Cold and insensible must I be, not to be touched by this welcome. I
thank you for the cause, whose representative only I am. It is the
cause which I would keep ever foremost, and commend always to your
support.
In a few days there will be an important political election, affecting
many local interests. Not by these have I been drawn here to-night, but
because I would bear my testimony anew to that Freedom which is above
all these. And here, at the outset, let me say, that it is because I
place Freedom above all else that I cordially concur in the different
unions or combinations throughout the Commonwealth,--in Mr. Mann's
District, of Free-Soilers with Whigs,--also in Mr. Fowler's District,
of Free-Soilers with Whigs,--and generally, in Senatorial Districts,
of Free-Soilers with Democrats. By the first of these two good men
may be secured in Congress, while by the latter the friends of Freedom
may obtain a controlling influence in the Legislature of Massachusetts
during the coming session, and thus advance our cause. [_Applause._]
They may arbitrate between both the old parties, making Freedom their
perpetual object, and in this way contribute more powerfully than they
otherwise could to the cause which has drawn us together. [_Cheers._]
Leaving these things, so obvious to all, I come at once to consider
urgent duties at this anxious moment. To comprehend these we must
glance at what Congress has done during its recent session, so long
drawn out. This I shall endeavor to do rapidly. "Watchman, what of the
night?" And well may the cry be raised, "What of the night?" For things
have been done, and measures passed into laws, which, to my mind, fill
the day itself with blackness. ["_Hear! hear!_"]
* * * * *
And yet there are streaks of light--an unwonted dawn--in the distant
West, out of which a full-orbed sun is beginning to ascend, rejoicing
like a strong man to run a race. By Act of Congress California has
been admitted into the Union with a Constitution forbidding Slavery.
For a measure like this, required not only by simplest justice, but
by uniform practice, and by constitutional principles of slaveholders
themselves, we may be ashamed to confess gratitude; and yet I cannot
but rejoice in this great good. A hateful institution, thus far without
check, travelling westward with the power of the Republic, is bidden to
stop, while a new and rising State is guarded from its contamination.
[_Applause._] Freedom, in whose hands is the divining-rod of magical
power, pointing the way not only to wealth untold, but to every
possession of virtue and intelligence, whose presence is better far
than any mine of gold, has been recognized in an extensive region on
the distant Pacific, between the very parallels of latitude so long
claimed by Slavery as a peculiar home. [_Loud plaudits._]
Here is a victory, moral and political: moral, inasmuch as Freedom
secures a new foothold where to exert her far-reaching influence;
political, inasmuch as by the admission of California, the Free States
obtain a majority of votes in the Senate, thus overturning that
_balance of power_ between Freedom and Slavery, so preposterously
claimed by the Slave States, in forgetfulness of the true spirit of
the Constitution, and in mockery of Human Rights. [_Cheers._] May free
California, and her Senators in Congress, amidst the trials before
us, never fail in loyalty to Freedom! God forbid that the daughter
should turn with ingratitude or neglect from the mother that bore her!
[_Enthusiasm._]
Besides this Act, there are two others of this long session to be
regarded with satisfaction,--and I mention them at once, before
considering the reverse of the picture. The slave-trade is abolished
in the District of Columbia. This measure, though small in the sight
of Justice, is important. It banishes from the National Capital an
odious traffic. But this is its least office. Practically it affixes
to the whole traffic, wherever it exists,--not merely in Washington,
within the immediate sphere of the legislative act, but everywhere
throughout the Slave States, whether at Richmond, or Charleston, or
New Orleans,--the brand of Congressional reprobation. The people of
the United States, by the voice of Congress, solemnly declare the
domestic traffic in slaves offensive in their sight. The Nation judges
this traffic. The Nation says to it, "Get thee behind me, Satan!"
[_Excitement and applause._] It is true that Congress has not, as
in the case of the foreign slave-trade, stamped it as _piracy_, and
awarded to its perpetrators the doom of _pirates_; but it condemns the
trade, and gives to general scorn those who partake of it. To this
extent the National Government speaks for Freedom. And in doing this,
it asserts, under the Constitution, legislative jurisdiction over the
subject of Slavery in the District,--thus preparing the way for that
complete act of Abolition which is necessary to purge the National
Capital of its still remaining curse and shame.
