Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1856-08-07
lDoIitieaI ReaOinp.
The Assault upon Senator Sumner, A
Crime against the People.
Speech Of Hon, John A. Bingham,
OF OHIO,
INTHE HOUSE IF REPRESENTATIVES,
fOEn


July 8, 1856.
Mr.. BINGHAM. cannot express my sur
prise at the remarks that have fallen from the
gentleman from North Carolina. He seems to
labor under the impression that the case before
the House is but simple case of assault and
battery; within the jurisdiction Of a Justices
court. snd involving at most 6ye-dollar pen
atty
The gentleman, sir, by the temper and Ian
.guage of bis remarks, seems to count the guar
antees Of the Constitution as but dust in the bal.
ance, when brought in conflict with his over
bearing sectional prejudices.
Mr.. CLINGMAN. Will the gentleman allow
me to speaka single sentence wish to say
that what have said if true, is what would be
said of it at home. That is all.
Mr.. BINGHAM. TRUST, sir, that hereafter
the gentleman may exemplify by his practice
that rule Of conduct which he prescribes to
others, and which be thinks should be especially
observed by the distinguished Senator from
Massachusetts, Mr. Sumner. l submit to the
House, that il i'll becomes the gentleman to read
lectures fpropriety here to others and straight
way himself indulge in the grossest and most
wanton abuse of an absent man. | shoud like
10 know. sir, who constituted the gentleman
censor upon the personal appearance. bearing
and courage, of the accomplished Senator from
Massachusetts,
The gentleman seems equally at fault in his
estimate of the great character of the Senator,
JMr, Sumner, and Of the issues arising out of
that assault upon him which is now the subject
ofinquiry before the House. He very broadly
assumes that the peoples representatives have
no distinctive privileges ms representatives Of
the people, except during the actual session of
the House. Until the exjgency of this case
demanded it, who ever advanced such an opin-
ion as that The freedom of speech and the
security of person are upon trial to-day. These
great rights underlie aOd are essential to all
representative government. Upon their main
t4nance depends the life of the State, and with
out their observance there can be no free Con-
s,tution and no free people. That the repre-
sentative shall not be questioned elsewhere
than in and by the body of which he is mem
Der, for any speech or debate made in his off,
cial character, is principle coeval with the
English constitution. and recognized wherever
the common ls.w obtains as a rule of civil con
duct. T.
The gentleman from North Carolina tells US
that this privilege, as stated in our Constitution
is borrowed ''Hterally from an English statute l"
and that the statute was only Intended to pro-
,ect members of Parliament from civil liability
in courts Of justice for words spoken in debate.
Sir. the gentleman is someweat at fauls in his
reading, touching the history ofthis great priv
ilege. e'
Blackstone tells US that the privilege Of the
English Parliament was principally established
in order to protect its m tmbers, not only from
being mOlested by their fellow-Subjects, but al
so from being oppressed by the power OF the
Crown. He enumerates the privilege ofspeech
and of nerson as of the more notorious of these
privileges.-( Vol Up. 164. 70
By the statute of William and Mary, &C.. 2
chap. Q. the privilege Of speech is declared to
be zone of the liberties of the people }" and it
is further provided, "thatthe freedom ofsPesch,
and debates, and proceedings, in Parliament,
ought not to be iDpeached or questioned in
any court or place out of ParliamenG." And
sir. we are further told that this freedom Of
speech, as also the privilege of the person from
arrest, are particularly demanded of the King
jn person by the Speaker of the House of
Commons at the opening of every new Parlia.
rnent, and that THESE IMMUNITIEs are as ancient
as Edward the Confessor. Sir, venture the
opinion, that to THESE IMMUNITIEs OF the Eng
lish Commons, more than to any or all other
causes combined, is attributable the proud fact
in England's history. that her House of Com
mons, through centuries of conflict and Trial.
has stood forth the asylum of constitutional lib
erty, and firmly and defantly maintained the
rights Of the people against the encroachments
Sftytanny, whether attempted under the rule
of the Plantagenets, the Tudors, or the Stuarts.
This great privilege of the people, sir the
freedom Of speech and debate in their legsla-
tive assemblies, and the absolute immunity Of
their representatives from outrage, or insult. or
menace, in the exercise thereo'--is privilege
as sacred and as clearly and soemnly estab-
lished here in our own country as in england.
Sir. it is this statute of LIST William and Mary
that is incorporated in our Constitution, which
provides that the Senators and Representative
shall, in all cases except treason, felony, and
breach ottbe peace, be privileged from arrest
during their attendance at the session Of their
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