Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 03 (of 20)

FOOTNOTES

[1] Printed, since this Address, in the History of Newton, by Francis Jackson, (Boston, 1854,) p. 336.

[2] American Archives, 4th Series, Vol. I. col. 1038.

[3] American Archives, 4th Series, Vol. I. coll. 1135, 1136.

[4] A Summary View of the Rights of British America: American Archives, 4th Series, Vol. I. col. 696. Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies of Jefferson, Vol. I. p. 111; Writings, Vol. I. p. 135.

[5] Madison's Debates, p. 1263.

[6] Ibid. p. 1429.

[7] Letter to Robert Morris, April 12, 1786: Writings, ed. Sparks, Vol. IX. p. 159.

[8] Annals of Congress, 1st Cong. 2d Sess., 1197, 1198.

[9] Notes on Virginia, Query XVIII.

[10] "In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection."—Farewell Address: Writings, ed. Sparks, Vol. XII. p. 221.

[11] Roberts v. City of Boston, 5 Cushing R., 206.

[12] General Laws of Massachusetts, 1855, Ch. 256, sec. 1.

[13] Part II. ch. 4, p. 23.

[14] Speech on the Oregon Bill, June 27, 1848: Works, Vol. IV. pp. 507, 511, 512; Congressional Globe, 30th Cong. 1st Sess., Vol. XVIII. p. 876. These extravagances found an echo afterwards. Mr. Pettit, a Senator of the United States from Indiana, after quoting the words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," proceeded to say: "I hold it to be a self-evident lie. There is no such thing. Sir, tell me that the imbecile, the deformed, the weak, the blurred intellect in man is my equal, physically, mentally, or morally, and you tell me a lie. Tell me, Sir, that the slave in the South, who is born a slave, and with but little over one half the volume of brain that attaches to the Northern European race, is his equal, and you tell what is physically a falsehood. There is no truth in it at all." (Speech in the Senate of the United States, February 20, 1854: Congressional Globe, 33d Cong. 1st Sess., Appendix, Vol. XXIX. p. 214.) Mr. Choate, without descending into the same particularity, seems to have reached the same conclusion, when, in addressing political associates, he characterized the Declaration of Independence as "that passionate and eloquent manifesto of a revolutionary war," and then again spoke of its self-evident truths as "the glittering and sounding generalities of natural right." (Letter to the Maine Whig State Central Committee, August 9, 1856: Works, Vol. I. pp. 214, 215.) This great question was a hinge in the famous debate between Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln in the contest for the senatorship of Illinois, when the former said, in various forms of speech, that "the Declaration of Independence only included the white people of the United States," and the latter replied, that "the entire records of the world, from the date of the Declaration of Independence up to within three years ago, may be searched in vain for one single affirmation, from one single man, that the negro was not included in the Declaration." (Political Debates between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas in the Campaign of 1858 in Illinois: see speech of Douglas at Springfield, July 17, and of Lincoln at Galesburgh, October 7; and passim.) Andrew Johnson, speaking in the Senate, showed the side to which he belonged, when he said, after quoting the great words of the Declaration: "Is there an intelligent man throughout the whole country, is there a Senator, when he has stripped himself of all party prejudice, who will come forward and say that he believes that Mr. Jefferson, when he penned that paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, intended it to embrace the African population? Is there a gentleman in the Senate who believes any such thing?... There is not a man of respectable intelligence who will hazard his reputation upon such an assertion." (Congressional Globe, 36th Cong. 1st Sess., December 12, 1859, p. 100.)

[15] Epist. XXX.

[16] Paradise Lost, Book XII. 26.

[17] Locke on Government, Book II. ch. 2, § 4. Hooker, Ecclesiastical Polity, Book I.

[18] EncyclopÉdie, art. ÉgalitÉ Naturelle, Tom. V. p. 415.

[19] Moniteur, 1791, No. 259.

[20] Moniteur, 1793, No. 49.

[21] Exposition des Principes et des Motifs du Plan de Constitution: Condorcet, Œuvres, Tom. XII. pp. 336, 413.

