OUR IMMEDIATE ANTISLAVERY DUTIES.
SPEECH AT A FREE-SOIL MEETING AT FANEUIL HALL,
NOVEMBER 6, 1850.
MR. CHAIRMAN, AND
YOU, MY FELLOW-CITIZENS:
Cold and insensible
must I be, not to be touched by this welcome. I thank you for the cause, whose
representative only I am. It is the cause which I would keep ever foremost, and
commend always to your support.
In a few days there
will be an important political election, affecting many local interests. Not by
these have I been drawn here to-night, but because I would bear my testimony
anew to that Freedom which is above all these. And here, at the outset, let me
say, that it is because I place Freedom above all else that I cordially concur
in the different unions or combinations throughout the Commonwealth, ——— in Mr.
Mann's District, of Free-Soilers with Whigs, ——— also in Mr. Fowler's District,
of Free-Soilers with Whigs— and generally, in Senatorial Districts, of
Free-Soilers with Democrats.
By the first of
these two good men may be secured in Congress, while by the latter the friends
of Freedom may obtain a controlling influence in the Legislature of
Massachusetts during the coming session, and thus advance our cause.
[Applause.] They may arbitrate between both the old parties, making Freedom
their perpetual object, and in this way contribute more powerfully than they
otherwise could to the cause which has drawn us together. [Cheers.]
Leaving these
things, so obvious to all, I come at once to consider urgent duties at this
anxious moment. To comprehend these we must glance at what Congress has done
during its recent session, so long drawn out. This I shall endeavor to do
rapidly. "Watchman, what of the night?" And well may the cry be
raised, “What of the night?" For things have been done, and measures
passed into laws, which, to my mind, fill the day itself with blackness. ["Hear!
hear!"]
And yet there are
streaks of light—an unwonted dawn in the distant West, out of which a
full-orbed sun is beginning to ascend, rejoicing like a strong man to run a
race. By Act of Congress California has been admitted into the Union with a
Constitution forbidding Slavery. For a measure like this, required not only by
simplest justice, but by uniform practice, and by constitutional principles of
slaveholders themselves, we may be ashamed to confess gratitude; and yet I
cannot but rejoice in this great good. A hateful institution, thus far without
check, travelling westward with the power of the Republic, is bidden to stop,
while a new and rising State is guarded from its contamination. [Applause.]
Freedom, in whose hands is the divining-rod of magical power, pointing the way
not only to wealth untold, but to every possession of virtue and intelligence,
whose presence is better far than any mine of gold, has been recognized in an
extensive region on the distant Pacific, between the very parallels of latitude
so long claimed by Slavery as a peculiar home. [Loud plaudits.]
Here is a victory,
moral and political: moral, inasmuch as Freedom secures a new foothold where to
exert her far-reaching influence; political, inasmuch as by the admission of
California, the Free States obtain a majority of votes in the Senate, thus
overturning that balance of power between Freedom and Slavery, so
preposterously claimed by the Slave States, in forgetfulness of the true spirit
of the
Constitution, and in mockery of Human Rights. [Cheers.] May free
California, and her Senators in Congress, amidst the trials before us, never
fail in loyalty to Freedom! God forbid that the daughter should turn with
ingratitude or neglect from the mother that bore her! [Enthusiasm.]
Besides this Act, there
are two others of this long session to be regarded with satisfaction, and I
mention them at once, before considering the reverse of the picture. The
slave-trade is abolished in the District of Columbia. This measure, though
small in the sight of Justice, is important. It banishes from the National
Capital an odious traffic. But this is its least office. Practically it affixes
to the whole traffic, wherever it exists, not merely in Washington, within the
immediate sphere of the legislative act, but everywhere throughout the Slave
States, whether at Richmond, or Charleston, or New Orleans, the brand of
Congressional reprobation. The people of the United States, by the voice of
Congress, solemnly declare the domestic traffic in slaves offensive in their
sight. The Nation judges this traffic. The Nation says to it, "Get thee
behind me, Satan!" [Excitement and applause.] It is true that Congress has
not, as in the case of the foreign slave-trade, stamped it as piracy, and
awarded to its perpetrators the doom of pirates; but it condemns the trade, and
gives to general scorn those who partake of it. To this extent the National
Government speaks for Freedom. And in doing this, it asserts, under the
Constitution, legislative jurisdiction over the subject of Slavery in the
District, thus preparing the way for that complete act of Abolition which is
necessary to purge the National Capital of its still remaining curse and shame.
The other measure
which I hail with thankfulness is the Abolition of Flogging in the Navy. ["Hear!
hear!"] Beyond the direct reform thus accomplished — after much effort,
finally crowned with encouraging success is the indirect influence of this law,
especially in rebuking the lash, wheresoever and by whomsoever employed.
