SPEECH.
Before Mr. Sumner began, Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, read the following interrogatories.
“It may be that the speech which the honorable Senator intends to pronounce may cover the points which I have embodied in some questions to him. If not, I should take it very kindly, if the honorable Senator will answer the questions. I will read them.
“1. Are slaves in the District of Columbia, and in the slaveholding States, legally the subject of property?
“2. Has Congress the power to deprive the owners of lands and houses and lots situated in the District of Columbia of that property?
“3. What law or laws give the owners of real estate in the District of Columbia their right to such property? Inform us where such law or laws may be found and read.
“4. What law or laws give a different right and title to slaves and to real estate? Where can such law or laws be found?
“5. Is or not the Constitution, and the laws of the United States made in pursuance thereof, and all the treaties made under the authority of the United States, the supreme law of the land, which all persons, without any exception whatever, are bound to obey?
“6. Is or not the Supreme Court of the United States the proper and final tribunal to judge and determine all questions, whether in law or equity, under the Constitution and laws of the United States?”
The answers to these interrogatories, so far as they bear on the main question, will be found in the course of the speech.
MR. PRESIDENT,—With unspeakable delight I hail this measure and the prospect of its speedy adoption. Though only a small instalment of that great debt to an enslaved race which we all owe, yet will it be recognized in history as a victory of humanity. At home, throughout our own country, it will be welcomed with gratitude, while abroad it will quicken the hopes of all who love Freedom. Liberal institutions will gain everywhere by the abolition of Slavery at the national capital. Nobody can read that slaves were once sold in the markets of Rome, beneath the eyes of the Sovereign Pontiff, without confessing the scandal to religion, even in a barbarous age; and nobody can hear that slaves are now sold in the markets of Washington, beneath the eyes of the President, without confessing the scandal to liberal institutions. For the sake of the national name, if not for the sake of justice, let the scandal cease.
In early discussions of this question many topics were introduced that obtain little attention now. It was part of the tactics of Slavery to claim absolute immunity. Indeed, without such immunity it had small chance to exist. Such a wrong, so utterly outrageous, could find safety only where protected from inquiry. Therefore Slave-Masters always insisted that petitions against its maintenance at the national capital were not to be received, that it was unconstitutional to touch it even here within the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, and that, if it were touched, it should be only under the auspices of the neighboring States of Virginia and Maryland. On these points elaborate arguments were constructed, useless to consider now. Whatever the opinions of individual Senators, the judgment of the country is fixed. The right of petition, first vindicated by the matchless perseverance of John Quincy Adams, is now beyond question, and the constitutional power of Congress is hardly less free from doubt. It is enough to say on this point, that, if Congress cannot abolish Slavery here, then there is no power anywhere to abolish it here, and this wrong will endure always, lasting as the capital itself.
As the moment of justice approaches, we are called to meet a different objection, inspired by generous sentiments. It is urged, that, since there can be no such thing as property in man, especially within the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, therefore all held as slaves at the national capital are justly entitled to freedom without price or compensation of any kind,—or, at least, that any money paid should be distributed according to an account stated between master and slave. If this question were determined according to divine justice, so far as we may be permitted to contemplate such a judgment, it is obvious that nothing can be due to the master, and that any money paid belongs rather to the slave, who for generations has been despoiled of every right and possession. If we undertake to audit this fearful account, pray what sum shall be allowed for the prolonged torments of the lash? what treasure shall be voted to the slave for wife ravished from his side, for children stolen, for knowledge shut out, and for all the fruits of labor wrested from him and his fathers? No such account can be stated. It is impossible. Once begin the inquiry, and all must go to the slave. It only remains for Congress, anxious to secure this great boon, and unwilling to embarrass or jeopard it, to act practically, according to its finite powers, in the light of existing usage, and even existing prejudice, under which these odious relations have assumed the form of law; nor can we hesitate at any forbearance or sacrifice, provided Freedom is established without delay.
Testimony and eloquence have been accumulated against Slavery; but on this occasion I shall confine myself precisely to the argument for the ransom of slaves at the National Capital; although such is Slavery that it is impossible to consider it in any single aspect without confronting its whole many-sided wickedness, while the broad, diversified field of remedy is naturally open to review. At some other time the great question of emancipation in the States may be more fitly considered, together with those other questions where the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. Doolittle] has allowed himself to take sides so earnestly,—whether there is an essential incompatibility between the two races, so that they cannot live together except as master and slave? and whether the freedmen shall be encouraged to exile themselves to other lands, or rather continue their labor here at home? Enough for the present to consider Slavery at the National Capital. And here we are met by two inquiries, so frankly addressed to the Senate by the clear-headed Senator from Kansas [Mr. Pomeroy]: first, Has Slavery any constitutional existence at the national capital? and, secondly, Shall money be paid to secure its abolition? The answer to these two inquiries will make our duty clear. If Slavery has no constitutional existence here, then more than ever is Congress bound to interfere, even with money; for the scandal must be peremptorily stopped, without any postponement, or any consultation of the people on a point which is not within their power.
It may be said, that, whether Slavery be constitutional or not, nevertheless it exists, and therefore this inquiry is superfluous. True, it exists as a monstrous fact; but it is none the less important to consider its origin, that we may understand how, assuming the form of law, it was able to shelter itself beneath the protecting shield of the Constitution. When we see clearly that it is without any such just protection, that the law which declares it is baseless, and that in all its pretensions it is essentially and utterly brutal and unnatural, we shall have less consideration for the Slave Tyranny, which, in satisfied pride, has thus far—not without compunction at different moments—ruled the national capital, reducing all things here, public opinion, social life, and even the administration of justice, to its own degraded standard, so as to fulfil the curious words of an old English poet:—
“It serves, yet reigns as King;
It lives, yet ’s death; it pleases, full of paine.
Monster! ah, who, who can thy beeing faigne,
Thou shapelesse shape, live death, paine pleasing, servile raigne?”[214]
It is true, there can be no such thing as property in man: and here I begin to answer the questions propounded by the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Davis]. If this pretension is recognized anywhere, it is only another instance of custom, which is so powerful as to render the idolater insensible to the wickedness of idolatry, and the cannibal insensible to the brutality of cannibalism. To argue against such a pretension seems to be vain; for the pretension exists in open defiance of reason as well as of humanity. It will not yield to argument; nor will it yield to persuasion. It must be encountered by authority. It was not the planters in the British islands or in the French islands who organized emancipation, but the distant governments across the sea, far removed from local prejudice, which at last forbade the outrage. Had these planters been left to themselves, they would have clung to the pretension, as men among us still cling to it. In making this declaration against the idea of property in man, I say nothing new. An honored predecessor of the Senator from Maryland [Mr. Kennedy], whose fame as a statesman was eclipsed, perhaps, by his more remarkable fame as a lawyer,—I mean William Pinkney, and it is among the recollections of my youth that I heard Chief Justice Marshall call him the undoubted head of the American bar,—in a speech before the Maryland House of Delegates, spoke as statesman and lawyer, when he said:—
“Sir, by the eternal principles of natural justice no master in the State has a right to hold his slave in bondage for a single hour.”[215]
And Henry Brougham spoke not only as statesman and lawyer, but as orator also, when, in the British Parliament, he uttered these memorable words:—
“Tell me not of rights, talk not of the property of the planter in his slaves. I deny the right, I acknowledge not the property. The principles, the feelings, of our common nature rise in rebellion against it. Be the appeal made to the understanding or to the heart, the sentence is the same that rejects it. In vain you tell me of laws that sanction such a claim. There is a law above all the enactments of human codes,—the same throughout the world, the same in all times: … it is the law written on the heart of man by the finger of his Maker; and by that law, unchangeable and eternal, while men despise fraud and loathe rapine and abhor blood, they will reject with indignation the wild and guilty fantasy that man can hold property in man.”[216]
It has been sometimes said that the finest sentence of the English language is that famous description of Law with which Hooker closes the first book of his “Ecclesiastical Polity”; but I cannot doubt that this wonderful denunciation of an irrational and inhuman pretension will be remembered hereafter with higher praise; for it gathers into surpassing eloquence the waking and immitigable instincts of Universal Man.
