plume," said the chivalrous monarch of France. "Follow the Right," more
resplendent than plume or oriflamme, was the watchword of Channing.
With a soul kindling intensely at every story of magnanimous virtue, at
every deed of self-sacrifice in a righteous cause, his clear Christian
judgment saw the mockery of what is called military glory, whether in
ancient thunderbolts of war or in the career of modern conquest. He
saw that the fairest flowers cannot bloom in soil moistened by human
blood,--that to overcome evil by bullets and bayonets is less great and
glorious than to overcome it by good,--that the courage of the camp is
inferior to this Christian fortitude found in patience, resignation,
and forgiveness of evil, as the spirit which scourged and crucified
the Saviour was less divine than that which murmured, "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do."
With fearless pen he arraigned that giant criminal, Napoleon Bonaparte.
Witnesses flocked from all his scenes of blood; and the pyramids of
Egypt, the coast of Palestine, the plains of Italy, the snows of
Russia, the fields of Austria, Prussia, Spain, all Europe, sent forth
uncoffined hosts to bear testimony against the glory of their chief.
Never before, in the name of humanity and freedom, was grand offender
arraigned by such a voice. The sentence of degradation which Channing
has passed, confirmed by coming generations, will darken the name of
the warrior more than any defeat of his arms or compelled abdication of
his power.
These causes Channing upheld and commended with admirable eloquence,
both of tongue and pen. Though abounding in beauty of thought and
expression, he will be judged less by single passages, sentences,
or phrases, than by the continuous and harmonious treatment of his
subject. And yet everywhere the same spirit is discerned. What he said
was an effluence rather than a composition. His style was not formal
or architectural in shape or proportion, but natural and flowing.
Others seem to construct, to build; he bears us forward on an unbroken
stream. If we seek a parallel for him as writer, we must turn our backs
upon England, and repair to France. Meditating on the glowing thought
of Pascal, the persuasive sweetness of Fénelon, the constant and
comprehensive benevolence of the Abbé Saint Pierre, we may be reminded
of Channing.
With few of the physical attributes belonging to the orator, he was
an orator of surpassing grace. His soul tabernacled in a body that
was little more than a filament of clay. He was small in stature; but
when he spoke, his person seemed to dilate with the majesty of his
thoughts,--as the Hercules of Lysippus, a marvel of ancient art, though
not more than a foot in height, revived in the mind the superhuman
strength which overcame the Nemean lion:--
"Deus ille, Deus; seseque videndum
Indulsit, Lysippe, tibi, _parvusque videri
Sentirique ingens_."[185]
[185] Statius, Silv., Lib. IV. Carm. 6.
His voice was soft and musical, not loud or full in tone; and yet, like
conscience, it made itself heard in the inmost chambers of the soul.
His eloquence was gentleness and persuasion, reasoning for religion,
humanity, and justice. He did not thunder or lighten. The rude
elemental forces furnish no proper image of his power. Like sunshine,
his words descended upon the souls of his hearers, and under their
genial influence the hard in heart were softened, while the closely
hugged mantle of prejudice and error dropped to the earth.
His eloquence had not the character and fashion of forensic effort
or parliamentary debate. It mounted above these, into an atmosphere
unattempted by the applauded orators of the world. Whenever he spoke
or wrote, it was with loftiest purpose, as his works attest,--not
for public display, not to advance himself, not on any question of
pecuniary interest, not under any worldly temptation, but to promote
the love of God and man. Here are untried founts of truest inspiration.
Eloquence has been called _action_; but it is something more. It
is that divine and ceaseless energy which saves and helps mankind.
It cannot assume its highest form in personal pursuit of dishonest
guardians, or selfish contention for a crown,--not in defence of a
murderer, or invective hurled at a conspirator. I would not over-step
the proper modesty of this discussion, nor would I disparage the genius
of the great masters; but all must join in admitting that no rhetorical
skill or oratorical power can elevate these lower, earthly things
to the natural heights on which Channing stood, when he pleaded for
Freedom and Peace.
