{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_34573/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_34573","id":"gutenberg_34573","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34573","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Sermons, American","Unitarianism"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Julia Miller, Josephine Paolucci and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSPEECHES, ADDRESSES,\n\nAND\n\nOCCASIONAL SERMONS,\n\nBY\n\nTHEODORE PARKER,\n\nMINISTER OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN BOSTON.\n\nIN THREE VOLUMES.\n\nVOL. I.\n\nBOSTON:\nHORACE B. FULLER,\n(SUCCESSOR TO WALKER, FULLER, AND COMPANY,)\n245, WASHINGTON STREET.\n1867.\n\n\nEntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by\nTHEODORE PARKER,\nin the Clerk's Office of the District Court\nof the District of Massachusetts.\n\n\nTO\n\nFRANCIS JACKSON,\n\nTHE FOE 'GAINST EVERY FORM OF WRONG,\nTHE FRIEND OF JUSTICE,\nWHOSE WIDE HUMANITY CONTENDS\nFOR WOMAN'S NATURAL AND UNALIENABLE RIGHT; AGAINST\nHIS NATION'S CRUELTY PROTECTS THE SLAVE;\nIN THE CRIMINAL BEHOLDS A BROTHER TO BE REFORMED;\nGOES TO MEN FALLEN AMONG THIEVES,--\nWHOM PRIESTS AND LEVITES SACRAMENTALLY PASS BY,--\nAND SEEKS TO SOOTHE AND HEAL AND BLESS THEM THAT ARE\nREADY TO PERISH:\nWITH ADMIRATION FOR HIS UNSURPASSED INTEGRITY,\nHIS COURAGE WHICH NOTHING SCARES,\nAND HIS TRUE RELIGION\nTHAT WOULD BRING PEACE ON EARTH AND GOOD-WILL TO MAN,\nTHESE VOLUMES\nARE THANKFULLY DEDICATED\nBY HIS MINISTER AND FRIEND,\n\nTHEODORE PARKER.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nI have collected in these volumes several Speeches, Addresses and\noccasional Sermons, which I have delivered at various times during the\nlast seven years. Most of them were prepared for some special emergency:\nonly two papers, that on \"The Relation of Jesus to his Age and the\nAges,\" and that on \"Immortal Life,\" were written without reference to\nsome such emergency. All of them have been printed before, excepting the\nsermon \"Of General Taylor,\" and the address on \"The American Scholar;\"\nsome have been several times reprinted. I do not know that they are\nworthy of republication in this permanent form, but the leading ideas of\nthese volumes are very dear to me, and are sure to live as long as the\nhuman race shall continue. So I have published a small edition, hoping\nthat the truths which I know are contained in these pages will do a\nservice long after the writer, and the occasion of their utterance, have\npassed off and been forgot. I offer them to whom they may concern.\n\nTHEODORE PARKER.\n\nAUGUST 24, 1851.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS OF VOLUME I.\n\n\nI.\n\nTHE RELATION OF JESUS TO HIS AGE AND THE AGES.--A\nSermon preached at the Thursday Lecture, in Boston,\nDecember 26, 1844                                              PAGE 1\n\nII.\n\nTHE TRUE IDEA OF A CHRISTIAN CHURCH.--A Discourse\nat the Installation of Theodore Parker as Minister of the\nTwenty-Eighth Congregational Church in Boston, on Sunday,\nJanuary 4, 1846                                                    23\n\nIII.\n\nA SERMON OF WAR.--Preached at the Melodeon, on Sunday,\nJune 7, 1846                                                       63\n\nIV.\n\nA SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE ANTI-WAR MEETING IN\nFANUEIL HALL, February 4, 1847                                    113\n\nV.\n\nA SERMON OF THE MEXICAN WAR.--Preached at the\nMelodeon, on Sunday, June 25, 1848                                127\n\nVI.\n\nA SERMON OF THE PERISHING CLASSES IN BOSTON.--Preached\nat the Melodeon on Sunday, August 30, 1846                        185\n\nVII.\n\nA SERMON OF MERCHANTS.--Preached at the Melodeon,\non Sunday, November 22, 1846                                      227\n\nVIII.\n\nA SERMON OF THE DANGEROUS CLASSES IN SOCIETY.--Preached\nat the Melodeon, on Sunday, January 31, 1847                      279\n\nIX.\n\nA SERMON OF POVERTY.--Preached at the Melodeon, on\nSunday, January 14, 1849                                          333\n\nX.\n\nA SERMON OF THE MORAL CONDITION OF BOSTON.--Preached\nat the Melodeon, on Sunday, February 11, 1849                     364\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\nTHE RELATION OF JESUS TO HIS AGE AND THE AGES.--A SERMON PREACHED AT THE\nTHURSDAY LECTURE, IN BOSTON, DECEMBER 26, 1844.\n\nJOHN VII. 48.\n\n     \"Have any of the Rulers, or of the Pharisees, believed on\n     him?\"\n\n\nIn all the world there is nothing so remarkable as a great man; nothing\nso rare; nothing which so well repays study. Human nature is loyal at\nits heart, and is, always and everywhere, looking for this its true\nearthly sovereign. We sometimes say that our institutions, here in\nAmerica, do not require great men; that we get along better without than\nwith such. But let a real, great man light on our quarter of the planet;\nlet us understand him, and straightway these democratic hearts of ours\nburn with admiration and with love. We wave in his words, like corn in\nthe harvest wind. We should rejoice to obey him, for he would speak what\nwe need to hear. Men are always half expecting such a man. But when he\ncomes, the real, great man that God has been preparing,--men are\ndisappointed; they do not recognize him. He does not enter the city\nthrough the gates which expectants had crowded. He is a fresh fact,\nbrand new; not exactly like any former fact. Therefore men do not\nrecognize nor acknowledge him. His language is strange, and his form\nunusual. He looks revolutionary, and pulls down ancient walls to build\nhis own temple, or, at least, splits old rocks asunder, and quarries\nanew fresh granite and marble.\n\nThere are two classes of great men. Now and then some arise whom all\nacknowledge to be great, soon as they appear. Such men have what is true\nin relation to the wants and expectations of to-day. They say, what many\nmen wished but had not words for; they translate into thought what, as a\ndim sentiment, lay a burning in many a heart, but could not get entirely\nwritten out into consciousness. These men find a welcome. Nobody\nmisunderstands them. The world follows at their chariot-wheels, and\nflings up its cap and shouts its huzzas,--for the world is loyal, and\nfollows its king when it sees and knows him. The good part of the world\nfollows the highest man it comprehends; the bad, whoever serves its\nturn.\n\nBut there is another class of men so great, that all cannot see their\ngreatness. They are in advance of men's conjectures, higher than their\ndreams; too good to be actual, think some. Therefore, say many, there\nmust be some mistake; this man is not so great as he seems; nay, he is\nno great man at all, but an impostor. These men have what is true not\nmerely in relation to the wants and expectations of men here and to-day;\nbut what is true in relation to the Universe, to Eternity, to God. They\ndo not speak what you and I have been trying to say, and cannot; but\nwhat we shall one day years hence, wish to say, after we have improved\nand grown up to man's estate.\n\nNow it seems to me, the men of this latter class, when they come, can\nnever meet the approbation of the censors and guides of public opinion.\nSuch as wished for a new great man had a superstition of the last one in\ntheir minds. They expected the new to be just like the old, but he is\naltogether unlike. Nature is rich, but not rich enough to waste any\nthing. So there are never two great men very strongly similar. Nay, this\nnew great man, perhaps, begins by destroying much that the old one built\nup with tears and prayers. He shows, at first, the limitations and\ndefects of the former great man; calls in question his authority. He\nrefuses all masters; bows not to tradition; and with seeming\nirreverence, laughs in the face of the popular idols. How will the\n\"respectable men,\" the men of a few good rules and those derived from\ntheir fathers \"the best of men and the wisest,\"--how will they regard\nthis new great man? They will see nothing remarkable in him except that\nhe is fluent and superficial, dangerous and revolutionary. He disturbs\ntheir notions of order; he shows that the institutions of society are\nnot perfect; that their imperfections are not of granite or marble, but\nonly of words written on soft wax, which may be erased and others\nwritten thereon anew. He shows that such imperfect institutions are less\nthan one great man. The guides and censors of public opinion will not\nhonor such a man, they will hate him. Why not? Some others not half so\nwell bred, nor well furnished with precedents, welcome the new great\nman; welcome his ideas; welcome his person. They say, \"Behold a\nProphet.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Jesus, the son of Mary, a poor woman, wife of Joseph the carpenter,\nin the little town of Nazareth, when he \"began to be about thirty years\nold,\" and began also to open his mouth in the synagogues and the\nhighways, nobody thought him a great man at all, as it seems. \"Who are\nyou?\" said the guardians of public opinion. He found men expecting a\ngreat man. This, it seems, was the common opinion, that a great man was\nto arise, and save the Church, and save the State. They looked back to\nMoses, a divine man of antiquity, whose great life had passed into the\nworld, and to whom men had done honor, in various ways; amongst others,\nby telling all sorts of wonders he wrought, and declaring that none\ncould be so great again; none get so near to God. They looked back also\nto the prophets, a long line of divine men, so they reckoned, but less\nthan the awful Moses; his stature was far above the nation, who hid\nthemselves in his shadow. Now the well-instructed children of Abraham\nthought the next great man must be only a copy of the last, repeat his\nideas, and work in the old fashion. Sick men like to be healed by the\nmedicine which helped them the last time; at least, by the customary\ndrugs which are popular.\n\nIn Judea, there were then parties of men, distinctly marked. There were\nthe Conservatives,--they represented the church, tradition,\necclesiastical or theocratical authority. They adhered to the words of\nthe old books, the forms of the old rites, the tradition of the elders.\n\"Nobody but a Jew can be saved,\" said they; \"he only by circumcision,\nand the keeping of the old formal law; God likes that, He accepts\nnothing else.\" These were the Pharisees, with their servants the\nScribes. Of this class were the Priests and the Levites in the main, the\nNational party, the Native-Hebrew party of that time. They had\ntradition, Moses and the prophets; they believed in tradition, Moses and\nthe prophets, at least in public; what they believed in private God\nknew, and so did they. I know nothing of that.\n\nThen there was the indifferent party; the Sadducees, the State. They had\nwealth, and they believed in it, both in public and private too. They\nhad a more generous and extensive cultivation than the Pharisees. They\nhad intercourse with foreigners, and understood the writers of Ionia and\nAthens which the Pharisee held in abhorrence. These were sleek\nrespectable men, who, in part, disbelieved the Jewish theology. It is no\nvery great merit to disbelieve even in the devil, unless you have a\npositive faith in God to take up your affections. The Sadducee believed\nneither in angel nor resurrection--not at all in the immortality of the\nsoul. He believed in the state, in the laws, the constables, the prisons\nand the axe. In religious matters, it seems the Pharisee had a positive\nbelief, only it was a positive belief in a great mistake. In religious\nmatters the Sadducee had no positive belief at all; not even in an\nerror: at least, some think so. His distinctive affirmation was but a\ndenial. He believed what he saw with his eyes, touched with his fingers,\ntasted with his tongue. He never saw, felt, nor tasted immortal life; he\nhad no belief therein. There was once a heathen Sadducee who said, \"My\nright arm is my God!\"\n\nThere was likewise a party of Come-outers. They despaired of the State\nand the Church too, and turned off into the wilderness, \"where the wild\nasses quench their thirst,\" building up their organizations free, as\nthey hoped, from all ancient tyrannies. The Bible says nothing directly\nof these men in its canonical books. It is a curious omission; but two\nJews, each acquainted with foreign writers, Josephus and Philo, give an\naccount of these. These were the Essenes, an ascetic sect, hostile to\nmarriage, at least, many of them, who lived in a sort of association by\nthemselves, and had all things in common.\n\nThe Pharisees and the Sadducees had no great living and ruling ideas;\nnone I mean which represented man, his hopes, wishes, affections, his\naspirations and power of progress. That is no very rare case, perhaps,\nyou will say, for a party in the Church or the State to have no such\nideas, but they had not even a plausible substitute for such ideas. They\nseemed to have no faith in man, in his divine nature, his power of\nimprovement. The Essenes had ideas; had a positive belief; had faith in\nman, but it was weakened in a great measure by their machinery. They,\nlike the Pharisee and the Sadducee, were imprisoned in their\norganization, and probably saw no good out of their own party lines.\n\nIt is a plain thing that no one of these three parties would accept,\nacknowledge, or even perceive the greatness of Jesus of Nazareth. His\nideas were not their notions. He was not the man they were looking for;\nnot at all the Messiah, the anointed one of God, which they wanted. The\nSadducee expected no new great man unless it was a Roman quaestor, or\nprocurator; the Pharisees looked for a Pharisee stricter than Gamaliel;\nthe Essenes for an Ascetic. It is so now. Some seem to think that if\nJesus were to come back to the earth, he would preach Unitarian\nsermons, from a text out of the Bible, and prove his divine mission and\nthe everlasting truths, the truths of necessity that he taught, in the\nUnitarian way, by telling of the miracles he wrought eighteen hundred\nyears ago; that he would prove the immortality of the soul by the fact\nof his own corporeal resurrection. Others seem to think that he would\ndeliver homilies of a severer character; would rate men roundly about\ntotal depravity, and tell of unconditional election, salvation without\nworks, and imputed righteousness, and talk of hell till the women and\nchildren fainted, and the knees of men smote together for trembling.\nPerhaps both would be mistaken.\n\nSo it was then. All these three classes of men, imprisoned in their\nprejudices and superstitions, were hostile. The Pharisees said, \"We know\nthat God spake unto Moses; but as for this fellow, we know not whence he\nis. He blasphemeth Moses and the prophets; yea, he hath a devil, and is\nmad, why hear him?\" The Sadducees complained that \"he stirred up the\npeople;\" so he did. The Essenes, no doubt, would have it that he was \"a\ngluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.\"\nTried by these three standards, the judgment was true; what could he do\nto please these three parties? Nothing! nothing that he would do. So\nthey hated him; all hated him, and sought to destroy him. The cause is\nplain. He was so deep they could not see his profoundness; too high for\ntheir comprehension; too far before them for their sympathy. He was not\nthe great man of the day. He found all organizations against him; Church\nand State. Even John the Baptist, a real prophet, but not the prophet,\ndoubted if Jesus was the one to be followed. If Jesus had spoken for the\nPharisees, they would have accepted his speech and the speaker too. Had\nhe favored the Sadducees, he had been a great man in their camp, and\nHerod would gladly have poured wine for the eloquent Galilean, and have\nsatisfied the carpenter's son with purple and fine linen. Had he praised\nthe Essenes, uttering their Shibboleth, they also would have paid him\nhis price, have made him the head of their association perhaps, at\nleast, have honored him in their way. He spoke for none of these. Why\nshould they honor or even tolerate him? It were strange had they done\nso. Was it through any fault or deficiency of Jesus, that these men\nrefused him? quite the reverse. The rain falls and the sun shines on the\nevil and the good; the work of infinite power, wisdom and goodness is\nbefore all men, revealing the invisible things, yet the fool hath said,\nay, said in his heart, \"There is no God!\"\n\nJesus spoke not for the prejudices of such, and therefore they rejected\nhim. But as he spoke truths for man, truths from God, truths adapted to\nman's condition there, to man's condition everywhere and always, when\nthe Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes went away, their lips curling\nwith scorn; when they gnashed on one another with their teeth, there\nwere noble men and humble women, who had long awaited the consolation of\nIsrael, and they heard him, heard him gladly. Yes, they left all to\nfollow him. Him! no, it was not him they followed; it was God in him\nthey obeyed, the God of truth, the God of love.\n\nThere were men not counted in the organized sects; men weary of\nabsurdities; thirsting for the truth; sick, they knew not why nor of\nwhat, yet none the less sick, and waiting for the angel who should heal\nthem, though by troubled waters and remedies unknown. These men had not\nthe prejudices of a straightly organized and narrow sect. Perhaps they\nhad not its knowledge, or its good manners. They were \"unlearned and\nignorant men,\" those early followers of Christ. Nay, Jesus himself had\nno extraordinary culture, as the world judges of such things. His\ntownsmen wondered, on a famous occasion, how he had learned to read. He\nknew little of theologies, it would seem; the better for him, perhaps.\nNo doubt the better for us that he insisted on none. He knew they were\nnot religion. The men of Galilee did not need theology. The youngest\nscribe in the humblest theological school at Jerusalem, if such a thing\nwere in those days, could have furnished theology enough to believe in\na life-time. They did need religion; they did see it as Jesus unfolded\nits loveliness; they did welcome it when they saw; welcome it in their\nhearts.\n\nIf I were a poet as some are born, and skilled to paint with words what\nshall stand out as real, to live before the eye, and then dwell in the\naffectionate memory for ever, I would tell of the audience which heard\nthe Sermon on the mount, which listened to the parables, the rebukes,\nthe beautiful beatitudes. They were plain men, and humble women; many of\nthem foolish like you and me; some of them sinners. But they all had\nhearts; had souls, all of them--hearts made to love, souls expectant of\ntruth. When he spoke, some said, no doubt, \"That is a new thing, that\nThe true worshipper shall worship in spirit and in truth, as well here\nas in Jerusalem, now as well as any time; that also is a hard saying,\nLove your enemies; forgive them, though seventy times seven they smite\nand offend you; that notion that the law and the prophets are contained,\nall that is essentially religious thereof, in one precept, Love men as\nyourself, and God with all your might. This differs a good deal from the\nPharisaic orthodoxy of the synagogue. That is a bold thing, presumptuous\nand revolutionary to say, I am greater than the temple, wiser than\nSolomon, a better symbol of God than both.\" But there was something\ndeeper than Jewish orthodoxy in their hearts; something that Jewish\northodoxy could not satisfy, and what was yet more troublesome to\necclesiastical guides, something that Jewish orthodoxy could not keep\ndown, nor even cover up. Sinners were converted at his reproof. They\nfelt he rebuked whom he loved. Yet his pictures of sin and sinners too,\nwere any thing but flattering. There was small comfort in them. Still it\nwas not the publicans and harlots who laid their hands on the place\nwhere their hearts should be, saying, \"You hurt our feelings,\" and \"we\ncan't bear you!\" Nay, they pondered his words, repenting in tears. He\nshowed them their sin; its cause, its consequence, its cure. To them he\ncame as a Saviour, and they said, \"Thou art well-come,\" those penitent\nMagdalens weeping at his feet.\n\nIt would be curious could we know the mingled emotions that swayed the\ncrowd which rolled up around Jesus, following him, as the tides obey the\nmoon, wherever he went; curious to see how faces looked doubtful at\nfirst as he began to speak at Tabor or Gennesareth, Capernaum or\nGischala, then how the countenance of some lowered and grew black with\nthunder suppressed but cherished, while the face of others shone as a\nbranch of stars seen through some disparted cloud in a night of fitful\nstorms, a moment seen and then withdrawn. It were curious to see how\ngradually many discordant feelings, passion, prejudice and pride were\nhushed before the tide of melodious religion he poured out around him,\nbaptizing anew saint and sinner, and old and young, into one brotherhood\nof a common soul, into one immortal service of the universal God; to see\nhow this young Hebrew maid, deep-hearted, sensitive, enthusiastic,\nself-renouncing, intuitive of heavenly truth, rich as a young vine, with\nclustering affections just purpling into ripeness,--how she seized,\nfirst and all at once, the fair ideal, and with generous bosom\nconfidingly embraced it too; how that old man, gray-bearded, with\nbaldness on his head, full of precepts and precedents, the lore of his\nfathers, the experience of a hard life, logical, slow, calculating,\ndistrustful, remembering much and fearing much, but hoping little,\nconfiding only in the fixed, his reverence for the old deepening as he\nhimself became of less use,--to see how he received the glad\ninspirations of the joiner's son, and wondering felt his youth steal\nslowly back upon his heart, reviving aspirations, long ago forgot, and\nthen the crimson tide of early hope come gushing, tingling on through\nevery limb; to see how the young man halting between principle and\npassion, not yet petrified into worldliness, but struggling, uncertain,\nhalf reluctant, with those two serpents, Custom and Desire, that\nbeautifully twined about his arms and breast and neck, their wormy\nfolds, concealing underneath their burnished scales the dragon's awful\nstrength, the viper's poison fang, the poor youth caressing their snaky\ncrests, and toying with their tongues of flame--to see how he slowly,\nreluctantly, amid great questionings of heart, drank in the words of\ntruth, and then, obedient to the angel in his heart, shook off, as ropes\nof sand, that hideous coil and trod the serpents underneath his feet.\nAll this, it were curious, ay, instructive too, could we but see.\n\nThey heard him with welcome various as their life. The old men said, \"It\nis Moses or Elias; it is Jeremiah, one of the old prophets arisen from\nthe dead, for God makes none such, now-a-days, in the sterile dotage of\nmankind.\" The young men and maidens doubtless it was that said, \"This is\nthe Christ; the desire of the nations; the hope of the world, the great\nnew prophet; the Son of David; the Son of Man; yes, the Son of God. He\nshall be our king.\" Human nature is loyal, and follows its king soon as\nit knows him. Poor lost sheep! the children of men look always for their\nguide, though so often they look in vain.\n\nHow he spoke, words deep and piercing; rebukes for the wicked, doubly\nrebuking, because felt to have come out from a great, deep, loving\nheart. His first word was, perhaps, \"Repent,\" but with the assurance\nthat the kingdom of God was here and now, within reach of all. How his\ndoctrines, those great truths of nature, commended themselves to the\nheart of each, of all simple-souled men looking for the truth! He spoke\nout of his experience; of course into theirs. He spoke great doctrines,\ntruths vast as the soul, eternal as God, winged with beauty from the\nloveliness of his own life. Had he spoken for the Jews alone, his words\nhad perished with that people; for that time barely, the echo of his\nname had died away in his native hamlet; for the Pharisees, the\nSadducees, the Essence, you and I had heard of him but as a Rabbi; nay,\nhad never been blest by him at all. Words for a nation, an age, a sect,\nare of use in their place, yet they soon come to nought. But as he spoke\nfor eternity, his truths ride on the wings of time; as he spoke for man,\nthey are welcome, beautiful and blessing, wherever man is found, and so\nmust be till man and time shall cease.\n\nHe looked not back, as the Pharisee, save for illustrations and\nexamples. He looked forward for his direction. He looked around for his\nwork. There it lay, the harvest plenteous, the laborers few. It is\nalways so. He looked not to men for his idea, his word to speak; as\nlittle for their applause. He looked in to God, for guidance, wisdom,\nstrength, and as water in the wilderness, at the stroke of Moses, in the\nHebrew legend, so inspiration came at his call, a mighty stream of truth\nfor the nation, faint, feeble, afraid, and wandering for the promised\nland; drink for the thirsty, and cleansing for the unclean.\n\nBut he met opposition; O, yes, enough of it. How could it be otherwise?\nIt must be so. The very soul of peace, he brought a sword. His word was\na consuming fire. The Pharisees wanted to be applauded, commended; to\nhave their sect, their plans, their traditions praised and flattered.\nHis word to them was, \"Repent;\" of them, to the people, \"Such\nrighteousness admits no man to the kingdom of heaven; they are a\ndeceitful prophecy, blind guides, hypocrites; not sons of Abraham, but\nchildren of the devil.\" They could not bear him; no wonder at it. He was\nthe aggressor; had carried the war into the very heart of their system.\nThey turned out of their company a man whose blindness he healed,\nbecause he confessed that fact. They made a law that all who believed on\nhim, should also be cast out. Well they might hate him, those old\nPharisees. His existence was their reproach; his preaching their trial;\nhis life with its outward goodness, his piety within, was their\ncondemnation. The man was their ruin, and they knew it. The cunning can\nsee their own danger, but it is only men wise in mind, or men simple of\nheart, that can see their real, permanent safety and defence; never the\ncunning, neither then, neither now.\n\nJesus looked to God for his truth, his great doctrines not his own,\nprivate, personal, depending on his idiosyncracies, and therefore only\nsubjectively true,--but God's, universal, everlasting, the absolute\nreligion. I do not know that he did not teach some errors also, along\nwith it. I care not if he did. It is by his truths that I know him, the\nabsolute religion he taught and lived; by his highest sentiments that\nhe is to be appreciated. He had faith in God and obeyed God; hence his\ninspiration, great, in proportion to the greater endowment, moral and\nreligious, which God gave him, great likewise in proportion to his\nperfect obedience. He had faith in man none the less. Who ever yet had\nfaith in God that had none in man? I know not. Surely no inspired\nprophet. As Jesus had faith in man, so he spoke to men. Never yet, in\nthe wide world, did a prophet arise, appealing with a noble heart and a\nnoble life to the soul of goodness in man, but that soul answered to the\ncall. It was so most eminently with Jesus. The Scribes and Pharisees\ncould not understand by what authority he taught. Poor Pharisees! how\ncould they? His phylacteries were no broader than those of another man;\nnay, perhaps he had no phylacteries at all, nor even a broad-bordered\ngarment. Men did not salute him in the market-place, sandals in hand,\nwith their \"Rabbi! Rabbi!\" Could such men understand by what authority\nhe taught? no more than they dared answer his questions. They that knew\nhim, felt he had authority quite other than that claimed by the Scribes;\nthe authority of true words, the authority of a noble life; yes, the\nauthority which God gives a great moral and religious man. God delegates\nauthority to men just in proportion to their power of truth, and their\npower of goodness; to their being and their life. So God spoke in\nJesus, as he taught the perfect religion, anticipated, developed, but\nnever yet transcended.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThis then was the relation of Jesus to his age: the sectarians cursed\nhim; cursed him by their gods; rejected him, abused him, persecuted him;\nsought his life. Yes, they condemned him in the name of God. All evil\nsays the proverb, begins in that name; much continues to claim it. The\nreligionists, the sects, the sectarian leaders rejected him, condemned\nand slew him at the last, hanging his body on a tree. Poor priests of\nthe people, they hoped thereby to stifle that awful soul! they only\nstilled the body; that soul spoke with a thousand tongues. So in the\ntimes of old when the Saturnian day began to dawn, it might be fabled\nthat the old Titanic race, lovers of darkness and haters of the light,\nessayed to bar the rising morning from the world, and so heaped Pelion\nupon Ossa, and Olympus on Pelion; but first the day sent up his crimson\nflush upon the cloud, and then his saffron tinge, and next the sun came\npeering o'er the loftiest height, magnificently fair--and down the\nmountain's slanting ridge poured the intolerable day; meanwhile those\ntriple hills, laboriously piled, came toppling, tumbling down, with\nlumbering crush, and underneath their ruin hid the helpless giants'\ngrave. So was it with men who sat in Moses' seat. But this people, that\n\"knew not the Law,\" and were counted therefore accursed, they welcomed\nJesus as they never welcomed the Pharisee, the Sadducee or the Scribe.\nAy, hence were their tears. The hierarchical fire burnt not so bright\ncontrasted with the sun. That people had a Simon Peter, a James, and a\nJohn, men not free from faults no doubt, the record shows it, but with\nhearts in their bosoms, which could be kindled, and then could light\nother hearts. Better still, there were Marthas and Marys among that\npeople who \"knew not the law\" and were cursed. They were the mothers of\nmany a church.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe character of Jesus has not changed; his doctrines are still the\nsame; but what a change in his relation to the age, nay to the ages. The\nstone that the builders rejected is indeed become the head of the\ncorner, and its foundation too. He is worshipped as a God. That is the\nrank assigned him by all but a fraction of the Christian world. It is no\nwonder. Good men worship the best thing they know, and call it God. What\nwas taught to the mass of men, in those days, better than the character\nof Christ? Should they rather worship the Grecian Jove, or the Jehovah\nof the Jews? To me it seems the moral attainment of Jesus was above the\nhierarchical conception of God, as taught at Athens, Rome, Jerusalem.\nJesus was the prince of peace, the king of truth, praying for his\nenemies--\"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!\" The\nJehovah of the Old Testament, was awful and stern, a man of war, hating\nthe wicked. The sacerdotal conception of God at Rome and Athens was\nlower yet. No wonder then, that men soon learned to honor Jesus as a\nGod, and then as God himself. Apostolical and other legends tell of his\ndivine birth, his wondrous power that healed the sick, palsied and\ncrippled, deaf and dumb and blind; created bread; turned water into\nwine, and bid obedient devils come and go, a power that raised the dead.\nThey tell that nature felt with him, and at his death the strongly\nsympathizing sun paused at high noon, and for three hours withheld the\nday; that rocks were rent, and opening graves gave up their sainted\ndead, who trod once more the streets of Zion, the first fruits of them\nthat slept; they tell too how disappointed Death gave back his prey, and\nspirit-like, Jesus restored, in flesh and shape the same, passed through\nthe doors shut up, and in a bodily form was taken up to heaven before\nthe face of men! Believe men of these things as they will. To me they\nare not truth and fact, but mythic symbols and poetry; the psalm of\npraise with which the world's rude heart extols and magnifies its King.\nIt is for his truth and his life, his wisdom, goodness, piety, that he\nis honored in my heart; yes, in the world's heart. It is for this that\nin his name churches are built, and prayers are prayed; for this that\nthe best things we know, we honor with his name.\n\nHe is the greatest person of the ages; the proudest achievement of the\nhuman race. He taught the absolute religion, love to God and man. That\nGod has yet greater men in store I doubt not; to say this is not to\ndetract from the majestic character of Christ, but to affirm the\nomnipotence of God. When they come, the old contest will be renewed, the\nliving prophet stoned; the dead one worshipped. Be that as it may, there\nare duties he teaches us far different from those most commonly taught.\nHe was the greatest fact in the whole history of man. Had he conformed\nto what was told him of men; had he counselled only with flesh and\nblood; he had been nothing but a poor Jew--the world had lost that rich\nendowment of religious genius, that richest treasure of religious life,\nthe glad tidings of the one religion, absolute and true. What if he had\nsaid, as others, \"None can be greater than Moses, none so great?\" He had\nbeen a dwarf; the spirit of God had faded from his soul! But he\nconferred with God, not men; took counsel of his hopes, not his fears.\nWorking for men, with men, by men, trusting in God, and pure as truth,\nhe was not scared at the little din of church or state, and trembled\nnot, though Pilate and Herod were made friends only to crucify him that\nwas a born King of the world. Methinks I hear that lofty spirit say to\nyou or me, poor brother, fear not, nor despair. The goodness actual in\nme is possible for all. God is near thee now as then to me; rich as ever\nin truth, as able to create, as willing to inspire. Daily and nightly He\nshowers down his infinitude of light. Open thine eyes to see, thy heart\nto live. Lo, God is here.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nTHE TRUE IDEA OF A CHRISTIAN CHURCH.--A DISCOURSE AT THE INSTALLATION OF\nTHEODORE PARKER AS MINISTER OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH\nIN BOSTON, JANUARY 4, 1846.\n\n\nFor nearly a year we have assembled within these walls from week to\nweek,--I think not idly; I know you have not come for any trivial end.\nYou have recently made a formal organization of yourselves for religious\naction. To-day, at your request, I enter regularly on a ministry in the\nmidst of you. What are we doing; what do we design to do? We are here to\nestablish a Christian church; and a Christian church, as I understand\nit, is a body of men and women united together in a common desire of\nreligious excellence and with a common regard for Jesus of Nazareth,\nregarding him as the noblest example of morality and religion,--as the\nmodel, therefore, in this respect for us. Such a church may have many\nrites, as our Catholic brothers, or but few rites, as our Protestant\nbrothers, or no rites at all, as our brothers, the Friends. It may be,\nnevertheless, a Christian church; for the essential of substance, which\nmakes it a religious body, is the union for the purpose of cultivating\nlove to God and man; and the essential of form, which makes it a\nChristian body, is the common regard for Jesus, considered as the\nhighest representative of God that we know. It is not the form, either\nof ritual or of doctrine, but the spirit which constitutes a Christian\nchurch. A staff may sustain an old man, or a young man may bear it in\nhis hands as a toy, but walking is walking, though the man have no staff\nfor ornament or support. A Christian spirit may exist under rituals and\ndoctrines the most diverse. It were hard to say a man is not a\nChristian, because he believes in the doctrine of the Trinity, or the\nPope, while Jesus taught no such doctrine; foolish to say one is no\nChristian because he denies the existence of a Devil, though Jesus\nbelieved it. To make a man's Christian name depend on a belief of all\nthat is related by the numerous writers in the Bible, is as absurd as to\nmake that depend on a belief in all the words of Luther, or Calvin, or\nSt. Augustine. It is not for me to say a man is not theoretically a\nChristian because he believes that Slavery is a Divine and Christian\ninstitution; that War is grateful to God--saying, with the Old\nTestament, that God himself \"is a man of war,\" who teaches men to fight,\nand curses such as refuse;--or because he believes that all men are\nborn totally depraved, and the greater part of them are to be damned\neverlastingly by \"a jealous God,\" who is \"angry with the wicked every\nday,\" and that the few are to be \"saved\" only because God unjustly\npunished an innocent man for their sake. I will not say a man is not a\nChristian though he believe all the melancholy things related of God in\nsome parts of the Old Testament, yet I know few doctrines so hostile to\nreal religion as these have proved themselves. In our day it has\nstrangely come to pass that a little sect, themselves hooted at and\ncalled \"Infidels\" by the rest of Christendom, deny the name of Christian\nto such as publicly reject the miracles of the Bible. Time will\ndoubtless correct this error. Fire is fire, and ashes ashes, say what we\nmay; each will work after its kind. Now if Christianity be the absolute\nreligion, it must allow all beliefs that are true, and it may exist and\nbe developed in connection with all forms consistent with the absolute\nreligion, and the degree thereof represented by Jesus.\n\nThe action of a Christian church seems to be twofold: first on its own\nmembers, and then, through their means, on others out of its pale. Let a\nword be said of each in its order. If I were to ask you why you came\nhere to-day; why you have often come to this house hitherto?--the\nserious amongst you would say: That we might become better; more manly;\nupright before God and downright before men; that we might be\nChristians, men good and pious after the fashion Jesus spoke of. The\nfirst design of such a church then is to help ourselves become\nChristians. Now the substance of Christianity is Piety--Love to God, and\nGoodness--Love to men. It is a religion, the germs whereof are born in\nyour heart, appearing in your earliest childhood; which are developed\njust in proportion as you become a man, and are indeed the standard\nmeasure of your life. As the primeval rock lies at the bottom of the sea\nand appears at the top of the loftiest mountains, so in a finished\ncharacter religion underlies all and crowns all. Christianity, to be\nperfect and entire, demands a complete manliness; the development of the\nwhole man, mind, conscience, heart and soul. It aims not to destroy the\nsacred peculiarities of individual character. It cherishes and develops\nthem in their perfection, leaving Paul to be Paul, not Peter, and John\nto be John, not Jude nor James. We are born different, into a world\nwhere unlike things are gathered together, that there may be a special\nwork for each. Christianity respects this diversity in men, aiming not\nto undo but further God's will; not fashioning all men after one\npattern, to think alike, act alike, be alike, even look alike. It is\nsomething far other than Christianity which demands that. A Christian\nchurch then should put no fetters on the man; it should have unity of\npurpose, but with the most entire freedom for the individual. When you\nsacrifice the man to the mass in church or state, church or state\nbecomes an offence, a stumbling-block in the way of progress, and must\nend or mend. The greater the variety of individualities in church or\nstate, the better is it, so long as all are really manly, humane and\naccordant. A church must needs be partial, not catholic, where all men\nthink alike, narrow and little. Your church-organ, to have compass and\nvolume, must have pipes of various sound, and the skilful artist\ndestroys none, but tunes them all to harmony; if otherwise, he does not\nunderstand his work. In becoming Christians let us not cease to be men;\nnay, we cannot be Christians unless we are men first. It were\nunchristian to love Christianity better than the truth, or Christ better\nthan man.\n\nBut Christianity is not only the absolute religion; it has also the\nideal-man. In Jesus of Nazareth it gives us, in a certain sense, the\nmodel of religious excellence. It is a great thing to have the perfect\nidea of religion; to have also that idea made real, satisfactory to the\nwants of any age, were a yet further greatness. A Christian church\nshould aim to have its members Christians as Jesus was the Christ; sons\nof man as he was; sons of God as much as he. To be that it is not\nneedful to observe all the forms he complied with, only such forms as\nhelp you; not needful to have all the thoughts that he had, only such\nthoughts as are true. If Jesus were ever mistaken, as the Evangelists\nmake it appear, then it is a part of Christianity to avoid his mistakes\nas well as to accept his truths. It is the part of a Christian church to\nteach men so; to stop at no man's limitations; to prize no word so high\nas truth; no man so dear as God. Jesus came not to fetter men, but free\nthem.\n\nJesus is a model-man in this respect: that he stands in a true relation\nto men, that of forgiveness for their ill-treatment, service for their\nneeds, trust in their nature, and constant love towards them,--towards\neven the wicked and hypocritical; in a true relation to God, that of\nentire obedience to Him, of perfect trust in Him, of love towards Him\nwith the whole mind, heart and soul; and love of God is also love of\ntruth, goodness, usefulness, love of Love itself. Obedience to God and\ntrust in God is obedience to these things, and trust in them. If Jesus\nhad loved any opinion better than truth, then had he lost that relation\nto God, and so far ceased to be inspired by Him; had he allowed any\npartial feeling to overcome the spirit of universal love, then also he\nhad sundered himself from God, and been at discord, not in harmony with\nthe Infinite.\n\nIf Jesus be the model-man, then should a Christian church teach its\nmembers to hold the same relation to God that Christ held; to be one\nwith Him; incarnations of God, as much and as far as Jesus was one with\nGod, and an incarnation thereof, a manifestation of God in the flesh.\nIt is Christian to receive all the truths of the Bible; all the truths\nthat are not in the Bible just as much. It is Christian also to reject\nall the errors that come to us from without the Bible or from within the\nBible. The Christian man, or the Christian church, is to stop at no\nman's limitation; at the limit of no book. God is not dead, nor even\nasleep, but awake and alive as ever of old; He inspires men now no less\nthan beforetime; is ready to fill your mind, heart and soul with truth,\nlove, life, as to fill Moses and Jesus, and that on the same terms; for\ninspiration comes by universal laws, and not by partial exceptions. Each\npoint of spirit, as each atom of space, is still bathed in the tides of\nDeity. But all good men, all Christian men, all inspired men will be no\nmore alike than all wicked men. It is the same light which is blue in\nthe sky and golden in the sun. \"All nature's difference makes all\nnature's peace.\"\n\nWe can attain this relation to man and God only on condition that we are\nfree. If a church cannot allow freedom it were better not to allow\nitself, but cease to be. Unity of purpose, with entire freedom for the\nindividual, should be the motto. It is only free men that can find the\ntruth, love the truth, live the truth. As much freedom as you shut out,\nso much falsehood do you shut in. It is a poor thing to purchase unity\nof church-action at the cost of individual freedom. The Catholic church\ntried it, and you see what came thereof: science forsook it, calling it\na den of lies. Morality forsook it, as the mystery of iniquity, and\nreligion herself protested against it, as the mother of abominations.\nThe Protestant churches are trying the same thing, and see whither they\ntend and what foes rise up against them,--Philosophy with its Bible of\nnature, and Religion with its Bible of man, both the hand-writing of\nGod. The great problem of church and state is this: To produce unity of\naction and yet leave individual freedom not disturbed; to balance into\nharmonious proportions the mass and the man, the centripetal and\ncentrifugal powers, as, by God's wondrous, living mechanism, they are\nbalanced in the worlds above. In the state we have done this more wisely\nthan any nation heretofore. In the churches it remains yet to do. But\nman is equal to all which God appoints for him. His desires are ever\nproportionate to his duty and his destinies. The strong cry of the\nnations for liberty, a craving as of hungry men for bread and water,\nshows what liberty is worth, and what it is destined to do. Allow\nfreedom to think, and there will be truth; freedom to act, and we shall\nhave heroic works; freedom to live and be, and we shall have love to men\nand love to God. The world's history proves that, and our own history.\nJesus, our model-man, was the freest the world ever saw!\n\nLet it be remembered that every truth is of God, and will lead to good\nand good only. Truth is the seed whereof welfare is the fruit; for every\ngrain thereof we plant some one shall reap a whole harvest of welfare. A\nlie is \"of the Devil,\" and must lead to want and woe and death, ending\nat last in a storm where it rains tears and perhaps blood. Have freedom,\nand you will sow new truth to reap its satisfaction; submit to thraldom,\nand you sow lies to reap the death they bear. A Christian church should\nbe the home of the soul, where it enjoys the largest liberty of the sons\nof God. If fettered elsewhere, here let us be free. Christ is the\nliberator; he came not to drive slaves, but to set men free. The\nchurches of old did their greatest work, when there was most freedom in\nthose churches.\n\nHere too should the spirit of devotion be encouraged; the soul of man\ncommuning with his God in aspirations after purity and truth, in\nresolutions for goodness, and piety, and a manly life. These are a\nprayer. The fact that men freely hold truths in common, great truths and\nuniversal; that unitedly they lift up their souls to God seeking\ninstruction of Him, this will prove the strongest bond between man and\nman. It seems to me that the Protestant churches have not fully done\njustice to the sentiment of worship; that in taking care of the head we\nhave forgotten the heart. To think truth is the worship of the head; to\ndo noble works of usefulness and charity the worship of the will; to\nfeel love and trust in man and God, is the glad worship of the heart. A\nChristian church should be broad enough for all; should seek truth and\npromote piety, that both together might toil in good works.\n\nHere should be had the best instruction which can be commanded; the\nfreest, truest, and most manly voice; the mind most conversant with\ntruth; the eloquence of a heart that runs over with goodness, whose\nfaith is unfaltering in truth, justice, purity, and love; a faith in\nGod, whose charity is living love to men, even the sinful and the base.\nTeaching is the breathing of one man's inspiration into another, a most\nreal thing amongst real men. In a church there should be instruction for\nthe young. God appoints the father and mother the natural teachers of\nchildren; above all is it so in their religious culture. But there are\nsome who cannot, many who will not fulfil this trust. Hence it has been\nfound necessary for wise and good men to offer their instruction to\nsuch. In this matter it is religion we need more than theology, and of\nthis it is not mere traditions and mythologies we are to teach, the\nanile tales of a rude people in a dark age, things our pupils will do\nwell to forget soon as they are men, and which they will have small\nreason to thank us for obscuring their minds withal; but it is the\ngreat, everlasting truths of religion which should be taught, enforced\nby examples of noble men, which tradition tells of, or the present age\naffords, all this to be suited to the tender years of the child.\nChristianity should be represented as human, as man's nature in its true\ngreatness; religion shown to be beautiful, a real duty corresponding to\nman's deepest desire, that as religion affords the deepest satisfaction\nto man, so it is man's most universal want. Christ should be shown to\nmen as he was, the manliest of men, the most divine because the most\nhuman. Children should be taught to respect their nature; to consider it\nas the noblest of all God's works; to know that perfect truth and\ngoodness are demanded of them, and by that only can they be worthy men;\ntaught to feel that God is present in Boston and to-day, as much as ever\nin Jerusalem in the time of Jesus. They should be taught to abhor the\npublic sins of our times, but to love and imitate its great examples of\nnobleness, and practical religion, which stand out amid the mob of\nworldly pretenders in this day.\n\nThen, too, if one of our members falls into unworthy ways, is it not the\nduty of some one to speak with him, not as with authority to command,\nbut with affection to persuade? Did any one of you ever address an\nerring brother on the folly of his ways with manly tenderness, and try\nto charm him back, and find a cold repulse? If a man is in error he will\nbe grateful to one that tells him so; will learn most from men who make\nhim ashamed of his littleness of life. In this matter it seems many a\ngood man comes short of his duty.\n\nThere is yet another way in which a church should act on its own\nhousehold, and that is by direct material help in time of need. There is\nthe eternal distinction of the strong and the weak, which cannot be\nchanged. But as things now go there is another inequality not of God's\nappointment, but of man's perversity, the distinction of rich and\npoor--of men bloated by superfluous wealth and men starving and freezing\nfrom want. You know and I know how often the strong abuse their\nstrength, exerting it solely for themselves and to the ruin of the weak;\nwe all know that such are reckoned great in the world, though they may\nhave grown rich solely by clutching at what others earned. In\nChristianity, and before the God of justice, all men are brothers; the\nstrong are so that they may help the weak. As a nation chooses its\nwisest men to manage its affairs for the nation's good, and not barely\ntheir own, so God endows Charles or Samuel with great gifts that they\nmay also bless all men thereby. If they use those powers solely for\ntheir pleasure then are they false before men; false before God. It is\nsaid of the church of the Friends that no one of their number has ever\nreceived the charity of an almshouse, or for a civil offence been shut\nup in a jail. If the poor forsake a church, be sure that the church\nforsook God long before.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut the church must have an action on others out of its pale. If a man\nor a society of men have a truth, they hold it not for themselves alone,\nbut for all men. The solitary thinker, who in a moment of ecstatic\naction in his closet at midnight discovers a truth, discovers it for all\nthe world and for eternity. A Christian church ought to love to see its\ntruths extend; so it should put them in contact with the opinions of the\nworld, not with excess of zeal or lack of charity.\n\nA Christian church should be a means of reforming the world, of forming\nit after the pattern of Christian ideas. It should therefore bring up\nthe sentiments of the times, the ideas of the times, and the actions of\nthe times, to judge them by the universal standard. In this way it will\nlearn much and be a living church, that grows with the advance of men's\nsentiments, ideas and actions, and while it keeps the good of the past\nwill lose no brave spirit of the present day. It can teach much; now\nmoderating the fury of men, then quickening their sluggish steps. We\nexpect the sins of commerce to be winked at in the street; the sins of\nthe state to be applauded on election days and in a Congress, or on the\nfourth of July; we are used to hear them called the righteousness of the\nnation. There they are often measured by the avarice or the ambition of\ngreedy men. You expect them to be tried by passion, which looks only to\nimmediate results and partial ends. Here they are to be measured by\nConscience and Reason, which look to permanent results and universal\nends; to be looked at with reference to the Laws of God, the everlasting\nideas on which alone is based the welfare of the world. Here they are to\nbe examined in the light of Christianity itself. If the church be true,\nmany things which seem gainful in the street and expedient in the\nsenate-house, will here be set down as wrong, and all gain which comes\ntherefrom seen to be but a loss. If there be a public sin in the land,\nif a lie invade the state, it is for the church to give the alarm; it is\nhere that it may war on lies and sins; the more widely they are believed\nin and practised, the more are they deadly, the more to be opposed. Here\nlet no false idea or false action of the public go without exposure and\nrebuke. But let no noble heroism of the times, no noble man pass by\nwithout due honor. If it is a good thing to honor dead saints and the\nheroism of our fathers; it is a better thing to honor the saints of\nto-day, the live heroism of men who do the battle, when that battle is\nall around us. I know a few such saints; here and there a hero of that\nstamp, and I will not wait till they are dead and classic before I call\nthem so and honor them as such, for\n\n    \"To side with truth is noble when we share her wretched crust,\n    Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 'tis prosperous to be just;\n    Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside,\n    Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified,\n    And the multitude make virtue of the faith they once denied;\n    For Humanity sweeps onward; where to-day the martyr stands,\n    On the morrow crouches Judas, with the silver in his hands;\n    Far in front the cross stands ready, and the crackling fagots burn,\n    While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return\n    To glean up the scattered ashes into History's golden urn.\"\n\nDo you not see that if a man have a new truth, it must be reformatory\nand so create an outcry? It will seem destructive as the farmer's\nplough; like that, it is so to tares and thistles, but the herald of the\nharvest none the less. In this way a Christian church should be a\nsociety for promoting true sentiments and ideas. If it would lead, it\nmust go before men; if it would be looked up to, it must stand high.\n\nThat is not all: it should be a society for the promotion of good works.\nWe are all beneath our idea, and therefore transgressors before God. Yet\nHe gives us the rain, the snow and the sun. It falls on me as well as on\nthe field of my neighbor, who is a far juster man. How can we repent,\ncast our own sins behind us, outgrow and forget them better, than by\nhelping others to work out their salvation? We are all brothers before\nGod. Mutually needful we must be; mutually helpful we should be. Here\nare the ignorant that ask our instruction, not with words only, but with\nthe prayer of their darkness, far more suppliant than speech. I never\nsee an ignorant man younger than myself, without a feeling of\nself-reproach, for I ask: \"What have I been doing to suffer him to grow\nup in nakedness of mind?\" Every man, born in New England, who does not\nshare the culture of this age, is a reproach to more than himself, and\nwill at last actively curse those who began by deserting him. The\nChristian church should lead the movement for the public education of\nthe people.\n\nHere are the needy who ask not so much your gold, your bread, or your\ncloth, as they ask also your sympathy, respect and counsel; that you\nassist them to help themselves, that they may have gold won by their\nindustry, not begged out of your benevolence. It is justice more than\ncharity they ask. Every beggar, every pauper, born and bred amongst us,\nis a reproach to us, and condemns our civilization. For how has it come\nto pass that in a land of abundance here are men, for no fault of their\nown, born into want, living in want, and dying of want? and that, while\nwe pretend to a religion which says all men are brothers! There is a\nhorrid wrong somewhere.\n\nHere too are the drunkard, the criminal, the abandoned person, sometimes\nthe foe of society, but far oftener the victim of society. Whence come\nthe tenants of our almshouses, jails, the victims of vice in all our\ntowns? Why, from the lowest rank of the people; from the poorest and\nmost ignorant! Say rather from the most neglected, and the public sin\nis confessed, and the remedy hinted at. What have the strong been doing\nall this while, that the weak have come to such a state? Let them answer\nfor themselves.\n\nNow for all these ought a Christian church to toil. It should be a\nchurch of good works; if it is a church of good faith it will be so.\nDoes not Christianity say the strong should help the weak? Does not that\nmean something? It once did. Has the Christian fire faded out from those\nwords, once so marvellously bright? Look round you, in the streets of\nyour own Boston! See the ignorant, men and women with scarce more than\nthe stature of men and women; boys and girls growing up in ignorance and\nthe low civilization which comes thereof, the barbarians of Boston.\nTheir character will one day be a blot and a curse to the nation, and\nwho is to blame? Why, the ablest and best men, who might have had it\notherwise if they would. Look at the poor, men of small ability, weak by\nnature, born into a weak position, therefore doubly weak; men whom the\nstrong use for their purpose, and then cast them off as we throw away\nthe rind of an orange after we have drunk its generous juice. Behold the\nwicked, so we call the weak men that are publicly caught in the cobweb\nof the law; ask why they became wicked; how we have aimed to reform\nthem; what we have done to make them respect themselves, to believe in\ngoodness, in man and God? and then say if there is not something for\nChristian men to do, something for a Christian church to do! Every\nalmshouse in Massachusetts shows that the churches have not done their\nduty, that the Christians lie lies when they call Jesus \"master\" and men\n\"brothers!\" Every jail is a monument, on which it is writ in letters of\niron that we are still heathens, and the gallows, black and hideous, the\nembodiment of death, the last argument a \"Christian\" State offers to the\npoor wretches it trained up to be criminals, stands there, a sign of our\ninfamy, and while it lifts its horrid arm to crush the life out of some\nmiserable man, whose blood cries to God against Cain in the nineteenth\ncentury, it lifts that same arm as an index of our shame.\n\nIs that all? Oh, no! Did not Jesus say, resist not evil--with evil? Is\nnot war the worst form of that evil; and is there on earth a nation so\ngreedy of war; a nation more reckless of provoking it; one where the\nwar-horse so soon conducts his foolish rider into fame and power? The\n\"Heathen\" Chinese might send their missionaries to America, and teach us\nto love men! Is that all? Far from it. Did not Christ say, whatsoever\nyou would that men should do unto you, do you even so unto them; and are\nthere not three million brothers of yours and mine in bondage here, the\nhopeless sufferers of a savage doom; debarred from the civilization of\nour age, the barbarians of the nineteenth century; shut out from the\npretended religion of Christendom, the heathens of a Christian land;\nchained down from the liberty unalienable in man, the slaves of a\nChristian republic? Does not a cry of indignation ring out from every\nlegislature in the North; does not the press war with its million\nthroats, and a voice of indignation go up from East and West, out from\nthe hearts of freemen? Oh, no. There is none of that cry against the\nmightiest sin of this age. The rock of Plymouth, sanctified by the feet\nwhich led a nation's way to freedom's large estate, provokes no more\nvoice than the rottenest stone in all the mountains of the West. The few\nthat speak a manly word for truth and everlasting right, are called\nfanatics; bid be still, lest they spoil the market! Great God! and has\nit come to this, that men are silent over such a sin? 'Tis even so. Then\nit must be that every church which dares assume the name of Christ, that\ndearest name to men, thunders and lightens on this hideous wrong! That\nis not so. The church is dumb, while the state is only silent; while the\nservants of the people are only asleep, \"God's ministers\" are dead!\n\nIn the midst of all these wrongs and sins, the crimes of men, society\nand the state, amid popular ignorance, pauperism, crime, and war, and\nslavery too--is the church to say nothing, do nothing; nothing for the\ngood of such as feel the wrong, nothing to save them who do the wrong?\nMen tell us so, in word and deed; that way alone is \"safe!\" If I thought\nso, I would never enter the church but once again, and then to bow my\nshoulders to their manliest work, to heave down its strong pillars, arch\nand dome, and roof, and wall, steeple and tower, though like Samson I\nburied myself under the ruins of that temple which profaned the worship\nof God most high, of God most loved. I would do this in the name of man;\nin the name of Christ I would do it; yes, in the dear and blessed name\nof God.\n\nIt seems to me that a church which dares name itself Christian, the\nChurch of the Redeemer, which aspires to be a true church, must set\nitself about all this business, and be not merely a church of theology,\nbut of religion; not of faith only, but of works; a just church by its\nfaith bringing works into life. It should not be a church termagant,\nwhich only peevishly scolds at sin, in its anile way; but a church\nmilitant against every form of evil, which not only censures, but writes\nout on the walls of the world the brave example of a Christian life,\nthat all may take pattern therefrom. Thus only can it become the church\ntriumphant. If a church were to waste less time in building its palaces\nof theological speculation, palaces mainly of straw, and based upon the\nchaff, erecting air-castles and fighting battles to defend those palaces\nof straw, it would surely have more time to use in the practical good\nworks of the day. If it thus made a city free from want and ignorance\nand crime, I know I vent a heresy, I think it would be quite as\nChristian an enterprise, as though it restored all the theology of the\ndark ages; quite as pleasing to God. A good sermon is a good thing, no\ndoubt, but its end is not answered by its being preached; even by its\nbeing listened to and applauded; only by its awakening a deeper life in\nthe hearers. But in the multitude of sermons there is danger lest the\nbare hearing thereof be thought a religious duty, not a means, but an\nend, and so our Christianity vanish in words. What if every Sunday\nafternoon the most pious and manly of our number, who saw fit, resolved\nthemselves into a committee of the whole for practical religion, and\nheld not a formal meeting, but one more free, sometimes for the purpose\nof devotion, the practical work of making ourselves better Christians,\nnearer to one another, and sometimes that we might find means to help\nsuch as needed help, the poor, the ignorant, the intemperate and the\nwicked? Would it not be a work profitable to ourselves, and useful to\nothers weaker than we? For my own part I think there are no ordinances\nof religion like good works; no day too sacred to help my brother in; no\nChristianity like a practical love of God shown by a practical love of\nmen. Christ told us that if we had brought our gift to the very altar,\nand there remembered our brother had cause of complaint against us, we\nmust leave the divine service, and pay the human service first! If my\nbrother be in slavery, in want, in ignorance, in sin, and I can aid him\nand do not, he has much against me, and God can better wait for my\nprayer than my brother for my help!\n\nThe saints of olden time perished at the stake; they hung on gibbets;\nthey agonized upon the rack; they died under the steel of the tormentor.\nIt was the heroism of our fathers' day that swam the unknown seas; froze\nin the woods; starved with want and cold; fought battles with the red\nright hand. It is the sainthood and heroism of our day that toils for\nthe ignorant, the poor, the weak, the oppressed, the wicked. Yes, it is\nour saints and heroes who fight fighting; who contend for the slave, and\nhis master too, for the drunkard, the criminal; yes, for the wicked or\nthe weak in all their forms. It is they that with weapons of heavenly\nproof fight the great battle for the souls of men. Though I detest war\nin each particular fibre of my heart, yet I honor the heroes among our\nfathers who fought with bloody hand; peace-makers in a savage way, they\nwere faithful to the light; the most inspired can be no more, and we,\nwith greater light, do, it may be, far less. I love and venerate the\nsaints of old; men who dared step in front of their age; accepted\nChristianity when it cost something to be a Christian, because it meant\nsomething; they applied Christianity, so far as they knew it, to the\nlies and sins of their times, and won a sudden and a fiery death. But\nthe saints and the heroes of this day, who draw no sword, whose right\nhand is never bloody, who burn in no fires of wood or sulphur, nor\nlanguish briefly on the hasty cross; the saints and heroes who, in a\nworldly world, dare to be men; in an age of conformity and selfishness,\nspeak for Truth and Man, living for noble aims; men who will swear to no\nlies howsoever popular; who will honor no sins, though never so\nprofitable, respected and ancient; men who count Christ not their\nmaster, but teacher, friend, brother, and strive like him to practise\nall they pray; to incarnate and make real the Word of God, these men I\nhonor far more than the saints of old. I know their trials, I see their\ndangers, I appreciate their sufferings, and since the day when the man\non Calvary bowed his head, bidding persecution farewell with his\n\"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,\" I find no such\nsaints and heroes as live now! They win hard fare, and hard toil. They\nlay up shame and obloquy. Theirs is the most painful of martyrdoms.\nRacks and fagots soon waft the soul of God, stern messengers but swift.\nA boy could bear that passage, the martyrdom of death. But the\ntemptation of a long life of neglect, and scorn, and obloquy, and shame,\nand want, and desertion by false friends; to live blameless though\nblamed, cut off from human sympathy, that is the martyrdom of to-day. I\nshed no tears for such martyrs. I shout when I see one; I take courage\nand thank God for the real saints, prophets and heroes of to-day. In\nanother age, men shall be proud of these puritans and pilgrims of this\nday. Churches shall glory in their names and celebrate their praise in\nsermon and in song. Yea, though now men would steal the rusty sword from\nunderneath the bones of a saint or hero long deceased, to smite off\ntherewith the head of a new prophet, that ancient hero's son; though\nthey would gladly crush the heart out of him with the tomb-stones they\npiled up for great men, dead and honored now, yet in some future day,\nthat mob, penitent, baptized with a new spirit, like drunken men\nreturned to sanity once more, shall search through all this land for\nmarble white enough to build a monument to that prophet whom their\nfathers slew; they shall seek through all the world for gold of fineness\nfit to chronicle such names! I cannot wait; but I will honor such men\nnow, not adjourn the warning of their voice, and the glory of their\nexample, till another age! The church may cast out such men; burn them\nwith the torments of an age too refined in its cruelty to use coarse\nfagots and the vulgar axe! It is no less to these men; but the ruin of\nthe church. I say the Christian church of the nineteenth century must\nhonor such men, if it would do a church's work; must take pains to make\nsuch men as these, or it is a dead church, with no claim on us, except\nthat we bury it. A true church will always be the church of martyrs. The\nancients commenced every great work with a victim! We do not call it so;\nbut the sacrifice is demanded, got ready, and offered by unconscious\npriests long ere the enterprise succeeds. Did not Christianity begin\nwith a martyrdom?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn this way, by gaining all the truth of the age in thought or action,\nby trying public opinions with its own brave ideas, by promoting good\nworks, applying a new truth to an old error, and with unpopular\nrighteousness overcoming each popular sin, the Christian church should\nlead the civilization of the age. The leader looks before, goes before,\nand knows where he is going; knows the way thither. It is only on this\ncondition that he leads at all. If the church by looking after truth,\nand receiving it when it comes, be in unison with God, it will be in\nunison with all science, which is only the thought of God translated\nfrom the facts of nature into the words of men. In such a case, the\nchurch will not fear philosophy, nor in the face of modern science aim\nto reestablish the dreams and fables of a ruder day. It will not lack\nnew truth, daring only to quote, nor be obliged to sneak behind the\ninspired words of old saints as its only fortress, for it will have\nwords just as truly inspired, dropping from the golden mouths of saints\nand prophets now. For leaders it will look not back, but forth; will fan\nthe first faint sparkles of that noble fire just newly kindled from the\nskies; not smother them in the ashes of fires long spent; not quench\nthem with holy water from Jordan or the Nile. A church truly Christian,\nprofessing Christ as its model-man, and aiming to stand in the relation\nhe stood, must lead the way in moral enterprises, in every work which\naims directly at the welfare of man. There was a time when the Christian\nchurches, as a whole, held that rank. Do they now? Not even the\nQuakers--perhaps the last sect that abandoned it. A prophet, filled with\nlove of man and love of God, is not therein at home. I speak a sad\ntruth, and I say it in sorrow. But look at the churches of this city: do\nthey lead the Christian movements of this city--the temperance movement,\nthe peace movement, the movement for the freedom of men, for education,\nthe movement to make society more just, more wise and good, the great\nreligious movement of these times--for, hold down our eyelids as we\nwill, there is a religious movement at this day on foot, such as even\nNew England never saw before;--do they lead in these things? Oh, no, not\nat all. That great Christian orator, one of the noblest men New England\nhas seen in this century, whose word has even now gone forth to the\nnations beyond the sea, while his spirit has gone home to his Father,\nwhen he turned his attention to the practical evils of our time and our\nland, and our civilization, vigorously applying Christianity to life,\nwhy he lost favor in his own little sect! They feared him, soon as his\nspirit looked over their narrow walls, aspiring to lead men to a better\nwork. I know men can now make sectarian capital out of the great name of\nChanning, so he is praised; perhaps praised loudest by the very men who\nthen cursed him by their gods. Ay, by their gods he was accursed! The\nchurches lead the Christian movements of these times?--why, has there\nnot just been driven out of this city, and out of this State, a man\nconspicuous in all these movements, after five and twenty years of noble\ntoil; driven out because he was conspicuous in them! You know it is so,\nand you know how and by whom he is thus driven out![1]\n\nChristianity is humanity; Christ is the Son of man; the manliest of men;\nhumane as a woman; pious and hopeful as a prayer; but brave as man's\nmost daring thought. He has led the world in morals and religion for\neighteen hundred years, only because he was the manliest man in it; the\nhumanest and bravest man in it, and hence the divinest. He may lead it\neighteen hundred years more, for we are bid believe that God can never\nmake again a greater man; no, none so great. But the churches do not\nlead men therein, for they have not his spirit; neither that womanliness\nwhich wept over Jerusalem, nor that manliness which drew down fire\nenough from heaven to light the world's altars for well-nigh two\nthousand years.\n\nThere are many ways in which Christ may be denied:--one is that of the\nbold blasphemer, who, out of a base and haughty heart mocks, scoffing at\nthat manly man, and spits upon the nobleness of Christ! There are few\nsuch deniers: my heart mourns for them. But they do little harm.\nReligion is so dear to men, no scoffing word can silence that, and the\nbrave soul of this young Nazarene has made itself so deeply felt that\nscorn and mockery of him are but an icicle held up against the summer's\nsun. There is another way to deny him, and that is:--to call him Lord,\nand never do his bidding; to stifle free minds with his words; and with\nthe authority of his name to cloak, to mantle, screen and consecrate the\nfollies, errors, sins of men! From this we have much to fear.\n\nThe church that is to lead this century will not be a church creeping on\nall fours; mewling and whining, its face turned down, its eyes turned\nback. It must be full of the brave, manly spirit of the day, keeping\nalso the good of times past. There is a terrific energy in this age, for\nman was never so much developed, so much the master of himself before.\nGreat truths, moral and political, have come to light. They fly quickly.\nThe iron prophet of types publishes his visions, of weal or woe, to the\nnear and far. This marvellous age has invented steam, and the magnetic\ntelegraph, apt symbols of itself, before which the miracles of fable are\nbut an idle tale. It demands, as never before, freedom for itself,\nusefulness in its institutions; truth in its teachings, and beauty in\nits deeds. Let a church have that freedom, that usefulness, truth, and\nbeauty, and the energy of this age will be on its side. But the church\nwhich did for the fifth century, or the fifteenth, will not do for this.