FOOTNOTES

"Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand,No son of mine succeeding. If't be so,ForBanquo'sissue have I filed my mind,Forthemthe gracious Duncan have I murthered,Put rancors in the vessel of my peace.... To makethemkings, the seed of Banquo kings!Rather than so, come fate into the list,And champion me to the utterance."

When Napoleon the First was master of nearly all Europe, he could not be satisfied while England resisted his power, and Russia had not submitted to it. Sohealsosaid,—

"Rather than so, come fate into the list,And champion me to the utterance."

He also threw away all his immense power because he could not arrest his own course or limit his own demands on fate. Such ambitions cannot stop, so long as there is anything unconquered or unpossessed. "All this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate." The madness which seizes those greedy of power is like the passion of the gamester, who is unable to limit his desire of gain. By this law of insatiable ambition Providence equalizes destinies, and power is prevented from being consolidated in a few hands.

The motive which actuates these ambitions, and makes them think that nothing is gained so long as anything remains to be gained, seems to be a secret fear that they are in danger of losing all unless they can obtain more.

This inward dread appears to have possessed the hearts of the Southern slaveholders. Since slavery has been abolished, many of them admit that they have more content in their present poverty than they formerly had in their large possessions. They were then sensitive to every suggestion which touched their institution. Hence their persecution of Abolitionists, hence their cruelty to the slaves themselves,—for cruelty is often the child of fear. Hence the atrocity of the slave laws. Hence the desire to secure more and larger guaranties from the United States for their institution. Every rumor in the air troubledthem. The fact that antislavery opinion existed at the North, that it was continually increasing, that a great political party was growing up which was opposed to their system, that such men as Garrison and Wendell Phillips existed in Boston, that Seward and Sumner were in the Senate,—all this was intolerable. The only way of accounting for Southern irritability, for Southern aggressions, for its perpetual demand for more power, is to be found in this latent terror. They doubted whether the foundations of their whole system were not rotten; they feared that it rested on falsehood and lies; they secretly felt that it was contrary to the will of God; an instinct in their souls told them that it was opposed to the spirit of the age and the laws of progress; and this fear made them frantic.

When men's minds are in this state, they are like the glass toy called a Rupert's bubble. A single scratch on the surface causes it to fly in pieces. The scratch on the surface of the slave system which caused it to rush into secession and civil war was the attempt of John Brown on Harper's Ferry. It seemed a trifle, but it indicated a great deal. It was the first drop of a coming storm. When one man was able to lay down his life, in a conflict with their system, with such courage and nobleness, in a cause not his own, a shudder ran through the whole South. To what might this grow? And so they said, "Let us cutourselves wholly off from these dreadful fanaticisms, from these terrible dangers. Let us make a community of our own, and shut out from it entirely all antislavery opinion, and live only with those who think as we do." And so came the end.

In reviewing Mr. Wilson's work, we have thus seen how it describes the gradual and simultaneous growth in the United States of two hostile powers,—one political, the other moral. The one continued to accumulate the outward forces which belong to the organization; the other, the inward forces which are associated with enthusiasm. The one added continually to its external strength by the passage of new laws, the addition of new territory, the more absolute control of parties, government, courts, the press, and the street. The other increased its power by accumulating an intenser conviction, a clearer knowledge, a firmer faith, and a more devoted consecration to its cause. The weapons of the one were force, adroitness, and worldly interest; those of the other, faith in God, in man, and in truth.

Great truths draw to their side noble auxiliaries. So it was with the antislavery movement. The heroism, the romance, the eloquence, the best literature, the grandest forms of religion, the most generous and purest characters,—all were brought to it by a sure affinity. As Wordsworth said to Toussaint l'Ouverture, so it might be declaredhere:—

"Thou hast great allies;Thy friends are exaltations, agonies,And love, and man's unconquerable mind."

