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few expressions will show.
In his first speech in the debate he said:—
God in his beneficence offers to nations, as to individuals, opportunity, opportunity, opportunity.
Never before in history has he offered such as is ours here.
Do not fail to seize it. The blow with which we smite an accursed rebellion will at the same time enrich and bless; nor is there any prosperity or happiness it will not scatter abundantly throughout the land.1
On the last day but one of the session he said
2:—
I have never, from the beginning, disguised my conviction that the most important part of the bill concerns emancipation.
To save this great part, to secure this transcendent ally, to establish this assurance of victory, and to obtain for my country this lofty crown of prosperity and glory, I willingly abandon all the rest.
The navigator is called sometimes to save his ship by casting part of the cargo into the sea. But whatever the difference between the President and Congress, there are two points on which there is no difference: blacks are to be employed, and slaves are to be freed.
In this legislative proclamation the President and Congress will unite; together they will deliver it to the country and to the world.
It is an occasion of just congratulation that the long debates of the session have at last ripened into a measure which I do not hesitate to declare more important than any victory achieved by our arms.
Thank God!
the new levies will be under an inspiration which cannot fail.
It is the idea of freedom, which, in spite of all discomfiture, past or present, must give new force to the embattled armies of the republic, making their conflicts her own. Sir, from this day forward the war will be waged with new hopes and new promises.
A new power is enlisted, incalculable in influence, strengthening our armies, weakening the enemy, awakening the sympathies of mankind, and securing the favor of a benevolent God.
The infamous Order No. 3,3 which has been such a scandal to the republic, is rescinded.
The slave everywhere can hope.
Beginning to do justice, we shall at last deserve success.
Sumner's only interest in confiscation was thereby to accomplish emancipation, and break up large estates so as to obtain secure homes for the colored people.
As a punishment, he had no faith in it from the beginning.
He said, June 27, 1862—
But I confess frankly that I look with more hope and confidence to liberation than to confiscation.
To give freedom is nobler than to take property. . . . There is in confiscation, unless when directed against the criminal authors of the rebellion, a harshness inconsistent with that mercy which it is always a sacred duty to cultivate . . . . But liberation is not harsh; and it is certain, if properly conducted, to carry with it the smiles of a benignant Providence.4
On different occasions he treated measures of confiscation and political disability as temporary expedients, belonging to
