aimers by the Federal Government of a
crusade against slavery had perplexed and divided the anti-slavery
sentiment of Great Britain; the issues at stake were little understood;
the stoppage of the cotton supply aroused a commercial opposition to the
war; there was some degree of aristocratic sympathy with the Southern
oligarchy; and a wider sympathy with the weaker of the two combatants
that was fighting pluckily against odds. The North had few strong
friends, except a group of radical leaders--Mill, Bright, Cobden and
their allies,--and a host of working people, including even the
suffering cotton operatives, who instinctively recognized and supported
the cause of the common people. Beecher's eloquent and lucid orations
went far to convince that the Union cause was the cause of liberty; and
no less effect was produced by the splendid courage and self-possession
with which he faced and mastered one audience after another where the
mob tried to howl him down. After the close of the war, when a company
went down to raise the Stars and Stripes once more over Fort Sumter,
Beecher was the chosen orator, and his speech was inspired by the spirit
of fraternity and reconciliation. In a sermon in his church, October 29,
1865, he outlined with a master's hand the principles of
reconstruction. The South should be restored at the earliest possible
moment to a share in the general government. Idle to ask them to repent
of secession; enough if they recognize that it is forever disallowed.
The best guarantee for the future is the utter destruction of slavery.
Let there be no further humbling: "I think it to be the great need of
this nation to save the self-respect of the South." What then are the
necessary conditions of reconstruction? The Southern States should
accede to the abolition of slavery by the Constitution. They should
establish the freedman's "right to labor as he pleases, where he
pleases, and for whom he pleases," with full control of his own
earnings; he should be the equal of all men before the courts. What
about suffrage? It is the natural right of all men, says Beecher; but,
tempering as usual his intellectual radicalism with practical
conservatism, he goes on: It will be useless to enforce negro suffrage
on the South against the opposition of the whites. As to the general
treatment of the freedmen, "the best intentions of the government will
be defeated, if the laws that are made touching this matter are such as
are c