In the presence of such an auditory, so genial and almost festive in
character,--assembled for no purpose of party, or even of politics, in
the ordinary sense of the term,--I incline naturally to some topic of
literature, history, science, or art,--to something, at least, which
accords with peace. But at this moment, when our whole continent
is beginning to shake with the tread of mustering armies, the voice
refuses any such theme. The ancient poet, longing to sing of Achilles
and the house of Atreus, found that he could sing of love only; and he
snatched from his lyre its bloody string. Alas! for me the case is all
changed. I can speak to you of war only; but be assured, that, if I
speak of war, it is because, unhappily, war has become to us the only
way of peace.
* * * * *
The Present is apt to appear trivial and unimportant, while the Past
and the Future are grand. Rarely do men know the full significance
of the period in which they live, and we are inclined to sigh for
something better in the way of opportunity,--such as was given to
the hero of the Past, or as imagination allots to the better hero of
the Future. But there is no occasion for this repining now. There is
nothing in the Past, and it is difficult to imagine anything in the
Future, more inspiring than our Present. Even with the curtain yet
slightly lifted, it is easy to see that events are gathering, which,
in their development, must constitute the third great epoch in the
history of this Western Hemisphere,--the first being its discovery
by Christopher Columbus, and the second the American Revolution. It
remains to be seen if this epoch of ours may not surpass in grandeur
either of its two predecessors, so that the fame of the Discoverer and
the fame of the Liberator, of Columbus and of Washington, shall be
eclipsed by the mild effulgence beaming from an act of godlike justice,
creating within its immediate influence a new heaven and a new earth,
and extending to other lands a life-giving example, so long as men
struggle for rights denied, so long as any human being wears a chain.
And this sublime act will be the present substitute for armies. The
ancient Spartan, being asked, “Which is the greater virtue, justice or
valor?” answered in memorable words, “Where justice is, there can be no
need of valor.”
War is always an epoch. Unhappily, history counts by wars. Of these,
some are wars of ideas,--like that between Catholics and Huguenots
in France, between Catholics and Protestants in Germany, between the
arbitrary crown of Charles the First and the Puritanism of Oliver
Cromwell, and like that between our fathers and the mother country,
when the Declaration of Independence was put in issue. Some originate
in questions of form, some in the contentions of families, some in the
fickleness of princes, and some in the machinations of politicians.
England waged war on Holland, and one of the reasons openly assigned
was an offensive picture in the Town-Hall of Amsterdam. France
hurled armies across the Rhine, carrying fire and slaughter into the
Palatinate, and involving great nations in most bloody conflict,--and
all this wickedness is traced to the intrigue of a minister, to divert
the attention of his sovereign. But we are now in the midst of a war
which, whatever the reasons assigned by the unhappy men who began it,
or by those who sympathize with them elsewhere, has an origin and
mainspring so clear and definite as to be beyond question. Ideas are
sometimes good and sometimes bad; and there may be a war for evil as
well as for good. Such was that earliest rebellion waged by fallen
spirits against the Almighty Throne; and such is that now waged by
fallen slave-masters of our Republic against the National Government.
I adopt the language of Milton, in his masterly prose, when I call it
“a war fit for Cain to be the leader of,--an abhorred, a cursed, a
fraternal war.”[205] Nor can any courage in Rebels give true honor. If
victorious, they will be only Satanic saints of Slavery, with place in
a most hateful hagiology.
If you will kindly listen, I shall endeavor to unmask this Rebellion in
its Origin and Mainspring. Only when these are known can you determine
how it is to be treated. Your efforts will be governed by the character
of the adverse force,--whether regarded as motive power or as disease.
A steam-engine is stopped at once by stopping the steam. A ghastly
cancer, which has grappled the very fibres of the human frame, and shot
its poison through every vein, will not yield to lip-salve or rosewater.
“Diseases desperate grown
By desperate appliances are relieved,
Or not at all.”
On the sixth of November last, the people of the United States, acting
in pursuance of the Constitution and laws, chose Abraham Lincoln
President. Of course this choice was in every particular perfectly
constitutional and legal. As such, it was entitled to the respect
and acquiescence of every good citizen. It is vain to say that the
candidate represented opinions obnoxious to a considerable section
of the country, or that he was chosen by votes confined to a special
section. It is enough that he was duly chosen. You cannot set aside or
deny such an election, without assailing not only the whole framework
of the Constitution, but also the primal principle of American
institutions. You become a traitor at once to the existing government
and to the very idea of popular rule. You snatch a principle from the
red book of despotism, and openly substitute the cartridge-box for the
ballot-box.
And yet scarcely had this intelligence flashed across the country
before the mutterings of sedition and treason began to reach us from an
opposite quarter. The Union was menaced; and here the first distinct
voice came from South Carolina. A Senator from that State, one of the
largest slaveholders of the country, and a most strenuous partisan
of Slavery, [Mr. HAMMOND,] openly declared, in language not easily
forgotten, that before the 18th of December South Carolina would be
“out of the Union, high and dry and forever.” These words heralded the
outbreak. With the pertinacity of demons its leaders pushed forward.
Their avowed object was the dismemberment of the Republic, by detaching
State after State, in order to found a Slaveholding Confederacy. And
here the clearest utterance came from a late Representative of Georgia
[Mr. STEPHENS], now Vice-President of the Rebel States, who did not
hesitate to proclaim that “the foundations of the new government are
laid upon the great truth, that Slavery, subordination to the superior
race, is the negro’s natural and moral condition,”--that “it is the
first government in the history of the world based upon this great
physical, philosophical, and moral truth,”--and that “the stone which
was rejected by the first builders is in the new edifice become _the
chief stone of the corner_.”[206] Here is a savage frankness, with
insensibility to shame. The object avowed is hideous in every aspect,
whether we regard it as treason to our paternal government, as treason
to the idea of American institutions, or as treason to those commanding
principles of economy, morals, and Christianity, without which
civilization is no better than barbarism.
And now we stand front to front in deadly conflict with this
double-headed, triple-headed treason. Beginning with those States most
peculiarly interested in Slavery, and operating always with intensity
proportioned to the prevalence of Slavery, it fastens upon other States
less interested,--Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia,--and with much
difficulty is prevented from enveloping every State containing slaves,
no matter how few: for such is the malignant poison of Slavery that
only a few slaves constitute a Slave State with all the sympathies and
animosities of Slavery. This is the Rebellion which I am to unmask.
Bad as it is on its face, it becomes aggravated, when we consider its
origin, and the agencies by which it is conducted. It is not merely
a Rebellion, but it is a Rebellion begun in conspiracy; nor, in all
history, ancient or modern, is there any record of conspiracy so vast
and so wicked, ranging over such spaces both of time and territory,
and forecasting such results. A conspiracy to seize a castle or to
assassinate a prince is petty by the side of this enormous, protracted
treason, where half a continent is seized, studded with castles,
fortresses, and public edifices, where the Government itself is
overthrown, and the President, on his way to the national capital,
narrowly escapes most cruel assassination.
But no conspiracy could ripen such pernicious fruit, if not rooted in a
soil of congenial malignity. To appreciate properly this influence, we
must go back to the beginning of the Government.
