<-' 'xf ^ 
 
 L^> 
 
 ^^^ SLAVERY. 
 
 ITS 
 
 ORIGIN, INFLUENCE, AND DESTINY, 
 
 HT 
 
 TIIEOPIITLUS PARSONS. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 \V I I. L I A M CARTER AND BROTHER, 
 
 r WATEK 8TRKET, AND 21 BROMFIELD 8TKEET. 
 
 1 S G 3 . 
 
C!ass_^JE_i-53 
 
SLAVERY. 
 
 II- 
 
 ORIGIN, INFLUENCE, AND DESTINY. 
 
 TIIEOPIIILUS PARSONS. 
 
 \y. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 WI I.LI AM CAlllKR AND BKDTIIKIi, 
 
 7 «Ari;K sruEET, and I'l )ti(i.tMi iKMi »Tiu:Kr. 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the 5ear 18(53, 
 
 By Theophilus Parsons, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 ClIA,-^. H. CROSBY, PKIXTEK, 6 & 7 WATER JsTREET. 
 
^ 
 
 M. 
 
 H 
 v 
 
 S L A V E 11 Y 
 
 TiiKRE are none who deny that slavery, in some way, 
 and iu s(Jine sense, is the jirincipal cause of our civil 
 war. For they who — ahroad or at home — allei^e that 
 it is caused hy the actual and profound diversity between 
 the two sections of tjje country as to their inti-rests, their 
 habits, and their character, do not deny that this <liversity 
 .«iprin;^s maiidy from the existence of slavery in one only 
 of the parties. And they who account lor it by the auL^ry 
 ami persistent vehemence of abolitionism, will not deny 
 that if there were no shivery to Ik? abolisluMl there could 
 be no abolitionism. It is not however worth while to 
 use many words in proving a fact, which the map of our 
 country demonstrates. 
 
 IJiit if it be certain that slavery in S(»me way is the 
 centnil cause of the civil war, it is by no means certain 
 how, or why, this cause has prtnluced this etlect. If I 
 otier for consideration the views I hold on this subject, 
 it is be<-ause in this country public opini«»n is a soverei;zn 
 power, and the Innublest etl'ort to intnMluce into this 
 ((pinion what seems to tb«^ offerer an element of Irutli, 
 mav at least be pardoiieil. 
 
 U'liat then is Slavery? Its f((undution is the jxtwer 
 t»l" (•••ntrollin;r any man without his consent and ctmcur- 
 rciH'c. The absolute ownershij) by one man of another 
 man as it exists at the South, is only the |>crfection 
 and consummation (»f this principle. There are coses 
 where immaturity demands guidance, or crime deserves 
 j>unislim«iil. Puitin;; these cases aside, wherever this 
 principh' exists and operates, and in whatever degree it 
 exists, there is that wlw<'h nuiy be called the essence of 
 Slavi'vy. We are a<'custome<l to confine the name to 
 absolute ownersliip. Nor lio I insist that the use of the 
 
4 SLAVERY. 
 
 word slavery should be extended, if only I am understood 
 as believing that this relation of man to man is but the 
 completion of a relation which exists in a greater or a 
 less degree when any man possesses the right to coerce 
 another into labor for his benefit, without the consent of 
 that other. 
 
 It might seem that this is, in some sort, the condition 
 of all men ; for even in this busy land, few work except- 
 ing because they must. But, if we take an extreme 
 case, it is one thing to be able to say to a man. Work for 
 me on the terms which I offer, or starve, leaving it to him 
 to starve if he chooses, and a very different thing, to have 
 the right to say to him, Work for me on my terms or no 
 terms, because I command you. These two things differ 
 in essence ; they are as different, as non-slavery and 
 slavery. The phrase in our Constitution, " held to labor," 
 marks the distinction between one who is held to labor, 
 and one who is persuaded or induced to labor. This 
 phrase is, as it was intended to be, an exact definition of 
 a slave. 
 
 If it happens that these words present this idea to any 
 reader for the first time, it may seem to him visionary, un- 
 real, and unpractical. And certainly such an idea as that 
 a legal right of thus compelling service is itself a wrong, 
 scarcely existed upon earth until a few generations ago. 
 If it existed in some minds, and was uttered by some 
 voices, it had nowhere prevalence or recognition. And 
 to-day it can hardly be said to have definite expression 
 and acknowledged truth in the old world. All class-right 
 is, to some extent, opposed to it ; and indeed is founded 
 upon its opposite. And yet, history, if we permit it to 
 throw the light of the past upon the present, may teach 
 us that mankind in all its progress, has been constantly ad- 
 vancing towards this end, towards the liberation of the hu- 
 man mind from the thought, and of the human heart from 
 the desire, of standing over a brother-man as his master and 
 his owner. And a reason why that goodness which has 
 ever led and watched the advancing footsteps of our race 
 has guided them in this direction, is, that in proportion as 
 the thought and desire of ruling over our brother pass 
 away, they are replaced by the thought and the desire of 
 
SLAVERY. i> 
 
 Standing by his side and working with liiin tor a common 
 good. 
 
 Let us oast a glance — a very brief and rapid glance — 
 at tiie past. Beginning where history begins, we see 
 nnfiualitied and unquestioned despotism ; now good and 
 now evil, utterly diverse iu character and influence, but 
 always unquestioned, and unimpeded. This was and is 
 the (Jriental idea of government ; Gibbon remarks that 
 Eastern languages have no words to express any other 
 mode of goveriuncnt. At length Greece arose, and un<ler 
 the leading of Alexander, conquered. It was the con- 
 cpiest of KurojMi over Asia ; of a European way of think- 
 in;! over Oriental thought ; it was a sti'p away from the 
 Oriental idea that despotism was the only cognizable form 
 of govermnent. 
 
 In (Jreece and Homo, whatever were the abuses of 
 certain ages, there was alwjiys the preteijee, and oHen the 
 |-eality of governing by law. And then the feudal system 
 ad\anced so far as to give every nuin his place. For it 
 gave to every man his riglits, such a.«< they were, and to 
 no nuin the right of abs<irbing all other rights into his 
 own. Tiio feudal system had serfs, but not slaves. 
 
 The feudal system gri'W, flourished, decayed, ami is 
 passing away. A sl«'p further forward was jM)ssible ; 
 Jiut not |)OHsible in Europe. Ages whieh had greatly 
 varied tlie institutions of feudalism, had indurated them 
 an<l the systeui of lliou;.'ht and feeling adapte<I to them; 
 and ehttiied them all with steel, nu»re impenetrable than 
 the mail her warrinr-i onee wore. Not in Eur<»pe e<)uM 
 tlie next step l>e taken, — and America was discoven-d. 
 An<l in or near the same age came the great diseov«'ry 
 of gunpowder, wliicli has made it imj)ossible tliat tin; 
 scenes Eroissart so loves to paint, where a few mailed 
 knights routed and slaughtere<l at their pleasure mobs of 
 pea.santry, sh«)uld ever be repcatctl. And tiie compass 
 which led Columbus to America was given as the means 
 of a commerce which has already begmi its work of 
 binding the luitions into unity. And the press was given, 
 to give wings to thought. And all these discoveries 
 were gifts of the same g(»o<lness and were given for the 
 same end, as that for whic.li America wiw discovered and 
 1* 
 
b SLAVERY. 
 
 peopled. This end was — to express it in the fewest 
 words — that consent might take the place of compulsion^ 
 in all the ranks and regions and work of human society. 
 
 To this end this nation was planted in the home made 
 ready for it ; fostered until it was ready to live in 
 independence, and then gifted with independence. It 
 was ready for nationality, and became a nation. And 
 then came the gi'eat American Invention, — greater in 
 worth, in wisdom, and in its beneficent influence over the 
 whole future, than all those I have above enumerated ; 
 the invention of a Constitution. 
 
 The word is not a new one. It was applied to political 
 institutions before we used it, and is now so applied else- 
 where. But, in its American sense, and in its purpose 
 and its work, a Constitution had no existence, until it 
 was called into being for our needs, and our good ; called 
 into being by the progress of humanity, and for that 
 progress. 
 
 It would of course be difficult, or rather, impossible, to 
 give here a full exposition of the grounds on which an opin- 
 ion rests, that may seem to many, extravagant. This will 
 not be attempted. But some illustration of it may be 
 derived from a comparison between the national feeling 
 in this country, and that in Europe, on one point ; it is, 
 the loyalty of the nation. 
 
 There are those who think this word rightly used in 
 Europe, with an exact and definite sense ; but that here it 
 can only be used in a kind of figurative or rhetorical sense. 
 I think otherwise. Loyalty is everywhere a supreme 
 political virtue ; if it can have no existence here, we are 
 most unfortunate. If there be only one form of go\ern- 
 ment in which it can exist, the sooner that form of 
 government becomes ours, the better for us and for our 
 children. 
 
 The Avord loyal is the English form of the latin legalis. 
 The feudal vassal, of every rank, was sworn to be fidelis 
 et legalis, or faithful and loyal, to his superior. Legalis 
 is the adjective form of the substantive, lex, law. The 
 oath then was that he woidd in good faith acknowledge 
 and defend all the rights which the law gave to his 
 superior, apd obey all the commands which the law 
 authorized. 
 
SLAVERY. < 
 
 This is the orig-inal iMea, or tlio abstract idea, of loyahy. 
 It perhaps never entered into the minds of the masses, 
 and at all events it soon took the form of personal 
 loyalty. Nor is it difficult to see how this occurred and 
 why it was well that it should occur. 
 
