His philanthropic nature, the record of his public life, his great achievements in the anti-slavery field, all forbid the conclusion that he could knowingly and willingly consent to the maltreatment and the permanent degradation of the freedmen.
Blaine defends Seward's character and his commitment to the rights of freedmen.
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It is to the eminent credit of the Republican members of Congress that they stood in a crisis of this magnitude true to principle, firm against all the power and all the patronage of the Administration.
Their success as civil magistrates, as legislators, as executives was not less marked and meritorious than their illustrious service in war.
If you are not ready to be the Moses of an oppressed people, do not become their Pharaoh.
He had placed himself in a position from which he could not with grace retreat, and to go forward in which was still further to blight his hopes of promotion in his party.
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