Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1856-05-29
From the Baltimore Sun.
THE ASSAULT IN THE SENATE.


THE ASSAULT IN THE SENATE.
1t is seldom perhaps, that more gene
raj feeling Of disapprobation has been felt
and expressed in regard to a circumstance
of the kind, than is called forth on all hands
by the outrage and dissertation committed
by the Hon. Mr. Brooks, of S. c., in his
violent assault upon Senator Sumner, in the
Senate Chamber, on Thursday last. 1t was
bad enough that that hall should have been
permitted to become the theatre of veno-
nous invective and personal defamation be-
tween members, and that the tone of the
public discussions there held should have
been SO lowered as we find them of late,
(and in which, it must be conceded, Mr..
Sumner appears as one of the adepts;) but
it is indeed humiliation and degradation
an offence, too as it were to the whole
country-that its sanctity should have been
so ruthlessly violated by such a scene as that
enacted by Mr.. Brooks.
AS matter of course, an occurrence of
this kind was not to be lightly passed over,
and it is gratifying to observe that both
houses of Congress are promptly taking ac
ton on the subject, and have appointed
special committee to inquire into the trans
action, while Mr.. Stuart of Mo-, has pro-
posed new rule for the Senate, prohibiting
reflections upon the motives of members,
ETC., in the debates ofthat body. Mr. Cass
is at the head of this special committee
in the Senate, and Mr.. Campbell, of Ohio, is
chairman of the House committee. The
telegraph informs us, also, that the Massa-
chusetts Legislature has appointed special
committee to consider what action shall be
taken by that body on the subject, and a
meeting of the citizens Of Boston was called
last evening to consider the matter.
Mr. Wilson, of Mass, the colleague of
Mr.. Sumner, made a staten elt of the
affair to the Senate yesterday, which re-
presents that Mr.. S. was taken at very
great disadvantage by his assailant. The
Washington STIR, however, has an account
Of the assault, said to be from an eye-wit-
ness, in whose judgment and in the integ-
rity of whose statements it says it can rely,
which is as follows:
s'On Thursday, after he had sought Mr..
Sumner elsewhere without finding him, Mr..
Brooks went to the Senate chamber, (the
Senate having sdjourned,) and Mr.. S. be-
ing there, Mr.. Brooks sat near Mr.. Sumner
until few ladies, who were on the floor,
had retired. He then went up to Mr.. Sum-
ner, who was at his desk writing and said {:
" 1 have read your speech carefully and
with as much disposition to do you justice
as [ could command and [ have deliberate
ly come to the conclusion that you were gull
ty of gross libel upon my State, and of a
wanton insult to my absent and grey haired
relative, Judge Butler, and [ feel myself
under obligations to infict punishment for
this libel and insult
"Mr. Sumner thereupon essayed to rise
from his seat as though to resist what Mr..
Brooks had said, when he CNIr Brooks)
struck Mr.. S. with rapid and repeated blows
about the head with a gutta-percha cane,
until Mr. S. fell AS Mr. Brooks was sus-
pending his blows (Which he did the instant
Mr.. Sumner felD Mr.. Crittenden came up
and interposed, saying ''don't kill, &c. >
Mr.. Brooks thereupon left the spot and re-
manned with his friends in the Senate cham
Der, until Mr.. Summers friends, several of
whom were present, Mr.. Morgan Of New
York, and Mr.. Foster, of Connecticut, a.
mong them, lifting him up, bore him into
one of the ante-rooms of the Senate
The Star also states that Mr.. Brooks
with his friends, after the police officer, who
had served the warrant on him, had retired,
went to the Office Of Justice Hollingshead
and offered security for court. The Justice
did not think it proper to take security for
court until he knew the condition of Mr..
Sumner, and therefore held Mr.. Brooks to
security in $500 for his appearance at the
Office on the oath inst, (Friday,) at 4 o.
clock P. NJ, for further hearing.
The following it seems are the paragraphs
in the speech Of Mr.. Sumner to which Mr..
Brooks took exceptions, and which led to the
assault
With regret I como again upon the Sen
ator from South Carolina, (Mr Butler,
who, omni present in this debate, overlooked
with rage at the simple suggestion that Kan
sas had applied for admission as State !;
and, with incoherent phrases, discharged
the loose expectoration of his speech, now
upon her representative, and then upon her
people. There was no extravaganza of the
ancient Parliamentary debate which he did
not repeat; nor was there any possible de-
Walton from truth which he did not make,
with so much of passion, [ am glad to add {,
as to save him from the suspicion of inten-
tional alteration. But the Senator touches
nothing which he does not disfgure-with
error, sometimes of principle, sometimes of
fact. He shows an incapacity of accuracy,
whether in stating the Constitution or in
stating the law, whether in the details OF
statistics or the divisions of scholarship
He cannot open his mouth, but out there
flies blunder.
/ But it is against the people Of Kansas
that the sensibilities of the Senator are par
ticnlarlu aroused Coming as he announces