{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71812/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71812","id":"gutenberg_71812","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71812","summary":null,"tags":["Category: American Literature","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Speeches, addresses, etc., American"],"text":"MISCELLANIES\n\n                                    BY\n                           RALPH WALDO EMERSON\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                           BOSTON AND NEW YORK\n                      HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY\n                      The Riverside Press, Cambridge\n\n                 COPYRIGHT, 1878, BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON\n          COPYRIGHT, 1883, 1904, AND 1906, BY EDWARD W. EMERSON\n                           ALL RIGHTS RESERVED\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe year after Mr. Emerson\u2019s death, Mr. Cabot, in editing his works,\ngathered into a volume the occasional writings which had never been\nincluded in previous editions, although six of them had been printed,\neither as pamphlets or in periodicals, long before, by the author. These\nwere the Sermon on The Lord\u2019s Supper, the Historical Address at Concord\nin 1835, that at the dedication of the Soldiers\u2019 Monument there in\n1867, and that on Emancipation in the British West Indies, the Essay on\nWar, and the Editors\u2019 Address in the _Massachusetts Quarterly Review_.\n\u201cAmerican Civilization\u201d had been a portion of the article of that name\nin the _Atlantic_ in 1862. \u201cThe Fortune of the Republic\u201d also had been\nprinted as a pamphlet in 1874. Mr. Cabot said in his prefatory note, \u201cIn\nnone was any change from the original form made by me, except in the\n\u2018Fortune of the Republic,\u2019 which was made up of several lectures, for\nthe occasion upon which it was read.\u201d This was after Mr. Emerson was no\nlonger able to arrange his work and his friends had come to his aid.\n\nThe speeches at the John Brown, the Walter Scott, and the Free Religious\nAssociation meetings had been printed, probably with Mr. Emerson\u2019s\nconsent. The other pieces included by Mr. Cabot, namely, the speeches\non Theodore Parker, the Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln, at\nthe Harvard Commemoration, \u201cWoman,\u201d the addresses to Kossuth, and at the\nBurns Festival, had not been published.\n\nAll that were in Mr. Cabot\u2019s collection will be found here, although the\norder has been slightly changed. To these I have added Mr. Emerson\u2019s\nletter to President Van Buren in 1838, his speech on the Fugitive Slave\nLaw in Concord soon after its enactment, that on Shakspeare to the\nSaturday Club, and his remarks at the Humboldt Centennial, and at the\ndinner to the Chinese Embassy; also the addresses at the consecration\nof Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and at the opening of the Concord Free Public\nLibrary. The oration before the New England Society of New York in 1870,\nprinted by them in their recent volume, is not included, as most of the\nmatter may be found in the Historical Discourse at Concord and in the\nessay \u201cBoston,\u201d in _Natural History of Intellect_.\n\nI have given to the chapters mottoes, the most of them drawn from Mr.\nEmerson\u2019s writings.\n\n                                                        EDWARD W. EMERSON.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                      PAGE\n\n       I. THE LORD\u2019S SUPPER                                              1\n\n      II. HISTORICAL DISCOURSE AT CONCORD                               27\n\n     III. LETTER TO PRESIDENT VAN BUREN                                 87\n\n      IV. EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES                       97\n\n       V. WAR                                                          149\n\n      VI. THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW\u2014ADDRESS AT CONCORD                    177\n\n     VII. THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW\u2014LECTURE AT NEW YORK                   215\n\n    VIII. THE ASSAULT UPON MR. SUMNER                                  245\n\n      IX. SPEECH ON AFFAIRS IN KANSAS                                  253\n\n       X. JOHN BROWN\u2014SPEECH AT BOSTON                                  265\n\n      XI. JOHN BROWN\u2014SPEECH AT SALEM                                   275\n\n     XII. THEODORE PARKER                                              283\n\n    XIII. AMERICAN CIVILIZATION                                        295\n\n     XIV. THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION                                313\n\n      XV. ABRAHAM LINCOLN                                              327\n\n     XVI. HARVARD COMMEMORATION SPEECH                                 339\n\n    XVII. DEDICATION OF THE SOLDIERS\u2019 MONUMENT IN CONCORD              347\n\n   XVIII. EDITORS\u2019 ADDRESS                                             381\n\n     XIX. ADDRESS TO KOSSUTH                                           395\n\n      XX. WOMAN                                                        403\n\n     XXI. CONSECRATION OF SLEEPY HOLLOW CEMETERY                       427\n\n    XXII. ROBERT BURNS                                                 437\n\n   XXIII. SHAKSPEARE                                                   445\n\n    XXIV. HUMBOLDT                                                     455\n\n     XXV. WALTER SCOTT                                                 461\n\n    XXVI. SPEECH AT BANQUET IN HONOR OF CHINESE EMBASSY                469\n\n   XXVII. REMARKS AT ORGANIZATION OF FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION        475\n\n  XXVIII. SPEECH AT SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF FREE RELIGIOUS\n            ASSOCIATION                                                483\n\n    XXIX. ADDRESS AT OPENING OF CONCORD FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY            493\n\n     XXX. THE FORTUNE OF THE REPUBLIC                                  509\n\n          NOTES                                                        545\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nTHE LORD\u2019S SUPPER\n\nSERMON DELIVERED BEFORE THE SECOND CHURCH IN BOSTON, SEPTEMBER 9, 1832\n\n    I like a church; I like a cowl,\n    I love a prophet of the soul;\n    And on my heart monastic aisles\n    Fall like sweet strains, or pensive smiles:\n    Yet not for all his faith can see\n    Would I that cowl\u00e8d churchman be.\n    Why should the vest on him allure,\n    Which I could not on me endure?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    The word unto the prophet spoken\n    Was writ on tables yet unbroken;\n    The word by seers or sibyls told,\n    In groves of oak, or fanes of gold,\n    Still floats upon the morning wind,\n    Still whispers to the willing mind.\n\n\nTHE LORD\u2019S SUPPER\n\n    The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness,\n    and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.\u2014ROMANS xiv. 17.\n\nIn the history of the Church no subject has been more fruitful of\ncontroversy than the Lord\u2019s Supper. There never has been any unanimity\nin the understanding of its nature, nor any uniformity in the mode of\ncelebrating it. Without considering the frivolous questions which have\nbeen lately debated as to the posture in which men should partake of\nit; whether mixed or unmixed wine should be served; whether leavened\nor unleavened bread should be broken;\u2014the questions have been settled\ndifferently in every church, who should be admitted to the feast, and\nhow often it should be prepared. In the Catholic Church, infants were\nat one time permitted and then forbidden to partake; and since the\nninth century the laity receive the bread only, the cup being reserved\nto the priesthood. So, as to the time of the solemnity. In the Fourth\nLateran Council, it was decreed that any believer should communicate\nat least once in a year,\u2014at Easter. Afterwards it was determined that\nthis Sacrament should be received three times in the year,\u2014at Easter,\nWhitsuntide and Christmas. But more important controversies have arisen\nrespecting its nature. The famous question of the Real Presence was the\nmain controversy between the Church of England and the Church of Rome.\nThe doctrine of the Consubstantiation taught by Luther was denied by\nCalvin. In the Church of England, Archbishops Laud and Wake maintained\nthat the elements were an Eucharist, or sacrifice of Thanksgiving to God;\nCudworth and Warburton, that this was not a sacrifice, but a sacrificial\nfeast; and Bishop Hoadley, that it was neither a sacrifice nor a feast\nafter sacrifice, but a simple commemoration. And finally, it is now near\ntwo hundred years since the Society of Quakers denied the authority of\nthe rite altogether, and gave good reasons for disusing it.\n\nI allude to these facts only to show that, so far from the Supper being a\ntradition in which men are fully agreed, there has always been the widest\nroom for difference of opinion upon this particular. Having recently\ngiven particular attention to this subject, I was led to the conclusion\nthat Jesus did not intend to establish an institution for perpetual\nobservance when he ate the Passover with his disciples; and further, to\nthe opinion that it is not expedient to celebrate it as we do. I shall\nnow endeavor to state distinctly my reasons for these two opinions.\n\nI. The authority of the rite.\n\nAn account of the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples is given by\nthe four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.\n\nIn St. Matthew\u2019s Gospel (Matt. xxvi. 26-30) are recorded the words of\nJesus in giving bread and wine on that occasion to his disciples, but\nno expression occurs intimating that this feast was hereafter to be\ncommemorated. In St. Mark (Mark xiv. 22-25) the same words are recorded,\nand still with no intimation that the occasion was to be remembered.\nSt. Luke (Luke xxii. 19), after relating the breaking of the bread, has\nthese words: \u201cThis do in remembrance of me.\u201d In St. John, although other\noccurrences of the same evening are related, this whole transaction is\npassed over without notice.\n\nNow observe the facts. Two of the Evangelists, namely, Matthew and\nJohn, were of the twelve disciples, and were present on that occasion.\nNeither of them drops the slightest intimation of any intention on\nthe part of Jesus to set up anything permanent. John especially, the\nbeloved disciple, who has recorded with minuteness the conversation and\nthe transactions of that memorable evening, has quite omitted such a\nnotice. Neither does it appear to have come to the knowledge of Mark,\nwho, though not an eye-witness, relates the other facts. This material\nfact, that the occasion was to be remembered, is found in Luke alone,\nwho was not present. There is no reason, however, that we know, for\nrejecting the account of Luke. I doubt not, the expression was used by\nJesus. I shall presently consider its meaning. I have only brought these\naccounts together, that you may judge whether it is likely that a solemn\ninstitution, to be continued to the end of time by all mankind, as they\nshould come, nation after nation, within the influence of the Christian\nreligion, would have been established in this slight manner\u2014in a manner\nso slight, that the intention of commemorating it should not appear, from\ntheir narrative, to have caught the ear or dwelt in the mind of the only\ntwo among the twelve who wrote down what happened.\n\nStill we must suppose that the expression, \u201cThis do in remembrance of\nme,\u201d had come to the ear of Luke from some disciple who was present. What\ndid it really signify? It is a prophetic and an affectionate expression.\nJesus is a Jew, sitting with his countrymen, celebrating their national\nfeast. He thinks of his own impending death, and wishes the minds of\nhis disciples to be prepared for it. \u201cWhen hereafter,\u201d he says to them,\n\u201cyou shall keep the Passover, it will have an altered aspect to your\neyes. It is now a historical covenant of God with the Jewish nation.\nHereafter it will remind you of a new covenant sealed with my blood. In\nyears to come, as long as your people shall come up to Jerusalem to keep\nthis feast, the connection which has subsisted between us will give a\nnew meaning in your eyes to the national festival, as the anniversary of\nmy death.\u201d I see natural feeling and beauty in the use of such language\nfrom Jesus, a friend to his friends; I can readily imagine that he was\nwilling and desirous, when his disciples met, his memory should hallow\ntheir intercourse; but I cannot bring myself to believe that in the use\nof such an expression he looked beyond the living generation, beyond the\nabolition of the festival he was celebrating, and the scattering of the\nnation, and meant to impose a memorial feast upon the whole world.\n\nWithout presuming to fix precisely the purpose in the mind of Jesus, you\nwill see that many opinions may be entertained of his intention, all\nconsistent with the opinion that he did not design a perpetual ordinance.\nHe may have foreseen that his disciples would meet to remember him, and\nthat with good effect. It may have crossed his mind that this would\nbe easily continued a hundred or a thousand years,\u2014as men more easily\ntransmit a form than a virtue,\u2014and yet have been altogether out of his\npurpose to fasten it upon men in all times and all countries.\n\nBut though the words, \u201cDo this in remembrance of me,\u201d do not occur in\nMatthew, Mark or John, and although it should be granted us that, taken\nalone, they do not necessarily import so much as is usually thought,\nyet many persons are apt to imagine that the very striking and personal\nmanner in which the eating and drinking is described, indicates a\nstriking and formal purpose to found a festival. And I admit that this\nimpression might probably be left upon the mind of one who read only the\npassages under consideration in the New Testament. But this impression\nis removed by reading any narrative of the mode in which the ancient\nor the modern Jews have kept the Passover. It is then perceived that\nthe leading circumstances in the Gospels are only a faithful account\nof that ceremony. Jesus did not celebrate the Passover, and afterwards\nthe Supper, but the Supper was the Passover. He did with his disciples\nexactly what every master of a family in Jerusalem was doing at the same\nhour with his household. It appears that the Jews ate the lamb and the\nunleavened bread and drank wine after a prescribed manner. It was the\ncustom for the master of the feast to break the bread and to bless it,\nusing this formula, which the Talmudists have preserved to us, \u201cBlessed\nbe Thou, O Lord, our God, who givest us the fruit of the vine,\u201d\u2014and then\nto give the cup to all. Among the modern Jews, who in their dispersion\nretain the Passover, a hymn is also sung after this ceremony, specifying\nthe twelve great works done by God for the deliverance of their fathers\nout of Egypt.\n\nBut still it may be asked, Why did Jesus make expressions so\nextraordinary and emphatic as these\u2014\u201cThis is my body which is broken\nfor you. Take; eat. This is my blood which is shed for you. Drink\nit\u201d?\u2014I reply they are not extraordinary expressions from him. They were\nfamiliar in his mouth. He always taught by parables and symbols. It was\nthe national way of teaching, and was largely used by him. Remember the\nreadiness which he always showed to spiritualize every occurrence. He\nstopped and wrote on the sand. He admonished his disciples respecting the\nleaven of the Pharisees. He instructed the woman of Samaria respecting\nliving water. He permitted himself to be anointed, declaring that it\nwas for his interment. He washed the feet of his disciples. These are\nadmitted to be symbolical actions and expressions. Here, in like manner,\nhe calls the bread his body, and bids the disciples eat. He had used\nthe same expression repeatedly before. The reason why St. John does not\nrepeat his words on this occasion seems to be that he had reported a\nsimilar discourse of Jesus to the people of Capernaum more at length\nalready (John vi. 27-60). He there tells the Jews, \u201cExcept ye eat the\nflesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.\u201d And\nwhen the Jews on that occasion complained that they did not comprehend\nwhat he meant, he added for their better understanding, and as if for\nour understanding, that we might not think his body was to be actually\neaten, that he only meant we should live by his commandment. He closed\nhis discourse with these explanatory expressions: \u201cThe flesh profiteth\nnothing; the words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are\nlife.\u201d\n\nWhilst I am upon this topic, I cannot help remarking that it is not a\nlittle singular that we should have preserved this rite and insisted\nupon perpetuating one symbolical act of Christ whilst we have totally\nneglected all others,\u2014particularly one other which had at least an equal\nclaim to our observance. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and told\nthem that, as he had washed their feet, they ought to wash one another\u2019s\nfeet; for he had given them an example, that they should do as he had\ndone to them. I ask any person who believes the Supper to have been\ndesigned by Jesus to be commemorated forever, to go and read the account\nof it in the other Gospels, and then compare with it the account of this\ntransaction in St. John, and tell me if this be not much more explicitly\nauthorized than the Supper. It only differs in this, that we have found\nthe Supper used in New England and the washing of the feet not. But if\nwe had found it an established rite in our churches, on grounds of mere\nauthority, it would have been impossible to have argued against it. That\nrite is used by the Church of Rome, and by the Sandemanians. It has been\nvery properly dropped by other Christians. Why? For two reasons: (1)\nbecause it was a local custom, and unsuitable in western countries; and\n(2) because it was typical, and all understood that humility is the thing\nsignified. But the Passover was local too, and does not concern us, and\nits bread and wine were typical, and do not help us to understand the\nredemption which they signified. These views of the original account of\nthe Lord\u2019s Supper lead me to esteem it an occasion full of solemn and\nprophetic interest, but never intended by Jesus to be the foundation of a\nperpetual institution.\n\nIt appears, however, in Christian history that the disciples had very\nearly taken advantage of these impressive words of Christ to hold\nreligious meetings, where they broke bread and drank wine as symbols. I\nlook upon this fact as very natural in the circumstances of the Church.\nThe disciples lived together; they threw all their property into a\ncommon stock; they were bound together by the memory of Christ, and\nnothing could be more natural than that this eventful evening should be\naffectionately remembered by them; that they, Jews like Jesus, should\nadopt his expressions and his types, and furthermore, that what was\ndone with peculiar propriety by them, his personal friends, with less\npropriety should come to be extended to their companions also. In this\nway religious feasts grew up among the early Christians. They were\nreadily adopted by the Jewish converts, who were familiar with religious\nfeasts, and also by the Pagan converts, whose idolatrous worship had\nbeen made up of sacred festivals, and who very readily abused these\nto gross riot, as appears from the censures of St. Paul. Many persons\nconsider this fact, the observance of such a memorial feast by the early\ndisciples, decisive of the question whether it ought to be observed by\nus. There was good reason for his personal friends to remember their\nfriend and repeat his words. It was only too probable that among the\nhalf-converted Pagans and Jews, any rite, any form, would find favor,\nwhilst yet unable to comprehend the spiritual character of Christianity.\n\nThe circumstance, however, that St. Paul adopts these views, has seemed\nto many persons conclusive in favor of the institution. I am of opinion\nthat it is wholly upon the Epistle to the Corinthians, and not upon the\nGospels, that the ordinance stands. Upon this matter of St. Paul\u2019s view\nof the Supper, a few important considerations must be stated.\n\nThe end which he has in view, in the eleventh chapter of the first\nEpistle, is not to enjoin upon his friends to observe the Supper, but\nto censure their abuse of it. We quote the passage nowadays as if it\nenjoined attendance upon the Supper; but he wrote it merely to chide\nthem for drunkenness. To make their enormity plainer, he goes back to\nthe origin of this religious feast to show what sort of feast that was,\nout of which this riot of theirs came, and so relates the transactions\nof the Last Supper. \u201cI have received of the Lord,\u201d he says, \u201cthat which\nI delivered to you.\u201d By this expression it is often thought that a\nmiraculous communication is implied; but certainly without good reason,\nif it is remembered that St. Paul was living in the lifetime of all\nthe apostles who could give him an account of the transaction; and it\nis contrary to all reason to suppose that God should work a miracle to\nconvey information that could so easily be got by natural means. So that\nthe import of the expression is that he had received the story of an\neye-witness such as we also possess.\n\nBut there is a material circumstance which diminishes our confidence in\nthe correctness of the Apostle\u2019s view; and that is, the observation that\nhis mind had not escaped the prevalent error of the primitive Church,\nthe belief, namely, that the second coming of Christ would shortly occur,\nuntil which time, he tells them, this feast was to be kept. Elsewhere he\ntells them that at that time the world would be burnt up with fire, and\na new government established, in which the Saints would sit on thrones;\nso slow were the disciples, during the life and after the ascension of\nChrist, to receive the idea which we receive, that his second coming was\na spiritual kingdom, the dominion of his religion in the hearts of men,\nto be extended gradually over the whole world. In this manner we may see\nclearly enough how this ancient ordinance got its footing among the early\nChristians, and this single expectation of a speedy reappearance of a\ntemporal Messiah, which kept its influence even over so spiritual a man\nas St. Paul, would naturally tend to preserve the use of the rite when\nonce established.\n\nWe arrive, then, at this conclusion: first, that it does not appear,\nfrom a careful examination of the account of the Last Supper in the\nEvangelists, that it was designed by Jesus to be perpetual; secondly,\nthat it does not appear that the opinion of St. Paul, all things\nconsidered, ought to alter our opinion derived from the Evangelists.\n\nOne general remark before quitting this branch of this subject. We ought\nto be cautious in taking even the best ascertained opinions and practices\nof the primitive Church for our own. If it could be satisfactorily shown\nthat they esteemed it authorized and to be transmitted forever, that\ndoes not settle the question for us. We know how inveterately they were\nattached to their Jewish prejudices, and how often even the influence of\nChrist failed to enlarge their views. On every other subject succeeding\ntimes have learned to form a judgment more in accordance with the spirit\nof Christianity than was the practice of the early ages.\n\nII. But it is said: \u201cAdmit that the rite was not designed to be\nperpetual. What harm doth it? Here it stands, generally accepted, under\nsome form, by the Christian world, the undoubted occasion of much good;\nis it not better it should remain?\u201d This is the question of expediency.\n\nI proceed to state a few objections that in my judgment lie against its\nuse in its present form.\n\n1. If the view which I have taken of the history of the institution be\ncorrect, then the claim of authority should be dropped in administering\nit. You say, every time you celebrate the rite, that Jesus enjoined it;\nand the whole language you use conveys that impression. But if you read\nthe New Testament as I do, you do not believe he did.\n\n2. It has seemed to me that the use of this ordinance tends to produce\nconfusion in our views of the relation of the soul to God. It is the\nold objection to the doctrine of the Trinity,\u2014that the true worship\nwas transferred from God to Christ, or that such confusion was\nintroduced into the soul that an undivided worship was given nowhere.\nIs not that the effect of the Lord\u2019s Supper? I appeal now to the\nconvictions of communicants, and ask such persons whether they have\nnot been occasionally conscious of a painful confusion of thought\nbetween the worship due to God and the commemoration due to Christ.\nFor the service does not stand upon the basis of a voluntary act, but\nis imposed by authority. It is an expression of gratitude to Christ,\nenjoined by Christ. There is an endeavor to keep Jesus in mind, whilst\nyet the prayers are addressed to God. I fear it is the effect of this\nordinance to clothe Jesus with an authority which he never claimed and\nwhich distracts the mind of the worshipper. I know our opinions differ\nmuch respecting the nature and offices of Christ, and the degree of\nveneration to which he is entitled. I am so much a Unitarian as this:\nthat I believe the human mind can admit but one God, and that every\neffort to pay religious homage to more than one being goes to take away\nall right ideas. I appeal, brethren, to your individual experience. In\nthe moment when you make the least petition to God, though it be but a\nsilent wish that he may approve you, or add one moment to your life,\u2014do\nyou not, in the very act, necessarily exclude all other beings from your\nthought? In that act, the soul stands alone with God, and Jesus is no\nmore present to your mind than your brother or your child.[1]\n\nBut is not Jesus called in Scripture the Mediator? He is the mediator\nin that only sense in which possibly any being can mediate between God\nand man,\u2014that is, an instructor of man. He teaches us how to become\nlike God. And a true disciple of Jesus will receive the light he gives\nmost thankfully; but the thanks he offers, and which an exalted being\nwill accept, are not compliments, commemorations, but the use of that\ninstruction.\n\n3. Passing other objections, I come to this, that the use of the\nelements, however suitable to the people and the modes of thought in the\nEast, where it originated, is foreign and unsuited to affect us. Whatever\nlong usage and strong association may have done in some individuals to\ndeaden this repulsion, I apprehend that their use is rather tolerated\nthan loved by any of us. We are not accustomed to express our thoughts or\nemotions by symbolical actions. Most men find the bread and wine no aid\nto devotion, and to some it is a painful impediment. To eat bread is one\nthing; to love the precepts of Christ and resolve to obey them is quite\nanother.[2]\n\nThe statement of this objection leads me to say that I think this\ndifficulty, wherever it is felt, to be entitled to the greatest weight.\nIt is alone a sufficient objection to the ordinance. It is my own\nobjection. This mode of commemorating Christ is not suitable to me.\nThat is reason enough why I should abandon it. If I believed it was\nenjoined by Jesus on his disciples, and that he even contemplated making\npermanent this mode of commemoration, every way agreeable to an Eastern\nmind, and yet on trial it was disagreeable to my own feelings, I should\nnot adopt it. I should choose other ways which, as more effectual upon\nme, he would approve more. For I choose that my remembrances of him\nshould be pleasing, affecting, religious. I will love him as a glorified\nfriend, after the free way of friendship, and not pay him a stiff sign\nof respect, as men do those whom they fear. A passage read from his\ndiscourses, a moving provocation to works like his, any act or meeting\nwhich tends to awaken a pure thought, a flow of love, an original design\nof virtue, I call a worthy, a true commemoration.\n\n4. The importance ascribed to this particular ordinance is not consistent\nwith the spirit of Christianity. The general object and effect of the\nordinance is unexceptionable. It has been, and is, I doubt not, the\noccasion of indefinite good; but an importance is given by Christians\nto it which never can belong to any form. My friends, the Apostle\nwell assures us that \u201cthe kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but\nrighteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.\u201d I am not so\nfoolish as to declaim against forms. Forms are as essential as bodies;\nbut to exalt particular forms, to adhere to one form a moment after it\nis outgrown, is unreasonable, and it is alien to the spirit of Christ.\nIf I understand the distinction of Christianity, the reason why it is\nto be preferred over all other systems and is divine is this, that it\nis a moral system; that it presents men with truths which are their own\nreason, and enjoins practices that are their own justification; that if\nmiracles may be said to have been its evidence to the first Christians,\nthey are not its evidence to us, but the doctrines themselves; that\nevery practice is Christian which praises itself, and every practice\nunchristian which condemns itself. I am not engaged to Christianity by\ndecent forms, or saving ordinances; it is not usage, it is not what I do\nnot understand, that binds me to it,\u2014let these be the sandy foundations\nof falsehoods. What I revere and obey in it is its reality, its boundless\ncharity, its deep interior life, the rest it gives to mind, the echo\nit returns to my thoughts, the perfect accord it makes with my reason\nthrough all its representation of God and His Providence; and the\npersuasion and courage that come out thence to lead me upward and onward.\nFreedom is the essence of this faith. It has for its object simply to\nmake men good and wise. Its institutions then should be as flexible as\nthe wants of men. That form out of which the life and suitableness have\ndeparted should be as worthless in its eyes as the dead leaves that are\nfalling around us.\n\nAnd therefore, although for the satisfaction of others I have labored\nto show by the history that this rite was not intended to be perpetual;\nalthough I have gone back to weigh the expressions of Paul, I feel that\nhere is the true point of view. In the midst of considerations as to\nwhat Paul thought, and why he so thought, I cannot help feeling that it\nis time misspent to argue to or from his convictions, or those of Luke\nand John, respecting any form. I seem to lose the substance in seeking\nthe shadow. That for which Paul lived and died so gloriously; that for\nwhich Jesus gave himself to be crucified; the end that animated the\nthousand martyrs and heroes who have followed his steps, was to redeem\nus from a formal religion, and teach us to seek our well-being in the\nformation of the soul. The whole world was full of idols and ordinances.\nThe Jewish was a religion of forms; it was all body, it had no life, and\nthe Almighty God was pleased to qualify and send forth a man to teach\nmen that they must serve him with the heart; that only that life was\nreligious which was thoroughly good; that sacrifice was smoke, and forms\nwere shadows. This man lived and died true to this purpose; and now, with\nhis blessed word and life before us, Christians must contend that it\nis a matter of vital importance,\u2014really a duty, to commemorate him by a\ncertain form, whether that form be agreeable to their understandings or\nnot. Is not this to make vain the gift of God? Is not this to turn back\nthe hand on the dial? Is not this to make men,\u2014to make ourselves,\u2014forget\nthat not forms, but duties; not names, but righteousness and love are\nenjoined; and that in the eye of God there is no other measure of the\nvalue of any one form than the measure of its use?\n\nThere remain some practical objections to the ordinance, into which I\nshall not now enter. There is one on which I had intended to say a few\nwords; I mean the unfavorable relation in which it places that numerous\nclass of persons who abstain from it merely from disinclination to the\nrite.\n\nInfluenced by these considerations, I have proposed to the brethren of\nthe Church to drop the use of the elements and the claim of authority in\nthe administration of this ordinance, and have suggested a mode in which\na meeting for the same purpose might be held, free of objection.\n\nMy brethren have considered my views with patience and candor, and\nhave recommended, unanimously, an adherence to the present form. I have\ntherefore been compelled to consider whether it becomes me to administer\nit. I am clearly of opinion I ought not. This discourse has already been\nso far extended that I can only say that the reason of my determination\nis shortly this: It is my desire, in the office of a Christian minister,\nto do nothing which I cannot do with my whole heart. Having said this,\nI have said all. I have no hostility to this institution; I am only\nstating my want of sympathy with it. Neither should I ever have obtruded\nthis opinion upon other people, had I not been called by my office to\nadminister it. That is the end of my opposition, that I am not interested\nin it. I am content that it stand to the end of the world, if it please\nmen and please Heaven, and I shall rejoice in all the good it produces.\n\nAs it is the prevailing opinion and feeling in our religious community\nthat it is an indispensable part of the pastoral office to administer\nthis ordinance, I am about to resign into your hands that office which\nyou have confided to me. It has many duties for which I am feebly\nqualified. It has some which it will always be my delight to discharge\naccording to my ability, wherever I exist. And whilst the recollection of\nits claims oppresses me with a sense of my unworthiness, I am consoled by\nthe hope that no time and no change can deprive me of the satisfaction of\npursuing and exercising its highest functions.[3]\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nHISTORICAL DISCOURSE\n\nAT CONCORD, ON THE SECOND CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE INCORPORATION OF\nTHE TOWN, SEPTEMBER 12, 1835\n\n    Bulkeley, Hunt, Willard, Hosmer, Merriam, Flint,\n    Possessed the land which rendered to their toil\n    Hay, corn, roots, hemp, flax, apples, wool and wood.\n    Each of these landlords walked amidst his farm\n    Saying, \u2018\u2019Tis mine, my children\u2019s and my name\u2019s.\u2019\n\n    Where are these men? Asleep beneath their grounds:\n    And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough.\n    Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys\n    Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    I will have never a noble,\n    No lineage counted great;\n    Fishers and choppers and ploughmen\n    Shall constitute a state.\n\n    Lo now! if these poor men\n    Can govern the land and sea\n    And make just laws below the sun,\n    As planets faithful be.\n\n    I cause from every creature\n    His proper good to flow:\n    As much as he is and doeth,\n    So much he shall bestow.\n\n\nHISTORICAL DISCOURSE\n\nFELLOW CITIZENS: The town of Concord begins, this day, the third century\nof its history. By a common consent, the people of New England, for a few\nyears past, as the second centennial anniversary of each of its early\nsettlements arrived, have seen fit to observe the day. You have thought\nit becoming to commemorate the planting of the first inland town. The\nsentiment is just, and the practice is wise. Our ears shall not be deaf\nto the voice of time. We will review the deeds of our fathers, and pass\nthat just verdict on them we expect from posterity on our own.\n\nAnd yet, in the eternity of Nature, how recent our antiquities appear!\nThe imagination is impatient of a cycle so short. Who can tell how many\nthousand years, every day, the clouds have shaded these fields with their\npurple awning? The river, by whose banks most of us were born, every\nwinter, for ages, has spread its crust of ice over the great meadows\nwhich, in ages, it had formed. But the little society of men who now, for\na few years, fish in this river, plough the fields it washes, mow the\ngrass and reap the corn, shortly shall hurry from its banks as did their\nforefathers. \u201cMan\u2019s life,\u201d said the Witan to the Saxon king, \u201cis the\nsparrow that enters at a window, flutters round the house, and flies out\nat another, and none knoweth whence he came, or whither he goes.\u201d[4] The\nmore reason that we should give to our being what permanence we can;\u2014that\nwe should recall the Past, and expect the Future.\n\nYet the race survives whilst the individual dies. In the country, without\nany interference of the law, the agricultural life favors the permanence\nof families. Here are still around me the lineal descendants of the first\nsettlers of this town. Here is Blood, Flint, Willard, Meriam, Wood,\nHosmer, Barrett, Wheeler, Jones, Brown, Buttrick, Brooks, Stow, Hoar,\nHeywood, Hunt, Miles,\u2014the names of the inhabitants for the first thirty\nyears; and the family is in many cases represented, when the name is\nnot. If the name of Bulkeley is wanting, the honor you have done me this\nday, in making me your organ, testifies your persevering kindness to his\nblood.[5]\n\nI shall not be expected, on this occasion, to repeat the details of\nthat oppression which drove our fathers out hither. Yet the town of\nConcord was settled by a party of non-conformists, immediately from\nGreat Britain. The best friend the Massachusetts colony had, though\nmuch against his will, was Archbishop Laud in England. In consequence\nof his famous proclamation setting up certain novelties in the rites\nof public worship, fifty godly ministers were suspended for contumacy,\nin the course of two years and a half. Hindered from speaking, some of\nthese dared to print the reasons of their dissent, and were punished\nwith imprisonment or mutilation.[6] This severity brought some of the\nbest men in England to overcome that natural repugnance to emigration\nwhich holds the serious and moderate of every nation to their own soil.\nAmong the silenced clergymen was a distinguished minister of Woodhill, in\nBedfordshire, Rev. Peter Bulkeley, descended from a noble family, honored\nfor his own virtues, his learning and gifts as a preacher, and adding to\nhis influence the weight of a large estate.[7] Persecution readily knits\nfriendship between its victims. Mr. Bulkeley, having turned his estate\ninto money and set his face towards New England, was easily able to\npersuade a good number of planters to join him. They arrived in Boston in\n1634.[8] Probably there had been a previous correspondence with Governor\nWinthrop, and an agreement that they should settle at Musketaquid. With\nthem joined Mr. Simon Willard, a merchant from Kent in England. They\npetitioned the General Court for a grant of a township, and on the 2d\nof September, 1635, corresponding in New Style to 12th September, two\nhundred years ago this day, leave to begin a plantation at Musketaquid\nwas given to Peter Bulkeley, Simon Willard, and about twelve families\nmore.[9] A month later, Rev. John Jones and a large number of settlers\ndestined for the new town arrived in Boston.[10]\n\nThe grant of the General Court was but a preliminary step. The green\nmeadows of Musketaquid or _Grassy Brook_ were far up in the woods,\nnot to be reached without a painful and dangerous journey through an\nuninterrupted wilderness. They could cross the Massachusetts or Charles\nRiver, by the ferry at Newtown; they could go up the river as far as\nWatertown. But the Indian paths leading up and down the country were a\nfoot broad. They must then plunge into the thicket, and with their axes\ncut a road for their teams, with their women and children and their\nhousehold stuff, forced to make long circuits too, to avoid hills and\nswamps. Edward Johnson of Woburn has described in an affecting narrative\ntheir labors by the way. \u201cSometimes passing through thickets where their\nhands are forced to make way for their bodies\u2019 passage, and their feet\nclambering over the crossed trees, which when they missed, they sunk\ninto an uncertain bottom in water, and wade up to their knees, tumbling\nsometimes higher, sometimes lower. At the end of this, they meet a\nscorching plain, yet not so plain but that the ragged bushes scratch\ntheir legs foully, even to wearing their stockings to their bare skin in\ntwo or three hours. Some of them, having no leggins, have had the blood\ntrickle down at every step. And in time of summer, the sun casts such a\nreflecting heat from the sweet fern, whose scent is very strong, that\nsome nearly fainted.\u201d[11] They slept on the rocks, wherever the night\nfound them. Much time was lost in travelling they knew not whither, when\nthe sun was hidden by clouds; for \u201ctheir compass miscarried in crowding\nthrough the bushes,\u201d and the Indian paths, once lost, they did not easily\nfind.\n\nJohnson, relating undoubtedly what he had himself heard from the\npilgrims, intimates that they consumed many days in exploring the\ncountry, to select the best place for the town. Their first temporary\naccommodation was rude enough. \u201cAfter they have found a place of abode,\nthey burrow themselves in the earth for their first shelter, under a\nhillside, and casting the soil aloft upon timbers, they make a fire\nagainst the earth, at the highest side. And thus these poor servants\nof Christ provide shelter for themselves, their wives and little ones,\nkeeping off the short showers from their lodgings, but the long rains\npenetrate through, to their great disturbance in the night season. Yet in\nthese poor wigwams they sing psalms, pray and praise their God, till they\ncan provide them houses, which they could not ordinarily, till the earth,\nby the Lord\u2019s blessing, brought forth bread to feed them. This they\nattain with sore travail, every one that can lift a hoe to strike into\nthe earth standing stoutly to his labors, and tearing up the roots and\nbushes from the ground, which, the first year, yielded them a lean crop,\ntill the sod of the earth was rotten, and therefore they were forced to\ncut their bread very thin for a long season. But the Lord is pleased to\nprovide for them great store of fish in the spring-time, and especially,\nalewives, about the bigness of a herring.\u201d[12] These served them also\nfor manure. For flesh, they looked not for any, in those times, unless\nthey could barter with the Indians for venison and raccoons. \u201cIndian\ncorn, even the coarsest, made as pleasant meal as rice.\u201d[13] All kinds of\ngarden fruits grew well, \u201cand let no man,\u201d writes our pious chronicler,\nin another place, \u201cmake a jest of pumpkins, for with this fruit the\nLord was pleased to feed his people until their corn and cattle were\nincreased.\u201d[14]\n\nThe great cost of cattle, and the sickening of their cattle upon such\nwild fodder as was never cut before; the loss of their sheep and swine\nby wolves; the sufferings of the people in the great snows and cold\nsoon following; and the fear of the Pequots; are the other disasters\nenumerated by the historian.\n\nThe hardships of the journey and of the first encampment are certainly\nrelated by their contemporary with some air of romance, yet they can\nscarcely be exaggerated. A march of a number of families with their\nstuff, through twenty miles of unknown forest, from a little rising town\nthat had not much to spare, to an Indian town in the wilderness that had\nnothing, must be laborious to all, and for those who were new to the\ncountry and bred in softness, a formidable adventure. But the pilgrims\nhad the preparation of an armed mind, better than any hardihood of body.\nAnd the rough welcome which the new land gave them was a fit introduction\nto the life they must lead in it.\n\nBut what was their reception at Musketaquid? This was an old village\nof the Massachusetts Indians. Tahattawan, the Sachem, with Waban his\nson-in-law, lived near Nashawtuck, now Lee\u2019s Hill.[15] Their tribe,\nonce numerous, the epidemic had reduced. Here they planted, hunted and\nfished. The moose was still trotting in the country, and of his sinews\nthey made their bowstring. Of the pith elder, that still grows beside\nour brooks, they made their arrow. Of the Indian hemp they spun their\nnets and lines for summer angling, and, in winter, they sat around holes\nin the ice, catching salmon, pickerel, breams and perch, with which our\nriver abounded.[16] Their physical powers, as our fathers found them,\nand before yet the English alcohol had proved more fatal to them than\nthe English sword, astonished the white men.[17] Their sight was so\nexcellent, that, standing on the seashore, they often told of the coming\nof a ship at sea, sooner by one hour, yea, two hours\u2019 sail, than any\nEnglishman that stood by, on purpose to look out.[18] Roger Williams\naffirms that he has known them run between eighty and a hundred miles in\na summer\u2019s day, and back again within two days. A little pounded parched\ncorn or no-cake sufficed them on the march. To his bodily perfection, the\nwild man added some noble traits of character. He was open as a child to\nkindness and justice. Many instances of his humanity were known to the\nEnglishmen who suffered in the woods from sickness or cold. \u201cWhen you\ncame over the morning waters,\u201d said one of the Sachems, \u201cwe took you into\nour arms. We fed you with our best meat. Never went white man cold and\nhungry from Indian wigwam.\u201d\n\nThe faithful dealing and brave good will, which, during the life of\nthe friendly Massasoit, they uniformly experienced at Plymouth and at\nBoston, went to their hearts. So that the peace was made, and the ear of\nthe savage already secured, before the pilgrims arrived at his seat of\nMusketaquid, to treat with him for his lands.\n\nIt is said that the covenant made with the Indians, by Mr. Bulkeley and\nMajor Willard, was made under a great oak, formerly standing near the\nsite of the Middlesex Hotel.[19] Our Records affirm that Squaw Sachem,\nTahattawan, and Nimrod did sell a tract of six miles square to the\nEnglish, receiving for the same, some fathoms of Wampumpeag, hatchets,\nhoes, knives, cotton cloth and shirts. Wibbacowet, the husband of Squaw\nSachem, received a suit of cloth, a hat, a white linen band, shoes,\nstockings and a greatcoat; and, in conclusion, the said Indians declared\nthemselves satisfied, and told the Englishmen they were welcome. And\nafter the bargain was concluded, Mr. Simon Willard, pointing to the four\ncorners of the world, declared that they had bought three miles from that\nplace, east, west, north and south.[20]\n\nThe Puritans, to keep the remembrance of their unity one with another,\nand of their peaceful compact with the Indians, named their forest\nsettlement CONCORD. They proceeded to build, under the shelter of the\nhill that extends for a mile along the north side of the Boston road,\ntheir first dwellings. The labors of a new plantation were paid by its\nexcitements. I seem to see them, with their pious pastor, addressing\nthemselves to the work of clearing the land. Natives of another\nhemisphere, they beheld, with curiosity, all the pleasing features of the\nAmerican forest. The landscape before them was fair, if it was strange\nand rude. The little flower which at this season stars our woods and\nroadsides with its profuse blooms, might attract even eyes as stern as\ntheirs with its humble beauty. The useful pine lifted its cones into\nthe frosty air. The maple, which is already making the forest gay with\nits orange hues, reddened over those houseless men. The majestic summits\nof Wachusett and Monadnoc towering in the horizon, invited the steps of\nadventure westward.\n\nAs the season grew later, they felt its inconveniences. \u201cMany were forced\nto go barefoot and bareleg, and some in time of frost and snow, yet were\nthey more healthy than now they are.\u201d[21] The land was low but healthy;\nand if, in common with all the settlements, they found the air of America\nvery cold, they might say with Higginson, after his description of the\nother elements, that \u201cNew England may boast of the element of fire, more\nthan all the rest; for all Europe is not able to afford to make so great\nfires as New England. A poor servant, that is to possess but fifty acres,\nmay afford to give more wood for fire as good as the world yields, than\nmany noblemen in England.\u201d[22] Many were their wants, but more their\nprivileges. The light struggled in through windows of oiled paper,[23]\nbut they read the word of God by it. They were fain to make use of their\nknees for a table, but their limbs were their own. Hard labor and spare\ndiet they had, and off wooden trenchers, but they had peace and freedom,\nand the wailing of the tempest in the woods sounded kindlier in their ear\nthan the smooth voice of the prelates, at home, in England. \u201cThere is\nno people,\u201d said their pastor to his little flock of exiles, \u201cbut will\nstrive to excel in something. What can we excel in, if not in holiness?\nIf we look to number, we are the fewest; if to strength, we are the\nweakest; if to wealth and riches, we are the poorest of all the people of\nGod through the whole world. We cannot excel nor so much as equal other\npeople in these things; and if we come short in grace and holiness too,\nwe are the most despicable people under heaven. Strive we, therefore,\nherein to excel, and suffer not this crown to be taken away from us.\u201d[24]\nThe sermon fell into good and tender hearts; the people conspired with\ntheir teacher. Their religion was sweetness and peace amidst toil and\ntears. And, as we are informed, \u201cthe edge of their appetite was greater\nto spiritual duties at their first coming, in time of wants, than\nafterwards.\u201d\n\nThe original Town Records, for the first thirty years, are lost. We\nhave records of marriages and deaths, beginning nineteen years after\nthe settlement; and copies of some of the doings of the town in regard\nto territory, of the same date. But the original distribution of the\nland, or an account of the principles on which it was divided, are not\npreserved. Agreeably to the custom of the times, a large portion was\nreserved to the public, and it appears from a petition of some newcomers,\nin 1643, that a part had been divided among the first settlers without\nprice, on the single condition of improving it.[25] Other portions seem\nto have been successively divided off and granted to individuals, at the\nrate of sixpence or a shilling an acre. But, in the first years, the land\nwould not pay the necessary public charges, and they seem to have fallen\nheavily on the few wealthy planters. Mr. Bulkeley, by his generosity,\nspent his estate, and, doubtless in consideration of his charges, the\nGeneral Court, in 1639, granted him 300 acres towards Cambridge; and\nto Mr. Spencer, probably for the like reason, 300 acres by the Alewife\nRiver. In 1638, 1200 acres were granted to Governor Winthrop, and 1000 to\nThomas Dudley, of the lands adjacent to the town, and Governor Winthrop\nselected as a building spot the land near the house of Captain Humphrey\nHunt.[26] The first record now remaining is that of a reservation of\nland for the minister, and the appropriation of new lands as commons or\npastures to some poor men. At the same date, in 1654, the town having\ndivided itself into three districts, called the North, South and East\nquarters, ordered, \u201cthat the North quarter are to keep and maintain all\ntheir highways and bridges over the great river, in their quarter, and,\nin respect of the greatness of their charge thereabout, and in regard of\nthe ease of the East quarter above the rest, in their highways, they are\nto allow the North quarter \u00a33.\u201d[27]\n\nFellow citizens, this first recorded political act of our fathers,\nthis tax assessed on its inhabitants by a town, is the most important\nevent in their civil history, implying, as it does, the exercise of\na sovereign power, and connected with all the immunities and powers\nof a corporate town in Massachusetts. The greater speed and success\nthat distinguish the planting of the human race in this country, over\nall other plantations in history, owe themselves mainly to the new\nsubdivisions of the State into small corporations of land and power. It\nis vain to look for the inventor. No man made them. Each of the parts\nof that perfect structure grew out of the necessities of an instant\noccasion. The germ was formed in England. The charter gave to the freemen\nof the Company of Massachusetts Bay the election of the Governor and\nCouncil of Assistants. It moreover gave them the power of prescribing\nthe manner in which freemen should be elected; and ordered that all\nfundamental laws should be enacted by the freemen of the colony. But\nthe Company removed to New England; more than one hundred freemen were\nadmitted the first year, and it was found inconvenient to assemble\nthem all.[28] And when, presently, the design of the colony began to\nfulfil itself, by the settlement of new plantations in the vicinity of\nBoston, and parties, with grants of land, straggled into the country to\ntruck with the Indians and to clear the land for their own benefit, the\nGovernor and freemen in Boston found it neither desirable nor possible\nto control the trade and practices of these farmers. What could the body\nof freemen, meeting four times a year, at Boston, do for the daily wants\nof the planters at Musketaquid? The wolf was to be killed; the Indian\nto be watched and resisted; wells to be dug; the forest to be felled;\npastures to be cleared; corn to be raised; roads to be cut; town and\nfarm lines to be run. These things must be done, govern who might. The\nnature of man and his condition in the world, for the first time within\nthe period of certain history, controlled the formation of the State.\nThe necessity of the colonists wrote the law. Their wants, their poverty,\ntheir manifest convenience made them bold to ask of the Governor and\nof the General Court, immunities, and, to certain purposes, sovereign\npowers. The townsmen\u2019s words were heard and weighed, for all knew that\nit was a petitioner that could not be slighted; it was the river, or\nthe winter, or famine, or the Pequots, that spoke through them to the\nGovernor and Council of Massachusetts Bay. Instructed by necessity, each\nlittle company organized itself after the pattern of the larger town,\nby appointing its constable, and other petty half-military officers.\nAs early as 1633,[29] the office of townsman or _selectman_ appears,\nwho seems first to have been appointed by the General Court, as here,\nat Concord, in 1639. In 1635, the Court say, \u201cwhereas particular towns\nhave many things which concern only themselves, it is Ordered, that the\nfreemen of every town shall have power to dispose of their own lands,\nand woods, and choose their own particular officers.\u201d[30] This pointed\nchiefly at the office of constable, but they soon chose their own\nselectmen, and very early assessed taxes; a power at first resisted,[31]\nbut speedily confirmed to them.\n\nMeantime, to this paramount necessity, a milder and more pleasing\ninfluence was joined. I esteem it the happiness of this country that its\nsettlers, whilst they were exploring their granted and natural rights\nand determining the power of the magistrate, were united by personal\naffection. Members of a church before whose searching covenant all rank\nwas abolished, they stood in awe of each other, as religious men. They\nbore to John Winthrop, the Governor, a grave but hearty kindness. For\nthe first time, men examined the powers of the chief whom they loved\nand revered. For the first time, the ideal social compact was real. The\nbands of love and reverence held fast the little state, whilst they\nuntied the great cords of authority to examine their soundness and learn\non what wheels they ran. They were to settle the internal constitution\nof the towns, and, at the same time, their power in the commonwealth.\nThe Governor conspires with them in limiting his claims to their\nobedience, and values much more their love than his chartered authority.\nThe disputes between that forbearing man and the deputies are like the\nquarrels of girls, so much do they turn upon complaints of unkindness,\nand end in such loving reconciliations. It was on doubts concerning\ntheir own power, that, in 1634, a committee repaired to him for counsel,\nand he advised, seeing the freemen were grown so numerous, to send\ndeputies from every town once in a year to revise the laws and to assess\nall monies.[32] And the General Court, thus constituted, only needed to\ngo into separate session from the Council, as they did in 1644,[33] to\nbecome essentially the same assembly they are this day.\n\nBy this course of events, Concord and the other plantations found\nthemselves separate and independent of Boston, with certain rights of\ntheir own, which, what they were, time alone could fully determine;\nenjoying, at the same time, a strict and loving fellowship with Boston,\nand sure of advice and aid, on every emergency. Their powers were\nspeedily settled by obvious convenience, and the towns learned to\nexercise a sovereignty in the laying of taxes; in the choice of their\ndeputy to the house of representatives; in the disposal of the town\nlands; in the care of public worship, the school and the poor; and, what\nseemed of at least equal importance, to exercise the right of expressing\nan opinion on every question before the country. In a town-meeting,\nthe great secret of political science was uncovered, and the problem\nsolved, how to give every individual his fair weight in the government,\nwithout any disorder from numbers. In a town-meeting, the roots of\nsociety were reached. Here the rich gave counsel, but the poor also; and\nmoreover, the just and the unjust. He is ill informed who expects, on\nrunning down the Town Records for two hundred years, to find a church\nof saints, a metropolis of patriots, enacting wholesome and creditable\nlaws. The constitution of the towns forbid it. In this open democracy,\nevery opinion had utterance; every objection, every fact, every acre\nof land, every bushel of rye, its entire weight. The moderator was the\npassive mouth-piece, and the vote of the town, like the vane on the\nturret overhead, free for every wind to turn, and always turned by the\nlast and strongest breath. In these assemblies, the public weal, the\ncall of interest, duty, religion, were heard; and every local feeling,\nevery private grudge, every suggestion of petulance and ignorance, were\nnot less faithfully produced. Wrath and love came up to town-meeting\nin company. By the law of 1641, every man\u2014freeman or not\u2014inhabitant or\nnot\u2014might introduce any business into a public meeting. Not a complaint\noccurs in all the volumes of our Records, of any inhabitant being\nhindered from speaking, or suffering from any violence or usurpation\nof any class. The negative ballot of a ten-shilling freeholder was\nas fatal as that of the honored owner of Blood\u2019s Farms or Willard\u2019s\nPurchase. A man felt himself at liberty to exhibit, at town-meeting,\nfeelings and actions that he would have been ashamed of anywhere but\namongst his neighbors. Individual protests are frequent. Peter Wright\n[1705] desired his dissent might be recorded from the town\u2019s grant to\nJohn Shepard.[34] In 1795, several town-meetings are called, upon the\ncompensation to be made to a few proprietors for land taken in making a\nbridle-road; and one of them demanding large damages, many offers were\nmade him in town-meeting, and refused; \u201cwhich the town thought very\nunreasonable.\u201d The matters there debated are such as to invite very\nsmall considerations. The ill-spelled pages of the Town Records contain\nthe result. I shall be excused for confessing that I have set a value\nupon any symptom of meanness and private pique which I have met with in\nthese antique books, as proof that justice was done; that if the results\nof our history are approved as wise and good, it was yet a free strife;\nif the good counsel prevailed, the sneaking counsel did not fail to be\nsuggested; freedom and virtue, if they triumphed, triumphed in a fair\nfield. And so be it an everlasting testimony for them, and so much ground\nof assurance of man\u2019s capacity for self-government.\n\nIt is the consequence of this institution that not a school-house, a\npublic pew, a bridge, a pound, a mill-dam, hath been set up, or pulled\ndown, or altered, or bought, or sold, without the whole population of\nthis town having a voice in the affair. A general contentment is the\nresult. And the people truly feel that they are lords of the soil. In\nevery winding road, in every stone fence, in the smokes of the poor-house\nchimney, in the clock on the church, they read their own power, and\nconsider, at leisure, the wisdom and error of their judgments.\n\nThe British government has recently presented to the several public\nlibraries of this country, copies of the splendid edition of the Domesday\nBook, and other ancient public records of England. I cannot but think\nthat it would be a suitable acknowledgment of this national munificence,\nif the records of one of our towns,\u2014of this town, for example,\u2014should\nbe printed, and presented to the governments of Europe; to the English\nnation, as a thank-offering, and as a certificate of the progress of\nthe Saxon race; to the Continental nations as a lesson of humanity and\nlove. Tell them, the Union has twenty-four States, and Massachusetts is\none. Tell them, Massachusetts has three hundred towns, and Concord is\none; that in Concord are five hundred ratable polls, and every one has an\nequal vote.\n\nAbout ten years after the planting of Concord, efforts began to be made\nto civilize the Indians, and \u201cto win them to the knowledge of the true\nGod.\u201d This indeed, in so many words, is expressed in the charter of the\ncolony as one of its ends; and this design is named first in the printed\n\u201cConsiderations,\u201d[35] that inclined Hampden, and determined Winthrop\nand his friends, to come hither. The interest of the Puritans in the\nnatives was heightened by a suspicion at that time prevailing that these\nwere the lost ten tribes of Israel. The man of the woods might well draw\non himself the compassion of the planters. His erect and perfect form,\nthough disclosing some irregular virtues, was found joined to a dwindled\nsoul. Master of all sorts of wood-craft, he seemed a part of the forest\nand the lake, and the secret of his amazing skill seemed to be that he\npartook of the nature and fierce instincts of the beasts he slew. Those\nwho dwelled by ponds and rivers had some tincture of civility, but the\nhunters of the tribe were found intractable at catechism. Thomas Hooker\nanticipated the opinion of Humboldt, and called them \u201cthe ruins of\nmankind.\u201d\n\nEarly efforts were made to instruct them, in which Mr. Bulkeley, Mr.\nFlint, and Captain Willard, took an active part. In 1644, Squaw Sachem,\nthe widow of Nanepashemet, the great Sachem of Concord and Mystic,\nwith two sachems of Wachusett, made a formal submission to the English\ngovernment, and intimated their desire, \u201cas opportunity served, and the\nEnglish lived among them, to learn to read God\u2019s word, and know God\naright;\u201d and the General Court acted on their request.[36] John Eliot,\nin October, 1646, preached his first sermon in the Indian language at\nNoonantum; Waban, Tahattawan, and their sannaps, going thither from\nConcord to hear him. There under the rubbish and ruins of barbarous life,\nthe human heart heard the voice of love, and awoke as from a sleep. The\nquestions which the Indians put betray their reason and their ignorance.\n\u201cCan Jesus Christ understand prayers in the Indian language?\u201d \u201cIf a man\nbe wise, and his sachem weak, must he obey him?\u201d At a meeting which Eliot\ngave to the squaws apart, the wife of Wampooas propounded the question,\n\u201cWhether do I pray when my husband prays, if I speak nothing as he doth,\nyet if I like what he saith?\u201d\u2014\u201cwhich questions were accounted of by some,\nas part of the whitenings of the harvest toward.\u201d[37] Tahattawan, our\nConcord sachem, called his Indians together, and bid them not oppose\nthe courses which the English were taking for their good; for, said he,\nall the time you have lived after the Indian fashion, under the power\nof the higher sachems, what did they care for you? They took away your\nskins, your kettles and your wampum, at their own pleasure, and this was\nall they regarded. But you may see the English mind no such things, but\nonly seek your welfare, and instead of taking away, are ready to give\nto you. Tahattawan and his son-in-law Waban, besought Eliot to come and\npreach to them at Concord, and here they entered, by his assistance, into\nan agreement to twenty-nine rules, all breathing a desire to conform\nthemselves to English customs.[38] They requested to have a town given\nthem within the bounds of Concord, near unto the English. When this\nquestion was propounded by Tahattawan, he was asked, why he desired a\ntown so near, when there was more room for them up in the country? The\nsachem replied that he knew if the Indians dwelt far from the English,\nthey would not so much care to pray, nor could they be so ready to hear\nthe word of God, but would be, all one, Indians still; but dwelling near\nthe English, he hoped it might be otherwise with them then. We, who\nsee in the squalid remnants of the twenty tribes of Massachusetts, the\nfinal failure of this benevolent enterprise, can hardly learn without\nemotion the earnestness with which the most sensible individuals of the\ncopper race held on to the new hope they had conceived, of being elevated\nto equality with their civilized brother. It is piteous to see their\nself-distrust in their request to remain near the English, and their\nunanimous entreaty to Captain Willard, to be their Recorder, being very\nsolicitous that what they did agree upon might be faithfully kept without\nalteration. It was remarkable that the preaching was not wholly new to\nthem. \u201cTheir forefathers,\u201d the Indians told Eliot, \u201cdid know God, but\nafter this, they fell into a deep sleep, and when they did awake, they\nquite forgot him.\u201d[39]\n\nAt the instance of Eliot, in 1651, their desire was granted by the\nGeneral Court, and Nashobah, lying near Nagog Pond, now partly in\nLittleton, partly in Acton, became an Indian town, where a Christian\nworship was established under an Indian ruler and teacher. Wilson relates\nthat, at their meetings, \u201cthe Indians sung a psalm, made Indian by Eliot,\nin one of our ordinary English tunes, melodiously.\u201d[40] Such was, for\nhalf a century, the success of the general enterprise, that, in 1676,\nthere were five hundred and sixty-seven praying Indians, and in 1689,\ntwenty-four Indian preachers, and eighteen assemblies.\n\nMeantime, Concord increased in territory and population. The lands were\ndivided; highways were cut from farm to farm, and from this town to\nBoston. A military company had been organized in 1636. The Pequots, the\nterror of the farmer, were exterminated in 1637. Captain Underhill, in\n1638, declared, that \u201cthe new plantations of Dedham and Concord do afford\nlarge accommodation, and will contain abundance of people.\u201d[41] In 1639,\nour first selectmen, Mr. Flint, Lieutenant Willard, and Richard Griffin\nwere appointed. And in 1640, when the colony rate was \u00a31200, Concord\nwas assessed \u00a350.[42] The country already began to yield more than was\nconsumed by the inhabitants.[43] The very great immigration from England\nmade the lands more valuable every year, and supplied a market for the\nproduce. In 1643, the colony was so numerous that it became expedient to\ndivide it into four counties, Concord being included in Middlesex.[44] In\n1644, the town contained sixty families.\n\nBut, in 1640, all immigration ceased, and the country produce and\nfarm-stock depreciated.[45] Other difficulties accrued. The fish, which\nhad been the abundant manure of the settlers, was found to injure the\nland.[46] The river, at this period, seems to have caused some distress\nnow by its overflow, now by its drought.[47] A cold and wet summer\nblighted the corn; enormous flocks of pigeons beat down and eat up all\nsorts of English grain; and the crops suffered much from mice.[48] New\nplantations and better land had been opened, far and near; and whilst\nmany of the colonists at Boston thought to remove, or did remove to\nEngland, the Concord people became uneasy, and looked around for new\nseats. In 1643, one seventh or one eighth part of the inhabitants went to\nConnecticut with Reverend Mr. Jones, and settled Fairfield. Weakened by\nthis loss, the people begged to be released from a part of their rates,\nto which the General Court consented. Mr. Bulkeley dissuaded his people\nfrom removing, and admonished them to increase their faith with their\ngriefs. Even this check which befell them acquaints us with the rapidity\nof their growth, for the good man, in dealing with his people, taxes them\nwith luxury. \u201cWe pretended to come hither,\u201d he says, \u201cfor ordinances; but\nnow ordinances are light matters with us; we are turned after the prey.\nWe have among us excess and pride of life; pride in apparel, daintiness\nin diet, and that in those who, in times past, would have been satisfied\nwith bread. _This is the sin of the lowest of the people._\u201d[49] Better\nevidence could not be desired of the rapid growth of the settlement.\n\nThe check was but momentary. The earth teemed with fruits. The people\non the bay built ships, and found the way to the West Indies, with\npipe-staves, lumber and fish; and the country people speedily learned\nto supply themselves with sugar, tea and molasses. The college had been\nalready gathered in 1638. Now the school-house went up. The General\nCourt, in 1647, \u201cto the end that learning may not be buried in the\ngraves of our forefathers, Ordered, that every township, after the Lord\nhad increased them to the number of fifty house-holders, shall appoint\none to teach all children to write and read; and where any town shall\nincrease to the number of one hundred families, they shall set up a\nGrammar school, the masters thereof being able to instruct youth so\nfar as they may be fitted for the University.\u201d With these requirements\nConcord not only complied, but, in 1653, subscribed a sum for several\nyears to the support of Harvard College.[50]\n\nBut a new and alarming public distress retarded the growth of this, as\nof the sister towns, during more than twenty years from 1654 to 1676.\nIn 1654, the four united New England Colonies agreed to raise 270 foot\nand 40 horse, to reduce Ninigret, Sachem of the Niantics, and appointed\nMajor Simon Willard, of this town, to the command.[51] This war seems\nto have been pressed by three of the colonies, and reluctantly entered\nby Massachusetts. Accordingly, Major Willard did the least he could,\nand incurred the censure of the Commissioners, who write to their\n\u201cloving friend Major Willard,\u201d \u201cthat they leave to his consideration the\ninconveniences arising from his non-attendance to his commission.\u201d[52]\nThis expedition was but the introduction of the war with King Philip.\nIn 1670, the Wampanoags began to grind their hatchets, and mend their\nguns, and insult the English. Philip surrendered seventy guns to the\nCommissioners in Taunton Meeting-house,[53] but revenged his humiliation\na few years after, by carrying fire and the tomahawk into the English\nvillages. From Narragansett to the Connecticut River, the scene of war\nwas shifted as fast as these red hunters could traverse the forest.\nConcord was a military post. The inactivity of Major Willard, in\nNinigret\u2019s war, had lost him no confidence. He marched from Concord to\nBrookfield, in season to save the people whose houses had been burned,\nand who had taken shelter in a fortified house.[54] But he fought with\ndisadvantage against an enemy who must be hunted before every battle.\nSome flourishing towns were burned. John Monoco, a formidable savage,\nboasted that \u201che had burned Medfield and Lancaster, and would burn\nGroton, Concord, Watertown and Boston;\u201d adding, \u201cwhat me will, me do.\u201d He\ndid burn Groton, but before he had executed the remainder of his threat\nhe was hanged, in Boston, in September, 1676.[55]\n\nA still more formidable enemy was removed, in the same year, by the\ncapture of Canonchet, the faithful ally of Philip, who was soon\nafterwards shot at Stonington. He stoutly declared to the Commissioners\nthat \u201che would not deliver up a Wampanoag, nor the paring of a\nWampanoag\u2019s nail,\u201d and when he was told that his sentence was death, he\nsaid \u201che liked it well that he was to die before his heart was soft, or\nhe had spoken anything unworthy of himself.\u201d[56]\n\nWe know beforehand who must conquer in that unequal struggle. The red\nman may destroy here and there a straggler, as a wild beast may; he may\nfire a farmhouse, or a village; but the association of the white men and\ntheir arts of war give them an overwhelming advantage, and in the first\nblast of their trumpet we already hear the flourish of victory. I confess\nwhat chiefly interests me, in the annals of that war, is the grandeur of\nspirit exhibited by a few of the Indian chiefs. A nameless Wampanoag who\nwas put to death by the Mohicans, after cruel tortures, was asked by his\nbutchers, during the torture, how he liked the war?\u2014he said, \u201che found it\nas sweet as sugar was to Englishmen.\u201d[57]\n\nThe only compensation which war offers for its manifold mischiefs, is\nin the great personal qualities to which it gives scope and occasion.\nThe virtues of patriotism and of prodigious courage and address were\nexhibited on both sides, and, in many instances, by women. The historian\nof Concord has preserved an instance of the resolution of one of the\ndaughters of the town. Two young farmers, Abraham and Isaac Shepherd,\nhad set their sister Mary, a girl of fifteen years, to watch whilst\nthey threshed grain in the barn. The Indians stole upon her before she\nwas aware, and her brothers were slain. She was carried captive into\nthe Indian country, but, at night, whilst her captors were asleep, she\nplucked a saddle from under the head of one of them, took a horse they\nhad stolen from Lancaster, and having girt the saddle on, she mounted,\nswam across the Nashua River, and rode through the forest to her home.[58]\n\nWith the tragical end of Philip, the war ended. Beleaguered in his own\ncountry, his corn cut down, his piles of meal and other provision wasted\nby the English, it was only a great thaw in January, that, melting the\nsnow and opening the earth, enabled his poor followers to come at the\nground-nuts, else they had starved. Hunted by Captain Church, he fled\nfrom one swamp to another; his brother, his uncle, his sister, and his\nbeloved squaw being taken or slain, he was at last shot down by an Indian\ndeserter, as he fled alone in the dark of the morning, not far from his\nown fort.[59]\n\nConcord suffered little from the war. This is to be attributed no doubt,\nin part, to the fact that troops were generally quartered here, and that\nit was the residence of many noted soldiers. Tradition finds another\ncause in the sanctity of its minister. The elder Bulkeley was gone. In\n1659,[60] his bones were laid at rest in the forest. But the mantle of\nhis piety and of the people\u2019s affection fell upon his son Edward,[61] the\nfame of whose prayers, it is said, once saved Concord from an attack of\nthe Indian.[62] A great defence undoubtedly was the village of Praying\nIndians, until this settlement fell a victim to the envenomed prejudice\nagainst their countrymen. The worst feature in the history of those\nyears, is, that no man spake for the Indian. When the Dutch, or the\nFrench, or the English royalist disagreed with the Colony, there was\nalways found a Dutch, or French, or tory party,\u2014an earnest minority,\u2014to\nkeep things from extremity. But the Indian seemed to inspire such a\nfeeling as the wild beast inspires in the people near his den. It is the\nmisfortune of Concord to have permitted a disgraceful outrage upon the\nfriendly Indians settled within its limits, in February, 1676, which\nended in their forcible expulsion from the town.[63]\n\nThis painful incident is but too just an example of the measure which the\nIndians have generally received from the whites. For them the heart of\ncharity, of humanity, was stone. After Philip\u2019s death, their strength was\nirrecoverably broken. They never more disturbed the interior settlements,\nand a few vagrant families, that are now pensioners on the bounty of\nMassachusetts, are all that is left of the twenty tribes.\n\n    \u201cAlas! for them\u2014their day is o\u2019er,\n    Their fires are out from hill and shore,\n    No more for them the wild deer bounds,\n    The plough is on their hunting grounds;\n    The pale man\u2019s axe rings in their woods,\n    The pale man\u2019s sail skims o\u2019er their floods,\n    Their pleasant springs are dry.\u201d[64]\n\nI turn gladly to the progress of our civil history. Before 1666, 15,000\nacres had been added by grants of the General Court to the original\nterritory of the town,[65] so that Concord then included the greater part\nof the towns of Bedford, Acton, Lincoln and Carlisle.\n\nIn the great growth of the country, Concord participated, as is manifest\nfrom its increasing polls and increased rates. Randolph at this period\nwrites to the English government, concerning the country towns; \u201cThe\nfarmers are numerous and wealthy, live in good houses; are given to\nhospitality; and make good advantage by their corn, cattle, poultry,\nbutter and cheese.\u201d[66] Edward Bulkeley was the pastor, until his death,\nin 1696. His youngest brother, Peter, was deputy from Concord, and was\nchosen speaker of the house of deputies in 1676. The following year, he\nwas sent to England, with Mr. Stoughton, as agent for the Colony; and\non his return, in 1685, was a royal councillor. But I am sorry to find\nthat the servile Randolph speaks of him with marked respect.[67] It would\nseem that his visit to England had made him a courtier. In 1689, Concord\npartook of the general indignation of the province against Andros. A\ncompany marched to the capital under Lieutenant Heald, forming a part\nof that body concerning which we are informed, \u201cthe country people came\narmed into Boston, on the afternoon (of Thursday, 18th April) in such\nrage and heat, as made us all tremble to think what would follow; for\nnothing would satisfy them but that the governor must be bound in chains\nor cords, and put in a more secure place, and that they would see done\nbefore they went away; and to satisfy them he was guarded by them to\nthe fort.\u201d[68] But the Town Records of that day confine themselves to\ndescriptions of lands, and to conferences with the neighboring towns to\nrun boundary lines. In 1699, so broad was their territory, I find the\nselectmen running the lines with Chelmsford, Cambridge and Watertown.[69]\nSome interesting peculiarities in the manners and customs of the time\nappear in the town\u2019s books. Proposals of marriage were made by the\nparents of the parties, and minutes of such private agreements sometimes\nentered on the clerk\u2019s records.[70] The public charity seems to have\nbeen bestowed in a manner now obsolete. The town lends its commons as\npastures, to poor men; and \u201cbeing informed of the great present want\nof Thomas Pellit, gave order to Stephen Hosmer to deliver a town cow,\nof a black color, with a white face, unto said Pellit, for his present\nsupply.\u201d[71]\n\nFrom the beginning to the middle of the eighteenth century, our records\nindicate no interruption of the tranquillity of the inhabitants, either\nin church or in civil affairs. After the death of Rev. Mr. Estabrook, in\n1711, it was propounded at the town-meeting, \u201cwhether one of the three\ngentlemen lately improved here in preaching, namely, Mr. John Whiting,\nMr. Holyoke and Mr. Prescott, shall be now chosen in the work of the\nministry? Voted affirmatively.\u201d[72] Mr. Whiting, who was chosen, was, we\nare told in his epitaph, \u201ca universal lover of mankind.\u201d The charges of\neducation and of legislation, at this period, seem to have afflicted the\ntown; for they vote to petition the General Court to be eased of the law\nrelating to providing a schoolmaster; happily, the Court refused; and\nin 1712, the selectmen agreed with Captain James Minott, \u201cfor his son\nTimothy to keep the school at the school-house for the town of Concord,\nfor half a year beginning 2d June; and if any scholar shall come, within\nthe said time, for larning exceeding his son\u2019s ability, the said Captain\ndoth agree to instruct them himself in the tongues, till the above said\ntime be fulfilled; for which service, the town is to pay Captain Minott\nten pounds.\u201d[73] Captain Minott seems to have served our prudent fathers\nin the double capacity of teacher and representative. It is an article\nin the selectmen\u2019s warrant for the town-meeting, \u201cto see if the town\nwill lay in for a representative not exceeding four pounds.\u201d Captain\nMinott was chosen, and after the General Court was adjourned received of\nthe town for his services, an allowance of three shillings per day. The\ncountry was not yet so thickly settled but that the inhabitants suffered\nfrom wolves and wild-cats, which infested the woods; since bounties of\ntwenty shillings are given as late as 1735, to Indians and whites, for\nthe heads of these animals, after the constable has cut off the ears.[74]\n\nMr. Whiting was succeeded in the pastoral office by Rev. Daniel Bliss,\nin 1738. Soon after his ordination, the town seems to have been divided\nby ecclesiastical discords. In 1741, the celebrated Whitfield preached\nhere, in the open air, to a great congregation.[75] Mr. Bliss heard that\ngreat orator with delight, and by his earnest sympathy with him, in\nopinion and practice, gave offence to a part of his people. Party and\nmutual councils were called, but no grave charge was made good against\nhim. I find, in the Church Records, the charges preferred against him,\nhis answer thereto, and the result of the Council. The charges seem to\nhave been made by the lovers of order and moderation against Mr. Bliss,\nas a favorer of religious excitements. His answer to one of the counts\nbreathes such true piety that I cannot forbear to quote it. The ninth\nallegation is \u201cThat in praying for himself, in a church-meeting, in\nDecember last, he said, \u2018he was a poor vile worm of the dust, that was\nallowed as Mediator between God and this people.\u2019\u201d To this Mr. Bliss\nreplied, \u201cIn the prayer you speak of, Jesus Christ was acknowledged\nas the only Mediator between God and man; at which time, I was filled\nwith wonder, that such a sinful and worthless worm as I am, was allowed\nto represent Christ, in any manner, even so far as to be bringing the\npetitions and thank-offerings of the people unto God, and God\u2019s will and\ntruths to the people; and used the word Mediator in some differing light\nfrom that you have given it; but I confess I was soon uneasy that I had\nused the word, lest some would put a wrong meaning thereupon.\u201d[76] The\nCouncil admonished Mr. Bliss of some improprieties of expression, but\nbore witness to his purity and fidelity in his office. In 1764, Whitfield\npreached again at Concord, on Sunday afternoon; Mr. Bliss preached in\nthe morning, and the Concord people thought their minister gave them the\nbetter sermon of the two. It was also his last.[77]\n\nThe planting of the colony was the effect of religious principle. The\nRevolution was the fruit of another principle,\u2014the devouring thirst\nfor justice. From the appearance of the article in the Selectmen\u2019s\nwarrant, in 1765, \u201cto see if the town will give the Representative any\ninstructions about any important affair to be transacted by the General\nCourt, concerning the Stamp Act,\u201d[78] to the peace of 1783, the Town\nRecords breathe a resolute and warlike spirit, so bold from the first as\nhardly to admit of increase.\n\nIt would be impossible on this occasion to recite all these patriotic\npapers. I must content myself with a few brief extracts. On the 24th\nJanuary, 1774, in answer to letters received from the united committees\nof correspondence, in the vicinity of Boston, the town say:\n\n\u201cWe cannot possibly view with indifference the past and present obstinate\nendeavors of the enemies of this, as well as the mother country, to rob\nus of those rights, that are the distinguishing glory and felicity of\nthis land; rights, that we are obliged to no power, under heaven, for\nthe enjoyment of; as they are the fruit of the heroic enterprises of\nthe first settlers of these American colonies. And though we cannot but\nbe alarmed at the great majority, in the British parliament, for the\nimposition of unconstitutional taxes on the colonies, yet, it gives life\nand strength to every attempt to oppose them, that not only the people\nof this, but the neighboring provinces are remarkably united in the\nimportant and interesting opposition, which, as it succeeded before, in\nsome measure, by the blessing of heaven, so, we cannot but hope it will\nbe attended with still greater success, in future.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, That these colonies have been and still are illegally taxed\nby the British parliament, as they are not virtually represented therein.\n\n\u201cThat the purchasing commodities subject to such illegal taxation is an\nexplicit, though an impious and sordid resignation of the liberties of\nthis free and happy people.\n\n\u201cThat, as the British parliament have empowered the East India Company to\nexport their tea into America, for the sole purpose of raising a revenue\nfrom hence; to render the design abortive, we will not, in this town,\neither by ourselves, or any from or under us, buy, sell, or use any of\nthe East India Company\u2019s tea, or any other tea, whilst there is a duty\nfor raising a revenue thereon in America; neither will we suffer any such\ntea to be used in our families.\n\n\u201cThat all such persons as shall purchase, sell, or use any such tea,\nshall, for the future, be deemed unfriendly to the happy constitution of\nthis country.\n\n\u201cThat, in conjunction with our brethren in America, we will risk our\nfortunes, and even our lives, in defence of his majesty, King George\nthe Third, his person, crown and dignity; and will, also, with the same\nresolution, as his freeborn subjects in this country, to the utmost of\nour power, defend all our rights inviolate to the latest posterity.\n\n\u201cThat, if any person or persons, inhabitants of this province, so long\nas there is a duty on tea, shall import any tea from the India House, in\nEngland, or be factors for the East India Company, we will treat them,\nin an eminent degree, as enemies to their country, and with contempt and\ndetestation.\n\n\u201cThat we think it our duty, at this critical time of our public\naffairs, to return our hearty thanks to the town of Boston, for every\nrational measure they have taken for the preservation or recovery of\nour invaluable rights and liberties infringed upon; and we hope, should\nthe state of our public affairs require it, that they will still remain\nwatchful and persevering; with a steady zeal to espy out everything that\nshall have a tendency to subvert our happy constitution.\u201d[79]\n\nOn the 27th June, near three hundred persons, upwards of twenty-one\nyears of age, inhabitants of Concord, entered into a covenant, \u201csolemnly\nengaging with each other, in the presence of God, to suspend all\ncommercial intercourse with Great Britain, until the act for blocking\nthe harbor of Boston be repealed; and neither to buy nor consume any\nmerchandise imported from Great Britain, nor to deal with those who\ndo.\u201d[80]\n\nIn August, a County Convention met in this town, to deliberate upon the\nalarming state of public affairs, and published an admirable report.[81]\nIn September, incensed at the new royal law which made the judges\ndependent on the crown, the inhabitants assembled on the common, and\nforbade the justices to open the court of sessions. This little town then\nassumed the sovereignty. It was judge and jury and council and king. On\nthe 26th of the month, the whole town resolved itself into a committee\nof safety, \u201cto suppress all riots, tumults, and disorders in said town,\nand to aid all untainted magistrates in the execution of the laws of the\nland.\u201d It was then voted, to raise one or more companies of minute-men,\nby enlistment, to be paid by the town whenever called out of town; and\nto provide arms and ammunition, \u201cthat those who are unable to purchase\nthem themselves, may have the advantage of them, if necessity calls for\nit.\u201d In October, the Provincial Congress met in Concord. John Hancock was\nPresident. This body was composed of the foremost patriots, and adopted\nthose efficient measures whose progress and issue belong to the history\nof the nation.[82]\n\nThe clergy of New England were, for the most part, zealous promoters of\nthe Revolution. A deep religious sentiment sanctified the thirst for\nliberty. All the military movements in this town were solemnized by\nacts of public worship. In January, 1775, a meeting was held for the\nenlisting of minute-men. Reverend William Emerson, the chaplain of the\nProvincial Congress, preached to the people. Sixty men enlisted and, in\na few days, many more. On 13th March, at a general review of all the\nmilitary companies, he preached to a very full assembly, taking for his\ntext, 2 Chronicles xiii. 12, \u201cAnd, behold, God himself is with us for\nour captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against\nyou.\u201d[83] It is said that all the services of that day made a deep\nimpression on the people, even to the singing of the psalm.\n\nA large amount of military stores had been deposited in this town, by\norder of the Provincial Committee of Safety. It was to destroy those\nstores that the troops who were attacked in this town, on the 19th April,\n1775, were sent hither by General Gage.\n\nThe story of that day is well known. In these peaceful fields, for the\nfirst time since a hundred years, the drum and alarm-gun were heard, and\nthe farmers snatched down their rusty firelocks from the kitchen walls,\nto make good the resolute words of their town debates. In the field\nwhere the western abutment of the old bridge may still be seen, about\nhalf a mile from this spot, the first organized resistance was made to\nthe British arms. There the Americans first shed British blood. Eight\nhundred British soldiers, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Francis\nSmith, had marched from Boston to Concord; at Lexington had fired upon\nthe brave handful of militia, for which a speedy revenge was reaped by\nthe same militia in the afternoon. When they entered Concord, they found\nthe militia and minute-men assembled under the command of Colonel Barrett\nand Major Buttrick. This little battalion, though in their hasty council\nsome were urgent to stand their ground, retreated before the enemy to\nthe high land on the other bank of the river, to wait for reinforcement.\nColonel Barrett ordered the troops not to fire, unless fired upon. The\nBritish following them across the bridge, posted two companies, amounting\nto about one hundred men, to guard the bridge, and secure the return of\nthe plundering party. Meantime, the men of Acton, Bedford, Lincoln and\nCarlisle, all once included in Concord, remembering their parent town\nin the hour of danger, arrived and fell into the ranks so fast, that\nMajor Buttrick found himself superior in number to the enemy\u2019s party at\nthe bridge. And when the smoke began to rise from the village where the\nBritish were burning cannon-carriages and military stores, the Americans\nresolved to force their way into town. The English beginning to pluck up\nsome of the planks of the bridge, the Americans quickened their pace,\nand the British fired one or two shots up the river (our ancient friend\nhere, Master Blood,[84] saw the water struck by the first ball); then\na single gun, the ball from which wounded Luther Blanchard and Jonas\nBrown, and then a volley, by which Captain Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer\nof Acton were instantly killed. Major Buttrick leaped from the ground,\nand gave the command to fire, which was repeated in a simultaneous cry by\nall his men. The Americans fired, and killed two men and wounded eight.\nA head-stone and a foot-stone, on this bank of the river, mark the place\nwhere these first victims lie.[85] The British retreated immediately\ntowards the village, and were joined by two companies of grenadiers,\nwhom the noise of the firing had hastened to the spot. The militia and\nminute-men\u2014every one from that moment being his own commander\u2014ran over\nthe hills opposite the battle-field, and across the great fields, into\nthe east quarter of the town, to waylay the enemy, and annoy his retreat.\nThe British, as soon as they were rejoined by the plundering detachment,\nbegan that disastrous retreat to Boston, which was an omen to both\nparties of the event of the war.\n\nIn all the anecdotes of that day\u2019s events we may discern the natural\naction of the people. It was not an extravagant ebullition of feeling,\nbut might have been calculated on by any one acquainted with the spirits\nand habits of our community. Those poor farmers who came up, that day,\nto defend their native soil, acted from the simplest instincts. They did\nnot know it was a deed of fame they were doing. These men did not babble\nof glory. They never dreamed their children would contend who had done\nthe most. They supposed they had a right to their corn and their cattle,\nwithout paying tribute to any but their own governors. And as they had\nno fear of man, they yet did have a fear of God. Captain Charles Miles,\nwho was wounded in the pursuit of the enemy, told my venerable friend\nwho sits by me, that \u201che went to the services of that day, with the same\nseriousness and acknowledgment of God, which he carried to church.\u201d[86]\n\nThe presence of these aged men who were in arms on that day seems to\nbring us nearer to it. The benignant Providence which has prolonged their\nlives to this hour gratifies the strong curiosity of the new generation.