Two props and stays
of Slavery are weakened and undermined by Congressional legislation. Without
the slave-trade and without the lash, Slavery must fall to earth. By these the
whole monstrosity is upheld. If I seem to exaggerate the consequence of these
measures of Abolition, you will pardon it to a sincere conviction of their
powerful, though subtile and indirect influence, quickened by a desire to find
something good in a Congress which has furnished occasion for so much
disappointment. Other measures there are which must be regarded not only with
regret, but with indignation and disgust. [Sensation.]
Two broad
territories, New Mexico and Utah, under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress,
have been organized without any prohibition of Slavery. In laying the
foundation of their governments, destined hereafter to control the happiness of
innumerable multitudes, Congress has omitted the Great Ordinance of Freedom,
first moved by Jefferson, and consecrated by the experience of the Northwestern
Territory: thus rejecting those principles of Human Liberty which are
enunciated in our Declaration
of Independence, which are essential to every Bill of Rights, and without
which a Republic is a name and nothing more.
Still further, a
vast territory, supposed to be upwards of seventy thousand square miles in
extent, larger than all New England, has been taken from New Mexico, and, with
ten million dollars besides, given to slaveholding Texas: thus, under the plea
of settling the western boundary of Texas, securing to this State a large sum
of money, and consigning to certain Slavery an important territory.
And still further,
as if to do a deed which should "make heaven weep, all earth amazed,"
this same Congress, in disregard of all cherished safeguards of Freedom, has
passed a most cruel, unchristian, devilish law to secure the return into
Slavery of those fortunate bondmen who find shelter by our firesides. This is
the Fugitive Slave Bill,—a device which despoils the party claimed as slave,
whether in reality slave or freeman, of Trial by Jury, that sacred right, and
usurps the question of Human Freedom, the highest question known to the law,
committing it to the unaided judgment of a single magistrate, on ex parte
evidence it may be, by affidavit, without the sanction of cross-examination. Under
this detestable, Heaven-defying Bill, not the slave only, but the colored
freeman of the North, may be swept into ruthless captivity; and there is no
white citizen, born among us, bred in our schools, partaking in our affairs,
voting in our elections, whose liberty is not assailed also. Without any
discrimination of color, the Bill surrenders all claimed as "owing service
or labor" to the same tyrannical judgment. And mark once more its
heathenism. By unrelenting provisions it visits with bitter penalties of fine
and imprisonment the faithful men and women who render to the fugitive that
countenance, succor, and shelter which Christianity expressly requires.
["Shame! shame!"] Thus, from beginning to end, it sets at nought the
best principles of the Constitution, and the very laws of God. [Great
sensation.]
I might occupy your
time in exposing the unconstitutionality of this Act. Denying the Trial by
Jury, it is three times unconstitutional: first, as the Constitution declares
"the right of the people to be secure in their persons against
unreasonable seizures"; secondly, as it further provides that "no
person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law"; and, thirdly, because it expressly establishes, that "in suits
at Common Law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the
right of trial by jury shall be preserved." By this triple cord the
framers of the Constitution secured Trial by Jury in every question of Human
Freedom. That man is little imbued with the true spirit of American
institutions, has little sympathy with Bills of Rights, is lukewarm for
Freedom, who can hesitate to construe the Constitution so as to secure this
safeguard. [Enthusiastic applause.]
Again, the Act is
unconstitutional in the unprecedented and tyrannical powers it confers upon
Commissioners. These petty officers are appointed, not by the President with
the advice of the Senate, but by the Courts of Law,—hold their places, not
during good behavior, but at the will of the Court,—and receive for their
services, not a regular salary, but fees in each individual case. And yet in
these petty officers, thus appointed, thus compensated, and holding their
places by the most uncertain tenure, is vested a portion of that "judicial
power," which, according to the positive text of the Constitution, can be
in "judges" only, holding office during good behavior,"
receiving "at stated times for their services a compensation which shall
not be diminished during their continuance in office," and, it would seem
also, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, being three
conditions of judicial power. Adding meanness to violation of the Constitution,
the Commissioner is bribed by a double fee to pronounce against Freedom.
Decreeing a man to Slavery, he receives ten dollars; saving the man to Freedom,
his fee is five dollars. ["Shame! shame!"]
But I will not
pursue these details. The soul sickens in the contemplation of this
legalized outrage. In the dreary annals of the Past there are many acts of
shame,—there are ordinances of monarchs, and laws, which have become a byword
and a hissing to the nations. But when we consider the country and the age, I
ask fearlessly, what act of shame, what ordinance of monarch, what law, can
compare in atrocity with this enactment of an American Congress?
