Part 17

Let him answer this objection: The Constitution, by an amendment which Samuel Adams hailed as a protection against the usurpations of the National Government, and which Jefferson asserted was its very "foundation," has solemnly declared that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Stronger words could not be employed to limit the powers under the Constitution, and to protect the people from all assumptions of the National Government, particularly in derogation of Freedom. By the Virginia Resolutions of 1798, which the Senator is reputed to accept, this limitation of the powers of the National Government is recognized and enforced. The Senator himself is understood, on all questions not affecting the claims of Slavery, to espouse this rule in its utmost strictness. Let him now indicate, if he can, any article, clause, phrase, or word in the Constitution which gives to Congress any power to establish a "uniform law throughout the United States" on the subject of fugitive slaves. Let him now show, if he can, from the records of the National Convention, one jot of evidence inclining to any such power. Whatever its interpretation in other respects, the clause on which this bill purports to be founded gives no such power. Sir, nothing can come out of nothing; and the Fugitive Slave Act is, therefore, without any source or origin in the Constitution. It is an open and unmitigated usurpation.

When the veteran Senator of Virginia has answered this objection, when he is able to find in the Constitution a power which is not to be found, and to make us see what is not to be seen, then let him answer another objection. The Constitution has secured the inestimable right of Trial by Jury "in suits at Common Law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars." Of course Freedom is not susceptible of pecuniary valuation; therefore there can be no question that the claim for a fugitive slave is within this condition. In determining what is meant by "suits at Common Law," recourse must be had to the Common Law itself, precisely as we resort to that law in order to determine what is meant by "Trial by Jury." Let the Senator, if he be a lawyer, undertake to show that a claim for a fugitive slave is not, according to early precedents and writs,--well known to the framers of the Constitution, especially to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and John Rutledge, of South Carolina, both of whom had studied law at the Temple,--a _suit at Common Law_, to which, under the solemn guaranty of the Constitution, is attached the Trial by Jury, as an inseparable incident. Let the Senator show this, if he can.

And, Sir, when the veteran Senator has found a power in the Constitution where none exists, and has set aside the right of Trial by Jury in a suit at Common Law, then let him answer yet another objection. By the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States, a claim for a fugitive slave is declared to be _a case under the Constitution_,[130] within the judicial power; and this judgment of the Court is confirmed by common sense and Common Law. Let the Senator show, if he can, how such exalted exercise of judicial power can be confided to a single petty magistrate, appointed, not by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, but by the Court,--holding his office, not during good behavior, but merely during the will of the Court,--and receiving, not a regular salary, but fees according to each individual case. Let the Senator answer this objection, if, in any way, by twist of learning, logic, or law, he can.

[130] Prigg _v._ Pennsylvania, 16 Peters, 616.

Thus, Sir, do I present the issue directly on this monstrous enactment. Let the author of the Fugitive Slave Bill meet it. He will find me ready to follow him in argument,--though I trust never to be led, even by his example, into any departure from those courtesies of debate which are essential to the harmony of every legislative body.

* * * * *

Such, Mr. President, is my response to all that has been said in this debate, so far as I deem it in any way worthy of attention. To the two associate chieftains in this personal assault, the veteran Senator from Virginia, and the Senator from South Carolina with the silver-white locks, I have replied completely. It is true that others have joined in the cry which these associates first started; but I shall not be tempted further. Some there are best answered by silence, best answered by withholding the words which leap impulsively to the lips. [_Here Mr. Sumner turned to Mr. Mallory and Mr. Clay._]

And now, giving to oblivion all these things, let me, as I close, dwell on a single aspect of this discussion, which will render it memorable. On former occasions like this, the right of petition has been vehemently assailed or practically denied. Only two years ago, memorials for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act, presented by me, were laid on your table, Mr. President, without reference to any Committee. All is changed now. Senators have condemned the memorial, and sounded in our ears the cry of "Treason! treason!"--but thus far, throughout this excited debate, no person has so completely outraged the spirit of our institutions, or forgotten himself, as to persevere in objecting to the reception of the memorial, and its proper reference. It is true, the remonstrants and their representatives here are treated with indignity; but the great right of petition, the sword and buckler of the citizen, though thus dishonored, is not denied. Here, Sir, is a triumph for Freedom.

When Mr. Sumner had finished, Mr. Clay, of Alabama, made haste to say, "He has put the question, whether any Senator upon this floor would assist in returning a fugitive slave? No response was made to the interrogatory; and lest he should herald it to the world that there was no Senator upon this floor who had the _moral courage_ to say 'Ay,' in response to the interrogatory, I tell him that I would do it." To which Mr. Sumner replied at once, "Then let the Senator say the _immoral courage_."

