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 EMANCIPATION 
 
 Its Justice, Expediency and Necessity/, as the Means of securing a 
 Speedy and Permanent Peace. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BY 
 
 HON. GEORGE S, BOUTWELL, 
 
 TREMONT TEMPLE, BOSTON, 
 
 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 
 
 THE EMANCIPATION LEAGUE, 
 
 DECEMBER 16, 1861. 
 
 The announcement that Hon. George S. 
 Boutwell would deliver the Inaugural Address 
 before the Emancipation League, upon " The 
 Justice* Expediency and Necessity of Emanci- 
 pation," called together an assemblage of the 
 people of Boston and vicinity remarkable for 
 character and intelligence, even in this intelli- 
 gent community. The large audience — (the 
 hall being crowded in every part) — heard the 
 speaker throughout with profound attention, 
 broken, however, by frequent and enthusiastic 
 applause. Upon the platform were a large 
 number of distinguished citizens, including 
 officers connected with the State and United 
 States governments. 
 
 The meeting was called to order by Eev. A. 
 A. Miner, who made a brief statement in 
 regard to the object of the League, viz. : To 
 further in the hearts of the people the measures 
 which will promote the freedom of the slaves, 
 and to encourage the government to use what- 
 ever opportunity the progress of our armies 
 shall afford to carry liberty with those armies, 
 and suppress the rebellion by removing its 
 cause. At the conclusion of his remarks, he 
 introduced, as the Chairman of the meeting, 
 Dr. Samuel G. Howe. 
 
 Dr. Howe said that the speaker whom he 
 was about to introduce would try to prove the 
 justice, expediency and necessity of emancipa- 
 tion. He must be a bold man to undertake 
 such a task, for it is as difficult as it would 
 be to prove that two and two make four 
 to an audience who should doubt the fact, and 
 demand the proof. 
 
 The government practically denies this 
 and other axiomatic truths, and consequently 
 involves itself in all sorts of difficulties and 
 embarrassments, over which it continually 
 stumbles, as it goes blundering along. 
 
 For instance, a rebel's ownership to his 
 house or his ship may be clear and incontesta- 
 ble, for it is founded in the very principles 
 which underlie the right of property ; and 
 yet the government declares it forfeit, — and 
 tells our soldiers and sailors they may disre- 
 gard it. But when it comes to his title to a 
 man or a woman, which in its very essence is 
 a sham and a lie, then the government recog- 
 nizes his ownership, and talks about his consti- 
 tutional right. 
 
 The written and the unwritten history of our 
 country shows that human slavery has been the 
 vitiating element in our political institutions ; 
 
 Co 
 
 P 
 
 ?o 
 
THE EMANCIPATION LEAGUE. 
 
 :b77 
 
 that It is now not only putting them In peril 
 but likewise endangering the great experiment 
 of man's capacity for self-government; and 
 that if slavery were abolished there would be 
 no great cause of discord in the Union ; and 
 yet, out of a superstitious regard for this ac- 
 cursed root of bitterness and wickedness, our 
 government holds back from striking the rebel- 
 lion full In the stomach, and utterly crippling 
 it at once. 
 
 The South is encouraged, the North is dis- 
 couraged, and the world is disgusted with the 
 policy of our government In this matter. 
 
 An army needs Ideas as well as bread. 
 Like a man, in order to do gi-eat deeds, an 
 army needs an Imposing idea — a great watch- 
 word — an object worth fighting for and dying 
 for. Such an Idea — such a watch-word would 
 be the emancipation of four millions of human 
 beings ; but such is not a vague cry of Union — 
 Union ! 
 
 But not only does the government withhold 
 this breath of life and honor from the army, but 
 it converts it into an engine to keep up slavery^ 
 to keep down emancipation, and to hold the 
 slaveholder's victim for him if perchance he 
 escapes. 
 
 From the early proclamation of jMcClellan 
 that servile insurrection should be put down 
 with an iron hand, to the late proclamation of 
 Halleck, which virtually drove back fugitive 
 slaves from our lines, the policy of our com- 
 manders when they approach a slave region 
 has been, with a few honorable exceptions, to 
 deter the negro from acting against his master, 
 and so to convert the black race into enemies. 
 Nay ! Northern officers have been found base 
 enough to betray poor fugitives. Northern 
 soldiers have been made slave-catchers for 
 Southern masters ; and Northern officers have 
 disgraced themselves by deeds which even 
 heathen knights would have spurned as mean 
 and cowardly. The scutcheon of our beloved 
 State even has been soUed and disgraced in 
 this way. 
 
 It is not the public and acknowledged policy 
 
 of the government to hold fugitive slaves for 
 the benefit of their masters, and so to keep 
 open a door for reconstruction upon the same 
 old Iniquitous basis of Union, but that it Is the 
 real aim facts will show. 
 
 Fugitives are never invited into our lines, 
 but when they force themselves in they are 
 taken into custody at those places there Is a 
 chance for them to escape to the North. 
 
 Look at Fortress Monroe ; not only cannot 
 a fugitive get a passage to the North, but the 
 vessels leaving the place are searched to pre- 
 vent it. 
 
 At Washington they are locked up in jail to 
 prevent their escape. The public pi'Ints have 
 lately told you all about this. 
 
 Dr. Howe then related his recent examina- 
 tion of the jail in Alexandria, Va., where he 
 found about a score of fugitives, men, women 
 and children, who had committed no offence 
 against the laws of the United States, save that 
 of running from rebel masters, but who were 
 locked up In pi'Ison by the United States 
 Marshal. 
 
 They all expressed a wish to be free ; they 
 dreaded being returned to their masters; and 
 were evidently perplexed by their present 
 treatment. One man, on being asked if he 
 could take care of himself if he were set free, 
 said, " I'se took cai'e of myself forty years, and 
 helped massa take care of hisself — tink I can't 
 take care of myself alone ? " ^ 
 
 The ideas of the administration, as shown by 
 the operations of our army all along the slave 
 border, from Missouri to Port Royal, has been 
 such as to discourage all hopes of its adopting 
 the policy of emancipation ; and it is for the 
 people, for the men and the women of the 
 country, to speak out in Its favor. 
 
 It is that they may do so that this Emanci- 
 pation League is formed, and that similar ones 
 are earnestly recommended everywhere. 
 
 Dr. Howe then apologized for taking so 
 much time, and intz'oduced the orator of the 
 evening. 
 

 SPEECH OF GOVERNOE BOUTWELL, 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 Mr. President and Fellow Citizens: 
 
 I do not speak in a representative capacity, 
 and tlie responsibility for what I say is not to 
 be divided or assumed by any one. No person 
 is better aware than I am, that he who under- 
 takes to give public advice in times of public 
 peril, assumes a grave responsibility. Nor is 
 the responsibility materially lessened by the 
 fact that he who assumes it has but slight 
 claims to public consideration. In every free 
 government, and especially in our own, the 
 mature and considerate judgment of the people 
 ultimately controls the administration of public 
 affairs. As the river which drains and fertilizes 
 half a continent, bears upon its bosom the 
 navies and commerce of an empire, and 
 refuses to be subdued or controlled by any 
 power save that of the ocean itself, is but the 
 combination of minute rills, which, in the 
 mountains where they had birth, escaped 
 observation, so the current of public opinion 
 on which a nation is borne to its destiny, is 
 but the union of individual thoughts, that, in 
 their expression, seemed powerless for evil or 
 for good. And as the river is dependent for 
 its existence as well as for its purity upon the 
 mountain rills, so the current of public opinion 
 is dependent for its majesty and vigor, itpon 
 the minute contributions that are made to it 
 from distant and unobserved sources. Hence 
 no thought is lost — no contribution is unim- 
 portant ; nor can any one escape responsibility, 
 however he may shrink from duty. Nor 
 ought it to be admitted, whatever the circum- 
 stances of peace or war, that measures affect- 
 ing the welfare of the nation are not to be 
 discussed by and before the people. But such 
 discussions may have evil effects, unless con- 
 ducted with moderation, and under the influ- 
 ence of a sturdy patriotism. 
 
 So, too, in times of public trial, the details 
 of the public service must be left to the discre- 
 tion of those entrusted with the conduct of 
 affliirs. There must, moreover, be liberality, 
 — indeed, a broad and unquestioning generosity 
 — in the judgment we form of those on whom 
 the responsibility rests. 
 
 But, on the other hand, whenever a people, 
 through ignorance or timidity, are incapable 
 of examining and considering matters of 
 public concern, in a proper spirit and with 
 wise reference to legitimate ends, then are 
 their liberties in greater peril than they can 
 ever be from the hostilities of foreign or the 
 machinations of domestic enemies. 
 
 I have come to-night to speak with great 
 freedom, but not in the language or spirit of 
 complaint or doubt. We have seen how, by 
 the energy of the administration, the loyalty 
 of the States, and the patriotism of the people, 
 an ai'my of two-thirds of a million of men 
 has been raised, equipped and put into the field. 
 How a navy carrying more than twenty-five 
 himdred guns has been created ; how resources 
 to the amount of more than two hundred 
 millions of dollars have been gathered from 
 the voluntary offerings of all classes. Hence 
 we have confidence in the future. Moreover, 
 the country confides in the President. To 
 style him honest, is but an inadequate exjires- 
 sion of the nice sense of justice — the highest 
 human attribute — which distinguishes him 
 among men. He also .possesses what Locke 
 calls a large, sound, roundabout sense, that 
 enables him to form opinions with care, and to 
 act with discretion. These qualities are 
 supported by a courage undismayed in hours 
 of severest trial. He was among those at 
 Washington, who, after the disaster of Bull 
 Run, were unmoved either by fears for their 
 personal safety, or apjirehensions of danger to 
 the fortunes of the Republic. He is sur- 
 rounded by able and patriotic men ; and there 
 is a united opinion in favor of giving to the 
 administration a loyal and generous support. 
 Nor is it any indication of a want of confi- 
 dence, that the people of Boston, who in times 
 of trial were accustomed, in their assemblies, 
 to consider public questions, have now con- 
 vened to contribute, if they may, to the 
 restoration of peace, the re-establishment of 
 the Union, and the return of our former 
 political and commercial hajipiness and pros- 
 perity. But I may say to you, my friends, in 
 the beginning, that I have no suggestion to 
 make, the way to which is not clearly laid 
 open in the recent message of the President. 
 His recommendation to the Congress that terri- 
 tory should be acquired to Avhich the black pop- 
 ulation of the United States may be removed, 
 contains the opinion that the slaves are to be 
 emanciijated, either as an incident or a conse- 
 quent of the war. It is, moreover, the teach- 
 ing of experience, that great civil contests, 
 based upon questions of domestic policy, must 
 be settled by statesmanship. And when, as 
 Avith us now, a nation's existence is in peril, 
 questions of policy affecting that existence 
 nuist be settled by a bold, vigorous, compre- 
 hensive, foreseeing statesmanship. For 
 
THE EMANCIPATION LEAGUE. 
 
