speaks of victories, and sometimes of reverses, on the sea and on the land.
It speaks of patriots and heroes among the living and the dead: and of him,
the first and greatest of them all, around whose consecrated ashes this
unnatural and abhorrent strife has so long been raging--"the abomination
of desolation standing where it ought not." But before all and above all
other associations and memories--whether of glorious men, or glorious
deeds, or glorious places--its voice is ever of Union and Liberty, of the
Constitution and the Laws.
Behold it! Listen to it! Let it tell the story of its birth to these
gallant volunteers, as they march beneath its folds by day, or repose
beneath its sentinel stars by night. Let it recall to them the strange,
eventful history of its rise and progress; let it rehearse to them the
wondrous tale of its trials and its triumphs, in peace as well as in war;
and, whatever else may happen to it or to them, it will never be
surrendered to rebels; never be ignominiously struck to treason; nor be
prostituted to any unworthy or unchristian purpose of revenge, depredation,
or rapine. And may a merciful God cover the head of each one of its brave
defenders in the hour of battle.
R. C. Winthrop.
CCLVI.
THE CAUSE.
"Union for the sake of the Union"; "our country, our whole country, and
nothing but our country";--these are the mottoes, old, stale, hackneyed,
and threadbare as they may have seemed when employed as the watchwords of
an electioneering campaign, but clothed with a new power, a new
significance, a new gloss, and a new glory, when uttered as the battlecries
of a nation struggling for existence; these are the mottoes which can give
a just and adequate expression to the Cause in which you have enlisted.
Sir, I thank Heaven that the trumpet has given no uncertain sound, while
you have been preparing yourselves for the battle.
This is the Cause which has been solemnly proclaimed by both branches of
Congress, in resolutions passed at the instance of those true-hearted sons
of Tennessee and Kentucky--Johnson and Crittenden--and which, I rejoice to
remember at this hour, received your own official sanction as a Senator of
the United States.
This is the Cause which has been recognized and avowed by the President of
the United States, with a frankness and fearlessness which have won the
respect and admiration of all.
This is the Cause which has been so fervently commended to us from the
dying lips of a Douglas, and by the matchless living voices of a Holt and
an Everett.
This is the Cause in which the heroic Anderson, lifting his banner upon the
wings of prayer,--and looking to the guidance and guardianship of the God
in whom he trusted, went through that fiery furnace unharmed, and came
forth, not indeed without the smell of fire and smoke upon his garments,
but with an undimmed and undying lustre of piety and patriotism on his
brow.
This is the Cause in which the lamented Lyon bequeathed all that he had of
earthly treasure to his country, and then laid down a life in her defense,
whose value no millions could measure.
This is the Cause in which the veteran chief of our armies crowned with the
laurels which Washington alone had worn before him, and renouncing all
inferior allegiance at the loss of fortune and of friends, has tasked, and
is still tasking to the utmost the energies of a soul whose patriotism no
age could chill. This is the Cause to which the young and noble McClellan,
under whose lead it is your privilege to serve, has brought that matchless
combination of sagacity and science, of endurance modesty, caution, and
courage, which have made him the hope of the hour, the bright particular
star of our immediate destiny.
And this, finally, is the Cause which has obliterated, as no other cause
could have done, all divisions and distinction of party, nationality, and
creed; which has appealed alike to Republican, Democrat, and Union Whig, to
native citizen and to adopted citizen; and in which not the sons of
Massachusetts or of New England or of the North alone, not the dwellers on
the Hudson, the Delaware, and the Susquehanna only, but so many of those,
also, on the Potomac and the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Missouri, on all
the lakes, and in all the vast Mesopotamia of the mighty West--yes, and
strangers from beyond the seas, Irish and Scotch, German, Italian, and
French--the common emigrant and those who have stood nearest to a
throne--brave and devoted men from almost every nation under heaven--men
who have measured the value of our country to the world by a nobler
standard than the cotton crop; and who realize that other and momentous
destinies are at stake upon our struggle than such as can be wrought upon
any mere material looms and shuttles--all, all are seen rallying beneath a
common flag, and, exclaiming with one heart and voice: "The American
Union--it must be, and shall be preserved."
