SPEECH AT A MASS MEETING OF REPUBLICANS, IN THE OPEN AIR, AT
FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, OCTOBER 11, 1860.
A Mass Meeting of Republicans was held in Harmony Grove at
Framingham, October 11, 1860, with the following officers.
President,--Hon. Charles R. Train of Framingham.
Vice-Presidents,--A. C. Mayhew of Milford, Milo Hildreth of
Northborough, Charles Devens of Worcester, Samuel M. Griggs
of Westborough, William F. Ellis of Ashland, Alden Leland
of Holliston, John O. Wilson of Natick, Hollis Loring of
Marlborough, James Moore of Sudbury, J. N. Bacon of Newton,
Amory Holman of Bolton, S. D. Davenport of Hopkinton, George
W. Maynard of Berlin, B. W. Gleason of Stowe, J. D. Wheeler
of Grafton, Charles Campbell of Wayland, Sullivan Fay of
Southborough, Albert Ballard of Framingham.
Secretaries,--Thomas W. Fox of Worcester, Nelson Bartholomew
of Oxford, A. B. Underwood of Newton, and Theodore C. Hurd of
Framingham.
The meeting was addressed, among others, by Hon. John P. Hale,
Hon. Henry Wilson, and John A. Andrew, Esq., the Republican
candidate for Governor. The report at the time says:--
“While Mr. Wilson was speaking, Hon. Charles Sumner arrived
upon the ground, and, on stepping upon the platform, was
greeted with great applause. At the close of the speech
of Mr. Wilson, the President presented Mr. Sumner, who
was received with nine hearty cheers. After silence was
obtained, Mr. Sumner addressed the meeting.”
This speech was quoted as the Framingham Speech by M.
Cochin, the philanthropic Frenchman, in his important work,
_L’Abolition de l’Esclavage_.[17]
FELLOW-CITIZENS,--The German Siebold begins his great treatise on the
“Anatomy of the Invertebrates” with this general remark:--
“The _Invertebrate_ animals are organized after various types,
the limits of which are not always clearly defined. There is,
therefore, a greater number of classes among them than among
the _Vertebrates_.”
In this remark of the illustrious naturalist I find an explanation
of the number of parties now arrayed against us. On one side is the
Republican party, openly declaring its principles, and looking with
confidence to the Future. Threats of disunion, and menaces of violence,
in constant cry, do not disturb it. Such a party may properly be called
the _Backbone party_, or, adopting the phraseology of the German
naturalist, the party of the _Vertebrates_.
But against the Republican party here in Massachusetts are three
parties, or factions rather, which cannot be precisely named except
from their candidates. Differing from each other superficially,
they all concur in practical support of Slavery. At this moment,
when the propagandists of Slavery insist upon its extension into
the Territories, all these three factions lend themselves actively
or passively to this work, and thus become practically Proslavery.
Unwilling here in Massachusetts openly to advocate a wrong so
unmistakable as Slavery, they find excuse in alleged danger to the
Union, and bend before the threats and menaces of Slave-Masters. Not
in the name of Freedom, which is really in danger, but in the name of
the Union, which is only threatened, do they all three rally against
the Republican party. In their flexibility to threats and menaces, they
show a want of that backbone which characterizes the Republican party.
In short, though differing from each other, they all take their place
among _Invertebrates_, which, according to the naturalist, are of more
various types than _Vertebrates_.
There is the Bell faction, the Breckinridge faction, and the Douglas
faction, all three _Invertebrates_, declaring that the Union is in
danger, and asking your votes in order to save it. That is, they ask
you to abandon cherished convictions, and to allow Slavery, with all
its Barbarism, to enter the outlying Territories of the Republic,
simply because certain Slave-Masters threaten disunion. Instead of
opposing the treason which is threatened, Freedom-loving voters of the
North are summoned to surrender. Instead of scorning the violence which
is menaced, we are asked to cringe before it. I ask you if this is not
the special point of every appeal by any speaker representing either of
these factions? No man so audacious here in Massachusetts as to argue
for Slavery openly. He knows that his argument would be scouted. It is
therefore by appeal for the Union that people are deluded. In this way
the weak are cajoled, the timeserving are seduced, and the timid are
frightened; and people professing opposition to Slavery gravely come
forward as supporters of these Proslavery factions.
