tiful soil; in rescue of fellow-citizens now
subjugated to a Tyrannical Usurpation; in dutiful respect for the early
fathers, whose aspirations are now ignobly thwarted; in the name of the
Constitution, which has been outraged--of the laws trampled down--of
Justice banished--of Humanity degraded--of Peace destroyed--of Freedom
crushed to earth; and, in the name of the Heavenly Father, whose service
is perfect Freedom, I make this last appeal.

May 20, 1856.

MR. DOUGLAS:--I shall not detain the Senate by a detailed reply to the
speech of the Senator from Massachusetts. Indeed, I should not deem it
necessary to say one word, but for the personalities in which he has
indulged, evincing a depth of malignity that issued from every sentence,
making it a matter of self-respect with me to repel the assaults which
have been made.

As to the argument, we have heard it all before. Not a position, not a
fact, not an argument has he used, which has not been employed on the
same side of the chamber, and replied to by me twice. I shall not follow
him, therefore, because it would only be repeating the same answer which
I have twice before given to each of his positions. He seems to get up
a speech as in Yankee land they get up a bedquilt. They take all the old
calico dresses of various colors, that have been in the house from
the days of their grandmothers, and invite the young ladies of the
neighborhood in the afternoon, and the young men to meet them at a dance
in the evening. They cut up these pieces of old dresses and make pretty
figures, and boast of what beautiful ornamental work they have made,
although there was not a new piece of material in the whole quilt. Thus
it is with the speech which we have had re-hashed here to-day, in regard
to matters of fact, matters of law, and matters of argument--every thing
but the personal assaults and the malignity. * * *

His endeavor seems to be an attempt to whistle to keep up his courage
by defiant assaults upon us all. I am in doubt as to what can be his
object. He has not hesitated to charge three fourths of the Senate with
fraud, with swindling, with crime, with infamy, at least one hundred
times over in his speech. Is it his object to provoke some of us to kick
him as we would a dog in the street, that he may get sympathy upon the
just chastisement? What is the object of this denunciation against the
body of which we are members? A hundred times he has called the Nebraska
bill