\nWhat is well enough at Rome, Oxford or Berlin, is not well enough for\nBoston. It must have our ideas, the smell of our ground, and have grown\nout of the religion in our soul. The freedom of America must be there\nbefore this energy will come; the wisdom of the nineteenth century\nbefore its science will be on the churches' side, else that science will\ngo over to the \"infidels.\"\n\nOur churches are not in harmony with what is best in the present age.\nMen call their temples after their old heroes and saints--John, Paul,\nPeter, and the like. But we call nothing else after the old names; a\nschool of philosophy would be condemned if called Aristotelian,\nPlatonic, or even Baconian. We out-travel the past in all but this. In\nthe church it seems taught there is no progress unless we have all the\npast on our back; so we despair of having men fit to call churches by.\nWe look back and not forward. We think the next saint must talk Hebrew\nlike the old ones, and repeat the same mythology. So when a new prophet\ncomes we only stone him.\n\nA church that believes only in past inspiration will appeal to old books\nas the standard of truth and source of light; will be antiquarian in its\nhabits; will call its children by the old names; and war on the new age,\nnot understanding the man-child born to rule the world. A church that\nbelieves in inspiration now will appeal to God; try things by reason and\nconscience; aim to surpass the old heroes; baptize its children with a\nnew spirit, and using the present age will lead public opinion, and not\nfollow it. Had Christ looked back for counsel, he might have founded a\nchurch fit for Abraham or Isaac to worship in, not for the ages to come,\nor the age then. He that feels he is near to God, does not fear to be\nfar from men; if before, he helps lead them on; if above, to lift them\nup. Let us get all we can from the Hebrews and others of old time, and\nthat is much; but still let us be God's free men, not the Gibeonites of\nthe past.\n\nLet us have a church that dares imitate the heroism of Jesus; seek\ninspiration as he sought it; judge the past as he; act on the present\nlike him; pray as he prayed; work as he wrought; live as he lived. Let\nour doctrines and our forms fit the soul, as the limbs fit the body,\ngrowing out of it, growing with it. Let us have a church for the whole\nman: truth for the mind; good works for the hands; love for the heart;\nand for the soul, that aspiring after perfection, that unfaltering faith\nin God which, like lightning in the clouds, shines brightest, when\nelsewhere it is most dark. Let our church fit man, as the heavens fit\nthe earth!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn our day men have made great advances in science, commerce,\nmanufactures, in all the arts of life. We need, therefore, a development\nof religion corresponding thereto. The leading minds of the age ask\nfreedom to inquire; not merely to believe, but to know; to rest on\nfacts. A great spiritual movement goes swiftly forward. The best men see\nthat religion is religion; theology is theology, and not religion; that\ntrue religion is a very simple affair, and the popular theology a very\nfoolish one; that the Christianity of Christ is not the Christianity of\nthe street, or the state, or the churches; that Christ is not their\nmodel-man, only \"imputed\" as such. These men wish to apply good sense to\nmatters connected with religion; to apply Christianity to life, and make\nthe world a better place, men and women fitter to live in it. In this\nway they wish to get a theology that is true; a mode of religion that\nworks, and works well. If a church can answer these demands, it will be\na live church; leading the civilization of the times, living with all\nthe mighty life of this age, and nation. Its prayers will be a lifting\nup of the hearts in noble men towards God, in search of truth, goodness,\npiety. Its sacraments will be great works of reform, institutions for\nthe comfort and the culture of men. Let us have a church in which\nreligion, goodness towards men, and piety towards God, shall be the main\nthing; let us have a degree of that suited to the growth and demands of\nthis age. In the middle ages, men had erroneous conceptions of religion,\nno doubt; yet the church led the world. When she wrestled with the\nstate, the state came undermost to the ground. See the results of that\nsupremacy--all over Europe there arose the cloister, halls of learning\nfor the chosen few, minster, dome, cathedral, miracles of art, each\ncosting the wealth of a province. Such was the embodiment of their ideas\nof religion, the prayers of a pious age done in stone, a psalm petrified\nas it rose from the world's mouth; a poor sacrifice, no doubt, but the\nbest they knew how to offer. Now if men were to engage in religion as in\npolitics, commerce, arts; if the absolute religion, the Christianity of\nChrist, were applied to life with all the might of this age, as the\nChristianity of the church was then applied, what a result should we not\nbehold! We should build up a great state with unity in the nation, and\nfreedom in the people; a state where there was honorable work for every\nhand, bread for all mouths, clothing for all backs, culture for every\nmind, and love and faith in every heart. Truth would be our sermon,\ndrawn from the oldest of Scriptures, God's writing there in nature, here\nin man; works of daily duty would be our sacrament; prophets inspired of\nGod would minister the word, and piety send up her psalm of prayer,\nsweet in its notes, and joyfully prolonged. The noblest monument to\nChrist, the fairest trophy of religion, is a noble people, where all are\nwell fed and clad, industrious, free, educated, manly, pious, wise and\ngood.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSome of you may now remember, how ten months and more ago, I first came\nto this house to speak. I shall remember it forever. In those rainy\nSundays the very skies looked dark. Some came doubtingly, uncertain,\nlooking around, and hoping to find courage in another's hope. Others\ncame with clear glad face; openly, joyfully, certain they were right;\nnot fearing to meet the issue; not afraid to be seen meeting it. Some\ncame, perhaps, not used to worship in a church, but not the less welcome\nhere; some mistaking me for a destroyer, a doubter, a denier of all\ntruth, a scoffer, an enemy to man and God! I wonder not at that.\nMisguided men had told you so, in sermon and in song; in words publicly\nprinted and published without shame; in the covert calumny, slyly\nwhispered in the dark! Need I tell you my feelings; how I felt at coming\nto the town made famous by great men, Mayhew, Chauncy, Buckminster,\nKirkland, Holley, Pierpont, Channing, Ware--names dear and honored in my\nboyish heart! Need I tell you how I felt at sight of the work which\nstretched out before me? Do you wonder that I asked: Who is sufficient\nfor these things? and said: Alas, not I, Thou knowest, Lord! But some of\nyou told me you asked not the wisdom of a wiser man, the ability of one\nstronger, but only that I should do what I could. I came, not doubting\nthat I had some truths to say; not distrusting God, nor man, nor you;\ndistrustful only of myself. I feared I had not the power, amid the dust\nand noises of the day, to help you see and hear the great realities of\nreligion as they appeared to me; to help you feel the life of real\nreligion, as in my better moments I have felt its truth! But let that\npass. As I came here from Sunday to Sunday, when I began to feel your\nspirits prayed with mine a prayer for truth and life; as I looked down\ninto your faces, thoughtful and almost breathless, I forgot my\nself-distrust; I saw the time was come; that, feebly as I know I speak,\nmy best thoughts were ever the most welcome! I saw that the harvest was\nplenteous indeed: but the preacher, I feel it still, was all unworthy of\nhis work!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBrothers and Sisters: let us be true to our sentiments and ideas. Let us\nnot imitate another's form unless it symbolize a truth to us. We must\nnot affect to be singular, but not fear to be alone. Let us not\nfoolishly separate from our brothers elsewhere. Truth is yet before us,\nnot only springing up out of the manly words of this Bible, but out of\nthe ground; out of the heavens; out of man and God. Whole firmaments of\ntruth hang ever o'er our heads, waiting the telescopic eye of the\ntrue-hearted see-er. Let us follow truth, in form, thought or sentiment,\nwherever she may call. God's daughter cannot lead us from the path. The\nfurther on we go, the more we find. Had Columbus turned back only the\nday before he saw the land, the adventure had been worse than lost.\n\nWe must practise a manly self-denial. Religion always demands that, but\nnever more than when our brothers separate from us, and we stand alone.\nBy our mutual love and mutual forbearance, we shall stand strong. With\nzeal for our common work, let us have charity for such as dislike us,\nsuch as oppose and would oppress us. Let us love our enemies, bless them\nthat curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for such as\ndespitefully use us. Let us overcome their evil speech with our own\ngoodness. If others have treated us ill, called us unholy names, and\nmocked at us, let us forgive it all, here and now, and help them also to\nforget and outgrow that temper which bade them treat us so. A kind\nanswer is fittest rebuke to an unkind word.\n\nIf we have any truth it will not be kept hid. It will run over the brim\nof our urn and water our brother's field. Were any truth to come down\nto us in advance from God, it were not that we might forestall the\nlight, but shed it forth for all His children to walk by and rejoice in.\n\"One candle will light a thousand\" if it be itself lighted. Let our\nlight shine before men so that they may see our good deeds, and\nthemselves praise God by a manly life. This we owe to them as to\nourselves. A noble thought and a mean man make a sorry union. Let our\nidea show itself in our life--that is preaching, right eloquent. Do\nthis, we begin to do good to men, and though they should oppose us, and\nour work should fail, we shall have yet the approval of our own heart,\nthe approval of God, be whole within ourselves, and one with Him.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSome of you are venerable men. I have wondered that a youthful ardor\nshould have brought you here. Your silvery heads have seemed a\nbenediction to my work. But most of you are young. I know it is no aping\nof a fashion that has brought you here. I have no eloquence to charm or\nplease you with; I only speak right on. I have no reputation but a bad\nname in the churches. I know you came not idly, but seeking after truth.\nGive a great idea to an old man, and he carries it to his grave; give it\nto a young man, and he carries it to his life. It will bear both young\nand old through the grave and into eternal Heaven beyond.\n\nYoung men and women, the duties of the world fall eminently on you. God\nconfides to your hands the ark which holds the treasures of the age. On\nyoung shoulders He lays the burden of life. Yours is the period of\npassion; the period of enterprise and of work. It is by successive\ngenerations that mankind goes forward. The old, stepping into honorable\ngraves, leave their places and the results they won to you. But\ndeparting they seem to say, as they linger and look back: Do ye greater\nthan we have done! The young just coming into your homes seem to say:\nInstruct us to be nobler than yourselves! Your life is the answer to\nyour children and your sires. The next generation will be as you make\nit. It is not the schools but the people's character that educates the\nchild. Amid the trials, duties, dangers of your life, religion alone can\nguide you. It is not the world's eye that is on you, but God's; it is\nnot the world's religion that will suffice you, but the religion of a\nMan, which unites you with truth, justice, piety, goodness; yes, which\nmakes you one with God!\n\nYoung men and women--you can make this church a fountain of life to\nthousands of fainting souls. Yes, you can make this city nobler than\ncity ever was before. A manly life is the best gift you can leave\nmankind; that can be copied forever. Architects of your own weal or woe,\nyour destiny is mainly in your own hands. It is no great thing to\nreject the popular falsehoods; little and perhaps not hard. But to\nreceive the great sentiments and lofty truths of real religion, the\nChristianity of Christ; to love them, to live them in your business and\nyour home, that is the greatest work of man. Thereby you partake of the\nspirit and nature of God; you achieve the true destiny for yourself; you\nhelp your brothers do the same.\n\nWhen my own life is measured by the ideal of that young Nazarene, I know\nhow little I deserve the name of Christian; none knows that fact so well\nas I. But you have been denied the name of Christian because you came\nhere, asking me to come. Let men see that you have the reality, though\nthey withhold the name. Your words are the least part of what you say to\nmen. The foolish only will judge you by your talk; wise men by the\ngeneral tenor of your life. Let your religion appear in your work and\nyour play. Pray in your strongest hours. Practise your prayers. By\nfair-dealing, justice, kindness, self-control, and the great work of\nhelping others while you help yourself, let your life prove a worship.\nThese are the real sacraments and Christian communion with God, to which\nwater and wine are only helps. Criticize the world not by censure only,\nbut by the example of a great life. Shame men out of their littleness,\nnot by making mouths, but by walking great and beautiful amongst them.\nYou love God best when you love men most. Let your prayers be an\nuplifting of the soul in thought, resolution, love, and the light\nthereof shall shine through the darkest hour of trouble. Have not the\nChristianity of the street; but carry Christ's Christianity there. Be\nnoble men, then your works must needs be great and manly.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThis is the first Sunday of a new year. What an hour for resolutions;\nwhat a moment for prayer! If you have sins in your bosom, cast them\nbehind you now. In the last year, God has blessed us; blessed us all. On\nsome his angels waited, robed in white, and brought new joys; here a\nwife, to bind men closer yet to Providence; and there a child, a new\nMessiah, sent to tell of innocence and heaven. To some his angels came\nclad in dark livery, veiling a joyful countenance with unpropitious\nwings, and bore away child, father, sister, wife, or friend. Still were\nthey angels of good Providence, all God's own; and he who looks aright\nfinds that they also brought a blessing, but concealed, and left it,\nthough they spoke no word of joy. One day our weeping brother shall find\nthat gift and wear it as a diamond on his breast.\n\nThe hours are passing over us, and with them the day. What shall the\nfuture Sundays be, and what the year? What we make them both. God gives\nus time. We weave it into life, such figures as we may, and wear it as\nwe will. Age slowly rots away the gold we are set in, but the\nadamantine soul lives on, radiant every way in the light streaming down\nfrom God. The genius of eternity, star-crowned, beautiful, and with\nprophetic eyes, leads us again to the gates of time, and gives us one\nmore year, bidding us fill that golden cup with water as we can or will.\nThere stand the dirty, fetid pools of worldliness and sin; curdled, and\nmantled, film-covered, streaked and striped with many a hue, they shine\nthere, in the slanting light of new-born day. Around them stand the sons\nof earth and cry: Come hither; drink thou and be saved! Here fill thy\ngolden cup! There you may seek to fill your urn; to stay your thirst.\nThe deceitful element, roping in your hands, shall mock your lip. It is\nwater only to the eye. Nay, show-water only unto men half-blind. But\nthere, hard by, runs down the stream of life, its waters never frozen,\nnever dry; fed by perennial dews falling unseen from God. Fill there\nthine urn, oh, brother-man, and thou shalt thirst no more for\nselfishness and crime, and faint no more amid the toil and heat of day;\nwash there, and the leprosy of sin, its scales of blindness, shall fall\noff, and thou be clean for ever. Kneel there and pray; God shall inspire\nthy heart with truth and love, and fill thy cup with never-ending\njoy![2]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] Rev. John Pierpont.\n\n[2] See note at the end of this volume.\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nA SERMON OF WAR, PREACHED AT THE MELODEON, ON SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 1846.\n\nEXODUS XV. 3.\n\n    \"The Lord is a Man of War.\"\n\n1 JOHN IV. 8.\n\n    \"God is Love.\"\n\n\nI ask your attention to a Sermon of War. I have waited some time before\ntreating this subject at length, till the present hostilities should\nassume a definite form, and the designs of the Government become more\napparent. I wished to be able to speak coolly and with knowledge of the\nfacts, that we might understand the comparative merits of the present\nwar. Besides, I have waited for others, in the churches, of more\nexperience to speak, before I ventured to offer my counsel; but I have\nthus far waited almost in vain! I did not wish to treat the matter last\nSunday, for that was the end of our week of Pentecost, when cloven\ntongues of flame descend on the city, and some are thought to be full of\nnew wine, and others of the Holy Spirit. The heat of the meetings, good\nand bad, of that week, could not wholly have passed away from you or me,\nand we ought to come coolly and consider a subject like this. So the\nlast Sunday I only sketched the back-ground of the picture, to-day\nintending to paint the horrors of war in front of that \"Presence of\nBeauty in Nature,\" to which with its \"Meanings\" and its \"Lessons,\" I\nthen asked you to attend.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt seems to me that an idea of God as the Infinite is given to us in our\nnature itself. But men create a more definite conception of God in their\nown image. Thus a rude savage man, who has learned only the presence of\npower in Nature, conceives of God mainly as a force, and speaks of Him\nas a God of power. Such, though not without beautiful exceptions, is the\ncharacter ascribed to Jehovah in the Old Testament. \"The Lord is a man\nof war.\" He is \"the Lord of Hosts.\" He kills men, and their cattle. If\nthere is trouble in the enemies' city, it is the Lord who hath caused\nit. He will \"whet his glittering sword and render vengeance to his\nenemies. He will make his arrows drunk with blood, and his sword shall\ndevour flesh!\" It is with the sword that God pleads with all men. He\nencourages men to fight, and says, \"Cursed be he that keepeth back his\nsword from blood.\" He sends blood into the streets; he waters the land\nwith blood, and in blood he dissolves the mountains. He brandishes his\nsword before kings, and they tremble at every moment. He treads nations\nas grapes in a wine-press, and his garments are stained with their\nlife's blood.[3]\n\nA man who has grown up to read the Older Testament of God revealed in\nthe beauty of the universe, and to feel the goodness of God therein set\nforth, sees him not as force only, or in chief, but as love. He worships\nin love the God of goodness and of peace. Such is the prevalent\ncharacter ascribed to God in the New Testament, except in the book of\n\"Revelation.\" He is the \"God of love and peace;\" \"our Father,\" \"kind to\nthe unthankful and the unmerciful.\" In one word, God is love. He loves\nus all, Jew and Gentile, bond and free. All are his children, each of\npriceless value in His sight. He is no God of battles; no Lord of hosts;\nno man of war. He has no sword, nor arrows; He does not water the earth\nnor melt the mountains in blood, but \"He maketh His sun to rise on the\nevil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.\" He\nhas no garments dyed in blood; curses no man for refusing to fight. He\nis spirit, to be worshipped in spirit and in truth! The commandment is:\nLove one another; resist not evil with evil; forgive seventy times\nseven; overcome evil with good; love your enemies; bless them that\ncurse you; do good to them that hate you; pray for them that\ndespitefully use you and persecute you.[4] There is no nation to shut\nits ports against another, all are men; no caste to curl its lip at\ninferiors, all are brothers, members of one body, united in the Christ,\nthe ideal man and head of all. The most useful is the greatest. No man\nis to be master, for the Christ is our teacher. We are to fear no man,\nfor God is our Father.\n\nThese precepts are undeniably the precepts of Christianity. Equally\nplain is it that they are the dictates of man's nature, only developed\nand active; a part of God's universal revelation; His law writ on the\nsoul of man, established in the nature of things; true after all\nexperience, and true before all experience. The man of real insight into\nspiritual things sees and knows them to be true.\n\nDo not believe it the part of a coward to think so. I have known many\ncowards; yes, a great many; some very cowardly, pusillanimous and\nfaint-hearted cowards; but never one who thought so, or pretended to\nthink so. It requires very little courage to fight with sword and\nmusket, and that of a cheap kind. Men of that stamp are plenty as grass\nin June. Beat your drum, and they will follow; offer them but eight\ndollars a month, and they will come--fifty thousand of them, to smite\nand kill.[5] Every male animal, or reptile, will fight. It requires\nlittle courage to kill; but it takes much to resist evil with good,\nholding obstinately out, active or passive, till you overcome it. Call\nthat non-resistance, if you will; it is the stoutest kind of combat,\ndemanding all the manhood of a man.\n\nI will not deny that war is inseparable from a low stage of\ncivilization; so is polygamy, slavery, cannibalism. Taking men as they\nwere, savage and violent, there have been times when war was\nunavoidable. I will not deny that it has helped forward the civilization\nof the race, for God often makes the folly and the sin of men contribute\nto the progress of mankind. It is none the less a folly or a sin. In a\ncivilized nation like ourselves, it is far more heinous than in the\nOjibeways or the Camanches.\n\nWar is in utter violation of Christianity. If war be right, then\nChristianity is wrong, false, a lie. But if Christianity be true, if\nreason, conscience, the religious sense, the highest faculties of man,\nare to be trusted, then war is the wrong, the falsehood, the lie. I\nmaintain that aggressive war is a sin; that it is national infidelity,\na denial of Christianity and of God. Every man who understands\nChristianity by heart, in its relations to man, to society, the nation,\nthe world, knows that war is a wrong. At this day, with all the\nenlightenment of our age, after the long peace of the nations, war is\neasily avoided. Whenever it occurs, the very fact of its occurrence\nconvicts the rulers of a nation either of entire incapacity as\nstatesmen, or else of the worst form of treason; treason to the people,\nto mankind, to God! There is no other alternative. The very fact of an\naggressive war shows that the men who cause it must be either fools or\ntraitors. I think lightly of what is called treason against a\ngovernment. That may be your duty to-day, or mine. Certainly it was our\nfathers' duty not long ago; now it is our boast and their title to\nhonor. But treason against the people, against mankind, against God, is\na great sin, not lightly to be spoken of. The political authors of the\nwar on this continent, and at this day, are either utterly incapable of\na statesman's work, or else guilty of that sin. Fools they are, or\ntraitors they must be.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLet me speak, and in detail, of the Evils of War. I wish this were not\nnecessary. But we have found ourselves in a war; the Congress has voted\nour money and our men to carry it on; the Governors call for volunteers;\nthe volunteers come when they are called for. No voice of indignation\ngoes forth from the heart of the eight hundred thousand souls of\nMassachusetts; of the seventeen million freemen of the land how few\ncomplain; only a man here and there! The Press is well-nigh silent. And\nthe Church, so far from protesting against this infidelity in the name\nof Christ, is little better than dead. The man of blood shelters himself\nbehind its wall, silent, dark, dead and emblematic. These facts show\nthat it is necessary to speak of the evils of war. I am speaking in a\ncity, whose fairest, firmest, most costly buildings are warehouses and\nbanks; a city whose most popular Idol is Mammon, the God of Gold; whose\nTrinity is a Trinity of Coin! I shall speak intelligibly, therefore, if\nI begin by considering war as a waste of property. It paralyzes\nindustry. The very fear of it is a mildew upon commerce. Though the\npresent war is but a skirmish, only a few random shots between a squad\nof regulars and some strolling battalions, a quarrel which in Europe\nwould scarcely frighten even the Pope; yet see the effect of it upon\ntrade. Though the fighting be thousands of miles from Boston, your\nstocks fall in the market; the rate of insurance is altered; your dealer\nin wood piles his boards and his timber on his wharf, not finding a\nmarket. There are few ships in the great Southern mart to take the\nfreight of many; exchange is disturbed. The clergyman is afraid to buy a\nbook, lest his children want bread. It is so with all departments of\nindustry and trade. In war the capitalist is uncertain and slow to\nventure, so the laborer's hand will be still, and his child ill-clad and\nhungry.\n\nIn the late war with England, many of you remember the condition of your\nfisheries, of your commerce; how the ships lay rotting at the wharf. The\ndearness of cloth, of provisions, flour, sugar, tea, coffee, salt, the\ncomparative lowness of wages, the stagnation of business, the scarcity\nof money, the universal sullenness and gloom--all this is well\nremembered now. So is the ruin it brought on many a man.\n\nYet but few weeks ago some men talked boastingly of a war with England.\nThere are some men who seem to have no eyes nor ears, only a mouth;\nwhose chief function is talk. Of their talk I will say nothing; we look\nfor dust in dry places. But some men thus talked of war, and seemed\ndesirous to provoke it, who can scarce plead ignorance, and I fear not\nfolly, for their excuse. I leave such to the just resentment sure to\nfall on them from sober, serious men, who dare to be so unpopular as to\nthink before they speak, and then say what comes of thinking. Perhaps\nsuch a war was never likely to take place, and now, thanks to a few wise\nmen, all danger thereof seems at an end. But suppose it had\nhappened--what would become of your commerce, of your fishing smacks on\nthe Banks or along the shore? what of your coasting vessels, doubling\nthe headlands all the way from the St. John's to the Nueces? what of\nyour whale ships in the Pacific? what of your Indiamen, deep freighted\nwith oriental wealth? what of that fleet which crowds across the\nAtlantic sea, trading with east and west and north and south? I know\nsome men care little for the rich, but when the owners keep their craft\nin port, where can the \"hands\" find work or their mouths find bread? The\nshipping of the United States amounts nearly to 2,500,000 tons. At $40 a\nton, its value is nearly $100,000,000. This is the value only of those\nsea-carriages; their cargoes I cannot compute. Allowing one sailor for\nevery twenty tons burden, here will be 125,000 seamen. They and their\nfamilies amount to 500,000 souls. In war, what will become of them? A\ncapital of more than $13,000,000 is invested in the fisheries of\nMassachusetts alone. More than 19,000 men find profitable employment\ntherein. If each man have but four others in his family, a small number\nfor that class, here are more than 95,000 persons in this State alone,\nwhose daily bread depends on this business. They cannot fish in troubled\nwaters, for they are fishermen, not politicians. Where could they find\nbread or cloth in time of war? In Dartmoor prison? Ask that of your\ndemagogues who courted war!\n\nThen, too, the positive destruction of property in war is monstrous. A\nship of the line costs from $500,000 to $1,000,000. The loss of a fleet\nby capture, by fire, or by decay, is a great loss. You know at what cost\na fort is built, if you have counted the sums successively voted for\nFort Adams in Rhode Island, or those in our own harbor. The destruction\nof forts is another item in the cost of war. The capture or destruction\nof merchant ships with their freight, creates a most formidable loss. In\n1812 the whole tonnage of the United States was scarce half what it is\nnow. Yet the loss of ships and their freight, in \"the late war,\" brief\nas it was, is estimated at $100,000,000. Then the loss by plunder and\nmilitary occupation is monstrous. The soldier, like the savage, cuts\ndown the tree to gather its fruit. I cannot calculate the loss by\nburning towns and cities. But suppose Boston were bombarded and laid in\nashes. Calculate the loss if you can. You may say \"This could not be,\"\nfor it is as easy to say No, as Yes. But remember what befell us in the\nlast war; remember how recently the best defended capitals of Europe,\nVienna, Paris, Antwerp, have fallen into hostile hands. Consider how\noften a strong place, like Coblentz, Mentz, Malta, Gibraltar, St. Juan\nd'Ulloa, has been declared impregnable, and then been taken; calculate\nthe force which might be brought against this town, and you will see\nthat in eight and forty hours, or half that time, it might be left\nnothing but a heap of ruins smoking in the sun! I doubt not the valor\nof American soldiers, the skill of their engineers, nor the ability of\ntheir commanders. I am ready to believe all this is greater than we are\ntold. Still, such are the contingencies of war. If some not very\nignorant men had their way, this would be a probability and perhaps a\nfact. If we should burn every town from the Tweed to the Thames, it\nwould not rebuild our own city.\n\nBut on the supposition that nothing is destroyed, see the loss which\ncomes from the misdirection of productive industry. Your fleets, forts,\ndock-yards, arsenals, cannons, muskets, swords and the like, are\nprovided at great cost, and yet are unprofitable. They do not pay. They\nweave no cloth; they bake no bread; they produce nothing. Yet from 1791\nto 1832, in forty-two years we expended in these things, $303,242,576,\nnamely, for the navy, etc., $112,703,933; for the army, etc.,\n190,538,643. For the same time, all other expenses of the nation came to\nbut $37,158,047. More than eight ninths of the whole revenue of the\nnation was spent for purposes of war. In four years, from 1812 to 1815,\nwe paid in this way, $92,350,519.37. In six years, from 1835 to 1840, we\npaid annually on the average $21,328,903; in all $127,973,418. Our\nCongress has just voted $17,000,000, as a special grant for the army\nalone. The 175,118 muskets at Springfield, are valued at $3,000,000; we\npay annually $200,000 to support that arsenal. The navy-yard at\nCharlestown, with its stores, etc., has cost $4,741,000. And, for all\nprofitable returns, this money might as well be sunk in the bottom of\nthe sea. In some countries it is yet worse. There are towns and cities\nin which the fortifications have cost more than all the houses,\nchurches, shops, and other property therein. This happens not among the\nSacs and Foxes, but in \"Christian\" Europe.\n\nThen your soldier is the most unprofitable animal you can keep. He makes\nno railroads; clears no land; raises no corn. No, he can make neither\ncloth nor clocks! He does not raise his own bread, mend his own shoes,\nmake his shoulder-knot of glory, nor hammer out his own sword. Yet he is\na costly animal, though useless. If the President gets his fifty\nthousand volunteers, a thing likely to happen--for though Irish lumpers\nand hod-men want a dollar or a dollar and a half a day, your free\nAmerican of Boston will enlist for twenty-seven cents, only having his\nlivery, his feathers, and his \"glory\" thrown in--then at $8 a month,\ntheir wages amount to $400,000 a month. Suppose the present Government\nshall actually make advantageous contracts, and the subsistence of the\nsoldier cost no more than in England, or $17 a month, this amounts to\n$850,000. Here are $1,250,000 a month to begin with. Then, if each man\nwould be worth a dollar a day at any productive work, and there are 26\nwork days in the month, here are $1,300,000 more to be added, making\n$2,550,000 a month for the new army of occupation. This is only for the\nrank and file of the army. The officers, the surgeons, and the\nchaplains, who teach the soldiers to _wad_ their muskets with the leaves\nof the Bible, will perhaps cost as much more; or, in all, something more\nthan $5,000,000 a month. This of course does not include the cost of\ntheir arms, tents, ammunition, baggage, horses, and hospital stores, nor\nthe 65,000 gallons of whiskey which the government has just advertised\nfor! What do they give in return? They will give us three things, valor,\nglory, and--talk; which, as they are not in the price current, I must\nestimate as I can, and set them all down in one figure = 0; not worth\nthe whiskey they cost.\n\nNew England is quite a new country. Seven generations ago it was a\nwilderness; now it contains about 2,500,000 souls. If you were to pay\nall the public debts of these States, and then, in fancy, divide all the\nproperty therein by the population, young as we are, I think you would\nfind a larger amount of value for each man than in any other country in\nthe world, not excepting England. The civilization of Europe is old; the\nnations old, England, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Greece; but they\nhave wasted their time, their labor and their wealth in war, and so are\npoorer than we upstarts of a wilderness. We have fewer fleets, forts,\ncannon and soldiers for the population, than any other \"Christian\"\ncountry in the world. This is one main reason why we have no national\ndebt; why the women need not toil in the hardest labor of the fields,\nthe quarries and the mines; this is the reason that we are well fed,\nwell clad, well housed; this is the reason that Massachusetts can afford\nto spend $1,000,000 a year for her public schools! War, wasting a\nnation's wealth, depresses the great mass of the people, but serves to\nelevate a few to opulence and power. Every despotism is established and\nsustained by war. This is the foundation of all the aristocracies of the\nold world, aristocracies of blood. Our famous men are often ashamed that\ntheir wealth was honestly got by working, or peddling, and foolishly\ncopy the savage and bloody emblems of ancient heraldry in their assumed\ncoats of arms, industrious men seeking to have a griffin on their seal!\nNothing is so hostile to a true democracy as war. It elevates a few,\noften bold, bad men, at the expense of the many, who pay the money and\nfurnish the blood for war.\n\nWar is a most expensive folly. The revolutionary war cost the General\nGovernment directly and in specie $135,000,000. It is safe to estimate\nthe direct cost to the individual States also at the same sum,\n$135,000,000; making a total of $270,000,000. Considering the\ninterruption of business, the waste of time, property and life, it is\nplain that this could not have been a fourth part of the whole. But\nsuppose it was a third, then the whole pecuniary cost of the war would\nbe $810,000,000. At the beginning of the Revolution the population was\nabout 3,000,000; so that war, lasting about eight years, cost $270 for\neach person. To meet the expenses of the war each year there would have\nbeen required a tax of $33.75 on each man, woman and child!\n\nIn the Florida war we spent between $30,000,000 and $40,000,000, as an\neminent statesman once said, in fighting five hundred invisible Indians!\nIt is estimated that the fortifications of the city of Paris, when\ncompletely furnished, will cost more than the whole taxable property of\nMassachusetts, with her 800,000 souls. Why, this year our own grant for\nthe army is $17,000,000. The estimate for the navy is $6,000,000 more;\nin all $23,000,000. Suppose, which is most unlikely, that we should pay\nno more, why, that sum alone would support public schools, as good and\nas costly as those of Massachusetts, all over the United States,\noffering each boy and girl, bond or free, as good a culture as they get\nhere in Boston, and then leave a balance of $3,000,000 in our hands! We\npay more for ignorance than we need for education! But $23,000,000 is\nnot all we must pay this year. A great statesman has said, in the\nSenate, that our war expenses at present are nearly $500,000 a day, and\nthe President informs your Congress that $22,952,904 more will be wanted\nfor the army and navy before next June!\n\nFor several years we spent directly more than $21,000,000 for war\npurposes, though in time of peace. If a railroad cost $30,000 a mile,\nthen we might build 700 miles a year for that sum, and in five years\ncould build a railroad therewith from Boston to the further side of\nOregon. For the war money we paid in forty-two years, we could have had\nmore than 10,000 miles of railroad, and, with dividends at seven per\ncent., a yearly income of $21,210,000. For military and naval affairs,\nin eight years, from 1835 to 1843, we paid $163,336,717. This alone\nwould have made 5,444 miles of railroad, and would produce at seven per\ncent., an annual income of $11,433,569.19.\n\nIn Boston there are nineteen public grammar schools, a Latin and English\nHigh school. The buildings for these schools twenty in number, have cost\n$653,208. There are also 135 primary schools, in as many houses or\nrooms. I know not their value, as I think they are not all owned by the\ncity. But suppose them to be worth $150,000. Then all the school-houses\nof this city have cost $803,208. The cost of these 156 schools for this\nyear is estimated at $172,000. The number of scholars in them is 16,479.\nHarvard University, the most expensive college in America, costs about\n$46,000 a year. Now the ship Ohio, lying here in our harbor, has cost\n$834,845, and we pay for it each year $220,000 more. That is, it has\ncost $31,637 more than these 155 school-houses of this city, and costs\nevery year $2,000 more than Harvard University, and all the public\nschools of Boston!\n\nThe military academy at West Point contains two hundred and thirty-six\ncadets; the appropriation for it last year, was $138,000, a sum greater\nI think, than the cost of all the colleges in Maine, New Hampshire,\nVermont and Massachusetts, with their 1,445 students.\n\nThe navy-yard at Charlestown, with its ordnance, stores, etc., cost\n$4,741,000. The cost of the 78 churches in Boston is $3,246,500; the\nwhole property of Harvard University is $703,175; the 155 school-houses\nof Boston are worth $803,208; in all $4,752,883. Thus the navy-yard at\nCharlestown has cost almost as much as the 78 churches and the 155\nschool-houses of Boston, with Harvard College, its halls, libraries, all\nits wealth thrown in. Yet what does it teach?\n\nOur country is singularly destitute of public libraries. You must go\nacross the ocean to read the history of the Church or State; all the\npublic libraries in America cannot furnish the books referred to in\nGibbon's Rome, or Gieseler's History of the Church. I think there is no\npublic library in Europe which has cost three dollars a volume. There\nare six: the Vatican, at Rome; the Royal, at Paris; the British Museum,\nat London; the Bodleian, at Oxford; the University Libraries at\nGottingen and Berlin--which contain, it is said, about 4,500,000\nvolumes. The recent grant of $17,000,000 for the army is $3,500,000 more\nthan the cost of those magnificent collections!\n\nThere have been printed about 3,000,000 different volumes, great and\nlittle, within the last 400 years. If the Florida war cost but\n$30,000,000, it is ten times more than enough to have purchased one copy\nof each book ever printed, at one dollar a volume, which is more than\nthe average cost.\n\nNow all these sums are to be paid by the people, \"the dear people,\" whom\nour republican demagogues love so well, and for whom they spend their\nlives, rising early, toiling late, those self-denying heroes, those\nsainted martyrs of the republic, eating the bread of carefulness for\nthem alone! But how are they to be paid? By a direct tax levied on all\nthe property of the nation, so that the poor man pays according to his\nlittle, and the rich man in proportion to his much, each knowing when he\npays and what he pays for? No such thing; nothing like it. The people\nmust pay and not know it; must be deceived a little, or they would not\npay after this fashion! You pay for it in every pound of sugar, copper,\ncoal, in every yard of cloth; and if the counsel of some lovers of the\npeople be followed, you will soon pay for it in each pound of coffee and\ntea. In this way the rich man always pays relatively less than the poor;\noften a positively smaller sum. Even here I think that three-fourths of\nall the property is owned by one-fourth of the people, yet that\nthree-fourths by no means pays a third of the national revenue. The tax\nis laid on things men cannot do without,--sugar, cloth, and the like.\nThe consumption of these articles is not in proportion to wealth but\npersons. Now the poor man, as a general rule, has more children than the\nrich, and the tax being more in proportion to persons than property, the\npoor man pays more than the rich. So a tax is really laid on the poor\nman's children to pay for the war which makes him poor and keeps him\npoor. I think your captains and colonels, those sons of thunder and\nheirs of glory, will not tell you so. They tell you so! They know it!\nPoor brothers, how could they? I think your party newspapers, penny or\npound, will not tell you so; nor the demagogues, all covered with glory\nand all forlorn, who tell the people when to hurrah and for what! But if\nyou cipher the matter out for yourself you will find it so, and not\notherwise. Tell the demagogues, whig or democrat, that. It was an old\nRoman maxim, \"The people wished to be deceived; let them.\" Now it is\nonly practised on; not repeated--in public.\n\nLet us deal justly even with war, giving that its due. There is one\nclass of men who find their pecuniary advantage in it. I mean army\ncontractors, when they chance to be favorites of the party in power; men\nwho let steamboats to lie idle at $500 a day. This class of men rejoice\nin a war. The country may become poor, they are sure to be rich. Yet\nanother class turn war to account, get the \"glory,\" and become important\nin song and sermon. I see it stated in a newspaper that the Duke of\nWellington has received, as gratuities for his military services,\n$5,400,000, and $40,000 a year in pensions!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut the waste of property is the smallest part of the evil. The waste of\nlife in war is yet more terrible. Human life is a sacred thing. Go out\ninto the lowest street of Boston; take the vilest and most squalid man\nin that miserable lane, and he is dear to some one. He is called\nbrother; perhaps husband; it may be father; at least, son. A human\nheart, sadly joyful, beat over him before he was born. He has been\npressed fondly to his mother's arms. Her tears and her smiles have been\nfor him; perhaps also her prayers. His blood may be counted mean and\nvile by the great men of the earth who love nothing so well as the dear\npeople, for he has no \"coat of arms,\" no liveried servant to attend him,\nbut it has run down from the same first man. His family is ancient as\nthat of the most long descended king. God made him; made this splendid\nuniverse to wait on him and teach him; sent his Christ to save him. He\nis an immortal soul. Needlessly to spill that man's blood is an awful\nsin. It will cry against you out of the ground--Cain! where is thy\nbrother? Now in war you bring together 50,000 men like him on one side,\nand 50,000 of a different nation on the other. They have no natural\nquarrel with one another. The earth is wide enough for both; neither\nhinders the sun from the other. Many come unwillingly; many not knowing\nwhat they fight for. It is but accident that determines on which side\nthe man shall fight. The cannons pour their shot--round, grape,\ncanister; the howitzers scatter their bursting shells; the muskets rain\ntheir leaden death; the sword, the bayonet, the horses' iron hoof, the\nwheels of the artillery, grind the men down into trodden dust. There\nthey lie, the two masses of burning valor, extinguished, quenched, and\ngrimly dead, each covering with his body the spot he defended with his\narms. They had no quarrel; yet they lie there, slain by a brother's\nhand. It is not old and decrepid men, but men of the productive age,\nfull of lusty life.\n\nBut it is only the smallest part that perish in battle. Exposure to\ncold, wet, heat; unhealthy climates, unwholesome food, rum, and forced\nmarches, bring on diseases which mow down the poor soldiers worse than\nmusketry and grape. Others languish of wounds, and slowly procrastinate\na dreadful and a tenfold death. Far away, there are widows, orphans,\nchildless old fathers, who pore over the daily news to learn at random\nthe fate of a son, a father, or a husband! They crowd disconsolate into\nthe churches, seeking of God the comfort men took from them, praying in\nthe bitterness of a broken heart, while the priest gives thanks for \"a\nfamous victory,\" and hangs up the bloody standard over his pulpit!\n\nWhen ordinary disease cuts off a man, when he dies at his duty, there is\nsome comfort in that loss. \"It was the ordinance of God,\" you say. You\nminister to his wants; you smoothe down the pillow for the aching head;\nyour love beguiles the torment of disease, and your own bosom gathers\nhalf the darts of death. He goes in his time and God takes him. But when\nhe dies in such a war, in battle, it is man who has robbed him of life.\nIt is a murderer that is butchered. Nothing alleviates that bitter,\nburning smart!\n\nOthers not slain are maimed for life. This has no eyes; that no hands;\nanother no feet nor legs. This has been pierced by lances, and torn with\nthe shot, till scarce any thing human is left. The wreck of a body is\ncrazed with pains God never meant for man. The mother that bore him\nwould not know her child. Count the orphan asylums in Germany and\nHolland; go into the hospital at Greenwich, that of the invalids in\nParis, you see the \"trophies\" of Napoleon and Wellington. Go to the\narsenal at Toulon, see the wooden legs piled up there for men now active\nand whole, and you will think a little of the physical horrors of war.\n\nIn Boston there are perhaps about 25,000 able-bodied men between 18 and\n45. Suppose them all slain in battle, or mortally hurt, or mown down by\nthe camp-fever, vomito, or other diseases of war, and then fancy the\ndistress, the heart-sickness amid wives, mothers, daughters, sons and\nfathers, here! Yet 25,000 is a small number to be murdered in \"a famous\nvictory;\" a trifle for a whole \"glorious campaign\" in a great war. The\nmen of Boston are no better loved than the men of Tamaulipas. There is\nscarce an old family, of the middle class, in all New England, which did\nnot thus smart in the Revolution; many, which have not, to this day,\nrecovered from the bloody blow then falling on them. Think, wives, of\nthe butchery of your husbands; think, mothers, of the murder of your\nsons!\n\nHere, too, the burden of battle falls mainly on the humble class. They\npay the great tribute of money; they pay also the horrid tax of blood.\nIt was not your rich men who fought even the Revolution; not they. Your\nmen of property and standing were leaguing with the British, or fitting\nout privateers when that offered a good investment, or buying up the\nestates of more consistent tories; making money out of the nation's dire\ndistress! True, there were most honorable exceptions; but such, I think,\nwas the general rule. Let this be distinctly remembered, that the burden\nof battle is borne by the humble classes of men; they pay the vast\ntribute of money; the awful tax of blood! The \"glory\" is got by a few;\npoverty, wounds, death, are for the people!\n\nMilitary glory is the poorest kind of distinction, but the most\ndangerous passion. It is an honor to man to be able to mould iron; to be\nskilful at working in cloth, wood, clay, leather. It is man's vocation\nto raise corn, to subdue the rebellious fibre of cotton and convert it\ninto beautiful robes, full of comfort for the body. They are the heroes\nof the race who abridge the time of human toil and multiply its results;\nthey who win great truths from God, and send them to a people's heart;\nthey who balance the many and the one into harmonious action, so that\nall are united and yet each left free. But the glory which comes of\nepaulets and feathers; that strutting glory which is dyed in blood--what\nshall we say of it? In this day it is not heroism; it is an imitation of\nbarbarism long ago passed by. Yet it is marvellous how many men are\ntaken with a red coat! You expect it in Europe, a land of soldiers and\nblood. You are disappointed to find that here the champions of force\nshould be held in honor, and that even the lowest should voluntarily\nenroll themselves as butchers of men!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYet more: aggressive war is a sin; a corruption of the public morals. It\nis a practical denial of Christianity; a violation of God's eternal law\nof love. This is so plain that I shall say little upon it to-day. Your\nsavagest and most vulgar captain would confess he does not fight as a\nChristian--but as a soldier; your magistrate calls for volunteers--not\nas a man loving Christianity, and loyal to God; only as Governor, under\noath to keep the Constitution, the tradition of the elders; not under\noath to keep the commandment of God! In war the laws are suspended,\nviolence and cunning rule everywhere. The battle of Yorktown was gained\nby a lie, though a Washington told it. As a soldier it was his duty. Men\n\"emulate the tiger;\" the hand is bloody, and the heart hard. Robbery and\nmurder are the rule, the glory of men. \"Good men look sad, but ruffians\ndance and leap.\" Men are systematically trained to burn towns, to murder\nfathers and sons; taught to consider it \"glory\" to do so. The Government\ncollects ruffians and cut-throats. It compels better men to serve with\nthese and become cut-throats. It appoints chaplains to blaspheme\nChristianity; teaching the ruffians how to pray for the destruction of\nthe enemy, the burning of his towns; to do this in the name of Christ\nand God. I do not censure all the men who serve: some of them know no\nbetter; they have heard that a man would \"perish everlastingly\" if he\ndid not believe the Athanasian creed; that if he questioned the story of\nJonah, or the miraculous birth of Jesus, he was in danger of hell-fire,\nand if he doubted damnation was sure to be damned. They never heard\nthat such a war was a sin; that to create a war was treason, and to\nfight in it wrong. They never thought of thinking for themselves; their\nthinking was to read a newspaper, or sleep through a sermon. They\ncounted it their duty to obey the Government without thinking if that\nGovernment be right or wrong. I deny not the noble, manly character of\nmany a soldier, his heroism, self-denial and personal sacrifice.\n\nStill, after all proper allowance is made for a few individuals, the\nwhole system of war is unchristian and sinful. It lives only by evil\npassions. It can be defended only by what is low, selfish, and animal.\nIt absorbs the scum of the cities, pirates, robbers, murderers. It makes\nthem worse, and better men like them. To take one man's life is murder;\nwhat is it to practise killing as an art, a trade; to do it by\nthousands? Yet I think better of the hands that do the butchering than\nof the ambitious heads, the cold, remorseless hearts, which plunge the\nnation into war.\n\nIn war the State teaches men to lie, to steal, to kill. It calls for\nprivateers, who are commonly pirates with a national charter, and\npirates are privateers with only a personal charter. Every camp is a\nschool of profanity, violence, licentiousness, and crimes too foul to\nname. It is so without sixty-five thousand gallons of whiskey. This is\nunavoidable. It was so with Washington's army, with Cornwallis's, with\nthat of Gustavus Adolphus, perhaps the most moral army the world ever\nsaw. The soldier's life generally unfits a man for the citizen's! When\nhe returns from a camp, from a war, back to his native village, he\nbecomes a curse to society and a shame to the mother that bore him. Even\nthe soldiers of the Revolution, who survived the war, were mostly ruined\nfor life, debauched, intemperate, vicious and vile. What loathsome\ncreatures so many of them were! They bore our burden, for such were the\nreal martyrs of that war, not the men who fell under the shot! How many\nmen of the rank and file in the late war have since become respectable\ncitizens?\n\nTo show how incompatible are War and Christianity, suppose that he who\nis deemed the most Christian of Christ's disciples, the well-beloved\nJohn, were made a navy-chaplain, and some morning, when a battle is\ndaily looked for, should stand on the gun-deck, amid lockers of shot,\nhis Bible resting on a cannon, and expound Christianity to men with\ncutlasses by their side! Let him read for the morning lesson the Sermon\non the Mount, and for text take words from his own Epistle, so sweet, so\nbeautiful, so true: \"Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth\nGod, for God is love.\" Suppose he tells his strange audience that all\nmen are brothers; that God is their common father; that Christ loved us\nall, showing us how to live the life of love; and then, when he had\nmelted all those savage hearts by words so winsome and so true, let him\nconclude, \"Blessed are the men-slayers! Seek first the glory which\ncometh of battle. Be fierce as tigers. Mar God's image in which your\nbrothers are made. Be not like Christ, but Cain who slew his brother!\nWhen you meet the enemy, fire into their bosoms; kill them in the dear\nname of Christ; butcher them in the spirit of God. Give them no quarter,\nfor we ought not to lay down our lives for the brethren; only the\nmurderer hath eternal life!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYet great as are these three-fold evils, there are times when the\nsoberest men and the best men have welcomed war, coolly and in their\nbetter moments. Sometimes a people, long oppressed, has \"petitioned,\nremonstrated, cast itself at the feet of the throne,\" with only insult\nfor answer to its prayer. Sometimes there is a contest between a\nfalsehood and a great truth; a self-protecting war for freedom of mind,\nheart and soul; yes, a war for a man's body, his wife's and children's\nbody, for what is dearer to men than life itself, for the unalienable\nrights of man, for the idea that all are born free and equal. It was so\nin the American Revolution; in the English, in the French Revolution. In\nsuch cases men say, \"Let it come.\" They take down the firelock in\nsorrow; with a prayer they go forth to battle, asking that the Right\nmay triumph. Much as I hate war I cannot but honor such men. Were they\nbetter, yet more heroic, even war of that character might be avoided.\nStill it is a colder heart than mine which does not honor such men,\nthough it believes them mistaken. Especially do we honor them, when it\nis the few, the scattered, the feeble, contending with the many and the\nmighty; the noble fighting for a great idea, and against the base and\ntyrannical. Then most men think the gain, the triumph of a great idea,\nis worth the price it costs, the price of blood.\n\nI will not stop to touch that question, If man may ever shed the blood\nof man. But it is plain that an aggressive war like this is wholly\nunchristian, and a reproach to the nation and the age.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow, to make the evils of war still clearer, and to bring them home to\nyour door, let us suppose there was war between the counties of Suffolk,\non the one side, and Middlesex on the other--this army at Boston, that\nat Cambridge. Suppose the subject in dispute was the boundary line\nbetween the two, Boston claiming a pitiful acre of flat land, which the\nocean at low tide disdained to cover. To make sure of this, Boston\nseizes whole miles of flats, unquestionably not its own. The rulers on\none side are fools, and traitors on the other. The two commanders have\nissued their proclamations; the money is borrowed; the whiskey\nprovided; the soldiers--Americans, Negroes, Irishmen, all the\nable-bodied men--are enlisted. Prayers are offered in all the churches,\nand sermons preached, showing that God is a man of war, and Cain his\nfirst saint, an early Christian, a Christian before Christ. The\nBostonians wish to seize Cambridge, burn the houses, churches,\ncollege-halls, and plunder the library. The men of Cambridge wish to\nseize Boston, burn its houses and ships, plundering its wares and its\ngoods. Martial law is proclaimed on both sides. The men of Cambridge cut\nasunder the bridges, and make a huge breach in the mill-dam, planting\ncannon to enfilade all those avenues. Forts crown the hilltops, else so\ngreen. Men, madder than lunatics, are crowded into the Asylum. The\nBostonians rebuild the old fortifications on the Neck; replace the forts\non Beacon-hill, Fort-hill, Copps-hill, levelling houses to make room for\nredoubts and bastions. The batteries are planted, the mortars got ready;\nthe furnaces and magazines are all prepared. The three hills are grim\nwith war. From Copps-hill men look anxious to that memorable height the\nother side of the water. Provisions are cut off in Boston; no man may\npass the lines; the aqueduct refuses its genial supply; children cry for\ntheir expected food. The soldiers parade, looking somewhat tremulous and\npale; all the able-bodied have come, the vilest most willingly; some are\nbrought by force of drink, some by force of arms. Some are in brilliant\ndresses, some in their working frocks. The banners are consecrated by\nsolemn words.[6] Your church-towers are military posts of observation.\nThere are Old Testament prayers to the \"God of Hosts\" in all the\nchurches of Boston; prayers that God would curse the men of Cambridge,\nmake their wives widows, their children fatherless, their houses a ruin,\nthe men corpses, meat for the beast of the field and the bird of the\nair. Last night the Bostonians made a feint of attacking Charlestown,\nraining bombs and red-hot cannon-balls from Copps-hill, till they have\nburnt a thousand houses, where the British burnt not half so many. Women\nand children fled screaming from the blazing rafters of their homes. The\nmen of Middlesex crowd into Charlestown.\n\nIn the mean time the Bostonians hastily repair a bridge or two; some\npass that way, some over the Neck; all stealthily by night, and while\nthe foe expect them at Bunker's, amid the blazing town, they have stolen\na march and rush upon Cambridge itself. The Cambridge men turn back. The\nbattle is fiercely joined. You hear the cannon, the sharp report of\nmusketry. You crowd the hills, the house-tops; you line the Common, you\ncover the shore, yet you see but little in the sulphurous cloud. Now\nthe Bostonians yield a little, a reinforcement goes over. All the men\nare gone; even the gray-headed who can shoulder a firelock. They plunge\ninto battle mad with rage, madder with rum. The chaplains loiter behind.\n\n    \"Pious men, whom duty brought,\n    To dubious verge of battle fought,\n    To shrive the dying, bless the dead!\"\n\nThe battle hangs long in even scale. At length it turns. The Cambridge\nmen retreat, they run, they fly. The houses burn. You see the churches\nand the colleges go up, a stream of fire. That library--founded amid\nwant and war and sad sectarian strife, slowly gathered by the saving of\ntwo centuries, the hope of the poor scholar, the boast of the rich\none--is scattered to the winds and burnt with fire, for the solid\ngranite is blasted by powder, and the turrets fall. Victory is ours. Ten\nthousand men of Cambridge lie dead; eight thousand of Boston. There\nwrithe the wounded; men who but few hours before were poured over the\nbattle-field a lava flood of fiery valor--fathers, brothers, husbands,\nsons. There they lie, torn and mangled; black with powder; red with\nblood; parched with thirst; cursing the load of life they now must bear\nwith bruised frames and mutilated limbs. Gather them into hasty\nhospitals--let this man's daughter come to-morrow and sit by him,\nfanning away the flies; he shall linger out a life of wretched anguish\nunspoken and unspeakable, and when he dies his wife religiously will\nkeep the shot which tore his limbs. There is the battle-field! Here the\nhorse charged; there the howitzers scattered their shells, pregnant with\ndeath; here the murderous canister and grape mowed down the crowded\nranks; there the huge artillery, teeming with murder, was dragged o'er\nheaps of men--wounded friends who just now held its ropes, men yet\ncurling with anguish, like worms in the fire. Hostile and friendly, head\nand trunk are crushed beneath those dreadful wheels. Here the infantry\nshowered their murdering shot. That ghastly face was beautiful the day\nbefore--a sabre hewed its half away.\n\n    \"The earth is covered thick with other clay,\n    Which her own clay must cover, heaped and pent,\n    Rider and horse, friend, foe, in one red burial blent.\"\n\nAgain it is night. Oh, what a night, and after what a day! Yet the pure\ntide of woman's love, which never ebbs since earth began, flows on in\nspite of war and battle. Stealthily, by the pale moonlight, a mother of\nBoston treads the weary miles to reach that bloody spot; a widow\nshe--seeking among the slain her only son. The arm of power drove him\nforth reluctant to the fight. A friendly soldier guides her way. Now\nshe turns over this face, whose mouth is full of purple dust, bit out of\nthe ground in his extremest agony, the last sacrament offered him by\nEarth herself; now she raises that form, cold, stiff, stony and ghastly\nas a dream of hell. But, lo! another comes, she too a woman, younger and\nfairer, yet not less bold, a maiden from the hostile town to seek her\nlover. They meet, two women among the corpses; two angels come to\nGolgotha, seeking to raise a man. There he lies before them; they look.\nYes it is he you seek; the same dress, form, features too; it is he, the\nson, the lover. Maid and mother could tell that face in any light. The\ngrass is wet with his blood. The ground is muddy with the life of men.\nThe mother's innocent robe is drabbled in the blood her bosom bore.\nTheir kisses, groans, and tears, recall the wounded man. He knows the\nmother's voice; that voice yet more beloved. His lips move only, for\nthey cannot speak. He dies! The waxing moon moves high in heaven,\nwalking in beauty amid the clouds, and murmurs soft her cradle song unto\nthe slumbering earth. The broken sword reflects her placid beams. A star\nlooks down and is imaged back in a pool of blood. The cool night wind\nplays in the branches of the trees shivered with shot. Nature is\nbeautiful--that lovely grass underneath their feet; those pendulous\nbranches of the leafy elm; the stars and that romantic moon lining the\nclouds with silver light! A groan of agony, hopeless and prolonged,\nwails out from that bloody ground. But in yonder farm the whippoorwill\nsings to her lover all night long; the rising tide ripples melodious\nagainst the shores. So wears the night away,--Nature, all sinless, round\nthat field of woe.\n\n    \"The morn is up again, the dewy morn,\n    With breath all incense and with cheek all bloom,\n    Laughing the clouds away with playful scorn,\n    And living as if earth contained no tomb,\n      And glowing into day.\"\n\nWhat a scene that morning looks upon! I will not turn again. Let the\ndead bury their dead. But their blood cries out of the ground against\nthe rulers who shed it,--\"Cain! where are thy brothers?\" What shall the\nfool answer; what the traitor say?\n\nThen comes thanksgiving in all the churches of Boston. The consecrated\nbanners, stiff with blood and \"glory,\" are hung over the altar. The\nminister preaches and the singer sings: \"The Lord hath been on our side.\nHe treadeth the people under me. He teacheth my hands to war, my fingers\nto fight. Yea, He giveth me the necks of mine enemies; for the Lord is\nhis name;\" and \"It was a famous victory!\" Boston seizes miles square of\nland; but her houses are empty; her wives widows; her children\nfatherless. Rachel weeps for the murder of her innocents, yet dares not\nrebuke the rod.\n\nI know there is no fighting across Charles River, as in this poor\nfiction; but there was once, and instead of Charles say Rio Grande; for\nCambridge read Metamoras, and it is what your President recommended;\nwhat your Congress enacted; what your Governor issued his proclamation\nfor; what your volunteers go to accomplish: yes, what they fired cannon\nfor on Boston Common the other day. I wish that were a fiction of mine!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe are waging a most iniquitous war--so it seems to me. I know I may be\nwrong, but I am no partisan, and if I err, it is not wilfully, not\nrashly. I know the Mexicans are a wretched people; wretched in their\norigin, history, and character. I know but two good things of them as a\npeople--they abolished negro slavery, not long ago; they do not covet\nthe lands of their neighbors. True, they have not paid all their debts,\nbut it is scarcely decent in a nation, with any repudiating States, to\nthrow the first stone at Mexico for that!\n\nI know the Mexicans cannot stand before this terrible Anglo-Saxon race,\nthe most formidable and powerful the world ever saw; a race which has\nnever turned back; which, though it number less than forty millions, yet\nholds the Indies, almost the whole of North America; which rules the\ncommerce of the world; clutches at New Holland, China, New Zealand,\nBorneo, and seizes island after island in the furthest seas; the race\nwhich invented steam as its awful type. The poor, wretched Mexicans can\nnever stand before us. How they perished in battle! They must melt away\nas the Indians before the white man. Considering how we acquired\nLouisiana, Florida, Oregon, I cannot forbear thinking that this people\nwill possess the whole of the continent before many years; perhaps\nbefore the century ends. But this may be had fairly; with no injustice\nto any one; by the steady advance of a superior race, with superior\nideas and a better civilization; by commerce, trade, arts, by being\nbetter than Mexico, wiser, humaner, more free and manly. Is it not\nbetter to acquire it by the schoolmaster than the cannon; by peddling\ncloth, tin, any thing rather than bullets? It may not all belong to this\nGovernment, and yet to this race. It would be a gain to mankind if we\ncould spread over that country the Idea of America--that all men are\nborn free and equal in rights, and establish there political, social,\nand individual freedom. But to do that, we must first make real these\nideas at home.\n\nIn the general issue between this race and that, we are in the right.\nBut in this special issue, and this particular war, it seems to me that\nwe are wholly in the wrong; that our invasion of Mexico is as bad as the\npartition of Poland in the last century and in this. If I understand the\nmatter, the whole movement, the settlement of Texas, the Texan\nrevolution, the annexation of Texas, the invasion of Mexico, has been a\nmovement hostile to the American idea, a movement to extend slavery. I\ndo not say such was the design on the part of the people, but on the\npart of the politicians who pulled the strings. I think the papers of\nthe Government and the debates of Congress prove that. The annexation\nhas been declared unconstitutional in its mode, a virtual dissolution of\nthe Union, and that by very high and well-known authority. It was\nexpressly brought about for the purpose of extending slavery. An attempt\nis now made to throw the shame of this on the democrats. I think the\ndemocrats deserve the shame; but I could never see that the whigs, on\nthe whole, deserved it any less; only they were not quite so open.\nCertainly, their leaders did not take ground against it, never as\nagainst a modification of the tariff! When we annexed Texas we of course\ntook her for better or worse, debts and all, and annexed her war along\nwith her. I take it everybody knew that; though now some seem to pretend\na decent astonishment at the result. Now one party is ready to fight for\nit as the other! The North did not oppose the annexation of Texas. Why\nnot? They knew they could make money by it. The eyes of the North are\nfull of cotton; they see nothing else, for a web is before them; their\nears are full of cotton, and they hear nothing but the buzz of their\nmills; their mouth is full of cotton, and they can speak audibly but\ntwo words--Tariff, Tariff, Dividends, Dividends. The talent of the North\nis blinded, deafened, gagged with its own cotton. The North clamored\nloudly when the nation's treasure was removed from the United States\nBank; it is almost silent at the annexation of a slave territory big as\nthe kingdom of France, encumbered with debts, loaded with the entailment\nof war! Northern Governors call for soldiers; our men volunteer to fight\nin a most infamous war for the extension of slavery! Tell it not in\nBoston, whisper it not in Faneuil Hall, lest you weaken the slumbers of\nyour fathers, and they curse you as cowards and traitors unto men! Not\nsatisfied with annexing Texas and a war, we next invaded a territory\nwhich did not belong to Texas, and built a fort on the Rio Grande,\nwhere, I take it, we had no more right than the British, in 1841, had on\nthe Penobscot or the Saco. Now the Government and its Congress would\nthrow the blame on the innocent, and say war exists \"by the act of\nMexico!\" If a lie was ever told, I think this is one. Then the \"dear\npeople\" must be called on for money and men, for \"the soil of this free\nrepublic is invaded,\" and the Governor of Massachusetts, one of the men\nwho declared the annexation of Texas unconstitutional, recommends the\nwar he just now told us to pray against, and appeals to our\n\"patriotism,\" and \"humanity,\" as arguments for butchering the Mexicans,\nwhen they are in the right and we in the wrong! The maxim is held up,\n\"Our country, right or wrong;\" \"Our country, howsoever bounded;\" and it\nmight as well be, \"Our country, howsoever governed.\" It seems popularly\nand politically forgotten that there is such a thing as Right. The\nnation's neck invites a tyrant. I am not at all astonished that northern\nrepresentatives voted for all this work of crime. They are no better\nthan southern representatives; scarcely less in favor of slavery, and\nnot half so open. They say: Let the North make money, and you may do\nwhat you please with the nation; and we will choose governors that dare\nnot oppose you, for, though we are descended from the Puritans we have\nbut one article in our creed we never flinch from following, and that\nis--to make money; honestly, if we can; if not, as we can!\n\nLook through the action of your Government, and your Congress. You see\nthat no reference has been had in this affair to Christian ideas; none\nto justice and the eternal right. Nay, none at all! In the churches, and\namong the people, how feeble has been the protest against this great\nwrong. How tamely the people yield their necks--and say: \"Take our sons\nfor the war--we care not, right or wrong.\" England butchers the Sikhs in\nIndia--her generals are elevated to the peerage, and the head of her\nchurch writes a form of thanksgiving for the victory, to be read in all\nthe churches of that Christian land.[7] To make it still more\nabominable, the blasphemy is enacted on Easter Sunday, the great holiday\nof men who serve the Prince of Peace. We have not had prayers in the\nchurches, for we have no political Archbishop. But we fired cannon in\njoy that we had butchered a few wretched men--half starved, and forced\ninto the ranks by fear of death! Your peace societies, and your\nchurches, what can they do? What dare they? Verily, we are a faithless\nand perverse generation. God be merciful to us, sinners as we are!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut why talk for ever? What shall we do? In regard to this present war,\nwe can refuse to take any part in it; we can encourage others to do the\nsame; we can aid men, if need be, who suffer because they refuse. Men\nwill call us traitors: what then? That hurt nobody in '76! We are a\nrebellious nation; our whole history is treason; our blood was attainted\nbefore we were born; our creeds are infidelity to the mother-church; our\nConstitution treason to our father-land. What of that? Though all the\ngovernors in the world bid us commit treason against man, and set the\nexample, let us never submit. Let God only be a master to control our\nconscience!\n\nWe can hold public meetings in favor of peace, in which what is wrong\nshall be exposed and condemned. It is proof of our cowardice that this\nhas not been done before now. We can show in what the infamy of a nation\nconsists; in what its real glory. One of your own men, the last summer,\nstartled the churches out of their sleep,[8] by his manly trumpet,\ntalking with us, and telling that the true grandeur of a nation was\njustice, not glory; peace, not war.\n\nWe can work now for future times, by taking pains to spread abroad the\nsentiments of peace, the ideas of peace, among the people in schools,\nchurches--everywhere. At length we can diminish the power of the\nnational Government, so that the people alone shall have the power to\ndeclare war, by a direct vote, the Congress only to recommend it. We can\ntake from the Government the means of war by raising only revenue enough\nfor the nation's actual wants, and raising that directly, so that each\nman knows what he pays, and when he pays it, and then he will take care\nthat it is not paid to make him poor and keep him so. We can diffuse a\nreal practical Christianity among the people, till the mass of men have\ncourage enough to overcome evil with good, and look at aggressive war as\nthe worst of treason and the foulest infidelity!