Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

Sir, I do not doubt that the Enterprise produces heat and irritation, amounting often to inflammation, among slave-masters, which to superficial minds seems inconsistent with success, but which the careful observer will recognize at once as the natural and not unhealthy effort of a diseased body to purge itself of existing impurities; and just in proportion to the malignity of the concealed poison will be the extent of inflammation. A distemper like Slavery cannot be ejected like a splinter. It is too much to expect that men thus tortured should reason calmly, that patients thus suffering should comprehend the true nature of their case and kindly acknowledge the beneficent cure; but not on this account can it be suspended. Nor, when we consider the character of Slavery, can it be expected that men who sustain it will be tranquil. Conscience has its voice, and will be heard in awful warning hurrying to and fro in the midnight hour. Its outcry is more natural than silence.

In the face of this complaint, I assert that the Antislavery Enterprise has already accomplished incalculable good. Even now it sweeps the national heart, compelling it to emotions of transforming power. All are touched,--the young, the middle-aged, the old. There is a new glow at the household hearth. Mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters are aroused to take part in the great battle. There is a new aspiration for justice on earth, awakening not merely a sentiment against Slavery, such as prevailed with our fathers, but a deep, undying conviction of its wrong, and a determination to leave no effort unattempted for its removal. With the sympathies of all Christendom as allies, already it encompasses the slave-masters by a _moral blockade_, invisible to the eye, but more potent than navies, from which there can be no escape except in final capitulation. Thus it has created the irresistible influence which itself constitutes the beginning of success.

Already are signs of change. In common speech, as well as in writing, among slave-masters, the bondman is no longer called _slave_, but _servant_,--thus, by soft substitution, concealing and condemning the true relation. Newspapers, even in the land of bondage, blush at the hunt of men by bloodhounds,--thus protesting against an unquestionable incident of Slavery. Other signs appear in the added comfort of the slave,--in the enlarged attention to his wants,--in the experiments now beginning, by which the slave is enabled to share in the profits of his labor, and thus finally secure his freedom,--and, above all, in the consciousness among slave-masters that they dwell now, as never before, under the keen observation of an ever-wakeful Public Opinion, quickened by an ever-wakeful Public Press. Nor is this all. Only lately propositions were introduced into the Legislatures of different States, and countenanced by Governors, to mitigate the existing Law of Slavery; and almost while speaking, I have received drafts of two different memorials, one to the Legislature of Virginia, and the other to that of North Carolina, asking for the slave three things, which it will be monstrous to refuse, but which, if conceded, will take from Slavery its existing character: I mean, _first_, the protection of the marriage relation; _secondly_, the protection of the parental relation; and, _thirdly_, the privilege of knowledge. Grant these, and the girdled Upas tree soon must die. Sir, amidst these tokens of present success, and the auguries of the future, I am not disturbed by complaints of seeming damage. “Though it consume our own dwelling, who does not venerate fire, without which human life can hardly exist on earth?” says the Hindoo proverb; and the time is even now at hand, when the Antislavery Enterprise, which is the very fire of Freedom, with all its incidental excesses and excitements, will be hailed with similar regard.

III.

It remains to show, in the _third_ place, that the Antislavery Enterprise, which stands before you at once necessary and practicable, is commended by inherent DIGNITY. Here reasons are obvious and unanswerable.

Its object is benevolent; nor is there in the dreary annals of the Past a single enterprise more clearly and indisputably entitled to this character. With unsurpassed and touching magnanimity, it seeks to benefit the lowly whom your eyes have not seen, and who are ignorant even of your labors, while it demands and receives a self-sacrifice calculated to ennoble an enterprise of even questionable merit. Its true rank is among works properly called _philanthropic_,--the title of highest honor on earth. “I take goodness in this sense,” says Lord Bacon in his Essays, “_the affecting of the weal of men_, which is that the Grecians call Philanthropia, … of all virtues and dignities of the mind the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a kind of vermin.”[16] Lord Bacon was right, and perhaps unconsciously followed a higher authority; for, when Moses asked the Lord to show him his glory, the Lord said, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee.”[17] Ah! Sir, Peace has trophies fairer and more perennial than any snatched from fields of blood, but, among all these, the fairest and most perennial are the trophies of beneficence. Scholarship, literature, jurisprudence, art, may wear their well-deserved honors; but an enterprise of goodness deserves, and will yet receive, a higher palm than these.

In other aspects its dignity is apparent. It concerns the cause of Human Freedom, which from earliest days has been the darling of History. By all the memories of the Past, by the stories of childhood and the studies of youth, by every example of magnanimous virtue, by every aspiration for the good and true, by the fame of martyrs swelling through all time, by the renown of patriots whose lives are landmarks of progress, by the praise lavished upon our fathers, are you summoned to this work. Unless Freedom be an illusion, and Benevolence an error, you cannot resist the appeal. Who can doubt that our cause is nobler even than that of our fathers? for is it not more exalted to struggle for the freedom of _others_ than for our _own_?

