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 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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AMERICAN SLAVERY 
 
 A REPRINT OF 
 
 AM ARTICLE ON “ UNCLE TOM’S CABIN,” 
 
 OF WHICH A PORTION WAS INSERTED 
 
 IN THE 206 th NUMBER OF THE “ EDINBURGH REVIEW ; 
 
 AND OF 
 
 MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH 
 
 OF THE 19th AND 20th OF MAY, 1S56. 
 
 WITH 
 
 A NOTICE OF THE EVENTS WHICH FOLLOWED 
 THAT SPEECH. 
 
 NASSAU W. SENIOR, Esq. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 T. FELLOWES, LUDGATE STREET. 
 
LONDON .* 
 
 PRINTED BY It. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, BREAD STREET HILL. 
 

 S4-71'A 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The following article was partially published in 
 the “ Edinburgh Review,” during my absence from 
 Europe. Considerable portions of the matter con- 
 tained in the proofs, as I finally settled them, were 
 omitted. It is now reprinted unmutilated, indeed 
 verbatim, from the revise as it left my hands. 
 
 On re-perusal I have found nothing to soften or 
 to retrench, though I could add and strengthen much. 
 
 I have also reprinted the speech of Mr. Sumner 
 in the Senate of the United States, on the 1 9th and 
 20th of May, 1856, and a brief notice of the frightful 
 scenes which followed it. 
 
 /The moral and intellectual character of Mr. Sumner 
 has long been admired by Europe. 
 
 To sympathy for his courage is now added sym- 
 pathy for his calamity. 
 
IV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The result of the frightful scenes now passing in 
 the United States must be much influenced by the 
 conduct of the coloured race. 
 
 The following pages may afford some materials for 
 conjecturing what that conduct will be. 
 
SLAVERY 
 
 IN 
 
 THE UNITED STATES.* 
 
 The sale of “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is the most mar- 
 vellous literary phenomenon that the world has wit- 
 nessed. 
 
 It came out as a sort of feuilleton in the “ National 
 Era,” a Washington paper. The death of Uncle Tom 
 was the first portion published, indeed the first that 
 was written. It appeared in the summer of 1851, 
 and excited so much attention, that Mrs. Stowe added 
 a beginning and middle to her end, by composing 
 and printing from week to week the story as we now 
 have it, until it was concluded in March, 1852. It 
 
 * I. Uncle Toms Cabin , or Life among the Lowly. By 
 Harriet Beecher Stowe. London: 1853. 
 
 2. A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin. By Harriet Beecher 
 Stowe. London: 1853. 
 
 3. Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands. By Mrs. Harriet 
 Beecher Stowe. London: 1854. 
 
 4. Speech of the Honourable Charles Sumner on his Motion to 
 Repeal the Fugitive Slave Bill in the Senate of the United States. 
 Aug. 26. 1852. Washington: 1852. 
 
 B 
 
 
2 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 was soon after reprinted at Boston in two volumes, 
 — a form in which we have not seen it in England, 
 although by the end of Nov. 1852, 150,000 copies 
 had been sold in America. The first London edition 
 was published in May, 1852, and was not large, for 
 the European popularity of a picture of negro life 
 was doubted. But in the following September, the 
 London publishers furnished to one house 10,000 
 copies per day for about four weeks, and had to em- 
 ploy 1000 persons in preparing copies to supply the 
 general demand. 
 
 We cannot follow it beyond 1852, but at that time 
 more than a million of copies had been sold in Eng- 
 land ; probably ten times as many as have been sold 
 of any other work, except the Bible and Prayer- 
 book. 
 
 All that we know respecting the sale in France is, 
 that “Uncle Tom” still covers the shop windows 
 of the Boulevards, and that one publisher alone, 
 Eustace Barba, has sent out five editions in different 
 forms. Before the end of 1 852 it had been translated 
 into Italian, Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Flem- 
 ish, German, Polish, and Magyar. There are two 
 Dutch translations, and twelve German ones — and 
 the Italian translation enjoys the honour of the 
 Pope’s prohibition. It has been dramatised in twenty 
 forms, and acted in every capital in Europe, and in 
 the free States of America. 
 
 Its moral influence, though it has not been as won- 
 derful as its literary popularity, has been remark- 
 able. In the form of a novel it is really a political 
 pamphlet. It is an attack on the Fugitive Slave Law 
 of America, and though it has not effected the repeal 
 of that law, it has rendered its complete execution 
 impossible. 
 
 Those among our readers to whom the subject is 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 3 
 
 not familiar may perhaps be interested by a short 
 account of the origin, and the nature of that law. 
 
 Slavery is a status so repugnant to the principles 
 of Christianity, that, though never formally abolished, 
 it gradually died out, as, with the diffusion of know- 
 ledge and the improvement of intelligence, the spirit 
 of our religion was better understood, and its precepts 
 were better obeyed. By the beginning of the fifteenth 
 century, it was practically extinct in the civilised por- 
 tions of Europe. Its revival is one of the crimes of 
 religious intolerance. At that time orthodoxy was 
 supposed to be essential to salvation. The Church of 
 Rome condemned to eternal damnation, as indeed she 
 does now, all whose faith on any point, however prac- 
 tically unimportant, however purely speculative, how- 
 ever unintelligible, differed from the creed which she 
 thought fit to proclaim. The Reformers followed her 
 example. Each sect believed those, whose opinions 
 varied from its own, worthy of the severest punish- 
 ment which can be inflicted in this world, and destined 
 to perpetual suffering in the other. The strongest 
 term of reproach and antipathy in the English lan- 
 guage, the word in which abhorrence and contempt 
 are concentrated, is miscreant. That is to say, a 
 person whose religious belief differs from that of the 
 speaker. 
 
 When such was the sentence which each sect passed 
 on its fellow Christians, — on men who agreed with 
 them as to the precepts of Revelation, and differed 
 from them only as to the essence of the Being from 
 whom it was derived, or as to the nature of His rela- 
 tions to mankind, — of course they were not more 
 merciful to infidels. The Roman Catholic, who con- 
 demned a Protestant to be burnt alive here, and to be 
 tormented for never ending millions of years hereafter, 
 had indeed nothing worse in store for the follower 
 
4 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of Mahomet or of Menu. The difference seems to 
 have been that they hated most the heretics and 
 despised most the heathens. The former they treated 
 as rebels, the latter as enemies. They believed the 
 deities of Paganism to be real existences, to be devils in 
 a state of permanent war with our Creator and Saviour, 
 and their worshippers, therefore, to be the allies and 
 auxiliaries of the enemies of God and of his people. 
 They felt for them no more sympathy than we do for 
 wolves or for tigers ; in fact, they felt less, for, though 
 we delight in killing a tiger, we have no pleasure in 
 torturing one. 
 
 When it occurred, therefore, to the Spaniards, that 
 the tropical regions of the new hemisphere, which 
 were then mortal to the white labourer, might per- 
 haps be profitably cultivated by seizing negroes in 
 Africa, and transporting them to America, the cruelty 
 or the injustice of thus treating the negro was not an 
 element in the deliberation. He was a heathen, a 
 worshipper of devils, a vessel of wrath, created for 
 the purpose of enduring eternal miser} 7 , and to give 
 him a foretaste in this world of what was to be his 
 fate in the next, was only carrying out the decrees of 
 Providence. The experiment was tried and suc- 
 ceeded. The English and the Dutch followed in this 
 respect, as in her other colonial follies and enormities, 
 the example of Spain. They were at that time the 
 wisest and the most religious nations of the world. 
 One of them had just conquered her independence 
 and her freedom, the other was preparing for the 
 Ions 7 contest which ended in the British Constitution ; 
 but they had no more scruples about enslaving 
 heathens than they had about enslaving horses. 
 
 These opinions, however, though they enabled the 
 British settler to kidnap or purchase, and work to 
 death, without compunction, the natives of Africa, 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 5 
 
 did not justify retaining in servitude their children 
 born in Barbadoes or Virginia, whom it was obviously 
 his duty to educate as Christians, and, therefore, as 
 equals in the sight of God to himself. 
 
 Another prejudice came to the aid of the planter’s 
 cupidity, and enabled him, as he thought, to recon- 
 cile his interests and his religion. The Bible was at 
 that time considered by all, as it is now by many, as 
 a single book, every word of which had been dictated 
 by God. Little distinction was made between what 
 Moses was forced by the hardness of his country- 
 men’s hearts to tolerate, and what was a moral rule 
 of general and eternal obligation. The laws which we 
 now perceive to have been temporarily laid down for 
 the guidance of semi-barbarians living under a theo- 
 cracy, were then supposed to be also addressed to the 
 fellow-countrymen and contemporaries of Bacon and 
 Milton. Some of the New England States extracted 
 from Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, their 
 municipal code, and fancied that they thus obtained 
 institutions wiser than any that man could invent.* 
 
 * This error has been admirably illustrated by Archbishop 
 Whately. “ Christians acknowledge that the Mosaic Dispensation 
 came from God ; and that that, and also the Christian Dispensa- 
 tion, are contained in the volume which we call the Bible. Now 
 any one who regards the Bible (as many Christians do) as one 
 book, containing divine instructions, without having formed any 
 clear notions of what does and does not belong to each dispensa- 
 tion, will of course fall into the greatest confusion of thought. 
 He will be like a man who should have received from his father, 
 at various time, a great number of letters, containing directions 
 as to his conduct from the time when he was a little child just 
 able to read till he was a grown man, and who should lay by 
 these letters with care and reverence, but in a confused heap, and 
 should take up any one of them at random and read ic without 
 reference to its date whenever he needed his father’s instructions 
 how to act.” — Third Dissertation prefixed to Encyclopcedia 
 Britannica, pp. 509, 510. 
 
6 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Among these institutions was domestic slavery ; pal- 
 liated indeed in some respects when the slave was a 
 Hebrew, but in others carried to its worst abuses. 
 
 “ If thou buy an Hebrew servant,” says the Book 
 of Exodus, “ six years shall he serve, and the seventh 
 “ he shall go free for nothing. If his master have 
 “ given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or 
 11 daughters, the wife and her children shall be her 
 “ master’s, and he shall go out by himself. And if a 
 “ man sell his daughter to be a maid servant, she 
 “ shall not go out as the men servants do. If a man 
 “ smite his servant or his maid with a rod, and he 
 “ die under his hand, he shall be surely punished. 
 “ Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he 
 “ shall not be punished : for he is his money.” * 
 
 “ Of the heathen that are round about you,” says 
 the Book of Leviticus, “ shall ye buy bond men and 
 “ bond maids. Moreover, of the children of the 
 “ strangers that do sojourn among you, of them 
 “ shall ye buy, and of their families which they begat 
 “ in your land, and they shall be your possession. 
 “ And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your 
 “ children after you, to inherit them for a possession ; 
 “ they shall be your bond men for ever.” f 
 
 It is impossible to deny that the law of Moses 
 tolerated domestic slavery, that it tolerated the se- 
 paration of families, and that it punished beating a 
 slave to death only if he or she died under the inflic- 
 tion, or within a day or two after it. 
 
 Defoe was a man of eminent piety. He carries 
 his hero, Colonel Jack, to Virginia, and leads him 
 through all the gradations of colonial life from the 
 state of a servant to that of an owner of slaves and 
 plantations. He dwells on the wickedness of ill- 
 
 * 
 
 Exodus, xxi. 2, 3. 7. 
 
 t Leviticus, xxv. 44 — 46. 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 7 
 
 treating slaves, but 4pes not seem to have suspected 
 that there could be anything wrong in buying, or 
 keeping, or selling them. 
 
 One hundred and fifty years of peace and good 
 government humanised and enlightened the stern bi- 
 goted Puritans and Catholics of our Western empire. 
 The children of its aristocracy came to England for 
 education ; they came to a country which boasted 
 that its air could be breathed only by freemen. 
 When they travelled on the Continent, they found 
 slavery confined to its semi- barbarous districts, to its 
 Sclavonic and Asiatic populations, — to Russia, Po- 
 land, and Turkey. They were told everywhere, and 
 they must have felt it to be true, that the relation of 
 master and slave was mischievous to both parties, 
 hardening the heart, worrying the temper, and weak- 
 ening the self-control of the one, and degrading the 
 other into a brute, with all the vices of a man, and 
 few virtues except the abject submission and unrea- 
 soning affectionateness of a dog. 
 
 <D <D 
 
 The opinion grew that such an institution, though 
 it might be Judaic, could scarcely be Christian, and 
 by the time that the American colonies had achieved 
 their independence, nearly all their great men had 
 become earnest abolitionists. When, in the 14th of 
 May, 1787, the Federal Convention met in Phila- 
 delphia to form a Constitution, the State of Massa- 
 chusetts had already abolished slavery, and New 
 Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode 
 Island had provided for its gradual extinction by 
 giving freedom to all future-born persons. Wash- 
 ington, though a slave-holder, declared that his suf- 
 frage in favour of the abolition of slavery should not 
 be wanted. Franklin was president of an Abolition 
 Society. J efferson proposed, that by the Constitution 
 slavery should be excluded from any territory to be 
 
8 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 subsequently acquired by the, Union ; a proposal 
 which, if it had been carried, as it was within a 
 single vote, would probably by this time have ex- 
 tinguished it : and Madison succeeded in excluding 
 from the Constitution the word ‘ slave,’ lest it should 
 be supposed that the idea of property in man was 
 sanctioned by the American nation. 
 
 Two interests, however, united in favour of slavery. 
 The agriculturists of the South threatened to secede 
 from the Union if they were deprived of the popula- 
 tion which afforded them the only means of culti- 
 vating their rice and indigo. The maritime towns of 
 New England believed that their prosperity depended 
 on their retaining the American slave trade and the 
 American carrying trade. A coalition between the 
 South and a part of the North was formed, with 
 slavery, slave trade, and a navigation law on its 
 banner, which the delegates from the remaining States 
 thought it dangerous to resist. 
 
 But it was supposed that the evil, though it must 
 be submitted to for a time, might be rendered tem- 
 porary. It was believed at that time, that slavery 
 depended on the slave trade. The laws which regu- 
 late the increase of mankind were then little under- 
 stood : the fear of depopulation was general, and it 
 was plausibly maintained that a race transplanted 
 from another hemisphere and a different soil and 
 climate, engaged in unhealthy occupations, and sub- 
 jected to the depressing influence of slavery, would 
 gradually die out, if it received no reinforcements. 
 A clause was introduced into the Constitution, for- 
 bidding Congress to abolish the slave trade within 
 twenty years, and thereby impliedly giving it power 
 to do so at the end of that period. This satisfied the 
 Northern capitalists, to whom twenty years seemed 
 an eternity. It pleased the South, as it enabled them 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 9 
 
 to extend their cultivation and increase their gangs 
 of negroes for nearly a quarter of a century, at the 
 end of which time, if the slave trade were abolished, 
 their estates and their slaves would enjoy a monopoly, 
 since no fresh negroes could be introduced, and 
 therefore, as they believed, no additional lands re- 
 claimed. 
 
 The abolitionists felt that they were prolonging 
 a national disgrace and a national crime ; but they 
 were convinced (as every one else was convinced) 
 that at the end of the twenty years the slave trade 
 must cease, and that slavery would not long sur- 
 vive it. 
 
 AYe have said that Madison succeeded in excluding 
 from the Constitution the word “ slavery but it was 
 thought necessary, with respect to three matters, to 
 notice the thing. Two of these subjects were con- 
 nected. They were, direct taxation and representa- 
 tion in the House of Representatives. It was agreed 
 that these should both depend on population — that is 
 to say, that each State should be taxed and repre- 
 sented according to its population. 
 
 The South maintained that, for the purpose of tax- 
 ation slaves should be unnoticed — being not persons 
 but chattels ; but that for the purpose of representation 
 they should be counted, being, though chattels, chat- 
 tels human. As a compromise, it was decided that, 
 for both purposes, three slaves should be equivalent 
 to two freemen. A compromise which now gives to 
 the owners of three millions of slaves a representation 
 equal to that to which two millions of freemen would 
 have been entitled. 
 
 The third matter respected fugitive slaves. “ Every 
 “ person,” says the Constitution, “ held to service or 
 “labour in one State by the laws thereof” (the eu- 
 phemism for a slave), “ escaping to another, shall be 
 
10 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “ delivered up on claim of the party to whom such 
 “ service is due.” 
 
 It does not appear that either this enactment, or 
 an Act of Congress passed in the year 1793, which 
 attempted to define the procedure by which it was to 
 be enforced, produced much effect. The surrender 
 was to be made through the instrumentality of the 
 State in which the fugitive was found. Such a duty 
 is a disgusting one. It is difficult to obtain its per- 
 formance even as respects criminals. Though several 
 years ago England engaged, by a solemn treaty, to 
 deliver up to the French authorities Frenchmen ac- 
 cused of serious crimes, the French have not been 
 able up to this time to obtain from us, in a single 
 instance, the performance of the engagement. Every 
 one admits that the stipulations of the treaty are 
 wise, indeed necessary ; but the case for the time 
 being before the Court is never within them. Some 
 States declined to pay any expenses incurred by their 
 officers in the execution of the law. In others, the 
 magistrates neglected to put it in force. A judge of 
 the Supreme Court of Vermont refused to admit any 
 evidence of ownership, “ unless the master could show 
 a bill of sale from the Almighty.” 
 
 In the mean time the slave trade was abolished. 
 Indigo and rice, the great staples of the slave States, 
 were produced more cheaply in India ; and it seemed 
 probable that the Southern States would follow the 
 example of their northern brethren, and emancipate 
 their slaves, and thus fulfil the prophecy that the 
 extinction of slavery would follow that of the slave 
 trade. 
 
 Whitney, an obscure mechanic of Massachusetts, 
 falsified these expectations, by inventing, in 1793, 
 the saw-gin. 
 
 The long-fibred, or, in commercial language, long- 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 11 
 
 staple cotton, of which the Sea Island is the best 
 known variety, is cultivated with difficulty, and only 
 on comparatively few soils. Much more than nine- 
 tenths of the whole annual crop consists of the short- 
 staple varieties. In these varieties the seed adheres 
 so closely to the wool that, if they were to be sepa- 
 rated by the hand, a man could not clean more than 
 a pound a day. And even with the assistance of the 
 rollers and the bow, which are now used for this pur- 
 pose in India, and, until Whitney’s invention, were 
 employed in America, the expense is so great that 
 scarcely any — we believe, indeed, none — of this cot- 
 ton was exported from America while that process 
 was necessary. The whole export in 1793 was only 
 187,000 lbs., probably consisting exclusively of long- 
 staple cotton. The saw-gin was introduced, and in 
 1794, the very next year, the export was about 
 decupled — it rose to 1,601,760 lbs. The next year 
 it advanced to 6,276,300 lbs. ; in 1800, it was 
 17,789,803 lbs. ; in 1810, it was 93,261,462 lbs. ; 
 and in 1852, the last year for which we have the 
 returns before us, the export of the short- staple 
 variety alone exceeded one thousand one hundred 
 millions of pounds. 
 
 The cotton plant flourishes best in alluvial lands 
 in the neighbourhood of the sea, and cannot endure a 
 mean summer temperature lower than 77° Fahrenheit, 
 or a mean annual temperature lower than 60°. On 
 the Atlantic coast of America, the 35th parallel, and 
 towards the western coast, the 39th, are the most 
 northern latitudes in which it can be cultivated. But 
 no climate is too hot for it. The south-west of Texas, 
 where the mean summer heat is 85°, suits it well. It 
 belongs, therefore, to climates and to soils unfavour- 
 able to the constitutions of men of northern descent, 
 if out-door work be required from them. In such 
 
12 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 climates field labour is disagreeable to all men, and 
 dangerous to whites. 
 
 If the Anglo-Americans had been in the situation 
 of an European community, surrounded by powerful 
 nations, and subject to the restraints of international 
 law and of international morality, South Carolina and 
 Georgia, the only cotton-producing districts of the 
 original Confederation, would soon have been fully 
 peopled. Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, North Ca- 
 rolina, and Delaware, — in all of which the white man 
 can work, — would have followed the example of the 
 Northern States, and have gradually emancipated 
 their slaves. Slavery would have been confined to 
 the two Southern States, and would have existed in 
 the mitigated form in which it was seen in our West 
 Indian islands ; the cause, of course, of occasional 
 cruelty and of constant oppression and degradation, 
 but free from the worst of all the abominations of 
 modern American slavery, the breeding and exporting 
 system, — the system under which the principal use 
 made of men and women is to produce and bring up 
 children, to be torn from them as soon as they attain 
 the age of sale, and never to be seen or heard of 
 again. 
 
 But the neighbours of the United States were 
 dependencies of distant empires or semi-barbarous 
 or barbarous republics. France sold to them all her 
 subjects and all her territories in Louisiana. Spain 
 sold to them Florida. The vast territories which 
 now form Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Flo- 
 rida, were in the possession of their aborigines, Creeks, 
 Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles, to 
 whom they had for the most part been guaranteed by 
 treaty. But what is the value of a treaty between 
 the weak and the strong, in a country in which the 
 very name of international morality is unknown ? 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 13 
 
 The Indians were removed to the north, and a district 
 three times as large as the British Islands was added 
 to the Southern States. Texas was a portion of the 
 defenceless incoherent Mexican republic. American 
 speculators swarmed into it, and got up a rebellion 
 against the central authority. The American Govern- 
 ment acknowledged the rebels as an independent na- 
 tion, and immediately accepted from them a cession 
 of the country. Mexico remonstrated, and was 
 punished for her insolent want of submission by war, 
 defeat, and mutilation. 
 
 The United States were thus more than doubled in 
 extent, and, what was more important as respects 
 slavery, the greater part of the newly-acquired terri- 
 tory was so nearly tropical as to be better suited to 
 the coloured races than to the white. Their first 
 acquisition, Louisiana, was already a slave country; 
 so was Florida ; but the Mexican Government had 
 abolished slavery in all its dominions, and a negro 
 slave never had existed in the Indian country, except 
 in a few instances among the Cherokees. As soon, 
 therefore, as the Union was to be increased by the in- 
 troduction of new States, the question arose whether 
 slaves should be excluded from a soil which, so far as 
 it was peopled, was peopled by freemen. It was first 
 tried in the case of Missouri. The contest began in 
 1818 , and lasted for three years. Twice the House 
 of Representatives voted the exclusion of slaves from 
 the new State. Twice the Senate, which assumes to 
 be the Conservative portion of the American Legis- 
 lature, and, like its brethren in Europe, is the patron 
 of every old prejudice and abuse, voted their admis- 
 sion. At length the anti-slavery party were deluded 
 into accepting what was called the Missouri compro- 
 mise, by which Missouri was received as a slave State, 
 but the existing Congress affected to bind their sue- 
 
14 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 cessors by enacting that in future slavery should not 
 be established to the north of latitude 36° 30'. 
 
 To understand this contest, we must remember that, 
 in 1808, the African slave trade had ceased. Up to 
 the time it had been vigorously prosecuted. Between 
 1790 and 1810 the number of slaves increased from 
 697,897 to 1,191,364, notwithstanding the emancipa- 
 tion of about 120,000 negroes in the Northern States, 
 and notwithstanding the preponderance of males 
 which is incidental to every migration, voluntary or 
 compulsory. An almost unlimited supply of slaves 
 ceased nearly at the time that the acquisition of a new 
 nearly tropical empire produced an almost unlimited 
 demand. 
 
 Few of our readers can be ignorant of the means 
 by which that demand was met. It was met by a 
 new slave trade, more cruel, more degrading, more 
 atrocious, than that which had been abolished. The 
 total number of slaves in Virginia in 1840 was 
 448,886. During the ten years ending 1850 the 
 slave population of the United States increased at the 
 rate of 28 per cent. The number of slaves in Vir- 
 ginia, therefore, in 1850, ought to have been 574,574 ; 
 it was only 473,026. Instead of increasing at the 
 rate of 28 per cent., the slaves in Virginia increased 
 at the rate of only 5^ per cent. Instead of adding 
 125,688 to their numbers, they added only 24,140. 
 What became of the missing 101,548 ? It cannot be 
 answered that they were not born, or that they died. 
 The climate of Virginia is one of the best in the 
 world ; the labour in the plantations is light ; the 
 negroes are well taken care of. Every traveller ad- 
 mires the number of healthy children. If the na- 
 tural increase of the slaves in the whole Union was 
 28 per cent., that in Virginia was probably 35 or 40 
 per cent. 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 15 
 
 The question, what became of the missing 101,548, 
 is answered when we look at the rate of increase in 
 the States which are consumers instead of breeders, 
 when we find that in Louisiana the increase was 44 
 per cent., in Mississippi 57 per cent, and in Arkansas 
 135 per cent. It is to these States, and to Texas, 
 Alabama, and Florida, that Virginia has exported her 
 human crop ; it is from them that she has received, at 
 the low average price of 500 dollars per head, fifty- 
 millions of dollars for her 100,000 souls. It was to 
 preserve this trade, that Mexico was robbed of Texas, 
 and afterwards of California and New Mexico ; that 
 Cuba is to be snatched and Jamaica to be annexed ; 
 and that every new State in which the climate is 
 suited to the negro, is admitted unto the Union as a 
 slave State. 
 
 Few things have more surpiised the world than the 
 deterioration of the political men of America. When 
 the United States were a mere aggregate of scantily 
 peopled colonies, — when their principal citizens were 
 planters, shopkeepers, and traders, trained up in the 
 narrowness and prejudices, and petty employments of 
 provincial life, they produced statesmen, and nego- 
 tiators, and administrators, and legislators, whose 
 names will be for ever illustrious in history. Now 
 that they form a great empire, that they possess a 
 large class of men born in opulence, to whom all the 
 schools and universities of each hemisphere are open, 
 who have leisure to pursue the studies and to acquire 
 the habits of political life, few of their public men 
 would pass in Europe for tolerable second-rates. This 
 downward progress, however, seems now likely to be 
 arrested. We do not expect to see the present tenant 
 of the White House succeeded by a first magistrate 
 inferior to himself in knowledge, in ability, or in 
 statesmanship, or the American diplomatists now resi- 
 
16 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 dent in the Courts of the Continent, followed by men 
 of less tact, or temper, or good sense. 
 
 We believe that the explanation of this strange 
 depravation is to be found iu the influence on Ame- 
 rican parties of the political questions connected with 
 slavery. 
 
 A party which aims at producing only one result 
 b} T only one means, has an enormous advantage over 
 its rivals, who seek to promote the general welfare of 
 their country. Sincerely patriotic parties are neces- 
 sarily divided. Though they cannot but agree as 
 to the end that is ultimately to be attained, it is 
 equally certain that they will differ as to the means 
 that are to be emplo} T ed. Their common purpose is 
 one that can be effected only imperfect^. It is com- 
 posed of many elements, some of them opposed to 
 others ; the conduct which promotes the public pros- 
 perity in one respect, may impede it in another. A 
 public man has to choose often between irreconcilable 
 advantages, often between incompatible evils. It is 
 difficult to predict the consequences of a new mea- 
 sure, and still more difficult to find believers in the 
 prediction. It is very seldom, therefore, that two 
 parties, each of which desires above all things the 
 general good government of the country, can co- 
 alesce. Each is wedded by original disposition, by 
 association, by habit, and by the desire of consistency 
 to opinions and measures inconsistent with those to 
 which the other is equally chained. 
 
 The selfish single-purposed party, to which general 
 politics are indifferent, which is ready to ally itself to 
 Freetraders or to Protectionists, to Reformers or to 
 Anti-Reformers, to Puseyites or to Dissenters, be- 
 comes powerful by becoming unscrupulous. If Ire- 
 land had been an independent country, separated 
 from England, the Ultra-Catholic party, whose only 
 
SLAVERY IX THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 17 
 
 object is the domination of the Clergy and of the 
 Pope, would have ruled her. This is the source of 
 the influence of a similar party in France. The 
 Clerical, or Jesuit, or Popish, or Ultra-montane fac- 
 tion, — whatever name we give to it, — has almost al- 
 ways obtained its selfish objects, because those objects 
 are all that it cares for. It supported the Restoration, 
 its priests blessed the insurgents of February 1848, 
 and it now worships Louis Napoleon. The only 
 condition which it makes is Ecclesiastical and Popish 
 supremacy, and that condition the Governor for the 
 time being of France usually accepts. 
 
 Such a party is the Southern party in the United 
 States. Its only object is the retention and exten- 
 sion of slavery and of the internal slave trade. For 
 this purpose, it is ready to ally itself to Whigs or to 
 Tories, to Democrats, or to Federalists, to those who 
 wish to raise, or to those who wish to lower, the 
 tariff. But this is a purpose which must excite the 
 fears of every wise man and the detestation of every 
 honest man. All the best men of America, therefore, 
 resist the contamination of such an alliance. They 
 see that the Southern faction, by choosing its oppor- 
 tunities, by joining from time to time the party that 
 will accept its terms and can triumph by means of its 
 assistance, generally obtains its objects, rewards its 
 favourites, and excludes its opponents. Most of 
 them are discouraged, and forsake political life for 
 literature or business, or foreign travel ; others are 
 cut short in their public career, and forced to resign 
 themselves to provincial or professional eminence. A 
 few, like the distinguished senator whose speech we 
 prefix to this Article, acquire fame in the Senate or 
 in the House of Representatives, but are excluded 
 from office. And what, on this side of the Atlantic, 
 are the prizes of public life, the high political and ad- 
 
18 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ministrative posts, are generally left to the inferior 
 men, whose ignorance, violence, or incapacity have 
 led those who judge of America only through her 
 public servants, to look on her with unmerited con- 
 tempt or disgust. 
 
 We say “ unmerited,” because we believe that the 
 public morality of the educated classes in America, 
 who take no part in politics, is generally far superior 
 to that of the great bulk of her statesmen. For the 
 proof of this, we need not go further than to “ Uncle 
 Tom” itself. It is a purely American work. When 
 it first appeared in the columns of a newspaper, the 
 author looked only to a narrow local circulation. 
 When it was reprinted, the American market only 
 was thought of. Mrs. Stowe did not address herself, 
 like Washington Irving, or Prescott, or Wheaton, to 
 an European public. She wrote only for Americans, 
 and writing for them she poured out her sympathy 
 with the weak and the humble, her indignation 
 against the oppressor, her obedience to justice, and 
 her adoration of liberty, in words as bold and as un ■ 
 compromising as any that were ever uttered by Mil- 
 ton, or Fox, or Wilberforce. She does not discuss the 
 highest principles of human conduct, she assumes 
 them : she takes for granted that they are not only 
 known to her readers, but professed by them. If 
 “ Uncle Tom” were still only in manuscript, and it 
 had been shown to us, with the information that an 
 American lady intended to publish it in America, we 
 should have said, “ The readers for whom that book 
 “ is intended, must enjoy a high civilisation and great 
 “ moral and intellectual cultivation. They must be 
 “ religious, just, and humane. If they form part of an 
 “ empire tainted by slavery, they must be impatient of 
 “ the disgrace, and alarmed by the sin.” And the 
 result would have more than justified us, as it has 
 more than justified Mrs. Stowe. 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 19 
 
 We must admit, however, that Mrs. Stowe, writing 
 from personal observation, draws a dark picture of 
 the influence of slavery, and of the slave trade, on a 
 portion of her countrymen who take no part in active 
 political life. 
 
 We copy a part of one of her letters, dated Paris, 
 August, 1853: — 
 
 “ There is one thing which cannot but make one 
 “ indignant here in Paris, and which, I think, is keenly 
 “felt by some of the best among the French ; and that 
 “ is the indifference of many Americans, while here, to 
 “ their own national principles of liberty. They seem 
 “ to come to Paris merely to be hangers on and ap- 
 “plauders in the train of the man who has overthrown 
 “the hopes of France. To all that cruelty and injustice 
 “by which thousands of hearts are now bleeding, they 
 “appear entirely insensible. They speak with heartless 
 “levity of the revolutions of France, as of a pantomime 
 “ got up for their diversion. Their time and thoughts 
 “ seem to be divided between defences of American 
 “ slavery and efforts to attach themselves to the skirts 
 “of French tyranny. They are the parasites of para- 
 sites — delighted if they can but get to an imperial 
 “ ball, and beside themselves if they can secure an in- 
 “ troduction. Noble-minded men of all parties here, 
 “who have sacrificed all for principle, listen with sup- 
 “ pressed indignation while young America, fresh from 
 “ the theatres and gambling saloons, declares, between 
 “ the whiffs of his cigar, that the French are not capable 
 “of free institutions, and that the government of Louis 
 “ Napoleon is the best thing that France could have. 
 “ Thus , from the plague-spot at her heart , has America 
 “ become the propagandist of despotism in Europe. No- 
 “ thing weighs so fearfully against the cause of the 
 “ people of Europe as this kind of American influence. 
 “ Through almost every city of Europe are men whose 
 
20 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “great glory it appears to be to proclaim that they 
 “worship the beast and bear his name in their fore- 
 “ heads. I have seen sometimes, in the forests, a vigor- 
 ous young sapling which had sprung up from the roots 
 “of an old, decaying tree. So, unless the course of 
 “ things alters much in America, a purer civil liberty 
 “ will spring up from her roots in Europe, while her 
 “ national tree is blasted with despotism.” * 
 
 Our own experience does not enable us to confirm 
 Mrs. Stowe. The Americans with whom we have 
 been sufficiently intimate to enable us to ascertain 
 their political opinions have been enlightened and 
 liberal men, who differed from us, so far as they dif- 
 fered from us at all, rather by their republican, than 
 by their despotic, tendencies. They were in general 
 partisans of the revolution of 1848, and looked for- 
 ward with hope to the triumph of the Montagne in 
 1852. Most of them approved of the Hungarian 
 insurrection, and, in their vehement detestation of 
 Austria, seemed to wish to see her join Russia against 
 England and France, in the hope that we might 
 attack her by an Italian rebellion. Others were so 
 indignant at the prevalence of despotism throughout 
 the Continent as to expect with pleasure a general 
 revolutionary war. Mrs. Stowe’s experience is much 
 wider than ours, which is, in fact, confined to nine 
 or ten individuals. She probably came across ten 
 times as many. We do not venture to question the 
 acuteness of her observation, or the accuracy of her 
 report. 
 
 We must add that the sympathy with Russia 
 which has been manifested by some of the inhabitants 
 of the Southern States, supports Mrs. Stowe’s re- 
 mark, that the defenders of slavery in America na- 
 
 * 
 
 Sunny Memories, vol. ii. letter 48. 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 21 
 
 turally become the enemies of freedom in Europe. 
 The good sense and the liberality of the opinions of a 
 neutral may generally be tested by the side which his 
 wishes take in the present war. 
 
 The people, that is to say, the mass of the inhabit- 
 ants of Europe, are anti-Russian. There are, indeed, 
 among the Poles, Italians, and Hungarians, men 
 whose hatred of Austria leads them to desire her 
 defeat and humiliation at any expense. They know 
 that if Russia succeeds, Austria loses her independ- 
 ence. Some of them probably hope that she will be 
 partitioned, and that Russia will create out of her 
 wreck a new semi-Russian kingdom of Poland, and a 
 new semi-Russian kingdom of Hungary, and will 
 allow Italy a quasi-independence under her Protec- 
 torate. And they are mad enough to prefer the 
 scorpions of Russia to the whips of Austria. 
 
 But these fanatics form a small minority. The 
 people of Europe are, we repeat, anti-Russian. They 
 see that wherever Russian power, or even Russian 
 influence extends, it brings with it repression, igno- 
 rance, religious intolerance, the slavery of the press, 
 commercial restriction, and every other oppression 
 by which improvement can be arrested and Europe 
 forced back into a barbarism worse than that of the 
 dark ages, as the barbarism of communities that have 
 once been civilised is more corrupt and more hopeless 
 than that of a race that still retains, like our Saxon 
 ancestors, the vigour and independence of their still 
 less civilised progenitors. 
 