The best poets of America, Bryant, Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, were in full sympathy with this cause, and their best poetry was their songs for freedom. Shall we ever forget the caustic humor of "Hosea Biglow" and "Birdofredum Sawin"? And how lofty a flight of inspiration did the same bard take, when he chanted in verses nobler, as it seems to us, than anything since Wordsworth's "Ode to Immortality," the Return of the Heroes who had wrought salvation for the dear land "bright beyond compare" among the nations! What heroism, what tenderness, what stern rebuke, what noble satire, have attended every event in this long struggle, from the lyre of Whittier! Nothing in Campbell excels the ring of some of his trumpet-calls, nothing in Cowper the pathos of his elegies over the martyrs of freedom. The best men and the best women were always to be found at the meetings of the Antislavery Society. There were to be seen such upright lawyers as Ellis Gray Loring and Samuel E. Sewall and John A. Andrew, such eminent writers as Emerson, such great preachers as Theodore Parker and Beecher, such editors as Bryant and Greeley. To this cause did William Ellery Channing devote his last years and best thoughts. If the churches as organizations stood aloof, being only "timidlygood," as organizations are apt to be, the purest of their body were sure to be found in this great company of latter-day saints.

Antislavery men had their faults. They were often unjust to their opponents, though unintentionally so. They were sometimes narrow and bitter; and with them, as with all very earnest people, any difference of opinion as to methods seemed to involve moral obliquity. But they were doing the great work of the age,—the most necessary work of all,—and much might be pardoned to their passionate love of justice and humanity. In their meetings could be heard many of the ablest speakers of the time, and one, the best of all. He held the silver bow of Apollo, and dreadful was its clangor when he launched its shafts against spiritual wickedness in high places. Those deadly arrows were sometimes misdirected, and occasionally they struck the good men who were meaning to do their duty. Such errors, we suppose, are incident to all who are speaking and acting in such terrible earnest; in the great day of accounts many mistakes will have to be rectified. But surely among the goodly company of apostles and prophets, and in the noble army of martyrs there assembled, few will be found more free from the sins of selfish interest and personal ambition than those who in Congress, in the pulpit, on the platform, or with the pen, fought the great battle of American freedom.

One great moral must be drawn from this story before we close. It demonstrates, by a great historical proof, that no evil however mighty, no abuse however deeply rooted, can resist the power of truth faithfully uttered and steadily applied. If this great institution of slavery, resting on such a foundation of enormous pecuniary interest, buttressed by such powerful supports, fell in the life of a single generation before the unaided power of truth, why should we ever despair? Henceforth, whenever a mighty evil is to be assailed, or a cruel despotism overthrown, men will look to this history of the greatness and decadence of slavery; and, so encouraged, will believe that God is on the side of justice, and that truth will always prevail against error.

But to this we must add, that it is only where free institutions exist that truth has full power in such a conflict. We need free speech, a free press, free schools, and free churches, in order that truth may have a free course. The great advantage of a republic like ours is, that it gives to truth a fair chance in its conflict with error. The Southern States would long ago have abolished slavery if it had possessed such institutions. But, though republican in form, the Southern States were in reality an oligarchy, in which five millions of whites and three millions of slaves were governed by the absolute and irresponsible power of less than half a million of slaveholders. Freedomwas permitted by them except when this institution was concerned, then it was absolutely forbidden. No book written against their peculiar institution could be printed on any Southern press or sold in any Southern bookstore. No newspaper attacking slavery was allowed to be circulated through Southern mails. No public meeting could be held to discuss the right and wrong of slavery. No minister could preach against the system. No man could express, even in conversation, his hostility to it, without risk of personal injury. An espionage as sharp, and an inquisition as relentless as those of Venice or Spain, governed society, at least in the cotton and sugar States of the Union. But at the North opinion was free, and therefore slavery fell. Fisher Ames compressed in an epigram the evil and good of republican institutions. "In a monarchy," said he, "we are in a ship, very comfortable while things go well; but strike a rock, and we go to the bottom. In a republic, we are on a raft; our feet are wet, and it is not always agreeable, but we are safe." It is a lasting proof of the conservative power of free institutions, that they were able to uproot such a system as slavery by creating a moral force capable of putting it down; that they could carry us through a civil war, still leaving the press and speech free: that they stood the strain of a presidential election without taking from the voters a single right; and so, at last, conquered a rebellion on so vast a scalethat every European monarchy, with its immense standing army, would have been powerless in its presence. Let those Americans who are disposed to disparage their own institutions bear this history in mind. We have evils here, and great ones; but they come at once to the surface, and therefore can be met and overcome by the power of intelligent opinion. So it has always been in the past; so it will be, God aiding us, in the future. We are about to meet the Centennial Anniversary of our national life; and on that day we can look back to our fathers, the founders of the Republic, and say to them,—"You gave us the inestimable blessing of free institutions; we have used those institutions to destroy the only great evil which you transmitted to us untouched. We now can send down the Republic to our children, pure from this stain, and capable of enduringIN SECULA SECULORUM."

