Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
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Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
To cloak the overthrow of all law in Kansas, an assumption is now
set up which utterly denies one of the plainest rights of the
people everywhere. Sir, I beg Senators to understand that this is a
government of laws, and that, under these laws, the people have an
incontestable right to settle any portion of our broad territory,
and, if they choose, to propagate any opinions there not forbidden by
the laws. If this be not so, pray, Sir, by what title is the Senator
from Illinois, who is an emigrant from Vermont,[92] propagating his
disastrous opinions in another State? Surely he has no monopoly of
this right. Others may do what he is doing; nor can the right be in
any way restricted. It is as broad as the people; nor does it matter
whether they go in numbers small or great, with assistance or without
assistance, under the auspices of societies or not under such auspices.
If this be not so, then by what title are so many foreigners annually
naturalized, under Democratic auspices, in order to secure votes for
misnamed Democratic principles? And if capital as well as combination
cannot be employed, by what title do venerable associations exist, of
ampler means and longer duration than any Emigrant Aid Company, around
which cluster the regard and confidence of the country,--the Tract
Society, a powerful corporation, which scatters its publications freely
in every corner of the land,--the Bible Society, an incorporated body,
with large resources, which seeks to carry the Book of Life alike into
Territories and States,--the Missionary Society, also an incorporated
body, with large resources, which sends its agents everywhere, at home
and in foreign lands? By what title do all these exist? Nay, Sir, by
what title does an Insurance Company in New York send its agent to open
an office in New Orleans? and by what title does Massachusetts capital
contribute to the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad in Missouri, and
also to the copper mines of Michigan? The Senator inveighs against
the Native American party; but his own principle is narrower than any
attributed to them. They object to the influence of emigrants from
abroad: he objects to the influence of American citizens at home, when
exerted in States or Territories where they were not born. The whole
assumption is too audacious for respectful argument. But since a great
right is denied, the children of the Free States, over whose cradles
has shone the North Star, owe it to themselves, to their ancestors, and
to Freedom itself, that this right shall now be asserted to the fullest
extent. By the blessing of God, and under the continued protection of
the laws, they will go to Kansas, there to plant homes, in the hope of
elevating this Territory soon into the sisterhood of Free States; and
to such end they will not hesitate in the employment of all legitimate
means, whether by companies of men or contributions of money, to swell
a virtuous emigration, and they will justly scout any attempt to
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