Such was our Philanthropist. Advancing in life, his enthusiasm seemed
to brighten, his soul put forth fresh blossoms of hope, his mind
opened to new truths. Age brings experience; but, except in a few
constitutions of rare felicity, it renders the mind indifferent to
what is new, particularly in moral truth. His last months were passed
amid the heights of Berkshire, with a people to whom may be applied
what Bentivoglio said of Switzerland,--"Their mountains become them,
and they become their mountains." To them, on the 1st of August, 1842,
he volunteered an Anniversary Address, in commemoration of that great
English victory,--the peaceful emancipation of eight hundred thousand
slaves. These were the last public words from his lips. His final
benediction descended on the slave. His spirit, taking flight, seemed
to say,--nay, still says, _Remember the Slave_.
* * * * *
Thus have I attempted, humbly and affectionately, to bring before you
the images of our departed brothers, while I dwelt on the great causes
in which their lives were revealed. Servants of Knowledge, Justice,
Beauty, Love, they have ascended to the great Source of Knowledge,
Justice, Beauty, Love. Though dead, they yet speak, informing the
understanding, strengthening the sense of justice, refining the tastes,
enlarging the sympathies. The body dies; but the page of the Scholar,
the interpretation of the Jurist, the creation of the Artist, the
beneficence of the Philanthropist cannot die.
I have dwelt upon their lives and characters, less in grief for what we
have lost than in gratitude for what we possessed so long, and still
retain, in their precious example. Proudly recollecting her departed
children, Alma Mater may well exclaim, in those touching words of
parental grief, that she would not give her dead sons for any living
sons in Christendom. Pickering, Story, Allston, Channing! A grand
Quaternion! Each, in his peculiar sphere, was foremost in his country.
Each might have said, what the modesty of Demosthenes did not forbid
him to boast, that, through him, his country had been crowned abroad.
Their labors were wide as Scholarship, Jurisprudence, Art, Humanity,
and have found acceptance wherever these are recognized.
Their lives, which overflow with instruction, teach one persuasive
lesson to all alike of every calling and pursuit,--_not to live for
ourselves alone_. They lived for Knowledge, Justice, Beauty, Love.
Turning from the strifes of the world, the allurements of office,
and the rage for gain, they consecrated themselves to the pursuit of
excellence, and each, in his own sphere, to beneficent labor. They were
all philanthropists; for the labors of all were directed to the welfare
and happiness of man.
In their presence, how truly do we feel the insignificance of
office and wealth, which men so hotly pursue! What is office? and
what is wealth? Expressions and representatives of what is present
and fleeting only, investing the possessor with a brief and local
regard. Let this not be exaggerated; it must not be confounded
with the serene fame which is the reflection of generous labors in
great causes. The street lights, within the circle of their nightly
glimmer, seem to outshine the distant stars, observed of men in all
lands and times; but gas-lamps are not to be mistaken for celestial
luminaries. They who live for wealth, and the things of this world,
follow shadows, neglecting realities eternal on earth and in heaven.
After the perturbations of life, all its accumulated possessions must
be resigned, except those only which have been devoted to God and
mankind. What we do for _ourselves_ perishes with this mortal dust;
what we do for _others_ lives coeval with the benefaction. Worms may
destroy the body, but they will not consume such a fame.
Struggles of the selfish crowd, clamors of a false patriotism,
suggestions of a sordid ambition, cannot obscure that commanding duty
which enjoins perpetual labor for the welfare of the whole human
family, without distinction of country, color, or race. In this work,
Knowledge, Jurisprudence, Art, Humanity, all are blessed ministers.
More puissant than the sword, they will lead mankind from the bondage
of error into that service which alone is freedom:--
"Hæ tibi erunt artes, _pacisque imponere morem_."[186]
[186] Æneid, VI. 852.--Dryden, translating this passage, gives
distinctness to a duty beyond the language of Virgil:--
"_The fettered slave to free_, These are imperial arts, and worthy
thee."
The brothers we commemorate join in summons to this gladsome obedience.
Their examples have voice. Go forth into the many mansions of the house
of life. Scholar! store them with learning. Jurist! strengthen them
with justice. Artist! adorn them with beauty. Philanthropist! fill
them with love. Be servants of truth, each in his vocation,--sincere,
pure, earnest, enthusiastic. A virtuous enthusiasm is self-forgetful
and noble. It is the grand inspiration yet vouchsafed to man. Like
Pickering, blend humility with learning. Like Story, ascend above the
present, in place and time. Like Allston, regard fame only as the
eternal shadow of excellence. Like Channing, plead for the good of
man. Cultivate alike the wisdom of experience and the wisdom of hope.