 The worst thing which can befall a man is to be 
 delivered up to the unchecked dominion of his own self- 
 hood, before that self-hood is raised and regenerated into 
 the perception and the love of kioht. '' Lord of himself, 
 a heritage of woe," he cannot then but abuse the mastery 
 he possesses, to his own destruction. But when he is 
 j)r('[)are<l voluntarily to submit himself to the law of 
 right, and lets this law ripen into a love for his neigh- 
 bor and his neighbor's rights, then a relief from exter- 
 nal C(>mpulsion is the best thing which can happi-n. 
 Therefore, that Divine Providence, which by the neces- 
 sity of an infinite goo<lness seeks always the higlu'st 
 good, is ever watchful to advance as far as nuiy be the 
 preparation of man for this gift, an<l to give it as he is 
 prepared, and to withhold it in tin* degree in whicii he is 
 not prejiarcd. IJetween (iod and man, as between man 
 an<l man, consent is better than roMi'ii-SioN, an<l all 
 progress is from compulsicm to consent. 
 
 l$ut the chihl is ne<'essarily subject to coercion, 1)cchusc 
 necessarily immature, and unready for self-control. Antl in 
 the earliest nations wjjich hi>tory tells us of, in the childiiood 
 of man, this inunalurity was universal, and so comj)lete 
 tlial iniiversal desj)otism was necessary, and jM-rmitted. As 
 the nec«'ssity grew less, despotism was mtwlified ; but in 
 the ohl world, we have no evidence yet, that the people ari^ 
 prepared for a safe <leliverance from a controlling jM)wer. 
 Tlie time nuiy come, jMtssibly it may be near, bnt it has 
 not come yet. The common phrase '* King, by the grace 
 of (iod," is not without its meaning and its trntlj. It is 
 of the grace, or mercy of (iotl, that kings aw gi\en to 
 those who need kings. 
 
 We see the mastery of the father o\er the chihl, made 
 tender and usefid by the parental love which the Father 
 of us all awakens in all at the birth of the child. And 
 so where it is necessary fi>r a people to have a king, or per- 
 sonal sovereign, governing in his own right, it is as ueces- 
 
8 SLAVERY. 
 
 sary and useful that there exist among the people a strong 
 sense of personal loyalty. And it exists in Europe. 
 Weakened certainly, passing away possibly, but it has 
 not yet passed away. 
 
 And to what can we be loyal ? Let me ask another 
 question, to what are they in England — to take England 
 for our illustration — to what are they loyal ? To their 
 Queen. No one who has been there, or has listened to 
 the description of what they saw and heard who have 
 been there, can doubt that there is — not everywhere — but 
 in vast masses of the English people, an intense feeling of 
 loyalty to their Queen. A loyalty which would stir their 
 hearts to their depths and arm their hands with every 
 weapon they could grasp in her defence. And what is 
 their Queen ? A symbol and a personification of all law- 
 ful authority. In the theory of their law, she is its 
 source ; the judges of the law are her representatives, the 
 ministers of the law her servants. She is their personal 
 sovereign ; and she impersonates the sovereignty of tlie 
 state ; the preservation of all order ; and the protection of 
 all property, all industry, all prosperity. 
 
 I do not suppose that in all men's minds there is a de- 
 finite intellectual apprehension of this fact, or that such 
 ideas are recognized by them as the foundation of their 
 loyalty. But in many minds these ideas exist, and in 
 more hearts this feeling would have power. Let there be 
 a threat to-morrow of an uprising which should shatter 
 the throne, and multitudes of the English — great multi- 
 tudes — I know not how many, I do not even assert, 
 although I believe a great majority of the English, would 
 feel that if the throne went down, revolution, convulsion, 
 conflict and distress would fill the land. For they would 
 feel that if the throne went down, there would go down 
 with it, for them, the foundation of all law, and all se- 
 curity for order or for property. 
 
 But what have we to be loyal to ? No personal sover- 
 eign, reigning in his own right. What then have we ? 
 
 When our fathers bent to the work of giving form and 
 order to our nationality, they did not begin with the ap- 
 pointment of a personal sovereign ; but with something 
 very different. They selected those whom they thought 
 
SLAVERY. y 
 
 their bc«t and wisest, and onmniisisioned them to ronfor 
 to;;et]ier and discover tlu' fundameutal liLdits for which all 
 law exists, and which underlie and sn>tain and promote 
 all social good ; and the principles from which these 
 riglits forever flow. And then to devise the best forms 
 and rules for a government which should forever acknowl- 
 edge an<l secure these riidits by a constant observance of 
 these princi|^4es. And the fabric in which all this is con- 
 taincil and exj)ressed and defined, they called a Constitu- 
 tion. Tlicre it storxl, the child of their own will. 
 Embodying the best wisdom they had ; and resting on the 
 consent of all. There it strxxl, aiicl thank rio<l there it 
 stan«ls. And this substitution of a written Constitution, 
 so created, ami so founded, is, in my nmst profound belief, 
 the greatest political st»'j) ever yet taken in luuuan pn»- 
 gress, and a step which He who loves us inlinitely will 
 never permit to be retracted. 
 
 W*! live in the beginrnng of an age, of whi<h the 
 characteristic, politically, will be <-onstitutional n'jtubli<'au 
 government. We are (n\\y at its beginning: and already 
 discern (pieslicuis we ku(»w not how to solve, difliculties we 
 know not how to meet, misciiiefj* we know not how to 
 prevent. More, very many more, will come up as time 
 rolls on. Hilt this age, like every other of those in his- 
 tory, will gradually — perhaps slowly and thn»ugh much 
 error and misfortiun' — develop itself into the forms best 
 adapted for the fullest operntitMi of its dominant principle. 
 And that principle is and will renuiin, the substitution oi 
 Consent for Compul>ion. 
 
 Let me gj) back again to England for a moment. L«'t 
 us compare Kngli>h loyalty with (»ur own. as to its grounds 
 and its reasonableness. They are loyal to their sover- 
 eign. Victoria, as cjueen, as mother, and as uuitron, 
 commanils the respect of all in Amerii-a. When her son 
 was here, nothing struck me m(»re, and I may say nothing 
 touchcil me more, than the way in which that feeling was 
 expressed. It set-med as if we lelt that the excellence of 
 English malronliood sat, in lu-r person, on the throne of 
 England. Not a word wouhl I say, not a feeling have I 
 which w«tuld suggest n word in derogation of this a<'- 
 knowle(l;:ment. Hut she nuist <lie. Her sou, whatever 
 
10 SLAVERY. 
 
 may be hoped of liira, has as yet only given a promise of 
 excellence. He too must die. And the lives of his suc- 
 cessors must be subject to vicissitudes, of which history, 
 and none more plainly than the History of England, tells 
 the sad tale. When Victoria's uncle, George IV., sat 
 on the throne, the loyalty of England was shocked, and 
 almost killed, by his w^ickedness, and selfishness, and the 
 unconcealed foulness of his life and character. When 
 such another sits there, that loyalty may have a deeper, 
 even a fatal wound. To such chances and such perils 
 the personal loyalty of England must submit. 
 
 And through all these ages — if we do not prove un- 
 worthy of so great a blessing — will stand our Constitution. 
 Not, as some in Europe w^ho speak of it suppose, because it 
 is fixed and crystallized into forms which may be broken 
 but cannot change. The exact opposite of this is the 
 truth. It is a living organism. It invites and provides 
 for change. It desires all changes, in all time, which 
 shall make it ever more able to perform its gi'eat func- 
 tions. But it carefully provides that these changes shall 
 come only as a common demand, shall be matured by a 
 common deliberation, and rest on a common consent ; 
 common, not universal, for that it is too Avise to demand. 
 
 That it must be far easier to be loyal when the object of 
 our loyalty is a person, is certain. It must be a great re- 
 lief to the human mind, in a certain condition, to have 
 those principles of order, law, and right, to which 
 loyalty is due, impersonated in one who can be recognized 
 and approached. But the providence of God, as it is 
 manifested in the progress of humanity, seeks to lift the 
 human mind above the condition in which it requires this 
 relief, this assistance. And the great question for us this 
 day, is, whether the American mind and character are 
 lifted to the height of our own institutions. If not, we 
 need, and if we need we shall have, a king. 
 
 The very foundation of our existence as a nation is 
 mutual desire, common consent. It has been too little 
 noticed, that this nation stands alone on earth in one 
 characteristic. What other great nation exists, or ever 
 has existed, from the days of Nimrod the hunter of men, 
 to this day, which did not acquire its growlli and more or 
 
SLAVERY. 11 
 
 less of its dominion, by conquest, by compulsion ? Various 
 have been the forms and modes of this compulsion ; but, 
 in some form, it has existed everywhere. Our nation 
 alone was formed without one atom of this element. 
 And if Texas and California seem to have been added by 
 conquest, it was perhaps the introduction of a new ele- 
 ment ; and it was, at all events, the conquest of tlie land 
 only, and not of the people ; and when the sparse popula- 
 tion we found there grew into a sulhcieut magnitude, it 
 was at their own request that they were admitted to an 
 equal share of all our rights, all our advantages, all our 
 sovereignty. The idea of conquest and sulijugation seems 
 to me utterly foreign to the nature and working and life 
 of our political institutions. 
 
 lint it may be asked how can we compel the rebels 
 to return witliin tlie Union, without conrpu'st and subjuga- 
 tion. AVliat right have we to cim,j<»l tljcm at all, if the 
 very essential characteristic of our institutions is consent, 
 instead of compulsion. 
 
 Before a government can be carried f»n uj)on the prin- 
 ciple of consent, it must be clearly and practically 
 understood, that consent is perfectly consistent with ro/i- 
 trart^ an<l the <»bligations springing from contract. 
 
