darkening sky. Civil War had actually begun. The history of Kansas during
this period is a history of fraud, violence and anarchy. Popular
sovereignty, private rights and public order were all outraged by the
Border Ruffians of Missouri and the slave power.

At this juncture Sumner delivered in the senate a philipic, the like of
which had not before been heard in that chamber. His "Crime against
Kansas" was another one of his speeches crisis born. It was an outbreak of
the explosive forces of the long gathering tempest, its sharp and terrible
lightning flash and stroke, the sulphurous vent of the hot surcharged
heart of the North. More than one slave champion encountered during its
delivery his attention, and must have recoiled from the panther-like glare
and spring of his invective and rejoinder. Senator Arthur P. Butler of
South Carolina was, on the whole, the most fiercely assaulted of the
senatorial group. His punishment was indeed merciless. Impartial history
must, however, under all the circumstances of the case, I think, adjudge
it just. In that memorable struggle the Massachusetts chieftain used upon
his foes not only his tomakawk, but also his scalping knife. No quarter he
had received from the slave power, and none now he gave to it or its
representatives.

Such a terrible arraignment of the slave power in general, and of Senator
Butler in particular demanded an answer. To it, that power had but one
reply, violence, the reply which wrong ever makes to right. And this
Preston S. Brooks made two days after its delivery. Mr. Sumner pursuant to
an early adjournment of the Senate on an announcement of the death of a
member of the lower house, was busy at his desk preparing his afternoon
mail, when Brooks, (who by the way was a nephew of Senator Butler)
stepping in front of him and with hardly a word of warning, struck him on
the head a succession of quick murderous blows with a stout walking-stick.
Dazed and stunned, but impelled by the instinct of self-defense, Mr.
Sumner tried to rise to grapple with his assailant, but the seat under
which his long legs were thrust held him prisoner. Although fastened to
the floor with iron clamps, it was finally wrenched up by the agonized
struggles of Sumner. Thus released, his body bent forward and arms thrown
up to protect his bleeding head, he staggered toward Brooks who continued
the shower of blows until his victim fell fainting to the floor. Not then
did the southern brut