The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1874-04-03
Charles Summer.
FChicago ~1nter-ocean,l.

INkGI3osb VII GllS U1b VI CuAHdI1S 1S14s 81
that at his death he had but recently
completed his sixty-third year. He was
the son of Charles Pinckney Sumner,
High Sheriff of the county Of Suffolk,
a soldier, a lawyer, and q man of NO
near literary attainments. In 1896
Charles Sumner graduated at Harvard
College, after which he became q pupil
of Judge Story in the law school at
Cambridge. In 1884 he was admitted to
the bar in Massachusetts, practieed law
in Boston, and was appointed reporter
in the Circuit Court of the United
States. During that year he paid his
first visit to Washington, and there is
now living in that city a gentleman
DIR. Blake-who remembers the tall
Massachusetts youth as he came to live
in the clearinghouse of Mrs. Peyton,
at the corner of the avenue and Four
and-a-llalf street. Young Sumner had
come to attend the Supreme Court, and
it was then for the first time, upon the
stage road between Baltimore and the
curiosity of DR.. Blake and the other
of the Supreme Court stopped with his
carriage and left the cards of the Justi-
ees for the young lawyer. In the course
of the three following years MI. Sum-
her published three volumes of reports,
edited the American Jurist, and, in the
absence of Judge Story, lectured to the
students of the law schools of CAM
bridge. Between the years 1887 and
1910 he visited Europe, making the
grand tour, and laying the foundation
OF that intimate acquaintance with
foreign courts and customs which, i'm
the brilliant years of his after career,
gained for him the position of Chair
nan of the Committee of Foreign Re-
lations, and made him the acknowledged
authority upon all matters Of foreign
import. On the 18th of July, 1916, lie
pronounced in Boston his celebrated
Grafton OF "The True Grandeur of Ma
tions," which attracted great attention
both at home and abroad. About this
period he separated himself from the
Wing party and joined the Free-Soilers.
In 1848 he supported Martin Van Buren,
a volume of OratiOns and lectures. In
1851 he succeeded Daniel Webster as
United States Senator, and from that
date commenced that brilliant career
which has associated his name with
every great movement connected with
the welfare of the nation. One of his
first efforts in the Senate was his opnOsi-
tiontto the Fugitive Slave bill, and he
took an active part in the debate on the
Nebraska Kansas bill in. 1854. Upon
the 10Th and Goth of May, 1856, he made
that celebrated appeal ON the contest ia
Kansas and on the aggressions of the
slave-power. 1t was this speech which
raised the ire of Preston S. Brooks, a
Southern member of Congress, and
brought on that ~disgraceful scene which
is thus described by Mr.. Greeley:
Mr.. Sumner had made an elaborate speech in
the Senate on the Kansas question: speech.
not without grave faults OF Conception and of
style, but nOwise obnoxious to the charge of
violating the decencies of debate by suninstiti-
able personalities. Yet, on the assumption that
its author had therein unwarrantably assailed
and ridiculed Judge Butler-one of South. Caro-
lina's Senators. and a relative of Mr.. Brooks
he was assaulted by surprise while sitting in
his place Though q few minutes after the Senate
adjourned for the day., knocked to the floor
senseless, and beaten, while helpless and un-
conscious, till the rage of his immediate asSail-
so much injured as to be compelled to abandon
his seat and take q voyage to Europe, where,
under the best medical treatment, his health
was slowly restored
In January, 1857, Mr.. Summer was e
elected unanimously to the Senate and
returned home. In the spring of 1868
he returned to Europe, and did not
again resume his seat until the close of
1859. His speech against the "Barbar-
ism of Slavery which was published
about this time, produced IAN immense
effect. In 1860 he advocated the eiec-
ton of Abraham Lincoln to the Presi-
dency. In March, 1851, he was appoint
ed Chairman of the Committee on
Foreign Relations, and about the end of
1862 he was again elected a Senator for
six years ending March 4, 1869. He was
the author of the resolutions on foreign
mediation which were passed March 81
1863, by both houses of Congress. AZ
ter the close of the civil war he advo-
Gated the reconstruction of the seeded
States on the basis of impartial suffrage.
During the war his sage counsel was
often sought by President Lincoln. 5Ias
In private life Charles Sumner was a
man Of the most scholarly and refined
tastes. His collection of books and,
relicks was o. sight, which those who
have enjoyed it a never forget. He
was naturally d student aud a man OF
exclusive tastes. His apparent hauteur
the result of that innate reserve
which could not tolerate vulgarity. In
the history of the United States the
name of Charles Summer will live as
one who represented it with credit and
&dSO1 IL 1AOAAO1s 4kGa hGGS 1CSt1Ch az ~ etSO
when the statesman aud iuristss of Eny
gland are merely stepping upon the
threshold of their third estate. Within
the comparatively short period of sixty
three years Charles Simmer has accom-
pliShed the work of two lifetimes.
When one thinks of the name and fame
of this man, who but few years ago,
in the hey-day and the zenith of his
fame, was one to whom the American
people pointed as the statesman par en-
celteRBeof the time, he is tempted 60Hset
the words which Thackeray saplied to
the greatest humOrist that ever lived:
g So great q man, he seems to me, that
thinking of him is like thinking of an
Thalifeof Charles su1nnerHords an
example of industry, perseverance and
conscientious devotion to principle
which may be initiated by all the youth
of the land. He has done his work,
and over the foli0s which now live to
tell us Of great life may be inscribed
the mottosOf the Latin poets Eregi
4a0BumentafR sere pereanitts."
snrarzgE = HnE PRrNTRRs.-The un-
fortunate difficulty between the city
papers and the printers, which resulted
from INSTRUMENTATION of-the proprie-
tors to reduce the price paid for com
position, still remains u~nadjusted. This
is deplorable, as both parties suffer by
It. Each Is essential to the othen
Newspapers cannot be published withs
out printers, and very few printers can
to 50 long at a time without
work.
None OF the New Orleans papers have
been self-sustaining during the past
year. The Times has fallen into the