Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-03-16
LETTER FROM SENATOR SUMNER.

oil March IL an nrtlclc winch stAtoS tnut -
at il very well known in this CITY Boston
that senator Sumner, in a speech delivered be-
fore convocation Of fellow traitors, October 3,
1850, did counsel open and forcible resistance
to the execution Of the Fugitive Slave Law
After this charge, the article proceeds to
clip out and put together q series Of separate
sentences from the speech referred TO, conclu-
ding the disconnected extracts with the follow
ing words by me:
There are many who will never shrink at
any cost and, notwithstanding all the afro
cious penalties OF this bill, from efforts to
a wandering fellow-man from bondage they
will offer him the shelter Of their houses, and,
If need be, WILL PROTECT HIS LIBERTY BY
FORCE"
Here il an open and unreserved statement OF
opinion by me on the extent to which many
were ready to carry opposition to the bill I; but
there is no expression Of my own concurrence
in this course. On the contrary, in the origi
nal speech, which was open before the writer,
this opinion with regard to others is followed
immcdiatcly--in the next sentence and consti-
tnting part Of the same paragraph - by q
precise declaration Of my own position, as fol.
lows.
g But let me be understood. COUNSEL NO
VIOLENCE There is another power, stronger
than any individual arm, which invoke
mean that inUincibie public opinion, inspired by
love OF God and man, which, without VIOLENCE
or noise, gently as the operations Of Nature,
makes and unmdkes laacs. Let this opinion be
felt in it's Christian might, and the Fugitive
Slave Bill will become everywhere upon our
soil dead letter. No lawyer will aid it by
counsel no citizen will be its agent it will
die of inanitiCn--like spider beneath an ex-
hausted receiver. Oh! it were well the tidngs
tt.e nd hot
IN Massachusetts this accursed bill has found
no serpGnts Sire, have in Bayonne honest
citizens and brave soldiers only but not en-
ecutioner,' was the reply Of the governor Of that
place to the royal mandate from Charles IL,
of France ordering the massacre OF St Bar
th0lomew'
The article in your paper, while asserting
that counselled forcible resistance to the bill,
carefully suppresses the above words, which
expressly excludes all counsel Of such forcible
resistance
make this correction simply to yindicate
my original statement in the Senate against
falsifcation Of the record which, without ex-
PLANTATION, might seem to be true.
sm, sir, your obedent servant
CHARLES SUMNER.
This card, which appeared in yesterdays
Union, clearly convicted its Boston correspond
emit Of a literary forgery; for to garblo mans
graph from it, 80 US to mako him responsible
for what, in the portion of the paragraph omit
ted, he disclains and deprecates is in our judg-
ment an act OF forgery. The Union, unable to
defend its correspondent insists that the spirit
OF Mr.. summers speech favors and tends to
- rl..t = ~nco
During the late debate in the Senate, on Ne
braska, Senators Douglas, Mason, Badger, and
Butler, INDUCED in remarks 30 vehement and
iofammatory, that tho only wonder is that
they did not provoke immediate violence; and
We have often read articles in the Union, and
heard speeches in Congress, directly calculated
to foster spirit Of violence throughout the
country but we shoud have lied, had we rep
resented the authors OF these speeches or edito-
rails aseotn~iiing violence, and attempted by
garblodt quotations TO prove this, when full
quotations would have disproved it.
The Union is profoundly impressed with
reverence for the Law, when it is to be en-
forced fr tho special benefit Of Slavery. and it
is shocked beyond measure that tho Fugitive
Slave Act, unconstitutional, mean, and abomi-
nabls should occasionally have encountered
rude resistance among People who cannot
quite nd themselvcs Of a lingering regard for
habeas corpus and jury trial but, when the
People OF Charleston mobbcd Mr.. Hoar, a
venerable citizen OF Massachusetts,, authorized
by his State to institute legal proceedings be-
fore the courts to test the constitutionality Of
South Carolina laws, against free colorcd sea-
men; when the law-abiding citizens Of New
Orleans showed the same distinguished con-
sideration for another gentleman, sent on q
similar errand; when Disunon Conventions
were in progress in the South, called to con-
slider tho mode and measure of resistance to
certain acts OF Congress when, all through
South Carolina, infammatory harangues were
made from the stump and the pulpit threaten
ing the Federal Government and melting the
People 70 violence; when the planters Of
county in Virginia still more lately seized one
Of their number, STAKEHOLDER, and without
trial, in gross disregard OF all law and justice,
d1Iho other ground than that he was opposed
20 Slavery, brutally stripped him, tied him to
tree, and whipped him tho Union had never
word to say--its delicate nerves were undis-
tarbsd--its reverence for Law was aslecp---like
Saul who held the clothes Of those who stoned
stephen, consenting TO his death, tho Union
stood BY, conscnt;ng 10 all these outrages.
II is very painful 10 sec this gentle, consist
ent, iaw-lcving journal thrown into agony
BY Me fearful spirit Of violence displayed in
Senator Samner's speeches Should il contin-
sue TO cultivate its scnsibiities 10 such cxccss
We fear 4 may DO disqualified for tho hard du-
tiss expscted Of Il by nm Administration not
ovsrburdened with either conscience or human
ity.
10 Tho students q Hamilton College, New