“In swearing to support the Constitution at your desk, Mr.
President, I did not swear to support it as _you_ understand
it,--oh, no, Sir!--or as the Senator from Virginia understands
it,--by no means!--or as the Senator from South Carolina
understands it, with a kennel of bloodhounds, or at least
a ‘dog’ in it, ‘pawing to get free his hinder parts,’ in
pursuit of a slave. No such thing. Sir, I swore to support the
Constitution _as I understand it_,--nor more, nor less.”
Then explaining at some length my understanding of the clause, I
concluded on this point in these words:--
“I desire to say, that, as I understand the Constitution,
this clause does not impose upon me, as Senator or citizen,
any obligation to take part, directly or indirectly, in the
surrender of a fugitive slave.”
Yet, in the face of all this, which occurred in open debate on the
floor of the Senate, which is here in the records of the country, and
has been extensively circulated, quoted, discussed, criticised, the
Senator from Illinois, in the swiftness of his audacity, presumes to
assail me. Perhaps I had better leave that Senator without a word more;
but this is not the first, or the second, or the third, or the fourth
time that he has launched against me his personalities. Sir, if this be
agreeable to him, I make no complaint,--though, for the sake of truth
and the amenities of debate, I could wish that he had directed his
assaults upon my arguments; but since he has presumed to touch me, he
will not complain, if I administer to him a word of advice.
Sir, this is the Senate of the United States, an important body under
the Constitution, with great powers. Its members are justly supposed,
from years, to be above the intemperance of youth, and from character
to be above the gusts of vulgarity. They are supposed to have something
of wisdom and something of that candor which is the handmaid of wisdom.
Let the Senator bear these things in mind, and remember hereafter that
the bowie-knife and bludgeon are not proper emblems of senatorial
debate. Let him remember that the swagger of Bob Acres and the ferocity
of the Malay cannot add dignity to this body. The Senator infused into
his speech the venom sweltering for months,--ay, for years; and he has
alleged matters entirely without foundation, in order to heap upon me
some personal obloquy. I will not descend to things which dropped so
naturally from his tongue. I only brand them to his face as false. I
say also to that Senator, and I wish him to bear it in mind, that no
person with the upright form of man can be allowed---- [_Hesitation._]
MR. DOUGLAS. Say it.
MR. SUMNER. I will say it,--no person with the upright form of man can
be allowed, without violation of all decency, to switch out from his
tongue the perpetual stench of offensive personality. Sir, that is not
a proper weapon of debate, at least on this floor. The noisome, squat,
and nameless animal to which I now refer is not the proper model for an
American Senator. Will the Senator from Illinois take notice?
MR. DOUGLAS. I will,--and therefore will not imitate you, Sir.
MR. SUMNER. I did not hear the Senator.
MR. DOUGLAS. I said, if that be the case, I would certainly
never imitate you in that capacity,--recognizing the force of
the illustration.
MR. SUMNER. Mr. President, again the Senator switches his tongue, and
again he fills the Senate with its offensive odor. But I drop the
Senator.
There was still another, the Senator from Virginia, who is now also in
my eye. That Senator said nothing of argument, and therefore there is
nothing of that to be answered. I simply say to him that hard words
are not argument, frowns are not reasons, nor do scowls belong to the
proper arsenal of parliamentary debate. The Senator has not forgotten
that on a former occasion I did something to exhibit the plantation
manners which he displays. I will not do any more now.