Part 5

MR. PRESIDENT,--The proposition to terminate the Reciprocity Treaty has been mystified in various ways. There has been mystification because it came from the Committee on Foreign Relations, as if that committee, to which are referred all treaties and questions with foreign powers, was not the proper committee to consider it, according to the usages and traditions of the Senate. Pray, what other committee could so justly deal with it?

There has also been illusiveness in argument, by accumulation of statistics and figures without end. We have been treated to calculations, showing the increase of commerce since the treaty, and also the relative increase of exports and imports. To these calculations I am no stranger; but, after careful study, I am satisfied that it is impossible to find in them any _terra firma_ on which to stand. They are little better than quicksand, or a deceptive mirage.

In the remarks which I submitted to the Senate yesterday I declined to dwell on these calculations, for I saw, that, while involving large amounts, they were uncertain, inconclusive, and inapplicable. With one theory of political economy they seemed to point one way, and with another to point another way. If, for instance, you accept the early theory that commerce is disadvantageous where imports exceed exports, they tell against the treaty; but if you accept the opposite theory of later writers, they tell the other way. All this assumes that they are applicable. But nobody is able to show that the general increase of commerce since the treaty has been caused by the treaty. Other agencies have had their influence; and it is difficult to say what is due to them, and what to the treaty.

In this uncertainty, I prefer to rest the proposition on the simple ground that the national revenue is impaired by this treaty. Authentic figures place this beyond controversy.

I forbear now all details, and content myself with stating the indubitable conclusion. The national revenue is impaired in two ways: first, at the custom-house on our frontier, which, under the operation of the treaty, yields little or nothing, when it might yield much; and, secondly, it is impaired through the check and embarrassment the treaty causes in our internal taxation. There is failure of duties and of excise. It is not enough to say that there is a countervailing advantage in the increase of our commerce. The conclusion is none the less exact, that the national revenue is impaired. And the question is distinctly presented, whether, at this critical moment, in a period of war, when the whole country in its wealth and labor is contributing to the support of Government, any good reason can be assigned why the commerce of Canada should be exempt from contribution. Commerce elsewhere, manufactures, business, income, tea, coffee, books, all pay tribute. The tax-gatherer is everywhere except on the Canadian frontier. At home there is not an interest, hardly a sentiment, free from taxation. Surely there is nothing in the recent conduct of Canadians to make us treat them better than we treat ourselves.

There is another consideration which is decisive, even if others fail. In view of existing Public Opinion, and considering the criticisms of the treaty, it is important that our relations with Canada should be carefully revised in the light of experience. The treaty, in authorizing its termination at the end of ten years, has anticipated this very exigency. But such revision cannot be made advantageously without the proposed notice. In the case of a lease, with a right to terminate it at the end of ten years on a year’s notice, the landlord, if the character of the lease had been called in question, would not hesitate to give the notice, if for no other reason, that he might revise the terms anew on a footing of equality. For like reason we must give the notice to Great Britain. We must untie ourselves now, even if we would tie ourselves again for the future. The notice will leave us “master of the situation” to this extent at least, that we shall be free to act according to the requirements of the public good. Without this notice there will be no foothold for diplomacy or legislation; but the notice will be a foothold from which we may accomplish whatever is proper and just. The treaty may be reconsidered and then adopted anew, or it may be entirely changed, and we shall have a year for this purpose,--so that, when the Old expires, the New may begin.

The joint resolution directing the notice was adopted in the Senate,--Yeas 33, Nays 8,--and was at once adopted by the House of Representatives, and approved by the President January 18, 1865. It was then communicated by Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams, our minister at London, who, under date of March 17th, addressed a note to Earl Russell, “giving formal notice of the termination of the Reciprocity Treaty, and inclosing at the same time a certified copy of the resolution expressing the sense of both Houses of Congress on that subject.” Mr. Adams adds, in his letter to Mr. Seward: “This note was delivered by the messenger of this Legation at the Foreign Office at 2 P. M., notice of which was entered by him on the envelope, and also reported to me on his return. Not long afterwards I received from his Lordship his own acknowledgment of the reception of it.”[43]

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION AND EQUAL RIGHTS.

LETTER TO A PUBLIC MEETING IN PHILADELPHIA, DECEMBER 26, 1864.

SENATE CHAMBER, December 26, 1864.

