any minute exposition on my part, even if the heralds of triumph did not announce the certain result. But you will bear with me while I state briefly what is to be decided. This may be seen in general or in detail.
Speaking generally, you are to decide on the means for the final suppression of the Rebellion, and the establishment of security for the future. Shall the Rebellion which you have subdued on the bloody field be permitted to assert its power again, or shall it be trampled out, so that its infamous pretensions shall disappear forever? These general questions involve the whole issue.If you sympathize with the Rebellion, or decline to take security against its recurrence, then vote for Seymour and Blair. I need not add, that, if you are in earnest against the Rebellion, and seek just safeguards for the Republic, then vote for Grant and Colfax. The case is too plain for argument.
It may be put more precisely still:Shall the men who saved the Republic continue to rule it, or shall it be handed over to Rebels and their allies?Such is the simple issue, stripped of all hypocritical guise; for here, as in other days, the real question is concealed by the enemy. The plausible terms of Law and Constitution, with even the pretence of generosity, now employed to rehabilitate the Rebellion, are unmasked by the witty touch of “Hudibras,” whose words are as pointed now as under Charles the Second:—
“What’s liberty of conscience,I’ th’ natural and genuine sense?’Tis to restore, with more security,Rebellion to its ancient purity.”[266]
“What’s liberty of conscience,I’ th’ natural and genuine sense?’Tis to restore, with more security,Rebellion to its ancient purity.”[266]
“What’s liberty of conscience,
I’ th’ natural and genuine sense?
’Tis to restore, with more security,
Rebellion to its ancient purity.”[266]
On the one side are loyal multitudes, and the generous freedmen who bared themselves to danger as our allies, with Grant still at their head; and on the other are Rebels, under the name of the Democratic Party, all dripping with blood from innumerable fields of slaughter where loyal men gasped away life,—from Fort Pillow, from Andersonville, from pirate decks,—hurrying, with Seymour at their head, to govern the Republic in the name of the Lost Cause. Not so fast, ye men of blood! Stand back! They who encountered you before will encounter you again.
I would not make this statement too strong. I wish to keep within bounds. But the facts are too patent to admit of doubt. Yes, it is the old Democracy, which, after giving to the Rebellion its denationalizing pretension of State Rights, and all its wicked leaders, from Davis to Forrest and Semmes,—after thwarting every measure for its suppression as “unconstitutional,” from the Proclamation of Emancipation to the firing of a gun or the condemnation of Vallandigham,—after interfering with enlistments also as “unconstitutional,”—after provoking sympathetic riots,—after holding up “blue lights” for the guidance of the enemy,—after hanging upon the country like a paralysis,—and after, finally, under the lead of Seymour, declaring the war a “failure,”—this same Democracy, still under the lead of Seymour, champions the Lost Cause. Under the pretence of restoring Rebels to rights, it seeks to restore them to power; and this is the very question on which you are to vote. The Tories at the end of the Revolution were more moderate. They did not insist upon instant restoration to rights forfeited by treason; nor did they bring forward a candidate against Washington. This is reserved for the Tories of our day.
All this is general. Descending to details, we find that the issue now presented reappears in other questions. Of these none is more important than that of the Reconstruction Acts, which have been openly assailed as “unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void.”[267]In nothing more than in this declaration, associated with the letter of its candidate, do we behold the audacity of the Rebel Party. Even while professing allegiance and asking your vote, they proclaim war in a new form. InsteadofSecessionmaintained by arms, it is nowNullificationmaintained by arms. In no other way can we interpret the party platform, and the programme of Mr. Blair, when, with customary frankness, he calls upon the President “to declare these Acts null and void, compel the army to undo its usurpations at the South, and disperse the carpet-bag State governments.”[268]Here is Nullification with a vengeance,—that very Nullification which, in a much milder type, made Andrew Jackson threaten to hang its authors high as Haman. Secession is declared to be settled by the war; but Nullification is openly recognized. What is the difference between the two? The answer is plain. Secession is war out of the Union; Nullification is war in the Union. And this is the open menace of the Rebel Party.
