MR. SUMNER. Excuse me.
MR. BRIGHT. I intimated no such thing, Sir.
MR. SUMNER. Let me finish. Sir, that is not the fact. Since I have
been a member of this body, now more than ten years, it has been my
fortune to mix in the debates on important public questions. On these
occasions I have encountered, as the record shows, the opposition of
that Senator, and of his constant associates in this body, all of them
now in open rebellion. With the Senator and his constant associates I
never had personal question or difference. Therefore, when the Senator
asserts any such thing, or suggests it, he goes entirely beyond the
record, and I could not allow the debate to close to-night without
interposing my positive denial.
Sir, I have approached this painful question free from all personal
prejudice. I have no feeling against the Senator. There has been
nothing in our past relations to turn the scales by a feather’s weight.
The speech of Mr. Bright, to which allusion is made, does not
appear in the official report. It was taken down and written
out by the reporters, and then submitted to Mr. Bright, who
never returned the manuscript. At the proper place in the
_Congressional Globe_,[139] where the speech should be, is the
following: “Mr. Bright next addressed the Senate. [His speech
will be published in the Appendix.]” It is not found in the
Appendix, which is explained by the following in the Index for
the Session, under the name of JESSE D. BRIGHT: “The manuscript
of the speech referred to on page 418 was retained by Mr. B.”
So that the speech was suppressed by him.
February 4th, after several others had spoken, Mr. Sumner spoke
again as follows.
MR. PRESIDENT,--This debate is about to close; but before the vote is
taken I wish briefly to review it, and to show again that there is but
one conclusion which can truly satisfy the Senate or the country. If
your last judgment in this case were not of incalculable importance
both for the Senate and the country, helping to elevate the one and to
inspire the other, I should not venture again to claim your attention.
Such a precedent, so fruitful in good influences, should be completely
commended and vindicated, that it may remain forever a commanding
example.
Among all who have spoken, we naturally yield precedence on this
occasion to the Senator from Indiana [Mr. BRIGHT]. His speech was
not long, but it afforded ample ground for regret, if not for
condemnation. It showed offensively the same spirit which is found in
the original letter; nor did it suggest anything in apology, except
that the bearer of the letter was his lifelong friend, and that, when
writing the letter, he did not dream of war: in other words, an act of
unquestionable disloyalty was put under the double cloak of lifelong
friendship and professed ignorance. The real condition of things was
not noticed, while he sought to serve a friend. Because the bearer of
the letter was his lifelong friend, and because the Senator did not see
war ahead, therefore he was justified in sending forth this lifelong
friend on an errand of disloyalty, ay, of treason itself, and of making
him the instrument of aid and comfort to an organized rebellion. Of
course such an argument shows weakness, and not strength; and the
very weakness out of which it sprung naturally became impassioned and
unjust. If any personal feeling could disturb that perfect equanimity
which with me, on this occasion, is a sentiment and a duty, I might
complain of that vindictive tone which broke forth, not only in
personal imputation, but also in menace that what I said on the case
of the Senator I dared not say again here or elsewhere; but I make
no complaint. It is sufficient for me that I spoke in the conscious
discharge of duty, and that I know of nothing in the vindictive tone
or in the menace of the Senator that can interfere with such duty, as
I understand it. Therefore I put aside what he has said, whether of
personal imputation, or of personal menace, or of argument; for they
all leave him worse than if he had continued silent.
I put aside also the elaborate argument, lasting for more than a whole
day, of the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. DAVIS], practically exalting
Slavery above the Constitution, and, while life is sacrificed and
property is taken, while great rights are trodden down and all human
energies are enlisted in defence of our country, insisting that Slavery
alone is too sacred to be touched. Sir, I put aside this argument,
because it is utterly out of place and irrelevant; and I trust it is
not my habit in debate to ramble from that straight line which is the
shortest way to the desired point. There is a time to sow and a time to
reap; and there will be a time to discuss the constitutional power of
Congress to end this Rebellion, even if, in so doing, it is constrained
to end Slavery itself.
I put aside, also, the suggestion of the Senator from New York [Mr.