If I enter now into analysis of Slavery, and say familiar things, it is because such exposition is an essential link in the present inquiry. Looking carefully at Slavery as it is, we find that it is not merely a single gross pretension, utterly inadmissible, but an aggregation of gross pretensions, all and each utterly inadmissible. They are five in number: first, the pretension of property in man; secondly, the denial of the marriage relation,—for slaves are “coupled” only, and not married; thirdly, the denial of the paternal relation; fourthly, the denial of instruction; and, fifthly, the appropriation of all the labor of the slave and its fruits by the master. Such are the five essential elements which we find in Slavery; and this fivefold barbarism, so utterly indefensible in every point, is maintained for the single purpose of compelling labor without wages. Of course such a pretension is founded in force, and nothing else. It begins with the kidnapper in Guinea or Congo, traverses the sea with the pirate slave-trader in his crowded hold, and is continued here by virtue of laws representing and embodying the same brutal force that prevailed in the kidnapper and the pirate slave-trader. Slavery, wherever it exists, is the triumph of force, sometimes in the strong arm of an individual, and sometimes in the strong arm of law, but in principle always the same. Depending upon force, he is master who happens to be stronger,—so that, if the slave were stronger, he would be master, and the master would be slave. Beyond all doubt, according to reason and justice, every slave possesses the same right to enslave his master that his master possesses to enslave him. If this simple statement of unquestionable principles needed confirmation, it would be found in the solemn judgments of courts. Here, for instance, are the often quoted words of Mr. Justice McLean, of the Supreme Court of the United States: “Slavery is admitted by almost all who have examined the subject to be founded in wrong, in oppression, in power against right.”[217] And here are the words of the Supreme Court of North Carolina: “Such services [of a slave] can only be expected from one who has no will of his own, who surrenders his will in implicit obedience to that of another. Such obedience is the consequence only of uncontrolled authority over the body. There is nothing else which can operate to produce the effect.”[218] And the Supreme Court of the United States, by the lips of Chief Justice Marshall, has openly declared, in a famous case, read the other day by the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Davis], that “Slavery has its origin in force.”[219] Thus does it appear by most authoritative words, that this monstrous Barbarism is derived not from reason, or nature, or justice, or goodness, but from force, and nothing else.
Here in the national capital, under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, the force which now maintains this unnatural system is supplied by Congress. Without Congress the “uncontrolled authority” of the master would cease. Without Congress the master would not be master, nor would the slave be slave. Congress, then, in existing legislation, is the power behind, which enslaves our fellow-men. Therefore does it behoove Congress, by proper, instant action, to relieve itself of this painful responsibility.
The responsibility becomes more painful, when it is considered that Slavery exists at the national capital absolutely without support of any kind in the Constitution: and here again I answer the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Davis]. Nor is this all. Situated within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Constitution, where State rights cannot prevail, it exists in open defiance of most cherished principles. Let the Constitution be rightly interpreted by a just tribunal, and Slavery must cease here at once. The decision of a court would be as potent as an Act of Congress. And now, as I confidently assert this conclusion, which bears so directly on the present question, pardon me, if I express the satisfaction with which I recur to an earlier period, shortly after I entered the Senate, when, vindicating the principle now accepted, but then disowned, that Freedom and not Slavery is National, I insisted upon its application to Slavery everywhere within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Constitution, and declared that Congress might as well undertake to make a king as to make a slave.[220] That argument has never been answered; it cannot be answered. Nor can I forget that this same conclusion, having such important bearings, was maintained by Mr. Chase, while a member of this body, in that masterly effort where he unfolded the relations of the National Government to Slavery,[221] and also by the late Horace Mann, in a most eloquent and exhaustive speech in the other House, where no point is left untouched to show that Slavery in the national capital is an outlaw.[222] Among all the speeches in the protracted discussion of Slavery, I know none more worthy of profound study than those two, so different in character and yet so harmonious in result. If authority could add to irresistible argument, it would be found in the well-known opinion of the late Mr. Justice McLean, in a published letter, declaring the constitutional impossibility of Slavery in the National Territories, because, in the absence of express power under the Constitution to establish or recognize Slavery, there was nothing for the breath of Slavery, as respiration could not exist where there was no atmosphere. The learned judge was right, and his illustration was felicitous. Although applied at the time only to the Territories, it is of equal force everywhere within the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress; for within such jurisdiction there is no atmosphere in which Slavery can live.
If this question were less important, I should not occupy time with its discussion. But we may learn to detest Slavery still more, when we see how completely it instals itself here in utter disregard of the Constitution, compelling Congress ignobly to do its bidding. The bare existence of such a barbarous injustice in the metropolis of a Republic gloriously declaring that “all men are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” is a mockery which may excite surprise; but when we bring it to the touchstone of the Constitution, and consider the action of Congress, surprise is deepened into indignation.
How, Sir, was this foothold secured? When and by what process did the National Government, solemnly pledged to Freedom, undertake to maintain the Slave-Master here in the exercise of that force, or “unrestrained power” which swings the lash, fastens the chain, robs the wages, sells the child, and tears the wife from the husband? A brief inquiry will show historically how it occurred: and here again I answer the Senator from Kentucky.
The sessions of the Revolutionary Congress were held, according to the exigencies of war or the convenience of members, at Philadelphia, Baltimore, Lancaster, York, Princeton, Annapolis, Trenton, and New York. An insult at Philadelphia from a band of mutineers caused an adjournment to Princeton, in 1783, which was followed by the discussion, from time to time, of the question of a permanent seat of government. On the 7th of October, 1783, a motion was made by Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts, “That buildings for the use of Congress be erected on the banks of the Delaware, near Trenton, or of the Potomac, near Georgetown, provided a suitable district can be procured on one of the rivers as aforesaid for a federal town, and that the right of soil, and an exclusive or such other jurisdiction as Congress may direct, shall be vested in the United States.”[223] Thus did the first proposition of a national capital within the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress proceed from a representative of Massachusetts. The subject of Slavery at that time attracted little attention; but at a later day, in the Constitutional Convention, this same honored representative showed the nature of the jurisdiction which he would claim, according to the following record: “Mr. Gerry thought we had nothing to do with the conduct of the States as to slaves, but ought to be careful not to give any sanction to it.”[224] In these words will be found our own cherished principle, Freedom National, Slavery Sectional, expressed with homely and sententious simplicity. There is something grateful and most suggestive in the language employed, “we ought to be careful not to give any sanction to it.” In the first Congress under the Constitution, the same representative, during the debate on the Slave-Trade, gave further expression to this same conviction, when he said that “he highly commended the part the Society of Friends had taken; it was the cause of humanity they had interested themselves in.”[225]
The proposition of Mr. Gerry in reference to a national capital, after assuming various forms, subsided. But in 1785 three commissioners were appointed “to lay out a district of not less than two nor exceeding three miles square, on the banks of either side of the Delaware, not more than eight miles above or below the lower falls thereof, for a federal town.”[226] At the Congress which met at New York two years later, unsuccessful efforts were made to substitute the Potomac for the Delaware. The commissioners, though appointed, never entered upon their business. At last, by the adoption of the Constitution, the subject was presented in a new form, under the following clause: “The Congress shall have power to exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over such district, not exceeding ten miles square, as may, by cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of the United States.” From the records of the Convention it does not appear that this clause occasioned debate. But it broke out in the earliest Congress. Virginia and Maryland, each, by acts of their respective Legislatures, tendered the ten miles square, while similar propositions were made by citizens of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. After long and animated discussion, Germantown, in Pennsylvania, was on the point of being adopted, when the subject was postponed till the next session. Havre de Grace and Wright’s Ferry, both on the Susquehanna, Baltimore, on the Patapsco, and Connogocheague, on the Potomac, divided opinions. In the course of the debate, Mr. Gerry, who had first proposed the Potomac, now opposed it. He pronounced it highly unreasonable to fix the seat of government where nine States out of the thirteen would be to the northward, and adverted to the sacrifice the Northern States were ready to make in going as far south as Baltimore. An agreement seemed impossible, when the South suddenly achieved one of those political triumphs by which its predominance in the National Government was established.
