The works of Charles Sumner (Volume 15) online

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THE GIFT OF

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IN MEMORY OF

ALEXANDER F MORRISON




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Veniet fortasse aliud tempos, dignius nostro, quo, dcbellatis odils,
veritas triumphabit. Hoc mecuru opta, lector, et vale.

LEIBNITZ.



VOL. XV.



BOSTON:
LEE AND SHEPAED.

1883.



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883,

BY FRANCIS V. BALCH, EXECUTOR,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.



UNIVERSITY PRESS:
JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.




CONTENTS OF VOLUME XV.



PAQK

THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES : ITS PROPER NUMBER. Remarks
in the Senate, on the Bill for the Apportionment of Representa
tives among the States, January 29, 1872 1

REFORM AND PURITY IN GOVERNMENT : NEUTRAL DUTIES. SALE
OF ARMS TO BELLIGERENT FRANCE. Speech in the Senate, Feb
ruary 28, 1872 5

PARLIAMENTARY LAW ON THE APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES
OP THE SENATE. Two Protests against the Competency of the
Senate Committee to Investigate the Sale of Arms to France;
March 26 and 27, 1872 45

BOOKS ON THE FREELIST. Remarks in the Senate on moving an

Amendment to a Tariff Bill, March 27, 1872 61

THE NASBY LETTERS. Introduction to the Collection, April 1, 1872. 65

ADVICE TO THE COLORED PEOPLE. Letter to the National Conven-
tion of Colored People at New Orleans, April 7, 1872. . . 68

DIPLOMATIC AGENTS OP THE UNITED STATES NOT TO ACCEPT GIFTS

FROM FOREIGN POWERS. Remarks in the Senate, May 2, 1872. 70

PRESERVATION OP THE PARK AT WASHINGTON. Remarks in the

Senate, May 15, 1872 72

HOURS OF LABOR. Letter to the Convention of the Massachusetts

Labor Union in Boston, May 25, 1872. 79

ARBITRATION AS A SUBSTITUTE FOB WAR. Resolutions in the Sen
ate, May 31, 1872, concerning Arbitration as a Substitute for War
in determining Differences between Nations 80

REPUBLICANISM vs. GRANTISM. Speech in the Senate, May 31, 1872. 83

INTEREST AND DUTY OF COLORED CITIZENS IN THE PRESIDENTIAL

ELECTION. Letter to Colored Citizens, July 29, 1872. . . . 173

LETTER TO SPEAKER ELAINE. August 5, 1872 196

88508



IV CONTENTS.

PAGE
RETROSPECT AND PROMISE. Address at a Serenade before his house

in Washington, August 9, 1872. . . . . . . .202

FREDERICK DOUGLASS AND PRESIDENT GRANT. Letter to Hon.
Andrew D. White, President of Cornell University, August
10, 1872 205

GREELEY OR GRANT ? Speech intended to be delivered at Faneuil

Hall, Boston, September 3, 1872 209

No NAMES OF BATTLES WITH FELLOW-CITIZENS ON THE ARMY-REG
ISTER OR THE REGIMENTAL COLORS OF THE UNITED STATES.
Bill in the Senate, December 2, 1872 255

TRIBUTE TO HORACE GREELEY. Remarks intended to be made in
the Senate, in seconding a Motion for Adjournment on the Occa
sion of Mr. Greeley's Funeral, December 3, 1872 .... 256

RELIEF OF BOSTON. Remarks in the Senate, December 12, 1872. . 258

THE LATE HON. GARRETT DAVIS, SENATOR OF KENTUCKY. Remarks

in the Senate on his Death, December 18, 1872 .... 261

EQUALITY IN CIVIL RIGHTS. Letter to the Committee of Arrange
ments for the Celebration of the Anniversary of Emancipation in
the District of Columbia, April 16, 1873 266.

EQUAL RIGHTS OF COLORED FELLOW-CITIZENS IN NORMAL SCHOOLS.

