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 EMANCIPATION! 
 
 ITS POLICY AND NECESSITY AS A WAK MEASURE FOR 
 THE SUPPRESSION OF THE REBELLION. 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. CHARLES SUMNER, 
 
 AT FANEUIL HALL, OCT. 6, 1862. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens of Massachusetts: — 
 
 Meetings of the people in ancient Athens were opened with these 
 -j^ords : — '' May the Gods doom to perdition that man and all his race, 
 who, on this occasion, shall speak, act, or contrive anything against the 
 Commonwealth." With such an imprecation all were summoned to the 
 duties of the citizen. But duties became urgent in proportion to perils. 
 J£ ever there was occasion for these solemn words it is now, when the 
 country is in danger, — when the national capital itself is menaced, — 
 when all along the loyal border, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian ter- 
 ritories west of the Mssissippi, barbarian hordes, under some Alaric of the 
 South, are marshalling their forces, and when death is knocking at the 
 doors, of so many happy homes. K ever there was occasion when country 
 might claim the best and most self-forgetful effort of all, it is now. Each 
 in his way must act. Each must do what he can ; the youthful and strong 
 by giving themselves to the service ; the weak, if in no other way, by 
 scraping lint. Such is the call of patriotism. This country must be saved. 
 
 GOOD MEN AND GERMANS AND IRISH FOR THE WAR. 
 
 Among the omens which I hall with gladness is the union which now 
 happily prevails among good men in support alike of the State and Na- 
 tional Governments, — forgetting that they were Democrats, forgetting 
 that they were Whigs, and disregarding old party names, to remember 
 
^'1- 
 
 ao^^' 
 
 only the duties of the citizen. Anotlier sign, not less cheering, is to be 
 found in the generous devotion -which all among us of foreign birth have 
 offered to their adopted country. Germans fight as for their fatherland, 
 and Irislimen fight as for Ireland ; nor can our cause be less dear to the 
 latter, now that the spirit of Grattan and O'Connell has entered into it. 
 
 "no party." 
 
 Surely, this is no time for the strife of party. Its jealousies and antipa- 
 thies are now more than ever irrational. Its clamors of opposition are now 
 more than ever unpatriotic. Unhappily, there are some to whom its bitter, 
 unforgiving temper has become so controlling, that, even at this moment, 
 they would rather enlist to put down a political enemy than to put down 
 the rebel enemy of their country ; they would rather hang Henry Wilson 
 or John A. Andrew than hang Jefferson Davis or Robert Toombs. Such 
 persons, with all their sweltered venom, ai-e to be found here in Massachu- 
 setts. Assuming the badge of " no party," they are ready for any party, 
 new or old, by which their prejudices may be gratified, thus verifying the 
 pungent words of Col. Benton : — " Wherever you will show me a man 
 with the word 'no party' in his mouth, I will show you a man that figures 
 at the head or dangles at the tail of the most inveterate party that ever 
 existed." Of course, such persons cannot be expected to take part in a 
 meeting like the present, which seeks to unite rather than to divide, while 
 it rallies all to the support of the President, and of that policy of freedom 
 which he has proclaimed. 
 
 PROCLAMATION OF THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 Thank God, that I live to enjoy this day ! Thank God, that my eyes 
 have not closed without seeing this great salvation. The skies are brighter 
 and the air is purer, now that slavery has been handed over to judgment. 
 
 By the proclamation of the President, all persons held as slaves January 
 1st, 1863, within any State or designated part of a State, the people 
 whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall b^then, 
 thenceforward and forever free ; and the Executive Government of the 
 United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will 
 recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or 
 acts to repress such persons or any of them in any efforts they may make 
 for their actual freedom. But beyond these most effective words, which do 
 not go into operation before the new year, there are other words of imme- 
 diate operation, constituting a present edict of emancipation. TheTresi- 
 dent recites the recent acts of Congress applicable to this question, and 
 calls upon all persons in the military or naval service to observe, obey, and 
 enforce them. But these acts provide that all slaves of rebels, taking 
 
 m lEXCIfANQE 
 
refuo-e within the lines of our army, all slaves captured from rebels or de- 
 serted by them, and all slaves found within any place occupied by rebel 
 forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be 
 forever free of servitude, and not again held as slaves ; and these acts fur- 
 ther provide, that no person in the military or naval service shall, under 
 any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of any claim to a 
 slave, or to surrender any such person to his claimant, on pain of being 
 dismissed from the service : so that by these acts, now proclaimed by the 
 President, freedom is practically secured to all who can find shelter within 
 our lines, and the glorious flag of the Union, wherever it floats, becomes the 
 flag of Freedom. 
 
 STAND BY THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 Thank God for what has beep already done, and let us all take heart as 
 we go forward to uphold this great edict. For myself I accept the Procla- 
 mation without note or comment. It is enough for me, that in the exercise 
 of the war power it strikes at the origin and mainspring of this rebellion ; 
 for I have never concealed the conviction that it mattered little where we 
 struck slavery, provided only that we struck sincerely and in earnest. So 
 is it all connected, that the whole must suffer with every part, an i the 
 words of the poet will be verified, that " whatever link you strike, tenth or 
 ten thousandth, breaks the chain ahke." 
 
 PERSONAL — CHALLENGES SCRUTINY. 
 
 On this most interesting occasion, so proper for gratitude, it is difficult 
 to see anything but the cause; and yet, appearing before you on the 
 invitation of a Committee of the Commonwealth, I must not forget that I 
 owe this privilege to my public character as a Senator of Massachusetts. 
 It is in this character that I have been often invited before ; but now the 
 invitation has more than its accustomed significance, for, at the close of a 
 long period of public service, it brings me face to face with my constituents. 
 In a different condition of the country, I could not decline the opportunity 
 which is afforded of reviewing the relations between us ; of showing at 
 least how you took me from private station, all untried, and gave me one of 
 your highest trusts, and how this trust was enhanced by the generosity 
 with whieli you sustained me against obloquy and vindictive assault, espe- 
 cially by vour unparalleled indulgence to me throughout a protracted disa- 
 bility ; and, perhaps, might I be so bold, of presenting for your consideration 
 some sketch of what I have attempted, conscious that, if not always suc- 
 cessful, I have been at all times faithful to my convictions, and faithful also 
 to your interests, sparing nothing of time or effort, and making up by 
 industry for any lack of abOity, so that, during a service of more than 
 eleven years, I have never once visited home while Congress was in session, 
 
or been absent for a single day, unless when compelled by illness ; and 
 during the session which has just closed, filled with most laborious duties, 
 I was not out of my seat, from beginning to end, for a single hour. But 
 this is not the time for such a review. I have no heart for it, while my 
 country is in danger. And yet, I shall not lose tiie occasion to challenge 
 the scrutiny of all, even here in this commercial metropolis, where the in- 
 terests of business are sometimes placed above all other interests. Frankly 
 and fearlessly I make my appeal. In all simplicity I ask you to consider 
 what I have done, as your servant, whether in the Senate or out of the 
 Senate, in matters of legislation or in matters of business. If there is any 
 one disposed to criticise or complain, let him be heard. Let the whole 
 record of my public acts be opened, and let any of the numerous per- 
 sons who have come to me on business testify. I know too well the strength 
 of my case to shrink from any inquiry, even though stimulated by the ani- 
 mosity of political warfare. 
 
 DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST TWO ACCUSATIONS. 
 
 But there are two accusations, often repeated, to which I reply on the 
 spot, and I do so with less hesitation because the topics are germane to this 
 occasion. The first is, that from my place in the Senate I early proclaimed 
 Slavery to be Barbarism. Never shall the cause of freedom go by default, 
 if I can help it ; and I rejoice that, on that occasion, in presence of the 
 slave-holding conspirators, vaunting the ennobling character of slavery, I 
 used no soft words. It is true that, in direct reply to most offensive 
 assumptions, I proclaimed slavery barbarous in origin ; barbarous in law ; 
 barbarous in all its pretensions ; barbarous in the instruments it employs ; 
 barbarous in consequences ; barbarous in spirit ; barbarous wherever it 
 shows itself, while it breeds barbarians, and develops everywhere, alike in 
 the individual and in the society to which he belongs, the essential elements 
 of barbarism. It is true that on the same occasion I portrayed slavery as 
 founded in violence and sustained only by violence, and declared that such 
 a wrong must, by a sure law of compensation, blast the master as well as the 
 slave ; blast the land on which they live ; blast the community of which 
 they are a part ; blast the government which does not forbid the outrage ; 
 and the longer it exists, and the more completely it prevails, must its blast- 
 ing influence penetrate the whole social system. And was I not right ? 
 Since then the testimony has been overwhelming. A committee of the 
 Senate has made a report, which has been extensively circulated, on the 
 barbarities of this rebellion. You know the whole story to which each 
 day testifies. It is in some single incident that you may see the low-water 
 mark of social life ; and I know nothing in which the barbarism of slavery is 
 more completely exhibited than in the fate of our brave soldiers, dug up 
 
from honorable graves, where at last they had found rest, that their bones 
 might be carved into keepsakes and their skulls into drinking-cups to 
 gratify the malignant hate of slave-masters. 
 
 The other accusation is similar in character. It is said that I have too 
 often introduced the Slavery Question. At this moment, seeing what 
 slavery has done, I doubt if you will not rather say that I have introduced 
 it too seldom. If on this account I had neglected any single interest of my 
 constituents ; if I had been less strenuous whenever the foreign relations, 
 or manufactures, or commerce, or finances of the country were involved ; 
 if I had failed to take my part in all that concerns the people of Massa- 
 chusetts, and in all that is embraced within the manifold duties of a Sena- 
 tor ; then, indeed, I might be open to condemnation. But you will not 
 regret that your representative, who has been faithful in all other things, 
 has been always constant and earnest against slavery, and that he announcd 
 from the beginning the magnitude of the question, and our duties with 
 regard to it. Say what you will, the slave is the liumblest and grandest 
 figure of our times. What humility ! "What grandeur ! both alike illimit- 
 able. In his presence all other questions are so petty that for a public man 
 to be wrong with regard to him is to be wholly wrong. How then did I 
 err ? The cause would have justified a better pertinacity than I can boast. 
 In the Senate of Rome, the elder Cato, convinced that peace was possible 
 only by the destruction of Carthage, concluded all his speeches, on every 
 matter of debate, by the well-known words, " But whatever you may think 
 of the question under consideration, this I know, Carthage must be de- 
 stroyed." I have never read that the veteran senator was condemned for 
 patriotic ardor. With stronger reason far I too might have cried always, 
 " This I know, slavery must be destroyed " — Delenda est servitudo. But 
 while seeking to limit and constrain slavery, I have never proposed any- 
 thing except in strictest conformity with the Constitution, for I have al- 
 ways recognized the Constitution as my guide, which I was bound in all 
 respects to follow. 
 
 Such are the accusations to which I now thus briefly reply. Now that we 
 are all united in the policy of emancipation, they become of little conse- 
 quence ; for even if I were once alone I am no longer so. I place myself, 
 with the loyal multitudes of the North, firmly and sincerely by the side of 
 the President, where, indeed, I have ever been. 
 
 QUOTES BURKE. 
 
 If you will bear with me yet longer in allusions which I make with reluc- 
 tance, I shall quote as my unanswerable defence the words of Edmund 
 Burke when addressing his constituents at Bristol : — 
 
 "And now, gentlemen, on this serious day, when I come, as it were, to 
 make up my account with you, let me take to myself some degree of hon- 
 
est pride on tlie nature of the charges that are against me. I do not stand 
 here accused of venality or of neglect of duty. It is not said, that, in the 
 long period of my service, I have in a single instance sacrificed the slight- 
 est of your interests to my ambition or to my fortune. It is not alleged, 
 that to gratify any anger or revenge of my own or my party I have had a 
 share in wronging or oppressing any description of men, or any one man 
 in any description. No ! the charges against me are all of one kind, that I 
 have pushed the principles of general justice and benevolence too far; 
 farther than a cautious policy would warrant ; and farther than the opin- 
 ions of many would go along with me. In every accident which may 
 happen through life, in pain, in sorrow, in depression and distress I will 
 call to mind this accusation, and be comforted." 
 
 Among the passages in eloquence which can never die, I know none 
 more beautiful or heroic. If I invoke its protection, it is with the conscious- 
 ness that, however unlike its author in genius and fame, I am not unlike in 
 the accusations to which I am exposed. 
 
 PROGRESS DURING THIS YEAR. 
 
 Fellow Citizens: A year has passed since I addressed you; but during 
 this time what events for warning and encouragement. Amidst vicissitudes 
 of war, the cause of Human Freedom has steadily and grandly advanced ; 
 not, perhaps, as you could desire, yet it is the only cause which has not 
 failed. Slavery and the black laws all abolished in the national capital ; 
 slavery interdicted in all the national territory ; Hayti and Liberia recog- 
 nized as independent republics in the family of nations ; the slave-trade 
 placed under the ban of a new treaty with Great Britain ; all persons in 
 the military and naval service prohibited from returning slaves, or sitting 
 in judgment on the claim of a master ; the slaves of rebels emancipated 
 by coming within our lines ; a tender of compensation for»the abolition of 
 slaves, — such are some of the triumphs of freedom in the recent Congress. 
 Amidst the doubts and uncertainties of the present hour, let us think of 
 these things and be comforted. I cannot forget that when I last spoke to 
 you, I urged the liberation of the slaves of rebels, and especially that our 
 officers should not be permitted to surrender to slavery any human being 
 who sought shelter within our lines, and I further suggested, if need be, a 
 bridge of gold for the retreating fiend. And now all that I then proposed 
 is embodied in the legislation of the country, as the supreme law of the 
 land. 
 
 MILITARY NECCESSITY. 
 
 It was simply as a military necessity that I urged these measures ; it is as 
 a military necessity that I now uphold them, and insist upon their complet- 
 est and most generous execution, so that they shall have the largest scope 
 and efficacy. Not as an abolitionist, not as an anti-slavery man, not even 
 as a philanthi'opist, if I may claim that honored name, do I now speak. I 
 
forget, for the moment, all the unutterable wrong of slavery, and all the 
 
 transcendent blessings of freedom ; for they do not belong to this argument. 
 