DEAR SIR,--It will not be in my power to be present at the celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation by the Banneker Institute. But, wherever I may be, I shall not forget this great and good deed.

That proclamation has done more than any military success to save the country. It has already saved the national character. The future historian will confess that it saved everything.

It remains for us to uphold it faithfully, so that it may not be impaired a single jot or tittle.

In the spirit of the Proclamation, and taught by its example, we must press forward in the work of justice to the colored race, until abuse and outrage have ceased, and all are equal before the law.

The astronomer, Banneker, whose honored name you bear, would be shut out of the street cars in some of our cities; but such petty meanness cannot last long.

Accept my best wishes, and believe me, dear Sir, faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

THE COMMITTEE, &c.

FREEDOM OF WIVES AND CHILDREN OF COLORED SOLDIERS.

SPEECH IN THE SENATE, ON A JOINT RESOLUTION FOR THIS PURPOSE, JANUARY 5, 1865.

As early as January 8, 1864, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, embodied in a bill to promote enlistments a clause declaring, that, when any man or boy of African descent, owing service or labor in any State, under its laws, shall be mustered into the military or naval service of the United States, he and his mother, wife, and children shall be forever free. This bill was considered from time to time. March 18th, Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, moved to postpone the bill, “with a view that we may act upon the main proposition, the Amendment to the Constitution to abolish Slavery in the United States.” Mr. Sumner replied: “The Senator speaks about acting on ‘the main proposition.’ The main proposition, Sir, is to strike Slavery wherever you can hit it.” That session closed without final action on the question.

December 13, 1864, Mr. Wilson brought it forward again, in a joint resolution to encourage enlistments and promote the efficiency of the military and naval forces, by making free the wives and children of persons who had been or might be mustered into the service of the United States.

January 5, 1865, in the debate which ensued, Mr. Sumner said:--

MR. PRESIDENT,--Only a few days ago there was a call for three hundred thousand more troops. The country needs them, and it is the duty of Congress to supply them. To this end there must be no difficulty, impediment, or embarrassment in the way. All these must be removed. This is not all. There must be encouragement of every kind; and such is the character of the present proposition.

There can be no delay. The country cannot wait the slow action of Constitutional Amendment, as proposed by the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. DOOLITTLE]. Congress must act to the extent of its power, and any neglect of power on this question would be injurious to the public interests.

All will confess the humanity of the proposition to enfranchise the families of colored persons who have borne arms for their country. All will confess the hardship of continuing them in Slavery.

But the question is asked by many, and even by the Senator from Wisconsin, What power has Congress to set the families free?

MR. DOOLITTLE. I did not ask that question.

MR. SUMNER. The question has been put again and again, and the purport of the speech of the Senator was in that sense. He argued that we were about to have a Constitutional Amendment which would supersede everything; that therefore this proposition was unnecessary, if not injurious. I so understood the argument of the Senator, and that it pointed directly to the question of power,--because I know the patriotism of the Senator too well to suppose, that, if in his opinion the power of Congress was beyond doubt, he would hesitate. I do not do the Senator injustice. I say, then, the question is asked, What power has Congress to set the families free? This is the single point on which I shall express an opinion.

My answer is, that Congress has precisely the same power to enfranchise the families that it has to enfranchise the colored soldier. The two powers are coincident, and from the same source.

It is assumed that Congress may enfranchise the colored soldier. This has been done by solemn statute, without reference to the conduct of his pretended owner. If we are asked the reason for such enfranchisement, it must be found, first, in its practical necessity, that we may secure the best service of the slaves, and, secondly, in its intrinsic justice and humanity. In brief, Government cannot be so improvident and so foolish as to seek the service of the slave at the hazard of life, without securing to him the boon of freedom. Nor, if Government were so bereft of common sense as to forego this temptation to enlistment and efficient service, can it be guilty of the unutterable meanness of using the slave in the national defence and then returning him to bondage. Therefore the slave who fights is enfranchised.

But every argument, every consideration, which pleads for the enfranchisement of the slave, pleads also for the enfranchisement of the family. There is the same practical necessity for doing it, and the same unspeakable shabbiness in not doing it.

There is no principle of law better established than this, that an acknowledged right carries with it all incidents essential to its exercise. I do not employ technical language; but I give the idea, founded in reason and the nature of things. It would be vain to confer a right or a power, if the means for its enjoyment were denied. From this simple statement the conclusion is irresistible.

