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  AN ORATION, %

DELIVERED AT NEWBURYPORT,

JULY 4, 1866,

BY

GEORGE B. LORING,

or'sALEmL

SOUTH DANVERS:

CHARLESILIflTWARDgPR£NTER,
~ SUTTON BUILDING.

1866.

ORATIONV.

£21

F;eLLow -4 CITIZENS : -—--—We have gathered here on

this anniversary of the Declaration of our National

Independence, to renew our offerings, and repeat our
aprayeers, Within the sacred edifice erected by our fathers

to the cause of free government, popular intelligence,

universal philanthropy, and public education, morals,
. and religion. Ninety years ago they laid the corner-

stone. Commencing with the simple declaration of

' human equality, they devoted their lives, their for-

tunes, and their sacred honor to the completion of the

great civil fabric. “ They builded better than they

knew.” Battles,sieges, and privation, and bankruptcy,
and sorrow, frost, snows and starvation brought indeed

no terror to their hearts. Alone among the nations, ,3.
little band, cut oil’ from commerce, ignorant of their

own resources, hemmed in by a savage and untrodden

4

Wilderness, they struck for independence, knowing that

upon this alone can national greatness rest, and believ-
ing that by this alone can man, created in the image of
his maker, discharge the divine service assigned him
here on earth. Inspired by this faith, our Washiiigton
nerved his arm. Inspired by this faith, our Adams

thundered in the forum. Inspired by this faith, the .
A American armies ‘Went forth to battle, and the Ameri-

can people endured unto the end.

But “they builded better than. they kneW..’.’ Not
they, who achieved the victories of Saratoga and

“YO1‘l{tOW11, could measure the rich and “abounding

harvest which has fallen upon A us Who enjoy the

A “fruits of those victories.” Not they who signed the

Declaration of Independence, could tell the great in-
heritance of freedom which they were preparing for
every kindred, race, and tongue on this continent.
The orators and statesmen of 1776, glowing With“ a
divine enthusiasm, and guided by a divine Wisdom for
the great occasion---calling upon “ succeeding genera-

tions” to celebrate “the great Anniversary Festival ”---a

to commemorate “ the day of deliverance by solemn

acts of devotion to God Almighty ”——to “ solemnize it
,With pomp, and parade, with games, shows, sports,

bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of the
continent to the other ”-—looking “through all the

gloom,”—---filled_ as they were with confidence, and I

hope and faith--could see but a feeble ray of that

5

refulgent light which is poured upon the American
people of this day and generation. Tell the heroes
of Bunker Hill, how their sons fought at Gettysburg,
and Vicksburg, Antietam, and South Mountain, and
before the gates of Richmond; tell the signers of the
Declaration of Independence, how the truths which
they uttered were borne on to the glorious result,
when emancipation was proclaimed, and the bondman
Went free; tell the founders of our Constitution, how
that great instrument became, through fire and blood,
the supreme law of the land, and the Union was pre-

f served; tell the men of the Revolution, and of the

early days of the Constitution, how the child which they
nurtured, has increased in stature, until in all the arts

  of War and peace, he has become supreme among the

nations,---tell them of our progress in education, and
refinement,in the Work of , religious and moral instruc—
tion, in social development, and in all the sweet chari-

ties of life ; would not this host of the illustrious dead,
our fathers, the fathers of the Republic, behold with

amazement the fruit of their labors’! And would they
not moreover realize the sacred obligations which rest

R upon us, their children, as heirs of the great inheri-

tance?  
l I need not remind you, my friends, What these obli-
gations are. You are associated for the purpose of

A carrying on one of the great reforms of the day---and

earnest, sincere, devoted efiort to drive. from our land

6

that dark—vvinged messenger of gloom, Whose shadow
falls upon almost every family, and darkens all our
social heavens. The virtue which you advocate, is en-
titled to the attendance of all other virtues. The cause
which you defend, lies at the foundation of all true pro
gress. There may be Wealth and power; there may be
institutions of learning and religion ; there may be ele-
vation in art and all refinement; there may be the
highest social organization and the profoundest politi-

  cal Wisdom; there may be civil freedom dispensed to

all like the rain and dew; but they have perished, and
may again perish, before the pitiless gstorm of unre-
strained indulgence. VVe may notforget this in our
pride as a people. ‘We may not forget this in our
arrogant self-confidence as individuals. V’Ve may not,
as individuals or a people, despise those efforts which
are made to remove or stay the evil. For though
clouds and darkness may be round about us, it is the
eternal sunlight Which will in the end prevail, else all
were desolation and a ruin. - Knowing your belief then
in human progress, understanding your faith in all re-
form, I bid you God speed in the special object to
which you are devoted, and ask you to consider with
me 011 this appropriate day, the obligations which rest
upon the American people, the business of popular
government, and the fruits of that great victory Won
for freedom and education, for humanity and religion,
for social elevation and good order in our last great

7.

