“But now, when I read of this event in the Senate, of this
assault upon Sumner, it seemed to me it was a very bad specimen
of a very bad school. [_Laughter._] And all of us were affected
in the same manner, upon reading the account. What was our
first exclamation? Not that it was an inhuman outrage, or
a brutal outrage, but that it was cowardly. I say that the
cowardliness of this attack stands out even more conspicuous,
to my eye, than its brutality or its inhumanity. To approach
a man imprisoned, tied hand and foot, as it were, between an
arm-chair and a desk, and to strike him over the head without
warning or immediate provocation, a stunning, deadly blow
with a bludgeon, is, in my opinion, the act of an assassin.
[_Applause._] And I say, that, compared to such an act, the act
of the man who meets me on the high-road, and horsewhips, or at
least attempts to horsewhip me [_laughter_], soars to something
like manliness and courage. [_Cheers._]”