\nThe Pilgrims are gone; but we see what manner of persons they were who\nstood in the worst perils of the Revolution. We hold by the hand the last\nof the invincible men of old, and confirm from living lips the sealed\nrecords of time.\n\nAnd you, my fathers, whom God and the history of your country have\nennobled, may well bear a chief part in keeping this peaceful birthday of\nour town. You are indeed extraordinary heroes. If ever men in arms had a\nspotless cause, you had. You have fought a good fight. And having quit\nyou like men in the battle, you have quit yourselves like men in your\nvirtuous families; in your cornfields; and in society. We will not hide\nyour honorable gray hairs under perishing laurel-leaves, but the eye of\naffection and veneration follows you. You are set apart\u2014and forever\u2014for\nthe esteem and gratitude of the human race. To you belongs a better\nbadge than stars and ribbons. This prospering country is your ornament,\nand this expanding nation is multiplying your praise with millions of\ntongues.[87]\n\nThe agitating events of those days were duly remembered in the church.\nOn the second day after the affray, divine service was attended, in this\nhouse, by 700 soldiers. William Emerson, the pastor, had a hereditary\nclaim to the affection of the people, being descended in the fourth\ngeneration from Edward Bulkeley, son of Peter. But he had merits of\nhis own. The cause of the Colonies was so much in his heart that he\ndid not cease to make it the subject of his preaching and his prayers,\nand is said to have deeply inspired many of his people with his own\nenthusiasm. He, at least, saw clearly the pregnant consequences of the\n19th April. I have found within a few days, among some family papers,\nhis almanac of 1775, in a blank leaf of which he has written a narrative\nof the fight;[88] and at the close of the month, he writes, \u201cThis month\nremarkable for the greatest events of the present age.\u201d To promote the\nsame cause, he asked, and obtained of the town, leave to accept the\ncommission of chaplain to the Northern army, at Ticonderoga, and died,\nafter a few months, of the distemper that prevailed in the camp.[89]\n\nIn the whole course of the war the town did not depart from this pledge\nit had given. Its little population of 1300 souls behaved like a party\nto the contest. The number of its troops constantly in service is very\ngreat. Its pecuniary burdens are out of all proportion to its capital.\nThe economy so rigid, which marked its earlier history, has all vanished.\nIt spends profusely, affectionately, in the service. \u201cSince,\u201d say the\nplaintive records, \u201cGeneral Washington, at Cambridge, is not able to give\nbut 24s. per cord for wood, for the army; it is Voted, that this town\nencourage the inhabitants to supply the army, by paying two dollars per\ncord, over and above the General\u2019s price, to such as shall carry wood\nthither;\u201d[90] and 210 cords of wood were carried. A similar order is\ntaken respecting hay. Whilst Boston was occupied by the British troops,\nConcord contributed to the relief of the inhabitants, \u00a370, in money;\n225 bushels of grain; and a quantity of meat and wood. When, presently,\nthe poor of Boston were quartered by the Provincial Congress on the\nneighboring country, Concord received 82 persons to its hospitality.\nIn the year 1775, it raised 100 minute-men, and 74 soldiers to serve at\nCambridge. In March, 1776, 145 men were raised by this town to serve at\nDorchester Heights.[91] In June, the General Assembly of Massachusetts\nresolved to raise 5000 militia for six months, to reinforce the\nContinental army. \u201cThe numbers,\u201d say they, \u201care large, but this Court\nhas the fullest assurance that their brethren, on this occasion, will\nnot confer with flesh and blood, but will, without hesitation, and with\nthe utmost alacrity and despatch, fill up the numbers proportioned to\nthe several towns.\u201d[92] On that occasion, Concord furnished 67 men,\npaying them itself, at an expense of \u00a3622. And so on, with every levy,\nto the end of the war. For these men it was continually providing shoes,\nstockings, shirts, coats, blankets and beef. The taxes, which, before the\nwar, had not much exceeded \u00a3200 per annum, amounted, in the year 1782, to\n$9544, in silver.[93]\n\nThe great expense of the war was borne with cheerfulness, whilst the war\nlasted; but years passed, after the peace, before the debt was paid.\nAs soon as danger and injury ceased, the people were left at leisure\nto consider their poverty and their debts. The Town Records show how\nslowly the inhabitants recovered from the strain of excessive exertion.\nTheir instructions to their representatives are full of loud complaints\nof the disgraceful state of public credit, and the excess of public\nexpenditure. They may be pardoned, under such distress, for the mistakes\nof an extreme frugality. They fell into a common error, not yet dismissed\nto the moon, that the remedy was, to forbid the great importation of\nforeign commodities, and to prescribe by law the prices of articles.\nThe operation of a new government was dreaded, lest it should prove\nexpensive, and the country towns thought it would be cheaper if it were\nremoved from the capital. They were jealous lest the General Court should\npay itself too liberally, and our fathers must be forgiven by their\ncharitable posterity, if, in 1782, before choosing a representative, it\nwas \u201cVoted, that the person who should be chosen representative to the\nGeneral Court should receive 6s. per day, whilst in actual service, an\naccount of which time he should bring to the town, and if it should be\nthat the General Court should resolve, that, their pay should be more\nthan 6s., then the representative shall be hereby directed to pay the\noverplus into the town treasury.\u201d[94] This was securing the prudence of\nthe public servants.\n\nBut whilst the town had its own full share of the public distress, it\nwas very far from desiring relief at the cost of order and law. In 1786,\nwhen the general sufferings drove the people in parts of Worcester and\nHampshire counties to insurrection, a large party of armed insurgents\narrived in this town, on the 12th September, to hinder the sitting of\nthe Court of Common Pleas. But they found no countenance here.[95] The\nsame people who had been active in a County Convention to consider\ngrievances, condemned the rebellion, and joined the authorities in\nputting it down.[96] In 1787, the admirable instructions given by the\ntown to its representative are a proud monument of the good sense and\ngood feeling that prevailed. The grievances ceased with the adoption of\nthe Federal Constitution. The constitution of Massachusetts had been\nalready accepted. It was put to the town of Concord, in October, 1776,\nby the Legislature, whether the existing house of representatives should\nenact a constitution for the State? The town answered No.[97] The General\nCourt, notwithstanding, draughted a constitution, sent it here, and asked\nthe town whether they would have it for the law of the State? The town\nanswered No, by a unanimous vote. In 1780, a constitution of the State,\nproposed by the Convention chosen for that purpose, was accepted by the\ntown with the reservation of some articles.[98] And, in 1788, the town,\nby its delegate, accepted the new Constitution of the United States, and\nthis event closed the whole series of important public events in which\nthis town played a part.\n\nFrom that time to the present hour, this town has made a slow but\nconstant progress in population and wealth, and the arts of peace. It\nhas suffered neither from war, nor pestilence, nor famine, nor flagrant\ncrime. Its population, in the census of 1830, was 2020 souls. The public\nexpenses, for the last year, amounted to $4290; for the present year,\nto $5040.[99] If the community stints its expense in small matters, it\nspends freely on great duties. The town raises, this year, $1800 for its\npublic schools; besides about $1200 which are paid, by subscription,\nfor private schools. This year, it expends $800 for its poor; the last\nyear it expended $900. Two religious societies, of differing creed,\ndwell together in good understanding, both promoting, we hope, the\ncause of righteousness and love.[100] Concord has always been noted for\nits ministers. The living need no praise of mine. Yet it is among the\nsources of satisfaction and gratitude, this day, that the aged with whom\nis wisdom, our fathers\u2019 counsellor and friend, is spared to counsel and\nintercede for the sons.[101]\n\nSuch, fellow citizens, is an imperfect sketch of the history of\nConcord. I have been greatly indebted, in preparing this sketch, to\nthe printed but unpublished History of this town, furnished me by the\nunhesitating kindness of its author, long a resident in this place. I\nhope that History will not long remain unknown. The author has done us\nand posterity a kindness, by the zeal and patience of his research,\nand has wisely enriched his pages with the resolutions, addresses and\ninstructions to its agents, which from time to time, at critical periods,\nthe town has voted.[102] Meantime, I have read with care the Town Records\nthemselves. They must ever be the fountains of all just information\nrespecting your character and customs. They are the history of the\ntown. They exhibit a pleasing picture of a community almost exclusively\nagricultural, where no man has much time for words, in his search after\nthings; of a community of great simplicity of manners, and of a manifest\nlove of justice. For the most part, the town has deserved the name it\nwears. I find our annals marked with a uniform good sense. I find no\nridiculous laws, no eavesdropping legislators, no hanging of witches,\nno ghosts, no whipping of Quakers, no unnatural crimes. The tone of the\nRecords rises with the dignity of the event. These soiled and musty books\nare luminous and electric within. The old town clerks did not spell very\ncorrectly, but they contrive to make pretty intelligible the will of a\nfree and just community. Frugal our fathers were,\u2014very frugal,\u2014though,\nfor the most part, they deal generously by their minister, and provide\nwell for the schools and the poor. If, at any time, in common with most\nof our towns, they have carried this economy to the verge of a vice,\nit is to be remembered that a town is, in many respects, a financial\ncorporation. They economize, that they may sacrifice. They stint and\nhiggle on the price of a pew, that they may send 200 soldiers to General\nWashington to keep Great Britain at bay. For splendor, there must\nsomewhere be rigid economy. That the head of the house may go brave,\nthe members must be plainly clad, and the town must save that the State\nmay spend. Of late years, the growth of Concord has been slow. Without\nnavigable waters, without mineral riches, without any considerable mill\nprivileges, the natural increase of her population is drained by the\nconstant emigration of the youth. Her sons have settled the region around\nus, and far from us. Their wagons have rattled down the remote western\nhills. And in every part of this country, and in many foreign parts, they\nplough the earth, they traverse the sea, they engage in trade and in all\nthe professions.[103]\n\nFellow citizens; let not the solemn shadows of two hundred years,\nthis day, fall over us in vain. I feel some unwillingness to quit the\nremembrance of the past. With all the hope of the new I feel that we\nare leaving the old. Every moment carries us farther from the two great\nepochs of public principle, the Planting, and the Revolution of the\ncolony. Fortunate and favored this town has been, in having received\nso large an infusion of the spirit of both of those periods. Humble as\nis our village in the circle of later and prouder towns that whiten\nthe land, it has been consecrated by the presence and activity of the\npurest men. Why need I remind you of our own Hosmers, Minotts, Cumings,\nBarretts, Beattons, the departed benefactors of the town? On the village\ngreen have been the steps of Winthrop and Dudley; of John Eliot, the\nIndian apostle, who had a courage that intimidated those savages whom\nhis love could not melt; of Whitfield, whose silver voice melted his\ngreat congregation into tears; of Hancock, and his compatriots of the\nProvincial Congress; of Langdon, and the college over which he presided.\nBut even more sacred influences than these have mingled here with the\nstream of human life. The merit of those who fill a space in the world\u2019s\nhistory, who are borne forward, as it were, by the weight of thousands\nwhom they lead, sheds a perfume less sweet than do the sacrifices of\nprivate virtue. I have had much opportunity of access to anecdotes of\nfamilies, and I believe this town to have been the dwelling-place, in\nall times since its planting, of pious and excellent persons, who walked\nmeekly through the paths of common life, who served God, and loved man,\nand never let go the hope of immortality. The benediction of their\nprayers and of their principles lingers around us. The acknowledgment\nof the Supreme Being exalts the history of this people. It brought the\nfathers hither. In a war of principle, it delivered their sons. And so\nlong as a spark of this faith survives among the children\u2019s children so\nlong shall the name of Concord be honest and venerable.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nLETTER\n\nTO MARTIN VAN BUREN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES\n\nA PROTEST AGAINST THE REMOVAL OF THE CHEROKEE INDIANS FROM THE STATE OF\nGEORGIA\n\n    \u201cSay, what is Honour? \u2019Tis the finest sense\n    Of justice which the human mind can frame,\n    Intent each lurking frailty to disclaim,\n    And guard the way of life from all offence,\n    Suffered or done.\u201d\n\n                                    WORDSWORTH.\n\n\nLETTER\n\nTO MARTIN VAN BUREN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES\n\n                                           CONCORD, MASS., April 23, 1838.\n\nSIR: The seat you fill places you in a relation of credit and nearness\nto every citizen. By right and natural position, every citizen is your\nfriend. Before any acts contrary to his own judgment or interest have\nrepelled the affections of any man, each may look with trust and living\nanticipation to your government. Each has the highest right to call\nyour attention to such subjects as are of a public nature, and properly\nbelong to the chief magistrate; and the good magistrate will feel a joy\nin meeting such confidence. In this belief and at the instance of a few\nof my friends and neighbors, I crave of your patience a short hearing for\ntheir sentiments and my own: and the circumstance that my name will be\nutterly unknown to you will only give the fairer chance to your equitable\nconstruction of what I have to say.\n\nSir, my communication respects the sinister rumors that fill this part\nof the country concerning the Cherokee people. The interest always\nfelt in the aboriginal population\u2014an interest naturally growing as that\ndecays\u2014has been heightened in regard to this tribe. Even in our distant\nState some good rumor of their worth and civility has arrived. We have\nlearned with joy their improvement in the social arts. We have read their\nnewspapers. We have seen some of them in our schools and colleges. In\ncommon with the great body of the American people, we have witnessed with\nsympathy the painful labors of these red men to redeem their own race\nfrom the doom of eternal inferiority, and to borrow and domesticate in\nthe tribe the arts and customs of the Caucasian race. And notwithstanding\nthe unaccountable apathy with which of late years the Indians have been\nsometimes abandoned to their enemies, it is not to be doubted that it\nis the good pleasure and the understanding of all humane persons in the\nRepublic, of the men and the matrons sitting in the thriving independent\nfamilies all over the land, that they shall be duly cared for; that they\nshall taste justice and love from all to whom we have delegated the\noffice of dealing with them.\n\nThe newspapers now inform us that, in December, 1835, a treaty\ncontracting for the exchange of all the Cherokee territory was pretended\nto be made by an agent on the part of the United States with some\npersons appearing on the part of the Cherokees; that the fact afterwards\ntranspired that these deputies did by no means represent the will of the\nnation; and that, out of eighteen thousand souls composing the nation,\nfifteen thousand six hundred and sixty-eight have protested against the\nso-called treaty. It now appears that the government of the United States\nchoose to hold the Cherokees to this sham treaty, and are proceeding to\nexecute the same. Almost the entire Cherokee Nation stand up and say,\n\u201cThis is not our act. Behold us. Here are we. Do not mistake that handful\nof deserters for us;\u201d and the American President and the Cabinet, the\nSenate and the House of Representatives, neither hear these men nor see\nthem, and are contracting to put this active nation into carts and boats,\nand to drag them over mountains and rivers to a wilderness at a vast\ndistance beyond the Mississippi. And a paper purporting to be an army\norder fixes a month from this day as the hour for this doleful removal.\n\nIn the name of God, sir, we ask you if this be so. Do the newspapers\nrightly inform us? Men and women with pale and perplexed faces meet one\nanother in the streets and churches here, and ask if this be so. We have\ninquired if this be a gross misrepresentation from the party opposed to\nthe government and anxious to blacken it with the people. We have looked\nin the newspapers of different parties and find a horrid confirmation\nof the tale. We are slow to believe it. We hoped the Indians were\nmisinformed, and that their remonstrance was premature, and will turn out\nto be a needless act of terror.\n\nThe piety, the principle that is left in the United States, if only in\nits coarsest form, a regard to the speech of men,\u2014forbid us to entertain\nit as a fact. Such a dereliction of all faith and virtue, such a denial\nof justice, and such deafness to screams for mercy were never heard of\nin times of peace and in the dealing of a nation with its own allies and\nwards, since the earth was made. Sir, does this government think that the\npeople of the United States are become savage and mad? From their mind\nare the sentiments of love and a good nature wiped clean out? The soul of\nman, the justice, the mercy that is the heart\u2019s heart in all men, from\nMaine to Georgia, does abhor this business.\n\nIn speaking thus the sentiments of my neighbors and my own, perhaps I\noverstep the bounds of decorum. But would it not be a higher indecorum\ncoldly to argue a matter like this? We only state the fact that a crime\nis projected that confounds our understandings by its magnitude,\u2014a crime\nthat really deprives us as well as the Cherokees of a country? for how\ncould we call the conspiracy that should crush these poor Indians our\ngovernment, or the land that was cursed by their parting and dying\nimprecations our country, any more? You, sir, will bring down that\nrenowned chair in which you sit into infamy if your seal is set to this\ninstrument of perfidy; and the name of this nation, hitherto the sweet\nomen of religion and liberty, will stink to the world.\n\nYou will not do us the injustice of connecting this remonstrance with any\nsectional and party feeling. It is in our hearts the simplest commandment\nof brotherly love. We will not have this great and solemn claim upon\nnational and human justice huddled aside under the flimsy plea of its\nbeing a party act. Sir, to us the questions upon which the government\nand the people have been agitated during the past year, touching the\nprostration of the currency and of trade, seem but motes in comparison.\nThese hard times, it is true, have brought the discussion home to every\nfarmhouse and poor man\u2019s house in this town; but it is the chirping\nof grasshoppers beside the immortal question whether justice shall be\ndone by the race of civilized to the race of savage man,\u2014whether all\nthe attributes of reason, of civility, of justice, and even of mercy,\nshall be put off by the American people, and so vast an outrage upon the\nCherokee Nation and upon human nature shall be consummated.\n\nOne circumstance lessens the reluctance with which I intrude at this\ntime on your attention my conviction that the government ought to be\nadmonished of a new historical fact, which the discussion of this\nquestion has disclosed, namely, that there exists in a great part of\nthe Northern people a gloomy diffidence in the _moral_ character of the\ngovernment.\n\nOn the broaching of this question, a general expression of despondency,\nof disbelief that any good will accrue from a remonstrance on an act of\nfraud and robbery, appeared in those men to whom we naturally turn for\naid and counsel. Will the American government steal? Will it lie? Will it\nkill?\u2014We ask triumphantly. Our counsellors and old statesmen here say\nthat ten years ago they would have staked their lives on the affirmation\nthat the proposed Indian measures could not be executed; that the\nunanimous country would put them down. And now the steps of this crime\nfollow each other so fast, at such fatally quick time, that the millions\nof virtuous citizens, whose agents the government are, have no place to\ninterpose, and must shut their eyes until the last howl and wailing of\nthese tormented villages and tribes shall afflict the ear of the world.\n\nI will not hide from you, as an indication of the alarming distrust,\nthat a letter addressed as mine is, and suggesting to the mind of the\nExecutive the plain obligations of man, has a burlesque character in the\napprehensions of some of my friends. I, sir, will not beforehand treat\nyou with the contumely of this distrust. I will at least state to you\nthis fact, and show you how plain and humane people, whose love would be\nhonor, regard the policy of the government, and what injurious inferences\nthey draw as to the minds of the governors. A man with your experience in\naffairs must have seen cause to appreciate the futility of opposition to\nthe moral sentiment. However feeble the sufferer and however great the\noppressor, it is in the nature of things that the blow should recoil upon\nthe aggressor. For God is in the sentiment, and it cannot be withstood.\nThe potentate and the people perish before it; but with it, and as its\nexecutor, they are omnipotent.\n\nI write thus, sir, to inform you of the state of mind these Indian\ntidings have awakened here, and to pray with one voice more that you,\nwhose hands are strong with the delegated power of fifteen millions of\nmen, will avert with that might the terrific injury which threatens the\nCherokee tribe.\n\nWith great respect, sir, I am your fellow citizen,\n\n                                                      RALPH WALDO EMERSON.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nADDRESS\n\nDELIVERED IN CONCORD ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE EMANCIPATION OF THE\nNEGROES IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES, AUGUST 1, 1844.\n\n    There a captive sat in chains,\n    Crooning ditties treasured well\n    From his Afric\u2019s torrid plains.\n    Sole estate his sire bequeathed,\u2014\n    Hapless sire to hapless son,\u2014\n    Was the wailing song he breathed,\n    And his chain when life was done.\n\n\nADDRESS\n\nEMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES\n\nFRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS: We are met to exchange congratulations on\nthe anniversary of an event singular in the history of civilization; a\nday of reason; of the clear light; of that which makes us better than a\nflock of birds and beasts; a day which gave the immense fortification of\na fact, of gross history, to ethical abstractions. It was the settlement,\nas far as a great Empire was concerned, of a question on which almost\nevery leading citizen in it had taken care to record his vote; one which\nfor many years absorbed the attention of the best and most eminent of\nmankind. I might well hesitate, coming from other studies, and without\nthe smallest claim to be a special laborer in this work of humanity,\nto undertake to set this matter before you; which ought rather to be\ndone by a strict co\u00f6peration of many well-advised persons; but I shall\nnot apologize for my weakness. In this cause, no man\u2019s weakness is any\nprejudice: it has a thousand sons; if one man cannot speak, ten others\ncan; and, whether by the wisdom of its friends, or by the folly of the\nadversaries; by speech and by silence; by doing and by omitting to do, it\ngoes forward. Therefore I will speak,\u2014or, not I, but the might of liberty\nin my weakness. The subject is said to have the property of making dull\nmen eloquent.\n\nIt has been in all men\u2019s experience a marked effect of the enterprise in\nbehalf of the African, to generate an overbearing and defying spirit. The\ninstitution of slavery seems to its opponent to have but one side, and\nhe feels that none but a stupid or a malignant person can hesitate on\na view of the facts. Under such an impulse, I was about to say, If any\ncannot speak, or cannot hear the words of freedom, let him go hence,\u2014I\nhad almost said, Creep into your grave, the universe has no need of you!\nBut I have thought better: let him not go. When we consider what remains\nto be done for this interest in this country, the dictates of humanity\nmake us tender of such as are not yet persuaded.[104] The hardest\nselfishness is to be borne with. Let us withhold every reproachful, and,\nif we can, every indignant remark. In this cause, we must renounce our\ntemper, and the risings of pride. If there be any man who thinks the\nruin of a race of men a small matter, compared with the last decoration\nand completions of his own comfort,\u2014who would not so much as part with\nhis ice-cream, to save them from rapine and manacles, I think I must not\nhesitate to satisfy that man that also his cream and vanilla are safer\nand cheaper by placing the negro nation on a fair footing than by robbing\nthem. If the Virginian piques himself on the picturesque luxury of his\nvassalage, on the heavy Ethiopian manners of his house-servants, their\nsilent obedience, their hue of bronze, their turbaned heads, and would\nnot exchange them for the more intelligent but precarious hired service\nof whites, I shall not refuse to show him that when their free-papers are\nmade out, it will still be their interest to remain on his estate, and\nthat the oldest planters of Jamaica are convinced that it is cheaper to\npay wages than to own the slave.\n\nThe history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of\ntruth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the\nmaterial and the moral nature. From the earliest monuments it appears\nthat one race was victim and served the other races. In the oldest\ntemples of Egypt, negro captives are painted on the tombs of kings, in\nsuch attitudes as to show that they are on the point of being executed;\nand Herodotus, our oldest historian, relates that the Troglodytes hunted\nthe Ethiopians in four-horse chariots. From the earliest time, the negro\nhas been an article of luxury to the commercial nations. So has it been,\ndown to the day that has just dawned on the world. Language must be\nraked, the secrets of slaughter-houses and infamous holes that cannot\nfront the day, must be ransacked, to tell what negro slavery has been.\nThese men, our benefactors, as they are producers of corn and wine, of\ncoffee, of tobacco, of cotton, of sugar, of rum and brandy; gentle and\njoyous themselves, and producers of comfort and luxury for the civilized\nworld,\u2014there seated in the finest climates of the globe, children of\nthe sun,\u2014I am heart-sick when I read how they came there, and how they\nare kept there. Their case was left out of the mind and out of the\nheart of their brothers. The prizes of society, the trumpet of fame,\nthe privileges of learning, of culture, of religion, the decencies and\njoys of marriage, honor, obedience, personal authority and a perpetual\nmelioration into a finer civility,\u2014these were for all, but not for them.\nFor the negro, was the slave-ship to begin with, in whose filthy hold he\nsat in irons, unable to lie down; bad food, and insufficiency of that;\ndisfranchisement; no property in the rags that covered him; no marriage,\nno right in the poor black woman that cherished him in her bosom, no\nright to the children of his body; no security from the humors, none from\nthe crimes, none from the appetites of his master: toil, famine, insult\nand flogging; and, when he sank in the furrow, no wind of good fame blew\nover him, no priest of salvation visited him with glad tidings: but he\nwent down to death with dusky dreams of African shadow-catchers and\nObeahs hunting him.[105] Very sad was the negro tradition, that the Great\nSpirit, in the beginning offered the black man, whom he loved better than\nthe buckra, or white, his choice of two boxes, a big and a little one.\nThe black man was greedy, and chose the largest. \u201cThe buckra box was full\nup with pen, paper and whip, and the negro box with hoe and bill; and hoe\nand bill for negro to this day.\u201d\n\nBut the crude element of good in human affairs must work and ripen,\nspite of whips and plantation laws and West Indian interest. Conscience\nrolled on its pillow, and could not sleep. We sympathize very tenderly\nhere with the poor aggrieved planter, of whom so many unpleasant things\nare said; but if we saw the whip applied to old men, to tender women;\nand, undeniably, though I shrink to say so, pregnant women set in the\ntreadmill for refusing to work; when, not they, but the eternal law\nof animal nature refused to work;\u2014if we saw men\u2019s backs flayed with\ncowhides, and \u201chot rum poured on, superinduced with brine or pickle,\nrubbed in with a cornhusk, in the scorching heat of the sun;\u201d\u2014if we saw\nthe runaways hunted with bloodhounds into swamps and hills; and, in\ncases of passion, a planter throwing his negro into a copper of boiling\ncane-juice,\u2014if we saw these things with eyes, we too should wince. They\nare not pleasant sights. The blood is moral: the blood is anti-slavery:\nit runs cold in the veins: the stomach rises with disgust, and curses\nslavery. Well, so it happened; a good man or woman, a country boy or\ngirl,\u2014it would so fall out,\u2014once in a while saw these injuries and had\nthe indiscretion to tell of them. The horrid story ran and flew; the\nwinds blew it all over the world. They who heard it asked their rich and\ngreat friends if it was true, or only missionary lies. The richest and\ngreatest, the prime minister of England, the king\u2019s privy council were\nobliged to say that it was too true. It became plain to all men, the\nmore this business was looked into, that the crimes and cruelties of the\nslave-traders and slave-owners could not be overstated. The more it was\nsearched, the more shocking anecdotes came up,\u2014things not to be spoken.\nHumane persons who were informed of the reports insisted on proving them.\nGranville Sharpe was accidentally made acquainted with the sufferings of\na slave, whom a West Indian planter had brought with him to London and\nhad beaten with a pistol on his head, so badly that his whole body became\ndiseased, and the man useless to his master, who left him to go whither\nhe pleased. The man applied to Mr. William Sharpe, a charitable surgeon,\nwho attended the diseases of the poor. In process of time, he was healed.\nGranville Sharpe found him at his brother\u2019s and procured a place for\nhim in an apothecary\u2019s shop. The master accidentally met his recovered\nslave, and instantly endeavored to get possession of him again. Sharpe\nprotected the slave. In consulting with the lawyers, they told Sharpe\nthe laws were against him. Sharpe would not believe it; no prescription\non earth could ever render such iniquities legal. \u2018But the decisions are\nagainst you, and Lord Mansfield, now Chief Justice of England, leans\nto the decisions.\u2019 Sharpe instantly sat down and gave himself to the\nstudy of English law for more than two years, until he had proved that\nthe opinions relied on, of Talbot and Yorke, were incompatible with the\nformer English decisions and with the whole spirit of English law. He\npublished his book in 1769, and he so filled the heads and hearts of\nhis advocates that when he brought the case of George Somerset, another\nslave, before Lord Mansfield, the slavish decisions were set aside, and\nequity affirmed.[106] There is a sparkle of God\u2019s righteousness in Lord\nMansfield\u2019s judgment, which does the heart good. Very unwilling had that\ngreat lawyer been to reverse the late decisions; he suggested twice from\nthe bench, in the course of the trial, how the question might be got rid\nof: but the hint was not taken; the case was adjourned again and again,\nand judgment delayed. At last judgment was demanded, and on the 22d June,\n1772, Lord Mansfield is reported to have decided in these words:\n\n\u201cImmemorial usage preserves the memory of _positive law_, long after all\ntraces of the occasion, reason, authority and time of its introduction,\nare lost; and in a case so odious as the condition of slaves, must be\ntaken strictly (tracing the subject to _natural principles_, the claim of\nslavery never can be supported). The power claimed by this return never\nwas in use here. We cannot say the cause set forth by this return is\nallowed or approved of by the laws of this kingdom; and therefore the man\nmust be discharged.\u201d\n\nThis decision established the principle that the \u201cair of England is too\npure for any slave to breathe,\u201d but the wrongs in the islands were not\nthereby touched. Public attention, however, was drawn that way, and the\nmethods of the stealing and the transportation from Africa became noised\nabroad. The Quakers got the story. In their plain meeting-houses and\nprim dwellings this dismal agitation got entrance. They were rich: they\nowned, for debt or by inheritance, island property; they were religious,\ntender-hearted men and women; and they had to hear the news and digest\nit as they could. Six Quakers met in London on the 6th of July,\n1783,\u2014William Dillwyn, Samuel Hoar, George Harrison, Thomas Knowles,\nJohn Lloyd, Joseph Woods, \u201cto consider what step they should take for\nthe relief and liberation of the negro slaves in the West Indies, and\nfor the discouragement of the slave-trade on the coast of Africa.\u201d They\nmade friends and raised money for the slave; they interested their\nYearly Meeting; and all English and all American Quakers. John Woolman\nof New Jersey, whilst yet an apprentice, was uneasy in his mind when he\nwas set to write a bill of sale of a negro, for his master. He gave his\ntestimony against the traffic, in Maryland and Virginia. Thomas Clarkson\nwas a youth at Cambridge, England, when the subject given out for a Latin\nprize dissertation was, \u201cIs it right to make slaves of others against\ntheir will?\u201d He wrote an essay, and won the prize; but he wrote too\nwell for his own peace; he began to ask himself if these things could\nbe true; and if they were, he could no longer rest. He left Cambridge;\nhe fell in with the six Quakers. They engaged him to act for them. He\nhimself interested Mr. Wilberforce in the matter. The shipmasters in\nthat trade were the greatest miscreants, and guilty of every barbarity\nto their own crews. Clarkson went to Bristol, made himself acquainted\nwith the interior of the slave-ships and the details of the trade. The\nfacts confirmed his sentiment, \u201cthat Providence had never made that to\nbe wise which was immoral, and that the slave-trade was as impolitic\nas it was unjust;\u201d[107] that it was found peculiarly fatal to those\nemployed in it. More seamen died in that trade in one year than in the\nwhole remaining trade of the country in two. Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox were\ndrawn into the generous enterprise. In 1788, the House of Commons voted\nParliamentary inquiry. In 1791, a bill to abolish the trade was brought\nin by Wilberforce, and supported by him and by Fox and Burke and Pitt,\nwith the utmost ability and faithfulness; resisted by the planters and\nthe whole West Indian interest, and lost. During the next sixteen years,\nten times, year after year, the attempt was renewed by Mr. Wilberforce,\nand ten times defeated by the planters. The king, and all the royal\nfamily but one, were against it. These debates are instructive, as they\nshow on what grounds the trade was assailed and defended. Everything\ngenerous, wise and sprightly is sure to come to the attack. On the other\npart are found cold prudence, bare-faced selfishness and silent votes.\nBut the nation was aroused to enthusiasm. Every horrid fact became known.\nIn 1791, three hundred thousand persons in Britain pledged themselves to\nabstain from all articles of island produce. The planters were obliged\nto give way; and in 1807, on the 25th March, the bill passed, and the\nslave-trade was abolished.\n\nThe assailants of slavery had early agreed to limit their political\naction on this subject to the abolition of the trade, but Granville\nSharpe, as a matter of conscience, whilst he acted as chairman of the\nLondon Committee, felt constrained to record his protest against the\nlimitation, declaring that slavery was as much a crime against the\nDivine law as the slave-trade. The trade, under false flags, went on\nas before. In 1821, according to official documents presented to the\nAmerican government by the Colonization Society, 200,000 slaves were\ndeported from Africa. Nearly 30,000 were landed in the port of Havana\nalone. In consequence of the dangers of the trade growing out of the act\nof abolition, ships were built sharp for swiftness, and with a frightful\ndisregard of the comfort of the victims they were destined to transport.\nThey carried five, six, even seven hundred stowed in a ship built so\nnarrow as to be unsafe, being made just broad enough on the beam to\nkeep the sea. In attempting to make its escape from the pursuit of a\nman-of-war, one ship flung five hundred slaves alive into the sea. These\nfacts went into Parliament. In the islands was an ominous state of cruel\nand licentious society; every house had a dungeon attached to it; every\nslave was worked by the whip. There is no end to the tragic anecdotes\nin the municipal records of the colonies. The boy was set to strip and\nflog his own mother to blood, for a small offence. Looking in the face\nof his master by the negro was held to be violence by the island courts.\nHe was worked sixteen hours, and his ration by law, in some islands, was\na pint of flour and one salt herring a day. He suffered insult, stripes,\nmutilation at the humor of the master: iron collars were riveted on their\nnecks with iron prongs ten inches long; capsicum pepper was rubbed in the\neyes of the females; and they were done to death with the most shocking\nlevity between the master and manager, without fine or inquiry. And when,\nat last, some Quakers, Moravians, and Wesleyan and Baptist missionaries,\nfollowing in the steps of Carey and Ward in the East Indies, had been\nmoved to come and cheer the poor victim with the hope of some reparation,\nin a future world, of the wrongs he suffered in this, these missionaries\nwere persecuted by the planters, their lives threatened, their chapels\nburned, and the negroes furiously forbidden to go near them. These\noutrages rekindled the flame of British indignation. Petitions poured\ninto Parliament: a million persons signed their names to these; and in\n1833, on the 14th May, Lord Stanley, Minister of the Colonies, introduced\ninto the House of Commons his bill for the Emancipation.\n\nThe scheme of the Minister, with such modification as it received in the\nlegislature, proposed gradual emancipation; that on 1st August, 1834, all\npersons now slaves should be entitled to be registered as apprenticed\nlaborers, and to acquire thereby all the rights and privileges of\nfreemen, subject to the restriction of laboring under certain conditions.\nThese conditions were, that the pr\u00e6dials should owe three fourths of\nthe profits of their labor to their masters for six years, and the\nnon-pr\u00e6dials for four years.[108] The other fourth of the apprentice\u2019s\ntime was to be his own, which he might sell to his master, or to other\npersons; and at the end of the term of years fixed, he should be free.\n\nWith these provisions and conditions, the bill proceeds, in the twelfth\nsection, in the following terms: \u201cBe it enacted, that all and every\nperson who, on the first August, 1834, shall be holden in slavery within\nany such British colony as aforesaid, shall upon and from and after the\nsaid first August, become and be to all intents and purposes free, and\ndischarged of and from all manner of slavery, and shall be absolutely\nand forever manumitted; and that the children thereafter born to any such\npersons, and the offspring of such children, shall, in like manner, be\nfree, from their birth; and that from and after the first August, 1834,\nslavery shall be and is hereby utterly and forever abolished and declared\nunlawful throughout the British colonies, plantations, and possessions\nabroad.\u201d\n\nThe Ministers, having estimated the slave products of the colonies\nin annual exports of sugar, rum and coffee, at \u00a31,500,000 per annum,\nestimated the total value of the slave property at 30,000,000 pounds\nsterling, and proposed to give the planters, as a compensation for so\nmuch of the slaves\u2019 time as the act took from them, 20,000,000 pounds\nsterling, to be divided into nineteen shares for the nineteen colonies,\nand to be distributed to the owners of slaves by commissioners, whose\nappointment and duties were regulated by the Act. After much debate, the\nbill passed by large majorities. The apprenticeship system is understood\nto have proceeded from Lord Brougham, and was by him urged on his\ncolleagues, who, it is said, were inclined to the policy of immediate\nemancipation.\n\nThe colonial legislatures received the act of Parliament with various\ndegrees of displeasure, and, of course, every provision of the bill was\ncriticised with severity. The new relation between the master and the\napprentice, it was feared, would be mischievous; for the bill required\nthe appointment of magistrates who should hear every complaint of the\napprentice and see that justice was done him. It was feared that the\ninterest of the master and servant would now produce perpetual discord\nbetween them. In the island of Antigua, containing 37,000 people, 30,000\nbeing negroes, these objections had such weight that the legislature\nrejected the apprenticeship system, and adopted absolute emancipation. In\nthe other islands the system of the Ministry was accepted.\n\nThe reception of it by the negro population was equal in nobleness to\nthe deed. The negroes were called together by the missionaries and by\nthe planters, and the news explained to them. On the night of the 31st\nJuly, they met everywhere at their churches and chapels, and at midnight,\nwhen the clock struck twelve, on their knees, the silent, weeping\nassembly became men; they rose and embraced each other; they cried,\nthey sung, they prayed, they were wild with joy, but there was no riot,\nno feasting. I have never read anything in history more touching than\nthe moderation of the negroes. Some American captains left the shore\nand put to sea, anticipating insurrection and general murder. With far\ndifferent thoughts, the negroes spent the hour in their huts and chapels.\nI will not repeat to you the well-known paragraph, in which Messrs.\nThome and Kimball, the commissioners sent out in the year 1837 by the\nAmerican Anti-Slavery Society, describe the occurrences of that night in\nthe island of Antigua. It has been quoted in every newspaper, and Dr.\nChanning has given it additional fame. But I must be indulged in quoting\na few sentences from the pages that follow it, narrating the behavior of\nthe emancipated people on the next day.[109]\n\n\u201cThe first of August came on Friday, and a release was proclaimed\nfrom all work until the next Monday. The day was chiefly spent by\nthe great mass of the negroes in the churches and chapels. The\nclergy and missionaries throughout the island were actively engaged,\nseizing the opportunity to enlighten the people on all the duties and\nresponsibilities of their new relation, and urging them to the attainment\nof that higher liberty with which Christ maketh his children free. In\nevery quarter, we were assured, the day was like a Sabbath. Work had\nceased. The hum of business was still: tranquillity pervaded the towns\nand country. The planters informed us that they went to the chapels where\ntheir own people were assembled, greeted them, shook hands with them,\nand exchanged the most hearty good wishes. At Grace Hill, there were at\nleast a thousand persons around the Moravian Chapel who could not get\nin. For once the house of God suffered violence, and the violent took\nit by force. At Grace Bay, the people, all dressed in white, formed a\nprocession, and walked arm in arm into the chapel. We were told that the\ndress of the negroes on that occasion was uncommonly simple and modest.\nThere was not the least disposition to gayety. Throughout the island,\nthere was not a single dance known of, either day or night, nor so much\nas a fiddle played.\u201d\n\nOn the next Monday morning, with very few exceptions, every negro on\nevery plantation was in the field at his work. In some places, they\nwaited to see their master, to know what bargain he would make; but for\nthe most part, throughout the islands, nothing painful occurred. In June,\n1835, the Ministers, Lord Aberdeen and Sir George Grey, declared to the\nParliament that the system worked well; that now for ten months, from 1st\nAugust, 1834, no injury or violence had been offered to any white, and\nonly one black had been hurt in 800,000 negroes: and, contrary to many\nsinister predictions, that the new crop of island produce would not fall\nshort of that of the last year.\n\nBut the habit of oppression was not destroyed by a law and a day of\njubilee. It soon appeared in all the islands that the planters were\ndisposed to use their old privileges, and overwork the apprentices; to\ntake from them, under various pretences, their fourth part of their\ntime; and to exert the same licentious despotism as before. The negroes\ncomplained to the magistrates and to the governor. In the island of\nJamaica, this ill blood continually grew worse. The governors, Lord\nBelmore, the Earl of Sligo, and afterwards Sir Lionel Smith (a governor\nof their own class, who had been sent out to gratify the planters), threw\nthemselves on the side of the oppressed, and were at constant quarrel\nwith the angry and bilious island legislature. Nothing can exceed the ill\nhumor and sulkiness of the addresses of this assembly.\n\nI may here express a general remark, which the history of slavery\nseems to justify, that it is not founded solely on the avarice of the\nplanter. We sometimes say, the planter does not want slaves, he only\nwants the immunities and the luxuries which the slaves yield him; give\nhim money, give him a machine that will yield him as much money as the\nslaves, and he will thankfully let them go. He has no love of slavery,\nhe wants luxury, and he will pay even this price of crime and danger for\nit. But I think experience does not warrant this favorable distinction,\nbut shows the existence, beside the covetousness, of a bitterer element,\nthe love of power, the voluptuousness of holding a human being in his\nabsolute control. We sometimes observe that spoiled children contract\na habit of annoying quite wantonly those who have charge of them, and\nseem to measure their own sense of well-being, not by what they do,\nbut by the degree of reaction they can cause. It is vain to get rid of\nthem by not minding them: if purring and humming is not noticed, they\nsqueal and screech; then if you chide and console them, they find the\nexperiment succeeds, and they begin again. The child will sit in your\narms contented, provided you do nothing. If you take a book and read,\nhe commences hostile operations. The planter is the spoiled child of\nhis unnatural habits, and has contracted in his indolent and luxurious\nclimate the need of excitement by irritating and tormenting his slave.\n\nSir Lionel Smith defended the poor negro girls, prey to the\nlicentiousness of the planters; they shall not be whipped with tamarind\nrods if they do not comply with their master\u2019s will; he defended the\nnegro women; they should not be made to dig the cane-holes (which is\nthe very hardest of the field work); he defended the Baptist preachers\nand the stipendiary magistrates, who are the negroes\u2019 friends, from the\npower of the planter. The power of the planters, however, to oppress,\nwas greater than the power of the apprentice and of his guardians to\nwithstand. Lord Brougham and Mr. Buxton declared that the planter had not\nfulfilled his part in the contract, whilst the apprentices had fulfilled\ntheirs; and demanded that the emancipation should be hastened, and the\napprenticeship abolished. Parliament was compelled to pass additional\nlaws for the defence and security of the negro, and in ill humor at\nthese acts, the great island of Jamaica, with a population of half a\nmillion, and 300,000 negroes, early in 1838, resolved to throw up the two\nremaining years of apprenticeship, and to emancipate absolutely on the\n1st August, 1838. In British Guiana, in Dominica, the same resolution\nhad been earlier taken with more good will; and the other islands fell\ninto the measure; so that on the 1st August, 1838, the shackles dropped\nfrom every British slave. The accounts which we have from all parties,\nboth from the planters (and those too who were originally most opposed\nto the measure), and from the new freemen, are of the most satisfactory\nkind. The manner in which the new festival was celebrated, brings\ntears to the eyes. The First of August, 1838, was observed in Jamaica\nas a day of thanksgiving and prayer. Sir Lionel Smith, the governor,\nwrites to the British Ministry, \u201cIt is impossible for me to do justice\nto the good order, decorum and gratitude which the whole laboring\npopulation manifested on that happy occasion. Though joy beamed on every\ncountenance, it was throughout tempered with solemn thankfulness to God,\nand the churches and chapels were everywhere filled with these happy\npeople in humble offering of praise.\u201d\n\nThe Queen, in her speech to the Lords and Commons, praised the conduct\nof the emancipated population:[110] and in 1840 Sir Charles Metcalfe,\nthe new governor of Jamaica, in his address to the Assembly expressed\nhimself to that late exasperated body in these terms: \u201cAll those who\nare acquainted with the state of the island know that our emancipated\npopulation are as free, as independent in their conduct, as well\nconditioned, as much in the enjoyment of abundance, and as strongly\nsensible of the blessings of liberty, as any that we know of in any\ncountry. All disqualifications and distinctions of color have ceased;\nmen of all colors have equal rights in law, and an equal footing in\nsociety, and every man\u2019s position is settled by the same circumstances\nwhich regulate that point in other free countries, where no difference of\ncolor exists. It may be asserted, without fear of denial, that the former\nslaves of Jamaica are now as secure in all social rights, as freeborn\nBritons.\u201d He further describes the erection of numerous churches, chapels\nand schools which the new population required, and adds that more are\nstill demanded. The legislature, in their reply, echo the governor\u2019s\nstatement, and say, \u201cThe peaceful demeanor of the emancipated population\nredounds to their own credit, and affords a proof of their continued\ncomfort and prosperity.\u201d\n\nI said, this event is signal in the history of civilization. There\nare many styles of civilization, and not one only. Ours is full of\nbarbarities. There are many faculties in man, each of which takes its\nturn of activity, and that faculty which is paramount in any period and\nexerts itself through the strongest nation, determines the civility of\nthat age: and each age thinks its own the perfection of reason. Our\nculture is very cheap and intelligible. Unroof any house, and you shall\nfind it. The well-being consists in having a sufficiency of coffee and\ntoast, with a daily newspaper; a well glazed parlor, with marbles,\nmirrors and centre-table; and the excitement of a few parties and a few\nrides in a year. Such as one house, such are all. The owner of a New\nYork manor imitates the mansion and equipage of the London nobleman; the\nBoston merchant rivals his brother of New York; and the villages copy\nBoston. There have been nations elevated by great sentiments. Such was\nthe civility of Sparta and the Dorian race, whilst it was defective in\nsome of the chief elements of ours. That of Athens, again, lay in an\nintellect dedicated to beauty. That of Asia Minor in poetry, music and\narts; that of Palestine in piety; that of Rome in military arts and\nvirtues, exalted by a prodigious magnanimity; that of China and Japan in\nthe last exaggeration of decorum and etiquette. Our civility, England\ndetermines the style of, inasmuch as England is the strongest of the\nfamily of existing nations, and as we are the expansion of that people.\nIt is that of a trading nation; it is a shopkeeping civility. The English\nlord is a retired shopkeeper, and has the prejudices and timidities of\nthat profession. And we are shopkeepers, and have acquired the vices\nand virtues that belong to trade. We peddle, we truck, we sail, we row,\nwe ride in cars, we creep in teams, we go in canals,\u2014to market, and for\nthe sale of goods. The national aim and employment streams into our ways\nof thinking, our laws, our habits and our manners. The customer is the\nimmediate jewel of our souls. Him we flatter, him we feast, compliment,\nvote for, and will not contradict. It was, or it seemed the dictate of\ntrade, to keep the negro down. We had found a race who were less warlike,\nand less energetic shopkeepers than we; who had very little skill in\ntrade. We found it very convenient to keep them at work, since, by the\naid of a little whipping, we could get their work for nothing but their\nboard and the cost of whips. What if it cost a few unpleasant scenes\non the coast of Africa? That was a great way off; and the scenes could\nbe endured by some sturdy, unscrupulous fellows, who could go, for high\nwages, and bring us the men, and need not trouble our ears with the\ndisagreeable particulars. If any mention was made of homicide, madness,\nadultery, and intolerable tortures, we would let the church-bells ring\nlouder, the church-organ swell its peal and drown the hideous sound. The\nsugar they raised was excellent: nobody tasted blood in it. The coffee\nwas fragrant; the tobacco was incense; the brandy made nations happy; the\ncotton clothed the world. What! all raised by these men, and no wages?\nExcellent! What a convenience! They seemed created by Providence to bear\nthe heat and the whipping, and make these fine articles.\n\nBut unhappily, most unhappily, gentlemen, man is born with intellect,\nas well as with a love of sugar; and with a sense of justice, as well\nas a taste for strong drink. These ripened, as well as those. You could\nnot educate him, you could not get any poetry, any wisdom, any beauty in\nwoman, any strong and commanding character in man, but these absurdities\nwould still come flashing out,\u2014these absurdities of a demand for\njustice, a generosity for the weak and oppressed. Unhappily, too, for\nthe planter, the laws of nature are in harmony with each other: that\nwhich the head and the heart demand is found to be, in the long run,\nfor what the grossest calculator calls his advantage. The moral sense\nis always supported by the permanent interest of the parties. Else, I\nknow not how, in our world, any good would ever get done.[111] It was\nshown to the planters that they, as well as the negroes, were slaves;\nthat though they paid no wages, they got very poor work; that their\nestates were ruining them, under the finest climate; and that they\nneeded the severest monopoly laws at home to keep them from bankruptcy.\nThe oppression of the slave recoiled on them. They were full of vices;\ntheir children were lumps of pride, sloth, sensuality and rottenness.\nThe position of woman was nearly as bad as it could be; and, like other\nrobbers, they could not sleep in security. Many planters have said, since\nthe emancipation, that, before that day, they were the greatest slaves\non the estates. Slavery is no scholar, no improver; it does not love the\nwhistle of the railroad; it does not love the newspaper, the mail-bag, a\ncollege, a book or a preacher who has the absurd whim of saying what he\nthinks; it does not increase the white population; it does not improve\nthe soil; everything goes to decay. For these reasons the islands proved\nbad customers to England. It was very easy for manufacturers less shrewd\nthan those of Birmingham and Manchester to see that if the state of\nthings in the islands was altered, if the slaves had wages, the slaves\nwould be clothed, would build houses, would fill them with tools, with\npottery, with crockery, with hardware; and negro women love fine clothes\nas well as white women. In every naked negro of those thousands, they\nsaw a future customer. Meantime, they saw further that the slave-trade,\nby keeping in barbarism the whole coast of eastern Africa, deprives them\nof countries and nations of customers, if once freedom and civility and\nEuropean manners could get a foothold there. But the trade could not be\nabolished whilst this hungry West Indian market, with an appetite like\nthe grave, cried, \u2018More, more, bring me a hundred a day;\u2019 they could not\nexpect any mitigation in the madness of the poor African war-chiefs.\nThese considerations opened the eyes of the dullest in Britain. More than\nthis, the West Indian estate was owned or mortgaged in England, and the\nowner and the mortgagee had very plain intimations that the feeling of\nEnglish liberty was gaining every hour new mass and velocity, and the\nhostility to such as resisted it would be fatal. The House of Commons\nwould destroy the protection of island produce, and interfere in English\npolitics in the island legislation: so they hastened to make the best of\ntheir position, and accepted the bill.\n\nThese considerations, I doubt not, had their weight; the interest of\ntrade, the interest of the revenue, and, moreover, the good fame of the\naction. It was inevitable that men should feel these motives. But they do\nnot appear to have had an excessive or unreasonable weight. On reviewing\nthis history, I think the whole transaction reflects infinite honor on\nthe people and parliament of England. It was a stately spectacle, to see\nthe cause of human rights argued with so much patience and generosity\nand with such a mass of evidence before that powerful people. It is a\ncreditable incident in the history that when, in 1789, the first privy\ncouncil report of evidence on the trade (a bulky folio embodying all\nthe facts which the London Committee had been engaged for years in\ncollecting, and all the examinations before the council) was presented\nto the House of Commons, a late day being named for the discussion,\nin order to give members time,\u2014Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Pitt, the Prime\nMinister, and other gentlemen, took advantage of the postponement to\nretire into the country to read the report. For months and years the bill\nwas debated, with some consciousness of the extent of its relations,\nby the first citizens of England, the foremost men of the earth; every\nargument was weighed, every particle of evidence was sifted and laid\nin the scale; and, at last, the right triumphed, the poor man was\nvindicated, and the oppressor was flung out. I know that England has the\nadvantage of trying the question at a wide distance from the spot where\nthe nuisance exists; the planters are not, excepting in rare examples,\nmembers of the legislature. The extent of the empire, and the magnitude\nand number of other questions crowding into court, keep this one in\nbalance, and prevent it from obtaining that ascendency, and being urged\nwith that intemperance which a question of property tends to acquire.\nThere are causes in the composition of the British legislature, and the\nrelation of its leaders to the country and to Europe, which exclude much\nthat is pitiful and injurious in other legislative assemblies. From\nthese reasons, the question was discussed with a rare independence and\nmagnanimity. It was not narrowed down to a paltry electioneering trap;\nand, I must say, a delight in justice, an honest tenderness for the poor\nnegro, for man suffering these wrongs, combined with the national pride,\nwhich refused to give the support of English soil or the protection of\nthe English flag to these disgusting violations of nature.\n\nForgive me, fellow citizens, if I own to you, that in the last few days\nthat my attention has been occupied with this history, I have not been\nable to read a page of it without the most painful comparisons. Whilst\nI have read of England, I have thought of New England. Whilst I have\nmeditated in my solitary walks on the magnanimity of the English Bench\nand Senate, reaching out the benefit of the law to the most helpless\ncitizen in her world-wide realm, I have found myself oppressed by other\nthoughts. As I have walked in the pastures and along the edge of woods,\nI could not keep my imagination on those agreeable figures, for other\nimages that intruded on me. I could not see the great vision of the\npatriots and senators who have adopted the slave\u2019s cause:\u2014they turned\ntheir backs on me. No: I see other pictures,\u2014of mean men; I see very\npoor, very ill-clothed, very ignorant men, not surrounded by happy\nfriends,\u2014to be plain,\u2014poor black men of obscure employment as mariners,\ncooks or stewards, in ships, yet citizens of this our Commonwealth of\nMassachusetts,\u2014freeborn as we,\u2014whom the slave-laws of the States of South\nCarolina, Georgia and Louisiana have arrested in the vessels in which\nthey visited those ports, and shut up in jails so long as the vessel\nremained in port, with the stringent addition, that if the shipmaster\nfails to pay the costs of this official arrest and the board in jail,\nthese citizens are to be sold for slaves, to pay that expense. This\nman, these men, I see, and no law to save them. Fellow citizens, this\ncrime will not be hushed up any longer. I have learned that a citizen of\nNantucket, walking in New Orleans, found a freeborn citizen of Nantucket,\na man, too, of great personal worth, and, as it happened, very dear to\nhim, as having saved his own life, working chained in the streets of that\ncity, kidnapped by such a process as this. In the sleep of the laws, the\nprivate interference of two excellent citizens of Boston has, I have\nascertained, rescued several natives of this State from these Southern\nprisons. Gentlemen, I thought the deck of a Massachusetts ship was as\nmuch the territory of Massachusetts as the floor on which we stand. It\nshould be as sacred as the temple of God. The poorest fishing-smack that\nfloats under the shadow of an iceberg in the Northern seas, or hunts\nwhale in the Southern ocean, should be encompassed by her laws with\ncomfort and protection, as much as within the arms of Cape Ann or Cape\nCod. And this kidnapping is suffered within our own land and federation,\nwhilst the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States\nordains in terms, that, \u201cThe citizens of each State shall be entitled\nto all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.\u201d If\nsuch a damnable outrage can be committed on the person of a citizen with\nimpunity, let the Governor break the broad seal of the State; he bears\nthe sword in vain.[112] The Governor of Massachusetts is a trifler; the\nState-House in Boston is a play-house; the General Court is a dishonored\nbody, if they make laws which they cannot execute. The great-hearted\nPuritans have left no posterity. The rich men may walk in State Street,\nbut they walk without honor; and the farmers may brag their democracy\nin the country, but they are disgraced men. If the State has no power\nto defend its own people in its own shipping, because it has delegated\nthat power to the Federal Government, has it no representation in the\nFederal Government?[113] Are those men dumb? I am no lawyer, and cannot\nindicate the forms applicable to the case, but here is something which\ntranscends all forms. Let the senators and representatives of the State,\ncontaining a population of a million freemen, go in a body before the\nCongress and say that they have a demand to make on them, so imperative\nthat all functions of government must stop until it is satisfied. If\nordinary legislation cannot reach it, then extraordinary must be applied.\nThe Congress should instruct the President to send to those ports of\nCharleston, Savannah and New Orleans such orders and such force as should\nrelease, forthwith, all such citizens of Massachusetts as were holden\nin prison without the allegation of any crime, and should set on foot\nthe strictest inquisition to discover where such persons, brought into\nslavery by these local laws at any time heretofore, may now be. That\nfirst; and then, let order be taken to indemnify all such as have been\nincarcerated. As for dangers to the Union, from such demands!\u2014the Union\nalready is at an end when the first citizen of Massachusetts is thus\noutraged. Is it an union and covenant in which the State of Massachusetts\nagrees to be imprisoned, and the State of Carolina to imprison?[114]\nGentlemen, I am loath to say harsh things, and perhaps I know too little\nof politics for the smallest weight to attach to any censure of mine,\u2014but\nI am at a loss how to characterize the tameness and silence of the two\nsenators and the ten representatives of the State at Washington. To what\npurpose have we clothed each of those representatives with the power of\nseventy thousand persons, and each senator with near half a million,\nif they are to sit dumb at their desks and see their constituents\ncaptured and sold;\u2014perhaps to gentlemen sitting by them in the hall?\nThere is a scandalous rumor that has been swelling louder of late\nyears,\u2014perhaps wholly false,\u2014that members are bullied into silence by\nSouthern gentlemen. It is so easy to omit to speak, or even to be absent\nwhen delicate things are to be handled. I may as well say, what all men\nfeel, that whilst our very amiable and very innocent representatives\nand senators at Washington are accomplished lawyers and merchants, and\nvery eloquent at dinners and at caucuses, there is a disastrous want\nof _men_ from New England. I would gladly make exceptions, and you\nwill not suffer me to forget one eloquent old man, in whose veins the\nblood of Massachusetts rolls, and who singly has defended the freedom\nof speech, and the rights of the free, against the usurpation of the\nslave-holder.[115] But the reader of Congressional debates, in New\nEngland, is perplexed to see with what admirable sweetness and patience\nthe majority of the free States are schooled and ridden by the minority\nof slave-holders. What if we should send thither representatives who\nwere a particle less amiable and less innocent? I entreat you, sirs, let\nnot this stain attach, let not this misery accumulate any longer. If\nthe managers of our political parties are too prudent and too cold;\u2014if,\nmost unhappily, the ambitious class of young men and political men have\nfound out that these neglected victims are poor and without weight; that\nthey have no graceful hospitalities to offer; no valuable business to\nthrow into any man\u2019s hands, no strong vote to cast at the elections; and\ntherefore may with impunity be left in their chains or to the chance of\nchains,\u2014then let the citizens in their primary capacity take up their\ncause on this very ground, and say to the government of the State, and\nof the Union, that government exists to defend the weak and the poor\nand the injured party; the rich and the strong can better take care of\nthemselves. And as an omen and assurance of success, I point you to the\nbright example which England set you, on this day, ten years ago.\n\nThere are other comparisons and other imperative duties which come\nsadly to mind,\u2014but I do not wish to darken the hours of this day by\ncrimination; I turn gladly to the rightful theme, to the bright aspects\nof the occasion.\n\nThis event was a moral revolution. The history of it is before you. Here\nwas no prodigy, no fabulous hero, no Trojan horse, no bloody war, but all\nwas achieved by plain means of plain men, working not under a leader,\nbut under a sentiment. Other revolutions have been the insurrection of\nthe oppressed; this was the repentance of the tyrant. It was the masters\nrevolting from their mastery. The slave-holder said, \u2018I will not hold\nslaves.\u2019 The end was noble and the means were pure. Hence the elevation\nand pathos of this chapter of history. The lives of the advocates are\npages of greatness, and the connection of the eminent senators with this\nquestion constitutes the immortalizing moments of those men\u2019s lives. The\nbare enunciation of the theses at which the lawyers and legislators\narrived, gives a glow to the heart of the reader. Lord Chancellor\nNorthington is the author of the famous sentence, \u201cAs soon as any man\nputs his foot on English ground, he becomes free.\u201d \u201cI was a slave,\u201d\nsaid the counsel of Somerset, speaking for his client, \u201cfor I was in\nAmerica: I am now in a country where the common rights of mankind are\nknown and regarded.\u201d Granville Sharpe filled the ear of the judges with\nthe sound principles that had from time to time been affirmed by the\nlegal authorities: \u201cDerived power cannot be superior to the power from\nwhich it is derived:\u201d \u201cThe reasonableness of the law is the soul of the\nlaw:\u201d \u201cIt is better to suffer every evil, than to consent to any.\u201d Out\nit would come, the God\u2019s truth, out it came, like a bolt from a cloud,\nfor all the mumbling of the lawyers. One feels very sensibly in all\nthis history that a great heart and soul are behind there, superior to\nany man, and making use of each, in turn, and infinitely attractive to\nevery person according to the degree of reason in his own mind, so that\nthis cause has had the power to draw to it every particle of talent and\nof worth in England, from the beginning. All the great geniuses of the\nBritish senate, Fox, Pitt, Burke, Grenville, Sheridan, Grey, Canning,\nranged themselves on its side; the poet Cowper wrote for it: Franklin,\nJefferson, Washington, in this country, all recorded their votes. All men\nremember the subtlety and the fire of indignation which the \u201cEdinburgh\nReview\u201d contributed to the cause; and every liberal mind, poet, preacher,\nmoralist, statesman, has had the fortune to appear somewhere for this\ncause. On the other part, appeared the reign of pounds and shillings,\nand all manner of rage and stupidity; a resistance which drew from Mr.\nHuddlestone in Parliament the observation, \u201cThat a curse attended this\ntrade even in the mode of defending it. By a certain fatality, none but\nthe vilest arguments were brought forward, which corrupted the very\npersons who used them. Every one of these was built on the narrow ground\nof interest, of pecuniary profit, of sordid gain, in opposition to\nevery motive that had reference to humanity, justice, and religion, or\nto that great principle which comprehended them all.\u201d This moral force\nperpetually reinforces and dignifies the friends of this cause. It gave\nthat tenacity to their point which has insured ultimate triumph; and it\ngave that superiority in reason, in imagery, in eloquence, which makes\nin all countries anti-slavery meetings so attractive to the people, and\nhas made it a proverb in Massachusetts, that \u201celoquence is dog-cheap at\nthe anti-slavery chapel.\u201d\n\nI will say further that we are indebted mainly to this movement and\nto the continuers of it, for the popular discussion of every point of\npractical ethics, and a reference of every question to the absolute\nstandard. It is notorious that the political, religious and social\nschemes, with which the minds of men are now most occupied, have been\nmatured, or at least broached, in the free and daring discussions of\nthese assemblies. Men have become aware, through the emancipation and\nkindred events, of the presence of powers which, in their days of\ndarkness, they had overlooked. Virtuous men will not again rely on\npolitical agents. They have found out the deleterious effect of political\nassociation. Up to this day we have allowed to statesmen a paramount\nsocial standing, and we bow low to them as to the great. We cannot extend\nthis deference to them any longer. The secret cannot be kept, that the\nseats of power are filled by underlings, ignorant, timid and selfish to a\ndegree to destroy all claim, excepting that on compassion, to the society\nof the just and generous. What happened notoriously to an American\nambassador in England, that he found himself compelled to palter and to\ndisguise the fact that he was a slave-breeder, happens to men of state.\nTheir vocation is a presumption against them among well-meaning people.\nThe superstition respecting power and office is going to the ground. The\nstream of human affairs flows its own way, and is very little affected\nby the activity of legislators. What great masses of men wish done, will\nbe done; and they do not wish it for a freak, but because it is their\nstate and natural end. There are now other energies than force, other\nthan political, which no man in future can allow himself to disregard.\nThere is direct conversation and influence. A man is to make himself\nfelt by his proper force. The tendency of things runs steadily to this\npoint, namely, to put every man on his merits, and to give him so much\npower as he naturally exerts,\u2014no more, no less. Of course, the timid and\nbase persons, all who are conscious of no worth in themselves, and who\nowe all their place to the opportunities which the older order of things\nallowed them, to deceive and defraud men, shudder at the change, and\nwould fain silence every honest voice, and lock up every house where\nliberty and innovation can be pleaded for. They would raise mobs, for\nfear is very cruel. But the strong and healthy yeomen and husbands of the\nland, the self-sustaining class of inventive and industrious men, fear\nno competition or superiority. Come what will, their faculty cannot be\nspared.\n\nThe First of August marks the entrance of a new element into modern\npolitics, namely, the civilization of the negro. A man is added to the\nhuman family. Not the least affecting part of this history of abolition\nis the annihilation of the old indecent nonsense about the nature of\nthe negro. In the case of the ship Zong, in 1781, whose master had\nthrown one hundred and thirty-two slaves alive into the sea, to cheat\nthe underwriters, the first jury gave a verdict in favor of the master\nand owners: they had a right to do what they had done. Lord Mansfield\nis reported to have said on the bench, \u201cThe matter left to the jury\nis,\u2014Was it from necessity? For they had no doubt\u2014though it shocks one\nvery much\u2014that the case of slaves was the same as if horses had been\nthrown overboard. It is a very shocking case.\u201d But a more enlightened\nand humane opinion began to prevail. Mr. Clarkson, early in his career,\nmade a collection of African productions and manufactures, as specimens\nof the arts and culture of the negro; comprising cloths and loom,\nweapons, polished stones and woods, leather, glass, dyes, ornaments,\nsoap, pipe-bowls and trinkets. These he showed to Mr. Pitt, who saw and\nhandled them with extreme interest. \u201cOn sight of these,\u201d says Clarkson,\n\u201cmany sublime thoughts seemed to rush at once into his mind, some of\nwhich he expressed;\u201d and hence appeared to arise a project which was\nalways dear to him, of the civilization of Africa,\u2014a dream which forever\nelevates his fame. In 1791, Mr. Wilberforce announced to the House of\nCommons, \u201cWe have already gained one victory: we have obtained for these\npoor creatures the recognition of their human nature, which for a time\nwas most shamefully denied them.\u201d It was the sarcasm of Montesquieu, \u201cit\nwould not do to suppose that negroes were men, lest it should turn out\nthat whites were not;\u201d for the white has, for ages, done what he could\nto keep the negro in that hoggish state. His laws have been furies. It\nnow appears that the negro race is, more than any other, susceptible of\nrapid civilization. The emancipation is observed, in the islands, to\nhave wrought for the negro a benefit as sudden as when a thermometer is\nbrought out of the shade into the sun. It has given him eyes and ears.\nIf, before, he was taxed with such stupidity, or such defective vision,\nthat he could not set a table square to the walls of an apartment, he is\nnow the principal if not the only mechanic in the West Indies; and is,\nbesides, an architect, a physician, a lawyer, a magistrate, an editor,\nand a valued and increasing political power. The recent testimonies of\nSturge, of Thome and Kimball, of Gurney, of Philippo, are very explicit\non this point, the capacity and the success of the colored and the black\npopulation in employments of skill, of profit and of trust; and best of\nall is the testimony to their moderation. They receive hints and advances\nfrom the whites that they will be gladly received as subscribers to\nthe Exchange, as members of this or that committee of trust. They hold\nback, and say to each other that \u201csocial position is not to be gained by\npushing.\u201d\n\nI have said that this event interests us because it came mainly from\nthe concession of the whites; I add, that in part it is the earning of\nthe blacks. They won the pity and respect which they have received, by\ntheir powers and native endowments. I think this a circumstance of the\nhighest import. Their whole future is in it. Our planet, before the age\nof written history, had its races of savages, like the generations of\nsour paste, or the animalcules that wiggle and bite in a drop of putrid\nwater. Who cares for these or for their wars? We do not wish a world of\nbugs or of birds; neither afterward of Scythians, Caraibs or Feejees. The\ngrand style of Nature, her great periods, is all we observe in them. Who\ncares for oppressing whites, or oppressed blacks, twenty centuries ago,\nmore than for bad dreams? Eaters and food are in the harmony of Nature;\nand there too is the germ forever protected, unfolding gigantic leaf\nafter leaf, a newer flower, a richer fruit, in every period, yet its next\nproduct is never to be guessed. It will only save what is worth saving;\nand it saves not by compassion, but by power. It appoints no police to\nguard the lion but his teeth and claws; no fort or city for the bird but\nhis wings; no rescue for flies and mites but their spawning numbers,\nwhich no ravages can overcome. It deals with men after the same manner.\nIf they are rude and foolish, down they must go. When at last in a race\na new principle appears, an idea,\u2014_that_ conserves it; ideas only save\nraces. If the black man is feeble and not important to the existing\nraces, not on a parity with the best race, the black man must serve,\nand be exterminated.[116] But if the black man carries in his bosom an\nindispensable element of a new and coming civilization; for the sake of\nthat element, no wrong nor strength nor circumstance can hurt him: he\nwill survive and play his part. So now, the arrival in the world of such\nmen as Toussaint, and the Haytian heroes, or of the leaders of their race\nin Barbadoes and Jamaica, outweighs in good omen all the English and\nAmerican humanity. The anti-slavery of the whole world is dust in the\nbalance before this,\u2014is a poor squeamishness and nervousness: the might\nand the right are here: here is the anti-slave: here is man: and if you\nhave man, black or white is an insignificance. The intellect,\u2014that is\nmiraculous! Who has it, has the talisman: his skin and bones, though they\nwere of the color of night, are transparent, and the everlasting stars\nshine through, with attractive beams. But a compassion for that which\nis not and cannot be useful or lovely, is degrading and futile. All the\nsongs and newspapers and money subscriptions and vituperation of such as\ndo not think with us, will avail nothing against a fact. I say to you,\nyou must save yourself, black or white, man or woman; other help is\nnone. I esteem the occasion of this jubilee to be the proud discovery\nthat the black race can contend with the white: that in the great anthem\nwhich we call history, a piece of many parts and vast compass, after\nplaying a long time a very low and subdued accompaniment, they perceive\nthe time arrived when they can strike in with effect and take a master\u2019s\npart in the music. The civility of the world has reached that pitch that\ntheir more moral genius is becoming indispensable, and the quality of\nthis race is to be honored for itself. For this, they have been preserved\nin sandy deserts, in rice-swamps, in kitchens and shoe-shops, so long:\nnow let them emerge, clothed and in their own form.\n\nThere remains the very elevated consideration which the subject opens,\nbut which belongs to more abstract views than we are now taking, this,\nnamely, that the civility of no race can be perfect whilst another race\nis degraded. It is a doctrine alike of the oldest and of the newest\nphilosophy, that man is one, and that you cannot injure any member,\nwithout a sympathetic injury to all the members. America is not civil,\nwhilst Africa is barbarous.[117]\n\nThese considerations seem to leave no choice for the action of the\nintellect and the conscience of the country. There have been moments in\nthis, as well as in every piece of moral history, when there seemed room\nfor the infusions of a skeptical philosophy; when it seemed doubtful\nwhether brute force would not triumph in the eternal struggle. I doubt\nnot that, sometimes, a despairing negro, when jumping over the ship\u2019s\nsides to escape from the white devils who surrounded him, has believed\nthere was no vindication of right; it is horrible to think of, but it\nseemed so. I doubt not that sometimes the negro\u2019s friend, in the face\nof scornful and brutal hundreds of traders and drivers, has felt his\nheart sink. Especially, it seems to me, some degree of despondency is\npardonable, when he observes the men of conscience and of intellect,\nhis own natural allies and champions,\u2014those whose attention should be\nnailed to the grand objects of this cause, so hotly offended by whatever\nincidental petulances or infirmities of indiscreet defenders of the\nnegro, as to permit themselves to be ranged with the enemies of the human\nrace; and names which should be the alarums of liberty and the watchwords\nof truth, are mixed up with all the rotten rabble of selfishness and\ntyranny.[118] I assure myself that this coldness and blindness will\npass away. A single noble wind of sentiment will scatter them forever.\nI am sure that the good and wise elders, the ardent and generous youth,\nwill not permit what is incidental and exceptional to withdraw their\ndevotion from the essential and permanent characters of the question.\nThere have been moments, I said, when men might be forgiven who doubted.\nThose moments are past. Seen in masses, it cannot be disputed, there\nis progress in human society. There is a blessed necessity by which\nthe interest of men is always driving them to the right; and, again,\nmaking all crime mean and ugly. The genius of the Saxon race, friendly\nto liberty; the enterprise, the very muscular vigor of this nation, are\ninconsistent with slavery. The Intellect, with blazing eye, looking\nthrough history from the beginning onward, gazes on this blot and it\ndisappears. The sentiment of Right, once very low and indistinct, but\never more articulate, because it is the voice of the universe, pronounces\nFreedom. The Power that built this fabric of things affirms it in the\nheart; and in the history of the First of August, has made a sign to the\nages, of his will.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nWAR\n\n          The archangel Hope\n          Looks to the azure cope,\n    Waits through dark ages for the morn,\n    Defeated day by day, but unto Victory born.\n\n\nWAR\n\nIt has been a favorite study of modern philosophy to indicate the steps\nof human progress, to watch the rising of a thought in one man\u2019s mind,\nthe communication of it to a few, to a small minority, its expansion and\ngeneral reception, until it publishes itself to the world by destroying\nthe existing laws and institutions, and the generation of new. Looked at\nin this general and historical way, many things wear a very different\nface from that they show near by, and one at a time,\u2014and, particularly,\nwar. War, which to sane men at the present day begins to look like an\nepidemic insanity, breaking out here and there like the cholera or\ninfluenza, infecting men\u2019s brains instead of their bowels,\u2014when seen\nin the remote past, in the infancy of society, appears a part of the\nconnection of events, and, in its place, necessary.\n\nAs far as history has preserved to us the slow unfoldings of any savage\ntribe, it is not easy to see how war could be avoided by such wild,\npassionate, needy, ungoverned, strong-bodied creatures. For in the\ninfancy of society, when a thin population and improvidence make the\nsupply of food and of shelter insufficient and very precarious, and\nwhen hunger, thirst, ague and frozen limbs universally take precedence\nof the wants of the mind and the heart, the necessities of the strong\nwill certainly be satisfied at the cost of the weak, at whatever peril\nof future revenge. It is plain, too, that in the first dawnings of the\nreligious sentiment, _that_ blends itself with their passions and is oil\nto the fire. Not only every tribe has war-gods, religious festivals in\nvictory, but _religious wars_.\n\nThe student of history acquiesces the more readily in this copious\nbloodshed of the early annals, bloodshed in God\u2019s name too, when he\nlearns that it is a temporary and preparatory state, and does actively\nforward the culture of man. War educates the senses, calls into action\nthe will, perfects the physical constitution, brings men into such\nswift and close collision in critical moments that man measures man.\nOn its own scale, on the virtues it loves, it endures no counterfeit,\nbut shakes the whole society until every atom falls into the place its\nspecific gravity assigns it.[119] It presently finds the value of good\nsense and of foresight, and Ulysses takes rank next to Achilles. The\nleaders, picked men of a courage and vigor tried and augmented in fifty\nbattles, are emulous to distinguish themselves above each other by new\nmerits, as clemency, hospitality, splendor of living. The people imitate\nthe chiefs. The strong tribe, in which war has become an art, attack\nand conquer their neighbors, and teach them their arts and virtues.\nNew territory, augmented numbers and extended interests call out new\nvirtues and abilities, and the tribe makes long strides. And, finally,\nwhen much progress has been made, all its secrets of wisdom and art are\ndisseminated by its invasions. Plutarch, in his essay On the Fortune of\nAlexander, considers the invasion and conquest of the East by Alexander\nas one of the most bright and pleasing pages in history; and it must\nbe owned he gives sound reason for his opinion. It had the effect of\nuniting into one great interest the divided commonwealths of Greece, and\ninfusing a new and more enlarged public spirit into the councils of their\nstatesmen. It carried the arts and language and philosophy of the Greeks\ninto the sluggish and barbarous nations of Persia, Assyria and India. It\nintroduced the arts of husbandry among tribes of hunters and shepherds.\nIt weaned the Scythians and Persians from some cruel and licentious\npractices to a more civil way of life. It introduced the sacredness of\nmarriage among them. It built seventy cities, and sowed the Greek customs\nand humane laws over Asia, and united hostile nations under one code.\nIt brought different families of the human race together,\u2014to blows at\nfirst, but afterwards to truce, to trade and to intermarriage. It would\nbe very easy to show analogous benefits that have resulted from military\nmovements of later ages.\n\nConsiderations of this kind lead us to a true view of the nature and\noffice of war. We see it is the subject of all history; that it has been\nthe principal employment of the most conspicuous men; that it is at this\nmoment the delight of half the world, of almost all young and ignorant\npersons; that it is exhibited to us continually in the dumb show of brute\nnature, where war between tribes, and between individuals of the same\ntribe, perpetually rages. The microscope reveals miniature butchery in\natomies and infinitely small biters that swim and fight in an illuminated\ndrop of water; and the little globe is but a too faithful miniature of\nthe large.\n\nWhat does all this war, beginning from the lowest races and reaching\nup to man, signify? Is it not manifest that it covers a great and\nbeneficent principle, which Nature had deeply at heart? What is that\nprinciple?\u2014It is self-help. Nature implants with life the instinct of\nself-help, perpetual struggle to be, to resist opposition, to attain\nto freedom, to attain to a mastery and the security of a permanent,\nself-defended being; and to each creature these objects are made so dear\nthat it risks its life continually in the struggle for these ends.\n\nBut whilst this principle, necessarily, is inwrought into the fabric of\nevery creature, yet it is but _one_ instinct; and though a primary one,\nor we may say the very first, yet the appearance of the other instincts\nimmediately modifies and controls this; turns its energies into harmless,\nuseful and high courses, showing thereby what was its ultimate design;\nand, finally, takes out its fangs. The instinct of self-help is very\nearly unfolded in the coarse and merely brute form of war, only in the\nchildhood and imbecility of the other instincts, and remains in that form\nonly until their development. It is the ignorant and childish part of\nmankind that is the fighting part. Idle and vacant minds want excitement,\nas all boys kill cats. Bull-baiting, cockpits and the boxer\u2019s ring are\nthe enjoyment of the part of society whose animal nature alone has been\ndeveloped. In some parts of this country, where the intellectual and\nmoral faculties have as yet scarcely any culture, the absorbing topic\nof all conversation is whipping; who fought, and which whipped? Of man,\nboy or beast, the only trait that much interests the speakers is the\npugnacity.[120] And why? Because the speaker has as yet no other image of\nmanly activity and virtue, none of endurance, none of perseverance, none\nof charity, none of the attainment of truth. Put him into a circle of\ncultivated men, where the conversation broaches the great questions that\nbesiege the human reason, and he would be dumb and unhappy, as an Indian\nin church.\n\nTo men of a sedate and mature spirit, in whom is any knowledge or\nmental activity, the detail of battle becomes insupportably tedious\nand revolting. It is like the talk of one of those monomaniacs whom\nwe sometimes meet in society, who converse on horses; and Fontenelle\nexpressed a volume of meaning when he said, \u201cI hate war, for it spoils\nconversation.\u201d\n\nNothing is plainer than that the sympathy with war is a juvenile and\ntemporary state. Not only the moral sentiment, but trade, learning and\nwhatever makes intercourse, conspire to put it down. Trade, as all\nmen know, is the antagonist of war. Wherever there is no property,\nthe people will put on the knapsack for bread; but trade is instantly\nendangered and destroyed. And, moreover, trade brings men to look each\nother in the face, and gives the parties the knowledge that these enemies\nover sea or over the mountain are such men as we; who laugh and grieve,\nwho love and fear, as we do. And learning and art, and especially\nreligion weave ties that make war look like fratricide, as it is. And\nas all history is the picture of war, as we have said, so it is no less\ntrue that it is the record of the mitigation and decline of war. Early\nin the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Italian cities had grown so\npopulous and strong that they forced the rural nobility to dismantle\ntheir castles, which were dens of cruelty, and come and reside in the\ntowns. The popes, to their eternal honor, declared religious jubilees,\nduring which all hostilities were suspended throughout Christendom, and\nman had a breathing space. The increase of civility has abolished the use\nof poison and of torture, once supposed as necessary as navies now. And,\nfinally, the art of war, what with gunpowder and tactics, has made, as\nall men know, battles less frequent and less murderous.\n\nBy all these means, war has been steadily on the decline; and we read\nwith astonishment of the beastly fighting of the old times. Only in\nElizabeth\u2019s time, out of the European waters, piracy was all but\nuniversal. The proverb was,\u2014\u201cNo peace beyond the line;\u201d and the seaman\nshipped on the buccaneer\u2019s bargain, \u201cNo prey, no pay.\u201d The celebrated\nCavendish, who was thought in his times a good Christian man, wrote\nthus to Lord Hunsdon, on his return from a voyage round the world:\n\u201cSept. 1588. It hath pleased Almighty God to suffer me to circumpass the\nwhole globe of the world, entering in at the Strait of Magellan, and\nreturning by the Cape of Buena Esperan\u00e7a; in which voyage, I have either\ndiscovered or brought certain intelligence of all the rich places of the\nworld, which were ever discovered by any Christian. I navigated along\nthe coast of Chili, Peru, and New Spain, _where I made great spoils. I\nburnt and sunk nineteen sail of ships, small and great. All the villages\nand towns that ever I landed at, I burned and spoiled._ And had I not\nbeen discovered upon the coast, I had taken great quantity of treasure.\nThe matter of most profit to me was a great ship of the king\u2019s, which I\ntook at California,\u201d etc. And the good Cavendish piously begins this\nstatement,\u2014\u201cIt hath pleased Almighty God.