\n\nNow is the time to push and be active. War itself gives weight to words\nof peace. There will never be a better time till we make the times\nbetter. It is not a day for cowardice, but for heroism. Fear not that\nthe \"honor of the nation\" will suffer from Christian movements for\npeace. What if your men of low degree are a vanity, and your men of high\ndegree are a lie? That is no new thing. Let true men do their duty, and\nthe lie and the vanity will pass each to its reward. Wait not for the\nchurches to move, or the State to become Christian. Let us bear our\ntestimony like men, not fearing to be called traitors, infidels; fearing\nonly to be such.\n\nI would call on Americans, by their love of our country, its great\nideas, its real grandeur, its hopes, and the memory of its fathers--to\ncome and help save that country from infamy and ruin. I would call on\nChristians, who believe that Christianity is a truth, to lift up their\nvoice, public and private, against the foulest violation of God's law,\nthis blasphemy of the Holy Spirit of Christ, this worst form of\ninfidelity to man and God. I would call on all men, by the one nature\nthat is in you, by the great human heart beating alike in all your\nbosoms, to protest manfully against this desecration of the earth, this\nhigh treason against both man and God. Teach your rulers that you are\nAmericans, not slaves; Christians, not heathen; men, not murderers, to\nkill for hire! You may effect little in this generation, for its head\nseems crazed and its heart rotten. But there will be a day after to-day.\nIt is for you and me to make it better; a day of peace, when nation\nshall no longer lift up sword against nation; when all shall indeed be\nbrothers, and all blest. Do this, you shall be worthy to dwell in this\nbeautiful land; Christ will be near you; God work with you, and bless\nyou for ever!\n\nThis present trouble with Mexico may be very brief; surely it might be\neven now brought to an end with no unusual manhood in your rulers. Can\nwe say we have not deserved it? Let it end, but let us remember that\nwar, horrid as it is, is not the worst calamity which ever befalls a\npeople. It is far worse for a people to lose all reverence for right,\nfor truth, all respect for man and God; to care more for the freedom of\ntrade than the freedom of men; more for a tariff than millions of souls.\nThis calamity came upon us gradually, long before the present war, and\nwill last long after that has died away. Like people like ruler, is a\ntrue word. Look at your rulers, representatives, and see our own\nlikeness! We reverence force, and have forgot there is any right beyond\nthe vote of a Congress or a people; any good beside dollars; any God but\nmajorities and force, I think the present war, though it should cost\n50,000 men and $50,000,000, the smallest part of our misfortune. Abroad\nwe are looked on as a nation of swindlers and men-stealers! What can we\nsay in our defence? Alas, the nation is a traitor to its great\nidea,--that all men are born equal, each with the same unalienable\nrights. We are infidels to Christianity. We have paid the price of our\nshame.\n\nThere have been dark days in this nation before now. It was gloomy when\nWashington with his little army fled through the Jerseys. It was a long\ndark day from '83 to '89. It was not so dark as now; the nation never so\nfalse. There was never a time when resistance to tyrants was so rare a\nvirtue; when the people so tamely submitted to a wrong. Now you can feel\nthe darkness. The sack of this city and the butchery of its people were\na far less evil than the moral deadness of the nation. Men spring up\nagain like the mown grass; but to raise up saints and heroes in a dead\nnation corrupting beside its golden tomb, what shall do that for us? We\nmust look not to the many for that, but to the few who are faithful unto\nGod and man.\n\nI know the hardy vigor of our men, the stalwart intellect of this\npeople. Would to God they could learn to love the right and true. Then\nwhat a people should we be, spreading from the Madawaska to the\nSacramento, diffusing our great idea, and living our religion, the\nChristianity of Christ! Oh, Lord! make the vision true; waken thy\nprophets and stir thy people till righteousness exalt us! No wonders\nwill be wrought for that. But the voice of conscience speaks to you and\nme, and all of us: The right shall prosper; the wicked States shall die,\nand History responds her long amen.\n\nWhat lessons come to us from the past! The Genius of the old\ncivilization, solemn and sad, sits there on the Alps, his classic beard\ndescending o'er his breast. Behind him arise the new nations, bustling\nwith romantic life. He bends down over the midland sea, and counts up\nhis children--Assyria, Egypt, Tyre, Carthage, Troy, Etruria, Corinth,\nAthens, Rome--once so renowned, now gathered with the dead, their giant\nghosts still lingering pensive o'er the spot. He turns westward his\nface, too sad to weep, and raising from his palsied knee his trembling\nhand, looks on his brother genius of the new civilization. That young\ngiant, strong and mocking, sits there on the Alleghanies. Before him lie\nthe waters, covered with ships; behind him he hears the roar of the\nMississippi and the far distant Oregon--rolling their riches to the sea.\nHe bends down, and that far ocean murmurs pacific in his ear. On his\nleft, are the harbors, shops and mills of the East, and a five-fold\ngleam of light goes up from Northern lakes. On his right, spread out the\nbroad savannahs of the South, waiting to be blessed; and far off that\nMexique bay bends round her tropic shores. A crown of stars is on that\ngiant's head, some glorious with flashing, many-colored light; some\nbloody red; some pale and faint, of most uncertain hue. His right hand\nlies folded in his robe; the left rests on the Bible's opened page, and\nholds these sacred words--All men are equal, born with equal rights from\nGod. The old says to the young: \"Brother, beware!\" and Alps and Rocky\nMountains say \"Beware!\" That stripling giant, ill-bred and scoffing,\nshouts amain: \"My feet are red with the Indians' blood; my hand has\nforged the negro's chain. I am strong; who dares assail me? I will drink\nhis blood, for I have made my covenant of lies, and leagued with hell\nfor my support. There is no right, no truth; Christianity is false, and\nGod a name.\" His left hand rends those sacred scrolls, casting his\nBibles underneath his feet, and in his right he brandishes the\nnegro-driver's whip, crying again--\"Say, who is God, and what is Right.\"\nAnd all his mountains echo--Right. But the old genius sadly says again:\n\"Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not prosper.\" The hollow\ntomb of Egypt, Athens, Rome, of every ancient State, with all their\nwandering ghosts, replies, \"AMEN.\"\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[3] Isaiah lxiii. 1-6. _Noyes's_ Version.\n\n    _The People._\n\n    1.   Who is this that cometh from Edom?\n       In scarlet garments from Bozrah?\n       This, that is glorious in his apparel,\n       Proud in the greatness of his strength?\n\n    _Jehovah._\n\n       I, that proclaim deliverance,\n       And am mighty to save.\n\n    _The People._\n\n    2. Wherefore is thine apparel red,\n       And thy garments like those of one that treadeth the wine-vat?\n\n    _Jehovah._\n\n    3. I have trodden the wine-vat alone,\n       And of the nations there was none with me.\n       And I trod them in mine anger,\n       And I trampled them in my fury,\n       So that their life-blood was sprinkled upon my garments,\n       And I have stained all my apparel.\n    4. For the day of vengeance was in my heart,\n       And the year of my deliverance was come.\n    5. And I looked, and there was none to help,\n       And I wondered, that there was none to uphold,\n       Therefore my own arm wrought salvation for me,\n       And my fury, it sustained me.\n    6. I trod down the nations in my anger;\n       I crushed them in my fury,\n       And spilled their blood upon the ground.\n\n[4] To show the differences between the Old and New Testament, and to\nserve as introduction to this discourse, the following passages were\nread as the morning lesson: Exodus, xv. 1-6; 2 Sam. xxii. 32, 35-43, 48;\nxlv. 3-5; Isa. lxvi. 15, 16; Joel, iii. 9-17, and Matt. v. 3-11, 38-39,\n43-45.\n\n[5] Such was the price offered, and such the number of soldiers then\ncalled for.\n\n[6] See the appropriate forms of prayer for that service by the present\nBishop of Oxford, in Jay's Address before the American Peace Society, in\n1845.\n\n[7] _Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God._\n\n\"O Lord God of Hosts, in whose hand is power and might irresistible, we,\nthine unworthy servants, most humbly acknowledge thy goodness in the\nvictories lately vouchsafed to the armies of our Sovereign over a host\nof barbarous invaders, who sought to spread desolation over fruitful and\npopulous provinces, enjoying the blessings of peace, under the\nprotection of the British Crown. We bless Thee, O merciful Lord, for\nhaving brought to a speedy and prosperous issue a war to which no\noccasion had been given by injustice on our part, or apprehension of\ninjury at our hands! To Thee, O Lord, we ascribe the glory! It was Thy\nwisdom which guided the counsel! Thy power which strengthened the hands\nof those whom it pleased Thee to use as Thy instruments in the\ndiscomfiture of the lawless aggressor, and the frustration of his\nambitious designs! From Thee, alone, cometh the victory, and the spirit\nof moderation and mercy in the day of success. Continue, we beseech\nThee, to go forth with our armies, whensoever they are called into\nbattle in a righteous cause; and dispose the hearts of their leaders to\nexact nothing more from the vanquished than is necessary for the\nmaintenance of peace and security against violence and rapine.\n\n\"Above all, give Thy grace to those who preside in the councils of our\nSovereign, and administer the concerns of her widely extended dominions,\nthat they may apply all their endeavors to the purposes designed by Thy\ngood Providence, in committing such power to their hands, the temporal\nand spiritual benefit of the nations intrusted to their care.\n\n\"And whilst Thou preservest our distant possessions from the horrors of\nwar, give us peace and plenty at home, that the earth may yield her\nincrease, and that we, Thy servants, receiving Thy blessings with\nthankfulness and gladness of heart, may dwell together in unity, and\nfaithfully serve Thee, to Thy honor and glory, through Jesus Christ our\nLord, to whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, belong all dominion and\npower, both in heaven and earth, now and for ever. Amen.\"--See a defence\nof this prayer, in the London \"Christian Observer\" for May, p. 319, _et\nseq._, and for June, p. 346, _et seq._\n\nWould you know what he gave thanks for on Easter Sunday? Here is the\nhistory of the battle:\n\n\"This battle had begun at six, and was over at eleven o'clock; the\nhand-to-hand combat commenced at nine, and lasted scarcely two hours.\nThe river was full of sinking men. For two hours, volley after volley\nwas poured in upon the human mass--the stream being literally red with\nblood, and covered with the bodies of the slain. At last, the musket\nammunition becoming exhausted, the infantry fell to the rear, the horse\nartillery plying grape till not a man was visible within range. No\ncompassion was felt or mercy shown.\" But \"'twas a famous victory!\"\n\n[8] Mr. Charles Sumner.\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\nSPEECH DELIVERED AT THE ANTI-WAR MEETING IN FANEUIL HALL, FEBRUARY 4,\n1847.\n\n\nMr. Chairman,--We have come here to consult for the honor of our\ncountry. The honor and dignity of the United States are in danger. I\nlove my country; I love her honor. It is dear to me almost as my own. I\nhave seen stormy meetings in Faneuil Hall before now, and am not easily\ndisturbed by a popular tumult. But never before did I see a body of\narmed soldiers attempting to overawe the majesty of the people, when met\nto deliberate on the people's affairs. Yet the meetings of the people of\nBoston have been disturbed by soldiers before now, by British bayonets;\nbut never since the Boston massacre on the 5th of March, 1770! Our\nfathers hated a standing army. This is a new one, but behold the effect!\nHere are soldiers with bayonets to overawe the majesty of the people!\nThey went to our meeting last Monday night, the hireling soldiers of\nPresident Polk, to overawe and disturb the meetings of honest men. Here\nthey are now, and in arms!\n\nWe are in a war; the signs of war are seen here in Boston. Men, needed\nto hew wood and honestly serve society, are marching about your streets;\nthey are learning to kill men, men who never harmed us, nor them;\nlearning to kill their brothers. It is a mean and infamous war we are\nfighting. It is a great boy fighting a little one, and that little one\nfeeble and sick. What makes it worse is, the little boy is in the right,\nand the big boy is in the wrong, and tells solemn lies to make his side\nseem right. He wants, besides, to make the small boy pay the expenses of\nthe quarrel.\n\nThe friends of the war say \"Mexico has invaded our territory!\" When it\nis shown that it is we who have invaded hers, then it is said, \"Ay, but\nshe owes us money.\" Better say outright, \"Mexico has land, and we want\nto steal it!\"\n\nThis war is waged for a mean and infamous purpose, for the extension of\nslavery. It is not enough that there are fifteen Slave States, and\n3,000,000 men here who have no legal rights--not so much as the horse\nand the ox have in Boston: it is not enough that the slaveholders\nannexed Texas, and made slavery perpetual therein, extending even north\nof Mason and Dixon's line, covering a territory forty-five times as\nlarge as the State of Massachusetts. Oh, no; we must have yet more land\nto whip negroes in!\n\nThe war had a mean and infamous beginning. It began illegally,\nunconstitutionally. The Whigs say, \"the President made the war.\" Mr.\nWebster says so! It went on meanly and infamously. Your Congress lied\nabout it. Do not lay the blame on the democrats; the whigs lied just as\nbadly. Your Congress has seldom been so single-mouthed before. Why, only\nsixteen voted against the war, or the lie. I say this war is mean and\ninfamous all the more, because waged by a people calling itself\ndemocratic and Christian. I know but one war so bad in modern times,\nbetween civilized nations, and that was the war for the partition of\nPoland. Even for that there was more excuse.\n\nWe have come to Faneuil Hall to talk about the war; to work against the\nwar. It is rather late, but \"better late than never.\" We have let two\nopportunities for work pass unemployed. One came while the annexation of\nTexas was pending. Then was the time to push and be active. Then was the\ntime for Massachusetts and all the North, to protest as one man against\nthe extension of slavery. Everybody knew all about the matter, the\ndemocrats and the whigs. But how few worked against that gross mischief!\nOne noble man lifted up his warning voice;[9] a man noble in his\nfather,--and there he stands in marble; noble in himself--and there he\nstands yet higher up--and I hope time will show him yet nobler in his\nson, and there he stands, not in marble, but in man! He talked against\nit, worked against it, fought against it. But Massachusetts did little.\nHer tonguey men said little; her handymen did little. Too little could\nnot be done or said. True, we came here to Faneuil Hall and passed\nresolutions; good resolutions they were, too. Daniel Webster wrote them,\nit is said. They did the same in the State House; but nothing came of\nthem. They say \"Hell is paved with resolutions;\" these were of that sort\nof resolutions; which resolve nothing because they are of words, not\nworks!\n\nWell, we passed the resolutions; you know who opposed them; who hung\nback and did nothing, nothing good I mean; quite enough not good. Then\nwe thought all the danger was over; that the resolutions settled the\nmatter. But then was the time to confound at once the enemies of your\ncountry; to show an even front hostile to slavery.\n\nBut the chosen time passed over, and nothing was done. Do not lay the\nblame on the democrats; a whig Senate annexed Texas, and so annexed a\nwar. We ought to have told our delegation in Congress, if Texas were\nannexed, to come home, and we would breathe upon it and sleep upon it,\nand then see what to do next. Had our resolutions, taken so warmly here\nin Faneuil Hall in 1845, been but as warmly worked out, we had now been\nas terrible to the slave power as the slave power, since extended, now\nis to us!\n\nWhy was it that we did nothing? That is a public secret. Perhaps I ought\nnot to tell it to the people. (Cries of \"Tell it.\")\n\nThe annexation of Texas, a slave territory big as the kingdom of France,\nwould not furl a sail on the ocean; would not stop a mill-wheel at\nLowell! Men thought so.\n\nThat time passed by, and there came another. The Government had made\nwar; the Congress voted the dollars, voted the men, voted a lie. Your\nrepresentative, men of Boston, voted for all three; the lie, the\ndollars, and the men; all three, in obedience to the slave power! Let\nhim excuse that to the conscience of his party; it is an easy matter. I\ndo not believe he can excuse it to his own conscience. To the conscience\nof the world it admits of no excuse. Your President called for\nvolunteers, 50,000 of them. Then came an opportunity such as offers not\nonce in one hundred years, an opportunity to speak for freedom and the\nrights of mankind! Then was the time for Massachusetts to stand up in\nthe spirit of '76, and say, \"We won't send a man, from Cape Ann to\nWilliamstown--not one Yankee man, for this wicked war.\" Then was the\ntime for your Governor to say, \"Not a volunteer for this wicked war.\"\nThen was the time for your merchants to say, \"Not a ship, not a dollar\nfor this wicked war;\" for your manufacturers to say, \"We will not make\nyou a cannon, nor a sword, nor a kernel of powder, nor a soldier's\nshirt, for this wicked war.\" Then was the time for all good men to say,\n\"This is a war for slavery, a mean and infamous war; an aristocratic\nwar, a war against the best interests of mankind. If God please, we will\ndie a thousand times, but never draw blade in this wicked war.\" (Cries\nof \"Throw him over,\" etc.) Throw him over, what good would that do? What\nwould you do next, after you have thrown him over? (\"Drag you out of the\nhall!\") What good would that do? It would not wipe off the infamy of\nthis war! would not make it less wicked!\n\nThat is what a democratic nation, a Christian people ought to have said,\nought to have done. But we did not say so; the Bay State did not say so,\nnor your Governor, nor your merchants, nor your manufacturers, nor your\ngood men; the Governor accepted the President's decree, issued his\nproclamation calling for soldiers, recommended men to enlist, appealing\nto their \"patriotism\" and \"humanity.\"\n\nGovernor Briggs is a good man, and so far I honor him. He is a\ntemperance man, strong and consistent; I honor him for that. He is a\nfriend of education; a friend of the people. I wish there were more\nsuch. Like many other New England men, he started from humble\nbeginnings; but unlike many such successful men of New England, he is\nnot ashamed of the lowest round he ever trod on. I honor him for all\nthis. But that was a time which tried men's souls, and his soul could\nnot stand the rack. I am sorry for him. He did as the President told\nhim.\n\nWhat was the reason for all this? Massachusetts did not like the war,\neven then; yet she gave her consent to it. Why so? There are two words\nwhich can drive the blood out of the cheeks of cowardly men in\nMassachusetts any time. They are \"Federalism\" and \"Hartford Convention!\"\nThe fear of those words palsied the conscience of Massachusetts, and so\nher Governor did as he was told. I feel no fear of either. The\nFederalists did not see all things; who ever did? They had not the ideas\nwhich were destined to rule this nation; they looked back when the age\nlooked forward. But to their own ideas they were true; and if ever a\nnobler body of men held state in any nation, I have yet to learn when or\nwhere. If we had had the shadow of Caleb Strong in the Governor's chair,\nnot a volunteer for this war had gone out of Massachusetts.\n\nI have not told quite all the reasons why Massachusetts did nothing. Men\nknew the war would cost money; that the dollars would in the end be\nraised, not by a direct tax, of which the poor man paid according to his\nlittle, and the rich man in proportion to his much, but by a tariff\nwhich presses light on property, and hard on the person; by a tax on the\nbacks and mouths of the people. Some of the Whigs were glad last Spring,\nwhen the war came, for they hoped thereby to save the child of their old\nage, the tariff of '42. There are always some rich men, who say \"No\nmatter what sort of a Government we have, so long as we get our\ndividends;\" always some poor men, who say \"No matter how much the nation\nsuffers, if we fill our hungry purses thereby.\" Well, they lost their\nvirtue, lost their tariff, and gained just nothing; what they deserved\nto gain.\n\nNow a third opportunity has come; no, it has not come; we have brought\nit. The President wants a war tax on tea and coffee. Is that democratic,\nto tax every man's breakfast and supper, for the sake of getting more\nterritory to whip negroes in? (Numerous cries of \"Yes.\") Then what do\nyou think despotism would be? He asks a loan of $28,000,000 for this\nwar. He wants $3,000,000 to spend privately for this war. In eight\nmonths past, he has asked I am told for $74,000,000. Seventy-four\nmillions of dollars to conquer slave territory! Is that democratic too?\nHe wants to increase the standing army, to have ten regiments more! A\npretty business that. Ten regiments to gag the people in Faneuil Hall.\nDo you think that is democratic? Some men have just asked Massachusetts\nfor $20,000 for the volunteers! It is time for the people to rebuke all\nthis wickedness.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI think there is a good deal to excuse the volunteers. I blame them, for\nsome of them know what they are about. Yet I pity them more, for most of\nthem, I am told, are low, ignorant men; some of them drunken and brutal.\nFrom the uproar they make here to-night, arms in their hands, I think\nwhat was told me is true! I say I pity them! They are my brothers; not\nthe less brothers because low and misguided. If they are so needy that\nthey are forced to enlist by poverty, surely I pity them. If they are of\ngood families, and know better, I pity them still more! I blame most the\nmen that have duped the rank and file! I blame the captains and\ncolonels, who will have least of the hardships, most of the pay, and all\nof the \"glory.\" I blame the men that made the war; the men that make\nmoney out of it. I blame the great party men of the land. Did not Mr.\nClay say he hoped he could slay a Mexican? (Cries, \"No, he didn't.\")\nYes, he did; said it on Forefather's day! Did not Mr. Webster, in the\nstreets of Philadelphia, bid the volunteers, misguided young men, go and\nuphold the stars of their country? (Voices, \"He did right!\") No, he\nshould have said the stripes of his country, for every volunteer to this\nwicked war is a stripe on the nation's back! Did not he declare this\nwar unconstitutional, and threaten to impeach the President who made it,\nand then go and invest a son in it? Has it not been said here, \"Our\ncountry, howsoever bounded,\" bounded by robbery or bounded by right\nlines! Has it not been said, all round, \"Our country, right or wrong!\"\n\nI say I blame not so much the volunteers as the famous men who deceive\nthe nation! (Cries of \"Throw him over, kill him, kill him,\" and a\nflourish of bayonets.) Throw him over! you will not throw him over. Kill\nhim! I shall walk home unarmed and unattended, and not a man of you will\nhurt one hair of my head.\n\nI say again it is time for the people to take up this matter. Your\nCongress will do nothing till you tell them what and how! Your 29th\nCongress can do little good. Its sands are nearly run, God be thanked!\nIt is the most infamous Congress we ever had. We began with the Congress\nthat declared Independence, and swore by the Eternal Justice of God. We\nhave come down to the 29th Congress, which declared war existed by the\nact of Mexico, declared a lie; the Congress that swore by the Baltimore\nConvention! We began with George Washington, and have got down to James\nK. Polk.\n\nIt is time for the people of Massachusetts to instruct their servants in\nCongress to oppose this war; to refuse all supplies for it; to ask for\nthe recall of the army into our own land. It is time for us to tell\nthem that not an inch of slave territory shall ever be added to the\nrealm. Let us remonstrate; let us petition; let us command. If any class\nof men have hitherto been remiss, let them come forward now and give us\ntheir names--the merchants, the manufacturers, the whigs and the\ndemocrats. If men love their country better than their party or their\npurse, now let them show it.\n\nLet us ask the General Court of Massachusetts to cancel every commission\nwhich the Governor has given to the officers of the volunteers. Let us\nask them to disband the companies not yet mustered into actual service;\nand then, if you like that, ask them to call a convention of the people\nof Massachusetts, to see what we shall do in reference to the war; in\nreference to the annexation of more territory; in reference to the\nviolation of the Constitution! (Loud groans from crowds of rude fellows\nin several parts of the hall.) That was a tory groan; they never dared\ngroan so in Faneuil Hall before; not even the British tories, when they\nhad no bayonets to back them up! I say, let us ask for these things!\n\nYour President tells us it is treason to talk so! Treason is it? treason\nto discuss a war which the government made, and which the people are\nmade to pay for? If it be treason to speak against the war, what was it\nto make the war, to ask for 50,000 men and $74,000,000 for the war? Why,\nif the people cannot discuss the war they have got to fight and to pay\nfor, who under heaven can? Whose business is it, if it is not yours and\nmine? If my country is in the wrong, and I know it, and hold my peace,\nthen I am guilty of treason, moral treason. Why, a wrong,--it is only\nthe threshold of ruin. I would not have my country take the next step.\nTreason is it, to show that this war is wrong and wicked! Why, what if\nGeorge III., any time from '75 to '83, had gone down to Parliament and\ntold them it was treason to discuss the war then waging against these\ncolonies! What do you think the Commons would have said? What would the\nLords say? Why, that King, foolish as he was, would have been lucky, if\nhe had not learned there was a joint in his neck, and, stiff as he bore\nhim, that the people knew how to find it.\n\nI do not believe in killing kings, or any other men; but I do say, in a\ntime when the nation was not in danger, that no British king, for two\nhundred years past, would have dared call it treason to discuss the\nwar--its cause, its progress, or its termination!\n\nNow is the time to act! Twice we have let the occasion slip; beware of\nthe third time! Let it be infamous for a New England man to enlist; for\na New-England merchant to loan his dollars, or to let his ships in aid\nof this wicked war; let it be infamous for a manufacturer to make a\ncannon, a sword, or a kernel of powder, to kill our brothers with,\nwhile we all know that they are in the right, and we in the wrong.\n\nI know my voice is a feeble one in Massachusetts. I have no mountainous\nposition from whence to look down and overawe the multitude; I have no\nback-ground of political reputation to echo my words; I am but a plain\nhumble man; but I have a back-ground of Truth to sustain me, and the\nJustice of Heaven arches over my head! For your sakes, I wish I had that\noceanic eloquence whose tidal flow should bear on its bosom the\ndrift-weed which politicians have piled together, and sap and sweep away\nthe sand hillocks of soldiery blown together by the idle wind; that\noceanic eloquence which sweeps all before it, and leaves the shore hard,\nsmooth and clean! But feeble as I am, let me beg of you, fellow-citizens\nof Boston, men and brothers, to come forward and protest against this\nwicked war, and the end for which it is waged. I call on the whigs, who\nlove their country better than they love the tariff of '42; I call on\nthe democrats, who think Justice is greater than the Baltimore\nConvention,--I call on the whigs and democrats to come forward and join\nwith me in opposing this wicked war! I call on the men of Boston, on the\nmen of the old Bay State, to act worthy of their fathers, worthy of\ntheir country, worthy of themselves! Men and brothers, I call on you all\nto protest against this most infamous war, in the name of the State, in\nthe name of the country, in the name of man, yes, in the name of God:\nLeave not your children saddled with a war debt, to cripple the nation's\ncommerce for years to come. Leave not your land cursed with slavery,\nextended and extending, palsying the nation's arm and corrupting the\nnation's heart. Leave not your memory infamous among the nations,\nbecause you feared men, feared the Government; because you loved money\ngot by crime, land plundered in war, loved land unjustly bounded;\nbecause you debased your country by defending the wrong she dared to do;\nbecause you loved slavery; loved war, but loved not the Eternal Justice\nof all-judging God. If my counsel is weak and poor, follow one stronger\nand more manly. I am speaking to men; think of these things, and then\nact like men.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[9] John Quincy Adams.\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\nA SERMON OF THE MEXICAN WAR.--PREACHED AT THE MELODEON, ON SUNDAY, JUNE\n25, 1848.\n\n\nSoon after the commencement of the war against Mexico, I said something\nrespecting it in this place. But while I was printing the sermon, I was\nadvised to hasten the compositors in their work, or the war would be\nover before the sermon was out. The advice was like a good deal of the\ncounsel that is given to a man who thinks for himself, and honestly\nspeaks what he unavoidably thinks. It is now more than two years since\nthe war began; I have hoped to live long enough to see it ended, and\nhoped to say a word about it when over. A month ago, this day, the 25th\nof May, the treaty of peace, so much talked of, was ratified by the\nMexican Congress. A few days ago, it was officially announced by\ntelegraph to your collector in Boston, that the war with Mexico was at\nan end.\n\nThere are two things about this war quite remarkable. The first is, the\nmanner of its commencement. It was begun illegally, without the action\nof the constitutional authorities; begun by the command of the President\nof the United States, who ordered the American army into a territory\nwhich the Mexicans claimed as their own. The President says \"It is\nours,\" but the Mexicans also claimed it, and were in possession thereof\nuntil forcibly expelled. This is a plain case, and as I have elsewhere\ntreated at length of this matter,[10] I will not dwell upon it again,\nexcept to mention a single fact but recently divulged. It is well known\nthat Mr. Polk claimed the territory west of the Nueces and east of the\nRio Grande, as forming a part of Texas, and therefore as forming part of\nthe United States after the annexation of Texas. He contends that Mexico\nbegan the war by attacking the American army while in that territory and\nnear the Rio Grande. But, from the correspondence laid before the\nAmerican Senate, in its secret session for considering the treaty, it\nnow appears that on the 10th of November, 1845, Mr. Polk instructed Mr.\nSlidell to offer a relinquishment of American claims against Mexico,\namounting to $5,000,000 or $6,000,000, for the sake of having the Rio\nGrande as the western boundary of Texas; yes, for that very territory\nwhich he says was ours without paying a cent. When it was conquered, a\nmilitary government was established there, as in other places in Mexico.\n\nThe other remarkable thing about the war is, the manner of its\nconclusion. The treaty of peace which has just been ratified by the\nMexican authorities, and which puts an end to the war, was negotiated by\na man who had no more legal authority than any one of us has to do it.\nMr. Polk made the war, without consulting Congress, and that body\nadopted the war by a vote almost unanimous. Mr. Nicholas P. Trist made\nthe treaty, without consulting the President; yes, even after the\nPresident had ordered him to return home. As the Congress adopted Mr.\nPolk's war, so Mr. Polk adopted Mr. Trist's treaty, and the war\nillegally begun is brought informally to a close. Mr. Polk is now in the\nPresident's chair, seated on the throne of the Union, although he made\nthe war; and Mr. Trist, it is said, is under arrest for making the\ntreaty, meddling with what was none of his business.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the war began, there was a good deal of talk about it here; talk\nagainst it. But, as things often go in Boston, it ended in talk. The\nnews-boys made money out of the war. Political parties were true to\ntheir wonted principles, or their wonted prejudices. The friends of the\nparty in power could see no informality in the beginning of hostilities;\nno injustice in the war itself; not even an impolicy. They were\noffended if an obscure man preached against it of a Sunday. The\npolitical opponents of the party in power talked against the war, as a\nmatter of course; but, when the elections came, supported the men that\nmade it with unusual alacrity--their deeds serving as commentary upon\ntheir words, and making further remark thereon, in this place, quite\nsuperfluous. Many men,--who, whatever other parts of Scripture they may\nforget, never cease to remember that \"Money answereth all\nthings,\"--diligently set themselves to make money out of the war and the\nnew turn it gave to national affairs. Others thought that \"glory\" was a\ngood thing, and so engaged in the war itself, hoping to return, in due\ntime, all glittering with its honors.\n\nSo what with the one political party that really praised the war, and\nthe other who affected to oppose it, and with the commercial party, who\nlooked only for a market--this for merchandise and that for\n\"patriotism\"--the friends of peace, who seriously and heartily opposed\nthe war, were very few in number. True, the \"sober second thought\" of\nthe people has somewhat increased their number; but they are still few,\nmostly obscure men.\n\nNow peace has come, nobody talks much about it; the news-boys have\nscarce made a cent by the news. They fired cannons, a hundred guns on\nthe Common, for joy at the victory of Monterey; at Philadelphia,\nBaltimore, Washington, New York, men illuminated their houses in honor\nof the battle of Buena Vista, I think it was; the custom-house was\nofficially illuminated at Boston for that occasion. But we hear of no\ncannons to welcome the peace. Thus far, it does not seem that a single\ncandle has been burnt in rejoicing for that. The newspapers are full of\ntalk, as usual; flags are flying in the streets; the air is a little\nnoisy with hurrahs, but it is all talk about the conventions at\nBaltimore and Philadelphia; hurrahs for Taylor and Cass. Nobody talks of\nthe peace. Flags enough flap in the wind, with the names of rival\ncandidates; but nowhere do the stripes and stars bear Peace as their\nmotto. The peace now secured is purchased with such conditions imposed\non Mexico, that while every one will be glad of it, no man, that loves\njustice, can be proud of it. Very little is said about the treaty. The\ndistinguished senator from Massachusetts did himself honor, it seems to\nme, in voting against it on the ground that it enabled us to plunder\nMexico of her land. But the treaty contains some things highly honorable\nto the character of the nation, of which we may well enough be proud, if\never of any thing. I refer to the twenty-second and twenty-third\narticles, which provide for arbitration between the nations, if future\ndifficulties should occur; and to the pains taken, in case of actual\nhostilities, for the security of all unarmed persons, for the protection\nof private property, and for the humane treatment of all prisoners\ntaken in war. These ideas, and the language of these articles, are\ncopied from the celebrated treaty between the United States and Prussia,\nthe treaty of 1785. It is scarcely needful to add, that they were then\nintroduced by that great and good man, Benjamin Franklin, one of the\nnegotiators of the treaty. They made a new epoch in diplomacy, and\nintroduced a principle previously unknown in the law of nations. The\ninsertion of these articles in the new treaty is, perhaps, the only\nthing connected with the war, which an American can look upon with\nsatisfaction. Yet this fact excites no attention.[11]\n\nStill, while so little notice is taken of this matter, in public and\nprivate, it may be worth while for a minister, on Sunday, to say a word\nabout the peace; and, now the war is over, to look back upon it, to see\nwhat it has cost, in money and in men, and what we have got by it; what\nits consequences have been, thus far, and are likely to be for the\nfuture; what new dangers and duties come from this cause interpolated\ninto our nation. We have been long promised \"indemnity for the past, and\nsecurity for the future:\" let us see what we are to be indemnified for,\nand what secured against. The natural justice of the war I will not look\nat now.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFirst, then, of the cost of the war. Money is the first thing with a\ngood many men; the only thing with some; and an important thing with\nall. So, first of all, let me speak of the cost of the war in dollars.\nIt is a little difficult to determine the actual cost of the war, thus\nfar--even its direct cost; for the bills are not all in the hands of\nGovernment; and then, as a matter of political party-craft, the\nGovernment, of course, is unwilling to let the full cost become known\nbefore the next election is over. So it is to be expected that the\nGovernment will keep the facts from the people as long as possible. Most\nGovernments would do the same. But Truth has a right of way everywhere,\nand will recover it at last, spite of the adverse possession of a\npolitical party. The indirect cost of the war must be still more\ndifficult to come at, and will long remain a matter of calculation, in\nwhich it is impossible to reach certainty. We do not know yet the entire\ncost of the Florida war, or the late war with England; the complete cost\nof the Revolutionary war must forever be unknown.\n\nIt is natural for most men to exaggerate what favors their argument; but\nwhen I cannot obtain the exact figures, I will come a good deal within\nthe probable amount. The military and naval appropriations for the year\nending in June, 1847, were $40,865,155.96; for the next year,\n$31,377,679.92; the sum asked for the present year, till next June,\n$42,224,000; making a whole of $114,466,835.88. It is true that all this\nappropriation is not for the Mexican war, but it is also true that this\nsum does not include all the appropriations for the war. Estimating the\nsums already paid by the Government, the private claims presented and to\nbe presented, the $15,000,000 to be paid Mexico as purchase-money for\nthe territory we take from her, the $5,000,000 or $6,000,000 to be paid\nour own citizens for their claims against her,--I think I am a good deal\nwithin the mark when I say the war will have cost $150,000,000 before\nthe soldiers are at home, discharged, and out of the pay of the state.\nIn this sum I do not include the bounty-lands to be given to the\nsoldiers and officers, nor the pensions to be paid them, their widows\nand orphans, for years to come. I will estimate that at $50,000,000\nmore, making a whole of $200,000,000 which has been paid or must be.\nThis is the direct cost to the Federal Government, and of course does\nnot include the sums paid by individual States, or bestowed by private\ngenerosity, to feed and clothe the volunteers before they were mustered\ninto service. This may seem extravagant; but, fifty years hence, when\nparty spirit no longer blinds men's eyes, and when the whole is a\nmatter of history, I think it will be thought moderate, and be found a\ngood deal within the actual and direct cost. Some of this cost will\nappear as a public debt. Statements recently made respecting it can\nhardly be trusted, notwithstanding the authority on which they rest.\nPart of this war debt is funded already, part not yet funded. When the\noutstanding demands are all settled, and the treasury notes redeemed,\nthere will probably be a war debt of not less than $125,000,000. At\nleast, such is the estimate of an impartial and thoroughly competent\njudge. But, not to exaggerate, let us call it only $100,000,000.\n\nIt will, perhaps, be said: Part of this money, all that is paid in\npensions, is a charity, and therefore no loss. But it is a charity paid\nto men who, except for the war, would have needed no such aid; and,\ntherefore, a waste. Of the actual cost of the war, some three or four\nmillions have been spent in extravagant prices for hiring or purchasing\nships, in buying provisions and various things needed by the army, and\nsupplied by political favorites at exorbitant rates. This is the only\nportion of the cost which is not a sheer waste; here the money has only\nchanged hands; nothing has been destroyed, except the honesty of the\nparties concerned in such transactions. If a farmer hires men to help\nhim till the soil, the men earn their subsistence and their wages, and\nleave, besides, a profit to their employer; when the season is over, he\nhas his crops and his improvements as the return for their pay and\nsubsistence. But for all that the soldier has consumed, for his wages,\nhis clothes, his food and drink, the fighting tools he has worn out, and\nthe ammunition he has expended, there is no available return to show;\nall that is a clear waste. The beef is eaten up, the cloth worn away,\nthe powder is burnt, and what is there to show for it all? Nothing but\nthe \"glory.\" You sent out sound men, and they come back, many of them,\nsick and maimed; some of them are slain.\n\nThe indirect pecuniary cost of the war is caused, first, by diverting\nsome 150,000 men, engaged in the war directly or remotely, from the\nworks of productive industry, to the labors of war, which produce\nnothing; and, secondly, by disturbing the regular business of the\ncountry, first by the withdrawal of men from their natural work; then,\nby withdrawing large quantities of money from the active capital of the\nnation; and, finally, by the general uncertainty which it causes all\nover the land, thus hindering men from undertaking or prosecuting\nsuccessfully their various productive enterprises. If 150,000 men earn\non the average but $200 apiece, that alone amounts to $30,000,000. The\nwithdrawal of such an amount of labor from the common industry of the\ncountry must be seriously felt. At any rate, the nation has earned\n$30,000,000 less than it would have done, if these men had kept about\ntheir common work.\n\nBut the diversion of capital from its natural and pacific direction is a\ngreater evil in this case. America is rich, but her wealth consists\nmainly in land, in houses, cattle, ships, and various things needed for\nhuman comfort and industry. In money, we are poor. The amount of money\nis small in proportion to the actual wealth of the nation, and also in\nproportion to its activity which is indicated by the business of the\nnation. In actual wealth, the free States of America are probably the\nrichest people in the world; but in money we are poorer than many other\nnations. This is plain enough, though perhaps not very well known, and\nis shown by the fact that interest, in European States, is from two to\nfour per cent. a year, and in America from six to nine. The active\ncapital of America is small. Now in this war, a national debt has\naccumulated, which probably is or will soon be $100,000,000 or\n$125,000,000. All this great sum of money has, of course, been taken\nfrom the active capital of the country, and there has been so much less\nfor the use of the farmer, the manufacturer, and the merchant. But for\nthis war, these 150,000 men and these $100,000,000 would have been\ndevoted to productive industry; and the result would have been shown by\nthe increase of our annual earnings, in increased wealth and comfort.\n\nThen war produced uncertainty, and that distrust amongst men. Therefore\nmany were hindered from undertaking new works, and others found their\nold enterprises ruined at once. In this way there has been a great loss,\nwhich cannot be accurately estimated. I think no man, familiar with\nAmerican industry, would rate this indirect loss lower than\n$100,000,000; some, perhaps, at twice as much; but to avoid all\npossibility of exaggeration, let us call it half the smallest of these\nsums, or $50,000,000, as the complete pecuniary cost of the Mexican war,\ndirect and indirect.\n\nWhat have we got to show for all this money? We have a large tract of\nterritory, containing, in all, both east and west of the Rio Grande, I\nam told, between 700,000 and 800,000 square miles. Accounts differ as to\nits value. But it appears, from the recent correspondence of Mr.\nSlidell, that in 1845 the President offered Mexico, in money,\n$25,000,000 for that territory which we now acquire under this new\ntreaty. Suppose it is worth more, suppose it is worth twice as much, or\nall the indirect cost of the war ($50,000,000), then the $200,000,000\nare thrown away.\n\nNow, for this last sum, we could have built a sufficient railroad across\nthe Isthmus of Panama, and another across the continent, from the\nMississippi to the Pacific. If such a road, with its suitable equipment,\ncost $100,000 a mile, and the distance should amount to 2,000 miles,\nthen the $200,000,000 would just pay the bills. That would have been the\ngreatest national work of productive industry in the world. In\ncomparison with it, the Lake Moeris and the Pyramids of Egypt, and the\nWall of China seem but the works of a child. It might be a work to be\nproud of till the world ends; one, too, which would advance the\nindustry, the welfare, and general civilization of mankind to a great\ndegree, diminishing, by half, the distance round the globe; saving\nmillions of property and many lives each year; besides furnishing, it is\nthought, a handsome income from the original outlay. But, perhaps, that\nwould not be the best use which might be made of the money; perhaps it\nwould not have been wise to undertake that work. I do not pretend to\njudge of such matters, only to show what might be done with that sum of\nmoney, if we were disposed to construct works of such a character. At\nany rate, two Pacific railroads would be better than one Mexican war. We\nare seldom aware of the cost of war. If a single regiment of dragoons\ncost only $700,000 a year, which is a good deal less than the actual\ncost, that is considerably more than the cost of twelve colleges like\nHarvard University, with its schools for theology, law, and medicine;\nits scientific school, observatory, and all. We are, taken as a whole, a\nvery ignorant people; and while we waste our school-money and\nschool-time, must continue so.\n\nA great man, who towers far above the common heads, full of creative\nthought, of the ideas which move the world, able to organize that\nthought into institutions, laws, practical works; a man of a million, a\nmillion-minded man, at the head of a nation, putting his thought into\nthem; ruling not barely by virtue of his position, but by the\nintellectual and moral power to fill it; ruling not over men's heads,\nbut in their minds and hearts, and leading them to new fields of toil,\nincreasing their numbers, wealth, intelligence, comfort, morals,\npiety--such a man is a noble sight; a Charlemagne, or a Genghis Khan, a\nMoses leading his nation up from Egyptian bondage to freedom and the\npromised land. How have the eyes of the world been fixed on Washington!\nIn darker days than ours, when all was violence, it is easy to excuse\nsuch men if they were warriors also, and made, for the time, their\nnation but a camp. There have been ages when the most lasting ink was\nhuman blood. In our day, when war is the exception, and that commonly\nneedless, such a man, so getting the start of the majestic world, were a\nfar grander sight. And with such a man at the head of this nation, a\ngreat man at the head of a free nation, able and energetic, and\nenterprising as we are, what were too much to hope? As it is, we have\nwasted our money, and got, the honor of fighting such a war.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLet me next speak of the direct cost of the war in men. In April, 1846,\nthe entire army of the United States, consisted of 7,244 men; the naval\nforce of about 7,500. We presented the gratifying spectacle of a nation\n20,000,000 strong, with a sea-coast of 3,000 or 4,000 miles, and only\n7,000 or 8,000 soldiers, and as many armed men on the sea, or less than\n15,000 in all! Few things were more grateful to an American than this\nthought, that his country was so nearly free from the terrible curse of\na standing army. At that time, the standing army of France was about\n480,000 men; that of Russia nearly 800,000 it is said. Most of the\nofficers in the American army and navy, and most of the rank and file,\nhad probably entered the service with no expectation of ever shedding\nthe blood of men. The navy and army were looked on as instruments of\npeace; as much so as the police of a city.\n\nThe first of last January, there was, in Mexico, an American army of\n23,695 regular soldiers, and a little more than 50,000 volunteers, the\nnumber cannot now be exactly determined, making an army of invasion of\nabout 75,000 men. The naval forces, also, had been increased to 10,000.\nEstimating all the men engaged in the service of the army and navy; in\nmaking weapons of war and ammunition; in preparing food and clothing; in\ntransporting those things and the soldiers from place to place, by land\nor sea, and in performing the various other works incident to military\noperations, it is within bounds to say that there were 80,000 or 90,000\nmen engaged indirectly in the works of war. But not to exaggerate, it is\nsafe to say that 150,000 men were directly or indirectly engaged in the\nMexican war. This estimate will seem moderate, when you remember that\nthere were about 5,000 teamsters connected with the army in Mexico.\n\nHere, then, were 150,000 men whose attention and toil were diverted from\nthe great business of productive industry to merely military operations,\nor preparations for them. Of course, all the labor of these men was of\nno direct value to the human race. The food and clothing and labor of a\nman who earns nothing by productive work of hand or head, is food,\nclothing, and labor thrown away; labor in vain. There is nothing to show\nfor the things he has consumed. So all the work spent in preparing\nammunition and weapons of war is labor thrown away, an absolute loss, as\nmuch as if it had been spent in making earthen pitchers and then in\ndashing them to pieces. A country is the richer for every serviceable\nplough and spade made in it, and the world the richer; they are to be\nused in productive work, and when worn out, there is the improved soil\nand the crops that have been gathered, to show for the wear and tear of\nthe tools. So a country is the richer for every industrious shoemaker\nand blacksmith it contains; for his time and toil go to increase the sum\nof human comfort, creating actual wealth. The world also is better off,\nand becomes better through their influence. But a country is the poorer\nfor every soldier it maintains, and the world poorer, as he adds nothing\nto the actual wealth of mankind; so is it the poorer for each sword and\ncannon made within its borders, and the world poorer, for these\ninstruments cannot be used in any productive work, only for works of\ndestruction.\n\nSo much for the labor of these 150,000 men; labor wasted in vain. Let us\nnow look at the cost of life. It is not possible to ascertain the exact\nloss suffered up to this time, in killed, deceased by ordinary diseases,\nand in wounded; for some die before they are mustered into the service\nof the United States, and parts of the army are so far distant from the\nseat of Government that their recent losses are still unknown. I rely\nfor information on the last report of the Secretary of War, read before\nthe Senate, April 10, 1848, and recently printed. That gives the losses\nof parts of the army up to December last; other accounts are made up\nonly till October, or till August. Recent losses will of course swell\nthe amount of destruction. According to that report, on the American\nside there had been killed in battle, or died of wounds received\ntherein, 1,689 persons; there had died of diseases and accidents, 6,173;\n3,743 have been wounded in battle, who were not known to be dead at the\ndate of the report.\n\nThis does not include the deaths in the navy, nor the destruction of\nmen connected with the army in various ways, as furnishing supplies and\nthe like. Considering the sickness and accidents that have happened in\nthe present year, and others which may be expected before the troops\nreach home, I may set down the total number of deaths on the American\nside, caused by the war, at 15,000, and the number of wounded men at\n4,000. Suppose the army on the average to have consisted of 50,000 men\nfor two years, this gives a mortality of fifteen per cent. each year,\nwhich is an enormous loss even for times of war, and one seldom equalled\nin modern warfare.\n\nNow, most of the men who have thus died or been maimed were in the prime\nof life, able-bodied and hearty men. Had they remained at home in the\nworks of peace, it is not likely that more than 500 of the number would\nhave died. So then 14,500 lives may be set down at once to the account\nof the war. The wounded men are of course to thank the war, and that\nalone, for their smart and the life-long agony which they are called on\nto endure.\n\nSuch is the American loss. The loss of the Mexicans we cannot now\ndetermine. But they have been many times more numerous than the\nAmericans; have been badly armed, badly commanded, badly trained, and\nbesides have been beaten in every battle; their number seemed often the\ncause of their ruin, making them confident before battle and hindering\ntheir retreat after they were beaten. Still more, they have been ill\nprovided with surgeons and nurses to care for the wounded, and were\ndestitute of medicines. They must have lost in battle five or six times\nmore than we have done, and have had a proportionate number of wounded.\nTo \"lie like a military bulletin\" is a European proverb; and it is not\nnecessary to trust reports which tell of 600 or 900 Mexicans left dead\non the ground, while the Americans lost but five or six. But when we\nremember that only twelve Americans were killed during the bombardment\nof Vera Cruz, which lasted five days; that the citadel contained more\nthan 5,000 soldiers and over 400 pieces of cannon, we may easily believe\nthe Mexican losses on the whole have been 10,000 men killed and perished\nof their wounds. Their loss by sickness would probably be smaller than\nour own, for the Mexicans were in their native climate, though often ill\nfurnished with clothes, with shelter and provisions: so I will put down\ntheir loss by ordinary diseases at only 5,000, making a total of 15,000\ndeaths. Suppose their number of wounded was four times as great as our\nown, or 20,000. I should not be surprised if this were only half the\nnumber.\n\nPut all together and we have in total, Americans and Mexicans, 24,000\nmen wounded, more or less, and the greater part maimed for life; and we\nhave 30,000 men killed on the field of battle, or perished by the slow\ntorture of their wounds, or deceased of diseases caused by\nextraordinary exposures; 24,000 men maimed; 30,000 dead!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYou all remember the bill which so hastily passed Congress in May, 1846,\nand authorized the war previously begun. You perhaps have not forgot the\npreamble, \"Whereas war exists by the act of Mexico.\" Well, that bill\nauthorized the waste of $200,000,000 of American treasure, money enough\nto have built a railroad across the Isthmus of Panama, and another to\nconnect the Mississippi and the Pacific ocean; it demanded the\ndisturbance of industry and commerce all over the land, caused by\nwithdrawing $100,000,000 from peaceful investments, and diverting\n150,000 Americans from their productive and peaceful works; it demanded\na loss yet greater of the treasure of Mexicans; it commanded the maiming\nof 24,000 men for life, and the death of 30,000 men in the prime and\nvigor of manhood. Yet such was the state of feeling, I will not say of\nthought, in the Congress, that out of both houses only sixteen men voted\nagainst it. If a prophet had stood there he might have said to the\nrepresentative of Boston, \"You have just voted for the wasting of\n200,000,000 of the very dollars you were sent there to represent; for\nthe maiming of 24,000 men and the killing of 30,000 more--part by\ndisease, part by the sword, part by the slow and awful lingerings of a\nwounded frame! Sir, that is the English of your vote.\" Suppose the\nprophet, before the vote was taken, could have gone round and told each\nmember of Congress, \"If there comes a war, you will perish in it;\"\nperhaps the vote would have been a little different. It is easy to vote\naway blood, if it is not your own!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSuch is the cost of the war in money and in men. Yet it has not been a\nvery cruel war. It has been conducted with as much gentleness as a war\nof invasion can be. There is no agreeable way of butchering men. You\ncannot make it a pastime. The Americans have always been a brave people;\nthey were never cruel. They always treated their prisoners kindly--in\nthe Revolutionary war, in the late war with England. True, they have\nseized the Mexican ports, taken military possession of the\ncustom-houses, and collected such duties as they saw fit; true, they\nsometimes made the army of invasion self-subsisting, and to that end\nhave levied contributions on the towns they have taken; true, they have\nseized provisions which were private property, snatching them out of the\nhands of men who needed them; true, they have robbed the rich and the\npoor; true, they have burned and bombarded towns, have murdered men and\nviolated women. All this must of course take place in any war. There\nwill be the general murder and robbery committed on account of the\nnation, and the particular murder and robbery on account of the special\nindividual. This also is to be expected. You cannot set a town on fire\nand burn down just half of it, making the flames stop exactly where you\nwill. You cannot take the most idle, ignorant, drunken, and vicious men\nout of the low population in our cities and large towns, get them drunk\nenough or foolish enough to enlist, train them to violence, theft,\nrobbery, murder, and then stop the man from exercising his rage or lust\non his own private account. If it is hard to make a dog understand that\nhe must kill a hare for his master, but never for himself, it is not\nmuch easier to teach a volunteer that it is a duty, a distinction, and a\nglory to rob and murder the Mexican people for the nation's sake, but a\nwrong, a shame, and a crime to rob or murder a single Mexican for his\nown sake. There have been instances of wanton cruelty, occasioned by\nprivate licentiousness and individual barbarity. Of these I shall take\nno further notice, but come to such as have been commanded by the\nAmerican authorities, and which were the official acts of the nation.\n\nOne was the capture of Tabasco. Tabasco is a small town several hundred\nmiles from the theatre of war, situated on a river about eighty miles\nfrom the sea, in the midst of a fertile province. The army did not need\nit, nor the navy. It did not lie in the way of the American operations;\nits possession would be wholly useless. But one Sunday afternoon, while\nthe streets were full of men, women, and children, engaged in their\nSunday business, a part of the naval force of America swept by; the\nstreets running at right angles with the river, were enfiladed by the\nhostile cannon, and men, women, and children, unarmed and unresisting,\nwere mowed down by the merciless shot. The city was taken, but soon\nabandoned, for its possession was of no use. The killing of those men,\nwomen, and children was as much a piece of murder, as it would be to\ncome and shoot us to-day, and in this house. No valid excuse has been\ngiven for this cold-blooded massacre; none can be given. It was not\nbattle, but wanton butchery. None but a Pequod Indian could excuse it.\nThe theological newspapers in New England thought it a wicked thing in\nDr. Palfrey to write a letter on Sunday, though he hoped thereby to help\nend the war. How many of them had any fault to find with this national\nbutchery on the Lord's day? Fighting is bad enough any day; fighting for\nmere pay, or glory, or the love of fighting, is a wicked thing; but to\nfight on that day when the whole Christian world kneels to pray in the\nname of the Peacemaker; to butcher men and women and children, when they\nare coming home from church, with prayer-books in their hands, seems an\naggravation even of murder; a cowardly murder, which a Hessian would\nhave been ashamed of. \"But 'twas a famous victory.\"\n\nOne other instance, of at least apparent wantonness, took place at the\nbombardment of Vera Cruz. After the siege had gone on for a while, the\nforeign consuls in the town, \"moved,\" as they say, \"by the feeling of\nhumanity excited in their hearts by the frightful results of the\nbombardment of the city,\" requested that the women and children might be\nallowed to leave the city, and not stay to be shot. The American General\nrefused; they must stay and be shot.\n\nPerhaps you have not an adequate conception of the effect produced by\nbombarding a town. Let me interest you a little in the details thereof.\nVera Cruz is about as large as Boston was in 1810; it contains about\n30,000 inhabitants. In addition it is protected by a castle, the\ncelebrated fortress of St. Juan d' Ulloa, furnished with more than 5,000\nsoldiers and over 400 cannons. Imagine to yourself Boston as it was\nforty years ago, invested with a fleet on one side, and an army of\n15,000 men on the land, both raining cannon-balls and bomb-shells upon\nyour houses; shattering them to fragments, exploding in your streets,\nchurches, houses, cellars, mingling men, women, and children in one\npromiscuous murder. Suppose this to continue five days and nights;\nimagine the condition of the city; the ruins, the flames; the dead, the\nwounded, the widows, the orphans; think of the fears of the men\nanticipating the city would be sacked by a merciless soldiery; think of\nthe women! Thus you will have a faint notion of the picture of Vera\nCruz at the end of March, 1847. Do you know the meaning of the name of\nthe city? Vera Cruz is the True Cross. \"See how these Christians love\none another.\" The Americans are followers of the Prince of Peace; they\nhave more missionaries amongst the \"heathen\" than any other nation, and\nthe President, in his last message, says, \"No country has been so much\nfavored, or should acknowledge with deeper reverence the manifestations\nof the Divine protection.\" The Americans were fighting Mexico to\ndismember her territory, to plunder her soil, and plant thereon the\ninstitution of slavery, \"the necessary back-ground of freedom.\"\n\nFew of us have ever seen a battle, and without that none can have a\ncomplete notion of the ferocious passions which it excites. Let me help\nyour fancy a little by relating an anecdote which seems to be very well\nauthenticated, and requires but little external testimony to render it\ncredible. At any rate, it was abundantly believed a year ago; but times\nchange, and what was then believed all round may now be \"the most\nimprobable thing in the world.\" At the battle of Buena Vista, a Kentucky\nregiment began to stagger under the heavy charge of the Mexicans. The\nAmerican commander-in-chief turned to one who stood near him, and\nexclaimed, \"By God, this will not do. This is not the way for\nKentuckians to behave when called on to make good a battle. It will not\nanswer, sir.\" So the General clenched his fist, knit his brows, and set\nhis teeth hard together. However, the Kentuckians presently formed in\ngood order and gave a deadly fire, which altered the battle. Then the\nold General broke out with a loud hurrah. \"Hurrah for old Kentuck,\" he\nexclaimed, rising in his stirrups; \"that's the way to do it. Give 'em\nhell, damn 'em,\" and tears of exultation rolled down his cheeks as he\nsaid it. You find the name of this General at the head of most of the\nwhig newspapers in the United States. He is one of the most popular\ncandidates for the Presidency. Cannons were fired for him, a hundred\nguns on Boston Common, not long ago, in honor of his nomination for the\nhighest office in the gift of a free and Christian people. Soon we shall\nprobably have clerical certificates, setting forth, to the people of the\nNorth, that he is an exemplary Christian. You know how Faneuil Hall, the\nold \"Cradle of Liberty,\" rang with \"Hurrah for Taylor,\" but a few days\nago. The seven wise men of Greece were famous in their day; but now\nnothing is known of them except a single pungent aphorism from each,\n\"Know thyself,\" and the like. The time may come when our great men shall\nhave suffered this same reduction descending, all their robes of glory\nhaving vanished save a single thread. Then shall Franklin be known only\nas having said, \"Don't give too much for the Whistle;\" Patrick Henry for\nhis \"Give me Liberty or give me Death;\" Washington for his \"In Peace\nprepare for War;\" Jefferson for his \"All men are created equal;\" and\nGeneral Taylor shall be known only by his attributes rough and ready,\nand for his aphorism, \"Give 'em hell, damn 'em.\" Yet he does not seem to\nbe a ferocious man, but generous and kindly, it is said, and strongly\nopposed to this particular war, whose \"natural justice\" it seems he\nlooked at, and which he thought was wicked at the beginning, though, on\nthat account, he was none the less ready to fight it.\n\nOne thing more I must mention in speaking of the cost of men. According\nto the Report quoted just now, 4,966 American soldiers had deserted in\nMexico. Some of them had joined the Mexican army. When the American\ncommissioners, who were sent to secure the ratification of the treaty,\nwent to Queretaro, they found there a body of 200 American soldiers, and\n800 more were at no great distance, mustered into the Mexican service.\nThese men, it seems, had served out their time in the American camp, and\nnotwithstanding they had, as the President says in his message, \"covered\nthemselves with imperishable honors,\" by fighting men who never injured\nthem, they were willing to go and seek a yet thicker mantle of this\nimperishable honor, by fighting against their own country! Why should\nthey not? If it were right to kill Mexicans for a few dollars a month,\nwhy was it not also right to kill Americans, especially when it pays the\nmost? Perhaps it is not an American habit to inquire into the justice\nof a war, only into the profit which it may bring. If the Mexicans pay\nbest, in money, these 1,000 soldiers made a good speculation. No doubt\nin Mexico military glory is at a premium, though it could hardly command\na greater price just now than in America, where, however, the supply\nseems equal to the demand.\n\nThe numerous desertions and the readiness with which the soldiers joined\nthe \"foe,\" show plainly the moral character of the men, and the degree\nof \"patriotism\" and \"humanity\" which animated them in going to war. You\nknow the severity of military discipline; the terrible beatings men are\nsubjected to before they can become perfect in the soldier's art; the\nhorrible and revolting punishments imposed on them for drunkenness,\nthough little pains were taken to keep the temptation from their eyes,\nand for disobedience of general orders. You have read enough of this in\nthe newspapers. The officers of the volunteers, I am told, have\ngenerally been men of little education, men of strong passions and bad\nhabits; many of them abandoned men, who belonged to the refuse of\nsociety. Such men run into an army as the wash of the street runs into\nthe sewers. When such a man gets clothed with a little authority, in\ntime of peace, you know what use he makes of it; but when he covers\nhimself with the \"imperishable honors\" of his official coat, gets an\nepaulette on his shoulder, a sword by his side, a commission in his\npocket, and visions of \"glory\" in his head, you may easily judge how he\nwill use his authority, or may read in the newspapers how he has used\nit. When there are brutal soldiers, commanded by brutal captains, it is\nto be supposed that much brutality is to be suffered.\n\nNow desertion is a great offence in a soldier; in this army it is one of\nthe most common; for nearly ten per cent of the American army has\ndeserted in Mexico, not to mention the desertions before the army\nreached that country. It is related that forty-eight men were hanged at\nonce for desertion; not hanged as you judicially murder men in time of\npeace, privately, as if ashamed of the deed, in the corner of a jail,\nand by a contrivance which shortens the agony, and makes death humane as\npossible. These forty-eight men were hanged slowly; put to death with\npainful procrastinations, their agony wilfully prolonged, and death\nembittered by needless ferocity. But that is not all: it is related,\nthat these men were doomed to be thus murdered on the day when the\nbattle of Churubusco took place. These men, awaiting their death, were\ntold they should not suffer till the American flag should wave its\nstripes over the hostile walls. So they were kept in suspense an hour,\nand then slowly hanged one by one. You know the name of the officer on\nwhom this barbarity rests: it was Colonel Harney, a man whose\nreputation was black enough and base enough before. His previous deeds,\nhowever, require no mention here. But this man is now a General, and so\non the high road to the Presidency, whenever it shall please our\nSouthern masters to say the word. Some accounts say there were more than\nforty-eight who thus were hanged. I only give the number of those whose\nnames lie printed before me as I write. Perhaps the number was less; it\nis impossible to obtain exact information in respect to the matter, for\nthe Government has not yet published an account of the punishments\ninflicted in this war. The information can only be obtained by a\n\"Resolution\" of either house of Congress, and so is not likely to be had\nbefore the election. But at the same time with the execution, other\ndeserters were scourged with fifty lashes each, branded with a letter D,\na perpetual mark of infamy on their cheek, compelled to wear an iron\nyoke, weighing eight pounds, about their neck. Six men were made to dig\nthe grave of their companions, and were then flogged with two hundred\nlashes each.\n\nI wish this hanging of forty-eight men could have taken place in State\nstreet, and the respectable citizens of Boston, who like this war, had\nbeen made to look on and see it all; that they had seen those poor\nculprits bid farewell to father, mother, wife, or child, looking\nwistfully for the hour which was to end their torment, and then, one by\none, have seen them slowly hanged to death; that your representative,\nye men of Boston, had put on all the halters! He did help put them on;\nthat infamous vote, I speak not of the motive, it may have been as\nhonorable as the vote itself was infamous, doomed these eight and forty\nmen to be thus murdered.\n\nYes, I wish all this killing of the 2,000 Americans on the field of\nbattle, and the 10,000 Mexicans; all this slashing of the bodies of\n24,000 wounded men; all the agony of the other 18,000 that have died of\ndisease, could have taken place in some spot where the President of the\nUnited States and his Cabinet, where all the Congress who voted for the\nwar, with the Baltimore conventions of '44 and '48, and the Whig\nconvention of Philadelphia, and the controlling men of both political\nparties, who care nothing for this bloodshed and misery they have idly\ncaused, could have stood and seen it all; and then that the voice of the\nwhole nation had come up to them and said, \"This is your work, not ours.\nCertainly we will not shed our blood, nor our brothers' blood, to get\nnever so much slave territory. It was bad enough to fight in the cause\nof freedom. In the cause of slavery--God forgive us for that! We have\ntrusted you thus far, but please God we never will trust you again.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLet us now look at the effect of this war on the morals of the nation.\nThe Revolutionary war was the contest for a great idea. If there were\never a just war it was that, a contest for national existence. Yet it\nbrought out many of the worst qualities of human nature on both sides,\nas well as some of the best. It helped make a Washington, it is true,\nbut a Benedict Arnold likewise. A war with a powerful nation, terrible\nas it must be, yet develops the energy of the people, promotes\nself-denial, and helps the growth of some qualities of a high order. It\nhad this effect in England from 1798 to 1815. True, England for that\ntime became a despotism, but the self-consciousness of the nation, its\nself-denial and energy were amazingly stimulated; the moral effect of\nthat series of wars was doubtless far better than of the infamous\ncontest which she has kept up against Ireland for many years. Let us\ngive even war its due: when a great boy fights with an equal, it may\ndevelop his animal courage and strength--for he gets as bad as he gives,\nbut when he only beats a little boy that cannot pay back his blows, it\nis cowardly as well as cruel, and doubly debasing to the conqueror.