Part 30

“Hic ubi collecti satrapæ Stygis et tenebrarum, Consedere duces, et gutture sibila rauco Edidit antiquus serpens.”[362]

He commands the death of the Macedonian king before his plans can be executed. Treason rises and proposes poison. All Hell applauds; and Treason, in disguise, fares forth to instruct the agent. The whole scene suggests sometimes Dante and sometimes Milton. Each was doubtless familiar with it. Meanwhile Alexander returns to Babylon. The universe is in suspense, not knowing to which side he will direct his arms. From all quarters ambassadors come to his feet. In the pride of power he is universal lord. At a feast, surrounded by friends, he drinks the fatal cup. His end approaches, showing to the last grandeur and courage. The poet closes, as he began, with salutation to his patron.

* * * * *

Such is the sketch of a curiosity of literature. It is interesting to look upon this little book, which for a time played so considerable a part; to imagine the youthful students once nurtured by it; to recognize its relations to an age when darkness was slowly yielding to light; to note its possible suggestions to great poets who followed, especially to Dante; and to behold it lost from human knowledge, and absolutely forgotten, until saved by a single verse, which, from its completeness of form and its proverbial character, must live as long as the Latin language. The verse does not occupy much room; but it is a sure fee-simple for the poet. And are we not told by an ancient, that it is something, in whatsoever place or corner, to have made one’s self master of a spot big enough for a single lizard?

“Est aliquid, quocumque loco, quocumque recessu, Unius sese dominum fecisse lacertæ.”[363]

A poem of ten books shrinks to a very petty space. There is a balm of a thousand flowers, and here a single hexameter is the express essence of many times a thousand verses. It was the jest of Hamlet, conversing with Horatio in the churchyard, that the noble Alexander, returning to dust and loam, had stopped a bung-hole. But the memorable poem celebrating him, while reduced as much, may be put to far higher and more enduring use.

MORAL.

At the conclusion of a fable there is a moral, or, as sometimes called, the application. There is a moral now, or, if you please, the application. And, believe me, in these serious days, I should have little heart for literary diversion, if I did not hope to make it help those just principles which are essential to the well-being, if not the safety, of the Republic. To this end I have written. This article is only a long whip with a snapper.

Two verses rescued from the wreck of a once popular poem have become proverbs, and one of these is very famous. They inculcate clemency, and the common sense found in not running upon one danger to avoid another. Never was the lesson more needed than now, when, in the name of clemency to belligerent traitors, the National Government is preparing to abandon the freedman, to whom it is bound by the most sacred ties,--is preparing to abandon the national creditor also, with whose security the national welfare is indissolubly associated,--and is even preparing, without probation or trial, to invest belligerent traitors, who for four bloody years have murdered our fellow-citizens, with those Equal Rights in the Republic which are denied to friends and allies, so that the former shall rule over the latter. Verily, here is a case for common sense.

The lesson of clemency is of perpetual obligation. Thanks to the mediæval poet for teaching it! Harshness is bad. Cruelty is detestable. Even justice may relent at the prompting of mercy. Fail not, then, to cultivate the grace of clemency. Perhaps no scene in history is more charming than that of Cæsar, who, after vows against an enemy, listened calmly to the appeal for pardon, and, listening, let the guilty papers fall from his hand. Early in life he had pleaded in the Senate for the lives of conspirators; and afterwards, when supreme ruler of the Roman world, practised the clemency he had once defended, except where enemies were incorrigible, and then he knew how to be rigorous and firm. By example we are instructed; and from the great master of clemency we may well learn that the general welfare must not be sacrificed to this indulgence. And also from the Divine Teacher we may learn, that, even while forgiving enemies, there are Scribes and Pharisees to be exposed, and money-changers who must be scourged from the temple. But with us are Scribes and Pharisees, and there are also criminals, worse than any money-changers, now trying to establish themselves in the very temple of our Government.