Its practical importance at this moment gives to it additional eminence. Whether measured by the number of beings it seeks to benefit, by the magnitude of the wrongs it hopes to relieve, by the difficulties with which it is beset, by the political relations which it affects, or by the ability and character it enlists, the cause of the slave now assumes proportions of grandeur which dwarf all other interests in our broad country. In its presence the machinations of politicians, the aspirations of office-seekers, and the subterfuges of party, all sink below even their ordinary insignificance. For myself, Sir, I see among us at this time little else by which an honest man, wishing to leave the world better than he found it, can be tempted out upon the exposed steeps of public life. I see little else which can afford any of those satisfactions an honest man should covet. Nor is there any cause so surely promising final success:--

“Oh! a fair cause stands firm and will abide;
Legions of angels fight upon her side!”[18]

It is written that in the last days there shall be scoffers, and even this Enterprise, thus philanthropic, does not escape their aspersions. As the objections to its Necessity were twofold, and the objections to its Practicability twofold, so also are the aspersions twofold,--_first_, in the form of hard words, and, _secondly_, by personal disparagement of those engaged in it.

* * * * *

1. The _hard words_ are manifold as the passions and prejudices of men; but they generally end in the imputation of “fanaticism.” In such a cause I am willing to be called “fanatic,” or what you will; I care not for aspersions, nor shall I shrink before hard words, either here or elsewhere. They do not hurt. “My dear Doctor,” said Johnson to Goldsmith, “what harm does it do any man to call him Holofernes?” From that great Englishman, Oliver Cromwell, I have learned that one cannot be trusted “who is afraid of a paper pellet”; and I am too familiar with history not to know that every movement for reform, in Church or State, every endeavor for Human Liberty or Human Rights, has been thus assailed. I do not forget with what facility and frequency hard words are employed: how that grandest character of many generations, the precursor of our own Washington, without whose example our Republic might have failed, the great William, Prince of Orange, founder of the Dutch Republic, the United States of Holland,--I do not forget how he was publicly branded as “a perjurer and a pest of society”; and, not to dwell on general instances, how the enterprise for the abolition of the slave-trade was characterized on the floor of Parliament, by one eminent speaker as “mischievous,” and by another as “visionary and delusive”; and how the exalted characters which it enlisted were arraigned by still another eminent speaker,--none other than that Tarleton, so conspicuous as commander of the British horse in the Southern campaigns of our Revolution, but more conspicuous in politics at home,--“as a junto of sectaries, sophists, enthusiasts, and fanatics”; and yet again were arraigned by no less a person than a prince of the blood, the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William the Fourth of England, as “either fanatics or hypocrites,” in one of which categories he openly placed William Wilberforce.[19] Impartial History, with immortal pen, has redressed these impassioned judgments; nor has the voice of the poet been wanting:--

“Thy country, Wilberforce, with just disdain,
Hears thee by cruel men and impious called
Fanatic, for thy zeal to loose the inthralled
From exile, public sale, and slavery’s chain.”[20]

But the same impartial History will yet re-judge the impassioned judgments of this hour.

* * * * *

2. Hard words have been followed by _personal disparagement_, and the sneer is often raised that our Enterprise lacks the authority of names eminent in Church and State. If this be so, the more is the pity on their account; for our cause is needful to them more than they are needful to our cause. Alas! it is only according to example of history that it should be so. It is not the eminent in Church and State, the rich and powerful, the favorites of fortune and of place, who most promptly welcome Truth, when she heralds change in the existing order of things. It is others in poorer condition who open hospitable hearts to the unattended stranger. This is a sad story, beginning with the Saviour, whose disciples were fishermen, and ending only in our own day. Each generation has its instances. But the cause cannot be judged by any such indifference. Strong in essential truth, it awaits the day, surely at hand, when all will flock to its support. As the rights of man are at last recognized, the scoffers, now so heartless, will forget to scoff.

* * * * *

And now, Sir, I present to you the Antislavery Enterprise vindicated, in Necessity, Practicability, and Dignity, against all objection. If there be any which I have not answered, it is because I am not aware of its existence. It remains that I should give a practical conclusion to this whole matter, by showing, though in glimpses only, your SPECIAL DUTIES AS FREEMEN OF THE NORTH. And, thank God! at last there is a North.

* * * * *

Mr. President, it is not uncommon to hear persons among us at the North confess the wrong of Slavery, and then, folding the hands in absolute listlessness, ejaculate, “What can we do about it?” Such we encounter daily. You all know them. Among them are men in every department of human activity,--who perpetually buy, build, and plan,--who shrink from no labor,--who are daunted by no peril of commercial adventure, by no hardihood of industrial enterprise,--who, reaching in their undertakings across ocean and continent, would promise to “put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes”; and yet, disheartened, they can join in no effort against Slavery. Others there are, especially among the youthful and enthusiastic, who vainly sigh because they were not born in the age of Chivalry, or at least in the days of the Revolution, not thinking that in this Enterprise there is opportunity for lofty endeavor such as no Paladin of Chivalry or chief of the Revolution enjoyed. Others there are who freely bestow means and time upon distant, inaccessible heathen of another hemisphere, in islands of the sea; and yet they can do nothing to mitigate our graver heathenism here at home. While confessing that it ought to disappear from the earth, they forego, renounce, and abandon all effort to this end. Others there are still (such is human inconsistency!) who plant the tree in whose full-grown shade they can never expect to sit,--who hopefully drop the acorn in the earth, trusting that the oak which it sends upward to the skies will shelter their children beneath its shade; but they do nothing to plant or nurture the great tree of Liberty, that it may shield with its arms unborn generations of men.

