Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 18 (of 20)

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Title: Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 18 (of 20)

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES SUMNER: HIS COMPLETE WORKS, VOLUME 18 (OF 20) ***

[Illustration: A. W. Elson & Co., Boston: ULYSSES S. GRANT]

Statesman Edition Vol. XVIII

Charles Sumner

HIS COMPLETE WORKS

With Introduction
BY
HON. GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR

[Illustration]

BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD
MCM

Statesman Edition.
LIMITED TO ONE THOUSAND COPIES.
OF WHICH THIS IS
No. 320

Norwood Press:
NORWOOD, MASS., U.S.A.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME XVIII.

PAGE

ADMISSION OF MISSISSIPPI TO REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS. Speech
in the Senate, February 17, 1870 1

THE FIRST COLORED SENATOR. Speech in the Senate, on the
Admission of Hon. Hiram R. Revels, a Colored Person, as Senator
of Mississippi, February 25, 1870 6

CONSIDERATION OF TREATIES IN OPEN SENATE. Remarks in the
Senate, March 17, 1870 9

ELIGIBILITY TO THE SENATE: QUESTION OF INHABITANCY. Remarks
in the Senate, on the Admission of General Adelbert Ames as a
Senator of Mississippi, April 1, 1870 11

RATIFICATION OF THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT. Speech at a Serenade
before Mr. Sumner’s House in Washington, April 1, 1870 20

ADMISSION OF GEORGIA TO REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS. Speech in
the Senate, April 5, 1870 23

INCOME TAX. Remarks in the Senate, April 7, 1870 40

MORE WORK TO BE DONE. Letter to the American Antislavery
Society at its Final Meeting, April 8, 1870 45

EDUCATION. Remarks in the Senate, May 9, 1870 47

NO EXCLUSION OF RETIRED ARMY OFFICERS FROM CIVIL OFFICE.
Remarks in the Senate, May 12, 1870 51

ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS. Remarks in the Senate, May 27, 1870 54

ONE CENT POSTAGE WITH ABOLITION OF FRANKING. Speech in the
Senate, June 10, 1870 57

CHINESE INDEMNITY FUND. Report in the Senate, of the Committee
on Foreign Relations, June 24, 1870 115

TAX ON BOOKS. Remarks in the Senate, June 30, 1870 141

NATURALIZATION LAWS: NO DISCRIMINATION ON ACCOUNT OF COLOR.
Remarks in the Senate, July 2 and 4, 1870 144

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY: ITS PAST AND FUTURE WORK. Speech at a
Ratification Meeting in Faneuil Hall, October 15, 1870 169

THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, WITH ITS LESSON TO
CIVILIZATION. Lecture in the Music Hall, Boston, October
26, 1870 175

THE PATRIOT DEAD AT ARLINGTON. Speech in the Senate, on a
Joint Resolution to remove their Remains, December 13, 1870 254

NABOTH’S VINEYARD. Speech in the Senate on the Proposed
Annexion of San Domingo to the United States, December
21, 1870 257

NEW YEAR’S DAY. Article in the New York Independent, January
5, 1871 300

ITALIAN UNITY. Letter to a Public Meeting at the Academy of
Music in New York, January 10, 1871 307

RESPONSE TO A TOAST. Remarks at a Complimentary Dinner to
Colonel John W. Forney, at Washington, January 28, 1871 310

DUTY OF THE YOUNG COLORED LAWYER. Address at the Commencement
Exercises of the Law Department of Howard University at
Washington, February 3, 1871 314

CHARITY TO FRANCE OR GERMANY? Speech in the Senate, February
4, 1871 319

ADMISSION OF MISSISSIPPI TO REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS.

SPEECH IN THE SENATE, FEBRUARY 17, 1870.

February 8, 1870, Mr. Trumbull, from the Committee on the
Judiciary, to whom had been referred a bill from the House for
the admission of Mississippi to representation in Congress,
with conditions the same as in the case of Virginia, reported
it back with an amendment striking out all these, and admitting
the State unconditionally.

In a speech, February 17th, in reference to the proposed
amendment, Mr. Sumner said:--

MR. PRESIDENT,--Throughout the long struggle anterior to the Rebellion,
and then throughout the Rebellion itself, Slavery had two voices by
which it was heard in this Chamber and in the country. The first was
that by which its continued existence was vindicated, or, if you
please, the right of Slavery; the other was that of State Rights. By
these two voices was Slavery heard. Happily, the first is silenced; but
the other is still sounding among us, crying out against those generous
efforts by which Human Rights are assured.

I am not wrong in this statement. From the beginning it has been the
same. How often in times past have we heard the cry of State Rights!
At every proposition concerning Slavery, at the presentation of every
petition against this tyrannical wrong, at every allusion to it, the
cry was heard. And when the Rebellion broke forth, the same cry was
raised against those great measures of self-defence by which Slavery,
our real enemy, was assailed; and then at each stage of Reconstruction
it was the same. Not a measure of Reconstruction which has not
encountered this pretension of State Rights. It broke forth in the
Virginia debate. It breaks forth on the present occasion. Again we hear
the voice of Slavery.

This pretension, which is so constantly manifest, finds partisans
naturally on the other side of the Chamber. It is easy for Senators who
have upheld Slavery to uphold that interpretation of the Constitution
which was the constant ally of Slavery; but it is incomprehensible how
Senators fresh from the great battle with Slavery should continue in
dalliance with the constant ally.

The argument for State Rights proceeds on a misapprehension. Nobody
doubts the right of a State to local self-government, through which
are supplied the opportunities of political education, and also of
local administration adapted precisely to local wants. This is the
peculiarity of our national system, wherein it differs especially from
the centralized imperialism of France. But while recognizing the State
as the agency for all matters properly local, it must not be allowed to
interfere with those other matters, being rights and duties, which are
not local, but universal.

Now, Sir, nothing can be clearer than that the Equal Rights of All
must be placed under the safeguard of one uniform law which shall be
the same in all parts of the nation,--the same in Charleston and New
Orleans as in Boston and Chicago. It is absurd to suppose that the
rights of the citizen can differ in different States. They must be
the same in all the States; but this can be consummated only by the
national authority. Therefore, on grounds of reason, I repel that
pretension of State Rights which would take this just prerogative
from the nation. Understand me, Sir, I do not seek to _centralize_,
but to _nationalize_. The partisans of State Rights, in their
efforts to decentralize, would _denationalize_. In the name of local
self-government they would overthrow the nation.

If I am asked where I find these national powers, I answer, that they
are in those two great title-deeds of the Republic, the Declaration
of Independence and the National Constitution. Whether viewed apart
or together, these two are one and the same; but the two reinforce
each other. The Declaration of Independence finds proper machinery for
its great purposes in the National Constitution, while the National
Constitution is explained, invigorated, and elevated by the Declaration
of Independence. By the National Constitution the nation is bound
to assure a republican government to all the States, thus giving to
Congress the plenary power to fix the definition of such a government;
but by the Declaration of Independence the fundamental elements of
this very definition are supplied in terms from which there can be
no appeal. By this Declaration it is solemnly announced, first, that
all men are equal in rights, and, secondly, that just government
stands only on the consent of the governed. Other things may fail, but
these cannot. Whenever Congress is called to maintain a republican
government, it must be according to these universal, irreversible
principles. The power to maintain necessarily implies all ancillary
powers of prevention and precaution, so that republican government may
be assured. All these powers are essentially national, and not local;
they belong to the nation, and not to the State.

So long as Slavery existed, this definition was impossible. State
Rights were set up against Human Rights; but with the death of Slavery,
followed by the extinction of the Rebellion, this definition takes
its just place in our national system. Therefore whatever tends to
maintain a republican government and to place it beyond assault,
whatever tends to maintain the great principles declared at our birth
as a nation,--all this is constitutional. As well deny that the sun
shines,--as well with puny arm attempt to drag the sun from the sky;
still it shines. God be praised! the day has passed when State Rights
can be exalted above Human Rights.

It is for Congress to determine, in its discretion, how republican
government shall be maintained. Whatever it does in this regard,
whether by general law, or by condition or limitation on States, is
plainly constitutional beyond all question. All is in the discretion
of Congress, which may select the “means” by which this great
guaranty shall be performed. It is a guaranty by the express text of
the Constitution, and it must be performed. In selecting the means,
Congress cannot hesitate at any requirement calculated to secure the
beneficent result. By condition-precedent, by condition-subsequent, by
prohibitory legislation, by legislation acting directly on the States
or the people, by each and all of these Congress may act, bearing in
mind always the great definition supplied by our fathers, which must be
maintained at all hazards.

It is vain to say that our fathers did not intend this great power
and foresee its exercise. There it is in the Constitution, clear and
commanding; and there is the great definition in the Declaration of
Independence, clear and commanding. If our fathers did not fully
appreciate their mighty act, neither did the barons at Runnymede,
when they obtained Magna Charta, the perpetual landmark of English
rights. The words of the poet are again fulfilled: “They builded better
than they knew.” But they did build. They built this vast temple of
Republican Liberty, and enjoined upon Congress its perpetual safeguard,
“anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary
notwithstanding”; and, Sir, by the oath which you have taken to support
the Constitution, are you bound to watch and protect this vast temple.

The recent war has had its losses, terrible and afflicting. It has had
its gains also. First among these gains is that interpretation of the
Constitution which makes us a nation, and places the equal rights of
all under the protection of the national power,--being nothing less
than the fulfilment of the early promises of the Fathers. Too slowly
has this been accomplished; but it is accomplished at last; and it is
our duty to see that these promises are in no respect neglected, and
that the Republic, One and Indivisible, dedicated to Human Rights,
and an example to mankind, is upheld in every part of our wide-spread
country.

The amendment striking out the conditions of admission was
rejected, and the bill passed in the form in which it came from
the House,--Yeas 50, Nays 11.

THE FIRST COLORED SENATOR.

SPEECH IN THE SENATE, ON THE ADMISSION OF HON. HIRAM R. REVELS, A
COLORED PERSON, AS SENATOR OF MISSISSIPPI, FEBRUARY 25, 1870.

MR. PRESIDENT,--The time has passed for argument. Nothing more need be
said. I doubt if anything more can be said in the way of argument.

For a long time it has been clear that colored persons must be
Senators, and I have often so declared. This was only according to the
irresistible logic of the situation, to say nothing of inherent right.

If I do not discuss the question, it is partly because it is now so
plain, and partly because on other occasions I have considered it at
length. There is not a point in the case which I have not argued long
ago. Nearly a generation has intervened since I insisted at home, in
Massachusetts, that all must be equal before the law, without any
distinction of color.[1] Several years have intervened since here in
this Chamber I insisted on the same truth, and at the same time showed
how, at the adoption of the National Constitution, colored persons
were citizens according to the terms of all the State Constitutions,
except that of South Carolina, and perhaps Virginia and Georgia.[2]
These arguments and authorities were not answered then. They cannot
be answered. It is useless to interpose ancient pretensions. They are
dead beyond resurrection. It is useless to interpose the Dred Scott
decision. Born a putrid corpse, this decision became at once a stench
in the nostrils and a scandal to the Court itself, which made haste to
turn away from its offensive offspring. By the subsequent admission of
a colored lawyer to practise at its bar this decision was buried out of
sight, to be remembered only as a warning and a shame.[3]

The vote on this question will be an historic event, marking the
triumph of a great cause. From this time there can be no backward step.
After prolonged and hard-fought battle, beginning with the Republic,
convulsing Congress, and breaking out in blood, the primal truths
declared by our fathers are practically recognized. “All men are
created equal,” says the great Declaration; and now a great act attests
this verity. To-day we make the Declaration a reality. For a long time
a word only, it now becomes a deed. For a long time a promise only,
it now becomes a consummated achievement. The Declaration was only
half established by Independence. The greater duty remained behind. In
assuring the Equal Rights of All we complete the work.

No man acts for himself alone. What he does, whether for good or evil,
is felt in widening circles, according to the measure of his influence.
This is true of the Senate, whose influence is coextensive with the
Republic, and reaches even beyond its enlarging confines. What the
Senate does now will be followed by other bodies and associations. As
the greater contains the less, so does the Senate contain all these
everywhere throughout the land. In other places there may be a brief
struggle, but the end is certain. Doors will open, exclusions will give
way, intolerance will cease, and the great truth will be manifest in a
thousand examples. Liberty and Equality were the two express promises
of our fathers. Both are now assured. And this is the glory of the
Republic, before whose mighty presence, radiant with justice, kings and
nobles must disappear as the ghosts of night at the morning sun, while
the people, with new-found power and majesty, take their place.

What we do to-day is not alone for ourselves, not alone for that
African race now lifted up. It is for all everywhere who suffer from
tyranny and wrong,--for all everywhere who bend beneath the yoke,--for
all everywhere who feel the blight of unjust power; it is for all
mankind; it is for God Himself, whose sublime Fatherhood we most truly
confess when we recognize the Brotherhood of Man.

A motion by Mr. Stockton, of New Jersey, to refer the
credentials of Mr. Revels to the Committee on the Judiciary
was, after a debate of three days, defeated by a vote of 8 Yeas
to 48 Nays; and on motion of Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, Mr.
Revels was thereupon, by the corresponding vote of Yeas 48,
Nays 8, admitted to a seat.

CONSIDERATION OF TREATIES IN OPEN SENATE.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, MARCH 17, 1870.

On a resolution submitted by Mr. Ferry, of Connecticut,
providing that “any treaty for the annexation to the United
States of the entire dominion of any foreign power shall be
considered and the question of its ratification decided in open
session of the Senate,” Mr. Sumner said:--

From the beginning I have always held that the Senate erred in the
establishment of secrecy, particularly with reference to treaties. I
think the first year that I had the honor of a seat in the Senate the
question of a change of our rule in that regard was presented, and
I voted in its favor. I have seen nothing from that day to this to
change my judgment upon that particular point materially. I think that
the rule of secrecy was a traditional policy which we derived from
the diplomatic usages of the Old World. We came to it naturally, and
it has continued with us down to this day. Now, personally, I incline
to change it; but I have two suggestions to present, applicable to
the pending question. The first is, whether it is advisable to change
it while it is known that an important treaty is actually pending;
whether the change, if such change should be adopted by the Senate,
should not be applicable to the future rather than to any pending
question. I merely present that, without undertaking to determine
it. The other point is, whether a change so important, not to say so
radical, whatever may be the judgment of individual Senators, like the
Senator from Connecticut, or like myself, should not be referred to the
committee having charge of such questions. I would therefore suggest
that the proposition be referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
That committee will meet next Tuesday, and I have no doubt will take it
at once into consideration.

The resolution was referred accordingly, and, upon the report
of the Committee, was indefinitely postponed.

ELIGIBILITY TO THE SENATE: QUESTION OF INHABITANCY.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON THE ADMISSION OF GENERAL ADELBERT AMES AS A
SENATOR OF MISSISSIPPI, APRIL 1, 1870.

MR. PRESIDENT,--I hesitate to say a word in this debate. The question
has been exhausted on both sides, and to me, I must be pardoned for
saying, it is infinitely plain. It is plain in law; it is plain in
fact. When I say it is plain in law, I believe all the Senate on both
sides will concur,--for, indeed, the Senator from Ohio [Mr. THURMAN]
stated the law precisely as I understand it.

We all know that in topography there are what are called water-sheds,
sometimes high, sometimes low, and from these elevations flow in
opposite directions the currents which there find their fountains.
Sir, the water-shed of this debate is found in the intent; and this
water-shed may be high or low. Suffice it that it is a water-shed; this
is enough. Suffice it that the intent appears; and this is all that is
required, in order to determine the character of the residence. Show
me a citizen actually in a State, then the intent to remain fixes his
inhabitancy.

The Senator from Illinois [Mr. TRUMBULL] substantially admitted this
rule of law. I agree with him that there are but two things to be
shown: first, what the old books call the _factum_, and, secondly,
what the same old books call the _animus_. What is the _factum_? It is
residence. What is the _animus_? It is intent to stay. Now in point of
law you can add nothing to these. You may argue till doomsday, you may
cite authorities without number, but you can add nothing to these two
simple requirements, residence and intent.

MR. THURMAN. Will the Senator allow me to interrupt him?

MR. SUMNER. Certainly.

MR. THURMAN. As he has referred to my statement of the law,
I will say that I did state that those were the two things
necessary, residence and intention,--that you want to find
out what is residence that creates inhabitancy, and what is
intention that creates inhabitancy; and what I said was, and
I maintain yet, that a residence which is enforced is no
residence, and an intention that the party has no power to
execute so long as he remains in the Army is no intention at
all: an intention that the party has no power to execute has no
virtue whatever.

MR. SUMNER. Very well,--I will come to that. The Senator and myself
agree that in point of law there are two things to be established,
and only two,--residence and intent. The question that remains is one
of evidence; it is not a question of law. If the Senator were on the
bench, which he once adorned, he would be obliged to charge the jury
in this way. The rule of law is positive. All that remains comes under
the head of evidence. Now I say by law you must show those two things,
residence and intent, and you cannot add to either a tittle.

On this occasion, the most important requirement is that of intent.
This is the requirement that has been most argued. And here I go back
to that original Latin phrase which dominates this case, and which is
in itself an all-sufficient rule: I mean the _animus manendi_. Why is
this phrase, so often repeated, handed down for successive centuries?
Simply because, like maxims of law, or like proverbs, it contains in
one short phrase a rule. You have there a chapter of jurisprudence, if
you please, or a volume. It is the mind, or the intent to remain, which
governs. This is all that the law says. The law does not go forward and
require, as the Senator from Illinois has argued to-day, that there
must be an act. You find no such requirement in the rule. The rule is
explicit, precise; and here I challenge contradiction. It is simply
the intent to remain, the _animus manendi_. Step beyond that and you
are lost, if you undertake to state the law. There is no rule of law
outside of this simple sum-total.

I come, then, to the point that we have before us, simply a question of
intent. I might cite authorities here. I have some of them before me. I
will read one. For instance, here is Vattel, quoted by Judge Story in
his article on DOMICILE in the “Encyclopædia Americana,” which Senators
familiar with this subject know is of authority:--

“Vattel seems to define it to be a fixed residence in any place
with an intention of always staying there.”[4]

On this Judge Story very properly remarks:--

“This is not quite accurate. It would be more correct to say
that that place is the home or domicile of a person in which
his habitation is fixed, without any present intention of
removing therefrom.”

Here are words completely applicable to the case now before us. The
learned author then proceeds to say:--

“It is often a mere question of intention.”

And then adds:--

“The mere dwelling or residence in a place is not of itself
sufficient to make it the domicile of the party. He must be
there with the intention of remaining, _animo manendi_.”

Mark the old recurring phrase, with its light and limitation. Here
again I say is the rule. You cannot go outside of it. If you go outside
of it, you are lost. I am speaking of the rule of law. I know that
there can be no addition to that, because, if you do undertake to add
to it or to take from it, you must depart from the jurisprudence of
every civilized country,--not only of our own country, not only of
England, but of every civilized nation on the continent of Europe. In
the jurisprudence of every one of those countries you will find this
same distinct, precise, simple rule.

Now, Sir, allow me to say,--I say it with entire respect,--the
confusion in this debate has arisen from confounding the rule of law
with the evidence under that rule. The rule, I say, is precise, that
there must be intent. But how shall the intent be proved? Sometimes
in one way, sometimes in another; sometimes by long-continued
residence,--by purchase of property,--by the establishment of a
home,--by the establishment of a place of business,--by all those
circumstances and incidents which show fixity of purpose. All this
comes under the head of evidence. It does not touch the rule of law
behind.

