before us, which is the issue of the equality of all men under the laws, and reconstruct the government as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, then a triumphant and glorious future awaits us. We have two years in which to make up this issue. I think I see very clearly that it will be made up on our side in behalf of liberty, equality, freedom, and justice for all men; that we shall hold high the banner above the smoke and dust and turmoil of mere party strife, so that it may be seen not only by the people of this country, but by the people of the whole world. Thus we shall give to the masses of England, who are now struggling to emancipate themselves, an additional reason for effort and an additional motive for success. Finally, this government is not only to be re-established upon the principles of equality; but, through sympathy and the force of our views and the public sentiment which will be here created, England herself is to be redeemed from the aristocratic element by which she is controlled; and, in that country and in this, the day will appear speedily when the masses shall rule, in faith, in justice, and in power.

538

RECONSTRUCTION, AND ITS RELATIONS TO THE BUSINESS OF THE COUNTRY.

AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE OLD BAY STATE ASSOCIATION, BOSTON, DEC. 27, 1866.

I

TRUST no one will suppose that my subject im

plies any want of confidence in the patriotism of the business men of Boston, of our State, or of the country. I chose to speak upon the topic which has been announced, because I had observed occasionally in the public journals the suggestion that the business men of the country were largely interested in the immediate restoration of the Union, without much regard to the manner of doing the work. For myself, I have never accepted the suggestion, certainly not since the manifestations of patriotism during the war on the part of the business men of our State and of the country, that they would, as a body, be disposed to second any movement for the restoration of the Union not based upon sound principles of public policy. The restoration of the Union means the introduction again, into the government of the country, of that considerable body of people, and that vast extent of territory, engaged in and covered by the rebellion. It implies a renewal of the exercise of power in this government by those men who for thirty years

plotted for its overthrow, and for nearly five years carried on a persistent and formidable, and at times apparently successful, rebellion for its destruction. It is therefore no slight matter, that these people at any time, or to any extent, until their spirit and purposes are changed, are to be received into the government of the country. We accept, as far as the persons who have been concerned in the rebellion are to be considered, a body of men. who are hostile to this government, who seek its destruction, and who will avail themselves of any opportunity that may present itself in the changing condition of public affairs to accomplish that for which they have fought. Therefore there should be on the part of all, accompanied by a desire for the restoration of the Union, attention to those safeguards and securities which, under the circumstances, it is possible for us either to erect or to take.

Again, consider that the restoration of the Union implies the renewal of power on the part of nearly four million people who, for the present moment, are excluded from all participation in the government of the country. It implies, also, the exercise of power on the part of their posterity and successors through many generations; and if we accept them as they are, with supreme power in their respective localities and States vested in the hands of rebels, with all the institutions which control and mould public sentiment subject to their will, we cannot expect that, in five or ten or twenty or fifty years even, the spirit of rebellion will be extinguished in that section of country. In the ten States

that are not represented in the Congress of the United States, there were, in 1860, 4,620,000 white people; there were, at that time, 125,000 free colored persons; there were, also, 3,265,000 slaves,making an aggregate of colored persons of 3,390,000, and of 4,620,000 white persons. These ten States have an area of 635,454 square miles,about one-fifth of the entire surface of the Union, including all the territories that are but partially settled this side of the Rocky Mountains, and the vast mountain region between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean. These ten States have a population at present of rather more than eight million; they have an area of 635,000 square miles; they have, for the most part, a fertile soil; they are blessed with a salubrious and agreeable climate; they possess all the natural advantages which insure in the future a vast population. It is therefore a matter of the highest magnitude. to so arrange the details of reconstruction, and to proceed upon such principles, as shall secure to the country a loyal public sentiment in all that region. If we leave to these four million rebels local power, undiminished sway in one-fifth of the territory of the Union; if we confide to them and to their care the institutions of government, of education, of religion, of social life; if we assign to them the undisputed control of the press, what have we to expect in the future except generation after generation influenced by the same principles, and animated by the same purposes, that have controlled the inhabitants of that region for the last thirty-five years? These facts and views give us some idea

of the magnitude of the subject with which we are to deal.

For the purpose of showing how the business. interests of this country are concerned in the work of restoration, I desire to recall your attention to certain well-known facts, developed by the census of 1860, but indicated quite distinctly in all the censuses that have been taken from 1790 until 1860, showing how the system of slavery has tended to prevent the increase of the population of this vast and inviting region of country, and how also it has contributed to depress labor, to degrade the laborer, and consequently to render that section incapable of producing wealth, as compared with the free States of the country. These facts are well known; but, in the relation in which I speak to-night, I think it not unwise to recall your attention to them. The area of New England, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware - an extensive region of country — is but 213,786 square miles, just about one-third the area of country covered by the ten unrepresented States. But these twelve States, with an area of but 213,000 square miles, against 635,000 square miles in the ten rebellious States, have a population of 13,682,000 against 8,010,000 in those ten States, nearly half of whom are colored people, showing how much more rapidly population has increased in the free States than in the slave States. In these twelve free States, the population averages sixtythree persons to the square mile, while in the ten rebellious and unrepresented States, the population is but twelve and six-tenths persons to the square