enator from Illinois take notice?

MR. DOUGLAS:--I will; and therefore will not imitate you, sir.

MR. SUMNER:--I did not hear the Senator.

MR. DOUGLAS:--I said if that be the case I would certainly never imitate
you in that capacity, recognizing the force of the illustration.

MR. SUMNER:--Mr. President, again the Senator has switched his tongue,
and again he fills the Senate with its offensive odor. * * *

MR. DOUGLAS:--I am not going to pursue this subject further. I will only
say that a man who has been branded by me in the Senate, and convicted
by the Senate of falsehood, cannot use language requiring a reply, and
therefore I have nothing more to say.

PRESTON S. BROOKS,

OF SOUTH CAROLINA. (BORN 1819, DIED 1857.)

ON THE SUMNER ASSAULT;

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JULY 14, 1856.

MR. SPEAKER:

Some time since a Senator from Massachusetts allowed himself, in an
elaborately prepared speech, to offer a gross insult to my State, and to
a venerable friend, who is my State representative, and who was absent
at the time.

Not content with that, he published to the world, and circulated
extensively, this uncalled-for libel on my State and my blood. Whatever
insults my State insults me. Her history and character have commanded my
pious veneration; and in her defence I hope I shall always be prepared,
humbly and modestly, to perform the duty of a son. I should have
forfeited my own self-respect, and perhaps the good opinion of my
countrymen, if I had failed to resent such an injury by calling the
offender in question to a personal account. It was a personal affair,
and in taking redress into my own hands I meant no disrespect to the
Senate of the United States or to this House. Nor, sir, did I design
insult or disrespect to the State of Massachusetts. I was aware of the
personal responsibilities I incurred, and was willing to meet them. I
knew, too, that I was amenable to the laws of the country, which afford
the same protection to all, whether they be members of Congress or
private citizens. I did not, and do not now believe, that I could be
properly punished, not only in a court of law, but here also, at the
pleasure and discretion of the House. I did not then, and do not now,
believe that the spirit of American freemen would tolerate slander in
high places, and permit a member of Congress to publish and circulate a
libel on another, and then call upon either House to protect him against
the persona