Mr. President, with pain I differ from valued friends whose friendship is among the treasures of my life. But I cannot help it. I cannot do otherwise. It is long since I first raised my voice in this Chamber against the “Barbarism of Slavery,” and I have never ceased to denounce it in season and out of season. But the Rebellion is nothing but that very barbarism armed for battle. Plainly it is our duty to overcome it, not to imitate it. Here I stand.
January 31st, on motion of Mr. Sumner, it was still further amended so as to read, “in conformity with the laws and usages of war among civilized nations,”—Yeas 27, Nays 13. Mr. Sumner then withdrew his substitute, remarking that he did so because the original resolution had undergone such modification as to be in substantial harmony with the resolutions introduced by him. After other amendments, the original resolution was passed by the Senate; but it was never acted on in the House of Representatives.
This effort against Retaliation attracted attention and sympathy at the time.
Hon. Israel Washburn, formerly a Representative in Congress from Maine, being in Washington, wrote:—
“I shall not see you again before leaving the city, but I will not go without thanking you from my heart’s heart for the glorious resolutions upon Retaliation which you offered in the Senate yesterday. Our country must live in the atmosphere of those resolutions, or bear no life worth having.”
John B. Kettell wrote from Boston:—