Amidst all surrounding perils there is one only which I dread. It is the peril from some new surrender to Slavery, some fresh recognition of its power, some present dalliance with its intolerable pretensions. Worse than any defeat, or even the flight of an army, would be this abandonment of principle. From all such peril, good Lord, deliver us! And there is one way of safety, clear as sunlight, pleasant as the paths of Peace. Over its broad and open gate is written JUSTICE. In that little word is victory. Do justice and you will be twice victors; for so will you subdue the Rebel master, while you elevate the slave. Do justice frankly, generously, nobly, and you will find strength instead of weakness, while all seeming responsibility disappears in obedience to God’s eternal law. Do justice, though the heavens fall. But they will not fall. Every act of justice becomes a new pillar of the Universe, or it may be a new link of that
“golden everlasting chain
Whose strong embrace holds heaven and earth and main.”
At the conclusion of Mr. Sumner’s address the following resolutions were offered and adopted by acclamation.
“Resolved, That the doctrine enunciated by Major-General Fremont with respect to the emancipation of the slaves of Rebels, and the more recent utterances of General Burnside, Senator Wilson, and the Hon. George Bancroft, in this city, and of Colonel John Cochrane and the Hon. Simon Cameron at Washington, foreshadowing the eventual rooting out of Slavery as the cause of the Rebellion, indicate alike a moral, political, and military necessity; and, in the judgment of this meeting, the public sentiment of the North is now in full sympathy with any practicable scheme which may be presented for the extirpation of this national evil, and will accept such result as the only consistent issue of this contest between Civilization and Barbarism.
“Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting be and are hereby tendered to the Hon. Charles Sumner, the distinguished orator of this evening, for his reassertion and eloquent enforcement of the political principle herein indorsed.”
APPENDIX.