The Reconstruction Acts err from what they fail to do rather than from what they do. They do too little rather than too much. They should have secured a piece of land to the landless freedman, whose unrewarded toil has mingled for generations in the soil; and they should have secured a system of common schools open to all. In these demands, as in every other measure of Reconstruction, I would do nothing in severity or triumph, nothing to punish or humble. Nor is it only in justice to the freedman, who has a bill against his former master for unpaid wages, and also against the country for an infinite debt, but it is for the good of all constituting the community, including the former master. Nothing can be truer than that under such influences society will be improved, character will be elevated, and the general resources will be enlarged. Only in this way will the Barbarism of Slavery be banished, and a true civilization organized in its place. Our simple object is expressed in the words of Holy Writ: “Let us build these cities, and make about them walls and towers, gates and bars, while the land is yet before us.”[269]By contributing to this work, by laboring for its accomplishment, by sending it our God-speed, we perform a service at once of the highest charity and the highest patriotism, which hereafter the children of the South, emancipated from error, will rejoice to recognize. With Human Rights under a permanent safeguard, there can be no limit to prosperity. As under this sunshine the land yields its increase and the gardens bloom with beauty, while commerce and manufactures enjoy a new life, they will confess that we did well for them, and will hail with pride the increased glory of the Republic. If, as in ancient Rome, we demanded the heads of senators and orators,—if, as in England, we took the life and estate of all traitors,—if, as in Germany, we fatigued the sword with slaughter, and cried “havoc,”—if, as in France, we set up guillotines, and worked them until the blood stood in puddles beneath,—if, as in all these historic countries, we acted in pitiless vengeance,—if in anything we have done or attempted there was one deed of vengeance,—then we, too, might deserve a chastening censure. But all that we have done, next after the safety of the Republic, is for the good of those who were our enemies, and who despitefully used us. Never before was clemency so sublime; never before was a rebel people surrounded by beneficence so comprehensive. Great as was the Republic in arms, it is greater still in the majesty of its charity.
So far as the Reconstruction Acts have been assailed, I am ready to defend them against all comers. And I repel at the outset every charge or suggestion of harshness. They are not harsh, unless it is harsh to give every man his due. If they are harsh, then is beneficence harsh, then is charity harsh. It is only by outraging every principle of justice, stifling every sympathy with Human Rights, and discarding common sense, and, still further, by forgetting all the sacred obligations of country, that we can submit to see political power in the hands of Rebels. No judgment is too terrible for us, if we consent to the sacrifice. For the sake of the freedman, for the sake of his former master, for the sake of all, and for the sake of the Republic, this must not be. Therefore were the Reconstruction Acts adopted by immense majorities in both Houses of Congress as the guaranty of peace. The aspiration of our candidate was in every line and word, “Let us have peace.”
Two questions are presented by the enemies of these Acts: first, on the Power of Congress; and, secondly, on the Equal Rights of the Freedman.
Too often have I asserted the plenary power of Congress with arguments that have never been answered, to feel it necessary now to occupy time on this head. The case may be proved in so many ways that it is difficult to know which to select. Whether the power is derived from the necessity of the case, because the Rebel States were without governments, which is the reason assigned by Chief Justice Marshall for the jurisdiction of Congress over the Territories,—or from the universal rights of war, following the subjection of belligerents on land,—or from the obligation of the United States to guaranty a republican government to each State,—or from the Constitutional Amendment abolishing Slavery, with its supplementary clause conferring upon Congress power to enforce this abolition,—whether the power is derived from one or all of these bountiful sources, it is clear that it exists. As well say that the power over the Territories, the war power, the guaranty power, and the power to enforce the abolition of Slavery, do not exist; as well say that the Constitution itself does not exist.