Others still there are, particularly in large cities, who content themselves with occasional contribution to the redemption of a slave. To this object they give out of ample riches, and thus seek to silence the monitions of conscience. I would not discountenance any activity by which Human Freedom, even in a single case, may be secured; but I desire to say that such an act--too often accompanied by pharisaical pretension, in contrast with the petty performance--cannot be considered essential aid to the Antislavery Enterprise. Not in this way can impression be made on an evil so vast as Slavery,--so widely scattered, and so exhaustless in its unnatural supply. The god Thor, of Scandinavian mythology, whose power surpassed that of Hercules, was once challenged to drain dry a simple cup. He applied it to his lips, and with superhuman capacity drank, but the water did not recede even from the rim, and at last the god abandoned the trial. The failure of even his extraordinary prowess was explained, when he learned that the cup communicated, by invisible connection, with the whole vast ocean behind, out of which it was perpetually supplied, and which remained absolutely unaffected by the effort. And just so will these occasions of charity, though encountered by the largest private means, be constantly renewed; for they communicate with the whole Black Sea of Slavery behind, out of which they are perpetually supplied, and which remains absolutely unaffected by the effort. Sir, private means may cope with individual necessities, but they are powerless to redress the evils of a wicked institution. Charity is limited and local; the evils of Slavery are infinite and everywhere. Besides, a wrong organized and upheld by law can be removed only through change of the law. Not, then, by occasional contribution to ransom a slave can your duty be done in this great cause, but only by earnest, constant, valiant effort against the institution, against the law, which makes slaves.

I am not insensible to the difficulties of this work. Full well I know the power of Slavery. Full well I know all its various intrenchments in the Church, the politics, and the prejudices of the country. Full well I know the wakeful interests of property, amounting to many hundred millions of dollars, which are said to be at stake. But these things can furnish no motive or apology for indifference, or any folding of the hands. Surely the wrong is not less wrong because gigantic; the evil is not less evil because immeasurable; nor can the duty of perpetual warfare with wrong and evil be in this instance suspended. Nay, because Slavery is powerful, because the Enterprise is difficult, therefore is the duty of all more exigent. The well-tempered soul does not yield to difficulties, but presses _onward forever_ with increased resolution.

But the question recurs, so often pressed in argument, or in taunt, _What have we at the North to do with Slavery?_ In answer, I might content myself by saying, that, as members of the human family, bound together by cords of common manhood, there is no human wrong to which we can be insensible, nor is there any human sorrow which we should not seek to relieve; but I prefer to say, on this occasion, that, as citizens of the United States, anxious for the good name, the repose, and the prosperity of the Republic, that it may be a blessing and not a curse to mankind, there is nothing among all its diversified interests, under the National Constitution, with which, at this moment, we have so much to do; nor is there anything with regard to which our duties are so irresistibly clear. I do not dwell on the scandal of Slavery in the national capital, of Slavery in the national territories, of the coastwise slave-trade on the high seas beneath the national flag,--all of which are outside State limits, and within the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, where you and I, Sir, and every freeman of the North, are compelled to share the giant sin and help to bind its chain. To dislodge Slavery from these usurped footholds, and thus at once relieve ourselves from grievous responsibility, and begin the great work of Emancipation, were an object worthy an exalted ambition. But before even this can be commenced, there is a great work, more than any other important and urgent, which must be consummated in the domain of national politics, and also here at home in the Free States. The National Government itself must be emancipated, so that it shall no longer wear the yoke of servitude; and Slavery in all its pretensions must be dislodged from a usurped foothold in the Free States themselves, thus relieving ourselves from serious responsibility at our own door, and emancipating the North. Emancipation, even within the national jurisdiction, can be achieved only through emancipation of the Free States, accompanied by complete emancipation of the National Government. Ay, Sir, emancipation at the South can be reached only through emancipation of the North. And this is my answer to the interrogatory, What have we at the North to do with Slavery?

But the answer may be made yet more irresistible, while, with mingled sorrow and shame, I portray the tyrannical power which holds us in thraldom. Notwithstanding all its excess of numbers, wealth, and intelligence, the North is now the vassal of an OLIGARCHY, whose single inspiration comes from Slavery. According to official tables of our recent census, the slave-masters, all told, are only THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE;[21] and yet this small company now dominates over the Republic, determines its national policy, disposes of its offices, and sways all to its absolute will. With a watchfulness that never sleeps and an activity that never tires, the SLAVE OLIGARCHY asserts its perpetual and insatiate masterdom,--now seizing a broad territory once covered by a time-honored ordinance of Freedom,--now threatening to wrest Cuba from Spain by violent war, or hardly less violent purchase,--now hankering for another slice of Mexico, merely to find new scope for Slavery,--now proposing once more to open the hideous, Heaven-defying Slave-Trade, thus replenishing its shambles with human flesh,--and now, by the lips of an eminent Senator, asserting an audacious claim to the whole group of the West Indies, whether held by Holland, Spain, France, or England, as “our Southern islands,”[22] while it assails the independence of Hayti, and extends its treacherous ambition even to the distant valley of the Amazon.

For all this tyranny there must be tools, and these are found through a new test for office, where Slavery is the shibboleth. Nobody, throughout this Republic, who cannot repeat the hateful word, is taken,--nobody, unless faithful to Slavery, is accepted for any post under the National Government. Yes, let it be proclaimed, that now at last, not honesty, not capacity, not fidelity to the Constitution is the test for office, but unhesitating support of Slavery. This is fidelity, this is loyalty, according to the new dispensation. And thus the strength of the whole people is transfused into this oligarchy. The Constitution, the flag itself, and everything we call our own, is degraded to this wicked rule.