Pending at this time was the great and trying proposition to assume the State debts, which, being at first defeated through Southern votes, was at last carried by a “compromise,” according to which the seat of government was placed on the Potomac, thus settling the much vexed question. Mr. Jefferson, in a familiar account, thus sketches the “compromise.”
“It was observed that this pill [the assumption of the State debts] would be peculiarly bitter to the Southern States, and that some concomitant measure should be adopted to sweeten it a little to them. There had before been propositions to fix the seat of government either at Philadelphia or at Georgetown on the Potomac, and it was thought that by giving it to Philadelphia for ten years, and to Georgetown permanently afterwards, this might, as an anodyne, calm in some degree the ferment which might be excited by the other measure alone. So two of the Potomac members (White and Lee, but White with a revulsion of stomach almost convulsive) agreed to change their votes, and Hamilton undertook to carry the other point.”[227]
Such was one of the earliest victories of Slavery in the name of “Compromise.” It is difficult to estimate the evil consequences thus entailed upon the country.
The bill establishing the seat of government, having already passed the Senate, was adopted by the House of Representatives, after vehement debate and many calls of the yeas and nays, by a vote of thirty-two to twenty-nine, on the 9th of July, 1790. A district of territory, not exceeding ten miles square, on the river Potomac, was accepted for the permanent seat of the Government of the United States: “Provided, nevertheless, that the operation of the laws of the State within such district shall not be affected by this acceptance, until the time fixed for the removal of the Government thereto, and until Congress shall otherwise by law provide.”[228] Here, it will be seen, was a positive saving of the laws of the States for a limited period, so far as Congress had power to save them, within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Constitution; but there was also complete recognition of the power of Congress to change these laws, and an implied promise to assume the “exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever” contemplated by the Constitution.
In response to this Act of Congress, Maryland, by formal act, ceded the territory now constituting the District of Columbia “in full and absolute right, and exclusive jurisdiction, as well of soil as of persons residing or to reside thereon,”—provided that the jurisdiction of Maryland “shall not cease or determine, until Congress shall by law provide for the government thereof.”[229]
In pursuance of this contract between the United States of the one part and Maryland of the other part, expressed in solemn statutes, the present seat of government was occupied in November, 1800, when Congress proceeded to assume that complete jurisdiction conferred in the Constitution, by enacting, on the 27th of February, 1801, “that the laws of the State of Maryland, as they now exist, shall be and continue in force in that part of the said District which was ceded by that State to the United States, and by them accepted for the permanent seat of government.”[230] Thus at one stroke all existing laws of Maryland were adopted by Congress in gross, and from that time forward became the laws of the United States at the national capital. Although known historically as laws of Maryland, they ceased at once to be laws of that State, for they draw their vitality from Congress alone, under the Constitution of the United States, as completely as if every statute had been solemnly reënacted. And now we see precisely how Slavery obtained its foothold.
Among the statutes of Maryland thus solemnly reënacted in gross was the following, originally passed as early as 1715, in colonial days.
“All negroes and other slaves already imported or hereafter to be imported into this province, and all children now born or hereafter to be born of such negroes and slaves, shall be slaves during their natural lives.”[231]
Slavery cannot exist without barbarous laws in its support. Maryland, accordingly, in the spirit of Slavery, added other provisions, also reënacted by Congress in the same general bundle, of which the following is an example.
“No negro or mulatto slave, free negro or mulatto born of a white woman, during his time of servitude by law, … shall be admitted and received as good and valid evidence in law, in any matter or thing whatsoever depending before any court of record or before any magistrate within this province, wherein any Christian white person is concerned.”[232]
At a later day the following kindred provision was added, in season to be reënacted by Congress in the same code.
“No slave manumitted agreeably to the laws of this State … shall be entitled … to give evidence against any white person, or shall be recorded as competent evidence to manumit any slave petitioning for freedom.”[233]
And such is the law for Slavery at the national capital.
It will be observed that the original statute which undertakes to create Slavery in Maryland does not attaint the blood beyond two generations. It is confined to “all negroes and other slaves,” and their “children,” “during their natural lives.” These are slaves, but none others, unless a familiar rule of interpretation is reversed, and such words are extended rather than restrained. And yet it is by virtue of this colonial statute, with all its ancillary barbarism, adopted by Congress, that slaves are still held at the national capital. It is true that at the time of its adoption there were few slaves here to whom it was applicable. For ten years previous, the present area of Washington, according to received tradition, contained hardly five hundred inhabitants, all told, and these were for the most part laborers distributed in houses merely for temporary accommodation. But all these musty, antediluvian, wicked statutes, of which you have seen a specimen, took their place at once in the national legislation, and under their supposed authority slaves multiplied, and Slavery became a national institution. And it now continues only by virtue of this Slave Code borrowed from early colonial days, which, though flagrantly inconsistent with the Constitution, has never yet been repudiated by Court or Congress.
I have said that this Slave Code, even assuming it applicable to slaves beyond the “natural lives” of two generations, is flagrantly inconsistent with the Constitution. On this point the argument is so plain that it may be shown like a diagram.
Under the Constitution, Congress has “exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever” at the national capital. The cession by Maryland was without condition, and the acceptance by Congress was also without condition; so that the territory fell at once within this exclusive jurisdiction. But Congress can exercise no power except in conformity with the Constitution. Its exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever is controlled and limited by the Constitution, out of which it is derived. Now, looking at the Constitution, we find, first, that there are no words authorizing Congress to establish or recognize Slavery, and, secondly, that there are positive words which prohibit Congress from the exercise of any such power. The argument, therefore, is twofold: first, from the absence of authority, and, secondly, from positive prohibition.
Of course, a barbarism like Slavery, having its origin in force and nothing else, can have no legal or constitutional support except from positive sanction. It can spring from no doubtful phrase. It must be declared by unambiguous words, incapable of a double sense. Here I repeat an argument which I have presented before, when on other occasions arraigning the pretensions of Slavery under the Constitution, but which, so long as Slavery claims immunity, cannot be allowed to drop out of sight. It begins with the great words of Lord Mansfield, who, in the memorable case of Somerset, said: “The state of Slavery is of such a nature that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or political, but only by positive law.… It is so odious that nothing can be suffered to support it but positive law.”[234] This principle has been adopted by tribunals even in slaveholding States.[235] But I do not stop to dwell on these authorities. Even the language, “exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever,” cannot be made to sanction Slavery. It wants those positive words, leaving nothing to implication, which are obviously required, especially when we consider the professed object of the Constitution, as declared in its Preamble, to “establish justice and secure the blessings of liberty.” There is no power in the Constitution to make a king, or, thank God, to make a slave; and the absence of all such power is hardly more clear in one case than in the other. The word king nowhere occurs in the Constitution, nor does the word slave. But if there be no such power, then all Acts of Congress sustaining Slavery at the national capital must be unconstitutional and void. The stream cannot rise higher than the fountain head; nay, more, nothing can come out of nothing; and if there be nothing in the Constitution authorizing Congress to make a slave, there can be nothing valid in any subordinate legislation. It is a pretension which has thus far prevailed simply because Slavery predominated over Congress and courts.
To all who insist that Congress may sustain Slavery in the national capital I put the question, Where in the Constitution is the power found? If you cannot show where, do not assert the power. So hideous an effrontery must be authorized in unmistakable words. But where are the words? In what article, clause, or line? They cannot be found. I challenge their production. Insult not human nature by pretending that its most cherished rights can be sacrificed without solemn authority. Remember that every presumption and every leaning must be in favor of Freedom and against Slavery. Remember, too, that no nice interpretation, no strained construction, no fancied deduction, can suffice to sanction the enslavement of our fellow-men. And do not degrade the Constitution by foisting upon its blameless text the idea of property in man. It is not there; and if you think you see it there, it is simply because you make the Constitution a reflection of yourself.