Cultivate clemency. But consider well what is embraced in this charity. It is not required that you surrender the Republic into the hands of pardoned criminals. It is not required that you surrender friends and allies to the tender mercies of these same pardoned criminals. Clearly not. Clemency has limitations; and when it transcends these, it ceases to be a virtue, and is only a mischievous indulgence. Of course, one of these limitations, never to be disregarded, is _the general security_, which is the first duty of Government. No pardon can be allowed to imperil the nation; nor can any pardon be allowed to imperil those rightfully looking to us for protection. There must be no vengeance upon enemies; but there must be no sacrifice of friends. And here is the distinction never to be forgotten. _Nothing for vengeance; everything for justice._ Follow this rule, and the Republic will be safe and glorious. Words attributed to Marcus Aurelius in a letter to his colleague in empire, Lucius Verus, are worthy to be repeated now by the chief of the Republic:--

“Ever since the Fates Placed me upon the throne, two aims have I Kept fixed before my eyes; and they are these,-- Not to revenge me on my enemies, _And not to be ungrateful to my friends_.”[364]

It is easy for the individual to forgive. It is easy, also, for the Republic to be generous. But forgiveness of offences must not be a letter of license to crime; it must not be recognition of an ancient tyranny, and it must not be stupendous ingratitude. There is a familiar saying, with the salt of ages, that is addressed to us now: “Be just before you are generous.” Be just to all before you are generous to the few. Be just to the millions _only half rescued_ from oppression, before you are generous to their cruel taskmasters. Do not imitate that precious character in the gallery of old Tallemant des Réaux, “who built churches without paying his debts.” Our foremost duties now are to pay our debts, and these are twofold,--first, to the national freedman, and, secondly, to the national creditor.

Apply these obvious principles practically. A child can do it. No duty of clemency can justify injustice. Therefore, in exercising the beautiful power of pardon at this moment, several conditions must be observed.

1. As a general rule, belligerent traitors, who have battled against the country, must not be permitted _at once_, without probation or trial, to resume old places of trust and power. Such a concession would be clearly against every suggestion of common sense, and President Johnson doubtless saw it so, when, addressing his fellow-citizens of Tennessee, June 9, 1864, he said: “I say that traitors should take a back seat in the work of restoration. If there be but five thousand men in Tennessee loyal to the Constitution, loyal to freedom, loyal to justice, these true and faithful men should control the work of reorganization and reformation absolutely.”[365] Let belligerent traitors be received slowly and cautiously back into the sovereignty of citizenship. Better that they should wait than the general security be imperilled, or our solemn obligations, whether to the national freedman or the national creditor, impaired.

2. Especially are we bound, by every obligation of justice and by every sentiment of honor, to see that belligerent traitors, who have battled against their country, are not allowed to rule the constant loyalists, whether white or black, embracing the recent freedmen, our friends and allies.

3. Let pardons issue only on satisfactory assurance that the applicant, who has been engaged for four years in murdering our fellow-citizens, shall sustain the Equal Rights, civil and political, of all men, according to the principles of the Declaration of Independence; that he shall pledge himself to the support of the national debt; and, if he be among the large holders of land, that he shall set apart homesteads for all his freedmen.

Following these simple rules, clemency will be a Christian virtue, and not a perilous folly.

* * * * *

The other proverb has its voice also, saying plainly, Follow common sense, and do not, while escaping one danger, rush upon another. You are now escaping from the whirlpool of war, which threatened to absorb and ingulf the Republic. Rush not upon the opposite terror, where another shipwreck of a different kind awaits you, while Sirens tempt with “song of death.” Take warning: _Seeking to escape Charybdis, do not drive upon Scylla_.