R. C. Winthrop.
CCLVII.
THE ASSAULT ON CHARLES SUMNER.
On the 22d of May, when the Senate and House had clothed themselves in
mourning for a brother fallen in the battle of life, in the distant State
of Missouri, the Senator from Massachusetts sat in the silence of the
Senate chamber, engaged in employments appertaining to his office, when a
member from this House, who had taken an oath to sustain the Constitution,
stole into the Senate, that place which had hitherto been held sacred
against violence, and smote him as Cain smote his brother. One blow was
enough; but it did not satiate the wrath of that spirit which had pursued
him through two days. Again, and again, and again, quicker and faster fell
the leaden blows, until he was torn away from his victim, when the Senator
from Massachusetts fell into the arms of his friends, and his blood ran
down the floor of the Senate.
Sir, the act was brief and my comments on it shall be brief also. I
denounce it in the name of the Constitution which it violated. I denounce
it in the name of the sovereignty of Massachusetts, which was stricken down
by the blow. I denounce it in the name of humanity. I denounce it in the
name of civilization, which it outraged. I denounce it in the name of that
fair play, which bullies and prize-fighters respect. What, strike a man
when he is pinioned, when he cannot respond to a blow! Call you that
chivalry? In what code of honor did you get your authority for that? God
knows my heart. I desire to speak with kindness. I speak in no spirit of
revenge. I do not believe the member has a friend who must not in his heart
of hearts condemn the act. Even the member himself--if he has left a spark
of that chivalry and gallantry attributed to him--must loathe and scorn the
act. But much as I reprobate the act, much more do I reprobate the conduct
of those who stood by and saw the outrage perpetrated. O, magnanimous
Slidell! O, prudent Douglas! O, audacious Toombs!
Sir, there are questions arising out of this, which are far more important
than those of a mere personal nature. Of these personal considerations I
shall speak when the question comes properly before us, if I am permitted
to do so. The higher question involves the very existence of the government
itself. If, sir, freedom of speech is not to remain to us, what is the
government worth? If we from Massachusetts, or any other State,--senators
or members of the House, are to be called to account by some "gallant
uncle," when we utter something which does not suit their sensitive nature,
we desire to know it.
If the conflict is to be transferred from the peaceful, intellectual field
to one where, it is said, "honors are easy and responsibilities equal,"
then we desire to know it. Massachusetts, if her sons and representatives
are to have the rod held over them,--though she utters no threats,--may be
called upon to withdraw them to her own bosom, where she can furnish to
them that protection which is not vouchsafed to them under the flag of
their common country. But while she permits us to remain, we shall do our
duty; we shall speak whatever we choose to speak, whatever we will, and
however we will, regardless of the consequences.
Sir, the sons of Massachusetts are educated, at the knees of their mothers,
in the doctrines of peace and good-will, and God knows we desire to
cultivate those feelings,--feelings of social kindness, and public
kindness.
The House will bear witness that we have not violated or trespassed upon
any of them; but, sir, if we are pushed too long and too far, there are men
from the old Commonwealth of Massachusetts who will not shrink from a
defence of freedom of speech, and the State they represent: in any field
where they may be assailed.
A. Burlingame.
CCLVIII.
STRENGTH OF THE GOVERNMENT.
I know that I may be met at once by the objection that our general
government is, after all, but a qualified and imperfect government. I may
be reminded that it was from Massachusetts that the amendment came which
expressly declares that all powers not given, are withheld. And then it may
be asked, is there not here a manifest division of sovereignty and of
power, and does not this show that much is wanting--that all which is
retained at home is wanting--to constitute the full strength of a national
government? My answer is twofold. First, I say, the national government has
at this moment, by force of the Constitution, all the strength--absolutely
all--which it needs, or could profitably use, as a central national
government. I answer next, that by the admirable provisions of our
Constitution, the reserved powers of every State may be, and, so far as
that State does its duty, will be, prepared and developed to their utmost
efficiency, and then imparted to the nation in its need.