HARRIS], to the effect that the Senator from Indiana is now on trial,
that our proceedings are judicial, and that the evidence before us
is insufficient to satisfy the requirements of such a case. Surely
this assumption proceeds on a mistake. The Senator from Indiana is
not on trial, in the ordinary understanding of that term; nor are
our proceedings judicial; nor is the evidence insufficient for the
case. Under the Constitution, each House, with the concurrence of two
thirds, may expel a member; but this large discretionary power is given
simply for the protection of the body in the exercise of an honest
and honorable self-defence. The Senate itself is on trial just as much
as the Senator; and permit me to say that the Senate will condemn
itself, if it allow any person to continue among its members who has
forfeited that peculiar confidence in his loyalty which is essential
to his usefulness as Senator. It is vain to say that the evidence is
insufficient. Technically and judicially it may be so; but according
to all legislative precedents and all the rules of common life it
is obviously sufficient, for it is beyond all practical doubt. My
friend from New York did not hesitate at this session to vote for the
expulsion of Breckinridge, of Polk, and of Johnson, without one scrap
of evidence that he would recognize as a judge on the bench. How can he
require evidence now which he did not require then?
I put aside, also, the argument of the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr.
COWAN], so carefully and elaborately stated, to the effect that on
the 1st of March, when the disloyal letter was written, there was
no war actually existing between the Rebel States and the United
States. Even if this assumption were correct, even if the United
States were still hesitating what course to adopt, nothing is clearer
than this: the Rebel States were in rebellion,--organized, armed,
and offensive,--with the avowed purpose of overthrowing the National
Government within their borders; and such rebellion was, beyond all
question, a levying of war under the Constitution of the United States,
so that all adherence to it, giving aid and comfort, was treason
itself. But even if not disposed to admit actual levying of war on
the part of the Rebels,--though of this there can be no doubt,--there
was surely preparation and purpose so to do; and any contribution to
such preparation and purpose was disloyalty, if not treason. Clearly,
Jefferson Davis at that time was a traitor, at the head of traitors.
What, then, can be thought of a Senator who offered arms to him?
I put aside, also, the suggestion of the Senator from New Jersey [Mr.
TEN EYCK], founded on the language of the President in his inaugural
address of the 4th of March. It is true that the President spoke of
the Rebels in generous, fraternal words, such as became the Chief
Magistrate of a great people, not yet renouncing the idea of conquering
by kindness, and not forgetting that Leviathan was tamed by a cord.
But, whatever the language of the President, it is none the less clear
that the Rebellion at that very moment was completely organized by a
succession of overt acts, which fixed the treasonable position of its
authors, and especially of its chief, to whom the letter offering arms
was addressed.
I put aside, also, the argument of the Senator from California [Mr.
LATHAM], especially that part founded on the tolerance shown to
treason, when uttered here by the retiring Rebels. Nobody questions
that treason was uttered on this floor, or that treasonable counsels
went forth from this Chamber. But the Senate was then controlled by
the associates of the Senator of Indiana, and it was not in our power
to check or chastise the traitors. It is within the recollection of
many that those utterances were heard on this side of the Chamber,
not only with indignant patriotism, but with bitter, stinging regret
at the abject condition of the Senate, then so entirely in the hands
of traitors that we were obliged to hear in silence. Surely such
utterances, wicked with treason, constituting the very voice of the
Rebellion, cannot be an apology for the disloyal letter of the Senator;
nor can silence, when we were powerless to act, be any argument for
silence now that power and responsibility are ours.
I agree with the Senator from Illinois [Mr. BROWNING], that the whole
conduct and declaration of the author may be legitimately employed to
elucidate the character of this letter; but I found no supplementary
charge on such conduct or declaration. Others may use the argument that
the Senator has declared himself against coercion of the Rebel States,
or that he has refused to vote the necessary means for the suppression
of the Rebellion; but I use no such argument. Much as I lament such a
course, and justly obnoxious as I regard it, yet I cannot consider it
as an argument for expulsion of the Senator. Freedom of debate is among
the triumphs of modern civilization; and it shall never be impaired
by any vote or word of mine. To this freedom I have held fast, when
almost alone in this body; and what I have steadily vindicated for
myself against all odds I shall never deny to another. Therefore, if
I am the judge, there is no Senator who will not always be perfectly
free to speak and vote as he thinks best on every question that shall
legitimately arise; but beyond this immunity he must not go. He shall
not talk treason; he shall not parley with rebellion; he shall not
address to it words of sympathy and good-will; especially, he shall not
recognize its chief in his pretended character of President, nor shall
he send him improved fire-arms to be employed in the work of treason.