["None!"] I do not forget Appius Claudius, tyrant Decemvir of ancient
Rome, condemning Virginia as a slave, nor Louis the Fourteenth, of France,
letting slip the dogs of religious persecution by the revocation of the Edict
of Nantes, nor Charles the First, of England, arousing the patriot rage of
Hampden by the extortion of Ship-money, nor the British Parliament, provoking,
in our own country, spirits kindred to Hampden, by the tyranny of the Stamp Act
and Tea Tax. I would not exaggerate; I wish to keep within bounds; but I think
there can be little doubt that the condemnation now affixed to all these
transactions, and to their authors, must be the lot hereafter of the Fugitive
Slave Bill, and of every one, according to the measure of his influence, who
gave it his support. [Three cheers were here given.] Into the immortal
catalogue of national crimes it has now passed, drawing, by inexorable
necessity, its authors also, and chiefly him, who, as President of the United
States, set his name to the Bill, and breathed into it that final breath
without which it would bear no life. [Sensation.] Other Presidents may be
forgotten; but the name signed to the Fugitive Slave Bill can never be
forgotten. ["Never!"] There are depths of infamy, as there are
heights of fame. I regret to say what I must, but truth compels me. Better for
him, had he never been born! [Renewed applause.] Better for his memory, and for
the good name of his children, had he never been President! [Repeated cheers.]
I have likened this Bill to the Stamp Act, and
I trust that the parallel may be continued yet further, by a burst of popular
feeling against all action under it similar to that which glowed in the breasts
of our fathers. Listen to the words of John Adams, as written in his Diary at
the time.
"The year 1765
has been the most remarkable year of my life. That enormous engine, fabricated
by the British Parliament, for battering down all the rights and liberties of
America, I mean the Stamp Act, has raised and spread through the whole
continent a spirit that will be recorded to our honor with all future
generations. In every colony, from Georgia to New Hampshire inclusively, the
stamp distributors and inspectors have been compelled by the unconquerable rage
of the people to renounce their offices. Such and so universal has been the
resentment of the people, that every man who has dared to speak in favor of the
stamps, or to soften the detestation in which they are held, how great soever
his abilities and virtues had been esteemed before, or whatever his fortune,
connections, and influence had been, has been seen to sink into universal
contempt and ignominy."1 [A voice, "Ditto for the
Slave-Hunter!"]
Earlier than John
Adams, the first Governor of Massachusetts, John Winthrop, set the example of
refusing to enforce laws against the liberties of the people. After describing
Civil Liberty, and declaring the covenant between God and man in the Moral Law,
he uses these good words:
"This Liberty
is the proper end and object of authority, and cannot subsist without it; and
it is a liberty to that only which is good, just, and honest. This liberty you
are to stand for, with the hazard not only of your goods, but of your lives, if
need be. Whatsoever crosseth this is not authority, but a distemper
thereof."2
Surely the love of
Freedom is not so far cooled among us, descendants of those who opposed the
Stamp Act, that we are insensible to the Fugitive Slave Bill. In those other
days, the unconquerable rage of the people compelled the stamp distributors and
inspectors to renounce their offices, and held up to detestation all who dared
to speak in favor of the stamps. Shall we be more tolerant of those who
volunteer in favor of this Bill? ["No! no!"]—more tolerant of the
Slave-Hunter, who, under its safeguard, pursues his prey upon our soil?
["No! no!"] The Stamp Act could not be executed here. Can the
Fugitive Slave Bill? ["Never!”]
And here, Sir, let
me say, that it becomes me to speak with caution. It happens that I sustain an
important relation to this Bill. Early in professional life I was designated by
the late Judge Story a Commissioner of his Court, and, though I do not very
often exercise the functions of this appointment, my name is still upon the list.
As such, I am one of those before whom the panting fugitive may be dragged for
the decision of the question, whether he is a freeman or a slave. But while it
becomes me to speak with caution, I shall not hesitate to speak with plainness.
I cannot forget that I am a man, although I am a Commissioner. [Three cheers
here given.]