The other measure which I hail with thankfulness is the Abolition of
Flogging in the Navy. ["_Hear! hear!_"] Beyond the direct reform thus
accomplished--after much effort, finally crowned with encouraging
success--is the indirect influence of this law, especially in rebuking
the lash, wheresoever and by whomsoever employed.
Two props and stays of Slavery are weakened and undermined by
Congressional legislation. Without the _slave-trade_ and without the
_lash_, Slavery must fall to earth. By these the whole monstrosity
is upheld. If I seem to exaggerate the consequence of these measures
of Abolition, you will pardon it to a sincere conviction of their
powerful, though subtile and indirect influence, quickened by a desire
to find something good in a Congress which has furnished occasion for
so much disappointment. Other measures there are which must be regarded
not only with regret, but with indignation and disgust. [_Sensation._]
Two broad territories, New Mexico and Utah, under the exclusive
jurisdiction of Congress, have been organized without any prohibition
of Slavery. In laying the foundation of their governments, destined
hereafter to control the happiness of innumerable multitudes, Congress
has omitted the Great Ordinance of Freedom, first moved by Jefferson,
and consecrated by the experience of the Northwestern Territory: thus
rejecting those principles of Human Liberty which are enunciated in
our Declaration of Independence, which are essential to every Bill of
Rights, and without which a Republic is a name and nothing more.
Still further, a vast territory, supposed to be upwards of seventy
thousand square miles in extent, larger than all New England, has been
taken from New Mexico, and, with ten million dollars besides, given
to slaveholding Texas: thus, under the plea of settling the western
boundary of Texas, securing to this State a large sum of money, and
consigning to certain Slavery an important territory.
And still further, as if to do a deed which should "make heaven weep,
all earth amazed," this same Congress, in disregard of all cherished
safeguards of Freedom, has passed a most cruel, unchristian, devilish
law to secure the return into Slavery of those fortunate bondmen who
find shelter by our firesides. This is the Fugitive Slave Bill,--a
device which despoils the party claimed as slave, whether in reality
slave or freeman, of Trial by Jury, that sacred right, and usurps
the question of Human Freedom,--the highest question known to the
law,--committing it to the unaided judgment of a single magistrate, on
_ex parte_ evidence it may be, by affidavit, without the sanction of
cross-examination. Under this detestable, Heaven-defying Bill, not the
slave only, but the colored freeman of the North, may be swept into
ruthless captivity; and there is no white citizen, born among us, bred
in our schools, partaking in our affairs, voting in our elections,
whose liberty is not assailed also. Without any discrimination of
color, the Bill surrenders all claimed as "owing service or labor" to
the same tyrannical judgment. And mark once more its heathenism. By
unrelenting provisions it visits with bitter penalties of fine and
imprisonment the faithful men and women who render to the fugitive that
countenance, succor, and shelter which Christianity expressly requires.