Alas! the Scylla on which the Republic now drives is that old rock of _concession and compromise_ which from the beginning has been a constant peril. It appeared in the Convention that framed the National Constitution, and ever afterwards, from year to year, showed itself in Congress, until at last the Oligarchy, nursed by our indulgence, rebelled. And now that the war is over, it is proposed to invest the same Rebel Oligarchy with a new lease of immense power, involving control over loyal citizens, whose fidelity to the Republic has been beyond question. Here, too, are Sirens, in the shape of belligerent traitors, suing softly that the Republic may be lured to the old concession and compromise. _Alas, that, escaping Charybdis, we drive upon Scylla!_

The Oligarchy conducted all its operations in the name of State Rights, and in this name it rebelled. And when the Republic sought to suppress the Rebellion, it was replied, that a State could not be coerced. Now that the Rebellion is overthrown, and a just effort is made to obtain that “security for the future” without which the war will have been in vain, the same cry of State Rights is raised, and we are told again that a State cannot be coerced,--as if the same mighty power which directed armies upon the Rebellion could be impotent to exact all needful safeguards. To overcome these pretensions, and stamp _E Pluribus Unum_ ineffaceably upon the Republic, we contended in war; and now we surrender again to these tyrannical pretensions. Escaping from war, we drive upon the opposite peril,--_as from Charybdis to Scylla_.

Again, we are told gravely, that the national power which decreed Emancipation cannot maintain it by assuring universal enfranchisement, because an imperial government must be discountenanced,--as if the whole suggestion of “imperialism” or “centralism” were not out of place until the national security is established, and our debts, whether to the national freedman or the national creditor, are placed where they cannot be repudiated. A phantom is created, and, to avoid this phantom, we drive towards concession and compromise,--_as from Charybdis to Scylla_.

Again, we are reminded that military power must yield to the civil power and to the rights of self-government. Therefore the Rebel States must be left to themselves, each with full control over all, whether white or black, within its borders, and empowered to keep alive a Black Code abhorrent to civilization and dangerous to liberty. Here, again, we drive from one peril upon another. Every exercise of military power is to be regretted, and yet there are occasions when it cannot be avoided. War itself is the transcendent example of this power. But transition from war to peace must be assured by all possible safeguards. Civil power and self-government cannot be conceded to belligerent enemies until after the establishment of “security for the future.” Such security is an indispensable safeguard, without which there will be new disaster. Therefore, in escaping from military power, care must be taken not to run upon the opposite danger,--_as from Charybdis to Scylla_.

Again, it is said solemnly, that “we must trust each other”; which, being interpreted, means that the Republic must proceed at once to trust belligerent enemies who have for long years murdered our fellow-citizens. Of course, this is only another form of surrender. In trusting them, we concede political power, including license to oppress loyal persons, whether white or black, and especially the freedmen. For four years we have met them in battle; and now we run to trust them, and commit into their keeping the happiness and well-being of others. There is peril in trusting such an enemy, more even than in meeting him on the field. God forbid that we drive now upon this rock,--_as from Charybdis to Scylla_!

The true way is easy. Follow common sense. Seeking to avoid one peril, steer clear of another. Consider how everything of worth or honor is bound up with the national security and the national faith,--and that, until these are fixed beyond change, agriculture, commerce, and industry of all kinds must suffer. Capital cannot stay where justice is denied. Emigration must avoid a land blasted by the spirit of caste. Cotton itself will refuse to grow until labor is assured its just reward. By natural consequence, the same Barbarism which has drenched the land in blood will continue to prevail, with wrong, outrage, and the insurrections of an oppressed race; the national name will be dishonored, and the national power weakened. But the way is plain to avoid these calamities. _Follow common sense; and obtain guaranties commensurate with the danger._ Do this without delay, so that security and reconciliation may not be postponed. Every day’s delay is a loss to the national wealth and an injury to the national treasury. But if adequate guaranties cannot be obtained at once, then at least _postpone all present surrender to the Oligarchy_, trusting meanwhile to Providence for protection, and to time for that awakened sense of justice and humanity which must in the end prevail. And, finally, _be careful not to drive, under any pretence, from Charybdis to Scylla_.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Appleton’s Annual Cyclopædia, 1864, art., _Diplomatic Correspondence_, pp. 364-366.