Mindful of the future, do not neglect the past; awed by the majesty of
antiquity, turn not with indifference from the new. True wisdom looks
to the ages before, as well as behind. Like the Janus of the Capitol,
one front regards the past, rich with experience, with memories, with
priceless traditions of virtue; the other is directed to the All
Hail Hereafter, richer still with transcendent hopes and unfulfilled
prophecies.
We stand on the threshold of a new age, which is preparing to recognize
new influences. The ancient divinities of Violence and Wrong are
retreating before the light of a better day. The sun is entering a new
ecliptic, no longer deformed by those images of animal rage, Taurus,
Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, but beaming with the mild radiance of those
heavenly signs, Faith, Hope, and Charity.
"There's a fount about to stream,
There's a light about to beam,
There's a warmth about to glow,
There's a flower about to blow,
There's a midnight blackness changing
Into gray:
Men of thought, and men of action,
_Clear the way!_
"Aid the dawning, tongue and pen!
Aid it, hopes of honest men!
Aid it, paper! aid it, type!
Aid it, for the hour is ripe,
And our earnest must not slacken
Into play:
Men of thought, and men of action,
_Clear the way!_"
The age of Chivalry is gone. An age of Humanity has come. The Horse,
whose importance, more than human, gave its name to that early period
of gallantry and war, now yields the foremost place to Man. In serving
him, in studying his elevation, in helping his welfare, in doing him
good, are fields of bloodless triumph, nobler far than any in which
Bayard or Du Guesclin conquered. Here are spaces of labor, wide as the
world, lofty as heaven. Let me say, then, in the benison once bestowed
upon the youthful knight,--Scholar! Jurist! Artist! Philanthropist!
hero of a Christian age, companion of a celestial knighthood, "Go
forth, be brave, loyal, and successful!"
And may it be our office to light a fresh beacon-fire on the
venerable walls of Harvard, sacred to Truth, to Christ, and to the
Church,[187]--to Truth Immortal, to Christ the Comforter, to the Holy
Church Universal. Let the flame pass from steeple to steeple, from hill
to hill, from island to island, from continent to continent, till the
long lineage of fires illumine all the nations of the earth, animating
them to the holy contests of KNOWLEDGE, JUSTICE, BEAUTY, LOVE!
[187] The legend on the early seal of Harvard University was _Veritas_.
The present legend is _Christo et Ecclesiæ_.
ANTISLAVERY DUTIES OF THE WHIG PARTY.
SPEECH AT THE WHIG STATE CONVENTION OF MASSACHUSETTS, IN FANEUIL HALL,
BOSTON, SEPTEMBER 23, 1846.
The Convention was organized by the appointment of Hon. Charles Hudson,
of Westminster, President,--Nathan Appleton, of Boston, Stephen C.
Phillips, of Salem, Amos Abbott, of Andover, Samuel Hoar, of Concord,
Thomas Kinnicutt, of Worcester, Isaac King, of Palmer, E.R. Coit, of
Pittsfield, A. Richards, of Dedham, Artemas Hale, of Bridgewater, and
Aaron Mitchell, of Nantucket, Vice-Presidents,--and F.W. Lincoln,
Jr., of Boston, William S. Robinson, of Lowell, George Marston, of
Barnstable, and E.G. Bowdoin, of South Hadley, Secretaries.
After the appointment of a committee to report resolutions, and its
withdrawal for this purpose, there was a call for Mr. Sumner, who
came forward and spoke. This incident was described by the _Daily
Advertiser_, in its account of the proceedings, as follows.
"After this committee had gone out, Charles Sumner, Esq., of this
city, in response to a general call, took the stand and made a very
eloquent speech, which was received with sympathy and repeated bursts
of applause.... An allusion which he made to Daniel Webster in terms
of the highest admiration, and an appeal to him to add to his title
of _Defender of the Constitution_ that of _Defender of Freedom_
[_Humanity_], was received with great applause."
Mr. Winthrop, at the call of the Convention, spoke immediately after
Mr. Sumner.
As Mr. Sumner stepped from the platform, Mr. Appleton, one of the
Vice-Presidents, said to him, "A good speech for Virginia, but out of
place here"; to which Mr. Sumner replied, "If good for Virginia, it is
good for Boston, as we have our responsibilities for Slavery." This
incident is mentioned as opening briefly the practical issue made by
many with regard to the discussion of Slavery at the North.