* * * * *
South Carolina, which takes so forward a part in this treason,
hesitated originally, as is well known, with regard to the Declaration
of Independence. Once her vote was recorded against this act; and
when it finally prevailed, her vote was given for it only formally
and for the sake of seeming unanimity.[207] But so little was she
inspired by the Declaration, that, in the contest which ensued, her
commissioners made a proposition to the British commander which is
properly characterized by an able historian as “equivalent to an offer
from the State to return to its allegiance to the British crown.”[208]
The hesitation with regard to the Declaration of Independence was
renewed with regard to the National Constitution; and here it was
shared by another State. Notoriously, both South Carolina and
Georgia, which, with the States carved from their original territory,
Alabama and Mississippi, constitute the chief seat of the conspiracy,
hesitated in becoming parties to the Union, and stipulated expressly
for recognition of the slave-trade in the National Constitution as an
indispensable condition. In the Convention, Mr. Rutledge, of South
Carolina, while opposing a tax on the importation of slaves, said:
“The true question at present is, _whether the Southern States_ shall
or shall not be parties to the Union.” Mr. Pinckney, also of South
Carolina, followed with the unblushing declaration: “South Carolina
can never receive the plan [of the Constitution], _if it prohibits the
slave-trade_.” I quote now from Mr. Madison’s authentic report of these
important debates.[209] With shame let it be confessed, that, instead
of repelling this disgraceful overture, our fathers submitted to it,
and in that submission you find the beginning of present sorrows. The
slave-trade, whose annual iniquity no tongue can tell, was placed for
twenty years under safeguard of the Constitution, thus giving sanction,
support, and increase to Slavery itself. The language is modest, but
the intent was complete. South Carolina and Georgia were pacified, and
took their places in the Union, to which they were openly bound only by
a most hateful tie. Regrets for the past are not entirely useless, if
out of them we get wisdom for the future, and learn to be brave. It is
easy to see now, that, had the unnatural pretensions of these States
been originally encountered by stern resistance worthy of an honest
people, the present conspiracy would have been crushed before it saw
the light. Its whole success, from its distant beginning down to this
hour, has been from our timidity.
There was also another sentiment, of kindred perversity, which
prevailed in the same quarter. This is vividly portrayed by John Adams,
in a letter to General Gates, dated at Philadelphia, 23d March, 1776:--
“However, my dear friend Gates, all our misfortunes arise from
a single source: _the reluctance of the Southern Colonies to
Republican Government_.”[210]
And he proceeds to declare in strong language that “popular principles
and axioms are abhorrent to the inclinations of the barons of the
South.” This letter was written in the early days of the Revolution.
At a later date John Adams testifies again to the discord between the
North and the South, and refers particularly to the period after the
National Constitution, saying: “The Northern and the Southern States
were immovably fixed in opposition to each other.”[211] This was before
any question of Tariff or Free Trade, and before the growing fortunes
of the North had awakened Southern jealousy. The whole opposition had
its root in Slavery,--as also had the earlier resistance to Republican
Government.
In the face of these influences the Union was formed, but the seeds of
conspiracy were latent in its bosom. The spirit already revealed was
scarcely silenced; it was not destroyed. It still existed, rankling,
festering, burning to make itself manifest. At the mention of Slavery
it always appeared full-armed with barbarous pretensions. Even in the
first Congress under the Constitution, at the presentation of that
famous petition where Benjamin Franklin simply called upon Congress to
step to the verge of its power to discourage every species of traffic
in the persons of our fellow-men, this spirit broke forth in violent
threats. With kindred lawlessness it early embraced that extravagant
dogma of State Rights which has been ever since the convenient cloak of
treason and conspiracy. At the Missouri Question, in 1820, it openly
menaced dissolution of the Union. Instead of throttling the monster, we
submitted to feed it with new concessions. Meanwhile the conspiracy
grew, until, at last, in 1830, under the influence of Mr. Calhoun, it
assumed the defiant front of Nullification; nor did it yield to the
irresistible logic of Webster or the stern will of Jackson without
a compromise. The pretended ground of complaint was the Tariff; but
Andrew Jackson, himself a patriot Slaveholder, at that time President,
saw the hollowness of the complaint. In a confidential letter, only
recently brought to light, dated at Washington, May 1, 1833, and which
during the last winter I had the honor of reading and holding up before
the Senatorial conspirators in the original autograph, he says:--
“The Tariff was only the _pretext_, and Disunion and a Southern
Confederacy the real object. _The next pretext will be the
Negro or Slavery Question._”[212]
Jackson was undoubtedly right; but the pretext which he denounced in
advance was employed so constantly afterwards as to become threadbare.
At the earliest presentation of Abolition petitions,--at the Texas
Question,--at the Compromises of 1850,--at the Kansas Question,--at the
possible election of Fremont,--on all these occasions, the Union was
threatened by angry Slave-Masters.
The conspiracy is unblushingly confessed by recent parties to it.
Especially was this done in the Rebel Convention of South Carolina,
where, one after another, the witnesses testified all the same way.
Mr. Parker said: “Secession is no spasmodic effort that has come
suddenly upon us. _It has been gradually culminating for a long period
of thirty years._”
Mr. Inglis followed: “Most of us have had this matter under
consideration for _the last twenty years_.”
Mr. Keitt, Representative in Congress, gloried in his work, saying:
“I have been engaged in this movement _ever since I entered political
life_.”
Mr. Rhett, who was in the Senate when I first entered that body, and
did not hesitate then to avow himself a Disunionist, declared in
the same Convention: “It is not anything produced by Mr. Lincoln’s
election, or by the non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law: _it is a
matter which has been gathering head for thirty years_.”[213]
The conspiracy, thus exposed by Jackson, and confessed by recent
parties to it, was quickened by the growing passion for Slavery
throughout the Slave States. The well-known opinions of the Fathers,
the declared convictions of all most valued at the foundation of the
Government, and the example of Washington were discarded, and it was
recklessly avowed that Slavery is a divine institution, the highest
type of civilization, a blessing to master and slave alike, and the
very key-stone of our national arch. A generation has grown up with
this teaching, so that it is now ready to say with Satan,--
“Evil, be thou my good! by thee at least
Divided empire with Heaven’s King I hold;
By thee, and more than half perhaps, will reign:
As man, erelong, and this new world, shall know.”
It is natural that a people thus trained should listen to the
voice of conspiracy. Slavery itself is a constant conspiracy; and
its supporters, whether in the Slave States or elsewhere, easily
become indifferent to all rights and principles by which it may be
constrained.
This rage for Slavery was quickened by two influences, which have
exhibited themselves since the formation of our Union,--one economical,
and the other political. The first was the unexpected importance of the
cotton crop, which, through the labor of slaves and the genius of a New
England inventor, passed into an extraordinary element of wealth and
of imagined strength, so that we have all been summoned to homage to
cotton as king. The second was the temptation of political power, than
which no influence is more potent,--for it became obvious that this
could be assured to Slavery only through the permanent preponderance
of its representatives in the Senate; so that the continued control
of all offices and honors was made to depend upon the extension of
Slavery. Thus, through two strong appetites, one for gain and the other
for power, was Slavery stimulated; but the conspiracy was strong only
through Slavery.