\u201d\n\nIndeed, our American annals have preserved the vestiges of barbarous\nwarfare down to more recent times. I read in Williams\u2019s History of Maine,\nthat \u201cAssacombuit, the Sagamore of the Anagunticook tribe, was remarkable\nfor his turpitude and ferocity above all other known Indians; that,\nin 1705, Vaudreuil sent him to France, where he was introduced to the\nking. When he appeared at court, he lifted up his hand and said, \u2018This\nhand has slain a hundred and fifty of your majesty\u2019s enemies within the\nterritories of New England.\u2019 This so pleased the king that he knighted\nhim, and ordered a pension of eight livres a day to be paid him during\nlife.\u201d This valuable person, on his return to America, took to killing\nhis own neighbors and kindred, with such appetite that his tribe combined\nagainst him, and would have killed him had he not fled his country\nforever.\n\nThe scandal which we feel in such facts certainly shows that we have got\non a little. All history is the decline of war, though the slow decline.\nAll that society has yet gained is mitigation: the doctrine of the right\nof war still remains.\n\nFor ages (for ideas work in ages, and animate vast societies of men) the\nhuman race has gone on under the tyranny\u2014shall I so call it?\u2014of this\nfirst brutish form of their effort to be men; that is, for ages they\nhave shared so much of the nature of the lower animals, the tiger and\nthe shark, and the savages of the water-drop. They have nearly exhausted\nall the good and all the evil of this form: they have held as fast to\nthis degradation as their worst enemy could desire; but all things have\nan end, and so has this.[121] The eternal germination of the better has\nunfolded new powers, new instincts, which were really concealed under\nthis rough and base rind. The sublime question has startled one and\nanother happy soul in different quarters of the globe,\u2014Cannot love be,\nas well as hate? Would not love answer the same end, or even a better?\nCannot peace be, as well as war?\n\nThis thought is no man\u2019s invention, neither St. Pierre\u2019s nor Rousseau\u2019s,\nbut the rising of the general tide in the human soul,\u2014and rising highest,\nand first made visible, in the most simple and pure souls, who have\ntherefore announced it to us beforehand; but presently we all see it.\nIt has now become so distinct as to be a social thought: societies can\nbe formed on it. It is expounded, illustrated, defined, with different\ndegrees of clearness; and its actualization, or the measures it should\ninspire, predicted according to the light of each seer.\n\nThe idea itself is the epoch; the fact that it has become so distinct to\nany small number of persons as to become a subject of prayer and hope,\nof concert and discussion,\u2014_that_ is the commanding fact. This having\ncome, much more will follow. Revolutions go not backward. The star once\nrisen, though only one man in the hemisphere has yet seen its upper limb\nin the horizon, will mount and mount, until it becomes visible to other\nmen, to multitudes, and climbs the zenith of all eyes. And so it is not a\ngreat matter how long men refuse to believe the advent of peace: war is\non its last legs; and a universal peace is as sure as is the prevalence\nof civilization over barbarism, of liberal governments over feudal forms.\nThe question for us is only _How soon?_\n\nThat the project of peace should appear visionary to great numbers of\nsensible men; should appear laughable even, to numbers; should appear\nto the grave and good-natured to be embarrassed with extreme practical\ndifficulties,\u2014is very natural. \u2018This is a poor, tedious society of\nyours,\u2019 they say: \u2018we do not see what good can come of it. Peace! why, we\nare all at peace now. But if a foreign nation should wantonly insult or\nplunder our commerce, or, worse yet, should land on our shores to rob and\nkill, you would not have us sit, and be robbed and killed? You mistake\nthe times; you overestimate the virtue of men. You forget that the\nquiet which now sleeps in cities and in farms, which lets the wagon go\nunguarded and the farmhouse unbolted, rests on the perfect understanding\nof all men that the musket, the halter and the jail stand behind there,\nready to punish any disturber of it. All admit that this would be the\nbest policy, if the world were all a church, if all the men were the best\nmen, if all would agree to accept this rule. But it is absurd for one\nnation to attempt it alone.\u2019[122]\n\nIn the first place, we answer that we never make much account of\nobjections which merely respect the actual state of the world at this\nmoment, but which admit the general expediency and permanent excellence\nof the project. What is the best must be the true; and what is true\u2014that\nis, what is at bottom fit and agreeable to the constitution of man\u2014must\nat last prevail over all obstruction and all opposition. There is no\ngood now enjoyed by society that was not once as problematical and\nvisionary as this. It is the tendency of the true interest of man to\nbecome his desire and steadfast aim.\n\nBut, further, it is a lesson which all history teaches wise men, to put\ntrust in ideas, and not in circumstances. We have all grown up in the\nsight of frigates and navy-yards, of armed forts and islands, of arsenals\nand militia. The reference to any foreign register will inform us of the\nnumber of thousand or million men that are now under arms in the vast\ncolonial system of the British Empire, of Russia, Austria and France; and\none is scared to find at what a cost the peace of the globe is kept. This\nvast apparatus of artillery, of fleets, of stone bastions and trenches\nand embankments; this incessant patrolling of sentinels; this waving of\nnational flags; this reveille and evening gun; this martial music and\nendless playing of marches and singing of military and naval songs seem\nto us to constitute an imposing actual, which will not yield in centuries\nto the feeble, deprecatory voices of a handful of friends of peace.\n\nThus always we are daunted by the appearances; not seeing that their\nwhole value lies at bottom in the state of mind. It is really a thought\nthat built this portentous war-establishment, and a thought shall\nalso melt it away.[123] Every nation and every man instantly surround\nthemselves with a material apparatus which exactly corresponds to their\nmoral state, or their state of thought. Observe how every truth and\nevery error, each a _thought_ of some man\u2019s mind, clothes itself with\nsocieties, houses, cities, language, ceremonies, newspapers. Observe\nthe ideas of the present day,\u2014orthodoxy, skepticism, missions, popular\neducation, temperance, anti-masonry, anti-slavery; see how each of\nthese abstractions has embodied itself in an imposing apparatus in\nthe community; and how timber, brick, lime and stone have flown into\nconvenient shape, obedient to the master-idea reigning in the minds of\nmany persons.[124]\n\nYou shall hear, some day, of a wild fancy which some man has in his\nbrain, of the mischief of secret oaths. Come again one or two years\nafterwards, and you shall see it has built great houses of solid wood\nand brick and mortar. You shall see a hundred presses printing a million\nsheets; you shall see men and horses and wheels made to walk, run and\nroll for it: this great body of matter thus executing that one man\u2019s wild\nthought. This happens daily, yearly about us, with half thoughts, often\nwith flimsy lies, pieces of policy and speculation. With good nursing\nthey will last three or four years before they will come to nothing. But\nwhen a truth appears,\u2014as, for instance, a perception in the wit of one\nColumbus that there is land in the Western Sea; though he alone of all\nmen has that thought, and they all jeer,\u2014it will build ships; it will\nbuild fleets; it will carry over half Spain and half England; it will\nplant a colony, a state, nations and half a globe full of men.\n\nWe surround ourselves always, according to our freedom and ability, with\ntrue images of ourselves in things, whether it be ships or books or\ncannons or churches. The standing army, the arsenal, the camp and the\ngibbet do not appertain to man. They only serve as an index to show where\nman is now; what a bad, ungoverned temper he has; what an ugly neighbor\nhe is; how his affections halt; how low his hope lies. He who loves the\nbristle of bayonets only sees in their glitter what beforehand he feels\nin his heart. It is avarice and hatred; it is that quivering lip, that\ncold, hating eye, which built magazines and powder-houses.\n\nIt follows of course that the least change in the man will change his\ncircumstances; the least enlargement of his ideas, the least mitigation\nof his feelings in respect to other men; if, for example, he could be\ninspired with a tender kindness to the souls of men, and should come to\nfeel that every man was another self with whom he might come to join,\nas left hand works with right. Every degree of the ascendency of this\nfeeling would cause the most striking changes of external things: the\ntents would be struck; the men-of-war would rot ashore; the arms rust;\nthe cannon would become street-posts; the pikes, a fisher\u2019s harpoon; the\nmarching regiment would be a caravan of emigrants, _peaceful_ pioneers\nat the fountains of the Wabash and the Missouri. And so it must and will\nbe: bayonet and sword must first retreat a little from their ostentatious\nprominence; then quite hide themselves, as the sheriff\u2019s halter does now,\ninviting the attendance only of relations and friends; and then, lastly,\nwill be transferred to the museums of the curious, as poisoning and\ntorturing tools are at this day.\n\nWar and peace thus resolve themselves into a mercury of the state of\ncultivation. At a certain stage of his progress, the man fights, if\nhe be of a sound body and mind. At a certain higher stage, he makes\nno offensive demonstration, but is alert to repel injury, and of an\nunconquerable heart.[125] At a still higher stage, he comes into the\nregion of holiness; passion has passed away from him; his warlike nature\nis all converted into an active medicinal principle; he sacrifices\nhimself, and accepts with alacrity wearisome tasks of denial and charity;\nbut, being attacked, he bears it and turns the other cheek, as one\nengaged, throughout his being, no longer to the service of an individual\nbut to the common soul of all men.\n\nSince the peace question has been before the public mind, those\nwho affirm its right and expediency have naturally been met with\nobjections more or less weighty. There are cases frequently put by the\ncurious,\u2014moral problems, like those problems in arithmetic which in long\nwinter evenings the rustics try the hardness of their heads in ciphering\nout. And chiefly it is said,\u2014Either accept this principle for better,\nfor worse, carry it out to the end, and meet its absurd consequences;\nor else, if you pretend to set an arbitrary limit, a \u201cThus far, no\nfarther,\u201d then give up the principle, and take that limit which the\ncommon sense of all mankind has set, and which distinguishes offensive\nwar as criminal, defensive war as just. Otherwise, if you go for no war,\nthen be consistent, and give up self-defence in the highway, in your own\nhouse. Will you push it thus far? Will you stick to your principle of\nnon-resistance when your strong-box is broken open, when your wife and\nbabes are insulted and slaughtered in your sight? If you say yes, you\nonly invite the robber and assassin; and a few bloody-minded desperadoes\nwould soon butcher the good.\n\nIn reply to this charge of absurdity on the extreme peace doctrine, as\nshown in the supposed consequences, I wish to say that such deductions\nconsider only one half of the fact. They look only at the passive side of\nthe friend of peace, only at his passivity; they quite omit to consider\nhis activity. But no man, it may be presumed, ever embraced the cause\nof peace and philanthropy for the sole end and satisfaction of being\nplundered and slain. A man does not come the length of the spirit of\nmartyrdom without some active purpose, some equal motive, some flaming\nlove. If you have a nation of men who have risen to that height of moral\ncultivation that they will not declare war or carry arms, for they have\nnot so much madness left in their brains, you have a nation of lovers,\nof benefactors, of true, great and able men. Let me know more of that\nnation; I shall not find them defenceless, with idle hands swinging at\ntheir sides. I shall find them men of love, honor and truth; men of an\nimmense industry; men whose influence is felt to the end of the earth;\nmen whose very look and voice carry the sentence of honor and shame; and\nall forces yield to their energy and persuasion. Whenever we see the\ndoctrine of peace embraced by a nation, we may be assured it will not be\none that invites injury; but one, on the contrary, which has a friend in\nthe bottom of the heart of every man, even of the violent and the base;\none against which no weapon can prosper; one which is looked upon as the\nasylum of the human race and has the tears and the blessings of mankind.\n\nIn the second place, as far as it respects individual action in difficult\nand extreme cases, I will say, such cases seldom or never occur to the\ngood and just man; nor are we careful to say, or even to know, what in\nsuch crises is to be done. A wise man will never impawn his future being\nand action, and decide beforehand what he shall do in a given extreme\nevent. Nature and God will instruct him in that hour.\n\nThe question naturally arises, How is this new aspiration of the human\nmind to be made visible and real? How is it to pass out of thoughts into\nthings?\n\nNot, certainly, in the first place, _in the way of routine and mere\nforms_,\u2014the universal specific of modern politics; not by organizing\na society, and going through a course of resolutions and public\nmanifestoes, and being thus formally accredited to the public and to the\ncivility of the newspapers. We have played this game to tediousness.\nIn some of our cities they choose noted duellists as presidents and\nofficers of anti-duelling societies. Men who love that bloated vanity\ncalled public opinion think all is well if they have once got their\nbantling through a sufficient course of speeches and cheerings, of one,\ntwo, or three public meetings; as if _they_ could do anything: they vote\nand vote, cry hurrah on both sides, no man responsible, no man caring a\npin. The next season, an Indian war, or an aggression on our commerce by\nMalays; or the party this man votes with have an appropriation to carry\nthrough Congress: instantly he wags his head the other way, and cries,\nHavoc and war!\n\nThis is not to be carried by public opinion, but by private opinion, by\nprivate conviction, by private, dear and earnest love. For the only hope\nof this cause is in the increased insight, and it is to be accomplished\nby the spontaneous teaching, of the cultivated soul, in its secret\nexperience and meditation,\u2014that it is now time that it should pass out of\nthe state of beast into the state of man; it is to hear the voice of God,\nwhich bids the devils that have rended and torn him come out of him and\nlet him now be clothed and walk forth in his right mind.\n\nNor, in the next place, is the peace principle to be carried into effect\nby fear. It can never be defended, it can never be executed, by cowards.\nEverything great must be done in the spirit of greatness. The manhood\nthat has been in war must be transferred to the cause of peace, before\nwar can lose its charm, and peace be venerable to men.\n\nThe attractiveness of war shows one thing through all the throats of\nartillery, the thunders of so many sieges, the sack of towns, the\njousts of chivalry, the shock of hosts,\u2014this namely, the conviction of\nman universally, that a man should be himself responsible, with goods,\nhealth and life, for his behavior; that he should not ask of the state\nprotection; should ask nothing of the state; should be himself a kingdom\nand a state; fearing no man; quite willing to use the opportunities and\nadvantages that good government throw in his way, but nothing daunted,\nand not really the poorer if government, law and order went by the board;\nbecause in himself reside infinite resources; because he is sure of\nhimself, and never needs to ask another what in any crisis it behooves\nhim to do.[126]\n\nWhat makes to us the attractiveness of the Greek heroes? of the Roman?\nWhat makes the attractiveness of that romantic style of living which\nis the material of ten thousand plays and romances, from Shakspeare to\nScott; the feudal baron, the French, the English nobility, the Warwicks,\nPlantagenets? It is their absolute self-dependence. I do not wonder at\nthe dislike some of the friends of peace have expressed at Shakspeare.\nThe veriest churl and Jacobin cannot resist the influence of the style\nand manners of these haughty lords. We are affected, as boys and\nbarbarians are, by the appearance of a few rich and wilful gentlemen who\ntake their honor into their own keeping, defy the world, so confident are\nthey of their courage and strength, and whose appearance is the arrival\nof so much life and virtue. In dangerous times they are presently tried,\nand therefore their name is a flourish of trumpets. They, at least,\naffect us as a reality. They are not shams, but the substance of which\nthat age and world is made. They are true heroes for their time. They\nmake what is in their minds the greatest sacrifice. They will, for an\ninjurious word, peril all their state and wealth, and go to the field.\nTake away that principle of responsibleness, and they become pirates and\nruffians.[127]\n\nThis self-subsistency is the charm of war; for this self-subsistency is\nessential to our idea of man. But another age comes, a truer religion and\nethics open, and a man puts himself under the dominion of principles.\nI see him to be the servant of truth, of love and of freedom, and\nimmovable in the waves of the crowd. The man of principle, that is, the\nman who, without any flourish of trumpets, titles of lordship or train\nof guards, without any notice of his action abroad, expecting none,\ntakes in solitude the right step uniformly, on his private choice and\ndisdaining consequences,\u2014does not yield, in my imagination, to any man.\nHe is willing to be hanged at his own gate, rather than consent to any\ncompromise of his freedom or the suppression of his conviction. I regard\nno longer those names that so tingled in my ear. This is a baron of a\nbetter nobility and a stouter stomach.\n\nThe cause of peace is not the cause of cowardice. If peace is sought to\nbe defended or preserved for the safety of the luxurious and the timid,\nit is a sham, and the peace will be base. War is better, and the peace\nwill be broken. If peace is to be maintained, it must be by brave men,\nwho have come up to the same height as the hero, namely, the will to\ncarry their life in their hand, and stake it at any instant for their\nprinciple, but who have gone one step beyond the hero, and will not\nseek another man\u2019s life;\u2014men who have, by their intellectual insight\nor else by their moral elevation, attained such a perception of their\nown intrinsic worth that they do not think property or their own body a\nsufficient good to be saved by such dereliction of principle as treating\na man like a sheep.\n\nIf the universal cry for reform of so many inveterate abuses, with which\nsociety rings,\u2014if the desire of a large class of young men for a faith\nand hope, intellectual and religious, such as they have not yet found,\nbe an omen to be trusted; if the disposition to rely more, in study and\nin action, on the unexplored riches of the human constitution,\u2014if the\nsearch of the sublime laws of morals and the sources of hope and trust,\nin man, and not in books, in the present, and not in the past, proceed;\nif the rising generation can be provoked to think it unworthy to nestle\ninto every abomination of the past, and shall feel the generous darings\nof austerity and virtue, then war has a short day, and human blood will\ncease to flow.\n\nIt is of little consequence in what manner, through what organs, this\npurpose of mercy and holiness is effected. The proposition of the\nCongress of Nations is undoubtedly that at which the present fabric of\nour society and the present course of events do point. But the mind,\nonce prepared for the reign of principles, will easily find modes of\nexpressing its will. There is the highest fitness in the place and time\nin which this enterprise is begun. Not in an obscure corner, not in a\nfeudal Europe, not in an antiquated appanage where no onward step can be\ntaken without rebellion, is this seed of benevolence laid in the furrow,\nwith tears of hope; but in this broad America of God and man, where the\nforest is only now falling, or yet to fall, and the green earth opened\nto the inundation of emigrant men from all quarters of oppression and\nguilt; here, where not a family, not a few men, but mankind, shall say\nwhat shall be; here, we ask, Shall it be War, or shall it be Peace?\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nTHE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW\n\nADDRESS TO CITIZENS OF CONCORD 3 MAY, 1851\n\n            The Eternal Rights,\n    Victors over daily wrongs:\n    Awful victors, they misguide\n    Whom they will destroy,\n    And their coming triumph hide\n    In our downfall, or our joy:\n    They reach no term, they never sleep,\n    In equal strength through space abide;\n    Though, feigning dwarfs, they crouch and creep,\n    The strong they slay, the swift outstride;\n    Fate\u2019s grass grows rank in valley clods,\n    And rankly on the castled steep,\u2014\n    Speak it firmly, these are gods,\n    Are all ghosts beside.\n\n\nTHE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW\n\nFELLOW CITIZENS: I accepted your invitation to speak to you on the great\nquestion of these days, with very little consideration of what I might\nhave to offer: for there seems to be no option. The last year has forced\nus all into politics, and made it a paramount duty to seek what it is\noften a duty to shun. We do not breathe well. There is infamy in the air.\nI have a new experience. I wake in the morning with a painful sensation,\nwhich I carry about all day, and which, when traced home, is the odious\nremembrance of that ignominy which has fallen on Massachusetts, which\nrobs the landscape of beauty, and takes the sunshine out of every hour.\nI have lived all my life in this state, and never had any experience\nof personal inconvenience from the laws, until now. They never came\nnear me to any discomfort before. I find the like sensibility in my\nneighbors; and in that class who take no interest in the ordinary\nquestions of party politics. There are men who are as sure indexes of\nthe equity of legislation and of the same state of public feeling, as\nthe barometer is of the weight of the air, and it is a bad sign when\nthese are discontented, for though they snuff oppression and dishonor\nat a distance, it is because they are more impressionable: the whole\npopulation will in a short time be as painfully affected.\n\nEvery hour brings us from distant quarters of the Union the expression of\nmortification at the late events in Massachusetts, and at the behavior\nof Boston. The tameness was indeed shocking. Boston, of whose fame for\nspirit and character we have all been so proud; Boston, whose citizens,\nintelligent people in England told me they could always distinguish by\ntheir culture among Americans; the Boston of the American Revolution,\nwhich figures so proudly in John Adams\u2019s Diary, which the whole country\nhas been reading; Boston, spoiled by prosperity, must bow its ancient\nhonor in the dust, and make us irretrievably ashamed. In Boston, we have\nsaid with such lofty confidence, no fugitive slave can be arrested, and\nnow, we must transfer our vaunt to the country, and say, with a little\nless confidence, no fugitive man can be arrested here; at least we can\nbrag thus until to-morrow, when the farmers also may be corrupted.\n\nThe tameness is indeed complete. The only haste in Boston, after the\nrescue of Shadrach,[128] last February, was, who should first put his\nname on the list of volunteers in aid of the marshal. I met the smoothest\nof Episcopal Clergymen the other day, and allusion being made to Mr.\nWebster\u2019s treachery, he blandly replied, \u201cWhy, do you know I think\n_that_ the great action of his life.\u201d It looked as if in the city and\nthe suburbs all were involved in one hot haste of terror,\u2014presidents\nof colleges, and professors, saints, and brokers, insurers, lawyers,\nimporters, manufacturers: not an unpleasing sentiment, not a liberal\nrecollection, not so much as a snatch of an old song for freedom, dares\nintrude on their passive obedience.\n\nThe panic has paralyzed the journals, with the fewest exceptions, so that\none cannot open a newspaper without being disgusted by new records of\nshame. I cannot read longer even the local good news. When I look down\nthe columns at the titles of paragraphs, \u201cEducation in Massachusetts,\u201d\n\u201cBoard of Trade,\u201d \u201cArt Union,\u201d \u201cRevival of Religion,\u201d what bitter\nmockeries! The very convenience of property, the house and land we\noccupy, have lost their best value, and a man looks gloomily at his\nchildren, and thinks, \u201cWhat have I done that you should begin life in\ndishonor?\u201d Every liberal study is discredited,\u2014literature and science\nappear effeminate, and the hiding of the head. The college, the churches,\nthe schools, the very shops and factories are discredited; real estate,\nevery kind of wealth, every branch of industry, every avenue to power,\nsuffers injury, and the value of life is reduced. Just now a friend came\ninto my house and said, \u201cIf this law shall be repealed I shall be glad\nthat I have lived; if not I shall be sorry that I was born.\u201d What kind of\nlaw is that which extorts language like this from the heart of a free and\ncivilized people?\n\nOne intellectual benefit we owe to the late disgraces. The crisis had the\nilluminating power of a sheet of lightning at midnight. It showed truth.\nIt ended a good deal of nonsense we had been wont to hear and to repeat,\non the 19th of April, the 17th of June, the 4th of July. It showed the\nslightness and unreliableness of our social fabric, it showed what stuff\nreputations are made of, what straws we dignify by office and title,\nand how competent we are to give counsel and help in a day of trial. It\nshowed the shallowness of leaders; the divergence of parties from their\nalleged grounds; showed that men would not stick to what they had said,\nthat the resolutions of public bodies, or the pledges never so often\ngiven and put on record of public men, will not bind them. The fact\ncomes out more plainly that you cannot rely on any man for the defence\nof truth, who is not constitutionally or by blood and temperament on\nthat side. A man of a greedy and unscrupulous selfishness may maintain\nmorals when they are in fashion: but he will not stick. However close\nMr. Wolf\u2019s nails have been pared, however neatly he has been shaved, and\ntailored, and set up on end, and taught to say, \u201cVirtue and Religion,\u201d\nhe cannot be relied on at a pinch: he will say, morality means pricking\na vein. The popular assumption that all men loved freedom, and believed\nin the Christian religion, was found hollow American brag; only persons\nwho were known and tried benefactors are found standing for freedom:\nthe sentimentalists went downstream.[129] I question the value of our\ncivilization, when I see that the public mind had never less hold of the\nstrongest of all truths. The sense of injustice is blunted,\u2014a sure sign\nof the shallowness of our intellect. I cannot accept the railroad and\ntelegraph in exchange for reason and charity. It is not skill in iron\nlocomotives that makes so fine civility, as the jealousy of liberty. I\ncannot think the most judicious tubing a compensation for metaphysical\ndebility. What is the use of admirable law-forms, and political forms, if\na hurricane of party feeling and a combination of monied interests can\nbeat them to the ground? What is the use of courts, if judges only quote\nauthorities, and no judge exerts original jurisdiction, or recurs to\nfirst principles? What is the use of a Federal Bench, if its opinions are\nthe political breath of the hour? And what is the use of constitutions,\nif all the guaranties provided by the jealousy of ages for the protection\nof liberty are made of no effect, when a bad act of Congress finds a\nwilling commissioner? The levity of the public mind has been shown in the\npast year by the most extravagant actions. Who could have believed it,\nif foretold that a hundred guns would be fired in Boston on the passage\nof the Fugitive Slave Bill? Nothing proves the want of all thought, the\nabsence of standard in men\u2019s minds, more than the dominion of party. Here\nare humane people who have tears for misery, an open purse for want; who\nshould have been the defenders of the poor man, are found his embittered\nenemies, rejoicing in his rendition,\u2014merely from party ties. I thought\nnone, that was not ready to go on all fours, would back this law. And\nyet here are upright men, _compotes mentis_, husbands, fathers, trustees,\nfriends, open, generous, brave, who can see nothing in this claim for\nbare humanity, and the health and honor of their native State, but\ncanting fanaticism, sedition and \u201cone idea.\u201d Because of this preoccupied\nmind, the whole wealth and power of Boston\u2014two hundred thousand souls,\nand one hundred and eighty millions of money\u2014are thrown into the scale of\ncrime: and the poor black boy, whom the fame of Boston had reached in the\nrecesses of a vile swamp, or in the alleys of Savannah, on arriving here\nfinds all this force employed to catch him. The famous town of Boston\nis his master\u2019s hound. The learning of the universities, the culture\nof elegant society, the acumen of lawyers, the majesty of the Bench,\nthe eloquence of the Christian pulpit, the stoutness of Democracy, the\nrespectability of the Whig party are all combined to kidnap him.\n\nThe crisis is interesting as it shows the self-protecting nature of\nthe world and of the Divine laws. It is the law of the world,\u2014as much\nimmorality as there is, so much misery. The greatest prosperity will in\nvain resist the greatest calamity. You borrow the succour of the devil\nand he must have his fee. He was never known to abate a penny of his\nrents. In every nation all the immorality that exists breeds plagues. But\nof the corrupt society that exists we have never been able to combine\nany pure prosperity There is always something in the very advantages of\na condition which hurts it. Africa has its malformation; England has its\nIreland; Germany its hatred of classes; France its love of gunpowder;\nItaly its Pope; and America, the most prosperous country in the Universe,\nhas the greatest calamity in the Universe, negro slavery.\n\nLet me remind you a little in detail how the natural retribution acts in\nreference to the statute which Congress passed a year ago. For these few\nmonths have shown very conspicuously its nature and impracticability. It\nis contravened:\n\n1. By the sentiment of duty. An immoral law makes it a man\u2019s duty to\nbreak it, at every hazard. For virtue is the very self of every man. It\nis therefore a principle of law that an immoral contract is void, and\nthat an immoral statute is void. For, as laws do not make right, and are\nsimply declaratory of a right which already existed, it is not to be\npresumed that they can so stultify themselves as to command injustice.\n\nIt is remarkable how rare in the history of tyrants is an immoral law.\nSome color, some indirection was always used. If you take up the volumes\nof the \u201cUniversal History,\u201d you will find it difficult searching. The\nprecedents are few. It is not easy to parallel the wickedness of this\nAmerican law. And that is the head and body of this discontent, that the\nlaw is immoral.\n\nHere is a statute which enacts the crime of kidnapping,\u2014a crime on one\nfooting with arson and murder. A man\u2019s right to liberty is as inalienable\nas his right to life.\n\nPains seem to have been taken to give us in this statute a wrong pure\nfrom any mixture of right. If our resistance to this law is not right,\nthere is no right. This is not meddling with other people\u2019s affairs:\nthis is hindering other people from meddling with us. This is not going\ncrusading into Virginia and Georgia after slaves, who, it is alleged,\nare very comfortable where they are:\u2014that amiable argument falls to the\nground: but this is befriending in our own State, on our own farms, a man\nwho has taken the risk of being shot, or burned alive, or cast into the\nsea, or starved to death, or suffocated in a wooden box, to get away from\nhis driver: and this man who has run the gauntlet of a thousand miles for\nhis freedom, the statute says, you men of Massachusetts shall hunt, and\ncatch, and send back again to the dog-hutch he fled from.\n\nIt is contrary to the primal sentiment of duty, and therefore all men\nthat are born are, in proportion to their power of thought and their\nmoral sensibility, found to be the natural enemies of this law. The\nresistance of all moral beings is secured to it. I had thought, I\nconfess, what must come at last would come at first, a banding of all\nmen against the authority of this statute. I thought it a point on which\nall sane men were agreed, that the law must respect the public morality.\nI thought that all men of all conditions had been made sharers of a\ncertain experience, that in certain rare and retired moments they had\nbeen made to see how man is man, or what makes the essence of rational\nbeings, namely, that whilst animals have to do with eating the fruits\nof the ground, men have to do with rectitude, with benefit, with truth,\nwith something which _is_, independent of appearances: and that this tie\nmakes the substantiality of life, this, and not their ploughing, or\nsailing, their trade or the breeding of families. I thought that every\ntime a man goes back to his own thoughts, these angels receive him, talk\nwith him, and that, in the best hours, he is uplifted in virtue of this\nessence, into a peace and into a power which the material world cannot\ngive: that these moments counterbalance the years of drudgery, and that\nthis owning of a law, be it called morals, religion, or godhead, or what\nyou will, constituted the explanation of life, the excuse and indemnity\nfor the errors and calamities which sadden it. In long years consumed\nin trifles, they remember these moments, and are consoled. I thought it\nwas this fair mystery, whose foundations are hidden in eternity, which\nmade the basis of human society, and of law; and that to pretend anything\nelse, as that the acquisition of property was the end of living, was to\nconfound all distinctions, to make the world a greasy hotel, and, instead\nof noble motives and inspirations, and a heaven of companions and angels\naround and before us, to leave us in a grimacing menagerie of monkeys\nand idiots. All arts, customs, societies, books, and laws, are good as\nthey foster and concur with this spiritual element: all men are beloved\nas they raise us to it; hateful as they deny or resist it. The laws\nespecially draw their obligation only from their concurrence with it.\n\nI am surprised that lawyers can be so blind as to suffer the principles\nof Law to be discredited. A few months ago, in my dismay at hearing that\nthe Higher Law was reckoned a good joke in the courts, I took pains to\nlook into a few law-books. I had often heard that the Bible constituted a\npart of every technical law library, and that it was a principle in law\nthat immoral laws are void.\n\nI found, accordingly, that the great jurists, Cicero, Grotius, Coke,\nBlackstone, Burlamaqui, Montesquieu, Vattel, Burke, Mackintosh,\nJefferson, do all affirm this. I have no intention to recite these\npassages I had marked:\u2014such citation indeed seems to be something\ncowardly (for no reasonable person needs a quotation from Blackstone to\nconvince him that white cannot be legislated to be black), and shall\ncontent myself with reading a single passage. Blackstone admits the\nsovereignty \u201cantecedent to any positive precept, of the law of Nature,\u201d\namong whose principles are, \u201cthat we should live on, should hurt nobody,\nand should render unto every one his due,\u201d etc. \u201c_No human laws are of\nany validity, if contrary to this._\u201d \u201cNay, if any human law should allow\nor enjoin us to commit a crime\u201d (his instance is murder), \u201cwe are bound\nto transgress that human law; or else we must offend both the natural\nand divine.\u201d Lord Coke held that where an Act of Parliament is against\ncommon right and reason, the common law shall control it, and adjudge it\nto be void. Chief Justice Hobart, Chief Justice Holt, and Chief Justice\nMansfield held the same.\n\nLord Mansfield, in the case of the slave Somerset, wherein the _dicta_ of\nLords Talbot and Hardwicke had been cited, to the effect of carrying back\nthe slave to the West Indies, said, \u201cI care not for the supposed _dicta_\nof judges, however eminent, if they be contrary to all principle.\u201d Even\nthe _Canon Law_ says (_in malis promissis non expedit servare fidem_),\n\u201cNeither allegiance nor oath can bind to obey that which is wrong.\u201d\n\nNo engagement (to a sovereign) can oblige or even authorize a man to\nviolate the laws of Nature. All authors who have any conscience or\nmodesty agree that a person ought not to obey such commands as are\nevidently contrary to the laws of God. Those governors of places who\nbravely refused to execute the barbarous orders of Charles IX. for the\nfamous \u201cMassacre of St. Bartholomew,\u201d have been universally praised; and\nthe court did not dare to punish them, at least openly. \u201cSire,\u201d said the\nbrave Orte, governor of Bayonne, in his letter, \u201cI have communicated\nyour majesty\u2019s command to your faithful inhabitants and warriors in the\ngarrison, and I have found there only good citizens, and brave soldiers;\nnot one hangman: therefore, both they and I must humbly entreat your\nmajesty to be pleased to employ your arms and lives in things that are\npossible, however hazardous they may be, and we will exert ourselves to\nthe last drop of our blood.\u201d[130]\n\nThe practitioners should guard this dogma well, as the palladium of\nthe profession, as their anchor in the respect of mankind. Against a\nprinciple like this, all the arguments of Mr. Webster are the spray of a\nchild\u2019s squirt against a granite wall.\n\n2. It is contravened by all the sentiments. How can a law be enforced\nthat fines pity, and imprisons charity? As long as men have bowels, they\nwill disobey. You know that the Act of Congress of September 18, 1850, is\na law which every one of you will break on the earliest occasion. There\nis not a manly Whig, or a manly Democrat, of whom, if a slave were hidden\nin one of our houses from the hounds, we should not ask with confidence\nto lend his wagon in aid of his escape, and he would lend it. The man\nwould be too strong for the partisan.\n\nAnd here I may say that it is absurd, what I often hear, to accuse the\nfriends of freedom in the North with being the occasion of the new\nstringency of the Southern slave-laws. If you starve or beat the orphan,\nin my presence, and I accuse your cruelty, can I help it? In the words\nof Electra in the Greek tragedy, \u201c\u2019Tis you that say it, not I. You do\nthe deeds, and your ungodly deeds find me the words.\u201d Will you blame the\nball for rebounding from the floor, blame the air for rushing in where a\nvacuum is made or the boiler for exploding under pressure of steam? These\nfacts are after laws of the world, and so is it law, that, when justice\nis violated, anger begins. The very defence which the God of Nature has\nprovided for the innocent against cruelty is the sentiment of indignation\nand pity in the bosom of the beholder. Mr. Webster tells the President\nthat \u201che has been in the North, and he has found no man, whose opinion\nis of any weight, who is opposed to the law.\u201d Oh, Mr. President, trust\nnot the information! The gravid old Universe goes spawning on; the womb\nconceives and the breasts give suck to thousands and millions of hairy\nbabes formed not in the image of your statute, but in the image of the\nUniverse; too many to be bought off; too many than they can be rich, and\ntherefore peaceable; and necessitated to express first or last every\nfeeling of the heart. You can keep no secret, for whatever is true some\nof them will unreasonably say. You can commit no crime, for they are\ncreated in their sentiments conscious of and hostile to it; and unless\nyou can suppress the newspaper, pass a law against book-shops, gag the\nEnglish tongue in America, all short of this is futile. This dreadful\nEnglish Speech is saturated with songs, proverbs and speeches that flatly\ncontradict and defy every line of Mr. Mason\u2019s statute. Nay, unless you\ncan draw a sponge over those seditious Ten Commandments which are the\nroot of our European and American civilization; and over that eleventh\ncommandment, \u201cDo unto others as you would have them do to you,\u201d your\nlabor is vain.\n\n3. It is contravened by the written laws themselves, because the\nsentiments, of course, write the statutes. Laws are merely declaratory\nof the natural sentiments of mankind, and the language of all permanent\nlaws will be in contradiction to any immoral enactment. And thus it\nhappens here: Statute fights against Statute. By the law of Congress\nMarch 2, 1807, it is piracy and murder, punishable with death, to enslave\na man on the coast of Africa. By law of Congress September, 1850, it is\na high crime and misdemeanor, punishable with fine and imprisonment, to\nresist the re\u00ebnslaving a man on the coast of America. Off soundings,\nit is piracy and murder to enslave him. On soundings, it is fine and\nprison not to re\u00ebnslave. What kind of legislation is this? What kind of\nconstitution which covers it? And yet the crime which the second law\nordains is greater than the crime which the first law forbids under\npenalty of the gibbet. For it is a greater crime to re\u00ebnslave a man who\nhas shown himself fit for freedom, than to enslave him at first, when it\nmight be pretended to be a mitigation of his lot as a captive in war.\n\n4. It is contravened by the mischiefs it operates. A wicked law cannot\nbe executed by good men, and must be by bad. Flagitious men must be\nemployed, and every act of theirs is a stab at the public peace. It\ncannot be executed at such a cost, and so it brings a bribe in its hand.\nThis law comes with infamy in it, and out of it. It offers a bribe in\nits own clauses for the consummation of the crime. To serve it, low and\nmean people are found by the groping of the government. No government\never found it hard to pick up tools for base actions. If you cannot find\nthem in the huts of the poor, you shall find them in the palaces of\nthe rich. Vanity can buy some, ambition others, and money others. The\nfirst execution of the law, as was inevitable, was a little hesitating;\nthe second was easier; and the glib officials became, in a few weeks,\nquite practised and handy at stealing men. But worse, not the officials\nalone are bribed, but the whole community is solicited. The scowl of the\ncommunity is attempted to be averted by the mischievous whisper, \u201cTariff\nand Southern market, if you will be quiet: no tariff and loss of Southern\nmarket, if you dare to murmur.\u201d I wonder that our acute people who have\nlearned that the cheapest police is dear schools, should not find out\nthat an immoral law costs more than the loss of the custom of a Southern\ncity.\n\nThe humiliating scandal of great men warping right into wrong was\nfollowed up very fast by the cities. New York advertised in Southern\nmarkets that it would go for slavery, and posted the names of merchants\nwho would not. Boston, alarmed, entered into the same design.\nPhiladelphia, more fortunate, had no conscience at all, and, in this\nauction of the rights of mankind, rescinded all its legislation against\nslavery. And the Boston \u201cAdvertiser,\u201d and the \u201cCourier,\u201d in these weeks,\nurge the same course on the people of Massachusetts. Nothing remains in\nthis race of roguery but to coax Connecticut or Maine to outbid us all by\nadopting slavery into its constitution.\n\nGreat is the mischief of a legal crime. Every person who touches this\nbusiness is contaminated. There has not been in our lifetime another\nmoment when public men were personally lowered by their political action.\nBut here are gentlemen whose believed probity was the confidence and\nfortification of multitudes, who, by fear of public opinion, or through\nthe dangerous ascendency of Southern manners, have been drawn into the\nsupport of this foul business. We poor men in the country who might\nonce have thought it an honor to shake hands with them, or to dine at\ntheir boards, would now shrink from their touch, nor could they enter\nour humblest doors. You have a law which no man can obey, or abet the\nobeying, without loss of self-respect and forfeiture of the name of\ngentleman. What shall we say of the functionary by whom the recent\nrendition was made? If he has rightly defined his powers, and has no\nauthority to try the case, but only to prove the prisoner\u2019s identity,\nand remand him, what office is this for a reputable citizen to hold? No\nman of honor can sit on that bench. It is the extension of the planter\u2019s\nwhipping-post; and its incumbents must rank with a class from which the\nturnkey, the hangman and the informer are taken, necessary functionaries,\nit may be, in a state, but to whom the dislike and the ban of society\nuniversally attaches.\n\n5. These resistances appear in the history of the statute, in the\nretributions which speak so loud in every part of this business, that\nI think a tragic poet will know how to make it a lesson for all ages.\nMr. Webster\u2019s measure was, he told us, final. It was a pacification, it\nwas a suppression, a measure of conciliation and adjustment. These were\nhis words at different times: \u201cthere was to be no parleying more;\u201d it\nwas \u201cirrepealable.\u201d Does it look final now? His final settlement has\ndislocated the foundations. The state-house shakes likes a tent. His\npacification has brought all the honesty in every house, all scrupulous\nand good-hearted men, all women, and all children, to accuse the law. It\nhas brought United States swords into the streets, and chains round the\ncourt-house. \u201cA measure of pacification and union.\u201d What is its effect?\nTo make one sole subject for conversation and painful thought throughout\nthe continent, namely, slavery. There is not a man of thought or of\nfeeling but is concentrating his mind on it. There is not a clerk but\nrecites its statistics; not a politician but is watching its incalculable\nenergy in the elections; not a jurist but is hunting up precedents;\nnot a moralist but is prying into its quality; not an economist but is\ncomputing its profit and loss: Mr. Webster can judge whether this sort of\nsolar microscope brought to bear on his law is likely to make opposition\nless. The only benefit that has accrued from the law is its service to\neducation. It has been like a university to the entire people. It has\nturned every dinner-table into a debating-club, and made every citizen a\nstudent of natural law. When a moral quality comes into politics, when\na right is invaded, the discussion draws on deeper sources: general\nprinciples are laid bare, which cast light on the whole frame of society.\nAnd it is cheering to behold what champions the emergency called to this\npoor black boy; what subtlety, what logic, what learning, what exposure\nof the mischief of the law; and, above all, with what earnestness and\ndignity the advocates of freedom were inspired. It was one of the best\ncompensations of this calamity.\n\nBut the Nemesis works underneath again. It is a power that makes noonday\ndark, and draws us on to our undoing; and its dismal way is to pillory\nthe offender in the moment of his triumph. The hands that put the chain\non the slave are in that moment manacled. Who has seen anything like\nthat which is now done? The words of John Randolph, wiser than he knew,\nhave been ringing ominously in all echoes for thirty years, words spoken\nin the heat of the Missouri debate. \u201cWe do not govern the people of the\nNorth by our black slaves, but by their own white slaves. We know what we\nare doing. We have conquered you once, and we can and will conquer you\nagain. Ay, we will drive you to the wall, and when we have you there once\nmore, we will keep you there and nail you down like base money.\u201d These\nwords resounding ever since from California to Oregon, from Cape Florida\nto Cape Cod, come down now like the cry of Fate, in the moment when they\nare fulfilled. By white slaves, by a white slave, are we beaten.[131]\nWho looked for such ghastly fulfilment, or to see what we see? Hills and\nHalletts, servile editors by the hundred, we could have spared. But him,\nour best and proudest, the first man of the North, in the very moment of\nmounting the throne, irresistibly taking the bit in his mouth and the\ncollar on his neck, and harnessing himself to the chariot of the planters.\n\nThe fairest American fame ends in this filthy law. Mr. Webster cannot\nchoose but regret his law. He must learn that those who make fame accuse\nhim with one voice; that those who have no points to carry that are not\nidentical with public morals and generous civilization, that the obscure\nand private who have no voice and care for none, so long as things go\nwell, but who feel the disgrace of the new legislation creeping like\nmiasma into their homes, and blotting the daylight,\u2014those to whom his\nname was once dear and honored, as the manly statesman to whom the\nchoicest gifts of Nature had been accorded, disown him: that he who\nwas their pride in the woods and mountains of New England is now their\nmortification,\u2014they have torn down his picture from the wall, they have\nthrust his speeches into the chimney. No roars of New York mobs can drown\nthis voice in Mr. Webster\u2019s ear. It will outwhisper all the salvos of\nthe \u201cUnion Committees\u2019\u201d cannon. But I have said too much on this painful\ntopic. I will not pursue that bitter history.[132]\n\nBut passing from the ethical to the political view, I wish to place this\nstatute, and we must use the introducer and substantial author of the\nbill as an illustration of the history. I have as much charity for Mr.\nWebster, I think, as any one has. I need not say how much I have enjoyed\nhis fame. Who has not helped to praise him? Simply he was the one eminent\nAmerican of our time, whom we could produce as a finished work of Nature.\nWe delighted in his form and face, in his voice, in his eloquence, in\nhis power of labor, in his concentration, in his large understanding, in\nhis daylight statement, simple force; the facts lay like the strata of\na cloud, or like the layers of the crust of the globe. He saw things as\nthey were, and he stated them so. He has been by his clear perceptions\nand statements in all these years the best head in Congress, and the\nchampion of the interests of the Northern seaboard: but as the activity\nand growth of slavery began to be offensively felt by his constituents,\nthe senator became less sensitive to these evils. They were not for\nhim to deal with: he was the commercial representative. He indulged\noccasionally in excellent expression of the known feeling of the New\nEngland people: but, when expected and when pledged, he omitted to speak,\nand he omitted to throw himself into the movement in those critical\nmoments when his leadership would have turned the scale. At last, at a\nfatal hour, this sluggishness accumulated to downright counteraction,\nand, very unexpectedly to the whole Union, on the 7th March, 1850,\nin opposition to his education, association, and to all his own most\nexplicit language for thirty years, he crossed the line, and became the\nhead of the slavery party in this country.\n\nMr. Webster perhaps is only following the laws of his blood and\nconstitution. I suppose his pledges were not quite natural to him. Mr.\nWebster is a man who lives by his memory, a man of the past, not a man\nof faith or of hope. He obeys his powerful animal nature;\u2014and his finely\ndeveloped understanding only works truly and with all its force, when\nit stands for animal good; that is, for property. He believes, in so\nmany words, that government exists for the protection of property. He\nlooks at the Union as an estate, a large farm, and is excellent in the\ncompleteness of his defence of it so far. He adheres to the letter.\nHappily he was born late,\u2014after the independence had been declared, the\nUnion agreed to, and the constitution settled. What he finds already\nwritten, he will defend. Lucky that so much had got well written when he\ncame. For he has no faith in the power of self-government; none whatever\nin extemporizing a government. Not the smallest municipal provision,\nif it were new, would receive his sanction. In Massachusetts, in 1776,\nhe would, beyond all question, have been a refugee. He praises Adams\nand Jefferson, but it is a past Adams and Jefferson that his mind can\nentertain.[133] A present Adams and Jefferson he would denounce. So\nwith the eulogies of liberty in his writings,\u2014they are sentimentalism\nand youthful rhetoric. He can celebrate it, but it means as much from\nhim as from Metternich or Talleyrand. This is all inevitable from his\nconstitution. All the drops of his blood have eyes that look downward.\nIt is neither praise nor blame to say that he has no moral perception,\nno moral sentiment, but in that region\u2014to use the phrase of the\nphrenologists\u2014a hole in the head. The scraps of morality to be gleaned\nfrom his speeches are reflections of the mind of others; he says what\nhe hears said, but often makes signal blunders in their use. In Mr.\nWebster\u2019s imagination the American Union was a huge Prince Rupert\u2019s drop,\nwhich, if so much as the smallest end be shivered off, the whole will\nsnap into atoms. Now the fact is quite different from this. The people\nare loyal, law-loving, law-abiding. They prefer order, and have no taste\nfor misrule and uproar.\n\nThe destiny of this country is great and liberal, and is to be greatly\nadministered. It is to be administered according to what is, and is to\nbe, and not according to what is dead and gone. The union of this people\nis a real thing, an alliance of men of one flock, one language, one\nreligion, one system of manners and ideas. I hold it to be a real and not\na statute union. The people cleave to the Union, because they see their\nadvantage in it, the added power of each.\n\nI suppose the Union can be left to take care of itself. As much real\nunion as there is, the statutes will be sure to express; as much\ndisunion as there is, no statute can long conceal. Under the Union I\nsuppose the fact to be that there are really two nations, the North\nand the South. It is not slavery that severs them, it is climate and\ntemperament. The South does not like the North, slavery or no slavery,\nand never did. The North likes the South well enough, for it knows its\nown advantages. I am willing to leave them to the facts. If they continue\nto have a binding interest, they will be pretty sure to find it out: if\nnot, they will consult their peace in parting. But one thing appears\ncertain to me, that, as soon as the constitution ordains an immoral law,\nit ordains disunion. The law is suicidal, and cannot be obeyed. The Union\nis at an end as soon as an immoral law is enacted. And he who writes a\ncrime into the statute-book digs under the foundations of the Capitol to\nplant there a powder-magazine, and lays a train.\n\nI pass to say a few words to the question, What shall we do?\n\n1. What in our federal capacity is our relation to the nation?\n\n2. And what as citizens of a state?\n\nI am an Unionist as we all are, or nearly all, and I strongly share the\nhope of mankind in the power, and therefore, in the duties of the Union;\nand I conceive it demonstrated,\u2014the necessity of common sense and justice\nentering into the laws. What shall we do? First, abrogate this law; then,\nproceed to confine slavery to slave states, and help them effectually\nto make an end of it. Or shall we, as we are advised on all hands, lie\nby, and wait the progress of the census? But will Slavery lie by? I fear\nnot. She is very industrious, gives herself no holidays. No proclamations\nwill put her down. She got Texas and now will have Cuba, and means to\nkeep her majority. The experience of the past gives us no encouragement\nto lie by. Shall we call a new Convention, or will any expert statesman\nfurnish us a plan for the summary or gradual winding up of slavery, so\nfar as the Republic is its patron? Where is the South itself? Since it is\nagreed by all sane men of all parties (or was yesterday) that slavery is\nmischievous, why does the South itself never offer the smallest counsel\nof her own? I have never heard in twenty years any project except Mr.\nClay\u2019s. Let us hear any project with candor and respect. Is it impossible\nto speak of it with reason and good nature? It is really the project\nfit for this country to entertain and accomplish. Everything invites\nemancipation. The grandeur of the design, the vast stake we hold; the\nnational domain, the new importance of Liberia; the manifest interest of\nthe slave states; the religious effort of the free states; the public\nopinion of the world;\u2014all join to demand it.\n\nWe shall one day bring the States shoulder to shoulder and the citizens\nman to man to exterminate slavery. Why in the name of common sense and\nthe peace of mankind is not this made the subject of instant negotiation\nand settlement? Why not end this dangerous dispute on some ground of fair\ncompensation on one side, and satisfaction on the other to the conscience\nof the free states? It is really the great task fit for this country to\naccomplish, to buy that property of the planters, as the British nation\nbought the West Indian slaves. I say buy,\u2014never conceding the right of\nthe planter to own, but that we may acknowledge the calamity of his\nposition, and bear a countryman\u2019s share in relieving him; and because it\nis the only practicable course, and is innocent. Here is a right social\nor public function, which one man cannot do, which all men must do. \u2019Tis\nsaid it will cost two thousand millions of dollars. Was there ever any\ncontribution that was so enthusiastically paid as this will be? We will\nhave a chimney-tax. We will give up our coaches, and wine, and watches.\nThe churches will melt their plate. The father of his country shall\nwait, well pleased, a little longer for his monument; Franklin for his,\nthe Pilgrim Fathers for theirs, and the patient Columbus for his. The\nmechanics will give, the needle-women will give; the children will have\ncent-societies. Every man in the land will give a week\u2019s work to dig away\nthis accursed mountain of sorrow once and forever out of the world.[134]\n\nNothing is impracticable to this nation, which it shall set itself to\ndo. Were ever men so endowed, so placed, so weaponed? Their power of\nterritory seconded by a genius equal to every work. By new arts the earth\nis subdued, roaded, tunnelled, telegraphed, gas-lighted; vast amounts of\nold labor disused; the sinews of man being relieved by sinews of steam.\nWe are on the brink of more wonders. The sun paints; presently we shall\norganize the echo, as now we do the shadow. Chemistry is extorting new\naids. The genius of this people, it is found, can do anything which can\nbe done by men. These thirty nations are equal to any work, and are\nevery moment stronger. In twenty-five years they will be fifty millions.\nIs it not time to do something besides ditching and draining, and\nmaking the earth mellow and friable? Let them confront this mountain of\npoison,\u2014bore, blast, excavate, pulverize, and shovel it once for all,\ndown into the bottomless Pit. A thousand millions were cheap.\n\nBut grant that the heart of financiers, accustomed to practical figures,\nshrinks within them at these colossal amounts, and the embarrassments\nwhich complicate the problem; granting that these contingencies are\ntoo many to be spanned by any human geometry, and that these evils are\nto be relieved only by the wisdom of God working in ages,\u2014and by what\ninstrument, whether Liberia, whether flax-cotton, whether the working out\nthis race by Irish and Germans, none can tell, or by what sources God has\nguarded his law; still the question recurs, What must we do? One thing\nis plain, we cannot answer for the Union, but we must keep Massachusetts\ntrue. It is of unspeakable importance that she play her honest part.\nShe must follow no vicious examples. Massachusetts is a little state:\ncountries have been great by ideas. Europe is little compared with Asia\nand Africa; yet Asia and Africa are its ox and its ass. Europe, the least\nof all the continents, has almost monopolized for twenty centuries the\ngenius and power of them all. Greece was the least part of Europe. Attica\na little part of that,\u2014one tenth of the size of Massachusetts. Yet that\ndistrict still rules the intellect of men. Jud\u00e6a was a petty country. Yet\nthese two, Greece and Jud\u00e6a, furnish the mind and the heart by which the\nrest of the world is sustained; and Massachusetts is little, but, if true\nto itself, can be the brain which turns about the behemoth.\n\nI say Massachusetts, but I mean Massachusetts in all the quarters of\nher dispersion; Massachusetts, as she is the mother of all the New\nEngland states, and as she sees her progeny scattered over the face of\nthe land, in the farthest South, and the uttermost West. The immense\npower of rectitude is apt to be forgotten in politics. But they who have\nbrought the great wrong on the country have not forgotten it. They avail\nthemselves of the known probity and honor of Massachusetts, to endorse\nthe statute. The ancient maxim still holds that never was any injustice\neffected except by the help of justice. The great game of the government\nhas been to win the sanction of Massachusetts to the crime. Hitherto they\nhave succeeded only so far as to win Boston to a certain extent. The\nbehavior of Boston was the reverse of what it should have been: it was\nsupple and officious, and it put itself into the base attitude of pander\nto the crime. It should have placed obstruction at every step. Let the\nattitude of the states be firm. Let us respect the Union to all honest\nends. But also respect an older and wider union, the law of Nature and\nrectitude. Massachusetts is as strong as the Universe, when it does that.\nWe will never intermeddle with your slavery,\u2014but you can in no wise be\nsuffered to bring it to Cape Cod and Berkshire. This law must be made\ninoperative. It must be abrogated and wiped out of the statute-book; but\nwhilst it stands there, it must be disobeyed. We must make a small state\ngreat, by making every man in it true. It was the praise of Athens, \u201cShe\ncould not lead countless armies into the field, but she knew how with\na little band to defeat those who could.\u201d Every Roman reckoned himself\nat least a match for a Province. Every Dorian did. Every Englishman in\nAustralia, in South Africa, in India, or in whatever barbarous country\ntheir forts and factories have been set up,\u2014represents London, represents\nthe art, power and law of Europe. Every man educated at the Northern\nschool carries the like advantages into the South. For it is confounding\ndistinctions to speak of the geographic sections of this country as\nof equal civilization. Every nation and every man bows, in spite of\nhimself, to a higher mental and moral existence; and the sting of the\nlate disgraces is that this royal position of Massachusetts was foully\nlost, that the well-known sentiment of her people was not expressed. Let\nus correct this error. In this one fastness let truth be spoken and right\ndone. Here let there be no confusion in our ideas. Let us not lie, not\nsteal, nor help to steal, and let us not call stealing by any fine name,\nsuch as \u201cUnion\u201d or \u201cPatriotism.\u201d Let us know that not by the public, but\nby ourselves, our safety must be bought. That is the secret of Southern\npower, that they rest not on meetings, but on private heats and courages.\n\nIt is very certain from the perfect guaranties in the constitution, and\nthe high arguments of the defenders of liberty, which the occasion called\nout, that there is sufficient margin in the statute and the law for the\nspirit of the Magistrate to show itself, and one, two, three occasions\nhave just now occurred, and past, in either of which, if one man had felt\nthe spirit of Coke or Mansfield or Parsons, and read the law with the eye\nof freedom, the dishonor of Massachusetts had been prevented, and a limit\nset to these encroachments forever.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nTHE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW\n\nLECTURE READ IN THE TABERNACLE, NEW YORK CITY MARCH 7, 1854, ON THE\nFOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF DANIEL WEBSTER\u2019S SPEECH IN FAVOR OF THE BILL\n\n    \u201cOf all we loved and honored, naught\n          Save power remains,\u2014\n    A fallen angel\u2019s pride of thought,\n          Still strong in chains.\n\n    All else is gone; from those great eyes\n          The soul has fled:\n    When faith is lost, when honor dies,\n          The man is dead!\u201d\n\n                         Whittier, _Ichabod!_\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \u201cWe that had loved him so, followed him, honoured him,\n      Lived in his mild and magnificent eye,\n    Learned his great language, caught his clear accents,\n      Made him our pattern to live and to die!\n    Shakspeare was of us, Milton was for us,\n      Burns, Shelley, were with us,\u2014they watch from their graves!\n    He alone breaks from the van and the freemen,\n      \u2014He alone sinks to the rear and the slaves!\u201d\n\n                                      Browning, _The Lost Leader_.\n\n\nTHE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW\n\nI do not often speak to public questions;\u2014they are odious and hurtful,\nand it seems like meddling or leaving your work. I have my own spirits\nin prison;\u2014spirits in deeper prisons, whom no man visits if I do not.\nAnd then I see what havoc it makes with any good mind, a dissipated\nphilanthropy. The one thing not to be forgiven to intellectual persons\nis, not to know their own task, or to take their ideas from others.\nFrom this want of manly rest in their own and rash acceptance of\nother people\u2019s watchwords come the imbecility and fatigue of their\nconversation. For they cannot affirm these from any original experience,\nand of course not with the natural movement and total strength of their\nnature and talent, but only from their memory, only from their cramped\nposition of standing for their teacher. They say what they would have you\nbelieve, but what they do not quite know.[135]\n\nMy own habitual view is to the well-being of students or scholars. And\nit is only when the public event affects them, that it very seriously\ntouches me. And what I have to say is to them. For every man speaks\nmainly to a class whom he works with and more or less fully represents.\nIt is to these I am beforehand related and engaged, in this audience\nor out of it\u2014to them and not to others. And yet, when I say the class\nof scholars or students,\u2014that is a class which comprises in some sort\nall mankind, comprises every man in the best hours of his life; and in\nthese days not only virtually but actually. For who are the readers and\nthinkers of 1854? Owing to the silent revolution which the newspaper has\nwrought, this class has come in this country to take in all classes.\nLook into the morning trains which, from every suburb, carry the\nbusiness men into the city to their shops, counting-rooms, work-yards\nand warehouses. With them enters the car\u2014the newsboy, that humble priest\nof politics, finance, philosophy, and religion. He unfolds his magical\nsheets,\u2014twopence a head his bread of knowledge costs\u2014and instantly the\nentire rectangular assembly, fresh from their breakfast, are bending as\none man to their second breakfast. There is, no doubt, chaff enough in\nwhat he brings; but there is fact, thought, and wisdom in the crude mass,\nfrom all regions of the world.\n\nI have lived all my life without suffering any known inconvenience from\nAmerican Slavery. I never saw it; I never heard the whip;[136] I never\nfelt the check on my free speech and action, until, the other day, when\nMr. Webster, by his personal influence, brought the Fugitive Slave Law\non the country. I say Mr. Webster, for though the Bill was not his, it\nis yet notorious that he was the life and soul of it, that he gave it\nall he had: it cost him his life, and under the shadow of his great name\ninferior men sheltered themselves, threw their ballots for it and made\nthe law. I say inferior men. There were all sorts of what are called\nbrilliant men, accomplished men, men of high station, a President of\nthe United States, Senators, men of eloquent speech, but men without\nself-respect, without character, and it was strange to see that office,\nage, fame, talent, even a repute for honesty, all count for nothing.\nThey had no opinions, they had no memory for what they had been saying\nlike the Lord\u2019s Prayer all their lifetime: they were only looking to\nwhat their great Captain did: if he jumped, they jumped, if he stood on\nhis head, they did. In ordinary, the supposed sense of their district\nand State is their guide, and that holds them to the part of liberty\nand justice. But it is always a little difficult to decipher what this\npublic sense is; and when a great man comes who knots up into himself the\nopinions and wishes of the people, it is so much easier to follow him as\nan exponent of this. He too is responsible; they will not be. It will\nalways suffice to say,\u2014\u201cI followed him.\u201d\n\nI saw plainly that the great show their legitimate power in nothing more\nthan in their power to misguide us. I saw that a great man, deservedly\nadmired for his powers and their general right direction, was able,\u2014fault\nof the total want of stamina in public men,\u2014when he failed, to break them\nall with him, to carry parties with him.\n\nIn what I have to say of Mr. Webster I do not confound him with vulgar\npoliticians before or since. There is always base ambition enough, men\nwho calculate on the immense ignorance of the masses; that is their\nquarry and farm: they use the constituencies at home only for their\nshoes. And, of course, they can drive out from the contest any honorable\nman. The low can best win the low, and all men like to be made much\nof. There are those too who have power and inspiration only to do ill.\nTheir talent or their faculty deserts them when they undertake anything\nright. Mr. Webster had a natural ascendancy of aspect and carriage\nwhich distinguished him over all his contemporaries. His countenance,\nhis figure, and his manners were all in so grand a style, that he was,\nwithout effort, as superior to his most eminent rivals as they were to\nthe humblest; so that his arrival in any place was an event which drew\ncrowds of people, who went to satisfy their eyes, and could not see him\nenough. I think they looked at him as the representative of the American\nContinent. He was there in his Adamitic capacity, as if he alone of all\nmen did not disappoint the eye and the ear, but was a fit figure in the\nlandscape.[137]\n\nI remember his appearance at Bunker\u2019s Hill. There was the Monument, and\nhere was Webster. He knew well that a little more or less of rhetoric\nsignified nothing: he was only to say plain and equal things,\u2014grand\nthings if he had them, and, if he had them not, only to abstain from\nsaying unfit things,\u2014and the whole occasion was answered by his presence.\nIt was a place for behavior more than for speech, and Mr. Webster walked\nthrough his part with entire success. His excellent organization, the\nperfection of his elocution and all that thereto belongs,\u2014voice, accent,\nintonation, attitude, manner,\u2014we shall not soon find again. Then he was\nso thoroughly simple and wise in his rhetoric; he saw through his matter,\nhugged his fact so close, went to the principle or essential, and never\nindulged in a weak flourish, though he knew perfectly well how to make\nsuch exordiums, episodes and perorations as might give perspective to\nhis harangues without in the least embarrassing his march or confounding\nhis transitions. In his statement things lay in daylight; we saw them\nin order as they were. Though he knew very well how to present his own\npersonal claims, yet in his argument he was intellectual,\u2014stated his fact\npure of all personality, so that his splendid wrath, when his eyes became\nlamps, was the wrath of the fact and the cause he stood for.\n\nHis power, like that of all great masters, was not in excellent parts,\nbut was total. He had a great and everywhere equal propriety. He worked\nwith that closeness of adhesion to the matter in hand which a joiner or a\nchemist uses, and the same quiet and sure feeling of right to his place\nthat an oak or a mountain have to theirs. After all his talents have been\ndescribed, there remains that perfect propriety which animated all the\ndetails of the action or speech with the character of the whole, so that\nhis beauties of detail are endless. He seemed born for the bar, born for\nthe senate, and took very naturally a leading part in large private and\nin public affairs; for his head distributed things in their right places,\nand what he saw so well he compelled other people to see also. Great is\nthe privilege of eloquence. What gratitude does every man feel to him who\nspeaks well for the right,\u2014who translates truth into language entirely\nplain and clear!\n\nThe history of this country has given a disastrous importance to the\ndefects of this great man\u2019s mind. Whether evil influences and the\ncorruption of politics, or whether original infirmity, it was the\nmisfortune of his country that with this large understanding he had not\nwhat is better than intellect, and the source of its health. It is a\nlaw of our nature that great thoughts come from the heart. If his moral\nsensibility had been proportioned to the force of his understanding, what\nlimits could have been set to his genius and beneficent power? But he\nwanted that deep source of inspiration. Hence a sterility of thought, the\nwant of generalization in his speeches, and the curious fact that, with\na general ability which impresses all the world, there is not a single\ngeneral remark, not an observation on life and manners, not an aphorism\nthat can pass into literature from his writings.\n\nFour years ago to-night, on one of those high critical moments in history\nwhen great issues are determined, when the powers of right and wrong\nare mustered for conflict, and it lies with one man to give a casting\nvote,\u2014Mr. Webster, most unexpectedly, threw his whole weight on the side\nof Slavery, and caused by his personal and official authority the passage\nof the Fugitive Slave Bill.\n\nIt is remarked of the Americans that they value dexterity too much, and\nhonor too little; that they think they praise a man more by saying that\nhe is \u201csmart\u201d than by saying that he is right. Whether the defect be\nnational or not, it is the defect and calamity of Mr. Webster; and it is\nso far true of his countrymen, namely, that the appeal is sure to be made\nto his physical and mental ability when his character is assailed. His\nspeeches on the seventh of March, and at Albany, at Buffalo, at Syracuse\nand Boston are cited in justification. And Mr. Webster\u2019s literary editor\nbelieves that it was his wish to rest his fame on the speech of the\nseventh of March. Now, though I have my own opinions on this seventh of\nMarch discourse and those others, and think them very transparent and\nvery open to criticism,\u2014yet the secondary merits of a speech, namely, its\nlogic, its illustrations, its points, etc., are not here in question.\nNobody doubts that Daniel Webster could make a good speech. Nobody doubts\nthat there were good and plausible things to be said on the part of\nthe South. But this is not a question of ingenuity, not a question of\nsyllogisms, but of sides. _How came he there?_[138]\n\nThere are always texts and thoughts and arguments. But it is the genius\nand temper of the man which decides whether he will stand for right or\nfor might. Who doubts the power of any fluent debater to defend either of\nour political parties, or any client in our courts? There was the same\nlaw in England for Jeffries and Talbot and Yorke to read slavery out of,\nand for Lord Mansfield to read freedom. And in this country one sees that\nthere is always margin enough in the statute for a liberal judge to read\none way and a servile judge another.\n\nBut the question which History will ask is broader. In the final hour,\nwhen he was forced by the peremptory necessity of the closing armies\nto take a side,\u2014did he take the part of great principles, the side of\nhumanity and justice, or the side of abuse and oppression and chaos?\n\nMr. Webster decided for Slavery, and that, when the aspect of the\ninstitution was no longer doubtful, no longer feeble and apologetic and\nproposing soon to end itself, but when it was strong, aggressive, and\nthreatening an illimitable increase. He listened to State reasons and\nhopes, and left, with much complacency we are told, the testament of\nhis speech to the astonished State of Massachusetts, _vera pro gratis_;\na ghastly result of all those years of experience in affairs, this,\nthat there was nothing better for the foremost American man to tell his\ncountrymen than that Slavery was now at that strength that they must beat\ndown their conscience and become kidnappers for it.\n\nThis was like the doleful speech falsely ascribed to the patriot\nBrutus: \u201cVirtue, I have followed thee through life, and I find thee\nbut a shadow.\u201d[139] Here was a question of an immoral law; a question\nagitated for ages, and settled always in the same way by every great\njurist, that an immoral law cannot be valid. Cicero, Grotius, Coke,\nBlackstone, Burlamaqui, Vattel, Burke, Jefferson, do all affirm this, and\nI cite them, not that they can give evidence to what is indisputable,\nbut because, though lawyers and practical statesmen, the habit of their\nprofession did not hide from them that this truth was the foundation of\nStates.\n\nHere was the question, Are you for man and for the good of man; or are\nyou for the hurt and harm of man? It was the question whether man shall\nbe treated as leather? whether the Negro shall be, as the Indians were in\nSpanish America, a piece of money? Whether this system, which is a kind\nof mill or factory for converting men into monkeys, shall be upheld and\nenlarged? And Mr. Webster and the country went for the application to\nthese poor men of quadruped law.\n\nPeople were expecting a totally different course from Mr. Webster. If\nany man had in that hour possessed the weight with the country which he\nhad acquired, he could have brought the whole country to its senses. But\nnot a moment\u2019s pause was allowed. Angry parties went from bad to worse,\nand the decision of Webster was accompanied with everything offensive\nto freedom and good morals. There was something like an attempt to\ndebauch the moral sentiment of the clergy and of the youth. Burke said\nhe \u201cwould pardon something to the spirit of liberty.\u201d But by Mr. Webster\nthe opposition to the law was sharply called treason, and prosecuted\nso. He told the people at Boston \u201cthey must conquer their prejudices;\u201d\nthat \u201cagitation of the subject of Slavery must be suppressed.\u201d He did as\nimmoral men usually do, made very low bows to the Christian Church, and\nwent through all the Sunday decorums; but when allusion was made to the\nquestion of duty and the sanctions of morality, he very frankly said, at\nAlbany, \u201cSome higher law, something existing somewhere between here and\nthe third heaven,\u2014I do not know where.\u201d And if the reporters say true,\nthis wretched atheism found some laughter in the company.\n\nI said I had never in my life up to this time suffered from the Slave\nInstitution. Slavery in Virginia or Carolina was like Slavery in Africa\nor the Feejees, for me. There was an old fugitive law, but it had become,\nor was fast becoming, a dead letter, and, by the genius and laws of\nMassachusetts, inoperative. The new Bill made it operative, required me\nto hunt slaves, and it found citizens in Massachusetts willing to act as\njudges and captors. Moreover, it discloses the secret of the new times,\nthat Slavery was no longer mendicant, but was become aggressive and\ndangerous.\n\nThe way in which the country was dragged to consent to this, and the\ndisastrous defection (on the miserable cry of Union) of the men of\nletters, of the colleges, of educated men, nay, of some preachers of\nreligion,\u2014was the darkest passage in the history. It showed that our\nprosperity had hurt us, and that we could not be shocked by crime. It\nshowed that the old religion and the sense of the right had faded and\ngone out; that while we reckoned ourselves a highly cultivated nation,\nour bellies had run away with our brains, and the principles of culture\nand progress did not exist.\n\nFor I suppose that liberty is an accurate index, in men and nations, of\ngeneral progress. The theory of personal liberty must always appeal to\nthe most refined communities and to the men of the rarest perception and\nof delicate moral sense. For there are rights which rest on the finest\nsense of justice, and, with every degree of civility, it will be more\ntruly felt and defined. A barbarous tribe of good stock will, by means\nof their best heads, secure substantial liberty. But where there is\nany weakness in a race, and it becomes in a degree matter of concession\nand protection from their stronger neighbors, the incompatibility and\noffensiveness of the wrong will of course be most evident to the most\ncultivated. For it is,\u2014is it not?\u2014the essence of courtesy, of politeness,\nof religion, of love, to prefer another, to postpone oneself, to protect\nanother from oneself. That is the distinction of the gentleman, to defend\nthe weak and redress the injured, as it is of the savage and the brutal\nto usurp and use others.\n\nIn Massachusetts, as we all know, there has always existed a predominant\nconservative spirit. We have more money and value of every kind than\nother people, and wish to keep them. The plea on which freedom was\nresisted was Union. I went to certain serious men, who had a little more\nreason than the rest, and inquired why they took this part? They answered\nthat they had no confidence in their strength to resist the Democratic\nparty; that they saw plainly that all was going to the utmost verge of\nlicence; each was vying with his neighbor to lead the party, by proposing\nthe worst measure, and they threw themselves on the extreme conservatism,\nas a drag on the wheel: that they knew Cuba would be had, and Mexico\nwould be had, and they stood stiffly on conservatism, and as near to\nmonarchy as they could, only to moderate the velocity with which the car\nwas running down the precipice. In short, their theory was despair; the\nWhig wisdom was only reprieve, a waiting to be last devoured. They side\nwith Carolina, or with Arkansas, only to make a show of Whig strength,\nwherewith to resist a little longer this general ruin.\n\nI have a respect for conservatism. I know how deeply founded it is in\nour nature, and how idle are all attempts to shake ourselves free from\nit. We are all conservatives, half Whig, half Democrat, in our essences:\nand might as well try to jump out of our skins as to escape from our\nWhiggery. There are two forces in Nature, by whose antagonism we exist;\nthe power of Fate, Fortune, the laws of the world, the order of things,\nor however else we choose to phrase it, the material necessities, on the\none hand,\u2014and Will or Duty or Freedom on the other.\n\nMay and Must, and the sense of right and duty, on the one hand, and the\nmaterial necessities on the other: May and Must. In vulgar politics the\nWhig goes for what has been, for the old necessities,\u2014the Musts. The\nreformer goes for the Better, for the ideal good, for the Mays. But\neach of these parties must of necessity take in, in some measure, the\nprinciples of the other. Each wishes to cover the whole ground; to hold\nfast _and_ to advance. Only, one lays the emphasis on keeping, and the\nother on advancing. I too think the _musts_ are a safe company to follow,\nand even agreeable. But if we are Whigs, let us be Whigs of nature and\nscience, and so for all the necessities. Let us know that, over and above\nall the _musts_ of poverty and appetite, is the instinct of man to rise,\nand the instinct to love and help his brother.\n\nNow, Gentlemen, I think we have in this hour instruction again in the\nsimplest lesson. Events roll, millions of men are engaged, and the result\nis the enforcing of some of those first commandments which we heard in\nthe nursery. We never get beyond our first lesson, for, really, the world\nexists, as I understand it, to teach the science of liberty, which begins\nwith liberty from fear.\n\nThe events of this month are teaching one thing plain and clear, the\nworthlessness of good tools to bad workmen; that official papers are of\nno use; resolutions of public meetings, platforms of conventions, no, nor\nlaws, nor constitutions, any more. These are all declaratory of the will\nof the moment, and are passed with more levity and on grounds far less\nhonorable than ordinary business transactions of the street.\n\nYou relied on the constitution. It has not the word _slave_ in it; and\nvery good argument has shown that it would not warrant the crimes that\nare done under it; that, with provisions so vague for an object not\nnamed, and which could not be availed of to claim a barrel of sugar\nor a barrel of corn, the robbing of a man and of all his posterity is\neffected. You relied on the Supreme Court. The law was right, excellent\nlaw for the lambs. But what if unhappily the judges were chosen from the\nwolves, and give to all the law a wolfish interpretation? You relied\non the Missouri Compromise. That is ridden over. You relied on State\nsovereignty in the Free States to protect their citizens. They are driven\nwith contempt out of the courts and out of the territory of the Slave\nStates,\u2014if they are so happy as to get out with their lives,[140]\u2014and\nnow you relied on these dismal guaranties infamously made in 1850;\nand, before the body of Webster is yet crumbled, it is found that they\nhave crumbled. This eternal monument of his fame and of the Union is\nrotten in four years. They are no guaranty to the free states. They are\na guaranty to the slave states that, as they have hitherto met with no\nrepulse, they shall meet with none.\n\nI fear there is no reliance to be put on any kind or form of covenant,\nno, not on sacred forms, none on churches, none on bibles. For one would\nhave said that a Christian would not keep slaves;\u2014but the Christians\nkeep slaves. Of course they will not dare to read the Bible? Won\u2019t they?\nThey quote the Bible, quote Paul,[141] quote Christ, to justify slavery.\nIf slavery is good, then is lying, theft, arson, homicide, each and all\ngood, and to be maintained by Union societies.\n\nThese things show that no forms, neither constitutions, nor laws, nor\ncovenants, nor churches, nor bibles, are of any use in themselves. The\nDevil nestles comfortably into them all. There is no help but in the\nhead and heart and hamstrings of a man. Covenants are of no use without\nhonest men to keep them; laws of none but with loyal citizens to obey\nthem. To interpret Christ it needs Christ in the heart. The teachings\nof the Spirit can be apprehended only by the same spirit that gave them\nforth. To make good the cause of Freedom, you must draw off from all\nfoolish trust in others. You must be citadels and warriors yourselves,\ndeclarations of Independence, the charter, the battle and the victory.\nCromwell said, \u201cWe can only resist the superior training of the King\u2019s\nsoldiers, by enlisting godly men.\u201d And no man has a right to hope that\nthe laws of New York will defend him from the contamination of slaves\nanother day until he has made up his mind that he will not owe his\nprotection to the laws of New York, but to his own sense and spirit. Then\nhe protects New York. He only who is able to stand alone is qualified\nfor society. And that I understand to be the end for which a soul exists\nin this world,\u2014to be himself the counterbalance of all falsehood and\nall wrong. \u201cThe army of unright is encamped from pole to pole, but the\nroad of victory is known to the just.\u201d Everything may be taken away; he\nmay be poor, he may be houseless, yet he will know out of his arms to\nmake a pillow, and out of his breast a bolster. Why have the minority no\ninfluence? Because they have not a real minority of one.[142]\n\nI conceive that thus to detach a man and make him feel that he is to\nowe all to himself, is the way to make him strong and rich; and here\nthe optimist must find, if anywhere, the benefit of Slavery. We have\nmany teachers; we are in this world for culture, to be instructed in\nrealities, in the laws of moral and intelligent nature; and our education\nis not conducted by toys and luxuries, but by austere and rugged masters,\nby poverty, solitude, passions, War, Slavery; to know that Paradise is\nunder the shadow of swords;[143] that divine sentiments which are always\nsoliciting us are breathed into us from on high, and are an offset to\na Universe of suffering and crime; that self-reliance, the height and\nperfection of man, is reliance on God.[144] The insight of the religious\nsentiment will disclose to him unexpected aids in the nature of things.\nThe Persian Saadi said, \u201cBeware of hurting the orphan. When the orphan\nsets a-crying, the throne of the Almighty is rocked from side to side.\u201d\n\nWhenever a man has come to this mind, that there is no Church for him but\nhis believing prayer; no Constitution but his dealing well and justly\nwith his neighbor; no liberty but his invincible will to do right,\u2014then\ncertain aids and allies will promptly appear: for the constitution of\nthe Universe is on his side. It is of no use to vote down gravitation of\nmorals. What is useful will last, whilst that which is hurtful to the\nworld will sink beneath all the opposing forces which it must exasperate.\nThe terror which the Marseillaise struck into oppression, it thunders\nagain to-day,\u2014\n\n    \u201cTout est soldat pour vous combattre.\u201d\n\nEverything turns soldier to fight you down. The end for which man was\nmade is not crime in any form, and a man cannot steal without incurring\nthe penalties of the thief, though all the legislatures vote that it\nis virtuous, and though there be a general conspiracy among scholars\nand official persons to hold him up, and to say, \u201c_Nothing is good but\nstealing._\u201d A man who commits a crime defeats the end of his existence.\nHe was created for benefit, and he exists for harm; and as well-doing\nmakes power and wisdom, ill-doing takes them away. A man who steals\nanother man\u2019s labor steals away his own faculties; his integrity,\nhis humanity is flowing away from him. The habit of oppression cuts\nout the moral eyes, and, though the intellect goes on simulating the\nmoral as before, its sanity is gradually destroyed. It takes away the\npresentiments.\n\nI suppose in general this is allowed, that if you have a nice question\nof right and wrong, you would not go with it to Louis Napoleon, or to\na political hack, or to a slave-driver. The habit of mind of traders\nin power would not be esteemed favorable to delicate moral perception.\nAmerican slavery affords no exception to this rule. No excess of good\nnature or of tenderness in individuals has been able to give a new\ncharacter to the system, to tear down the whipping-house. The plea in the\nmouth of a slave-holder that the negro is an inferior race sounds very\noddly in my ear. \u201cThe masters of slaves seem generally anxious to prove\nthat they are not of a race superior in any noble quality to the meanest\nof their bondmen.\u201d And indeed when the Southerner points to the anatomy\nof the negro, and talks of chimpanzee,\u2014I recall Montesquieu\u2019s remark, \u201cIt\nwill not do to say that negroes are men, lest it should turn out that\nwhites are not.\u201d\n\nSlavery is disheartening; but Nature is not so helpless but it can\nrid itself at last of every wrong.[145] But the spasms of Nature are\ncenturies and ages, and will tax the faith of short-lived men. Slowly,\nslowly the Avenger comes, but comes surely. The proverbs of the nations\naffirm these delays, but affirm the arrival. They say, \u201cGod may consent,\nbut not forever.\u201d The delay of the Divine Justice\u2014this was the meaning\nand soul of the Greek Tragedy; this the soul of their religion. \u201cThere\nhas come, too, one to whom lurking warfare is dear, Retribution, with a\nsoul full of wiles; a violator of hospitality; guileful without the guilt\nof guile; limping, late in her arrival.\u201d They said of the happiness of\nthe unjust, that \u201cat its close it begets itself an offspring and does\nnot die childless, and instead of good fortune, there sprouts forth for\nposterity ever-ravening calamity:\u201d\u2014\n\n    \u201cFor evil word shall evil word be said,\n    For murder-stroke a murder-stroke be paid.\n    Who smites must smart.\u201d\n\nThese delays, you see them now in the temper of the times. The national\nspirit in this country is so drowsy, preoccupied with interest, deaf to\nprinciple. The Anglo-Saxon race is proud and strong and selfish. They\nbelieve only in Anglo-Saxons. In 1825 Greece found America deaf, Poland\nfound America deaf, Italy and Hungary found her deaf. England maintains\ntrade, not liberty; stands against Greece; against Hungary; against\nSchleswig-Holstein; against the French Republic whilst it was a republic.