\nMexico was no match for America. We all knew that very well before the\nwar begun. When a nation numbering 8,000,000 or 9,000,000 of people can\nbe successfully invaded by an army of 75,000 men, two thirds of them\nvolunteers, raw, and undisciplined; when the invaders with less than\n15,000 can march two hundred miles into the very heart of the hostile\ncountry, and with less than 6,000 can take and hold the capital of the\nnation, a city of 100,000 or 200,000 inhabitants, and dictate a peace,\ntaking as much territory as they will--it is hardly fair to dignify such\noperations with the name of war. The little good which a long contest\nwith an equal might produce in the conqueror, is wholly lost. Had Mexico\nbeen a strong nation we should never have had this conflict. A few years\nago, when General Cass wanted a war with England, \"an old-fashioned\nwar,\" and declared it \"unavoidable,\" all the men of property trembled.\nThe northern men thought of their mills and their ships; they thought\nhow Boston and New York would look after a war with our sturdy old\nfather over the sea; they thought we should lose many millions of\ndollars and gain nothing. The men of the South, who have no mills and no\nships and no large cities to be destroyed, thought of their \"peculiar\ninstitution;\" they thought of a servile war; they thought what might\nbecome of their slaves, if a nation which gave $100,000,000 to\nemancipate her bondmen should send a large army with a few black\nsoldiers from Jamaica; should offer money, arms, and freedom to all who\nwould leave their masters and claim their unalienable rights. They knew\nthe southern towns would be burnt to ashes, and the whole South, from\nVirginia to the Gulf, would be swept with fire, and they said, \"Don't.\"\nThe North said so, and the South; they feared such a war, with such a\nfoe. Everybody knows the effect which this fear had on southern\npoliticians, in the beginning of this century, and how gladly they made\npeace with England soon as she was at liberty to turn her fleet and her\narmy against the most vulnerable part of the nation. I am not blind to\nthe wickedness of England more than ignorant of the good things she has\ndone and is doing; a Paradise for the rich and strong, she is still a\nPurgatory for the wise and the good, and the Hell of the poor and the\nweak. I have no fondness for war anywhere, and believe it needless and\nwanton in this age of the world, surely needless and wicked between\nFather England and Daughter America; but I do solemnly believe that the\nmoral effect of such an old-fashioned war as Mr. Cass in 1845 thought\nunavoidable, would have been better than that of this Mexican war. It\nwould have ended slavery; ended it in blood no doubt, the worst thing to\nblot out an evil with, but ended it and for ever. God grant it may yet\nhave a more peaceful termination. We should have lost millions of\nproperty and thousands of men, and then, when peace came, we should know\nwhat it was worth; and as the burnt child dreads the fire, no future\nPresident, or Congress, or Convention, or Party would talk much in favor\nof war for some years to come.\n\nThe moral effect of this war is thoroughly bad. It was unjust in the\nbeginning. Mexico did not pay her debts; but though the United States,\nin 1783, acknowledged the British claims against ourselves, they were\nnot paid till 1803. Our claims against England, for her depredations in\n1793, were not paid till 1804; our claims against France, for her\ndepredations in 1806-13, were not paid us till 1834. The fact that\nMexico refused to receive the resident Minister which the United States\nsent to settle the disputes, when a commissioner was expected--this was\nno ground of war. We have lately seen a British ambassador ordered to\nleave Spain within eight and forty hours, and yet the English Minister\nof foreign affairs, Lord Palmerston, no new hand at diplomacy, declares\nthat this does not interrupt the concord of the two nations! We treated\nMexico contemptuously before hostilities began; and when she sent troops\ninto a territory which she had always possessed, though Texas had\nclaimed it, we declared that that was an act of war, and ourselves sent\nan army to invade her soil, to capture her cities, and seize her\nterritory. It has been a war of plunder, undertaken for the purpose of\nseizing Mexican territory, and extending over it that dismal curse which\nblackens, impoverishes, and barbarizes half the Union now, and swiftly\ncorrupts the other half. It was not enough to have Louisiana a slave\nterritory; not enough to make that institution perpetual in Florida; not\nenough to extend this blight over Texas--we must have yet more slave\nsoil, one day to be carved into Slave States, to bind the Southern yoke\nyet more securely on the Northern neck; to corrupt yet more the\npolitics, literature, and morals of the North. The war was unjust at its\nbeginning; mean in its motives, a war without honorable cause; a war for\nplunder; a quarrel between a great boy and a little puny weakling who\ncould not walk alone, and could hardly stand. We have treated Mexico as\nthe three Northern powers treated Poland in the last century--stooped to\nconquer. Nay, our contest has been like the English seizure of Ireland.\nAll the justice was on one side, the force, skill, and wealth on the\nother.\n\nI know men say the war has shown us that Americans could fight. Could\nfight!--almost every male beast will fight, the more brutal the better.\nThe long war of the Revolution, when Connecticut, for seven years, kept\n5,000 men in the field, showed that Americans could fight; Bunker Hill\nand Lexington showed that they could fight, even without previous\ndiscipline. If such valor be a merit, I am ready to believe that the\nAmericans, in a great cause like that of Mexico, to resist wicked\ninvasion, would fight as men never fought before. A republic like our\nown, where every free man feels an interest in the welfare of the\nnation, is full of the elements that make soldiers. Is that a praise?\nMost men think so, but it is the smallest honor of a nation. Of all\nglories, military glory, at its best estate, seems the poorest.\n\nMen tell us it shows the strength of the nation and some writers quote\nthe opinions of European kings who, when hearing of the battles of\nMonterey, Buena Vista, and Vera Cruz, became convinced that we were \"a\ngreat people.\" Remembering the character of these kings, one can easily\nbelieve that such was their judgment, and will not sigh many times at\ntheir fate, but will hope to see the day when the last king who can\nestimate a nation's strength only by its battles, has passed on to\nimpotence and oblivion. The power of America--do we need proof of that?\nI see it in the streets of Boston and New York; in Lowell and in\nLawrence; I see it in our mills and our ships; I read it in those\nletters of iron written all over the North, where he may read that runs;\nI see it in the unconquered energy which tames the forest, the rivers,\nand the ocean; in the school-houses which lift their modest roof in\nevery village of the North; in the churches that rise all over the\nfreeman's land: would God that they rose higher, pointing down to man\nand to human duties, and up to God and immortal life! I see the strength\nof America in that tide of population which spreads over the prairies of\nthe West, and, beating on the Rocky Mountains, dashes its peaceful spray\nto the very shores of the Pacific sea. Had we taken 150,000 men and\n$200,000,000, and built two railroads across the continent, that would\nhave been a worthy sign of the nation's strength. Perhaps those kings\ncould not see it; but sensible men could see it and be glad. This waste\nof treasure and this waste of blood is only a proof of weakness. War is\na transient weakness of the nation, but slavery a permanent imbecility.\n\nWhat falsehood has this war produced in the executive and legislative\npower; in both parties, whigs and democrats! I always thought that here\nin Massachusetts the whigs were the most to blame; they tried to put the\ndisgrace of the war on the others, while the democratic party coolly\nfaced the wickedness. Did far-sighted men know that there would be a war\non Mexico, or else on the tariff or the currency, and prefer the first\nas the least evil?\n\nSee to what the war has driven two of the most famous men of the nation:\none wished to \"capture or slay a Mexican;\"[12] the other could encourage\nthe volunteers to fight a war which he had denounced as needless, \"a war\nof pretexts,\" and place the men of Monterey before the men of Bunker\nHill;[13] each could invest a son in that unholy cause. You know the\nrest: the fathers ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth were set on\nedge. When a man goes on board an emigrant ship, reeking with filth and\nfever, not for gain, not for \"glory,\" but in brotherly love, catches the\ncontagion, and dies a martyr to his heroic benevolence, men speak of it\nin corners, and it is soon forgot; there is no parade in the streets;\nsociety takes little pains to do honor to the man. How rarely is a\npension given to his widow or his child; only once in the whole land,\nand then but a small sum.[14] But when a volunteer officer--for of the\nhumbler and more excusable men that fall we take no heed, war may mow\nthat crop of \"vulgar deaths\" with what scythe he will--falls or dies in\nthe quarrel which he had no concern in, falls in a broil between the two\nnations, your newspapers extol the man, and with martial pomp, \"sonorous\nmetal blowing martial sounds,\" with all the honors of the most honored\ndead, you lay away his body in the tomb. Thus is it that the nation\nteaches these little ones, that it is better to kill than to make alive.\n\nI know there are men in the army, honorable and high-minded men,\nChristian men, who dislike war in general, and this war in special, but\nsuch is their view of official duty, that they obeyed the summons of\nbattle, though with pain and reluctance. They knew not how to avoid\nobedience. I am willing to believe there are many such. But with\nvolunteers, who, of their own accord, came forth to enlist, men not\nblinded by ignorance, not driven by poverty to the field, but only by\nhope of reward--what shall be said of them! Much may be said to excuse\nthe rank and file, ignorant men, many of them in want--but for the\nleaders, what can be said? Had I a brother who, in the day of the\nnation's extremity, came forward with a good conscience, and perilled\nhis life on the battle field, and lost it \"in the sacred cause of God\nand his country,\" I would honor the man, and when his dust came home, I\nwould lay it away with his fathers'; with sorrow indeed, but with\nthankfulness of heart, that for conscience' sake he was ready even to\ndie. But had I a brother who, merely for his pay, or hope of fame, had\nvoluntarily gone down to fight innocent men, to plunder their territory,\nand lost his life in that felonious essay--in sorrow and in silence, and\nin secrecy would I lay down his body in the grave; I would not court\ndisplay, nor mark it with a single stone.\n\nSee how this war has affected public opinion. How many of your\nnewspapers have shown its true atrocity; how many of the pulpits? Yet,\nif any one is appointed to tell of public wrongs, it is the minister of\nreligion. The Governor of Massachusetts[15] is an officer of a Christian\nchurch; a man distinguished for many excellences, some of them by no\nmeans common: it is said, he is opposed to the war in private, and\nthinks it wicked; but no man has lent himself as a readier tool to\npromote it. The Christian and the man seem lost in the office, in the\nGovernor! What a lesson of falseness does all this teach to that large\nclass of persons who look no higher than the example of eminent men for\ntheir instruction. You know what complaints have been made, by the\nhighest authority in the nation, because a few men dared to speak\nagainst the war. It was \"affording aid and comfort to the enemy.\" If the\nwar-party had been stronger, and feared no public opinion, we should\nhave had men hanged for treason, because they spoke of this national\niniquity! Nothing would have been easier. A \"gag law\" is not wholly\nunknown in America.\n\nIf you will take all the theft, all the assaults, all the cases of\narson, ever committed in time of peace in the United States since the\nsettlement of Jamestown in 1608, and add to them all the cases of\nviolence offered to woman, with all the murders, they will not amount to\nhalf the wrongs committed in this war for the plunder of Mexico. Yet the\ncry has been and still is, \"You must not say a word against it; if you\ndo, you 'afford aid and comfort to the enemy.'\" Not tell the nation that\nshe is doing wrong? What a miserable saying is that; let it come from\nwhat high authority it may, it is a miserable saying. Make the case your\nown. Suppose the United States were invaded by a nation ten times abler\nfor war than we are, with a cause no more just, intentions equally bad;\ninvaded for the purpose of dismembering our territory and making our\nown New England the soil of slaves; would you be still? would you stand\nand look on tamely while the hostile hosts, strangers in language,\nmanners, and religion, crossed your rivers, seized your ports, burnt\nyour towns? No, surely not. Though the men of New England would not be\nable to resist with most celestial love, they would contend with most\nmanly vigor; and I should rather see every house swept clean off the\nland, and the ground sheeted with our own dead; rather see every man,\nwoman, and child in the land slain, than see them tamely submit to such\na wrong: and so would you. No, sacred as life is and dear as it is,\nbetter let it be trodden out by the hoof of war, rather than yield\ntamely to a wrong. But while you were doing your utmost to repel such\nformidable injustice, if in the midst of your invaders men rose up and\nsaid, \"America is in the right, and brothers, you are wrong, you should\nnot thus kill men to steal their land; shame on you!\" how should you\nfeel towards such? Nay, in the struggle with England, when our fathers\nperilled every thing but honor, and fought for the unalienable rights of\nman, you all remember, how in England herself there stood up noble men,\nand with a voice that was heard above the roar of the populace, and an\nauthority higher than the majesty of the throne they said, \"You do a\nwrong; you may ravage, but you cannot conquer. If I were an American,\nwhile a foreign troop remained in my land, I would never lay down my\narms; no, never, never, never!\"\n\nBut I wander a little from my theme, the effect of the war on the morals\nof the nation. Here are 50,000 or 75,000 men trained to kill. Hereafter\nthey will be of little service in any good work. Many of them were the\noff-scouring of the people at first. Now these men have tasted the\nidleness, the intemperance, the debauchery of a camp; tasted of its\nriot, tasted of its blood! They will come home before long, hirelings of\nmurder. What will their influence be as fathers, husbands? The nation\ntaught them to fight and plunder the Mexicans for the nation's sake; the\nGovernor of Massachusetts called on them in the name of \"patriotism\" and\n\"humanity\" to enlist for that work: but if, with no justice on our side,\nit is humane and patriotic to fight and plunder the Mexicans on the\nnation's account, why not for the soldier to fight and plunder an\nAmerican on his own account? Ay, why not?--that is a distinction too\nnice for common minds; by far too nice for mine.\n\nSee the effect on the nation. We have just plundered Mexico; taken a\npiece of her territory larger than the thirteen states which fought the\nRevolution, a hundred times as large as Massachusetts; we have burnt her\ncities, have butchered her men, have been victorious in every contest.\nThe Mexicans were as unprotected women, we, armed men. See how the lust\nof conquest will increase. Soon it will be the ambition of the next\nPresident to extend the \"area of freedom\" a little further south; the\nlust of conquest will increase. Soon we must have Yucatan, Central\nAmerica, all of Mexico, Cuba, Porto Rico, Hayti, Jamaica,--all the\nislands of the Gulf. Many men would gladly, I doubt not, extend the\n\"area of freedom\" so as to include the free blacks of those islands. We\nhave long looked with jealous eyes on West Indian emancipation--hoping\nthe scheme would not succeed. How pleasant it would be to reestablish\nslavery in Hayti and Jamaica, in all the islands whence the gold of\nEngland or the ideas of France have driven it out. If the South wants\nthis, would the North object? The possession of the West Indies would\nbring much money to New England, and what is the value of freedom\ncompared to coffee and sugar and cotton?\n\nI must say one word of the effect this war has had on political parties.\nBy the parties I mean the leaders thereof, the men that control the\nparties. The effect on the democratic party, on the majority of\nCongress, on the most prominent men of the nation, has been mentioned\nbefore. It has shut their eyes to truth and justice; it has filled their\nmouths with injustice and falsehood. It has made one man \"available\" for\nthe Presidency who was only known before as a sagacious general, that\nfought against the Indians in Florida, and acquired a certain\nreputation by the use of bloodhounds, a reputation which was rather\nunenviable even in America. The battles in northern Mexico made him\nconspicuous, and now he is seized on as an engine to thrust one corrupt\nparty out of power, and to lift in another party, I will not say less\ncorrupt, I wish I could; it were difficult to think it more so. This\nlatter party has been conspicuous for its opposition to a military man\nas ruler of a free people; recently it has been smitten with sudden\nadmiration for military men, and military success, and tells the people,\nwithout a blush, that a military man fresh from a fight which he\ndisapproved of, is most likely to restore peace, \"because most familiar\nwith the evils of war!\" In Massachusetts the prevalent political party,\nas such, for some years seems to have had no moral principle; however,\nit had a prejudice in favor of decency: now it has thrown that\noverboard, and has not even its respectability left. Where are its\n\"Resolutions?\" Some men knew what they were worth long ago; now all men\ncan see what they are worth.\n\nThe cost of the war in money and men I have tried to calculate, but the\neffect on the morals of the people, on the press, the pulpit, and the\nparties, and through them on the rising generation, it is impossible to\ntell. I have only faintly sketched the outline of that. The effect of\nthe war on Mexico herself, we can dimly see in the distance. The\nGovernment of the United States has wilfully, wantonly broken the peace\nof the continent. The Revolutionary war was unavoidable; but for this\ninvasion there is no excuse. That God, whose providence watches over the\nfalling nation as the falling sparrow, and whose comprehensive plans are\nnow advanced by the righteousness and now by the wrath of man, He who\nstilleth the waves of the sea and the tumult of the people, will turn\nall this wickedness to account in the history of man,--of that I have no\ndoubt. But that is no excuse for American crime. A greater good lay\nwithin our grasp, and we spurned it away.\n\nWell, before long the soldiers will come back, such as shall ever\ncome--the regulars and volunteers, the husbands of the women whom your\ncharity fed last winter, housed and clad and warmed. They will come\nback. Come, New England, with your posterity of States, go forth to meet\nyour sons returning all \"covered with imperishable honors.\" Come, men,\nto meet your fathers, brothers. Come, women, to your husbands and your\nlovers; come. But what! is that the body of men who a year or two ago\nwent forth, so full of valor and of rum? Are these rags the imperishable\nhonors that cover them? Here is not half the whole. Where is the wealth\nthey hoped from the spoil of churches? But the men--\"Where is my\nhusband?\" says one; \"And my son?\" says another. \"They fell at Jalapa,\none, and one at Cerro Gordo; but they fell covered with imperishable\nhonor, for 'twas a famous victory.\" \"Where is my lover?\" screams a\nwoman whom anguish makes respectable spite of her filth and\nignorance;--\"And our father, where is he?\" scream a troop of\nhalf-starved children, staring through their dirt and rags. \"One died of\nthe vomit at Vera Cruz. Your father, little ones, we scourged the naked\nman to death at Mixcoac.\"\n\nBut that troop which is left, who are in the arms of wife and child,\nthey are the best sermon against war; this has lost an arm and that a\nleg; half are maimed in battle, or sickened with the fever; all polluted\nwith the drunkenness, idleness, debauchery, lust, and murder of a camp.\nStrip off this man's coat, and count the stripes welted into his flesh,\nstripes laid on by demagogues that love the people, \"the dear people!\"\nSee how affectionately the war-makers branded the \"dear soldiers\" with a\nletter D, with a red-hot iron, in the cheek. The flesh will quiver as\nthe irons burn; no matter: it is only for love of the people that all\nthis is done, and we are all of us covered with imperishable honors! D\nstands for deserter,--aye, and for demagogue--yes, and for demon too.\nMany a man shall come home with but half of himself, half his body, less\nthan half his soul.\n\n    \"Alas, the mother that him bare,\n    If she could stand in presence there,\n    In that wan cheek and wasted air,\n        She would not know her child.\"\n\n\"Better,\" you say, \"for us better, and for themselves better by far, if\nthey had left that remnant of a body in the common ditch where the\nsoldier finds his 'bed of honor;' better have fed therewith the vultures\nof a foreign soil, than thus come back.\" No, better come back, and live\nhere, mutilated, scourged, branded, a cripple, a pauper, a drunkard, and\na felon; better darken the windows of the jail and blot the gallows with\nunusual shame, to teach us all that such is war, and such the results of\nevery \"famous victory,\" such the imperishable honors that it brings, and\nhow the war-makers love the men they rule!\n\nO Christian America! O New England, child of the Puritans! Cradled in\nthe wilderness, thy swaddling garments stained with martyrs' blood,\nhearing in thy youth the warwhoop of the savage and thy mother's sweet\nand soul-composing hymn:\n\n    \"Hush, my child, lie still and slumber,\n      Holy angels guard thy bed;\n    Heavenly blessings, without number,\n      Rest upon thine infant head:\"\n\nCome, New England, take the old banners of thy conquering host, the\nstandards borne at Monterey, Palo Alto, Buena Vista, Vera Cruz, the\n\"glorious stripes and stars\" that waved over the walls of Churubusco,\nContreras, Puebla, Mexico herself, flags blackened with battle and\nstiffened with blood, pierced by the lances and torn with the shot;\nbring them into thy churches, hang them up over altar and pulpit, and\nlet little children, clad in white raiment and crowned with flowers,\ncome and chant their lessons for the day:\n\n\"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.\n\n\"Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of\nGod.\"\n\nThen let the priest say, \"Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a\nreproach unto any people. Blessed is the Lord my strength, which\nteacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight. Happy is that people\nthat is in such a case. Yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord,\nand Jesus Christ their Saviour.\"\n\nThen let the soldiers who lost their limbs and the women who lost their\nhusbands and their lovers in the strife, and the men--wiser than the\nchildren of light--who made money out of the war; let all the people,\nlike people and like priest, say \"Amen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut suppose these men were to come back to Boston on a day when, in\ncivil style, as having never sinned yourself, and never left a man in\nignorance and want to be goaded into crime, you were about to hang three\nmen--one for murder, one for robbery with the armed hand, and one for\nburning down a house. Suppose, after the fashion of \"the good old\ntimes,\" you were to hang those men in public, and lead them in long\nprocession through your streets, and while you were welcoming these\nreturned soldiers and taking their officers to feast in \"the Cradle of\nLiberty,\" they should meet the sheriff's procession escorting those\nculprits to the gallows. Suppose the warriors should ask, \"Why, what is\nthat?\" What would you say? Why, this: \"These men, they broke the law of\nGod, by violence, by fire and blood, and we shall hang them for the\npublic good, and especially for the example, to teach the ignorant, the\nlow, and the weak.\" Suppose those three felons, the halters round their\nneck, should ask also, \"Why, what is that?\" You would say, \"They are the\nsoldiers just come back from war. For two long years they have been hard\nat work, burning cities, plundering a nation, and butchering whole\narmies of men. Sometimes they killed a thousand in a day. By their help,\nthe nation has stolen seven hundred thousand square miles of land!\"\nSuppose the culprits ask, \"Where will you hang so many?\" \"Hang them!\" is\nthe answer, \"we shall only hang you. It is written in our Bible that one\nmurder makes a villain, millions a hero. We shall feast these men full\nof bread and wine; shall take their leader, a rough man and a ready, one\nwho by perpetual robbery holds a hundred slaves and more, and make him a\nking over all the land. But as you only burnt, robbed, and murdered on\nso small a scale, and without the command of the President or the\nCongress, we shall hang you by the neck. Our Governor ordered these men\nto go and burn and rob and kill; now he orders you to be hanged, and you\nmust not ask any more questions, for the hour is already come.\"\n\nTo make the whole more perfect--suppose a native of Loo-Choo, converted\nto Christianity by your missionaries in his native land, had come hither\nto have \"the way of God\" \"expounded unto him more perfectly,\" that he\nmight see how these Christians love one another. Suppose he should be\nwitness to a scene like this!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTo men who know the facts of war, the wickedness of this particular\ninvasion and its wide-extending consequences, I fear that my words will\nseem poor and cold and tame. I have purposely mastered my emotion,\ntelling only my thought. I have uttered no denunciation against the men\nwho caused this destruction of treasure, this massacre of men, this\nawful degradation of the moral sense. The respectable men of\nBoston--\"the men of property and standing\" all over the State, the men\nthat commonly control the politics of New England, tell you that they\ndislike the war. But they reelect the men who made it. Has a single man\nin all New England lost his seat in any office because he favored the\nwar? Not a man. Have you ever known a northern merchant who would not\nlet his ship for the war, because the war was wicked and he a Christian?\nHave you ever known a northern manufacturer who would not sell a kernel\nof powder, nor a cannon-ball, nor a coat, nor a shirt for the war? Have\nyou ever known a capitalist, a man who lives by letting money, refuse to\nlend money for the war because the war was wicked? Not a merchant, not a\nmanufacturer, not a capitalist. A little money--it can buy up whole\nhosts of men. Virginia sells her negroes; what does New England sell?\nThere was once a man in Boston, a rich man too, not a very great man,\nonly a good one who loved his country, and there was another poor man\nhere, in the times that tried men's souls,--but there was not money\nenough in all England, not enough promise of honors, to make Hancock and\nAdams false to their sense of right. Is our soil degenerate, and have we\nlost the breed of noble men?\n\nNo, I have not denounced the men who directly made the war, or\nindirectly edged the people on. Pardon me, thou prostrate Mexico, robbed\nof more than half thy soil, that America may have more slaves; thy\ncities burned, thy children slain, the streets of thy capital trodden by\nthe alien foot, but still smoking with thy children's blood: pardon me\nif I seem to have forgotten thee! And you, ye butchered Americans, slain\nby the vomito, the gallows, and the sword; you, ye maimed and mutilated\nmen, who shall never again join hands in prayer, never kneel to God once\nmore upon the limbs he made you; you, ye widows, orphans of these\nbutchered men, far off in that more sunny South, here in our own fair\nland, pardon me that I seem to forget your wrongs! And thou, my Country,\nmy own, my loved, my native land, thou child of great ideas and mother\nof many a noble son, dishonored now, thy treasure wasted, thy children\nkilled or else made murderers, thy peaceful glory gone, thy Government\nmade to pimp and pander for lust of crime, forgive me that I seem\nover-gentle to the men who did and do the damning deed which wastes thy\ntreasure, spills thy blood, and stains thine honor's sacred fold! And\nyou, ye sons of men everywhere, thou child of God, Mankind, whose\nlatest, fairest hope is planted here in this new world,--forgive me if I\nseem gentle to thy enemies, and to forget the crime that so dishonors\nman, and makes this ground a slaughter-yard of men--slain, too, in\nfurtherance of the basest wish! I have no words to tell the pity that I\nfeel for them that did the deed. I only say, \"Father, forgive them, for\nthey know full well the sin they do!\"\n\nA sectarian church could censure a General for holding his candle in a\nCatholic cathedral; it was \"a candle to the Pope\"; yet never dared to\nblame the war. While we loaded a ship of war with corn and sent off the\nMacedonian to Cork, freighted by private bounty to feed the starving\nIrishman, the State sent her ships to Vera Cruz, in a cause most unholy,\nto bombard, to smite, and to kill. Father! forgive the State; forgive\nthe church. It was an ignorant State. It was a silent church--a poor,\ndumb dog, that dared not bark at the wolf who prowls about the fold, but\nonly at the lamb.\n\nYet ye leaders of the land, know this,--that the blood of thirty\nthousand men cries out of the ground against you. Be it your folly or\nyour crime, still cries the voice, \"Where is thy brother?\" That thirty\nthousand--in the name of humanity I ask, \"Where are they?\" In the name\nof justice I answer, \"You slew them!\"\n\nIt was not the people who made this war. They have often enough done a\nfoolish thing. But it was not they who did this wrong. It was they who\nled the people; it was demagogues that did it. Whig demagogues and\ndemagogues of the democrats; men that flatter the ignorance, the folly,\nor the sin of the people, that they might satisfy their own base\npurposes. In May, 1846, if the facts of the case could have been stated\nto the voters, and the question put to the whole mass of the people,\n\"Shall we go down and fight Mexico, spending two hundred million of\ndollars, maiming four and twenty thousand men, and butchering thirty\nthousand; shall we rob her of half her territory?\"--the lowest and most\nmiserable part of the nation would have said as they did say, \"Yes;\"\nthe demagogues of the nation would have said as they did say, \"Yes;\"\nperhaps a majority of the men of the South would have said so, for the\nhumanity of the nation lies not there; but if it had been brought to the\ngreat mass of the people at the North,--whose industry and skill so\nincrease the national wealth, whose intelligence and morals have given\nthe nation its character abroad,--then they, the great majority of the\nland, would have said \"No. We will have no war! If we want more land, we\nwill buy it in the open market, and pay for it honestly. But we are not\nthieves, nor murderers, thank God, and will not butcher a nation to make\na slave-field out of her soil.\" The people would not have made this war.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWell, we have got a new territory, enough to make one hundred States of\nthe size of Massachusetts. That is not all. We have beaten the armies of\nMexico, destroyed the little strength she had left, the little\nself-respect, else she would not so have yielded and given up half her\nsoil for a few miserable dollars. Soon we shall take the rest of her\npossessions. How can Mexico hold them now--weakened, humiliated, divided\nworse than ever within herself. Before many years, all of this northern\ncontinent will doubtless be in the hands of the Anglo Saxon race. That\nof itself is not a thing to mourn at. Could we have extended our empire\nthere by trade, by the Christian arts of peace, it would be a blessing\nto us and to Mexico; a blessing to the world. But we have done it in the\nworst way, by fraud and blood; for the worst purpose, to steal soil and\nconvert the cities of men into the shambles for human flesh; have done\nit at the bidding of men whose counsels long have been a scourge and a\ncurse--at the bidding of slaveholders. They it is that rule the land,\nfill the offices, buy up the North with the crumbs that fall from their\npolitical table, make the laws, declare hostilities, and leave the North\nto pay the bill. Shall we ever waken out of our sleep; shall we ever\nremember the duties we owe to the world and to God, who put us here on\nthis new continent? Let us not despair.\n\nSoon we shall have all the southern part of the continent, perhaps half\nthe islands of the Gulf. One thing remains to do--that is, with the new\nsoil we have taken, to extend order, peace, education, religion; to keep\nit from the blight, the crime, and the sin of slavery. That is for the\nnation to do; for the North to do. God knows the South will never do it.\nIs there manliness enough left in the North to do that? Has the soil\nforgot its wonted faith, and borne a different race of men from those\nwho struggled eight long years for freedom? Do we forget our sires,\nforget our God? In the day when the monarchs of Europe are shaken from\ntheir thrones; when the Russian and the Turk abolish slavery; when\ncowardly Naples awakes from her centuries of sleep, and will have\nfreedom; when France prays to become a Republic, and in her agony sweats\ngreat drops of blood; while the Tories of the world look on and mock and\nwag their heads; and while the Angel of Hope descends with trusting\nwords to comfort her,--shall America extend slavery? butcher a nation to\nget soil to make a field for slaves? I know how easily the South can buy\noffice-hunters; whig or democrat, the price is still the same. The same\ngolden eagle blinds the eyes of each. But can she buy the people of the\nNorth? Is honesty gone, and honor gone, your love of country gone,\nreligion gone, and nothing manly left; not even shame? Then let us\nperish; let the Union perish! No, let that stand firm, and let the\nNorthern men themselves be slaves; and let us go to our masters and say,\n\"You are very few, we are very many; we have the wealth, the numbers,\nthe intelligence, the religion of the land; but you have the power, do\nnot be hard upon us; pray give us a little something, some humble\noffices, or if not these at least a tariff, and we will be content.\"\n\nSlavery has already been the blight of this nation, the curse of the\nNorth and the curse of the South. It has hindered commerce,\nmanufactures, agriculture. It confounds your politics. It has silenced\nyour ablest men. It has muzzled the pulpit, and stifled the better life\nout of the press. It has robbed three million men of what is dearer\nthan life; it has kept back the welfare of seventeen millions more. You\nask, O Americans, where is the harmony of the Union? It was broken by\nslavery. Where is the treasure we have wasted? It was squandered by\nslavery. Where are the men we sent to Mexico? They were murdered by\nslavery; and now the slave power comes forward to put her new minions,\nher thirteenth President, upon the nation's neck! Will the North say\n\"Yes?\"\n\nBut there is a Providence which rules the world,--a plan in His affairs.\nShall all this war, this aggression of the slave power be for nothing?\nSurely not. Let it teach us two things: Everlasting hostility to\nslavery; everlasting love of Justice and of its Eternal Right. Then,\ndear as we may pay for it, it may be worth what it has cost--the money\nand the men. I call on you, ye men--fathers, brothers, husbands, sons,\nto learn this lesson, and, when duty calls, to show that you know\nit--know it by heart and at your fingers' ends! And you, ye\nwomen--mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, I call on you to teach this\nlesson to your children, and let them know that such a war is sin, and\nslavery sin, and, while you teach them to hate both, teach them to be\nmen, and do the duties of noble, Christian, and manly men! Behind\ninjustice there is ruin, and above man there is the everlasting God.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[10] In the Massachusetts Quarterly Review, Vol. I. Article I. See also\nthe paper on the administration of Mr. Polk, in Vol. III. Art. VIII.\n\n[11] Mr. Trist introduced these articles into the treaty, without having\ninstructions from the American Government to do so; the honor,\ntherefore, is wholly due to him. There were some in the Senate who\nopposed these articles.\n\n[12] See Mr. Clay's speech at the dinner in New Orleans on Forefathers'\nday.\n\n[13] See Mr. Webster's speech to the volunteers at Philadelphia.\n\n[14] A case of this sort had just occurred in Boston.\n\n[15] Mr. George N. Briggs.\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\nA SERMON OF THE PERISHING CLASSES IN BOSTON.--PREACHED AT THE MELODEON,\nON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 1846.\n\nMATTHEW XVIII. 14.\n\n    It is not the will of our Father which is in heaven, that one\n    of these little ones should perish.\n\n\nThere are two classes of men who are weak and little: one is little by\nnature, consisting of such as are born with feeble powers, not strongly\ncapable of self-help; the other is little by position, comprising men\nthat are permanently poor and ignorant. When Jesus said, It is not God's\nwill that one of these little ones should perish, I take it he included\nboth these classes--men little by nature, and men little by position.\nFurthermore, I take it he said what is true, that it is not God's will\none of these little ones should perish. Now, a man may be said to perish\nwhen he is ruined, or even when he fails to attain the degree of manhood\nhe might attain under the average circumstances of this present age, and\nthese present men. In a society like ours, and that of all nations at\nthis time, as hitherto, with such a history, a history of blood and\nviolence, cunning and fraud; resting on such a basis--a basis of\nselfishness; a society wherein there is a preference of the mighty, and\na postponement of the righteous, where power is worshipped and justice\nlittle honored, though much talked of, it comes to pass that a great\nmany little ones from both these classes actually perish. If Jesus spoke\nthe truth, then they perish contrary to the will of God, and, of course,\nby some other will adverse to the will of God. In a society where the\nnatural laws of the body are constantly violated, where many men are\nobliged by circumstances to violate them, it follows unavoidably that\nmany are born little by nature, and they transmit their feebleness to\ntheir issue. The other class, men little by position, are often so\nhedged about with difficulties, so neglected, that they cannot change\ntheir condition; they bequeath also their littleness to their children.\nThus the number of little ones enlarges with the increase of society.\nThis class becomes perpetual; a class of men mainly abandoned by the\nChristians.\n\nIn all forms of social life hitherto devised these classes have\nappeared, and it has been a serious question, What shall be done with\nthem? Seldom has it been the question, What shall be done for them? In\nolden time the Spartans took children born with a weak or imperfect\nbody, children who would probably be a hinderance to the nation, and\nthrew them into a desert place to be devoured by the wild beasts, and so\nsettled that question. At this day, the Chinese, I am told, expose such\nchildren in the streets and beside the rivers, to the humanity of\npassers by; and not only such, but sound, healthy children, none the\nless, who, though strong by nature, are born into a weak position. Many\nof them are left to die, especially the boys. But some are saved, those\nmainly girls. I will not say they are saved by the humanity of wealthier\nmen. They become slaves, devoted by their masters to a most base and\ninfamous purpose. With the exception of criminals, these abandoned\ndaughters of the poor, form, it is said, the only class of slaves in\nthat great country.\n\nNeither the Chinese nor the Spartan method is manly or human. It does\nwith the little ones, not for them. It does away with them, and that is\nall. I will not decide which is the worst of the two modes, the Chinese\nor the Spartan. We are accustomed to call both these nations heathen,\nand take it for granted they do not know it is God's will that not one\nof these little ones should perish. Be that as it may, we do not call\nourselves heathen; we pretend to know the will of God in this\nparticular. Let us look, therefore, and see how we have disposed of the\nlittle ones in Boston, what we are doing for them or with them.\n\nLet me begin with neglected and abandoned children. We all know how\nlarge and beautiful a provision is made for the public education of the\npeople. About a fourth part of the city taxes are for the public\nschools. Yet one not familiar with this place is astonished at the\nnumber of idle, vagrant boys and girls in the streets. It appears from\nthe late census of Boston, that there are 4,948 children between four\nand fifteen who attend no school. I am not speaking of truants,\noccasional absentees, but of children whose names are not registered at\nschool, permanent absentees. If we allow that 1,948 of these are kept in\nsome sort of restraint by their parents, and have, or have had, some\nlittle pains taken with their culture at home; that they are feeble and\ndo not begin to attend school so early as most, or that they are\nprecocious, and complete their studies before fifteen, or for some other\ngood reason are taken from school, and put to some useful business,\nthere still remain 3,000 children who never attend any school, turned\nloose into your streets! Suppose there is some error in the counting,\nthat the number is overstated one third, still there are left 2,000\nyoung vagrants in the streets of Boston!\n\nWhat will be the fate of these 2,000 children? Some men are superior to\ncircumstances; so well born they defy ill breeding. There may be\nchildren so excellent and strong they cannot be spoiled. Surely there\nare some who will learn with no school; boys of vast genius, whom you\ncannot keep from learning. Others there are of wonderful moral gifts,\nwhom no circumstances can make vulgar; they will live in the midst of\ncorruption and keep clean through the innate refinement of a wondrous\nsoul. Out of these 2,000 children there may be two of this sort; it were\nfoolish to look for more than one in a thousand. The 1,997 depend mainly\non circumstances to help them; yes, to make their character. Send them\nto school and they will learn. Give them good precepts, good examples,\nthey will also become good. Give them bad precepts, bad examples, and\nthey become wicked. Send them half clad and uncared for into your\nstreets, and they grow up hungry savages greedy for crime.\n\nWhat have these abandoned children to help them? Nothing, literally\nnothing! They are idle, though their bodies crave activity. They are\npoor, ill-clad, and ill-fed. There is nothing about them to foster\nself-respect; nothing to call forth their conscience, to awaken and\ncultivate their sense of religion. They find themselves beggars in the\nwealth of a city; idlers in the midst of its work. Yes, savages in the\nmidst of civilization. Their consciousness is that of an outcast, one\nabandoned and forsaken of men. In cities, life is intense amongst all\nclasses. So the passions and appetites of such children are strong and\nviolent. Their taste is low; their wants clamorous. Are religion and\nconscience there to abate the fever of passion and regulate desire? The\nmoral class and the cultivated shun these poor wretches, or look on with\nstupid wonder. Our rule is that the whole need the physician, not the\nsick. They are left almost entirely to herd and consort with the basest\nof men; they are exposed early and late to the worst influences, and\ntheir only comrades are men whom the children of the rich are taught to\nshun as the pestilence. To be poor is hard enough in the country, where\nartificial wants are few, and those easily met, where all classes are\nhumbly clad, and none fare sumptuously every day. But to be poor in the\ncity, where a hundred artificial desires daily claim satisfaction, and\nwhere, too, it is difficult for the poor to satisfy the natural and\nunavoidable wants of food and raiment; to be hungry, ragged, dirty, amid\nluxury, wantonness and refinement; to be miserable in the midst of\nabundance, that is hard beyond all power of speech. Look, I will not say\nat the squalid dress of these children, as you see them prowling about\nthe markets and wharves, or contending in the dirty lanes and by-places\ninto which the pride of Boston has elbowed so much of her misery; look\nat their faces! Haggard as they are, meagre and pale and wan, want is\nnot the worst thing written there, but cunning, fraud, violence and\nobscenity, and worst of all, fear!\n\nAmid all the science and refined culture of the nineteenth century,\nthese children learn little; little that is good, much that is bad. In\nthe intense life around them, they unavoidably become vicious, obscene,\ndeceitful and violent. They will lie, steal, be drunk. How can it be\notherwise?\n\nIf you could know the life of one of those poor lepers of Boston, you\nwould wonder, and weep. Let me take one of them at random out of the\nmass. He was born, unwelcome, amid wretchedness and want. His coming\nincreased both. Miserably he struggles through his infancy, less tended\nthan the lion's whelp. He becomes a boy. He is covered only with rags,\nand those squalid with long accumulated filth. He wanders about your\nstreets, too low even to seek employment, now snatching from a gutter\nhalf rotten fruit which the owner flings away. He is ignorant; he has\nnever entered a school-house; to him even the alphabet is a mystery. He\nis young in years, yet old in misery. There is no hope in his face. He\nherds with others like himself, low, ragged, hungry and idle. If misery\nloves company, he finds that satisfaction. Follow him to his home at\nnight; he herds in a cellar; in the same sty with father, mother,\nbrothers, sisters, and perhaps yet other families of like degree. What\nserved him for dress by day, is his only bed by night.\n\nWell, this boy steals some trifle, a biscuit, a bit of rope, or a knife\nfrom a shop-window; he is seized and carried to jail. The day comes for\ntrial. He is marched through the streets in handcuffs, the companion of\ndrunkards and thieves, thus deadening the little self-respect which\nNature left even in an outcast's bosom. He sits there chained like a\nbeast; a boy in irons! the sport and mockery of men vulgar as the common\nsewer. His trial comes. Of course he is convicted. The show of his\ncountenance is witness against him. His rags and dirt, his ignorance,\nhis vagrant habits, his idleness, all testify against him. That face so\nyoung, and yet so impudent, so sly, so writ all over with embryo\nvillany, is evidence enough. The jury are soon convinced, for they see\nhis temptations in his look, and surely know that in such a condition\nmen will steal: yes, they themselves would steal. The judge represents\nthe law, and that practically regards it a crime even for a boy to be\nweak and poor. Much of our common law, it seems to me, is based on\nmight, not right. So he is hurried off to jail at a tender age, and made\nlegally the companion of felons. Now the State has him wholly in her\npower; by that rough adoption, has made him her own child, and sealed\nthe indenture with the jailer's key. His handcuffs are the symbol of his\nsonship to the State. She shuts him in her college for the Little. What\ndoes that teach him; science, letters; even morals and religion? Little\nenough of this, even in Boston, and in most counties of Massachusetts, I\nthink, nothing at all, not even a trade which he can practise when his\nterm expires! I have been told a story, and I wish it might be falsely\ntold, of a boy, in this city, of sixteen, sent to the house of\ncorrection for five years because he stole a bunch of keys, and coming\nout of that jail at twenty-one, unable to write, or read, or calculate,\nand with no trade but that of picking oakum. Yet he had been five years\nthe child of the State, and in that college for the poor! Who would\nemploy such a youth; with such a reputation; with the smell of the jail\nin his very breath? Not your shrewd men of business, they know the risk;\nnot your respectable men, members of churches and all that; not they!\nWhy it would hurt a man's reputation for piety to do good in that way.\nBesides, the risk is great, and it argues a great deal more Christianity\nthan it is popular to have, for a respectable man to employ such a\nyouth. He is forced back into crime again. I say, forced, for honest men\nwill not employ him when the State shoves him out of the jail. Soon you\nwill have him in the court again, to be punished more severely. Then he\ngoes to the State Prison, and then again, and again, till death\nmercifully ends his career!\n\nWho is to blame for all that? I will ask the best man among the best of\nyou, what he would have become, if thus abandoned, turned out in\nchildhood, and with no culture, into the streets, to herd with the\nwickedest of men! Somebody says, there are \"organic sins\" in society\nwhich nobody is to blame for. But by this sin organized in society,\nthese vagrant children are training up to become thieves, pirates and\nmurderers. I cannot blame them. But there is a terrible blame somewhere,\nfor it is not the will of God that one of these little ones should\nperish. Who is it that organizes the sin of society?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLet us next look at the parents of these vagrants, at the adult poor. It\nis not easy or needed for this purpose, to define very nicely the limits\nof a class, and tell where the rich end, and the poor begin. However,\nmen may, in reference to this matter, be divided into three classes. The\nfirst acts on society mainly by their capital; the second mainly by\ntheir skill, mental and manual, by educated labor; and the third by\ntheir muscles, by brute force with little or no skill, uneducated labor.\nThe poor, I take it, come mainly from this latter class. Education of\nhead or hand, a profession or a trade, is wealth in possibility; yes,\nwealth in prospect, wealth in its process of accumulation, for wealth\nitself is only accumulated labor, as learning is accumulated thought.\nMost of our rich men have come out of this class which acts by its\nskill, and their children in a few years will return to it. I am not now\nto speak of men transiently poor, who mend their condition as the hours\ngo by, who may gain enough, and perhaps become rich; but of men\npermanently poor, whom one year finds wanting, and the next leaves no\nbetter off; men that live, as we say, from hand to mouth, but whose\nhand and mouth are often empty. Even here in Boston, there is little of\nthe justice that removes causes of poverty, though so much of the\ncharity which alleviates its effects. Those men live, if you can call it\nlife, crowded together more densely, I am told, than in Naples or Paris,\nin London or Liverpool. Boston has its ghetto, not for the Jews as at\nPrague and at Rome, but for brother Christians. In the quarters\ninhabited mainly by the poor, you find a filthiness and squalor which\nwould astonish a stranger. The want of comfort, of air, of water, is\nterrible. Cold is a stern foe in our winters, but in these places, I am\ntold that men suffer more from want of water in summer, than want of\nfire in winter.[16] If your bills of mortality were made out so as to\nshow the deaths in each ward of the city, I think all would be\nastonished at the results. Disease and death are the result of causes,\ncauses too that may for a long time be avoided, and in the more favored\nclasses are avoided. It is not God's will that the rich be spared and\nthe poor die. Yet the greatest mortality is always among the poor. Out\nof each hundred Catholics who died in Boston, from 1833 to 1838, more\nthan sixty-one were less than five years of age. The result for the last\nsix years is no better. Of one hundred children born amongst them, only\nthirty-eight live five years; only eleven become fifty! Gray-haired\nIrishmen we seldom see. Yet they are not worse off than others equally\npoor, only we can more distinctly get at the facts. In the war with\ndisease which mankind is waging, the poor stand in front of the fire,\nand are mowed down without pity!\n\nOf late years, in Boston, there has been a gradual increase in the\nmortality of children.[17] I think we shall find the increase only among\nthe children of the poor. Of course it depends on causes which may be\nremoved, at least modified, for the average life of mankind is on the\nincrease. I am told, I know not if the authority be good, that mortality\namong the poor is greater in Boston than in any city of Europe.\n\nOf old times the rich man rode into battle, shirted with mail, covered\nand shielded with iron from head to foot. Arrows glanced from him as\nfrom a stone. He came home unhurt and covered with \"glory.\" But the\npoor, in his leathern jerkin or his linen frock, confronted the war,\nwhere every weapon tore his unprotected flesh. In the modern, perennial\nbattle with disease, the same thing takes place; the poor fall and die.\n\nThe destruction of the poor is their poverty. They are ignorant, not\nfrom choice but necessity. They cannot, therefore, look round and see\nthe best way of doing things, of saving their strength, and sparing\ntheir means. They can have little of what we call thrift, the brain in\nthe hand for which our people are so remarkable. Some of them are also\nlittle by nature, ill-born; others well born enough, were abandoned in\nchildhood, and have not since been able to make up the arrears of a\nneglected youth. They are to fight the great battle of life, for battle\nit is to them, with feeble arms. Look at the houses they live in,\nwithout comfort or convenience, without sun, or air, or water; damp,\ncold, filthy and crowded to excess. In one section of the city there are\nthirty-seven persons on an average in each house.\n\nConsider the rents paid by this class of our brothers. It is they who\npay the highest rate for their dwellings. The worth of the house is\noften little more than nothing, the ground it covers making the only\nvalue. I am told that twelve or fifteen per cent a year on a large\nvaluation is quite commonly paid, and over thirty per cent on the actual\nvalue, is not a strange thing. I wish this might not prove true.\n\nBut the misery of the poor does not end with their wretched houses and\nexorbitant rent. Having neither capital nor store-room, they must\npurchase articles of daily need in the smallest quantities. They buy,\ntherefore, at the greatest disadvantage, and yet at the dearest rates. I\nam told it is not a rare thing for them to buy inferior qualities of\nflour at six cents a pound, or $11.88 a barrel, while another man buys\na month's supply at a time for $4 or $5 a barrel. This may be an extreme\ncase, but I know that in some places in this city, an inferior article\nis now retailed to them at $7.92 the barrel. So it is with all kinds of\nfood; they are bought in the smallest quantities, and at a rate which a\nrich man would think ruinous. Is not the poor man, too, most often\ncheated in the weight and the measure? So it is whispered. \"He has no\nfriends,\" says the sharper; \"others have broken him to fragments, I will\ngrind him to powder!\" And the grinding comes.\n\nSuch being the case, the poor man finds it difficult to get a cent\nbeforehand. I know rich men tell us that capital is at the mercy of\nlabor. That may be prophecy; it is not history; not fact. Uneducated\nlabor, brute force without skill, is wholly at the mercy of capital. The\ncapitalist can control the market for labor, which is all the poor man\nhas to part with. The poor cannot combine as the rich. True, a mistake\nis sometimes made, and the demand for labor is greater than the supply,\nand the poor man's wages are increased. This result was doubtless God's\ndesign, but was it man's intention? The condition of the poor has\nhitherto been bettered, not so much by the design of the strong, as by\nGod making their wrath and cupidity serve the weak.\n\nUnder such circumstances, what marvel that the poor man becomes\nunthrifty, reckless and desperate? I know how common it is to complain\nof the extravagance of the poor. Often there is reason for the\ncomplaint. It is a wrong thing, and immoral, for a man with a dependent\nfamily to spend all his earnings, if it be possible to live with less. I\nthink many young men are much to be blamed, for squandering all their\nwages to please a dainty palate, or to dress as fine as a richer man,\nmaking only the heart of their tailor foolishly glad. Such men may not\nbe poor now, but destine themselves to be the fathers of poor children.\nAfter making due allowance, it must be confessed that much of the\nrecklessness of the poor comes unavoidably from their circumstances;\nfrom their despair of ever being comfortable, except for a moment at a\ntime. Every one knows that unmerited wealth tempts a man to squander,\nwhile few men know, what is just as true, that hopeless poverty does the\nsame thing. As the tortured Indian will sleep, if his tormentor pause\nbut a moment, so the poor man, grown reckless and desperate, forgets the\nfuture storms, and wastes in revel the solitary gleam of sunlight which\nfalls on him. It is nature speaking through his soul.\n\nNow consider the moral temptations before such men. Here is wealth,\nfood, clothing, comfort, luxury, gold, the great enchanter of this age,\nand but a plank betwixt it and them. Nay, they are shut from it only by\na pane of glass thin as popular justice, and scarcely less brittle! They\nfeel the natural wants of man; the artificial wants of men in cities.\nThey are indignant at their social position, thrust into the mews and\nthe kennels of the land. They think some one is to blame for it. A man\nin New England does not believe it God's will he should toil for ever,\nstinting and sparing only to starve the more slowly to death, overloaded\nwith work, with no breathing time but the blessed Sunday. They see\nothers doing nothing, idle as Solomon's lilies, yet wasting the unearned\nbread God made to feed the children of the poor. They see crowds of idle\nwomen elegantly clad, a show of loveliness, a rainbow in the streets,\nand think of the rag which does not hide their daughter's shame. They\nhear of thousands of baskets of costly wine imported in a single ship,\nnot brought to recruit the feeble, but to poison the palate of the\nstrong. They begin to ask if wealthy men and wise men have not forgotten\ntheir brothers, in thinking of their own pleasure! It is not the poor\nalone who ask that. In the midst of all this, what wonder is it if they\nfeel desirous of revenge; what wonder that stores and houses are broken\ninto, and stables set afire! Such is the natural effect of misery like\nthat; it is but the voice of our brother's blood crying to God against\nus all. I wonder not that it cries in robbery and fire. The jail and the\ngallows will not still that voice, nor silence the answer. I wonder at\nthe fewness of crimes, not their multitude. I must say that, if goodness\nand piety did not bear a greater proportion to the whole development of\nthe poor than the rich, their crimes would be tenfold. The nation sets\nthe poor an example of fraud, by making them pay highest on all local\ntaxes; of theft, by levying the national revenue on persons, not\nproperty. Our navy and army set them the lesson of violence; and, to\ncomplete their schooling, at this very moment we are robbing another\npeople of cities and lands, stealing, burning, and murdering, for lust\nof power and gold. Everybody knows that the political action of a nation\nis the mightiest educational influence in that nation. But such is the\ndoctrine the State preaches to them, a constant lesson of fraud, theft,\nviolence and crime. The literature of the nation mocks at the poor,\nlaughing in the popular journals at the poor man's inevitable crime. Our\ntrade deals with the poor as tools, not men. What wonder they feel\nwronged! Some city missionary may dawdle the matter as he will; tell\nthem it is God's will they should be dirty and ignorant, hungry, cold\nand naked. Now and then a poor woman starving with cold and hunger may\nthink it true. But the poor know better; ignorant as they are, they know\nbetter. Great Nature speaks when you and I are still. They feel\nneglected, wronged, and oppressed. What hinders them from following the\nexample set by the nation, by society, by the strong? Their inertness,\ntheir cowardice, and, what does not always restrain abler men, their\nfear of God! With cultivated men, the intellect is often developed at\nthe expense of conscience and religion. With the poor this is more\nseldom the case.\n\nThe misfortunes of the poor do not end here. To make their degradation\ntotal, their name infamous, we have shut them out of our churches. Once\nin our Puritan meeting-houses, there were \"body seats\" for the poor; for\na long time free galleries, where men sat and were not ashamed. Now it\nis not so. A Christian society about to build a church, and having\n$50,000, does not spend $40,000 for that, making it a church for all,\nand keep $10,000 as a fund for the poor. No, it borrows $30,000 more,\nand then shuts the poor out of its bankrupt aisles. A high tower, or a\nfine-toned bell, yes, marble and mahogany, are thought better than the\npresence of these little ones whom God wills not to perish. I have heard\nministers boast of the great men, and famous, who sat under their\npreaching; never one who boasted that the poor came into his church, and\nwere fed, body and soul! You go to our churches--the poor are not in\nthem. They are idling and lounging away their day of rest, like the\nhorse and the ox. Alas me, that the apostles, that the Christ himself\ncould not worship in our churches, till he sold his garment and bought a\npew! Many of our houses of public worship would be well named, \"Churches\nfor the affluent.\" Yet religion is more to the poor man than to the\nrich. What wonder then, if the poor lose self-respect, when driven from\nthe only churches where it is thought respectable to pray!\n\nThis class of men are perishing; yes, perishing in the nineteenth\ncentury; perishing in Boston, wealthy, charitable Boston; perishing soul\nand body, contrary to God's will; and perishing all the worse because\nthey die slow, and corrupt by inches. As things now are, their mortality\nis hardly a curse. The Methodists are right in telling them this world\nis a valley of tears; it is almost wholly so to them; and Heaven a long\nJune day, full of rest and plenty. To die is their only gain; their only\nhope. Think of that, you who murmur because money is \"tight,\" because\nyour investment gives only twenty per cent. a year, or because you are\ntaxed for half your property, meaning to move off next season; think of\nthat, you who complain because the democrats are in power to-day, and\nyou who tremble lest the whigs shall be in '49; think of that, you who\nwere never hungry, nor athirst; who are sick, because you have nothing\nelse to do, and grumble against God, from mere emptiness of soul, and\nfor amusement's sake; think of men, who, if wise, do not dare to raise\nthe human prayer for life, but for death, as the only gain, the only\nhope, and you will give over your complaint, your hands stopping your\nmouth.\n\nWhat shall become of the children of such men? They stand in the\nfore-front of the battle, all unprotected as they are; a people\nscattered and peeled, only a miserable remnant reaches the age of ten!\nLook about your streets, and see what does become of such as live,\nvagrant and idle boys. Ask the police, the constables, the jails; they\nshall tell you what becomes of the sons. Will a white lily grow in a\ncommon sewer; can you bleach linen in a tan-pit? Yes, as soon as you can\nrear a virtuous population, under such circumstances. Go to any State\nPrison in the land, and you shall find that seven-eighths of the\nconvicts came from this class, brought there by crimes over which they\nhad no control; crimes which would have made you and me thieves and\npirates. The characters of such men are made for them, far more than by\nthem. There is no more vice, perhaps, born into that class; they have no\nmore \"inherited sin\" than any other class in the land; all the\ndifference, then, between the morals and manners of rich and poor, is\nthe result of education and circumstances.\n\nThe fate of the daughters of the poor is yet worse. Many of them are\ndoomed to destruction by the lust of men, their natural guardians and\nprotectors. Think of an able, \"respectable\" man, comfortable, educated\nand \"Christian,\" helping debase a woman, degrade her in his eyes, her\neyes, the eyes of the world! Why it is bad enough to enslave a man, but\nthus to enslave a woman--I have no words to speak of that. The crime\nand sin, foul, polluting and debasing all it touches, has come here to\ncurse man and woman, the married and the single, and the babe unborn! It\nseems to me as if I saw the Genius of this city stand before God,\nlifting his hands in agony to heaven, crying for mercy on woman,\ninsulted and trodden down, for vengeance on man, who treads her thus\ninfamously into the dust. The vengeance comes, not the mercy. Misery in\nwoman is the strongest inducement to crime. Where self-respect is not\nfostered; where severe toil hardly holds her soul and body together amid\nthe temptations of a city, and its heated life, it is no marvel to me\nthat this sin should slay its victims, finding woman an easy prey.\n\nLet me follow the children of the poor a step further--I mean to the\njail. Few men seem aware of the frightful extent of crime amongst us,\nand the extent of the remedy, more awful yet. In less than one year,\nnamely, from the 9th of June, 1845, to the 2d of June, 1846, there were\ncommitted to your House of Correction, in this city, 1,228 persons, a\nlittle more than one out of every fifty-six in the whole population that\nis more than ten years old. Of these 377 were women; 851 men. Five were\nsentenced for an indefinite period, and forty-seven for an additional\nperiod of solitary imprisonment. In what follows, I make no account of\nthat. But the whole remaining period of their sentences amounts to more\nthan 544 years, or 198,568 days. In addition to this, in the year ending\nwith June 9, 1846, we sent from Boston to the State Prison, thirty-five\nmore, and for a period of 18,595 days, of which 205 were solitary. Thus\nit appears that the illegal and convicted crime of Boston, in one year,\nwas punished by imprisonment for 217,163 days. Now as Boston contains\nbut 114,366 persons of all ages, and only 69,112 that are over ten years\nof age, it follows that the imprisonment of citizens of Boston for crime\nin one year, amounts to more than one day and twenty-one hours, for each\nman, woman, and child, or to more than three days and three hours, for\neach one over ten years of age. This seems beyond belief, yet in making\nthe estimate, I have not included the time spent in jail before\nsentence; I have left out the solitary imprisonment in the House of\nCorrection; I have said nothing of the 169 children, sentenced for crime\nto the House of Reformation in the same period.\n\nWhat is the effect of this punishment on society at large? I will not\nnow attempt to answer that question. What is it on the criminals\nthemselves? Let the jail-books answer. Of the whole number, 202 were\nsentenced for the second time; 131 for the third; 101 for the fourth;\nthirty-eight for the fifth; forty for the sixth; twenty-nine for the\nseventh; twenty-three for the eighth; twelve for the ninth; fifty for\nthe tenth time, or more; and of the criminals punished for the tenth\ntime, thirty-one were women! Of the thirty-five sent to the State\nPrison, fourteen had been there before; of the 1,228 sent to the House\nof Correction, only 626 were sent for the first time.\n\nThere are two classes, the victims of society, and the foes of society,\nthe men that organize its sins, and then tell us nobody is to blame. May\nGod deal mercifully with the foes; I had rather take my part with the\nvictims. Yet is there one who wishes to be a foe to mankind?\n\nHere are the sons of the poor, vagrant in your streets, shut out by\ntheir misery from the culture of the age; growing up to fill your jails,\nto be fathers of a race like themselves, and to be huddled into an\ninfamous grave. Here are the daughters of the poor, cast out and\nabandoned, the pariahs of our civilization, training up for a life of\nshame and pollution, and coming early to a miserable end. Here are the\npoor, daughters and sons, excluded from the refining influences of\nmodern life, shut out of the very churches by that bar of gold,\nignorant, squalid, hungry and hopeless, wallowing in their death! Are\nthese the results of modern civilization; this in the midst of the\nnineteenth century, in a Christian city full of churches and gold; this\nin Boston, which adds $13,000,000 a year to her actual wealth? Is that\nthe will of God? Tell it not in China; whisper it not in New Holland,\nlest the heathen turn pale with horror, and send back your\nmissionaries, fearing they shall pollute the land!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere is yet another class of little ones. I mean the intemperate.\nWithin the last few years it seems that drunkenness has increased. I\nknow this is sometimes doubted. But if this fact is not shown by the\nincreased number of legal convictions for the crime, it is by the sight\nof drunken men in public and not arrested. I think I have not visited\nthe city five times in the last ten months without seeing more or less\nmen drunk in the streets. The cause of this increase it seems to me is\nnot difficult to discover. All great movements go forward by\nundulations, as the waves of the rising tide come up the beach. Now\ncomes a great wave reaching far up the shore, and then recedes. The\nnext, and the next, and the next falls short of the highest mark; yet\nthe tide is coming in all the while. You see this same undulation in\nother popular movements; for example, in politics. Once the great wave\nof democracy broke over the central power, washing it clean. Now the\nwater lies submissive beneath that rock, and humbly licks its feet. In\nsome other day the popular wave shall break with purifying roar clean\nover that haughty stone and wash off the lazy barnacles, heaps of\ncorrupting drift-weed, and deadly monsters of the deep. By such\nseemingly unsteady movements do popular affairs get forward. The\nreformed drunkards, it is said, were violent, ill-bred, theatrical, and\nonly touched the surface. Many respectable men withdrew from the work\nsoon as the Washingtonians came to it. It was a pity they did so; but\nthey did. I think the conscience of New England did not trust the\nreformed men; that also is a pity. They seem now to have relaxed their\nefforts in a great measure, perhaps discouraged at the coldness with\nwhich they have in some quarters been treated. I know not why it is, but\nthey do not continue so ably the work they once begun. Besides, the\nState, it was thought, favored intemperance. It was for a long time\ndoubted if the license-laws were constitutional; so they were openly set\nat nought, for wicked men seize on doubtful opportunities. Then, too,\ntemperance had gone, a few years ago, as far as it could be expected to\ngo until certain great obstacles were removed. Many leading men in the\nland were practically hostile to temperance, and, with some remarkable\nexceptions, still are. The sons of the pilgrims, last Forefathers' day,\ncould not honor the self-denial of the Puritans without wine! The Alumni\nof Harvard University could never, till this season, keep their holidays\nwithout strong drink.[18] If rich men continue to drink without need,\nthe poor will long continue to be drunk. Vices, like decayed furniture,\ngo down. They keep their shape, but become more frightful. In this way\nthe refined man who often drinks, but is never drunk, corrupts hundreds\nof men whom he never saw, and without intending it becomes a foe to\nsociety.\n\nThen, too, some of our influential temperance men aid us no longer.\nBeecher is not here; Channing and Ware have gone to their reward. That\nother man,[19] benevolent and indefatigable, where is he? He trod the\nworm of the still under his feet, but the worm of the pulpit stung him,\nand he too is gone; that champion of temperance, that old man eloquent,\ndriven out of Boston. Why should I not tell an open secret?--driven out\nby rum and the Unitarian clergy of Boston.\n\nWhatsoever the causes may be, I think you see proofs enough of the fact,\nthat drunkenness has increased within the last few years. You see it in\nthe men drunken in the streets, in the numerous shops built to gratify\nthe intemperate man. Some of these are elegant and costly, only for the\nrich; others so mean and dirty, that one must be low indeed to wallow\ntherein. But the same thing is there in both, rum, poison-drink. Many of\nthese latter are kept by poor men, and the spider's web of the law now\nand then catches one of them, though latterly but seldom here.