Could the same
spirit which inspired the Fathers enter into our community now, the marshals,
and every magistrate who regarded this law as having any constitutional
obligation, would resign, rather than presume to execute it. This, perhaps, is
too much to expect. But I will not judge such officials. To their own
consciences I leave them. Surely no person of humane feelings and with any true
sense of justice, living in a land "where bells have knolled to
church," whatever may be the apology of public station, can fail to recoil
from such service. For myself let me say, that I can imagine no office, no
salary, no consideration, which I would not gladly forego, rather than become in
any way the agent in enslaving my brother-man. [Sensation.] Where for me were
comfort and solace after such a work? [A voice, "Nowhere!"] In dreams
and in waking hours, in solitude and in the street, in the meditations of the
closet and in the affairs of men, wherever I turned, there my victim would
stare me in the face. From distant rice-fields and sugar-plantations of the
South, his cries beneath the vindictive lash, his moans at the thought of
Liberty, once his, now, alas! ravished away, would pursue me, repeating the
tale of his fearful doom, and sounding, forever sounding, in my ears,
"Thou art the man!" [Applause.]
The magistrate who
pronounces the decree of Slavery, and the marshal who enforces it, act in
obedience to law. This is their apology; and it is the apology also of the
masters of the Inquisition, as they ply the torture amidst the shrieks of their
victim. Can this weaken accountability for wrong? Disguise it, excuse it, as
they will, the fact must glare before the world, and penetrate the conscience
too, that the fetters by which the unhappy fugitive is bound are riveted by
their tribunal,—that his second life of wretchedness dates from their agency,
that his second birth as a slave proceeds from them. The magistrate and marshal
do for him here, in a country which vaunts a Christian civilization, what the
naked, barbarous Pagan chiefs beyond the sea did for his grandfather in Congo:
they transfer him to the Slave-Hunter, and for this service receive the very
price paid for his grandfather in Congo, ten dollars! ["Shame!
shame!"]
Gracious Heaven! can
such things be on our Free Soil? ["No!"] Shall the evasion of Pontius
Pilate be enacted anew, and a judge vainly attempt, by washing the hands, to
excuse himself for condemning one in whom he can "find no fault"?
Should any court, sitting here in Massachusetts, for the first time in her
history, become agent of the Slave-Hunter, the very images of our fathers would
frown from the walls; their voices would cry from the ground; their spirits,
hovering in the air, would plead, remonstrate, protest, against the cruel
judgment. [Cheers.] There is a legend of the Church, still living on the
admired canvas of a Venetian artist, that St. Mark, descending from the skies
with headlong fury into the public square, broke the manacles of a slave in
presence of the very judge who had decreed his fate. This is known as "The
Miracle of the Slave," and grandly has Art illumined the scene.3
Should Massachusetts hereafter, in an evil hour, be desecrated by any such
decree, may the good Evangelist once more descend with valiant arm to break the
manacles of the Slave! [Enthusiasm.]
Sir, I will not
dishonor this home of the Pilgrims, and of the Revolution, by admitting nay, I
cannot believe that this Bill will be executed here. [“Never!”] Among us, as
elsewhere, individuals may forget humanity, in fancied loyalty to law; but the
public conscience will not allow a man who has trodden our streets as a freeman
to be dragged away as a slave. [Applause.] By escape from bondage he has shown
that true manhood which must grapple to him every honest heart. He may be
ignorant and rude, as poor, but he is of true nobility. Fugitive Slaves are the
heroes of our age. In sacrificing them to this foul enactment we violate every
sentiment of hospitality, every whispering of the heart, every commandment of
religion..
There are many who
will never shrink, at any cost, and notwithstanding all the atrocious penalties
of this Bill, from effort to save a wandering fellow-man from bondage; they
will offer him the shelter of their houses, and, if need be, will protect his
liberty by force. But let me be understood; I counsel no violence. There is
another power, stronger than any individual arm, which I invoke: I mean that
irresistible Public Opinion, inspired by love of God and man, which, without
violence or noise, gently as the operations of Nature, makes and unmakes laws.
Let this Public Opinion be felt in its might, and the Fugitive Slave Bill will
become everywhere among us a dead letter. No lawyer will aid it by counsel, no
citizen will be its agent; it will die of inanition, like a spider beneath an
exhausted receiver. [Laughter.] Oh! it were well the tidings should spread
throughout the land that here in Massachusetts this accursed Bill has found no servant.
[Cheers.] "Sire, in Bayonne are honest citizens and brave soldiers only,
but not one executioner," was the reply of the governor to the royal
mandate from Charles the Ninth, of France, ordering the massacre of St.
Bartholomew.4 [Sensation.]
It rests with you,
my fellow-citizens, by word and example, by calm determinations and devoted
lives, to do this work. From a humane, just, and religious people will spring a
Public Opinion to keep perpetual guard over the liberties of all within our
borders. Nay, more, like the flaming sword of the cherubim at the gates of
Paradise, turning on every side, it shall prevent any SLAVE-HUNTER from ever
setting foot in this Commonwealth. Elsewhere he may pursue his human prey,
employ his congenial bloodhounds, and exult in his successful game; but into
Massachusetts he must not come. Again, let me be understood, I counsel no
violence. I would not touch his person. Not with whips and thongs would I
scourge him from the land. The contempt, the indignation, the abhorrence of the
community shall be our weapons of offence. Wherever he moves, he shall find no
house to receive him, no table spread to nourish him, no welcome to cheer him.
