Of all men in our history, there are two whose influence at this moment
is peculiar. Though dead, they yet live, speak, and act in the conflict
of principle which divides the country,--standing face to face, like
two well-matched champions. When I add that one was from South Carolina
and the other from Massachusetts, you cannot fail to see that I mean
John C. Calhoun and John Quincy Adams.
Statesmen, both, of long career, marked ability, and unblemished
integrity,--acting together at first,--sitting in the same Cabinet,
from which they passed, one to become Vice-President, and the other
President,--then, for the remainder of their days, battling in
Congress, and dying there,--each was a leader in life, but each is now
in death a greater leader still.
Mr. Calhoun possessed an intellect of much originality and boldness,
and, though wanting the culture of a scholar, made himself felt in
council and in debate. To native powers unlike, but not inferior, Mr.
Adams added the well-ripened fruits of long experience in foreign
lands and of studies more various and complete than those of any other
public man in our history, besides an indomitable will, and that
spirit of freedom which inspired his father, when, in the Continental
Congress, he so eloquently maintained the Declaration of Independence,
making himself its Colossus on that floor.
Sitting together in the Cabinet of Mr. Monroe, they concurred in
sanctioning the Missouri Prohibition of Slavery as constitutional,
and so advised the President. But here divergence probably began,
though for a long time not made manifest. The diary of Mr. Adams
shows that at that early day, when Slavery had been little discussed,
he saw its enormity with instinctive quickness, and described it
with corresponding force. The record is less full with regard to Mr.
Calhoun; but when they reappeared, one in the Senate, and the other in
the House of Representatives, each openly assumed the position by which
he will be known in history,--one as chief in all the pretensions of
Slavery and Slave-Masters, the other as champion of Freedom.
Mr. Calhoun regarded Slavery as a permanent institution; Mr. Adams
regarded it as something transitory. Mr. Calhoun vaunted it as a form
of civilization; Mr. Adams scorned it as an unquestionable barbarism.
Mr. Calhoun did not hesitate to call it the most stable basis of free
government; Mr. Adams vehemently denounced it as a curse, full of
weakness and mockery, doubly offensive in a boastful Republic. Mr.
Calhoun, not content with exalting Slavery, proceeded to condemn the
early opinions of Washington and Jefferson as “folly and delusion,”
to assail the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence
as “absurd,” and then to proclaim that human beings are “property”
under the Constitution, and, as such, may be transported into the
Territories and there held in Slavery; while Mr. Adams added to the
glory of his long and diversified career by persistent efforts which
are better for his fame than having been President,--upholding the
great rights of petition and of speech,--vindicating the early opinions
of the Fathers, and the self-evident truths of the Declaration of
Independence,--exposing the odious character of Slavery,--insisting
upon its prohibition in the Territories,--denying the asserted property
in man,--and especially, and often, exhibiting the unjust power in the
National Government usurped by what he called “the little cluster” of
Slave-Masters, whose yoke was to him intolerable.
Such, most briefly told, were antagonist opinions of these two
chiefs. Never was great conflict destined to involve a great country
more distinctly foreshadowed. All that the Republican party now
opposes may be found in John C. Calhoun; all that the Republican
party now maintains may be found in John Quincy Adams. Choose ye,
fellow-citizens, between the two.
The rule of “Principles and not Men” is hardly applicable to a man
whose name, bearing the sacred seal of death, has become the synonym
of Principle; yet I do not hesitate to say that our cause is best
appreciated in its precise objects and aims. Proud as we are to
tread where John Quincy Adams leads the way, there is a guide of
more commanding authority--found in the eternal law of Right, and
the concurring mandate of the Constitution itself, when properly
interpreted--that teaches the duties of a good citizen. Such is the
guide of the Republican party, which, I say fearlessly, where most
known, will be most trusted, and, when understood in its origin, will
be seen to be no accidental or fugitive organization, merely for an
election, but an irresistible necessity, which in the nature of things
must be permanent as the pretensions, moral and political, which it
seeks to constrain and counteract.
* * * * *
All must admit, too, that, if no Republican party existed now,--even
if that halcyon day had come, so often promised by cajoling
politicians, when the Slavery Question was settled,--still there
would be a political necessity for a great party of Opposition to
act as check on the Administration. A kindred necessity was once
expressed by an eminent British statesman, who gave as a toast, “A
strong Administration and a strong Opposition.” Parties are unknown in
despotic countries. They belong to the machinery of free governments.
Through parties public opinion is concentrated and directed; through
parties principles are maintained above men; and through parties men in
power are held to a just responsibility. If ever there was occasion for
such a party, it is now, when the corruptions of the Administration are
dragged to light by Committees of Congress. On this ground alone good
men might be summoned to rescue the government of our country.