\nSometimes they are kept, and, perhaps, generally owned, by rich men who\ndrive through the net. I know how hard it is to see through a dollar,\nthough misery stand behind it, if the dollar be your own, and the misery\nbelong to your brother. I feel pity for the man who helps ruin his race,\nwho scatters firebrands and death throughout society, scathing the heads\nof rich and poor, and old and young. I would speak charitably of such an\none as of a fellow-sinner. How he can excuse it to his own conscience is\nhis affair, not mine. I speak only of the fact. For a poor man there may\nbe some excuse; he has no other calling whereby to gain his bread; he\nwould not see his own children beg, nor starve, nor steal! To see his\nneighbor go to ruin and drag thither his children and wife, was not so\nhard. But it is not the shops of the poor men that do most harm! Had\nthere been none but these, they had long ago been shut, and intemperance\ndone with. It is not poor men that manufacture this poison; nor they who\nimport it, or sell by the wholesale. If there were no rich men in this\ntrade there would soon be no poor ones! But how does the rich man\nreconcile it to his conscience? I cannot answer that.\n\nIt is difficult to find out the number of drink-shops in the city. The\nassessors say there are eight hundred and fifty; another authority makes\nthe number twelve hundred. Let us suppose there are but one thousand. I\nthink that much below the real number, for the assistant assessors\nfound three hundred in a single ward! These shops are open morning and\nnight. More is sold on Sunday, it is said, than any other day in the\nweek! While you are here to worship your Father, some of your brothers\nare making themselves as beasts; yes, lower. You shall probably see them\nat the doors of these shops as you go home; drunk in the streets this\nday! To my mind, the retailers are committing a great offence. I am no\nman's judge, and cannot condemn even them. There is one that judgeth. I\ncannot stand in the place of any man's conscience. I know well enough\nwhat is sin; God, only, who is a sinner. Yet I cannot think the poor man\nthat retails, half so bad as the rich man who distils, imports, or sells\nby wholesale the infamous drug. He knew better, and cannot plead poverty\nas the excuse of his crime.\n\nLet me mention some of the statistics of this trade before I speak of\nits effects. If there are one thousand drink-shops, and each sells\nliquor to the amount of only six dollars a day, which is the price of\nonly one hundred drams, or two hundred at the lowest shops, then we have\nthe sum of $2,190,000 paid for liquor to be drunk on the spot every\nyear. This sum is considerably more than double the amount paid for the\nwhole public education of the people in the entire State of\nMassachusetts! In Boston alone, last year, there were distilled,\n2,873,623 gallons of spirit. In five years, from 1840 to 1845, Boston\nexported 2,156,990, and imported 2,887,993 gallons. They burnt up a man\nthe other day, at the distillery in Merrimack street. You read the story\nin the daily papers, and remember how the by-standers looked on with\nhorror to see the wounded man attempting with his hands to fend off the\nflames from his naked head! Great Heaven! It was not the first man that\ndistillery has burned up! No, not by thousands. You see men about your\nstreets, all afire; some half-burnt down; some with all the soul burned\nout, only the cinders left of the man, the shell and wall, and that\ntumbling and tottering, ready to fall. Who of you has not lost a\nrelative, at least a friend, in that withering flame, that terrible\n_Auto da fe_, that hell-fire on earth?\n\nLet us look away from that. I wish we could look on something to efface\nthat ghastly sight. But see the results of this trade. Do you wonder at\nthe poverty just now spoken of; at the vagrant children? In the Poor\nHouse at Albany, at one time, there were 633 persons, and of them 615\nwere intemperate! Ask your city authorities how many of the poor are\nbrought to their Almshouse directly or remotely by intemperance! Do you\nwonder at the crime which fills your jails, and swells the tax of county\nand city? Three fourths of the petty crime in the State comes from this\nsource directly or remotely. Your jails were never so full before! When\nthe parents are there, what is left for the children? In Prussia, the\nGovernment which imprisons the father takes care of the children, and\nsends them to school. Here they are forced into crime.\n\nAs I gave some statistics of the cause, let me also give some of the\neffects. Two years ago your Grand Jury reports that one of the city\npolice, on Sunday morning, between the hours of twelve and two, in\nwalking from Cornhill square to Cambridge street, passed more than one\nhundred persons more or less drunk! In 1844 there were committed to your\nHouse of Correction, for drunkenness, 453 persons; in 1845, 595; in\n1846, up to the 24th of August, that is, in seven months and twenty-four\ndays, 446. Besides there have been already in this year, 396 complained\nof at the Police Court and fined, but not sent to the House of\nCorrection. Thus, in seven months and twenty-four days, 842 persons have\nbeen legally punished for public drunkenness. In the last two months and\na half 445 persons were thus punished. In the first twenty-four days of\nthis month, ninety-four! In the last year there were 4,643 persons\ncommitted to your watch-houses, more than the twenty-fifth of the whole\npopulation. The thousand drink-shops levy a direct tax of more than\n$2,000,000. That is only the first outlay. The whole ultimate cost in\nidleness, sickness, crime, death and broken hearts--I leave you to\ncalculate that! The men who live in the lower courts, familiar with the\nsinks of iniquity, speak of this crime as \"most awful!\" Yet in this\nmonth and the last, there were but nine persons indicted for the illegal\nsale of the poison which so wastes the people's life! The head of your\nPolice and the foreman of your last Grand Jury are prominent in that\ntrade.\n\nDoes the Government know of these things; know of their cause? One would\nhope not. The last Grand Jury in their public report, after speaking\nmanfully of some actual evils, instead of pointing at drunkenness and\nbar-rooms, direct your attention \"to the increased number of omnibuses\nand other large carriages in the streets.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThese are sad things to think of in a Christian church. What shall we do\nfor all these little ones that are perishing? \"Do nothing,\" say some.\n\"Am I my brother's keeper?\" asked the first Cain, after killing that\nbrother. He thought the answer would be, \"No! you are not.\" But he was\nhis brother's keeper, and Abel's blood cried from the ground for\njustice, and God heard it. Some say we can do nothing. I will never\nbelieve that a city which in twelve years can build near a thousand\nmiles of railroad, hedge up the Merrimack and the lakes of New\nHampshire; I will never believe that a city, so full of the hardiest\nenterprise and the noblest charity, cannot keep these little ones from\nperishing. Why the nation can annex new States and raise armies at\nuncounted cost. Can it not extirpate pauperism, prevent intemperance,\npluck up the causes of the present crime? All that is lacking is the\nprudent will!\n\nIt seems as if something could easily be done to send the vagrant\nchildren to school; at least to give them employment, and so teach them\nsome useful art. If some are Catholics, and will not attend the\nProtestant schools, perhaps it would be as possible to have a special\nand separate school for the Irish as for the Africans. It was recently\nproposed in a Protestant assembly to found Sunday Schools, with Catholic\nteachers for Catholic children. The plan is large and noble, and\nindicates a liberality which astonishes one even here, where some men\nare ceasing to be sectarian and becoming human. Much may be done to\nbring many of the children to our Sunday and week-day schools, as they\nnow are, and so brands be snatched from the burning. The State Farm\nSchool for juvenile offenders, which a good man last winter suggested to\nyour Legislature, will doubtless do much for these idle boys, and may be\nthe beginning of a greater and better work. Could the State also take\ncare of the children when it locks the parents in a jail, there would be\na nearer approach to justice and greater likelihood of obtaining its\nend. Still the laws act cumbrously and slow. The great work must be done\nby good men, acting separately or in concert, in their private way. You\nare your brother's keeper; God made you so. If you are rich,\nintelligent, refined and religious, why you are all the more a keeper to\nthe poor, the weak, the vulgar and the wicked. In the pauses of your\nwork there will be time to do something. In the unoccupied hours of the\nSunday there is yet leisure to help a brother's need. If there are times\nwhen you are disposed to murmur at your own hard lot, though it is not\nhard; or hours when grief presses heavy on your heart, go and look after\nthese children, find them employment, and help them to start in life;\nyou will find your murmurings are ended, and your sorrow forgot.\n\nIt does not seem difficult to do something for the poor. It would be\neasy to provide comfortable and convenient houses and at a reasonable\nrate. The experiment has been tried by one noble-hearted man, and thus\nfar works well. I trust the same plan, or one better, if possible, will\nsoon be tried on a larger scale, and so repeated, till we are free from\nthat crowding together of miserable persons, which now disgraces our\ncity. It seems to me that a store might be established where articles of\ngood quality should be furnished to the poor at cost. Something has\nalready been done in this way, by the \"Trade's Union,\" who need it much\nless. A practical man could easily manage the details of such a scheme.\nAll reform and elevation of this class of men must begin by mending\ntheir circumstances, though of course it must not end there. Expect no\nimprovement of men that are hungry, naked, and cold. Few men respect\nthemselves in that condition. Hope not of others what would be\nimpossible for you!\n\nYou may give better pay when that is possible. I can hardly think it the\nboast of a man, that he has paid less for his labor than any other in\nhis calling. But it is a common boast, though to me it seems the glory\nof a pirate! I cannot believe there is that sharp distinction between\nweek-day religion and Sunday religion, or between justice and charity,\nthat is sometimes pretended. A man both just and charitable would find\nhis charity run over into his justice, and the mixture improve its\nquality. When I remember that all value is the result of work, and see\nlikewise that no man gets rich by his own work, I cannot help thinking\nthat labor is often wickedly underpaid, and capital sometimes as grossly\nover-fed. I shall believe that capital is at the mercy of labor, when\nthe two extremes of society change places. Is it Christian or manly to\nreduce wages in hard times, and not raise them in fair times? and not\nraise them again in extraordinary times? Is it God's will that large\ndividends and small wages should be paid at the same time? The duty of\nthe employer is not over, when he has paid \"the hands\" their wages.\nAbraham is a special providence for Eliezer, as God, the universal\nprovidence, for both. The usages of society make a sharp distinction\nbetween the rich and poor; but I cannot believe the churches have done\nwisely, by making that distinction appear through separating the two, in\ntheir worship. The poor are, undesignedly, driven out of the respectable\nchurches. They lose self-respect; lose religion. Those that remain, what\nhave they gained by this expulsion of their brothers? A beautiful and\ncostly house, but a church without the poor. The Catholics were wiser\nand more humane than that. I cannot believe the mightiest abilities and\nmost exquisite culture were ever too great to preach and apply\nChristianity among the poor; and that \"the best sermons would be wasted\non them.\" Yet such has not been the practical decision here! I trust we\nshall yet be able to say of all our churches, however costly, \"There the\nrich and poor meet together.\" They are now equally losers by the\nseparation. The seventy ministers of Boston--how much they can do for\nthis class of little ones, if they will!\n\nIt has been suggested by some kindly and wise men, that there should be\na Prisoners' Home established, where the criminal, on being released\nfrom jail, could go and find a home and work. As the case now is, there\nis almost no hope for the poor offender. \"Legal justice\" proves often\nlegal vengeance, and total ruin to the poor wretch on whom it falls; it\ngrinds him to powder! All reform of criminals, without such a place,\nseems to me worse than hopeless. If possible, such an institution seems\nmore needed for the women, than even for the men: but I have not now\ntime to dwell on this theme. You know the efforts of two good men\namongst us, who, with slender means, and no great encouragement from the\npublic, are indeed the friends of the prisoner.[20] God bless them in\ntheir labors.\n\nWe can do something in all these schemes for helping the poor. Each of\nus can do something in his own sphere, and now and then step out of that\nsphere to do something more. I know there are many amongst you, who only\nrequire a word before they engage in this work, and some who do not\nrequire even that, but are more competent than I to speak that word.\nYour Committee of Benevolent Action have not been idle. Their works\nspeak for them.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFor the suppression of intemperance, redoubled efforts must be made. Men\nof wealth, education and influence must use their strength of nature, or\nposition, to protect their brothers, not drive them down to ruin.\nTemperance cannot advance much further among the people, until this\nclass of men lend their aid; at least, until they withdraw the obstacles\nthey have hitherto and so often opposed to its progress. They must\nforbear the use, as well as the traffic. I cannot but think the time is\ncoming, when he who makes or sells this poison as a drink, will be\nlegally ranked with other poisoners, with thieves, robbers, and\nhouse-burners; when a fortune acquired by such means will be thought\ninfamous, as one now would be if acquired by piracy! I know good men\nhave formerly engaged in this trade; they did it ignorantly. Now, we\nknow the unavoidable effects thereof. I trust the excellent example\nlately set by the Government of the University, will be followed at all\npublic festivals.\n\nWe must still have a watchful eye on the sale of this poison. It is not\nthe low shops which do the most harm, but the costly tippling-houses\nwhich keep the low ones in countenance, and thus shield them from the\nlaw and public feeling. It seems as if a law were needed, making the\nowner of a tippling-house responsible for the illegal sale of liquors\nthere. Then the real offender might be reached, who now escapes the\nmeshes of the law.\n\nIt has long ago been suggested that a Temperance Home was needed for the\nreformation of the unfortunate drunkard. It is plain that the jail does\nnot reform him. Those sent to jail for drunkenness are, on the average,\nsentenced no less than five times; some of them, fifteen or twenty\ntimes! Of what use to shut a man in a jail, and release him with the\ncertainty that he will come out no better, and soon return for the same\noffence? When as much zeal and ability are directed to cure this\nterrible public malady, as now go to increase it, we shall not thus\nfoolishly waste our strength. You all know how much has been done by one\nman in this matter;[21] that in four years he saved three hundred\ndrunkards from the prison, two hundred of whom have since done well! If\nit be the duty of the State to prevent crime, not avenge it, is it not\nplain what is the way?\n\nHowever, a reform in this matter will be permanent only through a deeper\nand wider reform elsewhere. Drunkenness and theft in its various illegal\nforms, are confined almost wholly to the poorest class. So long as there\nis unavoidable misery, like the present, pauperism and popular\nignorance; so long as thirty-seven are crowded into one house, and that\nnot large; so long as men are wretched and without hope, there will be\ndrunkenness. I know much has been done already; I think drunkenness will\nnever be respectable again, or common amongst refined and cultivated\nmen; it will be common among the ignorant, the outcast and the\nmiserable, so long as the present causes of poverty, ignorance and\nmisery continue. For that continuance, and the want, the crime, the\nunimaginable wretchedness and death of heart which comes thereof, it is\nnot these perishing little ones, but the strong that are responsible\nbefore God! It will not do for your grand juries to try and hide the\nmatter by indicting \"omnibuses and other large carriages;\" the voice of\nGod cries, Where is thy brother?--and that brother's blood answers from\nthe ground.\n\nWhat I have suggested only palliates effects; it removes no cause;--of\nthat another time. These little ones are perishing here in the midst of\nus. Society has never seriously sought to prevent it, perhaps has not\nbeen conscious of the fact. It has not so much legislated for them as\nagainst them. Its spirit is hostile to them. If the mass of able-headed\nmen were in earnest about this, think you they would allow such\nunthrifty ways, such a waste of man's productive energies? Never! no,\nnever. They would repel the causes of this evil as now an invading army.\nThe removal of these troubles must be brought about by a great change in\nthe spirit of society. Society is not Christian in form or spirit. So\nthere are many who do not love to hear Christianity preached and\napplied, but to have some halting theology set upon its crutches. They\nlike, on Sundays, to hear of the sacrifice, not to have mercy and\ngoodness demanded of them. A Christian State after the pattern of that\ndivine man, Jesus--how different it would be from this in spirit and in\nform!\n\nTaking all this whole State into account, things, on the whole, are\nbetter here, than in any similar population, after all these evils. I\nthink there can be no doubt of that; better now, on the whole, than\never before. A day's work will produce a greater quantity of needful\nthings than hitherto. So the number of little ones that perish is\nsmaller than heretofore, in proportion to the whole mass. I do not\nbelieve the world can show such examples of public charity as this city\nhas afforded in the last fifty years. Alas! we want the justice which\nprevents causes no less than the charity which palliates effects. See\nyet the unnatural disparity in man's condition: bloated opulence and\nstarving penury in the same street! See the pauperism, want,\nlicentiousness, intemperance and crime in the midst of us; see the havoc\nmade of woman; see the poor deserted by their elder brother, while it is\ntheir sweat which enriches your ground, builds your railroads, and piles\nup your costly houses. The tall gallows stands in the back-ground of\nsociety, overlooking it all; where it should be the blessed gospel of\nthe living God.\n\nWhat we want to remove the cause of all this is the application of\nChristianity to social life. Nothing less will do the work. Each of us\ncan help forward that by doing the part which falls in his way.\nChristianity, like the eagle's flight, begins at home. We can go\nfurther, and do something for each of these classes of little ones. Then\nwe shall help others do the same. Some we may encourage to practical\nChristianity by our example; some we may perhaps shame. Still more, we\ncan ourselves be pure, manly, Christian; each of us that, in heart and\nlife. We can build up a company of such, men of perpetual growth. Then\nwe shall be ready not only for this special work now before us, to\npalliate effects, but for every Christian and manly duty when it comes.\nThen, if ever some scheme is offered which is nobler and yet more\nChristian than what we now behold, it will find us booted, and girded,\nand road-ready.\n\nI look to you to do something in this matter. You are many; most of you\nare young. I look to you to set an example of a noble life, human, clean\nand Christian, not debasing these little ones, but lifting them up. Will\nyou cause them to perish; you? I know you will not. Will you let them\nperish? I cannot believe it. Will you not prevent their perishing?\nNothing less is your duty.\n\nSome men say they will do nothing to help liberate the slave, because he\nis afar off, and \"our mission is silence!\" Well--here are sufferers in a\nnearer need. Do you say, I can do but little to Christianize society!\nVery well, do that little, and see if it does not amount to much, and\nbring its own blessing--the thought that you have given a cup of cold\nwater to one of the little ones. Did not Jesus say, \"Inasmuch as ye have\ndone it unto one of the least of these ye have done it unto me?\"\n\nSince last we met, one of our number[22] has taken that step in life\ncommonly called death. He was deeply interested and active in the\nmovement for the perishing classes of men. After his spirit had passed\non, a woman whom he had rescued, and her children with her, from\nintemperance and ruin, came and laid her hand on that cold forehead\nwhence the kindly soul had fled, and mourning that her failures had\noften grieved his heart before, vowed solemnly to keep steadfast\nforever, and go back to evil ways no more! Who would not wish his\nforehead the altar for such a vow? what nobler monument to a good man's\nmemory! The blessing of those ready to perish fell on him. If his hand\ncannot help us, his example may.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[16] This evil is now happily removed, and all men rejoice in a cheap\nand abundant supply of pure water.\n\n[17] See the valuable tables and remarks, by Mr. Shattuck, in his Census\nof Boston, pp. 136-177.\n\n[18] For this much needed reform at the academical table, we are\nindebted to the Hon. Edward Everett, the President of Harvard College.\nFor this he deserves the hearty thanks of the whole community.\n\n[19] Rev. John Pierpont.\n\n[20] The editors of the \"Prisoners' Friend.\"\n\n[21] Mr. John Augustus.\n\n[22] Nathaniel F. Thayer, aged 29.\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\nA SERMON OF MERCHANTS.--PREACHED AT THE MELODEON, ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER\n22, 1846.\n\nECCLESIASTICUS XXVII. 2.\n\n    As a nail sticketh fast between the joinings of the stones;\n    so doth sin stick close between buying and selling.\n\n\nI ask your attention to a Sermon of Merchants, their Position,\nTemptations, Opportunities, Influence and Duty. For the present purpose,\nmen may be distributed into four classes.\n\nI. Men who create new material for human use, either by digging it out\nof mines and quarries, fishing it out of the sea, or raising it out of\nthe land. These are direct producers.\n\nII. Men who apply their head and hands to this material and transform it\ninto other shapes, fitting it for human use; men that make grain into\nflour and bread, cotton into cloth, iron into needles or knives, and the\nlike. These are indirect producers; they create not the material, but\nits fitness, use, or beauty. They are manufacturers.\n\nIII. Men who simply use these things, when thus produced and\nmanufactured. They are consumers.\n\nIV. Men who buy and sell: who buy to sell, and sell to buy the more.\nThey fetch and carry between the other classes. These are distributors;\nthey are the Merchants. Under this name I include the whole class who\nlive by buying and selling, and not merely those conventionally called\nmerchants, to distinguish them from small dealers. This term comprises\ntraders behind counters and traders behind desks; traders neither behind\ncounters nor desks.\n\nThere are various grades of merchants. They might be classed and\nsymbolized according as they use a basket, a wheelbarrow, a cart, a\nstall, a booth, a shop, a warehouse, counting-room, or bank. Still all\nare the same thing--men who live by buying and selling. A ship is only a\nlarge basket, a warehouse, a costly stall. Your peddler is a small\nmerchant going round from house to house with his basket to mediate\nbetween persons; your merchant only a great peddler sending round from\nland to land with his ships to mediate between nations. The Israelitish\nwoman who sits behind a bench in her stall on the Rialto at Venice,\nchanging gold into silver and copper, or loaning money to him who leaves\nhat, coat, and other collaterals in pledge, is a small banker. The\nIsraelitish man who sits at Frankfort on the Maine, changes drafts into\nspecie, and lends millions to men who leave in pledge a mortgage on the\nStates of the Church, Austria or Russia--is a pawnbroker and\nmoney-changer on a large scale. By this arithmetic, for present\nconvenience, all grades of merchants are reduced to one\ndenomination--men who live by buying and selling.\n\nAll these four classes run into one another. The same man may belong to\nall at the same time. All are needed. At home a merchant is a mediator\nto go between the producer and the manufacturer; between both and the\nconsumer. On a large scale he is the mediator who goes between\ncontinents, between producing and manufacturing States, between both and\nconsuming countries. The calling is founded in the state of society, as\nthat in a compromise between man's permanent nature and transient\ncondition. So long as there are producers and consumers, there must be\ndistributors. The value of the calling depends on its importance; its\nusefulness is the measure of its respectability. The most useful calling\nmust be the noblest. If it is difficult, demanding great ability and\nself-sacrifice, it is yet more noble. A useless calling is disgraceful;\none that injures mankind--infamous. Tried by this standard, the\nproducers seem nobler than the distributors; they than the mere\nconsumers. This may not be the popular judgment now, but must one day\nbecome so, for mankind is slowly learning to judge by the natural law\npublished by Jesus--that he who would be greatest of all, must be most\neffectively the servant of all.\n\nThere are some who do not seem to belong to any of the active classes,\nwho are yet producers, manufacturers, and distributors by their head,\nmore than their hand; men who have fertile heads, producers,\nmanufacturers, and distributors of thought, active in the most creative\nway. Here, however, the common rule is inverted: the producers are\nfew--men of genius; the manufacturers many--men of talent; the\ndistributors--men of tact, men who remember, and talk with tongue or\npen, their name is legion. I will not stop to distribute them into their\nclasses, but return to the merchant.\n\nThe calling of the merchant acquires a new importance in modern times.\nOnce nations were cooped up, each in its own country and language. Then\nwar was the only mediator between them. They met but on the\nbattle-field, or in solemn embassies to treat for peace. Now trade is\nthe mediator. They meet on the exchange. To the merchant, no man who can\ntrade is a foreigner. His wares prove him a citizen. Gold and silver are\ncosmopolitan. Once, in some of the old governments, the magistrates\nswore, \"I will be evil-minded towards the people, and will devise\nagainst them the worst thing I can.\" Now they swear to keep the laws\nwhich the people have made. Once the great question was, How large is\nthe standing army? Now, What is the amount of the national earnings?\nStatesmen ask less about the ships of the line, than about the ships of\ntrade. They fear an over-importation oftener than a war, and settle\ntheir difficulties in gold and silver, not as before with iron. All\nancient states were military; the modern mercantile. War is getting out\nof favor as property increases and men get their eyes open. Once every\nman feared death, captivity, or at least robbery in war; now the worst\nfear is of bankruptcy and pauperism.\n\nThis is a wonderful change. Look at some of the signs thereof. Once\ncastles and forts were the finest buildings; now exchanges, shops,\ncustom-houses, and banks. Once men built a Chinese wall to keep out the\nstrangers--for stranger and foe were the same; now men build railroads\nand steamships to bring them in. England was once a strong-hold of\nrobbers, her four seas but so many castle-moats; now she is a great\nharbor with four ship-channels. Once her chief must be a bold, cunning\nfighter; now a good steward and financier. Not to strike a hard blow,\nbut to make a good bargain is the thing. Formerly the most enterprising\nand hopeful young men sought fame and fortune in deeds of arms; now an\narmy is only a common sewer, and most of those who go to the war, if\nthey never return, \"have left their country for their country's good.\"\nIn days gone by, constructive art could build nothing better than\nhanging gardens, and the pyramids--foolishly sublime; now it makes\ndocks, canals, iron roads and magnetic telegraphs. Saint Louis, in his\nold age, got up a crusade, and saw his soldiers die of the fever at\nTunis; now the King of the French sets up a factory, and will clothe his\npeople in his own cottons and woollens. The old Douglas and Percy were\nclad in iron, and harried the land on both sides of the Tweed; their\ndescendants now are civil-suited men who keep the peace. No girl\ntrembles, though \"All the blue bonnets are over the border.\" The warrior\nhas become a shopkeeper.\n\n    \"Lord Stafford mines for coal and salt;\n    The Duke of Norfolk deals in malt,\n      The Douglas in red herrings;\n    And noble name and cultured land,\n    Palace and park, and vassal band,\n    Are powerless to the notes of hand\n      Of Rothschild or the Barings.\"\n\nOf merchants there are three classes.\n\nI. Merchant-producers, who deal in labor applied to the direct creation\nof new material. They buy labor and land, to sell them in corn, cotton,\ncoal, timber, salt, and iron.\n\nII. Merchant-manufacturers, who deal in labor applied to transforming\nthat material. They buy labor, wool, cotton, silk, water-privileges and\nsteam-power, to sell them all in finished cloth.\n\nIII. Merchant-traders, who simply distribute the article raised or\nmanufactured. These three divisions I shall speak of as one body.\nProperty is accumulated labor; wealth or riches a great deal of\naccumulated labor. As a general rule, merchants are the only men who\nbecome what we call rich. There are exceptions, but they are rare, and\ndo not affect the remarks which are to follow. It is seldom that a man\nbecomes rich by his own labor employed in producing or manufacturing. It\nis only by using other men's labor that any one becomes rich. A man's\nhands will give him sustenance, not affluence. In the present condition\nof society this is unavoidable; I do not say in a normal condition, but\nin the present condition.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHere in America the position of this class is the most powerful and\ncommanding in society. They own most of the property of the nation. The\nwealthy men are of this class; in practical skill, administrative\ntalent, in power to make use of the labor of other men, they surpass all\nothers. Now, wealth is power, and skill is power--both to a degree\nunknown before. This skill and wealth are more powerful with us than any\nother people, for there is no privileged caste, priest, king, or noble,\nto balance against them. The strong hand has given way to the able and\naccomplished head. Once head armor was worn on the outside, and of\nbrass, now it is internal and of brains.\n\nTo this class belongs the power both of skill and of wealth, and all the\nadvantages which they bring. It was never so before in the whole history\nof man. It is more so in the United States than in any other place. I\nknow the high position of the merchants in Venice, Pisa, Florence,\nNuremberg and Basel, in the middle ages and since. Those cities were\ngardens in a wilderness, but a fringe of soldiers hung round their\nturreted walls; the trader was dependent on the fighter, and though\ntheir merchants became princes, they were yet indebted to the sword, and\nnot entirely to their calling, for defence. Their palaces were half\ncastles, and their ships full of armed men. Besides those were little\nStates. Here the merchant's power is wholly in his gold and skill. Rome\nis the city of priests; Vienna for nobles; Berlin for scholars; the\nAmerican cities for merchants. In Italy the roads are poor, the\nbanking-houses humble; the cots of the laborer mean and bare, but\nchurches and palaces are beautiful and rich. God is painted as a pope.\nGenerally in Europe, the clergy, the soldiers, and the nobles are the\ncontrolling class. The finest works of art belong to them, represent\nthem, and have come from the corporation of priests, or the corporation\nof fighters. Here a new era is getting symbolized in our works of art.\nThey are banks, exchanges, custom-houses, factories, railroads. These\ncome of the corporation of merchants; trade is the great thing. Nobody\ntries to secure the favor of the army or navy--but of the merchants.\n\nOnce there was a permanent class of fighters. Their influence was\nsupreme. They had the power of strong arms, of disciplined valor, and\ncarried all before them. They made the law and broke it. Men complained,\ngrumbling in their beard, but got no redress. They it was that possessed\nthe wealth of the land. The producer, the manufacturer, the distributor\ncould not get rich: only the soldier, the armed thief, the robber. With\nwealth they got its power; by practice gained knowledge, and so the\npower thereof; or, when that failed, bought it of the clergy, the only\nclass possessing literary and scientific skill. They made their calling\n\"noble,\" and founded the aristocracy of soldiers. Young men of talent\ntook to arms. Trade was despised and labor was menial. Their science is\nat this day the science of kings. When graziers travel they look at\ncattle; weavers at factories; philanthropists at hospitals; dandies at\ntheir equals and coadjutors; and kings at armies. Those fighters made\nthe world think that soldiers were our first men, and murder of their\nbrothers the noblest craft in the world; the only honorable and manly\ncalling. The butcher of swine and oxen was counted vulgar--the butcher\nof men and women great and honorable. Foolish men of the past think so\nnow; hence their terror at orations against war; hence their admiration\nfor a red coat; their zeal for some symbol of blood in their family\narms; hence their ambition for military titles when abroad. Most foolish\nmen are more proud of their ambiguous Norman ancestor who fought at the\nbattle of Hastings--or fought not--than of all the honest mechanics and\nfarmers who have since ripened on the family tree. The day of the\nsoldiers is well-nigh over. The calling brings low wages and no honor.\nIt opens with us no field for ambition. A passage of arms is a passage\nthat leads to nothing. That class did their duty at that time. They\nfounded the aristocracy of soldiers--their symbol the sword. Mankind\nwould not stop there. Then came a milder age and established the\naristocracy of birth--its symbol the cradle, for the only merit of that\nsort of nobility, and so its only distinction, is to have been born. But\nmankind who stopped not at the sword, delays but little longer at the\ncradle; leaping forward it founds a third order of nobility, the\naristocracy of gold, its symbol the purse. We have got no further on.\nShall we stop there? There comes a to-morrow after every to-day, and no\nchild of time is just like the last. The aristocracy of gold has faults\nenough, no doubt, this feudalism of the nineteenth century. But it is\nthe best thing of its kind we have had yet; the wisest, the most human.\nWe are going forward and not back. God only knows when we shall stop,\nand where. Surely not now, nor here.\n\nNow the merchants in America occupy the place which was once held by the\nfighters and next by the nobles. In our country we have balanced into\nharmony the centripetal power of the government, and the centrifugal\npower of the people: so have national unity of action, and individual\nvariety of action--personal freedom. Therefore a vast amount of talent\nis active here which lies latent in other countries, because that\nharmony is not established there. Here the army and navy offer few\ninducements to able and aspiring young men. They are fled to as the last\nresort of the desperate, or else sought for their traditional glory, not\ntheir present value. In Europe, the army, the navy, the parliament or\nthe court, the church and the learned professions offer brilliant prizes\nto ambitious men. Thither flock the able and the daring. Here such men\ngo into trade. It is better for a man to have set up a mill than to have\nwon a battle. I deny not the exceptions. I speak only of the general\nrule. Commerce and manufactures offer the most brilliant\nrewards--wealth, and all it brings. Accordingly the ablest men go into\nthe class of merchants. The strongest men in Boston, taken as a body,\nare not lawyers, doctors, clergymen, book-wrights, but merchants. I deny\nnot the presence of distinguished ability in each of those professions;\nI am now again only speaking of the general rule. I deny not the\npresence of very weak men, exceedingly weak in this class; their money\ntheir only source of power.\n\nThe merchants then are the prominent class; the most respectable, the\nmost powerful. They know their power, but are not yet fully aware of\ntheir formidable and noble position at the head of the nation. Hence\nthey are often ashamed of their calling; while their calling is the\nsource of their wealth, their knowledge, and their power, and should be\ntheir boast and their glory. You see signs of this ignorance and this\nshame: there must not be shops under your Athenaeum, it would not be in\ngood taste; you may store tobacco, cider, rum, under the churches, out\nof sight, you must have no shop there; it would be vulgar. It is not\nthought needful, perhaps not proper, for the merchant's wife and\ndaughter to understand business, it would not be becoming. Many are\nashamed of their calling, and, becoming rich, paint on the doors of\ntheir coach, and engrave on their seal, some lion, griffin, or unicorn,\nwith partisans and maces to suit; arms they have no right to, perhaps\nhave stolen out of some book of heraldry. No man paints thereon a box of\nsugar, or figs, or candles couchant; a bale of cotton rampant; an axe, a\nlapstone, or a shoe hammer saltant. Yet these would be noble, and\nChristian withal. The fighters gloried in their horrid craft, and so\nmade it pass for noble, but with us a great many men would be thought\n\"the tenth transmitter of a foolish face,\" rather than honest artists of\ntheir own fortune; prouder of being born than of having lived never so\nmanfully.\n\nIn virtue of its strength and position, this class is the controlling\none in politics. It mainly enacts the laws of this State and the nation;\nmakes them serve its turn. Acting consciously or without consciousness,\nit buys up legislators when they are in the market; breeds them when the\nmarket is bare. It can manufacture governors, senators, judges, to suit\nits purposes, as easily as it can make cotton cloth. It pays them money\nand honors; pays them for doing its work, not another's. It is fairly\nand faithfully represented by them. Our popular legislators are made in\nits image; represent its wisdom, foresight, patriotism and conscience.\nYour Congress is its mirror.\n\nThis class is the controlling one in the churches, none the less, for\nwith us fortunately the churches have no existence independent of the\nwealth and knowledge of the people. In the same way it buys up the\nclergymen, hunting them out all over the land; the clergymen who will do\nits work, putting them in comfortable places. It drives off such as\ninterfere with its work, saying, \"Go starve, you and your children!\" It\nraises or manufactures others to suit its taste.\n\nThe merchants build mainly the churches, endow theological schools; they\nfurnish the material sinews of the church. Hence the metropolitan\nchurches are in general as much commercial as the shops.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow from this position, there come certain peculiar temptations. One is\nto an extravagant desire of wealth. They see that money is power, the\nmost condensed and flexible form thereof. It is always ready; it will\nturn any way. They see that it gives advantages to their children which\nnothing else will give. The poor man's son, however well born,\nstruggling for a superior education, obtains his culture at a monstrous\ncost; with the sacrifice of pleasure, comfort, the joys of youth, often\nof eyesight and health. He must do two men's work at once--learn and\nteach at the same time. He learns all by his soul, nothing from his\ncircumstances. If he have not an iron body as well as an iron head, he\ndies in that experiment of the cross. The land is full of poor men who\nhave attained a superior culture, but carry a crippled body through all\ntheir life. The rich man's son needs not that terrible trial. He learns\nfrom his circumstances, not his soul. The air about him contains a\ndiffused element of thought. He learns without knowing it. Colleges open\ntheir doors; accomplished teachers stand ready; science and art, music\nand literature, come at the rich man's call. All the outward means of\neducating, refining, elevating a child, are to be had for money, and for\nmoney alone.\n\nThen, too, wealth gives men a social position, which nothing else save\nthe rarest genius can obtain, and which that, in the majority of cases\nlacking the commercial conscience, is sure not to get. Many men prize\nthis social rank above every thing else, even above justice and a life\nunstained.\n\nSince it thus gives power, culture for one's children, and a\ndistinguished social position, rank amongst men, for the man and his\nchild after him, there is a temptation to regard money as the great\nobject of life, not a means but an end; the thing a man is to get even\nat the risk of getting nothing else. It \"answereth all things.\" Here and\nthere you find a man who has got nothing else. Men say of such an one,\n\"He is worth a million!\" There is a terrible sarcasm in common speech,\nwhich all do not see. He is \"worth a million,\" and that is all; not\nworth truth, goodness, piety; not worth a man. I must say, I cannot but\nthink there are many such amongst us. Most rich men, I am told, have\nmainly gained wealth by skill, foresight, industry, economy, by\nhonorable painstaking, not by trick. It may be so. I hope it is. Still\nthere is a temptation to count wealth the object of life--the thing to\nbe had if they have nothing else.\n\nThe next temptation is to think any means justifiable which lead to that\nend,--the temptation to fraud, deceit, to lying in its various forms,\nactive and passive; the temptation to abuse the power of this natural\nstrength, or acquired position, to tyrannize over the weak, to get and\nnot give an equivalent for what they get. If a man get from the world\nmore than he gives an equivalent for, to that extent he is a beggar and\ngets charity, or a thief and steals; at any rate, the rest of the world\nis so much the poorer for him. The temptation to fraud of this sort, in\nsome of its many forms, is very great. I do not believe that all trade\nmust be gambling or trickery, the merchant a knave or a gambler. I know\nsome men say so. But I do not believe it. I know it is not so now; all\nactual trade, and profitable too, is not knavery. I know some become\nrich by deceit. I cannot but think these are the exceptions; that the\nmost successful have had the average honesty and benevolence, with more\nthan the average industry, foresight, prudence and skill. A man foresees\nfuture wants of his fellows, and provides for them; sees new resources\nhitherto undeveloped, anticipates new habits and wants; turns wood,\nstone, iron, coal, rivers and mountains to human use, and honestly earns\nwhat he takes. I am told, by some of their number, that the merchants of\nthis place rank high as men of integrity and honor, above mean cunning,\nbut enterprising, industrious and far-sighted. In comparison with some\nother places, I suppose it is true. Still I must admit the temptation to\nfraud is a great one; that it is often yielded to. Few go to a great\nextreme of deceit--they are known and exposed: but many to a\nconsiderable degree. He that makes haste to be rich is seldom innocent.\nYoung men say it is hard to be honest; to do by others as you would wish\nthem to do by you. I know it need not be so. Would not a reputation for\nuprightness and truth be a good capital for any man, old or young?\n\nThis class owns the machinery of society, in great measure,--the ships,\nfactories, shops, water privileges, houses and the like. This brings\ninto their employment large masses of working men, with no capital but\nmuscles or skill. The law leaves the employed at the employer's mercy.\nPerhaps this is unavoidable. One wishes to sell his work dear, the other\nto get it cheap as he can. It seems to me no law can regulate this\nmatter, only conscience, reason, the Christianity of the two parties.\nOne class is strong, the other weak. In all encounters of these two, on\nthe field of battle, or in the market-place, we know the result: the\nweaker is driven to the wall. When the earthen and iron vessel strike\ntogether, we know beforehand which will go to pieces. The weaker class\ncan seldom tell their tale, so their story gets often suppressed in the\nworld's literature, and told only in outbreaks and revolutions. Still\nthe bold men who wrote the Bible, Old Testament and New, have told\ntruths on this theme which others dared not tell--terrible words which\nit will take ages of Christianity to expunge from the world's memory.\n\nThere is a strong temptation to use one's power of nature or position to\nthe disadvantage of the weak. This may be done consciously or\nunconsciously. There are examples enough of both. Here the merchant\ndeals in the labor of men. This is a legitimate article of traffic, and\ndealing in it is quite indispensable in the present condition of\naffairs. In the Southern States, the merchant, whether producer,\nmanufacturer or trader, owns men and deals in their labor, or their\nbodies. He uses their labor, giving them just enough of the result of\nthat labor to keep their bodies in the most profitable working state;\nthe rest of that result he steals for his own use, and by that residue\nbecomes rich and famous. He owns their persons and gets their labor by\ndirect violence, though sanctioned by law. That is slavery. He steals\nthe man and his labor. Here it is possible to do a similar thing: I mean\nit is possible to employ men and give them just enough of the result of\ntheir labor to keep up a miserable life, and yourself take all the rest\nof the result of that labor. This may be done consciously or otherwise,\nbut legally, without direct violence, and without owning the person.\nThis is not slavery, though only one remove from it. This is the tyranny\nof the strong over the weak; the feudalism of money; stealing a man's\nwork, and not his person. The merchants as a class are exposed to this\nvery temptation. Sometimes it is yielded to. Some large fortunes have\nbeen made in this way. Let me mention some extreme cases; one from\nabroad, one near at home. In Belgium the average wages of men in\nmanufactories is less than twenty-seven cents a day. The most skilful\nwomen in that calling can earn only twenty cents a day, and many very\nmuch less.[23] In that country almost every seventh man receives charity\nfrom the public: the mortality of operatives, in some of the cities, is\nten per cent. a year! Perhaps that is the worst case which you can find\non a large scale even in Europe. How much better off are many women in\nBoston who gain their bread by the needle? yes a large class of women in\nall our great cities? The ministers of the poor can answer that; your\npolice can tell of the direful crime to which necessity sometimes drives\nwomen whom honest labor cannot feed!\n\nI know it will be said, \"Buy in the cheapest market and sell in the\ndearest; get work at the lowest wages.\" Still there is another view of\nthe case, and I am speaking to men whose professed religion declares\nthat all are brothers, and demands that the strong help the weak.\nOppression of this sort is one fertile source of pauperism and crime.\nHow much there is of it I know not, but I think men seldom cry unless\nthey are hurt. When men are gathered together in large masses, as in the\nmanufacturing towns, if there is any oppression of this sort, it is sure\nto get told of, especially in New England. But when a small number are\nemployed, and they isolated from one another, the case is much harder.\nPerhaps no class of laborers in New England is worse treated than the\nhired help of small proprietors.\n\nThen, too, there is a temptation to abuse their political power to the\ninjury of the nation, to make laws which seem good for themselves, but\nare baneful to the people; to control the churches, so that they shall\nnot dare rebuke the actual sins of the nation, or the sins of trade, and\nso the churches be made apologizers for lowness, practising infidelity\nas their sacrament, but in the name of Christ and God. The ruling power\nin England once published a volume of sermons, as well as a book of\nprayers, which the clergy were commanded to preach. What sort of a\ngospel got recommended therein, you may easily guess; and what is\nrecommended by the class of merchants in New England, you may as easily\nhear.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut if their temptations are great, the opportunities of this class for\ndoing good are greater still. Their power is more readily useful for\ngood than ill, as all power is. In their calling they direct and\ncontrol the machinery, the capital, and thereby the productive labor of\nthe whole community. They can as easily direct that well as ill; for the\nbenefit of all, easier than to the injury of any one. They can discover\nnew sources of wealth for themselves, and so for the nation; they can\nset on foot new enterprises, which shall increase the comfort and\nwelfare of man to a vast degree, and not only that, but enlarge also the\nnumber of men, for that always greatens in a nation, as the means of\nliving are made easy. They can bind the rivers, teaching them to weave\nand spin. The introduction of manufactures into England, and the\napplication of machinery to that purpose, I doubt not has added some\nmillions of new lives to her population in the present century--millions\nthat otherwise would never have lived at all. The introduction of\nmanufactures into the United States, the application of water-power and\nsteam-power to human work, the construction of canals and railroads, has\nvastly increased the comforts of the living. It helps civilize, educate\nand refine men; yes, leads to an increase of the number of lives. There\nare men to whom the public owes a debt which no money could pay, for it\nis a debt of life. What adequate sum of gold, or what honors could\nmankind give to Columbus, to Faustus, to Fulton, for their works? He\nthat did the greatest service ever done to mankind got from his age a\nbad name and a cross for his reward. There are men whom mankind are to\nthank for thousands of lives; yet men who hold no lofty niche in the\ntemple of fame.\n\nBy their control of the Legislature the merchants can fashion more\nwisely the institutions of the land, promote the freedom of all, break\noff traditionary yokes, help forward the public education of the people\nby the establishment of public schools, public academies, and public\ncolleges. They can frame particular statutes which help and encourage\nthe humble and the weak, laws which prevent the causes of poverty and\ncrime, which facilitate for the poor man the acquisition of property,\nenabling him to invest his earnings in the most profitable stocks,--laws\nwhich bless the living, and so increase the number of lives. They can\nthus help organize society after the Christian idea, and promote the\nkingdom of heaven. They can make our jails institutions which really\nrender their inmates better, and send them out whole men, safe and\nsound. We have seen them do this with lunatics, why not with those poor\nwretches whom now we murder? They too can found houses of cure for\ndrunkards, and men yet more unfortunate when released from our prisons.\n\nBy their control of the churches, and all our seminaries, public and\nprivate, they can encourage freedom of thought; can promote the public\nmorals by urging the clergy to point out and rebuke the sins of the\nnation, of society, the actual sins of men now living; can encourage\nthem to separate theology from mythology, religion from theology, and\nthen apply that religion to the State, to society and the individual;\ncan urge them to preach both parts of religion--morality, the love of\nman, and piety, the love of God, setting off both by an appeal to that\ngreat soul who was Christianity in one person. In this way they have an\nopportunity of enlarging tenfold the practical value of the churches,\nand helping weed licentiousness, intemperance, want, and ignorance and\nsin, clean out of man's garden here. With their encouragement, the\nclergy would form a noble army contending for the welfare of men--the\nchurch militant, but preparing to be soon triumphant. Thus laboring,\nthey can put an end to slavery, abolish war, and turn all the nation's\ncreative energies to production--their legitimate work.\n\nThen they can promote the advance of science, of literature, of the\narts--the useful and the beautiful. We see what their famed progenitors\ndid in this way at Venice, Florence, Genoa. I know men say that art\ncannot thrive in a republic. An opportunity is offered now to prove the\nfalsehood of that speech, to adorn our strength with beauty. A great\namount of creative, artistic talent is rising here and seeks employment.\n\nThey can endow hospitals, colleges, normal schools, found libraries and\nestablish lectures for the welfare of all. He that has the wealth of a\nking may spend it like a king, not for ostentation, but for use. They\ncan set before men examples of industry, economy, truth, justice,\nhonesty, charity, of religion at her daily work, of manliness in\nlife--all this as no other men. Their charities need not stare you in\nthe face; like violets their fragrance may reach you before you see\nthem. The bare mention of these things recalls the long list of\nbenefactors, names familiar to you all--for there is one thing which\nthis city was once more famous for than her enterprise, and that is her\nCharity--the charity which flows in public;--the noiseless stream that\nshows itself only in the greener growth which marks its path.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSuch are the position, temptations, opportunities of this class. What is\ntheir practical influence on Church and State--on the economy of\nmankind? what are they doing in the nation? I must judge them by the\nhighest standard that I know, the standard of justice, of absolute\nreligion, not out of my own caprice. Bear with me while I attempt to\ntell the truth, which I have seen. If I see it not, pity me and seek\nbetter instruction where you can find it. But if I see a needed truth,\nand for my own sake refuse to speak, bear with me no more. Bid me then\nrepent. I am speaking of men, strong men too, and shall not spare the\ntruth.\n\nThere is always a conservative element in society; yes, an element\nwhich resists the further application of Christianity to public affairs.\nOnce the fighters and their children were uppermost, and represented\nthat element. Then the merchants were reformatory, radical, in collision\nwith the nobles. They were \"Whigs\"--the nobles were \"Tories.\" The\nmerchants formed themselves into companies, and got power from the crown\nto protect themselves against the nobles, whom the crown also feared. It\nis so in England now. The great revolution in the laws of trade lately\neffected there, was brought about by the merchants, though opposed by\nthe lords. The anti-corn law league was a trades-union of merchants\ncontending against the owners of the soil. There the lord of land, and\nby birth, is slowly giving way to the lord of money, who is powerful by\nhis knowledge or his wealth. There will always be such an element in\nsociety. Here I think it is represented by the merchants. They are\nbackward in all reforms, excepting such as their own interest demands.\nThus they are blind to the evils of slavery, at least silent about them.\nHow few commercial or political newspapers in the land ever seriously\noppose this great national wickedness! Nay, how many of them favor its\nextension and preservation! A few years ago, in this very city, a mob of\nmen, mainly from this class, it is said, insulted honest women peaceably\nmet to consult for the welfare of Christian slaves in a Christian\nland--met to pray for them! A merchant of this city says publicly, that\na large majority of his brethren would kidnap a fugitive slave in\nBoston; says it with no blush and without contradiction.[24] It was men\nof this class who opposed the abolition of the slave-trade, and had it\nguaranteed them for twenty years after the formation of the\nConstitution; through their instigation that this foul blot was left to\ndefile the Republic and gather blackness from age to age; through their\nmeans that the nation stands before the world pledged to maintain it.\nThey could end slavery at once, at least could end the national\nconnection with it, but it is through their support that it continues;\nthat it acquires new strength, new boldness, new territory, darkens the\nnation's fame and hope, delays all other reformations in Church and\nState and the mass of the people. Yes, it is through their influence\nthat the chivalry, the wisdom, patriotism, eloquence, yea, religion of\nthe free States, are all silent when the word slavery is pronounced.\n\nThe Senate of Massachusetts represents this more than any other class.\nBut all last winter it could not say one word against the wickedness of\nthis sin, allowed to live and grow greater in the land.[25] Just before\nthe last election something could be said! Do speech and silence mean\nthe same thing?\n\nThis class opposed abolishing imprisonment for debt, thinking it\nendangered trade. They now oppose the progress of temperance and the\nabolition of the gallows. They see the evils of war; they cannot see its\nsin; will sustain men who help plunge the nation into its present\ndisgraceful and cowardly conflict; will encourage foolish young men to\ngo and fight in this wicked war. A great man said, or is reported to\nhave said, that perhaps it is not an American habit to consider the\nnatural justice of a war, but to count its cost! A terrible saying that!\nThere is a Power which considers its Justice, and will demand of us the\nblood we have wickedly poured out; blood of Americans, blood of the\nMexicans! They favor indirect taxation, which is taxing the poor for\nthe benefit of the rich; they continue to support the causes of poverty;\nas a class they are blind to this great evil of popular ignorance--the\nmore terrible evils of licentiousness, drunkenness and crime! They can\nenrich themselves by demoralizing their brothers. I wish it was an\nAmerican habit to count the cost of that. Some \"fanatic\" will consider\nits justice. If they see these evils they look not for their cause; at\nleast, strive not to remove that cause. They have long known that every\nyear more money is paid in Boston for poison drink to be swallowed on\nthe spot, a drink which does no man any good, which fills your asylums\nwith paupers, your jails with criminals, and houses with unutterable\nmisery in father, mother, wife and child,--more money every year than it\nwould take to build your new aqueduct and bring abundance of water fresh\nto every house![26] If they have not known it, why it was their fault,\nfor the fact was there crying to Heaven against us all. As they are the\nmost powerful class, the elder brothers, American nobles if you will, it\nwas their duty to look out for their weaker brother. No man has strength\nfor himself alone. To use it for one's self alone, that is a sin. I do\nnot think they are conscious of the evil they do, or the evils they\nallow. I speak not of motives, only of facts.\n\nThis class controls the State. The effects of that control appear in our\nlegislation. I know there are some noble men in political life, who have\ngone there with the loftiest motives, men that ask only after what is\nright. I honor such men--honor them all the more because they seem\nexceptions to a general rule; men far above the spirit of any class. I\nmust speak of what commonly takes place. Our politics are chiefly\nmercantile, politics in which money is preferred, and man postponed.\nWhen the two come into collision, the man goes to the wall and the\nstreet is left clear for the dollars. A few years ago in monarchical\nFrance a report was made of the condition of the working population in\nthe large manufacturing towns--a truthful report, but painful to read,\nfor it told of strong men oppressing the weak.[27] I do not believe that\nsuch an undisguised statement of the good and ill could be tolerated in\ndemocratic America; no, not of the condition of men in New England; and\nwhat would be thought of a book setting forth the condition of the\nlaboring men and women of the South? I know very well what is thought of\nthe few men who attempt to tell the truth on this subject. I think there\nis no nation in Europe, except Russia and Turkey, which cares so little\nfor the class which reaps down its harvests and does the hard work.\nWhen you protect the rights of all, you protect also the property of\neach and by that very act. To begin the other way is quite contrary to\nnature. But our politicians cannot say too little for men, nor too much\nfor money. Take the politicians most famous and honored at this day, and\nwhat have they done? They have labored for a tariff, or for free trade;\nbut what have they done for man? nay, what have they attempted?--to\nrestore natural rights to men notoriously deprived of them;\nprogressively to elevate their material, moral, social condition? I\nthink no one pretends it. Even in proclamations for Thanksgiving and\ndays of prayer, it is not the most needy we are bid remember. Public\nsins are not pointed out to be repented of. Slaveholding States shut up\nin their jails our colored seamen soon as they arrive in a southern\nport. A few years ago, at a time of considerable excitement here on the\nslavery question, a petition was sent from this place by some merchants\nand others, to one of our Senators, praying Congress to abate that evil.\nFor a long time that Senator could find no opportunity to present the\npetition. You know how much was said and what was done! Had the South\ndemanded every tenth or twentieth bale of \"domestics\" coming from the\nNorth; had a petition relative to that grievance been sent to Congress,\nand a Senator unreasonably delayed to present it--how much more would\nhave been said and done; when he came back he would have been hustled\nout of Boston! When South Carolina and Louisiana sent home our\nmessengers--driving them off with reproach, insult, and danger of their\nlives--little is said and nothing done. But if the barbarous natives of\nSumatra interfere with our commerce, why, we send a ship and lay their\ntowns in ruins and murder the men and women! We all know that for some\nyears Congress refused to receive petitions relative to slavery; and we\nknow how tamely that was borne by the class who commonly control\npolitical affairs! What if Congress had refused to receive petitions\nrelative to a tariff, or free trade, to the shipping interest, or the\nmanufacturing interest? When the rights of men were concerned, three\nmillion men, only the \"fanatics\" complained. The political newspapers\nsaid \"Hush!\"\n\nThe merchant-manufacturers want a protective tariff; the\nmerchant-importers, free trade; and so the national politics hinge upon\nthat question. When Massachusetts was a carrying State, she wanted free\ntrade; now a manufacturing State, she desires protection. That is all\nnatural enough; men wish to protect their interests, whatsoever they may\nbe. But no talk is made about protecting the labor of the rude man, who\nhas no capital, nor skill, nothing but his natural force of muscles. The\nforeigner underbids him, monopolizing most of the brute labor of our\nlarge towns and internal improvements. There is no protection, no talk\nof protection for the carpenter, or the bricklayer. I do not complain of\nthat. I rejoice to see the poor wretches of the old world finding a home\nwhere our fathers found one before. Yet if we cared for men more than\nfor money, and were consistent with our principles of protection, why,\nwe should exclude all foreign workmen, as well as their work, and so\nraise the wages of the native hands. That would doubtless be very\nfoolish legislation--but perhaps not, on that account, very strange. I\nknow we are told that without protection, our hand-worker, whose capital\nis his skill, cannot compete with the operative of Manchester and\nBrussels, because that operative is paid but little. I know not if it be\ntrue, or a mistake. But who ever told us such men could not compete with\nthe slave of South Carolina who is paid nothing? We have legislation to\nprotect our own capital against foreign capital; perhaps our own labor\nagainst the \"pauper of Europe;\" why not against the slave labor of the\nSouthern States? Because the controlling class prefers money and\npostpones man. Yet the slave-breeder is protected. He has, I think, the\nonly real monopoly in the land. No importer can legally spoil his\nmarket, for the foreign slave is contraband. If I understand the matter,\nthe importation of slaves was allowed, until such men as pleased could\naccumulate their stock. The reason why it was afterwards forbidden I\nthink was chiefly a mercantile reason: the slave-breeder wanted a\nmonopoly, for God knows and you know that it is no worse to steal grown\nmen in Africa than to steal new born babies in Maryland, to have them\nborn for the sake of stealing them. Free labor may be imported, for it\nhelps the merchant-producer and the merchant-manufacturer. Slave labor\nis declared contraband, for the merchant-slave-breeders want a monopoly.\n\nThis same preference of money over men appears in many special statutes.\nIn most of our manufacturing companies the capital is divided into\nshares so large that a poor man cannot invest therein! This could easily\nbe avoided. A man steals a candlestick out of a church, and goes to the\nState Prison for a year and a day. Another quarrels with a man, maims\nhim for life, and is sent to the common jail for six months. A bounty is\npaid, or was until lately, on every gallon of intoxicating drink\nmanufactured here and sent out of the country. If we begin with taking\ncare of the rights of man, it seems easy to take care of the rights of\nlabor and of capital. To begin the other way is quite another thing. A\nnation making laws for the nation is a noble sight. The Government of\nall, by all, and for all, is a democracy. When that Government follows\nthe eternal laws of God, it is founding what Christ called the kingdom\nof heaven. But the predominating class making laws not for the nation's\ngood, but only for its own, is a sad spectacle; no reasoning can make\nit other than a sorry sight. To see able men prostituting their talents\nto such a work, that is one of the saddest sights! I know all other\nnations have set us the example, yet it is painful to see it followed,\nand here.\n\nOur politics, being mainly controlled by this class, are chiefly\nmercantile, the politics of peddlers. So political management often\nbecomes a trick. Hence we have many politicians, and raise a harvest of\nthem every year, that crop never failing, party-men who can legislate\nfor a class; but we have scarce one great statesman who can step before\nhis class, beyond his age, and legislate for a whole nation, leading the\npeople and giving us new ideas to incarnate in the multitude, his word\nbecoming flesh. We have not planters, but trimmers! A great statesman\nnever came of mercantile politics, only of politics considered as the\nnational application of religion to life. Our political morals, you all\nknow what they are, the morals of a huckster. This is no new thing; the\nsame game was played long ago in Venice, Pisa, Florence, and the result\nis well known. A merely mercantile politician is very sharp-sighted and\nperhaps far-sighted, but a dollar will cover the whole field of his\nvision and he can never see through it. The number of slaves in the\nUnited States is considerably greater than our whole population when we\ndeclared Independence, yet how much talk will a tariff make, or a\npublic dinner; how little the welfare of three million men! Said I not\ntruly, our most famous politicians are, in the general way, only\nmercantile party-men? Which of these men has shown the most interest in\nthose three million slaves? The man who in the Senate of a Christian\nRepublic valued them at twelve hundred million dollars! Shall\nrespectable men say, \"We do not care what sort of a Government the\npeople have, so long as we get our dividends.\" Some say so; many men do\nnot say that, but think so and act accordingly! The Government,\ntherefore, must be so arranged that they get their dividends.\n\nThis class of men buys up legislators, consciously or not, and pays\nthem, for value received. Yes, so great is its daring and its conscious\npower, that we have recently seen our most famous politician bought up,\nthe stoutest understanding that one finds now extant in this whole\nnineteenth century, perhaps the ablest head since Napoleon. None can\ndeny his greatness, his public services in times past, nor his awful\npower of intellect. I say we have seen him, a Senator of the United\nStates, pensioned by this class, or a portion thereof, and thereby put\nmainly in their hands! When a whole nation rises up and publicly throws\nits treasures at the feet of a great man who has stood forth manfully\ncontending for the nation, and bids him take their honors and their gold\nas a poor pay for noble works, why that sight is beautiful, the\nmultitude shouting hosanna to their King, and spreading their garments\nunderneath his feet! Man is loyal, and such honors so paid, and to such,\nare doubly gracious; becoming alike to him that takes and those who\ngive. Yes, when a single class, to whom some man has done a great\nservice, goes openly and makes a memorial thereof in gold and honors\npaid to him, why that also is noble and beautiful. But when a single\nclass, in a country where political doings are more public than\nelsewhere in the whole world, secretly buys up a man, in high place and\nworld-famous, giving him a retaining fee for life, why the deed is one I\ndo not wish to call by name! Could such men do this without a secret\nshame? I will never believe it of my countrymen.[28] A gift blinds a\nwise man's eyes, perverts the words even of the righteous, stopping his\nmouth with gold so that he cannot reprove a wrong! But there is an\nabsolute justice which is neither bought nor sold! I know other nations\nhave done the same and with like effect. Fight with silver weapons, said\nthe Delphic oracle, and you'll conquer all. It has always been the craft\nof despots to buy up aspiring talent; some with a title; some with gold.\nAllegiance to the sovereign is the same thing on both sides of the\nwater, whether the sovereign be an eagle or a guinea. Some American, it\nis said, wrote the Lord's Prayer on one side of a dime, and the Ten\nCommandments on the other. The Constitution and a considerable\ncommentary might perhaps be written on the two sides of a dollar!\n\nThis class controls the Churches, as the State. Let me show the effect\nof that control. I am not to try men in a narrow way, by my own\ntheological standard, but by the standard of manliness and Christianity.\nAs a general rule, the clergy are on the side of power. All history\nproves this, our own most abundantly. The clergy also are unconsciously\nbought up, their speech paid for, or their silence. As a class, did they\never denounce a public sin? a popular sin? Perhaps they have. Do they do\nit now and here? Take Boston for the last ten years, and I think there\nhas been more clerical preaching against the abolitionists than against\nslavery; perhaps more preaching against the temperance movement than in\nits favor. With the exception of disbelieving the popular theology, your\nevangelical alliance knows no sin but \"original sin,\" unless indeed it\nbe \"organic sins,\" which no one is to blame for; no sinner but Adam and\nthe devil; no saving righteousness but the \"imputed.\" I know there are\nexceptions, and I would go far to do them honor, pious men who lift up a\nwarning, yes, bear Christian testimony against public sins. I am\nspeaking of the mass of the clergy. Christ said the priests of his time\nhad made a den of thieves out of God's house of prayer. Now they conform\nto the public sins and apologize for popular crime. It is a good thing\nto forgive an offence: who does not need that favor and often? But to\nforgive the theory of crime, to have a theory which does that, is quite\nanother thing. Large cities are alike the court and camp of the\nmercantile class, and what I have just said is more eminently true of\nthe clergy in such towns. Let me give an example. Not long ago the\nUnitarian clergy published a protest against American slavery. It was\nmoderate, but firm, and manly. Almost all the clergy in the country\nsigned it. In the large towns few: they mainly young men and in the\nleast considerable churches. The young men seemed not to understand\ntheir contract, for the essential part of an ecclesiastical contract is\nsometimes written between the lines and in sympathetic ink. Is a\nsteamboat burned or lost on the waters, how many preach on that\naffliction! Yet how few preached against the war? A preacher may say he\nhates it as a man, no words could describe his loathing at it, but as a\nminister of Christ, he dares not say a word! What clergymen tell of the\nsins of Boston,--of intemperance, licentiousness; who of the ignorance\nof the people; who of them lays bare our public sin as Christ of old;\nwho tells the causes of poverty, and thousand-handed crime; who aims to\napply Christianity to business, to legislation, politics, to all the\nnation's life? Once the church was the bride of Christ, living by his\ncreative, animating love; her children were apostles, prophets, men by\nthe same spirit, variously inspired with power to heal, to help, to\nguide mankind. Now she seems the widow of Christ, poorly living on the\ndower of other times. Nay, the Christ is not dead, and 'tis her alimony,\nnot her dower. Her children--no such heroic sons gather about her table\nas before. In her dotage she blindly shoves them off, not counting men\nas sons of Christ. Is her day gone by? The clergy answer the end they\nwere bred for, paid for. Will they say, \"We should lose our influence\nwere we to tell of this and do these things?