"That ... we will discountenance all efforts to continue or renew
such agitation, whenever, wherever, or however the attempt may be
made."
Here was nothing less than a joint gag, which would have been enforced
against Mr. Sumner, as it had been a few weeks before, if he had not
succeeded in planting himself on a motion clearly in order, which
opened the whole question. Before speaking, he was approached by
several, who asked him to give up his purpose, or at least, if he
spoke, not to divide the Senate. To all he replied, that, God willing,
he should speak, and would press the question to a vote, if he were
left alone. A curious parallel to this incident will be found in the
Life of Sir Fowell Buxton, when this eminent Abolitionist was pressed
not to bring forward in the House of Commons his motion against
Slavery, and especially not to divide the House. Against the entreaties
of friends, personal and political, he persevered; and this firmness of
purpose was the beginning of that victory by which shortly afterwards
British Emancipation was secured.[102]
From the statement in the _Globe_ it appears that Mr. Sumner spoke for
three hours and three quarters, when a debate ensued, in which the
following Senators took part: Messrs. Clemens, of Alabama, Badger,
of North Carolina, Dodge, of Iowa, Hale, of New Hampshire, Douglas,
of Illinois, Weller, of California, Chase, of Ohio, Rusk, of Texas,
Toucey, of Connecticut, Bradbury, of Maine, Hunter, of Virginia, James,
of Rhode Island, Bright, of Indiana, Cooper, of Pennsylvania, Butler,
of South Carolina, Brodhead, of Pennsylvania, Pratt, of Maryland,
Mason, of Virginia, and Cass, of Michigan.
Mr. Clemens opened the debate with personal attack which is a specimen
of the brutalities of Slavery; but there was no call to order. He was
followed by Mr. Badger, who undertook a formal reply, but could not
avoid the personalities which were so natural to speakers vindicating
Slavery. He began by remarking: "I think I may say, without hazard or
fear of contradiction, that the Senate of the United States never heard
a more extraordinary speech than that which has just been delivered by
the Senator from Massachusetts,--extraordinary in its character, and
most extraordinary in the time and the occasion which the gentleman
chose for its delivery.... Three hours and three quarters has the
gentleman occupied, at this late period of the session, with this
discussion." After considering at some length the constitutionality
of the Fugitive Slave Bill, especially in answer to Mr. Sumner, he
proceeded to quote from the speech at Faneuil Hall (_ante_, Vol.
II. pp. 398-424) denouncing the Fugitive Slave Bill, and then said,
"I shudder, when I think of these expressions." Numerous quotations
followed, and he charged upon the speech a pernicious influence on
the public mind, stimulating to violence. After exposing the former
speech, Mr. Badger proceeded to comment again upon that just made.
"This speech, Mr. President, is well calculated to stir up the people
of Massachusetts. They look to the honorable Senator for direction and
guidance; they consider him a 'marvellous proper man,' and, availing
himself of his influence over them, he delivers himself of such a
tirade of abuse upon the law of his own country--a law passed by this
very Senate, in which he knows there are many gentlemen who voted
for and still support that law--as is calculated, if any one lent a
moment's credence to what he says, to cover us with scorn.... Does he
hope to accomplish anything, except to stir up sedition at home against
this law, and make the streets of Boston again the scene of disgraceful
riots and lawless violence by the lawless opposers of the Constitution
and laws of the United States? Never, Sir, since I have been a member
of this body, has the Senate witnessed such an exhibition." Then, with
a sneer at Antislavery men as of "one idea," the Senator added, that,
"admitting everything they say as to the desirableness of abolishing
Slavery, it is utterly impracticable."
[102] Memoirs of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, by his Son, Ch. 18.
Mr. Dodge and Mr. Douglas insisted upon the obligations under the
Constitution. So did Mr. Toucey, Mr. Bradbury, Mr. Bright, and others.