[22] Moniteur, 1793, No. 178.

[23] Annuaire Historique Universel pour 1830, Appendice, p. 48.

[24] Book III. § 80. The same idea prevailed with Demosthenes, who, in his First Oration against Aristogiton, pictured the laws as desiring "the just and the beautiful and the useful," which, when found, is set forth in a general ordinance, "equal and alike to all."—Orat. I. contra Aristogit., § 5.

[25] Virgil, Eclog. II. 16.

[26] Revised Statutes, Ch. 23.

[27] Charters and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay, p. 186.

[28] Chap. 23, sec. 68.

[29] Chap. 154.

[30] Report to the Primary School Committee, June 15, 1846, on the Petition of Sundry Colored Persons for the Abolition of the Schools for Colored Children, p. 7.

[31] Roberts on Caste, p. 134.

[32] Essai Politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne, Liv. II. ch. 6.

[33] Charles Comte, TraitÉ de Legislation, Tom. IV. pp. 129, 445.

[34] GrÉgoire, De la LittÉrature des NÈgres, p. 177.

[35] Democracy in America, Vol. I. p. 461, Ch. XVIII. § 2.

[36] Michel, Histoire des Races Maudites, Tom. I. p. 3.

[37] Chap. 23, sec. 10.

[38] Chap. 23, sec. 15.

[39] General Laws of Massachusetts, 1837, Ch. 241, sec. 2.

[40] Revised Statutes, Ch. 23, sec. 63.

[41] Revised Statutes, Ch. 23.

[42] Perry v. Dover, 12 Pick. R., 213.

[43] Hon. Richard Fletcher.

[44] Commonwealth v. Aves, 18 Pick. R., 210.

[45] Contrat Social, Liv. II. ch. 11.

[46] Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., Vol. IV. pp. 206, 207.

[47] SatirÆ, Lib. I. iv. 85.

[48] 1 Samuel, xvi. 7.

[49] Mark, iv. 23, 25.

[50] Hon. George N. Briggs.

[51] PensÉes de Pascal, Notes de Condorcet et Voltaire, No. 109.

[52] His will being dated three years before his death.

[53] Louis Blanc, Histoire de la RÉvolution FranÇaise, Tom. X. p. 316.

[54] Guizot, MÉmoires pour servir À l'Histoire de mon Temps, Tom. II. p. 219.

[55] Diary, December 18, 1765: Works, Vol. II. p 154.

[56] History of New England (ed. Savage), 1645, Vol. II. p. 229.

[57] An eloquent French critic says, among other things, of this greatest picture of Tintoretto, that "no painting surpasses, or perhaps equals" it, and that, before seeing it, "one can have no idea of the human imagination." (Taine, Italy, Florence, and Venice, tr. Durand, pp. 314, 316.) Some time after this Speech an early copy or sketch of this work fell into Mr. Sumner's hands, and it is now a cherished souvenir of those anxious days when the pretensions of Slavery were at their height.

[58] Le Vicomte d'Orthez À Charles IX.: D'AubignÉ, Histoire Universelle, Part. II. Liv. I. ch. 5, cited by Sismondi, Histoire des FranÇais, Tom. XIX. p. 177, note. I gladly copy this noble letter. "Sire, j'ai communiquÉ le commandement de Votre MajestÉ À ses fidÈles habitans et gens de guerre de la garnison; je n'y ai trouvÉ que bons citoyens et braves soldats, mais pas un bourreau. C'est pourquoi eux et moi supplions trÈs humblement Votre dite MajestÉ vouloir employer en choses possibles, quelque hasardeuses qu'elles soient, nos bras et nos vies, comme Étant, autant qu'elles dureront, Sire, vÔtres."

[59] Essays, XLII. Of Youth and Age.

[60] The Reason of Church Government, Book II., Introduction: Prose Works, ed. Symmons, Vol. I. p. 117.

[61] Daily Commonwealth. April 2, 1851.

[62] Daily Commonwealth, January 15, 1851.

[63] Boston Daily Times, January 10, 1851.

[64] Daily Commonwealth, March 28, 1851.