Mr. Butler rose to reply, when Mr. Badger asked his "friend from South Carolina, whether it would not be better for him to allow us now to adjourn?" To which Mr. Butler answered: "No, Sir; I would not subject myself to the temptation of preparing a reply that might have something in it, that, like a hyena, I was scratching at the graves in Massachusetts, to take revenge for the elaborate and vindictive assault that has been made by the gentleman who has just spoken." The _Globe_ shows his continued anger and excitement, which broke out especially at the comparison Mr. Sumner made between the Stamp Act and the Slave Act, and at his refusal to surrender a fugitive slave. These seemed to be the two grounds of offence. On the latter point, Mr. Butler, contrary to Mr. Sumner's positive declaration, was persistent in saying that he had denied the obligation of his oath to support the Constitution, when he had only denied his obligation to surrender a fugitive slave. At this stage, Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, remarked: "The answer made by the Senator from Massachusetts was in these precise words: 'I recognize no such obligation.' I did not understand that Senator as meaning to say that he would not obey the Constitution, or would disregard his oath,--nor, allow me to say, was he so understood by many gentlemen on this side of the chamber; but he simply meant to say (I certainly so understood him) that he did not consider that the Constitution imposed any such obligation upon him. That is all." Before the debate closed, Mr. Toucey, of Connecticut, said: "I beg leave to ask the Senator from Massachusetts whether he now recognizes an obligation to return a fugitive slave? I put the question in general language: Does he recognize the obligation to return a fugitive slave?" Mr. Sumner then said, "To that I answer distinctly, _No_." The petition was then referred to the Committee.

* * * * *

As Mr. Sumner resumed his seat, after his speech in reply to his assailants, Mr. Chase, who sat next to him, said: "You have struck Slavery the strongest blow it ever received; you have made it reel to the centre." The rage of its representatives was without bounds. The suggestion of Mr. Pettit to expel him was the first idea, which at last gave way to that of Mr. Clay to put him in Coventry. The first was not abandoned at once. It was seriously entertained. The newspapers of the time represent that it was under consideration from the day of his speech,--that "the opposition to Mr. Sumner is general and bitter in the Senate, and that it would be rash, therefore, to assert that the resolution will not be presented, and that, if presented, it will not be carried." It was added, that four Northern Senators were pledged to the resolution. The _Evening Post_ said, jestingly: "The Washington _Union_, and those of whom it is the special organ, are as much puzzled what to do with Senator Sumner as the Lilliputians were how to dispose of Mr. Lemuel Gulliver, when he made his appearance among them." Other papers treated the subject more gravely. The _National Era_, at Washington, said: "When we heard that a project for the expulsion of Mr. Sumner was under consideration among some Senators, we scouted the report as simply ridiculous; but there is no limit to the insolence and folly of some men. On inquiry, we learned that such a project was seriously canvassed."

* * * * *

This debate was profoundly felt throughout the country. Mr. Sumner's speech was telegraphed to the North, and extensively read. People there were smarting under the repeal of the Missouri Prohibition and the attempt to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act. They were glad to find the audacious pretensions of the slave-masters repelled in Congress. Newspapers were enthusiastic. The correspondent of the New York _Times_ wrote:--

"This able, triumphant vindication, which covered the assailants with confusion, told with the more effect because it was unexpected. It had been supposed that Mr. Sumner would submit quietly to any indignity that might be heaped upon him; but the people, doubtless, when they read his speech, will acknowledge that he held in reserve, and knew when and how to use, weapons of defence far keener than the bowie-knife, and far more certain and fatal than the duellist's rifle; and his countrymen will honor the moral courage that enabled him to bear unflinchingly all the cruel taunts of his misreckoning assailants, until the time had arrived for drawing the arrows of Truth.... I have not been accustomed to praise the Senator who is now my theme; but that heart must be cold, and that judgment lamentably distorted, which could withhold from Mr. Sumner his well-earned tribute for to-day's acquittance."

The Springfield _Republican_ thus characterizes the speech:--

"Curiosity has been greatly stimulated to see it in full, and it will amply repay attention. Mr. Sumner has made more brilliant, classical, scholarly speeches, but never one more effective, nor one upon which his fame as Congressional debater can more creditably rest. It was a full vindication of himself and of Massachusetts, and its influence and effect have been marked at Washington. It ended the discussion which the South so vauntingly provoked. There has been no essay at reply. It carried the war into the bowels of his opponents in a manner not ordinarily excusable, but, after the provocation which had been given, in this instance most abundantly justifiable. His annihilation of his accusers was complete."