War. For youwill agree with me, I know, that it was
not the suppression of the rebellion alone, not solely
the preservation of the Union, not simply the establish--
ment of the Federal authority,'not only the glory of our
flag which We secured on‘ the battle fields of freedom,
but that glorious opportunity, never before bestowed
upon man, of erecting a government upon equal and
exact justice--—-“ a government of the people, by the
people and for the people,” “Which shall not perish
from the earth.” L i ,
You will agree with me, I am sure, that government
is not intended for the preservation of property, or the
perpetuation of power, or the purposes of conquest, or
the establishment of social distinctions-—--for these and
these only. It has a higher duty. So you believe who

would make temperance its corner-stone. So thought

Milton, when he ranged himself with the reformers of
his time, and gave the weight of his inspired intellect
not only against ship money, and the star chamber, but
for that species of freedom which is the most valuable,
and which was then the least understood»----the freedom
of the human mind.” So thought the Puritans, who in

their early days “ espoused the cause of civil liberty,‘

mainly because it was the cause of religion,” and brought
to our forbidding shores those principles which no sor-
row nor suffering could quench from their souls, and
which have triumphed in every era of our country’s ad--
vancement. So thought Hampden, when. he arrayed

8

himself against “ the vices and ignorance which an old
tyranny had generated, with all that sobriety, that self-
command, that perfect soundness. of judgment, that per-
fect rectitude of intention to which the history of revo-
lutions furnishes no parallel, or furnishes a parallel in
VVashington alone.” So thought Jefferson, when he
opened his sublime protest against the oppressive acts
of the king, and gave as the key note to our revolution,
the immortal truth that “ all men are created equal.”
So thought Abraham Lincoln, when he took as a “light
to his feet and a lamp to his path,” the abstract truth of
the great declaration, and amidst all the trials, and
doubts, , and uncertainties, and horrors of civil war,
bowed his soul in all humility before his Maker, as
with religious faith he dedicated his country to univer-

‘” sal freedom. So think the true and earnest reformers

of our day. And so sings the silver tongue of him,
whose song has been ever for freedom, whose earnest
devotion has made the name of VVHITTIER dearer to us
than that of statesman or conqueror, and whose footfall
has made this spot more sacred. ‘

Every government, like every individual, has its se-

‘ vere service to perform, it is true, however high may _

be its aim, and however grand its sentiments and mo-
tives. We are all armed by nature with weapons of
offense and defense; and while the brain is engaged in
the loftiest aspirations, the muscle may always find op-
portunity for useful andhealthful exercise. The frown-

9

ing bastions which protect our harbors, threatening
slaughter to all invaders, afford protection to ports in

which are nurtured all the gentlest virtues, which can ,

adorn and embellish civilized life. The sombre portals
of the prison—house are shut upon the guilty criminal,
vvhose fierce passions have ‘made him dangerous to a
society, the finer nature of which is developed in the

church and the school house, in the hospital and the 

charitable institution. For the protection of the gov-
ernment, the person and property of every man is held
to a hard and rigid accountability. The business of

ruling, or of conducting the state, knows no charity. W

The Widows mite, and the tax of the millionaire,.are
both poured into the treasury under the behest of iron
law. But behind this frowning presence, there should

_ be the smiling face of the tenderest regard for every T

attribute of the best citizenship. The government,
which sacrifices everything for material prosperity, can-
not endure. The government, Which neglects all the
kindest sentiments of its people, in its struggle for su-
premacy and power‘, will find in the end a maddenecl
populace battering at its‘ mouldering Walls. But let a
government once indicate its determination to malre all
its complex machinery subservient to that high manly
tone, which is found in every human breast, however
fallen it may be, to that tender sensibility which no
frost can ever utterly destroy, to the demands of a peo-
ple thirsting for education, to that humanity which will

1.0

tolerate no form of oppression, and to that philanthropy
Which will not witness in silence the Workings of crime
and injustice---—and its existence Will be as enduring as
any human. structure can be-—--its principles as undying
as divine truth.