[65] Ibid., March 31, 1851.

[66] Ibid., April 2, 1851.

[67] Daily Commonwealth, April 25, 1851.

[68] Ibid., April 28, 1851.

[69] National Era, May 1, 1851.

[70] New York Tribune, April 25, 1851.

[71] London Times, May 24, 1851.

[72] This important phrase is thus early introduced.

[73] Dies IrÆ, st. 3.

[74] "Nullum numen abest, si sit Prudentia."—Juvenal, Sat. X. 365.

[75] See Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Young. 1 Kent's Com., 431.

[76] United States v. Ames, 1 Woodbury and Minot, 80.

[77] Ibid., 83.

[78] Dobbins v. Commissioners of Erie Co., 16 Peters, 447.

[79] Providence Bank v. Billings and Pittman, 4 Peters, 563.

[80] Providence Bank v. Billings and Pittman, 4 Peters, 561.

[81] McCulloch v. The State of Maryland, 4 Wheaton, 316.

[82] Exec. Doc., 30th Cong. 2d Sess., H.R. No. 12, Table 6, p. 255.

[83] Exec. Doc., 30th Cong. 2d Sess., H.R. No. 12, Table 2, p. 210.

[84] Ibid., Table 6, p. 255.

[85] Exec. Doc., 30th Cong. 2d Sess., H.R. No. 12, Table 10, p. 260.

[86] Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, and incidentally of a Portion of Nebraska Territory, made under Instructions from the United States Treasury Department, by David Dale Owen, United States Geologist. Philadelphia, 1852.

[87] Exec. Doc., 30th Cong. 2d Sess., H.R. No. 12, Table 6, p. 255.

[88] Eleg. Lib. I. iii. 35, 36.

[89] Hon. John Davis.

[90] Mass. House Documents, 1841, No. 23, pp. 2, 3.

[91] Mass. Acts and Resolves, 1841, p. 422.

[92] Mr. Webster, in his greatest speech, the celebrated reply to Mr. Hayne, touched on this consideration. He said: "And, finally, have not these new States singularly strong claims, founded on the ground already stated, that the Government is a great untaxed proprietor in the ownership of the soil?"—Speeches, Vol. III. p. 291.

[93] Slavery: Letters and Speeches by Horace Mann, pp. 84-118.

[94] Opinions of Attorneys-General, Vol. V. pp. 580-591.

[95] On any subject but Slavery there was no check upon Senators at any time.

[96] Letter to Joseph Reed, Jan. 4, 1776: Writings, ed. Sparks, Vol. III. p. 225.

[97] Slavery could not bear to be pointed at, and this slight allusion, which seemed due to the memory of Mr. Rantoul, caused irritation at the time. Hon. John Davis, the other Senator from Massachusetts, assigned as a reason for silence on the occasion, that he observed the ill-feeling of certain persons, and thought it best that the vote should be taken at once.

[98] Abridgment and Digest of American Law, Vol. VII. ch. 223, art. 1, § 3.

[99] Works, Vol. III. p. 263.

[100] Ibid., p. 283.

[101] More precisely, the seven Northern States, together with Maryland, affirmatively,—and four of the Southern States, namely, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, negatively,—Delaware being unrepresented.

[102] Memoirs of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, by his Son, Ch. 18.

[103] Letter to Dr. Price, August 7, 1785: Memoir, Correspondence, etc., ed. Randolph, Vol. I. p. 269; Writings, Vol. I. p. 377.

[104] Originally the twenty-first, adopted January 28, 1840 (26th Cong. 1st Sess.), by Yeas 114, Nays 108; rescinded, on motion of John Quincy Adams, December 3, 1844 (28th Cong. 2d Sess.), by Yeas 108, Nays 80. It will be observed that the vote of the opponents of the rule was precisely the same (108) on its adoption as on its abrogation. Obviously many of the original supporters or their successors withheld their votes on the latter occasion. The rule in question was in these words: "No petition, memorial, resolution, or other paper, praying the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, or any State or Territory, or the slave-trade between the States or Territories of the United States in which it now exists, shall be received by this House, or entertained in any way whatever."