Letter read at a Public Meeting in Washington, June 22, 1873 . 268

THE PRESIDENT OF HAYTI AND MR. SUMNER. Letter in Reply to one

from the Former, July 4, 1873 270

INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. Letter to Henry Richard, M. P., on
the Vote in the House of Commons agreeing to his Motion for an
Address to the Queen, praying Communication with Foreign
Powers with a View to a General and . Permanent System of In
ternational Arbitration, July 10, 1873 . . . . .273

A COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM IRRESPECTIVE OF COLOR. Letter to

the Colored Citizens of Washington, July 29, 1873 . . 275

BOSTON: ITS PROPER BOUNDARIES. Letter to Hon. G. W. Warren,
of Charlestowit, on the Annexion to Boston of the Suburban
Towns, October 4, 1873 279

YELLOW FEVER AT MEMPHIS AND SHREVEPORT: AID FOR THE SUF
FERERS. Remarks before the Board of Trade at Boston, October
24,1873 281



CONTENTS. V

PAGE
THE CASE OF THE VIRGINIUS. Letter to the Cuban Mass Meeting in

New York, November 15, 1873 284

THE SUPPLEMENTARY CIVIL-RIGHTS BILL AGAIN : IMMEDIATE ACTION

URGED. Remarks in the Senate, December 2, 1873 . . . 286

OUR PILGRIM FOREFATHERS. Speech at the Dinner of the New-Eng
land Society in New York, December 22, 1873 . . . .291

SUPPLEMENTARY CIVIL-RIGHTS BILL: THE LAST APPEAL. Remarks

in the Senate, January 27, 1874 301



INDEX 317



THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES: ITS
PROPER NUMBER.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON THE BILL FOR THE APPORTION
MENT OF REPRESENTATIVES AMONG THE STATES, JANUARY
29, 1872.



ME. PRESIDENT, Before the vote is taken I
desire to make one remark. I was struck with
the suggestion of the Senator from Ohio [Mr. SHER
MAN], the other day, with regard to the proposition
which conies from, the House. He reminded us that
it was a House proposition, and that it was natural
that the House should be allowed to regulate itself.
I think there is much in that worthy of considera
tion. I doubt if the Senate would receive with much
favor any proposition from the House especially ap
plicable to us. I think we should be disposed to re
pel it. I think we should say that our experience
should enable us to judge that question better than
the experience of the House. And now I ask wheth
er the experience of the House does not enable them
to judge of the question of numbers better than we can
judge of it ? On general grounds I confess I should
myself prefer a smaller House ; personally I incline
that way ; but I am not willing on that point to set
myself against the House.



-HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

Then, Sir, I cannot be insensible to the experience of
other countries. I do not know whether Senators have
troubled themselves on that head ; but if they have riot,
I think it will not be uninteresting to them to have
their attention called to the numbers of the great leg
islative bodies of the world at this moment. For in
stance, beginning with England, there is the upper
House, the Chamber of Peers, composed of four hun
dred and sixty-six members ; then the lower House,
the House of Commons, with six hundred and fifty-
eight members. We know that, practically, these mem
bers attend only in comparatively small numbers ; that
it is only on great questions that either House is full.

MR. TRUMBULL. Did the House of Lords ever have any
thing like that number present ?

MR. SUMNER. It has had several hundred. There are
four hundred and sixty-six entitled to seats in the House
of Lords.

Pass over to France. The National Assembly, sit
ting at Versailles at this moment, elected February 8
and July 2, 1871, consists of seven hundred and thirty-
eight members.

Pass on to Prussia. The upper Chamber of the Parlia
ment of Prussia has two hundred and sixty-seven mem
bers ; the lower Chamber has four hundred and thirty-
two. Now we all know that Prussia is a country where
no rule of administration or of constitution is adopted
lightly, and everything is considered, if I may so ex
press myself, in the light of science.

Pass to Austria, under the recent organization. You
are aware that there are two different Parliaments now
in Austria, one for what is called the cis-Leithan terri-



ITS PROPER NUMBER. 3

tories, territories this side of the river Leitha ; the other,
trans-Leithan, or those on the other side, being the Hun
garian territory. Beginning with those on this side of
the river, the upper House consists of one hundred and
seventy-five members : observe, it is more than twice as
large as our Senate. The lower House consists of two
hundred and three members: smaller than our House
of Eepresentatives. But now pass to the other side of
the river and look at the Hungarian Parliament. There
the upper House contains two hundred and sixty-six
members, and the lower House, or Chamber of Depu
ties, as it is called, four hundred and thirty-eight.

Pass to Italy, a country organized under a new con
stitution in the light of European and American ex
perience, liberal, and with a disposition to found its
institutions on the basis of science. The Senate of
Italy contains two hundred and seventy members, the
Chamber of Deputies five hundred and eight.

Then pass to Spain. There the upper branch of the
Cortes contains one hundred and ninety-six members,
and the lower branch four hundred and sixteen.

