Mr. Foster (of Connecticut). Will the honorable Senator allow me to ask him a question?
Mr. Sumner. Certainly.
Mr. Foster. I will ask the honorable Senator if he is not fully prepared to vote on the question.
Mr. Sumner. I certainly am prepared to vote on it.
Mr. Foster. I will merely say I am.
Mr. Sumner. … I think, on his account, it would be well that the question should be postponed for another day. It is never too late to mend; and it is not impossible that even the Senator, coming from New England, representing, as I doubt not he does, liberal ideas, devoted as he must be to the cause of Human Freedom and of his country, may think there is something in this question to justify the most mature consideration,—something on which the Senate ought to deliberate carefully, without rushing precipitately to a vote. Sir, this question ought not to be closed to-night, and I therefore move an adjournment; and on that I ask for the yeas and nays.
The motion was lost,—Yeas 11, Nays 18.
Mr. Trumbull then appealed for a vote, saying: “The Senator from Massachusetts has fought it day after day to prevent it coming up; and when a large majority of the Senate has overruled him time and again, and decided that it should come up, he stands here, at half after ten o’clock on Saturday night, making dilatory motions.” He also protested against what he called “manifestations of a determination to browbeat the Senate on the part of a minority.” Mr. Sumner followed.
The Senator from Illinois draws upon his imagination, which, on this occasion, is peculiarly lively. I know not that anybody has undertaken to browbeat. Certainly nobody on the side with which I am associated has done any such thing, or, I believe, imagined doing it.
Mr. Trumbull. I heard it said that there should be no vote to-night.
Mr. Sumner. Well, Sir, is that browbeating?
Mr. Trumbull. I think it is undertaking to decide for the Senate.
Mr. Sumner. Is that browbeating? No, Sir; it is only undertaking to decide the conduct of an individual Senator with regard to an important public measure. The question between the Senator from Illinois and myself is simply this: he wishes to pass the measure, and I do not wish to pass it. He thinks the measure innocent; I think it dangerous, and, thinking it dangerous, I am justified in opposing it, and in employing all the means to be found in our arsenal. But, Sir, I mean to employ them properly and in a parliamentary way. In no other way can I act in this Chamber.
The Senator is entirely mistaken, if he supposes that this measure can be passed to-night. I tell him it cannot. Parliamentary Law is against him; and the importance of the question justifies a resort to every instrument that Parliamentary Law supplies. The Senator knows it well. I need not even suggest it.
And now, Sir, I have to counsel the Senator,—perhaps he would say that I am taking too great a liberty, and even dictating,—but I would first advise the Senator to look at the clock. He will see that on this evening of Saturday it is twenty-five minutes of eleven,—that it is approaching Sunday. Then let him remember that we have been here all day, and ask himself whether, all things considered, it is advisable to press such a revolutionary measure after this protracted session, and at this late hour. I think his better judgment will come to the conclusion that it is not. At any rate, should he not come to that conclusion, I think he will make a mistake, and all his efforts will be fruitless. There is a certain character of Antiquity who was found sowing salt in the sand by the sea-shore, and ploughing it in. The Senator will be engaged in an occupation just about as profitable.
Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, then moved a call of the Senate, which being ruled out of order, as never entertained by the Senate, Mr. Sumner moved an adjournment, which was lost,—Yeas 8, Nays 19. In the desultory debate that ensued, Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, criticized Mr. Sumner, who replied. Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, followed, and, in the course of his remarks, said: “The question is, What is to be done with the four million negroes, when they are set free? There are Senators upon the Republican side who feel that it is a very troublesome question. That is the trouble here to-night.… The Senator from Massachusetts is determined that none of these States shall ever be heard in the Halls of Congress, until the men who speak from those States speak the voice of the negroes as well as of the white men. Other Senators say that shall not be. We Democrats are a unit upon that question.” On motion of Mr. Lane, of Kansas, the Senate adjourned shortly before midnight, leaving the resolution pending.
