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         [Illustration: Eng’d by A H Ritchie: HORACE GREELEY]

              Statesman Edition                Vol. XX

                            Charles Sumner

                          HIS COMPLETE WORKS

                           With Introduction
                                  BY
                       HON. GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR

                            [Illustration]

                                BOSTON
                            LEE AND SHEPARD
                                  MCM

                           COPYRIGHT, 1883,
                                  BY
                      FRANCIS V. BALCH, EXECUTOR.

                           COPYRIGHT, 1900,
                                  BY
                           LEE AND SHEPARD.

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

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




CONTENTS OF VOLUME XX.


                                                                       PAGE

    THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: ITS PROPER NUMBER. Remarks in the
    Senate, on the Bill for the Apportionment of Representatives among
    the States, January 29, 1872                                          1

    REFORM AND PURITY IN GOVERNMENT: NEUTRAL DUTIES. SALE OF ARMS TO
    BELLIGERENT FRANCE. Speech in the Senate, February 28, 1872           5

    PARLIAMENTARY LAW ON THE APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES OF THE
    SENATE. Two Protests against the Competency of the Senate Committee
    to investigate the Sale of Arms to France, March 26 and 27, 1872     45

    BOOKS ON THE FREE LIST. Remarks in the Senate on moving an
    Amendment to a Tariff Bill, March 27, 1872                           61

    THE NASBY LETTERS. Introduction to the Collection, April 1, 1872     65

    ADVICE TO THE <DW52> PEOPLE. Letter to the National Convention of
    <DW52> People at New Orleans, April 7, 1872                         68

    DIPLOMATIC AGENTS OF THE UNITED STATES NOT TO ACCEPT GIFTS FROM
    FOREIGN POWERS. Remarks in the Senate, May 2, 1872                   70

    PRESERVATION OF THE PARK AT WASHINGTON. Remarks in the Senate,
    May 15, 1872                                                         72

    HOURS OF LABOR. Letter to the Convention of the Massachusetts
    Labor Union in Boston, May 25, 1872                                  79

    ARBITRATION AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WAR. Resolutions in the Senate,
    May 31, 1872, concerning Arbitration as a Substitute for War in
    determining Differences between Nations                              80

    REPUBLICANISM _vs._ GRANTISM. Speech in the Senate, May 31, 1872     83

    INTEREST AND DUTY OF  CITIZENS IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
    Letter to  Citizens, July 29, 1872                           173

    LETTER TO SPEAKER BLAINE. August 5, 1872                            196

    RETROSPECT AND PROMISE. Address at a Serenade before his House in
    Washington, August 9, 1872                                          202

    FREDERICK DOUGLASS AND PRESIDENT GRANT. Letter to Hon. Andrew D.
    White, President of Cornell University, August 10, 1872             205

    GREELEY OR GRANT? Speech intended to be delivered at Faneuil Hall,
    Boston, September 3, 1872                                           209

    NO NAMES OF BATTLES WITH FELLOW-CITIZENS ON THE ARMY-REGISTER OR
    THE REGIMENTAL COLORS OF THE UNITED STATES. Bill in the Senate,
    December 2, 1872                                                    255

    TRIBUTE TO HORACE GREELEY. Remarks intended to be made in the
    Senate, in seconding a Motion for Adjournment on the Occasion of
    Mr. Greeley’s Funeral, December 3, 1872                             256

    RELIEF OF BOSTON. Remarks in the Senate, December 12, 1872          258

    THE LATE HON. GARRETT DAVIS, SENATOR OF KENTUCKY. Remarks in the
    Senate, on his Death, December 18, 1872                             261

    EQUALITY IN CIVIL RIGHTS. Letter to the Committee of Arrangements
    for the Celebration of the Anniversary of Emancipation in the
    District of Columbia, April 16, 1873                                266

    EQUAL RIGHTS OF  FELLOW-CITIZENS IN NORMAL SCHOOLS. Letter
    read at a Public Meeting in Washington, June 22, 1873               268

    THE PRESIDENT OF HAYTI AND MR. SUMNER. Letter in Reply to one from
    the Former, July 4, 1873                                            270

    INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. Letter to Henry Richard, M.P., on the
    Vote in the House of Commons agreeing to his Motion for an Address
    to the Queen, praying Communication with Foreign Powers with a View
    to a General and Permanent System of International Arbitration,
    July 10, 1873                                                       273

    A COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM IRRESPECTIVE OF COLOR. Letter to the 
    Citizens of Washington, July 29, 1873                               275

    BOSTON: ITS PROPER BOUNDARIES. Letter to Hon. G. W. Warren, of
    Charlestown, on the Annexion to Boston of the Suburban Towns,
    October 4, 1873                                                     279

    YELLOW FEVER AT MEMPHIS AND SHREVEPORT: AID FOR THE SUFFERERS.
    Remarks before the Board of Trade at Boston, October 24, 1873       281

    THE CASE OF THE VIRGINIUS. Letter to the Cuban Mass Meeting in
    New York, November 15, 1873                                         284

    THE SUPPLEMENTARY CIVIL-RIGHTS BILL AGAIN: IMMEDIATE ACTION URGED.
    Remarks in the Senate, December 2, 1873                             286

    OUR PILGRIM FOREFATHERS. Speech at the Dinner of the New England
    Society in New York, December 22, 1873                              291

    SUPPLEMENTARY CIVIL-RIGHTS BILL: THE LAST APPEAL. Remarks in the
    Senate, January 27, 1874                                            301

    INDEX                                                               317




THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: ITS PROPER NUMBER.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON THE BILL FOR THE APPORTIONMENT OF
REPRESENTATIVES AMONG THE STATES, JANUARY 29, 1872.


MR. PRESIDENT,--Before the vote is taken I desire to make one remark. I
was struck with the suggestion of the Senator from Ohio [Mr. SHERMAN],
the other day, with regard to the proposition which comes from the
House. He reminded us that it was a House proposition, and that it was
natural that the House should be allowed to regulate itself. I think
there is much in that worthy of consideration. I doubt if the Senate
would receive with much favor any proposition from the House especially
applicable to us. I think we should be disposed to repel it. I think we
should say that our experience should enable us to judge that question
better than the experience of the House. And now I ask whether the
experience of the House does not enable them to judge of the question
of numbers better than we can judge of it? On general grounds I confess
I should myself prefer a smaller House; personally I incline that way;
but I am not willing on that point to set myself against the House.

Then, Sir, I cannot be insensible to the experience of other countries.
I do not know whether Senators have troubled themselves on that head;
but if they have not, I think it will not be uninteresting to them to
have their attention called to the numbers of the great legislative
bodies of the world at this moment. For instance, beginning with
England, there is the upper House, the Chamber of Peers, composed of
four hundred and sixty-six members; then the lower House, the House
of Commons, with six hundred and fifty-eight members. We know that,
practically, these members attend only in comparatively small numbers;
that it is only on great questions that either House is full.

    MR. TRUMBULL. Did the House of Lords ever have anything like that
    number present?

MR. SUMNER. It has had several hundred. There are four hundred and
sixty-six entitled to seats in the House of Lords.

Pass over to France. The National Assembly, sitting at Versailles at
this moment, elected February 8 and July 2, 1871, consists of seven
hundred and thirty-eight members.

Pass on to Prussia. The upper Chamber of the Parliament of Prussia has
two hundred and sixty-seven members; the lower Chamber has four hundred
and thirty-two. Now we all know that Prussia is a country where no rule
of administration or of constitution is adopted lightly, and everything
is considered, if I may so express myself, in the light of science.

Pass to Austria, under the recent organization. You are aware that
there are two different Parliaments now in Austria,--one for what is
called the cis-Leithan territories, territories this side of the river
Leitha; the other, trans-Leithan, or those on the other side, being the
Hungarian territory. Beginning with those on this side of the river,
the upper House consists of one hundred and seventy-five members:
observe, it is more than twice as large as our Senate. The lower House
consists of two hundred and three members: smaller than our House of
Representatives. But now pass to the other side of the river and look
at the Hungarian Parliament. There the upper House contains two hundred
and sixty-six members, and the lower House, or Chamber of Deputies, as
it is called, four hundred and thirty-eight.

