The Davenport daily gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1869, 1856-06-03
THE DAILY GAZETTE.
From the New York Tribune.
ASSAULT ON Mr.. DUWU34.

The assaulton Senator Sumner rsverber-
I ate. through the land, causing throughout
! the Frec States the inten5est ezcitenent
! and Indignation. Other men have been %
causelessly assailed, and as wsntonly, IT
/ not as sayanely, beateni but the kn0cktDG-
down and beating to bloody blindssss and
uneonsciousuess Of an American Senator
while writing at his desk in the Senate
! Chamber is a novel Illustration of the fero-
I cious Southern spirit. 1t carries homo TO
myriads Of Understandings more vivid, II
not wholly original perception, Of the deg
| radiation in which the Free States have con.
sented for years to exist. The degrade
ton was as rea! years ago, but never before
so paIpable as now. When a citizen of .
Northern State so thoroughly subservient
to the Slave Power as Edward Everett,
could be opposed ia the Senate and we'll
nigh rejected as Minister to England, be-
cause he had once, under the pressure OF
strong lucal feeling, avo@ed, as candidate
for Congress, some abstract opposition u
Slavery, ii vas high time for the North to
unite in deesriu2 that this sort Of inquisi-
tion must BE- stopped-that, so long a. de-
votion 10 Slavery was ~, made barrier
to Executive station, DEVOTION 10 Freedom
lacked manly f-assertion, especially in
The Senate, where majority Of her nomi-
nal repre- sentatiyes voted only few weeks
since, TO kick out the petition of Free Kan
sas for admission, on some patry pretext of
nfortaslity, and surrender her citizens To
the unchecked bruta'ities and nhamed in
dgnatoa ofthe Border Rufians.
The beating OF private citizens or the
butchery Of Irish walters by the Southern
Oligarchy, have no impression onths pub
lie mind at all comparable in breadth or
vyidness with that which has been and
will be produced by the assault Of which
Mr. Sumner has been the victim. Widely
known in both hemispheres as among the
first of American scholars aud orators, his
career as d Senator has conferred renown
even on the glorious commonwealth OF
which he is the foremost representative
Elected "a the champion of no interest, no
clique, no party, bat simply of the great idea
Of Impartial Free dom, he has been emi.
nently faithful TO his calling. Nobody
could infer from his votes or speeches that
he was ever, in the party sense, Wing or
Democrat; but no one can doubt that he is
an earnest and fearless contempter of Sla-
very BHtfour years in public life, be has
already done much TO redeem the term Ab.
olitionist from the unmerited odium which
an age of baseuess, self-seeking and iEfi-
deity to Revolutionary tradition and he
publican principle has contrived to cast
upon it. He has elevated the range and
widened tie scope of Senatorial dsbats.
summoning Poetry and Literature to the
elucidation of the gragss. and dryest poiiti-
cal propositions, While BY careful prepara-
tion and finished oratory he has attracted
thousands to hear and 70 consider elemental
truths With the euunGpatign OF which the
corrupt and seFVlis atmosphere OF the Fed
ersl metropolis has been agitated far TOO
seldom. There is no man now living who
within the last five years has rendered ths
American People greater service or won
for himself a nobier fame than Charles
Sumner.
1t is high time that this People should
take stand not only against the Immediate
perpetrators OF ruffian assaults but against
their confederates and spoiogists in public
life and in the Prcss. AS long as words-
sincerely spoken can be plsaded as an apoi.
ogy for blows, we shall be regarded BY i'm
partial observers as barbarians--and Justly
so regarded. So long as our truly civilized
rule oil the barbarian elements in our politi.
cal system, we must be judged by the char.
acter and conduct of our accepted masters-
The youth trained 10 knock down his hu-
man chsttels for 'insclence"--that is, for
any sort ofresistance TO his good pleasure
will thereafter knock down and beat 9TH
er human beings who thwart bis wishes
no matter whether they be Irish walters or
sew-England Senators. Once admit the
ides of Inc pred6miHince of brutal force
OF the tight Of iDJi1dual appeal from words
to blows-End human society becomes a
state oil " Or, diversified BY interludss Of ft-
full and hollow truce. And they who, az
legislators, editors, public speakers, or 10
Whatever capacity suggests apologies for
ru.fian assaults, or intimate that wor 10 cas
excuse them, make themselves partners in
the crime and the intamy.