February 27th, the resolution came up in regular order, when Mr. Sherman moved to proceed with the Internal Revenue Bill, and then called attention to the Indian Appropriation Bill, the Civil Appropriation Bill, the Tariff Bill, also the Army and Navy Appropriation Bills, all of which must be considered before March 4th, when the session closed. In the debate that followed, Mr. Sumner said:—
Mr. President,—I remember that good fortune last summer threw me in the path of a distinguished gentleman just returned from Louisiana. I think he had been present at the sittings of the Convention whose work finds such an advocate in my friend from Illinois; at any rate, he had been in New Orleans at the time, in the discharge of important public duties. In reply to an inquiry with regard to that Convention, he said compendiously, that it was “nothing but a stupendous hoax,”—yes, Sir, nothing but a stupendous hoax, and the product of that Convention——
Here Mr. Sumner was called to order by Mr. Sherman, for discussing the merits of the measure, when only the order of business was in question. He was also interrupted by Mr. Grimes, of Iowa, who said, that, if the Senate would give him a committee, he would show fraudulent voting.
Mr. Sumner. I doubt not that my friend from Iowa is right; but I am aware that it is not proper to discuss the merits of the question on this preliminary motion, and I shall not. I was simply characterizing it, and I was going on to say that in my opinion the resolution the Senator from Illinois so earnestly presses upon the Senate, when we consider its origin and character, is itself very little different from “a stupendous hoax.” I say nothing about the Convention, for I was not there, I did not see it. On that point I simply cite the testimony of another. But the resolution of the Senator is before us; we are familiar with its nature. Every moment gives new glimpses of the violence and fraud with which it is associated. Perhaps the expression I have quoted is hardly grave enough in speaking of such a matter, where, in forming the Constitution of a State, military power and injustice to a whole race have been enlisted in defiance of the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence. The United States are bound by the Constitution to “guaranty to every State in this Union a republican form of government.” Being called to perform this guaranty, you are asked to recognize an oligarchy of the skin, and on this very question the Senate is now called to vote.
The pretended State Government in Louisiana is utterly indefensible, whether you look at its origin or its character. To describe it, I must use plain language. It is a mere seven-month’ abortion, begotten by the bayonet in criminal conjunction with the spirit of caste, and born before its time, rickety, unformed, unfinished,—whose continued existence will be a burden, a reproach, and a wrong. That is the whole case; and yet the Senator from Illinois now presses it upon the Senate, to the exclusion of the important public business of the country. For instance,——
Here Mr. Sherman insisted on confining the debate to the pending motion. The vote was then taken, and resulted,—Yeas 34, Nays 12; so the resolution for the admission of Louisiana was postponed, never to be resumed.
During the next Congress, Mr. Sumner urged a bill for the organization of Louisiana, with safeguards for Equal Rights, including suffrage without distinction of color; but the Senate was not inclined to consider it.
The failure of the Louisiana resolution attracted attention at the time. Some journals spoke of Mr. Sumner’s course with severity; others were rejoiced at the result. The New York Herald said:—
“The factious opposition of Mr. Sumner has probably defeated the recognition of the new government of Louisiana by the Senate at the present session, … although probably two thirds of the Senate are in favor of recognition.”
One journal said, in figurative language, that Mr. Sumner had “kicked the pet scheme of the President down the marble steps of the Senate Chamber,” and that, as a consequence, the intimate relations which he had sustained with the President must cease.
President Lincoln was too good a man to be influenced by an honest opposition on political grounds. A few days later, Mr. Sumner received from him the following note.
“Executive Mansion, Washington, March 5, 1865.
“Hon. C. Sumner.
“My dear Sir,—I should be pleased for you to accompany us to-morrow evening, at ten o’clock, on a visit of half an hour to the Inaugural Ball. I enclose a ticket. Our carriage will call for you at half past nine.
“Yours truly,
“A. Lincoln.”
At the appointed time the carriage was at Mr. Sumner’s lodgings. During the ball he was with the Presidential party, which gave occasion to comment; the New York Herald remarking, “It was presumed that the President had indorsed his Reconstruction theories.” There is reason to believe that he had not; but he recognized the right of Mr. Sumner to his own individual judgment.
The following extract from the letter of a newspaper correspondent at Washington illustrates the course of the President towards Mr. Sumner.
“Mrs. Lincoln went down the Potomac this morning for City Point and Richmond, escorted by Mr. Sumner, who remains in Washington to exert his influence in the right direction in closing up the war. Nor let any man suppose that Mr. Sumner’s influence is slight over this Administration, when Congress is in session. I know of no man who has more. The President disagrees entirely with Mr. Sumner in his views respecting Reconstruction. He was almost indignant at the Senator’s course towards Louisiana, adverting to it over and over again in the presence of strangers. But still he respects Mr. Sumner, confers with him, and perhaps fears him. Besides, the Senator has great influence with Mr. Stanton and Mr. Welles. Mr. Sumner is a clever diplomatist, and has always been friendly with Mr. Lincoln. So long as ‘peace negotiations’ are talked of, Mr. Sumner will not leave Washington but for a day or two, I presume.”
