Part 14

May Congress not say that every black man must fight? Did we not see a little of this last war?… Have they not power to provide for the general defence and welfare? May they not think that these call for the abolition of Slavery? May they not pronounce all slaves free? And will they not be warranted by that power? This is no ambiguous implication or logical deduction. The paper speaks to the point.--PATRICK HENRY. _Debates in the Virginia Convention on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution_: Elliot’s Debates, Vol. III. p. 590.

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The natural strength of the country, in point of numbers, appears to me to consist much more in the blacks than in the whites. Could they be incorporated and employed for its defence, it would afford you double security. That they would make good soldiers I have not the least doubt.--MAJOR-GENERAL NATHANAEL GREENE, _Letter to Governor Rutledge_: Johnson’s Life of Greene, Vol. II. p. 274.

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The anxiety which prevailed so extensively was restored by the Proclamation of Emancipation, at last put forth by the President, September 22, 1862. Besides enjoining obedience to the Acts of Congress already passed against Slavery, it declared:--

“That, on the first day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”[108]

The work was completed by the final proclamation of January 1, 1863.[109]

There was an echo to these proclamations throughout the country, and also from the Rebel States. The _Richmond Whig_ said of the first: “It is a dash of the pen to destroy four millions of our property, and is as much as a bid for the slaves to rise in insurrection, with the assurance of aid from the whole military and naval power of the United States.” In another article, it spoke of “the fiends of the new programme.” These feelings, after debate in the Rebel Congress, found vent in the following terms.

“That, in the judgment of Congress, the proclamations of the President of the United States, dated respectively September twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and January first, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and the other measures of the Government of the United States, and of its authorities, commanders, and forces, designed or tending to emancipate slaves in the Confederate States, or to abduct such slaves, or to incite them to insurrection, or to employ negroes in war against the Confederate States, or to overthrow the institution of African Slavery and bring on a servile war in these States, would, if successful, produce atrocious consequences, and they are inconsistent with the spirit of those usages which in modern warfare prevail among civilized nations; they may, therefore, be properly and lawfully repressed by retaliation.”[110]

The earlier proclamation caused a thrill in Massachusetts. Earnest people, who had longed for it, were rejoiced and comforted. At the invitation of his fellow-citizens, Mr. Sumner consented to address them at Faneuil Hall, in response to the proclamation.

The proceedings at this crowded meeting, which was held at noon, are copied from the newspapers of the day.

The meeting was called to order by George S. Hale, Esq., Chairman of the Ward and City Committee, who submitted the following list of names for the officers of the meeting.

_President_,--William Claflin, of Newton.

_Vice-Presidents_,--Francis B. Crowninshield, Alexander H. Bullock, Julius Rockwell, Peleg W. Chandler, Oakes Ames, John Gardner, Lee Claflin, Robert W. Hooper, James M. Barnard, Francis B. Fay, Jacob Sleeper, Edward S. Tobey, Stephen H. Phillips, Waldo Higginson, Samuel May, John Nesmith, William J. Rotch, Eliphalet Trask, Martin Brimmer, Henry I. Bowditch, Gerry W. Cochrane, Charles H. Parker, Charles O. Whitmore, John D. Baldwin, John R. Brewer, John M. S. Williams, James P. Thorndike, Samuel Hall, Artemas Lee, Robert B. Storer, Julius A. Palmer, John L. Emmons, William I. Bowditch, Abel G. Farwell, Alvah Crocker, Otis Norcross, John J. May, Phineas E. Gay, Nathan Cushing, Robert C. Pitman, Alexander H. Twombly, Warren Sawyer, James Adams, Moses Kimball, Theodore Otis, Alvah A. Burrage, David Snow, Edwin Lamson, John Demeritt, John M. Forbes, William Washburn, Arba Maynard, Joseph T. Bailey, Osborn Howes, Daniel Farrar, John Chandler, John Q. A. Griffin, Robert E. Apthorp, William Bellamy, Alexander Wadsworth, Edward Buffinton, Nehemiah Boynton, Phineas J. Stone, William B. Spooner, Frederick Nickerson, P. Emory Aldrich, Abijah W. Farrar, William Pope, Charles C. Barry, Timothy W. Hoxie, Avery Plumer, Ephraim Allen, J. Warren Merrill, Peter B. Brigham, George F. Williams, Pliny Nickerson, John A. Nowell, Arthur W. Tufts, Roland Worthington, John Bertram, Frank B. Fay, J. Ingersoll Bowditch, William Endicott, Jr., Edward Atkinson, Nathaniel C. Nash, Franklin Snow, J. Wingate Thornton, Samuel Johnson, Edward A. Raymond, Albert L. Lincoln, Francis E. Parker, Charles O. Rogers, William Fox Richardson, John G. Webster, Leister M. Clark, Chester Guild, Jr., Estes Howe, William Brigham.