 The Continental despots and their courtiers look 
 forward to Russian preponderance with expectations 
 similar to those of their subjects ; but, with the 
 intense selfishness which belongs to power ill acquired 
 or ill used, the greater part of them desire it on the 
 very grounds on which their subjects dread it. They 
 
'22 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 believe, as the Russian Government itself believes, 
 that knowledge, toleration, self-respect, freedom of 
 the press, freedom of trade, freedom of intercourse, 
 — in short, all that raises man intellectually and 
 morally, is favourable to the object of their hatred 
 and terror, political liberty. Hence their love of 
 Russia, as the type and the supporter of what they 
 call order, — as their faithful ally in their struggle 
 against improvement, — as the great and generous 
 friend, whose read)? sympathy can always be relied 
 on by a king, or a prince, or a grand duke, at vari- 
 ance with his subjects, and whose active aid will be 
 given as soon as the interference of England and 
 France is no longer to be feared. 
 
 The slave holders and slave traders of America are 
 too strong to need to look for assistance to Russia ; 
 but they sympathise with her partly for some of the 
 reasons which govern the petty tyrants of Italy and 
 Germany, and partly for reasons of their own. They 
 hate England as abolitionist, as Ferdinand hates her 
 as liberal. They love Russia, as he does, for her 
 intolerance of liberty and knowledge. And there is 
 between the two countries the strong bond of simi- 
 larity of institutions. Russia and the Southern 
 States of the American Union are the only civilised 
 slave holders left in the world. Slavery in Russia is 
 indeed far milder, and far less diffused, and it is 
 gradually wearing out. But while it lasts Southern 
 America has the countenance of one companion. 
 
 As an illustration of the prevalent feeling, we copy 
 from a New Orleans paper of the 15th January, 1855, 
 the following extract from a speech addressed by the 
 Rev. Ch. R. Marshall, Chairman of the Committee of 
 Education, to a convention of delegates from the 
 Southern States. 
 
 The speaker reprobated the practice of educating 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 23 
 
 Southern children in the North. “ Our sons and 
 “ daughters,” he said, “ return to us with their minds 
 “ poisoned by fanatical teachings and influences against 
 “ the institution of slavery.” 
 
 “ The reverend speaker,” continues the reporter, 
 “ then considered slavery as an institution, and passed 
 “ upon it a glowing eulogium as contributing to the 
 “ glory in arts and sciences, in religion, and national 
 “prosperity, in all countries wherein it has ever ex- 
 “ isted. He described it as forming a part of the 
 “ patriarchal system of government, established by 
 “ God himself, as having been countenanced by Christ, 
 “ and argumentatively sustained and practically sup- 
 “ ported by the chief of Christ’s Apostles, St. Paul. 
 “ He (the speaker) had proclaimed these opinions in 
 “ the streets of New York, and of Boston. He be- 
 “ lievecl slavery to be right, and that within fifty years, 
 “instead of decreasing, it would be double in extent 
 “ to what it now is. He believed that the colonies 
 “ now gathering on the coast of Africa would all be 
 “ Slave States.” 
 
 “ In the course of his speech,” adds the reporter, 
 “ Mr. Marshall, commenting on the hostility of Eng- 
 “ land towards our institutions, drew forth loud de- 
 “ monstrations of applause by expressing the hope, 
 “ very earnestly, that the Czar would triumph in the 
 “ pending war in the East.” 
 
 We return from this digression to the great sub* 
 ject of “ Uncle Tom,” — the most striking, though 
 perhaps not the most important, of the recent tri- 
 umphs of the Southern party, — the Fugitive Slave 
 Law of 1850. 
 
 We have seen that little effect was given to the 
 clause in the Constitution directing that “ persons 
 held to service in one State and escaping to another 
 shall be delivered up to the party to whom such ser- 
 
24 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 vice was due.” The disinclination of the local authori- 
 ties in the free States to enforce the law ag-ainst a 
 
 O 
 
 fugitive, the evidence as to the claimant’s title, as to 
 the servitude of the person claimed, and as to his 
 identity, which they vexatiously required — the pro- 
 tection and concealment, and often the active assist- 
 ance, which he received from the religious and the 
 humane, — and the expense of the legal proceedings, 
 and of the escort which was sometimes necessary to 
 prevent a rescue on the road, and to detain the fugi- 
 tive at night, were the chief obstacles to the efficiency 
 of the Act of 1793. 
 
 The Act of 1850 endeavours to remove them. It 
 directs the circuit Courts of the United States to 
 appoint Commissioners, “ with a view to afford rea- 
 sonable facilities to reclaim fugitives from labour.” 
 
 It enacts that the owner of a fugitive or his agent 
 may pursue and reclaim him, either by obtaining a 
 warrant, or by himself seizing and arresting him, and 
 may then take him before a commissioner, whose duty 
 it shall be to determine the case summarily , and, on 
 proof by deposition or affidavit of the title of the 
 claimant, and the identity of the fugitive, to grant to 
 the claimant a certificate, which shall authorise the 
 claimant or his agent to remove such fugitive back to 
 the State whence he or she escaped. “ In no trial 
 or hearing, under this act,” it continues, “shall 
 
 THE TESTIMONY OF SUCH ALLEGED FUGITIVE BE AD- 
 MITTED IN EVIDENCE.” 
 
 On affidavit of the claimant, or of his agent, that 
 he fears a rescue, an officer of the court is bound to 
 undertake the removal of the fugitive to the State 
 whence he escaped, and to require such assistance as 
 he may think necessary, and is to be repaid all his 
 expenses out of the treasury of the United States. 
 
 The marshals and deputy marshals of the United 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 25 
 
 States are bound to assist under a penalty of 1000 
 dollars, and are liable in the full value of the fugitive 
 if he escapes from them. The persons executing the 
 Act are directed to call in aid all bystanders and the 
 posse comitatus , and all good citizens are commanded 
 to assist them. 
 
 The commissioner is paid by fees, and receives 10 
 dollars if he grants his certificate , hut only 5 if he re- 
 fuses it. 
 
 Every person obstructing a claimant, or attempting 
 to rescue a fugitive, or harbouring, or concealing, or 
 assisting him or her, directly or indirectly, to escape, 
 is, for each such offence, to pay to the United States 
 a fine of 1000 dollars, and to be imprisoned for six 
 months, and moreover is to pay by way of civil da- 
 mages to the owner 1000 dollars for each slave thereby 
 lost to him. 
 
 Lastly, any owner of a fugitive slave may apply to 
 any Court of Record in his State, whereupon the 
 judge, on being satisfied as to the ownership, and the 
 slave’s escape, is to make a record of the -facts, and a 
 description of the fugitive, and to deliver to the ap- 
 plicant a transcript of such record. “ Which tran- 
 script,” says the Act, “ shall be held and taken to 
 be full and conclusive evidence of the fact of the 
 escape, and that the service or labour of the person 
 escaping is due to the party therein mentioned.” 
 The production of this transcript, together with other 
 evidence, if necessary , of the identity of the person 
 claimed, to a commissioner in any other State, en- 
 titles the claimant to a certificate, authorising him to 
 seize or arrest and transport the person claimed to 
 the State from whence he escaped. 
 
 No time is a bar. A man who has been settled for 
 thirty years in a northern city, who has a family and 
 a profession, who has forgotten that he ever was in 
 
26 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 bondage, or perhaps who never was in bondage, may 
 be dragged before a commissioner, bribed by a double 
 fee to condemn him, and, on affidavit that A. B. is a 
 slave, and that he is A. B ., may, without being heard 
 in his defence, for the Act expressly declares that he 
 shall not be heard, be summarily sent into slavery 
 for life. 
 
 Even this mockery of a trial is not necessary. 
 Under the last clause in the Act, A. B. living in 
 Charleston, hearing that there is in Philadelphia one 
 C. D ., whom he would like to appropriate, has only 
 to go to the Charleston Court, and obtain a transcript 
 of a record describing C. D ., and stating that he is 
 A. B^s fugitive slave. On showing this transcript in 
 Philadelphia, and making oath as to C. D's identity, 
 he is entitled to a Philadelphian certificate, with which 
 he may proceed to C. D.'s house, and without warn- 
 ing, summons, or trial, seize him, bind him, gag him, 
 and carry him as a slave to Charleston. 
 
 America calls herself free, but such oppression is 
 not to be found in Naples or in Russia. What secu- 
 rity has any coloured person, what security indeed 
 has any white person, under such a law as this ? — un- 
 der a law by which he can be declared a slave in his 
 absence, on an ex parte application, and receive the 
 first notice that his freedom has been questioned from 
 those who handcuff him as a slave ? 
 
 It is said that the Southern States frightened the 
 Northern States into acquiescence, by threatening, if 
 their monstrous bill were rejected, to renounce the 
 Union. We cannot understand how such a threat 
 should have been effectual. Had we been Northerns, 
 ice should have used it, and we should have acted on 
 it, instead of submitting to it. We should have said, 
 “ Rather than be the accomplices and the victims of 
 “ such a tyranny, we separate. We are already a great 
 
SLAVERY IN TITE UNITED STATES. 
 
 27 
 
 “ nation, in a few years we shall be a great empire, 
 “free from a stain which debases us at home and 
 “ disgraces us abroad.” 
 
 We say the victims , as well as the accomplices, for 
 under the provisions of this law on what tenure does 
 an American hold his freedom ? What stands be- 
 tween him and slavery? Not a trial, not a regularly 
 constituted court, not the verdict of a jury, not an 
 appeal, not even a writ of habeas corpus. He may 
 be torn from his home, from his friends, and from his 
 family, and subjected to a punishment far worse than 
 the scaffold of Robespierre or the knout of Nicholas, 
 by a procedure, and on evidence, which in England, 
 we should not think sufficient to decide the title to a 
 dog, or to warrant the stopping up of a footpath. 
 
 The penalties on aiding or concealing a fugitive, or 
 directly or indirectly obstructing a slave hunter, must 
 render anxious the life of every man of common 
 humanity who lives near the line of a fugitive’s es- 
 cape. Those penalties are, to men of the moderate 
 fortunes common in America, absolutely ruinous. 
 Yet who when he rises in the morning can say, that 
 he shall not render himself liable to them in the course 
 of the day, or of the night ? Few Englishmen, — we 
 hope few Americans, — who had to choose between 
 the incurring those penalties and the turning out a 
 fugitive helpless before his pursuers, would hesitate. 
 But what can be said of the freedom of a country 
 which has submitted to a law which exposes all its 
 citizens to the alternative of imprisonment and ruin, 
 or of eternal unavailing remorse ? * 
 
 We have said that “ Uncle Tom ” is, in fact, under 
 the disguise of a novel, a pamphlet against the Fugi- 
 tive Slave Law. Such is Mrs. Stowe’s account of it. 
 
 “ For many years of her life,” she says, “ the 
 
 * See Note I. 
 
 * c 6 
 
28 
 
 SLAVERY IN TIIE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “ author avoided all reading upon, or allusion to, the 
 “ subject of slavery, considering it too painful to be 
 “ inquired into, and one which advancing light and 
 “ civilisation would certainly live down. But, since 
 “ the Act of 1850, when she heard with consternation 
 “ Christian and humane people actually recommending 
 “ the remanding escaped fugitives into slavery as a 
 “ duty binding on good citizens ; when she heard on 
 “ all sides from kind, compassionate, and estimable 
 “ people in the free States of the North, deliberations 
 “ and discussions as to what Christian duty could be 
 “ on this head, — she could only think, these men and 
 “ Christians do not know what slavery is; if they did, 
 “ such a question could never be open for discussion. 
 “ And from this arose a desire to exhibit it in a living 
 “ dramatic reality. She has endeavoured to show it 
 “ fairly in its best and in its worst phases. In its best 
 “ aspect she has perhaps been successful: but oh, who 
 “ shall say what yet remains untold in that valley and 
 “shadow of death that lies on the other side ?” * 
 
 ' Its political influence has been little less remark- 
 able than its literary success. Though the Fugitive 
 Slave Law excited the indignation of many persons 
 belonging to the higher classes in the free States, it 
 was not unpopular among the people. The con- 
 tempt, the loathing, with which the coloured race is 
 avoided in those States, deprives of all public sym- 
 pathy every one that is suspected of being stained by 
 the least drop of black blood. No one, who has not 
 been raised by a better education far above ordinary 
 prejudices, looks on a negro, or on the descendant of 
 a negro, as a fellow creature. For the first two years 
 after the passing of the Act, the lower classes in New 
 York and Boston enjoyed the excitement of a negro 
 
 * Chapter 45. 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 29 
 
 hunt as much as our rustics enjoy following a fox 
 hunt. Nor is it likely that the mere reading of the 
 novel would have much affected them. But it was 
 dramatised and acted in the Bowery Theatre in New 
 York. The hero and heroine of the piece were Eliza 
 and George. The great scene was Eliza’s passage up 
 the Ohio. It was well got up and well acted. When 
 she leapt the turbid torrent, and dashed over the 
 cracking ice, leaving her amazed pursuers on the 
 bank, the theatre rung and rung with applause. For 
 150 successive nights this scene was acted in New 
 York, and we have no doubt that it was repeated in 
 the other free States. The sovereign people was 
 converted ; public sympathy turned in favour of the 
 slave. A few months ago a fugitive was claimed in 
 Boston and remanded to slavery. Such was the fear 
 of a rescue, that all the national army that could be 
 collected, — a tenth, we believe, of the whole military 
 force of the Union, — was called out. Files of in- 
 fantry with loaded muskets surrounded the court 
 house, and lined the streets that lead from it to the 
 wharf where the vessel that was to carry him off lay. 
 Cannon were placed to command the cross streets, 
 all business was suspended, the balconies were co- 
 vered with black cloth, and the bells of the city tolled, 
 as the steamer with its captive left the shore. 
 
 The attempt will not be repeated. As far as the 
 Northern States are concerned, “ Uncle Tom” has re- 
 pealed the Fugitive Slave Faw^j 
 
 Having related the strange story of “Uncle Tom’s” 
 success, it is now our duty to endeavour to account 
 for it, — to ascertain and explain the causes, intrinsic 
 and external, which have given to it a popularity 
 which this generation cannot deny, because it has 
 witnessed it, but which our posterity will be tempted 
 to treat as fabulous. 
 
30 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The first of these causes we believe to be the subject. 
 
 It describes the state in which millions of persons 
 speaking our language, professing our religion, and, 
 in many cases, not distinguished from us by colour 
 or by feature, within a fortnight’s steam of our shores, 
 are now, at this instant, placed, and may remain 
 placed, for an indefinite time. It is a state of which 
 we have no experience, and which probably now 
 exists for the first time since the creation of the world. 
 
 Of course, the slavery which we describe as now 
 existing for the first time, is that of the slave-breed- 
 ing States, not that of the slave-consuming ones. 
 The slavery of Alabama or of Texas exhibits only 
 the ordinary and known features of slavery : height- 
 ened, perhaps, by differences of race and colour, and 
 by the deep-seated antipathy of the American towards 
 the Black ; but probably not worse, perhaps better, 
 than that which prevailed in the last century in our 
 own West Indian islands. 
 
 It is the slavery of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, 
 and North Carolina, which resembles nothing that 
 was ever seen before. 
 
 The African slave trade was frightful, but its prey 
 were savages accustomed to suffering and misery, and 
 to endure them with patience almost amounting to 
 apathy. The victims of the American slave trade 
 have been bred in a highly cultivated community. 
 Their dispositions have been softened, their intellects 
 sharpened, and their sensibilities excited by society, 
 by Christianity, and by all the ameliorating but ener- 
 vating influences of civilisation. The savage submits 
 to be enslaved himself, or have his wife or his child 
 carried off by his enemies, as merely a calamity. His 
 misery is not embittered by indignation. He suffers 
 only what, if he could, he would inflict. He cannot 
 imagine a state of society in which there shall not be 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 31 
 
 masters and slaves, kidnapping and man-selling, cof- 
 fles, and slave traders ; or, in which any class shall be 
 exempt from misfortunes which appear to him to be 
 incidental to humanity. 
 
 The civilised Virginian, who can never go from his 
 cabin with a certainty of spending another night in 
 it ; who can never part from a child with a certainty 
 that he shall see it again ; who, at any moment, 
 without any preparation, may be told, “Follow that 
 man — you are sold;” — who, without fault, and with- 
 out warning, has to leave a home and a family, and to 
 pass the remainder of his life, among strangers, in a 
 distant land, a burning climate, a pestiferous air, and 
 perhaps under a brutal master; — the Virginian wife, 
 who sees her husband handcuffed and carried off, be- 
 cause his good conduct, industry, and skill have made 
 hirh so valuable that his master thinks that he cannot 
 afford to keep him; — the Virginian mother, who 
 finds that her children, one after another, disappear, 
 as each attains the age of sale, and the sooner in pro- 
 portion to their intelligence and beauty ; — all these 
 feel their sense of suffering sharpened by their sense 
 of wrong. All around them are whites, their fellow- 
 countrymen, their fellow-subjects, and their fellow 
 Christians, whose homes are inviolable, among whom 
 the child belongs to its parents, husbands and wives 
 to one another, and a man to himself. To the black 
 race alone, and to their descendants, all family ties 
 and all security are denied ; domestic affections, the 
 greatest source of happiness to the rich, almost the 
 only source of happiness to the poor, are to them 
 converted into instruments of torture, into the causes 
 of constant anxious terror, and of occasional anguish 
 and desolation. 
 
 In Europe w r e were all aware of the existence of 
 the causes of these abominations; but, until we were 
 
32 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 roused by “ Uncle Tom,” we had not, to use a con- 
 venient Americanism, “ realised ” their results. We 
 wanted no “Ivey to Uncle Tom’s Cabin” to convince 
 us, that if the laws of a country place two races in 
 the relation of proprietor and property ; if the race 
 which is property is more cheaply propagated and 
 raised in one part of that country, and more profit- 
 ably worked in another ; no obstacle, raised merely 
 by benevolence or by pity, can prevent the human 
 stream from seeking; to find its level, from flowing; 
 from the territories in which man is abundant and 
 cheap, to those in which he is scarce and dear. But 
 though we possessed the outline of the scene, we 
 wanted its colouring and details. These Mrs. Stowe 
 has given to us ; her pictures carry with them the 
 excitement of novelty as well as the weight of truth. 
 The great authoress has put into our hands a tele- 
 scope, by which the coloured races are brought so 
 near to us, that we can see them in their labours and 
 in their sports, in their sufferings and in their enjoy- 
 ments, in their insecure happiness — if any state that 
 is insecure deserve to be called happiness — in their 
 terrors, and in their despair. We do not wonder at 
 the crowds that have been collected by a spectacle so 
 strange without being surprising, so unlike anything 
 that ever was seen before and yet so obviously real. 
 
 This accounts for the difference between the for- 
 tunes of “ Uncle Tom,” and of Colonel Senior’s re- 
 markable novel <£ Charles Vernon.” * u Charles Ver- 
 non ” was as graphic and as accurate a representation 
 of slavery in Jamaica, as “ Uncle Tom ” is of slavery 
 in America. But Colonel Senior described slavery 
 not as it is now, but as it was forty years ago. Events 
 similar to those which he painted had long ceased to 
 
 * See tlie review of “ Charles Vernon,” Edin. Rev. for January, 
 1849. Vol. 89. p. 83. 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 33 
 
 occur, at least in the country in which his scenes were 
 laid. His picture was valuable to the historian, and 
 interesting to the moral observer ; but it wanted the 
 present reality of “ Uncle Tom.” The reader of 
 “ Charles Vernon ” was instructed and amused, but 
 he was not excited. The reader of “ Uncle Tom ” is 
 roused to action. He feels that if he can contribute 
 anything — and there are few who can contribute 
 nothing — towards abating, or even mitigating, the 
 monstrous system that is exposed before him, he is 
 guilty if he remains quiescent. 
 
 L 
 
 Next in importance to the attractiveness of the 
 subject is the attractiveness of the moral colouring 
 with which Mrs. Stowe has lighted it up. The reader 
 always sympathises with the writer, and always feels 
 himself the better for doing so. It is difficult for a 
 poet not to paint himself while he thinks that he is 
 describing only the creatures of his imagination. No 
 one can read “ Amelia,” or “ Persuasion,” without 
 seeing who sat for the principal character. We rise 
 from “ Don Quixote ” as well acquainted with Cer- 
 vantes as with the knight of the rueful countenance. 
 This is peculiarly the case with Mrs. Stowe ; as her 
 work is as much a piece of rhetoric as of poetry — in 
 fact, is more so. She is more anxious to persuade 
 than she is to please. The moral, which is absent 
 from most poems, and, where it exists, is generally so 
 concealed as to be discovered only on reflection, is 
 prominently exhibited in every chapter of “ Uncle 
 Tom.” Now it has been admitted from the times of 
 Aristotle, that the great instrument of an orator is 
 the rfiog toO x=yo!/ro£ ; that the speaker whom you be- 
 lieve to be sincere, and with whose feelings you sym- 
 pathise, has already half persuaded you. “ Uncle 
 Tom” possesses both these means of influence, and 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 each in its highest excellence. It is obviously an 
 honest book. Some of the answerers of Mrs. Stowe 
 accuse her of having overcoloured her pictures. Admit- 
 ting her to have done so, no candid reader can think 
 that she has done so intentionally. There is nothing 
 exaggerated or artificial in her loathing of cruelty, 
 in her indignation at oppression, or in her scorn of 
 the wretched sophistry with which they are palliated 
 or even defended. Her descriptions and her decla- 
 mation are as much the relief of a mind which seeks 
 vent for the sense of misery and wrong, as they are 
 among the means by which that misery and wrong 
 may be mitigated. And the reader can no more 
 refuse to her his sympathy than he can his confidence. 
 She has all the loftier and all the humbler virtues. 
 She is bold, high-minded, and enthusiastic. She is 
 kind, tender, and affectionate. And over her charac- 
 ter is spread a tint of piety which softens and refines 
 and harmonises the whole. New Englander as she 
 is, there is nothing austere or ascetic, or menacing in 
 her religion. It is a religion of hope and of love, 
 not of fear or of denunciation. Present assistance 
 and future reward are constantly promised : tempta- 
 tion and punishment are kept out of sight. Our 
 Saviour appears in every page : the existence of 
 Satan is almost ignored, except, indeed, when she 
 makes the negroes assign to him the duty of taking 
 the slave traders who tear children from their pa- 
 rents. “For if the devil don’t get them, what he 
 good for?” No sectarian doctrine, no sectarian 
 feeling intrudes. If we did not know that “ Uncle 
 Tom ” has been prohibited by the Pope, we should 
 have supposed that there was no form of Christian 
 faith in which it would not find grateful admirers. 
 
 Its defect, in the eyes of his Holiness, was perhaps 
 the omission of the especial object of his adoration, 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 35 
 
 the Madonna. If Mrs. Stowe had been a Romanist, 
 the Madonna would have taken the place of Jesns 
 Christ : the majestic vision “ as of one crowned with, 
 thorns, buffeted and bleeding,” which to Protestants 
 seems a bold, almost a rash invention, would have 
 been turned into the Queen of Heaven, glorious and 
 triumphant ; and would have passed among Roman 
 Catholic readers as a real and probable incident. 
 
 It is possible, too, that the Papal authorities were 
 alarmed by hearing of one of the effects produced 
 by the work in Paris — a general demand, among the 
 ouvriers, for bibles. The bouquinists have assured us, 
 that during the year 1853 they were the books most 
 in request. All the stalls were full of them ; and the 
 purchasers, to most of whom the book was unknown, 
 asked anxiously whether what they were buying was 
 the “ real bible,” — “ Uncle Tom’s bible ? ” 
 
 When we give the first place, among the causes of 
 Uncle Tom’s popularity, to its subject, we speak of 
 its European popularity. We believe that the prin- 
 cipal cause of its American popularity, was its reli- 
 gious colour. In the New England States there is a 
 general dislike, or rather a general dread, of works of 
 fiction. Among Puritans, the fear of evil predomi- 
 nates over the hope of good. Any source of pleasure, 
 which may also be a source of pain, is prohibited. 
 They think it safer, perhaps easier, to be abstinent 
 than to be temperate. Novels give much amusement, 
 and good novels give some instruction ; but the read- 
 ing, even of good novels, is easily carried to an excess 
 which is always injurious to the mind, and often to 
 the character. A total abstinence, therefore, from 
 novel reading pervades New England. “ The anti- 
 “ slavery of Uncle Tom,” says a Boston critic, “ rather 
 “ hurt it than otherwise ; and, in spite of all its re- 
 “ markable merits of execution, but for its appeal to 
 
36 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “ the religious sensibilities of Christendom, its admir- 
 “ able realisation of the popular ideal of the Christian 
 “ hero, saint, and martyr, it would, perhaps, scarcely 
 “ have been known out of the small circle of anti- 
 “ slavery readers, or, at least, the not large circle of 
 11 novel readers, instead of sweeping away, as it has 
 “ done, thousands upon thousands who never read a 
 “ novel before in their lives, and who had even been 
 “ accustomed to hold prose fictions in abomination.” 
 
 Even in this country in some classes, particularly 
 among the Dissenters, novel reading is forbidden, and 
 here, as in America, “Uncle Tom” is excepted from 
 the general prohibition. It is difficult for those who 
 have not been subjected to this ascetic interdiction of 
 works of imagination, to estimate adequately the effect 
 of such a story on minds to which the intoxicating 
 stimulus of fiction was unknown. It must have been 
 to them like light given to those blind from birth, — 
 the revelation of a new sense. 
 
 We cannot dismiss Mrs. Stowe’s religion without 
 remarking that a question, which puzzled Job and 
 Solomon, seems much to perplex her, — How to re- 
 concile moral and physical evil with the attributes 
 of the Deity. 
 
 “ 1 If you only trust in God,’ says Eliza to George, 
 “ ‘ He’ll deliver you.’ 
 
 “ 1 1 can’t trust in God,’ he answers. “ ‘ Why does 
 “ ‘ he let things be so?' 
 
 “ 1 There is no use,’ says Cassy to Tom, “ 1 in calling 
 “ 1 on the Lord — He never hears : there isn’t any God, 
 “ ‘ I believe ; or if there is, he’s taken sides against 
 “ ‘ us.’ ” 
 
 “ We pass,” says Mrs. Stowe in her own person, 
 “ Kinsale, where the ‘ Albion ’ was lost. 1 well re- 
 “ member when a child the newspapers being filled 
 “ with the dreadful story of the wreck. How for hours, 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 37 
 
 “ rudderless and helpless, they saw themselves driving 
 “ Avith inevitable certainty against these pitiless rocks ; 
 “ and how, in the last struggle, one human being after 
 “another was dashed against them in helpless agony. 
 
 “ What an infinite deal of misery results from man’s 
 “ helplessness and nature’s inflexibility in this one mat- 
 “ ter of crossing the ocean ! What agonies of prayer 
 “ there were during all the long hours that this ship 
 “ Avas driving straight on to these fatal rocks, all to no 
 “purpose! It struck and crushed, just the same. 
 “ Surely, without the revelation of God in Jesus, who 
 “ could believe in the Divine goodness ? I do not 
 “ wonder that the old Greeks so often spoke of their 
 “ Gods as cruel, and believed that the universe was 
 “governed by a remorseless and inexorable fate.” * 
 
 The only solution seems to be that physical evil, 
 and, what is much Avorse than physical evil, moral 
 evil, exist because they cannot be prevented ; or, in 
 Bishop Coplestone’s words, “ That God is not the 
 author of evil, although he is the author of every 
 thing else.” f Why they cannot be prevented, — why 
 it Avas that the sacrifice of our Saviour Avas necessary 
 in order to mitigate them, — Ave cannot discover, and 
 we are not told. Perhaps the impossibility of pre- 
 venting evil may depend on causes Avhich our faculties 
 are incapable of comprehending. But that there is 
 such an impossibility, both reason and revelation, 
 Avhen they teach us that the Deity is benevolent, 
 compel us to believe. 
 
 We have shown hoAV much of the popularity of 
 “ Uncle Tom” arises from its appealing to our 
 sympathies. We fear that we must add that much 
 of that popularity arises from its also appealing to our 
 
 * Sunny Memories, chap. 2. f Coplestone’s Discourses, p. 93. 
 
 D 3 
 
38 
 
 SLAVEEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 antipathies. The anti-slavery feeling in America is less 
 diffused than it is in Europe, but it is more intense. 
 Scarcely any man can proclaim himself an abolitionist 
 without having to make a considerable sacrifice of 
 popularity, perhaps of fortune. Even those who stop 
 short of abolition, but are unfavourable to the exten- 
 sion of slavery into territories as yet free from it, 
 have to play a losing game — a contest which strongly 
 tasks the temper and the charity of the player ; which 
 may bind him closely to his own cause, but is certain 
 to embitter him against that of his opponents ; which 
 may make him love his friends, but cannot fail to 
 make him hate his enemies. To men in this state of 
 mind “Uncle Tom” was a god-send. Mrs. Stowe came 
 like a heavenly auxiliary, like the divine Twins at 
 the battle of the Lake Regillus, or St. Jago in the van 
 of Cortez, using weapons such as they had never 
 thought of, wielded with a skill which they did not 
 possess. She showered on the supporters of the Fu- 
 gitive Slave Law and of the extension of slavery, in- 
 vective, ridicule, contempt, and defiance, with arrows 
 winged by genius, and barbed and pointed, and poi- 
 soned by truth. The anti-slavery party would have 
 been more than men if they had not welcomed with 
 enthusiasm, such an ally, — if they had not deified 
 the amazon who, if she had not led them to victory, 
 at least had given them revenge. 
 
 The evil passions which “Uncle Tom” gratified in 
 England were not hatred or vengeance, but national 
 jealousy and national vanity. We have long been 
 smarting under the conceit of America- — we are 
 tired of hearing her boast that she is the freest and 
 the most enlightened country that the world has ever 
 seen. Our clergy hate her voluntary system — our 
 Tories hate her democrats — our Whigs hate her 
 parvenus — our Radicals hate her litigiousness, her 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 39 
 
 insolence, and her ambition. All parties hailed Mrs. 
 Stowe as a revolter from the enemy. She came to us 
 knowing all the weak points in his camp, all the gaps 
 in his line. She taught us how to prove that demo- 
 crats may be tyrants, that an aristocracy of caste is 
 more oppressive than an aristocracy of station ; and, 
 above all, that a clergy supported by their flocks is 
 ready to pervert the fundamental principles of Chris- 
 tianity to suit the interests or the prejudices of their 
 paymasters. The malevolent emotions, as is the case 
 with all our instinctive feelings, have their pleasures, 
 but in civilised life we seldom can fully enjoy them. 
 This explains the delight that men feel in battle. 
 There is something intoxicating in the vent suddenly 
 given to passions that have always been smothered, 
 in the power suddenly acquired to kill and to plunder, 
 to gratify anger, revenge, and rapacity, with a good 
 conscience. Something like this is felt when the sins 
 of a rival nation are held up to us : we revel con- 
 scientiously in the excitement of contempt and anger. 
 Our pity for the victim is swallowed up in our hatred 
 of the tyrant. To the gratification of our indigna- 
 tion we add the gratification of our pride. We look 
 at the atrocities of the internal slave trade, and of the 
 Fugitive Slave Law, and rejoice that no such crimes 
 stain the British Islands. We read the laws pro- 
 hibiting instruction, prohibiting the acquisition of 
 property, and prohibiting emancipation, and congra- 
 tulate ourselves on the reception which such legisla- 
 tion would have encountered if it had been tendered 
 by a British colony for the approbation of a British 
 sovereign. We thank God that “ we are not even as 
 this publican.” 
 
 Another source of the popularity of “ Uncle Tom” 
 is its naturalness. It has no plot, no peripateia. The 
 
40 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 fortunes of the different dramatis personae move on in 
 separate lines, little influencing one another, without 
 the elaborate entanglement and clever unravellings to 
 which we are accustomed in fiction. The events are 
 connected rather by time than by causation. In few 
 incidents does the hand of the inventor betray itself: 
 one of these is the sudden death of St. Clair after he had 
 begun, and before he had completed, the forms neces- 
 sary to the enfranchisement of Tom. It is ushered in by 
 a note of preparation and warning, which an experi- 
 enced novel reader cannot misunderstand. First, we 
 are told that he has begun to take the necessary legal 
 steps. Then his cousin Ophelia warns him of the 
 calamities which may befal his favourite slaves if he 
 should die before he has provided for their future 
 fate. Then St. Clair laughs at her post mortem 
 speculations, and revolves vast indistinct schemes of 
 making some effort to rescue his country from the 
 disgrace of slavery, and goes out to be back in an 
 hour. Then Tom thinks of his home, and how soon 
 he shall be a free man, and be able to return to it at 
 will. He feels the muscles of his brawny arms, and 
 rejoices that they will soon belong to himself, and 
 work out the freedom of his family, until his medita- 
 tions are cut short by those who bring back his 
 master wounded and dying. This long preface is 
 too obviously artificial. Indeed, the event itself is 
 too obviously artificial. A novelist has always the 
 power of bringing on a catastrophe by an unexpected 
 opportune death, but it is the very facility of this 
 expedient that renders it objectionable. Such an 
 accident is so frequent in fiction and so rare in 
 reality, that its introduction dissipates the temporary 
 illusion which the poet endeavours to produce. 
 
 George’s story is more than artificial, it is impro- 
 bable. Mrs. Stowe gives to him the talents and 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 41 
 
 habits of a highly educated man, and the manners 
 and carriage of a gentleman. How he acquired ad- 
 vantages which in England are supposed to be the 
 result only of early and careful cultivation, and of 
 constant contact with equally cultivated associates, 
 he tells us himself : “ I grew up,” he says, “ long, 
 “ long years, — no father, no mother, no sister ; not a 
 “ living soul that cared for me more than a dog ; no- 
 “ thing but whipping, scolding, starving. Why, sir, I 
 “ have been so hungry that I have been glad to take 
 “ the bones they threw to their dogs ; and yet when I 
 “ was a little fellow and laid awake whole nights and 
 “ cried, it was’nt the hunger ; it was’nt the whipping 
 “ I cried for. No, sir ; it was for my mother and my 
 “ sisters ; it was because I had not a friend to love me 
 “upon earth. I never knew what peace and comfort 
 “ was. I never had a kind word spoken to me till I 
 “ came to work in your factory. Mr. Wilson, you 
 “ treated me well, you encouraged me to do well, and 
 “ to learn to read and write, and to try to make some- 
 “ thing of myself ; and, God knows, how grateful I 
 “ am for it.” 
 
 A few years spent in Mr. Wilson’s factory turn 
 him out at twenty-five an accomplished man — a man 
 whose exterior is so striking as to impress a whole 
 company instantly with the idea of something un- 
 common. Either the manners of an American gen- 
 tleman are much more easily acquired than those of 
 an English one ; or there must be in races enriched 
 by negro blood a wonderful affinity for refinement. 
 
 He naturally rises to be the most useful servant in 
 the factory to which his owner, Harris, has hired him 
 out. He invents machinery, for which his proprietor 
 takes out a patent, and becomes invaluable to his 
 immediate employers. His owner hears of his suc- 
 cess, is indignant that a slave should be marching 
 
42 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 round the country, inventing machines and holding 
 up his head, and takes him away, in spite of remon- 
 strances and high offers, to waste his talents and 
 accomplishments in the lowest field drudgery. 
 
 Harris’s brutal folly seems to us as unnatural as 
 George’s refinement. He has had no quarrel with 
 his slave. For several years the only relation between 
 them has been that he has found George a property 
 of great and increasing value. Yet, merely out of 
 spite at the “ smartness ” of a negro, he resolves to 
 destroy this property, and to reduce an instrument, 
 which was worth to him perhaps 200?. a-year, and 
 might become worth much more, to one scarcely 
 paying for its keep. 
 
 Mrs. Stowe certainly produces a succession of 
 striking pictures, by exhibiting a slave, of the highest 
 intelligence and cultivation, exposed to the most de- 
 grading oppression ; but she does it by accumulating 
 impossibilities. 
 