The effort of Mr. Sumner on the Louisiana question found a warm and cordial response, as amply appears from letters at the time.
Wendell Phillips wrote from Boston:—
“Though I have but half an hour at home, I cannot let it pass without thanking you for your gallant fight against Louisiana. Your tireless patience in carrying in detail one point after another of the enemy’s defences, all winter long, has not passed without our grateful admiration; the masterly strategy of the last week is the grand and fitting climax,—all the more grateful, because we had been told you felt the resistance so hopeless as to fear you must succumb to the dictation of the Cabinet. We have watched your white plume with fearful delight. Could we only hope this defeat would be final, our joy would be unmixed. At any rate, the effort will bear fruit thousand-fold.”
Hon. Francis W. Bird wrote from Boston:—
“Let me thank you most heartily for your gallant fight against Louisiana. I hope it will be powerful to the end. I can see it was against fearful odds, and all the more splendid.”
Dr. Estes Howe wrote from Cambridge:—
“I don’t trouble you much with letters, but I must thank and congratulate you most warmly on your splendid fight and great victory in the Bogus Louisiana struggle. Some weak-kneed Republicans who rejoice at the result did not know at first whether to rejoice or not, when they saw what tools you had to work with; but your true friends, who have their eyes open, are full of joy, and all the rest will fall into line as soon as the great truth becomes apparent to them.”
Hon. Edward L. Pierce wrote from Boston:—
“God bless you a thousand times for your indomitable resistance to the admission of Louisiana with her caste system! This afternoon some forty gentlemen dined at Bird’s room, and all, nemine dissentiente, approved it, and with full praise.”
Joel P. Bishop, the learned law-writer, and author of a much used work on Criminal Law, wrote from Boston:—
“Blessings on you! You have done in this Louisiana matter an excellent work, for which some of your friends thank you less now than they will by-and-by.”
Hon. Charles W. Slack, an Antislavery journalist, wrote from Boston:—
“Thanks!—hearty, cordial, continued thanks!—for your brave and persistent opposition to Louisiana.
“There is a very much larger share of the community who will sustain you than at first thought may be supposed.
“The idea of negro suffrage in the disloyal States grows daily in favor and advocacy among business men.”
William S. Robinson, the journalist, known as “Warrington,” wrote:—
“I cannot sit down to my work this morning, albeit pressed for time, without giving you the homage of my sincere admiration and respect for killing Louisiana, at least pro tempore. Thanks! thanks! thanks!”
General William L. Burt, afterwards Postmaster of Boston, who had served in Louisiana during the Rebellion, wrote:—
“I congratulate you upon your defeat of the Louisiana Bill. Your action was not only justifiable, but commendable,—doubly so in view of the fact of your concession upon the Reconstruction Bill.… The complaints made by the Administration, or its friends, of the means you took to prevent the fraud upon you and the people, are a compliment, first, to your sagacity, and, secondly, to your skill and ability. You will be vindicated a hundred times before December.”
Colonel Albert J. Wright, having great influence in the local politics of Boston, wrote:—
“Something must be done in Boston. Some of your admiring friends here, who at first, in the midst of the muddle of telegraphic despatches, had some misgivings in regard to your action on ‘Reconstruction’ questions before the Senate, have had their eyes opened, and now feel that you have rendered a great service to the country in battling manfully for the rights of humanity,—that you have done right, and saved us from a new disaster. Of course we must have a great meeting at the Music Hall, and give you an ovation: nothing less will satisfy us.”
F. B. Sanborn wrote from Concord, Massachusetts:—
“Allow me to add my congratulations to those of your other friends on your successful opposition to the Louisiana scheme of Reconstruction. I look upon you as the real destroyer of that fine web of intrigue and absurdity so carefully spun.”
Henry O. Stone wrote from Framingham, Massachusetts:—
“Although an humble and obscure individual, I cannot refrain from thanking you for your persistent resistance to the admission into Congress of the Louisiana claimants. I feel as if you ought to have personal acknowledgment from every one in Massachusetts who can appreciate your just and patriotic motives and wise statesmanship. I know you will be accused of factious opposition to the Administration and the President; but there are those who believe your opposition comes from a desire to do justice, not only to the blacks, but to the poor whites, and to establish the Government upon the only permanent and safe foundation on true democratic principles.”