If any confirmation of this irresistible conclusion were needed, it might be found in the practical admissions of Andrew Johnson, who, while perversely usurping the power of Reconstruction, did it in the name of the Nation. In the prosecution of this usurpation, he summoned conventions of delegates made eligible by his proclamation, and chosen by electors invested by him with the right of suffrage; and through these conventions, to which he gave the law by telegraphic wire, he assumed to institute local governments. Thus has Andrew Johnson testified to the power of the Nation over Reconstruction, while, with an absurdity of pretension which history will condemn even more than any contemporary judgment, he assumed that he was the Nation. His usurpation has been overthrown, but his testimony to the power of the Nation remains. When the Nation speaks, it is by Congress,—as the Roman Republic spoke by its Senate and people,Senatus Populusque Romanus, in whose name went forth those great decrees which ruled the world.
In considering the constitutionality of the Reconstruction Acts, there is a distinction, recognized by repeated judgments of the Supreme Court, which has not been sufficiently regarded, even by our friends. The Rebel Party, especially in their platform at New York, forget it entirely. They tell us that the Reconstruction Acts are “unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void,” and Wade Hampton boasts that he prompted this declaration. I have already exhibited the power of Congress in four different sources; but beyond these is the principle,that Congress, in the exercise of political powers, cannot be questioned. So says the Supreme Court. Thus it has been decided, in general terms, “that the action ofthe political branchesof the Government in a matter that belongs to them is conclusive.”[270]And in the famous case ofLutherv.Borden, it is announced, that, where the National Government interferes with the domestic concerns of a State, “the Constitution of the United States, as far as it has provided for an emergency of this kind,has treated the subject as political in its nature, and placed the power in the hands of that department”; and it is further added, that “its decision is binding on every other department of Government, and could not be questioned in a judicial tribunal.”[271]In the face of these peremptory words, it is difficult to see what headway can be made in contesting the validity of the Reconstruction Acts, except by arms. If ever a question was political, it is this. It is political in every aspect, whether regarded as springing from the necessity of the case, from the rights of war, from the obligation to guaranty a republican government, or from the power to enforce the abolition of Slavery. Never before was any questionpresented so completely political. Reconstruction is as political as the war, or as any of the means for its conduct. It is political from beginning to end. It is nothing, if not political. Therefore, by unassailable precedents under the Constitution, are these Acts fixed and secured so that no court can touch them,—nothing but the war which Mr. Blair has menaced.
The Equal Rights conferred upon the freedman are all placed under this safeguard. Congress has done this great act of justice, and, thank God, it cannot be undone. It has already taken its place in the immortal covenants of history, and become a part of the harmonies of the universe. As well attempt to undo the Declaration of Independence, or suspend the law of gravitation. This cannot be. The bloody horrors of San Domingo, where France undertook to cancel Emancipation, testify with a voice of wail that a race once lifted from Slavery cannot be again degraded. Human Rights, when at last obtained, cannot be wrested back without a conflict in which God will rage against the oppressor.
But I do not content myself with showing the essential stability of this measure of Reconstruction. I defend it in all respects,—not only as an act of essential justice, without which our Nation would be a deformity, but as an irresistible necessity, for the sake of that security without which peace is impossible. It is enough that justice commanded it; but the public exigency left no opportunity for any fine-spun system, with educational or pecuniary conditions, even if this were consistent with the fundamental principle that “all just government stands only on the consent of the governed.” As the strong arms of this despised race hadbeen needed for the safety of the Republic, so were their votes needed now. The cause was the same. Without them loyal governments would fail. They could not be organized. To enfranchise those only who could read and write or pay a certain tax was not enough. They were too few. All the loyal are needed at the ballot-box to counterbalance the disloyal.
