New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-03-19

jealousies, envies and hatred out of the path
way OF his fame. And during this week the
seats OF learning and the centres of power,
inc marts OF commerce and the asylums OF
pniianthropy, the saloons of the rich and the
houses of the lowly will throw back the echo
OF these eulogies till the solemn reverence of
the whole nation shall be turned towards
Mount Auburn, where the body of this cham
plon-the rarest gift of the Creator to the
negro race-will rest till the Christian resur-
rection snail lift it among the ranks of the
giorilled saints and martyrs who have gone
peiore MN into the presence of that God
VINO has made of one blood all nations of
men TO dwell on the face of the earth.
Ii these are the feelings of the nation. how
much more deeply shall the anguish of this
nour wiring the heart of the negro race
sumner found us in bOndage--an unrelenting,
AFFECT bondage. The cold eye of interest and
the stern gaze of prejudice saw neither form
nor comeliness in us. Ignorance had wrought
its stolid image upon our features; unremit-
ting and unrequitted toll had distorted our
limbs and made caricatures of our bodies !;
upon almost every form were to be found the
scarry evidences of the frequent and unmer-
cliul use OF the lash; our ragged garments
bespoke our poverty; the coarse and scant
food upon which we lived, and even the very
pastlme OF our begrudged and insufficient
leisure bore shocking testimony to the Bit
terness and completeness of our degradation.
:. Bad as was this physical condition, it in
dicated but the smallest part of our dsquali-
iication and the lightest portion of our suf-
ierlngs. The tie which bound our sexes
together was first made by coercion and then
stained with every form of violation, or it
was either ignored by the lust or broken by
the cupldity of those who ruled over us with
rod OF iron. Parental, flial, and fraternal
relations were created under all manner of
irregularities and sundered amid all conceiv-
able forms of atrocity until the violated in
stlEcts of our nature have linked themselves
with mere physical existence which caused
The oppressor to boast of his highest crime
in rendering us almost indifferent to our
degradation.
With such social relations as these the
moral nature of man could hold only slight
and fitful concord Honor and faith, fidelity
and gratitude, became impossible virtues to
people among whom no bridal chamber or
marriage bed could be found. Respect for
character and reverence for moral qualities
take root in the nursery of the household,
but the first rule of the law and the strongest
tenet OF the gospel of slavery combined to
blot out the nursery among our people. If
the household was first robbed and then
poisoned, how could it send forth into the
world its contributions to the estate of man
hood? Self-respect and self-reliance, truth
iui speaking and honest dealings, fidelity to
principle and courageous spirit, had not
even the shadow of names in the moral con-
seriousness of those against whom the spelling
book was closed with the clasps Of an mex
orable authority, and against whom the spirit
OF the Holy Book of God was armed, through
ialse interpretations, as with flaming sword,
to guard the approaches to the domain of
manhood and santship, that they might not
DE deiled by the presence of the negro. Such,
III brief, was the condition in which Senator
Sumner found us; and what were the
sentiments and feelings he brought with
him.
Many, very many of his enemies, and even
some of his friends, have formed the false
estimate Of his character, which would make
it little more than bundle of morbid senti-
ments and maudlin sympathies. They think
our pitiable condition touched his heart, and
that he felt he could afford to befriend us
manly because he was so far above us.
They seem to think that he came down to us
through his sympathies, because he thought
we could not rise to him through our intel
lects. They would make him the medium
through which, with one long, deep, agOn-
lied grOan, we reached the ear of the nation,
and simply credit him with being the mouth
piece through which the nation made a hest
tatlng and sentimental response as to our
physical suffering merely.
This is the view of those who did not pos
sess the breadth of mind to comprehend
Senator Summers character, and who were
destitute of the patriotic instincts which de-
tccted the lurking danger to the Republic in
tho (vi,yonfir of which tho
great Senator so fiercely and successfully
assaulted.
1t is true that Charles Sumner did bring q
heart to our great cause, but it was the heart
of impartiality rather than the heart of pity.
He saw in the negro not only the forlorn
victim of human cruelty, he also recognized
in him a divine descendant of justice, that
supreme goddess of the Olympiad, whose
ambassador he felt himself to be, commission
ed to the strongest republic among the ma
tons to remind it of the birth wroes of Bun
pcndence Hall, where whole people was
consecrated to the service of his memorable
mistress, and when every brother in humani
ty was put under the protection of her
invincible shield.
To him slavery was wrong; yes, but to
him also freedom was right. He sought to
snatch the negro from the grip of the OPP
pressor, not only because he would save the
victim from his sufierings, but because he
would save the tormentor from the guilt of
inticiing it. He did not pursue the slave
holder for the purpose of furnishing his
crime, but because he was commissioned to
clothe him with such a love of freedom as
would make his continuance in crime impOssi-
BILE. The negro was to be saved, not under
the suggestions of commseration, but be-
cause liberty would have been lost to the
nation unless the negro was delivered.
With this clear, unerring and commanding
sense of the right were associated in an al
most unparalleled combination the highest
physical and mental eXcellencies.
That magnificent form of his, towering
over all others when the gavel struck the
hour of prayer in the Senate, thrilled the be-
holder with emotions of admiration and rev.
erencc. 1t needed such brawny and COM
pact arms as his to lift the burden from a
broken and PROSTATE race; such broad and
heroic shoulders to bear that burden all
alone, and such statue to hurl it against
the gates of bondage that their shivered pam
els might leave room for four millions of peo-
pie to come trooping through them into the
sunlight of freedom. Among the rare bless
ings to us which conferred in that great man
was his physical frame. 1t was upon that
frame that slavery made its first fcrocious
assault.
The brutality of its nature and the coward
illness of its methods were well illustrated
when one of its supporters tried to club the
prncely spirit of our champion out of his
heroic stature, and but for the gadiatOrial
muscles and iron nerves of the victim he
would have been among the martyrs eighteen