C. Edwards Lester, Life and public services of Charles Sumner: Born Jan. 6, 1811. Died March 11, 1874.

Xlii.

It was the sentiment of that great Apostle of Freedom, Benjamin Franklin, uttered during the trials of the Revolution, that, ‘Where Liberty is, there is my country.’ In similar strain, I would say, ‘Where Liberty is, there is my party.’ Such an organization is now happily constituted here in Massachusetts, and in all the Free States, under the name of the Republican party.

In assuming our place as a distinct party, we simply give form and direction, in harmony with the usage and genius of popular governments, to a movement which stirs the whole country, and does not find an adequate and constant organ in either of the other existing parties. The early opposition to Slavery was simply a sentiment, out-gushing from the hearts of the sensitive and humane. In the lapse of time it became a determined principle, inspiring larger numbers, and showing itself first in an organized endeavor to resist the annexation of slaveholding Texas; next, to prohibit Slavery in newly acquired territories: and now, alarmed by the overthrow of all rights in Kansas, and the domination of the Slave Oligarchy throughout the Republic, it breaks forth in a stronger effort, a wider union, and a deeper channel inspiring yet larger numbers and firmer resolves, while opposite quarters contribute to its power—even as the fountain, first out-gushing from the weeping sides of its pure mountain home, trickles in the rill, leaps in the [222] torrent, and flows in the river, till at last, swollen with accumulated waters, it presses onward, forever onward, in irresistible beneficent current, fertilizing and uniting the spaces which it traverses, washing the feet of cities, and wooing states to repose upon its banks.

Our party has its origin in the exigencies of the hour. Vowing ourselves against Slavery wherever it exists, whether enforced by the Russian knout, the Turkish bastinado, or the lash of the Carolina planter, we do not seek to interfere with it at Petersburg, Constantinople, or Charleston; nor does any such grave duty rest upon us. Our political duties are properly limited by our political responsibilities; and we are in no just sense responsible for the local law or usage by which human bondage in these places is upheld. But wherever we are responsible for the wrong, there our duty begins. The object to which, as a party, we are pledged, is all contained in the acceptance of the issue which the Slave Oligarchy tenders. To its repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and its imperious demand that Kansas shall be surrendered to Slavery, we reply, that Freedom shall be made the universal law of all the national domain, without compromise, and that hereafter no Slave State shall be admitted into the Union. To its tyrannical assumption of supremacy in the National Government, we reply that the Slave Oligarchy shall be overthrown. Such is the practical purpose of the Republican Party.

It is to uphold and advance this cause, that we have come together, leaving the parties to which we have been respectively attached. Now, in the course of human events, it becomes our duty to dissolve the political bands which bound us to the old organizations, and to assume a separate existence. Our Declaration of Independence has been made. Let us, in the spirit of our Fathers, pledge ourselves to sustain it with our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. In thus associating and harmonizing from opposite quarters, in order to promote a common cause, we have learned to forget former differences, and to appreciate the motives of each other. We have learned how trivial are the matters on which we may disagree, compared with the Great Issue on which we all agree. Old prejudices have vanished. Even the rancors of political antagonism have been changed and dissolved, as in a potent alembic, by the natural irresistible affinities of Freedom. In our union we have ceased to wear the badges of either of the old organizations. We have become a new party, distinct, independent, permanent, under a new name, with Liberty as our watchword, and our flag inscribed, ‘By this sign conquer.’

Again, it is objected that the Republican party is against the Union, [223] and we are reminded of the priceless blessings which come from this fountain. Here is another bugbear. With us the Union is not the object of mere lip service, but it is cherished in simple sincerity, as the aged Lear was loved by his only faithful daughter, ‘according to her bond, no more nor less.’ Our party does nothing against the Union, but everything for it. It strives to guard those great principles which the Union was established to secure, and thus to keep it ever worthy of our love. It seeks to overthrow that baleful Oligarchy, under which the Union has been changed from a vessel of honor to a vessel of dishonor. In this patriot work it will persevere, regardless of menace from any quarter. Not that I love the Union less but Freedom more, do I now, in pleading this great cause, insist that Freedom, at all hazards, shall be preserved. God forbid, that for the sake of the Union, we should sacrifice the very things for which the Union was made.

And yet again, it is objected that ours is a party of a single idea. This is a phrase, and nothing more. The party may not recognize certain measures of public policy, deemed by some of special importance; but it does what is better, and what other parties fail to do. It acknowledges that beneficent principle, which, like the great central light, vivifies all, and without which all is dark and sterile. The moving cause and the animating soul of our party, is the idea of Freedom. But this idea is manifold in character and influence. It is the idea of the Declaration of Independence. It is the great idea of the founders of the Republic. It is the idea which combined our Fathers on the heights of Bunker Hill; which carried Washington through a seven years war; which inspired Lafayette; which touched with coals of fire the lips of Adams, Otis, and Patrick Henry. Ours is an idea, which is at least noble and elevating; it is an idea which draws in its train virtue, goodness, and all the charities of life, all that makes earth a home of improvement and happiness—

Her track, where'er the goddess roves,
Glory pursues, and generous shame,
The unconquerable mind and Freedom's holy flame.

Thus do all objections disappear, even as the mists of morning before the sun, rejoicing like a strong man to run his race. The Republican party stands vindicated in every particular. It only remains that I should press the question with which I began—‘Are you for Freedom, or are you for Slavery?’ As it is right to be taught by the [224] enemy, let us derive instruction from the Oligarchy we oppose. The three hundred and forty-seven thousand slave-masters are always united. Hence their strength. Like arrows in a quiver, they cannot be broken. The friends of Freedom have thus far been divided. They, too, must be united. In the crisis before us, it becomes you all to forget ancient feuds, and those names which have been the signal of strife. There is no occasion to remember anything but our duties. When the fire-bell rings at midnight, we do not ask if it be Whigs or Democrats, Protestants or Catholics, natives or foreigners, who join our efforts to extinguish the flames; nor do we ask any such question in selecting our leader then. Men of all parties, Whigs and Democrats, or however named, let me call upon you to come forward and join in a common cause. Do not hesitate. When Freedom is in danger, all who are not for her are against her. The penalty of indifference, in such a cause, is akin to the penalty of opposition; as is well pictured by the great Italian poet, when, among the saddest on the banks of Acheron—rending the air with outcries of torment, shrieks of anger, and smiting of hands—he finds the troop of dreary souls who had been ciphers only in the great conflicts of life:

Mingled with whom, of their disgrace the proof,
Are the vile angels who did not rebel,
Nor kept their faith to God, but stood aloof.

Come forth, then, from the old organizations; let us range together. Come forth, all who have stood aloof from parties; here is an opportunity for action. You who place principles above men! come forward. All who feel in any way the wrong of Slavery, take your stand! Join us, ye lovers of Truth, of Justice, of Humanity! And let me call especially upon the young. You are the natural guardians of liberty. In your firm resolves and generous souls she will find her surest protection. The young man who is not willing to serve in her cause—to suffer, if need be, for her—gives little promise of those qualities which secure an honorable age.

fellow-citizens: We found now a new party. Its corner-stone is Freedom. Its broad, all-sustaining arches are Truth, Justice, and Humanity. Like the ancient Roman Capitol, at once a Temple and a Citadel, it shall be the fit shrine for the genius of American Institutions.