 I think only of my country, menaced by rebellion, and ask how it shall be 
 
 saved. But I have no policy, no theory, no resolutions to support ; 
 
 nothing which I Avill not gladly abandon if you will show me anything 
 
 better ; 
 
 If you know better rules than these, be free, 
 Impart them ; but if not, use these with me. 
 
 OBJECT OF THE WAR. 
 
 And now what is the object of the war? This question is often asked, 
 and the answer is not always candid. It is sometimes said that it is to 
 abolish slavery ; here is a mistake or a misrepresentation. It is sometimes 
 said, in flash language, that the object is " the Constitution as it is," and 
 " the Union as it was." Here is another mistake or misrepresention, which 
 is more offensive, when it is known that by " the Constitution as it is " is 
 meant simply the right to hold and hunt slaves ; and by "the Union as it 
 was " is meant those halcyon days of pro-slavery democracy, when the bal- 
 lot-box was destroyed in Kansas, when freedom of debate was menaced in 
 the Senate, and when chains were put upon the Boston Court House. 
 Not for any of these things is this war waged. Not to abolish slavery, or 
 to establish slavery, but simply to put down the rebellion. But this ques- 
 tion occurs : How can this object be best accomplished ? 
 
 In discussing this question with proper frankness, I shall develop and vin- 
 dicate that policy of which the President's Proclamation is the herald, and 
 to which his administration is publicly pledged. The administration be- 
 longs to us, and we belong to the administration. My aim will be to bring 
 the administration and the people nearer together, by showing the ground 
 on which they must meet, for the sake of the republic, and that it may not 
 perish beneath felon blows. 
 
 WAR MUST BE ENDED, PEACE, PEACE, PEACE. 
 
 I start, of course, with the assumption, in which you will all unite, that 
 this war must be brought to a close. It must not be allowed to drag 
 its slow length along, bloody, and fruitless, except with death. Lives 
 enough have been sacrificed ; graves enough have been filled ; homes 
 enough have been emptied ; patriot soldiers enough have been sent back 
 halt and maimed, with one leg or one arm ; crutches enough have been 
 made. Nor is this all ; treasure enough has been expended. It is com- 
 mon to think only of the national debt, which is now swelling to unnatural 
 proportions ; but this will be small by the side of the fearful sum total of 
 loss from the destruction of property, the derangement of business, and 
 
8 
 
 change of productive to unproductive industry. Even if we do not accept 
 the conclusions of an ingenious calculator, who places this damage at ten 
 thousand millions of dollars, we must confess that it is an immensity, which, 
 like the numbers representing sidereal spaces, the imagination refuses to 
 grasp. To stop this infinity of waste there must be peace ; to stop this 
 cruel slaughter there must be peace. In the old wars between king and 
 parliament, which rent England, the generous Falkland cried from his soul, 
 Peace, peace, peace, and history has gratefully recorded his words. Never 
 did he utter this cry with more earnestness than I do now. But how shall 
 this blessing be secured ? 
 
 NO SEPARATION OF THE STATES. 
 
 I start, also, with the further assumption that there can be no separation 
 of these States. Foreign nations may predict what rebels threaten ; but 
 this result is now impossible. Pray, good sirs, where will you run the 
 boundary line ? Shall it be the cotton line ? Shall it embrace Virginia in 
 whole or part ? How about Tennessee ? Kentucky ? Or shall it be the 
 most natural line of cleavage, the slave line. And how will you adjust the 
 navigation of the Mississippi, and the whole question of slavery ? And 
 what principles, commercial and political, shall be established between the 
 two governments ? But do not deceive yourselves into the idea that 
 peace founded on separation can be anything but a delusion and a snare. 
 Separation is interminable war, — " still beginning, never ending," — worse 
 than the forays which ravaged the Scottish border, or the Tartar invasions 
 which harassed China, until its famous wall was built fifteen hundred miles 
 long, and so tliick that six horsemen can ride upon it abreast. War will 
 be chronic, and we must all sleep on our arms. Better that it should be 
 all at once rather than that it should be diffused over a generation. If 
 blood must be shed, better for a year than for an age. 
 
 But if there be anything in the Monroe doctrine, if we could not ac- 
 commodate ourselves to the foothold of Europe on this continent, how can 
 we recognize on our borders a malignant slave empire, with slavery as its 
 boasted corner-stone, constituting what Shakspeare calls an " impudent 
 nation," embittered and enraged against us, without law, without human- 
 ity, and without morals, — a mighty Blue Beard's C hamber, — an enormous 
 House of 111 Fame ? Surely we would not allow the old Kingdom of the 
 Assassins to be revived at our side. But our rebels are as bad. 
 
 SEPARATION IS CHAOS. 
 
 Nor can you recognize such a separation without delivering over this 
 cherished Union to chaos. If the rebel States are allowed to go, who can 
 be retained ? It is true, that there can be no constitutional right to break 
 up the Constitution ; but the precedent which we shall unhappily recognize 
 
9 
 
 ■will unsettle this whole fabric of States. Therefore, fellow-citizens, there 
 can be no separation. But how to prevent it, in other words, how to ham- 
 string the rebellion, and conquer a peace, — this is the question. 
 
 REBELS MUST BE SUBDUED, THEN CONCILIATED. 
 
 The rebels are in arms, aroused, at home, on thoir own soil, and resolved 
 not to yield. Nothing less than independence will satisfy them ; if the 
 war continues, I know not that they will be content with this. Two poli- 
 cies are presented on our side, — one a policy which looks primarily to 
 rebel conciliation, and the other a policy which looks primarily to rebel 
 submission. And yet both of these have the same elements, although in 
 inverse order. The first begins with conciliation in order to end with sub- 
 mission ; which is the cart before the horse. The second begins with sub- 
 mission in order to end with conciliation. The question between them is 
 whether conciUation shall precede or follow submission. Conciliation is 
 always proper where it is possible ; but it is now obviously impossible. If 
 anj^body believes, at this stage, that any words or acts of conciliation ; any 
 forbearance on our part ; any hesitation in the exercise of the sternest 
 rights of war, will help us to victory or contribute to put down the rebel- 
 lion, let me not enter into that man's counsels, for they can end in nothing 
 but shame and disaster. I find that they who talk most against the coer- 
 cion of rebels, and the coercion of States, are indifierent to the coercion of 
 four millions of people, men, women, and children, to work without wages 
 under the discipline of the lash. Without hesitation I say, that the rebels 
 are to be subdued, call it coercion or subjugation, which you will ; and our 
 war has this direct object. With victory will come conciliation, clemency, 
 amnesty. But first victory. 
 
 To obtain victory, two things are needed : first, a precise comprehension 
 of the case, and, secondly, vigor of conduct. One will not do without the 
 other. It will not be enough to comprehend the case unless you are ready 
 to treat it with corresponding vigor. And it will not be enough to have 
 vigor unless you discern clearly how the case shall be treated. To this end 
 there must be statesmen as well as generals. 
 
 DIAGNOSIS OF THE CASE. 
 