The Riverside PressCAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BYH. O. HOUGHTON AND CO.

FOOTNOTES1See the argument to prove that it would not be difficult to climb to heaven.2Simon Peter's attitude expresses astonishment and perplexity. He holds out both hands, and seems to say, "It cannot be!"In Thaddeus we see suspicion, doubt, distrust. "I always suspected him."Matthew is speaking to Peter and Thomas, his hand held out toward Jesus: "But I heard him say so."Thomas: "What can it mean? What will be the end?"James: (Hands spread wide apart in astonished perplexity:) "Is it possible?"Philip has laid both hands on his breast, and leaning toward Jesus says, "Lord, is it I?"At the other end, one is leaning forward, his hands resting on the table, to catch the next words; one starting back, confused and confounded.3The North American Review, February, 1881.4The Independent, 1882.5The North American Review, May, 1883.6Buddha and Early Buddhism. Trübner & Co., 1881.7Hibbert Lectures, 1882, page 291.8A. Réville:Prolégomènes de l'Histoìre des Religions.9Le Bouddha et sa Religion, page 149, par J. Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, Paris.10Senart:Essai sur la Légende du Buddha. Paris, 1875.11Oldenberg:Buddha, sein Leben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde. Berlin, 1881. This is one of the latest and best books on our subject.12Three Lectures on Buddhism: "Romantic Legend of Buddha," by Samuel Beal. London, 1875. Eitel.13Hibbert Lectures: "Origin and Growth of Buddhism," by T. W. Rhys Davids. 1881.14Ibid., page 143.15Buddhistisch-Christliche Harmonie.16P. E. Lucius:Die Therapeuten und ihre Stellung, &c. Strassburg, 1880.17The North American Review, October, 1887.18The Atlantic Monthly, October, 1874.19The Intelligence and Perfectibility of Animals, by C. G. Leroy. Translated into English in 1870.De l'Instinct et l'Intelligence des Animaux, par P. Flourens. Paris, 1864.20It is a mistake to say that the Tasmanians do not use fire.21The Galaxy, December, 1874.22Symposium in theNorth American Review, May, 1879.23In this brief paper it is not possible even to allude to the objections which have been brought against the doctrine of final causes. For these objections, and the answers to them, I would refer the reader to the work of Janet, before mentioned.24The Christian Examiner, September, 1864.25History of Friedrich the Second, called Frederick the Great, by Thomas Carlyle. In four volumes. Harper and Brothers, 1864.26"Tu se' lo mio maestro, e 'l mio autore,O degli altri poeti onore e lume."27Frederick the Great, vol. ii. p. 223.28The Christian Examiner, November, 1861.29History of Civilization in England.By Henry Thomas Buckle. Vols. I. and II. New York: D. Appleton and Company.30Comm.VI. 11,et seq.31Germania.32George Borrow,The Zincali. See also an excellent article by A. G. Paspati, translated from Modern Greek by Rev. C. Hamlin, D. D., inJournal of American Oriental Society, 1861.33See Vol. II. pp. 255–259, American edition.34The Atlantic Monthly, August, 1881.35Life of Voltaire, by James Parton. In two vols. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1886.36Voltaire himself, with his acute perception, seems to have been one of the first to discover the absurdity of the representation of Tiberius by Tacitus.37Essai sur les Mœurs, ch. cxxi.38Parton, ii. 549.39Ibid., ii. 551.40Ibid., i. 232.41Martin'sHistory of France.42Parton, i. 461.43Martin'sHistory of France.44A sermon preached May 7, 1882.45The North American Review, May, 1877.46Harriet Martineau's Autobiography.Edited by Maria Weston Chapman. 2 vols.47For some reason she afterward saw fit partially to abandon this self-denial, and allowed Mrs. Chapman to print any letters written to herself by Miss Martineau.48"History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," by Henry Wilson,North American Review, January, 1875.49Congressional Globefor February 6, 1837.50Rule adopted January 18, that all petitions relating to slavery be laid on the table without any action being taken on them.51February 6, 7, 9, 11.52The writer of this article recalls a scene which occurred in his presence in the United States Senate early in 1851. Mr. Clay was speaking of the antislavery agitators and of the Free-Soil party, and said, with much bitterness, "We have put them down,—down,—down, where they will remain; down to a place so low, that they can never get up again." John P. Hale, never at a loss for a reply, immediately arose and said, "The Senator from Kentucky says that I and my friends have been put down,—down,—down, where we shall have to stay. It may be so. Indeed, if the Senator says so, I am afraid itmustbe so. For, if there is any good authority on this subject, any man who knows by his own personal and constant experience what it is to be put down, and to be kept down, it is the honorable Senator from Kentucky." Mr. Clay's aspirations had been so often baffled, that this was a very keen thrust. The writer spoke to Mr. Hale shortly after, and he said, "I do not think Mr. Clay will forgive me that hit; but I could not help it. They may have got us down, but they shall not trample upon us."53O'Connell, in an album belonging to John Howard Payne, writes this sentence after his name.