I say this With the more confidence, because I know
that it is the great tlzougizt of every age, which has alone
been preserved and handed down to us, While all exter-
nal grandeur has perished, and arches and temples, por-
ticoes and galleries, have been buried a common ruin,
beneath accumulating dust———-«and the power of the em-—

_ pire Which they adorned has passed away. Of the

might of the East, which shone with meridian splen-
dor even at the dawn of any history which We now
possess, what remains but the Wisdom of Saadi and the
Vedas? Of a all the vigor and power of the Greek re-
publics, those contending; oligarchies loaded with the

. Weight of Helots and slaves, What have we that is im-

mortal save the truth and fervid thought of Homer, and

Plato, and Demosthenes-—--the poets, and philosophers,
and orators? Turn your eyes upon the greatness and
splendor of the Roman Empire—---and the conquests
fill you with amazement; the forum, and the baths, and
the Coliseum impress you with sadness ; While you gain
strength to your soul from the philosophy of Cicero,
and Warm your heart at the genial, verse of Virgil.
Through the darkness which envelops the early history
of England, it is the great principles of government

11

contained in Magna Charta, and the doctrines rannounc-you
ed by Milton and the Puritans, which shine still with
supernal lustre; and it is a prudent and sagacious
obedience to these principles and doctrines, which has
given the English nation its vitality and permanency.
So with our own country. How we linger around the
first declarations of freedom and popular right, made
by the bold and true-hearted all along our pathway,
from the earliest settlement of the colonies. The forms

and modes of government have changed and are for—- -

gotten. Of what value to us now are the terms of
charter granted to the colonies of Plymouth and Mas»
sachusetts Bay, the privileges bestowed upon Lord Bal-
timore and Oglethorpe, or the grants conferred upon
the adventurers of Virginia and the Carolinas? But
we do remember that the fathers of New England, by
a solemn instrument, in the words of Hutchinson,
“ formed themselves into a proper democracy.” VVe
do remember the glowing words of VVarren----“ I am
convinced that the true spirit of liberty was never so
universally diffused through all ranks and orders of
men on the face”of the earth, as it now is through all
North America.” How do your minds pass on from
the early struggles of the Revolution, and the details of
government in the several colonies, to those grand as-
sertions which roused and guided the popular mind,

and gave us the fundamental principles of a free coma ‘

monwealth. The rivalries, and strifes, and cabals are all

12

forgotten. But not so thegrandconceptions of John
Adams, with regard to the future of his country; not
so the abiding faith of Samuel Adams, in “ the sove-
reignty of the people ;” not so the thunders of Patrick
Henry, calling the people to war ; not so the fiery ap-
peals of James Otis; not so the delicious thought of
Jefferson, presenting a great truth to the prayerful and
struggling multitude, for which they might fight, and
upon which we have at last learned to administer our
government. And do we weary ourselves now with
the political controversies of our confederate and early
constitutional history, the charges of corruption by
which VVashington was aggrieved, the rivalry between
Jefi"erson and Hamilton, the passage of political power
in the nation, from Massachusetts to Virginia’! Not at all.
But we dwell, we especially of Essex county, upon the
work performed by a son of our own soil, Nathan Dane,
for the establishment of freedom through all the great
northwest, declaring it, as he did, to be the “high and
binding duty of government to encourage schools, and
advance the means of education; on the plain reason
that religion, morality and knowledge are necessary to
good government and the happiness of mankind.?’ We
dwell upon the profound wisdom of Jefferson, as he
laid down the rules which should guide his administra-
tion--—“ equal and exact justice to all men,” “ freedom
of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of per-
son under the lzabeas corpus, and trial by juries im-

13

partially selected.” And we dwell upon these great
sentiments, because, while all else has faded, these
alone remain. These are the lights fixed in the fir-
mament of our political heavens, to guide us across the
dark and stormy sea. For the control of ‘rebellious
States, the fathers left us no rules; for the conduct of
our treasury in civil war, they laid down no system of
finance; for diplomatic dealings with foreign pqwers,
while our government was threatened with disruption,
they provided no precedent. But they did fix and con-
firm in our history, those sentiments of humanity and
justice, which will always remain, through all the
chance and change of revolving political years.