Hon. Adin Thayer wrote from Worcester:—
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your heroic and successful opposition to the Louisiana fraud. Nothing you have ever done better deserves the gratitude of the country and of mankind.”
Elizur Wright, one of our earliest Abolitionists, wrote from Boston:—
“Your keeping out the sham State of Louisiana is worth, in my estimation, any three average military victories. I would give the United States Treasury half I am worth to have Congress, the next thing it does on the subject, decide black suffrage as the ‘inexorable condition’ of readmission.”
Rev. A. P. Marvin wrote from Winchendon, Massachusetts:—
“I have just risen from reading in the telegraphic despatch of the noble stand made by you in the Senate last night, by which the admission of Louisiana is staved off for the present. I have often fervently thanked God that you were in your present position, and enabled to do so much to prevent evil and accomplish good,—but never more earnestly than now. I know it must be hard to withstand so many of the supporters of the Administration, but the battle must be fought on the very question involved in this measure. It will not only be wicked and infamous, but suicidal, for us to let the greater part of the rank and file of the Rebels come back and be voters, while we exclude our colored countrymen. I hope strength will be given to you, according to your day; as to your zeal, courage, ability, and prudence, nothing is wanting.”
Rev. George C. Beckwith, Secretary of the American Peace Society, wrote from Boston:—
“I have just been reading, with my wife, some account of your course on the Louisiana question; and we can’t help sending you our thanks for your persistent efforts to avert the very possible evils likely to come from a wrong decision in this case. God grant you success in preventing here a precedent that may lead to irretrievable mischief!”
Rev. George B. Cheever, the constant Abolitionist, wrote from New York:—
“Permit me the pleasure of congratulating you on the firm and noble stand you are maintaining in the Senate for the rights of loyal men in Louisiana, irrespective of color, and for the prerogative of Congress, as well as its obligation, to settle the government of that State as a republican government. Your efforts are so much the more admirable and important as they are opposed by mistaken Senators, such as Trumbull and Doolittle, and by some of our editors, as of the Times. The heart of the country goes with you, not with your opponents. It would be a terrible disaster to have the precedent set of a State readmitted to the Union with the sacrifice of the rights of the blacks. Your resolutions of Saturday, as well as the amendment you proposed, were admirable. The victory will be worth everything, if you can carry something of that kind.”
A. P. Hayden wrote from New York:—
“I cannot let this opportunity pass of thanking you for the manner in which you have stood by the colored people of Louisiana,—almost the only out-and-out Loyalists of that State. I agree with you that any settlement of the question that will not put the ballot into their hands will create mischief that will take a long time to remedy. When I read in this morning’s Tribune of the vote to postpone the Louisiana matter until December, I felt as if a great moral as well as political battle had been won by our side.”
Dr. J. B. Smith, giving expression to the feelings of colored citizens in a letter from Boston, said:—
“I know of no words of any language adequate to convey to you the gratitude I feel in my inmost soul towards you for your efforts and final success in defeating the bill for the readmission of Louisiana as a State into the Union, with the present flagrantly unjust and proscriptive laws and Constitution. The white people of this country have been so accustomed to regard and treat us as their natural inferiors, that we dread the very thought of submitting to them the adjustment of our rights after their own are made secure. What is not gained for us now will not be obtained for a quarter of a century after peace is declared.”
Frederick Douglass, the watchful orator of his race, wrote from Rochester, New York:—
“The friends of Freedom all over the country have looked to you, and confided in you, of all men in the United States Senate, during all this terrible war. They will look to you all the more, now that peace dawns, and the final settlement of our national troubles is at hand. God grant you strength equal to your day and your duties! is my prayer and that of millions.”
In harmony with these expressions, the following resolution was adopted unanimously by the Worcester Freedom Club, and communicated to Mr. Sumner:—
“Resolved, That the ‘Worcester Freedom Club’ tenders to the Hon. Charles Sumner their gratitude as freemen, for the able manner in which he met the question for the admission of Louisiana, and for his noble defence of the ‘Equality of all men before the Law.’”
Evidently Mr. Sumner was not alone. The right of colored fellow-citizens was recognized as next in order for discussion and judgment. The Antislavery fires were flaming forth anew.
Resolutions in the Senate, February 25, 1865.