In a speech at Providence shortly afterwards, Mr. Giddings, of the House of Representatives, referred to this effort, which he heard, in sympathetic terms.

"They assailed Sumner because he said, 'Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?' in reply to the question, whether he would assist in the capture of a fugitive slave? He was assailed by the whole Slave Power in the Senate, and for a time he was the constant theme of their vituperation. The maddened waves rolled and dashed against him for two or three days, until eventually he obtained the floor himself. Then he arose and threw back the dashing surges with a power of inimitable eloquence utterly indescribable.... I assure you that last week was the proudest week I ever saw. Sumner stood inimitable, and hurled back the taunts of his assailants with irresistible force. There he stood towering above the infamous characters who had attempted to silence him, while I sat and listened with rapturous emotion."

The interest awakened by the conflict in the Senate and the part borne by Mr. Sumner can be understood only by reading the testimony of the time in private letters, which have additional value in the light of subsequent events. It will be seen how Mr. Sumner was supported, and what already was the sentiment of the North.

Letters came from unknown persons, saying, "I want to thank you for that speech." On the next day after its delivery Rev. Theodore Parker wrote:--

"I never felt so proud of you as now, and can't go to bed without first thanking you for the noble words which Apthorp has just read me of yours from the _Transcript_ of to-night. Even phlegmatic---- is roused up with your fire. God bless you!"

Hon. John P. Hale, of the Senate, wrote from Dover, N. H., under date of July 3d:--

"As I came from Washington to this place, in New York, Boston, and in steamboats and railroad cars, I heard but one expression in regard to your speech, and that was of unmingled gratification. I have heard all classes, Whigs and others, and there is no exception. Ladies particularly are in ecstasies at it. Mrs. Hale says, 'Give him my thanks for his speech.' The feeling of gratification at your speech is so great, that people do not think, much less speak, of the Billingsgate by which you were assailed."

Hon. Henry Wilson thus expressed his feelings in a letter from Boston:--

"I write to say to you that you have given the heaviest blow you ever struck to the slaveholding oligarchy. All our friends are delighted, and men, who, even up to this hour have withheld all words of commendation, are proud of your speech, and loud in their commendations."

John A. Andrew, Esq., wrote:--

"Your recent rencontre with the wild beasts of Ephesus has been a brilliant success. I have regarded that debate with pride and gratification. I am glad it has occurred for many reasons, private and personal, as well as public and universal. And I have heard no person refer to it but in terms the most gratifying to my friendship for you, and my interest in the controversy itself. I think our friends here are in good spirits and full of hope.

"How do those people treat you now, since they have come to close quarters with you? I hope you will spare not. You had ample occasion, and now I hope you will keep up the war _aggressively_; never fail to attack them, in the right way, whenever they deserve it. The insolence of the presumption to stand between a man and his own conscientious interpretation of the Constitution, especially when they defiantly and every day dare everybody to tread on their coat-tails, at the price of treason and rebellion, under the name of '_disunion_,' is utterly unbearable.

"I only wish they _would_ expel you, and Chase, and Gillette,--all three."

Wendell Phillips was most earnest, as follows:--

"The storm of letters of congratulation is perhaps lulled a little by this time, and you'll have a moment's leisure to receive the admiring thanks of an old friend. Amid so much that was sad and dark at home, it has been delightful to sun one's self now and then in the glad noon of hope at Washington. The whole State is very proud of you just now. If your six years were out this next winter, I think you'd be run in again without a competitor, and by a vote of all parties.

"All your late efforts have been grand: see the benefit of being insulted. Your last richly merited the claim you made of being _thorough_. I liked and entirely approved the self-respect with which you put your own opinion side by side with the Virginian's and left it. You claimed not a tittle too much, and he deserved just that sort of treatment.

"If, amid such universal congratulation, it be any joy to you to hear my amen, be assured it is most heartily shouted."

Rev. Joshua Leavitt, the lifelong Abolitionist, wrote from New York:--

"I have just read the full report of your speech with intense satisfaction. It is a glorious work. The report, the echo, the effect in the other fleet, shows that it was such a broadside as they never had before."

John Jay wrote from Bedford, New York, the country home of his grandfather, the Chief Justice:--

"I have read your speech of the 28th June with, I think, more thorough satisfaction and delight than any other in my life, not excepting even your first speech on the Fugitive Bill, for which I waited so impatiently, as your first great blow in the Senate against American Slavery. Your last is a glorious, a most triumphant effort, and has given you a proud and commanding position before the country, as the long hoped-for Champion of the North, before whose fearless front and avenging arm Southern insolence at length shall quail. How the Free States will receive your words is already clear, if doubt could have been entertained of it, by the tone generally of the public press, and the delight manifested, both in the town and country, by almost all who speak of it. In our quiet neighborhood I find people talking of it enthusiastically whom I never before heard express the slightest feeling on the Slavery question."

