Part 13

To the unquestionable capacity of the African must be added simplicity, amenity, good-nature, generosity, fidelity. Mahometans, who know him well, recognize his superior fidelity. And such also is the report of travellers not besotted by Slavery, from Mungo Park to Livingstone, who testify also to tenderness for parents, respect for the aged, hospitality, and patriarchal virtues reviving the traditions of primitive life. “Strike me, but do not curse my mother,” said an African slave to his master.[177] And Leo Africanus, the early traveller, describes a chief at Timbuctoo, “very black in complexion, but most fair in mind and disposition.”[178] Others dwell on his Christian character, and especially his susceptibility to those influences which are peculiarly Christian,--so that Saint Bernard could say of him, “_Felix Nigredo, quæ mentis candorem parit_.”[179] Of all people he is the mildest and most sympathetic. Hate is a plant of difficult growth in his bosom. How often has he returned the harshness of his master with care and protection! The African, more than the European, is formed by Nature for the Christian graces.

It is easy to picture another age, when the virtues which ennoble the African will return to bless the people who now discredit him, and Christianity will receive a new development. In the Providence of God the more precocious and harder nature of the North is called to make the first advance. Civilization begins through knowledge. An active intelligence performs the part of opening the way. But it may be according to the same Providence, that the gentler people, elevated in knowledge, will teach their teachers what knowledge alone cannot impart, and the African shall more than repay all that he receives. The pioneer intelligence of Europe going to blend with the gentleness of Africa will be a blessed sight, but not more blessed than the gentleness of Africa returning to blend with that same intelligence at home. Under such combined influences men will not only know and do, but they will feel also; so that knowledge in all its departments, and life in all its activities, will have the triumphant inspiration of Human Brotherhood.

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In this work there is no room for prejudice, timidity, or despair. Reason, courage, and hope are our allies, while the bountiful agencies of Civilization open the way. Time and space, ancient tyrants keeping people apart, are now overcome. There is nothing of aspiration for Universal Man which is not within the reach of well-directed effort,--no matter in what unknown recess of continent, no matter on what distant island of the sea. Wherever Man exists, there are the capacities of manhood, with that greatest of all, the capacity for improvement; and the civilization we have reached supplies the means.

As in determining the function of Government, so here again is the necessity of knowledge. Man must know himself, and that law of Unity appointed for the Human Family. Such is the true light for our steps. Here are guidance and safety. Who can measure the value of knowledge? What imagination can grasp its infinite power? As well measure the sun in its glory. The friendly lamp in our streets is more than the police. Light in the world is more than armies or navies. Where its rays penetrate, there has civilization begun. Not the earth, but the sun, is the centre of our system; and the noon-day effulgence in which we live and move symbolizes that other effulgence which is found in knowledge.

Great powers are at hand, ministers of human progress. I name two only: first, the printing-press; and, secondly, the means of intercommunication, whether by navigation or railways, represented by the steam-engine. By these civilization is extended and secured. It is not only carried forward, but fixed so that there can be no return,--like the wheel of an Alpine railway, which cannot fall back. Every rotation is a sure advance. Here is what Greece and Rome never knew, and more than Greece and Rome have contributed to man. By the side of these two simple agencies how small all that has come to us from these two politest nations of Antiquity! We can better spare Greece and Rome than the printing-press and steam-engine. Not a triumph in literature, art, or jurisprudence, from the story of Homer and the odes of Horace to the statue of Apollo and the bust of Augustus, from the eloquence of Demosthenes and Cicero to that Roman Law which has become the law of the world, that must not yield in value to these two immeasurable possessions. To the printing-press and steam-engine add now their youthful handmaid, the electric telegraph, whose swift and delicate fingers weave the thread by which nations are brought into instant communion, while great cities, like London and Paris, New York and San Francisco, become suburbs to each other, and all mankind feel together the throb of joy or sorrow. Through these incomparable agencies is knowledge made coextensive with space and time on earth. No distance of place or epoch it will not pervade. Thus every achievement in thought or science, every discovery by which Man is elevated, becomes the common property of the whole Human Family. There can be no monopoly. Sooner or later all enjoy the triumph. Standing on the shoulders of the Past, Man stands also on the shoulders of every science discovered, every art advanced, every truth declared. There is no height of culture or of virtue--if virtue itself be not the highest culture--which may not be reached. There is no excellence of government or society which may not be grasped. Where is the stopping-place? Where the goal? One obstacle is overcome only to find another, which is overcome, and then another also, in the ascending scale of human improvement.

