Chapter VI: Part 6

In the attempt to estimate his character as a Jurist, he may be regarded in _three_ different aspects,--as Judge, Author, and Teacher of Jurisprudence, exercising in each a peculiar influence. His lot is rare who achieves fame in any single department of human action; rarer still is his who becomes foremost in many. The first impression is of astonishment, that a single mind, in a single life, should accomplish so much. Omitting the incalculable labors, of which there is no trace, except in the knowledge, happiness, and justice they helped to secure, the bare amount of his written and printed works is enormous beyond precedent in the annals of the Common Law. His written judgments on his circuit, and his various commentaries, occupy _twenty-seven_ volumes, while his judgments in the Supreme Court of the United States form an important part of no less than _thirty-four_ volumes more. The vast professional labors of Coke and Eldon, which seem to clothe the walls of our libraries, must yield to his in extent. He is the Lope de Vega, or the Walter Scott, of the Common Law.

We are struck next by the universality of his juridical attainments. It was said by Dryden of a great lawyer in English history,--Heneage Finch,--

"Our laws, that did a boundless ocean seem,
Were coasted all and fathomed all by him."

But the boundless ocean of that age was a "closed sea," compared with that on which the adventurer embarks to-day. In Howell's Familiar Letters there is a saying of only a few short years before, that the books of the Common Law might all be carried in a wheelbarrow. To coast such an ocean were a less task than a moiety of his labors whom we now mourn. Called to administer all the different branches of law, kept separate in England, he showed a mastery of all. His was Universal Empire; and wherever he set his foot, in the various realms of jurisprudence, it was as a sovereign,--whether in the ancient and subtile learning of Real Law,--the Criminal Law,--the niceties of Special Pleading,--the more refined doctrines of Contracts,--the more rational system of Commercial and Maritime Law,--the peculiar and interesting principles and practice of Admiralty and Prize,--the immense range of Chancery,--the modern, but important, jurisdiction over Patents,--or that higher region, the great themes of Public and Constitutional Law. In each of these branches there are judgments by him which will not yield in value to those of any other judge in England or the United States, even though his studies and duties may have been directed to only one particular department.

His judgments are remarkable for exhaustive treatment. The Common Law, as every student knows to his cost, is found only in innumerable "sand-grains" of authority. In his learned expositions not one of these is overlooked, while all are combined with care, and the golden cord of reason is woven across the ample tissue. There is in them, besides, a clearness which flings over the subject a perfect day,--a severe logic, which, by its closeness and precision, makes us feel the truth of the saying of Leibnitz, that nothing approaches so near the certainty of geometry as the reasoning of the law,--a careful attention to the discussions at the bar, that nothing should be lost,--with a copious and persuasive eloquence investing the whole. Many of his judgments will be landmarks in the law: I know of no single judge who has set up so many. I think it may be said, without fear of question, that the Reports show a larger number of judicial opinions from Story, which posterity will not willingly let die, than from any other judge in the history of English or American law.

There is much of his character as a Judge which cannot be preserved, except in the faithful memory of those whose happiness it was to enjoy his judicial presence. I refer particularly to his mode of conducting business. Even the passing stranger bore witness to his suavity of manner on the bench, while all practitioners in the courts where he presided so long attest the marvellous quickness with which he seized habitually the points of a case, often anticipating the slower movements of counsel, and leaping, or, I might almost say, flying, to the proper conclusion. Napoleon's perception, at the head of an army, was not more rapid. Nor can I forget the scrupulous care with which he assigned reasons for every portion of his opinions, showing that it was not _he_ who spoke with the voice of authority, but the _law_, whose organ he was.

In the history of the English bench there are but two names with combined eminence as Judge and Author,--Coke and Hale,--unless, indeed, the "Ordinances in Chancery," from the Verulamian pen, should entitle Lord Bacon to this distinction, and the judgments of Lord Brougham should vindicate the same for him. Blackstone's character as judge is lost in the fame of the Commentaries. To Story belongs this double glory. Early in life he compiled an important professional work; but it was only at a comparatively recent period, after his mind had been disciplined by the labors of the bench, that he prepared those elaborate Commentaries which have made his name a familiar word in foreign countries. They who knew him best observed the lively interest which he took in this extension of his renown. And most justly; for the voice of distant foreign nations comes as from a living posterity. His works have been reviewed with praise in the journals of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Germany. They are cited as authorities in all the Courts of Westminster Hall; and one of the ablest and most learned jurists of the age, whose honorable career at the bar has opened to him the peerage,--Lord Campbell,--in the course of debate in the House of Lords, accorded to their author an exalted place, saying that he "had a greater reputation as a legal writer than any author England could boast since the days of Blackstone."[117]

[117] Hansard, LXVIII. 667.

To complete this hasty survey, I should allude to his excellences as a Teacher of law, that other relation which he sustained to jurisprudence. The numerous pupils reared at his feet, and now scattered throughout the country, diffusing, in their different circles, the light obtained at Cambridge, as they hear that their beloved master has fallen, will each feel that he has lost a friend. He had the faculty, rare as it is exquisite, of interesting the young, and winning their affections. I have often seen him surrounded by a group of youths,--the ancient Romans might have aptly called it a _corona_,--all intent upon his earnest conversation, and freely interrogating him on matters of interest. In his lectures, and other forms of instruction, he was prodigal of explanation and illustration; his manner, according to the classical image of Zeno, was like the open palm, never like the clenched fist. His learning was always overflowing, as from the horn of abundance. He was earnest and unrelaxing in effort, patient and gentle, while he listened with inspiring attention to all that the pupil said. Like Chaucer's Clerk,

"And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche."