It is an attested fact that Mr. Buchanan became President through
corruption. Money, familiarly known as a “corruption fund,” first
distilled in small drippings from clerks and petty officials, was
swollen by larger contributions of merchants and contractors, and with
this accumulation votes were purchased in Philadelphia, enough to turn
the election in that great metropolis, and in the chain of cause and
effect to assure the triumph of the Democratic candidate. I speak
now only what is proved. Fraudulent naturalization papers in blank,
by which this was perpetrated, were produced before a Committee of
Congress. It was natural that an Administration thus corrupt in origin
should continue to exercise power through the same corruption by which
power was gained; but nothing else than that insensibility to acts of
shame produced by familiarity can explain how all this has been done
with such absolute indecency of exposure, so as to recall the words of
the poet,--
“How use doth breed a habit in a man!”
A letter from a local politician, addressed to the President himself,
urging without disguise the giving of a large contract for machinery
to a particular house in Philadelphia, employing four hundred and
fifty mechanics, with a view to the approaching election, was sent
to the Secretary of the Navy, with this indorsement, in a well-known
handwriting, signed by well-known initials: “Sept. 15, 1858. The
enclosed letter from Colonel Patterson, of Philadelphia, is submitted
to the attention of the Secretary of the Navy. J. B.” Thus did the
President of the United States, in formal written words, now of record
in the history of the country, recommend the employment of the public
money, set apart for the public service, to influence an election. Here
was criminality as positive as when his supporters purchased votes
in the streets. From one learn all; and from such a characteristic
instance learn the character of the Administration. But there are
other well-known instances; and the testimony before the Congressional
Committees discloses the President on Sundays in secret conclave with
one of his corrupt agents, piously occupied discussing the chances of
an election, and how its expenses were to be met, while, at the same
time, like another Joseph Surface, he was uttering in public “fine
sentiments” of political morality, and lamenting the prevalence of the
very indecencies in which he was engaged.
It was natural that a President, who, with professions of purity on
the lips, made himself the pander of such vulgar corruption, should
stick at nothing needful to carry his purposes. I shall not dwell on
the Lecompton Constitution; but it belongs to this chapter. You all
know its wickedness. Concocted originally at Washington, with the
single purpose of fastening Slavery upon the people of Kansas, it
was by execrable contrivance so arranged as to prevent the people,
when about to become a State, from voting on that question. Next
sanctioned by a convention of usurpers, who in no respect represented
the people of Kansas, then fraudulently submitted to the people for
their votes, it was fraudulently adopted by stuffing ballot-boxes on
a scale never before known. Thus, at the Delaware Crossing, where
there were but forty-three legal voters, four hundred were returned;
at Oxford, where there were but forty-two legal voters, a thousand
were returned; and at Shawnee, where there were but forty legal
voters, twelve hundred were returned. And yet this Constitution,
disowned by the very Governor who had gone to Kansas as agent of the
President,--rotten with corruption, gaping with falsehood, and steaming
with iniquity,--was at once recognized by the President, urged upon
Congress in a special message, and pressed for adoption by all the
appliances of unprincipled power. If the words of Jugurtha, turning his
back upon Rome, cannot be repeated, that the Republic is for sale,
and soon to perish, if it shall find a purchaser,[154] nor the sharper
saying of Walpole, that every man has his price, it was not from any
forbearance in the President. A single editor was offered the printing
of Post-Office blanks worth at least eighty thousand dollars, if by an
article no larger than a man’s hand he would show submission to the
Administration. Bribes of office were added to bribes of money. As the
votes of electors had been purchased to make Mr. Buchanan President,
the votes of Representatives were now solicited to carry out his scheme
of corruption, and the Halls of Congress were changed into a political
market-house, where men were bought by the head. Is not all this enough
to arouse the indignation of the people?
It is true that the President, whose power began in corruption, and who
is responsible author of the corruption by which his administration has
been debased, is no longer a candidate for office. Already judgment
begins. His own political party discards him. The first avenging
blow is struck. Incorruptible history will do the rest. The tablet
conspicuously erected in Genoa to expose the crimes of certain Doges,
branding one as _Fur Magnus_ and another as _Maximus Latronum_, will
not be needed here. The exposed corrupter, the tyrant enslaver, and the
robber of Human Freedom cannot be forgotten. Unhappy President! after a
long career of public service, not only tossed aside, but tossed over
to perpetual memory as an example to be shunned! Better for him the
oblivion of common life than the bad fame he has won!
But, though not himself a candidate for office, his peculiar
supporters, animated by his spirit, linked with him in misrule,
are embodied as a party, and ask your votes. Simply to resist this
combination, and to save the Republic from its degrading influence,
would justify the formation of the Republican party; and I doubt not
that there are many who will be content to unite with us on this ground
alone, anxious to put the National Government once again in pure hands.
To all such, welcome!