The Senator from Illinois says there must be an act. Allow me to
say that words are sometimes acts, and especially if associated
with important events. It is a familiar phrase of law that language
enters into what we call the _res gestæ_; language is welded into
the transaction and becomes a part of it. Words then become things;
and when were words more things than when the commanding general in
Mississippi distinctly declared his purpose to resign his commission in
the Army of the United States and accept a nomination as Senator? Here
was a declaration constituting part of the _res gestæ_, and in itself
an act.

I am not speaking merely on theory. I have in my hand a case, which I
think, when I read it, you will see is applicable: I refer to Metcalf’s
Reports, volume three, page 200, the case of _Kilburn_ v. _Bennett_. In
the statement of facts is the following passage:--

“For the purpose of showing with what intent the defendant
went to Tyngsborough on the 27th of April, he offered to prove
that about three weeks before that day he told S. Shattuck, in
whose house he then resided, that he should leave Groton before
the 1st of May, and remove with his family to Tyngsborough, to
reside at his brother’s, and make his house a home, until he
should go to Illinois. But the judge ruled that the evidence
was inadmissible, and rejected it.”

The case was carried before the full bench, when the ruling of the
judge below was set aside, and the Court observed as follows:--

“The Court held that this, being the mere declaration of the
defendant, was not competent evidence in his favor, and it was
rejected. The general rule undoubtedly is, that a party cannot
give in evidence his own declarations in his favor, unless they
accompany some act, and are a part of the _res gestæ_. But it
appears to us that the declarations offered to be proved are
within the qualification of the rule. They were made in the
ordinary course of business, and in relation to the defendant’s
removal, and they were made to the owner of the house in which
he was at the time residing. This giving notice of his intended
removal is to be considered an act which he might prove in any
case in which it became material; and if so, all that he said
explanatory of his intention in relation to his removal seems
to us to be admissible in evidence.”

Now on the authority of this case it seems to me that the declaration
of General Ames, accompanied by the acceptance of candidacy as a
Senator, is clearly an act. But I do not argue that the Senate is now
bound by any technical rule of this kind. It is enough if the Senate is
satisfied with regard to his intent on the evidence adduced. No rule of
limitation or exclusion can prevail. If the Senate believes that he had
at the time the _animus manendi_, it must act accordingly.

Is the Senate, on the evidence before it,--without the application of
any technical rule of evidence, without recognizing his declaration
as part of the _res gestæ_,--is the Senate satisfied that at the time
named he intended to reside in Mississippi? This is the whole case.
On this question of fact each Senator will judge for himself, on the
evidence before him. This evidence I will read in the Report of the
Committee, being the language of General Ames in a written statement to
them, as follows:--

“A number of persons in Mississippi visited this city to find
arguments by which I might be influenced to become a candidate.
I hesitated, because it would necessitate the abandonment
of my whole military life. Finally, for personal and public
reasons, I decided to become a candidate and leave the Army. My
intentions were publicly declared and sincere.”

On which the Committee remark:--

“The intentions thus declared were not only to become a
candidate for the Senate, but to remain and reside in
Mississippi.”[5]

Sir, what more can you ask? On the report of your own Committee you
have explicit evidence of the intent of General Ames to reside in
Mississippi; and where intent is enough, you need add nothing to it.
There is no necessity for any act beyond this declaration, which, as I
have already said, is in itself an act, as the Senator from Michigan
[Mr. HOWARD] says, taken in connection with his personal presence on
the spot,--and I would add, taken in connection with all the necessary
implications from his position, and from his acceptance of the
candidacy. This is not a case in a justice’s court, or even in a county
court. This is the Senate of the United States; and we are considering
the evidence with regard to the declarations of a gentleman already
chosen by a State of this Union to take his seat among us. We cannot
apply to these declarations any technical rule which possibly might
be applied in an inferior tribunal. We are to look at the case in its
essence, and, if satisfied of the intent, we cannot go further. The
Senate does not sit in chains. It may act according to its conscience
on the evidence, without any constraint, except from the rule of law
requiring intent.

Much stress has been laid upon the fact that General Ames held a
commission in the Army of the United States, and was actually the
military commander and provisional governor of Mississippi. What then?
Does this affect his position now? Is a soldier or officer in the Army,
is the commander of an army, shut out from the same privileges that
belong to you, Sir, and to me? Each of us may change his domicile as he
pleases, and to-morrow or next week transfer his home to another State
of the Union, and nobody can say, No. Has the soldier or the officer
fewer rights than you and I have? I think not; and I am sure that both
reason and authority sustain my conclusion. I have in my hands a volume
of the California Reports,--the twenty-eighth volume. I call attention
to the case of _The People_ v. _William Holden_, and I will not trouble
you with anything more than one clause from the marginal note, as
follows:--

“_Residence while in the service of the United States._--The
clause in the Constitution of this State, which declares that
‘no person shall be deemed to have gained or lost a residence
by reason of his presence or absence while employed in the
service of the United States,’ does not prevent a person who
removes to a county while in the service of the United States
from acquiring a residence in that county while in the said
service, if it is his intention so to do.”

“If it is his intention so to do.” These words are strictly applicable
to the case of General Ames. There was nothing in his service in
Mississippi, nothing in his high military command, to prevent him from
establishing an inhabitancy in that State, if it was his intention so
to do.

Thus at every point are we brought back to the single rule of law and
the evidence under it,--the rule being that there must be an intent to
remain, and the evidence being open to the judgment of the tribunal
before which the question is raised. Especially must this be the case
with the Senate, which will look through all technicalities, all
cobwebs, to find the truth. Nor can the Senate be so unjust to any
class of citizens as to say that a military commander may not acquire
inhabitancy in a State where he is fixed by military duties, provided
he so intends. All the adverse presumptions from military residency
will be overcome at once by the _animus manendi_, so soon as this is
proved.

Do you remember, Sir, a pointed remark made by Lafayette in the French
Chamber, shortly after Louis Philippe was crowned King? Astonishment
was expressed that the great defender of Liberty should espouse
the cause of a Bourbon and help him to the throne. Lafayette, with
remarkable condensation of phrase, replied, that he was in favor
of Louis Philippe, not _because_, but _notwithstanding_ he was a
Bourbon,--“not _because_, but _notwithstanding_.” And in this famous
saying of the great French-American you have terms strictly applicable
to this case. General Ames, soldier, officer, military commander
in Mississippi, became an inhabitant thereof, not _because_, but
_notwithstanding_ he was soldier, officer, and military commander.

A resolution of the Committee on the Judiciary, declaring
General Ames “not eligible,” was on motion of Mr. Sumner
amended by striking out the word “not,”--Yeas 40, Nays 12,--and
thus amended was agreed to without a division.

RATIFICATION OF THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.

SPEECH AT A SERENADE BEFORE MR. SUMNER’S HOUSE IN WASHINGTON, APRIL 1,
1870.

The occasion was the promulgation by the Secretary of State
of the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the
Constitution. A large number of citizens, after calling upon
the President and Vice-President, by whom they were addressed,
proceeded to the house of Mr. Sumner, who appeared with his
friend, Mr. James Wormley, and spoke as follows:--

FELLOW-CITIZENS,--I congratulate you upon the great result that
has been accomplished. For years my hope and object have been to
see the great promise of the Declaration of Independence changed
into performance,--to see that that Declaration became a reality.
[_Cheers._] This at last is nearly consummated. I do not say entirely
consummated, for it is not.

It is my nature, fellow-citizens, to think more of what remains to
be done than of what has been done,--to think more of our duties than
of our triumphs; and only to-day I have heard from Philadelphia of a
decision in a court of justice that a person of foreign birth could not
be naturalized in this country because of color. This is in pursuance
of one of those old statutes of the days of Slavery, before the word
“white” was stricken from the laws. Repeatedly, from my seat in the
Senate, I have made appeals for the expunging of that word from the
laws. I have now a bill before the Judiciary Committee to strike this
word from our naturalization laws. What the Committee will do remains
to be seen. I need not say that I shall try to impress upon the Senate
the importance of passing this bill. It remains also, that equal
rights should be secured in all the public conveyances and on all the
railroads in the United States, so that no one shall be excluded by
reason of color.

It further remains that you here in Washington shall complete this
equality of rights in your common schools. You all go together to vote,
and any person may find a seat in the Senate of the United States; but
the child is shut out of the common school on account of color. This
discrimination must be abolished. All schools must be open to all,
without distinction of color. In laboring for this, you will not only
work for yourselves, but will set an example for all the land, and most
especially for the South. Only in this way can your school system be
extended for the equal good of all. And now, as you have at heart the
education of your children, that they may grow up in that knowledge of
equal rights so essential to their protection in the world, it is your
bounden duty here in Washington to see that this is accomplished.

Your school system must be founded on Equal Rights, so that no one
shall be excluded on account of color. In this way Human Rights will be
best established. And I would remind you, although this has not been
effected, the victories already gained are the assurance that all that
should be done will be done.

You have progressed, step by step, until you have reached your present
position; and now it only remains that you should continue to the end
earnest, faithful, and determined; then will the work be completed.

Returning you my sincere thanks, and offering my felicitations on this
occasion, I bid you good night.

ADMISSION OF GEORGIA TO REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS.

SPEECH IN THE SENATE, APRIL 5, 1870.

Representatives from Georgia had been admitted to seats
in Congress in July, 1868, under the Act of June 25th of
that year; but the subsequent action of her Legislature in
expelling its colored members and filling their places with
whites, and the continued outrages upon loyalists, had the
effect of preventing the admission of her Senators, and
in the next Congress of excluding her from representation
altogether,--involving the necessity of measures for her
reconstruction and admission anew. The first of these was the
Act of December 22, 1869, providing, among other things, for
the reorganization of the State Legislature, by reinstating its
colored members in their seats and purging it of its disloyal
elements. To this succeeded a bill in the same terms with the
Acts for the admission of Virginia and Mississippi, which was
passed in the House with the following amendment, moved by Mr.
Bingham, of Ohio:--

“_Provided_, That nothing in this Act contained shall be
construed to vacate any of the offices now filled in the
State of Georgia, either by the election of the people or
by the appointment of the Governor thereof by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate of said State; neither
shall this Act be construed to extend the official term
of any officer of said State beyond the term limited by
the Constitution thereof, dating from the election or
appointment of such officer, nor to deprive the people of
Georgia of the right under their Constitution to elect
Senators and Representatives of the State of Georgia in
the year 1870; but said election shall be held in the year
1870, either on the day named in the Constitution of said
State or such other day as the present Legislature may
designate by law.”

In the Senate, after several days’ discussion of this proviso,
as in Committee of the Whole, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts,
moved a substitute of opposite character, as follows:--

“_Provided_, That, in consequence of the failure of the
General Assembly of Georgia to perfect a legal organization
for a period of over eighteen months, it be, and hereby
is, declared that the term of service of the said General
Assembly shall date from the 26th of January, 1870,
and shall continue until the persons to be chosen on
the Tuesday after the first Monday of November, 1872,
as members of the General Assembly of said State, are
qualified: _Provided_, That the last clause of the second
subdivision of the first section of the third article of
the Constitution of Georgia, in the following words, ‘The
General Assembly may by law change the time of election,
and the members shall hold until their successors are
elected and qualified,’ shall never be by any Legislature
exercised so as to extend the term of any office beyond the
regular period named in the said Constitution; and the said
General Assembly shall by joint resolution consent to this
fundamental condition before this Act shall take effect.”

April 5th, Mr. Sumner spoke on the pending question as
follows:--

MR. PRESIDENT,--Whatever its result, this debate will be ever
memorable. For the first time the African has pleaded in this
Chamber.[6] But the curious observer cannot fail to note that he was
obliged to plead still for his long-oppressed race. The Senator from
Mississippi sits among us, and speaks; but the battle is not yet won.
Slavery still asserts her ancient predominance, finding strange voices.
No longer is the claim made directly. Nothing is said of Slavery, but
the old cause is defended under an _alias_. It is now State Rights
which are invoked, or it may be alleged irregularities,--as if State
Rights or any irregularities could prevail against the sovereign duty
of Congress to see that Georgia is so organized that good people
shall be protected in their rights. To this end all else must be
tributary, while every pretext of State Rights and every allegation of
irregularity are of less consequence than the breath with which they
are urged.

It is sad that the Senator from Mississippi should be doomed to
encounter this spirit. As he entered the Chamber, the evil genius
should have departed; but it is not so. And strange to say, the voices
by which it has spoken have been the voices of friends. But so it has
been always. How often in other days have the opponents of Slavery
been saddened by encountering the voices of friends! The argument of
technicality is always at hand, as the well-seasoned weapon of the
lawyer,--and this debate is no exception.

I had hoped that this question would be decided without debate, at
least on our side,--in short, that all would appreciate the exigency,
and unite harmoniously in applying the remedy. I am disappointed. But I
shall say very little. Feeling as strongly as I do, and seeing the way
as clearly as I do, I cannot be entirely silent.

The case is very simple. From unquestionable evidence it appears that
Georgia, while still in transition from the old to the new, while still
in process of Reconstruction, and before the work is completed, has
lapsed into a condition of insecurity and uncertainty, so that, without
the intervention of Congress, the people cannot be assured in the
enjoyment of their rights.

This is the broad statement, which is confirmed by the present as well
as the past. By an unparalleled audacity colored citizens were expelled
from the Legislature simply on account of color, while the orgies of
the Ku-Klux-Klan prevailed throughout the State. And now this same
Ku-Klux-Klan continues its terrors, while former Rebels threaten to
regain their pernicious power. The State is in peril. I do not use too
strong language. All evidence is at fault, if it be not as I say. To
allow these Rebels to prevail is to sacrifice Reconstruction, and to
offer up the Unionists, white and black. It is to do a deed of shame
and desertion. Are you ready for this degradation? Shall Congress
descend to this vileness?

Again I use strong language; but only in this way can I picture the
enormity which is now proposed. Among national obligations which cannot
be declined or postponed, and which rest primarily on Congress, is
the duty of protecting Reconstruction. _Show that Reconstruction is
in peril, and you must act._ Now that it is in peril there can be no
question. Concurring testimony from opposite quarters, public acts, and
open menace, all attest the condition of Georgia. Others in this debate
have entered into details. I give you the irresistible, unanswerable
conclusion.

And here occurs the Bingham Amendment, which, however intended, is
only an engine of Rebel power. This is its true character, and nothing
else. Howsoever it may seem, it must be regarded in its consequences.
We must look from the word to the thing. It is not enough to see how
it reads; we must see how it works. According to its text, the present
Legislature, whose natural existence has been changed by wrongful
addition and wrongful subtraction proceeding directly from the old
Rebellion, is terminated at a specified day in the coming autumn, and
a new election is ordered, without taking into consideration the past
or the future,--without considering that thus far it has sat as a
provisional Legislature only, although chosen to sit under the State
Constitution,--without considering how it has been despoiled of its
legislative character and just rights by hostile influence, and how a
new election will be a direct appeal to this same hostile influence,
giving to it a letter of license and unloosing the Ku-Klux-Klan. The
Bingham Amendment is in few words, but they are words of despair to the
loyal men of Georgia, and words of cheer to the disloyal.

I have listened to the arguments in its favor. Do I mistake, when I say
that they all resolve themselves into technicality? At one moment we
have allegations of “irregularity,” and at another of “estoppel”; and
such technicalities play their part, while the good people of Georgia
are sacrificed. We are estopped, so it is said, by the Act of December
22, 1869, which, failing to provide for the re-performance of certain
conditions-precedent, recognized the validity of the legislative acts
by which they had been performed. Very well,--suppose the legislative
acts are recognized as valid, what then? Because the ratification
of the Constitutional Amendments is recognized, does it follow that
Congress is thereby “estopped”--such is the word--in completing the
work of Reconstruction? I cannot comprehend this reasoning. It would be
of value in a county court, but it is out of place in the Senate of the
United States, on a question of Reconstruction. To my mind, all this is
a matter of supreme indifference. The powers of Congress are above any
such incident, and nothing has occurred to impair them in any way. They
exist now as at the beginning, awaiting the discretion of Congress.

Do you ask where these powers are found? Of course, in the two
Constitutional Amendments already proclaimed,--being ample sources,
if none others existed. Out of these Congress is authorized to do all
that is needed to enforce Emancipation and to protect the rights of the
citizen. This is plain, very plain.

But there are three other sources, each of which is overflowing. The
first is from the necessity of the case, _ex necessitate rei_. This is
one of the grounds on which Chief-Justice Marshall asserted the power
of Congress over the Territories;[7] but it is equally applicable
in the work of Reconstruction. From the necessity of the case this
power must be in Congress, as without it Reconstruction could not be
completed. You must renounce Reconstruction or recognize this power.

Then comes the “guaranty” clause, which is another bountiful,
all-sufficient fountain. The United States are to guaranty a republican
form of government to the States. But this guaranty can be executed
only through Congress. This clause is at once old and new. It is old
as the Constitution itself, but it is new in its practical exercise.
And the reason is obvious. So long as Slavery prevailed, this mighty
power slept; but it was the sleep of a giant. At last it has awaked,
never again to sleep or slumber. From this time forward the duty of
the nation to guaranty a republican government to all its parts will
be constant and ever-present; and this duty is reinforced by all
needful powers. The guaranty is continuing and perpetual, and it must
be executed at all hazards. In its execution Congress must fix the
definition of a republican government. How often have I said this!--but
I shall not fail to repeat it so long as the occasion requires.
To Congress belongs the duty of determining what is a republican
government, and then it must see that such a government prevails in
every State.

If in any State the existing government fails according to the just
standard, or if it is in any way menaced, then must Congress interfere
to execute the sleepless guaranty. And in this interference it may act
according to its discretion, determining the occasion and the “means”
to be employed. It may act by repression or by precaution, and it may
select any “means” proper for the purpose. To say that it may not act
by precaution as well as by repression is contrary to reason, and I may
say to common sense. Whatever may be done by repression may be done by
precaution also. Such is the experience of life in other things, and
this obligation of guaranty is subject to the universal law. In the
selection of “means” the whole field and the whole arsenal are at its
command. Not an instrument, not a weapon, proper for the purpose, which
it may not grasp. Here the language of Chief-Justice Marshall, so often
quoted, harmonizes with the claim of power which I now make:--

“The Government which has a right to do an act, and has imposed
on it the duty of performing that act, must, according to the
dictates of reason, be allowed to select the means; and those
who contend that it may not select any appropriate means, that
one particular mode of effecting the object is excepted, take
upon themselves the burden of establishing that exception.”[8]

In our recent debates able Senators have denied everything. They
will not concede the “means”; and they even ignore this great clause,
which, as Cicero said of the ancient _Senatusconsultum_, has rested so
long like a sword in its scabbard.[9] But there it is. Senators may
ignore it; they may not see it; but there it is in the Constitution. In
attempting to belittle this clause Senators only show how little they
appreciate the lofty unity of the Republic. Other clauses are important
in the machinery of government; but this guaranty makes the Republic
one and indivisible, being One out of Many, and places the rights of
all under the protecting power of the nation.

Before the extinction of Slavery, State Rights were successful against
this guaranty. To invoke this tyrannical pretension was enough. How
often was it heard on this floor! How completely did it dominate the
Constitution itself! But the habit still continues, and we are still
compelled to hear this same pretension, under which States _played the
turtle_, drawing head, legs, and tail all within an impenetrable shell.
With the overthrow of the Rebellion on the bloody field this pretension
should have been abandoned and forgotten. A State is not a turtle,
which can shut itself within its shell, and enjoy its own separate
animal existence; but it is a component part of this great Republic,
with which it is interlaced and interlocked so as to share with every
other State a common life, subject to one and the same prevailing law.
To insist that a State can play the turtle now, as in the days when
Slavery ruled, is to dishonor the Constitution, and to abandon the
crowning victory over the Rebellion.

Do you ask for the power in the Constitution to enter into a State and
establish republican government? I give it to you in an immortal text.
To question it is to show an ignorance of language which in this case
is clear beyond criticism, and an ignorance also of the true genius
of American institutions, where unity of rights is the Alpha and the
Omega. The national motto, _E Pluribus Unum_, is another expression of
that great unity by which the States are lost in the Nation. And this
guaranty I now invoke for the protection of the good people of Georgia,
and for the protection hereafter of Human Rights, when imperilled
anywhere within the limits of the Republic.

But there are other and exceptional reasons why Georgia is still within
the control of Congress. The process of Reconstruction in this State is
not yet completed; so that the government there is simply provisional,
and nothing else. This is only according to the Reconstruction Act of
March 2, 1867, where it is provided,--

“That, until the people of said Rebel States shall be BY LAW
admitted to representation in the Congress of the United
States, _any civil governments which may exist therein shall
be deemed provisional only_, and in all respects subject to
the paramount authority of the United States at any time to
abolish, modify, control, or supersede the same.”[10]

Nothing can be more explicit. Until the people of the Rebel States
are “by law” admitted to representation, they are under the power of
Congress. Everything done is inchoate, and nothing more. But Georgia is
not yet “by law” admitted to representation, and we are now considering
when and how such admission shall take place. Meanwhile, according to
express language of the Act, the government is “provisional only.”
Nor is this all; for the Act proceeds to declare further that this
government is “in all respects subject to the paramount authority of
the United States at any time to abolish, modify, control, or supersede
the same.” Words cannot be stronger. “Abolish,” “modify,” “control,”
“supersede.” To argue against their plain meaning is simply ridiculous.
To insist that the existing government is beyond the reach of Congress,
to be extended or abridged, to be recognized or superseded in its
discretion, is preposterous. The power is reserved in terms almost
excessive in fulness. Therefore do I say there can be no question of
power on the present occasion. As well question that the sun shines or
the river flows.

There being no question of power, there arises, then, the obligation
of duty. Congress has the power to protect republican institutions in
Georgia, and to protect the good people there; and it has the further
power to superintend the work of Reconstruction to the end. All this
it must do. It cannot abandon the appointed work. Of course it will
ascertain the exact condition of things, and will then apply the
remedy. No excuse of State Rights, no fine-spun technicality, no plea
of irregularity, no argument of “estoppel” can be heard. All these are
trivial and unworthy against the commanding duty. Georgia must be saved
to herself and to the Union, and Congress must supply the means.

Several courses are open to Congress, and all equally within its
powers; for all are derived from the same fountains.

1. Georgia may be remanded for an indefinite period to a condition
like that of the Territories, subordinate in all respects to the
jurisdiction of Congress, which may meanwhile mould it into loyalty and
order.

2. Or the State may be subjected to a military government, until such
time as it is fit in every respect for self-government.

3. Or the existing provisional government may be invested with the
powers of the State, in such form and way and for such term as Congress
in its discretion shall think best.

I doubt not that there are other modes within the jurisdiction of
Congress; but these are all contained substantially in the three I have
named.

It is not now proposed to remand Georgia to a territorial condition,
or to subject the State to a military government. But it is proposed
to place it in charge of the existing provisional government, which is
to continue for a full constitutional term; and this is done as the
best way of guarding against disturbing forces from the late Rebellion.
It is said that this will be sufficient. I hope that it may be. I
am satisfied that it is the least Congress can do in the exigency.
Anything short of this will be the betrayal of those who have a right
to our protection.

Against this simple and moderate proposition is interposed the Bingham
Amendment, which, however plausible in form, is destructive in
consequence. It is enough that it hands over the State to misrule and
violence. Senators, how can you do this thing? How can you hesitate to
take every heed and precaution against even the possibility of such
an occurrence? You have the power. Then must you exercise it. In the
recent history of Georgia nothing can be adduced to make you hesitate.
On the contrary, all things, when properly understood, conspire to
constrain the exercise of this power.

How feeble is the argument, that, _because_ Governor Bullock was
chosen Governor and the Legislature commenced its session at a
given date now past, therefore in this process of Reconstruction
the constitutional term of the Governor and of the Legislature must
be limited to two years from that date! Besides ignoring all the
controlling powers of Congress, this assumption ignores also the
conduct of this very Legislature by which its organization was for a
while defeated. Nothing is clearer than that the termination of the
provisional government in Georgia was contingent on the performance
of certain covenants, express and implied. These covenants have been
outrageously violated. The very form of government underwent a change
when persons clearly ineligible from disloyalty were allowed to take
part in it, while citizens entitled to equal rights, and especially
protected by the Reconstruction Laws, were tyrannically ejected from
the Legislature. There was for the time being a usurpation. Had this
violation of underlying covenants been anticipated, Reconstruction
would have been postponed. No Senator will pretend the contrary.
But Congress, in view of what has occurred, may justly do what it
would have done, had it anticipated the result. It may postpone
Reconstruction,--treating the Legislature meanwhile as provisional, and
recognizing its acts only so far as in the judgment of Congress they
are fit to be recognized.

If instruction be needed on this point, it will be found in the
authoritative words of publicists, showing how even the terms of a
treaty may be disregarded where there has been a change in the form of
government.

Thus, Vattel does not hesitate to say,--

“It may say, upon a good foundation, that it would not have
entered into an alliance with that nation, had it been under
the present form of government.”[11]

One of our own publicists, Alexander Hamilton, has dealt with the same
question in congenial language:--

“Contracts between nations, as between individuals, must lose
their force where the considerations fail.

“A treaty pernicious to the state is of itself void, where no
change in the situation of either of the parties takes place.
By a much stronger reason it must become voidable at the option
of the other party, when the voluntary act of one of the allies
has made so material a change in the _condition of things_ as
is always implied in a radical revolution of government.”[12]

We but follow the simple principles of these texts, when we declare
that the outrage perpetrated in Georgia so far changed the condition of
things that the Legislature lost all title to recognition by Congress.
It ceased to be the Legislature contemplated by Congress. Nor was it
the first regular Legislature contemplated by the State Constitution.
It was irregular, abnormal, revolutionary. To recognize such a body as
the first regular Legislature is a fraud on the State Constitution.
To insist that members chosen as the first regular Legislature shall
be treated as provisional only is unjust to them. To insist that such
members shall be despoiled of the regular term is a direct surrender to
the disorganizers, who will rejoice to see Congress sacrifice the true
men to whom it owes protection. To my mind there can be no surer rule
than so to act that these disorganizers shall not rejoice. Especially
will I not please them at the expense of patriot citizens.

In the exercise of this power Congress is acting on principles of
Equity. And here allow me to say, that, in superintending the process
of Reconstruction, Congress is a Court of Equity, bound to supply
deficiencies in the existing law, to enjoin against threatened wrong,
and generally to see justice done in spite of technicalities. Here I
only follow the best definitions of Equity from the earliest times. No
student can forget that profound definition by Aristotle,[13] adopted
by Grotius[14] also,--“Equity is the correction of that wherein the
law by reason of its universality is deficient”; nor can he forget
the phrase of Lord Bacon, when he gives it a higher character still,
namely, “The general conscience of the realm, which is Chancery.”[15]
These two philosophers were each right; for Equity is at once a
correction of law and the voice of conscience. In conformity with these
principles, an ample jurisdiction has been established, under which,
among other things, the powers of ordinary courts are supplemented by
more flexile methods, the rules of law are prevented from becoming
instruments of injustice, persons are restrained from asserting
doubtful rights in a manner productive of irreparable damage, and, in
the absence of positive law, universal justice is maintained. It has
been a constant aspiration to bring Law and Equity into harmony. Lord
Chancellor Eldon relates that on one occasion Lord Chief-Justice De
Grey said, he “never liked Equity so well as when it was like Law”; and
he adds, “The day before I heard Lord Mansfield say he never liked Law
so well as when it was like Equity.”[16] In the same spirit, Bishop
Burnet says of Sir Matthew Hale:--

“As great a lawyer as he was, he would never suffer the
strictness of law to prevail against conscience; as great a
chancellor as he was, he would make use of all the niceties
and subtilties in law, when it tended to support right and
equity.”[17]

Such is Equity, and such are the principles which preside in its
courts. No strictness of law can prevail against conscience. The
niceties and subtilties of law are all to be used in support of right
and equity. These noble and authoritative rules are a pathway of light.
Against all strictness of law conscience must prevail. If there are
niceties and subtilties in the law, let them all be employed on the
side of right and equity. That is according to reason and the harmonies
of the Universe. It is Equity.

Am I not right, when I now insist that Congress is a High Court of
Equity with Georgia at its bar? It only remains that it should apply
the principles of Equity, especially supplying deficiencies in the
existing law, enjoining against threatened wrong, and seeing that
justice is done,--all technicalities to the contrary notwithstanding.
Against all strictness of law conscience must prevail; and if there
are niceties and subtilties in the law, they must all minister to the
completion of Reconstruction. To this end, the process of Congress must
go forth in such form as will best establish peace and security in that
State under the safeguard of equal laws. With the execution of this
process Georgia will be a republican government in reality as in name.

The assertion of this power is necessary now, not merely for Georgia,
where it will bring peace and security, but also for the Nation, which
will be elevated in character and strengthened in that unity against
which the Rebellion dashed itself in battle. An ancient sage has left
in perpetual testimony, that the best government is where an injury
to a single citizen is redressed as an injury to the whole nation.
In harmony with the saying of the sage is the fundamental law that
protection and allegiance are reciprocal, so that the Nation owes
protection in exchange for the allegiance it receives. The duties of
the Nation are correlative with the duties of the citizen. Are we a
Nation? Surely we are not, if any State can without correction deny
Equal Rights within its border, or in any way imperil the tranquillity
of the Republic. There was a time when all this might be done with
impunity,--when a State was permitted to exalt itself above the
Nation,--when a State determined for itself the standard of Human
Rights,--when there was one rule of citizenship at Boston and another
at New Orleans, and as many different rules as there were States,--when
State Rights were made the protection for all that a State chose to
do, and the turtle, with its impenetrable shell, was the prototype of
a political community constituting part of the Nation. But this time
has passed. A State can no longer play the turtle; State Rights have
ceased to be a protection for all that a State inclines to do; there
can be but one rule of citizenship in all the States, being the same in
Boston and New Orleans; no State can determine for itself the standard
of Human Rights; no State can exalt itself above the Nation; nor can
any State without correction deny Equal Rights within its borders, or
in any way imperil the tranquillity of the Republic. The judgments of
courts, the arguments of Senators, with all possible learning and all
possible skill, are impotent against that prevailing law which places
the National Unity and the Equal Rights of All beneath the safeguard of
the Nation. There they will remain from this time forevermore, making
the Republic more than ever an example to mankind.

After various amendments, the bill was finally taken into a new
draft, leaving the questions presented in the Bingham Amendment
to the determination of the State Constitution, and in this
form passed both Houses without a division.

INCOME TAX.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, APRIL 7, 1870.

The Senate having under consideration a Joint Resolution from
the House, with an amendment by the Committee on Finance,
declaratory of the meaning and intention of the law relating to
the Income Tax, Mr. Sumner said,--

I shall make no opposition to the amendment of the Committee on
Finance, as I understand it is to relieve the Department from a
difficulty which has arisen in the interpretation of a statute; but I
desire to say now--and I take this earliest opportunity--that I think
the income tax ought not to be continued any longer.

MR. CONKLING [of New York]. Reëstablished, you mean.

MR. SUMNER. Very well; I accept the amendment of the Senator from New
York: it ought not to be reëstablished.

MR. SCOTT [of Pennsylvania]. It has expired.

MR. SUMNER. It has expired. There was an understanding, when it was
established, that it should live only into the year 1870. It has now
reached its natural death, and no resurrection ought to operate upon
it. An income tax is a war tax. It ought not to be made a peace tax.
“The medicine of the Constitution should not become its daily bread.” I
am against the continuance of this tax; and if the occasion required,
I would go forward and assign reasons. But I am unwilling now to enter
into any general discussion of the question, as it is not directly
presented by the proposition before the Senate; but I hope the Senator
from Ohio [Mr. SHERMAN], who has charge of this bill, and is Chairman
of the Finance Committee, will bear in mind the radical objection to
any reëstablishment of this tax, and will also bear in mind another
important proposition,--that the taxes of the country must be reduced.
I have on another occasion, and more than once, said, “Down with the
taxes!”--and I repeat the cry now. We cannot do better than to begin
with a tax inequitable in its operation, and which, according to the
original understanding when first adopted, was to end now.

After further debate, in which different Senators participated,
Mr. Sumner spoke again, as follows:--

MR. PRESIDENT,--I should not have said another word but for the
very confident statement made by my friend, the Senator from Ohio,
that at a proper time he will show the fairness of this tax. Sir, if
he can show its fairness, he will do what no person before him has
ever been able to do,--what no speaker in Parliament, no speaker in
Congress, no writer on taxation or political economy has ever been
able to accomplish. The Senator assumes in advance a very considerable
task. Let me commend him to the candid, absolutely impartial, and
authoritative words of Mr. McCulloch, in his work on Taxation and
Funding. We all know the authority of this writer; none better can be
adduced. A committee of this body might be well satisfied, could it
have the sanction of this writer. Now what does he say of the tax on
income? One would think he had listened to my honorable friend on this
question. Of its effects he says:--

“It would no doubt have the supposed effects, [_i. e._ be
successful,] could it be fairly assessed. But the practical
difficulties in the way of its fair assessment are not of a
sort that can be overcome. And the truth is, that taxes on
income, though theoretically equal, are in their practical
operation most unequal and vexatious.”[18]

MR. SHERMAN. Read the paragraph immediately before that, in
which he speaks of the theory of an income tax.

MR. SUMNER. I should rather read a paragraph after it, with the
permission of the Senator. [_Laughter._] I have read the chapter, and I
understand it; and there are words here to which I call the attention
of my friend:--

“After the Legislature has done all that can be done to make it
equal, it will be most unequal.”

Strong language that!

“To impose it only on certain classes of incomes, or to impose
it on all incomes, without regard to their origin, is alike
subversive of sound principle. Nothing, therefore, remains but
to reject it, or to resort to it only when money must be had
at all hazards, when the ordinary and less exceptionable means
of filling the public coffers have been tried and exhausted,
and when, as during the late war, Hannibal is knocking at your
gates, and national independence must be secured at whatever
cost. An unreasoning necessity of this sort is the only
satisfactory justification of taxes on property and income.”[19]

This is the voice of Science. It is not the voice of a political
partisan, or of the representative of any Administration anxious to
establish a system of taxation, but it is the voice of Science itself,
speaking by one of its--I may say chosen authorities. How can this
testimony be answered? If you come back to an authority of a different
character, take a statesman. The Senator from California [Mr. CASSERLY]
has referred to Sir Robert Peel, who is known as the modern author
of the income tax; but he has left his testimony behind. I quote
words from different speeches, showing how he has characterized it.
He admitted that it was “a tax which had hitherto been reserved for
time of war”; and that “the question of its imposition was, whether
the political necessity was of such magnitude and urgency as to
justify it”; and then that it “ought to be accompanied by measures
of simultaneous relief.” Then, “he did not deny that it was an
inquisitorial tax”; and again, that “a certain degree of inquisitorial
scrutiny was inseparable from an income tax”; and further, that “a good
deal of inconvenience inevitably arose from the inquiries that must be
instituted into the properties of men, in the imposition of an income
tax”; moreover, that “one great objection to the income tax was, that
it fell with peculiar severity upon those who were determined to act
honestly.”[20]

In harmony with his testimony is that also of Mr. Gladstone, named by
the two Senators who have preceded me. The Senator from Ohio reminds
us that Mr. Gladstone has sustained an income tax. Have we not all
sustained an income tax?

Mr. SHERMAN. He does it this very year.

MR. SUMNER. This very year, and why? The Senator knows perfectly how
England is pressed by taxation,--how difficult it is to find objects
for taxation in order to meet the great demands upon her exchequer.
He knows that England is obliged now, in time of peace, to meet the
responsibilities of war. It is on account of that terrible war debt
which still hangs over her, the interest of which must be annually
paid, that she is obliged to assume even in a period of peace this
responsibility. I think we are in no such condition. Our war is happily
over, and I know no reason why the responsibilities and obligations
assumed during that period should be prolonged now during the reign of
peace. Sir, let us put an end to the war. And I know no better way to
give our testimony to the end of the war than by stopping that taxation
which was born of the war.

MORE WORK TO BE DONE.

LETTER TO THE AMERICAN ANTISLAVERY SOCIETY AT ITS FINAL MEETING, APRIL
8, 1870.

SENATE CHAMBER, April 8, 1870.

GENTLEMEN,--You propose to celebrate the triumph of Equal Rights
at the ballot-box, and at the same time to abandon that famous
shibboleth by which you once rallied the country against Slavery.

It was said of Wolfe, the conqueror at Quebec, that he died in
the arms of Victory; and such will be the fortune of your noble
Society. “They run!” was the voice that fell on the ears of the
expiring General. “Who run?” he exclaimed. “The enemy,” was the
answer. “Now, God be praised, I shall die in peace,” said he, and
his battle ended.

The Antislavery Society may now die in peace. Slavery is ended.
But I do not doubt that the same courage and fidelity which
through long years warred against this prodigious Barbarism will
continue determined to the end in protecting and advancing the
work begun.

I do not think the work finished, so long as the word “white”
is allowed to play any part in legislation,--so long as it
constrains the courts in naturalization,--so long as it rules
public conveyances, steamboats, and railroads,--so long as it
bars the doors of houses bound by law to receive people for food
and lodging, or licensed as places of amusement,--so long as it
is inscribed on our common schools;--nor do I think the work
finished until the power of the Nation is recognized, supreme
and beyond question, to fix the definition of a “republican
government,” and to enforce the same by the perfect maintenance
of rights everywhere throughout the land, according to the
promises of the Declaration of Independence, without any check or
hindrance from the old proslavery pretension of State Rights. It
must be understood that every State, while perfectly free in its
local administration, is subject to the supremacy of the Nation,
whenever it touches the Rights of Man,--so that, according to
the ancient words of Demosthenes, the law shall be “a general
ordinance, _equal and alike to all_.”[21] Let there be Equality
before the Law, and all rights are assured. In this cause count
me always as your devoted and grateful fellow-worker.

Accept my thanks for the invitation with which you have honored
me, and believe me sincerely yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE ANTISLAVERY SOCIETY.

EDUCATION.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, MAY 9, 1870.

The question being on an amendment to the Legislative
Appropriation Bill, reducing the appropriation for the Bureau
of Education from $14,500 to $5,400, in conformity with a
previous reduction of the clerical force, Mr. Sumner said:--

MR. PRESIDENT,--I hope there may be no hesitation in refusing to agree
to this amendment. It seems to me that the House of Representatives has
acted wisely in increasing the appropriation, and we shall act very
unwisely, if we fail to unite with the House. We, Sir, are a Republic;
we are living under republican institutions; and, as I understand them,
one of their essential elements is Education. Now, Sir, here is an
agency associated with the National Government, having education for
its object; and what is the appropriation proposed by our excellent
committee? It is $5,400: that is all. Looking on the opposite page of
the bill, I find an appropriation of $9,000 for stationery, furniture,
and books for the Interior Department; I find an appropriation of
$16,000 for fuel and lights for the Interior Department; and yet
we propose to give only $5,400 to create and support a Bureau of
Education! Sir, is that decent? It seems to me, in this age, at this
period of our history, when more than ever we are beginning to see the
transcendent advantage of education, how much we owe to light,--

“Hail, holy light!”--

it seems to me strange that we should now cut down the appropriation
for the Bureau of Education. Turning on, I come to the Department of
Agriculture, and there I find an appropriation of $72,170; and then I
turn back again to the $5,400 for the Bureau of Education. I think the
House did not go far enough, when it made the appropriation $14,500.
I would make the appropriation as large as that for the Agricultural
Department; and I know full well the period is at hand when all of you
will rejoice to make an appropriation for the Educational Bureau twice
more than that for the Agricultural Department.

As to the question whether there is any existing statute to sanction
this appropriation, I dismiss it entirely. It is merely a technicality;
and it ought not now, on this Appropriation Bill, at this stage, after
the vote of the House, to be allowed to stand in the way.

Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, supported the amendment as a step toward
the abolition of the Bureau, which he regarded as useless,--at
the same time urging the withdrawal, for consideration in a
full Senate, of a proviso, just voted, for the restoration of
the original clerical force; and it being thereupon suggested
that the whole matter be passed over till the next day, Mr.
Sumner said:--

Before that passes away, I wish to make one comment on a single word of
the Senator from Ohio. The Senator said that he hoped we should take no
backward step; and yet his speech and his proposition were a backward
step. Sir, there is nothing that any State or any nation can do for
education that is not for civilization itself; and now the Senator from
Ohio is against appropriating a paltry sum of $10,000 for education.

MR. SHERMAN. No,--for two or three clerks.

MR. SUMNER. My friend will pardon me,--for education. He is against
making this paltry appropriation for education; and he reminds us that
in his great State $3,000,000 are set apart for this purpose. Is it
not shameful, that, while $3,000,000 are set apart for this purpose
in his great State, so small a sum as is now proposed is to be set
apart by the Nation? Am I told that the Nation has nothing to do with
this question? Allow me to reply at once, it has everything to do with
it; it has more to do with it than the State of Ohio, inasmuch as in
the Nation are all the States. Ohio is only one State; all the States
compose the Nation; and the Nation is responsible for the civilization
of all the States. The Nation is the presiding genius, not only of
Ohio, but of all the associate States of the Union. Therefore, Sir,
should the Nation by every means in its power, by appropriation, by a
department, by a bureau, by clerks, by officers, do everything possible
to promote the interests of education.

But the question may be asked, What can it do? With the sum proposed,
unhappily, very little,--too little. But let us not give up doing
even that little. A little in such a cause is much. If nothing else,
information may be accumulated, statistics may be gathered, facts may
be brought together, which can be laid before those interested in
education all over our own country and in foreign lands. That may be a
specific object of the Bureau of Education.

Then, again, it may supply a general impulse to education in every
State,--even in Ohio, with its $3,000,000 appropriated to that purpose.
Permit me to say, the State of Ohio, great as it is, is not yet above
the reach of educational influences; and I am sure that this Bureau, if
properly organized, might be of advantage even to the great State which
my friend represents with so much ability on this floor. I therefore
adopt the language of my friend, when he said, “Let us take no backward
step.” I would increase this appropriation, rather than diminish it. I
wish it were $100,000,--ay, Sir, $500,000.

The amendment was rejected,--Yeas 19, Nays 38.

NO EXCLUSION OF RETIRED ARMY OFFICERS FROM CIVIL OFFICE.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, MAY 12, 1870.

The Senate having under consideration a bill for the reduction
of the Army, reported by Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, from the
Committee on Military Affairs, as a substitute for one from the
House, and the pending question being on an amendment by Mr.
Trumbull, of Illinois, restoring to its original form in the
House bill the provision “That it shall not be lawful for any
officer of the Army of the United States on the active list
to hold any civil office,” by striking out the words “on the
active list,” Mr. Sumner said:--

MR. PRESIDENT,--There is a principle of our institutions, to which
reference is constantly made in this debate, which is worthy of
constant memory. It is the subordination of the military to the
civil power. Mr. Jefferson, in his Inaugural Address, so memorable
as a representation of the fundamental principles of republican
institutions, expressly declares the subordination of the military
to the civil an essential element of a republic. I accept that idea;
and I confess that I have always admired in our system that the Navy
Department and the War Department each is in charge of a civilian; that
neither a naval officer nor a military officer, in the ordinary course
of affairs, takes his place at the head of either of these Departments,
to the end that the Navy and the Army shall see in a civilian the
visible head of each. In that I recognize the genius of the Republic.

But now, Sir, for the application. I confess I agree entirely with
the argument of the Senator from Ohio [Mr. SHERMAN]. I consider that
the demands of republican institutions are completely satisfied, if
we exclude men in active service from taking part in civil life. To
go further is to tie the hands of the appointing power,--to take
from the country the opportunity of securing, it may be, important
service,--and, I think, is to be needlessly hard on men who in their
day have rendered good service to the country. It does seem to me
that cases may occur where it may be important to take into the civil
service a retired officer. Why may not that occur in the natural course
of events? There is talent, there is experience. Are our offices so
well filled, is the public service so completely performed, that we can
afford to exclude talent and experience?

MR. CONKLING. Is not that much more true in regard to active
officers?

MR. SUMNER. There, Sir, you come in conflict with the fundamental
principle of republican institutions. You cannot, as I submit, fill
civil offices from the active service of the Army or Navy without
conflict with that fundamental principle.

MR. CONKLING. Why?

MR. SUMNER. But I find no such conflict, if you take an officer on the
retired list.

MR. CONKLING. Will the Senator point out the distinction?

MR. SUMNER. The Senator asks, “Why?” For the obvious reason, that,
when the officer is on the retired list, he has, for all the ordinary
purposes of the service, ceased to be an officer,--he enjoys what I
think has been called a pension, which in reality is a pension under
another name,--and he has ceased to be in the active, practical service
either of Navy or of Army. On that account I see a clear distinction.

Therefore it seems to me, for the sake of the public service, and that
we may not be guilty of hardship to any portion of the community, that
the words introduced by my colleague in the pending bill ought to be
preserved. I hope they will not be struck out.

The amendment prevailed,--Yeas 34, Nays 22.

ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, MAY 27, 1870.

On the question of an appropriation of $100,000 for “one or
more expeditions towards the North Pole,” moved by Mr. Sumner,
under a resolution of the Committee on Foreign Relations,--it
being objected by Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, that “we could not
afford to embark in such an enterprise,” that “the money was
needed for purposes altogether more pressing,” Mr. Sumner
remarked,--

The Senator from Vermont has just moved and carried a large
appropriation for the extension and adornment of the Capitol grounds,
and now he opposes a smaller appropriation having for its object the
extension of geographical knowledge in this hemisphere. I voted gladly
for the proposition of the Senator; but he does not favor mine. He is
against the North Pole. His mood is not unlike that of Lord Jeffrey,
when he broke forth against it. Somebody, to whom he had spoken
impatiently on the subject, complained to Sydney Smith of the language
he had employed, being nothing less than “Damn the North Pole!”--when
the great wit endeavored to soothe the injured man, saying, “Do not be
concerned; I have heard him speak disrespectfully of the Equator.” I
presume the Senator from Vermont would do the same thing, if there were
any question of exploration under the Equator.

I doubt not that in former days the Senator has circulated under his
frank Herndon’s “Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon.” Here was an
Equatorial exploration by which our country has gained honor. There is
nothing in our history by which we have acquired a better fame than
what we have done for science. The scientific reports on our Western
territory are much valued where science is cultivated. And the United
States Exploring Expedition, organized by the care of John Quincy
Adams, has given to our Republic a true renown. Who would blot from
our annals this invaluable record? But we, too, may do something not
unworthy of companionship with this early expedition.

Thus far our Government has attempted nothing for Polar exploration.
Kane and Hayes have added to our geographical knowledge, and inscribed
the names of honored countrymen on Arctic headlands; but their
expeditions proceeded from private munificence. The time has come when
the Government should take up this work, nor leave the monopoly to
foreign powers. Perhaps I desire too much; but I would have my country
explore this whole North American Continent, not only in the interest
of science, but for the sake of the near future. It is easy to see
that our Capitol grounds will be broader than anything included in the
amendment of the Senator from Vermont, and I hope we shall not delay
their exploration.

Nor should we be daunted by difficulties. I cannot doubt that the
time will come when every quarter of the globe, with every corner,
every recess, whether at the Equator or the Pole, whether land or sea,
will be brought within the domain of knowledge, and find its place on
the map, so that there shall be no _Terra Incognita_; but we must do
our part in this triumph. Do not say that this knowledge is without
value. Just in proportion as we know the earth can we use and enjoy it.
Therefore, for our own advantage and for our good name----

THE VICE-PRESIDENT. It is the duty of the Chair to remind the
Senator from Massachusetts that his five minutes have expired.

* * * * *

The appropriation was voted,--Yeas 28, Nays 25.

ONE CENT POSTAGE, WITH ABOLITION OF FRANKING.

SPEECH IN THE SENATE, JUNE 10, 1870.

The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, having under
consideration the House bill “to abolish the franking
privilege,” Mr. Sumner said:--

MR. PRESIDENT,--This debate began with a simple proposition to abolish
the franking system, sometimes called “the franking privilege.” The
bill for this purpose rudely terminates the existing system, without
supplying any substitute, and without taking advantage of the proposed
change to reduce the rate of postage. The bill is destructive, but in
no respect constructive. It pulls down, but does not pretend to set up.
It abolishes an old and time-honored, if not beneficent system, under
which the people have grown in knowledge; but it does not attempt to
provide any means by which the original object of the system shall be
accomplished. It is a raw, crude, naked proposition. To adopt it in its
present form would be as if you voted the destruction of this Capitol,
without providing any place for the meeting of Congress, or economizing
the ruins you made.

THE FRANKING SYSTEM, AND NOT THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE, IN OUR COUNTRY.

In England the power to frank was originally conferred as a
“privilege,” and it assumed this character completely with time.
When O’Connell wrote to a young aspirant, who had just been elected
to Parliament, “You can frank to-night,” he announced a privilege.
So far as this power in our country can be regarded as a privilege,
it has no title to favor,--not the least. But whatever may be its
character, nothing is clearer than that it should not be a burden on
the postal service. With regard to the frank there are two obvious
principles: first, so far as it is a privilege, it must be abolished;
and, secondly, so far as it is allowed to remain, it must not be at
the expense of the Post-Office, but, like other national services, be
paid by the National Treasury. Better still, let it all disappear in
a renovated system, where the rate of postage shall render the frank
unnecessary.

The franking system in our country cannot be treated alone. It is
part of a larger system, being the postal service of the country, and
must be regarded in its relations to this service. In its most simple
statement it is the freedom of certain letters, documents, pamphlets,
and seeds in the public mails; but its true character is seen only
in its operation. The franking system is that part of the postal
service by which the people are enabled without cost to address their
Senators and Representatives in Congress, and also the Departments of
Government, while these answer without cost, thus bringing all near
together; it is also that part of the postal service by which public
documents are circulated throughout the country, and though much is
distributed to little purpose, yet much is of unquestionable advantage.
Seeds, speeches, and pamphlets are also distributed in the same way;
nor can there be any question of the good influence from this agency.
All these are component parts of the existing postal system. Strike out
these, and the postal system of our country is changed. It is not the
system which has existed from the beginning of our Government, under
which the country has grown in knowledge and power.

To those who speak lightly of the franking system I indicate briefly
what it has done. It has brought the people and the Government
nearer together than people and Government ever were before. It has
distributed innumerable documents by which knowledge in government,
in science, and in the practical arts has been advanced. It has lent
itself to the dissemination of truth, especially in speeches; so that
it has been preacher and schoolmaster, with the whole people to hear
and to learn. During the long tyranny of Slavery it was by the franking
system that the arguments and protests against this wrong were carried
among the people; and when Slavery broke forth in rebellion, the
franking system became the powerful ally of the national cause; and now
in the education of the States lately in rebellion this very franking
system is the same powerful ally. It may be politic, discreet, and
economical to dispense with it, but not, I think, without providing
some substitute or commutation.

PROPOSED SUBSTITUTE.

To meet the exigency of the pending proposition I have introduced a
bill, whose character may be seen in its title,--being “to simplify
and reduce the rate of postage, to abolish the franking system, to
limit the cost of carrying the mail, and to regulate the payment of
postage.”[22] While abolishing the franking system, I try to provide a
substitute, and at the same time, by associate provisions, to simplify
and reduce the rate of postage. Taking advantage of the proposed
change, I would revise the whole postal service, and bring it into
harmony with the demands of republican civilization. Here the example
of England is an important guide. The franking system there was an
indulgence, or privilege, and little else. The “Quarterly Review,”
while recognizing it as an abuse, likened it to “the concomitant
and greater one which stands on the same ground,--_exemption from
arrest_.”[23] It was not a system important in the relations between
Government and people, and yet it was abolished only in conjunction
with the establishment of a uniform letter-postage at one penny. But
just in proportion as the franking system is important with us should
its abolition be accompanied by a corresponding reduction in postage.

The copper unit of value in England is a penny, and this was adopted as
the rate of postage there. With us the copper unit of value is a cent,
and this I would adopt as the rate of postage here.

There are other provisions in the bill to which I call attention,
especially the new facilities for newspapers and periodicals; also
the requirement that all the business of the Post-Office shall be by
stamps, so that no money shall be collected or received by any clerk in
the office. By this process, at once simple, economical, and efficient,
all postages will be collected, and there will be no necessity for
accounts. The stamp office will be the universal money office, and the
vendor of stamps will be the universal collector.

Do you ask for economy? I show you a way, simple and certain, by which
receipts will be assured, while business is simplified. All dues will
be collected at the minimum of cost, so that there will be no loss from
frauds or supernumerary hands. There will be both security and economy,
besides simplicity; but simplicity is economy as well as convenience,
in the Post-Office as in mechanics.

FOREIGN EXAMPLES.

If we go to foreign countries for example, we shall be obliged to
stop in England. There is nothing in any nation of the European
continent which is not a warning. Everywhere on that continent, from
time immemorial, postage has been exorbitant. The great Revolution
which popularized the institutions of France did not popularize
the Post-Office. Kings and nobles disappeared, while equal rights
prevailed; but France, fruitful in ideas, did not conceive the idea of
the Post-Office as a beneficent agent of civilization and the handmaid
of social life. Nor at that time was England in advance of France.
Everywhere postage was high and the mails were slow. In England the
service had a burden in the circumstance that every peer of the Upper
House and member of Parliament had a defined power of franking,--being
the power to send ten letters daily and to receive fifteen.[24] As
the letters sent and received by each privileged person were limited
in number, the Post-Office was obliged each day to verify every frank
and to count the letters thus sent and received. Here was what may be
justly called “the franking privilege,” while the whole postal service
was costly and cumbersome. Like that of the United States, it was the
growth of accident, and it was administered with a particular eye to
profits, as if this were the first object of a post-office. Economy
there should be always, but profits never. In Great Britain the surplus
of receipts above the cost of administration was carried to the general
treasury. In the United States the surplus received on certain lines
has been employed down to this day in extending mail facilities to the
sparse settlers in other parts of the country, besides defraying the
expense of the franking system; and the letters of the people have been
subjected to this tax.

IN ENGLAND THE POST-OFFICE REGARDED ORIGINALLY AS A SOURCE OF REVENUE.

From a proposition submitted to the King in 1635, and still preserved
in the State-Paper Office, it appears that the postal service was of
the slenderest character: letters, it is said, “being now carried
by carriers or foot-posts sixteen or eighteen miles a day, it is
full two months before any answer can be received from Scotland or
Ireland to London.”[25] But just so soon as it attracted attention
the Post-Office was regarded as a source of revenue. In 1657 a voice
in Parliament declared that it would “raise a revenue”; while a wise
statesman replied, with little effect, “Nothing can more assist trade
than this intercourse.”[26] It was often farmed out for hire. The
posts, both inland and foreign, under the Commonwealth, were farmed for
£10,000 a year.[27] In 1659 the Report on the Public Revenue contains
the following item: “By postage of letters in farm, £14,000.”[28]
Under Charles the Second the same system was continued, and his first
Postmaster-General contracted to pay to the King a yearly rent of
£21,500.[29] A little later we meet the statute of 15 Charles II. c.
14, with the suggestive title, “An Act for settling the profits of the
Post-Office on his Royal Highness the Duke of York and the Heirs male
of his body.” Under Queen Anne, what were called the “cross-posts” were
farmed to Ralph Allen, who made great improvements in their management
upon an agreement that the new profits so created should be his own
during life. The bargain was so excellent for the contractor that
during forty-two years he netted an average annual profit of nearly
twelve thousand pounds,[30] which was enormous for those days. It is
pleasant to think that the money thus obtained was well spent, as will
be confessed when it is known that this contractor was the _Allworthy_
of Fielding, and won from Pope that famous praise,--

“Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame,
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.”[31]

The Post-Office was not only farmed to contractors, but it was
burdened with pensions, sometimes to a royal mistress or favorite.
This system was begun by James the Second, who, in execution of the
wishes of his brother, Charles the Second, granted to Barbara, Duchess
of Cleveland, £4,700 annually, and to the Earl of Rochester £4,000
annually, payable by the Post-Office.[32] Among the rewards lavished
at a later day upon the Duke of Marlborough was an annual pension
of £5,000, charged upon the Post-Office;[33] so that the victor of
Ramillies and of Blenheim was a stipendiary upon the correspondence of
the kingdom, every letter contributing to his annual income.

As the correspondence of the kingdom was charged with pensions, so also
was it called to bear the burden of war. The statute of 9 Anne, c.
10, tells the story in its title: “An Act for establishing a General
Post-Office for all her Majesty’s dominions, and for settling _a weekly
sum out of the revenues thereof for the service of the war_ and other
her Majesty’s occasions.” This statute was not short-lived, and its
success as “war measure” encouraged the imposition of other burdens, so
that the great English commentator, Sir William Blackstone, selected
the Post-Office as a favorite pack-horse. “There cannot be devised,”
says he, “a more eligible method than this of raising money upon the
subject; for therein both the Government and the people find a mutual
benefit. The Government acquires a large revenue; and the people do
their business with greater ease, expedition, and cheapness than they
would be able to do, if no such tax (and of course no such office)
existed.”[34] Here is the rule authoritatively declared which so long
prevailed with regard to the Post-Office.

ORIGIN OF FRANKING PRIVILEGE IN ENGLAND.

The English franking privilege was the natural parasite of such a
system, where the true idea of a post-office was entirely forgotten.
Its origin belongs to this argument. It was in 1657, beneath the sway
of the great Protector, while the Postage Act was before the House,
that Sir Christopher Pack is reported as saying, “The design of the
bill is very good for trading and commerce; … as to that of letters
passing free for members, it is not worth putting in an Act”;[35] and
this is the earliest allusion to “letters passing free for members.”
The idea showed itself again just after the Restoration, while the
Act of 12 Charles II., c. 35, was under discussion. The proposition
to frank all letters to or from members of Parliament during the
session was carried on a division and after considerable debate,
in the course of which Sir Heneage Finch, so eminent as lawyer and
judge, characterized it as “a poor mendicant proviso, and below the
honor of the House.” Among its partisans was Sir George Downing, a
graduate in the first class of Harvard College. The Speaker, Sir
Harbottle Grimston, was unwilling to put the question, saying, “I am
ashamed of it.”[36] The Lords struck it out of the bill, ostensibly
for the reasons which had actuated the Opposition in the Commons, but
really because there was no provision that their own letters should
pass free. Although the proposition failed at that time to obtain
legislative sanction, yet the object was accomplished indirectly. In
the indenture with the contractor to whom the Post-Office was farmed
occurred a proviso for the free carriage of all letters to or from the
King, the great officers of State, “and also the single inland letters
only of the members of the present Parliament during the continuance
of this session of this Parliament.”[37] And thus began the “franking
privilege” in England. Defeated in Parliament, it was smuggled into a
Post-Office contract. With such an origin, it became a mere perquisite
of office; and afterward, when sanctioned by statute, it was employed
at the mere will of its possessor, who sometimes distributed his franks
among his friends and sometimes sold them for a price.[38]

POST-OFFICE IN THE COLONIES.

The postal service in the Colonies was on a small scale. Authentic
incidents show its beginnings. The Government of New York in 1672
established a post to go monthly from New York to Boston, advertising
“those that bee dispos’d to send letters, lett them bring them to the
Secretary’s office, where, in a lockt box, they shall bee preserved
till the messenger calls for them. All persons paying the post before
the bagg be seal’d up.”[39] Thirty years later this monthly post was
fortnightly.[40] In Virginia the postal service was more simple. The
Colonial law of 1657 required every planter to provide a messenger for
the conveyance of dispatches, as they arrived, to the next plantation,
and so forward, on pain of forfeiting a hogshead of tobacco for each
default.[41] Until after 1704 there was no regular post further East
than Boston, or further West than Philadelphia. In that year Lord
Cornbury, writing to Government at home, says:--

“If I have any letters to send to Virginia, or to Maryland, I
must either send an express, who is often retarded for want of
boats to cross those great rivers they must go over, or else
for want of horses, or else I must send them by some passengers
who are going thither. The least I have known any express take
to go from hence to Virginia has been three weeks.”[42]

Shortly afterward stage-coaches were established between Boston and
New York, and between Boston and Philadelphia; but no post-office was
established in Virginia until 1732; nor did any postal revenue accrue
to Great Britain from the Colonies until 1753, when Benjamin Franklin
became Postmaster-General for the Colonies.[43]

The same genius which ruled in philosophy and in politics was not
wanting in this sphere of duty. The office was remodelled, and the
sphere of its operations extended. But the efforts of Franklin in this
department became tributary to the revenues of the mother country.
On his removal, in 1774, he was able to say, “Before I was displaced
by a freak of the ministers we had brought it to yield _three times
as much clear revenue to the Crown_ as the Post-Office of Ireland.
Since that imprudent transaction they have received from it--not one
farthing.”[44] Revenue! always revenue! Even Franklin shows no sign
of ascending to the true idea of a post-office. The Revolution was
now at hand, when the Crown ceased to receive revenue from any source
in the United States. But in separating from the mother country the
Post-Office was left unchanged in character. It was an undeveloped
agency, with receipts always above expenses.

REFORM AND PENNY POSTAGE IN ENGLAND.

Meanwhile in the mother country the Post-Office continued to be a
source of revenue; but its natural capacities were impaired by a
defective system, without an animating soul. It was merely a machine
for carrying a few letters and putting money into the public treasury.
Though still on a small scale, its processes were multifarious. The
rates were constantly altered, and generally increased in amount, as
also in number, in each of the three kingdoms, and without uniformity
in either two. From two or three, in 1710, they rose in number until
they reached the climax of absurdity and inconvenience in twelve
different rates for England and Scotland in 1812, and thirteen for
Ireland in 1814.[45] The impracticable system, with rates at once
numerous and high, led to perpetual evasions, while the franking
privilege was a charge without an equivalent. At last the day of
revolution came. After careful inquiry the old system was swept away,
and with it no less than one hundred and fifty Acts of Parliament by
which it was incumbered.[46] The old was succeeded by the new, and the
change was complete. No institution in history ever underwent at once a
transformation so beneficent as that of the British Post-Office.

Next after Benjamin Franklin, Rowland Hill will be enrolled as the
most remarkable character in the history of the Post-Office. The son
of a schoolmaster, of simple life, and without any connection with the
postal service, he conceived the idea of radical reform. It is not too
much to say that he became the inventor or author of cheap postage.
More than all Franklin did for the Colonies Hill did for Great Britain.
Call him inventor or author, there are few on either list more worthy
of honor; and since what is done for one country becomes the common
property of the world, he belongs to the world’s benefactors.

Rowland Hill well observed, that, while population, business, and all
other sources of national revenue had greatly increased during the
preceding twenty years, the revenue of the Post-Office had actually
decreased; that, for instance, the revenue from stage-coaches had
risen from £217,671 in 1815 to £498,497 in 1835, or one hundred
and twenty-nine per cent., while the postal revenue, which at a
corresponding rate of increase should have exhibited a gain of
£2,000,000, in point of fact showed an absolute loss of near £20,000,
having declined from £1,557,291 in 1815 to £1,540,300 in 1835.[47]
Evidently there was something abnormal, when the conveyance of persons
and parcels yielded a revenue so much beyond that of letters. After
showing the loss to the revenue, the generous reformer demonstrated
clearly that the actual cost of carrying a letter by coach in the
mail from London to Edinburgh, being four hundred miles, was only one
thirty-sixth part of a penny,[48]--from which it was properly inferred
that the actual difference of expense between transporting a letter
one mile and delivering it and transporting it four hundred miles
and delivering it did not justify a different rate of postage. His
conclusion was, that the large cost of distributing letters grew out
of a complex and multifarious system, springing especially from many
rates,--that all this would be superseded, if postage were charged,
_without regard to distance, at a uniform rate_, and that this uniform
rate should be one penny; and he did not hesitate to declare that with
this change there would be an increase in correspondence “at least
five and a quarter fold.”[49] In his original proposition, Rowland
Hill relied especially upon a uniform rate at a penny, regardless of
distance,--and from this promised simplicity, economy, and an immense
increase of correspondence. But, offensive as the franking privilege
had become, and burdensome to the postal service, he did not at first
propose its excision.

His plan encountered that honest opposition which improvement of all
kinds is obliged to overcome. The record is most instructive. The
Postmaster-General, Lord Lichfield, said in the House of Lords: “Of
all the wild and visionary schemes which I have ever heard of, it is
the most extravagant.” On another occasion the same high official
assured the House, that, if the anticipated increase of letters
should be realized, “the mails will have to carry twelve times as
much in weight; and therefore the charge for transmission, instead of
£100,000, as now, must be twelve times that amount. The walls of the
Post-Office would burst; the whole area in which the building stands
would not be large enough to receive the clerks and the letters.”[50]
In the same spirit with his chief, Colonel Maberly, the experienced
Secretary of the Post-Office, in his testimony before the Committee,
did not hesitate to say: “It appears to me a most preposterous plan,
utterly unsupported by facts, and resting entirely on assumption.” And
he proceeded to predict a loss of revenue from its adoption, saying,
that, if postage were reduced to one penny, the revenue “would not
recover itself for forty or fifty years.”[51] The London “Quarterly
Review,” with its habitual obstructiveness, set itself against the
new plan and its promised result, saying: “Common sense is astounded
at such a result and refuses to believe it, though it cannot at first
sight discover where the fallacies lie; but a little examination will
show, that, as usual, common sense is right, even against the assumed
accuracy of arithmetic.”[52] I give these as illustrative examples of
the opposition encountered.

Against all these stood Rowland Hill, insisting that the Post-Office,
although now “rendered feeble and inefficient by erroneous financial
arrangements,” in contemplation of the proposed reform “assumes the new
and important character of a powerful engine of civilization, capable
of performing a distinguished part in the great work of national
education.”[53]

The proposed reform was vindicated as practical and valuable,
first by witnesses before the Parliamentary Committee, and then in
Parliamentary debate. The Committee examined no less than eighty-nine
witnesses. These were from every rank and nearly every trade and
profession,--peers of the realm, members of the House of Commons,
authors, publishers, merchants, bankers, mechanics, common carriers,
clergymen, solicitors, Post-Office officials, and others. Among the
witnesses were Richard Cobden, Charles Knight, Rowland Hill, Dionysius
Lardner, and Lord Ashburton.[54] The testimony embraced eleven thousand
six hundred and fifty-four questions and answers, and filled three
large folio volumes bound in two, making altogether nearly sixteen
hundred pages. The Index alone makes one hundred and fifty-three pages.

Among the many things testified before the Committee I select the words
of Lord Ashburton, as especially valuable. Experienced in business and
in public life, he pictures truthfully the burden of excessive postage,
when he says:--

“I think it is one of the worst of our taxes. We have,
unfortunately, many taxes which have an injurious tendency; but
I think few, if any, have so injurious a tendency as the tax
upon the communication by letters.”

And then again:--

“It is, in fact, taxing the conversation of people who live at
a distance from each other. The communication of letters by
persons living at a distance is the same as a communication
by word of mouth between persons living in the same town. You
might as well tax words spoken upon the Royal Exchange as
the communications of various persons living in Manchester,
Liverpool, and London. You cannot do it without checking the
disposition to communicate very essentially.”

At the same time Lord Ashburton hesitated to adopt a rate as low as one
penny. He was for twopence or threepence.[55]

The doubts of Lord Ashburton as to the rate were encountered by Mr.
Cobden, who testified:--

“I consider the only way to produce the greatest possible
amount of revenue is to charge the lowest possible trading
profit; and it is in the Post-Office as in steamboats, or
Paddington coaches, or calicoes, or sugars, or teas, or
anything else which can be or ought to be an article of
universal demand and consumption. With that view I have
regarded Mr. Rowland Hill’s plan of Post-Office Reform; and
taking the cost of a letter, upon the presumed increase he has
stated, even at three-fourths of a penny each letter, I should
say one penny would then be a proper charge ultimately to
produce the greatest possible amount of revenue. I would reason
from analogy and experience in every other business, and in
none more than my own.”[56]

On such a point nobody could speak with more authority than Mr. Cobden.

But nobody showed more comprehension of the moral ground for this
reform than Mr. Jones Loyd, the eminent banker and economist,
afterwards Lord Overstone. Nothing can be better than this:--

“I think, if there be any one subject which ought not to
have been selected as a subject of taxation, it is that of
inter-communication by post; and I would even go a step
further, and say, that, if there be any one thing which the
Government ought, consistently with its great duties to the
public, to do gratuitously, it is the carriage of letters.
We build national galleries, and furnish them with pictures;
we propose to create public walks, for the air and health
and exercise of the community, at the general cost of the
country. I do not think that either of those, useful and
valuable as they are to the community, and fit as they are
for Government to sanction, is more conducive to the moral
and social advancement of the community than the facility of
intercourse by post. _I therefore greatly regret that the post
was ever taken as a field for taxation_, and should be very
glad to find, that, consistently with the general interests
of the revenue, which the Government has to watch over, they
can effect any reduction in the total amount so received, or
any reduction in the charges, without diminishing the total
amount.”[57]

In all the voluminous testimony this beautiful passage is like a
beacon-light.

At last this important subject was transferred from the Committee to
Parliamentary debate; and here I content myself with a few brief words
from leading speakers. Mr. Goulburn, one of the chiefs of Opposition,
admitted that the plan proposed would “ultimately increase the wealth
and prosperity of the country.”[58] Mr. Wallace declared it “one of
the greatest boons that could be conferred on the human race.”[59] Sir
Robert Peel admitted that “great social and commercial advantages will
arise from the change, independent of financial considerations.”[60]
Viscount Sandon, of the Opposition, struck a higher chord, when he
declared that he “had long been of opinion that the Post-Office
was not a proper source of revenue,” but “ought to be employed to
stimulate other sources of revenue.”[61] In the same strain, and with
higher authority, Mr. O’Connell declared it “one of the most valuable
legislative reliefs that had ever been given to the people”; that it
was “impossible to exaggerate its importance”; and even if it would not
pay the expense of the Post-Office, he held that “Government ought to
make a sacrifice for the purpose of facilitating communication.”[62] I
group these testimonies as important in the history of this reform, and
furnishing a guide for us.

VICTORY.

At last victory was assured. The Parliamentary Committee reported
in favor of change. But Parliament hesitated to fix the change in
permanent form. By Act of 17th August, 1839, the Lords of the Treasury
were empowered by warrant under their hands to declare the rates of
postage according to weight, “without reference to the distance or
number of miles the same shall be conveyed,”--and also to suspend,
wholly or in part, “any parliamentary or official privilege of sending
and receiving letters by the post free of postage, or any other
franking privilege of any description whatsoever.” The Lords of the
Treasury were contented with ordering a uniform rate of fourpence, and
without the abolition of the franking privilege. This was not enough.
The people called for more, and the Lords of the Treasury by another
warrant declared the rate at one penny and suspended the franking
privilege.[63] This was followed by the Act of Parliament passed 10th
August, 1840, in which the great change was consummated. The rate was
established at one penny, with stamps; and the franking privilege
was abolished, except in the case of petitions to the Crown or to
Parliament not exceeding thirty-two ounces in weight. The clause of
abolition was as follows:--

“That, except in the cases herein specified, all privileges
whatsoever of sending letters by the post free of postage,
or at a reduced rate of postage, shall wholly cease and
determine.”[64]

The abolition of the franking privilege was more than Rowland Hill
had proposed. In his testimony before the Parliamentary Committee
he undertook to account for the anticipated increase of letters “in
some measure from the _partial voluntary disuse_ of the franking
privilege,”[65]--thus mildly forecasting, not its abolition, but its
voluntary renunciation. And the Committee, in their recommendations,
treated its abolition as incident to cheap postage. This is their
language:--

“It would be politic, … _if, on effecting the proposed reduction
of the postage rates_, the privilege of Parliamentary franking
were to be abolished, and the privilege of official franking
placed under strict limitation,--petitions to Parliament and
Parliamentary documents being still allowed to go free.”[66]

Thus was the abolition of the franking privilege announced as
subordinate to the reduction of the postage rates, which was the main
object.

Thus, after inquiry and debate lasting for three years, this great
reform was accomplished, and the English Post-Office assumed an
unprecedented character. The new system was founded on a uniform rate
for uniform weight without regard to distance, and this rate the lowest
unit of coin,--with prepaid stamps, and the abolition of the franking
privilege. The experiment was a prodigious success, although the first
results showed a falling off financially. The Post-Office authorities
had predicted that it would not pay expenses; but the diminished
receipts were more than enough for the expenses, while the number of
letters was more than doubled.[67] There was a smaller net revenue
for the National Treasury, but an infinite benefit to the people. The
surplus of the first year was £500,789, against £1,633,764 of the
previous year.[68] But the improvement financially was constant, so
that here Rowland Hill became a prophet. He had predicted that the
increase of correspondence and the economy of management would in a
reasonable time afford a probable net revenue of £1,278,000.[69] In
1856 the net revenue had reached £1,207,725,--while at the same time
the letters were 478,393,803 in number, with 6,178,982 money orders,
against 75,907,572 letters, with 188,921 money orders, in the last year
of the old system.[70]

The smallest part of the result was in the revenue,--except so
far as this was advanced by the increased activity of the country,
represented by the added millions of correspondence. Commerce and
business were quickened infinitely, while the ties of social life were
brightened and the heart was rejoiced. Here the testimony is complete.
Tradesmen wrote to Rowland Hill, their benefactor, saying how their
business had increased. Charles Knight, the eminent publisher, who did
so much for the literature of the people, wrote that every branch of
bookselling was stimulated, while the country seller was brought into
almost daily communication with the London houses. The publisher of the
Polyglot Bible in twenty-four languages, requiring a peculiar revision,
declared that it could not have been printed but for penny postage.
The Secretary of the Parker Society, composed of Church dignitaries
and influential laymen, which has done so much for ecclesiastical
literature by reprinting the works of the early English Reformers,
stated that without penny postage the Society could not have come into
existence. Secretaries of other societies, literary and benevolent,
wrote how their machinery had been improved; conductors of educational
establishments testified that people were everywhere learning to
write for the first time, in order to enjoy the benefits of untaxed
correspondence, and that night classes of adults for this purpose were
springing up in all large towns. A leading advocate for the repeal
of the Corn Laws gave it as his opinion that this reform must have
waited but for penny postage,--that through this ally it reached its
triumph two years earlier than it otherwise could have done. All this
is easy to believe; for penny postage lends itself to all knowledge
and to every reform. Others wrote with rapture of its operations. The
accomplished naturalist, Professor Henslow, of Cambridge, rejoiced
over its “importance to those who cultivate science,” and pictured
the satisfaction of the humble people about his country parsonage “at
the facility they enjoy of now corresponding with distant relatives,”
together with what he calls “the vast domestic comfort which the penny
postage has added to homes like my own, situate in retired villages.”
Miss Martineau described its social benefits. Rowland Hill himself,
showing how much it had done for the poor, said, “The postman has now
to make long rounds through humble districts where heretofore his
knock was rarely heard.”[71] And from the outlying Shetland Islands
a visitor in May, 1842, reported: “The Zetlanders are delighted with
penny postage. The postmaster told me that the number of letters was
astonishing.”[72] But perhaps the heartfelt exultation was never better
expressed than by the accomplished traveller, Mr. Laing, when, after
describing the Prussian system of education, and giving the palm to
penny postage as “a much wiser and more effective educational measure,”
destined to be “the great historical distinction of the reign of
Victoria I.,” he proceeds to say, that “every mother in the kingdom,
who has children earning their bread at a distance, lays her head upon
her pillow at night with a feeling of gratitude for this blessing.”[73]
Such was the unbought tribute from all quarters,--alike the cottage
of the lowly and the home of the professor, the counting-house of the
merchant and the activities of benevolence, business in its various
forms, and the commanding efforts of the political reformer, all, all
confessing their debt to penny postage.[74]

The benefactor was honored in no common way, but not without tasting
the lot of others who have served Humanity. At first assigned to
a position in the Treasury connected with the Post-Office, then
dismissed, and then, with a change of Administration, not only restored
to the service, but appointed to a high position in the Post-Office
itself, he had the inexpressible satisfaction of witnessing the triumph
of his efforts and receiving the grateful regard of a happy people.
He was not rich, and the considerable sum of £13,000 was presented to
him by a public subscription throughout the country, with an address
declaring the reform he had accomplished “the greatest boon conferred
in modern times on all the social interests of the civilized world.”
The knighthood bestowed by his sovereign was another attestation of
his prevailing merit, destined to be followed by a further gift from
Parliament itself of £20,000.[75] This episode of honor and gratitude
to the benefactor has a peculiar interest for us, as furnishing new
testimony to the cause with which the name of Rowland Hill is forever
associated.