And this giant strength is used with giant heartlessness. By cruel enactment, which has no source in the Constitution, which defies justice, tramples on humanity, and rebels against God, the Free States are made the hunting-ground for slaves, and you and I and all good citizens are pressed to join in the loathsome and abhorred work. Your hearts and judgments, swift to feel and to condemn, will not require me to expose here the abomination of the Fugitive Slave Bill, or its unconstitutionality. Elsewhere I have done this, and never been answered. Nor will you expect that an enactment so entirely devoid of all just sanction should be called by the sacred name of _law_. History still repeats the language in which our fathers persevered, when they denounced the last emanation of British tyranny which heralded the Revolution, as the Boston Port _Bill_; and I am content with this precedent. I have said, that, if any man finds in the Gospel any support of Slavery, it is because Slavery is already in himself; so do I now say, if any man finds in the Constitution of our country any support of the Fugitive Slave Bill, it is because that bill is already in himself. One of our ancient masters--Aristotle, I think--tells us that every man has a beast in his bosom; but the Northern citizen who has the Fugitive Slave Bill there has worse than a beast,--a devil! And yet in this bill, more even than in the ostracism at which you rebel, does the Slave Oligarchy stand confessed,--heartless, grasping, tyrannical,--careless of humanity, right, or the Constitution,--whose foundation is a coalition of wrong-doers, without even the semblance of decency,--while it degrades the Free States to the condition of a slave plantation, under the lash of a vulgar, despised, and revolting overseer.

Surely, fellow-citizens, without hesitation or postponement, you will insist that this Oligarchy shall be overthrown; and here is the foremost among the special duties of the North, now required for the honor of the Republic, for our own defence, and in obedience to God.

In urging this comprehensive duty, I ought to have hours rather than minutes; but in a few words you shall see its comprehensive importance. With the disappearance of the Slave Oligarchy, the wickedness of the Fugitive Slave Bill will drop from the statute-book,--Slavery will cease at the national capital,--Freedom will become the universal law of the national territory,--the Slave-Trade will no longer skulk along our coast beneath the national flag,--the Slave-marriage of the nation will be dissolved,--the rule of our country will be Freedom instead of Slavery,--the North will no longer be trampled on by the South,--the North will at last be allowed its just proportion of office and honor. Let all this be done, and much more will follow. With the disappearance of the Slave Oligarchy, you will possess the master-key to unlock the whole house of bondage. Oh, Sir! prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, and the gates of Emancipation will be open at the South.

Without waiting for this consummation, there is another special duty here at home, on our own soil, which must be made free in reality, as in name. And here I shall speak frankly, though not without a proper sense of the responsibility of my words. I know that I cannot address you entirely as a private citizen; but I shall say nothing here which I have not said elsewhere, and which I shall not be proud to vindicate everywhere. “A lie,” it has been declared, “should be trampled out and extinguished forever”; and surely you will do nothing less with a tyrannical and wicked enactment. The Fugitive Slave Bill, while it continues unrepealed, must be made a dead letter,--not by violence, not by any unconstitutional activity or intervention, not even by hasty conflict between jurisdictions,--but by an aroused Public Opinion, which, in its irresistible might, shall blast with contempt, indignation, and abhorrence all who consent to be its agents. Thus did our fathers blast all who became agents of the Stamp Act; and surely their motive was small, compared with ours. The Slave-Hunter who drags his victim from Africa is loathed as a monster; but I defy any acuteness of reason to indicate the moral difference between his act and that of the Slave-Hunter who drags his victim from our Northern free soil. A few puny persons, calling themselves Congress, with titles of Representatives and Senators, cannot turn wrong into right, cannot change a man into a thing, cannot reverse the irreversible law of God, cannot make him wicked who hunts a slave on the burning sands of Congo or Guinea, and make him virtuous who hunts a slave over the pavements of Boston or New York. Nor can any acuteness of reason distinguish between the original bill of sale from the kidnapper, by which the unhappy African was transferred in Congo or Guinea, and the certificate of the Commissioner, by which, when once again in Freedom, he is reduced anew to bondage. The acts are kindred, and should share a kindred condemnation.

One man’s virtue becomes a standard of excellence for all; and there is now in Boston a simple citizen whose example may be a lesson to Commissioners, Marshals, Magistrates, while it fills all with the beauty of a generous act. I refer to Mr. Hayes, who resigned his place in the city police rather than take part in the pack of the Slave-Hunter. He is now the door-keeper of the public edifice honored this winter by the triumphant lectures on Slavery. Better be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord than a dweller in the tents of the ungodly. Has he not chosen well? Little think those now doing the work of Slavery that the time is near when all this will be dishonor and sadness. For myself, long ago my mind was made up. Nothing will I have to do with it. How can I help to make a slave? The idea alone is painful. To do this thing would plant in my soul a remorse which no time could remove or mitigate. His chains would clank in my ears. His cries would strike upon my heart. His voice would be my terrible accuser. Mr. President, may no such voice fall on your soul or mine!

Yes, Sir, here our duty is plain and paramount. While the Slave Oligarchy, through its unrepealed Slave Bill, undertakes to enslave our free soil, we can only turn for protection to a Public Opinion worthy of a humane, just, and religious people, which shall keep perpetual guard over the liberties of all within our borders. On this from the beginning I have relied. On this I now rely. Wherever it is already strong, I would keep it so; wherever it is weak, I would strengthen it, until of itself it is an all-sufficient protection, with watch and ward surrounding the fugitive, surrounding all. And this Public Opinion, with Freedom as its countersign, must proclaim not only the overthrow of the Slave Bill, but also the overthrow of the Slave Oligarchy behind,--the two pressing duties of the North, essential to our own emancipation; and believe me, Sir, while they remain undone, nothing is done.