While this consummation necessarily enters into the present purposes
of the Republican party, while we naturally begin by insisting upon
purity in the Government, and make this one of our urgent demands, it
is obvious that the quickening impulse of the party is to be found
in other purposes, which cannot pass away in a single election. The
Republican party seeks to overthrow the Slave Oligarchy in the National
Government, and especially at this moment to stay its aggressions
in the Territories, which, through a corrupt interpretation of the
Constitution, it threatens to barbarize with Slavery. But all who seek
purity in the National Government must unite in this purpose; for only
by the overthrow of this base Oligarchy, which, beginning in the denial
of all human rights, necessarily shows itself in barbarism and villany
of all kinds, can a better order prevail. It is out of Slavery that all
our griefs proceed; nor can the offences of the present Administration
be fully comprehended without considering the nature of this Evil,
and its chronic influence over our Government, reaching everywhere
by subtle agencies, or more subtle, far-reaching example, but still
in itself the original and all-sufficient activity. As well attempt
to explain the Gulf Stream without the Gulf of Mexico, or the Origin
of Evil without the human heart, as attempt to explain the present
degraded character of the National Government without Slavery. As well
attempt the play of “Othello” without the Moor. And permit me to say
that our warfare with these iniquities will be feeble, unless we attack
them in their origin.
* * * * *
At the beginning of our history Slavery was universally admitted
to be an Evil. Nobody then so hardy as to vindicate it. In the
Convention which framed the Constitution it was branded as “a nefarious
institution,” or more mildly called “wrong”; and these generous voices
came from the South as well as from the North. Out of the Convention
there was a similar accord. I shall not quote the words of Washington,
Jefferson, Franklin, or Jay, for they are familiar to all. Even as
they spoke others spoke, and I might occupy the whole evening simply
reciting this testimony. Nor were these declarations confined to public
life. The Colleges all, by definite action, arrayed themselves against
Slavery, especially the University of William and Mary, in Virginia,
which conferred upon Granville Sharp, the acknowledged chief of British
Abolitionists, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. The Literature
of the land, such as it was, agreed with the Colleges. The Church,
too, added its powerful voice; and here, amid diversities of religious
faith, we hail that unity of spirit which animated all. Quakers,
Methodists, Presbyterians, and Congregationalists seemed to vie with
each other in this pious testimony.
The Constitution was adopted, but the word Slave was not allowed to
pollute its text; and this was in declared deference to the prevailing
opinion, which regarded Slavery as temporary, destined soon to pass
away. All looked to the glad day as almost at hand. In harmony with
this expectation, Slavery was prohibited in all existing territories of
the Union, so that, when Washington, as first President of the United
States, at his inauguration here in New York took his first oath to
support the Constitution, the flag of the Republic nowhere on the land
within the jurisdiction of Congress covered a single slave. Little then
did the Fathers dream that the Evil which they regarded with shame and
exerted themselves to prohibit would elevate its obscene crest as it
now does, and flaunt its monstrous pretensions before the world. Little
did they dream that the Constitution, from which they had carefully
excluded the very _word_, would be held, in defiance of reason and
common sense, to protect the _thing_, so exceptionally that it could
not be reached by Congressional prohibition, even within Congressional
jurisdiction. Little did they dream that the text, which they left so
pure and healthful, would, through corrupt interpretation, be swollen
into such an offensive Elephantiasis.
Two circumstances, civilizing in themselves, exercised an unexpected
influence for American Slavery: first, the abolition of the
slave-trade, which by taking away the supply increased the value
of slaves; and, secondly, the increased cultivation of cotton,
stimulated by the invention of new machinery. The latter has been
of especial moment. Indeed, it is hardly too much to say that out
of this slender cotton fibre are formed the manacles of the slave.
Thus, through sinister activity, and the wickedness of men, is good
made the minister of wrong. Next after Christopher Columbus, who by
sublime enterprise opened a pathway to the New World, Eli Whitney, who
discovered the cotton gin, has been indirectly and unconsciously a
chief agent in the bondage of the African race on the North American
continent; and surely proper gratitude for the advantages we enjoy in
such large store from these two discoveries must prompt us to increased
activity for the welfare of those who, alas! have been such losers,
where we have been such gainers.
The change of opinion, so disastrous in result, was gradual. Though in
its successive stages easily detected by the careful inquirer, it did
not become manifest to the whole country till 1820, when it burst forth
in the Missouri Question. Then, for the first time, Slavery showed
itself openly violent, insolent, belligerent. Freedom was checked,
but saved something by a compromise,--announced, at the moment of its
adoption, by Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, as a triumph of the
South,--where, in consideration of the admission of Missouri as a Slave
State, thus securing additional preponderance to the Slave Power, it
was stipulated that Slavery should be prohibited in certain outlying
territory, at that time trodden only by savages. Then came a lull,
during which the change was still at work, until, contemporaneously
with the abolition of Slavery in the British West Indies, the
discussion was lighted anew. Meanwhile slaves augmented in price, and
slave-masters became more decided. In timid deference to the world,
they at first ventured no defence of Slavery in the abstract; but at
last, bolder grown under the lead of Mr. Calhoun, they threw aside all
reserve, openly assailed the opinions of the Fathers, audaciously
denied the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence,
and by formal resolution asserted the new dogma of Slavery in the
Territories. This was as late as 1847. A letter of that day, from Mr.