While the resolution recognizing the existing State government of Louisiana was under consideration, Mr. Sumner introduced the following resolutions, which, on his motion, were ordered to be printed. He gave notice that at the proper time he should move them as a substitute for the pending resolution. But before the proper time the Louisiana resolution was postponed, and it fell with the session.
Resolutions declaring the duty of the United States to guaranty Republican Governments in the Rebel States, on the basis of the Declaration of Independence; so that the new Governments shall be founded on the consent of the governed, and the Equality of all persons before the Law.
Resolved, That it is the duty of the United States, by Act of Congress, at the earliest practicable moment consistent with the common defence and the general welfare, to reëstablish republican governments in those States where loyal governments have been vacated by the existing Rebellion, and thus, to the full extent of their power, fulfil the requirement of the Constitution, that “the United States shall guaranty to every State in this Union a republican form of government.”
2. That this important duty is positively imposed by the Constitution on “the United States,” and not on individuals or classes of individuals, or on any military commander or executive officer, and cannot be intrusted to any such persons, acting, it may be, for an oligarchical class, and in disregard of large numbers of loyal people; but it must be performed by the United States, represented by the President and both Houses of Congress, acting for the whole people.
3. That, in determining the extent of this duty, and in the absence of any precise definition of the term “republican in form,” we cannot err, if, when called to perform this guaranty, we adopt the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence as an authoritative rule, and insist that in every reëstablished State the consent of the governed shall be the only just foundation of government, and all persons shall be equal before the law.
4. That, outside the Declaration of Independence, it is plain that any duty imposed by the Constitution must be performed in conformity with justice and reason, and in the light of existing facts; that therefore, in the performance of this guaranty, there can be no power under the Constitution to disfranchise loyal people, or to recognize any such disfranchisement, especially when it may hand over the loyal majority to the government of the disloyal minority; nor can there be any power under the Constitution to discriminate in favor of the Rebellion by admitting to the electoral franchise Rebels who have forfeited all rights, and excluding loyal persons who have never forfeited any right.
5. That the United States, now at a crisis of history called to perform this guaranty, will fail in duty under the Constitution, should they allow the reëstablishment of any State without proper safeguards for the rights of all the citizens, and especially without making it impossible for Rebels in arms against the National Government to trample upon the rights of those fighting the battles of the Union.
6. That the path of justice is also the path of peace, and that for the sake of peace it is better to obey the Constitution, and, in conformity with the guaranty, to reëstablish State governments on the consent of the governed, and the equality of all persons before the law, to the end that the foundations may be permanent, and that no loyal majorities may be again overthrown or ruled by any oligarchical class.
7. That a government founded on military power, or having its origin in military orders, cannot be “republican in form,” according to the requirement of the Constitution; and that its recognition will be contrary, not only to the Constitution, but also to that essential principle of our Government which, in the language of Jefferson, establishes “the supremacy of the civil over the military authority.”[180]
8. That, in the States whose governments have already been vacated, a government founded on an oligarchical class, even if erroneously recognized as “republican in form” under the guaranty of the Constitution, cannot sustain itself securely without national support; that such an oligarchical government is not competent at this moment to discharge the duties and execute the powers of a State; and that its recognition as a legitimate government will tend to enfeeble the Union, to postpone the day of reconciliation, and to endanger the national tranquillity.
9. That considerations of expediency are in harmony with the requirements of the Constitution and the dictates of justice and reason, especially now, when colored soldiers have shown their military value; that, as their muskets are needed for the national defence against Rebels in the field, so are their ballots yet more needed against the subtle enemies of the Union at home; and that without their support at the ballot-box the cause of human rights and of the Union itself will be in constant peril.
Remarks in the Senate, on Joint Resolution authorizing a Contract with William H. Powell, February 27, 1865.
February 27th, the Senate having under consideration a joint resolution from the House of Representatives, authorizing a contract with William H. Powell for a picture at the Capitol, not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars in amount, Mr. Sumner said:—
MR. PRESIDENT,—I am sorry that my friend from Vermont [Mr. Collamer] feels obliged to press this proposition. I do not like to vote against it. Still more, I am reluctant to speak against it. But, satisfied as I am, after careful reflection, that it ought not to pass, I shall express briefly the grounds of my opposition. When it was called up the other day, I ventured to say that I did not think this the time for us to enter upon the patronage of art. Of course such patronage is beautiful and most tempting. It may seem ungracious to arrest it; but I submit confidently, that at this moment, with the national debt accumulating at the rate of millions a day, with brave soldiers still unpaid, with a drain upon our resources at every point, it is not advisable to enter upon the patronage of art, beautiful and most tempting as it is.
