Our Government, our courts, every department of the Government, recognized the belligerence of those Spanish colonies.
Charles Sumner
The Public Record
Charles Sumner was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American advocate for the abolition of slavery, and after the war he was a key figure in the Reconstruction era, during which he and other Radical Republicans successfully fought to end slavery and ensure basic rights for Black Americans. He continued advocating for racial equality until his death, lobbying in his final days for a civil rights bill that served as a model for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Historians credit Sumner with coining the phrase "equality before the law," which he first used as part of an early attempt to integrate Boston's public school system.
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Their independence was recognized more tardily, after ample discussion in these two Chambers as late as 1820; but their belligerence was a fact perfectly established and recognized by every branch of the Government.
The important words “any colony, district, or people” were introduced to cover the precise case of the revolted Spanish colonies and their precise condition at that moment, there being no question of belligerence.
The Cuban insurgents, whatever the inspiration of their action, have not reached the condition of belligerents.
They are expected day by day, and they are explicit, unless I have been misinformed, on this single point,--that, whatever may be the inspiration of that insurrection, it has not yet reached that condition of maturity, that corporate…
The Senator confesses we are in the dark, and on this account I consider the debate premature.
What assurance have we that slavery will be terminated by these insurgents?
But while I require the surrender of slavery from the insurrectionists, I make the same requirement of Spain.
I ask the Senator if Spain has not recently affirmed the existence of slavery in Cuba and Porto Rico, especially in Porto Rico, by publishing a new constitution guarantying the existence of slavery?
I do know enough, however, to satisfy me that Spain is a laggard on this question; and if my voice could reach her now, it would plead with her to be quick, to make haste to abolish slavery, not only in Cuba, but in Porto Rico.
Its continued existence is a shame, and it should cease.
Now, if it be a violation of our Neutrality Act for one of those bodies to come in and fit out vessels in the United States, is it not equally so for the other?--or is our pretence of neutrality a falsehood, a cheat, and a delusion?
Until the belligerence of these people is recognized, they are not of themselves a power, they are not a people.
Therefore there can be no neutrality on the part of our Government between Spain and her revolted subjects, until they come up to the condition of a people.
When the belligerence of the insurgents is recognized there will be a case for neutrality, and not before.
Does it not teach us to be cautious before we commit this great State of Virginia back to the hands of the people that have swayed it in war against the National Government?
I am anxious that the Senate should exercise it only after adequate knowledge and inquiry.
We must be able to look into the papers, to examine the evidence, and, if my friend will pardon me, to examine also the law, to see whether the conclusion on which he stands so firmly is one on which the Senate can plant itself forevermore.
The Senator must bear in mind that what we do now with reference to Virginia we do permanently and irrepealably, and that we affect the interests of that great State, and I submit also the safety of a large portion of its population.
Let us consider it, let us approach it carefully, and give to it something of that attention which the grandeur of the interest involved requires.
Now I would not have it placed on that ground; I present it as a question of business; and I, as a Senator interested in the decision of this business, wish to have time to peruse these papers and to obtain that knowledge which will enable…
Will it press hastily, heedlessly, recklessly, to a conclusion, which, when reached, it may hereafter find occasion to regret?
Let us, Sir, so act that we shall have hereafter no regrets; let us so act that the people of Virginia hereafter may be safe, and that they may express their gratitude to the Congress of the United States which has helped to protect them.
I suggest to that Senator, that, if we do not oppose this bill, we sacrifice the people of the State.
What, Sir, is a Legislature chosen as this recent Legislature has been chosen in Virginia, composed of recent Rebels still filled and seething with that old Rebel fire,--what is that Legislature in the scale, compared with the safety of…
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