Calhoun, addressed to a member of the Alabama Legislature, shows that
there was an element of policy in this exaggeration. His desire was
“to force the Slavery issue” on the North, believing that delay was
dangerous, as the Slave-Masters were then relatively stronger, both
morally and politically, than they would ever be again.
At last the end has come. Slavery is openly pronounced, at one time,
the black marble keystone of our National Arch,--at another time, the
corner-stone of our Republican edifice; then it is vaunted as the
highest type of civilization,--then as a blessing to the master as well
as the slave,--and then again as ennobling to the master, if not to the
slave. It is only the first step which costs, and therefore the authors
of these opinions, so shocking to the moral sense, do not hesitate at
other opinions equally shocking to the reason, even to the extent of
finding impossible sanctions for Slavery in the Constitution. Listening
to these extravagances, who would not exclaim, with Ben Jonson in the
play?--
“Grave fathers, he’s possessed; again I say,
Possessed: nay, if there be possession and
Obsession, he has both.”[155]
And now, fellow-citizens, what is Slavery? This is no question of
curiosity or philanthropy merely; for when the National Government,
which you and I at the North help to constitute, is degraded to be its
instrument, and all the National Territories are proclaimed open to
its Barbarism, and the Constitution itself is perverted to its support,
the whole subject naturally, logically, and necessarily enters into our
discussion. It cannot be avoided; it cannot be blinked out of sight.
Nay, you must pass upon it by your votes at the coming election. Futile
is the plea that we at the North have nothing to do with Slavery.
Granted that we have nothing to do with it in the States, we have much
to do with all its irrational assumptions under the Constitution, and
just so long as these are urged must Slavery be discussed. It must be
laid bare in its enormity, precisely as though it were proposed to
plant it here in the streets of New York. Nor can such a wrong--foul in
itself, and fouler still in pretensions--be dealt with tamely. Tameness
is surrender. And charity, too, may be misapplied. Forgiving those who
trespass against us, I know not if we are called to forgive those who
trespass against others,--to forgive those who trespass against the
Republic,--to forgive those who trespass against Civilization,--to
forgive those who trespass against a whole race,--to forgive those who
trespass against the universal Human Family,--finally, to forgive those
who trespass against God. Such trespassers exist among us, possessing
the organization of party, holding the control of the National
Government, constituting a colossal Power, and
“what seems its head
The likeness of a _President_ has on.”
Surely, if ever there was a moment when every faculty should be bent
to the service, and all invigorated by an inspiring zeal, it is now,
while the battle between Civilization and Barbarism is still undecided,
and you are summoned to resist the last desperate shock. To this work
I am not equal; but I do not shrink from the duties of my post. Alas!
human language is gentle, and the human voice is weak. Words only are
mine, when I ought to command thunderbolts. Voice only is mine, when,
like the ancient Athenian, I ought to carry the weapons of Zeus on the
tongue. Nor would I transcend any just rule of moderation, or urge this
warfare too far among persons. Humbly do I recognize the authority of
Him, who, when reviled, reviled not again; but this divine example
teaches me to expose crime, and not to hesitate, though the Scribes
and Pharisees, chief-priests and money-changers, cry out. And it shows
how words of invective may come from lips of peace. “Woe unto you,
Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make
one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child
of hell than yourselves.” Thus spake the Saviour in Jerusalem; and he
still speaks, not in Jerusalem only, but wherever men are won from
truth, wherever crime exists to be exposed and denounced.
What, then, I repeat, is Slavery? The occasion forbids detail; but
enough must be presented to place this outrage in its true light,--as
something worse even than a constant state of war, where the master
is constant aggressor. Here I put aside for the moment all the tales
which reach us from the house of bondage,--all the cumulative, crushing
testimony, from slaves and masters alike,--all the barbarous incidents
which help to arouse a yet too feeble indignation,--in short, all the
glimpses which come to us from this mighty Bluebeard’s chamber. All
these I put aside, not because they are of little moment in exhibiting
the true character of Slavery, but because I desire to arraign Slavery
on grounds above all controversy, impeachment, or suspicion, even from
Slave-Masters themselves. Not on wonderful story, where the genius of
woman has prevailed, not even on indisputable facts, do I now accuse
Slavery, but on its character as revealed in its own simple definition
of itself. Out of its own mouth do I condemn it.
