Anxious for this measure, I think how it may be secured, rather than how the opinions of the President have become known to us.

If soldiers are sent forth to battle, if fields are occupied as camps, and houses are occupied as hospitals, without permission of the owners, it is under the War Powers of Congress, or, in other words, the belligerent rights of this…

Unhappily, Sir, our country is engaged in war,--terrible, relentless, unquestionable war,--and if we would not discard success, it must be prosecuted as war, in the full exercise of belligerent rights.

If we were dealing with sporadic cases of treason, with simple sedition, or with a mere outbreak, our process would be limited by the Constitution; but with an enemy before us, lashed into fury and led on by “Até hot from Hell,” where is…

I am tempted to say, that, in devotion to the form of the Constitution, you sacrifice its substance.

I might say, that, in misapplying the text of the Constitution, you sacrifice the Constitution itself.

I shall support the proposition, not because I concur with it, but because its adoption will help secure the approval of the bill that has so much occupied the attention of Congress and the hopes of the country.

President, 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.

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.

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.

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.

Beginning to do justice, we shall at last deserve success.

It is union, without distinction of party, to uphold the Government, and also to uphold those who uphold the Government.

Is there a patriot citizen who hesitates to support the National Government, beleaguered by a rebel enemy?

And is there a patriot citizen who is not for the use of all means necessary for the effectual suppression of the Rebellion?

This country must be saved; and among the omens of victory I hail confidently that unanimity of sentiment and trust with which all loyal citizens now look to the National Government, determined that nothing of energy or contribution or…

Beyond this appeal from heart to heart, I should rejoice to show clearly how to hamstring this Rebellion and to conquer a peace, all of which I am sure can be done.

To this single practical purpose all theories, prepossessions, and aims must yield.

So absorbing at the present moment is this question, that nothing is practical which does not directly tend to its final settlement.

A patriot’s blood, Well spent in such a strife, may earn, indeed, And for a time insure to his loved land, The sweets of Liberty and Equal Laws.

When a leak is to be stopped, or a fire extinguished, do not all hands coöperate without distinction of sect or party?

I need not praise him, I need not eulogize him; but I will simply say, it is CHARLES SUMNER.

Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.