The Senator from Illinois draws upon his imagination, which, on this occasion, is peculiarly lively. I know not that anybody has undertaken to browbeat. Certainly nobody on the side with which I am associated has done any such thing, or, I believe, imagined doing it.
Mr. Trumbull. I heard it said that there should be no vote to-night.
Mr. Sumner. Well, Sir, is that browbeating?
Mr. Trumbull. I think it is undertaking to decide for the Senate.
Mr. Sumner. Is that browbeating? No, Sir; it is only undertaking to decide the conduct of an individual Senator with regard to an important public measure. The question between the Senator from Illinois and myself is simply this: he wishes to pass the measure, and I do not wish to pass it. He thinks the measure innocent; I think it dangerous, and, thinking it dangerous, I am justified in opposing it, and in employing all the means to be found in our arsenal. But, Sir, I mean to employ them properly and in a parliamentary way. In no other way can I act in this Chamber.
The Senator is entirely mistaken, if he supposes that this measure can be passed to-night. I tell him it cannot. Parliamentary Law is against him; and the importance of the question justifies a resort to every instrument that Parliamentary Law supplies. The Senator knows it well. I need not even suggest it.
And now, Sir, I have to counsel the Senator,—perhaps he would say that I am taking too great a liberty, and even dictating,—but I would first advise the Senator to look at the clock. He will see that on this evening of Saturday it is twenty-five minutes of eleven,—that it is approaching Sunday. Then let him remember that we have been here all day, and ask himself whether, all things considered, it is advisable to press such a revolutionary measure after this protracted session, and at this late hour. I think his better judgment will come to the conclusion that it is not. At any rate, should he not come to that conclusion, I think he will make a mistake, and all his efforts will be fruitless. There is a certain character of Antiquity who was found sowing salt in the sand by the sea-shore, and ploughing it in. The Senator will be engaged in an occupation just about as profitable.
Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, then moved a call of the Senate, which being ruled out of order, as never entertained by the Senate, Mr. Sumner moved an adjournment, which was lost,—Yeas 8, Nays 19. In the desultory debate that ensued, Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, criticized Mr. Sumner, who replied. Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, followed, and, in the course of his remarks, said: “The question is, What is to be done with the four million negroes, when they are set free? There are Senators upon the Republican side who feel that it is a very troublesome question. That is the trouble here to-night.… The Senator from Massachusetts is determined that none of these States shall ever be heard in the Halls of Congress, until the men who speak from those States speak the voice of the negroes as well as of the white men. Other Senators say that shall not be. We Democrats are a unit upon that question.” On motion of Mr. Lane, of Kansas, the Senate adjourned shortly before midnight, leaving the resolution pending.
February 27th, the resolution came up in regular order, when Mr. Sherman moved to proceed with the Internal Revenue Bill, and then called attention to the Indian Appropriation Bill, the Civil Appropriation Bill, the Tariff Bill, also the Army and Navy Appropriation Bills, all of which must be considered before March 4th, when the session closed. In the debate that followed, Mr. Sumner said:—