\n\nTo faint hearts the times offer no invitation, and torpor exists here\nthroughout the active classes on the subject of domestic slavery and its\nappalling aggressions. Yes, that is the stern edict of Providence, that\nliberty shall be no hasty fruit, but that event on event, population on\npopulation, age on age, shall cast itself into the opposite scale, and\nnot until liberty has slowly accumulated weight enough to countervail\nand preponderate against all this, can the sufficient recoil come. All\nthe great cities, all the refined circles, all the statesmen, Guizot,\nPalmerston, Webster, Calhoun, are sure to be found befriending liberty\nwith their words, and crushing it with their votes. Liberty is never\ncheap. It is made difficult, because freedom is the accomplishment and\nperfectness of man. He is a finished man;[146] earning and bestowing\ngood; equal to the world; at home in Nature and dignifying that; the sun\ndoes not see anything nobler, and has nothing to teach him. Therefore\nmountains of difficulty must be surmounted, stern trials met, wiles of\nseduction, dangers, healed by a quarantine of calamities to measure his\nstrength before he dare say, I am free.\n\nWhilst the inconsistency of slavery with the principles on which the\nworld is built guarantees its downfall, I own that the patience it\nrequires is almost too sublime for mortals, and seems to demand of us\nmore than mere hoping. And when one sees how fast the rot spreads,\u2014it is\ngrowing serious,\u2014I think we demand of superior men that they be superior\nin this,\u2014that the mind and the virtue shall give their verdict in their\nday, and accelerate so far the progress of civilization. Possession\nis sure to throw its stupid strength for existing power, and appetite\nand ambition will go for that. Let the aid of virtue, intelligence and\neducation be cast where they rightfully belong. They are organically\nours. Let them be loyal to their own. I wish to see the instructed class\nhere know their own flag, and not fire on their comrades. We should not\nforgive the clergy for taking on every issue the immoral side; nor the\nBench, if it put itself on the side of the culprit; nor the Government,\nif it sustain the mob against the laws.[147]\n\nIt is a potent support and ally to a brave man standing single, or\nwith a few, for the right, and out-voted and ostracized, to know that\nbetter men in other parts of the country appreciate the service and will\nrightly report him to his own and the next age. Without this assurance,\nhe will sooner sink. He may well say, \u2018If my countrymen do not care to\nbe defended, I too will decline the controversy, from which I only reap\ninvectives and hatred.\u2019 Yet the lovers of liberty may with reason tax the\ncoldness and indifferentism of scholars and literary men. They are lovers\nof liberty in Greece and Rome and in the English Commonwealth, but they\nare lukewarm lovers of the liberty of America in 1854. The universities\nare not, as in Hobbes\u2019s time, \u201cthe core of rebellion,\u201d no, but the seat\nof inertness. They have forgotten their allegiance to the Muse, and grown\nworldly and political. I listened, lately, on one of those occasions\nwhen the university chooses one of its distinguished sons returning from\nthe political arena, believing that senators and statesmen would be glad\nto throw off the harness and to dip again in the Castalian pools. But\nif audiences forget themselves, statesmen do not. The low bows to all\nthe crockery gods of the day were duly made:\u2014only in one part of the\ndiscourse the orator allowed to transpire, rather against his will, a\nlittle sober sense.[148] It was this: \u2018I am, as you see, a man virtuously\ninclined, and only corrupted by my profession of politics. I should\nprefer the right side. You, gentlemen of these literary and scientific\nschools, and the important class you represent, have the power to make\nyour verdict clear and prevailing. Had you done so, you would have found\nme its glad organ and champion. Abstractly, I should have preferred that\nside. But you have not done it. You have not spoken out. You have failed\nto arm me. I can only deal with masses as I find them. Abstractions are\nnot for me. I go then for such parties and opinions as have provided me\nwith a working apparatus. I give you my word, not without regret, that I\nwas first for you; and though I am now to deny and condemn you, you see\nit is not my will but the party necessity.\u2019 Having made this manifesto\nand professed his adoration for liberty in the time of his grandfathers,\nhe proceeded with his work of denouncing freedom and freemen at the\npresent day, much in the tone and spirit in which Lord Bacon prosecuted\nhis benefactor Essex. He denounced every name and aspect under which\nliberty and progress dare show themselves in this age and country,\nbut with a lingering conscience which qualified each sentence with a\nrecommendation to mercy.\n\nBut I put it to every noble and generous spirit, to every poetic,\nevery heroic, every religious heart, that not so is our learning, our\neducation, our poetry, our worship to be declared. Liberty is aggressive,\nLiberty is the Crusade of all brave and conscientious men, the Epic\nPoetry, the new religion, the chivalry of all gentlemen. This is the\noppressed Lady whom true knights on their oath and honor must rescue and\nsave.\n\nNow at last we are disenchanted and shall have no more false hopes. I\nrespect the Anti-Slavery Society. It is the Cassandra that has foretold\nall that has befallen, fact for fact, years ago; foretold all, and no\nman laid it to heart. It seemed, as the Turks say, \u201cFate makes that a\nman should not believe his own eyes.\u201d But the Fugitive Law did much to\nunglue the eyes of men, and now the Nebraska Bill leaves us staring. The\nAnti-Slavery Society will add many members this year. The Whig Party will\njoin it; the Democrats will join it. The population of the free states\nwill join it. I doubt not, at last, the slave states will join it. But\nbe that sooner or later, and whoever comes or stays away, I hope we have\nreached the end of our unbelief, have come to a belief that there is a\ndivine Providence in the world, which will not save us but through our\nown co\u00f6peration.\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nTHE ASSAULT UPON MR. SUMNER\n\nSPEECH AT A MEETING OF THE CITIZENS IN THE TOWN HALL, IN CONCORD, MAY 26,\n1856\n\n                      His erring foe,\n    Self-assured that he prevails,\n    Looks from his victim lying low,\n    And sees aloft the red right arm\n    Redress the eternal scales.\n\n\nTHE ASSAULT UPON MR. SUMNER\n\nMR. CHAIRMAN: I sympathize heartily with the spirit of the resolutions.\nThe events of the last few years and months and days have taught us\nthe lessons of centuries. I do not see how a barbarous community and\na civilized community can constitute one state. I think we must get\nrid of slavery, or we must get rid of freedom. Life has not parity of\nvalue in the free state and in the slave state. In one, it is adorned\nwith education, with skilful labor, with arts, with long prospective\ninterests, with sacred family ties, with honor and justice. In the\nother, life is a fever; man is an animal, given to pleasure, frivolous,\nirritable, spending his days in hunting and practising with deadly\nweapons to defend himself against his slaves and against his companions\nbrought up in the same idle and dangerous way. Such people live for the\nmoment, they have properly no future, and readily risk on every passion a\nlife which is of small value to themselves or to others. Many years ago,\nwhen Mr. Webster was challenged in Washington to a duel by one of these\nmadcaps, his friends came forward with prompt good sense and said such\na thing was not to be thought of; Mr. Webster\u2019s life was the property of\nhis friends and of the whole country, and was not to be risked on the\nturn of a vagabond\u2019s ball. Life and life are incommensurate. The whole\nstate of South Carolina does not now offer one or any number of persons\nwho are to be weighed for a moment in the scale with such a person as\nthe meanest of them all has now struck down. The very conditions of the\ngame must always be,\u2014the worst life staked against the best. It is the\nbest whom they desire to kill. It is only when they cannot answer your\nreasons, that they wish to knock you down. If, therefore, Massachusetts\ncould send to the Senate a better man than Mr. Sumner, his death would be\nonly so much the more quick and certain. Now, as men\u2019s bodily strength,\nor skill with knives and guns, is not usually in proportion to their\nknowledge and mother-wit, but oftener in the inverse ratio, it will only\ndo to send foolish persons to Washington, if you wish them to be safe.\n\nThe outrage is the more shocking from the singularly pure character of\nits victim. Mr. Sumner\u2019s position is exceptional in its honor. He had\nnot taken his degrees in the caucus and in hack politics. It is notorious\nthat, in the long time when his election was pending, he refused to\ntake a single step to secure it. He would not so much as go up to the\nstate house to shake hands with this or that person whose good will was\nreckoned important by his friends. He was elected. It was a homage to\ncharacter and talent. In Congress, he did not rush into party position.\nHe sat long silent and studious. His friends, I remember, were told that\nthey would find Sumner a man of the world like the rest; \u2018\u2019tis quite\nimpossible to be at Washington and not bend; he will bend as the rest\nhave done.\u2019 Well, he did not bend. He took his position and kept it. He\nmeekly bore the cold shoulder from some of his New England colleagues,\nthe hatred of his enemies, the pity of the indifferent, cheered by the\nlove and respect of good men with whom he acted; and has stood for the\nNorth, a little in advance of all the North, and therefore without\nadequate support. He has never faltered in his maintenance of justice and\nfreedom. He has gone beyond the large expectation of his friends in his\nincreasing ability and his manlier tone. I have heard that some of his\npolitical friends tax him with indolence or negligence in refusing to\nmake electioneering speeches, or otherwise to bear his part in the labor\nwhich party organization requires. I say it to his honor. But more to\nhis honor are the faults which his enemies lay to his charge. I think,\nsir, if Mr. Sumner had any vices, we should be likely to hear of them.\nThey have fastened their eyes like microscopes for five years on every\nact, word, manner and movement, to find a flaw,\u2014and with what result?\nHis opponents accuse him neither of drunkenness nor debauchery, nor\njob, nor speculation, nor rapacity, nor personal aims of any kind. No;\nbut with what? Why, beyond this charge, which it is impossible was ever\nsincerely made, that he broke over the proprieties of debate, I find him\naccused of publishing his opinion of the Nebraska conspiracy in a letter\nto the people of the United States, with discourtesy. Then, that he is\nan abolitionist; as if every sane human being were not an abolitionist,\nor a believer that all men should be free. And the third crime he stands\ncharged with, is, that his speeches were written before they were spoken;\nwhich, of course, must be true in Sumner\u2019s case, as it was true of\nWebster, of Adams, of Calhoun, of Burke, of Chatham, of Demosthenes; of\nevery first-rate speaker that ever lived. It is the high compliment he\npays to the intelligence of the Senate and of the country. When the same\nreproach was cast on the first orator of ancient times by some caviller\nof his day, he said, \u201cI should be ashamed to come with one unconsidered\nword before such an assembly.\u201d Mr. Chairman, when I think of these most\nsmall faults as the worst which party hatred could allege, I think I may\nborrow the language which Bishop Burnet applied to Sir Isaac Newton, and\nsay that Charles Sumner \u201chas the whitest soul I ever knew.\u201d\n\nWell, sir, this noble head, so comely and so wise, must be the target for\na pair of bullies to beat with clubs. The murderer\u2019s brand shall stamp\ntheir foreheads wherever they may wander in the earth. But I wish, sir,\nthat the high respects of this meeting shall be expressed to Mr. Sumner;\nthat a copy of the resolutions that have been read may be forwarded to\nhim. I wish that he may know the shudder of terror which ran through all\nthis community on the first tidings of this brutal attack. Let him hear\nthat every man of worth in New England loves his virtues; that every\nmother thinks of him as the protector of families; that every friend\nof freedom thinks him the friend of freedom. And if our arms at this\ndistance cannot defend him from assassins, we confide the defence of\na life so precious to all honorable men and true patriots, and to the\nAlmighty Maker of men.[149]\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nSPEECH\n\nAT THE KANSAS RELIEF MEETING IN CAMBRIDGE WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER\n10, 1856\n\n    And ye shall succor men;\n    \u2019Tis nobleness to serve;\n    Help them who cannot help again:\n    Beware from right to swerve.\n\n\nSPEECH ON AFFAIRS IN KANSAS\n\nI regret, with all this company, the absence of Mr. Whitman of Kansas,\nwhose narrative was to constitute the interest of this meeting. Mr.\nWhitman is not here; but knowing, as we all do, why he is not, what\nduties kept him at home, he is more than present. His vacant chair\nspeaks for him. For quite other reasons, I had been wiser to have stayed\nat home, unskilled as I am to address a political meeting, but it is\nimpossible for the most recluse to extricate himself from the questions\nof the times.\n\nThere is this peculiarity about the case of Kansas, that all the right is\non one side. We hear the screams of hunted wives and children answered\nby the howl of the butchers. The testimony of the telegraphs from St.\nLouis and the border confirm the worst details. The printed letters of\nborder ruffians avow the facts. When pressed to look at the cause of\nthe mischief in the Kansas laws, the President falters and declines the\ndiscussion; but his supporters in the Senate, Mr. Cass, Mr. Geyer, Mr.\nHunter, speak out, and declare the intolerable atrocity of the code.\nIt is a maxim that all party spirit produces the incapacity to receive\nnatural impressions from facts; and our recent political history has\nabundantly borne out the maxim. But these details that have come from\nKansas are so horrible, that the hostile press have but one word in\nreply, namely, that it is all exaggeration, \u2019tis an Abolition lie. Do the\nCommittee of Investigation say that the outrages have been overstated?\nDoes their dismal catalogue of private tragedies show it? Do the private\nletters? Is it an exaggeration, that Mr. Hopps of Somerville, Mr. Hoyt of\nDeerfield, Mr. Jennison of Groton, Mr. Phillips of Berkshire, have been\nmurdered? That Mr. Robinson of Fitchburg has been imprisoned? Rev. Mr.\nNute of Springfield seized, and up to this time we have no tidings of his\nfate?\n\nIn these calamities under which they suffer, and the worst which threaten\nthem, the people of Kansas ask for bread, clothes, arms and men, to save\nthem alive, and enable them to stand against these enemies of the human\nrace. They have a right to be helped, for they have helped themselves.\n\nThis aid must be sent, and this is not to be doled out as an ordinary\ncharity; but bestowed up to the magnitude of the want, and, as has been\nelsewhere said, \u201con the scale of a national action.\u201d I think we are to\ngive largely, lavishly, to these men. And we must prepare to do it.\nWe must learn to do with less, live in a smaller tenement, sell our\napple-trees, our acres, our pleasant houses. I know people who are making\nhaste to reduce their expenses and pay their debts, not with a view to\nnew accumulations, but in preparation to save and earn for the benefit of\nthe Kansas emigrants.\n\nWe must have aid from individuals,\u2014we must also have aid from the state.\nI know that the last legislature refused that aid. I know that lawyers\nhesitate on technical grounds, and wonder what method of relief the\nlegislature will apply. But I submit that, in a case like this, where\ncitizens of Massachusetts, legal voters here, have emigrated to national\nterritory under the sanction of every law, and are then set on by\nhighwaymen, driven from their new homes, pillaged, and numbers of them\nkilled and scalped, and the whole world knows that this is no accidental\nbrawl, but a systematic war to the knife, and in defiance of all laws and\nliberties,\u2014I submit that the governor and legislature should neither\nslumber nor sleep till they have found out how to send effectual aid and\ncomfort to these poor farmers, or else should resign their seats to those\nwho can. But first let them hang the halls of the state-house with black\ncrape, and order funeral service to be said for the citizens whom they\nwere unable to defend.\n\nWe stick at the technical difficulties. I think there never was a people\nso choked and stultified by forms. We adore the forms of law, instead of\nmaking them vehicles of wisdom and justice. I like the primary assembly.\nI own I have little esteem for governments. I esteem them only good in\nthe moment when they are established. I set the private man first. He\nonly who is able to stand alone is qualified to be a citizen. Next to the\nprivate man, I value the primary assembly, met to watch the government\nand to correct it. That is the theory of the American State, that it\nexists to execute the will of the citizens, is always responsible to\nthem, and is always to be changed when it does not. First, the private\ncitizen, then the primary assembly, and the government last.\n\nIn this country for the last few years the government has been the chief\nobstruction to the common weal. Who doubts that Kansas would have been\nvery well settled, if the United States had let it alone? The government\narmed and led the ruffians against the poor farmers. I do not know any\nstory so gloomy as the politics of this country for the last twenty\nyears, centralizing ever more manifestly round one spring, and that\na vast crime, and ever more plainly, until it is notorious that all\npromotion, power and policy are dictated from one source,\u2014illustrating\nthe fatal effects of a false position to demoralize legislation and put\nthe best people always at a disadvantage;\u2014one crime always present,\nalways to be varnished over, to find fine names for; and we free\nstatesmen, as accomplices to the guilt, ever in the power of the grand\noffender.\n\nLanguage has lost its meaning in the universal cant. _Representative\nGovernment_ is really misrepresentative; _Union_ is a conspiracy\nagainst the Northern States which the Northern States are to have the\nprivilege of paying for; the _adding of Cuba and Central America_ to\nthe slave marts is _enlarging the area of Freedom_. _Manifest Destiny_,\n_Democracy_, _Freedom_, fine names for an ugly thing. They call it otto\nof rose and lavender,\u2014I call it bilge-water. They call it Chivalry and\nFreedom; I call it the stealing all the earnings of a poor man and the\nearnings of his little girl and boy, and the earnings of all that shall\ncome from him, his children\u2019s children forever.\n\nBut this is Union, and this is Democracy; and our poor people, led by the\nnose by these fine words, dance and sing, ring bells and fire cannon,\nwith every new link of the chain which is forged for their limbs by the\nplotters in the Capitol.\n\nWhat are the results of law and union? There is no Union. Can any citizen\nof Massachusetts travel in honor through Kentucky and Alabama and speak\nhis mind? Or can any citizen of the Southern country who happens to think\nkidnapping a bad thing, say so? Let Mr. Underwood of Virginia answer.\nIs it to be supposed that there are no men in Carolina who dissent from\nthe popular sentiment now reigning there? It must happen, in the variety\nof human opinions, that there are dissenters. They are silent as the\ngrave. Are there no women in that country,\u2014women, who always carry the\nconscience of a people? Yet we have not heard one discordant whisper.\n\nIn the free states, we give a snivelling support to slavery. The judges\ngive cowardly interpretations to the law, in direct opposition to the\nknown foundation of all law, that _every immoral statute is void_. And\nhere of Kansas, the President says: \u201cLet the complainants go to the\ncourts;\u201d though he knows that when the poor plundered farmer comes to the\ncourt, he finds the ringleader who has robbed him dismounting from his\nown horse, and unbuckling his knife to sit as his judge.\n\nThe President told the Kansas Committee that the whole difficulty grew\nfrom \u201cthe factious spirit of the Kansas people respecting institutions\nwhich they need not have concerned themselves about.\u201d A very remarkable\nspeech from a Democratic President to his fellow citizens, that they\nare not to concern themselves with institutions which they alone are to\ncreate and determine. The President is a lawyer, and should know the\nstatutes of the land. But I borrow the language of an eminent man, used\nlong since, with far less occasion: \u201cIf that be law, let the ploughshare\nbe run under the foundations of the Capitol;\u201d\u2014and if that be Government,\nextirpation is the only cure.\n\nI am glad to see that the terror at disunion and anarchy is disappearing.\nMassachusetts, in its heroic day, had no government\u2014was an anarchy.\nEvery man stood on his own feet, was his own governor; and there was no\nbreach of peace from Cape Cod to Mount Hoosac. California, a few years\nago, by the testimony of all people at that time in the country, had the\nbest government that ever existed. Pans of gold lay drying outside of\nevery man\u2019s tent, in perfect security. The land was measured into little\nstrips of a few feet wide, all side by side. A bit of ground that your\nhand could cover was worth one or two hundred dollars, on the edge of\nyour strip; and there was no dispute. Every man throughout the country\nwas armed with knife and revolver, and it was known that instant justice\nwould be administered to each offence, and perfect peace reigned. For the\nSaxon man, when he is well awake, is not a pirate but a citizen, all made\nof hooks and eyes, and links himself naturally to his brothers, as bees\nhook themselves to one another and to their queen in a loyal swarm.\n\nBut the hour is coming when the strongest will not be strong enough. A\nharder task will the new revolution of the nineteenth century be than was\nthe revolution of the eighteenth century. I think the American Revolution\nbought its glory cheap. If the problem was new, it was simple. If there\nwere few people, they were united, and the enemy three thousand miles\noff. But now, vast property, gigantic interests, family connections, webs\nof party, cover the land with a network that immensely multiplies the\ndangers of war.[150]\n\nFellow citizens, in these times full of the fate of the Republic, I\nthink the towns should hold town meetings, and resolve themselves into\nCommittees of Safety, go into permanent sessions, adjourning from week to\nweek, from month to month. I wish we could send the sergeant-at-arms to\nstop every American who is about to leave the country. Send home every\none who is abroad, lest they should find no country to return to. Come\nhome and stay at home, while there is a country to save. When it is lost\nit will be time enough then for any who are luckless enough to remain\nalive to gather up their clothes and depart to some land where freedom\nexists.\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nREMARKS\n\nAT A MEETING FOR THE RELIEF OF THE FAMILY OF JOHN BROWN, AT TREMONT\nTEMPLE, BOSTON NOVEMBER 18, 1859\n\n    \u201cJohn Brown in Kansas settled, like a steadfast Yankee farmer,\n    Brave and godly, with four sons\u2014all stalwart men of might.\n    There he spoke aloud for Freedom, and the Border strife grew warmer\n    Till the Rangers fired his dwelling, in his absence, in the night;\n                  And Old Brown,\n                  Osawatomie Brown,\n    Came homeward in the morning to find his house burned down.\n\n    Then he grasped his trusty rifle, and boldly fought for Freedom;\n    Smote from border unto border the fierce invading band:\n    And he and his brave boys vowed\u2014so might Heaven help and speed \u2019em\u2014\n    They would save those grand old prairies from the curse that blights\n      the land;\n                  And Old Brown,\n                  Osawatomie Brown,\n    Said, \u2018Boys, the Lord will aid us!\u2019 and he shoved his ramrod down.\u201d\n\n                                   EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN, _John Brown_.\n\n\nJOHN BROWN\n\nMR. CHAIRMAN, AND FELLOW CITIZENS: I share the sympathy and sorrow which\nhave brought us together. Gentlemen who have preceded me have well said\nthat no wall of separation could here exist. This commanding event which\nhas brought us together, eclipses all others which have occurred for a\nlong time in our history, and I am very glad to see that this sudden\ninterest in the hero of Harper\u2019s Ferry has provoked an extreme curiosity\nin all parts of the Republic, in regard to the details of his history.\nEvery anecdote is eagerly sought, and I do not wonder that gentlemen\nfind traits of relation readily between him and themselves. One finds a\nrelation in the church, another in the profession, another in the place\nof his birth. He was happily a representative of the American Republic.\nCaptain John Brown is a farmer, the fifth in descent from Peter Brown,\nwho came to Plymouth in the Mayflower, in 1620. All the six have been\nfarmers. His grandfather, of Simsbury, in Connecticut, was a captain in\nthe Revolution. His father, largely interested as a raiser of stock,\nbecame a contractor to supply the army with beef, in the war of 1812,\nand our Captain John Brown, then a boy, with his father was present and\nwitnessed the surrender of General Hull. He cherishes a great respect for\nhis father, as a man of strong character, and his respect is probably\njust. For himself, he is so transparent that all men see him through.\nHe is a man to make friends wherever on earth courage and integrity are\nesteemed, the rarest of heroes, a pure idealist, with no by-ends of his\nown. Many of you have seen him, and every one who has heard him speak\nhas been impressed alike by his simple, artless goodness, joined with\nhis sublime courage. He joins that perfect Puritan faith which brought\nhis fifth ancestor to Plymouth Rock with his grandfather\u2019s ardor in\nthe Revolution. He believes in two articles,\u2014two instruments, shall I\nsay?\u2014the Golden Rule and the Declaration of Independence; and he used\nthis expression in conversation here concerning them, \u201cBetter that a\nwhole generation of men, women and children should pass away by a violent\ndeath than that one word of either should be violated in this country.\u201d\nThere is a Unionist,\u2014there is a strict constructionist for you. He\nbelieves in the Union of the States, and he conceives that the only\nobstruction to the Union is Slavery, and for that reason, as a patriot,\nhe works for its abolition. The governor of Virginia has pronounced his\neulogy in a manner that discredits the moderation of our timid parties.\nHis own speeches to the court have interested the nation in him. What\nmagnanimity, and what innocent pleading, as of childhood! You remember\nhis words: \u201cIf I had interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful,\nthe intelligent, the so-called great, or any of their friends, parents,\nwives or children, it would all have been right. But I believe that to\nhave interfered as I have done, for the despised poor, was not wrong, but\nright.\u201d[151]\n\nIt is easy to see what a favorite he will be with history, which plays\nsuch pranks with temporary reputations. Nothing can resist the sympathy\nwhich all elevated minds must feel with Brown, and through them the whole\ncivilized world; and if he must suffer, he must drag official gentlemen\ninto an immortality most undesirable, of which they have already some\ndisagreeable forebodings. Indeed, it is the _reductio ad absurdum_ of\nSlavery, when the governor of Virginia is forced to hang a man whom he\ndeclares to be a man of the most integrity, truthfulness and courage he\nhas ever met. Is that the kind of man the gallows is built for? It were\nbold to affirm that there is within that broad commonwealth, at this\nmoment, another citizen as worthy to live, and as deserving of all public\nand private honor, as this poor prisoner.[152]\n\nBut we are here to think of relief for the family of John Brown. To my\neyes, that family looks very large and very needy of relief. It comprises\nhis brave fellow sufferers in the Charlestown Jail; the fugitives still\nhunted in the mountains of Virginia and Pennsylvania; the sympathizers\nwith him in all the states; and, I may say, almost every man who loves\nthe Golden Rule and the Declaration of Independence, like him, and who\nsees what a tiger\u2019s thirst threatens him in the malignity of public\nsentiment in the slave states. It seems to me that a common feeling joins\nthe people of Massachusetts with him.\n\nI said John Brown was an idealist. He believed in his ideas to that\nextent that he existed to put them all into action; he said \u2018he did not\nbelieve in moral suasion, he believed in putting the thing through.\u2019 He\nsaw how deceptive the forms are. We fancy, in Massachusetts, that we are\nfree; yet it seems the government is quite unreliable. Great wealth,\ngreat population, men of talent in the executive, on the bench,\u2014all the\nforms right,\u2014and yet, life and freedom are not safe. Why? Because the\njudges rely on the forms, and do not, like John Brown, use their eyes\nto see the fact behind the forms. They assume that the United States\ncan protect its witness or its prisoner. And in Massachusetts that is\ntrue, but the moment he is carried out of the bounds of Massachusetts,\nthe United States, it is notorious, afford no protection at all; the\ngovernment, the judges, are an envenomed party, and give such protection\nas they give in Utah to honest citizens, or in Kansas; such protection\nas they gave to their own Commodore Paulding, when he was simple\nenough to mistake the formal instructions of his government for their\nreal meaning.[153] The state judges fear collision between their two\nallegiances; but there are worse evils than collision; namely, the doing\nsubstantial injustice. A good man will see that the use of a judge is to\nsecure good government, and where the citizen\u2019s weal is imperilled by\nabuse of the federal power, to use that arm which can secure it, viz.,\nthe local government. Had that been done on certain calamitous occasions,\nwe should not have seen the honor of Massachusetts trailed in the\ndust, stained to all ages, once and again, by the ill-timed formalism\nof a venerable bench. If judges cannot find law enough to maintain the\nsovereignty of the state, and to protect the life and freedom of every\ninhabitant not a criminal, it is idle to compliment them as learned and\nvenerable. What avails their learning or veneration? At a pinch, they are\nno more use than idiots. After the mischance they wring their hands, but\nthey had better never have been born.[154] A Vermont judge, Hutchinson,\nwho has the Declaration of Independence in his heart; a Wisconsin\njudge, who knows that laws are for the protection of citizens against\nkidnappers, is worth a court-house full of lawyers so idolatrous of forms\nas to let go the substance. Is any man in Massachusetts so simple as to\nbelieve that when a United States Court in Virginia, now, in its present\nreign of terror, sends to Connecticut, or New York, or Massachusetts,\nfor a witness, it wants him for a witness? No; it wants him for a party;\nit wants him for meat to slaughter and eat. And your _habeas corpus_ is,\nin any way in which it has been, or, I fear, is likely to be used, a\nnuisance, and not a protection; for it takes away his right reliance on\nhimself, and the natural assistance of his friends and fellow citizens,\nby offering him a form which is a piece of paper.\n\nBut I am detaining the meeting on matters which others understand better.\nI hope, then, that, in administering relief to John Brown\u2019s family, we\nshall remember all those whom his fate concerns, all who are in sympathy\nwith him, and not forget to aid him in the best way, by securing freedom\nand independence in Massachusetts.\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nJOHN BROWN\n\nSPEECH AT SALEM, JANUARY 6, 1860\n\n    \u201cA man there came, whence none could tell,\n    Bearing a touchstone in his hand,\n    And tested all things in the land\n    By its unerring spell.\n\n    A thousand transformations rose\n    From fair to foul, from foul to fair:\n    The golden crown he did not spare,\n    Nor scorn the beggar\u2019s clothes.\n\n    ...\n\n    Then angrily the people cried,\n    \u2018The loss outweighs the profit far;\n    Our goods suffice us as they are:\n    We will not have them tried.\u2019\n\n    And since they could not so avail\n    To check his unrelenting quest,\n    They seized him, saying, \u2018Let him test\n    How real is our jail!\u2019\n\n    But though they slew him with the sword,\n    And in the fire his touchstone burned,\n    Its doings could not be o\u2019erturned,\n    Its undoings restored.\n\n    And when, to stop all future harm,\n    They strewed its ashes to the breeze,\n    They little guessed each grain of these\n    Conveyed the perfect charm.\u201d\n\n                          WILLIAM ALLINGHAM.\n\n\nJOHN BROWN\n\nMR. CHAIRMAN: I have been struck with one fact, that the best orators who\nhave added their praise to his fame,\u2014and I need not go out of this house\nto find the purest eloquence in the country,\u2014have one rival who comes off\na little better, and that is JOHN BROWN. Everything that is said of him\nleaves people a little dissatisfied; but as soon as they read his own\nspeeches and letters they are heartily contented,\u2014such is the singleness\nof purpose which justifies him to the head and the heart of all. Taught\nby this experience, I mean, in the few remarks I have to make, to cling\nto his history, or let him speak for himself.\n\nJohn Brown, the founder of liberty in Kansas, was born in Torrington,\nLitchfield County, Connecticut, in 1800. When he was five years old his\nfather emigrated to Ohio, and the boy was there set to keep sheep and to\nlook after cattle and dress skins; he went bareheaded and barefooted,\nand clothed in buckskin. He said that he loved rough play, could never\nhave rough play enough; could not see a seedy hat without wishing to pull\nit off. But for this it needed that the playmates should be equal; not\none in fine clothes and the other in buckskin; not one his own master,\nhale and hearty, and the other watched and whipped. But it chanced that\nin Pennsylvania, where he was sent by his father to collect cattle, he\nfell in with a boy whom he heartily liked and whom he looked upon as his\nsuperior. This boy was a slave; he saw him beaten with an iron shovel,\nand otherwise maltreated; he saw that this boy had nothing better to\nlook forward to in life, whilst he himself was petted and made much of;\nfor he was much considered in the family where he then stayed, from the\ncircumstance that this boy of twelve years had conducted alone a drove of\ncattle a hundred miles. But the colored boy had no friend, and no future.\nThis worked such indignation in him that he swore an oath of resistance\nto slavery as long as he lived. And thus his enterprise to go into\nVirginia and run off five hundred or a thousand slaves was not a piece of\nspite or revenge, a plot of two years or of twenty years, but the keeping\nof an oath made to heaven and earth forty-seven years before. Forty-seven\nyears at least, though I incline to accept his own account of the matter\nat Charlestown, which makes the date a little older, when he said, \u201cThis\nwas all settled millions of years before the world was made.\u201d\n\nHe grew up a religious and manly person, in severe poverty; a fair\nspecimen of the best stock of New England; having that force of thought\nand that sense of right which are the warp and woof of greatness. Our\nfarmers were Orthodox Calvinists, mighty in the Scriptures; had learned\nthat life was a preparation, a \u201cprobation,\u201d to use their word, for a\nhigher world, and was to be spent in loving and serving mankind.[155]\n\nThus was formed a romantic character absolutely without any vulgar\ntrait; living to ideal ends, without any mixture of self-indulgence or\ncompromise, such as lowers the value of benevolent and thoughtful men\nwe know; abstemious, refusing luxuries, not sourly and reproachfully,\nbut simply as unfit for his habit; quiet and gentle as a child in the\nhouse. And, as happens usually to men of romantic character, his fortunes\nwere romantic. Walter Scott would have delighted to draw his picture\nand trace his adventurous career. A shepherd and herdsman, he learned\nthe manners of animals, and knew the secret signals by which animals\ncommunicate.[156] He made his hard bed on the mountains with them; he\nlearned to drive his flock through thickets all but impassable; he had\nall the skill of a shepherd by choice of breed and by wise husbandry to\nobtain the best wool, and that for a course of years. And the anecdotes\npreserved show a far-seeing skill and conduct which, in spite of adverse\naccidents, should secure, one year with another, an honest reward, first\nto the farmer, and afterwards to the dealer. If he kept sheep, it was\nwith a royal mind; and if he traded in wool, he was a merchant prince,\nnot in the amount of wealth, but in the protection of the interests\nconfided to him.\n\nI am not a little surprised at the easy effrontery with which political\ngentlemen, in and out of Congress, take it upon them to say that there\nare not a thousand men in the North who sympathize with John Brown.\nIt would be far safer and nearer the truth to say that all people, in\nproportion to their sensibility and self-respect, sympathize with him.\nFor it is impossible to see courage, and disinterestedness, and the love\nthat casts out fear, without sympathy. All women are drawn to him by\ntheir predominance of sentiment. All gentlemen, of course, are on his\nside. I do not mean by \u201cgentlemen,\u201d people of scented hair and perfumed\nhandkerchiefs, but men of gentle blood and generosity, \u201cfulfilled with\nall nobleness,\u201d who, like the Cid, give the outcast leper a share of\ntheir bed; like the dying Sidney, pass the cup of cold water to the dying\nsoldier who needs it more. For what is the oath of gentle blood and\nknighthood? What but to protect the weak and lowly against the strong\noppressor?\n\nNothing is more absurd than to complain of this sympathy, or to complain\nof a party of men united in opposition to slavery. As well complain\nof gravity, or the ebb of the tide. Who makes the abolitionist? The\nslave-holder. The sentiment of mercy is the natural recoil which the laws\nof the universe provide to protect mankind from destruction by savage\npassions. And our blind statesmen go up and down, with committees of\nvigilance and safety, hunting for the origin of this new heresy. They\nwill need a very vigilant committee indeed to find its birthplace, and a\nvery strong force to root it out. For the arch-abolitionist, older than\nBrown, and older than the Shenandoah Mountains, is Love, whose other name\nis Justice, which was before Alfred, before Lycurgus, before slavery, and\nwill be after it.[157]\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nTHEODORE PARKER\n\nAN ADDRESS AT THE MEMORIAL MEETING AT THE MUSIC HALL, BOSTON, JUNE 15,\n1860\n\n    \u201cHere comes Parker, the Orson of parsons, a man\n    Whom the Church undertook to put under her ban.\u2014\n    ...\n    There\u2019s a background of God to each hard-working feature,\n    Every word that he speaks has been fierily furnaced\n    In the blast of a life that has struggled in earnest:\n    There he stands, looking more like a ploughman than priest,\n    If not dreadfully awkward, not graceful at least;\n    ...\n    But his periods fall on you, stroke after stroke,\n    Like the blows of a lumberer felling an oak,\n    You forget the man wholly, you\u2019re thankful to meet\n    With a preacher who smacks of the field and the street,\n    And to hear, you\u2019re not over-particular whence,\n    Almost Taylor\u2019s profusion, quite Latimer\u2019s sense.\u201d\n\n                                  \u2014LOWELL, _A Fable for Critics_.\n\n\nTHEODORE PARKER\n\nAt the death of a good and admirable person we meet to console and\nanimate each other by the recollection of his virtues.\n\nI have the feeling that every man\u2019s biography is at his own expense. He\nfurnishes not only the facts but the report. I mean that all biography is\nautobiography. It is only what he tells of himself that comes to be known\nand believed. In Plutarch\u2019s lives of Alexander and Pericles, you have the\nsecret whispers of their confidence to their lovers and trusty friends.\nFor it was each report of this kind that impressed those to whom it was\ntold in a manner to secure its being told everywhere to the best, to\nthose who speak with authority to their own times and therefore to ours.\nFor the political rule is a cosmical rule, that if a man is not strong in\nhis own district, he is not a good candidate elsewhere.\n\nHe whose voice will not be heard here again could well afford to tell his\nexperiences; they were all honorable to him, and were part of the history\nof the civil and religious liberty of his times. Theodore Parker was a\nson of the soil, charged with the energy of New England, strong, eager,\ninquisitive of knowledge, of a diligence that never tired, upright, of\na haughty independence, yet the gentlest of companions; a man of study,\nfit for a man of the world; with decided opinions and plenty of power\nto state them; rapidly pushing his studies so far as to leave few men\nqualified to sit as his critics.[158] He elected his part of duty, or\naccepted nobly that assigned him in his rare constitution. Wonderful\nacquisition of knowledge, a rapid wit that heard all, and welcomed all\nthat came, by seeing its bearing. Such was the largeness of his reception\nof facts and his skill to employ them that it looked as if he were some\npresident of council to whom a score of telegraphs were ever bringing\nin reports; and his information would have been excessive, but for the\nnoble use he made of it ever in the interest of humanity. He had a strong\nunderstanding, a logical method, a love for facts, a rapid eye for their\nhistoric relations, and a skill in stripping them of traditional lustres.\nHe had a sprightly fancy, and often amused himself with throwing his\nmeaning into pretty apologues; yet we can hardly ascribe to his mind the\npoetic element, though his scholarship had made him a reader and quoter\nof verses. A little more feeling of the poetic significance of his\nfacts would have disqualified him for some of his severer offices to his\ngeneration. The old religions have a charm for most minds which it is a\nlittle uncanny to disturb. \u2019Tis sometimes a question, shall we not leave\nthem to decay without rude shocks? I remember that I found some harshness\nin his treatment both of Greek and of Hebrew antiquity, and sympathized\nwith the pain of many good people in his auditory, whilst I acquitted\nhim, of course, of any wish to be flippant. He came at a time when, to\nthe irresistible march of opinion, the forms still retained by the most\nadvanced sects showed loose and lifeless, and he, with something less of\naffectionate attachment to the old, or with more vigorous logic, rejected\nthem. \u2019Tis objected to him that he scattered too many illusions. Perhaps\nmore tenderness would have been graceful; but it is vain to charge him\nwith perverting the opinions of the new generation.\n\nThe opinions of men are organic. Simply, those came to him who found\nthemselves expressed by him. And had they not met this enlightened mind,\nin which they beheld their own opinions combined with zeal in every cause\nof love and humanity, they would have suspected their opinions and\nsuppressed them, and so sunk into melancholy or malignity\u2014a feeling of\nloneliness and hostility to what was reckoned respectable. \u2019Tis plain to\nme that he has achieved a historic immortality here; that he has so woven\nhimself in these few years into the history of Boston, that he can never\nbe left out of your annals. It will not be in the acts of city councils,\nnor of obsequious mayors; nor, in the state-house, the proclamations\nof governors, with their failing virtue\u2014failing them at critical\nmoments\u2014that coming generations will study what really befell; but in the\nplain lessons of Theodore Parker in this Music Hall, in Faneuil Hall, or\nin legislative committee rooms, that the true temper and authentic record\nof these days will be read. The next generation will care little for the\nchances of elections that govern governors now, it will care little for\nfine gentlemen who behaved shabbily; but it will read very intelligently\nin his rough story, fortified with exact anecdotes, precise with names\nand dates, what part was taken by each actor; who threw himself into the\ncause of humanity and came to the rescue of civilization at a hard pinch,\nand who blocked its course.\n\nThe vice charged against America is the want of sincerity in leading\nmen. It does not lie at his door. He never kept back the truth for\nfear to make an enemy. But, on the other hand, it was complained that\nhe was bitter and harsh, that his zeal burned with too hot a flame. It\nis so difficult, in evil times, to escape this charge! for the faithful\npreacher most of all. It was his merit, like Luther, Knox and Latimer,\nand John Baptist, to speak tart truth, when that was peremptory and when\nthere were few to say it. But his sympathy for goodness was not less\nenergetic. One fault he had, he overestimated his friends,\u2014I may well say\nit,\u2014and sometimes vexed them with the importunity of his good opinion,\nwhilst they knew better the ebb which follows unfounded praise. He was\ncapable, it must be said, of the most unmeasured eulogies on those he\nesteemed, especially if he had any jealousy that they did not stand with\nthe Boston public as highly as they ought. His commanding merit as a\nreformer is this, that he insisted beyond all men in pulpits\u2014I cannot\nthink of one rival\u2014that the essence of Christianity is its practical\nmorals; it is there for use, or it is nothing; and if you combine it with\nsharp trading, or with ordinary city ambitions to gloze over municipal\ncorruptions, or private intemperance, or successful fraud, or immoral\npolitics, or unjust wars, or the cheating of Indians, or the robbery\nof frontier nations, or leaving your principles at home to follow on\nthe high seas or in Europe a supple complaisance to tyrants,\u2014it is a\nhypocrisy, and the truth is not in you; and no love of religious music or\nof dreams of Swedenborg, or praise of John Wesley, or of Jeremy Taylor,\ncan save you from the Satan which you are.\n\nHis ministry fell on a political crisis also; on the years when Southern\nslavery broke over its old banks, made new and vast pretensions, and\nwrung from the weakness or treachery of Northern people fatal concessions\nin the Fugitive Slave Bill and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.\nTwo days, bitter in the memory of Boston, the days of the rendition of\nSims and of Burns, made the occasion of his most remarkable discourses.\nHe kept nothing back. In terrible earnest he denounced the public crime,\nand meted out to every official, high and low, his due portion.[159]\nBy the incessant power of his statement, he made and held a party. It\nwas his great service to freedom. He took away the reproach of silent\nconsent that would otherwise have lain against the indignant minority,\nby uttering in the hour and place wherein these outrages were done, the\nstern protest.\n\nBut whilst I praise this frank speaker, I have no wish to accuse the\nsilence of others. There are men of good powers who have so much sympathy\nthat they must be silent when they are not in sympathy. If you don\u2019t\nagree with them, they know they only injure the truth by speaking. Their\nfaculties will not play them true, and they do not wish to squeak and\ngibber, and so they shut their mouths. I can readily forgive this, only\nnot the other, the false tongue which makes the worse appear the better\ncause. There were, of course, multitudes to censure and defame this\ntruth-speaker. But the brave know the brave. Fops, whether in hotels\nor churches, will utter the fop\u2019s opinion, and faintly hope for the\nsalvation of his soul; but his manly enemies, who despised the fops,\nhonored him; and it is well known that his great hospitable heart was\nthe sanctuary to which every soul conscious of an earnest opinion came\nfor sympathy\u2014alike the brave slave-holder and the brave slave-rescuer.\nThese met in the house of this honest man\u2014for every sound heart loves a\nresponsible person, one who does not in generous company say generous\nthings, and in mean company base things, but says one thing, now\ncheerfully, now indignantly, but always because he must, and because he\nsees that, whether he speak or refrain from speech, this is said over\nhim; and history, nature and all souls testify to the same.\n\nAh, my brave brother! it seems as if, in a frivolous age, our loss were\nimmense, and your place cannot be supplied. But you will already be\nconsoled in the transfer of your genius, knowing well that the nature\nof the world will affirm to all men, in all times, that which for\ntwenty-five years you valiantly spoke; that the winds of Italy murmur\nthe same truth over your grave; the winds of America over these bereaved\nstreets; that the sea which bore your mourners home affirms it, the stars\nin their courses, and the inspirations of youth; whilst the polished and\npleasant traitors to human rights, with perverted learning and disgraced\ngraces, rot and are forgotten with their double tongue saying all that is\nsordid for the corruption of man.\n\nThe sudden and singular eminence of Mr. Parker, the importance of his\nname and influence, are the verdict of his country to his virtues. We\nhave few such men to lose; amiable and blameless at home, feared abroad\nas the standard-bearer of liberty, taking all the duties he could grasp,\nand more, refusing to spare himself, he has gone down in early glory to\nhis grave, to be a living and enlarging power, wherever learning, wit,\nhonest valor and independence are honored.[160]\n\n\n\n\nXIII\n\nAMERICAN CIVILIZATION\n\n    To the mizzen, the main, and the fore\n    Up with it once more!\u2014\n    The old tri-color,\n    The ribbon of power,\n    The white, blue and red which the nations adore!\n    It was down at half-mast\n    For a grief\u2014that is past!\n    To the emblem of glory no sorrow can last!\n\n\nAMERICAN CIVILIZATION\n\nUse, labor of each for all, is the health and virtue of all beings. _Ich\ndien_, I serve, is a truly royal motto. And it is the mark of nobleness\nto volunteer the lowest service, the greatest spirit only attaining to\nhumility. Nay, God is God because he is the servant of all. Well, now\nhere comes this conspiracy of slavery,\u2014they call it an institution, I\ncall it a destitution,\u2014this stealing of men and setting them to work,\nstealing their labor, and the thief sitting idle himself; and for two\nor three ages it has lasted, and has yielded a certain quantity of\nrice, cotton and sugar. And, standing on this doleful experience, these\npeople have endeavored to reverse the natural sentiments of mankind,\nand to pronounce labor disgraceful, and the well-being of a man to\nconsist in eating the fruit of other men\u2019s labor. Labor: a man coins\nhimself into his labor; turns his day, his strength, his thought, his\naffection into some product which remains as the visible sign of his\npower; and to protect that, to secure that to him, to secure his past\nself to his future self, is the object of all government. There is no\ninterest in any country so imperative as that of labor; it covers all,\nand constitutions and governments exist for that,\u2014to protect and insure\nit to the laborer. All honest men are daily striving to earn their bread\nby their industry. And who is this who tosses his empty head at this\nblessing in disguise, the constitution of human nature, and calls labor\nvile, and insults the faithful workman at his daily toil? I see for such\nmadness no hellebore,\u2014for such calamity no solution but servile war and\nthe Africanization of the country that permits it.\n\nAt this moment in America the aspects of political society absorb\nattention. In every house, from Canada to the Gulf, the children ask the\nserious father,\u2014\u201cWhat is the news of the war to-day, and when will there\nbe better times?\u201d The boys have no new clothes, no gifts, no journeys;\nthe girls must go without new bonnets; boys and girls find their\neducation, this year, less liberal and complete.[161] All the little\nhopes that heretofore made the year pleasant are deferred. The state of\nthe country fills us with anxiety and stern duties. We have attempted to\nhold together two states of civilization: a higher state, where labor and\nthe tenure of land and the right of suffrage are democratical; and a\nlower state, in which the old military tenure of prisoners or slaves, and\nof power and land in a few hands, makes an oligarchy: we have attempted\nto hold these two states of society under one law. But the rude and early\nstate of society does not work well with the later, nay, works badly,\nand has poisoned politics, public morals and social intercourse in the\nRepublic, now for many years.\n\nThe times put this question, Why cannot the best civilization be extended\nover the whole country, since the disorder of the less-civilized portion\nmenaces the existence of the country? Is this secular progress we have\ndescribed, this evolution of man to the highest powers, only to give\nhim sensibility, and not to bring duties with it? Is he not to make his\nknowledge practical? to stand and to withstand? Is not civilization\nheroic also? Is it not for action? has it not a will? \u201cThere are\nperiods,\u201d said Niebuhr, \u201cwhen something much better than happiness and\nsecurity of life is attainable.\u201d We live in a new and exceptionable age.\nAmerica is another word for Opportunity. Our whole history appears like a\nlast effort of the Divine Providence in behalf of the human race; and a\nliteral, slavish following of precedents, as by a justice of the peace,\nis not for those who at this hour lead the destinies of this people.\nThe evil you contend with has taken alarming proportions, and you still\ncontent yourself with parrying the blows it aims, but, as if enchanted,\nabstain from striking at the cause.[162]\n\nIf the American people hesitate, it is not for want of warning or\nadvices. The telegraph has been swift enough to announce our disasters.\nThe journals have not suppressed the extent of the calamity. Neither\nwas there any want of argument or of experience. If the war brought\nany surprise to the North, it was not the fault of sentinels on the\nwatch-tower, who had furnished full details of the designs, the muster\nand the means of the enemy. Neither was anything concealed of the theory\nor practice of slavery. To what purpose make more big books of these\nstatistics? There are already mountains of facts, if any one wants them.\nBut people do not want them. They bring their opinion into the world.\nIf they have a comatose tendency in the brain, they are pro-slavery\nwhile they live; if of a nervous sanguineous temperament, they are\nabolitionists. Then interests were never persuaded. Can you convince the\nshoe interest, or the iron interest, or the cotton interest, by reading\npassages from Milton or Montesquieu? You wish to satisfy people that\nslavery is bad economy. Why, the Edinburgh Review pounded on that string,\nand made out its case, forty years ago. A democratic statesman said to\nme, long since, that, if he owned the state of Kentucky, he would manumit\nall the slaves, and be a gainer by the transaction. Is this new? No,\neverybody knows it. As a general economy it is admitted. But there is\nno one owner of the state, but a good many small owners. One man owns\nland and slaves; another owns slaves only. Here is a woman who has no\nother property,\u2014like a lady in Charleston I knew of, who owned fifteen\nsweeps and rode in her carriage. It is clearly a vast inconvenience to\neach of these to make any change, and they are fretful and talkative, and\nall their friends are; and those less interested are inert, and, from\nwant of thought, averse to innovation. It is like free trade, certainly\nthe interest of nations, but by no means the interest of certain towns\nand districts, which tariff feeds fat; and the eager interest of the\nfew overpowers the apathetic general conviction of the many. Banknotes\nrob the public, but are such a daily convenience that we silence our\nscruples and make believe they are gold. So imposts are the cheap and\nright taxation; but, by the dislike of people to pay out a direct tax,\ngovernments are forced to render life costly by making them pay twice as\nmuch, hidden in the price of tea and sugar.\n\nIn this national crisis, it is not argument that we want, but that rare\ncourage which dares commit itself to a principle, believing that Nature\nis its ally, and will create the instruments it requires, and more than\nmake good any petty and injurious profit which it may disturb. There\nnever was such a combination as this of ours, and the rules to meet it\nare not set down in any history. We want men of original perception and\noriginal action, who can open their eyes wider than to a nationality,\nnamely, to considerations of benefit to the human race, can act in\nthe interest of civilization. Government must not be a parish clerk,\na justice of the peace. It has, of necessity, in any crisis of the\nstate, the absolute powers of a dictator. The existing administration\nis entitled to the utmost candor. It is to be thanked for its angelic\nvirtue, compared with any executive experiences with which we have been\nfamiliar. But the times will not allow us to indulge in compliment. I\nwish I saw in the people that inspiration which, if government would not\nobey the same, would leave the government behind and create on the moment\nthe means and executors it wanted. Better the war should more dangerously\nthreaten us,\u2014should threaten fracture in what is still whole, and punish\nus with burned capitals and slaughtered regiments, and so exasperate\nthe people to energy, exasperate our nationality. There are Scriptures\nwritten invisibly on men\u2019s hearts, whose letters do not come out until\nthey are enraged. They can be read by war-fires, and by eyes in the last\nperil.\n\nWe cannot but remember that there have been days in American history,\nwhen, if the free states had done their duty, slavery had been blocked\nby an immovable barrier, and our recent calamities forever precluded.\nThe free states yielded, and every compromise was surrender and invited\nnew demands. Here again is a new occasion which heaven offers to sense\nand virtue. It looks as if we held the fate of the fairest possession\nof mankind in our hands, to be saved by our firmness or to be lost by\nhesitation.\n\nThe one power that has legs long enough and strong enough to wade across\nthe Potomac offers itself at this hour; the one strong enough to bring\nall the civility up to the height of that which is best, prays now at\nthe door of Congress for leave to move. Emancipation is the demand of\ncivilization. That is a principle; everything else is an intrigue. This\nis a progressive policy, puts the whole people in healthy, productive,\namiable position, puts every man in the South in just and natural\nrelations with every man in the North, laborer with laborer.\n\nI shall not attempt to unfold the details of the project of emancipation.\nIt has been stated with great ability by several of its leading\nadvocates. I will only advert to some leading points of the argument,\nat the risk of repeating the reasons of others. The war is welcome to\nthe Southerner; a chivalrous sport to him, like hunting, and suits\nhis semi-civilized condition. On the climbing scale of progress, he\nis just up to war, and has never appeared to such advantage as in the\nlast twelvemonth. It does not suit us. We are advanced some ages on the\nwar-state,\u2014to trade, art and general cultivation. His laborer works for\nhim at home, so that he loses no labor by the war. All our soldiers are\nlaborers; so that the South, with its inferior numbers, is almost on a\nfooting in effective war-population with the North. Again, as long as\nwe fight without any affirmative step taken by the government, any word\nintimating forfeiture in the rebel states of their old privileges under\nthe law, they and we fight on the same side, for slavery. Again, if we\nconquer the enemy,\u2014what then? We shall still have to keep him under, and\nit will cost as much to hold him down as it did to get him down. Then\ncomes the summer, and the fever will drive the soldiers home; next winter\nwe must begin at the beginning, and conquer him over again. What use then\nto take a fort, or a privateer, or get possession of an inlet, or to\ncapture a regiment of rebels?\n\nBut one weapon we hold which is sure. Congress can, by edict, as a part\nof the military defence which it is the duty of Congress to provide,\nabolish slavery, and pay for such slaves as we ought to pay for. Then\nthe slaves near our armies will come to us; those in the interior will\nknow in a week what their rights are, and will, where opportunity offers,\nprepare to take them. Instantly, the armies that now confront you must\nrun home to protect their estates, and must stay there, and your enemies\nwill disappear.\n\nThere can be no safety until this step is taken. We fancy that the\nendless debate, emphasized by the crime and by the cannons of this war,\nhas brought the free states to some conviction that it can never go well\nwith us whilst this mischief of slavery remains in our politics, and that\nby concert or by might we must put an end to it. But we have too much\nexperience of the futility of an easy reliance on the momentary good\ndispositions of the public. There does exist, perhaps, a popular will\nthat the Union shall not be broken,\u2014that our trade, and therefore our\nlaws, must have the whole breadth of the continent, and from Canada to\nthe Gulf. But since this is the rooted belief and will of the people, so\nmuch the more are they in danger, when impatient of defeats, or impatient\nof taxes, to go with a rush for some peace; and what kind of peace\nshall at that moment be easiest attained, they will make concessions\nfor it,\u2014will give up the slaves, and the whole torment of the past\nhalf-century will come back to be endured anew.\n\nNeither do I doubt, if such a composition should take place, that the\nSoutherners will come back quietly and politely, leaving their haughty\ndictation. It will be an era of good feelings. There will be a lull after\nso loud a storm; and, no doubt, there will be discreet men from that\nsection who will earnestly strive to inaugurate more moderate and fair\nadministration of the government, and the North will for a time have its\nfull share and more, in place and counsel. But this will not last;\u2014not\nfor want of sincere good will in sensible Southerners, but because\nSlavery will again speak through them its harsh necessity. It cannot live\nbut by injustice, and it will be unjust and violent to the end of the\nworld.[163]\n\nThe power of Emancipation is this, that it alters the atomic social\nconstitution of the Southern people. Now, their interest is in keeping\nout white labor; then, when they must pay wages, their interest will be\nto let it in, to get the best labor, and, if they fear their blacks, to\ninvite Irish, German and American laborers. Thus, whilst Slavery makes\nand keeps disunion, Emancipation removes the whole objection to union.\nEmancipation at one stroke elevates the poor-white of the South, and\nidentifies his interest with that of the Northern laborer.\n\nNow, in the name of all that is simple and generous, why should not this\ngreat right be done? Why should not America be capable of a second stroke\nfor the well-being of the human race, as eighty or ninety years ago\nshe was for the first,\u2014of an affirmative step in the interests of human\ncivility, urged on her, too, not by any romance of sentiment, but by\nher own extreme perils? It is very certain that the statesman who shall\nbreak through the cobwebs of doubt, fear and petty cavil that lie in the\nway, will be greeted by the unanimous thanks of mankind. Men reconcile\nthemselves very fast to a bold and good measure when once it is taken,\nthough they condemned it in advance. A week before the two captive\ncommissioners were surrendered to England, every one thought it could\nnot be done: it would divide the North. It was done, and in two days all\nagreed it was the right action.[164] And this action, which costs so\nlittle (the parties injured by it being such a handful that they can very\neasily be indemnified), rids the world, at one stroke, of this degrading\nnuisance, the cause of war and ruin to nations. This measure at once\nputs all parties right. This is borrowing, as I said, the omnipotence\nof a principle. What is so foolish as the terror lest the blacks should\nbe made furious by freedom and wages? It is denying these that is the\noutrage, and makes the danger from the blacks. But justice satisfies\neverybody,\u2014white man, red man, yellow man and black man. All like wages,\nand the appetite grows by feeding.\n\nBut this measure, to be effectual, must come speedily. The weapon is\nslipping out of our hands. \u201cTime,\u201d say the Indian Scriptures, \u201cdrinketh\nup the essence of every great and noble action which ought to be\nperformed, and which is delayed in the execution.\u201d[165]\n\nI hope it is not a fatal objection to this policy that it is simple\nand beneficent thoroughly, which is the tribute of a moral action. An\nunprecedented material prosperity has not tended to make us Stoics or\nChristians. But the laws by which the universe is organized reappear\nat every point, and will rule it. The end of all political struggle is\nto establish morality as the basis of all legislation. It is not free\ninstitutions, it is not a republic, it is not a democracy, that is the\nend,\u2014no, but only the means. Morality is the object of government.[166]\nWe want a state of things in which crime shall not pay. This is the\nconsolation on which we rest in the darkness of the future and the\nafflictions of to-day, that the government of the world is moral, and\ndoes forever destroy what is not. It is the maxim of natural philosophers\nthat the natural forces wear out in time all obstacles, and take place:\nand it is the maxim of history that victory always falls at last where\nit ought to fall; or, there is perpetual march and progress to ideas. But\nin either case, no link of the chain can drop out. Nature works through\nher appointed elements; and ideas must work through the brains and the\narms of good and brave men, or they are no better than dreams.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSince the above pages were written, President Lincoln has proposed to\nCongress that the government shall co\u00f6perate with any state that shall\nenact a gradual abolishment of slavery. In the recent series of national\nsuccesses, this message is the best. It marks the happiest day in the\npolitical year. The American Executive ranges itself for the first time\non the side of freedom. If Congress has been backward, the President has\nadvanced. This state-paper is the more interesting that it appears to be\nthe President\u2019s individual act, done under a strong sense of duty. He\nspeaks his own thought in his own style. All thanks and honor to the Head\nof the State! The message has been received throughout the country with\npraise, and, we doubt not, with more pleasure than has been spoken. If\nCongress accords with the President, it is not yet too late to begin the\nemancipation; but we think it will always be too late to make it gradual.\nAll experience agrees that it should be immediate.[167] More and better\nthan the President has spoken shall, perhaps, the effect of this message\nbe,\u2014but, we are sure, not more or better than he hoped in his heart,\nwhen, thoughtful of all the complexities of his position, he penned these\ncautious words.\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nTHE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION\n\nAN ADDRESS DELIVERED IN BOSTON IN SEPTEMBER, 1862\n\n    To-day unbind the captive,\n    So only are ye unbound;\n    Lift up a people from the dust,\n    Trump of their rescue, sound!\n\n    Pay ransom to the owner\n    And fill the bag to the brim.\n    Who is the owner? The slave is owner,\n    And ever was. Pay him.\n\n    O North! give him beauty for rags,\n    And honor, O South! for his shame;\n    Nevada! coin thy golden crags\n    With freedom\u2019s image and name.\n\n    Up! and the dusky race\n    That sat in darkness long,\u2014\n    Be swift their feet as antelopes,\n    And as behemoth strong.\n\n    Come, East and West and North,\n    By races, as snow-flakes,\n    And carry my purpose forth,\n    Which neither halts nor shakes.\n\n    My will fulfilled shall be,\n    For in daylight or in dark,\n    My thunderbolt has eyes to see\n    His way home to the mark.\n\n\nTHE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION\n\nIn so many arid forms which states encrust themselves with, once in a\ncentury, if so often, a poetic act and record occur. These are the jets\nof thought into affairs, when, roused by danger or inspired by genius,\nthe political leaders of the day break the else insurmountable routine of\nclass and local legislation, and take a step forward in the direction of\ncatholic and universal interests. Every step in the history of political\nliberty is a sally of the human mind into the untried Future, and has\nthe interest of genius, and is fruitful in heroic anecdotes. Liberty\nis a slow fruit. It comes, like religion, for short periods, and in\nrare conditions, as if awaiting a culture of the race which shall make\nit organic and permanent. Such moments of expansion in modern history\nwere the Confession of Augsburg, the plantation of America, the English\nCommonwealth of 1648, the Declaration of American Independence in 1776,\nthe British emancipation of slaves in the West Indies, the passage of the\nReform Bill, the repeal of the Corn-Laws, the Magnetic Ocean Telegraph,\nthough yet imperfect, the passage of the Homestead Bill in the last\nCongress, and now, eminently, President Lincoln\u2019s Proclamation on the\ntwenty-second of September. These are acts of great scope, working on\na long future and on permanent interests, and honoring alike those who\ninitiate and those who receive them. These measures provoke no noisy joy,\nbut are received into a sympathy so deep as to apprise us that mankind\nare greater and better than we know.[168] At such times it appears as\nif a new public were created to greet the new event. It is as when an\norator, having ended the compliments and pleasantries with which he\nconciliated attention, and having run over the superficial fitness\nand commodities of the measure he urges, suddenly, lending himself to\nsome happy inspiration, announces with vibrating voice the grand human\nprinciples involved;\u2014the bravos and wits who greeted him loudly thus far\nare surprised and overawed; a new audience is found in the heart of the\nassembly,\u2014an audience hitherto passive and unconcerned, now at last so\nsearched and kindled that they come forward, every one a representative\nof mankind, standing for all nationalities.\n\nThe extreme moderation with which the President advanced to his\ndesign,\u2014his long-avowed expectant policy, as if he chose to be strictly\nthe executive of the best public sentiment of the country, waiting only\ntill it should be unmistakably pronounced,\u2014so fair a mind that none ever\nlistened so patiently to such extreme varieties of opinion,\u2014so reticent\nthat his decision has taken all parties by surprise, whilst yet it is\njust the sequel of his prior acts,\u2014the firm tone in which he announces\nit, without inflation or surplusage,\u2014all these have bespoken such favor\nto the act that, great as the popularity of the President has been, we\nare beginning to think that we have underestimated the capacity and\nvirtue which the Divine Providence has made an instrument of benefit\nso vast. He has been permitted to do more for America than any other\nAmerican man. He is well entitled to the most indulgent construction.\nForget all that we thought shortcomings, every mistake, every delay. In\nthe extreme embarrassments of his part, call these endurance, wisdom,\nmagnanimity; illuminated, as they now are, by this dazzling success.\n\nWhen we consider the immense opposition that has been neutralized or\nconverted by the progress of the war (for it is not long since the\nPresident anticipated the resignation of a large number of officers in\nthe army, and the secession of three states, on the promulgation of this\npolicy),\u2014when we see how the great stake which foreign nations hold\nin our affairs has recently brought every European power as a client\ninto this court, and it became every day more apparent what gigantic\nand what remote interests were to be affected by the decision of the\nPresident,\u2014one can hardly say the deliberation was too long. Against all\ntimorous counsels he had the courage to seize the moment; and such was\nhis position, and such the felicity attending the action, that he has\nreplaced government in the good graces of mankind. \u201cBetter is virtue in\nthe sovereign than plenty in the season,\u201d say the Chinese. \u2019Tis wonderful\nwhat power is, and how ill it is used, and how its ill use makes life\nmean, and the sunshine dark. Life in America had lost much of its\nattraction in the later years. The virtues of a good magistrate undo a\nworld of mischief, and, because Nature works with rectitude, seem vastly\nmore potent than the acts of bad governors, which are ever tempered by\nthe good nature in the people, and the incessant resistance which fraud\nand violence encounter. The acts of good governors work a geometrical\nratio, as one midsummer day seems to repair the damage of a year of war.\n\nA day which most of us dared not hope to see, an event worth the dreadful\nwar, worth its costs and uncertainties, seems now to be close before\nus. October, November, December will have passed over beating hearts\nand plotting brains: then the hour will strike, and all men of African\ndescent who have faculty enough to find their way to our lines are\nassured of the protection of American law.\n\nIt is by no means necessary that this measure should be suddenly marked\nby any signal results on the negroes or on the rebel masters. The force\nof the act is that it commits the country to this justice,\u2014that it\ncompels the innumerable officers, civil, military, naval, of the Republic\nto range themselves on the line of this equity. It draws the fashion to\nthis side. It is not a measure that admits of being taken back. Done,\nit cannot be undone by a new administration. For slavery overpowers the\ndisgust of the moral sentiment only through immemorial usage. It cannot\nbe introduced as an improvement of the nineteenth century. This act makes\nthat the lives of our heroes have not been sacrificed in vain. It makes a\nvictory of our defeats. Our hurts are healed; the health of the nation\nis repaired. With a victory like this, we can stand many disasters. It\ndoes not promise the redemption of the black race; that lies not with\nus: but it relieves it of our opposition. The President by this act has\nparoled all the slaves in America; they will no more fight against us:\nand it relieves our race once for all of its crime and false position.\nThe first condition of success is secured in putting ourselves right. We\nhave recovered ourselves from our false position, and planted ourselves\non a law of Nature:\u2014\n\n                    \u201cIf that fail,\n    The pillared firmament is rottenness,\n    And earth\u2019s base built on stubble.\u201d[169]\n\nThe government has assured itself of the best constituency in the world:\nevery spark of intellect, every virtuous feeling, every religious heart,\nevery man of honor, every poet, every philosopher, the generosity of the\ncities, the health of the country, the strong arms of the mechanic, the\nendurance of farmers, the passionate conscience of women, the sympathy of\ndistant nations,\u2014all rally to its support.\n\nOf course, we are assuming the firmness of the policy thus declared. It\nmust not be a paper proclamation. We confide that Mr. Lincoln is in\nearnest, and as he has been slow in making up his mind, has resisted the\nimportunacy of parties and of events to the latest moment, he will be\nas absolute in his adhesion. Not only will he repeat and follow up his\nstroke, but the nation will add its irresistible strength. If the ruler\nhas duties, so has the citizen. In times like these, when the nation is\nimperilled, what man can, without shame, receive good news from day to\nday without giving good news of himself? What right has any one to read\nin the journals tidings of victories, if he has not bought them by his\nown valor, treasure, personal sacrifice, or by service as good in his\nown department? With this blot removed from our national honor, this\nheavy load lifted off the national heart, we shall not fear henceforward\nto show our faces among mankind. We shall cease to be hypocrites and\npretenders, but what we have styled our free institutions will be\nsuch.[170]\n\nIn the light of this event the public distress begins to be removed.\nWhat if the brokers\u2019 quotations show our stocks discredited, and the\ngold dollar costs one hundred and twenty-seven cents? These tables are\nfallacious. Every acre in the free states gained substantial value on\nthe twenty-second of September. The cause of disunion and war has been\nreached and begun to be removed. Every man\u2019s house-lot and garden are\nrelieved of the malaria which the purest winds and strongest sunshine\ncould not penetrate and purge. The territory of the Union shines to-day\nwith a lustre which every European emigrant can discern from far; a sign\nof inmost security and permanence. Is it feared that taxes will check\nimmigration? That depends on what the taxes are spent for. If they go to\nfill up this yawning Dismal Swamp, which engulfed armies and populations,\nand created plague, and neutralized hitherto all the vast capabilities of\nthis continent,\u2014then this taxation, which makes the land wholesome and\nhabitable, and will draw all men unto it, is the best investment in which\nproperty-holder ever lodged his earnings.\n\nWhilst we have pointed out the opportuneness of the Proclamation, it\nremains to be said that the President had no choice. He might look\nwistfully for what variety of courses lay open to him; every line but\none was closed up with fire. This one, too, bristled with danger,\nbut through it was the sole safety. The measure he has adopted was\nimperative. It is wonderful to see the unseasonable senility of what\nis called the Peace Party, through all its masks, blinding their eyes\nto the main feature of the war, namely, its inevitableness. The war\nexisted long before the cannonade of Sumter, and could not be postponed.\nIt might have begun otherwise or elsewhere, but war was in the minds\nand bones of the combatants, it was written on the iron leaf, and you\nmight as easily dodge gravitation. If we had consented to a peaceable\nsecession of the rebels, the divided sentiment of the border states made\npeaceable secession impossible, the insatiable temper of the South made\nit impossible, and the slaves on the border, wherever the border might\nbe, were an incessant fuel to rekindle the fire. Give the Confederacy\nNew Orleans, Charleston, and Richmond, and they would have demanded\nSt. Louis and Baltimore. Give them these, and they would have insisted\non Washington. Give them Washington, and they would have assumed the\narmy and navy, and, through these, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.\nIt looks as if the battle-field would have been at least as large in\nthat event as it is now. The war was formidable, but could not be\navoided. The war was and is an immense mischief, but brought with it the\nimmense benefit of drawing a line and rallying the free states to fix\nit impassably,\u2014preventing the whole force of Southern connection and\ninfluence throughout the North from distracting every city with endless\nconfusion, detaching that force and reducing it to handfuls, and, in the\nprogress of hostilities, disinfecting us of our habitual proclivity,\nthrough the affection of trade and the traditions of the Democratic\nparty, to follow Southern leading.[171]\n\nThese necessities which have dictated the conduct of the federal\ngovernment are overlooked especially by our foreign critics. The popular\nstatement of the opponents of the war abroad is the impossibility of our\nsuccess. \u201cIf you could add,\u201d say they, \u201cto your strength the whole army\nof England, of France and of Austria, you could not coerce eight millions\nof people to come under this government against their will.\u201d This is\nan odd thing for an Englishman, a Frenchman or an Austrian to say, who\nremembers Europe of the last seventy years,\u2014the condition of Italy, until\n1859,\u2014of Poland, since 1793,\u2014of France, of French Algiers,\u2014of British\nIreland, and British India. But granting the truth, rightly read, of the\nhistorical aphorism, that \u201cthe people always conquer,\u201d it is to be noted\nthat, in the Southern States, the tenure of land and the local laws, with\nslavery, give the social system not a democratic but an aristocratic\ncomplexion; and those states have shown every year a more hostile and\naggressive temper, until the instinct of self-preservation forced us into\nthe war. And the aim of the war on our part is indicated by the aim of\nthe President\u2019s Proclamation, namely, to break up the false combination\nof Southern society, to destroy the piratic feature in it which makes it\nour enemy only as it is the enemy of the human race, and so allow its\nreconstruction on a just and healthful basis. Then new affinities will\nact, the old repulsion will cease, and, the cause of war being removed,\nNature and trade may be trusted to establish a lasting peace.\n\nWe think we cannot overstate the wisdom and benefit of this act of the\ngovernment. The malignant cry of the Secession press within the free\nstates, and the recent action of the Confederate Congress, are decisive\nas to its efficiency and correctness of aim. Not less so is the silent\njoy which has greeted it in all generous hearts, and the new hope it has\nbreathed into the world. It was well to delay the steamers at the wharves\nuntil this edict could be put on board. It will be an insurance to the\nship as it goes plunging through the sea with glad tidings to all people.\nHappy are the young, who find the pestilence cleansed out of the earth,\nleaving open to them an honest career. Happy the old, who see Nature\npurified before they depart. Do not let the dying die: hold them back to\nthis world, until you have charged their ear and heart with this message\nto other spiritual societies, announcing the melioration of our planet:\u2014\n\n    \u201cIncertainties now crown themselves assured,\n    And Peace proclaims olives of endless age.\u201d[172]\n\nMeantime that ill-fated, much-injured race which the Proclamation\nrespects will lose somewhat of the dejection sculptured for ages in their\nbronzed countenance, uttered in the wailing of their plaintive music,\u2014a\nrace naturally benevolent, docile, industrious, and whose very miseries\nsprang from their great talent for usefulness, which, in a more moral\nage, will not only defend their independence, but will give them a rank\namong nations.[173]\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\nABRAHAM LINCOLN\n\nREMARKS AT THE FUNERAL SERVICES HELD IN CONCORD, APRIL 19, 1865\n\n          \u201cNature, they say, doth dote,\n          And cannot make a man\n          Save on some worn-out plan,\n          Repeating us by rote:\n    For him her Old-World moulds aside she threw,\n        And, choosing sweet clay from the breast\n          Of the unexhausted West,\n    With stuff untainted shaped a hero new,\n    Wise, steadfast in the strength of God, and true.\n          How beautiful to see\n    Once more a shepherd of mankind indeed,\n    Who loved his charge, but never loved to lead;\n    One whose meek flock the people joyed to be,\n        Not lured by any cheat of birth,\n        But by his clear-grained human worth,\n    And brave old wisdom of sincerity!\n        They knew that outward grace is dust;\n        They could not choose but trust\n    In that sure-footed mind\u2019s unfaltering skill,\n          And supple-tempered will\n    That bent, like perfect steel, to spring again and thrust.\n    ...\n          Nothing of Europe here,\n    Or, then, of Europe fronting mornward still,\n          Ere any names of Serf and Peer\n        Could Nature\u2019s equal scheme deface; ...\n        Here was a type of the true elder race,\n    And one of Plutarch\u2019s men talked with us face to face.\u201d\n\n                                   LOWELL, _Commemoration Ode_.\n\n\nABRAHAM LINCOLN\n\nWe meet under the gloom of a calamity which darkens down over the minds\nof good men in all civil society, as the fearful tidings travel over sea,\nover land, from country to country, like the shadow of an uncalculated\neclipse over the planet. Old as history is, and manifold as are its\ntragedies, I doubt if any death has caused so much pain to mankind as\nthis has caused, or will cause, on its announcement; and this, not so\nmuch because nations are by modern arts brought so closely together, as\nbecause of the mysterious hopes and fears which, in the present day, are\nconnected with the name and institutions of America.\n\nIn this country, on Saturday, every one was struck dumb, and saw at first\nonly deep below deep, as he meditated on the ghastly blow. And perhaps,\nat this hour, when the coffin which contains the dust of the President\nsets forward on its long march through mourning states, on its way to his\nhome in Illinois, we might well be silent, and suffer the awful voices of\nthe time to thunder to us. Yes, but that first despair was brief: the man\nwas not so to be mourned. He was the most active and hopeful of men; and\nhis work had not perished: but acclamations of praise for the task he had\naccomplished burst out into a song of triumph, which even tears for his\ndeath cannot keep down.\n\nThe President stood before us as a man of the people. He was thoroughly\nAmerican, had never crossed the sea, had never been spoiled by English\ninsularity or French dissipation; a quite native, aboriginal man, as an\nacorn from the oak; no aping of foreigners, no frivolous accomplishments,\nKentuckian born, working on a farm, a flatboatman, a captain in the Black\nHawk War, a country lawyer, a representative in the rural legislature\nof Illinois;\u2014on such modest foundations the broad structure of his fame\nwas laid. How slowly, and yet by happily prepared steps, he came to his\nplace. All of us remember\u2014it is only a history of five or six years\u2014the\nsurprise and the disappointment of the country at his first nomination\nby the convention at Chicago. Mr. Seward, then in the culmination of his\ngood fame, was the favorite of the Eastern States. And when the new and\ncomparatively unknown name of Lincoln was announced (notwithstanding the\nreport of the acclamations of that convention), we heard the result\ncoldly and sadly. It seemed too rash, on a purely local reputation, to\nbuild so grave a trust in such anxious times; and men naturally talked\nof the chances in politics as incalculable. But it turned out not to\nbe chance. The profound good opinion which the people of Illinois and\nof the West had conceived of him, and which they had imparted to their\ncolleagues, that they also might justify themselves to their constituents\nat home, was not rash, though they did not begin to know the riches of\nhis worth.[174]\n\nA plain man of the people, an extraordinary fortune attended him. He\noffered no shining qualities at the first encounter; he did not offend\nby superiority. He had a face and manner which disarmed suspicion, which\ninspired confidence, which confirmed good will. He was a man without\nvices. He had a strong sense of duty, which it was very easy for him\nto obey. Then, he had what farmers call a long head; was excellent in\nworking out the sum for himself; in arguing his case and convincing you\nfairly and firmly. Then, it turned out that he was a great worker; had\nprodigious faculty of performance; worked easily. A good worker is so\nrare; everybody has some disabling quality. In a host of young men that\nstart together and promise so many brilliant leaders for the next age,\neach fails on trial; one by bad health, one by conceit, or by love of\npleasure, or lethargy, or an ugly temper,\u2014each has some disqualifying\nfault that throws him out of the career. But this man was sound to the\ncore, cheerful, persistent, all right for labor, and liked nothing so\nwell.\n\nThen, he had a vast good nature, which made him tolerant and accessible\nto all; fair-minded, leaning to the claim of the petitioner; affable, and\nnot sensible to the affliction which the innumerable visits paid to him\nwhen President would have brought to any one else.[175] And how this good\nnature became a noble humanity, in many a tragic case which the events of\nthe war brought to him, every one will remember; and with what increasing\ntenderness he dealt when a whole race was thrown on his compassion. The\npoor negro said of him, on an impressive occasion, \u201cMassa Linkum am\neberywhere.\u201d\n\nThen his broad good humor, running easily into jocular talk, in which he\ndelighted and in which he excelled, was a rich gift to this wise man.\nIt enabled him to keep his secret; to meet every kind of man and every\nrank in society; to take off the edge of the severest decisions; to mask\nhis own purpose and sound his companion; and to catch with true instinct\nthe temper of every company he addressed. And, more than all, it is to\na man of severe labor, in anxious and exhausting crises, the natural\nrestorative, good as sleep, and is the protection of the overdriven brain\nagainst rancor and insanity.\n\nHe is the author of a multitude of good sayings, so disguised as\npleasantries that it is certain they had no reputation at first but as\njests; and only later, by the very acceptance and adoption they find in\nthe mouths of millions, turn out to be the wisdom of the hour. I am sure\nif this man had ruled in a period of less facility of printing, he would\nhave become mythological in a very few years, like \u00c6sop or Pilpay, or one\nof the Seven Wise Masters, by his fables and proverbs. But the weight\nand penetration of many passages in his letters, messages and speeches,\nhidden now by the very closeness of their application to the moment, are\ndestined hereafter to wide fame. What pregnant definitions; what unerring\ncommon sense; what foresight; and, on great occasion, what lofty, and\nmore than national, what humane tone! His brief speech at Gettysburg will\nnot easily be surpassed by words on any recorded occasion. This, and one\nother American speech, that of John Brown to the court that tried him,\nand a part of Kossuth\u2019s speech at Birmingham, can only be compared with\neach other, and with no fourth.\n\nHis occupying the chair of state was a triumph of the good sense of\nmankind, and of the public conscience. This middle-class country had got\na middle-class president, at last. Yes, in manners and sympathies, but\nnot in powers, for his powers were superior. This man grew according to\nthe need. His mind mastered the problem of the day; and as the problem\ngrew, so did his comprehension of it. Rarely was man so fitted to the\nevent. In the midst of fears and jealousies, in the Babel of counsels\nand parties, this man wrought incessantly with all his might and all\nhis honesty, laboring to find what the people wanted, and how to obtain\nthat. It cannot be said there is any exaggeration of his worth. If ever\na man was fairly tested, he was. There was no lack of resistance, nor of\nslander, nor of ridicule. The times have allowed no state secrets; the\nnation has been in such ferment, such multitudes had to be trusted, that\nno secret could be kept. Every door was ajar, and we know all that befell.\n\nThen, what an occasion was the whirlwind of the war. Here was place for\nno holiday magistrate, no fair-weather sailor; the new pilot was hurried\nto the helm in a tornado. In four years,\u2014four years of battle-days,\u2014his\nendurance, his fertility of resources, his magnanimity, were sorely tried\nand never found wanting. There, by his courage, his justice, his even\ntemper, his fertile counsel, his humanity, he stood a heroic figure in\nthe centre of a heroic epoch. He is the true history of the American\npeople in his time. Step by step he walked before them; slow with their\nslowness, quickening his march by theirs, the true representative of\nthis continent; an entirely public man; father of his country, the pulse\nof twenty millions throbbing in his heart, the thought of their minds\narticulated by his tongue.\n\nAdam Smith remarks that the axe, which in Houbraken\u2019s portraits of\nBritish kings and worthies is engraved under those who have suffered\nat the block, adds a certain lofty charm to the picture. And who does\nnot see, even in this tragedy so recent, how fast the terror and ruin\nof the massacre are already burning into glory around the victim?\nFar happier this fate than to have lived to be wished away; to have\nwatched the decay of his own faculties; to have seen\u2014perhaps even he\u2014the\nproverbial ingratitude of statesmen; to have seen mean men preferred.\nHad he not lived long enough to keep the greatest promise that ever man\nmade to his fellow men,\u2014the practical abolition of slavery? He had seen\nTennessee, Missouri and Maryland emancipate their slaves. He had seen\nSavannah, Charleston and Richmond surrendered; had seen the main army of\nthe rebellion lay down its arms. He had conquered the public opinion of\nCanada, England and France.[176] Only Washington can compare with him in\nfortune.\n\nAnd what if it should turn out, in the unfolding of the web, that he\nhad reached the term; that this heroic deliverer could no longer serve\nus; that the rebellion had touched its natural conclusion, and what\nremained to be done required new and uncommitted hands,\u2014a new spirit\nborn out of the ashes of the war; and that Heaven, wishing to show the\nworld a completed benefactor, shall make him serve his country even more\nby his death than by his life? Nations, like kings, are not good by\nfacility and complaisance. \u201cThe kindness of kings consists in justice\nand strength.