MR. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW-CITIZENS, WHIGS OF MASSACHUSETTS:--
Grateful for the honor done me in this early call to address the
Convention, I shall endeavor to speak with sincerity and frankness
on the duties of the Whig party. It is of Duties that I shall speak.
On the first notice that our meeting was to be in Boston, many
were disposed to regret that the country was not selected instead,
believing that the opinions of the country, free as its bracing
air, more than those of Boston, were in harmony with the tone
becoming us at the present crisis. In the country is the spirit
of freedom, in the city the spirit of commerce; and though these
two spirits may at times act in admirable conjunction and with
irresistible strength, yet it sometimes occurs that the generous
and unselfish impulses of the one are checked and controlled by the
careful calculations of the other. Even Right and Liberty are, in
some minds, of less significance than dividends and dollars.
But I am happy that the Convention is convoked in Faneuil Hall,--a
place vocal with inspiring accents; and though on other occasions
words have been uttered here which the lover of morals, of freedom,
and humanity must regret, these walls, faithful only to Freedom,
refuse to echo them. Whigs of Massachusetts, in Faneuil Hall
assembled, must be true to this early scene of patriot struggles;
they must be true to their own name, which has descended from the
brave men who took part in those struggles.
We are a Convention of Whigs. And who are the Whigs? Some may say
they are supporters of the Tariff; others, that they are advocates
of Internal Improvements, of measures to restrict the Veto Power,
or it may be of a Bank. All these are now, or have been, prominent
articles of the party. But this enumeration does not do justice to
the Whig character.
The Whigs, as their name imports, are, or ought to be, the party
of Freedom. They seek, or should seek, on all occasions, to carry
out fully and practically the principles of our institutions. Those
principles which our fathers declared, and sealed with their blood,
their Whig children should seek to manifest in acts. The Whigs,
therefore, reverence the Declaration of Independence, as embodying
the vital truths of Freedom, especially that great truth, "that
all men are created equal." They reverence the Constitution of the
United States, and seek to guard it against infractions, believing
that under the Constitution Freedom can be best preserved. They
reverence the Union, believing that the peace, happiness, and
welfare of all depend upon this blessed bond. They reverence the
public faith, and require that it shall be punctiliously kept in
all laws, charters, and obligations. They reverence the principles
of morality, truth, justice, right. They seek to advance their
country rather than individuals, and to promote the welfare of the
people rather than of leaders. A member of such an association,
founded on the highest moral sentiments, recognizing conscience and
benevolence as animating ideas, is not open to the accusation that
he "to party gave up what was meant for mankind,"--since all the
interests of the party must be coincident and commensurate with the
manifold interests of humanity.
Such is, as I trust, the Whig party of Massachusetts. It refuses
to identify itself exclusively with those measures of transient
policy which, like the Bank, may become "obsolete ideas," but
connects itself with everlasting principles which can never fade or
decay. Doing this, it does not neglect other things, as the Tariff,
or Internal Improvements; but it treats them as subordinate. Far
less does it show indifference to the Constitution or the Union;
for it seeks to render these guardians and representatives of the
principles to which we are attached.
The Whigs have been called by you, Mr. President, _conservatives_.
In a just sense, they should be conservatives,--not of forms only,
but of substance,--not of the letter only, but of the living
spirit. The Whigs should be conservators of the ancestral spirit,
conservators of the animating ideas in which our institutions were
born. They should profess that truest and highest conservatism
which watches, guards, and preserves the great principles of Truth,
Right, Freedom, and Humanity. Such a conservatism is not narrow and
exclusive, but broad and expansive. It is not trivial and bigoted,
but manly and generous. It is the conservatism of '76.
Let me say, then, that the Whigs of Massachusetts are--I hope it
is not my wish only that is father to the thought--the party which
seeks the establishment of Truth, Freedom, Right, and Humanity,
under the Constitution of the United States, and by the Union of
the States. They are Unionists, Constitutionalists, Friends of the
Right.
The question here arises, How shall this party, inspired by these
principles, now act? The answer is easy. In strict accordance with
their principles. It must utter them with distinctness, and act
upon them with energy.