By the _Law of Slavery_, man, created in the image of God, fearfully
and wonderfully made, with sensibilities of pleasure and pain, with
sentiments of love, with aspirations for improvement, with a sense of
property, and with a soul like ourselves, is despoiled of his human
character, and declared to be a mere _chattel_, “to all intents,
constructions, and purposes whatsoever.” I do not stop to give at
length all its odious words; you are doubtless familiar with them. The
heathen idea of Aristotle is repeated,--“a tool with a soul.”[156] But
in this simple definition is contained the whole incalculable wrong of
Slavery; for out of it, as from an inexhaustible fountain, are derived
all the unrighteous prerogatives of the master. These are five in
number, and I know not which is most revolting.
First, there is the pretension that _man can hold property in
man_,--forgetful, that, by a law older than all human law, foremost
stands the indefeasible right of every man to himself.
Secondly, _the absolute nullification of the relation of husband
and wife_, so that all who are called slaves are delivered over to
concubinage or prostitution, it may be with each other, or it may be
with their masters; but with whomsoever it may be, it is the same, for
with slaves marriage is impossible, as they are merely “coupled,”
never married.
Thirdly, _the utter rejection of the relation of parent and child_; for
the infant legally belongs, not to the mother who bore it, but to the
master who bought it.
Fourthly, _the complete, denial of instruction_; for the master may
always, at his own rude discretion, prevent his victim from learning
to read, and thus shut against him those gates of knowledge which open
such vistas on earth and in heaven.
Fifthly, _the wholesale robbery of the labor of another, and of all its
fruits_,--forgetful, that, by the same original law under which every
man has a title to himself, he has also a title to the fruits of his
own labor, amounting in itself to a sacred property, which no person,
howsoever called, whether despot or master, can righteously appropriate.
Such are the five essential elements of Slavery. Look at them, and you
will confess that this institution stands forth as a hateful assemblage
of unquestionable wrongs under sanction of existing law. Take away any
one of these, and just to that extent Slavery ceases to exist. Take
away all, and the Slavery Question will be settled. But this assemblage
becomes more hateful still, when its unmistakable _single motive_ is
detected, which is simply _to compel labor without wages_. Incredible
as it may be, it cannot be denied that the right of a man to himself,
the right of a husband to his wife, the right of a parent to his child,
the right of a man to instruction, the right of a man to the fruits
of his own labor, all these supreme rights, by the side of which
other rights seem petty, are trampled down in order to organize that
_five-headed_ selfishness, practically maintained by the lash, which,
look at it as you will, has for its single object COMPULSORY LABOR
WITHOUT WAGES.
Obviously and unquestionably the good of all is against such a
system; nor, except for the pretended property of the master, and his
selfish interest, could there be any color for it. That Slavery thus
constituted can be good for the master is one of the hallucinations
of the system,--something like the hallucination of the opium-eater.
Fascinating, possibly, it may be for a time, but debasing and
destructive it must be in the end. “I agree with Mr. Boswell,” said Dr.
Johnson, “that there must be high satisfaction in being a feudal lord”;
but the moralist did not consider this a good reason for such a power
at the expense of others.[157] That Slave-Masters should be violent and
tyrannical, that they should be regardless of all rights, especially
where Slavery is concerned, and that the higher virtues of character
should fail in them,--all this might be inferred, even in the absence
of evidence, according to irresistible law of cause and effect. No man
can do injustice with impunity. He may not suffer in worldly condition,
but he must suffer in his own nature. And the very unconsciousness in
which he lives aggravates the unhappy influence. Nor can familiarity
with Slavery fail to harden the heart.
Persons become accustomed to scenes of brutality, till they witness
them with indifference. Hogarth, that master of human nature,
portrayed this tendency in his picture of a dissection at a medical
college, where the president maintains the dignity of insensibility
over a corpse, which he regards simply as the subject of a lecture.
And Horace Walpole, who admired the satire of this picture, finds
in it illustration of the idea, that “the legal habitude of viewing
shocking scenes hardens the human mind, and renders it unfeeling.”[158]
This simple truth, in its most general application, exhibits the
condition of the Slave-Master. How can he show sensibility for the
common rights of fellow-citizens who sacrifices daily the most sacred
rights of others merely to secure _labor without wages_? With him a
false standard is necessarily established, bringing with it a blunted
moral sense and clouded perceptions, so that, when he does something
intrinsically barbarous or mean, he does not blush at the recital.
Here, again, I forbear all detail. The reason of the intellect blending
with the reason of the heart, the testimony of history fortified by
the testimony of good men, an array of unerring figures linked with an
array of unerring facts,--these all I might employ. And I might proceed
to show how this barbarous influence, beginning on the plantation,
diffuses itself throughout society, enters into official conduct, and
even mounts into Congress, where for a long time it has exercised a
vulgar domination, trampling not only on all the amenities of debate,
but absolutely on Parliamentary Law. I shall not open this chapter.