 In general, however, the illusion of reality is ad- 
 mirably kept up. Scene after scene follows, without 
 effort, without dulness, and without exaggeration, in 
 which every character acts and talks as we expected 
 him to do. One of the elements of the naturalness 
 of the story is the absence of love ; that is, of love 
 between unmarried persons, for of conjugal love, of 
 parental love, and of religious love, there is abun- 
 dance. Mrs. Stowe is to be added to the very small 
 list of great poets who have attempted to interest the 
 reader without the aid of a pair of lovers. That the 
 attempt is an arduous one may be inferred from its 
 rarity, and that rarity gives to “ Uncle Tom ” a 
 double advantage. The ordinary reader observes the 
 absence of one of the badges of fiction : the critic 
 admires the genius and the courage of the writer 
 who has dared to compose a novel, making no use of 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 43 
 
 the material which is supposed to be the staple of 
 novel writing. 
 
 Perhaps this contributed almost as much as its 
 piety to its reception in New England. The sorrows 
 of husbands and wives, parents and children, were 
 read without fear by those who would have been 
 scared if they had been seduced into sympathy with 
 a lover and his mistress. “ Uncle Tom ” could not 
 be excluded as a love story. 
 
 We have said that the actors in “ Uncle Tom ” act 
 and talk as we expect them to do. To recur, how- 
 ever, to a classification on which we ventured when 
 reviewing Thackeray’s novels, * — the characters are 
 generally simple : that is to say, characters to whom 
 only a few qualities are given, all of which combine 
 to lead their possessor into one line of conduct. 
 
 Uncle Tom, for instance, is simply perfect. Not 
 a particle of human infirmity is allowed to profane 
 his excellence. He is pious, affectionate, brave, 
 honest, intelligent, confiding, humble, — in short, he 
 is composed of every Christian virtue and grace with- 
 out alloy. 
 
 Eva is also perfect. Her whole character is formed 
 of youthful love and piety. 
 
 Marie is another simple character. She is made 
 up merely of intense selfishness and weak intelligence. 
 Haley, Harris, Eliza, Legree, — in short, each of the 
 dramatis personce , except Ophelia, St. Clair, and 
 Topsy, is coloured with an un iform tin t. Those who 
 are wicked have no virtues, those who are good have 
 no vices. This certainly impairs the naturalness 
 which we have mentioned as one of Mrs. Stowe’s 
 
 * See the Number for January, 1854. 
 
44 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 merits. The absurdity of ascribing perfection to 
 human beings is felt more forcibly as respects Tom 
 and Eva, when we recollect the circumstances of 
 which this perfection is the result. The only asso- 
 ciates of Eva, besides her parents, are slaves ; a race 
 who, as Mrs. Stowe complains in every page of her 
 book, are, by virtue of their social position, ignorant, 
 degraded, and depraved. From whose example or 
 instruction did she get her glowing piety, her se- 
 raphic love, or her angelic purity ? from Mammy, or 
 from Rosa, or from Adolph, or from her dreamy 
 infidel father, or from her hateful mother ? If the 
 status of slavery be so debasing, how did Uncle Tom 
 become a hero and a saint ? How was it that the 
 greatest possible excellence, or, to speak more cor- 
 rectly, excellence greater than is possible, was pro- 
 duced by the worst possible education ? 
 
 But though this mono-chromatic colouring — this 
 absence of shade where there is light, and of light 
 where there is shade — is an artistic defect, we are 
 not sure that it may not have contributed to the 
 popularity of the work. The mass of readers seek 
 only to indulge their sympathy and to gratify their 
 curiosity. They are often rather annoyed than 
 pleased when faults are attributed to their favour- 
 ites, or merits to those whom they have determined 
 to hate. They like to divide the inhabitants of the 
 land of fiction, as they generally do those of the land 
 of reality, into good and bad, silly and clever ; and 
 are disappointed by the 
 
 “Fears of the brave and follies of the wise.” 
 
 They like to understand what they read. Prospero 
 and Miranda are comprehended at a glance : Hamlet 
 is an enigma not yet satisfactorily solved. And for 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 45 
 
 one reader of “ Hamlet ” there are a hundred of 
 “ The Tempest.” 
 
 We have said that Miss Ophelia rises above the 
 somewhat monotonous uniformity of Mrs. Stowe’s 
 characters ; but her peculiarities are rather of man- 
 lier than of substance. She is a strong-minded, 
 clear-headed, unimpassioned New Englander, with 
 an accurate perception of her duties and a firm reso- 
 lution to perform them. The qualities which indivi- 
 dualise her are, an exterior preciseness and coldness, 
 concealing warm affections ; and a sympathy for the 
 slaves, as oppressed and degraded, somewhat at vari- 
 ance with her national antipathy to them as negroes. 
 
 The great merit, however, of Ophelia is as a con- 
 trast to St. Clair. He is drawn with a much bolder 
 outline, and finished with much finer details. The 
 foundation of her character is conscientiousness ; the 
 foundation of his is benevolence. Her defect is a 
 want of imagination ; his is a want of self-control. 
 She endeavours to be useful only to the circle of per- 
 sons with whom she is in immediate contact ; and she 
 succeeds. Her object is a small one, but it is accu- 
 rately marked out. She knows what she wishes to 
 do, and what are the proper means, and she employs 
 them resolutely, perseveringly, and efficiently. St. 
 Clair’s purposes are vast and lofty ; they are to affect 
 the fortunes of millions of human beings, through 
 centuries after centuries ; but they are vague and 
 undefined. He looks on the existing state of his 
 country with horror, and on his own share in main- 
 taining it, with repentance. A half-formed resolution 
 to reform it is never absent from his mind. But his 
 meditations seldom carry him beyond a wish — never 
 beyond a hope. He never advances even so far as to 
 form a definite plan ; but drifts on, amiable, intelli- 
 gent, but useless ; doing no harm to his slaves, except 
 
46 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 by over-indulgence, but doing them little good ; and, 
 from mere indolent procrastination, leaves them, when 
 he dies, to the chances of sale, and to the miseries of 
 slavery, aggravated by the lax discipline and careless 
 kindness to which he had accustomed them. His 
 levity is characteristic of a mind ill at ease. He is 
 gay because he cannot trust himself to be serious. 
 An attempt at indifference is his only resource against 
 fierce indignation or remorse. 
 
 A horrible case of slave- murder occurs : 
 
 “ ‘ It is perfectly outrageous,’” says Ophelia to him: 
 “ ‘ It will bring down vengeance upon you.’ 
 
 £££ My dear cousin,’” he answers, “‘I didn’t do it, and 
 ££ 1 1 can’t help it. I would if I could. If low-minded 
 ££ £ people will act like themselves, what am I to do ? 
 ££ £ They have absolute control — they are irresponsible 
 ££ £ despots. There would be no use in interfering. 
 ££ £ There is no law that amounts to anything, practi- 
 ££ £ cally, for such a case. The best we can do is to 
 ££ £ shut our eyes and ears, and let it alone. It is the 
 £ ‘ £ only resource left to us.’ 
 
 ££ £ How can you shut your eyes and ears ? How 
 u 1 can you let such things alone ? ’ 
 
 ££ £ My dear child, what do you expect ? Here is a 
 ££ £ whole class, debased, uneducated, indolent, provok- 
 ££ £ ing, put, without any terms or conditions, entirely 
 £££ into the hands of such people as the majority of 
 ££ £ the world are ; people who have neither considera- 
 ££ £ tion nor self-control, who have not even an enlight- 
 “ £ ened regard for their own interest — for that’s the 
 ££ £ case with the largest half of mankind. Of course, 
 ££ £ in a community so organised, what can a man of 
 ££ £ honourable and humane feelings do but shut his 
 ££ £ eyes all he can, and harden his heart ? I can’t 
 ££ £ buy every poor wretch I see. I can’t turn knight- 
 u i eiT ant, anc ] redress every case of wrong in such a 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 47 
 
 44 4 city as New Orleans. The most I can do is to try 
 “ 4 and keep out of the way of it.’ ” * 
 
 The rest of the conversation, with the exception of 
 some socialist nonsense about capitalists starving their 
 work-people to death, is a fine piece of rhetorical 
 poetry. It is admirable as a history of St. Clair’s 
 mind, and still more admirable as a condensed, lumi- 
 nous picture of the system, made still more odious by 
 its apologists, which he has too much virtue to tole- 
 rate, and not enough to resist. 
 
 St. Clair’s scepticism is well conceived. His mind 
 is one of those on which religion is easily impressed. 
 He is sensitive, affectionate, and imaginative. He is 
 educated by a mother whose virtues and talents he 
 inherits, and whose piety he imbibes while he is under 
 her influence. But his religion, founded on feeling 
 not on reasoning, fades away when he goes out into 
 the world, and finds the Bible habitually quoted as 
 an authority for systematic cruelty and oppression. 
 His scepticism is not described as arising from his 
 having thought that he had discovered any defect in 
 the evidences of Christianity, for it does not appear 
 that he ever examined them. It does not seem to 
 occur to him, — indeed it does not seem to occur to 
 Mrs. Stowe, — that faith ought to repose on convic- 
 tion, and that conviction is an affair not of the heart 
 but of the intellect. 
 
 His attempts to combat his doubts by his wishes 
 are well painted. 
 
 44 4 Oh,’ ” says Tom to him, 44 4 if mas’r would only 
 44 4 look up, where our dear Miss Eva is, up to the 
 44 4 dear Lord Jesus.’ 
 
 44 4 Ah, Tom, I do look up ; but the trouble is, I 
 44 4 don’t see anything when I do. I wish I could. It 
 
 * Chapter 19. 
 
48 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 44 4 seems to be given to children and poor honest fel- 
 44 ‘ lows like you, to see what we can’t.’ 
 
 44 4 Thou hast hid from the wise and prudent and 
 44 4 revealed unto babes,’ ” murmured Tom. 
 
 “ 4 Tom, I don’t believe — I can’t believe — I’ve got 
 44 4 the habit of doubting,’ ” said St. Clair; 44 4 1 want 
 44 4 to believe this Bible, and I can’t.’ 
 
 44 4 Dear mas’r, pray to the good Lord, — do, do, 
 44 4 dear mas’r, believe.’ 
 
 44 4 How do you know there’s any Christ, Tom ? you 
 44 4 never saw the Lord.’ 
 
 44 ‘Felt him in my soul, mas’r, — feel him now.’ ” * 
 
 Even Mrs. Stowe does not seem to perceive that 
 she has engaged her hero in a contest in which, as he 
 manages it, success is impossible. Minds unaccus- 
 tomed to reasoning, habituated to bow to authority, 
 and to take their opinions on trust, may believe be- 
 cause they are told to believe, or because they have 
 always believed, or because those about them believe, 
 or because it is happiness to believe, or because it 
 is a sin not to believe. But reasoners, men who can- 
 not accept conclusions without premises, however they 
 may wish to be satisfied without proof, cannot be so. 
 And the more earnest their desire, the more certain 
 is their failure. The more they wish to arrive at a 
 given conviction, the more anxious becomes the crav- 
 ing for evidence, the more arduous seem the diffi- 
 culties that are to be got over, the more obstinate are 
 the lurking doubts. The cure for St. Clair’s scepti- 
 cism would have been an earnest and impartial study 
 of the arguments, and the evidence, for and against 
 Christianity. We say for and against , because a man 
 who has once doubted will never be effectually con- 
 vinced as long as he knows, or even suspects, that 
 
 * Chapter 27. 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 49 
 
 there is a side of the question which he has not 
 examined. He who is afraid to do this is not a real 
 believer, though he may think himself one. 
 
 The only remaining character on which we need 
 dwell is Topsy. She is, perhaps, the most popular of 
 all Mrs. Stowe’s dramatis personae, probably because 
 she is the most original. Nature intended her to be 
 intelligent and affectionate, but she has grown up to 
 girlhood without having ever received instruction or 
 experienced kindness. So far, perhaps, she does not 
 differ much from many of the outcast children that 
 are thrown up from time to time in our police courts. 
 But she is marked by a peculiarity not to be found 
 in Europe, unless it be among the Cagots, if any are 
 left, of the South of France, the feeling that she be- 
 longs to a degraded caste. “ There can’t nobody love 
 niggers, and niggers can’t do nothing,” is the creed 
 which a life of twelve years in New Orleans has 
 taught her. Though she cannot be loved, however, 
 she can be admired and feared. All the children are 
 delighted by her drollery, grimace, and mimicry ; and 
 the elder members of the servants’ hall find that 
 whoever casts any indignity upon Topsy, is sure to 
 meet with some inconvenient accident shortly after. 
 Her great pride is in her wickedness. 
 
 “ ‘ Lor, you niggers,’ she says to her young admirers, 
 “ ‘ does you know you’s all sinners? Well you is — 
 “ £ every body is : white folk is sinners too — Miss 
 “ £ Feely says so; but I spects niggers is the biggest 
 ££ £ ones : but Lor ye an’t any on you up to me. I’s 
 ££ £ so awfully wicked, there can’t nobody do nothing 
 ££ £ with me. I spects I’s the wickedest critter in the 
 “‘world.’ And Topsy would cut a somersault and 
 “ come up brisk and shining, and evidently plume 
 “ herself on the distinction.” 
 
 The way in which this hardened nature, after hav- 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ing resisted the cold kindness of Ophelia, is at once 
 subdued and softened by the compassion and love of 
 Eva, deserves the admiration which it has received. 
 
 The last source, that occurs to us, of Uncle Tom’s 
 popularity in England, is the state of the English and 
 American law as to literary property. Each country 
 refuses copyright to the citizens of the other. The 
 necessary consequence is, that an English work which 
 has acquired celebrity enough to be reprinted in 
 America, reappears there in a form so cheap, that an 
 enormous sale is ensured. More than 100,000 copies 
 of “ Macaulay’s History ” were sold in America. The 
 English sale was very great, but we do not believe 
 that it exceeded 30,000. The same is the case with 
 English reprints of American works. “ Uncle Tom ” 
 costs probably eight shillings in America, and only 
 one here. The American sale was, as we have seen, 
 150,000 copies, while the English sale exceeded a 
 million. 
 
 Even the “ White Slave,” a disagreeable counterpart 
 of “ Uncle Tom,” in which the hero is in love with his 
 sister, and has his father for a rival, has had twice the 
 sale of the best of Walter Scott’s or Miss Austen’s 
 novels. It is as long as “ Waverley ” and sells for a 
 shilling. A remarkable result of this state of the 
 law in both countries is, that the popular literature of 
 America is English, and the popular literature of 
 England is American. Reprints of American works 
 of fiction, in which the matter of a large volume is 
 compressed into 400 duodecimo pages of small print 
 on bad, thin paper, cover the railway book stalls, and 
 filter from thence into the farmhouses and the back 
 rooms of the village shops. “ Uncle Tom,” “ The 
 Wide Wide World,” “ Queechy,” and “The White 
 Slave,” form now the staple of the reading of the 
 middle classes. 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 51 
 
 The “ Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin ” is too long. 
 The portion of it which shows that American slavery 
 and the American slave trade can produce real events 
 similar to those related in “ Uncle Tom,” was scarcely 
 necessary. Such events are, as we have already re- 
 marked, the inevitable incidents to the system, nor is 
 the production of a real counterpart for every story 
 in “ Uncle Tom ” a complete defence of Mrs. Stowe 
 against the charge of misrepresentation. 
 
 With respect to the internal slave trade of America, 
 we do not believe misrepresentation to be possible. 
 Every part of it is so utterly hateful, that its horrors 
 cannot be exaggerated. But with respect to the treat- 
 ment of slaves by their owners, while employed in 
 their houses or in their fields, we think it possible 
 that “ Uncle Tom ” may produce a false impression, 
 not by describing events that do not happen, but by 
 leading us to think that they happen habitually. It 
 is probable, we hope that it is true, that there are 
 twenty Shelbys for one Legree. Evil affects the 
 imagination so much more pungently, and dwells so 
 much more in the memory, than good, that if we run 
 through a list of the railway accidents of a year, we 
 are inclined for an instant to suppose railways to be 
 the most dangerous means of travelling, instead of 
 being, as they are, the safest. So after reading Mrs. 
 Stowe, we forget the Shelbys, and remember only the 
 Legrees. If Mrs. Stowe be accused, as perhaps she 
 may fairly be, of producing this false impression, she 
 cannot defend herself by proving, as she does tri- 
 umphantly, that Legrees exist. 
 
 The great value of the “ Key ” consists in the spe- 
 cimens which it gives of the legislation of the Slave 
 States, and of the arguments by which it is defended. 
 
 One of the laws common to all the Slave States is 
 
52 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the refusal to admit the testimony of a coloured per- 
 son against a white. Such a law obviously deprives 
 the whole coloured race of the protection, such as it 
 is, which any other laws affect to give to them. The 
 deliberate, intentional killing of a slave is now, by 
 the laws of every state, murder. But a white may 
 perpetrate it in the presence of hundreds. Hundreds 
 of witnesses may be ready to prove it by direct evi- 
 dence. They saw him take aim, fire, and the negro 
 fall dead. The Court cannot hear them. Hundreds 
 may be ready to prove it by circumstantial evidence. 
 They heard him threaten to shoot the negro ; they 
 saw him load the gun, and go towards the field ; they 
 heard the explosion, they saw him return, and they 
 heard him boast that he had shot Pompey. The 
 Court cannot hear them. It can listen only to a white 
 constable, who says that, “ in consequence of some- 
 thing which was told to him,” he went to a certain 
 field, and there found the body of a negro with a 
 wound in the breast ; and the evidence of a white 
 surgeon, who opened the body, and found the heart 
 perforated by a bullet. 
 
 On such testimony alone, of course, no man can be 
 convicted. A deed done in the face of day, in the 
 presence of crowds, of which every detail is notorious, 
 is to the Court, and to the Court alone, a myste- 
 rious event : perhaps a murder, perhaps a quarrel, 
 perhaps a suicide, respecting which every attempt to 
 obtain evidence or explanation has failed. 
 
 Mrs. Stowe has quoted the following passage from 
 a speech of a Georgian^ clergyman, the Rev. Dr. Few, 
 at a conference of the Methodist Church in which it 
 was proposed to admit the testimony of coloured 
 persons against whites in ecclesiastical matters : — 
 
 “ Look at it ! What do you declare to us, in tak- 
 “ ing this course ! Why, simply, as much as to say, 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 53 
 
 “ ‘ We cannot sustain you in the condition which you 
 “ cannot avoid ! ’ We cannot sustain you in the ne- 
 “ cessary conditions of slave holding ; one of its neces- 
 “ sary conditions being the rejection of negro testi- 
 “ mony ! If it is not sinful to hold slaves, under all 
 “ circumstances, it is not sinful to hold them on the 
 “ only condition, and under the only circumstances 
 “ under which they can be held. The rejection of 
 “ negro testimony is one of the necessary circumstances 
 “ under which slave holding can exist ; indeed, it is ut- 
 “ terly impossible for it to exist without it ; therefore, 
 “ it is not sinful to hold slaves in the condition, and 
 “ under the circumstances which they are held in the 
 “ South, inasmuch as they can be held under no other 
 “ circumstances .... If you believe that slave holding 
 “ is necessarily sinful, come out with the abolitionists 
 “ and honestly say so. If you believe that slave holding 
 “ is necessarily sinful, you believe we are necessarily 
 “ sinners ; and, if so, come out and honestly declare it, 
 “and let us leave you .... We want to know, dis- 
 “ tinctly, precisely, and honestly, the position which 
 “ you take. We cannot be tampered with by you any 
 “longer. We have had enough of it. We are tired 
 “ of your sickly sympathies.” # 
 
 But, after having thus carefully provided that even 
 the wilful deliberate murder of a negro shall not be 
 punishable unless it can be proved by the evidence of 
 a white, we are inclined to think that the Southern 
 legislators might have safely extended to their slaves 
 the protection which we give to horses, cattle, and 
 dogs. The grounds on which they have thought fit 
 to refuse to do so are well stated in the following 
 judgment of Chief Justice Ruffin, of North Carolina. 
 
 The question before him was, whether a person 
 
54 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 who had hired a slave could be indicted for inflicting 
 on that slave a punishment which was admitted to 
 have been “cruel, unwarrantable, and dispropor- 
 tioned to the offence.” 
 
 “ The question,” says the Chief Justice, “has been 
 “ assimilated at the bar to the other domestic rela- 
 “ tions ; and arguments drawn from the well estab- 
 “ lished principles which confer and restrain the au- 
 “ thority of the parent over the child, the tutor over 
 “ the pupil, the master over the apprentice, have been 
 “ pressed on us.” 
 
 “ The Court does not recognise that application : 
 “ there is no likeness between the cases, — they are in 
 “ opposition to each other ; there is an impassable gulf 
 “ between them. The difference is that which exists 
 “ between freedom and slavery, and a greater cannot be 
 “ imagined. In the one, the end in view is the happi- 
 “ ness of the youth, born to equal rights with the 
 “ governor on whom the duty devolves of training the 
 “ youth to usefulness in a station which he is after- 
 “ wards to assume among free men. To such an end, 
 “ and with such an object, moral and intellectual in- 
 “ struction seems the natural means ; and, for the most 
 “ part, they are found to suffice. Moderate force is 
 “ superadded only to make the others effectual. If 
 “ that fail, it is better to leave the party to his own 
 “ headstrong passions, and the ultimate correction of 
 “ the law, than to -allow it to be immoderately inflicted 
 “ by a private person.” 
 
 “ With slavery it is otherwise. The end is the 
 “ profit of the master, his security, and the public 
 “ safety : the subject is one doomed in his own person 
 “ and in his posterity, to live without knowledge, and 
 “ without the capacity to make anything his own, and 
 “ to toil that another may reap the fruits. What moral 
 “ considerations can be addressed to such a being 
 
SLAVEKY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 55 
 
 “ to convince him, which it is impossible but that the 
 “ most stupid must feel can never be true, that he is 
 “ thus to labour upon a principle of natural duty, or 
 “ for the sake of his own personal happiness ? Such 
 “ services can be expected only from one who has no 
 “ will of his own, who surrenders his will in implicit 
 “ obedience to that of another. Such obedience is the 
 “ consequence only of unlimited authority over the 
 “ body. There is nothing else that can operate to pro- 
 “ duce the effect. The power of the master must be ab- 
 “ solute to render the submission of the slave perfect.” 
 
 “ I confess the harshness of this proposition. As a 
 “ principle of moral right every man in his retirement 
 “ must reprobate it. But, in the present state of 
 “ things it must be so : there is no remedy. This dis- 
 “ cipline belongs to the state of slavery. They cannot 
 “ be disunited without abrogating the rights of the 
 “master, and absolving the slave from his subjection. 
 “ It constitutes the curse of slavery to both the bond 
 “ and the free portions of our community. It is in- 
 “ herent in the relations of master and slave. In the 
 “ abstract it may well be asked what powers of the 
 “ master accord with right. The answer will probably 
 “ sweep away all of them. But we cannot look at the 
 “ matter in that light. We are forbidden to enter 
 “ upon a train of general reasoning on the subject. 
 “We cannot allow the rights of the master to be 
 “ brought into discussion in Courts of Justice. The 
 “ slave, to remain a slave, must be made sensible that 
 “ there is no appeal from his master : that the master’s 
 “ power is in no instance usurped, but is conferred by 
 “ the law of man, at least, if not by the law of God.” 
 
 “Judgment entered for the defendant.”* 
 
 We join in Mrs. Stowe’s admiration “ of the 
 
 * Key, book ii. chap. 2. 
 
 E 4 
 
56 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “ unflinching calmness, with which a man, evidently 
 “ of humane, honourable feelings, walks through the 
 “ most terrible results and conclusions in obedience to 
 “ legal truth.” Chief Justice Ruffin’s exposition of the 
 law of North Carolina is, we have no doubt, accurate. 
 His defence of that law, as necessarily incidental to 
 the status of slavery, is bold and masterly; but it 
 does not convince us. We do not believe that if the 
 “ cruel, unwarrantable, and disproportionate punish- 
 ment” of the slave were an indictable offence, a 
 master would run much chance of conviction by a 
 Carolina jury forbidden to receive negro evidence. 
 While the laws respecting such evidence remain un- 
 altered, it seems to us unimportant what amount of 
 protection is pretended to be given to the slave, or 
 what amount of restraint is pretended to be imposed 
 on the master. 
 
 Mrs. Stowe goes on to quote a work by the Rev. 
 James Smylie, an eminent member of the Southern 
 Presbyterian Church, in defence of the laws prohibit- 
 ing the teaching slaves to read, — “ Laws,” says Mr. 
 Smylie, “ meeting the approbation of the religious 
 “ part of the reflecting community.” 
 
 These laws, however, we can understand. We are 
 not surprised that slave owners, living among enemies, 
 wish to deprive those enemies of the means of com- 
 bination afforded by a written language. We are 
 not surprised at their telling the slave that, while he 
 lives, there is no appeal for him against his master ; 
 and that even his death under his master’s hand is 
 not punishable, unless it can be proved that the 
 master’s intention was to kill, — not merely to tor- 
 ture. We are not surprised at their attempt, in- 
 directly, to deprive the slave of the legal protection 
 against wilful murder, which shame forces them to 
 pretend to provide for him. 
 
SLAVERY IN TEE UNITED STATES. 
 
 57 
 
 We see why. in every Slave State, the crime of a 
 slave is punished far more severely than that of a free 
 man. The slave is already in a situation worse than 
 any to which a free man can be reduced by punish- 
 ment, short of perpetual imprisonment or death. 
 Sufferings and degradations, from which a free man 
 would escape by suicide, are the ordinary incidents 
 to his status. Habit prevents their having any ter- 
 rors for him. The only resources left to the law are 
 torture, mutilation, and death. 
 
 We can understand the motive for enacting, in 
 North Carolina, the law which justified the following 
 proclamation, extracted by Mrs. Stowe from the 
 “Wilmington Journal” of Dec. 13. 1850: — 
 
 “ Whereas complaint has been made before us by 
 Guilford Horn, that his slave Harry hath absented 
 himself from his master’s service, and is supposed to 
 be lurking about in this county. We do hereby, by 
 virtue of the Act of Assembly in such cases made and 
 provided, declare that if the said slave Harry doth not 
 return home immediately, any person or persons may 
 kill and destroy the said slave by such means as he or 
 they may think fit, without impeachment of any 
 offence for so doing. 
 
 “ Given under our hands and seals this 29th June, 
 1850. 
 
 “ J. T. Miller, J. P. 
 
 “ W. C. Bettencourt, J. P.” * 
 
 We can understand, too, the motive for the supple- 
 mentary law of that State, which enacts that when a 
 runaway slave has been killed, in obedience to such a 
 proclamation, his value shall be assessed by a jury, 
 
 * Key, p. 200. 
 
58 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and two-thirds of that value paid out of the public 
 treasury to the master — a law which accounts for the 
 following advertisement, published by the aforesaid 
 Guilford Horn : — 
 
 “ One hundred and twenty -five dollars will be paid 
 for the delivery of the said Harry to me at Tosnott 
 Depot, Edgecombe County ; or one hundred and fifty 
 dollars will be given for his head. He has a free 
 mulatto wife, lately removed to Wilmington, with 
 whom he w r ill likely be lurking. Masters of vessels 
 are cautioned against harbouring him, as the full 
 penalty of the law will be exacted.” 
 
 Harry’s head represented two-thirds of the value 
 which a jury might assess for his whole person. 
 Harry, alive, would probably have again run away 
 to his wife. It was worth Mr. Horn’s while to offer 
 a bribe of twenty-five dollars additional to Harry’s 
 captors, if they would have the kindness to kill him, 
 instead of bringing him to Tosnott Depot. 
 
 All this legislation has an intelligible object, and 
 pursues it by intelligible means. But there are other 
 slave laws which, perhaps from our ignorance of the 
 circumstances which render them necessary, look, to 
 European eyes, like wanton cruelty. 
 
 The Americans probably think themselves more 
 civilised than the most barbarous of the inhabitants 
 of Europe, the Russians. The great mitigation of 
 the slavery of Russia is the permission given by the 
 master to his serf to work, to trade, and to acquire 
 property for himself, paying to his master a rent, 
 called an obroc. It is an arrangement eminently 
 useful to both parties and also to the country. There 
 are considerable merchants, bankers, and tradesmen 
 who are slaves, whose services are valuable to the 
 public, and whose obroc forms the greater part of 
 their master’s income. 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 59 
 
 Such contracts under the laws of the Slave States 
 are not merely void, they are offences — for which the 
 master is fined, the slave punished, and what he calls 
 his property is confiscated. 
 
 Thus the law of Mississippi imposes a fine on a 
 master convicted of permitting his slave to cultivate 
 cotton for his own use, or of permitting him to keep 
 stock of any description, or of licensing him to go at 
 large and trade as a freeman. In North Carolina, 
 the offence is committed by merely allowing the slave 
 to go at large as a freeman, allowing him to trade is 
 not essential. The allowing him to hire himself out 
 for his own benefit is punished in Georgia by a fine on 
 the master of thirty dollars a week. Of course the 
 slave convicted of having been allowed to grow cot- 
 ton, or convicted of having been allowed to keep 
 stock, or convicted of having been allowed to go at 
 large, or convicted of having been allowed to hire 
 himself out, is punished separately.* 
 
 One of the safest modes of extinguishing ^ slavery 
 is gradual emancipation. It was thus that it disap- 
 peared in England. It is also the best palliative of 
 existing slavery. It holds out a reward for good con- 
 duct, the only permanent reward that can be held out 
 to a slave. It substitutes hope for fear. 
 
 In South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Missis- 
 sippi, it is an offence. It can indeed be effected, as 
 everything can be effected, by an Act of the Legis- 
 lature, that is to say, by a law passed for the purpose 
 of emancipating a given slave — but every attempt 
 to do it privately, by the mere will of the master, is 
 punished, as respects the emancipator by a heavy fine, 
 as respects the slave by his being sold by auction for 
 the benefit of the State. 
 
 * Key, chap. 13. 
 
60 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The working of the law may be brought practically 
 before the reader by the following case. 
 
 A man named Elisha Brazaelle, a planter in Jeffer- 
 son County, Mississippi, was nursed during a long 
 illness by a young coloured slave girl. Feeling that 
 he owed to her his life, he rewarded her by taking 
 her to Ohio, a Free State, and educating her there. 
 She grew up an intelligent accomplished woman, and 
 he married her, having previously executed a deed for 
 her emancipation, which was recorded in the States 
 both of Ohio and of Mississippi. He had by her a 
 son, named James Monroe Brazaelle, who, from his 
 parentage, must have been nearly white, The family 
 lived for many years in Mississippi, and Elisha Bra- 
 zaelle died there, having by his will, which recited 
 and confirmed the deed of emancipation, provided for 
 bis widow, and devised all the rest of his property to 
 his son. 
 
 Some poor and distant relations in North Carolina 
 heard of the death, and filed a bill in the Court of 
 Equity in Mississippi, claiming the property, and, as 
 part of the property, claiming also the widow and son, 
 of the testator. The case is reported in Howard’s 
 Mississippi Reports, vol. ii. p. 837. 
 
 We copy from Mrs. Stowe, an extract from the 
 judgment of the Chief Justice, one Sharkey. 
 
 “To give validity,” says the Judge, “to the deed 
 “ of emancipation would be a violation of the declared 
 “ policy, and contrary to a positive law, of the State.” 
 
 “ The policy of a State is indicated by the general 
 “ course of legislation on a given subject ; and we find 
 “ that free negroes are deemed offensive, because they 
 “ are not permitted to emigrate to, or remain in, the 
 “ State. They are allowed few privileges, and subject 
 “ to heavy penalties for offences. They are required to 
 “ leave the State within thirty days after notice, and in 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 61 
 
 “ the meantime to give security for good behaviour ; 
 “ and those of them who can lawfully remain must re- 
 “ gister and carry with them their certificates, or they 
 “ may be committed to jail. It would also violate a 
 “ positive law, passed by the Legislature, expressly to 
 “ maintain this settled policy, and to prevent emanci- 
 “ pation. No owner can emancipate his slave, but by 
 “ deed or will properly attested, or acknowledged in 
 “ Court, and proof to the Legislature that such slave 
 “ has performed some meritorious act for the benefit 
 “ of the master, or some distinguished service for the 
 “ State ; and the deed or will can have no validity 
 “ until ratified by a special Act of the Legislature. 
 “It is believed that this law and policy are too 
 “ essentially important to the interests of our citizens 
 “ to permit them to be evaded.” 
 
 “ The state of the case shows conclusively that the 
 “ emancipation had its origin in an offence against 
 “ morality , pernicious and detestable as an example. — 
 “ But above all, it seems to have been planned and 
 “ executed with a fixed design to evade the rigour of 
 “ the laws of this State. The acts of the party in 
 “ going to Ohio with the slave, and there executing the 
 “ deed, and his immediate return to this State, point, 
 “ with unerring certainty, to his purpose and object. 
 “ The laws of this State cannot be thus defrauded of 
 “ their operation by one of our own citizens. If we 
 “ could have any doubts about the principle, the case 
 “reported in 1 Randolph, 15. would remove them.” 
 
 “ As we think the validity of the deed must depend 
 “ upon the laws of this State, it becomes unnecessary 
 “ to inquire whether it could have any force by the 
 “ laws of Ohio. If it were even valid there, it can have 
 “ no force here. The consequence is, that the negroes, 
 “ John Monroe Brazaelle and his mother, are still 
 “ slaves, and a part of the estate of Elisha Brazaelle. 
 
62 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “ They have not acquired a right to their freedom un- 
 “ der the will ; for, even if the clause in the will were 
 “ sufficient for that purpose, their emancipation has not 
 “ been consummated by an Act of the Legislature.” 
 
 “ John Monroe Brazaelle, being a slave, cannot 
 “ take the property as devisee ; and I apprehend it is 
 “ equally clear that it cannot be held in trust for 
 “him. (4 Desans. Rep. 266.) Independent of the 
 “ principles laid down in adjudicated cases, our statute 
 “ law prohibits slaves from owning certain kinds of 
 “ property ; and it may be inferred that the Legislature 
 “ supposed they were extending the Act as far as it 
 “ could be necessary to exclude them from owning any 
 “ property, as the prohibition includes that kind of 
 “ property which they would most likely be permitted 
 “ to own without any interruption, to wit, hogs, horses, 
 “ cattle, &c. See. They cannot be prohibited from hold- 
 “ ing such property, in consequence of its being of a 
 “ dangerous or offensive character, but because it was 
 “ deemed impolitic for them to hold property of any 
 “ description. It follows, therefore, that Elisha Bra- 
 “ zaelle’s heirs are entitled to the property.” * 
 
 The property being, the estate, the slaves, and, 
 among the slaves, the widow and son and devisee of 
 the testator, educated in affluence, freedom, and re- 
 finement, and now slaves for ever. 
 
 When we look back at this frightful code we feel 
 the force of Mrs. Stowe’s remark, that it is not by in- 
 sulated attempts to better the condition of the slaves 
 on any given plantation, but by repealing the local 
 legislation of the Slave States, that permanent or 
 general improvement is to be effected. While the 
 laws remain unaltered nothing can be done. 
 
 Let us suppose the case of a Georgian, who suc- 
 
 * Key, p. 275. 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 63 
 
 ceeds, when he comes of age, to a property consisting 
 of 2000 acres of land, with the necessary buildings 
 and live and dead stock, including in the live stock 
 500 slaves. Let him be convinced of the wickedness 
 of slaveholding, and of the still greater wickedness of 
 slave trading, and resolved at least to free his own 
 soul from the crime. 
 
 The obvious course is to do as George Shelby does 
 in “ Uncle Tom,” to emancipate his slaves, and re- 
 tain them as free labourers on wages. 
 
 u This is illegal : ” in the words of Chief Justice 
 Sharkey, “it is an offence against morality, perni- 
 “ cious and detestable as an example.” The master 
 who is guilty of emancipating is fined 1000 dollars. 
 The slave who is convicted of having been emanci- 
 pated is to be sold by public outcry for the benefit of 
 the State. 
 
