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XXIX.
The next measure that came up before the Senate, on which Mr. Sumner spoke at any length, was the bill for the Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia, March 31, 1862. On the 16th of April it was approved by the President, who sent a message expressing gratification ‘that the two principles, compensation and colonization, are both recognized and practically applied in the act.’ The bill had been introduced into the Senate by Mr. Wilson, to provide for a commission to appraise the claims on account of the slaves liberated, limiting their allowance, in the aggregate, to an amount equal to three hundred dollars a slave, and appropriating one million dollars to pay loyal owners; to which Mr. Doo-little added the amendment, appropriating one hundred thousand dollars for the colonization of slaves who desired to emigrate to Hayti or Liberia. ‘For,’ as Mr. Lincoln said of himself, ‘I am so far behind the Sumner lighthouse, that I still stick to my old colonization hobby.’ But Mr. Sumner, who preferred half a loaf to no bread, was willing to vote money for emancipation, as a ransom. While he disclaimed the title of the master to any remuneration whatever, he regarded it as a good beginning, of which he prophetically saw a better end. It was a blow levelled at Slavery outside of the District, as well as in it, and unmistakably proclaimed the power and duty of Congress over the whole subject. Congratulations came from all sides, but the best was from Frederick Douglass, himself a redeemed slave. He wrote to Mr. Sumner:I want only a moment of your time to give you my thanks for your great speech in the Senate on the Bill for the Abolition of Slavery in