Do we want a proof and illustration of all this? Very recent events have
supplied one, which history will not forget, if we do. How happened it
that, a few weeks since, when the general government seemed to be feeble,
and was in peril, and the demand--I may as well say the cry for help came
forth--why was it that Massachusetts was the first to spring to the rescue?
Why was it that she was able, in four days from that in which this cry
reached her, to add a new glory to the day of Lexington? Why was it that
she could begin that offering of needed aid which has since poured itself
in a full, and swollen, and rushing stream, into the war power of the
national government? Even as I ask the question, the answer is in all your
minds. It is, that Massachusetts could do this because she had done her own
duty beforehand. She could do this because, within her own bounds, she had
prepared and organized her own strength, and stood ready for the moment
when she could place it in the outstretched hands of the government. And
other States followed, offering their contributions with no interval--with
almost too little of delay; with a haste which was sometimes precipitation;
with an importunate begging for acceptance--all of it yet far behind the
earnest desire and demand of the people of these States, until at length we
stood before an astonished world the strongest government on the face of
the earth.
Stronger, therefore, for all the purposes to which our national government
should apply its strengths stronger for all the good it can do and all the
harm it can prevent, that government is, as it is now constructed, and
because it is so constructed, than it could be if it were the single,
central, consolidated power of other nations. And it will show its
strength, not by preventing all checks and reverses, for that is
impossible; but, as I believe, in prompt and thorough recovery from them.
T. Parsons.
CCLIX.
THE HIGHER LAW.
In the whole political history of our own country, there has been no sin so
atrocious as the repudiation of a higher than human law. It is stark
atheism; for, with the law, this position virtually denies also the
providence of God, and makes men and nations sole arbiters of their own
fortunes. But "the Heavens do rule." If there be institutions or measures
inconsistent with immutable rectitude, they are fostered only under the ban
of a righteous God; they inwrap the germs of their own harvest of shame,
disorder, vice, and wretchedness; nay, their very prosperity is but the
verdure and blossoming which shall mature the apples of Sodom. O, how often
have our legislators had reason to recall those pregnant words of
Jefferson,--sad indeed is it that they should have become almost too trite
for repetition, without having worked their way into the national
conscience,--"I tremble for my country, when I consider that God is just!"
The nations that have passed away, the decaying nations, the convulsed
thrones, the smouldering rebellion-fires of the Old World, reveal the
elements of national decline and ruin, and hold out baleful signals over
the career on which our republic is hurrying; assuring us, by the
experience of all climes and ages, that slavery, the unprincipled lust of
power and territory official corruption and venality, aggressive war,
partisan legislation, are but "sowing the wind to reap the whirlwind."
Our statesmen of the "manifest destiny" type seem to imagine oar country
necessary to the designs of Providence. So thought the Hebrews, and on far
more plausible grounds, of their commonwealth; but, rather than fulfil to
such degenerate descendants the promise made to their great ancestor, "God
is able," said the divine Teacher. "of these stones to raise up children
unto Abraham."
Our destiny must be evolved, not from the blending of the world's noblest
races in our ancestral stock; not from a position in which we hold the keys
of the world's commerce, and can say to the North, "Give up," and to the
South, "Keep not back;" not from our capacity to absorb and assimilate
immigrant millions. Destiny is but the concrete of character. God needs no
man or nation. He will bring in the reign of everlasting righteousness; and
as a people, we must stand or fall as we accept or spurn that reign.
Brethren, scholars, patriots also, I trust,--you whose generous nurture
gives you large and enduring influence,--seek for the country of your pride
and love, above all things else, her establishment on the eternal right as
on the Rock of Ages. Thus shall there be no spot on her fame, no limit to
her growth, no waning to her glory.
A. P. Peabody.
CCLX.
"STEP TO THE CAPTAINS OFFICE AND SETTLE."
