When last I addressed my fellow-citizens, at the close of the late Presidential canvass, as we were about to vote for Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, I undertook to show the absolute identity between Slavery and the Rebellion, so that one could not end without the other. Finished that address, I said to friends near me, “This is my last Antislavery speech.” I so thought at the time; for I anticipated the speedy downfall of the Rebellion, carrying with it Slavery. I was mistaken. Neither the Rebellion nor Slavery is yet ended. The Rebellion has been disarmed; but that is all. Slavery has been abolished in name; but that is all. As there is still a quasi Rebellion, so is there still a quasi Slavery. The work of liberation is not yet completed. Nor can it be, until the Equal Rights of every person once claimed as a slave are placed under the safeguard of irreversible guaranties. It is not enough to prostrate the master; you must also lift up the slave. It is not enough to declare Emancipation; the whole Black Code, which is the supplement of Slavery, must give place to that Equality before the Law which is the very essence of Liberty. It is an old principle of the Common Law, recognized by all our courts, as announced by Lord Coke, that, “where the law granteth anything to any one, that also is granted without which the thing itself cannot be.” So, also, where a piece of land is conveyed which is enclosed by the possessions of the grantor, a right of way is implied from common justice and the necessity of the case. And then again, where the reason of a law ceases, the law itself ceases. So, also, where the principal falls to the ground, the incident falls also. But all these unquestionable principles are fatal to the Black Code. The Liberty that has been granted “cannot be,” if the Black Code exists. The piece of land conveyed is useless without that right of way which is stopped up by the Black Code. The reason for the Black Code is Slavery; and with the cessation of the reason, the whole Black Code itself must cease also. The Black Code is the incident of Slavery, and as such it must fall with the principal. Unless this is accomplished, you will keep the word of promise to the ear and break it to the sense; you will imitate those cruel quibbles, of which history makes mention, where, by subtle equivocations, faith has been violated; you will do little better than the Turk, who stipulated with a certain person that his head should be safe, and straightway proceeded to cut him in two at the middle,—or than those false Greeks, who, after promising to restore their captives, kept their promise by restoring them dead.
Slavery begins by denying the right of a man to himself; and the Black Code continues this denial by its cruel exclusions. Every freedman must be secured in this right by admission to the full panoply of citizenship.
Slavery sets at nought the relation of husband and wife. Every freedman must be able to claim his wife as his own.
Slavery sets at nought the parental relation. Every freedman must be able to call his child his own.
Slavery shuts the gates of knowledge. Every freedman must be assured in all the privileges of education.
Slavery takes from its victim the hard-earned fruits of his toil. Every freedman must be protected in his industry.
Slavery denies justice to the colored man by cruelly rejecting his testimony. Every freedman must enter the courts freely, as witness or as party.
Until all this is done, in every particular, and beyond possibility of question, it is vain to say that Emancipation has been accomplished. The good work is only half done. It must be continued to assured consummation, under the powerful auspices of the Nation. The same national authority which began it must take care that it is maintained and completed, in letter and in spirit, everywhere throughout the Rebel States,—in conventions of the people, in legislative assemblies, in courts, in the city, in the country, in streets, on highways, on by-ways, in retired places, on plantations, in houses,—so that no man shall be despoiled of any of his rights, but all shall be equal before the law.
There is a glorious instance in our own day, which is an example for us, when the Emperor of Russia, by proclamation, fulfilling the aspirations of his predecessors, set free twenty-three millions of serfs, and then completed his work by supplementary provisions investing the freedmen with civil and political rights, including the right to testify in court, the right of suffrage, and the right to hold office. I have in my hand this immortal Proclamation, dated at St. Petersburg, 19th February, 1861,—promulgated amidst prayers and thanksgivings in all the churches of the national capital, and at once expedited to every part of the widely extended empire by the hands of generals and staff-officers of the Emperor himself. Here it is, in an official document entitled “Affranchissement des Serfs,” and issued at St. Petersburg. After reciting that earlier measures in behalf of the serfs had failed, because they had been left to “the spontaneous initiative of the proprietors,” the Emperor proceeds to take the work in hand as a sacred legacy from his ancestors, and declares the serfs, after an interval of two years, “entirely enfranchised.” Meanwhile, that nothing might fail, “a special court” for serfs was created in each province, charged with the organization of local governments, the adjustment of boundaries, and generally to superintend the transition from the Old to the New, with “justices of the peace” in each district to examine on the spot all questions arising from Emancipation. Had the work stopped here, it would have been incomplete, it would have been only half done; but no such fatal mistake was made.[241]