Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 04 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 04 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
There is little that fell from these two champions, as the fit was
on, which deserves reply. Certainly not the hard words they used
so readily and congenially. The veteran Senator from Virginia [Mr.
MASON] complained that I had characterized one of his
"constituents"--a person who went all the way from Virginia to Boston
in pursuit of a slave--as Slave-Hunter. Sir, I choose to call things
by their right names. White I call white, and black I call black. And
where a person degrades himself to the work of chasing a fellow-man,
who, under the inspiration of Freedom and the guidance of the North
Star, has sought a freeman's home far away from coffle and chain,--that
person, whosoever he may be, I call Slave-Hunter. If the Senator from
Virginia, who professes nicety of speech, will give me any term more
precisely describing such an individual, I will use it. Until then, I
must continue to use the language which seems to me so apt. But this
very sensibility of the veteran Senator at a just term, truly depicting
an odious character, shows a shame which pleases me. It was said by a
philosopher of Antiquity that a blush is the sign of virtue; and permit
me to add, that, in this violent sensibility, I recognize a blush
mantling the cheek of the honorable Senator, which even his plantation
manners cannot conceal.
And the venerable Senator from South Carolina, too, [Mr.
BUTLER,]--he has betrayed his sensibility. Here let me say
that this Senator knows well that I always listen with gurgles
forth,--sometimes tinctured by generous ideas,--except when, forgetful
of history, and in defiance of reason, he undertakes to defend what
is obviously indefensible. 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?" In fitful phrase, which
seemed to come from unconscious excitement, so common with the Senator,
he shot forth various cries about "dogs," and, among other things,
asked if there was any "dog" in the Constitution? The Senator did
not seem to bear in mind, through the heady currents of that moment,
that, by the false interpretation he fastens upon the Constitution, he
has helped to nurture there a whole kennel of Carolina bloodhounds,
trained, with savage jaw and insatiable scent, for the hunt of flying
bondmen. No, Sir, I do not believe that there is any "kennel of
bloodhounds," or even any "dog," in the Constitution.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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