E 453 .D76 Copy 1 iTu The I*roclajm.atioii of" Emancipation. SPEECH OP CHARLES D. DRAKE, M DELIVERED IN ^ Turners' Hall, St. Louis, January 28, 1863. Fbllow-Citizjens : Never has it been my duty to address a popular assemblage, under circum- stances more solemn and momentous than those in which the American people are now placed. Were I to give way to expressions of mere per- sonal feelings, it would be difficult to define the mingled emotions with which I have accepted the invitation to appear before you on this occasion. But I have endeavored to put aside all feeling, save that which yearns toward my beloved and suffering country, and every purpose but that which binds me, in life or in death, to her wel- fare and honor. 1 am no politician ; I belong to no party ; I have nothing to ask for myself at ♦he hands of the people, but to be recognized as one ready to do anything in that holy cause, and to be anything that is farthest removed from a traitor, Lapplause] whether such as skulk from our soil, southward, to help slay their patriot brothers, or such as hang back under the folds of the old Flag, that they may, while enjoying its protection, more surely aid in betraying and dishonoring it. Between such and me, I thank God ! there is not, nor ever can be, any more concord than between fire and water ; but dis- cord, antagonism, and strife, now and evermore, until the venom of treasen shall cease to poison their hearts, and to fire their brain with parrici- dal madness. [Applause.] Indulge me, however, in a single remark as to my past position with reference to the subject which rises in this hour above every other — the institution of Slavery. I desire to preface the words which 1 deem it my duty to utter here, with the reiterated declaration, that I am not. nor ever have been, a fanatic against Slavery as a domestic institution, nor have I ever been con- nected for an hour with any party or association, which struck at Slavery in that character. I have always, however, believed Slavery a sore evil and a vast misfortune to our country, Lap- plause] and was ready to hail its removal by pro- per means, as one of the greatest blessings which a kind Providence could vouchsafe us. [Great ap- plause.] When, therefore, I speak as I shall to-night of Slavery, let no man say that I give utterance to any other than the opinions and convictions, which the horrid scenes of the last two years have fairly burned into my mind and heart, against the preconceptions of nearly thirty years. When I strike at Slavery, it is because Slavery strikes at my country ; and for that I would STRIKE IT DOWN ! [Immense and prolonged applause.] During those two years, we have witnessed the bloody climax of a conspiracy, begun in the preceding generation, to enthrone Slavery as a political power in this land, and to extend its sway over adjacent countries, in the wild hope that, in the grasp and under the lead of the indomitable Anglo-Saxon race, it might become — what it had failed to be- come in any other hands — a J'i'wer in the earth. It is too late in the day for the arch-traitor, Jefferson Davis, to delude the world with such lying words as those quoted in one of the resolutions reported by your commit- tee, affirming that he and his armies " are not engaged in a confiict Jor conqued, or for aggran- dizement." Does he comprehend the imiwrt J J -'Xj 7 (o of language ? Does he know what con- quest means? Does he suppose that the world has turned idiot, not to see that the South is aiining to strip by conquest from the United States a large part of its territory, three thous- and miles of its sea-coast, and the mouth ot that great Mississippi, whose waters roll iu ceaseless and stately flow past this city of our habitation? Is there no vision of aggrandizement in that em- pire of the " G'lldtti Circle," which, sweeping from the capes of Virginia down to Cape Sable, and careering around the shores of the ^Tulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, was to plant its farthest standard in some yet unthought-of point in South American wilds ? And does he believe humanity in its dotage, that it cannot see that that standard is to be borne onward in its blood- stained march of piracy and subjugation, by Slavery and for Slavery ? No, my friends, he believes no such miserable folly. He knew, long years ago, and he knows now, better than any but his co-conspirators could know, that a vast EiiriRE of Slavekt was the promise of his and their treachery to the noble Repl'bltc of Freedom, which gave them birth, and nurtured them into men of mark, only, as time has prov- ed, that they might be more powerful and dange- rous than common men in their accursed trea- son. [Applause.] It suits their purpose to deny now what two years ago they defiantly pro- claimed ; bat men do not forget, nor can the world he mocked. The Ethiopian does not change his skin, nor the leopard his spots; nor have Southern traitors abandoned the infinitely atrocious purpose to destroy this blood-bought Union, for "the spread of Slavery." [Great applause.] Your committee have, therefaro, rightly judged, that in the very fore-front of the declarations of this meeting should be proclaimed