A single illustration will show the absurdity of this pretension. If, under the clause giving to Congress “exclusive legislation” at the national capital, Slavery may be established, and under these words Congress is empowered to create slaves instead of citizens, then, under the same words, it may do the same thing in the “forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings” belonging to the United States, wherever situated, for these are all placed within the same “exclusive legislation.” The extensive navy-yard at Charlestown, in the very shadow of Bunker Hill, may be filled with slaves, with enforced toil to take the place of that cheerful, well-paid labor whose busy hum is the best music of the place. Such an act, however consistent with slaveholding tyranny, would not be regarded as constitutional at Bunker Hill.
If there were any doubt on this point, and the absence of all authority were not perfectly clear, the prohibitions of the Constitution would settle the question. It is true that Congress has “exclusive legislation” within the District; but the prohibitions to grant titles of nobility, to pass ex post facto laws, to pass bills of attainder, and to establish religion, are unquestionable limitations of this power. There is also another limitation, equally unquestionable. It is found in an Amendment proposed by the First Congress, on the recommendation of several States, as follows:—
“No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
This prohibition, according to the Supreme Court, is obligatory on Congress.[236] It is also applicable to all claimed as slaves; for, in the eye of the Constitution, every human being within its sphere, whether Caucasian, Indian, or African, from the President to the slave, is a person. Of this there is no question. But a remarkable incident of history confirms the conclusion. As originally recommended by Virginia, North Carolina, and Rhode Island, this proposition was restricted to the freeman. Its language was,—
“No freeman ought to be deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the law of the land.”[237]
Of course, if the word freeman had been adopted, this clause would be restricted in its effective power. Deliberately rejecting this limitation, the authors of the Amendment recorded their purpose that no person, within the national jurisdiction, of whatever character, shall be deprived of liberty without due process of law. The latter words are borrowed from Magna Charta, and they mean without due presentment, indictment, or other judicial proceedings. But Congress, undertaking to support Slavery at the national capital, enacts that persons may be deprived of liberty there without any presentment, indictment, or other judicial proceedings. Therefore every person now detained as a slave in the national capital is detained in violation of the Constitution. Not only is his liberty taken without due process of law, but, since he is tyrannically despoiled of all the fruits of his industry, his property also is taken without due process of law. You talk sometimes of guaranties of the Constitution. Here is an unmistakable guaranty, and I hold you to it.
Bringing the argument together, the conclusion may be briefly stated. The five-headed barbarism of Slavery, beginning in violence, can have no legal or constitutional existence, unless through positive words expressly authorizing it. As no such positive words are found in the Constitution, all legislation by Congress supporting Slavery must be unconstitutional and void, while it is made still further impossible by positive words of prohibition guarding the liberty of every person within the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress.
A court properly inspired, and ready to assume that just responsibility which dignifies judicial tribunals, would at once declare Slavery impossible at the national capital, and set every slave free,—as Lord Mansfield declared Slavery impossible in England, and set every slave free. The two cases are parallel; but, alas! the court is wanting here. The legality of Slavery in England was affirmed in professional opinions by the ablest lawyers; it was also affirmed on the bench. England was a Slave State, and even its newspapers were disfigured with advertisements for the sale of human beings, while the merchants of London, backed by great names in the law, sustained the outrage. Then appeared Granville Sharp, the philanthropist, who, pained by the sight of Slavery, and especially shocked by the brutality of a slave-hunt in the streets of London, was aroused to question its constitutionality in England. For two years he devoted himself to anxious study of the British Constitution in all its multifarious records. His conclusion is expressed in these precise words: “The word slaves, or anything that can justify the enslaving of others, is not to be found there, God be thanked!”[238] Thus encouraged, he persevered. By his generous exertions the negro Somerset, claimed as a slave by a Virginia gentleman then in London, was defended, and the Court of King’s Bench compelled to that immortal judgment by which Slavery was forever expelled from England, and the early boast of the British Constitution became a practical verity. More than fourteen thousand persons, held as slaves on British soil—four times as many as are now found in the national capital—became instantly free, without price or ransom.
The good work that our courts thus far decline remains to be done by Congress. Slavery, which is a scandalous anomaly and anachronism here, must be made to disappear from the national capital,—if not in one way, then in another. A judgment of court would be simply on the question of constitutional right, without regard to policy. But there is no consideration of right or of policy, from the loftiest principle to the humblest expediency, which may not properly enter into the conclusion of Congress. The former might be the triumph of the magistrate,—the latter must be that of the statesman. But whether from magistrate or from statesman, it will constitute an epoch in history.
But the question is asked, Shall we vote money for this purpose? I cannot hesitate. Two considerations are with me prevailing. First, the relation of master and slave at the national capital has from the beginning been established and maintained by Congress everywhere in sight, and even directly under its own eyes. The master held the slave; but Congress, with strong arm, stood behind the master, looking on and sustaining. Not a dollar of wages has been taken, not a child stolen, not a wife torn from her husband, without the hand of Congress. If not partnership, there is complicity on the part of Congress, through which the whole country has become responsible for the manifold wrong. Though always protesting against its continuance, and laboring earnestly for its removal, yet gladly do I accept my share of the prospective burden. And, secondly, even if not all involved in the manifold wrong, nothing is clearer than that the mode proposed is the gentlest, quietest, and surest in which the beneficent change can be accomplished. It is therefore the most practical. It recognizes Slavery as an existing fact, and provides for its removal. And when I think of the unquestionable good we seek, of all its great advantages, of the national capital redeemed, of the national character elevated, and of the righteous example we shall set, and when I think, still further, that, according to a rule alike of jurisprudence and morals, Liberty is priceless, I cannot hesitate at any appropriation within our means by which all these things of incalculable value can be promptly secured.
As I find no reason of policy adverse to such appropriation, so do I find no objection in the Constitution. I am aware that it is sometimes asked, Where in the Constitution is the power to make such appropriation? But nothing is clearer than that, under the words conferring “exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever,” Congress may create freemen, although it may not create slaves. And of course it may exercise all the powers necessary to this end, whether by a simple act of emancipation or a vote of money. If there could be any doubt on this point, it would be removed, when we reflect that the abolition of Slavery, with all the natural incidents of such an act, has been constantly recognized as within the sphere of legislation. It was so regarded by Washington, who, in a generous letter to Lafayette, dated May 10, 1786, said: “It certainly might and assuredly ought to be effected, and that, too, by legislative authority.”[239] Through legislative authority Slavery has been abolished in State after State of our Union, and also in foreign countries. I have yet to learn that the power of Congress for this purpose at the national capital is less complete than that of any other legislative body within its own jurisdiction.
But, while not doubting the power of Congress in any of its incidents, I prefer to consider the money we pay as in the nature of ransom rather than compensation, so that Freedom shall be acquired rather than purchased; and I place it at once under the sanction of that commanding charity proclaimed by prophets and enjoined by apostles, which all history recognizes and the Constitution cannot impair. From time immemorial every Government has undertaken to ransom from captivity, and sometimes a whole people has felt the general resources well bestowed in the ransom of its prince. Religion and humanity have both concurred in this duty as more than usually sacred. “The ransom of captives is a great and excellent office of justice,” exclaims one of the early Fathers. And the pious St. Ambrose insisted upon breaking up even the sacred vessels of the Church, saying: “The ornament of the sacraments is the redemption of captives.”
Among the most beautiful incidents of the early Church is that of St. Ambrose. There had been hesitation, but the divine Emancipationist broke forth: “What! you will not sell the vessels of gold, and you leave for sale the living vessels of the Lord! The ornament of the sacraments is the redemption of captives. Let the cup ransom from the enemy him whom the blood ransoms from sin.”[240] Happily, this spirit prevailed. At the report of Christians compelled to wear out their days as captives in Algiers, Tunis, or Morocco, or, it might be, among the Moors of Spain or the merchants of Genoa and Venice, it assumed practical form. Two Frenchmen, Jean de Matha and Pierre Nolasque, born on the coast of the Mediterranean, conceived the idea of a special order vowed to the redemption of Christian slaves. The first founded, in 1199, the order of the Holy Trinity, known often as Mathurins; the second, acting under the patronage of Spain, founded the order of Our Lady of Mercy. Upon both these orders Bishops and Popes bestowed approbation and encouragement, while, for more than six centuries, they devoted themselves to this Christian charity, often, according to the vow assumed, giving themselves as hostages for the ransomed captive. It is related, that, in 1655, the Order of Mercy in Algiers alone ransomed more than twelve thousand slaves, leaving in pledge a large number of its members, faithful to the vow, “In Saracenorum potestate in pignus, si necesse fuerit ad redemptionem Christi fidelium, detentus manebo.” Thus did these pious fathers give not only money, but themselves.[241]
The duty thus commended has been exercised by the United States under important circumstances, with the coöperation of the best names of our history, so as to be beyond question. The instance may not be familiar, but it is decisive, while, from beginning to end, it is full of instruction.