Pass to Italy, a country organized under a new constitution in the
light of European and American experience, liberal, and with a
disposition to found its institutions on the basis of science. The
Senate of Italy contains two hundred and seventy members, the Chamber
of Deputies five hundred and eight.

Then pass to Spain. There the upper branch of the Cortes contains one
hundred and ninety-six members, and the lower branch four hundred and
sixteen.

So that you will find in all these countries,--Great Britain, France,
Prussia, Austria in its two Parliaments, Italy, and Spain,--that the
number adopted for the lower House is much larger than any now proposed
for our House of Representatives.

I call attention to this fact because it illustrates by the experience
of other nations what may be considered as a rule on this subject. At
any rate, it shows that other nations are not deterred by anything in
political experience from having a House with these large numbers;
and this perhaps is of more value because European writers, political
philosophers for successive generations, have warred against large
bodies. We have the famous saying of the Cardinal de Retz, that
any body of men above a hundred is a mob; and that saying, coming
from so consummate a statesman and wit, has passed into a proverb,
doubtless affecting the judgment of many minds; and yet in the face of
this testimony, and with the writings of political philosophers all
inclining against numbers, we find that the actual practical experience
of Europe has gone the other way. The popular branch in all these
considerable countries is much more numerous than it is now proposed to
make our House of Representatives.




REFORM AND PURITY IN GOVERNMENT: NEUTRAL DUTIES. SALE OF ARMS TO
BELLIGERENT FRANCE.

SPEECH IN THE SENATE, FEBRUARY 28, 1872.


    February 12, 1872, Mr. Sumner introduced a resolution, with a
    preamble setting forth its grounds, providing,--

        “That a select committee of seven be appointed to investigate
        all sales of ordnance stores made by the Government of the
        United States during the war between France and Germany;
        to ascertain the persons to whom such sales were made, the
        circumstances under which they were made, and the real parties
        in interest, and the sums respectively paid and received by the
        real parties; and that the committee have power to send for
        persons and papers; and that the investigation be conducted in
        public.”

    And on his motion it was ordered to lie on the table and be printed.

    On the 14th the resolution was taken up for consideration, when
    Mr. Sumner entered into an exposition of the matter referred to
    in the preamble, and of the law applicable thereto, remarking in
    conclusion:--

        “For the first time has the United States, within my knowledge,
        fallen under suspicion of violating the requirement of
        neutrality on this subject. Such seems to be our present
        position. We are under suspicion. What I propose is a searching
        inquiry, according to the magnitude of the interests involved,
        to ascertain if this is without just grounds.”

    Thereupon ensued a long and acrimonious debate,--toward the close
    of which, Mr. Sumner, on the 28th, in review of the case, spoke as
    follows:--

MR PRESIDENT,--Besides the unaccustomed interest which this debate
excites, I cannot fail to note that it has wandered far beyond any
purpose of mine, and into fields where I have no desire to follow. In
a few plain remarks I shall try to bring it back to the real issue,
which I hope to present without passion or prejudice. I declare only
the rule of my life, when I say that nothing shall fall from me to-day
which is not prompted by the love of truth and the desire for justice;
but you will pardon me, if I remember that there is something on this
planet higher than the Senate or any Senator, higher than any public
functionary, higher than any political party: it is the good name of
the American people and the purity of Government, which must be saved
from scandal. In this spirit and with this aspiration I shall speak
to-day.

In considering this resolution we must not forget the peculiar
demands of the present moment. An aroused community in the commercial
metropolis of our country has unexpectedly succeeded in overthrowing a
corrupt ring by which millions of money had been sacrificed. Tammany
has been vanquished. Here good Democrats vied with Republicans. The
country was thrilled by the triumph, and insisted that it should
be extended. Then came manifestations against abuses of the civil
service generally, and especially in that other Tammany, the New York
custom-house. The call for investigation at last prevailed in this
Chamber, and the newspapers have been burdened since with odious
details. Everybody says there must be reform, so that the Government
in all its branches shall be above suspicion. The