This old watchword, so often heard by travellers in the early stages of
steam-navigation, is now and then ringing in our ears with a very pointed
and pertinent application. It is a note that belongs to all the
responsibilities of this life for eternity. There is a day of reckoning, a
day for the settlement of accounts. All unpaid bills will then have to be
paid; all unbalanced books will have to be settled. There will be no loose
memorandums forgotten; there will be no heedless commissioners for the
convenience of careless consciences; there will be no proxies; there will
be no bribed auditors. Neither will there be such a thing as a hesitating
conscience; but the inward monitor, so often drugged and silenced on earth,
will speak out. There will be no doubt nor question as to the right and
wrong. There will be no vain excuses! nor any attempt to make them. There
will be no more sophistry, no more considerations of expediency, no more
pleading of the laws of men and the customs of society, no more talk about
organic sins being converted into constructive righteousness, or collective
and corporate frauds releasing men from individual responsibilities.
When we see a man, a professed Christian, running a race with the
worshippers of wealth and fashion, absorbed in the vanities of the world,
or endeavoring to serve both God and mammon, we hear the voice, Step to the
captain's office and settle! When we see editors and politicians setting
power in the place of goodness, and expediency in the place of justice and
law in the place of equity, and custom in the place of right, putting
darkness for light, and evil for good, and tyranny for general
benevolence, we think of the day when the issuers of such counterfeit money
will be brought to light, and their sophistries and lies exposed,--for
among the whole tribe of unprincipled politicians there will be great
consternation when the call comes to step to the captain's office and
settle. When we see unjust rulers in their pride of power fastening chains
upon the bondmen, oppressing the poor, and playing their pranks of defiant
tyranny before high heaven, then also come these words to mind, like a
blast from the last trumpet, Step to the captain's office and settle!
G. B. Cheever
CCLXI.
THE MURDER OF THE SOUL.
There are some people whose sympathies have been excited upon the subject
of slavery, who, if they can only be satisfied that the slaves have enough
to eat, think it is all very well, and that nothing more is to be said or
done.
If slaves were merely animals, whose only or chief enjoyment consisted in
the gratification of their bodily appetites, there would be some show of
sense in this conclusion. But, in fact, however crushed and brutified, they
are still men; men whose bosoms beat with the same passions as our own;
whose hearts swell with the same aspirations,--the same ardent desire to
improve their condition; the same wishes for what they have not; the same
indifference towards what they have; the same restless love of social
superiority; the same greediness of acquisition; the same desire to know;
the same impatience of all external control.
The excitement which the singular case of Caspar Hauser produced a few
years since in Germans is not yet forgotten. From the representations of
that enigmatical personage, it was believed that those from whose custody
he declared himself to have escaped, had endeavored to destroy his
intellect, or rather to prevent it from being developed, so as to detain
him forever in a state of infantile imbecility. This supposed attempt at
what they saw fit to denominate the murder of the soul, gave rise to great
discussions among the German jurists; and they soon raised it into a new
crime, which they placed at the very head of social enormities.
It is this very crime, the murder of the soul, which is in the course of
continuous and perpetual perpetration throughout the southern States of the
American Union; and not upon a single individual only, but upon nearly one
half of the entire population.
Consider the slaves as men, and the course of treatment which custom and
the laws prescribe is an artful, deliberate and well-digested scheme to
break their spirit; to deprive them of courage and of manhood; to destroy
their natural desire for an equal participation in the benefits of society;
to keep them ignorant, and therefore weak; to reduce them, if possible, to
a state of idiocy; to crowd them down to a level with the brutes.
R. Hildreth.
CCLXII.
JUDICIAL TRIBUNALS.
Let me here say that I hold judges, and especially the Supreme Court of the
country, in much respect; but I am too familiar with the history of
judicial proceedings to regard them with any superstitious reverence.
Judges are but men, and in all ages have shown a full share of frailty.
Alas! alas! the worst crimes of history have been perpetrated under their
sanction. The blood of martyrs and of patriots, crying from the ground,
summons them to judgment.