So that you will find in all these countries, Great
Britain, France, Prussia, Austria in its two Parlia
ments, Italy, and Spain, that the number adopted for
the lower House is much larger than any now pro
posed for our House of Representatives.

I call attention to this fact because it illustrates by
the experience of other nations what may be considered
as a rule on this subject. At any rate, it shows that
other nations are not deterred by anything in political
experience from having a House with these large num
bers ; and this perhaps is of more value because Euro
pean writers, political philosophers for successive gener-



4 THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

ations, have warred against large bodies. We have the
famous saying of the Cardinal de Ketz, that any body
of men above a hundred is a mob ; and that saying,
coming from so consummate a statesman and wit, has
passed into a proverb, doubtless affecting the judgment of
many minds ; and yet in the face of this testimony, and
with the writings of political philosophers all inclining
against numbers, we find that the actual practical ex
perience of Europe has gone the other way. The popu
lar branch in all these considerable countries is much
more numerous than it is now proposed to make our
House of Representatives.



REFORM AND PURITY IN GOVERNMENT:

NEUTRAL DUTIES. SALE OF ARMS TO

BELLIGERENT FRANCE.

SPEECH IN THE SENATE, FEBRUARY 28, 1872.



FEBRUARY 12, 1872, Mr. Sumner introduced a resolution, with a
preamble setting forth its grounds, providing,

" That a select committee of seven be appointed to investigate all sales
of ordnance stores made by the Government of the United States during
the war between France and Germany ; to ascertain the persons to whom
such sales were made, the circumstances under which they were made, and
the real parties in interest, and the sums respectively paid and received
by the real parties ; and that the committee have power to send for per
sons and papers; and that the investigation be conducted in public."

And on his motion it was ordered to lie on the table aud be printed.

On the 14th the resolution was taken up for consideration, when
Mr. Sumner entered into an exposition of the matter referred to in
the preamble, and of the law applicable thereto, remarking in conclu
sion :

" For the first time has the United States, within my knowledge, fallen
under suspicion of violating the requirement of neutrality on this subject.
Such seems to be our present position. We are under suspicion. What I
propose is a searching inquiry, according to the magnitude of the interests
involved, to ascertain if this is without just grounds."

Thereupon ensued a long and acrimonious debate, toward the
close of which, Mr. Sumner, on the 28th, in review of the case, spoke
as follows :



REFORM AND PURITY IN GOVERNMENT.



ME. PRESIDENT, Besides the unaccustomed in
terest which this debate excites, I cannot fail to
note that it has wandered far beyond any purpose of
mine, and into fields where I have no desire to follow.
In a few plain remarks I shall try to bring it back to
the real issue, which I hope to present without passion
or prejudice. I declare only the rule of my life, when
I say that nothing shall fall from me to-day which is not
prompted by the love of truth and the desire for justice;
but you will pardon me, if I remember that there is
something on this planet higher than the Senate or any
Senator, higher than any public functionary, higher than
any political party : it is the good name of the Ameri
can people and the purity of Government, which must
be saved from scandal. In this spirit and with this as
piration I shall speak to-day.

In considering this resolution we must not forget the
peculiar demands of the present moment. An aroused
community in the commercial metropolis of our country
has unexpectedly succeeded in overthrowing a corrupt
ring by which millions of money had been sacrificed.
Tammany has been vanquished. Here good Democrats
vied with Republicans. The country was thrilled by
the triumph, and insisted that it should be extended.
Then came manifestations against abuses of the civil
service generally, and especially in that other Tammany,
the New York custom-house. The call for investigation
at last prevailed in this Chamber, and the newspapers
have been burdened since with odious details. Every
body says there must be reform, so that the Govern
ment in all its branches shall be above suspicion. The
cry for reform is everywhere, from New York to New



REFORM AND PURITY IN GOVERNMENT. 7

Orleans. Within a few days we hear of a great meeting,
amounting to ten thousand, in the latter city, without
distinction of party, calling for reform ; and the demand
is echoed from place to place. Reform is becoming a
universal watchword.

In harmony with this cry is the appointment of a
Civil - Service Commission, which has proposed mild
measures looking to purity and independence in office
holders.

Amidst these transactions, occupying the attention of
the country, certain facts are reported, tending to show
abuses in the sale of arms at the Ordnance Office, excit
ing at least suspicion in that quarter ; and this is aggra
vated by a seeming violation of neutral duties at a crit
ical moment, when, on various grounds, the nation was
bound to peculiar care. It appeared as if our neutral
duties were sacrificed to money-making, if not to offi
cial jobbers. The injunction of lago seemed to be
obeyed : " Put money in thy purse." These things were
already known in Europe, especially through a notorious
trial, 1 and then by a legislative inquiry, so as to become
a public scandal. It was time that something should be
done to remove the suspicion. This could be only by
a searching investigation in such way as to satisfy all at
home and abroad that there was no whitewashing.