There is much to be done to complete the National Capitol in all its parts. Let the work proceed, until the sublime structure stands forth worthy in everything of the destinies it enshrines. But I think we may hesitate at this time to enter upon any ornamentation not essential to the work. If you order one costly picture, you will be called to order another; and where will this expenditure stop? Better wait for the days of peace, soon to come, I trust, when your means will be greater, and you will approach the question in a calmer mood.
Thus far I have said nothing of the artist. But the vote proposed selects one artist for especial honor, and leaves all others unnoticed. It is like a vote of thanks to an officer in the army or navy. Are the merits of this artist so peculiar and commanding that he should be taken and all others left? I doubt. At least, I know that there are other artists in the country who deserve well of those who assume the patronage of art. Are you ready, in this off-hand way, without inquiry, without even hearing their names, to discriminate against them all? I put these questions in no spirit of criticism, and certainly in no unkindness to the artist, for whom, let me say, I have a sincere regard. There is already one picture by him in the Capitol. A second would be more than enough.
Then, again, are you sure that the subject selected at the present time would be such as a maturer and more chastened taste could approve? This is a period of war. We are all under its influence. But I doubt if it be desirable to keep before us any picture of war, especially of a war with fellow-citizens. There are moral triumphs to which art may better lend its charms. I need only refer to the Proclamation of Emancipation, which belongs to the great events of history.
I send to the Chair an amendment, to come in at the end of the resolution:—
“Provided, That in the National Capitol, dedicated to the National Union, there shall be no picture of a victory in battle with our own fellow-citizens.”
In the debate that ensued, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, said: “I rise more especially to say that I disagree with my colleague altogether in the proposition that no work of art shall grace the Capitol of this country that represents anything of the present war of a military or naval character. I do not believe in that doctrine.” Mr. Howe, of Wisconsin, said: “If there were any one proposition which could make the original resolution more distasteful to me than it is in itself, it would be the proviso moved by the Senator from Massachusetts.”
February 28th, the amendment of Mr. Sumner was rejected without a division.
Mr. Sumner then offered another:—
“Provided, That no contract shall be made, until after a competition among the artists of the country, all of whom shall have an opportunity of offering themselves as candidates, and of exhibiting designs for the proposed picture; and the committee shall postpone any contract with Mr. Powell, until they shall be satisfied, after such competition, that he is the most meritorious artist.”
This also was lost,—Yeas 15, Nays 23,—as also another amendment, to purchase of F. B. Carpenter his picture of “The Emancipation Proclamation,” instead of a picture from Mr. Powell, for which there were only two votes. The resolution was then passed.
Among those who expressed sympathy with Mr. Sumner on this occasion was General Robert Anderson, who commanded at Fort Sumter. He wrote:—
“I am glad to see that you, like myself, are looking forward to the time when this Rebellion shall end, and do not wish to see perpetuated, on canvas or in marble, a trace of its having existed.”[181]
Remarks in the Senate, on an Amendment to the Internal Revenue Act, making Books free, February 27, 1865.
February 27th, the Senate had under consideration a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Act, by striking out of the clause relating to printed books the word “magazines,” and by inserting after the word “newspapers” the words “and periodical magazines,” so that it would read: “On all printed books, pamphlets, reviews, and all other similar printed books, except newspapers and periodical magazines, a duty of five per cent ad valorem.” In commenting on this proposition and another adopted by the House, Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, remarked: “I almost became a convert to the idea of the Senator from Massachusetts, and that it would be better to strike out the whole clause, rather than to attempt to make these discriminations and qualifications and exceptions.” Mr. Sumner followed.
I am very glad to hear the Senator from Ohio say that he had become almost a convert to the idea of removing all tax on books. He reminded me of a certain person who was “almost persuaded to be a Christian.” I think it would be better for the Senator, had he become a complete convert. I am sure his influence would be better for the country.