\"[29] It is not true. Their\nancient influence is already gone! Who asks, \"What do the clergy think\nof the tariff, or free trade, of annexation, or the war, of slavery, or\nthe education movement?\" Why no man. It is sad to say these things.\nWould God they were not true. Look round you, and if you can, come tell\nme they are false.\n\nWe are not singular in this. In all lands the clergy favors the\ncontrolling class. Bossuet would make the monarchy swallow up all other\ninstitutions, as in history he sacrificed all nations to the Jews. In\nEngland the established clergy favors the nobility, the crown, not the\npeople; opposes all freedom of trade, all freedom in religion, all\ngenerous education of the people: its gospel is the gospel for a class,\nnot Christ's gospel for mankind. Here also the sovereign is the head of\nthe church, it favors the prevailing power, represents the morality, the\npiety which chances to be popular, nor less nor more; the Christianity\nof the street, not of Christ.\n\nHere trade takes the place of the army, navy, and court in other lands.\nThat is well, but it takes also the place in great measure of science,\nart and literature. So we become vulgar, and have little but trade to\nshow. The rich man's son seldom devotes himself to literature, science,\nor art; only to getting more money, or to living in idleness on what he\nhas inherited. When money is the end, what need to look for any thing\nmore? He degenerates into the class of consumers, and thinks it an\nhonor. He is ashamed of his father's blood, proud of his gold. A good\ndeal of scientific labor meets with no reward, but itself. In our\ncountry this falls almost wholly upon poor men. Literature, science and\nart are mainly in their hands, yet are controlled by the prevalent\nspirit of the nation. Here and there an exceptional man differs from\nthat, but the mass of writers conform. In England, the national\nliterature favors the church, the crown, the nobility, the prevailing\nclass. Another literature is rising, but is not yet national, still less\ncanonized. We have no American literature which is permanent. Our\nscholarly books are only an imitation of a foreign type; they do not\nreflect our morals, manners, politics, or religion, not even our rivers,\nmountains, sky. They have not the smell of our ground in their breath.\nThe real American literature is found only in newspapers and speeches,\nperhaps in some novel, hot, passionate, but poor, and extemporaneous.\nThat is our national literature. Does that favor man--represent man?\nCertainly not. All is the reflection of this most powerful class. The\ntruths that are told are for them, and the lies. Therein the prevailing\nsentiment is getting into the form of thought. Politics represent the\nmorals of the controlling class, the morals and manners of rich Peter\nand David on a large scale. Look at that index, you would sometimes\nthink you were not in the Senate of a great nation, but in a board of\nbrokers, angry and higgling about stocks. Once in the nation's loftiest\nhour, she rose inspired and said: \"All men are born equal, each with\nunalienable rights; that is self-evident.\" Now she repents her of the\nvision and the saying. It does not appear in her literature, nor church,\nnor state. Instead of that, through this controlling class, the nation\nsays: \"All dollars are equal, however got; each has unalienable rights.\nLet no man question that!\" This appears in literature and legislation,\nchurch and state. The morals of a nation, of its controlling class,\nalways get summed up in its political action. That is the barometer of\nthe moral weather. The voters are always fairly represented.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe wicked baron, bad of heart, and bloody of hand, has passed off with\nthe ages which gave birth to such a brood, but the bad merchant still\nlives. He cheats in his trade; sometimes against the law, commonly with\nit. His truth is never wholly true, nor his lie wholly false. He\noverreaches the ignorant; makes hard bargains with men in their trouble,\nfor he knows that a falling man will catch at red-hot iron. He takes the\npound of flesh, though that bring away all the life-blood with it. He\nloves private contracts, digging through walls in secret. No interest is\nillegal if he can get it. He cheats the nation with false invoices, and\nswears lies at the custom-house; will not pay his taxes, but moves out\nof town on the last of April.[30] He oppresses the men who sail his\nships, forcing them to be temperate, only that he may consume the value\nof their drink. He provides for them unsuitable bread and meat. He would\nnot engage in the African slave-trade, for he might lose his ships and\nperhaps more; but he is always ready to engage in the American\nslave-trade, and calls you a \"fanatic\" if you tell him it is the worse\nof the two. He cares not whether he sells cotton or the man who wears\nit, if he only gets the money; cotton or negro, it is the same to him.\nHe would not keep a drink-hole in Ann Street, only own and rent it. He\nwill bring or make whole cargoes of the poison that deals \"damnation\nround the land.\" He thinks it vulgar to carry rum about in a jug,\nrespectable in a ship. He makes paupers, and leaves others to support\nthem. Tell not him of the misery of the poor, he knows better; nor of\nour paltry way of dealing with public crime, he wants more jails and a\nspeedier gallows. You see his character in letting his houses, his\nhouses for the poor. He is a stone in the lame man's shoe. He is the\npoor man's devil. The Hebrew devil that so worried Job is gone; so is\nthe brutal devil that awed our fathers. Nobody fears them; they vanish\nbefore cock-crowing. But this devil of the nineteenth century is still\nextant. He has gone into trade, and advertises in the papers; his name\nis \"good\" in the street. He \"makes money;\" the world is poorer by his\nwealth. He spends it as he made it, like a devil, on himself, his family\nalone, or worse yet, for show. He can build a church out of his gains,\nto have his morality, his Christianity preached in it, and call that the\ngospel, as Aaron called a calf--God. He sends rum and missionaries to\nthe same barbarians, the one to damn, the other to \"save,\" both for his\nown advantage, for his patron saint is Judas, the first saint who made\nmoney out of Christ. Ask not him to do a good deed in private, \"men\nwould not know it,\" and \"the example would be lost;\" so he never lets a\ndollar slip out between his thumb and finger without leaving his mark on\nboth sides of it. He is not forecasting to discern effects in causes,\nnor skilful to create new wealth, only spry in the scramble for what\nothers have made. It is easy to make a bargain with him, hard to settle.\nIn politics he wants a Government that will insure his dividends; so\nasks what is good for him, but ill for the rest. He knows no right, only\npower; no man but self; no God but his calf of gold.\n\nWhat effect has he on young men? They had better touch poison. If he\ntakes you to his heart, he takes you in. What influence on society? To\ntaint and corrupt it all round. He contaminates trade; corrupts\npolitics, making abusive laws, not asking for justice but only\ndividends. To the church he is the Anti-Christ. Yes, the very Devil,\nand frightens the poor minister into shameful silence, or, more\nshameless yet, into an apology for crime; makes him pardon the theory of\ncrime! Let us look on that monster--look and pass by, not without\nprayer.\n\nThe good merchant tells the truth and thrives by that; is upright and\ndownright; his word good as his Bible-oath. He pays for all he takes;\nthough never so rich he owns no wicked dollar; all is openly, honestly,\nmanfully earned, and a full equivalent paid for it. He owns money and is\nworth a man. He is just in business with the strong; charitable in\ndealing with the weak. His counting-room or his shop is the sanctuary of\nfairness, justice, a school of uprightness as well as thrift. Industry\nand honor go hand in hand with him. He gets rich by industry and\nforecast, not by slight of hand and shuffling his cards to another's\nloss. No men become the poorer because he is rich. He would sooner hurt\nhimself than wrong another, for he is a man, not a fox. He entraps no\nman with lies, active or passive. His honesty is better capital than a\nsharper's cunning. Yet he makes no more talk about justice and honesty\nthan the sun talks of light and heat; they do their own talking. His\nprofession of religion is all practice. He knows that a good man is just\nas near heaven in his shop as in his church, at work as at prayer; so he\nmakes all work sacramental; he communes with God and man in buying and\nselling--communion in both kinds. He consecrates his week-day and his\nwork. Christianity appears more divine in this man's deeds than in the\nholiest words of apostle or saint. He treats every man as he wishes all\nto treat him, and thinks no more of that than of carrying one for every\nten. It is the rule of his arithmetic. You know this man is a saint, not\nby his creed, but by the letting of his houses, his treatment of all\nthat depend on him. He is a father to defend the weak, not a pirate to\nrob them. He looks out for the welfare of all that he employs; if they\nare his help he is theirs, and as he is the strongest so the greater\nhelp. His private prayer appears in his public work, for in his devotion\nhe does not apologize for his sin, but asking to outgrow that,\nchallenges himself to new worship and more piety. He sets on foot new\nenterprises which develop the nation's wealth and help others while they\nhelp him. He wants laws that take care of man's rights, knowing that\nthen he can take care of himself and of his own, but hurt no man by so\ndoing. He asks laws for the weak, not against them. He would not take\nvengeance on the wicked, but correct them. His justice tastes of\ncharity. He tries to remove the causes of poverty, licentiousness, of\nall crime, and thinks that is alike the duty of Church and State. Ask\nnot him to make a statesman a party-man, or the churches an apology for\nhis lowness. He knows better; he calls that infidelity. He helps the\nweak help themselves. He is a moral educator, a church of Christ gone\ninto business, a saint in trade. The Catholic saint who stood on a\npillar's top, or shut himself into a den and fed on grass, is gone to\nhis place--that Christian Nebuchadnezzar. He got fame in his day. No man\nhonors him now; nobody even imitates him. But the saint of the\nnineteenth century is the good merchant; he is wisdom for the foolish,\nstrength for the weak, warning to the wicked, and a blessing to all.\nBuild him a shrine in bank and church, in the market and the exchange,\nor build it not, no saint stands higher than this saint of trade. There\nare such men, rich and poor, young and old; such men in Boston. I have\nknown more than one such, and far greater and better than I have told\nof, for I purposely under-color this poor sketch. They need no word of\nmine for encouragement or sympathy. Have they not Christ and God to aid\nand bless them? Would that some word of mine might stir the heart of\nothers to be such; your hearts, young men. They rise there clean amid\nthe dust of commerce and the mechanic's busy life, and stand there like\ngreat square pyramids in the desert amongst the Arabians' shifting\ntents. Look at them, ye young men, and be healed of your folly. It is\nnot the calling which corrupts the man, but the men the calling. The\nmost experienced will tell you so. I know it demands manliness to make a\nman, but God sent you here to do that work.\n\nThe duty of this class is quite plain. They control the wealth, the\nphysical strength, the intellectual vigor of the nation. They now\ndisplay an energy new and startling. No ocean is safe from their canvas;\nthey fill the valleys; they level the hills; they chain the rivers; they\nurge the willing soil to double harvests. Nature opens all her stores to\nthem; like the fabled dust of Egypt her fertile bosom teems with new\nwonders, new forces to toil for man. No race of men in times of peace\never displayed so manly an enterprise, an energy so vigorous as this\nclass here in America. Nothing seems impossible to them. The instinct of\nproduction was never so strong and creative before. They are proving\nthat peace can stimulate more than war.\n\nWould that my words could reach all of this class. Think not I love to\nspeak hard words, and so often; say not that I am setting the poor\nagainst the rich. It is no such thing. I am trying to set the strong in\nfavor of the weak. I speak for man. Are you not all brothers, rich or\npoor? I am here to gratify no vulgar ambition, but in Religion's name to\ntell their duty to the most powerful class in all this land. I must\nspeak the truth I know, though I may recoil with trembling at the words\nI speak; yes, though their flame should scorch my own lips. Some of the\nevils I complain of are your misfortune, not your fault. Perhaps the\nbest hearts in the land, no less than the ablest heads, are yours. If\nthe evils be done unconsciously, then it will be greatness to be higher\nthan society, and with your good overcome its evil. All men see your\nenergy, your honor, your disciplined intellect. Let them see your\ngoodness, justice, Christianity. The age demands of you a development of\nreligion proportionate with the vigor of your mind and arms. Trade is\nsilently making a wonderful revolution. We live in the midst of it, and\ntherefore see it not. All property has become movable, and therefore\npower departs from the family of the first-born, and comes to the family\nof mankind. God only controls this revolution, but you can help it\nforward, or retard it. The freedom of labor, and the freedom of trade,\nwill work wonders little dreamed of yet; one is now uniting all men of\nthe same nation; the other, some day, will weave all tribes together\ninto one mighty family. Then who shall dare break its peace? I cannot\nnow stop to tell half the proud achievements I foresee resulting from\nthe fierce energy that animates your yet unconscious hearts. Men live\nfaster than ever before. Life, like money, like mechanical power, is\ngetting intensified and condensed. The application of science to the\narts, the use of wind, water, steam, electricity, for human works, is a\nwonderful fact, far greater than the fables of old time. The modern\nCadmus has yoked fire and water in an iron bond. The new Prometheus\nsends the fire of heaven from town to town to run his errands. We talk\nby lightning. Even now these new achievements have greatly multiplied\nthe powers of men. They belong to no class; like air and water they are\nthe property of mankind. It is for you, who own the machinery of\nsociety, to see that no class appropriates to itself what God meant for\nall. Remember it is as easy to tyrannize by machinery as by armies, and\nas wicked; that it is greater now to bless mankind thereby, than it was\nof old to conquer new realms. Let men not curse you, as the old\nnobility, and shake you off, smeared with blood and dust. Turn your\npower to goodness, its natural transfiguration, and men shall bless your\nname, and God bless your soul. If you control the nation's politics,\nthen it is your duty to legislate for the nation,--for man. You may\ndevelop the great national idea, the equality of all men; may frame a\ngovernment which shall secure man's unalienable rights. It is for you to\norganize the rights of man, thus balancing into harmony the man and the\nmany, to organize the rights of the hand, the head, and the heart. If\nthis be not done, the fault is yours. If the nation play the tyrant over\nher weakest child, if she plunder and rob the feeble Indian, the feebler\nMexican, the Negro, feebler yet, why the blame is yours. Remember there\nis a God who deals justly with strong and weak. The poor and the weak\nhave loitered behind in the march of man; our cities yet swarm with men\nhalf-savage. It is for you, ye elder brothers, to lead forth the weak\nand poor! If you do the national duty that devolves on you, then are you\nthe saviors of your country, and shall bless not that alone, but all the\nthousand million sons of men. Toil then for that. If the church is in\nyour hands, then make it preach the Christian truth. Let it help the\nfree development of religion in the self-consciousness of man, with\nJesus for its pattern. It is for you to watch over this work, promote\nit, not retard. Help build the American church. The Roman church has\nbeen, we know what it was, and what men it bore; the English church yet\nstands, we know what it is. But the church of America--which shall\nrepresent American vigor aspiring to realize the ideas of Christianity,\nof absolute religion,--that is not yet. No man has come with pious\ngenius fit to conceive its litany, to chant its mighty creed, and sing\nits beauteous psalm. The church of America, the church of freedom, of\nabsolute religion, the church of mankind, where Truth, Goodness, Piety,\nform one trinity of beauty, strength, and grace--when shall it come?\nSoon as we will. It is yours to help it come.\n\nFor these great works you may labor; yes, you are laboring, when you\nhelp forward justice, industry, when you promote the education of the\npeople; when you practise, public and private, the virtues of a\nChristian man; when you hinder these seemingly little things, you hinder\nalso the great. You are the nation's head, and if the head be wilful\nand wicked, what shall its members do and be? To this class let me say:\nRemember your Position at the head of the nation; use it not as pirates,\nbut Americans, Christians, men. Remember your Temptations, and be warned\nin time. Remember your opportunities--such as no men ever had before.\nGod and man alike call on you to do your duty. Elevate your calling\nstill more; let its nobleness appear in you. Scorn a mean thing. Give\nthe world more than you take. You are to serve the nation, not it you;\nto build the church, not make it a den of thieves, nor allow it to\napologize for your crime, or sloth. Try this experiment and see what\ncomes of it. In all things govern yourselves by the eternal law of\nright. You shall build up not a military despotism, nor a mercantile\noligarchy, but a State, where the government is of all, by all, and for\nall; you shall found not a feudal theocracy, nor a beggarly sect, but\nthe church of mankind, and that Christ which is the same yesterday,\nto-day and for ever, will dwell in it, to guide, to warn, to inspire,\nand to bless all men. And you, my brothers, what shall you become? Not\nknaves, higgling rather than earn; not tyrants, to be feared whilst\nliving, and buried at last amid popular hate; but men, who thrive best\nby justice, reason, conscience, and have now the blessedness of just men\nmaking themselves perfect.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[23] I gather these facts from a Review of Major Poussin's _Belgique et\nles Belges, depuis 1830_, in a foreign journal. The condition of the\nmerchant manufacturer I know not.\n\n[24] Subsequent events (in 1850 and 1851) show that he was right in his\nstatement. What was thought calumny then has become history since, and\nis now the glory and boast of Boston.\n\n[25] Mr. _Robert J. Walker_ published a letter in favor of the\nannexation of Texas. In it he said: \"Upon the refusal of re-annexation\n... THE TARIFF AS A PRACTICAL MEASURE FALLS WHOLLY AND FOR EVER, and we\nshall thereafter be compelled to resort to direct taxes to support the\nGovernment.\" Notwithstanding this foolish threat, a large number of\ncitizens of Massachusetts remonstrated against annexation. The House of\nRepresentatives, by a large majority, passed a resolve declaring that\nMassachusetts \"announces her uncompromising opposition to the further\nextension of American slavery,\" and \"declares her earnest and\nunalterable purpose to use every lawful and constitutional measure for\nits overthrow and entire extinction,\" etc. But the Senate voted that the\nresistance of the State was already sufficient! The passage in the text\nrefers to these circumstances.\n\n[26] It was then thought that the aqueduct would cost but $2,000,000.\n\n[27] I refer to the Report of M. Villerme, in the _Memoires de\nl'Institut, Tom._ lxxi.\n\n[28] This was printed in 1846. In 1850, and since, these men have\npublicly gloried in a similar act even more atrocious.\n\n[29] Keble, in one of his poems, represents a mother seeing her sportive\nson \"enacting holy rites,\" and thus describes her emotions:\n\n    \"She sees in heart an empty throne,\n      And falling, falling far away,\n    Him whom the Lord hath placed thereon:\n      She hears the dread Proclaimer say,\n    'Cast ye the lot, in trembling cast,\n    The traitor to his place hath past,--\n    Strive ye with prayer and fast to guide\n    The dangerous glory where it shall abide.'\"\n\n\n[30] It is the custom in Massachusetts to tax men in the place where\nthey reside, on the first day of May; as the taxes differ very much in\ndifferent towns of the same State, it is easy for a man to escape the\nburden of taxation.\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\nA SERMON OF THE DANGEROUS CLASSES IN SOCIETY.--PREACHED AT THE MELODEON,\nON SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 1847.\n\nMATTHEW XVIII. 12.\n\n    If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone\n    astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into\n    the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?\n\n\nWe are first babies, then children, then youths, then men. It is so with\nthe nation; so with mankind. The human race started with no culture, no\nreligion, no morals, even no manners, having only desires and faculties\nwithin, and the world without. Now we have attained much more. But it\nhas taken many centuries for mankind to pass from primeval barbarism to\nthe present stage of comfort, science, civilization, and refinement. It\nhas been the work of two hundred generations; perhaps of more. But each\nnew child is born at the foot of the ladder, as much as the first child;\nwith only desires and faculties. He may have a better physical\norganization than the first child; he certainly has better teachers;\nbut he, in like manner, is born with no culture, no religion, no morals,\neven with no manners; born into them, not with them; born bare of these\nthings and naked as the first child. He must himself toil up the ladder\nwhich mankind have been so long in constructing and climbing up. To\nattain the present civilization he must pass over every point which the\nrace passed through. The child of the civilized man, born with a good\norganization and under favorable circumstances, can do this rapidly, and\nin thirty or forty years attains the height of development which it took\nthe whole human race sixty centuries or more to arrive at. He has the\naid of past experience and the examples of noble men; he travels a road\nalready smooth and beaten. The world's cultivation, so slowly and\npainfully achieved, helps civilize him. He may then go further on, and\ncultivate himself; may transcend the development of mankind, adding new\nrounds to the ladder. So doing he aids future children, who will one day\nclimb above his head, he possibly crying against them,--that they climb\nonly to fall, and thereby sweep off him and all below; that no new\nrounds can be added to the old ladder.\n\nStill, after all the helps which our fathers have provided, every future\nchild must go through the same points which we and our predecessors\npassed through, only more swiftly. Every boy has his animal period,\nwhen he can only eat and sleep, intelligence slowly dawning on his mind.\nThen comes his savage period, when he knows nothing of rights, when all\nthine is mine to him, if he can get it. Then comes his barbarous period,\nwhen he is ignorant and dislikes to learn; study and restraint are\nirksome. He hates the school, disobeys his mother; has reverence for\nnobody. Nothing is sacred to him--no time, nor place, nor person. He\nwould grow up wild. The greater part of children travel beyond this\nstage. The unbearable boy becomes a tolerable youth; then a powerful\nman. He loves his duty; outstrips the men that once led him so unwilling\nand reluctant, and will set hard lessons for his grandsire which that\ngrandsire, perhaps, will not learn. The young learns of the old, mounts\nthe ladder they mounted and the ladder they made. The reverse is seldom\ntrue, that the old climbs the ladder which the young have made, and over\nthat storms new heights. Now and then you see it, but such are\nextraordinary and marvellous men. In the old story Saturn did not take\npains to understand his children, nor learn thereof; he only devoured\nthem up, till some outgrew and overmastered him. Did the generation that\nis passing from the stage ever comprehend and fairly judge the new\ngeneration coming on? In the world, the barbarian passes on and becomes\nthe civilized, then the enlightened.\n\nIn the physical process of growth from the baby to the man, there is no\ndirect intervention of the will. Therefore the process goes on\nregularly, and we do not see abortive men who have advanced in years,\nbut stopped growth in their babyhood, or boyhood. But as the will is the\nsoul of personality, so to say, the heart of intellect, morals and\nreligion, so the force thereof may promote, retard, disturb, and perhaps\nfor a time completely arrest the progress of intellectual, moral and\nreligious growth. Still more, this spiritual development of men is\nhindered or promoted by subtle causes hitherto little appreciated.\nHence, by reason of these outward or internal hinderances, you find\npersons and classes of men who do not attain the average culture of\nmankind, but stop at some lower stage of this spiritual development, or\nelse loiter behind the rest. You even find whole nations whose progress\nis so slow, that they need the continual aid of the more civilized to\nquicken their growth. Outward circumstances have a powerful influence on\nthis development. If a single class in a nation lingers behind the rest,\nthe cause thereof will commonly be found in some outward hinderance.\nThey move in a resisting medium, and therefore with abated speed. No one\nexpects the same progress from a Russian serf and a free man of New\nEngland. I do not deny that in the case of some men personal will is\ndoubtless the disturbing force. I am not now to go beyond that fact, and\ninquire how the will became as it is. Here is a man who, from whatever\ncause, is bodily ill-born, with defective organs. He stops in the animal\nperiod; is incapable of any considerable degree of development,\nintellectual, moral, or religious. The defect is in his body. Others\ndisturbed by more occult causes do not attain their proper growth. This\nman wishes to stop in his savage period, he would be a freebooter, a\nprivateer against society, having universal letters-of-marque and\nreprisal; a perpetual Arab, his rule is to get what he can, as he will\nand where he pleases, to keep what he gets. Another stops at the\nbarbarous age. He is lazy and will not work, others must bear his share\nof the general burden of mankind. He claims letters patent to make all\nmen serve him. He is not only indolent, constitutionally lazy, but lazy,\nconsciously and wilfully idle. He will not work, but in one form or\nanother will beg or steal. Yet a fourth stops in the half-civilized\nperiod. He will work with his hands, but no more. He cannot discover; he\nwill not study to learn; he will not even be taught what has been\ninvented and taught before. None can teach him. The horse is led to the\nwater, or the water brought to the horse, but the beast will not drink.\n\"The idle fool is whipt at school,\" but to no purpose. He is always an\noaf. No college or tutor mends him. The wild ass will go out free, wild,\nand an ass.\n\nThese four, the idiot, the pirate, the thief, and the clown are\nexceptional men. They remain stationary. Meanwhile, mankind advances,\ncontinually, but not with an even front. The human race moves not by\ncolumn or line, but by _echelon_ as it were. We go up by stairs, not by\nslopes. Now comes a great man, of far-reaching and prospective sight, a\nMoses, and he tells men that there is a land of promise, which they have\na right to who have skill to win it. Then lesser men, the Calebs and\nJoshuas, go and search it out, bringing back therefrom new wine in the\ncluster and alluring tales. Next troops of pioneers advance, yet lesser\nmen; then a few bold men who love adventure. Then comes the army, the\npeople with their flocks and herds, the priesthood with their ark of the\ncovenant and the tabernacle, the title-deeds of the new lands which they\nhave heard of but not seen. At last there comes the mixed multitude,\nfollowing in no order, but not without shouting and tumult, men treading\none another under foot, cowards looking back and refusing to march, old\nmen dying without seeing their consolation. If you will lie down on the\nground and take the profile of a great city, and see how hill, steeple,\ndome, tower, the roof of the tall house, gain on the sky, and then come\nwhole streets of warehouses and shops, then common dwellings, then\ncheap, low tenements, you will have a good profile of man's march to\ngain new conquests in science, art, morals, religion, and general\ndevelopment. It is so in the family, a bright boy shooting before all\nthe rest, and taking the thunder out of the adverse cloud for his\nbrothers and sisters, who follow and grow rich with unscathed forehead.\nIt is so in the nation, a few great men bearing the brunt of the storm,\nand wading through the surges to set their weaker brothers, screaming\nand struggling, with dry feet, in safety, on the firm land of science or\nreligion. It is so in the world, a tall nation achieving art, science,\nlaw, morals, religion, and by the fact revealing their beauty to the\nbarbarian race.\n\nIn all departments of human concern there are such pioneers for the\nfamily, the nation or mankind. It is instructive to study this law of\nhuman progress, to see the De Gamas and Columbuses, aspiring men who\ndream of worlds to come and lead the perilous van; to see the Vespuccis,\nthe Cortezes, the Pizarros, who get rank and fame by following in their\ntrack; to see next the merchant adventurers, soldiers, sutlers and the\nlike, who make money out of the new conquest, while the great\ndiscoverers had for meet reward the joy of their genius, the nobleness\nof their work, a sight of the world's future welfare from the prophet's\nmountain--a hard life, a bad name, and a grave unknown.\n\nNow while there are those men in the van of society, who aspire at more,\nchiding and taxing mankind with idleness, cowardice, and even sin, there\nare yet those others who loiter on the way, from weakness or wilfulness,\nrefusing to advance--idlers, cowards, sinners. If born in the rear,\nafar from civilization, they are left to die--the savages, the inferior\nraces, the perishing classes of the world. If born in the centre of\ncivilization, for a while they impede the march by actively hindering\nothers, by standing in their way, or by plundering the rest--the\ndangerous classes of society. They too are slain and trodden under foot\nof men, and likewise perish.\n\nIn most large families there is a bad boy, a black sheep in the flock,\nan Ishmael whom Abraham will drive out into the wilderness, to meet an\nangel if he can find one. That story of Hagar and her son is very old,\nbut verified anew each year in families and nations. So in society there\nare criminals who do not keep up with the moral advance of the mass,\nstragglers from the march, whom society treats as Abraham his base-born\nboy, but sending them off with no loaf or skin of water, not even a\nblessing, but a curse; sending them off as Cain went, with a bad name\nand a mark on their forehead! So in the world there are inferior\nnations, savage, barbarous, half-civilized; some are inferior in nature,\nsome perhaps only behind us in development; on a lower form in the great\nschool of Providence--Negroes, Indians, Mexicans, Irish, and the like,\nwhom the world treats as Ishmael and the Gibeonites got treated: now\ntheir land is stolen from them in war; their children, or their persons,\nare annexed to the strong as slaves. The civilized continually preys on\nthe savage, reannexing their territory and stealing their\npersons--owning them or claiming their work. Esau is rough and hungry,\nJacob smooth and well fed. The smooth man overreaches the rough; buys\nhis birthright for a mess of pottage; takes the ground from underneath\nhis feet, thereby supplanting his brother. So the elder serves the\nyounger, and the fresh civilization, strong, and sometimes it may be\nwicked also, overmasters the ruder age that is contented to stop. The\nyoung man now a barbarian will come up one day and take all our places,\nmaking us seem ridiculous, nothing but timid conservatives!\n\nAll these three, the reputed pests of the family, society, and the\nworld, are but loiterers from the march, bad boys, or dull ones.\nCriminals are a class of such; savages are nations thereof--classes or\nnations that for some cause do not keep up with the movement of mankind.\nThe same human nature is in us all, only there it is not so highly\ndeveloped. Yet the bad boy, who to-day is a curse to the mother that\nbore him, would perhaps have been accounted brave and good in the days\nof the Conqueror; the dangerous class might have fought in the Crusades\nand been reckoned soldiers of the Lord whose chance for heaven was most\nauspicious. The savage nations would have been thought civilized in the\ndays when \"there was no smith in Israel.\" David would make a sorry\nfigure among the present kings of Europe, and Abraham would be judged\nof by a standard not known in his time. There have been many centuries\nin which the pirate, the land-robber and the murderer were thought the\ngreatest of men.\n\nNow it becomes a serious question, What shall be done for these\nstragglers, or even with them? It is sometimes a terrible question to\nthe father and mother what they shall do for their reprobate son who is\nan offence to the neighborhood, a shame, a reproach and a heart-burning\nto them. It is a sad question to society, What shall be done with the\ncriminals--thieves, housebreakers, pirates, murderers? It is a serious\nquestion to the world, What is to become of the humbler nations--Irish,\nMexicans, Malays, Indians, Negroes?\n\nIn the world and in society the question is answered in about the same\nway. In a low civilization, the instinct of self-preservation is the\nstrongest of all. They are done with, not for; are done away with. It is\nthe Old Testament answer:--The inferior nation is hewn to pieces, the\nstrong possess their lands, their cities, their cattle, their persons,\nalso, if they will; the class of criminals gets the prophet's curse: the\ntwo bears, the jail and the gallows, eat them up. In the family alone is\nthe Christian answer given; the good shepherd goes forth to seek the one\nsheep that has strayed and gone, lost upon the mountains; the father\ngoes out after the poor prodigal, whom the swine's meat could not feed\nnor fill.[31] The world, which is the society of nations, and society,\nwhich is the family of classes, still belong mainly to the \"old\ndispensation,\" Heathen or Hebrew, the period of force. In the family\nthere is a certain instinctive love binding the parent to the child, and\ntherefore a certain unity of action, growing out of that love. So the\nfather feels his kinship to his boy, though a reprobate; looks for the\ncauses of his son's folly or sin, and strives to cure him; at least to\ndo something for him, not merely with him. The spirit of Christianity\ncomes into the family, but the recognition of human brotherhood stops\nmainly there. It does not reach throughout society; it has little\ninfluence on national politics or international law--on the affairs of\nthe world taken as a whole. I know the idea of human brotherhood has\nmore influence now than hitherto; I think in New England it has a wider\nscope, a higher range, and works with more power than elsewhere. Our\nhearts bleed for the starving thousands of Ireland, whom we only read\nof; for the down-trodden slave, though of another race and dyed by\nHeaven with another hue; yes, for the savage and the suffering\neverywhere. The hand of our charity goes through every land. If there is\none quality for which the men of New England may be proud it is this,\ntheir sympathy with suffering man. Still we are far from the Christian\nideal. We still drive out of society the Ishmaels and Esaus. This we do\nnot so much from ill-will as want of thought, but thereby we lose the\nstrength of these outcasts. So much water runs over the dam--wasted and\nwasting!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn all these melancholy cases what is it best to do? what shall the\nparents do to mend their dull boy, or their wicked one? There are two\nmethods which may be tried. One is the method of force, sometimes\nreferred to Solomon, and recommended by the maxim, \"Spare not the rod\nand spoil the child.\" That is the Old Testament way, \"Stripes are\nprepared for the fool's back.\" The mischief is, they leave it no wiser\nthan they found it. By the law of the Hebrews, a man brought his\nstubborn and rebellious son before the magistrates and deposed: \"This\nour son is stubborn and rebellious: he will not obey our voice. He is a\nglutton and a drunkard.\" Thereupon, the men of the city stoned him with\nstones and so \"put away the evil from amongst them!\" That was the method\nof force. It may bruise the body; it may fill men with fear; it may\nkill. I think it never did any other good. It belonged to a rude and\nbloody age. I may ask intelligent men who have tried it, and I think\nthey will confess it was a mistake. I think I may ask intelligent men\non whom it has been tried, and they will say, \"It was a mistake on my\nfather's part, but a curse to me!\" I know there are exceptions to that\nreply; still I think it will be general. A man is seldom elevated by an\nappeal to low motives; always by addressing what is high and manly\nwithin him. Is fear of physical pain the highest element you can appeal\nto in a child; the most effectual? I do not see how Satan can be cast\nout by Satan. I think a Saviour never tries it. Yet this method of force\nis brief and compact. It requires no patience, no thought, no wisdom for\nits application, and but a moment's time. For this reason, I think, it\nis still retained in some families and many schools, to the injury alike\nof all concerned. Blows and violent words are not correction, often but\nan adjournment of correction: sometimes only an actual confession of\ninability to correct.\n\nThe other is the method of love, and of wisdom not the less. Force may\nhide, and even silence effects for a time; it removes not the real\ncauses of evil. By the method of love and wisdom the parents remove the\ncauses; they do not kill the demoniac, they cast out the demon, not by\nletting in Beelzebub, the chief devil, but by the finger of God. They\nredress the child's folly and evil birth by their own wisdom and good\nbreeding. The day drives out and off the night.\n\nSometimes you see that worthy parents have a weak and sickly child,\nfeeble in body. No pains are too great for them to take in behalf of the\nfaint and feeble one. What self-denial of the father; what sacrifice on\nthe mother's part! The best of medical skill is procured; the tenderest\nwatching is not spared. No outlay of money, time, or sacrifice is\nthought too much to save the child's life; to insure a firm constitution\nand make that life a blessing. The able-bodied children can take care of\nthemselves, but not the weak. So the affection of father and mother\ncentres on this sickly child. By extraordinary attention the feeble\nbecomes strong; the deformed is transformed, and the grown man, strong\nand active, blesses his mother for health not less than life.\n\nDid you ever see a robin attend to her immature and callow child which\nsome heedless or wicked boy had stolen from the nest, wounded and left\non the ground, half living; left to perish? Patiently she brings food\nand water, gives it kind nursing. Tenderly she broods over it all night\nupon the ground, sheltering its tortured body from the cold air of night\nand morning's penetrating dew. She perils herself; never leaves it--not\ntill life is gone. That is nature; the strong protecting the feeble.\nHuman nature may pause and consider the fowls of the air, whence the\nGreatest once drew his lessons. Human history, spite of all its tears\nand blood, is full of beauty and majestic worth. But it shows few things\nso fair as the mother watching thus over her sickly and deformed child,\nfeeding him with her own life. What if she forewent her native instinct\nand the mother said, \"My boy is deformed, a cripple--let him die?\" Where\nwould be the more hideous deformity?\n\nIf his child be dull, slow-witted, what pains will a good father take to\ninstruct him; still more if he is vicious, born with a low organization,\nwith bad propensities--what admonitions will he administer; what\nteachers will he consult; what expedients will he try; what prayers will\nhe not pray for his stubborn and rebellious son! Though one experiment\nfail, he tries another, and then again, reluctant to give over. Did it\nnever happen to one of you to be such a child, to have outgrown that\nrebellion and wickedness? Remember the pains taken with you; remember\nthe agony your mother felt; the shame that bowed your father's head so\noft, and brought such bitter tears adown those venerable cheeks. You\ncannot pay for that agony, that shame, not pay the hearts which burst\nwith both--yet uttering only a prayer for you. Pay it back then, if you\ncan, to others like yourself, stubborn and rebellious sons.\n\nHas none of you ever been such a father or mother? You know then the sad\nyearnings of heart which tried you. The world condemned you and your\nwicked child, and said, \"Let the elders stone him with stones. The\ngallows waiteth for its own!\" Not so you! You said: \"Nay, now, wait a\nlittle. Perchance the boy will mend. Come, I will try again. Crush him\nnot utterly and a father's heart besides!\" The more he was wicked, the\nmore assiduous were you for his recovery, for his elevation. You saw\nthat he would not keep up with the moral march of men; that he was a\nbarbarian, a savage, yes, almost a beast amongst men. You saw this; yes,\nfelt it too as none others felt. Yet you could not condemn him wholly\nand without hope. You saw some good mixed with his evil; some causes for\nthe evil and excuses for it which others were blind to. Because you\nmourned most you pitied most--all from the abundance of your love.\nThough even in your highest hour of prayer, the sad conviction came that\nwork or prayer was all in vain--you never gave him over to the world's\nreproach, but interposed your fortune, character, yes, your own person,\nto take the blows which the severe and tyrannous world kept laying on.\nAt last if he would not repent, you hid him away, the best you could,\nfrom the mocking sight of other men, but never shut him from your heart;\nnever from remembrance in your deepest prayers. How the whole family\nsuffers for the prodigal till he returns. When he comes back, you\nrejoice over one recovered olive-plant more than over all the trees of\nyour field which no storm has ever broke or bowed. How you went forth to\nmeet him; with what joy rejoiced! \"For this my son was lost and is\nfound,\" says the old man; \"he was dead and is alive once more. Let us\npray and be glad!\" With what a serene and hallowed countenance you met\nyour friends and neighbors, as their glad hearts smiled up in their\nfaces when the prodigal came home from riot and swine's-bread, a new man\nsafe and sound! Many such things have I seen, and hearts long cold grew\nbright and warm again. Towards evening the clouds broke asunder; Simeon\nsaw his consolation and went home in sunlight and in peace.\n\nThe general result of this treatment in the family is, that the dull boy\nlearns by degrees, learns what he is fit for: the straggler joins the\ntroop, and keeps step with the rest, nay, sometimes becomes the leader\nof the march: the vicious boy is corrected; even the faults of his\norganization get overcome, not suddenly, but at length. The rejected\nstone finds its place on the wall, and its use. Such is not always the\nresult. Some will not be mended. I stop not now to ask the cause. Some\nwill not return, though you go out to meet them a great way off. What\nthen? Will you refuse to go? Can you wholly abandon a friend or a child\nwho thus deserts himself? Is he so bad that he cannot be made better?\nPerhaps it is so. Can you not hinder him from being worse? Are you so\ngood that you must forsake him? Did not God send his greatest, noblest,\npurest Son to seek and save the lost? send him to call sinners to\nrepent? When sinners slew him, did God forsake mankind? Not one of\nthose sinners did his love forget.\n\nDoes the good physician spend the night in feasting with the sound, or\nin watching with the sick? Nay, though the sick man be past all hope, he\nwill look in to soothe affliction which he cannot cure; at least to\nspeak a word of friendly cheer. The wise teacher spends most pains with\nbackward boys, and is most bountiful himself where Nature seems most\nniggard in her gifts. What would you say if a teacher refused to help a\nboy because the boy was slow to learn; because he now and then broke\nthrough the rules? What if the mother said: \"My boy is a sickly dunce,\nnot worth the pains of rearing. Let him die!\" What if the father said:\n\"He is a born villain, to be bred only for the gallows; what use to toil\nor pray for him! Let the hangman take my son!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhat shall be done for Criminals, the backward children of society, who\nrefuse to keep up with the moral or legal advance of mankind? They are a\ndangerous class. There are three things which are sometimes confounded:\nthere is Error, an unintentional violation of a natural law. Sometimes\nthis comes from abundance of life and energy; sometimes from ignorance,\ngeneral or special; sometimes from heedlessness, which is ignorance for\nthe time. Next there is Crime, the violation of a human statute.\nSuppose the statute also represents a law of God; the violation thereof\nmay be the result of ignorance, or of design, it may come from a bad\nheart. Then it becomes a Sin--the wilful violation of a known law of\nGod. There are many errors which are not crimes; and the best men often\ncommit them innocently, but not without harm, violating laws of the body\nor the soul, which they have not grown up to understand. There have been\nmany crimes; yes, conscious violations of man's law which were not sins,\nbut rather a keeping of God's law. There are still a great many sins not\nforbidden by any human statute, not considered as crimes. It is no crime\nto go and fight in a wicked war; nay, it is thought a virtue. It was a\ncrime in the heroes of the American Revolution to demand the unalienable\nrights of man--they were \"traitors\" who did it; a crime in Jesus to sum\nup the \"Law and the Prophets,\" in one word, Love; he was reckoned an\n\"infidel,\" guilty of blasphemy against Moses! Now to punish an error as\na crime, a crime as a sin, leads to confusion at the first, and to much\nworse than confusion in the end.\n\nBut there are crimes which are a violation of the eternal principles of\njustice. It is of such, and the men who commit them, that I am now to\nspeak. What shall be done for the dangerous classes, the criminals?\n\nThe first question is, What end shall we aim at in dealing with them?\nThe means must be suited to accomplish that end. We may desire\nvengeance; then the hurt inflicted on the criminal will be proportioned\nto the loss or hurt sustained by society. A man has stolen my goods,\ninjured my person, traduced my good name, sought to take my life. I will\nnot ask for the motive of his deeds, or the cause of that motive. I will\nonly consider my own damage, and will make him smart for that. I will\nuse violence--having an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I will\ndeliver him over to the tormentors till my vengeance is satisfied. If he\nslew my friend, or sought to slay but lacked the power, as I have the\nability I will kill him! This desire of vengeance, of paying a hurt with\na hurt, has still very much influence on our treatment of criminals. I\nfear it is still the chief aim of our penal jurisprudence. When\nvengeance is the aim, violence is the most suitable method; jails and\nthe gallows most appropriate instruments! But is it right to take\nvengeance; for me to hurt a man to-day solely because he hurt me\nyesterday? If so, the proof of that right must be found in my nature, in\nthe law of God; a man can make a statute, God only a right. As I study\nmy nature, I find no such right; reason gives me none; conscience none;\nreligion quite as little. Doubtless I have a right to defend myself by\nall manly means; to protect myself for the future no less than for the\npresent. In doing that, it may be needful that I should restrain, and\nin restraining seize and hold, and in holding incidentally hurt my\nopponent. But I cannot see what right I have in cold blood wilfully to\nhurt a man because he once hurt me, and does not intend to repeat the\nwrong. Do I look to the authority of the greatest Son of man? I find no\nallusion to such a right. I find no law of God which allows vengeance.\nIn his providence I find justice everywhere as beautiful as certain; but\nvengeance nowhere. I know this is not the common notion entertained of\nGod and his providence. I shudder to think at the barbarism which yet\nprevails under the guise of Christianity; the vengeance which is sought\nfor in the name of God!\n\nThe aim may be not to revenge a crime, but to prevent it; to deter the\noffender from repeating the deed, and others from the beginning thereof.\nIn all modern legislation the vindictive spirit is slowly yielding to\nthe design of preventing crime. The method is to inflict certain uniform\nand specific penalties for each offence, proportionate to the damage\nwhich the criminal has done; to make the punishment so certain, so\nsevere, or so infamous, that the offender shall forbear for the future,\nand innocent men be deterred from crime. But have we a right to punish a\nman for the example's sake? I may give up my life to save a thousand\nlives, or one if I will. But society has no right to take it, without my\nconsent, to save the whole human race! I admit that society has the\nright of eminent domain over my property, and may take my land for a\nstreet; may destroy my house to save the town; perhaps seize on my store\nof provisions in time of famine. It can render me an equivalent for\nthose things. I have not the same lien on any portion of the universe as\non my life, my person. To these I have rights which none can alienate\nexcept myself, which no man has given, which all men can never justly\ntake away. For any injustice wilfully done to me, the human race can\nrender me no equivalent.\n\nI know society claims the right of eminent domain over person and life\nnot less than over house and land--to take both for the Commonwealth. I\ndeny the right--certainly it has never been shown. Hence to me, resting\non the broad ground of natural justice, the law of God, capital\npunishment seems wholly inadmissible, homicide with the pomp and\nformality of law. It is a relic of the old barbarism--paying hurt for\nhurt. No one will contend that it is inflicted for the offender's good.\nFor the good of others I contend we have no right to inflict it without\nthe sufferer's consent. To put a criminal to death seems to me as\nfoolish as for the child to beat the stool it has stumbled over, and as\nuseless too. I am astonished that nations with the name of Christian\never on their lips, continue to disgrace themselves by killing men,\nformally and in cold blood; to do this with prayers--\"Forgive us as we\nforgive;\" doing it in the name of God! I do not wonder that in the\ncodes of nations, Hebrew or heathen, far lower than ourselves in\ncivilization, we should find laws enforcing this punishment; laws too\nenacted in the name of God. But it fills me with amazement that worthy\nmen in these days should go back to such sources for their wisdom;\nshould walk dry-shod through the Gospels and seek in records of a\nbarbarous people to justify this atrocious act! Famine, pestilence, war,\nare terrible evils, but no one is so dreadful in its effects as the\ngeneral prevalence of a great theological idea that is false.\n\nIt makes me shudder to recollect that out of the twenty-eight States of\nthis Union twenty-seven should still continue the gallows as a part of\nthe furniture of a Christian Government. I hope our own State, dignified\nalready by so many noble acts, will soon rid herself of the stain. Let\nus try the experiment of abolishing this penalty, if we will, for twenty\nyears, or but ten, and I am confident we shall never return to that\npunishment. If a man be incapable of living in society, so ill-born or\nill-bred that you cannot cure or mend him, why, hide him away out of\nsociety. Let him do no harm, but treat him kindly, not like a wolf but a\nman. Make him work, to be useful to himself, to society, but do not kill\nhim. Or if you do, never say again, \"Forgive us our trespasses as we\nforgive those that trespass against us.\" What if He should take you at\nyour word! What would you think of a father who to-morrow should take\nthe Old Testament for his legal warrant, and bring his son before your\nMayor and Aldermen because he was \"stubborn and rebellious, a drunkard\nand a glutton,\" and they should stone him to death in front of the City\nHall! But there is quite as good a warrant in the Old Testament for that\nas for hanging a man. The law is referred to Jehovah as its author. How\nmuch better is it to choke the life out of a man behind the prison wall?\nIs not society the father of us all, our protector and defender? Hanging\nis vengeance; nothing but vengeance. I can readily conceive of that\ngreat Son of man, whom the loyal world so readily adores, performing all\nneedful human works with manly dignity. Artists once loved to paint the\nSaviour in the lowly toil of lowly men, his garments covered with the\ndust of common life; his soul sullied by no pollution. But paint him to\nyour fancy as an executioner; legally killing a man; the halter in his\nhands, hanging Judas for high treason! You see the relation which that\npunishment bears to Christianity. Yet what was unchristian in Jesus does\nnot become Christian in the sheriff. We call ourselves Christians; we\noften repeat the name, the words of Christ,--but his prayer? oh no--not\nthat.\n\nThere are now in this land, I think, sixteen men under sentence of\ndeath; sixteen men to be hanged till they are dead! Is there not in the\nnation skill to heal these men? Perhaps it is so. I have known hearts\nwhich seemed to me cold stones, so hard, so dry. No kindly steel had\nalchemy to win a spark from them. Yet their owners went about the\nstreets and smiled their hollow smiles; the ghastly brother cast his\nshadow in the sun, or wrapped his cloak about him in the wintry hour,\nand still the world went on though the worst of men remained unhanged.\nPerhaps you cannot cure these men!--is there not power enough to keep\nthem from doing harm; to make them useful? Shame on us that we know no\nbetter than thus to pour out life upon the dust, and then with reeking\nhands turn to the poor and weak and say, \"Ye shall not kill.\"\n\nBut if the prevention of crime be the design of the punishment, then we\nmust not only seek to hinder the innocent from vice, but we must reform\nthe criminal. Do our methods of punishment effect that object? During\nthe past year we have committed to the various prisons in Massachusetts\nfive thousand six hundred sixty-nine persons for crime. How many of them\nwill be reformed and cured by this treatment, and so live honest and\nuseful lives hereafter? I think very few. The facts show that a great\nmany criminals are never reformed by their punishment. Thus in France,\ntaking the average of four years, it seems that twenty-two out of each\nhundred criminals were punished oftener than once; in Scotland\nthirty-six out of the hundred. Of the seventy-eight received at your\nState's prison the last year--seventeen have been sent to that very\nprison before. How many of them have been tenants of other institutions\nI know not, but as only twenty-three of the seventy-eight are natives of\nthis State, it is plain that many, under other names, may have been\nconfined in jail before. Yet of these seventy-eight, ten are less than\ntwenty years old.[32] Of thirty-five men sent from Boston to the State's\nprison in one year, fourteen had been there before. More than half the\ninmates of the House of Correction in this city are punished oftener\nthan once! These facts show that if we aim at the reformation of the\noffender we fail most signally. Yet every criminal not reformed lives\nmainly at the charge of society; and lives too in the most costly way,\nfor the articles he steals have seldom the same value to him as to the\nlawful owner.\n\nIt seems to me that our whole method of punishing crimes is a false one;\nthat but little good comes of it, or can come. We beat the stool which\nwe have stumbled over. We punish a man in proportion to the loss or the\nfear of society; not in proportion to the offender's state of mind; not\nwith a careful desire to improve that state of mind. This is wise if\nvengeance be the aim; if reformation, it seems sheer folly. I know our\npresent method is the result of six thousand years' experience of\nmankind; I know how easy it is to find fault--how difficult to devise a\nbetter mode. Still the facts are so plain that one with half an eye\ncannot fail to see the falseness of the present methods. To remove the\nevil, we must remove its cause,--so let us look a little into this\nmatter, and see from what quarter our criminals proceed.\n\nHere are two classes.\n\nI. There are the foes of society; men that are criminals in soul, born\ncriminals, who have a bad nature. The cause of their crime therefore is\nto be found in their nature itself, in their organization if you will.\nAll experience shows that some men are born with a depraved\norganization, an excess of animal passions, or a deficiency of other\npowers to balance them.\n\nII. There are the victims of society; men that become criminals by\ncircumstances, made criminals, not born; men who become criminals, not\nso much from strength of evil in their soul, or excess of evil\npropensities in their organization, as from strength of evil in their\ncircumstances. I do not say that a man's character is wholly determined\nby the circumstances in which he is placed, but all experience shows\nthat circumstances, such as exposure in youth to good men or bad men,\neducation, intellectual, moral, and religious, or neglect thereof entire\nor partial, have a vast influence in forming the character of men,\nespecially of men not well endowed by nature.\n\nNow the criminals in soul are the most dangerous of men, the born foes\nof society. I will not at this moment undertake to go behind their\norganization and ask, \"How comes it that they are so ill-born?\" I stop\nnow at that fact. The cause of their crime is in their bodily\nconstitution itself. This is always a small class. There are in New\nEngland perhaps five hundred men born blind or deaf. Apart from the\nidiots, I think there are not half so many who by nature and bodily\nconstitution are incapable of attaining the average morality of the race\nat this day; not so many born foes of society as are born blind or deaf.\n\nThe criminals from circumstances become what they are by the action of\ncauses which may be ascertained, guarded against, mitigated, and at last\novercome and removed. These men are born of poor parents, and find it\ndifficult to satisfy the natural wants of food, clothing, and shelter.\nThey get little culture, intellectual or moral. The school-house is\nopen, but the parent does not send the children, he wants their\nservices, to beg for him, perhaps to steal, it may be to do little\nservices which lie within their power. Besides, the child must be\nill-clad, and so a mark is set on him. The boy of the perishing classes,\nwith but common endowments, cannot learn at school as one of the thrifty\nor abounding class. Then he receives no stimulus at home; there every\nthing discourages his attempts. He cannot share the pleasure and sport\nof his youthful fellows. His dress, his uncleanly habits, the result of\nmisery, forbid all that. So the children of the perishing herd together,\nignorant, ill-fed, and miserably clad. You do not find the sons of this\nclass in your colleges, in your high schools where all is free for the\npeople; few even in the grammar schools; few in the churches. Though\nborn into the nineteenth century after Christ, they grow up almost in\nthe barbarism of the nineteenth century before him. Children that are\nblind and deaf, though born with a superior organization, if left to\nthemselves become only savages, little more than animals. What are we to\nexpect of children, born indeed with eyes and ears, but yet shut out\nfrom the culture of the age they live in? In the corruption of a city,\nin the midst of its intenser life, what wonder that they associate with\ncrime, that the moral instinct, baffled and cheated of its due, becomes\nso powerless in the boy or girl; what wonder that reason never gets\ndeveloped there, nor conscience, nor that blessed religious sense learns\never to assert its power? Think of the temptations that beset the boy;\nthose yet more revolting which address the other sex. Opportunities for\ncrime continually offer. Want impels, desire leagues with opportunity,\nand the result we know. Add to all this the curse that creates so much\ndisease, poverty, wretchedness, and so perpetually begets crime; I mean\nintemperance! That is almost the only pleasure of the perishing class.\nWhat recognized amusement have they but this, of drinking themselves\ndrunk? Do you wonder at this? with no air, nor light, nor water, with\nscanty food and a miserable dress, with no culture, living in a cellar\nor a garret, crowded, stifling, and offensive even to the rudest sense,\ndo you wonder that man or woman seeks a brief vacation of misery in the\ndram-shop and in its drunkenness? I wonder not. Under such circumstances\nhow many of you would have done better? To suffer continually from lack\nof what is needful for the natural bodily wants of food, of shelter, of\nwarmth, that suffering is misery. It is not too much to say, there are\nalways in this city thousands of persons who smart under that misery.\nThey are indeed a perishing class.\n\nAlmost all our criminals, victims and foes, come from this portion of\nsociety. Most of those born with an organization that is predisposed to\ncrime are born there. The laws of nature are unavoidably violated from\ngeneration to generation. Unnatural results must follow. The misfortunes\nof the father are visited on his miserable child. Cows and sheep\ndegenerate when the demands of nature are not met, and men degenerate\nnot less. Only the low, animal instincts, those of self-defence and\nself-perpetuation get developed; these with preternatural force. The\nanimal man wakes, becomes brutish, while the spiritual element sleeps\nwithin him. Unavoidably then the perishing is mother of the dangerous\nclass.\n\nI deny not that a portion of criminals come from other sources, but at\nleast nine tenths thereof proceed from this quarter. Of two hundred and\nseventy-three thousand, eight hundred and eighteen criminals punished in\nFrance from 1825 to 1839, more than half were wholly unable even to\nread, and had been brought up subject to no family affections. Out of\nseventy criminals in one prison at Glasgow who were under eighteen,\nfifty were orphans having lost one or both parents, and nearly all the\nrest had parents of bad character and reputation. Taking all the\ncriminals in England and Wales in 1841, there were not eight in a\nhundred that could read and write well. In our country, where everybody\ngets a mouthful of education, though scarce any one a full meal, the\nresult is a little different. Thus of the seven hundred and ninety\nprisoners in the Mount Pleasant State's Prison in New York, one hundred\nit is said could read and understand. Yet of all our criminals only a\nvery small proportion have been in a condition to obtain the average\nintellectual and moral culture of our times.\n\nOur present mode of treating criminals does no good to this class of\nmen, these victims of circumstances. I do not know that their\nimprovement is even contemplated. We do not ask what causes made this\nman a criminal, and then set ourselves to remove those causes. We look\nonly at the crime; so we punish practically a man because he had a\nwicked father; because his education was neglected, and he exposed to\nthe baneful influence of unholy men. In the main we treat all criminals\nalike if guilty of the same offence, though the same act denotes very\ndifferent degrees of culpability in the different men, and the same\npunishment is attended with quite opposite results. Two men commit\nsimilar crimes, we sentence them both to the State Prison for ten years.\nAt the expiration of one year let us suppose one man has thoroughly\nreformed, and has made strict and solemn resolutions to pursue an honest\nand useful life. I do not say such a result is to be expected from such\ntreatment; still it is possible, and I think has happened, perhaps many\ntimes. We do not discharge the man; we care nothing for his penitence;\nnothing for his improvement; we keep him nine years more. That is an\ninjustice to him; we have robbed him of nine years of time which he\nmight have converted into life. It is unjust also to society, which\nneeds the presence and the labor of all that can serve. The man has been\na burden to himself and to us. Suppose at the expiration of his ten\nyears the other man is not reformed at all; this result, I fear, happens\nin the great majority of cases. He is no better for what he has\nsuffered; we know that he will return to his career of crime, with new\nenergy and with even malice. Still he is discharged. This is unjust to\nhim, for he cannot bear the fresh exposure to circumstances which\ncorrupted him at first, and he will fall lower still. It is unjust to\nsociety, for the property and the persons of all are exposed to his\npassions just as much as before. He feels indignant as if he had\nsuffered a wrong. He says, \"Society has taken vengeance on me, when I\nwas to be pitied more than blamed. Now I will have my turn. They will\nnot allow me to live by honest toil. I will learn their lesson. I will\nplunder their wealth, their roof shall blaze!\" He will live at the\nexpense of society, and in the way least profitable and most costly to\nmankind. This idle savage will levy destructive contributions on the\nrich, the thrifty, and the industrious. Yes, he will help teach others\nthe wickedness which himself once, and perhaps unavoidably learned. So\nin the very bosom of society there is a horde of marauders waging\nperpetual war against mankind.\n\nDo not say my sympathies are with the wicked, not the industrious and\ngood. It is not so. My sympathies are not confined to one class,\nhonorable or despised. But it seems to me this whole method of keeping a\ncriminal a definite time and then discharging him, whether made better\nor worse is a mistake. Certainly it is so if we aim at his reformation.\nWhat if a shepherd made it a rule to look one hour for each lost sheep,\nand then return with or without the wanderer? What if a smith decreed\nthat one hour and no more should be spent in shoeing a horse, and so\nworked that time on each, though half that time were enough--or sent\nhome the beast with but three shoes, or two, or one, because the hour\npassed by? What if the physicians decreed, that all men sick of some\ncontagious disease, should spend six weeks in the hospital, then, if the\npatient were found well the next day after admission, still kept him the\nother forty; or, if not mended at the last day, sent him out sick to the\nworld? Such a course would be less unjust, less inhuman, only the wrong\nis more obvious.\n\nTo aggravate the matter still more, we have made the punishment more\ninfamous than the crime. A man may commit great crimes which indicate\ndeep depravity; may escape the legal punishment thereof by gold, by\nflight, by further crimes, and yet hold up his head unblushing and\nunrepentant amongst mankind. Let him commit a small crime, which shall\ninvolve no moral guilt, and be legally punished--who respects him again?\nWhat years of noble life are deemed enough to wipe the stain out of his\nreputation? Nay, his children after him, to the third generation, must\nbear the curse!\n\nThe evil does not stop with the infamy. A guilty man has served out his\ntime. He is thoroughly resolved on industry and a moral life. Perhaps he\nhas not learned that crime is wrong, but found it unprofitable. He will\nlive away from the circumstances which before led him to crime. He comes\nout of prison, and the jail-mark is on him. He now suffers the severest\npart of his punishment. Friends and relations shun him. He is doomed and\nsolitary in the midst of the crowd. Honest men will seldom employ him.\nThe thriving class look on him with shuddering pity; the abounding\nloathe the convict's touch. He is driven among the dangerous and the\nperishing; they open their arms and offer him their destructive\nsympathy. They minister to his wants; they exaggerate his wrongs; they\nnourish his indignation. His direction is no longer in his own hands.\nHis good resolutions--he knows they were good, but only impossible. He\nlooks back, and sees nothing but crime and the vengeance society takes\nfor the crime. He looks around, and the world seems thrusting at him\nfrom all quarters. He looks forward, and what prospect is there? \"Hope\nnever comes that comes to all.\" He must plunge afresh into that miry\npit, which at last is sure to swallow him up. He plunges anew, and the\njail awaits him; again; deeper yet; the gallows alone can swing him\nclear from that pestilent ditch. But he is a man and a brother, our\ncompanion in weakness. With his education, exposure, temptation, outward\nand from within, how much better would the best of you become?\n\nNo better result is to be looked for from such a course. Of the one\nthousand five hundred and ninety-two persons in the State's prison of\nNew York, four hundred have been there more than once. In five years,\nfrom 1841 to 1847, there were punished in the House of Correction in\nthis city, five thousand seven hundred and forty-eight persons; of these\nthree thousand one hundred and forty-six received such a sentence\noftener than once. Yes, in five years, three hundred and thirteen were\nsent thither, each ten times or more! How many found a place in other\njails I know not.\n\nWhat if fathers treated dull or vicious boys in this manner at\nhome--making them infamous for the first offence, or the first dulness,\nand then refusing to receive them back again? What if the father sent\nout his son with bad boys, and when he erred and fell, said: \"You did\nmischief with bad boys once; I know they enticed you. I knew you were\nfeeble and could not resist their seductions. But I shall punish you. Do\nas well as you please, I will not forgive you. If you err again, I will\npunish you afresh. If you do never so well, you shall be infamous for\never!\" What if a public teacher never took back to college a boy who\nonce had broke the academic law--but made him infamous for ever? What if\nthe physicians had kept a patient the requisite time in the hospital,\nand discharged him as wholly cured, but bid men beware of him and shun\nhim for ever? That is just what we are doing with this class of\ncriminals; not intentionally, not consciously--but doing none the less!\n\nLet us look a moment more carefully, though I have already touched on\nthis subject, at the proximate causes of crime in this class of men. The\nfirst cause is obvious--poverty. Most of the criminals are from the\nlowest ranks of society. If you distribute men into three classes, the\nabounding, the thriving, the perishing, you will find the inmates of\nyour prisons come almost wholly from the latter class. The perishing\nfill the sink of society, and the dangerous the sink of the\nperishing--for in that \"lowest deep there is a lower depth.\" Of three\nthousand one hundred and eighty-eight persons confined in the House of\nCorrection in this city, one thousand six hundred and fifty-seven were\nforeigners; of the five hundred and fifty sent from this city in five\nyears to the State's Prison, one hundred and eighty-five were\nforeigners. Of five hundred and forty-seven females in the Prison on\nBlackwell's Island at one time--five hundred and nineteen were committed\nfor \"vagrancy;\" women with no capital but their person, with no friend,\nno shelter. Examine minutely, you shall find that more than nine tenths\nof all criminals come from the perishing class of men. There all\ncultivation, intellectual, moral, religious, is at the lowest ebb. They\nare a class of barbarians; yes, of savages, living in the midst of\ncivilization, but not of it. The fact, that most criminals come from\nthis class, shows that the causes of the crime lie out of them more than\nin them; that they are victims of society, not foes. The effect of\nproperty in elevating and moralizing a class of men is seldom\nappreciated. Historically the animal man comes before the spiritual.