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LVII.
Mr. Burlingame, afterwards Plenipotentiary to China, and from China to the Western nations, spoke of the assault with boldness, eloquence and force. ‘I denounce it,’ he said, ‘in the name of the Constitution it violates. I denounce it in the name of the sovereignty of Massachusetts, which was stricken down by the blow. I denounce it in the name of humanity. I denounce it in the name of civilization, which it outraged. I denounce it in the name of that fair play which bullies and prize-fighters respect. The Senator from Massachusetts sat in the silence of the Senate Chamber, engaged in the employments appertaining to his office, when a member from the House, who had taken an oath to sustain the Constitution, stole into the Senate, a place which had hitherto been held sacred against violence, and smote him, as Cain smote his brother.’ Keitt exclaimed: ‘That is false.’ Burlingame replied: ‘I will not bandy epithets with the gentleman. I am responsible for my own language; doubtless he is responsible for his.’ ‘I am,’ said Keitt. ‘I shall stand by mine,’ replied Burlingame. Mr. Comins, the other Representative from Boston, said the murderous blow that smote down Mr. Sumner was ‘the representative of a power that, having failed to sustain itself in intellectual conflict, resolves itself into brute force, stalks into the Senate Chamber, and there, with bludgeon in hand, beats freedom over the head.’ ‘In your arrogance,’ he said, ‘you assume to be the sole and rightful judges of parliamentary decorum and parliamentary law. We tell you plainly, we will no longer submit to these things.’ This language gave no little offence to Brooks and his friends, but they took no action concerning it. Brooks felt compelled, however, to notice Burlingame's speech. Several days after its delivery, William W. Boyce of South Carolina and Thomas S. Bocock of Virginia, acting for Brooks, met in consultation with Speaker Banks and George Ashmun, who were friends of Burlingame, with a view of arranging the matter either amicably or otherwise. Burlingame was present, and during the consultation expressed his personal regard for Brooks, but condemned the act committed by him. This nice discrimination between the actor and