Above all, he was a living example of love for the law,--supposed by many to be unlovely and repulsive,--which seemed to grow warmer under the snows of accumulating winters; and such an example could not fail, with magnetic power, to touch the hearts of the young. Nor should I forget the lofty standard of professional morals which he inculcated, filling his discourse with the charm of goodness. Under such auspices, and those of his learned associate, Professor Greenleaf, large classes of students, larger than any other in America, or in England, were annually gathered in Cambridge. The Law School became the glory of the University.

He was proud of his character as Professor. In his earlier works he is called on the title-page "Dane Professor of Law." It was only on the suggestion of the English publisher that he was induced to append the other title, "One of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States." He looked forward with peculiar satisfaction to the time which seemed at hand, when he should lay down the honors and cares of the bench, and devote himself singly to the duties of his chair.

I have merely glanced at him in his three several relations to jurisprudence. Great in each, it is on this unprecedented combination that his peculiar fame will be reared, as upon an immortal tripod. In what I have written, I do not think I am biased by partialities of private friendship. I have endeavored to regard him as posterity will regard him, as all must regard him now who fully know him in his works. Imagine for one moment the irreparable loss, if all that he has done were blotted out forever. As I think of the incalculable facilities afforded by his labors, I cannot but say with Racine, when speaking of Descartes, "_Nous courons; mais, sans lui, nous ne marcherions pas._" Besides, it is he who has inspired in many foreign bosoms, reluctant to perceive good in our country, a sincere homage to the American name. He has turned the stream refluent upon the ancient fountains of Westminster Hall, and, stranger still, has forced the waters above their sources, up the unaccustomed heights of countries alien to the Common Law. It is he also who has directed, from the copious well-springs of Roman Law, and from the fresher currents of modern Continental Law, a pure and grateful stream to enrich and fertilize our domestic jurisprudence. In his judgments, his books, and his teachings, he drew always from other systems to illustrate the Common Law.

The mind naturally seeks to compare him with eminent jurists, servants of Themis, who share with him the wide spaces of fame. In genius for the law, in the exceeding usefulness of his career, in the blended character of Judge and Author, he cannot yield to our time-honored master, Lord Coke; in suavity of manner, and in silver-tongued eloquence, he may compare with Lord Mansfield, while in depth, accuracy, and variety of juridical learning he surpassed him far; if he yields to Lord Stowell in elegance of diction, he exceeds even his excellence in curious exploration of the foundations of that jurisdiction which they administered in common, and in the development of those great principles of public law whose just determination helps to preserve the peace of nations; and even in the peculiar field illustrated by the long career of Eldon, we find him a familiar worker, with Eldon's profusion of learning, and without the perplexity of his doubts. There are many who regard the judicial character of the late Chief Justice Marshall as unapproachable. I revere his name, and have read his judgments, which seem like "pure reason," with admiration and gratitude; but I cannot disguise that even these noble memorials must yield in juridical character, learning, acuteness, fervor, variety of topics, as they are far inferior in amount, to those of our friend. There is still spared to us a renowned judge, at this moment the unquestioned living head of American jurisprudence, with no rival near the throne,--Chancellor Kent,--whose judgments and works always inspired the warmest eulogy of the departed, and whose character as a jurist furnishes the fittest parallel to his own in the annals of our law.

It seems idle to weave further these vain comparisons, particularly to invoke the living. But busy fancy revives the past, and persons and scenes renew themselves in my memory. I call to mind the recent Chancellor of England, the model of a clear, grave, learned, and conscientious magistrate,--Lord Cottenham. I see again the ornaments of Westminster Hall, on the bench and at the bar, where sits Denman, in manner, conduct, and character "every inch" the judge,--where pleaded the consummate lawyer, Follett, whose voice is now hushed in the grave; their judgments, their arguments, their conversation I cannot forget; but thinking of these, I feel new pride in the great Magistrate, the just Judge, the consummate Lawyer whom we lament.

It has been my fortune to know the chief jurists of our time, in the classical countries of jurisprudence, France and Germany. I remember well the pointed and effective style of Dupin, in one of his masterly arguments before the highest court of France; I recall the pleasant converse of Pardessus--to whom commercial and maritime law is under a larger debt, perhaps, than to any other mind--while he descanted on his favorite theme; I wander in fancy to the gentle presence of him with flowing silver locks who was so dear to Germany,--Thibaut, the expounder of Roman law, and the earnest and successful advocate of a just scheme for the reduction of the unwritten law to the certainty of a written text; from Heidelberg I pass to Berlin, where I listen to the grave lecture and mingle in the social circle of Savigny, so stately in person and peculiar in countenance, whom all the continent of Europe delights to honor; but my heart and my judgment, untravelled, fondly turn with new love and admiration to my Cambridge teacher and friend. Jurisprudence has many arrows in her quiver, but where is one to compare with that which is now spent in the earth?

The fame of the Jurist is enhanced by various attainments superinduced upon learning in the law. His "Miscellaneous Writings" show a thoughtful mind, imbued with elegant literature, warm with kindly sentiments, commanding a style of rich and varied eloquence. Many passages from these have become commonplaces of our schools. In early life he yielded to the fascinations of the poetic muse; and here the great lawyer may find companionship with Selden, who is introduced by Suckling into the "Session of the Poets" as "hard by the chair,"--with Blackstone, whose "Farewell to his Muse" shows his fondness for poetic pastures, even while his eye was directed to the heights of the law,--and also with Mansfield, whom Pope has lamented in familiar words,

"How sweet an Ovid Murray! was our boast."