1See the argument to prove that it would not be difficult to climb to heaven.

2Simon Peter's attitude expresses astonishment and perplexity. He holds out both hands, and seems to say, "It cannot be!"In Thaddeus we see suspicion, doubt, distrust. "I always suspected him."Matthew is speaking to Peter and Thomas, his hand held out toward Jesus: "But I heard him say so."Thomas: "What can it mean? What will be the end?"James: (Hands spread wide apart in astonished perplexity:) "Is it possible?"Philip has laid both hands on his breast, and leaning toward Jesus says, "Lord, is it I?"At the other end, one is leaning forward, his hands resting on the table, to catch the next words; one starting back, confused and confounded.

2Simon Peter's attitude expresses astonishment and perplexity. He holds out both hands, and seems to say, "It cannot be!"

In Thaddeus we see suspicion, doubt, distrust. "I always suspected him."Matthew is speaking to Peter and Thomas, his hand held out toward Jesus: "But I heard him say so."Thomas: "What can it mean? What will be the end?"James: (Hands spread wide apart in astonished perplexity:) "Is it possible?"Philip has laid both hands on his breast, and leaning toward Jesus says, "Lord, is it I?"At the other end, one is leaning forward, his hands resting on the table, to catch the next words; one starting back, confused and confounded.

In Thaddeus we see suspicion, doubt, distrust. "I always suspected him."

Matthew is speaking to Peter and Thomas, his hand held out toward Jesus: "But I heard him say so."

Thomas: "What can it mean? What will be the end?"

James: (Hands spread wide apart in astonished perplexity:) "Is it possible?"

Philip has laid both hands on his breast, and leaning toward Jesus says, "Lord, is it I?"

At the other end, one is leaning forward, his hands resting on the table, to catch the next words; one starting back, confused and confounded.

3The North American Review, February, 1881.

4The Independent, 1882.

5The North American Review, May, 1883.

6Buddha and Early Buddhism. Trübner & Co., 1881.

7Hibbert Lectures, 1882, page 291.

8A. Réville:Prolégomènes de l'Histoìre des Religions.

9Le Bouddha et sa Religion, page 149, par J. Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, Paris.

10Senart:Essai sur la Légende du Buddha. Paris, 1875.

11Oldenberg:Buddha, sein Leben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde. Berlin, 1881. This is one of the latest and best books on our subject.

12Three Lectures on Buddhism: "Romantic Legend of Buddha," by Samuel Beal. London, 1875. Eitel.

13Hibbert Lectures: "Origin and Growth of Buddhism," by T. W. Rhys Davids. 1881.

14Ibid., page 143.

15Buddhistisch-Christliche Harmonie.

16P. E. Lucius:Die Therapeuten und ihre Stellung, &c. Strassburg, 1880.