In conferring upon Congress the power to create an army, the Constitution conferred therewith all the powers essential to the exercise of the principal power. If Congress can authorize the enlistment of slaves, as it indubitably can, it may at the same time authorize their enfranchisement, and by the same reason it may authorize the enfranchisement of their families,--and all this from the necessity of the case, and to prevent an intolerable baseness.

A Scottish patriot, nearly two centuries ago, exclaimed in memorable words, which I am always glad to quote, that he would give his life to serve his country, but would not do _a base thing_ to save it.[44] If there be any value in this declaration, it may be invoked, when it is deliberately argued that the National Government can create an army, and in this service can enfranchise the slave it enlists, but is impotent to enfranchise his family. I know not how we can use his right arm and ask him to shed his blood in our defence, and then hand over his wife and child to bondage. The thought is too vile. The human heart rejects the insufferable wrong.

But it is said the slave has no family. Such is the argument of Slavery. For all that he has, as well as all that he is, even wife and child, belong to another. Surely this unrighteous pretension will not be made the apology for a denial of rights. If the family of the slave be not designated by law, or by the forms of legal marriage, _then it must be ascertained by the next best evidence possible_,--that is, by cohabitation and mutual recognition as man and wife. And any uncertainty in this evidence can only be regarded as a natural incident of Slavery. As men cannot take advantage of their own wrong, so slave-masters cannot take advantage of Slavery. Any other rule would practically unite with Slavery in denying to the slave wife and child.

There is a well-known French maxim, that “it is only the first step which costs”; and here permit me to say, it is only the first stage of the argument which merits attention. Concede that the soldier may be enfranchised, and then by the same constitutional power his family may be admitted to an equal liberty. Any other conclusion would be illogical as inhuman, discreditable alike to head and heart. There is no argument, whether of reason or humanity, for the enfranchisement of the soldier, which does not plead equally for that of his family. Nay, more,--I know not how we can expect a blessing on our arms while we fail to perform this duty.

I cannot close without declaring again my opinion, that Congress at this moment is complete master of the whole subject of Slavery everywhere in the United States, even without any Constitutional Amendment. It can sweep all out of existence, precisely as it can remove any other obstruction to the national defence, and all this by virtue of a power as indisputable as the power to raise armies or to suspend the _Habeas Corpus_. Future generations will read with amazement, that a great people, when national life was assailed, hesitated to exercise a power so simple and beneficent; and this amazement will know no bounds, as they learn that Congress higgled for months on the question whether the wives and children of our colored soldiers should be admitted to freedom.

January 9th, after further debate, the joint resolution passed the Senate,--Yeas 27, Nays 10. February 22d, it passed the House of Representatives,--Yeas 74, Nays 63; and March 3d, it was approved by the President.

MASSACRE OF THE CHEYENNE INDIANS.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON A JOINT RESOLUTION RELATING THERETO, JANUARY 13, 1865.

January 13th, the Senate considered a joint resolution reported by Mr. Harlan, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, in relation to the massacre of the Cheyenne Indians. It proposed to direct the Secretary of War to cause the suspension of all pay and allowances to each of the members of the Third Colorado Regiment, officers, privates, and employees, and all others engaged in the recent attack made on the Cheyenne Indians in their village near Fort Lyon, in the Territory of Colorado, under the command of Colonel Chivington, until the conduct of the colonel and the regiment, and all others engaged in that attack, should receive the approval of the Secretary of War; and he was to cause all ponies, blankets, money, jewels, furs, and other property captured from the Indians, to be seized and held for the use of the United States, or for restitution to the Indians, if it should hereafter appear that the attack was unjustifiable.

* * * * *

In the debate which ensued, Mr. Sumner said:--

MR. PRESIDENT,--Exceptional crimes require exceptional remedies. Here is an exceptional crime,--one of the most atrocious in the history of any country. There must be a remedy commensurate with the crime. And, Sir, the remedy, in order to be anything but a name, should be swift. It cannot wait the slow ceremony of ordinary proceedings. It must have promptitude such as can be imparted by the proposition now under consideration. I thank the Senator from Iowa for bringing it forward. Let us vote upon it, put it on its passage, speed it on its way; for only by doing so can we wash our hands of this blood.

The resolution was adopted without a division.

THE LATE HON. EDWARD EVERETT.

TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCH TO JOINT COMMITTEE OF THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS, JANUARY 16, 1865.