It was at this time, and under this pressure, that conditions, educational or pecuniary, were seen to be inadmissible; and many, considering the question in the light of principle, were led to ask, if, under any circumstances, such conditions are just. Surely an unlettered Unionist is better than a Rebel, however learned or wise, and on all practical questions will vote more nearly right. If there is to be exclusion, let it be of the disloyal, and not of the loyal. Nobody can place the value of education too high; but is it just to make it the prerequisite to any right of citizenship? There are many, whose only school has been the rough world, in whom character is developed to a rare degree. There are freedmen unable to read or write who are excellent in all respects. If willing to reject such persons as allies, can you justly exclude them from participation in the Government? Can you justly exclude any good citizen from such participation?
It is recorded of the English statesman, Charles James Fox, that, after voting at a contested election, and finding his coachman, who had driven him to the polls, voting the other way, he protested pleasantly that the coachman should have told him in advance how he was to vote, that the two might have paired off and stayed at home. Here is Fox at the polls neutralized by his coachman. A similar incident is told of Judge Story, here in Cambridge. Both stories have been used to discredit suffrage by the people. They have not this effect on my mind. On the contrary, I find in them a beautiful illustration of that Equality before the Law which is the promise of republican institutions. At the ballot-box the humblest citizen is the equal of the great statesman or the great judge. If this seems unreasonable, it must not be forgotten that the eminent citizen exercises an influence which is not confined to his vote. It extends with his fame or position, so that, though he has only a single vote, there are many, perhaps multitudes, swayed by his example. This is the sufficient compensation for talent and education exerted for the public weal, without denying to anybody his vote. The common man may counterbalance the vote of the great statesman or great judge, but he cannot counterbalance this influence. The common man has nothing but his vote. Who would rob him of this?
Thus far I have shown the Reconstruction Acts to be constitutional, natural, and valid, in contradiction to the Rebel platform, asserting them to be “unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void.” But these Acts may be seen in other aspects. I have shown what they accomplish. See now what they prevent; and here is another series of questions, every one of which is an issue on which you are to vote.
Are you ready for the revival of Slavery? I put this question plainly; for this is involved in the irreversibility of the Reconstruction Acts. Let these be overthrown or abandoned, and I know no adequate safeguardagainst an outrageous oppression of the freedman, which will be Slavery under another name. The original type, as received from Africa and perpetuated here, might not appear; but this is not the only form of the hateful wrong. Not to speak of peonage, as it existed in Mexico, there is a denial of rights, with exclusion from all participation in the Government and subjection to oppressive restraints, which of itself is a most direful slavery, under which the wretched bondman smarts as beneath the lash. And such a slavery has been deliberately planned by the Rebels. It would be organized, if they again had power. Of this there can be no doubt. The evidence is explicit and authentic.
I have here a Congressional document, containing the cruel legislation of the Rebel States immediately after the close of the Rebellion, under the inspiration of the Johnson governments.[272]Here are its diabolical statutes, fashioned in the spirit of Slavery, with all that heartlessness which gave to Slavery its distinctive character. The emancipated African, shut out from all participation in the Government, despoiled of the ballot, was enmeshed in a web of laws which left him no better than a fly in the toils of a spider. If he moved away from his place of work, he was caught as a “vagrant”; if he sought work as a mechanic or by the job, he was constrained by the requirement of a “license”; if he complained of a white man, he was subjected to the most cunning impediments; if he bought arms for self-defence, he was a violator of law;—and thus, wherever he went, or whatever he attempted, he was a perpetual victim. In Mississippi he could not “rent or lease any lands or tenements except in incorporated towns or cities,” thus keeping him a serf attached to the soil of his master. Looking at these provisions critically, it appears, that, while pretending to regulate vagrants, apprentices, licenses, and civil rights, the freedman was degraded to the most abject condition; and then, under a pretence for the public peace, he was shut out from opportunities of knowledge, and also from keeping arms, while he was subjected to odious and exceptional punishments, as the pillory, the stocks, the whipping-post, and sale for fine and costs. Behind all these was violence, assassination, murder, with the Ku-Klux-Klan constituting the lawless police of this new system. The whole picture is too horrible; but it is true as horrible. In the face of this unanswerable evidence, who will say that it was not proposed to revive Slavery? To call such a condition Liberty is preposterous. If not a slave of the old type, the freedman was a slave of a new type, invented by his unrepentant master as the substitute for what he had surrendered to the power of the Nation. Beginning with a caste as offensive and irreligious as that of Hindostan, and adding to it the pretensions of an oligarchy in government, the representatives of the old system were preparing to trample upon an oppressed race. The soul sickens at the thought.
