Illinois (Mr. Douglas) is the Squire of Slavery, its very Sancho Panza,
ready to do all its humiliating offices. This Senator, in his labored
address, vindicating his labored report--piling one mass of elaborate
error upon another mass--constrained himself, as you will remember, to
unfamiliar decencies of speech. Of that address I have nothing to say
at this moment, though before I sit down I shall show something of its
fallacies. But I go back now to an earlier occasion, when, true to his
native impulses, he threw into this discussion, "for a charm of powerful
trouble," personalities most discreditable to this body. I will not stop
to repel the imputations which he cast upon myself; but I mention them
to remind you of the "sweltered venom sleeping got," which, with other
poisoned ingredients, he cast into the caldron of this debate. Of other
things I speak. Standing on this floor, the Senator issued his rescript,
requiring submission to the Usurped Power of Kansas; and this was
accompanied by a manner--all his own--such as befits the tyrannical
threat. Very well. Let the Senator try. I tell him now that he cannot
enforce any such submission. The Senator, with the slave power at his
back, is strong; but he is not strong enough for this purpose. He is
bold. He shrinks from nothing. Like Danton, he may cry, "l'audace!
l'audace! toujours l'au-dace!" but even his audacity cannot compass this
work. The Senator copies the British officer who, with boastful swagger,
said that with the hilt of his sword he would cram the "stamps" down the
throats of the American people, and he will meet a similar failure. He
may convulse this country with a civil feud. Like the ancient madman, he
may set fire to this Temple of Constitutional Liberty, grander than
the Ephesian dome; but he cannot enforce obedience to that Tyrannical
Usurpation.
The Senator dreams that he can subdue the North. He disclaims the open
threat, but his conduct still implies it. How little that Senator knows
himself or the strength of the cause which he persecutes! He is but a
mortal man; against him is an immortal principle. With finite power he
wrestles with the infinite, and he must fall. Against him are stronger
battalions than any marshalled by mortal arm--the inborn, ineradicable,
invincible sentiments of the human heart; against him is nature in all
her subtle forces; against him is God. Let him try to subdue these. * * *
With regret, I come again upon the Senator from South Carolina (Mr.
Butler), who, omnipresent in this debate, overflowed with rage at the
simple suggestion that Kansas had applied for admission as a State;
and, with incoherent phrases, discharged the loose expectoration of his
speech, now upon her representative, and then upon her people. There was
no extravagance of the ancient parliamentary debate, which he did not
repeat; nor was there any possible deviation from truth which he did not
make, with so much of passion, I am glad to add, as to save him from
the suspicion of intentional aberration. But the Senator touches
nothing which he does not disfigure--with error, sometimes of principle,
sometimes of fact. He shows an incapacity of accuracy, whether in
stating the Constitution, or in stating the law, whether in the details
of statistics or the diversions of scholarship. He cannot ope his mouth,
but out there flies a blunder. Surely he ought to be familiar with the
life of Franklin; and yet he referred to this household character, while
acting as agent of our fathers in England, as above suspicion; and this
was done that he might give point to a false contrast with the agent of
Kansas--not knowing that, however they may differ in genius and fame, in
this experience they are alike: that Franklin, when entrusted with the
petition of Massachusetts Bay, was assaulted by a foul-mouthed speaker,
where he could not be heard in defence, and denounced as a "thief," even
as the agent of Kansas has been assaulted on this floor, and denounced
as a "forger." And let not the vanity of the Senator be inspired by
the parallel with the British statesman of that day; for it is only in
hostility to Freedom that any parallel can be recognized.