\u201d Easy good nature has been the dangerous foible of the\nRepublic, and it was necessary that its enemies should outrage it, and\ndrive us to unwonted firmness, to secure the salvation of this country in\nthe next ages.\n\nThe ancients believed in a serene and beautiful Genius which ruled in the\naffairs of nations; which, with a slow but stern justice, carried forward\nthe fortunes of certain chosen houses, weeding out single offenders or\noffending families, and securing at last the firm prosperity of the\nfavorites of Heaven. It was too narrow a view of the Eternal Nemesis.\nThere is a serene Providence which rules the fate of nations, which\nmakes little account of time, little of one generation or race, makes\nno account of disasters, conquers alike by what is called defeat or by\nwhat is called victory, thrusts aside enemy and obstruction, crushes\neverything immoral as inhuman, and obtains the ultimate triumph of the\nbest race by the sacrifice of everything which resists the moral laws of\nthe world.[177] It makes its own instruments, creates the man for the\ntime, trains him in poverty, inspires his genius, and arms him for his\ntask. It has given every race its own talent, and ordains that only that\nrace which combines perfectly with the virtues of all shall endure.[178]\n\n\n\n\nXVI\n\nHARVARD COMMEMORATION SPEECH\n\nJULY 21, 1865\n\n                            \u201c\u2018Old classmate, say\n    Do you remember our Commencement Day?\n    Were we such boys as these at twenty?\u2019 Nay,\n    God called them to a nobler task than ours,\n    And gave them holier thoughts and manlier powers,\u2014\n    This is the day of fruits and not of flowers!\n    These \u2018boys\u2019 we talk about like ancient sages\n    Are the same _men_ we read of in old pages\u2014\n    The bronze recast of dead heroic ages!\n    We grudge them not, our dearest, bravest, best,\u2014\n    Let but the quarrel\u2019s issue stand confest:\n    \u2019Tis Earth\u2019s old slave-God battling for his crown\n    And Freedom fighting with her visor down.\u201d\n\n                                               HOLMES.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \u201cMany loved Truth, and lavished life\u2019s best oil\n      Amid the dust of books to find her,\n    Content at last, for guerdon of their toil,\n      With the cast mantle she hath left behind her.\n        Many in sad faith sought for her,\n        Many with crossed hands sighed for her;\n        But these, our brothers, fought for her,\n        At life\u2019s dear peril wrought for her,\n        So loved her that they died for her,\n        Tasting the raptured fleetness\n        Of her divine completeness:\n          Their higher instinct knew\n    Those love her best who to themselves are true,\n    And what they dare to dream of, dare to do;\n        They followed her and found her\n        Where all may hope to find,\n    Not in the ashes of the burnt-out mind,\n    But beautiful, with danger\u2019s sweetness round her.\n        Where faith made whole with deed\n        Breathes its awakening breath\n        Into the lifeless creed,\n        They saw her plumed and mailed,\n        With sweet, stern face unveiled,\n    And all-repaying eyes, look proud on them in death.\u201d\n\n                            LOWELL, _Commemoration Ode_.\n\n\nHARVARD COMMEMORATION SPEECH\n\nMR. CHAIRMAN, AND GENTLEMEN: With whatever opinion we come here, I think\nit is not in man to see, without a feeling of pride and pleasure, a tried\nsoldier, the armed defender of the right. I think that in these last\nyears all opinions have been affected by the magnificent and stupendous\nspectacle which Divine Providence has offered us of the energies that\nslept in the children of this country,\u2014that slept and have awakened. I\nsee thankfully those that are here, but dim eyes in vain explore for some\nwho are not.\n\nThe old Greek Heraclitus said, \u201cWar is the Father of all things.\u201d He said\nit, no doubt, as science, but we of this day can repeat it as political\nand social truth. War passes the power of all chemical solvents, breaking\nup the old adhesions, and allowing the atoms of society to take a new\norder. It is not the Government, but the War, that has appointed the good\ngenerals, sifted out the pedants, put in the new and vigorous blood. The\nWar has lifted many other people besides Grant and Sherman into their\ntrue places. Even Divine Providence, we may say, always seems to work\nafter a certain military necessity. Every nation punishes the General who\nis not victorious. It is a rule in games of chance that the cards beat\nall the players, and revolutions disconcert and outwit all the insurgents.\n\nThe revolutions carry their own points, sometimes to the ruin of those\nwho set them on foot. The proof that war also is within the highest\nright, is a marked benefactor in the hands of the Divine Providence, is\nits _morale_. The war gave back integrity to this erring and immoral\nnation. It charged with power, peaceful, amiable men, to whose life\nwar and discord were abhorrent. What an infusion of character went out\nfrom this and other colleges! What an infusion of character down to the\nranks! The experience has been uniform that it is the gentle soul that\nmakes the firm hero after all. It is easy to recall the mood in which our\nyoung men, snatched from every peaceful pursuit, went to the war. Many of\nthem had never handled a gun. They said, \u201cIt is not in me to resist. I\ngo because I must. It is a duty which I shall never forgive myself if I\ndecline. I do not know that I can make a soldier. I may be very clumsy.\nPerhaps I shall be timid; but you can rely on me. Only one thing is\ncertain, I can well die, but I cannot afford to misbehave.\u201d\n\nIn fact the infusion of culture and tender humanity from these scholars\nand idealists who went to the war in their own despite\u2014God knows they\nhad no fury for killing their old friends and countrymen\u2014had its signal\nand lasting effect. It was found that enthusiasm was a more potent ally\nthan science and munitions of war without it. \u201cIt is a principle of\nwar,\u201d said Napoleon, \u201cthat when you can use the thunderbolt you must\nprefer it to the cannon.\u201d Enthusiasm was the thunderbolt. Here in this\nlittle Massachusetts, in smaller Rhode Island, in this little nest of New\nEngland republics it flamed out when the guilty gun was aimed at Sumter.\n\nMr. Chairman, standing here in Harvard College, the parent of all the\ncolleges; in Massachusetts, the parent of all the North; when I consider\nher influence on the country as a principal planter of the Western\nStates, and now, by her teachers, preachers, journalists and books, as\nwell as by traffic and production, the diffuser of religious, literary\nand political opinion;\u2014and when I see how irresistible the convictions\nof Massachusetts are in these swarming populations,\u2014I think the little\nstate bigger than I knew. When her blood is up, she has a fist big\nenough to knock down an empire. And her blood was roused. Scholars\nchanged the black coat for the blue. A single company in the Forty-fourth\nMassachusetts Regiment contained thirty-five sons of Harvard. You all\nknow as well as I the story of these dedicated men, who knew well on\nwhat duty they went,\u2014whose fathers and mothers said of each slaughtered\nson, \u201cWe gave him up when he enlisted.\u201d One mother said, when her son\nwas offered the command of the first negro regiment, \u201cIf he accepts it,\nI shall be as proud as if I had heard that he was shot.\u201d[179] These men,\nthus tender, thus high-bred, thus peaceable, were always in the front and\nalways employed. They might say, with their forefathers the old Norse\nVikings, \u201cWe sung the mass of lances from morning until evening.\u201d And in\nhow many cases it chanced, when the hero had fallen, they who came by\nnight to his funeral, on the morrow returned to the war-path to show his\nslayers the way to death!\n\nAh! young brothers, all honor and gratitude to you,\u2014you, manly defenders,\nLiberty\u2019s and Humanity\u2019s bodyguard! We shall not again disparage\nAmerica, now that we have seen what men it will bear. We see\u2014we thank you\nfor it\u2014a new era, worth to mankind all the treasure and all the lives it\nhas cost; yes, worth to the world the lives of all this generation of\nAmerican men, if they had been demanded.[180]\n\n\n\n\nXVII\n\nADDRESS\n\nAT THE DEDICATION OF THE SOLDIERS\u2019 MONUMENT IN CONCORD, APRIL 19, 1867\n\n    \u201cThey have shown what men may do,\n    They have proved how men may die,\u2014\n    Count, who can, the fields they have pressed,\n    Each face to the solemn sky!\u201d\n\n                                        BROWNELL.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \u201cThink you these felt no charms\n    In their gray homesteads and embowered farms?\n    In household faces waiting at the door\n    Their evening step should lighten up no more?\n    In fields their boyish feet had known?\n    In trees their fathers\u2019 hands had set,\n    And which with them had grown,\n    Widening each year their leafy coronet?\n    Felt they no pang of passionate regret\n    For those unsolid goods that seem so much our own?\n    These things are dear to every man that lives,\n    And life prized more for what it lends than gives.\n    Yea, many a tie, through iteration sweet,\n    Strove to detain their fatal feet;\n    And yet the enduring half they chose,\n    Whose choice decides a man life\u2019s slave or king,\n    The invisible things of God before the seen and known:\n    Therefore their memory inspiration blows\n    With echoes gathering on from zone to zone;\n    For manhood is the one immortal thing\n    Beneath Time\u2019s changeful sky,\n    And, where it lightened once, from age to age,\n    Men come to learn, in grateful pilgrimage,\n    That length of days is knowing when to die.\u201d\n\n                                     LOWELL, _Concord Ode_.\n\n\nADDRESS\n\nDEDICATION OF SOLDIERS\u2019 MONUMENT IN CONCORD, APRIL 19, 1867\n\nFELLOW CITIZENS: The day is in Concord doubly our calendar day, as being\nthe anniversary of the invasion of the town by the British troops in\n1775, and of the departure of the company of volunteers for Washington,\nin 1861. We are all pretty well aware that the facts which make to us the\ninterest of this day are in a great degree personal and local here; that\nevery other town and city has its own heroes and memorial days, and that\nwe can hardly expect a wide sympathy for the names and anecdotes which\nwe delight to record. We are glad and proud that we have no monopoly of\nmerit. We are thankful that other towns and cities are as rich; that the\nheroes of old and of recent date, who made and kept America free and\nunited, were not rare or solitary growths, but sporadic over vast tracts\nof the Republic. Yet, as it is a piece of nature and the common sense\nthat the throbbing chord that holds us to our kindred, our friends and\nour town, is not to be denied or resisted,\u2014no matter how frivolous or\nunphilosophical its pulses,\u2014we shall cling affectionately to our houses,\nour river and pastures, and believe that our visitors will pardon us if\nwe take the privilege of talking freely about our nearest neighbors as\nin a family party;\u2014well assured, meantime, that the virtues we are met\nto honor were directed on aims which command the sympathy of every loyal\nAmerican citizen, were exerted for the protection of our common country,\nand aided its triumph.\n\nThe town has thought fit to signify its honor for a few of its sons by\nraising an obelisk in the square. It is a simple pile enough,\u2014a few slabs\nof granite, dug just below the surface of the soil, and laid upon the\ntop of it; but as we have learned that the upheaved mountain, from which\nthese discs or flakes were broken, was once a glowing mass at white heat,\nslowly crystallized, then uplifted by the central fires of the globe:\nso the roots of the events it appropriately marks are in the heart of\nthe universe. I shall say of this obelisk, planted here in our quiet\nplains, what Richter says of the volcano in the fair landscape of Naples:\n\u201cVesuvius stands in this poem of Nature, and exalts everything, as war\ndoes the age.\u201d\n\nThe art of the architect and the sense of the town have made these dumb\nstones speak; have, if I may borrow the old language of the church,\nconverted these elements from a secular to a sacred and spiritual use;\nhave made them look to the past and the future; have given them a meaning\nfor the imagination and the heart. The sense of the town, the eloquent\ninscriptions the shaft now bears, the memories of these martyrs, the\nnoble names which yet have gathered only their first fame, whatever good\ngrows to the country out of the war, the largest results, the future\npower and genius of the land, will go on clothing this shaft with daily\nbeauty and spiritual life. \u2019Tis certain that a plain stone like this,\nstanding on such memories, having no reference to utilities, but only to\nthe grand instincts of the civil and moral man, mixes with surrounding\nnature,\u2014by day with the changing seasons, by night the stars roll over\nit gladly,\u2014becomes a sentiment, a poet, a prophet, an orator, to every\ntownsman and passenger, an altar where the noble youth shall in all time\ncome to make his secret vows.[181]\n\nThe old Monument, a short half-mile from this house, stands to signalize\nthe first Revolution, where the people resisted offensive usurpations,\noffensive taxes of the British Parliament, claiming that there should\nbe no tax without representation. Instructed by events, after the\nquarrel began, the Americans took higher ground, and stood for political\nindependence. But in the necessities of the hour, they overlooked the\nmoral law, and winked at a practical exception to the Bill of Rights they\nhad drawn up. They winked at the exception, believing it insignificant.\nBut the moral law, the nature of things, did not wink at it, but kept\nits eye wide open. It turned out that this one violation was a subtle\npoison, which in eighty years corrupted the whole overgrown body politic,\nand brought the alternative of extirpation of the poison or ruin to the\nRepublic.[182]\n\nThis new Monument is built to mark the arrival of the nation at the new\nprinciple,\u2014say, rather, at its new acknowledgment, for the principle is\nas old as Heaven,\u2014that only that state can live, in which injury to the\nleast member is recognized as damage to the whole.\n\nReform must begin at home. The aim of the hour was to reconstruct the\nSouth; but first the North had to be reconstructed. Its own theory and\npractice of liberty had got sadly out of gear, and must be corrected. It\nwas done on the instant. A thunderstorm at sea sometimes reverses the\nmagnets in the ship, and south is north. The storm of war works the like\nmiracle on men. Every Democrat who went South came back a Republican,\nlike the governors who, in Buchanan\u2019s time, went to Kansas, and instantly\ntook the free-state colors. War, says the poet, is\n\n                  \u201cthe arduous strife,\n    To which the triumph of all good is given.\u201d[183]\n\nEvery principle is a war-note. When the rights of man are recited\nunder any old government, every one of them is a declaration of war.\nWar civilizes, rearranges the population, distributing by ideas,\u2014the\ninnovators on one side, the antiquaries on the other. It opens the eyes\nwider. Once we were patriots up to the town-bounds, or the state-line.\nBut when you replace the love of family or clan by a principle, as\nfreedom, instantly that fire runs over the state-line into New Hampshire,\nVermont, New York and Ohio, into the prairie and beyond, leaps the\nmountains, bridges river and lake, burns as hotly in Kansas and\nCalifornia as in Boston, and no chemist can discriminate between one\nsoil and the other. It lifts every population to an equal power and merit.\n\nAs long as we debate in council, both sides may form their private guess\nwhat the event may be, or which is the strongest. But the moment you cry\n\u201cEvery man to his tent, O Israel!\u201d the delusions of hope and fear are at\nan end;\u2014the strength is now to be tested by the eternal facts. There will\nbe no doubt more. The world is equal to itself. The secret architecture\nof things begins to disclose itself; the fact that all things were made\non a basis of right; that justice is really desired by all intelligent\nbeings; that opposition to it is against the nature of things; and that,\nwhatever may happen in this hour or that, the years and the centuries are\nalways pulling down the wrong and building up the right.\n\nThe war made the Divine Providence credible to many who did not\nbelieve the good Heaven quite honest. Every man was an abolitionist by\nconviction, but did not believe that his neighbor was. The opinions of\nmasses of men, which the tactics of primary caucuses and the proverbial\ntimidity of trade had concealed, the war discovered; and it was\nfound, contrary to all popular belief, that the country was at heart\nabolitionist, and for the Union was ready to die.\n\nAs cities of men are the first effects of civilization, and also\ninstantly causes of more civilization, so armies, which are only\nwandering cities, generate a vast heat, and lift the spirit of the\nsoldiers who compose them to the boiling point. The armies mustered in\nthe North were as much missionaries to the mind of the country as they\nwere carriers of material force, and had the vast advantage of carrying\nwhither they marched a higher civilization. Of course, there are noble\nmen everywhere, and there are such in the South; and the noble know the\nnoble, wherever they meet; and we have all heard passages of generous\nand exceptional behavior exhibited by individuals there to our officers\nand men, during the war. But the common people, rich or poor, were the\nnarrowest and most conceited of mankind, as arrogant as the negroes\non the Gambia River; and, by the way, it looks as if the editors of\nthe Southern press were in all times selected from this class. The\ninvasion of Northern farmers, mechanics, engineers, tradesmen, lawyers\nand students did more than forty years of peace had done to educate the\nSouth.[184] \u201cThis will be a slow business,\u201d writes our Concord captain\nhome, \u201cfor we have to stop and civilize the people as we go along.\u201d\n\nIt is an interesting part of the history, the manner in which this\nincongruous militia were made soldiers. That was done again on the Kansas\nplan. Our farmers went to Kansas as peaceable, God-fearing men as the\nmembers of our school committee here. But when the Border raids were let\nloose on their villages, these people, who turned pale at home if called\nto dress a cut finger, on witnessing the butchery done by the Missouri\nriders on women and babes, were so beside themselves with rage, that\nthey became on the instant the bravest soldiers and the most determined\navengers.[185] And the first events of the war of the Rebellion gave the\nlike training to the new recruits.\n\nAll sorts of men went to the war,\u2014the roughs, men who liked harsh play\nand violence, men for whom pleasure was not strong enough, but who\nwanted pain, and found sphere at last for their superabundant energy;\nthen the adventurous type of New Englander, with his appetite for\nnovelty and travel; the village politician, who could now verify his\nnewspaper knowledge, see the South, and amass what a stock of adventures\nto retail hereafter at the fireside, or to the well-known companions\non the Mill-dam; young men, also, of excellent education and polished\nmanners, delicately brought up; manly farmers, skilful mechanics, young\ntradesmen, men hitherto of narrow opportunities of knowing the world, but\nwell taught in the grammar-schools. But perhaps in every one of these\nclasses were idealists, men who went from a religious duty. I have a\nnote of a conversation that occurred in our first company, the morning\nbefore the battle of Bull Run. At a halt in the march, a few of our boys\nwere sitting on a rail fence talking together whether it was right to\nsacrifice themselves. One of them said, \u2018he had been thinking a good deal\nabout it, last night, and he thought one was never too young to die for\na principle.\u2019 One of our later volunteers, on the day when he left home,\nin reply to my question, How can you be spared from your farm, now that\nyour father is so ill? said: \u201cI go because I shall always be sorry if I\ndid not go when the country called me. I can go as well as another.\u201d One\nwrote to his father these words: \u201cYou may think it strange that I, who\nhave always naturally rather shrunk from danger, should wish to enter\nthe army; but there is a higher Power that tunes the hearts of men,\nand enables them to see their duty, and gives them courage to face the\ndangers with which those duties are attended.\u201d And the captain writes\nhome of another of his men, \u201cB\u2e3a comes from a sense of duty and love of\ncountry, and these are the soldiers you can depend upon.\u201d[186]\n\nNone of us can have forgotten how sharp a test to try our peaceful people\nwith, was the first call for troops. I doubt not many of our soldiers\ncould repeat the confession of a youth whom I knew in the beginning of\nthe war, who enlisted in New York, went to the field, and died early.\nBefore his departure he confided to his sister that he was naturally a\ncoward, but was determined that no one should ever find it out; that he\nhad long trained himself by forcing himself, on the suspicion of any near\ndanger, to go directly up to it, cost him what struggles it might. Yet\nit is from this temperament of sensibility that great heroes have been\nformed.\n\nOur first company was led by an officer who had grown up in this village\nfrom a boy.[187] The older among us can well remember him at school,\nat play and at work, all the way up, the most amiable, sensible,\nunpretending of men; fair, blond, the rose lived long in his cheek;\ngrave, but social, and one of the last men in this town you would have\npicked out for the rough dealing of war,\u2014not a trace of fierceness, much\nless of recklessness, or of the devouring thirst for excitement; tender\nas a woman in his care for a cough or a chilblain in his men; had troches\nand arnica in his pocket for them. The army officers were welcome to\ntheir jest on him as too kind for a captain, and, later, as the colonel\nwho got off his horse when he saw one of his men limp on the march, and\ntold him to ride. But _he_ knew that his men had found out, first that\nhe was captain, then that he was colonel, and neither dared nor wished\nto disobey him. He was a man without conceit, who never fancied himself\na philosopher or a saint; the most modest and amiable of men, engaged in\ncommon duties, but equal always to the occasion; and the war showed him\nstill equal, however stern and terrible the occasion grew,\u2014disclosed in\nhim a strong good sense, great fertility of resource, the helping hand,\nand then the moral qualities of a commander,\u2014a patience not to be tired\nout, a serious devotion to the cause of the country that never swerved,\na hope that never failed. He was a Puritan in the army, with traits that\nremind one of John Brown,\u2014an integrity incorruptible, and an ability\nthat always rose to the need.\n\nYou will remember that these colonels, captains and lieutenants, and the\nprivates too, are domestic men, just wrenched away from their families\nand their business by this rally of all the manhood in the land. They\nhave notes to pay at home; have farms, shops, factories, affairs of\nevery kind to think of and write home about. Consider what sacrifice and\nhavoc in business arrangements this war-blast made. They have to think\ncarefully of every last resource at home on which their wives or mothers\nmay fall back; upon the little account in the savings bank, the grass\nthat can be sold, the old cow, or the heifer. These necessities make the\ntopics of the ten thousand letters with which the mail-bags came loaded\nday by day. These letters play a great part in the war. The writing of\nletters made the Sunday in every camp:\u2014meantime they are without the\nmeans of writing. After the first marches there is no letter-paper, there\nare no envelopes, no postage-stamps for these were wetted into a solid\nmass in the rains and mud. Some of these letters are written on the back\nof old bills, some on brown paper, or strips of newspaper; written by\nfire-light, making the short night shorter; written on the knee, in the\nmud, with pencil, six words at a time; or in the saddle, and have to\nstop because the horse will not stand still. But the words are proud and\ntender,\u2014\u201cTell mother I will not disgrace her;\u201d \u201ctell her not to worry\nabout me, for I know she would not have had me stay at home if she could\nas well as not.\u201d The letters of the captain are the dearest treasures\nof this town. Always devoted, sometimes anxious, sometimes full of joy\nat the deportment of his comrades, they contain the sincere praise of\nmen whom I now see in this assembly. If Marshal Montluc\u2019s[188] Memoirs\nare the Bible of soldiers, as Henry IV. of France said, Colonel Prescott\nmight furnish the Book of Epistles.\n\nHe writes, \u201cYou don\u2019t know how one gets attached to a company by living\nwith them and sleeping with them all the time. I know every man by heart.\nI know every man\u2019s weak spot,\u2014who is shaky, and who is true blue.\u201d He\nnever remits his care of the men, aiming to hold them to their good\nhabits and to keep them cheerful. For the first point, he keeps up a\nconstant acquaintance with them; urges their correspondence with their\nfriends; writes news of them home, urging his own correspondent to\nvisit their families and keep them informed about the men; encourages\na temperance society which is formed in the camp. \u201cI have not had a\nman drunk, or affected by liquor, since we came here.\u201d At one time he\nfinds his company unfortunate in having fallen between two companies of\nquite another class,\u2014\u201c\u2019tis profanity all the time; yet instead of a bad\ninfluence on our men, I think it works the other way,\u2014it disgusts them.\u201d\n\nOne day he writes, \u201cI expect to have a time, this forenoon, with the\nofficer from West Point who drills us. He is very profane, and I will\nnot stand it. If he does not stop it, I shall march my men right away\nwhen he is drilling them. There is a fine for officers swearing in the\narmy, and I have too many young men that are not used to such talk. I\ntold the colonel this morning I should do it, and shall,\u2014don\u2019t care what\nthe consequence is. This lieutenant seems to think that these men, who\nnever saw a gun, can drill as well as he, who has been at West Point four\nyears.\u201d At night he adds: \u201cI told that officer from West Point, this\nmorning, that he could not swear at my company as he did yesterday; told\nhim I would not stand it anyway. I told him I had a good many young men\nin my company whose mothers asked me to look after them, and I should do\nso, and not allow them to hear such language, especially from an officer,\nwhose duty it was to set them a better example. Told him I did not swear\nmyself and would not allow him to. He looked at me as much as to say, _Do\nyou know whom you are talking to?_ and I looked at him as much as to say,\n_Yes, I do._ He looked rather ashamed, but went through the drill without\nan oath.\u201d So much for the care of their morals. His next point is to keep\nthem cheerful. \u2019Tis better than medicine. He has games of baseball, and\npitching quoits, and euchre, whilst part of the military discipline is\nsham fights.\n\nThe best men heartily second him, and invent excellent means of their\nown. When, afterwards, five of these men were prisoners in the Parish\nPrison in New Orleans, they set themselves to use the time to the wisest\nadvantage,\u2014formed a debating-club, wrote a daily or weekly newspaper,\ncalled it \u201cStars and Stripes.\u201d It advertises, \u201cprayer-meeting at 7\no\u2019clock, in cell No. 8, second floor,\u201d and their own printed record is a\nproud and affecting narrative.\n\nWhilst the regiment was encamped at Camp Andrew, near Alexandria, in\nJune, 1861, marching orders came. Colonel Lawrence sent for eight wagons,\nbut only three came. On these they loaded all the canvas of the tents,\nbut took no tent-poles.\n\n\u201cIt looked very much like a severe thunderstorm,\u201d writes the captain,\n\u201cand I knew the men would all have to sleep out of doors, unless we\ncarried them. So I took six poles, and went to the colonel, and told him\nI had got the poles for two tents, which would cover twenty-four men, and\nunless he ordered me not to carry them, I should do so. He said he had no\nobjection, only thought they would be too much for me. We only had about\ntwelve men [the rest of the company being, perhaps, on picket or other\nduty], and some of them have their heavy knapsacks and guns to carry,\nso could not carry any poles. We started and marched two miles without\nstopping to rest, not having had anything to eat, and being very hot and\ndry.\u201d At this time Captain Prescott was daily threatened with sickness,\nand suffered the more from this heat. \u201cI told Lieutenant Bowers, this\nmorning, that I could afford to be sick from bringing the tent-poles,\nfor it saved the whole regiment from sleeping outdoors; for they would\nnot have thought of it, if I had not taken mine. The major had tried to\ndiscourage me;\u2014said, \u2018perhaps, if I carried them over, some other company\nwould get them;\u2019\u2014I told him, perhaps he did not think I was smart.\u201d He\nhad the satisfaction to see the whole regiment enjoying the protection of\nthese tents.[189]\n\nIn the disastrous battle of Bull Run this company behaved well, and the\nregimental officers believed, what is now the general conviction of the\ncountry, that the misfortunes of the day were not so much owing to the\nfault of the troops as to the insufficiency of the combinations by the\ngeneral officers. It happened, also, that the Fifth Massachusetts was\nalmost unofficered. The colonel was, early in the day, disabled by a\ncasualty; the lieutenant-colonel, the major and the adjutant were already\ntransferred to new regiments, and their places were not yet filled. The\nthree months of the enlistment expired a few days after the battle.\n\nIn the fall of 1861, the old artillery company of this town was\nreorganized, and Captain Richard Barrett received a commission in March,\n1862, from the state, as its commander. This company, chiefly recruited\nhere, was later embodied in the Forty-seventh Regiment, Massachusetts\nVolunteers, enlisted as nine months\u2019 men, and sent to New Orleans, where\nthey were employed in guard duty during their term of service. Captain\nHumphrey H. Buttrick, lieutenant in this regiment, as he had been already\nlieutenant in Captain Prescott\u2019s company in 1861, went out again in\nAugust, 1864, a captain in the Fifty-ninth Massachusetts, and saw hard\nservice in the Ninth Corps, under General Burnside. The regiment being\nformed of veterans, and in fields requiring great activity and exposure,\nsuffered extraordinary losses; Captain Buttrick and one other officer\nbeing the only officers in it who were neither killed, wounded nor\ncaptured.[190] In August, 1862, on the new requisition for troops, when\nit was becoming difficult to meet the draft,\u2014mainly through the personal\nexample and influence of Mr. Sylvester Lovejoy, twelve men, including\nhimself, were enlisted for three years, and, being soon after enrolled in\nthe Fortieth Massachusetts, went to the war; and a very good account has\nbeen heard, not only of the regiment, but of the talents and virtues of\nthese men.\n\nAfter the return of the three months\u2019 company to Concord, in 1861,\nCaptain Prescott raised a new company of volunteers, and Captain Bowers\nanother. Each of these companies included recruits from this town,\nand they formed part of the Thirty-second Regiment of Massachusetts\nVolunteers. Enlisting for three years, and remaining to the end of\nthe war, these troops saw every variety of hard service which the war\noffered, and, though suffering at first some disadvantage from change of\ncommanders, and from severe losses, they grew at last, under the command\nof Colonel Prescott, to an excellent reputation, attested by the names of\nthe thirty battles they were authorized to inscribe on their flag, and by\nthe important position usually assigned them in the field.\n\nI have found many notes of their rough experience in the march and in\nthe field. In McClellan\u2019s retreat in the Peninsula, in July, 1862, \u201cit\nis all our men can do to draw their feet out of the mud. We marched one\nmile through mud, without exaggeration, one foot deep,\u2014a good deal of\nthe way over my boots, and with short rations; on one day nothing but\nliver, blackberries, and pennyroyal tea.\u201d\u2014\u201cAt Fredericksburg we lay\neleven hours in one spot without moving, except to rise and fire.\u201d The\nnext note is, \u201ccracker for a day and a half,\u2014but all right.\u201d Another\nday, \u201chad not left the ranks for thirty hours, and the nights were broken\nby frequent alarms. How would Concord people,\u201d he asks, \u201clike to pass\nthe night on the battle-field, and hear the dying cry for help, and not\nbe able to go to them?\u201d But the regiment did good service at Harrison\u2019s\nLanding, and at Antietam, under Colonel Parker; and at Fredericksburg, in\nDecember, Lieutenant-Colonel Prescott loudly expressed his satisfaction\nat his comrades, now and then particularizing names: \u201cBowers, Shepard and\nLauriat are as brave as lions.\u201d[191]\n\nAt the battle of Gettysburg, in July, 1863, the brigade of which the\nThirty-second Regiment formed a part, was in line of battle seventy-two\nhours, and suffered severely. Colonel Prescott\u2019s regiment went in with\ntwo hundred and ten men, nineteen officers. On the second of July they\nhad to cross the famous wheat-field, under fire from the rebels in\nfront and on both flanks. Seventy men were killed or wounded out of\nseven companies. Here Francis Buttrick, whose manly beauty all of us\nremember,[192] and Sergeant Appleton, an excellent soldier, were fatally\nwounded. The Colonel was hit by three bullets. \u201cI feel,\u201d he writes,\n\u201cI have much to be thankful for that my life is spared, although I\nwould willingly die to have the regiment do as well as they have done.\nOur colors had several holes made, and were badly torn. One bullet hit\nthe staff which the bearer had in his hand. The color-bearer is brave\nas a lion; he will go anywhere you say, and no questions asked; his\nname is Marshall Davis.\u201d The Colonel took evident pleasure in the fact\nthat he could account for all his men. There were so many killed, so\nmany wounded,\u2014but no missing. For that word \u201cmissing\u201d was apt to mean\nskulking. Another incident: \u201cA friend of Lieutenant Barrow complains\nthat we did not treat his body with respect, inasmuch as we did not send\nit home. I think we were very fortunate to save it at all, for in ten\nminutes after he was killed the rebels occupied the ground, and we had\nto carry him and all our wounded nearly two miles in blankets. There was\nno place nearer than Baltimore where we could have got a coffin, and I\nsuppose it was eighty miles there. We laid him in two double blankets,\nand then sent off a long distance and got boards off a barn to make the\nbest coffin we could, and gave him burial.\u201d\n\nAfter Gettysburg, Colonel Prescott remarks that our regiment is\nhighly complimented. When Colonel Gurney, of the Ninth, came to him\nthe next day to tell him that \u201cfolks are just beginning to appreciate\nthe Thirty-second Regiment: it always was a good regiment, and people\nare just beginning to find it out;\u201d Colonel Prescott notes in his\njournal,\u2014\u201cPity they have not found it out before it was all gone. We have\na hundred and seventy-seven guns this morning.\u201d\n\nLet me add an extract from the official report of the brigade commander:\n\u201cWord was sent by General Barnes, that, when we retired, we should fall\nback under cover of the woods. This order was communicated to Colonel\nPrescott, whose regiment was then under the hottest fire. Understanding\nit to be a peremptory order to retire then, he replied, \u2018I don\u2019t want to\nretire; I am not ready to retire; I can hold this place;\u2019 and he made\ngood his assertion. Being informed that he misunderstood the order,\nwhich was only to inform him how to retire when it became necessary,\nhe was satisfied, and he and his command held their ground manfully.\u201d\nIt was said that Colonel Prescott\u2019s reply, when reported, pleased the\nActing-Brigadier-General Sweitzer mightily.\n\nAfter Gettysburg, the Thirty-second Regiment saw hard service at\nRappahannock Station; and at Baltimore, in Virginia, where they were\ndrawn up in battle order for ten days successively: crossing the Rapidan,\nand suffering from such extreme cold, a few days later, at Mine Run,\nthat the men were compelled to break rank and run in circles to keep\nthemselves from being frozen. On the third of December, they went into\nwinter quarters.\n\nI must not follow the multiplied details that make the hard work of the\nnext year. But the campaign in the Wilderness surpassed all their worst\nexperience hitherto of the soldier\u2019s life. On the third of May, they\ncrossed the Rapidan for the fifth time. On the twelfth, at Laurel Hill,\nthe regiment had twenty-one killed and seventy-five wounded, including\nfive officers. \u201cThe regiment has been in the front and centre since the\nbattle begun, eight and a half days ago, and is now building breastworks\non the Fredericksburg road. This has been the hardest fight the world\never knew. I think the loss of our army will be forty thousand. Every\nday, for the last eight days, there has been a terrible battle the whole\nlength of the line. One day they drove us; but it has been regular\nbull-dog fighting.\u201d On the twenty-first, they had been, for seventeen\ndays and nights, under arms without rest. On the twenty-third, they\ncrossed the North Anna, and achieved a great success. On the thirtieth,\nwe learn, \u201cOur regiment has never been in the second line since we\ncrossed the Rapidan, on the third.\u201d On the night of the thirtieth,\u2014\u201cThe\nhardest day we ever had. We have been in the first line twenty-six days,\nand fighting every day but two; whilst your newspapers talk of the\ninactivity of the Army of the Potomac. If those writers could be here\nand fight all day, and sleep in the trenches, and be called up several\ntimes in the night by picket-firing, they would not call it inactive.\u201d\nJune fourth is marked in the diary as \u201cAn awful day;\u2014two hundred men lost\nto the command;\u201d and not until the fifth of June comes at last a respite\nfor a short space, during which the men drew shoes and socks, and the\nofficers were able to send to the wagons and procure a change of clothes,\nfor the first time in five weeks.\n\nBut from these incessant labors there was now to be rest for one\nhead,\u2014the honored and beloved commander of the regiment. On the sixteenth\nof June, they crossed the James River, and marched to within three miles\nof Petersburg. Early in the morning of the eighteenth they went to the\nfront, formed line of battle, and were ordered to take the Norfolk and\nPetersburg Railroad from the rebels. In this charge, Colonel George\nL. Prescott was mortally wounded. After driving the enemy from the\nrailroad, crossing it, and climbing the farther bank to continue the\ncharge, he was struck, in front of his command, by a musket-ball which\nentered his breast near the heart. He was carried off the field to the\ndivision hospital, and died on the following morning. On his death-bed,\nhe received the needless assurances of his general that \u201che had done more\nthan all his duty,\u201d\u2014needless to a conscience so faithful and unspotted.\nOne of his townsmen and comrades, a sergeant in his regiment, writing to\nhis own family, uses these words: \u201cHe was one of the few men who fight\nfor principle. He did not fight for glory, honor, nor money, but because\nhe thought it his duty. These are not my feelings only, but of the whole\nregiment.\u201d\n\nOn the first of January, 1865, the Thirty-second Regiment made itself\ncomfortable in log huts, a mile south of our rear line of works before\nPetersburg. On the fourth of February, sudden orders came to move next\nmorning at daylight. At Dabney\u2019s Mills, in a sharp fight, they lost\nseventy-four in killed, wounded and missing. Here Major Shepard was taken\nprisoner. The lines were held until the tenth, with more than usual\nsuffering from snow and hail and intense cold, added to the annoyance\nof the artillery fire. On the first of April, the regiment connected\nwith Sheridan\u2019s cavalry, near the Five Forks, and took an important part\nin that battle which opened Petersburg and Richmond, and forced the\nsurrender of Lee. On the ninth, they marched in support of the cavalry,\nand were advancing in a grand charge, when the white flag of General Lee\nappeared. The brigade of which the Thirty-second Regiment formed part was\ndetailed to receive the formal surrender of the rebel arms. The homeward\nmarch began on the thirteenth, and the regiment was mustered out in the\nfield, at Washington, on the twenty-eighth of June, and arrived in Boston\non the first of July.\n\nFellow citizens: The obelisk records only the names of the dead. There is\nsomething partial in this distribution of honor. Those who went through\nthose dreadful fields and returned not deserve much more than all the\nhonor we can pay. But those also who went through the same fields, and\nreturned alive, put just as much at hazard as those who died, and, in\nother countries, would wear distinctive badges of honor as long as they\nlived. I hope the disuse of such medals or badges in this country only\nsignifies that everybody knows these men, and carries their deeds in such\nlively remembrance that they require no badge or reminder. I am sure I\nneed not bespeak your gratitude to these fellow citizens and neighbors of\nours. I hope they will be content with the laurels of one war.\n\nBut let me, in behalf of this assembly, speak directly to you, our\ndefenders, and say, that it is easy to see that if danger should ever\nthreaten the homes which you guard, the knowledge of your presence will\nbe a wall of fire for their protection. Brave men! you will hardly be\ncalled to see again fields as terrible as those you have already trampled\nwith your victories.\n\nThere are people who can hardly read the names on yonder bronze tablet,\nthe mist so gathers in their eyes. Three of the names are of sons of\none family.[193] A gloom gathers on this assembly, composed as it is of\nkindred men and women, for, in many houses, the dearest and noblest is\ngone from their hearth-stone. Yet it is tinged with light from heaven.\nA duty so severe has been discharged, and with such immense results of\ngood, lifting private sacrifice to the sublime, that, though the cannon\nvolleys have a sound of funeral echoes, they can yet hear through them\nthe benedictions of their country and mankind.\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\nIn the above Address I have been compelled to suppress more details\nof personal interest than I have used. But I do not like to omit the\ntestimony to the character of the Commander of the Thirty-second\nMassachusetts Regiment, given in the following letter by one of his\nsoldiers:\u2014\n\n                           NEAR PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA, June 20, 1864.\n\n    DEAR FATHER:\n\n    With feelings of deep regret, I inform you that Colonel\n    Prescott, our brave and lamented leader, is no more. He was\n    shot through the body, near the heart, on the eighteenth day\n    of June, and died the following morning. On the morning of the\n    eighteenth, our division was not in line. Reveille was at an\n    early hour, and before long we were moving to the front. Soon\n    we passed the ground where the Ninth Corps drove the enemy\n    from their fortified lines, and came upon and formed our line\n    in rear of Crawford\u2019s Division. In front of us, and one mile\n    distant, the Rebels\u2019 lines of works could be seen. Between us\n    and them, and in a deep gulley, was the Norfolk and Petersburg\n    Railroad. Soon the order came for us to take the railroad from\n    the enemy, whose advance then held it. Four regiments of our\n    brigade were to head the charge; so the 32d Massachusetts, 62d,\n    91st and 155th Pennsylvania regiments, under command of Colonel\n    Gregory, moved forward in good order, the enemy keeping up a\n    steady fire all the time. All went well till we reached the\n    road. The Rebels left when they saw us advance, and, when we\n    reached the road, they were running away. But here our troubles\n    began. The banks, on each side of the road, were about thirty\n    feet high, and, being stiff clay, were nearly perpendicular.\n    We got down well enough, because we got started, and were\n    rolled to the bottom, a confused pile of Yanks. Now to climb\n    the other side! It was impossible to get up by climbing, for\n    the side of it was like the side of a house. By dint of getting\n    on each other\u2019s shoulders and making holes for our feet with\n    bayonets, a few of us got up; reaching our guns down to the\n    others, we all finally got over. Meanwhile, a storm of bullets\n    was rained upon us. Through it all, Colonel Prescott was cool\n    and collected, encouraging the men to do their best. After\n    we were almost all across, he moved out in front of the line,\n    and called the men out to him, saying, \u201cCome on, men; form\n    our line here.\u201d The color-bearer stepped towards him, when a\n    bullet struck the Colonel, passed through him, and wounded the\n    color-bearer, Sergeant Giles of Company G. Calmly the Colonel\n    turned, and said, \u201cI am wounded; some one help me off.\u201d A\n    sergeant of Company B, and one of the 21st Pennsylvania, helped\n    him off. This man told me, last night, all that the Colonel\n    said, while going off. He was afraid we would be driven back,\n    and wanted these men to stick by him. He said, \u201cI die for my\n    country.\u201d He seemed to be conscious that death was near to him,\n    and said the wound was near his heart; wanted the sergeant of\n    Company B to write to his family, and tell them all about him.\n    He will write to Mrs. Prescott, probably; but if they do not\n    hear from some one an account of his death, I wish you would\n    show this to Mrs. Prescott. He died in the division hospital,\n    night before last, and his remains will probably be sent to\n    Concord. We lament his loss in the regiment very much. He was\n    like a father to us,\u2014always counselling us to be firm in the\n    path of duty, and setting the example himself. I think a more\n    moral man, or one more likely to enter the kingdom of heaven,\n    cannot be found in the Army of the Potomac. No man ever heard\n    him swear, or saw him use liquor, since we were in the service.\n    I wish there was some way for the regiment to pay some tribute\n    to his memory. But the folks at home must do this for the\n    present. The Thirty-second Regiment has lost its leader, and\n    calls on the people of Concord to console the afflicted family\n    of the brave departed, by showing their esteem for him in some\n    manner. He was one of the few men who fight for principle,\u2014pure\n    principle. He did not fight for glory, honor nor money but\n    because he thought it his duty. These are not my feelings only,\n    but of the whole regiment. I want you to show this to every\n    one, so they can see what we thought of the Colonel, and how he\n    died in front of his regiment. God bless and comfort his poor\n    family. Perhaps people think soldiers have no feeling, but it\n    is not so. We feel deep anxiety for the families of all our\n    dear comrades.\n\n                                     CHARLES BARTLETT,\n                          _Sergeant Company G, 32d Mass. Vols._[194]\n\n\n\n\nXVIII\n\nEDITORS\u2019 ADDRESS\n\nMASSACHUSETTS QUARTERLY REVIEW, DECEMBER, 1847\n\n    The old men studied magic in the flowers,\n    And human fortunes in astronomy,\n    And an omnipotence in chemistry,\n    Preferring things to names, for these were men,\n    Were unitarians of the united world,\n    And, wheresoever their clear eye-beams fell,\n    They caught the footsteps of the Same. Our eyes\n    Are armed, but we are strangers to the stars,\n    And strangers to the mystic beast and bird,\n    And strangers to the plant and to the mine.\n    The injured elements say, \u2018Not in us;\u2019\n    And night and day, ocean and continent,\n    Fire, plant and mineral say, \u2018Not in us;\u2019\n    And haughtily return us stare for stare.\n    For we invade them impiously for gain;\n    We devastate them unreligiously,\n    And coldly ask their pottage, not their love.\n    Therefore they shove us from them, yield to us\n    Only what to our griping toil is due;\n    But the sweet affluence of love and song,\n    The rich results of the divine consents\n    Of man and earth, of world beloved and loved,\n    The nectar and ambrosia are withheld.\n\n\nEDITORS\u2019 ADDRESS\n\nThe American people are fast opening their own destiny. The material\nbasis is of such extent that no folly of man can quite subvert it;\nfor the territory is a considerable fraction of the planet, and the\npopulation neither loath nor inexpert to use their advantages. Add,\nthat this energetic race derive an unprecedented material power from\nthe new arts, from the expansions effected by public schools, cheap\npostage and a cheap press, from the telescope, the telegraph, the\nrailroad, steamship, steam-ferry, steam-mill; from domestic architecture,\nchemical agriculture, from ventilation, from ice, ether, caoutchouc, and\ninnumerable inventions and manufactures.\n\nA scholar who has been reading of the fabulous magnificence of Assyria\nand Persia, of Rome and Constantinople, leaves his library and takes\nhis seat in a railroad-car, where he is importuned by newsboys with\njournals still wet from Liverpool and Havre, with telegraphic despatches\nnot yet fifty minutes old from Buffalo and Cincinnati. At the screams\nof the steam-whistle, the train quits city and suburbs, darts away\ninto the interior, drops every man at his estate as it whirls along,\nand shows our traveller what tens of thousands of powerful and weaponed\nmen, science-armed and society-armed, sit at large in this ample region,\nobscure from their numbers and the extent of the domain. He reflects\non the power which each of these plain republicans can employ; how far\nthese chains of intercourse and travel reach, interlock and ramify; what\nlevers, what pumps, what exhaustive analyses are applied to Nature for\nthe benefit of masses of men. Then he exclaims, What a negro-fine royalty\nis that of Jamschid and Solomon! What a substantial sovereignty does my\ntownsman possess! A man who has a hundred dollars to dispose of\u2014a hundred\ndollars over his bread\u2014is rich beyond the dreams of the C\u00e6sars.\n\nKeep our eyes as long as we can on this picture, we cannot stave off the\nulterior question,\u2014the famous question of Cineas to Pyrrhus,[195]\u2014the\nWHERE TO of all this power and population, these surveys and inventions,\nthis taxing and tabulating, mill-privilege, roads, and mines. The\naspect this country presents is a certain maniacal activity, an immense\napparatus of cunning machinery which turns out, at last, some Nuremberg\ntoys. Has it generated, as great interests do, any intellectual power?\nWhere are the works of the imagination\u2014the surest test of a national\ngenius? At least as far as the purpose and genius of America is yet\nreported in any book, it is a sterility and no genius.\n\nOne would say there is nothing colossal in the country but its geography\nand its material activities; that the moral and intellectual effects\nare not on the same scale with the trade and production. There is no\nspeech heard but that of auctioneers, newsboys, and the caucus. Where\nis the great breath of the New World, the voice of aboriginal nations\nopening new eras with hymns of lofty cheer? Our books and fine arts\nare imitations; there is a fatal incuriosity and disinclination in our\neducated men to new studies and the interrogation of Nature. We have\ntaste, critical talent, good professors, good commentators, but a lack\nof male energy. What more serious calamity can befall a people than\na constitutional dulness and limitation? The moral influence of the\nintellect is wanting. We hearken in vain for any profound voice speaking\nto the American heart, cheering timid good men, animating the youth,\nconsoling the defeated, and intelligently announcing duties which\nclothe life with joy, and endear the face of land and sea to men.[196]\nIt is a poor consideration that the country wit is precocious, and,\nas we say, practical; that political interests on so broad a scale as\nours are administered by little men with some saucy village talent, by\ndeft partisans, good cipherers; strict economists, quite empty of all\nsuperstition.\n\nConceding these unfavorable appearances, it would yet be a poor pedantry\nto read the fates of this country from these narrow data. On the\ncontrary, we are persuaded that moral and material values are always\ncommensurate. Every material organization exists to a moral end, which\nmakes the reason of its existence. Here are no books, but who can see the\ncontinent with its inland and surrounding waters, its temperate climates,\nits west-wind breathing vigor through all the year, its confluence of\nraces so favorable to the highest energy, and the infinite glut of their\nproduction, without putting new queries to Destiny as to the purpose for\nwhich this muster of nations and this sudden creation of enormous values\nis made?\n\nThis is equally the view of science and of patriotism. We hesitate to\nemploy a word so much abused as _patriotism_, whose true sense is\nalmost the reverse of its popular sense. We have no sympathy with that\nboyish egotism, hoarse with cheering for one side, for one state, for\none town: the right patriotism consists in the delight which springs\nfrom contributing our peculiar and legitimate advantages to the benefit\nof humanity. Every foot of soil has its proper quality; the grape on two\nsides of the same fence has new flavors; and so every acre on the globe,\nevery family of men, every point of climate, has its distinguishing\nvirtues. Certainly then this country does not lie here in the sun\ncauseless; and though it may not be easy to define its influence, men\nfeel already its emancipating quality in the careless self-reliance of\nthe manners, in the freedom of thought, in the direct roads by which\ngrievances are reached and redressed, and even in the reckless and\nsinister politics, not less than in purer expressions. Bad as it is, this\nfreedom leads onward and upward,\u2014to a Columbia of thought and art, which\nis the last and endless end of Columbus\u2019s adventure.\n\nLovers of our country, but not always approvers of the public counsels,\nwe should certainly be glad to give good advice in politics. We have\nnot been able to escape our national and endemic habit, and to be\nliberated from interest in the elections and in public affairs. Nor\nhave we cared to disfranchise ourselves. We are more solicitous than\nothers to make our politics clear and healthful, as we believe politics\nto be nowise accidental or exceptional, but subject to the same laws\nwith trees, earths and acids. We see that reckless and destructive fury\nwhich characterizes the lower classes of American society, and which is\npampered by hundreds of profligate presses. The young intriguers who\ndrive in bar-rooms and town-meetings the trade of politics, sagacious\nonly to seize the victorious side, have put the country into the position\nof an overgrown bully, and Massachusetts finds no heart or head to give\nweight and efficacy to her contrary judgment. In hours when it seemed\nonly to need one just word from a man of honor to have vindicated the\nrights of millions, and to have given a true direction to the first steps\nof a nation, we have seen the best understandings of New England, the\ntrusted leaders of her counsels, constituting a snivelling and despised\nopposition, clapped on the back by comfortable capitalists from all\nsections, and persuaded to say, We are too old to stand for what is\ncalled a New England sentiment any longer. Rely on us for commercial\nrepresentatives, but for questions of ethics,\u2014who knows what markets may\nbe opened? We are not well, we are not in our seats, when justice and\nhumanity are to be spoken for.\n\nWe have a bad war, many victories, each of which converts the\ncountry into an immense chanticleer; and a very insincere political\nopposition.[197] The country needs to be extricated from its delirium\nat once. Public affairs are chained in the same law with private; the\nretributions of armed states are not less sure and signal than those\nwhich come to private felons. The facility of majorities is no protection\nfrom the natural sequence of their own acts. Men reason badly, but Nature\nand Destiny are logical.[198]\n\nBut, whilst we should think our pains well bestowed if we could cure the\ninfatuation of statesmen, and should be sincerely pleased if we could\ngive a direction to the Federal politics, we are far from believing\npolitics the primal interest of men. On the contrary, we hold that the\nlaws and governors cannot possess a commanding interest for any but\nvacant or fanatical people; for the reason that this is simply a formal\nand superficial interest; and men of a solid genius are only interested\nin substantial things.\n\nThe State, like the individual, should rest on an ideal basis. Not only\nman but Nature is injured by the imputation that man exists only to be\nfattened with bread, but he lives in such connection with Thought and\nFact that his bread is surely involved as one element thereof, but is not\nits end and aim. So the insight which commands the laws and conditions\nof the true polity precludes forever all interest in the squabbles of\nparties. As soon as men have tasted the enjoyment of learning, friendship\nand virtue, for which the State exists, the prizes of office appear\npolluted, and their followers outcasts.\n\nA journal that would meet the real wants of this time must have a courage\nand power sufficient to solve the problems which the great groping\nsociety around us, stupid with perplexity, is dumbly exploring. Let it\nnow show its astuteness by dodging each difficult question and arguing\ndiffusely every point on which men are long ago unanimous. Can it front\nthis matter of Socialism, to which the names of Owen and Fourier have\nattached, and dispose of that question? Will it cope with the allied\nquestions of Government, Nonresistance, and all that belongs under\nthat category? Will it measure itself with the chapter on Slavery, in\nsome sort the special enigma of the time, as it has provoked against\nit a sort of inspiration and enthusiasm singular in modern history?\nThere are literary and philosophical reputations to settle. The name of\nSwedenborg has in this very time acquired new honors, and the current\nyear has witnessed the appearance, in their first English translation,\nof his manuscripts. Here is an unsettled account in the book of Fame; a\nnebula to dim eyes, but which great telescopes may yet resolve into a\nmagnificent system. Here is the standing problem of Natural Science, and\nthe merits of her great interpreters to be determined; the encyclop\u00e6dical\nHumboldt, and the intrepid generalizations collected by the author of\nthe Vestiges of Creation. Here is the balance to be adjusted between\nthe exact French school of Cuvier, and the genial catholic theorists,\nGeoffroy St.-Hilaire, Goethe, Davy and Agassiz. Will it venture into the\nthin and difficult air of that school where the secrets of structure are\ndiscussed under the topics of mesmerism and the twilights of demonology?\n\nWhat will easily seem to many a far higher question than any other is\nthat which respects the embodying of the Conscience of the period. Is\nthe age we live in unfriendly to the highest powers; to that blending\nof the affections with the poetic faculty which has distinguished the\nReligious Ages? We have a better opinion of the economy of Nature than\nto fear that those varying phases which humanity presents ever leave out\nany of the grand springs of human action. Mankind for the moment seem to\nbe in search of a religion. The Jewish _cultus_ is declining; the Divine,\nor, as some will say, the truly Human, hovers, now seen, now unseen,\nbefore us. This period of peace, this hour when the jangle of contending\nchurches is hushing or hushed, will seem only the more propitious to\nthose who believe that man need not fear the want of religion, because\nthey know his religious constitution,\u2014that he must rest on the moral and\nreligious sentiments, as the motion of bodies rests on geometry. In the\nrapid decay of what was called religion, timid and unthinking people\nfancy a decay of the hope of man. But the moral and religious sentiments\nmeet us everywhere, alike in markets as in churches. A God starts up\nbehind cotton bales also. The conscience of man is regenerated as is the\natmosphere, so that society cannot be debauched. The health which we call\nVirtue is an equipoise which easily redresses itself, and resembles those\nrocking stones which a child\u2019s finger can move, and a weight of many\nhundred tons cannot overthrow.\n\nWith these convictions, a few friends of good letters have thought\nfit to associate themselves for the conduct of a new journal. We have\nobeyed the custom and convenience of the time in adopting this form of a\nReview, as a mould into which all metal most easily runs. But the form\nshall not be suffered to be an impediment. The name might convey the\nimpression of a book of criticism, and that nothing is to be found here\nwhich was not written expressly for the Review; but good readers know\nthat inspired pages are not written to fill a space, but for inevitable\nutterance; and to such our journal is freely and solicitously open, even\nthough everything else be excluded. We entreat the aid of every lover\nof truth and right, and let these principles entreat for us. We rely\non the talents and industry of good men known to us, but much more on\nthe magnetism of truth, which is multiplying and educating advocates\nfor itself and friends for us. We rely on the truth for and against\nourselves.\n\n\n\n\nXIX\n\nADDRESS TO KOSSUTH\n\nAT CONCORD, MAY 11, 1852\n\n    God said, I am tired of kings,\n    I suffer them no more;\n    Up to my ear the morning brings\n    The outrage of the poor.\n\n    My angel,\u2014his name is Freedom,\u2014\n    Choose him to be your king;\n    He shall cut pathways east and west,\n    And fend you with his wing.\n\n\nADDRESS TO KOSSUTH\n\nSIR,\u2014The fatigue of your many public visits, in such unbroken succession\nas may compare with the toils of a campaign, forbid us to detain you\nlong. The people of this town share with their countrymen the admiration\nof valor and perseverance; they, like their compatriots, have been hungry\nto see the man whose extraordinary eloquence is seconded by the splendor\nand the solidity of his actions. But, as it is the privilege of the\npeople of this town to keep a hallowed mound which has a place in the\nstory of the country; as Concord is one of the monuments of freedom; we\nknew beforehand that you could not go by us; you could not take all your\nsteps in the pilgrimage of American liberty, until you had seen with your\neyes the ruins of the bridge where a handful of brave farmers opened our\nRevolution. Therefore, we sat and waited for you.\n\nAnd now, Sir, we are heartily glad to see you, at last, in these fields.\nWe set no more value than you do on cheers and huzzas. But we think\nthat the graves of our heroes around us throb to-day to a footstep that\nsounded like their own:\u2014\n\n                \u201cThe mighty tread\n    Brings from the dust the sound of liberty.\u201d[199]\n\nSir, we have watched with attention your progress through the land, and\nthe varying feeling with which you have been received, and the unvarying\ntone and countenance which you have maintained. We wish to discriminate\nin our regard. We wish to reserve our honor for actions of the noblest\nstrain. We please ourselves that in you we meet one whose temper was long\nsince tried in the fire, and made equal to all events; a man so truly in\nlove with the greatest future, that he cannot be diverted to any less.\n\nIt is our republican doctrine, too, that the wide variety of opinions is\nan advantage. I believe I may say of the people of this country at large,\nthat their sympathy is more worth, because it stands the test of party.\nIt is not a blind wave; it is a living soul contending with living souls.\nIt is, in every expression, antagonized. No opinion will pass but must\nstand the tug of war. As you see, the love you win is worth something;\nfor it has been argued through; its foundation searched; it has proved\nsound and whole; it may be avowed; it will last, and it will draw all\nopinion to itself.\n\nWe have seen, with great pleasure, that there is nothing accidental in\nyour attitude. We have seen that you are organically in that cause you\nplead. The man of Freedom, you are also the man of Fate. You do not\nelect, but you are elected by God and your genius to the task. We do not,\ntherefore, affect to thank you. We only see in you the angel of freedom,\ncrossing sea and land; crossing parties, nationalities, private interests\nand self-esteems; dividing populations where you go, and drawing to your\npart only the good. We are afraid that you are growing popular, Sir; you\nmay be called to the dangers of prosperity. But, hitherto, you have had\nin all centuries and in all parties only the men of heart. I do not know\nbut you will have the million yet. Then, may your strength be equal to\nyour day. But remember, Sir, that everything great and excellent in the\nworld is in minorities.[200]\n\nFar be from us, Sir, any tone of patronage; we ought rather to ask yours.\nWe know the austere condition of liberty\u2014that it must be reconquered over\nand over again; yea, day by day; that it is a state of war; that it is\nalways slipping from those who boast it to those who fight for it: and\nyou, the foremost soldier of freedom in this age,\u2014it is for us to crave\nyour judgment; who are we that we should dictate to you? You have won\nyour own. We only affirm it. This country of workingmen greets in you\na worker. This republic greets in you a republican. We only say, \u2018Well\ndone, good and faithful.\u2019\u2014You have earned your own nobility at home.\nWe admit you _ad eundem_ (as they say at College). We admit you to the\nsame degree, without new trial. We suspend all rules before so paramount\na merit. You may well sit a doctor in the college of liberty. You have\nachieved your right to interpret our Washington. And I speak the sense\nnot only of every generous American, but the law of mind, when I say that\nit is not those who live idly in the city called after his name, but\nthose who, all over the world, think and act like him, who can claim to\nexplain the sentiment of Washington.\n\nSir, whatever obstruction from selfishness, indifference, or from\nproperty (which always sympathizes with possession) you may encounter,\nwe congratulate you that you have known how to convert calamities into\npowers, exile into a campaign, present defeat into lasting victory. For\nthis new crusade which you preach to willing and to unwilling ears in\nAmerica is a seed of armed men. You have got your story told in every\npalace and log hut and prairie camp, throughout this continent. And,\nas the shores of Europe and America approach every month, and their\npolitics will one day mingle, when the crisis arrives it will find us all\ninstructed beforehand in the rights and wrongs of Hungary, and parties\nalready to her freedom.\n\n\n\n\nXX\n\nWOMAN\n\nA LECTURE READ BEFORE THE WOMAN\u2019S RIGHTS CONVENTION, BOSTON, SEPTEMBER\n20, 1855\n\n    The politics are base,\n      The letters do not cheer,\n    And \u2019tis far in the deeps of history,\n      The voice that speaketh clear.\n\n    Yet there in the parlor sits\n      Some figure in noble guise,\u2014\n    Our Angel in a stranger\u2019s form;\n      Or Woman\u2019s pleading eyes.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \u201cLo, when the Lord made North and South,\n      And sun and moon ordained he,\n    Forth bringing each by word of mouth\n      In order of its dignity,\n    Did man from the crude clay express\n      By sequence, and, all else decreed,\n    He formed the woman; nor might less\n      Than Sabbath such a work succeed.\u201d\n\n                           COVENTRY PATMORE.\n\n\nWOMAN\n\nAmong those movements which seem to be, now and then, endemic in the\npublic mind,\u2014perhaps we should say, sporadic,\u2014rather than the single\ninspiration of one mind, is that which has urged on society the benefits\nof action having for its object a benefit to the position of Woman. And\nnone is more seriously interesting to every healthful and thoughtful mind.\n\nIn that race which is now predominant over all the other races of men,\nit was a cherished belief that women had an oracular nature. They are\nmore delicate than men,\u2014delicate as iodine to light,\u2014and thus more\nimpressionable. They are the best index of the coming hour. I share\nthis belief. I think their words are to be weighed; but it is their\ninconsiderate word,\u2014according to the rule, \u2018take their first advice, not\nthe second:\u2019 as Coleridge was wont to apply to a lady for her judgment\nin questions of taste, and accept it; but when she added\u2014\u201cI think\nso, because\u2014\u201d \u201cPardon me, madam,\u201d he said, \u201cleave me to find out the\nreasons for myself.\u201d In this sense, as more delicate mercuries of the\nimponderable and immaterial influences, what they say and think is the\nshadow of coming events. Their very dolls are indicative. Among our Norse\nancestors, Frigga was worshipped as the goddess of women. \u201cWeirdes all,\u201d\nsaid the Edda, \u201cFrigga knoweth, though she telleth them never.\u201d That is\nto say, all wisdoms Woman knows; though she takes them for granted, and\ndoes not explain them as discoveries, like the understanding of man.\nMen remark figure: women always catch the expression. They inspire by a\nlook, and pass with us not so much by what they say or do, as by their\npresence. They learn so fast and convey the result so fast as to outrun\nthe logic of their slow brother and make his acquisitions poor.[201] \u2019Tis\ntheir mood and tone that is important. Does their mind misgive them, or\nare they firm and cheerful? \u2019Tis a true report that things are going ill\nor well. And any remarkable opinion or movement shared by woman will be\nthe first sign of revolution.\n\nPlato said, Women are the same as men in faculty, only less in degree.\nBut the general voice of mankind has agreed that they have their own\nstrength; that women are strong by sentiment; that the same mental height\nwhich their husbands attain by toil, they attain by sympathy with their\nhusbands. Man is the will, and Woman the sentiment. In this ship of\nhumanity, Will is the rudder, and Sentiment the sail: when Woman affects\nto steer, the rudder is only a masked sail. When women engage in any\nart or trade, it is usually as a resource, not as a primary object. The\nlife of the affections is primary to them, so that there is usually no\nemployment or career which they will not with their own applause and that\nof society quit for a suitable marriage. And they give entirely to their\naffections, set their whole fortune on the die, lose themselves eagerly\nin the glory of their husbands and children. Man stands astonished at\na magnanimity he cannot pretend to. Mrs. Lucy Hutchinson, one of the\nheroines of the English Commonwealth, who wrote the life of her husband,\nthe Governor of Nottingham, says, \u201cIf he esteemed her at a higher rate\nthan she in herself could have deserved, he was the author of that\nvirtue he doted on, while she only reflected his own glories upon him.\nAll that she was, was _him_, while he was hers, and all that she is now,\nat best, but his pale shade.\u201d As for Plato\u2019s opinion, it is true that,\nup to recent times, in no art or science, nor in painting, poetry or\nmusic, have they produced a masterpiece. Till the new education and\nlarger opportunities of very modern times, this position, with the fewest\npossible exceptions, has always been true. Sappho, to be sure, in the\nOlympic Games, gained the crown over Pindar. But, in general, no mastery\nin either of the fine arts\u2014which should, one would say, be the arts of\nwomen\u2014has yet been obtained by them, equal to the mastery of men in the\nsame. The part they play in education, in the care of the young and the\ntuition of older children, is their organic office in the world. So much\nsympathy as they have makes them inestimable as the mediators between\nthose who have knowledge and those who want it: besides, their fine\norganization, their taste and love of details, makes the knowledge they\ngive better in their hands.\n\nBut there is an art which is better than painting, poetry, music, or\narchitecture,\u2014better than botany, geology, or any science; namely,\nConversation. Wise, cultivated, genial conversation is the last flower of\ncivilization and the best result which life has to offer us,\u2014a cup for\ngods, which has no repentance. Conversation is our account of ourselves.\nAll we have, all we can, all we know, is brought into play, and as the\nreproduction, in finer form, of all our havings.\n\nWomen are, by this and their social influence, the civilizers of\nmankind. What is civilization? I answer, the power of good women. It\nwas Burns\u2019s remark when he first came to Edinburgh that between the\nmen of rustic life and the polite world he observed little difference;\nthat in the former, though unpolished by fashion and unenlightened\nby science, he had found much observation and much intelligence; but\na refined and accomplished woman was a being almost new to him, and\nof which he had formed a very inadequate idea. \u201cI like women,\u201d said\na clear-headed man of the world; \u201cthey are so finished.\u201d They finish\nsociety, manners, language. Form and ceremony are their realm. They\nembellish trifles. All these ceremonies that hedge our life around are\nnot to be despised, and when we have become habituated to them, cannot\nbe dispensed with. No woman can despise them with impunity. Their genius\ndelights in ceremonies, in forms, in decorating life with manners, with\nproperties, order and grace. They are, in their nature, more relative;\nthe circumstance must always be fit; out of place they lose half their\nweight, out of place they are disfranchised. Position, Wren said, is\nessential to the perfecting of beauty;\u2014a fine building is lost in a dark\nlane; a statue should stand in the air; much more true is it of woman.\n\nWe commonly say that easy circumstances seem somehow necessary to the\nfinish of the female character: but then it is to be remembered that\nthey create these with all their might. They are always making that\ncivilization which they require; that state of art, of decoration, that\nornamental life in which they best appear.\n\nThe spiritual force of man is as much shown in taste, in his fancy\nand imagination,\u2014attaching deep meanings to things and to arbitrary\ninventions of no real value,\u2014as in his perception of truth. He is as\nmuch raised above the beast by this creative faculty as by any other.\nThe horse and ox use no delays; they run to the river when thirsty, to\nthe corn when hungry, and say no thanks, but fight down whatever opposes\ntheir appetite. But man invents and adorns all he does with delays\nand degrees, paints it all over with forms, to please himself better;\nhe invented majesty and the etiquette of courts and drawing-rooms;\narchitecture, curtains, dress, all luxuries and adornments, and the\nelegance of privacy, to increase the joys of society. He invented\nmarriage; and surrounded by religion, by comeliness, by all manner of\ndignities and renunciations, the union of the sexes.\n\nAnd how should we better measure the gulf between the best intercourse\nof men in old Athens, in London, or in our American capitals,\u2014between\nthis and the hedgehog existence of diggers of worms, and the eaters of\nclay and offal,\u2014than by signalizing just this department of taste or\ncomeliness? Herein woman is the prime genius and ordainer. There is no\ngrace that is taught by the dancing-master, no style adopted into the\netiquette of courts, but was first the whim and the mere action of some\nbrilliant woman, who charmed beholders by this new expression, and made\nit remembered and copied. And I think they should magnify their ritual of\nmanners.[202] Society, conversation, decorum, flowers, dances, colors,\nforms, are their homes and attendants. They should be found in fit\nsurroundings\u2014with fair approaches, with agreeable architecture, and with\nall advantages which the means of man collect:\n\n    \u201cThe far-fetched diamond finds its home\n      Flashing and smouldering in her hair.\n    For her the seas their pearls reveal,\n      Art and strange lands her pomp supply\n    With purple, chrome and cochineal,\n      Ochre and lapis lazuli.\n    The worm its golden woof presents.\n      Whatever runs, flies, dives or delves\n    All doff for her their ornaments,\n      Which suit her better than themselves.\u201d[203]\n\nThere is no gift of Nature without some drawback. So, to women, this\nexquisite structure could not exist without its own penalty. More\nvulnerable, more infirm, more mortal than men, they could not be such\nexcellent artists in this element of fancy if they did not lend and give\nthemselves to it. They are poets who believe their own poetry. They emit\nfrom their pores a colored atmosphere, one would say, wave upon wave of\nrosy light, in which they walk evermore, and see all objects through this\nwarm-tinted mist that envelops them.\n\nBut the starry crown of woman is in the power of her affection and\nsentiment, and the infinite enlargements to which they lead. Beautiful\nis the passion of love, painter and adorner of youth and early life: but\nwho suspects, in its blushes and tremors, what tragedies, heroisms and\nimmortalities are beyond it? The passion, with all its grace and poetry,\nis profane to that which follows it. All these affections are only\nintroductory to that which is beyond, and to that which is sublime.\n\nWe men have no right to say it, but the omnipotence of Eve is in\nhumility. The instincts of mankind have drawn the Virgin Mother\u2014\n\n    \u201cCreated beings all in lowliness\n    Surpassing, as in height above them all.\u201d[204]\n\nThis is the Divine Person whom Dante and Milton saw in vision. This is\nthe victory of Griselda, her supreme humility. And it is when love has\nreached this height that all our pretty rhetoric begins to have meaning.\nWhen we see that, it adds to the soul a new soul, it is honey in the\nmouth, music in the ear and balsam in the heart.\n\n    \u201cFar have I clambered in my mind,\n    But nought so great as Love I find.\n    What is thy tent, where dost thou dwell?\n    \u2018My mansion is humility,\n    Heaven\u2019s vastest capability.\u2019\n    The further it doth downward tend,\n    The higher up it doth ascend.\u201d[205]\n\nThe first thing men think of, when they love, is to exhibit their\nusefulness and advantages to the object of their affection. Women make\nlight of these, asking only love. They wish it to be an exchange of\nnobleness.\n\nThere is much in their nature, much in their social position which gives\nthem a certain power of divination. And women know, at first sight, the\ncharacters of those with whom they converse. There is much that tends to\ngive them a religious height which men do not attain. Their sequestration\nfrom affairs and from the injury to the moral sense which affairs often\ninflict, aids this. And in every remarkable religious development in the\nworld, women have taken a leading part. It is very curious that in the\nEast, where Woman occupies, nationally, a lower sphere, where the laws\nresist the education and emancipation of women,\u2014in the Mohammedan faith,\nWoman yet occupies the same leading position, as a prophetess, that she\nhas among the ancient Greeks, or among the Hebrews, or among the Saxons.\nThis power, this religious character, is everywhere to be remarked in\nthem.[206]\n\nThe action of society is progressive. In barbarous society the position\nof women is always low\u2014in the Eastern nations lower than in the West.\n\u201cWhen a daughter is born,\u201d says the Shiking, the old Sacred Book of\nChina, \u201cshe sleeps on the ground, she is clothed with a wrapper,\nshe plays with a tile; she is incapable of evil or of good.\u201d And\nsomething like that position, in all low society, is the position of\nwoman; because, as before remarked, she is herself its civilizer.\nWith the advancements of society, the position and influence of\nwoman bring her strength or her faults into light. In modern times,\nthree or four conspicuous instrumentalities may be marked. After the\ndeification of Woman in the Catholic Church, in the sixteenth or\nseventeenth century,\u2014when her religious nature gave her, of course, new\nimportance,\u2014the Quakers have the honor of having first established, in\ntheir discipline, the equality in the sexes. It is even more perfect\nin the later sect of the Shakers, where no business is broached or\ncounselled without the intervention of one elder and one elderess.\n\nA second epoch for Woman was in France,\u2014entirely civil; the change\nof sentiment from a rude to a polite character, in the age of Louis\nXIV.,\u2014commonly dated from the building of the H\u00f4tel de Rambouillet.[207]\nI think another important step was made by the doctrine of Swedenborg,\na sublime genius who gave a scientific exposition of the part played\nseverally by man and woman in the world, and showed the difference of sex\nto run through nature and through thought. Of all Christian sects this\nis at this moment the most vital and aggressive.\n\nAnother step was the effect of the action of the age in the antagonism\nto Slavery. It was easy to enlist Woman in this; it was impossible not\nto enlist her. But that Cause turned out to be a great scholar. He was a\nterrible metaphysician. He was a jurist, a poet, a divine. Was never a\nUniversity of Oxford or G\u00f6ttingen that made such students. It took a man\nfrom the plough and made him acute, eloquent, and wise, to the silencing\nof the doctors. There was nothing it did not pry into, no right it did\nnot explore, no wrong it did not expose. And it has, among its other\neffects, given Woman a feeling of public duty and an added self-respect.\n\nOne truth leads in another by the hand; one right is an accession of\nstrength to take more. And the times are marked by the new attitude\nof Woman; urging, by argument and by association, her rights of all\nkinds,\u2014in short, to one half of the world;\u2014as the right to education, to\navenues of employment, to equal rights of property, to equal rights in\nmarriage, to the exercise of the professions and of suffrage.\n\nOf course, this conspicuousness had its inconveniences. But it is cheap\nwit that has been spent on this subject; from Aristophanes, in whose\ncomedies I confess my dulness to find good joke, to Rabelais, in whom it\nis monstrous exaggeration of temperament, and not borne out by anything\nin nature,\u2014down to English Comedy, and, in our day, to Tennyson,[208]\nand the American newspapers. In all, the body of the joke is one,\nnamely, to charge women with temperament; to describe them as victims of\ntemperament; and is identical with Mahomet\u2019s opinion that women have not\na sufficient moral or intellectual force to control the perturbations\nof their physical structure. These were all drawings of morbid anatomy,\nand such satire as might be written on the tenants of a hospital or on\nan asylum for idiots. Of course it would be easy for women to retaliate\nin kind, by painting men from the dogs and gorillas that have worn our\nshape. That they have not, is an eulogy on their taste and self-respect.\nThe good easy world took the joke which it liked. There is always the\nwant of thought; there is always credulity. There are plenty of people\nwho believe women to be incapable of anything but to cook, incapable of\ninterest in affairs. There are plenty of people who believe that the\nworld is governed by men of dark complexions, that affairs are only\ndirected by such, and do not see the use of contemplative men, or how\nignoble would be the world that wanted them. And so without the affection\nof women.\n\nBut for the general charge: no doubt it is well founded. They are victims\nof the finer temperament. They have tears, and gayeties, and faintings,\nand glooms and devotion to trifles. Nature\u2019s end, of maternity for\ntwenty years, was of so supreme importance that it was to be secured at\nall events, even to the sacrifice of the highest beauty. They are more\npersonal. Men taunt them that, whatever they do, say, read or write, they\nare thinking of themselves and their set. Men are not to the same degree\ntemperamented, for there are multitudes of men who live to objects quite\nout of them, as to politics, to trade, to letters or an art, unhindered\nby any influence of constitution.\n\nThe answer that lies, silent or spoken, in the minds of well-meaning\npersons, to the new claims, is this: that though their mathematical\njustice is not to be denied, yet the best women do not wish these things;\nthey are asked for by people who intellectually seek them, but who have\nnot the support or sympathy of the truest women; and that, if the laws\nand customs were modified in the manner proposed, it would embarrass and\npain gentle and lovely persons with duties which they would find irksome\nand distasteful. Very likely. Providence is always surprising us with\nnew and unlikely instruments. But perhaps it is because these people\nhave been deprived of education, fine companions, opportunities, such as\nthey wished,\u2014because they feel the same rudeness and disadvantage which\noffends you,\u2014that they have been stung to say, \u2018It is too late for us to\nbe polished and fashioned into beauty, but, at least, we will see that\nthe whole race of women shall not suffer as we have suffered.\u2019\n\nThey have an unquestionable right to their own property. And if a\nwoman demand votes, offices and political equality with men, as among\nthe Shakers an Elder and Elderess are of equal power,\u2014and among the\nQuakers,\u2014it must not be refused. It is very cheap wit that finds it\nso droll that a woman should vote. Educate and refine society to the\nhighest point,\u2014bring together a cultivated society of both sexes, in a\ndrawing-room, and consult and decide by voices on a question of taste\nor on a question of right, and is there any absurdity or any practical\ndifficulty in obtaining their authentic opinions? If not, then there\nneed be none in a hundred companies, if you educate them and accustom\nthem to judge. And, for the effect of it, I can say, for one, that all\nmy points would sooner be carried in the State if women voted. On the\nquestions that are important,\u2014whether the government shall be in one\nperson, or whether representative, or whether democratic; whether men\nshall be holden in bondage, or shall be roasted alive and eaten, as in\nTypee, or shall be hunted with bloodhounds, as in this country; whether\nmen shall be hanged for stealing, or hanged at all; whether the unlimited\nsale of cheap liquors shall be allowed;\u2014they would give, I suppose, as\nintelligent a vote as the voters of Boston or New York.\n\nWe may ask, to be sure,\u2014Why need you vote? If new power is here, of a\ncharacter which solves old tough questions, which puts me and all the\nrest in the wrong, tries and condemns our religion, customs, laws, and\nopens new careers to our young receptive men and women, you can well\nleave voting to the old dead people. Those whom you teach, and those whom\nyou half teach, will fast enough make themselves considered and strong\nwith their new insight, and votes will follow from all the dull.\n\nThe objection to their voting is the same as is urged, in the lobbies of\nlegislatures, against clergymen who take an active part in politics;\u2014that\nif they are good clergymen they are unacquainted with the expediencies of\npolitics, and if they become good politicians they are worse clergymen.\nSo of women, that they cannot enter this arena without being contaminated\nand unsexed.\n\nHere are two or three objections: first, a want of practical wisdom;\nsecond, a too purely ideal view; and, third, danger of contamination. For\ntheir want of intimate knowledge of affairs, I do not think this ought to\ndisqualify them from voting at any town-meeting which I ever attended. I\ncould heartily wish the objection were sound. But if any man will take\nthe trouble to see how our people vote,\u2014how many gentlemen are willing to\ntake on themselves the trouble of thinking and determining for you, and,\nstanding at the door of the polls, give every innocent citizen his ticket\nas he comes in, informing him that this is the vote of his party; and how\nthe innocent citizen, without further demur, goes and drops it in the\nballot-box,\u2014I cannot but think he will agree that most women might vote\nas wisely.\n\nFor the other point, of their not knowing the world, and aiming at\nabstract right without allowance for circumstances,\u2014that is not a\ndisqualification, but a qualification. Human society is made up of\npartialities. Each citizen has an interest and a view of his own, which,\nif followed out to the extreme, would leave no room for any other\ncitizen. One man is timid and another rash; one would change nothing, and\nthe other is pleased with nothing; one wishes schools, another armies,\none gunboats, another public gardens. Bring all these biases together and\nsomething is done in favor of them all.\n\nEvery one is a half vote, but the next elector behind him brings the\nother or corresponding half in his hand: a reasonable result is had.\nNow there is no lack, I am sure, of the expediency, or of the interests\nof trade or of imperative class interests being neglected. There is\nno lack of votes representing the physical wants; and if in your city\nthe uneducated emigrant vote numbers thousands, representing a brutal\nignorance and mere animal wants, it is to be corrected by an educated and\nreligious vote, representing the wants and desires of honest and refined\npersons. If the wants, the passions, the vices, are allowed a full vote\nthrough the hands of a half-brutal intemperate population, I think it but\nfair that the virtues, the aspirations should be allowed a full vote, as\nan offset, through the purest part of the people.\n\nAs for the unsexing and contamination,\u2014that only accuses our existing\npolitics, shows how barbarous we are,\u2014that our policies are so crooked,\nmade up of things not to be spoken, to be understood only by wink and\nnudge; this man to be coaxed, that man to be bought, and that other to\nbe duped. It is easy to see that there is contamination enough, but it\nrots the men now, and fills the air with stench. Come out of that: it is\nlike a dance-cellar. The fairest names in this country in literature, in\nlaw, have gone into Congress and come out dishonored. And when I read\nthe list of men of intellect, of refined pursuits, giants in law, or\neminent scholars, or of social distinction, leading men of wealth and\nenterprise in the commercial community, and see what they have voted for\nand suffered to be voted for, I think no community was ever so politely\nand elegantly betrayed.\n\nI do not think it yet appears that women wish this equal share in public\naffairs. But it is they and not we that are to determine it. Let the\nlaws be purged of every barbarous remainder, every barbarous impediment\nto women. Let the public donations for education be equally shared by\nthem, let them enter a school as freely as a church, let them have and\nhold and give their property as men do theirs;\u2014and in a few years it will\neasily appear whether they wish a voice in making the laws that are to\ngovern them. If you do refuse them a vote, you will also refuse to tax\nthem,\u2014according to our Teutonic principle, No representation, no tax.\n\nAll events of history are to be regarded as growths and offshoots of\nthe expanding mind of the race, and this appearance of new opinions,\ntheir currency and force in many minds, is itself the wonderful fact.\nFor whatever is popular is important, shows the spontaneous sense of\nthe hour. The aspiration of this century will be the code of the next.\nIt holds of high and distant causes, of the same influences that make\nthe sun and moon. When new opinions appear, they will be entertained\nand respected, by every fair mind, according to their reasonableness,\nand not according to their convenience, or their fitness to shock our\ncustoms. But let us deal with them greatly; let them make their way\nby the upper road, and not by the way of manufacturing public opinion,\nwhich lapses continually into expediency, and makes charlatans. All\nthat is spontaneous is irresistible, and forever it is individual force\nthat interests. I need not repeat to you\u2014your own solitude will suggest\nit\u2014that a masculine woman is not strong, but a lady is. The loneliest\nthought, the purest prayer, is rushing to be the history of a thousand\nyears.\n\nLet us have the true woman, the adorner, the hospitable, the religious\nheart, and no lawyer need be called in to write stipulations, the cunning\nclauses of provision, the strong investitures;\u2014for woman moulds the\nlawgiver and writes the law. But I ought to say, I think it impossible\nto separate the interests and education of the sexes. Improve and refine\nthe men, and you do the same by the women, whether you will or no. Every\nwoman being the wife or the daughter of a man,\u2014wife, daughter, sister,\nmother, of a man, she can never be very far from his ear, never not of\nhis counsel, if she has really something to urge that is good in itself\nand agreeable to nature. Slavery it is that makes slavery; freedom,\nfreedom. The slavery of women happened when the men were slaves of\nkings. The melioration of manners brought their melioration of course.\nIt could not be otherwise, and hence the new desire of better laws.