The dismal lot of the Roman exile shall be his. He shall be a wanderer, without
roof, fire, or water. Men shall point at him in the streets, and on the
highways.
“Sleep
shall neither night nor day
Hang
upon his penthouse-lid;
He
shall live a man forbid;
Weary
sevennights nine times nine
Shall
he dwindle, peak, and pine.” [Applause.]
Villages, towns, and
cities shall refuse to receive the monster; they shall vomit him forth, never
again to disturb the repose of our community. [Repeated rounds of applause.]
The feelings with
which we regard the Slave-Hunter will be extended soon to all the mercenary
agents and heartless minions, who, without any positive obligation of law,
become part of his pack. They are volunteers, and, as such, must share the
ignominy of the chief Hunter. [Cheers.]
I have dwelt thus
long upon the Fugitive Slave Bill especially in the hope of contributing
something to that Public Opinion which is destined in the Free States to be the
truest defence of the slave. I now advance to other more general duties.
We have seen what
Congress has done. And yet, in the face of these enormities of legislation—of
Territories organized without the prohibition of Slavery, of a large province
surrendered to Texas and to Slavery, and of this execrable Fugitive Slave
Bill,—in the face also of Slavery still sanctioned in the District of Columbia,
of the Slave-Trade between domestic ports under the flag of the Union, and of
the Slave Power still dominant over the National Government, we are told that
the Slavery Question is settled. Yes, settled, settled, — that is the word.
Nothing, Sir, can be settled which is not right. [Sensation.] Nothing can be
settled which is against Freedom. Nothing can be settled which is contrary to
the Divine Law. God, Nature, and all the holy sentiments of the heart repudiate
any such false seeming settlement.
Amidst the shifts
and changes of party, our DUTIES remain, pointing the way to action. By no
subtle compromise or adjustment can men suspend the commandments of God. By no
trick of managers, no hocus-pocus of politicians, no "mush of
concession," can we be released from this obedience. It is, then, in the
light of duties that we are to find peace for our country and ourselves. Nor
can any settlement promise peace which is not in harmony with those everlasting
principles from which our duties spring.
Here I shall be brief.
Slavery is wrong. It is the source of unnumbered woes, not the least of which
is its influence on the Slaveholder himself, rendering him insensible to its
outrage. It overflows with injustice and inhumanity. Language toils in vain to
picture the wretchedness and wickedness which it sanctions and perpetuates.
Reason revolts at the impious assumption that man can hold property in man. As
it is our perpetual duty to oppose wrong, so must we oppose Slavery; nor can we
ever relax in this opposition, so long as the giant evil continues anywhere
within the sphere of our influence. Especially must we oppose it, wherever we are
responsible for its existence, or in any way parties to it.
And now mark the
distinction. The testimony which we bear against Slavery, as against all other
wrong, is, in different ways, according to our position. The Slavery which
exists under other governments, as in Russia or Turkey, or in other States of
our Union, as in Virginia and Carolina, we can oppose only through the influence
of morals and religion, without in any way invoking the Political Power. Nor do
we propose to act otherwise. But Slavery, where we are parties to it, wherever
we are responsible for it, everywhere within our jurisdiction, must be opposed
not only by all the influences of literature, morals, and religion, but
directly by every instrument of Political Power. [Rounds of applause.] As it is
sustained by law, it can be overthrown only by law; and the legislature having
jurisdiction over it must be moved to consummate the work. I am sorry to
confess that this can be done only through the machinery of politics. The
politician, then, must be summoned. The moralist and philanthropist must become
for this purpose politicians, not forgetting morals or philanthropy, but
seeking to apply them practically in the laws of the land.
It is a mistake to
say, as is often charged, that we seek to interfere, through Congress, with
Slavery in the States, or in any way to direct the legislation of Congress upon
subjects not within its jurisdiction. Our political aims, as well as our
political duties, are coextensive with our political responsibilities. And
since we at the North are responsible for Slavery, wherever it exists under the
jurisdiction of Congress, it is unpardonable in us not to exert every power we
possess to enlist Congress against it.
Looking at details:
We demand, first and
foremost, the instant Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Bill. [Cheers.]
We demand the
Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia. [Cheers.]
We demand of
Congress the exercise of its time-honored power to prohibit Slavery in the
Territories. [Cheers.]
We demand of
Congress that it shall refuse to receive any new Slave State into the Union.