We cannot be too grateful, my friends, for the spirit
thus breathed into our nation at its very birth. This is
its immortal part which can never die. It has survived
all the confusion of local and temporary politics .------—~ the
apparent necessities of the times-—-wcompromises against
freedom, to which the perplexed and ‘anxious fathers
bowed their heads, half in sorrow-——popular uprisings
for peace and the constitution“-and the shock of arms.
It may have been forgotten; but only for a moment.
There have been hours when our country seemed to be
careering on in the proud prosperity of him, who would
“ gain the whole world and lose his own soul.” But
always when the trial came, the great genius of the
land appeared in all its majesty, to guide, inform, in-
spire, console. Through all our long and triumphant

14

years of peace, it was heard in every crisis, pouring

forth its mournful warning at every approaching danger,
_Its seers and prophets never passed away from earth.
And when the trials of war overtook us, and the wise T
men failed, and the trumpet gave an uncertain sound,

and the hearts of men forsook them for fear, and the

mourners went about the streets, this same spirit of

universal freedom and humanity triumphed over all,
and guided our country on to a purer andloftier na-
tionality. Every prayer uttered in the war was uttered

,-for this. Every drop of patriot blood poured out upon

the battlefield, was shed for this. The broken-hearted
mother mourning her son, found her only joy and con-
solation in the thought, that for the grandest spirit of

freedom he had laid down his life. The dying hero
found sweet peace from its inspiration. Above all our

councils he sat-—--this mighty angel of human liberty-—
and before his flaming sword fled all rulers and cap-
tains, who failed to obey his august presence. There
was no success in war but what he bestowed; —---there

will be none in peace.

How every stirring" and tragic event in our history,
has been sanctified by this American sentiment to which

I have alluded. There have been many wars --— many

heroes. But there is but one Bunker Hill, with its yeo—

, man soldiery -—-- but one Yorktown with its significant

victory -—-- but one Valley Forge, with its privation and
devotion--—-but one Gettysburg, where freedom toiled

15

and trembled three long and weary days. There has
been but one VVASHIANGTON---but one GRANT-croWned
with the largest favor of the immortal gods,----success
in a righteous cause.

There have been many martyrs in the church and
state----but one LINCOLN. To him above all men was
it given so to die by the assassin’s hand, as to seal with
his blood the cause for which he lived and labored.
Never was there a story like his. Not learned in the
law, nor in science, —----of but few books --—-Without
large experience in public affairs ---known mostly for
the simple and instinctive analysis, which he applied to
the subtile logic of an artful and skilled opponent in
debate --—--representing in the Whole and in all its parts

the entire conception of civil freedom--with humor -

the gentlest and most unbounded ---With simplicity and
self-possession, which broke the lance of the highest

diplomatic skill, and the training of courts-—--saying of

slavery, with a sweet spirit of kindness and considera-
tion Worthy of a Wife and a mother, “ it forces so many
really good men amongst ourselves into an open War
With the very fundamental principles of civil liberty,”-—--
calling on his people with a sublime and fervid elo-
quence, “ think nothing of me; take no thought for
the political fate of any man whatever; but come back
to the truths that are in the Declaration of Indepen-
dence; youpmay do anything with me you choose, if
you will but heed these sacred principles. You may

16

not only defeat me for the Senate, but you may take me
and put me to death; while pretending no indifference
to earthly honors, I do claim to be actuated in this con-
test by something higher than an anxiety for office ; I
charge you to drop every paltry, insignificant thought
for any man’s success; it is nothing; ‘I am nothing;
Judge Douglas is nothing; but do not destroy that im-
mortal emblem of humanity---the Declaration of In-
dependence ;” -——— a man apparently of one idea, but that
idea embracing all human right, privilege, happiness,
all popular education, all t elevation, all the design of
free government -—---- representing nothing more than
that grand sentiment, to which our country was dedi-

' cated by starving colonies and bloody war ---— he Was

called to rule, at a time when all political skill had
failed, and the leader must be clothed with the panoply
of righteousness, “ as wise as a serpent and harmless
as a clove.” In him the American sentiment of free-
dom Was embodied, and under his guidance it triumph-
ed. * For this cause he suffered insult----—bore the slander
of foes and the coldness of friends ----held his mind as
plastic as a child’s ---— tried all experiments, conciliation
until exhausted, and then ruthless War —-- believed in
the honor of his antagonists, but never allowed them
to deceive him ---- was a Warrior, trusting in superior re-
sources and numbers With Grant ; an orator, soaring
beyond the accomplished eloquence of all rivals, under

the inspiration of the sublime hour. You may search

17

all history in vain for his parallel, either in his life, or
in the effect and significance of his death. Men will
hereafter turn from the stories of the assassinated great,
of Caesar slain for his ambition, of William of Orange
victorious for his own people alone, of Cicero murder-
ed While his last appeal for Roman liberty was dying
from his lips ; and they Will find in the life and death
of Abraham Lincoln alone, all that can be expressed
for a free Republic, and all the sacrifice that man can

make, for a true and generous sentiment of freedom

for all. VVhen he fell, the sullen and exasperated foes
of human rights, having done their Worst, retired,
amazed at their own desperation. At that hour, the
friends of freedom. renewed their vows to be true to
the sentiments of their departed leader, and to the doc;
trines of the Declaration, in the Work of restoring the
government. ‘

