Bringing these lapsed States to the touchstone, we see at once their
small title to recognition as republican in form. Authentic figures are
not wanting. The census of 1860 discloses the population of the States
in question.
+----------------+--------------------+-----------------------+
| | | Colored Population, |
| States. | White Population. | Slave and Free, |
| | | including Indians. |
+----------------+--------------------+-----------------------+
|Alabama | 526,271 | 437,930 |
|Arkansas | 324,143 | 111,307 |
|Florida | 77,747 | 62,677 |
|Georgia | 591,550 | 465,736 |
|Louisiana | 357,456 | 350,546 |
|Mississippi | 353,899 | 437,406 |
|North Carolina | 629,942 | 362,680 |
|South Carolina | 291,300 | 412,408 |
|Tennessee | 826,722 | 283,079 |
|Texas | 420,891 | 183,324 |
|Virginia | 1,047,299 | 549,019 |
| +--------------------+-----------------------+
| | 5,447,220 | 3,656,112 |
+----------------+--------------------+-----------------------+
A glance at this table is enough. Taking the sum total of population
in the eleven States, we find 5,447,220 whites to 3,656,112 colored
persons; and you are now to decide, whether, in the discharge of
imperative duties under the National Constitution, and bound to
guaranty a republican form of government, you will disfranchise this
latter mass, shutting them out from those Equal Rights promised by our
fathers, and from all copartnership in the government of their country.
They surpass in numbers, by at least a million, the whole population
of the Colonies at the time our fathers raised the cry, “Taxation
without Representation is Tyranny”; and now you are to decide whether
to strip them of representation, while you subject them to grinding
taxation by tariff and excise, acting directly and indirectly, dwarfing
into insignificance everything attempted by the British Parliament.
Our fathers could not bear a Stamp Act in making which they had no
voice, and they braved terrible war with the most formidable power
of the globe rather than pay a tax of threepence on tea imposed by a
Parliament in which they were unrepresented. Are you ready, Sir, in
disregard of this great precedent, and in disregard of all promises
and examples of past history, to thrust a single citizen out of all
representation in the Government, while you consume his substance
with taxation, subject him to Stamp Acts, compel him to pay a duty of
twenty-five cents a pound on tea, and then follow him with imposts in
all the business of life? Clearly, if you do not recognize his title to
representation, you must at least by careful legislation relieve him
from this intolerable taxation. Some of the millions you thrust out
already contribute largely to the public revenue. How, then, can you
deny them representation? Their money is not rejected. Why reject their
votes? But if you reject their votes, you cannot take their money. As
you detect no color in their money, you ought to detect no color in
their votes.
In this denial of the right to vote there is a surpassing tyranny,
being nothing less than a confiscation of the highest property the
citizen can possess. To take his money is robbery; to appropriate his
house or land is spoliation; but house and land are less than the
right by which the citizen is assured in all other rights. Lord Chief
Justice Holt spoke as became one of England’s greatest magistrates,
when he said from the bench: “A right that a man has to give his vote
at the election of a person to represent him in Parliament, there
to concur to the making of laws which are to bind his liberty and
property, is a most transcendent thing and of an high nature.”[178] But
this “most transcendent thing” is taken from a whole race on an excuse
insulting to them as members of the human family.
Unhappily, too many people discern the wrong only when they personally
feel its sting. Suppose now the case reversed, and white citizens in
South Carolina despoiled of this “most transcendent thing” by the
predominance of the colored race, so that “black” instead of “white”
marks participation in government. But, if such discrimination is just
where the white prevails, it would be equally just where the black
prevails, and it would be as constitutional in one case as in the
other. Unquestionably a black man’s government is as constitutional as
a white man’s government. But the white man could not easily endure the
degradation; nor can it be doubted that Congress would promptly insist
that it was inconsistent with republican government, and would apply
the proper remedy. Failing in this duty, what other discrimination
could it arrest? The Anglo-Saxon might exclude the Celt; the Celt might
exclude the Anglo-Saxon; both might exclude the German, and the fearful
antagonisms of race would have full play. Other battles than the Boyne
would be the signal of discord, and other parties than Orangemen would
stalk upon the scene.
If, looking at these States together, the case is clear, it becomes
clearer when we look at them separately. Begin with Tennessee, which
disfranchises 283,079 citizens, being more than a quarter of its
whole “people.” Thus violating a distinctive principle of republican
government, how can this State be recognized as republican? The
question is easier asked than answered. But Tennessee is the least
offensive on the list. There is Virginia, which disfranchises 549,019
citizens, being more than a third its whole “people.” There is Alabama,
which disfranchises 437,930 citizens, being nearly one half its whole
“people.” There is Louisiana, which disfranchises 350,546 citizens,
being one half its whole “people.” There is Mississippi, which
disfranchises 437,406 citizens, being much more than one half its whole
“people.” And there is South Carolina, which disfranchises 412,408
citizens, being nearly three fifths its whole “people.” A republic is a
pyramid standing on the broad mass of the people as a base; but here is
a pyramid balanced on its apex. To call such a government “republican”
is a mockery of sense and decency. A monarch “surrounded by republican
institutions,” as at one time was the boast of France, would be less
offensive to correct principles, and give more security to Human Rights.