 The first duty of the good physician is to understand the condition of his 
 patient ; whether it is a case of medicine or surgery ; of cutaneous eruption 
 or deep-seated cancer. This is called the diagnosis. But the statesman, in 
 all the troubles of his country, has the same preliminary duty. He, too, 
 must see whether it is a case for medicine or surgery, of cutaneous eruption 
 or deep-seated cancer. And all that he does must be precisely according 
 to his judgment of the case. Of course, if the diagnosis fails, the whole 
 treatment will be a failure. 
 
10 
 
 ACTION, ACTION, ACTION. 
 
 Next to a comprehension of the case is vigor in conduct, which is more 
 needful in proportion as the case becomes desperate. This must be not 
 only in the field, but also in counsel ; not only against tlie serried front of 
 the enemy, but against those more fatal influences whicli come from the 
 lack of comprehension or the lack of courage. The same vigor which we 
 require in our generals must be required also in our statesmen ; the same 
 spirit must animate both. No folding of the hands ; no putting off till to- 
 mori'ow what can be done to-day ; no hesitation ; no timidity ; but action^ 
 action, action, straight-forward, manly, God-like action. It is easy to see 
 that this is required in the field ; but it is no less required in every sphere 
 of the government, from the President to the paymaster. 
 
 THUNDERBOLTS. 
 
 In war there are some who content themselves with triumphs of pru- 
 dence instead of triumphs of courage, and sjiend much time in trying how 
 not to be beaten, instead of how to beat. They are content to forego vic- 
 tory, if they can only escape defeat — forgetting that Fabius was only a 
 defender, and not a conqueror ; that a policy which may be fit at one time 
 may be unfit at another ; that a war waged in an enemy's country cannot 
 be defensive, nor can it prevail by any procrastination. People at home on 
 their own soil can afford to wait. Every month, every week, every day, is 
 an ally. But we cannot wait. Not a moment can be spared. It was not 
 in this way that those ancient commanders conducted to whom was given 
 the title of the " two thunderbolts of war." It was not in this way that 
 Napoleon defeated the Austrian forces at Marengo, and shattered the Prus- 
 sian power on the field of Jena. 
 
 But there are " thunderbolts " of the cabinet as well as of war. The 
 elder Pitt, who was only a civilian, infused his own conquering soul into the 
 British arms, making them irresistible ; and the French Carnot, while in 
 the cabinet, was said to have organized victory. Such is the statesmanship 
 which is now needed for us. And there must be generals who will carry 
 forward all that the most courageous statesmanship directs. 
 
 , APPEAL FOR OUR SOLDIERS. 
 
 Armies and men we have of rarest quality. Better never entered a field 
 or kept step to drum-beat. Intelligent and patriotic, they have left pleas- 
 ant homes in order to offer themselves, if need be, for their country. They 
 are no common hirelings, mere food for powder, but generous citizens, who 
 have determined that their country shall be saved. Away in camp, or bat- 
 tle, or hospital, let them not be forgotten. But better than gratitude even, 
 we owe them the protection which comes from good generals and cour- 
 
11 
 
 agoous counsels. O God ! let them not be led to useless slaughter like 
 sheep, and let them not be compelled to take the hazard of death, from cli- 
 mate and exposure, as well as from ball and bayonet, -without giving them 
 at once all the allies which can be rallied to their support. In the name of 
 humanity, and for the sake of victory, I make this appeal. But the loyal 
 everywhere are allies to the soldier. 
 
 LOYALTY. 
 
 Does loyalty depend upon color ? Is it the skin or the heart which is 
 consulted ? Do you ask the color of a benefactor ? As I listen to people 
 who higgle on the question how to treat Africans who are all ready to cotne 
 to our rescue, I am reminded of that famous incident, where the Emperor 
 of Austria, driven back by the Turks, 100,000 strong, and besieged in Vi- 
 enna, wliich was at the point of surrender, was suddenly saved by the gal- 
 lant Sobieski of Poland. The Emperor, big with imperial pride, thought 
 chiefly of his own supereminent position, — as a pro-slavery Democrat 
 thinks of his, — and hesitated how to receive the Polish monarch, who 
 was only a king, when one of his counsellors said to him, " Sire, receive 
 him as the saviour of your capitol." But the Emperor hardly gave to his 
 benefactor more than a cold salute ; and we are now asked to imitate this 
 stolid ingratitude. 
 
 THE AFRICAN RACE. 
 
 Wherever I turn in this war I find the African. If you ask for strategy, 
 I know nothing better than that of the slave Robert Small, who brought 
 the rebel steamer Planter with its armament out of Charleston, and sur- 
 rendered it to our Commodore as prize of war. If you ask for successful 
 courage, I know nothing better than that of the African Tillman, who 
 rose upon a rebel prize crew, and, overcoming them, carried the ship into 
 New York. If you ask for heroism, you will find it in that nameless African, 
 on board the Pawnee, who, while passing shell from the magazine, lost both 
 his legs by a ball, but still holding the shell, cries out, " Pass up the shell — 
 never mind me ; my time is up." And if you ask for fidelity, you will find 
 it in that slave, also without a name, who pointed out the road of safety to 
 the harassed, retreating army of the Potomac. And if you ask for evi- 
 dence of the desire for freedom, you will find it in the little slave girl, 
 journeying north, whom Banks took on his cannon. 
 
 SLAVES MUST HELP. 
 
 Not now for the first time do I make this appeal. As early as May 28th 
 of this year, I offered the following resolution in the Senate : 
 
 Resolved, That in the prosecution of the present war for the suppression 
 of a wicked rebellion the time has come for the government of the United 
 
12 
 
 States to appeal to the loyalty of the whole people everywhere, but espe- 
 cially in the rebel districts, and to invite all, without distinction of color or 
 class, to make their loyalty manifest by ceasing to fight or labor ibr the rebels, 
 and also by rendering every assistance in their power to the cause of the 
 Constitution and the Union, according to their ability, whether by arms, or 
 labor, or information, or in any other way ; and since protection and alle- 
 giance are reciprocal duties dependent upon each other, it is the further 
 duty of the government of the United States to maintain all such loyal 
 people, without distinction of color or class, in their rights as men, accord- 
 ing to the principles of the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 I do not stop to discuss this resolution. You know my opinions, «ind how 
 I have pressed them in debate. 
 
 But you do not know that I have never failed to present them in that 
 quarter where it was most important that they should prevail. On the 4th 
 July, in a personal interview with the President, I said : " You need more 
 men, not only at the North, but at the South, in the rear of the rebels ; 
 you need the slaves. Say the word, and you can give to our armies this 
 invaluable alliance ; you can change the rear-guard of the rebellion into 
 the advance-guard of the Union. It is now 4th July. You can make this 
 day more sacred, and more historic, and do for it better than the Con- 
 tinental Congress." Had that word been spoken at that time, I cannot 
 doubt that the salvation of our country would have then begun. 
 
 Of course such a word would have been a blast from the war trumpet, 
 justified as a military necessity, according to the examples of history and 
 the heart of man. And such a blast the President has now blown. 
 
 HELP FROM SLAVES CONSTITUTIONAL. 
 