He must be less than a man, less than an American,
my friends, who could perform any public service this
day, even expressing the smallest tribute of regard for
our national institutions, without allusion to the work
of I‘eC011Stl‘uC'tlOn,‘Whl'Cl1 is now going on, as a conse-
quence of the anarchy, confusion and disruption of the
War. I am brought to it, here in your presence, by the
memories" of the past,and by that path Wl12lCl1_l1aS led
me, in my discourse, to the sacred grave of Abraham
Lincoln, around which cluster his Wise, and humane,

18

counsels, and his large christian devotion to mankind
and his country. We are reminded here of his high
resolve, during all the trials and doubt of the last year
of the War, the long and Weary and bloody gloom of
the ‘Wilderness, and duringthe political uncertainty
which unnerved the brave and faithful, -———-his high re-
solve to listen to no terms of peace which did not em-

brace “ the integrity of the Whole Union, and the

abcmdovzmem.‘ of slcwe-r_7/.” "We are reminded here of his
determination “ not to be inflexibly committed to any

3

plan of restoration,’ until all the complications and
difficulties of the times Were fully unfolded, provided
always that in any event, free citizenship with all its
rights and immunities should take the place of slavery.
And We accept the task, his last bequest, prepared for
us by all the brilliant victories which marked the close
of his term of public service, and all the record of his
political life. He found his country disrupted, dis-
graced, an object of contempt, her flag trailing in the
dust-----he left it victorious, elated, jubilant, free, Wait-
ing for the hour when the Union should _be restored in
such form, accordantvvitli the principles taught him by
the fathers, that they and We might learn how “they
builded better than they knew.”

There a is no time here to argue the question of re-
construction. But I claim that the Federal“ Govern-
ment has at last vindicated its right to self-defence,iits
supreme nationality, and its power to declare and fix

19

uniformly and everywhere within its jurisdiction, a free
American citizenship, untrammelled by local law, and
unobstructed by local prejudice. I go further; and I

maintain that no local legislation should be allowed to

abridge this citizenship, in respect of the ballot box.
The government which can make soldiers of its people,
should also make citizens, and of citizens, voters -—--
granting and establishing impartial sufirage, so su-
preme, that no caprice of State or section should ever
curtail it. * I know no other foundation for State equal-
ity in the Union than this. American citizenship will
be a farce and a sham so long as a State dependent
upon the general governmentfor its very existence, shall
arrogantly exercise the power of declaring, that no per-
son shall be a citizen, who cannot trace his descent from
some one particular branch of the human family. A
thinking, reasoning man passes from the open courts,
and school houses, and colleges and churches of Mas-
sachusetts into another State, and on account of some
accident of birth, he finds all these institutions closed
to him, his right to hold property gone, his right to
equal civil privileges destroyed, the ballot box as far

. from him as it is from the exile wearing away his life
in the lonely forests "of Siberia. Should a free born

man, claiming the flag of the Union his own, submit

to this’? If so, what is that flag worth’! Should a A

civil organization called a State be empowered thus to

A destroy a right, which each one of its male inhabitants

20

of certain age is bound to fight for, or our Union is a
rope of sand’! If so, What is your government Worth’!
And What is meant by a free republic? This reproach,
incorporated into our federal organization, out of cour-
tesy to an institution so abnormal that the government
has been obliged to crush it or be crushed by it, should
fall forever with the death of that institution. If We
would ever arrive at that consummation, so devoutly
prayed for by every lover of good government, an ag-
gregation of free and equal commonvvealths into a re-
public of education, freedom, good morals and re-
ligion—-1-— a republic of human equality, a republic of
equal States, We must make this the fundamental part
of our Work of reconstruction. Anything short of this
is another compromise with ignorance, social despot-
ism, and barbarism. Are you, men of Massachusetts,
ready for this compromise? Are you ready to recog-

nize anywhere the right to disfranchise a fellow-man in

that portion of God’s heritage, in the laws and govern-
ment of which you claim a share, and in the civil bur-
dens and responsibilities of which you are compelled

‘ to take a part? If you are, your sons andbrothers

have fought in vain. If you are, the tears of mothers,
sisters and daughters sorrowing for the slain, have been
shed for nought; and our old men are tottering to their
graves, mourning for sons fallen in a useless War. Bet-
ter disruption, with all its ruined hopes and promises,
than such a shame as this. Better aneternal War, than

