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But our case is widely different. Our system | upshot of a limited conspiracy. It is a thing of of government does not rest upon the submis-long preparation; nay, more than that: it is a sion of the people, but upon the free and inde- thing of logical development. This rebellion pendent cooperation of the individual. We did not commence on the day that the secession have indeed a supreme authority, but this au- flag was hoisted at Charleston; it commenced thority proceeds directly from the people, and on the day when the slave power for the first works through the people. Our Government time threatened to break up this Union. [Apmay indeed suppress a rebellion by force; but, in | plause.] order to restore the working of the original Slavery had produced an organization of soagencies upon which it rests, it is obliged to ciety strongly in contradistinction with the restore the individual to his original scope of principles underlying our system of government self-action. If it attempted, after having sup--the absolute rule of a superior class, based pressed a rebellion, to maintain its authority upon the absolute subjection of the laboring permanently by the same means by which it population. This institution, continually strugreëstablished it; that is to say, by a constant gling against the vital ideas of our political life, and energetic pressure of force, it would not and incompatible with a free expression of pubrestore the old order of things, but completely lic opinion, found itself placed in the alternative subvert its original basis; for the means by of absolutely ruling or perishing. Hence our which it was obliged to suppress the rebellion long struggles, so often allayed by temporary are in direct contradiction to the fundamental expedients, but always renewed with increased principles of our Government. In order to acrimony. And as soon as the slave interest restore these principles to life, the Government perceived that it could no longer rule inside of is obliged to trust its authority to the loyal the Union, it attempted to cut loose and to exeraction of the people. There is the embarrass- cise its undisputed sway outside of it. This was ment which a rebellion in a democratic republic logical; and as long as the relation of interests will necessarily produce. What does it mean, and necessities remains the same, its logical conthe restoration of the Union? It means the sequences will remain the same also. This is restoration of individual liberty in all its parts, not a matter of doctrine or party creed, but of and of that ramification of political power in history. Nobody can shut his eyes against so which self-government consists. If it meant plain and palpable a fact. How is it possible any thing else, if it meant the permanent holding to mistake the origin of this struggle? I ask in subjection of conquered provinces, if it meant you, in all sincerity, Would the rebellion have the rule of force, if it meant the subversion of broken out, if slavery had not existed? [" No, those principles of individual liberty which are no, no."] Did the rebellion raise its head at the breath of our political life, would it then any place where slavery did not exist? Did it not be best to let the rebels go? Would it not not find sympathy and support wherever slavery be preferable to be content with the modest did exist? ["Yes, yes, yes."] Is anybody in proportions to which the development of things arms against the Union but who desires to perhas reduced us, to foster the principles and in-petuate slavery? What else is this rebellion stitutions which have made this people great and happy for so long a time with conscientious care, and to trust to the expansive power of liberty to restore this Republic in some more or less remote future to its former measure of greatness?

And yet, looking at things as they are, how can we expect to restore the Union but by the rule of force that is to say, by a military occupation of the rebel States? But you will tell me that this will not last long. Well, and what will determine this period? The disappearance of the rebellious spirit; the return of sincere loyalty. But when and how will the rebellious spirit cease and loyalty return? True, if this rebellion were nothing but a mere momentary whim of the popular mind, if its causes could be obliterated by one of those sudden changes in popular opinion, which, in matters of minor importance, occur so frequently with our impressionable people, then a short military occupation might answer, and pass over without any serious effect upon our future development. But is it this? Look the fact square in the face. This rebellion is not a mere momentary whim, and although but a few men seem to have prepared its outbreak, it is not the mere

but a new but logical form of the old struggle of the slave interest against the fundamental principles of our political system? Do not indulge in the delusion that you can put an end to this struggle by a mere victory in the field. By it you may quench the physical power of the slave interest, but you cannot stifle its aspirations. The slave interest was disloyal as long as it threatened the dissolution of the Union; it will be disloyal as long as it will desire it. [Cheers.]