I have now before me, in his own handwriting, some verses written by him in 1833, entitled, "Advice to a Young Lawyer." As they cannot fail to be read with interest, I introduce them here.

"Whene'er you speak, remember every cause
Stands not on eloquence, but stands on laws;
Pregnant in matter, in expression brief,
Let every sentence stand with bold relief;
On trifling points nor time nor talents waste,
A sad offence to learning and to taste;
Nor deal with pompous phrase, nor e'er suppose
Poetic flights belong to reasoning prose.
Loose declamation may deceive the crowd,
And seem more striking as it grows more loud;
But sober sense rejects it with disdain,
As naught but empty noise, and weak as vain.
The froth of words, the schoolboy's vain parade
Of books and cases (all his stock in trade).
The pert conceits, the cunning tricks and play
Of low attorneys, strung in long array,
The unseemly jest, the petulant reply,
That chatters on, and cares not how nor why,
Studious, avoid: unworthy themes to scan,
They sink the speaker and disgrace the man;
Like the false lights by flying shadows cast,
Scarce seen when present, and forgot when past.

"Begin with dignity; expound with grace
Each ground of reasoning in its time and place;
Let order reign throughout; each topic touch,
Nor urge its power too little or too much;
Give each strong thought its most attractive view,
In diction clear, and yet severely true;
And as the arguments in splendor grow,
Let each reflect its light on all below.
When to the close arrived, make no delays
By petty flourishes or verbal plays,
But sum the whole in one deep, solemn strain,
Like a strong current hastening to the main."

But the jurist, rich with the spoils of time, the exalted magistrate, the orator, the writer, all vanish when I think of the friend. Much as the world may admire his memory, all who knew him will love it more. Who can forget his bounding step, his contagious laugh, his exhilarating voice, his beaming smile, his countenance that shone like a benediction? What pen can describe these? What canvas or marble can portray them? He was always the friend of the young, who never tired in listening to his mellifluous discourse. Nor did they ever leave his presence without a warmer glow of virtue, a more inspiring love of knowledge, and more generous impulses of action. I remember him in my childhood; but I first knew him after he came to Cambridge as Professor, while I was yet an undergraduate, and now recall freshly, as if the words were of yesterday, the eloquence and animation with which at that time he enforced upon a youthful circle the beautiful truth, _that no man stands in the way of another_. The world is wide enough for all, he said, and no success which may crown our neighbor can affect our own career. In this spirit he ran his race on earth, without jealousy, without envy,--nay, more, overflowing with appreciation and praise of labors which compared humbly with his own. In conversation he dwelt with fervor upon all the topics which interest man,--not only upon law, but upon literature, history, human character, the affairs of every day,--above all, upon the great duties of life, the relations of men to each other, to country, to God. High in his mind, above all human opinions and practices, were the everlasting rules of _Right_; nor did he ever rise to truer eloquence than when condemning, as I have more than once heard him recently, that evil sentiment, "Our country, _right or wrong_" which, in whatsoever form of language it may disguise itself, assails the very foundations of justice and virtue.

He was happy in life, happy also in death. It was his hope, expressed in health, that he should not be allowed to linger superfluous on the stage, nor waste under the slow progress of disease. He was always ready to meet his God. His wishes were answered. Two days before his last illness he was in court, and delivered an elaborate judgment on a complicated case in equity. Since his death another judgment in a case already argued before him has been found among his papers, ready to be pronounced.

I saw him for a single moment on the evening preceding his illness. It was an accidental meeting away from his own house,--the last time that the open air fanned his cheeks. His words of familiar, household greeting still linger in my ears, like an enchanted melody. The morning sun saw him on the bed from which he never rose.

Thus closed, after an illness of eight days, in the bosom of his family, without pain, surrounded by friends, a life which, through various vicissitudes of disease, had been spared beyond the grand climacteric, that Cape of Storms in the sea of human existence.

"Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit,
Nulli flebilior quam mihi."

He is gone, and we shall see him no more on earth, except in his works, and the memory of his virtues. The scales of justice, which he so long held, have fallen from his hand. The untiring pen of the Author rests at last. The voice of the Teacher is mute. The fountain, which was ever flowing and ever full, is stopped. The lips, on which the bees of Hybla might have rested, will no more distil their honeyed sweets. The manly form, warm with all the affections of life, with love for family and friends, for truth and virtue, is now cold in death. The justice of nations is eclipsed; the life of the law is suspended. But let us listen to the words which, though dead, he utters from the grave: "Sorrow not as those without hope." The righteous judge, the wise teacher, the faithful friend, the loving father, has ascended to his Judge, his Teacher, his Friend, his Father in Heaven.

THE WRONG OF SLAVERY.

SPEECH AT A PUBLIC MEETING IN FANEUIL HALL, BOSTON, AGAINST THE
ADMISSION OF TEXAS AS A SLAVE STATE, NOVEMBER 4, 1845.