In proportion to the magnitude of the question and
the great interests involved, whether of money or neu
tral duty, was the corresponding responsibility on our
part. Here was a case for action without delay.

Under these circumstances I brought forward the pres
ent motion. Here I acted in entire harmony with that
movement, now so much applauded, which overthrew

1 Case of Plan, French Consul -General at New York.



8 REFORM AND PURITY IN GOVERNMENT.

Tammany, and that other movement which has exposed
the Custom-House. Its object was inquiry into the sale
of arms. This was the objective point. But much of
this debate has turned on points merely formal, if not
entirely irrelevant.

More than once it has been asserted that I am intro
ducing " politics "; and then we have been reminded of
the Presidential election, which to certain Senators is a
universal prompter. I asked for reform, and the Sena
tor from Indiana [Mr. MORTON], seizing the party bugle,
sounded " To arms ! " But I am not tempted to follow
him. I have nothing to say of the President or of the
Presidential election. The Senator cannot make me
depart from the rule I have laid down for myself. I
introduce no " politics," but only a question which
has become urgent, affecting the civil service of the
country.

Now, Sir, I have been from the beginning in favor of
civil-service reform. I am the author of the first bill
on that subject ever introduced into Congress, as long
ago as the spring of 1864. 1 I am for a real reform that
shall reach the highest as well as the lowest, and I know
no better way to accomplish this beneficent result than
by striving at all times for purity in the administration
of Government. Therefore, when officials fall under sus
picion, I should feel myself disloyal to the Government,
if I did not insist on the most thorough inquiry. So
I have voted in the past, so I must vote in the future.
Call you this politics ? Not in the ordinary sense of
the term. It is only honesty and a just regard for the
public weal.

l April 30, 1864: A Bill to provide for the greater Efficiency of the Civil
Service of the United States. Congressional Globe, 38th Cong. 1st Sess.,
p. 1985; also, ante, Vol. VIII. p. 452, seqq.



REFORM AND PURITY IN GOVERNMENT. 9

Then it has been said that I am a French agent, and
even a Prussian agent, two in one. Sir, I am nothing
but a Senator, whose attention was first called to this
matter by a distinguished citizen not named in this de
bate. Since then I have obtained such information with
regard to it as was open to me, all going to develop
a case for inquiry.

I should say nothing more in reply to this allegation
but for the vindictive personal assault made upon a valued
friend, the Marquis de Chambrun. The Senator from
Missouri [Mr. SCHURZ] has already spoken for him ; but
I claim this privilege also. Besides his own merits,
this gentleman is commended to Americans by his as
sociation with the two French names most cherished
in our country, Lafayette and De Tocqueville. I have
known him from the very day of his arrival in Washing
ton early in the spring of 1865, and have seen him since,
in unbroken friendship, almost daily. Shortly after his
arrival I took him with me on a visit to Mr. Lincoln at
the front, close upon the capture of Richmond. This
stranger began his remarkable intimacy with American
life by several days in the society of the President only
one week before his death. He was by the side of the
President in his last visit to a military hospital, and
when he last shook hands with the soldiers ; also when
he made his last speech from the window of the Execu
tive Mansion, the stranger was his guest, standing by
his side. From that time down to this day of accusation
his intimacies have extended beyond those of any other
foreigner. His studies of our institutions have been
minute and critical, being second only to those of his
late friend De Tocqueville. Whether conversing on his
own country or on ours, he is always at home,
i*



10 REFORM AND PURITY IN GOVERNMENT.

If at any time the Marquis de Chambrun sustained
official relations with the French Government, or was
its agent, he never spoke of it to me ; nor did I ever
know it until the papers produced by the Senator from
Iowa [Mr. HARLAN]. Our conversation was always that
of friends, and on topics of general interest, not of busi
ness. Though ignorant of any official relations with his
own Government, I could not fail to know his close re
lations with members of our Government, ending in his
recent employment to present our case in French for the
Geneva tribunal, an honorable and confidential service,
faithfully performed.