And when will it cease to desire it? It may for a time sullenly submit to the power of the Union, but it will not enter into harmonious coöperation with you, as long as it has aspiratious of its own. But to give up its aspirations would be to give up its existence; it will therefore not cease to aspire until it ceases to live. [Applause.] Your President has said it once, and there is far-seeing wisdom in the expression: This country will have no rest until slavery is put upon the course of ultimate extinction. [Great and continued applause.] But if the slave interest, as such, cannot return with cordial sincerity to its allegiance, where will the suppression of this rebellion lead us? Mark my words: Not only is the South in a state of

rebellion, but the whole Union is in a state of revolution. This revolution will produce one of three things: either complete submission of the whole people to the despotic demands of the slave interest, or a radical change in our Federal institutions, that is to say, the establishment of a strong, consolidated, central government, or such a reform of Southern society as will make loyalty to the Union its natural temper and disposition. [Cheers.] The old Union, as we have known it, is already gone; you cannot restore it; geographically-yes; but politi[Applause.] cally and morally, never. And if Jefferson Davis would come to-morrow and give up his sword to President Lincoln, and all the rebel armies were captured in one day, and forced to do penance in sackcloth and ashes at the foot of Capitol Hill, the old Union would not be restored. [Cheers.] That circle of ideas in which the political transactions of the old Union moved is forever broken. [Sensation.] It cannot be restored. The mutual confidence on which the political transactions of the old Union rested has been discovered to be illusory; it is irretrievably gone. [Applause.]

I repeat, either you will submit to the South, or you will rule the South by the force of a strong, central government, or Southern society must be so reformed that the Union can safely trust itself to its loyalty. Submit to the rebellious South! Submit after a victory! [" No, no, no." You will tell me that this is impossible. Is it, indeed? There are those in the South who have fought and will fight the Union as long as the rebellion has a chance of success, who will apparently come over to our side as soon as our victory is decided, and who will then claim the right to control our policy. ["That's it."] And there are those in the North, who, either actuated by party spirit, or misled by shortsightedness, stand ready to cooperate with the former. [Sensation.] The attempt will be made-whether it will succeed-who knows? But if it does succeed, it will lead to new struggles [“ John Brown"] more acrimonious, dangerous, and destructive in their nature, but also more radical and permanent in their result. [Cheers, "That's it."]

The second possibility I indicated is the establishment of a strong, consolidated, central Look at the course you have government. taken since the outbreak of the rebellion. It was natural that, when the necessity of vigorous action pressed upon us, the Government was As its clothed with extraordinary powers. duties and responsibilities increased, its hands had to be strengthened. But it might indeed have been expected that the people as well as Government would treat with scrupulous respect those fundamental guarantees of our rights and liberties, the achievement or the preservation of which was so often in the history of the world bought at the price of bloody revolutions, Outside of this Republic, and, I have no doubt, inside of it also, it was remarked with some surprise, that the writ of habeas corpus,

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the liberty of the press, the authority of the
civil courts of justice, were in some cases rather
cavalierly dealt with. How easily it is forgotten
that you cannot permit another's rights to be
infringed without paving the way for a viola-
tion of your own! I do not mean to exaggerate
the importance of these occurrences.
well understand the violence of popular resent-
ment, as well as the urgent necessities pressing
upon those who stood at the helm. But I most
earnestly warn you that a condition of things
producing such necessities must not last too
long, lest it create bad habits [applause]-the
habit of disregarding these fundamental rights
on one side, and the habit of permitting them
to be violated on the other. In my opinion, the
manner of treating its enemies is the true test
of the tendency of a government. It may be
questionable whether we can afford to suppress
a rebellion in the same way and with the same
means in and with which the King of Naples was
in the habit of suppressing it; but it is cer-
tain that we can not afford to imitate him in
his manner of maintaining the reestablished
authority of the Government. [Cheers.]

But now look at the task before you. I am
willing to suppose that the rebel armies will be
beaten and dispersed with greater ease and fa-
cility than I at present deem it possible. Then
the spirit of disloyalty must be extinguished,
the source of the mischief must be stopped.
This cannot be done by strategic movements
and success in battle. How then is it to be
done? Take the State of South Carolina: you
beat the rebels defending its soil, and occupy
the whole State with your troops. Armed re-
sistance to the authority of the United States
becomes impossible, but you want to restore
the active cooperation of the people of South
Carolina in the Government of the United States,
without which the restoration of the old order
of things is impossible. Now, you either call
upon the people of South Carolina to elect new
State authorities of their own, or you impose
upon them a Provisional Government, appoint-
ed by the President at Washington. In the
first case, the people of South Carolina-a large
majority of whom are disloyal, and those who
are not disloyal, are not loyal either, [applause,]
and to a certain extent, seem to be incorrigible
-are most likely to elect a new set of seces-
sionists to office. It will be a re-organization
of treason and conspiracy; for you must know
The new
that conspiracies do not only precede rebellions,
but also follow unsuccessful ones.
State Government is at once in conflict with
the Federal authorities. The latter find them-
selves counteracted and clogged in every imagi-
nable way; and after a series of unsuccessful
attempts to secure a cordial and trustworthy
cooperation, after a season of tiresome and fruit-
less wrangles, they find themselves obliged to
resort to sterner measures; then forcible sup-
pression of every combination hostile to the
Union; close surveillance of press and speech;
martial law where the civil tribunals are found