 " Not to the ensanguined field of death alone 
 Is valor limited ; she sits serene 
 In the deliberate council; sagely scans 
 The source of action ; weighs, prevents, provides, 
 And scorns to count her glories from the feats 
 Of brutal force alone." 
 
 In speaking of the justice, expediency and 
 necessity of emancipation as the only speedy 
 means of crushing the i-ebellion and restoring 
 the Union, I impose on myself three limita- 
 tions, and desire you to connect them with all 
 that I may say : 
 
 1st. That a military necessity exists for 
 doing what is proposed ; and that I shall 
 undertake to prove. 
 
 2dly. That this necessity does not require 
 us to take any action in reference to the loyal 
 States. 
 
 3dly. That I always and everywhere con- 
 template compensation to loyal men. 
 
 And I first inquire, what constitutes a 
 military necessity ? I assume that a military 
 necessity does not depend upon the exigencies 
 of the army in the field ; but the great military 
 necessity is to save the government, and what- 
 ever is necessary for the salvation of the gov- 
 ernment is clearly within the right and the 
 duty of those who administer it and control 
 the military department thereof. (Applause.) 
 I think our constitution has plainly indicated 
 what a military necessity is in that provision 
 which declares that the right of habeas corpus 
 shall not be suspended unless, in cases of 
 rebellion or invasion, the public safety may 
 require it. And what do we see to-day ? 
 That all of us are here deprived, by the 
 exigencies of the times, of the security which 
 from the days of Magna Char/a has been, with 
 here and there an exception, the security of 
 all Englishmen, and of all men who inherited 
 the rights and the pi'ivileges of Englishmen. 
 And why ? Because It Is believed by those 
 entrusted with the administration of public 
 affairs, that the public safety requires it. And 
 we have given up the great security which we 
 had, that whenever our liberty was taken from 
 us we had a right to an inquiry as to the 
 reason tlierefor ; and that right has departed, 
 at the bidding of the government, because, in 
 the eye of the constitution, the public safety 
 requires it. 
 
 If we demonstrate that the public safety 
 requires the emancipation of the slaves, here 
 or there, or any where, then we have de- 
 monstrated * that a military necessity exists. 
 And, my friends, you are assembled with 
 anxious countenances to consider how the 
 country shall be saved ; and you instinctively 
 trace our peril backward to the Institution of 
 slavery, and are convinced without argument 
 that had slavery not existed on this continent 
 tliere would not be a State, no, nor a county, 
 nor a parish, nor a man. In all this republic to 
 say that this Union ought not longer to exist ; 
 therefore we charge home, with instinct and 
 logic, the responsibility of the whole matter to 
 the Institution of slavery. And if by the 
 emancipation of the slaves we can hasten by 
 
 one day the return of the power of the Union 
 and our lost prosperity, does not a military 
 exigency exist ? (" Yes 1 " " Yes ! " " It 
 does ! ") 
 
 I hear a suggestion from many quarters, 
 which means, if I understand It, substantially 
 this : that South Carolina and her ten as- 
 sociates in this rebellion are still entitled to 
 the protection of the constitution of the Uni- 
 ted States, and therefore we are bound to 
 treat those States as we treat the States that 
 are still loyal to the Union. If we yet labor 
 under that delusion, then God save us ! for not 
 to the hands of man Is entrusted the salvation 
 of this republic — if we still indulge In the 
 delusion that South Carolina and New York, 
 that Florida and Pennsylvania, that JNIissIssippi 
 and Illinois, that Texas and Minnesota, are to 
 be treated by the government of the country 
 as enjoying equal rights and equal protection 
 under the constitution. (Applause.) 
 
 We have not thrust them out of the Union ; 
 they have gone out deliberately, freely, with- 
 out compulsion ; and in all that relates to the 
 subjugation of the ten-Itory and of the people 
 of the rebel States we must treat them as 
 enemies, as belligerents. Are we to ask 
 whether we ai'e In war w^ith these eleven 
 States, when our frontier, from Kansas to the 
 Chesapeake, is menaced by their foi'ces, and 
 when we, boasting that we have 660,000 men 
 In the field, have been outnumbered at every 
 point ? If you indulge the delusion that we 
 are not at war, and that these people are not 
 to be treated as enemies, then the destruction 
 of the country Is near. We must treat them 
 as enemies. When they came into the Union 
 they gave to the Union jurisdiction over their 
 territory ; that jurisdiction they now deny ; let 
 the armies of the republic go forward, let the 
 statesmanshij) of the country secure the right 
 that was guai-antled to us, and which we have 
 not abandoned, however the rebels may desire 
 to jiut off the responsibility from themselves. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 Whatever is necessary to be done for the 
 re-establishment of the government of the 
 Union, over the rebellious States, we have a 
 constitutional right to do ; for the constitution, 
 if it secures any thing, secures the integrity of 
 the territory over which and to which the con- 
 stitution applies. The rebels have no right to 
 complain. We secure constitutional rights, as 
 far as we can, to all the loyal States ; disloyal 
 States are enemies, and we must so treat them. 
 
 Suppose there are a few loyal men in South 
 Carolina, In North Carolina, in Georgia, or 
 Texas ; are they to stand in the way of the 
 salvation of this country '? I trust not. When 
 the war Is over, when this territory is restored 
 to the Union, the government of the country 
 is re-established, then, If these people have 
 suffered by any thing that we have done, 
 make them the compensation that we can. 
 But we cannot stop now, when the Union is 
 in peril, when the lurid flames of Avar light up 
 the horizon on every quarter — can we stop 
 
SPEECH OP GOVERNOR BOUTWELL. 
 
 now to inquire whether, in South Carolina, or 
 in Georgia, or in Tennessee, there may be 
 men who woukl if they could be loyal to the 
 Union ? (Applause.) 
 
 Now we have, my friends, labored under 
 two or three delusions. First, we did not 
 believe, twelve months ajjo, when the nucleus 
 of the " Confederacy " (as it is now called) 
 separated from the old Union, that a great 
 conspiracy existed. We could not believe 
 that men entrusted with important duties — 
 Senators and Representatives in Congress — 
 officers of the army and the navy, who had 
 been supported in luxury from the treasury of 
 the nation— judges of the Supreme Court — 
 men high in authority throughout the fifteen 
 slave States of the Union — had^ conspired 
 criminally, traitorously, with perjury upon 
 their lips and in their hearts, against a govern- 
 ment which, as far as we knew, had never 
 pressed too harshly upon a single citizen of 
 the republic. We could not believe it. It 
 was not strange that we did not believe it. 
 But now, after a brief and sad experience, we 
 find that for thirty years this conspiracy had 
 existed ; that it covered the whole slave terri- 
 tory of the Union ; tliat It had given birth to 
 the annexation of Texas, to the_ compromise 
 measures of 1850, to the repudiation of the 
 Missouri compromise in 1854, to the dissolution 
 of the Democratic party at Charleston In 18G0; 
 that it had entei-ed systematically upon the 
 scheme of destroying the best government 
 which the world had ever seen ! _ It was not 
 strange that we did not believe it ; but now, 
 now we know that It existed, and we know, 
 too, full well, that it had Its origin In the insti- 
 tution of slavery. And ought not the judg- 
 ment of this country to be visited upon that 
 institution as a part of the retribution for this 
 foulest of human crimes? (Applause.) 
 
 Another delusion, my friends, was, that we 
 did not believe in the unanimity of the South 
 upon this matter. We thought that the move- 
 ment was instigated and carried on by a few 
 hot-brained persons, whom we proposed to sepa- 
 rate from the great majority of the people and 
 dispose of without special ceremony. But we 
 have found, as the war has gone on, that it either 
 included originally In the conspiracy all the chief 
 men of the South, or that they have been drawn, 
 unwillingly or willingly, into it, so that now 
 there Is^no excuse for the man who believes 
 that there is any lack of unanimity in the 
 eleven seceded States. We are not more 
 unanimous in this hall, or in this State, or in 
 the free States of the Union, in fiivor of main- 
 taining the Union, than they are in favor of 
 breaking down this Government and dis- 
 graclng'free Institutions in the presence of the 
 world and before posterity. 
 
 Let us no longer abide in the delusion that 
 there is a want of unanimity In the South. 
 
 Another delusion In which we have in- 
 dulged, to this very hour, is that they had 
 not resources sufficient to carry on this war, 
 and that very soon they would be exhausted. 
 
 I shall have occasion to discuss this subject 
 further, as I go on. But we have found, as a 
 matter of experience, during the last twelve 
 months, that they have exlilblted no evidence 
 of a want of resources. Have not they put 
 men enough into the field ? Haven't they, as 
 far as we know, equipped them sufficiently for 
 the service V Haven't they had enough to eat, 
 to drink, and to wear ? 
 
 Then, as far as the year's experience goes, 
 we have been laboring under a delusion as to 
 the power of the South. 
 
 It may be well enough to explore briefly the 
 causes of the rebellion, as developed in the 
 institution of slavery itself. And the proposi- 
 tion I have to make is that the institution of 
 .slavery Is of such a character that hostility to 
 this Government was Inevitable, sure to come 
 at some time or other. 
 