 If he cannot emancipate his slaves in Georgia, he 
 may take them to a Free State and set them free 
 there. To do so of course is utter ruin, — the land 
 without the slaves is valueless ; but he prefers ruin 
 to self-reproach. 
 
 But not one of them can read or write — they can 
 do nothing but grow cotton and pick it. Five hun- 
 dred such helpless beings cast adrift in a Free State, 
 in which a negro is an object of contempt and dis- 
 gust, would starve. He must attempt to educate 
 and prepare them for freedom, and begins by having 
 them taught to read. 
 
 It is illegal ; it subjects him to a fine of thirty dol- 
 lars for each offence, that is to say, for each time 
 that each slave is instructed, and subjects his co- 
 loured teachers male and female to imprisonment 
 and thirty-nine lashes. 
 
 He submits then to retain them on his estate, but 
 resolves that at least none shall be sold off. He is 
 
G4 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 forced to be a slave holder, but thanks God that he 
 cannot be forced to be a slave trader. 
 
 But the laws of population pursue their irresistible 
 course. In a state of society in which the expense of 
 a child falls not on the parents, but on their master, 
 there can be no preventive check. In a plantation 
 in which the negroes are not overworked or underfed, 
 there can be no physical check. Nothing but the 
 most grinding oppression, or the disproportion be- 
 tween the sexes incident to a country that imports 
 slaves, can prevent a slave population from doubling 
 every twenty-five years. In fact, notwithstanding 
 much oppression, the slave population of the United 
 States does double in a less period than every twenty- 
 five years. 
 
 In a few years, therefore, the 500 slaves with whom 
 our planter began have increased to 750 — in a few 
 years more they will be 1000 — the 2000 acres can- 
 not employ them : they soon will not be able to feed 
 them. 
 
 He attempts to relieve himself by letting those who 
 think that they can shift for themselves go at large. 
 It is illegal — as before, he is fined and the slave is 
 punished. 
 
 He thinks that he may be able to turn to account 
 some of the outlying portions of his estate, and to 
 diminish the burden of its excessive population, by 
 letting his slaves cultivate it for their own benefit, 
 and support themselves by keeping stock on it. 
 
 It is illegal — he is fined, the slave is punished, and 
 the stock is confiscated and sold for the benefit of the 
 State and of the informer. 
 
 By the time he is between sixty and seventy, his 
 slaves have increased from 500 to 1500. His whole 
 land is devoted to their support and is insufficient. 
 
 He must either starve them or sell them. 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 65 
 
 And these are the laws of a country that calls itself 
 free ! 
 
 "We have said that such oppression is not to be 
 found in Naples, in Turkey, or in Russia. We do 
 not believe that such oppression is to be found in any 
 other part of the world, civilised or uncivilised. We 
 do not believe that such oppression ever existed be- 
 fore. The slavery of Greece as well as that of Rome 
 was atrocious. We have no doubt that it was far 
 more cruel, — using the word “ cruel ” to signify the 
 infliction of torture or death, — than that of America. 
 It was characterised by the indifference to human 
 suffering which belongs to Paganism. But its op- 
 pression was less degrading, less systematic, less un- 
 relenting. It deprived the slave of liberty, but it 
 left him hope. It gave to the master full power to 
 ill-treat his slaves, but it also gave to him full power 
 to benefit them. The slave might be instructed, he 
 might have a sort of property, he might have his 
 freedom. 
 
 “ Et spes libertatis erat, et cura peculi.” 
 
 Republican America has elaborated a tyranny such 
 as no democracy, no aristocracy, no monarchy, no 
 despotism, ever perpetrated, or, as far as we know, 
 ever imagined. 
 
 But how is the alteration of these laws to be ef- 
 fected ? 
 
 With few, we fear very few, exceptions, the minds 
 of all classes in the Slave States seem, on the subject 
 of slavery, to be perverted. The higher classes, the 
 workers and breeders of slaves, are blinded by their 
 interests. The lower classes, the “ poor white trash,” 
 whom the want of education, the want of employment, 
 and the disgracefulness of labour, have degraded be- 
 low the level of the lowest European proletaires, are 
 
 F 
 
G6 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ferocious partisans of every law which keeps another 
 class below them. It is some consolation in their 
 misery, that they have a right to trample on the ma- 
 jority of their fellow citizens. They constitute the 
 ferocious mob which the slave owners and slave 
 traders let loose on all who are suspected of being 
 abolitionists. 
 
 As for the clergy, the most powerful body in the 
 United States, the body through whose influence 
 slavery was gradually extinguished in Europe, they 
 are utterly corrupted by their subserviency to their 
 employers. Some of them are members of the vigil- 
 ance committees, who form an Inquisition, differing 
 from that of Rome only in that it persecutes aboli- 
 tionists instead of heretics, and that its proceedings 
 are illegal, and consequently that it employs mobs for 
 its instruments instead of officials. All of them have 
 prostituted their knowledge, and the respect due to 
 their functions, by indiscriminate defence, not only of 
 slavery, but of the very laws which, as we have seen, 
 while they last, render slavery irremediable. 
 
 There is not a Slave State in which an attempt to 
 repeal these laws would not be worse than fruitless, 
 in which it would not expose its proposers, and all 
 who were suspected of approving the proposal, to 
 insults, assaults, and perhaps death. Such a repeal 
 must be imposed from without; there is no tendency 
 towards it within. The slavery of the British colonies 
 was softened, and finally abolished, by the central 
 Government. If it had been left to the local legis- 
 latures, it would have been still existing, probably 
 unmitigated, perhaps exasperated. The United States 
 possess a central authority, which has power to declare 
 all these laws unconstitutional and void ; which can 
 repeal them and prohibit their reenactment ; but such 
 enactments could be made binding on all the States 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 67 
 
 only by being introduced as amendments into the 
 Constitution. The Constitution of the United States, 
 as is generally the case with the constitutions of na- 
 tions which have created them de novo , instead of 
 gradually evolving them, can be altered only by a 
 slow and difficult process. Congress cannot make 
 amendments in it without the consent of two-thirds 
 of both houses, and cannot call a convention to make 
 them without the concurrence of the legislatures of 
 two-thirds of the States, and when made they require 
 ratification by three-fourths of the States. 
 
 The Free States are now sixteen, the Slave States 
 fifteen. To obtain the requisite majority of three- 
 fourths, six of the Slave States must join the Free 
 States. We do not believe that this is to be hoped 
 for now. If, under the operation of the Nebraska 
 and Kansas Act, two or three more Slave States are 
 added to the Union, it will become obviously im- 
 possible. 
 
 That Act, however, is not part of the Constitution. 
 Congress, by a simple majority, can repeal it, and 
 arrest the territorial progress of slavery. 
 
 It can also repeal the Fugitive Slave Act, and re- 
 lieve the Northerns from the hateful liability to be- 
 come slave hunters for the Southerns. 
 
 But it can do no more. 
 
 Beyond the repeal of these Acts, what can an 
 American statesman, anxious to free his country from 
 this intolerable load of misery and crime effect ? 
 
 Nothing. 
 
 He may indulge the hope that the ameliorating 
 influence of knowledge and religion will induce the 
 inhabitants of the Southern States themselves to 
 amend gradually their atrocious slave codes. He may 
 console himself with such a hope. We should be sorry 
 to deprive him of it, but we do not share it. Public 
 
68 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 opinion in the Slave States instead of improving is 
 deteriorating. There are no instruments by which 
 it can be enlightened or shamed. The press, the 
 pulpit, the legislative bodies are silenced. Any man 
 “tainted,” to use the language of a Southern Pres- 
 byterian clergyman, “ with the blood-hound prin- 
 “ ciples of abolition,” * or even suspected of being so 
 tainted, is ruined, outraged, and exiled, if he is 
 allowed to live.f 
 
 That Providence will, in its own way and in its 
 own time, work out a cure, we believe ; because we 
 believe improvement, progressive, though always 
 slow and often interrupted, to be among the laws by 
 which this earth is governed. But we do not venture 
 to hope that we, or our sons, or our grandsons, will 
 see American slavery extirpated, or even materially 
 mitigated. 
 
 * Key, p. 492. 
 
 f See Note II. 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Note I., p. 27. 
 
 The following story, which we take from an American 
 paper of July, 1855, illustrates the remarks in the text. 
 
 “ A Mr. Pardon Davis, of Marquette County, in the 
 State of Winconsin, was temporarily resident at Tensas, in 
 Louisiana, near which was a plantation, the scene of horrible 
 cruelties. Some negroes escaped from it, took refuge in his 
 wood-yard, were concealed by him, and sent in a canoe 
 across the river. A negro-hunter discovered their trail, 
 hunted them for forty miles, overtook them, and gave them 
 to his dogs to be worried, until at last they confessed whence 
 they came and who had assisted them. For this crime Mr. 
 Davis was sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment in the 
 State prison of Louisiana, and is now at Baton Rouge 
 undergoing his punishment. 
 
 “ The following passages are extracted from a letter, which 
 he wrote before his trial, to the Baptist community of which 
 he is a member. 
 
 “ ‘ I ask my brethren and sisters, in the fear of God, if a 
 man should come to you, presenting a lacerated back, ex- 
 posed to the rays of a southern summer’s sun for want of a 
 shirt, feet bleeding from having been torn by snags and 
 briars, hungry and faint, whose crime was that he failed, 
 after straining every nerve, to perform the labour appointed 
 him — I ask, would you — could you — turn him away without 
 assisting him? No, brethren, I think I know you too well 
 — I think you would hand up a loaf of bread, part with 
 some of your surplus clothing, or, if you had no surplus, 
 buy some, as I did — help them across the river, point them 
 to the star of Liberty, and bid them God speed. 
 
 “ ‘ And now what more can I say ? Have I done wrong ? 
 Have I done more than any man ought to do ? Dear brethren, 
 I leave you to judge; I am willing to be governed by your 
 decision. I wait with the greatest anxiety to hear from you, 
 
 * [f 2] 
 
[ 62 ] SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 to know whether I shall receive your sympathies and prayers, 
 or whether I have done wrong and am considered a heathen. 
 If the former, I can bear my affliction with fortitude ; but if 
 the latter, I feel that my life hangs by a slender thread — 
 that my days are numbered. In the meantime, brethren, 
 pray for me ; sisters, remember me in your prayers. 
 
 “ ‘ I must cease, for the last paper in my possession is 
 nearly covered over. And now, my brethren, when you 
 meet to pray for heathen lands, remember, O ! remember our 
 own country. Watch over the declining steps of my parents; 
 ’tis the greatest boon I can ask, for I fear that this intel- 
 ligence will bring the grey hairs of loving father and affec- 
 tionate mother to the grave. Comfort them with the thought 
 that we may meet in heaven.’ ” 
 
 Note II., p. 68. 
 
 Even in Virginia, once the most civilised of the States, to 
 speak, though in another State, against slavery is punished 
 by exile. 
 
 This crime was committed by a Mr. Underwood, a Vir- 
 ginian, on the 26th of June, 1856. We copy a letter to him 
 from his wife, warning him of what was to come, and also the 
 sentence inflicted on him by a self-constituted tribunal. 
 
 “June 23rd, 1856. 
 
 “ My Dear John C., 
 
 “ A friend communicated to me yesterday that there 
 existed the greatest excitement and indignation against you 
 for making, as reported in The Herald, an anti-slavery 
 
 speech. told our friend, they were watching at 
 
 Piedmont on Saturday for your arrival, and he had no doubt 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. [ 63 ] 
 
 if you had come that day, you would have met with personal 
 violence. At Markham Station the leaders say they go for 
 giving you notice, and a reasonable time to wind up your 
 business and leave the State. I send this morning to 
 Alexandria to mail this letter at that place, and telegraph 
 to you to remain in New York till you receive it. I know 
 not what to advise. I am afraid the excitement will meet 
 you if you come. You know I am a Jackson, and I could 
 not have Jackson blood in my veins without resisting till the 
 last drop is shed in defence of life and liberty ; but I do not 
 believe in courting mob law or martyrdom. I feel greatly 
 troubled at this state of things, and fear if your speech can 
 be obtained it will exasperate the people here greatly. I 
 hope you will be prudent; remain awhile in New York. 
 Write immediately, and tell me what to do on the farm, 
 and I will try to have your wishes carried out as nearly as 
 I can. 
 
 “ With sorrow and much love, I remain, as ever, 
 
 “ Your devoted wife, 
 
 “ M. G. Underwood.” 
 
 From “ The Virginia Sentinel,” June 27th, 1856. 
 
 “ At a large and respectable meeting held at Piedmont 
 Station, on the 26 th instant, for the purpose of expressing 
 their sentiments in relation to the course pursued by John 
 C. Underwood, of Clarke County, and George Rye, of 
 Shenandoah, at the Black Republican Convention, recently 
 held at Philadelphia — 
 
 “ Resolved, That a committee be appointed to wait upon 
 Mr. Underwood, to inform him of the just feelings of indig- 
 nation created by his course in the Convention, together wtth 
 his former (reputed) course in regard to the institution of 
 slavery, and that they deem it just and advisable that he 
 should leave the State as speedily as he can find it in his 
 power so to do. 
 
 “ Resolved, That the Alexandria Gazette, Alexandria 
 
[ 64 ] SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Sentinel, Virginia papers generally, the National Intelligencer, 
 and Baltimore Sun, are requested to insert the above as an 
 act of justice to the citizens of our State. 
 
 “ Edwin S. Ashby, Secretary. 
 
 “ Robert Singleton, Chairman.” 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. [ 65 ] 
 
 Mr. Sumner’s speech will be made more intelligible 
 to an English reader by the following extract from a 
 sermon preached by the Rev. Dudley Tyng in Phila- 
 delphia, on the 29th June, 1856 : — 
 
 “ On the 30th of May, 1854, the Territory of Kan- 
 sas was thrown open to settlers by act of Congress, 
 and the privilege of determining the character of its 
 institutions accorded to those who should become re- 
 sidents of its soil. Attracted by this opening for 
 industry and enterprise, large numbers of persons 
 from all sections of the country emigrated to the 
 Territory, and soon made its prairies to smile with 
 cultivation, and dotted its surface with towns and 
 villages. Never country opened with brighter pros- 
 pects. But how soon was the bright morn overcast ! 
 On the 29th of November, 1854, the infant Territory 
 was to elect a Delegate to appear and speak in its 
 behalf in the National Congress. On that day more 
 than one thousand armed men from an adjoining 
 State invaded the Territory, drove judges and legal 
 voters from the polls, and, by fraudulent ballots, 
 elected a man of their own. On the 30th of March, 
 1855, the inhabitants of Kansas were to have elected 
 their Territorial Legislature. More than four thou- 
 sand armed men from the same State again invaded 
 the Territory, took possession of the polls and elected 
 their own candidates, some of them residents of their 
 own State. The recent investigations of the Con- 
 gressional Committee have proved that of five thousand 
 five hundred votes cast on that day, less than one 
 thousand were of actual residents of the Territory. 
 
 Surely it was bad enough to see a Legislature im- 
 posed on them by force and fraud. But what sort of 
 laws did they pass ? Hear and ask yourselves whether 
 
[66] SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 we live in the Nineteenth Century, and in a free and 
 Christian Republic. They re-enacted in a mass all 
 the slave laws of Missouri, merely adding that wher- 
 ever the word { State ’ occurs in them it shall be 
 construed to mean ‘ Territory.’ They made non- 
 admission of the right to hold slaves in the Territory 
 a disqualification for sitting as Juror. They enacted 
 that to say that persons have not a right to hold 
 slaves in that Territory should be punished with two 
 years’ imprisonment at hard labour; that writing, print- 
 ing, or circulating anything against slavery should 
 be punished with five years’ imprisonment at hard 
 labour ; that the harbouring of fugitive slaves should 
 be punished with five years’ imprisonment at hard 
 labour ; that assisting slaves to escape from any 
 Territory, and take refuge in that Territory, should 
 be punished with death ; that the printing or circu- 
 lation of publications calculated to incite slaves to 
 insurrection should be punished with death ; to secure 
 these laws perpetuity, they enacted that all who do 
 not swear to support the Fugitive Slave law should 
 be disqualified as voters, but that any one might vote 
 who will pay one dollar and swear to uphold the 
 Fugitive Slave law and the Nebraska bill. And, still 
 further to guard against all contingencies, they ap- 
 pointed non-residents to town and county offices for 
 six years ahead.” 
 
 “ Thus, by one stroke of combined fraud and force, 
 the great questions of social rights, whose settlement 
 had been pledged to the citizens themselves, were de- 
 cided by an invading army, whose agents establish 
 Slavery against the wishes of the people, disfranchise 
 all who oppose it, open the polls to all pro-slavery 
 non-residents, and shut up all who speak, write, 
 print, or circulate anything against it with long im- 
 prisonment at hard labour. What has become of 
 
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. [ 67 ] 
 
 the rights of American 'citizens ? Talk of obedience 
 to law ! Would you, would any American, obey such 
 laws so imposed ? Where were the spirit of our Re- 
 volutionary fathers if such oppression could be sub- 
 mitted to ? Where is our Republican Government if 
 such rights can be taken away ? ” 
 
 “ But what was done in opposition ? There was 
 no armed resistance, no collision with assumed au- 
 thority. The people of Kansas simply denied the 
 legality of the enactments and the obligation of obedi- 
 ence, and then, falling back on inherent rights, went 
 through the preliminaries of a State organisation, 
 and applied to Congress for relief. That relief has 
 not been yet afforded And what has since tran- 
 spired ? A third, fourth and fifth armed invasion 
 has taken place, each with increased aggravation of 
 outrage. Pillage, and plunder, and murder, have 
 increased from day to day. Large bodies of armed 
 men from distant and adjoining States are in the 
 Territory, with no attempt at becoming settlers, 
 without means of honest support, living by the pil- 
 lage of those who differ from themselves in senti- 
 ment, and perpetrating cruelties unknown even in 
 war. Government troops have been used to overawe 
 all attempts at resistance, and moved about so as to 
 expose unprotected towns to violence. A fourfold 
 process of oppression has been used to ruin and drive 
 out those whose only crime is the claiming of rights 
 guaranteed to them by the very law which invited 
 them to Kansas. First, innumerable indictments for 
 imaginary crimes are made out by a corrupt judici- 
 ary against all Free State men of influence, while the 
 worst of crimes, by men of opposite politics, have 
 gone unnoticed. Secondly, armed hordes of ruffians, 
 under pretence of maintaining ‘ law and order,’ patrol 
 the country, committing all the outrages which have 
 
[68] SLAVERY IN TIIE UNITED STATES. 
 
 been described. Thirdly, the United States dra- 
 goons are made use of by the local authorities to 
 suppress any risings for self-defence, and kept out of 
 the way when attacks are to be made. And, lastly, 
 ‘ Vigilance Committees ’ are appointed to drive off, 
 with threats of £ Lynch law/ all those who, by the 
 other methods, have not been subdued. All this has 
 been going on for months. And recent accounts an- 
 nounce that the sufferers themselves are driven by 
 desperation to armed defence, and the hostile bands 
 are now watching each other, and meeting in deadly 
 conflict. Civil war is begun.” 
 
A SPEECH 
 
 DELIVERED BY 
 
 THE HON. CHARLES SUMNER, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 On the 19 th and 20 th May, 1856. 
 
 Mr. President: 
 
 You are now called to redress a great transgression. 
 Seldom in the history of nations has such a question 
 been presented. Tariffs, army bills, navy bills, land 
 bills, are important, and justly occupy your care ; 
 but these all belong to the course of ordinary legisla- 
 tion. As means and instruments only, they are ne- 
 cessarily subordinate to the conservation of Govern- 
 ment itself. Grant them or deny them, in greater or 
 less degree, and you will inflict no shock ; the ma- 
 chinery of Government will continue to move ; the 
 State will not cease to exist. Far otherwise is it with 
 the eminent question now before you, involving, as it 
 does, Liberty in a broad Territory, and also involv- 
 ing the peace of the whole country with our good 
 name in history for evermore. 
 
 r 3 
 
70 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Take down your map, sir, and you will find that 
 the Territory of Kansas, more than any other region, 
 occupies the middle spot of North America, equally 
 distant from the Atlantic on the east, and the Pacific 
 on the west ; from the frozen waters of Hudson’s 
 Bay on the north, and the tepid Gulf Stream on the 
 south, constituting the precise territorial centre of 
 the whole vast Continent. To such advantages of 
 situation, on the very highway between two oceans, 
 are added a soil of unsurpassed richness, and a fasci- 
 nating, undulating beauty of surface, with a health- 
 giving climate, calculated to nurture a powerful and 
 generous people, worthy to be a central pivot of 
 American Institutions. A few short months only have 
 passed since this spacious mediterranean country was 
 open only to the savage, who ran wild in its woods 
 and prairies; and now it has already drawn to its 
 bosom a population of freemen larger than Athens 
 crowded within her historic gates, when her sons, 
 under Miltiades, won Liberty for mankind on the 
 field of Marathon ; more than Sparta contained when 
 she ruled Greece, and sent forth her devoted children, 
 quickened by a mother’s benediction, to return with 
 their shields or on them ; more than Rome gathered 
 on her seven hills, when, under her kings, she com- 
 menced that sovereign sway, which afterwards em- 
 braced the whole earth ; more than London held, 
 when, on the fields of Crecy and Agincourt, the 
 English banner was carried victoriously over the 
 chivalrous hosts of France. 
 
 Against this Territory, thus fortunate in position 
 and population, a Crime has been committed, which 
 is without example in the records of the Past. Not 
 in plundered provinces or in the cruelties of selfish 
 governors will you find its parallel ; and yet there 
 is an ancient instance, which may show at least the 
 
MR. SUMNER S SPEECH. 
 
 71 
 
 path of justice. In the terrible impeachment by 
 which the great Roman orator has blasted through 
 all time the name of Verres, amidst charges of rob- 
 bery and sacrilege, the enormity which most aroused 
 the indignant voice of his accuser, and which still 
 stands forth with strongest distinctness, arresting the 
 sympathetic indignation of all who read the story, is, 
 that away in Sicily he had scourged a citizen of Rome 
 — that the cry “I am a Roman citizen” had been 
 interposed in vain against the lash of the tyrant 
 governor. Other charges were, that he had carried 
 away productions of art, and that he had violated 
 the sacred shrines. It was in the presence of the 
 Roman Senate that this arraignment proceeded ; in a 
 temple of the Forum; amidst crowds, such as no 
 orator had ever before drawn together, thronging 
 the porticos and colonnades, even clinging to the 
 house-tops and neighbouring slopes ; and under the 
 anxious gaze of witnesses summoned from the scene 
 of crime. But an audience grander far, of higher 
 dignity, of more various people and of wider intel- 
 ligence — the countless multitude of succeeding gene- 
 rations, in every land, where eloquence has been 
 studied, or where the Roman name has been recog- 
 nised — has listened to the accusation, and throbbed 
 with condemnation of the criminal. Sir, speaking in 
 an age of light and in a land of constitutional liberty, 
 where the safeguards of elections are justly placed 
 among the highest triumphs of civilisation, I fear- 
 lessly assert that the wrongs of much abused Sicily, 
 thus memorable in history, were small by the side 
 of the wrongs of Kansas, where the very shrines of 
 popular institutions, more sacred than any heathen 
 altar, have been desecrated ; where the ballot-box, more 
 precious than any work, in ivory or marble, from the 
 cunning hand of art, has been plundered ; and where 
 
72 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the cry, “ I am an American citizen,” has been inter- 
 posed in vain against outrage of every kind, even 
 upon life itself. Are you against sacrilege ? I present 
 it for your execration. Are you against robbery ? I 
 hold it up to your scorn. Are you for the protection 
 of American citizens ? I show you how their dearest 
 rights have been cloven down, while a Tyrannical 
 Usurpation has sought to instal itself on their very 
 necks ! 
 
 But the wickedness which I now begin to expose 
 is immeasurably aggravated by the motive which 
 prompted it. Not in any common lust for power did 
 this uncommon tragedy have its origin. It is the 
 rape of a virgin Territory, compelling it to the hate- 
 ful embrace of Slavery ; and it may be clearly traced 
 to a depraved longing for a new Slave State, the 
 hideous offspring of such a crime, in the hope of 
 adding to the power of Slavery in the National Go- 
 vernment. Yes, Sir, when the whole world, alike 
 Christian and Turk, is rising up to condemn this 
 wrong, and to make it a hissing to the nations, here 
 in our Republic, force — aye, sir, FORCE — has been 
 openly employed in compelling Kansas to this pollu- 
 tion, and all for the sake of political power. There is 
 the simple fact, which you will vainly attempt to 
 deny, but which in itself presents an essential wicked- 
 ness that makes other public crimes seem like public 
 virtues. 
 
 But this enormity, vast beyond comparison, swells 
 to dimensions of wickedness which the imagination 
 toils in vain to grasp, when it is understood, that for 
 this purpose are hazarded the horrors of intestine 
 feud, not only in this distant territory, but every- 
 where throughout the country. Already the muster 
 has begun. The strife is no longer local, but national. 
 Even now, while I speak, portents hang on all the 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 73 
 
 arches of the horizon, threatening to darken the broad 
 land, which already yawns with the mutterings of 
 civil war. The fury of the propagandists of Slavery, 
 and the calm determination of their opponents, are 
 now diffused from the distant territory over wide- 
 spread communities, and the whole country, in all 
 its extent — marshalling hostile divisions, and fore- 
 shadowing a strife, which, unless happily averted by 
 the triumph of freedom, will become war — fratricidal, 
 parricidal war — with an accumulated wickedness be- 
 yond the 'wickedness of any war in human annals ; 
 justly provoking the avenging judgment of Provi- 
 dence and the avenging pen of history, and consti- 
 tuting a strife, in the language of the ancient writer, 
 more than foreign , more than social , more than civil ; 
 but something compounded of all these strifes, and in 
 itself more than war; sed potius commune quoddam 
 ex omnibus , et plus quam helium. 
 
 Such is the crime which you are to judge. But 
 the criminal also must be dragged into day, that you 
 may see and measure the power by which all this 
 wrong is sustained. From no common source could 
 it proceed. In its perpetration, was needed a spirit 
 of vaulting ambition which would hesitate at nothino-; 
 a hardihood of purpose which was insensible to the 
 judgment of mankind ; a madness for slavery which 
 should disregard the Constitution, the laws, and all 
 the great examples of our history ; also a conscious- 
 ness of power, such as comes from the habit of power ; 
 a combination of energies found only in a hundred 
 arms directed by a hundred eyes ; a control of Public 
 Opinion, through venal pens and a prostituted press ; 
 an ability to subsidise crowds in every vocation of 
 life — the politician with his local importance, the 
 lawyer with his subtle tongue, and even the authority 
 of the judge on the bench ; and a familiar use of men 
 
74 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 in places high and low, so that none, from the Presi- 
 dent to the lowest border postmaster, should decline 
 to be its tool ; all these things and more were needed ; 
 and they were found in the Slave Power of our Re- 
 public. There, sir, stands the criminal — all unmasked 
 before you — heartless, grasping, and tyrannical — 
 with an audacity beyond that of Yerres, a subtlety 
 beyond that of Machiavel, a meanness beyond that of 
 Bacon, and an ability beyond that of Hastings. Jus- 
 tice to Kansas can be secured only by the prostration 
 of this influence; for this is the power behind — 
 greater than any President — which succours and sus- 
 tains the crime. Nay, the proceedings I now arraign 
 derive their fearful consequence only from this con- 
 nection. 
 
 In now opening this great matter, I am not insen- 
 sible to the austere demands of the occasion ; but the 
 dependence of the crime against Kansas upon the 
 Slave Power is so peculiar and important, that I trust 
 to be pardoned while I impress it by an illustration, 
 which to some may seem trivial. It is related in 
 Northern mythology, that the god of .Force, visiting 
 an enchanted region, was challenged by his royal en- 
 tertainer to what seemed a humble feat of strength 
 — merely, sir, to lift a cat from the ground. The 
 god smiled at the challenge, and, calmly placing his 
 hand under the belly of the animal, with superhuman 
 strength, strove, while the back of the feline monster 
 arched far upwards, even beyond reach, and one paw 
 actually forsook the earth, until at last the discom- 
 fited divinity desisted. But he was little surprised at 
 his defeat, when he learned that this creature, which 
 seemed to be a cat, and nothing more, was not merely 
 a cat, but that it belonged to, and was a part of, the 
 great Terrestrial Serpent, which, in its innumerable 
 folds, encircled the whole globe. Even so the crea- 
 
me. sumner’s speech. 
 
 75 
 
 ture, whose paws are now fastened upon Kansas, 
 whatever it may seem to be, constitutes in reality a 
 part of the Slave Power, which, with loathsome folds, 
 is now coiled about the whole land. Thus do I ex- 
 pose the extent of the present contest, where we 
 encounter not merely local resistance, but also the 
 unconquered sustaining arm behind. But out of the 
 vastness of the crime attempted, with all its woe and 
 shame, I derive a well-founded assurance of a com- 
 mensurate vastness of effort against it, by the aroused 
 masses of the country, determined not only to vindi- 
 cate Right against Wrong, but4o redeem the Republic 
 from the thraldom of that Oligarchy, which prompts, 
 directs, and concentrates, the distant wrong. 
 
 Such is the crime, and such the criminal, which it 
 is my duty in this debate to expose, and, by the 
 blessing of God, this duty shall be done completely 
 to the end. But this will not be enough. The apo- 
 logies, which, with strange hardihood, have been of- 
 fered for the crime, must be torn away, so that it 
 shall stand forth, without a single rag, or fig-leaf, to 
 cover its vileness. And, finally, the true remedy 
 must be shown. The subject is complex in its re- 
 lations, as it is transcendent in importance ; and yet, 
 if I am honoured by your attention, I hope to ex- 
 hibit it clearly in all its parts, while I conduct you to 
 the inevitable conclusion, that Kansas must be ad- 
 mitted at once, with her present Constitution, as a 
 State of this Union, and give a new star to the blue 
 field of our national flag. And here I derive satis- 
 faction from the thought that the cause is so strong 
 
 ... ® 
 in itself as to bear even the infirmities of its ad- 
 vocates ; nor can it require anything beyond that 
 simplicity of treatment and moderation of manner 
 which I desire to cultivate. Its true character is such, 
 
76 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 that, like Hercules, it will conquer just so soon as it 
 is recognised. 
 
 My task will be divided under three different 
 heads ; first, the Crime against Kansas, in its origin 
 and extent ; secondly , the Apologies por the Crime ; 
 and thirdly , the True Remedy. 
 
 But, before entering upon the argument, I must 
 say something of a general character, particularly in 
 response to what has fallen from Senators who have 
 raised themselves to eminence on this floor in cham- 
 pionship of human wrongs ; I mean the Senator from 
 South Carolina [Mr. Butler], and the Senator from 
 Illinois [Mr. Douglas], who, though unlike as Don 
 Quixote and Sancho Panza, yet, like this couple, sally 
 forth together in the same adventure. I regret much 
 to miss the elder Senator from his seat; but the 
 cause, against Avhich he has run a tilt, with such 
 activity of animosity, demands that the opportunity 
 of exposing him should not be lost ; and it is for the 
 cause that I speak. The Senator from South Carolina 
 has read many books of chivalry, and believes himself 
 a chivalrous knight, with sentiments of honour and 
 courage. Of course he has chosen a mistress to whom 
 he has made his vows, and who, though ugly to others, 
 is always lovely to him ; though polluted in the sight 
 of the world, is chaste in his sight — I mean the harlot, 
 Slavery. For her, his tongue is always profuse in 
 words. Let her be impeached in character, or any 
 proposition made to shut her out from the extension 
 of her wantonness, and no extravagance of manner 
 or hardihood of assertion is then too great for this 
 Senator. The frenzy of Don Quixote, in behalf of 
 his wench Dulcinea del Toboso, is all surpassed. The 
 asserted rights of Slavery, which shock equality of all 
 
mr. sumner’s speech. 
 
 77 
 
 kinds, are cloaked by a fantastic claim of equality. If 
 the Slave States cannot enjoy what, in mockery of the 
 great fathers of the Republic, he misnames equality 
 under the Constitution — in other words, the full 
 power in the National Territories to compel fellow- 
 men to unpaid toil, to separate husband and wife, 
 and to sell little children at the auction block — then, 
 sir, the chivalric Senator will conduct the State of 
 South Carolina out of the Union! Heroic knight! 
 Exalted Senator ! A second Moses come for a second 
 exodus ! 
 
 But not content with this poor menace, which we 
 have been twice told was “ measured,” the Senator, 
 in the unrestrained chivalry of his nature, has under- 
 taken to apply opprobrious words to those who differ 
 from him on this floor. He calls them “ sectional 
 and fanatical ; ” and opposition to the usurpation in 
 Kansas, he denounces as “ an uncalculating fanati- 
 cism.” To be sure, these charges lack all grace of 
 originality, and all sentiment of truth; but the ad- 
 venturous Senator does not hesitate. He is the un- 
 compromising, unblushing representative on this floor 
 of a flagrant sectionalism , which now domineers over 
 the Republic ; and yet with a ludicrous ignorance of 
 his own position — unable to see himself as others see 
 him — or with an effrontery which even his white 
 head ought not to protect from rebuke, he applies to 
 those here who resist his sectionalism the very epithet 
 which designates himself. The men who strive to 
 bring back the Government to its original policy, 
 when Freedom and not Slavery was national, while 
 Slavery and not Freedom was sectional, he arraigns 
 as sectional. This will not do. It involves too great 
 a perversion of terms. I tell that Senator, that it is 
 to himself, and to the “ organisation ” of which he is 
 the “ committed advocate,” that this epithet belongs. 
 
78 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 I now fasten it upon them. For myself, I care little 
 for names ; but since the question has been raised 
 here, I affirm that the Republican party of the Union 
 is in no just sense sectional , but, more than any other 
 party, national ; and that it now goes forth to dis- 
 lodge from the high places of the Government the 
 tyrannical sectionalism of which the Senator from 
 South Carolina is one of the maddest zealots. 
 
 To the charge of fanaticism I also reply. Sir, 
 fanaticism is found in an enthusiasm or exaggeration 
 of opinions, particularly on religious subjects ; but 
 there may be a fanaticism for evil as well as for good. 
 Now, I will not deny that there are persons among 
 us loving Liberty too well for their personal good, in 
 a selfish generation. Such there may be, and, for 
 the sake of their example, would that there were 
 more ! In calling them “ fanatics ” you cast con- 
 tumely upon the noble army of martyrs, from the 
 earliest day down to this hour ; upon the great tri- 
 bunes of human rights, by whom life, liberty, and 
 happiness, on earth, have been secured ; upon the 
 long line of devoted patriots, who, throughout history, 
 have truly loved their country ; and, upon all, who, 
 in noble aspirations for the general good and in for- 
 getfulness of self, have stood out before their age, 
 and gathered into their generous bosoms the shafts of 
 tyranny and wrong, in order to make a pathway for 
 Truth. You discredit Luther, when alone he nailed 
 his articles to the door of the church at Wittenberg, 
 and then, to the imperial demand that he should re- 
 tract, firmly replied, “ Here I stand ; I cannot do 
 otherwise, so help me God ! ” You discredit Hamp- 
 den, when alone he refused to pay the few shillings of 
 ship-money, and shook the throne of Charles I. ; you 
 discredit Milton, when, amidst the corruptions of a 
 heartless Court, he lived on, the lofty friend of 
 
MR. SUMNER S SPEECH. 
 