[105] Milton, Areopagitica: A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing: Prose Works, ed. Symmons, Vol. I. p. 325.

[106] Howell's State Trials, Vol. XX. col. 82.

[107] Harry et al. v. Decker et al., Walker, 42.

[108] Rankin v. Lydia, 2 Marshall, 470.

[109] Madison's Debates, August 8, 1787.

[110] Madison's Debates, Aug. 21, 1787.

[111] Ibid., Aug. 22.

[112] Ibid.

[113] Ibid., Aug. 24.

[114] Ibid., Aug. 25.

[115] Ibid.

[116] Ibid.

[117] Madison's Debates, Aug. 25.

[118] Ibid., Sept. 13.

[119] Debates, Resolutions, etc., of the Convention of Massachusetts, January 30, 1788.

[120] Annals of Congress, 1st Cong. 1st Sess., col. 342.

[121] Journal of Congress, April 26, 1783, Vol. VIII. p. 201.

[122] Commentaries, Vol. II. p. 94.

[123] These maxims are enforced with beautiful earnestness in a tract which appeared at Baltimore shortly after the adoption of the Constitution, with the following title-page: "Letter from Granville Sharp, Esq., of London, to the Maryland Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes and others unlawfully held in Bondage. Published by Order of the Society. Baltimore: Printed by D. Graham, L. Yundt, and W. Patton, in Calvert Street, near the Court-House. M.DCC.XCIII."

[124] Groves et al. v. Slaughter, 15 Peters, 507, 508.

[125] Milton, Comus, 456.

[126] Dryden, Epistle XVI. [XIV.], To Sir Godfrey Kneller.

[127] Letter to John F. Mercer, September 9, 1786: Writings, ed. Sparks, Vol. IX. p. 159, note.

[128] Letter to Robert Morris, April 12, 1786: Writings, ed. Sparks, Vol. IX. p. 159.

[129] Brissot de Warville, New Travels in the United States, 2d ed., Vol. I. pp. 246, 247.

[130] Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law: Works, Vol. III. p. 463.

[131] Life and Writings of John Jay, Vol. I. p. 231. Slavery and AntiSlavery, by William Goodell, p. 97.

[132] Life and Writings, Vol. I. pp. 229, 230.

[133] Notes on Virginia, Query XVIII.: Writings, Vol. VIII. pp. 403, 404. Summary View of the Rights of British America: American Archives, 4th Ser. Vol. I. col 696; Writings, Vol. I. p. 135. Letter to Dr. Price, August 7, 1785: Writings, Vol. I. p. 377.

[134] Letter to Robert Pleasants, January 18, 1779: Goodloe's Southern Platform, p. 79.

[135] Speeches in the House of Delegates of Maryland in 1788 and 1789: Wheaton's Life of Pinkney, p. 11; American Museum for 1789, Vol. VI. p. 75.

[136] Bangs's History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, Vol. I. pp. 213, 218.

[137] Thoughts upon Slavery, by John Wesley, (London, 1774,) pp. 24, 27.

[138] Minutes of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, 1787: Records of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, p. 540.

[139] A Dialogue concerning the Slavery of the Africans; Works, Vol. II. p. 552.

[140] The Injustice and Impolicy of the Slave-Trade, and of the Slavery of the Africans, (Providence, 1792,) pp. 27-30.

[141] Tyrannical Liberty-Men: A Discourse on Negro Slavery in the United States, February 19, 1795, by Moses Fiske, Tutor in Dartmouth College. American Quarterly Register, May, 1840. Weld, Power of Congress over the District of Columbia, p. 33.

[142] Kingsley's Life of Stiles: Sparks's American Biography, Second Series, Vol. VI. p. 69.

[143] Hoare's Memoirs of Sharp, p. 254. Weld's Power of Congress, p. 34.

[144] Speech of Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim in the Divan of Algiers against granting the Petition of the Sect called Erika, or Purists, for the Abolition of Piracy and Slavery: Works, ed. Sparks, Vol. II. pp. 517-521.

[145] An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements on the Slavery of the Negroes. Clarkson's History of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, Vol. I. p. 152.

