Part 25

4. Irreversible guaranties cannot be obtained by _oaths_. All oaths are uncertain. It has been said, “The strongest oaths are straw.” Political oaths have become a proverb, whether in England or France. They have been taken freely, and have been broken without hesitation. The Milanese, in reply to the Emperor Barbarossa, said, “You had our oath, but we never swore to keep it.” Our Rebels are openly taught the same duplicity. They have been told authoritatively, that the oath was unconstitutional, and therefore not binding; and so they take it easily. But who can find a guaranty in such a performance? A Swedish priest lately poisoned the sacramental wine; and so these counsellors have poisoned this sacred obligation. But if an oath be taken, it must not stop with support of the Proclamation of Emancipation. It must embrace all those other objects of guaranty, including especially the national freedman and the national creditor. Each of these will be a test of loyalty. But at a moment like the present, at the close of a ferocious rebellion, when hatred and passion are only pent up and not extinguished, an oath is little better than a cotton thread to hold a frigate scourged by a northwester. The Hollanders might as well undertake to swear each individual wave that beats upon their coast. They did better. They made dikes. “Gone to swear a peace,” says Constance, most scornfully, as she denounced an oath of pretended reconciliation. And shall we be content when our Rebels merely “swear a peace”?

5. Irreversible guaranties cannot be obtained by _pardons_. It is enough to state the proposition; for all must see at once that rights will be very uncertain, if with no protection except the gratitude of a pardoned Rebel. A jail-delivery is not a guaranty. Such a breakwater would be impotent against the malignant sea. Without accepting absolutely the dogma of Cardinal Mazarin, that human beings are governed more through hope than gratitude, it is clear, that, until security is won, we cannot afford to part with any influence or agency through which control may be established. Mercy is a beautiful prerogative, exercised always with inexpressible delight; but on this account we must guard against its fascination, and not, in the generous luxury, imperil a whole community. This is very clear. A pardon is in form an act of grace, but in reality a letter of license. This is all. It leaves the criminal free to renew his crime, whether by force or guile. It has in it no single point of security. As well defend a citadel by kisses or by flowers.

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Such are some of the modes to be rejected. And now, in the second place, consider the ways in which guaranties may be obtained.

1. _Time is necessary._ There must be no precipitation. Time is the gentlest, but most powerful revolutionist. Time is the surest reformer. Time is peacemaker. Time is necessary to growth, and it is an element of change. For thirty years and more this wickedness was maturing. Who can say that the same time will not be needed to mature the conditions of permanent peace? Who can say that a generation must not elapse before these Rebel communities have been so far changed as to become safe associates in a common government? Plainly, this cannot be wrought at once. Wellington exclaimed at Waterloo, “Would that night or Blücher were come!” Time alone was substitute for a powerful ally. It was more through time than battle that La Vendée was changed to loyalty. Time, therefore, we must have. Through time all other guaranties may be obtained; but time itself is a guaranty.

2. _Meanwhile follow Congress in the present exclusion of Rebels from political power._ They must not be voted for, and they must not vote. On this principle I take my stand. Let them buy and sell; let them till the ground; and may they be industrious and successful. These things they may do; but they must not be admitted at once into the copartnership of our Government. As well might the respectable banker reïnstate his son at once in the firm he has betrayed, and invest him again with all the powers of a partner. The father received his son with parental affection, and forgave him; but he did not invite the criminal to resume his former desk in Wall Street. And yet the son, who had robbed and forged on an unprecedented scale, is as worthy of trust in the old banking-house as one of our Rebels in the government of the country. A long probation will be needed before either can be admitted to former fellowship. The state of outlawry is the present condition of each, and this condition must not be hastily relaxed.

Congress has already set the example by excluding from “any office of honor or profit under the Government of the United States,” and also by excluding, as attorney or counsellor, from any court of the United States, every person who has voluntarily given “aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement” to the Rebellion, or who has “sought or accepted any office whatever” under it, or who has yielded to it any “voluntary support.” By this and the supplementary Act,[244] all Rebels are debarred from holding office under the United States, or from practising in the courts of the United States. This exclusion, thus sanctioned by Congress, must be the pole-star of our national policy. If Rebels cannot be officers under our Government, they ought not to be voters. They should be politically disfranchised, purely and simply as a measure of necessary precaution, and in order to prepare the way for those guaranties which we seek. “Vipers cannot use their venom in the cold.” These are words of political wisdom, as of scientific truth; and a great Italian writer did not hesitate to inculcate from them the same lesson that I do now.