[2] Quæstiones Juris Publici, tr. Du Ponceau, Lib. I. cap. 8.

[3] Commentaries on American Law, Vol. I. p. 117.

[4] International Law, pp. 517, 520.

[5] Writings, Vol. III. p. 548.

[6] To M. de Ternant, May 15, 1793: Jefferson’s Writings, Vol. III. p. 561.

[7] Vol. VI. pp. 348, 352, July 23, 1814.

[8] Froude, History of England (London, 1863), Vol. VIII. pp. 481-483.

[9] Motley, History of the Netherlands, Vol. II. pp. 284, 285.

[10] Cussy, Phases et Causes Célèbres du Droit Maritime des Nations, Tom. II. p. 60.

[11] Le Droit des Gens, Liv. III. ch. 7, § 132.

[12] Émérigon, Traité des Assurances (Marseille, 1783), Tom. I. p. 500, Ch. 12, § 23. See, also, Azuni, Droit Maritime de l’Europe (Paris, An VI.), Tom. II. p. 306, note, Part. II. ch. 4, art. 4, § 5.

[13] Cussy, Phases et Causes Célèbres du Droit Maritime, Tom. II. pp. 70, 71.

[14] Ibid., Tom. II. p. 71.

[15] Cussy, Phases et Causes Célèbres du Droit Maritime, Tom. II. p. 70.

[16] Executive Documents, 37th Cong. 3d Sess., Senate, No. 4.

[17] Cussy, Phases et Causes Célèbres, Tom. II. pp. 222-224.

[18] Ibid., p. 238.

[19] Ibid., p. 240.

[20] Cussy, Phases et Causes Célèbres, Tom. II. pp. 81, 82.

[21] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, Vol. III. pp. 6, 183, 499, 500.

[22] Thiers, Histoire du Consulat et de l’Empire, Tom. VIII. Liv. 28, pp. 185-199.

[23] Niles’s Register, Vol. VI. pp. 338-344, 347-353. Porter’s Journal (New York, 1822), Ch. XVIII.

[24] Wheaton’s Elements of International Law, ed. Lawrence, note 217, p. 721. Executive Documents, 32d Cong. 2d Sess., Senate, No. 24. Cussy, Phases et Causes Célèbres, Tom. II. p. 82.

[25] Harris’s Life of Bainbridge, pp. 157, 158.

[26] Executive Documents, 25th Cong. 3d Sess., H. of R. No. 183. Webster’s Works, Vol. V. p. 116; Vol. VI. pp. 261, 300.

[27] Cussy, Phases et Causes Célèbres, Tom. II. p. 370.

[28] Memoirs of George II., Vol. II. p. 378.

[29] Letter to Sir Horace Mann, December 13, 1759: Letters of Horace Walpole, ed. Cunningham, (London, 1857,) Vol. III. p. 271.

[30] Hautefeuille, Des Droits et des Devoirs des Nations Neutres (2me édit.), Tom. I. p. 329.

[31] Mahon’s History of England, Vol. IV. p. 148; Appendix, pp. xxxv-xxxviii.

[32] Mahon, History of England, Vol. IV., Appendix, pp. xxxvii-xli.

[33] Desoteux, Mémoires sur l’Administration de Pombal, Tom. II. p. 13.

[34] Annual Register, 1762, p. 220.

[35] Juvenal, Sat. II. 24.

[36] Annuaire des Deux Mondes, 1862-63, pp. 920-926. See also Parliamentary Papers for 1863, Vol. LXXIII., where Earl Russell’s note is without an offensive clause which appears in the French authority.

[37] Annuaire des Deux Mondes, 1862-63, p. 925.

[38] MS. Letter of Henry A. Hopner, Lynn, December 2, 1864.

[39] Reciprocity Treaty: Executive Documents, 36th Cong. 1st Sess., H. of R., No. 96, pp. 28, 29.

