Year: 1863

! from the Boston LDerator, NOVEMBER ~


The fourth lecture of the course was given
this week in Boston. not. according to the pro-
gramme. by Henry Ward Beecher, but BY Wen
dell Phillips, who had kindly consented, at short
notice, to take Mr.. Beecher's place


Previous to the lecture letter was read from
Hon. Chas. Sumner, requesting that his name
might be Withdrawn from the lst, in consequence
| Of the pressure Of Important business. The com
mittee hoped that his place next week might be
supplied BY Mr. Beecher.


Mr.. Phillips, on coming forward, received three
hearty rounds OF applause. The brieftime he
had had for preparation must be his apology, he
said. for recurring to the old subject. 1t would
be asked, why speak of slavery now, when eman-
cipation is sure. But he though. he might take
a useful lesson from the Anti Corn League OF
| England When Sir Robert Peel, their avowed
| friend, made first Lord of the Admiralty,
and the London Times said the repeal of the
Corn Laws was foregone conclusion, they held
meeting and resolved:


"WHEREAs, In l843 this League raised fifty
thousand pounds for agitation, and in 1874 a
hundred thousand pounds for agitation, now that
the first Load of the Admiralty is pledged to our
object, this League resolves to raise two hundred
and fifty thousand pounds for agitation, to make
the matter sure


/ The fact that the Government is partially
pledged to the abolition of slavery, instead OF
favoring silence and quietude on our part, should
be or iDcitement to new vigilance, more search
ing criticism, more energetic action. We must
| demand the immediate, total, unconditional abo
liton of slavery, wherever the stars and stripes
wave. The lesseniDg prospect of foreign inter-
ference and the increase of our successes at home
gives US certainty of the final result. Two thirds
! of the Union with Us, and half of the remain
ing third is on our side No one can doubt OF our
ultimate victory.


\.
When Mr. Lincoln was asked to provide for the
safety of the officers of colored regiments, he
said. "Don't ask me to speak word until after
| the Ohio election" IL is not in Southern bullets,
| but in Northern opinion, that the real danger of
| the crisis lies. When Seward, in his last pnblic
address, said, slavery is no business of mine-he
showed the great danger against which we must
| provide-a spirit of compromise IN the hearts of
the Northern people. Seward every year as
sures the world that there is no barrier to the
return of the rebel States whenever they please.
| Members of the Cabinet are now organizing a
| scheme TO restore Florida as a slave State to
the Union In this state of things il is the duty of
| the masses TO interpose and save the country by
some more thorough and speedy method.
/ ask nothing further of Lincoln in the way of
policy, only of action. He has taken the first
great step by issuing the proclamation, and if he
believed in January last, as he told me. that il





since then, The man who bad the heart to
originate that proclamation, and to stand by it,,
ought to remain in power at least six years longer.


Still, Abraham Lincoln was not my first choice.
| IL we could have had Fremont applause Ia
master and not a servant, a man already inteli
gent in the point most needlul,and not one whose
education to be conducted at an expense of
So, 900 year in the Presidential chair, we
should have made better progress The Secre-
torv Of tho Troa had haa nj in ia
relation, but his life has not given the assurance
OF such sound pincple to warrant the people
| in trusting him at this crisis. The Governor who
sacrificed Margaret Garner has no heart. The
Secretary who. when fourteen States opposed
Seward, flung himself forward in his defense, has
no principle. The great trouble with Seward is
that he ignores the revolution that is now shak-
! ing the nation. We must demand of the Gov
ernment civil action sufficiently energetic for the
crisis


We are no longer to demand action of Lincoln
or the Generals merely, but of Congress; and the
thing TO be demanded is that slavery be hence
forth utterly prohibited, and rendered impossible
within the limits of our nation.


Various theories are current respecting the re-
lation of the rebel States 10 the nation, and the
manner of their reinstatement in it. care
nothing for these theories. The one certain fact
is, slavery is the ;Lng which has brought all this
1
wish to come backf will gladly welcome her
back if she comes without slavery. We must
provide that it shall be impossible for her to come
| With il.


would have Congress now initiate measures
| for an amendm, ut OF the Constitution to this
| effect: Slavery shall henceforth have place
| ia any State within this Union. When this is
| done, let the States come back as soon IS they
| please. The Government should have but one
object. the establishment of permanent peace in
the Union To this end Lincoln has ems msncpsted
three millions of slaves. For the effective
accomplishment OF the same end. Congress should
abolish all slavery.


individuals have the right of seIf-defense
when their lives are assailed. Individual nations
also have the same right when their existence is
assailed. Our first point is TO the life of the
nation. There is security, either for the
present distress or against future contingencies.
but in radical. thorough measures. Give US the
solid granite of justice on which 70 found the fu
ture of the Union.


We must create public opinion which will be
felt at W ashington Neither the House nor the
Senate has anything to propose except a vigorous
prosecution of the war. Much more is necessary.
/ Let the Government announce that We are in a
revolution, and put every able bodied black man
| into the army Of the Union. After the negro has
had the musket in his hands you can't make him
! a slave again Put two hundred thousand black
men in arms, and III risk Seward But still,
| there is more than this 70 be done While the
| Government arms few of the abie-bodied, it
leaves the old and infirm, the women and child
rem TO starve; and this not by hundreds, nor by
thousands only, but by five thousand and ten
thousand. demand Of the Government that
they confscate the land of rebels over the whole
South, and give it or sell il in small lots to the
| slaves the blacks and the poor whites This will
help the starving ones to provide for themselves.
and at the same time il will be the best assurance
for our future. fe


We have no plan, no sincerity, no heartiness,
in our treatment of the blacks. Lincoln hates
slavery. but he has no heart to befriend the ne
gro. The negro. North and South. should find
the Union ready to welcome him as soldier and
| give him citizenship.


There is no probability Of decisive aud thor
ough action from the Government before nex,
summer, unless the people demand it. The peo-
pie should demand il. The great obstacles is the
Secretary of State. The people should squeIch
him unless they can remove him. aH


The close of every civil war has been a bar
gain, compromise. Ours is 10 come and We
must be on our guard against it. One thing VIC
can accomplish if We are faithful--never to let q
STAKEHOLDER return 10 the occupancy Of one of the
vacant Senatorial chairs. Now. before the Presi
DENTAL contest commences, let Massachusetts
consult with the West, and insist that cons,itu
tionai extinction of slavery shall prec ede any re-
construction.


No reading man or organ Of the Republican,
lights US one step beyond the proclamation. Ye
the door is still open for the States to return and
poison the future OF the Union. We must pro-
vide against this danger. We must teach the
nation not merely 70 arm the slave. but TO accep
n I'd