The officers of this meeting were Hon. Charles Francis Adams,
President; James M. Whiton, Charles G. Hovey, and William I.
Bowditch, Secretaries. The President made a speech on taking the
chair. He was followed by Hon. John G. Palfrey, Charles Sumner,
Wendell Phillips, Henry B. Stanton, George S. Hillard, Rev. William
H. Channing, and William Lloyd Garrison. The meeting was thus
sympathetically described by the _Liberator_:--

"Faneuil Hall next had a meeting, more worthy of its fame than
the one which was held in it on Tuesday evening last, to set the
ball in motion for another grand rally of the freemen of the North
against the admission of Texas into the Union as a Slave State.
The weather was extremely unpropitious,--the rain pouring down
violently, the thunder roaring, and the lightning blazing vividly
at intervals,--emblematic of the present moral and political
aspects of the country."

The _Daily Times_, a democratic paper of Boston, in its account of
the meeting made the severe storm play an important part. Here is
something of what it said:--

"The elements seemed determined not to sanction any such
traitor-like movement, and interposed every obstacle to its
success. It was proper that such a foul project should have foul
weather as an accompaniment. The night was dark, and so were the
designs contemplated." To oppose the extension of slavery was
traitor-like, foul, and dark.

The Resolutions adopted at the meeting were drawn by Mr. Sumner,
although introduced by another. They were the first political
resolutions ever drawn by him, as the speech which follows was
the first political speech ever made by him. The Resolutions,
while condemning slavery and denouncing the plan to secure
its predominance in the National Government, start with the
annunciation of _Equal Rights and the_ _Brotherhood of all
Men_, as set forth in the Declaration of Independence, which Mr.
Sumner always, from beginning to end, made the foundation of his
arguments, appeals, and aspirations.

* * * * *

"_Whereas_ the Government and Independence of the United States
are founded on the adamantine truth of _Equal Rights and the
Brotherhood of all Men_, declared on the 4th of July, 1776, a truth
receiving new and constant recognition in the progress of time, and
which is the great lesson from our country to the world, in support
of which the founders toiled and bled, and on account of which we,
their children, bless their memory,--

"_And whereas_ it is essential to our self-respect as a nation, and
to our fame in history, that this truth, declared by our fathers,
should not be impeached or violated by any fresh act of their
children,--

"_And whereas_ the scheme for the annexation of Texas as a Slave
State, begun in stealth and fraud, and carried on to confirm
Slavery and extend its bounds, in violation of the fundamental
principle of our institutions, is not consummated, and may yet
be arrested by the zealous and hearty co-operation of all who
sincerely love their country and the liberty of mankind,--

"_And whereas_ this scheme, if successful, involves the whole
country, Free States as well as slave-owners, in one of the two
greatest crimes a nation can commit, and threatens to involve them
in the other,--namely, Slavery and unjust War,--Slavery of the most
revolting character, and War to sustain Slavery,--

"_And whereas_ the State Constitution of Texas, which will soon
be submitted to Congress for adoption or rejection, expressly
prohibits the Legislature, except under conditions rendering
the exception practically void, from enacting any law for the
emancipation of slaves, and for the abolition of the slave-trade
between Texas and the United States, thereby reversing entirely the
natural and just tendency of our institutions towards Freedom,--

"_And whereas_ the slaveholders seek annexation for the purpose
of increasing the market of human flesh, and for extending and
perpetuating Slavery,--

"_And whereas_, by the triumph of this scheme, and by creating new
Slave States within the limits of Texas, the slaveholders seek to
control the political power of the majority of freemen represented
in the Congress of the Union:--

"_Therefore be it resolved_, in the name of God, of Christ, and
of Humanity, that we, belonging to all political parties, and
reserving all other reasons of objection, unite in protest against
the admission of Texas into this Union as a Slave State.

"_Resolved_, That the people of Massachusetts will continue to
resist the consummation of this wicked purpose, which will cover
the country with disgrace, and make us responsible for crimes of
gigantic magnitude.

"_Resolved_, That we have the fullest confidence that the Senators
and Representatives of Massachusetts in Congress will never consent
to the admission of Texas as a Slave State, but by voice and vote
will resist this fatal measure to the utmost at every stage.

"_And furthermore, whereas_ the Congress of the United States, by
assuming to connect this country with a foreign state, have already
involved the people of the Free States in great expenditure for the
protection of the usurped territory by force of arms on sea and
land,--

"_And whereas_ a still greater outlay may hereafter be incurred to
maintain by violence what is held by wrong:--

"_Resolved_, That we protest against the policy of enlisting the
strength of a free people to sustain by physical force a measure
urged with the criminal purpose of perpetuating a system of slavery
at war with the fundamental principle of our institutions.

"_Resolved_, That a committee be appointed by the chair to present
copies of these Resolutions to the Senators and Representatives
from Massachusetts, and also to send them to every Senator and
Representative in Congress from the Free States."

Mr. Chairman,--I could not listen to the appropriate remarks of my friend, the Secretary of the Commonwealth,[118] without recalling an important act in his life, and feeling anew what all must feel, the beauty of his example in the fraternal treatment of slaves descended to him by inheritance, manumitting them as he has done, and conducting them far away from Slavery into these more cheerful precincts of Freedom. In offering him this humble tribute, I am sure that I awaken a response in every heart that has not ceased to throb at the recital of an act of self-sacrifice and humanity. He has done as a citizen what Massachusetts is now called to do as a State. He has divested himself of all responsibility for any accession of slave property, and the State must do likewise.

[118] Hon. John G. Palfrey.