 As I have already said, I believe an immense step was 
 t{ikcn in the progress of our race, by the establishment of 
 our nationality, furausc this uatioiuility is founded u|)on 
 the principle of musfut, and aill fmr in>titutinns ami laws 
 and usages must rest upon consent, 
 
 I now say, that consent moans nothing until something 
 is consented to ; or, in other words, something is agreed 
 ui)on ; or, again, consent comes into effect and a<'tual 
 existence, when there are agreenients, made by and 
 between consenting parties ; made with their consent 
 and concurrence. An«l then a nationality founde<l u|K)n 
 consent, nuist have as its very essence, the right and the 
 power of enforcing agreements, or c«»ntracts, made by the 
 consent of the parties. 
 
 For example. No man in Ma>.-achusettii is obliged to 
 buy or to sell anything excepting at his own pleasure an<l 
 by his own free choice. But if he c<nisnifs to buy or to 
 sell, and makes an agreement l<j that eti'ect, then he is 
 
12 SLAVERY. 
 
 held absolutely, and if need be coercively, to his obliga- 
 tion ; that is, to deliver what he sells when he is paid, or 
 to pay for what he buys. 
 
 It must be perfectly obvious, that national institutions 
 cannot be founded upon and characterized by the principle 
 of consent, unless it is a part of that principle, embodied 
 in the consent of the whole nation, that when consent 
 ripens into contract^ there shall exist the right, the power 
 and the duty of enforcing the contract-obligation. 
 
 We apply and test this principle continually, in the 
 smaller matters of every-day occurrence. We are now 
 testing the same principle on the largest scale. 
 
 All the States, and all the persons in every State, have 
 agreed to our national existence and our national insti- 
 tutions. No matter whether they have formally expressed 
 their consent, by oath, or voting, or otherwise. They 
 have lived under them ; profited by them ; received their 
 share of the good derived from them. And common 
 sense as well as common law holds them to be estopped 
 from denying their consent ; their contract. 
 
 Rebellion is the last and most consummate violation of 
 contract-obligation. It is the violation by force of the 
 contract which is the foundation on which our nationality 
 rests, and therefore upon which all order, all society, all 
 contract-obligation rests. And therefore it is a violation 
 of contract against which the whole force of the nation 
 should be thrown, with a concentration of all its might, 
 aCid with unfaltering energy, and unrelenting determina- 
 tion. 
 ? But conquest and subjugation do not enter into my idea 
 of 'either our right or our duty; for this plain reason. We 
 fight only against rebellion ; against the rebels only be- 
 cause they are and as they are rebels. And as soon as 
 the rebellion is suppressed, as soon as they cease to be 
 rebels, they return again within the Constitution ; within 
 its obligations, within its penalties for whatever crimes 
 they have comniitted, but also within its protection. 
 
 To regard them not as rebels, but as enemies in the 
 same sense in which strangers at war with us would be 
 our enemies, is to declare that rebellion has succeeded ; 
 has done its work ; has separated them from us. 
 
SLAVERY. 13 
 
 it" consent was tlie foinulatiou of our natiouality, so it 
 >va.s of tlie Constitution wliicli drives to it iorm and det'ui- 
 tion. The very lieurt and essence of this constitution, as 
 of every State Constitution, is, that it is the voluntary 
 work of all, the expression of tlie common will, resting 
 upon common consent ; and so terminating in a common 
 contract, an<l a common obligation. 
 
 The heart and essence of all constitutional republicanism 
 is Consent. The heart and essence of all slavery is 
 CoMi'Ui.sioN. History does not exhibit, and the mind of 
 nwm cannot conceive, a more absolute political antagonism, 
 than that between constitutional republican government, 
 and slavery. Hence this war. For this war is nothing 
 else than tliis antagonism, uttering its voice, casting otV its 
 disguise, taking uj) all the weapons of conflict, and seeking 
 success by FoiujE. The war, with all its fury, its slaugh- 
 l«r, its hatred, and its sacrilice, is but a revehiti<Mi of the 
 war, eternally existing, between the two principles of 
 Freedom and Slavery. 
 
 Ami yet our national const imt ion recognizes and pro- 
 tects sla\ery. It does so ; and it was nuule to do so Ibr a 
 -ullicient reason. When our fathers fnimed it, they 
 louiid slavery not otdy existing, but universally ditfused ; 
 -tronger in some places than in others, but wh(dly ab>ent 
 ahnosl n<»where. Tiuy tbuud als«), that wherever sla\ery 
 existed, there c<>-e\isted with it, some knowle<lge (»f its 
 ( haracter. ami something (»f the fear and of the dislike 
 I hat character should inspire. Three courses, and only 
 ihree, were ojien to them. To aiuuidon tin' pur|K»se of a 
 union of the whole. Tt» violate the iundameutal principle 
 of consent, and try what could be done by compid. ion. 
 To accept the fact of shiNery as it stood with all its con- 
 eoniitauts, imd its pn.bable futine, with the h<»pe that 
 tnitii would gradually jirevail over falsehood, gotid over 
 e\il, and iVeeilom over >lavery. They chose the last of 
 these alternatives, and they chohe wisely and well. 
 
 At that time a ««intlict between Ireedoni anil slavery in 
 this country W(»uld n<»t ha\e been safe; it would not have 
 >-o residted as to |iromote the pn)g^ri'ss ot" man towards 
 Ireedonj. Not only was slavery, technically so-called, 
 nearly univer.-Nul in some ilegree, Inil the great principle, 
 
14 SLAVERY. 
 
 SO lately born among men, that it was not well for any 
 man to have the right of compelling another to act with- 
 out his own concurrence, was dimly seen and feebly felt. 
 And therefore the kind and measure of pro-slavery which 
 claims and loves this right, would have been found potent 
 everywhere, and all its sympathies would have been, as 
 they are now and ever must be, with that consummated 
 slavery which deems it well for a man to own a man. 
 The conflict would not then have been safe. Our fathers 
 did well and wisely in not exciting it. They left it for a 
 future day. It has come in our day. The way in which 
 it has come is this. 
 
 As the years passed on, slavery, from causes all of 
 which are not obvious, gradually Avithdrew from a large 
 part of the country, and gradually became concentrated in 
 another part ; and thus slavery and non-slavery became to 
 a great degree separated and distinguished from each 
 other. 
 
 In that part of the country where slavery was concen- 
 trated, it flourished. It produced an apparent prosperity, 
 in which the slaves had little share, and the mass of poor 
 whites round them even less, while it made the few slave- 
 owners rich in idleness. But while it impoverished and 
 degraded the poor whites, it fed and gratified their pride 
 that even in their degradation they could look down with 
 utter contempt upon a numerous class below them. And 
 this false and foolish pride kept up in their minds a com- 
 parison of their condition as freemen with that of the 
 slaves, and they did not know their degradation ; and they 
 learned to love slavery, as well as the rich men who were 
 masters of the slaves without disguise, and masters of the 
 poor whites under a thin disguise. 
 
 The consequence of this was inevitable. That region 
 became a slave region completely and thoroughly. Not 
 only was nearly all its wealth slave-wealth, but in about 
 the same proportion its opinion became a slave-opinion ; 
 its belief a slave-belief ; its reason a slave-reason ; its 
 conscience a slave-conscience ; its religion a slave-religion. 
 Not universally, but prevailingly. And its policy, — for 
 in this the majority ruled, — became an absolute, unquali- 
 fied, slave-policy. 
 
SLAVERY. 1 5 
 
 And ill tlit^ moaniiine hou' tared it with the reirion from 
 which shivery h.'ul witlulrawii ? Tliat rei^ion also flour- 
 islied ; and while its j)rosperity outran anything in hu- 
 man experience and astonished tiie world, it was as re- 
 niarkahle for its diffusion as for its amount. It was the 
 result of tlio co-oj>erati(jn of all, concurrinir in labor of all 
 kinds, hut all resulting in a common good, of which all 
 had their share, and nearly all a share proportionate to 
 their industry and intelligence. 
 
 With this there g^rcw up, and into great strength, a 
 feeling and belief that this marvellous prosperity was due 
 to our nationality, which alone couM give it safety and 
 permanence, and to the principles of hunnm rights which 
 our Constitution expressed and protected. Tlie great 
 marts of commerce felt that they nuist decay with our 
 national decay. The owners of and the workers in the 
 mills to which our rusliing streams are harnessed, knew 
 as well as if the sun-light wrote it on their walls, that 
 only in tin; prescrvati<»n of our nationality could ihcy 
 prosper. The men who j>loughe<l and planted ami reaped 
 those wide Western field** which could frt-d a W(»rld, fill 
 that thi-y could work in peace, and fnnl weallli in the pro- 
 duct of their labors, only on condition that our nationality 
 was pn's»'rve<l. 
 
 In all this tlure was alloy enough of selfishness. But 
 through it all, there also grew into strength, and into 
 luibitual and common thought, the notion (hat every man 
 owned himself, and had a right to employ liimself only 
 with his own consent, however hanl might he the terms 
 to which he chose to consent: an«l that constitutional re- 
 publi<anism wjis founded on this principle. 
 