[40] Navigation of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes: Reports of House Committees, 34th Cong. 1st Sess., No. 316, p. 10.

[41] Reciprocity Treaty: Reports of House Committees, 38th Cong. 1st Sess., No. 39, p. 6.

[42] Foreign and Domestic Commerce: Executive Documents, 38th Cong. 1st Sess., Senate, No. 55, p. 93.

[43] Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward, March 23, 1865: Papers relating to Foreign Affairs, 39th Cong. 1st Sess.: Diplomatic Correspondence, 1865-66, Part I. p. 258.

[44] Andrew Fletcher, of Saltoun: Preface to Political Works (Glasgow, 1749), p. viii.

[45] Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, Vol. II. § 1838; Ware _v._ Hylton, 3 Dallas, R., 261. See also, _ante_, Speech on the Abrogation of Treaties, Vol. V. pp. 102, 103.

[46] 2 Black, R., 671.

[47] Diplomatic Correspondence, 1865-66, Part I. p. 164: Papers relating to Foreign Affairs, 39th Cong. 1st Sess.

[48] Writings, ed. Sparks, Vol. III. pp. 59, 60.

[49] Commentaries on American Law, Vol. I. p. 94.

[50] International Law, p. 296.

[51] Le Droit des Gens, Liv. II. ch. 18, § 339.

[52] Ibid., Liv. III. ch. 8, § 155.

[53] General Orders, Adjutant General’s Office, 1863, No. 100.

[54] Instructions, Sec. I. art. 27.

[55] Commentaries upon International Law, Vol. III. p. 149, Part IX. ch. 8, § 103.

[56] Letter to Mr. Murray, Rome, May 9, 1817: Moore’s Life of Byron (London, 1847), p. 355.

[57] De l’Esprit des Lois, Liv. I. ch. 3.

[58] Speech in Faneuil Hall, January 9, 1865: Boston Daily Advertiser, January 10, 1865; Orations and Speeches, Vol. IV. pp. 757, 758.

[59] Ben Jonson, The Fox, Act II. Sc. 6.

[60] Executive Documents, 38th Cong. 2d Sess., H. of R., No. 32, pp. 1, 2.

[61] Inferno, tr. Wright, Canto XXXIII. 85-87.

[62] _Ante_, Vol. III. p. 51.

[63] That question was then under discussion. _Ante_, Vol. X. pp. 336, 337.

[64] Acts of the General Assembly of New Jersey, 1831-2, p. 80.

[65] Memorial of the Executive Committee of the Delaware and Raritan Canal and Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Companies: Documents accompanying the Governor’s Message to the Legislature of New Jersey, October, 1841: Proceedings of the General Assembly, 1841-2, pp. 29, 30.

[66] Memorial of the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company: Ibid., p. 32.

[67] American State Papers, Post-Office Department, p. 15.

[68] Gibbons _v._ Ogden, 9 Wheaton, R., 195.

[69] United States _v._ Coombs, 12 Peters, S. C. R., 78.

[70] 7 Howard, R., 400.

[71] Ibid., 462, 464.

[72] State of Pennsylvania _v._ Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company: 18 Howard, R., 421.

[73] Statutes at Large, Vol. XII. pp. 569, 570.

[74] Commentaries on the Constitution, Vol. II. § 1134.

[75] Commentaries on the Constitution, Vol. II. § 1144.

[76] Statutes at Large, Vol. XII. p. 334.

[77] Acts of the General Assembly of New Jersey, 1830-31, p. 75.

[78] Commentaries on the Constitution, Vol. II. § 1146.

[79] Ibid., § 1136.

[80] Commentaries on the Constitution, Vol. II. § 1131.

[81] The West River Bridge Company _v._ Dix et al., 6 Howard, R., 507.

[82] Abridgment of American Law, Appendix to Vol. IX. p. 10.

[83] Yates’s Minutes, June 29, 1787: Elliot’s Debates (2d edit.), Vol. I. p. 461.

[84] Ibid., p. 464.

