, where he commenced the practice of law; was colonel
of the Third Ohio Volunteers, which was a part of General Hull's
army, surrendered at Detroit, August 16th, 1812; was Governor of
Michigan Territory, 1813-1831; was Secretary of War under President
Jackson, 1831-1836; was Minister to France, October 4th, 1836, to
November 12th, 1842; was United States Senator from Michigan,
December 1st, 1845, to May 29th, 1848; was defeated as the Democratic
candidate for President in the fall of 1848; was elected to fill
the vacancy in the Senate, occasioned by his own resignation,
December 3d, 1849, to March 3d, 1857; was Secretary of State under
President Buchanan, March 4th, 1857, to December 17th, 1860, when
he resigned; retired to Detroit, Michigan, where he died, June
17th, 1866.

CHAPTER XXXVII.
POLITICAL STORM AND SOCIAL SUNSHINE.

Charles Sumner had not spoken on the slavery question immediately
on taking his seat in the Senate, and some of his abolition friends
in Boston had began to fear that he, too, had been enchanted by
the Circe of the South. Theodore Parker said, in a public speech:
"I wish he had spoken long ago, but it is for him to decide, not
us. 'A fool's bolt is soon shot,' while a wise man often reserves
his fire." But Senator Seward, who had been taught by experience
how far a Northern man could go in opposition to the slave-power,
advised him that "retorted scorn" would be impolitic and perhaps
unsafe.

Mr. Sumner, however, soon began to occupy the floor of the Senate
Chamber when he could get an opportunity. His speeches were able
and exhaustive disquisitions, polished and repolished before their
delivery, and arraigning the South in stately and measured sentences
which contained stinging rebukes. The boldness of his language
soon attracted public attention, and secured his recognition as
the chosen champion of Freedom. One afternoon, while he was
speaking, Senator Douglas, walking up and down behind the President's
chair in the old Senate Chamber and listening to him, remarked to
a friend: "Do you hear that man? He may be a fool, but I tell
you that man has pluck. I wonder whether he knows himself what he
is doing? I am not sure whether I should have the courage to say
those things to the men who are scowling around him."

Mr. Sumner was at that time strikingly prepossessing in his
appearance:

"Not that his dress attracted vulgar eyes,
With Fashion's gewgaws flauntingly display'