anew the great and solemn truth, that it is SorruEKN Slavery, embodied in and acting throuch its lawless and conscienceless aristocracy, that has drenched this land in blood. [Great applause.] Why should not that truth be declared, not only here and now, but everywhere and ail the time? Of what avail is it to us, to our country, or to the cause of humanity, to bury it out of sight, and parade before our eyes some specious pretext for this rebellion, whioh we know to be false? Shall we fear to own the truth, because some muzzled traitor amongst us scowls in impotent wrath, or because his vote may some day be deniepl:iu?e.] I am not unaware that there are true Unionists who do not approve the action of the President. To such I would say, whatever your pastjudg- Nay, is it not weakened by their presence? Do you say, " What is the use of the Proclama- tion, when we hare not possession of the regions I in which it is to operate, and it is therefore pow- I erless ?" I answer, that the sameicourse of rea- soning would enervate every blow; for Omnis- I cience only can foresee whether any blow will be I effectual or not. It is not for those aiming it to decide in advance that it will fail. So to decide I is to insure failure. ' Do you shrink aghast from the picture which rushes upon your vision, of the maddening hor- rors of a servile insurrection? So do 1, and so 1 does every man with the least spark of human- I ity in his nature: but if such an insurrection follows the promulgation of a measure that is demanded to save the life of the nation, let the ' dread responsibility rest where, before God and men, it rightfully belongs — upon those whose treason creates the terrible necessity. [Ap- ' plause] I Are you troubled to know what shall be done with the millions of Southern negroes after they I become free? I answer, that is not the present question ; but Wliat shall he done with this rebel- lion? [Immense applause.] Soldiers ask not in battle, " What shall we do with the prisoners and the spoils when the fight is over?" but, "How shall we whip the enemy?" [Thunders of applause.] To debate what shall become of the negro, is to put that problem in the scale against your country's life, whether you intend it or not. [Cries of " Never. "] Leave the future to the future : the present is our care. The instant demand of this hour is, by every available means, to overwhelm, scatter, rout, and destroy traitors. [Cries of " That's it," "That's it."] Self-preservation demands that Slavery, their idol, and the right arm of their power, be wrested from them ; for their feet are on a war-path, to which we can see no end, while Slavery bears them onward. The des- tiny of the enfranchised negroes none but God can appoint : leave it, then, to His all-ruling Providence. But there are those who see in this measure only a deeper embitterment of the South, and an increased hopelessness of restoring the Union. Is that true? What hope has there ever been since Sumter fell, that the Union would be pre- served, otherwise than by the resistless agency of powder, ball, and bayonet ? Is there a human being who still hugs the delusion, that peace is to smile upon this country again as a united country, except by the subjugation of this damnable rebellion ? [Great applause.] If there is, let him drop that folly from his embrace, and open his eyes to the utter hopelessness of every attempt to conciliate that aristocracy, which, with a deliberate purpose, formed in some Southei'n minds fifty years ago, and con- trolling Southern action with steady sway through the past thirty years, resolved that this Union should be relentlessly destroyed, and sup- planted in that fair Southern clime by " a Con- FEDKRACY OF SLAVEHOLDlNa STATES," tO be, aS they fondly hoped, '' the most important among the ruitii 'Hit if ihf. world." Half a century's trea- son, plotted and pursued through every form of duplicity, falsehood, and treachery, and blazing out at last in robbery, fire, and blood, is not to be conciliated, but with the full fruition of its desperate schemes. This Proclamation, then, makes no more hopeless what was hopeless from the moment of the rebellion's outbreak. [Im- mense applause.] But, my friends, whatever the portents of this hour, in connection with this Proclamation, or with aught else under the sky, the true, ear- nest patriot ha-» but one line of duty, and that is, by every act, by every word, by every thought, by every purpose, by every power granted him, to hold up the hands of the President in this war against the enemies of our country and the destroyers of our free institutions. [Great applause.] As there is nothing in human history bo horribly atrocious as this rebellion, so the imagination of man can conceive of nothing which would so shroud the world in gloom, as the blotting out of this Sun of Freedom from the firmament of na- tions. Wreck this Republic, and you wreck every hope of freedom in every human breast. [Applause.] For nearly three hundred years the hand of the Great Creator has shaped the destiny of America, as the home of Liberty and the refuge of the oppressed. From every coun- try and every clime, from the heavy tread of