 A change of opinion has been going on in 
 the slave "States, which perhaps I may well 
 Illustrate by a short chapter from my own ex- 
 perience. In 1857, in the month of November, 
 I was at Lexington, Kentucky, and on the 
 Sabbath I attended service at what I under- 
 stood to be the oldest Methodist Episcopal 
 church. I listened to an able discourse. It 
 was devoted to the maintenance of three pro- 
 positions, which, as far as I could judge, were 
 accepted by that congregation ; they were, 
 first, that the Saviour never said any thing in 
 favor of human equality; secondly, that he 
 never said any thing in favor of universal 
 education ; and thirdly, said the preacher, 
 what we need is authority in the church. 
 
 Do you not see, If those propositions be 
 taken as indicating the public sentiment of the 
 South, that slavery has worked two radical 
 changes in the people, bath of Avhich are 
 antagonistic to free Institutions, and npoh 
 which ft-ee institutions cannot long be main- 
 tained ? One was the denial of the equality 
 of man ; the other was the denial of the right 
 of individual opinion In matters of religion. 
 
 And next I have to siiy, that the Constitu- 
 tion of the Union, having been established for 
 the purpose — as declared In the preamble — of 
 securing liberty to the men who framed it and 
 to their posterity, was Inadequate to meet the 
 wants of the slaveholders. 
 
 We have in the Constitution a provision 
 giving to the government authority to put 
 down insurrection. But do you not think that 
 the time was foreseen when the slave popula- 
 tion might rise upon the plantations of the 
 cotton districts, and In a single night the white 
 Inhabitants be swept away V And how power- 
 less then would be the provision of the Consti- 
 tution, even if the government were wielded 
 by slaveholders 1 So we see that since the 
 revolt commenced, they have steadily marched 
 toward the establishment of a military, slave- 
 holding oligarchy ; because it is the necessity 
 i of the" Institution of slavery that it shall be 
 maintained by a stronger government than 
 that for which our Constitution provided. 
 And, in the next place, — I do not propose to 
 
THE EMANCIPATION LEAGUE. 
 
 discuss it — but, in the next place, it was a 
 necessity of slavery that it should acquire new 
 territory, because it exhausts that on which it 
 fastens. These then, as I believe, were the 
 causes of the rebellion. There were pretexts, 
 such as agitation in the North, but they were 
 mere pretexts. 
 
 There were also inducements to the rebel- 
 lion : one of which was a belief that the North 
 would not act unitedly and energetically for 
 the overthrow of the conspirators. And I 
 may say here Avhat I think will be sustained 
 by some gentlemen whom I see around me ; 
 and, inasmuch as the injunction of secrecy 
 upon the Peace Congress was removed on the 
 last day of the session, I may say — not for the 
 purpose of arraigning any man before this 
 assembly, or before this country — that in that 
 congress a representative from a free State, a 
 State that has with great alacrity furnished its 
 quota of men to the army, did announce to 
 slaveholders and to noii-slaveholders that in 
 case the North undertook to put down the 
 South " by force " the North would furnish 
 a regiment to fight with the South as often 
 as it furnished one to fight against it. — 
 In justice, to the people of the country, we 
 ought to say, in this connection, that the 
 South has been entirely disappointed. The 
 people, with great unanimity, have come to 
 the support of the government, and not one 
 regiment — possibly not one man — has been 
 found to join the forces of the South. (Ap- 
 plause.) But such inducements undoubtedly 
 operated to lead the people of the South 
 forward in the rebellion they had undertaken. 
 Another inducement to the rebellion was the 
 bankruptcy of the South. From two to three 
 hundred millions of dollars have been repudi- 
 ated by the rebellion. It is well enough to 
 remember that, as long ago as 1792, I think, 
 Mr. JelFerson wrote a letter to Gen. Washing- 
 ton urging him to accept a second term for the 
 Presidency, and one of the five or six reasons 
 which he gave for the request was the danger 
 of secession ; and a reason why he feared 
 secession was that the South was largely 
 indebted to the North. And this indebtedness 
 of the South to the North, wiped out 'for the 
 last fifty years at the rate of two or three 
 millions a year, and finally consummated by the 
 repudiation of two or three hundred millions, 
 has always been an obstacle to a firm union 
 between the two sections. Another induce- 
 ment by which the South has been combined 
 as one man, was the cry, promulgated for the 
 first time in that section of the country not 
 more than five or six years ago, " Negroes for 
 the negroless ! " Thus every poor white man 
 in the South, who ignorantly believed it to be 
 the height of human ambition to own a negro, 
 was inspired with a hope that at some future 
 day he might become a slaveholder, if the 
 rebellion could be carried on successfully— the 
 South separated from the North — and the 
 African slave-trade opened. This is one of 
 the means by which the rebels have been able 
 
 to combine the Southern strength to the extent 
 they have. Another reason — I will not stop 
 to discuss it — was wounded pride, mixed with 
 poverty, always a source of discontent. 
 
 And, in passing, I may say that I believe 
 the Southern States, the Gulf States, have 
 deceived, to a great extent, the border slave 
 States — INIaryland, Kentucky and Virginia ; 
 for, when the time should have come that they 
 could secure the sei^aration of the slave States 
 from the free States, or the Southern States 
 from the Northern States, they would incline 
 to leave these border States with the North, as 
 a bulwark against the spread of anti-slavery 
 opinions southward, knowing that under the 
 constitution we should return fugitives to these 
 border States, and the border States, by State 
 legislation, would return fugitives from the 
 seceded States. 
 
 Will the rebellion exhaust itself? Consider 
 the extent of the territory that it includes. 
 Consider the resources of that country in soil 
 and climate. Consider the fact that, in con- 
 sequence of the existence of slavery, they can 
 put in the field, and equip — allowing the insti- 
 tution of slavery to remain— one-tenth, or even 
 one-eighth of their entire white population. 
 And though with the blockade we close up the 
 ports, so that they are deprived of certain 
 luxuries and necessities of life, they yet can 
 command those great staples on which their 
 armies will depend for subsistence. They 
 possess one power which we have not yet 
 attained — and which, I trust, is not in store 
 for us — they repudiate their debts as fast as 
 they are contracted, " leaving the things that 
 are behind, and pressing forward to those that 
 are before." (Laughter and applause.) It 
 was the estimate of Napoleon that no nation 
 could keep more than one in forty of its popu- 
 lation in the field. The State of Indiana has 
 put one in twenty of its entire population into 
 the army ; other States one in twenty-five ; 
 one in thirty ; one in thirty-five ; one in forty. 
 If it be assumed that the free vStates can put 
 into the field, and keep in the field, one in 
 thirty of the entire population, our army will 
 not consist of more than about 730,000 or 
 740,000 men, and, if you will allow the institu- 
 tion of slavery to remain, the three and a half 
 millions of men and women in the revolted 
 States to continue upon the plantations — 
 guarded by white women, aged men and chil- 
 dren, all armed — if you allow the three and a 
 half millions to remain upon the plantations 
 and produce subsistence for the army, they can 
 keep one-tenth, or one-eighth, of their entire 
 white population in arms. If you strike from 
 the resources of the South the supplies which 
 are furnished by the three and a half millions 
 of black people, do not you see that a portion 
 of the men who are in the army of the South 
 must go home to produce supplies ? There- 
 fore the effect of allowing the institution of 
 slavery to remain is to give them an equal 
 opportunity with us in every contest. But if 
 we deprive them of the support they derive 
 
SPEECH OF GOVERNOR BOUTWELL. 
 
 from their slaves, then a portion of their army 
 must return to the plantations, and they would 
 be reduced to 150,000 or 200,000 men, and the 
 war would be at an end. (Great applause.) _ 
 We may very well inquire whether this 
 rebellion — if it go on — is to exhaust us. I do 
 not propose to pursue the financial inquiry, 
 but it is sufKcient to say that the Secretary of 
 the Treasury estimates that the public debt, 
 on the 30th of June, 1863— a year from next 
 June, Avill amount to $900,000,000. If it shall 
 happen in consequence of the check that is 
 given to the expoi-tation of cotton — in conse- 
 quence of a good supply of breadstuflfs next 
 year in Europe — that there shall be no demand 
 for any of the products of this country, and 
 there should be a demand for specie in. conse- 
 quence of excessive importations made inevi- 
 table because of an increase in your circulating 
 medium, who does not see that bankruptcy is 
 before us ? And it is well to consider whether, 
 if we have no regard for the black man, it is 
 well for the merchants of Boston and New 
 York, the men who have four million tons of 
 shipping on the ocean — -a million in the East 
 Indies — to consider Avhether we are willing to 
 involve ourselves in a common bankruptcy, 
 rather than to strike, while we have the 
 power, at the foundation on which this 
 rebellion rests. (Prolonged applause.) 
 
 I say, then, it is a necessity .that this war 
 shall be speedily closed. We have tried block- 
 ading. It has been to a good degree effectual. 
 But do you not see that it is powerless with 
 reference to producing that which we expected 
 , from It— the quelling of the rebellion ? Though 
 'o.ur ships line the whole coast, from Galveston 
 to the Chesapeake ; though we keep out for- 
 eign supplies of every sort ; though Ave cut off" 
 the export trade in cotton — still these slaves 
 produce that on Avhich the rebel armies- 
 armies in the field— depend. You may say 
 we can, by one decisive battle, settle this 
 matter. AVe have had 100,000— 150,000— for 
 aught I know, 200,000 men on both sides of 
 the Potomac for the last sixty or ninety days. 
 Possibly by battle we might settle tliis matter ; 
 but we"^ run a great risk. We thought Avhen 
 in July our army Avent forth Avith banners and 
 trumpets, they Avere marching to victory. Our 
 soldiers fought Avell, victory seemed Avithin 
 their grasp, and yet defeat— temporary defeat 
 to our arms — resulted. And who knows that, 
 with neAV leaders and new men, we are to 
 gain a decisive advantage ? When there are 
 other means to settle this matter, will Ave risk 
 the existence of this repu,blic — risk freedom, 
 and its name and tame in all the nations, and 
 throughout all time — on the capacity of gen- 
 erals on the Potomac ? I say no, if it can be 
 avoided. Wars and battles are not the worst 
 of evils, but they are to be avoided when and 
 where Ave can avoid them. The life of the 
 nation is involved in this contest, to say nothing 
 of the men. All of us have sent our friends, 
 brothers, kindred— those Avho are dearer to us 
 than our own lives ; and shall we peril them 
 
 on the Potomac, in Kentucky, in Missouri, in 
 South Carolina, at the mouth of the Mississippi 
 — where my own friends and neighbors, and 
 townsmen are to-night — shall Ave risk their 
 lives rather than strike at the institution 
 of slavery, when we know that the rebellion 
 rests upon slavery, and Avill go doAvn Avhen 
 slavery ceases to support it V (Applause.) 
 Have you yet other men Avhom you Avish to 
 sacrifice upon this altar ? EllsAvorth, Lyon, 
 Baker, and others of equal virtue and equal 
 patriotism, Avith names unknown, have gone 
 doAvn upon bloody fields, sacrificed at the 
 shrine of slavery ; and Avill you offer up more, 
 and yet more, of the best blood of the country 
 — the young men, the hope of the nation, the 
 strength of the future — in order that slavery 
 may longer last ? 
 