3. Surely, recent Rebels, who led in secession, and held office under the Rebellion, are poor professors to rally these communities to the support of the national freedman and the national creditor, and generally to the establishment of the guaranties essential to safety. Reason and experience warn us to postpone trust in such persons. Overcome in battle, they wrap themselves in a mantle of loyalty, tied by an oath, as

“they who, to be sure of Paradise, Dying, put on the weeds of Dominic, Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised.”

But character is not changed in a day; and that “Southern heart,” which was “fired” against the Union, still preserves its vindictive violence. Even if for a moment controlled, who can tell how long it will continue in this mood? There is an ancient well-known fable, where a cat was transformed into a beautiful woman; but, on the night of her marriage, hearing the sound of a mouse, she sprang from bed with all her original feline nature. And so a Rebel, transformed by political necromancy into a loyalist, will suddenly start in full cry to run down a national freedman or national creditor. So strong is nature. Horace tells us, “Drive it out with a pitchfork, and it will return.” Therefore do I insist, put not political trust in the man who has been engaged in warring upon his country. I ask not his punishment. I would not be harsh. There is nothing humane that I would reject. Nothing in hate. Nothing in vengeance. Nothing in passion. I am for gentleness. I am for a velvet glove; but for a while I wish the hand of iron. I confess that I have little sympathy with those hypocrites of magnanimity whose appeal for the Rebel master is only a barbarous indifference towards the slave; and yet they cannot more than I desire the day of reconciliation. To this end I am with them, _so far as is consistent with safety_; but I cannot see my country sacrificed to a false idea. Pardon, if you will. Nobody shall outdo me in clemency. But do not trust the Rebel politically. The words of Shakespeare are not too strong to picture the danger of such attempt:--

“Thou may’st hold a serpent by the tongue, A chafèd lion by the mortal paw, A fasting tiger safer by the tooth, Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold.”

4. In obtaining guaranties we must rely upon acts rather than professions, and light our footsteps by “the lamp of experience.” Therefore we turn from recent rebels to _constant loyalists_. This is only ordinary prudence. As those who fought against us should be for the present disfranchised, so those who fought for us should be at once enfranchised, and thus a renovated state will be built secure on an unfaltering and natural loyalty. For a while the freedman will take the place of the master, verifying the saying that the last shall be first and the first shall be last. In the pious books of the East it is declared that the greatest mortification at the Day of Judgment will be when the faithful slave is carried to Paradise and the wicked master is sent to Hell; and this same reversal of conditions appears in the Gospel, where Dives is exhibited as suffering the pains of damnation while the beggar of other days is sheltered in Abraham’s bosom. Therefore, in organizing this change, we follow divine justice. Surely nobody can doubt that Robert Small, the heroic slave who carried a Rebel steamer to our fleet and then became our pilot, deserves more of the Republic than a South Carolina official occupied at that very time as commissioner to regulate impressments in the Rebel army. To accept the latter and to reject the former will be not only the height of injustice, but the height of meanness. It will be a deed “to make heaven weep, all earth amazed.”

5. Still further, in obtaining guaranties we must _look confidently to Congress_, which has plenary powers over the whole subject. Congress can do everything needful. It has already begun by excluding Rebels from office. It must continue its jurisdiction; whether through the war powers, or the duty to guaranty a republican form of government, or the necessity of the case, as in Territories, is a matter of little importance. It is of less importance under which of its powers this is done than that it is done. Continuing its jurisdiction, Congress must supervise and fix the conditions of order, so that the National Security and National Faith shall not suffer. Here is a sacred obligation which cannot be postponed.

6. All these guaranties should be completed and crowned by _an Amendment of the Constitution of the United States_, especially providing that hereafter there shall be no denial of the electoral franchise or any exclusion of any kind on account of race or color, but all persons shall be equal before the law. At this moment, under a just interpretation of the Constitution, three fourths of the States actually coöperating in the National Government are sufficient for this change. The words of the Constitution are, that Amendments shall be valid to all intents and purposes, “when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States,” or, according to practical sense, _by three fourths of the States that have Legislatures_. If a State has no Legislature, it cannot be counted in determining this quorum, as it is not counted in determining the quorum of either House of Congress, where precisely the same question occurs. Any other interpretation recognizes the Rebellion, and plays into its hands, by conceding its power, through rebellious contrivance, to prevent an Amendment of the Constitution essential to the general welfare.