21-

peace purchased at suchia dishonorable price. Why
should We recognize the right of a State to insult an
American citizen’! Does our safety require it? Does
the integrity of our Union demand it? Should the
State which asks for it, be considered one of the
sovereigns of our Union? Let her be looked upon
as a by-Word and a hissing among the nations, rather.
And let her learn that she owes something to human-
ity, something to decency, something to the christian
sentiment of the civilized world, something to a Union
for which the bitterest sacrifices have been made, by

those who believe in human elevation, and in the free-_

dom of the sons of God. Let her learn this, before
she talks of returning to her place in the great as-
sembly of advancing States, or of performing her part
in our regenerate republic. A

- ‘Whatever » means are required to secure to the

N American citizen everywhere, the privileges of the

church, the school house, the ballot box and jury
box, should become a part of the machinery of re-
construction. If ‘for this it were necessary to send
Grant back to his blazing lines, Ivvould do it. If for
this it were necessary to send Shemrman back to At-
lanta, Ivvould do it.  If for this it were necessary to

I call once more upon the loyal men of the Northto

man our forts, I would do it. If for this it Were
necessary to call once more upon that devoted ‘race,
who guided our troops through Southern swamps and

22

fought in our ranks, and filled the trenches of the
enemy, to strike again for their freedom, I would do
it. But it is not necessary. The question now is not

a one of War. The conflict is removed from the bloody

battlefield, to the stormy arena of public debate, to the
polls, to the people, to Congress. We sit in judgment
upon it here. And if we, in this bloodless strife, will
but exercise the same courage and devotion, the same
unwavering principle, as our soldiers manifested in the
heat of War, the victory Will be ours on this field, as it
was theirs on fields of more renown. If We will but
learn that the Federal arm should be still stretched
over those States, which have not yet recognized the
decree of freedom made by the war, all will be well.
If We still hesitate to invite the Senators and Repre-
sentatives of States, even now hugging slavery and

rebellion to their bosoms, all Will be Well. If We will

insist upon it, that a State which allows its judges to

sell men into slavery as a punishment for crime, and.

to bind black children to a bondage worse than slavery,
because possessed of »none of its domestic ties and in-

terests, is not fit to participate in the Work of free gov-—  

ernment, all will be Well. Let us remember that, to-
day,without the protection of the Freedman’s Bureau,

supported as it is by the military power of the govern- 

ment, the negro could not pursue any employment in
safety at the South. These new-born citizens of the
United States are hunted down in the streets, a price

23

set upon their heads, as if they were wolves, every
form of ingenuity exercised to deprive them of a fair
reward for their labor, by those who were born with
the bitterest contempt for their color, and who have
been taught to detest their protector-----that government
which they could not overthrow. The maddened press
of the South clamors still for another revolution. Un-
ion men are driven to their hiding places, or are scorn-
ed and insulted in their daily walk. Even the haughty
leaders of that still untamed and unenlightened section,
claim for their States the constitutional right of seces-
sion; the recent owners of emancipated slaves still
hope for compensation; and the holders of confed-
erate bonds are waiting for the day, when their repre-
sentatives in the federal Congress shall fund these
bonds as a part of the national debt. The people of
the South have been asked by their leaders to submit
as gracefully and patiently as may be, to the conse-
quences of their idiscomfiture on the battle field. But
nothing more. No appeal has yet been heard from
the pulpit, there, in behalf of a christian devotion to
that faith and church, which may now embrace all in
its ample fold. No voice has been uttered from the

rostrum, telling the people that theyenjoy a new and .

glorious opportunity, as free citizens---an opportunity

" for elevation and even-handed prosperity. No prophet

has yet risen up there, to teach men that a new day
has dawned, in which the sky is not (‘1aJ.‘l§.Gl1Bd. N0

24

wise and humane counsellor has yet told his Southern
brethren that slavery is dead---and secession crushed--—
and citizenship established -—-» and impartial suffrage
proclaimed--—-and that the way is now open for them
to be enrolled among the unblemished Commonwealths.
Not a Word of all this do we hearfrom pulpit or press
or rostrum; but appeals to sectional passion and pride
and prejudice -—- haughty demands for place and power
in the government -—-- offensive eulogy of the rebellious
chiefs ~—--contemptous reflections upon the intelligence
of the north -———~ new and more ingenious attempts to de-
feat by political intrigue a victorious people, whom they
could not vanquish in a fair encounter of arms. And
we are asked to how the knee to this, and call it recon-
struction. _
There may be those who are ready to do this --- but
I for one am not. I do not ask for revenge ; I do not
ask for an unseemly triumph; I do not ask for cruel
punishment of the erring and Wayward; I do not ask
that the vanquished should be led at the car of the vice
tor. But I do ask that our government should secure
such guarantees for its future safety, as rest upon ‘a
uniform civilization, respect for its power, and an
understanding that its Iliission here is to protect the
down trodden and lowly, and develop all social virtue,
intelligence, and religion. I do ask that a state once
in rebellion, should gracefully “accept the conditions