 I say, then, it is a necessity that this Avar be 
 speedily closed. By blockade, it cannot be ; 
 by battle it may be, but Ave risk the result 
 upon the uncertainty Avhether the great Gen- 
 eral of this continent be with them or with us. 
 I come, then, to emancipation. Not first, 
 although I shall not hesitate to say before I 
 close that, as a matter of justice to the slave, 
 there should be emancipation — but not first do 
 I ask my countrymen to proclaim emancipa- 
 tion to the slaves in justice to them, but as a 
 matter of necessity to ourselves ; for unless it 
 be by accident, we are not to come out of this 
 contest as one nation, except by emancipation. 
 And first, emancipation in South Carolina. 
 (Loud cheers.) Not confiscation of the prop- 
 erty of rebels, that is inadequate longer to 
 meet the emergency ; it might have done in 
 March, or April, or May, or possibly in July, 
 but in December, or January of the coming 
 year, confiscation of the property of the rebels 
 is inader|uate to meet the exigency _ in Avhich 
 the country Is placed. You must, if you do 
 any thing, proclaim at the head of the armies 
 of the Republic on the soil of South Carolina — 
 FREEDOM, (prolonged and enthusiastic cheer- 
 ing,) — freedom to all the slaves in South Caro- 
 lina, and then enforce the proclamation as far 
 and fast as you have an opportunity, (reneAved 
 cheering ;) and you avIII have opportunity more 
 speedily then than you avIU if you attempt to in- 
 vade South Carolina Avithout emancipation of 
 the slaves. Unsettle the foundations of society in 
 South Carolina— do you hear the rumbling ? 
 Not Ave — not we are responsible for Avhat hap- 
 pens in South Carolina betAveen the slaves and 
 their masters. Our business is to save the 
 Union (cheers) ; to re-establish the authority 
 of the Union over the rebels in South Carolina ; 
 and if betAveen the masters and their slaves 
 collisions arise, the responsibility is upon 
 those masters Avho, forgetting their allegiance 
 to this Government, lent themselves to this 
 foul conspiracy, and have thus involved them- 
 selves In ruin. (Applause.) As a Avarn- 
 ing, let South Carolina be the first of the 
 States of the Republic in Avhich emancipation 
 to the enslaved is proclaimed (cheers) ; as a 
 warning and a penalty for her perfidy in this 
 
THE EBIANCIPATION LEAGUE. 
 
 business, which began at the moment that her 
 delegates penned their names to tlie Constitu- 
 tion when it was formed. Treachery was in 
 their hearts then, and they have adhered to 
 their disloyalty through evil report and through 
 good report ; but I trust the day is now near 
 when by the reconstruction of South Carolina 
 ■ society, we shall there have a State which in 
 process of time shall be loyal to the Constitu- 
 tion and the Union. 
 
 Next, Florida. Impotent in her treacliery ; 
 with less than 150,000 inhabitants ; with prop- 
 erty, I suppose, not of equal value to that 
 which might be found in a single ward in this 
 city, purchased with the money of the people 
 — she has undertaken to lend herself to this 
 conspiracy. Emancipate the slaves that are 
 there, and invite the refugees fi-om slavery in 
 the South, for the moment, to assemble there, 
 if they desire, without compulsion, and take 
 possession of the soil. (Cheers.) If that is 
 not sufficient, let the penalty upon South 
 Carolina be increased by dividing her soil 
 among those whom she has heretofore held in 
 bondage. (Renewed cheering.) 
 
 And next in this work of emancipation I 
 name Texas ; for, if we read the history 
 of the last twenty-four months aright, these 
 people have gone out of the Union because 
 they see they cannot extend slavery in the 
 Union. It was not because a few abolitionists 
 in the North hated slavery ; it was not because 
 some of us went to Chicago in May, 1860, and 
 nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, 
 and then elected him ; but it was because men 
 of all parties and all persuasions, and all ideas, 
 in the North, had come to the conclusion that 
 slavery should not be extended. It was the 
 doctrine of churches, the doctrine of homes and 
 hearthstones, that slavery should not be extend- 
 ed, and hence the slave States went out of the 
 Union. Which waj' do they expect to extend 
 slavery ? Southward, through and over Texas, 
 into Mexico, and into Central Ameinca, thus 
 cutting us off from the Pacific, separating us from 
 our possessions west of the Rocky ^Mountains, 
 and rendering another division of the Union, 
 by the line of the Rocky Mountains, inevitable. 
 Now, then, let us teach them, by emanci])ation 
 in Texas, that in the Union or out of the Union, 
 slavery is not to be extended. Emancipate 
 the slaves in Texas ; invite men from the 
 ai'my, invite from the North, invite from Ire- 
 land, invite from German)^ the friends of free- 
 dom, of every name and of every nation ; bid 
 them welcome in Texas, where we have 
 175,000,000 acres of unoccupied land — or shall 
 have, when we confiscate it to the Government 
 * of the United States (applause) — and we shall 
 have a bai-rier of freemen, a wall over which, 
 or through which, or beneath which, it will be 
 impossible for slavery to. pass. (Cheers) 
 
 I do not pursue the subject of emancipation 
 further. Tliose three States will be suflicient 
 for warning and penalty, for refuge and for 
 security against the extension of slavery ; but 
 I certaiidy would have it pretty distinctly un- 
 
 derstood, that by the next anniversary of the 
 birth of the Father of his Country, we should 
 emancipate the slaves in all the disloyal and 
 rebellious States, if they do not previously 
 return to their allegiance. (Applause.) 
 
 " What will you do," says one, " if you eman- 
 cipate the slaves ? " My friend, Avhat will 
 you do if you don't ? (Laughter and cheers.) 
 What are we doing now, when Ave have not 
 emancipated the slaves ? I Avant to tell you 
 what Mr. Jefferson thought, more than sixty 
 years ago, and I ask you if that Avhich he feared 
 is not in process of completion to-day ? He 
 says in a letter to St. George Tucker, dated 
 August 28, 1797: 
 
 " Perhaps the first chapter of this history 
 which has begun in St. Domingo, and the next 
 succeeding ones, Avhich avIU recount how all 
 the Avhites were driven from all the other 
 islands, may prepare our minds for a peaceable 
 accommodation betAveen justice, policy and 
 necessity, and furnish an answer to the diffi- 
 cult question, Avhither shall the colored emi- 
 grants go ? And the sooner Ave put some plan 
 under Avaj^, the greater hope there is that it 
 may be permitted to proceed peaceably to its 
 ultimate ol)ject. But if something is not done, 
 and soon done, Ave shall be the mui'derers of 
 our OAvn children." 
 
 Terribly prophetic words ! Terrible in the 
 possibility of their fulfilment ! 
 
 What Avill you do Avith the negroes if you 
 emancipate them? As betAveen Avhat Ave may 
 or can do Avith them and the salvation of this 
 country, we ought not to hesitate a moment. 
 They are but four million ; and though in 
 their Aveakness they plead, here are five and 
 tAventy million of men Avho ask a country ; all 
 the coming generations of this continent rise 
 now and demand sacrifices of us all, that we 
 may secure and preserve a country for them. 
 Mankind everyAvhei'e gaze with anxious eyes 
 upon this contest, lest the last hope of liberty 
 should go out in this our land ; and if — I do 
 not hesitate to say — if the salvation of the 
 country demanded the sacrifice of four million 
 on this continent, black or Avhite, slave or free, 
 North or South, it would be a sacrifice well 
 made for so great a cause. But, my friends, it 
 demands no surdi sacrifice. These four million 
 of people are able to take care of themselves. 
 (Applause.) Have you considered Avhat it 
 requires to take care of one's self? I do not 
 mean, when I say that these four million are 
 able to take care of themselves, that they can 
 build cities, that they can set afloat a vast 
 commerce : I do i^ot say that they can imme- 
 diately become proficients in the arts and 
 sciences — I do not knoAv that they ever can ; 
 but do you not see on the face of things, that 
 the slaves of the South have to-day possession 
 of those industries, are accustomed to the exer- 
 cise of those physical and mental faculties on 
 Avhich society first and primarily depends ? 
 They are able to take care of themselves. 
 
 I should like, my friends, to spend a moment 
 in statiuij some facts in re^ai'd to the British 
 
SPEECH OF GOVERNOR BOUTWELL, 
 
 West Indies, because I believe that the public 
 mind has been, to a great extent, deceived by 
 the representations that have been made, 
 through the agency of slavery, in reference to 
 the results of emancipation in those islands. 
 If you will pardon me a moment, I will read 
 certain statistics, which, in their results, show 
 what has been accomplished by the black 
 population of the West Indies, emancipated by 
 the British Government seven and twenty years 
 ao-o. I venture to anticipate what I have to 
 say, by expressing my belief that, with the 
 exception of Greece, where thirty years since 
 there was hardly a house with a roof on 
 it, there are no people on the face of tlie 
 earth who have made more progress than the 
 emancipated sSlaves In some of the British West 
 Indies. What have they done ? Take, for 
 example, Barbadoes. They have opened 
 schools, and with a population of 140,000 have 
 some 7,000 children in the schools ; and they 
 have over 3,000 landholders. In Antigua, 
 with a population of 35,000, they have more 
 than 10,000 children in ,the day and Sunday 
 schools ; and 5,000 landholders among those 
 who were slaves seven and twenty years ago. 
 In Tobago there are 2,500 landowners, with a 
 population of 15,000. In St. Lucia, with 
 25,000 inhabitants, there arc more than 2,000 
 landowners. And even in Jamaica, which is 
 the exception to the West India Islands, in the 
 matter of prosperity since emancipation, in a 
 population of some 400,000, they have 50,000 
 freeholders. 
 
