(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 innumerable firesides. They cannot complain, if their slaves, with better reason, follow it. According to an old law, bloody inventions return to plague the inventor. But this whole objection proceeds on a mistaken idea of the African slave. The story of San Domingo, so often quoted against him, testifies to his humanity. Only when Napoleon, in an evil hour, sought to reënslave him, did those scenes of blood occur, which exhibit less the cruelty of the slave than the atrocious purpose of the white man. The African is not cruel, vindictive, or harsh, but gentle, forgiving, and kind. Such is authentic history. 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 the Rebel States.
(5.) And yet one more objection is sometimes advanced. It is said that an appeal to the slaves will make them 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, by a “side issue,” diverts attention 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. It is precisely the pressure of Slavery, and not the license of Freedom, that causes overflow. If Slavery were removed, 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.
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?
But, fellow-citizens, I shall not leave the argument at this stage. It is not enough to show that slaves can render 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 successfully. 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. As war is proverbially uncertain, I cannot doubt that fortune will again light upon our arms. The force of the Rebellion may be broken even without appeal 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 communities, envenomed against the Union, must be restored, and a wide-spread region quieted. This can be done only by removal of the disturbing cause, 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 regained. If regarded as a motive, it must be expelled from the system, that it may no longer exercise its malign influence. So long as Slavery continues, the States in which it exists will fly madly from the Union, but with its destruction they will lose all such tendency. The Slave States, by the influence of Slavery, are now centrifugal; but with Slavery out of the system, they will be centripetal. Such is the law of their being. And it should be our present policy to take advantage of this law for the benefit of the Union. Nay, from the necessity of the case, this must be done.
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 inadequacy of his triumphs, while 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 he could spare from battle, believing that in this way his enemy could be brought under a double fire. But it is known that the people of the Slave States are not wholly united, and that among them are large numbers ready at call to uphold the Union. From the beginning of the war, we have assumed, as an element of strength, the presence there of large numbers devoted to the Union, ready at the proper moment to coöperate with the national forces. Yet 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. The scissors of Fate could not cut more surely.
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 an effective finality, preventing it from breaking forth anew, which can be obtained in no other way. The heads of the hydra will be extirpated and the monster destroyed, never more to show itself. Without Emancipation the whole contest is delivered over to present uncertainty, while the future is left to glare with all the horrors of civil strife unsuppressed. The last chapter of “Rasselas” is entitled “The 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 punishments, is that of Caiaphas, high-priest of the Jews, who, as penalty for his sacrifice of the Saviour, was stretched on the floor of Hell, where all who passed must tread on him.