 It is this thought which underlies all the true democ- 
 racy of this country. It may have in the minds o|" the 
 masses but little precision ot logical definition ; it mav 
 be quite too iiincli allied with and degraded by .sel- 
 fishness; audit often expresses its«df with great coarse- 
 ness <»f word and act. lint there it is, right in itself, and 
 a sentiment of great power. Hecause it has this power, 
 there has gn»wn np with it a fal-e democracy, whicii d**- 
 sires to c«)nfound ilself with the true <lem(K'ra<'V, that it 
 may use it as a tool : and it acipiires the use of it by fal>e 
 
16 SLAVERY. 
 
 pretences. This false democracy asserts vociferously a 
 sympathy with the true democracy, when in fact it is in 
 exact opposition to it ; because its whole aim is to use men 
 without their actual consent ; and as this can no longer be 
 done by violence, it is done by fraud and falsehood. 
 
 I have attempted a very general sketch of the con- 
 dition and sentiment of the two great regions of this 
 country, the slave region, and the non-slave region. And 
 when the greater growth of the non-slave element Avarned 
 the slave element that it was on the way to death, slowly 
 and lingeringly perhaps, but inevitably, the slave element 
 rushed into a conflict which it hoped would end in a vic- 
 tory that would give it permanent poAver and therefore 
 permanent existence. And it may do this, unless the 
 conflict ends, not in the victory, but in the defeat of 
 slavery. I do not say its destruction, but its defeat. And 
 if it so ends, whatever form this defeat puts on, the death 
 of slavery is made more certain and brought more near. 
 Which of these results is impending ; the victory or the 
 defeat of Slavery ; the success or the suppression of Re- 
 bellion ? 
 
 This must depend on the relative strength of the par- 
 ties ; not merely the strength which each party possesses, 
 but the strength which each party brings into the conflict. 
 And one important measure of this strength, is the unity 
 of each party. 
 
 The slave party was far from being unanimous at the 
 outset. The cautious and skilful measures adopted by 
 the leaders of the rebellion to bring their States into the 
 attitude of rebellion without a popular vote on the ques- 
 tion, is, of itself, a suflicient proof of this. Their earnest 
 and successful endeavors " to fire the Southern heart,'* 
 showed that they thought it needed to be fired ; and none 
 could judge of this so well as they could. Undoubtedly 
 there was much lingering attachment to the Union ; much 
 fear for the possible consequences of war and for its in- 
 evitable suffering and sacrifice ; and some doubt whether 
 slavery was a good thing to fight for. But the Southern 
 heart has been fired. The voice of opposition has been 
 silenced, and wherever necessary strangled with a rope. 
 And while the terrible distress, and enormous sacrifice, 
 
SLAVERY. 17 
 
 and extreme exhaustion whicli have attended the rebellion 
 must have produced much effect, it may still be said, that 
 so far as we can judge trom trust-wortliy testimony, there 
 h now a very great degree of unity at tlie SoiUh. 
 
 The guns of Sumter tired the Northern heart at once. 
 There was a wonderful uprising of the whole people. 
 Even tlie false democracy saw instantly (and tliey are not 
 usually mistaken on sucli points) that they shouhl lose all 
 hold of the true democracy, if they did not join, with seem- 
 ing heartiness at least, in the defen<-c of «iur nationality. 
 
 This uprising, in its unanimity, its earnestness, and the 
 proofs it gave of its reality, surprised ourselves, a-stonished 
 Kuro|)e, and most of all ama/.eil and di-aj)poiuti'«l the 
 rebels. JJecausc the slav*' influence ha<l made the min«l 
 of that region a slave-mind, they could n<>t, they cannot 
 now, and they never will compreheutl it. 15ut the fact 
 was patent, and to them fearful. Hut time went on, and 
 old dillereiices revived, and new ones came up. Ditferent 
 iiili-rests and ditl'ereut regions began to look at each other 
 with watchfulness, |M-rhaps with jealousy and di-<trust. 
 All oj)iiiion fmds expression lu-re, and is conlirnud by ex- 
 prtission ; for here there can be no reign of terror. Men 
 gri!W angry; and as an atigry man is necessarily miwise, 
 unwise notions, un-<»und ariruments, and mi-taken con- 
 clusions llew through tlie <-»»nnnuuity. 
 
 Looking jit the niatt»*r from some points of view, it might 
 seem as if the war had slrenLMlieiied the unity of the re- 
 bellion, and wiakeneil that of the resistance t«» it. I'.ut I 
 am not s\ire that it is so. 
 
 There are many sources of error on tlii>< point. Tliu-;, 
 it is extrenudy dillicnlt to know what portion of the 
 seeming disallection is nothing more than a mere discovery of 
 the <lisaHection existing at the begimiing, but thi-n con- 
 cealed, or at li'ast not i-xpressed. Then again we mav be 
 «leceived by the loud and universal faiidt-jiiidini:. which has 
 reached an excess that wonid be ludicrous, if it were not 
 dangerous. Hut it may not be so dangerous as it seems. 
 Of course no one can hope for a general remmciation of 
 the cheap and easy jileasure of fault-tinding. lie who lin<ls 
 fault with another, generally a>^serts by implication his own 
 belief (an unconscious one perhaj)s) of his superiority, of 
 
18 SLAVERY. 
 
 his freedom from that which he rebukes. He judges, he 
 condemns, he looks from above, down. And where is the 
 human being to whom this is not grateful? No. We 
 may hope for money, for effort, toil, and courage to face 
 any peril. But we must not hope for so enormous a sacrifice 
 as the voluntary relinquishment of fault-finding. Of course 
 it does harm ; but it may also do some good ; possibly 
 in the rebuke of some actual wrong, or the correction of 
 some actual mistake, or in the fact that it keeps us awake 
 and alive to existing exigencies. 
 
 But whatever uncertain good this reckless fault-finding 
 may do, it works one great and certain mischief in the 
 despondency which it produces and diffuses. 
 
 Despondency is always the effect of weakness, and 
 always increases weakness. Therefore it is never wise. 
 And in times like these it is most mischievous, most dan- 
 gerous. A very profound thinker has said, '^ There is 
 nothing I fear so much as Fear." This saying, Avise for 
 most times, is, for us in these times, brimful of wisdom. 
 The army of the people should be what military men call 
 " the supporting force" of the army we have sent to the 
 front. And a panic in the one array may be as fatal as a 
 panic in the other. 
 
 We may be prudent and cautious ; neither unduly 
 elated nor depressed ; moderate in our expectations ; and 
 yet rational, firm and hopeful. 
 
 He who has given all the money he can spare, and sent 
 his sons to battle, while his wife and daughters toil for the 
 comfort and health of the soldiers, has yet one more duty 
 to perform, which, to some tempers, is the most difficult 
 of all. It is, to repel Despondency from his own mind, 
 and protect all Avhom he can from this moral palsy. Not 
 more certain is it that red-handed Treason has brought us 
 to this pass, than that, among the loyal, Despondency is 
 the servant of Treason, doing its work where no thought of 
 treason could gain admittance. Much of this work has 
 been done ; but I am sure, for all the moaning and 
 groaning which echoes around us, that the heart of New 
 England still beats with strong and steady pulse. 
 
 And then it must be remembered, that the differences 
 exhibited among us, are to an immense extent, differences 
 
SLAVERY. 1 
 
 as to tlie means and not differences as to the end. Belilnd 
 nearly all of them, and urging them on, is the determination 
 that the country must be saved. It is easy to mistake in 
 this matter. Thus, recent elections have given the oppo 
 sition a majority in some large States. But the most potent 
 ''cry" employed by the victors was against the government 
 for its lack of energy in the prosecution of the war. And 
 yet a political victory, gained by the expression of a 
 vehement desire that the war should be urged with the 
 utmost energy, and by a passionate appeal to this ruling 
 desire of the p«'f>ple, is regarded by sonu'. and made use of 
 by some, at home and abroad, as evi«lc'nre that this very 
 «hsire is fi-eble and dying out ! Some even of the leaders 
 who won this victory in this way would have it mean ''erring 
 sisters go in j)ea(e." IJut our erring sisters understand 
 these matters l)etter than some of us d<i ; they are not de- 
 ceived, il' we are. 
 
 The most fervent l<»yally, the most elevated jiatriot- 
 ism, are so fortified on this point by every motive of 
 interest, of selfishness, and mere expeilieney, that I can- 
 not doubt tlu'ir «dtimate success. In the loyal State* 
 tlnMe is an infmite diversity of interests, sentiments, 
 habits, motives and opinions. And this diversity is one 
 of degrei- as well as of kind. N<»t oidy is there loyalty 
 of the l<»ftiest and piire-t <banicier, an<l also the most 
 mnuiti;jated s«'lti-hne>««, but there is loyalty in every de- 
 gri'C, from tJM' highest to the lowest, and selfishness of 
 e\ery d«'gree from the lowest upwanls. And then* is an 
 (Mjual divi-rsily <»f «»pinion as to the principles upon which the 
 conflict is to be ur;.'e<l, and as Ut the means to be used in 
 the suppression of the rebellion, and as to the way in which 
 those n>eaus siiould be emjiloyi'd. All this diversity is 
 doubtless a distin-bing and retarding force. It must make 
 the struggle h»nger ami more ilitlicull, anil our success less 
 perfi'ct. Hut, will it defeat the struggle, will it prevent 
 our success ? I think not. I believe we shall succeed. 
 
 Hut, wiiat do I mean by success? f)r, what success is it 
 that I look for? On the one side (»f this conflict is slavery ; 
 an«l with it disru|)lion of the I'nion, and rebelli<»n against 
 the C'tinstitution. Ibu \\\rM* three are one, and that one 
 is IJebelliuii. On tiu" olIuT side are time ihinLT'^ alx). 
 