 So, then, if you test that people who came 
 from slavery and barbarism seven and twenty 
 years ago, by the two tests of primary civiliza- 
 tion, cultivation of the soil and education of 
 the children, they have made great progress. 
 But it is well worth while to remember that 
 Barbadoes Is one of the most populous portions 
 of the globe. Of the 10G,000 acres of land, 
 lOOjOOO'are under cultivation, and the price of 
 the cultivated land is from four to five hundred 
 dollars an acre. 
 
 If we show that in one single instance 
 emancipated slaves have been able to take 
 care of themselves and make progress, thou;gh 
 there may be twenty instances of failure, still, 
 the one instance of success demonstrates their 
 capacity, and their failures are to be attrib- 
 uted to misfortune and the influence of 
 circumstances. 
 
 In the next place, (although I do not intend 
 to go into the financial aspect of the question,) 
 I wUl read the results of the cultivation of sugar, 
 which is the great article of export in those 
 islands ; and I know very well that the com- 
 mercial community Is interested in whatever 
 relates to exports and imports. The depen- 
 dencies of Guiana, Trinidad, Barbadoes and 
 Antigua, previous to emancipation, produced 
 187,000,000 pounds of sugar, and in 1856-7, 
 they produced annually 205,000,000— showing 
 a gain of nearly 78,000,000 a year ; and their 
 imports went up from $8,840,000 to §514,600,000 
 a year. And the present Governor General of 
 
 Jamaica, IVIr. Hincks, whom some of you may 
 remember as the foi-mer Attorney-General of 
 Canada, and who was here In 1851 at the rail- 
 way celebration, as it was called, states from 
 his own knowledge and observation, that on an 
 estate In Barbadoes, ninety blacks perform the 
 work formerly done by two hundred and thirty 
 slaves ; and that the produce of each laborer 
 during slavery was 1,043 pounds of sugar, and 
 the produce since emancipation of each laborer 
 is3,660poundsannually. Healso states thatthe 
 cost per hogshead under slavery was £ 1 sterling 
 while in 1858, it was produced at a cost of £4 
 sterling. So we see that Avhether we test the 
 black population of the British West Indies, by 
 the fact that they have established schools, by 
 the fact that they have become landholders, or 
 by the feet that they export of their main staple 
 more than they did formerly, they still have 
 demonstrated their capacity to take care of 
 themselves. (Applause.) 
 
 But I say further, my friends, that it is not a 
 matter for argument, but within the range of 
 the commonest observation, that the time is 
 approaching when the emancljiation of the 
 slaves in this country must take place. It is 
 inevitable ; and we have now, I think, only a 
 choice of ways. Emancipation may take place 
 by the efforts of the slaves themselves ; It may 
 take place by the Government of the United 
 States ; it may take place by the action of the 
 slaveholders themselves, who led In this rebel- 
 lion. But for us, it is first a matter of justice. 
 I said I would not omit that consideration, and 
 I will not, as a matter of justice to the slaves 
 themselves, who certainly have been subjected 
 to a sulBcIent apprenticeship under slavery, 
 through two centuries, to prepare them for 
 freedom — which these gentlemen have told 
 you is the legitimate and natural result of 
 apprenticeship to slavery — if they are ever to 
 be prepared. I say, then, justice to the slaves 
 demands emancipation. I will not make for 
 myself, though others may for themselves, the 
 nice distinction which you remember Mr. 
 Croswell made when he wrote a letter endors- 
 ing and explaining the speech of Colonel 
 Cochrane. He says, " The difference between 
 the Abolitionists and the Union defenders is 
 this — the Abolitionists are in favor of emanci- 
 pation because it would be a benefit to the 
 slaves. We are .in favor of emancipation 
 because It would be an Injury to or diminish 
 the power of the rebel masters." I do not 
 care about this nice distinction. It reminds 
 me of what Macaulay says of the Puritans. 
 " The Puritans," says Macaulay, " hated bear- 
 baiting, not because It gave pain to the bear, 
 but because it gave pleasure to the spectators." 
 (Laughter.) AVhatever your opinion may be, 
 if you are in favor of emancipation, I do not 
 greatly care whether you favor it as a mat- 
 ter of justice to the slaves, or as a punish- 
 ment to the masters. And we must agree, my 
 friends, to the Declaration of Independence. 
 The fundamental difference on which the 
 North and South have divided for thirty years 
 
10 
 
 THE EMANCIPATION LEAGUE. 
 
 is on that part of the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence which says, " All men are created equal." 
 They have denied it ; we have undertaken to 
 maintain it. We ought to consider, (if you 
 will allow me a moment by way of explana- 
 tion,) that the Declaration of Independence 
 ■was prepared as a political document. It did 
 not relate to those differences among men 
 ■which we see, which we recognize, ■which are 
 natural, which are divine, which are not to be 
 complained of But Jeiferson meant, when he 
 penned that provision, that no person Avas by 
 birth under any political subserviency. to any 
 other person. (Cheers.) That is ■svhat he 
 meant. Not that ■we are of equal height or 
 weight, equal moral influence or intellectual 
 capacities ; but that we were equal in this — that 
 no one is born under any subserviency, politi- 
 cally, to his fellow man. Let us maintain the 
 doctrine now. These slaves are men ; Jeffer- 
 son did not hesitate to call them " brethren." 
 In a letter to M. de IVIunier, explaining the 
 reason why neither Mr. Wythe nor himself 
 had proposed to insert a clause for emancipa- 
 tion into the slave code of Virginia, he says : 
 
 " There were not wanting in that assembly 
 men of virtue enough to propose, and talents 
 to vindicate this clause. But they saw that 
 the moment of doing it with success was not 
 yet arrived, and that an unsuccessful effort, as 
 too often happens, Avould only rivet still closer 
 the chains of bondage, and retard the moment 
 of delivery to this oppressed description of 
 man. But we must await with patience the 
 workings of an overruling Providence, and 
 hope that that is preparing the deliverance of 
 these, our suffering brethren. When the meas- 
 ure of their tears shall be full, when their 
 groans shall have involved heaven itself in 
 darkness, doubtless a God of justice will 
 awaken to their distress, and by diffusing light 
 and liberality among their oppressors, or, at 
 length, by his exterminating thunder, manifest 
 his attention to the things of this Avorld, and 
 that they are not left to the guidance of a 
 blind fatality." 
 
 These slaves are men. The declaration 
 concerning the equality of all men applies to 
 them as to us ; and now that in the progress of 
 events the South have relieved us from respon- 
 sibility in regard to eleven disloyal States, let 
 us stand forth as a nation in our original 
 strength and purity, maintaining the ideas to 
 which our fathers gave utterance, but which, 
 under the circumstances, they were not able 
 always and everywhere to enforce. Let us 
 declare in the presence of these slaveholders 
 and rebels, in the presence of Europe, that -we 
 may have ground on which to stand and defend 
 ourselves in this contest, that we proclaim the 
 equality of all men. (Loud applause.) 
 
 As to the expediency, still further : Have 
 you ever considered — (I see one gentleman, 
 Mr. Atkinson, upon the platform, who has 
 considered the subject of the cotton culture of 
 the South and written a book upon it which is 
 worthy of consideration by every-body) — but 
 
 have you all considered that these men of the 
 South have taken possession, by circumstances 
 and by skill, of the best territory, in soil and 
 climate, upon this continent ? This territory 
 has been given up to slavery, and the men of 
 Massachusetts, of the North, have not the 
 power to go there in the jii'csence of slavery 
 and develop the natural resources of that ex- 
 tensive country. We have taken possession of 
 the fertile lands this side the Rocky Mountains, 
 and it is a necessity of our existence that free- 
 dom should go South. Therefore it is a neces- 
 sity that slavery should disappear. Have you 
 merchants, considered — have you manufactu- 
 rers, considered, that the 700,000 negroes of the 
 South, engaged in the cultivation of cotton, 
 have a monopoly of the best co'tton lands on 
 the surface of the globe, and that their interest 
 is to produce just as little as possible ? What is 
 your interest ? Your interest is to have these 
 lands developed so that they shall produce as 
 much as ^Josslble. From 1845 to 1857, the 
 supply of cotton in all the markets of the world 
 diminished 900,000 bales, and the price ■went 
 up from the producing price of five or six cents 
 to ten, twelve, fourteen and sixteen cents a 
 pound in the markets of the world — the manu- 
 facturers working all the time upon short pro- 
 ducts of the raw material, and paying famine 
 prices. We are told by statisticians that the 
 Avhole population of the globe is ten or eleven 
 hundred millions. The total product of manu- 
 factured cotton goods has never exceeded sev- 
 enty cents for each inhabitant of the globe. 
 Produce cotton by free labor on the productive 
 land of the South, develop it in Egypt, in India, 
 in South America, wherever on the broad zone 
 of 70 degrees cotton can be raised at five or six 
 cents a pound and pay to the producer a good 
 profit, and your manufacturers In New Eng- 
 land, in the free States, in England, In France, 
 will double and treble the amount of goods 
 now produced. 
 
 Is It not a matter of some consequence to 
 manufacturers, to the people, to the laborers 
 every\vhere, that we should take these fertile 
 and productive cotton lands out of the control 
 of these 700,000 slaves, make them free men, 
 stimulate them by -wages, invade those cotton 
 lands, which can be worked by white labor, as 
 one-eighth of the cotton lands of the country 
 are now worked by white labor, and thus in- 
 crease the product of cotton, 25, 50, 75, and, in 
 a few years, 100 per cent., and stimulate the 
 ittflustry and Increase the comforts and conve- 
 niences of all mankind. 
 
 If you look at this matter merely in a com- 
 mercial point of view, ■will you allow slavery to 
 retain the best cotton lands, and allow these 
 lands to remain in possession of slaves ? 
 