But it is against the people of Kansas that the sensibilities of the
Senator are particularly aroused. Coming, as he announces, "from a
State"--ay, sir, from South Carolina--he turns with lordly disgust from
this newly-formed community, which he will not recognize even as a "body
politic." Pray, sir, by what title does he indulge in this egotism? Has
he read the history of "the State" which he represents? He cannot
surely have forgotten its shameful imbecility from Slavery, confessed
throughout the Revolution, followed by its more shameful assumptions for
Slavery since. He cannot have forgotten its wretched persistence in
the slave-trade as the very apple of its eye, and the condition of its
participation in the Union. He cannot have forgotten its constitution,
which is Republican only in name, confirming power in the hands of the
few, and founding the qualifications of its legislators on "a settled
freehold estate and ten negroes." And yet the Senator, to whom that
"State" has in part committed the guardianship of its good name, instead
of moving, with backward treading steps, to cover its nakedness, rushes
forward in the very ecstasy of madness, to expose it by provoking a
comparison with Kansas. South Carolina is old; Kansas is young. South
Carolina counts by centuries; where Kansas counts by years. But a
beneficent example may be born in a day; and I venture to say, that
against the two centuries of the older "State," may be already set
the two years of trial, evolving corresponding virtue, in the younger
community. In the one, is the long wail of Slavery; in the other, the
hymns of Freedom. And if we glance at special achievements, it will
be difficult to find any thing in the history of South Carolina which
presents so much of heroic spirit in an heroic cause as appears in that
repulse of the Missouri invaders by the beleaguered town of Lawrence,
where even the women gave their effective efforts to Freedom. The
matrons of Rome, who poured their jewels into the treasury for the
public defence--the wives of Prussia, who, with delicate fingers,
clothed their defenders against French invasion--the mothers of our
own Revolution, who sent forth their sons, covered with prayers and
blessings, to combat for human rights, did nothing of self-sacrifice
truer than did these women on this occasion. Were the whole history of
South Carolina blotted out of existence, from its very beginning down to
the day of the last election of the Senator to his present seat on this
floor, civilization might lose--I do not say how little; but surely
less than it has already gained by the example of Kansas, in its valiant
struggle against oppression, and in the development of a new science
of emigration. Already, in Lawrence alone, there are newspapers and
schools, including a High School, and throughout this infant Territory
there is more mature scholarship far, in proportion to its inhabitants,
than in all South Carolina. Ah, sir, I tell the Senator that Kansas,
welcomed as a free State, will be a "ministering angel" to the Republic,
when South Carolina, in the cloak of darkness which she hugs, "lies
howling."
The Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) naturally joins the Senator from
South Carolina in this warfare, and gives to it the superior intensity
of his nature. He thinks that the National Government has not completely
proved its power, as it has never hanged a traitor; but, if the occasion
requires, he hopes there will be no hesitation; and this threat is
directed at Kansas, and even at the friends of Kansas throughout the
country. Again occurs the parallel with the struggle of our fathers,
and I borrow the language of Patrick Henry, when, to the cry from the
Senator, of "treason," "treason," I reply, "if this be treason, make
the most of it." Sir, it is easy to call names; but I beg to tell the
Senator that if the word "traitor" is in any way applicable to those
who refuse submission to a Tyrannical Usurpation, whether in Kansas or
elsewhere, then must some new word, of deeper color, be invented, to
designate those mad spirits who could endanger and degrade the Republic,
while they betray all the cherished sentiments of the fathers and the
spirit of the Constitution, in order to give new spread to Slavery. Let
the Senator proceed. It will not be the first time in history, that a
scaffold erected for punishment has become a pedestal of honor. Out of
death comes life, and the "traitor" whom he blindly executes will live
immortal in the cause.
"For Humanity sweeps onward; where to-day the martyr stands,
On the morrow crouches Judas, with the silver in his hands;
While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return,
To glean up the scattered ashes into History's golden urn."
Among these hostile Senators, there is yet another, with all the
prejudices of the Senator from South Carolina, but without his generous
impulses, who, on account of his character before the country, and the
rancor of his opposition, deserves to be named. I mean the Senator from
Virginia (Mr. Mason), who, as the author of the Fugitive-Slave bill, has
associated himself with a special act of inhumanity and tyranny. Of him
I shall say little, for he has said little in this debate, though within
that little was compressed the bitterness of a life absorbed in the
support of Slavery. He holds the commission of Virginia; but he does not
represent that early Virginia, so dear to our hearts, which gave to us
the pen of Jefferson, by which the equality of men was declared, and
the sword of Washington, by which Independence was secured; but he
represents that other Virginia, from which Washington and Jefferson
now avert their faces, where human beings are bred as cattle for the
shambles, and where a dungeon rewards the pious matron who teaches
little children to relieve their bondage by reading the Book of Life.
It is proper that such a Senator, representing such a State, should rail
against free Kansas.
Senators such as these are the natural enemies of Kansas, and I
introduce them with reluctance, simply that the country may understand
the character of the hostility which must be overcome. Arrayed with
them, of course, are all who unite, under any pretext or apology, in
the propagandism of human Slavery. To such, indeed, the time-honored
safeguards of popular rights can be a name only, and nothing more. What
are trial by jury, habeas corpus, the ballot-box, the right of petition,
the liberty of Kansas, your liberty, sir, or mine, to one who lends
himself, not merely to the support at home, but to the propagandism
abroad, of that preposterous wrong, which denies even the right of a
man to himself! Such a cause can be maintained only by a practical
subversion of all rights. It is, therefore, merely according to reason
that its partisans should uphold the Usurpation in Kansas.
To overthrow this Usurpation is now the special, importunate duty of
Congress, admitting of no hesitation or postponement. To this end it
must lift itself from the cabals of candidates, the machinations of
party, and the low level of vulgar strife. It must turn from that Slave
Oligarchy which now controls the Republic, and refuse to be its tool.