["_Shame! shame!_"] Thus, from beginning to end, it sets at nought the
best principles of the Constitution, and the very laws of God. [_Great
sensation._]
I might occupy your time in exposing the unconstitutionality of this
Act. Denying the Trial by Jury, it is three times unconstitutional:
first, as the Constitution declares "the right of the people to be
secure in their persons against _unreasonable seizures_"; secondly,
as it further provides that "no person shall be deprived of life,
_liberty_, or property, _without due process of law_"; and, thirdly,
because it expressly establishes, that "in suits at Common Law, where
the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, _the right of
trial by jury shall be preserved_." By this triple cord the framers
of the Constitution secured Trial by Jury in every question of Human
Freedom. That man is little imbued with the true spirit of American
institutions, has little sympathy with Bills of Rights, is lukewarm for
Freedom, who can hesitate to construe the Constitution so as to secure
this safeguard. [_Enthusiastic applause._]
Again, the Act is unconstitutional in the unprecedented and tyrannical
powers it confers upon Commissioners. These petty officers are
appointed, not by the President with the advice of the Senate, but by
the Courts of Law,--hold their places, not during good behavior, but at
the will of the Court,--and receive for their services, not a regular
salary, but fees in each individual case. And yet in these petty
officers, thus appointed, thus compensated, and holding their places
by the most uncertain tenure, is vested a portion of that "judicial
power," which, according to the positive text of the Constitution, can
be in "judges" only, holding office "during good behavior," receiving
"at stated times for their services a compensation which shall not be
diminished during their continuance in office," and, it would seem
also, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate,--being
three conditions of judicial power. Adding meanness to violation of the
Constitution, the Commissioner is bribed by a double fee to pronounce
against Freedom. Decreeing a man to Slavery, he receives ten dollars;
saving the man to Freedom, his fee is five dollars. ["_Shame! shame!_"]
But I will not pursue these details. The soul sickens in the
contemplation of this legalized outrage. In the dreary annals of the
Past there are many acts of shame,--there are ordinances of monarchs,
and laws, which have become a byword and a hissing to the nations. But
_when we consider the country and the age_, I ask fearlessly, what act
of shame, what ordinance of monarch, what law, can compare in atrocity
with this enactment of an American Congress? ["_None!_"] I do not
forget Appius Claudius, tyrant Decemvir of ancient Rome, condemning
Virginia as a slave,--nor Louis the Fourteenth, of France, letting
slip the dogs of religious persecution by the revocation of the Edict
of Nantes,--nor Charles the First, of England, arousing the patriot
rage of Hampden by the extortion of Ship-money,--nor the British
Parliament, provoking, in our own country, spirits kindred to Hampden,
by the tyranny of the Stamp Act and Tea Tax. I would not exaggerate;
I wish to keep within bounds; but I think there can be little doubt
that the condemnation now affixed to all these transactions, and to
their authors, must be the lot hereafter of the Fugitive Slave Bill,
and of every one, according to the measure of his influence, who gave
it his support. [_Three cheers were here given._] Into the immortal
catalogue of national crimes it has now passed, drawing, by inexorable
necessity, its authors also, and chiefly him, who, as President of
the United States, set his name to the Bill, and breathed into it
that final breath without which it would bear no life. [_Sensation._]
Other Presidents may be forgotten; but the name signed to the Fugitive
Slave Bill can never be forgotten. ["_Never!_"] There are depths of
infamy, as there are heights of fame. I regret to say what I must, but
truth compels me. Better for him, had he never been born! [_Renewed
applause._] Better for his memory, and for the good name of his
children, had he never been President! [_Repeated cheers._]
I have likened this Bill to the Stamp Act, and I trust that the
parallel may be continued yet further, by a burst of popular feeling
against all action under it similar to that which glowed in the breasts
of our fathers. Listen to the words of John Adams, as written in his
Diary at the time.
"The year 1765 has been the most remarkable year of my life.
That enormous engine, fabricated by the British Parliament, for
battering down all the rights and liberties of America, I mean
the Stamp Act, has raised and spread through the whole continent
a spirit that will be recorded to our honor with all future
generations. In every colony, from Georgia to New Hampshire
inclusively, the stamp distributors and inspectors have been
compelled by the unconquerable rage of the people to renounce
their offices. Such and so universal has been the resentment of
the people, that every man who has dared to speak in favor of the
stamps, or to soften the detestation in which they are held, how
great soever his abilities and virtues had been esteemed before, or
whatever his fortune, connections, and influence had been, has been
seen to sink into universal contempt and ignominy."[55] [_A voice_,
"_Ditto for the Slave-Hunter!_"]
Earlier than John Adams, the first Governor of Massachusetts, John
Winthrop, set the example of refusing to enforce laws against the
liberties of the people. After describing Civil Liberty, and declaring
the covenant between God and man in the Moral Law, he uses these good
words:--
"This Liberty is the proper end and object of authority, and cannot
subsist without it; and it is a liberty to that only which is
good, just, and honest. This liberty you are to stand for, with
the hazard not only of your goods, but of your lives, if need
be. _Whatsoever crosseth this is not authority, but a distemper
thereof._"[56]
Surely the love of Freedom is not so far cooled among us, descendants
of those who opposed the Stamp Act, that we are insensible to the
Fugitive Slave Bill. In those other days, the unconquerable rage
of the people compelled the stamp distributors and inspectors to
renounce their offices, and held up to detestation all who dared to
speak in favor of the stamps. Shall we be more tolerant of those who
volunteer in favor of this Bill? ["_No! no!_"]--more tolerant of the
Slave-Hunter, who, under its safeguard, pursues his prey upon our
soil? ["_No! no!_"] The Stamp Act could not be executed here. Can the
Fugitive Slave Bill? ["_Never!_"]
[55] Diary, December 18, 1765: Works, Vol. II. p 154.