 But it is said that all appeal to the slaves is unconstitutional ; and it is 
 openly assumed that rebels who make war on the Constitution are not, like 
 other public enemies, beyond its protection. But why this peculiar tender- 
 ness whenever slavery is in cj[uestion '? Battalions may be shot down, and 
 property may be taken without due process of law, but slavery must not be 
 touched. The ancient Egyptians, when conquered, submitted easily to the 
 loss of life and property ; but when a Roman soldier happened to kill a cat 
 in the streets, they rose on him and tore him limb from limb, and the ex- 
 citement was so violent that the generals overlooked the outrage for fear of 
 insurrection. Slavery is our sacred cat, which cannot be touched without 
 fear of insurrection. Sir, I am tired and disgusted at hearing the Constitu- 
 tion perpetually invoked for slavery. According to certain persons, the 
 Constitution is all for slavery and nothing for freedom. lam happy to say 
 that with me just the reverse is the case. There are people who keep 
 apothecaries' scales in which they nicely weigh everything that is done for 
 freedom. I have no such scales where freedom is in question, nor do I 
 hesitate to say, that in a case of freedom all such nicety is unconstitutional. 
 
13 
 
 The Constitution is not mean, stingy and pettifogging, but it is open- 
 handed, liberal and just, inclining always in favor of freedom, and enabling 
 the government in time of war not only to exercise any of the rights of 
 war, including the liberation of slaves, but also to confer any largess or 
 bounty, it may be of money, or, better still, of freedom, for services ren- 
 dered. I do not dwell now on the unanswerable argument by which John 
 Quincy Adams has placed this power beyond question. "Whatever may be 
 the provisions of the Constitution for the protection of the citizen, they are 
 inapplicable to what is done against a public enemy. The law of an Italian 
 city prohibited the letting of blood under penalty of death ; but this was 
 held not to apply to the surgeon who opened a vein to save the life of a 
 citizen. In war there is no constitutional limit to the activity of the Execu- 
 tive, except the emergency. The safety of the people is the highest law. 
 There is no blow which the President can strike, there is nothing he can 
 do against the rebellion, which is not constitutional. Only inaction can 
 be unconstitutional. 
 
 JUSTIFIED BY HISTORIC PRECEDENTS. 
 
 Search the writers on the law of nations, and you will find an appeal to 
 the slaves justified. Search history, whether in ancient or modern times, 
 and you will find it justified by examples. In our Eevolution the appeal 
 was made by three different British commanders. Lord Dunmore, Sir 
 Henry Chnton, and Lord Cornwallis. I do not stop for details. That this 
 appeal was not unsuccessful is evident from the language of Washington 
 with regard to Dunmore, of whom he did not hesitate to say that if he were 
 not crushed before spring he would be the most formidable enemy the 
 colonies had. " His strength will increase," said Washington, " as a snow- 
 ball by rolling, and faster, if some expedient cannot be hit upon to convince 
 the slaves and servants of the impotency of his designs." That such an 
 APPEAL would be proper is admitted by Jefi"erson while describing his own 
 individual losses from Cornwallis : " He destroyed all my growing crops 
 and tobacco ; he burned all my barns, containing the same articles of last 
 year ; having first taken what corn he wanted, he used, as was to be expect- 
 ed, all my stock of cattle, sheep and hogs for the sustenance of his army, and 
 carried off all the horses capable of service. He carried off also about thirty 
 
 slaves. Had this been to give them freedom, he would have done right . 
 
 From an estimate made at the time, on the best information I could collect, 
 I suppose the State of Virginia lost under Lord Cornwallis's hands, that 
 year, about thirty thousand slaves." — {Letter to Dr. Gordon.) It would be 
 difficult to imagine testimony stronger. Here was a sufferer justly indig- 
 nant for himself and his State ; but he does not doubt that an enemy would 
 do riji;ht in carrying off slaves to give them freedom. 
 
14 
 
 APPEAL TO SLAVES UNAVAILING THEN WHY NOT TRY? 
 
 But admitting that an appeal to slaves in support of the Union is con- 
 stitutional, and also according to the examples of history, it is said that ^t 
 will be unavailing ; for the slaves will not hearken to it. Then why not 
 try ? It can do no harm, and it will at least give us a good name. But 
 if we are not beyond learning from the enemy, we shall see that the gen- 
 erals most hated on our side, and, like Adams and Hancock in the Revolu- 
 tion, specially excepted from pardon, are Phelps and Hunter; plainly be- 
 cause the ideas of these generals were more feared than any battery or 
 strategy. Of this be assured. The opponents of an appeal to the slaves 
 are not anxious because it will fail. It is only because it may be successful 
 that they oppose it. They fear that it will reach the slaves, rather than 
 that it will not reach them. 
 
 IT WILL TAKE EFFECT AMONG SLAVES — SLAVE TELEGRAPH. 
 
 But look at it candidly and you cannot deny that it must produce an 
 effect. It is idle to say that its influence will be bounded by our jurisdic- 
 tion. When the mill-gates are lifted, all the water above, in its most dis- 
 tant sources, hurries on its way ; and so will the slaves. Remote kingdoms 
 . trembled at the Pope's excommunication and interdict ; and an elegant 
 historian has described the thunders of the Vatican intermingling with the 
 thunders of war. All Christendom shook when Luther nailed his proposi- 
 tions on the church door of Wittemberg. But an apf)eal to our slaves will 
 be hardly less prevailing. Do you ask how it would be known ? The slave 
 telegraph is not as active as ours ; but it is hardly less sure. It takes eight 
 days for a dispatch from Fortress Monroe to the Gulf of Mexico. The glad 
 tidings of freedom will travel with the wind, with the air, with the light, 
 and will gradually quicken and inspire the whole mass. Secret societies, 
 already formed among the slaves, will be among the operators. That I do 
 not speak without authority, I ask you to listen to the words of John 
 Adams, taken from his diary, under date of 24th September, 1775 : — 
 
 " The Georgia delegates give a melancholy account of the States of 
 Georgia and South Carolina. They said if one thousand regular troops 
 should land in Georgia, and their commander be furnislied with arms and 
 clothes enough, and proclaim freedom to all the negroes who would join his 
 camp, twenty thousand would join it from the two provinces in a fortnight. 
 The negroes have a wonderful art of communicating intelligence among 
 themselves. It will run several hundreds of miles in a week or fortnight." 
 — Writings of John Adams, vol. viii. p. 420. 
 
 This is testimony. The destructive avalanche of the Alps is sometimes 
 started by the winding of a horn, and a structure so iri'ational as slavery 
 will tremble at a sound. 
 
15 
 
 SLAVES I<:NC0URAGED — MASTERS DISCOURAGED. 
 
 From such an appeal two things mnst ensue. First, the slaves will be 
 encouraged in loyalty ; and, secondly, the masters will be discouraged in 
 disloyalty. Slave labor, which is the mainspring and nursery of rebel sup- 
 plies, without which the rebellion must starve, will be disorganized, Avhile a 
 panic spreads among slave-masters absent from their homes. The most au- 
 dacious rebels wiU lose their audacity, and instead of hurrying forward to 
 deal parricidal blows at their country, will hurry backward to defend their 
 own firesides. The rebellion will lose its power. It will be hamstrung. 
 
 PANIC AMONG MASTERS. 
 