* * * * *

Mr. President, far already have I trespassed upon your generous patience; but there are other things pressing for utterance. Something would I say of the arguments by which our Enterprise is commended; something also of the appeal it makes to people of every condition; and something, too, of union, as a vital necessity, among all who love Freedom.

I know not if our work will be soon accomplished. I know not, Sir, if you or I shall live to see in our Republic the vows of the Fathers at length fulfilled, as the last fetter falls from the last slave. But one thing I do know, beyond all doubt or question: that this Enterprise must go on; that, in its irresistible current, it will sweep schools, colleges, churches, the intelligence, the conscience, and the religious aspiration of the land, while all who stand in its way or speak evil of it are laying up sorrow and shame for their children, if not for themselves. Better strive in this cause, even unsuccessfully, than never strive at all. The penalty of indifference is akin to the penalty of opposition,--as is well pictured by the great Italian poet, when, among the saddest on the banks of Acheron, rending the air with outcries of torment, shrieks of anger, and smiting of hands, he finds the troop of dreary souls who had been ciphers in the great conflicts of life:--

“Mingled with whom, of their disgrace the proof,
Are the vile angels, who did not rebel,
Nor kept their faith to God, _but stood aloof_.”[23]

There is no weapon in the celestial armory of Truth, no sweet influence from the skies, no generous word from human lips, which may not be employed. Ours, too, is the argument alike of the Conservative and the Reformer; for our cause stands on the truest conservatism and the truest reform. It seeks the conservation of Freedom itself, and of kindred historic principles; it seeks also the reform of Slavery, and of the kindred tyranny by which it is upheld. Religion, morals, justice, economy, the Constitution, each and all, may be invoked; and one person is touched by one argument, while another person is touched by another. You do not forget how Christopher Columbus won Isabella of Spain to his enterprise of discovery. He began with the temptation of extending her dominions; but she hearkened not. Next he promised the dazzling wealth of the Indies; and still she hearkened not. When, at last, to her pious imagination were pictured poor heathen with souls to be saved, then the youthful Queen poured her royal jewels into the lap of the Genoese adventurer, and at her expense went forth that small fleet which gave to Spain and to mankind a New World.

As in this Enterprise there is a place for every argument, so also is there a place for every man. Even as on the broad shield of Achilles, sculptured by divine art, was wrought every form of human activity, so in this cause, which is the very shield of Freedom, whatever man can do by deed or speech will find its place. One may act in one way, and another in another way; but all must act. Providence is felt through individuals; the dropping of water wears away the rock; and no man can be too humble or poor for this work, while to all the happy in genius, fortune, or fame it makes a special appeal. Here is room for the strength of Luther and the sweetness of Melancthon, for the wisdom of age and the ardor of youth, for the judgment of the statesman and the eloquence of the orator, for the grace of the scholar and the aspiration of the poet, for the learning of the professor and the skill of the lawyer, for the exhortation of the preacher and the persuasion of the press, for the various energy of man and the abounding sympathy of woman.

And still one thing more is needed, without which Liberty-loving men, and their arguments, will fail in power,--even as without charity all graces of knowledge, speech, and faith are said to profit nothing. I mean that _Unity of Spirit_--in itself a fountain of strength--which, filling the people of the North, shall make them tread under foot past antipathies, decayed dissensions, and those irritating names which now exist only as tattered ensigns of ancient strife. It is right to be taught by the enemy; and with their example before us, and their power brandished in our very faces, we cannot hesitate. With them Slavery is the mainspring of political life, and the absorbing centre of political activity; with them all differences are swallowed up by this _one idea_, as all other rods were swallowed up by the rod of Aaron; with them all unite to keep the National Government under the control of slave-masters: and surely we should not do less for Freedom than they do for Slavery. _We, too, must be united._ Among us at last mutual criticism, crimination, and feud must give place to mutual sympathy, trust, and alliance. Face to face against the Slave Oligarchy must be rallied the UNITED MASSES of the North, in compact political association,--planted on the everlasting base of justice,--knit together by instincts of a common danger and holy sympathies of humanity,--enkindled by love of Freedom, not only for themselves, but for others,--determined to enfranchise the National Government from degrading thraldom,--and constituting the BACKBONE PARTY, powerful in numbers, wealth, and intelligence, but more powerful still in an inspiring cause. Let this be done, and victory will be ours.

NEW OUTRAGE FOR THE SAKE OF SLAVERY.

LETTER TO PASSMORE WILLIAMSON, IN MOYAMENSING PRISON, AUGUST 11, 1855.

Mr. Sumner occupied several weeks of this summer in a tour to
the West, ascending the Mississippi to St. Paul, and then,
from Detroit, visiting Lake Superior. While on board a steamer
in Lake Superior, he learned by the newspapers that Passmore
Williamson, an excellent citizen of Philadelphia, had been
flung into prison for the offence of reminding a person claimed
as slave, that, being brought to Philadelphia voluntarily by
her pretended master, she was free, according to well-known
principles of jurisprudence. The indignation of Mr. Sumner
found expression in the following letter, which he addressed to
the new victim of Slavery.