* * * * *
The unknown is apt to be exaggerated; so that, if these threats of
disunion were now heard for the first time, we might, perhaps, pardon
men who yield to their influence. But since this is not the first time
such cries are heard,--since, indeed, they have been long sounding in
our ears, so that their exact value is perfectly understood from the
very beginning,--there seems no longer excuse or apology for hearkening
to them. They are to be treated as threats, and nothing more. Look at
them from the outset, and you will see their constant recurrence as
weapons of political warfare.
* * * * *
Even while the Constitution was under discussion in the National
Convention, the threats began. Georgia and South Carolina announced
that they would not come into the Union, unless the African
Slave-Trade, so dear in their sight, was allowed for twenty years under
the Constitution; and the North ignominiously yielded this barbarous
privilege, thus consenting to piracy. The cry from these States was
then, “We will not come in.” Ever since it has been, “We will not stay
in.”
One of the earliest and most characteristic outcries was on the
ratification of Jay’s Treaty in 1795. This famous treaty, negotiated by
John Jay, at that time Chief Justice of the United States, under the
instructions of Washington, provided for the surrender of the Western
posts by Great Britain, and indemnity to our merchants for spoliations
on their commerce, and also the adjustment of claims of British
merchants upon our citizens. In the opposition which it encountered we
meet the following threat of disunion in Virginia, published in Davis’s
Gazette, at Richmond.
“Notice is hereby given, that, in case the treaty entered
into by that d--d arch-traitor, J--n J--y, with the British
tyrant should be ratified, a petition will be presented to the
General Assembly of Virginia, at their next session, praying
that the said State may _recede_ [such was the word in that
early day] from the Union, and be left under the government
and protection of one hundred thousand free and independent
Virginians.
“P. S.--As it is the wish of the people of the said State to
enter into a treaty of amity and commerce and navigation with
any other State or States of the present Union who are averse
to returning again under the galling yoke of Great Britain, the
printers of the (at present) United States are requested to
publish the above notification.”[18]
Thus early was this menace tried. But the treaty was ratified.
The menace was employed with more effect to secure the adoption of the
Missouri Compromise. This was in 1820. Missouri applied for admission
into the Union as a Slaveholding State. Her admission was opposed by
the North on the declared ground that it was not right to give any such
sanction to Slavery. Thus the whole Slave Question was opened; and it
was discussed with much thoroughness and ability, under the lead of
Rufus King, once an eminent representative of Massachusetts, but at
that time a venerable Senator from New York. Overthrown in argument,
the Slave-Masters resorted to threats of disunion. The Union was
pronounced in danger, and under this cry a compromise, first suggested
in the House by Louis McLane, a Representative from Delaware, and in
the Senate by William Pinkney, a Senator from Maryland, was adopted,
by virtue of which Missouri was admitted as a Slave State, while
Slavery was prohibited in the remaining territory north of 36° 30´, at
that time trodden only by Indians. The special operative gain to the
Slave-Masters was the admission of Missouri as a Slave State, with two
new slaveholding Senators to confirm their predominance in the Senate;
and this was notoriously secured under threats of disunion, by which
weak men at the North were intimidated.
A record at the time by the late Mr. Justice Story, who was then at
Washington, shows the temper especially of Virginia. Writing to a
friend at home, he says:--
“Mr. Randolph, in the House of Representatives, made a furious
attack upon all who advocated the Compromise. He said: ‘The
land is _ours_ [meaning Virginia’s], and we will have it, and
hold it, and use it as we [Virginians] please.’ He abused all
the Eastern States in the most bitter style, and intimated in
the most direct manner that he would have nothing to do with
them. ‘We,’ said he, ‘will not cut and deal with them, but will
put our hands upon our pockets and have nothing to do in this
game with them.’ His speech was a very severe philippic, and
contained a great many offensive allusions. _It let out the
great secrets of Virginia, and blabbed that policy by which
she has hitherto bullied us, and led us, and wheedled us, and
governed us._ You would not have supposed that there was a
State in the Union entitled to any confidence or character,
except Virginia.”[19]
Such is the testimony of a tranquil observer, friend and associate
of that illustrious Virginian, John Marshall, who witnessed this
manifestation of the bullying spirit, and judged it.