And then shall be fulfilled the great words of prophecy, which men have read so long with hope darkened by despair: “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”; “it shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory.”[180] The promises of Christianity, in harmony with the promises of Science, and more beautiful still, will become the realities of earth; and that precious example wherein is the way of life will be another noon-day sun for guidance and safety.

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The question _How?_ is followed by that other question _When?_ The answer is easy. Not at once; not by any sudden conquest; not in the lifetime of any individual man; not in any way which does not recognize Nature as co-worker. It is by constant, incessant, unceasing activity in conformity with law that Nature works; and so in these world-subduing operations Man can be successful only in harmony with Nature. Because in our brief pilgrimage we are not permitted to witness the transcendent glory, it is none the less certain. The peaceful conquest will proceed, and every day must contribute its fruits.

At the beginning of the last century Russia was a barbarous country, shut out from opportunities of improvement. Authentic report attests its condition. Through contact with Europe it was vitalized. The life-giving principle circulated, and this vast empire felt the change. Exposed to European contact at one point only, here the influence began; but the native energies of the people, under the guidance of a powerful ruler, responded to this influence, and Russia came within the widening circle of European civilization. Why may not this experience be repeated elsewhere, and distant places feel the same beneficent power?

To help in this work it is not necessary to be emperor or king. Everybody can do something, for to everybody is given something to do; and it is by this accumulation of activities, by this succession of atoms, that the result is accomplished. I use trivial illustrations, when I remind you that the coral-reef on which navies are wrecked is the work of the multitudinous insect,--that the unyielding stone is worn away by drops; but this is the law of Nature, under which no influence is lost. Water and air both testify to the slightest movement. Not a ripple stirred by the passing breeze or by the freighted ship cleaving the sea, which is not prolonged to a thousand shores, leaving behind an endless progeny, so long as ocean endures. Not a wave of air set in motion by the human voice, which is not prolonged likewise into unknown space. But these watery and aërial pulses typify the acts of Man. Not a thing done, not a word said, which does not help or hinder the grand, the beautiful, the holy consummation. And the influence is in proportion to the individual or nation from whom it proceeds. God forbid that our nation should send through all time that defiance of human nature which is found in Caste!

There are two passages of the New Testament which are to me of infinite significance. We read them often, perhaps, without comprehending their value. The first is with regard to leaven, when the Saviour said, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven”;[181] and then Saint Paul, taking up the image, on two different occasions, repeats, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”[182] In this homely illustration we see what is accomplished by a small influence. A little changes all. Here again are the acts of Man typified. All that we do is leaven; all that our country does is leaven. Everybody in his sphere contributes leaven, and helps his country to contribute that mighty leaven which will leaven the whole mighty lump. The other passage--difficult to childhood, though afterwards recognized as a faithful record of human experience--is where we are told, “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance.”[183] Here to me is a new incentive to duty. Because the world inclines to those who have, therefore must we study to serve those who have not, that we may counteract the worldly tendency. Give to the poor and lowly, give to the outcast, give to those degraded by their fellow-men, that they may be elevated in the scale of Humanity,--assured that what we give is not only valuable in itself, but the beginning of other acquisitions,--that the knowledge we convey makes other knowledge easy,--that the right we recognize helps to secure all the Rights of Man. Give to the African only his due, and straightway the promised abundance will follow.

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In leaving this question, which I have opened to you so imperfectly, I am impressed anew with its grandeur. The best interests of our country and the best interests of mankind are involved in the answer. Let Caste prevail, and Civilization is thwarted. Let Caste be trampled out, and there will be a triumph which will make this Republic more than ever an example. The good influence will extend in prolonged pulsations, reaching the most distant shores. Not a land which will not feel the spread, just in proportion to its necessities. Above all, Africa will feel it; and the surpassing duty which Civilization owes to this whole continent, where man has so long degraded his fellow-man, will begin to be discharged, while the voice of the Great Shepherd is heard among its people.

In the large interests beyond, I would not lose sight of the practical interests at home. It is important for our domestic peace, not to speak of our good name as a Republic, that this question should be settled. Long enough has its shadow rested upon us, and now it lowers from an opposite quarter. How often have I said in other places that nothing can be settled which is not right! And now I say that there can be no settlement here except in harmony with our declared principles and with universal truth. To this end Caste must be forbidden. “Haply for I am black,” said Othello; “Haply for I am yellow,” repeats the Chinese: all of which may be ground for personal like or dislike, but not for any denial of rights, or any exclusion from that equal copartnership which is the promise of the Republic to all men.