 I heard a suggestion just now, from the other 
 part of the hall to the effect — If I understand 
 it correctly — that if we emancipate the slaves 
 a great m;my of them will come this way. 
 Have you ever thought, my friend, that If you 
 do not emancipate the negroes, that In conse- 
 quence of the disturbed condition of affairs, 
 
SPEECH OF GOVERNOR BOUTWELL. 
 
 11 
 
 they will escape and invade tlie free States, 
 and that you will have the negroes here whether 
 you will or not. But if you emancipate the 
 slaves in the South — assuming what Mr. Yan- 
 cey said in Faueuil Hall last year — the negroes 
 of the North will go South, for he said they 
 enjoyed nothing so much as basking in the sun, 
 with the temperature at 110 degrees. If the 
 slaves be emancipated, what with their own 
 natural ability and such aids and appliances as 
 the Government and 20,000,000 of people in 
 the North can furnish, they will get employ- 
 ment, pay, and subsistence. (Ajiplause.) 
 
 Another consideration that ought to be taken 
 into account by the commercial men of the 
 North is, that if we emancipate the slaves, and 
 dedicate this country to freedom, the process 
 of bankruptcy and repudiation, as a general 
 thing, will come to an end, instead of your 
 being called every year, in ordinary times to 
 contribute one, two, or three millions to the 
 support of the South. The time has come, 
 after sixty, seventy or eighty years of experi- 
 ence, when it is a right which we may demand 
 that the people who occupy the best portion of 
 the North American continent shall earn their 
 own living and pay their own debts. (Loud 
 applause.) 
 
 The other consideration, as a matter of 
 necessity, to which I invite your attention, is 
 this: Having been involved as we are by 
 slavery and a conspiracy and rebellion based 
 on slavery, we have a right to take security 
 for the future ; that there shall be no other 
 conspiracy, that there shall be no other rebel- 
 lion, that there shall be no other war reserved 
 for future generations, growing out of this 
 institution. Slavery, in its essential character- 
 istics, is a despotism, and you will search long 
 and be disappointed often when you seek for a 
 slaveholder who Is in heart desirous to support, 
 free, democratic, republican institutions. (Loud 
 applause.) If you would take security for the 
 future peace of the republic, it must be by 
 dedicating this territory to freedom. Nothing 
 else will give the country security for the 
 future, or fi'eedom to the States that are now 
 engaged in the rebellion. 
 
 Emancipation Is inevitable, first, possibly, by 
 the act of the slaves themselves. I ask whether 
 you — I do not ask whether the people of 
 Charleston, South Carolina, with their city in 
 flames, with the power of the slave population 
 in some way or other felt, in this their great 
 calamity, I do not ask whether they prefer the 
 emancipation that took place in Jamaica, or that 
 which took place in St. Domingo, but I ask you 
 if now, after the sacrifices you have made in the 
 service of slavery, the expenses in which you are 
 involved, the just and righteous hatred you 
 have for these leaders In the rebellion — I ask 
 you if, after all this experience, you ought not 
 to choose an emancipation such as took place 
 in Jamaica, rather than reserve this question 
 of slavery until emancipation takes place as it 
 did in St. Domingo. You cannot hesitate, 
 whether you look to your own interest, to your 
 
 own comfort, or whether you regard the inter- 
 est, the comfort, the welfare, and the safety of 
 the slaveholders themselves. And bear one 
 thing in mind — that in Jamaica thirty insurrec- 
 tions occurred in the century preceding eman- 
 cipation , the last of which involved the destruc- 
 tion of S8,000,000 of propert}', and was only 
 put down at an expense of $000,000. Since 
 emancipation, there has not been an insurrec- 
 tion of the blacks in that island ; and it is a 
 contradiction of all human experience to as- 
 sume that when these peoj^le are emancipated 
 they will turn round and cut the throats of their 
 masters ; and if the United States shall lead in 
 the emancipation, even at the head of the 
 army, the emancipated population, can be so 
 controlled that they shall not commit those 
 excesses which have characterized conflicts 
 between the oppressor and the oppressed in 
 other countries and other ages. 
 
 But I made a suggestion, which I propose to 
 consider for a moment, and that is that If we 
 do not emancipate the slaves, or if they do not 
 speedily take the matter into their own hands, 
 the probability is that they arc to be emanci- 
 pated by the rebels themselves. You think, 
 possibly, that It is absurd to suggest that when 
 they have involved the country in war, when 
 they have staked every thing on the institution 
 of slavery, they should, under any circumstan- 
 ces, be tempted or induced to destroy it. But 
 have you considered that there are ten thou- 
 sand men in the South, in civil positions and in 
 the army, who If this rebellion be put down and 
 the government of the Union re-established 
 over the revolted States, have only the choice 
 between hanging and exile. Do you believe, 
 when you remember the sacrifices they have 
 already made, Avhen you consider that on the 
 coast of Carolina they apply the torch to their 
 own property, that in the extreme exigency to 
 which they may be reduced, if we shall be suc- 
 cessful in the prosecution of the war, they will 
 not emancipate their slaves and claim the 
 recognition of France and England, and the 
 alliance of foreign govemiments, which aUIance 
 we see will be but too readily accorded. 
 
 My friends, I have not been startled by 
 the intelligence from England to-day, because 
 I had seen that we were drifting steadily 
 and certainly to a foreign war ; and nothing, 
 I believe, can avert that calamity within 
 a few months, except emancipation of the 
 negroes in the South, so that we can say 
 to the people of England — to the people of 
 France — if you make war against us, you make 
 Avar in the interest of slavery. (Loud cheers.) 
 I do believe, although I was educated in that 
 school which had but little folth in English 
 politics, or in the political principles of English- 
 men, that if we write emancipation on our 
 banner there is yet remaining In the heart of 
 the English nation virtue enough to say to their 
 ruling classes, whatever their desire may be, and 
 to the manufiicturers, whatever their exigencies 
 may be, You shall not interfere to re-establish 
 slavery where it has been struck down. (Ap- 
 
12 
 
 THE EMANCIPATION LEAGUE. 
 
 plause.) I believe also tliat the Frencli nation, 
 wliicli in 1 778 was in alliance ■with us, Avhieli re- 
 garded the extremity of Greece, which fought 
 for an idea in Italy and restored the unity of that 
 ancient seat of power and of majesty in the 
 affairs of the world, I do believe that the mil- 
 lions of France would say to the Emperor, if 
 he were otherwise disposed : This is a war in 
 which we can take no part. By emancipation 
 >ve shall be left to ourselves ; but if we do not 
 speedily strike a blow somewhere — in South 
 Carolina, or Florida, or Texas — as indicative 
 of our purpose, I see not any way to avert a 
 foreign war, adding untold calamities to the 
 diffic'iilties and horrors in which we are at this 
 moment involved. 
 
 JDo you think that England is without induce- 
 in* ts. History teaches something. She has 
 her traditions of the Revolution, and of the 
 war of 1812; her governing classes are in 
 sympathy with the governing classes of the 
 South; her manufacturers desire the raw 
 material ; her merchants now urge the govern- 
 ment on, and guide it, too, in a policy which 
 looks either to the restoration of the Union, or 
 to separation ; and whatever may be the 
 result, with equal sagacity. They see very 
 plainly that here is a breach between the 
 North and South that cannot be repaired in 
 one generation ; they know that when the war 
 closes, they will have the sympathy of the 
 South, if they show sympathy to the South 
 now. They expect a monopoly of the trade 
 of the South, and if the slaveholders bear 
 sway when peace comes, whether it come by 
 union or disunion, that monopoly will be se- 
 cured. It is only by a reconstruction, to some 
 extent, of Southern society, that the people 
 of the North can participate hereafter in tlie 
 trade of the South. 
 
 Then there is a feeling, not only in England, 
 but throughout Europe, that we are advancing 
 too rapidly. Conscious as we have been, 
 boasting as we have been, it is possible that 
 after all we have not estimated the prosperity 
 and greatness of the repul>lic as it has been 
 estimated abroad. Extending from the Great 
 Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio 
 Grande — from the Atlantic to the Pacific — 
 covering the continent, threatening Mexico 
 and Central America with the process of 
 annexation, — they could not have looked 
 otherwise than with anxiety and apprehension, 
 upon a nation of freemen which promised in 
 the course of the present century, to contain 
 a population of 100,000,000. 
 
 Therefore, I say, in reference to the future, 
 that we are in the greatest peril, unless we 
 place the nation, and that speedily, in a position 
 where we can defend ourselves as the sup- 
 poi'ters of freedom, and appeal to the yeomanry 
 of England, the peasantry of France, and ask 
 them to keep the peace, while we restore to 
 its fair proportions a government such as the 
 world has never before seen, and then we 
 may start our country in a career of prosperity 
 which shall know no limits in this generation, 
 if we escape from the perils in which we are 
 involved by slavery. (Loud applause.) 
 
 Our interest and our duty require us to 
 avert the calamity of foreign war, by any 
 sacrifice, save that of justice and honor. 
 
 One word, my friends, and I leave this 
 subject. In the exigency in which we are 
 placed, we must support the Government 
 itself. We may maintain our opinions, believ- 
 ing that in due time those opinions will possess 
 influence ; but the Government, that must — 
 for it is the only means by which the rebellion 
 is to be put down — from day to day, with the 
 highest wisdom, and on principles of established 
 justice, execute all the principles and pro- 
 visions of the Constitution. 
 
 This contest is between Slavery on the one 
 side and the Government on the other. Both 
 cannot stand. Either Slavery will go down 
 and the Government remain, or the Govern- 
 ment will be destroyed, and Slavery triumph 
 over us all. For slavery it is that we have 
 made our sacrifices ; for slavery it is that we 
 are involved in these troubles ; for slavery it 
 is that we incur these expenditures ; for slavery 
 it is that manufactures are paralyzed ; for 
 slavery it is that commerce is interrupted ; for 
 slavery it is that our foreign relations are dis- 
 turbed ; for slavery it is that foreign war 
 threatens our borders ; for slavery it is that 
 free institutions are perilled throughout the 
 world, and among all the coming generations 
 of men. Are there still further sacrifices 
 demanded for the institution of slaverj^? 
 Remember the dead that have fallen _ in 
 defence of the country ; remember the living 
 who are perilled on the battle-field and in the 
 camp ; remember your friends who have gone 
 out to fight the battle of the Republic, and say 
 whether you can lie upon your pillows, and 
 feel that you have done your duty to them, 
 to your country and to your God, unless you 
 exert such influences as you can command to 
 bring to a speedy termination the cause of all 
 our trials. (Loud and prolonged applause.) 
 