Who has not heard of the Barbary States, and of the pretension put forth by them to enslave white Christians? Algiers was the chief seat of this enormity, which, through the insensibility or incapacity of Christian States, was allowed to continue for generations. Good men and great men were degraded to be captives, while many, neglected by fortune, perished in barbarous Slavery. Even in our colonial days, there were Americans whose fate, while in the hands of these slave-masters, excited general sympathy. Only by ransom was their freedom obtained. Perhaps no condition was more calculated to arouse indignant rage. And yet the disposition so common to palliate Slavery in the National Capital showed itself with regard to Slavery in Algiers; and, indeed, the same arguments to soften public opinion have been employed in the two instances. The parallel is so complete, that I require all your trust to believe that what I read is not an apology for Slavery here. Thus, a member of a diplomatic mission from England, who visited Morocco in 1785, says of the Slavery which he saw: “It is very slightly inflicted”; and “as to any labor undergone, it does not deserve the name.”[242] And another earlier traveller, after describing the comfortable condition of the white slaves, adds, in words to which we are accustomed: “I am sure we saw several captives who lived much better in Barbary than ever they did in their own country.… Whatever money in charity was ever sent them by their friends in Europe was their own.… And yet this is called insupportable slavery among Turks and Moors! But we found this, as well as many other things in this country, strangely misrepresented.”[243] A more recent French writer asserts, with a vehemence to which we are habituated from the partisans of Slavery among us, that the white slaves at Algiers were not exposed to the miseries which they represented; that they were well clad and well fed, much better than the free Christians there; that special care was bestowed upon those who became ill; and that some were allowed such privileges as to become indifferent to freedom, and even to prefer Algiers to their own country.[244] Believe me, Sir, in stating these things I simply follow history; and I refer to the volume and page or chapter of the authorities which I quote, that the careful inquirer may see that they relate to Slavery abroad, and not to Slavery at home. If I continue to unfold this strange, eventful story, it will be to exhibit the direct and constant intervention of Congress for the ransom of slaves; but the story itself is an argument against Slavery, pertinent to the present occasion, which I am not unwilling to adopt.
Scarcely was national independence established, when we were aroused to fresh efforts for the protection of enslaved citizens. Within three years no less than ten American vessels were seized. At one time an apprehension prevailed that Dr. Franklin, on his way home from France, had been captured. “We are waiting,” said one of his French correspondents, “with the greatest impatience to hear from you. The newspapers have given us anxiety on your account, for some of them insist that you have been taken by the Algerines, while others pretend that you are at Morocco, enduring your slavery with all the patience of a philosopher.”[245] Though this apprehension happily proved without foundation, it soon became known that other Americans, less distinguished, but entitled to all the privileges of new-born citizenship, were suffering in cruel captivity. At once the sentiments of the people were enlisted in their behalf. Newspapers pleaded, while the corsairs were denounced sometimes as “infernal crews,” and sometimes as “human harpies.” But it was through the stories of victims who had succeeded in escaping from bondage that the people were most aroused. As these fugitive slaves touched our shores, they were welcomed with outspoken sympathy. Glimpses opened through them into the dread regions of Slavery gave a harrowing reality to all that conjecture or imagination had pictured. True, indeed, it was that our own white brethren, entitled like ourselves to all the rights of manhood, were degraded in unquestioning obedience to an arbitrary taskmaster, sold at the auction-block, worked like beasts of the field, and galled by the manacle and lash. As the national power seemed yet inadequate to compel their liberation, it was attempted by ransom.
Generous efforts at Algiers were organized under the direction of our minister at Paris, and the famous Society of Redemption, having its origin in the thirteenth century, offered aid. Our agents were blandly entertained by the great slave-dealer, the Dey, who informed them that he was familiar with the exploits of Washington, and, as he never expected to set eyes on this hero of Freedom, expressed a hope, that, through Congress, he might receive a full-length portrait of him, to be displayed in the palace at Algiers. Amidst such professions the Dey still clung to his American slaves, holding them at prices beyond the means of the agents, who were not authorized to exceed two hundred dollars a head,—being not unlike in amount that proposed in the present bill; and I beg to call the attention of the Senator from Maine [Mr. Morrill], who has the bill in charge, to the parallel.
Their redemption engaged the attention of the National Government early after the adoption of the Constitution. It was first brought before Congress by petition, of which we find the following record.
“Friday, May 14, 1790.—A petition from sundry citizens of the United States, captured by the Algerines, and now in slavery there, was presented, praying the interposition of Congress in their behalf. Referred to the Secretary of State.”[246]
An interesting report on the situation of these captives was made to the President by the Secretary of State, December 28, 1790, where he sets forth the efforts for their redemption at such prices as would not “raise the market,”—it being regarded as important, that, in “the first instance of a redemption by the United States, our price should be fixed at the lowest point.”[247] I quote the precise words of this document, which will be found in the State Papers of the country, and I call special attention to them as applicable to the present moment. Our price should be fixed at the lowest point, and we should do nothing to raise the market. The parallel becomes more complete, when it is known that the white slaves at Algiers were about the same in number with the black slaves at Washington whose redemption is now proposed. The report of Mr. Jefferson was laid before Congress, with the following brief message from the President.
“United States, December 30, 1790.
“Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:—
“I lay before you a report of the Secretary of State on the subject of the citizens of the United States in captivity at Algiers, that you may provide on their behalf what to you shall seem most expedient.
“Geo. Washington.”[248]
It does not appear that there was question in any quarter with regard to the power of Congress. The broad recommendation of the President was to provide on behalf of the slaves what should seem most expedient.
Another report from the Secretary of State, entitled “Mediterranean Trade,” and communicated to Congress December 30, 1790, relates chiefly to the same matter. In this document are different estimates with regard to the price at which our fellow-citizens might be ransomed and peace purchased. One person, who had long resided at Algiers, put the price at sixty or seventy thousand pounds sterling: this was the lowest estimate. Another, also long, and still, a resident there, said that it could not be less than a million dollars,—which is the sum proposed in the present bill. Mr. Jefferson, after considering the subject at some length, concludes as follows.
“Upon the whole, it rests with Congress to decide between war, tribute, and ransom.… If war, they will consider how far our own resources shall be called forth.… If tribute or ransom, it will rest with them to limit and provide the amount, and with the Executive, observing the same constitutional forms, to make arrangements for employing it to the best advantage.”[249]
Among the papers accompanying the report is a letter from Mr. Adams, minister at London, from which I take important words.
“It may be reasonably concluded that this great affair cannot be finished for much less than two hundred thousand pounds sterling.”[250]
This is the very sum now needed for our great affair.
In pursuance of these communications, the Senate tendered its advice to the President in a resolution.
“Resolved, That the Senate advise and consent that the President of the United States take such measures as he may think necessary for the redemption of the citizens of the United States now in captivity at Algiers: Provided, The expense shall not exceed forty thousand dollars; and also that measures be taken to confirm the treaty now existing between the United States and the Emperor of Morocco.”[251]
In a subsequent message, February 22, 1791, the President said:—
“I will proceed to take measures for the ransom of our citizens in captivity at Algiers, in conformity with your resolution of advice of the first instant, so soon as the moneys necessary shall be appropriated by the Legislature, and shall be in readiness.”[252]
The same subject was presented again to the Senate by President Washington, in the following inquiry, May 8, 1792.
