Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 08 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 08 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
Let this bill pass, and then will be accomplished the first practical
triumph of Freedom, for which good men have longed, dying without the
sight,--for which a whole generation has petitioned, and for which
orators and statesmen have pleaded. Slavery will be banished from the
national capital. This metropolis, bearing a venerated name, will be
exalted, its evil spirit cast out, its shame removed, its society
refined, its courts made just, its revolting ordinances swept away,
and even its loyalty assured. If not moved by justice to the slave,
then be willing to act for your own good and in self-defence. If you
hesitate to pass this bill for the blacks, then pass it for the whites.
Nothing is clearer than that the degradation of Slavery affects the
master as well as the slave; while also recent events testify, that,
wherever Slavery exists, there Treason lurks, if it does not flaunt.
From the beginning of this Rebellion, Slavery has been constantly
manifest in the conduct of the masters, and even here in the national
capital it is the traitorous power encouraging and strengthening
the enemy. This power must be suppressed at every cost; and if its
suppression here endangers Slavery elsewhere, there will be new motive
for determined action.
Amidst all present solicitudes, the future cannot be doubtful. At
the national capital Slavery will give way to Freedom. But the good
work will not stop here: it must proceed. What God and Nature decree
Rebellion cannot arrest. And as the whole wide-spread tyranny begins
to tumble, then, above the din of battle, sounding from the sea and
echoing along the land, above even the exultations of victory on
hard-fought fields, will ascend voices of gladness and benediction,
swelling from generous hearts, wherever civilization bears sway, to
commemorate a sacred triumph, whose trophies, instead of tattered
banners, are ransomed slaves.
REBEL BARBARITIES, AND THE BARBARISM OF SLAVERY.
RESOLUTION AND REMARKS IN THE SENATE, APRIL 1, 1862.
Mr. Sumner offered the following resolution, and then spoke
upon it.
“_Resolved_, That the Select Committee on the Conduct of
the War be directed to collect the evidence with regard
to the barbarous treatment by the Rebels at Manassas of
the remains of officers and soldiers of the United States
killed in battle there, and to report the same to the
Senate, with power to send for persons and papers.”
MR. PRESIDENT,--We have all been shocked, during the last few days, by
the evidence that has accumulated with regard to the treatment of our
dead at Manassas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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