[146] Algerine Captive, Vol. I. p. 213.

[147] The African Chief: My Mind and its Thoughts, p. 201.

[148] Weld, Power of Congress over the District of Columbia, p. 29.

[149] Annals of Congress, 1st Cong. 2d Sess., col. 1198.

[150] Debates, etc., of the Massachusetts Convention, February 1 and 6, 1788. Elliot's Debates, Vol. IV. p. 211.

[151] Opinion against the Constitutionality of a National Bank, Feb. 15, 1791: Memoir, Correspondence, etc., Vol. IV. p. 523; Writings, Vol. VII. p. 556. See also Letter to Judge Johnson, June 12, 1823: Memoir, Correspondence, etc., Vol. IV. p. 374; Works, Vol. VII. p. 297.

[152] Debates, etc., of the Massachusetts Convention, February 1, 1788. See also Life of Samuel Adams, by William V. Wells, Vol. III. pp. 271, 272, 325, 331.

[153] Journal of Federal Convention, Supplement, pp. 419, 441, 455. Elliot's Debates, II. 484, III. 211, IV. 223.

[154] The same progression in ancient Rome arrested the observation of Sallust: "Primo pecuniÆ, dein imperii cupido crevit. Ea quasi materies omnium malorum fuere."—Catilina, c. 10

[155] Hor., Carm. I. xxxiv. 3-5.

[156] Case of Sommersett, Howell's State Trials, XX. 51.

[157] Ibid., 81.

[158] Madison's Debates, July 12, 1787.

[159] Madison's Debates, August 21 and 22, 1787.

[160] The Genuine Information delivered to the Legislature of Maryland, etc. p. 36: Appended to Vol. IV. Elliot's Debates.

[161] "Agreed to, nem. con.," are Madison's words.

[162] "Agreed to, nem. con.," are again Madison's words.

[163] No. 42.

[164] Annals of Congress, House and Senate Journals, 15th Cong. 1st Sess.

[165] Matt. v. 19.

[166] Life and Letters of Joseph Story, edited by his Son, Vol. II. p. 396.

[167] Senate Journal, 22d Cong. 1st Sess., pp. 438, 439.

[168] Madison's Debates, Sept. 3, 1787.

[169] Kentucky Resolutions of 1798: Jefferson's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 464. See also Elliot's Debates, Vol. IV., Appendix, p. 380.

[170] Madison's Debates, Sept. 15, 1787.

[171] Annals of Congress, 15th Cong. 1st Sess., March 6, 1818, col. 232.

[172] The rule of the Roman law was explicit: Neque humanum fuerit ob rei pecuniariÆ quÆstlonem libertati moram fieri. This is a text of Ulpian (Digestorum Lib. XL. Tit. V., De Fideicommissariis Libertartibus, 37). In the same spirit is the mediÆval verse,—

"Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro."

[173] Works (ed. 1801), Vol. III. p. 55.

[174] Declaration of Rights, October 14, 1774: Journals of Congress, Vol. I. p. 29.

[175] Commentaries, Vol. II. p. 93.

[176] Argument in Sommersett's Case: Howell's State Trials, XX. 42.

[177] Ibid., 38, 39, note.

[178] Comyns's Digest: Remedy for a Villein, (C. 1,) Nativo Habendo.

[179] Fitzherbert, Natura Brevium, Vol. I. p. 77.

[180] Fitzherbert, Vol. I. p. 77.

[181] Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, Vol. III. p. 119.

[182] Journal of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts Bay, October 24, 1765, pp. 131-138. Hutchinson, Vol. III., Appendix, pp. 472-474.

[183] Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol. V. p. 272.

[184] Ibid.

[185] Journal of the House of Representatives, September 25, 1765, p. 119. Hutchinson, Vol. III., Appendix, pp. 467, 468.

[186] Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol. V. p. 332.

[187] Ibid., 349.

[188] Town Records, MS., September 18; Boston Gazette, September 23, 1765.

[189] Pennsylvania Gazette, October 31, 1765. Annual Register for 1765, p. [53.]