“If the President of the United States should conclude a convention or treaty with the Government of Algiers for the ransom of the thirteen Americans in captivity there, for a sum not exceeding forty thousand dollars, all expenses included, will the Senate approve the same? Or is there any, and what, greater or lesser sum which they would fix on as the limit beyond which they would not approve the ransom?[253]
The Senate promptly replied by a resolution declaring it would approve such treaty of ransom.[254] And Congress, by Act of May 8, 1792, appropriated a sum of fifty thousand dollars for this purpose.[255] Commodore Paul Jones was intrusted with the mission to Algiers, charged with the double duty of making peace and of securing the redemption of our citizens. In his letter of instructions, June 1, 1792, Mr. Jefferson considers the rate of ransom.”
“It has been a fixed principle with Congress to establish the rate of ransom of American captives with the Barbary States at as low a point as possible, that it may not be the interest of those States to go in quest of our citizens in preference to those of other countries. Had it not been for the danger it would have brought on the residue of our seamen, by exciting the cupidity of these rovers against them, our citizens now in Algiers would have been long ago redeemed, without regard to price. The mere money for this particular redemption neither has been nor is an object with anybody here.”[256]
In the same instructions Mr. Jefferson says:—
“As soon as the ransom is completed, you will be pleased to have the captives well clothed and sent home at the expense of the United States, with as much economy as will consist with their reasonable comfort.”[257]
Commodore Paul Jones—called Admiral in the instructions—died without entering upon these duties, and they were afterwards undertaken by Colonel Humphreys, our minister at Lisbon, honored especially with the friendship of Washington, and an accomplished officer of his staff during the Revolution. The terms demanded by the Dey were such as to render the mission unsuccessful.
Meanwhile the Algerines seized other of our citizens, who are described as “employed as captive slaves on the most laborious work, in a distressed and naked situation.”[258] One of their number, in a letter to the President, dated at Algiers, November 5, 1793, says:—
“Humanity towards the unfortunate American captives, I presume, will induce your Excellency to coöperate with Congress to adopt some speedy and effectual plan in order to restore to liberty and finally extricate the American captives from their present distresses.”[259]
At this time one hundred and nineteen American slaves in Algiers united in a petition to Congress, dated December 29, 1793, where they say:—
“Your petitioners are at present captives in this city of bondage, employed daily on the most laborious work, without any respect to persons.… They pray you will take their unfortunate situation into consideration, and adopt such measures as will restore the American captives to their country, their friends, families, and connections.”[260]
The country was now aroused. A general contribution was proposed. People of all classes vied in generous effort. Newspapers entered with increased activity into the work. At public celebrations the toasts, “Happiness for all,” and “Universal Liberty,” were proposed, partly in sympathy with our wretched white fellow-countrymen in bonds. On one occasion, at a patriotic festival in New Hampshire, they were distinctly remembered in the toast: “Our brethren in slavery at Algiers. May the measures adopted for their redemption be successful, and may they live to rejoice with their friends in the blessings of liberty!”[261] The clergy, too, were enlisted. A fervid appeal by the captives themselves was addressed to ministers of the Gospel throughout the United States, asking them to set apart a special Sunday for sermons in behalf of their enslaved brethren. Literature added her influence, not only in essays, but in a work, which, though now forgotten, was among the earliest of the literary productions of our country, reprinted in London at a time when few American books were known abroad. I refer to the story of “The Algerine Captive,” which, though published anonymously, like other similar works at a later day, is known to have been written by Royall Tyler, afterwards Chief Justice of Vermont. Slavery in Algiers is here delineated in the sufferings of a single captive,—as Slavery in the United States has been since depicted in the sufferings of “Uncle Tom”; but the argument of the early story was hardly less strong against African Slavery than against White Slavery. “Grant me,” says the Algerine captive—who had been a surgeon on board a ship in the African slave-trade—from the depths of his own sorrows, “once more to taste the freedom of my native country, and every moment of my life shall be dedicated to preaching against this detestable commerce. I will fly to our fellow-citizens in the Southern States; I will on my knees conjure them, in the name of humanity, to abolish a traffic which causes it to bleed in every pore. If they are deaf to the pleadings of Nature, I will conjure them, for the sake of consistency, to cease to deprive their fellow-creatures of freedom, which their writers, their orators, Representatives, Senators, and even their Constitutions of Government, have declared to be the unalienable birthright of man.”[262] In such words was the cause of Emancipation pleaded at that early day.
From his distant mission at Lisbon, Colonel Humphreys, yet unable to reach Algiers, joined in this appeal by a letter to the American people, dated July 11, 1794. Taking advantage of the general interest in lotteries, and particularly of the custom, not then condemned, of employing these to obtain money for literary or benevolent purposes, he suggests a grand lottery, sanctioned by the United States, or particular lotteries in individual States, to obtain the means required for the ransom of our countrymen. He then asks:—
“Is there within the limits of these United States an individual who will not cheerfully contribute in proportion to his means to carry it into effect? By the peculiar blessings of freedom which you enjoy, by the disinterested sacrifices you made for its attainment, by the patriotic blood of those martyrs of Liberty who died to secure your independence, and by all the tender ties of Nature, let me conjure you once more to snatch your unfortunate countrymen from fetters, dungeons, and death.”
Meanwhile the Government was energetic through all its agents, at home and abroad; nor was any question raised with regard to constitutional powers. In the animated debate which ensued in the House of Representatives, an honorable member said, “If bribery would not do, he should certainly vote for equipping a fleet.”[263] At last, by Act of Congress of the 20th March, 1794, a million dollars was appropriated for this purpose, being the identical sum now proposed for a similar purpose of redemption; but it was somewhat masked under the language, “to defray any expenses which may be incurred in relation to the intercourse between the United States and foreign nations.”[264] On the same day, by another Act, the President was authorized “to borrow, on the credit of the United States, if in his opinion the public service shall require it, a sum not exceeding one million of dollars.”[265] The object was distinctly avowed in the instructions of Mr. Jefferson, 28th March, 1795, “for concluding a treaty of peace and liberating our citizens from captivity.” In other instructions, 25th August of the preceding year, the wishes of the President are thus conveyed:—
“Ransom and peace are to go hand and hand, if practicable; but if peace cannot be obtained, a ransom is to be effected without delay, … restricting yourself, on the head of a ransom, within the limit of three thousand dollars per man.”[266]
The negotiation being consummated, the first tidings of its success were announced to Congress by President Washington in his speech at the opening of the session, 8th December, 1795.
“With peculiar satisfaction I add, that information has been received from an agent deputed on our part to Algiers, importing that the terms of a treaty with the Dey and Regency of that country had been adjusted in such a manner as to authorize the expectation of a speedy peace, and the restoration of our unfortunate fellow-citizens from a grievous captivity.”[267]
The treaty was signed at Algiers, 5th September, 1795. It was a sacrifice of pride, if not of honor, to the necessity of the occasion. Among its stipulations was one even for annual tribute to the barbarous Slave Power.[268] But, amidst all its unquestionable humiliation, it was a treaty of Emancipation; nor did our people consider nicely the terms on which this good was secured. It is recorded that a thrill of joy went through the land on the annunciation that a vessel had left Algiers having on board the Americans who had been captives there. The largess of money, and even the indignity of tribute, were forgotten in gratulations on their new-found happiness. Washington, in his speech to Congress of December 7, 1796, thus solemnly dwelt on their emancipation:—
“After many delays and disappointments, arising out of the European war, the final arrangements for fulfilling the engagements made to the Dey and Regency of Algiers will, in all present appearance, be crowned with success,—but under great, though inevitable, disadvantages in the pecuniary transactions, occasioned by that war, which will render a further provision necessary. The actual liberation of all our citizens who were prisoners in Algiers, while it gratifies every feeling heart, is itself an earnest of a satisfactory termination of the whole negotiation.”[269]
Other treaties were made with Tripoli and Morocco, and more money was paid for the same object, until at last, in 1801, the slaveholding pretensions of Tripoli compelled a resort to arms. By a document preserved in the State Papers of our country, it appears that from 1791, in the space of ten years, appropriations were made for the liberation of our people, reaching to a sum-total of more than two millions of dollars.[270] To all who question the power of Congress, or the policy of exercising it, I commend this account, in its various items, given with authentic minuteness. If we consider the population and resources of the country at the time, as compared with our present gigantic means, the amount will not be deemed inconsiderable.