' laid down for her return; that she should so amend her

25

constitution and enact her laws, as to conform with the
republican theory of government; that she should
adopt impartial suffrage ; that she should inaugerate a
system of free education; that she should open her
courts of justice to all; that she should submit all

questions of amendment to her people; that her legis- .

lation and administration of justice should be free from
military control; and that she shouldpresent herself at
the doors of congress reorganized in this manner, and
asking for admission into the Union. And until this
time shall arrive, I would call upon the President to

exercise in time to come, as he has in time past, that t

war power by which he has appointed provincial gov-
ernors, and suspended courts of justice, and set aside
elections, and suppressed a disloyal press, and prepared
by the sword the way for the unrestrained exercise of
all the rights of a free community.

But, my friends, they say there are objections to this. A

The President objects; and his objections, as far as I
have been able to ascertain from his various vetoes and
messages, are based mainly on the ground that “ of
thirty-sixfitates which constitute the Union, eleven are
excluded from representation in either House of Con-
gress,” and have no voice in any amendments or enact»
ments now proposed for the effectual business of recon?
struction. But had these States any voice in the
organizing of that army with swept through them with
fire and sword, wasting their fields, defeating their sons,

26

chastising their folly witl1 the flaming sword of the de-
stroying angel? Had they any voice in the organization
of that policy which sent Andrew Johnson to Tennessee
as military governor, gave Butler and Banks the rule of
Louisiana, established martial law and military punish-
ments within their borders? Had they any voice in
that amendment to the constitution, which confirmed
freedom on four millions of the sons of men, which
they held in bondage by solemn enactments on their
statute books? Had they any voice in that election,
which placed Andrew Johnson Where he is, upon a

-platform which approved and endorsed “ as demanded

by the emergency and essential to the preservation of
the nation, and as within the constitution, the measures_
and acts which he (the President) has adopted, to de-
fend the nation against its open and secret foes  ” Had
they any voice in the appointment of provincial govern-
ors to rule over them -——~—- the benighted Perry in South

Carolina, and “ Sharkey the Just” in Mississippi, be-

cause in the language of the President, they had been
“ deprived by the rebellion, of all civil government?”
Had they any voice in the suspension of the habeas
corpus, in the suppression of newspapers, in the open-
ing of their ports to commerce, in the disbanding of
their armies, in the nullifying of their elections, in
those very means by which they have called together
their legislatures, and have gone through the formality
of electing Senators a11d Representatives to Congress’!

27

Have they had any voice in any of those measures

which t.he President of the United States has adopted

for their reorganization’! None whatever. To all this
they have been compelled to submit. But when Con:
gress comes forward With measures of permanent re-
construction, in accordance with the spirit of the con-
stitution, and the object of the War, and the demands
of freedom, it is suddenly discovered that these. rebel-
lious States are entitled to all the consideration due to
those who have remained true to the Union, and have
saved that Union from destruction; it is all at once
solemnly putforth, that they alone are the judges of
all further terms of restoration. This assumption is
monstrous. The President has sometimes done his

A duty faithfully. He did it faithfully on the breaking T

out of the rebellion, during the War, and at the close
of the contest. But let him remember that there is a

limit to his power. Let him remember that Congress

has its duty to perform ——-— a duty involving the proper

condition of the rebellious States, the wintegrity of the _

government, and the dignity and purity of its own

» body. The President may prepare the ‘Way for civil

organization in these States -— but it is not for him by
executive‘ decrees, or by military control, so to direct

the elections and legislative action of any State, as to_

send into Congress the creatures of his own will to fill
places, which should be filled by the representatives
of a people acting in their own sovereign capacity.

28

VVhen the legislative branch of our government shall
be subjected to such executive control as this, the first
step will be taken towards an usurpation, compared
with which all the deeds of a “ star-chamber,” pictured
forth by the most delirious madness, are mere trifles

and nonsense. If the President has done his duty in

time past, let now Congress and the loyal people do
theirs, without the usurpatory exercise of any con»
structive power of the executive.

