Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 30.djvu/198

 190 Southern Historical Society Papers.

Gentile, have denied it. The business men and Northern residents have denied it. A committee of your own House, a majority being- Republicans, has given its solemn and emphatic contradiction, and nailed the slander to the counter.

Now what should be said if that accusation should come from one I speak not of men, but of language within the rules of this House if that accusation against that people should come from one who is outlawed in his own home from respectable society, whose name is synonymous with falsehood, who is the champion and has been such on all occasions of fraud, who is the apologist of thieves, who is such a prodigy of vice and meanness that to describe him imagina- tion would sicken and invective exhaust itself. In Scotland, years ago, there was a man whose trade was murder, and he earned his livelihood by selling the bodies of his victims for gold.

This man's name was linked to his crimes, and to-day, throughout the world, is known as "Burking." If I were to characterize all that was pusillanimous in war, inhuman in peace, forbidding in morals and infamous in politics, I should call it Butlerizing.

Speaking of the effect of Young's remarks, a newspaper writer gave the following descriptive account:

" Butler himself was not one of .the first to catch the meaning of the hot, biting words which rang out so clear and distinct that not one syllable was unheard in the farthest corner of the hall. Butler clutched nervously at his desk, and leaned forward, as if he wanted to drink in the fearful arraignment to the full. Brown was evidently deeply in earnest, and after the first interruption by Hale, of New York, had the benefit of an exceedingly attentive audience, every one, both on the floor and in the galleries, having turned to hear what he intended to say. He is one of the best speakers in the House and gifted with a tenor voice which sounds with all the clear ring of silver. He has a deal of warmth and earnestness in his manner that makes his delivery unusually impressive under any cir- cumstances, and this increased to-day as he neared the climax of his characterization to a pitch of hot, passionate utterances that made him more eloquent than anyone who has spoken in Congress for years. As the full intent of his words became apparent, the Speaker rattled savagely with his gavel. But Brown was no more to be stopped than a whirlwind. He leaned forward, his face crimson with the passionate determination that moved him, and his hands clenched together as if to force the scathing words out faster and still more forcibly. As his voice died on their ears, the first impulse moved