 The foregoing Address by Governor Boutwell and also Mr. Sumner's Oration " The Rebellion :— its Origin 
 and Main-Spring," for sale by the Emancipation League, for one dollar a hundred. Orders with the money, 
 by mail or otherwise, addressed to JAMES M. STONE, No. 22 Bromfield Street, will be attended to. 
 
 Wkight & PoTTEB, Printers, 4 Spring Lane, Boston. 
 
HAVE THE 
 
 !| 
 
 RECONSTRUCTION ACTS 
 
 BEEN FULLY 
 
 EXECUTED IN GEORGIA. 
 
 .Pc^l j ^<cj< 
 
 Chronicle Print, Washington, D. C. 
 
F?y 
 
 •■■Ti ^. 
 
 B93 
 
HAVE THE RECONSTRUCTION ACTS REEN EULLY 
 EXECUTED IN GEORGIA? 
 
 THE SPEECH OF GOV. liULLOCK, OF GEORGIA, 
 Delivered at Albion, N. Y., Octorer 17, 1868, to which reference 
 
 IS MADE IN the PiEPORT OF Ma.I. GeN. GeORGE G. MeADE, 
 UNDER DATE OCTOHER 31, 1868. 
 
 Fellow-Citixens — It is accidentally my good fortune to be with 
 you again at a public gathering, assembled according to previous 
 arrangement, for the purpose of forwarding the just principles of 
 the great Ptepublican party. On the last occasion you were con- 
 gratulated upon the wise selection of standard-bearers that had 
 been made by the Chicago Convention, and at that time it was 
 well understood that the real intent of the opposition was the re- 
 assertion of the mistaken principles which they had been cora- 
 ])elled to abandon by the results of war. Their action at New 
 York left no room for a doubt in the minds of those who had ever 
 sincerely rejoiced at the news of a Union victory in battle, that a 
 Democratic success at the polls would be a vindication of the 
 rebellion and a condemnation of the Union. While there are 
 thousands of good, honest, loyal, and true men. Democrats, here 
 at the North, who do not realize the full effect of a vote, now cast 
 with, and for, their old party leaders, there is at the South no 
 such misunderstanding. There the partydines are sharply drawn 
 /brand acja/inst the Government, and the ranks are made up of men 
 ■from all the old parties. Whigs, Democrats, Know-Nothings, 
 "Original Union men" and "Original Secessionists" unite now in 
 the Republican or Democratic party, as they may be for or against 
 the restoration of the Union under the laws of the land ; one 
 party being in favor of peace upon the terms granted by the con- 
 ([ueror — the other for war, unless peace can be had on the terras 
 demanded by the conquered. And you will therefore readily 
 understand that a Democratic success at the polls Avill very prop- 
 erly be construed bv the malcout(!nts at the South and the Copper- 
 heads at the North as an endorsement by the American people 
 that the "lost cause" has been regained, and that the war ivas a 
 failure. 
 
It is fortunate that time has elapsed, before the eleetioii, in which 
 the violence proclaimed in tlie New York platform has had oppor- 
 tunity to produce its legitimate fruits, in deeds of death, which 
 the wooing words of the discomfitted Democracy cannot now over- 
 come — events that have startled the loyal heart to a full realiza- 
 tion of the purposes of tlie new conspirators, and overwhelmed 
 them in present and prospective defeat. Having before explained 
 that "Democrat," at the South, signifies disunion, and now 
 stating to you tliat the Legislature of Georgia is Democrotic, you 
 will very naturally conclude that the laws passed b}^ Congress for 
 the restoration of the Southern States must have been defective, 
 or this anomalous fact would not have occurred. A few words of 
 explanation will sliow you that the fault is with the Executive, 
 and not witii the law-makers — that if the acts of Congress had 
 been correctly construed and properly executed, the results w^ould 
 have i'uUy sustained the wisdom of those who framed the law. 
 As the Reconstruction Acts of Congress are as objectionable to tlie 
 Democracy as was the draft, or any other means adopted by Con- 
 gress for overcoming the rebellion, and are therefore taking pro- 
 minent place in public discussion, the results derived from those 
 acts in Georgia become more noticeable, and worthy of considera- 
 tion outside of that State, and I will therefore refer to them. 
 First, then, the intent and purpose of Congress in passing the 
 Reconstruction Acts was to establish civil State Governments — Re- 
 })ublican in form and in fact — approved by a majority of the 
 persons resident therein, who were not disfranchised for participa- 
 tion in the rebellion. This was accomplished in the usual way — 
 by a vote, and, subsequently, the election of delegates to frame a 
 constitution ; tht?ti an election for the ratification or rejection of 
 the constitution so framed. In Georgia an election was held for 
 State officers and a General Assembly at the same time of voting 
 for or against the constitution. As the Democrats voted against 
 the constitution, and hoped to defeat it, and thereby refuse the 
 second offer of terms by' the conqueror, candidates were placed in 
 nomination by them, simply for the purpose of aiding, by their 
 personal popularity and their war record, in bringing out the vote 
 to defeat the constitution, and not with regard to their eligibility 
 under the law, or with any expectation of their taking office ; for, 
 the constitution being defeated at the polls, we wm^uUI remain 
 under military government. The result, however, Avas the i-ati- 
 tication of the constitution by a majority of the whole vote, while 
 in many counties that gave majorities against the constitution 
 ineligible Democrats secured the highest number of votes, and 
 were, therefore, elected to county offices, and to the General 
 Assembly. By the terms of the Reconstruction Acts, all civil 
 government was " provisional " until the newly-established State 
 constitution was accepted by Congress, and, l>y the same act, as 
 
iuueiulcd 111 July, ISIU, all per.suiis elected or appointed to office 
 in any of the Southern States were required to take the oath pro- 
 vided hy law for officers of the United States, commonly known 
 as the test oath. The closing section of the Reconstruction Act 
 requires that the law shall be construed liberally, to the end that 
 {ill the intents thereof may ha freely and perfectly carried out. The 
 case, as presented in Georgia, was that of a number of persons 
 elected to office in a government which was " provisional," until 
 approved by Congress; and, according to the law, such persons 
 should have taken the oath prescribed for officers of the United 
 States. The law in this respect was not executed, and the men 
 who had been the most popular in an effort to defeat the new 
 government were allowed to take seats as legislators in its forma- 
 tion, and were thus given an opportunity to succeed by legislation 
 in what they had failed to accomplish at the polls. This, too, in 
 violation not only of the "letter" but of the "intents" and 
 " purposes " of the law. 
 
 The act by which the State was to be admitted to representa- 
 tion in Congress after she had adopted the XlVth Amendment to 
 the Constitution of the United States required that persons to 
 hold office in the State should be eligible under the terms of that 
 amendment. This law was not executed. The body of legislators 
 heretofore referred to were permitted to decide for themselves that 
 they were all eligible, and their decision was accepted by the 
 commanding officer. Under our State constitution, representation 
 is based upon counties and districts, and not upon population ; 
 hence, while the popular vote was in favor of the Reconstruction 
 Acts, the seating of ineligible members gives an opposite political 
 complexion to the Legislature. Having thus explained that the 
 condition of Georgia is not the fault of the legislation of Con- 
 gress, but arises from failure to execute either the letter, the in- 
 fent, or the purposes of the acts passed for her restoration, I may 
 be excused for suggesting the course which seems to me proper to be 
 pursued to insure the establishment of a State government as pro- 
 vided for in our constitution, and as required by Congress. Con- 
 gress should take steps to ascertain whether the Reconstruction 
 Acts have been properly executed. Finding that thelaws have 
 not been executed, the proper authority should be advised of the 
 true intent and meaning of the acts, and directed to properly exe- 
 cute them. This would result in preventing persons who could 
 could not take the oath required of officers of the United States 
 from participating in the provisional legislation, and thus effect- 
 ually prohibit men whose policy of opposition to the Federal Gov- 
 ernment had been defeated on the battle-field and at the ballot- 
 boxes from carrying through a third and nearly successful at- 
 tempt—so far as Georgia is concerned— in her legislative halls. 
 The law being complied with in this particular, our legislation 
 
4 
 
 would be ill sate bauds, aud no uiorc would bo lioard of forcible 
 interference witb ])ersons "wlio bad tbc impudence to l)e llepub- 
 licans in Greorgia/' or of attempts to violate tbe civil and politi- 
 cal rigbts of tbose wbo bave now only tbe General Government 
 to look to for protection. Witb tbe facts, as tbey will appear 
 wben Congress sball bave investigated tbe situation in Georgia, 
 fully sustained by tbe revolutionary action of tbe Legislature, we 
 feel confident tbat Congress will not only maintain tbe laws wbicb 
 have been solemnly adopted, but cause tliem to be faitbfuUy exe- 
 cuted, notwitbstanding tbe objections of tbe President, constitu- 
 tionally communicated, and unconstitutionally enforced, and Avill 
 fully justify tbe abiding faitb wbicb tlie Soutbern Republicans 
 reposed in tbat patriotic body. From tbe magnificent display 
 wbicb bas been witnessed bere to-day, tbe tone and temper of tbe 
 people wbom I have met in passing tbrougb Indiana and Obio, 
 and tbe reports from Pennsylvania, I feel fully assured tbat Con- 
 gress will be sustained by tbe people in any policy tbat insures tbe 
 integrity of tbe Union, and one of tbe most essential points of 
 such a policy is tbe placing tlie Soutbern governments in tbe 
 bands of tbe friends of tbe nation and tbe supporters of its laws. 
 Am I correct? Elect your State ticket, and place Grant in tbe 
 Wbite House, and we will be safe. Georgia will be as free, as 
 .peaceful, and, in due proportion, as prosperous, as New York. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THK 
 
 REPORT OF MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE, 
 
 DATED OCTOI5RR 31, 1S6S. 
 