_Secretaries_,--William S. Robinson, Delano A. Goddard, Stephen N. Stockwell, William W. Clapp, Jr., Hamlin R. Harding, H. Burr Crandall, Henry M. Burt, Ebenezer Nelson, George H. Monroe, Stephen N. Gifford.

On taking the chair, Mr. Claflin was received with great applause. He spoke as follows.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,--None of you can be more disappointed at the present time than myself, that I am called upon to occupy this position.

“At the last moment we were informed that his Excellency the Governor[111] was compelled by the duties of his position, and his desire ever to do for the interests of those brave men who have gone forth for our defence, to leave the State, and to leave us to-day in your hands. [_Applause._]

“Under these circumstances, and at the last moment, by the desire of the Committee of Arrangements, I consented to occupy this position; but you will, of course, excuse me from making any remarks on this occasion. My heart is in the cause. This is a great era, and this is the time when every man should come up to the work and fight for this nation, doing everything which he can, whether by his purse or his sword, to sustain the Government. [_Cheers._]

“Thanking you for the honor you have conferred upon me, I now await any motion which may be made.”

Resolutions sustaining Emancipation were then read by Charles W. Slack, and, amidst cries of “Good!” and great applause, were adopted.

The President then said:--

“I now introduce to you Massachusetts’--ay, Boston’s--honored son. I need not praise him, I need not eulogize him; but I will simply say, it is CHARLES SUMNER.”

The enthusiasm that followed Senator Sumner’s stepping on the platform was not surpassed by anything that has been seen in the Hall since Senator Webster took the same place on _his_ return from Washington years ago. The air below was dark with waving hats, and along the galleries white with fluttering kerchiefs. When the applause subsided, a colored man cried out, “God bless Charles Sumner!” in an earnest, trembling, “tearful” voice, and the applause was renewed.

The meeting is described as “of much enthusiasm on the part of the overflowing audience that gathered and tried to gather within the ancient walls.”

A few sentences from the London _Morning Star_ will show how this effort was recognized at a distance.

“The Massachusetts Senator has lately had a meeting with his constituents. Fragments and summaries of his speech at Faneuil Hall have found their way into most English newspapers. Let the sympathizers with the South produce, if they can, from their side of Mason and Dixon’s line, any utterance to compare with it in all the qualities that should commend human speech to human audience.…

“This representative of a powerful community addresses to his fellow-citizens considerations upon the conduct of a war in which they and he are more deeply interested than any English constituency has been in any war which England has waged since the days of Cromwell. It is such a speech as Hampden might have spoken in Buckinghamshire, or Pym in the Guildhall. It treats both of principles and policy,--of the means of success, and of the ends which can alone sanctify the struggle or glorify success. It breathes throughout the spirit of justice and of freedom.…

“Throughout his public life, Mr. Sumner has held the same doctrines, expressed the same spirit.… He is the leader of a party, as well as the representative of the first New England State, and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Congress. Too advanced a thinker and too pure a politician for office in a Cabinet undecided on the Slavery Question, he has pioneered its way and shaped its conclusions. Is he not a man whose name should check the blustering apologists of Slavery and Secession?… The Rebellion is just such a blow at the Union as Preston Brooks struck at Charles Sumner; and yet there are English hands and voices to applaud the deed, as worthy heroes of patriotism and civilization.”

In urging Emancipation, Mr. Sumner always felt, that, besides sustaining the cause of justice, he was helping our country with foreign nations.

SPEECH.

