Xxx.
In the time of the Caesars, as the traveler from the
East approached
Rome, over the
Appian Way, he
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passed milestones—some of which are still standing, after two thousand years—telling him how near he was to the
Eternal City.
So, too, those who read our writings of this period, will trace with interest the Measures enacted by our government, which successfully marked the progress we were then making towards Universal Liberty.
One of them will be an Act passed the 3d of June, 1862, recognizing the
Independence of Hayti and
Liberia.
Although it seemed to concern but a handful of people, on the distant African coast, founded by American-born citizens, and fostered by the benevolence of the generous and the good in our own country, and which had, above all other communities on the earth, the first claim to our recognition and friendship; and the other, a people who had successfully achieved their independence in our neighborhood, striking for the same holy cause of Liberty which our fathers struck for; and although they had both vainly looked for official recognition by our Republic, yet the taint of color was on them —the curse of
caste shut them out from the pale of our political charity, although they had encountered no such difficulty with any of the other nations of the globe.
Feeling that this disgrace had rested long enough on our government,
Mr. Lincoln, in his first Annual Message, had proposed the recognition of the independence and sovereignty of Hayti and
Liberia.
Of course, it encountered the bitter opposition of every
Pro-Slavery Senator, and every hater of the colored race.
A resolution had been introduced into the Senate as long ago as July 1st, 1836; and again in January and March of the following year.
But with the exception of that venerable
Sage and apostle of Liberty,
John Quincy Adams, scarcely a voice was heard in either
House in
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advocacy of the measure.
Mr. Hamilton, of
South Carolina, declared that Haytien independence could not be tolerated in any form; and his colleague,
Mr. Hayne, not only deprecated any such recognition, but demanded that our ministers in
South America and
Mexico, should
protest against the independence of Hayti.
Mr. Legare, also of the same State, opposed it violently.
He was an accomplished scholar; but even the amenities of literary culture had not gained any covert in his breast, where sympathy with black men struggling for elevation could find shelter He said that the memorial originated in a design to revolutionize the
South, and convulse the
Union.
‘As sure as you live, sir,’ was his prophecy, ‘if this course is permitted to go on, the sun of this Union will go down in blood, and go down to rise no more.
I will vote unhesitatingly against nefarious designs like these.
They are treason!’
Better things than those surely were to be hoped from
Mr. Benton, of
Missouri, who prided himself on being considered the ‘illuminated’
Senator.
Even he used this language: ‘The peace of eleven States in this Union will not permit the fruits of a successful negro insurrection to be exhibited among them.’
And all this while the sacred form of Liberty lay crushed under the wheels of the
Slavery Juggernaut.
But the victims of this national idol were not to be forever offered up—these immolations in our
Temple dedicated to the Goddess of Liberty were to cease.