There are occasions, in the progress of affairs, when persons, though ordinarily opposed to each other, come together, and even the lukewarm, the listless, the indifferent unite heartily in a common object. Such is the case in great calamities, when the efforts of all are needed to avert a fatal blow. If the fire-bell startles us from our slumbers, we do not ask of what faith in politics or religion is the unfortunate brother whose house is exposed to conflagration; it is enough that there is misfortune to be averted. In this spirit we have assembled on this inclement evening,--putting aside all distinctions of party,--forgetting all disagreements of opinion, to remember one thing only, on which all are agreed,--renouncing all discords, to stand firm on one ground only, where we all meet in concord: I mean opposition to Texas as a Slave State.

The scheme for the annexation of Texas, begun in stealth and fraud, in order to extend and strengthen Slavery, has not yet received the final sanction of Congress. According to the course proposed by these machinators, it is necessary that Texas should be formally admitted into the family of States by a vote of Congress, and that her Constitution should be approved by Congress. The question will be presented this winter, and we would, if we could, strengthen the hearts and words of those by whom the measure will be opposed.

Ours is no factious or irregular course. It has the sanction of the best examples on a kindred occasion. The very question before us occurred in 1819, on the admission of Missouri as a Slave State. I need not remind you of the ardor and constancy with which this was opposed at the North, by men of all parties, with scarcely a dissenting voice. One universal chorus of protest thundered from the North against the formation of what was called another _black State_. Meetings were convened in all the considerable towns,--Philadelphia, Trenton, New York, New Haven, and everywhere throughout Massachusetts,--to make this opposition audible on the floor of Congress. At Boston, December the 3d, 1819, a meeting without distinction of party, and embracing the leaders of both sides, was held in the State-House. That meeting, in its object, was precisely like the present. A numerous committee to prepare resolutions was appointed, of which William Eustis, afterwards Governor of Massachusetts, was chairman. With him were associated John Phillips, at that time President of the Senate of Massachusetts,--a name dear to every friend of the slave, as father of him to whose eloquent voice we hope to listen to-night,[119]--Timothy Bigelow, Speaker of the House of Representatives, William Gray, Henry Dearborn, Josiah Quincy, Daniel Webster, William Ward, William Prescott, Thomas H. Perkins, Stephen White, Benjamin Pickman, William Sullivan, George Blake, David Cummins, James Savage, John Gallison, James T. Austin, and Henry Orne. No committee could have been appointed better fitted to inspire the confidence of all sides. Numerous as were its members, they were all men of mark and consideration in our community. This committee reported the following resolutions, which were adopted by the meeting.

"_Resolved_, as the opinion of this meeting, that the Congress
of the United States possesses the constitutional power, upon
the admission of any new State created beyond the limits of the
original territory of the United States, to make the prohibition of
the further extension of slavery or involuntary servitude in such
new State a condition of its admission.

"_Resolved_, That, in the opinion of this meeting, it is just and
expedient that this power should be exercised by Congress upon the
admission of all new States created beyond the original limits of
the United States."

[119] Wendell Phillips Esq.

The meeting in Boston was followed by another in Salem, called, according to the terms of the notice, to consider "whether the immense region of country extending from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean is destined to be the abode of happiness, independence, and freedom, _or the wide prison of misery and slavery_." Resolutions were passed against the admission of any Slave State, being supported by Benjamin T. Pickman, Andrew Dunlap, and Joseph Story, a name of authority wherever found. In the meeting at Worcester, Solomon Strong and Levi Lincoln took a prominent part. Resolutions were adopted here, "earnestly requesting their representatives in Congress to use their unremitted exertions to prevent the sanction of that honorable body to any further introduction of slavery within the extending limits of the United States." By these assemblies the Commonwealth was aroused. To Slavery it presented an unbroken front.

Since these efforts in the cause of Freedom twenty-five years have passed. Some of the partakers in them are still spared to us,--I need not add, full of years and honors. The larger part have been called from the duty of opposing slavery on earth. The same question which aroused their energies presents itself to us. Shall we be less faithful than they? Will Massachusetts oppose a less unbroken front now than then? In the lapse of these few years has the love of freedom diminished? Has sensibility to human suffering lost any of the keenness of its edge?

Let us regard the question more closely. Congress is asked to sanction the Constitution of Texas, which not only supports slavery, but contains a clause prohibiting the Legislature of the State from abolishing slavery. In doing this, it will give a fresh stamp of legislative approbation to an unrighteous system; it will assume a new and active responsibility for the system; it will again become a dealer in human flesh, and on a gigantic scale. At this moment, when the conscience of mankind is at last aroused to the enormity of holding a fellow-man in bondage, when, throughout the civilized world, a slave-dealer is a by-word and a reproach, we as a nation are about to become proprietors of a large population of slaves. Such an act, at this time, is removed from the reach of that palliation often extended to slavery. Slavery, we are speciously told by those who defend it, is not our original sin. It was entailed upon us by our ancestors, so we are instructed; and the responsibility is often, with exultation, thrown upon the mother country. Now, without stopping to inquire into the truth of this allegation, it is sufficient for the present purpose to know that by welcoming Texas as a Slave State we make slavery our own original sin. Here is a new case of actual transgression, which we cannot cast upon the shoulders of any progenitors, nor upon any mother country, distant in time or place. The Congress of the United States, the people of the United States, at this day, in this vaunted period of light, will be responsible for it; so that it will be said hereafter, so long as the dreadful history of Slavery is read, that in the present year of Christ a new and deliberate act was passed to confirm and extend it.