 79 
 
 Liberty, above question of suspicion ; you discredit 
 Russell and Sidney, when, for the sake of their coun- 
 try, they calmly turned from family and friends, to 
 tread the narrow steps of the scaffold ; you discredit 
 those early founders of American institutions, who 
 preferred the hardships of a wilderness, surrounded 
 by a savage foe, to injustice on beds of ease ; you dis- 
 credit our later fathers, who, few in numbers and 
 weak in resources, yet strong in their cause, did not 
 hesitate to brave the mighty power of England, 
 already encircling the globe with her morning drum- 
 beats. Yes, sir, of such are the fanatics of history, 
 according to the Senator. But I tell that Senator, 
 that there are characters badly eminent, of whose 
 fanaticism there can be no question. Such were 
 the ancient Egyptians, who worshipped divinities in 
 brutish forms ; the Druids, who darkened the forests 
 of oak, in which they lived, by sacrifices of blood ; the 
 Mexicans, who surrendered countless victims to the 
 propitiation of their obscene idols; the Spaniards, 
 who, under Alva, sought to force the Inquisition 
 upon Holland, by a tyranny kindred to that now em- 
 ployed to force Slavery upon Kansas ; and such were 
 the Algerines, when in solemn conclave, after listen- 
 ing to a speech not unlike that of the Senator from 
 South Carolina, they resolved to continue the slavery 
 of white Christians, and to extend it to the country- 
 men of Washington ! Aye, sir, extend it! And in 
 this same dreary catalogue faithful history must re- 
 cord all who now, in an enlightened age and in a land 
 of boasted Freedom, stand up, in perversion of the 
 Constitution and in denial of immortal truth, to fasten 
 a new shackle upon their fellow-man. If the Senator 
 wishes to see fanatics, let him look round among his 
 own associates ; let him look at himself. 
 
 But I have not done with the Senator. There is 
 
80 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 another matter regarded by him of such consequence, 
 that he interpolated it into the speech of the Senator 
 from New Hampshire [Mr. Hale], and also announced 
 that he had prepared himself with it, to take in his 
 pocket all the way to Boston, when he expected to 
 address the people of that community. On this ac- 
 count, and for the sake of truth, I stop for one 
 moment, and tread it to the earth. The North, ac- 
 cording to the Senator, was engaged in the slave 
 trade, and helped to introduce slaves into the Southern 
 States ; and this undeniable fact he proposed to esta- 
 blish by statistics, in stating which his errors surpassed 
 his sentences in number. But I let these pass for the 
 present, that I may deal with his argument. Pray, 
 sir, is the acknowledged turpitude of a departed gene- 
 ration to become an example for us? And yet the 
 suggestion of the Senator, if entitled to any consider- 
 ation in this discussion, must have this extent. I 
 join my friend from New Hampshire in thanking the 
 Senator from South Carolina for adducing this in- 
 stance ; for it gives me an opportunity to say, that 
 the Northern merchants, with homes in Boston, 
 Bristol, Newport, New York, and Philadelphia, who 
 catered for Slavery during the years of the slave 
 trade, are the lineal progenitors of the Northern men, 
 with homes in these places, who lend themselves to 
 Slavery in our day ; and especially that all, whether 
 North or South, who take part, directly or indirectly, 
 in the conspiracy against Kansas, do but continue the 
 work of the slave traders, which you condemn. It is 
 true, too true, alas ! that our fathers were engaged in 
 this traffic ; but that is no apology for it. And in 
 repelling the authority of this example, I repel also 
 the trite argument founded on the earlier example of 
 England. It is true that our mother country, at the 
 peace of Utrecht, extorted from Spain the Assiento 
 
ME. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 81 
 
 Contract, securing the monopoly of the slave trade 
 with the Spanish Colonies, as the whole price of all 
 the blood of great victories ; that she higgled at Aix- 
 la-Chapelle for another lease of this exclusive traffic ; 
 and again, at the treaty of Madrid, clung to the 
 wretched piracy. It is true, that in this spirit the 
 power of the mother country was prostituted to the 
 same base ends in her American Colonies, against 
 indignant protests from our fathers. All these things 
 now rise up in judgment against her. Let us not 
 follow the Senator from South Carolina to do the 
 very evil to-day, which in another generation we 
 condemn. 
 
 As the Senator from South Carolina is the Don 
 Quixote, the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Douglas] is 
 the squire of Slavery, its very Sancho Panza, ready 
 to do all its humiliating offices. This Senator, in 
 his laboured address, vindicating his laboured report 
 — piling one mass of elaborate error upon another 
 mass — constrained himself, as you will remember, to 
 unfamiliar decencies of speech. Of that address I 
 have nothing to say at this moment, though before I 
 sit down I shall show something of its fallacies. 
 But I go back now to an earlier occasion, when true 
 to his native impulses, he threw into this discussion, 
 “ for a charm of powerful trouble,” personalities most 
 discreditable to this body. I will not stop to repel 
 the imputations which he cast upon myself ; but I 
 mention them to remind you of the “ sweltered venom 
 sleeping got,” which, with other poisoned ingredients, 
 he cast into the cauldron of this debate. Of other 
 things I speak. Standing on this floor, the Senator 
 issued his rescript, requiring submission to the 
 Usurped Power of Kansas ; and this was accompa- 
 nied by a manner — all his own — such as befits the 
 tyrannical threat. Very well. Let the Senator try. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 SLAVERY IN TIIE UNITED STATES. 
 
 I tell him now that he cannot enforce any such submis- 
 sion. The Senator, with the Slave Power at his back, is 
 strong ; but he is not strong enough for this purpose. 
 He is bold. He shrinks from nothing. Like Danton, 
 he may cry, “ V audace ! Vaudace! toujours VaudaceV 
 but even his audacity cannot compass this work. 
 The Senator copies the British officer, who, with 
 boastful swagger, said that with the hilt of his sword 
 he would cram the “ stamps ” down the throats of 
 the American people, and he will meet a similar 
 failure. He may convulse this country with civil 
 feud. Like the ancient madman, he may set fire to 
 this Temple of Constitutional Liberty, grander than 
 Ephesian dome; but he cannot enforce obedience to 
 that tyrannical usurpation. 
 
 The Senator dreams that he can subdue the North. 
 He disclaims the open threat, but his conduct still 
 implies it. How little that Senator knows himself, 
 or the strength of the cause which he persecutes ! 
 He is but a mortal man ; against him is an immortal 
 principle. With finite power he wrestles with the 
 infinite, and he must fall. Against him are stronger 
 battalions than any marshalled by mortal arm — the 
 inborn, ineradicable, invincible sentiments of the 
 human heart ; against him is nature in all her subtle 
 forces ; against him is God. Let him try to subdue 
 these. 
 
 But I pass from these things, which, though 
 belonging to the very heart of the discussion, are yet 
 preliminary in character, and press at once to the 
 main question. 
 
 I. It belongs to me now, in the first place, to 
 expose the Crime against Kansas, in its origin and 
 extent. Logically, this is the beginning of the argu- 
 
mr. sumner’s speech. 
 
 83 
 
 ment. I say Crime, and deliberately adopt this 
 strongest term, as better than any other denoting the 
 consummate transgression. I would go further, if 
 language could further go. It is the Crime of Crimes 
 — surpassing far the old crimen majestatis , pursued 
 with vengeance by the laws of Rome, and containing 
 all other crimes, as the greater contains the less. I 
 do not go too far, when I call it the Crime against 
 Nature , from which the soul recoils, and which lan- 
 guage refuses to describe. To lay bare this enormity, 
 I now proceed. The whole subject has already be- 
 come a twice-told tale, and its renewed recital will be 
 a renewal of its sorrow and shame ; but I shall not 
 hesitate to enter upon it. The occasion requires it 
 from the beginning. 
 
 It has been well remarked by a distinguished his- 
 torian of our country, that, at the Ithuriel touch of 
 the Missouri discussion, the slave interest, hitherto 
 hardly recognised as a distinct element in our system, 
 started up portentous and dilated, with threats and 
 assumptions, which are the origin of our existing na- 
 tional politics. This was in 1820. The discussion 
 ended with the admission of Missouri as a slaveholding 
 State, and the prohibition of Slavery in all the re- 
 maining territory west of the Mississippi, and north of 
 36° 30', leaving the condition of other territory south 
 of this line, or subsequently acquired, untouched by 
 the arrangement. Here was a solemn act of legisla- 
 tion, called at the time a compromise, a covenant, a 
 compact, first brought forward in this body by a 
 slaveholder— vindicated by slaveholders in debate — 
 finally sanctioned by slaveholding votes— also upheld 
 at the time by the essential approbation of a slave- 
 holding President, James Monroe and his Cabinet, of 
 whom a majority were slaveholders, including Mr. 
 Calhoun himself ; and this compromise was made the 
 
48 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 condition of the admission of Missouri, without which 
 that State could not have been received into the 
 Union. The bargain was simple, and was applicable, 
 of course, only to the territory named. Leaving all 
 other territory to await the judgment of another 
 generation, the South said to the North, Conquer 
 your prejudices so far as to admit Missouri as a Slave 
 State, and, in consideration of this much-coveted 
 boon, Slavery shall be prohibited for ever in all the 
 remaining Louisiana Territory above 86° 30' ; and 
 the North yielded. 
 
 In total disregard of history, the President, in his 
 annual message, has told us that this compromise 
 “ was reluctantly acquiesced in by the Southern 
 States.” Just the contrary is true. It was the work 
 of slaveholders, and was crowded by their concurring 
 votes upon a reluctant North. At the time it was 
 hailed by slaveholders as a victory. Charles Pinckney, 
 of South Carolina, in an oft-quoted letter, written at 
 three o’clock on the night of its passage, says, “ It is 
 considered here by the slaveholding States as a great 
 triumph.” At the North it was accepted as a defeat, 
 and the friends of freedom everywhere throughout 
 the country bowed their heads with mortification. 
 But little did they know the completeness of their 
 disaster. Little did they dream that the prohibition 
 of Slavery in the Territory, which was stipulated as 
 the price of their fatal capitulation, would also at 
 the very moment of its maturity be wrested from 
 them. 
 
 Time passed, and it became necessary to provide 
 for this Territory an organised Government. Sud- 
 denly, without notice in the public press, or the 
 prayer of a single petition, or one word of open 
 recommendation from the President — after an ac- 
 quiescence of thirty-three years, and the irreclaimable 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 85 
 
 possession by the South of its special share under 
 this compromise — in violation of every obligation of 
 honour, compact, and good neighbourhood — and in 
 contemptuous disregard of the out-gushing senti- 
 ments of an aroused North, this time-honoured pro- 
 hibition, in itself a landmark of freedom, was over- 
 turned, and the vast region now known as Kansas 
 and Nebraska was opened to Slavery. It was natural 
 that a measure thus repugnant in character should 
 be pressed by arguments mutually repugnant. It 
 was urged on two principal reasons, so opposite and 
 inconsistent as to slap each other in the face — one 
 being that, by the repeal of the prohibition, the 
 Territory would be left open to the entry of slave- 
 holders with their slaves, without hindrance ; and the 
 other being, that the people would be left absolutely 
 free to determine the question for themselves, and to 
 prohibit the entry of slaveholders with their slaves, 
 if they should think best. With some, the apology 
 was the alleged rights of slaveholders ; with others, 
 it was the alleged rights of the people. With some, 
 it was openly the extension of Slavery ; and with 
 others, it was openly the establishment of Freedom, 
 under the guise of popular sovereignty. Of course, 
 the measure, thus upheld in defiance of reason, was 
 carried through Congress in defiance of all the secu- 
 rities of legislation ; and I mention these things that 
 you may see in what foulness the present Crime was 
 engendered. 
 
 It was carried, first, by whipping in to its support, 
 through executive influence and patronage, men who 
 acted against their own declared judgment and the 
 known will of their constituents. Secondly , by fioist- 
 ing out of place , both in the Senate and House of 
 Representatives, important business, long pending, 
 unci usurping its room. Thirdly , by trampling under 
 
86 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 foot the rules of the House of Representatives, always 
 before the safeguard of the minority. And fourthly , 
 by driving it to a dose during the very session in 
 which it originated, so that it might not be arrested 
 by the indignant voice of the people. Such are some 
 of the means by which this snap judgment was ob- 
 tained. If the clear will of the people had not been 
 disregarded, it could not have passed. If the Go- 
 vernment had not nefariously interposed its influence, 
 it could not have passed. If it had been left to its 
 natural place in the order of business, it could not 
 have passed. If the rules of the House and the 
 rights of the minority had not been violated, it could 
 not have passed. If it had been allowed to go over 
 to another Congress, when the people might be heard, 
 it would have been ended ; and then the crime we 
 now deplore, would have been without its first se- 
 minal life. 
 
 Mr. President, I mean to keep absolutely within 
 the limits of parliamentary propriety. I make no 
 personal imputations ; but only with frankness, such 
 as belongs to the occasion and my own character, 
 describe a great historical act, which is now enrolled 
 in the Capitol. Sir, the Nebraska Bill was in every 
 respect a swindle. It was a swindle by the South of 
 the North. It was, on the part of those who had 
 already completely enjoyed their share of the Missouri 
 compromise, a swindle of those whose share was yet 
 absolutely untouched ; and the plea of unconstitu- 
 tionally set up — like the plea of usury after the 
 borrowed money has been enjoyed — did not make it 
 less a swindle. Urged as a Bill of Peace, it was a 
 swindle of the whole country. Urged as opening the 
 doors to slave-masters with their slaves, it was a 
 swindle of the asserted doctrine of popular sove- 
 reignty. Urged as sanctioning popular sovereignty, 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 87 
 
 it was a swindle of the asserted rights of slave- 
 masters. It was a swindle of a broad territory, thus 
 cheated of protection against Slavery. It was a 
 swindle of a great cause, early espoused by Wash- 
 ington, Franklin, and Jefferson, surrounded by the 
 best fathers of the Republic. Sir, it was a swindle 
 of God-given inalienable rights. Turn it over; look 
 at it on all sides, and it is everywhere a swindle ; 
 and, if the word I now employ has not the authority 
 of classical usage, it has, on this occasion, the indu- 
 bitable authority of fitness. No other word will 
 adequately express the mingled meanness and wicked- 
 ness of the cheat. 
 
 Its character was still further apparent in the 
 general structure of the Bill. Amidst overflowing 
 professions of regard for the sovereignty of the people 
 in the Territory, they were despoiled of every essen- 
 tial privilege of sovereignty. They were not allowed 
 to choose their Governor, Secretary, Chief Justice, 
 Associate Justices, Attorney, or Marshal — all of 
 whom are sent from Washington ; nor were they 
 allowed to regulate the salaries of any of these func- 
 tionaries, or the daily allowance of the legislative 
 body, or even the pay of the clerks and doorkeepers ; 
 but they were left free to adopt Slavery. And this 
 was called popular sovereignty ! Time does not allow, 
 nor does the occasion require, that I should stop to 
 dwell on this transparent device to cover a trans- 
 cendent wrong. Suffice it to say, that Slavery is in 
 itself an arrogant denial of human rights, and by no 
 human reason can the power to establish such a 
 wrong be placed among the attributes of any just 
 sovereignty. In refusing it such a place, I do not 
 deny popular rights, but uphold them ; I do not 
 restrain popular rights, but extend them. And, sir, 
 to this conclusion you must yet come, unless deaf, 
 
88 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 not only to the admonitions of political justice, but 
 also to the genius of our own Constitution, under 
 which, when properly interpreted, no valid claim for 
 Slavery can be set up anywhere in the national terri- 
 tory. The Senator from Michigan [Mr. Cass] may 
 say, in response to the Senator from Mississippi [Mr. 
 Brown], that Slavery cannot go into the Territory 
 under the Constitution, without legislative introduc- 
 tion; and permit me to add, in response to both, that 
 Slavery cannot go there at all. Nothing can come out 
 of 7iothing ; and there is absolutely nothing in the 
 Constitution out of which Slavery can be derived, 
 while there are provisions, which, when properly in- 
 terpreted, make its existence anywhere within the 
 exclusive national jurisdiction impossible. 
 
 The offensive provision in the Bill was in its form 
 a legislative anomaly, utterly wanting the natural 
 directness and simplicity of an honest transaction. 
 It did not undertake openly to repeal the old pro- 
 hibition of Slavery, but seemed to mince the matter, 
 as if conscious of the swindle. It said that this 
 prohibition, “being inconsistent with the principle of 
 non-intervention by Congress with Slavery in the 
 States and Territories, as recognised by the legislation 
 of 1850, commonly called the Compromise Measures, 
 is hereby declared inoperative and void.” Thus, 
 with insidious ostentation, was it pretended that an 
 act, violating the greatest compromise of our legis- 
 lative history, and setting loose the foundations of 
 all compromise, was derived out of a compromise. 
 Then followed in the Bill the further declaration, 
 which is entirely without precedent, and which has 
 been aptly called “ a stump speech in its belly,” 
 namely : “ it being the true intent and meaning of 
 this act, not to legislate Slavery into any Territory or 
 State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 89 
 
 people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate 
 their domestic institutions in their own way, subject 
 only to the Constitution of the United States.” Here 
 were smooth words, such as belong to a cunning 
 tongue enlisted in a bad cause. But whatever may 
 have been their various hidden meanings, this at 
 least was evident, that by their effect, the Congres- 
 sional Prohibition of Slavery, which had always been 
 regarded as a seven-fold shield, covering the whole 
 Louisiana Territory north of 36° 30', was now re- 
 moved, while a principle was declared, which would 
 render the supplementary prohibition of Slavery in 
 Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington, “ inoperative 
 and void,” and thus open to Slavery all these vast 
 regions, now the rude cradles of mighty States. 
 Here you see the magnitude of the mischief con- 
 templated. But my purpose now is with the Crime 
 against Kansas, and I shall not stop to expose the 
 conspiracy beyond. 
 
 Mr. President, men are wisely presumed to intend 
 the natural consequences of their conduct, and to 
 seek what their acts seem to promote. Now, the 
 Nebraska Bill, on its very face, openly cleared the 
 way for Slavery, and it is not wrong to presume that 
 its originators intended the natural consequences of 
 such an act, and sought in this way to extend 
 Slavery. Of course, they did. And this is the first 
 stage in the Crime against Kansas. 
 
 But this was speedily followed by other develop- 
 ments. The bare-faced scheme was soon whispered, 
 that Kansas must be a Slave State. In conformity 
 with this idea was the Government of this unhappy 
 Territory organised in all its departments ; and thus 
 did the President, by whose complicity the Prohibi- 
 tion of Slavery had been overthrown, lend himself to 
 a new complicity — giving to the conspirators a lease 
 
\ 
 
 90 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 V 
 
 of connivance, amounting even to copartnership. 
 The Governor, Secretary, ChiefVJustice, Associate 
 Justices, Attorney, and Marshal, with a whole caucus 
 of other stipendiaries, nominated by the President 
 and confirmed by the Senate, were all commended as 
 friendly to Slavery. No man, with the sentiments 
 of Washington, or Jefferson, or Franklin, found any 
 favour ; nor is it too much to say, that, had these 
 great patriots once more come among us, not one of 
 them, with his recorded unretracted opinions on 
 Slavery, could have been nominated by the President 
 or confirmed by the Senate for any post in that 
 Territory. With such auspices the conspiracy pro- 
 ceeded. Even in advance of the Nebraska Bill, 
 secret societies were organised in Missouri, ostensibly 
 to protect her institutions, and afterwards, under the 
 name of “ Self-Defensive Associations,” and of “ Blue 
 Lodges,” these were multiplied throughout the west- 
 ern counties of that State, before any counter-move- 
 ment from the North. It was confidently anticipated, 
 that by the activity of these societies, and the interest 
 of slaveholders everywhere, with the advantage de- 
 rived from the neighbourhood of Missouri, and the 
 influence of the Territorial Government, Slavery 
 might be introduced into Kansas, quietly but surely, 
 without arousing a conflict — that the crocodile egg 
 might be stealthily dropped in the sun-burnt soil, 
 there to be hatched unobserved until it sent forth its 
 reptile monster. 
 
 But the conspiracy was unexpectedly balked. The 
 debate, which convulsed Congress, had stirred the 
 whole country. Attention from all sides was di- 
 rected upon Kansas, which at once became the fa- 
 vourite goal of emigration. The Bill had loudly 
 declared, that its object was “ to leave the people 
 perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 91 
 
 institutions in their own way;” and its supporters 
 everywhere challenged the determination of the 
 question between Freedom and Slavery by a compe- 
 tition of emigration. Thus, while opening the Terri- 
 tory to Slavery, the Bill also opened it to emigrants 
 from every quarter, who might by their votes redress 
 the wrong. The populous North, stung by a sharp 
 sense of outrage, and inspired by a noble cause, 
 poured into the debatable land, and promised soon to 
 establish a supremacy of numbers there, involving, of 
 course, a just supremacy of Freedom. 
 
 Then was conceived the consummation of the 
 Crime against Kansas. What could not be accom- 
 plished peaceably, was to be accomplished forcibly. 
 The reptile monster, that could not be quietly and 
 securely hatched there, was to be pushed full- 
 grown into the Territory. All efforts were now 
 given to the dismal work of forcing Slavery on 
 Free Soil. In flagrant derogation of the very Po- 
 pular Sovereignty, whose name helped to impose 
 this Bill upon the country, the atrocious object was 
 now distinctly avowed. And the avowal has been 
 followed by the act. Slavery has been forcibly intro- 
 duced into Kansas, and placed under the formal safe- 
 guards of pretended law. How this was done, belongs 
 to the argument. 
 
 In depicting this consummation, the simplest out- 
 line, without one word of colour, will be best. Whether 
 regarded in its mass or its details, in its origin or its 
 result, it is all blackness, illumined by nothing from 
 itself, but only by the heroism of the undaunted men 
 and women whom it environed. A plain statement 
 of facts will be a picture of fearful truth, which faith- 
 ful history will preserve in its darkest gallery. In 
 the foreground all will recognise a familiar character, 
 in himself a connecting link between the President 
 and the border ruffian — ■ less conspicuous for ability 
 
92 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES^ 
 
 than for the exalted place he has occupied — who once 
 sat in the seat where you now sit, sir; where once sat 
 John Adams and Thomas Jefferson; also, where once 
 sat Aaron Burr. I need not add the name of David 
 R. Atchison. You have not forgotten that, at the 
 session of Congress immediately succeeding the Ne- 
 braska Bill, he came tardily to his duty here, and 
 then, after a short time, disappeared. The secret has 
 been long since disclosed. Like Catiline, he stalked 
 into this Chamber, reeking with conspiracy — immo 
 in Senatum venit — and then like Catiline he skulked 
 away — abiit , excessit , evasit, erupit — to join and pro- 
 voke the conspirators, who at a distance awaited their 
 congenial chief. Under the influence of his malign 
 presence the Crime ripened to its fatal fruits, while 
 the similitude with Catiline was again renewed in the 
 sympathy, not even concealed, which he found in the 
 very Senate itself, where, beyond even the Roman 
 example, a Senator has not hesitated to appear as his 
 open compurgator. 
 
 And now, as I proceed to show the way in which 
 this Territory was overrun and finally subjugated to 
 Slavery, I desire to remove in advance all question 
 with regard to the authority on which I rely. The 
 evidence is secondary ; but it is the best which, in the 
 nature of the case, can be had, and it is not less clear, 
 direct, and peremptory, than any by which we are 
 assured of the campaigns in the Crimea or the fall of 
 Sevastopol. In its manifold mass, I confidently assert, 
 that it is such a body of evidence as the human mind 
 is not able to resist. It is found in the concurring 
 reports of the public press ; in the letters of corre- 
 spondents; in the testimony of travellers ; and in the 
 unaffected story to which I have listened from leading 
 citizens, who, during this winter, have “ come flock- 
 ing ” here from that distant Territory. It breaks 
 
mr. sumner’s speech. 
 
 93 
 
 forth in the irrepressible outcry, reaching us from 
 Kansas, in truthful tones, which leave no ground of 
 mistake. It addresses us in formal complaints, in- 
 stinct with the indignation of a people determined to 
 be free, and unimpeachable as the declarations of a 
 murdered man on his dying bed against his murderer. 
 And let me add, that all this testimony finds an echo 
 in the very statute-book of the conspirators, and also 
 in language dropped from the President of the United 
 States. 
 
 I begin with an admission from the President him- 
 self, in whose sight the people of Kansas have little 
 favour. And yet, after arraigning the innocent emi- 
 grants from the North, he was constrained to declare 
 that their conduct was “ far from justifying the illegal 
 and reprehensible counter-movement which ensued.” 
 Then, by the reluctant admission of the Chief Magis- 
 trate, there was a counter-movement, at once illegal 
 and reprehensible. I thank thee, President, for teach- 
 ing me these words ; and I now put them in the front 
 of this exposition, as in themselves a confession. Sir, 
 this “ illegal and reprehensible counter-movement ” is 
 none other than the dreadful Crime — under an apo- 
 logetic alias — by which, through successive inva- 
 sions, Slavery has been forcibly planted in this 
 Territory. 
 
 Next to this Presidential admission must be placed 
 the details of the invasions, which I now present as 
 not only “ illegal and reprehensible,” but also un- 
 questionable evidence of the resulting Crime. 
 
 The violence, for some time threatened, broke forth 
 on the 29th November, 1854, at the first election of 
 a Delegate to Congress, when companies from Mis- 
 souri, amounting to upwards of one thousand, crossed 
 into Kansas, and, with force and arms, proceeded to 
 vote for Mr. Whitfield, the candidate of Slavery. An 
 
94 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 eye-witness, General Pomeroy, of superior intelligence 
 and perfect integrity, thus describes this scene : — 
 
 “ The first ballot-box that was opened upon our virgin soil 
 was closed to us by overpowering numbers and impending 
 force. So bold and reckless were our invaders, that they 
 cared not to conceal their attack. They came upon us not in 
 the guise of voters, to steal away our franchise, but boldly and 
 openly to snatch it with a strong hand. They came directly 
 from their own homes, and in compact and organised bands, 
 with arms in hand and provisions for the expedition, marched 
 to our polls, and, when their work was done, returned whence 
 they came.” 
 
 Here was an outrage at which the coolest blood of 
 patriotism boils. Though, for various reasons un- 
 necessary to develop, the busy settlers allowed the 
 election to pass uncontested, still the means employed 
 were none the less “illegal and reprehensible.” 
 
 This infliction was a significant prelude to the 
 grand invasion of the 30th March, 1855, at the elec- 
 tion of the first Territorial Legislature under the 
 organic law, when an armed multitude from Missouri 
 entered the Territory, in larger numbers than General 
 Taylor commanded at Buena Vista, or than General 
 Jackson had within his lines at New Orleans — larger 
 far than our fathers rallied on Bunker Hill. On they 
 came as an “army with banners,” organised in com- 
 panies, with officers, munitions, tents, and provisions, 
 as though marching upon a foreign foe, and breathing 
 loud-mouthed threats that they would carry their 
 purpose, if need be, by the bowie-knife and revolver. 
 Among them, according to his own confession, was 
 David R. Atchison, belted with the vulgar arms of 
 his vulgar comrades. Arrived at their several desti- 
 nations on the night before the election, the invaders 
 pitched their tents, placed their sentries, and waited 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 95 
 
 for the coming day. The same trustworthy eye- 
 witness, whom I have already quoted, says, of one 
 locality : — 
 
 “ Baggage-waggons were there, with arms and ammunition 
 enough for a protracted fight, and among them two brass 
 field-pieces, ready charged. They came with drums beating 
 and flags flying, and their leaders were of the most prominent 
 and conspicuous men of their State.” 
 
 Of another locality he says : — 
 
 “ The invaders came together in one armed and organised 
 body, with trains of fifty waggons, besides horsemen, and, 
 the night before election, pitched their camp in the vicinity of 
 the polls ; and, having appointed their own judges in place of 
 those who, from intimidation or otherwise, failed to attend, 
 they voted without any proof of residence.” 
 
 With this force they were able, on the succeeding 
 day, in some places, to intimidate the judges of elec- 
 tions; in others, to substitute judges of their own 
 appointment ; in others, to wrest the ballot-boxes 
 from their rightful possessors, and everywhere to 
 exercise a complete control of the election, and thus, 
 by a preternatural audacity of usurpation, impose a 
 Legislature upon the free people of Kansas. Thus 
 was conquered the Sevastopol of that Territory ! 
 
 But it was not enough to secure the Legislature. 
 The election of a member of Congress recurred on 
 the 2nd October, 1855, and the same foreigners, who 
 had learned their strength, again manifested it. An- 
 other invasion, in controlling numbers, came from 
 Missouri, and once more forcibly exercised the elec- 
 toral franchise in Kansas. 
 
 At last, in the latter days of November, 1855, a 
 storm, long brewing, burst upon the heads of the de- 
 voted people. The ballot-boxes had been violated, 
 
96 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and a Legislature installed, which had proceeded to 
 carry out the conspiracy of the invaders ; but the 
 good people of the Territory, born to Freedom, and 
 educated as American citizens, showed no signs of 
 submission. Slavery, though recognised by pretended 
 law, was in many places practically an outlaw. To 
 the lawless borderers, this was hard to bear ; and, 
 like the Heathen of old, they raged, particularly 
 against the town of Lawrence, already known, by 
 the firmness of its principles and the character of its 
 citizens, as the citadel of the good cause. On this 
 account they threatened, in their peculiar language, 
 to “ wipe it out.” Soon the hostile power was 
 gathered for this purpose. The wickedness of this 
 invasion was enhanced by the way in which it began. 
 
 A citizen of Kansas, by the name of Dow, was mur- 
 dered by one of the partisans of Slavery, under the 
 name of “law and order.” Such an outrage naturally 
 aroused indignation and provoked threats. The pro- 
 fessors of “ law and order ” allowed the murderer to 
 escape ; and, still further to illustrate the irony of 
 the name they assumed, seized the friend of the mur- 
 dered man, whose few neighbours soon rallied for his 
 rescue. This transaction, though totally disregarded 
 in its chief front of wickedness, became the excuse for 
 unprecedented excitement. The weak Governor, with 
 no faculty higher than servility to Slavery — whom 
 the President, in his official delinquency, had ap- 
 pointed to a trust worthy only of a well-balanced 
 character — was frightened from his propriety. By 
 proclamation he invoked the Territory. By telegraph 
 he invoked the President. The Territory would not 
 respond to his senseless appeal. The President was 
 dumb ; but the proclamation was circulated through- 
 out the border counties of Missouri ; and Platte, Clay, 
 Carlisle, Sabine, Howard, and Jefferson, each of them, 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 97 
 
 contributed a volunteer company, recruited from the 
 road sides, and armed with weapons which chance 
 afforded — known as the “ shot-gun militia ” — with 
 a Missouri officer as commissary general, dispensing- 
 rations, and another Missouri officer as general-in- 
 chief ; with two waggon loads of rifles, belonging to 
 Missouri, drawn by six mules, from its arsenal at 
 Jefferson City ; with seven pieces of cannon, belong- 
 ing to the United States, from its arsenal at Liberty; 
 and this formidable force, amounting to at least 1800 
 men, terrible with threats, with oaths, and with 
 whisky, crossed the borders, and encamped in larger 
 part at Wacherusa, over against the doomed town of 
 Lawrence, which was now threatened with destruc- 
 tion. With these invaders was the Governor, who 
 by this act levied war upon the people he was sent to 
 protect. In camp with him was the original Catiline 
 of the conspiracy, while by his side was the docile 
 Chief Justice and the docile Judges. But this is not 
 the first instance in which an unjust Governor has 
 found tools where he ought to have found justice. 
 In the great impeachment of Warren Hastings, the 
 British orator, by whom it was conducted, exclaims, 
 in words strictly applicable to the misdeed I now 
 arraign, “ Had he not the Chief Justice, the tamed 
 and domesticated Chief Justice who waited on him 
 like a familiar spirit ? ” Thus was this invasion 
 countenanced by those who should have stood in the 
 breach against it. For more than a week it con- 
 tinued, while deadly conflict seemed imminent. 1 do 
 not dwell on the heroism by which it was encoun- 
 tered, or the mean retreat to which it was compelled; 
 for that is not necessary to exhibit the Crime which 
 you are to judge. But I cannot forbear to add other 
 additional features, furnished in the letter of a clergy- 
 
98 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 man, written at the time, who saw and was a part of 
 what he describes : — 
 
 “Our citizens have been shot at, and in two instances mur- 
 dered, our houses invaded, hay-ricks burnt, corn and other 
 provisions plundered, cattle driven off, all communication cut 
 off between us and the States, waggons on the way to us 
 with provisions stopped and plundered, and the drivers taken 
 prisoners, and we in hourly expectation of an attack. Nearly 
 every man has been in arms in the village. Fortifications have 
 been thrown up, by incessant labour night and day. The 
 sound of the drum and the tramp of armed men resounded 
 through our streets, families fleeing ivitli their household goods 
 for safety. Day before yesterday, the report of cannon was 
 heard at our house from the direction of Lecompton. Last 
 Thursday one of our neighbours — one of the most peaceable 
 and excellent of men, from Ohio — on his way home, was set 
 upon by a gang of twelve men on horseback, and shot down. 
 Over eight hundred men are gathered under arms at Law- 
 rence. As yet, no act of violence has been perpetrated by 
 those on our side. No blood of retaliation stains our hands. 
 We stand and are ready to act purely in the defence of our 
 homes and lives." 
 
 But the catalogue is not yet complete. On the 
 15th of December, when the people assembled to vote 
 on the Constitution then submitted for adoption — 
 only a few days after the Treaty of Peace between 
 the Governor on the one side and the town of Law- 
 rence on the other — another and fifth irruption was 
 made. But I leave all this untold. Enough of these 
 details has been given. Five several times and more 
 have these invaders entered Kansas in armed array, 
 and thus five several times and more have they tram- 
 pled upon the organic law of the Territory. But 
 these extraordinary expeditions are simply the ex- 
 traordinary witnesses to successive uninterrupted vio- 
 lence. They stand out conspicuous, but not alone. 
 The spirit of evil, in which they had their origin, was 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 99 
 
 wakeful and incessant. From the beginning, it hung 
 upon the skirts of this interesting Territory, harrow- 
 ing its peace, disturbing its prosperity, and keeping 
 its inhabitants under the painful alarms of war. Thus 
 was all security of person, of property, and of labour, 
 overthrown ; and when I urge this incontrovertible 
 fact, I set forth a wrong which is small only by the 
 side of the giant wrong, for the consummation of 
 which all this was done. 
 
 Sir, what is man — what is government — without se- 
 curity ; in the absence of which, nor man nor govern- 
 ment can proceed in development or enjoy the fruits of 
 existence ? Without security, civilisation is cramped 
 and dwarfed. Without security, there can be no true 
 Freedom. Nor shall I say too much, when I declare 
 that security, guarded of course by its offspring, Free- 
 dom, is the true end and aim of government. Of this 
 indispensable boon the people of Kansas have thus far 
 been despoiled — absolutely, totally. All this is aggra- 
 vated by the nature of their pursuits, rendering them 
 peculiarly sensitive to interruption, and at the same 
 time attesting their innocence. They are for the most 
 part engaged in the cultivation of the soil, which from 
 time immemorial has been the sweet employment of 
 undisturbed industry. Contented in the returns of 
 bounteous nature and the shade of his own trees, the 
 husbandman is not aggressive ; accustomed to pro- 
 duce, and not to destroy, he is essentially peaceful, 
 unless his home is invaded, when his arm derives 
 vigour from the soil he treads, and his soul inspira- 
 tion from the heavens beneath whose canopy he daily 
 toils. And such are the people of Kansas, whose 
 security has been overthrown. Scenes from which 
 civilisation averts her countenance have been a part 
 of their daily life. The border incursions, which, in 
 barbarous ages or barbarous lands, have fretted and 
 
100 
 
 SLAVERY IN 1 HE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “harried” an exposed people, have been here reneAved, 
 Avith this peculiarity, that our border robbers do not 
 simply levy black mail and drive off a feAV cattle, like 
 those Avho acted under the inspiration of the Douglas 
 of other days ; that they do not seize a feAV persons, 
 and SAveep them aAvay into captivity, like the African 
 slave- traders Avhom Ave brand as pirates ; but that 
 they commit a succession of acts, in Avhich all border 
 sorroAvs and all African wrongs are revived together 
 on American soil, and Avhich for the time being an- 
 nuls all protection of all kinds, and enslaves the 
 Avhole Territory. 
 