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insufficient; in one word, a steady and energetic pressure of force, by which the Federal Government overrules and coerces the refractory State authorities. You will see at once, that if this pressure be not strong enough, it will not furnish the Government of the United States the necessary guarantees of peace and security; and if it be strong enough to do that, it will not leave to the State Government that freedom of action upon which our whole political fabric is based. Or you follow the other course I indicated-institute provisional governments by appointment from the President, in a manner similar to that in which territories are organized. Then the General Government enters into immediate relation with the people of the rebellious district. While it leaves to the people the election of the Territorial Legislature, if I may call it so, it controls the action of that Legislature by the veto of the Executive, and the rulings of the Judiciary in a regular and organic way. Thus mischief may be prevented, the execution of the laws secured, and the supremacy of the General Government maintained by the Government's own agents, until the States can be reorganized with safety to the Union. This plan may be preferable to the other, inasmuch as it will prevent the continuation of rebellious intrigues, and facilitate the repression and punishment of disloyal practices without a conflict with lawfully instituted authorities; but it is evident that such a condition of things cannot last long without essentially changing the nature of our general system of government. In either case, it will be the rule of force, modified by circumstances, ready to respect individual rights wherever submission is complete, and to overrule them wherever necessity may require it.

I shall have to speak of Slavery, and I wish you would clearly understand me. I am an Anti-Slavery man. [Cheering.] All the moral impulses of my heart have made me so, and all the working of my brain has confirmed me in my faith. [Loud applause. "Hear, hear."] I have never hesitated to plead the cause of the outraged dignity of human nature. I could not do otherwise; and whatever point of argument I might gain with any one, if I denied it, I would not deny it, I shall never deny it. ["Good, good." Applause.] And yet, it is not my lifelong creed, which would make me urge the destruction of Slavery now. As an Anti-Slavery man, I would be satisfied with the effect the course of events is already producing upon Slavery. When formerly I argued in favor of its restriction, I knew well and clearly, that as soon as the supremacy of the slave interest in our political life was destroyed, the very life of Slavery was gone, and the institution would gradually disappear. For many reasons, I would have preferred this gradual and peaceful process. I never was in favor of precipitate measures, where a quiet and steady reform was within the limits of practicability. [Cheers.] But the rebellion, which placed Slavery in a direct practical antagonism with the institutions most dear to us, has prodigiously hastened this development. I said already, that I do not deem another victory of Slavery over the National conscience impossible; but this reaction will produce new struggles, with passions more fierce, with resentments more acrimonious and reckless, and dangerous to our democratic institutions, and violent in their nature; but as to Slavery, radical and conclusive in their results. [Ap plause.] This rebellion has uprooted the very foundations of the system, and Slavery is not far from its death. [Cheers.] It will die, and if you would, you could not prevent it. [Ap plause.] And thus, as an Anti-Slavery man, I might wait and look on with equanimity.

Do not say that these things are less dangerous because they are done with the assent of the majority; for the assent of the people to a consolidation of power, is the first step toward subversion of liberty. [Applause.] But is in- But what I do not want to see is, that Slavery, deed this Government, in struggling against in this death struggle, should involve the best rebellion, in reestablishing its authority, re-institutions that ever made a nation great and duced to a policy which would nearly obliterate the line separating Democracy from Absolutism? Is it really unable to stand this test of its character? For this is the true test of the experiment. If our democratic institutions pass this crisis unimpaired, they will be stronger than ever; if not, the decline will be rapid and irremediable. But can they pass it unimpaired? Yes. This Republic has her destiny in her hands. She may transform her greatest danger and distress into the greatest triumph of her principles. [Cheering.] There would have been no rebellion, had there not been a despotic interest incompatible with the spirit of her democratic institutions, [cheers,] and she has the glorious and inestimable privilege of suppressing this rebellion, by enlarging liberty instead of restraining it, [great cheering,] by granting rights, instead of violating them. ["Good." Applause.]

happy. It shall not entangle the Union in its downfall, and, therefore, the Union must deliver itself of its pernicious embrace. [Great ap plause, long continued, and huzzas.] And now listen to what I have to say of the third possible result of the revolution through which we are passing, the only result which will restore the Union, and save the spirit of its democratic institutions. The ambition, the aspirations of men, grow from the circumstances in which they live. As these circumstances change, these aspirations will take a corresponding direction. A slaveholding population, wedded to the pecnliar interests of their peculiar institutions, will, in their aspirations and political action, be governed by the demands of those interests. If those interests are incompatible with loyalty to a certain established form of government, that population will be disloyal in its aspirations. Their way of thinking, their logic, their imagi

new circle of ideas being one which moves in the atmosphere of free-labor society, new interests, new hopes, new aspirations spring up, which closely attach themselves to the political institutions, with which in this country freelabor society is identified. That is the Union, based upon general self-government. Gradually the reformed man will understand and appreciate the advantage of this new order of things, and loyalty will become as natural to him, as disloyalty was before.

