to it, that I may be in no manner responsible for the prostitution of their office, (once called holy and sacred, with them no longer so,) in the face of the Senate and of the American people. I object to it, that the clergymen of my own honored State, and of the South, may, as holding a common office in the ministry of the gospel, be in no manner confounded with or contaminated by these clergymen of New England, if the Senator represents them correctly.

Sir, if the Senator has represented these clergymen correctly, I rejoice that there is to be a separation between the church North and the church South; for, I say, if these men dare to lay aside the character of American citizens, and come here profaning their office, profaning the name of the Almighty, for the purpose of political alliances, they are unworthy of their associates in the church. Sir, it is the first time in the history of this country that a church of any denomination has asserted a right to be heard, as a church, upon the floors of legislation; and if the Senator represents that body correctly, they have profaned their office, and I predict now a total separation between the church North and the church South, if I understand the sentiments of the church South. The church there, I know, is yet pure in its great and holy mission. When its ministers address themselves from the pulpit, they are heard with respect, under the sanctity of their office. You find none of them coming here to the doors of legislation to mingle in political strife. They truly hold themselves "unspotted from the world."

If the Senator who has just taken his seat has correctly expounded the clergymen of New England, I object to that petition. If he has correctly stated that it is verbatim copied from the petition presented by his colleague, I say it is a prostitution of their office to the embrace of political party; and the Senate shall not, by my assent, be made the medium of so unholy an alliance. I do not mean to go further into this debate; but I object to the reception of the petition.

The PRESIDING OFFICER said: The petitions cannot be received without unanimous consent.

Mr. SUMNER in reply. It may be, sir, at this moment, within the competency of the honorable Sen

ator from Virginia to object to the reception of these remonstrances; but I am satisfied that, at another time, his calmer judgment will not approve this course, much less the ground on which now, as well as on a former occasion, he has undertaken to impeach the right of clergymen to appear, by petition or remonstrance, at the bar of Congress. Sir, in refusing to receive these remonstrances, or in neglecting them in any way, on reasons assigned in this Chamber, you treat them with an indignity which becomes more marked, because it is the constant habit of the Senate to welcome remonstrances from members of the Society of Friends, in their religious character, and from all other persons, by any designation which they may adopt. Booksellers remonstrate against the international copyright treaty; last makers against a proposed change in the patent laws; and only lately the tobacconists have remonstrated against certain regulations touching tobacco; and all these remonstrances have been received with respect, and referred to appropriate Committees in the Senate. But the clergy of New England, when protesting against a measure which they believe, with singular unanimity, full of peril and shame to our country, are told to stay at home. Almost the jeer has gone forth, "Go up, thou bald head!" If not well, it is at least natural, that the act you are about to commit should be attended by this congenial outrage.

DEFENCE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

SPEECHES IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 26TH AND 28TH JUNE, 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.

On the 22d June, Mr. Rockwell, of Massachusetts, presented the following Memorial, stating that it was signed by twentynine hundred persons, chiefly of Boston, and moved its reference to the Committee on the Judiciary:

"To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled: The undersigned, men of Massachusetts, ask for the repeal of the Act of Congress of 1850, known as the FUGITIVE SLAVE BILL."

On 26th June, on the motion to refer the memorial, a debate ensued, in which Mr. Jones, of Tennessee, Mr. Rockwell, of Massachusetts, and then again Mr. Jones, took part. At this stage, Mr. SUMNER took the floor, and spoke as follows:

MR. PRESIDENT: I. begin by answering the interrogatory propounded by the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Jones]. He asks, "Can any one suppose that, if the Fugitive Slave Act be repealed, this Union can exist?" To which I reply at once, that if the Union be in any way dependent on an Act- I cannot call it a so revolting in every regard as that to which he

law

refers, then it ought not to exist. To much else that has fallen from that Senator I do not desire to reply. He has discussed at length matters already handled again and again in the long drawn out debates of this session. Like the excited hero of Macedonia, he has renewed past conflicts,

"And thrice he routed all his foes,

And thrice he slew the slain."

Of what the Senator has said on the relations of Senators, North and South, of a particular party, it is not my province to speak. And yet I cannot turn from it without expressing, at least, a single aspiration, that men from the North, whether Whigs or Democrats, will neither be cajoled or driven by any temptation, or lash, from the support of those principles of freedom which are inseparable from the true honor and welfare of the country. At last, I trust, there will be a backbone in the North.

My colleague has already remarked, that this memorial proceeds from persons of whom many were open supporters of the alleged Compromises of 1850, including even the odious Fugitive Slave Bill. I have looked over the long list, and, so far as I can judge, find this to be true. And, in my opinion, the change shown by these men is typical of the change in the community of which they constitute a prominent part. Once the positive upholders of the Fugitive Slave Bill, they now demand its unconditional repeal.

There is another circumstance worthy of especial remark. This memorial proceeds mainly from persons connected with trade and commerce. Now, it is a fact too well known in the history of England, and of our

own country, that these persons, while often justly distinguished by their individual charities and munificence, have been lukewarm in their opposition to Slavery. Twice in English history the "mercantile interest" frowned upon the endeavors to suppress the atrocity of Algerine Slavery; steadfastly in England it sought to baffle Wilberforce's great effort for the abolition of the African Slave-trade; and, at the formation of our own Constitution, it stipulated a sordid compromise, by which this same detested, Heaven-defying traffic, was saved for twenty years from American judgment. But now it is all changed at least in Boston. The representatives of the "mercantile interest" place themselves in the front of the new movement against Slavery, and, by their explicit memorial, call for the abatement of a grievance which they have bitterly felt in Boston.

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Mr. President, this memorial is interesting to me, first, as it asks a repeal of the Fugitive Slave Bill, and secondly, as it comes from Massachusetts. That repeal I shall be glad at any time, now and hereafter, as in times past, to sustain by vote and argument; and I trust never to fail in any just regard for the sentiments or interests of Massachusetts. With these few remarks, I would gladly close. But there has been an arraignment here to-day, both of myself and of the Commonwealth which I represent. To all that has been said of myself or the Commonwealth so far as it is an impeachment of either so far as it subjects either to any just censure, I plead openly, for myself and for Massachusetts," not guilty." But pardon me, if I do not submit to be tried by the Senate, fresh from the injustice of the Nebraska Bill. In the language of