With all this indubitable record staring us in the eyes, with the daily report of inconceivable outrage darkening the air, with wrong in every form let loose upon the long-suffering freedman, General Lee breaks the respectable silence of his parole to deny that “the Southern people are hostile to the negroes, and would oppress them, if in their power to do it.” The report,he asserts, is “entirely unfounded,”—that is the phrase,—“entirely unfounded”; and then he dwells on the old patriarchal relation, with the habit from childhood of “looking upon them with kindness” (witness the history of Slavery in its authentic instances!); and then he insists that “the change in the relations of the two races has wrought no change in feelings towards them,” that “without their labor the land of the South would be comparatively unproductive, and thereforeself-interest would prompt the whites of the South to extend to the negroes care and protection.” Here is the threadbare pretension with which we were so familiar through all the dreary days of the old Barbarism, now brought forward by the Generalissimo of the Rebellion to vindicate the new,—and all this with an unabashed effrontery, which shows, that, in surrendering his sword, he did not surrender that insensibility to justice and humanity which is the distinctive character of the slave-master. The freedman does not need the “care and protection” of any such person. He needs the rights of an American citizen; and you are to declare by your votes if he shall have them.
The opposition to the Reconstruction Acts manifests itself in an inconceivable brutality, kindred to that of Slavery, and fit prelude to the revival of this odious wrong. Shall this continue? Outrage in every form is directed against loyal persons, without distinction of color. It is enough that a man is a patriot for Rebels to make war upon him. Insulted, abused, and despoiled of everything, he is murdered on the highway, on the railway, or, it may be, in his own house. Nowhere is he safe. The terrible atrocity of these acts is aggravated by the rallying cries of the murderers. If the victim is black, then it is a “war of races”; if white, then he is nothing but a “carpet-bagger”; and so, whether black or white, he is a victim. History has few scenes of equal guilt. Persecution in all its untold cruelties, ending in martyrdom, rages over a wide-spread land.
If there be a “war of races,” as is the apologetic defence of the murderers, then it is war declared and carried on by whites. The other race is inoffensive and makes no war, asking only its rights. The whole pretension of a “war of races” is an invention to cover the brutality of the oppressors. Not less wicked is the loud-mouthed attack on immigrants, whom Rebels choose to call “carpet-baggers,”—that is, American citizens, who, in the exercise of the rights of citizenship, carry to the South the blood, the capital, and the ideas of the North. This term of reproach does not belong to the Northerner alone. The carpet-bag is the symbol of our whole population: there is nobody who is not a “carpet-bagger,” or at least the descendant of one. Constantly the country opens its arms to welcome “carpet-baggers” from foreign lands. And yet the cry ascends that “carpet-baggers” are to be driven from the South. Here permit me to say, that, if anybody is driven from anywhere, it will not be the loyal citizen, whether old or new.
On all this you are to vote. It will be for you to determine if there shall be peace between the two races, and if American citizens shall enjoy everywhere within the jurisdiction of the Republic all the rights of citizenship, free from harm or menace, and with the liberty of uttering their freest thoughts.