It was a Judicial tribunal which condemned Socrates to drink the fatal
hemlock, and which pushed the Saviour barefoot over the pavements of
Jerusalem, bending beneath his cross. It was a judicial tribunal which,
against the testimony and entreaties of her father, surrendered the fair
Virginia as a slave; which arrested the teachings of the great apostle to
the Gentiles, and sent him in bonds from Judea to Rome; which, in the name
of the Old Religion, adjudged the saints and fathers of the Christian
Church to death, in all its most dreadful forms; and which afterwards, in
the name of the New Religion, enforced the tortures of the Inquisition,
amidst the shrieks and agonies of its victims, while it compelled Galileo
to declare, in solemn denial of the great truth he had disclosed, that the
earth did not move round the sun.
It was a judicial tribunal which, in France, during the long reign of her
monarchs, lent itself to be the instrument of every tyranny, as during the
brief reign of terror it did not hesitate to stand forth the unpitying
accessory of the unpitying guillotine. Ay, sir, it was a judicial tribunal
in England, surrounded by all the forms of law, which sanctioned every
despotic caprice of Henry the Eighth, from the unjust divorce of his
queen, to the beheading of Sir Thomas More; which lighted the fires of
persecution that glowed at Oxford and Smithfield, over the cinders of
Latimer, Ridley, and John Rogers; which, after elaborate argument, upheld
the fatal tyranny of ship-money against the patriotic resistance of
Hampden; which, in defiance of justice and humanity, sent Sydney and
Russell to the block; which persistently enforced the laws of Conformity
that our Puritan Fathers persistently refused to obey; and which
afterwards, with Jeffries on the bench, crimsoned the pages of English
history with massacre and murder--even with the blood of innocent woman.
Ay, sir, and it was a judicial tribunal in our country, surrounded by all
the forms of law, which hung witches at Salem,--which affirmed the
constitutionality of the Stamp Act, while it admonished "jurors and the
people" to obey,--and which now, in our day has lent its sanction to the
unutterable atrocity of the Fugitive Slave Bill.
C. Sumner.
CCLXIII.
SLAVERY THE MAINSPRING OF THE REBELLION.
The whole quantity of slave-owners, great and small, according to the
recent census, is not more than four hundred thousand; out of whom there
are not more than one hundred thousand who are interested to any
considerable extent in this peculiar species of property; and yet this
petty oligarchy--itself controlled by a squad still more petty--in a
population of many millions, has aroused and organized this gigantic
rebellion. The future historian will record that the present
rebellion--notwithstanding its protracted origin, the multitudes it has
enlisted, and its extensive sweep--was at last precipitated by fewer than
twenty men; Mr. Everett says, by as few as ten. It is certain that thus far
it has been the triumph of a minority; but of a minority moved, inspired,
combined, and aggrandized by slavery.
And now this traitorous minority, putting aside all the lurking, slimy
devices of conspiracy steps forth in the full panoply of war. Assuming to
itself all the functions of a government, it organizes States under a
common head--sends ambassadors into foreign countries--levies
taxes--borrows money--issues letters of marque--and sets armies in the
field, summoned from distant Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, as well as from
nearer Virginia, and composed of the whole lawless population--the poor who
cannot own slaves as well as the rich who own them--throughout the
extensive region where, with satanic grasp, this slaveholding minority
claims for itself
"--ample room and verge enough
The characters of hell to trace."
Pardon the language which I employ. The words of the poet do not picture
too strongly the object proposed. And now these parricidal hosts stand
arrayed openly against that paternal Government to which they owed loyalty,
protection, and affection Never in history did rebellion assume such a
front. Call their numbers four hundred thousand or two hundred
thousand--what you will--they far surpass any armed forces ever before
marshalled in rebellion; they are among the largest ever marshalled in war.
And all this is in the name of slavery, and for the sake of slavery, and at
the bidding of slavery. The profligate favorite of the English monarch--the
famous Duke of Buckingham--was not more exclusively supreme--even according
to those words by which he was exposed to the judgment of his
contemporaries:
"Who rules the kingdom? The king.
"Who rules the king? The Duke.
"Who rules the Duke? The Devil."
The prevailing part here attributed to the royal favorite belongs now to
slavery, which in the rebel States is a more than royal favorite.
Who rules the rebel States? The President.
Who rules the President? Slavery.
Who rules slavery?--