nation, their habits, are so affected and controlled by their circumstances, that as long as the latter remain the same, the former are not likely to change. Imagine this slaveholding population with a Union army on their soil. Their forces may be dispersed, their power paralyzed, but their former aspirations, although checked, are not eradicated. They move still in the same circle of ideas, and not only their memories of the past, but also their desires for the future, are still centred in that circle which Slavery has drawn around them. Is not the It may be said, that the arch-traitors, the intention and desire, mother to the act? You political propagandists of Slavery, can never be may tell me that, however ardently they may made loyal; that their rancor and resentment long for a dissolution, their experience of the will be implacable, and that only the second present rebellion will not let the idea of at-generation will be capable of a complete retempting another rebellion, spring up. Are form. But such men will no longer be the you so sure of this? True, they will not repeat rulers of Southern society; for Southern society the same thing in the same way. But have being, with all its habits and interests, no longer you never thought of it, that this Republic may identified with Slavery, that element of the be one day involved in difficulties with foreign | population will rise to prominent influence, powers, and that, in her greatest need, the dis- which most easily identifies itself with free loyalists may discover another opportunity? labor; I mean the non-slaveholding people of And have you considered what our foreign the South. [Cheers.] They have been held in policy will be, when the powers of the earth a sort of moral subjection by the great slaveknow that we harbor an enemy within our own lords. Not for themselves but for them they limits ready to join hands with them? [Sensa- were disloyal. The destruction of Slavery will tion.] How can you rely upon the Southern wipe out the prestige of their former rulers; it people unless they are sincerely loyal, and how will lift the yoke from their necks; they will can they be sincerely loyal as long as their cir- soon undertake to think for themselves, and cumstances are such as to make disloyalty the thinking freely they will not fail to understand natural condition of their desires and aspira- their own true interests. They will find in tions? They cannot be faithful unless their | free-labor society their natural elements; and desires and aspirations change. And how can free-labor society is naturally loyal to the you change them? By opening before them Union. [Applause.] Let the old political leadnew prospects and a new future. [Cheering.] ers fret as they please; it is the free-labor maLook at the other side of the picture. Im-jority that will give to society its character and agine and I suppose it is not treasonable to imagine such a thing-imagine Slavery were destroyed in consequence of this rebellion. Slavery, once destroyed, can never be restored. [Applause.] A reaction in this respect is abso-pation, the rule of force, will cease; our politilutely impossible, so evidently impossible that it will not even be attempted. Slavery is like an egg-once broken, it can never be repaired. [Cheering.] Even the wildest fanatic will see this. However ardent a devotee of Slavery a man may be, Slavery once destroyed, he will see that it is useless to brood over a past which is definitively gone, and cannot be revived. He will find himself forced to direct his eyes toward the future. All his former hopes and aspirations vanish; his former desires are left without a tangible object. Slavery having no future, his former aspirations and desires, founded upon Slavery, have none. He feels the necessity of accommodating himself to the new order of things, and the necessities of the present will make him think of the necessities of the future. Insensibly his mind drifts into plans and projects for coming days, and insensibly he has based these plans and projects upon the new order of things. A new circle of ideas has opened itself to him, and however reluctantly he may have given up the old one, he is already active in this new sphere. And this

tone. [Cheering.] This is what I meant by so reforming Southern society as to make loyalty to the Union its natural temper and disposition. This done, the necessity of a military occu

cal life will soon return to the beaten track of self-government, and the restored Union may safely trust itself to the good faith of a reformed people. The antagonistic element which continually struggled against the vital principles of our system of government once removed, we shall be a truly united people with common principles, common interests, common hopes, and a common future. True, there will be other points of controversy about banks or hard money, internal improvements, free-trade or protection; but however fierce party contests may be, there will be no question involving the very foundation of our polity, and no party will refuse to submit to the verdict of popular suffrage on the controversies at issue. [Cheers.] The Union will not only be strong again, but stronger than ever before. [Great cheering.]

