I have served the National Constitution longer than he has, and with such fidelity as I could command. I have served it at moments of peril, when the great principles of Liberty to which I have been devoted were in jeopardy; I have served it when there were few to stand together. In upholding this Constitution, never did I fail at the same time to uphold Human Rights. That was my supreme object; that was the ardent aspiration of my soul. Sir, I know how often I have failed,--too often; but I know that I never did fail in devotion to the Constitution, for the true interpretation of which I now plead. The Senator speaks without authority, and, he must pardon me if I say, with levity, when he makes such an allegation against one whose record for the past twenty years in this Chamber is ready to answer him. I challenge him to point out one word ever uttered by me to justify his assault. He cannot do it. He makes his onslaught absolutely without one tittle of evidence. Sir, I have taken the oath to support the Constitution, but it is that Constitution as I understand it. In other days, when this Chamber was filled with intolerant slave-masters, I was told that I did not support the Constitution, as I have been told to-day by the Senator, and I was reminded of my oath. In reply I borrowed the language of Andrew Jackson, and announced, that, often as I had taken that oath, I had taken it always to support the Constitution as I understood it; and it is so now. I have not taken an oath to support the Constitution as the Senator from Wisconsin understands it, without its animating soul. Sir, my oath was to support the National Constitution as interpreted by the National Declaration. The oath of the Senator from Wisconsin was different; and there, Sir, is the precise divergence between us. He swore, but on his conscience was a soulless text. I am glad that my conscience felt that there was something more. The Senator must hesitate before he assaults me again for any failure in devotion to the Constitution. I put my life against the life of the Senator; I put my little service, humble as it is, against the service of the Senator; I put every word uttered by me in this Chamber or elsewhere against all that has been said by the Senator,--and the world shall pronounce between us on the question he has raised. If I have inclined in favor of Human Rights, if I have at all times insisted that the National Constitution shall be interpreted always so that Human Rights shall find the greatest favor, I have committed no error. In the judgment of the Senator I may have erred, but I know that in the judgment of the American people I have not erred; and here I put myself upon the country to be tried.