[190] Town Records, MS., March 24: Boston Gazette, March 31, 1766.

[191] Diary, December 18, 1765: Works, Vol. II. p. 154.

[192] Hansard, Parliamentary History, January 28, 1766, Vol. XVI. col. 140.

[193] Ibid., January 14, 1766, Vol. XVI. 104-108.

[194] Speech on the Compromise Measures, December 16, 1851: Congressional Globe, Vol. XXIV, p. 93.

[195] Resolves concerning Slavery, May 1, 1850: Acts and Resolves, 1849-51, p. 519.

[196] The possibility of scandal and commotion was recognized by the great doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, as proper to determine human conduct. According to him, an unjust law is not binding in conscience, nisi forte propter vitandum scandalum vel turbationem.—Summa Theologica, 1ma 2dÆ, QuÆst. XCVI. art. 4.

[197] Hor., Carm. III. vi. 19, 20.

[198] Grimm, Correspondance, FÉvrier, 1786, Tom. XIV. pp. 453, 454.

[199] Deuteronomy, xiv. 21.

[200] This was the number at the delivery of this speech. But the circulation has gone on indefinitely.

[201] Navarrete, Vida de Cervantes, p. 38.

[202] "Art. VI. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: Provided always, that any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid."—Ordinance for the Government of the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, July 13, 1787: Journals of Congress, Vol. XII. pp. 92, 93.

[203] "8.... It is also agreed, that if any servant run away from his master into any of the confederate jurisdictions, that in such case (upon certificate from one magistrate in the jurisdiction out of which the said servant fled, or upon other due proof) the said servant shall be either delivered to his master or any other that pursues and brings such certificate and proof."—Articles of Confederation between the Plantations, etc., May 29, 1643: Hubbard's History of New England, p. 472.

[204] De Laudibus Legum AngliÆ, Cap. XLII.; Coke upon Littleton, 124b. Granville Sharp, in the remarkable testimony already cited (ante, p. 108), quotes Fortescue thus: "For in behalf of Liberty human nature always implores: because Slavery is introduced by man, and for vice; but Liberty is implanted by God in the very nature of man: wherefore, when stolen by man, it always earnestly longs to return; as does everything which is deprived of natural liberty. For which reason the man who does not favor Liberty is to be adjudged impious and cruel. The laws of England acknowledging these principles give favor to Liberty in every case." After this extract from Fortescue, we are reminded that "Slavery is properly declared by one of our oldest English authorities in law, Fleta, to be contrary to Nature (Fleta, 2d edit. p. 1), which expression of Fleta is really a maxim of the Civil or Roman Law"; and then Sharp predicts the time when "our deluded statesmen, lawyers, commercial politicians, and planters shall be compelled to understand that a more forcible expression of illegality and iniquity could not have been used than that by which Slavery is defined in the Roman code, as well as by our English Fleta, i. e. that it is contra naturam, against Nature; for, consequently, it must be utterly illegal, a crime which by the first foundation of English law is justly deemed both impious and cruel", and he adds, "The severity of these expressions cannot be restrained without injustice to the high authorities on which this argument is founded." (Letter to the Maryland Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, etc., pp. 6-8.) This testimony of the great English Abolitionist is reinforced, especially with regard to fugitive slaves, when we consider its publication in 1793 by the Abolition Society of Maryland, with the prefatory observation, that, "in the case of slaves escaping from their masters, the friends of universal liberty are often embarrassed in their conduct by a conflict between their principles and the obligations imposed by unwise and perhaps unconstitutional laws."

[205] Blackstone, Commentaries, Vol. II. p. 94.

[206] De Libero Arbitrio, Lib. I. c. 5. See Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 1ma 2dÆ, QuÆst. XCVI. art. 4; also, Balmez, Protestantism and Catholicity compared in their Effects on the Civilization of Europe, Ch. 53.

[207] Magis iniquitas quam lex, magis violentiÆ quam leges. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., 1ma 2dÆ, QuÆst. XC. art. 1, XCVI. art. 4. The supreme duty to God is recognized in a text of St. Basil, Obediendum est in quibus mandatum Dei non impeditur, quoted by Filmer, Patriarcha, Ch. III. § 3.