I speak from no motive of self, and from no personal interest whatever, but from a profound conviction that for the best interests of the country there should be no tax on books. What you can extort out of this tax, in any event, is very small; and it is always a tax on knowledge. Look at it as you will, to that complexion it comes at last. I do not think it worth while for Congress to adopt such a tax. It is the boast of our institutions that they stand upon the intelligence of the people, and it is a further boast that we supply education for all at the public cost; but books are indispensable in this benefaction. Every tax upon books, therefore, is an impediment to that education which is the pride of our country. Plainly it is inconsistent with the genius of our institutions. The result of this tax will be petty, but, to the extent of its influence, prejudicial.
Mr. Sumner moved to strike out the whole clause. Then, in reply to Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, he remarked:—
The Senator from New Hampshire does not quite like to tax the Bible. Sir, I do not like to tax it. My proposition is broader than his; but he knows very well that the real signification of Bible is book.
Mr. Clark. Not in our language.
Mr. Sumner. I do not know about that. The Senator does plead, however, for the manufacturer of the shirt, whose shop is by the side of the bookseller; but the difference between the two cases is, as I have indicated: that, if you tax the book, you tax knowledge; if you tax the shirt, you but tax one of the general manufactures of the country. The distinction may not be accepted by all; and yet to my mind it is perfectly clear. You cannot tax a book without taxing knowledge. But it is said there are books that might very well be taxed out of existence. Where run the line? How make the discrimination? The trouble is more than it is worth. Better, therefore, have no such tax than run any such line or make any such discrimination. A book is a book; and there should be no tax on a book.
Afterwards, in reply to Mr. Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, he remarked:—
I have only one word in reply to the learned Senator from Maryland. He does not regard a tax on books as a tax on knowledge. Pray, then, what is such a tax? I can imagine no tax more directly on knowledge. If the Senator can, I should like to have him indicate it. Possibly he can. I believe he cannot. If we repair to the experience of other countries, we find that books are not taxed. In England, where taxation is carried to the farthest point, we know that books are not taxed. We know, also, that, after long and protracted struggle, only during this last year was the last tax on knowledge overthrown, being the paper duty. And yet, Sir, Senators would take up the cast-off taxes of Great Britain, and do even worse. Great Britain has taxed paper, has imposed a stamp-tax also on newspapers, all of which have been latterly removed; but I am not aware that this taxing nation has imposed a tax upon books. And shall our Republic, founded on knowledge, whose duty and mission are to make knowledge cheap, impose, for the first time, a tax on books?
Mr. Wilson said: “I shall vote against exempting from taxation any book whatever, even the Bible.… I am against these exemptions. What, Sir! a tax on books a tax on knowledge? Suppose it is: so is a tax on the coat the boy who goes to school wears.”
Mr. Sumner replied:—
Mr. President,—My colleague does not see the difference between a tax on a boy’s clothes and a tax on his book. The country, in its experience, from the first settlement at Plymouth Rock, has seen it. Clearly it saw the difference, when it undertook to say that education should be at the public cost, free of charge to every one in the community. My friend [Mr. Howe] shakes his head; he knows well that one of the proudest acts in the history of New England was when at an early day she established her system of public schools, which has continued ever since, where every child is educated free of charge. He was educated at the public cost, but not clothed at the public cost. And, Sir, if you would know what gave to New England those elements of prosperity and of influence, which are, I think, sometimes recognized, you will find them in that very education at the public cost. It was because those early settlers, founders of communities, saw that the mind should be clothed, and willingly undertook to clothe it. The family at home were left to clothe the body. Now I would have the country act according to this illustrious precedent, which has done so much for the national name, and remove every impediment in the path of knowledge. Do not tell me that by the same rule you must remove the tax from clothes. The conclusion does not follow. If our fathers were right in establishing free schools, it is right for us now to insist upon free books.
The amendment of Mr. Sumner was lost,—Yeas 5, Nays 27.
Resolution in the Senate, March 8, 1865.
March 8th, at the Extra Session, called for executive business, the Senate having under consideration the credentials of William D. Snow as Senator from Arkansas, Mr. Sumner submitted the following resolution, which was ordered to be printed.
Resolved, That, where a State has been declared to be in insurrection, no person can be recognized as Senator from such State, or as claimant of a seat as Senator from such State, until after the occurrence of three several conditions: first, the cessation of all armed hostility to the United States within the limits of such State; secondly, the adoption by such State of a constitution of government republican in form and not repugnant to the Constitution and laws of the United States; and, thirdly, an Act of Congress declaring that the people of such State are entitled to representation in the Congress of the United States.[182]
Protest and Opinion on the Case of the Messrs. Smith Brothers, March 17, 1865.