[85] Madison’s Debates, July 7, 1787: Madison Papers, Vol. II. p. 1049.

[86] Madison’s Debates, September 12, 1787.

[87] Hawkins, Pleas of the Crown, Book I. ch. 79, sec. 1.

[88] Works, Vol. VI. p. 8.

[89] Works, Vol. VI. p. 11.

[90] Ibid., pp. 9, 10.

[91] Annual Message, December 31, 1855.

[92] Dred Scott _v._ Sandford, 19 Howard, R., 407.

[93] Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, Vol. III. pp. 49, 84.

[94] Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, Vol. X. p. 452, Appendix.

[95] Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., 2d Ser. Vol. VIII. p. 184.

[96] Historical Magazine, June, 1864, Vol. VIII. pp. 195, 197: first printed Boston, 1700.

[97] Washburn, Judicial History of Massachusetts, p. 202.

[98] Commonwealth _v._ Aves, 18 Pickering, R., 209.

[99] Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Vol. I. p. 243.

[100] Act to prevent the Importation of Negroes and Indians, June 7, 1712: Laws, ed. Dallas (Philadelphia, 1797), Vol. I. p. 93; Archives, ed. Hazard, Vol. I. pp. 160, 162.

[101] Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery: Laws, ed. Dallas, Vol. I. p. 838.

[102] Dred Scott _v._ Sandford, 19 Howard, R., 572, 573.

[103] State _v._ Manuel, 4 Devereux & Battle, R., 25.

[104] Journals of Congress, Vol. III. p. 503; Vol. IV. pp. 379, 380.

[105] Hoare’s Memoirs of Granville Sharp (London, 1820), p. 157.

[106] Letter to a Friend, February 26, 1791; Journal, February 12, 1772; Thoughts upon Slavery, V. 5: Works (New York, 1856), Vol. VII. p. 237; Vol. IV. p. 366; Vol. VI. p. 292.

[107] Rights of the British Colonies, p. 43.

[108] Address (Philadelphia, 1773, 2d edit.), with a Vindication of the same, pp. 8, 15, 52.

[109] Letter to Robert Pleasants, January 18, 1773: Goodell’s Slavery and Antislavery, p. 70, note.

[110] Notes on Virginia, Query XVIII.

[111] Clarkson, History of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade (Philadelphia, 1808), Ch. V., Vol. I. p. 112.

[112] Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of the Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends against Slavery and the Slave-Trade (Philadelphia, 1843), p. 8.

[113] Notices of Negro Slavery as connected with Pennsylvania, by Edward Bettle: Mem. Hist. Soc. Penn., Vol. I. pp. 366, 367.

[114] Brief Statement, p. 43.

[115] A Testimony against that Anti-Christian Practice of making Slaves of Men: Macy’s History of Nantucket, p. 279.

[116] Memoirs of Benjamin Lay and Ralph Sandiford, by Roberts Vaux, pp. 29, 64. Goodell, Slavery and Antislavery, p. 40.

[117] Clarkson, Vol. I. p. 113. Brief Statement, p. 17.

[118] Clarkson, Vol. I. p. 119. Brief Statement, p. 30.

[119] Brief Statement, pp. 43-56.

[120] Ibid., p. 47.

[121] Brief Statement, p. 50.

[122] Ezekiel, xxii. 29. Brief Statement, p. 53.

[123] History of the United States, Vol. IV. p. 176.

[124] Records of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, from 1716 to 1788, (Philadelphia, 1841,) p. 540.

[125] Goodell, Slavery and Antislavery, p. 108.

[126] Newport Church Records, March 5, 1784: Memoir of Dr. Hopkins, prefixed to his Works, ed. Parks, (Boston, 1854,) Vol. I. p. 157.

[127] Slavery of the Africans, a Dialogue: Works, Vol. II. p. 552.

[128] Sermon on the Injustice and Impolicy of the Slave-Trade, and of the Slavery of the Africans, September 15, 1791.