 " There is one point in regard to the admission of the State of Georgia to 
 ■which I feel called upon to make special allusion. When the Legislature was 
 convened by the Provisional Governor and Governor elect, the question arose 
 whether, as military commander, I was called to inquire into the ebgibility of 
 the members, either under the United States laws or the Constitution of 
 Georgia. The Convention of Georgia has in its ordinance calling an election 
 directed that all returns should be sent to the Military Commander of the Dis- 
 trict, who was requested to issue the necessary certificates of election. In 
 carrying out this request of the Convention, I deemed my duty simply required 
 that I should give the member having the greatest number of votes the ordi- 
 nary certificate of election, and that it would be for each House to decide on 
 the eligibility of those members whose seats were on any grounds contested ; 
 while I admitted, as District Commander executing the law, I was to see that 
 no one ineligible to office under the IJth Article of the constitutional Amend- 
 ment should be allowed to take office. I did not see that in the case of a 
 parliamentary body that I was called on to decide on the qualifications of the 
 members. In this view I was sustained by a telegram sent to me for my 
 information by the War Department, which had been sent to the Governor of 
 
Louisiiiua and the Military Coumiaudcr of the Fifth District, and wliieh 
 I quote : 
 
 " ' Wasiiinotox, Jmie oO, 18G8. 
 " ' To GovEUNOii Warmoutii, New Orleans : 
 
 ' ' ' We think that persons disqualified under the Fourteenth article of the 
 Amendment to the Constitution to the United States are not eligible to your 
 Legislature. This is to be determined by the respective Houses, and no oath 
 can be imposed except the oath prescribed by the State Constitution. 
 
 " ' James Wilson, 
 
 " ^Chairman of the. Judiciary Committee. 
 
 " ' George F. Boutwell, "^ 
 
 " ' J. F. Farnwortii, > Reconstruct io?i Committee.' 
 
 [y "«H. E. Pa|ne, 3 
 
 " It will be seen by the above telegram that the distinguished gentlemen, 
 .whose names were attached, were of the opinion that no one ineligible to office 
 under the fourteenth article could take a seat in the Legislature ; second, that 
 the respective Houses were to judge of the question ; third, that no oath test- 
 ing this eligibility could or should be prescribed in advance of the meeting of 
 the Legislature. Tliese views, being in accordance with my own, I acted ou 
 them, and was present at the organization of the two Houses of the Georgia 
 Legislature, to the members declared in my order as having the highest num- 
 ber of votes there being administered only the oath prescribed by the State 
 constitution. After these Houses were organized, the Provisional Governor 
 informing me officially of their organization, but that as far as he could learn 
 no steps had been taken to test the question of the eligibility of members 
 under the fourteenth article, I replied to the Governor, that until the State 
 was admitted to representation, the Legislature and all the officers were only 
 provisional, and subject to the paramount authority of the District Commander, 
 and that in the exercise of this power I should consider all acts of the Legis- 
 lature null and void, until satisfactory evidence was presented to me that each 
 House had purged itself of ineligible members, under the fourteenth article, 
 provided there were any such in either House, and I desired the Provisional 
 Governor to communicate these views to each House. On the receipt of this 
 letter, each House at once ordered an investigation, and inquired into the 
 qualifications of each member, and duly reported, this fact through the Provis- 
 ional Governor, stating at the same time that neither House had found any 
 member ineligible. The Provisional Governor, on transmitting these com- 
 munications, expressed the opinion, founded on evidence presented to him, 
 that several members in both Houses were ineligible, and called on me to 
 exercise my power and require said members to vacate their seats. On reflect- 
 ing upon this subject, I could not see how I was to take the individual judg- 
 ment of the Provisional Governor in the face of a solemn act of a parliamentary 
 body, especially as, from the testimony presented, I did not in several cases 
 agree with the judgment of the Provisional Governor. The question was 
 simply whether, in the construction of a law and in considering the facts of 
 individual cases, I should make myself the judge, or take the opinion of the 
 Provisional CTOvernor in the face of the official information that a parliament- 
 ary body had gravely and formally, through a committee, examined, reported, 
 and acted on these cases. My judgment was decidedly that I had fulfilled 
 my duty in compelling the Houses to take the action they had, and that having 
 thus acted I had neither authority, nor was it politic or expedient, to overrule 
 
G 
 
 their actiou ;iud set up my iudividual judgnieut in uppo.-iitioii. liy an inspec- 
 tion of tbe telegrams sent July 18, and the reply of the Gcueral-iu-Chief, 
 July '2o, it will be seen that my views and action were approved. I allude 
 thus 'hi ea;toiso to this subject because his Excellency, the Governor of Georgia, 
 in a public speech recently delivered at Albion, N. Y., is pleased to attribute 
 the failure of Georgia to be properly reconstructed to my action in failing to 
 purge the Legislature of his political opponents, he having advised me, when 
 he urged such action, that his friends had been relieved of their disability l^y 
 Congress." 
 
 The followiug is the 
 
 OFFICIAL OPINION OF MAJOR GENERAL GEO. G. MEADE, 
 
 Griven April 15, 1868, in which it is announced tliat the Provis-- 
 ional LegisLatiue should be organized under tlie Eeconstruction 
 Acts, and that at the time of such organization and until the 
 State should be admitted to representation the members of that 
 body must be eligible to office under those acts: 
 
 [From ike Atlanta Neio Era, April 29, ISGT.] 
 
 ELIGIBILITY FOR OFFICE. 
 
 " As the question of eligibility under the new Provisional Government is 
 now one of great interest, we have been at some pains to place before our 
 readers an official opinion upon this point. 
 
 "A person who had never held an office before the war, but who volun- 
 tarily aided and and abetted the rebellion by holding a civil office at one time 
 during the war, sought the opinion of the Commanding General as to whether 
 he would now be eligible if elected. 
 
 '• We give below the official opinion, by which it will be seen that the test 
 oath will be required. 
 
 " Congress will, however, no doubt pass an enabling act, relieving persons 
 who, in good faith, desire a restoration of the Union, (and who have proved- 
 their faith by their works,) from the operation of the Uth section, and of other 
 disabilities, which would otherwise prevent them from aiding in restoration. 
 
 "IlE-iDCiu's Third Military District, 
 
 " Dept?. Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, 
 
 Atlanta, Ga., April 15, 18G8. 
 " The sixth section of the first Reconstruction Act of Congress declares 
 ' That until the people of said rebel States shall be, by law, admitted to repre- 
 sentation in the Congress of the United States, any civil government v/hich 
 may exist therein, shall be deemed provisional only,' &c. 
 
 " Lender the provisions of the fifth section of the same act, ' the people of 
 said State cannot be admitted to representation in Congress until they shall 
 have ratified the constitution, submitted to them under the Reconstruction 
 Acts, and Congress shall have approved the same ; and until said State shall 
 have adopted the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, pro- 
 posed by Congress, known as 'Article 14,' and said Article shall have become 
 a part of the Constitution of the United States.' These and other provisions 
 
(»f the Reconstruction Acts clearly show that whatever government may exist 
 in Georgia, before the fulfillment of the above conditions^ must ' be deemed 
 provisional only.' The ninth section of the Supplementary Reconstruction 
 Act, passed July 15th, 1867, ' requires all officers elected or appointed under 
 the provisional government of a State to take and subscribe the oath of office 
 prescribed by law for officers of the United States.' This makes a condition 
 of eligibility to office under a provisional government very materially diiferent 
 from either eligibility to registration as a voter, or eligibility to office under 
 the provisions of the proposed Constitutional amendment. 
 
 "Before entering upon his duties, a provisional officer is required, among 
 other things, to swear that he has neither sought, nor accepted, nor attempted 
 to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority, or pre- 
 tended authority, in hostility to the United States. 
 
 " Mr. held office under the authority of the State of Georgia while 
 
 that State was in hostility to the United States. lie is consequently ineligible 
 to office under the provisional government. It is not deemed necessary here 
 to discuss the effect this view of the law may have as to other officers. But 
 legislation has to be taken while the State is yet under provisional govern- 
 ment; and the members of the Legislature must be qualified to hold office 
 under that provisional government. 
 
 "roFFiciAL.l R. C. DRUM, A. A. 6'." 
 
 Sections U and 11 of the Supplemental Reconstruction Acts of 
 Congress, passed July 19, 1867: 
 
 " Sec. 9. And he it further enacted, That all members of said boards of 
 registration, and all persons hereafter elected and appointed to office in said 
 military districts, under any so-called State or municipal authority, or by 
 detail or appointment of the district commanders, shall be required to take and 
 to subscribe the oath of office prescribed by law for officers of the United 
 States." 
 
 >;; ;!< 5"; * ^- * <<■ t- H: 
 
 ' ' Sec. 11 . And he it further enacted, That all the provisions of this act, and 
 of the acts to which this is supplementary, shall be construed liberally, to the 
 end that all the intents thereof may be fully and perfectly carried out." 
 
 j;oT^;s. — [It is very iipjiarcnt that when Messrs. Wilson, Buutwell, Farnswortli, and 
 Payne gave tlieir opinion as set forth in the dispatch to Gov. Warmouth, they were under 
 l!ie impression that all the conditions imposed by law precedent to the admission of the 
 Slate had been enforced in organizing the Provisional Legislature : and this being true, 
 such legislative body would be the proper judge of the eligibility of members under the 
 Constitutions of the State and United States, after the State had passed beyond the 
 control of the rv,econstruction Acts. Until this period in political history had arrived, the 
 State constitutions were not, and could not be, of force. 
 
 The "political opponents" of Governor Bullock, referred to by General Meade, are 
 doubtless the same parties who, as wM7«/'/ri/ ''opponents," General Meade so successfully 
 •' ])urgcd '■ at Gettysburg:, and it is to be regretted that they were permitted to obtain, 
 undei^a misapprehension of law, what they failed to accomplish by flagrant rebellion. 
 The political "friends" of the Governor who had been "relieved" by Congress were 
 men who had proved by their works that they would supjiort the laws, au(l were there- 
 fore entitled to the clemency of Congress.] 
 
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