Mr. Cass justified his original support of the Compromise measures by
his fear for the Union, saying, "To speak in ordinary language, I was
almost frightened to death.... I would have voted for twenty Fugitive
Slave Laws, if I had believed the safety of the Union depended upon my
doing so"; and then he added: "Sir, the Fugitive Slave Law is now in
force. It shall never be touched, or altered, or shaken, or repealed,
by any vote of mine. That is the plain English of it."
Mr. Weller imitated Mr. Clemens and Mr. Badger in personalities. He
began by a confession as follows. "I will say, Sir, at the outset, that
this is the first time in the course of my life that I have listened to
the whole of an Abolition speech. I did not know that it was possible
that I could endure a speech for over three hours upon the subject
of the Abolition of Slavery. But this oration of the Senator from
Massachusetts to-day has been so handsomely embellished with poetry,
both Latin and English, so full of classical allusions and rhetorical
flourishes, as to make it much more palatable than I supposed it could
have been made." He then proceeded to say, among other things, "If the
constituents of the Senator from Massachusetts follow his direction, if
they obey his counsels, murder, I repeat, is inevitable; and upon your
hands, Sir, ay, upon your hands [addressing Mr. SUMNER], must
rest the blood of those murdered men.... This forcible resistance is
not only calculated to strike at the very foundation of our republican
institutions by dissolving the Union, but to bring upon the head of the
learned Senator from Massachusetts the blood of murdered men. He who
counsels murder is himself a murderer." Here Mr. Weller followed the
lead of Mr. Badger in misrepresenting the speech just made. Mr. Sumner
interrupted him to say,
"Not one word has fallen from my lips to-day, suggesting in any way
a resort to force."
Mr. Sumner was not without defenders, and what they said belongs
to this history. Early in the debate Mr. Hale expressed himself
strongly.
"I feel that I should be doing injustice to my own feelings, and
injustice to my friend, the Senator from Massachusetts, if I were
to fail at this time to express the very great gratification with
which I listened to his speech. In saying that, I do not mean
to pass by entirely the honorable Senator from North Carolina
[Mr. BADGER], for I listened to him, as I always do, with great
pleasure; but justice compels me to say that by far the best part
of his speech was the extract which he read from a former speech of
the honorable Senator from Massachusetts. [_Laughter._] I listened
to them both with great pleasure; but, Sir, I feel bound to say
to-day, that it is my deliberate conviction that the honorable
Senator from Massachusetts, if he were actuated by as corrupt and
selfish motives as can possibly be attributed to him, has, so far
as his own personal fame and reputation are concerned, done enough
by the effort he has made here to-day to place himself side by side
with the first orators of antiquity, and as far ahead of any living
American orator as Freedom is ahead of Slavery. I believe that he
has formed to-day a new era in the history of the politics and of
the eloquence of the country, and that in future generations the
young men of this nation will be stimulated to effort by the record
of what an American Senator has this day done, to which all the
appeals drawn from ancient history would be entirely inadequate.
Yes, Sir, he has to-day made a draft upon the gratitude of the
friends of humanity and of liberty that will not be paid through
many generations, and the memory of which shall endure as long as
the English language is spoken, or the history of this Republic
forms a part of the annals of the world. That, Sir, is what I
believe; and if I had one other feeling, or could indulge in it, in
reference to that effort, it would be a feeling of envy, that it
was not in me to tread even at an humble distance in the path which
he has so nobly and eloquently illustrated."
Mr. Chase adopted the argument of Mr. Sumner against the Fugitive Slave
Bill, and vindicated him personally.
"The argument which my friend from Massachusetts has addressed
to us to-day was not an assault upon the Constitution. It was a
noble vindication of that great charter of government from the
perversions of the advocates of the Fugitive Slave Act.... What
has the Senator from Massachusetts asserted? That the fugitive
servant clause of the Constitution is a clause of compact between
the States, and confers no legislative power upon Congress. He has
arrayed history and reason in support of this proposition; and I
avow my conviction, now and here, that, logically and historically,
his argument is impregnable, entirely impregnable....
"Let me add, Mr. President, that in my judgment the speech of my
friend from Massachusetts will mark AN ERA in American history.
