And these words, uttered more than six years ago, are still of vital, practical force. The example of Delaware shows how little Slavery it takes to make a Slave State, giving two votes to the ascendency of the Slave Power in the Senate. Be wakeful, then, and do not disparage that enemy which for sixty years has ruled the Republic. “That man is dangerous,” exclaimed the Athenian orator, “who does not see danger in Philip.” And I now say, that man is dangerous who does not see danger in the Slave Power. When God created man in his own image, and saw that his work was good, he did not destine his creature for endless ages to labor without wages, compelled by the lash. Such degradation we seek to arrest by careful measures under the Constitution. And this is the cause of which your candidate is the generous and noble representative. Stand by him. Let not fidelity to those principles which give dignity and glory to Massachusetts, and to our common country, be an argument against him. From the malignity of enemies, from the vacillation of timeservers, and from the weakness of friends shield him by your votes. Make him strong to commence the great work by which the Declaration of Independence shall become a living letter, and the ways of Providence shall be justified to men. “If yet ye are not lost to common sense, Assist your patriot in your own defence; That stupid cant, ‘He went too far,’ despise, And know that to be brave is to be wise.”[174] FOOTNOTES [1] This account is compiled from the Boston newspapers of the day. [2] On the balcony of his house in Beacon Street, as the procession passed, was William H. Prescott, the historian, with his family, waving their handkerchiefs. The next day Mr. Prescott called on Mr. Sumner, and said, that, had he known there would have been decorations and inscriptions on houses, he should have placed on his these words:-- “May 22, 1856. “Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, Whilst bloody Treason flourished over us.” [3] Wordsworth, Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland. [4] Of Reformation in England, Book II.: Prose Works, ed. Symmons, Vol. I. p. 29. [5] Howell’s State Trials, VI. 192. [6] Odyssey, tr. Pope, Book XV. 410, 411 [450, 451]. [7] Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chap. 60. [8] Ibid. [9] Edinburgh Review, Vol. XLI. p. 465. [10] Edinburgh Review, Vol. XLI. p. 481. [11] Edinburgh Review, Vol. XLI. p. 481. [12] Ibid., pp. 486, 487. [13] Edinburgh Review, Vol. XLI. p. 472. [14] Speech on the Sugar Duties, February 26, 1845: Speeches, Vol. II. pp. 126, 127. [15] Born October 25, 1800; died December 28, 1859. [16] Case of the witness Mrs. Clarke, in the inquiry into the conduct of the Duke of York, February 7, 1809: Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, Vol. XII. col. 436. [17] Annals of Congress, 6th Cong. 1st Sess., p. 113, March 20, 1800.