 That such a panic would ensue is attested by the confession of the South 
 Carolina delegation in the old Continental Congress, as appears by its Se- 
 cret Journal, under date of 29th March, 1779, that this State was '■'■unable 
 to make any effective efforts with militia by reason of the great proportion 
 of citizens necessary to remain at home to prevent Insurrection among the 
 negroes, and to prevent the desertion of them to the enemy." It is attested 
 also by the concurring testimony of southern men in other days ; especially 
 in those remarkable words of John Randolph, that the fire-bell of Rich- 
 mond does not toll at midnight without the mother clasping her infant to 
 the breast, fearful that the slaves had risen. It is attested also by the 
 actual condition of things when John Brown entered Virginia, as pictured 
 In the familiar words : — 
 
 He captured Harper's Ferry 
 
 With his nineteen men so few, 
 And he frightened Old Virginny 
 
 Till she trembled through and through. 
 
 In asserting the efficacy of this appeal, I ground myself on no visionary 
 theories or vain hopes, but on the nature of man and authentic history. To 
 doubt Its efficacy is to doubt that man Is man, with a constant desire for lib- 
 erty as for life, and It is also to doubt the unquestionable instances in our own 
 history where this desire has been displayed by African slaves. That a gov- 
 ernment exposed to the assaults of a merciless barbarian foe should so long 
 reject this irresistible alliance, is among the questions which will excite the 
 astonishment of future ages. 
 
 OBJECTIONS TO PROCLAMATION. 
 
 Do you ask the reasons alleged against this appeal ? They all resolve 
 themselves into objections of fact. The President, by his Proclamation, has 
 already answered them practically ; but I will take them up in detail. 
 
 BORDER STATES. 
 
 (1 .) The first objection, and most often repeated, is one which it is difij- 
 
16 
 
 cult to treat with patience. We are told that such an appeal will offend the 
 Border States, and that, in this moment of trial, we must do as they tell us. 
 It is of course slave-masters who speak for the Border States ; and permit 
 me to say, such persons, continuing to swear by slavery, are not competent 
 witnesses with regard to it. Believing in slavery, wedded to slavery, they 
 are as incompetent to testify when it is In question, as husband and wife are 
 incompetent to testify for each other. Just in proportion as we have fol- 
 lowed them, thus far we have been misled, and we shall continue to be misled 
 so long as we follow them. Their influence has been perpetual paralysis. 
 Nobody can counsel safely at this moment who adheres to slavery, or who 
 fails to see slavery as the origin and mainspring of the rebellion. It is well 
 known that for a long time in England all the efforts against slavery, led by 
 Wilberforce and Clarkson, were discountenanced and opposed by the slave- 
 masters in the distant Islands. Be the proposition what it might, whether to 
 abridge, to mitigate or ameliorate, there was always one steady dissent. Put 
 not your trust in slave-masters ; do not hearken to their promises ; do not fol- 
 low their counsels. Such is the plain lesson of English history, of French 
 history, of Dutch history, of every country which has dealt with this 
 question ; ay, of Russian history at this very moment ; and such also is the 
 positive caution of English statesmen. On this point we have the concur- 
 ring testimony of three names, each of whom is an authority. It is all em- 
 bodied in a brief passage of a speech by Lord Brougham. 
 
 " I entirely concur In the observation of Mr. Burke, repeated and more 
 happily expressed by Mr. Canning, that the masters of slaves are not to be 
 trusted with making laws upon slavery; that nothing tbey do is ever found 
 cffeotlve ; and that If by some miracle they but chance to enact a wholesome 
 regulation, it is always found to want what Mr. Burke calls the executory 
 principle ; it fails to execute itself." 
 
 These are emphatic words ; and as often as I am reminded of the opinions 
 of slave-masters on our present duties, when slavery is In question, I think 
 of them as a solemn warning, confirmed by all the teachings of experience, 
 early and late, in our own country. 
 
 OFFICERS WILL FLING DOWN ARMS. 
 
 (2.) Another objection to this appeal is that officers in our army will fling 
 down their arms. Very well. Let the traitors fling down their arms ; the 
 sooner the better. They are unworthy to bear arms, and should be delivered 
 up to the hissing and execration of mankind. But I will not dishonor offi- 
 cers with the commission of the United States by such an imputation on 
 their loyalty or common sense. As officers, they must know their duty too 
 well, and, as intelligent men, they must know that the slaves are calculated 
 to be their best and surest allies. 
 
n 
 
 "side issue." 
 (3.) Another objection is, that slavery is a " side issue," which must not 
 be touched until the war is ended. But these wise objectors forget that it is 
 precisely in order to end the war that slavery is to be touched, and that when 
 they oppose this effort they make a " side issue " in behalf of slavery, calcu- 
 lated to weaken the national arm. 
 
 SLAVE INSURRECTION. 
 
 (4.) Another objection has its origin in pity, that the rebels may be 
 saved from a slave insurrection. God forbid that I should fail in any duty of 
 humanity, or tenderness even ; but I know no principle of war or of reason 
 by which our rebels should be saved from the natural consequences of their 
 own conduct. When they rose against a paternal government, they set the 
 example of insurrection, which has carried death to so many firesides. They 
 cannot complain if their slaves, with better reason, follow it. It is according 
 to an old law, that bloody inventions return to plague the inventor. But 
 this whole objection proceeds on a mistaken idea of the African slave. The 
 story of St. Domingo, so often quoted against him, testifies to his humanity. 
 It was only when Napoleon, in an evil hour, sought to re-enslave him, that 
 those scenes of blood occurred which exhibit less the cruelty of the slave 
 than the atrocious purposes of the white man. The African is not cruel, 
 vindictive or harsh ; but gentle, forgiving, and kind. Such is authentic his- 
 tory. Nor does it appear, when the slaves left their masters, on the appeal of 
 the British commanders, during our Revolution, that they were guilty of any 
 excess. It is true that labor was disorganized, and the whole community 
 •weakened ; and this is what we seek to accomplish in our rebel States. 
 
 SLAVES WILL OVERFLOW NORTH. 
 
 (5.) And yet one more objection is sometimes advanced. It is said that 
 an appeal to the slaves will cause them to overflow into the North, where 
 they will compete with other labor. This ill-considered and trivial objection 
 subordinates the suppression of the rebellion to a question of labor, and thus 
 diverts attention by a " side issue " from the great object at heart. But it 
 becomes absurd when you consider, as every candid observer must admit, 
 that no such objection can arise. There is no danger of any such overflow 
 into the North. It is precisely the pressure of slavery, and not the license 
 of freedom, that now causes the overflow that occurs. If slavery were re- 
 moved, the Africans would flow back instead of overflowing here. The 
 South is their natural home, and there they will go when justice at last 
 prevails. 
 
 OBJECTIONS ALL ANSWERED. 
 
 Such are the objections of fact, so far as any exist within my knowledge. 
 If any other has been made, I do not know it. I ask you frankly, have I 
 not answered them ? 
 
SUCCESS ONLY THROUGH EMANCIPATION. 
 
