Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
“On the same page the Senator from South Carolina made a misstatement
of a fact, which was promptly corrected by Mr. Sumner, and by General
Shields, then a member of the Senate.
“On page 237 there are insinuations made of ‘pseudo-philanthropy,’
and also insinuations of ‘_mere_ eloquence,--professions of
philanthropy,--a philanthropy of adoption more than affection.’
Yes, Sir, according to the Senator from South Carolina, the Senator
from Massachusetts, and those who think with him, have ‘adopted’
their philanthropy; it is not the ‘philanthropy of affection, but of
adoption,’--‘a philanthropy that professes much and does nothing, with
a long advertisement and short performance.’ These are expressive
words, and the Senator from South Carolina should remember that these
words, uttered with the peculiar forms which he affects, are anything
but calculated to be complimentary to my colleague or any other Senator.
“On the same page, allusions, which, from the context, are in the
nature of insinuations, are made against Mr. Sumner and his associates,
as to ‘those who stand aloof and hold up an ideal standard of morality,
emblazoned by imagination and sustained in ignorance, or _perhaps more
often planted by criminal ambition and heartless hypocrisy_.’ ‘Criminal
ambition and heartless hypocrisy’ are the terms used by the Senator
from South Carolina, in application to Senators on this floor, and to a
large portion of the country, which concurs with them!
“On page 239 he tauntingly speaks of a ‘machine,’ in reference to the
people who hold Mr. Sumner’s opinions, ‘oiled by Northern fanaticism.’
I do not know what kind of a machine that is,--a machine ‘oiled by
Northern fanaticism.’ The Senator who uses these phrases towards
members of this body, and towards a section of the Union, is a Senator
who tries to make us believe that he is a man who comprehends the whole
country and all its interests, and who has nothing in him of the spirit
of a sectional agitator! He takes great offence because my colleague
holds him up as one of the chieftains of sectional agitation. I think
my colleague is right,--that the Senator from South Carolina _is_ one
of the chieftains of a _sectionalism_ at war with the fundamental ideas
that underlie our democratic institutions, and at war with the repose
and harmony of the country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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