It will distinguish the day when the advocates of that theory of
governmental policy, constitutional construction, which he has so
ably defended and so brilliantly illustrated, no longer content to
stand on the defensive in the contest with Slavery, boldly attacked
the very citadel of its power, in that doctrine of finality which
two of the political parties of the country, through their national
organizations, are endeavoring to establish as the impregnable
defence of its usurpations."
* * * * *
On the close of the debate, the proposition of Mr. Sumner was rejected
by the following vote.
YEAS,--Messrs. Chase, Hale, Sumner, and Wade,--4.
NAYS,--Messrs. Adams, Badger, Bayard, Bell, Borland, Bradbury,
Bright, Brodhead, Brooke, Butler, Cass, Charlton, Clarke, Clemens,
Cooper, Dawson, De Saussure, Dodge, of Iowa, Douglas, Felch, Fish,
Geyer, Gwin, Hamlin, Houston, Hunter, James, Jones, of Iowa, King,
Mallory, Mangum, Mason, Meriwether, Miller, Morton, Pearce, Pratt,
Rusk, Shields, Smith, Soulé, Spruance, Toucey, Underwood, Upham,
Walker, and Weller,--47.
Mr. Seward was absent,--probably constrained by his prominence
as a supporter of General Scott.
* * * * *
This speech, when published, found an extensive echo. It was circulated
not only through the press, but in large pamphlet editions, amounting
to several hundred thousand. It was translated into German. Two or more
editions appeared in England. In the preface to the English edition
of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Lord Carlisle associated the speech with that
work, and signalized "the closeness of its logic and the masculine
vigor of its eloquence." Lord Shaftesbury, in a letter to the London
Times, wrote, "What noble eloquence!" Mr. Combe, the phrenologist, in
a letter to a distinguished American, which was published at the time,
said: "I have read every word of this speech with pleasure and with
pain. The pain arose from the subject,--the pleasure from sympathy with
and admiration of the speaker. I have long desired to know the merits
of that most cruel and iniquitous enactment, and this speech has made
them clear as day." The London Examiner said: "Apart from its noble
and affecting eloquence, it is one of the closest and most convincing
arguments we have ever read on the policy of the earlier and greater,
as contrasted with that of the later and meaner statesmen of America."
These testimonies might be accumulated. They are introduced only so far
as may be important in giving an idea of the contemporaneous reception
of this speech. The title had a vogue beyond the speech itself, as it
became one of the countersigns of our politics.
Letters also illustrate the speech. Mr. Seward, who was not in his seat
at its delivery, wrote, on reading it: "Your speech is an admirable,
a great, a very great one. That is my opinion, and everybody around
me, of all sorts, confesses it." Mr. Chase wrote also: "I have read,
as well as heard, your truly great speech. Hundreds of thousands will
read it, and everywhere it will carry conviction to all willing to
be convinced, and will infuse a feeling of incertitude and a fearful
looking for judgment in the minds of those who resist the light and
toil in the harness of party platforms irreconcilable with justice."
Mr. Wilson, who had not yet been elected to the Senate, wrote: "I have
read your glorious speech. How proud I am that God gave me the power
to aid in placing you in the Senate! You have exhausted the question.
Hereafter all that can be said will be to repeat your speech. It will
afford to any one the most complete view of the questions in dispute
of anything ever published." Hon. Stephen C. Phillips, who had taken a
leading part in the Free-Soil organization of Massachusetts, wrote: "I
regard it as a contribution of inestimable value to our noble cause,
worth all the labor, all the time, all the self-sacrifice, and all
the misrepresentation it has cost you. It is statesmanlike in all its
features, and does all that is necessary to place our simple and entire
design in its true light before the country, and before the world, and
in the records of history." Wendell Phillips, while differing on some
points, wrote: "I have read your speech with envious admiration. It is
admirable, both as a masterly argument and a noble testimony, and will
endear you to thousands." These extracts, which might be extended, show
the response to this effort.
* * * * *