The newspapers of the time attest the profound and wide-spread excitement. The titles of the articles are suggestive. “The Attempt to murder Mr. Sumner,”—“Ruffianism National,”—“Blood in the Senate,”—“Outrageous Assault on Senator Sumner,”—“Brutal and Cowardly Assault upon Charles Sumner,”—“Ruffianism in Washington,”—“A Crisis at Hand,”—“The Outrage on Mr. Sumner,”—“Atrocious Outrage,”—“Disgraceful Assault upon a Senator,”—“Another Outrage upon Massachusetts,”—“A Border Ruffian in the Senate,”—“The Last Argument of Slavery,”—“Barbarism at the Capitol,”—“Shame! Shame!” Such were the general voices. The article in the National Intelligencer at Washington was entitled “Painful Occurrence.”
This incident is inseparable from the speech on the Crime against Kansas, although some have supposed that the earlier speech, of June 28, 1854, in Reply to Assailants,[140] contributed essentially to the feeling which broke forth on this occasion. The documents, resolutions, speeches, and articles which it prompted would occupy volumes. An attempt will be made to present an abstract under the following heads.
- The Assault.
- Adoption of the Assault by Eminent Slave-Masters, and by the South generally.
- Previous Personalities and Aggressions.
- Voice of the North.
- Injuries and continued Disability of Mr. Sumner.
I.
THE ASSAULT.
On Friday, May 23, the day after the assault, Hon. Henry Wilson, colleague of Mr. Sumner, rising in his seat immediately after the reading of the Journal, made the following remarks.
“Mr. President,—The seat of my colleague is vacant to-day. That seat is vacant to-day for the first time during five years of public service. Yesterday, after a touching tribute of respect to the memory of a deceased member of the House of Representatives, the Senate adjourned. My colleague remained in his seat, busily engaged in his public duties. While thus engaged, with pen in hand, and in a position which rendered him utterly incapable of protecting or defending himself, Mr. Preston S. Brooks, a member of the House of Representatives, approached his desk unobserved, and abruptly addressed him. Before he had time to utter a single word in reply, he received a stunning blow upon the head from a cane in the hands of Mr. Brooks, which made him blind and almost unconscious. Endeavoring, however, to protect himself, in rising from his chair his desk was overthrown; and while in that condition, he was beaten upon the head by repeated blows, until he sunk upon the floor of the Senate, exhausted, unconscious, and covered with his own blood. He was taken from this Chamber to the anteroom, his wounds were dressed, and then by friends he was carried to his home and placed upon his bed. He is unable to be with us to-day to perform the duties that belong to him as a member of this body.
“Sir, to assail a member of the Senate out of this Chamber, ‘for words spoken in debate,’ is a grave offence, not only against the rights of the Senator, but the constitutional privileges of this House; but, Sir, to come into this Chamber, and assault a member in his seat until he falls exhausted and senseless on this floor, is an offence requiring the prompt and decisive action of the Senate.
“Senators, I have called your attention to this transaction. I submit no motion. I leave it to older Senators, whose character, whose position in this body and before the country, eminently fit them for the task of devising measures to redress the wrongs of a member of this body, and to vindicate the honor and dignity of the Senate.”
Mr. Seward followed with a resolution.