[Cheers, repeated.]
We demand the
Abolition of the Domestic Slave Trade, so far as it can be constitutionally
reached, but particularly on the high seas under the National Flag.
And, generally, we
demand from the National Government the exercise of all constitutional power to
relieve itself from responsibility for Slavery.
And yet one thing
further must be done. The Slave Power must be overturned, so that the National
Government may be put openly, actively, and perpetually on the side of Freedom.
[Prolonged applause.]
In demanding the overthrow
of the Slave Power, we but seek to exclude from the operations of the National
Government a political influence, having its origin in Slavery, which has been
more potent, sinister, and mischievous than any other in our history. This
Power, though unknown to the Constitution, and existing in defiance of its true
spirit, now predominates over Congress, gives the tone to its proceedings,
seeks to control all our public affairs, and humbles both the great political
parties to its will. It is that combination of Slave-masters, whose bond of
union is a common interest in Slavery. Time would fail me in exposing the
extent to which its influence has been felt, the undue share of offices it has
enjoyed, and the succession of its evil deeds. Suffice it to say, that, for a
long period, the real principle of this union was not observed by the Free
States. In the game of office and legislation the South has always won. It has
played with loaded dice,—loaded with Slavery. [Laughter.] The trick of the
Automaton Chess-Player, so long an incomprehensible marvel, has been repeated,
with similar success. Let the Free States make a move on the board, and the
South says, "Check !” [“Hear! hear!"] Let them strive for Free Trade,
as they did once, and the cry is, "Check!" Let them jump towards
Protection, and it is again, "Check!" Let them move towards Internal
Improvements, and the cry is still, "Check!" Whether forward or
backward, to the right or left, wherever they turn, the Free States are pursued
by an inexorable "Check!" But the secret is now discovered. Amid the
well-arranged machinery which seemed to move the victorious chess-player is a living
force, only recently discovered,—being none other than the Slave Power. It is
the Slave Power which has been perpetual victor, saying always,
"Check!" to the Free States. As this influence is now disclosed, it
only remains that it should be openly encountered in the field of politics. [A
voice, “That is the true way.”]
Such is our cause.
It is not sectional; for it simply aims to establish under the National
Government those great principles of Justice and Humanity which are broad and
universal as Man. It is not aggressive; for it does not seek in any way to
interfere through Congress with Slavery in the States. It is not contrary to
the Constitution; for it recognizes this paramount law, and in the
administration of the Government invokes the spirit of its founders. It is not
hostile to the quiet of the country; for it proposes the only course by which
agitation can be allayed, and quiet be permanently established. And yet there
is an attempt to suppress this cause, and to stifle its discussion.
Vain and wretched
attempt! [A band of music in the street here interrupted the speaker.]
I am willing to stop
for one moment, if the audience will allow me, that they may enjoy that music.
[Several voices, "Go on! go on!" Another voice, "We have better
music here." After a pause the speaker proceeded.]
Fellow-citizens, I
was saying that it is proposed to suppress this cause, and to stifle this
discussion. But this cannot be done. That subject which more than all other
subjects needs careful, conscientious, and kind consideration in the national
councils, which will not admit of postponement or hesitation, which is allied
with the great interests of the country, which controls the tariff and causes
war, which concerns alike all parts of the land, North and South, East and
West, which affects the good name of the Republic in the family of civilized
nations, the subject of subjects, has now at last, after many struggles, been
admitted within the pale of legislative discussion. From this time forward it
must be entertained by Congress. It will be one of the orders of the day. It
cannot be passed over or forgotten. It cannot be blinked out of sight. The
combinations of party cannot remove it. The intrigues of politicians cannot
jostle it aside. There it is, in towering colossal proportions, filling the very
halls of the Capitol, while it overshadows and darkens all other subjects.
There it will continue, till driven into oblivion by the irresistible Genius of
Freedom. [Cheers.]
I am not blind to
adverse signs. The wave of reaction, after sweeping over Europe, has reached
our shores. The barriers of Human Rights are broken down. Statesmen, writers,
scholars, speakers, once their uncompromising professors, have become
professors of compromise. All this must be changed. Reaction must be stayed.
The country must be aroused. The cause must again be pressed, with the fixed
purpose never to moderate our efforts until crowned by success. [Applause.] The
National Government, everywhere within its proper constitutional sphere, must
be placed on the side of Freedom. The policy of Slavery, which has so long
prevailed, must give place to the policy of Freedom. The Slave Power, fruitful
parent of national ills, must be driven from its supremacy. Until all this is
done, the friends of the Constitution and of Human Rights cannot cease from
labor, nor can the Republic hope for any repose but the repose of submission.