There is another issue at thiselection. It is with regard to the unpatriotic, denationalizing pretensions of State Rights. In their name was the Rebellion begun, and now in their name is every measure of Reconstruction opposed. Important as are the functions of a State in the administration of local government, especially in resisting an overbearing centralization, they must not be exalted above the Nation in its own appropriate sphere. Great as is the magic of a State, there is to my mind a greater magic in the Nation. The true patriot would not consent to see the sacrifice of the Nation more than the true mother before King Solomon would consent to see the sacrifice of her child. It is as a Nation—all together making one—that we have a place at the council-board of the world, to excite the pride of the patriot and the respect of foreign powers. It is as a Nation that we can do all that becomes a civilized government; and “who dares do more is none.” But all this will be changed, just in proportion as any State claims for itself a sovereignty which belongs to all, and reduces the Nation within its borders to be little more than a tenant-at-will,—just in proportion as the National Unity is assailed or called in question,—just in proportion as the Nation ceases to be a complete and harmonious body, in which each State performs its ancillary part, as hand or foot to the natural body. There is an irresistible protest against such a sacrifice, which comes from the very heart of our history. It was in the name of “the good people of these Colonies,” called “one people,” that our fathers put forth the Declaration of Independence, with its preamble of Unity, and its dedication of the new Nation to Human Rights. And now it is for us, their children, to keep this Unity, and to perform all the national promises thus announced. The Nation is solemnly pledged to guard its Unity, and tomake Human Rights coextensive with its boundaries. Nor can it allow any pretension of State Rights to interfere with this commanding duty.
There is still another issue, which is subordinate to Reconstruction and dependent upon it, so, indeed, as to be a part of it. I refer to the Financial Question, with the menace of Repudiation in different forms. Let the Reconstruction Acts be maintained in peace, in other words, let peace be established in the Rebel States, and the menace of Repudiation will disappear from the scene,—none so poor to do it reverence. If it find any acceptance now, it is only in that revolutionary spirit which assails all the guaranties of peace. Repudiation of the Reconstruction Acts, with all their securities for Equal Rights, is naturally followed by repudiation of the National Debt. The Acts and the Debt are parts of one system, being the means and price of peace. So strongly am I convinced of the potency of this influence, that I do not doubt the entire practicability of specie payments on the fourth of July next after the inauguration of General Grant.
Nay, more, it is my conviction, not only that wecanhave specie payments at that time, but that weoughtto have them. If we can, we ought; for this is nothing but the honest payment of what we owe. A failure to pay may be excused, but never justified. Our failure was originally sanctioned only under the urgency of war; but this sanction cannot extend beyond the urgency. It is sometimes said that necessity renders an action just, and Latin authority is quoted:Id enim justissimum quod necessarium. But it is none the less untrue. Necessity may excuse an action not in itselfjust, but it is without the force to render it just; for justice is immutable. The taking of the property of another under the instigation of famine is excused, and so is the taking of the property of citizens by the Government during war,—in both cases from necessity. But as the necessity ceases, the obligations of justice revive. Necessity has no rights, but only privileges, which disappear with the exigency. Therefore do I say that the time has passed when the Nation can be excused for refusing to pay according to its promise. But it is vain to expect this important change from a political party which emblazons Repudiation on its banners.
It is in two conspicuous forms that Repudiation flaunts: first, in the barefaced proposition to tax the bonds, contrary to the contract at the time the money was lent; and the other, not less barefaced, to pay interest-bearing bonds with greenbacks, or, in other words, mere promises to pay without interest.
The exemption from taxation was a part of the original obligation, having, of course, a positive value, which entered into the price of the bond at the time of subscription. This additional price was taken from the pocket of the subscriber and transferred to the National Treasury, where it has been used for the public advantage. It is so much property to the credit of the bond-holder, which it is gravely proposed to confiscate. Rebel property you will not confiscate; but you are considering how to confiscate that of the loyal citizen. Taxation of the bonds is confiscation.