\nAnimal wants are imperious; they must be supplied. The lower you go in\nthe social scale, the more is man subordinated to his animal appetites\nand demonized by them. Nature aims to preserve the individual and repeat\nthe species--so all passions relative to these two designs are\npreeminently powerful. If a man is born into the intense life of an\nAmerican city, and grows up, having no contact with the loftier culture\nwhich naturally belongs to that intense life, why the man becomes mainly\nan animal, all the more violent for the atmosphere he breathes in. What\nshall restrain him? He has not the normal check of reason, conscience,\nreligion, these sleep in the man; nor the artificial and conventional\ncheck of honor, of manners. The public opinion which he bows to favors\nobscenity, drunkenness, and violence. He is doubly a savage. His wants\ncannot be legally satisfied. He breaks the law, the law which covers\nproperty, then goes on to higher crimes.\n\nThe next cause is the result of the first--education is neglected,\nintellectual, moral, and religious. Now and then a boy in whom the soul\nof genius is covered with the beggar's rags, struggles through the\nterrible environment of modern poverty to die, the hero of misery, in\nthe attempt at education! His expiring light only makes visible the\ndarkness out of which it shone. Boys born into this condition find at\nhome nothing to aid them, nothing to encourage a love of excellence, or\na taste for even the rudiments of learning. What is unavoidably the lot\nof such? The land has been the schoolmaster of the human race--but the\nperishing class scarce sees its face. Poverty brings privations, misery,\nand that a deranged state of the system; then unnatural appetites goad\nand burn the man. The destruction of the poor is their poverty. They see\nwealth about them, but have none; so none of what it brings; neither the\ncleanliness, nor health, nor self-respect, nor cultivation of mind, and\nheart, and soul. I am told that no Quaker has ever been confined in any\njail in New England for any real crime. Are the Quakers better born than\nother men? Nay, but they are looked after in childhood. Who ever saw a\nQuaker in an almshouse? Not a fiftieth part of the people of New York\nare negroes, yet more than a sixth part of all the criminals in her four\nState's Prisons are men of color. These facts show plainly the causes of\ncrime.\n\nIt is almost impossible to exaggerate the temptations of the perishing\nclass in our great cities. In Boston at this moment there are more than\nfour hundred boys employed about the various bowling-alleys of the\ncity, exposed to the intemperance, the coarseness, the general\ncorruption of the men who mainly frequent those places. What will be\ntheir fate? Shall I speak of their sisters; of the education they are\nreceiving; the end that awaits them? Poverty brings misery with its\nfamily of vices.\n\nA third cause of crime comes with the rest--intemperance, the destroying\nangel that lays waste the household of the poor. In our country, misery\nin a healthy man is almost proof of vice; but the vice may belong to one\nalone, and the misery it brings be shared by the whole family. A large\nproportion of the perishing class are intemperate, and a great majority\nof all our criminals.\n\nNow, our present method is wholly inadequate to reform men exposed to\nsuch circumstances. You may punish the man, but it does no good. You can\nseldom frighten men out of a fever. Can you frighten them from crime,\nwhen they know little of the internal distinction between right and\nwrong; when all the circumstances about them impel to crime? Can you\nfrighten a starving girl into chastity? You cannot keep men from\nlewdness, theft and violence, when they have no self-respect, no\nculture, no development of mind, heart, and soul. The jail will not take\nthe place of the church, of the school-house, of home. It will not\nremove the causes which are making new criminals. It does not reform\nthe old ones. Shall we shut men in a jail, and when there treat them\nwith all manner of violence, crush out the little self-respect yet left,\ngive them a degrading dress, and send them into the world cursed with an\ninfamous name, and all that because they were born in the low places of\nsociety and caught the stain thereof? The jail does not alter the\ncircumstances which occasioned the crime, and till these causes are\nremoved a fresh crop will spring out of the festering soil. Some men\nteach dogs and horses things unnatural to these animals; they use\nviolence and blows as their instrument of instruction. But to teach man\nwhat is conformable to his nature, something more is required.\n\nTo return to the other class, who are born criminals. Bare confinement\nin the prison alters no man's constitutional tendencies; it can no more\ncorrect moral or mental weakness or obliquity than it can correct a\ndeficiency of the organs of sensation. You all know the former treatment\nof men born with defective or deranged intellectual faculties--of madmen\nand fools. We still pursue the same course towards men born with\ndefective or deranged moral faculties, idiots and madmen of a more\nmelancholy class, and with a like result.\n\nI know how easy it is to find fault, and how difficult to propose a\nbetter way; how easy to misunderstand all that I have said, how easy to\nmisrepresent it all. But it seems to me that hitherto we have set out\nwrong in this undertaking; have gone on wrong, and, by the present\nmeans, can never remove the causes of crime nor much improve the\ncriminals as a class. Let me modestly set down my thoughts on this\nsubject, in hopes that other men, wiser and more practical, will find\nout a way yet better still. A jail, as a mere house of punishment for\noffenders, ought to have no place in an enlightened people. It ought to\nbe a moral hospital where the offender is kept till he is cured. That\nhis crime is great or little, is comparatively of but small concern. It\nis wrong to detain a man against his will after he is cured; wrong to\nsend him out before he is cured, for he will rob and corrupt society,\nand at last miserably perish. We shall find curable cases and incurable.\n\nI would treat the small class of born criminals, the foes of society, as\nmaniacs. I would not kill them more than madmen; I would not inflict\nneedless pain on them. I would not try to shame, to whip, or to starve\ninto virtue men morally insane. I would not torture a man because born\nwith a defective organization. Since he could not live amongst men, I\nwould shut him out from society; would make him work for his own good\nand the good of society. The thought of punishment for its own sake, or\nas a compensation for the evil which a man has done, I would not harbor\nfor a moment. If a man has done me a wrong, calumniated, insulted,\nabused me with all his power, it renders the matter no better that I\nturn round and make him smart for it. If he has burned my house over my\nhead, and I kill him in return, it does not rebuild my house. I cannot\nleave him at large to burn other men's houses. He must be restrained.\nBut if I cure the man perhaps he will rebuild it, at any rate, will be\nof some service to the world, and others gain much while I lose nothing.\n\nWhen the victims of society violated its laws, I would not torture a man\nfor his misfortune, because his father was poor, his mother a brute;\nbecause his education was neglected. I would shut him out from society\nfor a time. I would make him work for his own good and the good of\nothers. The evil he had caught from the world I would overcome by the\ngood that I would present to him. I would not clothe him with an\ninfamous dress, crowd him with other men whom society had made infamous,\nleaving them to ferment and rot together. I would not set him up as a\nshow to the public, for his enemy, or his rival, or some miserable fop\nto come and stare at with merciless and tormenting eye. I would not load\nhim with chains, nor tear his flesh with a whip. I would not set\nsoldiers with loaded gun to keep watch over him, insulting their brother\nby mocking and threats. I would treat the man with firmness, but with\njustice, with pity, with love. I would teach the man; what his family\ncould not do for him, what society and the church had failed of, the\njail should do, for the jail should be a manual labor school, not a\ndungeon of torture. I would take the most gifted, the most cultivated,\nthe wisest and most benevolent, yes, the most Christian man in the\nState, and set him to train up these poor savages of civilization. The\nbest man is the natural physician of the wicked. A violent man, angry,\ncruel, remorseless, should never enter the jail except as a criminal.\nYou have already taken one of the greatest, wisest, and best men of this\nCommonwealth, and set him to watch over the public education of the\npeople.[33] True, you give him little money, and no honor; he brings the\nhonor to you, not asking but giving that. You begin to see the result of\nsetting such a man to such a work, though unhonored and ill paid. Soon\nyou will see it more plainly in the increase of temperance, industry,\nthrift, of good morals and sound religion! I would set such a man, if I\ncould find such another, to look after the dangerous classes of society.\nI would pay him for it; honor him for it. I would have a Board of Public\nMorals to look after this matter of crime, a Secretary of Public Morals,\na Christian Censor, whose business it should be to attend to this class,\nto look after the jails and make them houses of refuge, of instruction,\nwhich should do for the perishing class what the school-house and the\nchurch do for others. I would send missionaries amongst the most exposed\nportions of mankind as well as amongst the savages of New Holland. I\nwould send wise men, good men. There are already some such engaged in\nthis work. I would strengthen their hands. I would make crime infamous.\nIf there are men whose crime is to be traced not to a defective\norganization of body, not to the influence of circumstances, but only to\nvoluntary and self-conscious wickedness,--I would make these men\ninfamous. It should be impossible for such a man, a voluntary foe of\nmankind, to live in society. I would have the jail such a place that the\nfriends of a criminal of either class should take him as now they take a\nlunatic or a sick man, and bring him to the Court that he might be\nhealed if curable, or if not might be kept from harm and hid away out of\nsight. Crime and sin should be infamous; not its correction, least of\nall its cure. I would not loathe and abhor a man who had been corrected\nand reformed by the jail more than a boy who had been reformed by his\nteacher, or a man cured of lunacy. I would have society a father who\ngoes out to meet the prodigal while yet a great way off; yes, goes and\nbrings him away from his riotous living, washes him, clothes him, and\nrestores him to a right mind. There is a prosecuting attorney for the\nState; I would have also a defending attorney for the accused, that\njustice might be done all round. Is the State only a step-mother? Then\nis she not a Christian Commonwealth but a barbarous despotism, fitly\nrepresented by that uplifted sword on her public seal, and that motto of\nbarbarous and bloody Latin. I would have the State aid men and direct\nthem after they have been discharged from the jail, not leave them to\nperish; not force them to perish. Society is the natural guardian of the\nweak.\n\nI cannot think the method here suggested would be so costly as the\npresent. It seems to me that institutions of this character might be\nmade not only to support themselves, but be so managed as to leave a\nbalance of income considerably beyond the expense. This might be made\nuse of for the advantage of the criminal when he returned to society; or\nwith it he might help make restitution of what he had once stolen.\nBesides being less costly, it would cure the offender and send back\nvaluable men into society.\n\nIt seems to me that our whole criminal legislation is based on a false\nprinciple--force and not love; that it is eminently well adapted to\nrevenge, not at all to correct, to teach, to cure. The whole apparatus\nfor the punishment of offenders, from the gallows down to the House of\nCorrection, seems to me wrong; wholly wrong, unchristian, and even\ninhuman. We teach crime while we punish it. Is it consistent for the\nState to take vengeance when I may not? Is it better for the State to\nkill a man in cold blood, than for me to kill my brother when in a rage?\nI cannot help thinking that the gallows and even the jail, as now\nadministered, are practical teachers of violence and wrong! I cannot\nthink it will always be so. Hitherto we have looked on criminals as\nvoluntary enemies of mankind. We have treated them as wild beasts, not\nas dull or loitering boys. We have sought to destroy by death, to\ndisable by mutilation or imprisonment, to terrify and subdue, not to\nconvince, to reform, encourage, and bless.\n\nThe history of the past is full of prophecy for the future. Not many\nyears ago we shut up our lunatics in jails, in dungeons, in cages; we\nchained the maniac with iron; we gave him a bottle of water and a sack\nof straw; we left him in filth, in cold and nakedness. We set strong and\nbrutal men to watch him. When he cried, when he gnashed his teeth and\ntore his hair, we beat him all the more! They do so yet in some places,\nfor they think a madman is not a brother but a devil. What was the\nresult? Madness was found incurable. Now lunacy is a disease, to be\nprescribed for as fever or rheumatism; when we find an incurable case we\ndo not kill the man, nor chain him, nor count him a devil. Yet lunacy is\nnot curable by force, by jails, dungeons, and cages; only by the\nmedicine of wise men and good men. What if Christ had met one demoniac\nwith a whip and another with chains!\n\nYou know how we once treated criminals! with what scourgings and\nmutilations, what brandings, what tortures with fire and red-hot iron!\nDeath was not punishment enough, it must be protracted amid the most\ncruel torments that quivering flesh could bear. The multitude looked on\nand learned a lesson of deadly wickedness. A judicial murder was a\nholiday! It is but little more than two hundred years since a man was\nput to death in the most enlightened country of Europe for eating meat\non Friday; not two hundred since men and women were hanged in\nMassachusetts for a crime now reckoned impossible! It is not a hundred\nyears since two negro slaves were judicially burned alive in this very\ncity! These facts make us shudder, but hope also. In a hundred years\nfrom this day will not men look on our gallows, jails, and penal law as\nwe look on the racks, the torture-chambers of the middle ages, and the\nbloody code of remorseless inquisitors?\n\nWe need only to turn our attention to this subject to find a better way.\nWe shall soon see that punishment as such is an evil to the criminal,\nand so swells the sum of suffering with which society runs over; that it\nis an evil also to the community at large by abstracting valuable force\nfrom profitable work, and so a loss.[34] We shall one day remember that\nthe offender is a man, and so his good also is to be consulted. He may\nbe a bad man, voluntarily bad if you will. Still we are to be economical\neven of his suffering, for the least possible punishment is the best.\nAlready a good many men think that error is better refuted by truth than\nby fagots and axes. How long will it be before we apply good sense and\nChristianity to the prevention of crime? One day we must see that a\njail, as it is now conducted, is no more likely to cure a crime than a\nlunacy or a fever! Hitherto we have not seen the application of the\ngreat doctrines of Christianity; not felt that all men are brothers. So\nour remedies for social evils have been bad almost as the disease;\nremedies which remedied nothing, but hid the patient out of sight. All\ngreat criminals have been thought incurable, and then killed. What if\nthe doctors found a patient sick of a disease which he had foolishly or\nwickedly brought upon himself, and then, by the advice of twelve other\ndoctors, professionally killed him for justice or example's sake? They\nwould do what all the States in Christendom have done these thousand\nyears. I cannot see why the Legislature has not as good right to\nauthorize the medical college thus to kill men, as to authorize the\npresent forms of destroying life!\n\nWe do not look the facts of crime fairly in the face. We do not see what\nheathens we are. Why, there is not a Christian nation in the world that\nhas not a Secretary of War, armies, soldiers, and the terrible apparatus\nof destruction. But there is not one that has a Secretary of Peace, not\none that takes half the pains to improve its own criminals which it\ntakes to build forts and fleets! Yet it seems to me that a Christian\nState should be a great peace society, a society for mutual advancement\nin the qualities of a man!\n\nDo we not see that by our present course we are teaching men violence,\nfraud, deceit, and murder? What is the educational effect of our present\npolitical conduct, of our invasions, our battles, our victories; of the\nspeeches of \"our great men?\" You all know that this teaches the poor,\nthe low, and the weak that murder and robbery are good things when done\non a large scale; that they give wealth, fame, power, and honors. The\nignorant man, ill-born and ill-bred, asks: \"Why not when done on a small\nscale; why not good for me?\" If it is right in the President of the\nUnited States to rob and murder, why not for the President of the United\nStates Bank? Do famous men say, \"Our country however bounded,\" and vote\nto plunder a sister State? then why shall not the poor man, hungry and\ncold, say, \"My purse however bounded,\" and seize on all he can get? Give\none a seat in Congress if you will, and the other a noose of hemp, there\nis a God before whom seats in Congress and hempen halters are of equal\nvalue, but who does justice to great and little!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTo reform the dangerous classes of society, to advance those who loiter\nbehind our civilization, we need a special work designed directly for\nthe good of the criminals and such as stand on that perilous ground\nwhich slopes towards crime. Some good men undertook this work long ago.\nThey found much to do; a good deal to encourage them. Some of them are\nwell known to you, are laboring here in the midst of us. They need\ncounsel, encouragement, and aid. We must not look coldly on their\nenterprise nor on them. They can tell far better than I what specific\nplans are best for their specific work. Already have they accomplished\nmuch in this noble enterprise. The society for aiding discharged\nconvicts is a prophecy of yet better things. Soon I trust it will extend\nits kind offices to all the prisons, and its work be made the affair of\nthe State. The plan now before your Legislature for a \"State Manual\nLabor School,\" designed to reform vicious children, is also full of\npromise. The wise and anonymous charity which so beautifully and in\nsilence has dropped its gold into the chest for these poor outcasts, is\nitself its hundred-fold reward. Institutions like that which we\ncontemplate have been found successful in England, Germany, and France.\nThey actually reform the juvenile delinquent and bring up useful men,\nnot hardened criminals.[35] We are beginning to attend to this special\nwork of removing the causes of crime, and restoring at least the young\noffenders.\n\nHowever, the greater portion of this work is not special and for the\ncriminal, but general and for society. To change the treatment of\ncriminals, we must change every thing else. The dangerous class is the\nunavoidable result of our present civilization; of our present ideas of\nman and social life. To reform and elevate the class of criminals, we\nmust reform and elevate all other classes. To do that, we must educate\nand refine men. We must learn to treat all men as brothers. This is a\ngreat work and one of slow achievement. It cannot be brought about by\nlegislation, nor any mechanical contrivance and reorganization alone.\nThere is no remedy for this evil and its kindred but keeping the laws of\nGod; in one word, none but Christianity, goodness, and piety felt in the\nheart, applied in all the works of life, individually, socially, and\npolitically. While educated and abounding men acknowledge no rule of\nconduct but self-interest, what can you expect of the ignorant and the\nperishing? While great men say without rebuke that we do not look at\n\"the natural justice of a war,\" do you expect men in the lowest places\nof society, ignorant and brutish, pinched by want, to look at the\nnatural justice of theft, of murder? It were a vain expectation. We must\nimprove all classes to improve one; perhaps the highest first.\nDifferent men acting in the most various directions, without concert,\noften jealous one of another, and all partial in their aims, are helping\nforward this universal result. While we are contending against slavery,\nwar, intemperance, or party rage, while we are building up hospitals,\ncolleges, schools, while we are contending for freedom of conscience, or\nteaching abstractly the love of man and love of God, we are all working\nfor the welfare of this neglected class. The gallows of the barbarian\nand the Gospel of Christianity cannot exist together. The times are full\nof promise. Mankind slowly fulfils what a man of genius prophesies; God\ngrants what a good man asks, and when it comes, it is better than what\nhe prayed for.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[31] The allusion is to the following passages of Scripture, which were\nread as the lesson for the day: Numb. xiv.; 2 Kings, ii. 23-25; and\nLuke, xv.\n\n[32] See other statistics in \"Sermon of the Perishing Classes,\" pp. 205,\n206.\n\n[33] Mr. Horace Mann.\n\n[34] The period of confinement in our States' Prisons differs a good\ndeal in the various States, as will appear from the following Table.\n\n          Whole No.\n           in prison.               Average sentence.\nIn Conn.    189,             March 31, 1841,  7 yrs. 3 mos.\n   Va.      181,             Sept 30, 1839,   6  \"  10  \"\n   Mass.    322,             Sept. 30, 1840,  5  \"   9  \"\n   La.       68,             Sept 30, 1839,   5  \"   1  \"\n   N. J.    152,             Sept. 30, 1840,  4  \"   7  \"\n   Ky.      162,             Sept. 30, 1839,  4  \"\n   D. C.     79,             Nov.  30, 1840,  3  \"   8  \"\n   Md.      104,                              3  \"\n   Phila.   129,             Sept. 30, 1840,  2  \"   5  \"\n\nThe difference between the average term of punishment in Connecticut and\nPhiladelphia is 300 per cent! If the same result is effected by each,\nthere has then been a great amount of gratuitous suffering in one case.\n\n[35] I refer to the prisons at Stretton-upon-Dunmore in Warwickshire,\nthat at Horn near Hamburg, and the one at Mettray near Tours in France.\nThe French penal code allows the guardian or relatives of an offender\nunder age to take him from prison on giving bonds for his good behavior.\nWhile these pages were first passing through the press, I learned the\nhappy effect which followed the execution of the license laws in this\ncity. In 1846, from the 10th of March to the 24th of April, there were\nsent to the House of Correction for intemperance one hundred eighty-nine\npersons. During the same period of the year 1847, only eighty-four have\nbeen thus punished! But alas, in 1851 the evil has returned, and the\ndemon of drunkenness mows down the wretched in Boston with unrestricted\nscythe.\n\n\n\n\nIX.\n\nA SERMON OF POVERTY.--PREACHED AT THE MELODEON, ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 14,\n1849.\n\nPROVERBS X. 15.\n\n    The destruction of the poor is their poverty.\n\n\nLast Sunday something was said of riches. To-day I ask your attention to\na sermon of poverty. By poverty, I mean the state in which a man does\nnot have enough to satisfy the natural wants of food, raiment, shelter,\nwarmth and the like. From the earliest times that we know of, there have\nbeen two classes of men, the rich who had more than enough, the poor who\nhad less. In one of the earliest books which treats of the condition of\nmen, we find that Abraham, a rich man, owns the bodies of three hundred\nmen that are poor. In four thousand years, the difference between rich\nand poor in our part of America is a good deal lessened, not done away\nwith. In New England property is more uniformly distributed than in\nmost countries, perhaps more equally than in any land as highly\ncivilized. But even here the old distinction remains in a painful form\nand extended to a pitiful degree.\n\nAt one extreme of society is a body called the rich, men who have\nabundance, not a very numerous body, but powerful, first through the\nenergy which accumulates money, and secondly, through the money itself.\nThen there is a body of men who are comfortable. This class comprises\nthe mass of the people in all the callings of life. Out of this class\nthe rich men come, and into it their children or grandchildren commonly\nreturn. Few of the rich men of Boston were sons of rich men; still fewer\ngrandsons; few of them perhaps will be fathers of men equally rich;\nstill fewer grandfathers of such. Then there is the class that is\nmiserable. Some of them are supported by public charity, some by\nprivate, some of them by their toil alone--but altogether they form a\nmass of men who only stay in the world, and do not live in the best\nsense of that word.\n\nSuch are the great divisions of society in respect to property. However,\nthe lines between these three classes are not sharp and distinctly\ndrawn. There are no sharp divisions in nature; but for our convenience,\nwe distinguish classes by their centre where they are most unlike, and\nnot by their circumference where they intermix and resemble each other.\nThe line between the miserable and comfortable, between the comfortable\nand rich, is not distinctly drawn. The centre of each class is obvious\nenough while the limits thereof are a dissolving view.\n\nThe poor are miserable. Their food is the least that will sustain\nnature, not agreeable, not healthy; their clothing scanty and mean,\ntheir dwellings inconvenient and uncomfortable, with roof and walls that\nlet in the cold and the rain--dwellings that are painful and unhealthy;\nin their personal habits they are commonly unclean. Then they are\nignorant; they have no time to attend school in childhood, no time to\nread or to think in manhood, even if they have learned to do either\nbefore that. If they have the time, few men can think to any profit\nwhile the body is uncomfortable. The cold man thinks only of the cold;\nthe wretched of his misery. Besides this they are frequently vicious. I\ndo not mean to say they are wicked in the sight of God. I never see a\npoor man carried to jail for some petty crime, or even for a great one,\nwithout thinking that probably, in God's eye, the man is far better than\nI am, and from the State's prison or scaffold, will ascend into heaven\nand take rank a great ways before me. I do not mean to say they are\nwicked before God; but it is they who commit the minor crimes, against\ndecency, sobriety, against property and person, and most of the major\ncrimes, against human life. I mean that they commit the crimes that get\npunished by law. They crowd your courts, they tenant your jails; they\noccupy your gallows. If some man would write a book describing the life\nof all the men hanged in Massachusetts for fifty years past, or tried\nfor some capital offence, and show what class of society they were from,\nhow they were bred, what influences were about them in childhood, how\nthey passed their Sundays, and also describe the configuration of their\nbodies, it would help us to a valuable chapter in the philosophy of\ncrime, and furnish mighty argument against the injustice of our mode of\ndealing with offenders.\n\nPoverty is the dark side of modern society. I say modern society, though\npoverty is not modern, for ancient society had poverty worse than ours\nand a side still darker yet. Cannibalism, butchery of captives after\nbattle, frequent or continual wars for the sake of plunder, and the\nslavery of the weak--these were the dark side of society in four great\nperiods of human history, the savage, the barbarous, the classic and the\nfeudal. Poverty is the best of these five bad things, each of which,\nhowever, has grimly done its service in its day.\n\nThere is no poverty among the Gaboon negroes. Put them in our latitude,\nand it soon comes. Nay, as they get to learn the wants of cultivated\nmen, there will be a poorer class even in the torrid zone. Poverty\nprevails in every civilized nation on earth; yes, in every savage nation\nin austere climes. Let us look at some examples. England is the richest\ncountry in Europe. I mean she has more wealth in proportion to her\npopulation than any other in a similar climate. Look at her possessions\nin every corner of the globe; at her armies which Europe cannot conquer;\nat her ships which weave the great commercial web that spreads all round\nabout the world; at home what factories, what farms, what houses, what\ntowns, what a vast and wealthy metropolis; what an aristocracy--so rich,\nso cultivated, so able, so daring, and so unconquered.\n\nBut in that very English nation the most frightful poverty exists. Look\nat the two sister islands: this the queen, and that the beggar of all\nnations; the rose and the shamrock; the one throned in royal beauty, the\nother bowed to the dust, torn and trampled under foot. In that capital\nof the world's wealth, in that centre of power far greater than the\npower of all the Caesars, there is the most squalid poverty. Look at St.\nGiles and St. James--that the earthly hell of want and crime, this the\nworldly heaven of luxury and power! Put on the one side the stately\nnobility of England, well born, well bred, armed with the power of\nmanners, the power of money, the power of culture and the power of\nplace, and on the other side put the beggary of England, the two million\npaupers who are kept wholly on public or private charity; the three\nmillion laborers who formerly fed on potatoes, God knows what they feed\non now, and all the other hungry sons of want who are kept in awe only\nby the growling lion who guards the British throne; and you see at once\nthe result of modern civilization in the ablest, the foremost, the\nfreest, the most practical and the richest nation in the old world.\n\nEven here in New England, a country not two hundred and fifty years old,\na little patch of cleared land on the edge of the continent, we hear of\npoverty which is frightful to think of. It is a serious question what\nshall be done for the poor; there are few that can tell what shall be\ndone with them, or what is to become of them. Want is always here in\nBoston. Misery is here. Starvation is not unknown. What is now serious\nwill one day be alarming. Even now it is awful to think of the misery\nthat lurks in this Christian town. New England in fifty years has\nincreased vastly in wealth, but poverty increases too. There has been a\ngreat advance in the productiveness of human labor; with our tools a man\ncan do as much rude work in one day as he could in three days a hundred\nyears ago. I mean work with the axe, the plough, the spade; of nicer\nwork, yet more; of the most delicate work, see what machines do for him.\nThe end is not yet; soon we shall have engines that will whittle\ngranite, as a gang of saws cleaves logs into broad smooth boards. Yet\nwith all this advance in the productiveness of human toil, still there\nis poverty. A day's work now will bring a man greater proportionate pay\nthan ever before in New England. I mean to say that the ordinary wages\nfor an ordinary day's work will support a man comfortably and\nrespectably longer than they ever would before. On the whole, the price\nof things has come down and the price of work has gone up. Yet still\nthere are the poor; there is want, there is misery, there is starvation.\nThe community gives more than ever before; a better public provision is\nmade for the poor, private benevolence is more active and works far more\nwisely--yet still there is poverty, want, misery unremoved, unmitigated,\nand, many think, immitigable!\n\nNow I am not going to deny that poverty, like other forms of suffering,\nplays a part in the economy of the human race. If God's children will\nnot work, or will throw away their bread, I do not complain that He\nsends them to bed without their supper--to a hard bed and a narrow and a\ncold. \"Earn your breakfast before you eat it,\" is not merely the counsel\nof Poor Richard, but of Almighty God; it is a just counsel, and not\nhard. But is poverty an essential, substantial, integral element in\nhuman civilization, or is it an accidental element thereof, and\ntransiently present; is it amenable to suppression? For my own part, I\nbelieve that all evil is transient, a thing that belongs to the process\nof development, not to the nature of man, or the higher forms of social\nlife towards which he is advancing. If God be absolutely good, then only\ngood things are everlasting. This general opinion which comes from my\nreligion as well as my philosophy, affects my special opinion of the\nhistory and design of poverty. I look on it as on cannibalism, the\nbutchery of captives, the continual war for the sake of plunder, or on\nslavery; yes, as I look on the diseases incident to childhood, things\nthat mankind live through and outgrow; which, painful as they are, do\nnot make up the greatest part of the entire life of mankind. If it shall\nbe said that I cannot know this, that I have not a clear intellectual\nperception of the providential design thereof, or the means of its\nremoval, still I believe it, and if I have not the knowledge which comes\nof philosophy, I have still faith, the result of instinctive trust in\nGod.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLet us look a little at the causes of poverty. Some things we see best\non a large scale. So let us look at poverty thus, and then come down to\nthe smaller forms thereof.\n\nI. There may be a natural and organic cause. The people of Lapland,\nIceland and Greenland are a poor people compared with the Scotch, the\nDanes, or the French. There is a natural and organic cause for their\npoverty in the soil and climate of those countries, which cannot be\nchanged. They must emigrate before they can become rich or comfortable\nin our sense of the word. Hence their poverty is to be attributed to\ntheir geographical position. Put the New Englanders there, even they\nwould be a poor people. Thus the poverty of a nation may depend on the\ngeographical position of the nation.\n\nSuppose a race of men has little vigor of body or of mind, and yet the\nsame natural wants as a vigorous race; put them in favorable\ncircumstances, in a good climate, on a rich soil, they will be poor on\naccount of the feebleness of their mind and body; put them in a stern\nclimate, on a sterile soil, and they will perish. Such is the case with\nthe Mexicans. Soil and climate are favorable, yet the people are poor.\nSuppose a nation had only one third part of the Laplander's ability, and\nyet needed the result of all his power, and was put in the Laplander's\nposition, they would not live through the first winter. Had they been\nMexicans who came to Plymouth in 1620, not one of them, it is probable,\nwould have seen the next summer. Take away half the sense or bodily\nstrength of the Bushmans of South Africa, and though they might have\nsense enough to dig nuts out of the ground, yet the lions and hyenas\nwould eventually eat up the whole nation. So the poverty of a nation may\ncome from want of power of body or of mind.\n\nThen if a nation increases in numbers more rapidly than in wealth, there\nis a corresponding increase of want. Let the number of births in England\nfor the next ten years be double the number for the last ten, without a\ncorresponding creation of new wealth, and the English are brought to the\ncondition of the Irish. Let the number of births in Ireland in like\nmanner multiply, and one half the population must perish for want of\nfood. So the poverty of a nation may depend on the disproportionate\nincrease of its numbers.\n\nThen an able race, under favorable outward circumstances, without an\nover-rapid increase of numbers, if its powers are not much developed,\nwill be poor in comparison with a similar race under similar\ncircumstances, but highly developed. Thus England, under Egbert in the\nninth century, was poor compared with England under Victoria in the\nnineteenth century. The single town of Liverpool, Manchester,\nBirmingham, or even Sheffield, is probably worth many times the wealth\nof all England in the ninth century. So the poverty of a nation may\ndepend on its want of development.\n\nOld England and New England are rich, partly through the circumstances\nof climate and soil, partly and chiefly through the great vigor of the\nrace, with only a normal increase of numbers, and partly through a more\ncomplete development of the nations. Such are the chief natural and\norganic causes of poverty on a large scale in a nation.\n\nII. The causes may be political. By political, I mean such as are\nbrought about by the laws, either the fundamental laws, the\nconstitution, or the minor laws, statutes. Sometimes the laws tend to\nmake the whole nation poor. Such are the laws which force the industry\nof the people out of the natural channel, restricting commerce,\nagriculture, manufactures, industry in general. Sometimes this is done\nby promoting war, by keeping up armies and navies, by putting the\ndestructive work of fighting, or the merely conservative work of ruling,\nbefore the creative works of productive industry. France was an example\nof that a hundred years ago. Spain yet continues such, as she has been\nfor two centuries.\n\nSometimes this is done by hindering the general development of the\nnation, by retarding education, by forbidding all freedom of thought.\nThe States of the Church are an example of this when compared with\nTuscany; all Italy and Austria, when compared with England; Spain, when\ncompared with Germany, France, and Holland.\n\nSometimes this is brought about by keeping up an unnatural\ninstitution--as slavery, for example. South Carolina is an instance of\nthis, when compared with Massachusetts. South Carolina has many\nadvantages over us, yet South Carolina is poor while Massachusetts is\nrich.\n\nSometimes this political action primarily affects only the distribution\nof wealth, and so makes one class rich and another poor. Such is the\ncase with laws which give all the real estate to the oldest son, laws\nwhich allow property to be entailed for a long time or forever, laws\nwhich cut men off from the land. These laws at first seem only to make\none class rich and the others poor, and merely to affect the\ndistribution of wealth in a nation, but they are unnatural and retard\nthe industry of the people, and diminish their productive power, and\nmake the whole nation less rich. Legislation may favor wealth and not\nmen--property which is accumulated labor, rather than labor which is the\npower that accumulates property. Such legislation always endangers\nwealth in the end, lessening its quantity and making its tenure\nuncertain.\n\nTwo things may be said of European legislation in general, and\nespecially of English legislation. First, That it has aimed to\nconcentrate wealth in the hands of a few and keep it there. Hence it\nfavors primogeniture, entails monopolies of posts of profit and of\nhonor. Second, It has always looked out for the proprietor and his\nproperty, and cared little for the man without property; hence it always\nwanted the price of things high, the wages of men low, and in addition\nto natural and organic obstacles it continually put social impediments\nin the poor man's way. In England no son of a laborer could rise to\neminence in the law or in medicine, scarcely in the church; no, not even\nin the army or navy.\n\nThese two statements will bear examination. The genius of England has\ndemanded these two things. The genius of America demands neither, but\nrejects both; demands the distribution of property, puts the rights of\nman first, the rights of things last. Such are the political causes, and\nsuch their effects.\n\nIII. Then there are social causes which make a nation poor. Such are the\nprevalence of an opinion that industry is not respectable; that it is\nhonorable to consume, disgraceful to create; that much must be spent,\nthough little earned. The Spanish nation is poor in part through the\nprevalence of this opinion.\n\nSometimes social causes seem only to affect a class. The Pariahs in\nIndia must not fill any office that is well paid. They are despised, and\nof course they are poor and miserable. The blacks in New England are\ndespised and frowned down, not admitted to the steamboat, the omnibus,\nto the school-houses in Boston, or even to the meeting-house with white\nmen; not often allowed to work in company with the whites; and so they\nare kept in poverty. In Europe the Jews have been equally despised and\ntreated in the same way, but not made poor, because they are in many\nrespects a superior race of men, and because they have the advantage of\nbelonging to a nation whose civilization is older than any other in\nEurope; a nation specially gifted with the faculty of thrift; a tribe\nwhom none but other Jews, Scotchmen, or New Englanders, could outwit,\nover-reach, and make poor. No Ferdinand and Isabella, no inquisition\ncould so completely expel them from any country, as the superior craft\nand cunning of the Yankee has driven them out of New England. There are\nJews in every country of Europe, everywhere despised and maltreated, and\nforced into the corners of society, but everywhere superior to the men\nwho surround them. Such are the social causes which produce poverty.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow let us look at the matter on a smaller scale, and see the cause of\npoverty in New-England, of poverty in Broad street and Sea street. From\nthe great mass let me take out a class who are accidentally poor. There\nare the widows and orphan children who inherit no estate; the able men\nreduced by sickness before they have accumulated enough to sustain them.\nThen let me take out a class of men transiently poor, men who start with\nnothing, but have vigor and will to make their own way in the world. The\nmajority of the poor still remain--the class who are permanently poor.\nThe accidentally poor can easily be taken care of by public or private\ncharity; the transient poor will soon take care of themselves. The young\nman who lives on six cents a day while studying medicine in Boston, is\ndoubtless a poor man, but will soon repay society for the slight aid it\nhas lent him, and in time will take care of other poor men. So these two\nclasses, the accidental and the transient poor, can easily be disposed\nof.\n\nWhat causes have produced the class that is permanently poor? What has\njust been said of nations, is true also of individuals.\n\nFirst, there are natural and organic causes of poverty. Some men are\nborn into the midst of want, ignorance, idleness, filthiness,\nintemperance, vice, crime; their earliest associations are debasing,\ntheir companions bad. They are born into the Iceland of society, into\nthe frigid zone, some of them under the very pole-star of want. Such men\nare born and bred under the greatest disadvantages. Every star in their\nhoroscope has a malignant aspect, and sheds disastrous influence. I do\nnot remember five men in New England, from that class, becoming\ndistinguished in any manly pursuit,--not five. Almost all of our great\nmen and our rich men came from the comfortable class, none from the\nmiserable. The old poverty is parent of new poverty. It takes at least\ntwo generations to outgrow the pernicious influence of such\ncircumstances.\n\nThen much of the permanent poverty comes from the lack of ability, power\nof body and of mind. In that Iceland of society men are commonly born\nwith a feeble organization, and bred under every physical disadvantage;\nthe man is physically weak, or else runs to muscle and not brain, and so\nis mentally weak. His feebleness is the result of the poverty of his\nfathers, and his own want in childhood. The oak tree grows tall and\nlarge in a rich valley, stunted, small, and scrubby on the barren sand.\n\nAgain this class of men increase most rapidly in numbers. When the poor\nman has not half enough to fill his own mouth, and clothe his own back,\nother backs are added, other mouths opened. He abounds in nothing but\nnaked and hungry children.\n\nFurther still, he has not so good a chance as the comfortable to get\neducation and general development. A rude man, with superior abilities,\nin this century, will often be distanced by the well-trained man who\nstarted at birth with inferior powers. But if the rude man begin with\ninferior abilities, inferior circumstances, encumbered also with a load\nbecoming rapidly more burdensome, you see under what accumulated\ndisadvantages he labors all his life. So to the first natural and\norganic cause of poverty, his untoward position in society; to the\nsecond, his inferior ability; and to the third, the increase of his\nfamily, excessively rapid, we must add a fourth cause, his inferior\ndevelopment. An ignorant man, who is also weak in body, and besides\nthat, starts with every disadvantage, his burdens annually increasing,\nmay be expected to continue a poor man. It is only in most extraordinary\ncases that it turns out otherwise.\n\nTo these causes we must add what comes therefrom as their joint result:\nidleness, by which the poor waste their time; thriftlessness and\nimprovidence, by which they lose their opportunities and squander their\nsubstance. The poor are seldom so economical as the rich; it is so with\nchildren, they spoil the furniture, soil and rend their garments, put\nthings to a wasteful use, consume heedlessly and squander, careless of\nto-morrow. The poor are the children of society.\n\nTo these five causes I must add intemperance, the great bane of the\nmiserable class. I feel no temptation to be drunken, but if I were\nalways miserable, cold, hungry, naked, so ignorant that I did not know\nthe result of violating God's laws, had I been surrounded from youth\nwith the worst examples, not respected by other men, but a loathsome\nobject in their sight, not even respecting myself, I can easily\nunderstand how the temporary madness of strong drink would be a most\nwelcome thing. The poor are the prey of the rum-seller. As the lion in\nthe Hebrew wilderness eateth up the wild ass, so in modern society the\nrum-seller and rum-maker suck the bones of the miserable poor. I never\nhear of a great fortune made in the liquor trade, but I think of the\nwives that have been made widows thereby, of the children bereft of\ntheir parents, of the fathers and mothers whom strong drink has brought\ndown to shame, to crime, and to ruin. The history of the first barrel of\nrum that ever visited New England is well known. It brought some forty\nmen before the bar of the court. The history of the last barrel can\nscarcely be much better.\n\nSuch are the natural and organic causes which make poverty.\n\nWith the exception of laws which allow the sale of intoxicating drink, I\nthink there are few political causes of poverty in New England, and they\nare too inconsiderable to mention in so brief a sketch as this. However,\nthere are some social causes of our permanent poverty. I do not think we\nhave much respect for the men who do the rude work of life, however\nfaithfully and well--little respect for work itself. The rich man is\nashamed to have begun to make his fortune with his own hard hands; even\nif the rich man is not, his daughter is for him. I do not think we have\ncared much to respect the humble efforts of feeble men; not cared much\nto have men dear, and things cheap. It has not been thought the part of\npolitical economy, of sound legislation, or of pure Christianity, to\nhinder the increase of pauperism, to remove the causes of poverty, yes,\nthe causes of crime--only to take vengeance on it when committed!\n\nBoston is a strange place; here is energy enough to conquer half the\ncontinent in ten years; power of thought to seize and tame the\nConnecticut and the Merrimack; charity enough to send missionaries all\nover the world; but not justice enough to found a high school for her\nown daughters, or to forbid her richest citizens from letting bar-rooms\nas nurseries of poverty and crime, from opening wide gates which lead to\nthe almshouse, the jail, the gallows, and earthly hell!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSuch are the causes of poverty, organic, political, social. You may see\nfamilies pass from the comfortable to the miserable class, by\nintemperance, idleness, wastefulness, even by feebleness of body and of\nmind; yet while it is common for the rich to descend into the\ncomfortable class, solely by lack of the eminent thrift which raised\ntheir fathers thence, or because they lack the common stimulus to toil\nand save, it is not common for the comfortable to fall into the pit of\nmisery in New England, except through wickedness, through idleness, or\nintemperance.\n\nIt is not easy to study poverty in Boston. But take a little inland\ntown, which few persons migrate into, you will find the miserable\nfamilies have commonly been so, for a hundred years; that many of them\nare descended from the \"servants,\" or white slaves, brought here by our\nfathers; that such as fall from the comfortable classes, are commonly\nmade miserable by their own fault, sometimes by idleness, which is\ncertainly a sin, for any man who will not work, and persists in living,\neats the bread of some other man, either begged or stolen--but chiefly\nby intemperance. Three fourths of the poverty of this character, is to\nbe attributed to this cause.\n\nNow there is a tendency in poverty to drive the ablest men to work, and\nso get rid of the poverty, and this I take it is the providential design\nthereof. Poverty, like an armed man, stalks in the rear of the social\nmarch, huge and haggard, and gaunt and grim, to scare the lazy, to goad\nthe idle with his sword, to trample and slay the obstinate sluggard. But\nhe treads also the feeble under his feet, for no fault of theirs, only\nfor the misfortune of being born in the rear of society. But in poverty\nthere is also a tendency to intimidate, to enfeeble, to benumb. The\npoverty of the strong man compels him to toil; but with the weak, the\ndestruction of the poor is his poverty. An active man is awakened from\nhis sleep by the cold; he arises and seeks more covering; the indolent,\nor the feeble, shiver on till morning, benumbed and enfeebled by the\ncold. So weakness begets weakness; poverty, poverty; intemperance,\nintemperance; crime, crime.\n\nEvery thing is against the poor man; he pays the dearest tax, the\nhighest rent for his house, the dearest price for all he eats or wears.\nThe poor cannot watch their opportunity, and take advantage of the\nmarkets, as other men. They have the most numerous temptations to\nintemperance and crime; they have the poorest safeguards from these\nevils. If the chief value of wealth, as a rich man tells us, be\nthis--that \"it renders its owner independent of others,\" then on what\nshall the poor men lean, neglected and despised by others, looked on as\nloathsome, and held in contempt, shut out even from the sermons and the\nprayers of respectable men? It is no marvel if they cease to respect\nthemselves.\n\nThe poor are the most obnoxious to disease; their children are not only\nmost numerous, but most unhealthy. More than half of the children of\nthat class, perish at the age of five. Amongst the poor, infectious\ndiseases rage with frightful violence. The mortality in that class is\namazing. If things are to continue as now, I thank God it is so. If\nDeath is their only guardian, he is at least powerful, and does not\nscorn his work.\n\nIn addition to the poor, whom these causes have made and kept in\npoverty, the needy of other lands flock hither. The nobility of old\nEngland, so zealous in pursuing their game, in keeping their entails\nunbroken, and primogeniture safe, have sent their beggary to New\nEngland, to be supported by the crumbs that fall from our table. So, in\nthe same New England city, the extremes of society are brought together.\nHere is health, elegance, cultivation, sobriety, decency, refinement--I\nwish there was more of it; there is poverty, ignorance, drunkenness,\nviolence, crime, in most odious forms--starvation! We have our St.\nGiles's and St. James's; our nobility, not a whit less noble than the\nnoblest of other lands, and our beggars, both in a Christian city. Amid\nthe needy population, Misery and Death have found their parish. Who\nshall dare stop his ears, when they preach their awful denunciation of\nwant and woe?\n\nGood men ask, What shall we do? Foreign poverty has had this good\neffect; it has shamed or frightened the American beggar into industry\nand thrift.\n\nPoverty will not be removed till the causes thereof are removed. There\nare some who look for a great social revolution. So do I; only I do not\nlook for it to come about suddenly, or by mechanical means. We are in a\nsocial revolution, and do not know it. While I cannot accept the\npeculiar doctrines of the Associationists, I rejoice in their existence.\nI sympathize with their hope. They point out the evils of society, and\nthat is something. They propose a method of removing its evils. I do not\nbelieve in that method, but mankind will probably make many experiments\nbefore we hit upon the right one. For my own part, I confess I do not\nsee any way of removing poverty wholly or entirely, in one or two, or in\nfour or five generations. I think it will linger for some ages to come.\nLike the snow, it is to be removed by a general elevation of the\ntemperature of the air, not all at once, and will long hang about the\ndark and cold places of the world. But I do think it will at last be\novercome, so that a man who cannot subsist, will be as rare as a\ncannibal. \"Ye have the poor with you always,\" said Jesus, and many who\nremember this, forget that he also said, \"and when soever ye will, ye\nmay do them good.\" I expect to see a mitigation of poverty in this\ncountry, and that before long.\n\nIt is likely that the legal theory of property in Europe will undergo a\ngreat change before many years; that the right to bequeathe enormous\nestates to individuals will be cut off; that primogeniture will cease,\nand entailments be broken, and all monopolies of rank and power come to\nan end, and so a great change take place in the social condition of\nEurope, and especially of England. That change will bring many of the\ncomfortable into the rich class, and eventually many of the miserable\ninto the comfortable class. But I do not expect such a radical change\nhere, where we have not such enormous abuses to surmount.\n\nI think something will be done in Europe for the organization of labor,\nI do not know what; I do not know how; I have not the ability to know;\nand will not pretend to criticize what I know I cannot create, and do\nnot at present understand. I think there will be a great change in the\nform of society; that able men will endeavor to remove the causes of\ncrime, not merely to make money out of that crime; that intemperance\nwill be diminished; that idleness in rich or poor will be counted a\ndisgrace; that labor will be more respected; education more widely\ndiffused; and that institutions will be founded, which will tend to\nproduce these results. But I do not pretend to devise those\ninstitutions, and certainly shall not throw obstacles in the way of such\nas can or will try. It seems likely that something will be first done in\nEurope, where the need is greatest. There a change must come. By and by,\nif it does not come peaceably, the continent will not furnish \"special\nconstables\" enough to put down human nature. If the white republicans\ncannot make a revolution peacefully, wait a little, and the red\nrepublicans will make it in blood. \"Peaceably if we can, forcibly if we\nmust,\" says mankind, first in a whisper, then in a voice of thunder. If\npowerful men will not write justice with black ink, on white paper,\nignorant and violent men will write it on the soil, in letters of blood,\nand illuminate their rude legislation with burning castles, palaces and\ntowns. While the social change is taking place never so peacefully, men\nwill think the world is going to ruin. But it is an old world, pretty\nwell put together, and, with all these changes, will probably last some\ntime longer. Human society is like one of those enormous boulders, so\nnicely poised on another rock, that a man may move it with a single\nhand. You are afraid to come under its sides, lest it fall. When the\nwind blows, it rocks with formidable noise, and men say it will soon be\ndown upon us. Now and then a rude boy undertakes to throw it over, but\nall the men who can get their shoulders under, cannot raise the\nponderous mass from its solid and firm-set base.\n\nStill, after all these changes have taken place, there remains the\ndifference between the strong and the weak, the active and the idle, the\nthrifty and the spendthrift, the temperate and the intemperate, and\nthough the term poverty ceases to be so dreadful, and no longer denotes\nwant of the natural necessaries of the body, there will still remain the\nrelatively rich and the relatively poor.\n\nBut now something can be done directly, to remove the causes of poverty,\nsomething to mitigate their effects; we need both the palliative\ncharity, and the remedial justice. Tenements for the poor can be\nprovided at a cheap rent, that shall yet pay their owner a reasonable\nincome. This has been proved by actual experiment, and, after all that\nhas been said about it, I am amazed that no more is done. I will not\nexhort the churches to this in the name of religion--they have other\nmatters to attend to; but if capitalists will not, in a place like\nBoston, it seems to me the City should see that this class of the\npopulation is provided with tenements, at a rate not ruinous. It would\nbe good economy to do it, in the pecuniary sense of good economy;\ncertainly to hire money at six per cent., and rent the houses built\ntherewith, at eight per cent., would cost less than to support the poor\nentirely in almshouses, and punish them in jails.\n\nSomething yet more may be done, in the way of furnishing them with work,\nor of directing them to it; something towards enabling them to purchase\nfood and other articles cheap.\n\nSomething might be done to prevent street beggary, and begging from\nhouse to house, which is rather a new thing in this town. The\nindiscriminate charity, which it is difficult to withhold from a needy\nand importunate beggar, does more harm than good.\n\nMuch may be done to promote temperance; much more, I fear, than is\nlikely to be done; that is plainly the duty of society. Intemperance is\nbad enough with the comfortable and the rich; with the poor it is\nruin--sheer, blank and swift ruin. The example of the rich, of the\ncomfortable, goes down there like lightning, to shatter, to blast, and\nto burn. It is marvellous, that in Christian Boston, men of wealth, and\nso above the temptation which lurks behind a dollar, men of character\notherwise thought to be elevated, can yet continue a traffic which leads\nto the ruin and slow butchery of such masses of men. I know not what can\nbe done by means of the public law. I do know what can be done by\nprivate self-denial, by private diligence.\n\nSomething also may be done to promote religion amongst the poor, at\nleast something to make it practicable for a poor man to come to church\non Sunday, with his fellow-creatures who are not miserable--and to hear\nthe best things that the ablest men in the church have to offer. We are\nvery democratic in our State, not at all so in our church. In this\nmatter the Catholics put us quite to shame. If, as some men still\nbelieve, it be a manly calling and a noble, to preach Christianity, then\nto preach it to men who stand in the worst and most dangerous positions\nin society; to take the highest truths of human consciousness, the\nloftiest philosophy, the noblest piety, and bring them down into the\ndaily life of poor men, rude men, men obscure, unfriended, ready to\nperish; surely this is the noblest part of that calling, and demands the\nnoblest gifts, the fairest and the largest culture, the loftiest powers.\n\nIt is no hard thing to reason with reasoning men, and be intelligible to\nthe intelligent; to talk acceptably and even movingly to scholars and\nmen well read, is no hard thing if you are yourself well read and a\nscholar. But to be intelligible to the ignorant, to reason with men who\nreason not, to speak acceptably and movingly with such men, to inspire\nthem with wisdom, with goodness and with piety, that is the task only\nfor some men of rare genius who can stride over the great gulf betwixt\nthe thrones of creative power, and the humble positions of men ignorant,\npoor and forgot! Yet such men there are, and here is their work.\n\nSomething can be done for the children of the poor--to promote their\neducation, to find them employment, to snatch these little ones from\nunderneath the feet of that grim Poverty. It is not less than awful, to\nthink while there are more children born in Boston of Catholic parents\nthan of Protestant, that yet more than three fifths thereof die before\nthe sun of their fifth year shines on their luckless heads. I thank God\nthat thus they die. If there be not wisdom enough in society, nor enough\nof justice there to save them from their future long-protracted\nsuffering, then I thank God that Death comes down betimes, and moistens\nhis sickle while his crop is green. I pity not the miserable babes who\nfall early before that merciful arm of Death. They are at rest. Poverty\ncannot touch them. Let the mothers who bore them rejoice, but weep only\nfor those that are left--left to ignorance, to misery, to intemperance,\nto vice that I shall not name; left to the mercies of the jail, and\nperhaps the gallows at the last. Yet Boston is a Christian city--and it\nis eighteen hundred years since one great Son of Man came to seek and to\nsave that which was lost!\n\nI see not what more can be done directly, and I see not why these things\nshould not be done. Still some will suffer: the idle, the lazy, the\nproud who will not work, the careless who will voluntarily waste their\ntime, their strength, or their goods--they must suffer, they ought to\nsuffer. Want is the only schoolmaster to teach them industry and\nthrift. Such as are merely unable, who are poor not by their fault--we\ndo wrong to let them suffer; we do wickedly to leave them to perish. The\nlittle children who survive--are they to be left to become barbarians in\nthe midst of our civilization?\n\nWant is not an absolutely needful thing, but very needful for the\npresent distress, to teach us industry, economy, thrift and its creative\narts. There is nature--the whole material world--waiting to serve. \"What\nwould you have thereof?\" says God. \"Pay for it and take it, as you will;\nonly pay as you go!\" There are hands to work, heads to think; strong\nhands, hard heads. God is an economist: He economizes suffering; there\nis never too much of it in the world for the purpose it is to serve,\nthough it often falls where it should not fall. It is here to teach us\nindustry, thrift, justice. It will be here no more when we have learned\nits lesson. Want is here on sufferance; misery on sufferance; and\nmankind can eject them if we will. Poverty, like all evils, is amenable\nto suppression.\n\nCan we not end this poverty--the misery and crime it brings? No, not\nto-day. Can we not lessen it? Soon as we will. Think how much ability\nthere is in this town, cool, far-sighted talent. If some of the ablest\nmen directed their thoughts to the reform of this evil, how much might\nbe done in a single generation; and in a century--what could not they\ndo in a hundred years? What better work is there for able men? I would\nhave it written on my tombstone: \"This man had but little wit, and less\nfame, yet he helped remove the causes of poverty, making men better off\nand better,\" rather by far than this: \"Here lies a great man; he had a\ngreat place in the world, and great power, and great fame, and made\nnothing of it, leaving the world no better for his stay therein, and no\nman better off.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAfter all the special efforts to remove poverty, the great work is to be\ndone by the general advance of mankind. We shall outgrow this as\ncannibalism, butchery of captives, war for plunder, and other kindred\nmiseries have been outgrown. God has general remedies in abundance, but\nfew specific. Something will be done by diffusing throughout the\ncommunity principles and habits of economy, industry, temperance; by\ndiffusing ideas of justice, sentiments of brotherly love, sentiments and\nideas of religion. I hope every thing from that--the noiseless and\nsteady progress of Christianity; the snow melts, not by sunlight, or\nthat alone, but as the whole air becomes warm. You may in cold weather\nmelt away a little before your own door, but that makes little\ndifference till the general temperature rises. Still while the air is\ngetting warm, you facilitate the process by breaking up the obdurate\nmasses of ice and putting them where the sun shines with direct and\nunimpeded light. So must we do with poverty.\n\nIt is only a little that any of us can do--for any thing. Still we can\ndo a little; we can each do by helping towards raising the general tone\nof society: first, by each man raising himself; by industry, economy,\ncharity, justice, piety; by a noble life. So doing, we raise the moral\ntemperature of the whole world, and just in proportion thereto. Next, by\nhelping those who come in our way; nay, by going out of our way to help\nthem. In each of these modes, it is our duty to work. To a certain\nextent each man is his brother's keeper. Of the powers we possess we are\nbut trustees under Providence, to use them for the benefit of men, and\nrender continually an account of our stewardship to God. Each man can do\na little directly to help convince the world of its wrong, a little in\nthe way of temporizing charity, a little in the way of remedial justice;\nso doing, he works with God, and God works with him.\n\n\n\n\nX.\n\nA SERMON OF THE MORAL CONDITION OF BOSTON.--PREACHED AT THE MELODEON, ON\nSUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1849.\n\n1 SAMUEL VII. 12.\n\n    Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.\n\n\nA man who has only the spirit of his age can easily be a popular man; if\nhe have it in an eminent degree, he must be a popular man in it: he has\nits hopes and its fears; his trumpet gives a certain and well-known\nsound; his counsel is readily appreciated; the majority is on his side.\nBut he cannot be a wise magistrate, a just judge, a competent critic, or\na profitable preacher. A man who has only the spirit of a former age can\nbe none of these four things; and not even a popular man. He remembers\nwhen he ought to forecast, and compares when he ought to act; he cannot\nappreciate the age he lives in, nor have a fellow-feeling with it. He\nmay easily obtain the pity of his age, not its sympathy or its\nconfidence. The man who has the spirit of his own, and also that of\nsome future age, is alone capable of becoming a wise magistrate, a just\njudge, a competent critic, and a profitable preacher. Such a man looks\non passing events somewhat as the future historian will do, and sees\nthem in their proportions, not distorted; sees them in their connection\nwith great general laws, and judges of the falling rain not merely by\nthe bonnets it may spoil and the pastime it disturbs, but by the grass\nand corn it shall cause to grow. He has hopes and fears of his own, but\nthey are not the hopes and fears of men about him; his trumpet cannot\ngive a welcome or well-known sound, nor his counsel be presently heeded.\nMajorities are not on his side, nor can he be a popular man.\n\nTo understand our present moral condition, to be able to give good\ncounsel thereon, you must understand the former generation, and have\npotentially the spirit of the future generation; must appreciate the\npast, and yet belong to the future. Who is there that can do this? No\nman will say, \"I can.\" Conscious of the difficulty, and aware of my own\ndeficiencies in all these respects, I will yet endeavor to speak of the\nmoral condition of Boston.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFirst, I will speak of the actual moral condition of Boston, as\nindicated by the morals of Trade. In a city like Rome, you must first\nfeel the pulse of the church, in St. Petersburg that of the court, to\ndetermine the moral condition of those cities. Now trade is to Boston\nwhat the church is to Rome and the imperial court to St. Petersburg: it\nis the pendulum which regulates all the common and authorized machinery\nof the place; it is an organization of the public conscience. We care\nlittle for any Pius the Ninth, or Nicholas the First; the dollar is our\nemperor and pope, above all the parties in the State, all sects in the\nchurch, lord paramount over both, its spiritual and temporal power not\nlikely to be called in question; revolt from what else we may, we are\nloyal still to that.\n\nA little while ago, in a sermon of riches, speaking of the character of\ntrade in Boston, I suggested that men were better than their reputation\noftener than worse; that there were a hundred honest bargains to one\nthat was dishonest. I have heard severe strictures from friendly\ntongues, on that statement, which gave me more pain than any criticism I\nhave received before. The criticism was, that I overrated the honesty of\nmen in trade. Now, it is a small thing to be convicted of an error--a\njust thing and a profitable to have it detected and exposed; but it is a\npainful thing to find you have overrated the moral character of your\ntownsmen. However, if what I said be not true as history, I hope it will\nbecome so as prophecy; I doubt not my critics will help that work.\n\nLove of money is out of proportion to love of better things--to love of\njustice, of truth, of a manly character developing itself in a manly\nlife. Wealth is often made the end to live for; not the means to live\nby, and attain a manly character. The young man of good abilities does\nnot commonly propose it to himself to be a noble man, equipped with all\nthe intellectual and moral qualities which belong to that, and capable\nof the duties which come thereof. He is satisfied if he can become a\nrich man. It is the highest ambition of many a youth in this town to\nbecome one of the rich men of Boston; to have the social position which\nwealth always gives, and nothing else in this country can commonly\nbestow. Accordingly, our young men that are now poor, will sacrifice\nevery thing to this one object; will make wealth the end, and will\nbecome rich without becoming noble. But wealth without nobleness of\ncharacter is always vulgar. I have seen a clown staring at himself in\nthe gorgeous mirror of a French palace, and thought him no bad emblem of\nmany an ignoble man at home, surrounded by material riches which only\nreflected back the vulgarity of their owner.\n\nOther young men inherit wealth, but seldom regard it as a means of power\nfor high and noble ends, only as the means of selfish indulgence;\nunneeded means to elevate yet more their self-esteem. Now and then you\nfind a man who values wealth only as an instrument to serve mankind\nwithal. I know some such men; their money is a blessing akin to genius,\na blessing to mankind, a means of philanthropic power. But such men are\nrare in all countries, perhaps a little less so in Boston than in most\nother large trading towns; still, exceeding rare. They are sure to meet\nwith neglect, abuse, and perhaps with scorn; if they are men of eminent\nability, superior culture, and most elevated moral aims, set off, too,\nwith a noble and heroic life, they are sure of meeting with eminent\nhatred. I fear the man most hated in this town would be found to be some\none who had only sought to do mankind some great good, and stepped\nbefore his age too far for its sympathy. Truth, Justice, Humanity, are\nnot thought in Boston to have come of good family; their followers are\nnot respectable. I am not speaking to blame men, only to show the fact;\nwe may meddle with things too high for us, but not understand nor\nappreciate.\n\nNow this disproportionate love of money appears in various ways. You see\nit in the advantage that is taken of the feeblest, the most ignorant,\nand the most exposed classes in the community. It is notorious that they\npay the highest prices, the dearest rents, and are imposed upon in their\ndealings oftener than any other class of men; so the raven and the\nhooded crow, it is said, seek out the sickliest sheep to pounce upon.\nThe fact that a man is ignorant, poor, and desperate, furnishes to many\nmen an argument for defrauding the man. It is bad enough to injure any\nman; but to wrong an ignorant man, a poor and friendless man; to take\nadvantage of his poverty or his ignorance, and to get his services or\nhis money for less than a fair return--that is petty baseness under\naggravated circumstances, and as cowardly as it is mean. You are now and\nthen shocked at rich men telling of the arts by which they got their\ngold--sometimes of their fraud at home, sometimes abroad, and a good man\nalmost thinks there must be a curse on money meanly got at first, though\nit falls to him by honest inheritance.\n\nThis same disproportionate love of money appears in the fact that men,\nnot driven by necessity, engage in the manufacture, the importation, and\nthe sale of an article which corrupts and ruins men by hundreds; which\nhas done more to increase poverty, misery, and crime than any other one\ncause whatever; and, as some think, more than all other causes whatever.