 Private griefs mingle their poignancy Avith public 
 wrongs. I do not dAvell on the anxieties Avhich 
 families have undergone, exposed to sudden assault, 
 and obliged to lie doAvn to rest Avith the alarms of 
 Avar ringing in their ears, not knowing that another 
 day might be spared to them. Throughout this bitter 
 Avinter, Avith the thermometer at 30° beloAV zero, the 
 citizens of Lawrence have been constrained to sleep 
 under arms, with sentinels treading their constant 
 Avatch against surprise. But our souls are wrung by 
 individual instances. In vain do Ave condemn the 
 cruelties of another age, the refinements of torture to 
 which men have been doomed — the rack and thumb- 
 screw of the Inquisition, the last agonies of the regi- 
 cide Ravaillac — “Luke’s iron crown, and Damien’s 
 bed of steel” — for kindred outrages have disgraced 
 these borders. Murder has stalked, assassination has 
 skulked in the tall grass of the prairie, and the vin- 
 dictiveness of man has assumed unwonted forms. A 
 preacher of the Gospel of the Saviour has been rid- 
 den on a rail, and then thrown into the Missouri, 
 fastened to a log, and left to drift down its muddy, 
 tortuous current. And lately Ave have had the tidings 
 of that enormity Avithout precedent — • a deed without 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 101 
 
 a name — where a candidate for the Legislature was 
 
 O 
 
 most brutally gashed with knives and hatchets, and 
 then, after weltering in blood on the snow-clad earth, 
 was trundled along with gaping wounds, to fall dead 
 in the face of his wife. It is common to drop a tear 
 of sympathy over the trembling solicitudes of our 
 early fathers, exposed to the stealthy assault of the 
 savage foe ; and an eminent American artist has pic- 
 tured this scene in a marble group of rare beauty, on 
 the front of the National Capitol, where the uplifted 
 tomahawk is arrested by the strong arm and generous 
 countenance of the pioneer, while his wife and chil- 
 dren find shelter at his feet ; but now the tear must 
 be dropped over the trembling solicitudes of fellow- 
 citizens, seeking to build a new State in Kansas, 
 and exposed to the perpetual assault of murderous 
 robbers from Missouri. Hirelings, picked from the 
 drunken spew and vomit of an uneasy civilisation, in 
 the form of men — 
 
 “ Aye, in the catalogue ye go for men : 
 
 As hounds and gray-hounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, 
 Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are called 
 All by the name of dogs,” — 
 
 leashed together by secret signs and lodges, have re- 
 newed the incredible atrocities of the Assassins and of 
 the Thugs ; showing the blind submission of the Assas- 
 sins to the Old Man of the Mountain, in robbing 
 Christians on the road to Jerusalem, and showing the 
 heartlessness of the Thugs, who, avowing that mur- 
 der was their religion, waylaid travellers on the great 
 road from Agra to Delhi ; with the more deadly 
 bowie-knife for the dagger of the Assassin, and the 
 more deadly revolver for the noose of the Thug. 
 
 In these invasions, attended by the entire subver- 
 sion of all security in this Territory, with the plun- 
 
102 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 der of the ballot-box, and the pollution of the electoral 
 franchise, I show simply the process in unprecedented 
 crime. If that be the best Government, where an 
 injury to a single citizen is resented as an injury to 
 the whole State, then must our Government forfeit 
 all claim to an} 7 such eminence, while it leaves its 
 citizens thus exposed. In the outrage upon the bal- 
 lot-box, even without the illicit fruits which I shall 
 soon exhibit, there is a peculiar crime of the deepest 
 dye, though subordinate to the final Crime, which 
 should be promptly avenged. In countries where 
 royalty is upheld, it is a special offence to rob the 
 crown jewels, which are the emblems of that sove- 
 reignty before which the loyal subject bows, and it 
 is treason to be found in adultery with the Queen, 
 for in this way may a false heir be imposed upon the 
 State ; but in our Republic the ballot-box is the single 
 priceless jewel of that sovereignty which we respect, 
 and the electoral franchise, out of Avhich are born the 
 rulers of a free people, is the Queen whom we are to 
 guard against pollution. In this plain presentment, 
 whether as regards Security, or as regards Elections, 
 there is enough, surely, without proceeding further, 
 to justify the intervention of Congress, most promptly 
 and completely, to throw over this oppressed people 
 the impenetrable shield of the Constitution and laws. 
 But the half is not yet told. 
 
 As every point in a wide-spread horizon radiates 
 from a common centre, so everything said or done in 
 this vast circle of Crime radiates from the One Idea , 
 that Kansas, at all hazards, must be made a Slave 
 State. In all the manifold wickednesses that have 
 occurred, and in every successive invasion, this One 
 Idea has been ever present, as the Satanic tempter — 
 the motive power — the causing cause. 
 
 To accomplish this result, three things were at- 
 
MR. SUMNERS SPEECH. 
 
 103 
 
 tempted : first, by outrages of all kinds to drive the 
 friends of Freedom, already there, out of the Ter- 
 ritory; secondly , to deter others from coming; and 
 thirdly , to obtain the complete control of the Govern- 
 ment. The process of driving out, and also of de- 
 terring, has failed. On the contrary, the friends of 
 Freedom there became more fixed in their resolves 
 to stay and fight the battle, which they had never 
 sought, but from which they disdained to retreat ; 
 while the friends of Freedom elsewhere were more 
 aroused to the duty of timely succours, by men and 
 munitions of just self-defence. 
 
 But, while defeated in the first two processes pro- 
 posed, the conspirators succeeded in the last. By the 
 violence already portrayed at the election of the 30th 
 March, when the polls were occupied by the armed 
 hordes from Missouri, they imposed a Legislature 
 upon the Territory, and thus, under the iron mask of 
 law, established a Usurpation not less complete than 
 any in history. That this was done, I proceed to 
 prove. Here is the evidence : 
 
 1. Only in this way can this extraordinary expedi- 
 tion be adequately explained. In the words of Mo- 
 liere, once employed by John Quincy Adams in the 
 other House, Que diahle allaient-ils faire dans cette 
 galere? What did they go into the Territory for? 
 If their purposes were peaceful, as has been sug- 
 gested, why cannons, arms, flags, numbers, and all 
 this violence? As simple citizens, proceeding to the 
 honest exercise of the electoral franchise, they might 
 have gone with nothing more than a pilgrim’s staff. 
 Philosophy always seeks a sufficient cause, and only in 
 the One Idea , already presented, can a cause be found 
 in any degreee commensurate with this Crime ; and 
 this becomes so only when we consider the mad fana- 
 ticism of Slavery. 
 
104 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 2. Public notoriety steps forward to confirm the 
 suggestion of reason. In every place where Truth 
 can freely travel, it has been asserted and understood, 
 that the Legislature was imposed upon Kansas by 
 foreigners from Missouri ; and this universal voice is 
 now received as undeniable verity. 
 
 3. It is also attested by the harangues of the con- 
 spirators. Here is what Stringfellow said before the 
 invasion : 
 
 “ To those who have qualms of conscience as to violating 
 laws, State or National, the time has come when such impo- 
 sitions must be disregarded, as your rights and property are 
 in danger ; and I advise you, one and all, to enter every election 
 district in Kansas, in defiance of Reeder and his vile myrmi- 
 dons, and vote at the point of the bowie-knife and revolver. 
 Neither give nor take quarter, as our case demands it. It is 
 enough that the slave-holding interest wills it, from which 
 there is no appeal. What right has Governor Reeder to rule 
 Missourians in Kansas ? His proclamation and prescribed 
 oath must be repudiated. It is your interest to do so. Mind 
 that Slavery is established where it is not prohibited.” 
 
 Here is what Atchison said after the invasion : 
 
 “Well, what next? Why an election for members of 
 the Legislature to organise the Territory must be held. 
 What did I advise you to do then ? Why, meet them on 
 their own ground, and beat them at their own game again ; 
 and cold and inclement as the weather was, I went over with 
 a company of men. My object in going was not to vote. I 
 had no right to vote, unless I had disfranchised myself in 
 Missouri. I was not within two miles of a voting place. 
 My object in going was not to vote, but to settle a difficulty 
 between two of our candidates ; and the Abolitionists of the 
 North said, and published it abroad, that Atchison was there 
 with boivie-hnife and revolver, and by God ’twas true. I 
 never did yo into that Territory — I never intend to yo into that 
 Territory — ivithout beiny prepared for all such kind of cattle. 
 Well, we beat them, and Governor Reeder gave certificates 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 105 
 
 to a majority of all the members of both Houses, and then, 
 after they were organised, as everybody will admit, they were 
 the only competent persons to say who were, and who were 
 not, members of the same.” 
 
 4. It is confirmed by the contemporaneous admis- 
 sion of the Squatter Sovereign , a paper published at 
 Atchison, and at once the organ of the President and 
 of these borderers, which, under date of 1st April, 
 thus recounts the victory : 
 
 “ Independence, [Missouri,] March 31. 1855. 
 
 “ Several hundred emigrants from Kansas have just entered 
 our city. They were preceded by the Westport and Inde- 
 pendence brass bands. They came in at the west side of the 
 public square, and proceeded entirely around it, the bands 
 cheering us with fine music, and the emigrants with good 
 news. Immediately following the bands were about two 
 hundred horsemen in regular order ; following these were one 
 hundred and fifty waggons, carriages, &c. They gave re- 
 peated cheers for Kansas and Missouri. They report that 
 not an Anti- Slavery man will be in the Legislature of Kan- 
 sas. We have made a clean sweep." 
 
 5. It is also confirmed by the contemporaneous 
 testimony of another paper, always faithful to Slavery, 
 the New York Herald, in the letter of a correspon- 
 dent from Brunswick, in Missouri, under date of 20th 
 April, 1855 : 
 
 “ From five to seven thousand men started from Missouri 
 to attend the election, some to remove, but the most to return 
 to their families, with an intention, if they liked the Terri- 
 tory, to make it their permanent abode at the earliest moment 
 practicable. But they intended to vote. The Missourians 
 were, many of them, Douglas men. There were one hundred 
 and fifty voters from this county, one hundred and seventy-five 
 from Howard, one hundred from Cooper. Indeed, every 
 county furnished its quota ; and when they set out, it looked 
 
106 
 
 SLAVERY IN TIIE UNITED STATES. 
 
 like an army.” “ They were armed.” 
 
 “ And, as there were no houses in the Territory, they car- 
 ried tents. Their mission was a peaceable one — to vote, and 
 to drive down stakes for their future homes. After the election, 
 some one thousand five hundred of the voters sent a com- 
 mittee to Mr. Reeder, to ascertain if it was his purpose to 
 ratify the election. He answered that it was, and said the 
 majority at an election must carry the day. But it is not to 
 be denied that the one thousand five hundred, appi’ehending 
 that the Governor might attempt to play the tyrant — since 
 his conduct had already been insidious and unjust — wore on 
 their hats bunches of hemp. They were resolved, if a tyrant 
 attempted to trample upon the rights of the sovereign people, 
 to hang him.” 
 
 6. It is again confirmed by the testimony of a 
 lady, who for five years has lived in Western Mis- 
 souri, and thus writes in a letter published in the 
 
 New Haven Register : 
 
 “Miami, Saline Co., November 26. 1855. 
 
 “ You ask me to tell you something about the Kansas and 
 Missouri troubles. Of course you know in what they have 
 originated. There is no denying that the Missourians have 
 determined to control the elections, if possible; and I don’t know 
 that their measures would be justifiable, except upon the prin- 
 ciple of self-preservation ; and that, you know, is the first law 
 of nature.” 
 
 7. And it is confirmed still further by the Circular 
 of the Emigration Society of Lafayette, in Missouri, 
 dated as late as 25th March, 1856, in which the 
 efforts of Missourians are openly confessed : 
 
 “ The Western counties of Missouri have for the last two 
 years been heavily taxed, both in money and time, in fighting 
 the battles of the South. Lafayette county alone has expended 
 more than $100,000 in money, and as much or more in time. 
 Up to this time, the border counties of Missouri have upheld 
 and maintained the rights and interests of the South in this 
 
mr. summer’s speech. 
 
 107 
 
 struggle, unassisted, and not unsuccessfully. But the Aboli- 
 tionists, staking their all upon the Kansas issue, and hesitating 
 at no means, fair or foul, are moving heaven and earth to ren- 
 der that beautiful Territory a Free State." 
 
 8. Here, also, is complete admission of the Usur- 
 pation, by the Intelligencer , a leading paper of St. 
 Louis, Missouri, made in the ensuing summer : 
 
 “ Atchison and Stringfellow, with their Missouri followers, 
 overwhelmed the settlers in Kansas, browbeat and bullied 
 them, and took the Government from their hands. Missouri 
 votes elected the present body of men who insult public in- 
 telligence and popular rights by styling themselves ‘ The 
 Legislature of Kansas.’ This body of men are helping 
 themselves to fat speculations by locating the ‘ seat of Go- 
 vernment ’ and getting town lots for their votes. They are 
 passing laws disfranchising all the citizens of Kansas who do 
 not believe Negro Slavery to be a Christian institution and a 
 national blessing. They are proposing to punish with im- 
 prisonment the utterance of views inconsistent with their own. 
 And they are trying to perpetuate their preposterous and in- 
 fernal tyranny by appointing for a term of years creatures of 
 their own, as commissioners in every county, to lay and col- 
 lect taxes, and see that the laws they are passing are faith- 
 fully executed. Has this age anything to compare with these 
 acts in audacity ? ” 
 
 9. In harmony with all these is the authoritative 
 declaration of Governor Reeder, in a speech addressed 
 to his neighbours, at Easton, Pennsylvania, at the 
 end of April, 1855, and immediately afterwards pub- 
 lished in the Washington Union. Here it is: 
 
 “ It was indeed too true that Kansas had been invaded, 
 conquered, subjugated, by an armed force from beyond her 
 borders, led on by a fanatical spirit, trampling under foot the 
 principles of the Kansas bill and the right of suffrage.” 
 
 10. And in similar harmony is the complaint of the 
 
108 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 people of Kansas, in a public meeting at Big Springs, 
 on the 5th September, 1855, embodied in these words : 
 
 “ Resolved, That the body of men who for the last two 
 months have been passing laws for the people of our Terri- 
 tory, moved, counselled, and dictated to by the demagogues 
 of Missouri, are to us a foreign body representing only the 
 lawless invaders who elected them, and not the people in the 
 Territory — that we repudiate their action as the monstrous 
 consummation of an act of violence, usurpation, and fraud, 
 unparalleled in the history of the Union, and worthy only of 
 men unfitted for the duties and regardless of the responsi- 
 bilities of Republicans.” 
 
 11. And finally, by the official minutes, which 
 have been laid on our table by the President, the 
 invasion which ended in the Usurpation, is clearly 
 established ; but the effect of this testimony has been 
 so amply exposed by the Senator from Vermont [Mr. 
 Collamer], in his able and indefatigable argument, 
 that I content myself with simply referring to it. 
 
 On this cumulative, irresistible evidence, in con- 
 currence with the antecedent history, I rest. And. 
 yet senators here have argued that this cannot be so 
 — precisely as the conspiracy of Catiline was doubted 
 in the Roman Senate. Nonnulli sunt in hoc or dine, 
 qui aut ea , quce imminent , non videant; aut ea , quae 
 vident , dissimulent ; qui spem Catilince mollibus sen- 
 tentiis aluerunt, conjurationemque nascentem non cre- 
 dendo corroboraverunt. As I listened to the Senator 
 from Illinois, while he painfully strove to show that 
 there was no Usurpation, I was reminded of the 
 effort by a distinguished logician, in a much-admired 
 argument, to prove that Napoleon Bonaparte never 
 existed. And permit me to say, that the fact of his 
 existence is not placed more completely above doubt 
 than the fact of this Usurpation. This I assert on 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 109 
 
 the proofs already presented. But confirmation comes 
 almost while I speak. The columns of the public 
 press are now daily filled with testimony, solemnly 
 taken before the Committee of Congress in Kansas, 
 which shows, in aAvful light, the violence ending in 
 the Usurpation. Of this I may speak on some other 
 occasion. Meanwhile I proceed with the develop- 
 ment of the Crime. 
 
 The usurping Legislature assembled at the ap- 
 pointed place in the interior, and then at once, in 
 opposition to the veto of the Governor, by a majority 
 of two-thirds, removed to the Shawnee Mission, a 
 place in most convenient proximity to the Missouri 
 borderers, by whom it had been constituted, and 
 whose tyrannical agent it Avas. The statutes of Mis- 
 souri, in all their text, with their divisions and sub- 
 divisions, Avere adopted bodily, and Avith such little 
 local adaptation that the word “ State ” in the ori- 
 ginal is not even changed to “ Territory,” but is left 
 to be corrected by an explanatory act. But, all this 
 general legislation Avas entirely subordinate to the 
 special act, entitled “ An Act to punish Offences 
 against Slave Property,” in which the One Idea, that 
 provoked this whole conspiracy, is at last embodied 
 in legislative form, and Human Slavery openly re- 
 cognised on Free Soil, under the sanction of pre- 
 tended law. This act of thirteen sections is in itself 
 a Dance of Death. But its- complex completeness of 
 wickedness, without a parallel, may be partially con- 
 ceived, when it is understood that in three sections 
 only of it is the penalty of death denounced no less 
 than forty-eight different times, by as many changes 
 of language, against the heinous offence, described in 
 forty-eight different ways, of interfering with what 
 does not exist in that Territory — and under the Con- 
 stitution cannot exist there — I mean property in 
 
110 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 human flesh. Thus is Liberty sacrificed to Slavery, 
 and Death summoned to sit at the gates as guardian 
 of the Wrong. 
 
 But the work of Usurpation was not perfected even 
 yet. It had already cost too much to be left at any 
 hazard. 
 
 “ To be thus was nothing ; 
 
 But to be safely thus ! ” 
 
 Such was the object. And this could not be, except 
 by the entire prostration of all the safeguards of 
 Human Rights. The liberty of speech, which is the 
 very breath of a Republic ; the press, which is the 
 terror of wrong-doers ; the bar, through which the 
 oppressed beards the arrogance of law; the jury, by 
 which right is vindicated ; all these must be struck 
 down, while officers are provided, in all places, ready 
 to be the tools of this tyranny ; and then, to obtain 
 final assurance that their crime was secure, the whole 
 Usurpation, stretching over the Territory, must be 
 fastened and riveted by legislative bolts, spikes, and 
 screws, so as to defy all effort at change through the 
 ordinary forms of law. To this work, in its various 
 parts, were bent the subtlest energies ; and never, 
 from Tubal Cain to this hour, was any fabric forged 
 with more desperate skill and completeness. 
 
 Mark, sir, three different legislative enactments, 
 which constitute part of this work. First , according 
 to one act, all who deny, by spoken or written word, 
 “ the right of persons to hold Slaves in this Territory,” 
 are denounced as felons, to be punished by imprison- 
 ment at hard labour, for a term not less than two 
 years ; it may be for life. And to show the extrava- 
 gance of this injustice, it has been well put by the 
 Senator from Vermont [Mr. Collamer], that should 
 the Senator from Michigan [Mr. Cass], who believes 
 
ME. SUMNER S SPEECH. 
 
 Ill 
 
 that Slavery cannot exist in a Territory, unless in- 
 troduced by express legislative acts, venture there 
 with his moderate opinions, his doom must be that 
 of a felon ! To this extent are the great liberties of 
 speech and of the press subverted. Secondly , by 
 another act, entitled “ An Act concerning Attorneys- 
 at-Law,” no person can practice as an attorney, unless 
 he shall obtain a license from the Territorial courts, 
 which, of course, a tyrannical discretion will be free 
 to deny ; and, after obtaining such license, he is con- 
 strained to take an oath, not only “to support” the 
 Constitution of the United States, but also to “sup- 
 port and sustain” — mark here the reduplication — 
 the Territorial Act, and the Fugitive Slave Bill, thus 
 erecting a test for the function of the bar, calculated 
 to exclude citizens who honestly regard that latter 
 legislative enormity as unfit to be obeyed. And, 
 thirdly , by another act, entitled “An Act concerning 
 Jurors,” all persons, “conscientiously opposed to hold- 
 ing slaves,” or “ not admitting the right to hold slaves 
 in the Territory,” are excluded from the jury on every 
 question, civil or criminal, arising out of asserted 
 slave property; while, in all cases, the summoning 
 of the jury is left without one word of restraint to 
 “ the marshal, sheriff, or other officer,” who are thus 
 free to pack it according to their tyrannical discre- 
 tion. 
 
 For the ready enforcement of all statutes against 
 human freedom, the President had already furnished 
 a powerful quota of officers, in the Governor, Chief 
 Justice, Judges, Secretary, Attorney, and Marshal. 
 The Legislature completed this part of the work by 
 constituting, in each county, a Board of Commis- 
 sioners , composed of two persons, associated with the 
 Probate Judge, whose duty it is “ to appoint a county 
 treasurer, coroner, justices of the peace, constables, 
 
112 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and all other officers provided for by law,” and then 
 proceeded to the choice of this very Board ; thus 
 delegating and diffusing their usurped power, and 
 tyrannically imposing upon the Territory a crowd 
 of officers, in whose appointment the people have had 
 no voice, directly or indirectly. 
 
 And still the final inexorable work remained. A 
 Legislature renovated in both branches, could not as- 
 semble until 1858, so that, during this long interme- 
 diate period, this whole system must continue in the 
 likeness of law, unless overturned by the Federal Go- 
 vernment, or, in default of such interposition, by a 
 generous uprising of an oppressed people. But it 
 was necessary to guard against the possibility of 
 change, even tardily, at a future election ; and this 
 was done by two different acts ; under the first of 
 which, all who will not take the oath to support the 
 Fugitive Slave Bill are excluded from the elective 
 franchise ; and under the second of which, all 
 others are entitled to vote who shall tender a tax 
 of one dollar to the Sheriff on the day of election ; 
 thus by provision of Territorial law, disfranchising 
 all opposed to Slavery, and at the same time opening 
 the door to the votes of the invaders ; by an uncon- 
 stitutional shibboleth, excluding from the polls the 
 mass of actual settlers, and by making the franchise 
 depend upon a petty tax only, admitting to the polls 
 the mass of borderers from Missouri. Thus, by ty- 
 rannical forethought, the Usurpation not only forti- 
 fied all that it did, but assumed a self-perpetuating 
 energy. 
 
 Thus was the Crime consummated. Slavery now 
 stands erect, clanking its chains on the Territory of 
 Kansas, surrounded by a code of death, and tram- 
 pling upon all cherished liberties, whether of speech, 
 the press, the bar, the trial by jury, or the electoral 
 
MR. SUMNER S SPEECH. 
 
 113 
 
 franchise. And, sir, all this has been done, not 
 merely to introduce a wrong which in itself is a de- 
 nial of all rights, and in dread of which a mother has 
 lately taken the life of her offspring ; not merely, as 
 has been sometimes said, to protect Slavery in Mis- 
 souri, since it is futile for this State to complain of 
 freedom on the side of Kansas, when freedom exists 
 without complaint on the side of Iowa, and also on 
 the side of Illinois ; but it has been done for the sake 
 of political power, in order to bring two new slave- 
 holding Senators upon this floor, and thus to fortify 
 in the National Government the desperate chances of 
 a waning Oligarchy. As the ship, voyaging on plea- 
 sant summer seas, is assailed by a pirate crew, and 
 robbed for the sake of its doubloons and dollars — so 
 is this beautiful Territory now assailed in its peace 
 and prosperity, and robbed, in order to wrest its po- 
 litical power to the side of Slavery. Even now the 
 black flag of the land pirates from Missouri waves at 
 the mast head ; in their laws you hear the pirate yell, 
 and see the flash of the pirate knife ; while, incredible 
 to relate ! the President, gathering the Slave Power 
 at his back, testifies a pirate sympathy. 
 
 Sir, all this was done in the name of popular 
 sovereignty. And this is the close of the tragedy. 
 Popular sovereignty, which, when truly understood, 
 is a fountain of just power, has ended in popular 
 slavery ; not merely in the subjection of the unhappy 
 African race, but of this proud Caucasian blood, 
 which you boast. The profession with which you 
 began, of All by the People , has been lost in the 
 wretched reality of Nothing for the People. Popular 
 sovereignty, in whose deceitful name plighted faith 
 was broken, and an ancient landmark of freedom was 
 overturned, now lifts itself before us, like Sin, in the 
 terrible picture of Milton, — 
 
 i 
 
114 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “ That seemed a woman to the waist, and fair, 
 
 But ended foul in many a scaly fold 
 Voluminous and vast, a serpent armed 
 With mortal sting ; about her middle round 
 A cry of hell-hounds never ceasing barked 
 With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung 
 A hideous peal ; yet when they list, would creep, 
 
 If aught disturbed their noise, into her womb, 
 
 And kennel there, yet there still barked and howled 
 Within, unseen.” 
 
 The image is complete at all points ; and with this 
 exposure, I take my leave of the Crime against 
 Kansas. 
 
 II. Emerging from all the blackness of this Crime, 
 in which we seem to have been lost, as in a savage 
 wood, and turning our backs upon it, as upon desola- 
 tion and death, from which, while others have suf- 
 fered, we have escaped, I come now to The Apologies 
 which the Crime has found. Sir, well may you start 
 at the suggestion that such a series of wrongs, so 
 clearly proved by various testimony, so openly con- 
 fessed by the wrong-doers, and so widely recognised 
 throughout the country, should find Apologies. But 
 the partisan spirit, now, as in other days, hesitates at 
 nothing. The great crimes of history have never 
 been without Apologies. The massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew, which you now instinctively condemn, 
 was, at the time, applauded in high quarters, and 
 even commemorated by a papal medal, which may 
 still be procured at Rome ; as the Crime against 
 Kansas, which is hardly less conspicuous in dreadful 
 eminence, has been shielded on this floor by extenuat- 
 ing words, and even by a Presidential message, 
 which, like the Papal medal, can never be forgotten 
 in considering the madness and perversity of men. 
 
mr. sumner’s speech. 
 
 115 
 
 Sir, the Crime cannot be denied. The President 
 himself has admitted “ illegal and reprehensible ” con- 
 duct. To such conclusion he was compelled by irre- 
 sistible evidence : but what he mildly describes I 
 openly arraign. Senators may affect to put it aside 
 by a sneer ; or to reason it away by figures ; or to 
 explain it by a theory, such as desperate invention 
 has produced on this floor, that the assassins and 
 Thugs of Missouri were in reality citizens of Kansas ; 
 but all these efforts, so far as made, are only tokens 
 of the weakness of the cause, while to the original 
 Crime they add another offence of false testimony 
 against innocent and suffering men. But the Apo- 
 logies for the Crime are worse than the efforts at 
 denial. In cruelty and heartlessness they identify 
 their authors with the great transgression. 
 
 They are four in number, and fourfold in character. 
 The first is the Apology tyrannical ; the second, the 
 Apology imbecile ; the third, the Apology absurd ; 
 and the fourth, the Apology infamous. This is all. 
 Tyranny, imbecility, absurdity, and infamy, all unite 
 to dance, like the weird sisters, about this Crime. 
 
 The Apology tyrannical is founded on the mistaken 
 act of Governor Reeder, in authenticating the usurp- 
 ing Legislature, by which it is asserted that, whatever 
 may have been the actual force or fraud in its elec- 
 tion, the people of Kansas are effectually concluded, 
 and the whole proceeding is placed under the formal 
 sanction of law. According to this assumption, com- 
 plaint is now in vain, and it only remains that 
 Congress should sit and hearken to it, without cor- 
 recting the wrong, as the ancient tyrant listened and 
 granted no redress to the human moans that issued 
 from the heated brazen bull which subtle cruelty had 
 
116 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 devised. This I call the Apology of technicality in- 
 spired by tyranny. 
 
 The facts on this head are few and plain. Governor 
 Reeder, after allowing only five days for objections 
 to the returns — a space of time unreasonably brief in 
 that extensive territory — declared a majority of the 
 members of the Council and of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives “ duly elected,” withheld certificates from 
 certain others, because of satisfactory proof that 
 they were not duly elected, and appointed a day for 
 new elections to supply these vacancies. Afterwards, 
 by formal message, he recognised the Legislature as 
 a legal body, and when he vetoed their act of adjourn- 
 ment to the neighbourhood of Missouri, he did it 
 simply on the ground of the illegality of such an 
 adjournment under the organic law. Now, to every 
 assumption founded on these facts, there are two 
 satisfactory replies ; first, that no certificate of the 
 Governor can do more than authenticate a subsisting 
 legal act, without of itself infusing legality where the 
 essence of legality is not already ; and secondly , that 
 violence or fraud, wherever disclosed, vitiates com- 
 pletely every proceeding. In denying these prin- 
 ciples, you place the certificate above the thing 
 certified, and give a perpetual lease to violence and 
 fraud, merely because at an ephemeral moment they 
 were unquestioned. This will not do. 
 
 Sir, I am no apologist for Governor Reeder. There 
 is sad reason to believe that he went to Kansas ori- 
 ginally as the tool of the President ; but his simple 
 nature, nurtured in the atmosphere of Pennsylvania, 
 revolted at the service required, and he turned from 
 his patron to duty. Grievously did he err in yielding 
 to the Legislature any act of authentication ; but he 
 has in some measure answered for this error by de- 
 
mr. sumner’s speech. 
 
 117 
 
 termined efforts since to expose the utter illegality of 
 that body, which he now repudiates entirely. It was 
 said of certain Roman Emperors, who did infinite 
 mischief in their beginnings, and infinite good towards 
 their ends, that they should never have been born, or 
 never died ; and I would apply the same to the official 
 life of this Kansas Governor. At all events, I dismiss 
 the Apology founded on his acts, as the utterance of 
 tyranny by the voice of law, transcending the decla- 
 ration of the pedantic judge, in the British Parlia- 
 ment, on the eve of our Revolution, that our fathers, 
 notwithstanding their complaints, were in reality re- 
 presented in Parliament, inasmuch as their lands, 
 under the original charters, were held “ in common 
 socage, as of the manor of Greenwich in Kent,” which, 
 being duly represented, carried with it all the Colonies. 
 Thus in other ages has tyranny assumed the voice 
 of law. 
 
 Next comes the Apology imbecile , which is founded 
 on the alleged want of power in the President to ar- 
 rest this Crime. It is openly asserted, that, under 
 the existing laws of the United States, the Chief Ma- 
 gistrate had no authority to interfere in Kansas for 
 this purpose. Such is the broad statement, which, 
 even if correct, furnishes no apology for any proposed 
 ratification of the Crime, but which is in reality un- 
 true ; and this, I call the Apology of imbecility. 
 
 In other matters, no such ostentatious imbecility 
 appears. Only lately, a vessel of war in the Pacific 
 has chastised the cannibals of the Fejee Islands, for 
 alleged outrages on American citizens. But no per- 
 son of ordinary intelligence will pretend that Ame- 
 rican citizens in the Pacific have received wrongs 
 from these cannibals comparable in atrocity to those 
 received by American citizens in Kansas. Ah, sir, 
 
118 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the interests of Slavery are not touched by any chas- 
 tisement. of the Fejees ! 
 
 Constantly we are informed of efforts at New York, 
 through the agency of the Government, and some- 
 times only on the breath of suspicion, to arrest ves- 
 sels about to sail on foreign voyages in violation of 
 our neutrality laws or treaty stipulation. Now, no 
 man familiar with the cases will presume to suggest 
 that the urgency for these arrests was equal to the 
 urgency for interposition against these successive 
 invasions from Missouri. But the Slave Power is 
 not disturbed by such arrests at New York ! 
 
 At this moment, the President exults in the vigi- 
 lance with which he has prevented the enlistment of 
 a few soldiers, to be carried off to Halifax, in viola- 
 tion of our territorial sovereignty, and England is 
 bravely threatened, even to the extent of a rupture 
 of diplomatic relations, for her endeavour, though 
 unsuccessful, and at once abandoned. Surely, no 
 man in his senses will urge that this act was any- 
 thing but trivial by the side of the Crime against 
 Kansas. But the Slave Power is not concerned in 
 this controversy. 
 
 Thus, where the Slave Power is indifferent, the 
 President will see that the laws are faithfully exe- 
 cuted ; but, in other cases, where the interests of 
 Slavery are at stake, he is controlled absolutely by 
 this tyranny, ready at all times to do, or not to do, 
 precisely as it dictates. Therefore it is, that Kansas 
 is left a prey to the Propagandists of Slavery, while 
 the whole Treasury, the Army and Navy of the 
 United States, are lavished to hunt a single slave 
 through the streets of Boston. You have not for- 
 gotten the latter instance ; but I choose to refresh it 
 in your minds. 
 
 As long ago as 1851, the War Department and 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 119 
 
 Navy Department concurred in placing the forces of 
 the United States, near Boston, at the command of 
 the Marshal, if needed, for the enforcement of an Act 
 of Congress, which had no support in the public con- 
 science, as I believe it has no support in the Constitu- 
 tion ; and thus these forces were degraded to the 
 loathsome work of slave-hunters. More than three 
 years afterwards, an occasion arose for their inter- 
 vention. A fugitive from Virginia, who for some 
 days had trod the streets of Boston as a freeman, was 
 seized as a slave. The whole community was aroused, 
 while Bunker Hill and Faneuil Hall quaked with re- 
 sponsive indignation. Then, sir, the President, anxious 
 that no tittle of Slavery should suffer, was curiously 
 eager in the enforcement of the statute. The de- 
 spatches between him and his agents in Boston attest 
 his zeal. Here are some of them : — 
 
 “Boston, May 27. 1854. 
 
 “ To the President of the United States : 
 
 “ In consequence of an attack upon the Court-house, last 
 night, for the purpose of rescuing a fugitive slave, under ar- 
 rest, and in which one of my own guards was killed, I have 
 availed myself of the resources of the United States, placed 
 under my control by letter from the War and Navy Depart- 
 ments, in 1851, and now have two companies of troops, from 
 Fort Independence, stationed in the Court-house. Every- 
 thing is now quiet. The attack was repulsed by my own 
 guard. 
 
 “WATSON FREEMAN, 
 
 “ United States Marshal, Boston, Mass” 
 
 “ Washington, May 27. 1854. 
 
 “ To Watson Freeman, 
 
 “ United States Marshal, Boston, Mass. 
 
 “ Your conduct is approved. The law must be executed. 
 
 “FRANKLIN PIERCE.” 
 
120 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “Washington, May 30. 1854. 
 
 “ To lion. B. F. Hallet, Boston , Mass. : 
 
 “ What is the state of the case of Burns ? 
 
 “ SIDNEY WEBSTER, 
 
 “ [Private Secretary of the President 
 
 “Washington, May 31. 1854. 
 
 “ To B. F. Hallett, 
 
 “ United States Attorney, Boston, Mass. : 
 
 “ Incur any expense deemed necessary by the Marshal and 
 yourself, for City Military, or otherwise, to insure the exe- 
 cution of the law. 
 
 “FRANKLIN PIERCE.” 
 
 But the President was not content with such forces 
 as were then on hand in the neighbourhood. Other 
 posts also were put under requisition. Two compa- 
 nies of National troops, stationed at New York, were 
 kept under arms, ready at any moment to proceed to 
 Boston ; and the Adjutant General of the Army was 
 directed to repair to the scene, there to superintend 
 the execution of the statute. All this was done for 
 the sake of Slavery; but during long months of me- 
 nace suspended over the Free Soil of Kansas, breaking 
 forth in successive invasions, the President has folded 
 his hands in complete listlessness, or, if he has moved 
 at all. it has been only to encourage the robber pro- 
 pagandists. 
 
