sage of the Nebraska and Kansas Bill, May 25th, 1854. In his speech on that occasion he said, with much force and seriousness:

"Mr. President:-It is now midnight. At this late hour of a session drawn out to an unaccustomed length, I shall not fatigue the Senate by argument. There is a time for all things, and the time for this has passed. The determination of the majority is fixed; but it is not more fixed than mine. The Bill which they sustain, I oppose. On a former occasion I met it by argument, which, though often attacked in debate, still stands unanswered and unanswerable. At present, I am admonished that I must be content with a few words of earnest protest against the consummation of a great wrong. Duty to myself, and also to the honored Commonwealth, of which I find myself the sole representative in this immediate exigency, will not allow me to do less."

* * *

"In passing this Bill, as is now threatened, you scatter, from this dark midnight hour, no seeds of harmony and good-will, but broadcast through the land, dragon's teeth, which haply may not spring up in direful crops of armed men, but yet, I am assured, sir, will they fructify in civil strife and feud.

"From the depths of my soul, as a loyal citizen and as a Senator, I plead, remonstrate, protest,

against the passage of this Bill. I struggle against it as against death; but, as in death itself, corruption puts on incorruption, and this mortal body puts on immortality, so from the sting of this hour I find assurances of that triumph by which Freedom will be restored to her immortal birthright in the Republic.

"Sir, the Bill which you are now about to pass, is at once the worst and the best Bill on which Congress ever acted. Yes, sir, WORST and BEST at the same time.

"It is the worst Bill, inasmuch as it is a present victory of Slavery. In a Christian land, and in an age of civilization, a time-honored statute of Freedom is struck down, opening the way to all the countless woes and wrongs of human bond Among the crimes of history, another is,ut to be recorded, which no tears can ble, out, and which, in better days, will be read with universal shame. Do not start. The Tea Tax and Stamp Act, which aroused the patriot rage of our fathers, were virtues by the side of your transgression; nor would it be easy to imagine at this day, any measure which more openly and perversely defied every sentiment of justice, humanity, and Christianity. Am I not right, then, in calling it the worst Bill on which Congress ever acted?

"But there is another side to which I gladly

turn. Sir, it is the best Bill on which Congress ever acted; for it annuls all past Compromises with Slavery, and makes all future Compromises impossible. Thus it puts Freedom and Slavery face to face, and bids them grapple. Who can doubt the result? It opens wide the door of the Future, when, at last, there will really be a North, and the Slave Power will be broken; when this wretched Despotism will cease to dominate over our Government, no longer impressing itself upon every thing at home and abroad; when the National Government shall be divorced in every way from Slavery, and, according to the true intention of our fathers, Freedom shall be established by Congress everywhere, at least beyond the local limits of the States.

'Slavery will then be driven from its usurped foothold here in the District of Columbia, in the National Territories, and elsewhere beneath the National flag; the Fugitive Slave Bill, as vile as it is unconstitutional, will become a dead letter; and the domestic Slave-trade, so far as it can be reached, but especially on the high seas, will be blasted by Congressional Prohibition. Everywhere within the sphere of Congress, the great Northern Hammer will descend to smite the wrong; and the irresistible cry will break forth, 'No more Slave States!'

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"Thus, sir, now standing at the very grave of Freedom in Nebraska and Kansas, I lift myself to the vision of that happy resurrection, by which Freedom will be secured, not only in these Territories, but everywhere under the National Government. More clearly than ever before, I now penetrate that All-Hail-Hereafter,' when Slavery must disappear. Proudly I discern the flag of my country, as it ripples in every breeze, at last become in reality, às in name, the Flag of Freedom―undoubted, pure, and irresistible. Am I not right, then, in calling this Bill the best on which Congress ever acted?

"Sorrowfully I bend before the wrong you are about to commit. Joyfully I welcome all the promises of the future."

CHAPTER X.

Delivers his speech in the Senate on the Boston Memorial for the Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Bill, etc.-makes an address before the Mercantile Library Association of Boston-delivers his speech in the Senate, entitled the Demands of Freedom-Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Bill-pronounces an address at the Metropolitan Theatre, New York-eloquent extracts.

On the 26th and 28th of June, 1854, Mr. Sumner delivered eloquent speeches in the Senate, on the Boston Memorial for the Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Bill, and in reply to Messrs. Jones, of Tennessee, Butler, of South Carolina, and Mason, of Virginia. This speech contains a masterly defence of Massachusetts, and is full of interesting facts. It exhibits a high order of bold declamation.

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The next most important effort of Mr. Sumner for the cause of human freedom was his memorable Struggle for the Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Bill," in the Senate, July 31, 1854, when he showed in the clearest manner his remarkable ability as a parliamentary debater, and vindicated his position by unanswerable assertions. The proposition which he brought forward was as follows: