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February, 1862.      DOUGLASS' MONTHLY.      603
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SENATOR SUMNER ON THE TRENT AFFAIR.
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The recent speech of Senator Sumner on the Mason and Slidell seizure, delivered in the Senate Chamber, is a masterly and exhaustive argument for the justice and the necessity of delivering up the prisoners——not the necessity which springs from an inability to brave a war with England, but a necessity which results from the teachings and practice of all American authorities upon the rights of neutrals.  Nearly all of the foreign ministers were present at its delivery, and have expressed their admiration of the tact which which he avoided giving offence to England, while advancing upon the continent the humane doctrine of the rights of neutrals.  The speech is too lengthy for insertion in our columns, but we give a few extracts to show its tone and power.  He says:

"The British complaint seems to have been narrowed down to a single point; but it is not to be disguised that there are yet other points on which, had the ship been carried into port for adjudication, controversy must have arisen.  Not to omit anything important, let me say that the three following points, among others, have been presented in the case:

1. That the seizure of the rebel emissaries, without taking the ship into port, was wrong, inasmuch as a navy officer is not entitled to substitute himself for a judicial tribunal.

2. That had the ship been carried into port, it would not have been liable on account of the rebel emissaries, inasmuch as neutral ships are free to carry all persons not apparently in the military or naval service of the enemy.

3. Are dispatches contraband of war, so as to render the ship liable to seizure?

These matters I shall consider in their order, giving special attention to the first, which is the pivot of the British complaint.  If in this discussion I shall expose grievances which it were better to forget, be assured it is from no willingness to awaken the slumbering animosities they once so justly aroused, but simply to exhibit the proud position on this question which the United States early and constantly maintained."

Regarding the course of Great Britain, he says that while she has made many peaceful triumphs, which she has given to civilization, such as Trial by Jury, the freedom of the Press, and freedom to slaves, she has done much in international law from which we turn away in sorrow.  She has imposed upon weaker nations her own arbitrary will; has practically adopted the boast of "Rule Britannia, rule the wave," as her guide of conduct, and with a consciousness of strength, and a navy that could not be opposed, has put chains upon the sea.  The commerce of the United States was cruelly decimated by this course.  Shipwreck was less frequent than confiscation, and when it came, was easier to bear.  Foreigners and American subjects were dragged away from the decks which should have been to them a sacred altar.——The right of search, as demanded and enforced by Great Britain, made the quarter deck of any British cruiser a floating judgment seat.  The victims were counted by thousands.  Protest, argument, negotiation, correspondence, and war itself——unhappily the last reason of republics as of kings——were all employed in vain by the United States to procure a renunciation of this intolerable pretension.  Beginning in the last century, the correspondence is at last closed by the recent reply of Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons.  The long-continued occasion of conflict is now happily removed, and the pretension disappears forever——to take its place among the curiosities of the past.

Mr. Sumner reviews the cases and the arguments used throughout our history bearing up the case, showing the uniform opposition of our Government to the right of search, and the persistent efforts of the British Government
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to uphold it.  By this he establishes his first two propositions, and quotes from treaties and authorities to answer the third in the negative.  In concluding his review, Mr. Sumner says:

"Mr. President, let the rebels go.  Two wicked men, ungrateful to their country, are let loose with the brand of Cain upon their foreheads.  Prison doors are opened; but principles are established which will help to free other men, and to open the gates of the sea.  Never before in her native history has Great Britain ranged herself on this side.——Such an event is an epoch.  Novus sæclorum nascitur ordo.  To the liberties of the sea this Power is now committed.  To a certain extent this cause is now under her tutelary care.  If the immunities of passengers, not in the military or naval service, as well as of sailors, are not directly recognized, they are at least implied; while the whole pretension of impressment, so long the pest of neutral commerce, and operating only through the lawless adjudication of a quarter-deck, is made absolutely impossible.  Thus is the freedom of the seas enlarged, not only by limiting the numbers of persons who are exposed to the penalties of war, but by driving from it the most offensive pretension that ever stalked upon its waves.  To such conclusion Great Britain is irrevocably pledged.  No treaty nor bond was needed.  It is sufficient that her late appeal can be vindicated only by a renunciation of early, long-continued tyranny.  Let her bear the rebels back.  The consideration is ample; for the sea became free as this penitent Power crossed it, steering westward with the sun, on an errand of liberation.