\nI am not speaking of men who aid in any just and proper use of that\narticle, but in its ruinous use. Yet such men, by such a traffic, never\nlose their standing in society, their reputation in trade, their\ncharacter in the church. A good many men will think worse of you for\nbeing an Abolitionist; men have lost their place in society by that\nname; even Dr. Channing \"hurt his usefulness\" and \"injured his\nreputation\" by daring to speak against that sin of the nation; but no\nman loses caste in Boston by making, importing, and selling the cause\nof ruin to hundreds of families--though he does it with his eyes open,\nknowing that he ministers to crime and to ruin! I am told that large\nquantities of New England rum have already been sent from this city to\nCalifornia; it is notorious that much of it is sent to the nations of\nAfrica--if not from Boston, at least from New England--as an auxiliary\nin the slave-trade. You know with what feelings of grief and indignation\na clergyman of this city saw that characteristic manufacture of his town\non the wharves of a Mahometan city. I suppose there are not ten\nministers in Boston who would not \"get into trouble,\" as the phrase is,\nif they were to preach against intemperance, and the causes that produce\nintemperance, with half so much zeal as they innocently preach\n\"regeneration\" and a \"form of piety\" which will never touch a single\ncorner of the earth. As the minister came down, the Spirit of Trade\nwould meet him on the pulpit stairs to warn him: \"Business is business;\nreligion is religion; business is ours, religion yours; but if you make\nor even allow religion to interfere with our business, then it will be\nthe worse for you--that is all!\" You know it is not a great while since\nwe drove out of Boston the one Unitarian minister who was a fearless\napostle of temperance.[36] His presence here was a grief to that \"form\nof piety;\" a disturbance to trade. Since then the peace of the churches\nhas not been much disturbed by the preaching of temperance. The effect\nhas been salutary; no Unitarian minister has risen up to fill that\nplace!\n\nThis same disproportionate love of money appears in the fact, that the\nmerchants of Boston still allow colored seamen to be taken from their\nships and shut up in the jails of another State. If they cared as much\nfor the rights of man as for money, as much for the men who sail the\nship as for the cargo it carries, I cannot think there would be brass\nenough in South Carolina, or all the South, to hold another freeman of\nMassachusetts in bondage, merely for the color of his skin. No doubt, a\nmerchant would lose his reputation in this city by engaging directly in\nthe slave-trade, for it is made piracy by the law of the land.[37] But\ndid any one ever lose his reputation by taking a mortgage on slaves as\nsecurity for a debt; by becoming, in that way or by inheritance, the\nowner of slaves, and still keeping them in bondage?\n\nYou shall take the whole trading community of Boston, rich and poor,\ngood and bad, study the phenomena of trade as astronomers the phenomena\nof the heavens, and from the observed facts, by the inductive method of\nphilosophy, construct the ethics of trade, and you will find one great\nmaxim to underlie the whole: Money must be made. Money-making is to the\nethics of trade what attraction is to the material world; what truth is\nto the intellect, and justice in morals. Other things must yield to\nthat; that to nothing. In the effort to comply with this universal law\nof trade, many a character gives way; many a virtue gets pushed aside;\nthe higher, nobler qualities of a man are held in small esteem.\n\nThis characteristic of the trading class appears in the thought of the\npeople as well as their actions. You see it in the secular literature of\nour times; in the laws, even in the sermons; nobler things give way to\nlove of gold. So in an ill-tended garden, in some bed where violets\nsought to open their fragrant bosoms to the sun, have I seen a cabbage\ncome up and grow apace, with thick and vulgar stalk, with coarse and\nvulgar leaves, with rank unsavory look; it thrust aside the little\nviolet, which, underneath that impenetrable leaf, lacking the morning\nsunshine and the dew of night, faded and gave up its tender life; but\nabove the grave of the violet there stood the cabbage, green,\nexpanding, triumphant, and all fearless of the frost. Yet the cabbage\nalso had its value and its use.\n\nThere are men in Boston, some rich, some poor, old and young, who are\nfree from this reproach; men that have a well-proportioned love of\nmoney, and make the pursuit thereof an effort for all the noble\nqualities of a man. I know some such men, not very numerous anywhere,\nmen who show that the common business of life is the place to mature\ngreat virtues in; that the pursuit of wealth, successful or not, need\nhinder the growth of no excellence, but may promote all manly life. Such\nmen stand here as violets among the cabbages, making a fragrance and a\nloveliness all their own; attractive anywhere, but marvellous in such a\nneighborhood as that.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLook next on the morals of Boston, as indicated by the Newspapers, the\ndaily and the weekly press. Take the whole newspaper literature of\nBoston, cheap and costly, good and bad, study it all as a whole, and by\nthe inductive method construct the ethics of the press, and here you\nfind no signs of a higher morality in general than you found in trade.\nIt is the same centre about which all things gravitate here as there.\nBut in the newspapers the want of great principles is more obvious, and\nmore severely felt than in trade--the want of justice, of truth, of\nhumanity, of sympathy with man. In trade you meet with signs of great\npower; the highway of commerce bears marks of giant feet. Our newspapers\nseem chiefly in the hands of little men, whose cunning is in a large\nratio to their wisdom or their justice. You find here little ability,\nlittle sound learning, little wise political economy; of lofty morals\nalmost nothing at all. Here, also, the dollar is both Pope and King;\nright and truth are vassals, not much esteemed, nor over-often called to\npay service to their Lord, who has other soldiers with more pliant neck\nand knee.\n\nA newspaper is an instrument of great importance; all men read it; many\nread nothing else; some it serves as reason and conscience too: in lack\nof better, why not? It speaks to thousands every day on matters of great\nmoment--on matters of morals, of politics, of finance. It relates daily\nthe occurrences of our land, and of all the world. All men are affected\nby it; hindered or helped. To many a man his morning paper represents\nmore reality than his morning prayer. There are many in a community like\nthis who do not know what to say--I do not mean what to think,\nthoughtful men know what to think--about any thing till somebody tells\nthem; yet they must talk, for \"the mouth goes always.\" To such a man a\nnewspaper is invaluable; as the idolater in the Judges had \"a Levite to\nhis priest,\" so he has a newspaper to his reason or his conscience, and\ncan talk to the day's end. An able and humane newspaper would get this\nclass of persons into good habits of speech, and do them a service,\ninasmuch as good habits of speech are better than bad.\n\nOne portion of this literature is degrading; it seems purposely so, as\nif written by base men, for base readers, to serve base ends. I know not\nwhich is most depraved thereby, the taste or the conscience. Obscene\nadvertisements are there, meant for the licentious eye; there are\nloathsome details of vice, of crime, of depravity, related with the\ndesign to attract, yet so disgusting that any but a corrupt man must\nrevolt from them; there are accounts of the appearance of culprits in\nthe lower courts, of their crime, of their punishment; these are related\nwith an impudent flippancy, and a desire to make sport of human\nwretchedness and perhaps depravity, which amaze a man of only the\naverage humanity. We read of Judge Jeffreys and the bloody assizes in\nEngland, one hundred and sixty years ago, but never think there are in\nthe midst of us men who, like that monster, can make sport of human\nmisery; but for a cent you can find proof that the race of such is not\nextinct. If a penny-a-liner were to go into a military hospital, and\nmake merry at the sights he saw there, at the groans he heard, and the\nkeen smart his eye witnessed, could he publish his fiendish joy at that\nspectacle--you would not say he was a man. If one mock at the crimes of\nmen, perhaps at their sins, at the infamous punishments they\nsuffer--what can you say of him?\n\nIt is a significant fact that the commercial newspapers, which of course\nin such a town are the controlling newspapers, in reporting the European\nnews, relate first the state of the markets abroad, the price of cotton,\nof consols, and of corn; then the health of the English queen, and the\nmovements of the nations. This is loyal and consistent; at Rome, the\njournal used to announce first some tidings of the Pope, then of the\nlesser dignitaries of the church, then of the discovery of new antiques,\nand other matters of great pith and moment; at St. Petersburg, it was\nfirst of the Emperor that the journal spoke; at Boston, it is legitimate\nthat the health of the dollar should be reported first of all.\n\nThe political newspapers are a melancholy proof of the low morality of\nthis town. You know what they will say of any party movement; that\nmeasures and men are judged on purely party grounds. The country is\ncommonly put before mankind, and the party before the country. Which of\nthem in political matters pursues a course that is fair and just; how\nmany of them have ever advanced a great idea, or been constantly true to\na great principle of natural justice; how many resolutely oppose a great\nwrong; how many can be trusted to expose the most notorious blunders of\ntheir party; how many of them aim to promote the higher interests of\nmankind? What servility is there in some of these journals, a cringing\nto the public opinion of the party; a desire that \"our efforts may be\nappreciated!\" In our politics every thing which relates to money is\npretty carefully looked after, though not always well looked after; but\nwhat relates to the moral part of politics is commonly passed over with\nmuch less heed. Men would compliment a senator who understood finance in\nall its mysteries, and sneer at one who had studied as faithfully the\nmysteries of war, or of slavery. The Mexican War tested the morality of\nBoston, as it appears both in the newspapers and in trade, and showed\nits true value.\n\nThere are some few exceptions to this statement; here and there is a\njournal which does set forth the great ideas of this age, and is\nanimated by the spirit of humanity. But such exceptions only remind one\nof the general rule.\n\nIn the sectarian journals the same general morality appears, but in a\nworse form. What would have been political hatred in the secular prints,\nbecomes theological odium in the sectarian journals; not a mere hatred\nin the name of party, but hatred in the name of God and Christ. Here is\nless fairness, less openness, and less ability than there, but more\nmalice; the form, too, is less manly. What is there a strut or a\nswagger, is here only a snivel. They are the last places in which you\nneed look for the spirit of true morality. Which of the sectarian\njournals of Boston advocates any of the great reforms of the day? nay,\nwhich is not an obstacle in the path of all manly reform? But let us not\ndwell upon this, only look and pass by.\n\nI am not about to censure the conductors of these journals, commercial,\npolitical, or theological. I am no judge of any man's conscience. No\ndoubt they write as they can or must. This literature is as honest and\nas able as \"the circumstances will admit of.\" I look on it as an index\nof our moral condition, for a newspaper literature always represents the\ngeneral morals of its readers. Grocers and butchers purchase only such\narticles as their customers will buy; the editors of newspapers reveal\nthe moral character of their subscribers as well as their\ncorrespondents. The transient literature of any age is always a good\nindex of the moral taste of the age. These two witnesses attest the\nmoral condition of the better part of the city; but there are men a good\ndeal lower than the general morals of trade and the press. Other\nwitnesses testify to their moral character.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLet me now speak of your moral condition as indicated by the Poverty in\nthis city. I have so recently spoken on the subject of poverty in\nBoston, and printed the sermon, that I will not now mention the misery\nit brings. I will only speak of the moral condition which it indicates,\nand the moral effect it has upon us.\n\nIn this age, poverty tends to barbarize men; it shuts them out from the\neducational influences of our times. The sons of the miserable class\ncannot obtain the intellectual, moral, and religious education which is\nthe birthright of the comfortable and the rich. There is a great gulf\nbetween them and the culture of our times. How hard it must be to climb\nup from a cellar in Cove Place to wisdom, to honesty, to piety. I know\nhow comfortable pharisaic self-righteousness can say, \"I thank thee I am\nnot wicked like one of these,\" and God knows which is the best before\nHis eyes, the scorner, or the man he loathes and leaves to dirt and\ndestruction. I know this poverty belongs to the state of transition we\nare now in, and can only be ended by our passing through this into a\nbetter. I see the medicinal effect of poverty, that with cantharidian\nsting it drives some men to work, to frugality and thrift; that the\nIrish has driven the American beggar out of the streets, and will shame\nhim out of the almshouse ere long. But there are men who have not force\nenough to obey this stimulus; they only cringe and smart under its\nsting. Such men are made barbarians by poverty, barbarians in body, in\nmind and conscience, in heart and soul. There is a great amount of this\nbarbarism in Boston; it lowers the moral character of the place, as\nicebergs in your harbor next June would chill the air all day.\n\nThe fact that such poverty is here, that so little is done by public\nauthority, or by the ablest men in the land, to remove the evil tree and\ndig up its evil root; that amid all the wealth of Boston and all its\ncharity, there are not even comfortable tenements for the poor to be had\nat any but a ruinous rent--that is a sad fact, and bears a sad testimony\nto our moral state! Sometimes the spectacle of misery does good,\nquickening the moral sense and touching the electric tie which binds all\nhuman hearts into one great family; but when it does not lead to this\nresult, then it debases the looker-on. To know of want, of misery, of\nall the complicated and far-extended ill they bring; to hear of this,\nand to see it in the streets; to have the money to alleviate, and yet\nnot to alleviate; the wisdom to devise a cure therefor, and yet make no\neffort towards it--that is to be yourself debased and barbarized. I have\noften thought, in seeing the poverty of London, that the daily spectacle\nof such misery did more in a year to debauch the British heart than all\nthe slaughter at Waterloo. I know that misery has called out heroic\nvirtue in some men and women, and made philanthropists of such as\notherwise had been only getters and keepers of gain. We have noble\nexamples of that in the midst of us; but how many men has poverty trod\ndown into the mire; how many has this sight of misery hardened into cold\nworldliness, the man frozen into mere respectability, its thin smile on\nhis lips, its ungodly contempt in his heart!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOut of this barbarism of poverty there come three other forms of evil\nwhich indicate the moral condition of Boston; of that portion named just\nnow as below the morals of trade and the press. These also I will call\nup to testify.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne is Intemperance. This is a crime against the body; it is felony\nagainst your own frame. It makes a schism amongst your own members. The\namount of it is fearfully great in this town. Some of our most wealthy\ncitizens, who rent their buildings for the unlawful sale of rum to be\napplied to an intemperate abuse, are directly concerned in promoting\nthis intemperance; others, rich but less wealthy, have sucked their\nabundance out of the bones of the poor, and are actual manufacturers of\nthe drunkard and the criminal. Here are numerous distilleries owned, and\nsome of them conducted, I am told, by men of wealth. The fire thereof is\nnot quenched at all by day, and there is no night there; the worm dieth\nnot. There out of the sweetest plant which God has made to grow under a\ntropic sun, men distil a poison the most baneful to mankind which the\nworld has ever known. The poison of the Borgias was celebrated once;\ncold-hearted courtiers shivered at its name. It never killed many; those\nwith merciful swiftness. The poison of rum is yet worse; it yearly\nmurders thousands; kills them by inches, body and soul. Here are\nrespectable and wealthy men, men who this day sit down in a Christian\nchurch and thank God for his goodness, with contrite hearts praise him\nfor that Son of Man who gave his life for mankind, and would gladly give\nit to mankind; yet these men have ships on the sea to bring the poor\nman's poison here, or bear it hence to other men as poor; have\ndistilleries on the land to make still yet more for the ruin of their\nfellow Christians; have warehouses full of this plague, which \"outvenoms\nall the worms of Nile;\" have shops which they rent for the illegal and\nmurderous sale of this terrible scourge. Do they not know the ruin which\nthey work; are they the only men in the land who have not heard of the\neffects of intemperance? I judge them not, great God! I only judge\nmyself. I wish I could say, \"They know not what they do;\" but at this\nday who does not know the effect of intemperance in Boston?\n\nI speak not of the sale of ardent spirits to be used in the arts, to be\nused for medicine, but of the needless use thereof; of their use to\ndamage the body and injure the soul of man. The chief of your police\ninforms me there are twelve hundred places in Boston, where this article\nis sold to be drunk on the spot; illegally sold. The Charitable\nAssociation of Mechanics, in this city, have taken the accumulated\nsavings of more than fifty years, and therewith built a costly\nestablishment, where intoxicating drink is needlessly but abundantly\nsold! Low as the moral standard of Boston is, low as are the morals of\nthe press and trade, I had hoped better things of these men, who live in\nthe midst of hard-working laborers, and see the miseries of intemperance\nall about them. But the dollar was too powerful for their temperance.\n\nHere are splendid houses, where the rich man or the thrifty needlessly\ndrinks. Let me leave them; the evil Demon of Intemperance appears not\nthere; he is there, but under well-made garments, amongst educated men,\nwho are respected and still respect themselves. Amid merriment and song\nthe Demon appears not. He is there, gaunt, bony, and destructive, but so\nelegantly clad, with manners so unoffending, you do not mark his face,\nnor fear his steps. But go down to that miserable lane, where men\nmothered by Misery and sired by Crime, where the sons of Poverty and the\ndaughters of Wretchedness, are huddled thick together, and you see this\nDemon of Intemperance in all his ugliness. Let me speak soberly:\nexaggeration is a figure of speech I would always banish from my\nrhetoric, here, above all, where the fact is more appalling than any\nfiction I could devise. In the low parts of Boston, where want abounds,\nwhere misery abounds, intemperance abounds yet more, to multiply want,\nto aggravate misery, to make savage what poverty has only made\nbarbarian; to stimulate passion into crime. Here it is not music and the\nsong which crown the bowl; it is crowned by obscenity, by oaths, by\ncurses, by violence, sometimes by murder. These twine the ivy round the\npoor man's bowl; no, it is the Upas that they twine. Think of the\nsufferings of the drunkard himself, of his poverty, his hunger and his\nnakedness, his cold; think of his battered body; of his mind and\nconscience, how they are gone. But is that all? Far from it. These\ncurses shall become blows upon his wife; that savage violence shall be\nexpended on his child. In his senses this man was a barbarian; there are\ncenturies of civilization betwixt him and cultivated men. But the man of\nwealth, adorned with respectability and armed with science, harbors a\nDemon in the street, a profitable Demon to the rich man who rents his\nhouses for such a use. The Demon enters our barbarian, who straightway\nbecomes a savage. In his fury he tears his wife and child. The law,\nheedless of the greater culprits, the Demon, and the demon-breeder,\nseizes our savage man and shuts him in the jail. Now he is out of the\ntempter's reach; let us leave him; let us go to his home. His wife and\nchildren still are there, freed from their old tormentor. Enter: look\nupon the squalor, the filth, the want, the misery still left behind.\nRespectability halts at the door with folded arms, and can no further\ngo. But charity, the love of man which never fails, enters even there;\nenters to lift up the fallen, to cheer the despairing, to comfort and to\nbless. Let us leave her there, loving the unlovely, and turn to other\nsights.\n\nIn the streets, there are about nine hundred needy boys, and about two\nhundred needy girls, the sons and daughters mainly of the intemperate;\ntoo idle or too thriftless to work; too low and naked for the public\nschool. They roam about--the nomadic tribes of this town, the gipsies of\nBoston--doing some chance work for a moment, committing some petty\ntheft. The temptations of a great city are before them.[38] Soon they\nwill be impressed into the regular army of crime, to be stationed in\nyour jails, perhaps to die on your gallows. Such is the fate of the sons\nof intemperance; but the daughters! their fate--let me not tell of that.\n\nIn your Legislature they have just been discussing a law against dogs,\nfor now and then a man is bitten and dies of hydrophobia. Perhaps there\nare ten mad dogs in the State at this moment, and it may be that one man\nin a year dies from the bite of such. Do the legislators know how many\nshops there are in this town, in this State, which all the day and all\nthe year sell to intemperate men a poison that maddens with a\nhydrophobia still worse? If there were a thousand mad dogs in the land,\nif wealthy men had embarked a large capital in the importation or the\nproduction of mad dogs, and if they bit and maddened and slew ten\nthousand men in a year, do you believe your Legislature would discuss\nthat evil with such fearless speech? Then you are very young, and know\nlittle of the tyranny of public opinion, and the power of money to\nsilence speech, while justice still comes in, with feet of wool, but\niron hands.[39]\n\nThere is yet another witness to the moral condition of Boston. I mean\nCrime. Where there is such poverty and intemperance, crime may be\nexpected to follow. I will not now dwell upon this theme, only let me\nsay, that in 1848, three thousand four hundred and thirty-five grown\npersons, and six hundred and seventy-one minors were lawfully sentenced\nto your jail and House of Correction; in all, four thousand one hundred\nand six; three thousand four hundred and forty-four persons were\narrested by the night police, and eleven thousand one hundred and\nseventy-eight were taken into custody by the watch; at one time there\nwere one hundred and forty-four in the common jail. I have already\nmentioned that more than a thousand boys and girls, between six and\nsixteen, wander as vagrants about your streets; two hundred and\nthirty-eight of these are children of widows, fifty-four have neither\nparent living. It is a fact known to your police, that about one\nthousand two hundred shops are unlawfully open for retailing the means\nof intemperance. These are most thickly strown in the haunts of poverty.\nOn a single Sunday the police found three hundred and thirteen shops in\nthe full experiment of unblushing and successful crime. These rum-shops\nare the factories of crime; the raw material is furnished by poverty; it\npasses into the hands of the rum-seller, and is soon ready for delivery\nat the mouth of the jail, or the foot of the gallows. It is notorious\nthat intemperance is the proximate cause of three fourths of the crime\nin Boston; yet it is very respectable to own houses and rent them for\nthe purpose of making men intemperate; nobody loses his standing by\nthat. I am not surprised to hear of women armed with knives, and boys\nwith six-barrelled revolvers in their pockets; not surprised at the\nincrease of capital trials.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne other matter let me name--I call it the Crime against Woman. Let us\nsee the evil in its type, its most significant form. Look at that thing\nof corruption and of shame, almost without shame, whom the judge, with\nbrief words, despatches to the jail. That was a woman once. No! At\nleast, she was once a girl. She had a mother; perhaps, beyond the hills,\na mother, in her evening prayer, remembers still this one child more\ntenderly than all the folded flowers that slept the sleep of infancy\nbeneath her roof; remembers, with a prayer, her child, whom the world\ncurses after it has made corrupt! Perhaps she had no such mother, but\nwas born in the filth of some reeking cellar, and turned into the mire\nof the streets, in her undefended innocence, to mingle with the\ncoarseness, the intemperance, and the crime of a corrupt metropolis. In\neither case, her blood is on our hands. The crime which is so terribly\navenged on woman--think you that God will hold men innocent of that? But\non this sign of our moral state, I will not long delay.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPut all these things together: the character of trade, of the press;\ntake the evidence of poverty, intemperance, and crime--it all reveals a\nsad state of things. I call your attention to these facts. We are all\naffected by them more or less; all more or less accountable for them.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHitherto I have only stated facts, without making comparisons. Let me\nnow compare the present condition of Boston with that in former times.\nEvery man has an ideal, which is better than the actual facts about him.\nSome men amongst us put that ideal in times past, and maintain it was\nthen an historical fact; they are commonly men who have little knowledge\nof the past, and less hope for the future; a good deal of reverence for\nold precedents, little for justice, truth, humanity; little confidence\nin mankind, and a great deal of fear of new things. Such men love to\nlook back and do homage to the past, but it is only a past of fancy, not\nof fact, they do homage to. They tell us we have fallen; that the golden\nage is behind us, and the garden of Eden; ours are degenerate days; the\nmen are inferior, the women less winning, less witty, and less wise, and\nthe children are an untoward generation, a disgrace, not so much to\ntheir fathers, but certainly to their grandsires. Sometimes this is the\ncomplaint of men who have grown old; sometimes of such as seem to be old\nwithout growing so, who seem born to the gift of age, without the grace\nof youth.\n\nOther men have a similar ideal, commonly a higher one, but they place\nit in the future, not as an historical reality, which has been, and is\ntherefore to be worshipped, but one which is to be made real by dint of\nthought, of work. I have known old persons who stoutly maintained that\nthe pears and the plums and the peaches, are not half so luscious as\nthey were many years ago; so they bewailed the existing race of fruits,\ncomplaining of \"the general decay\" of sweetness, and brought over to\ntheir way of speech some aged juveniles. Meanwhile, men born young, set\nthemselves to productive work, and, instead of bewailing an old fancy,\nrealized a new ideal in new fruits, bigger, fairer, and better than the\nold. It is to men of this latter stamp, that we must look for criticism\nand for counsel. The others can afford us a warning, if not by their\nspeech, at least by their example.\n\nIt is very plain, that the people of New England are advancing in\nwealth, in intelligence, and in morality; but in this general march,\nthere are little apparent pauses, slight waverings from side to side;\nsome virtues seem to straggle from the troop; some to lag behind, for it\nis not always the same virtue that leads the van. It is with the flock\nof virtues, as with wild fowl--the leaders alternate. It is probable\nthat the morals of New England in general, and of Boston in special, did\ndecline somewhat from 1775 to 1790; there were peculiar but well-known\ncauses, which no longer exist, to work that result. In the previous\nfifteen years, it seems probable that there had been a rapid increase of\nmorality, through the agency of causes equally peculiar and transient.\nTo estimate the moral growth or decline of this town, we must not take\neither period as a standard. But take the history of Boston, from 1650\nto 1700, from 1700 to 1750, thence to 1800, and you will see a gradual,\nbut a decided progress in morality in each of these periods. It is not\neasy to prove this in a short sermon; I can only indicate the points of\ncomparison, and state the general fact. From 1800 to 1849, this progress\nis well marked, indisputable, and very great. Let us look at this a\nlittle in detail, pursuing the same order of thought as before.\n\nIt is generally conceded that the moral character of trade has improved\na good deal within fifty or sixty years. It was formerly a common\nsaying, that \"If a Yankee merchant were to sell salt water at high-tide,\nhe would yet cheat in the measure.\" The saying was founded on the\nconduct of American traders abroad, in the West Indies and elsewhere.\nNow things have changed for the better. I have been told by competent\nauthority, that two of the most eminent merchants of Boston, fifty or\nsixty years ago, who conducted each a large business, and left very\nlarge fortunes, were notoriously guilty of such dishonesty in trade, as\nwould now drive any man from the Exchange. The facility with which notes\nare collected by the banks, compared to the former method of\ncollection, is itself a proof of an increase of practical honesty; the\nlaw for settling the affairs of a bankrupt tells the same thing. Now\nthis change has not come from any special effort, made to produce this\nparticular effect, and, accordingly, it indicates the general moral\nprogress of the community.\n\nThe general character of the press, since the end of the last century,\nhas decidedly improved, as any one may convince himself of, by comparing\nthe newspapers of that period, with the present; yet a publicity is\nnow-a-days given to certain things which were formerly kept more closely\nfrom the public eye and ear. This circumstance sometimes produces an\napparent increase of wrong-doing, while it is only an increased\npublicity thereof. Political servility, and political rancor, are\ncertainly bad enough, and base enough, at this day, but not long ago\nboth were baser and worse; to show this, I need only appeal to the\nmemories of men before me, who can recollect the beginning of the\npresent century. Political controversies are conducted with less\nbitterness than before; honesty is more esteemed; private worth is more\nrespected. It is not many years since the Federal party, composed of men\nwho certainly were an honor to their age, supported Aaron Burr, for the\noffice of President of the United States; a man whose character, both\npublic and private, was notoriously marked with the deepest infamy.\nPolitical parties are not very puritanical in their virtue at this day;\nbut I think no party would now for a moment accept such a man as Mr.\nBurr, for such a post.[40] There is another pleasant sign of this\nimprovement in political parties: last autumn the victorious party, in\ntwo wards of this city, made a beautiful demonstration of joy, at their\nsuccess in the Presidential election, and on Thanksgiving day, and on\nChristmas, gave a substantial dinner to each poor person in their\nsection of the town. It was a trifle, but one pleasant to remember.\n\nEven the theological journals have improved within a few years. I know\nit has been said that some of them are not only behind their times,\nwhich is true, \"but behind all times.\" It is not so. Compared with the\nsectarian writings--tracts, pamphlets, and hard-bound volumes of an\nearlier day--they are human, enlightened, and even liberal.\n\nIn respect to poverty, there has been a great change for the better.\nHowever, it may be said in general, that a good deal of the poverty,\nintemperance, and crime, is of foreign origin; we are to deal with it,\nto be blamed if we allow it to continue; not at all to be blamed for its\norigin. I know it is often said, \"The poor are getting poorer, and soon\nwill become the mere vassals of the rich;\" that \"The past is full of\ndiscouragement; the future full of fear.\" I cannot think so. I feel\nneither the discouragement nor the fear. It should be remembered that\nmany of the Fathers of New England owned the bodies of their laborers\nand domestics! The condition of the working man has improved, relatively\nto the wealth of the land, ever since. The wages of any kind of labor,\nat this day, bear a higher proportion to the things needed for comfort\nand convenience, than ever before for two hundred years.\n\nIf you go back one hundred years, I think you will find that, in\nproportion to the population and wealth of this town or this State,\nthere was considerably more suffering from native poverty then than now.\nI have not, however, before me the means of absolute proof of this\nstatement; but this is plain, that now public charity is more extended,\nmore complete, works in a wiser mode, and with far more beneficial\neffect; and that pains are now taken to uproot the causes of\npoverty--pains which our fathers never thought of. In proof of this\nincrease of charity, and even of the existence of justice, I need only\nrefer to the numerous benevolent societies of modern origin, and to the\nestablishment of the ministry at large, in this city--the latter the\nwork of Unitarian philanthropy. Some other churches have done a little\nin this good work. But none have done much. I am told the Catholic\nclergy of this city do little to remove the great mass of poverty,\nintemperance, and crime among their followers. I know there are some few\nhonorable exceptions, and how easy it is for Protestant hostility to\nexaggerate matters; still, I fear the reproach is but too well founded,\nthat the Catholic clergy are not vigilant shepherds, who guard their\nsacred flock against the terrible wolves which prowl about the fold. I\nwish to find myself mistaken here.\n\nSome of you remember the \"Old Almshouse\" in Park-street; the condition\nand character of its inmates; the effect of the treatment they there\nreceived. I do not say that our present attention to the subject of\npoverty is any thing to boast of--certainly we have done little in\ncomparison with what common sense demands; very little in comparison\nwith what Christianity enjoins; still it is something; in comparison\nwith \"the good old times,\" it is much that we are doing.\n\nThere has been a great change for the better in the matter of\nintemperance in drinking. Within thirty years, the progress towards\nsobriety is surprising, and so well marked and obvious that to name it\nis enough. Probably there is not a \"respectable\" man in Boston who would\nnot be ashamed to have been seen drunk yesterday; even to have been\ndrunk in ever so private a manner; not one who would willingly get a\nfriend or a guest in that condition to-day! Go back a few years, and it\nbrought no public reproach, and, I fear, no private shame. A few years\nfurther back, it was not a rare thing, on great occasions, for the\nfathers of the town to reel and stagger from their intemperance--the\nmagistrates of the land voluntarily furnishing the warning which a\nromantic historian says the Spartans forced upon their slaves.\n\nIt is easy to praise the Fathers of New England; easier to praise them\nfor virtues they did not possess, than to discriminate, and fairly judge\nthose remarkable men. I admire and venerate their characters, but they\nwere rather hard drinkers; certainly a love of cold water was not one of\ntheir loves. Let me mention a fact or two: it is recorded in the Probate\noffice, that in 1678, at the funeral of Mrs. Mary Norton, widow of the\ncelebrated John Norton, one of the ministers of the first church in\nBoston, fifty-one gallons and a half of the best Malaga wine were\nconsumed by the \"mourners;\" in 1685, at the funeral of the Rev. Thomas\nCobbett, minister at Ipswich, there were consumed one barrel of wine and\ntwo barrels of cider--\"and as it was cold,\" there was \"some spice and\nginger for the cider.\" You may easily judge of the drunkenness and riot\non occasions less solemn than the funeral of an old and beloved\nminister. Towns provided intoxicating drink at the funeral of their\npaupers; in Salem, in 1728, at the funeral of a pauper, a gallon of wine\nand another of cider are charged as \"incidental;\" the next year, six\ngallons of rum on a similar occasion; in Lynn, in 1711, the town\nfurnished \"half a barrel of cider for the Widow Dispaw's funeral.\"\nAffairs had come to such a pass, that in 1742, the General Court forbade\nthe use of wine and rum at funerals. In 1673, Increase Mather published\nhis \"Wo unto Drunkards.\" Governor Winthrop complains, in 1630, that \"The\nyoung folk gave themselves to drink hot waters very immoderately.\"[41]\n\nBut I need not go back so far. Who that is fifty years of age, does not\nremember the aspect of Boston on public days; on the evening of such\ndays? Compare the \"Election day,\" or the Fourth of July, as they were\nkept thirty or forty years ago, with such days in our time. Some of you\nremember the celebration of Peace, in 1783; many of you can recollect\nthe similar celebration in 1815. On each of those days the inhabitants\nfrom the country towns came here to rejoice with the citizens of this\ntown. Compare the riot, the confusion, the drunkenness then, with the\norder, decorum, and sobriety of the celebration at the introduction of\nwater last autumn, and you see what has been done in sixty or seventy\nyears for temperance.\n\nA great deal of the crime in Boston is of foreign origin: of the one\nthousand and sixty-six children vagrant in your streets, only one\nhundred and three had American parents; of the nine hundred and\nthirty-three persons in the House of Correction here, six hundred and\nsixteen were natives of other countries; I know not how many were the\nchildren of Irishmen, who had not enjoyed the advantages of our\ninstitutions. I cannot tell how many rum-shops are kept by\nforeigners.[42] Now in Ireland no pains have been taken with the\neducation of the people by the Government; very little by the Catholic\nchurch; indeed, the British government for a long time rendered it\nimpossible for the church to do any thing in this way. For more than\nseventy years, in that Catholic country, none but a Protestant could\nkeep a school or even be a tutor in a private family. A Catholic\nschoolmaster was to be transported, and, if he returned, adjudged guilty\nof high treason, barbarously put to death, drawn and quartered. A\nProtestant schoolmaster is as repulsive to a Catholic, as a Mahometan\nschoolmaster or an Atheist would be to you. It is not surprising,\ntherefore, that the Irish are ignorant, and, as a consequence thereof,\nare idle, thriftless, poor, intemperate, and barbarian; not to be\nwondered at if they conduct like wild beasts when they are set loose in\na land where we think the individual must be left free to the greatest\nextent. Of course they will violate our laws, those wild bisons leaping\nover the fences which easily restrain the civilized domestic cattle;\nwill commit the great crimes of violence, even capital offences, which\ncertainly have increased rapidly of late. This increase of foreigners is\nprodigious: more than half the children in your public schools are\nchildren of foreigners; there are more Catholic than Protestant children\nborn in Boston.\n\nWith the general and unquestionable advance of morality, some offences\nare regarded as crimes which were not noticed a few years ago.\nDrunkenness is an example of this. An Irishman in his native country\nthinks little of beating another or being beaten; he brings his habits\nof violence with him, and does not at once learn to conform to our laws.\nThen, too, a good deal of crime which was once concealed is now brought\nto light by the press, by the superior activity of the police; and yet,\nafter all that is said, it seems quite clear that what is legally called\ncrime and committed by Americans, has diminished a good deal in fifty\nyears. Such crime, I think, never bore so small a proportion to the\npopulation, wealth, and activity of Boston, as now. Even if we take all\nthe offences committed by these strangers who have come amongst us, it\ndoes not compare so very unfavorably as some allege with the \"good old\ntimes.\" I know men often look on the fathers of this colony as saints;\nbut in 1635, at a time when the whole State contained less than one\ntenth of the present population of Boston, and they were scattered from\nWeymouth Fore-River to the Merrimack, the first grand jury ever\nimpanelled at Boston \"found\" a hundred bills of indictment at their\nfirst coming together.\n\nIf you consider the circumstances of the class who commit the greater\npart of the crimes which get punished, you will not wonder at the\namount. The criminal court is their school of morals; the constable and\njudge are their teachers; but under this rude tuition I am told that the\nIrish improve and actually become better. The children who receive the\ninstruction of our public schools, imperfect as they are, will be better\nthan their fathers; and their grandchildren will have lost all trace of\ntheir barbarian descent.\n\nI have often spoken of our penal law as wrong in its principle, taking\nit for granted that the ignorant and miserable men who commit crime do\nit always from wickedness, and not from the pressure of circumstances\nwhich have brutalized the man; wrong in its aim, which is to take\nvengeance on the offender, and not to do him a good in return for the\nevil he has done; wrong in its method, which is to inflict a punishment\nthat is wholly arbitrary, and then to send the punished man, overwhelmed\nwith new disgrace, back to society, often made worse than before,--not\nto keep him till we can correct, cure, and send him back a reformed man.\nI would retract nothing of what I have often said of that; but not long\nago all this was worse; the particular statutes were often terribly\nunjust; the forms of trial afforded the accused but little chance of\njustice; the punishments were barbarous and terrible. The plebeian\ntyranny of the Lord Brethren in New England was not much lighter than\nthe patrician despotism of the Lord Bishops in the old world, and was\nmore insulting. Let me mention a few facts, to refresh the memories of\nthose who think we are going to ruin, and can only save ourselves by\nholding to the customs of our fathers, and of the \"good old times.\" In\n1631, a man was fined forty pounds, whipped on the naked back, both his\nears cut off, and then banished this colony, for uttering hard speeches\nagainst the government and the church at Salem. In the first century of\nthe existence of this town, the magistrates could banish a woman because\nshe did not like the preaching, nor all the ministers, and told the\npeople why; they could whip women naked in the streets, because they\nspoke reproachfully of the magistrates; they could fine men twenty\npounds, and then banish them, for comforting a man in jail before his\ntrial; they could pull down, with legal formality, the house of a man\nthey did not like; they could whip women at a cart's tail from Salem to\nRhode Island, for fidelity to their conscience; they could beat,\nimprison, and banish men out of the land, simply for baptizing one\nanother in a stream of water, instead of sprinkling them from a dish;\nthey could crop the ears, and scourge the backs, and bore the tongues of\nmen, for being Quakers; yes, they could shut them in jails, could banish\nthem out of the colony, could sell them as slaves, could hang them on a\ngallows, solely for worshipping God after their own conscience; they\ncould convulse the whole land, and hang some thirty or forty men for\nwitchcraft, and do all this in the name of God, and then sing psalms,\nwith most nasal twang, and pray by the hour, and preach--I will not say\nhow long, nor what, nor how! It is not yet one hundred years since two\nslaves were judicially burnt alive, on Boston Neck, for poisoning their\nmaster.\n\nBut why talk of days so old? Some of you remember when the pillory and\nthe whipping-post were a part of the public furniture of the law, and\noccupied a prominent place in the busiest street in town. Some of you\nhave seen men and women scourged, naked, and bleeding, in State street;\nhave seen men judicially branded in the forehead with a hot iron, their\nears clipped off by the sheriff, and held up to teach humanity to the\ngaping crowd of idle boys and vulgar men. A magistrate was once brought\ninto odium in Boston, for humanely giving back to his victim a part of\nthe ear he had officially shorn off, that the mutilated member might be\nrestored and made whole. How long is it since men sent their servants to\nthe \"Workhouse,\" to be beaten \"for disobedience,\" at the discretion of\nthe master? It is not long since the gallows was a public spectacle here\nin the midst of us, and a hanging made a holiday for the rabble of this\ncity and the neighboring towns; even women came to see the\ndeath-struggle of a fellow-creature, and formed the larger part of the\nmob; many of you remember the procession of the condemned man sitting on\nhis coffin, a procession from the jail to the gallows, from one end of\nthe city to the other. I remember a public execution some fourteen or\nfifteen years ago, and some of the students of theology at Cambridge, of\nundoubted soundness in the Unitarian faith, came here to see men kill a\nfellow-man!\n\nWho can think of these things, and not see that a great progress has\nbeen made in no long time. But if these things be not proof enough, then\nconsider what has been done here in this century for the reformation of\njuvenile offenders; for the discharged convict; for the blind, the deaf,\nand the dumb; for the insane, and now even for the idiot. Think of the\nnumerous Societies for the widows and orphans; for the seamen; the\nTemperance Societies; the Peace Societies; the Prison Discipline\nSociety; the mighty movement against slavery, which, beginning with a\nfew heroic men who took the roaring lion of public opinion by the beard,\nfearless of his roar, has gone on now, till neither the hardest nor the\nsoftest courage in the State dares openly defend the unholy\ninstitution. A philanthropic female physician delivers gratuitous\nlectures on physiology to the poor of this city, to enable them to take\nbetter care of their houses and their bodies; an unpretending man, for\nyears past, responsible to none but God, has devoted all his time and\nhis toil to the most despised class of men, and has saved hundreds from\nthe jail, from crime and ruin at the last. Here are many men and women\nnot known to the public, but known to the poor, who are daily\nministering to the wants of the body and the mind. Consider all these\nthings, and who can doubt that a great moral progress has been made? It\nis not many years since we had white slaves, and a Scotch boy was\ninvoiced at fourteen pounds lawful money, in the inventory of an estate\nin Boston. In 1630, Governor Dudley complains that some of the founders\nof New England, in consequence of a famine, were obliged to set free one\nhundred and eighty servants, \"to our extreme loss,\" for they had cost\nsixteen or twenty pounds apiece. Seventy years since, negro slavery\nprevailed in Massachusetts, and men did not blush at the institution.\nThink of the treatment which the leaders of the anti-slavery reform met\nwith but a few years ago, and you see what a progress has been made![43]\n\nI have extenuated nothing of our condition; I have said the morals of\ntrade are low morals, and the morals of the press are low; that poverty\nis a terrible evil to deal with, and we do not deal with it manfully;\nthat intemperance is a mournful curse, all the more melancholy when rich\nmen purposely encourage it; that here is an amount of crime which makes\nus shudder to think of; that the voice of human blood cries out of the\nground against us. I disguise nothing of all this; let us confess the\nfact, and, ugly as it is, look it fairly in the face. Still, our moral\ncondition is better than ever before. I know there are men who seem born\nwith their eyes behind, their hopes all running into memory; some who\nwish they had been born long ago: they might as well; sure it is no\nfault of theirs that they were not. I hear what they have to tell us.\nStill, on the whole, the aspect of things is most decidedly encouraging;\nfor if so much has been done when men understood the matter less than\nwe, both cause and cure, how much more can be done for the future?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhat can we do to make things better?\n\nI have so recently spoken of poverty that I shall say little now. A\ngreat change will doubtless take place before many years in the\nrelations between capital and labor; a great change in the spirit of\nsociety. I do not believe the disparity now existing between the wealth\nof men has its origin in human nature, and therefore is to last for\never; I do not believe it is just and right that less than one\ntwentieth of the people in the nation should own more than ten\ntwentieths of the property of the nation, unless by their own head, or\nhands, or heart, they do actually create and earn that amount. I am not\nnow blaming any class of men; only stating a fact. There is a profound\nconviction in the hearts of many good men, rich as well as poor, that\nthings are wrong; that there is an ideal right for the actual wrong; but\nI think no man yet has risen up with ability to point out for us the\nremedy of these evils, and deliver us from what has not badly been named\nthe Feudalism of Capital. Still, without waiting for the great man to\narise, we can do something with our littleness even now; the truant\nchildren may be snatched from vagrancy, beggary, and ruin; tenements can\nbe built for the poor, and rented at a reasonable rate. It seems to me\nthat something more can be done in the way of providing employment for\nthe poor, or helping them to employment.\n\nIn regard to intemperance, I will not say we can end it by direct\nefforts. So long as there is misery there will be continued provocation\nto that vice, if the means thereof are within reach. I do not believe\nthere will be much more intemperance amongst well-bred men; among the\npoor and wretched it will doubtless long continue. But if we cannot end,\nwe can diminish it, fast as we will. If rich men did not manufacture,\nnor import, nor sell; if they would not rent their buildings for the\nsale of intoxicating liquor for improper uses; if they did not by their\nexample favor the improper use thereof, how long do you think your\npolice would arrest and punish one thousand drunkards in the year? how\nlong would twelve hundred rum-shops disgrace your town? Boston is far\nmore sober, at least in appearance, than other large cities of America,\nbut it is still the headquarters of intemperance for the State of\nMassachusetts. In arresting intemperance, two thirds of the poverty,\nthree fourths of the crime of this city would end at once, and an amount\nof misery and sin which I have not the skill to calculate. Do you say we\ncannot diminish intemperance, neither by law, nor by righteous efforts\nwithout law? Oh, fie upon such talk. Come, let us be honest, and say we\ndo not wish to, not that we cannot. It is plain that in sixteen years we\ncan build seven great railroads radiating out of Boston, three or four\nhundred miles long; that we can conquer the Connecticut and the\nMerrimack, and all the lesser streams of New England; can build up\nLowell, and Chicopee, and Lawrence; why, in four years Massachusetts can\ninvest eight and fifty millions of dollars in railroads and\nmanufactures, and cannot prevent intemperance; cannot diminish it in\nBoston! So there are no able men in this town! I am amazed at such talk,\nin such a place, full of such men, surrounded by such trophies of their\nwork! When the churches preach and men believe that Mammon is not the\nonly God we are practically to serve; that it is more reputable to keep\nmen sober, temperate, comfortable, intelligent, and thriving, than it is\nto make money out of other men's misery; more Christian, than to sell\nand manufacture rum, to rent houses for the making of drunkards and\ncriminals, then we shall set about this business with the energy that\nshows we are in earnest, and by a method which will do the work.\n\nIn the matter of crime, something can be done to give efficiency to the\nlaws. No doubt a thorough change must be made in the idea of criminal\nlegislation; vengeance must give way to justice, policemen become moral\nmissionaries, and jails moral hospitals, that discharge no criminal\nuntil he is cured. It will take long to get the idea into men's minds.\nYou must encounter many a doubt, many a sneer, and expect many a\nfailure, too. Men who think they \"know the world,\" because they know\nthat most men are selfish, will not believe you. We must wait for new\nfacts to convince such men. After the idea is established, it will take\nlong to organize it fittingly.\n\nMuch can be done for juvenile offenders, much for discharged convicts,\neven now. We can pull down the gallows, and with it that loathsome\ntheological idea on which it rests,--the idea of a vindictive God. A\nremorseless court, and careful police, can do much to hinder crime;[44]\nbut they cannot remove the causes thereof.\n\nLast year, a good man, to whom the State was deeply indebted before,\nsuggested that a moral police should be appointed to look after\noffenders; to see why they committed their crime; and if only necessity\ncompelled them, to seek out for them some employment, and so remove the\ncauses of crime in detail. The thought was worthy of the age, and of the\nman. In the hands of a practical man, this thought might lead to good\nresults. A beginning has already been made in the right direction, by\nestablishing the State Reform School for Boys. It will be easy to\nimprove on this experiment, and conduct prisons for men on the same\nscheme of correction and cure, not merely of punishment, in the name of\nvengeance. But, after all, so long as poverty, misery, intemperance, and\nignorance continue, no civil police, no moral police, can keep such\ncauses from creating crime. What keeps you from a course of crime? Your\nmorality, your religion? Is it? Take away your property, your home, your\nfriends, the respect of respectable men; take away what you have\nreceived from education, intellectual, moral, and religious, and how\nmuch better would the best of us be than the men who will to-morrow be\nhuddled off to jail, for crimes committed in a dram-shop to-day? The\ncircumstances which have kept you temperate, industrious, respectable,\nwould have made nine tenths of the men in jail as good men as you are.\n\nIt is not pleasant to think that there are no amusements which lie level\nto the poor, in this country. In Paris, Naples, Rome, Vienna, Berlin,\nthere are cheap pleasures for poor men, which yet are not low pleasures.\nHere there are amusements for the comfortable and the rich, not too\nnumerous, rather too rare, perhaps, but none for the poor, save only the\nvice of drunkenness; that is hideously cheap; the inward temptation\npowerful; the outward occasion always at hand. Last summer, some\nbenevolent men treated the poor children of the city to a day of\nsunshine, fresh air, and frolic in the fields. Once a year the children,\ngathered together by another benevolent man, have a floral procession in\nthe streets; some of them have charitably been taught to dance. These\nthings are beautiful to think of; signs of our progress, from \"The good\nold times,\" and omens of a brighter day, when Christianity shall bear\nmore abundantly flowers and fruit even yet more fair.\n\nThe morals of the current literature, of the daily press--you can change\nwhen you will. If there is not in us a demand for low morals, there\nwill be no supply. The morals of trade, and of politics, the handmaid\nthereof, we can make better soon as we wish.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt has been my aim to give suggestions, rather than propose distinct\nplans of action; I do not know that I am capable of that. But some of\nyou are rich men, some able men; many of you, I think, are good men. I\nappeal to you to do something to raise the moral character of this town.\nAll that has been done in fifty years, or a hundred and fifty, seems\nvery little, while so much still remains to do; only a hint and an\nencouragement. You cannot do much, nor I much: that is true. But, after\nall, every thing must begin with individual men and women. You can at\nleast give the example of what a good man ought to be and to do, to-day;\nto-morrow you will yourself be the better man for it. So far as that\ngoes, you will have done something to mend the morals of Boston. You can\ntell of actual evils, and tell of your remedy for them; can keep clear\nfrom committing the evils yourself: that also is something.\n\nHere are two things that are certain: We are all brothers, rich and\npoor, American and foreign; put here by the same God, for the same end,\nand journeying towards the same heaven, owing mutual help. Then, too,\nthe wise men and good men are the natural guardians of society, and God\nwill not hold them guiltless, if they leave their brothers to perish. I\nknow our moral condition is a reproach to us; I will not deny that, nor\ntry to abate the shame and grief we should feel. When I think of the\npoverty and misery in the midst of us, and all the consequences thereof,\nI hardly dare feel grateful for the princely fortunes some men have\ngathered together. Certainly it is not a Christian society, where such\nextremes exist; we are only in the process of conversion; proselytes of\nthe gate, and not much more. There are noble men in this city, who have\nbeen made philanthropic, by the sight of wrong, of intemperance, and\npoverty, and crime. Let mankind honor great conquerors, who only rout\narmies, and \"plant fresh laurels where they kill;\" I honor most the men\nwho contend against misery, against crime and sin; men that are the\nsoldiers of humanity, and in a low age, amidst the mean and sordid\nspirits of a great trading town, lift up their serene foreheads, and\ntell us of the right, the true, first good, first perfect, and first\nfair. From such men I hear the prophecy of the better time to come. In\ntheir example I see proofs of the final triumph of good over evil.\nAngels are they, who keep the tree of life, not with flaming sword,\nrepelling men, but, with friendly hand, plucking therefrom, and giving\nunto all the leaves, the flower, and the fruit of life, for the healing\nof the nations. A single good man, kindling his early flame, wakens the\nneighbors with his words of cheer; they, at his lamp, shall light their\ntorch and household fire, anticipating the beamy warmth of day. Soon it\nwill be morning, warm and light; we shall be up and a-doing, and the\nlighted lamp, which seemed at first too much for eyes to bear, will look\nridiculous, and cast no shadow in the noonday sun. A hundred years\nhence, men will stand here as I do now, and speak of the evils of these\ntimes as things past and gone, and wonder that able men could ever be\nappalled by our difficulties, and think them not to be surpassed. Still,\nall depends on the faithfulness of men--your faithfulness and mine.\n\nThe last election has shown us what resolute men can do on a trifling\noccasion, if they will. You know the efforts of the three parties--what\nmeetings they held, what money they raised, what talent was employed,\nwhat speeches made, what ideas set forth: not a town was left\nunattempted; scarce a man who had wit to throw a vote, but his vote was\nsolicited. You see the revolution which was wrought by that vigorous\nstyle of work. When such men set about reforming the evils of society,\nwith such a determined soul, what evil can stand against mankind? We can\nleave nothing to the next generation worth so much as ideas of truth,\njustice, and religion, organized into fitting institutions; such we can\nleave, and, if true men, such we shall.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[36] Rev. John Pierpont\n\n[37] This statement was made in 1849; subsequent events have shown that\nI was mistaken. It is now thought respectable and patriotic not only to\nengage in the slave-trade, but to kidnap men and women in Boston. Most\nof the prominent newspapers, and several of the most prominent clergy,\ndefend the kidnapping. Attempts have repeatedly been made to kidnap my\nown parishioners. Kidnapping is not even a matter of church discipline\nin Boston in 1851.\n\n[38] The conduct of public magistrates who are paid for serving the\npeople, is not what it should be in respect to temperance. The city\nauthorities allow the laws touching the sale of the great instrument of\ndemoralization to be violated continually. There is no serious effort\nmade to enforce these laws. Nor is this all: the shameless conduct of\nconspicuous men at the supper given in this city after the funeral of\nJohn Quincy Adams, and the debauchery on that occasion, are well known\nand will long be remembered.\n\nAt the next festival (in September, 1851), it is notorious, that the\ncity authorities, at the expense of the citizens, provided a large\nquantity of intoxicating drink for the entertainment of our guests\nduring the excursion in the harbor. It is also a matter of great\nnotoriety, that many were drunk on that occasion. I need hardly add,\nthat on board one of the crowded steamboats, three cheers were given for\nthe \"Fugitive Slave Law,\" by men who it is hoped will at length become\nsober enough to \"forget\" it. When the magistrates of Boston do such\ndeeds, and are not even officially friends of temperance, what shall we\nexpect of the poor and the ignorant and the miserable? \"Cain, where is\nthy Brother?\" may be asked here and now as well as in the Bible story.\n\n[39] The statistics of intemperance are instructive and surprising. Of\nthe one thousand two hundred houses in Boston where intoxicating drink\nis retailed to be drunken on the premises, suppose that two hundred are\ntoo insignificant to be noticed, or else are large hotels to be\nconsidered presently; then there are one thousand common retail\ngroggeries. Suppose they are in operation three hundred and thirteen\ndays in the year, twelve hours each day; that they sell one glass in a\nlittle less than ten minutes, or one hundred glasses in the day, and\nthat five cents is the price of a glass. Then each groggery receives $5\na day, or $1,565 (313 x 5) in a year, and the one thousand groggeries\nreceive $1,565,000. Let us suppose that each sells drink for really\nuseful purposes to the amount of $65 per annum, or all to the amount of\n$65,000; there still remains the sum of $1,500,000 spent for\nintemperance in these one thousand groggeries. This is about twice the\nsum raised by taxation for the public education of all the children in\nthe State of Massachusetts! But this calculation does not equal the cost\nof intemperance in these places; the receipts of these retail houses\ncannot be less than $2,000 per annum, or in the aggregate, $2,000,000.\nThis sum in two years would pay for the new Aqueduct. Suppose the amount\npaid for the needless, nay, for the injurious use of intoxicating drink\nin private families, in boarding houses and hotels, is equal to the\nsmallest sum above named ($1,500,000), then it appears that the city of\nBoston spends ($1,500,000 + $1,500,000 =) $3,000,000 annually for an\narticle that does no good to any but harm to all, and brings ruin on\nthousands each year. But if a school-house or a school costs a little\nmoney, a complaint is soon made.\n\n[40] It must be remembered that this was written, not in 1851, but in\n1849.\n\n[41] In 1679, \"The Reforming Synod,\" assembled at Boston, thus\ncomplained of intemperance, amongst other sins of the times: \"That\nheathenish and idolatrous practice of health-drinking is too frequent.\nThat shameful iniquity of sinful drinking is become too general a\nprovocation. Days of training and other public solemnities have been\nabused in this respect: and not only English but Indians have been\ndebauched by those that call themselves Christians.... This is a crying\nsin, and the more aggravated in that the first planters of this colony\ndid ... come into this land with a design to convert the heathen unto\nChrist, but if instead of that they be taught wickedness ... the Lord\nmay well punish by them.... There are more temptations and occasions\nunto that sin publicly allowed of, than any necessity doth require. The\nproper end of taverns, &c., being for the entertainment of strangers ...\na far less number would suffice,\" etc.\n\nCotton Mather says of intemperance in his time: \"To see ... a drunken\nman become a drowned man, is to see but a most retaliating hand of God.\nWhy we have seen this very thing more than threescore times in our land.\nAnd I remember the drowning of one drunkard, so oddly circumstanced; it\nwas in the hold of a vessel that lay full of water near the shore. We\nhave seen it so often, that I am amazed at you, O ye drunkards of New\nEngland; I am amazed that you can harden your hearts in your sin,\nwithout expecting to be destroyed suddenly and without remedy. Yea, and\nwe have seen the devil that has possessed the drunkard, throwing him\ninto fire, and then kept shrieking Fire! Fire! till they have gone down\nto the fire that never shall be quenched. Yea, more than one or two\ndrunken women in this very town, have, while in their drink, fallen into\nthe fire, and so they have tragically gone roaring out of one fire into\nanother. O ye daughters of Belial, hear and fear and do wickedly no\nmore.\"\n\nThe history of the first barrel of rum which was brought to Plymouth has\nbeen carefully traced out to a considerable extent. Nearly forty of the\n\"Pilgrims\" or their descendants were publicly punished for the\ndrunkenness it occasioned.\n\n[42] Over eight hundred in 1851.\n\n[43] This statement appears somewhat exaggerated in 1851.\n\n[44] In 1847, the amount of goods stolen in Boston, and reported to the\npolice, beyond what was received, was more than $37,000; in 1848, less\nthan $11,000. In 1849, the police were twice as numerous as in the\nformer year, and organized and directed with new and remarkable skill.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\n\nNOTE TO p. 62.\n\nSOME ACCOUNT OF THE INSTALLATION OF MR. PARKER.\n\nLETTER OF THE COMMITTEE TO MR. PARKER.\n\n                                        BOSTON, November 28, 1845.\n\nDEAR SIR:--\n\nAmong your friends and congregation at the Melodeon, a Society has been\norganized according to law; and we have been instructed, as the Standing\nCommittee, to invite you to become its Minister.\n\nIt gives us great pleasure to be the means to forward, in this small\ndegree, the end proposed, and we cordially extend you the invitation,\nwith the sincere hope that it will meet a favorable answer.\n\nWe are, truly and respectfully,\n\n              Your friends,\n\n              MARK HEALEY,\n              JOHN FLINT,\n              LEVI B. MERIAM,\n              AMOS COOLIDGE,\n              JOHN G. KING,\n              SIDNEY HOMER,\n              HENRY SMITH,\n              GEO. W. ROBINSON,\n              C. M. ELLIS.\n\n    TO THE REV. THEODORE PARKER,\n\n    _West Roxbury, Mass_.\n\n\nMR. PARKER'S REPLY.\n\n     TO MARK HEALEY, JOHN FLINT, LEVI B. MERIAM, AMOS COOLIDGE,\n     JOHN G. KING, SIDNEY HOMER, HENRY SMITH, GEORGE W. ROBINSON,\n     AND C. M. ELLIS, ESQUIRES.\n\nDEAR FRIENDS:--\n\nWhen I received your communication of the 28th ult. I did not hesitate\nin my decision, but I have delayed giving you a formal reply, in order\nthat I might confer with my friends in this place, whom it becomes my\npainful duty to leave. I accept your invitation; but wish it to be\nprovided that our connection may at any time be dissolved, by either\nparty giving notice to the other of a desire to that effect, six months\nbefore such a separation is to take place.\n\nIt is now nearly a year since I began to preach at the Melodeon. I came\nat the request of some of you; but I did not anticipate the present\nresult. Far from it. I thought but few would come and listen to what was\nso widely denounced. But I took counsel of my hopes and not of my fears.\nIt seems to me now that, if we are faithful to our duty, we shall in a\nfew years build up a society which shall be not only a joy to our own\nhearts, but a blessing also to others, now strangers and perhaps hostile\nto us. I feel that we have begun a good work. With earnest desires for\nthe success of our common enterprise, and a willingness to labor for the\nadvancement of real Christianity, I am,\n\n        Faithfully, your friend,\n\n           THEODORE PARKER.\n\n        _West Roxbury, 12th Dec., 1845._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn Sunday, January 4, 1846, REV. THEODORE PARKER was installed as Pastor\nof the Twenty-eighth Congregational Society in Boston. The exercises on\nthe occasion were as follows:--\n\n    INTRODUCTORY HYMN.\n\n    PRAYER.\n\n    VOLUNTARY ON THE ORGAN.\n\nThe Chairman of the Standing Committee then addressed the Congregation\nas follows:--\n\nBy the instructions of the Society, the Committee have made an\narrangement with Mr. Parker, by which the services of this Society,\nunder its new organization, should commence with the new year; and this\nbeing our first meeting, it has been set apart for such introductory\nservices as may seem fitting for our position and prospects.\n\nThe circumstances under which this Society has been formed, and its\nprogress hitherto, are familiar to most of those present. It first began\nfrom certain influences which seemed hostile to the cause of religious\nfreedom. It was the opinion of many of those now present, that a\nminister of the Gospel, truly worthy of that name, was proscribed on\naccount of his opinions, branded as a heretic, and shut out from the\npulpits of this city.\n\nAt a meeting of gentlemen held January 22, 1845, the following\nResolution was passed:--\n\n\"_Resolved_, That the Rev. Theodore Parker shall have a chance to be\nheard in Boston.\"\n\nTo carry this into effect, this Hall was secured for a place of meeting,\nand the numbers who have met here from Sunday to Sunday, have fully\nanswered our most sanguine expectations. Our meetings have proved that\nthough our friend was shut out from the temples, yet \"the people heard\nhim gladly.\" Of the effects of his preaching among us I need not speak.\nThe warm feelings of gratitude and respect expressed on every side, are\nthe best evidences of the efficacy of his words, and of his life.\n\nOut of these meetings our Society has naturally sprung. It became\nnecessary to assume some permanent form--the labor of preaching to two\nSocieties, would of course be too much for Mr. Parker's health and\nstrength--the conviction that his settlement in Boston would be not only\nimportant for ourselves, but also for the cause of liberal Christianity\nand religious freedom--these were some of the reasons which induced us\nto form a Society, and invite him to become its minister. To this he has\nconsented; with the understanding that the connection may be dissolved\nby either party, on giving six months notice to that effect.\n\nAt his suggestion, and with the warm approval of the Committee, we have\ndetermined to adopt the old Congregational form of settling our\nminister; without the aid of bishop, churches, or ministers.\n\nAs to our Choice, we are, upon mature reflection, and after a year's\ntrial, fully persuaded that we have found our minister, and we ask no\necclesiastical council to ratify our decision.\n\nAs to the Charge usually given on such occasions, we prefer to do\nwithout it, and trust to the conscience of our minister for his\nfaithfulness.\n\nAs to the Right Hand of Fellowship, there are plenty of us ready and\nwilling to give that, and warm hearts with it.\n\nAnd for such of the other ceremonies usual on such occasions, as Mr.\nParker chooses to perform, we gladly accept the substitution of his\nservices for those of any stranger.\n\nThe old Puritan form of settling a minister is, for the people to do it\nthemselves; and this let us now proceed to do.\n\nIn adopting this course, we are strongly supported both by principle and\nprecedent. Congregationalism is the Republicanism of the Church; and it\nis fitting that the people themselves should exercise their right of\nself-government in that most important particular, the choice and\nsettlement of a minister. For examples, I need only remind you of the\nsettlement of the first minister in New England, on which occasion this\nform was used, and that it is also used at this day by one of the most\nrespectable churches in this city.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Society then ratified the proceedings by an unanimous vote; and Mr.\nParker publicly signified that he adhered to his consent to become the\nMinister of this Society, and the organization of the Society was thus\ncompleted.\n\n    OCCASIONAL HYMN.\n\n    DISCOURSE, BY MR. PARKER.\n\n    ANTHEM.\n\n    BENEDICTION.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons, Volume 1 (of 3)","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":107099}