[56] History of New England (ed. Savage), 1645, Vol. II. p. 229.
And here, Sir, let me say, that it becomes me to speak with caution.
It happens that I sustain an important relation to this Bill. Early
in professional life I was designated by the late Judge Story a
Commissioner of his Court, and, though I do not very often exercise
the functions of this appointment, my name is still upon the list. As
such, I am one of those before whom the panting fugitive may be dragged
for the decision of the question, whether he is a freeman or a slave.
But while it becomes me to speak with caution, I shall not hesitate to
speak with plainness. I cannot forget that I am a _man_, although I am
a _Commissioner_. [_Three cheers here given._]
Could the same spirit which inspired the Fathers enter into our
community now, the marshals, and every _magistrate_ who regarded this
law as having any constitutional obligation, would resign, rather than
presume to execute it. This, perhaps, is too much to expect. But I
will not judge such officials. To their own consciences I leave them.
Surely no person of humane feelings and with any true sense of justice,
living in a land "where bells have knolled to church," whatever may be
the apology of public station, can fail to recoil from such service.
For myself let me say, that I can imagine no office, no salary, no
consideration, which I would not gladly forego, rather than become
in any way the agent in enslaving my brother-man. [_Sensation._]
Where for me were comfort and solace after such a work? [_A voice_,
"_Nowhere!_"] In dreams and in waking hours, in solitude and in the
street, in the meditations of the closet and in the affairs of men,
wherever I turned, there my victim would stare me in the face. From
distant rice-fields and sugar-plantations of the South, his cries
beneath the vindictive lash, his moans at the thought of Liberty, once
his, now, alas! ravished away, would pursue me, repeating the tale of
his fearful doom, and sounding, forever sounding, in my ears, "Thou art
the man!" [_Applause._]
The magistrate who pronounces the decree of Slavery, and the marshal
who enforces it, act in obedience to law. This is their apology; and
it is the apology also of the masters of the Inquisition, as they
ply the torture amidst the shrieks of their victim. Can this weaken
accountability for wrong? Disguise it, excuse it, as they will, the
fact must glare before the world, and penetrate the conscience too,
that the fetters by which the unhappy fugitive is bound are riveted by
their tribunal,--that his second life of wretchedness dates from their
agency,--that his second birth as a slave proceeds from _them_. The
magistrate and marshal do for him here, in a country which vaunts a
Christian civilization, what the naked, barbarous Pagan chiefs beyond
the sea did for his grandfather in Congo: _they transfer him to the
Slave-Hunter_, and for this service receive the very price paid for his
grandfather in Congo,--_ten dollars!_ ["_Shame! shame!_"]
Gracious Heaven! can such things be on our Free Soil? ["_No!_"] Shall
the evasion of Pontius Pilate be enacted anew, and a judge vainly
attempt, by washing the hands, to excuse himself for condemning one
in whom he can "find no fault"? Should any court, sitting here in
Massachusetts, for the first time in her history, become agent of the
Slave-Hunter, the very images of our fathers would frown from the
walls; their voices would cry from the ground; their spirits, hovering
in the air, would plead, remonstrate, protest, against the cruel
judgment. [_Cheers._] There is a legend of the Church, still living
on the admired canvas of a Venetian artist, that St. Mark, descending
from the skies with headlong fury into the public square, broke the
manacles of a slave in presence of the very judge who had decreed his
fate. This is known as "The Miracle of the Slave," and grandly has
Art illumined the scene.[57] Should Massachusetts hereafter, in an
evil hour, be desecrated by any such decree, may the good Evangelist
once more descend with valiant arm to break the manacles of the Slave!