By the present movement we propose no measure of change. We do not offer to interfere with any institution of the Southern States, nor to modify any law on the subject of Slavery anywhere under the Constitution. Our movement is conservative. It is to preserve existing supports of Freedom; it is to prevent the violation of free institutions in their vital principles.

Such a movement should unite in its support all but those few in whose distorted or unnatural vision slavery seems to be a great good. Most clearly should it unite the freemen of the North, by all the considerations of self-interest, and by those higher considerations founded on the rights of man. I cannot dwell now upon the controlling political influence in the councils of the country which the annexation of Texas will secure to slaveholders. This topic is of importance; but it yields to the supreme requirements of religion, morals, and humanity. I cannot banish from my view the great shame and wrong of slavery. Judges of our courts have declared it contrary to the Law of Nature, finding its support only in positive enactments of men. Its horrors who can tell? Language utterly fails to depict them.

By the proposed measure, we not only become parties to the acquisition of a large population of slaves, with all the crime of slavery, but we open a new market for the slaves of Virginia and the Carolinas, and _legalize a new slave-trade_. A new slave-trade! Consider this well. You cannot forget the horrors of that too famous "middle passage," where crowds of human beings, stolen, and borne by sea far from their warm African homes, are pressed on shipboard into spaces of smaller dimensions for each than a coffin. And yet the deadly consequences of this middle passage are believed to fall short of those sometimes undergone by the wretched coffles driven from the exhausted lands of the Northern Slave States to the sugar plantations nearer the sun of the South. One quarter part are said often to perish in these removals. I see them, in imagination, on their fatal journey, chained in bands, and driven like cattle, leaving behind what has become to them a home and a country, (alas! what a home, and what a country!)--husband torn from wife, and parent from child, to be sold anew into more direful captivity. Can this take place with our consent, nay, without our most determined opposition? If the slave-trade is to receive new adoption from our country, let us have no part or lot in it. Let us wash our hands of this great guilt. As we read its horrors, may each of us be able to exclaim, with conscience void of offence, "Thou canst not say I did it." God forbid that the votes and voices of Northern freemen should help to bind anew the fetters of the slave! God forbid that the lash of the slave-dealer should descend by any sanction from New England! God forbid that the blood which spurts from the lacerated, quivering flesh of the slave should soil the hem of the white garments of Massachusetts!

Voices of discouragement reach us from other parts of the country, and even from our own friends in this bracing air. We are told that all exertion will be vain, and that the admission of a new Slave State is "a foregone conclusion." But this is no reason why we should shrink from duty. "I will try," was the response of an American officer on the field of battle. "England expects every man to do his duty," was the signal of the British admiral. Ours is a contest holier than those which aroused these stirring words. Let _us_ try. Let every man among _us_ do his duty.

And suppose New England stands alone in these efforts; suppose Massachusetts stands alone: is it not a noble isolation? Is it not the post of honor? Is it not the position where she will find companionship with all that is great and generous in the past,--with all the disciples of truth, of right, of liberty? It has not been her wont on former occasions to inquire whether she should stand alone. Your honored ancestor, Mr. Chairman, who from these walls regards our proceedings to-night, did not ask whether Massachusetts would be alone, when she commenced that opposition which ended in the independence of the Thirteen Colonies.

But we cannot fail to accomplish great good. It is in obedience to a prevailing law of Providence, that no act of self-sacrifice, of devotion to duty, of humanity can fail. It stands forever as a landmark, from which at least to make a new effort. Future champions of equal rights and human brotherhood will derive new strength from these exertions.

Let Massachusetts, then, be aroused. Let all her children be summoned to this holy cause. There are questions of ordinary politics in which men may remain neutral; but neutrality now is treason to liberty, to humanity, and to the fundamental principles of free institutions. Let her united voice, with the accumulated echoes of freedom that fill this ancient hall, go forth with comfort and cheer to all who labor in the same cause everywhere throughout the land. Let it help to confirm the wavering, and to reclaim those who have erred from the right path. Especially may it exert a proper influence in Congress upon the representatives of the Free States. May it serve to make them as firm in the defence of Freedom as their opponents are pertinacious in the cause of Slavery.

Massachusetts must continue foremost in the cause of Freedom; nor can her children yield to deadly dalliance with Slavery. They must resist at all times, and be forearmed against the fatal influence. There is a story of the magnetic mountain which drew out the iron bolts of a ship, though at a great distance. Slavery is such a mountain, and too often draws out the iron bolts of representatives. There is another story of the Norwegian maelström, which, after sucking a ship into its vortex, whirls the victim round and round until it is dashed in pieces. Slavery is such a maelström. Representatives must continue safe and firm, notwithstanding magnetic mountain or maelström. But this can be only by following those principles for which Massachusetts is renowned.

A precious incident in the life of one whom our country has delighted to honor furnishes an example for imitation. When Napoleon, already at the pinnacle of military honor, but lusting for perpetuity of power, caused a vote to be taken on the question, whether he should be First Consul for life, Lafayette, at that time in retirement, and only recently, by his intervention, liberated from the dungeons of Olmütz, deliberately registered his _No_. Afterwards revisiting our shores, the scene of his youthful devotion to freedom, and receiving on all sides that beautiful homage of thanksgiving which is of itself an all-sufficient answer to the sarcasm that republics are ungrateful, here in Boston, this illustrious Frenchman listened with especial pride to the felicitation addressed to him as "the man who knew so well how to say _No_." Be this the example for Massachusetts; and may it be among her praises hereafter, that on this occasion she knew so well how to say NO!

EQUAL RIGHTS IN THE LECTURE-ROOM.