Putting aside all these considerations, the case against the Senator
from Indiana is clear. All apologies, all excuses, utterly fail. It
is vain to say that the bearer of the letter was his lifelong friend,
as it is vain to say, also, that the Senator did not dream that
there would be war. The first apology is as feeble as the second is
audacious. If the Senator did not dream that there would be war, then
why send arms to the chief of the Rebellion? To Jefferson Davis as a
private citizen, to Jefferson Davis as a patriot Senator, there was no
occasion or motive for sending arms. It was only to Jefferson Davis as
chief of the Rebellion that arms could be sent; and to him, in that
character, they were sent. But even if the Rebellion were not at that
time manifest in overt acts,--as it clearly was,--still the sending
of arms was a positive provocation and contribution to its outbreak,
especially when the arms were sent by a Senator. And now, at the risk
of repetition, I say again, it is not necessary that the war should
have been commenced on the part of the United States. It is enough,
that, on the part of Jefferson Davis, at the date of the letter, there
was actual levying of war, or, at least, a purpose to levy war; and in
either of these two cases, the latter as well as the former, the guilt
of the Senator offering arms is complete,--call it treason, or simply
disloyalty, if you will.
It is vain that you seek to surround the Senatorial letter-writer with
the technical defences of a judicial tribunal. This will not do. They
are out of place. God grant, that, in the administration of justice,
a citizen arraigned for his life may always be presumed innocent till
he is proved guilty! But, while zealously asserting this presumption
in a criminal trial, I utterly deny it in the present case. The two
proceedings are radically unlike. In the one we think most of the
individual; in the other we think most of the Senate. The flag-officer
of a fleet, or the commander of a garrison, when only suspected of
correspondence with the enemy, is without delay deprived of command;
nor can any technical presumption of innocence be invoked in his
defence. For the sake of the fleet, for the sake of the garrison, which
must not be betrayed, it is your duty to see that he is deprived of
command. Nor can a suspected Senator, with all his confidential trusts,
legislative, diplomatic, and executive, expect any tolerance denied to
a suspected flag-officer, or to a suspected commander of a garrison. If
not strong, pure, and upright in himself, he must not expect to find
strength, purity, and uprightness in any presumption of innocence,
or in any technical rule of law. For the sake of the Senate, he must
be deprived of his place. Afterwards, should he be arraigned at law,
he will be allowed to employ all the devices and weapons familiar to
judicial proceedings.
There is another illusion into which the Senator has fallen; and it
seems to me that the Senator from New York, and perhaps other Senators,
have followed him. It is the assumption, that, in depriving the Senator
of his seat, we take from him something that is really his. This is
a mistake. A Senator is simply a trustee. The Senator is trustee for
Indiana. But his fidelity as trustee is now drawn in question; and
since no person is allowed to continue as trustee whose character
is not above suspicion,--inspired _uberrimâ fide_, according to the
language of the law,--the case of the Senator should obviously be
remanded to the State for which he still assumes to act. Should he
be wronged by expulsion, then will that State promptly return him
to his present trust, and our judgment will be generously reversed.
The Senator has no right for himself here; he does not represent
himself; but he represents his State, of which he is the elected,
most confidential trustee; and when his fidelity is openly impeached,
there is no personal right which can become his shield. Tell me not
of the seat of the Senator. Let the Senator be cautious in language.
By courtesy the seat may be his; but in reality the seat belongs to
Indiana; and this honored State, unsurpassed in contributions to the
patriot armies of the Republic, may justly protest against longer
misrepresentation on this floor by a disloyal Senator.
But the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. COWAN] exclaims--and the
Senator from New York follows him--that the offence of the Senator is
“treason or nothing.” For myself, I have no hesitation in expressing
the conviction that it is treason. If it be not treason in a Senator
to send arms to an open traitor, whom he at the same time acknowledges
in his traitorous character, then it were better to blot out the
crime of treason from our statute-book, and to rase its definition
from the Constitution. Sir, it is treason. But even if not treason
according to all the technical requirements of that crime, obviously
and unquestionably it is an act of disloyalty so discreditable,
so unworthy, and so dangerous as to render the duty of the Senate
imperative. Is it nothing that the Senator should write a friendly
letter, make open acknowledgment, and offer warlike aid to a public
traitor? Is it nothing, that, sitting in this Chamber, the Senator
should send to the chief of the Rebellion words of sympathy and arms
of power? Is it nothing that the Senator should address the traitor
in terms of courtesy and official respect? Is it nothing that the
Senator should call the traitor “His Excellency,” and should hail him
“President of the Confederation of States”? And is it nothing that
the Senator should offer to the traitor thus addressed what of all
things he most coveted, to be turned against the Constitution which the
Senator has sworn to support?