20 SLAVERY. 
 
 One of these is the opposition to slavery ; another, the 
 determination to save our nationality; the third, loyalty to 
 the Constitution. And these three things are also one, and 
 that one is the suppression of Rebellion. To many minds 
 these three things seem to be distinct, and they have indeed 
 assumed, to some extent, an attitude of antagonism to each 
 other. But, to my mind, they are as closely connected, as 
 indissolubly one in their nature and their influence, as are 
 the three elements of the rebellion. And, thei'efore, as 
 rebellion is the one thing in which its three elements are 
 waging war against us, so a suppression of the rebellion is 
 the one thing in which the elements of our resistance 
 should combine. That should be the constant end ; and 
 all other things regarded only as the means to this end. Let 
 me try to show how the three elements of our resistance to 
 rebellion are one. 
 
 The preservation of our nationality will be necessarily, 
 at some time and in some way, the death of slavery. For 
 the heart and essence of our national existence is the prin- 
 ciple of freedom. This principle has grown in develop- 
 ment and strength beyond the principle of slavery, not by 
 any accident, but because it could not be otherwise in a 
 nation founded as ours was, and characterized and circum- 
 stanced as ours has been, and is, and must continue to be 
 as long as we are one nation. The South felt this. The 
 Southern mind has become essentially a slave-mind. 
 Many persons there are probably unable to form a con- 
 ception of nationality or civilization Avithout slavery ; and 
 some have avowed this. Their hatred of the " accursed 
 Yankees " is only an expression of the love of slavery ; Yan- 
 keeism being with them an impersonation of non-slavery. 
 They saw plainly, or they felt instinctively, tliat slavery 
 would perish if our nationality should continue. The 
 death of slavery seems to them their own death. They 
 are fighting for life. They are fighting to destroy our 
 nationality, because if our nationality lives, slavery must 
 die. In all this they are not mistaken. The only strange 
 thing is, that we do not see this as plainly as they do. 
 
 Then, as to our Constitution. If we continue to be a 
 nation, we must have, as I think, inevitably, a constitu- 
 tional republican government ; and between such a con- 
 
SLAVnRY. 21 
 
 stitmi'MKil frovernmeiit ami slavery, there must be, for- 
 ever and inevitably, anta;ronisni. And this is what I 
 mean, when I say, that the three elements of our resist- 
 ance to tlie rebellion, opposition to shivery, determination 
 ti) preserve our nationality, and loyalty to the Constitution, 
 are in their nature and essence. One. 
 
 Shall we preserve our nationality ? I can only sav, 
 there seem to me reasons wliy we should, and influences 
 leadinL' to that result, of such irresistilde wei;:lit and f.»rce 
 tliat I do not believe they can fail. A;:ainst them all comes 
 the disru|)tinji[ force of slavery. And while I write there arc 
 j«'alousie-*, intrigues, outcries, threateninjr to separate the 
 West iroin the Kast ; tiiey arc stron;rly reinforced by some- 
 thin;.' which calls itself, and may l>elievc itself a defence 
 of the Constitution ; and the whole is used ener;retically 
 by the dema;ro;ruism, which w<ndd sacrifice everythin<4 
 that came betwi;en it and its prey. IJut I do not ;ri*eatly 
 fear such thinirs. The poNViT (»f evil can <lo much, but 
 there are barriers it cann«»t pass. I believe that if the 
 Mississipjji were oju-n to-<lay, and the I'^istern Atlantic 
 closed a;rainst the West, they would fi;rht as desperatelv to 
 n-opcn it as they are fi;:htin;^ now to reiipeu the .Missis- 
 sipjii. They nee<l lH)th ; no matter whi«'li they need 
 m(»st ; they need both absolutidy. 
 
 l>ul shall we pn-ser\e «»ur present Constitution as it j'.s ,' 
 In my iud;;m«'nt, that Constitution has not yet been vio- 
 latetl, in any way f»r to any extent, ;^eater or less. But 
 there are those who think otherwise. There are some 
 who are very an;.^^ about this ; or who express a ;,'reat 
 deal of <'lo(|uenl an;^er, in ho|>cs to excite s»>me an;zer 
 amoni; those who hear or read them. I do not sav they 
 do not believe what they say. There are jn-rsons, not 
 uidVe(pn'ntly met with, wh(», when they want to say a 
 thiiiL,' stron;_dy, be;;in with makiii;: themselves believe it. 
 With some mimls this is an easy process, autl a usefid 
 one ; for it enables them to ;;ive to what they sav tin; 
 earnestness, and f«»rce, and intluiMiee of honesty — of hon- 
 esty of a certain kin«l. It may not 1h' very wisi- in 
 me. or in any one, to con:»'mj»late n-moti* and ima^rinable 
 |>erils, whi«'h, if they an* not mert- follies, are oidy not 
 impossibilities. I do not bi li(\e that the various elements 
 
22 SLAVERY. 
 
 of opposition to the government, and of friendsliip for the 
 rebels can so coalesce and inflame each other, as to make 
 it necessary for the government to sacrifice our nationality 
 or sacrifice onr Constitution ; but, if this choice must be 
 made, then, with as much love and reverence for the Con- 
 stitution as my nature is capable of, I should still say, 
 our nationality must not be lost, and rebellion must not 
 prevail. 
 
 The Senate has been recently agitated by a case, 
 where a man supposed to be an active sympathizer with 
 the rebels, was arrested and imprisoned. The Presi- 
 dent and Commander-in-Chief in this war upon the 
 very life and being of the country, had suspended the 
 Habeas Corpus, and imprisoned him. Then the man 
 utterly denied his sympathy, or at all events his active 
 sympathy with the rebels. And thereupon the President 
 (always through his agents) oflfered to release him at once, 
 if only he would take the oath of allegiance to the 
 United States. And he would not ; and remained under 
 arrest. Now I wish to repeat most emphatically, that 
 there was not, in my judgment, any violation of the Con- 
 stitution here, of any kind or any degree whatever. But 
 if there was any violation whatever, I am sure it Avas 
 not a substantial violation. I am willing to say farther, 
 that if I must choose between that defence of the Consti- 
 tution which holds it always on the hand and uses it as a 
 tool, and has it always on the lips and makes it a means 
 for obstructive agitation, and ostentatiously clings to its letter 
 while it is weakening the defence of its very existence ; — 
 if I must choose between this and that other defence of 
 the Constitution which would preserve its vital principles, 
 and the allegiance due to it, even at the cost of some 
 violation of the letter, I should not choose the former. I 
 would not save the body at the expense of the soul. 
 
 Some of the "Defenders of the Constitution" of the 
 present day, use with much emphasis the phrase, " The 
 Constitution makes us a nation." It suits my way of 
 thinking better to say, our nationality made the Constitu- 
 tion. " We, the people of the United States," determined 
 to become a nation. By our agents we determined also 
 upon the principles and the forms which shoidd manifest 
 
SLAVERY. 23 
 
 f)ur nationality to ourselves and to the world, and pfovern ns 
 in all the woikin;! of our national lite. These principles 
 and f'onns are expressed in the Constitution. I am willing 
 to say almost anything of it, excepting that it makes our 
 nationality. The Con>titution proves our nationality, de- 
 fuies it, expresses it, guards it, protects it, hut dots vot 
 make it. 1 can sympathize heartily, with any defence of 
 our Constitutiou which seems to me honest and rational. It 
 may be honest and rational, although I do not think so. 
 But if it does not seem so to me, I cannot sympathize 
 with it. 
 
 1 can discern no limits to a nation's right of 
 self-salvalifni. A man may save his own life hy any 
 eflbrt or any means, not prohibited by the laws of (Jod 
 even in that extremity. 1 am sure that this right, and 
 this diity, btdong e(|ually to a nation. 
 
 Success then I hoj)e for. Success in retaining our 
 nati<»naliiy. Siuvcss in pn-scrving ll»e lite of our Consti- 
 tulion And I also ho|»e tor success against shivi-ry, be- 
 cause this is invidvcil in ili«- preservation of our nationality 
 and our Constitulion. 
 
 W(»uld that I were able to impress my convictions (»n 
 this last |)oinl, U)>on the conimunily. A mistake in rela- 
 tion to it seems to nu' to l)e d«»ing great mischief. 
 
 The divisions of opinion whi<'li weaken our efforts may 
 be redu<*ed into two classes. 1 will designate them, tor 
 my own couNcnience. as the anti-.-lavery party, and the 
 (tjiposiiion party ; althotigh each of the parties of whom I 
 >\ould speak inehhles tho>e ^^ horn iIu-m- N\ords would not 
 accuralely describe. I think the mistake they make is 
 one. although it assumes two very different aspects. 
 
 'I'he anii-sljivery |>arly believes it will aidvance its pur- 
 po>rs by a ilin;ct allaek on slavery : they say, let us kill 
 shiNery and rebellion will die. If tlu-y belie\ed as I do, 
 that our latioiijilily and our ('<»ii««lilulion were the very 
 best jiossible iusiriuutiits through which sla\ery mi^dit be 
 a»aile<l Mild «\tir|>at»Ml. in the best tinu' and in the best 
 way wha!e\ei- that may l>e. they mi;:hl adopt a diflerent 
 c(»urse, 
 
 'I'he ojipo>itii,ii \\<»ulil treat slavery tenderly, in hopes to 
 adliue «»r entice the slave States back. They do not realize 
 
24 SLAVERY. 
 
 that our national life has been, from its beginning, working 
 against slavery. That, while it permitted slavery to ac- 
 quire great extent and power, it built up the prosperity of 
 the free States at a far greater rate, and strengthened the 
 element of non-slavery against slavery, until the supremacy 
 of the latter disappeared ; and that the slave States saw 
 this clearly and perfectly ; saw and knew beyond all 
 doubt or question, that slavery must die if it did not 
 escape from the Union ; saw and knew that the hour had 
 come when only the struggle was possible, because delay 
 would make even the struggle impossible. They therefore 
 sprang into rebellion ; and this day, they see and know, 
 every man of tliem, that a return to the Union involves 
 the decay and certain death of slavery before a very long 
 time. Between this peril, and the chances of war, they 
 chose, and must choose. They know, if we do not, that 
 the public sentiment of this country will never permit such 
 immunities and securities for slavery as would give it en- 
 during vitality and permanent power, even if such were 
 possible, which I do not believe. The opposition party de- 
 ceive themselves if they think they can bring back the slave 
 States by any other means whatever than by making the 
 chances of war valueless to them. And yet it is this very 
 opposition, and the division in our counsels and our con- 
 duct that it produces, which alone give to the rebels all 
 the hope they have, all the chance they have. For if they 
 have any hope now of foreign intervention, they know, if 
 we do not, that it is this division alone, which will make 
 intervention possible. 
 