\nFor there are always a certain number of passionately loving fathers,\nbrothers, husbands and sons who put their might into the endeavor to make\na daughter, a wife, or a mother happy in the way that suits best. Woman\nshould find in man her guardian. Silently she looks for that, and when\nshe finds that he is not, as she instantly does, she betakes her to her\nown defences, and does the best she can. But when he is her guardian,\nfulfilled with all nobleness, knows and accepts his duties as her\nbrother, all goes well for both.\n\nThe new movement is only a tide shared by the spirits of man and woman;\nand you may proceed in the faith that whatever the woman\u2019s heart is\nprompted to desire, the man\u2019s mind is simultaneously prompted to\naccomplish.[209]\n\n\n\n\nXXI\n\nADDRESS\n\nTO THE INHABITANTS OF CONCORD AT THE CONSECRATION OF SLEEPY HOLLOW\nSEPTEMBER 29, 1855\n\nSLEEPY HOLLOW\n\n    \u201cNo abbey\u2019s gloom, nor dark cathedral stoops,\n      No winding torches paint the midnight air;\n    Here the green pines delight, the aspen droops\n      Along the modest pathways, and those fair\n    Pale asters of the season spread their plumes\n    Around this field, fit garden for our tombs.\n\n    And shalt thou pause to hear some funeral-bell\n      Slow stealing o\u2019er the heart in this calm place,\n    Not with a throb of pain, a feverish knell,\n      But in its kind and supplicating grace,\n    It says, Go, pilgrim, on thy march, be more\n    Friend to the friendless than thou wast before;\n\n    Learn from the loved one\u2019s rest serenity;\n      To-morrow that soft bell for thee shall sound,\n    And thou repose beneath the whispering tree,\n      One tribute more to this submissive ground;\u2014\n    Prison thy soul from malice, bar out pride,\n    Nor these pale flowers nor this still field deride:\n\n    Rather to those ascents of being turn\n      Where a ne\u2019er-setting sun illumes the year\n    Eternal, and the incessant watch-fires burn\n      Of unspent holiness and goodness clear,\u2014\n    Forget man\u2019s littleness, deserve the best,\n    God\u2019s mercy in thy thought and life contest.\u201d\n\n                               WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING.\n\n\nADDRESS\n\nTO THE INHABITANTS OF CONCORD AT THE CONSECRATION OF SLEEPY HOLLOW\nSEPTEMBER 29, 1855\n\nCITIZENS AND FRIENDS: The committee to whom was confided the charge of\ncarrying out the wishes of the town in opening the cemetery, having\nproceeded so far as to enclose the ground, and cut the necessary roads,\nand having laid off as many lots as are likely to be wanted at present,\nhave thought it fit to call the inhabitants together, to show you the\nground, now that the new avenues make its advantages appear; and to put\nit at your disposition.\n\nThey have thought that the taking possession of this field ought to be\nmarked by a public meeting and religious rites: and they have requested\nme to say a few words which the serious and tender occasion inspires.\n\nAnd this concourse of friendly company assures me that they have rightly\ninterpreted your wishes. [Here followed, in the address, about three\npages of matter which Mr. Emerson used later in his essay on Immortality,\nwhich may be found in the volume _Letters and Social Aims_, beginning on\npage 324, \u201cThe credence of men,\u201d etc., and ending on pages 326-27 with\nthe sentence, \u201cMeantime the true disciples saw, through the letters, the\ndoctrine of eternity which dissolved the poor corpse and nature also, and\ngave grandeur to the passing hour.\u201d]\n\nIn these times we see the defects of our old theology; its inferiority\nto our habit of thoughts. Men go up and down; Science is popularized;\nthe irresistible democracy\u2014shall I call it?\u2014of chemistry, of vegetation,\nwhich recomposes for new life every decomposing particle,\u2014the race never\ndying, the individual never spared,\u2014have impressed on the mind of the age\nthe futility of these old arts of preserving. We give our earth to earth.\nWe will not jealously guard a few atoms under immense marbles, selfishly\nand impossibly sequestering it from the vast circulations of Nature, but,\nat the same time, fully admitting the divine hope and love which belong\nto our nature, wishing to make one spot tender to our children, who shall\ncome hither in the next century to read the dates of these lives.\n\nOur people accepting this lesson from science, yet touched by the\ntenderness which Christianity breathes, have found a mean in the\nconsecration of gardens. A simultaneous movement has, in a hundred\ncities and towns in this country, selected some convenient piece of\nundulating ground with pleasant woods and waters; every family chooses\nits own clump of trees; and we lay the corpse in these leafy colonnades.\n\nA grove of trees,\u2014what benefit or ornament is so fair and great? they\nmake the landscape; they keep the earth habitable; their roots run\ndown, like cattle, to the water-courses; their heads expand to feed the\natmosphere. The life of a tree is a hundred and a thousand years; its\ndecays ornamental; its repairs self-made: they grow when we sleep, they\ngrew when we were unborn. Man is a moth among these longevities. He\nplants for the next millennium. Shadows haunt them; all that ever lived\nabout them cling to them. You can almost see behind these pines the\nIndian with bow and arrow lurking yet exploring the traces of the old\ntrail.\n\nModern taste has shown that there is no ornament, no architecture\nalone, so sumptuous as well disposed woods and waters, where art has\nbeen employed only to remove superfluities, and bring out the natural\nadvantages. In cultivated grounds one sees the picturesque and opulent\neffect of the familiar shrubs, barberry, lilac, privet and thorns, when\nthey are disposed in masses, and in large spaces. What work of man will\ncompare with the plantation of a park? It dignifies life. It is a seat\nfor friendship, counsel, taste and religion. I do not wonder that they\nare the chosen badge and point of pride of European nobility. But how\nmuch more are they needed by us, anxious, overdriven Americans, to stanch\nand appease that fury of temperament which our climate bestows!\n\nThis tract fortunately lies adjoining to the Agricultural Society\u2019s\nground, to the New Burial Ground, to the Court House and the Town House,\nmaking together a large block of public ground, permanent property of the\ntown and county,\u2014all the ornaments of either adding so much value to all.\n\nI suppose all of us will readily admit the value of parks and cultivated\ngrounds to the pleasure and education of the people, but I have heard\nit said here that we would gladly spend for a park for the living, but\nnot for a cemetery; a garden for the living, a home of thought and\nfriendship. Certainly the living need it more than the dead; indeed, to\nspeak precisely, it is given to the dead for the reaction of benefit on\nthe living. But if the direct regard to the living be thought expedient,\nthat is also in your power. This ground is happily so divided by Nature\nas to admit of this relation between the Past and the Present. In the\nvalley where we stand will be the Monuments. On the other side of the\nridge, towards the town, a portion of the land is in full view of the\ncheer of the village and is out of sight of the Monuments; it admits of\nbeing reserved for secular purposes; for games,\u2014not such as the Greeks\nhonored the dead with, but for games of education; the distribution\nof school prizes; the meeting of teachers; patriotic eloquence, the\nutterance of the principles of national liberty to private, social,\nliterary or religious fraternities. Here we may establish that most\nagreeable of all museums, and agreeable to the temper of our times,\u2014an\n_Arboretum_,\u2014wherein may be planted, by the taste of every citizen,\none tree, with its name recorded in a book; every tree that is native\nto Massachusetts, or will grow in it; so that every child may be shown\ngrowing, side by side, the eleven oaks of Massachusetts; and the twenty\nwillows; the beech, which we have allowed to die out of the eastern\ncounties; and here the vast firs of California and Oregon.\n\nThis spot for twenty years has borne the name of _Sleepy Hollow_. Its\nseclusion from the village in its immediate neighborhood had made it\nto all the inhabitants an easy retreat on a Sabbath day, or a summer\ntwilight, and it was inevitably chosen by them when the design of a new\ncemetery was broached, if it did not suggest the design, as the fit place\nfor their final repose. In all the multitudes of woodlands and hillsides,\nwhich within a few years have been laid out with a similar design, I have\nnot known one so fitly named. _Sleepy Hollow._ In this quiet valley, as\nin the palm of Nature\u2019s hand, we shall sleep well when we have finished\nour day. What is the Earth itself but a surface scooped into nooks and\ncaves of slumber\u2014according to the Eastern fable, a bridge full of holes,\ninto one or other of which all the passengers sink to silence? Nay, when\nI think of the mystery of life, its round of illusions, our ignorance of\nits beginning or its end, the speed of the changes of that glittering\ndream we call existence,\u2014I think sometimes that the vault of the sky\narching there upward, under which our busy being is whirled, is only a\nSleepy Hollow, with path of Suns, instead of foot-paths; and Milky Ways,\nfor truck-roads.\n\nThe ground has the peaceful character that belongs to this town;\u2014no lofty\ncrags, no glittering cataracts;\u2014but I hold that every part of Nature is\nhandsome when not deformed by bad Art. Bleak sea-rocks and sea-downs\nand blasted heaths have their own beauty; and though we make much ado in\nour praises of Italy or Andes, Nature makes not so much difference. The\nmorning, the moonlight, the spring day, are magical painters, and can\nglorify a meadow or a rock.\n\nBut we must look forward also, and make ourselves a thousand years\nold; and when these acorns, that are falling at our feet, are oaks\novershadowing our children in a remote century, this mute green bank will\nbe full of history: the good, the wise and great will have left their\nnames and virtues on the trees; heroes, poets, beauties, sanctities,\nbenefactors, will have made the air timeable and articulate.\n\nAnd hither shall repair, to this modest spot of God\u2019s earth, every sweet\nand friendly influence; the beautiful night and beautiful day will come\nin turn to sit upon the grass. Our use will not displace the old tenants.\nThe well-beloved birds will not sing one song the less, the high-holding\nwoodpecker, the meadow-lark, the oriole, robin, purple finch, bluebird,\nthrush and red-eyed warbler, the heron, the bittern will find out the\nhospitality and protection from the gun of this asylum, and will seek the\nwaters of the meadow; and in the grass, and by the pond, the locust, the\ncricket and the hyla, shall shrilly play.\n\nWe shall bring hither the body of the dead, but how shall we catch the\nescaped soul? Here will burn for us, as the oath of God, the sublime\nbelief. I have heard that death takes us away from ill things, not from\ngood. I have heard that when we pronounce the name of man, we pronounce\nthe belief of immortality. All great natures delight in stability; all\ngreat men find eternity affirmed in the promise of their faculties.\nWhy is the fable of the Wandering Jew agreeable to men, but because\nthey want more time and land to execute their thoughts in? Life is not\nlong enough for art, nor long enough for friendship. The evidence from\nintellect is as valid as the evidence from love. The being that can share\na thought and feeling so sublime as confidence in truth is no mushroom.\nOur dissatisfaction with any other solution is the blazing evidence of\nimmortality.\n\n\n\n\nXXII\n\nROBERT BURNS\n\nSPEECH DELIVERED AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE BURNS CENTENARY, BOSTON\nJANUARY 25, 1859\n\n    \u201cHis was the music to whose tone\n      The common pulse of man keeps time\n    In cot or castle\u2019s mirth or moan,\n      In cold or sunny clime.\n\n    Praise to the bard! his words are driven,\n      Like flower-seeds by the far winds sown,\n    Where\u2019er, beneath the sky of heaven,\n      The birds of fame have flown.\u201d\n\n                                      HALLECK.\n\n\nROBERT BURNS\n\nMR. PRESIDENT, AND GENTLEMEN: I do not know by what untoward accident\nit has chanced, and I forbear to inquire, that, in this accomplished\ncircle, it should fall to me, the worst Scotsman of all, to receive your\ncommands, and at the latest hour too, to respond to the sentiment just\noffered, and which indeed makes the occasion. But I am told there is\nno appeal, and I must trust to the inspirations of the theme to make a\nfitness which does not otherwise exist. Yet, Sir, I heartily feel the\nsingular claims of the occasion. At the first announcement, from I know\nnot whence, that the 25th of January was the hundredth anniversary of the\nbirth of Robert Burns, a sudden consent warmed the great English race, in\nall its kingdoms, colonies and states, all over the world, to keep the\nfestival. We are here to hold our parliament with love and poesy, as men\nwere wont to do in the Middle Ages. Those famous parliaments might or\nmight not have had more stateliness and better singers than we,\u2014though\nthat is yet to be known,\u2014but they could not have better reason. I can\nonly explain this singular unanimity in a race which rarely acts\ntogether, but rather after their watch-word, Each for himself,\u2014by the\nfact that Robert Burns, the poet of the middle class, represents in the\nmind of men to-day that great uprising of the middle class against the\narmed and privileged minorities, that uprising which worked politically\nin the American and French Revolutions, and which, not in governments so\nmuch as in education and social order, has changed the face of the world.\n\nIn order for this destiny, his birth, breeding and fortunes were\nlow. His organic sentiment was absolute independence, and resting as\nit should on a life of labor. No man existed who could look down on\nhim. They that looked into his eyes saw that they might look down the\nsky as easily.[210] His muse and teaching was common sense, joyful,\naggressive, irresistible. Not Latimer, nor Luther struck more telling\nblows against false theology than did this brave singer. The Confession\nof Augsburg, the Declaration of Independence, the French Rights of Man,\nand the Marseillaise, are not more weighty documents in the history of\nfreedom than the songs of Burns. His satire has lost none of its edge.\nHis musical arrows yet sing through the air. He is so substantially\na reformer that I find his grand plain sense in close chain with the\ngreatest masters,\u2014Rabelais, Shakspeare in comedy, Cervantes, Butler,\nand Burns. If I should add another name, I find it only in a living\ncountryman of Burns.[211]\n\nHe is an exceptional genius. The people who care nothing for literature\nand poetry care for Burns. It was indifferent\u2014they thought who saw\nhim\u2014whether he wrote verse or not: he could have done anything else as\nwell. Yet how true a poet is he! And the poet, too, of poor men, of\ngray hodden and the guernsey coat and the blouse. He has given voice\nto all the experiences of common life; he has endeared the farmhouse\nand cottage, patches and poverty, beans and barley; ale, the poor man\u2019s\nwine; hardship; the fear of debt; the dear society of weans and wife, of\nbrothers and sisters, proud of each other, knowing so few and finding\namends for want and obscurity in books and thoughts.[212] What a love of\nNature, and, shall I say it? of middle-class Nature. Not like Goethe, in\nthe stars, or like Byron, in the ocean, or Moore, in the luxurious East,\nbut in the homely landscape which the poor see around them,\u2014bleak leagues\nof pasture and stubble, ice and sleet and rain and snow-choked brooks;\nbirds, hares, field-mice, thistles and heather, which he daily knew. How\nmany \u201cBonny Doons\u201d and \u201cJohn Anderson my jo\u2019s\u201d and \u201cAuld lang synes\u201d all\naround the earth have his verses been applied to! And his love-songs\nstill woo and melt the youths and maids; the farm-work, the country\nholiday, the fishing-cobble are still his debtors to-day.\n\nAnd as he was thus the poet of the poor, anxious, cheerful, working\nhumanity, so had he the language of low life. He grew up in a rural\ndistrict, speaking a _patois_ unintelligible to all but natives, and\nhe has made the Lowland Scotch a Doric dialect of fame. It is the only\nexample in history of a language made classic by the genius of a single\nman. But more than this. He had that secret of genius to draw from the\nbottom of society the strength of its speech, and astonish the ears of\nthe polite with these artless words, better than art, and filtered of all\noffence through his beauty. It seemed odious to Luther that the devil\nshould have all the best tunes; he would bring them into the churches;\nand Burns knew how to take from fairs and gypsies, blacksmiths and\ndrovers, the speech of the market and street, and clothe it with melody.\nBut I am detaining you too long. The memory of Burns,\u2014I am afraid heaven\nand earth have taken too good care of it to leave us anything to say. The\nwest winds are murmuring it. Open the windows behind you, and hearken for\nthe incoming tide, what the waves say of it. The doves perching always\non the eaves of the Stone Chapel opposite, may know something about\nit. Every name in broad Scotland keeps his fame bright. The memory of\nBurns,\u2014every man\u2019s, every boy\u2019s and girl\u2019s head carries snatches of his\nsongs, and they say them by heart, and, what is strangest of all, never\nlearned them from a book, but from mouth to mouth. The wind whispers\nthem, the birds whistle them, the corn, barley, and bulrushes hoarsely\nrustle them, nay, the music-boxes at Geneva are framed and toothed to\nplay them; the hand-organs of the Savoyards in all cities repeat them,\nand the chimes of bells ring them in the spires. They are the property\nand the solace of mankind.[213]\n\n\n\n\nXXIII\n\nREMARKS\n\nAT THE CELEBRATION OF THE THREE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF\nSHAKSPEARE BY THE SATURDAY CLUB AT THE REVERE HOUSE, BOSTON, 1864\n\n    England\u2019s genius filled all measure\n    Of heart and soul, of strength and pleasure,\n    Gave to mind its emperor\n    And life was larger than before;\n    And centuries brood, nor can attain\n    The sense and bound of Shakspeare\u2019s brain.\n    The men who lived with him became\n    Poets, for the air was fame.\n\n\nSHAKSPEARE\n\n\u2019Tis not our fault if we have not made this evening\u2019s circle still\nricher than it is. We seriously endeavored, besides our brothers and\nour seniors, on whom the ordinary lead of literary and social action\nfalls\u2014and falls because of their ability\u2014to draw out of their retirements\na few rarer lovers of the muse\u2014\u201cseld-seen flamens\u201d\u2014whom this day seemed\nto elect and challenge. And it is to us a painful disappointment that\nBryant and Whittier as guests, and our own Hawthorne,\u2014with the best\nwill to come,\u2014should have found it impossible at last; and again, that\na well-known and honored compatriot, who first in Boston wrote elegant\nverse, and on Shakspeare, and whose American devotion through forty or\nfifty years to the affairs of a bank, has not been able to bury the fires\nof his genius,\u2014Mr. Charles Sprague,\u2014pleads the infirmities of age as an\nabsolute bar to his presence with us.\n\nWe regret also the absence of our members Sumner and Motley.\n\nWe can hardly think of an occasion where so little need be said. We are\nall content to let Shakspeare speak for himself. His fame is settled\non the foundations of the moral and intellectual world. Wherever there\nare men, and in the degree in which they are civil\u2014have power of mind,\nsensibility to beauty, music, the secrets of passion, and the liquid\nexpression of thought, he has risen to his place as the first poet of the\nworld.\n\nGenius is the consoler of our mortal condition, and Shakspeare taught us\nthat the little world of the heart is vaster, deeper and richer than the\nspaces of astronomy. What shocks of surprise and sympathetic power, this\nbattery, which he is, imparts to every fine mind that is born! We say to\nthe young child in the cradle, \u2018Happy, and defended against Fate! for\nhere is Nature, and here is Shakspeare, waiting for you!\u2019\n\n\u2019Tis our metre of culture. He is a cultivated man\u2014who can tell us\nsomething new of Shakspeare. All criticism is only a making of rules out\nof his beauties. He is as superior to his countrymen, as to all other\ncountrymen. He fulfilled the famous prophecy of Socrates, that the poet\nmost excellent in tragedy would be most excellent in comedy, and more\nthan fulfilled it by making tragedy also a victorious melody which\nhealed its own wounds. In short, Shakspeare is the one resource of our\nlife on which no gloom gathers; the fountain of joy which honors him who\ntastes it; day without night; pleasure without repentance; the genius\nwhich, in unpoetic ages, keeps poetry in honor and, in sterile periods,\nkeeps up the credit of the human mind.\n\nHis genius has reacted on himself. Men were so astonished and occupied\nby his poems that they have not been able to see his face and condition,\nor say, who was his father and his brethren; or what life he led; and at\nthe short distance of three hundred years he is mythical, like Orpheus\nand Homer, and we have already seen the most fantastic theories plausibly\nurged, as that Raleigh and Bacon were the authors of the plays.\n\nYet we pause expectant before the genius of Shakspeare\u2014as if his\nbiography were not yet written; until the problem of the whole English\nrace is solved.\n\nI see, among the lovers of this catholic genius, here present, a few,\nwhose deeper knowledge invites me to hazard an article of my literary\ncreed; that Shakspeare, by his transcendant reach of thought, so\nunites the extremes, that, whilst he has kept the theatre now for three\ncenturies, and, like a street-bible, furnishes sayings to the market,\ncourts of law, the senate, and common discourse,\u2014he is yet to all wise\nmen the companion of the closet. The student finds the solitariest place\nnot solitary enough to read him; and so searching is his penetration, and\nsuch the charm of his speech, that he still agitates the heart in age as\nin youth, and will, until it ceases to beat.\n\nYoung men of a contemplative turn carry his sonnets in the pocket. With\nthat book, the shade of any tree, a room in any inn, becomes a chapel or\noratory in which to sit out their happiest hours. Later they find riper\nand manlier lessons in the plays.\n\nAnd secondly, he is the most robust and potent thinker that ever was. I\nfind that it was not history, courts and affairs that gave him lessons,\nbut he that gave grandeur and prestige to them. There never was a writer\nwho, seeming to draw every hint from outward history, the life of cities\nand courts, owed them so little. You shall never find in this world\nthe barons or kings he depicted. \u2019Tis fine for Englishmen to say, they\nonly know history by Shakspeare. The palaces they compass earth and\nsea to enter, the magnificence and personages of royal and imperial\nabodes, are shabby imitations and caricatures of his,\u2014clumsy pupils of\nhis instruction. There are no Warwicks, no Talbots, no Bolingbrokes,\nno Cardinals, no Harry Fifth, in real Europe, like his. The loyalty\nand royalty he drew were all his own. The real Elizabeths, Jameses and\nLouises were painted sticks before this magician.\n\nThe unaffected joy of the comedy,\u2014he lives in a gale,\u2014contrasted with the\ngrandeur of the tragedy, where he stoops to no contrivance, no pulpiting,\nbut flies an eagle at the heart of the problem; where his speech is a\nDelphi,\u2014the great Nemesis that he is and utters. What a great heart of\nequity is he! How good and sound and inviolable his innocency, that is\nnever to seek, and never wrong, but speaks the pure sense of humanity\non each occasion. He dwarfs all writers without a solitary exception.\nNo egotism. The egotism of men is immense. It concealed Shakspeare for\na century. His mind has a superiority such that the universities should\nread lectures on him, and conquer the unconquerable if they can.\n\nThere are periods fruitful of great men; others, barren; or, as the world\nis always equal to itself, periods when the heat is latent,\u2014others when\nit is given out.\n\nThey are like the great wine years,\u2014the vintage of 1847, is it? or\n1835?\u2014which are not only noted in the carte of the table d\u2019h\u00f4te, but\nwhich, it is said, are always followed by new vivacity in the politics of\nEurope. His birth marked a great wine year when wonderful grapes ripened\nin the vintage of God, when Shakspeare and Galileo were born within a\nfew months of each other, and Cervantes was his exact contemporary, and,\nin short space before and after, Montaigne, Bacon, Spenser, Raleigh and\nJonson. Yet Shakspeare, not by any inferiority of theirs, but simply by\nhis colossal proportions, dwarfs the geniuses of Elizabeth as easily as\nthe wits of Anne, or the poor slipshod troubadours of King Ren\u00e9.\n\nIn our ordinary experience of men there are some men so born to live well\nthat, in whatever company they fall,\u2014high or low,\u2014they fit well, and\nlead it! but, being advanced to a higher class, they are just as much in\ntheir element as before, and easily command: and being again preferred to\nselecter companions, find no obstacle to ruling these as they did their\nearlier mates; I suppose because they have more humanity than talent,\nwhilst they have quite as much of the last as any of the company. It\nwould strike you as comic, if I should give my own customary examples of\nthis elasticity, though striking enough to me. I could name in this very\ncompany\u2014or not going far out of it\u2014very good types, but in order to be\nparliamentary, Franklin, Burns and Walter Scott are examples of the rule;\nand king of men, by this grace of God also, is Shakspeare.\n\nThe Pilgrims came to Plymouth in 1620. The plays of Shakspeare were not\npublished until three years later. Had they been published earlier, our\nforefathers, or the most poetical among them, might have stayed at home\nto read them.\n\n\n\n\nXXIV\n\nHUMBOLDT\n\nAN ABSTRACT OF MR. EMERSON\u2019S REMARKS MADE AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE\nCENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT, SEPTEMBER\n14, 1869\n\n    \u201cIf a life prolonged to an advanced period bring with\n    it several inconveniences to the individual, there is a\n    compensation in the delight of being able to compare older\n    states of knowledge with that which now exists, and to see\n    great advances in knowledge develop themselves under our eyes\n    in departments which had long slept in inactivity.\u201d\n\n                                       HUMBOLDT, _Letter to Ritter_.\n\n\nHUMBOLDT\n\nHumboldt was one of those wonders of the world, like Aristotle, like\nJulius C\u00e6sar, like the Admirable Crichton, who appear from time to\ntime, as if to show us the possibilities of the human mind, the force\nand the range of the faculties,\u2014a universal man, not only possessed of\ngreat particular talents, but they were symmetrical, his parts were well\nput together. As we know, a man\u2019s natural powers are often a sort of\ncommittee that slowly, one at a time, give their attention and action;\nbut Humboldt\u2019s were all united, one electric chain, so that a university,\na whole French Academy, travelled in his shoes. With great propriety, he\nnamed his sketch of the results of science Cosmos. There is no other such\nsurvey or surveyor. The wonderful Humboldt, with his solid centre and\nexpanded wings, marches like an army, gathering all things as he goes.\nHow he reaches from science to science, from law to law, folding away\nmoons and asteroids and solar systems in the clauses and parentheses of\nhis encyclop\u00e6dic paragraphs! There is no book like it; none indicating\nsuch a battalion of powers. You could not put him on any sea or shore\nbut his instant recollection of every other sea or shore illuminated this.\n\nHe was properly a man of the world; you could not lose him; you could\nnot detain him; you could not disappoint him, for at any point on land\nor sea he found the objects of his researches. When he was stopped in\nSpain and could not get away, he turned round and interpreted their\nmountain system, explaining the past history of the continent of Europe.\nHe belonged to that wonderful German nation, the foremost scholars in\nall history, who surpass all others in industry, space and endurance.\nA German reads a literature whilst we are reading a book. One of their\nwriters warns his countrymen that it is not the Battle of Leipsic,\nbut the Leipsic Fair Catalogue, which raises them above the French.\nI remember Cuvier tells us of fossil elephants; that Germany has\nfurnished the greatest number;\u2014not because there are more elephants in\nGermany,\u2014oh no; but because in that empire there is no canton without\nsome well-informed person capable of making researches and publishing\ninteresting results. I know that we have been accustomed to think they\nwere too good scholars, that because they reflect, they never resolve,\nthat \u201cin a crisis no plan-maker was to be found in the empire;\u201d but we\nhave lived to see now, for the second time in the history of Prussia, a\nstatesman of the first class, with a clear head and an inflexible will.\n\n\n\n\nXXV\n\nWALTER SCOTT\n\nREMARKS AT THE CELEBRATION BY THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE\nCENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH, AUGUST 15, 1871\n\nSCOTT, the delight of generous boys.\n\n    As far as Sir Walter Scott aspired to be known for a fine\n    gentleman, so far our sympathies leave him.... Our concern is\n    only with the residue, where the man Scott was warmed with a\n    divine ray that clad with beauty every sheet of water, every\n    bald hill in the country he looked upon, and so reanimated the\n    well-nigh obsolete feudal history and illustrated every hidden\n    corner of a barren and disagreeable territory.\n\n                                  Lecture, \u201cBeing and Seeing,\u201d 1838.\n\n\nWALTER SCOTT\n\nThe memory of Sir Walter Scott is dear to this Society, of which he was\nfor ten years an honorary member. If only as an eminent antiquary who\nhas shed light on the history of Europe and of the English race, he\nhad high claims to our regard. But to the rare tribute of a centennial\nanniversary of his birthday, which we gladly join with Scotland, and\nindeed with Europe, to keep, he is not less entitled\u2014perhaps he alone\namong literary men of this century is entitled\u2014by the exceptional debt\nwhich all English-speaking men have gladly owed to his character and\ngenius. I think no modern writer has inspired his readers with such\naffection to his own personality. I can well remember as far back as\nwhen The Lord of the Isles was first republished in Boston, in 1815,\u2014my\nown and my school-fellows\u2019 joy in the book.[214] Marmion and The Lay\nhad gone before, but we were then learning to spell. In the face of the\nlater novels, we still claim that his poetry is the delight of boys.\nBut this means that when we reopen these old books we all consent to be\nboys again. We tread over our youthful grounds with joy. Critics have\nfound them to be only rhymed prose. But I believe that many of those\nwho read them in youth, when, later, they come to dismiss finally their\nschool-days\u2019 library, will make some fond exception for Scott as for\nByron.\n\nIt is easy to see the origin of his poems. His own ear had been charmed\nby old ballads crooned by Scottish dames at firesides, and written\ndown from their lips by antiquaries; and finding them now outgrown and\ndishonored by the new culture, he attempted to dignify and adapt them to\nthe times in which he lived. Just so much thought, so much picturesque\ndetail in dialogue or description as the old ballad required, so much\nsuppression of details and leaping to the event, he would keep and use,\nbut without any ambition to write a high poem after a classic model.\nHe made no pretension to the lofty style of Spenser, or Milton, or\nWordsworth. Compared with their purified songs, purified of all ephemeral\ncolor or material, his were _vers de soci\u00e9t\u00e9_. But he had the skill\nproper to _vers de soci\u00e9t\u00e9_,\u2014skill to fit his verse to his topic, and not\nto write solemn pentameters alike on a hero or a spaniel. His good sense\nprobably elected the ballad to make his audience larger. He apprehended\nin advance the immense enlargement of the reading public, which almost\ndates from the era of his books,\u2014which his books and Byron\u2019s inaugurated;\nand which, though until then unheard of, has become familiar to the\npresent time.\n\nIf the success of his poems, however large, was partial, that of his\nnovels was complete. The tone of strength in Waverley at once announced\nthe master, and was more than justified by the superior genius of the\nfollowing romances, up to the Bride of Lammermoor, which almost goes back\nto \u00c6schylus for a counterpart as a painting of Fate,\u2014leaving on every\nreader the impression of the highest and purest tragedy.[215]\n\nHis power on the public mind rests on the singular union of two\ninfluences. By nature, by his reading and taste an aristocrat, in a\ntime and country which easily gave him that bias, he had the virtues\nand graces of that class, and by his eminent humanity and his love of\nlabor escaped its harm. He saw in the English Church the symbol and seal\nof all social order; in the historical aristocracy the benefits to the\nstate which Burke claimed for it; and in his own reading and research\nsuch store of legend and renown as won his imagination to their cause.\nNot less his eminent humanity delighted in the sense and virtue and\nwit of the common people. In his own household and neighbors he found\ncharacters and pets of humble class, with whom he established the best\nrelation,\u2014small farmers and tradesmen, shepherds, fishermen, gypsies,\npeasant-girls, crones,\u2014and came with these into real ties of mutual help\nand good will. From these originals he drew so genially his Jeanie Deans,\nhis Dinmonts and Edie Ochiltrees, Caleb Balderstones and Fairservices,\nCuddie Headriggs, Dominies, Meg Merrilies, and Jenny Rintherouts, full\nof life and reality; making these, too, the pivots on which the plots\nof his stories turn; and meantime without one word of brag of this\ndiscernment,\u2014nay, this extreme sympathy reaching down to every beggar\nand beggar\u2019s dog, and horse and cow. In the number and variety of his\ncharacters he approaches Shakspeare. Other painters in verse or prose\nhave thrown into literature a few type-figures; as Cervantes, De Foe,\nRichardson, Goldsmith, Sterne and Fielding; but Scott portrayed with\nequal strength and success every figure in his crowded company.\n\nHis strong good sense saved him from the faults and foibles incident to\npoets,\u2014from nervous egotism, sham modesty or jealousy. He played ever a\nmanly part.[216] With such a fortune and such a genius, we should look to\nsee what heavy toll the Fates took of him, as of Rousseau or Voltaire, of\nSwift or Byron. But no: he had no insanity, or vice, or blemish. He was a\nthoroughly upright, wise and great-hearted man, equal to whatever event\nor fortune should try him. Disasters only drove him to immense exertion.\nWhat an ornament and safeguard is humor! Far better than wit for a poet\nand writer. It is a genius itself, and so defends from the insanities.\n\nUnder what rare conjunction of stars was this man born, that, wherever he\nlived, he found superior men, passed all his life in the best company,\nand still found himself the best of the best! He was apprenticed at\nEdinburgh to a Writer to the Signet, and became a Writer to the Signet,\nand found himself in his youth and manhood and age in the society of\nMackintosh, Horner, Jeffrey, Playfair, Dugald Stewart, Sydney Smith,\nLeslie, Sir William Hamilton, Wilson, Hogg, De Quincey,\u2014to name only some\nof his literary neighbors, and, as soon as he died, all this brilliant\ncircle was broken up.\n\n\n\n\nXXVI\n\nSPEECH\n\nAT BANQUET IN HONOR OF THE CHINESE EMBASSY BOSTON, 1860\n\n    Nature creates in the East the uncontrollable yearning to\n    escape from limitation into the vast and boundless, to use a\n    freedom of fancy which plays with all works of Nature, great\n    or minute, galaxy or grain of dust, as toys and words of\n    the mind; inculcates a beatitude to be found in escape from\n    all organization and all personality, and makes ecstasy an\n    institution.\n\n\nSPEECH\n\nAT THE BANQUET IN HONOR OF THE CHINESE EMBASSY\n\nMR. MAYOR: I suppose we are all of one opinion on this remarkable\noccasion of meeting the embassy sent from the oldest Empire in the world\nto the youngest Republic. All share the surprise and pleasure when\nthe venerable Oriental dynasty\u2014hitherto a romantic legend to most of\nus\u2014suddenly steps into the fellowship of nations. This auspicious event,\nconsidered in connection with the late innovations in Japan, marks a new\nera, and is an irresistible result of the science which has given us the\npower of steam and the electric telegraph. It is the more welcome for the\nsurprise. We had said of China, as the old prophet said of Egypt, \u201cHer\nstrength is to sit still.\u201d Her people had such elemental conservatism\nthat by some wonderful force of race and national manners, the wars and\nrevolutions that occur in her annals have proved but momentary swells\nor surges on the pacific ocean of her history, leaving no trace. But in\nits immovability this race has claims. China is old, not in time only,\nbut in wisdom, which is gray hair to a nation,\u2014or, rather, truly seen,\nis eternal youth. As we know, China had the magnet centuries before\nEurope; and block-printing or stereotype, and lithography, and gunpowder,\nand vaccination, and canals; had anticipated Linn\u00e6us\u2019s nomenclature\nof plants; had codes, journals, clubs, hackney coaches, and, thirty\ncenturies before New York, had the custom of New Year\u2019s calls of comity\nand reconciliation. I need not mention its useful arts,\u2014its pottery\nindispensable to the world, the luxury of silks, and its tea, the cordial\nof nations. But I must remember that she has respectable remains of\nastronomic science, and historic records of forgotten time, that have\nsupplied important gaps in the ancient history of the western nations.\nThen she has philosophers who cannot be spared. Confucius has not yet\ngathered all his fame. When Socrates heard that the oracle declared that\nhe was the wisest of men, he said, it must mean that other men held that\nthey were wise, but that he knew that he knew nothing. Confucius had\nalready affirmed this of himself: and what we call the GOLDEN RULE OF\nJESUS, Confucius had uttered in the same terms five hundred years before.\nHis morals, though addressed to a state of society unlike ours, we read\nwith profit to-day. His rare perception appears in his GOLDEN MEAN, his\ndoctrine of Reciprocity, his unerring insight,\u2014putting always the blame\nof our misfortunes on ourselves; as when to the governor who complained\nof thieves, he said, \u201cIf you, sir, were not covetous, though you should\nreward them for it, they would not steal.\u201d His ideal of greatness\npredicts Marcus Antoninus. At the same time, he abstained from paradox,\nand met the ingrained prudence of his nation by saying always, \u201cBend one\ncubit to straighten eight.\u201d\n\nChina interests us at this moment in a point of politics. I am sure that\ngentlemen around me bear in mind the bill which the Hon. Mr. Jenckes of\nRhode Island has twice attempted to carry through Congress, requiring\nthat candidates for public offices shall first pass examinations on their\nliterary qualifications for the same. Well, China has preceded us, as\nwell as England and France, in this essential correction of a reckless\nusage; and the like high esteem of education appears in China in social\nlife, to whose distinctions it is made an indispensable passport.\n\nIt is gratifying to know that the advantages of the new intercourse\nbetween the two countries are daily manifest on the Pacific coast. The\nimmigrants from Asia come in crowds. Their power of continuous labor,\ntheir versatility in adapting themselves to new conditions, their stoical\neconomy, are unlooked-for virtues. They send back to their friends, in\nChina, money, new products of art, new tools, machinery, new foods, etc.,\nand are thus establishing a commerce without limit. I cannot help adding,\nafter what I have heard to-night, that I have read in the journals a\nstatement from an English source, that Sir Frederic Bruce attributed to\nMr. Burlingame the merit of the happy reform in the relations of foreign\ngovernments to China. I am quite sure that I heard from Mr. Burlingame\nin New York, in his last visit to America, that the whole merit of it\nbelonged to Sir Frederic Bruce. It appears that the ambassadors were\nemulous in their magnanimity. It is certainly the best guaranty for the\ninterests of China and of humanity.\n\n\n\n\nXXVII\n\nREMARKS\n\nAT THE MEETING FOR ORGANIZING THE FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION, BOSTON MAY\n30, 1867\n\n    In many forms we try\n    To utter God\u2019s infinity,\n    But the Boundless hath no form,\n    And the Universal Friend\n    Doth as far transcend\n    An angel as a worm.\n\n    The great Idea baffles wit,\n    Language falters under it,\n    It leaves the learned in the lurch;\n    Nor art, nor power, nor toil can find\n    The measure of the eternal Mind,\n    Nor hymn nor prayer nor church.\n\n\nREMARKS\n\nAT THE MEETING FOR ORGANIZING THE FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION\n\nMR. CHAIRMAN: I hardly felt, in finding this house this morning, that I\nhad come into the right hall. I came, as I supposed myself summoned, to a\nlittle committee meeting, for some practical end, where I should happily\nand humbly learn my lesson; and I supposed myself no longer subject to\nyour call when I saw this house. I have listened with great pleasure to\nthe lessons which we have heard. To many, to those last spoken, I have\nfound so much in accord with my own thought that I have little left to\nsay. I think that it does great honor to the sensibility of the committee\nthat they have felt the universal demand in the community for just the\nmovement they have begun. I say again, in the phrase used by my friend,\nthat we began many years ago,\u2014yes, and many ages before that. But I think\nthe necessity very great, and it has prompted an equal magnanimity, that\nthus invites all classes, all religious men, whatever their connections,\nwhatever their specialties, in whatever relation they stand to the\nChristian Church, to unite in a movement of benefit to men, under the\nsanction of religion. We are all very sensible\u2014it is forced on us every\nday\u2014of the feeling that churches are outgrown; that the creeds are\noutgrown; that a technical theology no longer suits us. It is not the ill\nwill of people\u2014no, indeed, but the incapacity for confining themselves\nthere. The church is not large enough for the man; it cannot inspire\nthe enthusiasm which is the parent of everything good in history, which\nmakes the romance of history. For that enthusiasm you must have something\ngreater than yourselves, and not less.\n\nThe child, the young student, finds scope in his mathematics and\nchemistry or natural history, because he finds a truth larger than he is;\nfinds himself continually instructed. But, in churches, every healthy and\nthoughtful mind finds itself in something less; it is checked, cribbed,\nconfined. And the statistics of the American, the English and the German\ncities, showing that the mass of the population is leaving off going to\nchurch, indicate the necessity, which should have been foreseen, that\nthe Church should always be new and extemporized, because it is eternal\nand springs from the sentiment of men, or it does not exist.[217] One\nwonders sometimes that the churches still retain so many votaries, when\nhe reads the histories of the Church. There is an element of childish\ninfatuation in them which does not exalt our respect for man. Read in\nMichelet, that in Europe, for twelve or fourteen centuries, God the\nFather had no temple and no altar. The Holy Ghost and the Son of Mary\nwere worshipped, and in the thirteenth century the First Person began to\nappear at the side of his Son, in pictures and in sculpture, for worship,\nbut only through favor of his Son. These mortifying puerilities abound\nin religious history. But as soon as every man is apprised of the Divine\nPresence within his own mind,\u2014is apprised that the perfect law of duty\ncorresponds with the laws of chemistry, of vegetation, of astronomy, as\nface to face in a glass; that the basis of duty, the order of society,\nthe power of character, the wealth of culture, the perfection of taste,\nall draw their essence from this moral sentiment, then we have a religion\nthat exalts, that commands all the social and all the private action.\n\nWhat strikes me in the sudden movement which brings together to-day\nso many separated friends,\u2014separated but sympathetic,\u2014and what I\nexpected to find here, was some practical suggestions by which we were\nto reanimate and reorganize for ourselves the true Church, the pure\nworship. Pure doctrine always bears fruit in pure benefits. It is only\nby good works, it is only on the basis of active duty, that worship\nfinds expression. What is best in the ancient religions was the sacred\nfriendships between heroes, the Sacred Bands, and the relations of the\nPythagorean disciples. Our Masonic institutions probably grew from the\nlike origin. The close association which bound the first disciples of\nJesus is another example; and it were easy to find more. The soul of\nour late war, which will always be remembered as dignifying it, was,\nfirst, the desire to abolish slavery in this country, and secondly,\nto abolish the mischief of the war itself, by healing and saving the\nsick and wounded soldiers,\u2014and this by the sacred bands of the Sanitary\nCommission. I wish that the various beneficent institutions which are\nspringing up, like joyful plants of wholesomeness, all over this country,\nshould all be remembered as within the sphere of this committee,\u2014almost\nall of them are represented here,\u2014and that within this little band that\nhas gathered here to-day, should grow friendship. The interests that\ngrow out of a meeting like this should bind us with new strength to the\nold eternal duties.\n\n\n\n\nXXVIII\n\nSPEECH\n\nAT THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION, AT\nTREMONT TEMPLE FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1869\n\n    Thou metest him by centuries,\n    And lo! he passes like the breeze;\n    Thou seek\u2019st in globe and galaxy,\n    He hides in pure transparency;\n    Thou ask\u2019st in fountains and in fires,\n    He is the essence that inquires.\n\n\nSPEECH\n\nAT SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION\n\nFRIENDS: I wish I could deserve anything of the kind expression of\nmy friend, the President, and the kind good will which the audience\nsignifies, but it is not in my power to-day to meet the natural demands\nof the occasion, and, quite against my design and my will, I shall have\nto request the attention of the audience to a few written remarks,\ninstead of the more extensive statement which I had hoped to offer them.\n\nI think we have disputed long enough. I think we might now relinquish\nour theological controversies to communities more idle and ignorant than\nwe. I am glad that a more realistic church is coming to be the tendency\nof society, and that we are likely one day to forget our obstinate\npolemics in the ambition to excel each other in good works. I have no\nwish to proselyte any reluctant mind, nor, I think, have I any curiosity\nor impulse to intrude on those whose ways of thinking differ from mine.\nBut as my friend, your presiding officer, has asked me to take at least\nsome small part in this day\u2019s conversation, I am ready to give, as often\nbefore, the first simple foundation of my belief, that the Author of\nNature has not left himself without a witness in any sane mind: that the\nmoral sentiment speaks to every man the law after which the Universe\nwas made; that we find parity, identity of design, through Nature, and\nbenefit to be the uniform aim: that there is a force always at work to\nmake the best better and the worst good.[218] We have had not long since\npresented us by Max M\u00fcller a valuable paragraph from St. Augustine, not\nat all extraordinary in itself, but only as coming from that eminent\nFather in the Church, and at that age, in which St. Augustine writes:\n\u201cThat which is now called the Christian religion existed among the\nancients, and never did not exist from the planting of the human race\nuntil Christ came in the flesh, at which time the true religion which\nalready existed began to be called Christianity.\u201d I believe that not\nonly Christianity is as old as the Creation,\u2014not only every sentiment\nand precept of Christianity can be paralleled in other religious\nwritings,\u2014but more, that a man of religious susceptibility, and one at\nthe same time conversant with many men,\u2014say a much-travelled man,\u2014can\nfind the same idea in numberless conversations. The religious find\nreligion wherever they associate. When I find in people narrow religion,\nI find also in them narrow reading. Nothing really is so self-publishing,\nso divulgatory, as thought. It cannot be confined or hid. It is easily\ncarried; it takes no room; the knowledge of Europe looks out into Persia\nand India, and to the very Kaffirs. Every proverb, every fine text, every\npregnant jest, travels across the line; and you will find it at Cape\nTown, or among the Tartars. We are all believers in natural religion;\nwe all agree that the health and integrity of man is self-respect,\nself-subsistency, a regard to natural conscience. All education is to\naccustom him to trust himself, discriminate between his higher and lower\nthoughts, exert the timid faculties until they are robust, and thus\ntrain him to self-help, until he ceases to be an underling, a tool, and\nbecomes a benefactor. I think wise men wish their religion to be all of\nthis kind, teaching the agent to go alone, not to hang on the world as a\npensioner, a permitted person, but an adult, self-searching soul, brave\nto assist or resist a world: only humble and docile before the source of\nthe wisdom he has discovered within him.\n\nAs it is, every believer holds a different creed; that is, all the\nchurches are churches of one member. All our sects have refined the point\nof difference between them. The point of difference that still remains\nbetween churches, or between classes, is in the addition to the moral\ncode, that is, to natural religion, of somewhat positive and historical.\nI think that to be, as Mr. Abbot has stated it in his form, the one\ndifference remaining. I object, of course, to the claim of miraculous\ndispensation,\u2014certainly not to the _doctrine_ of Christianity.[219]\nThis claim impairs, to my mind, the soundness of him who makes it, and\nindisposes us to his communion. This comes the wrong way; it comes from\nwithout, not within. This positive, historical, authoritative scheme is\nnot consistent with our experience or our expectations. It is something\nnot in Nature: it is contrary to that law of Nature which all wise men\nrecognize; namely, never to require a larger cause than is necessary\nto the effect. George Fox, the Quaker, said that, though he read of\nChrist and God, he knew them only from the like spirit in his own soul.\nWe want all the aids to our moral training. We cannot spare the vision\nnor the virtue of the saints; but let it be by pure sympathy, not with\nany personal or official claim. If you are childish, and exhibit your\nsaint as a worker of wonders, a thaumaturgist, I am repelled. That claim\ntakes his teachings out of logic and out of nature, and permits official\nand arbitrary senses to be grafted on the teachings. It is the praise\nof our New Testament that its teachings go to the honor and benefit of\nhumanity,\u2014that no better lesson has been taught or incarnated. Let it\nstand, beautiful and wholesome, with whatever is most like it in the\nteaching and practice of men; but do not attempt to elevate it out of\nhumanity, by saying, \u2018This was not a man,\u2019 for then you confound it with\nthe fables of every popular religion, and my distrust of the story makes\nme distrust the doctrine as soon as it differs from my own belief.\n\nWhoever thinks a story gains by the prodigious, by adding something\nout of nature, robs it more than he adds. It is no longer an example,\na model; no longer a heart-stirring hero, but an exhibition, a wonder,\nan anomaly, removed out of the range of influence with thoughtful men.\nI submit that in sound frame of mind, we read or remember the religious\nsayings and oracles of other men, whether Jew or Indian, or Greek or\nPersian, only for friendship, only for joy in the social identity which\nthey open to us, and that these words would have no weight with us if\nwe had not the same conviction already. I find something stingy in the\nunwilling and disparaging admission of these foreign opinions\u2014opinions\nfrom all parts of the world\u2014by our churchmen, as if only to enhance by\ntheir dimness the superior light of Christianity. Meantime, observe, you\ncannot bring me too good a word, too dazzling a hope, too penetrating\nan insight from the Jews. I hail every one with delight, as showing the\nriches of my brother, my fellow soul, who could thus think and thus\ngreatly feel. Zealots eagerly fasten their eyes on the differences\nbetween their creed and yours, but the charm of the study is in finding\nthe agreements, the identities, in all the religions of men.[220]\n\nI am glad to hear each sect complain that they do not now hold the\nopinions they are charged with. The earth moves, and the mind opens. I\nam glad to believe society contains a class of humble souls who enjoy\nthe luxury of a religion that does not degrade; who think it the highest\nworship to expect of Heaven the most and the best; who do not wonder\nthat there was a Christ, but that there were not a thousand; who have\nconceived an infinite hope for mankind; who believe that the history of\nJesus is the history of every man, written large.[221]\n\n\n\n\nXXIX\n\nADDRESS\n\nAT THE OPENING OF THE CONCORD FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY\n\n    The bishop of Cavaillon, Petrarch\u2019s friend, in a playful\n    experiment locked up the poet\u2019s library, intending to exclude\n    him from it for three days, but the poet\u2019s misery caused him\n    to restore the key on the first evening. \u201cAnd I verily believe\n    I should have become insane,\u201d says Petrarch, \u201cif my mind had\n    longer been deprived of its necessary nourishment.\u201d\n\n\nADDRESS\n\nAT THE OPENING OF THE CONCORD FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY\n\nThe people of Massachusetts prize the simple political arrangement\nof towns, each independent in its local government, electing its own\nofficers, assessing its taxes, caring for its schools, its charities,\nits highways. That town is attractive to its native citizens and to\nimmigrants which has a healthy site, good land, good roads, good\nsidewalks, a good hotel; still more, if it have an adequate town hall,\ngood churches, good preachers, good schools, and if it avail itself\nof the Act of the Legislature authorizing towns to tax themselves for\nthe establishment of a public library. Happier, if it contain citizens\nwho cannot wait for the slow growth of the population to make these\nadvantages adequate to the desires of the people, but make costly gifts\nto education, civility and culture, as in the act we are met to witness\nand acknowledge to-day.\n\nI think we cannot easily overestimate the benefit conferred. In the\ndetails of this munificence, we may all anticipate a sudden and lasting\nprosperity to this ancient town, in the benefit of a noble library, which\nadds by the beauty of the building, and its skilful arrangement, a quite\nnew attraction,\u2014making readers of those who are not readers,\u2014making\nscholars of those who only read newspapers or novels until now; and\nwhilst it secures a new and needed culture to our citizens, offering a\nstrong attraction to strangers who are seeking a country home to sit down\nhere. And I am not sure that when Boston learns the good deed of Mr.\nMunroe, it will not be a little envious, nor rest until it has annexed\nConcord to the city. Our founder has found the many admirable examples\nwhich have lately honored the country, of benefactors who have not waited\nto bequeath colleges and hospitals, but have themselves built them,\nreminding us of Sir Isaac Newton\u2019s saying, \u201cthat they who give nothing\nbefore their death, never in fact give at all.\u201d\n\nI think it is not easy to exaggerate the utility of the beneficence which\ntakes this form. If you consider what has befallen you when reading\na poem, or a history, or a tragedy, or a novel, even, that deeply\ninterested you,\u2014how you forgot the time of day, the persons sitting in\nthe room, and the engagements for the evening, you will easily admit the\nwonderful property of books to make all towns equal: that Concord Library\nmakes Concord as good as Rome, Paris or London, for the hour;\u2014has the\nbest of each of those cities in itself. Robinson Crusoe, could he have\nhad a shelf of our books, could almost have done without his man Friday,\nor even the arriving ship.\n\nEvery faculty casts itself into an art, and memory into the art of\nwriting, that is, the book. The sedge _Papyrus_, which gave its name to\nour word paper, is of more importance to history than cotton, or silver,\nor gold. Its first use for writing is between three and four thousand\nyears old, and though it hardly grows now in Egypt, where I lately looked\nfor it in vain, I always remember with satisfaction that I saw that\nvenerable plant in 1833, growing wild at Syracuse, in Sicily, near the\nfountain of Arethusa.\n\nThe chairman of Mr. Munroe\u2019s trustees has told you how old is the\nfoundation of our village library, and we think we can trace in our\nmodest records a correspondent effect of culture amidst our citizens. A\ndeep religious sentiment is, in all times, an inspirer of the intellect,\nand that was not wanting here. The town was settled by a pious company\nof non-conformists from England, and the printed books of their pastor\nand leader, Rev. Peter Bulkeley, sometime fellow of Saint John\u2019s College\nin Cambridge, England, testify the ardent sentiment which they shared.\n\u201cThere is no people,\u201d said he to his little flock of exiles, \u201cbut will\nstrive to excel in something. What can we excel in if not in holiness?\nIf we look to number, we are the fewest; if to strength, we are the\nweakest; if to wealth and riches, we are the poorest of all the people\nof God through the whole world. We cannot excel, nor so much as equal\nother people in these things, and if we come short in grace and holiness\ntoo, we are the most despicable people under heaven. Strive we therefore\nherein to excel, and suffer not this crown to be taken away from us.\u201d[222]\n\nThe religious bias of our founders had its usual effect to secure an\neducation to read their Bible and hymn-book, and thence the step was easy\nfor active minds to an acquaintance with history and with poetry. Peter\nBulkeley sent his son John to the first class that graduated at Harvard\nCollege in 1642, and two sons to later classes. Major Simon Willard\u2019s son\nSamuel graduated at Harvard in 1659, and was for six years, from 1701 to\n1707, vice-president of the college; and his son Joseph was president of\nthe college from 1781 to 1804; and Concord counted fourteen graduates of\nHarvard in its first century, and its representation there increased with\nits gross population.[223]\n\nI possess the manuscript journal of a lady, native of this town (and\ndescended from three of its clergymen), who removed into Maine, where she\npossessed a farm and a modest income. She was much addicted to journeying\nand not less to reading, and whenever she arrived in a town where was a\ngood minister who had a library, she would persuade him to receive her\nas a boarder, and would stay until she had looked over all his volumes\nwhich were to her taste. On a very cold day, she writes in her diary,\n\u201cLife truly resembles a river\u2014ever the same\u2014never the same; and perhaps\na greater variety of internal emotions would be felt by remaining with\nbooks in one place than pursuing the waves which are ever the same. Is\nthe melancholy bird of night, covered with the dark foliage of the willow\nand cypress, less gratified than the gay lark amid the flowers and suns?\nI think that you never enjoy so much as in solitude with a book that\nmeets the feelings,\u201d and in reference to her favorite authors, she adds,\n\u201cThe delight in others\u2019 superiority is my best gift from God.\u201d[224]\n\nLemuel Shattuck, by his history of the town, has made all of us grateful\nto his memory as a careful student and chronicler; but events so\nimportant have occurred in the forty years since that book was published,\nthat it now needs a second volume.\n\nHenry Thoreau we all remember as a man of genius, and of marked\ncharacter, known to our farmers as the most skilful of surveyors, and\nindeed better acquainted with their forests and meadows and trees than\nthemselves, but more widely known as the writer of some of the best books\nwhich have been written in this country, and which, I am persuaded, have\nnot yet gathered half their fame. He, too, was an excellent reader.\nNo man would have rejoiced more than he in the event of this day. In\na private letter to a lady, he writes, \u201cDo you read any noble verses?\nFor my part, they have been the only things I remembered,\u2014or that which\noccasioned them,\u2014when all things else were blurred and defaced.[225]\nAll things have put on mourning but they: for the elegy itself is some\nvictorious melody in you, escaping from the wreck. It is a relief to read\nsome true books wherein all are equally dead, equally alive. I think the\nbest parts of Shakspeare would only be enhanced by the most thrilling and\naffecting events. I have found it so: and all the more, that they are not\nintended for consolation.\u201d\n\nNathaniel Hawthorne\u2019s residence in the Manse gave new interest to that\nhouse whose windows overlooked the retreat of the British soldiers in\n1775, and his careful studies of Concord life and history are known\nwherever the English language is spoken.[226]\n\nI know the word literature has in many ears a hollow sound. It is thought\nto be the harmless entertainment of a few fanciful persons, and not at\nall to be the interest of the multitude. To these objections, which\nproceed on the cheap notion that nothing but what grinds corn, roasts\nmutton and weaves cotton, is anything worth, I have little to say.\nThere are utilitarians who prefer that Jesus should have wrought as a\ncarpenter, and Saint Paul as a tent-maker. But literature is the record\nof the best thoughts. Every attainment and discipline which increases a\nman\u2019s acquaintance with the invisible world lifts his being. Everything\nthat gives him a new perception of beauty multiplies his pure enjoyments.\nA river of thought is always running out of the invisible world into\nthe mind of man. Shall not they who received the largest streams spread\nabroad the healing waters?\n\nIt was the symbolical custom of the ancient Mexican priests, after the\nannual extinction of the household fires of their land, to procure in\nthe temple fire from the sun, and thence distribute it as a sacred gift\nto every hearth in the nation. It is a just type of the service rendered\nto mankind by wise men. Homer and Plato and Pindar and Shakspeare serve\nmany more than have heard their names. Thought is the most volatile of\nall things. It cannot be contained in any cup, though you shut the lid\nnever so tight. Once brought into the world, it runs over the vessel\nwhich received it into all minds that love it. The very language we speak\nthinks for us by the subtle distinctions which already are marked for us\nby its words, and every one of these is the contribution of the wit of\none and another sagacious man in all the centuries of time.\n\nConsider that it is our own state of mind at any time that makes our\nestimate of life and the world. If you sprain your foot, you will\npresently come to think that Nature has sprained hers. Everything begins\nto look so slow and inaccessible. And when you sprain your mind, by\ngloomy reflection on your failures and vexations, you come to have a bad\nopinion of life. Think how indigent Nature must appear to the blind,\nthe deaf, and the idiot. Now if you can kindle the imagination by a\nnew thought, by heroic histories, by uplifting poetry, instantly you\nexpand,\u2014are cheered, inspired, and become wise, and even prophetic. Music\nworks this miracle for those who have a good ear; what omniscience has\nmusic! so absolutely impersonal, and yet every sufferer feels his secret\nsorrow reached. Yet to a scholar the book is as good or better. There is\nno hour of vexation which on a little reflection will not find diversion\nand relief in the library. His companions are few: at the moment, he has\nnone: but, year by year, these silent friends supply their place. Many\ntimes the reading of a book has made the fortune of the man,\u2014has decided\nhis way of life. It makes friends. \u2019Tis a tie between men to have been\ndelighted with the same book. Every one of us is always in search of his\nfriend, and when unexpectedly he finds a stranger enjoying the rare poet\nor thinker who is dear to his own solitude,\u2014it is like finding a brother.\nDr. Johnson hearing that Adam Smith, whom he had once met, relished\nrhyme, said, \u201cIf I had known that, I should have hugged him.\u201d\n\nWe expect a great man to be a good reader, or in proportion to the\nspontaneous power should be the assimilating power. There is a wonderful\nagreement among eminent men of all varieties of character and condition\nin their estimate of books. Julius C\u00e6sar, when shipwrecked, and forced\nto swim for life, did not gather his gold, but took his Commentaries\nbetween his teeth and swam for the shore. Even the wild and warlike\nArab Mahomet said, \u201cMen are either learned or learning: the rest are\nblockheads.\u201d The great Duke of Marlborough could not encamp without his\nShakspeare. The Duchess d\u2019Abrantes, wife of Marshal Junot, tells us that\nBonaparte, in hastening out of France to join his army in Germany, tossed\nhis journals and books out of his travelling carriage as fast as he had\nread them, and strewed the highway with pamphlets. Napoleon\u2019s reading\ncould not be large, but his criticism is sometimes admirable, as reported\nby Las Casas; and Napoleon was an excellent writer. Montesquieu, one of\nthe greatest minds that France has produced, writes: \u201cThe love of study\nis in us almost the only eternal passion. All the others quit us in\nproportion as this miserable machine which gives them to us approaches\nits ruin. Study has been for me the sovereign remedy against the disgusts\nof life, never having had a chagrin which an hour of reading has not put\nto flight.\u201d Hear the testimony of Seldon, the oracle of the English House\nof Commons in Cromwell\u2019s time. \u201cPatience is the chiefest fruit of study.\nA man, that strives to make himself a different thing from other men\nby much reading gains this chiefest good, that in all fortunes he hath\nsomething to entertain and comfort himself withal.\u201d\n\nI have found several humble men and women who gave as affectionate, if\nnot as judicious testimony to their readings. One curious witness was\nthat of a Shaker who, when showing me the houses of the Brotherhood, and\na very modest bookshelf, said there was Milton\u2019s Paradise Lost, and some\nother books in the house, and added \u201cthat he knew where they were, but he\ntook up a sound cross in not reading them.\u201d\n\nIn 1618 (8th March) John Kepler came upon the discovery of the law\nconnecting the mean distances of the planets with the periods of their\nrevolution about the sun, that the squares of the times vary as the cubes\nof the distances. And he writes, \u201cIt is now eighteen months since I got\nthe first glimpse of light,\u2014three months since the dawn,\u2014very few days\nsince the unveiled sun, most admirable to gaze on, burst out upon me.\nNothing holds me. I will indulge in my sacred fury. I will triumph over\nmankind by the honest confession that I have stolen the golden vases of\nthe Egyptians[227] to build up a tabernacle for my God far away from the\nconfines of Egypt. If you forgive me, I rejoice; if you are angry, I can\nbear it: the die is cast; the book is written; to be read either now or\nby posterity. I care not which. It may well wait a century for a reader,\nsince God has waited six thousand years for an observer like myself.\u201d\n\nIn books I have the history or the energy of the past. Angels they are to\nus of entertainment, sympathy and provocation. With them many of us spend\nthe most of our life,\u2014these silent guides,\u2014these tractable prophets,\nhistorians, and singers, whose embalmed life is the highest feat of\nart; who now cast their moonlight illumination over solitude, weariness\nand fallen fortunes. You say, \u2019tis a languid pleasure. Yes, but its\ntractableness, coming and going like a dog at our bidding, compensates\nthe quietness, and contrasts with the slowness of fortune and the\ninaccessibleness of persons.\n\nYou meet with a man of science, a good thinker or good wit,\u2014but you do\nnot know how to draw out of him that which he knows. But the book is a\nsure friend, always ready at your first leisure,\u2014opens to the very page\nyou desire, and shuts at your first fatigue,\u2014as possibly your professor\nmight not.\n\nIt is a tie between men to have read the same book, and it is a\ndisadvantage not to have read the book your mates have read, or not to\nhave read it at the same time, so that it may take the place in your\nculture it does in theirs, and you shall understand their allusions to\nit, and not give it more or less emphasis than they do. Yet the strong\ncharacter does not need this sameness of culture. The imagination knows\nits own food in every pasture, and if it has not had the Arabian Nights,\nPrince Le Boo, or Homer or Scott, has drawn equal delight and terror from\nhaunts and passages which you will hear of with envy.\n\nIn saying these things for books, I do not for a moment forget that they\nare secondary, mere means, and only used in the off-hours, only in the\npause, and, as it were, the sleep, or passive state of the mind. The\nintellect reserves all its rights. Instantly, when the mind itself wakes,\nall books, all past acts are forgotten, huddled aside as impertinent\nin the august presence of the creator. Their costliest benefit is that\nthey set us free from themselves; for they wake the imagination and the\nsentiment,\u2014and in their inspirations we dispense with books. Let me add\nthen,\u2014read proudly; put the duty of being read invariably on the author.\nIf he is not read, whose fault is it? I am quite ready to be charmed,\u2014but\nI shall not make believe I am charmed.\n\nBut there is no end to the praise of books, to the value of the\nlibrary. Who shall estimate their influence on our population where\nall the millions read and write? It is the joy of nations that man can\ncommunicate all his thoughts, discoveries and virtues to records that may\nlast for centuries.\n\nBut I am pleading a cause which in the event of this day has already won:\nand I am happy in the assurance that the whole assembly to whom I speak\nentirely sympathize in the feeling of this town in regard to the new\nLibrary, and its honored Founder.\n\n\n\n\nXXX\n\nTHE FORTUNE OF THE REPUBLIC\n\n    \u201cThere is a mystery in the soul of state\n    Which hath an operation more divine\n    Than breath or pen can give expression to.\u201d\n\n\nTHE FORTUNE OF THE REPUBLIC\n\nIt is a rule that holds in economy as well as in hydraulics that you must\nhave a source higher than your tap. The mills, the shops, the theatre and\nthe caucus, the college and the church, have all found out this secret.\nThe sailors sail by chronometers that do not lose two or three seconds\nin a year, ever since Newton explained to Parliament that the way to\nimprove navigation was to get good watches, and to offer public premiums\nfor a better time-keeper than any then in use. The manufacturers rely on\nturbines of hydraulic perfection; the carpet-mill, on mordants and dyes\nwhich exhaust the skill of the chemist; the calico print, on designers\nof genius who draw the wages of artists, not of artisans. Wedgwood,\nthe eminent potter, bravely took the sculptor Flaxman to counsel, who\nsaid, \u201cSend to Italy, search the museums for the forms of old Etruscan\nvases, urns, water-pots, domestic and sacrificial vessels of all kinds.\u201d\nThey built great works and called their manufacturing village Etruria.\nFlaxman, with his Greek taste, selected and combined the loveliest\nforms, which were executed in English clay; sent boxes of these as\ngifts to every court of Europe, and formed the taste of the world. It\nwas a renaissance of the breakfast-table and china-closet. The brave\nmanufacturers made their fortune. The jewellers imitated the revived\nmodels in silver and gold.\n\nThe theatre avails itself of the best talent of poet, of painter, and of\namateur of taste, to make the _ensemble_ of dramatic effect. The marine\ninsurance office has its mathematical counsellor to settle averages; the\nlife-assurance, its table of annuities. The wine-merchant has his analyst\nand taster, the more exquisite the better. He has also, I fear, his debts\nto the chemist as well as to the vineyard.\n\nOur modern wealth stands on a few staples, and the interest nations took\nin our war was exasperated by the importance of the cotton trade. And\nwhat is cotton? One plant out of some two hundred thousand known to the\nbotanist, vastly the larger part of which are reckoned weeds. What is a\nweed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered,\u2014every one of\nthe two hundred thousand probably yet to be of utility in the arts. As\nBacchus of the vine, Ceres of the wheat, as Arkwright and Whitney were\nthe demi-gods of cotton, so prolific Time will yet bring an inventor to\nevery plant. There is not a property in Nature but a mind is born to\nseek and find it. For it is not the plants or the animals, innumerable\nas they are, nor the whole magazine of material nature that can give\nthe sum of power, but the infinite applicability of these things in the\nhands of thinking man, every new application being equivalent to a new\nmaterial.[228]\n\nOur sleepy civilization, ever since Roger Bacon and Monk Schwartz\ninvented gunpowder, has built its whole art of war, all fortification by\nland and sea, all drill and military education, on that one compound,\u2014all\nis an extension of a gun-barrel,\u2014and is very scornful about bows and\narrows, and reckons Greeks and Romans and Middle Ages little better than\nIndians and bow-and-arrow times. As if the earth, water, gases, lightning\nand caloric had not a million energies, the discovery of any one of\nwhich could change the art of war again, and put an end to war by the\nexterminating forces man can apply.\n\nNow, if this is true in all the useful and in the fine arts, that the\ndirection must be drawn from a superior source or there will be no good\nwork, does it hold less in our social and civil life?\n\nIn our popular politics you may note that each aspirant who rises above\nthe crowd, however at first making his obedient apprenticeship in party\ntactics, if he have sagacity, soon learns that it is by no means by\nobeying the vulgar weathercock of his party, the resentments, the fears\nand whims of it, that real power is gained, but that he must often face\nand resist the party, and abide by his resistance, and put them in\nfear; that the only title to their permanent respect, and to a larger\nfollowing, is to see for himself what is the real public interest, and\nto stand for that;\u2014that is a principle, and all the cheering and hissing\nof the crowd must by and by accommodate itself to it. Our times easily\nafford you very good examples.\n\nThe law of water and all fluids is true of wit. Prince Metternich said,\n\u201cRevolutions begin in the best heads and run steadily down to the\npopulace.\u201d It is a very old observation; not truer because Metternich\nsaid it, and not less true.\n\nThere have been revolutions which were not in the interest of feudalism\nand barbarism, but in that of society. And these are distinguished not\nby the numbers of the combatants nor the numbers of the slain, but by\nthe motive. No interest now attaches to the wars of York and Lancaster,\nto the wars of German, French and Spanish emperors, which were only\ndynastic wars, but to those in which a principle was involved. These are\nread with passionate interest and never lose their pathos by time. When\nthe cannon is aimed by ideas, when men with religious convictions are\nbehind it, when men die for what they live for, and the mainspring that\nworks daily urges them to hazard all, then the cannon articulates its\nexplosions with the voice of a man, then the rifle seconds the cannon and\nthe fowling-piece the rifle, and the women make the cartridges, and all\nshoot at one mark; then gods join in the combat; then poets are born, and\nthe better code of laws at last records the victory.\n\nNow the culmination of these triumphs of humanity\u2014and which did virtually\ninclude the extinction of slavery\u2014is the planting of America.\n\nAt every moment some one country more than any other represents the\nsentiment and the future of mankind. None will doubt that America\noccupies this place in the opinion of nations, as is proved by the fact\nof the vast immigration into this country from all the nations of Western\nand Central Europe. And when the adventurers have planted themselves and\nlooked about, they send back all the money they can spare to bring their\nfriends.\n\nMeantime they find this country just passing through a great crisis in\nits history, as necessary as lactation or dentition or puberty to the\nhuman individual. We are in these days settling for ourselves and our\ndescendants questions which, as they shall be determined in one way or\nthe other, will make the peace and prosperity or the calamity of the next\nages. The questions of Education, of Society, of Labor, the direction of\ntalent, of character, the nature and habits of the American, may well\noccupy us, and more the question of Religion.\n\nThe new conditions of mankind in America are really favorable to\nprogress, the removal of absurd restrictions and antique inequalities.\nThe mind is always better the more it is used, and here it is kept\nin practice. The humblest is daily challenged to give his opinion on\npractical questions, and while civil and social freedom exists, nonsense\neven has a favorable effect. Cant is good to provoke common sense....\nThe trance-mediums, the rebel paradoxes, exasperate the common sense. The\nwilder the paradox, the more sure is Punch to put it in the pillory.\n\nThe lodging the power in the people, as in republican forms, has the\neffect of holding things closer to common sense; for a court or an\naristocracy, which must always be a small minority, can more easily run\ninto follies than a republic, which has too many observers\u2014each with a\nvote in his hand\u2014to allow its head to be turned by any kind of nonsense:\nsince hunger, thirst, cold, the cries of children and debt are always\nholding the masses hard to the essential duties.\n\nOne hundred years ago the American people attempted to carry out the bill\nof political rights to an almost ideal perfection. They have made great\nstrides in that direction since. They are now proceeding, instructed by\ntheir success and by their many failures, to carry out, not the bill of\nrights, but the bill of human duties.\n\nAnd look what revolution that attempt involves. Hitherto government has\nbeen that of the single person or of the aristocracy. In this country the\nattempt to resist these elements, it is asserted, must throw us into the\ngovernment not quite of mobs, but in practice of an inferior class of\nprofessional politicians, who by means of newspapers and caucuses really\nthrust their unworthy minority into the place of the old aristocracy on\nthe one side, and of the good, industrious, well-taught but unambitious\npopulation on the other, win the posts of power and give their direction\nto affairs. Hence liberal congresses and legislatures ordain, to the\nsurprise of the people, equivocal, interested and vicious measures.\nThe men themselves are suspected and charged with lobbying and being\nlobbied. No measure is attempted for itself, but the opinion of the\npeople is courted in the first place, and the measures are perfunctorily\ncarried through as secondary. We do not choose our own candidate, no, nor\nany other man\u2019s first choice,\u2014but only the available candidate, whom,\nperhaps, no man loves. We do not speak what we think, but grope after\nthe practicable and available. Instead of character, there is a studious\nexclusion of character. The people are feared and flattered. They are\nnot reprimanded. The country is governed in bar-rooms, and in the mind\nof bar-rooms. The low can best win the low, and each aspirant for power\nvies with his rival which can stoop lowest, and depart widest from\nhimself.\n\nThe partisan on moral, even on religious questions, will choose a proven\nrogue who can answer the tests, over an honest, affectionate, noble\ngentleman; the partisan ceasing to be a man that he may be a sectarian.\n\nThe spirit of our political economy is low and degrading. The precious\nmetals are not so precious as they are esteemed. Man exists for his own\nsake, and not to add a laborer to the state. The spirit of our political\naction, for the most part, considers nothing less than the sacredness of\nman. Party sacrifices man to the measure.[229]\n\nWe have seen the great party of property and education in the country\ndrivelling and huckstering away, for views of party fear or advantage,\nevery principle of humanity and the dearest hopes of mankind; the\ntrustees of power only energetic when mischief could be done, imbecile as\ncorpses when evil was to be prevented.\n\nOur great men succumb so far to the forms of the day as to peril their\nintegrity for the sake of adding to the weight of their personal\ncharacter the authority of office, or making a real government titular.\nOur politics are full of adventurers, who having by education and social\ninnocence a good repute in the state, break away from the law of honesty\nand think they can afford to join the devil\u2019s party. \u2019Tis odious, these\noffenders in high life. You rally to the support of old charities and the\ncause of literature, and there, to be sure, are these brazen faces. In\nthis innocence you are puzzled how to meet them; must shake hands with\nthem, under protest.[230] We feel toward them as the minister about the\nCape Cod farm,\u2014in the old time when the minister was still invited, in\nthe spring, to make a prayer for the blessing of a piece of land,\u2014the\ngood pastor being brought to the spot, stopped short: \u201cNo, this land does\nnot want a prayer, this land wants manure.\u201d\n\n    \u201c\u2019Tis virtue which they want, and wanting it,\n    Honor no garment to their backs can fit.\u201d[231]\n\nParties keep the old names, but exhibit a surprising fugacity in creeping\nout of one snake-skin into another of equal ignominy and lubricity, and\nthe grasshopper on the turret of Faneuil Hall gives a proper hint of the\nmen below.\n\nEverything yields. The very glaciers are viscous, or relegate into\nconformity, and the stiffest patriots falter and compromise; so that\n_will_ cannot be depended on to save us.\n\nHow rare are acts of will! We are all living according to custom; we do\nas other people do, and shrink from an act of our own. Every such act\nmakes a man famous, and we can all count the few cases\u2014half a dozen in\nour time\u2014when a public man ventured to act as he thought without waiting\nfor orders or for public opinion. John Quincy Adams was a man of an\naudacious independence that always kept the public curiosity alive in\nregard to what he might do. None could predict his word, and a whole\ncongress could not gainsay it when it was spoken. General Jackson was a\nman of will, and his phrase on one memorable occasion, \u201cI will take the\nresponsibility,\u201d is a proverb ever since.[232]\n\nThe American marches with a careless swagger to the height of power,\nvery heedless of his own liberty or of other people\u2019s, in his reckless\nconfidence that he can have all he wants, risking all the prized charters\nof the human race, bought with battles and revolutions and religion,\ngambling them all away for a paltry selfish gain.\n\nHe sits secure in the possession of his vast domain, rich beyond all\nexperience in resources, sees its inevitable force unlocking itself in\nelemental order day by day, year by year; looks from his coal-fields, his\nwheat-bearing prairie, his gold-mines, to his two oceans on either side,\nand feels the security that there can be no famine in a country reaching\nthrough so many latitudes, no want that cannot be supplied, no danger\nfrom any excess of importation of art or learning into a country of such\nnative strength, such immense digestive power.\n\nIn proportion to the personal ability of each man, he feels the\ninvitation and career which the country opens to him. He is easily fed\nwith wheat and game, with Ohio wine, but his brain is also pampered by\nfiner draughts, by political power and by the power in the railroad\nboard, in the mills, or the banks. This elevates his spirits, and\ngives, of course, an easy self-reliance that makes him self-willed and\nunscrupulous.\n\nI think this levity is a reaction on the people from the extraordinary\nadvantages and invitations of their condition. When we are most disturbed\nby their rash and immoral voting, it is not malignity, but recklessness.\nThey are careless of politics, because they do not entertain the\npossibility of being seriously caught in meshes of legislation. They\nfeel strong and irresistible. They believe that what they have enacted\nthey can repeal if they do not like it. But one may run a risk once\ntoo often. They stay away from the polls, saying that one vote can do\nno good! Or they take another step, and say \u2018One vote can do no harm!\u2019\nand vote for something which they do not approve, because their party\nor set votes for it. Of course this puts them in the power of any party\nhaving a steady interest to promote which does not conflict manifestly\nwith the pecuniary interest of the voters. But if they should come to be\ninterested in themselves and in their career, they would no more stay\naway from the election than from their own counting-room or the house of\ntheir friend.\n\nThe people are right-minded enough on ethical questions, but they\nmust pay their debts, and must have the means of living well, and not\npinching. So it is useless to rely on them to go to a meeting, or to\ngive a vote, if any check from this must-have-the-money side arises.\nIf a customer looks grave at their newspaper, or damns their member of\nCongress, they take another newspaper, and vote for another man. They\nmust have money, for a certain style of living fast becomes necessary;\nthey must take wine at the hotel, first, for the look of it, and second,\nfor the purpose of sending the bottle to two or three gentlemen at the\ntable; and presently because they have got the taste, and do not feel\nthat they have dined without it.\n\nThe record of the election now and then alarms people by the all but\nunanimous choice of a rogue and a brawler. But how was it done? What\nlawless mob burst into the polls and threw in these hundreds of ballots\nin defiance of the magistrates? This was done by the very men you\nknow,\u2014the mildest, most sensible, best-natured people. The only account\nof this is, that they have been scared or warped into some association in\ntheir mind of the candidate with the interest of their trade or of their\nproperty.\n\nWhilst each cabal urges its candidate, and at last brings, with cheers\nand street demonstrations, men whose names are a knell to all hope of\nprogress, the good and wise are hidden in their active retirements, and\nare quite out of question.\n\n    \u201cThese we must join to wake, for these are of the strain\n    That justice dare defend, and will the age maintain.\u201d[233]\n\nYet we know, all over this country, men of integrity, capable of action\nand of affairs, with the deepest sympathy in all that concerns the\npublic, mortified by the national disgrace, and quite capable of any\nsacrifice except of their honor.\n\nFaults in the working appear in our system, as in all, but they suggest\ntheir own remedies. After every practical mistake out of which any\ndisaster grows, the people wake and correct it with energy. And any\ndisturbances in politics, in civil or foreign wars, sober them, and\ninstantly show more virtue and conviction in the popular vote. In each\nnew threat of faction the ballot has been, beyond expectation, right and\ndecisive.\n\nIt is ever an inspiration, God only knows whence; a sudden, undated\nperception of eternal right coming into and correcting things that were\nwrong; a perception that passes through thousands as readily as through\none.\n\nThe gracious lesson taught by science to this country is that the history\nof Nature from first to last is incessant advance from less to more, from\nrude to finer organization, the globe of matter thus conspiring with\nthe principle of undying hope in man. Nature works in immense time, and\nspends individuals and races prodigally to prepare new individuals and\nraces. The lower kinds are one after one extinguished; the higher forms\ncome in.[234] The history of civilization, or the refining of certain\nraces to wonderful power of performance, is analogous; but the best\ncivilization yet is only valuable as a ground of hope.\n\nOurs is the country of poor men. Here is practical democracy; here is\nthe human race poured out over the continent to do itself justice; all\nmankind in its shirt-sleeves; not grimacing like poor rich men in cities,\npretending to be rich, but unmistakably taking off its coat to hard work,\nwhen labor is sure to pay.[235] This through all the country. For really,\nthough you see wealth in the capitals, it is only a sprinkling of rich\nmen in the cities and at sparse points; the bulk of the population is\npoor. In Maine, nearly every man is a lumberer. In Massachusetts, every\ntwelfth man is a shoemaker, and the rest, millers, farmers, sailors,\nfishermen.\n\nWell, the result is, instead of the doleful experience of the European\neconomist, who tells us, \u201cIn almost all countries the condition of the\ngreat body of the people is poor and miserable,\u201d here that same great\nbody has arrived at a sloven plenty,\u2014ham and corn-cakes, tight roof and\ncoals enough have been attained; an unbuttoned comfort, not clean, not\nthoughtful, far from polished, without dignity in his repose; the man\nawkward and restless if he have not something to do, but honest and kind\nfor the most part, understanding his own rights and stiff to maintain\nthem, and disposed to give his children a better education than he\nreceived.\n\nThe steady improvement of the public schools in the cities and the\ncountry enables the farmer or laborer to secure a precious primary\neducation. It is rare to find a born American who cannot read and write.\nThe facility with which clubs are formed by young men for discussion of\nsocial, political and intellectual topics secures the notoriety of the\nquestions.\n\nOur institutions, of which the town is the unit, are all educational, for\nresponsibility educates fast. The town-meeting is, after the high-school,\na higher school.[236] The legislature, to which every good farmer goes\nonce on trial, is a superior academy.\n\nThe result appears in the power of invention, the freedom of thinking,\nin the readiness for reforms, eagerness for novelty, even for all the\nfollies of false science; in the antipathy to secret societies, in the\npredominance of the democratic party in the politics of the Union, and in\nthe voice of the public even when irregular and vicious,\u2014the voice of\nmobs, the voice of lynch law,\u2014because it is thought to be, on the whole,\nthe verdict, though badly spoken, of the greatest number.\n\nAll this forwardness and self-reliance, cover self-government; proceed\non the belief that as the people have made a government they can make\nanother; that their union and law are not in their memory, but in their\nblood and condition. If they unmake a law, they can easily make a new\none. In Mr. Webster\u2019s imagination the American Union was a huge Prince\nRupert\u2019s drop, which will snap into atoms if so much as the smallest end\nbe shivered off. Now the fact is quite different from this. The people\nare loyal, law-abiding. They prefer order, and have no taste for misrule\nand uproar.\n\nAmerica was opened after the feudal mischief was spent, and so the people\nmade a good start. We began well. No inquisition here, no kings, no\nnobles, no dominant church. Here heresy has lost its terrors. We have\neight or ten religions in every large town, and the most that comes of it\nis a degree or two on the thermometer of fashion; a pew in a particular\nchurch gives an easier entrance to the subscription ball.\n\nWe began with freedom, and are defended from shocks now for a century\nby the facility with which through popular assemblies every necessary\nmeasure of reform can instantly be carried. A congress is a standing\ninsurrection, and escapes the violence of accumulated grievance. As the\nglobe keeps its identity by perpetual change, so our civil system, by\nperpetual appeal to the people and acceptance of its reforms.\n\nThe government is acquainted with the opinions of all classes, knows the\nleading men in the middle class, knows the leaders of the humblest class.\nThe President comes near enough to these; if he does not, the caucus\ndoes, the primary ward and town-meeting, and what is important does reach\nhim.