Is the Kick Waited for?Portland, Maine, Advertiser [Republican](6 June 1856)
What does the gentleman want -- said the
servile Douglas, in reference to Senator Sumner --
"does he want somebody to kick him?" Can it
be possible that the spirit of this most insulting
interrogatory can ever be applied to the people
of the North? Have they taken hint upon hint
of the contemptuous designs of the slave power
so meekly and forgivingly, that the last resorts of
violence may be counted upon?
It is true, the present aspect of things at the
North would seem to be all we could wish. The
"murderous, brutal and cowardly" assault on
Mr. Sumner for using his simple constitutional
rights has touched a deeper chord in Northern
feeling than was ever reached before. And the
manner in which the deed has been defended in
Congress and its perpetrator so shamefully
applauded by the Southern press, has strengthened
and prolonged the indignant response of our people.
We do begin to feel the force of the long
catalogue of aggressions upon our rights, and to
bethink ourselves of the remedy. The most
conservative among us question themselves as to the
excess of their past forebearances, and feel that it
has been no accession to their virtue. Men who
stood the compromises of 1850 -- who staggered
under, but submitted to, the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise -- now give full play to their God-given
emotions and look to the vindication of
their natural and constitutional rights. It is all
just, creditable, absolutely necessary -- but what
is to be the end of it?
The presidential campaign is now on the point
of being arranged, and the hosts are soon to be
mustered in definite lines. Party organizations
are to bring their appliances to bear in the shape
of partizan motives and personal inducements.--
The feelings will lose their freshness, great principles
will become obscured, and old associations,
expediency and ambition will grow apace. The
way of duty will become hidden, and the way of
party routine open as day. What, then, is to be
the fate of these great questions? Time will
determine, will show whether the grand interests of
freedom, which almost alone actuated our fathers,
have lost their vitality in the hearts of their
descendents. One thing is certain: these aggressions
will continue and increase all the while, and if our
people do not turn from every seduction upon the
right hand and the left to meet them promptly and
thoroughly, they will breed into an aggravated form
which will endanger the existence of the republic.
Let every man think of this now, and determine
what he will do for his part. Eternal vigilance is
the price of liberty, and if it has been neglected,
let it, by all means, be instantly and bountifully
made up.
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