There is one frightful circumstance, unhappily of frequent occurrence,
which proclaims so clearly the character of the social system bred
by Slavery, that I shall be pardoned for adducing it. I refer to
the roasting of slaves alive at the stake. One was roasted very
recently,--not after public trial, according to the forms of law, as
at the fires of Smithfield, but by a lawless crowd, suddenly assembled,
who in this way made themselves ministers of a cruel vengeance. This
Barbarism, which seems to have become part of the customary Law of
Slavery, may well cover us all with humiliation, when we reflect that
it is already renounced by the copper-colored savages of our continent,
while during the present century more instances of it have occurred
among our Slave-Masters than we know among the former since that early
day when Captain Smith was saved from sacrifice by the tenderness
of Pocahontas. Perhaps no other usage reveals with such fearful
distinctness the deep-seated, pervading influence of Slavery, offensive
to Civilization, hostile to Law itself, by virtue of which it pretends
to live, insulting to humanity, shocking to decency, and utterly
heedless of all rights, forms, or observances, in the maintenance of
its wicked power. Here I add, that the proportion of slave to free is
not without influence in determining treatment. Fear is a constant
tyrant, with an inhumanity which does not tire or sleep, and nothing
can quicken its cruelty more than the dread of vengeance for the
multitudinous wrong done to the slave.
I would not be unjust to Slave-Masters. Some there are, I doubt not,
of happy natures, uncorrupted by the possession of tyrannical power,
who render the condition of their slaves endurable, and in private
virtues emulate the graces of Civilization; but the good in these cases
comes from the masters, _notwithstanding_ Slavery. And, besides, there
are the great examples of the Fathers, who, looking down upon Slavery
and regarding it as an Evil, were saved from its contamination. To
all these I render heartfelt homage. But their exceptional virtues
cannot save the essential wrong which I expose. Nor am I blinded by
the blandishments of that wealth which is the fruit of Slavery. With
abhorrence we read of the scandalous man-traffic by which a Hessian
prince of Germany sold his subjects to be used by George the Third
against our fathers; and we share the contempt expressed by Frederick,
surnamed the Great, when he levied on these victims, passing through
his dominions, the customary toll for so many head of cattle, since,
as he said, they had been sold as such; and even now the traveller
turns with disgust from the pleasant slopes of the ducal garden which
was adorned by these unholy gains.[159] But all this, and more, must
be renewed in our minds, when we think of American Slavery, with the
houses and gardens decorated by its sweat.
* * * * *
Such, fellow-citizens, is Slavery, as manifest in its law, and also in
its influence on society. Bad as it is, if it modestly kept at home,
if it did not stalk into the National jurisdiction and enter into the
National Government, _within reach of our votes_, I should not summon
you on this occasion to unite against it; for, whatever the promptings
of sympathy and of godlike philanthropy, nothing is clearer than that
our political duties depend simply upon our political responsibilities;
and since we are not politically responsible for Slavery in Charleston,
or in Constantinople, so in neither place have we any political duties
in regard to it. Lament it, wherever it exists, we must, and surround
its victims with our prayers; but our action, while inspired by these
sentiments, must rest within the bounds of Law and Constitution.
Here the field is ample. Indeed, if Slavery existed nowhere within
the national jurisdiction, our duty would still be urgent to grapple
with that pernicious influence, which, through an _Oligarchical
Combination_ of Slave-Masters, unknown to the Constitution, never
anticipated by its founders, and in defiance of their example, has
entered into and possessed the National Government, like an Evil
Spirit. This influence, which, wielding at will all the powers of the
National Government, even those of the Judiciary, has become formidable
to Freedom everywhere, clutching violently at the Territories, and
menacing the Free States,--as witness the claim, still undecided in
the court of the last resort, so audaciously presented by a citizen
of Virginia, to hold slaves in New York on the way to Texas; this
influence, now so vaulting, was for a long time unobserved, even
while exercising a controlling power. At first timid and shy, from
undoubted sense of guilt, it avoided discussion, yet was determined
in its policy. The Southern Senator who boasted that for sixty years
the Slave States had governed the country knew well their constant
inferiority to the Free States in population, wealth, manufactures,
commerce, schools, churches, libraries, and all the activities of
a true Civilization,--knew well that they had contributed nothing
to the literature of the country, even in Political Economy and the
science of Government, which they have so vehemently professed, except
the now forgotten “forty bale theory,”[160]--knew well that by no
principle of justice could this long predominance be explained; but
he forgot to confess the secret agency. Though unseen, Slavery was
present always with decisive influence. No matter what the question,
it was the same. Once the Free States inclined to Free Trade, but the
Slave States went the other way; but when the former inclined towards
Protection, the Slave Power in the dark behind dictated Free Trade, and
so it has been till now. Here is the subtle ruling influence, against
which population, wealth, manufactures, commerce, schools, churches,
libraries, and all the activities of a true Civilization are impotent.
The Slave Power is always master, and it is this Power which for sixty
years, according to the boast of the Senator, has governed this broad
and growing country, doing what it pleases, and penetrating far-away
places, while it sacrifices all who will not do its bidding.