 But, fellow-citizens, I shall not leave the argument at this stage. It is not 
 enough to show that slaves can render us important assistance, by labor, by 
 information, or by arms, and that there is no reasonable objection to calling 
 upon them, with other loyalists, in support of the Union. The case is 
 stronger still. Without the aid of the slaves this war cannot be ended success- 
 fidly. Their alliance is, therefore, a necessity. In making this assertion, I 
 know well the responsibility I assume ; nor do I assume it lightly. But the 
 time has come when the truth must be told. Let me be understood. War is 
 proverbially uncertain, and I will not doubt that fortune will again light upon 
 our arms. The force of the rebellion may be broken,- even without an ap- 
 peal to the slaves. But I am sure that with the slaves our victory will be 
 more prompt, while without them it can never be effectual — completely to 
 crush out the rebellion. It is not enough to beat armies. Rebel communi- 
 ties, envenomed against the Union, must be reclaimed, and a wide-spread 
 region must be pacified. This can be done only by the removal of the cause 
 of all this trouble, and the consequent assimilation of the people, so that no 
 man shall call another master. If slavery be regarded as a disease, it must 
 be extirpated by knife and cautery, for only in this way can the healthful 
 operations of national life be restored. If it be regarded as a motive, it 
 must be expelled from the system, that it may no longer exercise its disturb- 
 ing influence. So long as slavery continues, the States in which it exists 
 will fly madly from the Union ; but with the destruction of slavery, they 
 will lose all such motive, and will rather prefer to nestle under its wing. 
 The Slave States, by the influence of slavery, are now centrifugal ; but 
 with slavery out of the system, these States will be centripetal. Such is the 
 present law of their being. And it should be the policy of the government 
 at this time to take advantage of this law, for the benefit of the Union. Nay, 
 from the necessity of the case, this should be done. 
 
 FIRE IN THE REAR. 
 
 A united people cannot be conquered. Defeated on the battle-field, they 
 will remain sullen and revengeful, ready for another rebellion. This is the 
 lesson of history. Even Hannibal, after crushing in the field all the armies 
 of Rome, and ranging at will throughout Italy, was obliged to confess the in- 
 adequacy of his triumphs, and he appealed for help to the subjects of Rome, 
 exciting them to insurrection, and arousing them against the Roman power. ' 
 To this long-cherished plan were directed all the energies which he could 
 spare from battle ; believing that in this way his enemy could be brought 
 . under a double fire. From the beginning of our war we have assumed, as 
 an element of strength, the presence in the Slave States of large numbers 
 devoted to the Union, who would be ready at the proper moment to co- 
 operate with the national forces. It is true that the people of the Slave 
 
19 
 
 States are not united, and that among them there are large numbers ready 
 at call to uphold the Union ; but most of these faithful Unionists are not 
 white. The Unionists of the South are black. Let these be rallied, and the 
 rebellion will be exposed not only to a fire in front, but also to a fire in the 
 rear. The two together are necessary to the operations of war. The Union 
 army thus far is like a single blade of a pair of scissors, which, though of 
 choicest steel with sharpest edge, must be comparatively useless. Let the 
 other blade be conjoined, and the instrument will be perfect, warranted to 
 cut. The scissors of fate could not cut more surely. 
 
 EFFECTIVE FINALITY OP THE WAR. 
 
 Is not our duty clear ? And is not the President completely vindicated ? 
 By Emancipation we not only hasten the war to a close, but we give it 
 that effective Jinality which will prevent it from breaking forth anew, and 
 which can be obtained in no other way. The head of the hydra will be 
 destroyed, and its root exterminated, so that it cannot show itself again. 
 Without Emancipation the whole contest is delivered over to present un- 
 certainty, while the future is left to glare with all the horrors of civil strife 
 unsuppressed. There is a chapter of Don Quixote entitled " A Conclusion 
 in which Nothing is Concluded ; " and this will be the proper title for the 
 history of this war if slavery is allowed to endure. If you would trample 
 down the rebellion, you must trample down slavery, and, believe me, it 
 must be completely done. Among the terrible pictures in the immortal 
 poem of Dante, where crime on earth is portrayed in so many fearful pun- 
 ishments, is that of Caiaphas, the high priest of the Jews, who, as a penalty 
 for his sacrifice of the Saviour, was stretched on the floor of hell, where 
 all who passed must tread on him. 
 
 Naked athwart the pathway he must lie, 
 
 Condemned, as thou perceivest, to undergo 
 The weight of every one who passes by. 
 
 Such should be the final fate of slavery, naked and dishonored, stretched 
 where all may tread upon It. Never could the rights of war be employed 
 more justly than to create this doom. 
 
 PROCLAMATION THE HERALD OF PEACE. 
 
 It was easy to see, from the beginning, that this rebellion had its origin 
 in slavery ; that without slavery it never could have broken forth ; that, 
 when begun, it was continued only through slavery ; that slavery was at 
 once the curse that maddened, the principle that governed, and the power 
 that sustained; and the oligarchy of slave-masters, three hundred and fifty 
 thousand all told, were the criminals through whom all this direful wicked- 
 ness was organized and waged. Such is the unquestionable diagnosis of 
 the case, which history wiU recognize, and which a wise statesmanship 
 
20 
 
 must have seen promptly. Not to see slavery in this guilty character was 
 a mistake, and grievously have we answered for it. All are agreed now 
 that Buchanan played into the hands of the rebellion, when, declaring 
 that there can be no coercion of a State, he refused to touch the rebellion. 
 Alas ! alas ! We, too, may play into the hands of the rebellion when, out 
 of strange and incomprehensible forbearance, we refuse to touch slavery, 
 which is the very life of the rebellion. Pardon these allusions, which I 
 make in no spirit of criticism, but simply that I may accumulate new mo- 
 tives for that Proclamation, which I rejoice to welcome as the herald of 
 peace. 
 
 " GENERAL " EMANCIPATION IS THE BEST GENERAL. 
 
 There are many generals already in the field, — upwards of thirty major- 
 generals and two hundred brigadiers ; but meritorious and brave as they 
 may be, there is a general better than all, whom the President promises to 
 commission, — I mean General Emancipation. 
 
 FORCE ALONE CANNOT CONQUER "WITHOUT IDEAS. 
 
 It is common to speak of God as on the side of the heavy battalions. 
 Whatever may be the truth of this saying, it does not contain the whole 
 truth. Heavy battalions are something ; but they are not everything. 
 Even if they prevail on the battle-field, which is not always the case, the 
 victory which they compel is not final. It is impotent to secure that tran- 
 quillity which is essential to national life. Mind is above matter ; right is 
 more than force ; and it is vain to attempt to conquer merely by matter or 
 by force. If this can be done in small affairs, it cannot in large affairs, for 
 these will yield only to moral influences. Napoleon was the great master 
 of war, and yet, from his utterances at St. Helena, the legacy of his tran- 
 scendent experience, comes this confession, — " The more I study the world 
 the more am I convinced of the inability of brute force to create anything 
 durable." And another Frenchman, of subtle thought and perfect integ- 
 rity, whose name is linked forever with American institutions, de Tocque- 
 ville, has paid a similar tribute to truth. " Force," says he, " is never more 
 than a transient element of success. A government which should only be 
 able to crush its enemies on the field of battle would very soon be de- 
 stroyed." Surely, in these authoritative words of the warrior and the 
 thinker, there is a warning to us not to put trust in batteries or bayonets, 
 while an unconquerable instinct makes us all confess that might does not 
 constitute right. 
 
