In a Democratic procession at Washington, one of the party banners had this inscription:--
Texts like these might be multiplied; but here are more than enough to exhibit the brutal spirit of Slavery, and the extent of its sympathy with the assault. This head may be properly closed by the words of the _Charleston Standard_ on the death of Mr. Brooks.
“Within the last year his name has transcended the limits of tongues and nations. What will be the verdict of posterity upon him will depend upon the question of power between the North and South. If the North shall triumph, if the South shall be gradually ground under, if Slavery shall be smuggled out of sight, and decent people shall be ashamed to own it, he will be condemned and execrated; but if the South shall stand firm in her integrity, if Slavery shall not fall before its antagonist, but shall stand, as it is capable of standing, _the great central institution of the land for all other interests to climb upon_, and shall give law to opinion, as it shall give regulation to Liberty, then his memory will be loved and venerated; _he will be recognized as one of the first who struck for the vindication of the South_; and as, like those who seized the tea in Boston Harbor, he had no other warrant of authority than that afforded _by his own brave heart_, he will only the more certainly be placed among the heroes and patriots of his country.”
Here is a plain and most interesting recognition of the assault as belonging to the glories of Slavery, while the author is one of its heroes.
There is a proper interest in knowing the personal provocation under which Mr. Sumner spoke. Something of this will be seen in the early onslaught upon him by the combined forces of Slavery, to which he replied promptly.[149] The _Globe_ shows constantly the tone which was adopted by the representatives of Slavery towards all who presumed in any way to question its rights. Here Mr. Butler, of South Carolina, was always prominent; and when the question of the admission of Kansas as a Free State occurred, he was especially aroused.
His previous personalities and aggressions were set forth by Hon. Henry Wilson, in a speech made in the Senate, June 13, 1856, in direct reply to him, after he had spent two days in criticising Mr. Sumner and defending his assailant. On this occasion Senator Butler was particularly indignant because Mr. Sumner had personified Slavery as a “harlot,” saying, “What in the name of justice and decency could have ever led that man to use such language?”[150] In the course of his speech the Senator described his former patronage of Mr. Sumner, saying, “I did not hesitate to keep up what my friends complained of, an intercourse with him, _which was calculated to give him a currency far beyond what he might have had, if I had not indulged in that species of intercourse_. My friends here and everywhere know it.”[151] Mr. Wilson’s reply is important in this history.