“Is this nothing?
Why, then the world, and all that’s in ’t, is nothing;
The covering sky is nothing: …
… nor nothing have these nothings,
If this be nothing.”
Sir, the case is too plain for argument. You cannot argue that two
and two make four, that a straight line is the shortest distance
between two points, or that the sun shines in the sky. All these are
palpable to reason or to sense. But, if I did not see before me honored
Senators, valued friends, who think otherwise, I should say that to the
patriot soul it is hardly less palpable that a Senator, acknowledging
in friendly correspondence the chief of a Rebellion set on foot in
defiance of the United States, and sending to him arms, whose only
possible use was in upholding the Rebellion, has justly forfeited that
confidence which is as much needed as a commission to assure his seat
in this Chamber. The case is very plain, and we have taken too much
time to consider it. We have been dilatory when we ought to have been
prompt, and have hearkened to technical defences when we should have
surrendered to that indignation which disloyalty is calculated to
arouse.
The Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. CLARK] has reminded us--as John
Quincy Adams reminded another generation--of that beautiful work of
Art in the other wing of the Capitol, where the Muse of History, with
faithful pen, registers the transactions of each day, and he trusted
that over against the record of past disloyalty another page might beam
with the just judgment that followed. But there is another work of Art,
famous as Art itself, and proceeding from its greatest master, which
may admonish us precisely what to do. The ancient satrap Heliodorus,
acting in the name of a distant sovereign, entered that sumptuous
temple dedicated to the true God, where stood the golden candlesticks
and hung the veil which was yet unrent, and profanely seized the
riches under protection of the altar itself, when suddenly, at the
intercession of the high priest, an angelic horseman armed with thongs
is seen to dash the intruder upon the marble pavement, and to sweep him
with scourges from the sacred presence. Now that disloyalty, in the
acknowledged name of a distant traitor, intrudes into this sanctuary
of the Constitution, and insists upon a place at our altar, there
should be indignant chastisement, swift as the angelic horseman that
moves immortal in the colors of Raffaelle. In vain do you interpose
appeals for lenity or forbearance. The case does not allow them. I know
well the beauty and the greatness of charity. For the Senator I have
charity; but there is a better charity due to the Senate, whose solemn
trusts are in jeopardy; and even if you do not accept completely the
saying of Antiquity, which makes duty to country the great charity
embracing all other charities, you will not deny that it is at least a
commanding obligation, by the side of which all that we owe the Senator
is small. And, Sir, let us not forget, let the precious example be
present in our souls, that He who taught the beauty and the greatness
of charity was the first to scourge the money-changers from the temple
of the Lord.
Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, followed. Some of his words are quoted,
from their bearing on Mr. Sumner’s opposition to Slavery.
“The gentleman shakes his imperial locks like a Jove, and
menaces death and destruction to Slavery. I thank my stars
that the gentleman is not yet the Jove of this land, nor
the Jove of this Senate either. There are minds as exalted
and as cultivated as his, and there are wills as patriotic
and as true to the Constitution and to the country as his,
and altogether independent of his; and it is to those minds
that I appeal, whenever a question involving the interests
of my constituents comes up here, not to the mind of the
gentleman from Massachusetts. I know, Sir, what fate would
await Slavery, if he could speak the fiat. He is, however,
but one member of this body.”
February 5th, after further debate, the final vote was taken on
the resolution of expulsion, and resulted in yeas 32, nays 14.
THE VICE-PRESIDENT. Upon this question the yeas are 32,
the nays are 14. More than two thirds having agreed to the
resolution, it is passed. [_Applause in the galleries._]
THE VICE-PRESIDENT. Order! Order!
The Washington correspondent of a Northern journal described
the scene of the vote.
“All seemed to feel that they were acting, not for the
present only, but for coming time. The great crowd of
spectators filling every available spot, and the presence
of many of the members of the House, added to the
impressiveness of the scene. Amid breathless anxiety and
profound silence the roll-call commenced. For a time the
ayes and noes bore a doubtful proportion. Senator Willey,
having held his vote in abeyance till the last, had just
announced that he should vote against the expulsion,
and Senator Carlile, who had been generally supposed to
favor the resolution, also joined his colleague among
the noes. As the vote proceeded, the ayes became almost
uninterrupted, and we were prepared for the result. A few
moments more and the event was over,--felt by those who
witnessed it to be scarcely less solemn than the infliction
of death itself, and which will probably be cited in
precedent when all its spectators shall have long been
dust.”