And if you ask me what, under existing circumstances, I would propose to do, I would say: Let Slavery in the District of Columbia, and wherever the Government has immediate authority, be abolished. [Loud and long-continued applause.] Let the slaves of rebels be

confiscated by the General Government, and then emancipated, [tremendous applause,] and let a fair compensation be offered to loyal slave States and masters, who will agree upon some system of emancipation. [Cheering.] Let this, or some other measure to the same effect, be carried out in some manner compatible with our fundamental laws, I do not care which, provided always the measure be thoroughgoing enough to render a reaction, a reestablishment of the slave power impossible, [cheering;] for as long as this is possible, as long as the hopes and aspirations of the Southern people can cling to such a chance, you will not have succeeded in cutting them loose from the old vicious circle of ideas, their loyalty will be subject to the change of circumstances, and such loyalty is worth nothing. [Cheers.]

I am at once met by a vast array of objections. "It would be unconstitutional!" say some scrupulous patriots. Is it not a little surprising, that the Constitution should be quoted most frequently and persistently in favor of those who threw that very Constitution overboard? [Cheers.] Unconstitutional! Let us examine the consistency of those who on this point are so sensitive. Have you not, in the course of this rebellion, suspended in many cases the writ of habeas corpus? Have you not suppressed newspapers, and thus violated the liberty of the press? Have you not deprived citizens of their liberty without due process of law? Have you not here and ther superseded the regular courts of justice by military authority? And was all this done in strict conformity with the sacred safeguards which the Constitution throws around the rights and liberties of the citizen? But you tell me that all this was commanded by urgent necessity. Indeed! Is the necessity of restoring the true life element of the Union less urgent than the necessity of imprisoning a traitor or stopping a secession newspaper? [Applause.] Will necessity which justifies a violation of the dearest guaranties of our own rights and liberties, will it not justify the overthrow of the most odious institution of this age? [Cheers.] What? Is the Constitution such as to countenance in an extreme case a most dangerous imitation of the practices of despotic Governments, but not to countenance, even in the extremest case, the necessity of a great reform, which the enlightened spirit of our century has demanded so long, and not ceased to demand? [Cheers.] Is it, indeed, your opinion that in difficult circumstances like ours neither the writ of habeas corpus, nor the liberty of the press, nor the authority of the regular courts of justice, in one word, no right shall be held sacred and inviolable under the Constitution but that most monstrous and abominable right which permits one man to hold another as *property? [Great cheering.] Is to your constitutional conscience our whole magna charta of liberties nothing, and Slavery all? [Loud applause.] Slavery all, even while endeavoring

by the most damnable rebellion to subvert this very Constitution?

But do not misunderstand me. I am far from underestimating the importance of constitutional forms. Where constitutional forms are not strictly observed, constitutional guarantees will soon become valueless. But, where is the danger in this case? Nobody denies the constitutionality of the power of the Government to abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia; nobody will deny the constitutionality of an offer of compensation to loyal slaveowners. Or would the confiscation of rebel property be unconstitutional? The Constitution defines clearly what treason consists in; and then it gives Congress the power to pass laws for the punishment of treason. In this respect the Constitution gives Congress full discretion. If Congress can decree the penalty of death, or imprisonment, or banishment, why not the confiscation of property? And if Congress can make lands, and houses, and horses, and wagons liable to confiscation, why not slaves? And when these slaves are confiscated by the Government, cannot Congress declare them emancipated, or rather will they not be emancipated by that very act? Is there any thing in the Constitution to hinder it? Can there be any doubt, can there be a shadow of a doubt, as to the authority of Congress to do this? And if Congress can do it, why should it not?

Do you prefer the death penalty? Will you present to the world the spectacle of a great nation thirsting for the blood of a number of miserable individuals? Do not say that you want to make an example; for if you stop the source of treason, no warning example to frighten traitors will be needed. [Loud cheers.] Or do you prefer imprisonment? The imprisonment of the leaders may very well go along with confiscation, and as to the imprisonment of the masses, nobody will think of it. Or do you prefer banishment? ["Yes."] How would it please you to see Europe overrun with "exiles from America," blackening your character and defiling your Government at every street-corner, and incessantly engaged in plotting against their country? And what effect will these modes of punishment have upon the Southern people? Either you are severe in applying them, and then you will excite violent resentments, or you are not severe, and then your penalties will frighten nobody, and fail of the object of serving as a warning example. neither case will you make friends. It has frequently been said that the punishment of crime ought not to be a mere revenge taken by society, but that its principal object ought to be the reformation and improvement of the criminal. [Cheers.] This is a humane idea, worthy of this enlightened century. It ought to be carried out wherever practicable. But how much greater and more commendable would it be if applied to a people instead of an individual! As for me, it will be to me supremely indiffer

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