The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1874-09-25

NIL ANlAAJiL1 LIZ 4tAls igI}CtAhOlJ "
the tributes inspired by personal ant
political friendship which are paid to
the memory of the illustlious dead
permit me to add a word expressive
Of my respect for and appreciation
Of the man.
Possibly the little have to say viii
be entitled to the more consideration
from the fact that whatever l may
speak in praise comes from an oppo-
nent who for six years served with
Charles Sumner in the other end Of
the Capitol without having entertain
ed political sentiment in common
with that great man. I can say that
through all this opposition he com
manded my respect, and in some in
stances my admiration. recognized
in him an embodiment Of new Eng
lands high sense of duty. He al.
ways appeared to me q pure, single.
hearted, earnest man. While lacking
the enthusiasm that comes of gener-
GUS impulse, the intense earnestness
of his nature produced quality SC
like it that the substitute was often
accepted.
What was fanaticism in others ap-
peared from his cultivated, high po-
sition as patriotism, and although a
refined John Brown, he threw about
his efforts such charm of learning,
such graces of rhetoric, that it seems
a wrong to class him with the coarse
fanatic who nodded into bullets the
feelings and words the orator uttered
in the Senate.
John Brown was Charles Sumner
reduced to practical action, and both
represented the rock-ribbed and iron
bound land where duty takes the
place Of impulse.
am unacquainted with the early
history Of Charles Sumner, beyond
the outline Of his public career, esti-
mating him as [ did from q stand
point that made me almost impartial.
| have always been impressed with
the belief that much of his marked
advocacy of equal rights grew out of
his personal experience. DR.. John
son tells that Gin a majority of in
stances cruelty is but another name
for ignorance" A man therefore to
appreciate oppression, as Charles
Sumner seemed to do, must have felt
keenly the aorongS OF OPPRESSION
We know that upon his first appear
ance in public life he took up the cry
of the oppressed that found words in
his last utterances. We know that
this was brought home to him in the
saddest and most painful manner
during his career in the Senate be-
fore the war, and am Of the opin-
ion that it was his experience long
before he entered public life. We
all know that there is no part of the
globe where caste has more iron
rule than in New England, and can
1 well imagine the early struggles of
sensitive and cultivated mind
against its despotism.
He had quality for which the
world never gave him credit, and that
was high courage. He fought brave
ly the social tyranny he suffered from
in his own land, and he fought with
still higher courage what to him was
the cruelist despotism known to hui
manity, and as he fought his earnest
ness grew more intense. 1t was not
that he felt for the down-trodden ne
gro whose cause he advocated, but
that his manhood rese ented the cruel
injustice of dominant class.
And here, sir, 1 wish to call atten-
ton to that quality Senator Sumner
that is in him so little understood or
appreciated. He came to the Senate
Of the United States the avowed adj
vocate of the slave, and uncompro-
missing, bitter opponent of the mas
ter. Entirely alone, backed up by
no great party, unaided by solitary
voice of friendship, he bearded the
lion in his den. At that time, sir, it
was not considered even respectable
to be such an adYocrate, and the man
who voluntarily thrust himself into
such a position made the tender OF
open hostility to nearly all the rest OF
his countrymen, while he carried his
own life in his hand. You may call
this the foolhardiness born Of fanati-
cism, but l recognize in it an example
of moral and physical courage com
bined such as the world has rarely
witnessed.
Physical courage is an inherent
quality in the most of our race, and
there are but few men who would not
prefer to mount the deadly breach or
march to the cannon's mouth rather
than suffer the reproaches, the con-
tempt, the obliguy, and the scorn Of
their countrymen. Charles Sumner
| led the forlorn hope in practically
facing all these dangers combined.
We must all remember who have
read, and certainly no one can forget
who witnessed the ,scene, the ehival-
rous effort that led TO an assault upon
him in his seat in the Senate Cham
Der. A gentleman, belonging to the
Democratic party, who happened to
be upon the door OF the Senate at the
time, tells me that it was almost
melodramatic in its effect. In that
great historic hall of eloquence, the
old Senate Chamber, there were pres
ent the assembled Legislative wisdom
Of the nation, and while all appeared
calm and peaceful, underlying this
smooth and placid exterior was that
deadly animosity which a few years
later eliminated in the most sanguin-
ary civil war that a nation ever ex-
perienced.
When Charles Sumner, addressed
the President, he must have felt all
that tho Sowing eyes and sneering
Lilo conveyed 10 him. II he looked