THE SAME VICTORY MAY BE OURS.

Such was the great reform by which the Post-Office became an evangel of
civilization; but all this may be ours. The impediments overcome were
greater than any we are called to encounter, while the object proposed
is in undoubted accord with republican institutions, where simplicity,
harmony, and adaptation to popular needs are acknowledged principles.
This renovation prevailed in England: how can it fail in the United
States? The Republic is the most advanced type of government, as the
human form is the most advanced type of the animal world; but the
Republic is nothing else than an organization to promote the welfare of
men. Whatever makes for human welfare is essentially republican. Nor
can any loss of revenue be set against this transcendent opportunity.
Show me how to promote the welfare of men, and I show you an economy
beyond any revenue; more still, I show you a duty not to be postponed.

The ruling principle in England, from the beginning down to the
triumph of penny postage, was revenue; and this is still the ruling
principle with us, to which all else is subordinated. England was
accustomed to say, and the United States now say, with Shylock, “We
would have moneys.” The abolition of the franking system is proposed on
this ground,--not to lighten the existing burden of correspondence, not
to cheapen postage, not to simplify the postal service, not to provide
the American equivalent of the English penny postage, but simply to
increase the revenue. We are summoned to give up a long-tried system,
educational in its influence, merely for the sake of the Treasury. This
is the object perpetually in view. Even the Postmaster-General, who is
so liberal in all his ideas, says, in words which hardly do justice to
the times, “As far as lay in my power, during my short administration,
I have reduced the expenditures and increased the revenues of the
Department.”[76] Something better than this remains to be done.

COMPLEXITY AND MULTIFARIOUSNESS IN OUR SYSTEM.

The postal system of the United States was kindred in character to
that of England until the latter was transfigured by the felicitous
genius of Rowland Hill. Both had the same incongruities and
incumbrances. The rates in both were complex instead of uniform,
and dear instead of cheap. The Act of Congress, February 20, 1792,
establishing the Post-Office, provided for no less than nine different
rates of postage, viz.,--six, eight, ten, twelve and a half, fifteen,
seventeen, twenty, twenty-two, and twenty-five cents,--according to
distance. In 1799 the number of rates was reduced to six, viz.,--eight,
ten, twelve and a half, seventeen, twenty, and twenty-five cents. In
1816 the number was further reduced to five, viz.,--six, ten, twelve
and a half, eighteen and a half, (in 1825 changed to eighteen and three
fourths,) and twenty-five cents,--and so continued until 1845, when,
yielding partially to the English example, the rates were established
at five and ten cents, with two cents for drop letters; then, in 1851,
at three and six cents for prepaid and five and ten cents for unpaid
letters, with one cent for drop letters; then, in 1855, at three and
ten cents prepaid, and one cent for drop letters; then, in 1863, at
three cents, or, failing prepayment, six cents, with two cents for drop
letters; and finally, in 1865, at three cents prepaid in all cases,
with two cents for drop letters delivered by carriers, or one cent
where there is no delivery.[77]

The difference between a drop letter and what is called a mailed
letter, or letter from post-office to post-office, causes frequent
confusion, as is seen here in Washington, where letters for Georgetown
often have the two-cent stamp, when they should have that of three
cents. The same confusion exists in other places. But this ridiculous
division and subdivision are peculiar to the United States. It is not
known that they are to be found in any other postal service.

The rates on foreign letters were, if possible, more chaotic. It was
different with different countries, according to existing treaties; and
this difference prevailed not only in the rate, but also in the unit
of weight. As late as 1849 the rate on letters to England and Ireland
was twenty-four cents, and was then changed to sixteen cents, and in
1868 to twelve cents; it is now six cents, being two cents for the sea
postage and two cents for the inland postage of each country, allowing
half an ounce of weight.[78] The treaty rate with France is fifteen
cents on one quarter of an ounce.[79] Letters to Canada and other
British North American provinces, when not over three thousand miles,
are six cents for each half-ounce, if prepaid, and ten cents, if not
prepaid; when over three thousand miles, ten cents; to Newfoundland,
ten cents.[80] Then, in the absence of postal international convention,
there is a general provision by Act of Congress establishing the rate
of ten cents for each half-ounce carried to or received from foreign
countries “by steamships or other vessels regularly employed in the
transportation of the mails.”[81]

Such are the complexity and multifariousness of our postal service,--at
least three different rates on inland letters, with an unknown variety
on foreign letters. Here is discord where there should be uniformity,
and out of this discord springs necessarily embarrassment with untold
expense. True, much has been done; but much remains to be done before
the service will have that simplicity without which it is vain to
expect the desired combination of utility and economy. Every departure
from uniformity is an impediment and an expense. It is with the postal
service as with all else in Nature and Art: it is efficient and
economical in proportion as it is simple. The rates of postage should
be uniform. Borrowing a phrase from our political victories, _all
letters should be equal before the law_.

Take by way of illustration the increased perplexity from two rates:
and here I follow an old official of the Post-Office, Pliny Miles, who
puts this very case. “Suppose,” says he, “city or local letters were
two cents, and letters for a distance three or four cents. What a vast
amount of labor and inconvenience in the work of rating and sorting
in the Post-Office, and how perplexing to the citizen!”[82] By the
existing system there is a double perplexity,--first, for the citizen,
and, secondly, for the postal service. Each rate is like an additional
language to be learned, while the unknown rates on foreign letters are
like the confusion of Babel.

UNIFORM RATE AT ONE CENT.

In the process of simplification the uniform rate should be the lowest
unit of coin. Beyond the sufficiency of this rate as a protection of
the Post-Office against abuse, and also its obvious convenience, is
its cheapness, reducing the tax on correspondence to its practical
minimum. In England the penny was the lowest unit of coin, being in the
English currency what the cent is in ours. The success of the English
experiment is our best encouragement. There is better reason for the
cent as a proper rate in our country than there was for the penny as a
proper rate in England.

Such a rate will be so near to _free postage_ for all, that it may be
considered such practically. Let it be adopted, and free postage will
become the companion of free school, free lecture, and free library,
constituting the mighty group of republican civilization. The existing
franking system will naturally disappear in this new franking system
for all.

Here we encounter the financial question, What will be the effect
on the Treasury? Will it pay? These are the potential words. This is
the touchstone. That it will pay in beneficent influence tenfold, ay,
Sir, a hundred-fold,--that it will make the Post-Office more than ever
the powerful agent of human improvement, I cannot doubt. What is a
little revenue, compared with such a result? What, even, is a deficit,
with such a compensation? But looking at the financial question, and
forgetting for a moment the incalculable good, it will be found that
there are general laws of profit on small prices applicable to this
proposed reduction, reinforced also by the example of England, and even
of our own country.

REDUCTION OF PRICE INCREASES CONSUMPTION.

Nothing is plainer, as a general rule, than that the reduction of
price tends to increase of consumption. This is illustrated by a
thousand instances. Thus, at one time in England the fall in the price
of soap one eighth increased the consumption one third; the fall of tea
one sixth increased consumption one half; the fall of silks one fifth
doubled the consumption; the fall of coffee one fourth trebled it; and
the fall of cotton goods one half quadrupled it.[83] The circulation
of newspapers and the number of advertisements are governed by the
same law. There is another English instance, not within the range of
ordinary business, which is not without historic interest. Formerly
the admission fee to the famous sights of the Tower of London was two
shillings, at which rate there were, during the year ending April 30,
1838, 11,104 visitors, paying £1110 8_s._ The fee was then reduced to
one shilling, and during the twelve months following (1838-9) there
were 42,212 visitors, paying £2110 12_s._ On the first of May, 1839,
the fee was again reduced to sixpence, and during the ensuing year
(1839-40) there were 84,872 visitors, paying £2121 16_s._,--and the
next year (1840-41) 94,973 visitors, paying £2374 6_s._ 6_d._[84] Thus
at the Tower more people were gratified by the sights and more money
was taken,--so that there was at the same time a larger accommodation
and a larger revenue. A reduction of the fee in the ratio of four to
one was followed by an increase of visitors in the ratio of more than
eight to one. According to a familiar story in our own country, the
exhibitor of a panorama reported to the proprietor that the proceeds at
twenty-five cents a ticket did not pay expenses. “Put it down to ten
cents,” was the reply. This was done, and immediately the receipts rose
so as to give a profit of one hundred dollars a week.

Such instances as these occurring in business and in life led Rowland
Hill to assert that “the increase in consumption is inversely as the
squares of the prices”; and this rule justified the expectation, that,
with the proposed reduction of letter postage from the average of
sixpence to a penny, the number of letters would increase thirty-six
fold.[85] If the number did not increase in this remarkable ratio, yet
it was such as to disappoint the enemies of reform. It appears that
the estimated number of chargeable letters delivered in the United
Kingdom of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1839, the year immediately
preceding the first general reduction of postage, was 75,907,572,
and in 1840, the first year of penny postage, 168,768,344, showing
an increase in one year of more than 122 per cent. Since then this
large number has dilated year by year, until in 1867 it amounted to
774,831,000.[86]

Postal facilities have from the beginning promoted correspondence,
and this was recognized even before the appearance of Rowland Hill.
An old account of the English Post-Office, after describing certain
improvements, exults “that there is no considerable market-town but
hath an easy and certain conveyance for the letters thereof to and from
the Grand Office in the City of London, in the due course of the mails
every post”; and then adds, that, “though the number of letters missive
in England were not at all considerable in our ancestors’ days, yet
it is now prodigiously great, since the meanest people have generally
learnt to write.”[87] This is the language of another age; but it
attests the stimulation which letters receive from opportunity, and
illustrates the value of cheap postage.

CHEAP POSTAGE MULTIPLIES LETTERS.

The experience of England is reproduced in the United States, so far
as we have ventured upon postage reform. Every reduction of rate has
been followed by a corresponding increase in the number of letters.
There was the law of 1845, by which postage was reduced to two
principal rates of five and ten cents. At this proposition, which erred
only in its feebleness, there was the gloomiest foreboding of utter
loss to the Post-Office. The raven did not croak more hoarsely at the
entrance of Duncan under the battlements of Macbeth. Mr. McDuffie, the
excitable Senator from South Carolina, always sensitive for Slavery,
after expressing regret that bodily infirmity disabled him from
declaring the strength of his convictions in regard to the evils which
would flow from this measure, protested against its adoption as “more
radical and revolutionary than anything ever done in Congress.” The
Senator denounced it as most unjust, and predicted that in ten years
the Post-Office would cost the Treasury $10,000,000.[88] The newspaper
press, though not so fervid, was as skeptical as the South Carolina
Senator; and the Postmaster-General showed the very disposition which
had given to his brother officials in England the designation of
“unwilling horses.” In his first Report after the passage of the law,
he announced a prospective deficiency for the current year exceeding
$1,250,000, and, unless there should be some amendment of the law,
another deficiency the next year of little short of $1,000,000.[89]
Now mark the result of even this too slight reduction. The actual
deficiency for 1845-6 was only $597,097,[90] and for 1846-7 it was
but $33,677,[91] while in 1848-9 there was a surplus revenue of
$226,127.[92] The letters in 1845 were estimated at 39,958,978; and in
1849 at 60,159,862,[93] showing an increase in four years of more than
fifty per cent.

Every reduction of postage in our country exhibits similar results.
According to the ratio of reduction has been the ratio of increase in
the number of letters. It may surprise Senators to know, that, while
the estimated number in 1852 was 95,790,524,[94] it reached in 1868 to
488,000,000, in the estimate of the Post-Office.[95] But this is only
according to the prevailing impulsion from a reduction in price. In
England, where the rate was smaller, the number of letters was much
larger, being in 1867, as estimated, no less than 774,831,000.[96]
This becomes more remarkable, when it is considered that the estimated
population of the United States at the time was more than forty
millions, while that of the United Kingdom was thirty millions,--making
twelve letters annually for each person in the United States, and
twenty-six letters annually for each person in the United Kingdom.

ILLEGITIMATE BURDENS ON CORRESPONDENCE.

To understand the justice of the proposed reduction in our country, we
must analyze and consider existing obligations of the postal service.
I mention two, through which we may see the unjust operation of the
present tax on correspondence: first, the well-known franking system,
and, secondly, the millions of newspapers, by which an inconceivable
amount of mail matter is made a burden on the Post-Office, tasking its
transportation and its means of delivery. Although printed matter,
unfranked, is charged with postage, it is not in proportion to its
burden on the postal service; so that the letter not only pays for
itself, but contributes to the other. The letter, so small in dimension
and weight, but with its own unseen freight of business or friendship,
is made to carry an additional load. Every letter is a dwarf
shouldering a giant; or stating the case with absolute literalness, it
is a sheet of paper compelled to bear free matter and printed matter
measured by the ton. This little messenger, whose single function
necessarily requires dispatch, is charged with this intolerable mass.
No wonder that it staggers under the load heaped upon it. No wonder
that the people are obliged to pay high postage; for, on receiving a
letter, they not only pay the price of its transportation and delivery,
but they contribute to the transportation and delivery of everything
else carried by the mails.

But even this burden could be borne, if the whole service were
not charged with the cost of transportation and postal facilities
in distant parts of the country, where there is necessarily a
disproportionate expense,--so that a letter in certain States, after
paying for its own transportation and delivery, and contributing to
the transportation and delivery of free matter and printed matter,
contributes still further to those long lines of service by which the
most remote places are supplied and the post-office follows close in
the footsteps of the pioneer. This is beautiful, but it is not just;
in other words, it is beautiful that these opportunities should be
afforded, but it is not just that the correspondence of others should
pay for them. Nor should these extraordinary expenses be charged on
these remote places, or on the pioneer. They belong properly to the
necessary outlay in opening the country, by which the nation, the
great untaxed proprietor, finds a market for its land and new scope
for its growing empire. Obviously this outlay should be charged to the
Treasury, rather than saddled upon the postal service, as it is now.

EXPENSE OF OUTLYING ROUTES.

The last Report of the Postmaster-General shows the operation of the
existing system in this respect. By the Statement of Receipts and
Expenditures for 1868-9, it appears that in no less than sixteen States
and Territories, including the District of Columbia, the Post-Office
was more than self-supporting, there being an excess of receipts over
expenditures of $3,571,315; while in the other States and Territories
there was an excess of expenditures over receipts amounting to
$4,727,175.[97] The self-supporting list, with each surplus, is as
follows:--

+--------------------+--------------+-------------+-------------+
| | | |Excess of |
| States and | Receipts. | Expenses. |receipts over|
| Territories. | | |expenditures.|
+--------------------+--------------+-------------+-------------+
|Maine | $309,244.35| $293,667.27| $15,577.08|
|New Hampshire | 198,238.89| 165,370.21| 32,868.68|
|Massachusetts | 1,389,731.76| 740,121.42| 649,610.34|
|Rhode Island | 149,800.95| 76,046.78| 73,754.17|
|Connecticut | 418,048.99| 312,415.28| 105,633.71|
|New York | 3,818,667.45| 2,186,196.21| 1,632,471.24|
|New Jersey | 343,192.64| 297,402.18| 45,790.46|
|Pennsylvania | 1,734,987.75| 1,135,969.06| 599,018.69|
|Delaware | 49,291.11| 45,496.69| 3,794.42|
|Ohio | 1,185,718.44| 1,166,145.19| 19,573.25|
|Michigan | 550,107.68| 537,012.97| 13,094.71|
|Illinois | 1,442,300.26| 1,125,034.22| 317,266.04|
|Iowa | 438,636.79| 398,381.21| 40,255.58|
|District of Columbia| 123,422.70| 111,746.40| 11,676.30|
|Alaska | 316.72| 150.00| 166.72|
|Wyoming | 18,086.09| 7,322.37| 10,763.72|
| +--------------+-------------+-------------+
| Total |$12,169,792.57|$8,598,477.46|$3,571,315.11|
+--------------------+--------------+-------------+-------------+

Here I ask confidently, considering the nature of the Post-Office and
the unquestionable importance of encouraging correspondence, if it
is just that the letter-writers in one part of the country should be
constrained to make the large contribution attested by this table, for
the benefit especially of those at a distance, and also of the country
at large. Rejecting again all idea of casting this expenditure upon the
distant places and the pioneer, I insist that it should be borne by the
Treasury rather than by remote letter-writers.

It is easy to exhibit the extent of this charge, and its palpable
injustice. Begin with an illustration. Suppose a common carrier, with
an interest beyond his business in an undeveloped part of the country
at some distance from his daily line, makes a deviation to this
outlying settlement at a daily loss, but looking to the growth of his
interest there for ultimate remuneration. It would not be just for
him to levy on all his customers along the main line for the expense
of this deviation,--making them not only pay for their parcels, but
contribute to the development of the outlying settlement. Nor would
this enforced contribution commend itself, if urged in the name of
charity or as a patriotic service to an infant community. The customers
would insist that their parcels should pay only the legitimate cost of
transportation and delivery; or they would soon find another carrier,
who would charge them simply for their parcels, without adding the cost
of opening new settlements. But the National Government is our common
carrier, turning aside at great expense to develop and supply new
places, to its great ultimate advantage in the sale of public lands,
the growth of population, and increase of the revenue; but it is not
justified in casting this large expense on the correspondence of the
people.

Already the Nation assumes the expenses of the Territories before their
admission as States, paying the salaries of their various officers and
the cost of administration. For equal reason the Nation should assume
the expenses of these outlying post-routes.

By the kindness of the Postmaster-General I am enabled to present from
the records of the Department two authentic testimonies. There is the
post-route from San Antonio to El Paso, a distance of seven hundred
and four miles, with the annual cost of service, $126,601, and the
annual receipts from offices on the route, $3,137. There is also the
post-route from Kelton, Utah, to the Dalles, Oregon, seven hundred and
sixty-five miles, with the annual cost of service, $130,278, and the
annual receipts from offices on the route, $3,822. Other instances
might be adduced, but these are enough to show how seriously the postal
service is burdened by obligations which plainly belong to the Treasury.

In former debates of the Senate, an incident was mentioned by Mr.
Crittenden, of Kentucky,[98] which illustrates the character of these
unproductive lines. During a journey in Tennessee in the summer of
1844, the Senator had occasion to go to an outlying post-office in the
interior of the State, on reaching which, late at night, he found the
postmaster had gone to bed, leaving the mail-bags in the wagons. To his
inquiries concerning this singular circumstance, “Why, Sir,” responded
the official, “we don’t take the bags out at all; we don’t even look
into them; it is so seldom we receive anything, we don’t think it worth
while.” And upon investigation it in fact appeared that there was not a
letter in any one of these bags, and had not been for a month. But this
costly mail-service was at the expense of the correspondence elsewhere.
The letter of the distant seaboard was a contributor.

DISTANCE ALONE DOES NOT CAUSE EXPENSE.

