Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1856-10-29

stitution was so literally shattered, with fright
that it is by no means certain yet that the
sight of canes he is daily exposed to, in O
fashionable world, will not end his days in
a mad-house. Say cane to him and he will
faint quicker than ever Pierce did ut the snort
of foaming charger. Is resentment nN both
natural and legitimate, when insult exasperates
feeling? It is more than all that it becomes a
duty, If not necessity, when impunity may in.
vite its repetition. In this State, on page s4I
of the Digest of the Laws of Georgia, is the
following statute: 4" See. 84l. On the trial of
any indictment for assault or an assault and
battery, the defendant may give in evidence to
the jury any opprobrious words or abusive lam
guage used by the prosecutor or person assault
ed or beaten; and such works and language
may or may not amount to a justification, ac-
cording to the nature and extent of the battery
all which shall be determined by the jury"
This places the beggar on level with the
millionaire, and allows the medicant to hold up
his head and feel that he is man. He does
not have to pocket an insult because his pocket
is empty, but, without endangering the crumb
that feeds his needy offspring, he may maui the
naughty scoundrel who taunts his freeborn and
independent spirit with unbearable affronts.
Then il would seem that in the region Col. B.
was reared resentment is not only regarded as
right, but, by implication, made duty, and,
being esteemed too precious for the monopoly
of opulence is placed by special statute with
in tho reach of the lowest humility and most
abject penury that when forced to blush may
burn to striks. Had not the Senate in this case
refused to interfere, and, by its guilty silence,
said to Sumner, rail on-vomit your filthy black
guardsms upon South Carolina and her white
haired and absent Senator, aye, let the exquisite
viruence of your venom draw over her limbs
and his the fablsd shirt of Nessus until, all
scethng and fostering in moral putrefacLion,
they stink in the nostrils of all Christendem
Free speech is your birth-right, and we will hear
you and so shall the nation, and, what is alas
still more moriifying, 50 shall all nations. Now
what is Col B. TO do? Obey the high and holy
| impulses of nature. Prove neither false to him
self, his househould, constituency, nor State
Meet this dirty onslaught with manly resent
ment, and teach the world that, albeit ravng
fnnaticism may hate, better men shall respect
South Carolina and her proud race of brave
born sons. He opens the statutes, reads the
penalty for assault and battery, decides to meet
it, hunts, cane in hand, for two days through
highways and Sy.ways for the skuking libeller,
and when exhausted in patience and disgusted
with delay he finds him}at last, and, quietly ap-
p.oaching him in front, looking him in the eye
and warning him of his intention, feathers in on
him with a small cane and gives him moderate
Where WRtsfs passtt5h s
Of. course the highest offence he committed
was charged in the indictment. He is arraigned
and tried by tho only tribunal entitled to take
cognizance of the case. is found guilty, fined and
paid the fine. New was he not fined enough I?
That is not COL BIS fault. He faced the mu.
sic" He stood up in court expressly to be fined
enough.
Curse Judge Crawford then if he was permit.
ted to escape too lightly. Would the law not
admit of an adequate fine being imposed in the
case? Blame the lawmakers then for that again
can be no fault of Col. BIS. But word about
the place. What sort of supersttious horror is
this, you editors of the country, who are the
Judges who preside in The court of public opin-
ion, and deliver ills decisions, are essay;ng to
inspire sane minds with about the holiness of
place? take it that the U. s. Senate chamber
is, when that body is not in session, a ten thou
sand times less sacred place than the lowest hut
on the sea beach, where the pratte of fisher
mans babe proclaims the hearth of a home. In
heavens high and holy name, don't insult CON-
mon sense and provoke the laugh of scorn by
making appeals in the meridian of the 18th
century 10 such passions as peopled the dark
ages with hideous and frantic phantoms. The
horns of oracle affairs have been found out to
be hollow, and had to be bored and sawed off
long ago. We have no sacred political places
in this enlightened age and country, and, if the
U. s. Senate ever was sacred, the presence and
conduct of drty-mouthed abolitionsts have
long since profaned and degraded il, and if it is
fit place for them to vomit their slime, it is
the best of all places to make them, dog.like,
return to their vomit and gulp it down, or sub.
NIT to have their noses rubbed in it. But you
have committed another error. When the coun.
try was crazy about Matt. Wards case, vonr
flaming sword cleaned amid the cleaning dark
ness Of popular madness and folly with light
celestial, as you fought the battle Of eternal JUS
tice against the internal demons of prejudice
that sought to polute the pure fountains of pub
lie Justice by heaving into them the dirt and rub
bish of prejudice b. fore the proper tribunal had
heard and past upon the merits Of the case.
Then you were right, and you won the applause
of every legal mind in the Union by the brilliant
triumphs of your genius over the blind, wicked,
and abominable moral heresies of your silly
mad.cap and hell.bound adversaries. But in
your hot haste to PREJUDICE Col. Brooks you
soil the laurels you[won in that memorable con.
hict, by anticipating public justice and inditing
infammatory phillippies against Col. B. before
he has had his trial.
We'll may Col. Brooks say TO you and others,
" Saul Saul! why persecutest thou me?" if he
| were one of the meek and lowly type of men.
| You tried him before he was legally tried, and
condemned him. You saw him legally tried and
condemned and then you tried him over again,
and again condemn him, and what want to
know is, " in the name of all the gods at once"
when and where are you going to stop trying
and condemning him. Allow me to tell you,
he is no coward, no villain, no blackguard. All
these epithets may belong to Sumner, but do
not belong 10 Brooks, and witty as you are,
brave as you nre, fierce as you are, and mentally
powerful as you are, you may hurl The anathe-
mas of your inveetive against him, until the
earth ouakes, land the heavens tremble and Col.
Brooks still will have millions of irreproachable
witnesses TO bear the highest testimony to his
yalor, discretion, and integrity. If calling bold
men towards could only make them such, then
would Col. B. be one indeed, and dare say it
would not be long until the Hippancy of das.
tards would commit the destinies of chicken.
hearted wordsto tho reign of despotsm of
poltroonery. The Journal has more influence
with me than all other papers in The Union, but
in this matter, while =! regret the necessity that
forced Brooks to cane Sumner, am ready to
exclaim, "Well done, thou good and faithful
servant" under like circumstances shit him
4, again p make him hold his tongue or hold his
own, be dacept or be silent, one or the other
CO u