BOSTON, January 16, 1865.

TO HON. CHARLES SUMNER.

A Joint Committee of the Legislature invoke you to deliver a Eulogy upon Hon. Edward Everett before the State authorities at such time as meets your convenience during the session of the Legislature. Please answer at once by telegraph.

MOSES KIMBALL.

Mr. Sumner answered by telegraph as follows.

Sharing the general grief in the loss of a rare and pure patriot, I regret that public duties here seem to prevent me from uniting with the Legislature in the honors they propose to his memory. I am grateful to the Joint Committee for the opportunity they offer me of commemorating a great example of genius, learning, and eloquence, consecrated to patriotic service; but the probable session of the Senate and the exigencies of public business (which are always my first duty) make me fear that I cannot respond to their summons. I mention with hesitation, but to explain the rule which is with me obligatory, that, during my long term in the Senate, I have never left my seat for a single day, except while an invalid. Be good enough to accept my thanks and sympathies.

CHARLES SUMNER.

TERMINATION OF TREATIES BY NOTICE.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON A JOINT RESOLUTION TO TERMINATE THE TREATY OF 1817 REGULATING THE NAVAL FORCE ON THE LAKES, JANUARY 18, 1865.

January 18th, the Senate considered a joint resolution passed by the House of Representatives, for the termination of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain regulating the naval force on the Lakes.

The resolution, as it was passed by the House of Representatives, recited, that the Treaty of 1817, as to the naval force upon the Lakes, was designed as a temporary arrangement only, and, although equal and just at the time it was made, has become greatly unequal through the construction by Great Britain of sundry ship-canals,--that the vast interests of commerce upon the Northwestern Lakes, and the security of cities and towns situated on their American borders, manifestly require the establishment of one or more navy-yards wherein ships may be fitted and prepared for naval warfare,--and that the United States Government, unlike that of Great Britain, is destitute of ship-canals for the transmission of gunboats from the Atlantic Ocean to the Western Lakes,--and therefore proposed to direct the President of the United States to give notice to the Government of Great Britain that it is the wish and intention of the Government of the United States to terminate the arrangement of 1817, in respect to the naval force upon the Lakes, at the end of six months from and after giving the notice.

Mr. Sumner, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, reported the following substitute.

“JOINT RESOLUTION to terminate the Treaty of 1817, regulating the Naval Force on the Lakes.

“_Whereas_ the United States, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, of the other part, by a treaty bearing date April, 1817, have regulated the naval force upon the Lakes, and it was further provided, that, ‘if either party should hereafter be desirous of annulling this stipulation, and should give notice to that effect to the other party, it shall cease to be binding after the expiration of six months from the date of such notice’; and whereas the peace of our frontier is now endangered by hostile expeditions against the commerce of the Lakes, and by other acts of lawless persons, which the naval force of the two countries allowed by the existing treaty may be insufficient to prevent; and whereas, further, the President of the United States has proceeded to give the notice required for the termination of the treaty by a communication which took effect on the 23d November, 1864: Therefore,

“_Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That the notice given by the President of the United States to the Government of Great Britain and Ireland to terminate the Treaty of 1817, regulating the naval force upon the Lakes, is hereby adopted and ratified, as if the same had been authorized by Congress.”

The substitute was adopted, and the question was on the passage of the resolution as amended.

As appears from the amended resolution, the President had already given the notice for the termination of the treaty.

Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, opposed the resolution, on the ground that the notice to terminate a treaty can be given only by Congress,--that the President had no more power to give the notice than the Judiciary,--and that his interference with the legislative power ought to be condemned, instead of approved by adopting it.

Mr. Sumner replied, that the difference between the Senator and the Committee was of form; and he proceeded to read a communication, bearing date November 23, 1864, from Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, setting forth the grievances on our northern frontier, and giving formal notice, that, “in conformity with the treaty reservation of the right, at the expiration of six months from the date of this note the United States will deem themselves at liberty to increase the naval armament upon the Lakes, if in their judgment the condition of affairs in that quarter shall then require it.” On this note was minuted: “Delivered at the Foreign Office at fifteen minutes past six o’clock, P. M.” In considering the validity of the notice by the President, he referred to authorities, showing that a treaty, like a law, could be repealed only by the legislative power,[45] and argued that notice to terminate it must be given by the same power. Mr. Sumner further said:--