 I think our government makes a mistake allied to this. 
 The President knows that there is a divided sentiment in 
 the country, and that we can only succeed by bringing the 
 whole strength of the loyal States to bear on the rebellion. 
 And he labors, honestly and earnestly, to reconcile, or at 
 least combine, the two great parties which he recognizes. 
 His mistake is, not to recognize, and not to throw himself 
 upon, a much stronger party. 
 
 Each of these parties desires and demands that the rebel- 
 lion shall be put down, in its oion way. The great mass 
 of the people desire and demand only that the rebellion 
 BE PUT DOWN. A year ago this great party comprehended 
 
SLAVERY. 25 
 
 almost everybody. Now, tlic anti-slavery party have per- 
 suaded many that tlic rebelliou cau be put down only by 
 direct assault upon slavery. The opposition have per- 
 suaded many that it can be put down only by treating 
 slavery tenderly, liut I believe the «:reat mass of the 
 jKHjple stands where it stood. If Abraham Lincoln, in 
 whose absolute honesty of j)urpose every one has conH<lence, 
 and as to whose capacity doubts have arisen only from his 
 seeming vacillati<»u, wouhl adopt and (leclarr his own 
 policy^ his own metho<l of jiutting down tlu- rt!»eliion, on no 
 other ground and with no other thought and no otiier motive 
 whatever, than that ho verily believed it to be the best way 
 to Slitukss tiik Kk»klm<»N, he would funl himself at 
 • Mice at the head of tiiis great party, the j)eople. Then, 
 they would be glad to see him carry out this policy 
 vigorously and unrelentingly, destroy what he might, 
 «jr save what he might. They would not be led away 
 from him by tl»e outcries of the lea«lers of any par- 
 ties, or of all parties. If he removi-d fr»>m olhce, civil 
 or military, every man whom he has a right U) dis- 
 miss, an<l who wonld not act energetically and cordially 
 in «-arrying out hi.s poli<'y ; and it lie would throw the 
 u hob; force of the govermneut into it, without hindrance, 
 stojt, «»r >lay, the jteople \\(»uld go wilii iiiiii. 
 
 A few days since I had this c<Miversation with a most 
 exjelh'ut and inlellig«'ut lady. She said to me, — 
 
 *' Do vou n«»t expeet that llii'^ war u ill be the death of 
 slavery?" 
 
 1 answerid, '* I have no o|)iuion ab«»ul thai." 
 
 '• Hut do y(»u Mot hate .sla\er\ "'" 
 
 '* Ves, as much as 1 «-an." 
 
 "Do vou not lK'lie\e ( mmI IkiI. , > .i- iii,,- ii ..- \ ...i 
 
 do?" 
 
 '• Infmilely nioii-.*' 
 
 "Then, if you do not believe that this wjir will |iut an 
 end t«» slavery, you must laek faith in Providence; either 
 that III' th»es not jiate slavery as it shoidd be hated ; or 
 that His imp»'rfeet wisdom ilms n«»t tell Ilim how to ex- 
 tirpate it ; or thait His power is ina»le«puile to the work 
 
 He would ilo." 
 
26 SLAVERY. 
 
 I replied, " I hope my ansAver will not offend you ; but, 
 perhaps the difference between us may be, not that I have 
 less faith in God, but less faith in myself, less faith in the 
 purity of my motives, in the accuracy of my perceptions, 
 in my judgment as to what is best, and as to the best 
 means of accomplishing the best results." 
 
 Slavery has been permitted to exist almost always and 
 almost everywhere, as technical, or absolute slavery. But 
 against it Christianity strove from the beginning ; or, as I 
 should say, our Father worked tlirough Christianity to lead 
 men aAvay from it. How much is signified by the little fact, 
 that in the year 321 the Edict of Constantine, which estab- 
 lished the worship of the Lord's day, by prohibiting on that 
 day, and for that purpose, the sitting of tlie courts and all 
 judicial proceeding, makes one exception. It is, in favor 
 of the proceedings by which a slave was formally made 
 free. So has Christianity ever worked against Slavery, 
 with great and continued success ; not yet witli entire 
 success. But it is certain that if Christianity does not 
 ultimately succeed in conquering slavery, slavery Avill 
 succeed in conquering Christianity ; for their essential 
 antagonism is eternal. I am sure that Christianity will 
 ultimately conquer slavery. But by what means, by what 
 steps, or at what rate of progress, Christianity will ad- 
 vance in its conquest of slavery, — that I do not know. 
 
 It certainly seems to me probable th t slavery must 
 be materially weakened by this conflict and its results. 
 It seems to me possible, and not improbable, that it 
 may receive a wound that is obviously fatal, and be 
 brought near to inevitable death. It seems to me pos- 
 sible, but not probable, that it may utterly perish, and 
 once for all disappear from this whole country to be seen 
 here no more. 
 
 I know, certainly, only this. It is now our duty, the 
 most absolute duty of all in the free States, to fight. To 
 fight against Rebellion. To fight against it by every 
 weapon we can use, Avhether it be forged of steel, or 
 impelled by fire ; or only by words winged with the fire of 
 loyalty to God and to our country ; or only by thoughts 
 and feelings which find no utterance. Fight against the 
 serried ranks of Rebellion if our place be there ; fight 
 
SLAVF.RY. 27 
 
 ajrain>t tlio error? or maH/.niitie.^ wliicli sympathize with 
 Kehellioii if our plaee he at liome ; ti;flit. even in our own 
 hearts, a.L'ainst prejudices, or passions, or interests, or 
 liahits, or hatreds, whicli, not intentionally or conseiously, 
 hut in tact, paralyze our etl'orts, streuirtheu and envenom 
 (ini- di--»ii-ion-. and L''ive aid ami comtort to lu-hrllion. 
 
 Slavery is eompatihlf wiili nuitli excellence of hraii and 
 character an<l c(»Mdnct. I ha\e no douht whatevrr, that 
 th(!rc are many slaveholders who are kind and just men. 
 That they heartily acknowled;.'e their duty to their slaves, 
 ami endeavor conscientiously to «lischar^'e their duty. But 
 whert'Vi-r this ^roodiiess exi-fts within slavery it must he 
 exceptional. Jt must exist, not he<-ause r)f slavery, hut in 
 •Icspite <»f it. And I supjM)^' that sucli sla\e-owuers are 
 not anion*: lh(»se wiio ludievt- that >laverv is essentially a 
 fjood thin;:, and who love slavery. Because it s»'«'ms to 
 me this love can have no other ori;:in than the love of 
 dominion and uuislfry, ^jnauidrd in pure sidlishness. 
 
 So also, as I admit that compulsion is ^'ood whih- there i«< 
 an imnuiturity vhich dcnuuids it, slavehohK-rs will tell me 
 that tiie ne^M'o race is mcapahle of nniturity ; and there- 
 fore the hrst thin;; for it is and will always he thi- ;:uidance 
 and ;:uardianship and protection of sla\ery. This I do 
 not hilieve. I lay aside all incpiiry into the ori;:in of the 
 ne;:ro, or into the dillirences whi<di separate him from the 
 Avliitc num. I am sure of this ; he has, or is cajiahle of 
 havin;: hunuiu atlections and hunum thou;:hts. He is 
 therefore a Man. And therefore he is or mav he«-om«' 
 something: which shctuld not he a slave. 
 
 I havi' repeatedly sjtoken of slavery as existing: technically 
 and a\owedly, an«l as the ahsolute ownership (»f a nuiu hv 
 a man ; and then we call it slavery. And as also existin;^ 
 in its elements ami its essence when\er a ri;:ht exists ot' 
 loerciuL' a man to lahor for another in any way, without his 
 own ronsent and concurrence. This may he called c«)m- 
 pulsitMi. I will not in.-ist that it he called imperfect. 
 
28 SLAVERY. 
 
 modified, disguised slavery, because T might then use 
 a word which may impart to the tiling itself, a character 
 which does not belong to it. I will call it compulsion. 
 
 It is very possible to see the deformity of slavery, when 
 it is undisguised, and to hate what is thus seen, and all 
 the w^hile to love and cling to that right of compulsion 
 which is similar in essence. To illustrate my meaning, 
 I will go again to England. There, hatred of slavery has 
 appeared to be dominant and zealous, and it has certainly 
 been eloquent with some and vociferous with many. But 
 our civil war has applied a touchstone to the Euglisli hatred 
 of slavery. It has brought it into conflict with the interests, 
 the prejudices, the jealousies and the fears of the ruling 
 classes. In all conflicts it is the weakest party which yields ; 
 and in this conflict, the hatred of slavery appears to have 
 yielded in the minds of these classes. The reason seems 
 to me plain enough ; because the fact seems to me certain, 
 that, while technical slavery has no existence in England, 
 and while every Englishman rejoices in the boast that if a 
 slave stands upon English soil his chains fall from him, 
 the very essential principle of slavery exists and operates 
 in England, and has great favor there. What I mean is, 
 that the South, and tlie whole Southern mind and charac- 
 ter, are not more permeated and dominjited by the principle 
 of Slavery, tlian the English mind is permeated and dom- 
 inated by the principle of Servility. 
 