The party will naturally express opposition to the present
Administration for its treacherous course on the tariff, and
for its interference by veto with internal improvements; but it
will be more alive to evils of greater magnitude,--the unjust and
unchristian war with Mexico, which is not less absurd than wicked,
and, beyond this, the institution of Slavery.
The time, I believe, has gone by, when the question is asked,
_What has the North to do with Slavery?_ It might almost be
answered, that, politically, it has little to do with anything
else,--so are all the acts of our Government connected, directly
or indirectly, with this institution. Slavery is everywhere.
Appealing to the Constitution, it enters the Halls of Congress, in
the disproportionate representation of the Slave States. It holds
its disgusting mart at Washington, in the shadow of the Capitol,
under the legislative jurisdiction of the Nation,--of the North as
well as the South. It sends its miserable victims over the high
seas, from the ports of Virginia to the ports of Louisiana, beneath
the protecting flag of the Republic. It presumes to follow into
the Free States those fugitives who, filled with the inspiration
of Freedom, seek our altars for safety; nay, more, with profane
hands it seizes those who have never known the name of slave,
freemen of the North, and dooms them to irremediable bondage. It
insults and expels from its jurisdiction honored representatives
of Massachusetts, seeking to secure for her colored citizens
the peaceful safeguard of the Union. It assumes at pleasure to
build up new slaveholding States, striving perpetually to widen
its area, while professing to extend the area of Freedom. It
has brought upon the country war with Mexico, with its enormous
expenditures and more enormous guilt. By the spirit of union among
its supporters, it controls the affairs of Government,--interferes
with the cherished interests of the North, enforcing and then
refusing protection to her manufactures,--makes and unmakes
Presidents,--usurps to itself the larger portion of all offices
of honor and profit, both in the army and navy, and also in the
civil department,--and stamps upon our whole country the character,
before the world, of that monstrous anomaly and mockery, _a
slaveholding republic_, with the living truths of Freedom on its
lips and the dark mark of Slavery on its brow.
In opposition to Slavery, Massachusetts has already, to a certain
extent, done what becomes her character as a free Commonwealth.
By successive resolutions of her Legislature, she has called for
the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and for the
abolition of the slave-trade between the States; and she has also
proposed an amendment of the Constitution, putting the South upon
an equality with the North in Congressional representation. More
than this, her judiciary, always pure, fearless, and upright, has
inflicted upon Slavery the brand of reprobation. I but recall a
familiar fact, when I refer to the opinion of the Supreme Court
of Massachusetts, where it is expressly declared that "slavery is
contrary to natural right, to the principles of justice, humanity,
and sound policy."[188] This is the law of Massachusetts.
[188] 18 Pick. Rep. 215.
And shall this Commonwealth continue in any way to sustain an
institution which its laws declare to be contrary to natural right,
justice, humanity, and sound policy? Shall Whigs support what is
contrary to the fundamental principles of the party? Here the
consciences of good men respond to the judgment of the Court.
If it be wrong to hold a single slave, it must be wrong to hold
many. If it be wrong for an individual to hold a slave, it must be
wrong for a State. If it be wrong for a State in its individual
capacity, it must be wrong also in association with other States.
Massachusetts does not allow any of her citizens within her borders
to hold slaves. Let her be consistent, and call for the abolition
of slavery wherever she is any way responsible for it, not only
where she is a party to it, but wherever it may be reached by her
influence,--that is, everywhere beneath the Constitution and laws
of the National Government. "If any practices exist," said Mr.
Webster, in one of those earlier efforts which commended him to our
admiration, his Discourse at Plymouth in 1820,--"if any practices
exist contrary to the principles of justice and humanity, within
the reach of our laws or our influence, _we are inexcusable, if we
do not exert ourselves to restrain and abolish them_."[189] This
is correct, worthy of its author, and of Massachusetts. It points
directly to Massachusetts as inexcusable for not doing her best to
restrain and abolish slavery everywhere within the reach of her
laws or her influence.
[189] Works, Vol. I. p. 45.
Certainly, to labor in this cause is far higher and nobler than to
strive for _repeal of the Tariff_, once the tocsin to rally the
Whigs. REPEAL OF SLAVERY UNDER THE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS OF THE
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT is a watchword more Christian and more potent,
because it embodies a higher sentiment and a more commanding duty.