and a hissing to the
nations. But when we consider the country and the age, I ask fearlessly,
what act of shame, what ordinance of monarch, what law, can compare in
atrocity with this enactment of an American Congress?"

Not content with pouring floods of abuse on the law itself, Mr. Sumner
proceeds to consign to infamy its authors and all who have given it
their support. For, after furnishing examples of what he deems among the
most atrocious transactions of the past, he adds: "I would not
exaggerate. I wish to keep within bounds; but _I think no person can
doubt_ that the condemnation affixed to all these transactions and to
their authors must be the lot hereafter of the Fugitive Slave Bill, and
of every one, according to the measure of his influence, who gave it his
support. Into the immortal catalogue of national crimes this law has now
passed, drawing with it, by an inexorable necessity, its authors also,
and chiefly him who, as President of the United States, set his name to
the bill, and breathed into it that final breath without which it would
have no life. Other Presidents may be forgotten, but the name signed to
the Fugitive Slave Bill can never be forgotten. There are depths of
infamy, as there are hights of fame. I regret to say what I must, but
truth compels me. Better far for him had he never been born; better for
his memory, and for the name of his children, had he never been
President!"

If neither Mr. Fillmore nor George Washington swore to support the
Constitution as Mr. Sumner understands it, we beg him to consider that
_his opinion was not known_ when they took the oath of office. Mr.
Fillmore had, at that time, no better guide to go by than the decisions
of the most enlightened judicial tribunals of his country, with the
Supreme Court of the United States at their head. He was not so far
raised above other men, nor possessed of so wonderful an insight into
the Constitution, as Mr. Sumner; for he could understand it no better
than its framers. Hence he was, no doubt, so conscious of his own
fallibility that he could hardly look upon modesty as a crime, or upon a
deference to the judicial tribunals of his country as infamous. We
trust, therefore, that his good name will survive, and that his children
will not blush to own it. It is certain that the American people will
never believe, on the bare authority of Mr. Sumner, that, in his course
regarding the Fugitive Slave Law, he planted his feet in the