“Are those who want to destroy our institutions and change the character of the Government not satisfied with the blood that has been shed? Are they not satisfied with one martyr? Does not the blood of Lincoln appease the vengeance and wrath of the opponents of this Government? Is their thirst still unslaked? Do they want more blood? Have they not honor and courage enough to effect the removal of the Presidential obstacle otherwise than through the hands of the assassin?”[206] Mr. Sumner never made answer or allusion to this Presidential attack, but others did. It became the subject of debate in the House of Representatives of the Massachusetts Legislature, on resolutions by Hon. George B. Loring, the Representative of Salem, already mentioned in this Appendix.[207] His reasons for vindication of Mr. Sumner were private and public, according to the report of the debate. “The first men to congratulate him on his change [from the Democratic party] were John A. Andrew and Charles Sumner; and he should not forget that Mr. Sumner, against whom he had warred so long, was the first to extend sympathy to him, and had led him on till this day. “Passing now to the public reasons for his advocacy of the fourth resolution, Mr. Loring paid a high eulogium to Senator Sumner, who, he said, would live in history with Adams and Hancock, for his adherence to and courageous advocacy of great principles, and his remarkable record since the war of the Rebellion broke out. Men might say that Mr. Sumner was an impracticable theorist; but it was to him, more than to any other man, that we owed the defeat of the iniquitous Louisiana proposition in the last Congress, the success of which would have established a precedent fraught with great danger to the nation.”[208] The resolution, adopted by the House March 14, and the Senate April 7, 1866, was as follows:-- “_Resolved_, That, while thus expressing our confidence in our Senatorial and Representative delegations in Congress, and the determination of the people to stand by them, we are also impelled to take notice of the recent charges made by name against one of the Senators of this State, Hon. Charles Sumner, in the lately published speech of the President of the United States, and to declare that the language used and the charges made by the President are unbecoming the elevated station occupied by him, an unjust reflection upon Massachusetts, and without the shadow of justification or defence founded upon the private or public record of our eminent Senator.”