\n\nThe men, the women, all over this land shrill their exclamations of\nimpatience and indignation at what is short-coming or is unbecoming in\nthe government,\u2014at the want of humanity, of morality,\u2014ever on broad\ngrounds of general justice, and not on the class-feeling which narrows\nthe perception of English, French, German people at home.\n\nIn this fact, that we are a nation of individuals, that we have a highly\nintellectual organization, that we can see and feel moral distinctions,\nand that on such an organization sooner or later the moral laws must\ntell, to such ears must speak,\u2014in this is our hope. For if the prosperity\nof this country has been merely the obedience of man to the guiding of\nNature,\u2014of great rivers and prairies,\u2014yet is there fate above fate, if we\nchoose to spread this language; or if there is fate in corn and cotton,\nso is there fate in thought,\u2014this, namely, that the largest thought and\nthe widest love are born to victory, and must prevail.\n\nThe revolution is the work of no man, but the eternal effervescence of\nNature. It never did not work. And we say that revolutions beat all the\ninsurgents, be they never so determined and politic; that the great\ninterests of mankind, being at every moment through ages in favor of\njustice and the largest liberty, will always, from time to time, gain on\nthe adversary and at last win the day. Never country had such a fortune,\nas men call fortune, as this, in its geography, its history, and in its\nmajestic possibilities.\n\nWe have much to learn, much to correct,\u2014a great deal of lying vanity.\nThe spread eagle must fold his foolish wings and be less of a peacock;\nmust keep his wings to carry the thunderbolt when he is commanded. We\nmust realize our rhetoric and our rituals. Our national flag is not\naffecting, as it should be, because it does not represent the population\nof the United States, but some Baltimore or Chicago or Cincinnati or\nPhiladelphia caucus; not union or justice, but selfishness and cunning.\nIf we never put on the liberty-cap until we were freemen by love and\nself-denial, the liberty-cap would mean something. I wish to see America\nnot like the old powers of the earth, grasping, exclusive and narrow,\nbut a benefactor such as no country ever was, hospitable to all nations,\nlegislating for all nationalities. Nations were made to help each other\nas much as families were; and all advancement is by ideas, and not by\nbrute force or mechanic force.\n\nIn this country, with our practical understanding, there is, at present,\na great sensualism, a headlong devotion to trade and to the conquest of\nthe continent,\u2014to each man as large a share of the same as he can carve\nfor himself,\u2014an extravagant confidence in our talent and activity, which\nbecomes, whilst successful, a scornful materialism,\u2014but with the fault,\nof course, that it has no depth, no reserved force whereon to fall back\nwhen a reverse comes.\n\nThat repose which is the ornament and ripeness of man is not American.\nThat repose which indicates a faith in the laws of the universe,\u2014a faith\nthat they will fulfil themselves, and are not to be impeded, transgressed\nor accelerated. Our people are too slight and vain. They are easily\nelated and easily depressed. See how fast they extend the fleeting\nfabric of their trade,\u2014not at all considering the remote reaction and\nbankruptcy, but with the same abandonment to the moment and the facts of\nthe hour as the Esquimau who sells his bed in the morning. Our people act\non the moment, and from external impulse. They all lean on some other,\nand this superstitiously, and not from insight of his merit. They follow\na fact; they follow success, and not skill. Therefore, as soon as the\nsuccess stops and the admirable man blunders, they quit him; already they\nremember that they long ago suspected his judgment, and they transfer\nthe repute of judgment to the next prosperous person who has not yet\nblundered. Of course this levity makes them as easily despond. It seems\nas if history gave no account of any society in which despondency came so\nreadily to heart as we see it and feel it in ours. Young men at thirty\nand even earlier lose all spring and vivacity, and if they fail in their\nfirst enterprise throw up the game.\n\nThe source of mischief is the extreme difficulty with which men are\nroused from the torpor of every day. Blessed is all that agitates the\nmass, breaks up this torpor, and begins motion. _Corpora non agunt\nnisi soluta_; the chemical rule is true in mind. Contrast, change,\ninterruption, are necessary to new activity and new combinations.\n\nIf a temperate wise man should look over our American society, I think\nthe first danger that would excite his alarm would be the European\ninfluences on this country. We buy much of Europe that does not make us\nbetter men; and mainly the expensiveness which is ruining that country.\nWe import trifles, dancers, singers, laces, books of patterns, modes,\ngloves and cologne, manuals of Gothic architecture, steam-made ornaments.\nAmerica is provincial. It is an immense Halifax. See the secondariness\nand aping of foreign and English life, that runs through this country, in\nbuilding, in dress, in eating, in books. Every village, every city, has\nits architecture, its costume, its hotel, its private house, its church,\nfrom England.\n\nOur politics threaten her. Her manners threaten us. Life is grown and\ngrowing so costly that it threatens to kill us. A man is coming, here\nas there, to value himself on what he can buy. Worst of all, his expense\nis not his own, but a far-off copy of Osborne House or the Elys\u00e9e. The\ntendency of this is to make all men alike; to extinguish individualism\nand choke up all the channels of inspiration from God in man. We lose our\ninvention and descend into imitation. A man no longer conducts his own\nlife. It is manufactured for him. The tailor makes your dress; the baker\nyour bread; the upholsterer, from an imported book of patterns, your\nfurniture; the Bishop of London your faith.\n\nIn the planters of this country, in the seventeenth century, the\nconditions of the country, combined with the impatience of arbitrary\npower which they brought from England, forced them to a wonderful\npersonal independence and to a certain heroic planting and trading. Later\nthis strength appeared in the solitudes of the West, where a man is made\na hero by the varied emergencies of his lonely farm, and neighborhoods\nmust combine against the Indians, or the horse-thieves, or the river\nrowdies, by organizing themselves into committees of vigilance. Thus\nthe land and sea educate the people, and bring out presence of mind,\nself-reliance, and hundred-handed activity. These are the people for\nan emergency. They are not to be surprised, and can find a way out of\nany peril. This rough and ready force becomes them, and makes them\nfit citizens and civilizers. But if we found them clinging to English\ntraditions, which are graceful enough at home, as the English Church, and\nentailed estates, and distrust of popular election, we should feel this\nreactionary, and absurdly out of place.\n\nLet the passion for America cast out the passion for Europe. Here\nlet there be what the earth waits for,\u2014exalted manhood. What this\ncountry longs for is personalities, grand persons, to counteract its\nmaterialities. For it is the rule of the universe that corn shall serve\nman, and not man corn.\n\nThey who find America insipid\u2014they for whom London and Paris have spoiled\ntheir own homes\u2014can be spared to return to those cities. I not only see a\ncareer at home for more genius than we have, but for more than there is\nin the world.\n\nThe class of which I speak make themselves merry without duties. They sit\nin decorated club-houses in the cities, and burn tobacco and play whist;\nin the country they sit idle in stores and bar-rooms, and burn tobacco,\nand gossip and sleep. They complain of the flatness of American life;\n\u201cAmerica has no illusions, no romance.\u201d They have no perception of its\ndestiny. They are not Americans.\n\nThe felon is the logical extreme of the epicure and coxcomb. Selfish\nluxury is the end of both, though in one it is decorated with\nrefinements, and in the other brutal. But my point now is, that this\nspirit is not American.\n\nOur young men lack idealism. A man for success must not be pure idealist,\nthen he will practically fail; but he must have ideas, must obey ideas,\nor he might as well be the horse he rides on. A man does not want to be\nsun-dazzled, sun-blind; but every man must have glimmer enough to keep\nhim from knocking his head against the walls. And it is in the interest\nof civilization and good society and friendship, that I dread to hear\nof well-born, gifted and amiable men, that they have this indifference,\ndisposing them to this despair.\n\nOf no use are the men who study to do exactly as was done before, who\ncan never understand that to-day is a new day. There never was such\na combination as this of ours, and the rules to meet it are not set\ndown in any history. We want men of original perception and original\naction, who can open their eyes wider than to a nationality,\u2014namely, to\nconsiderations of benefit to the human race,\u2014can act in the interest of\ncivilization; men of elastic, men of moral mind, who can live in the\nmoment and take a step forward. Columbus was no backward-creeping crab,\nnor was Martin Luther, nor John Adams, nor Patrick Henry, nor Thomas\nJefferson; and the Genius or Destiny of America is no log or sluggard,\nbut a man incessantly advancing, as the shadow on the dial\u2019s face, or the\nheavenly body by whose light it is marked.\n\nThe flowering of civilization is the finished man, the man of sense, of\ngrace, of accomplishment, of social power,\u2014the gentleman. What hinders\nthat he be born here? The new times need a new man, the complemental man,\nwhom plainly this country must furnish. Freer swing his arms; farther\npierce his eyes; more forward and forthright his whole build and rig than\nthe Englishman\u2019s, who, we see, is much imprisoned in his backbone.\n\n\u2019Tis certain that our civilization is yet incomplete, it has not\nended nor given sign of ending in a hero. \u2019Tis a wild democracy; the\nriot of mediocrities and dishonesties and fudges. Ours is the age of\nthe omnibus, of the third person plural, of Tammany Hall. Is it that\nNature has only so much vital force, and must dilute it if it is to be\nmultiplied into millions? The beautiful is never plentiful. Then Illinois\nand Indiana, with their spawning loins, must needs be ordinary.\n\nIt is not a question whether we shall be a multitude of people. No, that\nhas been conspicuously decided already; but whether we shall be the new\nnation, the guide and lawgiver of all nations, as having clearly chosen\nand firmly held the simplest and best rule of political society.\n\nNow, if the spirit which years ago armed this country against rebellion,\nand put forth such gigantic energy in the charity of the Sanitary\nCommission, could be waked to the conserving and creating duty of making\nthe laws just and humane, it were to enroll a great constituency of\nreligious, self-respecting, brave, tender, faithful obeyers of duty,\nlovers of men, filled with loyalty to each other, and with the simple\nand sublime purpose of carrying out in private and in public action the\ndesire and need of mankind.\n\nHere is the post where the patriot should plant himself; here the altar\nwhere virtuous young men, those to whom friendship is the dearest\ncovenant, should bind each other to loyalty; where genius should kindle\nits fires and bring forgotten truth to the eyes of men.\n\nIt is not possible to extricate yourself from the questions in which your\nage is involved. Let the good citizen perform the duties put on him here\nand now. It is not by heads reverted to the dying Demosthenes, or to\nLuther, or to Wallace, or to George Fox, or to George Washington, that\nyou can combat the dangers and dragons that beset the United States at\nthis time. I believe this cannot be accomplished by dunces or idlers,\nbut requires docility, sympathy, and religious receiving from higher\nprinciples; for liberty, like religion, is a short and hasty fruit,\nand like all power subsists only by new rallyings on the source of\ninspiration.\n\nPower can be generous. The very grandeur of the means which offer\nthemselves to us should suggest grandeur in the direction of our\nexpenditure. If our mechanic arts are unsurpassed in usefulness, if we\nhave taught the river to make shoes and nails and carpets, and the bolt\nof heaven to write our letters like a Gillot pen, let these wonders work\nfor honest humanity, for the poor, for justice, genius and the public\ngood.[237] Let us realize that this country, the last found, is the great\ncharity of God to the human race.\n\nAmerica should affirm and establish that in no instance shall the guns\ngo in advance of the present right. We shall not make _coups d\u2019\u00e9tat_\nand afterwards explain and pay, but shall proceed like William Penn, or\nwhatever other Christian or humane person who treats with the Indian or\nthe foreigner, on principles of honest trade and mutual advantage. We\ncan see that the Constitution and the law in America must be written\non ethical principles, so that the entire power of the spiritual world\nshall hold the citizen loyal, and repel the enemy as by force of nature.\nIt should be mankind\u2019s bill of rights, or Royal Proclamation of the\nIntellect ascending the throne, announcing its good pleasure that now,\nonce for all, the world shall be governed by common sense and law of\nmorals.\n\nThe end of all political struggle is to establish morality as the basis\nof all legislation. \u2019Tis not free institutions, \u2019tis not a democracy\nthat is the end,\u2014no, but only the means. Morality is the object of\ngovernment. We want a state of things in which crime will not pay; a\nstate of things which allows every man the largest liberty compatible\nwith the liberty of every other man.\n\nHumanity asks that government shall not be ashamed to be tender and\npaternal, but that democratic institutions shall be more thoughtful for\nthe interests of women, for the training of children, and for the welfare\nof sick and unable persons, and serious care of criminals, than was ever\nany the best government of the Old World.\n\nThe genius of the country has marked out our true policy,\u2014opportunity.\nOpportunity of civil rights, of education, of personal power, and not\nless of wealth; doors wide open. If I could have it,\u2014free trade with all\nthe world without toll or custom-houses, invitation as we now make to\nevery nation, to every race and skin, white men, red men, yellow men,\nblack men; hospitality of fair field and equal laws to all.[238] Let them\ncompete, and success to the strongest, the wisest and the best. The land\nis wide enough, the soil has bread for all.\n\nI hope America will come to have its pride in being a nation of servants,\nand not of the served. How can men have any other ambition where the\nreason has not suffered a disastrous eclipse? Whilst every man can say I\nserve,\u2014to the whole extent of my being I apply my faculty to the service\nof mankind in my especial place,\u2014he therein sees and shows a reason for\nhis being in the world, and is not a moth or incumbrance in it.\n\nThe distinction and end of a soundly constituted man is his labor. Use\nis inscribed on all his faculties. Use is the end to which he exists. As\nthe tree exists for its fruit, so a man for his work. A fruitless plant,\nan idle animal, does not stand in the universe. They are all toiling,\nhowever secretly or slowly, in the province assigned them, and to a use\nin the economy of the world; the higher and more complex organizations to\nhigher and more catholic service. And man seems to play, by his instincts\nand activity, a certain part that even tells on the general face of\nthe planet, drains swamps, leads rivers into dry countries for their\nirrigation, perforates forests and stony mountain chains with roads,\nhinders the inroads of the sea on the continent, as if dressing the globe\nfor happier races.\n\nOn the whole, I know that the cosmic results will be the same, whatever\nthe daily events may be. Happily we are under better guidance than\nof statesmen. Pennsylvania coal-mines and New York shipping and free\nlabor, though not idealists, gravitate in the ideal direction. Nothing\nless large than justice can keep them in good temper. Justice satisfies\neverybody, and justice alone. No monopoly must be foisted in, no weak\nparty or nationality sacrificed, no coward compromise conceded to a\nstrong partner. Every one of these is the seed of vice, war and national\ndisorganization. It is our part to carry out to the last the ends of\nliberty and justice. We shall stand, then, for vast interests; north\nand south, east and west will be present to our minds, and our vote\nwill be as if they voted, and we shall know that our vote secures the\nfoundations of the state, good will, liberty and security of traffic and\nof production, and mutual increase of good will in the great interests.\n\nOur helm is given up to a better guidance than our own; the course of\nevents is quite too strong for any helmsman, and our little wherry is\ntaken in tow by the ship of the great Admiral which knows the way, and\nhas the force to draw men and states and planets to their good.\n\nSuch and so potent is this high method by which the Divine Providence\nsends the chiefest benefits under the mask of calamities, that I do not\nthink we shall by any perverse ingenuity prevent the blessing.\n\nIn seeing this guidance of events, in seeing this felicity without\nexample that has rested on the Union thus far, I find new confidence for\nthe future.\n\nI could heartily wish that our will and endeavor were more active parties\nto the work. But I see in all directions the light breaking. Trade and\ngovernment will not alone be the favored aims of mankind, but every\nuseful, every elegant art, every exercise of the imagination, the height\nof reason, the noblest affection, the purest religion will find their\nhome in our institutions, and write our laws for the benefit of men.[239]\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\nTHE LORD\u2019S SUPPER\n\nMr. Emerson did not wish to have his sermons published. All that was\nworth saving in them, he said, would be found in the Essays. Yet it\nseemed best, to Mr. Cabot and to Mr. Emerson\u2019s family, that this one\nsermon should be preserved. A record of a turning-point in his life, it\nshowed at once his thought and his character; for he not only gives the\nreasons why he believes the rite not authoritatively enjoined, and hence\nrecommends its modification or discontinuance, but with serenity and\nsweetness renders back his trust into his people\u2019s hands, since he cannot\nsee his way longer to exercise it as most of them desire.\n\nIn the month of June, 1832, Mr. Emerson had proposed to the church,\napparently with hope of their approval, that the Communion be observed\nonly as a festival of commemoration, without the use of the elements.\nThe committee to whom the proposal was referred made a report expressing\nconfidence in him, but declining to advise the change, as the matter was\none which they could not properly be called upon to decide.\n\nThe question then came back to the pastor, whether he was willing to\nremain in his place and administer the rite in the usual form.\n\nHe went alone to the White Mountains, then seldom visited, to consider\nthe grave question whether he was prepared, rather than to continue the\nperformance of a part of his priestly office from which his instincts and\nbeliefs recoiled, to sacrifice a position of advantage for usefulness\nto his people to whom he was bound by many ties, and in preparation for\nwhich he had spent long years. He wrote, at Conway, New Hampshire: \u201cHere\namong the mountains the pinions of thought should be strong, and one\nshould see the errors of men from a calmer height of love and wisdom.\u201d\nHis diary at Ethan Allan Crawford\u2019s contains his doubts and questionings,\nwhich Mr. Cabot has given in his Memoir. Yet there was but one answer for\nhim, and after a fortnight, he came back clear in his mind to give his\ndecision, embodied in this sermon, to his people. On the same day that it\nwas preached, he formally resigned his pastorate. The church was loth to\npart with him. It was hoped that some other arrangement might be made.\nMr. Cabot learned that \u201cseveral meetings were held and the proprietors of\npews were called in, as having \u2018an undoubted right to retain Mr. Emerson\nas their pastor, without reference to the opposition of the church.\u2019 At\nlength, after two adjournments and much discussion, it was decided by\nthirty votes against twenty-four to accept his resignation. It was voted\nat the same time to continue his salary for the present.\u201d\n\nThus Mr. Emerson and his people parted in all kindness, but, as Mr. Cabot\ntruly said, their difference of views on this rite \u201cwas in truth only the\nsymptom of a deeper difference which would in any case sooner or later\nhave made it impossible for him to retain his office; a disagreement\nnot so much about particular doctrines or observances as about their\nsanction, the authority on which all doctrines and observances rest.\u201d\n\nIn the farewell letter which Mr. Emerson wrote to the people of his\nchurch, he said:\u2014\n\n\u201cI rejoice to believe that my ceasing to exercise the pastoral office\namong you does not make any real change in our spiritual relation to each\nother. Whatever is most desirable and excellent therein remains to us.\nFor, truly speaking, whoever provokes me to a good act or thought has\ngiven me a pledge of his fidelity to virtue,\u2014he has come under bonds to\nadhere to that cause to which we are jointly attached. And so I say to\nall you who have been my counsellors and co\u00f6perators in our Christian\nwalk, that I am wont to see in your faces the seals and certificates\nof our mutual obligations. If we have conspired from week to week in\nthe sympathy and expression of devout sentiments; if we have received\ntogether the unspeakable gift of God\u2019s truth; if we have studied together\nthe sense of any divine word; or striven together in any charity; or\nconferred together for the relief or instruction of any brother; if\ntogether we have laid down the dead in a pious hope; or held up the babe\ninto the baptism of Christianity; above all, if we have shared in any\nhabitual acknowledgment of the benignant God, whose omnipresence raises\nand glorifies the meanest offices and the lowest ability, and opens\nheaven in every heart that worships him,\u2014then indeed we are united, we\nare mutually debtors to each other of faith and hope, engaged to persist\nand confirm each other\u2019s hearts in obedience to the Gospel. We shall not\nfeel that the nominal changes and little separations of this world can\nrelease us from the strong cordage of this spiritual bond. And I entreat\nyou to consider how truly blessed will have been our connection if, in\nthis manner, the memory of it shall serve to bind each one of us more\nstrictly to the practice of our several duties.\u201d\n\n[1] _Page 18, note 1._ The doctrine of the offices of Jesus, even in\nthe Unitarianism of Dr. Channing, was never congenial to Mr. Emerson\u2019s\nmind. He notes the same with regard to his father, and even to his Aunt\nMary, in spite of her Calvinism. Any interposed personality between the\nCreator and the created was repugnant to him. Even in March, 1831, he is\nconsidering in his journal that his hearers will say, \u201cTo what purpose\nis this attempt to explain away so safe and holy a doctrine as that of\nthe Holy Spirit? Why unsettle or disturb a faith which presents to many\nminds a helpful medium by which they approach the idea of God?\u201d and\nhe answers, \u201cAnd this question I will meet. It is because I think the\npopular views of this principle are pernicious, because it does put a\nmedium, because it removes the idea of God from the mind. It leaves some\nevents, some things, some thoughts, out of the power of Him who causes\nevery event, every flower, every thought. The tremendous idea, as I may\nwell call it, of God is screened from the soul.... And least of all can\nwe believe\u2014Reason will not let us\u2014that the presiding Creator commands all\nmatter and never descends into the secret chambers of the Soul. There he\nis most present. The Soul rules over matter. Matter may pass away like a\nmote in the sunbeam, may be absorbed into the immensity of God, as a mist\nis absorbed into the heat of the Sun\u2014but the soul is the kingdom of God,\nthe abode of love, of truth, of virtue.\u201d\n\n[2] _Page 19, note 1._ In the hope of satisfying those of his people who\nheld to the letter of the Scriptural Law, Mr. Emerson made the foregoing\nclear statement with regard to the authority for the rite, from the\nprofessional point of view. It seems quite unlike his usual method, and\nthere is little doubt that in it appears the influence of his elder\nbrother, William, whose honest doubts had led him to abandon even earlier\nthe profession of his fathers. In the introductory note to the chapter on\nGoethe, in _Representative Men_, is given an account of his unsuccessful\npilgrimage to Weimar, in hopes that the great mind of Germany could solve\nthese doubts. There is a letter still preserved, written by William, soon\nafter his return, to his venerable kinsman at Concord, Dr. Ripley, in\nwhich he explains with great clearness his own reasons for not believing\nthat the Communion rite was enjoined by Jesus for perpetual observance.\nThe argument on scriptural grounds there clearly stated is substantially\nthe same as that which his younger brother makes use of in the beginning\nof this sermon. Thus far he has spoken of outward authority; from this\npoint onward he speaks from within\u2014the way native to him.\n\n[3] _Page 25, note 1._ Mr. Emerson left the struggles of the Past behind,\nand did not care to recall them. Thus, writing of Lucretia Mott, whom he\nmet when giving a course of lectures in Philadelphia, in January, 1843,\nhe said:\u2014\n\n\u201cMe she taxed with living out of the world, and I was not much flattered\nthat her interest in me respected my rejection of an ordinance, sometime,\nsomewhere. Also yesterday\u2014for Philadelphian ideas, like love, do creep\nwhere they cannot go\u2014I was challenged on the subject of the Lord\u2019s\nSupper, and with great slowness and pain was forced to recollect the\ngrounds of my dissent in that particular. You may be sure I was very\ntardy with my texts.\u201d\n\nMr. Emerson\u2019s journal during the period of trial and decision, in the\nmountains, shows that he was reading with great interest the life of\nGeorge Fox. The simplicity of the Society of Friends, their aversion to\nforms and trust in the inward light, always appealed to him.\n\nIn his essay on The Preacher he says:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe supposed embarrassments to young clergymen exist only to feeble\nwills.... That gray deacon, or respectable matron with Calvinistic\nantecedents, you can readily see, would not have presented any obstacle\nto the march of St. Bernard or of George Fox, of Luther or of Theodore\nParker.\u201d This hints at the help he had found in the Quaker\u2019s history in\nhis time of need.\n\n\nHISTORICAL DISCOURSE AT CONCORD\n\nMr. Emerson\u2019s Discourse was printed soon after its delivery, and with it,\nin an Appendix, the following notice of the celebration of the second\ncentennial anniversary of the incorporation of the town, sent to him by\n\u201ca friend who thought it desirable to preserve the remembrance of some\nparticulars of this historical festival.\u201d\n\n    \u201cAt a meeting of the town of Concord, in April last, it was\n    voted to celebrate the Second Centennial Anniversary of the\n    settlement of the town, on the 12th September following. A\n    committee of fifteen were chosen to make the arrangements. This\n    committee appointed Ralph Waldo Emerson, Orator, and Rev. Dr.\n    Ripley and Rev. Mr. Wilder, Chaplains of the Day. Hon. John\n    Keyes was chosen President of the Day.\n\n    \u201cOn the morning of the 12th September, at half past 10 o\u2019clock,\n    the children of the town, to the number of about 500, moved\n    in procession to the Common in front of the old church and\n    court-house and there opened to the right and left, awaiting\n    the procession of citizens. At 11 o\u2019clock, the Concord Light\n    Infantry, under Captain Moore, and the Artillery under Captain\n    Buttrick, escorted the civic procession, under the direction of\n    Moses Prichard as Chief Marshal, from Shepherd\u2019s hotel through\n    the lines of children to the Meeting-house. The South gallery\n    had been reserved for ladies, and the North gallery for the\n    children; but (it was a good omen) the children overran the\n    space assigned for their accommodation, and were sprinkled\n    throughout the house, and ranged on seats along the aisles. The\n    old Meeting-house, which was propped to sustain the unwonted\n    weight of the multitude within its walls, was built in 1712,\n    thus having stood for more than half the period to which our\n    history goes back. Prayers were offered and the Scriptures read\n    by the aged minister of the town, Rev. Ezra Ripley, now in the\n    85th year of his age;\u2014another interesting feature in this scene\n    of reminiscences. A very pleasant and impressive part of the\n    services in the church was the singing of the 107th psalm, from\n    the New England version of the psalms made by Eliot, Mather,\n    and others, in 1639, and used in the church in this town in the\n    days of Peter Bulkeley. The psalm was read a line at a time,\n    after the ancient fashion, from the Deacons\u2019 seat, and so sung\n    to the tune of St. Martin\u2019s by the whole congregation standing.\n\n    \u201cTen of the surviving veterans who were in arms at the Bridge,\n    on the 19th April, 1775, honored the festival with their\n    presence. Their names are Abel Davis, Thaddeus Blood, Tilly\n    Buttrick, John Hosmer, of _Concord_; Thomas Thorp, Solomon\n    Smith, John Oliver, Aaron Jones, of _Acton_; David Lane, of\n    _Bedford_; Amos Baker, of _Lincoln_.\n\n    \u201cOn leaving the church, the procession again formed, and moved\n    to a large tent nearly opposite Shepherd\u2019s hotel, under which\n    dinner was prepared, and the company sat down to the tables, to\n    the number of four hundred. We were honored with the presence\n    of distinguished guests, among whom were Lieutenant-Governor\n    Armstrong, Judge Davis, Alden Bradford (descended from the 2d\n    governor of Plymouth Colony), Hon. Edward Everett, Hon. Stephen\n    C. Phillips of Salem, Philip Hone, Esq., of New York, General\n    Dearborn, and Lieutenant-Colonel R. C. Winthrop (descended from\n    the 1st governor of Massachusetts). Letters were read from\n    several gentlemen expressing their regret at being deprived of\n    the pleasure of being present on the occasion. The character\n    of the speeches and sentiments at the dinner were manly and\n    affectionate, in keeping with the whole temper of the day.\n\n    \u201cOn leaving the dinner-table, the invited guests, with many of\n    the citizens, repaired to the court-house to pay their respects\n    to the ladies of Concord, who had there, with their friends,\n    partaken of an elegant collation, and now politely offered\n    coffee to the gentlemen. The hall, in which the collation\n    was spread, had been decorated by fair hands with festoons\n    of flowers, and wreaths of evergreen, and hung with pictures\n    of the Fathers of the Town. Crowded as it was with graceful\n    forms and happy faces, and resounding with the hum of animated\n    conversation, it was itself a beautiful living picture.\n    Compared with the poverty and savageness of the scene which the\n    same spot presented two hundred years ago, it was a brilliant\n    reverse of the medal; and could scarcely fail, like all the\n    parts of the holiday, to lead the reflecting mind to thoughts\n    of that Divine Providence, which, in every generation, has been\n    our tower of defence and horn of blessing.\n\n    \u201cAt sunset the company separated and retired to their homes;\n    and the evening of this day of excitement was as quiet as a\n    Sabbath throughout the village.\u201d\n\nWithin the year, Mr. Emerson had come to make his home for life in\nthe ancestral town, and had become a householder. Two days after the\nfestival, he drove to Plymouth in a chaise, and was there married to\nLidian Jackson, and immediately brought his bride to her Concord home.\n\nHis aged step-grandfather was the senior chaplain at the Celebration, and\nhis brother Charles, who was to live with him in the new home, was one of\nthe marshals.\n\nIn preparation for this address Mr. Emerson made diligent examination of\nthe old town records, and spent a fortnight in Cambridge consulting the\nworks on early New England in the College Library. I reproduce most of\nhis references to his authorities exactly, although there are, no doubt,\nnewer editions of some of the works.\n\n[4] _Page 30, note 1._ This story is from Bede\u2019s _Ecclesiastical History_\n(chapter xiii., Bohn\u2019s _Antiquarian Library_). Mr. Emerson used it in\nfull as the exordium of his essay on Immortality, in _Letters and Social\nAims_.\n\n[5] _Page 30, note 2._ The poem \u201cHamatreya,\u201d wherein appear the names of\nmany of these first settlers, might well be read in connection with the\nopening passages of this address.\n\nMr. Emerson\u2019s right of descent to speak as representative of Peter\nBulkeley, who was the spiritual arm of the settlement, as Simon Willard\nwas its sword-arm, may here be shown: Rev. Joseph Emerson of Mendon (son\nof Thomas of Ipswich, the first of the name in this country) married\nElizabeth, daughter of Rev. Edward Bulkeley, who succeeded his father,\nthe Rev. Peter Bulkeley, as minister of Concord. Edward, the son of\nJoseph of Mendon and Elizabeth Bulkeley, was father of Rev. Joseph\nEmerson of Malden, who was father of Rev. William Emerson of Concord, who\nwas father of Rev. William Emerson of Harvard and Boston, the father of\nRalph Waldo Emerson.\n\n[6] _Page 31, note 1._ Neal\u2019s _History of New England_, vol. i., p. 132.\n\n[7] _Page 31, note 2._ Neal, vol. i., p. 321.\n\n[8] _Page 31, note 3._ Shattuck\u2019s _History of Concord_, p. 158.\n\n[9] _Page 32, note 1._ On September 2, 1635, the General Court passed\nthis order:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is ordered that there shalbe a plantac\u0303on att Musketequid & that\nthere shalbe 6 myles of land square to belong to it, & that the\ninhabitants thereof shall have three yeares im\u0303unities from all publ[ic]\ncharges except traineings; Further, that when any that plant there shall\nhave occac\u0303on of carryeing of goods thither, they shall repaire to two\nof the nexte magistrates where the teames are, whoe shall have the power\nfor a yeare to presse draughts, att reasonable rates, to be payed by the\nowners of the goods, to transport their goods thither att seasonable\ntymes: & the name of the place is changed & here after to be called\nConcord.\u201d\n\n[10] _Page 32, note 2._ Shattuck, p. 5.\n\n[11] _Page 33, note 1._ In his lecture on Boston (published in the volume\n_Natural History of Intellect_) Mr. Emerson gives an amusing enumeration\nof some troubles which seemed so great to the newcomers from the Old\nWorld: he mentions their fear of lions, the accident to John Smith from\n\u201cthe most poisonous tail of a fish called a sting-ray,\u201d the circumstance\nof the overpowering effect of the sweet fern upon the Concord party, and\nthe intoxicating effect of wild grapes eaten by the Norse explorers, and\nadds: \u201cNature has never again indulged in these exasperations. It seems\nto have been the last outrage ever committed by the sting-rays, or by the\nsweet fern, or by the fox-grapes. They have been of peaceable behavior\never since.\u201d\n\n[12] _Page 34, note 1._ Johnson\u2019s _Wonder-Working Providence_, chap.\nxxxv. Mr. Emerson abridged and slightly altered some sentences.\n\n[13] _Page 35, note 1._ Mourt, _Beginning of Plymouth_, 1621, p. 60.\n\n[14] _Page 35, note 2._ Johnson, p. 56. Josselyn, in his _New England\u2019s\nRarities Discovered_, speaks with respect of \u201cSquashes, but more truly\nsquontersquashes; a kind of mellon, or rather gourd; ... some of these\nare green; some yellow; some longish like a gourd; others round, like an\napple: all of them pleasant food, boyled and buttered, and seasoned with\nspice. But the yellow squash\u2014called an apple-squash (because like an\napple) and about the bigness of a pome-water is the best kind.\u201d Wood, in\nhis _New England Prospect_, says: \u201cIn summer, when their corn is spent,\nisquotersquashes is their best bread, a fruit much like a pumpion.\u201d\n\n[15] _Page 36, note 1._ Nashawtuck, a small and shapely hill between\nthe Musketaquid and the Assabet streams, at their point of union, was a\npleasant and convenient headquarters for a sagamore of a race whose best\nroadway for travel and transportation was a deep, quiet stream, the fish\nof which they ate, and also used for manure for their cornfields along\nthe bluffs. Indian graves have been found on this hill.\n\n[16] _Page 36, note 2._ Josselyn\u2019s _Voyages to New England_, 1638.\n\n[17] _Page 36, note 3._ Hutchinson\u2019s _History of Massachusetts_, vol. i.,\nchap. 6.\n\n[18] _Page 36, note 4._ Thomas Morton, _New England Canaan_, p. 47.\n\n[19] _Page 37, note 1._ Shattuck, p. 6.\n\nThe old Middlesex Hotel, which stood during the greater part of the\nnineteenth century on the southwest side of the Common, opposite the\ncourt- and town-houses, had fallen into decay in 1900, and was bought\nand taken down by the town as an improvement to the public square to\ncommemorate the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of Concord\nFight. It is probable that Jethro\u2019s Oak, under which the treaty was made,\nstood a little nearer the house of Rev. Peter Bulkeley, the site of\nwhich, about one hundred paces distant on the Lowell road, is now marked\nby a stone and bronze tablet.\n\n[20] _Page 38, note 1._ Depositions taken in 1684, and copied in the\nfirst volume of the Town Records.\n\n[21] _Page 39, note 1._ Johnson\u2019s _Wonder-Working Providence_.\n\n[22] _Page 39, note 2._ _New England\u2019s Plantation._\n\n[23] _Page 39, note 3._ E. W.\u2019s Letter in Mourt, 1621.\n\n[24] _Page 40, note 1._ Peter Bulkeley\u2019s _Gospel Covenant_; preached at\nConcord in New England. 2d edition, London, 1651, p. 432.\n\n[25] _Page 41, note 1._ See petition in Shattuck\u2019s _History_, p. 14.\n\n[26] _Page 41, note 2._ Shattuck, p. 14. This was the meadow and upland\non the Lowell road, one mile north of Concord, just beyond the river. On\nthe farm stands the unpainted \u201clean-to\u201d house, now owned by the daughters\nof the late Edmund Hosmer.\n\n[27] _Page 42, note 1._ Concord Town Records.\n\n[28] _Page 43, note 1._ Bancroft, _History of the United States_, vol.\ni., p. 389.\n\n[29] _Page 44, note 1._ Savage\u2019s _Winthrop_, vol. i., p. 114.\n\n[30] _Page 44, note 2._ Colony Records, vol. i.\n\n[31] _Page 44, note 3._ See Hutchinson\u2019s _Collection_, p. 287.\n\n[32] _Page 46, note 1._ Winthrop\u2019s _Journal_, vol. i., pp. 128, 129, and\nthe editor\u2019s note.\n\n[33] _Page 46, note 2._ Winthrop\u2019s _Journal_, vol. ii., p. 160.\n\n[34] _Page 48, note 1._ Town Records.\n\nWith the exception of the anecdotes in this and the following sentence,\nalmost the whole of this account of the theory and practice of the New\nEngland town-meeting was used by Mr. Emerson in his oration, given in\nDecember, 1870, before the New England Society in New York. The greater\npart of the matter used in that address is included in the lecture on\nBoston, in the volume _Natural History of Intellect_.\n\nThe New England Society of New York recently published the Orations\ndelivered before it previous to 1871, including Mr. Emerson\u2019s, as far as\nit could be recovered from the scattered manuscript, and the newspaper\nreports of the time.\n\n[35] _Page 50, note 1._ Hutchinson\u2019s _Collection_, p. 27.\n\n[36] _Page 51, note 1._ Shattuck, p. 20. \u201cThe Government, 13 Nov., 1644,\nordered the county courts to take care of the Indians residing within\ntheir several shires, to have them civilized, and to take order, from\ntime to time, to have them instructed in the knowledge of God.\u201d\n\n[37] _Page 52, note 1._ Shepard\u2019s _Clear Sunshine of the Gospel_, London,\n1648.\n\n[38] _Page 52, note 2._ These rules are given in Shattuck\u2019s _History_,\npp. 22-24, and were called \u201cConclusions and orders made and agreed upon\nby divers Sachems and other principal men amongst the Indians at Concord\nin the end of the eleventh Month (called January) An. 1646.\u201d\n\nThe following are interesting specimens of these:\u2014\n\nRule 2. \u201cThat there shall be no more Powwawing amongst the Indians. And\nif any shall hereafter powwaw, both he that shall powwaw, and he that\nshall procure him to powwaw, shall pay twenty shillings apiece.\u201d\n\nRule 4. \u201cThey desire they may understand the wiles of Satan, and grow out\nof love with his suggestions and temtations.\u201d\n\nRule 5. \u201cThat they may fall upon some better course to improve their time\nthan formerly.\u201d\n\nRule 15. \u201cThey will wear their haire comely, as the English do, and\nwhosoever shall offend herein shall pay four shillings.\u201d\n\nRule 23. \u201cThey shall not disguise themselves in their mournings as\nformerly, nor shall they keep a great noyse by howling.\u201d\n\nRule 24. \u201cThe old ceremony of a maide walking alone and living apart so\nmany days, [fine] twenty shillings.\u201d\n\n[39] _Page 53, note 1._ Shepard, p. 9.\n\n[40] _Page 54, note 1._ Wilson\u2019s _Letter_, 1651.\n\n[41] _Page 54, note 2._ _News from America_, p. 22.\n\n[42] _Page 54, note 3._ Winthrop, vol. ii., p. 2.\n\n[43] _Page 55, note 1._ Hutchinson, vol. i., p. 90.\n\n[44] _Page 55, note 2._ Hutchinson, vol. i., p. 112.\n\n[45] _Page 55, note 3._ Winthrop, vol. ii., p. 21.\n\n[46] _Page 55, note 4._ Hutchinson, vol. i., p. 94.\n\n[47] _Page 55, note 5._ Bulkeley\u2019s _Gospel Covenant_, p. 209.\n\n[48] _Page 55, note 6._ Winthrop, vol. ii., p. 94.\n\n[49] _Page 56, note 1._ _Gospel Covenant_, p. 301.\n\n[50] _Page 57, note 1._ Shattuck, p. 45.\n\n[51] _Page 57, note 2._ Hutchinson, vol. i., p. 172.\n\n[52] _Page 57, note 3._ See his instructions from the Commissioners,\nhis narrative, and the Commissioners\u2019 letter to him, in Hutchinson\u2019s\n_Collection_, pp. 261-270.\n\n[53] _Page 58, note 1._ Hutchinson\u2019s _History_, vol. i., p. 254.\n\n[54] _Page 58, note 2._ Hubbard\u2019s _Indian Wars_, p. 119, ed. 1801.\n\nMr. Charles H. Walcott, in his _Concord in the Colonial Period_ (Estes\n& Lauriat, Boston, 1884), gives a very interesting account of the\nBrookfield fight.\n\n[55] _Page 58, note 3._ Hubbard, p. 201.\n\n[56] _Page 59, note 1._ Hubbard, p. 185.\n\n[57] _Page 59, note 2._ Hubbard, p. 245.\n\n[58] _Page 60, note 1._ Shattuck, p. 55.\n\n[59] _Page 60, note 2._ Hubbard, p. 260.\n\n[60] _Page 61, note 1._ Neal\u2019s _History of New England_, vol. i., p. 321.\n\n[61] _Page 61, note 2._ Mather, _Magnalia Christi_, vol. i., p. 363.\n\n[62] _Page 61, note 3._ \u201cTradition has handed down the following\nanecdote. A consultation among the Indian chiefs took place about this\ntime on the high lands in Stow, and, as they cast their eyes towards\nSudbury and Concord, a question arose which they should attack first. The\ndecision was made to attack the former. One of the principal chiefs said:\n\u2018We no prosper if we go to Concord\u2014the Great Spirit love that people\u2014the\nevil spirit tell us not to go\u2014they have a great man there\u2014he _great\npray_.\u2019 The Rev. Edward Bulkeley was then minister of the town, and his\nname and distinguished character were known even to the red men of the\nforest.\u201d\u2014Shattuck\u2019s _History_, p. 59, note.\n\n[63] _Page 61, note 4._ On this occasion the name of Hoar, since honored\nin Concord through several generations, came to the front. John Hoar,\nthe first practitioner of law in Concord, an outspoken man of sturdy\nindependence, who, for uttering complaints that justice was denied him in\nthe courts, had been made to give bonds for good behavior and \u201cdisabled\nto plead any cases but his oune in this jurisdiction,\u201d who had been fined\n\u00a310 for saying that \u201cthe Blessing which his Master Bulkeley pronounced\nin dismissing the publique Assembly was no more than vane babling,\u201d and\nwas twice fined for non-attendance at public worship, proved to be the\nonly man in town who was willing to take charge of the Praying Indians of\nNashobah, whom the General Court ordered moved to Concord during Philip\u2019s\nWar. The magistrates who had persecuted him had to turn to him, and he\nmade good provision on his own place for the comfort and safe-keeping\nof these unfortunates, and their employment, when public opinion was\ndirected against them with the cruelty of fear. Soon, however, Captain\nMosley, who had been secretly sent for by some citizens, came with\nsoldiers into the meeting-house, announced to the congregation that he\nhad heard that \u201cthere were some heathen in town committed to one Hoar,\nwho, he was informed, were a trouble and disquiet to them;\u201d therefore,\nif the people desired it, he would remove them to Boston. No one made\nobjection, so he went to Mr. Hoar\u2019s house, counted the Indians and set a\nguard, Hoar vigorously protesting. He came next day; Hoar bravely refused\nto give them up, so Mosley removed them by violence and carried the\nIndians to Deer Island, where they suffered much during the winter. See\nWalcott\u2019s _Concord in the Colonial Period_.\n\n[64] _Page 62, note 1._ Sprague\u2019s _Centennial Ode_.\n\n[65] _Page 62, note 2._ Shattuck, chap. iii. Walcott, chap. iii.\n\n[66] _Page 63, note 1._ Hutchinson\u2019s _Collection_, p. 484.\n\n[67] _Page 63, note 2._ Hutchinson\u2019s _Collection_, pp. 543, 548, 557, 566.\n\n[68] _Page 63, note 3._ Hutchinson\u2019s _History_, vol. i., p. 336.\n\nThe month of April has been fateful for Concord, especially its\nnineteenth day. On that day the military company under Lieutenant Heald\nmarched to Boston to take part in the uprising of the freemen of the\ncolony against Andros. On that same day, in 1775, the minute-men and\nmilitia of Concord, promptly reinforced by the soldiers of her daughter\nand sister towns, marched down to the guarded North Bridge and returned\nthe fire of the Royal troops in the opening battle of the Revolution.\nAgain on the nineteenth of April, 1861, the \u201cConcord Artillery\u201d\n(so-called, although then a company of the Fifth Infantry, M. V. M.) left\nthe village for the front in the War of the Rebellion; and yet again in\nthe last days of April, 1898, the same company, then, as now, attached to\nthe Sixth Regiment, M. V. M., marched from the village green to bear its\npart in the Spanish War.\n\n[69] _Page 64, note 1._ Town Records.\n\n[70] _Page 64, note 2._ The following minutes from the Town Records in\n1692 may serve as an example:\u2014\n\n\u201cJohn Craggin, aged about 63 years, and Sarah his wife, aet. about 63\nyears, do both testify upon oath that about 2 years ago John Shepard,\nsen. of Concord, came to our house in Obourne, to treat with us, and give\nus a visit, and carried the said Sary Craggin to Concord with him, and\nthere discoursed us in order to a marriage between his son, John Shepard,\njun. and our daughter, Eliz. Craggin, and, for our incouragement, and\nbefore us, did promise that, upon the consummation of the said marriage,\nhe, the said John Shepard, sen. would give to his son, John Shepard, jun.\nthe one half of his dwelling house, and the old barn, and the pasture\nbefore the barn; the old plow-land, and the old horse, when his colt was\nfit to ride, and his old oxen, when his steers were fit to work. All this\nhe promised upon marriage as above said, which marriage was consummated\nupon March following, which is two years ago, come next March. Dated Feb.\n25, 1692. Taken on oath before me. Wm. Johnson.\u201d\n\n[71] _Page 64, note 3._ Town Records, July, 1698.\n\n[72] _Page 64, note 4._ Records, Nov. 1711.\n\n[73] _Page 65, note 1._ Records, May, 1712.\n\n[74] _Page 66, note 1._ Records, 1735.\n\n[75] _Page 66, note 2._ Whitfield in his journal wrote: \u201cAbout noon I\nreached Concord. Here I preached to some thousands in the open air; and\ncomfortable preaching it was. The hearers were sweetly melted down....\nThe minister of the town being, I believe, a true child of God, I chose\nto stay all night at his house that we might rejoice together. The\nLord was with us. The Spirit of the Lord came upon me and God gave me\nto wrestle with him for my friends, especially those then with me....\nBrother B\u2014s, the minister, broke into floods of tears, and we had reason\nto cry out it was good for us to be here.\u201d\n\n[76] _Page 67, note 1._ Church Records, July, 1792.\n\n[77] _Page 67, note 2._ The Rev. Daniel Bliss has left the name of\nhaving been an earnest, good man, evidently emotional. His zealous\nand impassioned preaching gave offence to some of the cooler and more\nconservative clergy, and indeed bred discord in the church of Concord.\nThe \u201caggrieved brethren\u201d withdrew, and, for want of a church, held\npublic worship at a tavern where was the sign of a black horse, hence\nwere called \u201cthe Black Horse Church.\u201d Their complaints preferred against\nMr. Bliss resulted in councils which drew in most of the churches of\nMiddlesex into their widening vortex. Yet he remained the honored pastor\nof the town until his death. His daughter Phebe married the young William\nEmerson, his successor; he was therefore Mr. Emerson\u2019s great-grandfather.\n\n[78] _Page 67, note 3._ Town Records.\n\n[79] _Page 70, note 1._ Town Records.\n\n[80] _Page 71, note 1._ Town Records.\n\n[81] _Page 71, note 2._ The spirited protest of this County Convention,\npresided over by Hon. James Prescott of Groton, is given in full in\nShattuck\u2019s _History_, pp. 82-87.\n\n[82] _Page 72, note 1._ General Gage, the Governor, having refused to\nconvene the General Court at Salem, the Provincial Congress of delegates\nfrom the towns of Massachusetts was called by conventions of the various\ncounties to meet at Concord, October 11, 1774. The delegates assembled\nin the meeting-house, and organized, with John Hancock as President, and\nBenjamin Lincoln as Secretary. Called together to maintain the rights of\nthe people, this Congress assumed the government of the province, and by\nits measures prepared the way for the Revolution.\n\n[83] _Page 72, note 2._ This eloquent sermon to the volunteers of 1775,\nstill preserved in MS., is very interesting. The young minister shows\nthem the dignity of their calling, warns them of the besetting sins of\nNew England soldiery, explains to them the invasion of their rights and\nthat they are not rebels, tells them that he believes their fathers\nforesaw the evil day and did all in their power to guard the infant state\nfrom encroachments of unconstitutional power, and implores the sons to be\ntrue to their duty to their posterity. He fully admits the utter gloom\nof the prospect, humanly considered: would Heaven hold him innocent, he\nwould counsel submission, but as an honest man and servant of Heaven\nhe dare not do so, and with great spirit bids his injured countrymen\n\u201cArise! and plead even with the sword, the firelock and the bayonet, the\nbirthright of Englishmen ... and if God does not help, it will be because\nyour sins testify against you, otherwise _you may be assured_.\u201d\n\n[84] _Page 74, note 1._ Journal, July, 1835. \u201cIt is affecting to see the\nold man\u2019s [Thaddeus Blood] memory taxed for facts occurring 60 years\nago at Concord fight. \u2018It is hard to bring them up;\u2019 he says, \u2018the\ntruth never will be known.\u2019 The Doctor [Ripley], like a keen hunter,\nunrelenting, follows him up and down, barricading him with questions.\nYet cares little for the facts the man can tell, but much for the\nconfirmation of the printed History. \u2018Leave me, leave me to repose.\u2019\u201d\n\nThaddeus Blood, who was only twenty years old at the time of Concord\nfight, later became a schoolmaster, hence was always known as \u201cMaster\nBlood.\u201d He was one of the Concord company stationed at Hull, in 1776,\nwhich took part in the capture of Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell and\nhis battalion of the 71st (Frazer) Highlanders as they sailed into\nBoston Harbor, not being aware of the evacuation of the town. They\nwere confined at Concord until their exchange. See _Sir Archibald\nCampbell of Inverneill, sometime Prisoner of War in the Jail at Concord,\nMassachusetts_. By Charles H. Walcott, Boston, 1898.\n\n[85] _Page 74, note 2._ In his poem in memory of his brother Edward,\nwritten by the riverside near the battle-ground, Mr. Emerson alluded to\n\n                Yon stern headstone,\n    Which more of pride than pity gave\n    To mark the Briton\u2019s friendless grave.\n    Yet it is a stately tomb;\n    The grand return\n    Of eve and morn,\n    The year\u2019s fresh bloom,\n    The silver cloud,\n    Might grace the dust that is most proud.\n\n[86] _Page 76, note 1._ Captain Miles commanded the Concord company that\njoined the Northern Army at Ticonderoga in August, 1776, as part of\nColonel Reed\u2019s regiment.\n\n[87] _Page 77, note 1._ Judge John S. Keyes, who clearly remembers the\nincidents of this celebration, seen from a boy\u2019s coign of vantage, the\ntop of one of the inner doors of the church, tells me that the ten\naged survivors of the battle, who sat in front of the pulpit, bowed in\nrecognition of this compliment by the orator, and then the audience all\nbowed to them. The sanctity of the church forbade in those days cheering\nor applause even at a civic festival.\n\n[88] _Page 77, note 2._ The following was Mr. Emerson\u2019s note concerning\nhis authorities:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe importance which the skirmish at Concord Bridge derived from\nsubsequent events, has, of late years, attracted much notice to\nthe incidents of the day. There are, as might be expected, some\ndiscrepancies in the different narratives of the fight. In the brief\nsummary in the text, I have relied mainly on the depositions taken by\norder of the Provincial Congress within a few days after the action,\nand on the other contemporary evidence. I have consulted the English\nnarrative in the Massachusetts Historical Collections, and in the trial\nof Horne (_Cases adjudged in King\u2019s Bench_; London, 1800, vol. ii., p.\n677); the inscription made by order of the legislature of Massachusetts\non the two field-pieces presented to the Concord Artillery; Mr. Phinney\u2019s\n_History of the Battle at Lexington_; Dr. Ripley\u2019s _History of Concord\nFight_; Mr. Shattuck\u2019s narrative in his _History_, besides some oral\nand some manuscript evidence of eye-witnesses. The following narrative,\nwritten by Rev. William Emerson, a spectator of the action, has never\nbeen published. A part of it has been in my possession for years: a part\nof it I discovered, only a few days since, in a trunk of family papers:\u2014\n\n    \u201c\u20181775, 19 April. This morning, between 1 and 2 o\u2019clock, we\n    were alarmed by the ringing of the bell, and upon examination\n    found that the troops, to the number of 800, had stole their\n    march from Boston, in boats and barges, from the bottom of the\n    Common over to a point in Cambridge, near to Inman\u2019s Farm,\n    and were at Lexington Meeting-house, half an hour before\n    sunrise, where they had fired upon a body of our men, and (as\n    we afterward heard) had killed several. This intelligence\n    was brought us at first by Dr. Samuel Prescott, who narrowly\n    escaped the guard that were sent before on horses, purposely\n    to prevent all posts and messengers from giving us timely\n    information. He, by the help of a very fleet horse, crossing\n    several walls and fences, arrived at Concord at the time above\n    mentioned; when several posts were immediately despatched,\n    that returning confirmed the account of the regulars\u2019 arrival\n    at Lexington, and that they were on their way to Concord.\n    Upon this, a number of our minute-men belonging to this town,\n    and Acton, and Lyncoln, with several others that were in\n    readiness, marched out to meet them; while the alarm company\n    were preparing to receive them in the town. Captain Minot,\n    who commanded them, thought it proper to take possession of\n    the hill above the meeting-house, as the most advantageous\n    situation. No sooner had our men gained it, than we were met\n    by the companies that were sent out to meet the troops, who\n    informed us, that they were just upon us, and that we must\n    retreat, as their number was more than treble ours. We then\n    retreated from the hill near the Liberty Pole, and took a new\n    post back of the town upon an eminence, where we formed into\n    two battalions, and waited the arrival of the enemy. Scarcely\n    had we formed, before we saw the British troops at the distance\n    of a quarter of a mile, glittering in arms, advancing towards\n    us with the greatest celerity. Some were for making a stand,\n    notwithstanding the superiority of their number; but others\n    more prudent thought best to retreat till our strength should\n    be equal to the enemy\u2019s by recruits from neighboring towns that\n    were continually coming in to our assistance. Accordingly we\n    retreated over the bridge, when the troops came into the town,\n    set fire to several carriages for the artillery, destroyed 60\n    bbls. flour, rifled several houses, took possession of the\n    town-house, destroyed 500 lb. of balls, set a guard of 100\n    men at the North Bridge, and sent up a party to the house of\n    Colonel Barrett, where they were in expectation of finding a\n    quantity of warlike stores. But these were happily secured,\n    just before their arrival, by transportation into the woods\n    and other by-places. In the mean time, the guard set by the\n    enemy to secure the pass at the North Bridge were alarmed by\n    the approach of our people, who had retreated, as mentioned\n    before, and were now advancing with special orders not to\n    fire upon the troops unless fired upon. These orders were so\n    punctually observed that we received the fire of the enemy in\n    three several and separate discharges of their pieces before\n    it was returned by our commanding officer; the firing then\n    soon became general for several minutes, in which skirmish two\n    were killed on each side, and several of the enemy wounded.\n    It may here be observed, by the way, that we were the more\n    cautious to prevent beginning a rupture with the King\u2019s troops,\n    as we were then uncertain what had happened at Lexington, and\n    knew [not][A] that they had began the quarrel there by first\n    firing upon our people, and killing eight men upon the spot.\n    The three companies of troops soon quitted their post at the\n    bridge, and retreated in the greatest disorder and confusion to\n    the main body, who were soon upon the march to meet them. For\n    half an hour, the enemy, by their marches and counter-marches,\n    discovered great fickleness and inconstancy of mind, sometimes\n    advancing, sometimes returning to their former posts; till, at\n    length they quitted the town, and retreated by the way they\n    came. In the mean time, a party of our men (150) took the back\n    way through the Great Fields into the east quarter, and had\n    placed themselves to advantage, lying in ambush behind walls,\n    fences and buildings, ready to fire upon the enemy on their\n    retreat.\u2019\u201d\n\n[89] _Page 78, note 1._ Fifty years after his death the town erected a\ncenotaph to the memory of its brave young minister, whose body lies by\nthe shore of Otter Creek, near Rutland, Vermont. On it they wrote:\u2014\n\n\u201cEnthusiastic, eloquent, affectionate and pious, he loved his family, his\npeople, his God and his Country, and to this last he yielded the cheerful\nsacrifice of his life.\u201d\n\n[90] _Page 78, note 2._ Town Records, Dec. 1775.\n\n[91] _Page 79, note 1._ These facts are recorded by Shattuck in his\n_History_.\n\n[92] _Page 79, note 2._ Bradford\u2019s _History of Massachusetts_, vol. ii.,\np. 113.\n\n[93] _Page 79, note 3._ Shattuck.\n\n[94] _Page 80, note 1._ Town Records, May 3, 1782.\n\n[95] _Page 81, note 1._ Town Records, Sept. 9, and Bradford\u2019s _History_,\nvol. i., p. 266.\n\n[96] _Page 81, note 2._ The Rev. Grindall Reynolds, late pastor of\nthe First Church in Concord, wrote an interesting account of Shays\u2019s\nRebellion, and various papers concerning his adopted town which are\nincluded in his _Historical and Other Papers_, published by his daughter\nin 1895.\n\n[97] _Page 81, note 3._ Town Records, Oct. 21.\n\n[98] _Page 82, note 1._ Town Records, May 7.\n\n[99] _Page 82, note 2._ Town Records, 1834 and 1835. In 1903-4 the\ntown, with a population of about 5000, appropriated for public purposes\n$65,752, the amount for school purposes being $28,000.\n\n[100] _Page 82, note 3._ The Unitarian and the \u201cOrthodox\u201d (as the\nTrinitarian Congregationalist society has always been called in Concord)\nchurches have for a century been good neighbors, and for many years have\nheld union meetings on Thanksgiving Day. At the time of Mr. Emerson\u2019s\ndiscourse it is doubtful if Concord contained a single Catholic or\nEpiscopalian believer. The beginning of the twentieth century finds\na larger body of Catholic worshippers than the four other societies\ncontain. Yet all live in charity with one another.\n\n[101] _Page 83, note 1._ Mr. Emerson\u2019s honored kinsman, Rev. Ezra Ripley,\nwho sat in the pulpit that day, was eighty-four years old, and when,\nsix years later, he died, he had been pastor of the Concord church for\nsixty-three years.\n\n[102] _Page 83, note 2._ Lemuel Shattuck, author of the excellent\n_History of Concord_, which was published before the end of the year.\n\n[103] _Page 85, note 1._ In Mr. Emerson\u2019s lecturing excursions during the\nfollowing thirty-five years, he found with pleasure and pride the sons of\nhis Concord neighbors important men in the building up the prairie and\nriver towns, or the making and operating the great highways of emigration\nand trade.\n\n\nLETTER TO PRESIDENT VAN BUREN\n\nApril 19, 1838, Mr. Emerson made this entry in his Journal:\u2014\n\n\u201cThis disaster of the Cherokees, brought to me by a sad friend to blacken\nmy days and nights! I can do nothing; why shriek? why strike ineffectual\nblows? I stir in it for the sad reason that no other mortal will move,\nand if I do not, why, it is left undone. The amount of it, to be sure, is\nmerely a scream; but sometimes a scream is better than a thesis....\n\n\u201cYesterday wrote the letter to Van Buren,\u2014a letter hated of me, a\ndeliverance that does not deliver the soul. I write my journal, I read\nmy lecture with joy; but this stirring in the philanthropic mud gives me\nno peace. I will let the republic alone until the republic comes to me.\nI fully sympathize, be sure, with the sentiments I write; but I accept\nit rather from my friends than dictate it. It is not my impulse to say\nit, and therefore my genius deserts me; no muse befriends; no music of\nthought or word accompanies.\u201d\n\nYet his conscience then, and many a time later, brought him to do the\nbrave, distasteful duty.\n\n\nADDRESS ON EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES\n\nThe tenth anniversary of the emancipation by Act of Parliament of all\nslaves in the insular possessions of Great Britain in the West Indies\nwas celebrated in Concord, in the year 1844, by citizens of thirteen\nMassachusetts towns, and they invited Mr. Emerson to make the Address.\nThe Rev. Dr. Channing, on whose mind the wrongs of the slave had weighed\never since he had seen them in Santa Cruz, had spoken on Slavery in\nFaneuil Hall in 1837, had written on the subject, and his last public\nwork had been a speech on the anniversary of the West Indian Emancipation\nin 1842, in the village of Lenox. The public conscience was slowly\nbecoming aroused, especially among the country people, who had not the\nmercantile and social relations with the Southerner which hampered the\naction of many people in the cities. Yet even in Concord the religious\nsocieties appear to have closed their doors against the philanthropists\nwho gathered to celebrate this anniversary in 1844, but the energy of\nthe young Thoreau, always a champion of Freedom, secured the use of the\nCourt-House, and he himself rang the bell to call the people together.\n\nIt is said that Mr. Emerson, while minister of the Second Church in\nBoston, had held his pulpit open to speakers on behalf of liberty,\nand to his attitude in 1835 Harriet Martineau bears witness in her\nAutobiography. After speaking of the temperamental unfitness of these\nbrother scholars, Charles and Waldo, to become active workers in an\nAbolitionist organization, she says: \u201cYet they did that which made me\nfeel that I knew them through the very cause in which they did not\nimplicate themselves. At the time of the hubbub against me in Boston,\nCharles Emerson stood alone in a large company and declared that he would\nrather see Boston in ashes than that I or anybody should be debarred in\nany way from perfectly free speech. His brother Waldo invited me to be\nhis guest in the midst of my unpopularity, and during my visit told me\nhis course about this matter of slavery. He did not see that there was\nany particular thing for him to do in it then; but when, in coaches or\nsteamboats or anywhere else, he saw people of color ill treated, or heard\nbad doctrine or sentiment propounded, he did what he could, and said what\nhe thought. Since that date he has spoken more abundantly and boldly,\nthe more critical the times became; and he is now, and has long been,\nidentified with the Abolitionists in conviction and sentiment, though it\nis out of his way to join himself to their organization.\u201d\n\nMr. Cabot in his Memoir[B] gives several pages of extracts from Mr.\nEmerson\u2019s journal showing his feelings at this time, before the slave\npower, aggressive and advancing, left him, as a lover of Freedom, no\nchoice but to fight for her as he could, by tongue and pen, in seasons of\nperil.\n\nThis Address was printed in England, as well as in America, the autumn\nafter its delivery here. In a letter to Carlyle written September 1, Mr.\nEmerson says he is sending proof to the London publisher.\n\n\u201cChapman wrote to me by the last steamer, urging me to send him some\nmanuscript that had not yet been published in America [hoping for\ncopyright, and promising half profits].... The request was so timely,\nsince I was not only printing a book, but also a pamphlet, that I came to\ntown yesterday and hastened the printers, and have now sent him proofs\nof all the Address, and of more than half of the book.\u201d He requests\nCarlyle to have an eye to its correct reproduction, to which his friend\nfaithfully attended.\n\n[104] _Page 100, note 1._ It was characteristic of Mr. Emerson that, as a\ncorrective to the flush of righteous wrath that man should be capable of\n\n            laying hands on another\n    To coin his labor and sweat,\n\ncame his sense of justice, and the power of seeing the planter\u2019s side,\nborn into such a social and political condition, by breeding and climatic\nconditions unable to toil, and with his whole inheritance vested in\nslaves. In a speech in New York in 1855, Mr. Emerson urged emancipation\nwith compensation to the owners, by general sacrifices to this great end\nby old and young throughout the North, not as the planters\u2019 due, but as\nrecognizing their need and losses. Yet with all due consideration for the\nplanters\u2019 misfortune of condition, he said, on the main question, \u201cIt is\nimpossible to be a gentleman and not be an abolitionist.\u201d\n\n[105] _Page 103, note 1._\n\n    Sole estate his sire bequeathed,\u2014\n    Hapless sire to hapless son,\u2014\n    Was the wailing song he breathed,\n    And his chain when life was done.\n\nThese lines from \u201cVoluntaries\u201d in the _Poems_, and the stanza which there\nfollows them, are recalled by this passage.\n\n[106] _Page 106, note 1._ Granville Sharp (1734-1813) was a broad-minded\nscholar and determined philanthropist. He left the study of law to go\ninto the ordnance office, which he left, when the American Revolution\ncame on, disapproving of the course of the government. In the case of one\nof the slaves whom he defended, the Lord Mayor discharged the negro, but\nhis master would not give him up. The case then went before the Court\nof Kings Bench, and the twelve judges decided in 1772 that a man could\nnot be held in, or transported from, England. In June, 1787, Sharp with\nClarkson and ten others, nine of whom were Quakers, formed a committee\n\u201cfor effecting the abolition of the slave trade;\u201d Sharp was chairman.\nDefeated in Parliament in 1788 and 1789, they were joined by Pitt and Fox\nin 1790. In 1793 the Commons passed an act for gradual abolition of the\ntrade, which was rejected by the Peers. This occurred again in 1795 and\n1804. In 1806, the Fox and Grenville Ministry brought forward abolition\nof the trade as a government measure. It was carried in 1807. Then the\nenemies of slavery began to strive for its gradual abolition throughout\nthe British dominions, Clarkson, Wilberforce and Buxton being the\nprincipal leaders. The course of events, however, showed that immediate\nemancipation would be a better measure. The government brought this\nforward in 1823, modified by an apprenticeship system. The bill with this\nfeature and some compensation to owners was passed in 1833.\n\n[107] _Page 108, note 1._ In the essay on Self-Reliance Mr. Emerson said:\n\u201cAn institution is the lengthened shadow of one man; as Monachism, of the\nHermit Antony; the Reformation, of Luther; Quakerism, of Fox; Methodism,\nof Wesley; Abolition, of Clarkson.\u201d\n\n[108] _Page 112, note 1._ The \u201cpr\u00e6dials\u201d seem to have been the slaves\nborn into captivity, as distinguished from imported slaves.\n\n[109] _Page 115, note 1._ _Emancipation in the West Indies: A Six Months\u2019\nTour in Antigua, Barbadoes and Jamaica, in the year 1837._ J. A. Thome\nand J. H. Kimball, New York, 1838.\n\n[110] _Page 120, note 1._ This was very soon after the coronation of the\nyoung Queen Victoria, which occurred in the previous year.\n\n[111] _Page 125, note 1._ \u201cAll things are moral, and in their boundless\nchanges have an unceasing reference to spiritual nature. Therefore is\nnature glorious with form, color and motion; that every globe in the\nremotest heaven, every chemical change from the rudest crystal up to the\nlaws of life ... every animal function from the sponge up to Hercules,\nshall hint or thunder to man the laws of right and wrong, and echo the\nTen Commandments.\u201d\u2014_Nature, Addresses and Lectures_, p. 40. See also the\nlast sentence in \u201cPrudence,\u201d _Essays, First Series_.\n\n[112] _Page 131, note 1._ \u201cFor he [a ruler] is the minister of God to\nthee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he\nbeareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger\nto execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.\u201d _Epistle to the Romans_,\nxiii. 4.\n\n[113] _Page 132, note 1._ The cause for Mr. Emerson\u2019s indignation was\ngreat and recent. His honored townsman, Samuel Hoar, Esq., sent by\nthe State of Massachusetts as her commissioner to South Carolina to\ninvestigate the seizures, imprisonments, punishments, and even sale of\ncolored citizens of Massachusetts who had committed no crime, had been\nexpelled with threats of violence from the city of Charleston. (See\n\u201cSamuel Hoar,\u201d in _Lectures and Biographical Sketches_.)\n\n[114] _Page 133, note 1._\n\n    A union then of honest men,\n    Or union never more again.\n\n             \u201cBoston,\u201d _Poems_.\n\n[115] _Page 134, note 1._ John Quincy Adams, who, though disapproving,\nas untimely, the legislation urged on Congress by the abolitionists, yet\nfought strongly and persistently against the rules framed to check their\nimportunity, as inconsistent with the right of petition itself.\n\n[116] _Page 144, note 1._ Here comes in the doctrine of the Survival of\nthe Fittest that appears in the \u201cOde inscribed to W. H. Channing,\u201d but,\neven more than there, tempered by faith in the strength of humanity.\nSee the \u201cLecture on the Times,\u201d given in 1841 (_Nature, Addresses\nand Lectures_, p. 220), for considerations on slavery more coolly\nphilosophical than Mr. Emerson\u2019s warm blood often admitted of, during the\nstrife for liberty in the period between the Mexican and Civil Wars.\n\n[117] _Page 145, note 1._\n\n    To-day unbind the captive,\n    So only are ye unbound;\n    Lift up a people from the dust,\n    Trump of their rescue, sound!\n\n             \u201cBoston Hymn,\u201d _Poems_.\n\n[118] _Page 146, note 1._ In the early version of the \u201cBoston\u201d poem were\nthese lines:\u2014\n\n    O pity that I pause!\n      The song disdaining shuns\n    To name the noble sires, because\n      Of the unworthy sons.\n    ...\n    Your town is full of gentle names,\n      By patriots once were watchwords made;\n    Those war-cry names are muffled shames\n      On recreant sons mislaid.\n\n\nWAR\n\nIn the winter and early spring of 1838, the American Peace Society held a\ncourse of lectures in Boston. This lecture was the seventh in the course.\nMr. Alcott wrote in his diary at that time:\u2014\n\n\u201cI heard Emerson\u2019s lecture on _Peace_, as the closing discourse of a\nseries delivered at the Odeon before the American Peace Society.... After\nthe lecture I saw Mr. Garrison, who is at this time deeply interested\nin the question of Peace, as are many of the meekest and noblest souls\namongst us. He expressed his great pleasure in the stand taken by Mr.\nEmerson and his hopes in him as a man of the new age. This great topic\nhas been brought before the general mind as a direct consequence of the\nagitation of the abolition of slavery.\u201d\n\nThe lecture was printed in 1849 _\u00c6sthetic Papers_, edited by Miss\nElizabeth P. Peabody.\n\nAlthough the chronicles of the campaigns and acts of prowess of the\nmasterly soldiers were always attractive reading to Mr. Emerson,\u2014much\nmore acts of patriotic devotion in the field,\u2014and he was by no means\ncommitted as a non-resistant, he saw that war had been a part of\nevolution, and that its evils might pave the way for good, as flowers\nspring up next year on a field of carnage. He knew that evolution\nrequired an almost divine patience, yet his good hope was strengthened\nby the signs of the times, and he desired to hasten the great upward step\nin civilization.\n\nIt is evident from his words and course of action during the outrages\nupon the peaceful settlers of Kansas, and when Sumter was fired upon\nand Washington threatened, that he recognized that the hour had not yet\ncome. He subscribed lavishly from his limited means for the furnishing\nSharp\u2019s rifles to the \u201cFree State men.\u201d In the early days of the War of\nthe Rebellion he visited Charlestown Navy-Yard to see the preparations,\nand said, \u201cAh! sometimes gunpowder smells good.\u201d In the opening of his\naddress at Tufts College, in July, 1861, he said, \u201cThe brute noise of\ncannon has a most poetic echo in these days, as instrument of the primal\nsentiments of humanity.\u201d Several speeches included in this volume show\nthat at that crisis his feeling was, as he had said of the forefathers\u2019\n\u201cdeed of blood\u201d at Concord Bridge,\u2014\n\n    Even the serene Reason says\n    It was well done.\n\nBut all this was only a postponement of hope.\n\n[119] _Page 152, note 1._ With regard to schooling a man\u2019s courage for\nwhatever may befall, Mr. Emerson said: \u201cOur culture therefore must not\nomit the arming of the man. Let him hear in season that he is born into\nthe state of war, and that the commonwealth and his own well-being\nrequire that he should not go dancing in the weeds of peace, but warned,\nself-collected and neither defying nor dreading the thunder, let him take\nboth reputation and life in his hand, and with perfect urbanity dare the\ngibbet and the mob by the absolute truth of his speech and the rectitude\nof his behavior.\u201d\u2014\u201cHeroism,\u201d _Essays, First Series_.\n\n\u201cA state of war or anarchy, in which law has little force, is so far\nvaluable that it puts every man on trial.\u201d\u2014\u201cThe Conservative,\u201d _Nature,\nAddresses and Lectures_.\n\n[120] _Page 156, note 1._ Mr. Emerson used to take pleasure in a story\nillustrating this common foible of mankind. A returned Arctic explorer,\nin a lecture, said, \u201cIn this wilderness among the ice-floes, I had the\nfortune to see a terrible conflict between two Polar bears\u2014\u201d \u201cWhich\nbeat?\u201d cried an excited voice from the audience.\n\n[121] _Page 160, note 1._ In his description of the Tower of London in\nthe journal of 1834, it appears that the suits of armor there set up\naffected Mr. Emerson unpleasantly, suggesting half-human destructive\nlobsters and crabs. It is, I believe, said that Benvenuto Cellini learned\nto make the cunning joints in armor for men from those of these marine\nwarriors.\n\nIn the opening paragraphs of the essay on Inspiration Mr. Emerson\ncongratulates himself that the doleful experiences of the aboriginal\nman were got through with long ago. \u201cThey combed his mane, they pared\nhis nails, cut off his tail, set him on end, sent him to school and\nmade him pay taxes, before he could begin to write his sad story for\nthe compassion or the repudiation of his descendants, who are all but\nunanimous to disown him. We must take him as we find him,\u201d etc.\n\n[122] _Page 162, note 1._ In _English Traits_, at the end of the chapter\non Stonehenge, Mr. Emerson gave a humorous account of his setting forth\nthe faith or hope of the non-resistants and idealists in New England, to\nthe amazed and shocked ears of Carlyle and Arthur Helps.\n\n[123] _Page 164, note 1._ \u201cAs the solidest rocks are made up of invisible\ngases, as the world is made of thickened light and arrested electricity,\nso men know that ideas are the parents of men and things; there was never\nanything that did not proceed from a thought.\u201d\u2014\u201cThe Scholar,\u201d _Lectures\nand Biographical Sketches_.\n\n[124] _Page 164, note 2._ In \u201cThe Problem\u201d he says of the Parthenon and\nEngland\u2019s abbeys that\n\n        out of Thought\u2019s interior sphere\n    These wonders rose to upper air.\n\n[125] _Page 167, note 1._ Mr. Emerson in his conversation frankly showed\nthat he was not yet quite prepared to be a non-resistant. He would have\nsurely followed his own counsel where he says, \u201cGo face the burglar in\nyour own house,\u201d and he seemed to feel instinctive sympathy with what Mr.\nDexter, the counsel, said in the speech which he used to read me from the\nSelfridge trial:\u2014\n\n\u201cAnd may my arm drop powerless when it fails to defend my honor!\u201d\n\nHe exactly stated his own position in a later passage, where he says that\n\u201cin a given extreme event Nature and God will instruct him in that hour.\u201d\n\n[126] _Page 172, note 1._ Thoreau lived frankly and fearlessly up to this\nstandard.\n\n[127] _Page 173, note 1._ This same view is even more attractively set\nforth in \u201cAristocracy\u201d (_Lectures and Biographical Sketches_, pp. 36-40).\n\nRev. Dr. Cyrus A. Bartol, in an interesting paper on \u201cEmerson\u2019s\nReligion,\u201d[C] gives, among other reminiscences, the following: \u201cI asked\nhim if he approved of war. \u2018Yes,\u2019 he said, \u2018in one born to fight.\u2019\u201d\n\n\nTHE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW, CONCORD, 1851\n\nThe opening passages of this speech to his friends and neighbors show\nhow deeply Mr. Emerson was moved. He could no longer be philosophical,\nas in the \u201cOde\u201d inscribed to his friend William Channing, and in earlier\naddresses. The time had come when he might at any moment be summoned to\nhelp the marshal\u2019s men seize and return to bondage the poor fugitive who\nhad almost reached the safety of England\u2019s protection. Such men were\nfrequently passing through Concord, concealed and helped by the good\nBigelow, the blacksmith, and his wife, the Thoreaus, Mrs. Brooks, and\neven once at a critical moment by her husband, the law-abiding \u201c\u2019Squire\u201d\nhimself.\n\nMr. Emerson instantly took his stand, and did not hesitate to run atilt\nagainst the dark giant, once so honored. The question of secession for\nconscience\u2019 sake had come up among the Abolitionists. Mr. Emerson had\nstood for Union, yet felt that there could be nothing but shame in Union\nuntil the humiliating statute was repealed. Meanwhile he fell back on\nthe reserve-right of individual revolution as the duty of honest men.\nThe Free-Soilers soon after renominated Dr. John Gorham Palfrey for a\nseat in Congress, and in his campaign Mr. Emerson delivered this speech\nin several Middlesex towns. In Cambridge he was interrupted by young\nmen from the college, Southerners, it was said, but it appears that the\ndisturbance was quite as much due to \u201cNorthern men who were eager to\nkeep up a show of fidelity to the interest of the South,\u201d as a Southern\nstudent said in a dignified disclaimer. Mr. Cabot in his Memoir gives an\ninteresting account by Professor James B. Thayer of Mr. Emerson\u2019s calm\nignoring of the rude and hostile demonstration.\n\nWriting to Carlyle, in the end of July, 1857, Mr. Emerson said: \u201cIn the\nspring, the abomination of our Fugitive Slave Bill drove me to some\nwriting and speech-making, without hope of effect, but to clear my own\nskirts.\u201d\n\nThis was the reaction which could not but be felt by him where he had\nbeen forced to descend into the dust and conflict of the arena from the\nserene heights. He wrote in his journal next year:\u2014\n\n\u201cPhilip Randolph [a valued friend] was surprised to find me speaking\nto the politics of anti-slavery in Philadelphia. I suppose because he\nthought me a believer in general laws and that it was a kind of distrust\nof my own general teachings to appear in active sympathy with these\ntemporary heats. He is right so far as it is becoming in the scholar to\ninsist on central soundness rather than on superficial applications. I am\nto give a wise and just ballot, though no man else in the republic doth.\nI am to demand the absolute right, affirm that, and do that; but not push\nBoston into a showy and theatrical attitude, endeavoring to persuade her\nshe is more virtuous than she is. Thereby I am robbing myself more than\nI am enriching the public. After twenty, fifty, a hundred years, it will\nbe quite easy to discriminate who stood for the right, and who for the\nexpedient.\u201d\n\nYet however hard the duty of the hour might be, Mr. Emerson never failed\nin his duty as a good citizen to come to the front in dark days.\n\n\u201cIn spite of all his gracefulness and reserve and love of the unbroken\ntranquillity of serene thought, he was by the right of heredity a\nbelligerent in the cause of Freedom.\u201d\n\n[128] _Page 181, note 1._ Shadrach was hurried to Concord after his\nrescue, and by curious coincidence Edwin Bigelow, the good village\nblacksmith who there harbored him and drove him to the New Hampshire\nline, was one of the jurors in the trial of another rescue case.\n\n[129] _Page 183, note 1._ Mr. Emerson wrote in his journal, after Mr.\nHoar\u2019s return:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe position of Massachusetts seems to me to be better for Mr.\nHoar\u2019s visit to South Carolina in this point, that one illusion is\ndispelled. Massachusetts was dishonored before, but she was credulous\nin the protection of the Constitution, and either did not believe,\nor affected not to believe in that she was dishonored. Now all doubt\non that subject is removed, and every Carolina boy will not fail to\ntell every Massachusetts boy whenever they meet how the fact stands.\nThe Boston merchants would willingly salve the matter over, but they\ncannot hereafter receive Southern gentlemen at their tables without a\nconsciousness of shame.\u201d\n\n[130] _Page 192, note 1._ Apparently from Vattel, book i., ch. i., p. 79.\n\n[131] _Page 201, note 1._\n\n    But there was chaff within the flour,\n      And one was false in ten,\n    And reckless clerks in lust of power\n      Forgot the rights of men;\n    Cruel and blind did file their mind,\n    And sell the blood of human kind.\n\n    Your town is full of gentle names\n      By patriots once were watchwords made;\n    Those war-cry names are muffled shames\n      On recreant sons mislaid.\n    What slave shall dare a name to wear\n    Once Freedom\u2019s passport everywhere?\n\nSee note to poem \u201cBoston.\u201d\n\nMr. Charles Francis Adams\u2019s _Life of Richard H. Dana_ gives light on the\nphrase used in the first of these verses. The following passage is from\nMr. Dana\u2019s journal during the trial of Anthony Burns, the fugitive:\u2014\n\n\u201cChoate, I had an amusing interview with. I asked him to make one effort\nin favor of freedom, and told him that the 1850 delusion was dispelled\nand all men were coming round, the Board of Brokers and Board of Aldermen\nwere talking treason, and that he must come and act. He said he should\nbe glad to make an effort on our side, but that he had given written\nopinions against us in the Sims case on every point, and that he could\nnot go against them.\n\n    \u201c\u2018You corrupted your mind in 1850.\u2019\n\n    \u201c\u2018Yes. Filed my mind.\u2019\n\n    \u201c\u2018I wish you would file it in court for our benefit.\u2019\u201d\n\nShakspeare said,\u2014\n\n    \u201cFor Banquo\u2019s issue have I filed my mind.\u201d\n\n[132] _Page 202, note 1._ Mr. F. B. Sanborn, in his _Life of Thoreau_,\nsays that Webster gave, as a reason for not visiting Concord in his later\nyears, that \u201cMany of those whom I so highly esteemed in your beautiful\nand quiet village have become a good deal estranged, to my great grief,\nby abolitionism, free-soilism, transcendentalism and other notions which\nI cannot but regard as so many vagaries of the imagination.\u201d\n\n[133] _Page 204, note 1._\n\n    Or who, with accent bolder,\n    Dare praise the freedom-loving mountaineer?\n    I found by thee, O rushing Contoocook!\n    And in thy valleys, Agiochook!\n    The jackals of the negro-holder.\n    ...\n    Virtue palters; Right is hence;\n    Freedom praised, but hid;\n    Funeral eloquence\n    Rattles the coffin-lid.\n\n                   _Poems_, \u201cOde,\u201d\n                   inscribed to W. H. Channing.\n\nSee also what is said of \u201cthe treachery of scholars\u201d in the last pages of\n\u201cThe Man of Letters,\u201d _Lectures and Biographical Sketches_.\n\n[134] _Page 209, note 1._ This appeal for a general movement in the free\nstates to free the slaves and to recompense the planters, unhappily\nbrought up to the institution, for their loss, was so much better in an\nanti-slavery address in New York, in 1855, than in the Concord speech\nfour years earlier, that I have substituted the later version here.\nIn Mr. Cabot\u2019s Memoir, pp. 558-593, a portion of the New York speech,\nincluding this paragraph, is given.\n\n\nTHE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW, NEW YORK, 1854\n\nWriting to his friend Carlyle on March 11, 1854, Mr. Emerson said:\u2014\n\n\u201cOne good word closed your letter in September ... namely, that you\nmight come westward when Frederic was disposed of. Speed Frederic,\nthen, for all reasons and for this! America is growing furiously, town\nand state; new Kansas, new Nebraska looming up in these days, vicious\npoliticians seething a wretched destiny for them already at Washington.\nThe politicians shall be sodden, the States escape, please God! The fight\nof slave and freeman drawing nearer, the question is sharply, whether\nslavery or whether freedom shall be abolished. Come and see.\u201d\n\nFour days before thus writing, he had given this address, to a fairly\nlarge audience, in the \u201cTabernacle\u201d in New York City, for, however dark\nthe horizon looked, the very success of the slave power was working\nits ruin. Encouraged by the submission of the North to the passage of\nthe evil law to pacify them, they had resolved to repeal the Missouri\nCompromise, which confined slavery to a certain latitude. It was repealed\nwithin a few days of the time Mr. Emerson made this address. During the\ndebate, Charles Sumner said to Douglas, \u201cSir, the bill you are about\nto pass is at once the worst and the best on which Congress has ever\nacted.... It is the worst bill because it is a present victory for\nslavery.... Sir, it is the best bill on which Congress has ever acted,\n_for it annuls all past compromises with slavery and makes any future\ncompromises impossible_. Thus it puts Freedom and Slavery face to face\nand bids them grapple. Who can doubt the result?\u201d The rendition to\nslavery of Anthony Burns from Boston in May wrought a great change in\npublic feeling there. Even the commercial element in the North felt the\nshame.\n\nThough not a worker in the anti-slavery organization, Mr. Emerson had\nalways been the outspoken friend of freedom for the negroes. Witness\nhis tribute in 1837 to Elijah Lovejoy, the martyr in their cause (see\n\u201cHeroism,\u201d _Essays, First Series_, p. 262, and note). But the narrow\nand uncharitable speech and demeanor of many \u201cphilanthropists\u201d led him\nto such reproofs as the one quoted by Dr. Bartol, \u201cLet them first be\nanthropic,\u201d or that in \u201cSelf-Reliance\u201d to the angry bigot: \u201cGo love thy\ninfant; love thy wood-chopper; be good-natured and modest; have that\ngrace; and never varnish your hard, uncharitable ambition with this\nincredible tenderness for black folk a thousand miles off.\u201d\n\nBut now the foe was at the very gate. The duty to resist was instant and\ncommanding. Mr. Emerson wrote in his journal, soon after:\u2014\n\n\u201cWhy do we not say, We are abolitionists of the most absolute abolition,\nas every man that is a man must be?... We do not try to alter your\nlaws in Alabama, nor yours in Japan, or in the Feejee Islands; but we\ndo not admit them, or permit a trace of them here. Nor shall we suffer\nyou to carry your Thuggism, north, south, east or west into a single\nrod of territory which we control. We intend to set and keep a _cordon\nsanitaire_ all around the infected district, and by no means suffer the\npestilence to spread.\n\n\u201cIt is impossible to be a gentleman, and not be an abolitionist, for a\ngentleman is one who is fulfilled with all nobleness, and imparts it; is\nthe natural defender and raiser of the weak and oppressed.\u201d\n\nWith Mr. Emerson\u2019s indignation at Webster\u2019s fall was mingled great\nsorrow. From his youth he had admired and revered him. The verses about\nhim printed in the Appendix to the _Poems_ show the change of feeling. He\nused to quote Browning\u2019s \u201cLost Leader\u201d as applying to him, and admired\nWhittier\u2019s fine poem \u201cIchabod\u201d (\u201cThe glory is departed,\u201d I. Samuel, iv.,\n21, 22) on his apostasy.\n\nMr. Emerson\u2019s faithfulness to his sense of duty, leading him, against\nhis native instincts, into the turmoil of politics, striving to undo\nthe mischief that a leader once revered had wrought in the minds of\nAmericans, is shown in the extract from his journal with regard to this\nlecture:\u2014\n\n\u201cAt New York Tabernacle, on the 7th March, I saw the great audience with\ndismay, and told the bragging secretary that I was most thankful to those\nthat staid at home; every auditor was a new affliction, and if all had\nstaid away, by rain or preoccupation, I had been best pleased.\u201d\n\n[135] _Page 217, note 1._ In _Lectures and Biographical Sketches_, in the\nessay on Aristocracy, and also in that on The Man of Letters, the duty of\nloyalty to his thought and his order is urged as a trait of the gentleman\nand the scholar, and in the latter essay, the scholar\u2019s duty to stand for\nwhat is generous and free.\n\n[136] _Page 219, note 1._ Mr. Emerson in his early youth did come near\nslavery for a short time. His diary at St. Augustine, quoted by Mr. Cabot\nin his Memoir, mentions that, while he was attending a meeting of the\nBible Society, a slave-auction was going on outside, but it does not\nappear that he actually saw it.\n\n[137] _Page 221, note 1._ Carlyle described Webster as \u201ca magnificent\nspecimen.... As a Logic-fencer, Advocate, or Parliamentary Hercules,\none would incline to back him at first sight against all the extant\nworld. The tanned complexion, that amorphous, crag-like face, the dull\nblack eyes under their precipice of brows, like dull anthracite furnaces\nneeding only to be blown, the mastiff-mouth, accurately closed:\u2014I have\nnot traced as much of _silent Berserkir-rage_, that I remember of, in any\nother man.\u201d[D]\n\n[138] _Page 225, note 1._ Mr. James S. Gibbons (of the _New York\nTribune_) in a letter written to his son two days after this speech was\ndelivered, says, referring evidently to this passage:\u2014\n\n\u201cEmerson gave us a fine lecture on Webster. He made him stand before\nus in the proportions of a giant; and then with one word crushed him to\npowder.\u201d\n\n[139] _Page 226, note 1._ Professor John H. Wright of Harvard University\nhas kindly furnished me with the passage from Dio Cassius, xlvii. 49,\nwhere it is said of Brutus:\u2014\n\n    \u039a\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03b2\u03bf\u03ae\u03c3\u03b1\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c4\u03bf \u03b4\u1f74 \u1f29\u03c1\u03ac\u03ba\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd\n      \u1f66 \u03c4\u03bb\u1fc6\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd \u1f00\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u03ae, \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f04\u03c1\u2019 \u1f26\u03c3\u03b8\u2019, \u1f10\u03b3\u1f7c \u03b4\u03ad \u03c3\u03b5\n      \u1f61\u03c2 \u1f14\u03c1\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd \u1f24\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c5\u03bd\u00b7 \u03c3\u1f7a \u03b4\u2019 \u1f04\u03c1\u2019 \u1f10\u03b4\u03bf\u03cd\u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03b5\u03c2 \u03c4\u03cd\u03c7\u1fc3,\u2014\n    \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03ba\u03ac\u03bb\u03b5\u03c3\u03ad \u03c4\u03b9\u03bd\u03b1 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03cc\u03bd\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd, \u1f35\u03bd\u2019 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03ba\u03c4\u03b5\u03af\u03bd\u1fc3,\u2014\n\nwhich he renders, \u201cHe cried out this sentiment of Heracles, \u2018O wretched\nVirtue, after all, thou art a name, but I cherished thee as a fact.