 Let the war end on the battle-field alone, and it will be only in appear- 
 ance that it will end, not in reality. Time will be gained for new efforts, 
 and slavery will coil itself to spring again. The rebellion may seem to be 
 vanquished, and yet it will triumph. The Union may seem to conquer, 
 and yet it will succumb. The republic may seem to be saved, and yet it 
 
21 
 
 will be lost, — handed over a prey to that injustice which, so long as it 
 exists, must challenge the judgments of a righteous God. 
 
 PEACE THROUGH FREEDOM. 
 
 Thus, for the sake of peace, which we all desire, do I now plead for 
 freedom, through which alone peace can be secured. Are you earnest for 
 peace, then must you be earnest for freedom also. Would you uphold the 
 Union against treason, then must you uphold freedom, without which 
 bloody treason will flourish over us. But freedom has been adopted by 
 Congress and proclaimed by the President as one of the agencies in the 
 prosecution of the war. Therefore, it must be maintained with all our 
 souls and all our hearts and all our minds. The hour of debate has passed ; 
 the hour of duty has sounded. In opposing solemn acts of Congress, 
 which, according to the Constitution, are now the supreme law of the land, 
 passed for the national defence ; in opposing the Proclamation of the Presi- 
 dent ; nay, in discouraging freedom, you are as bad as if you discouraged 
 enlistments. It is through freedom, as well as the arms of our soldiers, 
 that the war will be waged ; and the same loyalty which supports the one 
 is now due to the other. The discouragement of enlistments is recognized 
 as seditious and traitorous ; but the discouragement of this other force, 
 adopted by the government for the suppression of the rebellion, is only 
 another form of sedition and treason, which an indignant patriotism will 
 spurn. Emancipation is now a war measure, and it must be sustained as 
 you sustain an army in the field. 
 
 " LET MY PEOPLE GO." 
 
 If the instincts of patriotism did not prompt this support, I should find a 
 sufficient motive in that duty which we all owe to the Supreme Ruler, God 
 Almighty, whose visitations upon our country are now so fearful. Not 
 rashly would I make myself the interpreter of his will ; and yet I am not 
 blind. According to a venerable maxim of jurisprudence, AVhoso would 
 have equity must do equity ; and God plainly requires equity at our 
 hands. We cannot expect success while we set at naught this requirement, 
 proclaimed in his divine character, in the dictates of reason and in the 
 examples of history ; proclaimed, also, in all the events of this protracted 
 war. Great judgments have fallen upon the country ; plagues have been 
 let loose ; rivers have been turned into blood, and there is a great cry 
 throughout the land, for there is not a house where there is not one dead ; 
 and at each judgment we seem to hear that terrible voice which sounded 
 in the ears of Pharoah, — " Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, 
 Let my people go, that they may serve me." I know not how others are 
 touched ; but I cannot listen to the frequent tidings of calamity to our 
 arms, of a noble soldier lost to his country, of a bereavement in a 
 
22 
 
 family, of a youthful son brought home dead to his motlier, without 
 catching the warning, " Let my people go." Nay, every wound, every 
 sorrow, every hardship, — all that we are compelled to bear in taxation, in 
 want, in derangement of business, has a voice saying, " Let my people go." 
 
 WAR CHANGED IN CHARACTER, NOT IN OBJECT. 
 
 And now, thank God, the word has been spoken ; a greater word was 
 never spoken. Emancipation has begun, and our country is already elevated 
 and glorified. The war in which we are now engaged has not changed in 
 object, but it has changed in character. Its object now, as at the beginning, 
 is simply to put down the rebellion ; but its character is derived from the new 
 force at last enlisted, which must not only stamp itself upon all that is done, 
 but absorb the whole war to itself, even as the rod of Aaron swallowed up all 
 other rods. Vain will it be again to delude European nations into the foolish 
 beUef that slavery has nothing to do with the war ; that it is a war for 
 empire on one side, and independence on the other ; and that all generous 
 ideas are on the side of the rebellion. And vain also will be that other 
 European cry, whether from an intemperate press or the cautious lips of 
 statesmen, that separation is inevitable, and that our government is doomed 
 to witness the dismemberment of the Republic. With this new alliance, all 
 such forebodings will be falsified ; the wishes of the fathers will be fulfilled, 
 and those rights of human nature, which were the declared object of our 
 Revolution, will be vindicated. Thus inspired, the sword of Washington — 
 that sword which, according to his last will and testament, was to be drawn 
 only in self-defence, or in defence of country and its rights — will once more 
 marshal our armies of victory, while our flag, wherever it floats, will give 
 freedom to all beneath its folds, and its proud inscription will be at last tri- 
 umphantly verified, " Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and in- 
 separable." 
 
 WAR FOR ALL MANKIND. 
 
 But, fellow-citizens, the war which we wage is not merely for ourselves ; 
 it is for all mankind. Slavery yet lingers in Brazil, and beneath the Span- 
 ish flag in those two golden possessions, Cuba and Porto Rico ; but nowhere 
 can it survive its extinction here. Therefore, we conquer for liberty every- 
 where. In ending slavery here we open its gates all over the world, and 
 let the oppressed go free. Nor is this all. In saving the Republic we shall 
 save civilization. Man throughout his long pilgrimage on earth has been 
 compelled to suffer much ; but slavery is the heaviest burden which he has 
 been called to bear; it is the only burden which our country has been 
 called to bear. Let it drop, and our happy country, with humanity in its 
 train, all changed in raiment and in countenance, like the Christian Pil- 
 grim, will hurry upward to the celestial gate. If thus far our example has 
 
23 
 
 failed, it is simply because of slavery. It was vain to proclaim our unpar- 
 alleled prosperity, the comfort diffused among a numerous people, resour- 
 ces -without stint, or even the education of our children ; the enemies of 
 the Republic simply said, " There is slavery," and our example became 
 powerless. But let slavery disappear, and the same example will be of 
 irresistible might. Without firing a gun or writing a dispatch, it will revo- 
 lutionize the world. 
 
 Therefore the battle which we now fight belongs to the grandest events 
 of history. It constitutes one of those epochs from which humanity wiU 
 date. It is one of the battles of the ages ; as when the millions of Persia 
 were hurled back from Greece, or when the Mahomedans, victors in Africa 
 and Spain, were hurled back from France by Charles Martel, and Western , 
 Europe was saved to Christianity. In such a cause no effort can be too 
 great, no faith can be too determined. To die for country is pleasant and 
 honorable. But all who die for country now, die also for humanity. 
 Wherever they he, in bloody fields, they will be remembered as the heroes 
 through whom the Republic was saved and civilization established forever. 
 
 But there are duties elsewhere than in bloody conflict. Each of us in 
 his place at home, by his best efforts, can do something, not only to sustain 
 the soldier in the field, but also to sustain that sublime edict, which will be 
 to the soldier both sword and buckler, while it gives to the conflict all the 
 grandeur of a great idea. In this hour of trial let none of us fail. Above 
 all, let none of us go over to the enemy, even should his tents for a mo- 
 ment be pitched in Faneuil Hall ; and do not forget that there can be but 
 two parties, the party of the country, with the President for its head, and 
 witli Emancipation for its glorious watchword ; and the party of the re- 
 beUion, with Jefferson Davis for its head, and no other watchword than 
 Slavery.