This remarkable case will be found in a volume published at
Philadelphia, in 1856, with the following title: “Case of
Passmore Williamson. Report of the Proceedings on the Writ of
Habeas Corpus issued by the Hon. John K. Kane, Judge of the
District Court of the United States for the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania, in the Case of the United States of America
_ex rel._ John H. Wheeler _vs._ Passmore Williamson, including
the several Opinions delivered, and the Arguments of Counsel,
reported by Arthur Cannon, Esq., Phonographer.” From this it
appears that John H. Wheeler, of Virginia, in a petition to
Hon. John K. Kane, Judge of the District Court of the United
States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, dated July 18,
1855, sets forth, that he is “the owner of three persons held
to service or labor by the laws of the State of Virginia, said
persons being respectively named Jane, aged about thirty-five
years, Daniel, aged about twelve years, and Isaiah, aged about
seven years, persons of color, and that they are detained from
the possession of your petitioner by one Passmore Williamson,
resident of the city of Philadelphia, and that they are not
detained for any criminal or supposed criminal matter,” and
asks a writ of _Habeas Corpus_ commanding Mr. Williamson to
bring before the Judge the bodies of the said Jane, Daniel, and
Isaiah. The writ was at once allowed, and the next day followed
by another, to which Mr. Williamson made return, that “the
within named Jane, Daniel, and Isaiah, or by whatsoever names
they may be called, nor either of them, are not now, nor was at
the time of the issuing of said writ or the original writ, or
at any other time, in the custody, power, or possession of, nor
confined nor restrained their liberty by him, the said Passmore
Williamson. Therefore he cannot have the bodies of the said
Jane, Daniel, and Isaiah, or either of them, before your Honor,
as by the said writ he is commanded.”

In the course of the proceedings, Mr. Williamson, who was
Secretary to the Acting Committee of the Pennsylvania Abolition
Society, testified as follows.

“I was informed that three slaves were at Bloodgood’s
Hotel, who wished to assert their right to freedom; I went
to the hotel, and saw a yellow boy on the steps fronting on
Walnut Street; I made inquiry of him, and he stated that
such was the case, but referred me up stairs to one of the
waiters for further information; the latter informed me
that the slaves, with their master, had just gone on board
the steamboat at the end of Walnut Street wharf, for the
purpose of going to New York in the five o’clock line. I
went on board the boat, looked through the cabin, and then
went up on the promenade deck; I saw that man” (_pointing
to Mr. Wheeler_) “sitting sideways on the bench on the
farther side; Jane was sitting next to and three or four
feet from him; the two children were sitting close to her.
I approached her and said, ‘You are the person I am looking
for, I presume’; Wheeler turned towards me and asked what I
wanted with him; I replied, Nothing, that my business was
entirely with this woman; he said, ‘She is my slave, and
anything you have to say to her you can say to me.’ _I then
said to her, ‘You may have been his slave, but you are now
free; he brought you here into Pennsylvania, and you are
now as free as either of us; you cannot be compelled to go
with him, unless you choose; if you wish your liberty, all
you have to do is to walk ashore with your children.’_ Some
five minutes were consumed in conversation with Wheeler,
Jane, and a stranger, when the bell rang, and I told her,
if she wished to be free, she would have to act at once, as
the boat was about starting. She took one of her children
by the hand and attempted to rise from her seat; Wheeler
placed his hands upon her shoulders and prevented her; I
then, for the first time, took hold of her arm and assisted
her to rise; the colored people who had collected around
us seized hold of the two children, and the whole party
commenced a movement towards the head of the stairs leading
to the lower deck, Mr. Wheeler having at the start clinched
Jane, and during the progress repeatedly and earnestly
entreated her to say she wished to stay with him; at the
head of the stairway I took Wheeler by the collar and held
him to one side. The whole company passed down and left
the boat, proceeding peacefully and quietly to Dock and
Front Streets, where Jane and her children, with some of
her friends, entered a carriage and were driven down Front
Street; I returned to my office. _After the colored people
left Dock Street in the carriage, I saw no more of them,
have had no control of them, and do not know where they
are. My whole connection with the affair was this._”

At the conclusion of Mr. Williamson’s cross-examination, he
declared to the Court “that in the proceedings he had not
designed to do violence to any law, but supposed that he had
acted throughout in accordance with the law, and the legal
rights of the respective parties.”

On his return to the writ of _Habeas Corpus_, Mr. Williamson
was held to bail in the sum of $5,000 for perjury, and
subsequently committed, without bail, for contempt,--the
alleged contempt being the declaration that the parties were
never in his custody. In the course of the hearing, the Judge
remarked that “the conduct of those who interfered with Mr.
Wheeler’s rights was a criminal, wanton, and cruel outrage.”
His final decree, July 27, 1855, was as follows: “Let Mr.
Williamson, the respondent, be committed to the custody of the
marshal without bail or mainprise, as for a contempt of the
Court in refusing to answer to the writ of _Habeas Corpus_,
heretofore awarded against him at the relation of Mr. Wheeler.”
On the motion looking to a committal for perjury the Judge
“withheld an expression of opinion,” observing, that, “Mr.
Williamson being under arrest, he may be charged at any time by
the grand jury.”

The respondent attempted to regain his freedom by an
application to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. After solemn
hearing, the application was refused, the Hon. J. S. Black,
afterwards a member of President Buchanan’s cabinet, giving
the opinion of the Court. The State Court was in obvious
sympathy with the National Court, and both were sympathetic
with Slavery. Meanwhile Mr. Williamson continued a prisoner,
until, at last, November 3, 1855, his case was again presented
to the Judge who committed him, when, in reply to formal
interrogatories, he declared: “I did not seek to obey the writ
by producing the persons therein mentioned before the Court,
because I had not, at the time of the service of the writ, the
power over, the custody, or control of them, and therefore it
was impossible for me to do so.… I sought to obey the writ by
answering it truly; the parties not being in my possession or
control, it was impossible for me to obey the writ by producing
them.” The Judge announced the contempt purged and the party
released from custody.

