Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
Others still there are, particularly in large cities, who content
themselves with occasional contribution to the redemption of a slave.
To this object they give out of ample riches, and thus seek to silence
the monitions of conscience. I would not discountenance any activity
by which Human Freedom, even in a single case, may be secured; but I
desire to say that such an act--too often accompanied by pharisaical
pretension, in contrast with the petty performance--cannot be
considered essential aid to the Antislavery Enterprise. Not in this
way can impression be made on an evil so vast as Slavery,--so widely
scattered, and so exhaustless in its unnatural supply. The god Thor,
of Scandinavian mythology, whose power surpassed that of Hercules, was
once challenged to drain dry a simple cup. He applied it to his lips,
and with superhuman capacity drank, but the water did not recede even
from the rim, and at last the god abandoned the trial. The failure of
even his extraordinary prowess was explained, when he learned that the
cup communicated, by invisible connection, with the whole vast ocean
behind, out of which it was perpetually supplied, and which remained
absolutely unaffected by the effort. And just so will these occasions
of charity, though encountered by the largest private means, be
constantly renewed; for they communicate with the whole Black Sea of
Slavery behind, out of which they are perpetually supplied, and which
remains absolutely unaffected by the effort. Sir, private means may
cope with individual necessities, but they are powerless to redress the
evils of a wicked institution. Charity is limited and local; the evils
of Slavery are infinite and everywhere. Besides, a wrong organized and
upheld by law can be removed only through change of the law. Not, then,
by occasional contribution to ransom a slave can your duty be done in
this great cause, but only by earnest, constant, valiant effort against
the institution, against the law, which makes slaves.
I am not insensible to the difficulties of this work. Full well I know
the power of Slavery. Full well I know all its various intrenchments in
the Church, the politics, and the prejudices of the country. Full well
I know the wakeful interests of property, amounting to many hundred
millions of dollars, which are said to be at stake. But these things
can furnish no motive or apology for indifference, or any folding
of the hands. Surely the wrong is not less wrong because gigantic;
the evil is not less evil because immeasurable; nor can the duty of
perpetual warfare with wrong and evil be in this instance suspended.
Nay, because Slavery is powerful, because the Enterprise is difficult,
therefore is the duty of all more exigent. The well-tempered soul does
not yield to difficulties, but presses _onward forever_ with increased
resolution.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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