Ten years passed, from 1820 to 1830, and the cry was raised again.
It was now on the allegation of injustice in our Tariff. Here South
Carolina took the lead, and openly threatened Nullification,--in the
face of the arguments of Daniel Webster and the proclamations of Andrew
Jackson. A modification of the tariff became necessary before this cry
of “wolf” ceased. General Jackson, in a private letter written at the
time, and now in the possession of our candidate, Mr. Andrew, predicts
that “the Negro Question” will be the next occasion for it;[20] and he
was right.
The subject of Slavery came up in Congress on petitions as early as
1835, and then commenced the great career of John Quincy Adams, as
champion of Freedom, eclipsing even all his glories as diplomatist
and President. At the presentation of petitions by this illustrious
statesman, the old threats were revived; and falling before them, the
Right of Petition itself was sacrificed. You all remember the depth of
this humiliation.
This was followed by still another, on the introduction of the Wilmot
Proviso, which was simply a proposition to prohibit Slavery in the
Territories. The same threats broke forth with increased violence.
Citizens at the North, while avowing hostility to Slavery, professed
to be alarmed for the Union. Again they bowed, and in 1850 assisted
in those Acts of Compromise, by which the Territories of Utah and New
Mexico were left open to Slavery, and a Fugitive Slave Bill was passed,
outraging alike every principle of Constitutional Liberty and every
sentiment of Humanity. Here was surrender to this cry.
The menace of disunion at the South became chronic. Not a day passed
that it was not uttered. At length, in 1856, John C. Fremont was
nominated as candidate for the Presidency by the Republican party. As
his election seemed at hand, we were again encountered by the same
old threats. We were told, that, even if elected according to the
forms of the Constitution, the Slave-Masters would not allow him to
be inaugurated, and people at the North were summoned ignominiously
to vote against him for the safety of the Union; and they surrendered
to the call. Without this, John C. Fremont would have been chosen
President. Thus again did the old menace prevail; and the chronic cry
still continued, showing itself on the election of a Speaker, and
then on the approval of Mr. Helper’s book by sixty-seven Members of
Congress.[21]
And now Abraham Lincoln is the candidate, instead of John C. Fremont.
Again the threats are renewed with increased animosity, and you are
asked to vote against a statesman of marked abilities and blameless
character, representing the early sentiments of the Fathers, simply
because Slave-Masters menace disunion in the event of his election.
Bending with _invertebrate_ backs before these threats, you are called
to surrender your principles, your votes, and your souls.
* * * * *
Thus seven times, at seven different stages in our history, since the
adoption of the Constitution, has this menace of disunion been made to
play its part. Whatever it might have been at first, it is now nothing
more than “second childishness and mere oblivion, _sans_ everything.”
There is nothing in it which should not be treated with indignant
contempt, certainly when employed here in Massachusetts to make us
sacrifice our principles.
Absurd on the face, its absurdity is fully appreciated only when we
consider its impotence as a remedy for the alleged grievances of the
Slave States. They complain that fugitive slaves are not faithfully
surrendered,--or, in other words, that some score or two of human
beings, following the North Star, with the assistance of Northern men,
succeed in securing their freedom. But disunion surely would be a poor
remedy for this intolerable grievance; for it would leave them without
even their present protection in this respect, without a Fugitive Slave
Bill, or any constitutional safeguard, so that all fugitives, just so
soon as they crossed the frontiers of the Slave States, would become
free,--precisely as if Canada, with its British welcome to slaves, were
carried down to the borders of Virginia and Maryland. If slaves escape
now, what would they do then? If such things are done in the green
tree, what would be done in the dry? Surely, in this case, it were
better to
“bear the ills they have
Than fly to others that they know not of.”
The other grievance is of the same character. The Slave-Masters
complain, that, by the prohibition of Slavery in the Territories, they
are deprived of the opportunity of new Slave States through which their
predominance in the Senate may be continued. But, pray, what remedy for
this loss can be found in disunion? Surely they cannot add to their
present political strength by renouncing securities and dignities which
they now enjoy in the national copartnership. It is true, that, while
in the Union, they may be voted down on matters within the national
jurisdiction and outside of the States; but they may nevertheless exert
an influence, which on their withdrawal must be entirely renounced.
