Part 65 (1/2)

”Allow me to rea.s.sure her Gracious Majesty's Government on that point immediately. The administration will find means of preserving the sovereign power the people have entrusted to it. For example, my lord, I can touch the little bell on my right hand and order the arrest without warrant of a citizen of Ohio. I can touch the little bell on my left hand and order the imprisonment of a citizen of New York; and no power on earth except that of the President, can release them. Can the Queen of Great Britain do as much?”

His lords.h.i.+p left apparently rea.s.sured.

The tinkle of the little bell on the desk of the Secretary of State which had begun to fill the jails of the North with her leading Democratic citizens did not have the same soothing effect on American lawmakers, however. These arrests were made without warrant and the victim held without charges, the right to bail or trial.

The President had dared to suspend the great _writ of habeas corpus_ which guaranteed to every freeman the right to meet his accuser in open court and answer the charge against him.

The att.i.tude of the bold aggressive opposition was voiced on the floor of the House of Representatives in Was.h.i.+ngton in no uncertain language by Daniel Voorhees of Indiana, in a speech whose pa.s.sionate eloquence was only equalled by its reckless daring.

”The present Executive of the Government,” he declared, ”has usurped the powers of Law and Justice to an extent subversive of republican inst.i.tutions, and not to be borne by any free people. He has given access to the vaults of prisons but not to the bar of justice. It is a part of the nature of frail men to sin against laws, both human and divine; but G.o.d Himself guarantees him a fair trial before punishment.

Tyrants alone repudiate the justice of the Almighty. To deny an accused man the right to be heard in his own defense is an echo from the dark ages of brutal despotism. We have in this the most atrocious tyranny that ever feasted on the groans of a captive or banqueted on the tears of the widow and the orphan.

”And yet on this spectacle of shame and horror American citizens now gaze. The great bulwark of human liberty which generations in b.l.o.o.d.y toil have built against the wicked exercise of unlawful power has been torn away by a parricidal hand. Every man to-day from the proudest in his mansion to the humblest in his cabin--all stand at the mercy of one man, and the fawning minions who crouch before him for pay.

”We hear on every side the old cry of the courtier and the parasite. At every new aggression, at every additional outrage, new advocates rise to defend the source of patronage, wealth and fame--the department of the Executive! Such a.s.sistance has always waited on the malignant efforts of tyranny. Nero had his poet laureate, and Seneca wrote a defense even for the murder of his mother. And this dark hour affords us ample evidence that human nature is the same to-day as two thousand years ago.”

Such speeches could not be sent broadcast free of charge through the mails without its effect on the minds of thousands. The great political party in opposition to the administration was now arrayed in solid phalanx against the war itself on whose prosecution the existence of the Nation depended.

Again the Radical wing of his party demanded of the President the impossible.

The Abolitionists had given a tardy and lukewarm support in return for the issue of the Proclamation of Emanc.i.p.ation. Their support lasted but a few days. Through their spokesman, Senator Winter, they demanded now the whole loaf. They had received but half of their real program. They asked for a policy of reconstruction in the parts of Louisiana and Tennessee held by the Union army in accordance with their ideas. They demanded the ballot for every slave, the confiscation of the property of the white people of the South and its bestowment upon negroes and camp-followers as fast as the Union army should penetrate into the States in rebellion.

Senator Winter's argument was based on sound reasoning theoretically whatever might be said of its wisdom as a National policy.

”Your Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation,” he declared to the President, ”provides for the arming and drilling of negro soldiers to fight for the Republic. If they are good enough to fight they are good enough to vote.

The ballot is only another form of the bayonet which we use in time of peace----”

”Correct, Senator,” was the calm reply, ”if we are to allow the negro race to remain in America in physical contact with ours. But we are not going to do this. No greater calamity could befall our people.

Colonization and separation must go hand in hand with the emanc.i.p.ation of these children of Africa. I incorporated this principle in my act of emanc.i.p.ation. I have set my life on the issue of its success. As a matter of theory and abstract right we may grant the suffrage to a few of the more intelligent negroes and the black soldiers we may enroll until they can be removed----”

”Again we deal with a Southerner, Mr. President!” the Senator sneered.

”So be it,” was the quiet answer. ”I have never held any other views.

They were well known before the war. But two years before my election I said in my debate with Douglas:

”'I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way, the social and political equality of the white and black races. I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to inter-marry with white people. I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which, I believe, will forever forbid the two living together on terms of social and political equality.”

”Yet,” the Senator sneered, ”you can change your mind. You said in your Inaugural that you had no intention or right to interfere with the inst.i.tution of Slavery. You did so just the same.”

”As an act of war to save the Union only. But mark you, I have always hated Slavery from principle for the white man's sake as well as the negro's. I am equally determined _on principle_ that the negro race after it is free shall never be absorbed into our social or political life!”

”You'll change your principles or retire to private life!” the old man snapped.

”When I have saved the Union we shall see. Time will indicate the wisdom of my position. I have no longer any ambition except to give the best that's in me to my people.”

The breach between the President and the most powerful leaders of his own party was now complete. It was a difference that was fundamental and irreconcilable. They asked him to extend the autocratic power he wielded to preserve the Union in a time of war to a program of revenge and proscription against the South as it should fall before the advancing army. His answer was simple:

”Secession was void from the beginning. The South shall not be laid waste as conquered territory when the Union is restored. They shall return as our brethren to live with us in peace and good will with the curse of Slavery lifted from them and their children. Nor will I permit the absorption of this black blood into our racial stock to degrade our National character. When free, the negro must return to his own.”