Sometimes it is supposed that the great distances of our country cause
the large expense; but this is a mistake, founded on superficial
observation. The large expense proceeds from something besides
distance. Here I quote the words of Rowland Hill:--

“It is not matter of inference, but a matter of fact, that the
expense to the Post-Office is practically the same, whether a
letter is going from London to Barnet [eleven miles] or whether
it is going from London to Edinburgh [four hundred miles]; the
difference is not expressible in the smallest coin we have.”[99]

I have already mentioned that the actual cost of transportation from
London to Edinburgh was only one thirty-sixth of a penny, and this was
the average for all letters throughout the United Kingdom. With so
small a fraction of a penny representing the cost of the longest line,
it was apparent that the element of distance must be eliminated from
the question. A recent writer thus strongly testifies to this rule:--

“If Mr. Hill demonstrated one thing more plainly than another,
it was that the absolute cost of the transmission of each
letter was so infinitesimally small, that, if charged according
to that cost, the postage could not be collected. Besides, it
is not certain that the one letter would cost the Post-Office
more than the other.”[100]

But this rule is as applicable in our country as in the United Kingdom,
always provided the lines are productive.

This rule, first enunciated by Rowland Hill, was substantially adopted
by the Parliamentary Committee, when they say,--

“That it is the opinion of this Committee, that that part of
the inland postage on letters _which consists of tax_ ought
to be the same on all; that, as the cost of conveyance per
letter depends more on the number of letters carried than on
the distance which they are conveyed, the cost being frequently
greater for distances of a few miles than for distances of
hundreds of miles, the charge, if varied in proportion to the
cost, ought to increase in the inverse ratio of the number
of letters conveyed; but as it would be difficult, if not
impossible, to carry such a regulation into practice, and as
the actual cost of conveyance (assuming the charged letters
to bear the whole expense of the franked letters and of the
newspapers) forms less than the half of the whole charge
exclusive of tax, the remaining portion consisting chiefly
in the charges attendant on their receipt at and delivery
from the Post-Office, your Committee are of opinion that the
nearest practicable approach to a fair system would be to
charge a uniform rate of postage between one post-town and
another, whatever might be their distance; and your Committee
are further of opinion that such an arrangement is highly
desirable, not only on account of its abstract fairness,
but because it would tend in a great degree to simplify and
economize the business of the Post-Office.”[101]

All this is plainly reasonable, whether in the United Kingdom or the
United States.

The actual cost of each letter is inversely as the number of letters,
irrespective of distance. The weight enters very little into the
question. Take, for instance, a route of ten miles, at ten cents a
mile, and another of one hundred miles at the same rate. If on the
route of ten miles there is an average of only one letter, as is the
case on some routes, this one letter would cost one dollar, while ten
thousand letters on the route of one hundred miles would cost only
one mill a letter. The Post-Office pays a fixed compensation for the
daily transportation of its mails between certain places, and this
compensation is not varied by any addition to the number of letters.
Therefore on all productive or paying lines, as between Washington and
New York, and then between New York and Buffalo, additional letters may
be received for distant places, without adding to the cost, until the
letters reach St. Louis or New Orleans, or any other place accessible
by a self-supporting line, and the actual cost of a letter for the
longest distance will be no more than for the shortest. It will be the
same alike to New Orleans and to New York. Thus on the assumption of a
continuous self-supporting line the question of distance does not enter
into the cost, and thus again we see the injustice of compelling the
correspondence on such a line to the contributions it is now obliged to
make.

EXISTING RATE NOT OPPRESSIVE A FALLACY.

Here I encounter an old-fashioned objection common in England as
well as in the United States, and which has shown itself at every
proposed change in the postal service. It is said that the existing
rate is not oppressive, and that there is no need of its reduction.
Obviously it is not oppressive to Senators and Representatives, who
send and receive unnumbered letters free; nor is it oppressive to their
correspondents; nor again is it oppressive to the rich and thriving,
for they contribute out of their abundance; but plainly and indubitably
it is oppressive to the poor, and it is absurd to say that it is not.
Plainly and indubitably it is oppressive to the widowed mother, whose
best comfort is correspondence with her absent child; it is oppressive
to the child corresponding with mother, sister, or brother; it is
oppressive to all whose scanty means supply only the necessaries of
life. All these are restrained in the gratification of those affections
which contribute so much to human solace and strength.

Do not say that practically there is little difference between three
cents and one cent,--that the difference is hardly appreciable. A great
mistake. Is it not appreciable in the cost of tea, coffee, and sugar?
The reduction of one cent a pound in the tariff on sugar, of two cents
on coffee, or of a few cents on tea, is not treated as trivial.

There is the poor pensioner with eight dollars a month. She, too,
has family and friends; but the postal tax interferes to arrest the
congenial intercourse. Every letter adds to the burden she is obliged
to bear. Her fingers forget the pen, and she finds herself alone. Nor
is this hardship peculiar to the poor pensioner. An eminent citizen and
valued friend, who has given much attention to this subject, states the
case thus: “When one of my children is absent, I write a line every
day. Suppose I were a poor widow, earning barely enough to make the two
ends meet, and had children in the West, to each of whom I should want
to write at least once a week, making in all several dollars a year;
then the cost would be oppressive.” This simple illustration brings
home the operation of the postal tax now imposed by law, and shows how
it troubles those who most need the care and tenderness of the world.
The tax on letters is like the tax on salt. If it must exist, it must
be small, very small.

There are some who think that no existing institution is oppressive.
According to them, Slavery was not oppressive. In the same mood, the
law of 1845, with its two rates of five cents and ten cents, and then
again the law of 1855, by which the rate of five cents was reduced
to three cents, were pronounced unnecessary. The multifarious rates
anterior to 1845 were not oppressive, and in 1855 there was no call
for the reduction of the rate from five cents to three cents. Such
was the argument then, precisely as now. So in the days of Slavery
it was argued that the slaves did not desire freedom, and that their
condition was not oppressive. The great reform of Rowland Hill
encountered the same objection. Even Lord Ashburton, while favoring a
change, was content with twopence or threepence, and, in his testimony,
settled down upon threepence as satisfactory. He shrank from the
penny rate.[102] This question was treated with excellent sense by
Mr. Jones Loyd, whom I have already quoted, whose testimony bears
strongly on this very objection. After saying “that the present rate of
postage does in point of fact produce a prohibition of the use of the
Post-Office to all classes that may be considered as below the higher
classes,”[103] the attention of the witness was called by the Committee
to the allegation “that the laboring classes do not feel the oppressive
rate of postage.” He replied in words of wisdom worthy of memory now,
and completely applicable to the very question now before the Senate:--

“The habits of a people are in a great degree the result
of the laws under which they live; the high charges of our
Post-Office have induced, amongst all but the richer classes,
a habit of abstaining from epistolary communication, and it
might take some time to correct that habit. But it appears to
me very desirable that the impediment should be removed; and
I have no doubt, that, in the course of a short time, as the
poorer classes have the common affections of the human breast,
they would form a taste for the pleasures to be derived from
intercourse with absent friends and relations. It would be very
desirable, for the moral interests of the community, that every
facility should be afforded for that purpose.”[104]

On the “oppression of a tax,” where persons do not use the article
taxed, the intelligent witness testified as follows:--

“They may not know the loss they sustain; but that does not
alter the fact that they do sustain a very great loss; and
it would be highly criminal and cruel voluntarily to inflict
such a loss upon a person merely upon the ground that he does
not know it. A child that is born blind does not know the
advantages of sight; but still it would be a very extraordinary
thing to inflict blindness upon a child, merely upon the
ground, that, if you do it, in time he will not know the loss
he has sustained.”[105]

All this is plain and unanswerable. The oppressiveness of a tax is not
to be measured by the insensibility of the people on whose shoulders it
is laid. It is a curiosity of despotism that the people are too often
unconscious of their slavery, as they are unconscious also of bad laws.
A wise and just Government measures its duties not by what the people
bear without a murmur, but by what is most for their welfare; and it is
to this criterion that I bring the question of cheap postage. Say not
that the people are indifferent and do not ask for this reduction. Is
it not for their good? Is not the advantage so eminent and unequivocal
that the Government can no longer hesitate, especially at this
transitional moment, when our country is passing from the Old to the
New, and the people more than ever are assured in their rights?

JUSTICE AND PRACTICABILITY OF ONE CENT POSTAGE.

After this exhibition of existing burdens, so prejudicial to the
correspondence of the country, I return again to the main postulate of
this argument, that a uniform rate of one cent for a letter of half an
ounce is entirely reasonable, and in a short time, with proper relief
in other directions, would render the Post-Office self-supporting. Here
I introduce the testimony of a gentleman practically conversant with
the operations of our Post-Office, who writes to me as follows:--

“Taking the weight of the letter mail-matter and the printed
mail-matter, and charging the expense of transportation upon
each proportioned to the weight, and one cent is all that would
be relatively chargeable upon each half-ounce of letter mail.
I speak from close daily observation in a large office, in a
region that is a large revenue-paying one to the Department on
all mail-matter.”

This testimony of an expert is only in harmony with my own conclusion.

This injustice becomes more apparent, when we consider the
disproportion between the cost of other transportation and letter
postage. Take, for instance, the fare of a passenger on a railway in
comparison with that of a letter. The average weight of passengers with
their baggage is supposed to be 230 pounds, which is the weight of
7,360 half-ounce letters, paying, at the present rate of three cents,
$220.80, irrespective of distance. The following table, prepared some
time ago, shows the cost of other transportation:--

+-------------------------------+---------+-----+--------+-----+
| | |Mills|Express |Mills|
| From Boston-- |Passenger| per |freight.| per |
| |fare. |half |230 lbs.|half |
| | | oz. | | oz. |
+-------------------------------+---------+-----+--------+-----+
|To New York | $4 | .5 | $1.50 | .2 |
|” Philadelphia | 7 | .9 | 3.50 | .5 |
|” Baltimore | 10 | 1.3 | 5.50 | .7 |
|” Cincinnati | 25 | 3.4 | 10.50 | 1.4 |
|” St. Louis | 35 | 4.7 | 12.00 | 1.6 |
|” New Orleans | 45 | 6.1 | 14.00 | 1.9 |
|” Liverpool per Cunard steamers| 120 |16.3 | 7.20 | .9 |
+-------------------------------+---------+-----+--------+-----+

In other transportation there is a slight increase in proportion to
the distance; but it is difficult to see on what principle a mail-bag
between Washington and New York should pay more than a passenger; and
the same difficulty occurs when we consider ocean postage, where the
disproportion between postage and other transportation is, perhaps,
more conspicuous. Elihu Burritt, who has enforced the importance
of cheap rates on the ocean with admirable comprehension of their
importance, has reminded us that the freight of a barrel of flour,
weighing two hundred pounds, is about fifty cents, while the charge
for the same weight in half-ounce letters, being sixty-four hundred in
number, at the rate of twenty-four cents a letter, would be no less
than $1,536, and at the rate of one cent would be sixty-four dollars.
These instances show that letters have been always overcharged, or
charged out of proportion to their weight.

To my mind it is unjust that the letter everywhere should contribute
so largely to the transportation and delivery of other mail matter,
while in some parts of the country it contributes besides to postal
facilities elsewhere. I think I do not err, when I aver, that, even
with the latter burden, the Post-Office, if it carried nothing but
letters, _and every letter paid one cent_, would be self-supporting.
I put the case in this way so as to exhibit the essential equity of
the proposed reduction, and, I would add, its entire practicability.
Although the Post-Office cannot be relieved of the other mail-matter,
yet the letters can be relieved of the burdensome contribution to which
they are now subjected. One cent postage would give new operation
to the law according to which reduction of price tends to produce
consumption, and there would be a new impulsion to correspondence,
by which in a short time it would be doubled, tripled, quadrupled,
quintupled, and sextupled,--nay, in our growing country it would be
multiplied beyond calculation.

As to this increase, I have already shown something of its progress
in Great Britain, beginning with one hundred and twenty-two per cent.
the first year of penny postage.[106] Why may not the same take place
with us? According to the official table now on our desks, the smaller
population of the United Kingdom sends more letters than ours. It would
be difficult to credit this result, if the figures did not tell the
tale beyond correction. Here is the table:[107]--

Testimony could not be stronger. The smaller population sends a
larger sum-total of letters, making of course a larger number for each
person, and yielding a larger gross revenue. It is humiliating to
think that the people of this Monarchy send at the rate of twenty-six
letters for each person, while the citizens of our Republic send only
at the rate of twelve for each person. The inverse disproportion of
letters becomes the more remarkable, when it is understood that the
proportion of people who can read and write is greater among us than
in the United Kingdom, so that, all other things being equal, the
number of letters by each person should be greater among us; but we are
obliged to confront the unquestionable fact that the number is less.
How is this? Why is this? I know no way of accounting for it except in
the discouraging cost of correspondence. Here I find unquestionable
reason to conclude that we have not a proper rate of postage. Clearly
something is wanting. It is not education; for the people among us
excel the British people in this respect. It is not business, or
family, or friendship; for are not all these active with us? I submit
that we want nothing but cheap postage, so that the people, finding
their means in harmony with the rates, shall be tempted to write
letters. So it was in England; and so it may be among us.

Against the entire reasonableness of the proposed rate, it will not do
to say that in the wages of English labor a penny is the equivalent of
three cents among us. Even if it be so, there is a twofold answer to
the allegation: first, that convenience and reason concur in favor of
the lowest unit of coin, which with us is the cent, as in England it is
the penny; and, secondly, that with us the general scale of salary and
expenditure is less than in England, beginning with the President as
compared with the Queen, and embracing the functionaries of Government
in the two countries. The penny, which is a larger unit than the cent,
typifies the larger scale of price; so that our postage will be brought
to practical equality with that of England only by the adoption of the
corresponding unit of our country. If this seems refined or technical,
let me add that I adduce it only in answer to an objection, which
forgets not only the beauty of that simplicity found in the lowest unit
of coin, but also that fundamental difference between England and the
United States found in their respective institutions.

POSSIBLE LOSS OF REVENUE.

Here I am reminded of the possible loss of revenue, and this is set
up as an insuperable barrier; but I confess, that, when I regard the
infinite good from this reform, I am little concerned by any such
prospect. Better any possible loss of revenue than the postponement of
such a good. Nobody can say positively what the loss will be. It is
only an estimate, or, if you please, a guess. Some may make it high,
others low. According to the last Reports of the Postmaster-General,
the actual deficiency, with the rate of three cents, was $5,353,620,
and the estimated deficiency for 1870 is $7,440,413; but in both cases
the expenditures are swollen by illegitimate and extrinsic charges on
the Post-Office properly belonging to the Treasury. For 1871, with
the rate at three cents, the estimated expenditures, swollen by the
illegitimate and extrinsic charges, are $25,581,093, with receipts,
$20,178,961, leaving a deficiency of $5,402,132.[108]

Making the estimate for 1871 with the rate of one cent, and assuming
an increase in correspondence at only one hundred per cent., there
would be a deficiency of $12,128,452, from which should be deducted the
illegitimate and extrinsic charges properly belonging to the Treasury.
Considering these for one moment, you will see how small the deficiency
will be; and here I follow the last Report of the Postmaster-General,
who does not hesitate to estimate the proportion of free matter in
the mails at twenty-five per cent. of the whole, so that, according
to him, “it will appear that the Government is bound in honor and
justice to appropriate $5,000,000, instead of $700,000 [the present
appropriation], for this service.”[109] But with the abolition of the
franking system all this postal matter will pay the ordinary rate, and
thus contribute to the postal service. Deduct also another sum for the
expenditures of outlying routes, justly chargeable upon the Treasury,
like the existing franking system.

Such is the whole case as to any possible loss of revenue, which I
state with entire frankness; but I cannot doubt that a short period
would witness a change, while the people entered into the enjoyment of
their great possession. Letters would daily multiply, and the revenue
would bear witness to the increase.

THE POST-OFFICE NOT A TAXING MACHINE, BUT A BENEFICENT AGENCY.

Only in obedience to traditional usage have I dwelt thus long on
the financial aspect of this question, which to my mind is the least
important of all. Not to make money, but to promote the welfare of the
people, and to increase the happiness of all,--such is the precious
object I would propose; and here I ask no such question as, “Will it
pay?” It may not pay in revenue at once, but it will pay in what is
above price. Unhappily, the Post-Office, whether at home or abroad,
has been from the beginning little more than _a taxing machine_, a
contrivance to raise money, or a “milch cow” with fruitful dugs. In
England it was at times farmed out to a speculator, and then again
it was charged with the support of a royal mistress or favorite.
For its profits only was it regarded, and not for its agency in the
concerns of life. In this respect it was not unlike the Government,
which was simply a usurpation for the benefit of the few. All this
is now changed, at least among us, and Government is the creation
of the people for their good. The Post-Office should share this
transformation. Instead of a mere taxing machine, or contrivance
to raise money, or “milch cow” with fruitful dugs, it should be an
omnipresent beneficent minister, reaching its multitudinous hands with
help and comfort into all the homes of our wide-spread land. Such it
is already in England, to the infinite joy of all. But the omnipresent
beneficent minister belongs to a republic more than to a monarchy.
Cheap postage is a republican institution. If England has anticipated
us, we may at least profit by her example.

It is because Senators see the Post-Office only in its least elevated,
not to say its most vulgar character, that there is any hesitation.
Contemplate for one moment, if you please, its great and beautiful
office. It is the universal messenger of a people, bearing tidings
of all kinds, whether of business, hope, affection, charity, joy, or
sorrow, and articulating them throughout the land. There is nothing
that man can do, desire, or feel, which is not contained in the various
and abounding errand. The letters of a single day are the epitome of
life, and this service is unceasing. Every day this messenger flies
over the land, from city to city, from town to town, from village to
village, from house to house, leaving everywhere the welcome token.
Such a messenger is more than a winged Mercury, with sandalled feet
and purse in hand, whose special care was commerce; it is an angel
in reality, as in name. In the ancient Greek, from which the word
is derived, an angel was a messenger; and is not the office of our
messenger angelic? But by what rule or reason can you tax such a
messenger in his great and beautiful office?

A letter is simply conversation in writing, and therefore, by
strictness of logic, the tax you impose is a tax on conversation.
Reflect a moment on the part performed by conversation in the education
of men and in the economies of life; and here I give you testimony.
Once at Mr. Webster’s table I heard the question discussed, “From
what do men derive most of what they know?” The scholars about him
answered,--one naming “Our Mothers,” another “Schools,” another
“Books,” another “Newspapers,” when the host, who had listened to each,
remarked, very gravely, “You forget Conversation, from which, in my
judgment, we derive the larger part of what we know.” Who shall say
that Mr. Webster was not right? It is clear that conversation is a
wonderful educator and a constant servant. But conversation in writing,
no matter on what subject, whether of business or of the heart, is now
subject to an unrelenting tax, so that persons conversing by letter
must not only pay the cost of the intermediary in their own case, but
must contribute to the expense of other conversations elsewhere.

THAT THE POST-OFFICE MUST SUPPORT ITSELF A FALLACY.

Custom makes us insensible to folly, and even to injustice. Thus the
tax on letters has gained an undeserved immunity, which is augmented
by a prevailing notion, sometimes supposed to find authority even in
the Constitution, that the Post-Office must support itself. Whether
regarded as rule or maxim or provision of the Constitution, it is
without foundation, and sooner or later will be classed with those
“vulgar errors” which are as disturbing in government as in science.
There is nothing in the Constitution or in reason to distinguish the
Post-Office in this respect from the Army, the Navy, or the Judiciary.
The Constitution confers upon Congress the power “to establish
post-offices and post-roads,” precisely as it confers upon Congress
the power “to raise and support armies,” the power “to provide and
maintain a navy,” and the power “to constitute tribunals inferior to
the Supreme Court”; and in each of these cases it is empowered “to
make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into
execution the foregoing powers.” Nobody suggests that now in peace our
armies shall amplify their commissariat by enforced contributions, that
our navy shall redouble its economies by supplementary piracy, or that
our tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court shall eke out a salary by
requisitions on the suitors, to the end that each of these departments
may be in some measure “self-supporting.” Why, then, should the
Post-Office be subjected to a different rule? Not, surely, because it
is less beneficent; not because it is the youngest child of Government,
a very Benjamin, coming into being long after the others. But such is
the case. The rule for the others is discarded when we come to the
Post-Office, and here for the first time we hear that a Department of
Government must be “self-supporting.”