Such are the two grievances which are to justify disunion; and pardon
me, if I venture to illustrate the irrational character of this remedy
by an incident of scientific interest. The monkey in the _Jardin des
Plantes_ at Paris was found biting the rope by which he was suspended
from the roof. “See,” said the learned professor, “that monkey shows
the difference between brutes and men. He sees what he is doing, but
does not see the consequence,--that down he will fall.” And the Slave
States also bite the rope by which they are suspended, and, like the
unreasoning brute, see not the consequence.
Yet more apparent is the absurdity of this threat, when we consider how
it is to be accomplished. If the Slave States were solemnly unanimous
at home, the cry might have a certain force. But it is well known
that they are not unanimous. Whatever the threats of disorganizing
extremists, the large mass of people even in the Slave States do not
desire disunion. They keep aloof now from such threats, and openly
declare their purpose to put down the traitors without assistance from
the North; and this I cannot doubt would be done. Such men as Cassius
M. Clay and the Blairs would find a field for their energies, and they
would see at their side people who have not hitherto acted with them
gladly forgetting past differences for the sake of a common cause. Here
are emphatic words, just uttered by a speaker at the South, in reply to
Mr. Yancey, which show that any such attempt would fare badly, even at
home:--
“I am one of a numerous party at the South, who will, if even
Lincoln shall be elected under the forms of our Constitution
and by the authority of law, without committing any other
offence than being elected, force the vile disunionists and
secessionists of the South to pass over our dead bodies in
their march to Washington to break up this government.”
But the absurdity of this threat glares upon us still more, when we
reflect on the unhappy condition in which disunion would leave the
seceding Slave States. Antiquity, by numerous instances, declares
the danger from slaves, and history is continually verifying this
truth. Even now, while I speak, we hear of insurrection at Norfolk, in
Virginia, carrying with it wide-spread alarm, and the necessity for
most especial vigilance. But in the event of disunion this condition
would become permanent, so that life, if not a tragedy, would be a
penance long drawn out. The whole region cursed with Slavery would be
dotted over with fortifications and military posts; communities would
be changed into camps carefully guarded against surprise; life would
be as in Turkey or Tartary; and every Slave-Master would sleep with
all the precautions of a highwayman fearing arrest, or of the mad
prince, Don Carlos of Spain, who had two naked swords and two loaded
pistols under his bed, and two arquebuses with powder and balls in his
closet. The mother, as she heard the fire-bell at midnight, would
clasp her infant to her breast, fearful that at last the long hoarded
resentments of the slave would be vindictively indulged. Even the
soil, now so productive, would refuse its increase; for Nature herself
would cease to smile amidst the alarms of servile war. Thus cruelly
harassed and impoverished at home, the Slave States could find little
comfort abroad. For a brief moment they might brave the scorn and
contempt poured upon them; but they must fail to have the sensibilities
of men, or they would at last shrink before the finger-point of the
civilized world. The house of Lycaon, the cruel king of early Greece,
was destroyed by the thunder of Jove, and the miserable monarch changed
to a wolf. Such would be the doom of a State which set at defiance
the laws of Humanity. It would have a _wolf’s head_, and all would be
against it.
The States which especially threaten secession are on the Mexican
Gulf, and they have become known already as “The Gulf Squadron.” Not
yet wolves, they are now ships. Let them sail, with the black flag at
the mast-head. I know not how the tale would end, but I know well that
Slavery could not gain. Their dismal fate is, perhaps, prefigured in
that of the slaver loaded down with its human cargo, where the crew
were all struck with ophthalmia, and in this condition of blindness,
while vainly striving to navigate the vessel, and weltering on the sea,
were at last picked up by a charitable cruiser and carried into port.