LETTER TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE NEW BEDFORD LYCEUM, NOVEMBER 29, 1845.

After accepting an invitation to lecture before the Lyceum at New
Bedford, Mr. Sumner, learning that colored persons were denied
membership and equal opportunities with white persons, refused to
lecture, as appears in the following Letter, which was published in
the papers of the time.

Shortly afterwards the obnoxious rule was rescinded, and Mr. Sumner
lectured.

BOSTON, November 29, 1845.

My Dear Sir,--I have received your favor of November 24, asking me
to appoint an evening in February or March to lecture before the
New Bedford Lyceum, in pursuance of my promise.

On receiving the invitation of your Lyceum, I felt flattered, and,
in undertaking to deliver a lecture at some time, to be appointed
afterwards, I promised myself peculiar pleasure in an occasion
of visiting a town which I had never seen, but whose refined
hospitality and liberal spirit, as described to me, awakened my
warmest interest.

Since then I have read in the public prints a protest, purporting
to be by gentlemen well known to me by reputation, who are members
of the Lyceum, and some of them part of its government, from
which it appears that in former years tickets of admission were
freely sold to colored persons, as to white persons, and that no
objection was made to them as members, but that at the present
time tickets are refused to colored persons, and membership is also
refused practically, though, by special vote recently adopted, they
are allowed to attend the lectures without expense, provided they
will sit in the north gallery.

From these facts it appears that the New Bedford Lyceum has
undertaken within its jurisdiction to establish a distinction of
_Caste_ not recognized before.

One of the cardinal truths of religion and freedom is the _Equality
and Brotherhood of Man_. In the sight of God and of all just
institutions the white man can claim no precedence or exclusive
privilege from his color. It is the accident of an accident
that places a human soul beneath the dark shelter of an African
countenance, rather than beneath our colder complexion. Nor can I
conceive any application of the divine injunction, Do unto others
as you would have them do unto you, more pertinent than to the man
who founds a discrimination between his fellow-men on difference of
skin.

It is well known that the prejudice of color, which is akin to
the stern and selfish spirit that holds a fellow-man in slavery,
is peculiar to our country. It does not exist in other civilized
countries. In France colored youths at college have gained the
highest honors, and been welcomed as if they were white. At the Law
School there I have sat with them on the same benches. In Italy
I have seen an Abyssinian mingling with monks, and there was no
apparent suspicion on either side of anything open to question. All
this was Christian: so it seemed to me.

In lecturing before a Lyceum which has introduced the prejudice of
color among its laws, and thus formally reversed an injunction of
highest morals and politics, I might seem to sanction what is most
alien to my soul, and join in disobedience to that command which
teaches that the children of earth are all of one blood. I cannot
do this.

I beg, therefore, to be excused at present from appointing a day
to lecture before your Lyceum; and I pray you to lay this letter
before the Lyceum, that the ground may be understood on which I
deem it my duty to decline the honor of appearing before them.

I hope you will pardon the frankness of this communication, and
believe me, my dear Sir,

Very faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

_To the Chairman of the Committee }
of the New Bedford Lyceum._ }

PRISONS AND PRISON DISCIPLINE.[120]

ARTICLE FROM THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER, JANUARY, 1846.

It is with a feeling of deference that we welcome Miss Dix's "Remarks on Prisons and Prison Discipline." Her peculiar labors for humanity, and her renunciation of the refined repose which has such attractions for her sex, to go about doing good, enduring the hardships of travel, the vicissitudes of the changing season, and, more trying still, the coldness of the world, awaken towards her a sense of gratitude, and invest her name with an interest which must attach to anything from her pen.

[120] 1. _Remarks on Prisons and Prison Discipline in the United
States._ By D.L. DIX. Second Edition. Philadelphia. 1845. 8vo. pp. 108.

2. _Nineteenth Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Prison Discipline Society._ Boston. 1844. 8vo. pp. 116.

3. _Prisons and Prisoners._ By JOSEPH ADSHEAD. With Illustrations. London. 1845. 8vo. pp. 320.

4. _Report of the Surveyor-General of Prisons on the Construction, Ventilation, and Details of the Pentonville Prison._ London. 1844. fol. pp. 30.

5. _Revue Pénitentiaire des Institutions Préventives_, sous la Direction de M. MOREAU-CHRISTOPHE. Tom. II. Paris. 1845. 8vo. pp. 659.

6. _Du Projet de Loi sur la Réforme des Prisons._ Par M. LÉON FAUCHER. Paris. 1844. 8vo.

7. _Considerations sur la Réclusion Individuelle des Détenus._ Par W.H. SURINGAR. Traduit du Hollandais sur la seconde Édition. Précédées d'une Préface, et suivies du Résumé de la Question Pénitentiaire, par L.M. MOREAU-CHRISTOPHE. Paris et Amsterdam. 1843. 8vo. pp. 131.

8. _Nordamerikas Sittliche Zustände._ (The Moral Condition of North America.) Von Dr. N.H. JULIUS. 2 Bände. Leipzig. 1839. 8vo.

9. _Archiv des Criminalrechts, herausgegeben_ von den Professoren ABEGG, BIRNBAUM, HEFFTER, MITTERMAIER, WÄCHTER, ZACHARIÄ. (Archives of Criminal Law, edited by Professors ABEGG, etc.) Halle. 1843. 12mo. pp. 597.