The Senator from Indiana knew of the arms question
some five months before the meeting of Congress. I did
not. It was after the session began, and just before
the holidays, that I first knew of it. And here my in
formant was not a foreigner, but, as I have already
said, a distinguished citizen. The French " spy," as he
is so happily called, though with me daily, never spoke
of it ; nor did I speak of it to him. By-and-by the Sen
ator from Missouri mentioned it, and then, in my desire
to know the evidence affecting persons here, if any such
existed, I spoke to my French friend. This was only a
few days before the resolution.

Such is the history of my relations with the accused.
There is nothing to disguise, nothing that I should not
do again. I know no rule of senatorial duty or of pa
triotism which can prevent me from obtaining informa
tion of any kind from any body, especially when the ob
ject is to pursue fraud and to unmask abuse. Is not
a French gentleman a competent witness ? Once the
black could not testify against the white, and now in
some places the testimony of a Chinese is rejected. But



REFORM AND PURITY IN GOVERNMENT. 11

I tolerate no such exclusion. Let me welcome knowl
edge always, and from every quarter. " Hail, holy
light ! " no matter from what star or what nation it
may shine.

And this gentleman, fresh from a confidential service
to our own Government, enjoying numerous intima
cies with American citizens, associated with illustrious
names in history and literature, and immediately con
nected with one of the highest functionaries of the pres
ent French Government, M. de Remusat, Minister for
Foreign Affairs, is insulted here as an " emissary " and a
"spy"; nay, more, France is insulted, for these terms
are applied only to the secret agents of an enemy in
time of war. But enough. To such madness of error
and vindictive accusation is this defence carried !

Another charge is that I am making a case for Prus
sia against our own country. Oh, no ! I am making a
case for nobody. I simply try to relieve my country
from an odious suspicion, and to advance the cause of
good government. The Senator from Indiana supposes
that this effort of mine, having such objects, may preju
dice the Emperor of Germany against us in the arbitra
tion of the San Juan question. The Senator does not
pay a lofty compliment to that enlightened and victori
ous ruler. Nay, Sir, the very suggestion of the Senator
is an insult to him, which he is too just to resent, but
w ? hich cannot fail to excite a smile of derision. Surely
the Senator was not in earnest.

The jest of the Senator, offered for argument, seems
to forget that all these things are notorious in Europe,
through the active press of Paris and London. Why,
Sir, our own State Department furnishes official evi
dence that the alleged sale of arms to the French by our



12 REFORM AND PURITY IN GOVERNMENT.

Government is known in Berlin itself, right under the
eyes of the Emperor. Our Minister there, Mr. Ban
croft, in his dispatch of January 7, 1871, furnishes the
following testimony from the London " Times " :

" During the Crimean War, arms and munitions of war had
been freely exported from Prussia to Russia; and recently
rifled cannon and ammunition have been furnished to the
French in enormous quantities, not only by private American
traders, but by the War Department at Washington" l

These latter words are italicized in the official publi
cation of our Government, and thus blazoned to the
world. I do not adduce them to show that the War
Department did sell arms to belligerent France, but
that even in Berlin the imputation upon us was known
and actually reported by our Minister. If the latter
made any observations on this imputation I know not ;
for at this point in his dispatch are those convenient
asterisks which are the substitute for inconvenient
revelations.

In the same spirit with the last triviality, but in the
anxiety to clutch at something, it is said that the Ala
bama Claims are endangered by this inquiry. Very
well, Sir. On this point I am clear. If these historic
claims, so interesting to the American people, are to be
pressed at the cost of purity in our own Government,
they are not worth the terrible price. Better give them
up at once. Let them all go, every dollar. " First pure,
then peaceable " ; 2 above all things purity. Sir, I have
from the beginning insisted that England should be held
to just account for her violation of international duty

1 Times, December 31, 1870. Executive Documents, 42d Cong. 2dSess.,
H. of R., No. 1, Foreign Relations, p. 368.

2 James, iii. 17.



REFORM AND PURITY IN GOVERNMENT. 13

toward us. Is that any reason why I should not also
insist upon inquiry into the conduct of officials at home,
to the end that the Government may be saved from re
proach ? Surely we shall be stronger, infinitely stronger,
in demanding our own rights, if we show a determina
tion to allow no wrong among ourselves. Our example
must not be quoted against us at any time. Especially
must it not be allowed to harden into precedent. But
this can be prevented only by prompt correction, so that
it shall be without authority. Therefore, because I
would have my country irresistible in its demands, do
I insist that it shall place itself above all suspicion.

The objection of Senators is too much like the old
heathen cry, " Our country, right or wrong." Unhappy
words, which dethrone God and exalt the Devil ! I am