Let the war end on the battle-field alone, and it will be only in appearance that it will end, not in reality. Time will be gained for new efforts, and Slavery will coil itself to spring again. The Rebellion may seem to be vanquished, and yet it will triumph. The Union may seem to conquer, and yet it will succumb. The Republic may seem to be saved, and yet it will be lost,—handed over a prey to that injustice which, so long as it exists, must challenge the judgments of a righteous God.
Thus, for the sake of peace, which we all desire, do I now plead for Freedom, through which alone peace can be secured. Are you earnest for peace? then must you be earnest for Freedom also. Would you uphold the Union against treason? then must you uphold Freedom, without which bloody treason will flourish over us. But Freedom is adopted by Congress and proclaimed by the President as one of the agencies in the prosecution of the war. Therefore it must be maintained with all our souls and all our hearts and all our might. The hour of debate has passed, the hour of action has sounded. In opposing solemn Acts of Congress, which, according to the Constitution, are now the supreme law of the land, passed for the national defence,—in opposing the Proclamation of the President,—nay, in discouraging Freedom,—you are as bad as if you discouraged enlistments. It is through Freedom, as well as arms, that the war will be waged; and the same loyalty that supports the one is now due to the other. The discouragement of enlistments is recognized as seditious and traitorous; but the discouragement of this new force, adopted by the Government for the suppression of the Rebellion, is only another form of sedition and treason, which an indignant patriotism will spurn. Emancipation is now a war measure, to be sustained as you sustain an army in the field.
If the instincts of patriotism did not prompt this support, I should find a sufficient motive in that duty which we all owe to the Supreme Ruler, God Almighty, whose visitations upon our country are now so fearful. Not rashly would I make myself the interpreter of His will; and yet I am not blind. According to a venerable maxim of jurisprudence, “Whoso would have equity must do equity”; and God plainly requires equity at our hands. We cannot expect success while setting at nought this requirement, proclaimed in His divine character, in the dictates of reason, and in the examples of history,—proclaimed, also, in the events of this protracted war. Terrible judgments have fallen upon the country: plagues have been let loose, rivers have been turned into blood, and there is a great cry throughout the land, for there is not a house where there is not one dead; and at each judgment we seem to hear that terrible voice which sounded in the ears of Pharaoh: “Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.” I know not how others are touched, but I cannot listen to the frequent tidings of calamity descending upon our arms, of a noble soldier lost to his country, of bereavement at the family hearth, of a youthful son brought home dead to his mother, without catching the warning, “Let my people go!” Nay, every wound, every sorrow, every hardship, all that we are compelled to bear in taxation, in want, in derangement of business, has a voice crying, “Let my people go!”
And now, thank God, the word is spoken!—greater word was seldom spoken. Emancipation has begun, and our country is already elevated and glorified. The war has not changed in object, but it has changed in character. Its object now, as at the beginning, is simply to put down the Rebellion; but its character is derived from the new force at length enlisted, stamping itself upon all that is done, and absorbing the whole war to itself. Vain will it be again to delude European nations into foolish belief that Slavery has nothing to do with the war, that it is a war for empire on one side and independence on the other, and that all generous ideas are on the side of the Rebellion. And vain, also, will be that other European cry,—whether from an intemperate press or the cautious lips of statesmen,—that separation is inevitable, and that our Government is doomed to witness the dismemberment of the Republic. With this new alliance, such forebodings will be falsified, the wishes of the fathers will be fulfilled, and the rights of human nature, which were the declared object of our Revolution, vindicated. Thus inspired, the sword of Washington—that sword which, according to his last will and testament, was to be drawn only in self-defence, or in defence of country and its rights—will once more marshal our armies to victory, while the national flag, wherever it floats, will give freedom to all beneath its folds, and the proud inscription be at last triumphantly verified: “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.”
But, fellow-citizens, the war we wage is not merely for ourselves, it is for all mankind. Slavery yet lingers in Brazil, and beneath the Spanish flag in those two golden possessions, Cuba and Porto Rico; but nowhere can it survive extinction here. Therefore we conquer for Liberty everywhere. In ending Slavery here we open its gates all over the world, and let the oppressed go free. Nor is this all. In saving the Republic we save Civilization. Man throughout his long pilgrimage on earth has been compelled to suffer much, but Slavery is the heaviest burden he has been called to bear: it is the only burden our country has been called to bear. Let it drop, and this happy Republic, with humanity in its train, all changed in raiment and in countenance, like the Christian Pilgrim, will hurry upward to the celestial gate. If thus far our example has failed, it is simply because of Slavery. Vain to proclaim our unparalleled prosperity, the comfort diffused among a numerous people, resources without stint, or even the education of our children; the enemies of the Republic had but to say, “There is Slavery,” and our example became powerless. But let Slavery disappear, and the same example will be of irresistible might. Without firing a gun or writing a despatch, it will revolutionize the world.
Therefore the battle we fight belongs to the grandest events of history. It constitutes one of those epochs from which humanity will date. It is one of the battles of the ages, as when the millions of Persia were hurled back from Greece, or when the Mohammedans, victors in Africa and Spain, were hurled back from France by Charles Martel, and Western Europe was saved to Christianity. In such a cause no effort too great, no faith too determined. To die for country is pleasant and honorable. But all who die for country now die also for humanity. Wherever they lie in bloody fields, they will be remembered as heroes through whom the Republic was saved and civilization established forever.