17The North American Review, October, 1887.

18The Atlantic Monthly, October, 1874.

19The Intelligence and Perfectibility of Animals, by C. G. Leroy. Translated into English in 1870.De l'Instinct et l'Intelligence des Animaux, par P. Flourens. Paris, 1864.

20It is a mistake to say that the Tasmanians do not use fire.

21The Galaxy, December, 1874.

22Symposium in theNorth American Review, May, 1879.

23In this brief paper it is not possible even to allude to the objections which have been brought against the doctrine of final causes. For these objections, and the answers to them, I would refer the reader to the work of Janet, before mentioned.

24The Christian Examiner, September, 1864.

25History of Friedrich the Second, called Frederick the Great, by Thomas Carlyle. In four volumes. Harper and Brothers, 1864.

26"Tu se' lo mio maestro, e 'l mio autore,O degli altri poeti onore e lume."

27Frederick the Great, vol. ii. p. 223.

28The Christian Examiner, November, 1861.

29History of Civilization in England.By Henry Thomas Buckle. Vols. I. and II. New York: D. Appleton and Company.

30Comm.VI. 11,et seq.

31Germania.

32George Borrow,The Zincali. See also an excellent article by A. G. Paspati, translated from Modern Greek by Rev. C. Hamlin, D. D., inJournal of American Oriental Society, 1861.

33See Vol. II. pp. 255–259, American edition.

34The Atlantic Monthly, August, 1881.

35Life of Voltaire, by James Parton. In two vols. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1886.

36Voltaire himself, with his acute perception, seems to have been one of the first to discover the absurdity of the representation of Tiberius by Tacitus.

37Essai sur les Mœurs, ch. cxxi.

38Parton, ii. 549.

39Ibid., ii. 551.

40Ibid., i. 232.

41Martin'sHistory of France.

42Parton, i. 461.

43Martin'sHistory of France.

44A sermon preached May 7, 1882.

45The North American Review, May, 1877.

46Harriet Martineau's Autobiography.Edited by Maria Weston Chapman. 2 vols.

47For some reason she afterward saw fit partially to abandon this self-denial, and allowed Mrs. Chapman to print any letters written to herself by Miss Martineau.

48"History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," by Henry Wilson,North American Review, January, 1875.

49Congressional Globefor February 6, 1837.

50Rule adopted January 18, that all petitions relating to slavery be laid on the table without any action being taken on them.

51February 6, 7, 9, 11.

52The writer of this article recalls a scene which occurred in his presence in the United States Senate early in 1851. Mr. Clay was speaking of the antislavery agitators and of the Free-Soil party, and said, with much bitterness, "We have put them down,—down,—down, where they will remain; down to a place so low, that they can never get up again." John P. Hale, never at a loss for a reply, immediately arose and said, "The Senator from Kentucky says that I and my friends have been put down,—down,—down, where we shall have to stay. It may be so. Indeed, if the Senator says so, I am afraid itmustbe so. For, if there is any good authority on this subject, any man who knows by his own personal and constant experience what it is to be put down, and to be kept down, it is the honorable Senator from Kentucky." Mr. Clay's aspirations had been so often baffled, that this was a very keen thrust. The writer spoke to Mr. Hale shortly after, and he said, "I do not think Mr. Clay will forgive me that hit; but I could not help it. They may have got us down, but they shall not trample upon us."

53O'Connell, in an album belonging to John Howard Payne, writes this sentence after his name.

Transcriber's NotesPunctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained.Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.Page39: "Appeltons' Journal" was punctuated that way in the original book and on the masthead of the Journal itself.Page46: "generalties" was spelled that way in the original book and in some copies of "The Poestaster" itself.Page220: Greek transliteration in curly braces was added by Transcriber.Page309: Opening quotation mark before "unfailing good sense" was added by Transcriber.

Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.

Page39: "Appeltons' Journal" was punctuated that way in the original book and on the masthead of the Journal itself.

Page46: "generalties" was spelled that way in the original book and in some copies of "The Poestaster" itself.

Page220: Greek transliteration in curly braces was added by Transcriber.

Page309: Opening quotation mark before "unfailing good sense" was added by Transcriber.

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