The pretensions of Tripoli brought out Colonel Humphreys, the former companion of Washington, now at home in retirement. In an address to the public, he called again for united action, saying:—
“Americans of the United States, your fellow-citizens are in fetters! Can there be but one feeling? Where are the gallant remnants of the race who fought for freedom? Where the glorious heirs of their patriotism? Will there never be a truce between political parties? Or must it forever be the fate of free States, that the soft voice of union should be drowned in the hoarse clamor of discord? No! Let every friend of blessed humanity and sacred freedom entertain a better hope and confidence.”[271]
Then commenced those early deeds by which our arms became known in Europe,—the best achievement of Decatur, and the romantic expedition of Eaton. Three several times Tripoli was attacked; and yet, after successes sometimes mentioned with pride, our country consented by solemn treaty to pay sixty thousand dollars for the freedom of two hundred American slaves, and thus again by money obtained Emancipation.[272] But Algiers was governed by Slavery as a ruling passion. Again our people were seized. Even the absorbing contest with Great Britain could not prevent an outbreak of indignant sympathy for those in bonds. A naval force, promptly despatched to the Mediterranean, was sufficient to secure the freedom of the American slaves without ransom, and the further stipulation that hereafter no Americans should be made slaves, and that “any Christians whatsoever, captives in Algiers,” making their escape and taking refuge on board an American ship of war, should be safe from all requisition or reclamation.[273] Decatur, on this occasion, showed character as well as courage. The freedmen of his arms were welcomed on board his ship with impatient triumph. Thus, by war, and not by money, was Emancipation this time obtained.
At a later day, Great Britain, weary of tribute and ransom, directed her naval power against the Barbary States. Tunis and Tripoli each promised Abolition, but Algiers sullenly refused, until compelled by irresistible force. Before night, on the 27th August, 1816, the fleet fired, besides shells and rockets, one hundred and eighteen tons of powder and fifty thousand shot, weighing more than five hundred tons. Amidst the crumbling ruins of walls and citadel, the cruel Slave Power was humbled, and by solemn stipulation consented to the surrender of all slaves in Algiers, and the abolition of White Slavery forever. This great triumph was announced by the victorious admiral in a despatch to his Government, where he uses words of rejoicing worthy of the occasion.
“In all the vicissitudes of a long life of public service, no circumstance has ever produced on my mind such impressions of gratitude and joy as the event of yesterday. To have been one of the humble instruments in the hands of Divine Providence for bringing to reason a ferocious Government, and destroying forever the insufferable and horrid system of Christian Slavery, can never cease to be a source of delight and heartfelt comfort to every individual happy enough to be employed in it.”[274]
And thus ended White Slavery in the Barbary States. A single brief effort of war put an instant close to the wicked pretension. If, in looking back upon its history, we find much to humble our pride, if we are disposed to mourn that the National Government stooped to ransom men justly free without price, yet we cannot fail to gather instruction from this great precedent. Slavery is the same in essential character, wherever it exists,—except, perhaps, that it has received new harshness here among us. There is no argument against its validity at Algiers not equally strong against its validity at Washington. In both cases it is unjust force organized into law. But in Algiers it is not known that the law was unconstitutional, as it clearly is here in Washington. In the early case, Slavery was regarded by our fathers only as an existing fact; and it is only as an existing fact that it can be regarded by us in the present case; nor is there any power of Congress, generously exerted for those distant captives, which may not be invoked for the captives in our own streets.
Mr. President, if, in this important discussion, which seems to open the door of the future, I confine myself to two simple inquiries, it is because practically they exhaust the whole subject. If Slavery be unconstitutional in the national capital, and if it be a Christian duty, sustained by constitutional examples, to ransom slaves, then your swift desires will not hesitate to adopt the present bill. It is needless to enter upon other questions, important perhaps, but irrelevant. It is needless, also, to consider the objections which Senators have introduced, for all must see that they are but bugbears.
If I seem to dwell on details, it is because they furnish at each stage instruction and support; if I occupy time on a curious passage of history, it is because it is more apt even than curious, while it sometimes holds the mirror up to our own wickedness, and sometimes even seems to cry out, “Thou art the man!” I scorn to argue the obvious truth that the slaves here are as much entitled to freedom as the white slaves that enlisted the early energies of the new-born nation. They are men by the grace of God, and this is enough. There is no principle of the Constitution, and no rule of justice, which is not as strong for one as for the other. Consenting to the ransom proposed, you recognize their manhood, and if authority be needed, you find it in the example of Washington, who did not hesitate to employ a golden key to open the house of bondage.
Let this bill pass, and then will be accomplished the first practical triumph of Freedom, for which good men have longed, dying without the sight,—for which a whole generation has petitioned, and for which orators and statesmen have pleaded. Slavery will be banished from the national capital. This metropolis, bearing a venerated name, will be exalted, its evil spirit cast out, its shame removed, its society refined, its courts made just, its revolting ordinances swept away, and even its loyalty assured. If not moved by justice to the slave, then be willing to act for your own good and in self-defence. If you hesitate to pass this bill for the blacks, then pass it for the whites. Nothing is clearer than that the degradation of Slavery affects the master as well as the slave; while also recent events testify, that, wherever Slavery exists, there Treason lurks, if it does not flaunt. From the beginning of this Rebellion, Slavery has been constantly manifest in the conduct of the masters, and even here in the national capital it is the traitorous power encouraging and strengthening the enemy. This power must be suppressed at every cost; and if its suppression here endangers Slavery elsewhere, there will be new motive for determined action.
Amidst all present solicitudes, the future cannot be doubtful. At the national capital Slavery will give way to Freedom. But the good work will not stop here: it must proceed. What God and Nature decree Rebellion cannot arrest. And as the whole wide-spread tyranny begins to tumble, then, above the din of battle, sounding from the sea and echoing along the land, above even the exultations of victory on hard-fought fields, will ascend voices of gladness and benediction, swelling from generous hearts, wherever civilization bears sway, to commemorate a sacred triumph, whose trophies, instead of tattered banners, are ransomed slaves.
REBEL BARBARITIES, AND THE BARBARISM OF SLAVERY.
Resolution and Remarks in the Senate, April 1, 1862.
Mr. Sumner offered the following resolution, and then spoke upon it.
“Resolved, That the Select Committee on the Conduct of the War be directed to collect the evidence with regard to the barbarous treatment by the Rebels at Manassas of the remains of officers and soldiers of the United States killed in battle there, and to report the same to the Senate, with power to send for persons and papers.”
MR. PRESIDENT,—We have all been shocked, during the last few days, by the evidence that has accumulated with regard to the treatment of our dead at Manassas.
Instead of those honorable rites which in all ages generous soldiers have been glad to bestow upon enemies fallen in battle, we are disgusted by barbarities reminding us of savage life. Bodies have been dug up, and human bones carried off as trophies. The skull of a gallant Massachusetts soldier has been converted into the drinking-cup of a Georgia colonel, that he may, far away among his slaves, renew the festive barbarism of another age under the name of “The Feast of Skulls.”
It is obvious, Sir, that we are now in conflict with beings who belong to a different plane of civilization from ourselves, and it is important that this unquestionable fact should be made known to the country and to the world.
All familiar with recent events will remember the effect with which that great minister, Cavour, when on the eve of the war for Italian liberation, put forth his circular, setting forth the outrages of the Austrian soldiers on the Italian inhabitants. Through that appeal, Sir, he secured the general sympathy of Europe and of the civilized world. Our cause needs no such document; but I am anxious, nevertheless, for the sake of history, that the record should be made.
Let it be made, also, that the country and mankind may see how Slavery in all its influences is barbarous,—barbarous in peace, barbarous in war, barbarous always, and nothing but barbarism.
On motion of Mr. Howard, the resolution was amended by adding:—
“And that the said Select Committee also inquire into the fact, whether Indian savages have been employed by the Rebels in their military service against the Government of the United States, and how such warfare has been conducted by said savages, and to report the same to the Senate, with power to send for persons and papers.”
The resolution as amended was adopted.
April 30, Mr. Wade, Chairman of the Committee, reported particularly on that part of the resolution moved by Mr. Sumner, and the next day the Senate ordered fifty thousand extra copies of the report. Its conclusions appear in the following painful passage.
