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Show George B. Cheever. over oppression, of truth against fraud and lying, of conf: C' il'nce anll God's word aga.in.'t wick ed human law, of principle over policy, of Freedom over Slav~ry, that the worl<l e,·cr ~aw. Jt j - a thing of j oy forever, a tlung to be eterna lly proclaimed and magnified, that a commer cial nation ha done thi s ; a nntion with power and temptation to do otherwise ; a nation n ot for itself, but for others ; a na tion inspir '<1 with genuin E>, un:-elfb:h, compassionate r egard for the injnred an<.l e11 lm·cu. A proud, strong, conquering, pro perou · nation has done thi ; has paused in the mid t of her p 1·ospeTity to examine her policy before God; to aclmowletlge her pa. t inju tice and wronO' to acknowledge and obey God':::, wonl, God's will, as 0 1 supreme above her own government and authority ; to ac-knowleclO'c the claim of the opprc , cd, and to Jet the op- o pre sed go frcl', because God couwu.mds it. I ... ay a great commercial nation -the wealthiest, most aggmndizecl, and lordlie t nation on the face of the globe, at once tlte mo. t commercial and tllc mo t aris tocratic, with the proutlest nobili ty and the inten c t trade-. pirited mer cantile community together, uuder the mo t con crvative law faculty and jurisprudence ; a great commercial nation, in the heart of a money-wor ·hipping age, at the co t of an appropriation in money such as never before on earth was devoted by any government to any uch purpo e ; in the face of an outcry of rage and aYarice ngainst so bene volent a measure; in the face of the savage claim of property in man, and of the r emorseless fury with which that claim was pro ecute<l to the la t moment ; a g reat commercial power-loving, money-accumulating nation, has voluntarily pau ~ ed in her g reat career of conquest and of wealth, thrown from her the con iderations of a selfish expediency, and performed a national act of self-denying justice and humanity ; an act both of the government and the people ; an net of l'cligion and of 1·eligious zeal and <luty, uch as nations almo t never perform, and which, performe<l as it was, with such comple teness, noblenes , and mnjc ty of principle, might nlmo t cancel a thous9,11q ye9,rs of European cn~ clty anll crime. George B. Cheever. 147 Tl u~ Act of Emancipa t ion, which it becomes us anew and solemnly to celeb rate thi ' day, to praise God for it, and to implore hi. grace that it may be ini tiatc<.l in our own country, wa.' an act of b 'ncvolcnce a nd j u. tice on pr inciple. I t wa' not a mea. ure of political conomy or exp 'dieney, but of right a ncl tluty, aboYe all cxped i ncy, dct rmi ning what true exped iency i:-:;. I t wa. not a quc.-t ion of the Rtt per iority of fr e labor over sln.ve labor , or a m ea~ ure for the i n te rc~L and p rofit of the whi te;:) ; but it was the admiLted equal claim of the black ' to freedom as well as the whites, and the pro .... eculion of that claim for the liberty an<.l bene fit of the en laved, for the r c. titution to them of the rights of which they have been rlefraucled. I t wa a denial of any right on the part of the " ·hites to hold any other race in slavery ; it ' vn a dcninl of any right of proper ty in ma n, and a r e fu . al a ny longer to admit any such wrong. I t wa. the undoing of such wrong, because it was wrong, and the question of its proJl tableness and unproiltablcne s for the nation committi ng snch a crime was not a que -tion, upon the deci ion of which the a ·t of emancipa tion was based. By a r elig ious conscience, by the power of God's '\Vord, by the grand ideas of ju tice a nd of freedom svvay in ()' the popular mind, by the sentiments, fe •l-o . ings, impul -es of the popular h eart again. t c~·u elt_r, u~a.m ::;t oppression, against Slavery, the nation wn. C':urted nTest ' tl b~y in this ()'rand movement, and triumphe<.l in i t. .And it was, In many 1~espects, the greate t n ntional victory of right against \\TOI10' of conscience aO'ainst selfishne s, that the world evct· b' 0 saw. A s a mea sure of political economy it has been successful in it· re ult . The West Indies arc wor th incalculably more today, under the r eign of Freedom, than they could have been under the continued inju tice of Slavery. But whether · o or not, the honesty, generosity, and ju -t ic:e of the 11ation, th~ c1<'vnt ion an<l integrit y of charnctc r, tl1e enthronemen t of tlte right, the ·uprerna.cy of the W ord of Go<l as ~he rule .of righ t, und of the conscie nce of the nation as obcch cnt to tt, a rc nn |