But the South objects to the plan of Congress. So
also does it object to the plan of the President, hitherto
pursued. It is not to be supposed that any policy can
be particularly gratifying to those, who are obliged to
submit in any event. The South, however, should, not
object. If there are, those, in that section of our
country, who desire their own local honor and pros-
perity, let them rise to the magnitude of the occasion.
If they desire to Write their n"ames in history, with the
benefactors of their race, and with the immortal states-
men who have greated new glories, from the seeming
misfortune of their country, let them teach their follow-5
ers the way to human elevation, through education,
and the institutions of universal freedom.“ VVhat a
glorious reward awaits the liberal and advancing young
men of the South I The South should not object.

But, lastly, the great conservative Union party of the

country, so called, objects ---claiming to be the De-
mocratic party of Jefferson, who declared that “ all

29

men are ‘created equal” -—-— claiming to be the Demo—-
cratic party of Jackson who proclaimed that the Union
must and should be preserved -—--the Democratic party,

the final and fading Democratic party of McClellan,*

who pronounced the war for the restoration of the
Union a “ failure,” and clarnored for “peace ” at “ the
earliest practicable moment,” when we had seized the
wolf bythe throat, and were strangling him forever.
This is a sad spectacle ————the heirs of the glory of
Andrew Jackson, accepting a national humiliation like
this. But so it is. And so now they complain that

A the exclusion of Alexander H. Stevens fromthe Senate

of the United States, is the “ exclusion of loyal Sena-
tors and Representatives,” and “ is unjust and revolu-

tionary.” So they insist upon it that “ Slavery is

A abolished, and neither can nor ought to be reestablish-

ed in any state or territory within our jurisdiction,” and
then throw, in this connection, the following tub to
the irritated and lashing Southern whale :---

“Each State has the undoubted right to prescribe

the qualifications of its own electors, and no external

power can, or ought to dictate, control or influence
the free voluntary action of the States in the exercise of
that right :-——”

In substance this -————~ “ Slavery is abolished it is true,

i in spite of our efforts; no compensated emancipation,

no more renditions, no more Dred Scott decisions; but
the right of a State to disfranchise a negro still re-

30o

mains ;‘ and a White man’s government is preserved for

you on the foundations of state sovereignty.” Con-'

servatism objects ———- and calls itself democracy.

But, my friends, the true and loyal American De-
mocracy. does not object to any policy which will con~
firm the government, and serve the cause of freedom.

-They who really believe in the doctrine of Jefferson —-—-

they who are unionists as Jackson Was ----they who
would reap all the fruits of victory ~—---they who Would
send all the rights of freemen into theirevolted States--—
they who have faith in the schoolhouse and the meet-
ing-house --- they who hate injustice and Wrong, and
would tear it root and branch from our soil---—~they
who were determined to fight for victory ——they who
believe in impartial suffrage for white man and
black.-——-they who feel in their hearts that great
national sentiment which is our immortal part—-~ they
believe in all the efforts made in Congress or out of it,

to reconstruct our government on “ equal and exact

justice.” , . V
This is the American people; and in their name I
appeal to our representatives, to those who hold our
honor in their hands, to stand firm for the right, and
for universal freedom. For the American people’ I
appeal ; for those who trace their descent from that
illustrious ancestry, Whose courage and Wisdom gave
us a country, and all the American pride in the land
of the fathers; for those who, gathering here from

31

every kindred, nation and tongue under heaven,

breathe our ovvn free air and seek protection under
our flag; for those Who, on this continent, are Waiting
patiently for the time, when the Republic shall know
no bounds but the surrounding shores ; when the Waters
of the St. Lawrence shall flow through American soil,
and the mountains of Mexico shall look down upon the
last feeble and dejected despot, retreating before the
advancing flag of freedom. I appeal for the American
soldier~—-for him, who sleeps his last sleep beneath
the sod which he redeemed, and Wl1OS€ memory
“smells sweet and blossoms in the dust;’7-—-~for him
who still survives, and treasures for his children and
his children’s children the story of his valor and sufi°er-

ing in the great and holy cause, and Whose pathway ,
through life should be made smooth and cheerful by a ’
, restored and grateful country. For the down-trodden

and oppressed, I appeal--that the promises made to t i

them may be all sacredly -performed, and that the
history of the War may be the history of their elevation
among the races of men.

My friends, there is among the heraldic devices
which have been brought to this country, preserved
from the lineage of the old World, and upon which I
have often pondered, as expressing all that there is of
patriotism, of true government, of social order and

32

elevation, of the Christianity of civil life : -— Ubi lz'be'r-
tas, ibi paztri :-‘——-- Where freedom is, there is my country.
Let that motto be ours forever, that the hopes of the
fathers of the Republic may all be fulfilled.