The actual number of slaveholders was for a long time unknown, and
on this account was naturally exaggerated. It was often represented
very great. On one occasion, a distinguished representative from
Massachusetts, whose name will be ever cherished for devotion to
Human Rights,--I mean the late Horace Mann,--was rudely interrupted
on the floor of Congress by a member from Alabama, who averred that
the number of slaveholders was as many as three millions.[161] At
that time there was no official document by which this extravagance
could be corrected. But at last we have it. The late census, taken
in 1850, shows that the whole number of this peculiar class, all
told, so unfortunate as to hold slaves, was only 347,525;[162] and
of this number the larger part are small slaveholders, leaving only
92,000 persons as owners of the great mass of slaves, and substantial
representatives of this class. And yet this small Oligarchy, odious in
origin, without any foundation in that justice which is the essential
base of every civilized association, stuck together only by confederacy
in all the _five-headed_ wrong of Slavery, and constituting in itself
what in other days was called _Magnum Latrocinium_, has, by confession
of one of its own leaders, for sixty years governed the Republic. To
this end two things have concurred: first, its associated wealth,
being the asserted value of its human flesh, constituting a flagitious
capital of near two thousand millions of dollars; and, secondly, its
peculiar representation in the House of Representatives, where, under
the three-fifths rule of the Constitution, ninety members actually
hold their seats by virtue in part of this indefensible property.
Thus are our Slave-Masters an enormous Corporation, or Joint-Stock
Company, by the side of which the United States Bank, with its petty
thirty millions of capital, and without any peculiar representation, is
dwarfed into insignificance.
All tyranny, like murder, is foul at the best; but this is most foul,
strange, and unnatural, especially when it is considered that the
States occupied by the Slave Oligarchy are far below the Free States
in resources of all kinds. By the last census there was in the Free
States a solid population of freemen amounting to upwards of thirteen
millions, while in the Slave States there was a like population of
only six millions. In other respects, important to Civilization, the
disparity was as great,--all of which I have amply shown elsewhere.
And yet from the beginning this Oligarchy has taken the lion’s share
among the honors and trusts of the Republic, while it entered into
and possessed both the old political parties, Whig and Democrat,--as
witness their servile resolutions always,--making them one in
subserviency, though double in form, and renewing in them the mystery
of the Siamese twins, which, though separate in body and different
in name, are constrained by an unnatural ligament to a community of
exertion.
I feel humbled, when I dwell on the amazing disproportion of offices
usurped by this Oligarchy. From the beginning, all the great posts of
the Republic--Presidency, Vice-Presidency, seats in the Cabinet, seats
in the Supreme Court, Presidency of the Senate, Speakership--seem to
be almost perpetually in their hands. At this moment, the Free States,
with double the population of the Slave States, have only four out
of nine Justices of the Supreme Court; and of these four, it must
be said, three are Northern men with Southern principles. And in the
humbler places at the Departments the same extraordinary disproportion
prevails. Out of the whole number there employed, 787 are from the
Slave States and District of Columbia, and 441 from the Free States,
but mostly with Southern principles. These instances are typical.
There is nothing in the National Government which the Oligarchy does
not appropriate. Down to our day it has held the keys of every office,
from President to the humblest postmaster, compelling all to do its
bidding. It makes Cabinets,--organizes Courts,--directs the Army and
Navy,--manages every department of public business,--presides over the
Census,--conducts the Smithsonian Institution, founded by the generous
charity of a foreigner to promote the interests of mankind,--and
subsidizes the national press, alike in the national capital and in the
remotest village of the North.
Mounting the marble steps of the Capitol, it takes the chair of the
President of the Senate, also the chair of the Speaker of the House,
then arranges the Committees of both bodies, placing at their head only
servitors of Slavery, and excluding friends of Freedom, though entitled
to such places by personal character and the States they represent; and
thus it controls the national legislation. From the Capitol to the most
distant confines, the whole country is enslaved. The Mahometan priest
turns in prayer towards Mecca, his pulpit is on the side which fronts
towards Mecca, his auditors face towards Mecca. But Slavery is our
Mecca, towards which everything turns, everything fronts, everything
faces.
