It seems strange that a man of such a gentle, kindly disposition should have upheld the outworn institution of slavery, but he honestly believed, not only that it was ordained of God, but that it was calculated to benefit the enslaved race. To Professor Christy, of Cincinnati, he gives, on September 12, his reasons for this belief:—
"You have exposed in a masterly manner the fallacies of Abolitionism. There is a complete coincidence of views between us. My 'Argument,' which is nearly ready for the press, supports the same view of the necessity of slavery to the christianization and civilization of a barbarous race. My argument for the benevolence of the relation of master and slave, drawn from the four relations ordained of God for the organization of the social system (the fourth being the servile relation, or the relation of master and slave) leads conclusively to the recognition of some great benevolent design in its establishment.
"But you have demonstrated in an unanswerable manner by your statistics this benevolent design, bringing out clearly, from the workings of his Providence, the absolute necessity of this relation in accomplishing his gracious designs towards even the lowest type of humanity."
CHAPTER XXXVIII
FEBRUARY 26, 1864—NOVEMBER 8, 1867
Sanitary Commission.—Letter to Dr. Bellows.—Letter on "loyalty."—His brother Richard upholds Lincoln.—Letters of brotherly reproof.— Introduces McClellan at preëlection parade.—Lincoln reëlected.—Anxiety as to future of country.—Unsuccessful effort to take up art again.— Letter to his sons.—Gratification at rapid progress of telegraph.— Letter to George Wood on two great mysteries of life.—Presents portrait of Allston to the National Academy of Design.—Endows lectureship in Union Theological Seminary.—Refuses to attend fifty-fifth reunion of his class.—Statue to him proposed.—Ezra Cornell's benefaction.—American Asiatic Society.—Amalgamation of telegraph companies.—Protest against stock manipulations.—Approves of President Andrew Johnson.—Sails with family for Europe.—Paris Exposition of 1867.—Descriptions of festivities.—Cyrus W. Field.—Incident in early life of Napoleon III— Made Honorary Commissioner to Exposition.—Attempt on life of Czar.—Ball at Hôtel de Ville.—Isle of Wight.—England and Scotland.—The "Sounder."—Returns to Paris.
All the differences of those terrible years of fratricidal strife, all the heart-burnings, the bitter animosities, the family divisions, have been smoothed over by the soothing hand of time. I have neither the wish nor the ability to enter into a discussion of the rights and the wrongs of the causes underlying that now historic conflict, nor is it germane to such a work as this. While Morse took a prominent part in the political movements of the time, while he was fearless and outspoken in his views, his name is not now associated historically with those epoch-making events. It has seemed necessary, however, to make some mention of his convictions in order to make the portrait a true one. He continued to oppose the measures of the Administration; he did all in his power to hasten the coming of peace; he worked and voted for the election of McClellan to the Presidency, and when he and the other eminent men who believed as he did were outvoted, he bowed to the will of the majority with many misgivings as to the future. Although he was opposed to the war his heart bled for the wounded on both sides, and he took a prominent part in the National Sanitary Commission. He expresses himself warmly in a letter of February 26, 1864, to its president, Rev. Dr. Bellows:—
"There are some who are sufferers, great sufferers, whom we can reach and relieve without endangering political or military plans, and in the spirit of Him who ignored the petty political distinctions of Jew and Samaritan, and regarded both as entitled to His sympathy and relief, I cannot but think it is within the scope and interest of the great Sanitary Commission to extend a portion of their Christian regard to the unfortunate sufferers from this dreadful war, the prisoners in our fortresses, and to those who dwell upon the borders of the contending sections."
In a letter of March 23, to William L. Ransom, Esq., of Litchfield, Connecticut, he, perhaps unconsciously, enunciates one of the fundamental beliefs of that great president whom he so bitterly opposed:—
"I hardly know how to comply with your request to have a 'short, pithy, Democratic sentiment.' In glancing at the thousand mystifications which have befogged so many in our presumed intelligent community, I note one in relation to the new-fangled application of a common foreign word imported from the monarchies of Europe. I mean the word 'loyalty,' upon which the changes are daily and hourly sung ad nauseam.