 And now the intelligence of the country is insulted 
 by the Apology, that the President had no power to 
 interfere. Why, sir, to make this confession is to 
 confess our Government to be a practical failure — 
 which I will never do, except, indeed, as it is ad- 
 ministered now. No, sir; the imbecility of the Chief 
 Magistrate shall not be charged upon our American 
 Institutions. Where there is a will, there is a way ; 
 and in his case, had the will existed, there would have 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 121 
 
 been a way, easy and triumphant, to guard against 
 the Crime we now deplore. His powers were in every 
 respect ample ; and this I will prove by the statute 
 book. By the Act of Congress of 28th February, 
 1795, it is enacted, “ that whenever the laws of the 
 United States shall be opposed, or the execution thereof 
 obstructed , in any State, by combinations too powerful 
 to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial 
 proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals,” 
 the President “ may call forth the militia.” By the 
 supplementary Act of 3rd March, 1807, in all cases 
 where he is authorised to call forth the militia “ for 
 the purpose of causing the laws to be duly executed,” 
 the President is further empowered, in any State or 
 Territory , “ to employ for the same purposes such 
 part of the land or naval force of the United States 
 as shall be judged necessary.” There is the letter of 
 the law ; and you will please to mark the power con- 
 ferred. In no case where the laws of the United States 
 are opposed , or their execution obstructed , is the Pre- 
 sident constrained to wait for the requisition of a 
 Governor, or even the petition of a citizen. Just so 
 soon as he learns the fact, no matter by what channel, 
 he is invested by law with full power to counteract it. 
 True it is, that when the laws of a State are obstructed, 
 he can interfere only on the application of the Legis- 
 lature of such State, or of the Executive, when the 
 Legislature cannot be convened ; but when the Federal 
 laws are obstructed, no such preliminary application 
 is necessary. It is his high duty, under his oath of 
 office, to see that they are executed, and, if need be, 
 by the Federal forces. 
 
 And, sir, this is the precise exigency that has arisen 
 in Kansas — precisely this ; nor more, nor less. The 
 Act of Congress, constituting the very organic law of 
 the Territory, which, in peculiar phrase, as if to avoid 
 
122 
 
 SLAVERY IN TIIE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ambiguity, declares, as “ its true intent and meaning,” 
 that the people thereof “ shall be left perfectly free to 
 form and regulate their domestic institutions in their 
 own way,” has been from the beginning opposed and 
 obstructed in its execution. If the President had 
 power to employ the Federal forces in Boston, when 
 he supposed the Fugitive Slave Bill was obstructed, 
 and merely in anticipation of such obstruction, it is 
 absurd to say that he had not power in Kansas, when, 
 in the face of the whole country, the very organic law 
 of the Territory was trampled under foot by succes- 
 sive invasions, and the freedom of the people there 
 overthrown. To assert ignorance of this obstruc- 
 tion — premeditated, long-continued, and stretching 
 through months — attributes to him not merely im- 
 becility, but idiocy. And thus do I dispose of this 
 Apology. 
 
 Next comes the Apology absurd , which is, indeed, 
 in the nature of a pretext. It is alleged that a small 
 printed pamphlet, containing the “ Constitution and 
 Ritual of the Grand Encampment and Regiments of 
 the Kansas Legion,” was taken from the person of 
 one George F. Warren, who attempted to avoid de- 
 tection by chewing it. The oaths and grandiose 
 titles of the pretended Legion have all been set forth, 
 and this poor mummery of a secret society, which 
 existed only on paper, has been gravely introduced on 
 this floor, in order to extenuate the Crime against 
 Kansas. It has been paraded in more than one 
 speech, and even stufled into the report of the com- 
 mittee. 
 
 A part of the obligations assumed by the members 
 of this Legion shows why it has been thus pursued, 
 and also attests its innocence. It is as follows : 
 
MR. SUMNERS SPEECH. 
 
 123 
 
 “ I will never knowingly propose a person for membership 
 in this order who is not in favour of making Kansas a free 
 State, and whom I feel satisfied will exert his entire influence 
 to bring about this result. I will support, maintain, and 
 abide by any honourable movement made by the organisation 
 to secure this great end, ivliich ivill not conflict with the laws 
 of the country and the Constitution of the United States .” 
 
 Kansas is to be made a free State, by an honourable 
 movement, which will not conflict with the laws and 
 the Constitution. That is the object of the organisa- 
 tion, declared in the very words of the initiatory 
 obligation. Where is the wrong in this ? What is 
 there here, which can cast reproach, or even suspicion, 
 upon the people of Kansas ? Grant that the Legion 
 was constituted, can you extract from it any Apology 
 for the original Crime, or for its present ratification ? 
 Secret societies, with their extravagant oaths, are 
 justly offensive; but who can find, in this mistaken 
 machinery, any excuse for the denial of all rights to 
 the people of Kansas ? All this, I say, on the suppo- 
 sition that the society was a reality, which it was not. 
 Existing in the fantastic brains of a few persons only, 
 it never had any practical life. It was never organised. 
 The whole tale, with the mode of obtaining the copy 
 of the Constitution, is at once a cock-and-bull story 
 and a mare’s nest ; trivial as the former ; absurd as 
 the latter ; and to be dismissed, with the Apology 
 founded upon it, to the derision which triviality and 
 absurdity justly receive. 
 
 It only remains, under this head, that I should 
 speak of the Apology infamous; founded on false 
 testimony against the Emigrant Aid Company, and 
 assumptions of duty more false than the testimony. 
 Defying truth and mocking decency, this Apology 
 excels all others in futility and audacity, while, from 
 its utter hollowness, it proves the utter impotence of 
 
124 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the conspirators to defend their Crime. Falsehood, 
 always infamous , in this case arouses peculiar scorn. 
 An association of sincere benevolence, faithful to the 
 Constitution and laws, whose only fortifications are 
 hotels, school-houses, and churches ; whose only 
 weapons are saw-mills, tools, and books ; whose mis- 
 sion is peace and good will, has been falsely assailed 
 on this floor, and an errand of blameless virtue has 
 been made the pretext for an unpardonable Crime. 
 Nay, more — the innocent are sacrificed, and the guilty 
 set at liberty. They who seek to do the mission of 
 the Saviour are scourged and crucified, while the 
 murderer, Barabbas, with the sympathy of the chief 
 priests, goes at large. 
 
 Were I to take counsel of my own feelings, I should 
 dismiss this whole Apology to the ineffable contempt 
 which it deserves ; but it has been made to play such 
 a part in this conspiracy, that I feel it a duty to ex- 
 pose it completely.'* 
 
 III. From this ample survey, where one obstruction 
 after another has been removed, I now pass, in the 
 third place, to the consideration of the various remedies 
 proposed , ending with the True Remedy. 
 
 The Remedy should be co-extensive with the ori- 
 ginal Wrong; and since, by the passage of the 
 Nebraska Bill, not only Kansas, but also Nebraska, 
 Minnesota, Washington, and even Oregon, have been 
 opened to Slavery, the original Prohibition should be 
 restored to its complete activity throughout these 
 various Territories. By such a happy restoration, 
 made in good faith, the whole country would be re- 
 placed in the condition which it enjoyed before the 
 
 * Some passages in defence of the Emigrant Aid Society , un- 
 interesting to an European reader, are omitted . — Ed. 
 
mr. sumner’s speech. 
 
 125 
 
 introduction of that dishonest measure. Here is the 
 Alpha and the Omega of our aim in this immediate 
 controversy. But no such extensive measure is now 
 in question. The Crime against Kansas has been 
 special, and all else is absorbed in the special reme- 
 dies for it. Of these I shall now speak. 
 
 As the Apologies were fourfold, so are the Reme- 
 dies proposed fourfold, and they range themselves in 
 natural order, under designations which so truly dis- 
 close their character as even to supersede argument. 
 First, we have the Remedy of Tyranny ; next, the 
 Remedy of Folly ; next, the Remedy of Injustice and 
 Civil War; and fourthly, the Remedy of Justice 
 and Peace. There are the four caskets ; and you are 
 to determine which shall be opened by Senatorial 
 votes. 
 
 There is the Remedy of Tyranny , which, like its 
 complement, the Apology of Tyranny — though 
 espoused on this floor, especially by the Senator from 
 Illinois — proceeds from the President, and is em- 
 bodied in a special message. It proposes to enforce 
 obedience to the existing laws of Kansas, “ whether 
 Federal or local," when, in fact, Kansas has no “local” 
 laws except those imposed by the Usurpation from 
 Missouri, and it calls for additional appropriations to 
 complete this work of tyranny. 
 
 I shall not follow the President in his elaborate 
 endeavour to prejudge the contested election now 
 pending in the House of Representatives ; for this 
 whole matter belongs to the privileges of that body, 
 and neither the President nor the Senate has a right 
 to intermeddle therewith. I do not touch it. But 
 now, while dismissing it, I should not pardon myself, 
 if I failed to add, that any person who founds his 
 claim to a seat in Congress on the pretended votes of 
 
126 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 hirelings from another State, with no home on the 
 soil of Kansas, plays the part of Anacharsis Clootz, 
 who, at the bar of the French Convention, undertook 
 to represent nations that knew him not, or, if they 
 knew him, scorned him ; with this difference, that in 
 our American case, the excessive farce of the trans- 
 action cannot cover its tragedy. But all this I put 
 aside — to deal only with what is legitimately before 
 the Senate. 
 
 I expose simply the Tyranny which upholds the 
 existing Usurpation, and asks for additional appropria- 
 tions. Let it be judged by an example, from which 
 in this country there can be no appeal. Here is the 
 speech of George III., made from the Throne to Par- 
 liament, in response to the complaints of the Province 
 of Massachusetts Bay, which, though smarting under 
 laws passed by usurped power, had yet avoided all 
 armed opposition, while Lexington and Bunker Hill 
 still slumbered in rural solitude, unconscious of the 
 historic kindred which they were soon to claim. In- 
 stead of Massachusetts Bay, in the Royal speech, 
 substitute Kansas, and the message of the President 
 will be found fresh on the lips of the British King. 
 Listen now to the words, which, in opening Parlia- 
 ment, 30th November, 1774, his Majesty, according 
 to the official report, was pleased to speak : — 
 
 “ My Lords and Gentlemen : 
 
 “ It gives me much concern that I am obliged, at the 
 opening of this Parliament, to inform you that a most daring 
 spirit of resistance and disobedience to the law still unhappily 
 prevails in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, and has 
 in divers parts of it broke forth in fi’esh violences of a very 
 criminal nature. These proceedings have been countenanced 
 in other of my Colonies, and unwarrantable attempts have been 
 made to obstruct the Commerce of this Kingdom, by unlawful 
 combinations. I have taken such measures and given such 
 
MR. SUMNER S SPEECH. 
 
 127 
 
 orders as I have judged most proper and effectual for carrying 
 into execution the laics which were passed in the last session of 
 the late Parliament, for the protection and security of the 
 Commerce of my subjects, and for the restoring and pre- 
 serving peace, order, and good government, in the Province 
 of the Massachusetts Bay." — American Archives, 4th series, 
 vol. i. page 1465. 
 
 The King complained of a “ daring spirit of resist- 
 ance and disobedience to the law;” so also does the 
 President. The King adds, that it has “ broke forth 
 in fresh violences of a very criminal nature;” so also 
 does the President. The King declares that these 
 proceedings have been “countenanced and encouraged 
 in other of my Colonies;” even so the President de- 
 clares that Kansas has found sympathy in “ remote 
 States.” The King inveighs against “ unwarrantable 
 measures” and “unlawful combinations;” even so 
 inveighs the President. The King proclaims that he 
 has taken the necessary steps “ for carrying into exe- 
 cution the laws,” passed in defiance of the constitu- 
 tional rights of the Colonies ; even so the President 
 proclaims that he shall “ exert the whole power of 
 the Federal Executive ” to support the Usurpation in 
 Kansas. The parallel is complete. The Message, if 
 not copied from the Speech of the King, has been 
 fashioned on the same original block, and must be 
 dismissed to the same limbo. I dismiss its tyrannical 
 assumptions in favour of the Usurpation. I dismiss 
 also its petition for additional appropriations in the 
 affected desire to maintain order in Kansas. It is 
 not money or troops that you need there ; but simply 
 the good will of the President. That is all, abso- 
 lutely. Let his complicity with the Crime cease, and 
 peace will be restored. For myself, I will not consent 
 to wad the National artillery with fresh appropriation 
 
128 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 bills, when its murderous hail is to be directed against 
 the constitutional rights of my fellow-citizens. 
 
 Next comes the Remedy of Folly , which, indeed, is 
 also a Remedy of Tyranny ; but its Folly is so sur- 
 passing as to eclipse even its Tyranny. It does not 
 proceed from the President. With this proposition 
 he is not in any way chargeable. It comes from the 
 Senator from South Carolina, who, at the close of a 
 long speech, offered it as his single contribution to 
 the adjustment of this question, and who thus far 
 stands alone in its support. It might, therefore, fitly 
 bear his name ; but that which I now give to it is a 
 more suggestive synonym. 
 
 This proposition, nakedly expressed, is that the 
 people of Kansas should be deprived of their arms. 
 That I may not do the least injustice to the Senator, 
 I quote his precise words : 
 
 “ The President of the United States is under the highest 
 and most solemn obligations to interpose ; and if I were to 
 indicate the manner in which he should interpose in Kansas, 
 
 I would point out the old common law process. I would 
 serve a warrant on Sharpe’s rifles, and if Sharpe’s rifles did 
 not answer the summons, and come into court on a day cer- 
 tain, or if they resisted the sheriff, I would summon the posse 
 comitatus, and would have Colonel Sumner’s regiment to be 
 a part of that posse comitatus .” 
 
 Really, sir, has it come to this ? The rifle has ever 
 been the companion of the pioneer, and, under God, 
 his tutelary protector against the red man and the 
 beast of the forest. Never was this efficient weapon 
 more needed in just self-defence, than now in Kansas, 
 and at least one article in our National Constitution 
 must be blotted out, before the complete right to it 
 can in any way be impeached. And yet such is the 
 madness of the hour, that, in defiance of the solemn 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 129 
 
 guaranty, embodied in the Amendments to the Con- 
 stitution, that “ the right of the people to keep and 
 bear arms shall not be infringed,” the people of 
 Kansas have been arraigned for keeping and bearing 
 them, and the Senator from South Carolina has had 
 the face to say openly, on this floor, that they should 
 be disarmed — of course, that the fanatics of Slavery, 
 his allies and constituents, may meet no impediment. 
 Sir, the Senator is venerable with years ; he is reputed 
 also to have worn at home, in the State which he 
 represents, judicial honours ; and he is placed here at 
 the head of an important Committee occupied parti- 
 cularly with questions of law ; but neither his years, 
 nor his position, past or present, can give respecta- 
 bility to the demand he has made, or save him from 
 indignant condemnation, when, to compass the 
 wretched purposes of a wretched cause, he thus pro- 
 poses to trample on one of the plainest provisions of 
 constitutional liberty. 
 
 Next comes the Remedy of Injustice and Civil War 
 — organised by Act of Congress. This proposition, 
 which is also an offshoot of the original Remedy of 
 Tyranny, proceeds from the Senator from Illinois 
 [Mr. Douglas], with the sanction of the Committee 
 on Territories, and is embodied in the Bill which is 
 now pressed to a vote. 
 
 By this Bill it is proposed, as follows : — 
 
 “ That whenever it shall appear, by a census to be taken 
 under the direction of the Governor, by the authority of the 
 Legislature, that there shall be 93,420 inhabitants (that being 
 the number required by the present ratio of representation 
 for a member of Congress) within the limits hereafter de- 
 scribed as the Territory of Kansas, the Legislature of said 
 Territory shall be , and is hereby, authorised to provide by law 
 for the election of delegates, by the people of said Terri- 
 tory, to assemble in Convention and form a Constitution and 
 
 # K 
 
130 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 State Government, preparatory to their admission into the 
 Union on an equal footing with the original States in all 
 respects whatsoever, by the name of the State of Kansas.” 
 
 Now, sir, consider these words carefully, and you 
 will see that, however plausible and velvet-pawed 
 they may seem, yet in reality they are most unjust 
 and cruel. While affecting to initiate honest pro- 
 ceedings for the formation of a State, they furnish to 
 this Territory no redress for the Crime under which 
 it suffers; nay, they recognise the very Usurpation, 
 in which the Crime ended, and proceed to endow it 
 with new prerogatives. It is by the authority of the 
 Legislature that the census is to be taken, which is 
 the first step in the work. It is also by the authority 
 of the Legislature that a Convention is to be called for 
 the formation of a Constitution, which is the second 
 step. But the Legislature is not obliged to take 
 either of these steps. To its absolute wilfulness is it 
 left to act or not to act in the premises. And since, 
 in the ordinary course of business, there can be no 
 action of the Legislature till January of the next 
 year, all these steps, which are preliminary in their 
 character, are postponed till after that distant day — 
 thus keeping this great question open, to distract and 
 irritate the country. Clearly this is not what is 
 required. The country desires peace at once, and is 
 determined to have it. But this objection is slight 
 b} 7 the side of the glaring Tyranny, that, in recog- 
 nising the Legislature, and conferring upon it these 
 new powers, the Bill recognises the existing Usurp- 
 ation, not only as the authentic Government of the 
 Territory for the time being, but also as possessing a 
 creative power to reproduce itself in the new State. 
 Pass this Bill, and you enlist Congress in the con- 
 spiracy, not only to keep the people of Kansas in 
 their present subjugation, throughout their territorial 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 131 
 
 existence, but also to protract this subjugation into 
 their existence as a State, while you legalise and per- 
 petuate the very force by which Slavery has been 
 already planted there. 
 
 I know that there is another deceptive clause, which 
 seems to throw certain safeguards around the election 
 of delegates to the Convention, when the Convention 
 shall he ordered hy the Legislature ; but out of this 
 very clause do I draw a condemnation of the Usurpa- 
 tion which the Bill recognises. It provides that the 
 tests, coupled with the electoral franchise, shall not 
 prevail in the election of delegates, and thus impliedly 
 condemns them. But if they are not to prevail on 
 this occasion, why are they permitted at the election 
 of the Legislature ? If they are unjust in the one 
 case, they are unjust in the other. If annulled at 
 the election of delegates, they should be annulled at 
 the election of the Legislature ; whereas the Bill of 
 the Senator leaves all these offensive tests in full activity 
 at the election of the very Legislature out of which this 
 whole proceeding is to come , and it leaves the polls at 
 both elections in the control of the officers appointed 
 by the Usurpation. Consider well the facts. By an 
 existing statute, establishing the Fugitive Slave Bill 
 as a shibboleth, a large portion of the honest citizens 
 are excluded from voting for the Legislature, while, 
 by another statute, all who present themselves with a 
 fee of one dollar, whether from Missouri or not, and 
 who can utter this shibboleth, are entitled to vote. 
 And it is a Legislature thus chosen, under the aus- 
 pices of officers appointed by the Usurpation, that 
 you now propose to invest with parental powers to 
 rear the Territory into a State. You recognise and 
 confirm the Usurpation, which you ought to annul 
 without delay. You put the infant State, now pre- 
 paring to take a place in our sisterhood, to suckle 
 
132 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 with the wolf, which you ought at once to kill. The 
 improbable story of Baron Munchausen is verified. 
 The bear, which thrust itself into the harness of the 
 horse it had devoured, and then whirled the sledge 
 according to mere brutal bent, is recognised by this 
 bill, and kept in its usurped place, when the safety of 
 all requires that it should be shot. 
 
 In characterising this Bill as the Remedy of In- 
 justice and Civil War, I give it a plain, self-evident 
 title. It is a continuation of the Crime against 
 Kansas, and as such deserves the same condemnation. 
 It can only be defended by those who defend the 
 Crime. Sir, you cannot expect that the people of 
 Kansas will submit to the Usurpation which this bill 
 sets up, and bids them bow before — as the Austrian 
 tyrant set up his cap in the Swiss market-place. If 
 you madly persevere, Kansas will not be without her 
 William Tell, who will refuse at all hazards to recog- 
 nise the tyrannical edict ; and this will be the begin- 
 ning of civil war. 
 
 Next, and lastly, comes the Remedy of Justice and 
 Peace , proposed by the Senator from New York, 
 [Mr. Seward,] and embodied in his Bill for the im- 
 mediate admission of Kansas as a State of this Union, 
 now pending as a substitute for the bill of the 
 Senator from Illinois. This is sustained by the 
 prayer of the people of the Territory, setting forth 
 a Constitution formed by a spontaneous movement, 
 in which all there had opportunity to participate, 
 without distinction of party. Rarely has any pro- 
 position, so simple in character, so entirely prac- 
 ticable, so absolutely within your power, been pre- 
 sented, which promised at once such beneficent 
 results. In its adoption, the Crime against Kansas 
 will be all happily absolved, the Usurpation which it 
 
mr. sumner’s speech. 
 
 133 
 
 established will be peacefully suppressed, and order 
 will be permanently secured. By a joyful metamor- 
 phosis, this fair Territory may be saved from outrage. 
 
 “ Oh help,” she cries, “ in this extremest need. 
 
 If you who hear are Deities indeed ; 
 
 Gape earth, and make for this dread foe a tomb. 
 
 Or change my form, whence all my sorrows comer 
 
 In offering this proposition, the Senator from New 
 York has entitled himself to the gratitude of the 
 country. He has, throughout a life of unsurpassed 
 industry, and of eminent ability, done much for Free- 
 dom, which the world will not let die ; but he has 
 done nothing more opportune than this, and he has 
 uttered no words more effective than the speech, so 
 masterly and ingenious, by which he has vindicated 
 it* 
 
 Mr. President, an immense space has been tra- 
 versed, and I now stand at the goal. The argument 
 in its various parts is here closed. The Crime against 
 Kansas has been displayed in its origin and extent, 
 beginning with the overthrow of the Prohibition of 
 Slavery ; next cropping out in conspiracy on the 
 borders of Missouri ; then hardening into a continuity 
 of outrage, through organised invasions and miscella- 
 neous assaults, in which all security was destroyed, 
 and ending at last in the perfect subjugation of a 
 generous people to an unprecedented Usurpation. 
 Turning aghast from the Crime, which, like mur- 
 der, seemed to confess itself u with most miraculous 
 organ,” we have looked with mingled shame and 
 indignation upon the four Apologies, whether of 
 
 * Some passages are omitted in ivhich technical objections to the 
 admission of Kansas are answered. — Ed. 
 
134 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Tyranny, Imbecility, Absurdity, or Infamy, in which 
 it has been wrapped, marking especially the false 
 testimony, congenial with the original crime, against 
 the Emigrant Aid Company. Then were noted, in 
 succession, the four Remedies, whether of Tyranny — 
 Folly — Injustice and Civil War — or Justice and 
 Peace, which last bids Kansas, in conformity with 
 past precedents, and under the exigencies of the hour, 
 in order to redeem her from Usurpation, to take a 
 place as a sovereign State of the Union; and this is 
 the True Remedy. If in this argument I have not 
 unworthily vindicated Truth, then have I spoken 
 according to my desires ; if imperfectly, then only 
 according to my powers. But there are other things, 
 not belonging to the argument, which still press for 
 utterance. 
 
 Sir, the people of Kansas, bone of your bone and 
 flesh of your flesh, with the education of freemen 
 and the rights of American citizens, now stand at 
 your door. Will you send them away, or bid them 
 enter ? Will you push them back to renew their 
 struggles with a deadly foe, or will you preserve them 
 in security and peace ? Will you cast them again 
 into the den of Tyranny, or will you help their 
 despairing efforts to escape ? These questions I put 
 with no common solicitude ; for I feel that on their 
 just determination depend all the most precious in- 
 terests of the Republic ; and I perceive too clearly 
 the prejudices in the way, and the accumulating 
 bitterness against this distant people, now claiming 
 their simple birthright, while I am bowed with 
 mortification, as I recognise the President of the 
 United States, who should have been a staff to the 
 weak, and a shield to the innocent, at the head of 
 this strange oppression. 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 135 
 
 At every stage, the similitude between the wrongs 
 of Kansas, and those other wrongs against which our 
 fathers rose, becomes more apparent. Read the De- 
 claration of Independence, and there is hardly an 
 accusation which is there directed against the British 
 Monarch, which may not now be directed with in- 
 creased force against the American President. The 
 parallel has a fearful particularity. Our fathers com- 
 plained that the King had “ sent hither swarms of offi- 
 cers, to harass our people, and eat out their substance 
 that he “had combined, with others, to subject us 
 to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, giving 
 his assent to their acts of pretended legislation ;” that 
 “ he had abdicated government here, by declaring us 
 out of his protection, and waging tear against us ;” that 
 “ he had excited domestic insurrection among us, and 
 endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontier 
 the merciless savages; that our repeated petitions 
 have been answered only by repeated injury.” And 
 this arraignment was aptly followed by the damning 
 words, that “ a Prince, whose character is thus 
 marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is 
 unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” And surely, a 
 President who has done all these things cannot be 
 less unfit than a Prince. At every stage, the re- 
 sponsibility is brought directly to him. His offence 
 has been both of commission and omission. He has 
 done that which he ought not to have done, and he 
 has left undone that which he ought to have done. 
 By his activity the Prohibition of Slavery was over- 
 turned. By his failure to act, the honest emigrants 
 in Kansas have been left a prey to wrong of all kinds. 
 Nullum flagitium extitit, nisi per te ; nullum flcigitium 
 sine te. And now he stands forth the most conspi- 
 cuous enemy of that unhappy Territory. 
 
 As the tyranny of the British King is all renewed 
 
136 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 
 in the President, so on this floor have the old indig- 
 nities been renewed, which embittered and fomented 
 the troubles of our fathers. The early petition of 
 the American Congress to Parliament, long before 
 any suggestion of Independence, was opposed — like 
 the petitions of Kansas — because that body “ was 
 assembled without any requisition on the part of 
 the Supreme Power.” Another petition from New 
 York, presented by Edmund Burke, was flatly re- 
 jected, as claiming rights derogatory to Parliament. 
 And still another petition from Massachusetts Bay 
 was dismissed as “ vexatious and scandalous,” while 
 the patriot philosopher who bore it was exposed to 
 peculiar contumely. Throughout the debates, our 
 fathers were made the butt of sorry jests and super- 
 cilious assumptions. And now these scenes, with 
 these precise objections, have been renewed in the 
 American Senate. 
 
 With regret, I come again upon the Senator from 
 South Carolina [Mr. Butler], who, omnipresent in 
 this debate, overflowed with rage at the simple sug- 
 gestion that Kansas had applied for admission as a 
 State ; and, with incoherent phrases, discharged the 
 loose expectoration of his speech, now upon her re- 
 presentative, and then upon her people. There was 
 no extravagance of the ancient Parliamentary debate 
 which he did not repeat ; nor was there any possible 
 deviation from truth which he did not make, with so 
 much of passion, I am glad to add, as to save him 
 from the suspicion of intentional aberration. But 
 the Senator touches nothing which he does not dis- 
 figure — with error, sometimes of principle, sometimes 
 of fact. He shows an incapacity of accuracy, whe- 
 ther in stating the Constitution or in stating the law, 
 whether in the details of statistics or the diversions 
 of scholarship. He cannot ope his mouth, but out 
 
ME. SUMNER S SPEECH. 
 
 137 
 
 there flies a blunder. Surely he ought to be familiar 
 with the life of Franklin ; and yet he referred to this 
 household character, while acting as agent of our 
 fathers in England, as above suspicion ; and this 
 was done that he might give point to a false contrast 
 with the aa'ent of Kansas — not knowing that, how- 
 ever they may differ in genius and fame, in this 
 experience they are alike : that Franklin, when in- 
 trusted with the petition of Massachusetts Bay, was 
 assaulted by a foul-mouthed speaker, where he could 
 not be heard in defence, and denounced as a “ thief,” 
 even as the agent of Kansas has been assaulted on 
 this floor, and denounced as a “ forger.” And let 
 not the vanity of the Senator be inspired by the 
 parallel with the British statesmen of that day ; for 
 it is only in hostility to Freedom that any parallel 
 can be recognised. 
 
 But it is against the people of Kansas that the 
 sensibilities of the Senator are particularly aroused. 
 Coming, as he announces, “from a State” — aye, sir, 
 from South Carolina — he turns with lordly disgust 
 from this newly-formed community, which he will 
 not recognise even as “ a body politic.” Pray, sir, 
 by what title does he indulge in this egotism ? Has 
 he read the history of “the State” which he repre- 
 sents ? He cannot surely have forgotten its shameful 
 imbecility from Slavery, confessed throughout the 
 Revolution, followed by its more shameful assump- 
 tions for Slavery since. He cannot have forgotten 
 its wretched persistance in the slave trade as the very 
 apple of its eye, and the condition of its participation 
 in the Union. He cannot have forgotten its Consti- 
 tution, which is republican only in name, confirming 
 power in the hands of the few, and founding the qua- 
 lifications of its legislators on “ a settled freehold 
 estate or ten negroes.” And yet the Senator, to 
 
138 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 whom that u State” has in part committed the guar- 
 dianship of its good name, instead of moving, with 
 backward treading steps, to cover its nakedness, 
 rushes forward, in the very ecstasy of madness, to 
 expose it, by provoking a comparison with Kansas. 
 South Carolina is old ; Kansas is young. South 
 Carolina counts by centuries, where Kansas counts 
 by years. But a beneficent example may be born 
 in a day ; and I venture to say, that against the two 
 centuries of the older “ State,” may be already set 
 two years of trial, evolving corresponding virtue, in 
 the younger community. In the one is the long 
 wail of Slavery ; in the other, the hymns of Freedom. 
 And if we glance at special achievements, it will be 
 difficult to find anything in the history of South Ca- 
 rolina which presents so much of heroic spirit in an 
 heroic cause as appears in that repulse of the Mis- 
 souri invaders by the beleaguered town of Lawrence, 
 where even the women gave their effective efforts to 
 Freedom. The matrons of Rome, who poured their 
 jewels into the treasury for the public defence — the 
 wives of Prussia, who, with delicate fingers, clothed 
 their defenders against French invasion ; the mothers 
 of our own Revolution, who sent forth their sons, 
 covered over with prayers and blessings, to combat 
 for Human Rights, did nothing of self-sacrifice truer 
 than did these women on this occasion. Were the 
 whole history of South Carolina blotted out of ex- 
 istence, from its very beginning down to the day of 
 the last election of the Senator to his present seat on 
 this floor, civilisation might lose — I do not say how 
 little ; but surely less than it has already gained by 
 the example of Kansas, in its valiant struggle against 
 oppression, and in the development of a new science 
 of emigration. Already in Lawrence alone there are 
 
MR. SUMNER’S SPEECH. 
 
 139 
 
 newspapers and schools, including a High School, 
 and throughout this infant Territory there is more of 
 mature scholarship, in proportion to its inhabitants, 
 than in all South Carolina. Ah, sir, I tell the Senator 
 that Kansas, welcomed as a Free State, will be a 
 “ministering angel” to the Republic, when South 
 Carolina, in the cloak of darkness which she hugs, 
 “ lies howling.” 
 
 The Senator from Illinois [Mr. Douglas] naturally 
 joins the Senator from South Carolina in this warfare, 
 and gives to it the superior intensity of his nature. 
 He thinks that the National Government has not 
 completely proved its power, as it has never hanged 
 a traitor ; but, if the occasion requires, he hopes 
 there will be no hesitation ; and this threat is directed 
 at Kansas, and even at the friends of Kansas through- 
 out the country. Again occurs the parallel with the 
 struggles of our fathers, and I borrow the language 
 of Patrick Henry, when, to the cry from the Senator, 
 of “ Treason,” “ Treason,” I reply, “ If this be treason, 
 make the most of it.” Sir, it is easy to call names ; 
 but I beg to tell the Senator that if the word “traitor” 
 is in any way applicable to those who refuse submis- 
 sion to a tyrannical Usurpation, whether in Kansas 
 or elsewhere, then must some new word, of deeper 
 colour, be invented to designate those mad spirits 
 who would endanger and degrade the Republic, while 
 they betray all the cherished sentiments of the Fathers 
 and the spirit of the Constitution, in order to give 
 new spread to Slavery. Let the Senator proceed. It 
 will not be the first time in history that a scaffold 
 erected for punishment has become a pedestal of 
 honour. Out of death comes life, and the “ traitor ” 
 whom he blindly executes will live immortal in the 
 cause. 
 
140 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “ For Humanity sweeps onward; where to-day the martyr 
 stands, 
 
 On the morrow crouches Judas, with the silver in his hands; 
 While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return. 
 
 To glean up the scattered ashes into History’s golden urn.” 
 
 Among these hostile Senators, there is yet another, 
 with all the prejudices of the Senator from South 
 Carolina, but without his generous impulses, who, on 
 account of his character before the country, and the 
 rancour of his opposition, deserves to be named. I 
 mean the Senator from Virginia [Mr. Mason], who, 
 as the author of the Fugitive Slave Bill, has asso- 
 ciated himself with a special act of inhumanity and 
 tyranny. Of him I shall say little, for he has said 
 little in this debate, though within that little was 
 compressed the bitterness of a life absorbed in the 
 support of Slavery. He holds the commission of Vir- 
 ginia ; but he does not represent that early Virginia, 
 so dear to our hearts, which gave to us the pen of 
 Jefferson, by which the equality of men was declared, 
 and the sword of Washington, by which Independence 
 was secured; but he represents that other Virginia, 
 from which Washington and Jefferson now avert 
 their faces, where human beings are bred as cattle 
 for the shambles, and where a dungeon rewards the 
 pious matron who teaches little children to relieve 
 their bondage by reading the Book of Life. It is 
 proper that such a Senator, representing such a State, 
 should rail against Free Kansas. 
 
 But this is not all. The precedent is still more 
 clinching. Thus far I have followed exclusively the 
 public documents laid before Congress, and illustrated 
 by the debates of that body ; but well-authenticated 
 facts, not of record here, make the case stronger still. 
 It is sometimes said that the proceedings in Kansas 
 are defective, because they originated in a party. 
 
MR. SUMNER S SPEECH. 
 
 141 
 
 This is not true ; but even if it were true, then would 
 they still find support in the example of Michigan, 
 where all the proceedings, stretching through succes- 
 sive years, began and ended in party. The proposed 
 State Government was pressed by the Democrats as 
 a party test; and all who did not embark in it were 
 denounced. Of the Legislative Council, which called 
 the first Constitutional Convention in 1835, all were 
 Democrats ; and in the Convention itself, composed of 
 eighty-seven members, only seven were Whigs. The 
 Convention of 1836, which gave the final assent, 
 originated in a Democratic Convention on the 29th 
 October, in the county of Wayne, composed of one 
 hundred and twenty-four delegates, all Democrats, 
 who proceeded to resolve — 
 
 “ That the delegates of the Democratic ■party of Wayne, 
 solemnly impressed with the spreading evils and dangers 
 which a refusal to go into the Union has brought upon the 
 people of Michigan, earnestly recommend meetings to be 
 immediately convened by their fellow-citizens in every county 
 of the State, with a view to the expression of their senti- 
 ments in favour of the election and call of another Conven- 
 tion, in time to secure our admission into the Union before 
 the first of January next.” 
 
 Shortly afterwards, a committee of five, appointed 
 by this Convention, all leading Democrats, issued a 
 circular, “ under the authority of the delegates of the 
 county of Wayne,” recommending that the voters 
 throughout Michigan should meet and elect delegates 
 to a Convention to give the necessary assent to the 
 Act of Congress. In pursuance of this call, the 
 Convention met, and, as it originated in an exclu- 
 sively party recommendation, so it was of an ex- 
 clusively party character. And it was the action of 
 this Convention that was submitted to Congress, and, 
 
142 
 
 SLAVERY JN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 after discussion in both bodies, on solemn votes, 
 approved. 
 
