The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1856-05-29
SUMMERS ABUSE OF JUDGE BUTLER

1hc following IS an extract from tho
speech Of CHARLES A. SUMNER, of Massa.
chusctts. 1t is Il rare specimen of balder.
dasl and caumny, containing the personal
attack on Judge BUTLER, which led to the
difficulty between SUMNER and BnooKs:
"But, before entering upon the argument,
must say something of II general charac.
ter, particularly i'll response to what has
fallen from Senators who have raised them.
selves to cminence OH this floor in clampi.
onship of human wrong; I mean the Sen
ator from South Carolina, (Mr. Butler,) and
the Senator from Illinois, mr. Douglas,)
who, though unlike as Don Quixote and
Sancho Panza, yet, like this couple, sally
forth together in the same cause. The SEN
ator from South Carolina has read many
books of chivalry, aud believes himself n
chivalrous knight, with sentiments of honor
and courage. OF course he has chosen
mistress to aotom lie has made his vo,os. and
acho, Mo"gh ugly to others, is alwuys toveiv
TO him; Mo"yh polintel IN tie sighi of The
World, as choste az his siyht-I meo,. the
hurlot, slacery. For her has tongue is ul-
,cays profuse in arords. Let her be im
peoched an character, or any proposition
made TO Shut her ont from tie extension of
her ac"mtonaess. and no erirauoqance of
manner or hardihood of assertion is then
too great for this Senator.
"7Ae frenzy of Don Q"irote, in Jehalfof
his 'ocncA Dulcinea del 7oboso, is all sur,
pnssed. The asserted rights of slavery,
which shock equality Of all kinds, are cloak
ed 10y fantastic claim of equality. If the
slave States cannot enjoy what, in mockery
of the great fathers of the republic, he mis-
names equality under the Consitution-in
other words, the full power in the national
territories to compel frllow-men to unpaid
toll, to separate husband and wife, and 10
sell little children at the auction. block
then, sir, the chivalric Senator will conduct
the State Of South Carolina out of the
Union! Heroic Knight! Exalted Srna-
tor! A second Moses come for second
Exodus
but not content with this poor menace,
which we have been twice told was meas
urcd,' the Senator, in the unrestraincd chiv
airy OF his nature, has undertaken to apply
orprobrious words to those who differ from
him on this floor. He calls them sectional
and f:natical ; and opposition to the usur-
patton in Kansas, he denounccs as IAN uu-
calculating fanaticis,n.' To be sure, these
chnryes lack aN grace Of originality, and
alt sentiment Of truih; but the adventurous
Senator does not hesitate. He is Tie an
compromising, unJlushi"g representative on
tbs foor Of q .Ragrant sectionaiisn, sph;ch
now dominccrs Opcr tic rcpuLiic. and net
with tadirrous ignorance nf his oepn a,osi-
Hon-mnuble to see Mmselfos Others see him
Or mtM 0n cGrontery whicA even his aohiie
he"d o"qht not to protect from, rebukp, he
applies to those here 'cAo resist his xectio1a-
nhsm, Tie very cpithet achich designutes
@mscy:
"Thc men who strive to bring back the
government to lis original policy, when
freedom and not slavery was national.
while slavery and not frclom was sectional.
lie arraigns az sectional. This will not do.
1t involves too great a pervcrsion of terms.
ieii that Scmaiur that il is 10 himself and
TO the "organization' of which he is the
committed advuca!c," that this cpthct
belongs now Elsten it upon them. For
myself | care little for names; lu. since
the question has been raised here, affirm
that the Republican party of the Union is
in no just sense Sectional, but more than
any other party, national and that it now
goes forth to dislodg gc from the high places
of the government the tyrannical section
aIlsn Of which the Senator from, South
Carolina IS one Of the maddest zeolots.
Il
"But tell that Senator, that there are
characters badly eminent, Of whose flnati-
c'sm there can he no question. Sucl, were
the ancient Egyptians. who worslipcd
d'vnlties in hrulsh forms; the Druls, who
'iarkencd the forests of oak, in Which they
lived, 10y sacrifices Of blood; the Mexicans,
who surrendered countless victims to the
Precipitation Of their obscene idols; the
Spanlards, wl'o under Alva, sought 20 force
the lnInisilion upon Holland, by tyranny,
Kindred to that now employed to force
slavery upon Kansas; and such were the
Alger'nes, when the solemn concavc, after
listening to speech not unlike that of the
Senator from South Carolina, they resolved
to continue the slavery of white Christians,
and to extend it to the countrymcn of
Washington! Aye, sir, extend it! And
in this samdrcary catalogue faithful history
must record all who now, in an enlightened
age and in land Of boastel freedom, stand
up, in perversion Of the Constitution and
III denial of immortal truth. TO fasten
new shackle upon their fellow-man. If
the Senator wishes to see fanatics, let him
look around among his own associates; let
him look At himself"
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