Even this conspiracy, thus supported and nurtured, would have been more
wicked than strong, if it had not found perfidious aid in the very
Cabinet of the President. The Secretary of the Treasury, a Slave-Master
from Georgia, the Secretary of the Interior, a Slave-Master from
Mississippi, the Secretary of War, the notorious Floyd, a Slave-Master
from Virginia, and I fear also the Secretary of the Navy, who was a
Northern man with Southern principles, lent their active exertions.
Through these eminent functionaries the treason was organized and
directed, while their important posts were prostituted to its infamy.
Here again you see the extent of the conspiracy. Never before, in
any country, was there a similar crime which embraced so many persons
in the highest places of power, or took within its grasp so large a
theatre of human action. Anticipating the election of Mr. Lincoln, the
Cabinet conspirators prepared the way for rebellion.
First, the army of the United States was so far dispersed and exiled,
that the commander-in-chief found it difficult, during the recent
anxious winter, to bring together a thousand troops for the defence of
the national capital, menaced by the conspirators.
Secondly, the navy was so far scattered or dismantled, that on the
4th of March, when the new Administration came into power, there were
no ships to enforce the laws, collect the revenues, or protect the
national property in the Rebel ports. Out of seventy-two vessels of
war, counted as our navy, it appears that the whole available force at
home was reduced to the steamer Brooklyn, carrying twenty-five guns,
and the store-ship Relief, carrying two guns.
Thirdly, the forts on the extensive Southern coast were so far
abandoned by the public force, that the larger part, counting upwards
of 1,200 cannon, and built at a cost of more than six million dollars,
became at once an easy prey to the Rebels.
Fourthly, national arms were transferred from Northern to Southern
arsenals, so as to disarm the Free States and equip the Slave States.
This was done on a large scale. Upwards of 115,000 arms, of the latest
and most approved pattern, were transferred from the Springfield and
Watervliet arsenals to different arsenals in the Slave States, where
they were seized by the Rebels; and a quarter of a million percussion
muskets were sold to various Slave States for $2.50 a musket, when
they were worth, it is said, on an average, $12. Large quantities of
cannon, mortars, powder, ball, and shell received the same direction.
Fifthly, the National Treasury, so recently prosperous beyond example,
was disorganized and plundered even to the verge of bankruptcy. Upwards
of six millions are supposed to have been stolen, and much of this
treasure doubtless went to help the work of Rebellion.
Thus, even before its outbreak, the conspiracy contrived to degrade
and despoil the Government, so as to secure free course for the
projected rebellion. The story seems incredible. But it was not enough
to disperse the army, to scatter the navy, to abandon forts, to disarm
the Free States, and to rob the Treasury. The President of the United
States, solemnly sworn to execute the laws, was won into a system of
inactivity amounting to practical abdication of his great trust. He saw
treason plotting to stab at the heart of his country, saw conspiracy,
daily, hourly, putting on the harness of rebellion, but, though warned
by the watchful general-in-chief, he did nothing to arrest it, standing
always,
“like a painted Jove,
With idle thunder in his lifted hand.”[214]
Ay, more; instead of instant lightnings, smiting and blasting in their
fiery crash, which an indignant patriotism would have hurled, he nodded
sympathy and acquiescence. No page of history is more melancholy,
because nowhere do we find a ruler who so completely abandoned his
country: not Charles the First in his tyranny, not Louis the Sixteenth
in his weakness. Mr. Buchanan was advanced to power by Slave-Masters,
who knew well that he could be used for Slavery. The Slaveholding
conspirators were encouraged to sit in his Cabinet, where they doubly
betrayed their country, first by evil counsels, and then by disclosing
what passed to distant Slaveholding confederates. The sudden act of
Major Anderson, in removing from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, and
the sympathetic response of an aroused people, compelled a change of
policy, and the Rebellion received its first check. After painful
struggle, it was decided at last that Fort Sumter should be maintained.
It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of that decision, which, I
believe, was due mainly to an eminent Democrat,--General Cass. This, at
least, is true: it saved the national capital.
Meanwhile the conspiracy increased in activity, mastering State after
State, gathering its forces and building its batteries. The time had
come for the tragedy to begin. “At Nottingham,” says the great English
historian, speaking of King Charles the First, “he erected his royal
standard, the open signal of discord and civil war throughout the
kingdom.”[215] The same open signal now came from Charleston, when the
conspirators ran up the Rattle-Snake flag, and directed their wicked
cannonade upon the small, half-famished garrison of Sumter.
Were this done in the name of Revolution, or by virtue of any
revolutionary principle, it would assume a familiar character. But such
is not the case. It is all done under pretence of constitutional right.
The forms of the Constitution are seized by the conspirators, as
they have already seized everything else, and wrested to the purposes
of treason. It is audaciously declared, that, under the existing
Constitution, each State, in the exercise of its own discretion, may
withdraw from the Union; and this asserted right of secession is
invoked as cover for Rebellion begun in conspiracy. The election of
Mr. Lincoln is made the _occasion_ for the exercise of this pretended
right; certain opinions at the North on the subject of Slavery are made
the _pretext_.
Who will not deny that this election can be a just _occasion_?
Who will not condemn the _pretext_?
But both occasion and pretext are determined by Slavery, and thus
testify to the part it constantly performs.
* * * * *
The pretended right of secession is not less monstrous than the pretext
or the occasion; and this, too, is born of Slavery. It belongs to that
brood of assumptions and perversions of which Slavery is prolific
parent. Wherever Slavery prevails, this pretended right is recognized,
and generally with an intensity proportioned to the prevalence of
Slavery,--as, for instance, in South Carolina and Mississippi more
intensely than in Tennessee and Kentucky. It may be considered a fixed
part of the slaveholding system. A pretended right to set aside the
Constitution, to the extent of breaking up the Government, is the
natural companion of the pretended right to set aside human nature,
making merchandise of men. They form a well-matched couple, and travel
well together,--destined to perish together. If we do not overflow
toward the former with the same indignation which we feel for the
latter, it is because its absurdity awakens our contempt. An English
poet of the last century exclaims, in mocking verses,--
“Crowned be the man with lasting praise
Who first contrived the pin,
To loose mad horses from the chaise,
And save the necks within.”[216]
Such is the impossible contrivance now attempted. Nothing is clearer
than that this pretension, if acknowledged, leaves to every State
the right to play the “mad horse,” with very little chance of
saving anything. It takes from the Government not merely unity, but
all security of national life, and reduces it to the shadow of a
name, or, at best, a mere tenancy at will,--an unsubstantial form,
to be decomposed at the touch of a single State. Of course, such
an anarchical pretension, so instinct with all the lawlessness of
Slavery, must be encountered peremptorily. It is not enough to declare
dissent. We must so conduct as not to give it recognition or foothold.
[_Applause._]
Instead of scouting this pretension, and utterly spurning it, new
concessions to Slavery were gravely propounded as the means of
pacification,--like a new sacrifice offered to an obscene divinity.
