The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-05-29

was in the Senate Chamber at the time, behinC
the chair of the President of the Senate, will
some gentlemen from his own State that b,
did not witness the beginning of the act tina
he did not know the time nor place where i
would be committed but he did not say tina
he did not know that it was to be committed
Mr.. Brooks was present. watching Mr.. Sumner
till, as the Star says, all the ladies had also re
tired. Mr.. S. was so absorbed, that he saw no
body, was unconscious of the presence Of any
body in the Chamber. He had drawn his arm
chair close up to his desk, and his legs were
stretched out under it, in such way that h,
was in a most defenceless position. He die
not observe the approach of Mr.. Brooks; ant
the first intimation he had of his presence was
the sound of his own name" Mr.. Sumner
He looked up, scarcely suspending his employ
ment, and saw Mr.. Brooks standing in front o
his desk, who said to him" have read you
speech twice; it is a libel on the State of Soutl
Carolina, and on Mr.. Butler, who is relativ,
of mine" He heard no more, and knew ne
more, until he found himself on the floor
coming to, with his head supported by Mr.
Morgan. If any other words were spoken by
Mr.. Brooks, as reported by the Star, he did
not hear them. He felt a blow, and then al
was darkness he had no intellectual or visua
consciousness; but simply feeling of blows
descending On his head. Eye-witnesses say
that he rose, reeling, wrenching his desk from
its fastenings, and Mr.. Simonton, of the Times
says he staggered, making aimless efforts, the
blows still descending rapidly On his head, till
| he sank on the floor.
The assault is without one mitigating cir
cumstance. The provocation was alleged tc
be certain personalities in the speech of Mr.
Sumner towards Mr.. Butler. We print the
whole of the speech in this weeks Era. lie,
every reader examine the personalities for him
SELF Mr.. Sumner, who had been ridiculed by
Mr.. Butler, turned the battery Of ridicule upon
him, with tremendous force; but, so far as we
can see, imputes to him no dishonorable mo-
tive, does not question his integrity, does not
stigmatize him as guilty of falsehood, avoids
any imputation not strictly within parliament
AIRY decorum. There is nothing in the passage
relating to Mr.. Butler that would have pro-
voked violence from him, had he been present;
there is nothing to justify or excuse violence
on the part of his friends. But had there been
gross personalities, they would not have justified
this inhuman assault Mr.. Brooks is large
man, nearly the equal of Mr.. Sumner in muscle.
Mr.. Brooks was armed with a cane-Mr. Sum-
ner had no weapon of any kind, and never car
10 10 hv xub kpo
him best, to be incautious as to personal dan
ger-without an emotion of fear-never dream
ing of guarding himself against violence. He
was in position which rendered him incapa.
BILE of defence against sudden attack. When
he raised his head, on hearing his name pro-
nounced, and heard the words quoted above,
he did not even then conceive the idea that he
was to be assaulted-and he was stunned by
the first blow, which he was not in position
to prevent, so as to be utterly disabled for in
telligent resistance to the succeeding blows.
In olden times, the clear, deliberate warning
of the assailant rang out, "Draw, and defend
YOURSELF" and the combatants fought on equal
terms. Had Mr.. Brooks approached Mr.. Sum-
ner, and called upon him, rise, and defend your
SELF" placing himself on equal terms with him,
there would have been at least something in
the holiness of the procedure to redeem it from
utter Reproduction. AS it is, we repeat, we can
see in it not single mitigating or extenuatng
circumstance; and we cannot understand how
there can be generous, fair-minded man,
North or South, whose heart will not cry out
with horror against the atrocous deed.
Let us point the attention of the People to
the four causes which expose free State mem
bers of Congress to insult and violence in the
discharge of their duties.
l. They are not trained to the use of arms
but educated to rely upon law and an enlight
ened public opinion for protection.
2. Free State members are divided into two
classes-one, subscrvient to the Slave Power,
the other antagonistic to it. This division
weakens them, and even in this Congress, the
shareholders, combined with their Northern
and Western auxiliaries, outnumber the Anti
Slavery members: hence they have the audaci-
ty inspired by consciousness of numerical
superiority.
3. Congress meets and members reside in
slaveholding District, where the weight of pub
lie opinion is on the side of the Slave Power.
This gives to the shareholders and their auxili.
aries the advantage of position.
a. Above all, the whole Executive Power of
the Government is in the hands of the Slave
Power. 1t commands the Army and Navy,
has the custody of the Treasury, rules supreme
through all the Departments-the President.
all the Secretaries, all the Heads of Bureaus,
are but the creatures of it's will. This posses.
sion of absolute power naturally inspires an
arrogant, overbearing, insolent spirit, and
every member from free State, who makes
up his mind to defy it, must take his life in his
hands,
We have pointed to the causes Of this state
of things. To name them, is to suggest their
remedies. If the People of the free States
would not become, in all points, q subject, de-
graded race, they must apply them speedily
otherwise, the Union will become the cause and
the badge of their degradation and enslaye.
ment
ACTION OF CONGRESS.
The Senate, last Thursday, was crowded with
spectators, anxious to know what course that
body would pursue in relation to the outrage
on Mr.. Sumner, and in vindicaton of its privi-
leges. After the brief, unimpassioned state
ment made by Senator Wilson, printed above,)
there was pause, it being expected that some
member of the majority would move in the
matter, but, as it was soon evident that no mo.