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Such are practical points to be observed in obtaining the much needed guaranties. Congress will soon be in session; and to its courageous conduct, in the exercise of unquestionable powers, we all look with hope and trust. Meanwhile the President, as commander-in-chief, has large military powers, which may be exercised without control until the meeting of Congress. To him I now appeal. Speaking from this platform, surrounded by this concourse of his friends, and giving voice to the sentiments of my heart, in harmony with the sentiments of Massachusetts, I cannot fail in respect or honor, while I address him with that plainness which belongs to republican institutions:--

Sir, your power is vast. A word from you may make an epoch. It may advance at once the cause of Universal Civilization, or quicken anew the Satanic energies of a fearful barbarism. It may give assurance of security and reconciliation for the future, or it may scatter uncertainty and distrust, while it postpones that _Truce of God_ which is the longing of our hearts. As your power is vast, so is your responsibility. Act, we entreat you, so that our country may have no fresh sorrow. Do not hazard Emancipation, which is the day-star of our age, and the special jewel in the crown of your martyred predecessor, by any concession to its enemies. Do not put in jeopardy all that we hold most dear, by untimely attempt to bring back into the national copartnership any of those ancient associates who have warred upon their country. Let them wait. You have said that treason is “crime,” and not merely difference of opinion. Do not let the criminals bear sway. The patriot dead cry out against such surrender, and all their wounds bleed afresh. Congress has set the example, by declaring that no person engaged in the Rebellion shall hold office. For the present, follow Congress. Follow the Constitution also, which knows no distinction of color, and do not sacrifice a whole race by resuscitating an offensive Black Code, inconsistent with the National Security and the National Faith. There also is the Declaration of Independence, which now shines like the sun in the heavens, rejoicing to penetrate every by-way and every cabin, if you will not stand in its light. Let it shine, until the Republic has completely dispelled that disgusting pretension which is at once a stupendous monopoly and an impious caste. Above all, do not take from the loyal black man and give to the disloyal white man; do not confiscate the political rights of the freedman, who has shed his blood for us, and lavish them upon his Rebel master. And remember that justice to the colored race is the sheet-anchor of the national credit.

Speaking always with the same frankness, I ask leave to address the Secretary of War very briefly:--

Sir, there is yet room for your energies. That region won to Union and Liberty by the victory you organized must not be allowed to lapse under its ancient masters, the perjured assertors of property in man. It must not be abandoned. Let it be held by arms until it smiles with the charities of life, and all its people are guarded by an impenetrable shield.

And still speaking with equal plainness, I venture to press one controlling consideration upon the Secretary of the Treasury:--

Sir, you are the guardian of the national finances. Use the peculiar influence belonging to this position so that nothing shall be done to impair the National Credit. See to it especially that no person is admitted to political power in any Rebel community who spurns the National Faith, sacredly plighted to the national freedman as well as to the national creditor. Such is the ordinance of Providence, that the fortunes of the two are joined inseparably together. Credit is sensitive. It needs that all the resources of the country should be brought into activity,--that agriculture should be fostered, that commerce should be revived, that emigration should be encouraged; but this cannot be done without that _security_ which is found in equal laws and a contented people. The farmer, the merchant, the emigrant must each feel secure. Land, capital, and labor are of little value, except on this essential condition. The loyal people who have contributed so much, and now hold your bonds, trust that this essential condition will not fail through any failure on your part, and that you will not consent to open a political volcano, spouting smoke and red-hot lava, in an extended region whose first necessity is peace. There is an order in all things; and any concession to the criminal enemies of our country, until after the confirmation of the National Security and the National Faith, is simply an illustration, on a gigantic scale, of the cart before the horse.

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For myself, fellow-citizens, pardon me, if I say that my course is fixed. Many may hesitate; many may turn away from those great truths which make the far-reaching brightness of the Republic; many may seek a temporary favor by untimely surrender: I shall not. The victory of blood, which has been so painfully won, must be confirmed by a greater victory of ideas, so that the renowned words of Abraham Lincoln may be fulfilled, and “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of Freedom; and government of the people, _by the people_, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”[245] To this end I seek no merely formal Union, seething with smothered curses, but a practical, moral, and political Unity, founded on common rights, knit together by common interests, inspired by a common faith, and throbbing with a common love of country,--where our Constitution, interpreted anew, shall be a covenant with Life and a league with Heaven,[246] and Liberty shall be everywhere not only a right, but a duty. John Brown, on his way to the scaffold, stooped to take up a slave child. That closing example was the legacy of the dying man to his country. That benediction we must continue and fulfil. The last shall be first; and so, in this new order, Equality, long postponed, shall become the master principle of our system and the very frontispiece of our Constitution. The Rebellion was to beat down this principle, by founding a government on the alleged inferiority of a race. The attempt has failed, but not, alas! the insolent assumption of the conspirators. Pursuing our victory, I now insist that this assumption shall be trampled out. A righteous government cannot be founded on any exclusion of race. This is not the first time that I have battled with the barbarism of Slavery. I battle still, as the bloody monster retreats to its last citadel; and, God willing, I mean to hold on, if it takes what remains to me of life.