It was argued, that in this way the Border States at least might
be preserved to the Union, and some of the Cotton States perhaps
won back to duty: in other words, that, in consideration of such
concessions, these States would consent to waive a present exercise
of the pretended right of secession. Against all such propositions,
without considering their character, stands on the threshold one
obvious and imperative objection. It is clear that the very bargain
or understanding, whether express or implied, is a recognition of
this pretended right, and that a State yielding only to such appeal,
and detained through concessions, practically asserts the claim, and
holds it for future exercise. Thus a concession called small becomes
infinite; for it concedes the pretended right of secession, and makes
the permanence of the National Government impossible. Amidst all the
grave responsibilities of the hour, we must take care that the life of
the Republic is sacredly preserved. But this would be sacrificed at
once, did we submit its existence to the conditions proposed.
Looking at these concessions, I have always found them utterly
unreasonable and indefensible. I should not expose them now, if they
did not testify constantly to the Origin and Mainspring of this
Rebellion. Slavery was always the single subject-matter, and nothing
else. Slavery was not only an integral part of every concession, but
the single integer. The one idea was to give some new security, in
some form, to Slavery. That brilliant statesman, Mr. Canning, in one
of those eloquent speeches which charm so much by style, said that he
was “tired of being a security-grinder”; but his experience was not
comparable to ours. “Security-grinding,” in the name of Slavery, has
been for years the way in which we have wrestled with this conspiracy.
[_Laughter and applause._]
The propositions at the last Congress began with the President’s
Message, which in itself was one tedious concession. You cannot forget
his sympathetic portraiture of the disaffection throughout the Slave
States, or his testimony to the cause. Notoriously and shamefully his
heart was with the conspirators, and he knew intimately the mainspring
of their conduct. He proposed nothing short of general surrender; and
thus did he proclaim Slavery as the head and front, the very _causa
causans_, of the whole crime.
Nor have you forgotten the Peace Conference, as it was delusively
styled, convened at Washington on the summons of Virginia, with John
Tyler in the chair, where New York, as well as Massachusetts, was
represented by her ablest and most honored citizens. The sessions
were with closed doors; but it is now known that throughout the
proceedings, lasting for weeks, nothing was discussed but Slavery.
And the propositions finally adopted by the Convention were confined
to Slavery. Forbearing all detail, it will be enough to say that
they undertook to provide positive protection for Slavery under
the Constitution, with new sanction and immunity,--making it,
notwithstanding the determination of our fathers, _national_ instead of
_sectional_; and even more, making it an essential and permanent part
of our republican system. Slavery is sometimes deceitful, as at other
times bold; and these propositions were still further offensive from
their studied uncertainty, amounting to positive duplicity. At a moment
when frankness was needed above all things, we were treated to phrases
pregnant with doubt and controversy, and were gravely asked, in the
name of Slavery, to embody them in the National Constitution.
There was another string of propositions much discussed during the
last winter, which acquired the name of the venerable Senator from
whom they came,--Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky. These also related to
Slavery, and nothing else. They were more obnoxious even than those
from the Peace Conference. And yet there were petitioners from the
North, even from Massachusetts, who prayed for this great surrender.
Considering the character of these propositions,--that they sought
to change the Constitution in a manner revolting to the moral sense,
to foist into its very body the idea of property in man, to protect
Slavery in all present territory south of 36° 30´, and to carry it into
all territory hereafter acquired south of that line, and thus to make
our beautiful Stars and Stripes in their southern march the flag of
infamy,--considering that they provided new constitutional securities
for Slavery in the national capital and in other places within the
exclusive national jurisdiction, new constitutional securities for the
transit of slaves from State to State, opening the way to a roll-call
of slaves at the foot of Bunker Hill or the door of Faneuil Hall, and
also the disfranchisement of nearly ten thousand of my fellow-citizens
in Massachusetts, whose rights are fixed by the Constitution of that
Commonwealth, drawn by John Adams,--considering these things, I felt at
the time, and I still feel, that the best apology of these petitioners
was that they were ignorant of their true character, and that in
signing the petition they knew not what they did. But even in their
ignorance they bore witness to Slavery, while the propositions were the
familiar voice of Slavery, crying, “Give! give!”
There was another single proposition from still another quarter,
but, like all the rest, it related exclusively to Slavery. It was to
insert in the text of the Constitution a stipulation against any
future amendment authorizing Congress to interfere with Slavery in
the States. If you read this proposition, you will find it crude and
ill-shaped,--a jargon of bad grammar, a jumble and hodge-podge of
words,--harmonizing poorly with the accurate text of our Constitution.
But even if tolerable in form, it was obnoxious, like the rest, as a
fresh stipulation in favor of Slavery. Sufficient, surely, in this
respect, is the actual Constitution. Beyond this I cannot I will not
go. What Washington, Franklin, Madison, and Hamilton would not insert
we cannot err in rejecting. [_Applause._]
I do not dwell on other propositions, because they attracted less
attention; and yet among these was one to overturn the glorious
safeguards of Freedom set up in the Free States, known as the Personal
Liberty Laws. Here again was Slavery--with a vengeance.
There is one remark which I desire to make with regard to all these
propositions. It was sometimes said that the concessions they offered
were “small.” What a mistake is this! No concession to Slavery can be
“small.” Freedom is priceless, and in this simple rule alike of morals
and jurisprudence you find the just measure of any concession, how
small soever it may seem, by which Freedom is sacrificed. Tell me not
that it concerns a few only. I do not forget the saying of Antiquity,
that the best government is where an injury to a single individual is
resented as an injury to the whole State; nor am I indifferent to that
memorable instance of our own recent history, where, in a distant sea,
the thunders of our navy, with all the hazards of war, were aroused
to protect the liberty of a solitary person claiming the rights of an
American citizen. By such examples let me be guided, rather than by
the suggestion, that Human Freedom, whether in many or in few, is of so
little value that it may be put in the market to appease a traitorous
conspiracy, or soothe accessories, who, without such concession,
threaten to join the conspirators.
Warnings of the past, like the suggestions of reason and of conscience,
were all against concession. Timid counsels always are an encouragement
to sedition and rebellion. If the glove be of velvet, the hand must be
of iron. An eminent master of thought, in some of his most vivid words,
has bravely said,--
“To expect to tranquillize and benefit a country by gratifying
its agitators would be like the practice of the superstitious
of old with their sympathetic powders and ointments, who,
instead of applying medicaments to the wound, contented
themselves with salving the sword which had inflicted it. Since
the days of Dane-gelt downwards, nay, since the world was
created, nothing but evil has resulted from concessions made to
intimidation.”[217]
These are the words of Archbishop Whately, in his annotation to an
Essay of Bacon,--and how applicable to our times, when it is so often
proposed _to salve the sword of Secession_!
In the same spirit spoke the most shining practical statesman of
English history, Mr. Fox.
“To humor the present disposition, and temporize, is a certain,
absolutely certain, confirmation of the evil. No nation ever
did or ever can recover from Slavery by such methods.”[218]
Pardon me, if I express regret, profound and heartfelt, that the
pretensions of Slavery, whether in claim of privilege or in doctrine of
secession, were not always encountered boldly and austerely. Alas! it
is ourselves that have encouraged the conspiracy, and made it strong.
Secession has become possible only through long continued concession.
In proposing concession we encourage secession, and while professing
to uphold the Union, we betray it. It is now beyond question that the
concessionists of the North have from the beginning played into the
hands of the secessionists of the South. I do not speak in harshness,
or even in criticism, but simply according to my duty, in unfolding
historically the agencies, conscious and unconscious, at work, while I
hold them up as a warning for the future. They all testify to Slavery,
which from earliest days has been at the bottom of the conspiracy, and
also at every stage of the efforts to arrest it. It was Slavery which
fired the conspirators, and Slavery also which entered into every
proposition of compromise. Secession and concession both had their root
in Slavery.
