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![handle is hein.slavery/ldmkfsh0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
THE LANDMARK OF FREEDOM.
SPEECH
OF
HON. CHARLES SUMNER,
AGAINST THE REPEAL
OF THE
MISSOURI PROHIBITION OF SLAVERY NORTH OF 36c 30'.
IN THE SENATE, FEBRUARY 21, 1854.
Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's Landmark. And all the people shall say, AMEN.
DzUT., ch. xxvii, v. 2T..
The Senate having under consideration
the bill to establish Territorial Govern-
ments in Nebraska and Kansas-
Mr. SUMNER said:
Mr. President: I approach this discus-
sion with awe. The mighty question,
with untold issues, which it involves, op-
presses me. Like a portentous cloud,
surcharged with irresistible storm and
ruin, it seems to fill the whole heavens,
making me painfully conscious how une-
qual I am to the occasion-how unequal,
also, is all that I can say, to all that I feel.
In delivering my sentiments here to-
day, I shall speak frnnkly-according to
my convictions, without concealment or
reserve. But if anything fell from the
Senator from Illinois, [Mr. DOUGLAS,] in
opening this discussion, which might
seem to challenge a personal contest,
I desire to say that I shall not enter upon
it. Let not a word or a tone pass my lips,
to direct attention, for a moment, from the
transcendent theme, by the side of which
Sefiators and Presidents are but dwarfs.
I would not forget those amenities which
belong to this place, and are so well cal-
culated to temper the antagonism of de,
bate ; nor can I cease to remember and to
feel, that, amidst all diversities of opinion,
we are the representatives of thirty-one
sister republics, knit together by indisso-
luble tie, and constituting that Plural Unit,
which we all embrace by the endearing
name of country.
The question presented for your eon-
sideration is not surpassed in grandeur by
any which has occurred in our iational
history since the Declaration of Independ-
ence. In every aspect it assumes gigan-
tic proportions, whether we simply con-
sider the extent of territory it concerns, or
tire public faith, and national policy which
it assails, or that higher question-that
Question of Questions, as far above others
as Liberty is above the common things of
life-which it opens anew for judgment.
It concerns an immense region, larger
than the original thirteen States, vieing in
extent with all the existing free States-
stretching over prairie, field, and forest-
interlaced by silver streams, skirted by,
protecting mountains, and constituting tI
heart of the North American continentl-
only a little smaller, let me add, than thee.
great European countries combined.-..
Italy, Spain, and France-each of whi-h,,
in succession, has dominated over the,
globe. This territory has already b~e t,
likened, on this floor, to the Gardem of,,
God. The similitude is found, not merlI
in its present pure and virgin chraa ir,-
but in its actual geographical stuation,,o ,-
cupying central spaces on this hemispkara.
which, in their general relations, may w.lli
compare with that early Asiatic hc'mav.
We are told that,
Southward through Eden went a river larg---
so here a strean flows southward which.is-
larger than the Euphrates. And I,;.
Reproduced with permission from the University of Illinois at Chicago](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ldmkfsh0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)