[208] De Legibus, Lib. I. capp. 15, 16; Lib. II. capp. 5, 6. The conclusion appears in the dialogue between Cicero and his brother Quintus.

"Marc. Ergo est lex justorum injustorumque distinctio, ad illam antiquissimam et rerum omnium principem expressa naturam....
"Quint. PrÆclare intelligo; nec vero jam aliam esse ullam legem puto non modo habendam, sed ne appellandam quidem."

Among moderns, the AbbÉ de Mably, in an elaborate discussion, adopts the conclusion of Cicero, as well as his treatment of it by dialogue, making his interlocutor, Lord Stanhope, ask, "What other remedy can be applied to this evil than disobedience?" and representing him as "pulverizing without difficulty the miserable commonplaces in opposition."—Des Droits et des Devoirs du Citoyen, Lettre IV.: Œuvres (Paris, 1797), Tom. XI. pp. 249, 251.

Cicero was not alone among ancients in submission to an overruling law, nowhere pictured in greater sovereignty than by Sophocles, in a famous verse of the Œdipus Tyrannus:—

???a? ?? t??t??? Te??, ??d? ????s?e?.
Great in these laws is God, and grows not old.

[209] Versus ad Astralabium Filium: Opera (ed. Cousin), Tom. I. pp. 341, 342.

[210] Fugitive Slave Act, September 18, 1850, Sec. 5.

[211] Relation of the Imprisonment of Mr. John Bunyan, written by Himself: Works (Glasgow, 1853), Vol. I. pp. 59, 60. Balmez, the Spanish divine, whose vindication of the early Catholic Church is a remarkable monument, declares, after careful discussion, "that the rights of the civil power are limited, that there are things beyond its province,—cases in which a man may say, and ought to say, I will not obey." (Protestantism and Catholicity Compared, Ch. 54.) Devices to avoid the enforcement of unjust laws illustrate this righteous disobedience,—as where English juries, before the laws had been made humane, found an article stolen to be less than five shillings in value, in order to save the criminal from capital punishment. In the Diary of John Adams, December 14, 1779, at Ferrol, in Spain, there is a curious instance of law requiring that a convicted parricide should be headed up in a hogshead with an adder, a toad, a dog, and a cat, and then cast into the sea; but in a case that had recently occurred the barbarous law was evaded by painting these animals on a hogshead containing the dead body of the criminal. (Works, Vol. III. p. 233.) In similar spirit, the famous President Jeannin, high in the magistracy and diplomacy of France, when called to a consultation on a mandate of Charles the Ninth, at the epoch of St. Bartholomew, said, "We must obey the sovereign slowly, when he commands in anger"; and he concluded by asking "letters patent before executing orders so cruel." (Biographie Universelle, art. Jeannin Pierre.) The remark of Casimir PÉrier, when Prime-Minister, to Queen Hortense, that it might be "legal" for him to arrest her, but not "just," makes the same distinction. (Guizot, MÉmoires pour servir À l'Histoire de mon Temps, Tom. II. p. 219. See ante. Vol. II. pp. 398, 399.) The case is stated with perfect moderation by Grotius, when he says that human laws have a binding force only when they are made in a humane manner, not if they impose a burden which is plainly abhorrent to reason and Nature,—non si onus injungant quod a ratione et natura plane abhorreat. (De Jure Belli ac Pacis, Lib. III. Cap. XXIII. v. 3; also Lib. I. Cap. IV. vii. 2, 3.) These latter words aptly describe the "burden" imposed by the Slave Act.

Transcriber's Note

The punctuation and spelling are as in the original publication with the exception of the following:

Professor Stearns, who resided in Cambridge, was occucupied …
was changed to
Professor Stearns, who resided in Cambridge, was occupied …

… leaning for support on the great Truimvirate
was changed to
… leaning for support on the great Triumvirate

*******

This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
/4/5/6/3/45637

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be renamed.

1.F.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: www.gutenberg.org

Clyx.com