* * * * *
And now, after this review, I am brought again to the significance
of that Presidential election with which I began. The Slave-Masters
entered into that election with Mr. Breckinridge as their candidate,
and their platform claimed constitutional protection for Slavery in
all territories, whether now belonging to the Republic or hereafter
acquired. This concession was the ultimatum on which was staked their
continued loyalty to the Union,--as the continuance of the Slave-Trade
was the original condition on which South Carolina and Georgia
entered the Union. And the reason, though criminal, was obvious. It
was because without such opportunity of expansion Slavery would be
stationary, while the Free States, increasing in number, would obtain
a fixed preponderance in the National Government, assuring to them the
political power. Thus at that election the banner of the Slave-Masters
had for open device, not the Union as it is, but the extension and
perpetuation of human bondage. The popular vote was against further
concession, and the conspirators proceeded with their crime. The
_occasion_ so long sought had come. The _pretext_ foreseen by Andrew
Jackson was the motive power.
Here mark well, that, in their whole conduct, the conspirators acted
naturally, under instincts implanted by Slavery; nay, they acted
logically even. _Such is Slavery, that it cannot exist, unless it
owns the Government._ An injustice so plain can find protection only
from a Government which is a reflection of itself. Cannibalism cannot
exist except under a government of cannibals. Idolatry cannot exist
except under a government of idolaters. And Slavery cannot exist except
under a government of Slave-Masters. This is positive, universal
truth,--at St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Timbuctoo, or Washington.
The Slave-Masters of our country saw that they were dislodged from the
National Government, and straightway they rebelled. The Republic, which
they could no longer rule, they determined to ruin. And now the issue
is joined. Slavery must either rule or die.
Though thus audaciously criminal, the Slave-Masters are not strong in
numbers. The whole number, great and small, according to the recent
census, is not more than four hundred thousand,--of whom there
are less than one hundred thousand interested to any considerable
extent in this peculiar species of property.[219] 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. But success is explained by two considerations.
First, the asserted value of the slaves, reaching at this date
to the enormous sum-total of two thousand millions of dollars,
constitutes an overpowering property interest, one of the largest in
the world,--greatly increased by the intensity and unity of purpose
naturally belonging to the representatives of such a sum-total,
stimulated by the questionable character of the property. But,
secondly, it is a phenomenon attested by the history of revolutions,
that all such movements, at least in their early days, are controlled
by minorities. This is because a revolutionary minority, once embarked,
has before it only the single, simple path of unhesitating action.
While others doubt or hold back, the minority strikes and goes forward.
Audacity then counts more than numbers, and crime counts more than
virtue. This phenomenon has been observed before. “Often have I
reflected with awe,” says Coleridge, “on the great and disproportionate
power which an individual of no extraordinary talents or attainments
may exert by merely throwing off all restraint of conscience.… The
abandonment of all _principle of right_ enables the soul to choose
and act upon _a principle of wrong_, and to subordinate to this one
principle all the various vices of human nature.”[220] These are
remarkable and most suggestive words. But when was a “principle of
wrong” followed with more devotion than by our Rebels?
The French Revolution furnishes authentic illustration of a few
predominating over a great change. Among the good men at that time
who followed “principle of right” were others with whom success was
the primary object, while even good men sometimes forgot goodness;
but at each stage a minority gave the law. Pétion, the famous mayor
of Paris, boasted, that, when he began, “there were but five men in
France who wished a Republic.”[221] From a contemporary debate in the
British Parliament, it appears that the asserted power of a minority
was made the express ground of appeal by French revolutionists to the
people of other countries. Sheridan, in a brilliant speech, dwells
on this appeal, and by mistake ascribes to Condorcet the unequivocal
utterances, that “revolutions must always be the work of the
minority,”--that “every revolution is the work of a minority,”--that
“the French Revolution was accomplished by the minority.”[222] This
philosopher, who sealed his principles by a tragical death, did say,
in an address to the Parliamentary Reformers of England, that from
Parliamentary reform “the passage to the complete establishment
of a republic would be short and easy”;[223] but it was Cambon,
the financier of the Revolution, and one of its active supporters,
who, in the National Convention, put forth the cries attributed to
Condorcet.[224] The part of the minority was also attested by Brissot
de Warville, who imputed the triumph of the Jacobins, under whose
bloody sway his own life became a sacrifice, to “some twenty men,” or,
as he says in another place, “a score of anarchists,” and then again,
“a club, or rather a score of those robbers who direct that club.”[225]
The future historian will record, that the present rebellion,
notwithstanding its protracted origin, the multitudes it enlisted, and
its extensive sweep, was at last precipitated by fewer than twenty
men,--Mr. Everett says by as few as eight or ten.[226] 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 the sneaking,
slimy devices of conspiracy, steps forth in full panoply of war.
Assuming all functions of 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 pretend to own
them, throughout the extensive region where with Satanic grasp this
Slave-Master minority claims for itself
“ample room and verge enough
The characters of Hell to trace.”
Pardon the language I employ. The words of the poet picture not too
strongly the object proposed. And now these parricidal hosts stand
arrayed against that paternal Government to which they owe loyalty,
defence, and affection. Never in history did rebellion assume such
front. Call their number 400,000 or 200,000,--what you will,--they far
surpass any armed forces ever before marshalled in rebellion; they are
among the largest ever marshalled in war.
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 the words by which he was placarded to the judgment of his
contemporaries:--
“Who rules the kingdom? The King.
Who rules the King? _The Duke._
Who rules the Duke? The Devil.”
Nor according to that decree by which the House of Commons declared him
“the cause of all the national calamities.” The dominant part of the
royal favorite belongs now to Slavery, which is the cause of all the
national calamities, while in the Rebel States it is a more than royal
favorite.
Who rules the Rebel States? The President.
Who rules the President? _Slavery._
Who rules Slavery?
The last question I need not answer. But all must see--and nobody will
deny--that Slavery is the ruling idea of this Rebellion. It is Slavery
that marshals these hosts and breathes into their embattled ranks its
own barbarous fire. It is Slavery that stamps its character alike
upon officers and men. It is Slavery that inspires all, from General
to trumpeter. It is Slavery that speaks in the word of command, and
sounds in the morning drum-beat. It is Slavery that digs trenches and
builds hostile forts. It is Slavery that pitches its wicked tents and
stations its sentries over against the national capital. It is Slavery
that sharpens the bayonet and runs the bullet,--that points the cannon,
and scatters the shell, blazing, bursting with death. Wherever this
Rebellion shows itself, whatever form it takes, whatever thing it does,
whatever it meditates, it is moved by Slavery; nay, the Rebellion is
Slavery itself, incarnate, living, acting, raging, robbing, murdering,
according to the essential law of its being. [_Applause._]
Not this is all. The Rebellion is not only ruled by Slavery, but,
owing to the peculiar condition of the Slave States, it is for the
moment, according to their instinctive boast, actually reinforced
by this institution. As the fields of the South are cultivated by
slaves, and labor there is performed by this class, the white freemen
are at liberty to play the part of rebels. The slaves toil at home,
while the masters work at rebellion; and thus, by singular fatality,
is this doomed race, without taking up arms, actually engaged in
feeding, supporting, succoring, invigorating those battling for their
enslavement. Full well I know that this is an element of strength only
through the forbearance of our own Government; but I speak of things as
they are; and that I may not seem to go too far, I ask attention to the
testimony of a Southern journal.