[_Enthusiasm._]
Sir, I will not dishonor this home of the Pilgrims, and of the
Revolution, by admitting--nay, _I cannot believe--that this Bill will
be executed here_. ["_Never!_"] Among us, as elsewhere, individuals may
forget humanity, in fancied loyalty to law; but the public conscience
will not allow a man who has trodden our streets as a freeman to be
dragged away as a slave. [_Applause._] By escape from bondage he has
shown that true manhood which must grapple to him every honest heart.
He may be ignorant and rude, as poor, but he is of true nobility.
Fugitive Slaves are the heroes of our age. In sacrificing them to
this foul enactment we violate every sentiment of hospitality, every
whispering of the heart, every commandment of religion.
[57] An eloquent French critic says, among other things, of this
greatest picture of Tintoretto, that "no painting surpasses, or
perhaps equals" it, and that, before seeing it, "one can have
no idea of the human imagination." (Taine, Italy, Florence, and
Venice, tr. Durand, pp. 314, 316.) Some time after this Speech an
early copy or sketch of this work fell into Mr. Sumner's hands,
and it is now a cherished souvenir of those anxious days when the
pretensions of Slavery were at their height.
There are many who will never shrink, at any cost, and notwithstanding
all the atrocious penalties of this Bill, from effort to save a
wandering fellow-man from bondage; they will offer him the shelter
of their houses, and, if need be, will protect his liberty by force.
But let me be understood; I counsel no violence. There is another
power, stronger than any individual arm, which I invoke: I mean that
irresistible Public Opinion, inspired by love of God and man, which,
without violence or noise, gently as the operations of Nature, makes
and unmakes laws. Let this Public Opinion be felt in its might, and
the Fugitive Slave Bill will become everywhere among us a dead letter.
No lawyer will aid it by counsel, no citizen will be its agent; it
will die of inanition,--like a spider beneath an exhausted receiver.
[_Laughter._] Oh! it were well the tidings should spread throughout
the land that here in Massachusetts this accursed Bill has found no
_servant_. [_Cheers._] "Sire, in Bayonne are honest citizens and
brave soldiers only, _but not one executioner_," was the reply of
the governor to the royal mandate from Charles the Ninth, of France,
ordering the massacre of St. Bartholomew.[58] [_Sensation._]
[58] Le Vicomte d'Orthez à Charles IX.: D'Aubigné, Histoire
Universelle, Part. II. Liv. I. ch. 5, cited by Sismondi, Histoire
des Français, Tom. XIX. p. 177, note. I gladly copy this noble
letter. "Sire, j'ai communiqué le commandement de Votre Majesté à
ses fidèles habitans et gens de guerre de la garnison; je n'y ai
trouvé que bons citoyens et braves soldats, mais pas un bourreau.
C'est pourquoi eux et moi supplions très humblement Votre dite
Majesté vouloir employer en choses possibles, quelque hasardeuses
qu'elles soient, nos bras et nos vies, comme étant, autant qu'elles
dureront, Sire, vôtres."
It rests with you, my fellow-citizens, by word and example, by calm
determinations and devoted lives, to do this work. From a humane, just,
and religious people will spring a Public Opinion to keep perpetual
guard over the liberties of all within our borders. Nay, more, like
the flaming sword of the cherubim at the gates of Paradise, turning on
every side, it shall prevent any SLAVE-HUNTER from ever setting foot
in this Commonwealth. Elsewhere he may pursue his human prey, employ
his congenial bloodhounds, and exult in his successful game; but into
Massachusetts he must not come. Again, let me be understood, I counsel
no violence. I would not touch his person. Not with whips and thongs
would I scourge him from the land. The contempt, the indignation, the
abhorrence of the community shall be our weapons of offence. Wherever
he moves, he shall find no house to receive him, no table spread to
nourish him, no welcome to cheer him. The dismal lot of the Roman exile
shall be his. He shall be a wanderer, without _roof, fire, or water_.