In maintaining its power the Slave Oligarchy applies a test for
office very different from that of Jefferson: “Is he honest? Is he
capable? Is he faithful to the Constitution?” These things are all
forgotten now in the single question, signalizing the great change
which has taken place, “Is he faithful to Slavery?” With arrogant
ostracism, it excludes from every national office all who cannot
respond to this test, thus surrounding and blockading every avenue
of power. So complete and offensive has this tyranny become, that at
this moment, while I am speaking, could Washington, or Jefferson, or
Franklin, or John Jay, once more descend from his sphere above, to
mingle in our affairs, and bless us with his wisdom, not one of them,
with his recorded, _unretracted_ opinions on Slavery, could receive
a nomination for the Presidency from either fraction of the divided
Democratic party, or from that other political combination known as
the Union party,--nor, stranger still, could either of these sainted
patriots, whose names alone open a perpetual fountain of gratitude
in all your hearts, be confirmed by the Senate of the United States
for any political function whatever, not even for the local office of
Postmaster. What I now say, amid your natural astonishment, I have said
often in addressing the people, and more than once from my seat in the
Senate, and no man there has made answer, for no man who has sat in
its secret sessions, and observed the test practically applied, could
make answer; and I ask you to accept this statement as my testimony,
derived from the experience which is my lot. Yes, fellow-citizens, had
this test prevailed in the earlier days, Washington, “first in war,
first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen,” could not have
been created Generalissimo of the American forces, Jefferson could
not have taken his place on the Committee to draft the Declaration
of Independence, and Franklin could not have gone forth to France,
with the commission of the infant Republic, to secure the invaluable
alliance of that ancient kingdom,--nor could John Jay, as first Chief
Justice, have lent to our judiciary the benignant grace of his name and
character.
Standing on the bent necks of an enslaved race, with four millions
of human beings as the black marble Caryatides to support its power,
the Slave Oligarchy erects itself into a lordly caste which brooks no
opposition. But when I speak of Caste, I mean nothing truly polite;
and when I speak of Oligarchy, I mean nothing truly aristocratic.
As despotism is simply an abuse of monarchy, so Oligarchy is simply
an abuse of aristocracy, unless it be that most vulgar of all,
“aristocracy of the skin.” Derived from Slavery, and having the
interests of Slavery always in mind, our Oligarchy must naturally take
its character from this _five-headed_ wrong.
“Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.”
All that is bad in Slavery, its audacity, its immorality, its cruelty,
its robbery, its meanness, its ignorance, its barbarous disregard of
human rights, and its barbarous disregard of every obligation, must
all be reproduced in its representative. If the Oligarchy hesitates
at nothing to serve its selfish ends, it simply acts in harmony with
Slavery, from which it draws its life-blood. If in grasp of power it is
like the hunchback Richard, if in falsehood it copies Iago, and if in
character it is low as the brutish Caliban,
“Which any print of goodness will not take,
Being capable of all ill,”--
ay, if in all these respects it surpasses its various prototypes,--if
in steady baseness, in uniform brutality, and consummate wickedness
it is without a peer, be not astonished, fellow-citizens, for it acts
simply according to the original law of its birth and the inborn
necessities of its being. With all these unprecedented qualities and
aptitudes combined into one intense activity, it goes where it will and
does what it pleases. The Pterodactyl of an early geological period,
formed for all service and every element, with neck of bird, mouth of
reptile, wing of bat, body of mammifer, and with hugest eye, so that
it could seek its prey in the night,--such was the ancient and extinct
kindred of this Oligarchy, which, like Milton’s fiend,
“O’er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,
With head, hands, wings, or feet pursues his way,
And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.”
The soul sickens in contemplating the acts of dishonest tyranny
perpetrated by this lordly power. I cannot give their prolonged history
now. But looking at the old Missouri Compromise, founded on the
admission of Missouri as a Slave State, and in consideration thereof
the Prohibition of Slavery in other outlying territory, and seeing
how, after an acquiescence of thirty-four years, and the irreclaimable
possession by Slavery of its especial share in the provisions of this
Compromise, in violation of every obligation of honor, compact, and
good neighborhood, and in contemptuous disregard of the outgushing
sentiments of an aroused North, this time-honored Prohibition was
overturned, and the vast region now known as Kansas and Nebraska
opened to Slavery,--looking next at the juggling bill by which this
was accomplished, declaring that its object was to leave the people
“perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in
their own way,” and seeing how, in spite of these express words, the
courageous settlers there were left a prey to invading hordes from
Missouri, who, entering the Territory, organized a Usurpation which
by positive law proceeded to fasten Slavery upon that beautiful soil,
and to surround it with a code of death, so strict, that the famous
bell which once swung in the steeple over the Hall of Independence
at Philadelphia would be nothing but a nuisance in Kansas, while its
immortal inscription, “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land, unto
all the inhabitants thereof,” would be an offence, and the sexton who
rang the bell a criminal,--looking at the Lecompton Constitution,
that masterpiece of wicked contrivance, by which this same people,
in organizing a State, were fraudulently prevented from passing upon
the question of Slavery, and seeing how the infamous counterfeit,
though repudiated by the people, was openly adopted by the President,
and by him corruptly urged upon Congress, with all the power of his
Administration,--looking at these things, so recent and menacing,
I feel how vain it is to expect truce or compromise with the Slave
Oligarchy. Punic in faith, as in fear, no compact can bind it,
while all interpretations of the Constitution friendly to Freedom,
though sanctioned by Court and Congress in continuous precedent, are
unceremoniously rejected. Faust, in the profound poem of Goethe, on
being told that in Hell itself the laws prevail, says:--
“Now that I like: so, then, one may, in fact,
Conclude a binding compact with you, gentry!”