Benjamin G. Smith and Franklin W. Smith, merchants and co-partners in Boston, with the firm name of Smith Brothers & Co., were suddenly arrested in June, 1864, by order of the Navy Department, under the charge of fraud in the performance of contracts with the Department. They were at once consigned to Fort Warren, in the harbor of Boston, with strict injunctions to prevent any communication by them with the outer world. Bail to the amount of half a million dollars was required, which was subsequently reduced to forty thousand. Their counting-room was broken open, their safe forced, and their books seized. Their houses were searched, and private papers taken away. Their business was, for the time, destroyed. This work was crowned by ordering a court-martial for the trial of these civilians at Philadelphia.
These proceedings excited a general interest at Boston. The Massachusetts delegation in Congress united in the following appeal to the President, which was drawn by Mr. Sumner.
To the President of the United States:—
The undersigned, Senators and Representatives in Congress from Massachusetts, ask leave to call your serious attention to the proceedings initiated by the Navy Department against Benjamin G. Smith and Franklin W. Smith, of Boston, of the firm of Smith Brothers & Co., a much respected firm, which has hitherto enjoyed the confidence, personal and mercantile, of the community where they reside. Among their neighbors and friends these proceedings have already attracted much attention, and awakened corresponding feeling.
The proceedings have seemed to be harsh, vindictive, and unnecessary.
1. In the character of the arrest of Messrs. Smith, which was attended by circumstances of severity utterly unjustifiable.
2. In requiring bonds to so large an amount as half a million of dollars. The fact that the parties in question easily obtained bonds for a much larger amount does not render the exaction of “excessive bail” less obnoxious to the requirements of the Constitution and of justice, or less indicative of the spirit in which these proceedings have been conducted.
3. In the seizure of their books and papers, which are still detained, although regarded by their eminent counsel as important to their defence.
4. In turning into a military offence what is more proper for a civil tribunal, and dragging these defendants before a court-martial.
5. In transferring the proceedings from Boston, where the parties reside, and the transactions in question occurred, to Philadelphia: thus increasing greatly the difficulties and the cost of defence. This will be appreciated, when it is understood that the witnesses are very numerous, and chiefly engaged in mercantile business, so that they cannot leave Boston without neglect of their private interests.
The undersigned, on reviewing these circumstances, which are so inconsistent with the administration of justice in its most ordinary forms, have been at a loss to account for the spirit manifested in the prosecution. If they look at the trivial character of many of the specifications against the defendants, they are still more at a loss. It is difficult to account for such elaborate and persistent harshness, without yielding to the prevailing belief that other motives than the vindication of justice have entered into this case.
The undersigned are not strangers to the fact, that one of these defendants, in the discharge of what he believed to be his duty as a good citizen, has, by correspondence and testimony before committees of Congress, been brought into collision with officers of the Navy Department; and there is too much reason to believe that some of these officers have allowed themselves to be governed by personal feelings throughout these strange proceedings.
Under such circumstances, the undersigned most respectfully ask your assistance in securing justice to these defendants, according to the common course of proceedings at law. They are acquainted with the statute which provides court-martial for contractors in certain cases, and they are unwilling to make any suggestion which shall interfere with its efficiency; but they have no hesitation in saying that such a statute, intended for extreme cases, should not be applied to a case like the present, where, with a single exception, the questions are simply whether the defendants complied with their contract, and therefore, from their nature, can be better considered by the ordinary tribunals accustomed to such questions than by a naval tribunal composed of officers who have no familiarity with them.
If the pending proceedings against the Messrs. Smith should be continued, there are two courses with regard to them which may be recommended.
First, That they should be transferred at once to the United States Court in Massachusetts, and be placed under the direction of the learned Attorney of the United States for that District.
Secondly, If the foregoing order is not deemed expedient, on the existing evidence, then a commission or commissioner might be appointed by the President to inquire into the circumstances attending the arrest of the defendants, and also into the nature of the charges against them, in order to ascertain and report if there is any sufficient reason for the singular harshness to which they have been already subjected, and also for the exceptional proceedings instituted against them.
For the sake of justice, and to relieve the Government from all suspicion of undue harshness, the undersigned protest against the spirit in which these proceedings have been conducted, and appeal to you for such remedy as shall seem best, to the end that the public interests may be adequately protected without any sacrifice of the rights of the citizen, and without needless interference with the order of business.
[Boston, August 15, 1864.]