“THE SLAVES AS A MILITARY ELEMENT IN THE SOUTH--The total white
population of the eleven States now comprising the Confederacy
is six millions, and therefore, to fill up the ranks of the
proposed army, six hundred thousand--about ten per cent of the
entire white population--will be required. In any other country
than our own such a draft could not be met; but the Southern
States can furnish that number of men, and still not leave the
material interests of the country in a suffering condition.
Those who are incapacitated for bearing arms can oversee the
plantations, and _the negroes can go on undisturbed in their
usual labors_. In the North the case is different; the men who
join the army of subjugation are the laborers, the producers,
and the factory operatives. Nearly every man from that section,
especially those from the rural districts, leaves some branch
of industry to suffer during his absence. _The institution of
Slavery in the South alone enables her to place in the field
a force much larger in proportion to her white population
than the North_, or indeed any country which is dependent
entirely on free labor. The institution is a tower of strength
to the South, _particularly at the present crisis_, and our
enemies will be likely to find that the ‘moral cancer,’ about
which their orators are so fond of prating, is really _one
of the most effective weapons employed against the Union by
the South_. Whatever number of men be needed for this war we
are confident our people stand ready to furnish. We are all
enlisted for the war, and there must be no holding back, until
the independence of the South is fully acknowledged.”[227]
As the Rebels have already confessed the conspiracy which led to the
Rebellion, so in this article do they openly confess the mainspring of
their power. With triumphant vaunt, they declare Slavery the special
source of their belligerent strength.
But Slavery must be seen not only in what it does for the Rebellion,
of which it is indisputable head, fountain, and life, but also in what
it inflicts upon us. There is not a community, not a family, not an
individual, man, woman, or child, that does not feel its heavy, bloody
hand. Why these mustering armies? Why this drum-beat in your peaceful
streets? Why these gathering means of war? Why these swelling taxes?
Why these unprecedented loans? Why this derangement of business? Why
among us _Habeas Corpus_ suspended, and all safeguards of Freedom
prostrate? Why this constant solicitude visible in your faces? The
answer is clear. Slavery is author, agent, cause. The anxious hours
that you pass are darkened by Slavery. _Habeas Corpus_ and the
safeguards of Freedom which you deplore are ravished by Slavery. The
business you have lost is filched by Slavery. The millions now amassed
by patriotic offerings are all snatched by Slavery. The taxes now wrung
out of diminished means are all consumed by Slavery. And all these
multiplying means of war, this drum-call in your peaceful streets and
these gathering armies, are on account of Slavery, and that alone.
Are the poor constrained to forego their customary tea, or coffee, or
sugar, now burdened by intolerable taxation? Let them vow themselves
anew against the criminal giant tax-gatherer. Does any community mourn
gallant men, who, going forth joyous and proud beneath their country’s
flag, have been brought home cold and stiff, with its folds wrapped
about them for a shroud? Let all mourning the patriot dead be aroused
against Slavery. Does a mother drop tears for her son in the beautiful
morning of his days cut down upon the distant battle-field, which he
moistens with his youthful, generous blood? Let her feel that Slavery
dealt the deadly blow which took at once his life and her peace.
[_Sensation._]
* * * * *
I hear a strange, discordant voice saying that all this proceeds not
from Slavery,--oh, no!--but from Antislavery,--that the Republicans,
who hate Slavery, that the Abolitionists, are authors of this terrible
calamity. You must suspect the sense or loyalty of him who puts forth
this irrational and utterly wicked imputation. As well say that the
early Christians were authors of the heathen enormities against which
they bore martyr testimony, and that the cross, the axe, the gridiron,
and the boiling oil, by which they suffered, were part of the Christian
dispensation. But the early Christians were misrepresented and falsely
charged with crime, even as you are. The tyrant Nero, after burning
Rome and dancing at the conflagration, denounced Christians as the
guilty authors. Here are authentic words by the historian Tacitus.
“So, for the quieting of this rumor, Nero judicially charged
with the crime, and punished with most studied severities, that
class, hated for their general wickedness, whom the vulgar call
Christians. The originator of that name was one Christ, who,
in the reign of Tiberius, suffered death by sentence of the
procurator Pontius Pilate. The baneful superstition, thereby
repressed for the time, again broke out, not only over Judea,
the native soil of that mischief, but in the city also, where
from every side all atrocious and abominable things collect and
flourish.”[228]
The writer of this remarkable passage was the wisest and most
penetrating mind of his generation, and he lived close upon the events
which he describes. Listening to him, you may find apology for those
among us who heap upon contemporaries similar obloquy. Abolitionists
need no defence from me. It is to their praise--destined to fill an
immortal page--that from the beginning they saw the true character
of Slavery, and warned against its threatening domination. Through
them the fires of Liberty have been kept alive in our country,--as
Hume is constrained to confess that these same fires were kept alive
in England by the Puritans, whom this great historian never praised,
if he could help it. And yet they are charged with this Rebellion.
Can this be serious? Even at the beginning of the Republic the seeds
of the conspiracy were planted, and in 1820, and again in 1830, it
appeared,--while nearly thirty years ago Andrew Jackson denounced
it, and one of its leading spirits recently boasted that it has been
gathering head for this full time, thus, not only in distant embryo,
but in well-attested development, antedating those Abolitionists whose
prophetic patriotism is made an apology for the crime. As well, when
the prudent passenger warns the ship’s crew of the fatal lee-shore,
arraign him for the wreck which engulfs all; as well cry out, that the
philosopher who foresees the storm is responsible for the desolation
that ensues, or that the astronomer, who calculates the eclipse,
is author of the darkness which covers the earth. [_Enthusiastic
applause._]
Nothing can surpass that early contumely to which Christians were
exposed. To the polite heathen, they were only “workers in wool,
cobblers, fullers, the rudest and most illiterate persons,”[229] or
they were men and women “from the lowest dregs.”[230] Persecution
naturally followed, not only local, but general. As many as ten
persecutions are cited,--two under mild rulers like Trajan and
Hadrian,--while, at the atrocious command of Nero, Christians, wrapped
in pitch, were set on fire as lights to illumine the public gardens.
And yet against contumely and persecution Christianity prevailed, and
the name of Christian became an honor which confessors and martyrs
wore as a crown. But this painful history prefigures that of our
Abolitionists, who have been treated with similar contumely; nor have
they escaped persecution. At last the time has come when their cause
must prevail, and their name become an honor.
* * * * *
And now, that I may give practical character to this whole history,
I bring it all to bear upon our present situation and its duties.
