The Oxford falcon., 1874-12-19


| ly Developed, would have ex-
erfel nn Influence beyond the
personal circle Immediately
surrounding their pnSsessor.
More eloquent Tongues than
mine will do them justice.
Let me speak of the cbarae.
terisiics which brought the IL
lustrious Senator WHO has Just
passed away into direct aud
bitter antagouism for years
with my own State aud her
sister States of the South.
Charles Sumner was born
with an Instructive love of
freedom, aud WIS educate'i
from his early infancy 10 the
belief that freedom is the nat
ural and indefeaSible right of
every intelligent being having
the ont ward form of man. Ia
him i'm fact this creed seems
10 have been something more
I than a q ,ctriue inbibe,i fgom
teachers, or result of e,luca-
ton. To him it was a grand
intuitive principle Inscribed
i'm blazing letters upon the
tablet of his inner conscious
ness, to deny which would
have been for him TO deny that
he himself existed. And
along with this ali-controlling
love of freedom, he possessed
a moral sensibillty keenly in
Tense and vivid, conscien-
liousness which, would never
nernsif him to zwerve by the
ssss!lfl, ~ Z A:lis Iz.,sa Hllas
path of dnry. Thus were
combined IN him the cIlarac-
teristics which have in all
ages given 10 religion her
martyrs and to patriotism her
self-sacriiicing heroes.
To u man thoroughly per
meated aud imbuetl with such
a creed, aud animated and
constantly actuate d by sneh "A
spirit of devotion, to behold
human being or u race of
human beings restrained of
their natural rights to liberty,
for no crime by him or them
committed, was To feel all the
belIigerent instincts of his
nature reused to combat. The
fact was to him a wrong which
no logic could Justify. 1t
nattered not how humble in
the scale IF rational existence
the subject of this restraint
might be, how dark his skin,
or how dense his ignorance.
Behind all that lay for him
the great principle that lib
erty is the birihright of all
humanity. and that every i'm
..lsiamal of every race who
has a soul to save is entitled
10 the freedom which may en-
able him to work out his S.zl-
yation. 1t mattered not that
the slave might be coHtentsd
with his lot; that his actual
condition might be iInmeas-
<,rs.h3v mare .lrsffalie than
that from which 10 had trans
planted him; that il gave him
physical comfort. mental aud
moral elevation and religious
culture not possessed by his
race in any other condition
that his bonds had not been
placed upon his hands blythe
living generation ; that the
mixed social system Of which
he formed an element had
been regarded by the fathers
Of the Republic. and by the
ablest statesmen who had
risen mp after tlsem. as too
complicated 10 be broken mp
without danger to society IL
self, or even to civilization
or finally, that the actual state
of things had been recognized
and explicitly sanctioned by
the very organic law Of the
Republic. Weighty as these
considerations might he. for
/ midable as were the difficult
ties IN the way of the pfaeii-
cal enforcement Of his great
principle, he held none the
less that il must sooner or Ia
ter be enforced, though insiis
tutsons and constitutions
should have to give way alike
before il. But hers lef nae do
this great man the Justice
which amid the exeitements
of the struggle between the
sections, now past, | may