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF MASSACHUSETTS:--

Meetings of the people in ancient Athens were opened with these words: “May the gods doom to perdition that man, and all his race, who, on this occasion, shall speak, act, or contrive anything against the Commonwealth!” With such an imprecation all were summoned to the duties of the citizen. But duties become urgent in proportion to perils. If ever there were occasion for these solemn words, it is now, when the country is in danger, when the national capital itself is menaced, when all along the loyal border, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Territories west of the Mississippi, barbarian hordes, under some Alaric of Slavery, are marshalling forces, and death is knocking at the doors of so many happy homes. If ever there was occasion when country might claim the best and most self-forgetful effort of all, it is now. Each in his way must act. Each must do what he can: the youthful and strong by giving themselves to the service; the weak, if in no other way, by scraping lint. Such is the call of patriotism. The country must be saved.

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Among omens which I hail with gladness is the union now happily prevailing among good men in support of the Government, whether State or National,--forgetting that they were Democrats, forgetting that they were Whigs, and disregarding old party names, to remember only the duties of the citizen. Another sign, not less cheering, is the generous devotion which all among us of foreign birth offer to their adopted country. Germans fight as for fatherland, and Irishmen fight as for loved Erin; nor can our cause be less dear to the latter, now that the spirit of Grattan and O’Connell has entered into it.

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Surely this is no time for the strife of party. Its jealousies and antipathies are now more than ever irrational. Its clamors of opposition are now more than ever unpatriotic. Unhappily, there are some to whom its bitter, unforgiving temper has become so controlling, that, even at this moment, they would rather enlist to put down a political opponent than to put down the rebel enemy of their country,--they would rather hang Henry Wilson or John A. Andrew than hang Jefferson Davis or Robert Toombs. Such persons, with all their sweltered venom, are found here in Massachusetts. Assuming the badge of “No Party,” they are ready for any party, new or old, by which their prejudices may be gratified,--thus verifying the pungent words of Colonel Benton: “Wherever you will show me a man with the words ‘No Party’ in his mouth, I will show you a man that figures at the head or dangles at the tail of the most inveterate party that ever existed.” Of course, such persons are not expected to take part in a meeting like the present, which seeks to unite rather than divide, while it rallies all to the support of the President, and to that policy of Freedom he has proclaimed.

Thank God that I live to enjoy this day! Thank God that my eyes have not closed without seeing this great salvation! The skies are brighter and the air is purer now that Slavery is handed over to judgment.

By the proclamation of the President, all persons held as slaves January 1, 1863, within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. Beyond these most effective words, which do not go into operation before the new year, are other words of immediate operation, constituting a present edict of Emancipation. The President recites the recent Acts of Congress applicable to this question, and calls upon all persons in the military and naval service to observe, obey, and enforce them. But these Acts provide that all slaves of Rebels, taking refuge within the lines of our army, all slaves captured from Rebels or deserted by them, and all slaves found within any place occupied by Rebel forces and afterwards occupied by forces of the United States, shall be forever free of servitude, and not again held as slaves; and these Acts further provide, that no person in the military or naval service shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of any claim to a slave, or surrender any such person to his claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service: so that by these Acts, now proclaimed by the President, Freedom is practically secured to all who find shelter within our lines, and the glorious flag of the Union, wherever it floats, becomes the flag of Freedom.

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Thank God for what is already done, and let us all take heart as we go forward to uphold this great edict! For myself, I accept the Proclamation without note or comment. It is enough for me, that, in the exercise of the War Power, it strikes at the origin and mainspring of this Rebellion; for I have never concealed the conviction that it matters little where we strike Slavery, provided only that we strike sincerely and in earnest. So is it all connected, that the whole must suffer with every part, and the words of the poet will be verified, that,--

“whatever link you strike, Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.”

On this most interesting occasion, so proper for gratitude, it is difficult to see anything but the cause; and yet, appearing before you on the invitation of a Committee of the Commonwealth, I must not forget that I owe this privilege to my public character as Senator of Massachusetts. In this character I have often been invited before; but now the invitation has more than accustomed significance; for, at the close of a long period of public service, it brings me face to face with my constituents. In a different condition of the country, I could not decline the opportunity of reviewing the relations between us,--of showing, at least, how you took me from private station, all untried, and gave me one of your highest trusts, and how this trust was enhanced by the generosity with which you sustained me against obloquy and vindictive assault, especially by your unparalleled indulgence to me throughout a protracted disability,--and perhaps, might I be so bold, of presenting for your consideration some sketch of what I have attempted, conscious, that, if not always successful, I have been at all times faithful to cherished convictions, and faithful also to your interests, sparing nothing of time or effort, and making up by industry for any lack of ability, so that, during a service of more than eleven years, I have never once visited home while Congress was in session, or been absent for a single day, unless when suffering from that disability to which I have referred, and during the session which has just closed, filled with most laborious duties from beginning to end, I was not out of my seat a single hour. But this is no time for such a review. I have no heart for it, while my country is in danger. And yet I shall not lose the occasion to challenge the scrutiny of all, even here in this commercial metropolis, where the interests of business are sometimes placed above all other interests. Frankly and fearlessly I make my appeal. In all simplicity, I ask you to consider what I have done as your servant, whether in the Senate or out of the Senate, in matters of legislation or of business. If there is any one disposed to criticize or complain, let him be heard. Let the whole record be opened, and let any of the numerous visitors who have sought me on business testify. I know too well the strength of my case to shrink from any inquiry, even though stimulated by the animosity of political warfare.[112]