Men of all parties
and pursuits, who wish well to their country, and would preserve its good name,
must join now. Welcome here the Conservative and the Reformer for our cause
stands on the truest Conservatism and the truest Reform. In seeking the reform
of existing evils, we seek also the conservation of the principles handed down
by our fathers. Welcome especially the young! To you I appeal with confidence.
Trust to your generous impulses, and to that reasoning of the heart, which is
often truer, as it is less selfish, than the calculations of the head.
[Enthusiasm.] Do not exchange your aspirations for the skepticism of age. Yours
is the better part. In the Scriptures it is said that "your young men
shall see visions and your old men. shall dream dreams"; on which Lord
Bacon has recorded the ancient inference, "that young men are admitted
nearer to God than old, because vision is a clearer revelation than a dream."5
It is not uncommon
to hear people declare themselves against Slavery, and willing to unite in
practical efforts. Practical is the favorite word. At the same time, in the
loftiness of pharisaic pride, they have nothing but condemnation, reproach, or
contempt for the earnest souls that have striven long years in this struggle.
To such I would say, If you are sincere in what you declare, if your words are
not merely lip-service, if in your heart you are entirely willing to join in
practical effort against Slavery, then, by life, conversation, influence, vote,
disregarding "the ancient forms of party strife," seek to carry the
principles of Freedom into the National Government, wherever its jurisdiction
is acknowledged and its power can be felt. Thus, with out any interference with
the States which are beyond this jurisdiction, may you help to efface the blot
of Slavery from the National brow.
Do this, and you
will most truly promote that harmony which you so much desire. And under this
blessed influence tranquillity will be established throughout the country.
Then, at last, the Slavery Question will be settled. Banished from its usurped
foothold under the National Government, Slavery will no longer enter, with
distracting force, into national politics, making and unmaking laws, making and
unmaking Presidents. Confined to the States, where it is left by the
Constitution, it will take its place as a local institution, if, alas! continue
it must, for which we are in no sense responsible, and against which we cannot
exert any political power. We shall be relieved from the present painful and
irritating connection with it, the existing antagonism between the South and
the North will be softened, crimination and recrimination will cease, and the
wishes of the Fathers will be fulfilled, while this Great Evil is left to all
kindly influences and the prevailing laws of social economy.
To every laborer in
a cause like this there are satisfactions unknown to the common political
partisan. Amidst all apparent reverses, notwithstanding the hatred of enemies
or the coldness of friends, he has the consciousness of duty done. Whatever may
be existing impediments, his also is the cheering conviction that every word
spoken, every act performed, every vote cast for this cause, helps to swell
those quickening influences by which Truth, Justice, and Humanity will be
established upon earth. [Cheers.] He may not live to witness the blessed
consummation, but it is none the less certain.
Others may dwell on
the Past as secure. Under the laws of a beneficent God the Future also is
secure, on the single condition that we labor for its great objects.
[Enthusiastic applause.]
The language of
jubilee, which, amidst reverse and discouragement, burst from the soul of
Milton, as he thought of sacrifice for the Church, will be echoed by every one
who toils and suffers for Freedom. "Now by this little diligence,"
says the great patriot of the English Commonwealth, "mark what a privilege
I have gained with good men and saints, to claim my right of lamenting the
tribulations of the Church, if she should suffer, when others, that have
ventured nothing for her sake, have not the honor to be admitted mourners. But
if she lift up her drooping head and prosper, among those that have something
more than wished her welfare, I have my charter and freehold of rejoicing to me
and my heirs.6 We, too, may have our charter and freehold of
rejoicing to ourselves and our heirs, if we now do our duty.
I have spoken of
votes. Living in a community where political power is lodged with the people,
and each citizen is an elector, the vote is an important expression of opinion.
The vote is the cutting edge. It is well to have correct opinions, but the vote
must follow. The vote is the seed planted; without it there can be no sure
fruit. The winds of heaven, in their beneficence, may scatter the seed in the
furrow; but it is not from such accidents that our fields wave with the golden
harvest. He is a foolish husbandman who neglects to sow his seed; and he is an
unwise citizen, who, desiring the spread of good principles, neglects to deposit
his vote for the candidate who is the representative of those principles.
