Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 13 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 13 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
Look at the unhappy freedman blasted by the ban of exclusion. He has
always been loyal, and now it is he, and not the Rebel master, who pays
the penalty. From the nature of the case, he must be discontented,
restless, anxious, smarting with sense of wrong and consciousness of
rights denied. He does not work as if taken by the hand and made to
feel the grasp of friendship. He is idle, thriftless, unproductive.
Industry suffers. Cotton does not grow. Commerce does not thrive.
Credit fails; nay, it dies before it is born. On the other hand, his
Rebel master, with hands still red with the blood of fellow-countrymen,
is encouraged in that assumption of superiority which is part of the
Barbarism of Slavery; he dominates as in times past; he is exacting as
of old; he is harsh, cruel, and vindictive; he makes the unprotected
and trembling freedman suffer for the losses and disappointments of the
Rebellion; he continues to insult and prostitute the wife and children,
who, ceasing to be chattels, have not ceased to be dependants; he
follows the freedman to by-ways and obscure places, where once again he
plays master and asserts his ancient title as lord of the lash. Scenes
of savage brutality and blood ensue. All this, which reason foretells,
the short experience of a few months already confirms. And all this you
sanction, when you leave the freedman despoiled of his rights.
But the freedman, though forbearing and slow to anger, will not always
submit to outrage. He will resist. Resistance will be organized. And
here begins the terrible war of races foreseen by Jefferson, where
God, in all His attributes, has none which can take part with the
oppressor. The tragedy of San Domingo will be renewed on a wider
theatre, with bloodier incidents. Be warned, I entreat you, by this
historic example. It was the denial of rights to colored people, upon
successive promises, which caused that fearful insurrection. After
various vicissitudes, during which the rights of citizenship were
conferred on free people of color and then resumed, the slaves at last
rose; and here the soul sickens at the recital. Then came Toussaint
l’Ouverture, a black of unmixed blood, who placed himself at the head
of his race, showing the genius of war, and the genius of statesmanship
also. Under his magnanimous rule the beautiful island began to smile
once more: agriculture revived; commerce took a new start; the whites
were protected in person and property; and a Constitution was adopted
acknowledging the authority of France, but making no distinction of
race or color. In an evil hour this policy was reversed by a decree
of Napoleon Bonaparte. War revived, and the French army was compelled
to succumb. The connection of San Domingo with France was broken,
and this island became a black republic. All this dreary catalogue
of murder, battle, sorrow, and woe began in denial of justice to the
colored race. And only recently we have listened to a similar tragedy
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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