The whole case can be statedwith perfect simplicity. To tax the bonds is to break the contractbecause you have the power. It is an imitation of the Roman governor, a lieutenant of Cæsar, who, after an agreement by the people of Gaul to pay a certain subsidy monthly, arbitrarily changed the number of months to fourteen. The subtraction from the interest by taxation is kindred in dishonesty to the increase of the Gaulish subsidy by adding to the months. Of course, in private contracts between merchant and merchant no such thing could be done. But there can be no rule of good faith binding on private individuals which is not binding on the Nation, while there are exceptional reasons for extraordinary scrupulousness on the part of the Nation. As the transaction is vast, and especially as the Nation is conspicuous, what is done becomes an example to the world which history cannot forget. A Nation cannot afford to do a mean thing. There is another reason, founded on the helpless condition of the creditor, who has no power to enforce his claim, whether of principal or interest. It was Charles James Fox who once exclaimed against a proposition kindred to that now made: “Oh, no, no! His claims are doubly binding who trusts to the rectitude of another.” This is only according to an admitted principle in the Laws of War, constraining the stronger power to the best of faith in dealing with a weaker power, because the latter is without the capacity to redress a wrong. This benign principle, borrowed from the Laws of War, cannot be out of place in the Laws of Peace; and I invoke it now as a sufficient protection against taxation of the bonds, even if common sense in its plainest lessons, and the rule of right in its most imperious precepts, did not forbid this thing.
The cheat of paying interest-bearing bonds in promises without interest is kindred in character to that of taxing the bonds. It is flat Repudiation. No subtlety of technicality, no ingenuity of citation, no skill in arranging texts of statutes, can make it anything else. It is so on the face, and it is so the more the transaction is examined. Here again I invoke that rule of conduct to a weaker party, and I insist, that, if, from any failure of explicitness excluding all contrary conclusion, there can be any reason for Repudiation, every such suggestion must be dismissed as the frightful well-spring of disastrous consequences impossible to estimate, while it is inconsistent with that Public Faith which is the supreme law.
Elsewhere I have considered this question so fully,[273]that I content myself now with conclusions only. Do you covet the mines of Mexico and Peru, the profits of extended commerce, or the harvest of your own teeming fields? All these and more you will multiply infinitely, if you will keep the Public Faith inviolate. Do you seek stability in the currency, with the assurance of solid business, so that extravagance and gambling speculations shall cease? This, too, you will have through the Public Faith. Just in proportion as this is discredited, the Nation is degraded and impoverished. If nobody had breathed Repudiation, we should all be richer, and the national debt would be at a lower interest, saving to the Nation millions of dollars annually. Talk of taxation; here is an annual tax of millions imposed by these praters of Repudiation.
Careless of all the teachings of history, you are exhorted to pay the national debt in greenbacks, knowing that this can be done only by creating successive batches, counted by hundreds of millions, whichwill bring our currency to the condition of Continental money, when a night’s lodging cost a thousand dollars, or the condition of the Frenchassignats, the paper currency of the Revolution, which was increased to a fearful amount, precisely as it is now proposed to increase ours, until the story of Continental money was repeated. Talk of clipping the coin, or enfeebling it with alloy, as in mediæval times; talk of the disgraceful frauds of French monarchs, who, one after another in long succession, debased their money and swore the officers of the Mint to conceal the debasement; talk of persistent reductions in England, from Edward the First to Elizabeth, until coin was only the half of itself; talk of unhappy Africa, where Mungo Park found that a gallon of rum, which was the unit of value, was half water;—talk of all these; you have them on a colossal scale in the cheat of paying bonds with greenbacks. If not taught by our own memorable experience, when Continental money, which was the currency of the time, was lost, like the river Rhine at its mouth, in an enormous outstretched quicksand, then be taught by the experience of another country. Authentic history discloses the condition to which France was reduced. Carlyle, in his picturesque work on the Revolution, says: “There is, so to speak, no trade whatever, for the time being.Assignats, long sinking, emitted in such quantities, sink now with an alacrity beyond parallel.” The hackney-coachman on the street, when asked his fare, replied, “Six thousand livres.”[274]And still theassignatssunk, until at last the nation was a pauper. The Directory, invested for the time with supreme power, on repairing to the palace of the Luxembourg, found it withouta single article of furniture. Borrowing from the door-keeper a rickety table, an inkstand, and a sheet of letter-paper, they draughted their first official message, announcing the new government. There was not a solitary piece of coin in the Treasury; but there was a printing-press at command.Assignatswere fabricated in the night, and sent forth in the morning wet from the press.[275]At last they ended in nothing,—but not until a great and generous people was enveloped in bankruptcy and every family was a sufferer. Bankruptcy has its tragedies hardly inferior to those which throb beneath the “sceptred pall.”