You have discerned Slavery, even before the National Union, not
only a disturbing influence, but an actual bar to Union, except on
condition of surrender to its immoral behests. You have watched Slavery
constantly militant on the presentation of any proposition with regard
to it, and more than once threatening dissolution of the Union. You
have discovered Slavery for many years the animating principle of a
conspiracy against the Union, while it matured flagitious plans and
obtained the mastery of Cabinet and President. And when the conspiracy
had balefully ripened, you have seen how only by concessions to
Slavery it was encountered, as by similar concessions it had from
the beginning been encouraged. Now you behold Rebellion everywhere
throughout the Slave States elevating its bloody crest and threatening
the existence of the National Government, and all in the name of
Slavery, while it sets up a pretended Government whose corner-stone is
Slavery. [_Hisses, and cries of “Never!”_]
Against this Rebellion we wage war. It is our determination, as it is
our duty, to crush it; and this will be done. Nor am I disturbed by any
success which the Rebels may seem to obtain. The ancient Roman, who,
confident in the destiny of the Republic, bought the field on which the
conquering Hannibal was encamped, is a fit example for us. I would not
have less trust than his. The Rebel States are our fields. The region
now contested by the Rebels belongs to the United States by every tie
of government and of right. Some of it has been bought with our money,
while all of it, with its rivers, harbors, and extensive coast, has
become essential to our business in peace and to our defence in war.
Union is a geographical, economical, commercial, political, military,
and (if I may so say) even a fluvial necessity. Without union, peace on
this continent is impossible; but life without peace is impossible also.
Only by crushing this Rebellion can union and peace be restored. Let
this be seen in its reality, and who can hesitate? If this were done
instantly, without further contest, then, besides all the countless
advantages of every kind obtained by such restoration, two special
goods will be accomplished,--one political, and the other moral as well
as political. First, the pretended right of secession, with the whole
pestilent extravagance of State sovereignty, supplying the machinery
for this Rebellion, and affording a delusive cover for treason, will
be trampled out, never again to disturb the majestic unity of the
Republic; and, secondly, the unrighteous attempt to organize a new
confederacy, solely for the sake of Slavery, and with Slavery as
its corner-stone, will be overthrown. These two pretensions, one so
shocking to our reason and the other so shocking to our moral nature,
will disappear forever. And with their disappearance will date a new
epoch, the beginning of a grander age. If by any accident the Rebellion
should prevail, then, just in proportion to its triumph, through
concession on our part or successful force on the other part, will the
Union be impaired and peace be impossible. Therefore in the name of the
Union and for the sake of peace are you summoned to the work.
* * * * *
But how shall the Rebellion be crushed? That is the question. Men,
money, munitions of war, a well-supplied commissariat, means of
transportation,--all these you have in abundance, in some particulars
beyond the Rebels. You have, too, the consciousness of a good cause,
which in itself is an army. And yet thus far, until within a few days,
the advantage has not been on our side. The explanation is easy.
The Rebels are combating at home, on their own soil, strengthened
and maddened by Slavery, which is to them ally and fanaticism. More
thoroughly aroused than ourselves, more terribly in earnest, with
every sinew vindictively strained to its most perfect work, they
freely use all the means that circumstances put into their hands,--not
only raising against us their white population, but fellowshipping
the savagery of the Indian, cruising upon the sea in pirate ships to
despoil our commerce, and at one swoop confiscating our property to the
amount of hundreds of millions, while all this time their four million
slaves undisturbed at home freely contribute by their labor to sustain
the war, which without them must soon expire.
* * * * *
It remains for us to encounter the Rebellion calmly and surely by a
force superior to its own. To this end, something more is needed than
men or money. Our battalions must be reinforced by ideas, and we must
strike directly at the Origin and Mainspring. I do not say now in
what way or to what extent, but only that we must strike: it may be
by the system of a Massachusetts General,--Butler; it may be by that
of Fremont [_here the audience rose and gave long continued cheers_];
or it may be by the grander system of John Quincy Adams. Reason and
sentiment both concur in this policy, which is according to the most
common principles of human conduct. In no way can we do so much at so
little cost. To the enemy such a blow will be a terror, to good men it
will be an encouragement, and to foreign nations watching this contest
it will be an earnest of something beyond a mere carnival of battle.
There has been the cry, “On to Richmond!” and still another worse cry,
“On to England!” Better than either is the cry, “On to Freedom!”[231]
[_Tremendous cheering._] Let this be heard in the voices of our
soldiers, ay, let it resound in the purposes of the Government, and
victory must be near.
With no little happiness I make known that this cry begins at last
to be adopted. It is in the instructions from the Secretary of War,
dated War Department, October 14, 1861, and addressed to the General
commanding the forces about to embark for South Carolina. Here are the
important words.
“You will, however, in general, avail yourself of the services
of any persons, whether fugitives from labor or not, who may
offer them to the National Government; you will employ such
persons in such services as they may be fitted for, either
as ordinary employees, or, if special circumstances seem to
require it, in any other capacity, with such organization, in
squads, companies, or otherwise, as you deem most beneficial
to the service. This, however, not to mean a general arming of
them for military service. You will assure all loyal masters
that Congress will provide just compensation to them for the
loss of the services of the persons so employed.”[232]
This is not the positive form of proclamation; but analyze the words,
and you will find them full of meaning. First, Martial Law is declared;
for the powers committed to the discretion of the General are derived
from that law, and not from the late Confiscation Act of Congress.
Secondly, fugitive slaves are not to be surrendered. Thirdly, all
coming within the camp are to be treated as freemen. Fourthly, they
may be employed in such service as they are fitted for. Fifthly, in
squads, companies, or otherwise, with the single slight limitation
that this is not to mean “a _general_ arming of them for military
service.” And, sixthly, compensation, through Congress, is promised to
loyal masters,--saying nothing of Rebel masters. All this falls little
short of a Proclamation of Emancipation,--not unlike that of old Caius
Marius, when, landing on the coast of Etruria, according to Plutarch,
he proclaimed liberty to the slaves. As such, I do not err, when I call
it, thus far, the most important event of the war,--more important
because understood to have the deliberate sanction of the President
as well as of the Secretary, and therefore marking the policy of the
Administration. That this policy should be first applied to South
Carolina is just. As the great Rebellion began in this State, so should
the great remedy. [_Applause and cheers._]
Slavery is the inveterate culprit, the transcendent criminal, the
persevering traitor, the wicked parricide, the arch rebel, the open
outlaw. As the less is contained in the greater, so the Rebellion is
all contained in Slavery. The tenderness which you show to Slavery
is, therefore, indulgence to the Rebellion itself. [_Applause._] The
pious caution with which you avoid harming Slavery exceeds that ancient
superstition which made the wolf sacred among the Romans and the
crocodile sacred among the Egyptians; nor shall I hesitate to declare
that every surrender of a slave back to bondage is an offering of human
sacrifice, whose shame is too great for any army to bear. That men
should hesitate to strike at Slavery is only another illustration of
human weakness. The English Republicans, in bloody contest with the
Crown, hesitated for a long time to fire upon the King; but under the
valiant lead of Cromwell, surrounded by his well-trained Ironsides,
they banished all such scruple, and you know the result. The King was
not shot, but his head was brought to the block.
The duty which I announce, if not urgent now, as a MILITARY NECESSITY,
_in just self-defence_, will present itself constantly, _as our armies
advance in the Slave States or land on their coasts_. If it does not
stare us in the face at this moment, it is because unhappily we are
still everywhere on the defensive. As we begin to be successful, it
must rise before us for practical decision; and we cannot avoid it.