 The cement which holds the fabric of English society 
 together, is Servility. An Englishman looks upon those 
 higher than himself in class-position, with a humility and 
 subservience, that to a stranger who sees it or reads of it, 
 is cither disgusting, or amazing, or amusing. But he 
 looks down on those below him in class-position, and 
 demands and receives the same humility and subservience. 
 We read of the castes in India, and wonder at them. 
 But in England the noble fiimilies are far above the un- 
 titled in all social arrangements. The landed gentry will 
 not meet on equal terms with the merchant. And the 
 merchant looks down with the same self-complacency upon 
 the retail trader. A shopkeeper would be a phenom- 
 enon in a great house, if he had not been sent for to 
 exhibit his wares. And all look down, alike, upon their 
 
SLAVERY. 29 
 
 servauts. It is true the question of wealth rims through 
 all this, because now, in England, mere wealth, however 
 come by, gives a spurious kind of rank, which some 
 acknowledge and some do not. 
 
 Wlicn chemists speak of a substance differing from an- 
 other in tliat one of its many elements is changed for anotlar 
 which occupies precisely its place and enters into all its 
 relations, tlifv say the new element has rfplarnj the former. 
 It is precisely in this sense, that I say the Servility of Eng- 
 hiUil i-rjflans the Slavery of our Southern States. Eor 
 servility enters into the relations of English society, and 
 affi'cls tiie various classes of the nation, with a close 
 anjil(»gy to the place and iutluencc of slavery in tlie 
 South."^ 
 
 For example, no one would say that the four millions of 
 shives love slavery. There are slave-owners who say it, 
 but they do not tliink it, and cannot expect any person to 
 suppose that they believe it. And yet slavery nuist have 
 alfecled tlie min«ls of these millions. Many of them <loubt- 
 less value the protect i(»n, the foo*! and shelter it gi\»'S 
 them ; and they drea<l tiic consequences of any agitation 
 for frce<lom. 
 
 So, in England, more than as many millions are uit* riy 
 wi(hout voice or vote or political rights, and are notliing 
 more than tlie producers «>f wealth for the residue, U>v 
 wages whi<'li only sustain life. 'I'liey caiuiot l«»ve the in- 
 stitutions which i»riiig upon them this <M»n>tant (legra<lalion 
 and frequent sullering. liul they are accu>*tomed to their 
 condition. Tiiey know not how oilierw isc to gel the means 
 <)f even liNing. Ami they fear change, for they lia\c lost 
 the capa«-ity of htiping ft»r anything better. 
 
 \\\' supposed that the negroes would move in some way 
 in furtherance of their «leliverance. I did not expect 
 insurrection ; I t\\i\ not desire it, nor do I know any per- 
 son who did desire it. liut I supposi d that a movement 
 like that which has actually taken place in some parts of 
 tiie slave regi<»n, would have become, by this time, general. 
 It is, in substance, a ivfusal of the slaves to work unless 
 for wages and on terms agreeil uj)r»n. Such a movement 
 would have been a fearful calamity for the Rebels. The 
 negroes couM not have been coerced without tin; aiil of 
 
30 SLAVERY. 
 
 soldiers who could not be spared from their armies. And 
 a compliance with their demands would have struck at 
 the heart of slavery. But the slaves have not moved. 
 
 So it is often said that England is " on a volcano," and 
 that her laborers and her poor must rise up and seize the 
 first opportunity of breaking their bondage. I do not 
 believe they would. What keeps the slaves quiet, would 
 keep them quiet. Fear and habit have great' power. 
 
 Again. In the South the slave-owners are not all of 
 one mind. Some among them, certainly, dislike " the 
 peculiar institution." They consider it as fastened upon 
 them, and know not how to cast it off without utter ruin. 
 But they would be glad to have it mitigated, and im- 
 proved, or removed if possible. So in England, of the 
 governing classes there are some, we know, and more, we 
 suppose, who do not believe that civilization demands that 
 the exuberant wealth of a few should co-exist with the 
 enormous mass of misery, destitution and degradation 
 festering at the base of English society. Nor do these 
 persons love the Servility which characterizes their coun- 
 try. They wish, some of them act, for the mitigation 
 and improvement of this state of things. But they look 
 upon this evil as fastened upon them, and so rooted in the 
 whole fabric of English society, that it could not be taken 
 away without bringing the fabric itself to ruin. 
 
 Again. Russell's Diary gives us conclusive evidence, 
 that the leading conspirators of the South desire, earn- 
 estly desire, a monarchy. And slavery must desire a 
 monarchy. The very nature of the case makes it certain, 
 that if slavery should ever become the acknowledged "cor- 
 ner-stone," as Mr. Vice-President Stephens calls it, of a 
 State, at its summit there must stand, whatever title he 
 may bear, a despot. But servility, which is only modified 
 slavery, differs from slavery, which is intensified servility, 
 in this. It does not require a despot. Less will satisfy its 
 needs. Hence England requires and has a " constitutional 
 monarch." 
 
 What does this phrase practically mean? The king 
 (or queen) of England reigns on condition that he will 
 not govern nor attempt to govern. Queen Victoria has 
 less political power than any one of her most prominent 
 
SLAVERY. 31 
 
 and iiifluontial suhjectr^. Indeed she has none. It is the 
 universally recoirnized proof of her sairacity and her fit- 
 ness for her i>lace, that she abstains from any interference 
 with the jrovernment of the country. While I Avrite, the 
 '' London Times," which speaks for and to the aristocracy of 
 Kn^dand, inculcates, somewhat rudely, the same abstinence 
 u|)on the Prince of Wales. Where then is the actual power 
 of the State, for it must be somewhere? It is in the hands 
 of an aristocracy, wlio are the possessors of unquestioned 
 power, and are, of late years, bcfjinning to cast oft' their dis- 
 ;ruise. This aristocracy is, partly an aristocracy of rank, 
 and partly an aristocracy of wealth. Keen observers say 
 lliat the last is «:ainin;r on the first, and getting the mas- 
 ter}'. It is dilfK'ult to say how this is, l)ecause they work 
 with so much harmony. The aristocracy of rank seeks to 
 bring wealth within its '* order," by marrying the pos- 
 sessors of wealth, or ennobling them. The aristocracy of 
 wealth seeks to add the advantage of rank, by marriage 
 alliaiK-es, or by getting titles. 15ut considering them as 
 one, this aristocracy is the absolute nuister of Kngland ; 
 more absoluti'ly it.s master, than I»uis Napoleon is of 
 Fraiif-e, or Al»'xan<ler is of Hiissia. Tlu' aristocracy ap- 
 fioints and sustains and directs the ministers. The IVimc 
 .Minister is their chief ser\ant. The C^ueeii, who calls 
 these ministers her servants, is lait the servant of tluMr 
 masters. An<l this is in p»-rfect harmony with Knglish 
 institutions and Knglish character. I^vtTything in that 
 nation depeu<ls upon <'hiss distinctions and class rights; 
 and it is necessary tluit the highest class should be the 
 master of the rest. 
 
 A Constitution is a supreme law alike (»bligatory upon 
 tlu! Kxecutive, the Legislative, and the .lu<licial de|)art- 
 ments, and u|M»n the whole ]»eoj)le ; to be \ if^lated by 
 none, and to Ite changed only by common consent. ( )l" 
 this, or anything like this, they ha\e absohitely nothing in 
 Kngland. l*arliament, whi<-h is controlled by the aris- 
 tocracy, may enact what law it will. The veto-power of 
 the king ha^ been abandoned lor many reigns and many 
 generations, and is dead. Whatever Parliament enacts, 
 every executive ollicer, every nuigistrate, every judge, and 
 evi-ry sid'juct. Ml ST regard as law and obey as law. The 
 
OZ SLAVERY. 
 
 "Constitutional King of England" is therefore a king 
 who reigns on condition that he will be only a pageant 
 and not a king, and whose kingdom is utterly destitute of 
 a Constitution. 
 
 All this is perfectly consistent with a vast amount of 
 moral worth, with individual and national energy, and 
 with all the splendor and grace which intellectual ability 
 and culture of the highest order can impart. All these 
 are there, abundantly and certainly. I do not doubt in the 
 least that all are there ; I am only endeavoring to state 
 and illustrate the principle which runs through them all. 
 Our fatliers were Englishmen. They brought with them 
 English blood and character, — although not then precisely 
 such as these are now. I cannot enlarge upon this diifer- 
 ence, nor consider the modifications these elements of char- 
 acter must have undergone while more than six generations 
 have lived and died under circumstances very different 
 from those of the English people. But we remained her 
 colonies, and politically a part of England, until we won 
 our Independence. Since then we have not been politically 
 her colonies. But we have stood in what was very near to 
 a colonial relation and dependence in other respects. Her 
 mind and lier manners and usages and judgments about 
 men and things have influenced ours in a degree and in a 
 Avay that few of us have been aware of. I certainly was 
 not. Tlierefore I consider this war a second war of In- 
 dependence. That chain is broken, at all events ; and its 
 links can never be welded together. I hope that the anger 
 Avhich now exists may pass away, and be succeeded by 
 kindness ; and I hope we shall learn to make due allowance 
 for the governments of Europe. The growth and pros- 
 perity of a nation founded upon Consent must be a con- 
 stant menace, and an ever-growing peril for institutions 
 founded upon Compulsion. If our institutions attract to 
 us the sympathies of the governed classes, so much the more 
 must they repel the governing classes. We should indeed 
 ask of these governing classes to be more than human, if 
 we ask them not to look upon our institutions with dislike, 
 our prosperity with jealousy and fear, our perils with hope, 
 and our decay — if that shall come — with rejoicing. 
 
