Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/181

 SUMNER stating the Constitntion or in stating the law; whether in the details of statistics or the diver- sions of scholarship. He can not open his mouth but out there flies a blunder. Surely he ought to be familiar with the life of Franklin; and yet he referred to this household character, while acting as agent of our fathers in England, as above suspicion; and this was done that he might give point to a false contrast with the agent of Kansas — not knowing that, however they may differ in genius and fame, in this ex- perience they are alike: that Franklin, when intrusted with the petition of Massachusetts Bay, was assaulted by a foul-mouthed speaker, where he could not be heard in defense, and denounced as a ** thief," even as the agent of Kansas has been assaulted on this floor and denounced as a * 'forger." And let not the vanity of the senator be inspired by the parallel, with the British statesman of that day; for it is only in hostility to freedom that any parallel can be recognized. But it is against the people of Kansas that the sensibilities of the senator are particularly aroused. Coming, as he announces, "from a State" — ay, sir, from South Carolina — ^he turns with lordly disgust from this newly- formed com- munity, which he will not recognize even as a '*body politic." Pray, sir, by what title does he indulge in this egotism? Has he read the history of *'the State" which he represents? He can not surely have forgotten its shameful 171