Page:The Barbarism of Slavery - Sumner - 1863.pdf/64

 58 again I shall speak only of what has already passed into history Even in that earliest debate, in the First Congress after the Constitution,

on the memorial of Dr. Franklin, simply calling stej) to the verge of its powers to discourage

upon Congress "to every species of

our fellow-men," the Slave-masters

traffic in

" became angry, indulged in sneers at " the men in the gallery being Quakers and Abolitionists, and, according to the faithful historian, Hildreth, poured out "torrents of abuse," while one of them began the charge so often since directed against all Anti-Slavery men, by declaring his astonishment that Dr. Franklin had " given countenance to an application which called upon Congress, in explicit terms, to break a solemn compact to which he had himself been a party," when it was obvious that Dr. Franklin had clone no such thing. This great man was soon summoned away by death, but not until he had fastened upon this debate an undying condemnation, by portraying, with his matchless pen, a scene in the Divan at Algiers, where a corsair Slave-dealer, insisting upon the enslavement of "White Christians, is made to repeat the Congressional speech of an American Slave-

master.

But these displays of Violence have naturally increased with the intensity of the discussion. little

Impelled to be severe, but with

appreciation of the finer forms of debate, they could not

be severe except by violating the rules of debate not knowing that there is a serener power than any found in personalities, and that all severity which transcends the rules of debate becomes disgusting as the talk of Yahoos, and harms him only who degrades himself to be its mouth-piece. Of course, on such occasions, the cause of Slavery, amidst all seeming triumphs,

has

first

and Truth has gained. was against John Quincy Adams that

lost,

It

directed in full force.

'

To

this violence

was

a character spotless as snow, and

to universal attainments as a scholar, this illustrious citizen

added experience in all the eminent posts of the Eepublic, which he had filled with an ability and integrity, now admitted even by his enemies, and which impartial history can not forget. Having been President of the United States, he entered the House of Representatives at the period when the Slave Question In all in its revival first began to occupy the public attention. the completeness of his nature, he became the representative of