APPENDIX.

The appearance and condition of Andrew Johnson before the Senate, and representatives of foreign powers, when taking the oath as Vice-President, March 4, 1865, was not calculated to inspire general confidence. But, in the absence of further display of the same kind, the public had become silent, hoping something better. The memory of that incident threw a shadow over the great office he was called to assume. Some were favorably affected by the avowals of patriotism in numerous off-hand speeches, although touching but a single chord. Nothing was said of the great principles of Reconstruction, but treason was to be made “odious.” The repetition of himself impressed Chief Justice Chase, as well as Mr. Sumner, and he said to the latter, “Let us see the President, and try to give him another topic.” So, in company, at an early hour of the evening, about a week after the commencement of his Presidency, they called, and united in urging him to say something for the equal rights of our colored fellow-citizens. Though reserved in language, he was not unsympathetic in manner, so that, after the interview, the Chief Justice, on reaching the street, said: “Did you see how his face lighted at your appeal to carry out the Declaration of Independence?” A few days later Mr. Sumner called alone, and received from the President positive assurance of agreement on the suffrage question. His words were, “On this question, Mr. Sumner, there is no difference between us,--you and I are alike.” An account of these interviews, and the sequel, was subsequently given in an address at Boston, October 2, 1866.

Very soon it was too apparent that the President had adopted an opposite course. States were to be hurried back by Presidential prerogative on the electoral basis anterior to the war. Mr. Sumner from the beginning had regarded the votes of colored fellow-citizens necessary to a proper reconstruction,--first, as an act of justice to them, and, secondly, as a counterpoise to the disloyal. He had urged this solution in the Senate, and had repeatedly presented it to President Lincoln. The Diary of Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, according to an article published by him,[247] shows how Mr. Sumner pressed this duty in the most intimate councils. It appears that this Secretary was at the War Department, Sunday evening, April 16th, the day after President Lincoln’s death, where he met Speaker Colfax, Mr. Covode, the very earnest Representative from Pennsylvania, Messrs. Dawes and Gooch, Representatives of Massachusetts, and Mr. Sumner. After stating that Mr. Stanton read to them the drafts of orders for the reorganization of Virginia and North Carolina, the article proceeds:--

“Before concluding that which related to North Carolina, Mr. Sumner interrupted the reading, and requested Mr. Stanton to stop until he could understand whether any provision was made for enfranchising the colored man. Unless, said he, the black man is given the right to vote, his freedom is mockery.

“Mr. Stanton said there were differences among our friends on that subject, and it would be unwise, in his judgment, to press it in this stage of the proceedings.

“Mr. Sumner declared he would not proceed a step, unless the black man had his rights. He considered the black man’s right to vote the essence, the great essential.”

In conformity with this declaration Mr. Sumner continued to act, as appears in correspondence and speech. His Eulogy on President Lincoln, at the request of the municipal authorities of Boston, was an appeal for the black man. So also was his private correspondence, during this summer, with Secretary Stanton, Secretary McCulloch, Secretary Welles, Secretary Harlan, and Attorney-General Speed, all of the Cabinet.

Meanwhile the President went forward in his “policy.” The country was alarmed. Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, the acknowledged leader of the House of Representatives, partook of the anxiety which ensued. Though not yet prepared to press the ballot for all, he was strenuous against the assumption and precipitation of the President.

As early as May 10th he wrote to Mr. Sumner, from Philadelphia:--

“I see the President is precipitating things. Virginia is recognized. I fear before Congress meets he will have so bedevilled matters as to render them incurable. It would be well, if he would call an extra session of Congress. But I almost despair of resisting Executive influence.”

This was followed by another letter, under date of June 3d, from Caledonia, Penn., where were his iron-works:--

“Is it possible to devise any plan to arrest the Government in its mad career? When will you be in Washington? Can’t we enlist bold men enough to lay the foundation of a party to take the helm of this Government and keep it off the rocks?”

Then, under date of June 14th, another, also from Caledonia:--

“Is there no way to arrest the insane course of the President in ‘reorganization’? Can you get up a movement in Massachusetts? I have thought of trying it in our State Convention. If something is not done, the President will be crowned king before Congress meets. How absurd his interfering with the internal regulations of the States, and yet considering them as ‘States in the Union’!”

Also, under date of August 17th, from Caledonia:--