Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-03-12

ton made by any modern writer to the
cause of peaee.n 1t was followed by q
rapid succession of public addresses on
kindred themes before literary and acad-
emic societies and popular assemblies,
which were also widely circulated in
print. Mr.. Sumner earnestly engaged
in the opposition to the annexation of
Texas on the ground Of slavery, and at
apopular meeting in Fsnnueil hall, No
yember 4, 1915, made 8 speech against
that measure which was warmly ap-
plauded. In the following year he made
an address to the Wing State conven-
ton of Massachusetts on the Anti- iS21.
very Duties of the WHiq Party, and
shortly afterward published letter of
rebuke to Mr.. Robert G. Winthrop, who
then represented Bosten in congress, Tor
his vote in favor of the war with Mex
leo. These steps led eventually. to Mr..
Summers separation from the Wing
party and association with the Freesoil-
ers, to whose candidates, Van Buren,
and Adams, he lent efficient support in
the presidential contest of 1S4S. After
the withdrawal of Mr.. Webster from the
senate of the United States by his en-
trance into the cabinet of Mr.. Fillmore
in 1850, Mr.. Sumner was nominated for
the vacancy by coalition of Freesoilers
and Democrats in the Massachusetts
Legislature, and was elected after most
earnest and protracted contest, which
attracted the universal attention of the
country, aud the termination of which
was publicly celebrated in many places
by the anti-slavery party. His first i'm
pOrtant speech was upon the fugitive
slave act, against which he argued that
congress had no power under the consti-
tuition to legislate for the rendition of
fugitive slaves; and that if it had, the
act in many essential particulars con-
ficted with the constitution, and was
also cruel and tyrannical. In this speech
Mr.. Sumner laid down as a guide foI
political action the formula to which he
afterWard adhered, that freedom is
national and slavery sectional" In the
debate on the repeal of the Missouri
compromise and on the contest in Kan
sss, Mr.. Sumner took very prominent
part. His last speech upon this topic,
which was subsequently printed under
the title of The Crime against Kansas,
occupied two days in its delivery, May
l9 and 20, 1856, some passages in which
greatly incensed Hon. Preston s.
Brooks, who on May 22d assaulted him
in the senate chamber, with a gutta-
percha cane, striking him on the head
till he fell to the floor insensible.
The injuries which he thus re-
ceived proved very serious, and was fol-
lowed by q severe and long disability,
from which his recovery was not COM
plete until three or four years later. His
term of office as senator expired March
4, 1857, and in the preceding January
the legislature of Massachusetts had re-
elected him by a unanimous vote in the
senate, while in the house of represent
atives, consisting of several hundred
members, he received all but seven
votes. Under the advice of physicians
he went to Europe for the benefit of his
health in March, 1857, and returned in
the autumn to resume his seat in the
senate. His health being still impaired,
he went abroad again in May, 1858, and
submitted to acourse of extraordinarily
severe medica' treatment in Paris, which
did not terminate till the autumn Of
1859, when he again returned home.
His first serious effort after the restora-
ton of his health was an elaborate
speech in the senate, denouncing the in
huence of slavery on character, society,
and civilization, which was subsequently
printed under the title of The Bdrb0r-
ism Of SlGUsry. In the presidential
CODLtSt Vi GC-ht ut tOOh AL hctlfG pdIly
and made several speeches in behalf of
Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Ham
lin, the successful candidates. In the
senate, during the discussions resulting
from thesecessioD OF the southern States,
he earnestly opposed all concessions to
or compromise with slavery, and early
proposed emancipation as the speediest
mode of bringing the war to a close.
He also urged the same policy in popu- i
lar addresses at Worcester, Massachu-
sets, October 1st, and New York, No
vember q, 1861. In these and in his
other efforts against slavery, he based
his arguments not only on moral
and historical, but on constitutional
grounds, and always claimed that
the positions he had taken, and the
measures he advocated, were in strict
accordance with the constitution of the
United States. From March 4, 1861, to
March of 1872, he was chairman of the
senate committee on foreign relations,
and as such on January g. 1862, delivered
an elaborate speech, arguing that the
seizure of Messrs. Mason and Slidell on
board the steamer Trent was uDjustifia-
BILE on the principles of international
law which had always been maintained
by the United States, During the whole
war he was characterized by devotion
and fidelity to the Union cause,
being amongst the very ablest support
ers of Lincoln's administration, an out
spoken admirer of that President whom
he held in the highest estimation for
his honesty. His most notable speeches
in the senate since the close of the war
have been made on the reconstruction
measures, the impeachment of Presi-
fAt, l,s-
President Grant and the introduction of
his civil rights bill. This last he declared,
early in the present session of congress,
was his darling project, and, as the tele-
graph above states, it occupied his mind
during his last moments. He was the
author of q resolution to prevent the
placing of paintings perpetuating the
late civil strife in the senate chamber,
and of another to erase the names of the
battles of the late war from the colors of
the regular army. He voted for
the impeachment of johnson, but
was in favor of the election of Hor-
ace Greeley to the Presidency.
Mr.. Sumner, besides the law works
above mentioned, was the the author of
a work on White Slavery IN the Bdr6d-
~ States, expanded from a lecture
Q2mo., Boston, 1883; of Il Defense Of
the american Claim an the Northeastern
boundary Controversy; and two
collections of his addresses have been
published: Or0tiORs and Speeches q
vols. 12mo., Boston, 1850, and Recent
Speeches and Addresses (l2mo., Boston,
1855. All of which have since been
published in complete edition of ten
volumes, edited by Hon. Charles "a.
Phelps, prefaced by a biographical
sketch.