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so long as they had a ship on the seas. The second speech was made in 1867, in executive session of the Senate, the seal of secrecy being removed by unanimous vote, on the Alabama claims. This oration was rather an indictment of the English Government, and a passionate denunciation of its bad faith and covert hostility to the North, than the logical setting forth of the claims which the United States could put before a board of arbitration. Mr. Sumner's views of "consequential damages" were not urged before the Geneva Board the award adjudged against the English Government was based on the actual and positive damage done by the Southern privateers.
Mr. Sumner's private life was eminently upright and pure. In manner and deportment Mr. Sumner had the stamp of a refined and high-toned gentleman. His figure was commanding; his carriage bespoke an intrepid spirit; his voice in debate was deep, yet melodious, and he stood among the chosen of the land, a man formed for leadership, esteemed and respected even by those who feared him most.
And this is the man God gave us!—the most abjectly oppressed people the world ever knew—as our champion, the champion of our rights among the law-making powers of the land. Pure in his Saxon blood, purer in his principles, a gentleman and a scholar, disinterested in his politics, of spotless virtue, loved, respected and honored by the good and great of Europe as well as America, associated with the brightest, holiest spirits and the largest souls inhabiting this planet; yet he labored with untiring vigilance and zeal for the most down-trodden, oppressed, brother man of his country, never ceasing from the peaceful strife, save when physically wounded for a little while, but ever watching, ever working; he only ceased when his noble, generous, loving heart stopped its functions of life—worn out in the negroes' cause.
Oh, Massachusetts! Mother of American liberty! a brilliant light you have given to illuminate this world of sin and vice; a true friend of humanity; nobly hast thou repaid us for the blood of Chrispus Attucks, that baptised thy bosom in 1770, by the noble deeds of chaste Charles Sumner, whom we have lost.
In this impressive memorial hour, whilst reviewing his