Admonished by
experience of timidity, irresolution, and weakness in our public men,
particularly at Washington, amidst the temptations of ambition and power, the
friends of Freedom cannot lightly bestow their confidence. They can put trust
only in men of tried character and inflexible will. Three things at least they
must require the first is backbone; the second is backbone; and the third is
backbone. [Loud cheers.] My language is homely; I hardly pardon myself for
using it; but it expresses an idea which must not be forgotten. When I see a
person of upright character and pure soul yielding to a temporizing policy, I
cannot but say, He wants backbone. When I see a person talking loudly against
Slavery in private, but hesitating in public, and failing in the time of trial,
I say, He wants backbone. When I see a person who coöperated with Antislavery
men, and then deserted them, I say, He wants backbone. ["Hear!
hear!"] When I see a person leaning upon the action of a political party,
and never venturing to think for himself, I say, He wants backbone. When I see
a person careful always to be on the side of the majority, and unwilling to
appear in a minority, or, if need be, to stand alone, I say, He wants backbone.
[Applause.] Wanting this, they all want that courage, constancy, firmness,
which are essential to the support of PRINCIPLE. Let no such man be trusted.
[Renewed applause.]
For myself,
fellow-citizens, my own course is determined. The first political convention
which I ever attended was in the spring of 1845, against the annexation of
Texas. I was at that time a silent and passive Whig. I had never held political
office, nor been a candidate for any. No question ever before drew me to any
active political exertion. The strife of politics seemed. to me ignoble. A
desire to do what I could against Slavery led me subsequently to attend two
different State Conventions of Whigs, where I coöperated with eminent citizens
in endeavor to arouse the party in Massachusetts to its Antislavery duties. A
conviction that the Whig party was disloyal to Freedom, and an ardent
aspiration to help the advancement of this great cause, has led me to leave
that party, and dedicate what of strength and ability I have to the present
movement. [Great applause.]
To vindicate
Freedom, and oppose Slavery, so far as I may constitutionally,—with
earnestness, and yet, I trust, without personal unkindness on my part, is the
object near my heart. Would that I could impress upon all who now hear me something
of the strength of my own convictions! Would that my voice, leaving this
crowded hall to-night, could traverse the hills and valleys of New England,
that it could run along the rivers and the lakes of my country, lighting in
every heart a beacon-flame to arouse the slumberers throughout the land!
[Sensation.] In this cause I care not for the name by which I am called. Let it
be Democrat, or "Loco-foco," if you please. No man in earnest will
hesitate on account of a name. Rejoicing in associates from any quarter, I
shall be found ever with that party which most truly represents the principles
of Freedom. [Applause.] Others may become indifferent to these principles,
bartering them for political success, vain and short-lived, or forgetting the
visions of youth in the
dreams of age.
Whenever I forget them, whenever I become indifferent to them, whenever I cease
to be constant in maintaining them, through good report and evil report, in any
future combinations of party, then may my tongue cleave to the roof of my
mouth, may my right hand forget its cunning! [Cheers.]
And now as I close,
fellow-citizens, I return in thought to the political election with which I began.
If from this place I could make myself heard by the friends of Freedom
throughout the Commonwealth, I would give them for a rallying-cry three words,
— FREEDOM, UNION, VICTORY!
The peroration was
received with the most earnest applause, followed by cries of "Three
cheers for Charles Sumner!" "Three cheers for Phillips and
Walker!" "Three cheers for Horace Mann and the cause!"
_______________
1 Diary, December 18, 1765: Works, Vol. II. p
154.
2 History of New England (ed. Savage), 1645,
Vol. II. p. 229.
3 An eloquent French critic says, among other
things, of this greatest picture of Tintoretto, that "no painting
surpasses, or perhaps equals" it, and that, before seeing it, "one
can have no idea of the human imagination." (Taine, Italy, Florence, and
Venice, tr. Durand, pp. 314, 316.) Some time after this Speech an early copy or
sketch of this work fell into Mr. Sumner's hands, and it is now a cherished
souvenir of those anxious days when the pretensions of Slavery were at their
height.
4 Le Vicomte d'Orthez à Charles IX.:
D'Aubigné, Histoire Universelle, Part. II. Liv. I. ch. 5, cited by Sismondi,
Histoire des Français, Tom. XIX. p. 177, note. I gladly copy this noble letter.
"Sire, j'ai communiqué le commandement de Votre Majesté ses fidèles
habitans et gens de guerre de la garnison; je n'y ai trouvé que bons citoyens
et braves soldats, mais pas un bourreau. C'est pourquoi eux et moi supplions
très humblement Votre dite Majesté vouloir employer en choses possibles,
quelque hasardeuses qu'elles soient, nos bras et nos vies, comme étant, autant
qu'elles dureront, Sire, vôtres."
5 Essays, XLII. Of Youth and Age.
6 The Reason of Church Government, Book II.,
Introduction: Prose Works, ed. Symmons, Vol. I. p. 117.
SOURCES: Edward L.
Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 228-9;
Charles Sumner, The Works of Charles
Sumner, Volume 2, p. 398-424