“The outrages upon the dead will revive the recollections of the cruelties to which savage tribes subject their prisoners. They were buried, in many cases, naked, with their faces downward; they were left to decay in the open air; their bones were carried off as trophies, sometimes, as the testimony proves, to be used as personal adornments; and one witness deliberately avers that the head of one of our most gallant officers was cut off by a Secessionist, to be turned into a drinking-cup on the occasion of his marriage. Monstrous as this revelation may appear to be, your Committee have been informed, that, during the last two weeks, the skull of a Union soldier has been exhibited in the office of the sergeant-at-arms of the House of Representatives, which had been converted to such a purpose, and which had been found on the person of one of the Rebel prisoners taken in a recent conflict.”[275]
The report sustained the allegations of Mr. Sumner, when he moved the inquiry, besides giving new force to the term “The Barbarism of Slavery.”
TESTIMONY OF COLORED PERSONS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
Remarks in the Senate, on the Emancipation Bill, April 3, 1862.
MR. PRESIDENT,—In addressing the Senate on this bill, urging the duty of ransom, I exposed an early, inhuman, and wicked statute of Maryland, belonging to that offensive mass originally adopted at the time of the cession as the law of the District, and ever since recognized, although never voted on, and having only a surreptitious authority. I refer to that unjust statute making colored persons incompetent to testify, where a white is a party. I quoted the precise words, still the law of the District.[276] No language of mine is strong enough to express the detestation such a contrivance is calculated to arouse in every bosom not entirely given over to injustice.
The time has come for a change. At least, while providing for the release of those now detained in Slavery,—unconstitutionally, as I hold,—we must see that the proceedings are without embarrassment from that outrageous statute. I propose an amendment, and here I have the consent of my friend, the chairman of the Committee [Mr. Morrill], in the hope of removing this grievance in the inquiries under the bill.
The bill provides for something like a tribunal, as follows:—
“They [the Commissioners] shall have power to subpœna and compel the attendance of witnesses, and to receive testimony and enforce its production, as in civil cases before courts of justice.”
Under this provision the old Maryland statute is left in full force. This should not be.
Mr. Sumner moved to add at the end of this clause, immediately after “courts of justice,” the words “without the exclusion of any witness on account of color.”
Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, called for the yeas and nays, which were ordered, and, being taken, resulted, yeas 26, nays 10. So the amendment was agreed to.
This was the first step for the civil rights of colored persons, but it was limited to proceedings under the Emancipation Act in the District of Columbia.
July 7th, the Senate having under consideration a Supplementary Bill on Emancipation in the District, Mr. Sumner took occasion to broaden the immunity by moving the following additional section:—
“And be it further enacted, That in all judicial proceedings in the District of Columbia there shall be no exclusion of any witness on account of color.”
The yeas and nays were ordered, at the call of Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, and, being taken, resulted, yeas 25, nays 11.
In the House of Representatives, while the bill was under consideration, Mr. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, said: “I have no hope of success; but I feel it to be my duty to move to strike out the words ‘without the exclusion of any witness on account of color,’ where they occur.… I presume it is intended to let a man’s servant come in and swear that he is a disloyal man. I do hope the friends of this bill will not so far outrage the laws of this District as to authorize slaves or free negroes to be witnesses in cases of this kind.” Mr. Thaddeus Stevens said, “I trust that this Committee [of the whole House] will not so far continue an outrage as not to allow any man of credit, whether he be black or white, to be a witness”; and the motion was rejected.[277]
INDEPENDENCE OF HAYTI AND LIBERIA.
Speech in the Senate, on the Bill to authorize the Appointment of Diplomatic Representatives to the Republics of Hayti and Liberia, April 23, 1862.
Thereupon Zeus, fearing for the safety of our race, sent Hermes with self-respect and justice, that their presence among men might establish order and knit together the bonds of friendship in society. “Must I distribute them,” said Hermes, “as the various arts have been distributed aforetime, only to certain individuals, or must I dispense them to all?” “To all,” said Zeus, “and let all partake of them.”—Plato, Protagoras, p. 322 C.
Resolved, That the independence of Texas [Hayti and Liberia] ought to be acknowledged by the United States, whenever satisfactory information shall be received that it has in successful operation a civil government capable of performing the duties and fulfilling the obligations of an independent power.—Resolution of the Senate of the United States, Journal of the Senate, July 1, 1836.
Resolved, That the State of Texas [Hayti and Liberia] having established and maintained an independent government capable of performing those duties, foreign and domestic, which appertain to independent governments, … it is expedient and proper, and in conformity with the Laws of Nations and the practice of this Government in like cases, that the independent political existence of said State be acknowledged by the Government of the United States.—Resolution of the Senate of the United States, Journal of the Senate, January 12 and March 1, 1837.
Every nation that governs itself, under what form soever, without any dependence on a foreign power, is a sovereign state. Its rights are naturally the same as those of any other state.… To give a nation a right to make an immediate figure in this grand society, it is sufficient if it be really sovereign and independent; that is, it must govern itself by its own authority and laws.—Vattel, Law of Nations, Book I. ch. 1, § 4.
In his Annual Message at the beginning of this session of Congress, December, 1861, the President said: “If any good reason exists why we should persevere longer in withholding our recognition of the independence and sovereignty of Hayti and Liberia, I am unable to discern it. Unwilling, however, to inaugurate a novel policy in regard to them without the approbation of Congress, I submit for your consideration the expediency of an appropriation for maintaining a Chargé d’Affaires near each of those new states. It does not admit of doubt that important commercial advantages might be secured by favorable treaties with them.”
Until this recommendation, Hayti and Liberia had borne the ban of the colored race. The National Government, so long as it was ruled by Slavery, could not tolerate a Black Republic. A few extracts exhibit the indecency of the opposition. Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, announced: “Our policy with regard to Hayti is plain: we never can acknowledge her independence. Let our Government direct all our ministers in South America and Mexico to protest against the independence of Hayti.” Mr. Hamilton, of South Carolina, declared the sentiments of the Southern people to be, “that Haytien independence is not to be tolerated in any form.” Mr. Berrien, of Georgia, said: “Consistently with their own safety, can the people of the South permit the intercourse which would result from establishing relations of any sort with Hayti?” Even Mr. Benton, of Missouri, joined with the rest: “The peace of eleven States in this Union will not permit the fruits of a successful negro insurrection to be exhibited among them.”[278] On the presentation of a petition in the House of Representatives, December 18, 1838, praying for the establishment of international relations with the Republic of Hayti, there was an outburst. Mr. Legaré, of South Carolina, known as an accomplished scholar, exclaimed: “The memorial originates in a design to revolutionize the South and to convulse the Union, and ought, therefore, to be rejected with reprobation. As sure as you live, Sir, if this course is permitted to go on, the sun of this Union will go down,—it will go down in blood, and go down to rise no more. I will vote unhesitatingly against nefarious designs like these. They are treason.” Mr. Wise, of Virginia, spoke in the same tone.[279] Such was the prevailing spirit. The time had come for a change.
December 4, 1861, on motion of Mr. Sumner, so much of the President’s Message as related to the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Governments of Hayti and Liberia was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
December 9th, on motion of Mr. Sumner, all memorials, resolutions of Legislatures, and other papers on the files of the Senate, relating to the recognition of Hayti and Liberia, were taken from the files and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. Mr. Sumner stated, that he wished to reach papers as far back as 1852,—that among these was a very important paper, which at the time passed under the eye of Mr. Webster, from the mercantile interest of New England, strongly in favor of the recognition of Hayti.
The subject was carefully considered in committee.
February 4, 1862, Mr. Sumner reported from the Committee a bill, which was read and passed to a second reading, to authorize the President of the United States to appoint diplomatic representatives to the Republics of Hayti and Liberia respectively, each representative so appointed to be accredited as Commissioner and Consul-General, the representative in Hayti to receive the compensation of Commissioner according to the Act of Congress of August 18, 1856, being $7,500, and the representative in Liberia not more than $4,000.
April 23d, on motion of Mr. Sumner, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill, when Mr. Sumner spoke as follows.