Or perhaps it is prefigured in that of the famous craft known in story
as “The Flying Dutchman,” which, darkened by piracy and murder, was
doomed to perpetual cruise, unable to enter a port:--
“Faint and despairing on their watery bier,
To every friendly shore the sailors steer;
Repelled, from port to port they sue in vain,
And track with slow, unsteady sail the main.…
Unblest of God and man! Till time shall end,
Its view strange horror to the storm shall lend.”[22]
Such is Disunion, in the history of its threats,--also in the reasons
now alleged for it, the difficulties in its way, and its dismal
consequences. But in all these aspects, from the beginning, we find but
one supreme absurdity. It is the same, whether we ask Why? How? or What?
* * * * *
And yet you and I here in Massachusetts are summoned, under threats
of disunion, to withdraw opposition to the extension of Slavery, and
in token thereof to vote for Bell, or Breckinridge, or Douglas. I can
do no such thing; nor do I see how any Northern man, with a head on
his shoulders, or a heart in his bosom, or a backbone in his body,
can do any such thing. Nor must fealty to the Union be measured by
loud-mouthed profession. Not Cordelia, loving her father, in all
simplicity, “according to her bond,” but the sisters Goneril and Regan,
so fervent in professions, sacrificed him. And I do not hesitate to
declare that the Republican party is the only true Union party. In the
first place, it is the only party which is not connected in some way,
by association, affiliation, communion, or sympathy, with disunionists;
and, in the second place, it is the only party which seeks the
establishment of those national principles of Freedom on which the
Union was originally founded, and without which it cannot exist in
security or honor.
As it is the only Union party, so the Republican party is the
only Constitutional party. It is the only party which takes the
Constitution unreservedly as guide, according to the spirit in which
it was made, and the light of its Preamble,--rejecting the Proslavery
interpretations adopted by the Bell faction, the Breckinridge faction,
and the Douglas faction, all of which, in whatever form, are abhorrent
to the spirit of the Constitution and the very words of its Preamble.
In that Preamble it is declared that the Constitution is made to
“establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the
common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings
of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Mark these important
words. It is to establish justice: but Slavery is injustice. It is to
insure domestic tranquillity: but Slavery insures domestic discord and
insurrection. It is to provide for the common defence: but Slavery
causes common weakness. It is to promote the general welfare: but
Slavery perils the general welfare. Finally, it is to secure the
blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity: but Slavery
sacrifices these blessings. Such is the Preamble, which is the key to
the Constitution. The Republican party alone adopts its principles, as
it alone adopts most honestly and sincerely the often declared opinions
of its founders. Therefore it is the only Constitutional party.
For the Union and the Constitution, the Republican party is also the
only party which maintains the great principles of Human Freedom. Thus
in every respect is it commended to your support. The man who asks
you here in Massachusetts to vote against it is either very weak, and
believes in his own bad reasoning, or very artful, and laughs in his
sleeve at your credulity, or very spiteful, and allows all things, even
his principles and his country, to be lost in the gratification of a
vindictive temper. Look at your opponents here, and you will find that
weakness, duplicity, and spite are the three main springs to their
conduct. This is a severe analysis, but I think the facts support the
assertion.
Frankness is not a virtue of our opponents, else we should have
this issue between us more fairly stated. But you will not be
deceived. You will see, that, amidst all disguises and subterfuges,
the great question perpetually recurs: Are you for Freedom, or are
you for Slavery? On this single question you are to vote; and no
cry of “Disunion” can change the issue. Are you for Freedom in the
Territories? Are you for a National Government administered in the
spirit of the Fathers? Are you for the prostration of the Slave
Oligarchy which now rules the country? Vain is the attempt to interpose
other questions, even that of the Union itself; and vain is the attempt
to separate the combatants. The ancient armies of Rome and Carthage
fought on, unconscious of an earthquake which upheaved mountains,
toppled down cities, and turned the course of rivers. But the animosity
between Freedom and Slavery is not less implacable and self-forgetful.
It can end only with the triumph of Freedom.
Freedom, which is the breath of God, is a great leveller; but it raises
where it levels. Slavery, which is the breath of Satan, is also a great
leveller; but it degrades everything, carrying with it master as well
as slave. Choose ye between them; and remember that your first duty
is to stand up straight, and not bend before absurd threats, whether
uttered at the South or repeated here in Massachusetts. Let people
cry, “Disunion.” We know what the cry means, and we answer back: The
Union shall be preserved, and made more precious by its consecration to
Freedom.