Men shall point at him in the streets, and on the highways.
"Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse-lid;
He shall live a man forbid;
Weary sevennights nine times nine
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine." [_Applause._]
Villages, towns, and cities shall refuse to receive the monster;
they shall vomit him forth, never again to disturb the repose of our
community. [_Repeated rounds of applause._]
The feelings with which we regard the Slave-Hunter will be extended
soon to all the mercenary agents and heartless minions, who, without
any positive obligation of law, become part of his pack. They are
_volunteers_, and, as such, must share the ignominy of the chief
Hunter. [_Cheers._]
* * * * *
I have dwelt thus long upon the Fugitive Slave Bill especially in the
hope of contributing something to that Public Opinion which is destined
in the Free States to be the truest defence of the slave. I now advance
to other more general duties.
* * * * *
We have seen what Congress has done. And yet, in the face of these
enormities of legislation,--of Territories organized without the
prohibition of Slavery, of a large province surrendered to Texas
and to Slavery, and of this execrable Fugitive Slave Bill,--in the
face also of Slavery still sanctioned in the District of Columbia,
of the Slave-Trade between domestic ports under the flag of the
Union, and of the Slave Power still dominant over the National
Government, we are told that the Slavery Question is settled. Yes,
_settled_,--_settled_,--that is the word. _Nothing, Sir, can be settled
which is not right._ [_Sensation._] Nothing can be settled which is
against Freedom. Nothing can be settled which is contrary to the Divine
Law. God, Nature, and all the holy sentiments of the heart repudiate
any such false seeming settlement.
Amidst the shifts and changes of party, our DUTIES remain,
pointing the way to action. By no subtle compromise or adjustment
can men suspend the commandments of God. By no trick of managers, no
hocus-pocus of politicians, no "mush of concession," can we be released
from this obedience. It is, then, in the light of duties that we are
to find peace for our country and ourselves. Nor can any settlement
promise peace which is not in harmony with those everlasting
principles from which our duties spring.
Here I shall be brief. Slavery is wrong. It is the source of unnumbered
woes,--not the least of which is its influence on the Slaveholder
himself, rendering him insensible to its outrage. It overflows with
injustice and inhumanity. Language toils in vain to picture the
wretchedness and wickedness which it sanctions and perpetuates. Reason
revolts at the impious assumption that man can hold property in man. As
it is our perpetual duty to oppose wrong, so must we oppose Slavery;
nor can we ever relax in this opposition, so long as the giant evil
continues anywhere within the sphere of our influence. _Especially must
we oppose it, wherever we are responsible for its existence, or in any
way parties to it._
And now mark the distinction. The testimony which we bear against
Slavery, as against all other wrong, is, in different ways, according
to our position. The Slavery which exists under other governments, as
in Russia or Turkey, or in other States of our Union, as in Virginia
and Carolina, we can oppose only through the influence of morals and
religion, without in any way invoking the Political Power. Nor do we
propose to act otherwise. But Slavery, where we are parties to it,
wherever we are responsible for it, everywhere within our jurisdiction,
must be opposed not only by all the influences of literature, morals,
and religion, but directly by every instrument of Political Power.
[_Rounds of applause._] As it is sustained by law, it can be overthrown
only by law; and the legislature having jurisdiction over it must be
moved to consummate the work. I am sorry to confess that this can be
done only through the machinery of politics. The politician, then,
must be summoned. The moralist and philanthropist must become for
this purpose politicians,--not forgetting morals or philanthropy, but
seeking to apply them practically in the laws of the land.
It is a mistake to say, as is often charged, that we seek to interfere,
through Congress, with Slavery in the States, or in any way to
direct the legislation of Congress upon subjects not within its
jurisdiction. Our _political_ aims, as well as our _political_ duties,
are coextensive with our _political_ responsibilities. And since we at
the North are responsible for Slavery, wherever it exists under the
jurisdiction of Congress, it is unpardonable in us not to exert every
power we possess to enlist Congress against it.