As there is no ground in the Constitution for this pretension, so
is there none in reason. Of all existing departments, the Post-Office
is most entitled to consideration, for it is most universal in its
beneficence. That public welfare which is the declared object of
all the departments appears here in its most attractive form. There
is nothing which is not helped by the Post-Office. Is business in
question? The Post-Office is at hand with invaluable aid, quickening
and multiplying all its activities. Is it charity? The Post-Office is
the good Samaritan, omnipresent on all the highways of the land. Is
it the precious intercourse of family or friends? The Post-Office is
carrier, interpreter, and handmaid. Is it education? The Post-Office
is schoolmaster, with school for all and with scholars counted by
the million. Is it the service of Government? The Post-Office lends
itself so completely to this essential work, that the national will is
conveyed without noise or effort to the most remote corners, and the
Republic becomes one and indivisible. Without the Post-Office where
would be that national unity, with irresistible guaranty of Equal
Rights to All, which is now the glory of the Republic? Impossible!
absolutely impossible! Therefore, in the name of all these, do I
insist that now, in these days of equality, the Post-Office shall
be admitted to equality with all other departments of Government,
so that it may discharge its own peculiar and many-sided duties,
without being compelled to find in itself the means of support. It has
enough to do without taking thought of the morrow. On every side and
in every direction it is the beneficent helper. To the Army it is a
staff; to the Navy it is a tender; to the Treasury it is a support;
to the Judiciary it is a police; to President and Congress it is an
adjunct; and to all else, public or private, whatever the interest,
aspiration, or sentiment, it is an incomparable ally. Better than two
blades of grass are two letters where was only one before; and when the
precious product is measured by millions, you see the vastness of the
beneficence.

OUR POST-OFFICE MUST BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD: PRESENT DUTY.

Such is the Post-Office; and nothing is clearer than that here in the
United States it should be of the highest type. Ours should be the best
in the world,--not second to any. So long as Slave-Masters bore sway,
this could not be; for they set their faces against this minister of
Civilization. One of the first legislative acts of the Rebel Government
at Montgomery was to raise the rates.[110] But this hostile obstruction
is now overcome, and we are at last free to act for the good of all.
It is for the welfare of the people that our Republic is founded, and
therefore it should omit nothing by which their condition is improved
and elevated. Other Governments may seek to augment the revenue. Our
aim should be to augment the sum of human happiness, making it the
crown of our whole people; and just in proportion as we fail in this
duty is the Republic a failure. But the best Post-Office is where
letters at the smallest charge are faithfully carried to every door,
thus combining cheapness and efficiency. That ours may fulfil this
condition there must be a change.

Our duty is simple. It is to relieve the Post-Office of present
burdens, including especially the franking system and the expense of
unproductive routes, while at the same time we establish a uniform
rate of one cent. To these cardinal objects may be added others named
in the bill introduced by me, especially the requirement of payment
always by stamps, so as to simplify the accounts and to make peculation
impossible; but the fundamental change is in the rate of postage.

Could my desires prevail, the Post-Office should be like the Common
School, open to all, with this only condition, that the rate should be
sufficient to guard against abuse. But this is accomplished by that now
proposed.

Let the uniform rate be one cent and you will witness a transformation.
The power to frank, which is now confined to a few, will practically
belong to all, and letters will be multiplied in proportion,--opening
to the people an inexhaustible source of all good influences, whether
of education, wealth, virtue, or happiness, while the Republic rises in
the scale of civilization. Such a rate will be better than a mine of
gold in every State,--better than a band of iron for the Union,--better
than a fortress scowling on uncounted hilltops; for it will be an
angelic power.

And could this rate be extended to international postage, its least
service would be to our commercial relations. Beyond this would be an
inconceivable influence on that immigration to our country which is a
constant fountain of life, while it carried into the homes of the Old
World the most seductive invitations to take part with us in our great
destinies. Republican ideas would be diffused, and the Rights of Man
gain new authority. Every letter from glowing firesides among us, when
read at colder firesides abroad, would be a perpetual proclamation of
the Republic.

More than ever this change is needed now. It is essential in the work
of Reconstruction, which can be maintained only through the national
unity. The very extent of our country, which is superficially urged as
the apology for a high rate, is to my mind an all-sufficient reason
for the proposed reform. Because our country is broad and spacious,
therefore must distant parts be brought into communication and woven
together by daily recurring ties. Because our people are various in
origin and language, therefore must they be enabled to commingle and
become homogeneous. And, lastly, because fellow-citizens have suffered
and been separated by terrible war, therefore must the Post-Office
become a good angel to quicken industry, to remove ignorance, to soothe
prejudice, and to promote harmony. Blessed are the peace-makers; and
in this company the Post-Office, properly reformed, will take an
illustrious place.

CHINESE INDEMNITY FUND.

REPORT IN THE SENATE, OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, JUNE 24,
1870.

The Committee on Foreign Relations, to whom was referred the
message of the President of March 10, 1870, covering a report
of the Secretary of State and correspondence concerning the
Chinese Indemnity Fund, also certain petitions on the same
subject, have had the same under consideration, and beg leave
to report.

The origin and history of the Chinese Indemnity Fund are found in
authentic documents, so that little need be done except to state the
case from these authorities.

* * * * *

The British and French expeditions of 1858, which, after capturing
Canton, turned their combined forces toward Peking, and ascended the
Pei-ho as far as Tien-tsin, opened the way to the presentation of
claims of our citizens, which were promptly recognized by the Chinese
Government. Though taking no part in the war, our people profited by
the result. The convention that ensued was born of the war.

THE CONVENTION AND PAYMENT OF CLAIMS.

Claims were brought forward amounting to more than one and a quarter
million of dollars; but Mr. Reed, our Minister in China, concluded,
after examination, that 600,000 taels, or about $840,000, was a
proper estimate for all rightfully due. Accordingly he entered
into an arrangement with the Chinese plenipotentiaries for their
prospective liquidation. At first there was nothing but an agreement
in correspondence, being a sort of executory contract, which was
unsatisfactory in form, incomplete in stipulations, and embarrassed
by the condition that in the adjudication of the claims a Chinese
officer should take part. All this involved delay, at least, if not
more. At last this agreement was embodied in the terms of a convention
between the two governments, dispensing with Chinese coöperation, and
the amount of damages was reduced to 500,000 taels, to be paid from
the maritime revenues of Shanghai, Foo-chow, and Canton, in complete
discharge of all demands.[111]

The original agreement was at Tien-tsin, where the Chinese met the
British, French, and Russian negotiators; but the convention was
finally executed at Shanghai, November 8, 1858. The statement already
made appears in the terms of the convention. After setting forth that
certain maritime revenues were pledged for the payment of American
claims, “to an amount not exceeding 600,000 taels,” the convention
proceeds to declare, “And the plenipotentiary of the United States,
actuated by a friendly feeling towards China, is willing, on behalf of
the United States, to reduce the amount needed for such claims to an
aggregate of 500,000 taels”; and then it is agreed “that this amount
shall be in full liquidation of all claims of American citizens at the
various ports to this date.”[112]

Mr. Reed, in communicating this treaty to the Department of State,
says, under date of November 10, 1858:--

“Nor has there been any great difficulty in effecting it, the
Chinese plenipotentiaries showing no disposition to evade the
agreement they had entered into at Tien-tsin, and being quite
willing to arrange the details on reasonable grounds.”[113]

The Minister then proceeds to say, that his first duty--“not the
less binding because to the Chinese”--was to revise the claims
themselves, and ascertain whether, after giving credit for such as
had in the mean time been settled and paid, and applying some clear
principle of law, the aggregate could not be reduced; and he adds,
that “the amount assumed at Tien-tsin was an arbitrary one.” In order
to arrive at a more precise result, he called upon the claimants
for a revised statement of their demands. In many instances the
requisition was complied with; in others it was made the occasion for
“all sorts of speculative and contingent claims,--such, for example,
as a vice-consul asking to be remunerated for fees that he might have
made, and the captain of a steamer claiming the profits of a year to
come.” Notwithstanding these instances the claims were revised in a
proper spirit, and were sensibly reduced by the claimants themselves.
Still there were many of a contingent character. On a careful review
of all the evidence before him, the Minister was satisfied that
he could materially reduce the amount to be demanded, which was
accordingly done. In the draught of the convention first submitted to
the Commissioners at Shanghai, the amount stated was 525,000 taels,
with a provision, that, in case of excess beyond the claims and
interest, it should be refunded to the Chinese Government; on which the
Minister remarks: “They preferred, however, the small sum without such
provision, evidently thinking it was their best policy to get rid of
the matter forever.”[114] The language of the Commissioners was:--

“We acknowledge the consideration and kindness of your
Excellency in this matter, in that you have, of your own
accord, reduced the first amount of claims, and now place
the total at 525,000 taels. We have taken the matter into
full consultation, and propose, that, if a further reduction
of 25,000 taels be made, fixing the total amount at 500,000
taels, then custom-house certificates can be issued at Canton,
Shanghai, and Foo-chow, dating from the first day of our next
year, (February 3, 1859,) which can be successively applied to
the gradual payment of the entire sum.”[115]

These terms were embodied in the final convention between the parties.

After this exposition, the Minister declares that the convention, if
ratified by our Government, and carried into execution by the Chinese,
as he did not doubt it would be, would liquidate every claim on China
by citizens of the United States, principal and Chinese interest at
twelve per cent. per annum, on most of the claims for three years, and
for a longer period on others, among which was one as ancient as 1847,
which had occupied the attention and excited the sympathies of many of
his predecessors.

The Minister appends a tabular statement of claims, with a list of
what he calls “Claims Suspended,” among which is one known as “The
Caldera,” to which reference will be made hereafter. He then says:--

“A sufficient sum can be reserved to cover these claims, _all
of which are more or less doubtful_.”

And adds:--

“If they be recognized, and the principle of paying interest
be adopted throughout, the fund will be exhausted. If they
be disallowed, though interest be paid to all the other
claimants, there will be a surplus at the disposition of the
Government.”[116]

Thus early was there anticipation of a surplus.

At the same time the Minister suggested that Congress should provide
for the adjudication of the claims and a dividend among claimants. This
was done by the Act of March 3, 1859, entitled “An Act to carry into
effect the Convention between the United States and China, concluded
on the 8th of November, 1858, at Shanghai,”[117] authorizing the
appointment of commissioners “to receive and examine all claims which
may be presented to them under the said convention, according to the
provisions of the same, the principles of justice and International
Law,”--and further providing “that the said commissioners shall report
to the chief diplomatic officer in China the several awards made by
them, to be approved by him,” which are to be paid out of the revenues
set apart for this purpose, in ratable proportion, “according to the
direction of the said diplomatic officer.”

The examination of the claims was completed in January, 1860, and the
payments directed by the Commissioners were duly made. Then occurred
a condition of things almost without precedent in the relations of
nations. After all the payments directed by the Commissioners, a large
surplus was found in the custody of the legation at Peking, which was
subsequently transferred to the United States. This surplus, with
accumulations of interest and gain by exchange, less an amount paid
under authority of an Act of Congress approved February 22, 1869,[118]
has been invested in Ten-Forty bonds, which are now held by the State
Department, amounting at par to $386,000. Another amount of $206.87
in cash is also in the possession of the Department; and about $2,000
remain in the custody of the Minister to China, who has been directed
to make remittance of the same.[119]

The Secretary of State, in his Report on this subject, as late as March
10, 1870, says that he “is not aware of any claims against this fund
which have not been considered by the Commissioners and determined by
them.”[120]

PROPOSITIONS WITH REGARD TO SURPLUS.

This surplus has been the subject of discussion for more than a decade
of years. During all this time it has been before Congress without any
definitive action. As long ago as December, 1860, it was thus noticed
by President Buchanan in his Annual Message:--

“After the awards shall have been satisfied, there will remain
a surplus of more than $200,000 at the disposition of Congress.
_As this will in equity belong to the Chinese Government_,
would not justice require its appropriation to some benevolent
object in which the Chinese may be specially interested?”[121]

Nothing was done by Congress, and President Lincoln, in his Annual
Message of December, 1861, thus followed in the footsteps of his
predecessor:--

“I repeat the recommendation of my predecessor, in his Annual
Message to Congress in December last, in regard to the
disposition of the surplus which will probably remain after
satisfying the claims of American citizens against China,
pursuant to the awards of the Commissioners under the Act of
the 3d of March, 1859. If, however, it should not be deemed
advisable to carry that recommendation into effect, I would
suggest that authority be given for investing the principal,
over the proceeds of the surplus referred to, in good
securities, with a view to the satisfaction of such other just
claims of our citizens against China as are not unlikely to
arise hereafter in the course of our extensive trade with that
empire.”[122]

The subject was at this time considered by the Committee on Foreign
Relations, aided by the Secretary of State, who laid before the
Committee all the original papers relating to the proceedings of the
Commissioners. In a communication to the Committee,[123] Mr. Seward
stated the case as he understood it, recognizing “the refunding of
the whole amount to the Chinese” as one of the methods which “suggest
themselves.” This was in the summer of 1862, at the most critical
period of the war for the suppression of the Rebellion, and the
Committee did not feel disposed at that time to make any recommendation
with regard to the fund.

Meanwhile the disposition of this fund was discussed elsewhere. Our
distinguished representative in China, Mr. Burlingame, entered upon it
with characteristic ardor. Regarding the fund as essentially Chinese
in character, if not belonging in equity to China, he urged that it
should be devoted to the foundation of an institution of learning at
Peking, which he proposed to call The American College, or _Ta-Mei Kwoh
Hioh-kung_: first, to teach Americans the language and literature of
China, so as to fit them to be interpreters and consuls; and, secondly,
to educate Chinese in English studies and in their own literature, with
a view to employment by their own rulers or by the United States. The
usefulness and practicability of such a college were developed in two
elaborate dispatches,--one bearing date Shanghai, May 19, 1862,[124]
and the other, Peking, November 18, 1863,[125] in the course of which
Mr. Burlingame said that he was “disposed to urge the adoption of this
proposal more with a reference to the benefit such a college would be
to the Chinese than to ourselves.”[126] Not content with thus declaring
his desire to make this fund of benefit to them, he says, “In equity
the balance appears to belong to the Chinese, but they have no voice
in its disposal.”[127] His eloquent appeal has thus far been without
effect. Nothing has been done to carry out his recommendation, and the
question still remains, What to do with the fund?

It is sometimes proposed that this fund should be reserved for
the satisfaction of possible claims hereafter. But this would be
contrary to the terms of the convention, which expressly provides
for the “claims of American citizens at the various ports _to this
date_,”--thus positively limiting the disposition of the fund. Mr.
Burlingame, without referring to the terms of the convention, objected
to any such reservation as calculated to produce embarrassment in our
relations with China. According to him, “_it would be preferable to
return the whole to them_, or distribute the money, as it accrues, to
the disappointed claimants, and those Chinese in the employ of our
citizens who suffered severe losses in consequence of their connection
with them, than to lay it aside for future contingencies to settle with
a government like the Chinese.”[128] His authority on this proposition
may be considered decisive.

But there is another consideration which leads to the same conclusion.
Any retention of the fund to meet possible future claims is a plain
recognition of the interest, if not the proprietorship of China; and
since there is no authority under the convention for its application
to possible future claims, it will be at least questionable whether
the Chinese Government should not have a voice in the adjudication of
such claims. At all events, we shall assume a peculiar responsibility,
if we undertake to apply this fund to claims not contemplated by the
convention. Nor is there any reason of expediency which can justify
such an assumption on our part. China has evinced no disposition to be
otherwise than just to American citizens. Although twelve years have
elapsed since the date of the convention, there are no outstanding
claims against China which have received the sympathy of our
Government. Should any such claims arise, it were far better that they
should be presented directly, and be satisfied by an award in their
favor. Meanwhile the old account should be closed.

A remark of Mr. Burlingame, already quoted, requires one word of
comment. He mentions, as a possible course, the distribution of the
fund among “disappointed claimants, and those Chinese in the employ
of our citizens who suffered severe losses in consequence of their
connection with them.” Of the Chinese mentioned the Committee know
nothing. No claims in their behalf have been presented. But since the
award of the Commissioners three different cases have occurred, coming
under the head of “Disappointed Claimants.” The disposition of these is
mentioned at the end of this Report.[129] It does not seem advisable
that the fund should be kept to meet such applications. The awards of
the Commissioners have been approved by our Minister in China, and the
proceedings closed. If they were opened in the case of the Neva, it
was because the claimants there had not been heard in China. It is not
supposed that any other occasion can arise to open these proceedings.
The fund in question cannot be regarded as a charity or largess for the
gratification of “disappointed claimants,” nor would it be proper for
the United States to play such a generous part at the expense of China.

Our country has no house for its legation at Peking or for its
consulates in other places, nor does it possess any buildings in China
which it might use as courthouse or jail; and latterly there has
been a strong disposition to apply this fund in this direction. Mr.
Seward seems to have inclined this way, as appears from his Report
to Congress,[130] and Mr. Fish also, as appears from his Report to
Congress.[131] But this disposition proceeds on the admission that the
fund differs materially from other moneys of the United States,--that,
if it does not belong to China, it bears the Chinese earmark so
strongly that it cannot be treated as belonging to our national assets.
In point of fact, all attempts to cover it into the Treasury have
proved unsuccessful.

Petitions from opposite quarters with regard to the disposition of the
fund attest a prevailing interest.

At a meeting of citizens in New York, March 11, 1870, a distinguished
committee was appointed, with Isaac Ferris, Chancellor of the
University, as chairman, with whom as associates were William E.
Dodge, President of the Chamber of Commerce, Frederick S. Winston,
E. D. Morgan, E. C. Benedict, A. A. Low, John C. Green, James H.
Taft, Stewart Brown, and William P. Jones, many of them having large
interests in China, who adopted resolutions on this subject to be
forwarded to Congress. The first resolution declares,--

“That this Committee is of opinion that the surplus of
the Indemnity Fund received from the Chinese under the
Convention of 1858, referred to in the Annual Message of
President Buchanan to the Second Session of the Thirty-Sixth
Congress, and of President Lincoln to the Second Session of
the Thirty-Seventh Congress, with the accumulation thereon,
_certainly does belong in equity to the Chinese Government_, as
the Presidents therein declare, and _should be returned to it_.”

The Committee then proceed to say, that, if such surplus shall
be declined by China, it should be expended, according to the
recommendation of Mr. Burlingame, in founding a literary institution
for the equal benefit of Chinese and Americans.

Chicago responded to New York. At a meeting of citizens March
31st, another committee was organized, with R. B. Mason, the
Mayor, as chairman,--and among the members were William Bross,
Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois, Thomas Drummond, Judge of the United
States Circuit Court, James E. McL

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