Rev. Convers Francis, the eminent professor of Harvard University, wrote:--

"When I came to that answer of yours, 'Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?' I could not but cry out, 'That is just the thing! Mr. Sumner could not have found in all literature or history elsewhere so fitting words for reply, when he was asked whether he would send back a slave.' And your admirable application of Jefferson's description of the manners produced by Slavery did my very heart good. I have heard but one opinion of these speeches from every side: indeed, there can be but one,--that which expresses unmingled admiration and delight."

Dr. Joseph Sargent, of Worcester, wrote:--

"You must allow me to thank you for your reply to the assaults of Mr. Pettit and Mr. Clay. It is a personal matter with me, and all of us; for we have felt ourselves insulted, and we are satisfied. I have read all your speeches in the Senate with instruction and gratification; but this has warmed me so that I cannot withhold my thanks, though I trespass on your time. The whole community feels as I do. Men stop their business to ask each other if they have read Mr. Sumner's speech, and even men calling on me to visit their sick families forget their errand till they have put the universal question. We have hitherto admired your forbearance, but your reply is as dignified and noble as your forbearance, while it is strong, rich, and Saxon. We have had nothing like it since the Hülsemann letter. I will say no more, but I could say no less."

Theophilus P. Chandler, Esq., of Boston, wrote:--

"I cannot express the pleasure your friends have enjoyed at the result of the late Senatorial conflict. Old Fogies read your speech with satisfaction, although some complain of the Jackson doctrine."

Count Gurowski wrote from Newport:--

"You showed what is the real backbone of a gentleman, considered in the higher moral or philosophical point of view, by far superior to what your assailers conceive or are able to imagine in their vulgar or low conceptions."

Rev. William H. Furness, the distinguished divine and devoted Abolitionist, wrote:--

"I congratulate you upon having been blackguarded and denounced. It has redounded to your honor. It has proved a rare success. I think you should thank God for placing you, in his wise Providence, in a position which, utterly hateful as it must be to you (fighting with wild beasts at Ephesus), proves to furnish occasion for the heroic element. I can dimly surmise how much it costs you to stand there; but I doubt not the experience you are having testifies that it will pay the cost, and a great deal more. I may be mistaken, but, from all I have learned of your position in the Senate, things look as if those Southern men, after trying to steal your sting away by all sorts of courtliness and courtesy, and trying in vain, have turned upon you like rabid dogs, with the intent to tear you in pieces. They have not done it, nor will they."

Hiram Barney, Esq., of New York, wrote:--

"I congratulate you on that day's work. It was well and nobly done. I have seen something of your assailants, and know something of their habits and manners, and can appreciate your forbearance. It is a shame that you should be obliged to meet so much that is disgusting to the taste and shocking to the moral sense in the American Senate. But it is a matter of just pride that the friends of Freedom there are gentlemen, and always win upon the field of argument."

William C. Russell, Esq., of New York, afterwards professor at Cornell University, wrote:--

"I am delighted beyond measure by your reply to the Southern chivalry. It is grand, gentlemanly, cool, pointed, well aimed, and true metal. I do not wonder that Mr. Butler did not want to play vampire to Massachusetts. The fact is, it is getting to be rather serious work to interfere with the old Commonwealth; and I shall be surprised, if the Southern bull-dogs do not bay in some other quarter."

Hon. Charles P. Huntington, of Northampton, afterwards Judge of the Superior Court of the County of Suffolk, wrote:--

"I have been, as usual, exceedingly gratified with the manner, style, and spirit in which you have met your Senatorial responsibilities on this trying Nebraska question. But the reply to the personal attacks and insults of Butler and Mason last week has gratified me more than anything that has fallen from your lips,--so severe, yet so just,--so cutting, yet so keen and polished,--so decided, manly, and bold,--so indicative of backbone, as well as pith and marrow, that your adversaries were fairly hung up and impaled."

Hon. Charles G. Loring, the eminent lawyer, wrote:--

"Your reply to the Southern gentlemen, who seem to think that a Northern man must be craven, elicited general and great admiration. I heartily enjoyed it, and think that Mr. Mason must have had at least one experience in his life of the comfort of being squeezed through the little end of the horn. You will doubtless be treated with some consideration by these worthies hereafter. In what school of blackguardism was Clay of Alabama graduated? He certainly is a magnificent specimen of Southern chivalry. You would have great reason to thank him for placing you in Coventry, at a distance beyond hailing from him and his compeers."

Andrew Ritchie, Esq., of Boston, wrote:--