Let its power be stretched forth toward this distant Territory, not to
bind, but to unbind; not for the oppression of the weak, but for the
subversion of the tyrannical; not for the prop and maintenance of a
revolting Usurpation, but for the confirmation of Liberty.
"These are imperial arts and worthy thee!"
Let it now take its stand between the living and dead, and cause this
plague to be stayed. All this it can do; and if the interests of Slavery
did not oppose, all this it would do at once, in reverent regard for
justice, law, and order, driving away all the alarms of war; nor would
it dare to brave the shame and punishment of this great refusal. But the
slave power dares anything; and it can be conquered only by the united
masses of the people. From Congress to the People I appeal. * * *
The contest, which, beginning in Kansas, has reached us, will soon be
transferred from Congress to a broader stage, where every citizen will
be not only spectator, but actor; and to their judgment I confidently
appeal. To the People, now on the eve of exercising the electoral
franchise, in choosing a Chief Magistrate of the Republic, I appeal, to
vindicate the electoral franchise in Kansas. Let the ballot-box of
the Union, with multitudinous might, protect the ballot-box in that
Territory. Let the voters everywhere, while rejoicing in their own
rights, help to guard the equal rights of distant fellow-citizens; that
the shrines of popular institutions, now desecrated, may be sanctified
anew; that the ballot-box, now plundered, may be restored; and that the
cry, "I am an American citizen," may not be sent forth in vain against
outrage of every kind. In just regard for free labor in that Territory,
which it is sought to blast by unwelcome association with slave labor;
in Christian sympathy with the slave, whom it is proposed to task
and sell there; in stern condemnation of the crime which has been
consummated on that beautiful soil; in rescue of fellow-citizens now
subjugated to a Tyrannical Usurpation; in dutiful respect for the early
fathers, whose aspirations are now ignobly thwarted; in the name of the
Constitution, which has been outraged--of the laws trampled down--of
Justice banished--of Humanity degraded--of Peace destroyed--of Freedom
crushed to earth; and, in the name of the Heavenly Father, whose service
is perfect Freedom, I make this last appeal.
May 20, 1856.
MR. DOUGLAS:--I shall not detain the Senate by a detailed reply to the
speech of the Senator from Massachusetts. Indeed, I should not deem it
necessary to say one word, but for the personalities in which he has
indulged, evincing a depth of malignity that issued from every sentence,
making it a matter of self-respect with me to repel the assaults which
have been made.
As to the argument, we have heard it all before. Not a position, not a
fact, not an argument has he used, which has not been employed on the
same side of the chamber, and replied to by me twice. I shall not follow
him, therefore, because it would only be repeating the same answer which
I have twice before given to each of his positions. He seems to get up
a speech as in Yankee land they get up a bedquilt. They take all the old
calico dresses of various colors, that have been in the house from
the days of their grandmothers, and invite the young ladies of the
neighborhood in the afternoon, and the young men to meet them at a dance
in the evening. They cut up these pieces of old dresses and make pretty
figures, and boast of what beautiful ornamental work they have made,
although there was not a new piece of material in the whole quilt. Thus
it is with the speech which we have had re-hashed here to-day, in regard
to matters of fact, matters of law, and matters of argument--every thing
but the personal assaults and the malignity. * * *
His endeavor seems to be an attempt to whistle to keep up his courage
by defiant assaults upon us all. I am in doubt as to what can be his
object. He has not hesitated to charge three fourths of the Senate with
fraud, with swindling, with crime, with infamy, at least one hundred
times over in his speech. Is it his object to provoke some of us to kick
him as we would a dog in the street, that he may get sympathy upon the
just chastisement? What is the object of this denunciation against the
body of which we are members? A hundred times he has called the Nebraska
bill a "swindle," an act of crime, an act of infamy, and each time
went on to illustrate the complicity of each man who voted for it in
perpetrating the crime. He has brought it home as a personal charge to
those who passed the Nebraska bill, that they were guilty of a crime
which deserved the just indignation of heaven, and should make them
infamous among men.
Who are the Senators thus arraigned? He does me the honor to make me the
chief. It was my good luck to have such a position in this body as to
enable me to be the author of a great, wise measure, which the Senate
has approved, and the country will endorse. That measure was sustained
by about three fourths of all the members of the Senate. It was
sustained by a majority of the Democrats and a majority of the Whigs
in this body. It was sustained by a majority of Senators from the
slave-holding States, and a majority of Senators from the free States.
The Senator, by his charge of crime, then, stultifies three fourths
of the whole body, a majority of the North, nearly the whole South, a
majority of Whigs, and a majority of Democrats here. He says they are
infamous. If he so believed, who could suppose that he would ever show
his face among such a body of men? How dare he approach one of those
gentlemen to give him his hand after that act? If he felt the courtesies
between men he would not do it. He would deserve to have himself spit in
the face for doing so. * * *
The attack of the Senator from Massachusetts now is not on me alone.
