NOTE.--When Mr. Sumner began the publication of his Works in 1870, he engaged Mr. George Nichols, of Cambridge, to read the proofs editorially. This Mr. Nichols did, with great care and ability, until about ten days before his death, which occurred on the 6th of July, 1882. His work of supervision ended on p. 334 of this volume.
EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW PROTECTED BY NATIONAL STATUTE.
SPEECHES IN THE SENATE, ON HIS SUPPLEMENTARY CIVIL RIGHTS BILL, AS AN AMENDMENT TO THE AMNESTY BILL, JANUARY 15, 17, 31, FEBRUARY 5, AND MAY 21, 1872.
Brave Theseus, they were MEN like all before, And human souls in human frames they bore, With you to take their parts in earthly feasts, With you to climb one heaven and sit immortal guests.
STATIUS, _Thebaïd_, tr. Kennett, Lib. XI.
I was fully convinced, that, whatever difference there is between the Negro and European in the conformation of the nose and the color of the skin, there is none in the genuine sympathies and characteristic feelings of our common nature.--MUNGO PARK, _Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa_, (London, 1816,) Vol. I. p. 80, Ch. 6.
The word MAN is thought to carry somewhat of dignity in its sound; and we commonly make use of this, as the last and the most prevailing argument against a rude insulter, “I am not a beast, a dog, but I am a Man as well as yourself.” Since, then, human nature agrees equally to all persons, and since no one can live a sociable life with another who does not own and respect him as a Man, it follows, as a command of the Law of Nature, that _every man esteem and treat another as one who is naturally his equal, or who is a Man as well as he_.--PUFENDORF, _Law of Nature and Nations_, tr. Kennett, Book III., Ch. 2, § 1.
Carrying his solicitude still farther, Charlemagne recommended to the bishops and abbots, that, in their schools, “they should take care to make no difference between the sons of serfs and of freemen, _so that they might come and sit on the same benches to study grammar, music, and arithmetic_.”--GUIZOT, _History of France_, tr. Black, (London, 1872,) Vol. I. p. 239.
May 13, 1870, Mr. Sumner asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to bring in a bill “Supplementary to an Act entitled ‘An Act to protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish the means of their vindication,’ passed April 9, 1866,” which was read the first and second times by unanimous consent, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and ordered to be printed.