Plainly such a government is not a “democracy,” where all the people
assemble and govern in person; nor is it a “republic,” where they
assemble and govern by representatives, according to the distinction
presented by Madison in the “Federalist.”[179] A representative
government is a government by the people, not less than a democracy,
provided all the people are represented. Representation is a modern
invention of incalculable value to embody the will of the people. A
republic, like a democracy, cannot tolerate inequality. Wherever a
favored class appears, whether in one or the other, its republican
character ceases. It may be an aristocracy or oligarchy, but it is not
a democracy or a republic.
It is not difficult to classify our Rebel States. They are
aristocracies or oligarchies. Aristocracy, according to etymology, is
the government of the best. Oligarchy is the government of the few,
being not even aristocracy, but an abuse of aristocracy, as despotism
is the abuse of monarchy. Perhaps these States may be characterized in
either way; and yet aristocracy, especially in origin, has something
respectable, which cannot be attributed to a combination whose single
distinctive element is color of the skin.
The eminent French publicist, Bodin, in his definition of aristocracy,
says that it exists _where a smaller body of citizens governs the
greater_;[180] and this definition has been adopted by others,
especially by Montesquieu. But it is not satisfactory. Hallam, whose
judgment is of the highest value, after discussing its merits, proposes
the following most suggestive substitute:--
“We might better say, that the distinguishing characteristic
of an _aristocracy_ is the enjoyment of privileges _which are
not communicable to other citizens simply by anything they can
themselves do to obtain them_.”[181]
These words completely characterize the aristocracy of color; for this
aristocracy is plainly in the enjoyment of privileges not communicable
to other citizens by anything they can themselves do to obtain them.
Are we not reminded that “the Ethiopian cannot change his skin,”
neither can we “make one hair white or black,” and “which of you
by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature”? Aristotle,
the great intelligence of Antiquity, whose illumination has reached
everywhere, used congenial language, when, in reply to those who would
have magistracy and power distributed unequally, according to some
rule of personal superiority, he said, “If this is a correct rule,
then complexion, or stature, or some similar advantage, might be made
the excuse for superiority in civil rights”; and he illustrates the
unreasonableness of such a rule by showing, that, in a company of
musicians, the best flute is not given to the most noble, but to the
artist who will use it best; thus making merit the only qualification,
and discarding color, which is accidental and unchangeable.[182]
The famous French founder of the school of Doctrinaires, Royer-Collard,
so remarkable for sententious thought, was in the habit of saying
that “the sovereignty of Reason is superior to the sovereignty of
the people.” But both declare the equal rights of all. The rule
of inequality is plainly unreasonable; and what a mockery is that
sovereignty of the people which sanctions any denial of equal rights!
In different spirit, the consummate French writer, Louis Blanc,
devoted to reform, has declared that “the republic is above universal
suffrage,”--meaning that even universal suffrage cannot subvert it. But
in each is Equality. Universal suffrage openly proclaims this right;
and what is the republic without it?
To show that our Rebel States are aristocracies or oligarchies might
suffice. But we must not forget, that, born of Slavery, they have the
spirit of that iniquity, so that they are essentially of a low type.
Founded on color of the skin, they are, beyond question, the most
senseless and disgusting of all history. Would you learn to what they
must incline? Listen to the frank words of the Venetian master, the
famous Father Paul, while, in a state refined by art and elevated by
glory, he counsels the privileged class how to use their powers. “If a
noble,” says he, “injure a plebeian, justify him by all possible means;
but should that be found quite impossible, punish more in appearance
than in reality. If a plebeian insult a noble, punish him with the
greatest severity, that the commonalty may know how perilous it is to
insult a noble.”[183] Such is the terrible rule announced in a document
which taught how to make the power of Venice perpetual. But this same
spirit predominates still in the Rebel States. It rages there with
more revolting cruelty than Venice ever witnessed. And such is the
government now claiming recognition as “republican.”
The pretension is hateful on another ground. It is nothing less than
a caste, which is irreligious as well as unrepublican. A caste exists
only in defiance of the first principles of Christianity and the first
principles of a republic. It is heathenism in religion and tyranny in
government. The Brahmins and the Sudras in India, from generation to
generation, have been separated, as the two races are still separated
in these States. If a Sudra presumed to sit on a Brahmin’s carpet, he
was punished with banishment. But our recent Rebels undertake to play
the part of Brahmins, and exclude citizens, with better title than
themselves, from essential rights, simply on the ground of caste,
which, according to its Portuguese origin (_casta_), is only another
term for race.
But the pretension is yet otherwise hostile to good government. Here
is a monopoly on a gigantic scale and with an unprecedented field, in
a country which sets its face against all monopolies as unequal and
immoral. If any monopoly deserves unhesitating judgment, it must be
that which absorbs the rights of others and engrosses political power.
How vain to condemn the petty monopoly of commerce, while allowing this
vast, all-embracing monopoly of Human Rights!
Clearly, most clearly, and beyond all question, such a government is
not “republican in form.” Call it oligarchy, call it aristocracy, call
it caste, call it monopoly; but never call it a republic.