\nFortune\u2019s slave wast thou;\u2019 and called upon one of those with him to slay\nhim.\u201d\n\nProfessor Wright adds that Theodorus Prodromus, a Byzantine poet of the\ntwelfth century, said, \u201cWhat Brutus says (O Virtue, etc.) I pronounce to\nbe ignoble and unworthy of Brutus\u2019s soul.\u201d It seems very doubtful whence\nthe Greek verses came.\n\n[140] _Page 233, note 1._ Just ten years earlier, Hon. Samuel Hoar, the\nCommissioner of Massachusetts, sent to Charleston, South Carolina, in\nthe interests of our colored citizens there constantly imprisoned and\nill used, had been expelled from that state with a show of force. See\n_Lectures and Biographical Sketches_.\n\n[141] _Page 234, note 1._ The sending back of Onesimus by Paul was a\nprecedent precious in the eyes of pro-slavery preachers, North and South,\nin those days, ignoring, however, Paul\u2019s message, \u201cNot now as a servant,\nbut above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much\nmore unto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If thou count me\ntherefore a partner, receive him as myself.\u201d[E]\n\n[142] _Page 235, note 1._ The hydrostatic paradox has been before alluded\nto as one of Mr. Emerson\u2019s favorite symbols, the balancing of the ocean\nby a few drops of water. In many places he dwells on the power of\nminorities\u2014a minority of one. In \u201cCharacter\u201d (_Lectures and Biographical\nSketches_) he says, \u201cThere was a time when Christianity existed in one\nchild.\u201d For the value and duty of minorities, see _Conduct of Life_, pp.\n249 ff., _Letters and Social Aims_, pp. 219, 220.\n\n[143] _Page 236, note 1._ This was a saying of Mahomet. What follows,\nwith regard to the divine sentiments always soliciting us, is thus\nrendered in \u201cMy Garden:\u201d\n\n    Ever the words of the gods resound;\n    But the porches of man\u2019s ear\n    Seldom in this low life\u2019s round\n    Are unsealed, that he may hear.\n\n[144] _Page 236, note 2._ This is the important key to the essay on\nSelf-Reliance.\n\n[145] _Page 238, note 1._ In the \u201cSovereignty of Ethics\u201d Mr. Emerson\nquotes an Oriental poet describing the Golden Age as saying that God had\nmade justice so dear to the heart of Nature that, if any injustice lurked\nanywhere under the sky, the blue vault would shrivel to a snake-skin, and\ncast it out by spasms.\n\n[146] _Page 240, note 1._ There seems to be some break in the\nconstruction here probably due to the imperfect adjustment of\nlecture-sheets. It would seem that the passage should read: \u201cLiberty is\nnever cheap. It is made difficult because freedom is the accomplishment\nand perfectness of man\u2014the finished man; earning and bestowing good;\u201d etc.\n\n[147] _Page 241, note 1._ See _Lectures and Biographical Sketches_, pp.\n246 and 251.\n\n[148] _Page 242, note 1._ The occasion alluded to was Hon. Robert C.\nWinthrop\u2019s speech to the alumni of Harvard College on Commencement Day in\n1852. What follows is not an abstract, but Mr. Emerson\u2019s rendering of the\nspirit of his address.\n\n\nTHE ASSAULT UPON MR. SUMNER\n\nOne evening in May, Judge Hoar came to Mr. Emerson\u2019s house, evidently\ndeeply stirred, and told in a few words the startling news that the\ngreat Senator from Massachusetts had been struck down at his desk by a\nRepresentative from South Carolina, and was dangerously hurt. The news\nwas heard with indignant grief in Concord, and a public meeting was held\nfour days later in which Mr. Emerson and others gave vent to this feeling.\n\nAmong Mr. Emerson\u2019s papers are the fragmentary notes on Sumner, given\nbelow, without indication as to when they were used.\n\n                             CHARLES SUMNER\n\n    Clean, self-poised, great-hearted man, noble in person,\n    incorruptible in life, the friend of the poor, the champion of\n    the oppressed.\n\n    Of course Congress must draw from every part of the country\n    swarms of individuals eager only for private interests, who\n    could not love his stern justice. But if they gave him no\n    high employment, he made low work high by the dignity of\n    honesty and truth. But men cannot long do without faculty and\n    perseverance, and he rose, step by step, to the mastery of all\n    affairs intrusted to him, and by those lights and upliftings\n    with which the spirit that makes the Universe rewards labor and\n    brave truth. He became learned, and adequate to the highest\n    questions, and the counsellor of every correction of old\n    errors, and of every noble reform. How nobly he bore himself\n    in disastrous times. Every reform he led or assisted. In the\n    shock of the war his patriotism never failed. A man of varied\n    learning and accomplishments.\n\n    He held that every man is to be judged by the horizon of his\n    mind, and Fame he defined as the shadow of excellence, but that\n    which follows him, not which he follows after.\n\n    Tragic character, like Algernon Sydney, man of conscience and\n    courage, but without humor. Fear did not exist for him. In\n    his mind the American idea is no crab, but a man incessantly\n    advancing, as the shadow of the dial or the heavenly body\n    that casts it. The American idea is emancipation, to abolish\n    kingcraft, feudalism, black-letter monopoly, it pulls down the\n    gallows, explodes priestcraft, opens the doors of the sea to\n    all emigrants, extemporizes government in new country.\n\n    Sumner has been collecting his works. They will be the history\n    of the Republic for the last twenty-five years, as told by a\n    brave, perfectly honest and well instructed man, with social\n    culture and relation to all eminent persons. Diligent and able\n    workman, with rare ability, without genius, without humor, but\n    with persevering study, wide reading, excellent memory, high\n    stand of honor (and pure devotion to his country), disdaining\n    any bribe, any compliances, and incapable of falsehood. His\n    singular advantages of person, of manners, and a statesman\u2019s\n    conversation impress every one favorably. He has the foible of\n    most public men, the egotism which seems almost unavoidable\n    at Washington. I sat in his room once at Washington whilst he\n    wrote a weary procession of letters,\u2014he writing without pause\n    as fast as if he were copying. He outshines all his mates in\n    historical conversation, and is so public in his regards that\n    he cannot be relied on to push an office-seeker, so that he is\n    no favorite with politicians. But wherever I have met with a\n    dear lover of the country and its moral interests, he is sure\n    to be a supporter of Sumner.\n\n    It characterizes a man for me that he hates Charles Sumner:\n    for it shows that he cannot discriminate between a foible\n    and a vice. Sumner\u2019s moral instinct and character are so\n    exceptionally pure that he must have perpetual magnetism for\n    honest men; his ability and working energy such, that every\n    good friend of the Republic must stand by him. Those who come\n    near him and are offended by his egotism, or his foible (if\n    you please) of using classic quotations, or other bad tastes,\n    easily forgive these whims, if themselves are good, or magnify\n    them into disgust, if they themselves are incapable of his\n    virtue.\n\n    And when he read one night in Concord a lecture on Lafayette\n    we felt that of all Americans he was best entitled by his own\n    character and fortunes to read that eulogy.\n\n    Every Pericles must have his Cleon: Sumner had his adversaries,\n    his wasps and back-biters. We almost wished that he had not\n    stooped to answer them. But he condescended to give them truth\n    and patriotism, without asking whether they could appreciate\n    the instruction or not.\n\n    A man of such truth that he can be truly described: he needs\n    no exaggerated praise. Not a man of extraordinary genius, but\n    a man of great heart, of a perpetual youth, with the highest\n    sense of honor, incapable of any fraud, little or large; loving\n    his friend and loving his country, with perfect steadiness to\n    his purpose, shunning no labor that his aim required, and his\n    works justified him by their scope and thoroughness.\n\n    He had good masters, who quickly found that they had a good\n    scholar. He read law with Judge Story, who was at the head\n    of the Law School at Harvard University, and who speedily\n    discovered the value of his pupil, and called him to his\n    assistance in the Law School. He had a great talent for labor,\n    and spared no time and no research to make himself master of\n    his subject. His treatment of every question was faithful and\n    exhaustive, and marked always by the noble sentiment.\n\n[149] _Page 252, note 1._ With this message of comfort to Sumner, struck\ndown for his defence of Liberty, may be contrasted what is said of\nWebster when he abandoned her cause:\u2014\n\n\u201cThose to whom his name was once dear and honored, as the manly statesman\nto whom the choicest gifts of Nature had been accorded, disown him: ...\nhe who was their pride in the woods and mountains of New England is now\ntheir mortification,\u2014they have torn his picture from the wall, they have\nthrust his speeches into the chimney,\u201d etc.\u2014\u201cAddress on the Fugitive\nSlave Law,\u201d at Concord, 1851.\n\n\nSPEECH ON AFFAIRS IN KANSAS\n\nBy an act of Congress, passed in May, 1854, the territories of Kansas and\nNebraska were organized, and in a section of that act it was declared\nthat the Constitution and all the laws of the United States should be\nin force in these territories, except the Missouri Compromise Act of\n1820, which was declared inoperative and void. The act thereby repealed\nhad confined slavery to the region of the Louisiana Purchase south of\nlatitude 36\u00b0, 30\u00b4 North. Foreseeing the probable success of this measure\nto increase the area of slavery, Emigrant Aid Societies had been formed\nin Massachusetts first, and later, in Connecticut, which assisted\nNorthern emigrants to the settlement of this fertile region. Settlers\nfrom the Northwestern States also poured in, and also from Missouri,\nthe latter bringing slaves with them. A fierce struggle, lasting for\nsome years and attended with bloodshed and barbarities, began at once,\nhordes of armed men from the border state of Missouri constantly voting\nat Kansas elections and intimidating the free state settlers, and even\ndriving parties of immigrants out of the state. Franklin Pierce was\nthen President, and threw the influence and power of the administration\non the side of the pro-slavery party in Kansas. Despairing of redress\nfrom Washington, the settlers from the free states appealed in their\ndistress to their friends at home, and sent Mr. Whitman, Rev. Mr. Nute,\nand later, John Brown, to make known to them their wrongs, and ask\nmoral and material aid, especially arms to defend their rights, and\nreinforcements of brave settlers. Meetings were held, not only in the\ncities, but in the country towns, and, certainly in the latter, were well\nattended by earnest people who gave, a few from their wealth, but many\nfrom their poverty, large sums to help \u201cbleeding Kansas.\u201d In response to\nthe petitions of the friends of Freedom, who urged the Legislature of\nMassachusetts to come to the rescue, a joint committee was appointed by\nthe General Court to consider the petitions for a state appropriation of\nten thousand dollars to protect the interests of the North and the rights\nof her citizens in Kansas, should they be again invaded by Southern\nmarauders. John Brown addressed this committee in February, 1856. He\nmade a clear and startling statement of the outrages he had witnessed\nand the brave struggles of the settlers, and told of the murder and\nimprisonment and maltreatment of his sons, seven of whom were in Kansas\nwith him during the struggle.[F]\n\nMr. Emerson always attended the meetings in aid of Kansas in Concord,\ngave liberally to the cause, and spoke there and elsewhere when called\nupon.\n\n[150] _Page 263, note 1._ George Bancroft, the historian, said of the\nconclusion of this speech:\u2014\n\n\u201cEmerson as clearly as any one, perhaps more clearly than any one\nat the time, saw the enormous dangers that were gathering over the\nConstitution.... It would certainly be difficult, perhaps impossible,\nto find any speech made in the same year that is marked with so much\ncourage and foresight as this of Emerson.... Even after the inauguration\nof Lincoln several months passed away before his Secretary of State or\nhe himself saw the future so clearly as Emerson had foreshadowed it in\n1856.\u201d[G]\n\n\nJOHN BROWN: SPEECH AT BOSTON\n\nMr. F. B. Sanborn, in his _Familiar Letters of Thoreau_, says that he\nintroduced John Brown to Thoreau in March, 1857, and Thoreau introduced\nhim to Emerson. This was at the time when Brown came on to awaken the\npeople of Massachusetts to the outrages which the settlers and their\nfamilies were suffering, and procure aid for them. His clear-cut face,\nsmooth-shaven and bronzed, his firmly shut mouth and mild but steady\nblue eyes, gave him the appearance of the best type of old New England\nfarmers; indeed he might well have passed for a rustic brother of Squire\nHoar. Mr. Emerson was at once interested in him and the story of the\ngallant fight that the Free-State men in Kansas were making, though Brown\nwas very modest about his own part and leadership. Indeed he claimed only\nto be a fellow worker and adviser. I think that soon after this time, on\none of his visits to Concord, he stayed at Mr. Emerson\u2019s house; certainly\nhe spent the evening there. The last time he came to Concord he was a\nchanged man; all the pleasant look was gone. His gray hair, longer and\nbrushed upright, his great gray beard and the sharpening of his features\nby exposure and rude experiences gave him a wild, fierce expression. His\nspeech in the Town Hall was excited, and when he drew a huge sheath-knife\nfrom under his coat and showed it as a symbol of Missouri civilization,\nand last drew from his bosom a horse-chain and clanked it in air,\ntelling that his son had been bound with this and led bareheaded under\na burning sun beside their horses, by United States dragoons, and in\nthe mania brought on by this inhuman treatment had worn the rusty chain\nbright,\u2014the old man recalled the fierce Balfour of Burley in Scott\u2019s\n_Old Mortality_. It was a startling sight and sent a thrill through\nhis hearers. Yet on earlier occasions his speech had been really more\neffective, when a quiet farmer of mature years, evidently self-contained,\nintelligent, truthful and humane, simply told in New England towns what\nwas going on in Kansas, the outrages committed upon the settlers, the\nviolation of their elementary rights under the Constitution,\u2014and all this\nconnived at by the general government. He opened the eyes of his hearers,\neven against their wills, to the alarming pass into which the slave power\nhad brought the affairs of the country.\n\nBut now wrong and outrage, not only on others but terribly suffered in\nhis own family, had made Brown feel that not he but \u201cSlavery was an\noutlaw\u201d against which he \u201cheld a commission direct from God Almighty\u201d to\nact. A friend quoted him as having said, \u201cThe loss of my family and the\ntroubles in Kansas have shattered my constitution, and I am nothing to\nthe world but to defend the right, and that, by God\u2019s help, I have done\nand will do.\u201d\n\nThe people were not ready to follow him in revolutionary measures,\nbut when on his own responsibility he had precipitated the inevitable\nconflict by breaking with a government, then so unrighteous, and offered\nhis life as a sacrifice for humanity, they could not but do homage to him\nas a hero, who was technically a traitor. He had cut the Gordian knot\nwhich they had suffered to be tied tighter.\n\nOf course Mr. Emerson had known nothing of John Brown\u2019s plan for a raid\ninto the slave states. It was the motive and courage he honored, not the\nmeans. He wrote: \u201cI wish we should have health enough to know virtue when\nwe see it, and not cry with the fools and the newspapers, \u2018Madman!\u2019 when\na hero passes.\u201d\n\nOn the first day of November, John Brown had been sentenced to death.\nThis meeting in Boston, to give aid to his family, was held on the\neighteenth, just two weeks before his execution.\n\nThe verses which serve as motto are from Mr. Edmund Clarence Stedman\u2019s\npoem written at the time, which Mr. Emerson used to read aloud to his\nfamily and friends with much pleasure.\n\n[151] _Page 269, note 1._ \u201cThis court acknowledges, I suppose, the\nvalidity of the Law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to\nbe the Bible, or, at least, the New Testament. That teaches me that all\nthings \u2018whatsoever I would that men should do unto me, I should do even\nso to them.\u2019 It teaches me further to \u2018remember them which are in bonds\nas bound with them.\u2019 I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say I\nam yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I\nbelieve that to have interfered as I have done, as I have always freely\nadmitted that I have done, in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong,\nbut right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life\nfor the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further\nwith the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this\nslave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel and unjust\nenactments\u2014I submit: so let it be done.\u201d From the Speech of John Brown to\nthe Court.\n\n[152] _Page 270, note 1._ Among the sheets of the lecture \u201cCourage\u201d is\none which seems to have been used at that time:\u2014\n\n\u201cGovernor Wise and Mr. Mason no doubt have some right to their places.\nIt is some superiority of working brain that put them there, and the\naristocrats in every society. But when they come to deal with Brown,\nthey find that he speaks their own speech,\u2014has whatever courage and\ndirectness they have, and a great deal more of the same; so that they\nfeel themselves timorous little fellows in his hand; he outsees,\noutthinks, outacts them, and they are forced to shuffle and stammer in\ntheir turn.\n\n\u201cThey painfully feel this, that he is their governor and superior, and\nthe only alternative is to kneel to him if they are truly noble, or else\n(if they wish to keep their places), to put this fact which they know,\nout of sight of other people, as fast as they can. Quick, drums and\ntrumpets strike up! Quick, judges and juries, silence him, by sentence\nand execution of sentence, and hide in the ground this alarming fact.\nFor, if everything comes to its right place, he goes up, and we down.\u201d\n\n[153] _Page 271, note 1._ Commodore Hiram Paulding, in 1857, had broken\nup Walker\u2019s filibustering expedition at Nicaragua. The arrest of Walker\non foreign soil the government did not think it wise wholly to approve.\n\n[154] _Page 272, note 1._ The allusion is to the trials of the fugitives\nShadrach, Sims and Burns in Boston. The story of these humiliations is\ntold in full and in a most interesting manner in the diary of Richard H.\nDana,[H] whose zeal in the cause of these poor men did him great honor.\n\nDuring the trial of Sims, a chain was put up, as a barrier against the\ncrowd, around the United States Court-House, and the stooping of the\njudges to creep under this chain in order to enter the court-house was\nconsidered symbolic of their abject attitude towards the aggressive slave\npower.\n\n\nJOHN BROWN: SPEECH AT SALEM\n\nThe second of December, on which day John Brown was executed at\nCharlestown, Virginia, was bright in that State, but in New England was\nof a strange sultriness with a wind from the south and a lowering sky.\nAt noon, the hour appointed for his death, in Concord (as in many New\nEngland towns) the men and women who honored his character and motives\ngathered and made solemn observance of a day and event which seemed laden\nwith omens. There was a prayer, I think offered by the Rev. Edmund Sears\nof Wayland,[I] Mr. Emerson read William Allingham\u2019s beautiful poem \u201cThe\nTouchstone\u201d which is used as the motto to this speech, Thoreau read with\nsad bitterness Sir Walter Raleigh\u2019s \u201cThe Soule\u2019s Errand.\u201d Hon. John S.\nKeyes read some appropriate verses from Aytoun\u2019s \u201cExecution of Montrose\u201d\nand Mr. Sanborn a poem which he had written for the occasion.\n\n[155] _Page 279, note 1._ Here, as often in Mr. Emerson\u2019s speech and\nwriting, is shown his respect for the old religion of New England and its\neffect on the thought and character of her people. As Lowell said of them\nin his Concord Ode in 1875:\u2014\n\n    \u201cAnd yet the enduring half they chose,\n    Whose choice decides a man life\u2019s slave or king,\n    The invisible things of God before the seen and known.\u201d\n\n[156] _Page 279, note 2._ I well remember the evening, in my school-boy\ndays, when John Brown, in my father\u2019s house, told of his experiences as\na sheep-farmer, and his eye for animals and power over them. He said he\nknew at once a strange sheep in his flock of many hundred, and that he\ncould always make a dog or cat so uncomfortable as to wish to leave the\nroom, simply by fixing his eyes on it.\n\n[157] _Page 281, note 1._ \u201cHeroism feels and never reasons, and\ntherefore is always right; and although a different breeding, different\nreligion and greater intellectual activity would have modified or even\nreversed the particular action, yet, for the hero, that thing he does\nis the highest deed, and is not open to the censure of philosophers and\ndivines.\u201d\u2014\u201cHeroism,\u201d _Essays, First Series_.\n\n\u201cI can leave to God the time and means of my death, for I believe now\nthat the sealing of my testimony before God and man with my blood will do\nfar more to further the cause to which I have earnestly devoted myself\nthan anything else I have done in my life.\u201d\u2014Letter of John Brown to a\nfriend.\n\n\nTHEODORE PARKER\n\nTheodore Parker, worn by his great work in defence of liberal religion\nand in every cause of suffering humanity, had succumbed to disease and\ndied in Florence in May, 1860, not quite fifty years of age. Born in\nthe neighbor town of Lexington when Emerson was seven years old, they\nhad been friends probably from the time when the latter, soon after\nsettling in Concord, preached for the society at East Lexington, from\n1836 for two years. Parker was, during this period, studying divinity,\nand was settled as pastor of the West Roxbury church in 1837. In that\nyear he is mentioned by Mr. Alcott as a member of the Transcendental Club\nand attending its meetings in Boston. When, in June, 1838, Mr. Emerson\nfluttered the conservative and the timid by his Divinity School Address,\nthe young Parker went home and wrote, \u201cIt was the most inspiring strain I\never listened to.... My soul is roused, and this week I shall write the\nlong-meditated sermons on the state of the church and the duties of these\ntimes.\u201d\n\nMr. Parker was one of those who attended the gathering in Boston which\ngave birth to the _Dial_, to which he was a strong contributor. Three\nyears after its death, he, with the help of Mr. James Elliot Cabot and\nMr. Emerson, founded the _Massachusetts Quarterly Review_, vigorous\nthough short-lived, of which he was the editor. Parker frequently visited\nEmerson, and the two, unlike in their method, worked best apart in the\nsame great causes. Rev. William Gannett says, \u201cWhat Emerson uttered\nwithout plot or plan, Theodore Parker elaborated to a system. Parker was\nthe Paul of transcendentalism.\u201d\n\nMr. Edwin D. Mead, in his chapter on Emerson and Theodore Parker,[J]\ngives the following pleasant anecdote:\u2014\n\n\u201cAt one of Emerson\u2019s lectures in Boston, when the storm against Parker\nwas fiercest, a lecture at which a score of the religious and literary\nleaders of the city were present, Emerson, as he laid his manuscript\nupon the desk and looked over the audience, after his wont, observed\nParker; and immediately he stepped from the platform to the seat near the\nfront where Parker sat, grasping his hand and standing for a moment\u2019s\nconversation with him. It was not ostentation, and it was not patronage:\nit was admiring friendship,\u2014and that fortification and stimulus Parker\nin those times never failed to feel. It was Emerson who fed his lamp, he\nsaid; and Emerson said that, be the lamp fed as it might, it was Parker\nwhom the time to come would have to thank for finding the light burning.\u201d\n\nParker dedicated to Emerson his _Ten Sermons on Religion_. In\nacknowledging this tribute, Mr. Emerson thus paid tribute to Parker\u2019s\nbrave service:\u2014\n\n\u201cWe shall all thank the right soldier whom God gave strength to fight for\nhim the battle of the day.\u201d\n\nWhen Mr. Parker\u2019s failing forces made it necessary for him to drop his\narduous work and go abroad for rest, Mr. Emerson was frequently called to\ntake his place in the Music Hall on Sundays. I think that this was the\nonly pulpit he went into to conduct Sunday services after 1838.\n\nIt is told that Parker, sitting, on Sunday morning, on the deck of the\nvessel that was bearing him away, never to return, smiled and said:\n\u201cEmerson is preaching at Music Hall to-day.\u201d\n\n[158] _Page 286, note 1._ Mr. Emerson wrote in his journal:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe Duc de Brancas said, \u2018Why need I read the Encyclop\u00e9die? Rivarol\nvisits me.\u2019 I may well say it of Theodore Parker.\u201d\n\n[159] _Page 290, note 1._ Richard H. Dana wrote in his diary, November 3,\n1853:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is now ten days since Webster\u2019s death.... Strange that the best\ncommendation that has appeared yet, the most touching, elevated, meaning\neulogy, with all its censure, should have come from Theodore Parker! Were\nI Daniel Webster, I would not have that sermon destroyed for all that had\nbeen said in my favor as yet.\u201d\n\n[160] _Page 293, note 1._ I copy from Mr. Emerson\u2019s journal at the\ntime of Mr. Parker\u2019s death these sentences which precede some of those\nincluded in this address:\u2014\n\n\u201cTheodore Parker has filled up all his years and days and hours. A son\nof the energy of New England; restless, eager, manly, brave, early old,\ncontumacious, clever. I can well praise him at a spectator\u2019s distance,\nfor our minds and methods were unlike,\u2014few people more unlike. All the\nvirtues are solitaires. Each man is related to persons who are not\nrelated to each other, and I saw with pleasure that men whom I could\nnot approach, were drawn through him to the admiration of that which I\nadmire.\u201d\n\n\nAMERICAN CIVILIZATION\n\nOn January 31, 1862, Mr. Emerson lectured at the Smithsonian Institution\nin Washington on American Civilization. Just after the outbreak of war\nin the April preceding, he had given a lecture, in a course in Boston on\nLife and Literature, which he called \u201cCivilization at a Pinch,\u201d the title\nsuggesting how it had been modified by the crisis which had suddenly come\nto pass. In the course of the year the flocking of slaves to the Union\ncamps, and the opening vista of a long and bitter struggle, with slavery\nnow acknowledged as its root, had brought the question of Emancipation\nas a war-measure to the front. Of course Mr. Emerson saw hope in this\nsituation of affairs, and when he went to Washington with the chance\nof being heard by men in power there, he prepared himself to urge the\nmeasure, as well on grounds of policy as of right. So the Boston lecture\nwas much expanded to deal with the need of the hour. There is no evidence\nthat President Lincoln heard it; it is probable that he did not; nor is\nit true that Mr. Emerson had a long and earnest conversation with him on\nthe subject next day, both of which assertions have been made in print.\nMr. Emerson made an unusual record in his journal of the incidents of\nhis stay in Washington, and though he tells of his introduction to Mr.\nLincoln and a short chat with him, evidently there was little opportunity\nfor serious conversation. The President\u2019s secretaries had, in 1886, no\nmemory of his having attended the lecture, and the Washington papers do\nnot mention his presence there. The following notice of the lecture,\nhowever, appeared in one of the local papers: \u201cThe audience received\nit, as they have the other anti-slavery lectures of the course, with\nunbounded enthusiasm. It was in many respects a wonderful lecture, and\nthose who have often heard Mr. Emerson said that he seemed inspired\nthrough nearly the whole of it, especially the part referring to slavery\nand the war.\u201d\n\nA gentleman in Washington, who took the trouble to look up the question\nas to whether Mr. Lincoln and other high officials heard it, says that\nMr. Lincoln could hardly have attended lectures then:\u2014\n\n\u201cHe was very busy at the time, Stanton the new war secretary having just\ncome in, and storming like a fury at the business of his department.\nThe great operations of the war for the time overshadowed all the other\nevents.... It is worth remarking that Mr. Emerson in this lecture clearly\nforeshadowed the policy of Emancipation some six or eight months in\nadvance of Mr. Lincoln. He saw the logic of events leading up to a crisis\nin our affairs, to \u2018emancipation as a platform with compensation to the\nloyal owners\u2019 (his words as reported in the _Star_). The notice states\nthat the lecture was very fully attended.\u201d\n\nVery possibly it may be with regard to this address that we have the\ninteresting account given of the effect of Mr. Emerson\u2019s speaking on a\nwell-known English author. Dr. Garnett, in his _Life of Emerson_, says:\u2014\n\n\u201cA shrewd judge, Anthony Trollope, was particularly struck with the note\nof sincerity in Emerson when he heard him address a large meeting during\nthe Civil War. Not only was the speaker terse, perspicuous, and practical\nto a degree amazing to Mr. Trollope\u2019s preconceived notions, but he\ncommanded his hearers\u2019 respect by the frankness of his dealing with them.\n\u2018You make much of the American eagle,\u2019 he said, \u2018you do well. But beware\nof the American peacock.\u2019 When shortly afterwards Mr. Trollope heard the\nconsummate rhetorician, \u2e3a \u2e3a he discerned at once that oratory was an end\nwith him, instead of, as with Emerson, a means. He was neither bold nor\nhonest, as Emerson had been, and the people knew that while pretending to\nlead them he was led by them.\u201d\n\nMr. Emerson revised the lecture and printed it in the _Atlantic\nMonthly_ for April, 1862. It was afterwards separated into the essay\n\u201cCivilization,\u201d treating of the general and permanent aspects of the\nsubject (printed in _Society and Solitude_), and this urgent appeal for\nthe instant need.\n\nThe few lines inspired by the Flag are from one of the verse-books.\n\n[161] _Page 298, note 1._ Mr. Emerson himself was by no means free from\npecuniary anxieties and cares in those days.\n\nJournal, 1862. \u201cPoverty, sickness, a lawsuit, even bad, dark weather,\nspoil a great many days of the scholar\u2019s year, hinder him of the frolic\nfreedom necessary to spontaneous flow of thought.\u201d\n\n[162] _Page 300, note 1._ This was during the days of apparent inaction\nwhen, after the first reverses or minor successes of the raw Northern\narmies, the magnitude of the task before them and the energy of their\nopponents was realized, and recruiting, fortification, organization was\ngoing on in earnest in preparation for the spring campaign. General Scott\nhad resigned; General McClellan was doing his admirable work of creating\na fit army, and Secretary Cameron had been succeeded by the energetic and\nimpatient Stanton. But the government was still very shy of meddling with\nslavery for fear of disaffecting the War Democrats and especially the\nBorder States.\n\n[163] _Page 307, note 1._ A short time before this address was delivered\nMr. Moncure D. Conway (a young Virginian, who, for conscience\u2019 sake, had\nleft his charge as a Methodist preacher and had abandoned his inheritance\nin slaves, losing in so doing the good will of his parents, and become a\nUnitarian minister and an abolitionist) had read in Concord an admirable\nand eloquent lecture called \u201cThe Rejected Stone.\u201d This stone, slighted\nby the founders, although they knew it to be a source of danger, had now\n\u201cbecome the head of the corner,\u201d and its continuance in the national\nstructure threatened its stability. Mr. Emerson had been much struck\nwith the excellence and cogency of Mr. Conway\u2019s arguments, based on his\nknowledge of Southern economics and character, and in this lecture made\nfree use of them.\n\n[164] _Page 308, note 1._ Mason and Slidell, the emissaries sent by the\nConfederacy to excite sympathy in its cause in Europe, had been taken\noff an English vessel at the Bermudas by Commodore Wilkes, and were\nconfined in Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. President Lincoln\u2019s action in\nsurrendering them at England\u2019s demand had been a surprise to the country,\nbut was well received.\n\n[165] _Page 309, note 1._ From the Veeshnoo Sarma.\n\n[166] _Page 309, note 2._ See in the address on Theodore Parker the\npassage commending him for insisting \u201cthat the essence of Christianity is\nits practical morals; it is there for use or nothing,\u201d etc.\n\n[167] _Page 311, note 1._ In the agitation concerning the abolition\nof slavery in the British colonies, gradual emancipation was at first\nplanned, as more reasonable and politic, but, in the end, not only the\nreformers but the planters came in most cases to see that immediate\nemancipation was wiser.\n\n\nTHE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION\n\nOn the 22d of September, President Lincoln at last spoke the word so long\nearnestly desired by the friends of Freedom and the victims of slavery,\nabolishing slavery on the first day of the coming year in those states\nwhich should then be in rebellion against the United States.\n\nAt a meeting held in Boston in honor of this auspicious utterance, Mr.\nEmerson spoke, with others.\n\nThe address was printed in its present form in the _Atlantic Monthly_ for\nNovember, 1862.\n\n[168] _Page 316, note 1._ It may be interesting in this connection to\nrecall the quiet joy with which Mr. Emerson in his poem \u201cThe Adirondacs\u201d\ncelebrates man\u2019s victory over matter, and its promise to human\nbrotherhood, when the Atlantic Cable was supposed to be a success in 1858.\n\n[169] _Page 320, note 1._ Milton, \u201cComus.\u201d\n\n[170] _Page 321, note 1._ It is pleasant to contrast this passage with\nthe tone of sad humiliation which prevails in the address on the Fugitive\nSlave Law given in Concord in 1851.\n\n[171] _Page 324, note 1._ See the insulting recognition of this\ndisgraceful attitude of the North by John Randolph, quoted by Mr. Emerson\nin his speech on the Fugitive Slave Law in Concord in 1851.\n\n[172] _Page 326, note 1._ Shakspeare, Sonnet cvii.\n\n[173] _Page 326, note 2._ The tragedy of the negro is tenderly told in\nthe poem \u201cVoluntaries,\u201d which was written just after they had gallantly\nstood the test of battle in the desperate attack on Fort Wagner.\n\nOn the first day of the year 1863, when Emancipation became a fact\nthroughout the United States, a joyful meeting was held in Boston, and\nthere Mr. Emerson read his \u201cBoston Hymn.\u201d\n\n\nABRAHAM LINCOLN\n\nIn the year 1865, the people of Concord gathered on the Nineteenth of\nApril, as had been their wont for ninety years, but this time not to\ncelebrate the grasping by the town of its great opportunity for freedom\nand fame. The people came together in the old meeting-house to mourn for\ntheir wise and good Chief Magistrate, murdered when he had triumphantly\nfinished the great work which fell to his lot. Mr. Emerson, with others\nof his townsmen, spoke.\n\n[174] _Page 331, note 1._ On the occasion of his visit to Washington\nin January, 1862, Mr. Emerson had been taken to the White House by Mr.\nSumner and introduced to the President. Mr. Lincoln\u2019s first remark was,\n\u201cMr. Emerson, I once heard you say in a lecture that a Kentuckian seems\nto say by his air and manners, \u2018Here am I; if you don\u2019t like me, the\nworse for you.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe interview with Mr. Lincoln was necessarily short, but he left an\nagreeable impression on Mr. Emerson\u2019s mind. The full account of this\nvisit is printed in the _Atlantic Monthly_ for July, 1904, and will be\nincluded among the selections from the journals which will be later\npublished.\n\n[175] _Page 332, note 1._ Mr. Emerson\u2019s poem, \u201cThe Visit,\u201d shows how\nterrible the devastation of the day of a public man would have seemed to\nhim.\n\n[176] _Page 336, note 1._ The brave retraction by Thomas Taylor of the\nhostile ridicule which _Punch_ had poured on Lincoln in earlier days\ncontained these verses:\u2014\n\n    \u201cBeside this corpse, that bears for winding-sheet\n      The Stars and Stripes he lived to rear anew,\n    Between the mourners at his head and feet,\n      Say, scurrile jester, is there room for _you_?\n\n    \u201cYes, he had lived to shame me from my sneer,\n      To lame my pencil, and confute my pen;\u2014\n    To make me own this kind of princes peer,\n      This rail-splitter a true-born king of men.\u201d\n\nThe whole poem is included in Mr. Emerson\u2019s collection _Parnassus_.\n\n[177] _Page 337, note 1._ This thought is rendered more fully in the poem\n\u201cSpiritual Laws,\u201d and in the lines in \u201cWorship,\u201d\u2014\n\n    This is he men miscall Fate,\n    Threading dark ways, arriving late,\n    But ever coming in time to crown\n    The truth, and hurl wrong-doers down.\n\n[178] _Page 338, note 1._ The following letter was written by Mr. Emerson\nin November, 1863, to his friend, Mr. George P. Bradford, who, as Mr.\nCabot says, came nearer to being a \u201ccrony\u201d than any of the others:\u2014\n\n                                                            CONCORD.\n\n    DEAR GEORGE,\u2014I hope you do not need to be reminded that we\n    rely on you at 2 o\u2019clock on Thanksgiving Day. Bring all the\n    climate and all the memories of Newport with you. Mr. Lincoln\n    in fixing this day has in some sort bound himself to furnish\n    good news and victories for it. If not, we must comfort each\n    other with the good which already is, and with that which must\n    be.\n\n                         Yours affectionately,\n\n                                                      R. W. EMERSON.\n\nA year later, he wrote to the same friend:\u2014\n\n\u201cI give you joy of the Election. Seldom in history was so much staked on\na popular vote\u2014I suppose never in history.\n\n\u201cOne hears everywhere anecdotes of late, very late, remorse overtaking\nthe hardened sinners and just saving them from final reprobation.\u201d\n\nJournal, 1864-65. \u201cWhy talk of President Lincoln\u2019s equality of manners\nto the elegant or titled men with whom Everett or others saw him? A\nsincerely upright and intelligent man as he was, placed in the chair,\nhas no need to think of his manners or appearance. His work day by day\neducates him rapidly and to the best. He exerts the enormous power of\nthis continent in every hour, in every conversation, in every act;\u2014thinks\nand decides under this pressure, forced to see the vast and various\nbearings of the measures he adopts: _he_ cannot palter, he cannot but\ncarry a grace beyond his own, a dignity, by means of what he drops, e.\ng., all pretension and trick, and arrives, of course, at a simplicity,\nwhich is the perfection of manners.\u201d\n\n\nHARVARD COMMEMORATION SPEECH\n\nIt was a proud and sad, and yet a joyful day, when Harvard welcomed back\nthose of her sons who had survived the war. All who could come were\nthere, from boys to middle-aged men, from private soldier to general,\nsome strong and brown, and others worn and sick and maimed, but all on\nthat day proud and happy. The names of the ninety-three of Harvard\u2019s sons\nwho had fallen in the war were inscribed on six tablets and placed where\nall could see.\n\nIn the church, where then the college exercises were held, the venerable\nex-president, Dr. Walker, read the Scriptures, Rev. Phillips Brooks\noffered prayer, a hymn by Robert Lowell was sung, and the address was\nmade by the Rev. George Putnam. In the afternoon the alumni, civic and\nmilitary, with their guests, were marshalled by Colonel Henry Lee into\na great pavilion behind Harvard Hall, where they dined. Hon. Charles\nG. Loring presided; Governor Andrew, General Meade, General Devens and\nother distinguished soldiers spoke, and poems by Dr. Holmes and Mrs.\nJulia Ward Howe were read. The president of the day called on Mr. Emerson\nas representative of the poets and scholars whose thoughts had been an\ninspiration to Harvard\u2019s sons in the field.\n\n[179] _Page 344, note 1._ This was the mother of Robert Gould Shaw, who\nlost his life a few months later, leading his dusky soldiers up the\nslopes of Fort Wagner. It was in his honor that Mr. Emerson wrote in the\n\u201cVoluntaries,\u201d\u2014\n\n      Stainless soldier on the walls.\n    Knowing this,\u2014and knows no more,\u2014\n    Whoever fights, whoever falls,\n    Justice conquers evermore,\n    Justice after as before,\u2014\n    And he who battles on her side,\n    God, though he were ten times slain,\n    Crowns him victor glorified,\n    Victor over death and pain.\n\n[180] _Page 345, note 1._\n\n    \u201cO Beautiful! my Country! ours once more!\n    ...\n    What words divine of lover or of poet\n    Could tell our love and make thee know it,\n    Among the Nations bright beyond compare?\n        What were our lives without thee?\n        What all our lives to save thee?\n        We reck not what we gave thee;\n        We will not dare to doubt thee,\n    But ask whatever else, and we will dare!\u201d\n\n                 Lowell, \u201cCommemoration Ode.\u201d\n\n\nADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION OF THE SOLDIERS\u2019 MONUMENT IN CONCORD\n\nIn 1836, the \u201cBattle Monument\u201d to commemorate \u201cthe First organized\nResistance to British Aggression\u201d had been erected \u201cin Gratitude to God\nand Love of Freedom\u201d on \u201cthe spot where the first of the Enemy fell in\nthe War which gave Independence to the United States.\u201d Thirty-three years\nlater, on the Nineteenth day of April, with its threefold patriotic\nmemories for Concord,[K] the people gathered on the village common to see\ntheir new memorial to valor. The inscription on one of its bronze tablets\ndeclared that\n\n                           THE TOWN OF CONCORD\n                           BUILDS THIS MONUMENT\n                               IN HONOR OF\n                              THE BRAVE MEN\n                          WHOSE NAMES IT BEARS:\n                               AND RECORDS\n                           WITH GRATEFUL PRIDE\n                           THAT THEY FOUND HERE\n                       A BIRTHPLACE, HOME OR GRAVE.\n\nThe inscription on the other tablet is the single sentence,\u2014\n\n                       THEY DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY\n                       IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION\n\nwith the forty-four names.\n\nHon. John S. Keyes as President of the Day opened the ceremonies with a\nshort address. The Rev. Grindall Reynolds made the prayer. An Ode written\nby Mr. George B. Bartlett was sung to the tune of _Auld Lang Syne_. Hon.\nEbenezer Rockwood Hoar, the Chairman of the Monument Committee, read the\nReport, in itself an eloquent and moving speech. This was followed by Mr.\nEmerson\u2019s Address. Mr. F. B. Sanborn contributed a Poem, and afterwards\nshort speeches were made by Senator George S. Boutwell, William Schouler,\nthe efficient Adjutant-General of the State, and by Colonels Parker and\nMarsh respectively of the Thirty-second and Forty-seventh regiments of\nMassachusetts Volunteers, in which the Concord companies had served. The\nexercises were concluded by the reading of a poem by Mr. Sampson Mason,\nan aged citizen of the town.\n\nIt was a beautiful spring day. The throng was too large for the town\nhall, so, partly sheltered from the afternoon sun by the town elm,\nthickening with its brown buds, they gathered around the town-house\nsteps, which served as platform for the speakers.\n\n[181] _Page 351, note 1._ Compare, in the _Poems_, the lines in \u201cThe\nProblem\u201d on the adoption by Nature of man\u2019s devotional structures.\n\n[182] _Page 352, note 1._\n\n    Great men in the Senate sate,\n    Sage and hero, side by side,\n    Building for their sons the State,\n    Which they shall rule with pride.\n    They forbore to break the chain\n    Which bound the dusky tribe,\n    Checked by the owners\u2019 fierce disdain,\n    Lured by \u201cUnion\u201d as the bribe.\n    Destiny sat by, and said,\n    \u2018Pang for pang your seed shall pay,\n    Hide in false peace your coward head,\n    I bring round the harvest day.\u2019\n\n[183] _Page 353, note 1._ Wordsworth\u2019s Sonnet, No. xiv., in \u201cPoems\ndedicated to National Independence,\u201d part ii.\n\n[184] _Page 355, note 1._ Mr. Emerson had in mind the astonishing\nfertility of resource in difficulties shown by the Eighth Massachusetts\nRegiment in the march from Annapolis to Washington, as told by Major\nTheodore Winthrop in \u201cNew York Seventh Regiment. Our march to Washington\u201d\n(_Atlantic Monthly_ June, 1861). See \u201cResources,\u201d _Letters and Social\nAims_, p. 143.\n\nJudge Hoar in his report on this occasion said, \u201cTwo names [on the\ntablet] recall the unutterable horrors of Andersonville, and will never\nsuffer us to forget that our armies conquered barbarism as well as\ntreason.\u201d\n\n[185] _Page 356, note 1._ Between 1856 and 1859 John Brown and other\nFree-State men, Mr. Whitman, Mr. Nute and Preacher Stewart, had told the\nsad story of Kansas to the Concord people and received important aid.\n\n[186] _Page 358, note 1._ This was Captain Charles E. Bowers, a\nshoemaker, and Mr. Emerson\u2019s next neighbor, much respected by him, whose\nforcible speaking at anti-slavery and Kansas aid meetings he often\npraised. When the war came, Mr. Bowers, though father of a large family,\nand near the age-limit of service, volunteered as a private in the first\ncompany, went again as an officer in the Thirty-second Massachusetts\nRegiment, and served with credit in the Army of the Potomac until\ndischarged for disability.\n\n[187] _Page 358, note 2._ George L. Prescott, a lumber dealer and\nfarmer, later Colonel of the Thirty-second Regiment, U. S. V. He was of\nthe same stock as Colonel William Prescott, the hero of Bunker Hill.\n\nJudge Hoar said of him, \u201cAn only son, an only brother, a husband and a\nfather, with no sufficient provision made for his wife and children, he\nhad everything to make life dear and desirable, and to require others to\nhesitate for him, but he did not hesitate himself.\u201d\n\n[188] _Page 361, note 1._ Blaise de Montluc, a Gascon officer of\nremarkable valor, skill and fidelity, under Francis I. and several\nsucceeding kings of France.\n\n[189] _Page 365, note 1._ It was well said by Judge Hoar: \u201cHis\ninstinctive sympathies taught him from the outset, what many higher in\ncommand were so slow and so late to learn, that it is the first duty of\nan officer to take care of his men as much as to lead them. His character\ndeveloped new and larger proportions, with new duties and larger\nresponsibilities.\u201d\n\n[190] _Page 366, note 1._ The Buttricks were among the original settlers\nof Concord, and the family has given good account of itself for nearly\ntwo hundred and seventy years, and still owns the farm on the hill\nwhence Major John led the yeomen of Middlesex down to force the passage\nof the North Bridge. Seven representatives of that family of sturdy\ndemocrats volunteered at the beginning of the War of the Rebellion. Two\nwere discharged as physically unfit, but the others served in army or\nnavy with credit, and two of them lost their lives in the service. Alden\nButtrick had fought the Border Ruffians in Kansas. Humphrey, a mason by\ntrade, but a mighty hunter, left his wife and little children at the\nfirst call, and was first sergeant of Prescott\u2019s company. Mr. Emerson\nomits to state that he was commissioned lieutenant in the Forty-seventh\nRegiment the following year. His service, especially as captain in the\nFifty-ninth Regiment, was arduous and highly creditable.\n\n[191] _Page 368, note 1._ Edward O. Shepard, who had been master of the\nConcord High School, afterwards a successful lawyer, had an excellent war\nrecord, and rose to be lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-second Regiment.\n\nGeorge Lauriat left the gold-beater\u2019s shop of Ephraim W. Bull (the\nproducer of the Concord Grape) to go to the war in Concord\u2019s first\ncompany. Modest and brave, he became an excellent officer and returned\ncaptain and brevet-major of the Thirty-second Regiment.\n\n[192] _Page 368, note 2._ Francis Buttrick, younger brother of Humphrey,\na handsome and attractive youth, had lived at Mr. Emerson\u2019s home to carry\non the farm for him.\n\n[193] _Page 375, note 1._ These three were Asa, John and Samuel Melvin.\nAsa died of wounds received before Petersburg; both his brothers of\nsickness, Samuel after long suffering in the prison-pen at Andersonville.\nThey came of an old family of hunter-farmers in Concord. Close by the\nwall next the street of the Old Hill Burying Ground is the stone in\nmemory of one of their race, whose \u201cMartial Genius early engaged him in\nhis Country\u2019s cause under command of the valiant Captain Lovel in that\nhazardous Enterprise where our hero, his Commander, with many brave and\nvaliant Men bled and died.\u201d\n\n[194] _Page 379, note 1._ The writer of this letter, a quiet, handsome\nschool-boy the year before the war broke out, lived just across the\nbrook behind Mr. Emerson\u2019s house. He was an excellent soldier in the\nThirty-second Regiment, and re\u00ebnlisted as a veteran in 1864.\n\n\nEDITORS\u2019 ADDRESS, MASSACHUSETTS QUARTERLY REVIEW\n\nMr. Cabot, in his Memoir, says that just before Mr. Emerson sailed for\nEurope in 1847, Theodore Parker, Dr. S. G. Howe and others (Mr. Cabot was\none of these) met to consider whether there could not be \u201ca new quarterly\nreview which should be more alive than was the _North American_ to the\nquestions of the day.\u201d Charles Sumner and Thoreau are mentioned as having\nbeen present. Colonel Higginson says that Mr. Parker wished it to be \u201cthe\n_Dial_ with a beard.\u201d It was decided that the undertaking should be made.\nMr. Parker wished Mr. Emerson to be editor, but he declined. A committee\nwas chosen\u2014Emerson, Parker and Howe\u2014to draft a manifesto to the public.\nMr. Emerson wrote the paper here printed, but when the first number of\nthe Review came to him in England, was annoyed at finding his name set\ndown as one of the editors. I think that the only paper he ever wrote\nfor it, beyond the \u201cAddress to the Public,\u201d was a notice of \u201cSome Oxford\nPoetry,\u201d\u2014the recently published poems of John Sterling and Arthur Hugh\nClough.\n\nTheodore Parker was the real editor. During its three years of life the\n_Massachusetts Quarterly_\u2014now hard to obtain\u2014was a brave, independent and\npatriotic magazine, and, like the _Dial_, gives the advancing thought\nof the time in literary and social matters, and also in religion and\npolitics.\n\n[195] _Page 384, note 1._ Plutarch tells that Cineas, the wise counsellor\nof Pyrrhus, king of the Epirots, asked his monarch when he set forth\nto conquer Rome what he should do afterwards. Pyrrhus said he could\nthen become master of Sicily. \u201cAnd then?\u201d asked Cineas. The king told\nof further dreams of conquest of Carthage and Libya. \u201cBut when we have\nconquered all that, what are we to do then?\u201d \u201cWhy then, my friend,\u201d said\nPyrrhus, laughing, \u201cwe will take our ease, and drink and be merry.\u201d\nCineas, having brought him thus far, replied, \u201cAnd what hinders us from\ndrinking and taking our ease now, when we have already those things in\nour hands at which we propose to arrive through seas of blood, through\ninfinite toils and dangers, innumerable calamities which we must both\ncause and suffer?\u201d\n\n[196] _Page 386, note 1._ \u201cTo live without duties is\nobscene.\u201d\u2014\u201cAristocracy,\u201d _Lectures and Biographical Sketches_.\n\n[197] _Page 389, note 1._ This was shortly after the annexation\nof Texas, and during the successful progress of the Mexican War. The\nslave power, although awakening opposition by its insatiable demands, was\nstill on the increase. Charles Sumner, though a rising statesman, had not\nyet entered Congress.\n\n[198] _Page 389, note 2._\n\n    For Destiny never swerves,\n      Nor yields to men the helm.\n\n        \u201cThe World-Soul,\u201d _Poems_.\n\n\nADDRESS TO KOSSUTH\n\nOn a beautiful day in May, 1852, Louis Kossuth, the exiled governor of\nHungary, who had come to this country to solicit her to interfere in\nEuropean politics on behalf of his oppressed people, visited the towns of\nLexington and Concord, and spoke to a large assemblage in each place.\n\nKossuth was met at the Lexington line by a cavalcade from Concord, who\nescorted him to the village, where he received a cordial welcome. The\ntown hall was crowded with people. The Hon. John S. Keyes presided, and\nMr. Emerson made the address of welcome.\n\nKossuth, in his earnest appeal for American help, addressed Mr. Emerson\npersonally in the following passages, after alluding to Concord\u2019s part in\nthe struggle for Freedom in 1775:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is strange, indeed, how every incident of the present bears the mark\nof a deeper meaning around me. There is meaning in the very fact that it\nis you, sir, by whom the representative of Hungary\u2019s ill-fated struggle\nis so generously welcomed ... to the shrine of martyrs illumined by\nvictory. You are wont to dive into the mysteries of truth and disclose\nmysteries of right to the eyes of men. Your honored name is Emerson;\nand Emerson was the name of a man who, a minister of the gospel, turned\nout with his people, on the 19th of April of eternal memory, when the\nalarm-bell first was rung.... I take hold of that augury, sir. Religion\nand Philosophy, you blessed twins,\u2014upon you I rely with my hopes to\nAmerica. Religion, the philosophy of the heart, will make the Americans\ngenerous; and philosophy, the religion of the mind, will make the\nAmericans wise; and all that I claim is a generous wisdom and a wise\ngenerosity.\u201d\n\n[199] _Page 398, note 1._ I am unable to find the source of these lines.\n\n[200] _Page 399, note 1._ For the power of minorities, see \u201cProgress of\nCulture,\u201d _Letters and Social Aims_, pp. 216-219, and \u201cConsiderations by\nthe Way,\u201d _Conduct of Life_, pp. 248, 249.\n\n\nWOMAN\n\nPerhaps the pleasantest word Mr. Emerson ever spoke about women was what\nhe said at the end of the war: \u201cEverybody has been wrong in his guess\nexcept good women, who never despair of an ideal right.\u201d\n\nMr. Emerson\u2019s habitual treatment of women showed his real feeling towards\nthem. He held them to their ideal selves by his courtesy and honor. When\nthey called him to come to their aid, he came. Men must not deny them any\nright that they desired; though he never felt that the finest women would\ncare to assume political functions in the same way that men did.\n\nMr. Cabot gives in his Memoir (p. 455) a letter which Mr. Emerson wrote,\nfive years before this speech was made, to a lady who asked him to join\nin a call for a Woman\u2019s Suffrage Convention. His distaste for the scheme\nclearly appears, and though perhaps felt in a less degree as time went\non, never quite disappeared. At the end of the notes on this address is\ngiven the greater part of a short speech which he wrote many years later,\nbut which he seems never to have delivered. Colonel Thomas Wentworth\nHigginson is reported in the _Woman\u2019s Journal_ as having said at the New\nEngland Women\u2019s Club, May 16, 1903, that Mr. Cabot put into his Memoir\nwhat Mr. Emerson said in his early days, when he was opposed to woman\u2019s\nsuffrage (the letter above alluded to), and \u201cleft out all those warm and\ncordial sentences that he wrote later in regard to it, culminating in his\nassertion that, whatever might be said of it as an abstract question,\nall his measures would be carried sooner if women could vote.\u201d This\nlast assertion, though not in the Memoir, Mr. Cabot printed in its place\nin the present address, and the only other address on the subject which\nis known to exist, Mr. Cabot did not print probably because Mr. Emerson\nnever delivered it.\n\n[201] _Page 406, note 1._ This passage from the original is omitted:\u2014\n\n\u201cA woman of genius said, \u2018I will forgive you that you do so much, and you\nme that I do nothing.\u2019\u201d\n\n[202] _Page 411, note 1._ This sentence originally ended, \u201cAnd their\nconvention should be holden in a sculpture-gallery.\u201d\n\n[203] _Page 412, note 1._ From _The Angel in the House_, by Coventry\nPatmore.\n\n[204] _Page 413, note 1._ Milton, _Paradise Lost_.\n\nBecause of the high triumph of Humility, his favorite virtue, Mr.\nEmerson, though commonly impatient of sad stories, had always a love for\nthe story of Griselda, as told by Chaucer, alluded to below. In spite\nof its great length, he would not deny it a place in his collection\n_Parnassus_.\n\n[205] _Page 413, note 2._ From \u201cLove and Humility,\u201d by Henry More\n(1614-87).\n\n[206] _Page 414, note 1._ These anecdotes followed in the original\nspeech:\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018I use the Lord of the Kaaba; what is the Kaaba to me?\u2019 said Rabia. \u2018I\nam so near to God that his word, \u201cWhoso nears me by a span, to him come\nI a mile,\u201d is true for me.\u2019 A famed Mahometan theologian asked her, \u2018How\nshe had lifted herself to this degree of the love of God?\u2019 She replied,\n\u2018Hereby, that all things which I had found, I have lost in him.\u2019 The\nother said, \u2018In what way or method hast thou known him?\u2019 She replied, \u2018O\nHassan! thou knowest him after a certain art and way, but I without art\nand way.\u2019 When once she was sick, three famed theologians came to her,\nHassan Vasri, Malek and Balchi. Hassan said, \u2018He is not upright in his\nprayer who does not endure the blows of his Lord.\u2019 Balchi said, \u2018He is\nnot upright in his prayer who does not rejoice in the blows of his Lord.\u2019\nBut Rabia, who in these words detected some trace of egoism, said, \u2018He\nis not upright in his prayer, who, when he beholds his Lord, forgets not\nthat he is stricken.\u2019\u201d\n\n[207] _Page 415, note 1._ See \u201cClubs,\u201d in _Society and Solitude_, p. 243.\n\n[208] _Page 417, note 1._ \u201cThe Princess\u201d is the poem alluded to. Mr.\nEmerson liked it, but used to say it was sad to hear it end with, _Go\nhome and mind your mending_.\n\n[209] _Page 426, note 1._ The internal evidence shows that the short\nspeech given below was written after the war. All that is important is\nhere given. There were one or two paragraphs that essentially were the\nsame as those of the 1855 address.\n\nOn the manuscript is written, apparently in Mr. Emerson\u2019s hand, in\npencil, \u201cNever read,\u201d and evidently in his hand, the title, thus:\u2014\n\n                            _Discours Manqu\u00e9_\n\n                                  WOMAN\n\nI consider that the movement which unites us to-day is no whim, but an\norganic impulse,\u2014a right and proper inquiry,\u2014honoring to the age. And\namong the good signs of the times, this is of the best.\n\nThe distinctions of the mind of Woman we all recognize; their\naffectionate, sympathetic, religious, oracular nature; their swifter and\nfiner perception; their taste, or love of order and beauty, influencing\nor creating manners. We commonly say, Man represents Intellect; and\nWoman, Love. Man looks for hard truth. Woman, with her affection for\ngoodness, benefit. Hence they are religious. In all countries and creeds\nthe temples are filled by women, and they hold men to religious rites\nand moral duties. And in all countries the man\u2014no matter how hardened a\nreprobate he is\u2014likes well to have his wife a saint. It was no historic\nchance, but an instinct, which softened in the Middle Ages the terror\nof the superstitious, by gradually lifting their prayers to the Virgin\nMary and so adopting the Mother of God as the efficient Intercessor. And\nnow, when our religious traditions are so far outgrown as to require\ncorrection and reform, \u2019tis certain that nothing can be fixed and\naccepted which does not commend itself to Woman.\n\nI suppose women feel in relation to men as \u2019tis said geniuses feel among\nenergetic workers, that, though overlooked and thrust aside in the press,\nthey outsee all these noisy masters: and we, in the presence of sensible\nwomen, feel overlooked, judged,\u2014and sentenced.\n\nThey are better scholars than we at school, and the reason why they are\nnot better than we twenty years later may be because men can turn their\nreading to account in the professions, and women are excluded from the\nprofessions.\n\nThese traits have always characterized women. We are a little vain of our\nwomen, as if we had invented them. I think we exaggerate the effect of\nGreek, Roman and even Oriental institutions on the character of woman.\nSuperior women are rare anywhere, as superior men are. But the anecdotes\nof every country give like portraits of womanhood, and every country in\nits Roll of Honor has as many women as men. The high sentiment of women\nappears in the Hebrew, the Hindoo; in Greek women in Homer, in the\ntragedies, and Roman women in the histories. Their distinctive traits,\ngrace, vivacity, and surer moral sentiment, their self-sacrifice, their\ncourage and endurance, have in every nation found respect and admiration.\n\nHer gifts make woman the refiner and civilizer of her mate. Civilization\nis her work. Man is rude and bearish in colleges, in mines, in ships,\nbecause there is no woman. Let good women go passengers in the ship, and\nthe manners at once are mended; in schools, in hospitals, in the prairie,\nin California, she brings the same reform....\n\nHer activity in putting an end to Slavery; and in serving the hospitals\nof the Sanitary Commission in the war, and in the labors of the\nFreedman\u2019s Bureau, have opened her eyes to larger rights and duties. She\nclaims now her full rights of all kinds,\u2014to education, to employment, to\nequal laws of property. Well, now in this country we are suffering much\nand fearing more from the abuse of the ballot and from fraudulent and\npurchased votes. And now, at the moment when committees are investigating\nand reporting the election frauds, woman asks for her vote. It is the\nremedy at the hour of need. She is to purify and civilize the voting, as\nshe has the schools, the hospitals and the drawing-rooms. For, to grant\nher request, you must remove the polls from the tavern and rum-shop, and\nbuild noble edifices worthy of the State, whose halls shall afford her\nevery security for deliberate and sovereign action.\n\n\u2019Tis certainly no new thing to see women interest themselves in politics.\nIn England, in France, in Germany, Italy, we find women of influence and\nadministrative capacity,\u2014some Duchess of Marlborough, some Madame de\nLongueville, Madame Roland,\u2014centres of political power and intrigue....\nBut we have ourselves seen the great political enterprise of our times,\nthe abolition of Slavery in America, undertaken by a society whose\nexecutive committee was composed of men and women, and which held\ntogether until this object was attained. And she may well exhibit the\nhistory of that as her voucher that she is entitled to demand power which\nshe has shown she can use so well.\n\n\u2019Tis idle to refuse them a vote on the ground of incompetency. I wish our\nmasculine voting were so good that we had any right to doubt their equal\ndiscretion. They could not easily give worse votes, I think, than we do.\n\n\nCONSECRATION OF SLEEPY HOLLOW CEMETERY\n\nWithin a quarter of a mile of Concord Common was a natural amphitheatre,\ncarpeted in late summer with a purple bloom of wild grass, and girt by a\nhorseshoe-shaped glacial moraine clothed with noble pines and oaks. It\nwas part of Deacon Brown\u2019s farm, and reached by a lane, with a few houses\non it, cut through a low part of the ridge of hills which sheltered\nthe old town. When the Deacon died, the town laid out a new road to\nBedford, cutting off this \u201cSleepy Hollow\u201d (as the townspeople who enjoyed\nstrolling there had named it) from the rest of the farm. Mr. John S.\nKeyes saw the fitness of the ground for a beautiful cemetery, and induced\nthe town to buy it for that purpose; and as chairman of the committee,\nlaid out the land. The people of the village\u2014for Concord had nothing\nsuburban about it then\u2014gathered there one beautiful September afternoon\nto choose their resting-places and consecrate the ground. Mr. Emerson\nmade the address on the slope just below the place where, beneath a\ngreat pine, the tree he loved best, he had chosen the spot for his own\ngrave.\n\nMuch of his essay on Immortality was originally a part of this discourse,\nand therefore that portion is omitted here, its place in the essay being\nindicated.\n\n\nROBERT BURNS\n\nIt is pleasant to be able to let Dr. Holmes, who was present at the Burns\nFestival, speak for himself and Lowell and Judge Hoar of Mr. Emerson\u2019s\nspeech on that day. I have heard the Judge tell the story of his friend\u2019s\nsuccess with the same delight.\n\n\u201cOn the 25th of January, 1859, Emerson attended the Burns Festival, held\nat the Parker House in Boston, on the Centennial Anniversary of the\npoet\u2019s birth. He spoke, after the dinner, to the great audience with\nsuch beauty and eloquence that all who listened to him have remembered\nit as one of the most delightful addresses they ever heard. Among his\nhearers was Mr. Lowell, who says of it that \u2018every word seemed to have\njust dropped down to him from the clouds.\u2019 Judge Hoar, who was another\nof his hearers, says that, though he has heard many of the chief orators\nof his time, he never witnessed such an effect of speech upon men. I was\nmyself present on that occasion, and underwent the same fascination that\nthese gentlemen and the varied audience before the speaker experienced.\nHis words had a passion in them not usual in the calm, pure flow most\nnatural to his uttered thoughts; white-hot iron we are familiar with, but\nwhite-hot silver is what we do not often look upon, and his inspiring\naddress glowed like silver fresh from the cupel.\u201d\n\nThe strange part of all the accounts given by the hearers is that Mr.\nEmerson seemed to speak _extempore_, which can hardly have been so.\n\nNo account of the Festival, or Mr. Emerson\u2019s part therein, appears in\nthe journals, except a short page of praise of the felicitous anecdotes\nintroduced by other after-dinner speakers.\n\n[210] _Page 440, note 1._ Here comes out that respect for labor which\naffected all Mr. Emerson\u2019s relations to the humblest people he met. In\nthe Appendix to the _Poems_ it appears in the verses beginning,\u2014\n\n    Said Saadi, When I stood before\n    Hassan the camel-driver\u2019s door.\n\n[211] _Page 441, note 1._ Thomas Carlyle.\n\n[212] _Page 441, note 2._ Mr. Emerson here recalls his childhood and that\nof his brothers, as in the passage in \u201cDomestic Life,\u201d in _Society and\nSolitude_, that has been often referred to in these notes.\n\n[213] _Page 443, note 1._ Among some stray lecture-sheets was the\nfollowing on the scholar or poet:\u2014\n\n\u201cGiven the insight, and he will find as many beauties and heroes and\nstrokes of genius close by him as Dante or Shakspeare beheld. It was in\na cold moor farm, in a dingy country inn, that Burns found his fancy so\nsprightly. You find the times and places mean. Stretch a few threads over\nan \u00c6olian harp, and put it in the window and listen to what it says of\nthe times and of the heart of Nature. You shall not believe the miracle\nof Nature is less, the chemical power worn out. Watch the breaking\nmorning, or the enchantments of the sunset.\u201d\n\n\nSHAKSPEARE\n\nThe following notes on Shakspeare were written by Mr. Emerson for\nthe celebration in Boston by the Saturday Club of the Three Hundredth\nAnniversary of the poet\u2019s birth.\n\nIn Mr. Cabot\u2019s _Memoir of Emerson_, vol. ii., page 621, apropos of Mr.\nEmerson\u2019s avoidance of impromptu speech on public occasions, is this\nstatement:\u2014\n\n\u201cI remember his getting up at a dinner of the Saturday Club on the\nShakspeare anniversary in 1864, to which some guests had been invited,\nlooking about him tranquilly for a minute or two, and then sitting down;\nserene and unabashed, but unable to say a word upon a subject so familiar\nto his thoughts from boyhood.\u201d\n\nYet on the manuscript of this address Mr. Emerson noted that it was read\nat the Club\u2019s celebration on that occasion, and at the Revere House.\n(\u201cParker\u2019s\u201d was the usual gathering-place of the Club.) The handwriting\nof this note shows that Mr. Emerson wrote it in his later years, so it\nis very possible that Mr. Cabot was right. Mr. Emerson perhaps forgot to\nbring his notes with him to the dinner, and so did not venture to speak.\nAnd the dinner may have been at \u201cParker\u2019s.\u201d\n\n\nALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT\n\nThe Boston Society of Natural History celebrated the One Hundredth\nAnniversary of the birth of Humboldt. Dr. Robert C. Waterston presided\nat the Music Hall, where Agassiz made the address. In the evening there\nwas a reception in Horticultural Hall. The occasion was made memorable by\nthe Society by the founding of a Humboldt and Agassiz scholarship in the\nMuseum of Comparative Zo\u00f6logy in Cambridge.\n\nPoems by Dr. Holmes and Mrs. Howe were read. Professor E. J. Young and\nDr. Charles T. Jackson gave reminiscences of Humboldt; Colonel Higginson,\nthe Rev. Dr. Hedge and others spoke. Mr. Emerson\u2019s remarks are taken from\nan abstract given in the account of the celebration published by the\nSociety.\n\n\nWALTER SCOTT\n\nAlthough Mr. Emerson, in the period between 1838 and 1848 especially,\nwhen considering the higher powers of poetry, spoke slightingly of\nScott,\u2014in the _Dial_ papers as \u201cobjective\u201d and \u201cthe poet of society, of\npatrician and conventional Europe,\u201d or in _English Traits_ as a writer\nof \u201ca rhymed travellers\u2019 guide to Scotland,\u201d\u2014he had always honor for\nthe noble man, and affectionate remembrance for the poems as well as\nthe novels. In the poem \u201cThe Harp,\u201d when enumerating poets, he calls\nScott \u201cthe delight of generous boys,\u201d but the _generosus puer_ was his\nown delight; the hope of the generation lay in him, and his own best\naudience was made up of such. In the essay \u201cIllusions,\u201d he says that the\nboy \u201chas no better friend than Scott, Shakspeare, Plutarch and Homer. The\nman lives to other objects, but who dare affirm that they are more real?\u201d\nIn the essay \u201cAristocracy,\u201d he names among the claims of a superior\nclass, \u201cGenius, the power to affect the Imagination,\u201d and presently\nspeaks of \u201cthose who think and paint and laugh and weep in their eloquent\nclosets, and then convert the world into a huge whispering-gallery,\nto report the tale to all men and win smiles and tears from many\ngenerations,\u201d and gives Scott and Burns among the high company whom he\ninstances.\n\nMr. Emerson\u2019s children can testify how with regard to Scott he always was\nready to become a boy again. As we walked in the woods, he would show us\nthe cellar-holes of the Irish colony that came to Concord to build the\nrailroad, and he named these deserted villages Derncleugh and Ellangowan.\nThe sight recalled Meg Merrilies\u2019 pathetic lament to the laird at the\neviction of the gypsies, which he would then recite. \u201cAlice Brand,\u201d the\n\u201cSair Field o\u2019 Harlaw,\u201d which old Elspeth sings to the children in _The\nAntiquary_, and \u201cHelvellyn\u201d were again and again repeated to us with\npleasure on both sides. With special affection in later years when we\nwalked in Walden woods he would croon the lines from \u201cThe Dying Bard,\u201d\u2014\n\n    \u201cDinas Emlinn, lament, for the moment is nigh,\n    When mute in the woodlands thine echoes shall die.\u201d\n\nPerhaps he had foreboding for his loved woods, beginning to be desecrated\nwith rude city picnics, and since burned over repeatedly by the fires\nfrom the railroad,\u2014\n\n    \u201cWhen half of their charms with Cadwallon shall die.\u201d\n\nOf this poem he wrote in the journal of 1845:\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018Dinas Emlinn\u2019 of Scott, like his \u2018Helvellyn,\u2019 shows how near to a poet\nhe was. All the Birmingham part he had, and what taste and sense! Yet\nnever rose into the creative region. As a practitioner or professional\npoet he is unrivalled in modern times.\u201d Yet he immediately adds, \u201cIn\nlectures on Poetry almost all Scott would be to be produced.\u201d\n\n[214] _Page 463, note 1._ Mr. Emerson took especial pleasure in the\npassage in the _Lord of the Isles_ where the old abbot, rising to\ndenounce excommunicated Bruce to his foes, is inspired against his will\nto bless him and prophesy his triumph as Scotland\u2019s deliverer.\n\nMr. Emerson, writing in his journal in 1842 of his impatience of\nsuperficial city life, during a visit to New York, alludes to the renewed\ncomfort he had in the _Lord of the Isles_:\n\n\u201cLife goes headlong. Each of us is always to be found hurrying headlong\nin the chase of some fact, hunted by some fear or command behind us.\nSuddenly we meet a friend. We pause. Our hurry and _empressement_ look\nridiculous.... When I read the _Lord of the Isles_ last week at Staten\nIsland, and when I meet my friend, I have the same feeling of shame at\nhaving allowed myself to be a mere huntsman and follower.\u201d\n\nHis boyish love for the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_ remained through life.\nAs we walked on Sunday afternoons he recited to his children the stanzas\nabout \u201cthe custom of Branksome Hall,\u201d and the passage where the Ladye of\nBranksome defies the spirits of the flood and fell; and the bleak mile of\nroad between Walden woods and home would often call out from him\n\n    \u201cThe way was long, the wind was cold,\n    The Minstrel was infirm and old,\u201d etc.\n\n[215] _Page 465, note 1._ The _Bride of Lammermoor_ was the only dreary\ntale that Mr. Emerson could abide, except _Griselda_.\n\nJournal, 1856. \u201cEug\u00e8ne Sue, Dumas, etc., when they begin a story, do\nnot know how it will end, but Walter Scott, when he began the _Bride of\nLammermoor_, had no choice; nor Shakspeare, nor Macbeth.\u201d\n\n[216] _Page 467, note 1._ Journal. \u201cWe talked of Scott. There is some\ngreatness in defying posterity and writing for the hour.\u201d\n\n\nSPEECH AT THE BANQUET IN HONOR OF THE CHINESE EMBASSY\n\nWhen the Chinese Embassy visited Boston in the summer of 1868 a banquet\nwas given them at the St. James Hotel, on August 21. The young Emerson,\nsounding an early note of independence of the past, had written in 1824:\u2014\n\n    I laugh at those who, while they gape and gaze,\n    The bald antiquity of China praise;\u2014\n\nbut later he learned to revere the wisdom of Asia. About the time when\nthe _Dial_ appeared, many sentences of Chinese wisdom are found in his\njournal, and also in the magazine among the \u201cEthnical Scriptures.\u201d\n\n\nREMARKS AT THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION\n\nIn the spring of 1867, a call for a public meeting was issued by\nOctavius B. Frothingham, William J. Potter and Rowland Connor \u201cto\nconsider the conditions, wants and progress of Free Religion in America.\u201d\nThe response was so large as to surprise the committee, and Horticultural\nHall was completely filled on May 30. Rev. Octavius B. Frothingham\npresided. The committee had invited as speakers the Rev. H. Blanchard\nof Brooklyn from the Universalists, Lucretia Mott from the Society of\nFriends, Robert Dale Owen from the Spiritualists, the Rev. John Weiss\nfrom the Left Wing of the Unitarians, Oliver Johnson from the Progressive\nFriends, Francis E. Abbot, editor of the _Index_; and also David A.\nWasson, Colonel T. W. Higginson and Mr. Emerson. The meeting was very\nsuccessful and the Free Religious Association was founded.\n\nMr. Emerson\u2019s genial and affirmative attitude at this meeting was helpful\nand important. He wished the new movement to be neither aggressive\ntowards the beliefs of others, nor merely a religion of works, purely\nbeneficently utilitarian. Doubtless there were many young and active\nradicals strong for destructive criticism. Mr. Emerson wished to see that\nin their zeal to destroy the dry husk of religion they should not bruise\nthe white flower within. His counsel to young men was, \u201cOmit all negative\npropositions. It will save ninety-nine one hundredths of your labor, and\nincrease the value of your work in the same measure.\u201d\n\n[217] _Page 479, note 1._ In the journal of 1837 he said, \u201cWhy rake\nup old manuscripts to find therein a man\u2019s soul? You do not look for\nconversation in a corpse.\u201d And elsewhere, \u201cIn religion the sentiment is\nall, the ritual or ceremony indifferent.\u201d\n\n\nSPEECH AT THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION\n\n[218] _Page 486, note 1._ Mrs. Julia Ward Howe writes of Mr. Emerson,\u2014\n\n\u201cHe knew from the first the victory of good over evil; and when he told\nme, to my childish amazement, that the angel must always be stronger than\nthe demon, he gave utterance to a thought most familiar to him, though at\nthe time new to me.\u201d[L]\n\n[219] _Page 488, note 1._ In the essay on Character (_Lectures and\nBiographical Sketches_), he says, \u201cThe establishment of Christianity\nin the world does not rest on any miracle but the miracle of being the\nbroadest and most humane doctrine.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe word Miracle, as pronounced by Christian churches, gives a false\nimpression; it is Monster. It is not one with the blowing clover and the\nfalling rain.\u201d\u2014\u201cAddress in Divinity College,\u201d _Nature, Addresses and\nLectures_.\n\n[220] _Page 490, note 1._ Mr. Emerson\u2019s doctrine was not to attack\nbeliefs, but give better: \u201cTrue genius will not impoverish, but will\nliberate.\u201d In a letter to one of his best friends who had joined the\nChurch of Rome he said, perhaps in 1858: \u201cTo old eyes how supremely\nunimportant the form under which we celebrate the justice, love and\ntruth, the attributes of the deity and the soul!\u201d\n\n[221] _Page 491, note 1._ Dr. Holmes, in his tribute to his friend, after\nhis death, read before the Massachusetts Historical Society, said:\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat could we do with this unexpected, unprovided for, unclassified,\nhalf unwelcome newcomer, who had been for a while potted, as it were, in\nour Unitarian cold greenhouse, but had taken to growing so fast that he\nwas lifting off its glass roof and letting in the hail-storms? Here was a\nprotest that outflanked the extreme left of liberalism, yet so calm and\nserene that its radicalism had the accents of the gospel of peace. Here\nwas an iconoclast without a hammer, who took down our idols from their\npedestals so tenderly that it seemed like an act of worship.\u201d\n\n\nADDRESS AT THE OPENING OF THE CONCORD FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY\n\nThe Town of Concord, in the year 1782, chose a committee of ten leading\ncitizens to give instructions to its selectmen. The third of the\nseventeen articles proposed by them read thus: \u201cThat care be taken\nof the Books of Marters and other bookes, and that they be kept from\nabusive usage, and not lent to persons more than one month at one\ntime.\u201d This indicates the root of a town library. A constitution of a\nLibrary Company, dated 1784, is extant. In 1806 a Social Library was\nincorporated, which was merged in the Town Library in 1851. The books\nwere kept in a room in the Town House which was open for borrowers on\nSaturdays.\n\nWilliam Munroe, son of a Concord tradesman who vied with the Thoreaus in\nthe manufacture of lead pencils, after leaving the Concord schools went\ninto business, and later into the manufacture of silk. His intelligence\nand force of character secured prosperity. He loved Concord, and, to use\nhis own words, \u201cdesired to testify my regard to my native town by doing\nsomething to promote the education and intelligence, and thus the welfare\nand prosperity of its people.\u201d He gave to Concord a lot of land in the\nheart of the town and a building for a Free Public Library, which, with\ngreat care and thoroughness, he had built thereon and duly furnished;\nand made handsome provision for care of the land and the extension of\nthe building later. He added a generous gift for books of reference and\nstandard works. The town thankfully accepted the gift, placed their books\nin it, and chose their library committee. On a fine autumn day in 1873,\nthe library was opened with public ceremonies. Mr. Munroe in a short\nand modest speech explained his purpose; Mr. H. F. Smith, on behalf of\nthe new library committee, reported its action and the gifts which had\npoured in; Judge Hoar received the property on behalf of the Board of\nCorporation, and Mr. Emerson, but lately returned with improved health\nfrom his journey to the Nile, made the short address. Writing was now\nvery difficult for him, but the occasion pleased and moved him, and his\nnotes on books and on Concord, and the remembrance of his friends the\nConcord authors but lately gone, served him, and the day passed off well.\n\n[222] _Page 498, note 1._ _The Gospel Covenant_, printed in London in\n1646, and quoted by Mr. Emerson in the \u201cHistorical Discourse.\u201d\n\n[223] _Page 499, note 1._ Major Simon Willard, a Kentish merchant was\nPeter Bulkeley\u2019s strong coadjutor in the founding of Concord. He also is\nalluded to in the \u201cHistorical Discourse.\u201d\n\n[224] _Page 500, note 1._ These extracts are from the diary of Miss Mary\nMoody Emerson.\n\n[225] _Page 500, note 2._ This letter was written not long after the\ndeath of John Thoreau, Henry\u2019s dearly loved brother, and also of little\nWaldo Emerson, to whom he became greatly attached while he was a member\nof Mr. Emerson\u2019s household.\n\n[226] _Page 501, note 1._ Mr. Emerson here speaks for others. He could\nnot read Hawthorne because of the gloom of his magic mirror, but the man\ninterested and attracted him, though even as neighbors they seldom met.\n\n[227] _Page 506, note 1._ Mr. Emerson notes that this is an allusion to\nthe \u201cHarmonies of Ptolemy.\u201d\n\n\nTHE FORTUNE OF THE REPUBLIC\n\nIn 1863, during the dark days of the Civil War, before the tide had fully\nturned in the field, while disaffection showed itself in the North, and\nEngland and France threatened intervention, Mr. Emerson gave a hopeful\nlecture, the basis of the present discourse, on the Fortune of the\nRepublic. After the war it was adapted to the new and happier conditions.\nOn the 30th of March, 1878, six years after Mr. Emerson had withdrawn\nfrom literary work, and but four years before his death, he was induced\nto read the lecture in the Old South Church, in a course planned by the\ncommittee, to save the venerable building. The church was filled, Mr.\nEmerson\u2019s delivery was good, and he seemed to enjoy the occasion. It was\nprobably his last speech in public, and so fitly closes the volume.\n\n[228] _Page 513, note 1._ This passage occurred in the early lecture:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is the distinction of man to think, and all the few men who, since\nthe beginning of the world, have done anything for us were men who did\nnot follow the river, or ship the cotton, or pack the pork, but who\nthought for themselves. What the country wants is personalities,\u2014grand\npersons,\u2014to counteract its materialities, for it is the rule of the\nuniverse that corn shall serve man, and not man, corn.\u201d\n\n[229] _Page 519, note 1._ Here followed: \u201cWhat we call \u2018Kentucky,\u2019 or\n\u2018Vallandigham,\u2019 or \u2018Fernando Wood\u2019 is really the ignorance and nonsense\nin us, stolid stupidity which gives the strength to those names.... It is\nour own vice which takes form, or gives terror with which these persons\naffect us.\u201d\n\n[230] _Page 520, note 1._ This refers to a young Massachusetts scholar,\nof promise and beauty, whom Mr. Emerson had been pleased with, as a\nfellow voyager. He soon was corrupted by politics. Coming up, at a\nreception, to shake hands with Mr. Emerson he was thus greeted: \u201cIf\nwhat I hear of your recent action be true, I must shake hands with you\nunder protest.\u201d Soon after, this aspirant for power attended the dinner\ngiven to Brooks after his cowardly assault on Sumner; but the moment the\nEmancipation Proclamation had been approved by the people, he became an\nornamental figurehead at Republican and reform gatherings.\n\n[231] _Page 520, note 2._ From the last scene of _Cynthia\u2019s Revels_, by\nBen Jonson.\n\n[232] _Page 521, note 1._ \u201cThe one serious and formidable thing in Nature\nis a will.\u201d\u2014\u201cFate,\u201d _Conduct of Life_, p. 30.\n\nSee also \u201cAristocracy,\u201d in _Lectures and Biographical Sketches_, p. 50.\n\n[233] _Page 524, note 1._ Ben Jonson, _The Golden Age Restored_.\n\n[234] _Page 526, note 1._\n\n    She spawneth men as mallows fresh.\n\n                \u201cNature,\u201d II., _Poems_.\n\nSee also the \u201cSong of Nature,\u201d in the _Poems_.\n\n[235] _Page 526, note 2._ In the earlier lecture was this passage:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe roots of our success are in our poverty, our Calvinism, our\nthrifty habitual industry,\u2014in our snow and east wind, and farm-life and\nsea-life....\n\n\u201cThere is in this country this immense difference from Europe, that,\nwhereas all their systems of government and society are historical, our\npolitics are almost ideal. We wish to treat man as man, without regard to\nrank, wealth, race, color, or caste,\u2014simply as human souls. We lie near\nto Nature, we are pensioners on Nature, draw on inexhaustible resources,\nand we interfere the least possible with individual freedom.\u201d\n\n[236] _Page 527, note 1._ In the \u201cHistorical Discourse\u201d in this volume,\nMr. Emerson tells of the evolution of the town-meeting of New England\nand its working excellence, and of the latter also in \u201cSocial Aims\u201d and\n\u201cEloquence,\u201d in _Letters and Social Aims_.\n\n[237] _Page 540, note 1._\n\n    For you can teach the lightning speech,\n    And round the globe your voices reach.\n\n                          \u201cBoston,\u201d _Poems_.\n\n[238] _Page 541, note 1._\n\n    I will divide my goods;\n    Call in the wretch and slave:\n    None shall rule but the humble,\n    And none but Toil shall have.\n\n             \u201cBoston Hymn,\u201d _Poems_.\n\n[239] _Page 544, note 1._ The following passages came from the earlier\nlecture:\u2014\n\n\u201cI must be permitted to read a quotation from De Tocqueville, whose\ncensure is more valuable, as it comes from one obviously very partial to\nthe American character and institutions:\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018I know no country in which there is so little true independence of\nopinion and freedom of discussion as in America\u2019 (vol. i., p. 259).\u201d\n\n\u201cI am far from thinking it late. I don\u2019t despond at all whilst I hear the\nverdicts of European juries against us\u2014Renan says this; Arnold says that.\nThat does not touch us.\n\n\u201c\u2019Tis doubtful whether London, whether Paris can answer the questions\nwhich now rise in the human mind. But the humanity of all nations is now\nin the American Union. Europe, England is historical still. Our politics,\nour social frame are almost ideal. We have got suppled into a state of\nmelioration. When I see the emigrants landing at New York, I say, There\nthey go\u2014to school.\n\n\u201cIn estimating nations, potentiality must be considered as well as power;\nnot what to-day\u2019s actual performance is, but what promise is in the mind\nwhich a crisis will bring out.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe war has established a chronic hope, for a chronic despair. It is\nnot a question whether we shall be a nation, or only a multitude of\npeople. No, that has been conspicuously decided already; but whether we\nshall be the new nation, guide and lawgiver of all nations, as having\nclearly chosen and firmly held the simplest and best rule of political\nsociety.\n\n\u201cCulture, be sure, is in some sort the very enemy of nationality\nand makes us citizens of the world; and yet it is essential that it\nshould have the flavor of the soil in which it grew, and combine this\nwith universal sympathies. Thus in this country are new traits and\ndistinctions not known to former history. Colonies of an old country, but\nin new and commanding conditions. Colonies of a small and crowded island,\nbut planted on a continent and therefore working it in small settlements,\nwhere each man must count for ten, and is put to his mettle to come up to\nthe need....\n\n\u201cPray leave these English to form their opinions. \u2019Tis a matter of\nabsolute insignificance what those opinions are. They will fast enough\nrun to change and retract them on their knees when they know who you\nare....\n\n\u201cI turn with pleasure to the good omen in the distinguished reception\ngiven in London to Mr. Beecher. It was already prepared by the advocacy\nof Cobden, Bright and Forster, Mill, Newman, Cairnes and Hughes, and\nby the intelligent Americans already sent to England by our Government\nto communicate with intelligent men in the English Government and out\nof it. But Mr. Beecher owed his welcome to himself. He fought his way\nto his reward. It is one of the memorable exhibitions of the force of\neloquence,\u2014his evening at Exeter Hall. The consciousness of power shown\nin his broad good sense, in his jocular humor and entire presence of\nmind, the surrender of the English audience on recognizing the true\nmaster. He steers the Behemoth, sits astride him, strokes his fur,\ntickles his ear, and rides where he will. And I like the well-timed\ncompliment there paid to our fellow citizen when the stormy audience\nreminds him to tell England that Wendell Phillips is the first orator\nof the world. One orator had a right to speak of the other,\u2014Byron\u2019s\nthunderstorm, where\n\n    \u201c\u2018Jura answers from his misty shroud\n    Back to the joyous Alps who call to him aloud.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe young men in America to-day take little thought of what men in\nEngland are thinking or doing. That is the point which decides the\nwelfare of a people,\u2014_which way does it look?_ If to any other people, it\nis not well with them. If occupied in its own affairs, and thoughts, and\nmen, with a heat which excludes almost the notice of any other people,\u2014as\nthe Jews, as the Greeks, as the Persians, as the Romans, the Arabians,\nthe French, the English, at their best times have done,\u2014they are sublime;\nand we know that in this abstraction they are executing excellent work.\nAmidst the calamities that war has brought on our Country, this one\nbenefit has accrued,\u2014that our eyes are withdrawn from England, withdrawn\nfrom France, and look homeward. We have come to feel that\n\n    \u201c\u2018By ourselves our safety must be bought;\u2019\n\nto know the vast resources of the continent; the good will that is in the\npeople; their conviction of the great moral advantages of freedom, social\nequality, education and religious culture, and their determination to\nhold these fast, and by these hold fast the Country, and penetrate every\nsquare inch of it with this American civilization....\n\n\u201cAmericans\u2014not girded by the iron belt of condition, not taught by\nsociety and institutions to magnify trifles, not victims of technical\nlogic, but docile to the logic of events; not, like English, worshippers\nof fate; with no hereditary upper house, but with legal, popular\nassemblies, which constitute a perpetual insurrection, and by making it\nperpetual save us from revolutions.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[A] Mr. Emerson believed the \u201cnot\u201d had been accidentally omitted, and it\ncan hardly be questioned that he was right in his supposition.\n\n[B] Vol. ii., pp. 424-433.\n\n[C] _The Genius and Character of Emerson; Lectures at the Concord School\nof Philosophy_, edited by F. B. Sanborn. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co.,\n1885.\n\n[D] _Correspondence of Carlyle and Emerson_, vol. i., pp. 260, 261.\n\n[E] _Epistle of Paul to Philemon_, i. 16, 17.\n\n[F] See the report of this speech in Redpath\u2019s _Life of Captain John\nBrown_. Boston: Thayer & Eldridge, 1860.\n\n[G] \u201cReview of Holmes\u2019s Life of Emerson,\u201d _North American Review_,\nFebruary, 1885.\n\n[H] _Richard Henry Dana; a Biography._ By Charles Francis Adams.\nHoughton, Mifflin & Co., 1890. In chapter viii. of this book is a very\nremarkable account of John Brown and his family at their home at North\nElba in 1849, when Mr. Dana and a friend, lost in the Adirondac woods,\nchanced to come out upon the Brown clearing and were kindly received and\naided.\n\n[I] While waiting for the services to begin, Mr. Sears wrote some verses.\nThe following lines, which Mrs. Emerson saw him write, were a prophecy\nliterally fulfilled within three years by the Union armies singing the\nJohn Brown song:\u2014\n\n    \u201cBut not a pit six feet by two\n      Can hold a man like thee;\n    John Brown shall tramp the shaking earth\n      From Blue Ridge to the sea.\u201d\n\n[J] In the very interesting work _The Influence of Emerson_, published in\nBoston in 1903, by the American Unitarian Association.\n\n[K] See note 3 to page 63 of the \u201cHistorical Discourse.\u201d\n\n[L] \u201cEmerson\u2019s Relation to Society,\u201d in _The Genius and Character of\nEmerson_, Lectures at the Concord School of Philosophy, edited by F. B.\nSanborn. Boston: J. R. Osgood & Co., 1885.","title":"Miscellanies","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":129173}