There will be slaves in our camps, or within our extended lines, whose
condition we must determine. There will be slaves also claimed by
Rebels, whose continued chattelhood we should scorn to recognize. The
decision of these two cases will settle the whole great question. Nor
can the Rebels complain. They challenge our armies to enter upon their
territory in the free exercise of all the powers of war,--according to
which, as you well know, all private interests are subordinated to the
public safety, which, for the time, becomes the supreme law above all
other laws and above the Constitution itself. If everywhere under the
flag of the Union, in its triumphant march, Freedom is substituted for
Slavery, this outrageous Rebellion will not be the first instance in
history where God has turned the wickedness of man into a blessing; nor
will the example of Samson stand alone, when he gathered honey from the
carcass of the dead and rotten lion. [_Cheers._]
Pardon me, if I speak in hints only, and do not stop to argue or
explain. Not now, at the close of an evening devoted to the Rebellion
in its Origin and Mainspring, can I enter upon this great question
of military duty in its details. There is another place where this
discussion will be open for me.[233] [_Cheers._] It is enough now,
if I indicate the simple principle which is the natural guide of
all really in earnest, of all whose desire to save their country is
stronger than the desire to save Slavery. You will strike where the
blow is most felt; nor will you miss the precious opportunity. The
enemy is before you, nay, he comes out in ostentatious challenge,
and his name is Slavery. You can vindicate the Union only by his
prostration. Slavery is the very Goliath of the Rebellion, armed with
coat of mail, with helmet of brass upon the head, greaves of brass upon
the legs, target of brass between the shoulders, and with the staff of
his spear like a weaver’s beam. But a stone from a simple sling will
make the giant fall upon his face to the earth. [_Prolonged cheering._]
* * * * *
Thank God, our Government is strong; but thus far all signs denote
that it is not strong enough to save the Union, and at the same time
save Slavery. One or the other must suffer; and just in proportion
as you reach forth to protect Slavery do you protect this accursed
Rebellion, nay, you give to it that very aid and comfort which are the
constitutional synonym for treason itself. Perversely and pitifully
do you postpone that sure period of reconciliation, not only between
the two sections, not only between the men of the North and the men
of the South, but, more necessary still, between slave and master,
without which the true tranquillity we all seek cannot be permanently
assured. Believe it, only through such reconciliation, under sanction
of Freedom, can you remove all occasion of conflict hereafter; only in
this way can you cut off the head of this great Hydra, and at the same
time extirpate that principle of evil, which, if allowed to remain,
must shoot forth in perpetual discord, if not in other rebellions;
only in this way can you command that safe victory, without which this
contest is vain, which will have among its conquests Indemnity for
the Past and Security for the Future,--the noblest indemnity and the
strongest security ever won, because founded in the redemption of race.
[_Cheers._]
Full well I know the doubts, cavils, and misrepresentations to which
this argument for the integrity of the nation is exposed; but I turn
with confidence to the people. The heart of the people is right, and
all great thoughts come from the heart. All hating Slavery and true to
Freedom will join in effort, paying with person, time, talent, purse.
They are our minute-men, always ready,--and yet more ready just in
proportion as the war is truly inspired. They, at least, are sure. It
remains that others not sharing this animosity, merchants who study
their ledgers, bankers who study their discounts, and politicians who
study success, should see that only by prompt and united effort against
Slavery can the war be brought to a speedy and triumphant close,
without which, merchant, banker, and politician all suffer alike.
Ledger, discount, and political aspiration will have small value, if
the war continues its lava flood, shrivelling and stifling everything
but itself. Therefore, _under spur of self-interest, if not under the
necessities of self-defence_, we must act together. Humanity, too,
joins in this appeal. Blood enough has been shed, victims enough have
bled at the altar, even if you are willing to lavish upon Slavery the
tribute now paying of more than a million dollars a day.
Events, too, under Providence, are our masters. For the Rebels there
can be no success. For them every road leads to disaster. For them
defeat is bad, but victory worse; for then will the North be inspired
to sublimer energy. The proposal of Emancipation which shook ancient
Athens followed close upon the disaster at Chæronea; and the statesman
who moved it vindicated himself by saying that it proceeded not from
him, but from Chæronea[234]. The triumph of Hannibal at Cannæ drove
the Roman Republic to the enlistment and enfranchisement of eight
thousand slaves[235]. Such is history, which we are now repeating. The
recent Act of Congress giving freedom to slaves _employed against us_,
familiarly known as the Confiscation Act, passed the Senate on the
morning after the disaster at Manassas[236]. In the providence of God
there are no accidents; and this seeming reverse helped to the greatest
victory which can be won.
Do not forget, I pray you, that classical story of the mighty hunter
whose life in the Book of Fate was made to depend upon the existence
of a brand burning at his birth. The brand, so full of destiny, was
snatched from the flames and carefully preserved by his prudent mother.
Meanwhile the hunter became powerful and invulnerable to mortal weapon.
But at length the mother, indignant at his cruelty to her own family,
flung the brand upon the flames and the hunter died. The life of
Meleager, so powerful and invulnerable to mortal weapon, is now revived
in this Rebellion, and Slavery is the fatal brand. Let the National
Government, whose maternal care is still continued to Slavery, simply
throw the thing upon the flames madly kindled by itself, and the
Rebellion will die at once. [_Sensation._]
* * * * *
Amidst all surrounding perils there is one only which I dread. It is
the peril from some new surrender to Slavery, some fresh recognition
of its power, some present dalliance with its intolerable pretensions.
Worse than any defeat, or even the flight of an army, would be this
abandonment of principle. From all such peril, good Lord, deliver us!
And there is _one way of safety_, clear as sunlight, pleasant as the
paths of Peace. Over its broad and open gate is written JUSTICE. In
that little word is victory. Do justice and you will be twice victors;
for so will you subdue the Rebel master, while you elevate the slave.
Do justice frankly, generously, nobly, and you will find strength
instead of weakness, while all seeming responsibility disappears in
obedience to God’s eternal law. Do justice, though the heavens fall.
But they will not fall. Every act of justice becomes a new pillar of
the Universe, or it may be a new link of that
“golden everlasting chain
Whose strong embrace holds heaven and earth and main.”
* * * * *
At the conclusion of Mr. Sumner’s address the following
resolutions were offered and adopted by acclamation.
“_Resolved_, That the doctrine enunciated by Major-General
Fremont with respect to the emancipation of the slaves of
Rebels, and the more recent utterances of General Burnside,
Senator Wilson, and the Hon. George Bancroft, in this city,
and of Colonel John Cochrane and the Hon. Simon Cameron
at Washington, foreshadowing the eventual rooting out of
Slavery as the cause of the Rebellion, indicate alike a
moral, political, and military necessity; and, in the
judgment of this meeting, the public sentiment of the
North is now in full sympathy with any practicable scheme
which may be presented for the extirpation of this national
evil, and will accept such result as the only consistent
issue of this contest between Civilization and Barbarism.
“_Resolved_, That the thanks of this meeting be and
are hereby tendered to the Hon. Charles Sumner, the
distinguished orator of this evening, for his reassertion
and eloquent enforcement of the political principle herein
indorsed.”