In this surrender, if such it may be called, our Government does not even 'stoop to conquer.'  It simply lifts itself to the height of its own original principles.  The early efforts of its best negotiators——the patriot trials of its soldiers in an unequal war——have at length prevailed, and Great Britain, usually so haughty, invites us to practice upon those principles which she has so strenuously opposed.  There are victories of force.  If Great Britain has gained the custody of the rebels, the United States have secured the triumph of their principles."
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DR. CHEEVER'S LECTURE AT THE FEDERAL CAPITAL.
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Dr. Cheever has spoken twice in Washington on the justice and necessity of slave emancipation to crush the rebellion.  In his lecture at the Smithsonian Institution he said:

The only thing in which we are resolute thus far, is the maintenance of slavery; the crushing of the rebellion has been promised, but is not yet seriously undertaken, and it never will be accomplished till we strike slavery to the heart.  A palsy of imbecility and fear is upon us from God, until we take our marching orders from Him.  But the moment we do that, we are safe.  We only want justice on our side, and we can stand against the world.  Put the conflict on that issue of freedom, and every man's strength will be doubled.  Put the conflict on that issue, and we may rightfully demand of Great Britain and France to stay their hand, and give us sympathy and time, while we go through the land with the proclamation of liberty.  Oh! that God may, even thus late, have mercy upon us, and inspire and send forth the proclamation.  How glorious would then be our attribute, and how magnificent our moral power!  Let the proclamation run thus:

PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, The declared objects of the Constitution of the United States are to maintain justice and liberty, and no class or color of men are excluded from its benefits, but it is guaranteed in it that no man shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, but by due process of law; and

Whereas, Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, are presented in the Declaration of Independence as blessings to which all men are entitled; and
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Whereas, The possibility of property in man is not only mooted in the Constitution but, on the contrary, it is a matter of history that the framers of the same did exclude all mention of slavery, because they deemed it wrong to convey even the idea that man can hold property in man; and

Whereas, The Divine Regulation forbids this claim on penalty of death; and

Whereas, Nevertheless, by an interpretation of the Constitution torturing its articles, and by precedents build upon such perversion, millions of the African race are held as slaves without crime, and without permission of such slaveholding by the Constitution; and

Whereas, The following States, to wit: Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas and Virginia, have entered into a conspiracy against the Government and Constitution, have formed themselves into a Confereracy of Rebellion for the declared purpose of rendering the slavery of the African race perpetual, and of setting the possession and increase of their own slave property beyond the possibility of interference; and

Whereas, For the said purpose they are now waging deadly war against the Government and people of the United States;——Therefore, I, the President of the U. S., by virtue of the authority to me committed as Commander-in-Chief of the U. S. Army, under a military necessity, for the purpose of crushing the rebellion, as well as for a final though tardy execution of justice to the enslaved, do declare and proclaim that, from the date of this instrument, all persons held as slaves in any and all of the States hereinbefore mentioned, are forever FREE, and that all laws for the enslavement of human beings or their property in those States are by virtue of the rebellion, and as a consequence thereof, null and void.  And the people and the army of the United States are hereby called upon in the name of God, and under the Constitution of their country, and for its salvation, to aid by all the means in their power in carrying into full and speedy effect the terms of this proclamation.

Nearly 4,000 persons attended his second lecture in the hall of Representatives——every seat and aisle, both upon the floor and in the galleries, being filled.  He spoke for nearly an hour, and his bold and eloquent appeal for immediate emancipation, which he pronounced the only means calculated to insure the overthrow of the rebellion, was listened to with the closest attention.  Many Senators and Members of Congress were present, and at the close of the lecture the eloquent speaker was warmly congratulated by Gen. Lane and others.
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AN ARMED NEGRO——The following is related to the battle of Drainsville, fought recently and gallantly won by the Federal troops:

"Col. Jackson, of the 9th Pa. Regiment, left his NEGRO SERVANT in charge of his horse, while he advanced towards the enemy.  Seeing two rebels who had discharged their muskets approaching him, the boy drew his carbine and threatened to shoot them if they did not surrender at once.  This they did, and marched before him to the camp."

Of which exploit the Chicago Tribune sarcastically remarks:

"The act of the negro was clearly a violation of the Constitution according to the 'conservative' press.  What right had that 'nigger' to have a carbine and threaten to shoot white rebels?  How dare he take prisoners?  We expect to see the 'conservative' Times and Journal demand that this shooting darkey shall be driven from our lines, for infracting the Constitution.  Negroes must only be allowed to fight on the side of the rebels and shoot Union soldiers.  The country would go to eternal smash if they were employed to shoot rebels.  How profound are the mysteries of flunkeyism!" 
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