Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/176

 THE WORLD'S FAMOUS ORATIONS which all this wrong is sustained. From no common source could it proceed. In its per- petration was needed a spirit of vaulting ambi- tion which would hesitate at nothing; a hardi- hood of purpose which was insensible to the judgment of mankind; a madness for slavery which would disregard the Constitution, the laws, and all the great examples of our history; also a consciousness of power such as comes from the habit of power; a combination of energies found only in a hundred arms directed by a hundred eyes; a control of public opinion through venal pens and a prostituted Press; an ability to subsidize crowds in every vocation of life — the politician with his local importance, the la"v'yer with his subtle tongue, and even the authority of the judge on the bench; and a familiar use of men in places high and low, so that none, from the president to the lowest bor- der postmaster, should decline to be its tool; all these things and more were needed, and they were found in the slave power of our Republic. There, sir, stands the criminal, all unmasked be- fore you — heartless, grasping, and tyrannical^ with an audacity beyond that of Verres, a sub- tlety beyond that of Machiavelli, a meanness be- yond that of Bacon, and an ability beyond that of Hastings. Justice to Kansas can be secured only by the prostration of this influence; for this the power behind — greater than any presi- dent — ^which succors and sustains the crime. 166