 Let us be just to the aristocracy of England. Their 
 
SLA^-ERY. 33 
 
 liostilify to tho free States and their sympathy with tlio 
 shive States, astoiiishetl, grieved and aiiirered us. But 
 l»'l us not tur^ret that the suppression of tlie rebellion and 
 the restoration of our prosperity under a constitutional 
 ;ioverinnent, would be, for that aristocracy, a peril, only 
 less, if less, than the rebellion itself is for the United 
 States. 
 
 I hope this war will conijjk-te our independence of Enir- 
 land. For with the most sincere acknowledgment of great 
 and various excellence in tlie English character, 1 am 
 <piite sure that lier influence luus been, on some important 
 jtoints, rpiite injurious to us. 
 
 Si'rvility includes the two i<leas of the sentiment servility 
 on the part of tliose who look up. and the love of servility 
 on tin; part of those who look down. Ami no doubt wt* 
 have imported a g<M»d deal of servility from Knglaiul. Of 
 tiic love of servility in tluise who look tlown, 1 fear we 
 are not (piite ri<l yet. We <lo not all cordially accept the 
 j»riuciples oi" Ameri<*an institutions as those under which 
 we must live, whether we like them or not, as long as wo 
 live here. J lear that some f»f us subject ourselves to 
 much discomfort, in the vain «'llbrt to establish for our- 
 stlv<*s and our households, habits and relations which we 
 can n<» more import from England than we can iuj|K»rt 
 h«r <*linuite. I have JM-eu anuised to see soui«' jiersous 
 trying to live, a.s to their habits of food and clothing and 
 exercise an«l exposure, as they do in England, and hrcnusr 
 they do s(j in Enghmd. This is of no great consecpieiKu;. 
 More mischief <*omes from the endeavor to insist upon 
 English relations, where the etfort can prcwluce only <-ou- 
 tinual irritation. ('Iass-ri;:ht"< cannot flourish hen*. If 
 one of Mjy readers happens to know a man who seeks to 
 treat all within his reach as his servants, and all his 
 servants as slaves, I am sure he knows a very unc«)nifort- 
 able num. 
 
 From the ser\dity which look^^ up, we are pn-lty well 
 rid. We see it seldoui, exc»'j)t in new-comers, who 
 broujrht the habit with them, and have not yet learned 
 their Anu'ri<'an lessun-^. HiU they learn these lessons 
 \ery soon. I'erhaps they do uot learn, jwrhaps they come 
 to a xho.il will re it niiudit. at jiresent, be dillii iilt to I. am. 
 
34 SLAVERY. 
 
 what should take the place of servility when that passes 
 away. The best lover of his country will hope that it may 
 pass away. But he will also hope that as it passes away, a 
 recognition of the rights of others, fidelity to duty, the 
 love of usefulness, and courtesy and kindness and civility 
 will take the place of servility. 
 
 Some at home, and more who visit us, complain of the 
 manners of this country. So far as I can judge, our 
 manners are, in the main, good. It is not fair nor rea- 
 sonable to apply to them the standards of foreign usages 
 or of factitious refinement. The true test is, are they, in 
 o^eneral, expressive of a courteous and kind feeling. I 
 think they are. We meet sometimes with coarseness and 
 rudeness ; but equally in all classes of society ; and in 
 every class it seems to me an exception, and not the 
 rule. 
 
 But I am not so well contented with another charac- 
 teristic of our country. It is the feebleness of the 
 sentiments of Respect and Reverence. It is difficult 
 to speak aright of these topics, and perhaps I ought 
 to distrust my own conclusions. I will only say that I 
 should be glad to see my fellow-citizens treat each other 
 with more Respect ; and manifest more respect for many 
 things, and among them, for place, office, function. These 
 exist only for the good of society. This is their end, 
 however imperfectly it be attained, and however it may 
 be concealed or obstructed by self-seeking and self-love in 
 all their various forms. But it is certain that this end 
 must be imperfectly attained, if the rights which belong 
 to them are not honestly acknowledged and Respected. 
 
 And so as to Reverence. Of this I would say even less. 
 But the common consent of all times has ever declared 
 that age should be held in Reverence ; tliat the paternal 
 relation should be held in Reverence. I will only ask is a 
 sentiment of this kind very strong and general among us ; 
 is it stronger in this generation than in the preceding ; 
 was it stronger in that than in its predecessor ? I will let 
 others answer. I fear some may answer, it is not strong, 
 and that is well. It is growing weaker, and that too is 
 well. 
 
 But all the Reverence I have spoken of is nothing, in 
 
SLAVEKY. 
 
 35 
 
 comi)ari>on with the Reverence which is due to God. I 
 do not fear an avowal that this Reverence also is a poor 
 and foolish thing ; but I do fear, that in point of fact, it 
 is, in general, a feeble sentiment. 
 
 We live in an age of marvellous prosperity ; of an ac- 
 tivity of the human intellect and an energy of hunum 
 action, and a perpetual progress in discoveries and in util- 
 izing discoveries, which has had no preccMlent in history. 
 Hut it is also a characteristic of the age. that the idea of God 
 ]ia«; quite too little distinctness and force in any of the de- 
 jtartnu-nts of human thought ; and, most of all has this idt-a 
 (lisapj)eared from politics. Tliis word seems to uwnu at tlie 
 higliest, oidy a regard for the mere mati'rial inten-sts of 
 men ; and, at the lowest, gambling with the min<ls and 
 jtMssions of men for the cards, and public f)llice or tlie 
 pulilic purse for the stakes. Tliis condition of things srems 
 to me likt' one where the Sun is darkened ; a condition in 
 which then- is no light from above, an«l no light but that 
 of the lamps we uuike, and kindle and feed witli our own 
 bauds ; a c<»ndition, whi<-li gives us little rea-on i(» jiopc 
 fitr mncli wixlom of opinion, conclusion or a<ti|Mi. 
 
 \Vi r.- I to permit myself to dwell on tliis subject, it 
 would be with esj)ecial reference to the godlessuess of that 
 spirit of reform, which is so powerful among us. How many 
 good !iud earnest men I know now active in their conflicts 
 w itii the <li'mon of Iutem|HM*ance, and the worse demon of 
 lgiiorau<v, and, to bring the nuitter nearer to my specilic 
 topic, with Slavery itself. Do they seem, geuerally, to 
 walk au«l work in the light of the Irutii that if their 
 work be a g«MMl work, it must be (ioiTs work ; and that 
 if they would work witii Him, they nujst work as His 
 instruments, and in His own way? This couviclion 
 would K'ave them zealous to be His in.-trtmu'Uts ; to do 
 His work ; to hasten the time : to open the way. IJut it 
 would cause, I think, a great change in the maimer of 
 their working. How nuich more <'autious would their 
 conduct be; how much kinder tlieir w<»rds : how iniicli 
 less hatred would their words express ami excite; how 
 much more, and how much better, would be their success. 
 
 This characteristic of the times seems to me more sad, 
 and more alarming, because never yet was there so much 
 
36 SLAVERY. 
 
 need of the recognition of God, as at this day, among us. 
 What else can have power to quell the raging storm and 
 bid the heaving sea of passion be still, before it wrecks the 
 best hopes of our country, and of our race. 
 
 I will not permit myself to pursue this topic. I will 
 say only, for the few, if there be indeed any, who would 
 follow out this train of thought in their own minds, that, 
 in my judgment, constitutional Republicanism cannot enter 
 upon its completion and consummation, until it becomes a 
 Theocracy ; and that it is not, in very fact and deed, ad- 
 vancing towards its completion, when it is not advancing 
 towards this end. Let not those who are startled by this 
 word suppose I mean a restoration of the old Jewish 
 Theocracy. In the Theocracy I desire, the altar will not 
 be built with hands, but will be in the heart ; the offerings 
 will be of acknowledgment, obedience, and reverence, 
 and love. The House of God to which we shall go up, to 
 worship our Father and listen to His answers, will be His 
 Word, in wiiich He dwells forever. 
 
 And what of the conflict, which I began with saying 
 was in some Avay caused by slavery ? How will it end, 
 and when will it end ? 
 
 I do not deny that there is much which would lead me 
 to fear that vices and falsities prevail among us, and arc 
 so indurated by time and habit and our past prosperity, 
 that we may need a long period of distress and discipline, 
 and may now be only entering upon a cycle of suifering, 
 Avhich in its intensity and in its length will equal the 
 years of our prosperity. 
 
 But my hope ii stronger than my fear. I think I see 
 much among us that is good, and that is earnestly seek- 
 ing to be better. Much that shows, that if we have 
 abused our prosperity in part, we have also, in part, 
 used it for our own good and for the world's good. And 
 then I believe that we shall succeed. That Rebellion 
 Avill be suppressed ; that the value and force of our Con- 
 stitution will be proved ; that our loyalty will be en- 
 lightened and invigorated ; and that by all these means, 
 a firm foimdation may be laid for a wider and loftier 
 prosperity than we have yet known. 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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