I know not if a republic like ours can count even now upon the certain friendship of any European power, unless it be the Republic of William Tell. The very name is unwelcome to the full-blown representatives of monarchical Europe, who forget how proudly, even in modern history, Venice bore the title of Serenissima Respublica. It is for us to change all this. Our consistent example will be enough. Thus far we have been known chiefly through that vital force which Slavery could only degrade, but not subdue. Now, at last, by the death of Slavery, will the Republic begin to live. For what is life without Liberty? Stretching from ocean to ocean, teeming with population, bountiful in resources of all kinds, rejoicing in that righteousness which exalteth a nation, and thrice happy in universal enfranchisement, it will be more than conqueror. Nothing too vast for its power, nothing too minute for its care. Triumphant over the foulest wrong ever inflicted, after the bloodiest war ever waged, it will know the majesty of Right and the beauty of Peace, prepared always to uphold the one and to cultivate the other. Strong in its own mighty stature, filled with all the fulness of a new life, and covered with a panoply of renown, it will confess that no dominion is of value that does not contribute to human happiness. Born in this latter day and child of its own struggles, without ancestral claim, but heir of all the ages, it will stand forth to assert the dignity of man, and wherever any member of the Human Family can be succored, there its voice will reach,—as the voice of Cromwell reached across France, even to the persecuted mountaineers of the Alps. Such will be this Republic, upstart among the nations. Ay! as steam-engine, telegraph, and chloroform are upstart. Comforter and helper like these, it can know no bounds to its empire over a willing world. But the first stage is the death of Slavery.
APPENDIX.
This speech was made at a crisis in our foreign relations when they were watched with more than the wonted anxiety, which began with the hasty concession of belligerent rights, as early as May 13, 1861. Among painful incidents may be mentioned the affair of the Trent, with the attendant menace, the escape of the Florida, and then of the Alabama, the damage to our commerce by these British vessels, the report of other vessels building for the Rebels, the swarm of British blockade-runners with arms and powerful cannon, adverse speeches of British statesmen, offensive articles of the British press, and movements for the recognition of the Rebels as an independent power.
As early as March 4, 1861, Mr. Gregory gave notice in the House of Commons that on an early day he would call the attention of her Majesty’s Government to the expediency of a prompt recognition of the Southern Confederacy of America. April 16, Mr. Gregory renewed his notice, and added a call for papers. This motion was afterward deferred from April 30 to May 13, and on May 16 until June 7, when it was finally postponed sine die. After that frequent debates occurred in both Houses of Parliament, involving the course of England to the United States. As late as June 30, 1863, in the summer before Mr. Sumner’s speech, a long debate was started in the House of Commons by Mr. Roebuck, on presenting a petition praying the House to enter into negotiations with the great powers of Europe with the object of recognizing the independence of the Confederate States. To all these things was now superadded the open construction at Birkenhead of two powerful iron-clad war-vessels, known as the Rebel rams.
The country was alarmed, for the contribution of these powerful vessels to the Rebel navy was felt to be an open participation in the Rebellion. Foreign war seemed to menace. Mr. Sumner, in private correspondence with England during the summer, did not hesitate to say, that, in his judgment, the sailing of these Rebel rams from an English port, after the ample notice given, would be equivalent to a declaration of war by England, not unlike the seizure of the Spanish galleons or the bombardment of Copenhagen. Our diplomatic correspondence shows a similar sentiment in important official quarters. July 11, Mr. Adams, our minister at London, after setting forth “a systematic plan of warfare upon the people of the United States carried on from the port of Liverpool, as well as in less degree from other ports in the kingdom,” called the attention of Earl Russell to “the construction and equipment of a steam vessel of war of the most formidable kind now known,” and intimated that such a proceeding would “be regarded by the Government and people of the United States with the greatest alarm, as virtually tantamount to a participation in the war by the people of Great Britain.”[161] At different times he transmitted additional papers, showing the character of these vessels. Meanwhile one iron-clad ram, being launched, received her engines, and was engaged in receiving her coal, ready to depart, when, September 4, Mr. Adams, transmitting further testimony, begged permission to record, in the name of his Government, “this last solemn protest against the commission of such an act of hostility against a friendly nation.”[162] On the same day he received a communication from Earl Russell, bearing date September 1, where, after setting forth the alleged insufficiency of the testimony against the vessels, he says: “Her Majesty’s Government are advised that they cannot interfere in any way with these vessels.”[163] The next day Mr. Adams replied: “I trust I need not express how profound is my regret at the conclusion to which her Majesty’s Government have arrived.… It would be superfluous in me to point out to your Lordship that this is war. No matter what may be the theory adopted of neutrality in a struggle, when this process is carried on, in the manner indicated, from a territory and with the aid of the subjects of a third party, that third party, to all intents and purposes, ceases to be neutral. Neither is it necessary to show that any government which suffers it to be done fails in enforcing the essential conditions of international amity towards the country against whom the hostility is directed.”[164] On the very day of this reply, Mr. Seward, at Washington, addressed Mr. Adams as follows: “Can the British Government suppose for a moment that such an assault as is thus meditated can be made upon us by British built, armed, and manned vessels, without at once arousing the whole nation and making a retaliatory war inevitable?… For the interest of both countries, and of civilization, I hope they will not let a blow fall from under their hands that will render peace impossible.”[165] Mr. Beaman, in his essay on the Alabama Claims, after examining this correspondence, says, it “shows, that, if these rams had been allowed to escape, peace between Great Britain and the United States would have been no longer possible.”[166]
It is easy to see that the two countries were on the verge of war. Happily, this was avoided by a tardy act, made known to Mr. Adams by a note, under date of September 8: “Lord Russell presents his compliments to Mr. Adams, and has the honor to inform him that instructions have been issued which will prevent the departure of the two iron-clad vessels from Liverpool.”[167] The Rebel rams were stopped.
Meanwhile Mr. Sumner had accepted an invitation to speak in New York on our foreign relations, at a time to be fixed by himself. Watching the course of events, and seeing clearly the alternative that presented itself to Mr. Adams and Mr. Seward, he wrote at the close of August, fixing September 10th for his speech; and here his purpose was twofold. Anxious to arrest the fatal tendency, he was not without hope that he might obtain a hearing in England, especially from the Cabinet, to most of whom he was personally known; but, if unsuccessful in this last frank effort for peace, then he trusted that his speech would be a vindication of his country on the issue forced by England, and an appeal to the moral sentiments of the civilized world. On this account he dwelt especially on Slavery, and the impossibility in a civilized age of recognizing a new power openly proclaiming this Barbarism as its corner-stone.