Here, as always, the highest safety is in doing right. Justice is ever practical, ever politic; it is the best practice, the best policy. Whatever reason shows to be just cannot, when reduced to practice, produce other than good. And now I simply ask you to be just. To those who find peril in the growing multitudes admitted to citizenship I reply, that our Republic assumed these responsibilities when it declared the equal rights of all men, and that just government stands only on the consent of the governed. Hospitality of citizenship is the law of its being. This is its great first principle; this is the talisman of its empire. Would you conquer Nature, follow Nature; and here, would you conquer physical diversities, follow that moral law declared by our fathers, which is the highest law of Nature, and supreme above all men. Welcome, then, to the stranger hurrying from opposite shores, across two great oceans,--from the East, from the West,--with the sun, against the sun! Here he cannot be stranger. If the Chinese come for labor only, we have the advantage of their wonderful and docile industry. If they come for citizenship, then do they offer the pledge of incorporation in our Republic, filling it with increase. Nor is there peril in the gifts they bring. As all rivers are lost in the sea, which shows no sign of their presence, so will all peoples be lost in the widening confines of our Republic, with an ocean-bound continent for its unparalleled expanse, and one harmonious citizenship, where all are equal in rights, for its gentle and impartial sway.

CURRENCY.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON INTRODUCING A BILL TO AMEND THE BANKING ACT, AND TO PROMOTE THE RETURN TO SPECIE PAYMENTS, DECEMBER 7, 1869.

The bill having been read twice by its title, Mr. Sumner said:--

At the proper time I shall ask the reference of this bill to the Committee on Finance; and if I can have the attention of my honorable friend, the Chairman of that Committee [Mr. SHERMAN], I should like now, as I have ventured to introduce the bill, to specify for his consideration seven different reasons in favor of it. It will take me only one minute.

MR. SHERMAN. I should like to have the bill read, if the Senator has no objection.

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The Secretary accordingly read the bill in full, as follows:--

_Be it enacted, &c._, That so much of the Banking Act as limits the issue of bills to $300,000,000 is hereby repealed, and existing banks may be enlarged and new banks may be organized at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury; but no more bills than are now authorized by the Banking Act shall hereafter be issued, unless the Secretary of the Treasury, at the time of their issue, can and does cancel and destroy a like amount of legal-tenders; and the increase of bank-bills hereby authorized shall not exceed $50,000,000 a year, which amount shall be so distributed by the Secretary of the Treasury as to equalize, as near as possible, the banking interest of the different States.

MR. SUMNER. Now, Mr. President, I wish at this moment merely to indicate the reasons in favor of that proposition.

1. It will create a demand for national bonds, and to this extent fortify the national credit.

2. It will tend to satisfy those parts of the country, especially at the South and West, where currency and banks are wanting, and thus arrest a difficult question.

3. It will not expand or contract the currency; so that the opposite parties on these questions may support it.

4. Under it the banks will gradually strengthen themselves and prepare to resume specie payments.

5. It will give the South and West the opportunity to organize banks, and will interest those parts of the country to this extent in the national securities and the national banking system, by which both will be strengthened.

6. It will within a reasonable time relieve the country of the whole greenback system, and thus dispose of an important question.

7. It will hasten the return to specie payments.

Now I believe every one of these reasons is valid, and I commend them to my excellent friend from Ohio.

The bill was then laid on the table, and ordered to be printed.

COLORED PHYSICIANS.

RESOLUTION AND REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON THE EXCLUSION OF COLORED PHYSICIANS FROM THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, DECEMBER 9, 1869.

I offer the following resolution, and ask for its immediate consideration:--

_Resolved_, That the Committee on the District of Columbia be directed to consider the expediency of repealing the charter of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, and of such other legislation as may be necessary in order to secure for medical practitioners in the District of Columbia equal rights and opportunities without distinction of color.

I hope there can be no objection to this proposition, which has become necessary from a recent incident. A medical practitioner in Washington, Dr. Augusta, who had served as a surgeon in the Army of the United States and was brevetted as a Lieutenant-Colonel, who had enjoyed office and honor under the National Government, has been excluded from the Medical Society of the District of Columbia on that old reason so often and persistently urged, merely of color. It is true that Dr. Augusta is guilty of a skin which is a shade different from that prevailing in the Medical Society, but nobody can impeach his character or his professional position. Dr. Purvis, another practitioner, obnoxious only from the skin, was excluded at the same time. There is no doubt that this was accomplished by an organized effort, quickened by color-phobia.

