The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1860-06-13
The New York Times on SUR
uer'S SDeech,

ACA . ORNSNAAs
The New York Times criticises the speech
of Senator Sumner with severity, and thinks
that it is not only iudefensible in matter as
we'll as manner, but that the occasion Of its
delivery (on bill for the admission Of Kan.
sas) was very inappropriate. We extract
from the article the following:
This is the moment selected by Mr.. Sum.
ner for making q speech, ostensibly in sup
port of the application, but scarcely intended,
and certainly not in the slightest degree
calculated, to promote it. We printed that
speech in oil its fearful length,-fourteen
columns of the closest type,-in the Times
OF yesterday morning. Those OF our read
ers who have perused it will sustain Us when
we say, that it did not contain single argu-
ment in support OF the admission OF Kansas,
that it did not consider the merits OF the
application, or answer one Of the objections
by which it may be resisted. From begin
ninn TO end it was a vehement denunciation
of slavery. The labor of four leisure years
seems TO have been devoted by Mr.. Sumner
TO collecting every instance OF cruelty, vio'
lence, passion, Coarseness and Vulgarty re-
corded as having happened within the slave
States, or as having been committed by a
STAKEHOLDER. Congressional debates, State
codes, public meetings, newspaper files, and
police reports, have been studied and colla'
ted with painful industry ;-statistical tables
have been ransacked for evidence OF relative
decay and ineriority on the part OF the sluve
States land the whole has been wrought
into a speech, argumentative in form but
purely denunciatory in fact and intention,-
and apparently designed merely TO sting and
exasperate the slavebolding portion OF his
audience end OF the country to the highest
pitch of human endurance.
Now we would not underrate, and we GER
tainly do not overrate, this sort Of eloquence
+ A vigorous use Of language will
5 sharp and corrodng epithets-the ability tc
r marshal offensive facts in the most ottensiv
manner, are among the most common a,tri
!. butes of popular orutory. MIR. Sumner add
u 10 them certain graces OF style and expires
e sion, indicative OF extended reading and con
d siderable inte ellectusl culture though thes
!. are greatly weakened in effect by the pei
# vading egotsm and the painfully evden
r elaboration, which mark every sentence c
e his ambitious performances. But iDhat IS III
!. use of all this debuncistion This is yer
=, prossc que =tion-one which will doubles
Is provoke the SCOTS OF that class of politician
g who suppose that they monopolize all theT
is extant OF high principle. But it Is one
N which every practical sta tesman should b
'e prepared to see his conduct tested. Sci
n, alor OF the United States holds his seat fl
e practical purposes. Legislation is pract
e, cal matter,-seeking practical ends by ad
u quute and practicable means.
OF Legislators are not preachers, nor essa.
~ lists, nor prosecuting attorneys. There O.
at certain things to be done-certain measur
in to be accomplished, for the promotion OF Il
IN public good and members of Congress
'S bound to do them. They abuse their static
IS. and betray their trust, when they sacrifi
Ut great objects of public utility to the graft
cution of personal passion, or the indulgen
f. of private hatreds. If their speeches Tel
OF to no useful public end, they are worse th'
1g idle they involve gross ubuSe OF his
T. public stalion-a serious betrayal OF gTa
g public trust.
c. What had Mr.. Summers fierce diatri
against Slavery 10 do with the question
admitting Kansas The Constitution
that State excludes Slavery, and there is
pre- position from any quarter to force it up
Ir her people. FOury years ago such an attem
lie was made-and there wus then valid
cd cuse for examining the character OF the
. stitution which it was proposed to incorp
y rate with her social system. But that d
a. has gone by, though Mr.. Sumner does n
Vi seem to be aware OF the fuct. He toIks
n. day precisely as he talked in 1885, He
n nores entirely all that has transp;red sin
- that time.