While the immediate object of this proceeding was to compel
Mr. Williamson to produce the bodies of Jane, Daniel, and
Isaiah, claimed as slaves in Philadelphia by a person who had
voluntarily brought them there, it is impossible to explain
the action of the Judge except by his desire to establish
the protection of the National Government over slave-masters
travelling with their slaves in Free States. The claimant, at
the discharge of Mr. Williamson, stated by his counsel that he
“sought an adjudication, by the highest judicial tribunal of
the country, of the questions, whether Mr. Wheeler was entitled
to pass over the soil of Pennsylvania with his property? and
whether or not a wrong had been committed in the forcible
abduction thereof?”[24]

Mr. Williamson was in the Moyamensing Prison from July 27th to
November 3, 1855.

LAKE SUPERIOR, ON BOARD THE NORTH STAR,
Saturday, August 11, 1855.

MY DEAR SIR,--With astonishment and indignation I have learned
the story of your imprisonment; and now, from this distant
retreat, where I am for the moment, make haste to send you my
sympathy.

From beginning to end, from side to side, and in every aspect,
this transaction can be regarded only as a clear, indubitable,
and utterly unmitigated outrage. The new-fangled doctrine, that
a slave-master can _voluntarily_ import his alleged slave--of
course with all the revolting incidents of Slavery--into the Free
States, is not more odious than preposterous. It is scouted by
reason, and disowned by universal jurisprudence. You were right
in disregarding it. In stepping forward to remind persons claimed
as slaves on this pretext that all such claim is baseless, you
did a good work. It was this knowledge which filled them with
confidence to regain their God-given liberty. And for this it
appears that you have been brought before a man, “dressed in a
little brief authority,” who has cast you into prison.

This outrage is rendered more outrageous by the way in which it
was done. It was perpetrated through perversion of the great writ
of _Habeas Corpus_. This writ of freedom and deliverance, which
in England is often styled the Palladium of the Constitution,
which is recognized as a distinctive feature of Constitutional
Government, which finds no place in despotism, and which is the
very master-key appointed to unlock prison-doors and let the
oppressed go free, has been made in your case, by a hocus-pocus
without precedent, the instrument of imprisonment and oppression.

Strange and disgraceful as all this is, it must be considered
the natural fruit of Slavery. Any person, whosoever he may be,
whether simple citizen or magistrate, who undertakes to uphold
this wrong, seems forthwith to lose his reason. He may be just,
humane, and decent in other things, but in the support of Slavery
he becomes unjust, inhuman, and indecent,--often in obvious
unconsciousness of his degradation. The blindness which makes
him insensible to wrong so transcendent naturally makes him
insensible to the lesser wrong by which it is maintained. What
is the writ of _Habeas Corpus_, the trial by jury, the privilege
of debate, or your liberty or mine, in the estimation of a
person who has already screwed himself to the pitch of injustice
necessary for the vindication of an institution which separates
parent and child, which stamps woman as a concubine, which shuts
the gates of knowledge, and which snatches from the weak all the
hard-earned fruits of incessant toil?

But there must be an end to these things; and as Shakespeare
found a jewel in the toad’s head, so do I find a cheering omen
even in the injustice which has made you its victim. There is
an old saying, handed down from distant antiquity, that “whoso
the gods wish to destroy they first make mad”; and I have often
of late been impressed by its truth. The Slave Oligarchy is
mad, and their overflowing madness runs through every agent and
tool. In all that they do--especially in the Fugitive Slave Bill
and its cruel enforcement, the Nebraska Bill and its felonious
administration, and now in the imprisonment of an unoffending
citizen--I rejoice to believe that there is unmistakable evidence
of that madness which precedes a fall. Verily the day is at hand
when returning justice will once more bear sway; then, among the
triumphs of Freedom, will be a reckoning with unjust judges.

Meanwhile accept my congratulations on the portion of
responsibility and dignity which is yours. It is a privilege
to suffer for truth; and I envy not the meanness of that soul
which would hesitate to prefer your place within the stone walls
of a prison to the cushioned bench of the magistrate by whose
irrational and tyrannical edict you have been condemned.

Believe me, my dear Sir, with much regard,

Very faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

PASSMORE WILLIAMSON, Esq., Moyamensing Prison, Philadelphia.

THE PEN BETTER THAN THE SWORD.

LETTER TO COMMITTEE OF PUBLISHERS IN NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 26, 1855.

BOSTON, 26th September, 1855.

MY DEAR SIR,--Constrained by other things, I renounce with much
reluctance the opportunity which you offer me of partaking in the
splendid hospitality prepared by the Publishers for the Authors
of our country.

The occasion will be of special interest. It would be pleasant
to sit at feast with so many, who, as Authors, adorn our
national name. And it would be pleasant also to be the guest of
those active, enlightened, and generous Publishers who do so
much for Authors. But I must forego this luxury. Only in “bare
imagination” can I enjoy it.

At your table there will be an aggregation of various genius
and talent constituting a true _Witenagemote_, which may justly
gratify an honest pride of country. Grateful as this may be as
a token of power, it will be more grateful still as a token of
that concord growing among men in all the relations of life.
The traditional feud between Authors and Publishers promises
to lose itself in your Festival, even as the traditional feud
between England and France is absorbed in the welcome of Victoria
by Louis Napoleon. This is beautiful. And the whole scene,
where differing Authors commingle under auspices of differing
Publishers, will be an augury of that permanent coöperation and
harmony which will secure to the pen its mightiest triumphs.