This exclusion, besides its stigma on a race, is a practical injury to these gentlemen, and to their patients also, who are thus shut out from valuable opportunities and advantages. By a rule of the Medical Society, “No member of this association shall consult with or meet in a professional way any resident practitioner of the District who is not a member thereof, after said practitioner shall have resided six months in said District.” Thus do members of the Society constitute themselves a medical oligarchy. When asked to consult with Dr. Augusta, some of them have replied: “We would like to consult with Dr. Augusta; we believe him to be a good doctor; but he does not belong to our Society, and therefore we must decline; but we will take charge of the case”: and this has been sometimes done. Is not this a hardship? Should it be allowed to exist?

Details illustrate still further the character of this wrong. These colored practitioners are licensed, like members of the Society; but this license does not give them the privilege of attending the meetings of the Society, where medical and surgical subjects are discussed, and where peculiar and interesting cases with their appropriate treatment are communicated for the benefit of the profession; so that they are shut out from this interesting source of information, which is like a constant education, and also from the opportunity of submitting the cases in their own practice.

I confess, Sir, that I cannot think of the medical profession at the National Capital engaged in this warfare on their colored brethren without sentiments which it is difficult to restrain. Their conduct, in its direct effect, degrades a long-suffering and deeply injured race; but it also degrades themselves. Nobody can do such a meanness without degradation. In my opinion these white oligarchs ought to have notice, and I give them notice now, that this outrage shall not be allowed to continue without remedy, if I can obtain it through Congress. The time has passed for any such pretension.

I hope, Sir, there can be no objection to the resolution. It ought to pass unanimously. Who will array himself on the side of this wrong?

The resolution was agreed to, and the Committee proceeded to a full investigation, of which they made extended report,[184] accompanied by a bill for the repeal of the Society’s charter; but adverse influence, continued through two sessions to the expiration of the Congress, succeeded in preventing action.

THE LATE HON. WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN, SENATOR OF MAINE.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE ON HIS DEATH, DECEMBER 14, 1869.

MR. PRESIDENT,--A seat in this Chamber is vacant. But this is a very inadequate expression for the present occasion. Much more than a seat is vacant. There is a void difficult to measure, as it will be difficult to fill. Always eminent from the beginning, Mr. Fessenden during these latter years became so large a part of the Senate that without him it seems to be a different body. His guiding judgment, his ready power, his presence so conspicuous in debate, are gone, taking away from this Chamber that identity which it received so considerably from him.

Of all the present Senate, one only besides myself witnessed his entry into this Chamber. I cannot forget it. He came in the midst of that terrible debate on the Kansas and Nebraska Bill by which the country was convulsed to its centre, and his arrival had the effect of a reinforcement on a field of battle. Those who stood for Freedom then were few in numbers,--not more than fourteen,--while thirty-seven Senators in solid column voted to break the faith originally plighted to Freedom, and to overturn a time-honored landmark, opening that vast Mesopotamian region to the curse of Slavery. Those anxious days are with difficulty comprehended by a Senate where Freedom rules. One more in our small number was a sensible addition. We were no longer fourteen, but fifteen. His reputation at the bar and his fame in the other House gave assurance which was promptly sustained. He did not wait, but at once entered into the debate with all those resources which afterwards became so famous. The scene that ensued exhibited his readiness and courage. While saying that the people of the North were fatigued with the threat of Disunion, that they considered it as “mere noise and nothing else,” he was interrupted by Mr. Butler, of South Carolina, always ready to speak for Slavery, exclaiming, “If such sentiments as yours prevail, I want a dissolution right away,”--a characteristic intrusion doubly out of order,--to which the new-comer rejoined, “Do not delay it on my account; do not delay it on account of anybody at the North.” The effect was electric; but this instance was not alone. Douglas, Cass, and Butler interrupted only to be worsted by one who had just ridden into the lists. The feelings of the other side were expressed by the Senator from South Carolina, who, after one of the flashes of debate which he had provoked, exclaimed: “Very well, go on; I have no hope for you.” All this will be found in the “Globe,”[185] precisely as I give it; but the “Globe” could not picture the exciting scene,--the Senator from Maine erect, firm, immovable as a jutting promontory against which the waves of Ocean tossed and broke in dissolving spray. There he stood. Not a Senator, loving Freedom, who did not feel on that day that a champion had come.