Secession Era Editorials Project

THE WASHINGTON DIFFICULTY.

Laurensville, South Carolina, Herald [Democratic]

(30 May 1859)

In consequence of the communications of our friends, the exciting news from Kansas, and the necessity of publishing the most authentic account of the difficulty between our noble Representative, Hon. P. S. Brooks, and the notorious Charles Sumner, we find ourself so short of space in our columns, that we can only give our most hearty indorsement of the conduct of Mr. Brooks, and call upon his constituents in Laurens District to meet here on Monday to give him a testimonial of their determination to sustain him. Our Representatives have been heretofore quietly submitting to the vile calumnies and slanders that have of late years, at every opportunity, been heaped upon the South by our enemies, and we have often wondered at the calmness and discretion of Southern members, under such circumstances; but there is a point when forbearance ceases to be a virtue, and, from the following extract of Sumner's speech, which brought upon him the merited chastisement, it must be evident the fanatical fool had passed that boundary, and it was not in the nature of such a man as Preston S. Brooks to submit to it. Argument, reason, courtesy and conciliation had long since proved ineffectual to silence the wild calumniators.

The only means left untried has now been made use of by Mr. B., and we sincerly hope it will prove a salutary lesson to others who may have the temerity to provoke a like act.

We have been compelled to curtail the following extract from Sumner's speech, but the insult is not aggravated by it, consequently we have not injured Mr. S.'s position.

[Quotations from Sumner's Crime of Kansas speech omitted]