The chosen and almost exclusive sphere of woman is home, in the warmth of the family hearth. Rarely is she able to mingle with effect in the active labors which influence mankind. With incredulity we admire the feminine expounder of the Roman law, illustrating by her lectures the Universities of Padua and Bologna,--and the charities of St. Elizabeth of Hungary are legendary in the dim distance; though, in our own day, the classical productions of the widow of Wyttenbach, crowned Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Marburg, and most especially the beautiful labors of Mrs. Fry, recently closed by death, are examples of the sway exerted by the gentler sex beyond the charmed circle of domestic life. Among these Miss Dix will receive a place which her modesty would forbid her to claim. Her name will be enrolled among benefactors. It will be pronounced with gratitude, when heroes in the strifes of politics and of war are disregarded or forgotten.

"Can we forget the generous few
Who, touched with human woe, redressive sought
Into the horrors of the gloomy jail,
Unpitied and unheard, where misery moans,
Where sickness pines?"

Miss Dix's labors embrace penitentiaries, jails, alms-houses, poor-houses, and asylums for the insane, throughout the Northern and Middle States,--all of which she has visited, turning a face of gentleness towards crime, comforting the unfortunate, softening a hard lot, sweetening a bitter cup, while she obtained information of their condition calculated to awaken the attention of the public. This labor of love she has pursued earnestly, devotedly, sparing neither time nor strength, neglecting no person, abject or lowly, frequenting the cells of all, and by word and deed seeking to strengthen their hearts. The melody of her voice still sounds in our ears, as, standing in the long corridor of the Philadelphia Penitentiary, she read a Psalm of consolation; nor will that scene be effaced quickly from the memory of any then present. Her Memorials, addressed to the Legislatures of different States, have divulged a mass of facts, derived from personal and most minute observation, particularly with regard to the treatment of the insane, which must arouse the sensibilities of a humane people. In herself alone she is a whole Prison Discipline Society. To her various efforts may be applied, without exaggeration, those magical words in which Burke commemorated the kindred charity of Howard, when he says that he travelled, "not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces or the stateliness of temples, not to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur nor to form a scale of the curiosity of modern art, not to collect medals or collate manuscripts, but to dive into the depths of dungeons, to plunge into the infection of hospitals, to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain, to take the gauge and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt, to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and to compare and collate the distresses of all men."

Her "Remarks" contain general results on different points connected with the discipline of prisons: as, the duration of sentences; pardons and the pardoning power; diet of prisoners; water; clothing; ventilation; heat; health; visitors' fees; dimensions of lodging-cells in the State penitentiaries; moral, religious, and general instruction in prisons; reformation of prisoners; penitentiary systems of the United States; and houses of refuge for juvenile offenders. It would be interesting and instructive to examine the conclusions on all these important topics having the sanction of her disinterested experience; but our limits restrict us, on the present occasion, to a single topic.

We are disposed to take advantage of the interest Miss Dix's publication may excite, and also of her name, which is an authority, to say a few words on a question much agitated, and already the subject of many books,--the comparative merits of what are called the Pennsylvania and Auburn Penitentiary Systems. This question is, perhaps, the most important of all that grow out of Prisons; for it affects, in a measure, all others. It involves both the construction of the prison, and its administration.

The subject of Prison Discipline, and particularly the question between the two systems, has of late years occupied the attention of jurists and philanthropists in no ordinary degree. The discussion has been conducted in all the languages of Europe, to such an extent that the titles alone of the works would occupy considerable space in a volume of Bibliography. We have before us, for instance, a list of no less than eleven in Italian. But we must go back to the last century, if we would trace the origin of the controversy.

To Howard, a man of true greatness, whose name will stand high on the roll of the world's benefactors, belongs the signal honor of first awakening the sympathies of the English people in this work of benevolence. By his travels and labors he became familiar with the actual character of prisons, and was enabled to spread before the public an accumulation of details which fill the reader with horror and disgust. The condition of prisons at that time in England was appalling. Of course there was no system; nor was there any civilization in the treatment of prisoners. Everything was bad. As there was no care, so there was no cleanliness, on which so much depends, and there was no classification or separation of any kind. All commingled, so that the uncleanness of one befouled all, and the wickedness of one contaminated all. While this continued, all hope of reform was vain. Therefore, with especial warmth, Howard pleaded for the _separation_ of prisoners, especially at night, "wishing to have so many small rooms or cabins that each criminal may sleep alone,"[121] and called attention to the fact he had observed in Holland, that "in most of the prisons for criminals there are so many rooms that each prisoner is kept separate."[122]

[121] Howard, State of the Prisons, p. 22.

[122] Ibid. p. 45.

The importance of the principle of separation was first recognized at Rome, as long ago as 1703, by Clement XI., in the foundation of the Hospital of St. Michael, or the House of Refuge, where a separate dormitory was provided for each prisoner. Over the portal of this asylum, in letters of gold, were inscribed the words of wisdom which Howard adopted as the motto of his labors, and which indicate the spirit that should preside over the administration of all prisons: _Parum est improbos coercere poena, nisi probos efficias disciplina_,--It is of small consequence to coerce the wicked by punishment, unless you make them good by discipline. The first and most important step in this discipline is to remove prisoners from all evil influence,--which can be done only by separation from each other, and by filling their time with labor.

In furtherance of this principle, and that he might reduce it to practice, Howard, in conjunction with Sir William Blackstone, as early as 1779, drew an Act of Parliament, the preamble to the fifth section of which is an enunciation of the cardinal truth at the foundation of all effective prison discipline.