oligarchies, from the sharp fangs ef despots, from the woes and fears of bloody revolutions, from poverty, heart-brokenness, and living death, millions have found here that freedom, which they sighed for as their richest boon in life, and the most blessed inheritance they could transmit to their children. [Great, applause.] Here has grown into gigantic proportions a na- tion, presenting the grandest development the world has ever seen of human intelligence and progress, and holding in its outstretched hands to all the earth the choicest fruits man has ever tasted of regulated and constitutional liberty. To mortal prescience that nation seemed im- mortal—those fruits perennial and un- decaying. But in the midst of peace, prosperity, and seeming contentment, all is plunged into confusion and dismay. The lurid cloud of war envelopes the land, the tread of armed legions shakes the earth, the thunders of battle fill the air, blood stains the ground, the groans of the dying fill the ears of night, and the wails of the bereaved rise to heaven from countless habitations ! What enemy has done this ? Have the despotisms of the Old World, tired of America's example and glory, massed their mighty columns to bear her down into the dust ? Has her ancient foe challenged her to a third war of Independence? Has any other nation invaded her peaceful shores? No, my friends ; would God it were any or all of these, rather than what it is ! [Applause.] Her own sons are her assailants ! Americans are pouring out the life-blood of America ! The heirs of liberty are destroying their precious birthright ! The children of the Constitution are hacking and [battering that glorious fabric, every seam of which was cemented with their fathers' blood, and every arch of which is vocal with the prayers and benedictions of the iUus- trious dead! [Applause.] And all for what? Who has oppressed, who wronged, them ? The voice of the universal brotherhood of man acquits this nation of wrong to them. What, then, urges on this demoniac onslaught? Let us not fear to speak the word again. Let us be true, though we 6 die for it! [Applause.] Speak it, write it, print it, proclaim it, that it is the akistocract of Slavbrv [cries of " that's it"] harliug itself against the buttresses of the Constitution, to clear it out ! of their pathway to empire ! It is the lust of ' power, the greed of gain, the arbitrary will of | inborn despots, that hurries them on to their i hellish work. Will they triumph? Not if the sons of America, native and adopted, are I'aith- | ful, and brave, and enduring. [Immense ap- plause.] And shall we not be so? [Voice— "We will."] Shall we falter in the trying hour ? [" Never, never."] Shall we fear to go forward ? ["No."] Fear, ten thousand times more, to go backward a single step ! [Great ap])lause.] The Star of Hope leads onward ; then let our march and our ,'cry be onward ! ever onward ! r Immense and long protracted applause.] RESOLUTIONS Adoioted at the Meetini^ at Av^hicli the above Speech -was delivered. The loyal citizens of St. Louis, asEembled for the pur- pose of expressing themselves in regard to the Proclama- tion of emancipation, issued by the President of the Uni- ted States, on the first day of January, ltki.3, profoundly impressed with fUe solemnity of the occasion, and moved by a deep sense of the obligations of duty to our beloved country in this hour of its contest for life, against the iHost foniiidable rebellion that ever assailed any govern- ment, do unhesitatingly declare as follows : 1. That it is a truth, which impartial history will afllrm in all coming time, that the institution of African Slavery, as existing in the revolted States, and constituting there the creating and sustaining power of an aristocracy of wealth, which determined to extend and perpetuate that institution, was the sole impelling cau-e, and has been, and is now, the life of the present infamous rebellion. 2. That notwithstanding (he recent public declaration i.t Jefl'erson Davis that the rebels " are nulenyayeJ in a con- /iictforrontjUftt, nr Jut ai/fftayiiHtFini-nt," there is no fact more distinctly marking the rebellion, than its origin in a scheme for the expansion of Slavery, and its "eventual mastery of this whole continent," even at the sacrifice of those glorious institutions which our fathers bequeathed us, and which, in our inmost hearts, we hold a thousand times more sacred than any other earthly interest, and are deteniilned, eome what may, to preserve inviolate for our- selves and ourjiosterity. 3. Thai the attempt to destroy the noblest institutions of Freedom man has ever known, for the sake of estab- lishing, extending, and perpetuating a system of human slavery, is a crime which there rre no adequate terms in language lltly to characterize, for its cruelly, its perlUly. and Its infamy; and the American Nation is solemnly biinml to the high duty of preveiiling that diabolical crime, at whatevercost of blooil and treasure, and if necessary thereto, to destroy the whole mass of those attempting its perneluatioii. 4. That when the South, with such an object in view, revulleil fn.iii the CoiislitutiMii of its own formal ion, and raised the i>arrirl