Similar misconduct among us must result in similar consequences, with all the tragedies of bankruptcy. Not a bank, not a corporation, not an institution of charity, which would not suffer,—each sweeping multitudes into the abyss which it could not avoid. Business would be disorganized, values would be uncertain; nobody would know that the paper in his pocket to-day would buy a dinner to-morrow. There is no limit to the depreciation of inconvertible paper. Down, down it descends, as the plummet, to the bottom, or up, up, as the bubble in the air, until, whether down or up, it disappears. It is hard to think of the poor, or of those who depend on daily wages, under the trials of this condition. The rich may, for the time, live from their abundance; but the less favored class can have no such refuge. Therefore, for the poor, and for all who labor, do I now plead, when I ask that you shall not hearken to this painful proposition.
I plead, also, for the business of the country. So long as the currency continues in its present uncertainty, it cannot answer the demands of business. It is a diseased limb, no better than what is known in India as a “Cochin leg,” or an excrescence not unlike the pendulous goitre which is the pitiful sight of an Alpine village. But it must be uncertain, unless we have peace. Therefore, for the sake of the currency, do I unite with our candidate in his longing. Business must be emancipated. How often are we told by the lawyers, in a saying handed down from antiquity, that “a wretched servitude exists where the law is uncertain”! But this is not true of the law only. Nothing short of that servitude which denies God-given rights can be more wretched than the servitude of an uncertain currency. And now that, by the blessing of God, we are banishing that terrible wrong which was so long the curse and shame of our Nation, let us apply ourselves to this other servitude, whose yoke we are all condemned to bear in daily life.
Looking into the travels of Marco Polo in the thirteenth century, you will find that he encountered in China paper money on a large scale, being an inconvertible currency standing on the credit of the Grand Khan, not unlike our greenbacks. Describing the celestial city of Kin-sai, the famous traveller says, “The inhabitants are idolaters, and they use paper money”; and then describing another celestial city, Ta-pin-zu, he says, “The inhabitants worship idols, and use paper money.”[276]I know not if Marco Polo intended by this association to suggest any dependence of paper money upon the worship of idols. It is enough that he puts them together. To my mind they are equally forbiddenby the Ten Commandments. If one Commandment enjoins upon us not to worship any graven image, does not another say expressly, “Thou shalt not steal”?
There is another consideration, which I have reserved for the last, and which I would call an issue in the pending election. It is nothing less than the good name of the Republic, and its character as an example to the Nations. All this is directly in question. If you are true to the great principles of Equal Rights, declared by our fathers as the foundation of just government,—if you stand by the freedman and maintain him in well-earned citizenship,—if you require full payment of the national debt in coin, principal and interest, at the pleasure of the holder, so that the Republic shall have the crown of perfect honesty, as also of perfect freedom,—I do not doubt that it will exercise a far-reaching sway. Nothing captivates more than the example of virtue,—not even the example of vice.By this sign conquer: by fidelity to declared principles, by the performance of all promises, by a good name. Then will American history supply the long-sought definition of a Republic, and our Western star will illumine the Nations.
Reverse the picture, let the Rebel Party prevail, and what do we behold? The bonds of the Nation repudiated, and the Equal Rights of the freedman, which are nothing but bonds of the Nation, repudiated also. Alas! the example of the Republic is lost, and our Western star is quenched in darkness. But this cannot be without a shock, as when our first parents tasted the forbidden fruit:—