It is in honor of the pen that the company will be gathered
together. If any word of mine be expected, please let me offer
the following sentiment.

_The Pen of the Author_,--Exposing error, defending truth,
instructing the ignorant, cheering the unhappy, while
charming and animating _all_, it can do better than the
Sword, and will yet receive from the world a higher praise.

Believe me, dear Sir,

Very faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

G. P. PUTNAM, Esq.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN NEW YORK.

LETTER TO A NEW YORK COMMITTEE, OCTOBER 7, 1855.

BOSTON, October 7, 1855.

GENTLEMEN,--Your summons addressed to me at Newport was forwarded
to me at this place.

I wish I could be at your proposed meeting, but I cannot. Accept
my best wishes for the Republican party of New York, which you
represent. Among the multitudes already rallying spontaneously in
this bodyguard of Freedom my presence cannot be needed.

The infant Hercules strangled the serpents in his cradle, and the
new party, just born, gives token of a like precocious strength.

Believe me, Gentlemen, very respectfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

E. D. MORGAN, LUMAN SHERWOOD, CHARLES W. ELLIOTT, Esqrs.,
Committee, &c.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OFFSPRING OF THE AROUSED CONSCIENCE OF THE COUNTRY.

LETTER TO A BOSTON COMMITTEE, OCTOBER 8, 1855.

HANCOCK STREET, 8th October, 1855.

MY DEAR SIR,--Your invitation for to-night, after a journey to
Newport and back, reached me only yesterday. It finds me already
engaged, so that I cannot join my fellow-citizens in the proposed
ratification at Faneuil Hall of the nominations lately made by
the Republican Party of Massachusetts.

In my heart I have already ratified those nominations. On some
other occasion I hope for an opportunity at Faneuil Hall to do
the same by public speech.

Meanwhile accept my Godspeed for the good cause which we seek to
promote, and for the Republican Party which is its organ. The
cause is blessed alike in itself and in its influence on all
who espouse it. No man can exert himself for Freedom without
feeling better than before. The party is so entirely in harmony
with prevailing opinion, it is such a natural and inevitable
expression of the existing state of things, it is so clearly
the offspring of the aroused conscience of the country, that it
begins with auguries of success. Already it draws into its ranks
good men from all sides, who, forgetting the things that are
behind, press on to the things that are before.

Believe me, dear Sir, very faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

WILLIAM BRIGHAM, Esq.

POLITICAL PARTIES AND OUR FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION.

SPEECH AT A REPUBLICAN RALLY IN FANEUIL HALL, NOVEMBER 2, 1855.

Immediately before the election there was a Republican Rally
at Faneuil Hall, with the following officers: Richard H. Dana,
Jr., Esq., _President_; Dr. Edward Reynolds, Ezra Lincoln,
William Pope, Josiah W. Butler, Aaron Bancroft, Samuel Johnson,
James P. Whitney, Prince Hawes, Daniel Kimball, Charles
M. Ellis, N. Davies Cotton, Frederick A. Sumner, John G.
Webster, George S. Winslow, Henry W. Farley, of East Boston,
William P. Houston, of South Boston, Henry Slade, of Chelsea,
Francis B. Fay, of Chelsea, and James L. Jones, of Chelsea,
_Vice-Presidents_; John D. W. Joy, E. Baker Welch, Franklin W.
Smith, Samuel W. Lane, _Secretaries_.

On taking the chair, Mr. Dana made an able speech especially
in reply to one recently made by Mr. Choate, in the course of
which he said that the Republicans repudiated the charge of
ignoring the Constitution or menacing the Union.

Mr. Sumner was then introduced, and spoke for two hours and a
quarter, with the marked attention of a very large audience.
This speech was reported at length in the papers, and was
afterwards printed in a pamphlet. It particularly discussed
the Slave Oligarchy and its usurpations,--the outrages in
Kansas,--the different political parties,--the rights of
our foreign-born population,--and the Republican party.
Several of these topics, being treated in other speeches,
are omitted here. The part relating to our foreign-born
population attracted attention at the time, and has been
often quoted since. Among the audience were many persons of
the Know-Nothing party, pledged against the foreign-born, who
were there to create difficulty; but Mr. Sumner was allowed
to proceed uninterrupted. The papers speak of “rapturous
applause.” In this vindication of our foreign-born population,
he acted only according to his convictions and all his votes
in the Senate. Although the Know-Nothing party prevailed in
Massachusetts, Mr. Sumner refused all association with it; and
yet, such was the recklessness of misrepresentation, that the
Richmond _Enquirer_ announced him as “the head of the Northern
Know-Nothing party.” The following speech is sufficient answer
to this assertion.

In the course of this speech Mr. Sumner gives his personal
testimony as to Slavery, founded on what he saw in a short
journey he had made through Kentucky as far as Nashville in
Tennessee.

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF BOSTON:--

Are you for Freedom, or are you for Slavery? This is the question which you are to answer at the coming election. Above all other questions, national or local, it lifts itself directly in the path of every voter. There it is. It cannot be avoided. It cannot be banished away. It cannot be silenced. Forever sounding in our ears, it has a mood for every hour,--stirring us at times as with the blast of a trumpet, then visiting us in solemn tones, like the bell which calls to prayer, and then again awaking us to unmistakable duty, like the same bell, when at midnight it summons all to stay the raging conflagration.