 But the precedent of Michigan has another feature, 
 which is entitled to the gravest attention, especially 
 at this moment, when citizens engaged in the effort 
 to establish a State Government in Kansas are openly 
 arrested on the charge of treason, and we are startled 
 by tidings of the maddest efforts to press this pro- 
 cedure of preposterous Tyranny. No such madness 
 prevailed under Andrew Jackson ; although, during 
 the long pendency of the Michigan proceedings, for 
 more than fourteen months, the Territorial Govern- 
 ment was entirely ousted, and the State Government 
 organised in all its departments. One hundred and 
 thirty different legislative acts were passed, providing 
 for elections, imposing taxes, erecting corporations, 
 and establishing courts of justice, including a Supreme 
 Court and a Court of Chancery. All process was 
 issued in the name of the people of the State of 
 Michigan. And yet no attempt was made to question 
 the legal validity of these proceedings, whether 
 legislative or judicial. Least of all did any menial 
 Governor, dressed in a little brief authority, play the 
 fantastic tricks which we now witness in Kansas ; nor 
 did any person wearing the robes of justice shock 
 High Heaven with the mockery of injustice now 
 enacted by the emissaries of the President in that 
 Territory. No, sir ; nothing of this kind then 
 occurred. Andrew Jackson was President. 
 
 Senators such as these are the natural enemies of 
 Kansas, and I introduce them with reluctance, simply 
 that the country may understand the character of 
 the hostility which must be overcome. Arrayed with 
 them, of course, are all who unite, under any pretext 
 or apology, in the propagandism of Human Slavery. 
 To such, indeed, the time-honoured safeguards of 
 
MR. SUMNER S SPEECH. 
 
 143 
 
 popular rights can be a name only, and nothing more. 
 What are trial by jury, habeas corpus, the ballot-box, 
 the right of petition, the liberty of Kansas, — your 
 liberty, sir, or mine, — to one who lends himself, not 
 merely to the support at home, but to the propa- 
 gandism abroad, of that preposterous wrong which 
 denies even the right of a man to himself! Such a 
 cause can be maintained only by a practical sub- 
 version of all rights. It is, therefore, merely according 
 to reason that its partisans should uphold the Usurp- 
 ation in Kansas. 
 
 To overthrow this Usurpation is now the special, 
 importunate duty of Congress, admitting of no hesi- 
 tation or postponement. To this end it must lift 
 itself from the cabals of candidates, the machinations 
 of party, and the low level of vulgar strife. It must 
 turn from that Slave Oligarchy which now controls 
 the Republic, and refuse to be its tool. Let its power 
 be stretched forth towards this distant Territory, not 
 to bind, but to unbind ; not for the oppression of the 
 weak, but for the subversion of the tyrannical ; not 
 for the prop and maintenance of a revolting Usurpa- 
 tion, but for the confirmation of Liberty. 
 
 “ These are imperial arts, and worthy thee ! ” 
 
 Let it now take its stand between the living and dead, 
 and cause this plague to be stayed. All this it can 
 do : and if the interests of Slavery did not oppose, 
 all this it would do at once, in reverent regard for 
 justice, law, and order, driving far away all the 
 alarms of war ; nor would it dare to brave the shame 
 and punishment of this Great Refusal. But the 
 Slave Power dares anything ; and it can be conquered 
 only by the united masses of the People. From 
 Congress to the People, I appeal. 
 
 Already Public Opinion gathers unwonted forces 
 
144 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 to scourge the aggressors. In the press, in daily- 
 conversation, wherever two or three are gathered 
 together, there the indignant utterance finds vent. 
 And trade, by unerring indications, attests the grow- 
 ing energy. Public credit in Missouri droops. The 
 six per cents of that State, which at par should be 
 102, have sunk to 84^ — thus at once completing the 
 evidence of Crime, and attesting its punishment. 
 Business is now turning from the Assassins and 
 Thugs that infest the Missouri River on the way to 
 Kansas, to seek some safer avenue. And this, though 
 not unimportant in itself, is typical of greater changes. 
 The political credit of the men who uphold the 
 Usurpation, droops even more than the stocks ; and 
 the People are turning from all those through whom 
 the Assassins and Thugs have derived their disgraceful 
 immunity. 
 
 It was said of old, “ Cursed be he that removeth 
 his neighbour’s Landmark. And all the people shall 
 say , Amen." — ( Deut . xxvii. 17.) Cursed, it is said, 
 in the city, and in the field ; cursed in basket and 
 store ; cursed when thou comest in, and cursed when 
 thou goest out. These are terrible imprecations ; but 
 if ever any Landmark were sacred, it was that by 
 which an immense territory was guarded for ever 
 against Slavery ; and if ever such imprecations could 
 justly descend upon any one, they must descend now 
 upon all who, not content with the removal of this 
 sacred Landmark, have since, with criminal com- 
 plicity, fostered the incursions of the great Wrong 
 against which it was intended to guard. But I utter 
 no imprecations. These are not my words ; nor is 
 it my part to add to or subtract from them. But, 
 thanks be to God ! they find a response in the hearts 
 of an aroused People, making them turn from every 
 man, whether President, or Senator, or Representative, 
 
MR. SUMNER S SPEECH. 
 
 145 
 
 who has been engaged in this Crime — especially from 
 those who, cradled in free institutions, are without 
 the apology of education or social prejudice — until of 
 all such those other words of the prophet shall be 
 fulfilled — “I will set my face against that man, and 
 make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him 
 off from the midst of my people.” — ( Ezekiel xiv. 8.) 
 Turning thus from the authors of this Crime, the 
 People will unite once more with the Fathers of the 
 Republic, in a just condemnation of Slavery — deter- 
 mined especially that it shall find no home in the 
 National Territories — while the Slave Power, in 
 which the Crime had its beginning, and by which it 
 is now sustained, will be swept into the charnel-house 
 of defunct Tyrannies. 
 
 In this contest, Kansas bravely stands forth — the 
 stripling leader, clad in the panoply of American in- 
 stitutions. In calmly meeting and adopting a frame 
 of Government, her people have with intuitive promp- 
 titude performed the duties of freemen ; and when I 
 consider the difficulties by which she was beset, I find 
 dignity in her attitude. In offering herself for ad- 
 mission into the Union as a Free State, she presents 
 a single issue for the people to decide. And since the 
 Slave Power now stakes on this issue all its ill-gotten 
 supremacy, the People, while vindicating Kansas, will 
 at the same time overthrow this Tyranny. Thus 
 does the contest which she now begins involve not 
 only Liberty for herself, but for the whole country. 
 God be praised, that she did not bend ignobly be- 
 neath the yoke ! Far away on the prairies, she is 
 now battling for the Liberty of all, against the Pre- 
 sident, who misrepresents all. Everywhere among 
 those who are not insensible to Right, the generous 
 struggle meets a generous response. From innu- 
 merable throbbing hearts go forth the very words of 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 encouragement which in the sorrowful days of our 
 fathers, were sent by Virginia, speaking by the pen 
 of Richard Henry Lee, to Massachusetts, in the per- 
 son of her popular tribune, Samuel Adams : 
 
 “Chantilly, Va., June 23. 1774. 
 
 “ I hope the good people of Boston will not lose their spirits, 
 under their present heavy oppression, for they will certainly 
 be supported by the other Colonies ; and the cause for which 
 they suffer is so glorious and so deeply interesting to the 
 present and future generations, that all America will owe, in 
 a great measure, their political salvation to the present virtue 
 of Massachusetts Bay .” — ( American Archives, 4 th series, vol. 
 i. p. 446.) 
 
 In all this sympathy there is strength. But in the 
 cause itself there is angelic power. Unseen of men, 
 the great spirits of History combat by the side of the 
 people of Kansas, breathing a divine courage. Above 
 all towers the majestic form of Washington once 
 more, as on the bloody field, bidding them to remem- 
 ber those rights of Human Nature for which the War 
 of Independence was waged. Such a cause, thus 
 sustained, is invincible. 
 
 The contest which, beginning in Kansas, has 
 reached us, will soon be transferred from Congress to 
 a broader stage, where every citizen will be not 
 only spectator, but actor; and to their judgment I 
 confidently appeal. To the people, now on the 
 eve of exercising the electoral franchise, in choos- 
 ing a Chief Magistrate of the Republic, I appeal, 
 to vindicate the electoral franchise in Kansas. Let 
 the ballot-box of the Union, with multitudinous 
 might, protect the ballot-box in that Territory. 
 Let the voters everywhere, while rejoicing in their 
 own rights, help to guard the equal rights of 
 distant fellow- citizens ; that the shrines of popular 
 
MX. SUMNER’S speech. 
 
 147 
 
 institutions, now desecrated, may be sanctified anew ; 
 that the ballot-box, now plundered, may be restored ; 
 and that the cry, “ I am an American citizen,” may 
 not be sent forth in vain against outrage of every 
 kind. In just regard for free labour in that Terri- 
 tory, which it is sought to blast by unwelcome asso- 
 ciation with slave labour ; in Christian sympathy 
 with the slave, whom it is proposed to task and to sell 
 there ; in stern condemnation of the Crime which has 
 been consummated on that beautiful soil ; in rescue 
 of fellow-citizens, now subjugated to a tyrannical 
 Usurpation; in dutiful respect for the Early Fathers, 
 whose aspirations are now ignobly thwarted ; in the 
 name of the Constitution, which has been outraged 
 - — of the Laws trampled down — of Justice banished 
 — of Humanity degraded — of Peace destroyed — of 
 Freedom crushed to earth; and, in the name of the 
 Heavenly Father, whose service is perfect Freedom, 
 I make this last appeal. 
 
148 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The Answers to this speech contain some specimens 
 of Transatlantic feeling. 
 
 “ Is it,” said Mr. Douglas, ( a candidate for the 
 Presidency ) “ the object of the Senator to provoke 
 some of us to kick him as we would a dog in the 
 street, that he may get sympathy upon the just 
 chastisement ? 
 
 “ The Senator, by his charge of crime, stultifies 
 three-fourths of the whole body, a majority of the 
 North, nearly the whole South, a majority of Whigs, 
 and a majority of Democrats here. He says they are 
 infamous. If he so believed, who could suppose that 
 he would ever show his face among such a body of 
 men ? How dare he approach one of those gentle- 
 men to give him his hand after that act ? If he felt 
 the courtesies between men he would not do it. He 
 would deserve to have himself spit in the face for 
 doing so. 
 
 “ The attack of the Senator from Massachusetts 
 now is not on me alone. Even the courteous and 
 the accomplished Senator from South Carolina [Mr. 
 Butler] could not be passed in his absence.” 
 
 Mr. Mason — “Advantage was taken of it.” 
 
 Mr. Douglas — “ It is suggested that advantage is 
 taken of his absence. I think that is a mistake. I 
 think the speech was written and practised, and the 
 gestures fixed ; and if that part had been stricken 
 out, the Senator would not have known how to re- 
 peat the speech. All that tirade of abuse must be 
 brought down on the head of the venerable, the 
 courteous, and the distinguished Senator from 
 South Carolina. I shall not defend that gentleman 
 
ANSWERS TO MR. SUMNERS SPEECH. 
 
 149 
 
 here. He will be here in due time to speak for him- 
 self, and to act for himself, too. I know what will 
 happen. The Senator from Massachusetts will go to 
 him, whisper a secret apology in his ear, and ask 
 him to accept that as satisfaction for a public outrage 
 on his character ! I know how the Senator from 
 Massachusetts is in the habit of doing those things. 
 I have some experience of his skill in that respect.” 
 
 Mr. Mason, of Virginia, said : 
 
 “ Mr. President, the necessities of our political po- 
 sition bring us into relations and associations upon 
 this floor, which, in obedience to a common Govern- 
 ment, we are forced to admit. They bring us into 
 relations and associations which, beyond the walls of 
 this Chamber, we are enabled to avoid — associations 
 here, whose presence elsewhere is dishonour, and the 
 touch of whose hand would be a disgrace. 
 
 “ The necessity of political position alone brings 
 me into relations with men upon this floor whom 
 elsewhere I cannot acknowledge as possessing man- 
 hood in any form. I am constrained to hear here 
 depravity, vice in its most odious form uncoiled in 
 this presence, exhibiting its loathsome deformities in 
 accusation and vilification against the quarter of the 
 country from which I come; and I must listen to it 
 because it is a necessity of my position, under a com- 
 mon Government, to recognise as an equal, politically, 
 one whom to see elsewhere is to shun and despise. I 
 did not intend to be betrayed into this debate; but 
 I submit to the necessity of my position. I am here 
 now, united with an honoured band of patriots, from 
 the North equally with the South, to try if we can 
 preserve and perpetuate those institutions which 
 others are prepared to betray, and are seeking to 
 destroy ; and I will submit to the necessity of that 
 position at least until the work is accomplished.” 
 
150 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The outrage which followed is thus described in 
 the Boston papers : — 
 
 From the “Boston Daily Advertiser,” May 24. 
 
 “Our own correspondent at Washington was one of 
 the few persons who were present in the Senate 
 Chamber, eye-witnesses of the assault upon Mr. Sum- 
 ner. His telegraphic despatch to us was, we believe, 
 the first received in Boston, announcing the occurrence. 
 We give below a letter from him received by mail last 
 evening, written immediately after the affair. 
 
 “‘Washington, May 22. 1856. 
 
 “ ‘ The Senate adjourned early to-day, in consequence 
 of the announcement of the death of Hon. Mr. Miller, 
 of Missouri. After the adjournment, as is the custom 
 of many Senators, Mr. Sumner remained at his desk 
 writing. There were also present Mr. Crittenden, of 
 Kentucky, and several other Senators, who had not 
 left the Chamber, some of the subordinate officers of 
 the Senate, and a number of other persons, including 
 your correspondent. 
 
 “ ‘ While Mr. Sumner was thus seated writing, Mr. 
 Preston S. Brooks, of South Carolina, entered the 
 Chamber, accompanied by Mr. Keitt, of the same 
 State — both members of the House of Representatives. 
 These approached Mr. Sumner’s seat, when the former 
 raised a cane some three-quarters of an inch or an 
 inch in diameter, and struck Mr. Sumner a severe 
 blow over the head with it. Mr. Sumner sprang from 
 his seat, but staggered under the effect of the blow, 
 reeling about and falling partially over the desk. 
 Notwithstanding his helpless condition, the chivalric 
 
THE OUTRAGE ON MR. SUMNER. 
 
 151 
 
 South Carolinian repeated his blows with great force 
 and rapidity. 
 
 “ ‘ Senator Crittenden, of Kentucky — than whom the 
 South has no braver or more chivalric son — did not 
 hesitate to pronounce the assault a shameful outrage 
 — a remark which suggested a significant glance from 
 Keitt to Brooks — to which the latter replied by saying, 
 “ Well, one icill do !” I know not what else was the 
 meaning of this expression, except that the parties 
 were tempted to try their prowess upon the aged 
 Crittenden, but concluded not to venture it. 
 
 “ ‘Mr. Sumner, who lay upon the floor in a state of 
 partial stupor, in consequence of the blows inflicted 
 upon his head, was raised by his friends, and carried 
 into the anteroom of the Chamber, where medical 
 service was promptly procured. Although his head 
 is badly contused and severely cut, it is hoped that 
 the wounds are not dangerous, although at the same 
 time it is difficult to judge with certainty. The 
 entire assault, of course, occupied but a minute or 
 two. Your correspondent was standing just inside 
 the corner door of the Chamber — some twenty feet 
 from the parties — when the assault was commenced, 
 but by the time himself and the friend with whom he 
 was conversing could reach the spot, the thing was 
 over. The mad rage of the assailant may be judged 
 from the fact that he broke his cane into fragments.’ ” 
 
152 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 From the “New York Evening Post,” May 23 . 
 
 <c Washington, May 22. 
 
 “There were at least a dozen persons standing near 
 at the time of the assault, which was so unexpected 
 that, as they say, they did not think of interfering. 
 Close by stood, as I am informed, the Senate’s Sergeant- 
 at- Arms, a large, strong man, and yet he did nothing. 
 Mr. Crittenden came forward from another part of 
 the Flail, and denounced the attack, to the perpetra- 
 tor, with the manly indignation characteristic of the 
 chivalrous veteran of Kentucky, as a 1 shameless 
 transaction.’ But the reply was, I am told, ‘ You’d 
 better not interfere, we will lick one at a time.’ 
 Keitt stood by with a cane, ready to save Brooks 
 from injury ; many persons having the impression 
 that he was armed, though no fire-arms were displayed, 
 either by him or Brooks. 
 
 “ Mr. Sumner’s legs, at the time when he was 
 attacked, were under the desk, so far that he could 
 only rise by wrenching it from the floor. The stun- 
 ning, sudden force of the blow knocked his head" 
 forward. His assailant then, seizing him by the 
 shoulder, held him with his left hand while with the 
 other he kept laying the blows upon his head.” 
 
THE OUTRAGE ON MR. SUMNER. 
 
 153 
 
 “ Mr. Sumner’s Statement. 
 
 “ The following is the statement of Mr. Sumner, 
 under oath : 
 
 “ I attended the Senate as usual on Thursday, 
 the 22nd of May. After some formal business, a 
 message was received from the House of Representa- 
 tives, announcing the death of a member of that 
 body from Missouri. This was followed by a brief 
 tribute to the deceased from Mr. Geyer, of Missouri, 
 when, according to usage and out of respect to the 
 deceased, the Senate adjourned at once. Instead of 
 leaving the Senate Chamber with the rest of the 
 Senators, on the adjournment, I continued in my 
 seat, occupied with my pen, and while thus intent, in 
 order to be in season for the mail, which was soon 
 to close, I was approached by several persons who 
 desired to converse with me, but I answered them 
 promptly and briefly, excusing myself for the reason 
 that I was much engaged. When the last of these 
 persons left me I drew my arm-chair close to my 
 desk, and with my legs under the desk continued 
 writing. My attention at this time was so entirely 
 drawn from all other subjects that, though there must 
 have been many persons in the Senate, I saw nobody. 
 While thus intent, with my head bent over my 
 writing, I was addressed by a person who approached 
 the front of my desk ; I was so entirely absorbed that 
 I was not aware of his presence until I heard my 
 name pronounced. As I looked up with pen in hand, 
 I saw a tall man, whose countenance was not familiar, 
 standing directly over me, and at the same moment 
 caught these words : ‘ I have read your speech twice 
 over carefully; it is a libel on South Carolina, and 
 Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine.’ While these 
 
154 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 words were still passing from his lips, he commenced 
 a succession of blows with a heavy cane on my bare 
 head, by the first of which I was stunned so as to 
 lose my sight. I saw no longer my assailant, nor 
 any other person or object in the room. What I did 
 afterward was done almost unconsciously, acting 
 under the instincts of self-defence. With head already 
 bent down, I rose from my seat — wrenching up my 
 desk, which was screwed to the floor — and then press- 
 ing forward, while my assailant continued his blows. 
 I had no other consciousness until I found myself ten 
 feet forward in front of my desk, lying on the floor 
 of the Senate, with my bleeding head supported on 
 the knee of a gentleman whom I soon recognised by 
 voice and manner as Mr. Morgan, of New York. 
 Other persons there were about me offering me 
 friendly assistance, but I did not recognise any of 
 them. Others there were at a distance, looking on 
 and offering no assistance, of whom I recognised only 
 Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, 
 and I thought also my assailant standing between 
 them. I was helped from the floor and conducted 
 into the lobby of the Senate, where I was placed upon 
 a sofa. Of those who helped me here I have no 
 recollection. As I entered the lobby I recognised 
 Mr. Slidell, of Louisiana, who retreated, but I recog- 
 nised no one else until I felt a friendly grasp of the 
 hand, which seemed to come from Mr. Campbell, of 
 Ohio. I have a vague impression that Mr. Bright, 
 President of the Senate, spoke to me while I was on 
 the floor of the Senate or in the lobby. I make this 
 statement in answer to the interrogatory of the Com- 
 mittee, and offer it as presenting completely all my 
 recollections of the assault and of the attending 
 circumstances, whether immediately before or imme- 
 diately after. I desire to add, that beside the words 
 
AMERICAN COMMENTS ON THE OUTRAGE. 155 
 
 which I have given as uttered by my assailant, I have 
 an indistinct recollection of the words ‘ old man 7 ; 
 but these are so enveloped in the mist which ensued 
 from the first blow, that I am not sure whether they 
 were uttered or not. 
 
 44 On the cross-examination of Mr. Sumner he stated 
 that he was entirely without arms of any kind, and 
 that he had no notice or warning of any kind, direct 
 or indirect, of this assault.” 
 
 The last set of documents which appear to de- 
 serve publication are the comments of the American 
 writers and speakers. 
 
 From the 44 Richmond Inquirer,” June 12. 
 
 44 In the main, the press of the South applaud 
 the conduct of Mr. Brooks, without condition or 
 limitation. Our approbation, at least, is entire and 
 unreserved. We consider the act good in conception, 
 better in execution, and best of all in consequence. 
 The vulgar Abolitionists in the Senate are getting 
 above themselves. They have been humoured until 
 they forget their position. They have grown saucy, 
 and dare to be impudent to gentlemen ! Now, they 
 are a low, mean, scurvy set, with some little book 
 learning, but as utterly devoid of spirit or honour as 
 a pack of curs. Intrenched behind 4 privilege,’ they 
 fancy they can slander the South, and insult its 
 representatives with impunity. The truth is, they 
 
156 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 have been suffered to run too long without collars. 
 They must be lashed into submission. Sumner, in 
 particular, ought to have nine-and-thirty early every 
 morning. He is a great strapping fellow, and could 
 stand the cowhide beautifully. Brooks frightened 
 him, and at the first blow of the cane he bellowed 
 like a bull-calf. There is the blackguard Wilson, an 
 ignorant Natick cobbler, swaggering in excess of 
 muscle, and absolutely dying for a beating. Will 
 not somebody take him in hand ? Hale is another 
 huge, red-faced, sweating scoundrel, whom some 
 gentleman should kick and cuff until he abates some- 
 thing of his impudent talk. These men are perpetu- 
 ally abusing the people and representatives of the 
 South, for tyrants, robbers, ruffians, adulterers, and 
 what not. Shall we stand it ? Can gentlemen sit 
 still in the Senate and House of Representatives, 
 under an incessant stream of denunciation from 
 wretches who avail themselves of the privilege of 
 place to indulge their devilish passions with impu- 
 nity ? In the absence of an adequate law, Southern 
 gentlemen must protect their own honour and feel- 
 ings. It is an idle mockery to challenge one of these 
 scullions. It is equally useless to attempt to disgrace 
 them. They are insensible to shame, and can be 
 brought to reason only by an application of cowhide 
 or gutta percha. Let them once understand that for 
 every vile word spoken against the South, they will 
 suffer so many stripes, and they will soon learn to 
 behave themselves like decent dogs — they can never 
 be gentlemen. Mr. Brooks has initiated this salutary 
 discipline, and he deserves applause for the bold, 
 judicious manner in which he chastised the scamp 
 Sumner. It was a proper act, done at the proper 
 time, and in the proper place. 
 
 “ Of all places on earth, the Senate Chamber, the 
 
AMERICAN COMMENTS ON THE OUTRAGE. 157 
 
 theatre of his vituperative exploits, was the very spot 
 where Sumner should have been made to suffer for 
 his violation of the decencies of decorous debate, and 
 for his brutal denunciation of a venerable statesman. 
 It was literally and entirely proper that he should be 
 stricken down and beaten just beside the desk against 
 which he leaned as he fulminated his filthy utterances 
 through the Capitol. It is idle to talk of the sanctity 
 of the Senate Chamber, since it is polluted by the 
 presence of such fellows as Wilson, and Sumner, and 
 Wade. They have desecrated it, and cannot now fly 
 to it as to a sanctuary from the lash of vengeance. 
 
 “We trust other gentlemen will follow the example 
 of Mr. Brooks, that so a curb may be imposed upon 
 the truculence and audacity of Abolition speakers. If 
 need be, let us have a caning or cowhiding every day. 
 If the worst come to the worst, so much the sooner, 
 so much the better.” 
 
 A Meeting in South Carolina. 
 
 “ A public meeting of the citizens of Fairfield was 
 held on Tuesday night, 27th ult., to approve the con- 
 duct of the Hon. Preston S. Brooks, in administering 1 
 to Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, a wholesome 
 and richly merited castigation. 
 
 “ On motion of Mr. G. II. McMaster, James M. 
 Rutland, Esq., was called to the chair, and S. R. 
 Stirling appointed Secretary. 
 
 “ The object of the meeting being briefly stated by 
 Franklin Gaillard, James R. Aiken, Esq., offered the 
 following preamble and resolutions, which he hand- 
 somely sustained by remarks adapted to the occasion : 
 
 “•'Whereas the citizens of the slaveholding States have for 
 many years practically submitted to the most aggravated ex- 
 
158 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 pressions of insolence and abuse from citizens of the Northern 
 States, as disseminated not only from the press, but also from 
 the pulpit and the forum ; and whereas a tame and quiet sub- 
 mission to such limited conceptions of truth, justice, and 
 equity only tend to degrade the South from her high position 
 and deprive her of those constitutional rights which she has 
 ever maintained at any and every sacrifice — 
 
 “ ‘ Resolved, That we most heartily approve the practical 
 enforcement of respect for the motives of Southern men and 
 Southern States, in the chastisement inflicted upon the cham- 
 pion of black republicanism by the Hon, P. S. Brooks; and 
 that we hereby tender to Mr. Brooks our cordial approbation 
 of his gallantry, and express our indignation at the spirit mani- 
 fested, not only by Abolition orators and papers, but by the 
 public meetings in Northern cities, which have undertaken 
 to denounce his course on the above occasion. 
 
 “ That a special delegate be sent to Washington to carry 
 a copy of these proceedings. 
 
 “ That the Secretary be requested to forward by him a 
 copy to each of our delegates in Congress.’ 
 
 “ The meeting was addressed by Gen. John Bucha- 
 nan and Major James H. Rion.” 
 
 From the “South Side Democrat,” May 24. 
 
 “ The telegraph has recently announced no infor- 
 mation more grateful to our feelings than the classical 
 caning which this outrageous Abolitionist received, 
 on Thursday, at the hands of the chivalrous Brooks, 
 of South Carolina. It is enough for gentlemen to bear 
 to be compelled to associate with such a character as 
 Sumner, and to be bored with the stupid and arro- 
 gant dogmas with which his harangues invariably 
 abound ; but when, in gross violation of Senatorial 
 courtesy and in defiance of public opinion, the un- 
 scrupulous Abolitionist undertakes to heap upon the 
 head of a venerable Senator a vulgar tirade of abuse 
 
AMERICAN COMMENTS ON THE OUTRAGE. 159 
 
 and calumny, no punishment is adequate to a proper 
 restraint of his insolence but a deliberate, cool, dig- 
 nified, and classical caning.” 
 
 From the “ Baltimore Republican,” May 24. 
 
 “ The Flogging of a Demagogue . — Not a few tender- 
 footed people of our city have professed fears of great 
 excitement at the North, growing out of the deserved 
 chastisement of a foul-mouthed demagogue. These 
 forget that the disposition to resent bestial insult and 
 wrong is not less prevalent at the North than in our 
 own latitude. The spirited men of the North, who have 
 long sickened into loathing with inflictions of Abolition 
 vituperation, will fail to see, in the circumstances 
 attending the flogging of a pre-eminent blackguard, 
 much to distinguish it from the usual cases of per- 
 sonal retribution. Indeed, they have ever been 
 amazed at the degree of personal consideration which 
 has been extended to red-handed foes of the South 
 by those whose personal characters are so ruthlessly 
 assailed. To this they justly attribute much of the 
 consequence which fanaticism has reached in the 
 Free States. The remedy is obvious, and should be 
 promptly administered. Beyond respectful official 
 recognition, non-intercourse with Abolitionists — the 
 practice of Mr. Calhoun — should be adopted. No 
 greater service to the Northern supporters of the 
 Constitution and the Union could possibly be done. 
 It was to be expected that an attempt would be 
 essayed by the Abolitionists to make political capital 
 out of the transaction. Doubtless the flagellation 
 was tamely received for the same reason. But there 
 is nothing in the public tone that looks to serious 
 consequences, while a large portion of the press of 
 the North set the provocation fully before the people.” 
 
160 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “The ‘South Carolina Times’ (State Paper), of 
 the 27th ult., holds the following language in relation 
 to the late attack on Mr. Sumner : — 
 
 “Up to the 22nd of May, a. d. 1856, none have 
 been found willing to step forward, as Carolinians, in 
 defence of the character of Southern men or the 
 institutions of the South, but the Hon. Preston S. 
 Brooks. He, on that memorable day, rallying none 
 to his support, confronted, in the Senate Chamber, 
 the unprincipled Abolitionist and rowdy, Charles 
 Sumner, of Massachusetts, and rewarded him for his 
 dastardly libel upon Senator Butler, and slander of 
 the people of the South. Col. Brooks has the honour 
 of being the first man who dared to carry out his de- 
 claration that he was ready to commence the war 
 in Washington, in the halls of Congress. 
 
 “ Colonel Brooks has done nothing that South 
 Carolinians ought to be ashamed of. He has boldly 
 stepped forward, at the risk of his life, ease, and social 
 relation, in defence of the chivalrous Butler, and we 
 know that there will be found but one sentiment 
 among the people of South Carolina, which is ‘ Well 
 done, thou good and faithful servant.’ ” 
 
 The following resolution was passed at a late meet- 
 ing of the citizens of Newberry (Brooks’s district): 
 
 “ Be it unanimously resolved, That this meeting approves 
 the conduct of the Hon. P. S. Brooks in the premises, and 
 that it recommends that meetings be held, on the first Mon- 
 day in June next, in the various districts constituting this 
 Congressional district, to express the approbation which we 
 are sure his constituents generally will accord to him.” 
 
AMERICAN COMMENTS ON THE OUTRAGE. 161 
 
 From the “New Fork Evening Post” of the 
 11th June 1856. 
 
 Extract from a speech by Mr. Richard Dana, ju- 
 nior*, at a Sumner meeting in Cambridge held in 
 June 1856 : — 
 
 “ Charles Sumner has been struck down in a man- 
 ner which his colleague has for ever branded, and so 
 we declare it to-night, as ‘ brutal, murderous, and 
 cowardly.’ This is bad, but it is not that which stirs 
 the people of the free States as one man. He was 
 struck down for words spoken in debate, and in the 
 sanctuary of his office. 
 
 “But this is not all. It was done by a member of 
 Congress, and expressly for words spoken in debate. 
 But this is not half. It will not be punished. The 
 man who did the deed will not be expelled, nor will 
 he be punished, adequately, if at all, by the laws of 
 the District of Columbia, — - a domain ceded to Con- 
 gress for the very purpose of enabling it to secure 
 freedom of debate and action, by laws of its own. All 
 this may seem bad, wrong, grievous, intolerable. But 
 I have not begun to name the great evil yet. There 
 are ninety representatives from the Slave States. 
 Every one present at the vote, voted against inquiry. 
 There were several senators from the Slave States pre- 
 sent at the assault. Blow after blow fell on his defence- 
 less head. No one knew that the next blow might not 
 be the fatal blow ; yet no one interfered ; no word, no 
 cry, no motion. [Yes, Mr. Crittenden did.] Perhaps 
 he did, at the close, a little, but for that little he was 
 threatened with chastisement on the spot. Not one 
 press south of the Potomac has condemned the act. 
 
 * The Author of “ Two Years before the Mast.” 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Not one public man, or public body, has condemned 
 it. On the contrary, all have adopted and defended 
 it. It is recognised as a policy — as a system — and 
 commendation and honour are heaped upon the per- 
 petrator, so that others may be stimulated to do 
 the like. Already the leading southern journals are 
 pointing out the next victim. A kind of Lynch law 
 is to be instituted wherever the subject of slavery is 
 involved. 
 
 “ Now, fellow-citizens, I beg you to ask yourselves 
 what all this indicates. Let us not be children, gazing 
 at the painted scene; let us lift the curtain and look 
 at the movers and actors behind. 
 
 “ Freedom of speech is at stake in Congress. Free- 
 dom in the choice of institutions is at stake in Kan- 
 sas. Seven in every eight of the inhabitants of Kan- 
 sas desire free institutions ; yet slavery is forced upon 
 them. The people cannot select their institutions, nor 
 can Congress prescribe them. Force governs — irre- 
 gular, unlawful, brute-force governs ; and governs by 
 aid and countenance of the national authorities ! 
 
 “ Mr. President, the last census has demonstrated 
 what many have declared, but few have believed, that 
 under the form of a republic, this country is now, 
 and has long been, governed by an oligarchy. In the 
 free states there are now about seventeen millions of 
 free inhabitants and no slaves. In the slave states 
 there are four millions of slaves, owned by three hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand owners. These 350,000 
 owners of slaves own the valuable land and the la- 
 bourers, and monopolise the government of the Slave 
 States. The non-slaveholding free population is of 
 little account. This forms the privileged class, the 
 oligarchy. It is not for the purpose of making them 
 odious that I use this name. It is the only proper 
 designation. Including the families of the owners, 
 
AMERICAN COMMENTS ON THE OUTRAGE. 163 
 
 there may be two millions of persons in the dominant 
 class or order. 
 
 “ This oligarchy has governed the whole country, 
 and governs it now with a sway of increasing demands 
 and exactions. Of seventeen presidential elections, 
 natives of Slave States have carried thirteen, and na- 
 tives of Free States four. Of the life of our govern- 
 ment, forty-nine years have been passed under slave- 
 holding chief-magistrates, and eighteen under non- 
 slaveholders. They have always had a majority of 
 the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 The population, the arts, the sciences, commerce, 
 inventions, copyrights, manufactures, all are with the 
 Free States. Yet the Slave States hold and have 
 always held the judiciary. They almost monopolised 
 the army and navy when appointments were open. 
 At this moment, though there are sixteen Free States 
 and fifteen Slave States, a majority of the Senate are 
 slave holders. 
 
 “ To make a long story short, there has never been 
 a question between the slave power and the free power, 
 on the floor of Congress, in which the slave power has 
 not triumphed. 
 
 “ I will not go over the recital of the successive 
 defeats of freedom and aggressions of slavery. The 
 subjugation of Kansas is the latest triumph. The 
 subjugation of free speech is its object now. At first, 
 you recollect, no man can have forgotten, the right 
 of petition was denied. For that John Quincy Adams 
 perilled all a public man has to peril, and life itself. 
 Next, through resolves of Congress and platforms of 
 both the great parties, they tried again to suppress 
 free speech. Now, they chastise it by violence, in the 
 very sanctuary of its refuge. No man has received 
 a national nomination that is not acceptable to them. 
 No man can be confirmed in a national office, from 
 
164 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Secretary of State or Minister at St. James’s to the 
 humblest postmaster, that is not satisfactory to them. 
 Mr. Everett’s appointment at St. James’s hung in sus- 
 pense because he was suspected of having uttered, 
 somewhere, a sentiment hostile to slavery and its 
 interests. The country is one vast Dionysius’s ear. 
 Every whisper in the closet is transmitted and pun- 
 ished. 
 
 Before parting to-night, let me ask any doubting 
 friend, if there be one here, what provocation more 
 he proposes to wait for ? They have added slave 
 states by a cotip d'etat ; will you wait until they have 
 added Cuba or Central America ? They have tried 
 to force slavery on Kansas ; will you wait until they 
 have succeeded ? They have violated one solemn 
 compact ; how many more must they violate, before 
 you will assert your right ? They have struck down 
 a senator in his place. Some of their presses have 
 designated the next victim ; will you wait until he 
 has fallen ? ” 
 
 Mr. Dana was right. Mr. Brooks was not expelled 
 from the Senate. His only punishment was a fine of 
 300 dollars. This is the value set in Washington on 
 freedom of debate. Any ruffian willing to pay 60/. 
 may waylay and disable an opponent. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 London : 
 
 Printed by Spottiswoode & Co., 
 New-»treet- Square. 
 
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