Even the courteous and the accomplished Senator from South Carolina (Mr.
Butler) could not be passed by in his absence.
MR. MASON:--Advantage was taken of it.
MR. DOUGLAS:--It is suggested that advantage is taken of his absence.
I think that this is a mistake. I think the speech was written and
practised, and the gestures fixed; and, if that part had been stricken
out the Senator would not have known how to repeat the speech. All that
tirade of abuse must be brought down on the head of the venerable, the
courteous, and the distinguished Senator from South Carolina. I shall
not defend that gentleman here. Every Senator who knows him loves him.
The Senator from Massachusetts may take every charge made against him in
his speech, and may verify by his oath, and by the oath of every one
of his confederates, and there is not an honest man in this chamber who
will not repel it as a slander. Your oaths cannot make a Senator feel
that it was not an outrage to assail that honorable gentleman in the
terms in which he has been attacked. He, however, will be here in due
time to speak for himself, and to act for himself too. I know what will
happen. The Senator from Massachusetts will go to him, whisper a secret
apology in his ear, and ask him to accept that as satisfaction for a
public outrage on his character! I know the Senator from Massachusetts
is in the habit of doing those things. I have had some experience of his
skill in that respect. * * *
Why these attacks on individuals by name, and two thirds of the Senate
collectively? Is it the object to drive men here to dissolve social
relations with political opponents? Is it to turn the Senate into a bear
garden, where Senators cannot associate on terms which ought to prevail
between gentlemen? These attacks are heaped upon me by man after man.
When I repel them, it is intimated that I show some feeling on the
subject. Sir, God grant that when I denounce an act of infamy I shall do
it with feeling, and do it under the sudden impulses of feeling, instead
of sitting up at night writing out my denunciation of a man whom I
hate, copying it, having it printed, punctuating the proof-sheets, and
repeating it before the glass, in order to give refinement to insult,
which is only pardonable when it is the outburst of a just indignation.
Mr. President, I shall not occupy the time of the Senate. I dislike to
be forced to repel these attacks upon myself, which seem to be repeated
on every occasion. It appears that gentlemen on the other side of the
chamber think they would not be doing justice to their cause if they did
not make myself a personal object of bitter denunciation and malignity.
I hope that the debate on this bill may be brought to a close at as
early a day as possible. I shall do no more in these side discussions
than vindicate myself and repel unjust attacks, but I shall ask the
Senate to permit me to close the debate, when it shall close, in a calm,
kind summary of the whole question, avoiding personalities.
MR. SUMNER: Mr. President, To the Senator from Illinois, I should
willingly leave the privilege of the common scold--the last word; but I
will not leave to him, in any discussion with me, the last argument, or
the last semblance of it. He has crowned the audacity of this debate by
venturing to rise here and calumniate me. He said that I came here, took
an oath to support the Constitution, and yet determined not to support a
particular clause in that Constitution. To that statement I give, to his
face, the flattest denial. When it was made on a former occasion on this
floor by the absent Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Butler), I then
repelled it. I will read from the debate of the 28th of June, 1854, as
published in the Globe, to show what I said in response to that calumny
when pressed at that hour. Here is what I said to the Senator from South
Carolina:
"This Senator was disturbed, when to his inquiry, personally, pointedly,
and vehemently addressed to me, whether I would join in returning a
fellow-man to slavery? I exclaimed, 'Is thy servant a dog, that he
should do this thing?'"
You will observe that the inquiry of the Senator from South Carolina,
was whether I would join in returning a fellow-man to slavery. It was
not whether I would support any clause of the Constitution of the United
States--far from that. * * *
Sir, this is the Senate of the United States, an important body, under
the Constitution, with great powers. Its members are justly supposed,
from age, 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 let him remember
hereafter that the bowie-knife and bludgeon are not the 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 has gone on to infuse into his speech the venom which has been
sweltering for months--ay, for years; and he has alleged facts that
are entirely without foundation, in order to heap upon me some personal
obloquy. I will not go into the details which have flowed out 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 to 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 a 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 has switched his tongue,
and again he fills the Senate with its offensive odor. * * *
MR. DOUGLAS:--I am not going to pursue this subject further. I will only
say that a man who has been branded by me in the Senate, and convicted
by the Senate of falsehood, cannot use language requiring a reply, and
therefore I have nothing more to say.
PRESTON S. BROOKS,
OF SOUTH CAROLINA. (BORN 1819, DIED 1857.)
ON THE SUMNER ASSAULT;
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JULY 14, 1856.
MR. SPEAKER:
Some time since a Senator from Massachusetts allowed himself, in an
elaborately prepared speech, to offer a gross insult to my State, and to
a venerable friend, who is my State representative, and who was absent
at the time.