But there are two accusations, often repeated, to which I reply on the spot; and I do so with less hesitation, because the topics are germane to this debate. The first is, that from my place in the Senate I early proclaimed Slavery to be Barbarism. Never shall the cause of Freedom go by default, if I can help it; and I rejoice, that, on that occasion, in presence of the slaveholding conspirators vaunting the ennobling character of Slavery, I used no soft words. It is true, that, in direct reply to most offensive assumptions, I proclaimed Slavery barbarous in origin, barbarous in law, barbarous in all its pretensions, barbarous in the instruments it employs, barbarous in consequences, barbarous in spirit, barbarous wherever it shows itself,--while it breeds barbarians, and develops everywhere, alike in the individual and the society to which he belongs, the essential elements of barbarism. It is true, that, on the same occasion, I portrayed Slavery as founded in violence and sustained only by violence, and declared that such a wrong must, by sure law of compensation, blast the master as well as the slave, blast the land on which they live, blast the community of which they are part, blast the government which does not forbid the outrage, and the longer it exists, and the more completely it prevails, must its blasting influence penetrate the whole social system. Was I not right? Since then the testimony is overwhelming. A committee of the Senate has made a report, extensively circulated, on the barbarities of this Rebellion. You know the whole story to which each day testifies. It is in some single incident that you see the low-water mark of social life; and I know nothing in which the barbarism of Slavery is more completely exhibited than in the fate of our brave soldiers, dug up from honorable graves, where at last they had found rest, that their bones might be carved into keepsakes and their skulls into drinking-cups to gratify the malignant hate of Slave-Masters.

The other accusation is similar in character. It is said that I have too often introduced the Slavery Question. At this moment, seeing what Slavery has done, I doubt if you will not rather say that I have introduced it too seldom. If, on this account, I neglected any single interest of my constituents, if I was less strenuous whenever foreign relations or manufactures or commerce or finances were involved, if I failed to take my part in all that concerns the people of Massachusetts and in all embraced within the manifold duties of a Senator, then, indeed, I might be open to condemnation. But you will not regret that your representative, faithful in all other things, was ever constant and earnest against Slavery, and that he announced from the beginning the magnitude of the question, and our duties with regard to it. Say what you will, the slave is the humblest and the grandest figure of our times. What humility! what grandeur! both alike illimitable! In his presence all other questions are so petty, that for a public man to be wrong with regard to him is to be wholly wrong. How, then, did I err? The cause would have justified a better pertinacity than I can boast. In the Senate of Rome, the elder Cato, convinced that peace was possible only by the destruction of Carthage, concluded all his speeches, on every matter of debate, by the well-known words: “But whatever you may think of the question under consideration, this I know, Carthage must be destroyed.” I have never read that the veteran Senator was condemned for the constancy of his patriotic appeal. With stronger reason far, I, too, might always have cried, “This I know, Slavery must be destroyed,”--_Delenda est Servitudo_. But, while seeking to limit and constrain Slavery, I never proposed anything except in strictest conformity with the Constitution; for I always recognized the Constitution as my guide, which I was bound in all respects to follow.[113]

Such are accusations to which I briefly reply. Now that we are all united in the policy of Emancipation, they become of little consequence; for, even if I were once alone, I am no longer so. With me are the loyal multitudes of the North, now arrayed by the side of the President, where, indeed, I have ever been.

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If you will bear with me yet longer in allusions which I make with reluctance, I would quote, as my unanswerable defence, the words of Edmund Burke, when addressing his constituents at Bristol.